welcome to weekends with alex witt. here's what's happening. severe storms across the nation's mid section leaving a path of destruction behind them. in evansville, indiana, howling winds crushed a house. heavy rains causing street flooding and wind gusts hitting 50 miles per hour. nbc meteorologist dylan dreyer has the forecast. hi, dylan. >> good morning, alex. we are going to see a lot happen this weekend with storms and snow. it is strong across country. showers and storms across western tennessee. lighter snow showers in and around the denver area. they're very light right now, but as we go especially into sunday night, that's when we're going to see heavier snow. it's basically going to turn into a snowstorm with accumulating snow in parts of the rockies. you can see possibly up to 6 to 12 inches of snow. more as you go up into the higher elevations. the white here across parts of idaho, that's 3 to 6 inches. it will be messy for the monday morning commute. as for severe storms this weekend, we will see the possibility of damaging winds and large hale in this area in yellow from oklahoma city to illinois including most of missouri including southern iowa and eastern parts of kansas as well. then on mother's day, the threat of severe storms spread from wisconsin all the way down into texas. again, the biggest concerns will be for some strong winds, possibly damaging winds and large hail. tornadoes are isolated. they are possible. continue to spread eastward. temperature wise, it will be warmer in the east. washington, d.c., about 80 degrees. for mother's day it should clear out. temperatures like nice topping out in the 70s and 80s and a little bit humid. >> dylan, thank you so much for that. a bit later for this hour, the white house climate change report and what could happen if we do nothing to stop it. you'll hear how miami could be especially hard hit. that's coming up in 30 minutes. politics and new this morning. first lady michelle obama is delivering the white house weekly address by herself for the first time. she began by wishing all moms a happy mother day and then addressed the situation in nigeria where nearly 300 school girls were kidnapped. >> i want you to know that barack has directed our government to do everything possible to support the nigerian government's efforts to find these girls and bring them home. in these girls, barack and i see our own daughters. we see their hopes and their dreams and we can only imagine the anguish their parents are feeling right now. republican senator and possible presidential contender rand paul is intensifying his push to reach out to minority voters meeting with the african-american pastors in memphis. >> i want to take issues that i believe in strongly that i think will resonate in the african-american community and say, i want your vote. and i want to compete for that vote. and marriage licenses could be handed out to same-sex couples in arkansas perhaps as soon as today. a circuit court judge threw out the state's ban on friday. the state's attorney general says he plans to appeal. let's bring in washington bureau chief for the chicago sun times, lynn sweet and eric blake. lynn, i'll begin with you. let's go first to the big old partisan divide over benghazi. there is a seven member panel that's been selected to investigate. democrats are considering a boycott. my question from an objective stand point, what are the questions that remain unanswered or is this all political? >> well, the answer is, yes, it's political. there have been multiple investigations by congress. the house select committee is gearing up in an election year. democrats in the house have a big decision to make because if they don't participate, then witnesses will be questioned without anyone to watch their back. so, you know, right now there's negotiations going on between house minority leader nancy pelosi and house speaker john boehner. as of last night they were exchanging a memo of understanding whether or not the democrats could have a say in subpoena power or not, but the facts that may still need to be going through triggered by the white house stumbling and not having earlier turned over a memo about the talking points still remain to be seen if there is a line of questioning, if there are documents that will be uncovered that truly turn up something new. >> but, again, that still remains to be seen if there is something to turn up. aaron, the democrats have five seats to fill on the special committee. they are considering these three options. they can fill five of them. as lynn was saying, they can boycott the committee entirely or just fill one seat as a token. how do you see this playing out? what do you think the strategy is here for the democrats? >> there's not a whole lot of good options. as lynn points out, the white house kind of stumbled here without releasing all the documents initially so they kind of have fed into this. i don't think that this is necessarily a great thing for republicans right now. i think that the base has kind of forced the party to form this committee to come and agree. i think the party was doing pretty well as far as the 2014 elections as it was where they were focusing on obama care. benghazi throws a whole nother variable on top of this process. republicans could risk some overreach on this whole thing. i don't think this is something necessarily that the party leadership wants to be doing right now. >> okay. let's switch gears here, lynn. as you know, senator rand paul met with african-american past horse in memphbe -- pastors in . >> most of the pundants say they start out minus 240 electoral votes. that's not a good way to start. the only way to change that is make our political party bigger. you name the population other than the white population, we're not doing very well. asian americans, jewish americans, hispanic