this is the department's first action to protect voting rights following the shelby county decision, but it will not be our last. >> it is the first move from the justice department following the supreme court's ruling exactly one month ago. the court struck down the most powerful part of the voting rights act. msnbc's craig melvin joins us live from philadelphia. craig, i know you had a chance to speak with the attorney general after he made those remarks. part of what he said is based on the evidence of intentional racial discrimination in texas. he's come to this next move. >> reporter: yeah, you know, he says, again, they're starting with texas, but attorney general holder indicated to me shortly after that speech that this is, again, very much the beginning. they're taking a long, hard look at north carolina, what's happening right now in the tar heel state, eliminating early voting -- eliminating same-day registration, restricting early voting, not allowing folks to show up with just driver's

licenses anymore and student i.d. cards, but restricting the types of i.d. that voters can use in north carolina. he says that north carolina is more than likely going to be the next stop. also indicating that what they're going to do in texas is basically use another tool at the disposal of the justice department. we spent a lot of time talking about section 4 and section 5. but a little known, lesser known section 3 of the voting rights act is what the attorney general has indicated he is going to be using in texas when he asks that federal judge to, again, force texas to subject any changes to election laws to him for the next ten years. >> and he also apparently, craig, and you were there, warned against this notion of a piecemeal measure, that that was a concern for him. >> reporter: yeah, yeah, he did. he said -- and he also said, tamron, that make no mistake about it, that while the justice department is going to continue to use, again, all of the tools at their disposal, that this was not a long-term solution.

the long-term solution would be congressional action. and he also gave some insight on congressional action. a lot of folks have been talking about whether congress, again a congress that does not have the reputation for solving a lot of problems quickly, whether congress would be able to tackle the formula quickly. the supreme court kicked it back to congress, kicked the can back to congress, basically saying that the form that was used to determine preclearance was not sufficient. attorney general eric holder today said that he was very optimistic. his words, very optimistic that there would be bipartisan support on the hill to come up with some sort of preclearance solution. he mentioned the congressman in wisconsin, fifth district congressman james -- the name escapes me right now, mentioned him by now and said that he was one of the folks who was leading this effort. >> thank you very much, craig melvin. let me bring in nbc justice correspondent pete williams for more on the attorney general's remarks today. pete, you have a number of people who called on the justice department, and it's been noted

in several articles, to use this so-called bail in procedure to restore what existed before the supreme court's decision. >> reporter: right. first of all, i know craig knows it's james hensenbrenner because he said it earlier today. >> it's been a long day there. >> reporter: let's look at what the supreme court did. it left most of the voting rights act standing but it cut out the map, where preclearance was automatic. what's preclearance? that's before a state could make any clearance at all in its election laws, it had to get permission from the federal government. so it's not automatic anymore. what the justice department is going now is going state by state, and it's starting with texas. it's starting with the redistricting of state legislative districts and congressional boundaries. it's joining a lawsuit that's already been filed down there. what the government is saying is to the court that you should rule that texas has a history of discriminatory practices when it comes to voting, that a lower

court just last year found that texas had this problem and, therefore, you should impose preclearance statewide for at least ten years and texas should, just like in the old days, have to get any changes in its voting laws approved by the federal government. so that's what the justice department is doing now, to show two things. number one, that they will act state by state. secondly, they're trying to send a message to other states that the cop is still on the beat, that there's still some life left in the voting rights act and it's not open season now for states to make discriminatory changes in their voting laws. we should point out here that what the states say they're trying to do is eliminate voter fraud. what texas says it's trying to do in its legislative redistricting is try to balance the various needs of the growths in population and to be fair to both parties. so there is another side to this, we should point out. >> absolutely. and the lawsuit that you refer to out of texas was filed by latino state lawmakers challenging the state's redistricting plan based on 2010 census numbers. but what the attorney general

