before and that raises expectations of how they're going to do in every single contest next week. "first look" is up next. it's st. patrick's day. right now, donald trump warns there could be riots if he does not get the gop nomination. meanwhile, the republican led senate doubles down on a pledge to block president obama's supreme court pick. nike may be changing the way we wear shoes forever. plus, old blue eyes' son frank sinatra jr. has died. and president obama reveals his bracket busters and so much more. "first look" starts now. well, hello. i'm betty nguyen. president obama has picked merrick garland as his next supreme court justice. >> i have selected a nominee who

is widely recognized not only as one of america's sharpest legal minds, but someone who brings to his work a spirit of decency, modesty, integrity, even handedness and excellence. >> garland, a federal appeals court judge is known for his more centrist and moderate views. he has the support of seven current gop senators including orrin hatch who said his intelligence and his scholarship cannot be questioned. garland is a former prosecutor who led the prosecution of oklahoma city bomber timothy mcveigh and unabomber ted kaczynski as well as the olympics bombing. his confirmation will not be smooth sailing. >> let's let the american people decide. the senate will appropriately revisit the matter when it considers the qualifications of the nominee the next president

nominates. >> nbc's tracie potts joins us with more. what's the issue over the nomination? >> reporter: basically he's caught in a showdown between capitol hill and the white house. less than 24 hours after that nomination, -- >> the importance of hard work and fair dealing. >> reporter: a handful of republican senators have agreed to meet with the president's supreme court nominee on capitol hill today. the white house is encouraged. >> that's a good thing. there's a constitutional responsibility that members of the united states senate have to consider the president's nominee to fill a vacancy on the supreme court. it's as simple as that. >> reporter: chuck grassley, head of the senate judiciary committee may meet with garland in april after the break. others are undecided. >> if i do meet with him, it may not be a good use of his time because i'm not going to change my position because it's based on the principle. >> reporter: the senate's top

republican spoke with garland by phone, but says he won't meet face to face. in a new op-ed, mitch mcconnell calls waiting for the next nominee a fair and reasonable compromise. the house speak agrees. >> the president has every right to nominate whoever he wants to, but the senate has every right not to act on that nomination. >> reporter: this afternoon, senate democrats will rally outside the supreme court urging republicans to act. >> if merrick garland can't get bipartisan support, then nobody can. >> have the guts, the guts, to vote yes or no. >> reporter: but for now, republicans vow no hearing, no vote. and now we're hearing from the nra the national rifle association. they they strongly oppose this nomination after their review of judge garland's record on the second amendment. betty? >> all right, thank you. influential democratic senator elizabeth warren was not

shy about her opinions about the republican colleagues. >> what that diring with the supreme court is unprecedented but i have to say the republicans in the senate have been building this for a long time. because they have clearly given in to the extremists in the party. when you have given in your extremists like that, when the whole animating of energy of the united states senate is in effect to try to deny the legitimacy of the president who is democratically elected, the legitimacy of what's called for in the constitution means they really have just gone the extremist route and senate republicans having picked this position that says we're not doing to even hold hearings and a vote on a vacancy in the united states supreme court basically for a year. this is really pretty stunning. >> let's turn now to the race

for the white house with hillary clinton and donald trump edging closer to securing the nominations. they are now both setting their sights on each other. nbc's andrea mitchell has more. >> reporter: game on. hillary clinton and trump going after each other as though they were already their party's nominees. trump firing off this instagram video. ridiculing her as a weak commander in chief against putin and isis showing her barking like a dog. as she told a joke a on the campaign trail. after clinton ridiculed trumper in victory speech. >> our commander in chief has to be able to defend our country, not embarrass it. >> reporter: clinton's strategy don't get in the mud with trump as some of his republican rivals did. go after him on policy, on immigration, the ban on muslims, embracing torture. highlight how he dodges

