with the 249th pick in the 2014 nfl draft, the st. louis rams select michael sam, defensive end, missouri. >> with that, history made at the nfl draft as the first openly gay player gets drafted. what it means for sports and what it means for all of us. also on this mother's day i will talk to the woman recently crowned the real mvp. >> when you department eat you made sure we ate. you went to bed hungry. you sacrificed for us. you're the real mvp. >> kevinen durant's mother will join me live. also drug money. >> unfortunately it still amounts to a red light. financial institutions may be prosecuted for servicing the marijuana industry. >> with millions on the line the of half baked plan to get banks on board with colorado's pot rush. i will talk to the man who will try to make it work coming up.

if you think building with dna is only for mother nature, think again. scientists have big ideas. good sunday and a happy mother's day to you. so much to get to. we start with the search for nearly 300 schoolgirls kidnapped in nigeria this week. two army divisions were deployed to the northern border region in the hunt for the girls and the men who took them. international resources are on the ground to provide assistance. stephanie gox is live for us today in cameroon's capital city. first of all, what more do we know about the international effort there? >> reporter: the nigerian government has said little about the operation. the united states is involved. the uk, france, china. now we are hearing israel may get involved in assisting. those efforts are really based on assisting the intelligence effort. the boots on the ground are coming from the nigerian

military. the fact they announced they were moving two battalions is the first we have heard details specifically. they have flown some 250 air force over the region where the radical group boko haram kidnapped those girls nearly a month ago. there is no clue as to the girls' whereabouts. amidsts the criticism the government efed for their response until they bring the girls home it is hard to imagine their criticism dying down. >> stephanie, have we heard from boko haram? have they made demands? anything like that? >> that was it. the video statement. people pointed out you don't actually see the girls. make of that what you will. it is still a chilling statement

where the leader of boko haram said they are going to be sold in a market. and sent to the western world. beyond that, there hasn't been much. what we have heard from boko haram is a continued string of attacks. that has not stopped. there was an attack on a bridge which is a pattern of theirs. it is a strategic bridge within the north in neeigeria where so of the girls might be held. the militants attacked the bridge in a fierce firefight. they did so to prevent the military from chasing them in there. it's interesting to consider that amidst all the scrutiny and the world watching they are still able to attack here, there and around the region with impunity. >> stephanie, thank you. we'll check back with you next hour. appreciate your work. the flight of the ab ducted girls received worldwide attention via social media.

kristen welker has been watching the developments and joins us with that part of the story from 1600 pennsylvania. hey, kristen. >> hey, craig. # bring back our girls is trending from the first lady to malala yousafzai. some critics say it's not really accomplishing anything. it's a form of slacker activism. they say the social media campaign is having real world kwentss. the hashtag # bring back our girls is viral. it is now an international rallying cry to help the missing girls in nigeria. critics like rush limbaugh say it won't accomplish a thing. >> the sad thing here is the low information crowd on twitter will think we are doing something. >> reporter: a nigerian writer is skeptical tweeting your new interest simplifies nothing,

solves nothing. but sally armstrong disagrees. >> this is a turning point for the rights of women and girls around the world. >> reporter: armstrong points to the fact that in the days of # are bring back our girls began trending nigeria accepted help. >> this is working. you have equipment now in nigeria they never had before. they didn't have drones, the strategies that the uk are bringing in. >> reporter: this isn't the first social media campaign for justice. # kony 2012 was retweeted millions of times after a documentary about joseph kony. but it fizzled and he's still at large. >> the problem is while it gets some direct attention now does the hashtag fade? the point of hashtags are what's hot, what's immediate. >> reporter: one thing is not up for debate. social media is effective at giving people voices who might

be otherwise deprived of one. this is a perfect example. # bring back our girls started in nigeria. cries of help that went all the way to the white house. craig? >> kristen, thank you. >> reporter: absolutely. >> now to the other big story. to a pro football first. if you missed it last night, here it is again. >> with the 249th pick in the 2014 nfl draft, the st. louis rams select michael sam, defensive end, missouri. >> michael sam is today the first openly gay player drafted to play in the national football league. the st. louis rams picked him up in the 7th and final round. there you see him getting the call, kissing his boyfriend this afternoon. his new teammates are calling him just another one of the guys. there is a headline today on "sports illustrated" website. i'm sure you saw it. michael sam being treated like the other guys. there it is.

michael sam on historic draft day. is that true? is it accurate? is he just another player? >> of course not. there will be attention paid to him. >> yeah. >> the most famous seventh round pick in america. among the team, i spoke to a linebacker for the rams, the leader out there. if this guy can play, that's all that it's about. they want to win games. i don't think it's an accident that the ams took him. he played in missouri. only two hours away. and they have seen thim make plays. they want a football player and they are getting one. they're excited. >> the same rams that broke the color barrier years ago. >> that's right. >> some critics have been saying that the team -- a team at least had to take him. that if michael sam wasn't drafted that it was going to be yet another black eye for a

league that doesn't need more bad press now. >> eight. >> what do you say this to that? >> in some ways it would be unfair. he should be judged on his football ability. he was picked on the basis of football ability. if he hadn't been it might have been just that. might not have been evidence of homophobia or anything. i understand people would have that notion. it's not something you need to get into. it doesn't matter if he was draft maryland the first, fourth fifth. now he's on the team and is there to help them. if he works hard, they're just going to accept him. i really think times have changed enough for that. >> we should note for folks who don't follow these things closely. just because he was drafted doesn't necessarily mean he's absolutely going to play for the team. >> absolutely. he has work to do. you have 53 players on the roster. many more come to camp. you are competing for a spot on

the team. that's what he'll have to do. they won't make it easy for him or hard for him. he'll have things to deal with. look at mante teo last year. he had a lot of attention on him. in some ways it is like that. a lot of attention, buzz. you look at the diverse locker room as most football locker rooms are in terms of socioeconomic class, color and all that. i think he'll get a chance to show what he can do. >> a big moment for sports and society in general. >> a great moment. >> do you think 20, 30 years from now this is a moment that we see over and over? >> i think it might be. jason collins coming out. it's not like jackie in 1947.

jackie robinson. that was a bigger thing. >> i'm glad you said that. i agree with you. >> a lot of people -- jason colins is playing for the nets. he hasn't played much in the playoffs. nobody is talking about he's a gay player. not how many minutes did he play or not. not immediately. >> it takes time. >> if he plays a couple of seasons we'll forget. >> he's anxiously awaiting the day we stop talking about that he's gay. >> he embraced it. he's a role model for people. he just is. >> thank you, kosta. we'll are have you back to talk about your pete rose book. >> sounds good. >> the political battle over benghazi continues. is it really a strategy the gop wants to use going into the mid-term elections? we'll talk about it after the break. new information about the victims of tragic hot air balloon accident in virginia.

yes sir. alright. let's share the news tomorrow. today we failrly busy. tomorrow we're booked solid. we close on the house tomorrow. i want one of these opened up. because tomorow we go live... it's a day full of promise. and often, that day arrives by train. big day today? even bigger one tomorrow. when csx trains move forward, so does the rest of the economy. csx. how tomorrow moves. but at xerox we've embraced a new role. working behind the scenes to provide companies with services... like helping hr departments manage benefits and pensions for over 11 million employees. reducing document costs by up to 30%... and processing $421 billion dollars in accounts payables each year. helping thousands of companies simplify how work gets done. how's that for an encore? with xerox, you're ready for real business. how's that for an encore? thmortgage didn't start here.

it began on her vacation in europe on the day she arrived in london. someone set up a bogus hotspot, stole her identity and opened some credit cards in her name. but she's not worried. checking her credit report and score at experian.com allowed her to better address the issue... ...and move right in. experian. live credit confident.™ and that's epic, bro, we've forgotten just how good good is. good is setting a personal best before going for a world record. good is swinging to get on base before swinging for a home run. [ crowd cheering ] good is choosing not to overshoot the moon, but to land right on it and do some experiments. ♪ so start your day off good with a coffee that's good cup after cup. maxwell house. ♪ good to the last drop maxwell house. man: we know when parents and teachers work together... woman: our schools get stronger.

man: as superintendent of public education, that's been tom torlakson's approach. woman: torlakson has supported legislation to guarantee spending decisions about our education tax dollars are made by parents, teachers and the local community... and not by sacramento politicians. and we need to keep that legislation on track. man: so tell tom torlakson to keep fighting for local control of school funding decisions.

