since i've been using crest pro-health, i've noticed a huge improvement. [ male announcer ] go pro for a clean that's up to four times better, try these crest pro-health products together. the toothpaste is really awesome. it cleans a lot. [ male announcer ] crest pro-health protects not just some, but all these areas dentists check most. this is gonna be a very good checkup. i feel it. [ male announcer ] go pro with crest pro-health. my dentist was so proud of my teeth today. after using crest pro-health for a few weeks, i just feel brighter, fresher, cleaner. good saturday afternoon to you, i'm craig melvin. we start with msnbc. new and dangerous flooding expected today in tornado alley. flash floods could be worse than last night's storms. already, floodwaters are several feet deep in many areas as

rescues are ongoing. last night, an estimated 18 tornadoes tore through the heartland. since monday, there have been 99 tornadoes nationwide and today, new threats of severe weather. right now at least nine people are dead, seven of them adults, two of them children, at least 104 people are hurt. a mother and infant were thong those who died yesterday near union city in oklahoma. they were in their car when that car was hit by a tornado. several vehicles and tractor trailers were tossed around like toy cars. this is a picture of our weather channel vehicle that was actually picked up and thrown into a field by a powerful tornado. fortunately, no one was seriously hurt. late last night, those tornadoes stopped but the rain did not. floodwaters opened up this giant sinkhole near oklahoma city today. nbc's mark potter is standing by live for us from union city, oklahoma. mark, what's the damage like

where you are? >> reporter: you can see it behind me, craig, it's really impressive to see what a tornado can do. this is a neighborhood in union city, west of oklahoma city, off highway 81, south of i-40. there were ten houses here. all ten are very badly damaged. some have been flattened. you can't really appreciate it by looking at it on television. you have to be here to see all the stuff that's strewn around by the storms. this all started about dinner time yesterday when the residents started to get warning that a tornado could be coming this way. many of them fled, they went south. the tornado came right over their homes. they tried to come back, some of them right after the storm. but then were chase aid way by a second tornado. some came back last night but really this morning when the sun came up that we got the full revelation of just how bad it is and there are some pretty sad stories here today. a woman that lives down the street over here who lost the

home where she raised her kids. they were able to save her daughter's wedding dress, but so much else was lost. another family two doors down lost some of their beloved horses and there's a house next to them where a young couple lost their house. it's absolutely flattened. the wife is pregnant. she is now in the hospital because of the pregnancy but also because she has nowhere else to go right now because they have lost their home. the cleanup is under way, it is moving very quickly. there are a lot of people who have come out here to help, but it's going to take a long time. this is just one area. there are other areas, along the highway where those trucks were that you described, they are putting them back up. it's not as bad as the other tornadoes that we've had, the moore tornado, the one in missouri last year. its it's not that big, but for this area, this is devastating, these people are having a hard time. when you ask them what are you going to do next, a lot of them

say we just don't know, way too early and just processing what happened here. >> mark, can you tell us anything more about that mother and daughter who were killed? >> reporter: from what i understand, they were in a vehicle and the -- the storm overcame them, a tornado overcame them. and that happened several times yesterday. that's really dangerous scenario, to be out on the roads when one of these storms comes along. sometimes you can't even see the tornado funnel because of the rain. and if you get caught in that situation, talking about the weather channel guys and what they went through and we have seen that car, how that was flattened and then other cars tossed around, that's just a bad, bad combination and it doesn't work in your favor. and sadly, that's what happened with the mother and the child. >> mark potter on the ground for us from union city, oklahoma. mark, thank you. so, what can we expect next? expect more of these storms throughout the weekend, wnbc

meteorologist janice huff live with us now for today's forecast. that line of storms that caused the damage last night, where is that line now? >> well, craig, it is moving east, finally moving out of places like oklahoma and kansas and missouri. they still have issues with flooding in those areas though, residual flooding from the runoff, but now, the unfortunate thing is the line is moving into other areas causing possibly significant flooding later on today that risk right now stretches from dallas through southern arkansas, parts of mississippi, western tennessee and up through the ohio valley. many of these areas just today have seen anywhere from one to three inches of rain. they may see an additional two to four inches of rain, which will make things worse because these storms are moving so slowly, been the big problem the last week or so. this storm system has been set up in the same area for almost two weeks now. that's why we've seen the same type of weather over and over and over but now it's finally starting to move to the south and east. so now today, the threat extends

from central texas all the way across into the mid-mississippi river valley, up toward cleveland. so you've got indianapolis, louisville, nashville, memphis, dallas, all in the path of what could be more severe weather today. right now, we have no warnings for severe weather, no watches just yet. that's likely to change. we likely won't see as many tornadoes today. there may be some isolated ones, but you will definitely see flash flooding, damaging winds, remember you can get damaging winds from the down drafts of the storms themselves without any spinning. there's also the threat of hail. like i said, isolated tornadoes are possible as well. that threat will move east tomorrow and that will be for the northeast corridor. so places like here in new york city philadelphia, down toward baltimore and washington, same deal, flash flooding, isolated tornadoes, damaging winds, the biggest threat for tomorrow. >> that's long and wide dangerous swath. janice huff, thank you, wnbc's janice huff with us throughout the afternoon.

these latest tornadoes come, of course, 11 days after moore, oklahoma, was leveled by a massive tornado that left 24 people dead. oklahoma governor mary fallin joins me live on the telephone from oklahoma city. governor, good afternoon to you. >> good afternoon to you. >> can you tell us what is happening on the ground now in terms of the cleanup effort and recovery? >> well, we are in the recovery stage, certainly in the cleanup stage and also in the assessment stage, because we had so many storms that centralized right in the heart of oklahoma. we have a tremendous amount of activity and communities that were affected all at once, so, it was pretty hectic here last night. we think we have had around three tornados that came down path. weren't anything like the moore tornadoes, thank goodness, or we would have had a huge tragedy. the thing challenging about

yesterday, they came right about the time of people getting off work, 5, 6, 7:00, when it was all really cranking down hard. many different counties and communities in our state. and we done a great job of advising our people early on, very early in the morning that the weather could possibly get bad. i mean, things were just sunshiny and clouds around, but we knew that there was a cold front and a warm front getting ready to hit. so we have been telling people all day, we even had signs up on our highways where we had electronic billboards telling people that there was potential severe weather that could hit between 4 and 6 and be weather aware and pay attention, keep the radios on, all that stuff on our major highways. sure enough about 5, 5:30, 6, when the storm started all of a sudden building really quickly and my biggest worry last night was that we had a tremendous amount of traffic on our two

major interstates that crisscross oklahoma, one north to south, one east to west and they were jam packed with cars. and they couldn't move because they were so bad and it was terrible, the weather raining so hard, it was hailing, wind was blowing, people were stung on the highways and we had some tornadoes coming within the vicinity. of course, we lost nine people. i don't know all the details yet on some of the deaths but we do know we lost them on the i-40 interstate. >> governor, what could you tell us about the number of folks who still don't have power and also perhaps maybe even the number of houses and businesses damaged or destroyed by this round of tornadoes? >> we are looking right now at assessing that. information is still coming in. what i have heard is that we, earlier this morning, had 127,000 homes and businesses without power. now, this is on top of what we just had in moore. and those other communities that were struck earlier, you know,

as you mentioned. so, of course, a lot of that power had been restored but we are still not finished with all of the storm damage. the other big issue that we have, power lines that are down, which is always very dangerous and then we have had a tremendous amount, unusual amount of rain in this storm that came through and flooding. and we don't have that much flooding in oklahoma, but we do have now, and i've seen pictures already, various areas of the state, even around oklahoma city last night, we had buildings that were flooding and streets and people trapped in cars the middle of the storm. >> yeah. >> so we had the national guard out, highway patrol, local law enforcement, emergency first responders, but it was kind of like the big storm going on a little bit of everywhere for a while. today, it's beautiful. it's sunshiny. the weather's 80 degrees. and i think we're finally past all the bad weather we had yesterday. >> you know, folks, i was there with you having a conversation on the ground right after moore. it really does seem as if people in oklahoma these days just can't catch a break when it

comes to the weather. how are they coping? how are folks on the ground doing? >> well, i think everyone was a little nervous yesterday, just because we have been telling them the last three days there was the potential for storms. they started building rapidly, talking within an hour, i was watching my radar, because i was on -- out by the moore area, on i-35, where it hit last time and i had my phone up and watching the weather and a looping storm and i said we better get back to the city and get into operations and within 30 minutes, it had, you know, turned into a full-blown storm. within an hour, we had tornado sirens going off throughout oklahoma city, which is right attached to el reno. so they were rapidly forming, high-building supercell storms that were coming up and then just twisters dropping in and out.

the airport got damaged, facilities around i-40. other areas of the state had flooding. now dealing with roads washed out and brims. -- bridges. people are getting right after it, busy. everybody is doing their job. we are going to be fine, just another bump in the road. >> oklahoma governor, mary fallin, thank you so much. good luck to you, governor. >> thank you. we always appreciate you guys. coming up, there's this new bizarre video that emerged from the irs. yeah. how much that clip cost taxpayers and what the agency is saying about it now. and then, there's this, better dancing. ♪

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amazing new images of the tornados that ripped through oklahoma last night. this video was actually taken near union city, about 30 miles west of oklahoma city. it shows, as you can see, twin twisters forming over an open field. officials say at least two people were killed there. and these are some pictures out of the city of el reno, where a mother and her baby, they were killed as the storm moved toward oklahoma city. and this, this is what's left of

a weather channel truck. it was caught up in one of those twisters. the twister threw the vehicle about 200 yards off the highway and into a field. weather channel reporter mike bettes and two photographers were inside. >> i don't know what to say. i'm speechless. i mean, that was the scariest moment of my life. i've never been through anything like it before. my life flashed before my eyes. i mean, we were just floating. i think we were tumbling. we tumbled york know how many times. i would count at least six, eight times we timed and airborne. at one point, just floating, weren't tumbling anymore around then we came down hard. >> that was weather channel meteorologist mike bettes there mike and his crews did suffer minor g min minor injuries. looks like they will be okay. a tornado also touched down in missouri last night. a twister tore the roof off this house in weldon spring, about 30 miles west of st. louis. missouri governor, jane nixon,

has declared a state of emergency there. up next, president obama consoled oklahomians less than a week ago in moore but will mandated spending cuts affect the official response to natural disasters like these going forward? we will talk about that. this is msnbc. d it. see, i knew testosterone could affect sex drive, but not energy or even my mood. that's when i talked with my doctor. he gave me some blood tests... showed it was low t. that's it. it was a number. [ male announcer ] today, men with low t have androgel 1.62% testosterone gel. the #1 prescribed topical testosterone replacement therapy increases testosterone when used daily. women and children should avoid contact with application sites. discontinue androgel and call your doctor if you see unexpected signs of early puberty in a child, or signs in a woman, which may include changes in body hair or a large increase in acne, possibly due to accidental exposure. men with breast cancer or who have or might have prostate cancer, and women who are or may become pregnant or are breast-feeding, should not use androgel. serious side effects include worsening of an enlarged prostate,

