UP, Transcript 1/2/2016

Show: UP  Date: January 2, 2016 Guest: Manuel Gomez, Sabrina Siddiqui, Jason Johnson, Katon Dawson, Karen Desoto, Joseph Romm, Bill Scheft, Bonnie Schneider, Richard Socarides

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RICHARD LUI, MSNBC ANCHOR: President Obama`s New Year`s resolution on gun violence.

And good morning, I`m Richard Lui. Thanks for getting UP with us on this first Saturday of 2016. We start with a terrifying scene when a gunman opened fire outside a crowded Tel Aviv bar. All caught on tape. We`ll have the latest on the manhunt for the shooter.

Deadly floodwaters also in the Midwest starting to head south, putting more communities in the path of disaster. So did Carly Fiorina jinx the Iowa Hawkeyes in yesterday`s Rose Bowl. Her comment that some are calling pandering and a curse.

President Obama begins the New Year by vowing to take on gun violence, with or without the help of Congress.

And Jerry Seinfeld comes knocking at the Oval Office window. What we learned in his illuminating and very funny conversation with the President. The two sitting down over coffee in the White House, next.

We begin this morning with that massive manhunt in Tel Aviv to get you the latest. Police saying, they know who the gunman is that opened fire in a popular bar killing two people. Several others were injured in the gruesome attack that was all caught on closed circuit video footage.

NBC`s Keir Simmons is live in London with new details on the manhunt and the suspect. Keir, good morning to you. What we now know about this suspect?

KEIR SIMMONS, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Richard, good morning. Well, police hunting the killer, think he remains in the Tel Aviv area according to reports. While survivors say on hearing automatic gun fire, they thought of last year`s Paris massacre enormous height.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIMMONS (voice-over): Candles overnight for the victims of a killer still on the run, a manhunt underway this morning. On a surveillance camera, Friday afternoon, young people relax at a bar then dive for cover in fear. A gunman appears firing more than 15 rounds. Seconds later, one survivor looks up in horror. Around him, two were dead, seven people were injured, four in a serious condition.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because I was thinking what was happening in Paris to my daughter, she was inside the restaurant and I was shocked.

SIMMONS: More chilling surveillance footage shows the same gunman moments earlier in a grocery store pretending to shop. Then he pulls an automatic weapon from his backpack and begins killing. Leaving bullet holes and bar stones overturned in terror.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I fall and I wake like (INAUDIBLE) --

SIMMONS: Israeli media are reporting police have identified afternoon an Arab-Israeli suspect. Some believe this could be the country`s first ISIS inspired attack. One New Yorker visiting Israel says nice people are not frightened.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are still planning on going out tomorrow night in Tel Aviv.

SIMMONS: But this morning detectives still hunt the man who both hands gripping his weapon was so determined to kill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIMMONS: Terrorist attack motivated by nationalism, he said other reports say police aren`t ruling out a criminal motive. Richard, 2015 was scarred by terrorism around the world. It does seem as if 2016 may not bring an end to the violence. Witnesses say the shooter was smiling -- Richard.

LUI: Uh-mm. Keira Simmons, thank you so much for the very latest there on that attack in Tel Aviv. I appreciate it.

Friday`s attack comes as major cities around to the world have beefed up security amid a heightened threat of ISIS inspired attacks for the New Year. In Munich, police evacuated, two train stations just hours before the New Year after authorities were seeing what they described as a very concrete tip -- an ISIS suicide attack. Then in Brussels, New Year`s fireworks were cancelled because of a terror or Paris decided two terror attacks in 2015 held a more subdued celebration with a heavy police presence cancelling its usual fireworks display and instead playing a five- minute video performance at the Arc de Triomphe.

Here in the United States, a terror arrest on New Year`s Eve, leading officials in Rochester, New York to cancel plan celebrations there. Rochester police alleged that 25-year-old Emanuel Lutchman who they described as an ISIS supporter planned to commit an armed attack at a bar on New Year`s Eve. And in New York`s Times Square about 6,000 uniformed and undercover police took extraordinary measures to ensure security as an estimated one million people jammed the crossroads of the world to usher in the New Year.

For more, we`re joined now by Manuel Gomez, a retired FBI agent and former NYPD sergeant. And let`s start with this, Manuel. And this is the report that just came from Kier Simmons. Your thoughts about what we saw on that arc of the 2015 to 2016 that came together and I just described some of the headlines.

MANUEL GOMEZ, RETIRED FBI AGENT: Well, Europe has a lot of problems. Here in the U.S., we obviously have it somewhat contained. Although we have seen numerous attacks in the last several months. But New Year`s Eve as expected --

LUI: Right.

GOMEZ: -- was brilliant, no issues especially right here in New York City.

LUI: Right.

GOMEZ: Europe has a lot of problems. The fact that they have to shut down several of their fireworks displays and their New York celebrations clearly shows that they do not have the ISIS threat contained.

LUI: The infrastructure, we do now talk about very often between the New York Police Department and its international representatives. It sends individuals around the world that a members of the NYPD to understand actually firsthand what is happening, for instance in Israel, in Germany as well as in the UK.

GOMEZ: Absolutely. This was a program that was started by Commissioner Kelly, post 9/11, it follows the FBI model of sending attaches stationed at different places throughout strategically, throughout the globe so we can get liaison firsthand from ground people that are there representing this.

LUI: It`s worked well?

GOMEZ: It`s worked exceptionally well, we have been able to identify, contain, several, at least in New York City, at least a dozen very real attacks and there are several others under way that are being investigated and will be contained as well in the not so far future. However for now, our main concern is the lone wolf, is the person such as this individual apparently in Israel that clearly flew under the radar, the most aggressive defense tactics in the world, which Israel has.

LUI: Rochester, New York, we were just talking about that yesterday, is that telling us something about what 2016 might be bringing us?

GOMEZ: Absolutely, this was an individual that was on nobody`s radar, clearly was radicalized on the internet, which is the main tool that ISIS uses, wanted to prove himself to ISIS by going into a random bar and attacking and killing as many people as possible. And this is something that Director Comey, the FBI Director has already testified before Congress that says, we cannot -- we do not have the resources to identify all of these individuals and stop these potential attacks.

LUI: And finally, our capability here in the United States prevent such attacks that we were just alluding to when we were reflecting on. Better in 2016, are we going to be hitting a new peak of capability compared to 2015, or are we going to level off?

GOMEZ: Absolutely. The name of the game is being proactive, not reactive.

LUI: Uh-hm.

GOMEZ: We need to be three to the five steps ahead of these people. Now they`re what they call in the black. Which they can go on play station encrypted devices and be able to communicate without us picking it up. That is the next step.

LUI: Right.

GOMEZ: We are very actively trying to break those codes and stop them from being able to communicate without us knowing what they`re doing.

LUI: What others have also called crowd sourced attackers. Right?

GOMEZ: Exactly.

LUI: Thank you so much, Manuel Gomez for your perspective this morning. I appreciate it. President Obama`s beginning the New Year by resolving to reduce gun violence meanwhile with or without the help of Congress. The President is saying from Hawaii yesterday that he will meet with Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Monday to discuss his options. According to Politico, the White House is putting finishing catches on several measures taking on the issue the President and close aides have found frustrating and intractable before the race to replace Obama enters primetime.

It has been three years after the President`s efforts to enact tighter gun laws in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting failed in Congress.

NBC`s Ron Allen is live for us in Honolulu. Ron?

RON ALLEN, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Richard. This is obviously an issue that the President feels very strongly about. He has said that his inability to do more to reduce the number of mass shootings and gun violence in the United States is the biggest frustration of his time in office. So he`s determined to do something during the final year of his presidency to address this issue. We believe that he`s going to announce various executive actions aimed at trying to essentially change the definition of who a gun dealer is. Therefore, someone who would be required to conduct background checks toward gun sales and purchases.

There is something that we often refer to as the gun show loophole, the online loophole which doesn`t require background checks when those guns are purchased in that method, that we believe might be one of the targets that the President is trying to take aim at. But we`re not sure, this is something the administration has been looking at for the past several months especially since the shooting at the Community College in Oregon that left ten dead including the gunman. The President has formed a task force of his staff, they have been what they call scrubbing existing gun legislation trying to figure out ways that they can tighten the laws based on executive action because it`s clear that the Congress is not going to do anything any time soon that the President would want Congress to do.

So, he`s going to look at his own set of powers to see what he can do to take matters into his own hands. The President has addressed the nation more than dozen times to console the nation after mass shootings, and each time he does seems to be more upset, more frustrated, more anguished about doing this. And clearly he now wants to take some action. So, we expect to hear some more details on Monday but exactly what he`s going to propose. And clearly there will be a lot of opposition to do this from Republicans, from gun enthusiasts, from Second Amendment activists, people who feel that the lines are drawn here, that the law is clear, and that they feel that the President, if he does use some sort of executive authority on this gun issue that he would be essentially overreaching, abusing his authority his critics would say.

So, Monday, we hope again to hear more details about what the President plans to do. But clearly he is very, very focused on this gun issue. It`s a legacy issue for him, he wants to do something during the remaining time that he has in office to try to address this concern -- Richard.

LUI: NBC`s Ron Allen with the President, thank you so much, Ron.

Joining us now to discuss this is this morning`s panel, Sabrina Siddiqui, political reporter for "The Guardian." And we have Jason Johnson, NBC/BLK contributor, politics editor at TheRoot.com as well. And Katon Dawson, former South Carolina Republican Party chairman. We`ll just go right in order here.

