this evening we're taking a closer look at challenges ahead for carter and the u.s. military. we begin with mike viqueira. he's at the white house for us. mike? >> reporter: tony, it was a rarest of occurrenses. ashton carter contradicted the president on a key issue. president obama had said that arming the ukrainian army in their fight against russian rebels in eastern ukraine could never work because no matter how much arms you give to the ukrainian army, they will never be a match to the russian army. ashton carter in his hearing said that that is actually a good idea. >> i think we need to support the ukrainians in defending themselves. the nature of those arms, i haven't conferred with our military or ukrainian leaders but i incline in the direction of providing with arms, including to getting what i'm sure your question is, lethal arms. >> now administration spokesmen spent the day back pedaling saying there is no change in u.s. policy and they would not be sending arms to ukraine any time soon. but that policy is now under consideration. >> the strategy for fighting isil also came and attack today at the hearing. how did carter handle those moments? >> you know, it's interesting. this nomination is expected to sail through tony. but a lot of republican senators use this as an opportunity to bash president obama on other policies that come under the purview of the defense department. let's look at the-- >> just a moment. my apologies. i want to send everyone to brisbane australia, where our colleague, peter greste just released from prison in egypt is speaking. let's listen to peter. >> this has an extraordinary odyssey for everyone, my family, for us, our supporters. i really want to thank everyone who has been involved with this campaign who has been supporting us from the many hundreds of thousands of people ordinary members of congress who join the campaign, who supported us on twitter and facebook, and who went out on marchs and demos to the diplomats and politicians, the latvian government in particular, and the australia government, julie bishop and her team, dr. ralph king ambassador in egypt and his team did an absolutely remarkable job in supporting us. i want to thank you guys. it feels weird to be on this side of the microphone, i have to say. it's a little bit out of character. it's odd but that's one of the most amazing parts of this whole experience the way the media all of us are a fractius bunch it's give difficult for us to organize and to have a sense of unity has blown me away. in so many ways this has been a revelation. i'm still only comeing to understand the incredible extent of this campaign of what has happened in support of us, so to everyone who was involved in anything along the way i really want to say an incredibly heartfelt thank you. any questions? >> you're welcome home you mentioned when you were released it felt like a rebirth. when you walked in your family home. how was that. >> oh, gosh, rebirth. the home that mom and dad are in is not the home that i grew up in. i've own seen it empty. but what makes it a home are the people there. this is the first time we've been together since this whole thing began. but you know, if i appreciated my family beforehand, what they've given me, what they've done for the campaign if there was anything in my remarks, it was to thank my family. i know, i know more than anyone else perhaps that this campaign would not have had half the momentum that it has if it wasn't for the incredible contribution of my parents my brothers my inlaws. the way they've expressed themselves. the dignity passion resolve has just been unbelievable. i rediscovered just how remarkable they all really are and how important they are. it was unbelievable. >> it's great that you give credit to your family. but how did you get through this incredible experience? >> incarceration at the best of times, in the best of circumstances is always going to be very difficult situation. i knew particularly because it was realtively open ended process, we never really were sure when it was going to end or how it was going to end. we needed to prepare for the long haul. i know from my readings and from my experience doing stories on what other people had been through, that to get through it you need to be fit. mentally fit intellectually fit and spiritually fit. so i and my colleagues made a deliberate effort to stay physically fit. we had limited space but we made sure that we worked out we kept ourselves healthy. i also embarked organ a course in a masters degree in international relations. i also want to thank the staff of griffith university to help to supply the material in the old fashion way. i was doing he is say essays in pencil and paper. can you imagine what it must have been like for my professors. and martin, who also facilitated that process. also i meditated to stay calm, stay focused and stayed relax. i want to pay credit to my colleagues. we would support one another very directly. we knew that people had their up days and their down days, and we were very careful at helping one another out living to one another, talking to one another supporting one another and at the same time giving space when we needed it. we've all grown very close as a result of this process as a result of this experience. this was very important in surviving it. >> what are your plans? >> as they say in politics, spend time with the family. i don't know what will happen over the longer term. i've only just walked out. there are so many things to think about so many things to consider. obviously there are some other projects that mighty merge from this whole experience that i would like to look at, but right now there are far more doors opening up than i really had a chance