option. >> i'll defend i'll say. >> will it all come to a head in tonight's debate? and taxing issues as his chief rival for the gop nomination is bogged down in a mini culture war, mitt romney eases in an early release of his tax plan, the same day by the way president obama releases his corporate tax plan. a month later the remains of eight people trapped inside the costa concordia are finally pulled from the sea today. authority have yet to say if any of those remains found are those of a minnesota couple who were on board. and the supreme court hears arguments over the so-called stolen valor after a man is charged with a federal crime for lying about receiving a miller honor. some say upholding the law leads to a slippery slope when it comes to free speech in our country. by the way, it's our gut check.

right now, the "news nation" is following developing news out of arizona. live pictures at candidate rick santorum prepares to address a tea party rally in tucson. that is what you're looking at there. it is, by the way, the very audience that's been eating up the red meat that the santorum has been dishing out over the past two weeks on key social issues. mr. santorum was supposed to start about 30 minutes ago. we'll keep an eye on this event and pass along anything he says regarding these hot button issues facing him. in just a few hours, rick santorum will take center stage with mitt romney, yet another gop debate, the 20th if you're counting. mitt romney is trying to turn the political conversation back to the economy by releasing an early look at his plan to overlaw the tax code. the former governor wants to cut all six current tax brackets by 20%. chief washington correspondent john harwood is one of the few journalists who got a preview of the proposal. john, we're talking taxing

issues regarding the president, as well. i want to start off with the mitt romney plan here. it's out earl. what's behind this strategy? is it the pressure from rick santorum? >> there's pressure from rick santorum but also from economic conservatives who support romney to be more aggressive on taxes. he only called for preserving the existing tax rates, the bush top tax rate of 35%. conservatives supply sirds in particular want to hear the words tax cut to try and jump start economic growth because they believe that would be the result. so mitt romney has done that, cuts all the rates as you mentioned. beginning with the lowest rate of 10%, it goes down to%, top rate of 35 goes down to 28. 20% of 35 is a lot more than of 8. mitt romney is vulnerable to the charge he would be giving a lot of tax benefits to high income people. his answer to that is i will keep this revenue neutral, prevent the government from losing money by taking away from deductions from upper income

people. he hasn't specified those deductions but that's what we'll be looking for in the coming months. >> wouldn't it have been wise to specifies those deductions knowing he's vulnerable and where he was being treated unfairly but he said nonetheless he wasn't concerned about the very poor, he he was concerned he says about the middle class, it would seem to me, john, he would come out more clearly here. >> you got to the pick your poison because all major deductions that would raise a lot of revenue are popular. things like the home mortgage interest deduction and his aides made clear today, we're not taking that away. we may kurb but not taking it away. those are popular deductions and if you get out front and say, yes, this is where i'm going to get that money, that also makes you vulnerable to attack. >> the president was talking about corporate tax.

some have classified it as a smackdown on corporations closing loopholes and subsidies there, john. >> that's right. although we haven't yet seen the specific loophole closures the president would use to get that corporate rate down from 35 to 28 rather. mitt romney made -- took a shot at barack obama's corporate tax plan, his economic adviser glenn hubbard on the conference call i was on called that a full flottal attack on multinationals because the president's proposed a minimum tax for what will corporations make overseas. mitt romney would eliminate taxation on overseas profit from u.s. corporations. that will be a point of contention between the two the if romney is the nominee. >> thank you very much. joining me now, radio talk show host michael smerconish. also with us ab stoddard columnist for the hill. thank you both for joining us. michael, let me start off with the fact that you've got mitt

romney talking about taxes. we're all waiting to see if rick santorum shows up at this tea party rally giving the folks there what they might want to hear regarding social issues. meanwhile, the new nbc/marist poll that shows mitt rom in michigan with 37%, rick santorum with 35%. when you look at early voting, mitt romney is doing well but those people still undecided waiting to vote in michigan and arizona on tuesday, rick santorum is looking good to them. >> i think tonight's debate takes on added significance for that reason. i think rick santorum is gaining such ground among the base of the gop on these social issues, there was really nowhere for mitt romney to go. that's why he's resorted to his economic pitch. i think romney has missed an opportunity to ingratiate himself with independents to the extent he's going to be the general election candidate. in other words, he had an opportunity. he could have taken santorum on

