Transcripts For MSNBCW Weekends With Alex Witt 20141221

Street. New yorks Police Commissioner Willi William bratton laid out the stark details. Two of new yorks finest were shot and killed with no warning. No provocation. They were quite simply assassinated. Officer lou and officer ramos never had the opportunity to draw their weapons. May have never actually seen their assailant, the murderer. Described what overtook new york as the news spread. Our city is in mourning. Our hearts are heavy. We lost two good men who devoted their lives to protecting all of us. Officer ramos, officer liu died in the line of duty. Protecting the city they loved. Fellow officers saluted as the bodies were taken from the hospital last night. Officers had rushed to the hospital as they heard of the shooting. President obama issued a statement saying in part, two brave men wont be going home to their loved ones tonight. And for that, there is no justification. Msnbcs adam reese is in brooklyn with the latest on this. Adam, with a good day to you, what do we know about the gunmans motive . Reporter alex, Police Believe he was on a mission to kill. Based on postings on his girlfriends instagram account. Those postings read, id rather die a gangster than go asleep a coward. They take one of ours, well take two of theirs. Now, the mayor and Police Commissioner finished up a mass at st. Patricks cathedral while here in Brooklyn Police investigators will continue to comb the area looking for eyewitnesss. Theyll look into his criminal record into what the Police Commissioners calling an assassination of one of their own. They were targeted for their uniforms. Now, a makeshift memorial has started up behind me. Candles and flowers being brought by residents and Police Officers to remember and mourn these two officers. One who got married two months ago, the other leaving two young boys behind. Alex . Adam, there are reports that this man was known to police in a different community, i believe down in delaware or maryland. And that they had sent up a warning about him . Do you know anything about that . He has ties to a number of different areas. Georgia, maryland, here in new york, as well. He had shot his girlfriend in maryland and the police there sent a fax to new york to alert them, but that was at about 2 45 just minutes before this shooting took place. Unfortunately, the facts and the warning came just too late. Okay. Msnbc in brooklyn for us. On the heels of that, lets bring in Gregory Meeks who joins me in the studio here. Thank you very much for being here, representative meeks. And i understand another angle is that the police are investigating this as being attributable to this gunmans reaction to the Michael Brown eric garner situations. Is it fair to connect the dots here . Or is that is that assuming too much . Yeah, i think its not fair. Clearly the brown family, the gardner family and everybody that was demonstrating, most individuals all have said they wanted no violence. Nonviolence. Its a way to express yourselves and to try to create an atmosphere where they wanted justice for the loss of their lives. All lives matter. Everybody. And you heard the families come out vehemently against what took place last night as well as the mayor and everyone else. What we would like to do is to bring this city and this nation, because this is not just a new york problem, its a national problem. And were trying to bring it together. And the way you bring it together is to make sure that incidences like this, and anybody thinking about doing Something Like this, theyre not part of the movement of justice, theyre creating a scenario where our country is decimated. It has nothing to do, no way should the two be equated. Yep. I want to talk about a rift that has erupted between the new York Police Department and mayor bill de blasio over comments he made following the decision about what he tells his son when interacting with police. Heres what the spokesman of the pba had to say about this. Theres blood on many hands tonight. Those that incited violence on the street under the guise of protest that try to tear down what new york city Police Officers did every day. We tried to warning, it must not go on. It cannot be tolerated. That blood on the hands starts on the steps of city hall in the office of the mayor. Theres a statement i want to read that was released by mayor bill de blasio and how he responds to those comments. Quote, its unfortunately in a time of tragedy, some would respond. Mayor de blasio understands this is a time we must come together to support the family and friends of the brave officers new york city lost tonight and the entire nypd community. What do you make of this . I wish mr. Lynch would not divide the city. Heres a time the entire city, no one, a rational basis in the entire city, in fact in the entire nation who are not mourning the loss of those two great Police Officers. Who, and so to try to divide and put blame on the mayor who the mayor simply said what was reality for a lot of, most i would say, africanamericans who tell their sons. He was telling the truth. Not to divide, not to try to cause a division. But the Police Department actually is what most, i know my friends who have sons, they told them, be careful in the street. And what to do and how to behave. We do that in our communities all the time. So to try to then blame this on the mayor is just simply does not make sense. We should all be coming together to make sure that we call out. And as sharp a term as we can against the type of violence or any violence because every life matters. And thats the message should be that every life matters. And we want to make sure that we end the violence, whether it be especially violence, whether it be violence like we saw, the assassinations, the horrific act that took place last night or violence in our community. Whether its coming from the community or by police, or not. We want the violence to stop. And there are so many that will, you know, chime in exactly what youre saying. How worried are you that this may be the first or one of many in a string of events that may be seen as acts of retribution. Well, i think that, you know, im looking forward and need to look further at the investigation of this person and what whether he was of like mind. Remember, he shot his girlfriend before leaving baltimore. Got that firearm. So theres something. I think theres no rational individual that would do Something Like this. I mean, i can only go back to my childhood when there was demonstrations that took place and individuals are like my colleague john lewis who was beat in the head while he was demonstrating. There was not individuals going back in the street at that time and mass numbers, et cetera, to try to do retribution against Police Officers. Thats never what this the demonstrations were about. Thats its about, you know, never about retribution in that regard and or any violent behavior. And anybody that commits a violent act are or opposed to what the demonstrations are about. All right, sir. Lets switch and talk about cuba and the beginning of normalizing relations potentially between the u. S. And that island nation. Heres what senator marco rubio had to say on meet the press. Lets listen to that. If youre going to make concessions to cuba, recognize them diplomatically, there has to be some reciprocal opening on their part towards democracy. There was none in this enga engageme engagement. Do you understand that point of view . I understand the point of view of those individuals who are of cuban descent who was with their parents at the time of the cuban revolution and so therefore theres that deep pain and hurt that still remains there. But if you look at the country, the United States in general in where it is and what it thinks about cuba, we need to move on. We had 54 years of a policy that has not worked. And the definition, of course, of insane is doing the same thing over and over again, getting the same results. So nothing has changed with the results and policy that have taken place for over 54 years. Something has to change. And i think that the president has done a good thing by but among those things that might have been better demanded for change is the issue of Political Prisoners there in cuba. If we look at the numbers, sir, just over 2,000 in 2010, that upticks to over 6,000 in 2013. And through the first 11 months of this year, the number is now over 8,000 Political Prisoners in cuba. So why open dialogue with a country that has this kind of record . Because i think if you want change, the best thing to create that change now is to interact, you know, a lot of folks in cuba do not have access to the internet, do not have access to the news that we have. Do not have the freedoms. Those things will now open up. And i think that the people who once they get involved themselves, that is the change that will happen that has not happened in the past. I think that when you look at American People and the american businesses and families being able to come to visit one another, that causes change and not the same status quo as is. You are causing a lot of individuals on the island, and i visited cuba on several occasions. They are asking for more and better relationships with the cubans. So its not just, you know, the hierarchy in the cuban government, but the average everyday cuban citizen in cuba is asking for the United States and confused why we dont have a better relationship. And we were the only country in the world, the only country in the world that had this embargo. That continues this embargo. And thats why i Hope Congress comes back and we need to end it. Because we know that when you have sanctions that are unilateral sanctions as weve had for the last 54 years, they do not work. All right. Representative Gregory Meeks, thank you so much for coming and joining us and talking to us about this. Appreciate it. Other news now, the son of rahm emanuel is recovering after being mugged. He was reportedly jumped from behind friday night by two men who ran off with his cell phone. His son was treated for cuts and bruises to his face. Famed boxer muhammad ali has been hospitalized with a mild case of pneumonia. He was admitted on saturday. The 