welcome back. here is a quick look. investigators in virginia are still searching for the last victim of after friday's deadly hot air balloon accident. we now know the identity of three people aboard the flight. among the two killed was pilot dan kirk. his passengers were jimmy doyle and natalie louis. both of the university of richmond's women's basketball program. the search for natalie louis continues this afternoon. the washington post reports today some secret service agents were made to protect a personal friend of the agency's former director. those agents were told to leave their posts near the white house and drive to suburban maryland. a white house official tells msnbc president obama was at camp david at the time.

controversy surrounding the new house select committee on benghazi, even before it is fully formed. speaker boehner tweeted there are seven republicans named. relative newcomers. none of the folks were in the house prior to 2006. democratic leaders are considering whether they will take part. jonathan allen, washington bureau chief for bloomberg news. rebecca cinderfrom politico. rebecca, republican congressman trey goudy will head this. he was asked this morning on fox news if he knows what president obama was doing during the time of the attack. despite all the investigations this is his answer. >> no, sir, i do not. nor do i know what communication if they he had with secretary of state clinton nor can i tell you why we were still in benghazi despite the fact there was an escalation of violence. i have more questions than answers despite the fact that committees to congress have looked at this for 19 months

now. >> almost two years now. givenen the fact that congress has been looking at this for so long, rebecca, what more could house republicans hope to find? >> what they are looking for is a way to unify the message. look, there have been disparate investigations from committee after committee. now they will be centralized and led by trey gowdy who has been careful in the way he's approached this, tackling this and someone the republicans hope will be tough to make a character of. right now republicans are aware they are in tricky little bitlele call waters. they are approaching this carefully. >> much of the speculation about why now for these hearings surrounds, of course, former secretary of state hillary clinton and her possible 2016 aspirations. you wrote the book on mrs. clinton. hrc, state secrets of the rebirth of hillary clinton. how cynical is it to believe

this latest benghazi dust-up is aimed at the former secretary? >> it's not cynical, are craig. before the 2012 election there was investigation aimed at president obama or political rhetoric aimed at president obama. once he won re-election it shifted to secretary clinton. as far as the timing i think speaker boehner was reluctant to appoint a select committee. what happened is through a freedom of information act request through a conservative group more e-mail came out a couple of weeks ago. as a result, i think the speaker's hand was forced. he was concerned about this looking overtly political. a lot of this is about the 2016 election. republicans are looking for a way to tie what happened more directly to secretary clinton. so far if you go through the evidence, all of the hearings, all of the interviews that have gone on on the various committees, nothing ties her to the decision-making about the security level there.

the larger question, i think, is answered which is that she wanted the united states have to have success in libya. she was pushing for stabilization there. whether they are uh able to uncover anything for her in 2016 remains to be seen. they dorising backlash here if the american public thinks they are trying to capitalize on a tragedy. >> it seems like poeb's role hasten been a little bit overshadowed by the political implications for hillary clinton. is anything at risk here for the president, for his legacy? >> well, you know the tone for the white house over the past few weeks overall and particularly lately as the issue resurfaced with the appointment of the select committee it's been one of frustration. they made the point that questions have been out there for months. what more is there to ask at this point that this is going to be a partisan, political witch hunt. to the the extent the committee

plays into that, that the white house is painting a portrait, that will be an easy case to make. of course let's not forget the 2016 election isn't the only one to watch. there is also 2014. this is an issue that resonates with the republican base. you haven't seen a lot of republicans campaigning about it. the sunlight foundation reported hearing from republicans about roughly four times as many references to benghazi as you had to obamacare over the previous week. it's definitely an issue that resonates with the base. 2014 is a base election year. >> quickly here. do democrats ultimately decide that they are going to have to join this select committee? >> i think they will probably go in that direction. it's something that's divisive within house democratic leadership circles. knapp is dead set against it from what sources tell me. >> john that happen, good to see you.

good to see both of you. >> thank you. >> part of ukraine voted on whether to split from the rest of the country. will the vote count? we have richard engel on the ground for us there. we'll go to him to explain. later, i will talk to former montana governor brian shh wietser about a deadly shooting in his state making national headlines. a homeowner kills an intruder in his garage. it was a kid. it's all part of the controversy around montana's castle doctrine rule. it's the little things in life that make me smile. spending the day with my niece. i don't use super poligrip for hold because my dentures fit well. before those little pieces would get in between my dentures and my gum and it was uncomfortable. even well-fitting dentures let in food particles. super poligrip is zinc free. with just a few dabs, it's clinically proven to seal out more food particles so you're more comfortable and confident while you eat. so it's not about keeping my dentures in, it's about keeping the food particles out. [ charlie ] try zinc free super poligrip.

and you want to get an mba. but going back to school is hard. because you work. now capella university offers a revolutionary new way to get your degree. it's called flexpath, and it's the most direct path, leveraging what you've learned on the job and focusing on what you need to know. so you can get a degree at your pace and graduate at the speed of you. flexpath from capella university. learn about all of our programs at capella.edu.

afghanistan, in 2009. orbiting the moon in 1971. [ male announcer ] once it's earned, usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection. and because usaa's commitment to serve current and former military members and their families is without equal. begin your legacy. get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. for $175 dollars a month? so our business can be on at&t's network yup. all five of you for $175. our clients need a lot of attention. there's unlimited talk and text. we're working deals all day. you get 10 gigabytes of data to share. what about expansion potential? add a line anytime for 15 bucks a month. low dues... great terms... let's close. new at&t mobile share value plans. our best value plans ever for business.

i couldn't lay down it was a i couldn't sit up because it burned so much. as first lady of our church we have meetings. we have activities. and i couldn't do any of that. any time anything brushed up against this rash it would seem like it would set it on fire again. it was the worst pain i ever had. we weren't supposed to be here. you made us believe. you kept us off the street. kept clothes on our backs, food on the table. when you didn't eat, you made sure we ate. you went to sleep hungry. you sacrificed for us. you're the real are mvp. [ applause ] >> that was the nba's most

valuable player, kevin durant thanking and honoring his mom upon receiving the mvp award tuesday. we'll talk to wanda pratt later in the program, durant's mom. he talked about what his mom thought and it was a big story. we couldn't get enough. a star athlete honored for being the best in the game. so purely, so genuinely putting into words what so many young men like myself have long thought about their mothers. here's mine. betty jo melvin. she did not inhale, allegedly. we have always had good times. the older i get, the more i appreciate her for a host of reasons. betty jo as she's known reared me and my younger brother friemly on two principles -- believe in god and yourself. we went to church -- a lot. because faith was important to her it became important to us. she also made sure we grew up

confident young men. that happened because she believed in us and made us know she believed in us. my mother indulged more hobs by and interests than she probably remembers. playing chauffeur for the better part of the 5e8 0s and 90s. there wasn't a lot of money lying around so what did my mom do when the ends stopped meeting? she picked up a second job. after teaching all day she'd work at a pharmacy because she wanted to make sure we didn't want. we didn't appreciate it then, but we do now. what i appreciate most these days, betty jo, is the example she set. my mother taught me how to be a friend, how to be strong, how to live my life, and how to be a parent. it's easy to emulate when you've got a great example. happy mother's day. you are the gold standard and a very special mother's day to all of you who might not be birth mothers but played the role most of your lives.

happy mother's day to those of you doing it without much help either by choice or by force. happy mother's day to those whose moms are with the angels. today is tough. hopefully the memories help. finally, happy mother's day to the best new mom i know. you're making it look easy and dell is a lucky boy. zy or cool? "meow" or "woof"? wheels or wheeeels? everything exactly the way you want it ...until boom, it's bedtime. your mattress isn't bliss: it's a battleground of thwarted desire. enter the all-new sleep number classic series. designed to let couples sleep together in individualized comfort. starting at just $699.99 for a queen mattress. he's the softy: his sleep number setting is 35. you're the rock: your setting is 60. that works. he's the night owl. his side's up while you're in dreamland. you're the early bird. up and at 'em. no problem, because you're in it together... keeping the love alive.

and by the way - snoring? sleep number's even got an adjustment for that. crazy? only if sleeping peacefully with your soulmate is crazy. find your sleep number setting only at one of our 425 stores nationwide. you can afford a sleep number bed, you can't afford another mediocre night's sleep. know better sleep with sleep number.

