flags are flying at half-staff this afternoon in memory of the 89-year-old, the senate's most senior member. past hour, president obama released a statement calling senator lautenberg a proud new jerseyan who lived america's promise as a citizen, and fought to keep that promise alive as a senator, improved the lives of countless americans with his commitment to our nation's health and safety. banned smoke iing on airplanes, authorizing a law that prevents domestic abusers from having guns and landmark drunk driving laws that set .08 as the standard blood alcohol limit and 21 as the legal drinking age. we'll have live pictures from the senate floor where we are expecting lawmakers to take to the floor to honor senator lautenberg. joining me now live from capitol hill, kelly o'donnell. we've been hearing of the tributes from across the aisle. that is, perhaps, why senator lautenberg will be so missed in this day where there's so much

partisan politics. to have one man stand strong with both parties. >> reporter: definite ly, tamro, a great deal of respect for his length of service and also his history as a world war ii veteran, the last in the united states senate, who worked in world war ii as a member of the armed forces and he got a lot done. people in both parties respect that. walked through some of his accomplishments, was at the forefront of a lot of critical fights on issues that often touched on consumer matters and things that mattered in people's everyday lives. he had a lot of respect for that. he left the senate voluntarily and then came back at a time when his party needed him to step in. and he won the seat back. and that is one of the things that democrats certainly appreciate in frank lautenberg. and today we saw that at his office there is a condolence book that has been placed outside for people to stop and pay their tributes in these early hours. many members of the senate are coming back. we will be looking for one of the traditions of the senate,

which is taking the desk that belonged to senator lautenberg and draping it with black crepe, a sign of respect and honor, it happens when a sitting member of the senate passes away, one of the somber moments we will look for today as people begin to make statements and try to remember some of this nostalgia and friendship, which is often what comes out at a time like this. he had been ill but also returned fairly recently to cast a vote on the background checks and those other gun bills we had been talking about so much in the news. he had been a fierce advocate for greater gun control. tamron? >> kelly, in addition to his career as a politician, a lot of people don't realize that he had great business success as well. >> reporter: he was one of the wealthier members of the u.s. senate. he had been a part of the group that does the payroll checks, adp, i believe it's called. in part he credited his father. his parents were immigrants to the u.s. and had told him about

the importance of education. and really instilled that in him. he he didn't even get into politics until his late 50s, because he spent a lot of time work i working in business, being a man of great means and yet very much focused on those who have less and so that's a part of his progressive tradition that made him so popular among democrats, that a man of enormous wealth who didn't really convey that sort of moneyed spirit. he was really much more easy going and quiet in his interpersonal dealings here. i was always struck by how friendly and polite and lovely to talk to in the hallways. so he will be missed by many here. >> i should point to our audience, there's a moment of silence on the senate floor. you see those beautiful white roses there as the senate reconvenes. and they are remembering frank lautenberg in such beautiful ways. for example, nevada senator harry reid said i'm deeply saddened at the loss of my friend, frank lautenberg. i can think of no better example

of the american story than frank's life. the entire senate is saddened today, another statement released. as we reflect on senator lautenberg's life, so much has been asked about his senate seat. >> being a democrat from a blue state that has a republican governor, chris christie, it will change the balance of power a bit, assuming that chris christie will replace in the short term with a republican and then there would be a special election. his term ended in 2014. he already announced he would not be seeking another term. he was the oldest member of the senate. there was broad expectation that cory booker, democrat, mayor of newark, would be jumping into that race. that caused a lot of difficulty along the way because lautenberg had not announced his intentions when the rumblings of booker surfaced. democrats will have a little bit

of a harder time with one fewer seat when you consider some of the things like immigration and so forth that will be on the floor as we go forward this summer and some issues where every vote will count and his vote will be absent. >> kelly, thank you very much. let me get our audience caught up on another breaking story. right now nearly 2,000 people out of their homes as a raging wildfire burns through 30,000 acres, north of los angeles. 2,200 firefighters are trying to get a handle on the blaze, which has destroyed six homes, damaged at least nine others. smoke from the fire has drifted as far as las vegas, nevada. stephanie stanton is in lake hughes, california. stephanie, even though behind you does not look great, the weather, at least, was cooperating a little bit earlier? what's the update? >> reporter: absolutely, tamron. firefighters say they were able to make some pretty good progress on this fire overnight. it is now 40% contained. as you said, nearly 30,000 acres have been burned.