said today, at least in their side, and you're right, there are two sides to this, he said this is based on evidence of intentional racial discrimination as well as the history of pervasive voting-related discrimination against racial minorities. the supreme court acknowledged to some degree, as eric holder noted today, pete, that these issues certainly still exist. they were not saying that suddenly all of these issues have vanished. >> reporter: well, here in brief is the argument in texas. that it's entitled to four more seats in the congressional house, in the house, because of population growth and 80% of that growth was among latinos and african-americans who tend to vote democratic. but in the texas republican legislature's plan, three of those four seats were pretty safely in the hands of republicans. and so the groups that are challenging are saying that's simply discrimination. >> all right, pete williams, thank you very much. we'll see what the next move as the state of texas now vowing to fight back. we know now what the justice

department at least stands on this issue. thank you. the news nation is following developing news in spain where investigators say excessive speed likely caused a deadly train derailment caught on tape. now, the driver, the conductor of the train is right now under investigation after this footage from a security camera showed the train speeding around a tight curve. now, spain's newspaper cited sources close to the investigation saying immediately after the crash, the driver said he had been traveling 118 miles per hour at the curve. the limit for perspective is 49 miles per hour. authorities say the number of people killed, 80. one of the victims is an american. at least five u.s. citizens were on board, including a couple from houston. nbc news foreign correspondent kyra simmons means me on the phone. are they still searching for people? >> reporter: they are now,

tamron. thankfully they have got through that very, very difficult process. now they are going through the process of repairing the track. while at the same time they are just getting ready to haul the last piece of the train from the track. the locomotives, the engine. we've watched every carriage lifted and every one has looked the same, tamron. everything inside thrown around, the windows smashed, parts of the carriages, the metal simply shredded. the window smashed where first responders went to try to get people out. the force of this accident was so much that the carriages were thrown on top of each other, people trapped. and then there was the issue of a fire. there is shocking video that shows the bend in this track where as you say there was a speed limit. a train coming at a real pace and then derailing and the carriages being thrown. the measure of it really,

tamron, is that of the more than 200 people on board the train, almost all have either been killed or injured in this accident. it is one of the worst accidents europe has seen in decades. >> and keir, obviously people are wondering how is it that the conductor -- i guess how is it there aren't safety mechanisms or measures in place to keep a conductor from going at that rate of speed? when you look at what they're saying he was traveling at, 118 miles per hour, the limit is 49 miles per hour. >> reporter: yeah, it's a very, very good question. i have to say i mean we don't know. this is kind of like thirdhand what it is he's supposed to have said after the accident. there has been some analysis by the associated press which is suggesting that the train was going at more than 90 miles an hour, maybe much more. and still, if that's the case, not too fast for this bend. the speed limit will have been

here for a reason. i guess they up until now have believed that the driver, that a conductor would drive the train at the right speed and it does appear as if they're investigating whether or not in this case that assumption was fatally flawed. >> incredible details there. thank you very much, keir, for that live presentation. by the way, the president and first lady released a statement on the crash. it reads in part we offer our deepest sympathies and condolences to the families and loved ones of more than 80 people who lost their lives. today the american people grieve with our spanish friends who are in our thoughts and prayers. we stand ready to provide any assistance we can in the difficult days ahead. and again the information that we've received is at least one american among those who lost their lives and several were actually on pourboard that trai san diego's mayor refuses to step down despite three men accusing him of sexual misconduct. and he's barred from meeting

alone with women on city property. now san diego democrats are planning their next. and nancy pelosi has given her thoughts on san diego's mayor as well as anthony weiner. we'll talk about that. plus, our "news nation" gut check on reports that the nfl could be considering a plan to check prospects for gang tattoos in wake of the aaron hernandez case. we're going to have that conversation with dave zyrun. but in the meantime you can join us on twitter to let us know your thoughts. hey kevin...still eating chalk for heartburn? yeah... try new alka seltzer fruit chews. they work fast on heartburn and taste awesome. these are good. told ya!