for that will phony theology charge that he threw at the president and instead, you have mitt romney talking about the "secular agenda of the president" pretty much parroting what santorum has said. bottom line, romney did not want to run the risk of further alienating the gop base. >> absolutely. a.b., we have shown our data, i bring in the exit poll information and in pretty much every contest, the very conservative have shown they have very little or no love for mitt romney. so if he had taken michael's advice here, he might be in a worse situation in michigan. he may win the marathon but this sprint, he'll be beat up again. >> it's true. i don't think that mitt romney felt that he had enough of a stand, his standing is so fragile with the republican base at this point in his campaign where he's really losing his grip to try to take rick santorum on from the left. and criticize him for statements he made about birth control or

phony theology or anything else that might incur more wrath from conservative voters now supporting santorum. so he is deciding to change the topic to taxes, reintroduce his economic plan or change it into a new one. this is obviously, again, the hour is late for him to try to come up with a pitch to voters on the economic vote that he didn't make all along and he hasn't been repeating. the thing he talks about the most is himself. obviously his advisers toiled him it wasn't working. >> i should remind our audience, this is the live event with rick santorum with that tea party audience there. going back to the debate, michael, it was right after the debates in south carolina, people were asked, if debates were very important to them and if it had an impact on their votes. for those who said the debate performance was important, they went for newt gingrich at the time when he was actually somebody we were talking about heavily. so tonight, what do you think rick santorum's strategy will be? i think we've seen him be aggressive.

he's not gotten a lot of attention in debates obviously because we were hooked up in newt gingrich's story line and mitt romney and governor perry. i think he's going to bring the fire tonight to the mitt romney. >> i think he will because he's being rewarded for it. as part of your setup, you sort of underscored how he himself is saying that he'll explain everything but he's not going to back away from anything he's offered. your analogy, tamron, is great. it is a terrific sprint strategy. but in the marathon that is the 2012 election, i'm convinced it's a stone cold loser because folks who are fiercely independent look at some of these statements and say, this is not a guy i'd be comfortable with voting for against barack obama. >> let me bring in a.b. to talking about religion. rick santorum has the ash there. clearly he went to church today. that is the hot topic he's been talking about. i want to play what joe score bro said this morning on "morning joe" regarding what he believes is the smart and prudent move for rick santorum.

it is basically sxwroe said, shut up. play it. >> if su are running for president of the united states, talk about how you're going to reform the tax system, how you're going to save entitlements and bring jobs back to america. and if you can't be focused enough to do that, go home. >> a. b., he's not alone. rush limbaugh questioning why rick santorum in 2008 was at a university talking about satan and warning that satan's got her or his eye on the united states. >> i thilt, tamron, you're not going to be hearing a lot about satan from santorum tonight. i think he's going to come knowing he's under fire as the new front-runner. i think he's going to turn every question about social issues into a discussion about his manufacturing plan. and i think he's going to attack mitt romney, which is what he needs to do to try to become the nominee himself and he's going to do it on romney care. you're going to see him say he

doesn't flip-flop and doesn't change his mind or shy away from his positions. what he's doing is asking the government to help the middle class and then step away and let americans have as much of their income as possible and as much of their freedom as possible. that he's a true conservative who doesn't change his mind and doesn't flip-flop. painting a contrast with mitt romney on health care. i don't think he's going to talk about birth control tonight. i know he will be asked. >> i don't know, michael, if he can stay away from the debate there. i don't think he's the kind of guy that will walk away. >> no. >> with his convictions there. i want to play a little bit of what he said in that speech regarding his warning about satan and how he's defending his remarks late last night. let's play it. >> the father of lies has his sights on what you would think the father of lies, satan, would have his sights on. a good, decent powerful influential country. the united states of america. i get a kick out of the media