questions about foreign policy on "morning joe." >> who are you consulting with consistency so you're ready on day one? >> i'm speaking with myself number one, because i have a very good brain and i have said a lot of things. but the primary consultant is myself. and i have -- you know, i have a good instinct for this stuff. >> reporter: clinton's campaign spokesman telling me -- >> the contrast will be clear on issues of who supports pay equity for women and who supports defending the president's executive actions on immigration. >> reporter: the risk, trump's ability to make his rivals play defense. he is ready to hit clinton hard. >> frankly, hillary is a disaster by the way, you know that. look, she's guilty. we have numerous polls that show me beating me easily and i haven't started on her yet. >> that was andrea mitchell reporting. clinton needs to win 35% of the remaining delegates to secure the nomination and while trump

who has needs 55%. if it does come down to the contested convention for the gop, former speaker of the house john boehner says he would support current speaker, paul ryan, for the nomination. but a boehner spokesman has clarified the comments, he supports john kasich. his off the cuff comments this morning are if no one is able to secure the nomination and meanwhile, nikki haley has switched her allegiance to ted cruz. governor haley previously endorsed senator marco rubio. another endorser, james imhoff has switched to john kasich. this is the first from outside his home state of ohio. not to be outdone though, donald trump picked up the endorsement of florida governor rick scott who says it's time to quote accept and respect the will of the voters and coalesce behind

trump. we do have some sad news to report today. frank sinatra jr., the son of legendary actor and singer frank sinatra has died. ♪ ♪ start spreading the news, i'm leaving today ♪ ♪ i want to be a part of it new york, new york ♪ >> sinatra followed in his father's footsteps as crooner and eventually worked for old blue eyes himself. when he was 19, he was kidnapped at gun point from a lake tahoe thole. his family paid $240,000 ransom and the kidnappers were captured. he i can't his father's spirit alive by performing his songs. his family says he died of cardiac arrest in florida. his sister nancy sinatra said,

sleep warm, frankie. in other news a colorado convenience store clerk is being hailed a hero for saving a woman's baby. surveillance video shows the woman checking out with her infant. she talks to the cashier and then appears to become disoriented. >> i grabbed the baby's arm. she started to sway. she wouldn't answer me. she was just like lost in space. so i thought i better take the baby, something doesn't feel right. and then right then she started to fall. >> quick thinking on that cash years part. after calling 911 for the woman's seizure, she says she feels bad that she didn't catch the woman. it was a mind blowing reunion at a naval air station in san diego. 1 1/2-year-old dog that fell off a fishing boat has been found. she was presumed dead after a week-long search but somehow luna managed to make it ashore and was spotted by the navy on tuesday. the pup is now back with her

family and other than being undernourished she is said to be in good spirits. of course she is. got that tail wagging. all right. let's take you to some sports now. we are down to 64 after the first four, the final first four, cinderella teams so far is 15-19, holy cross, the crusaders held off southern university. they will advance to play number one seed oregon in the first ncaa tournament victory in 63 years. and then it was michigan taking on tulsa for the last slot. the wolverines pull ahead. president obama fills in his annual brackets for the ncaa. >> pick carolina, they win. two other times in your presidency for kansas, they did not win. because they won the year before. >> yes. >> when you were running for office in '08. what do you do here? >> bill self owes me. i'm putting kansas if here.

coach, i'm just teasing, i'm not putting pressure on you. >> i think that's a bit of pressure. that's the third kansas pick of his presidency and they didn't win either time. to curry. curry had 34 as golden state crushed new york 121-85. a big announcement from michelle obama. and the shocking scene at a medical marijuana dispensary. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. hi i'm kristie and i'm jess

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well, welcome back to "first look." we are watching a nuisance type snow now in the northern portions of the great lakes. maybe something worse than that at the end of the forecast, stay tuned for that in a second. but here's the snow up around marquette. also duluth. a little bit in northern michigan. st. patrick's day looks nice.