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right now lawmakers are insisting they will not give up the fight to curtail the nsa's surveillance program. last night the house narrowly

defeated an amendment that would defund the massive data gathering effort. our political director, chuck todd, notes the polarized vote brought together a strange coalition of the very liberal and the very conservative, but also reflected public opinion. take a look at this. our new nbc news/wall street journal poll found a majority of people, 56%, are worried that u.s. monitoring programs will go too far. joining me now, jonathan weissman. thank you for your time, jonathan. let's talk about this strange coalition, very liberal and very conservative. you don't often hear that these days. >> no. actually it's broader than that now. if you had just stuck with what raul labrador, a very conservative republican called the wing nut coalition, i think you would have got about 100 votes. this was 200 votes and i think that coalition that started on

the far right wing and the far left wing is kind of moving to the center now. and that's putting real pressure on the intelligence community and the leadership at the white house and in congress to really make some changes to these programs. >> let me play a little of the yin and yang on both sides. let's play a little bit. >> all we were saying with this amendment is it's -- this should be about people who are targets of investigation. why are we stockpiling at the nsa your calls, my calls, everybody else's information. it should just be actual subjects of terrorist investigations. >> we understand the sensitivity of this program. by the same token, we have not had another major domestic attack since 9/11 and there are reasons for it and this program is one of the reasons. >> jonathan, that's at the heart of what we've heard from both sides of this debate. but when you look at these numbers, 56% of folks at home are worried that the u.s. is

monitoring programs will go too far and the debate over edward snowden, whether he was a traitor or a hero here, it's only logical that this will continue to be a major debate and perhaps with no real conclusion. >> well, i think that the handwriting is really on the wall here. mike rogers, the chairman of the house intelligence committee, who has been a dogged supporter of these programs, you know, to hold the vote down to win yesterday's vote, he went to the house floor and promised that this fall when he develops an intelligence policy bill, he's going to put more safeguards in there, more privacy protections. i talked to dianne feinstein, chairman of the senate intelligence committee. she said she met for four hours yet on this matter. they just are feeling enormous pressure, and they're going to have to respond. they can't just dig in their heels and say everything is fine. >> you're absolutely right, but for those who support the current surveillance program as it stands, they point to how we,

meaning the american people, felt after 9/11 and what people were willing to give up. god forbid another incident of any magnitude happens here in the united states. these numbers that we see from our new nbc news/wall street journal poll can quickly shift with what happens after something so tragic. >> absolutely, that is true. events change public opinion, because you've seen this drift toward more concern about privacy rights. and that's really a new phenomenon. it's really interesting because when snowden did the leaks, the initial response from kind of the pouwers that be in washingtn was to attack snowden. people fell in line. snowden became the face of what was wrong. but you're starting to see a real coalescing around a reform agenda here that actually snowden wanted, which is very interesting to me. >> absolutely, it's interesting

to all of us because it affects all of us. jonathan, thank you so much. greatly appreciate you joining me too. right now san diego mayor bob filner is refusing to resign despite three women coming forward just this week accusing him of sexual harassment. they all accuse the mayor of inappropriate behavior including groping, kissing, even placing them in headlocks. just yesterday the city attorney ordered the mayor to not be alone with any woman on city property. the mayor's chief of staff is in charge of enforcing that order. throw this into the pot. yesterday the mayor appointed lee burdick, a woman, as a new chief of staff. just this afternoon a veterans group cancelled the mayor's keynote speech at an event on military sexual assault. first let's talk about the latest information here. it is incredible that the mayor of san diego cannot be alone with any woman on city property. >> considering that women are at

least 50% of the population and the citizenry, i don't really see how you can effectively function as a head of a city without treating women like human beings. if the allegations are true, that's exactly what happened. the fact that he can't be alone with them and treat them like human beings is a worrying thing. >> the second chief of staff quit after ten days. the first chief of staff resigned when these harassment charges were initially lodged. let me play a little bit of what the three accusers, three different women, what they said in this week. let's play it. >> i saw him place his hands where they did not belong on numerous women. i was placed in the filner headlock and moved around as a rag doll while he whispered sexual comments in my ear. >> i'm aware of a number of other people, both women that have spoken to me in the past and also women that have come forward on the basis of, you know, the exposure that i have