72yearold is being treated by his team of doctors and is listed in stable condition. And its officially winter, the winter solstice will begin at 6 03 eastern time. On the bright side tomorrow every day will get progressively longer until we reach the summer solstice in june of 2015. Two massive storms on the move, one in the northwest, one in the east, and the weather channels Reynolds Wolf has more on the christmas forecast. Hi, reynolds. Reporter well, alex, youre right. We are at Laguardia Airport where it is a busy day. But lets be honest, virtually every day of laguardias busy. You have on average 63,000 people a day. They have a lot of arrivals, too. But today were going to have more volume. Greater volume because youve got so Many Americans that are trying to get a jump on the travel, not only in competition with other travelers, but also trying to avoid some of the rough weather. Lets tackle the weather scenar scenario. What were dealing with is this storm system, its a twoheaded monster going to make its way from the west to the east. And its going to bring a chance of rain, some sleet, some snow, could see maybe some icing on roadways. And at the same time, strong winds and thunderstorms possible for places like, well shlgs not only new york city, but also laguardia and, of course, over in newark. Might have more of those hiccups as we make our way up to logan and boston also. In other words, there will be headaches to come. Ironically, though, once we get to christmas day, things begin to calm down considerably across much of the nation, at least in terms of the eastern third. Better weathers coming. Its going to be kind of feast or famine in terms of christmas. Lets send it back to you, alex. Thanks so much from laguar a laguardia. New reports on the Sony Pictures hacking scandal. The unlikely ally in hopes of preventing future Cyber Attacks from north korea. Thats next. 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Looking for one of these . Yoplait. Smooth, creamy, and craved by the whole family. Right now, the United States is deciding how to respond to north koreas cyber attack on Sony Pictures. The president has vowed to respond proportionately to the hack. But as he reviews his options in a new interview, the president was asked whether north korea could be added back to the terror list as a result of the attack. Were going to review those through process thats already in place. Weve got a very clear criteria. As to what it means for a state to sponsor terrorism. And we dont make those judgments just based on the news of the day. We look systematically at whats been done. And based on those facts, well make those determinations in the future. Lets get right to the White House Correspondent Kristen Welker in hawaii where the president s on vacation. Kristen, with a good day to you, where is the white house now in determining a response . Well, alex, Senior Administration Officials Say they are still weighing a range of options. That could include anything from a new round of sanctions to a counter cyber attack. But to that point that we just heard the president make that he is not ruling out the possibility of adding north korea back to the terror list. That would be a significant move. North korea was taken off the terror list in 2008 under former president george w. Bush who was trying to strike a nuclear deal with the country. That deal never came about. And north korea remained off the terror list. So if, in fact, the administration does move to put it back on the terror list, that would be a significant shift. Meanwhile, alex, theres also a debate brewing today about how to characterize this cyber attack, which has now been linked to north korea. This debate between president obama and some republicans. Take a listen to what both sides are saying. No, i dont think it was an act of war. I think it was an act of cyber vandalism that was very costly, very expensive. This is not vandalism. This is a new form of warfare, and we have to counter with that form of warfare with a better form of warfare. Reporter so, alex, while that debate brews, president obamas also giving more information about how he might have responded if he had known about sonys intentions to pull the film the interview. President obama today saying he might have actually reached out to some of these movie theaters and distributors. We expect president obama will be briefed on the range of options before him in terms of how to respond to north korea while he vacations here in hawaii. Hell be here through the new year. Meanwhile, also learning from officials that the white house has reached out to china and asked for its help in investigating this matter. Alex . All right, Kristen Welker, thank you very much. Well check in with you again next hour. On the heels of that, lets bring in a security expert at a Cyber Security firm. Kurt, with a welcome to you, the daily beast reporting today that many in the Hacking Community dont believe that north koreas behind this attack. So how compelling is the fbi evidence against that country . Youre right, alex. You know, weve seen some senior officials make some pretty emphatic statements over the past few days. But id have to say that a large chunk, if not the majority of my colleagues in the Computer Science and Cyber Intelligence communities remain unconvinced. The data that were seeing, that were sharing doesnt support the hypothesis that north korea master minded this operation. Now, that being said, its far to assume that the fbi and the government does, in fact, have information to access to information that theyre not sharing with us. But the civilian academic and business Cyber Intelligence communities have very powerful capabilities of their own and thats why the government does business with Companies Like ours in the first place. In terms of information, kurt, the New York Times is reporting today that the white house is seeking chinas help in blocking north koreas ability to launch Cyber Attacks. So whats your take on this . You know, what kinds of retribution or actions that we should take, i think that this is a question that really we have to leave to the policymakers. We in the scientific and technical industry can certainly help inform and guide those decisions. But its a crucial decision. And the consequences of making the wrong one or retaliating without fully considering the consequences could very well escalate the internet hacking situation to levels that cripple Global Commerce and communications. Okay. So if thats the case, can the u. S. Not respond to this attack . I mean, does this require a government response . Is there any other way to respond . Because, lets face it, sony is not in the business of revenge. Right. I mean, you know, frankly, this narrative that a country like north korea has orchestrated and carried out the most devastating and costly cyber attack in history just doesnt jive with the telemetry that weve been collecting and analyzing. And this isnt just at norse. There are a lot of sophisticated scientists out there that agree with us. Now, you know, there are few things that bother us. Pieces that just dont fit together. For example, north korea rarely backs away from any opportunity to take credit for provocative action. So why are they denying connection to this now . Why not trumpet their victory and their technical prowess. Couldnt they be worried, kurt, that the United States might, you know, i guess aim both guns of the barrel, if you will, in a cyber way . Couldnt they be worried about the response . Perhaps. But theyve taken provocative actions in the past with real weapons. And they didnt seem to be worried about our armed response then. Also, you know, the data that were analyzing, the data that the communitys analyzing makes it clear that sony was specifically targeted. And the data trail seems to indicate that the targeting was picture perfect. In fact, too perfect. We believe that the hackers had to have somebody inside sony. Deep inside with knowledge and access to sonys internal network and architecture. Thank you very much for joining us. I appreciate your insights. Thank you. The state department has issued a Worldwide Travel alert in response to this past weeks attack in sydney, australia. What the u. S. Can learn from that lone wolf attack next. Good. Goodnight. For those kept awake by pain. The night is anything but good. Introducing new aleve pm. The first to combine a safe sleep aid. Plus the 12 hour strength of aleve. For pain relief that can last until the am. 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I really went for it there ya you did. You really, really did now get 3 gigs of data on one line for 65 a month. Switch to at t, buy a new smartphone and get 150 credit per line. A new state Department Warning telling americans to be extra cautious if they are traveling abroad during the Holiday Season. This comes on the heels of an assault this past week on an australian cafe that left two hostages and the gunman dead. This looked at an analysis of past attacks and threats reporting and suggests that terrorists are focused on hotels, shopping areas, places of worship and schools. State Department Officials tell nbc news theres no specific threat to americans abroad, but it is issuing that warning because of the lone wolf australia attack. Joining me now, msnbc contributor and former special agent in charge of the joint Terrorism Task force don berelli. How routine are these types of warnings . Well, they do come about fairly often. Its when you hear the word chatter, a lot of times Intelligence Community will be picking up threads of intelligence, and then theyll feel compelled to put out the warning. But also, you have to just look at the time of year a lot of travel, everybody during the holidays. And you mentioned about what wed call soft targets, the hotels. Places that dont necessarily have a their own organic security. So this presents a bit of a challenge for Security Officials to keep those places safe. Yeah. The state Department Says this alert was specifically due to the australia lone wolf attacks. How real is a threat of not only lone wolves but copycats. Is that what keeps you up at night . Well, the thing is, what keeps me up, its very difficult to predict when these people are going to act. You have people that maybe have a degree of mental instability to begin with, a pattern of violent behavior, which as we saw with the person with australia. They fuel that fire by watching these videos on the internet. To take action. And in many cases, Law Enforcement may be aware those people are out there, but cant follow them 24 7. You dont know when theyre going to react. And thats what we saw in australia. Its a difficult and challenging situation for Law Enforcement. Any from your experience, lessons that can be learned from what happened there . Its tough. You know, youd like to look back in the kind of take a second look and see if there was anything that could have been done. But from what ive seen on the australia thing, possibly not. We saw some of the same things that have happened here in the u. S. With boston. Weve seen what happened in canada recently. And sure, there may be little threads that you could have pulled a little longer, but you dont know. Sometimes Law Enforcement needs a crystal ball, and unfortunately, they dont have it. Yeah. Lets switch now and talk about the detainees sent back to afghanistan yesterday. 