saying, oh -- and they complain so much about all of these structured candidates, all of these commoditized candidates and how they're all sort of robotic and how they just sort of do things according to their consultants and they complain about it, and then of course, when they have a candidate that doesn't do any of those things, they say, wow, he's really out there. you got to worry about everything he says. no, you don't. because i'll defend everything i'll say. >> and michael, when he referred to the media, he was not including what sarah palin called the lame stream media, whatever she used to say. he actually took on the drudge report that conservative website that is very, very popular. he basically took them on for putting up the audio of this satan speech. so when he's swinging his bat, he's coming strong. that's why i think tonight, i don't see him backing down with the moderators asking him about contraception or his faith. >> no, not at all. what i'm thinking about is how -- here's mitt romney,

according to pew research, a third of evangelical christians say they would have difficulty voting for a more mon. romney could have used all of this as a reason to deliver a stem winder of a speech and say we're not iran, we're not al qaeda. this is not a theocracy, enough already with all of this religious talk in a country that has a first amendment that the protects freedom of and freedom from religion. and romney perhaps could have made a pitch on that issue which i think he's going to need to make. but he's wiped off that opportunity and he's not taking it. >> for the record, our team is listening to this event with rick santorum. we'll bring you anything he has to say that's making news. thank you, a. b., michael. greatly appreciate it. coming up later, i'll talk with politico's roger simon about the struggle republicans are having in finding a nominee. simon says the gop is not just weak, he says it's barren. the u.s. embassies in afghanistan remains on lockdown

after two days of deadly protests following the burning of korans on a u.s. base. what will it take to stop this outrage? there's already been an apology issued. plus, will the united states step in and arm the syrian rebels? that is the question right now. secretary of state hillary clinton is headed overseas for talks on syria's future. i'll talking with nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel. elgin us live. plus -- >> in moments like this, i think about malia and sasha. >> an emotional moment as president obama and former first lady laura bush break ground on the new national museum of african-american history. join our conversation on twitter. you can find my twitter page, send me a tweet@tamron hall. ros] wouldn't it be cool if you trossover? if there were buttons for this?

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the u.s. embassy in kabul remains on lockdown right now after a second day of violent protests over the burning of korans at a nato military base. demonstrators armed with guns, iron rods and rocks have been clashing with security forces at least seven people have been killed. dozens more injured. afghan president hamid karzai is urging thes to yous of protesters to end the violence. nbc's atia abawi joins me now from kabul. we've heard an apology from nato. an investigation is under way. what will it take to end these protests an this point? >> reporter: right now. people are saying an apology is too little too late. what happened has upset the afghan people. they've seen this happen before in the past whether it be by a

pastor in florida or soldiers within afghanistan who have used the koran as target practice. although these where is isolated incidents and the incident that occurred yesterday seemed to have been an accident. apparently u.s. soldiers at bagram air base were cleaning out a library because they felt there was insurgent messages within these books. they didn't realize they were throwing out religious materials, including the koran. but afghan staffers saw what was happening. they took some of those burnt korans showed it to the religious leaders outside of the base, obviously fueling the fire bringing out thousands of protesters yesterday, thousands today. at least seven people killed in that violence as afghans were chanting death to america. foreign bases and installations here on edge at the moment. the u.s. embassy on lockdown and many other foreign embassies as well as compounds on the lockdown because last time we saw a koran being burnt in florida, thousands went to the street and killed seven

foreigners. so obviously everyone on high alert in afghanistan. >> atia, is there any indication they will continue with the protests even tomorrow? >> reporter: unfortunately, that is the worry at the moment. many people do believe these protests will get worse tomorrow and in fact, on friday after friday prayers, we expect the biggest crowds and many more cities in afghanistan. it was after friday prayers back in april that they stormed that united nations compound killing those foreigners. obviously many people here afraid of what may happen in the coming days. >> all right, an tillia abawi, thank you so much. and secretary of state hillary clinton system ramping up diplomatic efforts to remove syrian president bashir assad from power amid growing calls including members of congress from the united states to arm the rebels. in ton eachia on friday, she will meet with representatives of 70 nations to respond to the