So Sabrina, a topic we have talked about before, the President now moving off 23 efforts that he had made post Sandy Hook, now you`ve heard from Ron Allen, what might be one of the considerations here that he`ll be sitting down with Loretta Lynch to try to figure out what will work from his perspective? From what you heard in Ron`s report, unlicensed gun dealers, is this going to work? Is this something he should be pursuing?

SABRINA SIDDIQUI, THE GUARDIAN: I think that certainly it`s on the list of items that gun control advocates have wanted to see him take action on that, certainly every time for gun safety. The coalition that was founded by Michael Bloomberg, they put forward their own recommendations for example to set how many guns seller maybe distributing in a year, a limit on those specifics, 25 guns for example per person qualifies then as a license gun owner should be defined this such. I think what the administration has been doing for a long time is seeing what would hold up legally because of course that`s the big question here. Before we expect that there will be challenge in the courts, you already have certain gun rights supporters and groups --

LUI: Right.

SIDDIQUI: -- trying felons and saying, this is overreach. And so I think they`re really trying to be careful. And that`s why these are going to be very limited actions. And certainly the expectations is, that this is as much as he can get done before he passed this along the way.

LUI: And he has our panel heard of other efforts that the President might be considering an addition to this. Because obviously they`re cobbling together what might be practically moved forward.

JASON JOHNSON, POLITICS EDITOR, THEROOT.COM: Look, the reality is that the President is sort of like what Sabrina is saying, he`s trying to think he thinks things can actually be done. Not much can actually be done if Congress doesn`t get involved. And that`s disappointing part in every single time. I think initially what the administration did, is they`re like okay, let`s try to pass a law that would stop this particular event from happening. But when that didn`t work, now he`s trying executive action. I think most of these things, they probably won`t stand up in court. So, I think they`re really caught. There isn`t much can be done unless Congress gets involved.

LUI: So, if you look at this done Katon, do you think that this might work, what Ron Allen is talking about? Because what has been said is that the President is trying to split the difference, get both sides together on common sense issues?

KATON DAWSON, FORMER SOUTH CAROLINA REPUBLICAN PARTY CHAIRMAN: We`re in the middle of campaign season. It`s the Clintons versus whoever we`re going to nominate out of our plethora of candidates. What it will do is it will fire back up the Tea Party base on executive orders constitutional authority with the President. It will fire up that base. It won`t start a decent gun control conversation --

SIDDIQUI: Yes.

DAWSON: -- that we`ve talked about on this show before.

LUI: Right.

DAWSON: But about 74 percent of Republicans are for universal background checks, they are there for background checks, at gun shows. So, there`s some politics here that work with gun control --

LUI: Right.

DAWSON: -- that the President hadn`t been successful at using.

LUI: This is not the right time is what you`re saying, what is the right time then, post-election?

SIDDIQUI: Well, there isn`t really a right time. And I think that this is the first election though where you are seeing this be a major campaign issues, certainly Hillary Clinton, Democrats for the first time in a major campaign are running aggressively on the need for stricter gun laws. And Hillary Clinton also said that as President she would use executive action to move forward, some of what this administration has not. Republicans at the same time of course they are universally against any new at least in the term of -- of course their campaign, any background checks, any new laws whatsoever.

So, I think for the first time in 2016, you might see a major conversation around this issue. You know, of course at the end of the day it`s really going to depend on whether you see a Democrat or a Republican in the White House. I wouldn`t expect any changes. Especially if the House Republicans -- Republicans still maintain control in the House, I wouldn`t expect any changes under Hillary Clinton.

LUI: Right. Well, as what Ron was saying, the reaction from gun rights advocates, right? Might this then invigorate those who support that and maybe get the effect opposite of what he is desiring, which we have seen in previous moves by the President? So, this is a legacy issue then, isn`t it?

JOHNSON: Right. It`s a legacy issue, and it`s something he`s legitimately concerned about. Something the public is legitimately concerned about. And there`s so many different things that as Kate mentioned that the public are in favor of. Republicans and Democrats aren`t favor of. The gun show loophole is something fairly simple. The idea that you can`t just buy guns after a three-day background check like what happened with Dylann Roof in South Carolina, these are things that everyone agrees on but the politics are preventing it from happening, I don`t know if that will change after 2016.

LUI: Quick, Katon?

DAWSON: What it starts is a mental health conversation.

LUI: Yes.

DAWSON: They pivot from gun control to mental health, which everybody`s capable and culpable in that space.

LUI: OK. Thank you all three, our panel for their perspective on that.

Up next, why Bill Cosby`s fate could rest on what his wife says in sworn testimony this coming week.

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LUI: It`s going to be another big week in the legal challenges facing Bill Cosby. His wife Camille is set to be deposed Wednesday in a defamation suit against a comedian after losing a legal battle to keep her from having him to testify or rather heard to testify. This comes as her husband is speaking out for the first time since being arraigned this week on a separate charge of aggravated and decent assault.

NBC`s Kristen Dahlgren has the latest.

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KRISTEN DAHLGREN, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After a year of standing mostly quietly by her man, Camille Cosby is scheduled to break her silence next week, the 71-year-old will be deposed by lawyers representing seven of the women who claim Bill Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted them. Her lawyers believed her testimony will be key.

JOSEPH CAMMARRATA, ATTORNEY FOR THREE ALLEGED VICTIMS: She has information clearly about his sexual proclivities, his sexual encounters consensual or otherwise with other women, his use of Quaaludes.

DAHLGREN: The women are suing in federal court saying, Cosby defamed him by publicly denying their claims. They are among more than 50 women who have alleged some form of sexual misconduct.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Cosby, do you want to say anything?

DAHLGREN: Camille Cosby was noticeably absent in court this week when her husband was charged with aggravated indecent sexual assault. Her only public statement more than a year ago. "The man I met and fell in love with and whom I continue to love is the man you all knew through his work." Camille has been married to Bill Cosby for more than 50 years, the mother of his five children, but also his business manager.

KAREN DESOTO, FORMER PROSECUTOR: They may be looking for business records, they could be looking for checks that were paid out through the business. Knowledge of when and where he was and when he was supposed to be.

DAHLGREN: Cosby has repeatedly denied all allegations and is counter suing the seven women for defamation.

MONIQUE PRESSLEY, BILL COSBY`S ATTORNEY: I believe when you separate what happened in the court of law, from what has been allowed to happen in the court of public opinion you will get an outcome that justice requires.

DAHLGREN: On New Year`s Eve, Bill Cosby tweeted thanks to his friends and fans breaking his silence just days before his wife faces questions.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LUI: Joining us now is NBC News legal analyst Karen Desoto, a former prosecutor. We just heard from in Kristen Dahlgren`s report. Always great to have you here, the question might be given that report, who is Camille Cosby?

DESOTO: Well, for the purposes of the civil litigation, she`s the business manager. So, that`s the exception that the judge is allowing this deposition to take place, right? Because you have a unique situation here, you have somebody who is a wife of Bill Cosby, who is basically a corporation, he`s a brand, he`s worth an estimated $200 million. So, she is going to have to testify civilly as to business related items. The judge was very, very careful in trying to stay away from the marital communication. The problem is that in this business in Hollywood, where does the wife start and the business manager begin? It`s a very difficult question. So, I think that this deposition is going to have a lot of objections, I think it`s probably going to be somewhere where the judge is going to be on call. And if they start crossing over the lines, I mean asking somebody about sexual proclivities a wife, versus asking a business manager about business documents, some business related things are two different things.

LUI: Right.

DESOTO: So, is the judge going to let that mesh a little bit?

LUI: Right.

DESOTO: Or is he going to be strict?

LUI: Which is that basis of why they are bringing her in.

DESOTO: Exactly.

LUI: Versus what they may really, really want --

DESOTO: Yes.

LUI: -- from Camille Cosby. So, it has been said that when Bill Cosby set the deposition and he was speaking that --

DESOTO: Right.

LUI: -- he expressed certain pieces of information that one should not in a deposition, but yet he was allowed to by his own lawyer evidently. In this case, do you expect it to be more lawyered?

DESOTO: Yes, obviously, there`s criminal charges on the place, he`s got a lot on the line, and remember, he`s a brand, he`s a corporation, this is civil money. One of the reasons why you`re allowed to do depositions in civil matters is towards damages --

LUI: Yes.

DESOTO: And damages, and how much money they have and how much they`re worth, and what`s in what account, where may be questions that will be explored here.

LUI: Well, what`s front and center now, is there is a criminal case, when he gave a deposition, maybe they were not thinking, OK, that the DA was going to come down with this case against him.

DESOTO: Right. Well, yes, because --

LUI: Right.

DESOTO: -- this case was from 2004.

LUI: Right.

DESOTO: It was closed and there was also a civil case which was settled. It wasn`t until there was a district attorney campaign and this was one of the platforms in the campaign.

LUI: So Cosby`s lawyer, did they maybe let their guard down in this civil deposition that was given?

DESOTO: I think that the client let his guard down, unfortunately.

LUI: How?

DESOTO: You do prepare your clients, right? But you don`t know what they`re going to say and this is the problem with anyone testifying in a deposition or on the stand. Because you could prepare your client for hours and days and months. And you`ll never know sometimes they get tired. And sometimes things come out that your self are shocked. Things, and there`s always three things that you don`t know going into a deposition that your client will say. So, you don`t have, you know, you can`t testify for them, if you could, that would be fantastic, attorneys would love to do that. But this is why these things are very scary when your clients testify. And this is why attorneys are constantly saying, keep your mouth shut, I don`t want you to testify, why? Because they`re not an attorney, they`re lay people, and they say things and you could be tricked easily.

