the new york city 911 call center gets about 800 calls. about 800. today it was 6900 in that half hour period and another 4,000 calls to the city's 311 info line. today's earthquake was the largest earthquake to hit the east coast of the united states in more than 65 years. the u.s. geological survey saying it was a 5.8, its epicenter was about 80 miles away from washington, d.c. although we think of earthquakes as a more west coast phenomena in the country, but when they hit on the east coast, the geology of the faults and land on the east coast means that eastern quakes tend to be felt over a wider area than similar-sized quakes would be felt in the west. this one on the east coast today was felt in 22 different states from maine to ohio to new york

to south carolina. there were even reports of shaking in eastern canada. in washington, d.c., here's what an associated press camera trained on the white house recorded. and here was the subtle rock and roll the camera captured of the u.s. capitol building. you might not have known something was up unless you were watching for it, but here's what happened. >> you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" right here on msnbc. >> slight camera wobble, only indication, but the shaking was enough to evacuate those studios, at least for the short run, to make sure everything was okay. very close to the epicenter in virginia, there was nothing subtle about it. the associated press says the filming of this commercial, for example, caught the quake live in virginia. watch this. >> i want to take this opportunity to show you my new

customer waiting room -- do you feel that? what was that? my god, i think that was an earthquake. >> yes, it was. at the epicenter, chimneys damaged, windows broken, close to washington, d.c., a building collapsed and crushed a handful of cars as you see here. in washington, d.c. itself, the national cathedral's tower and several spires were damaged, plaster and paint chipped off the u.s. capitol dome into the rotunda. as the quake hit, dozens of buildings were evacuated. the senate is sort of on recess, but technically the senate is in session so the republicans can block the president from making recess appointments. the senate decided to hold its

pro forma session at the postal square building, right next to union station, about four long blocks from the capitol. the president is vacationing in martha's vineyard, he said he did not feel it although some did feel the quake. hundreds of office workers definitely felt the quake in shore at boston. in new york city, some buildings including the federal courthouse were evacuated. but unless you lived where a giant chunk of building fell or someone got hurt, the wall-to-wall coverage may have seemed a little much. twitter was occasionally hilarious today. this is a map of all the earthquake activity over the past seven days. this country of ours is prone to shaking. california shakes all the time. nevada shakes all the time, alaska, hawaii, puerto rico, they shake all the time, and this really surprised the eastern seaboard.

5.8 and people from boston to richmond, virginia, run out on the street. check this out, last month revealing u.s. nuclear officials were working on a new study about how well our nuclear power plants can handle earthquakes. "we're concerned about a magnitude-6 earthquake occurring and surprising us in the east." that's speaking in the context of what our nuclear plants can stand up to. the 5.8 quake we saw today was still a way from being a 6.0, but if you are concerned about something surprising you and something close to that thing happens, can you still say you were surprised? today's quake was in mineral, virginia, happens to be home to the decades old north anna power station, a power plant, at the epicenter of the quake, officials at the plant felt the shaking today and powered down both reactors.

they also lost the source of electricity the plant brings in to cool the super hot, super dangerous nuclear fuel so it does not overheat. when the quake hit, its diesel generators kicked in. the plant is now running on those generators. in a statement today, no major damage has been reported at the plant and no release of radioactive materials has occurred beyond the minor releases associated with normal station operations. after the earthquake, a dozen nuclear plants from north carolina to michigan declared what the nuclear regulatory commission calls unusual events. those plants are continuing to operate. new estimates for the risk of devastating earthquakes at our country's 104 commercial nuclear reactors. on the top ten list for serious damage of an earthquake, nine of

the ten are in the eastern half of the united states. where, remember, they are worried a 6.0 quake might come along and surprise us all, north anna, located at the epicenter of today's quake is top seven of the list. its risk went up 38%, not because the nuclear power plant is more dangerous, but because we know now more about how earthquakes work and the risk they pose to nuclear plants. we started getting more reporting and more reports on the worst risks to america's nuclear power plants starting, of course, in march when an earthquake and tsunami knocked out power to fukushima plant. fuel in three of fukushima's reactors didn't just melt down, it melted through the super strong containment vessels at the plant. that disaster is still not over. coincidentally, vice president joe biden was in japan today. remember the scenes of