we are the thinkers. the job jugglers. the up all-nighters.

and the ones who turn ideas into action. we've made our passions our life's work. we strive for the moments where we can say, "i did it!" ♪ we are entrepreneurs who started it all... with a signature. legalzoom has helped start over 1 million businesses, turning dreamers into business owners. and we're here to help start yours. developing now, shots have been fired by ukrainian national guardsmen into a crowd. there are reports of fatalities there. it happened just west of danesk, ukraine. this is youtube video claiming to show the incident. msnbc news has not been able to verify this video. it happened in the same region where are pro russian separatists are holding a referendum today. polls are about to close as

separatists vote for their independence. the results will determine whether people in two regions declare themselves independent from kiev. ukraine's government and the united states says the referendum is illegal. let's head to richard engel who is live for us in ukraine. first of all, what more do we know about the shooting? do we know whether it had any effect on the vote today? >> reporter: first on that shooting, we know quite a bit about it. there are about four different videos that were taken of the shooting. a lot of the crowds were filming the incident as it happened. they have been posting videos online. we have multiple angles. it happened due west of here. what happened is pro russians in town were voting in the referendum today, voting to separate themselves from the government of ukraine. as the voting was taking place in a government building,

ukrainian soldiers, national guardsmen arrived, stopped voting at this particular checkpoint, this particular voting station. and went inside a government building. you can imagine the locals carrying out the vote were upset, sr. are angry. when another group of ukrainian soldiers arrived they found themselves confronted with an angry mob. the mob started to approach them. the soldiers were backing up. one member of the crowd grabbed one of the ukrainian soldiers' weapons. at that stage this person who grabbed the weapon was shot. it seems to be in the stomach. the ukrainian soldiers were following with a tremendous amount of fire power into the air. there are reports of other casualties as well. the exact death toll or number of injured at this stage is unclear. it is this kind of episode and

there sb several over the last several days that are convincing the russian speaking community they need to break away from kiev. they need to break away from ukraine. they believe that the government of ukraine which doesn't are recognize this referendum is now openly hostile to them and is killing them as at least one person was killed today west of here. >> our chief foreign correspondent richard engel on the ground for us in ukraine are. thank you. back in this country, a new shooting divided a small town and is putting up a longstanding self-defense law under the microscope. last week 17-year-old dera deran didian, an unarmed student was shot in montana apparently after a homeowner heard him inside his garage. that homeowner has since been

arrested and charged with what's called deliberate homicide. his lawyers plan to use the state's so-called castle doctrine in his defense. in part it allows the use of lethal force by a person who, quote, reasonably believes that deadly force will stop unlawful entry into their home. some residents and lawmakers want that law revisited. >> there is nothing wrong with a homeowner defending with lethal force if it made sense in that situation it was reasonable to do that they should defend their home. that's not what the law is. >> we moved into the neighborhood assuming it was safe. nice houses in a nice area. i had no idea it happened. hearing about it is shocking. >> former democratic montana governor brian schweitzer joins us now. this is the defense of an occupied structure law.

it is not new. it's been around since 1947. you even signed onto changes to the law while you were governor. given everything you know about the case, is this the kind of shooting that the law was designed to protect? >> no. this is way out of bounds. we have had other shootings where burglars entered people's houses and they shot them. the police didn't even arrest the homeowners. in this case this is a guy who was leaving his garage door open, apparently because he had been smoking marijuana in the garage and he was letting the smoke out. he left the door open. some high school kids apparently had been getting in there and taking his pot maybe. he was actually telling people around town that if anybody gets in his garage he's going to shoot them. he baited them by leaving the door open. and a couple of high school kids were in the garage or one of

them was in the garage. one was just outside. he put up motion detectors so he could entrap them. then in complete darkness he came outside with a loaded shotgun and he fired four shots into the garage without even seeing anybody. he killed a 17-year-old exchange student from germany. the laws in montana are not going to protect this guy. he was arrested by the local police. by the way, mizzoula has some 70,000 people in it. it is an urban place. >> you touched on something i want to follow up on. a german exchange student. this is something else that's put our gun laws in this country under scrutiny internationally. how does it affect our reputation overseas? >> certainly places in asia and

europe with restrictive gun laws. they look at the united states in some ways as the wild west. in some ways montana still is. we are the size of pennsylvania, ohio in size yet we only have a million people. there are people in montana, like i, who live some 40 minutes. if you called 9/11 right now from my house, it would be at least 40 minutes, if they could even find my house on the end of dirt road. if somebody broke in if they were threatening me or my family, i have never pointed a gun at a human being. i wouldn't hesitate for a moment to protect my family. you noted one of the highest gun ownership rates in the country. how are you able to have conversations with constituents and the national rifle

association about sensible gun laws? >> well, let's face it. the n are ra stands for the national republican assembly. they don't support democrats when they run for office. they endorse me when i won 65-32 during re-election. they didn't lift a finger to help me. they like it when there is a democrat in the white house. because then they can sell a lot more guns and a lot more ammunition because they scare their members that somehow the president will take their guns. you can't even buy .22 shells to shoot gophers anymore. the sporting goods stores can't stock them anymore. people buy them as fast as they can because they fear the government will take away their guns. >> real quickly in the past you said running for president would ruin my life. do you still feel that way?

any plans you would like to let us in on? >> if you could look out the windows and see the mown tapes behind georgetown lake at my home. if you could make toyota one of my ranches and see the elk that are calving right now you wouldn't want to move to washington, d.c. either. but i might. >> oh, might. okay. not closing the door. thank you for your time, sir. we appreciate that. it seems like something from a fantasy story or an age long past. this scene from 1934 could come again. >> the worst dust storms in our history turned day to night across enormous areas from the midwest to the rockies. millions of acres of precious topsoil turned into a blizzard of dirt and grime, impoverishing countless small areas. the era of the dust bowl was at hand. >> that storm sent dirt and dust as far as new york city, boston,

even atlanta. believe it or not, ships some 300 miles off the atlantic coast saw dust from the midwest on their decks. you think this is a vision of the past? a recent report shows temperatures in this climbed one and a half degrees since recordkeeping started in 1895. most of the heat wave has been just in the last 35 years. dust storms aside, experts predict other kinds of extreme weather in the near future including flooding, hurricanes and drought. in colorado they are making money by the pound. now that pot is legal. trouble is most banks won't take the cash because it was made selling drugs. hang on. there may be a solution. first, making dna in a way that's never been done before. sounds like science fiction but it is today's big idea. [ male announcer ] hey, look at you!

you're an emailing, texting, master of the digital universe. but do you protect yourself? ♪ apparently not. when you access everything, you give everyone access to everything about you. but that's ok. while you do your thing... [ alert rings ] we'll be here at lifelock, doing our thing. watching out for things your credit card alone can't. [ alert rings ] and relentlessly protecting your identity. get lifelock protection and live life free. [ alert rings ] the numbers are impressive. over 400,000 new private sector jobs...

making new york state number two in the nation in new private sector job creation... with 10 regional development strategies to fit your business needs. and now it's even better because they've introduced startup new york... with the state creating dozens of tax-free zones where businesses pay no taxes for ten years. become the next business to discover the new new york. [ male announcer ] see if your business qualifies. become the next business to discover the new new york. you want a loan to build you can't do that.ica? nobody builds factories in the us anymore... you can't do that. using american raw materials makes no sense... you can't do that. you want to hire workers here in the states? they're too expensive, you can't do that. fortunately we didn't listen to the experts. at weathertech we built american factories, we use american raw materials and we hire american workers. weathertech.com, proudly made in america. quality like this...you can't do that.