some 2100 firefighters, roughly, on the front lines. take a look at this burned out house behind me that has been completely stroied by this fire. some of the things that the firefighters will be battling today are wind gusts, up to 40 miles an hour. on the positive side, we just spoke to the battalion chief out here. he says winds are holding steady 10 to 15 miles an hour. he says humidity has gone up 20% to 30%. in that respect, it's good news in terms of fighting this fire. it's not as hot and dry as it had been. crews have been spending the last several days doing whatever they can on the ground, also by air, trying to put out this fire, trying to stop it in its tracks. at this point, also good news, there has been no loss of life. we understand that three firefighters suffered minor injuries. also, tamron, as you mentioned, several people still under evac

with wags ord evacuation orders. number of confirmed fatalities, hard-hit oklahoma city region, now at 14 people. officials are, at the moment, searching for more people who may have been caught by flash flooding after the severe storms over the weekend. now among the dead, three veteran storm chasers, tim samaras, his son, paul and their colleague, carl young, died friday when they got caught on the wrong side of the deadly twister. nbc's sarah daloff, authorities have confirmed the number of fatalities at 14 and that number could increase. >> reporter: yeah, exactly, tamron. medical examiner upping that from 13, which it was earlier today. we learned this latest vekt was found just a couple of miles down the road from where i'm standing in union city, oklahoma. also the medical examiner saying they are working to identify six yet identified -- unidentified

victims in their office there. we're told several of those unidentified victims are children. now also the search continues today for six missing people believed to be swept away by flash flood. two in the deep fork river and four in the oklahoma river. crews also working today to restore power to about 24,000 homes and mored about news on the way for these homeowners. extreme weather hitting the western part of the state, expected to move over into this area tomorrow. and although tornadoes are not forecast at this point, thunderstorms are. that is really the last thing that these people need, as they work to clean up their homes and put their lives somewhat back together. you can see all these items that were salvageable from the home now left into the elements. they're struggling to get those into storage right now. so they are protected when those thunderstorms roll in. i did talk to one woman and said what is the biggest challenge you face right now? there are a lot of them right now that you are facing. she said just feeling like i've

got my life back together and i have some semblance of a home right now. also the governor today saying that it is the -- the real test comes when the media goes home in about two months, that support will still be needed here t will be so key to helping these people get their lives back on track and rebuild this community. back to you. >> sarah, thank you very much. the storm system moved to the northeast, bringing severe thunderstorms, like the one that rolled in over the yankees/red sox game. take a look at the moment last night. that's just a glimpse of what was going down. joining me now with the severe weather threat, nick walker. where are you focused at today? >> once again, tamron, we're looking right here in the plains. not necessarily what's happening now but what is still to come. we're getting at least a little bit of a break around the plains. it will be a very short break

before a chance, though slight it is, of tornadoes comes back. and more hail and damaging winds. the spin in the upper levels of the atmosphere are indicative of what's going to be drawing this moisture from the gulf of mexico back into play to fuel the thunderstorms right here around the center of the nation. got a very strong, upper level jet as well, destabilizing the atmosphere. thunderstorms once again in the offing. and in this big red area here, today, this afternoon and early evening all the way from west texas to western oklahoma, kansas and western nebraska. the tornado threat, very low today. flooding ongoing, though, here, even though the rain has stopped around st. louis, the mississippi river near major flood stage and we're continuing to see widespread flooding in missouri and illinois. tomorrow the tornado threat goes up a little bit. and, unfortunately, oklahoma city is going to be in that storm threat again tomorrow. tamron? >> nick, thank you very much. >> coming up on news nation, the republican-led house puts the focus back on the irs.

