wintry weather refuszes to let go in some parts of the country and more could be in the forecast. and almost every republican potential candidate is in new hampshire today. we'll tell you who is making the biggest splash. after the rant a tv reporter caught yelling at a tire attendant. now many wonder if she should be

fired. we saw the aftermath of a concert. and i saw a sea of trash. and i was like wow. >> shocked into action. singer-songwriter will i am talks about what he saw to help him want to clean up the environment. good morning, everyone. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." here's what's happening, spring storms are bringing snow and severe flooding into parts of the country. and the storms are on the move. up to a foot and a half of snow is possible in parts of the rockies this weekend. interstate 70 near denver was shut down in both directions on friday after a pileup involving two semis, a motor home and two buses. the crashes came as snow and dense fog covered the area. and in the south, the problem with rain and lots of it near houston where rain fell at two to three inches an hour. with that came flash flooding. >> it's bad. i mean water is up to my knees.

>> that creek out there is backing up and it's actually getting deeper. >> well, the slow-moving system continues to push east. and the weather channel's chris warren is here with more on all of this. good morning, chris. >> alex once again there's another severe weather threat. the areas in orange there is a chance for thunderstorms, which can come with the heavy rain and the lightning. but it's the red, the highest probability or best chance for some of the bigger hail, isolated tornadoes and damaging winds. this threat continues again tomorrow. sunday, another active day in the southwest. a threat for severe weather shifts a little bit farther to the east. now including more of alabama, more of georgia and as far north as parts of illinois and parts of indiana. the northeast, though totally different story today. looking nice. it is going to be warm. you'll have a fair amount of sunshine. a few passing clouds and then tomorrow things will eventually cool down but generally for most of the northeast, at least the big cities staying dry.

northern new england may see showers saturday but it's not until late on sunday we really see the clouds move in. also that rain returning, more like monday some areas of the morning commute, others farther to the north. alex, we'll have the evening commute on monday to be wet. >> thank you, chris warren, for that. now to politics in new hampshire where it is day two of the first in the nation republican leadership summit. in about three hours, senator rand paul will speak at the inaugural event followed by senator ted cruz and scott walker in the governor. then 21 potential candidates will be in the state this weekend. nine of them spoke with the crowd yesterday. we'll look at how some sized up their 2016 chances. >> i will have to earn it if i get into the arena. i'll have to earn it. no one is going to give it to me. >> we are not going to fix washington. by electing a president who is from washington of washington or for that matter for

washington. >> i didn't run for the new jersey governor to be elected prom king. i'm not looking to be the most popular guy in the world. i'm looking to be the most respected one. and the way you do that is to put forward real ideas. >> the election of 2016 won't be a choice of what laws we are going to pass or whether it's going to be a republican or a democrat. 2016 is a referendum on our identity. the fundamental question before us is what kind of country do we want to be? do we want to remain special? or are we prepared to become just like everybody else? >> joining me now, benji sarlins. good morning to you, benji, who is getting the most buzz from the speeches yesterday and who is flying under the radar? >> well, new hampshire voters really like to kick the tires hard on these candidates. and part of that is they really like town halls specifically to really grill them. there was no shortage of tough questions for the candidates. so they handle themselves in the

q&a portions stood out more. christie loves the town hall format. marco rubio got tough questions on immigration, including one questioner pretty openly hostile to spanish-speaking immigrants asking why they won't learn english, why aren't they teaching them english? rubio is from a bilingual household. but we also saw some interesting developments here, which is some of the early attacks on hillary clinton that we can expect to see for the next year and a half. so why don't we take a look here at the clip. >> she's the one that literally brought the reset button to the kremlin, to reestablish those new relationships with russia. well, they did reset it that's for sure. they resit us back to free 1989. >> scott group tonight let me know that hillary clinton is going to raise $2.5 billion, which that's a lot of chipotle,