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political headlines on this saturday afternoon what is expected to be a damning report about theism rs is coming tuesday as part of its investigation into the agency, the house ways and means committee is looking into what the agency spent thousands of taxpayers video to create this internal video to be used at an agency convention in 2010. the video comes weeks after it was revealed the agency workers produced two other videos par rod dig the "star trek" movie and gilligan's island tv shows. this is the latest. >> at an undisclosed location, world famous dance instructor/broughting to a ragtag group of sb, sc

executive. their dream, to become the next great dance sensation. >> meanwhile, secretary of state john kerry strongly criticized russia's plans to sell advanced anti-aircraft weapons to syria yesterday. >> it is not helpful to have the s 300 transferred to the region while you are trying to organize this peace and create peace. it is not helpful to have a lot of other ammunition, other supplies, overtly going in, not just from the russians, and they are supplying that kind of thing, but also from the iranians and hezbollah. student loan rates set to double in a morning, president obama urging congress to extend the current rates. republicans chided the

president's approach as needlessly partisan. president obama wants congress to extend the low 3.4% federally subsidized student loan rates f nothing happens on july 1st those rates would automatically double to 6.8%. the house has passed a plan but president obama insists that the plan does not go far enough. >> i'm glad 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. >> it was just last sunday that president obama was in moore, oklahoma, surveying the damage from the deadly tornado there. days later, tuesday, he was on the jersey shore, checking on the progress of the hurricane sandy-ravaged coast. now the heartland hit yet again. of course, we should note here, today is actually the first day

of hurricane season as well. joining me live now, joy reed of the grio. joy, let me start with you. your experience in florida gives you no stranger to disasters. the sequester cut billions from transtort portation repair funding. 7% of noaa a's budget, which tracks the storms. do storms like these change the conversation in washington? >> they change the conversation for senators and congressmen from the states were these things happen. it change it is for them. if you are from florida, want to run in florida hurricanes is the thing. it brings them in contact with government and what government can do the federal government is the only responder big enough to handle something like a katrina, like a huge hurricane, what happened in moore, oklahoma. if the federal government

doesn't adequately fund the agencies, that is directly felt by people. whatever their thoughts for the federal government the day before a disaster, the day after, they are looking for uncle sam to come in and help. >> everyone hates uncle sam until they lose their house. >> fema and all of these organizations are very important. in florida we went through a hurricane in 2006 nowhere near as disastrous as a katrina. even with that you saw unprecedented physical damage to the -- to the community but also people really needed to go to fema in terms of home repairs, in terms of getting their property back in order. very important the federal government be adequately funded in those agencies. >> lynn, i want to switch gears here and talk about what the president talked about yesterday, student loans. the president, of course, gave those remarks from the white house yesterday. as he was giving the remarks mitch mcconnell released this statement he said, in part, "no one should be fooled by today's camp payne-style event at the white house. house republicans have already passed legislation that would prevent a rate hike and senate

republicans have proposed a solution similar to the wouldn't president himself called for in this year's budget. this is the one issue where the two parties can and should find quick agreement." where is the difference between the two parties, lynn sweet? >> isn't as big as i think the obama event would have led to you believe a different philosophy how you go about capping the costs of loans for students, whether 10% of income or another way of calculating it, that the republicansville and in this case, i think leader mcconnell has a point, if the senate passes a bill, even if it's tilted toward the democratic or -- and white house perspective, it then gets them into what's called this conference committee, where the two chambers hammer out their differences. so, you know, i suppose it did change, however, the white house event did steer the conversation in a lot of places, including this one, to the need to do something before july 1. >> we should note here, there's been no action in the senate yet, no bill come out of the

senate. what was the president trying to accomplish yesterday, do you think? >> a wee bit of politics going on, a different philosophy about student loan he is, the obama administration is the one that took away a lot of the banking industry's profit when it came to student loans and gave that to the government. so, there was a little bit of a sticking point there. but i think both of these two parties understand that young people, who are never usually engaged during midterm leekses are still really in the democrats' purview and never hurts for the president to remind young voters, young people, hey, we are the people on your side. republicans have a big problem there atmospherically when it comes to younger americans because it does feel like their policies are punitive toward them, whether it is same-day voter registration, going after voter i.d. in a way that hurts young voters or something like that everyone agrees want students to have affordable access to college education but republicans seem to be doing it in a more restrictive way. >> joy reid, lynn sweet, thanks to both of you. up next, riding into danger. i will talk to an oklahoma storm

chaser live about what and how he survived last night. you are watching msnbc. [ male announcer ] citi is over 200 years old. in that time there've been some good days. and some difficult ones. but, through it all we've persevered, supporting some of the biggest ideas in modern history. so why should our history matter to you? because for more than two centuries, we've been helping ideas move from ambition to achievement. ♪ and the next great idea could be yours.

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update on the devastating weather punching the nation's midsection in the gut. estimated 18 tornadoes were recorded nationwide last night. tornadoes hit near oklahoma city at rush hour on friday, leaving nine dead, more than 100 injured. power is still out. many parts of that city. there's been some reports of flash flooding as well. oklahoma officials say roads are closed today. people are told not to drive around barricades in oklahoma. most people's natural instinct is to seek shelter when a deadly storm strikes. storm chasers ride straight into the eye of the tore need doze, straight into flying debris.

skies are is a storm chairs and did that last night. he joins me from oklahoma city. good see you okay, my friend. thank you. thanks for having me on the. >> what was it like last night and where were you? what did you see? >> we were very near el reno when the tornado was coming through near interstate 40. we were just south of the interstate. we weren't nearly as close as some of the video you've seen. but we were definitely, you know, in pretty close range to the tornado. we had very strong winds and we bailed south to get out of the way, you know, as that was coming through. so, it was -- it was a large -- a little bit of a scary expeer yep for a little while. >> did you -- did you chase the tornado that hit moore? >> yes. yeah. on may 20th. yes. >> how was -- how was yesterday compared to may 20th? >> you know, looking at the funnels on both tornadoes, they look pretty comparable.

they were both over a mile wide at times. luckily, this tornado, while it did do some damage did not cause the devastation, at least to my knowledge that moore did. but definitely comparable in size and intensity. >> i got to ask you, every time you saw the video from storm chasers, i under-the-same thing. what in the world would possess someone to go out and chase these thing s? >> you know, mother nature can be captivating, just the power of it just the enormity of seeing mother nature. once you have seen one tornado, you want to see them off. you grow up in oklahoma, tornadoes are a way of life. i took it a step further and wanted to experience it firsthand. >> what about the risk of death? >> you know, storm chasing is a very calculateded thing. >> okay.

>> you always have an escape route. you always have -- weigh all your options, know where you are and what you're doing, we were able to get out of that yesterday. >> are you chasing again today? >> oh, no, the only risk for storms is quite a ways east of here and not a very high risk of tornadoes, although there will be storms in the south today but no, we are not chasing today. >> all right, storm chaser chris mcvery from oklahoma city. stay safe. >> thank you. but even after the twisters were gone yesterday, those heavy rains remained. floodwaters opened up this giant sinkhole near oklahoma city. check this out. amazing video. more now from nbc's janet shamlian. >> reporter: hi, craig, this is the second fatal tornado in 11 days here in the oklahoma city area and this afternoon, they are taking stop of the damage, but this is turning out to be a bigger problem in terms of floodwaters. we saw those five tornadoes and the storms come through last

night but it's continued storming after that. since midnight, as much as seven inches of rain in the area. you wouldn't know it by the scene behind me but there is as much as four feet of floodwaters in some parts of the city and that is going to be the major concern, not just today but into tomorrow and next week. this is what it looked like last night in this area as those tornadoes came through. from the dashboard of a storm chaser's car, the speed and power of friday's tornado outbreak is undeniable. bales of hay sent flying across the road as a twister ripped apart buildings. debris blown into the path of their car. >> getting pretty nasty here. >> earlier from the air, the approaching thunderstorms warned of what was about to be unleashed. >> this entire line here has got rotation in it and each one of these could produce tornadoes. >> reporter: and produce they did. several twisters popping up throughout the oklahoma city

area. >> there is a very violent tornado. people in the path of this thing need to be underground and their tornado shelters. >> reporter: those unable to take could haver were sitting targets for the tornadoes. >> we have a terrible situation going on on interstate 40 and interstate 35 right now. multiple cars that have crashed. >> reporter: a mother and her young daughter were killed when their vehicle was tossed from the interstate. and in el reno, oklahoma, this twister tore across the landscape. the storms knocked out power to more than 80,000 customers and turned city streets into rushing rivers. drivers forced to abandon their cause in the rising waters. >> down to the middle of the road, it is flooded up to your waist. it's all bad. >> a lot of trees down. just destruction everywhere. >> reporter: the powerful storm that moved into missouri spawned even more tornadoes, knocking

power doubt out to thousands and ring the roof off this storm in a st. louis suburb. damage and destruction as tornado alley, once again, lived up to its name. trying to get back to normal here in oklahoma city the airport has reopened but a number of events canceled. like we said, the floodwaters are going to continue to be problem and again this afternoon, there is the threat, smaller, but the threat exists, of more storms. craig, back to you. >> janet shamlian on the ground for must oklahoma city. janet, thanks to you. the salvation army, they have 250 people on the ground in oklahoma and has deployed multiple mobile supply units across the affected areas to help people both physically and emotionally. major tom loudon is with the salvation army. he was out with the rest of the team distributing water bottles last night, out helping folks on the ground as well. tom, good to see you. i know you are based in but you have been in oklahoma, i understand, since the moore tornado. how does the devastation that

you're seeing now compared to what you saw there just 11 days ago? >> thank you so much, craig. it really is an amazing time right now the moore tornado certainly is a more devastating and far-reaching tornado, but right now, i just came back from a press conference with the mayor of el reno and the county commissioners and i have to tell you, there is a tremendous heaviness in that region now, with the loss of life from last night. people are dealing with the impact of these storms and very emotional and human ways. and even though we can look around and see a lot of building destruction, there's a lot of roofs ripped off, a lot of debris in the field he is and buildings show the impact of the storm, it's really almost impossible for me to describe to you the impact, the human impact, the emotional and spiritual impact this is having on our people here. >> how many and what kind of supplies has the salvation army distributed the past few hours

there? >> starting last night, interesting situation, no disaster -- no two disasters are alike and last night the storms developed very quickly and unfortunately, in our community here, we had the ncaa women's softball world series here and thousands of people had come into town a lot of hotels filled

to capacity and filled to capacity. one hotel received a delegation, a tornado went by the hotel flipped over trucks and cars and lost power. the stress. so our team was ready on the spot there and from that point forward through the night our crews began to reorganize with the response today. we had been at the point with the earlier tornadoes to kind of switch from relief to recovery and today, we have had to back into relief work again, which is the distribution of hydration stations, cleanup kilts, going in with assessment teams and determining what the long-term needs will be. i can tell you the salvation army is going to be here, with god's help, for the long haul. >> as you guys always are. i want to give you a quick opportunity here, we have got the information on the screen. folks who are watching, oftentimes they want to know what they can do to help.