to look through. at the moment my instinct, if you don't mind closing your ears for a moment? >> oh dear. i know what's coming. >> i don't want to give this up. i'm a correspondent. that's what i do. how i do it. whether i actually do go ahead with it, i don't know. that's the way i feel right now. that's my honest answer, but that could easily change and exactly how and wear and under what circumstances i don't know. >> following up on that, can i ask you how you feel about that? >> well, i've answered this before. you know, we've always believed that our children should follow their passion and peter is following his and we need to let him do that. at the same time, i do--he has got to know that we're not going through this again. >> you got to love that from peter's mom our al jazeera's colleague, peter greste in a news conference in his home of brisbane australia. peter greste is returning home after 400 days in an egyptian prison. we'll always mention our colleagues, mohamed fahmy, baher mohammed, who remain in prison in egypt. it seems that the meditation and studying for a college degree helped peter pass the time. let's get to our top story the confirmation hearing of ashton carter to be the next secretary of defense. lawrence corb, now with us the center of american progress and joins us in washington, d.c. good to talk with you again. look you've been through a confirmation process. what is your job in that moment when you are the nominee? >> well, basically you want to get confirmed. you don't want to annoy anybody on the committee you also don't want to undermine the president who has appointed you because what they're after in the hearing is to try and object or challenge some of the president's policies, particularly when you have a congress control by a party different from the white house. >> yes so with that said, if you wanted, if you're just a member of the public and you wanted a fuller, deeper discussion of u.s. policy in the numerous hot spots in the world today, fair enough to say that you didn't necessarily get it today? >> yes that's true. in fact, after one of the talks about isil in the middle eastish and talked about a strategy. center mccain said in the end that's not a strategy. one thing that came out most was he said he's inclined to provide lethal aid to ukraine because that is not the administration's policy. although there have been a lot of former administration officials like strobe, talbot and others organizing that this week that we should go from a non-lethal aid to lethal aid. >> that's interesting. i want to get to that in just a moment. but let us have that discussion, that we didn't necessarily get during the hearing today. what is the real plan for isis? as you know general martin dempsey, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff said as many as 18,000 fighters may be needed inside syria to have an impact--that's an important word here--impact against isis. that's not crushing isis. how long of a commit of time and resources is the u.s. looking at here? and do you agree with the strategy? >> well, i think it's going to take a long time because those 18,000 people that general dempsey is talking about are not going to be americans. those are the ones who are training and vetting in saudi arabia and jordan. that's going to take six months before they get there. i think the american people will continue to support this because fortunately, there have been no american casualties, and we're using our technological advantage using air power. it's expensive but pales in comparison to iraq in 2003. >> eastern ukraine. we were talking about it just a moment ago has been in turmoil for a year now. is it clear to you that russia continues to send tanks guns and soldiers across that border to back up separatist fighters? >> there is no doubt about it that the russians are intervening there. they claim they're not but if you look at russian television you look at brothers and fathers and kids who have been killed there. yes, they are. they're trying to keep pressing their advantage because what they would like to see is eastern ukraine break apart from the rest of ukraine which they fear is going to join nato. >> that's the setup from what i want to ask you ashton carter backs up supplying lethal arms to ukraine fighters, government fighters. the president doesn't seem to believe that. he doesn't believe that you can arm the ukrainian military enough to take on essentially the russian military, so there is some daylight there. we know who gets the last word on this, but what is your opinion here? who is right? >> well, i think the president is correct. because it's one thing to say well we'll provide lethal aid. what happens if that doesn't work and the russians up the anty. how far are you prepared to go. we found since 9/11 that it's easier to start a war than to get out of it. the president is clear, he thinks that the economic sanctions in the long term is going to be what gets the russians to back down. >> yes, i was surprised to hear those words from carter. aren't libya and yemen the cautionary tale you need to think long and hard before arming and training ukrainian forces? >> yes there is no doubt about that and the president felt the same way about syria. a lot of arms went in there from countries like saudi arabia, and they ended up in the wrong hands. this is very important to keep in mind. and while it's easy to say well, you know, we've got to do something, the question is then what? libya got word of gaddafi. are we better off now? >> it's been nice to talk to you. >> nice to talk with you. >> joining us from washington, d.c. larry, thank you. a formal quite operative is making claims, testifying in a civil lawsuit that several saudi princes gave money to al-qaeda in the years before. >> telling "the new york times" he was a deranged criminal who lacks credibility. it is a day of warning in taiwan as rescue teams try to find 15 people still missing in a stunning plane crash. 