my friends. >> so as you can see there, there are clinton jabs in and out. but still the overwhelming amount of attacks are directed at president obama. it really is as if they are running against him more than hillary clinton. even after she's declared. >> okay benjy sarlin thanks. we are learning new details about the fatal shooting of a suspect by a volunteer reserve deputy in oklahoma. law enforcement experts say and tell msnbc news it is possible robert bates may have made a heat of the moment mistake firing his gun instead of the taser, but that does not resolve questions about his training or why he was using force in the first place. gabe gutierrez is in tulsa with more. good morning, gabe. >> reporter: alex, good morning. the family of eric harris says while they appreciate robert bates' apology, it will not bring eric back. tulsa county reserve deputy robert bates apologized to the family of the man he shot and

killed. >> first and foremost let me apologize to the family of eric harris. i rate this as number one on my list of things in my life that i regret. >> on april 2nd the 73-year-old insurance broker was acting as backup as a broad did camera captured sheriff's deputies chasing a suspect, eric harris. he meant to pull his taser but instead fired his gun killing harris. >> i shot him, i'm sorry. >> this was not an intentional thing. i had no desire to ever take anyone's life. >> his attorneys claim it's a phenomenon known as flip and capture where in high-threat situations a person inadvertently performs one action while intending to do another. >> it is pseudoscience. >> this attorney represents harris' family. >> i don't think it can happen to anyone. particularly someone with advanced training that the sheriff's office has repeatedly stated that mr. bates' has had.

>> a summary shows bates had almost 300 hours of training since 2008 but sheriff stanley glanz said he didn't have all his gun certification records. the up instructor no longer work there is. >> we can't find the records she supposedly turned in. >> reporter: bates flatly denied the report citing multiple sources that supervisors were forced to falsify some of his training records. a spokesman for the sheriff's office told nbc news he believes the training records are true and correct. >> law enforcement that is engrained into him. >> reporter: bates' family says he's the grandfather of six who survived cancer and donated thousands of dollars of equipment to the sheriff's office. >> he made his money working hard. he wants to give back to help people. is that wrong? >> reporter: again, the family of eric harris released a statement. we remain vigilant in spokeeaking

the whole truth, they say. bates will be arraigned next week and will plead not guilty. the white house and civil rights leaders are calling on the senate to move ahead quickly with the stalled nomination of attorney general nominee loretta lynch. the press yesterday landfasted the senate for delaying the confirmation on the nominee. >> there are times where the dysfunction in the senate just goes too far. this is an example of it. it's gone too far. enough. enough. call loretta lynch for a vote. get her confirmed. put her in place. let her do her job. this is embarrassing. a process like this. >> nbc's kristen walker is at the white house for us this morning. good morning to you, kristen. do you get a sense how

frustrated the president is over this delay? >> reporter: alex, good morning to you. you could hear it in his voice, those were the strongest comments we have heard yet on loretta lynch. and he pointed to the fact that her nomination has been held up for 160 days. that is longer than the past seven attorney general nominees combined. the white house so infather rated because there's not a whole lot of opposition to her nomination from lawmakers. she's a veteran prosecutor who has overseen some of the largest anti-terror and anti-fraud cases in new york. instead, republicans are holding up a vote on her nomination because they're having a big fight with democrats on a completely unrelated piece of legislation that has to deal with human trafficking. democrats are opposed to that legislation because it includes controversial language over abortion but it really has nothing to do with loretta lynch. so the civil rights leaders are infuriated because loretta lynch would be the first african-american female attorney general to be in place. there's a lot of pressure on republicans politically. harry reid saying he's going to

try to force a vote. so far those efforts have fallen flat. important to point out, though that senate majority leader mitch mcconnell's spokeperson said, look she'll get a vote but they want to move forward with the anti-trafficking legislation. patience here among civil rights leaders is wearing thin. what is also interesting is that jeb bush potential republican presidential candidate, has said she deserves a vote. that someone who is up for the attorney general should have a vote. so this is becoming incredibly politically toxic for republicans and republican candidates now being asked to weigh in. the question now i think, becomes one of timing and how long the white house is willing to wait. the officials say the president has no plans to pull her nomination. he is going to stand by her determined to try to see this through. alex? >> chriskristen, given the fact that the calendar has support from both sides of the aisle, any idea when this is going to happen?