devastation in japan after the quake and tsunami there? u.s. troops had a large part to play in the clearing and opening up the airport. that's part of why the vice president visited today, reviewing the damage and rebuilding and promising the united states will stand with japan as long as it takes. that could turn out to be a very, very long time. the japanese government may have to claim land 12 miles by the reactor a no-go zone for decades. one catastrophe quake and loss of power and japan has its own chernobyl. for decades, a dead zone, because it is too dangerous to be there. even when it's done perfectly, nuclear power is a high wire act. mistakes can be catastrophic. already in the u.s. this year we have watched nuclear plants in nebraska battle weeks of record flooding where inches mattered

and the dams they put up failed and water got into the plant. when we reported on the nebraska story in june, we discovered first that when the fort calhoun plant was built, someone miscalculated how ready the plant was to handle a serious flood. the error was noticed two years ago, and this year's flooding was the first test whether they got the re-working right. the other thing we learned came by way of a piece by the associated press this year which found owners of nuclear power plants are asking to keep their 40-year-old plants around for up to a century. these plants are getting old. when president obama makes his speech next month about how the country can take action now to create jobs, maybe this time he can get really granular about his plan, really specific, instead of saying we need to get investing in our nation's future

or whatever, instead of saying something big picture like that, maybe he can go really small picture and say the nation needs to retrofit all of our nuclear power plants so they are ready for earthquakes like the one that hit the southeastern seaboard on august 23, do this as a public/private partnership and create jobs while doing it. the earthquake did not come with a warning and neither will the next test, so that means we're going to be retrofitting all our nation's critical infrastructure and we're going to be doing it now, because we need it because it's federal infrastructure -- we keep getting surprised by disasters, by the markets going nuts, by a ratings agency downgrading the united states on the basis of our dumb politics and brinksmanship about our debt. is one of these shocks or all of these shocks enough to change what is possible for our country, are they enough to change our minds? joining us now, ed rendell,

former pennsylvania governor and chairman of the national committee, governor rendell, thank you so much for your time tonight. >> my pleasure, rachel. >> this quake was obviously not the big one, but could this quake be a wake-up call to start a serious discussion about the dangerousness about our lousy and large infrastructure? >> it should, but it won't. if we can take any lesson from the bridge collapse in minnesota, the pipelines in northern california blowing up, all the disasters we had, the levies breaking in new orleans and cedar rapids because they were not properly maintained, the impetus will last for a week or ten days, then back to the same old thing, we don't have the money, we can't do it, we can't invest, we can't change things in america, which is pure b.s., but that's what we'll hear. >> is the fact we need it economically too any different now? we are as a country poised for

the president to take the bully pulpit, which he says he's going to do and put forward a bold economic plan, bold jobs plan to create jobs. one way to do that is through infrastructure. does his political will make this more possible than if we didn't have his political will on this? >> yeah, and clearly infrastructure is always important for public safety for the quality of our lives and long-run economic competitiveness, but what makes infrastructure, i think, tantalizingly possible, if everyone listens is it is the single best job creator we can do. your example, i know this because we just had work done on one of our reactors at three mile island and it employed over 1,000 construction workers for six months doing that work. we can, for a decent infrastructure investment program, we can put a million -- not a million, millions of

americans to work in well-paying jobs both as the construction sites and back at manufacturing plants producing the steel and concrete and asphalt. it's the single best remedy we have, but it can't be done for six months or one year, it has to be a long-term, in my judgment, a decade-long commitment. >> you can't get up there though, as president obama and say we need to do something different for a decade because the republicans are not willing to say yes to their own ideas as long as they are hearing them out of president obama's mouth. he doesn't say we need to change our approach to infrastructure, let's fix this bridge, let's go fix that plant. this earthquake today was the epicenter was in eric cantor's district, as was this nuclear plant that was, frankly, shut down today because of the danger about this quake even though they say there was no damage. doesn't that put eric cantor on the spot as majority leader in the house? >> no question, and if he's honest, he'll say we do need to

invest in our infrastructure, one of the most conservative members of the senate, do you remember during the debate jim inhofe and barbara boxer tried to triple infrastructure spending in the original stimulus, unfortunately it was beaten back, but there is republican support for infrastructure spending, and what we would have to do, look, specific projects, you're right, people love specific projects because they can say yeah, i get that, we need that, and we can do that in the short run, but in the long run, and i've seen it when you do your promos standing at the base of the hoover dam, we've got to do big things with the american infrastructure, can't be done in six months or a year, but if we committed ourselves to a decade-long program, that's going to produce millions of jobs, not just for one year or 18 months, but for ten years straight, and it will revitalize american manufacturing and get this