population. we need to do better with all of these groups. we don't do better unless we go out and try. >> now "the new york times" says that senator paul is breaking with fellow republicans who advocate the stricter voter i.d. laws. he's quoted as saying they alienate and insult the african-americans and they hurt the gop. we heard this there. does this surprise you, lynn? does it strike you as a purely political calculation or is it reflecting what's in his heart? >> i think it's consistent with the rand paul that we see. he's already more of a libertarian than by the book conservative republican. that is, he didn't get to the heart of whether or not there's voter fraud in this comment or whether or not there's a problem that needs to be stopped, which a lot of people think it's really just suppression of african-american votes when you have these restrictive voting laws. and so by going to the heart of how people react it's insulting. it's demeaning. it's purely going after one target population. it sounds consistent with the rand paul we've been saying. >> "the new york times" has this quote that mr. paul's remarks seem certain to stir up concern from republicans over whether the senator can appeal to the conservative voters who have so much influence in selecting the nominee. how do you see this? how do you think this fits into the big picture 2016 wise? >> it is an interesting thing to be talking about. voter i.d. is something that polls popularly nationally but within the republican party this is something that they're very much on board with. for him to break with something that so many of husband party are stressing right now is quite interesting. there's also the matter of the fact that republicans in so many state legislatures across the country have been passing these laws in recent years. so he's not only kind of differentiating himself from his party, he's kind of speaking out against something that a state legislature has passed in recent years. i don't think he's creating many friends within his party by doing this now even as he thinks he's reaching out to new c constituenci constituencies. >> i want to ask you both quickly about mitt romney being back in the news. he was weighing in on minimum wage. here he is on "morning joe." >> i, for instance, as you know part company with many of the conservatives in my party on the issue of the minimum wage. i think we ought to raise it because frankly our party is all about more jobs and better pay and i think communicating that is important to us. >> wait, did we all know that he was for raising minimum wage? i'm looking at information here that would suggest otherwise. one stance in february when he was running and one different stance in march. what do you think, lynn? >> i think that he made it look like it was no news but maybe it was news. it's interesting because it's part of -- he had -- he is making an appeal there to hispanics with what we talked about with rand paul and that appeals to blue collar republicans, all kinds of ethnic republicans, too. and it comes from a man who after all gave the living face to the 47% story. even though he says he's not running again, maybe he looks at his own personal history of saying, wait a minute, i am about trying to help people who are not as rich as i am. >> unfortunately, aaron, we have to go. he's not running for president in 2016 but who knows after that. anyway, all right, aaron, lynn, good to see you both. thank you so much. >> thank you. about an hour from now the virginia state police will hold a news conference on yesterday's hot air balloon crash during a festival. a pilot and two passengers were aboard after catching fire after hitting a live power line. >> witnesses tell us they heard two explosions from the hot air balloon. at one point the gone dole la and the balloon separated and the balloon took off. >> police are searching for the balloon's occupants and as well as the wreckage. luke russert joins us. what an accident, a freak accident. >> reporter: yeah, freak accident that created a social media firestorm, alex. last night around 8:00 p.m. is when this tragic accident occurred, at the beginning of a three-day hot air balloon festival here about an hour and a half south of washington, d.c. witnesses reported that there is an explosion after the balloon upon trying to land hit a power line. there is a pilot with two passengers in that balloon. the gondola or the basket as they like to call it became separated and absolutely terrifying eye witness accounts we're told. one lady reporting that she heard someone in that basket screaming out, oh, god, i'm going to die. then her daughter in fact saw a figure fall to the ground. now the police have not released the identities of the victims. it's unclear if they have been found yet. we'll find that out around 8:00 a.m., but the search has been a little bit more difficult than i shall usual last night and because of the crash site. take a listen for what they say. >> at this time we are searching for two wreckage sites, where the gondola landed and where the balloon landed. >> reporter: and the reason why you have those two sites, alex, is because when the balloon hit the power line, that's when the separation happened. so a lot of people had saw that floating balloon on fire and were worried that people were in that basket that kept on floating out. in fact, they were not. there was a separation there, but because they want to get to the bottom of it they have to find the crash site of the basket and the crash site of the actual balloon itself. unclear if they could s hahave that. >> thanks so much. the deal that could make dr. dre the first deal maker in hip-hop. this morning, more outraged family members are calling for action. your independence. insures support. a breakthrough. and sooner than you'd like... ...sooner than you