after nearly three years of being photographed from a distance the washington monument will re-open after a quake rattled the site in 2011 sending tourists scrambling. after a re-opening ceremony on the national mall, the fences will be removed and the tours will start. creating life from scratch. it's today wills's big idea. scientists in california have found a way to alter what we know as deoxyribonucleic acid. that's what the smart kids call it. we call it dna. the scientists created two units which may lead to creating new life forms that could make medicines like we have never seen before. floyd roamsberg is an associate professor at scripps and led the

research. thanks for being with me. first of all, how were you guys able to come up with this? >> hi, craig. we were able to come up with this by thinking about, as you mentioned, the units in dna that are replicated h.g, c, a, and t the, the individual genetic letters. we were interested in coming up with x and y. so we examined x and y in a test tube and looked at their ability to be recognize bid the machines in machines that look at dna. we examined for years the ability of them. they got good enough that we were willing to take a crack at going into a cell. >> folks have raised the possibility that your work could support the belief that life exists outside of earth. do you believe that now? >> let's be clear. i would like to be clear about what we have done. we have taken a small step away

from natural dna by making what we call x and y, additional genetic letters. in a lot of respects they are similar to the natural letters of dna. but in detailed respects they are different. maybe you could call it a small change in dna. if you wanted to speculate you could say, well, if dna takes a small change and still acts as a carrier for genetic information maybe you could make bigger changes n. a speculative manner it says you could use molecules other than dna to store information. that's the more intellectually significant conceptual aspect at work. >> what are the practical implications of this? this new genetic alphabet, so to speak. >> dna encodes all the information in a cell. all the information required to be a cell. it encodes all the information in biology. as you know it encodes for a specific protein. the sequence in dnaen translates into the sequence of a protein. since we can store increased information in a cell we could

learn to retrieve that in the form of new proteins that have never been expressed with new parts, new constituents within them that are unnatural and that might be beneficial to developing new drugs and be able the to make a lot of new sorts of materials in a way that hasn't been possible before. >> really quickly before i let you go. some have been criticizing that the safety and ethics of this. this is what jim thomas of the canadian advocacy organization told the new york time. the arrival of this unprecede unprecedented alien life form could in time have far reaching ethical, legal and regulatory implications. what ethical implications could your discovery have? >> let me say that i'm a synthetic biologist. by deaf the in addition because of what we work on it does raise issues. i think we are happy and willing to discuss that. in regard to what my lab has done it's important to understand that we built into

the system a fail safe. if the synthetic cells that we have, if they did try to replicate out of our controlled environment of the lab we have to provide for them x and y. if we don't provide them the cell reverts to a -- the dna reverts to fully natural. it would be unable to grow outside of a cell. in this case we have been careful to be conscious of these worries and build in safe guards. so there really shouldn't be issues here. synthetic bilists are interested in that discussion. >> fascinating. thank you for your time. >> thank you very much. >> do you have a big idea? lets i know about it on twitter. there is the hash tag. what's the big idea? you could e-mail us as well. bigidea.msnbc@nbcuni.com. maybe you came here from africa or the caribbean.

maybe you were the first in your family to go to college, like i was. maybe there were times that you didn't have a place to live or enough food to eat. you see, the odds were against you making it here today. but guess what. you did it. >> that was diddy. sean combs giving the commence meant speech at howard university in washington, d.c. saturday. the rapper, producer and entrepreneur went to howard for about two year before he dropped out to pursue a lucrative music career, i would say. the story of another hip-hop superstar on the verge of becoming a billionaire. with a b. billionaire. what it means for the way we listen to music. first the chronic problem for those selling legalized pot in

colorado. what to do with the money. this is msnbc. and when you put them in charge of making an unbeatable truck... ... good things happen. this is the ram 1500. the 2014 motor trend truck of the year and first ever back-to-back champion. guts. glory. ram. mayo? corn dogs? you are so outta here! aah! [ female announcer ] the complete balanced nutrition of great-tasting ensure. 24 vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, and 9 grams of protein. [ bottle ] ensure®. nutrition in charge™.

constipated? .yea dulcolax tablets can cause cramps but not phillips. it has magnesium and works more naturally than stimulant laxatives. for gentle cramp free relief of occasional constipation that works! mmm mmm live the regular life. mattress discounters memorial day sale! what's this? a queen-size sealy gel memory foam mattress for just $497? mattress discounters has the largest selection of memory foam mattresses under one roof!

comforpedic... icomfort... optimum... and wow! four years interest-free financing on the entire tempur-pedic cloud collection! don't miss the memorial day sale. ♪ mattress discounters

we told you are last week about washington, d.c.'s efforts to decriminalize pot. congress who can squash the law signed by d.c.'s mayor looked into it. the law will go into effect if congress doesn't act within 60 days. not a lot got done friday, mainly because john mika brought a joint to the hearing. >> i have this joint here. this is -- okay. don't get too excited out there, some of you. this is not a real one. it's a mock one. >> when asked by a colleague if he actually rolled the fake joint himself mica said, no, his staff did it because, as he said, they would have more experience. i'm not sure what that says about his staff.

from one pot fight to another, in colorado lawmakers approved a first of its kind bill paeing the way for marijuana businesses to set up bank accounts. governor john hickenlooper plans to sign the bill over objections from the colorado bankers association. it would be in direct ge delaware fiens of washington, d.c. marijuana companies can't get banks to do business with them since pot is banned under federal law. andrew friedman is colorado's state director of marijuana coordination. yes, that's his title. we didn't make it up. andrew, can you explain to the viewers and listeners why the governor's office support it is bill and why the cash system isn't working? >> it's a pleasure to be here. it's our biggest concern with marijuana now. it's up to a $600 million industry. that's cash in the streets for the most part. we see it as a big public safety issue. when i came to the job one of the fist things the governor wanted handled is how do we get

cash off the streets and into traditional banking. >> bankers, a lot of them are upset that the bill was changed to include hemp growers in the list of people who can get these accounts. why was that change made last minute? >> i think the legislature decided hemp is in a similar boat. it is illegal to grow hemp. a few hemp growers say this is a problem. the colorado bankers association believed they could bank hemp and it is a question that deserved more study. the rural people thought it was enough of an issue to put it on the bill. >> another criticism the given the slim chance you are going to get the oak from the fed, it's an exercise in futilitiment does the legislation really just send a statement with no chance of ever being put into practice? >> i think we are more optimistic than that.

i won't say we think it is a lam dunk. it's creative. bankers typically hate creative solutions but we have tried traditional solutions. so we are going for what we believe looks very similar to a credit union but it won't have federal insurance. that doesn't mean we can't go to lloyd's of london and get insured different ways. going to the federal resefb and saying if you don't give us the path forward we are stuck. >> what's the economic impact in colorado since the vote to legalize marijuana less than two years ago? >> we have only three months of data at this point. we see a steady increase in the purchase of retail marijuana. the verdict will be out for a few years. we expect $600 million in congress this year. it's a bit of a shot in the dark. we'll see if it's had an impact on our reputation. how we deal with fortune 500s, have more trouble retaining and gathering more high profile

companies. it's to be determined. >> before i let you go, andrew, you are the state's director of marijuana coordination. how does one become the director of marijuana coordination? what sort of background do you have that uniquely qualifies you to be the state's expert on weed. >> i wouldn't say i have been working at it my entire life. i graduated from harvard law school and came into governor's office as chief of staff. this is not a weed position. it's a good government position. it's really about making sure we are efficient, effective in implementing a brand new thing in the world. >> andrew, fryman, thank you. >> a pleasure. >> we have a storm many the midwest at this hour. also, kevin durant's mom on this mother's day. i will talk to wanda pratt about how it felt to get such a personal shout out from the nba's newest mvp.