3 of the 4 held for almost 12 years. From your experience, what might have prompted their release now that the u. S. Had not known years ago. Is it information . Is it politics . What do you think it was . I think its probably some of both. I know they want to try to scale down the amount of prisoners being held in guantanamo. Obviously when a prisoner is sent back to their home country, theres a lot of behind the scenes politics. If thats what the arrangement was here. I think its a degree of intelligence, politics, a little of everything. Of course, the president s goal has been to close Guantanamo Bay completely. He talked about it on cnn this morning. Lets listen. Going to be doing everything i can to close it. It is something that continues to inspire extremists around the world, the fact these folks are being held. Its contrary to our values and wildly expensive. What effect would closing Guantanamo Bay have on our National Security . Do you think there would be a connection . Well, i think the president s right when he said guantanamo has been one of these rallying cries that has been counterproductive to the war on terrorism. Its been used as a recruiting tool. So to close it down and to show that, you know, were committed to transparency and the rule of law i think would be a good step in the right direction. And it would take that argument away from terrorists as theyre trying to recruit new followers. Okay. Thank you very much for weighing in. I appreciate it. The price of gas is way d n down, but the price of an Airline Ticket is sky high. Shouldnt they be dropping, as well . Were going to ask the author of a book on air travel. [ narrator ] mama sherman and the legion of super fans. Wow [ narrator ] on a mission to get richard to his campbells chunky soup. Its new chunky beerncheese with beef and bacon soup. I love it. And mama loves you. And mama loves you. The start of sneeze season. And the windblown watery eyes. Thats why puffs plus lotion is gentle on sensitive skin. So you can always put your best face forward. A face in need deserves puffs indeed. And try puffs softpack today. Alright, so this tylenol arthritis lasts 8 hours, but aleve can last 12 hours. And aleve is proven to work better on pain than tylenol arthritis. So why am i still thinking about this . How are you . Aleve, proven better on pain. Welcome back to weekends with alex witt. New questions surrounding the shooting death of two Police Officers. The two were shot and killed yesterday as they sat in a patrol car in a brooklyn street. Police say the shooter who died from a selfinflicted gun shot wound was set on killing cops and had announced it on a social media page. Lets bring in clint, an msnbc contributor and former fbi profiler. With a welcome to you, clint, what do we know about this gunman so far . Well, so far, were finding out that he appears to be someone inspired, perhaps, by the rhetoric thats been out there, alex. Concerning racism, concerning Police Officers. Realize, Police Officers, cops as we say, are the thin blue line between society and anarchy and chaos. And when some people for whatever political, personal, professional motivation. When they start to blur or even erase that line, we can get the fringe of the fringe. Those people set on the edge well, you know, tell me what a bad gangster is who shoots his girlfriend in the stomach and then shoots two Police Officers in the head when theyre not even there and then commits suicide. Thats the fringe of the fringe that many times this rhetoric thats out there, alex, spurs, brings this type of individual to the surface. Yeah, i want to back up what youre saying with some of the details on social media. Reportedly the gunman said he would carry out the shootings to avenge the deaths of Michael Brown and eric garner, dying at the hands of Police Officers. No officer was indicted in either case. So is there is there a point a to point b that gets set off in some of these peoples minds, or are they mentally unstable . Well, number one, in this particular guys case, i think youve got a sociopath or a psychopath who is out there. Number two, i think that whatever race one might be, i think that we need to be marching in a community. In some cases, based upon black on black crime. Rudy giuliani today suggested that 92 of crime in the black community was black on black. The reason these two cops was at that interaction at that time is because Community Leaders said we have such a high crime in this area, we need more of a police presence. These werent two white cops, these were a latino and an asian Police Officer. What made them targets, alex, was that badge that they carried. And ill tell you, somebody who carried a badge and a gun for 25 years, if i was out there right now, that would create a sense of paranoia and a rhetoric thats out there in a community about hating Police Officers when maybe what they do, obviously, in some cases can be wrong. But were talking 1 of cops who may screw up and may do something bad versus the statistics of the community committing crimes against itself. We are alienating Police Officers. Alex, yesterday, not only were two cops in new york city killed, but one in florida was killed. Three in one day. When we have the community that starts to think its open season on police and that the rhetoric thats out there in Society Supports open season on police, we are creating a tremendous rift between those we want to serve and protect and those that are willing to take the life of a Police Officer because theyre inspired by what they hear in the community. Right. Absolutely. Both situations tragic. Although, i will say in terms of the florida situation, i dont think we know what preceded that, whether it was related to the Michael Brown eric garner situation, but obviously somebody did something horrible there. Thank you so much. Always good to see you. This story, everyone, is trending on social media. Nypd has had 133,000 mentions on twitter. Nypd, lives matter, that is still the top trend in the u. S. 53,000 mentions on twitter in the past day. New reaction today from president obama on his historic decision to restore diplomatic relations with cuba. His decision he defended this morning. For 50 years, weve tried to see if we can overthrow the regime through isolation. It hasnt worked. If we engage, we have the opportunity to influence the course of events at a time when theres going to be some generational change in that country. And i think we should seize it, and i intend to do so. Well, on the other side, marco rubio this morning on meet the press begged to differ. If youre going to recognize them diplomatically, have more commerce with them, there has to be some opening on their part towards democracy. There was none in this engagement. Diplomacy and politics for the Washington Post. Anne joins us now. With a welcome, before we get to all of the politics of this, can you recap how this went down this week . We did not hear about this until alan gross was on a plane home. How did that happen . Well, the white house and the state department are quite pleased that they were able to keep it under wraps. A few reporters did know bits and pieces of it, but not enough to put the whole thing together and not enough to go to air or print. But what happened was over a series of months, there was there were some secret contacts in canada, facilitated by no less than the pope to try to get a, first of all, to get alan gross out. Hes the American Contractor in a cuban jail for five years. And also, to move toward what president obama did this week, which is to say hes going to try to normalize diplomatic relations with cuba after more than five decades of estrangement. And they pulled it off. They were able to get alan gross on a plane, get the other prisoners who were part of a rather complicated multiprisoner swap out of cuba before the whole thing was announced. And it was this came out earlier this week in stages over the morning on wednesday. First came news that alan gross was on a plane home, that was greeted joyously in the United States, then came news that the remaining three of the cuban five as they were called imprisoned in the United States for spying on behalf of cuba had been released. And then, later in the morning, came word that this was actually part of a much larger diplomatic opening. Yeah. And thats what president obama was talking about there this morning. And, in fact, anne, the president has already publicly shaken raul castros hand. What do you think of a timetable for a more official meeting between the two given this change in policy . Or do you think the president will leave that to the next occupant of the white house . Well, hell actually see raul castro this spring at the summer of the americas and presumably, theyll shake hands and therell be at least an opportunity for a hello and maybe a meeting. In between that time, its quite likely that there will be some u. S. Diplomatic engagement in havana, possibly including secretary of state john kerry, but definitely