31 people were killed when the transasia plane literally fell out of the sky as adrian brown tells us now. a dash cam captured the aircraft's final moments. >> in taiwan cars often have an on board camera in case there is an accident. but no one imagined recording one like this. a passenger plane cartwheeling out of the sky. it's wing clips the roof of a taxi before nowing into the wall. the driver survived. but many on the flight didn't. it crashed into the river in suburban taipei. rescuers quickly realized the scale of the operation that confronted them. >> as you can see at the scene the head of the plane is in the water. right now we're asking the military to set up a makeshift bring to get near the fuselage to carry out rescue operations. >> reporter: the survivors included this young child. but later it became clear that this would also be an operation to recover bodies, many of the missing had been trapped in the submerged front of the plane. >> most of the dead are tourists from mainland china which claims sovereignty over taiwan, regarding it as a breakaway province. now the governments of both are united in mourning. the aircraft that crashed was an atr 72 turboprop operated by transasia airways, taiwan's third largest airline. just seven months ago the same type of aircraft operated by the same airline crashed killing 48 people. at a news conference management offered another apology. >> we also want to know what caused the new plane to crash but i cannot make any speculation. >> the atr 72 is made by a french-italian company and there are more than 750 of them in operation around the world. it's been a difficult 12 months for asian aviation. the retrieval of both flight recorders from this latest crash means the inquiry could begin soon. adrian brown al jazeera, beijing. >> a federal investigationers are now on the scene of yesterday's deadly train crash north of new york city. they're trying to figure out what caused a packed commuter train to slam into a car. six people were killed, and with part of one the nation's busiest rail lines was crippled. >> reporter: spending the day to investigate the train in a collided with a suv. they're using special 3d scanner devices to take images of the train as they figure out what led to the commuter railroad's deadliest crash. >> we're not here to speculate. we're not here to determine the cause of the accident. while we're here we're here just to collect the information, and then we go back and conduct a very thorough analysis of those facts. >> reporter: the suv ace driver and five people on the train were killed. officials are using dental records to identify them. more than a dozen others were injured. hospital officials say one person remains in critical condition, another in serious condition. the impact was so severe that the elect trified third rail pierced the train. the first car was engulfed in flames. a passenger in the second car shot this video of people trying to leave the train. officials say that it appears that the driver of the suv was trying to lift the crossing gate at the time of the crash. >> there are more than 200,000 grade crossings in the united states. this one is in new york, just down the road from the site of tuesday night's accident. not all of them are as well marked as this one but half of all grade crossing accidents involving a train and a vehicle happen at crossings like this one where there are gates flashing lights and even bells and a sign warning people not to stop on the tracks. >> according to the federal railroad administration there were 2100 crashes at rail crossings in 2013. 239 people killed, and 800 more injured. this is not the first time that metro north has come under this type of scrutiny. they've been under tight scrutiny under a series of crashes. is enough being done to make this railroad safer. >> i believe those issues at the time that report was issued was valid, but i also want to caution that there may be no relationship between those issues that we found in that special investigation report and this accident. >> rail service is now suspended along part of one of the nation's busiest commuter lines. buss are being brought in to help team get to work. commuters are also dealing with crowded trains. it's not clear when full service will resume. >> we learned a lot more about the details of this wreck a little bit earlier that ntsb press conference, i want to let you know coin, what was described is a horrifying scene. the measures mercedes suv wedged under the train, the scene was described as five 80-foot sections of that rail were fired up into the front that have train. and then the fuel from the suv started that blaze. right now we're in shall valhalla in the last crossing where the train would have passed through the crash. you can see here it's well marked. there is a sign that says do not stop on the tracks. they're the same kind of sign at the crash site. the question is what was that car doing on the tracks? >> paul beban for news valhalla new york. coming up, regulating the internet. just like a phone service the new proposal for the web. plus a detroit man's 21-mile walk to work inspired a crowd funding campaign to buy him a car. but it's just as difficult to get around the motor city. just a little bit later. we're still taking a hard look at the most important issues out there to get you the answers you deserve. >> "real money with ali velshi" at its new time. 10:30 eastern. >> we're just doing it a little later every night. >> so