their community. maybe if you're in town, you'll stop by and join them. that does it for us tonight. don't forget, check out my work at wonkblog.com at the great "washington post" or follow me on twitter at twitter.com/ezraklein and on facebook, facebook.com/ez facebook.com/ezraklein. up next, "first look." "first look." disastrous day. mitt romney angers his london host questioning london's readiness. and a duchess straoeuz their hand at ping pong. and could this be the largest ever captured. good morning. this is "first look" on msnbc.

we're going to begin this morning with damage control. this was supposed to be mitt romney's debut on the world stage, and instead after questioning whether london is up to task of hosting the 2012 olympics mitt romney's camp is doing an arguing with the english press. brian, good morning. >> good morning. mitt romney has been careful not to criticize the president or the u.s. government on the overseas list, and he probably should have added london to the list. questioning london's on the olympics. >> the story about the private security firm not having enough people. >> it was about boosting his foreign policy resume, and instead he was forced to practice a little diplomacy. >> it shows imagination and

forethought and a loft organization and expect the games to be highly successful. >> president obama has london's back. >> he has the utmost confidence in the most. >> this was a gaffe, and he probably regrets it, but it's not the end of the world. >> there's a guy called mitt romney who wants to know whether or not we are ready, and he wants to know whether we are ready? are we ready? are we ready? yes, we are! >> romney is ready to leave the a baggage behind as he travels on to israel and poland. last night on the last word of lawrence o'donnell, howard dean talked about romney's gaffe.

>> this is pretty bad. first of all, insulting the prime minister is really bad. and when the prime minister thinks it's necessary to call out the candidate that is running for the president of the united states, this is not a good thing. i wish i could be more charitable, short of. but this is pretty bad. i haven't seen a bad trip like this in a long time, and george b. bush never did anything like this. of course all eyes are on london today, as anticipation builds for tonight's opening ceremony of the 2012 olympics and tracie potts is in london for us and has more on the final preparations that are under way. >> reporter: 60,000 will pack the olympic stadium, and how

will ""slumdog millionaire"" director entertain millions around the world. >> we want it to be the best discovery. >> reporter: the cast is sworn to secretcy. >> it's absolutely incredible. so speechless. i am probably going to cry. >> around olympic park, there is plenty for the public to see and do. workers are putting the finishing touches on the park and archery is the only sporting event happening today. and british soldiers are helping keep the olympics secure. >> usually i am my own security.

and all these guys should feel safe because i am here. >> the olympic torch is here, too. it arrives at the stadium tonight. tracie potts, nbc news, london. severe weather hits part of the midwest and east yesterday. in new york, apassable tornado brought down trees and power lines. there were multiple reports of damaged buildings but nobody was injured. curfew is in effect, while fallen trees and power lines are being cleared, and new york's governor has declared a state of emergency there. meanwhile, the drought affecting two-thirds of the u.s. is getting worse. a new report says 20% of the nation is now in the most extreme stages of drought, and that's a 7% increase in the last week. the states with the worst conditions is colorado, iowa, kansas, nebraska, and missouri, and conditions are not expected

to get better anytime soon with a little more rain and intense summer seat unfortunately in the forecast. here is a first look of other news around america today. a brawl erupted outside a missouri courthouse. it's the scuffle after the son of a murder witness approached a group. >> police arrested both men after viewing the fight. >> and the accident occurred after a suspect sped away from police during a traffic stop. he veered into on coming traffic and collided head on with another car. the suspect was arrested while the car and the driver in that car was hospitalized in critical condition. finally, the outpouring of support continues in aurora.