think. ...you die from alzheimer's disease. ...we cure alzheimer's disease. every little click, call, or donation adds up to something big. alzheimer's association. the brains behind saving yours. when folks think about wthey think salmon and energy. but the energy bp produces up here creates something else as well: jobs all over america. engineering and innovation jobs. advanced safety systems & technology. shipping and manufacturing. across the united states, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. when we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work. that's not a coincidence. it's one more part of our commitment to america. overseas vladimir putin is taking a victory lap in his first visit to newly annexed crimea. the victory day celebration. mean child, deadly clashes are breaking out. seven people were killed and dodss wounded in some of the serious fighting yet. they plan to press ahead with tomorrow's referendum on independence despite putin's call for delay. the faa has a second bird strike. last night a u.s. airways jet bound for d.c. hit a bird shortly after takeoff and was forced to turn back around. wednesday, a united airlines jet struck a bird before landing safely at laguardia. no one was hurt in either incident. the l.a. clippers has a new boss this morning. richard parsons will take over in the wake of the donald sterling scandal. he's the former ceo of time warner. shelly sterling endorses the nba's choice of parsons. the clippers lost to oklahoma city. the game is tied at 1-1 apiece. that's the interim director. the health scandal rocking the veterans affairs facility has spread to six states as whistle blowers continue to come forward exposing what could be a widespread problem. at issue, allegations that vets have been dying while enduring long wait times for medical care and that hospital officials have been falsifying documents to try to cover up the problem. nbc's kelly o'donnell joins me now from phoenix where the scandal began. kelly, an early good morning to you. what's the latest from there? i imagine a lot of angry folks? >> reporter: we have certainly seen that, alex. we have been talking to veterans here in phoenix who have their own experiences dealing with the va. many say once they get in to see their doctors they've been happy with them. this is all about trying to give the appearance of shorter waiting times for patience. those are the allegations. we're waiting into a very high stakes week for the secretary of the veterans administration because he will be on capitol hill testifying about this, first about what was happening here in phoenix, but as you pointed out, similar allegations are now coming to the surface about va centers around the country. >> are you going to do what's right for the veterans, sir? >> reporter: veterans and their families are demanding answers and accountability. >> it took months for them to see him. they wouldn't call us back. >> reporter: this widening scandal first surfaced at the phoenix veterans affairs hospital with allegations that records were secretly altered to show shorter waiting times for patient appointments to meet va standards. >> we were betrayed, myself, other veterans. >> reporter: senator john mccain, who held a town hall meeting on the controversy friday, said this could lead to criminal charges. >> this is the first time i've ever seen an outright what apparently allegedly is an outright coverup. >> reporter: going beyond arizona, a texas va medical clerk, brian turner, tells nbc news that clerks in the san antonio and austin offices were coached to change numbers and dates, to erase wait times of weeks or months. >> if you had a longer time frame than the 14-day window, you would receive a report and it would tell you, you need to change this. >> reporter: va officials said turner's claims were not substantiated. turning to wyoming nbc obtained an e-mail where a va staffer described a practice of altering dates saying, yes, it is gaining the system a bit but you have to know the rules of the game you are playing, adding, the front office gets very upset when wait times go past 14 days. veterans affairs secretary eric shinseki ordered an investigation of the wyoming office and put an employee on leave. >> i'm very disappointed in the evidence that we have so far. it's tragic and it's unacceptable. >> reporter: and, alex, we can also tell you that the american legion here has been bringing together veterans and their families giving them a public place to talk about their concerns and to try to seek out help for their individual cases. part of what we've learned from whistle blowers who have come forward to nbc news is this idea that because the va tracks the waiting times for patients around the country trying to monitor how long does it take and to keep those waiting times at a reasonable level, that these practices that have been talked about here in phoenix and around the country were designed to circumvent that monitoring. those are the allegations at this point and so there's a lot more investigation underway. a house committee in washington is looking at this. certainly eric shinseki is saying that he's begun inspector general's investigations of the practices in different offices, and there's still more time for other potential whistle blowers and veterans and their families to come forward with their own specific examples of things that they believe were not handled properly. >> as you said, we'll be hearing from eric shinseki himself when he testifies in front of the committee this week. thank you so much, kelly o'donnell. appreciate it. office politics of ronan farrell. why he takes issue of slacktivism in the missing nigerian girls. we're working deals all day. you get 10 gigabytes of data to share. what about expansion potential? add a line anytime for 15 bucks a month. low dues... great terms... let's close. new at&t mobile share value plans. our best value plans ever for business. 