the last two big name office supply stores may become one. staples wants to buy office depot. it still needs to be okayed by federal antitrust regulators. office depot and office max combined forces a little over a year ago. prosecutors reportedly have their sights on another big credit rating agency just one day after standard & poor's agreed to pay $1.4 billion payout over credit ratings in the lead up to the financial crisis. real money's ali velshi join us with more on this. what else do you know about this aly? >> it's interesting when the government and the care justice attorney generals and the government met with s & p they claimed that they were picking on s & p and in their defends said why are you not looking at moody's and fitch? why are you not going after them? now they're setting their sights on moody's. tonight i will talk with attorney general george jeppesen in the end 19 states joined along with the government for the $1.4 billion settlement. there is talk as you mentioned that that could be a template. moody's s&p, and fitch make up the three credit rating agencies. here's the part that gets stuck in your craw. the issue is that they get paid by the financial firms to rate the securities that those firms create and market to investors. that's like when you and i go to get a mortgage, we don't like our credit report so we can pay to get that changed. it just doesn't seem fair. critics say there is an inherent conflict of interest that burns investors. they accuse s&p and others of purposely assigning rosy ratings to mortgage-backed securities that they knew were not that good. those toxic securities nearly imploded the financial system. and s&p was insistent that they do not admit to the fact that they committed fraud. they have a statement of fact that basically allows them to pay this $1.4 billion without admitting or denying any wrongdoing. that does not sit well with me. but if they pay $1.4 billion, that speaks volumes. >> let me follow up on that. how much does this pay out hit s&p's bottle bottom line, and is it enough to prevent inflating ratings in the future? >> that's a good question because we had this discussion with jp morgan chase. it was a lot of money but did not feel like a drop in the bucket. $1.4million is a lot of money to s&p. it's equivalent to two years of profit. not for s&p but its parent company mcgraw hill. now in this country they can claim part of the settlement as part of the tax write of. part of it is a fine. no one can claim a fine as a tax write off but a legal settlement can be. so they might save up to $290 million on their next tax bill. the other thing remember that the people who pay these things are the shareholders of the companies. no executive has gone to jail over the financial crisis at all. no executive has been made to pay a fine. you might have a 401k or ira that holds mcgraw hill, so maybe it's us who is paying the fine in the end and it's not effecting executives in any way. >> what else are you working on for the program. >> we'll look at why women continue to make less than men in the workplace. i'm talking with someone about the issue with patricia milligan. that's the global consulting firm mercer, which knows more about how much people earn than anybody else on earth. it's an interesting conversation about wages and fairness. >> you can watch "real money with ali velshi" at 10:30 p.m. eastern and 7:30 p.m. pacific. up next, new concerns were key allies in the gulf. plus our colleague peter greste is home in australia after 400 days in an egyptian prison. we'll hear more from him. >> there is more angry reaction to isil's apparent murder of a kidnapped jordanian pilot by burning him alive. today the king of jordan promised to wage a relentless war against the isil fighters. today on capitol hill both republicans and democrats said that the u.s. needs to support jordan in that effort. mike viqueira more from washington. >> reporter: at the white house a claim that despite a key sunni ally grounding its warplanes. >> i can tell you that operation in syria has not stopped. >> reporter: they stopped flying missions against isil targets in december when lieutenant moaz al kassasbeh was capture by isil. amid the criticism an intensive airborne search was initiated immediately in the pilot's last known location. there is no risk that american airmen don't share. amidst the tuesday meeting senator john mccain met with the king and on wednesday's confirmation hearing ashton carter vowed to press the administration for action. >> are you aware of the problems that jordanians are having with acquiring some of the weapons that they need? >> i'm not mr. chairman. i learned of them this morning as well as. >> those allegations brought a sharp denial from the state department. >> so i don't see what the evidence is to back that up. >> in his testimony defense nominee carter gave this assessment. >> in a time where the number and severity of the risks is not something that i've seen before in my life. >> while mccain pounded president obama on his policy. >> training them and sending them in to be barrel bombed the morality of that alone much less the unworkability that have is in contradiction to everything that the united states ever stood for or fought for. >> the training of moderate opposition is still months away from becoming. >> joining me now on this is joshua landis, the direct ever of middle east studies at the university of oklahoma. joshua, good to see you and talk with you again. senator mccain in meetings with king of jordan, the king said it will irradicate this extreme form of terrorism. i thought that was interesting. what kind of ability does jordan have to wage what he is promising here, this relentless war? >> jordan can