at a lower level to try to move the, what is now essentially a u. S. Office there. To upgrade it to become a full embassy. And that takes a bit of doing. And that theyre going to try to get that going this spring. Absolutely. A lot of doing in terms of politics. Which you address. And i want to look at the headline. Which reads cuba decision marks a bet that cold war politics have turned a corner. But based on what weve heard from the gop this week, has that corner been turned . Well, its interesting. You heard a couple of Different Things in different parts of the gop. Rand paul is saying this is fine, this, you know, 50 years of this policy didnt work, why wouldnt you try Something Else . And he was tweeting directly to his Senate Republican Senate Colleague marco rubio on that point this week. Certainly what marco rubio said this morning on meet the press is the old style republican orthodoxy, and there and that corner has not been turned for a really, really committed group of, not only cuban americans, but others who feel the same way that what happened in cuba 50 years ago never you know, that has never been resolved. U. S. Businesses were expro it country thats been diplomatically not at war, but certainly very much opposed to everything the United States has done, and theres absolutely no reason to try to make nice to them now. That is that view which rubio clearly espouses. But elsewhere, and certainly in critical florida, theres theres a difference. The polling in florida suggests that it that a hard line on cuba is not the be all and end all, not only for democratic candidates, but for republican candidates. All right. Its always good to talk with you, thank you. Ahead, a new survey finds americas wealth gap is the widest its ever been suggesting the middle class is slowly fading away. Thats next. So,as my personal financial psychic, im sure you know what this meeting is about. Yes, a raise. Im letting you go. I knew that. You see, this is my amerivest managed. Balances. No. Portfolio. And if doesnt perform well for two consecutive gold. Quarters. Quarters. Yup. Then amerivest gives me back their advisory. Stocks. Fees. Fees. Fees for those quarters. Yeah. So, im confident im in good hands. For all the confidence you need. Td ameritrade. You got this. I will take beauty into my own hands where it belongs. 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Ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. The gap between americas middle and upper income families is the widest ever. New numbers from the Pew Research Center found in 2013, the nations upper income families have nearly seven times the median wealth of middle income families, thats the widest gap in 30 years. This downturn is the subject of a popular Washington Post series out about americas fading middle class. Part one focused on downy, california, the town that once boasted a Space Shuttle factory and a robust middle class. I started out at 2. 59 an hour. And i thought i was the king. It was north american aviation. That was a big deal in town. With apollo being built and so on. Todays world, i dont think theres any jobs like back then. To just go out and get a job, a nicepaying job. I think those days are over with. I really do. Joining me now, the writer of that series, the Washington Post jim tankersly. Why arent jobs coming back to downy . Well, thats a great question. Theyve been waiting with the same sort of wait that americas been waiting for the last 15 years in downy. But much more for america. This is a 25year trend. And what were waiting for, basically, is the good middle class growth that we saw in the post war era to actually happen again. And, its just not the case. In 80 of american counties, Median Income peaked at least 15 years ago, and a lot of counties, it was 35, 45 years ago. So what were seeing in this country is an economy that keeps growing and has been growing for a while. But where the spoils of that growth are just not flowing to the incomes of people in the middle. Yeah, in terms of the flip side, the stats, i guess the opposite of these 25 years youre talking about with the American Economy growth. 83 up, corporate profits have doubled. So why has the typical familys income just stayed the same . So my argument is that its about talent and sort of the allocation of talent in america. That after world war ii, we were really good at helping a lot of people do Better Things with their skills. We want you to do what youre best at in this economy. And after world war ii, we were great at that. And the last 25 years, not so much. Too many people in the middle lost their jobs from automation or outsourcing and got devalued to doing cheaper labor. Too many people at the bottom have a hard time getting the education they need to do those precious few minuscule jobs which increasingly require a degree. And then at the top, we just arent seeing enough middle class job creation. Those goodpaying jobs arent being created because too many people are doing what economists call rent seeking. They are boosting their own profits at the expense of everybody else, whether its in finance or lobbying or things that arent productive iff iive economy. There are critics who are going to say this is corporate hoarding, as well. I think of it differently. I think of it more as talent hoarding. You can do two things with your talents. You can either do something really beneficial to everyone or something that just takes resources for yourself, in which case youre sort of sucking those resources out of the broader economy. I think theres too much of that going on right now. Okay. So if its talent being the issue, is education the only solution to the problem . Educations a critical part of this. I mean, obviously, especially again, for the lower skilled people in america, they absolutely. Its like a barrier to entry of the middle class just to get advanced degrees. But its not enough. I mean, we just cant rely on the idea that if everybody goes to college, thats going to do it. We need people using that education in these valuable ways. We need to find ways to make it easier for entrepreneurs to start their own businesses to create those good jobs. We need to find ways to get more Disruptive Companies to solve human problems and not just find ways to siphon money out of the system and give it to a select few. Do you see any Silver Lining here . Anything you find in the reporting for the series that gives you hope things in america are going to change . Every Single Person i talked to gave me hope. Whats so great about this country is we still have this real attachment to work. We still have this grand belief that if we work hard, things can get better. I met so many people who were investing in themselves, trying to help others, whether theyre working two jobs, putting themselves through school while working even with a child, its really heartening to know that america has the spirit still out there. And i think that americans, the good news is, americans possess all the talent that we need to be a the kind of economy, remember ourselves being. We just need to unleash that talent. All right. Thank you so much. Looking forward to the rest of the series. Appreciate it. Thank you. Well, the cost of jet fuel is falling just like the price of gasoline. So why arent airfares dropping, as well . Thats next. Is here, which means its time for the volkswagen signthendrive event. For practically just your signature, you could drive home for the holidays in a germanengineered volkswagen. Like the sporty, advanced new jetta. And the 2015 motor trend car of the year allnew golf. If youre wishing for a new volkswagen this season. Just about all you need is a finely tuned. Pen. Get zero due at signing, zero down, zero deposit, and zero first months payment on select new volkswagen models. Introducing danceallyou want new always discreet underwear for sensitive bladders from always, the experts in feminine protection. Only always discreet underwear has soft dual leakguard barriers to help stop leaks where they happen most. Plus, always discreet has a discreet fit that hugs your curves. You barely feel it. New always discreet underwear. Now bladder leaks can feel like no big deal. Because, hey, pee happens. Ring ring . Progresso its ok that your soup tastes like my homemade. Its our slow simmered vegetables and tender white meat chicken. Apology accepted. Im watching you soup people. Make it progresso or make it yourself now new questions about airfares in light of lower oil prices. On friday, oil closed about 56 a barrel, the price of u. S. Crude, thats the lowest in five years. And that has led to lower gas prigss. The average price for a gallon of regular is 2. 40, down significantly from last year. Jet fuel down 32 from last year. Prices last week at the lowest since labor day of 2010. Joining me now, the author of full, upright and locked position no so comfortable truths about air travel today. This may be one why arent airlines seeing a discount for their passengers . Well, airlines dont have to. Its basically the bottom line reason. Airline fares are up and theyre up considerably over the last five years. Way ahead of inflation. And, of course, fuel prices are down, accounts for 1 3 of the cost of flying an airplane. So the question is, okay, why . The answer really is that these are businesses that are in the business of making profits for their shareholders, primarily, of course, also in the business of transporting people safely and they do a pretty good job of that, very good job of that, really. But this is about returning profits to the owners of the business and to investing money that they need to invest in new airlines and aircraft and so forth. This money is going in part to 1 billion a month is going to the refurbish the airlines, capital expenditures. Okay. But supply and demand. I mean, you reference that at the top there. How big of a part have the mergers played in a for consumers . A very big part. Nothing to force the airlines to give back the money to the consumer here. The money that the windfall from the fuel. What would force it would be either competition and competition is less now that we have the mega mergers and consolidations or regulation. And congress