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[ male announcer ] ask your doctor today if eliquis is right for you. woman: welcome to learning. spanish in the car.c on. passenger: you've got to be kidding me. driver: this is good. woman: vamanos. driver & passenger: vamanos. woman: gracias. driver & passenger: gracias. passenger: trece horas en el carro sin parar y no traes musica. driver: mira entra y comprame unas papitas. vo: get up to 795 miles per tank in the tdi clean diesel. the volkswagen passat. recipient of the j.d. power appeal award, two years in a row. in today's money headlines, a sound investment. u.s.a. contributor regina lewis. with a good morning to you, start with the job hunt for the college seniors. how's it looking out there? >> a new survey suggests that four out of five college seniors do not have a job lined up. it's not for lack of trying or looking. in a third study released, there's a disconnect between their expectations and salary. manage your expectations. look at these numbers. it's pretty startling. 70% expect to find a job in their field of study but even engineers are finding that's not always the case. then it gets more interesting from there. more than 80% expect to make more than $25,000. the reality is 40% of them will make less than $25,000. so if you extrapolate out, it's not hard to imagine, alex, if you're making $25,000 and you have student loan debt, you're hard-pressed to live alone. again, a disconnect. more than 60% say it will be great, i'm going to live with myself, i'm going to live with my friends and 40% end up living at home. >> the parents are preparing those rooms to be reoccupied again. what about -- what's with the net increase? >> well, this has to do with netflix. they have a history of price increases gone badly in terms of the rollout. this time they went to great strides to make sure that that didn't happen so it was preh announ -- preannounced. but they sent out an e-mail to existing netflix members thanking them for their long-time commitment to the company and saying there won't be a price increase for two years. alex, the e-mail might as well have been titled, don't freak out. i'm sure reed hastings is happy that nobody is freaking. they have original programming and they have to pay for distribution as well. >> understandable there. let's go to the sound investments and talk about the tech industry. what's that about? >> it's the dynamic duo of dr. dre and jimmy from beats. most famous for the colorful headphones from $175 up to $450. they were on christmas lists. financial times reporting that apple will acquire them for $3.2 billion. the washington post has chronicled the career of this dynamic duo, everything they touch turns to gold. jimmy will be an interesting acquisition as a talent for apple. he may be on their board. he may run the entire music division, which beats also has streaming music. that's very interesting in light of pandora and spotify and the fact that increasingly people are not buying songs, paying per song. they're going for the subscription model. itunes could change as well. >> regina lewis, very interesting. thanks for bringing it to us. could this tropical scene become the site of a national disaster. the threat of climate change. first, if you haven't thought about what you're doing for your mom tomorrow, you better plan fast. until then, you can check out mother's day by the numbers with now this news. in pursuit of all things awesome, amazing, and that's epic, bro, we've forgotten just how good good is. good is setting a personal best before going for a world record. good is swinging to get on base before swinging for a home run. [ crowd cheering ] good is choosing not to overshoot the moon, but to land right on it and do some experiments. ♪ so start your day off good with a coffee that's good cup after cup. maxwell house. ♪ good to the last drop to help people clean better, and that he travels the world inventing amazing new cleaners, like his newest invention, liquid muscle, that lifts and cleans tough grease with less scrubbing. it's a liquid gel, so it's less watery and cleans more. and its cap stops by itself so almost nothing's wasted. ♪ no matter where he went or who he helped, people couldn't thank him enough. new mr. clean liquid muscle. when it comes to clean, there's only one mr. welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." an emotional appeal from the first lady this morning for the safe return of nearly 300 school girls kidnapped in nigeria. earlier this week michelle obama tweeted a photo with a sign that read #bringbackourgirls. today she delivered the white house weekly address. >> let us all pray for their safe return. let us hold their families in our hearts during this very difficult time. and let us show just a fraction of their courage in fighting to give every girl on this planet the education that is her birth right. >> nbc's stephanie gosk is in the capitol of cameroon in a country which neighbors my gear yeah what is the latest for these kidnapped girls? have they located them? >> reporter: no, they haven't, alex. there's growing concern that the girls have been split up and taken out of nigeria into neighboring chad, my gear or here in cameroon making it harder to find them. they're concerned about a border that's 2,000 miles long making it 100 miles longer than the u.s./mexican border. in the north of this country it is a forest and increasingly violent place. a father of two of the abducted school girls recounts the terror from the day the school was attacked. >> i heard the cry or the shout of the student because i'm very close to the school. >> reporter: he says the islamic radical group boko haram held the girls nearby but nobody came to