a lot of the big parades are looking good. chicago you're fine. a little cool. new york parade, 54, no complai complaints. maybe a few storms in mow peel at 72. overall, there's that 54 in chicago today. should be great for your parade. the only stormy weather we'll have is in texas, down along the gulf coast where we could have some thunderstorms and some hit and miss showers. now, we'll have a coastal storm sunday into monday. sunday night is when we kick into spring. this is the snow forecast for our american model. maybe clipping coastal areas and maybe in new england and clobbering maine. here's a look at the european computer model, this has a significant snowstorm. remember, this is not a forecast. this is just what our models are telling us 3 1/2 days in advance. there's the possibility, betty, for a significant snowstorm sunday night into monday in new york. >> no. no. make it stop. >> flowers are out, the trees are start -- the buds are out.

stay tuned. three days away. >> let's hope all the models are wrong. okay, thank you. we do have some shocking video that could be hard to watch this morning. a room burst into flames at a new mexico medical marijuana dispensary. look at that. one worker had to run through the blaze to get out. that fire left two men with third degree burns. the video appears to show the works extracting thc using butane. osha fined them more than $13,000. at south by southwest first lady michelle obama ruled out one career possibility. >> i'm going to continue to work with our young people all over the world. not as president. i will not run for president. no, no, not going to do it. >> you heard it right there. mrs. obama says her daughters have had to deal with the pressures of being the children of a president. check out this video released by the canadian court, two inmates escaped via, yep,

helicopter. that chopper dropped a rope, but the prisoners were unable to climb up and it flew off with them dangling off of it. they were captured hours later. "scrambled politics" is coming up next. 17 minutes past the hour. and mouthwash. but she's a dentist so...i kind of have to listen. she said "jen, go pro with crest pro-health advanced." advance to healthier gums... ...and stronger teeth from day one. using crest toothpaste and mouthwash makes my... ...whole mouth feel awesome. and my teeth are stronger too. crest-pro health advanced... ...is superior to colgate total... ...in these 5 areas dentists check. this check up? so good. go pro with crest pro-health advanced. mom's right...again! with extraordinary offersmance saon the visionary ls, the generously appointed es and the new, eight-passenger lx. ♪ this is the pursuit of perfection.

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specifically, relief from diarrhea and abdominal pain associated with ibs-d. do not use xifaxan if you have a history of sensitivity to rifaximin, rifamycin antibiotic agents or any components of xifaxan. tell your doctor right away if your diarrhea worsens while taking xifaxan as this may be a sign of a serious or even fatal condition. tell your doctor if you have liver disease or are taking other medications because these may increase the amount of xifaxan in your body. tell your doctor if you are pregnant, plan on becoming pregnant, or are nursing. the most common side effects are nausea and an increase in liver enzymes. if you think you have ibs with diarrhea talk to your doctor about xifaxan. here's your st. patrick's day dish of "scrambled politics."

oddsmaker website has the latest odds for those who will most likely be the vp candidates. topping the democratic list, julian castro and senator tim kaine. senator elizabeth warren and secretary of labor tom perez are at 7 to 1. look who has 66 to 1 odds, former president william jefferson clinton. while governor john kasich has the 5 to 2 odds followed by chris christie, another governor nikki haley has 5 to 1 odds. the economists intelligence unit is out with the most recent top ten global risks and a donald trump presidency makes the list saying if elected it could disrupt the world economy, increase the possibility of an islamic terror attack. the economists gave it a risk assessment of 12 out of 25. that is the same as that of the rising threat of the jihadi terrorism attack. ted cruz opened up to "us

weekly" and the 25 things you want know about me revealing some fun, personal tidbits like this. the time he was bitten by the octopus on the beach. and he has a nickname the green bomb. and he is on level 350 of candy crush. really? he plays that game? and his favorite food is cheese. but he hates avocados. well, trump won four out of five contests for the republicans on tuesday. but jimmy fallon does not think he minds. >> donald trump won every republican state primary last night, except for ohio. which went to john kasich. trump didn't seem to mind since the word ohio is full of zeros. >> that's your morning dish of "scrambled politics." 21 minutes past the hour. roll call columnist jonathan allen joins me. good to see you. it has been a while. >> good to see you, betty. >> let's talk donald trump, shall we?