>> reporter: well, look, i think that you could see this happen in the coming weeks. but again, it really relies on pressure mounting on republicans. we have seen some progress when it comes to the anti-trafficking bill. so there could be some negotiations going on behind the scenes of this weekend to try to move that forward. but republicans have really dug their heels in and so until those issues over that anti-trafficking bill get worked out, it's unlikely that you're going to see her get a vote. but again, because you're seeing the political pressure build up so much i think that there is some sense of urgency behind the scenes to try to work this out. >> okay kristen welker at the white house. thank you. 11 people were injured in fresno, california on friday after a large gas pipeline erupted. the sheriff's department said this occurred along highway 99 halting traffic for three hours. >> we're trying to get to the bottom of what exactly happened. we have multiple agencies out

here right now. but nothing was actually being dug at the time so it's kind of a head scratcher right now as to what caused this explosion. >> three of the injured remain in critical condition. texas is about to become the largest state to allow its citizens to openly carry handguns. the state's house of representatives voted on the measure on friday and it could be approved in a final vote next week adding it to the 44 other states that allow some open carry of handguns. the governor says he will sign the measure. and singer michael buble is facing heat online for a picture he posed to infa graham this week. the photo snapped by buble's wife shows a woman in black shorts in the background but the caption has many up in arms saying he fat-shamed the unsuspecting bystander to read there was something about this photo lu took that seemed worthy of instagram, #myhumps #babygotback, #hungryshorts,

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the oklahoma deputy who says he mistook his handgun for a taser and shot the suspect to death says he had no intention of using the deadly weapon.

robert bates who has been charged with manslaughter spoke to matt lauer yesterday on "today." >> what were you thinking when you heard the shot? >> oh my god. what just happened? the tazeser light is the same on each weapon. i saw the light, squeezed the trigger and realized i dropped the gun. this was not an intentional thing. i had no desire to ever take anyone's life. >> legal analyst karen desoto is here good morning to you, my friend. you have this gentleman, he's also apologized to the family and said this is his number one regret in his life. but what do you make of this case? >> so many issues with this alex. first of all he's 73. and why is that a big issue? because of the mandatory minimum for regular police officers is 65 in most states. >> so retirement. >> right. and that's for safety reasons, obviously. the idea that a 73-year-old man was chasing after a suspect is

so bizarre to me that i don't even know where to start. so there's a lot of liability on behalf of the police department. then there's the other issue about campaign contributions and money he was paying to be a reserve, which is another strange thing that somebody could be a reserve and have a gun as well. so maybe he wouldn't have made that mistake if he just had his taser instead of a gun. he should not be the lead person as a reserve chasing after a suspect. there's so many issues in this case it's unbelievable. >> listen if i learned one thing from talking to you over the years, if you are a defendant in a case you be quiet or shut up. are you surprised went on camera to the nation and talked about this? >> well, yeah because ultimately if it is involuntary manslaughter, it doesn't matter whether it was intentional or not because now we know when it is involuntary manslaughter it is reckless or negligent behavior. you tell me if you are carrying an inherently dangerous weapon and pull out the wrong one, that seems to be negligent at the very least.

so his intent really doesn't matter. and then, of courts you have the liability issues on behalf of the police department. whether or not there's this issue of whether or not his training was falsified, whether could also result in other police officers being charged with official misconduct with falsifying paperwork and conspiracy. >> okay. listen to another pretty horrible story in the headlines this week out of the young woman who was gang raped in panama city, florida. authorities said this occurred out in the open hundreds of people were watching. so what is the duty of onlookers? the good samaritan laws as a rule, what do people have to do? >> i would like to tell you that we wouldn't even have to have laws for people to step in in this kind of disgusting -- really, what kind of children are we raising as a nation that nobody steps in right? a bunch of monsters at this point. but this is not uncommon. this happens quite a bit and is called the bystander effect. good samaritan laws are different for medical professionals and not liability, but we have bystander laws.