uprise package.white house press secretary jay carney said the u.s. so far is looking for a diplomatic solution here. >> we do not believe that adding to the militarization of syria is the right approach. >> meanwhile, an american reporter and a french photojournalist were the killed today in more intense syrian government shelling in the city of homs. american marie colvin was working for britain's sunday times. her grieving mother just spoke with reporters at her home on new york's long island. >> and passion and determination and lived her life that way. >> nbc's news correspondent richard engel joins us live via skype along the border with turkey and syria. thank you so much for joining us here. you know the conversations happening within members of congress in the states about arming the rebels in syria. they are making a comparison to what we saw in libya to what's happening in syria. is that fair and accurate to do

that? >> it is a very different conflict. in libya, in many ways libya didn't matter. it's an oil-rich country with a tiny population, just 6 million people surrounded by desert practically on the mediterranean. and this is a country that has deep international ties. it is connected to iran. it is connected to hezbollah. there is an ethnic division within the country with a shiite minority ruling the country and a sunni majority trying to under seat the government. so a very different dynamic, much more complicated. there was a belief that a quick intervention in libya would betom the government and that a new regime would come in even libya, which is far more simple than syria, has proven to be difficult. the syrian opposition here like in libya is also quite mysterious. a lot of u.s. officials don't

know exactly who they would be arming. there's not a clear leadership. there have been a lot of defectors. but who exactly the defectors are and where are the loyalties of this free syrian army also remains untested. >> is au know, human rights organizations have said thousands of lives have been lost already in the past year. we're still hearing from the administration that diplomatic options are what they are exploring. from your experience and what you've been able to obtain in talking with some of the folks involved in these talks, what are the realistic options at this point, richard? >> i think the united states would like to see a coup. they would like to having pressure on the syrian government and try and find a new group of leaders from within the system. from within the military. from within the political establishment. and not have the to go through a round of civil war. if you throw in weapons into this conflict, then effectively you'ring back and saying well,

we'll let the stronger side win and let the two sides sort it out. the united states and i think many other parties would like to see some sort of transition. the problem is that hasn't happened so far. it's been going on this many conflict for nearly a year. and one side, the opposition, is being slaughtered. you talked about the situation in homs where those twos journalists marie colvin was killed and the people of homs almost 30 through surrounded and they are being shelled relentlessly and running out of food and basic supplies. >> richard engel live for us on the border of turkey and syria. thank you so much for your updated information for our audience. right now the fda is weighing the issue of whether to approve the first diet drug to hit the market in 13 years. doctors say the only thing more effective than this pill they're reviewing is gastric bypass.

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welcome back. right now the fda is considering approving what could be the first new prescription diet pill in 13 years. an advisory panel is meeting to look over new data about the cue nex ca. they rejected it two years ago because it was concerned about cardiovascular side fects. but some doctors say the side effects are nothing compared to the benefits. patients taking the highest dose lost almost 11% of their body weight within the first year.

we'll keep you updated on the advisory panel and what the fda panel will decide. coming up, mystery surrounding the death of a producer for the amazing race". there are reports he was poisoned and found dead in his hotel room in uganda. plus, politico's roger simon says republicans are sighing, not cheering about their choice of presidential candidates. roger will join me live next. there's another way litter box dust:e purina tidy cats. tidy cats premium line of litters now works harder on dust. and our improved formulas neutralize odors better than ever in multiple-cat homes. so it's easier to keep your house smelling just the way you want it. purina tidy cats. keep your home smelling like home.

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that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. free to lie. the supreme court is torn over the constitution alt of a law that makes it a crime to lie about being awarded top military honors. we'll get a live report. developing news, the site of that wrecked cruise ship. italy. eight bodies found just today. then, in new jersey, is new jersey governor chris christie picking a fight with warren

buffett? >> he should just write a check and shut up. >> wow, it is one of the things we just thought you should know. and breaking ground, former first lady laura bush joins president obama to celebrate the new national museum of african-american history. but we begin this half hour with republicans increasing frustration over their field of presidential candidates. in an article in politico today roger simon writes that the gop has been unable to find a candidate saying that "is the field is not just weak, it is barren." what ushers forth from the throats of local republicans is not a cheer but a sigh. roger simon joins me now to talk about his article. thanks for your time. >> thanks for asking me. >> well, obviously, we've had many republicans on and you see them on msbc and michael steele and the west say they're really happy this is a weed out process. this is how you get the best candidate to face off against the president in november. >> well, that's what they say on