assist the united states particularly with intelligence but it can participate more. what we're seeing today is a real change in the arab world as it turns against isis. and i believe these are beginning to horrify muslims more generally, but arabs in particular. we saw the way it turned against isis when it killed americans but jordan saw the same thing. now the sentiment the saudis have begun to turn against this sort of jihad. they've declared the jihad in syria is not a jihad and will arrest any saudis who go and join it. this is turning 180 degrees from the additional policies. >> joshua, you don't believe that jordan can lead the effort, but can assist the united states. do you see jordan--i'm trying to understand relentless war. do you see jordan committing ground forces to fight isis in syria? >> i don't. i don't. it's hard to imagine that anyone is going to commit--a little country like jordan is going to commit soldiers to a war that is really about getting the iraqi army to control iraq. it's figuring out a way to deal with syria as we heard mccain and others over who is going to end up ruling syria. these are the bigger questions. jordan can aassist us and can aassist--can aassist iraq and syrians, but jordanian troops are not going to occupy the north of syria. >> a couple of other points i want to get here. the uae the united arab emirates no longer flying missions in syria. they stopped in december. what is the coalition really willing to do even in the aftermath of the killing of this jordanian pilot? what do you see as this coalition particularly the gulf nations as their real commitment to this coalition? >> no, there is not. and the real problem is that there are two very sectarian shiite groups, and they've caught the sunnies in between them in in in a vice grip. and the sunnies do not believe that they can replace isis with a better government. that's the problem. sunnies are angry at isis but also angry at the united states for not fixing syria and iraq. >> okay, we're getting at it now. so it all brings us back. does it? it seems to this idea of bridging the sunni-shia divide, and what the united states can possibly do to bridge that divide. >> that's the real problem. i believe the united states has very limited ability to fix the middle east. this is something that middle middle easterners are going to have to do. we went in to fix the dictatorship and we broke the country. we don't have answers in the civil battles being waged. the gulf areas are paralyzed because they blame the united states for unleashing the shiites on the region in iraq. but they are pursuing policies that are extremely anti-shiite. this is never going to solve the situation. both can live together. both can believe that the others are not--are not apostates. >> joshua, appreciate it so much. josh a the director of the middle east east studies from the university of oklahoma. coming up on the international hour at 9:00 eastern why some gulf nations are reluctant to get involve involved in the fight against isil. president obama hosting those benefiting from the executive action on immigration. he met at the white house with six so-called dreamers. they're young immigrants whose parents brought them into the country illegally. his executive actions would allow them to stay in the united states. the president said he will veto any congressional effort to change that. jeb bush was in detroit today giving his first big policy speech as a potential 2016 candidate. he outlined the country's issue. michael shure good to see you. what did you take away from bush's speech? >> well, you know, this was the first speech he game since announcing that he's going to be running for president tony, and a lot of eyes were on him to see how he would strike the balance between education. he was in detroit, and the fact that he's trying to set himself apart from a field even this early. he has done it in financing. they want to see him do it in policy. one of the things that people inevitably would be watching is how he deals with his family. today he spoke about his brother and his father. >> i love my dad. in fact, my dad is the greatest man alive. if anybody disagrees we'll go outside. and i love my brother. i think he was a great president. it doesn't bother me a bit to be proud of them and love them. >> and what is interesting about that tony, you hear the--these are questions as i said, that they're going to be asking jeb bush a lot. he's asked all the time. what he has done is cleverly gone with love, how much he loves his father and his brother, whatever you think of the job they did they're my family. that is going to serve him well as he fine tunes his message. >> i think you're right about that. scott walker has been named as a possible 2016 contender. what has he been up to this week? >> well, what he has been up to is hitting the ceiling with joy after mitt romney dropped out of the race. he's trying to claim that acreage. when he was challenged a few years ago in a recall, he had a huge network nationally of people who gave money to fight that recall effort when he was trying to mess with collective bargaining and prevailed. he's still the governor. but what that did for him is he had so many people to give--so many donors as part of his network and it worked out well for him. >> the vaccination debate has both sides scrambling here u talking about public health this week. what is the latest? >> the latest is coming from freshman senator tom till his from north carolina. he was talking about whether or not restaurant should take down signs with their mandates of employees wash their hands before they go to work. >> one of the employees came out, for example don't you believe that this regulation that requires