a phone number they can text? >> right, the most important thing is to get bell back on their feet and putting cash in people's hands. we found through lots of experience, gift cards, visa gift cards, different types of gift cards putting into their hands for food and clothing and essential items so they can get exactly what they need is a far better use of the donor's dole lar than managing donation of material. the recipients, storm victims, are so grateful for that. it gives them a sense of normalcy right away. that is a big piece of puzzle to get back to the normalcy. >> major, a big thanks to you and all the folks there with the salvation army on the ground helping people out. for more twice help salvation army, you can go to their website, salvationarmyusa.org and there's last phone number on your screen as well, 1-800-sal-army. up next, new policy at starbucks starts today. why that policy extends beyond

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that protestors will are demonstrating against the government. the protests started in a public square in istanbul but now spread to other parts of the city and country, including the capital, ankara. according to local reports, nearly 1,000 protesters have already been injured in clashes with the police. turkey's prime minister is calling for an end to the demonstrations. a new policy at starbucks, no smoking. starting today, the coffee chain is now banning cigarette smoking within 25 feet of its shops. there are about 7,000 starbucks in the united states and canada. up next, rap as a reward. [ male announcer ] this is george.

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♪ i can't get enough of these chinos ♪ >> more than 6 million views on youtube so far, but to star in this particular video, you have to finish your homework first, which brings us to today's big idea. an afterschool program called beats and rhymes at the north community ymca in minneapolis, minnesota, in partnership with the nelly stone johnson elementary school.

since 2007, it has given a number of young folks a chance and resources to make rap music and videos and it seems to be working. this is their latest catchy music video. it's called "khaki pants." ♪ do the khaki pants, do the khaki pants ♪ ♪ my polo with levys right for my free time ♪ >> all right, so that was dame jones wrapping in beats and rhymes' latest single, khaki pants. here with me now, dame, otherwise known as damian jones. not going to get me in trouble with your people. damian jones, his government name, seventh grader around rapper and also with a beats and rhymes program executive, director and founder. good to see both of you on a

saturday afternoon. >> thanks for having us on. >> thank you. >> hey, dame, let me start with you. i know you have been part of this program since you were in the fourth grade. you have access to a professional music studio, i understand. what's it like being in a recording studio, first of all? >> um, it feels great. um, like, it helps me to, like, express my musical talent and stuff, like real fun to record and stuff. >> do you write all of your own lyrics or do you have help? >> most of time, like -- like -- like sometime i get help and then, you know exsometime i just write my own. >> one of the lines from the song, swag ain't what you wear. swag is the mentality. that's one of my favorite lines from the video. >> that's right. >> what does that mean -- what does that mean, dame? >> to me, it means it don't

matter what you wear, like you could still have swag, wear anything, like whatever. like you could just have swag, like, with anything. >> matt, this is -- this is not your typical after school program to say the least. why rapping? how did this come about? >> well, a lot of our young people love, you know, love hip-hop, love music. you know this is a chance for young people like dame to get into the studio and work with incredible staff every day. the ymca the greater twin cities has done an incredible job providing these opportunities for the community to come in, young people like dame. the ymca that dame -- that these -- that this studio is in is one of the only ys in the country that's just for young people. the entire building, dame come there is after school as well as records at his school, where we have a studio in there as well. so, it's their chance to express themselves and to really tell the story of what it's like to be 12, 13, 14 years old. >> how do you pay for all of this? >> well, we have, you know,

generous contributors to our program and to our organization. the best buy foundation has really been a big supporter as well as a lot of individual doan earth and you know, we are always looking for more sponsorships. we have had 1,000 -- over 1,000 young people come through this program and we have made eight cds and we are going to continue to do that watch out this summer, we are really putting in some good work and have a couple other videos coming out. so we are going to continue to bring more people and express themselves. >> matt, before i get back to dame here, what are some of the skills that these kids are learning during the program? >> well, it's not just about wrapping and recording. it's also about writing, it's about learning how to make beats. it's also about the production side. you know, i think one of the most important aspects of this program is a chance for young people like damon to sit down and have some meaningful conversations and connections with adults that are from the same place that he is. >> dame, is it safe to assume

that when you grow up, this is what you want to do or is this just a phase? >> um, you're correct, i guess. this is what i want to do when i'm older, like in the future, you know? >> you want to be a professional musician? >> yes, sir. >> who do you listen to? who do you watch? >> i listen to like a lot of the local artists, like rock of diamonds, be that, but like the famous, famous people, i like wiz khalifa a lot. >> big wiz khalifa fan? >> yes. >> would i be putting you on the spot to ask you to freelance, do some freestyle here for the audience? >> yeah. >> i would be -- can you do that? >> let's do this. >> or is that -- i mean, this can be your national debut here. >> yeah, could i do t >> you could do it? keep it clean now. you know, this is afternoon cable. so, we --

>> everything we do is clean. dame will spitfire here. >> dame, spit some fire here. going to get 20, 30 seconds of free cable news time. >> all right. so wrap i guess. okay, y'all back of my bike, i don't need a car, these two wheels gonna take me far, i'm riding -- riding -- oh, my god. >> no, listen -- >> my fault. >> skip that verse. >> skip that verse. start over. start over. >> hit it. >> first off, tell my name, last name jones and first name dame, damion, i'm rich, i be on the wii killer, i'm gonna go get, everybody trying to follow me called twitter. i go hard >> i love it. i love it. i love t and listen. >> i messed up the first so i had to come back real fast. >> when you make it big, make sure you come back and give us a cut, too. >> all right. i got ya. >> we are ready for you to come -- you come to the studio

and see us, too, we will have you rip some bars up in the studio as well. >> we will do t we will do it. i guarantee you it won't be like that we will do t dame jones, seventh grader and rapper are, matt juror stat, beats and rhymes executive director and founder. thanks for coming on. congrats. >> thank you. up next, a controversial cartoon, first teletub business, now the latest children's show under fire from conservatives. and we continue to watch the weather as millions could be in the path of severe thunderstorms once again. the latest forecast next. you are watching msnbc. the only thing we'd ever grown together was a record collection. no. there was that fuzzy stuff on the gouda. [ both ] ugh! when it came to our plants... we were so confused. how much is too much water? too little? until we got miracle-gro moisture control. it does what basic soils don't by absorbing more water, so it's there when plants need it. yeah, they're bigger and more beautiful. guaranteed. in pots. in the ground.

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answer doubts a -- including seven adults and two children. 100,000 homes were destroyed in missouri. many are without power. this is brand-new video we just got in of flooding in paducah, kentucky, several inches fell today alone. some people had to be rescued there officials are telling travellers to use extreme caution. back in oklahoma, we are just getting some new video of the damage sustained at oklahoma city's international airport. that airport reopened today. sarah daloff has more. >> reporter: we had a tornado

through this area, heavy rains and hail. now it is a beautiful, sunny day. one look behind me, you can see the evidence that this was a powerful tornado. a home reduced to just rubble. you can see pieces of an armoire, a light fixture hanging from the ceiling, all that is left for this family in union city, oklahoma. now, we have been hearing that nine people were killed. that is seven adults, two children. and we are also hearing that some of the nerves from that twister in moore may have played into what happened here, specifically some people were -- people were excused from work and because of that tornado last week, they did try go home and some people were stuck in traffic on the roads when this tornado hit, adding an extra element of terror to this, unable to get to their homes and stuck in their cars, the twister swept across this plain. >> i spent a number of days with you there in moore, oklahoma, seems like yesterday. the damage you're seeing now,

how does that compare to the damage you saw on may 20th, 21st 22nd in moore, oklahoma? >> a good question. moore was more of an urban area, everything was closely packed together you had a bank next a movie theater next to a home, really easy to get an idea of just how bad the damage s here, we are much more drawn out. we don't have as many homes packed close together, don't have the damage. the damage still is very, very bad but it doesn't camp pair to moore vish any terms of seeing so much damage just by turning right to left. >> nbc's sarah daloff on the ground for us there in union city, oklahoma. gentleman janice huff here with the weather. it sounds like you have gotten to the bottom of this? >> the national weather service in norman, oklahoma, the ef 0,

the weakest on the scale of 0 to 5, touched down in moore yesterday afternoon during all of this mayhem with the storms moving through the region. now, it was a weak tornado compared to ef5 that they just saw a little more than a week ago. this storm yesterday moved across moore, oklahoma, for a brief time, the path was half a mile and the width of the tornado only 500 yards compared to the ef5 tornado almost two miles wide. so it was a very small tornado, minimal damage from that one in moore. however, the tornado that touched down near el reno, that was the one that also made that right turn onto interstate 40 and many of the tornado chasers and other people got caught up in that storm yesterday. it's still to be determined exactly the strength of that tornado. the national weather service teams are going out, surveying the area on the ground and in the air and then they will have an answer pretty soon. there was also another tornado