>> you went to sleep hungry. you sacrificed for us. you're the mvp. >> have you been feeling deja vu? monica lewinsky is back and the political world has questions about how it will pay off for hillary clinton in her potential 2016 bid. this is msnbc. ng? yeah. getting your vegetables every day? when i can. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] could've had a v8. two full servings of vegetables for only 50 delicious calories. how much money do you think you'll need when you retire? then we gave each person a ribbon to show how many years that amount might last.

i was trying to, like, pull it a little further. [ woman ] got me to 70 years old. i'm going to have to rethink this thing. it's hard to imagine how much we'll need for a retirement that could last 30 years or more. so maybe we need to approach things differently, if we want to be ready for a longer retirement. ♪ will you be a sound sleeper, or a mouth breather? a mouth breather! [ whimpers ] how do you sleep like that?

well, put on a breathe right strip and shut your mouth. allergy medicines open your nose over time, but add a breathe right strip and pow! it instantly opens your nose up to 38% more. so you can breathe and do the one thing you want to do -- sleep. add breathe right to your allergy medicine. shut your mouth and sleep right. breathe right. improving everything from booking to baggage claim. we're raising the bar on flying and tomorrow we'll raise it yet again. ♪ (woman) this place has got really good chocolate shakes. (growls)

(man) that's a good look for you. (woman) that was fun. (man) yeah. (man) let me help you out with the.. (woman)...oh no, i got it. (man) you sure? (woman) just pop the trunk. (man vo) i may not know where the road will lead, but... i'm sure my subaru will get me there. (announcer) love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. high tornado threat. we are now monitoring the real possibility, dangerous weather le rupt in the heartland this afternoon. a tornado touched down in missouri last night. a full weather report ahead. also, is a hashtag and a wave of international outrage enough to indeed bring back the missing nigeria yan girls? i'll talk to reverend jesse jackson who says the kidnappings may be just the beginning of a larger problem. capital punishment. is it time to rethink the death penalty in this country?

firsthand insight from virginia's former attorney general whose state carried out dozens of executions under his watch. as we salute mothers on this special day, the one who got quite the shout out this week from her mvp son. >> when you didn't eat, you made sure we ate. you went to sleep hungry. you sacrificed for us. you're the real mvp. >> good sunday afternoon. once again a happy mother's day to you. we start with the search for the nearly 300 schoolgirls kidnapped in nigeria. they are still missing. the government announced they have deployed two army divisions to the border region area where the terrorist group boko haram is known to operate. the group has admitted to taking the girls from their school more than three weeks ago now. united states and international resources are on the ground in nigeria as we speak to provide assistance to the government.

nbc's stephanie gosk is live for us in younde. any update on the search operation this afternoon? >> reporter: we do have updates n. the last 24 hours the nigerian government shared details that a lot of people have been asking to be shared. until this point they have been silent on the operational details including moving two battalions of army troops into the same region where boko haram kidnapped the girls almost a month ago. they went on to describe 250 airport sorties in the region but didn't have more information than that. the criticism of the nigerian government continue to fly. the immediate response has been so widely criticized domestically and internationally. we have amnesty international

releasing a report saying military officials in the area were given four hours of warning. until they bring the girls back the criticism will keep flying at them. craig? >> stephanie, quickly, have we heard more from boko haram besides the video that we have seen? >> no. no more video releases. that particular video is interesting. a lot of people looking at it closely and saying it's odd that he's standing there with none of the schoolgirls in the shot. make of that what you will. the way boko haram has been heard in the last three, four weeks is through their violent actions. they seem to be carrying them out unimpeded where they are being watched closely by international forces and by

nigerian troops on the ground. including many the last 24 hours an attack on a strategic bridge in the north. seems to be a pattern of theirs. attacking the bridges. also another abduction. the family of a police officer here in cameroon up in the north. also showing how freely they were able to move back and forth across the border between the two countries. this problem has been around for a while. even long before this abduction just continued at a rapid pace. craig? >> stephanie gosk for us in cameroon. thanks, as always. for more i want to bring in civil eights activist and head of the rainbow push coalition, reverend jesse jackson. good to see you. thanks for being with me. >> to the family, a happy mother's day. >> happy mother's day indeed. whoo more can we do to help find the missing girls besides the hashtag campaign? >> aid to no more boko haram western education is a sin.

they killed 8,000 pineapple in the last five years. 1500 people killed this year. 59 boys dilled. they have been on the loose. now it's affecting nigeria and chad, cameroon and niger. so the ramifications are substantial and ignoring african policy comes to us at great peril. >> it sounds like you think this is perhaps our chickens coming home to roost. >> bin laden was living at that time in the sudan. so to not be apprised of it, one-fourth of all africans are nigerian. they touch half of all of africa. 10% of the production comes from

nigeria. too little too late about what we must find these girls and boko haram. who's funding it? these guys don't make ak-47s. who is funding them? is the source of money oil? internal destabilization? it couldn't just be religious because the the girls captured are muslim. these are questions for whoever is on the ground there. >> reverend jesse jackson, head of the rainbow push coalition. thank you for your time, sir. developing now as polls closed many eastern ukraine we are getting reports of shots fired in that same region. about an hour ago ukrainian national guardsmen fired shots into the crowd. we are told there have been fatalities. you are looking at a youtube video claiming to show the incident. nbc news has not been able to verify the authenticity of the video. our own chief foreign correspondent richard engel last

hour said a number of videos have been posted as well. we have reports that various people in the crowd were filming. that's perry archdiocese engel. the vote that would determine whether people in the eastern region of the country would be independent from kiev, long lines, as you can see. long lines at several polling places. we are happy to have ayman mohyeldin with us. you see referendum, hear it, see people voting. they go, oh, this is good. people are voting. it's not that. >> definitely not that simple at all. in fact, what we have seen over the course of the last several days is a little bit of lawlessness. kiev losing control over the basic functions of the territory.

that's what we are seeing today. referendums being posed very haphazardly. there is no transparency to the process, if you will. a lot of people aren't sure what they are answering in the referendum. the question, should the eastern part of the country have more self-autonomy. very ambiguous. it's an element of the lawlessness that we have seen. >> the vote isn't just a sham. it's confusing. >> absolutely. >> you spend time on the ground there. have local officials lost control of the situation? >> they are in a difficult position. the government in kiev, the central government is under pressure not to use force violently in the eastern part to bring the territory back under its control to get the institutions of the state up and running.

it is predom lantly leaning toward russia. it's frustrated with the government in kiev. it is a delicate balance and russia is playing a provocative role. they are fomenting this unrest. >> we have talked about vladimir putin, his calculations in this crisis. former secretary of defense bob gates talked about it on cbs on "face the nation." listen. >> i think this is again about asserting russia's place on the international stage. basically saying russia is back and particularly under his leadership, that they are a force to be reckoned with. >> are we headed for a new cold war with russia over this? >> i think we are headeded into a more direct confrontation with russia. no doubt about it. russia made clear it will

protect its interests in eastern ukraine. the question is whether or not the united states and allies want to protect ukraine more than russia wants to break it up. that remains unanswered. >> it's a question that will remain unanswered for some time here. ayman mohyeldin, good to see you. >> thanks, craig. now to what's shaping up to be a dangerous night across the country. a potentially severe weather system developing now in the heartland. let's go to kate parker live in des moines. what's it looking like there now, kate? >> reporter: what you are looking at behind me is off to the southeast of des moines. we are in johnston, eye wachlt we have had a long livid super cell. it has had a tornado warning for a long tile. behind me is i-80 and i-35. a major tle fair here.

to the southwest is where we will be watching. we had the threat of strong storms and tornadoes for the hartlantd. not just this afternoon but through tonight. what's happening is we are seeing peeks of blue sky in nebraska, kansas as well. those as well as outflow boundaries are going to come together. that could help the development of super cell thunderstorms. those could have severe weather in them. large hail, damaging winds, potential for tornadoes and long lived strong tornadoes. that's a possibility. it goes through the overnight hours. you need to have a plan to wake you up in case there is a tornado warning where you live. you need an app on the phone to wake you up. the noaa weather radio that will wake you up. this will be an ongoing thing. >> after the release of monica

lewinsky political world. is this a blip on the radar or will her resunshine japanese. $. our clients need a lot of attention. there's unlimited talk and text. we're working deals all day. you get 10 gigabytes of data to share. what about expansion potential? add a line anytime for 15 bucks a month. low dues... great terms... let's close. new at&t mobile share value plans. our best value plans ever for business. whatever happened to good? good is choosing not to overshoot the moon, but to land right on it. good is maxwell house. ♪ good to the last drop

reckless seeding... ...failure to disappear. a backyard invasion. homeowner takes matters into his own hands. ♪ ortho weed b gon max. with the one-touch, continuous spray wand... kills weeds without harming innocent lawns. guaranteed. weeds killed. lawn restored. justice served. weed b gon max with the one-touch wand. get order. get ortho®.

female narrator: the mattress price wars are on the mattress price wars are on at sleep train. we challenged the manufacturers to offer even lower prices. now it's posturepedic versus beautyrest with big savings of up to $400 off. serta icomfort and tempur-pedic go head-to-head with three years' interest-free financing. plus, free same-day delivery, set-up, and removal of your old set.

