now, it's only 15% contained. here in new york city, we're high and dry, but baking under temperatures in the mid-90s. more of that ahead into the weekend as we prepare to possibly record our first heat wave of this summer season. lots to get to. foremost on our minds this afternoon, our friends under the tornado threat once again. nbc meteorologist dylan dreyer leads our team coverage. dylan, what have you got? >> toure, outside of the zone, we got a tornado warning in north dakota of all places. not even anywhere near where the severe weather is expected today. but it is active all across the country. it's the area in yellow, though, from wisconsin over into michigan, right down into texas where we will see very strong thunderstorms. that means hail, large hail at that, also torrential downpours, dangerous lightning, and the possibility of wind gusts over 60 miles per hour. then, on top of that, you have the red zone down through central and eastern oklahoma

where we have our biggest threat of seeing very strong tornadoes later on this afternoon and evening. we have flood warnings and flood watches up and down the mississippi and missouri rivers. that's because of all of the heavy rain we've been seeing lately. and early next week we could almost see record-breaking flooding in parts of the mississippi around the st. louis area. we have more rain falling where the flood warnings are posted, right down through illinois into parts of missouri right now, although the biggest threat isn't going to be until later on this afternoon and into this evening, central time. we're not seeing anything right now in oklahoma just yet. but again, a closer look, tulsa where we saw some of the storms yesterday and right down near oklahoma city, that's going to be our zone where we could see our strongest tornadoes. and again, the spotters are out, they're on the ground doing what they did yesterday. they wait for some indications in the radar to see where those tornadoes might set up, then they go out and chase them. and that's when we get the video and the confirmation if a funnel cloud actually reaches the ground. so the spotters are out. i'm watching the radar.

and we will be tracking this all afternoon. >> all right, dylan, thanks so much for that. we will certainly be back to you as conditions warrant. now, let's go to where the greatest threat is right now, expected this afternoon and evening. storm chaser tim sameris, national geographic explorer, is on the phone for us from alva, oklahoma, on the kansas line. tim, what are you seeing right now? tim? do we have tim there? oh, i think we lost tim. so we will continue with some more information about temperatures here in new york. >> yeah, we'll wait for tim to get back to us. back east here, we're in day two of 90-degree heat. air quality alerts are in effect throughout the northeast. that's not keeping tourists and locals like out of new york's times square. today is expected to be the hottest day of the week with 92 the forecasted high, courtesy of our friends over at wnbc. for now, people are making the best of the hot weather, lots of

water is the rule of the day. area beaches have been packed, as well. sounds fun. if temperatures hit 90 degree form, we'll officially have our first heat wave of the year. that could very well be the case here in new york and boston. washington will creep into the mid-90s. and cooler weather in chicago where 70s are in the forecast after storms move through. typical june heat through the south, in atlanta, miami. but as we know, they're used to it there. >> and if we head out west where there are some massive wildfires burning, just north of los angeles, more than 200 homes have now been evacuated. the flames, 1,500 acres wide, and firefighters are far from getting all of this under control. diana alvear is on the ground. what's happening there now, diana? >> reporter: well, ari, as you can tell, the winds have picked up considerably. it's very hot. we're approaching the 90s today. that's the exact combination the firefighters did not want in

battling this massive powerhouse fire. let me take you back to yesterday afternoon when it started. it began to pick up very quickly and burned so many hundreds of acres by the night, that this entire area was orange. the air was just choked with embers, ashes, and smoke. it was really tough to breathe. you needed your air mask just to walk around here when the smoke was blazing. at this point, as you mentioned, we know 1,500 acres have burned. at least one structure was consumed. a lot of those mandatory evacuations, the residents, a lot of them, decided they wanted to stay. in fact, i spoke to many residents here who said this is their home, that they felt compelled to stay here and hose down the property and take care of their homes. they said they just felt better seeing the efforts of firefighters. and there's about 550 to 600 firefighters actively working on this fire right now. what they're doing is they're cutting fire lines on the ground, trying to contain this fire. it's about 15% contained. and then, as you can probably hear the choppers and the tankers are trying to dump flame