help. >> not more than a few meters for a good 11 days. >> reporter: the slow response has been replaced by international outcry and mobilization. eight u.s. military personnel arrived in nigeria on friday, another seven traveled this weekend. >> really, the nigerian government will allow them to walk dreadfully. >> reporter: criticism of the nigerians has been leveled from all sides. amnesty international said the military had at least four hours of advance warning. >> they had warning that this school was under threat and nothing was done to save these girls. >> reporter: the government says it is doing all it can but worries the girls are being used as human shields. >> we've got to be very careful if they are holding 200 children, it's not the kind of place you go bombing into. >> reporter: even the nigerian government admits it struggles to control what has become an emboldened insurgency. the group boko haram is not just nigeria's problem and cameroon's problem. there are two attacks, one at a police station where they believe a number of boko haram's fighters were released and another at a border crossing on a bridge where as many as 30 people were killed, alex. >> stephanie, are there any attempts to negotiate with boko haram underway right now? >> reporter: there have been attempts in the past to negotiate with boko haram. the nigerian government has engaged in talks. this violence has ramped up in the last three months but none of those attempts were successful. there's a long history of boko haram not having confidence in the government and vice versa. a number of their leaders were imprisoned under the auspices of negotiations, that was a little while ago, but there really isn't a whole lot of communication. now that they have been labeled terrorists, the president said he will wipe them out, there is an international effort underway to find these girls, i don't think talks are a likelihood he any time soon. nbc's stephanie gosk in cameroon. thank you, stephanie. this morning the unidentified remains of the victims are being moved to a final resting place at ground zero. but there is anger today from some of the families of the victims who say they have been kept in the dark. joining me now from the world trade center site is nbc new york's andrew siev. what all is happening today and what are the grievances of these families? >> reporter: well, first of all, it was just about 25 minutes ago that there was this somber transfer of remains from the new york city medical examiner's office where more than 1,000 unidentified remains, victims of 9/11 who have never been identified have been stored at the medical examiner's office for years. finally today transferred over here to the site where they're now going to be stored in an underground repository beneath the 9/11 museum which opens this week. now the grievances of a small group of family members have to do with the fact that it's paid admission into the museums, that these remains will be stored in a room that's not available to the public and that it won't be accessible at ground level and some of this small group of family members also believes that this underground subbasement level of the museum may be prone to flooding, such as it was during and after superstorm sandy. so they have a number of grievances. there are other family members who have been supportive of the de blasio administration and the bloomberg administration before that, their plan to ultimately make this transfer. a lot going on. a very solemn day, and this is in advance of the opening at long last of the 9/11 museum this week. alex. >> yeah. andrew, i know there will be a ceremony certainly to mark that opening on thursday. what is planned for that? and will these families be in attendance? >> they are. we understand a number of families -- all of the families have been invited. a number will be in attendance. president obama is scheduled to attend on thursday as well. the museum will only be open to family members and loved ones for the first five days, then it opens to the public the following week and that was the plan all along. it is a huge space. we're talking about artifacts, such as fire trucks that will crush original beams, personal possessions, historical notation of what unfolded on 9/11. a lot of items that people haven't seen in 12 1/2 years. we understand it's going to be quite emotionally powerful. a lot of that unfolding this week bringing back some of the real raw emotion of september 11th even though it's been 12 1/2 years. >> hard to believe. nbc's andrew siff. thank you, andrew. president obama unveiling a number of actions to promote energy efficiency and green jobs. he made the announcement in california. the new initiatives will help cut pollution and will save businesses $26 billion in energy bills. this comes after the release of a new white house report on climate change and it warns if we do nothing, temperatures could rise up to 10 degrees this century. >> we've got to have the public understand this is an issue that is going to impact our kids and our grandkids unless we do something about it. >> joining me now, coral davenport, the climate energy reporter with the "new york times." welcome back to the show to you, coral. give me the true level of alarm here on a scale of 1 to 10. >> well, alex, what i can do is tell you what's new about this report. this report is the first ever detailed granular specific look at the impact of climate change on the u.s. it gets very detailed. we're going to see flooding in cedar rapids, iowa. we're going to cissee severe wa loss in the northwest. we'll see more extreme well fires across the southern rocky mountains. this is the first really detailed picture that we've seen, not only of what's going to happen in the united states but what is already happening. that's one of the biggest and most important