gotten by telling my story. >> he came over and sat next to me, pinning me into my side of the booth, and wanted to kiss me. and i started to ask him what would your wife say if she was sitting here? and he just laughed this really odd laugh, as if that was the craziest thing he had ever heard. >> so, irin, the mayor has not admitted to any wrongdoing with these women but she did say he was embarrassed that he failed to respect the women who worked for him and with him at times, intimidated them. tonight san diego democratic leaders are holding a meeting to discuss these allegations. how do they stand behind him? >> nancy pelosi has already not stood behind him. hopefully they will not. if any of these allegations prove to be true, which it sounds like these may be the tip of the iceberg. this sounds like a real pattern of behavior. sexual harassers generally have a series of patterns where they abuse their power.

these allegations are sickening and show that male entitlement knows no boundaries. >> even if he doesn't admit to the aelllegations, he says that he's embarrassed to fail to respect the women. >> he knows that what he did was wrong. so to me that sounds like a tacit admission of guilt. >> you referred to nancy pelosi. here's what she said today on filner and anthony weiner. listen in. >> i think i've spoken and acted in terms of anthony weiner and in terms of when he was in the congress of the united states. in his case, in the case of mayor filner, clearly they have both admitted they need therapy. i think maybe that therapy could better be accomplished in private. let me be very clear, the conduct of some of these people that we're talking about here is reprehensible. it is so disrespectful of women.

and what's really stunning about it is they don't even realize it. they don't have a clue. >> irin, your reaction to that? >> nancy pelosi has often spoken about the lead for more women in leadership. if we have any more argument needed for that, any more evidence needed for that, no woman that i know of who has been elected to office has behaved in this way and been allowed to continue with such impunity which is clearly what took place here. >> irin carmon in her second day on the gig, thank you very much. president obama on the road again selling his economic agenda. the president expected to speak in florida in about 15 minutes. our first rate team asks will there be any follow-through after the speeches. plus, the pope spent much of the day touring one of rio's poorest slums. but in just a few hours he is expected to address as many as one million young people at rio's copa cabana beach. we'll have a live report where many are gathered. look at that shot from brazil. ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker every day. ♪

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hope francis toured one of the poorest and most violent slums in rio de janeiro today. security was tight in the small neighborhood which has been plagued with drug violence and rivaling gangs and where most people live on $150 a month. helicopters and sharp shooters were on patrol as pope francis visited the area. but according to local press reports, the vatican turned down all efforts by government officials to accompany the pope on this visit. the pope blessed the new altar at a tiny church and hugged and kissed locals as he walked the neighborhood. later today, the famous copa cabana beach will be where the pope addresses many young people, as many as a million will gather for world youth day. joining me is claudia joining me. there's many people behind you.

>> reporter: tens of thousands of young pilgrims have already arrived ahead of the party tonight where the pope for the first time is going to meet up to a million young pilgrims. you can probably hear it, there's some pop singer playing out from that stage where the pope is going to welcome the pilgrims later on, and all this despite the horrible weather that has plagued rio de janeiro in the past two days. it's been raining so much that the mayor's office this morning told us that the big vigil that was meant to happen this saturday 13 miles from here in an open field may actually be moved here to copa cabana because it's so muddy down there. well, it's all the better for us because we've got a good bird's-eye view from here, let me tell you. >> it looks absolutely beautiful there. thanks so much for the live information. coming up, our first look at the toll this sexting scandal has taken on anthony weiner's bid for new york city mayor.

the results of a new poll taken after these latest revelations. where he stands now in the race. we'll show you the new numbers. plus, new on-camera comments from house speaker john boehner blasting fellow republican, steve king, for comparing the children of illegal immigrants to drug mules. >> i want to be clear. there's no place in this debate for hateful or ignorant comments from elected officials. playtime is so much more with a superhero by your side. because even superheroes need superheroes. that's why purina dog chow is made with high quality ingredients, including 23 vitamins and minerals. to help keep him strong. dog chow strong. and you know what i walked out with?