this gentleman to wash his hands before he serves your food is important? as a matter of fact, i think it's one that i can illustrate the point. i said i don't have any problem with starbucks if they choose to opt out of the policy as long as they post a sign that says we don't require our employees to wash their hands before they leave the restroom. the market will take care of that. >> it may not be where he wants to go. he may want to wash his hands of this issue. >> michael shure for us. out of los angeles. michael, appreciate it. today's power politics for you. there was a significant signal of support today to keep the internet just the way it is. the head of the federal communication would have new rules that would have telecom companies treated as a regular company regulated by the government. >> maybe the best way to think about these new proposed fcc rules is to think about all the things that the government provides to you and i as an open service. for instance, freeways. right now we all have access to the at the same time freeway. it doesn't matter if you're a multi billion dollar company moving freight and trucks or just you and me in our cars. no one is segregateed depending on how much they pay to have access to the freeway. >> reporter: the plan to do away with net neutrality brought huge outcry. the question was whether to allow internet providers to charge a premium for a second internet, a faster more reliable internet. the rest of us who don't pay extra would have a slower connection. think about it this way. speed makes or breaks the companies that deliver content like movies or or music to the web. when you see loading an loading you go to another site. faster sites have the advantage. net neutrality, we all should travel the same roads. everyone travels at the same speed but for years internet providers have argued they should be able to charge more for a faster form of the internet. those who could not fared the afford the access, would share a slower highway. segregation could kill the internet as we know it. in an op-ed wheeler wrote the proposal that i presented to the commission would insure that the internet remains hope and now in the future for all americans. the proposed rules would prevent broadband providers were blocking or limiting content. they'll vote on the content later this month. in the message that was posted on the internet today they mentioned that the rules will apply to mobile broadband as well. this addresses the greater criticisms that they've been behind the technology. now it seems that they're trying to make sure that the internet reaches us the same way that the highway does, free and open, guaranteed to all no matter how we visit the internet, whether it's through a browser, on the phone or through some other device in the future. >> jake ward reporting for us. the man who ran the notorious website silk road has been convicted in. the jury found him guilty of drug trafficking and money laundering. albrecht faces up to life in prison when he's sentenced in may. it seems that a car is essential getting around the motor city. remember the man who walked 21 miles to and from work each day? supporters have raised enough money to guy him a car. but for many others public transit does not make getting to work easy. bisi onile-ere has that story. >> gayle jones relies on the public transit every day. it's a broken system that can only take her so far. >> that has to be a huge inconvenience for you. >> it is. you have to adjust your life it's a limitation that effects where you live. >> it all cost her a job. live be in detroit she said it took her more than six hours to travel to and from work. and a lot of her time was spent walking. >> and i would actually get home in time to take a hot bath, meditate. i dare not fall asleep, and then go back. i did that for like, three months six months, something like that. i lived off coffee could deep myself going. >> she eventually ran out of gas. >> that has to take a toll. >> it did. it did. it's almost like you have another job just getting to and from your job. so you put in a double shift whether you want to or not. >> and in a city known as the automotive capitol of the world detroit's public transit system is dysfunctional at best. from the city to the suburbs the regions transportation options are limited underfunded and unreliability. the detroit transit system has struggled for decades. the city has an on time rate of 65%. the national average is 85%. in the suburbs, a number of communities have opted out of the transit system all together. detroit is predominantly black. jones fields feels that race is a factor. >> it tells me that michigan is one of the most racist states in the union. that's what it tells me. >> michael ford, ceo of the regional transit authority of southeast michigan. an organization formed a few years ago to help bridge the gap between the city and the suburbs. so far there have been no major reforms. >> who is accountable for making sure that these lines run better? >> i think it's all our accountability but we're here to make sure that happens and working with our transit providers, making sure that we're all working together, it's our responsibility to make that happen. >> ford says improving a broken bus system will require funding education, and extending a reach to the suburbs. >> well, i think we have to meet with them, talk with them, and understand what their issues are and their concerns. and then we have to communicate how transportation can be helpful to that community. >> i don't know if it needs to be that they need to be cooperative or they just need to be merged into one. i don't know. but i know that the quality of service needs to be improved. >> and in january