economy back working. >> for a plan like that, though, who's lobbying republicans for support on that and what republicans are coming along? >> well, you have to build a consensus for a plan like that, and every little thing helps, and clearly this episode helps today. there's no doubt about it, and the good news about nuclear plants, it's not good news for the public, but you can order new plants to be built or plants to be totally modernized and torn apart, and some of that can costs worn by the rate payers over a long period of time and some of it could be born by the private sector as well, so there are ways to get this done. you could spend $200 billion a year more on infrastructure than we're spending now, and the total cost to the federal government would be around $40 billion, rachel, and they get about $18 or $20 billion back in the additional taxes that would be generated by four or five million people working who

wouldn't otherwise be working. >> ed rendell, former pennsylvania governor, nbc news analyst and the only person i can get to be super enthusiastic to talk infrastructure with me. >> for the record, myself and my band of three people who worked with me, we stayed in our office, saw it shaking and rattled, but we hung in there and stayed at work. >> who would call you a wussy? >> never, never. >> i appreciate it. all right, the pictures for the battle of tripoli have been incredibly dramatic, including this man who claims to be wearing moammar gadhafi's accessories, look. >> i was like oh, my god. i'm in gadhafi's room, oh, my god, but then this thing happened. i found this -- i was like oh, my goodness, i'm happy now. i'm happy for libyans. >> that is not us making up a

guy dressed up in a moammar gadhafi suit saying he stole it out of gadhafi's bedroom. that in real life is a guy wearing gadhafi's clothing. whether this man is telling the truth or not, whether the hat and necklace and scepter belong to gadhafi, we cannot say, but we know it happened on film and the ousted gadhafi is not over.

a man named sherwood schwartz died last month after a extremely productive life as a tv producer. "brady bunch," also "gilligan's island," but he could never have anticipated one of his excellent tv characters would come to shape a leading presidential campaign in 2012. but it has and no, it's not sam the butcher or marsha, marsha, marsha.

gadhafi aefectively lived on a military base, and there were tanks inside this complex, if you -- it's effectively like the white house but he put the white house inside a military barracks. it is surrounded by high walls, the walls are built to be defended militarily, when you drive around the complex, there are small holes in the walls with little metal gates on the holes, little metal latches on them so the people inside can put guns out of them and fire to defend the complex, so it was

built for defensive purposes, and it has many buildings inside, intelligence buildings, command and control buildings, gadhafi's private residences in there, bunkers and tunnels underneath the complex, it's an elaborate structure but it was built with the idea something like this would happen. >> that was richard engel, finally wearing a helmet reporting throughout the day from outside moammar gadhafi's compound in tripoli, the capitol city of libya. rebel forces did, of course, force their way into gadhafi's compound. this is what richard filed about that for today's msnbc nightly news. >> the battle began early this morning with nato air strikes and rebel rockets fired from afar to weaken the defenses of gadhafi's compound. there's a lot of stray fire in this area as is running gun battle is continuing.

as the compound burned -- gunfire ripped across tripoli. a barrage of bullets fired from inside the compound. rebels defending their ground. then nearly five hours after the battle began, tripoli suddenly changed. we're hearing something we haven't heard all day, which is silence coming out of the compound. if you listen to it, there's really not much going on right now, and that itself is significant. there's no internet in tripoli, phone service is down, state tv is off the air, so the news was spread from loud speakers from mosques. we approached the compound, unsure if it really had fallen. >> this is one of the main gates of gadhafi's compound, the

rebels are going inside. there's bullet holes, clearly been a fight here. they are even moving in their heavy weapons. rebels had taken gadhafi's forbidden city. the rebels are now looting gadhafi's compound, they are taking out everything they can carry, these men have automatic weapons taken from inside the complex. [ speaking in a foreign language ] it's an fn automatic rifle, a barrette, this is a pistol taken from inside. at the center of the compound, may be libya's most iconic symbol, a statue of a fist crushing an american fighter jet. in front of it today, rebels sang, kissed the ground in prayer, and fired celebratory gunfire. at times, dangerously close to other rebelers. but where was gadhafi? rebels scoured the grounds, and think they spot gadhafi loyalists. they fire. but the loyalists are gone.

and gadhafi remains at large. the leader of libya for 42 years is now a fugitive, wanted by international courts and no longer considered in command of his people. today gadhafi lost his compound and also his country. amid these celebrations, there was still one place that remains under the control of gadhafi loyalists, in that hotel, there are 30 western journalists being held by armed gadhafi loyalists against their will and the fate of these journalists remains unknown. >> colonel gadhafi was not in his compound when the rebels seized it, as richard said there. according to -- withdrawing from that compound was a tactical move in response to nato air strikes. a government spokesman for gadhafi threatened to turn libya into volcanos, lava, and fire.