in less than an hour, the first of several congressional hearings this week. and this comes after yet another embarrassment emerges from the agency. we'll explain that video. plus, police and protesters clash in turkey. no signs of letting up. what this could mean for the u.s. strategy in the middle east. today, the supreme court hands down a decision on police taking dna samples without a warrant. why the justices called it 21st century fingerprinting and the reaction to the decision. join our conversation on twitter. it's good to be back on "news nation." let us know your thoughts. ♪ 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 less than an hour, the house will hold the first of three congressional hearings on the irs scandals with the agency facing yet another unbelievable embarrassment, a video showing employees line dancing to taxpayer dlrs, using thousands of taxpayer dollars for a conference in 2010. tomorrow a treasury department inspector general report will be released exposing excessive spending at the irs and new acting commissioner danny warfel called the conference, quote, an unfortunate vestige from a prior era. he is expected to field more questions. democratic strategist. ann, let me start out with you. i want to start off with the

dissension. the new reaction from lindsey graham, among others. >> the administration is still their paid liar, spokesperson, pictured behind -- he's still making up things about what happens in calling this local rogue. this is a problem that was coordinated, in all likelihood, right out of washington headquarters. >> the he that issa is referring to is -- lindsey graham became the latest to reject his statements that jay carney is a paid liar here. >> those are pretty tough words and, you know, we'll have to see whether congressman issa is able sto substantiate that claim. so far you haven't seen exactly what he would point to for that. look, these are going to be pretty riveting hearings, i think. there's going to be quite a few of them. good news from the

administration's perspective, they've been able to move forward at least with a new administrator. a lot of this will be backward looking and they have a line that they can point to. as you said, something from a previous era. that's not going to get them off the hook, however. i think we'll see him pretty much in the hot seat when he takes the stage. >> jay carney just commented apparently and said he's not interested in a back and forth with congressman issa, regard ing his comments that he's a paid liar. chris, at this point, i think a lot of people are startled by the fact that this story continues and even when there are answers available, the irs -- at least in the past, irs continues to stick its foot in its mouth. this latest video, it may be a past era, but the video is current and it is viral now. >> yeah. nothing like a video to keep a bad story going. >> and nothing like a bad video of you spending taxpayer dollars learning to line dance.

i mean, there's no way to explain that. >> no, there's no way to explain it. i mean, the problem is the american people who are already pretty upset about this story to begin with and then they see irs employees dressing up like "star tr trek," and doing a video. not even a good "star trek" video at that, makes it, i think, difficult to explain at best. i think the counter point to this is when you have congressman issa out there and making, i think, two big mistakes. one in this vitriolic way against jay carney. the second thing is just the way he's talking about it, makes it sound like he's rushing to judgment. that will already make this issue become more political. >> that seems to be the washington way, depending if you're in the hot seat or not, the other person warushing to judgment. the judgment call comes from the treasury department inspector general whose report tomorrow will reveal excessive spending for this irs conference, some

$the -- $50 million spent. how does the white house react to those details, chris? >> they have to, obviously, condemn it, make it very clear what steps they've taken to make sure that this does not ever happen again. and they've got to be very forceful, i would say both on this new revelation, this new report of waste as well as the old stories about the targeting. this is, again, when you're talking about the irs and political football and consequences, more importantly, you've got to be very clear about being very aggressive in terms of the oversight and the steps you're taking to make sure this never happens again. >> ann, let me ask you, if people expect this to be buttoned up, as mentioned, we've got this hearing today, and a few others, maybe even more to come. if there's a notion that this will be button ed up, all questions answered and move on, it doesn't seem to be possible. mid term coming up as well.