LUI: Karen Desoto on the Bill Cosby case. Thank you so much.

DESOTO: Thank you.

LUI: We appreciate it.

Up next, we`ll go live to Missouri for the latest on that historic flooding and why we could be in store for even more devastating weather nationwide in the coming year.

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LUI: The death toll from the flooding in the Midwest has now reached into at least 24 people. The floodwaters have started to recede in the Saint Louis area allowing major roadways to reopen. But officials are warning the worst is yet to come south of there as floodwaters continue to crest down the Mississippi River and other affected water ways.

For the latest, let`s turn to NBC`s Charles Hadlock in Missouri. Charles?

CHARLES HADLOCK, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: All right, Richard, we`re in Valley Park, Missouri, just to the south of downtown St. Louis. Take a look at this, this is the Meramec River backing up into the town. This is eight feet lower than it was yesterday, so it`s on its way down. On the background there you see I-44. That reopened yesterday, that`s a major artery across Missouri, so everyone is glad. That is open for this holiday weekend. But this river is having a tough time draining into the Mississippi because the Mississippi itself is flooded. It is surging out of its banks across the large part of Illinois and Missouri on its way south. In fact, the town of St. Girardeau is going to see a record flood.

However, it`s protected by a floodwall. The flood stage there is 32 feet. Today the river is at 86.86 feet. That`s the highest its ever been. It`s on its way up to 50 feet there. That floodwall can handle that, 95 percent of the city is protected by the levee system, but that five percent that isn`t is being flooded about 25 homes, about 100 people are affected by this either flooded or inaccessible to their homes. So, there`s a problem there, but elsewhere across the state, the water is draining away, but the misery is left behind in places like Arnold and here in Valley Park and Eureka and other communities here that are still picking up the pieces trying to clean up from this mess, if they can even get to it.

That`s the problem, a lot of these secondary roads are still under water. South of Saint Louis. It`s going to be a few days before the water unwinds here and drains into the Mississippi. Now farther south, a flood advisory is in effect south of Missouri down to Natchez, Mississippi, a high water advisory is in effect for the Mississippi River as all this water heads to the gulf -- Richard.

LUI: NBC`s Charles Hadlock, Charles, thank you for that. The unusual December flooding that Charles was talking about in the Midwest is just one aspect of one of the strangest holiday weather seasons ever. We saw temperatures heading 70 degrees here in the Northeastern Christmas week. All the Western states were pounded with snow. Some areas getting nearly 30 inches. It`s also been the deadliest December for tornadoes in the U.S. since 1953. All this happening on the heels of a historic climate change agreement signed in Paris by President Obama and other world leaders, Obama calling it the most ambitious deal of its kind in history.

Joining us now is Joseph Romm, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, founding editor at ClimateProgress.org and author of the book, "Climate Change: What Everyone Needs to Know."

Joseph, thanks for being here with us right now and we cannot help but talk about what Charles Hadlock was indicating and that is that the flooding in the Midwest is now going to move down the Mississippi, what does that tell you?

JOSEPH ROMM, FOUNDING EDITOR, CLIMATEPROGRESS.ORG: Well, you know, when you hear a phrase like he said, the highest ever, you know, off the charts records setting, that`s a good sign that on top of a whatever local weather patterns there are or regional like El Nino, global warming, you know, fossil fuel driven climate change is putting its finger on the scale and juicing the atmosphere and causing the even bigger event, weather event than you would have otherwise seen.

LUI: You`re very familiar with this number, the Pew doing a survey finding that 41 percent of Americans thinking that climate change is harming people right now. How do you put those two together? What you just said and what Americans think?

ROMM: Well, look, it`s -- the scientific community has been clear for many years, and the reason we had this unprecedented agreement in Paris to deal with climate change is because indeed, climate change, hotter temperatures, when you hear hottest ever, driest ever, most extreme, yes, climate change is harming humans on every single continent and it`s going to get worse and worse, you know, until we, you know, ratchet up our commitment to reduce, you know, the consumption of fossil fuels, coal, oil and natural gas. That`s what the Paris agreement was about, it`s not the solution to the problem, it`s the first step, and indeed the countries of the world agree, we`re going to ratchet up our commitment every five years until the entire world has zero emissions from fossil fuels. So, you know, we have begun a journey to avoid even more extreme weather.

LUI: More extreme weather. How do you help those, that the six out of ten roughly here to understand your point of view, because many of them saying, it does not exist or they don`t have the information to reach that same conclusion that you have, a Paris agreement or not at this moment?

ROMM: Well, I think the first thing people should know is that 97 percent of the actual experts in the field, climatologists agree that the climate is changing and that humans are the main cause. So, that`s the most important thing people need to know. Ninety seven percent of climate scientists agree that humans are changing the climate. I think it`s pretty clear when you are heating up the planet with heat trapping gases, that you`re basically juicing the atmosphere, you`re putting more energy, more water vapor into the atmosphere, so you`re going to see more intense floods, more intense droughts, and more intense heatwaves and that sort of like the baseball player on steroid reducing the atmosphere, we`re seeing more record setting events, more extreme events.

LUI: How would you grade this administration`s work on climate change? It was something that President Obama was very clear about during his inauguration speech.

ROMM: Well, I think the first term, it was, you know, an incomplete grade. But I think with the agreement in Paris, with the last year, or two years ago, the agreement with China to get China finally to agree to cap carbon pollution and to peak in coal consumption, I would start -- I would give the administration now let`s say a solid B. And I also think by the way the end of year budget deal, the administration deserves a lot of credit for getting significant extension of tax credit for the cleanest forms of energy, solar and wind, we`re really in a clean energy revolution now and the Obama administration I think deserves some legitimate credit for taking renewable energy which was maybe like one or two percent of U.S. electricity consumption at the start. By the end of its administration, by 2020s, it`s going to be about 10 percent. So we`re now seeing the inflection point for renewable energy and we`re starting to see the world come together. So, yes, we are at a tipping point, but we have a lot more work to do if we`re going to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

LUI: And as oil prices go down. Joseph Romm, thank you so much for joining us this morning. I appreciate it. Have a good New Year.

ROMM: Thank you for having me.

LUI: You bet.

Why yesterday`s Rose Bowl may prove to be a thorn in the side of Carly Fiorina`s presidential host.

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LUI: Criticism of Donald Trump dominated the skies above Pasadena, California ahead of yesterday`s Rose Bowl. The message in sky riding, they`re saying, Trump is disgusting. But the even bigger political story may have come during the game itself. A blowout in which Stanford beats Iowa that some are now blaming, yes, Carly Fiorina. Ahead of the game the GOP presidential candidate turned to Twitter to shun her Alma Mater Stanford. How could she? In favor of Iowa, or voting begins in less than a month writing, "I love my Alma Mater but rooting for a Hawkeye`s win the day."

Twitter users mocked Fiorina for the apparent pandering. And the #Carly curse was born. The move seeming to backfire for Fiorina along the way. One of many presidential hopefuls whose campaign have failed to catch fire in 2015.

Here to take a look at that very issue, our panel, taking a look at the Carly curse and the other struggling GOP candidates as Washington Post national political reporter and MSNBC political analyst Robert Costa.

All right. So, first of all, you know, I went to Berkeley, so I`m not a huge lover of Stanford here. But I must say, Stanford grads aren`t necessarily huge fans, rabid fans over their team. The Carly curse, it just shows that her one percent needs some help in Iowa.

ROBERT COSTA, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: As a reporter, I have to say pandering is unsurprising in presidential politics, but I think the reaction to Miss Fiorina`s tweet is very telling about her state in the race and her campaign because there`s just been so much negative attention on her support for the Iowa Hawkeyes, and he have the sense that Fiorina just hasn`t caught on with Iowa voters. She`s not really a force in the race and this is the only way she really get attention, it`s not in a good way.

LUI: You know, as we look at Fiorina, but at the others if you will. Ben Carson, we had news over the weekend. Jeb Bush we had over the last week, we now as we move into this first weekend, this first month of 2016, in the final winnowing period that we have been looking for for so long?

COSTA: This is certainly the beginning of the final lap. I spent a lot of time with Dr. Carson at his home last week and then I talked to his advisors in the last couple of days. Mass resignations in the Carson campaign. And he really sees for so many campaigns, that last four weeks before voting begins, it`s not just a winnowing process, but it`s a time when you start to really has to have the money, the momentum to stay in the race. Senator Graham got out, we couldn`t have some more people get out of the next few days. This is a tough time and if we don`t have the resources to go along, to really survive a protracted primary fight, you may be start to think to yourself, it`s time to get out.

LUI: Panel, just a second here. But you mentioned you were sitting with Dr. Carson here, did he discussed what we have learned about over the last several days that he has now gotten rid of three of his lieutenants and now moving in some others from the bench.

COSTA: He spoke about his frustration with his own staff, he said I`m a calm guy, and my staff wants me to be more combative, they want me to be a fighter against Donald Trump, I`m not comfortable with it. He didn`t really say he was going to fire a staff but he said he was really becoming increasingly unhappy with them. And then when his staff heard his comments, they said, well, I think we`re going to resign. We had lost the confidence of the candidate and he saw some really candid comments coming out of the resigned Carson staffer. They said, we have just had enough, we raised $20 million for Dr. Carson in the last quarter of the year, but we just don`t feel like this campaign is going anywhere. This is when the presidential campaign hits a boiling point and everyone`s tension that`s been simmering for months, not just in the Carson camp, everywhere I report it, you see it happening, it`s boiling up.

LUI: Katon, is he done?