patients and hospital staff took photos with them, and they got autographed from the manager and 12 players who made the trip over there. that's great. now for a look at your national weather, let's check in with bill karins who has been tracking that stuff all over the country. >> some got the storms worst than others, and it's all over and that's the good thing. we will have strong storms, typical summertime storms but nothing like what we saw yesterday. notice the radar drying up. and there are showers going through west virginia, but they are drying up as they head over the appellations. all the severe weather is gone, and in all we had almost 300 reports of severe weather. all the blue dots show where we had wind damage and a lot of trees went down through ohio, pennsylvania, and northern kentucky, and the worst is along the pennsylvania and new york state border, and then some of the storms are pretty strong as

they went through the hudson valley and they are trying to head to connecticut. the line was not all that bad and not too many people lost power. this morning, the only thunderstorm complex left, terbgs a texarkana, and we will take the forecast there today. it's going to be a warm morning. there's a couple weak areas of low pressure that will move through, and they will spark more thunderstorms during the day today. and it shouldn't be as bad as yesterday but there will be typical afternoon thunderstorms in many areas of the northwest and maybe ohio could see a few storms, too. lynn, we are not going to see the incredible 105-degree heat, but it will be warm in the middle of the country with little rain in sight. coming up, facebook falls

flat. starbucks weakens, and bill, finally a place where you can stock up your man cave. we have been waiting for this. a look at the "first look" headlines is next. and what sugary treat does michael phelps' compare his career with. [ ryan ] maybe just a short run today. [ man ] "the odyssey," by homer.

book one. tell me, o muse... famous town of troy... book three. book 12. poseidon... book 17. book 20. thunderbolts. book 24. the end. [ ryan ] alright, what's next. [ man ] chapter one. call me ishmael. some years ago... [ male announcer ] at&t. the nation's largest 4g network. rethink possible. the nation's largest 4g network. ♪ atmix of energies.ve the world needs a broader that's why we're supplying natural gas to generate cleaner electricity... that has around 50% fewer co2 emissions than coal. and it's also why, with our partner in brazil, shell is producing ethanol - a biofuel made from renewable sugarcane. >>a minute, mom! let's broaden the world's energy mix. let's go.

with two times the points onake lunch dining in restaurants,ch? you may find yourself asking why not, a lot. chase sapphire preferred. there's more to enjoy.

welcome back to "first look." here are some of the stories making top news this morning. lawyers for the man known as victim number two released voicemails from last year purported to be sandusky expressing his love. health officials in eight states are trying to identify thousands of patients who may have been exposed to hepatitis c from traveling medical

technician david kowski. and too england, where the duchess of cambridge showed off her skills on table tennis to help train teenagers with sport coaches. in british columbia, talk about a big fish. a monster whitefish weighing more than 11,100 pounds. the mayor of newark, new jersey, is thinking about running against chris christie

next year. and ted nugent sent a tweet, saying he feels the shooter could have been stopped if others had weapons in the theater there. eight celebrities will be paired with the military to compete in challenges inspired by real missions. and mitt romney is not critical of all things english. his wife, anne, told cnn, they were both fans of "downtown abbey." a national journal reports tickets to one dinner is $2,500 each. and he called romney a punk with

the personality of a ken doll. and the white house forgot spell check. there was a typo on the faceb k facebook. and that's your morning dish of scrambled politics. and now, here is your first look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opened at 12887 after jumping 211 points yesterday. and the nasdaq climbed 39. looking at overseas trading this morning, a little hope for europe's finances is just what the market needed thursday. stocks took off after the european's central bank's

president said he will do whatever it takes to keep the euro in tack. that optimism extended overseas as asian markets rose. elsewhere overseas, samsung reported record profits thanks to the galaxys mobile phone. despite facebook's first report as a company, shares hit a new low after the bell. earlier social gamer zinga's stock closed down 37%. and amazon's second quarter profit tumbled 96%, and shares later recovered, and starbucks fell short and blamed sales overseas.

home builder pulte group shot up in earnings. finally, we have all heard of the man cave, right? how about the man aisle? guys don't like taking lists to the store, so they put all the manly products, the chips and salsa and barbecue sauce, they put it in one place for you guys, so we are just making shopping easier. you are welcome. coming up, a smashing major league debut back to back jacks, and a first look at next year's nba season. plus, a four-time mvp gets back on his horse, and this time in a new set of colors. your first look at sports is straight ahead.

