my name is chris jordan, and i used to be a photographer and now i'm some kind of digital photographic artist. this is called "plastic bags 2007." this is 60,000 plastic bags, which is five seconds worth of plastic bag usage in the united states. that's five seconds worth of plastic bags. all of my work is meant to evoke a whole bunch of different layers of discord between the attraction and repulsion that we feel toward our consumer habits and our consumer lives. it's like there's this tremendous power in our culture that has a dark side to it that has surfaced lately. and that's kind of what i'm working with. i find myself walking these lines. like i might be an artist, but i also might be an activist. and i'm trying to be both in a way that honors both and doesn't stray too far into either. there's this contrast between the beauty in the images and the underlying grotesqueness of the subjects. and it's something that i put there intentionally. because i was using beauty as a seduction, to draw the viewer in to sit through the piece long enough that the underlying message might seep

chris slizcilli in washington. andrea mitchell is traveling with the president in jordan where syriand a the peace process remain the key topics. >> hi, chris, in jordan president obama comes to see king abdullah and reassure a king surrounded by the arab spring, by uprisings on all fronts and most importantly by the widening civil war next door in syria with the refugee crisis. refugees coming across the border to jordan. the u.s. will probably offer some more help on that front. and other problems as well, the increasing fear that the asat regime could duly use chemical weapons against its own people. opening up a possibility that the weapons could get into militant hands. i'm told by sources that the u.s. and israel both have military plans to stop that from happening. and that of course could engage the u.s. for the first time and israel in the civil war, in syria. so there are a lot of things for the king and the president to talk about. but fundamentally, the king wants to know whether president obama's visit to israel and the west bank means that this administration is ready to engage in trying to restart the

ivan watson is in jordan and chris lawrence is live at the pentagon. sarah, how did the developments in syria affect the president's agenda on this trip? >> reporter: well, not much. this has been a major concern already for both the obama administration and netanyahu's administration. we do know according to a senior israeli official that i spoke with on condition of anonymity that this issue of the united states being asked to strike syria if certain things such as some of their weapons, missiles in particular are heading over the border to hezbollah, an organization in lebanon that the united states and israel both consider a terrorist organization. that is going to be something that is going to be on the agenda in the discussions. but this chemical weapon issue is one that they were going to be talking about beforehand. they also have talked about the difficulties if you speak with folks that know about how to get rid of some of the weapons, the difficulties of getting rid of chemical weapons, you cannot just do an air strike. you have to go in on

jordan tomorrow. coming up next, it's chris jansing and company. ur digestive balance in sync? try align.commended probiotic that helps maintain digestive balance. ♪ stay in the groove with align. ♪ need help keeping your digestive balance in sync? try align. it's a probiotic that fortifies your digestive system with healthy bacteria 24/7. because your insides set the tone. stay in the groove with align. because your insides set the tone. [ dog ] we found it together.upbeat ] on a walk, walk, walk. love to walk. yeah, we found that wonderful thing. and you smiled. and threw it. and i decided i would never, ever leave it anywhere. because that wonderful, bouncy, roll-around thing... had made you play. and that... had made you smile. [ announcer ] beneful. play. it's good for you.

chris: welcome back. david, tell me something i don't know. >> the united states has been secretly training syrian rebel forces in jordan, but there is one big. the syrian rebels don't want to leave syria to get the training, which means that to make this program work, it's a good program, the u.s. is going to have to go inside syria. chris: ok. >> wow, that's good. i can't top that. as you know, the g.o.p. has conducted an auto autopsy to try to figure out what happened in the last election. all they have done is successfully identified that they need more hispanics and otherwise kickoff the conservatives within the party. chris: how much did that cost to figure that out? >> you're going to give me grief about this. at the white house they are talking about barack obama taking a big trip to africa, this year or next year. there is a lot of debate about which country he picks. chris: i would love to go. >> the white house won't talk about it officially. the president has commissioned a speech on the targeted killing policies which is a source of controversy. personally, it won't change that much. it's an effort to have more transparency. chr

chris soliza video? chuck todd is in the middle east with the president. he'll join us live in just a moment. president obama is preparing to head to jordan, the second to last stop on his middle east tour. before he left he spent the morning touring some of the powerful cultural landmarks. he laid wreaths at the grave of yitzak rabin the israeli prime minister assassinated in 1995. president obama also visited the holocaust memorial joining president perez and prime minister netanyahu as well as secretary of state john kerry. he laid a wreath in the hall of remembrance then offered these thoughts. >> this accounting of horror is in the end a source of hope. for here we learn that we are never powerless. in our lives we always have choices. to seccumb to our worst instincts or to summon the better angels of our nature. >> the president made a quick trip to bethlehem to visit the church of the nativity with palestinian president mahmoud abbas and is now preparing to head to ahman, jordan. nbc's chuck todd traveled ahead of the president and joins me live now from there in ahman. chuck, i can only imagine the university of miami cheerleader

jordan also. bush's last trip came in november of 2006. >>> enough with the real news. let's gather around the water cooler for your political version of kids say the darnedest thing. new jersey governor chrisistie has been touring the state this week answering questions about the fallout from hurricane sandy. he stopped by a kindergarten class on the jersey shore. he took a few questions from the 5-year-olds. pretty harmless, right? >> yes? >> did you come here in a limo? >> no. i came here in something better. i came in a helicopter. >> yes? >> did you park it in the street? >> no, i parked it in a big field by the tennis court. >> do you get to meet the president? >> yes, i got to meet the president a bunch of times. i used to know how many times in my head i met the president. but now i met him so many times that i can't keep count. >> is the president's wife in shanting? >> yes, actually. she was. she is very smart. she is very nice. >> do you do math? >> do i do math? i try not to. i have a calculator that helps me with my math and a state treasurer. >> what's your budget? >> what's my budget? >> let's see, the budget right now is about $32.9 billion. >> whoa! >> i saw you on tv. >> d

chris from the 49ers have that comment that was remarkable. the second thing is people who speak out, what about michael jordan refusing to speak out to be criticized and he did not want to take a political stand? >> terrific question. please say your name even if it is fake so i can address you. [laughter] >> if you did not hear about this, the super bowl has a thing called media day where people could ask questions of athletes and one of the people was the spawn of how word stern -- howard stern. and he said have you feel about having a gave teammate and he said he would not except having had a teammate. but it was not just chris but other players also rejected the idea they had been part of an actual video they did. and they said i was never part of that. that is the only time dan savage has taken its video down from the its on negative it gets better project. it was very ugly and it would be ugly no matter what team but to choose to say homophobic things can never be seen as a good career move for about and it was very interesting. number one baltimore ravens was in the percentage of residents is the was not even in the top-10. it is hard to ro

you have deondre jordan stunning his clippers teammates with this move, a one-handed dunk off an alley-oop pass from christhe icing on the cake for the clippers who ran away with the win. 129 points to the detroit pis n pistons. >>> aspirin usage may be lowering the risk of developing deadly skin cancer in women. researchers found those who use aspirin had a 21% lower risk of developing melanoma. and according to this study, the longer they took it, the lower their risk. >>> in the middle of the night, they flee, some bleeding, all of them crippled with exhaustion. i'm talking about syrian refugees, fleeing the bloodshed in droves. now a dire warning. >> in december we have 3,000 refugees as an average per day. in january, we had 5,000. in february, we had 8,000. >> staggering escalation here. and it gets worse. the number could double if not triple by the end of the year if the civil war wages on. cnn's nick payton walsh is live in beirut. and, nick, you have been meeting with these refugees inside some of these camps. what do they tell you? what is life like for them? >> reporter: incredibly hard. o one