joining me now, p.j. crowely, he's now the omar bradley chair at the army war college. mr. crowely, thanks very much for joining me tonight. >> hello, rachel. >> how significant is the capture of gadhafi's compound? >> from a tactical point, is important strategically and a huge psychological boost for the transition of national council, particularly given the embarrassment 24 hours ago of having gadhafi's sons so visible, so this is a very significant move. in the short-term now they have the challenge of security, making sure that, you know, the streets are controlled and conditions return to normal, and also politics. now, demonstrating that as a regional power center they can now credibly lead the country towards this transition.

>> the government force which is now succeeding gadhafi, they are moving from benghazi to tripoli in the next few days, if that happens, do you think that actually will make a difference to the people of libya in terms of seeing the central power in their country? >> i think it will be a very important moment and a very important popular move. obviously, libya's a -- society, so there will be some politicking both at the wholesale level and retail level, but these are groups that have done business with each other for a long time, but there will be some jockeying going forward. a second challenge for libya is the matter of oil, getting oil back flowing again will generate revenue for the country, but as we've seen with the resource

curse in many countries, the fact there's now something to fight over, now no longer under the command of gadhafi means that's an enticing irritant or splinter that could, you know, pick at the unity that we hope libya will achieve. >> do you have any sense of how unified the country is behind -- behind the rebels? i mean, that seems to me it may be an important part of how bright the country's future is at this point, not just how together the national transitional council is in terms of holding basic governance together or establishing basic governance, whether or not there's going to be an insurgency and loyalists continuing a fight or somebody else trying to overthrow this government that's trying to find its legs. >> and that's why the fate of gadhafi does matter. if he's still in the country somewhere and he's still protected, that means that he can potentially lead an insurgency, although i think his effective command of any

resistance, i think, is very, very limited, then again if he's left the country, that's a different matter entirely, so resolving the issue of gadhafi will tell us a lot about the basic security situation will be for the foreseeable future, but as we've seen with many movements and prior revolutions, it's one thing they are unified by an opposition to gadhafi, it's another they'd have to create a common vision for a country and move in that direction. that's where national assistance is going to be vital. >> your role at the state department, i know you were not just a spokesperson but a hands-on person at the senior levels of that organization. tell me what you think will happen if some country somewhere, whether it's russia or somebody closer to home, somebody decide to take in gadhafi personally and shelter him from any international efforts to bring him before the

hague or anyone else. how will the united states reacted to some country that makes a decision like that? >> obviously, it's a very limited circle and gadhafi has probably made some arrangements to have an escape hatch in the event this happen, and there are lots of rogue leaders else where that are, themselves, pariahs around the world that may well be willing to welcome gadhafi and the billions he's squared away somewhere in the world. this is where the credibility of the international system of justice is important and critical. we see next door to libya in sudan where bashir is under an indictment from the i.c.c., but so far no country has been willing to execute, you know, that writ and move him to the hague, so this will be a challenge going forward in terms of the credibility of the i.c.c. and the willingness of the

international community to enforce its dictate. but then again, the good news here is that gadhafi has very, very few friends, only a handful of leaders who, you know, chavez is another in this hemisphere that would be willing to put him in and the united states and others would exert a heavy price politically and economically for anyone who shelters him. >> p.j. crowely, assistant for public affairs, thank you very much for helping us understand this, i really appreciate your time. the thurston howell iii factor.

okay, indulge me, please, in a throwback popcorn commercial. there's a reason we are showing this. this is actually an exercise in 2012 presidential campaign analysis. do you remember who orville redenbacher is? >> this is gourmet popping corn. >> you can pop all this for the price of two bags of chips. >> call my broker, we're corner the market. >> would you vote for somebody like orville redenbacher? seems honest and wholesome and sincere, he lacks a certain something, doesn't seem to be that presidential or inspiring. that, of course, is a moot question this year because he dropped out of the presidential

race when he finished third. if you vote for him, you would have to wait for the choice to vote for him for vice president this year. would you vote for the other guy in this ad? the country clubbing millionaire who for some reason brought a smoking jacket on a three-hour boat tour in 1965? when voting for president, would you vote for thurston? not a moot question, america, you may have that opportunity in this year's presidential race. the story of one candidate embracing the full thurston as a campaign strategy. would be easy without gravity. with olay challenge that. regenerist day and night duo. the uv lotion helps protect skin and firms during the day.