welcome back to "first look." in sports, trade rumors are flying with the deadline fast approaching. >> good morning. baseball's trading deadline is four days away and if your team needs a pitcher, look no further than milwaukee, and the brewers are shopping sepb s skfplt i. and adam laroche's homer was part of a four-run second.

the pirates marte made his major league debut, and leads off the game and the first pitch he sees, gone. that's one way to start a career. and to cleveland, the indians jump all over the tigers. and back to back jacks on consecutive pitches. the tribe scored four in the inning and win 5-3. the nba schedule is out and the world champion heat will tip-off the season on the 30th against the celtics and then the mavericks. and there will be five games on christmas day, highlighted by a finals match between the thunder and heat. the payteyton manning error beg, and that was the biggest free agent signing in history. he missed all of last season

after having neck surgery and no word if he will play on august 9th in the pre-season game. and the london games start tonight, and they mark the end of a career. >> this is the closure, and how many toppings do i want on my son sundae, and that's what i am deciding, just having fun. now for a look at the weather, here is msnbc's meteorologist, bill karins. >> he is ready for retirement. >> yeah, must be nice at 20 something. >> yeah, exactly. the forecast for tonight is probably the biggest one for all of the events as we go throughout the next 17 days at the olympics. this is the olympic stadium, and i estimated billions of people around the world watching tonight. it's an open-air stadium, so if

it's pouring rain, they can't cover it up. and it will be 7:30 to midnight on the east coast, on your nbc station, and when the opening ceremonies will take place, and paul mccartney ending it is the rumor. temperatures have cooled off in london the last couple days, and they have had great summertime weather and now it looks like there will be a chance of showers and maybe a storm or two here and highs in the 60s, and hopefully everybody will enjoy the weather, including willie geist. and along the eastern seaboard we are going to have hit askand miss rain. the middle of the country looks dry and the west coast looks dry and really just the eastern seaboard on saturday, and sunday will be the best day, and much of the country looks to be

looking like a dry weekend. coming up, a first for lady gaga, and is it the end for hollywood's "twilight" couple? say it ain't so. and then this will only finish a distant second, and you are watching "first look" on msnbc. [ female announcer ] e-trade was founded on the simple belief that bringing you better technology helps make you a better investor. with our revolutionary e-trade 360 dashboard you see exactly where your money is

and what it's doing live. our e-trade pro platform offers powerful functionality that's still so usable you'll actually use it. and our mobile apps are the ultimate in wherever whenever investing. no matter what kind of investor you are, you'll find the technology to help you become a better one at e-trade. ♪ i want to go ♪ i want to win [ breathes deeply ] ♪ this is where the dream begins ♪

♪ i want to grow ♪ i want to try ♪ i can almost touch the sky [ male announcer ] even the planet has an olympic dream. dow is proud to support that dream by helping provide greener, more sustainable solutions from the olympic village to the stadium. solutionism. the new optimism.™ ♪ this dream

welcome back to "first look." "the dark knight rises" will finish first at the box office, but the question is with how much? most experts see a 60% droppoff from last weekend, and six

months ago hollywood had huge expectations for the debuting comedy "the watch." it's starring ben stiller, so it could not go wrong. it's rated r, and the reviews are bad. it should earn a respectable $20 million. and lady gaga is going to make an debut in her acting. and a friend says he was horrified that she publicly apologized. >> and we said that yesterday, and i am concerned that he woepbl be able to rebound.

i think we should try to set him up. >> match.com. yeah, he is really going to have trouble. >> yeah, so worried. this is "first look" on msnbc, and "way too early" with willie geist starts right now. tonight's the night. the opening ceremony for the london summer games, and the question is will a queen, a mccartney and a beckham, and what surprises does this story have for tonight? and sharing the headlines with the american candidate for president. the royals are in the spirit, for a spectacle almost as big as their small family wedding next year, and the question is are we using this as a