DAWSON: Close. Really close. And I`ve been on presidential campaigns and you`re right, it comes to a boiling point and usually when that happens, either something good or something really bad is. And you can tell that Carson was not just standard candidate, that`s what make him popular. But when you look at the organization who he has, ground games aren`t there, I would say that both Carly and Carson will never make it to Super Tuesday.

LUI: Yes. In the last week, we also have the issue of Jeb Bush, you know, reallocating resources to some key states.

JOHNSON: Well, look, you can do that and Jeb Bush just had his second, third, fourth reiteration, the organization of his campaign. At this point, it begins to look bad. I don`t think Ben Carson was ever really running for president. I think he was just raising money to throw it into a Super PAC and gives speeches later on. But I think somebody like Jeb Bush, this is problematic, he came into this race as a real contender, and he just --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The name.

JOHNSON: Exactly the name alone, But Donald Trump deciding he want to kick sand in his face in every single debate and Jeb does not been able to work out too.

SIDDIQUI: There are two major problems for Jeb Bush. One certainly, he`s obviously put a lot of his efforts in time in New Hampshire and Chris Christie is the one who is seeing more signs of life over there. He is the one who is moving up at the right time in the polls. And a strong finish for Chris Christie would leave a little room for Jeb Bush to really be able to justify his presence in the race. The other issue Jeb Bush is that -- unlike from these other candidates, he doesn`t have a name ID issue where people were just getting to know him. You are either a committed or supporter of Jeb Bush or you were not. Jeb Bush is not your second choice. Marco Rubio for example Carson has been a lot of people`s second choice, he has been sitting steady at second or third. So, that`s good for someone like him to move up at the right time. But Jeb Bush, you`re either are for him or you`re not, and I don`t think he`s been able to convince enough people to be in his corner.

LUI: Well, as he talked about bringing folks into hi corner. We have Bill Clinton coming in this week, we have W. and H.W., as well that have not been leveraged by Jeb as of yet. South Carolina, that could -- that could be big.

DAWSON: No question. And long point to that last is, Donald Trump needs a bigger field. So, let`s see what he does. Donald Trump needs more people in the race. His base is there, if 43 shows up, which I predict he will. Forty three is a beloved figure in our party. Regardless of what the media says, 87 percent approval in South Carolina might not help Jeb, but it might put some sanity to our race and it has been insane up until today.

LUI: And 43 to different person. Very quickly Robert, last word?

COSTA: I think the thing to watch this week, Donald Trump`s television advertisement, this is a turning point, a move to a more traditional model. If Trump really start to spend money on the campaign, that`s going to make him a threat and it`s more than just being on television for interview. He`ll have a message on the airwaves.

LUI: It`s hard to believe he`s just turning on that spout. Right?

COSTA: He doesn`t want to spend his own money, Richard.

LUI: Well, yes, he has a lot of money, no doubt. MSNBC political analyst and Washington Post political reporter Robert Cosby. Thank you so much for joining us on this morning, we`ll be speaking with you again next hour.

Up next, what happens when the leader of the free world and one of the world`s most famous comedians go out for coffee?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: The seventh season premiere of Jerry Seinfeld`s web series, comedians and cars getting coffee featured a very special guest, President Barack Obama. Let`s take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JERRY SEINFELD, STAND-UP COMEDIAN: Don`t you think every American child is a president thing and you grow up loving the President?

PRES. BARACK OBAMA (D), UNITED STATES: I do really well with the zero to eight demographic?

SEINFELD: Oh, really?

OBAMA: Oh, yes, partly because I think my ears are big and so, I look a little bit like a cartoon character.

SEINFELD: Can you adjust the temperature in here at all? Have you ever touched a thermostat?

OBAMA: No, I make a call.

SEINFELD: You make a call. If I slid open your underwear drawer, one brand or a number of brands.

OBAMA: I got to go with a one brand.

SEINFELD: One brand, one color?

OBAMA: Yes, of course. This is a critical concept.

SEINFELD: You got to go off at some point with food, what`s your thing --

OBAMA: Nachos.

SEINFELD: Nachos.

OBAMA: That`s one of those or I have to have it taken away, I`ll have, it`s the Walka Molly coming out of my eyeball.

SEINFELD: Yes. What sport is politics, is it chest, is it liars` poker?

OBAMA: It`s probably most like football, you have to punt a lot, but every once in a while you`ll see a whole hole and then there`s hope and field.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LUI: Joining us now is Bill Scheft, former writer for David Letterman. Who is funnier in just this little bits that we cut for you?

BILL SCHEFT, FORMER WRITER FOR DAVID LETTERMAN: Absolutely, it`s Obama. But Jerry was very generous. But he gave back as good as Jerry gave to him --

LUI: Ahah!

SCHEFT: And he`s such a natural, if he`s looking for something to do after this is all over, he could do worse than, you know, go on tour.

LUI: But Bill, isn`t it just --

SCHEFT: Maybe co-headline with Wanda Sykes.

LUI: Isn`t it really just the Wanda Sykes and President Obama.

SCHEFT: Yes.

LUI: Is it really -- is it part of just being in the office and having to take on a very serious role that you can be deadpan and that therefore, it a uniqueness of holding that office?

SCHEFT: Well, I think that most politicians are funny and they do well with scripted lines.

LUI: Uh-hm.

SCHEFT: But are they like standups? They`re not. He is. He`s got some moves, he has total commitment to the material. He`s not afraid to ad lib, you know, his last appearance on the Letterman show. He came out and he said to Dave, you look great. And Dave said, you haven`t seen me naked and then he turned to the audience and said, and we`re going to try and keep it that way in the next four years.

(LAUGHTER)

SCHEFT: It`s just perfect. He`s an absolute natural.

LUI: Does he reveal more in his humor than he does in all of the other events that we see the President speaking this in?

SCHEFT: Absolutely, because I think the guard goes down, I think the filter goes down. But I will tell you what Republicans are going to seize on with this comedians in cars, that the corvette if you noticed, has no seatbelts.

(LAUGHTER)

LUI: Right.

SCHEFT: So, they will say, this is why people don`t think he can keep us safe. You know, this is going to -- we`re going to seize on that.

LUI: But Bill, back then, the seatbelts are low, they`re very low. So, maybe we should have them on and we can`t see it on to the camera.

SCHEFT: I know. I think, look at -- no, we just saw it, no seat belts.

LUI: OK. All right. So, which one of your favorite line as we noticed, the seatbelts here, from President Obama that you`ve noticed?

SCHEFT: Well, and I, in preparation for the segment.

LUI: Yes.

SCHEFT: And I was available to do this segment. I looked at all the old White House correspondent dinners that he`s done and he`s done seven and there`s a line here -- oh my world, about how an American won the Boston -- in 2014, he said the marathon won, the Boston marathon for the first time in 30 years, which is only fair, because a Kenyan has been in the White House for the last six. Now, if you can do a joke like that, he`s very aware of who he is and who people think he is and he plays to that.

LUI: And makes fun of himself along the way?

SCHEFT: Absolutely.

LUI: Is that the key to his sense of humor?

SCHEFT: I think it`s yes -- but I also think that he knows how to deliver a line. In 2011 at the White House Correspondents` Dinner, he comes out and this is in the middle of his birth certificate issue. He comes at his opening line is, my fellow Americans. I mean that is --

LUI: Right. Right.

SCHEFT: That`s just great skill there.

LUI: Bill, thank you, we can talk to you forever.

SCHEFT: And it looks like it`s going to go that way.

(LAUGHTER)

LUI: Thank you so much. Up next, the man behind some of the most iconic pictures from the White House.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: So, this is a photo of Jerry Seinfeld arriving for his interview with the President over coffee. One of the more than 100 photos at White House photographer Pete Souza has chosen as his favorites of the year. And it`s not an easy task to winnow them down, Souza takes hundreds of thousands of photos each year capturing major moments in history as well as striking personal glimpses of life inside the White House.

NBC`s Ron Allen got an exclusive interview with the man behind the lens.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN (voice-over): They are unique, behind the scenes close up images of the President. Many never seen publicly until now. Serious matters inside to the White house. A first daughter drops by the Oval Office to see her dad. The President with an aide`s twin sons. Mom wiping away a tear. The year-end gallery of White House photographer Pete Souza there with Mr. Obama day in and day out on the start giving NBC News an exclusive first look.

PETE SOUZA, WHITE HOUSE PHOTOGRAPHER: I probably take between 500 and 2,000 a day. Probably about a quarter million a year. Somewhere in that.

ALLEN: Over seven years?

SOUZA: Over seven years, so yes, a lot of pictures.

ALLEN: Part of Souza`s mission to document history. President Obama and the first family greeting Pope Francis, a handshake with Cuba`s Castro, a big smile after the Iran nuclear deal. Mr. Obama there for Vice President Biden in his son`s funeral.

SOUZA: He is the President of the United States but he`s also a human being. I try to show his personality as best I can. There is obviously a lot of pictures with little kids in my year-end gallery. He loves babies.

ALLEN: That`s Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes daughter Ella before the Halloween party.

(on camera): Have you ever seen a president lying on the floor in the Oval Office before with a kid in an elephant suit?

SOUZA: Definitely not. Definitely not.

ALLEN: The gallery reveals the Obama administration wide open door policy for staff children.

SOUZA: And a lot of them are children of working moms. And he knows what a sacrifice they make. In terms of, you know, being at work a lot.

ALLEN: This year`s gallery as 111 pictures. What`s Souza`s favorite?

SOUZA: My favorite picture will hopefully be the one I make later today or tomorrow. That`s what, you know, keeps you going, you`re trying to get a good picture tomorrow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LUI: What a job.