retardant on hot spots, and you're seeing hot spots behind me. anywhere where you see the smoke, that's are areas flaring up. so this is an active fire and keeping an eye on things here. back to you. >> let me ask you, for people evacuating, are you seeing them out on the roads? are people able to get away? is there traffic? what's it like there on the ground? were you able to hear me? >> all right. we do have tim samaras on the line. he is our storm chaser in oklahoma. tim, are you there? >> yes, hi. >> hi, tim, what are you seeing on the ground there in oklahoma? >> right now the skies are fairly clear. we do not have storm initiation. but we fully expect storm initiation probably within the next two to three hours, and, boy, the ingredients are coming together for a pretty volatile day. >> tim, what are you watching for? what are you chasing right now? >> well, at the moment, we are

looking for the very special type of storm called a supercell. a supercell is a very violent storm that is very capable of large hail and pretty destructive tornadoes. and so, we're looking for the formation of these particular thunderstorms. right now, especially in central oklahoma, even along i-40, kind of where we're currently targeting. >> tim, i'm trying to read that map, but i can't fully make it out. are people who suffered from the moore tornadoes, are they expected to get more pain in their life? >> well, you know, unfortunately, oklahoma city, moore, norman, they are very much in the target zone for today. and today is the day for those residents in that area to be very weather-savvy on what's happening and the changing weather around them. >> and, tim, how long is the threat expected to last? when will they be out of harm's way? and do we have more severe weather that could be on the horizon in the near future?

>> well, i'm going to have to say looking based on some of the models, it could very well last well into the evening. oklahoma, probably through 7:00, 8:00 p.m. and then eastern parts of oklahoma, it could be up through midnight, depending on how strong the system becomes. it could still create tornadoes right up through midnight, and especially for eastern oklahoma, as all of the storms continue to shift east. >> and from your experience, is this pretty typical to see these waves of terrible weather? or is this somewhat unusual? >> well, it's not unusual. tornado alley is famous for these types of weather systems coming through. it only happens maybe two, maybe once, twice, three times in an entire year, we get days like this where the systems and the ingredients come together just right, that generate these incredible, powerful storms. and today is not exception. >> and, tim, how long does this period last for folks in tornado alley? how long is this going to be their life?

>> well, at the moment, you know, while -- on average, tornado season is from april through about the end of june. >> okay. >> and right now, we are actually approaching the maximum frequency of tornadoes, right there in the heartland. and so, as june moves on, you will actually see a slow decrease and northward shift up toward the northern plains -- south dakota, minnesota, north dakota, even into canada. >> all right, thanks, tim. stay safe. as if all of this was not enough, a reminder, hurricane season officially starts tomorrow. up next, the president is out today talking about student loans. the rates will double this summer if congress doesn't act. one of the youth advocates who is fighting for action will be here. "the cycle" rolls on. it's friday, may 31st. we're here at nashville's renowned jimmy kelly's steakhouse, where tonight we've switched their steaks with walmart's choice premium steak. it's a steakover.

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now, this sounds like deja vu all over again, that's because it is. we went through this last sum r summer. eventually, congress listened to all the parents and young people who said, "don't double my rate." and because folks made their voices heard, congress acted to keep interest rates low. but they only did it for a year, and that year is almost up. >> the president this morning reminding us that student loan rates are about to double, and urging congress to take action. the house has put legislation forward to keep student loan rates from doubling from the federally subsidized 3.4% to 6.8%. unfortunately, the president isn't a fan. >> now, the house of representatives has already passed a student loan bill, and i'm glad that they took action.