tv. that's how it's supposed to work. it's supposed to be darwinian, the survival of the fittest. the strong eat the weak. but we've eaten the weak for quite awhile now. and we're still looking for that strong republican. the race has gotten down to ron paul, newt gingrich, rick santorum, and mitt romney. romney was the front-runner for week after week after week. now rick santorum is. but you find me a republican leader who privately will say, rick santorum is going to be the next president of the united states. they're not saying that. they're saying if we nominate rick santorum, we're going to lose 35 states. >> you write in your article that "mitt romney is hoping that had i party wakes up, blinks once or twice and says rick santorum is really electable as president is what parallel

universe? . the. >> it is amazing when you think about the past few years and how republicans have been salivating to remove president obama from office. they've talked about the economy. they've tried to hit him hard on foreign issues even though we watched as the president walked out to confirm to the world that osama bin laden had been taken out. the list goes on and on. why is it the party could not get it together? were they banking too much on a chris christie or banking that sarah palin would somehow come and raise her fists and bring up the party? >> i think they were banking on what you said, tamron. that many times were so bad, that the president was so unpopular, that the right track, wrong track numbers were so terrible that will obama could not be re-elected. and therefore, it really almost didn't matter which republican got the nomination. but the oldest political rule is

you can't beat somebody with nobody. and the republicans are finding that out. they're finding out that people say, i'm talking about republicans. >> right. >> okay. we don't like president obama. some democrats say that. some independents say that. then they say, okay, which republican can i imagine sitting in the oval office behind that big desk running the nation? they try to visualize that person, and they run into big trouble. >> you know, i played a clip earlier, roger, i'm sure you may have seen with joe scarborough on his show this morning and he goes in on an epic tear on rick santorum basically saying if you can't talk about the economy, you can't talk about the jobs, get off the stage here. how did this get so out of hand or is that even fair? because you do have, listen, i'm from texas, from the south. a lot of people hear that talk about religion and saying that the president is trying to take

away religious liberty from this country. and they like what they're hearing. >> that's the problem with the primary system. republicans, republican primaries appeal to republican activists who are more conservative than the party as a whole or the nation as a whole. same thing is true on the democratic side with the left wing. but this time, we had a frontrunner. mitt romney that so many republicans looked at and said, you know, he's not genuine. he's not a real republican. he's not one of us. so why don't we go with someone who is id logically pure? let's go with a rick santorum and you know, if it's a suicide pill, it's a suicide pill. at least we can be happy with the choice we made even if we don't win. >> real quick i want to ask you, you have those who compare this battle if it is now between a two-pan race between santorum and romney to what we saw with

then candidate obama and hillary clinton. they're saying this is what happened with the democrats. we saw this go to the bloody end with those two. do you buy nel comparison between what we're seeing with the democrats and their primary and what republicans are going through now? >> no, i think the personalities are different. the issues are different. the playing field is different. the money raising capacity is different. i mean, if you accept rick santorum sort of as an underdog for a second here, do you really compare him to hillary clinton in terms of name recognition, ability to raise money, grasp of the issues? it's really hard to do. i don't want to dump on santorum and say he's a bad candidate. >> sure. >> what i'm saying is, if the republican party nominates him and they might, they're taking the economy off the table. just as joe scarborough said. and they're putting social issues, abortion, contraception,

satan versus god. they're putting all of that on the table. and barack obama, president obama is going to be very happy if the economy is no longer on the table. he'll talk about social issues all day and all night. >> right. >> and he just -- to the democrats, all this is music to their ears. >> all right. roger simon, i think you've got some great insight certainly. we'll see what our audience has to say. they've been tweeting us wait ong this conversation with you. the u.s. supreme court heard arguments today in a controversial case involving free speech lies and military honors. at issue, whether congress went too far making it a federal crime to lie about receiving a military honor. the case involves a california man who falsely claimed he was a retired marine and that he even received the congressional medal of honor. here's what his attorney said. >> the issue is whether congress can make it a crime to tell a