decided 36 years ago not to regulate the economics of airlines. So without anything pushing the airlines to give back the windfall, theyre basically keeping it. Now, mark, im seeing a few articles, one notable, and im looking at one from Business Insider who says flying in the u. S. Is going to be cheaper next year. If airfares arent going down now with the cheaper fuel, why would they become less expensive in the new year . I actually dont think they will. Some of the theres the International Airlines have projected that they think that fares might come down on International Worldwide basis about 5 next year. But it does not look like theyre going to be coming down in the United States. If anything, theyve been going up slowly. Okay. Quickly want to ask you about an article recently that we saw in wired magazine about an astro physicist who figured out how airlines could get us to board much faster. He finds that Airlines Board from back to front and thats a problem, right . It creates traffic jams and slows down the boarding. He wants to alternate rows, with window seats, skip a row, window seat. Im thinking, wow. That is super complex. I cant tell you will it work . I cant tell you how many studies have been done of the most efficient way to board an airplane. Millions of dollars have been spent on this, and i have heard that the most recent is that if you take every three or four rows and everybody gets on, that will keep people out of the aisles and theyll be seated and so forth. Look, moving airplanes fast is the name of the game here. The faster an airline can move an airplane in and out of an airport and load that thing up and get it moving, the more money they make because that means another flight and more time in the air. So theres a lot of dough put into that issue of boarding. Okay. Well see what comes of it. Thanks so much. Youre welcome. New information in the murder of two new york Police Officers. I will light up every room i walk into. Olay presents the regenerist luminous collection. Renews surface cells to even skin tone. In just two weeks, see pearlescent, luminous skin. Regenerist luminous. Olay. Your best beautiful. Many americans who have prescriptions fail to stay on them. Thats why we created programs which encourage people to take their medications regularly. So join us as we raise a glass to everyone who remembered today. Bottoms up, america. See you tomorrow. Same time. Another innovation from cvs health. Because health is everything. We are about to make more gooddeliveriesverybody. To more places than anybody on earth. We have the speed. We have the technology. And we have the team. We made over 15 billion successful deliveries last year. 15 billion football has a season. Baseball has a season. This is our season. The day after two new york city Police Officers killed on the job. The anguish, the outrage and the answers being sought. New truth and consequences in the sony hack attack. Why it matters. Its a fracking first, but is the Nations Energy boom facing the beginning of the end . Relics and reality. What will the dawning of a new era in cuba mean for the renowned classic cars . Hello, everyone, welcome to weekends with alex witt, heres whats happening right now. We begin with this developing tragic story. New outrage today after two new york city Police Officers were gunned down and killed yesterday as they sat in their patrol car on a brooklyn street. Today, two of new yorks finest were shot and killed with no warning, no provocation. They were quite simply assassinated. Officer liu and officer ramos never had the opportunity to draw their weapons. They may never have actually even seen their assailant, their murderer. A shaken mayor bill de blasio spoke to reporters as news of the shooting spread. Our city is in mourning. Our hearts are heavy. We lost two good men who devoted their lives to protecting all of us. Officer ramos, officer liu died in the line of duty. Protecting the city they loved. Fellow officers saluted as the bodies of their fallen comrades were taken from brooklyns woodhall hospital last night. Officers had rushed to the hospital as they heard of the shooting. The very latest from brooklyn. Adam, with a welcome, what do we know about the slain officers . Reporter they were here, right here, alex, on this Street Corner in a marked police car. We know officer ramos was on the force for two years. He had two young sons and just turned 40 two months ago. We know officer liu, a sevenyear veteran and had been married two months ago. We know they were working overtime, it was a special unit here in the area to reduce crime. Alex . How about the gunman and his motives . What are we hearing on that . We know about some of his postings that he had put on his girlfriends instagram account. Several antipolice rants that were very provocative. We know that he had come up here to new york city with the sole intent to murder new york city Police Officers. We know he had been arrested in the past on robbery and weapons charges and he was also involved in a harassment case here in new york city in 2011. All right. Adam, thank you for that. Were going to get more information from retired atf special agent in charge Jim Cavanaugh. Meantime, the president is also weighing in on the shooting. He released this Statement Last night which reads in part, quote, i unconditionally condemn todays murder of two Police Officers. And there is no justification. Kristen welker in hawaii where the president is vacationing. Kristen, attorney general eric holder is also released a statement condemning this attack. How is the administration approaching this . Well, alex, the entire administration is condemning the killing of these two Police Officers in the strongest possible terms. Administration officials have consistently echoed what weve heard from Michael Browns family, eric garners family, which is that they are urging people to protest peacefully if they do want to protest these two cases. Meanwhile, president obama also urging patience as he has called for a task force, a 90day task force being headed by philadelphia Police Commissioner charles ramsey. The task force is charged with finding ways and suggestions for improving relations between local communities and Police Departments. Meanwhile, alex, in an interview that was taped before these two Police Officers were killed, president obama was asked to respond to his critics who say that Race Relations arent improving quickly enough under his leadership. Take a listen to how he responded. On the other hand, i think an unwillingness to acknowledge that progress has been made cuts off the possibility of further progress. If critics want to suggest that america is inherently and irreducibly racist, why bother working on it . Ive seen change in my entire life, and so has this country. And those who would deny that, i think, actually foreclose the possibility of further progress rather than advancing. Reporter Senior Administration officials will continue to be in close contact with officials in new york as this investigation continues. And we expect that president obama will get briefed regularly while he continues with his vacation here in hawaii where he will remain through new years day. Alex . Kristen welker, thank you very much from honolulu. Retired atf special agent in charge Jim Cavanaugh joins me on the subject now. With a welcome to you, lets talk about this gunman. What do we know about him . Well, we know he was in georgia, lived in georgia. He had some robbery charges, alex, and concealed weapons charges. So hes had a lot of runins with police. We know, tragically, that he wounded his girlfriend with a firearm. He shot her in baltimore, you know, early in the morning saturday. And then he made these facebook posts that he wanted to kill the police and gravitated to this national discussion, trying to tie himself into it. And with the caveat that said this may be my final post. So even the suicidal notification. And then he went to brooklyn and he coldbloodedly and cowardly murdered these two good officers. So thats what we know now. I think theyre going to root out a lot more about his background. But just a coward, a criminal, and a loser from the get go. Its interesting, we are taking information from online accounts. In fact, heres what the nypds Police Commissioner bill bratten had to say about that. The instagram postings, which were antipolice will also seek to go back over time into this suspects life as to whether there were other postings, whether he had accounts of his own. Ones that were aware of this afternoon as he was coming toward new york. But, jim, how can Law Enforcement realistically monitor the internet to find threats and react to them . Well, they cant, alex. Theres too much on the internet. But what they can hope to do is goodminded citizens when they see something on the internet posted or even hear something from a neighbor that report it to the police. Heres the thing to understand. Its always very subtle. The warnings for tragedy, murder, an attack like this is always very subtle. And someone may read it and say i didnt really think he would do it. And you will hear that after mass shootings, killings, terrorist attacks. I heard him say it, but i didnt think he would do it. And this guy posted this may be my final post, which thats a suicidal message there. So always take it seriously, report it to the police. If it turns out to be nothing, then it is nothing. But if it turns out to be something we could interrupt, we couldve saved two good men here, two good officers here. Thats whats got to happen. The police cant monitor every post. But they can have the help of the citizens in a great democracy like this. Youre a seasoned negotiator. I want to ask you what you think needs to happen to thaw the frosty relations right now between police, protesters, and mayors. Be it de blasio or others around the country. Well, you know, its a start with the president s task force and chief ramsey in philadelphia bringing that task force together and trying to get 90 days to work. I think thats a great step. But in the instant issue of new york, i think what you see is the mayor, the Police Union Leaders talking past each other. And, you know, they both