and we know that, quite honestly, the hate some people have directed at the irs. now it seems justified when you look at some of that excessive spending. >> i think we could see it all wrap up and everyone move on if there were something else to move on to. i think given the low regard that many americans hold congress in, the idea that congress is actually doing something and doing, frankly, an important part of their job, which is oversight investigations would be a reason for some republicans to continue doing this work. that said, keep an eye out for, you know, these famous two words. republican overreach. it's still possible and i think given, especially, congressman issa's language in describing jay carney. you've seen the potential for that. i thenk they'll try to strike a balance where they seem to be doing their jobs in a way the american people want, but not going too far. >> at least lindsey graham believes issa has gone too far with his latest warnings. ann, chris, thank you for your

time. bradley manning, the man at the center of the largest security breach in this country's history. why it's taken three years to get to this point. plus, have you seen this ad? it's a cheerios ad. they made a decision on the ad. it features a mixed race family. the image of this family sparked racist comments online. what the makers of cheerios is saying today. and the shocking reaction to the surprise ending of hbo's "game of thrones." [ male announcer ] what?! investors could lose

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three years after his arrest for the biggest leak of class y classified information in u.s. history, army private first class bradley manning is now on trial. in opening statements today, the prosecution accused manning of putting secret documents on the internet and into the hands of enemies. manning's attorney said today he was, quote, naive, but good intentioned. manning has admitted he he gave more than 700,000 files to

wikileaks website, including battlefield reports and intelligence memos. jim milkulous shesky jo uloukla. heard by a judge, not a jury. these opening statements certainly set the stage for what we could see? >> absolutely. he is facing as many as 30 charges in regards to the release of 700,000 classified documents. but for the first time today, we are hearing some specifics about those charges. one of them, aiding the enemy. according to the prosecuting attorney, julian assad, founder of wikileaks, was in communications with manning, an officer in baghdad at the time and he specifically asked for the roster of all the u.s. military men and women in iraq at the time. according to the prosecutor in his opening statement, four or five days later, manning

provided that roster of those 74,000 men and women. now, fast forward several years and in the raid on the bin laden compound in pakistan in which navy s.e.a.l.s killed osama bin laden, they found evidence that osama bin laden had heard about that roster, had asked one of his operatives to get it for him and those 74,000 names, which included personal and contact information of every one of those men and women in uniform was, in fact, forwarded to osama bin laden and recovered during that raid. now, the defense attorney claims that manning was a 22-year-old naive, well intentioned private first class when he got to baghdad, that he released the information because he felt that the american people nuded to know about what was going on in the world. -- or in the war and it would make the world a better place.

prosecution arguing however that it's hard to believe that the release of those 74,000 names in any way makes the world a better place. >> what can you tell us prosecutors have signaled they may call a navy s.e.a.l. who participated in the raid that took out osama bin laden to the stand? what do you know about this? >> i think they were going to call him just to corroborate the origin of that information. it sounds as if the prosecution and defense have reached agreement to avoid testimony. i don't think i would want a s.e.a.l. involved in the raid of osama bin laden to testify against me. what is his second-term message? surge in gun violence takes over the streets of new york city over the weekend. one girl left paralyzed.

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welcome back. the supreme court has issued a major ruling on privacy rights. the police practice of taking dna samples from people arrested for a serious crime, ruling it amounts to 21st century version of fingerprinting. it involved the 2009 arrest of a maryland man, the man you see on the screen. dna swab, ran it through the database and matched it to an unsolved rape six years earlier. alonzo king was then convicted of rape. they say dna was an unreasonable search and overturned the conviction. now the supreme court has overturned that ruling. i've seen one of your earlier reports just talking about the number of people who will be arrested in the united states and the impact this decision could have on this incredible number, you said.