lie. and the first amendment would suggesting that congress doesn't get to decide what we can and cannot say. >> justice correspondent pete williams joins us live. obviously, pete, some people hear this and think first of all, how many people lie about having a medal of honor. this goes beyond this. that's why some experts say this could be sliply slope. >> right. blustery day here at the court, tamron. the statute bans not only lying about getting the congressional medal of honor but lying about getting any military award whatsoever. and veterans groups say thousands of people do it every year from judges, politicians, the guy next door. their claim is and some justices on the supreme court seem to agree that this demeans the service of those who legitimately got the medal or demeans public respect for the medal. so there seems to be some sympathy on the supreme court for salvaging this medal. on the other hand, the court is clearly struggling with this. what many justices are wonderinging if congress can make merely lying about this

medal when you don't have to prove harm or somebody lies in order to get a benefit or to get elected or to steal something, if congress merely bans lying about something, what's next? lying about having a college or high school diploma? lying about being a rhodes zl scholar, being an msnbc and thor? that i think is bothering the justices. clearly congress in the past or supreme court has said that congress can make some kinds ever kinds of lies against the law, lying to federal agents, lying to cause somebody emotional distress. the question is can con res ban a mere lie when there's no sign it causes any harm. they're struggling with this, but it seemed like the majority of the court is trying to find some way to declare this law constitutional and uphold it. >> all right, pete, thank you very much. coming up in about 15 minutes, that's going to be our gut check. we'll find out what you think about the supreme court hearing

this case. new developments in the search for victims of a sunken cruise ship off the coast of italy tops our look at stories around the nation today. divers searching the capsized costa concordia have found eight more bodies. sadly one of them is a 5-year-old girl. it is not clear if the bodies of americans gerald and barbara hile were found the minnesota couple is remembered in a memorial just this past saturday. an american television producer who worked on the tv show the amazing race" has been found dead in a hotel room in uganda. earlier reports say jeff rice was poisoned after a run-in with locals. rice's production assistant was found unconscious. police say they'll get more information when she recovers. they're investigating. they don't know what happened here exactly. still ahead, adele's grammy winning album is called "21," but it was just one special finger she gave to producers of an awards show that cut her off and ticked her off.

we have the scoop on what she's saying now. first, there's a lot of things going on today. new jersey republican governor chris christie has said he's heard enough about billionaire an invest ser warren buffett wanting to give the government more money. he spoke about it bluntly. >> he should just write a check and shut up. really. okay? the fact of the matter is that i'm tired of hearing about it. if he wants to give the government more money, he's got the ability to write a check. go ahead and write it. >> and mitt romney's wife has joined the up and coming social network called pinterest. users add photos to a pin board. currently her page has several recipes, campaign photos and patriotic pictures. those are the things we just thought you should know. ♪

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>> debate night in the desert and a fire burning inside rick santorum as he stands by his claim that satan has his eye on america. culture war here we come. economy be damned. plus an all-male panel on women's reproductive rights? we'll ask one of the panelists. regrets, have you had a few? now back to tamron. >> a developing now, republican presidential candidate rick santorum taking aim at the president's foreign policy at a tea party rally in tucson. these are live pictures. he says the president is making the world "much more dangerous place by refusing to confront what he calls forces of evil." >> he'll help the muslim brotherhood overthrow our ally in egypt. he'll help use military force to overthrow a reckless old dictator in libya that was no

threat to the united states. but when it comes to syria and iran, oh, we're going to establish diplomatic relationship with the satellite government of iran and syria. and then sit on the sidelines forever. >> santorum also gives accused the president of refusing to live up to america's commitments around the world saying the president is undermining our friends naming israel specifically. many people tweeted asking why does he have ash on his forehead asking if he's catholic. yes. construction of the $500 million national museum of african-american history and culture is now under way. >> five, four, three, two, one. break ground. >> the ground breaking ceremonies were held just this morning on the national mall. the seven-level facility will be the only national museum dedicated exclusively to

african-american history and community in the u.s. president obama said it will be important reminder of not only the painful moments in time but the joyous ones. >> i want my daughters to see the shackles that bound slaves on their voyage across the ocean and the shards of glass that flew from the 16th street baptist church. i want them to appreciate this museum not just as a record of tragedy but as a celebration of life. >> nbc's kristen welker joins me live from the white house. we saw there will former first lady laura bush. many faces there to mark this occasion. >> reporter: absolutely, tamron. good afternoon to you. president obama also joined by first lady michelle obama for the ground breaking of the museum. this is the 19th museum that will be a part of the smithsonian institution and as you said, it will highlight all aspects of african-american life, art, history, music culture and take visitors from the period of slavery through