have to listen to the other guys issues. I really think that the mayor and the Police Commissioner and the heads of the pba really should sit down in a private meeting, not a media meeting, maybe could be brokered. Bring them to st. Patricks cathedral, sit down, have a private meeting. Listen to the other guys concerns. Listen, thats the key. Listen to understand. See what theyre saying. And try to work toward what you all want. We all want peaceful country, good, great police that we support. If theres injustice, people are going to speak out. Anybody that speaks out about Violence Toward the police or acts toward violence or assaults officers like they did on the brooklyn bridge, they should be charged, arrested, and everybody should be able to do that. So insults across the air waves and positioning, you know, gets to be a little we understand the emotions. Sure. But after the officers funerals and all thats done, you know, maybe a little peaceful meeting between some of the leaders, new yorks big, shows the world away, heres a chance for them to show the world to make this a better place. Yeah, you make a good point there, Jim Cavanaugh. Take a breath, everybody, and listen to each other. Thank you, jim. The family of Michael Brown who was killed by a ferguson, missouri, Police Officer in august has condemned the shootings. The family of Michael Brown condemned the senseless killing of two members of Law Enforcement. It cannot be tolerated. We must Work Together to bring peace to our communities. Our thoughts and prayers out to the officers families during this incredibly difficult time. New developments today in the sony hacking case. Theres a new message which appears to be from a group behind the cyber attack and a strong denial by north korea that it had anything to do with the hacking of the Sony Pictures. Hi there, alex. Virtually everyone here in los angeles, here in hollywood is watching as this turns into an international incident. Not only is the u. S. Asking china for cooperation, but now north korea says if it cannot join the u. S. Investigation into the hack, then given what it calls slander by washington, there will be, quote, consequences. Hello, north korea as Sony Pictures wiped the interview off the internet pages, pulling trailers on facebook and twitter, selected journalists received a link to a different video. A 7yearold clip which does not mention sony attached to a message that appears to be from the hackers mocking the fbi for its investigation into the cyber attack against sony. Theyve already gotten what they want, the movies been pulled. So its just sort of gloating. The u. S. Government has publicly pinned the hack on north korea. And their state tv is reporting its leaders have proof theyre not involved in the cyber attack. The white house says it isnt buying it. Instead, asking north korea to admit what its done. Now, the head of the Republican National committee is telling major theater chains, if they show the movie, he will urge supporters to buy a ticket. Not to support one movie or hollywood, but to show north korea we cannot be bullied into giving up our freedom. We have always wanted the American Public to see this movie. Sonys ceo says the studio is actively looking for ways to distribute the film, but nothings been finalized. If this movie does get seen by a massive audience, it would be a victory for free speech. But who knows what the hackers would do if that happens. Already, one studio spiked plans for a Steve Carrell movie sending a shiver through hollywood where some worry the hack has created a chilling effect. Its a very dangerous slippery slope if the studios start making decisions where theyre second guessing attacking controversial subjects. Sonys lawyers said today on meet the press, alex, that this is a state sponsored criminal act this hack. President obama said its not war, but he did call it cyber vandalism. Meantime, alex, the white house says it is pleased that sonys working to try to release the film publicly. Remember, president obama called it a mistake that sony yanked the film in the first place. The studio says it had no choice since the theaters would not distribute it. We have not seen the end of this incident here, of these developments, alex. Not by a long shot have we seen the end of this. Thanks so much. Questions about cuba with a castro still in power, how can new relations with the u. S. Make a difference for cubans on the island and in the states . 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Turning now to the major policy shift in the United States diplomatic relations with cuba this week, the president this morning reiterating after 50 years, it was time for a change. Cuba offers us an example of an opportunity to try something different. For 50 years, weve tried to see if we can overthrow the regime through isolation. It hasnt worked. If we engage, we have the opportunity to influence the course of events at a time when theres going to be some generational change in that country. That comes with some strong pushback from big names on the right this morning. If youre going to make concessions to cuba, if youre going to recognize them diplomatically, have more commerce with them, there has to be some reciprocal opening toward democracy on their part. There was none in this engagement. What we are doing is endorsing their 50 years of oppression and repression in cuba. And that, in my view, would encourage others. Well, joining me now to talk about what this means for the future of cuba and the region in general is the ambassador to uruguay. Welcome to you, maam, and id like to get your reaction to some of the criticism that the president is facing from both the right and even some on the left like senator menendez of new jersey. Do you think this is going to bring about real change in cuba with the castro regime still in place, especially given the speech yesterday . Thanks, alex. We believe these changes are going to be conducive, are going to allow the cuban people to have more access to information, more access to norms that are the modern version of what we consider a modern society. We have already seen these changes taking place. The first regulatory changes took place in 2009 with the Obama Administration issuing the first changes. These latest changes will just lead to greater reform in terms of the access the cuban people have to modern society. And thats really at the heart of these latest reforms. This is not about the cuban government. This is really about the cuban people. But the president has said this is an opportunity to try something different. Is there any validity to a more gradual approach as some critics have suggested . We have been the policy with respect to imposing strong sanctions against cuba has been in place for over 50 years. We have not seen any real change with respect to the way the cuba manages its society, its economy, and obviously many of the democratic or undemocratic practices the government has handled. So we believe a change is necessary in terms of the u. S. Bilateral relationship in order for change in cuba and in Cuban Society to be facilitated and to be accompanied. Which is why the president , i believe shlgs went ahead and added to the reforms that were already in place from 2009, 2011 and now. These additional reforms, which are much more expensive than the prior reforms. What do you think about the concept of an official meeting between president obama and raul castro . A oneonone. Do you think that would be a good idea . And if so, when should that happen . I will leave that to the white house to decide. I am a former ambassador, and i know that latin america and the leadership in latin america applauded the measure by the white house. It will definitely facilitate our relationship in the region. The move itself. But obviously, a lot needs to happen in cuba. This is, these are gradual steps to move forward towards reform in the country. But just the fact that this occurred has given us a new platform in latin america that we did not have before. And for people who are in positions like your former position that youre going to represent the United States and its interests in a country that potentially has some difficult relations with the United States. How does this potentially affect that . I think, again, in latin america throughout, from the caribbean, the whole western hemisphere, we were hearing very clearly that our cuba policy was not working and that it was alienating many countries in the region. Now that this has been this issue is moving forward, we believe in a constructive man r manner, it will definitely help us have a more robust conversation with cuba, along with the other partners in latin america so that we can accompany and urge cuba to move toward a more open and democratic society. Of course, we understand and i understand the concerns of cuban americans here who have suffered because of the separation from family and the situation on the island. Our goal and the goal of the administration is really to create a situation where cuba moves towards a more open society and the cuban people have more resources and information in hand in order to create their own change in the country. Ambassador, thank you for your time. Appreciate it. Thank you. 