>> reporter: well, 23 million people will be arrested by the time they're 23. now what the majority opinion said today is that the police have a legitimate reason to get this dna sampling. they want to make sure they've got the right guy, verify someone's identity. they say this is even more accurate than fingerprinting. people can change their identities, facial features, even modify their fingerprints, but they can't change their dna. secondly the court said it helps tell whether the person they've arrested has a violent past and perhaps should be denied bail. but the reason they cited that figure, they said, is basically the court, even though today's ruling says you can take dna from people arrested for violent crimes, dissenters say the logic would apply to any crime, justice scalia said your dna can be taken for any arrest for whatever reason, even a traffic st stop. he said even by the logic of today's decision, the tsa could take dna for people waiting in

line to get on airplanes in the interest of solving crimes. the supreme court did not rule today that the tsa can take people's dna, but dissenter said that's where this could lead. the logic has no bounds. >> some very important cases, big decisions awaiting from the supreme court as well. >> reporter: we'll be back here monday, next decision day. two cases on same-sex marriage, prop 8 from california, federal defense of marriage act. two important civil rights cases, the future of the voting rights act, the most important civil rights law ever passed and the use of affirmative action to public universities and the interesting case about whether private companies can patent human genes. >> pete williams, thank you very much. details on this decision today. thank you. >> you bet. major conference is under way at the white house right now as part of the effort to shatter

the stigma of mental illness. president obama said this morning there should be no shame in seeking help and that we've got to get rid of the embarrassment. the president painted a dire picture of the system today saying less than 40% of people with mental illness received treatment and the numbers are just as bad for children. >> only about half of children with mental health problems receive treatment. think about it. we wouldn't accept it if only 40% of americans with cancers got treatment. we wouldn't accept it if only half the young people with diabetes got help. >> joining me now, nbc news white house correspondent peter alexander. we are wondering if this has anything to do with newtown and the renewed discussion of mental illness as it relays to background checks for people who might want to own a firearm. >> reporter: tamron, you're right. it certainly does. as we speak right now, they're wrapping up today's day-long conference. joe biden, the same person in charge of this effort from

within the white house on gun violence, gun control legislation is now having the final remarks at an event that the president earlier today said was really focused on bringing mental illness out of the shadows. he he emphasized that most people with mental illness are not violent, do not have violent tendencies, but could lead to much larger tragedies. health and human services secretary kathleen sebelus as well as some celebrities, bradley cooper, who starred in the role of a bipolar character "silver linings playbook" and glenn close, whose own sister was diagnosed with bipolar. take a listen to her a short time ago. >> one in four of us is touched in some way by mental illness. it's just part of the human condition. and i think it's a human rights issue. it's an issue that has to be backed up by laws and i think the time has come for an

absolute shift in the thinking in this country about mental illness. >> tamron, one of those striking statistics that i heard from the president was the fact that each day in this country, every si single day, 22 u.s. veterans commit suicide. often times that's a result of mental illness. the white house connection with the veteran affairs secretary will focus more attention on this issue today, announcing that they will launch about 150 or more community summits to try to help bring awareness and help facilitate those needs. of american veterans. >> peter, thank you very much. and that conference on mental health at the white house takes place as the president begins the sixth month of his second term in office. this comes after friday's event on student loans, last tuesday's trip to new jersey to talk about

rebuilding after hurricane sandy and the even earlier national security speech at the national defense university. the different events raise this question, what is the white house's overall message? right now it's all over the place. joining me live now is nbc news senior political editor. the shatter effect. the president says you can chew gum and walk or talk at the same time. why is this seen as a scatter when you can put a lot of irons in the fire? another cliche there? >> tamron, you know, all of these events, the president and the white house has been holding the last two weeks had been worthy. talking about mental illness, talking about revamping national security, talking about rebuilding new jersey after hurricane sandy six or seven months ago. but they are lacking a unified theme, a bigger theme of where the president wants to take the country. of course, he has given his state of the union address, second inaugural back in january. there does seem to be something

where it's missing on where the president really wants to be able to take the country now six months into that second term. and so we kind of noticed that in the first read and wrote about it. of course, it is worth noting that in june it will be devoted a lot to foreign policy. president obama will be making a couple of foreign trips. devoted a lot to these supreme court rulings, one which pete williams just reported about. >> mark, thank you very much. and coming up, "the game of thrones." >> more of the extreme reaction online. apparently twitter exploded during the show's shocking ending. we'll show you what happened in some homes the minute it all

went down. first, things we thought you should know. if after all the severe storms we've had in the past couple of weeks, national oceanic atmospheric association is canceling the furloughs. hundreds of meteorologists were supposed to be sent home for four days in july and august now noaa will remain at full strength throughout the summer storm season. add actor steven segal to the list of improbable diplomats? helping to arrange a meeting between russian officials and u.s. congressional delegations investigating the boston bomb i ings. he reportedly struck up a friendship with putin when they met in march. seaside mix & match. combine any 2 of 7 exciting choices on one plate for just $12.99! like new cheddar bay shrimp & lobster pot pie, and new parmesan crunch shrimp. plus salad and unlimited cheddar bay biscuits.