detroit's mayor rolled out a fleet of new buses promising that more changes were on the way. but as the city works to rebound from bankruptcy, jones stills sees a rough road ahead. bisi onile-ere al jazeera, detroit. >> and coming up next, her company has gone too far cashing in on black history month. >> february black history month, so all this month we're taking a closer look at race in america. today why are some companies turning big profits as part of the celebration? nike has released new sneakers and sports wear labeled the black history month collection. the shoes cost upwards of $300. adidas is out with a black history month shoe collection. it's a pleasure to have you in the program. i haven't seen you in ten years it's really been that long? >> it's been ten years. >> the commercialization of black history month what is your take on this? >> let me say this, and this has been the struggle to insure people know that there is such a thing. that the founder created negro history week in 1926 was concerned with, but in america there is always the kind of idea that what we do is rerecognize things by commercializing them. when he did that, you know, black people were being lynched disfranchiseed segregated, economically exploited and using foot notes as weapons in a brief for black humanity. i don't want to get at a far away from that. >> i wonder if companies like adidas and nike, $300 for a pair of shoes that commemorate the month, why not offer a really deep dig count. that's a lot of money first and foremost. and do these companies also have a kind of give-back component to this month as well? do we know that? >> i'm told that there are there are fillen philanthropic aspect. >> that is a huge bite. >> african-american wealth is significantly less than white wealth i think there is better ways of these achievements. >> you've written at no point in the history of the united states have black people been more visible orem powered than the press present moment. expand on that for me. >> if you look around popular culture it's dominated by african-americans. in athletics music politics, we're represented in the highest office in the land, and at the same time we see dynamics of 900,000 of us incarcerated. the unemployment numbers that we've talked about previously, you have seen significant issues around policing and police brutality in st. louis ferguson cleveland, staten island and so forth. these are the concerns that we need to be grappling with in black history month not simply will these great individuals who are on the wall behind us, but what are the implications of their work for these concerns. >> there are many in the black community who believes this month does us a disservice. morgan freeman five years ago said that it was ridiculous, he said that on "60 minutes." the columnist cynthia tucker discussed this last year. yet, it is an artifact, that ironically works to minimize the way black americans and their accomplishments are part of the mosaic. in the age of obama do we need a separate celebration. >> they're welcome to have their opinions as everyone does. >> sure, sure. >> the fact of the matter in this country we don't know our history very well across the board, and what black history month has done was actually create this moment that we'll sit back and reflect. we're not simply saying this is the only point in which this is relevant but this is a moment that we're going to pay attention to. sometimes people will say we're going to have cancer awareness week and we'll dwell on this month. it doesn't mean that you care about cancer the other 11 months of the year. >> professor cobb, great to see you, and we need to make sure everyone is aware of this, that we can check out the branding black op-ed. professor cobb. thank you. >> thank you. >> let's turn it over to john seigenthaler. >> tonight we're going to have international reaction to the barbaric killing of the jordanian pilot set on fire by isil. also the story about wild horses roaming out west here in the united states on federal land 50,000. tonight why the horses have become a big problem. melissa chan found out why. >> the real true lovers of wild horses believe that the cattle men in nevada any ways, they want the horses wiped off the slate clean. that's not our position at all. the horses can be out there. but the problem is when the herd levels get too high, then we have competition for food and water. >> ranchers need land for the cattle to graze. they pay the government for access to some public land where wild horses also happen to roam. >> i think the excess government property. >> the two sides, ranchers and activists disagree over almost everything even where the horses come from. the ranchers and the government say that their descendants of horses that cowboys used. activists say they're native. a view that most expert dos not accept. >> we'll hear about the federal government's plan to fix that problem. just one of the stories we'll have tonight on our broadcast at 8:00. >> appreciate it. thank you. that's all of our time for this news hour. tony harris in new york city. thank you for watching. if you would like the latest of any stories we covered in this hour we encourage you to head over to our website www.aljazeera.com. once again, that's www.aljazeera.com. we'll see you back here tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. eastern. >> hi everyone, this is al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler. united in horror. jordan pledges relentless war as the world condemns i.s.i.l.'s barbarism. one of new york's worst train crashes ever. families divided by the border fence. tonight, a look at the one place they can meet. and too many wild horses. that's what ranchers say.