but unfortunately, their bill does not meet that test. it fails to lock in low rates for students next year. that's not smart. it eliminates safeguards for lower-income families. that's not fair. >> house republicans disagree and say the bill is in line with the demands that the president made in his state of the union address. rates that adjust to where the markets are at. our next guest has been in meetings this week at the white house. his take? the student debt crisis is a complete disaster, and could be solved if we were willing to talk about sustainable solutions rather than one-year band-aids. matt segal is co-founder and president of the group "our time" which advocates for young americans. matt is sweltering down there for us on the north lawn this afternoon. we appreciate it, matt. >> no problem. keeping dry. >> good. we're glad. the bill put forth by

republicans as we alluded to in the house, and senate democrats haven't offered anything yet, isn't that far from obama's proposal. in both of these plans, the rates are pegged to market fluctuations, but obama's locks in the rate for the borrower, and the republicans' caps the rate. in terms of how this applies to students, how big is this chasim? how differently will those two plans affect students? >> the real difference is, like you said, a variable rate versus a fixed rate. a fixed rate will allow for financial planning. it will allow for people, one year, they'll take out a loan for a certain percentage, whether it's 4%, 5%, and they know what they can expect to pay back. whereas, if it varies with the market, and you have a variable rate, one year you'll have a 3%, 4% type of interest rate. the next year you're at 7%. next year at 6%. all of a sudden, you can't plan as well. that's one. but i think the more offensive part, or the offensive difference between the two

plans, as the president alluded to in his speech earlier today, is the notion that excess money from student loan interest rates, under the republican plan, will be used to reduce the deficit. and the notion that you have a massively burdened generation that's struggling in student loan debt, who when you have a federal government profiting to take money off them to reduce the deficit, as opposed to putting that money back into the education program toward the pell grant, toward income-based repayment, which helps people pay back only 10% of their income so they can manage their bills, that is really the core dispute between the two legislative proposals s.e. >> yeah, it's an important point. it's poetic in a sad way. which is you're literally adding to the debt of students who have responsibly tried to go to school, take out some money, pay it back. you're adding to that debt in order to pay off the long-term debt. again, people of goodwill disagree, because republicans have argued the long-term debts have a big problem.

i happen to see it a little differently. it sounds like you think the president might win this next round. why do you think this standoff, which is as we saw in the open has just occurred a year after we did this once before, why is this such a big deal between the parties right now when it is by any account a tiny sliver of the actual federal budget? >> well, let's also forget that i -- this whole student loan debate -- i agree with your premise -- is essentially nonsense. because the larger problem is the outlandish cost of college in the first place, which is outpacing inflation, outpacing the rise in prices of almost every other good -- >> yeah. >> -- states are cutting education like crazy, and also at the same time, colleges are in ab arms race for spending non-core competency needs. they're spending on the college experience, investing in football fields, investing in dorm complexes and in c e es in.

but to get to the differentiation between congress' plans, i think what you're going to see is congressional dysfunction either come to fruition and, therefore, rate also go to 6.8%, because they can't strike a deal. or if my constituency and others are vociferous, i think we'll kick the can, have another 3.4% extension, and then open up a larger debate. >> going back to what you were saying about college affordability, it seems to me that is the real issue. i'm going to do something which i don't normally do here which is praise governor rick perry of texas. >> what? >> oh. >> what? >> he asked universities to submit plans to provide $10,000 bachelor degrees to students, and that is actually seeing some success. what are some other directions to go in, though, to try to cut back on the cost of a college education? >> well, first, i'm a huge supporter of the president's

scorecard, but any effort to force colleges to disclose their debt levels and their job placement statistics is imperative. you know, as consumers, if we buy a car or shop for groceries or any good, we can compare quality and price. on education? right now, a lot of these schools aren't disclosing their statistics. >> yeah. >> you don't know if you're getting a good investment. that will create market pressures on them to lower their costs. the other thing, finally, is, dare i say it, a jobs focus. because college has a monopoly on the market right now. everyone is forced to enroll, because if you enroll, that's your only ticket to upward mobility, but if you had other pathways towards vocational training and one or two-year schools, it would take less pressure off the necessity of enrolling, more students would be able to get by and the debt crisis would not be as detrimental. >> well, matt, let's unpack that assertion right there, that it is necessary to go to college. we just showed a graph that shows a lot of people in their 30s are still dealing with college debt.