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For the new volkswagen on your list this year, just about all you need, is a pen. Festive, isnt it . Get zero due at signing, zero down, zero deposit, and zero first months payment on select new volkswagen models. Wellllll. Earlyfit latefit risefit fallfit ballfit wallfit pingfit pongfit pingfit pongfit rowfit throwfit slowfit olliefit oopsfit otisfit thiswayfit thatwayfit daddyfit pappyfit datefit weightfit goalfit gooooooalfit stepfit stairfit smartfit heartfit spinfit bikefit hikefit yikesfit wheeeeefit wowfit whoafit findyourfit its all fitbit welcome back to weekends with alex witt. This tragic story from new york. New yorkers are mourning the deaths of two Police Officers who were gunned down and killed yesterday as they sat in a patrol car on a brooklyn street. The Police Commissioner described what happened. Today, two of new yorks finest were shot and killed with no warning, no provocation. They were quite simply, assassinated. Officer liu and officer ramos never had the opportunity to draw their weapons. They may never have actually even seen their assailant, their murderer. Police said the gunman shot and killed himself as he was pursued by other officers. Late last night, fellow officers saluted as the bodies were being taken from the hospital. Officers rushed to the hospital as they heard of the shooting, the city has not yet announced any memorial plans. Joining me now, professor of political science. With a welcome to you, since the eric garner grand jury decision, theres been quite a rift between some Police Officers and mayor de blasio over comments he made following the decision about what he tells his son when interacting with police. Here is what the spokesman of the policemens association said last night. Theres blood on many hands tonight. Those that incited violence on this street under the guise of protests that tried to tear down what new york city Police Officers did every day. We tried to warn it must not go on, it cannot be tolerated. That blood on the hands starts on the steps of city hall in the office of the mayor. This statement was released on behalf of mayor de blasio responding to those comments which reads, quote, its unfortunate someone would resort to anger. This is a time when was must come together to support the families and friends of the behave officers new york city lost tonight and the entire nypd community. How troubling, if at all, is this link being made by the police, jason . I think its incredibly troubling because were not done with the investigation. Look, its clear it is a tragedy that these two officers were assassinated. But, this person was a crazy wing nut. And to associate him with any protests one way or another. First off, he shot his girlfriend, drove from baltimore to new york city, theres a lot of things that need to be decoupled from this. So for the police or the police union to start throwing out incredibly dangerous rhetoric at the mayor, doesnt help the investigation, and it doesnt help heal the city. Okay. I want to read part of a statement, this one comes from the executive director of color of change. Org. And this reads, we caution the efforts by Police Unions and others to draw misleading connections with this tragedy to the growing nationwide movement to hold officers accountable. Is it inevitable, though, jason for the general public to try to connect the dots in some way here . I mean, thats irresponsible to do so. Theres tons of people in america who say abortion is murder. But i dont necessarily link them to a crazy person who wants to kill an abortion doctor. There were people at the clive inn bundy ranch who ended up shooting Police Officers in las vegas. You know, you cant take every crazy person who tries to attach themselves to a movement and then use that to sort of distract or in any way sort of harm a larger movement. So, you know, people who want to make that connection, maybe that works for them ideologically, but on a practical level and functional level, theres no connection to be made between these horrible murders and the people out there protesting peacefully for months on end. You know, i talk with clint vanzant earlier, and he suggested all this heightened rhetoric is what attracts the fringe element. Theres a possibility of that. But the problem is, what kind of heightened rhetoric are we talking about . Look, there were some reports you had people saying, they wanted dead Police Officers. Obviously thats wrong and a vast majority arent calling for that. But again, its like the example i give with abortion. If you say that abortion is murder, does that lead to some crazy person going and killing abortion doctor . We cant blame people for properly and peacefully protesting for the ways in which some fringe will take care of it. That would eliminate our ability to protest in this country because one or two crazy nut bags decide they want to take it too far. Gregory meeks was on the program a short while ago and he says theres no place for rhetoric or violence in this debate. Lets listen to what he said. We should all be coming together to make sure that we call out. And as, as sharp a term as we can, against, the type of violence or any violence. Because every life matters. And thats the message should be. That every life matters. Is the congressman being realistic that the community and police can find some Common Ground . Can the goals be achieved without violence . The goals can be achieved without violence. I understand the congressmans sincerity, we need to decouple this. We need to be very clear. This man who had he not died, he would have been arrested and prosecuted. The concern that protesters are expressing that in instances where unarmed people may die in a conflict with the police, theyre concerned those issues are not being investigated a the the same level. We cant conflate the behavior of one crazy person to a larger protest Movement Across the country and to confuse the two or claim that these in any way Work Together, i think that does a disservice to the public narrative. Okay. Glad to get your insights. Thanks. Thanks, alex. And the Brooklyn Nets will be honoring the two slain officers tonight. Tweeted condolences so the families of the fallen officers, quote, we honor them with a moment of silence and hope the message of peace resinates. Lets go now to the weather that could create travel nightmares this week. Two massive storms on the move. One in the northwest, another one in the east. And the weather channels Reynolds Wolf has more on the christmas forecast from Laguardia Airport. Hi, reynolds. Reporter el wiwell, its an interesting morning here at laguardia. Quite a few people going up to the ticket counters, coming in through the doors, over to my right, going through, getting their tickets, seat assignments, hopefully a nice spot on the plane. Always makes a difference if youre sitting on the aisle, middle seat or by the window. Some people are skipping that option and going to the kiosks. Theyre traveling light and zip their way through security and on to the plane and on to the destination. Today, alex, is a great day to travel because we dont have any headaches that well, what were going to see in days to come. Lets be honest here, you take a look at the map, see the scenario, weve got the weather system chugging on through, and its going to be these two systems that are going to give a lot of people, millions of americans some serious travel headaches. So we can anticipate greater delays as we get into tomorrow, certainly into tuesday and perhaps even wednesday. Closer to the weekend, conditions for much of the east coast are going to calm down. Unfortunately, for those of you hoping for a white christmas, that probably is not going to be in the mix for much of new york or boston or d. C. For that matter. But, again, good day to travel today, tomorrow, next couple of days. Not so much. Alex, lets travel it back to you. Thank you so much, Reynolds Wolf. Whats putting more money in the pockets of shoppers . Certainly some falling gas prices. Theyre down again today for the 87th straight day. The National Average for regular costing just under 2. 41 a gallon, which is down 15 cents from last week, 23 cents since last month, 43 cents from a year ago. The Auto Industry could be racing toward a new market because of the decision to normalize relations with cuba. Classic cars that populate cubas roads. This is a fun story, chris. But lets talk about the Auto Industrys stance, first of all on the president s decision. Taking a wait and see approach, alex. Theyre saying, you know, weve got to see what happens with these trade talks if things open up in cuba. Theyre ready to come in with models that will help replace some of the old that have been hanging around the 1950s there. If the cuban government, though, has a monopoly on the auto business there. I understand they own about 50 of the cars on the island. What do automakers want to see happen in the trade negotiations in order to create the opportunities . They just want to get a chance to get a foothold in there on a free trade basis. The best analogy is what we saw in myanmar a couple of years ago. Here was a very oppressive regime. We opened up diplomatic relations with them. Now some automakers have set up shop there. Theyre selling cars. Theyve got third world models theyre ready to bring in that are very cheap, very rugged, perfect for these kinds of markets. Is there anything in terms of a concern for the Auto Industry. Establishing this new relationship with cuba. Not that ive heard. Theyre viewing it right now as a strict business kind of deal. Thats why theyre saying wait and see. They do not want to alienate americans that do not want to open up trade relations. But by the same token, any smart businessman thats going to sit back and wait and see if theres going to be an opportunity to do something on a very legal basis. From the collectors standpoint, there could be a rush to cuba to try to add to collections. But i understand by your article that some of these cars arent in the best mechanical shape. Theyre disasters. These things are wrecks on wheels. Theyve been held together. You have this 60,000, one estimate has it of pre1959 cars wheeling around havana, wheeling around cuba. And collectors say, itd be fun to have some of these cars, but theyre in deplorable shape. They want to go in and look for the best ones. They want to cherry pick through the island, look for a few of those gems that might be in barns or under tarp somewhere that really could be add to the collection or really be worth something. Is anybody giving an amount as to what they could fetch some of these cars if theyre in good condition, at least . Well, i havent heard any estimates, per se, but on those true collector cars, theyre going to pay record market prices. If you had a mercedes from the 1950s in pristine shape, thats 500,000 car. Now, these ones that everyone knows most, these 1955 bellaires and these old plymouths and chryslers running around, theyre not going to be worth much at all. Collectors might want them anyway because theyre such huge notoriety just to have them. Well, theres kind of a romantic notion to having them, right . Absolutely. Its one of the things that really sort of says a lot about modern day cuba. Its part of the color, the culture of the island is these crazy 1950s cars. That have, you know, might have like a chinese engine in them or might have all kinds of crazy p upholstery in them. It makes up modern day cuba. All right. Great interview. Thanks so much. Thank you. Americas energy boom, could it be in jeopardy . Thats next. Thanks. [ male announcer ] fedex® has solutions to enable Global Commerce that can help your company grow steadily and quickly. Great job. mandarin cut it out. See you tomorrow. Ime know im doing a good job. Ts i like it when my toothpaste lets me know too. Thats why i went pro. Go pro with crest prohealth. For an intensive clean. I can really feel it deep cleaning my mouth. For a 4x better clean try these products together. That was a great check up. vo rescued. Ed. Protected. Given new hope. During the subaru share the love event, subaru owners feel it, too. Because when you take home a new subaru, we donate 250 dollars to helping those in need. Well have given 50 Million Dollars over seven years. Love. 