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welcome back. what started as peaceful demonstrations in istanbul has led to clashes in other major turkish cities. urging the turkish government to refrain from violence against the protesters. >> we are concerned by the reports of excessive use of force by police. we obviously hope there will be a full investigation of those incidents and full restraint from the police force with respect to those kinds of incidents. >> joining mow now by phone in istanbul is financial times correspondent daniel domby. thank you for your time. >> reporter: my pleasure. >> first, let's backtrack so we can understand how we got to these fourth day of protests. >> reporter: protests began, as you said, with demonstration about the park. i was in istanbul's main square

friday when a sit-down protest was water canoned by the police. the approach is not leaving them the space they want to live their lives in the way they want them. >> and so this has gone from this small protest regarding this tiny park in central istanbul to a larger issue of the concern that people have, regarding the prime minister and his rising power? >> reporter: that's absolutely right. i mean, he is someone who has been in charge for ten years. i have to emphasize, he has won three electrics with an increasing -- no doubt if there was an election tomorrow, he would win it again. a large number of people in turkey, but not all, feel that the way he has been ruling, particularly the last two years, has infringed on their lives a little bit, been a little too

heavy handed. restrict the sale of alcohol, named a bridge after a very divisive -- a lot of people in turkey aren't happy with this as i speak to you, i can hear in the background car horns honking and people banging pots and pans, all part of a spontaneous, incredibly wide protests against the prime minister. >> the prime minister said, quo quote, we've already had a spring in turkey, alluding to the nation's free elections there. he went on to say, but there are those who want to turn this spring into winter. >> reporter: well, i think one of the things that has been most surprising in a certain way about this whole dispute is the way that the prime minister has really kind of welcomed it in a bare knuckle kind of way, how protesters may be extremists,

foreign powers, talked about twitter as a menace in society, asked about the alcohol ban, said everyone who drinks is an alcoholic, who drinks regularly is an alcoholic. so he has been confrontation al i think i have to say, to the whole crisis. >> daniel dombey, thank you for the latest out of istanbul. we'll keep our audience up-to-date. some of the disturbance happening as we speak behind you. daniel, thank you very much. a deadly weekend of gun violence. look at the stories around the nation. seven people were killed and 26 injured in 22 shooting incidents in new york city in just 72 hours. new york city mayor michael bloomberg spoke with the father of one of the shoot iing vics,

11-year-old girl now paralyzed from the neck down after she was hit outside her home in brooklyn. all eyes were on angelina jolie as she walked the carpet at the london premiere of "world war z," starring her fiance, brad pitt. it was her first public appearance after revealing she had a preventive double mastectomy. >> i'm very happy to see the discussion about women's health expanded. that means the world to me. after losing my mom to these issues, i'm very grateful for it. and i've been very moved by the kind support. i'm really very dwratful for it. >> and if you were anywhere near social media last night, you were likely to be assaulted of an explosion of tweets about the final episode of hbo's hit "game of thrones." not the final episode but the big finale, calling it the red wedding. all people were shocked, horrified. take a look!

and up next, a new cheerios ad starring a mixed race family sparked a heated discussion online. now the company makes a decision on the future of the ad. we'll talk to michael smirconish about that. face book.com/newsnation. before i went on vacation for a week, i was issued a challenge by cullen jones, the olympian, on how to learn to swim. he has been working with children, especially in the minority community. i beat my deadline. i learned to swim before june 2nd. ignore the form. just know that i stayed atop water. it's monday. a brand new start. your chance to rise and shine. with centurylink as your trusted technology partner,