when brands compete, you save. mattress price wars are on now at sleep train. ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪ welcome back. we have a late development to tell you about in the deadly hot air balloon crash. moments ago we learned the body of the third victim has been found in rural virginia. natalie lewis had been the last person on the balloon, yet to be found. she was on the balloon with her co-worker, jimmy doyle. both worked for the university of richmond virginia's women's basketball program. the body of the pilot dan kirk was already recovered. let's get caught up on other sunday headlines. history made in the world of sports. last night michael sam became

the first openly gay player drafted into the nfl. the rams took him in the final slot of the seventh round. in this clip on espn he kissed his boyfriend after getting the call. maybe the 20th time will be the charm . the democrat is a favorite among liberals saying again she won't run for the white house. >> i am not running for president. >> if hillary clinton decides not to run, will you reassess? >> i am not running for president. >> no, bob. i'm not doing it. one woman who may be running for president, hillary clinton on this mother's day. we are getting the first excerpt from her new memoir. she writes, quote, from the moment i first held chelsea in my arms in a hospital in little rock i knew my mission in life was to give her every opportunity to thrive. now that she's expecting a child of her own, i am preparing for a new role that i have looked forward to for years --

grandmother. my mom gave me so much love and support when i was growing up in illinois, now it's my turn to support her. on thursday, secretary of veterans affairs eric shinseki will testify about the state of the v.a. health care system. there have been days of outrage since the allegations surfaced that 40 veterans, many died while waiting for care out of the v.a. hospital. chuck hagel talked about the allegations this morning on abc's "this week". >> if this or any variation of this occurred all the way along the chain accountability will have to be upheld here. we can never let this kind of outrage, if this is true, stand in this country. >> former congressman patrick murphy was the first veteran of the iraq war to serve in congress. also an msnbc contributor and host of "taking the hill which

airs on msnbc. what happens next, sir? >> craig, heads need to roll. anybody who falsified or knew about the falsification of the veterans records needs to go. the general has suspended several people. let's make sure we get accountability and justice. it needs to be swift. this week the general will testify at congress. i'm glad the media and congress is providing oversight. we can't let this happen. let's make sure we make the system issic changes needed. i know the v.a. has put forward a new administrator for the veterans health care system. dr. jeff morowski. he needs to be confirmed asap to make sure it never happens again. >> there have been a number of calls for shins secki's head. do you think he bears sole responsibility for what happened? >> as of now the facts i know,

no, i don't. i joined the legion 20 years ago. i disagree with them. i side with speaker boehner and veterans of foreign wars who have not called for his resignation. until we know the facts and the process needs to happen now. the report needs to come out as soon as possible. not one more veteran needs to worry about their appointments on a phantom secret waiting list. >> our colleague here, medal of honor recipient jack jacobs had strong words yesterday on air on weekends with alex. listen to what he said. >> bureaucracies do only one thing well. routine things in a routine way.

any physician will tell you is medicine not routine. the v.a. medical system is completely incapable of delivering what we need. that is timely first class medical care to the people who served us. >> i think one reason that people are so annoyed by this story, and so enraged by this is for a long time in this country, and you have talked about it as well. rachel maddow has as well. we don't treat our veterans well in this country. for a country that seems to enjoy using our military you would think by now we would have found a better way to take care of people who have taken care of us. >> absolutely. >> i love jack jacobs. he 's a hero of our country. i disagree on this. the military is a bureaucracy. i served in it.

we don't do routine well. we do extraordinary things. the heroes i served with in baghdad did things i will never see again. the heroics i have seen. >> you think the v.a. hospital system is fine? >> i don't think it's fine. craig, what happened, these instances are horrific, criminal. when you take a step back and look at 9 million veterans that use the v.a. health care system. independent reports whether it's rand who looked at it saying the rand corporation said and evaluated saying you have a higher standard of care in the v.a. health care system than you do in the private sector -- >> depends on the private sector. >> everything else is better and they are reviewed by the joint commission, the fda, every year. let's be cleemplt they need to get on top of it. make sure whatever what happened, whoever is responsible the is brought to justice and make sure it never happens again.

>> former congressman patrick murphy. thank you, sir. congrats to the class of 2014. we hate to be the bearers of bad news but for many of those celebrating commencement the job prospects aren't great. our partners at now this news took a look. >> only one of five soon to be college grads has a job so far. even those with degrees like math and engineering, 81.6% are jobless. 85% of business majors are looking for work. only 52% of college seniors say they feel prepared for the real world. down from almost 70% last year. i'm k-a-t-e and i have copd, but i don't want my breathing problems to get in the way my volunteering. that's why i asked my doctor about b-r-e-o. once-daily breo ellipta helps increase airflow from the lungs for a full 24 hours.

and breo helps reduce symptom flare-ups that last several days and require oral steroids, antibiotics, or hospital stay. breo is not for asthma. breo contains a type of medicine that increases risk of death in people with asthma. it is not known if this risk is increased in copd. breo won't replace rescue inhalers for sudden copd symptoms and should not be used more than once a day. breo may increase your risk of pneumonia, thrush, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking breo. ask your doctor about b-r-e-o for copd. first prescription free at mybreo.com sfx: car unlock beep. vo: david's heart attack didn't come with a warning. today his doctor has him on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. peace of mind is important when so we provide it services you bucan rely on.

with centurylink as your trusted it partner, you'll experience reliable uptime for the network and services you depend on. multi-layered security solutions keep your information safe, and secure. and responsive dedicated support meets your needs, and eases your mind. centurylink. your link to what's next. what are you waiting for? (vo) celebrate this memorial day with up to 40% off hotels at travelocity. (gnome) go and smell the roses. can help your kids' school get extra stuff. they're the only cereals with box tops for education. you can raise money for your kids' school. look for this logo. only on big g cereals. you can make a difference. every cereal box counts. you can make a difference. [baby cries]

♪ [baby laughs] ♪ still running in the morning? yeah. getting your vegetables every day? when i can. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] could've had a v8. two full servings of vegetables for only 50 delicious calories. so on this mother's day nbc news and the wall street journal decided to see which of the first ladies in the last 25 years was most admired by americans. laura bush, fourth place with 17%. as for the current resident at 1600 pennsylvania, 24% said they

most admire michelle obama. then a tie. 27% of americans said they admired former secretary of state and perhaps future presidential candidate u.s. senate hillary clinton. puts her right on par with barbara bush, the wife of former president george h.w. bush, matriarch of the bush family. speaking of matriarchs, that was started by kevin durant who did this touching tribute. >> he went to sleep hungry. you sacrificed for us. you're the real mvp. >> the real mvp. mama durant will join me live. these don't look clean.

[ doorbell rings ] the johnsons! stall them. first word... uh...chicken? hi, cascade kitchen counselor. stop stalling and start shining with cascade platinum packs. over time, platinum fights cloudy residue 3x better than the competing gel. it's so powerful it even helps keep the dishwasher sparkling. avoid embarrassing moments... at least for your dishes. cascade. beyond clean and shine every time. we have been together for ten years. we have a home together. we have three beautiful children

together. and we just want to make it official. >> that couple was one of 15 able to legally get married saturday in arkansas. looks like the honeymoons may not last long. the attorney general will repeal a recent ruling legalizing same sex marriage in arkansas. the appeal could prevent marriages from taking place tomorrow. a deal with apple could make dr. dre the richest man in the history of rap. history of hip-hop. an official announcement expected any day now about apple buying beats by dre. you have seen the head phones you see almost everyone wearing. the company not just about head phones. it has a streaming music service as well. dr. dre is the cocreator of beats. apple reportedly interested in buying the company for somewhere around, oh, $3.2 billion with a b. kyle harvey is the music and tech editor for thegrio.com. what could this mean for dr.