that moved across south oklahoma city along and across interstate 40. they are also looking at that to determine what that storm is, but definitely, there was an ef0 over moore yesterday. not what they needed. also, flash flooding. saw more than 7 1/4 inches of rain in some areas, including oklahoma city yesterday. seeing residual flash flooding. it's minor today, so the's not as major, not as bad as it was 24 hours ago, the weather is great, as you saw from that live shot a few moments ago, it has cleared out across most of oklahoma and kansas and missouri, but these were the storm reports from yesterday. o kansas and missouri, but these were the storm reports from yesterday. large hail, damaging winds, more than 200 reports of that that stretched up to the great lakes and parts of wisconsin, where they are starting to see some thunderstorms popping up now over parts of wisconsin tonight and this afternoon, actually. some severe storms possible there this evening. right now you what you're watch

sag loop of the rain showers moving through this region right now over the last three to six hours. and that's the same line that produced the tornadoes yesterday. you can see this moving away from oklahoma city now. another mississippi, memphis, bowling green, you mentioned paducah as well. they could get another three notches rain as this continues to move to the south and east. this is the area of concern today in terms of severe weather. not as many tornadoes expected but there could be isolated ones but definitely damaging winds and large hail and flooding rains, the threat here from central texas clear up to the great lakes. and we are talking about cleveland, indianapolis, louisville, nashville, memphis, through central arkansas, northern louisiana, and only maybe the southern, southeastern quadrant of oklahoma, but most of oklahoma is in the clear for today. however, these areas to the east now are going to have to deal

with the possibility of severe weather and flash flooding. the risk moves farther to the east on sunday and will include basically the entire northeast corridor. big cities here from washington, d.c., baltimore, philadelphia, new york city, all the way up to just west of boston and parts of maine. so we are still tracking everything. right now you no severe weather in place but still quite a bit of flooding that will continue. >> wnbc's janice huff, thank you so much. do appreciate that. let's take a quick look at some of the other top stories making news on a saturday afternoon. here is another story that we are watching closely today in texas. investigators there are trying to figure out, this is not the right video, but investigators are trying to figure out what caused a deadly fire at a houston motel friday. that blaze killed four firefighters. it left five more firefighters hurt. the motel apparently collapsed when the firefighters were searching for people that they thought might be trapped inside.

we are going to update you on this story as we learn more information. meanwhile, overseas today, turkey's prime minister is calling for an immediate end to the widespread anti-government demonstration in his country. police in istanbul used tear gas and water cannons to end what was a peaceful protest in a park friday. hundreds were hurt in the standoff. it also sparked massive demonstrations that spread to other parts of the country as well. and a close call for mother earth. sort of. a giant asteroid sailed past our planet friday evening. it was close enough that you actually could have seen it using a backyard telescope but 3.6 million miles away, it was too far to do any damage. but we won't see this particular asteroid any time again soon. 28 to be precise. that's the year it is expected to make a return. up next, caught on camera, another storm chaser comes face to face with danger. i will talk to him live. and bending the rules, a

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around oklahoma city, what has been an all too familiar ritual is starting once again. folks are sifting through debris after another night of deadly tornadoes. the violent storms were caught on camera by several storm chasers, two of whom got a little too close to the action. this is just a look at precisely how close they got. >> as fast as you can.

>> go! >> frank, go now! hurry! 40 is not enough. go! no, don't turn. go south! if you don't go south, we're gonna die! >> go frank, go! >> just go. go, get around them! >> i can't. >> just go! >> you're fine. >> that's fine, dude. just go. >> fine.

>> get down. duck down! duck down! duck down! you're good. >> brandon sullivan is the guy yelling instructions on that tape. he is the face that we just froze at the end of the video there. he is with a group called tornado titans. it's a group of student meteorologists. they go around chasing storms like that and he joins us via testimony phone now. brandon, you all right? you good? >> yeah, i'm all right. i'm all good. >> you know, i got to start by asking you the same question i pose to a storm chaser i chatted with about an hour ago. i can hear the terror in your voice. i can see the fear on your face. why do you do that? >> you know, i think any storm chaser would be lying if they said they weren't out there for some sort of an adrenaline rush.

you know, we are obviously student meteorologists like you said, we like the science. yesterday, we just got a little too close. i think we underestimated the situation. things evolved really quickly. as you can hear in the video, there's also someone in front of us barely moving down the road so we're kind of trapped, it was a really bad situation. >> is this the closest that you've ever come to an actual funnel or have you actually gotten closer? >> no, this is definitely, definitely the closest that we've ever gotten. there's no need to be that close, that's for sure. we like getting out there we like getting close and getting good pictures, but definitely got too close yesterday. we waited a little bit too long to go south, kind of underestimated the road conditions and the other people on the road. didn't really get out of there in time. >> you seemed to wait a while to put on your seat belt there what

did you see -- what were you seeing when you ducked down and you put on the seat belt? >> yeah, actually, after filming the tornado, i realized it was evolving quickly and we needed to go south. i hopped in the car and, you know, was focused on filming other things irk didn't get my seat belt put on immediately, i was trying to get south. we started getting very strong winds. we start seeing the debris, i was worried about the foechx maybe the car turning over. at that time, my consciousness kicked in and i said, hey, you need to buckle up. that's what you see in the video. >> what else did you see swirling around you? some of the debris? >> well, the -- you know, we saw the farm take a hit just to our -- you know, just to our south there, the tornado actually passed about a half mile behind us. we were a rather good distance from the tornado, but the inflow into it was so strong, it tore

apart that barn and threw some -- through threw a lot of grass and even a hay bale and piece of the barn right at our car. >> did you chase the tornado that hit moore back on may 20th? >> actually, no, we were on a separate tornado in southern oklahoma but the day before we were on the -- you know, the tornado that hit shawnee. >> and we bleeped out your language there as well on the video. i would imagine that's probably not the only bleeping we would have had to do if we had showed the whole thing, huh? >> yeah. um, you know, i subconsciously try to remember all that, that there are cameras rolling, but definitely, got a little too intense yesterday and some slipped out. >> brandon sullivan, once again, glad you are okay. be careful out there. >> all right, thanks for having me on. >> brandon sullivan. again, with the -- with the group called tornado titans. coming up, another bizarre tape, this one not nearly as

cool. it's some dancing, irs workers dancing. we will show you the latest creation made and paid for on the taxpayers' dime. ♪ 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, ♪ ♪ i'm going to take it all out and celebrate. ♪ ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker... ♪ membership rallied millions of us on small business saturday to make shopping small, huge. this is what membership is. this is what membership does.

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we can show you how at&t solutions can help you do what you do... even better. ♪ now to our saturday afternoon political headlines. congress head back to work one day after a week-long recess. in his weekly address, president obama highlighted economic progress. mr. obama had marching orders for the politicians returning to d.c. >> congress should pass a law giving every responsible homeowner the chance to save about $3,000 a year on their mortgage by refinancing at historically low interest rates. congress should put more americans to work rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, like the one that collapsed last week in washington state. we'd all be safer around the unemployment rate would fall faster. >> one of the first items of business that will definitely be on the congressional agenda, dealing with immigration reform.

battles over markups look ahead for the house. yesterday, white house spokesman john earnest admitted it will not be easy. >> this piece legislation is one of the most complex, wide-ranging pieces of legislation that this congress has had to deal with in quite come some time, probably since the affordable care act. it is expected to be a damaging report about the irs is coming tuesday. part of its investigation into the agency, the house ways and means committee says it believe you was the agency spent thousands of taxpayer dloorls create this internal video that was going to be used at an agency convention in 2010. the video comes weeks after it was revealed agency workers produced two other videos mocking the "star trek" and "gilligan's island" tv shows. this is the latest video. >> at an undisclosed location, world famous dance

instructor -- brought together a ragtag group of sb, sc executive. their dream, to become the next great dance sensation. >> what is happening at the irs? >> this speaks to a broad, widespread, systemic issue across the bureaucracy, a come man place thing that was -- an agency out of control partly because it was independent. not as sexy for republicans, great for people to watch because it doesn't go directly to the president. it is a problem and most americans are aghast as they watch these videos. >> taken aback by the really bad dancing, too, that apparently -- >> awful. >> i can't -- anyway.

but that's for neither here nor there. how much of a black eye is this going to be for the white house, for the administration, or is this something that's now separate from the white house and the administration? >> i think it's going to be very hard for the average voter to try and differentiate between this even though the irs is technically an independent agency and the white house and president obama's administration. that's because the nature of the news that's come out about the irs, been a drip, drip, drill. james used the word systemic and i think what a lot of people will view this as because there has been scandal after scandal or say many scandal after scandal after many scandal coming out the last month. >> james, as these controversies continue to mount, a number of lawmakers have continued to call for a total overhaul of the irs. first of all, how difficult would that be and if it were to happen, how would they go about doing that? >> it would be very, very difficult. the irs is pretty insulated.

the big issue it ties into, which has been on the top of both parties' agendas for 2013 is tax reform. there's kind of two schools of thought on what the irs scandal does. some people say this is the reason we need tax reform and that could overhaul the irs. if we simplify our tax code, we take away a need for a lot of these bureaucrats. the other side, you want to say let's just fix the house that's broken. let's get the system in order, put in control so this kind of thing can't happen again and have a very pared back, pared down piece of legislation and it really is still not clear, when i talk to folks on the hill, what way we're gonna go. >> shelia, i want to pivot and talk about immigration for a second, first of all, apologized to mr. ernest, called him john ernest it is josh earnest. we knew it would be a steep climb. how steep is it going to be when congress comes back next week? >> it's going to be steep.

first, you have the vote coming to the senate the next week or so we think then those go through the house, you are seeing some of the greatest champions going over and training flew wednesday their colleagues. can't emphasize enough how different the two bodies are at this point. very difficult given how conservative the house is to push this thing through. now, republicans who control the house do know that they have a problem with hispanic voters and that might be enough just to put many more of the, what's left of the moderate republicans on board. it would involve perhaps -- excuse me, involve house speaker john boehner perhaps violating the has the rule, voting on something without the majority of his caucus once again a dicy situation for house republican. >> shira taupe let's roll call, james hahnemann, politico. up next, survival stories, a weather channel crew walks away from that wreck last night in

oklahoma. we will hear from that reporter coming up. you are watching msnbc. i'm in my work van, having lunch, next minute i'm in the back of an ambulance having a heart attack. i was in shape, fit. i did not see it coming. i take bayer aspirin. [ male announcer ] so be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. see your doctor and get checked out. your doctor will say get smart about your weight. i tried weight loss plans... but their shakes aren't always made for people with diabetes. that's why there's glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. and they have six grams of sugars. with fifteen grams of protein to help manage hunger... look who's getting smart about her weight. [ male announcer ] glucerna hunger smart.