so given where we are right now, if the choice is you could go to college and be in debt until you're in your mid to late 30s, or don't go to college, try to be an entrepreneur, don't take on that debt, would you encourage some of your constituents, some young millennials, to say maybe you shouldn't go to college at all, educate yourself, don't take on that debt at all? >> well, there's no, as you know, monolithic solution. you're never going to get me for the most part to encourage people not to go to college by pure statistics and economics, which show if you go to college, you'll earn about $26,000 more a year for the rest of your life. so college is still by and large a good investment. the question is, we're having a delayed transition to adulthood. many people are. >> yeah. >> as a result of college debt. and that's where the -- you know, the major source of the problem lies. but i think to answer your question, people need to plan with their families and plan further in advance, to say, look, what do i want to be when i grow up?

do i want to be a doctor, which i unquestionably need a degree for? or do i want to be a computer scientist or rather a web developer where i might not need a four-year degree that will charge me $40,000 a year. >> all good points. thanks matt. we appreciate it. >> my pleasure. speaking of crises, i'm not sure anybody at this table is aware, bus krystal and i are the only sports fans. but this week the "new york metropolitan" for the first time in history. >> what? why are we doing this. >> swept the new york yankees, 4-0. zero games. last night, the empire state building was lit up in my mets colors in honor of the sweet. and new york mets tweeted out, king of queens, more like kings of york. >> oh, stop it! >> it really does look beautiful. >> show me the record. >> want to join the conversation? want to tell toure how the mets

really are the winners. join us on facebook. >> that's not true! we're minutes from the final closing. that's happening. four minutes from the closing bell for this record-setting month on wall street. and there are political implications. ♪ i' 'm a hard, hard ♪ worker every day. ♪ i' ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker and i'm working every day. ♪ ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker and i'm saving all my pay. ♪ ♪ if i ever get some money put away, ♪

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we continue to watch severe storms making their way across the nation's midsection this afternoon. already, there are tornado warnings in walsh county, north dakota. dylan dreyer continues to track it all for us, and we will definitely keep you posted. developing news right now. stocks 30 minutes away from the end of another banner week, even though it's been a down day for the dow and nasdaq and s&p 500. each will close out the month sharply higher than they started it. that's especially significant considering may usually begins a weak summer stretch for the markets, where sell-offs and sluggish trading volume are historically the story.

and in a reversal of the norm, wall street is not the on place feeling good right now. main street seems to finally be getting in on the action a little bit. housing market is at a six-year high. the bad news, that does mean mortgage rates are inching up, so if you're looking to buy, don't wait. the other bright spot, consumer confidence is now at its highest level since before the recession. we'll see if this recovery is really sticking when the all-important jobs numbers are released next friday. and all of these areas could have a big impact on another number -- 2014. as in the midterm elections. how does economic recovery shape those races? let's talk about that now with the political editor perry bacon jr. perry, welcome back. >> good to see you guys again. >> i want to ask you, perry, we have stock market record-high levels. i thought neil irwin of "washington post" had a great piece pointing out, the economy is doing well despite austerity, but while the austerity hits the

poor the hardest, because the stimulus from the fed is driving the economy, the benefits are accruing to the richest parts of the population. so we're seeing this very uneven recovery. in terms of political implications, are we really going to see political benefits accruing to either side as long as most americans have stagnant wages and are not really fully participating in the fledgling recovery we're seeing? >> you're right, krystal. we can show a lot of data showing the economy is not doing well for a lot of people. in 2013, -- you can have a lot of statistics showing the economy is not doing well for a lot of people. there's a lot of polls showing, you would think obama's ratings would have gone down in the scandals, the past week, two weeks, but the ratings have stayed pretty high in terms of approval. if you look at the polls, it's because people see the economy doing well. his numbers on the economy are going up, and near 50% approval

on the economy. that's kind of propping him up. it gives him more influence in washington. in the second term, every day you're moving toward irrelevant. >> and there is still another election coming up, 2014. let's talk more about that. i think the argument that republicans made wasn't that the economy wouldn't get better under obama. it was that the economy would, of course, improve slightly, naturally, because the markets would shift and eventually the economy would get better. but i think one argument they might have in 2014 is that there are still looming disasters on the horizon -- entitlement reform needs to happen, tax reform needs to happen, cost of education is rising. there's been very little done to address poverty. so these big, looming problems down the road, i'm wondering if you think the obama administration is worried they