the very few states have them for, you know, if you witness a felony. usually it's just for child abuse cases. so there's only a couple states texas, ohio, if you witness a felony, you have to report it. it's called the duty to report. so not a lot of states have them. should we have them? well, alex it appears that state legislatures need to get busy because apparently we need them because we are raising a bunch of monsters that nobody -- as moms i think we can identify if that was our sons standing there -- >> horrified. >> i don't even know what i could say to a parent or to console them if that was their child involved in that. >> yeah. okay. karen desoto thank you for clarifying that on the bystander laws. coming up the new "star wars" trailer has an astounding amount of views in the last two days. we'll tell you how many millions and will it translate into big bucks at the box office? we'll look at the headlines. and later royal watchers are on royal alert as they await the

new prince or princess. we are live in london for the latest. before we go, the dangers of osteoporosis osteoporosis. how to get out the importance on both health. ♪ >> beware of the wheel care. if you don't pay attention to osteoporosis you will end up in one. >> that's a different approach. we'll be right back.

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it is time for the big money headlines this morning. feeling good cruising and star struck. joining me to break it down regina lewis. who is feeling good and why?

>> certainly nobody calls prices expensive but they like deals. of course gas prices. the average american saving $700 this year and projected to save $500 next year. but it is not translating as confident. it's been talking about a lot at restaurants because people are shoring up emergency funds, paying down debt and the variable of health care costs. what if somebody gets sick what would we do? so they are hanging on to the cash for that. job growth fell off in march as we know but unemployment holding steady at 5.5%. pretty good. it's the wage growth that is really holding things back. that's why headlines about raising the minimum wage walmart paying more and of course competition for talent in the tax base are the things that really get this bill in. >> those are things we talked about. if you're thinking about a vacation, that could be a measure of an upbeat consumer sentiment, cruising. >> you're right. and it's really quite interesting. the cruise business.

and the reason it's an early economic indicator is often you book 18 months in advance. you have to have a lot of confidence to do that. and, in fact the cruise business is growing. bookings are up 4.4%. 23 million people will go on a cruise. they are spending more and going a little further, including a lot of growth in the european region. sometimes that might be working around airlines but still, it's growth. and on the ships, alex people eat, drink and spend like crazy. that's up 4.6%. so with that said that bodes well as well as the confidence indicator indicator. >> let's move on to star struck with the tremendous response of the "star trek" trailer. i've seen it. we have to show part of it to everyone. ♪ >> chewy, we are home.

>> yay! i'm so excited. >> okay this is the second trailer. how does this compare to the first viewings? >> well, at 30 million views and counting, and is a robust number, you can't go wrong with chewy and harrison ford. but the franchise is a bit of a handoff. j.j. says he has not been involved and is waiting to see, so the suspense is building. the overall franchise from a money standpoint is staggering when looking at box office numbers, 4.5 billion. dvd sales almost to that level. and i couldn't believe this look at the toy number. 12 billion. that is one of the most profitable pieces of the star wars franchise. >> yeah i actually think i have a few of those in my kids old toy chest. yep, there you have it. thank you, regina lewis, got to see you. still ahead. this sports reporter is

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brit mchenry has been suspended after her rant was caught. >> reporter: britt mchenry is used to be on the camera as a sideline reporter for espn. but inside a towing company office in virginia she is caught barrading the clerk. again and again. mchenry has been suspended for a

week. not long enough many tweeted after the reporter apologized. the #firebritt trending. a change.org petition asking to fire her. but among those who forgive her is the towing what enthat released the edited video saying in a statement, neither the lock clerk nor our company have any interest in seeing britt mchenry suspended or terminated. she is human and errors in judgment can be made in the heat of the moment. the company itself doesn't have the best reputation with the better business bureau. and according to our nbc station in washington arlington police get far more complaints about advanced towing than all other towing companies in the city combined. regarding mchenry the company says, parking enforcement is contentious by nature. irrelevant for many espn has handed down harsher punishments