which want to bring you up to date on the developing story we continue to follow, the devastating weather that is punching the nation's midsection in the cut gut. today, people in a suburb of oklahoma city returned to what's left of their homes. this is union city, oklahoma, you were looking at. nine people killed mork more than 100 hurt when tornadoes ripped through the area late friday. flash flooding throughout the oklahoma city area and officials are also reporting localized power outages, moore, oklahoma, we found out a short time ago, took another direct hit when a tornado tore through the state late friday. residents were still cleaning up after that massive tornado leveled much of the city just 11 days ago, killing 24 people. joining me by phone now, congressman tom cole, a native of moore, oklahoma, represents

that area. congressman, this is the second time in less than two weeks your hometown has taken a direct him. i would imagine this is unprecedented in your lifetime. no? >> it really is. we certainly have had a lot of storms but to have itself veerity back to back and the damage is now clays basically spread through the whole city. i was out this morning, in my house now which has no power power and the back fence is down, a lot of debris in the yard, we are pretty lucky. now more people have lost their roofs and considerable dan. people trying to clean up, as your report suggested, had their problems compounded and the flooding is real and genuine, through various parts of the city and the southern oklahoma city metro area. it is extraordinarily difficult time for us. >> what is the first order of business for officials on the ground there with regards to the recovery and rebuilding now? >> first thing, of course, is to see what additional areas were

damaged. to get the power back up and running, we, of course, lost that on may 20th for several days, it was just about all back, now, it's basically all gone again. trying to get the phone lines working, they are all down. there's these immediate problems. trying to help people and get the debris cleaned up and frankly, just picking up and moving forward again this is a major set back when you are already down and out. >> how worried are people in and around moore, around oklahoma city in general that another one is coming, that this is somehow something that's going to become more of a regular occurrence there? is there a real fear of that? >> you know, probably in a few quarters, not many. we got excellent warnings from the national weather service. they actually told us yesterday was going to be a very difficult day. told us a day or two ahead of time, obviously, never know exactly where you're going to

get hit. but they seem to be suggesting now that the weather patterns are breaking a little bit and we are going to have maybe a little bit of a breather. but this is tornado season for us. not unusual, april through june, this is actually the height of it, people learned to live with that generally pretty well prepared. back-to-back hit russ unusual. >> only two of the seven congressional delegation voted in favor of a disaster aid after the super storm sandy, you were one of the two. do you expect another fight over federal disaster aid when congress comes back from recess monday? >> i don't. i think actually one of the benefits of the sandy package was not only to help people that needed help, affected stays in the the northeast, it refilled the disaster relief fund. as difficult as there is, over $11 billion in that enough to

handle this. again, got to get through the rest of the year on this or we will be confronting the same kind of situation we had in sandy i where we had set aside money for disaster relief. done a pretty good job. nobody sets aside 60 or $70 billion. that was a very unusual occurrence. i'm hopeful that wouldn't be the case here, have enough money appropriated or next year's appropriation to deal with our programs. >> oklahoma congressman tom cole. congressman, good luck to you. >> thanks a lot. thanks for the concern and the interest. the power of the storm was very real, not just for all the folks there, but especially for our team at the weather channel. yesterday while covering the storms, they came too close to a twister, which picked up their vehicle and dropped it in a field, with people inside. this is a picture of the vehicle, all banged up, like in the field. miraculously you no one was seriously hurt. the weather channel's david

malkoff is in lawton, oklahoma. he talked to the weather channel's mike bettes in that car. david you first of all, how's mike doing and what did he tell you about his experience? >> reporter: mike is very shaken, craig. let me tell you. he's got some injuries to his hands because he had his hands over his head. he may have actually swallowed some glass, so he has a little bit of scratchy throat here. but other than that, he is no more worse for wear. there was another member of the crew who had some more severe injuries. he is in the hospital right now. but let me set this up for you. we got three vehicles in our tornado hunt crew. there's a support vehicle. there's the vehicle that mike bettes and two other individuals were in. and then there's the television transmission truck. the vehicle mike bettes was in was a tornado hunt truck. it got picked up, literally picked up by one of these

fingers that comes off of the tornado. it wrapped around the truck, pulled it off of the ground, pulled them about 30 feet into the sky and he felt himself being weightless there in the sky for what felt like forever, was probably just a few seconds. actually, let's have mike bettes explain what happened. >> trying to get past it. sorry, coming toward our lead vehicle, five or six car lengths ahead of us. got pulled off the right side of the road toward the tornado into a ditch. at that moment, i mean it dawns on you when you are not gonna make it. at that point, i remember telling everybody, get down. everyone had their seat belts on. next thing i know, we were going for a ride you just felt this tumble, tumble, tumble, tumble, tumble, tumble, tumble and it was frightening. and there was a moment where we were kind of weightless.

and i knew we were in the air around it felt like forever. it may have just been a split second or two. i don't really know. but it just felt like it was forever and i was just waiting for that moment we were going to come down and hit. and so i just braced myself, a lot of thoughts were going through my mind at the time. i was thinking about my family. i was thinking about what's gonna happen when we hit. we eventually hit. hit pretty hard and then started tumbling again and i remember thinking to myself, i'm still conscious. i can still tell what's going on here. so i've made it through this point. eventually, the car came to rest right side up. winds were still, you know, blowing right across the truck, but everyone was cool. we were screaming to each other, everybody okay? everybody okay? everybody said they were okay. then we just hunkered down, low, low in our seats, i was almost on the floor. and the wind was just, you know, coming right over the truck. and that lasted for another minute or two. and then it was gone.

>> reporter: now you let me just answer a question that's probably coming in your mind right now. is this storm chasing business worth it? the answer is, yes, meteorologically, there is, because there is a disconnect between the data we can get from the radar and what the tornado is actually doing. so to keep people safe, you need those vehicles on the ground to actually see what the tornado is doing, craig, so that's why they continue to do it. mike, he might not. he is going to take some days to think about it. >> i would imagine so i have always enjoyed mike's work. please pass along our regards. glad he is doing well. glad you're doing well, too. take care of yourself, guys. be well. >> sure. sure. thanks. >> that was dave malkoff for us from the weather channel from lawton, oklahoma. today is also, we should note, the official start of the

2013 hurricane season. but many new york and new jersey residents are still rebuilding after last year's hurricane sandy devastated the region. according to the national hurricane center, sandy cost the country roughly $50 billion, making it the second costliest storm on record after hurricane katrina. with me to talk about the rebuilding effort and also what congress is going to be doing when they go back to work next week, new york congressman gregory meeks is here in the studio with me. first of all, let's start with what your constituents told you last week, i know you guys had the week off what did you hear from them about the effort, the rebuilding effort after sandy? >> it was slow, delayed. first, my prayers go out to the people of oklahoma who have been suffering and those that lost their lifts and all their property. we in new york are really concerned about them, because these kind of disasters affect us all. but in new york, you know, we are coming back. we still got a lot of work to do

people are concerned, as we enter hurricane season again that they are still not safe. we just have been told that contract has been i shall sued that we can start replenishing the sand that -- to try to give us some before, talk to the army corps of engineers who still have to complete the study, if would you believe it or not, still got a year or two to go but the study is now paid for so we know whether or not we can put the jetties in or put storm walls in, et cetera, trying to expedite that so people can feel safe again as they rebuild. >> disaster response, disaster relief in this country, do we handle it the right way? are we going about this the right way or is there a better way that we can respond? >> you know what i think that we are learning. and i think the way we have to do we have to anticipate more. we have to at a you can to people that live on -- have coastal shores all over the world. because we are -- there's no question about the sea level rising, et cetera, do things in a different way than we have done them -- may have done in

the past. so i think that we can get better. we can do better. we have got the kind of engineering and science that can make sure that we are better prepared. and so we are trying to -- i think that what we did in new york was somewhat innovative, the community development block grants, trying to get people back, just took so long for us to get appropriations to get the help we need to deal with remediation still working with in the rockaways, a large degrees, insurance issue now that still is permeating you ti people that was devastated in the rockaways. have to learn from each storm. >> i have to ask you about new york city's mayoral race. of course, endorsed former new york city comptroller, bill thompson. last november, you wrote an op ed with former congressman anthony weiner, "new york daily news." and in this op ed, you talk about rebuilding the rockaways and queens which, of course, was averaged by sandy.

what kind of mayor would anthony weiner be? >> well, you know, anthony is a good guy. you won't see what kind of mayor he will be because bill thompson will be the mayor of the city of new york. so -- >> you sound pretty confident. >> that is a hypothetical that will never happen. bill thompson is the best person at the right time. all the people that is running are good people, good human beings, just so happens that bill thompson is the one, the right one to unite the city and brink us back together. >> do you think anthony weiner should have ever bothered running? >> anthony a good guy. i think anybody and everybody deserves -- the greatness of our country that, you know, you have the opportunity to run. u opportunity to be forgiven and the people's voice ultimately will be h >> yeah. >> so anthony has the right to run and that's good. and i think it's going to be good when bill thompson is elected the next may over the city of new york. >> really quickly, congress returns to work next week, how are you guys going to disappoint us this time? >> well, listen, we have been -- i know my side, they have been trying to work hard and this country needs to have

compromise. you talk to the other side, said let's compromise so we can get something done and not be focused on just stopping. >> i knew that was going to be your response. i knew that was going to be the response. congressman meek, a pleasure, thanks for coming in on a saturday. >> good being with us. a cartoon debuts today. why a new super heroine is rallying conservatives. the new ram 1500. best-in-class 25 mpg. ♪ north american truck of the year. ♪ the truck of texas. better residual value than ford and chevy. it's the fastest-growing truck brand in america. guts. glory. ram.