might be accused of kicking that can down just for the sake of political expedience? >> the first factor is the republicans are likely to win the house no matter what. there's been 17 midterm elections since 1945. in two, one of two of the those, has the president's party gained seats. so you have this six-year itch, which is always the case. it will be hard for the president's party to gain seats almost no matter what. and you add in the fact that people are wary about the economy. there's some feeling among independent voters, obama isn't taking on some problems, like the deficit. so if you combine those elements, and it's hard to see this will be a huge boone. it's unlikely the democrats will gain the house because of the economy. what could happen, there are senate seats in red states now. if you're a mark pryor, one thing in arkansas, one thing you can say is the economy is improving and voters will be less wary of turning you out. >> sow think the dems will keep the senate? >> yes, i do actually think.

you now have seven red state democrats in tough states where they'll have a hard time winning. you saw mark pryor go out with an ad today i thought was very smart in which he talked about how he voted against the gun control bill and how he is not taking orders from michael bloomberg or barack obama. not great policy, but you can tell -- >> says you. >> what kind of message -- >> yeah, right. >> perry, what kind of messaging do you think we'll see in 2014 given the economy is looking up? what is going to change for dems? probably not that much. and how would it change for republicans? might they actually lie and say the economy is doing worse than we think? >> i don't think they will. you saw some -- >> not to lead you into a question, perry. >> not a leading question, right. >> new look -- the republicans will argue the economy is going better than it was before. so they have to run differently -- 2010 was very much the economy is really, really bad message. this time, the message will be, the economy could be better. we should note, in 2006, unemployment was 4.4%.

you know, we would all kill for that right now. so even -- so the economy is t not -- it's 7.5% right now. the economy is still not going to be booming. and my guess is the white house will also say what krystal said, the economy is getting better but not great by any means. if you look at the underlying factors, the economy is not great. both parties have to be careful. nerve root for the parties to be bad, but if you're republicans, you don't want to think it's boone town, where the employment is 5.8%. >> i do get the sense that sometimes the republicans have rooted for it to be pad. >> perry, have republicans lied? >> you know, perry -- perry, here's another question. >> yeah, and another question is, looking at not only the republican behavior but the mode of the republicans. i want talking to kevin madden who worked for romney and he was saying, yes, things are a little better. if you sell the up, you have to sell the down, you have to be

careful. and then the question of what the broad republican electorate is seeing here. and one observation i have, and toure and i have talked about this on the show, the republican leadership is just selling obama hatred over a host of issues regardless of the facts, right? and so, here's -- >> yes. >> -- we mentioned the deficit. the deficit is down to half the size it was from the peak when obama was taking office. bill clinton shrunk the deficit. there are some precedents here. deficits in recent times grow under republicans, despite what they campaign on, and decline among democrats. and my question to you is, why doesn't that penetrate more with republican voters and the electorate? >> right now, obama's approval rating among republican voters is 12%. so if you -- you take that number, and, you know, my suspicion is more and more in politics we see that people view the economy based on what party they're in already. it's a proxy for how they view the world. if you're a democrat, you thought the economy was good, better in 2010 than probably the data showed. and if you're a republican, you

probably think the economy is worse than the data shows, because it's become a proxy for the -- the economy is a proxy for how obama is doing, which is why independent voters, who will -- are a little more discerning on this kind of thing, and open to persuasion, will read the numbers carefully. that's where it's important. independent voters are more important in a midterm, because you'll -- the -- the base of the voters particularly among minorities and younger voters tend not to turn out in midterm elections. so you have a bigger pool of independents. and they will weigh the economic data in a more nuance and sort of objective way. >> who are the people you refer to as independents? i mean we did 20 segments on the show during the campaign where there are no independents. >> perry, i think to your point, though, i mean -- i think what you're underscoring is exactly the reason why it's sort of no matter how good the economy is, it's unlikely democrats take back the house because people have sort of already decided what lens they're viewing this through. perry, thank you for putting up