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welcome back. a new cheerios ad has unleashed a barrage of racial comments. here is the commercial. >> mom? >> yes, honey. >> cheerios says it can have a healthy heart. is that true? >> it says here that cheerios can help reduce cholesterol, and that's heart healthy. >> once the ad hit the web, it produced some racist angry remarks, so much so that the makers of cheerios disabled all youtube comments about its commercial, but refused to pull that ad. general mills, v.p. of marketing told the "today" show, quote, the comments that were made, in our view, are not family friendly and that was really the trigger for us to pull them off.

joining me now, radio talk show host michael smirconish heard exclusively on sirius. if you don't like it -- not you personally, but those that are raci racist. >> i loved the ad. to me this speaks to the bad behavior that anonymity causes. online, all these posting websites. i don't know when we began this process where immediaty outlets decided they needed to have a website where people could go anonymously and post fill the and racist comments. they are essentially sanctioning writing on the bathroom wall, if you remember from high school. maybe that didn't go on in the ladies' room, i don't know. >> yeah, it went on. >> i don't think there's a reason for it. if you make people attach their name to their opinion, which i think is reasonable, all of this goes away. >> there's been talk in the past, michael, about legislation to take away the anonymity of

these posts that people are able to post online. you have posts where people are able to attack their exes and make all kinds of allegations and don't have to prove them to be true. with this ad, when you look at the number of people who like or don't like it, you have that option. tens of thousands of people liked it. in comparison, about 1,000 or not fewer who disliked it. if these matched with what's true we're talking about a small number of angry, hateful people who will exist, bottom line. >> yes. >> but that commercial says more about who we are than what they're saying who we are. >> who are they? i picture a bunch of shut-s in. >> you said who are they, i'm thinking, losers. i'm going to go go ahead and say t losers. that's who they are. >> that this sort of mind-set exists out there, unfortunately, i think we've gotten a lot better. but you can't erradicate all of

it in one fell swoop. you can stop providing the platform where they can spread fill the and hate. that's what i would put an end to. >> they're going to always find a way to be there. thankfully, the better voices, like general mills, stick to their guns and say this is a modern family. in fact, we have some numbers. according to the u.s. census bureau, reached 9 million. 32% increase, by the way, michael. in ten years we've seen that number increase. i'm not sure because we're almost out of time. have you seen the video of me learning to swim? i have this awful fear. speaking of people on twitter shall can you believe how many of our fans at news nation have said, glad that you're swimming, but you're a terrible swimmer. is it not enough, michael, that i learned? talk about anonymity. >> i've been following that via twitter and i'm thrilled for you. i think it's hysterical.

that's all fine, by the way. >> i think it is, too. what does your gut tell you? all of our fans including harriet said, yes, you learned to swim, but not too well. what does your gut tell you about them, michael? thank you for the support. i appreciate it. thanks to all of our news nation twitter followers on facebook, even those who said my form was lousy. that does it for this edition of news nation. i'll see you tomorrow. i'm tamron hall. "the cycle" is up next. [ wind howling ] [ engine revving ] ♪ [ engine revving ] [ electricity crackling ] ♪ [ electricity crackling ] uh-oguess what day it is!is??

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kentucky and missouri. rescue crews are searching for six people who are still missing. the storms then moved east, knocking out power to 40,000 in new england. there was even a tornado in south carolina. meanwhile in new york, thunder and lightning drove the yankees and the red sox into the dugout. >> moments ago -- that's brett gardner and company getting shocked, just as we did in the booth and just as the red sox did on their side of the field. >> if only they had stayed in the dugout. today, heavy rain and thunderstorms stretch friday florida up the east coast to maine while out west extreme heat and dry weather is the problem. 2,000 firefighters are trying to get an upper hand on california's powerhouse fire. it explode this weekend. last night's cooler weather helped crews double containment from just 20% to 40%. 46 square miles are charged,