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more now on developing news in spain where investigators say excessive speed likely caused that deadly train derailment. 80 people killed, including one american. the train operator now under investigation after this footage from a security camera showed speeding around a tight curve, possibly 70 miles over the speed limit. joining me now, train expert christian walmer. christian, thank you for your time.

obviously we're waiting to get more details here, but the initial report is that the conductor was in a 49-mile-per-hour area and he may have been going at least 118. one would think that there would be safety measures in place that would prevent someone from being able to approach that type of speed, especially on a curve. >> no, well, there's not what is known as automatic train control here. oddly enough, on a stretch of tracks before that where they were going about 115 miles an hour, there was that form of control but they had just come off from that system on to a cruder system where there is supposed to be a warning system to alert the driver that he's going too fast, but either he didn't hear the warnings or he ignored them or the machine didn't work properly. whatever happened, the train was going far too fast and that's why it derailed. >> even without that warning,

i'll put it in perspective and it may be too simplistic here. when you're driving, if you're going that much over the speed limit, you can often feel the veloci velocity, the speed of the vehicle. would a conductor not be able to have a feel, especially if they were a veteran and been on the job for some time? >> well, they would certainly have had root knowledge. they would have known what the track was like, they would have known that this curve was there, but maybe he was distracted. there were two men in the driver's cab, and sometimes that's not a good idea because they might be talking to each other or whatever. there might have been some sort of failure to realize exactly where he was. and by the time he saw the curve and he did indeed talk to the signal staff saying i'm going too fast, by the time he saw the curve, it would have been too late. >> all right, christian, thank you so much for making time for us. again, the story is still

developing. investigators are still on the scene trying to determine exactly what happened in this awful accident. christian, thank you for your time. president obama is picked to be second in command at the department of homeland security is facing tough questions from lawmakers. he is under investigation for his role in helping a company run by hillary clinton's brother secure an international visa for a chinese executive. he currently serves as the u.s. director of citizenship and immigration services, an agency within the dhs. today during's hearing he called the allegations false. nbc's michael isikoff joins me now live with more. michael, this hearing happening today and he's denying anything has gone wrong. what's at the heart of this investigation? >> reporter: well, it's still very murky, tamron. he did face mayorkas, the nominee to be the number two official in homeland security

did face tough questions but not nearly as tough as we expected them to be because all the republicans boycotted the hearing. they're objecting to the fact that it took place at all given the fact that the inspector general's office of homeland security had notified the senate on monday night that there was an ongoing investigation into mayorkas' conduct. now, we should make clear there is no findings here. it's a little unclear of precisely what he is alleged to have done wrong. we've learned from senator grassley's office who have heard from whistleblowers who say mayorkas improperly intervened to help get approvals for this company run by hillary clinton's brother which had partnered with terry mcauliffe, the democratic nominee for virginia. mayorkas was very forceful today and said he never did anything improper, never used undue influence in the case, but exactly what it is that

triggered the inspector general's investigation is still very murky. the main point here, tamron, is we've got a lot of vacancies at the homeland security department. janet napolitano, the secretary, is leaving in early september. mayorkas was supposed to be the guy who was at least going to fill in until the white house picks a successor, and it's hard to see how he can get confirmed when you have republicans boycotting his confirmation hearing. >> all right. michael isikoff, thank you for the update on this hearing taking place right now. we'll keep you posted on what happens there. here's some live pictures from jacksonville, florida, where in the next few minutes president obama will tin his push to reenergize his presidency with a series of speeches focused on the economy. now, yesterday in illinois the president spent a large chunk of his first speech talking about his signature health care law. a new nbc news/wall street journal poll shows why. 34% see the law as a good idea.