dre? >> he's been reported to be one of the cash kings of hip hop. he was number three on there right behind diddy and jay-z. if the deal goes through he'll leapfrog that. it speaks to how long dre and beats have been around. more importantly the branding and what we can do when technology and hip-hop come together. >> do we know how much he stands to make with the deal? >> maybe dre got on air around friday and posted a video to instagram. he and tyreese were celebrating with dr. dre claiming, hey, listen the first rap billionaire will be from the west coast. we don't know for sure. forbes is saying after taxes he may make $800 million off the deal. >> why would apple do this? >> it could be a bunch of things. since the death of steve jobs apple is having trouble branding

themselves. they have benefitted from their own innovation but the beats brand is huge. with the headphones you can't miss anyone wearing them. the fact that beats is now a service. they have a pulse on the culture now. they branded themselves outside of just audio. >> some call this potential acquisition unapple like. this is how one inside writer calls it. beats makes wildly popular head phones and apple as a hardware company wanteded to own beats but beats are consistently panned by critics. they are never rated as one of the best head phones, end quote. is that true? >> beats more than anything else is a great brand. it was hip-hop based. you will look for a lot of bass. if people were to think about it, you are buying a brand. you cannot go anywhere without seeing someone with the head phones and figuring out what's

the best way to put it together. >> dr. dre, billionaire. >> it's a beautiful thing. it shows where hip hop can live. dr. dre has been investing in this since 2008 in a span of years we have seen him drive. >> i guess this means no more albums. >> when is the last time you heard one? i'm waiting for detox. >> that will do it. >> good to see you. thanks for stopping by. >> appreciate it. >> as we celebrate mother's day one mom could be called the nation's unofficial mom of the year. we are talking about nba star kevin durant's mother juan dra pratt. she received the admiration of the country when durant gave an emotional speech accepting his first ever mvp award. he thanked her for everything she did for him and his brother. he described the sacrifices she made as they went through some tough times. >> we weren't supposed to be

here. you made us believe. you kept us off the street. put clothes on our backs, food on the table. when you didn't eat you made sure we ate. you went to sleep hungry. you sacrificed for us. you're the real mvp. >> wanda pratt joins me live from oklahoma city on this mother's day. you tweeted this picture of your boys earlier. it caught our attention. we want to show our viewers. what year is that? >> let me see. oh, gosh. i can't remember. i think kevin was less than a year old. so 1990 maybe? >> what was it like for you to hear your son acknowledge you like that in his mvp acceptance

speech? >> i expected him to mention me. i never thought it would be like that. it was a great honor and a blessing. to hear him say those things and reward me in such manner. >> the response mass been overwhelming from lots of strangers, no? >> yes, it has been overwhelming. it's pleasant. i have enjoyed it and i'm still enjoying it. that's why i'm here talking to you, craig. >> what are some of the things people have been saying to you? >> i'm in oklahoma, of course. people have been talking about how kevin has inspired them. how some mothers say they have gotten calls from their sons declaring their love for them. others have said they missed their moms who passed away.

and they asked me to be their mother in a sense. they have just been showing a lot of heart warming feelings toward my son that he was so expressive toward me. >> as a kid, i have heard you pushed kevin to make sure he achieved his goils. this is how the washington post described how you did it. when he told her he wanted to be a ball player, she said, sleep on it and tell me tomorrow if you're serious. when his coaches assigned him a training sheet with 25 wind sprints on it she would double the workload. i think you should do 50. why was it important for you to keep on him like that? >> because i felt sometimes in life i know you want to give up. because ien wanted to give up several times in my life. so i wanted to instill in my boys that even when you think you have given all you should, you have to give more. that's why i will always require

more from him. >> there are moms across the country who might be envious of your son's devotion. how did you maintain a close relationship with kev en and your other son as well? >> i always try to be honest with them. i always try to be that positive mother figure in their lives. it's just what we know in our extended family. we're close, loving and affectionate. it's just how we treat one another. >> a lot of single moms out there. a lot of moms who didn't have the success you have with your boysment what would your message be to them on this mother's day? >> the message would be really not to look at my sons as the pinnacle of success but to look at the individual child and determine what's successful for them. it's all different.

it's like a scale. sometimes you have a son doing great things like a ceo or a basketball player or a teacher. whatever their best is, that's what their best is. that's where their success is. i ask them not to use my son as the standard. just to know their children are doing the best they can. that should make their hearts happy just as my sons are making my heart happy. >> you have been an inspiration this week. thank you. want to give me a quick prediction on the thunder the rest of the season? >> well, they're going to go to the big dance. they're going to win. >> of course. of course, mom. happy mother's day. >> of course. thank you so much. you enjoy your day. >> coming up, hillary clinton's big week when all the talk is benghazi and monica lewinsky. how will mrs. clinton with stand the political pressure? first since the botched oklahoma execution, many folks

are questioning whether the way we execute inmates is humane. one of the folks, virginia's former republican attorney general who oversaw more than 30 executions himself. he's had a change of heart. he joins me next. over 1 million businesses. if you have a business idea, we have a personalized legal solution that's right for you. with easy step-by-step guidance, we're here to help you turn your dream into a reality. start your business today with legalzoom. a man who doesn't stand still. but jim has afib, atrial fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat not caused by a heart valve problem. that puts jim at a greater risk of stroke. for years, jim's medicine tied him to a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested. but now, with once-a-day xarelto jim's on the move. jim's doctor recommended xarelto. like warfarin, xarelto is proven effective to reduce afib-related stroke risk. but xarelto is the first and only once-a-day prescription blood thinner for patients with afib

not caused by a heart valve problem that doesn't require routine blood monitoring. so jim's not tied to that monitoring routine. [ gps ] proceed to the designated route. not today. [ male announcer ] for patients currently well managed on warfarin there is limited information on how xarelto and warfarin compare in reducing the risk of stroke. xarelto is just one pill a day taken with the evening meal. plus, with no known dietary restrictions, jim can eat the healthy foods he likes. do not stop taking xarelto, rivaroxaban, without talking to the doctor who prescribes it as this may increase the risk of having a stroke. get help right away if you develop any symptoms like bleeding, unusual bruising, or tingling. you may have a higher risk of bleeding if you take xarelto with aspirin products, nsaids, or blood thinners. talk to your doctor before taking xarelto if you have abnormal bleeding. xarelto can cause bleeding, which can be serious and rarely may lead to death. you are likely to bruise more easily on xarelto and it may take longer for bleeding to stop. tell your doctors you are taking xarelto before any planned medical or dental procedures.

before starting xarelto, tell your doctor about any conditions such as kidney, liver, or bleeding problems. xarelto is not for patients with artificial heart valves. jim changed his routine. ask your doctor about xarelto. once-a-day xarelto means no regular blood monitoring -- no known dietary restrictions. for more information and savings options, call 1-888-xarelto or visit goxarelto.com. for more information and savings options, alright, that should just about do it. excuse me, what are you doing? uh, well we are fine tuning these small cells that improve coverage, capacity and quality of the network. it means you'll be able t post from the breakroom. great! did it hurt? when you fell from heaven (awkward laugh) ...a little.. (laughs) im sorry, i have to go. at&t is building you a better network.

campbell's lawyers argued that texas should not be able to keep secret the drugs used in executions. that move comes after neighboring oklahoma granted a six-month stay of execution to charles warner after another execution in oklahoma went terribly wrong. oklahoma tried to execute clayton lockett with a secret combination of drugs. the attempt failed but lockett died shortly after the attempt from an apparent heart attack. these latest cases brought new attention to who is executed in

this country and the method by which they are put to death. mark early is the former attorney general in the state of virginia. he's now a member of the constitution project's death penalty committee. good to see you, sir. you have had a change of heart. how did it come about? >> i think like a lot of americans i can argue why the death penalty is appropriate. certain crimes are so heinous it's easy to think one should lose their life. the problem in my experience after overseeing 30 executions as attorney general and visiting so many prisons around the country, it's not in the concept of the death penalty. it's in how we carry it out. it's a flawed process, even today. >> there are some who would argue that there should be as much scrutiny paid to the fact that we even carry them out. you oversaw 30. are you certain all 30 folks you executed were guilty?