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>> tv proving that these days, it's always happy hour somewhere. as you can see and as we all know, there's lots and lots of drinking on tv and in movies these days. no news flash there. what's interesting is what's happening on screen compared to smoking. check out the charts from a new jama pediatric study, in the year since the tobacco history took a heat with the master settlement, that ban the the product placement, there's been a decline in smoking, and meantime, an increase for boozing in fill s rated for teens and below. of course, we have to backspin on this. you know what, the cultural shifts make a difference. there's a lot of studies that show putting gay people on television shows like "will & grace" like "ellen" to help change the way americans saw gay people. so viewership makes a difference, and i'm happy to see tv and movies to stop being a

proxy for smoking, and it used to be that to be cool in a movie, you had to smoke, right? and we had to get away from that. and big tobacco was fully complicit, to say, hey, smoke in your movies, philip morris paid for larks to be smoked. rjr paid sean connery $10,000 for winston and campbells to smoke in "never say never again." so getting away from that is good for america. >> yeah, when you see cultural influence is huge. in looking at the segment, i looked at a study from 2006 that showed proof/correlation between watching a movie with alcohol in it and kids being more likely when they grew up to drink alcohol. and that was even controlling for other factors like whether their friends drank, which obviously is an impact. so you have that cultural predicate. you see it here as .37, the

correlation on the chart. this is a real documented thing. which makes intuitive sense. if you see something enough, if it's cool, like, what's happening, then maybe you want to do it. the settlement you mentioned, toure, was important, because the attorneys general got tobacco to not only pay up for the daniels but also pulled back from this, which they knew -- they didn't need a study, they knew how to get people smoking. it reminded me something of senator moynihan said, the central conservative truth, which is culture -- not politics -- determines the success of a society. and central liberal truth is culture can save it from itself. what we're seeing here when the government or attorneys general get involved and try to extract what they consider negative habits out of the culture is politics changing culture. i think it worked. but i also have really mixed feelings about it, because i don't want it micromanaged. i don't want the government telling eze he can't promote oe.

>> i didn't think he would get in the segment, but he really did. >> he went there. and i agree with you about the government micromanaging -- are you just going to stall -- while i'm -- thanks, i appreciate that. anyway, i have mixed feelings about the government micromanaging it in that way. picking and choosing what things can be shown, what product placements can air. but one other idea that i actually got from morgan spurlock, he did the documentary, "wonderful presents the greatest movie" to raise awareness about the product placement. some of them are blatant. some you don't realize. one idea is to have the transparency in product placement. if you are a parent who doesn't particularly want their kid watching a lot of drinking in the movies, underage or otherwise, there would be -- you would be able to access that information of what companies have paid to have their products placed in the movie. and in another vein, from are also certain companies that

maybe they have practices you don't support. so you don't want to watch a movie that is promoting those companies, also. so i think full transparency in that regard would be a good idea. >> yeah, i'm with you guys. i don't love the idea of government tweaking culture. because that all depends on the kind of government that you like at the time. >> right. >> who's in charge of that. i don't think that's a good idea. however, i don't get to make the choice of how powerful culture is. it's very, very powerful. it's powerful politically and otherwise. and so, for that reason, i think we have to make that acknowledgement, and then ask more of it. and what i always think about when it comes to this -- in addition to smoking and drinking and driving, for example -- is teen pregnancy. and i feel like we've really thrown in the towel on teen pregnancy in many ways. we've said, oh, they're going to do it, so let's give them birth control at age 12 and the morning-after pill. i don't think that's the way to go. if we could get hollywood and culture to shame teen pregnancy the way it shamed teen smoking and make it less cool to get pregnant, instead of giving

pregnant teens a television s w show, i think that might go a long way and actually change the culture. i'm not ready to give up on that yet. i still think there's good work to do there. >> i think the government makes cultural micro decisions all the time. one of the things you see is seat belts. you used to not see. now, everybody gets in the car, and they throw on the seat belt in the television, movie business. >> yeah, with the nudging, the government will always have some government impact. up next, we talked on thursday about the increasing number of female bread winners, but there's another trend creeping across america. the diy movement. women and some men staying at home to knit, bake, and pickle. how can both be happening at once? we'll dig into that next. [ female announcer ] your smile. like other precious things that start off white, it yellows over time.