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the news came today as a shock, al and tipper gore announced they were separating after 40 years of marriage, 40 years of public visibility and every answer souped, durability. >> yes, folks that day in 2010, the e-mail announcement that shocked the nation, after four decades and four children and a couple of presidential campaignser the gores announced they were separating. let's flashback to this day in 2009 when an american original, general motors, filed for bankruptcy. this is how "nbc nightly news" covered the story. >> arriving at court in a hybrid

chevy impala -- >> how are you doing? >> gm ceo fritz henderson says this is the end of the old gm and a new one will rise from the ashes of bankruptcy. >> we know we need to prove ourselves and to do it every day and we will. and we will do it right and we will do it once. >> bankruptcy will allow gm to wipe out $172 billion in debt, more than double it's a sets s $82 billion it will close -- closing 11 plants, eye delling three hours. >> more plants will close, nor jobs lost, more dealerships will shut their doors and so will parts suppliers. >> funding gm's bankruptcy will cost uncle sam $30 billion running the total tab for saving the company $50 billion. >> when gm filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy, it led to the highly debated auto bailout.

jeep motor announce it had would be investing $44 million in a lansing, michigan, factory and creating in a process 200 new jobs. we also want to mention on this day, we remember helen keller, flown for overcominged a virts. she was the first deaf and blind person to earn a bachelor of arts degree. she died on this day in 1968, an inspiration to so many. we wanted to share these wise words from her. "the best and most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or even touched. they must be felt with the heart." [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. it put me at ease that you could smoke on the first week. [ male announcer ] some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix.

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children's cartoon network, hub premiered a new show, it's called she's out. it's about a 12-year-old girl

called guy. needless to say, some folks are not happy with the cross dressing superhero for young children. bill donohue says he's worried about the kids who watch. the target audience is not adults, it's young people, many of whom may be confused about their own sexuality. nothing says child appropriate material quite like gender bending underaged superheroes. he went on to say the chief executive of the hub may or may not have been high when she green lit this program. jenny is here with us, a trans depender woman. that was ben shapiro, i want you to know breitbart news did send us a statement yesterday. this is what they said. the show is unique and

newsworthy, we believe in more voices not less. the audience will determine its appeal and success. do you believe this is a show that could confuse children? and what do you make of the criticism in general? >> i don't think it's going to confuse children. children are smarter than we give them credit for. this transgender people are superheroes, it's worth saying that. we live difficult lives, we face unbelievable discrimination. this is not a show about a transgender superhero. this is a show about a boy who puts on a magic ring and his hair grows long. >> why do you think there has been such a response from some folks with regard to the show. >> i think people are nervous about what we show our children. if you look at the message. it's a good message. if this were about a transgender character, it's not, we would be

saying transgender is fluid, and there are lots of ways to being human, and we should respond to all the people who live on this network with love. >> a blog report erroneously stated that a character was transsexual, that's not true. she's a light hearted an mated comedy, much like mulan, who was a young girl who dressed as a male warrior. this is the same idea, just reversed. are we reading too much into this controversy? >> well, is this the best they can do, to be coming after a cartoon show about a boy who puts on a magic ring? >> is this the best way to teach children about transgender people? >> well, i'm not certain. but it is certainly a light hearted approach to gender issues, and i think having a sense of humor, being entertaining, and letting kids see that the world contains all kinds of people, that's a good

thing. >> how much of this could also be about trying to get some publicity for a children's network that here to for has struggled in terms of ratings. >> well, i don't know about what goes on behind the scenes at the hub, but i know the lives of trans dependser people are difficult lives. you can be fired for being transgender in 33 states plus new york. the violence which we face, the discrimination which we face, that's real. you're not going to see that on a cartoon show, what you will see on a cartoon show is a boy whose hair grows long, who gets to wear crazy go-go boots and has a lot of fun. can we against that really? >> jenny, i think we'll leave it there. have a great saturday. >> thank you. coming up, what's in a name? members of congress tell the owner of the washington redskins to do something that he has vowed he will not do. we'll talk about that, plus the

wedding must go on. the tornados disrupted lots of folks lives in oklahoma yesterday. and missouri as well. there's a couple who also had their rehearsal dinner disrupted by the tornadoeses. we're going to talk to the groom live. he's getting married i believe at 6:30. we won't keep him long. you're watching msnbc. are alwaye to make their money do more. (ann) to help me plan my next move, i take scottrade's free, in-branch seminars... plus, their live webinars. i use daily market commentary to improve my strategy. and my local scottrade office guides my learning every step of the way. because they know i don't trade like everybody. i trade like me. i'm with scottrade. (announcer) scottrade... ranked "highest in customer loyalty for brokerage and investment companies."

what that's great. it won't take long, will it? nah. okay. this, won't take long will it? no, not at all.

how many of these can we do on our budget? more than you think. didn't take very long, did it? summer is here, so are the savings. that's nice. post it. already did. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. get 3 bags of earthgro mulch, a special buy for just $10. we start with developing news, new and dangerous flooding expected today in tornado alley flash floods could be worse than last nights storms. rescues are on going last night, an estimated 18 tornados, at least 18 tornados tore through the heartland. since monday there have been 99 tornados nationwide, and today new threats of severe weather. we're getting new pictures of

the flooding in paducah kentucky. several inches of rain fell today alone. neighboring missouri is also reporting massive damage to property. an estimated 100,000 homes and businesses are without power right now in missouri, we're told. the danger is not over yet. forecasters are predicting that torrential rain and bad weather will continue throughout the day and into the night in many of these areas. back in oklahoma, where nine people were killed yesterday, we are just getting some new video of some of the damage at oklahoma's airport. it's been reopened today, despite the damage to the roof there. sarah joins me live now from union city, oklahoma. union city hit hard by the tornado. what's it like on the ground there, what kind of damage are you seeing? >> just extensive damage in this farmland community where intire homes were wiped out left to

nothing but piles of rubble, where you can see pieces of someone's lives peaking out, a light fixture, a dresser, a motorcycle in what was the garage. i've been stalking to some of the neighbors here, one of them has lived here for more than 30 years, he's always been lucky, never hit by a tornado. he wasn't going to leave his house yesterday. as he watched the dark storm clouds gather, he had a feeling he needed to get out. was very lucky he did. today his home doesn't have a roof. nine people were killed. seven adults and two children. we're hearing as many as 100 people injured. many of them were in their cars, trying to get away from the storm on i-40 when it struck with those massive winds, the hail, the water. just that massive destruction that people couldn't outrun. obviously people here already very shaken because a short time ago, we had that ef-5 tornado in moore, which is not far from here, we had 24 people killed.

moore was in that danger area, that tornado watch area yesterday, and while it suffered some damage from hail and rain, we're told the tornado did not actually strike there. >> what can you tell us about the power outages, what's the latest with regard to power there. >> tens of thousands of people still without power in this area. we are seeing people head out here with their insurance adjusters and officials to kind of assess the situation, power company is out on the road with those toppled power poles, trying to get people the power to start rebuilding their life. >> sarah, thank you. being together through good times and bad has special meaning for one oklahoma couple who plan to get married in a few hours. i believe two and a half hours if i'm not mistaken, his fiancee and he were celebrating their

rehearsal dinner last night at a restaurant in norman, oklahoma, when a twister ripped through the town. the wedding party had to take shelter in a walk-in freezer at that restaurant. but nate and katie will not be deterred, they're planning on tieing the knot tonight. nate is so so kind and gracious he joins me now via telephone. first of all, how are you holding up, are you ready for the big night? >> yes, sir. >> you sound pretty excited? >> i am. >> walk me through what happened last night, when you realized a tornado was about to roll through town. >> well, we kind of figured everything was coming, there was already tornados up north in oklahoma city near the airport. we were heading back -- heading to the west side of norman to enter irvin, there was traffic everwhy, we got into the restaurant. and it wasn't -- we weren't

there for probably an hour, 30 minutes, and i mean, you could just see the k4r0uds starting to circle and it was getting really nasty, and the whole time, once i got there, i got ahold of my fiancee who was still at her parents house, and she actually didn't make it to the restaurant until well after everything had died down. so we were -- it was pretty much just me and all my family and myrrh grooms men at the restaurant. and my fiancee was at her parents house in town in their cellar, while we were at the restaurant and the freezer. >> as you were in the freezer, what was going through your mind? >> well, at the point there were so many women and children, we guys got out, and tried to get many of the kids in, the kids and women, and that was mine and

my dad's biggest concern, making sure the women and children were in, and kind of just said a prayer. hoped everything would be okay, and god willing it would all work out. >> we heard from the reporter on the ground there are tens of thousands without power in and around oklahoma city. does your wetting venue have power? >> it does not as of yet. >> our venue does, but our reception does not yet. >> what are we going to do for reception? >> we're going to -- we have a generator that we got over there, so if -- for the d.j. more or less, we'll probably light it up bien cad el light if we don't get electricity by the time is it starts. >> i love it. i love it. old school, really old school. >> very old school. >> did you guys consider postponing? was that a conversation? >> no, it really wasn't. primarily for the fact that we

just kind of went with the storm, after everything, all of her family ended up coming over to the restaurant. and we ended up cutting our turkey cake and celebrated a little bit, didn't do the gifts or any of the speeches, so my best man and them are going to have to do their speeches tonight in front of a little bigger crowd. >> who was more shaken up by the experience, you or katie marie? >> i would say katie was. she was very shaken up, she does not like storms. i generally just -- i was trying to calm her down. my dad got on the phone with her, and told her to get in her cellar and to be cautious. >> nate getting married. is it 6:30, nate. >> yes, it is 6:30. >> getting married at 6:30 to

katie marie. good luck to you guys. you will certainly have a memorable wedding and reception. >> yes. thank you very much. and we just want to send out all our thoughts and prayers out to all of the moore families, all the families in oklahoma and missouri, that got hit by the tornado and our thoughts and prayers will be with them. and we want to thank all of our callers and friends from out of state that aren't used to this for coming out and sticking to it with us. >> congratulations, sir, take care. >> have a good one. >> is this the end of it, or can we expect even more severe weather to come? wnbc meteorologist janice huff is live with us on a saturday afternoon. we've been talking a lot about oklahoma, but we know how severe some of these were. >> yes, we have some preliminary information out of st. louis, their team has been investigating these storms and