47% believe it's a bad idea, which is unchanged from june. joining me live now, nbc news senior political editor, mark murray. mark, we know the president many times has made the link between economic struggles of a family and health care. we know the numbers, that it can literally and has sent many families to bankruptcy when someone in the family suffers from an illness. >> it is a point that he's made time and time again. but he needs to do it a whole lot more. one of the reasons why is there's almost been this asymmetrical warfare when it comes to the health care law. republicans have continued to hold vote after vote trying to repeal it. there's been a preponderance of republican tv money on ads attacking the health care law. and it was almost as if right after the supreme court, after president obama's re-election, they said, well, the health care law is here to stay, let's move on. it's clear that the fight at

least on public relations is not over. that's why you're seeing the white house crank up its operation as it's been trying to do the past few months. >> i want to change topics here because this happened just a short time ago. house speaker john boehner, mark, coming out again and reiterating strongly that he disagrees with what congressman steve king said in an interview last week where he compared the children of people in this country illegally to drug mules. let me play the latest comments from speaker boehner. >> i want to be clear. there's no place in this debate for hateful or ignorant comments from elected officials. earlier this week, representative steve king made comments that were, i think, deeply offensive and wrong. what he said does not reflect the values of the american people or the republican party. >> so, mark, i'm being told we have brand new sound from steve

king. again, this would be tripling down on these comments. let me play what he said. >> i can tell you that in mexico, they are recruiting kids to be drug smugglers. increasingly, the higher value drugs, heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine in some form or another, are being strapped to the bodies sometimes of young girls, teenage girls. >> now, in addition to what we played from speaker boehner, he said that king's comments were hurting the process of immigration reform. here steve king seeming to not care what eric cantor or house speaker boehner has had to say. >> reporter: this is the second time that speaker boehner has slapped down steve king about these types of remarks. this is one of the big dangers of the republican party the longer this immigration debate goes on, and it looks like it's going to extend to september, october, november, maybe even the next year if the house doesn't move on any legislation. the longer this plays out, the more likely you'll have steve king make another type of comment like this, maybe someone

else, which really hurts the republican party's brands with latinos. spanish language tv has been focused so much on what steve king has been saying the past few months and that doesn't help the republican party at all. >> set aside the republican party. speaker boehner now saying that king's comments make it more difficult to get reform on immigration. that goes beyond the party and into this conversation of can this move forward. >> reporter: well, yeah. it is a problem for boehner. he has had a very difficult problem with his rank and file republicans on some legislation, whether it goes back to the fiscal cliff, on the farm legislation, and of course he's having to deal with this. but it shows that the leadership might be on one place when it comes to tone in the immigration debate, but the rank and file might be elsewhere. >> all right, thank you, mark murray. anthony weiner now says he traded explicit messages with as many as three women after resigning from congress for the same behavior. this as a new poll shows he's rapidly losing support in the

race in new york city. a new poll finds among registered democrats, his closest rival, christine quinn, now leads him by nine percentage points. the poll was conducted just a day after weiner admitted he continued to have inappropriate online relationships after he resigned from congress. he was leading quinn by five points earlier this month. he addressed the scandal again this afternoon. >> i certainly understand that for many new yorkers that this might disqualify me. but even then i want them to listen to my ideas. >> despite calls for him to drop out of the race, weiner has made it clear that he does not plan to bow out. injuring me now, michael, the polls are out, it's a snapshot but it looks like this is certainly hurting anthony weiner. >> pardon me, did you say it's a snapshot? yes, you are right. >> meaning things can always change. we've got 46 days, so you never