Up next, a developing story we`re following overseas, a discovery of a recruitment video from one of the world most notorious terrorist group that includes an excerpt from Donald Trump.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: Who`s responsible for Donald Trump?

And thank you for staying with us this Saturday morning.

What Donald Trump has been saying out on the campaign trail pops up in a terrorist propaganda video. Plus the question of who`s really responsible for what Trump does, the answer might surprise you.

Plus after a landmark year, what`s next in the fight for LGBT Com Rights? Also, will the wild and dangerous weather of the Holiday Season be sticking around for a while? The details of all of that straight ahead.

But we begin this hour for you with that massive manhunt in Tel Aviv in Israel. Police is saying they know who the gunman is that opened fire on a popular bar, killing two people, several others were injured in the gruesome attack that was all caught on closed circuit video footage.

NBC`s Keir Simmons is live in London with new details on the manhunt and the suspect. Keir, what are police telling you?

SIMMONS: Hi, Lui. Good morning. Well, this is now an intense hunt for this killer. Abandoned warehouses, construction sites are being searched. Folks there are being told it is safe to go out, even though the gunman is still on the loose, while survivors say on hearing automatic gunfire, they thought of last year`s Paris massacre and knew they must hide.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SIMMONS: Candles overnight for the victims of a killer is still on the run. A manhunt under way this morning. On a surveillance camera at Friday afternoon, young people relax at a bar then dive for cover in fear.

A gunman appears, firing more than 15 rounds. Seconds later, one survivor looks up in horror around him. Two are dead, seven people were injured, four in a serious condition.

UNIDENTIFED FEMALE: I was in a shock because I was thinking what has happening Paris, and my daughter, she was inside to the restaurant. And I was very shocked.

SIMMONS: More chilling surveillance footage shows the same gunman moments earlier, in a grocery store pretending to shop then he pulls an automatic weapon from his backpack and begins killing. Living bullet holes and bustles overturned in terror.

UNIDENTIFED FEMALE: I hold and I wait like (inaudible) was like (inaudible).

SIMMONS: Israeli media, a reporting police have identified an Arab Israeli suspect. Some believe this could be the Country`s first ISIS-inspired attack. One New Yorker visiting Israel says most people are not frightened.

UNIDENTIFED FEMALE: We are still planning going out at more night in Tel Aviv.

SIMMONS: But this morning, detectives still hunt the man who both hands gripping his weapon, was so determined to kill.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIMMONS: And Tel Aviv`s Mayor has called it a terrorist attack motivated by nationalism. He said while or police say others police aren`t ruling out a criminal motive, which is 2015 was scarred by terrorism around the world. It does look like 2016 may not see an end to that violence. Witnesses say the shooter was smiling.

LUI: Terrorist, certainly the first 24 hours is very different than 2015 when we rang in that New Year`s. I appreciate it.

Farthest attack comes as major cities around the world have beefed up security amid a heightened threat of ISIS inspired attack for the New Year.

In Munich, police have reopened train station throughout the City after a terror alert. Let authorities to shutdown on New Year`s Eve. Officials, they are sighting solid indication that a band of up to seven attackers were planning assaults on two stations during the Holiday celebrations. Then in Brussels and Paris, New Year fireworks there, the shows were canceled and then here at home a terrorist restaurant at New York Eve officials Rochester, New York cancel planned celebrations.

Police alleged 25-year-old Emanuel Lutchman who they described as an ISIS support who planned to commit an armed-attack at a bar on New Year`s Eve.

And in Times Square, about 6,000 uniformed and on recover police took extraordinary measures to ensure security as an estimated 1 million people were jamming the crossroads there in Times Square.

For more on the security threats in New Years, we were now - we are now joined by Manuel Gomez, a retired FBI Agent and former NYPD Sergeant.

When we look at here, some of the tactics and approaches and responses here, Manuel, you are at burst of the United States. Some watchers might say, you`re at least faster, perhaps a little bit more hard nose than United States to your perspective.

GOMEZ: Well, obviously, we are protecting our people way better than Europe is. Europe has a big problem. They have a huge population that is already embedded throughout the different countries in Europe. We have better protection. We have -- the Atlantic Ocean is between us. Our borders are much more hardened than European borders.

The Europe is designed so that the borders are porous. So, you - now, we have these tenths of thousands, hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees that have poured throughout Europe. Some have even here and we don`t know who is a true refugee needing help and we don`t know who could have been filtered in.

LUI: I think some were noting what happened in Paris and how quickly they were able to move, respond and actually get results.

GOMEZ: Yes. But the fact is that the attacks still happened. So they were reactive not proactive.

Here in the states we have been proactive. We have forwarded over a dozen attacks, just the New York City alone. And we have been a lot better at protecting our people than Europe had.

LUI: Yes. Let`s drill down to -- on a city basis here, because you brought up New York City, which has a veritable army as something as very much since 9/11 that moved in ways that other city around the world have not been able to move.

But when we look at the responses, for instance, the recent school concerns, how -- when we looked at Los Angeles and we also looked at threats that also happened in terms of -- in New York, whether they called it a hoax, which happened in New York and Los Angeles, they decided, OK, we`re not going to have classes. How do you meter out the balance so we have consistent responses?

GOMEZ: Well, it`s always a learning process. We have dozens of hoaxes or alerts that go out throughout the day. Many of us don`t hear them. But the government is filtering them out, making sure which ones are potentially real. L.A. made a decision to close their school system. On the hills of San Bernardino, they`re on the side of caution.

LUI: And you are?

GOMEZ: We`re much more hardened. We had our 9/11, we learned from it. We are much more proactive than other places.

LUI: And what needs to be said, Manuel, as you know is, it depends on the amount of intelligence, the quality of the intelligence, where the intelligence is coming from and how the intelligence balanced out?

GOMEZ: Absolutely, if we`re going to stop our way of living every time somebody calls s 911 or sends in an e-mail threatening us then they win and we loss. That`s their goal.

LUI: Way of life.

GOMEZ: It`s way of life. It`s freedom. It`s liberty of movement and liberty to act the way we act. And that`s what our authorities have been protecting us since 9/11 and continue to do so, proactively.

LUI: Manuel Gomez, thank you so much for your perspective on those developing headlines just on this first weekend of the New York. I appreciate it.

GOMEZ: Thank you, Ric.

LUI: All right. A new recruitment video from Al-Shabaab, al Qaeda`s branch in Somalia. It features a clip of Republican Presidential Frontrunner Donald Trump talking in an event last month in South Carolina. Here is part of what Trump said. Not from the recruitment video but from our own archives.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country`s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LUI: Joining me now with more details, MSNBC`s Cal Perry. Cal, good morning to you. Tell us more about this.

CAL PERRY, MSNBC NEWS JOURNALIST: So, Richard, this is as you`ve said, Al Qaeda in Somalia`s affiliate. This is Al-Shabaab. They are very active in Kenya and in Somalia, Northern Kenya and all of Somalia. They put out this video and we need to make sure that we`re giving the proper context and framing this properly.

This is a 51-minute video. Donald Trump is in there for about 30 seconds. It`s based largely on the clip that you`ve just played. And it`s the obvious play for extremist. This is something that has come up on the campaign trail. Take a listen to what Hillary Clinton had to say in a recent Democratic Debate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We also need to make sure that the really discriminatory messages that Trump is sending around the world don`t fall on receptive ears. He is becoming ISIS` best recruiter. They are going to people showing videos of Donald Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit more radical Jihadists.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERRY: Now to be clear, again, al-Shabaab is not ISIS. The two are not the same, although, you could probably put them under the Islamic extremist umbrella if you want to.

Donald Trump is not, by any means, also the first politician to be used in recruitment videos by extremist groups we have seen in the past. Many politician is being used most of them in Europe. So this is sort of, again, the obvious play.

And I think, Richard, it`s something we can probably expect more of we haven`t seen a slickly produced ISIS video yet. But they are savvy media organizations in many ways now. And we know they have a video library. We see rehash video of Time Square, for example, almost on a replay whenever there are attacks around the world. So, we should be not be surprised if we do see more of these of types of videos.

LUI: MSNBC`s Cal Perry. Cal, thank you for this morning for that report. Some are raising questions about who is responsible for what Donald Trump says along the way, other than Donald Trump himself. Comedian Kamau Bell, according to Trump and his candidacy as a problem not just for the Republican Party, but for Caucasians overall. Even those who do not plan to vote for him.

They`re writing recently in SALON "stop acting like Trump isn`t the pinnacle and the result of America`s history and tradition of white supremacy. Simply put, white people, come get your boy." Also back with us our panels Sabrina Siddiqui, Jason Johnson and Katon Dawson.

How about me throwing that over to you and that`s not a heavy subject at all. But in an interesting dynamic because as Donald Trump is out there making these comments, there are those from various communities that will go please stop saying that, whether it`s a political community, whether it is an ethnic community. And just -- first so we can the term, get your boy first is when a certain individual says something of a certain background that that entire community from the same background says, hang on a second, do not be like that because that reflects all of us.

JOHNSON: Look, it is true, in proper quote in some it`s come get your boy. And that`s -- hello and we can say this about Donald Trump. We can say this about a lot of politicians over the last couple of years.

And I have been saying this for a very, very long time that much of what we have to acknowledge in America is that white supremacy is always been a white people problem. It`s not a black people problem. We have dealt with it for eons. Okay. We`re used to. We have survived regardless but white Americans, it`s time for them to have internal conversations about those people who do not want us to have a combined multicultural nation and those people who are allies.