damage that they produced for most of the day. this map shows just a preliminary report, that some of the storms have not been reported on this map like the el reno tornados and the ones around oklahoma city from yesterday. this map will be updated. it shows that cluster around st. louis and southwestern illinois. 19 tornado reports from this map. right now it appears that they've determined that one of those tornados in north st. louis was an ef-2 with winds up to 130 miles an hour. there were two ef 3's. one of those in st. charles, month month, the other in southwestern sections of illinois near edwardsville, illinois. they're still surveying the damage in those areas, the weather is clear in most spots now, with the exception of flooding. but weather is clearing out, so they're able to go out and survey the damage. right now, most of the heavy duty weather that's moving through the region, thunderstorms that continue to move across portions of

mississippi, tennessee and into sections of illinois as well as arkansas, those areas seeing the heaviest rain and flooding, flash flooding from those, still continues in some spots for tonight. they've sign anywhere from 2 to 4 inches of rain, they may see an additional one to three inches of rain over the next 6 to 12 hours. and then all of this continues to move toward the east. we're expecting the severe weather to move past where it is now. and this is the area of concern for the rest of today from central texas which hasn't really seen much development yet. it could still develop there, clear through the ohio valley, toward cleveland and the great lakes. that moves to the east tomorrow. severe weather expected sunday across the northeast corridor. another thing about st. louis, the mississippi river is expected to crest at all time flooding record, 40.8 feet on tuesday. not just because of the rain they've seen here, but also because of the severe rains

they've seen over the past several weeks up stream and through the entire mississippi river basin. that's going to be moving into the mississippi river and they're expecting record flooding there, that will take place over the next several days, flooding, a big problem in a lot of spots in most locations, severe weather that will gradually move toward the east, finally movinging toward the east away from the areas that have suffered over the last two weeks. unfortunately, other areas getting hit now, craig. >> lost in all of this, today is it the first day of hurricane season too. >> that's right, today is june 1st, hurricane season begins and we're expecting above average season in terms of hurricane, a number of hurricanes, a number of very strong hurricanes, category 3 or higher, we don't know where they will hit, the important thing to remember about hurricane season, if you live in an area prone to hurricanes or even if you haven't had one in a while, you just have to be ready all the time. >> janice huff we'll leave it there, thanks for being with us

on a saturday. >> thanks. concerns over genetically engineered crops. days after thousands protested against genetically modified foods, the new find from an oregon field and this. >> at an undisclosed location, world famous dance instructor -- brought together a group of executives, their dream? to become the next great dance sensation. >> a dream it was, the irs dance video made at the expense of taxpayers, what the white house is saying about that now. you're watching msnbc. but after one day's use, dishcloths can redeposit millions of germs. so ditch your dishcloth and switch to a fresh sheet of new bounty duratowel. look! a fresh sheet of bounty duratowel leaves this surface cleaner than a germy dishcloth, as this black light reveals. it's durable, cloth-like and it's 3 times cleaner.

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. we have incredible new images of the tornado that tore

across oklahoma last night. this video was taken about 30 miles west of oklahoma city. check this out, it shows twin twisters forming over the open field. at least two people died there, these are some pictures out of the city of el reno. that's where a mother and baby were killed as the storm moved toward oklahoma city. and this, this is all that's left of a weather channel truck that got caught up in one of those twisters. the tornado sent that tornado flying 200 yards off the highway and into a field. mike bettis and two photographers were inside that vehicle. take a listen to what mike had to say about the experience. >> i don't know what to say. i'm speechless, that was the serious moment in my life. i've never been through anything like it before, we were just floating, and then we were tumbling. we tumbled, i don't know how many times. i thought at least 6, 8 times we

tumbled, we weren't tumbling any more, we came down hard. >> again, that was the weather channel's mike bettis. mike and his crew suffered minor injuries, at this point, though, it looks like they're all going to be okay. oklahoma was not the only state with extreme weather this weekend. a tornado also touched down in missouri last night, the twister tore the roof off this house in welden spring, it's about 30 miles west of st. louis, the governor has declared a state of emergency there. up next, switching sides, new comments from the rhode island governor on why he's joining the democrats. [ male announcer ] running out of steam? ♪ now you can give yourself a kick in the rear! v8 v-fusion plus energy. natural energy from green tea plus fruits and veggies. need a little kick? ooh! could've had a v8. in the juice aisle.

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in 1999 as a registered republican. then he became an independent in 2007. >> when i came to the senate, we had surpluses under my former party, evaporated and turned into deficits. that was the biggest reason for me. take hard won surpluses and turn them into deficits, while rewarding the top 1% of the country it wasn't the party i wanted to be a part of. >> he's a democrat? >> after a week long recess, congress is back at work. the white house spokesman acknowledged yesterday it will not be easy. >> this piece of legislation is one of the most complex wide ranging pieces of legislation this congress has had to deal with in quite some time. >> and john kerry, criticized russia's pledge to sell weapons to syria yesterday.

kerry suggested along with the growing enrollment of iran and hezbollah and fighting, russia's arm sales threaten to destabilize the region all together. >> it is not helpful to have the s-300 transferred to the region while we are trying to org nice this piece and create piece. this is not helpful to have eye lot of ammunition and other supplies going in, not just from the russians and they are supplying that kind of thing, but also from the iranians in hezbollah. coming up, two views from tornado alley after a week of deadly storms there. you're watching msnbc. this is george. the day building a play set begins with a surprise twinge of back pain... and a choice. take up to 4 advil in a day or 2 aleve for all day relief. [ male announcer ] that's handy. ♪

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it's the most powerful thing on the planet. love holds us in the beginning. comforts us as we grow old. love is the reason you care. for all the things in your life... that make life worth living. ♪ ♪ sweet love of mine this is what it looked like up close last night near

oklahoma city. they were already hit with tornados friday, at least nine people were killed, more than 100 were hurt. jay gray is there and has the latest for us now. jay? >> craig, good to talk to you. if there's any good news today, it's the fact that the sun is out, we're seeing blue skies above us, the rain that was relentless in the evening and moving through the early morning hours. ninely st it's finally stopped. what hasn't stopped is another attack on tornados. really wreaking havoc in this area that just can't barely stand another hit, especially in the city of moore that was ravaged when the ef 5 tornado ripped through the community 12 days ago now. they were touched again by tornado overnight. the way it's explained is the first storm cut a path across the city, the second came and really created an x as far as a

debris path is concerned. not as extensive as it was, it's another blow emotionally. it's another blow to the psyche of those who had begun the clean upand recovery process, i think the emotional, the mental scars there will be just as tough to hear as the physical scars which are very deep and will take some time sunlight's out today, it gives us a chance to determine the extent of the damage. thankfully they'll do that under blue skies and better weather as they begin the cleanup and recovery in this area battered by a series of storms. that is the latest from oklahoma city, jay greg, back to you, now. >> let's go ahead and check in with another nbc correspondent on the ground for us in oklahoma, this is janet shamlian, janet? >> hi, craig. this is the second fatal tornado in 11 days here in the oklahoma city area, this afternoon, they're taking stock of the

damage this is turning out to be a bigger problem in terms of floodwaters, we saw those tornados and the storms come through last night, it's continued storming after that, since midnight, as much as seven inches of rain in this area, you wouldn't know it by the scene behind me, there is as much as four feet of floodwaters in some parts of the city, that is going to be the major concern, not just today, but into tomorrow, and next week. this is what it looked like last night in this area as those tornados came through. from the dashboard of a storm chaser's car, the speed and power of friday's tornado outbreak is undeniable. bails of hey sent flying across the road as a twister ripped apart buildings, debris thrown into the path. >> it gets pretty nasty right here. >> earlier, the approaching thunderstorms warned of what was about to be unleashed. >> this entire line here has got rotation in it, and each one of

these could produce tornados. >> and produce they did. several twisters popping up throughout the oklahoma city area. >> it's a very violent tornado. people need to be underground, they need to be in their tornado shelters. >> those unable to take cover were sitting targets for the tornados. >> we got a terrible situation that's going on on i-40 and i-35 right now. multiple cars that crashed. >> a mother and her young daughter were killed when the vehicle was tossed from the interstate. >> and in el reno, oklahoma, this twister tore across the landscape. the storms knocked out power to more than 80,000 customers and turned city streets into rushing rivers. drivers forced to abandon their cars in the rising waters. >> it's flooded up to your waste, it's all bad. >> a lot of trees down. just destruction everywhere. >> the powerful storm that moved

into missouri, spawning even more tornados, knocking power out to thousands and ripping the roof off this home in a st. louis suburb. >> damage and destruction as tornado alley once again lived up to its name. >> they are trying to get back to normal here in oklahoma city. the airport has reopened. a number of events, the floodwaters are going to continue to be a problem, and again this afternoon, there is the threat, smaller, but the threat exists of more storms. craig, back to you. >> janet shamlian for us there. let's take a quick look at some of the other top stories making news on a saturday afternoon. new information about those widespread protests in turkey, turkey's interior minister says that police have detained nearly 1,000 people in 90 different demonstrations today. it's the second different day in a row of protests in turkey. they started yesterday when police used tear gas and water cannons to end a peaceful protest in a park. a new development out of britain

today, police say they have charged a second suspect in connection with a stabbing death of a soldier in london. they charged a 28-year-old man with murder that happened earlier today. another suspect already faces similar charges, the soldier lee writing by was run over and hacked to death last month. back on these shores, a new policy at starbucks. no smoking starting today. the coffee chain is now banning cigarette smoking within 25 feet of any of it's stores. there are about 7,000 starbucks in the united states and canada. flags at half staff in houston today after four firefighters were killed and a local hospital destroyed. here's nbc's dana alfield on that. >> reporter: more than 100 firefighters rushed to the southwest inn in housten just after noon on friday. the raging fire ravaged the hotel and nearby sports bar and

disco, four of the city's bravest were killed trying to put it out. >> the structure collapsed and our members while trying to save lives were trapped. >> another six were injured, one still in critical condition. >> the firefighters were up against a lot, battling not only the shooting flames of the five alarm blaze, but the grueling texas heat, 90 degree temperatures, high winds and new plumes of thick smoke across u.s. 69. the fire was out, but the smoke had not yet cleared at t scene of the worst loss of life in the department's history. chopper video shows what looks like a prayer service for the fallen. and as ambulances carried the victims away from the scene. firefighters and by standers saluted as they passed. >> i don't think i've felt so bad in my entire life, because it's like losing a family member. >> just a quick correction, the