know. oh, i now get it. michael, i'm sorry. i don't get your naughty twitter humor. go ahead. >> i think what's gone on here is that, first of all, people recognize despite what you said he hasn't changed. and also, unlike, say, eliot spitzer, who has baggage but has a sense of accomplishment and gravitas, there's nothing there in weiner's record to compensate for the frailty, for the short comi shortcomings so i'm not surprised new yorkers see it this way. i don't think he can withstand this sort of scrutiny. if you don't get 40% there's going to be a runoff. if there were a one-to-one race, there's no way he'd win it. >> and today now he's admitting that it was not one woman, not two, at least three. and every day there seems to be a trickle. there's also information on when

his wife learned about this ongoing behavior. it was right before that "people" magazine article came out. >> there are a whole host of new images that have also been put online. the dirty maintains that there's far more to this story and i suspect there will be even more individuals forth coming. i would go back to a point you and i have discussed previously, which means that maybe the end play for anthony weiner is not necessarily this election but rather it's still in his long-term best interests to stay on the ballot, take a drubbing and so that if there is a next time, then in the mind of the public, perhaps he gets a clean slate and people say, well, he's been punished electorally and now we give him the fresh start. that's the most optimistic analysis i can give for him. >> all right, michael. at least one of your fans tweeted just now that he too was a little slow on your joke about the snapshot, so i wasn't the only one on a seven-second delay. >> sorry about that. >> it's all good.

thank you very much, michael. still ahead, reports that the nfl is considering a plan to check prospects for gang tattoos in the wake of the aaron hernandez case. dave zirin will join me to discuss if that's what your gut tells you. because all these ws aren't healthy unless you actually eat them ♪ multigrain cheerios. also available in delicious peanut butter. healthy never tasted so sweet. but, dad, you've got... [ voice of dennis ] allstate. with accident forgiveness, they guarantee your rates won't go up just because of an accident. smart kid. [ voice of dennis ] indeed. are you in good hands? [ voice of dennis ] indeed. this man is about to be the millionth customer. would you mind if i go ahead of you? instead we had someone go ahead of him and win fifty thousand dollars. congratulations you are our one millionth customer. nobody likes to miss out. that's why ally treats all their customers the same.

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$29.95 or less after $10 mail-in rebate at your participating ford dealer. so you gotta take care of yourself? yes you do. you gotta take care of your baby? oh yeah! welcome back. aaron hernandez was back in court this week as prosecutors asked a judge for more time to build their case against him. the "boston globe" is reporting he's also now the target of a grand jury investigation into a double murder that happened back in july of 2012. hernandez is already facing first-degree murder charges in the death of 27-year-old odin lloyd and he's pleaded not guilty. in the wake of hernandez' arrest, there are new reports that the nfl may consider using police experts to check players' tattoos for gang affiliations. this according to a cbs report. hernandez was known for having numerous tattoos. he actually has them. dave zirin is the sports editor

and joins us now. dave, so this is interesting because you do have, of course, young people and, let's face it, tattoos are nothing new here. but this possible examination of these tattoos for prospects. what do you think of this here? >> it's the nfl's worst idea since helmets without face masks and $10 beers. >> why do you say so? >> let's leave aside the attendant irony that a league built on highly -- violence. it means that the nfl would be judging their prospective employees and people they are going to make millionaires as possible gang members without any proof whatsoever. let me tell you something, tamron, this is going to be tagged for very good reason as racist, and race certainly motivated. you have a league that's 70% african-american and they're going to be checking their bodies for gang tattoos? here's a statistic that's rooted in reality.

a typical nfl player between the ages of 22 and 34 is five times less likely to be arrested than a typical american male. violence is down across the country in terms of gang use. the only reason for this is an overreaction after what took place with aaron hernandez. and frankly, if people had wanted to know that aaron hernandez might have been a problem, the tattoos, they did not need to know this. everybody knew this coming out of college. >> you're pointing to specific issues in his past that nfl owners and teams were aware of? >> yes. absolutely. they existed from the time he was a teenager. but i also have to say there's also no proof positive that aaron hernandez was ever in a gang otherwise known as the bristol bloods out of bristol, connecticut, which sounds only slightly more scary than something arthur fonzerelli would have been in. but the pictures that have surfaced online all look like a kid smiling with his thumbs up. there's nothing real there. what you do have is the nfl with an image problem as you would in