And that needs to be an inside the white community conversation not just with brown people involved. Because if we don`t -- look the demographics of this country are changing, if we don`t deal with the kind of things that Trump is saying and the attitude behind it, we won`t survive as a nation for another 56 years.

LUI: In this dynamics is not only in the black and brown communities, it exists in all communities across the country. Now it`s intimating political communities, the LGBT community. All of these different communities and some might say when they see Trump is it all of America saying, hey, this isn`t us, or all of America come get your boy.

DAWSON: It`s interesting Trump says so many disqualifying things for any other politician. It would just have annihilated them right off the bat. He has changed the whole primary, he has changed the process and he gets away with it. Now, the question is, is he going to be successful getting away with it and putting the divides up and some of the unifying facts of America. We`ll see. I mean, there is an anger at Washington that he has channeled. Well that is the...

LUI: Well, I`m going to get to you in a second here Sabrina. But Katon, don`t you feel as a Republican and he`s a Republican, a registered Republican that come get your Boy?

DAWSON: He`s going to land in South Carolina with an Indian American Governor named Nikki Haley. Only Republican, African American U.S. senator Tim Scott. Lindsey Graham who just got out of the race states Congress. he`s going land and there`s going to be -- I think some sobriety to this, because in the deep South, we`ve worked very, very hard and a lot of work to go and you saw this and the tragedies we had of our communities there and it is something that our state normally just doesn`t put up with, but we`ll see.

SIDDIQUI: And I think this is a sort of the bstacle for the Republican party that when, you know, as you can send nothing seems to be disqualifying for Donald Trump. But more I think is that every time a poll is conducted after he said something and you`ll find, maybe 30 percent of people who agree with what he said.

So for example, with his proposal to Ben, Muslims who are entering the United States with his views on immigration and the really hard line stance he`s taken. And that`s coming at a time and especially in election with Republican party has really widened, and broadened its tent.

Appeal to minorities, Latinos, African American voters, people -- Asian American voters, after 2012, where they had, you know, really heavy losses among those demographics and, you know, now they`re faced with this front runner who has offended every group you can possibly think of and then have a poll that shows that there is a significant -- actually not a majority, but a significant enough fraction of Republicans who agree with him.

LUI: Go ahead.

JOHNSON: Theirs is a limit thought. That they can`t get your boy and that is we cannot hold groups responsible. Because we flip this and we talk about the Muslim American community. And we can`t tell Muslims, hey, come get your terrorist because that`s not all Muslim. We can tell gun owners come get their own roof because of that all gun roof. So there`s a limit to how far we can blame everybody?

LUI: What is the limit?

DAWSON: Well, the limit is going to be this election and we`re going to see and again we`re going to see whether the Republican Party. This election we all thought that would be a defining election for the party. We thought it was going to be serious, we thought it was going about issues and policies. None of that is that.

JOHNSON: But not so far.

LUI: Not so far. Look, Donald Trump might arrive and nobody comes again at the end of the day. Well you as one two three if you`re saying. All right, we`ll speak to the panel again later this hour. But first we want to bring you the latest on the devastating floods in the Midwest which have already been blamed for at least two dozen deaths. Here is what we know right now.

The river near St. Louis there are starting to recede. But things could be about to get -- could about to -- could get worse very soon for other nearby residents. We`ll tell you why when we go live to Missouri.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

The historic floods in the Midwest have had killed at least 24 people, are now threatening thousands more residents this morning.

Swollen rivers are receding after days of widespread flooding near St. Louis where state of emergency was lifted. But officials are warning, the worst is yet to come south there as the floodwaters move downstream towards the Gulf States.

For the latest, let`s now bring MSNBC`s and NBC`s Charles Hadlock in Missouri. Charles?

HADLOCK: Hi Richard. We are in Valley Park in Missouri. This is the Meramec River that is flooding some of the streets there. You see a tractor driving through, you can see how high the water is.

Actually, the water is going down. It was about eight feet higher yesterday and it`s a few inches lower than when we got here today. So it is on its way out, but it`s going to be a while because the Meramec River flows into the Mississippi River, and the Mississippi River itself is flooding.

Now, St. Louis was spared any major flooding, but the town of Valley Park, Eureka, and Arnold all were hit very hard. About 150 homes just downstream from here in Arnold were flooded as it goes into the Mississippi River, the river itself is flooded.

Farther downstream, the river is rising. And in the town of Chester, it should crest about three feet below the record. Farther south, in St. Genevieve it will fall too short -- or two feet short of the record. But in Cape Girardeau, down in the bootheel of Missouri, they`re really watching this river rise.

Now, the flood stage there is 32 feet. Today, the flood stage is at 48.86, that is a record. It`s never been that high before in Cape Girardeau. It`s expected to crest tomorrow at 50 feet. Now, that sounds very dangerous, but there`s a wall, a flood system there, that can withstand 53 feet. So they`re barely making it there. Everyone is holding their breath that it doesn`t go any higher and it`s not forecast to.

Now, 95 percent of the town of Cape Girardeau is surrounded by a levee system, 5 percent is not, so about 25 homes are flooded or at least inaccessible because of the rising water there.

Now, farther south, down toward Memphis, there will be a rise in the river, but it`s not expected to be a record flood there. And there are flood advisories up all along the Mississippi River from Southern Missouri all the way down to Natchez, Mississippi.

Richard, this is going to be a long slow motion flood that will last another week or so along the Mississippi.

LUI: Charles, thank you so much. NBC`s Charles Hadlock with the latest for us on that. And NASA now warning the worst damage from this year`s El Nino is still to come, possibly matching the worst ever.

NASA says the weather system will cause "weather chaos" here in the U.S. early this year. Joining us now for the forecast is Weather Channel`s meteorologist Bonnie Schneider. And Bonnie, it looks like we may be in for an unusual January and February.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, THE WEATHER CHANNEL METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely, Richard. We`re already seeing that classic El Nino pattern right now just looking at our national water vapor. You could see the energy coming in to areas of the south and look off to the west, a brand new storm system going to bring rain to California.

These are two typical factors of El Nino that will impact our winter this year, 2016. We have that wet pattern with the southern branch of the jet stream really bring a lot of energy and moisture to areas into Arizona and Texas.

And speaking of Texas, unfortunately El Nino has not brought great conditions so far. With cooler conditions and weather conditions, we look for the threat of potential ice. And that`s what we`re going to see actually today and tonight into parts of West Texas. Not as bad as an event we saw last week, but not good when you`re traveling.

Now further to the northwest, the El Nino system typically causes warmer and drier conditions. And remember, this is just a typical El Nino, there`s always going to be fluctuations, but drier into the northern planes.

And then as you head to the east, the pattern typically for El Nino brings about drier conditions into the Great Lakes and even warmer into the upper Midwest. So you may be wondering how does that impact those areas in terms of weather? Well, when you have milder air at the midlevels of the atmosphere and at the lower levels, sometimes instead of getting a big snow event, you get more of an ice event which is treacherous. Everyone knows you don`t want to drive on ice. So when you have the cooler air in place and a typical storm system works its way up, we could get more of an icy situation.

Now, in terms of what we are looking at in the immediate future with El Nino is rain Sunday to Mondays. So this is happening right now into Arizona. We could see half an inch into the Phoenix area as will at California.

Look at the San Luis Obispo getting wet, but some of the bulk of the heaviest rain will be in Northern California. Look at Ukiah. We`re expecting substantial rain there. And this is just one of a series of storm systems that are coming in. We have one coming in on Sunday, tomorrow, and then on into Tuesday, and the one for Tuesday will likely bring more widespread rains up and down the coast as far south as Los Angeles and even San Diego will get wet, Richard.

So we`re already seeing this El Nino impacting our weather...

LUI: Right.

SCHNEIDER: ... now. And for the winter, it`s likely to keep doing that.

LUI: Well Bonnie, anytime you can bring up the little town of Ukiah, north of San Francisco, and you`re talking about more rain, they`re smiling...

SCHNEIDER: OK.

LUI: ... because there`s been a dry, dry state as you know, Ukiah, California. Bonnie Schneider, thank you so much.

SCHNEIDER: Sure.

LUI: Up next, Donald Trump and Ben Carson may have been the biggest political surprises of 2015, but who will provide us with the unexpected stories in 2016?

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LUI: So we`ve already discussed this hour how Donald Trump continues to dominate the race for the Republican presidential nomination, making global headlines this morning.

And he is not the only candidate to have caught many by surprise along the way. Despite a recent campaign shakeup, Ben Carson, still a contender raising $23 million in the last quarter likely more than any other Republican candidate this cycle.

And on the Democratic side, how many of us predict Bernie Sanders would catch up on -- catch up as a viable alternative to Hillary Clinton.

Here to discuss the candidates who shocked us in 2015 and who might do that in 2016, MSNBC political analyst and Washington Post political reporter, Robert Costa along with our panel.

So we`re talking about Donald Trump. Yeah, that`s the headline.

COSTA: Sure.

LUI: Nobody thought 2015 was going to be all about Donald Trump. You see this continue in 2016?

COSTA: I think the Trump phenomena will certainly continue until voting begins. The candidate I think who has the best chance of surprising in 2016 is Governor Christie of New Jersey.

You see his poll numbers rising in New Hampshire. He`s even campaigning in Iowa, trying to have a show in there in February 1st. If the establishment becomes a little uneasy with Senator Rubio, they don`t think he can really take on Trump or Senator Cruz, look for Christie to maybe be their favorite.

LUI: So not Rubio is the potential surprise here.