hospital was not detroit, there was a motel obviously destroyed in that fire. now, back to politics, ahead of another congressional hearing over the irs controversy, there's more trouble ahead now for the agency. there's a new video that surfaced, it shows employees practicing a dance routine at one of the irs offices outside washington, d.c., take a look. >> at an undisclosed location, world famous dance instructors brought together a rag tag group of scse executives, their dream to become the next big dance sensation. >> peter alexander is at the white house, what do we know about these videos and how or is the white house responding to them? >> yeah, craig, i think we'll save the conversation for another time about my own white man's overbite and how poor the dancing is in these videos. that's beside the point here. this is coming out as part of an

inspector's general report that's going to come out on tuesday. there's going to be a hearing on capitol hill again on thursday focusing on this very topic of wasteful spending within the irs. this is not the first video of its kind to come out, this one was prepared for a conference in august of 2010 that took place in anaheim, california for the irs, this is one of those training videos that they produce. the irs says they spent about $1600 on. i spoke to the irs today who said the following in an e-mail to me, it was unacceptable and an inappropriate use of government funds. this is just one more insult to injury perhaps for this administration right now, trying to really put things back together with the irs. this has been such heavy criticism following the targeting scandal, in terms of tea party and other conservative groups, we'll hear for the first time from the acting head of the irs, daniel wuerffel who's going to be speaking on the topic of

that targeting scandal, he could be asked about the wasteful spending as well. the irs insists that it is basically in his words, it has new restrictions in place, so that these types of videos are no longer in existence like they formally were, they haven't been produced in 2011, 2012, or 2013, and they've slashed their budget to save money, the white house really puts a lot of its emphasis on the fact that they have now created -- brought about that new head of the irs to do a systemic sort of sweep, really to look at the entire system within the irs to try to renew confidence in that agency. greg. >> do we know how much was spent on the dancing video? >> yeah, we were told it was about $1600. compare that to some of the other videos you may be familiar with, i don't know if we have the clips of them now, there was a star trek video that came out a few months ago, and a gilligans island training video.

they spent about $60,000 on this one, is far less grave in terms of the expense. the irs insists its top priority is protecting taxpayer dollars, and any dollar spent on this, doesn't go too far in terms of instilling confidence on americans. >> we'll get you back here tomorrow to discuss some of the actual dancing in the aforementioned video. thank you, sir. federal authorities are scrambling to find out precisely how genetically modified wheel created by monsanto ended up in an oregon wheat farm. japan and south korea have suspend suspended export of u.s. wheat. dozens of american cities last weekend as part of a global day against the company, insisting -- monsanto insists

it's genetically modified products are safe and help farmers get more from their land while saving energy and water. zachary is a columnist for reuters, good to have you with me in the studio on a saturday as always. dave murphy, founder of food democracy now, here's what he wrote tuesday. the march to stop monsanto is one of the most pressing issues of our time. the products they produce, genetically engineered foods are in more than 70% of the processed foods that we eat, and feed our families, every day. why is monsanto in particular become such a lightning rod for protests like the ones we saw last weekend? >> well, really it's a protest against genetically modified, genetically engineered agriculture, of which there are only four or five companies in the world that do it. monsanto is the largest, most certainly the largest in the

united states. it's a bit of a misleading headline in that they make genetically modified wheat. the problem is, it ended up in a place no one expected it to be. these are uncontrollable, once placed in the ecosystem they will grow like weeds and destroy native varieties and take over like some unexpected invention. >> monsanto issued a statement about the wheat, they said, there are no food feed or environmental safety concerns associated with the presence of the roundup ready gene if it is found to be present in wheel. this is the first report of the trait being found out of place since monsanto's commercial development program was destined nine years ago. monsanto has destined this wheat research program, how did the gene -- how did it show up in oregon? is that really not the question? >> they make a round up ready

gene for corn, they had a production in wleet, and so the concern has always been you start messing around with the ecosystem, and you're playing god with the universe, and that's going to destroy whatever native variety. and there are legitimate issues there. there's a second issue which is, this has been a long ongoing battle since the '7 os, whether technology enhanced foods are a good thing or destructive thing. it's an emotional issue. human beings have been messing around with the genetic code of grains. human beings have been crossing breeds and strains of grain in order too find those defective ones forever. this is done in the laboratory, that's where people think like, we are in1r5iding the food chain in a way that's going to be destructive. >> japan suspending its impourts of our wheat, how significant is that, and what could it lead to. >> the europeans and japanese

are negative about genetically modified organisms, they will not accept them. monsanto does well in the united states, russia, china, brazil, has no presence in europe, because it is a cultural divide. those are countries where they feel like we're not going to accept these. the risks are unknown, the rewards are deminimous. they don't want any of this anywhere in their own ecosystems. >> we'll leave it there, thank you so much by the way for the word daminimous as well. what's in a name? members of congress tell the owner of the washington redskins to do something that he vows he will never do. you're watching msnbc.

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hillary clinton will pay tribute to fashion design by oscar de la renta on june 3rd. she'll present the founders award to the legendary designer in new york city. last year at this time, ann romney was campaigning for her husband's presidential bid now. she's apparently getting ready to launch a new cookbook. it's called the romney family table. it's all about what her family likes to eat. we're told some of the recipes include mixed meat ball cakes and welsh skillet cookies. first lady was at an lgbt fund-raiser with jason collins wednesday. she urged attendees to open their checkbooks, what's my motto? max out, if you've maxed out, get your friends to max out. everyone should be maxed out.

first lady michelle obama, the power of last night's storm was really real for a lot of folks in the midwest. yesterday while covering the storms, they came too close to a twister, picked up their vehicle and dropped it in a field with people still inside. this is a picture of that vehicle all banged up, in that field, miraculously, no one was seriously hurt. the weather channel's david malkoff is in oklahoma. he talked to mike bettis who is in the car. every time we see those pictures, it's amazing that mike and the team are okay. >> because the thing's flattened, right? when you look at that it's just flattened. the reason it's flattened is because the tornado picked up this large suv wrapped around the large suv pulled it up about 30 feet, twisted it around the whole crew inside there, there

were three people inside the vehicle, it was weightless for a moment. slammed it into the ground then they started rolling. nobody died in that accident. it's amazing to think about that. but there are people who are severely injured, there's one crew member who's severely injured, and he's in the hospital right now being checked out. mike bettis had some cuts along his hand, he may have swallowed some glass. that is the extent of his injuries, it's amazing about let me get you right to the sound so you can hear what mike bettis went through himself. >> our whole convoy is racing south to basically try to get away from it. there just became this moment of realization where our lead car got pulled off the road, into a ditch. we realize we weren't going to make it, and just screamed for everybody to just hold on, duck down below the windows and hold

on, and we just started tumbling, it seemed like one after another, tumble, tumble, tumble. it kept beating us, there was a moment where it was weightlessness, we were floating. we hit hard and we tumbled a couple more times and we stopped. right side up, and road out the rest of the tornado in the field. >> and you have to feel for the guy, i is doing okay, one crew member is in the hospital right now, but all in all, nine people died here in oklahoma. not in our crew, but nine people died because they were in vehicles, most of those people were in vehicles who died. this was a deadly tornado last night, craig? >> thoughts and prayers with our kreeg and crew member you just mentioned. dave malkoff in lawton, oklahoma for us. thank you. the violent storms were caught on camera by several

storm chasers, two of whom got a little too close to the action themselves. this is how close they got. >> go! fast as you can. go! frank, go now! 40's not enough. no, don't turn. we're going to die. go, frank, go. just go, go, go get around it. >> i can't.

>> earlier i talked to brandon sullivan, he's the guy yelling directions in that video, this is what he had to say about why he chases storms. >> any storm chaser would be lying if they said they weren't out there for some sort of adrenaline rush. you know, we -- we're obviously -- we like the science, but yesterday we just got a little too close, i think we underestimated the situation. things evolved really quickly, and as you can hear in the video, we're also -- there's someone in front of us barely moving down the road, so we're kind of trappeded, it was a really bad situation. up next, name change to the washington redskins. they change their name and mascot. what the team owner is saying now. we're here with sonya

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jean stapleton has died at the age of 90. she played edye bunker. she won three emmys for that role. she was a loveably naive housewi housewife. she died yesterday at her home in new york city. there's a new controversy brewing in the nation's capitol. the washington redskins, ten members of the house have sent a letter to the nfl and team owner dan snyder urging them to change the team's name. dave is from edge of support.

for decades now, native american leaders and organizations have been advocating the use of red skin as your team's brand. it is derog tory and offensive, you've been fighting for years to get this changed. what if anything will this lerach plish? >> well, i think it gives everyone an idea that the last word does not come from the team owners. the last team owner was edward bennett williams in 1970, that gives you the idea of the length of time we've been trying to get this changed. the congressional letter indicates a sense of congress, yes, this is to be taken seriously, it's not a joke.

people are tired of the racist name in the washington, d.c., area. it's associated with a nation's capitol. and how often to have a racial slur against us here. >> redskins owner dan snyder told the usa today, we will never change the name. it's that simple, never. other teams have changed their names or logos. they removed native american references. why is dan snyder so reluctant to change the name? >> you would certainly have to ask dan snyder that question. it's not money, if they change the name, the merchandise rewards they receive would be immense. if you ask dan snyder, be prepared for an ugly answer, dan

snyder is a rather loathsome human being. his popularity in d.c. is only slightly below that of plague. the problem is that he has put forward a persona for himself, that is so aggressively unlikeable that when he says things like, well, put it in all caps, we will never change this name. all that does is it inspire people like susan and myself who like football. who like this team who are disgusted with the fact that a racial slur is the name of an nfl franchise in the 21st century. >> you filed that lawsuit, you won, the decision was overturned, now there's a new legal effort. what can you tell us about that? >> susan? i think we lost you. >> if you're talking to me, i lost your sound, sorry. >> dave, pick it up if we can. >> the thing i would want to pick up, is that what dan snyder would say, he respects the

history of the name. and the problem with him -- what he never confronts is the history is rooted in the fact that we name a team, he was an open and proud racist, the redskins are the last to integrate. he prevented african-american players from playing. he had a love of minstralcy. he had it put in his will that none of his money could go toward any organization that believed in integration. this is 1969, so that's the history that the name represents, and it's a history that belongs at most in a museum, certainly not as the name of an nfl franchise. >> dave, we're going to pick this conversation up at some point in the near future. edge of sport.com. susan, big thanks to you. sorry about the technical difficulties. that's going to do it for me this afternoon.

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