any industry if one of your stars gets indicted for a possible triple homicide. >> there's a "time" magazine, colin kaepernick responded to critics of his tattoos. he says to me tattoos are a way of people being able to express themselves and have others look at them and get a little insight into who they are without ever even saying a word to them. all my tattoos have been thought over and been a work in progress for at least a year before i got them, so i'm not walking into a tattoo shop picking tattoos off the wall. something that means something to me. it's something that i believe in. right now colin kaepernick, one of the most beloved players in the league. >> yeah, number one selling jersey in the league. and let's remember, they call the nfl the no fun league for a reason. it's because the league does whatever it can to squelch the individuality of players. you can't even wear different-colored shoe laces than your other teammates or you risk a fine. a lot of players who are raised from the time they are teenagers, they're being told

don't just be a man, be a brand, stand out. a lot of players use tattoos as kaepernick said to show themselves. but if the nfl really cared about the issue of violence, they would do a lot more to deal with the issue of violence among women which is far more prevalent among nfl players than anything to do with bloods, crips or gangs. he's agreed to give it up. that's today? [ male announcer ] we'll be with him all day as he goes back to taking tylenol. i was okay, but after lunch my knee started to hurt again. and now i've got to take more pills. ♪ yup. another pill stop. can i get my aleve back yet? ♪ for my pain, i want my aleve. ♪ [ male announcer ] look for the easy-open red arthritis cap.

in a museum not open to the public is a collection of artifacts, including the gun found near osama bin laden's body and hitler's stationary. it dates back to the early days of world war ii. richard engle got a rare look inside. >> it's the ratest museum you'll never see, and it's filled with secrets. hidden cameras, weapons, decoding machines. >> figuring out how the enigma worked was considered one of the turning points of the world. >> reporter: world war ii when

the cia began as the oss, the office of strategic services. ever since, the agency has created tools for spies. not james bond. not maxwell smart. these are for real. vintage pistols with silencers, a camera-carrying pigeon. a '70s era drone, the size of a dragon fly. a coin-sized cold war camera. >> this is a microdot camera. the film pack is this disk. >> reporter: it's american history, but no visitors allowed. the secrecy protects cia officers under cover. >> i love this, even in your own museum to celebrate these accomplishments, all their faces are blurred out. >> reporter: the killing of osama bin laden is represented here too. >> this is the mock-up. i recognize this from seeing it so many times. this is bin laden's compound. >> the original model was used to brief the policy makers.

>> to brief the white house? >> to brief the president. >> to brief the president? >> absolutely. and the assault team used it to plan their raid. >> reporter: so tell us more. >> we had hundreds of pieces of all sorts of intelligence to make it as accurate as possible. >> including the internal spaces? >> i can't talk about that. >> can't talk about that? >> no. >> reporter: but they can talk about this. osama bin laden's personal ak-47, recovered by navy s.e.a.l.s on the night of the raid, much like in the movie "zero dark thirty." the real one, this one, has never been seen until now. >> yes, this is the rifle that was recovered from the third floor of the compound by the assault team. it's a russian ak with chinese markings. >> reporter: on the night of the raid, bin laden never fired a shot. now he's gone and his gun is a museum piece, one of thousands here, for private viewing only. >> well, that does it for this

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[ voice of dennis ] indeed. are you in good hands? the highway today has taken president obama to the sunshine state. right now he's bringing his economic message to florida's jacksonville port authority. his focus today is infrastructure investments to create jobs, even if it means side stepping the inaction and infighting of washington. the president used the power of an executive order to put two jacks port projects on the fast track, making sure our ports are tiebl compete internationally and fit the supertankers that will soon pass through the expanding panama canal. of course trade means money and jobs. we start with friend of the show howard