take aways of this report is that climate change has already started to be felt in the united states. >> in terms of details, i want to get to miami because that's a very interesting situation there, but what's interesting is, i mean, you're talking about this, but there is a problem of even trying to convince some folks that it is happening. there's that gallup poll that came out that says one in four americans is skeptical of the climate change. in the northeast, yes, we had one of the worst, coldest, snowiest winters in memory. how does that fit into the equati equation. for the naysayers they say what climate change and what global warming? >> here's something else that is very interesting. we will absolutely see the white house try to push out and publicize this report as much as possible. it highlights the impact of climate change, you know, very much in american's backyards. something else that it does, this report was compiled, was produced, is worked on for three or four years by over 300 scientists and researchers around the u.s., and the researchers who worked on the impacts on each region are from those regions. for example, there were researchers from the university of miami, from florida atlantic university who worked closely to describe -- you know, on the impacts of climate change in miami, in south florida. their names, the names of those institutions are right there in the report. when lawmakers -- when american lawmakers who say -- who sort of put forth this idea, this science isn't real. these scientists, you know, sort of vague idea of scientists around the world are making this up, if they look at this report and they see these are the names of the scientists here in the public universities here in the region, they're saying this is happening on the ground, i think it becomes a little harder to question or be skeptical of why would a scientist make this up. >> interestingly, i'm looking at your article that you wrote for the "new york times." absolutely fascinating the left to which miami is going to face flooding. it already is. i mean, it's something you can't make up. talk about what you found. >> so, right. one thing that this report tells us is miami and south florida are -- miami is one of those cities most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change largely through sea level rise. and miami is already getting a first taste of the climate impacts that the rest of the country is going to be experiencing. i went there a couple of years ago and it's fascinating what's happening. you know, the sea levels are rising. when you talk to scientists and officials in south florida, they say this is absolutely linked to melting glaciers. the sea levels are rising. they have a geology of porous limestone. the rising waters are coming up, they're soaking into that porous limestone under the city and saltwater now in high tide is bubbling up through sewers and gutters into streets, into homes. and i talked to authors of the report in south florida. they said this is absolutely cause -- rising sea levels caused by climate change. they said we don't know how much worse it's going to get. that has to do with how much more the glaciers are going to melt, direct connection. >> absolutely. coral davenport, thank you for bringing it to us. starting a tv show from scratch. ronan farrell talks to us about that in msnbc politics. ♪fame, puts you there where things are hollow♪ the evolution of luxury continues. the next generation 2015 escalade. ♪fame we've always been] at the forefrontumman, of advanced electronics. providing technology to get more detail... ♪ detect hidden threats... ♪ see the whole picture... ♪ process critical information, and put it in the hands of our defenders. reaching constantly evolving threats before they reach us. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman. i'm saving a ton of time by posting them to my wall. oh, i like that one. it's so quick! it's just like my car insurance. i saved 15% in just 15 minutes. i saved more than that in half the time. i unfriend you. that's not how it works. that's not how any of this works. [ male announcer ] 15 minutes for a quote isn't how it works anymore. with esurance, 7 1/2 minutes could save you on car insurance. welcome to the modern world. esurance. backed by allstate. click or call. politics msnbc politics and co-host, ronan farrow. he talks about creating the show from the ground up and why he enjoys a prolific presence on twitter. i began by asking him about the white house response to the kidnapping of hundreds of girls in nigeria. >> i think actually the white house has done the right thing. they're sending this team of experts. they're going to huddle and do everything they possibly can. the technical capacity will be on the ground once the people arrive. i think it does reveal a bigger issue though. we have been late to the game on focusing on african terrorism. they were talking about al shabaab and west gate and in december of last year picking up the shells of the types of bullets they use. al shabab is using a lot of boko haram tactics. the groups are getting more and more extreme. they're using bullets that tear people to shreds. they're saying that africa will be the next front on the war on terror, and i think we've seen that come to fruition in these kidnappings. >> you were a spokesman for unicef, so give me a sense of the outrage you think people will feel. you've spent so much time around the world. this kind of a story, how much play does it get? >> we're seeing i think just today the #bringbackourgirls millions. people are talking about it. it's resonating. you're seeing moms and daughters around the country go to improm two rimprom impromtu rallies. slacktivism. people are hitting retweets. i'm reluctant to see the social media reaction as a panacea. >> i want to turn to your