SIDDIQUI: Actually I think that one of the surprises, and it won`t be to people who have followed him very closely, but, you know, I think on a more national scale of Ted Cruz. You know, he spent years really building this extensive network of grassroots support. He fund raises, you know, sort of record pace. And I think he`s really positioned himself to be that alternative to Donald Trump and to potentially take away some of Trump`s supporters when voting actually begins or when voters go to caucus in Iowa.

And he`s really well-positioned because he also -- he`s not necessarily palatable to the establishment, that`s for certain, but, you know, he really could be the guy to beat when it comes time to go to the polls.

LUI: Why not Senator Rubio brought it. Nobody even took that letters they`re doing out there.

JOHNSON: Again, look, I think Rubio has a chance, I think he`s probably the best chance to actually beat Hillary Clinton. The Republicans really want to go head to head with her. But I`ve always felt this about this campaign, president who campaigns play this way.

It`s like football, it`s not the team that`s killing it in all season, it`s that team that`s five and five halfway through that gets hot at the end of the season and goes to the playoffs.

And so I`ve always thought that those four through fifth candidates, I wouldn`t be surprised if Jeb does better, he`s going to win. But I wouldn`t be surprised if he does better than we expect in Iowa because a lot of times is that third through fight...

LUI: Right.

JOHNSON: ... who`s got a good grounding.

DAWSON: I`m with Robert. Chris Christie has life.

LUI: Chris Christie.

DAWSON: And because the original voters that Trump has were Christie voters two and a half years ago before everything fell apart for him. That was a Christie voter we saw, they were angry, they were mad, they liked his bravado.

If he personalizes himself, self-depreciates a little bit in that January debate, numbers will change.

LUI: What about Ben Carson, talking about numbers, $23 million in Q-4. You kind of raise an eyebrow when you heard that, Robert.

COSTA: Ben Carson has the money, the question is, how does he use that money? His campaign manager is gone, his deputy campaign, the manager out, his press secretary the same.

LUI: Yeah.

COSTA: So if he doesn`t have an organization, he may be able to have some social media presence, some ads, but he has to have a strong debate or something else and has to come back in Iowa. He has to take on Cruz and Trump in Iowa because that`s his bouncing pad if anything.

LUI: What do you say about the other side, Hillary Clinton`s numbers coming out too, really outracing everybody. She beat her $100 million goal, yes, $100 million goal of the race in 2015. She`s never to (inaudible). And she had some 30 plus million that she got in Q-4.

COSTA: I think if there`s going to be any Democratic surprise you still have to look at Senator Sanders. His poll numbers in Iowa and New Hampshire are strong. He`s perhaps the soul of the Democratic base as it looks to really rethink what does the Democratic Party mean post-President Obama? Does it perhaps want to move to the left? And he has grassroots fervor. And as much as he`s not taking on Secretary Clinton, when you`re out on a campaign trail, there is a Bernie Sanders vote and it could be powerful because no one is really paying attention to it because Clinton`s run a solid campaign.

LUI: Is she ebbing that way towards Sanders though because we often have talked about how Bernie Sanders and where his funding is coming from below $100, right? A very large percentage. But that was also true the numbers that came out from the Hillary Clinton campaign, 90 plus percent $100 or less.

SIDDIQUI: Right. You know, and that`s actually true for the last several months of her campaign where the majority of those donations are small donations. And I think that, you know, they had a record, a night of fundraising after that Benghazi committee hearing as well where a lot of donations, small donations, poured in throughout the 11 hours and in the days that followed.

Look, I think when it comes to Bernie Sanders, you very well might actually see him win Iowa or New Hampshire. And I think that the Clinton campaign that actually, you know, conceded that in some of their calls with reporters, some of their conversations with the press. But like Robert said, she`s running a very solid campaign.

It`s hard to imagine this gets away from her, but I think that you see the impact that he has had in the Democratic primary on pushing her to the left. He`s certainly left his stance on the Democratic primary whether he`s going to be an actual nominee or not, he`s certainly driven a lot of the policy discussions that have taken place.

LUI: Talking about late surge though, he doesn`t have Bill Clinton.

JOHNSON: Right. He doesn`t have Bill Clinton, he doesn`t have that opportunity. I saw Bill Clinton at the HOPE Foundation last year. He gave this great sort of Roger Murtaugh speech. He said, "I`m too old for this stuff," you know, from Lethal Weapon. He said, "I`m going to come out there and be the statesman."

LUI: Yeah.

JOHNSON: "I`m going to come out there and argue for whoever is there." And I think Hillary, she not only has that, and I think sometimes we underestimate some people really like her. Like if you`re talking, there`s people who really are passionate about her in a way that I think sometimes we forget.

LUI: Since I brought up Bill Clinton though, Trump and Clinton going to be about 20 miles from each other come on Monday and I`ve been likening it to, just because I like movies here, Batman versus Superman.

DAWSON: It is. And Trump is going to be very smart. He`s pivoted to the Clintons, he`s gotten away from the others, he`s moved himself away. He`s getting ready to run $30 million worth of campaign ads, he is pivoting over trying to move to a (inaudible) candidate.

What Bernie Sanders, and we talked about the president, Bernie Sanders base, I see it in yard signs, I feel it. It`s going to take President Obama to put him back on the reservation. Not Hillary Clinton, because they don`t like her.

JOHNSON: Right.

DAWSON: So -- But he`ll do it, and that`s what happen. That passion is there. They`re for him and she`s got a problem with that base in the party.

LUI: Last line to Costa.

COSTA: I think you have to pay attention to this week, Donald Trump versus Bill Clinton. I mean, we`ve already seen Secretary Clinton and Donald Trump have their personal clashes. It`s a foreshadow to a general election battle that could be more divisive than anything we`ve seen in decades.

And Trump is not afraid or he`s very willing to take on President Clinton on the personal issues, and that`s something that Clinton campaign wasn`t really expecting to have to fight at this point in the campaign.

LUI: It`s going to be fun to watch certainly, right Robert Costa?

COSTA: Indeed. Thank you.

LUI: Thank you so much and to our panelist as always. Still ahead, why leaders of the LGBT civil rights movement are so concerned about the coming year.

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LUI: 2015 was a historic year for the LGBT community and its supporters. The Supreme Count in a landmark decision made same sex marriage legal nationwide but after witnessing a new wave of backlash against the LGBT community, some activist think 2016 will be very different.

In Kentucky, Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis made headlines for refusing to issue same sex marriage licenses.

In Houston, voters overwhelmingly repealed that city`s non-discrimination law. And more transgender people were murdered in 2015 than in any other year on record.

Here to discuss what`s next in the fight for LGBT rights is Former Senior Advisor to President Clinton, an LGBT Rights Advocate Richard Socarides.

Richard, thank you for being here. We were just listing some of the landmark issues that have passed and made their way for rights for LGBT people. Do you have concern about what 2016 might bring given what I was just mentioning, and that is some of the waves of individuals and unfortunately crimes that have been levied against the LGBT people?

RICHARD SOCARIDES, FORMER SENIOR ADVISOR TO PRESIDENT CLINTON AND LGBT RIGHTS ADVOCATE: Well, I think first of all what those examples illustrate, quite importantly, is that the battle for civil rights for LGBT people in this country and more importantly globally, that battle is far from over.

The Supreme Court decision was sweeping and was very positive and not only gave gays and lesbians everywhere in this country the right to marry, but I think it brought gays and lesbian into the mainstream, a political thought and a policy thought.

But there is a lot more work to do. There is a lot of work. You can still be fired in a lot of places just for being gay, while we have made a lot of progress on transgender rights.

Witness Caitlyn Jenner who start in the Google ad, the year-end Google ad. I thought that was rather interesting. But there are still a lot -- there`s a lot left to do and especially on a global stage, where globally, Human Rights, gay rights for gay people outside the U.S. is still a matter of life and death.

LUI: What happens on the state and local level since we were just bringing up Kim Davis, we also have Houston as well.

SOCARIDES: Well, I think on the state and local level, it seems that states in more conservative places in red states and in some purple states are going to fight over the so-called religious exemption rules, some state legislatures have tried to pass laws that would give people a so-called religious exemption so that if you claimed a religious belief, you could somehow be exempt from nondiscrimination provisions that protected the LGBT rights people.

I don`t think ultimately these laws are going to go very far. I think, where they`ve been enacted, they have been scaled back. I mean, we have to continue to fight them. We have to continue to take them seriously. They will -- people will continue to propose them.

But I think, ultimately, this is, you know, this is small potatoes. I think that Kim Davis thing, she got a lot of media attention but she was one county clerk in the whole country.

LUI: But yet got a lot of attention though like -- and that could invigorate those groups that you are talking about.

SOCARIDES: It got a lot of media attention, but I don`t think it invigorated anybody that wasn`t already invigorated.

LUI: OK. So, there`s something happening in this year called the election, well, how do you see this being part of the platforms that will be discussed?

SOCARIDES: Well, it`s very interesting because as we all know for decades, Democrats who generally favored gay rights had that position used against them in elections and the Republicans used it as a wedge issue against Democrats.

Now it`s become a wedge issue opposition to gay rights has become a wedge issue against Republicans. And Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are running on very strong pro-gay rights platforms.

I mean, you know, I`ve been involved in politics for my entire life for over 35 years and my entire adult life for over 35 years and I`ve never seen a candidate, candidates in the Democratic Party run more positively, more pro-gay rights.

She really understands -- Hillary Clinton really understands that this is a major plus for her. Not because gay people represent such a large percentage of the electorate, I mean in gay -- most survey say it somewhere between three and 10 percent, a lot of people don`t self identify. We don`t exactly sure how many.