to other reporters for milder behavior against each other. >> with no education, no skill set. just wanted to clarify that. >> reporter: mchenry may have said it better herself. take the high road and be nice to people. >> so my question of the day for all of you is britt mchenry punishment, too far, just right or not far enough? send your tweets and i'll check them throughout the day. now to political headlines. in three hours from now senator rand paul will deliver remarks at the first of the nation republican leadership summit. he's one of 21 declared potential candidates at the inaugural event. see what he says about marco rubio jumping into the race. >> he is a close friend. and it is what it is. we will sort it all. look, this is -- i'm not a candidate. and if i am a candidate, this is

a long journey. and my -- one of my objectives would be to maintain the friendships i have with people that may be aspiring to do the same thing. i think it is possible. >> joining me is the political reporter for "the washington post." good morning to you, phillip. >> good morning. >> there could have been 23 potential candidates had rick santorum and ben carson showed up this weekend. at what point will the field stem out because we cannot watch debates with 20-plus candidates until august. >> right. one of the things about running for president, there are as few things easier than saying you're thinking about running for president. and a lot of people use it to boost their image, not to name names, donald trump, but a lot of people do a lot of things that say, oh i'm thinking about running for president just because they want to get the attention or want it for looks or to boost their careers. so i think it will thin out fairly quickly once people have to start putting money on the line and start actually forming campaign committees. >> right. what or whom are the most likely

survivors? >> well, i think the top tier is fairly obviously, i would say. scott walker, marco rubio will be up there, jeb bush will be up there. there are question marks. ted cruz will be sticking around for a while. rand paul will definitely be up there as well. i think we will probably end up when it comes times to the debates around seven people as opposed to the 29 million there now. >> did you mention marco rubio? what do you think? >> i did. there's a poll out there, a somewhat iffy poll to show him tied with jeb in florida and jeb made this big thing about calling homeland security trying to hold down florida in the primaries and the general election. and if rubio is running close to him there, that's a problem. again, the poll has the question marks, but it's a good sign that marco rubio can land fairly big in this. >> okay. we'll talk about the big trade deal that president obama talked about yesterday. he scored but there are a lot of democrats against it. so what is driving the divide here? what are the key reasons the

president is for it and some of the key reasons fellow democrats are against? >> sure there's the trade pact itself, the france parter in ship, but now the discussion is over the fast track to allow the president to basically have the congress give an up or down vote on the final deal. he sees that as important because it allows them to negotiate in good faith. his partners don't have to worry about taking it back to congress and congress tearing it apart. the problem is that a lot of the liberal constituencies that make up the democratic base don't like the fast track approval because they have been burned before by some of the trade deals. labor hate this is. hates it hates it hates it. they have pulled funding from the campaigns because they are angry about it and it makes it difficult nor democrats in congress to stand with the president. i think the one thing we really want to watch here is hillary clinton. nasa was passed under bill clinton. and it puts her in a very difficult spot because she's actively trying to secure the

liberal base of the democratic party right now. and this is probably the last sort of thing she would want to see debated. >> very quickly talking about hillary clinton here she'll be in new hampshire on monday and tuesday. looking at your article you wrote about her unwillingness to take risks, calling her the risk avoider in chief, do you think her first week on the campaign trail is indicative of how she will run her campaign? >> absolutely. i've gotten some blow-back from that. it's been a week she's only been there a week but it's not true. she's been out there for a year. she's been doing a lot of tightly-controlled events. she's -- she had this big splashy rollout in the sense i'm doing something different, look at my logo, going to iowa driving this van, but everything was controlled along the way. she ran into a few people coincidentally, but had events with hand-picked folks. people wanted to see, not to be too pundity on this but people wanted to see the contrast with jeb bush who does a good job of talking to people and getting tough questions. hillary avoided doing that and at some point she needs to actually, if she wants to