show now. what has been the biggest challenges in your mind to getting the show up and running. >> everything. no, i mean, look, you've been there yourself. you've been at this a lot longer than i have -- i'm not calling you old. >> good night, ronan. >> just wise. just wise. i have tremendous respect for the people who do this day in and day out for years and have the mechanics of it nailed and have their team built up. so much of it is the unglamorous stuff you never see. getting the staff right, getting the budget in place. it's making tough editorial choices and fighting for them. that all requires, you know, not just a couple of months but a couple of years really of doing it over and over again and refining and iterating. the show has changed so much but already i am so proud of what we're doing and have done. i'm loving it every single day. the stories we select, every week we put up a poll and ask the people what's the underreported story you want to hear more about. we covered this crazy phenomenon of the working homeless. more and more people in homeless shelters around the country holding full-time jobs. we went into some shelters and we talked to some of these people and that piece of reporting actually ended up getting played in congressional testimony on this issue. it's a conversation directly between our viewers and then sometimes the powers that be which is a very cool new thing in news. >> twitter. you are quite prolific. very clever on twitter. >> oh, my god. >> what is it you like? >> they're so beneath hysteric. do you have a favorite tweet? >> i have been asked this a couple times and there's probably a better answer. but i have a monoty python tweak. i like the one about the neck beard calling in love thelma and louise style. >> where does that come from? >> it's twisted up here. >> you can catch ronan farrow daily every weekday at 1:00 p.m. more of our conversation at noon when he explains how he graduated college at the age of 15. serious. the hospital waiting list allegations in the veterans administration, jack jacobs offers an idea to make sure it can never happen again. yup. all five of you for $175. our clients need a lot of attention. there's unlimited talk and text. we're working deals all day. you get 10 gigabytes of data to share. what about expansion potential? add a line anytime for 15 bucks a month. low dues... great terms... let's close. new at&t mobile share value plans. our best value plans ever for business. sunny or bubbly? cozy or cool? 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>> i think it is broken. don't forget the enormous backlog was partially a result of the general's making available to people who have post-traumatic stress and anybody has been exposed to agent orange to be seen by the v.a. but he didn't prepare the organization for the logistical impact of that. but the system is completely and totally broken. i don't think it matters who takes it over or how much money you throw at it. i don't think it's going to get a whole lot better. >> what are the most egregious issues out there? >> the problem is you're trying to deliver medical care through a bureaucracy. hay do routine things in a routine way and anybody that's a physician they will tell you medicine is not routine. so the v.a. medical system is just completely incapable of delivering what we need, and that is timely, first class medical care to the people who served us. >> so what kind of a medical care system would work? >> just about anything else. it makes no sense whatsoever to have a parallel medical system when we have plenty of medical capability in this country. one is to treat people who are veterans just the same as you do everyone else except you make sure it doesn't cost anything. if you call a v.a. and takes a month or longer to get an appointment, that doesn't make any sense. you can go to your own doctor and get an appointment much more quickly. so the sequence is simple. a veteran goes to the doctor, the doctor sees him and the doctor gets paid by the government. >> you used the v.a. system. so your experience, why is it different than that which is happening now? >> shouldn't be different. i got a lot of my surgeries when i was in the army still. but when i retired, i became part of the government's tricare system which meant i could go to the doctor and the doctor would get paid by the government. >> you think anyone should go to jail? there are people who have died waiting for treatment? >> the short answer is somebody needs to be punished. it's clear that after the i.g.'s investigation there will be fingers pointed at specific poem. the general may or may not be relieved of command, but a boss is responsible for everything that happens or fails to happen in his organization. >> colonel jacobs, always good to see you. >> my great pleasure. that's a wrap. join me for a two-hour edition of the show at noon. straight ahead "up" with steve kornacki. my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community, that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions. if you mess up, fess up. be your partners best partner. we built it for our members, but it's open for everyone. there's not one way to do something. no details too small. american express open forum. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. and we'll be here at lifelock doing our thing: you do your shop from anywhere thing, offering protection that simple credit score monitoring can't. get lifelock protection and live life free. i'm j-e-f-f and i have copd. 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 mybreo.com [prof. burke] at farmers,we make you smarter about [bell rings] your insurance,because what you don't know can hurt you. what if you didn't know that collisions with wildlife on the road may not be covered? 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