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>> yes. we can. literally pickle anything. but it's not just pickling nowadays. it's curing, knitting, baking. any gerund you can think of. but maybe you've see the resurgence, and not just in berkley or brooklyn. it's part of a larger do-it-yourself trend that's literally sweeping the country. some argue going to the local farmers' market or baking your own bread is something deeper. it's a desire for autonomy, in time borne out of a mistrust of large institutions and rejection of uniformed corporate culture. this movement is what is called a new domesticity, and she goes into how it can redefine a whole generation and especially for women. how are you? thanks for being here. >> thank you for having me.

>> it's the embracing of old-fashioned domestic arts, the knitting, the crocheting, the pickling, baking bread, the jam canning, even the keeping of chickens, among people that, you know, really have the means to reject the stuff if they wanted to. >> well, and i guess that is one of the points. first of all, i sort of feel these people's purpose is to make me feel guilty about not doing these sorts of things myself. but that's a separate issue for me personally. but who is it that is embracing this new domesticity? it feels like a choice of privilege. >> well, there's absolutely -- absolutely an amount of class privilege involved in this. you know, when i started researching my book, i thought maybe it would be very elite people, you know, wives of corporate lawyers or something. and it's really not. it's really a broadly middle-class phenomenon, so people that have some degree of privilege and are far enough removed from the day-to-day grind of having, you know,

canning jam every day the way rural poor women did. but have the education to really think carefully about stuff like the environment, food safety, and have concerns about those things. >> emily, i'll admit. i fantasize all the time about living a simpler life, fishing, hunting, living off of the grid. you know, it's not really -- i wouldn't classify that as a return to domesticity. is it less that people want a domestic life and more that they want a simpler life to sort of reject the fast-paced, technological, crazy twitter world that we live in? >> that's absolutely part of it. i think we live in this very high-paced, you know, fast-paced, high-tech society. there's something really rewarding about working with your hands, about coming home at the end of the day. you know, sinking your hands into some bread dough, or like you said, hunting or fishing or something -- >> right. >> -- where there's a tactile product at the end. something you can look at.

>> emily, yesterday, we had something, a rising share of women as breadwinners, putting career first. do you see this as a countermovement to this? are they going on at the same time, both in some people's lives at the same time? same ti? >> yeah, definitely. you know, there are an increasing number of female breadwinners, and there's a slow but increasing growth of men who are staying home and caring for their children. so i think we're very slowly redefining these things. people talk a lot about the growth of the new stay-at-home dad. you know, there are stay-at-home dads but only 3% of all stay-at-home parents, just like women are only 4% of all fortune 500 ceos. so we're seeing some shifts. they're just happening really slowly. i want to make sure as we embrace this domestic movement it doesn't feel gendered, it doesn't feel like women returning to the home. i would like to see men equally interested in this stuff. >> yeah, emily, when i was reading your book, you definitely convinced me this is

not just only for elites. that there's something broader and cultural going on, although obviously it correlates to some degree with class. you didn't convince me, though, it was necessarily a great thing, nor maybe do you need to say it's a great thing. but i wanted to get your response to one of the critiques by kim velsy in the "new york observer" that went around quite a bit in some of the brooklyn circles where she was saying "what better way to enhance the insular qualities, so particular to the brooklyn brand, to nurture the inward-looking, self-reflective culture than to shut out all the noise of urban life and just focus on home life?" a critique that this is ultimately too insular to be good in an open and democratic society. what do you think of that. >> well, that's a critique that i make in my own book. you know, i think there are many really great things about new domesticity, but it runs the risk of being too insular and very essentially individualist. if we're concerned about food safety, canning all our own jam and raising our own chickens is not a long-term solution and not a solution for everybody. i would like people to remember, too, you know, to look out for

the common good. if we're going to really change these things, we need to change them at bigger structural levels than just our own backyards. >> very interesting. the book is "homeward bound." emily matchar, thanks for joining us. >> thank you. up next, progressives rising. can the left shape its own version of, yes, yes, its own tea party. tour's take on that, next. >> what? the rash was on my right hip, going all the way down my leg. i was embarrassed to have anyone see my shingles. it was very, very painful situation. i'm very athletic and i swim in the cold water in the ocean. shingles forced me out of the water. the pain level was so high, it was like fire. and i was thinking like, i wish i had that cold water i could go in it. the doctor asked me "did you have chickenpox when you were a child?"