But because so many people have come out and that`s what`s fueled the whole legal runs but because so many people have come out is become a big issue for straight people and progressives. And if you`re someone who cares about progressive social change in this country, you care about gay rights whether you`re gay or not.

LUI: The quality is what you`re saying.

SOCARIDES: Quality is very important.

LUI: I have to bring in Katon here, as our panel Republican and to get your response we`re talking about being a wedge issue.

DAWSON: You`re going to hear Republicans talking about religious liberty. That`s going to be code and you`re looking at in a state in this early state, you`re looking at 65 percent Evangelicals and Born-again Christians in South Carolina about the same number in Tennessee coming into the small microcosm of 650,000 voters in -- and I`ve already heard it.

I heard my former candidate talk about it. We`ve had meetings with between 60 and 80 pastors. They understand it. And that is the conversation that going to have right back into what you said about states that are going to be enacting religious liberty laws and the lawyers are going to win. They`re going to be a lot of them that`s going to go but...

SOCARIDES: But it`s going to be a huge problem for Republicans because what`s happening is that in order to win these Republican primaries in this conservative that are dominated by conservatives, these candidates have to run against gay rights. They have to oppose gay rights.

But in the general election, what I hear from my Republican establishment friends and I have a lot of friends in the Republican Party who are mainstream Republicans who say that our party has got to move forward, the party has got to come, you know, come into the 21st century but what`s going to happen is around the time that they have to run against Hillary Clinton, they`re going to be stuck with these, with these positions they took in the primaries. And believe me, she is going to hang this on them. You`re going to hear a lot about gay right.

People think gay rights are, is over as an issue in national politics. Mark my words, it is not over. You`re going to hear a lot about it in this presidential campaign in the general election when Hillary Clinton is going to run as a pro-gay rights candidate. And most Americans are going to be with her.

LUI: All right. We`ll have to leave there. Richard Socarides, thank you as also our panel.

Katon, in this particular situation, for typing in on the topic. Appreciated both.

Why the odds may be against you if you`re hoping to keep your New Year`s resolution. That`s up next.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Winning is my New Year`s resolution. Do I get one?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LUI: Many Americans are on day two trying to achieve far more mundane goals in Republican Presidential Candidate Jeb Bush who has his eyes on the White House. They`re trying to lose weight, exercise more, save more money, quit smoking, drink less.

You know the drill and you also know how difficult it can be to achieve those goals. And according to Forbes, University of Scranton research suggests that only 8 percent of people achieve their New Year`s resolutions.

So I want to ask our panel to share any experiences they have had with their own resolutions.

JOHNSON: Fail, fail and fail.

LUI: What was it first, though, I guess my question might be.

DAWSON: What was the resolution?

LUI: What was the resolution that you failed upon?

DAWSON: You always want to lose a little weight, you always want to drink less, and you always want to spent more time at home and you want to have a little more fun and you start failing at all of it.

LUI: OK let me throw an example, last year`s MSNBC contributor Josh Barro wrote a piece called "How to Make Yourself Go to the Gym?" And in it he discussing the research of two economists who surveyed gym members who on average said they would work out about 9 and a half times a month. This turned out to be more than twice the actual attendance observing that study. And a warning if you have any suggestions for any of you that when it comes to gym membership that you have taken upon for yourself?

JOHNSON: Look I have tried it because I have a couple of good friends staying hang up there who are trainers and I decided I would just hang out with them therefore socializing became running, became jogging, became going down to Piedmont Park. If you hang around with people who like working out, that`s the easiest way to do it. Because my discipline will take...

LUI: So hang out with folks that have similar sort of objectives.

JOHNSON: Exactly.

LUI: And do it for a living.

SIDDIQUI: Right and I think the silly thing about New Year`s resolutions is that why do you decide, you know, at the beginning of this year that this is what I`m going to work out more. It`s a mind set you have to keep throughout the year or you`re not going to do it. And just stay hanging out with more people who have similar objectives.

LUI: Right.

SIDDIQUI: I think you can`t make excuses for yourself. So, you know, I`ve learn being on the campaign trail for example but I never have time to work out is my excuse, you have to make time, it might mean you have to get up at 5:00 in the morning if that`s the only time you have.

LUI: That`s a really good point because 2016 is an election year, and because all bets are off, because anything you might put out like in terms of a goal is not going to be achievable, it going to be consumed especially the three of you during this coming year.

JOHNSON: Yeah.

DAWSON: Sure it will. I`m not biggest when is all more I want to try to be nicer. We`re in the middle of campaign season, where people want to be mean.

JOHNSON: That`s a good one.

LUI: Yeah.

JOHNSON: I had a stack of books last year and I was like, I`m going to read these books, these are American classics, they`re still sitting there, they haven`t moved. And on the campaign trail, you never have time to read.

LUI: So maybe digital books?

SIDDIQUI: This year I accordingly -- I sent my resolution accordingly which is I want to do a solid job covering this election. Because that is the one thing that I know be consuming my life. So that was must only focus of my so-called New Years goal.

LUI: Yeah what I`ve done based on what you were saying is that I have downloaded four or five can digital books because I do have books that are purchased and they`re sitting there unread. All they`re doing is keeping dust, that`s about it.

DAWSON: That`s right, that`s correct. That it happens every time. You want to do better but then let`s add the fun equation. You know, everybody would have a little more fun.

LUI: Yeah, yeah and I`m with you on that, I`ve just been looking at trips to Hawaii on that note.

All right, next, why tomorrow may be really important if you help to find love in the coming year? I wonder what our panel has to say about that.

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LUI: There`s a lot going on this morning, so I want to get caught up on some of the other headlines making news with today`s panel. OK so there`s a lot going on, so as we dating? How about that?

Dating Sunday it could be the time to find love. I don`t know but this situation is for all three of you and you can reveal whatever you like to. But according to match.com, 60 percent is the number, there`s a hike in new singles joining this site between Christmas and Valentine`s Day. So what they`ve done, is they have made January 3 dating Sunday, the date where you will go out and find a new dating partner.

SIDDIQUE: Well, my January 3 is me flying to New Hampshire to follow Marco Rubio and Hillary Clinton all over to the state. So I don`t know is that going to be dating Sunday?

LUI: Well we know the campaign trail, the preview you were talking about, you`ll never know what`s going to happen right?

JOHNSON: It`s almost long nights, when you`re working with people. Have all these ideal logical arguments with not that I`m revealing anything, but yes it can happen.

LUI: What are you revealing?

JOHNSON: I`m just saying it can happen.

LUI: And on the campaign trail, you see it happen.

DAWSON: My wife in 35 years is now I`m going to looking for a date on Sunday, we`re gone. I mean, you know, when campaign season comes, you`re 24/7, you`re moving, you`re working and it`s fine but I don`t know if there`s a lot of love in that equation.

LUI: It is one of those resolutions, so that`s an interesting article that we thought we`d catch up on this one in particular like in California, do like my tex-mex.

So how about a taco cleanse? Yes a taco from the "L.A. Times" it`s real and it`s Vegan. Other`s a new Vegan cookbook designed to help you replace every meal for day of month or how long you chose with a taco. We eat to loose weight. And if you can eat tacos I mean the president was talking about how he loves nachos, right? You have a taco I mean all of taco things and all. I am, I love my tex-mex, I might partake of this vegan taco cleanse.

JOHNSON: This sounds really good and it will give me an excuse to make tacos all the time. You know mind you, I will probably end up covering it with nacho cheese and things like that and ruin it but, you know...

SIDDIQUI: So good to be true, if it`s a burger cleanse, then I`ll sign up.

LUI: I think if burger cleanse. But honey it was in the papers. There`s an article, read about it, so it`s going to be true.

DAWSON: They had left the whisky out but that`s OK.

LUI: That will be coming around soon. Don`t you worry. This coming from the Associated Press. Very interesting. Female World War II pilots barred from all internet national cemetery and we talk about an age of equality, it`s hard to believe some of the dates related this women -- I`ll give you some detail and get your response. Women Air Force service pilots flew non-combat missions during World War II as many of you know in the panel here.

There were grant in better in status in 77 but in have been eligible to have there ashes placed on to with multi-owners only since 2002. But early this year, army lawyers determined these pilots were ineligible, because they fell under the category of active duty designees during the war.

JOHNSON: It seems like a silly idea that if they were making an argument about space because I know that actually has been a thing at Arlington Cemetery but it just -- these sort of technicalities, they serve there women, there were historical women that serves this country put them in next, not that complicated.

DAWSON: I`m for women.

LUI: You`re for women?

SIDDIQUI: Yeah.

LUI: Standing up?

DAWSON: I am.

LUI: That`s his bumper sticker, I`m pro-women.

SIDDIQUI: These are the subtle issues that you -- when it comes to equality in your saying in this day and age. Even those little I think these little nuances is that a lot of people aren`t even aware aren`t even aware where women still are not treated equally and you see it across the board and like it too much and say we`re making $0.70 to $1 versus none. But you know all across America, you still have many, many case of discrimination on the basis of gender.

LUI: I`ve really enjoyed spending time with all three of you on this first Saturday. We know we had a good conversations. You eat our doughnuts on top of that. You have a good new year.

DAWSON: Thank you, and Happy New Year.

LUI: It`s a great panel today and thank you for getting UP with us today. We`ll be back with you tomorrow morning at 9:00 A.M. Eastern time. But before that, you going to want to watch MELISSA HARRIS PERRY. She has an exclusive interview with the mother of Tamir Rice. That`s coming up next. Have a great Saturday.

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THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY 

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