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when president obama announced he'll unveil his jobs plan at the beginning of september, among the first to pounce, among the first to go on the attack is the current frontrunner of the republican presidential nomination. >> he's going to come out on november 6th with his jobs plan, why hasn't he come out with it already? >> september, not november, still, september 6 is way too late, why even bother? the punch line on that attempted attack from mitt romney, though, was his line that came next.

>> i'm also in nevada on the september 6, and i will be coming out with my jobs plan, and it's going to be very different from his. >> mitt romney says the september 6 is way too late to come out with a jobs plan, he also says that his own jobs plan will come out on the september 6. that's like death by pallen droem, but ruining another attempted attack by him on the president, also a matter of jobs, the question of whether or not mitt romney's campaign is connecting with the american people on what they want to be the central issue of their campaign, the economy. when people think about mitt romney, republican frontrunner, when people think about mitt romney and jobs, what exactly do they think about? >> i'm also unemployed. i'm not working. [ laughter ]

>> a lot better than what we've got. mitt romney prompting giggles and cringes around the country and table he was sitting at when he tells a group of unemployed florida residents that he too is unemployed, and it is true, mitt romney is technically an unemployed multi-million private equity executive running for president by saying things like this. >> corporations are people, my friend. of course, they are. >> the i'm also unemployed moment and the corporations are people moment, both seems like mitt romney gaffes, some of the major baggage he brings to the race is some of the money he has is what he made shutting down companies, liquidating their assets and firing their american workers, he can't afford to be showcasing the corporations are people side of his personality. in what seemed like a record to course correct after those errors, mitt romney has tried to

pivot. he tried on a man of the people line recently when he attacked president obama for vacationing in martha's vineyard, but that didn't pan out when his schedule showed him to go to martha's vineyard at the exact same time president obama is going to be there, going straight from the vineyard to the hamptons, no, i'm not kidding. it did not go very well, and he now appears to be over that already. in fact, mitt romney now appears to be just embracing the zillionaire thing, he's going with it now. this is called going for the full thurston. >> the whole things sounds so darn democratic. >> after all, you're a man of ethics. >> you sure know how to cut a man, don't you? all right, i hereby officially

place myself under hot arrest. >> thurston, you're a convict. >> lovey, i've been framed, i'll appeal, i'll take it to the supreme court, i'll take it higher, the committee of the country club. >> thurston howell iii, millionaire from "gilligan's island." my best guess, mitt romney will keep joking with unemployed people that he too is unemployed. mitt romney can't be totally scripted. he has to be let out in the wild every once in awhile, and he keeps saying stuff like that. i believe the campaign has decided that instead of covering those things up when they happen, they are going to run with this, instead of backing

off the corporations are people thing, for example, the romney campaign has decided to turn the corporations for people line into a campaign ad as if this may be a good slogan for him. the romney family has decided to apply for a permit to quadruple the size of their mansion. the reason given, the current 3,000 square foot mansion is "inadequate for their needs." that was the statement from the campaign. i'm telling you, i think this is a deliberate strategy. when the washington post reported a guesstimate of mitt romney's net worth, the romney campaign wrote to them to correct the washington post's guess and said they wanted it to be made clear that an accurate range is between $190 million and $250 million. they'd like to be on the record about that, please. this strange story popped up yesterday, a story about mitt romney stealing all of barack

obama's big dollar wall street donors. the people that usually tip off a news outlet about that sort of thing is the campaign doing the stealing, not the campaign being stolen from. there's no direct evidence this is a romney campaign planted story in the hill, but it is a pro-romney story about romney donors and comes complete with this blind quote. "it's not healthy for rich people to feel maligned." but then after all this happens, this is why i think this has to be deliberate. all right, mitt romney went on fox news yesterday, he's out on the campaign trail so fox has to put him on a satellite feed, what is the image the romney handlers allow to be used for the back drop of their candidate? look, there's mitt romney positioned in front of a whole row of yachts. i'm telling you, this has to be a strategy. you can't do this many things by accident. mitt romney is the frontrunner,

this kind of thing cannot happen by accident over and over again. for awhile, all these things were just gaffes, now it seems they are doing it deliberately. the romney campaign is going for the full thurston. if he insists we call him willard instead of mitt, then we will have confirmation. joining me now, eugene robinson. willard, thank you for being here tonight. mind if i call you willard. >> i do actually. mitt romney is thurston howell iii, does that mean jon huntsman is the professor, because he believes in global warming and he believes in evolution, then michele bachmann could be maryann, sarah palin, of course, is ginger. >> wait, wait, wait. you've got ginger and maryann backwards. >> do you think so?