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All timed with the release of a public review by the States Health department. Despite the move, the governor acknowledged wednesday this is not a onesided issue. This is not really a laymans question. Is fracking safe . Is it dangerous . Should it be allowed to go forward, right . The pro is, it can create jobs. The negative is its dangerous. And depending on which side of the table youre on, thats the argument. Well, joining me now is someone who is in favor of this new ban, the executive director of the sierra club. Michael, thank you for joining me. Youre calling this a triumph from new york. Explain why. Yeah, its great news. What weve discovered over the last few years as fracking has spread across the country is that it is unsafe for a lot of communities, it is unhealthy, but also, when you compare it to other Energy Sources, its increasingly unnecessary. So were really excited by what the governor did and we hope that itll spread to other states across the country. Eke o. So the states Public Health review found significant uncertainties about the kinds of adverse outcomes of fracking, but acknowledges more Research Needs to be done. Why ban this now before the research is done. When the governor said the pro is job creation. Well, because, think about it. One of the things that the acting state Health Commissioner said is would he want his family to live near a fracking site . And when you think about it, you dont want to live near a place thats contaminating your water or increasing air pollution and then find out later that youve been living in a place that is causing these Adverse Health effects. We want to stop the problem before it starts. Yeah. Go ahead. No, you go ahead. Well, so the question really is, everybody will acknowledge that fraccing does create jobs, right . Every kind of Energy Sources when you invest in it will create jobs. So the real question is, what source should we invest in . Should we invest in natural gas or oil . Which caused some significant air and water contamination and make Climate Change worse . Or should we invest in solar and wind and Energy Efficiency which can solve multiple problems with one set of solutions . Well, when you put it that way, it seems pretty clear. But as you can see when these bans have been on the ballot, most of them have failed. So what about putting this to the people . Well, thats actually whats been happening, and many of them are succeeding. There were four, excuse me, there were eight Ballot Initiatives in the last election about a month ago. And four of them succeeded. In fact, one of them that succeeded was in the birthplace of fracking down in benton, texas. Several of them passed in california. Weve seen bans pass in colorado, as well. Sometimes they do go forward and sometimes fracking is banned altogether. The one thing that i think is underreported about this story is that if you look, even if you look at this just in new york, throughout governor cuomos first term, the cost of clean energy has dropped much more even than the price of oil these days. So the cost of solar has dropped by almost 50 . The cost of wind has dropped by almost 50 . So what were seeing now is that we actually can invest in clean energy at a large scale and save money in the process. And that is what is making it easier for new york to ban fracking and other states to start to do the same. Do you think other states are going to follow new yorks lead . And when it comes to research, michael, do you think research should be put into proving why fracking is bad . Or should it be put into why say, for example, solar energy is good . Well, wed like to see both. You know, more information always informs a better debate, i think. What were seeing here in california and in places like colorado, new mexico, arizona, and a lot of states in the midwest is that they are beginning to phase out of coal, and in some cases reduce the amount of gas theyre using. And theyre shifting to wind and theyre shifting to solar. And in most of those places, the rates that consumers are paying are either staying the same or actually going lower. And we also know is that clean energy because its more laborintensive, produces more jobs. So were able to help families put food on the table and pay their rent or pay their mortgage, able to help solve the climate crisis. Okay. Joining us from san francisco, thank you so much. Thanks, alex. What are the chances north korea is not behind the sony hack attacks . A former hacker joins me with his take next. I told my dentist about my sensitive teeth, he told me theres a whole new way to treat sensitivity. He suggested i try new crest sensistop strips. 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And we have the team. We made over 15 billion successful deliveries last year. 15 billion football has a season. Baseball has a season. This is our season. Its a side of santa that has some people seeing red. Outside of chico, california, a sign that shows santa armed with an assault rifle. The owners say santa is promoting safety. The idea of this symbol of joy and giving holding an assault rifle. It is so contradictory. Santa has his eye shades on and his finger pointing in the right direction. Safety, those are the things we want to promote. Reaction to the santa billboard reportedly has been generally positive. There are new developments between the back and forth charges between the u. S. And north korea over the hacking at Sony Pictures. North korea keeps insisting it had no part in attack and wants a joint investigation with the u. S. Kevin mitnick is a former hacker. He its now a computer consultant with his own firm. Lets talk about the doubts, whether north korea was the source. There are many that do not believe the attack came from north korea. Could north korea pull this off . Im skeptical. I remember when i was hacking a Company Called Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1980s, i was able to fuel fbi agents into raiding somebody elses apartment because i was able to misdirect the attack. I think we to be 100 sure before the u. S. Government does a proportional response. Typically, what the fbi was relying on was the type of malware and what i. P. Addresses the attacks were coming from. In the Hacking Community, we share the tools, the techniques, the infrastructure. Whose not to say that some other hacking group, north koreas sympathizers, have not obtained this malware and made it look like north korea. I am not sure if north korea is behind the attack. We should be 100 sure before we do anything about it. Bloomberg news is reporting that hack terse who broke into sonys hollywood unit probably spent months collecting pars words before they committed this last vandalism in ten minutes, like setting an alarm. How can a virus live in a sophisticated system for months without setting off some sort of alarm . Hackers typically put Malicious Software in a network. There is some sort of tricker. A time, indeed, that triggers the malware to do its dirty deed, like wiping a hardware. Usually, companies rely on Antivirus Software to detect these threats. Unfortunately, it is dead. When im doing security testing and my clients ask me to hack into their systems, i put also not malicious but similar type of software. I am able to bypass the Antivirus Software. It needs to come up with better tools and solutions to help businesses detect this malicious code before it does the damage. How many people are out there that can do what you do . Tons. There are lots of people that are really good at hacking systems. You have hackers, Security Experts and nation states but hacking sony, i dont think, was really that hard. Really . I hack today but legally. My clients give me authorization and our success rate at attacking companies as big as sony is about almost 100 . Thats because it is so easy. I wonder if sony had what we call. We call them penetration tests. Its an Ethical Hacking exercise to try to break into the systems to find the vulnerabilities so we can fix them. I wonder if they went through these and found problems so they could fix them. Would somebody on the inside have had to help . Not necessarily. Remember, the bad guys transferred 100 terabytes of data. Thats like taking the library of congress and multiplying it by ten. If they were using the internet to do this, to transfer the data out, it would take a long time. It would take probably two weeks to a month. Ive got no time. Thanks, kevin. Weve got to go. 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Packed with taste. This sunday we can fot have we cannot have a society in which dictators start to impose president obama says Sony Pictures was wrong to cave to the demands of sony hackers and cancelled the release of the interview. Has a dangerous precedent been set. How should north korea respond to the cyberattack. Can the government protect businesses and the public . Two Police Officers shot an killed in new york city this weekend, adding more tension to an already stressed city. They were quite simply