promote this image of i'm there and will be your president for every day americans, she needs to talk to every day americans. >> phillip, thank you, good to talk to you. overseas to london where the royal baby watch is in full swing. duchess kate is set to give birth to her second child any day now. and kelly kobiat is here with us. we don't know the baby's due date, right? >> reporter: correct. we don't have a specific due date but we know the generic due sometime between mid to late april. so already you're seeing the party decorations coming out. the souvenirs are selling. i mean this birth could happen really at any time. and the royal protocol will look a lot like it did for the birth of prince george. it's all over but the waiting for kate and the rest of us. the only hints about her due date are on the no parking signs outside the hospital. a two-week special event.

it's a royal rerun just like with george the world's cameras will be focused on the window of st. mary's hospital. a tweet and enmail will tell us she's is there in labor. prince george was the first to have his birth tweeted out to the world. this time we'll be anxiously refreshing @kensingtonroyal for the announcement. a girl favorite name is alice. but even the parents don't know. the queen will be first in line to hear the new baby news along with the grandparents and then the world. the rest will happen just as it has for decades. the official paper proclamation rushed to the gates of buckingham palace and the waiting crowds. >> people have been excited about royal babies you know since way before henry viii's time. there's always been the tolling of bells, firing of guns great

celebrations in the streets when a royal baby is born. >> reporter: like with george the grandparents will pay a visit, the new royal and his parent will pose for a few thousand pictures. then it is off to kensington palace where they will all wait for the new royal's great grandmother, queen elizabeth. the big difference this time is big brother george. the prince's parents will soon have two children under 2. prince william recently told a well-wisher, the first is a life-changer. the second is a game-changer. and we still don't know if we'll see prince george at the hospital or if he'll be brought there for a visit or not. his parents, alex have said he's a little bit of a handful. so they may save that first meeting for once they are home and in the privacy of their own home. >> yeah, that would be a good idea. i have two kids and would say that's probably the wise choice. kelly colliet, thank you.

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more than a quarter million people are expected to converge on the national mall this morning for the 2015 global citizens earth day rally. the goal of the rally and performances is to tie the issues of climate change and global poverty together. msnbc is a partner of the global citizens festival. and ronan ferrell is out there on the national mall. what is on the agenda there today, other than a lot of fun? >> reporter: alex witt it is fun. you should be here to enjoy the performances. usher performing no doubt, mary j. blige, a lot of big names organized around big important global issues. this is coinciding with earth day, which it is but also with

the annual meeting of the imf and the world meet. so a lot of world leaders in town and a lot of world leaders are looking at the issues the artists are chanting today in between their performances and here backstage where everyone is talking about economic stability, making a dent in poverty, maternal health and innovation as a way to crack through some of the economic barriers around the world. one of the artists that is a big part of this is will i am. he's hitting a couple goals with an exciting project pretty innovative. something you haven't seen before. take a look at this. >> i come from the projects. my neighborhood, we washed our clothes and hung them up on a clothesline. if our mom wasn't able to take care of us the next door neighbor took care of us. >> reporter: will i am's next big project is taking care of the planet. >> for one day i was on stage in costa rica after a show and usually after a show we leave. this time we stayed on the stage and we saw the aftermath of a concert. and i saw a sea of trash.

i was like wow. >> reporter: that's how will got the idea for ecocycle. his initiative to take the kind of waste he saw at that concert and turn it into consumer goods from clothes to bicycles. coca-cola, will's partner in ecocycle is one of the corporations talking about taking him seriously. >> reporter: and sheets made of will i am's recycled plastic. >> all hotels in 2016 will have the sheets in the u.s. and in 2016 all these w hotels around the world. >> if you think about the hotels, how many beds are in the hotel? that's just take one hotel. there's like hundreds of beds. and you think of how many w hotels there are in america and in the world. that's a lot of beds that's a lot of sheets. >> taking this waste and not wasting it.