>> i totally see bachmann as ginger, but keep going. >> no, but there it ends. who's the captain, who's gilligan? >> well, the skipper is hard to say. the thing is, if you think -- if you're thinking about this in terms of pure impression, ron paul is the skipper, don't you think? >> yeah, i was thinking ron paul for gilligan and newt gingrich for skipper. >> that does put rick perry in the position of being gilligan, i'm afraid rick santorum will sue me for even saying that for being religiously offensive. >> that's a given, so we won't go there. >> a three-hour tour. now we've done it. can a candidate turn a rich guy caricature into a strength by embracing the rich guy caricature? >> i don't think so, but why not

try it? he is who he is, after all, and, you know, i had doubts as to whether they was deliberate, but when you look at the expansion of the $12 million mansion, for example, the stories go on to say he's not even planning to do work until after the campaign, so why apply for the permit now, why make it public now if you're not even planning to move into your 10,000 or 17,000 or however big the new mansion is going to be, so maybe he just wants to embrace himself? it's not good for the rich to feel maligned, rachel. >> when the campaign put out their statement, they obviously could have delayed responding for as long as they wanted, they didn't respond instantly, they had time to come up with something, and what they come up with is the existing $12 million mansion was inadequate for his needs. that made me just wonder whether or not it was deliberate and if

you tried to sort of get an aspirational vote, try to get a steve forbes style vote because i'm rich, you can be rich too. >> steve forbes did so well, though. president forbes, no. i think that only takes you so far, but that is an odd phrasing, isn't, inadequate to his needs as if of course we all need more than a 3,000 square foot sea front mansion, we all need more than that. >> how do you think that a line like that -- you're from orangeburg, south carolina, how is the full thurston going to play in south carolina? if this is deliberate and this isn't just sort of gaffe -- a multiplied gaffe now compounded by the campaign, if they are really doing this, can you imagine, he's going to have to deal with the south carolina electorate sooner rather than later. >> he is, i don't think it will play particularly well in south carolina and he has to deal with that electorate.

he's not going to win iowa, he's going to perhaps win new hampshire, then you get to south carolina which has a record of choosing the eventual nominee, he does well there, and the heavily republican sort of rock-ribbed parts of the state, they don't have even 3,000 square foot seaside mansions. they are just not that common, and so i don't know if that's going to play well at all. >> eugene robinson, "the washington post" columnist and msnbc analyst. seen we've been on the air, the gingrich campaign called us demanding he be the professor. we're going to have to consider how we reply. >> okay, we can reconsider. >> amid all today's literally earth shaking events, michele bachmann thinks she has a magic solution to make gas prices drop below $2 a gallon. and here, if you liked no pants

subway rides, who doesn't, you're going to love the best new thing in the world today.

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when the arab spring began

earlier this spring in tune eesha and then egypt, we spent a lot of time talking to this man. his reporting helped us understand what unfolded in cairo and helped his network find greater prominence in the united states. you can watch al jazeera on some television stations. soon you'll be able to watch him more here as he joins nbc news as a foreign correspondent. we're all very, very excited. he's a great reporter. he's already been a great asset to us as a guest. we're delighted to have him onboard in a full time capacity. also day, msnbc made this announcement. al sharpton will be the host of the 6:00 hour which is called politics nation. we were hoping it was going to be called reved up. whatever the name, we'll not only take it, we will watch it. congratulations to iman and reverend sharpton on their new gigs here. i think it is great news for both of them. i'm telling you, it is better news for those of us all the more proud to work here because

of really, really impressive new colleagues like this. very exciting here.

best new thing in the world today is an act of kindness from improv everywhere. improv everywhere are the people that threw a wedding reception for a random couple getting married in new york city. they organized mass high fives to amuse subway riders and who brought the no pants subway tried cities around the world every january. 200 people froze in place inside new york's grand central terminal. they also do mp3 experiments. they gather in a prearranged location and press play simultaneously and then do whatever the voice in their ear buds tells them to do.

the latest gig in connection with the museum in new york is called say something nice. they put up a podium with the mega phone on it and moved around a few public spaces in new york. it had a sign on it that said, say something nice. and then they left it alone. >> have a great day, everybody. >> you all look wonderful. welcome back to new york. i love everybody that is out here. i love you all. yes! hey, you in the umbrella. i really like it. it's pretty. we're from dallas, tex,