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last time s.e. was on bill maher, bill asked her a question that stuck with me. >> they organized, won the 2010

election, i mean, why can't the left do that? >> he's talking about the tea party. why can't we have a left tea party? now, some might say the liberal version was occupied but occupy was anti-bill political as oppoo the tea party which is anti-government. that's a fundamental difference. there was something called the coffee party, the less said about them the better. part of why there's no liberal version of the tea party. the tea party's message is anti-government. they want it small enough to drown in the bathtub. the tea party sends people to d.c. to prevent things from getting done. the liberals believe in the government's ability, imperative to protect the weakest among us. i'd rather see conservatives return from their trip off the deep end to have a more reasonable debate than to have liberals follow them off our own deep end. also the tea party sprung from billions of dollars spent over several decades, most spent by the koch party.

corporate financing and mark marketing are why the product succeeded. to build a liberal version would take millions. then you'd have to ask, why would you want a liberal tea party? tea party zealots are the crazy uncle angry lil fantasizing about an imagined past. not only does everyone have to listen to him, he's shaping the entire conversation and scaring everybody. he's pushing the party rightward into a less and less electable shape as they pursue an agenda that's so often fact free that karl rove wants to save them from people john mccain called wackobirds. >> i don't trust the republicans. >> barack obama may have anti-american views? >> absolutely, i'm very concerned that he may have anti-american views. >> i absolutely do not believe that, you know, the science of man-caused climate change is proven. not by any stretch of the imagination. >> i look at those folks and don't think i wish i could embolden the most extreme elements of my tribe. i think of lionel calling an early brand of conservatism,

which seek to resemble ideas, or rihanna tweeting, see what happens when they cancel? indeed, my sister. we liberals lost again on gun safety. we're losing a working government to republican obstruction. we're perilously close to losing elements of medicare, medicaid and losing ground on a woman's right to choose and health care for all. we have a progressive president who many liberals think borrowed too much from the neoconservative foreign policy playbook. we need to reframe the american conversation. we need law mamakers who are nervous about a challenge from the left and don't sell out so often, something that does not empower liberal wackobirds but demands d.c. and america lives up to a philosopher's ideal, what policies would you support, what society would you want if you had to choose before you knew where you would end up? if you had to choose through a veil of ignorance, how would you think about tax fairness or entitlements if you didn't know you would be rich or poor, or

about affirmative action? you get the concept. there's a need for something new and smart that can guide america. i, for one, am ready for something new. and now to someone who is brand new every day. >> yes, sir. >> martin bashir. >> govern. it's friday may the 31st. and come on, speaker boehner. you know you want to. and the president is showing you how to do it. smile. ♪ >> if this sounds like deja vu all over again. >> an issue that there is is no fight over. >> we've been fighting our way back from a financial crisis. >> let's be honest, we're broke. >> higher education cannot be a luxury for a privileged few. >> shop around. compare tuition. >> the surest path to the middle class is some form of higher education. >> nobody wants to see student loan interest rates go up. >> part of my task is to look for those republicans who don't think the compromise is a dirty word.

>> the president's idea of a negotiation is roll over and do what i ask. >> these students have had to take on more and more and more debt. >> this is the biggest job in the world, and i've never seen a president make it small. >> it holds back our entire middle class. >> this is beneath the dignity of the white house. to try to make this a political issue is pathetic. >> i'm putting my faith in you. >> ifs and ands and buts are like candy and nuts. if that were the case, every day would be christmas. good afternoon. at this hour we are watching a severe weather system in the midwest. the greatest threat for tornadoes once again in hard-hit oklahoma, with extreme conditions stretching into arkansas and missouri. and we will be bringing you any developments live and a full forecast just ahead. but, we begin with the latest effort by the president to get congressional republicans to do some actual legislating and help the american