>> i don't think anybody is certain. we try to get it right. it's called irreversible error. if you get a death penalty case wrong you continue go back and redo it. all the time on tv we witness these wonderful pictures of people being released from prison after 15, 20 year whence they were wrongly convicted. if that happens in a death penalty case it's irreversible. you can't do that. we have had over 150 people on death row in the last 10 to 15 years exonerated, many of them based on eyewitness testimony that was unreliable or science that was unreliable. >> your report questions the use of the three-drug combination. >> right. >> the one drug method is also preferred over the three-dug method by veterinarians for euthanizing animals because the one-drug method is more humane and less prone to error.

what's the rationale for using an execution method that even vets won't use? >> that's a good question. it's what the report says. if you're going to have lethal injection it should be one drug approved by the fda. it shouldn't be a veil of secrecy like there is now in many states. we don't know what compounds they are using, what companies they are getting them from. we don't know if the fda approved and often they are not medical personnel. it's just a botched job. that's what we saw two weeks ago which was horrible. you may well make the argument that this person deserved the death penalty. we have a constitution in america that's more important than argument. >> one that prevents cruel and unusual punishment. based on what i have read and folks who witnessed it it was cruel and unusual. texas carried out the most executions in 2013. 16 that year.

then florida and oklahoma with 7 and 6. nine states carried out executions last year. what is the future of the death penalty in this country? >> we think they have to make substantial reforms. the report last week from the constitution project has 39 recommendations. in my own view if we don't make these substantial revisions then we are going to have a death penalty system in this country that's unfair, disproportionate and in all likelihood will be ruled unconstitutional as it was years ago. >> former attorney joan mark earl early. up next, now that monica lewinsky is back what effect will she have on hillary clinton's future? don't turn that dial.

humans. we are beautifully imperfect creatures living in an imperfect world. that's why liberty mutual insurance has your back, offering exclusive products like optional better car replacement, where if your car is totaled, we give you the money to buy one a model year newer. call... and ask an insurance expert about all our benefits today, like our 24/7 support and service, because at liberty mutual insurance, we believe our customers do their best out there in the world, so we do

everything we can to be there for them when they need us. plus, you could save hundreds when you switch, up to $423. call... today. liberty mutual insurance -- responsibility. what's your policy? two things hillary clinton doesn't want to talk about a lot

made the headlines this week. one is monica lewinsky after the form thor intern wrote an article for vanity fair exposing old wounds of her affair with president clinton. republicans forming the select committee to investigate the 20 consulate in benghazi. let's get right to the brain trust. angela rock, beth fouy, peter sutterman, good to see you all on this mother's day. thanks for being with me. beth, start with you. since are you sitting right next to me. monica lewinsky, the piece in "vanity fair." you covered the story when it covers some years ago. you covered hillary clinton as senator as well. it is fair to say that we really did not learn a lot of new information this week from that "vanity fair" piece. this is what i wondered. why would monica lewinsky do this now? what's behind the timing? >> what she says -- i actually kind of believe -- is that rand

paul, senator rand paul, also slated to run for president in 2016 brought it up unbeknownst to anyone in the whole discussion on the war on women, republicans waging a war on women. wait a minute, he said what about bill clinton? he is a sexual predator. right away it was back and suddenly we're doing the 1990s. it was going to come up in some way or shape possible. it is actually good monica lewinsky did it this way now long before the race is under way so we can have this public discussion now long before the election. >> a lot of reports this week say all this article does is reinforce existing thoughts that people have about the clintons, that it is not going to in any way change someone's vote for or against hillary clinton if she should decide to run. in a way, is this really a net gain for the clinton camp, better to get this out of the way now instead of october 2016?

>> sure. it is a good opportunity for them to get it out of the way but i really resent the fact that people continue to brand this as hillary's scandal. this was not secretary clinton's scandal whatsoever. this was actually one that hurt her and hurt their family so i wish that folks would really take an honest look at what happens with infidelity, whether you're in the public eye or not. women who are the victims of it certainly should not have to own it as their own. so, yes, she's married to former president bill clinton but it is also really interesting to see how folks are using this as, well, how will the clintons gofr. we know how bill clinton gofred. we know what her record says but people still operate under the assumption they don't know hillary clinton at all. as a former senator to the great state of new york, as a former secretary of state. they act like this woman does not have her own public record to stand on and her own accomplishments. it is really kind of frustrating. >> they just want to bring up

old stuff. >> always. >> i said "stuff" because it is daytime tv. >> hey. >> the whole monica issue. here's the thing, peter. it really hasn't hurt bill clinton's legacy at all. he has an approval rating literally tied with that of the pope. that's according to a new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll. so we know the numbers are accurate. will the new article have any impact at all on a presidential run should hillary decide to get in the race? >> not at all. and one of the reasons is that republicans are going to have a really hard time attacking bill clinton on his record because bill clinton is the deficit reducing, rel fair welfare redi president they say they wish they had right now. bill clinton has basically the record republicans basically wish obama had. that makes him hard to attack on

the economics, on the policies, on what he did. so talking about monica just only gets you so far. it's not -- it doesn't have anything to do with what bill clinton actually did in office and that's what people care about. >> by then he is a grandfather, too. who really wants to attack a grandpa? let's talk about the other thing making news this week. that select committee that was announced. the committee to investigate bengha benghazi. democrats toying with the idea of boycotting even participating in the committee. is that smart, beth? would it be smart to not even field a member on the committee? >> i have a hard time answering that question. i think what is really unsmart is republicans doing this. the last thing they need to look like is like they're going after a woman. this is a largely male committee and the party is certainly seen as being run by a bunch of men who are not sympathetic to

women. this is to attack hillary clinton. it won't help the party with their image among women. it boggles the mind they're just doing this. once again, they are sort of clueless about this issue. >> peter, i had general hamm on yesterday. he being a good general stopped short of saying that this is the political witch hunt, that we found everything out already that we really can find out about what happened that night in benghazi. how do republicans not make this look like it is just some sort of silly side show? >> well, i think that the select committee is itself an attempt to take this out of side show territory. whether or not that's going to be successful, i don't know. i don't really count on it but they're trying in the ways they can to make this a serious investigation. by appointing prosecutors, people who have investigatory experience to this panel. and so the committee itself is

the way that they're going to try and go about that. whether or not it is going to be successful, i wouldn't bet on it. i'll put it that way. >> you buy that? >> absolutely not. i mean this is the same party that has voted over 50 times to repeal obamacare and they lost that fight. this is the same party that had a chairman shut off the mike of a ranking member elijah cummings during this irs scandal. so no, they have a hard enough time in and of themselves trying to make themselves look legitimate. so no, this isn't any type of -- there's not going to be anything found that's legitimate and this is just a complete waste of time. they should look back as to why they did not fund embassy security and then they shall also take part of the blame and they could shut down this select committee. >> we're going to have to stop there. angela ryan, beth fouhy, peter sutterman. peter, happy mother's day. >> happy mother's day to your wife. >> happy mother's day to all of the ladies who deserve it.

>> happy mother's day, indeed, to all of it. that's going to do it for this sunday afternoon. i'm back next saturday, 2:00 eastern. right now though it is disrupt with karen finney. what do you have on tap today, my friend? >> i'm going to speak to former nfl player wade davis about the history that was made last night in the nfl with the pick of michael sam by the st. louis rams. stay tuned. "disrupt" is coming right back. .yea dulcolax tablets can cause cramps but not phillips. it has magnesium and works more naturally than stimulant laxatives. for gentle cramp free relief of occasional constipation that works! mmm mmm live the regular life. improving everything from booking to baggage claim. we're raising the bar on flying and tomorrow we'll raise it yet again. you're an emailing, texting, master of the digital universe. but do you protect yourself? ♪ apparently not.

when you access everything, you give everyone access to everything about you. but that's ok. while you do your thing... [ alert rings ] we'll be here at lifelock, doing our thing. watching out for things your credit card alone can't. [ alert rings ] and relentlessly protecting your identity. get lifelock protection and live life free. [ alert rings ] get lifelock protection and live life free. woman: what do you mean, homeowners insurance doesn't cover floods? [ heart rate increases ]

man: a few inches of water caused all this? [ heart rate increases ] woman #2: but i don't even live near the water. what you don't know about flood insurance may shock you -- including the fact that a preferred risk policy starts as low as $129 a year. for an agent, call the number that appears on your screen. and you want to get an mba. but going back to school is hard. because you work. now capella university offers a revolutionary new way to get your degree. it's called flexpath, and it's the most direct path, leveraging what you've learned on the job and focusing on what you need to know. so you can get a degree at your pace and graduate at the speed of you. flexpath from capella university. learn about all of our programs at capella.edu. new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community,

that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions. if you mess up, fess up. be your partners best partner. we built it for our members, but it's open for everyone. there's not one way to do something. no details too small. american express open forum. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. thanks for disrupting your afternoon on this mother's day. i'm karen finney. and this hour, a historic moment in america sealed with a kiss. and the gop continues to raise money offer of the death of four americans and a crisis overseas continues to escalate. >> the st. louis rams select michael sam, defensive end, missouri. >> this is going to drag the nfl into the 21st century. >> this is the moment where michael sam got the news that he was going to be a member of the st. louis rams. >> a lot of cheers and a kiss from his boyfriend? >> in he