reconstruction, the civil rights movement all the way up through present day. curators estimate they will already have about 15 to 20,000 artifacts on hand. some of those artifacts, a shackle that was worn by a slave. another one is a jim crow era railroad car that was segregated. those are just a few of the artifacts. you played that sound bite from the president obama. former first lady laura bush also spoke at that is ground breaking ceremony today. here's a little bit of what she had to say. take a listen. >> the stories of suffering and perseverance, of daring, of imagination, and of triumph are the stories of african-americans. but they're also stories that are forever woven through the heart of the fabric of our nation. >> and tamron, it is expected that the museum will be completed in 2015. tamron? >> thank you very much. hopefully, we'll be there. thank you, kristin.

dell is apologizing for flipping the bird on is taken during an award show. also apologizing award show producersen an we've got big scoop on the oscars. joining me now brian bag that czar from pop goes the week. come. good to see you. this is like the most google i guess thing with adele right now. >> she's fresh off winning six grammys at the brit awards last night, wins album of the year. there's a standing ovation, huge reception and then suddenly this happens. >> i can't believe i'm about to cut off -- i'm so sorry. >> i just say then good-bye and i'll see you next time around. >> so and you could see a little pixellation going on there because she flipped the famous finger. >> she directed toward the audience but that's not the case. >> she did clarify that was for the suits of the brit awards not not for fans. so she had to clarify. she said it was not for fans. she's sorry if she offended

anyone. then, there you see it for the suits at the awards. the brits released a statement because it was very abrupt. >> the producers of this award show. >> they say reregret this happened and send our deepest apologies to adele that her big moment was cut short. there we have it. sacha baron cohen, you know him as many characters. he's trying to make a spectacle of his own at the oscars. the hollywood reporter is saying he wants to go to the oscars as the dictator. >> that's his new movie. >> this character is described as a sex crazed gadhafi meets hussein ruler. so a little racy. oscars try to keep it a little classy. apparently the report claims he is not notified the oscars he's going to do this. there you see him as some of his other characters. >> he might crash the party? >> now that the buzz is out i'm guessing the motion picture academy is going to try and put an end to this. they bar promoting movies at the oscars unless it's a commercial. that's only recently.

>> that would be genius if that happens. >> sunday night. >> thank you very much. good to see you. up next, do you think the law that makes it a crime top lie about having been awarded top military honors infringes on free speech? it is our news nation gut check. [ male announcer ] this was how my day began. a little bird told me about a band... ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn.

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>> time now for the news nation gut check. earlier this hour we told you about the supreme court hearing arguments today on whether congress went too far in making it a federal crime to lie about receiving a military honor. the law is known as the stolen valor act. so we want to know, does your gut tell you, does the stolen valor act infringe on free speech? go to facebook.com/newsnation to cast that vote and take a look at what the news nation is saying about yesterday's gut check. is rihanna sending a bad message to women by teaming up with

chris brown after he was charged with beating her. 69% of you said yes. fred wrote, she's sending is the message it is okay to beat on me and it is not okay. claudia wrote it's her fight, not ours. if she's cool with him, it's no one else's business. i don't agree with you. that does it for edition of "news nation." martin bashir is up next. [ male announcer ] yep that's your mouth. and it's surprising what it goes through in the course of a day. but what's even more surprising is that brushing alone isn't enough to keep it clean. fortunately, you've got listerine. unlike brushing which misses 75% of your mouth, listerine cleans virtually your entire mouth. so what are you waiting for? it's time to take your mouth to a whole new level of health. listerine... power to your mouth.

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good afternoon. i am martin bashir. it's wednesday, february 22 ntd. here's what's happening. ♪ >> debate night. no teleprompters, no written speeches. just rick on a roll. >> see what's in here, what's up here. and what's burning down here. ♪ run boys run ♪ the devils in the house of the rising