>> what else? >> exactly. well, he's warning though, this is kind of a shock -- kind of shocking if he doesn't get the nomination there could be rioting? is he preying on fears or is he really talking about something that could be true? >> both. and the more he talks about it, more like lit is to become true. donald trump is talking about rioting somewhat from the position of the outside observer, like rioting could happen if he doesn't win the nomination. of course because he's the candidate and the one who's standing up there at the podium and the one who is suggesting that people at his rallies commit acts of violence, he's really courting and engendering the possibility of violence at the republican national convention in cleveland and i think that's pretty disturbing. i think it's one of the reasons that "the washington post" editorial board this morning called on republicans to use their rules to maximum effect as the post editorial board put it to stop him from getting the nomination. >> yeah. you hit on a point that i want to talk about in a little bit.

is that really the kind of the message that trump wants to put out, given the talk between his protesters? >> it's not a winning mess subject and not the message of civilized politics but i don't think for a second that he's sincere him wanting people to think that rioting is acceptable. >> really quickly, trump release and ad showing hillary clinton barking like a dog. some argue this not only out of context, but it is sexist. is this going to hurt him? >> it's funny, when i first heard her do that at a campaign rally, i thought to myself somebody is going to make an ad out of this, probably trump. and the instant reaction this is terribly sexist. so it's a little bit predicta e predictable, but of course any time that you take a female candidate and compare her with a

dog, obviously, that's uncouth and sexist. >> all right, jonathan, thank you for your time this morning. we appreciate it. nike is about to change the way we shoes forever. and the story behind this little twerker. we'll be right back. this bale of hay almost derailed the ranch. when a wildfire raged through elkhorn ranch,

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x1 makes it easy to find what you love. call or go online and switch to x1. only with xfinity. 27 minutes past the hour. mexican officials recovered 19 firearms from the hideout of the notorious drug lord el chapo guzman back in january but it was revealed this week that one of the guns found is tied to operation fast and furious that's the botched u.s. operation that enabled a flow of illegally purchased agains into -- guns into the known

criminals. an suv is right on top of a parked car, look at this, after it ran a red light and it was hit by another vehicle. three people were injured in the crash but are expected to thankfully be okay. and nike unveils the hyper adapt 1.0. what is that? it's just the latest technology -- >> a lot of money. >> self-tying or adaptive lacing for your athletic shoes. this is so cool. you step in the shoe and when your heel hits the sensor the laces tighten. who doesn't want that to happen? >> do you know how much they'll cost? >> i know. they'll be available around the holidays -- >> hey, dad, can i have those shoes, please? here's a look ahead, new york city will hold its 255th consecutive st. patrick's day parade. millions of spectators are expected to line the streets clad in green, of course. this is the first time that gay and lesbian groups can march under their own banners. here's the the video of the

day. while some little piggies go home, this one went to work. this hopefully gets you off to work with a smile. work it. it's betty nguyen. this is "first look" on msnbc. don't forget to like us on facebook. "way too early" starts right now. forget the odds, kasich was the man of the hour. standing tall, there he is. the only one who the possibly stop donald trump, the governor of -- he's gone. and he's gone. [ laughter ] so with kasich swallowed in a storm of confetti, there's only one candidate left who can stop donald trump. and his name is ted cruz. whoo, whoo!

>> oh, wow. preparing for a nightmare, donald trump warns what could happen if he loses the nomination at a contested convention in cleveland. and he has the money, but does he have the reasonable path to the democratic nomination? this morning, we try to figure out how bernie sanders could still find a way to win. and a supreme court nominee they can't refuse or can they? president obama tries to make it hard for senate republicans to shun his pick for the high court. it's 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west. this is "way too early." ♪ good morning, everyone. it is thursday, march 17th. happy st. patrick's day, i'm alex witt. reaction is pouring in from both sides of the aisle following president obama's noti