>> reporter: but willi am is also taking this to the schools as well. >> a 3-d printer in a neighborhood that reflects the one i come from turns not a kid into a potential employee of a company that means a job, but an entrepreneur to create jobs. >> reporter: and alex that's exactly the goal here. to create jobs through entrepreneurship. will i am's chief says 30 bottles equals a king sheet. that's a pretty big impact and you're creating jobs. a lot of interesting models will be talked about today and a lot of fun music. you should be here. you're missed. >> i would have loved to be a fly on the wall there at that interview. two great minds.

both of you just so articulate. yeah fascinating. thank you so much ronan, for that. go to msnbc.com to watch live streaming of the global citizen festival including the performances by no doubt, fallout boy and usher beginning at 11:00 this morning eastern. could the length of women's hair in iran tell us something about that society that could lead to dramatic change there? that's next. at mfs, we believe in the power of active management. our teams collaborate around the world, which leads to better decisions for our clients. put our global active management expertise to work for you. mfs. there is no expertise without collaboration.

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iran's president is saying a its military is just for defensive purposes and shouldn't be considered a threat in the middle east. rue haunty also condemned saudi arabia's air strikes. iran sent a letter to the un on friday. meanwhile, there are now just over two months left for negotiators to strike a final iran nuclear deal. the optimists hope it's a first step to stabilization. for pessimists is a step towards war. there is another group that believe something could happen.

joining me now is a professor and director of iranen studies. we thank you for joining us especially this early hour there on the west coast. i want to talk about what you write in part when a country's rulers try to dictate everything from sartorulate style every one of those details become a flashpoint of resistance. the people of iran have learned to turn these restrictions into tools for social and political resistance and change. describe these flashpoints. >> well as you say, everything from the amount of hair a woman is allowed to show in the streets to whether a man wears a tie or not. whether they shave their face closely or not. who they talk to even on the internet. these are all ways that people in iran are defined on a daily

basis. the dictates of a regime that tries to control every facet of life. when you do that every facet of life becomes a focus of resistance. >> i'm curious in terms of the who that is doing this. are the small revelations contained to the younger generations, the intellectual class? >> i think it is far more extensive thangist the young generation. iran is a young society. something like 60% are under the age of 30. they're engaged in this. iranian society is particularly engaged in this kind of defiant act by woman. woman in iran are at the forefront of the resistance i have tried to describe. >> you call something reexpressive tolerance. that's government allowing little freedoms to placate the people away from a real revolution. do you think that's what's going on here? >> as you know in the middle east there is conspiracy

proclivity and everyone tends to attribute everything to a conspiracy as in this case. my sense is the government might be engaged in repressive tolerance. the extent of this kind of resistance is so pervasive and so many facets to it. i don't think they can control it. i think these incremental changes are what we can hope for as a tool for bringing serious change in the middle long not in the long run. >> is president rue hauntyy really the agent of change? >> well i don't know whether he's the agent of change or whether a symbol of the regime recognizing these changes are happening in the society and they can't completely ignore it. whether he is the agent or whether he is the result of it

i think he too, like the regime will eventually have to live with the reality the iranian society, by long shot does not want the kind of regime it now has. iranian society wants to join the international community. i think that's good news for the international community. >> so how long do you think iranian society tolerates the current regime? it's been a long time. >> it's been long time. it's a very brutal regime as i think you mentioned. it is a regime that is very keen on using all its tools of oppression to stay in power. i think the iranian people are trying to see whether they can change this regime without going on the path of a confrontation, the way, for example, the people of syria are confronting their brutal regime. in mr. assad. so i think it's a longer process. but it might be a more peaceful and more enduring process.

>> all right. again, thank you so much for the early wakeup call. we hope to see you again on the show. thank you. that is a wrap of this hour of weekends with alex witt. join me today at noon. straight ahead more smart political talk and up with steve car nacky. okay, listen up! i'm re-workin' the menu. 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™. you show up. you stay up.

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