. >>> michelle obama tweeted her support for robin roberts over the weekend saying, robin robert, i'm so happy for you and amber. you continue to make us all proud. >>> and speaking of the first family, president obama loves to sit down and binge watch his favorite tv shows. >> what's on his list? >> this is it. "the new york times" list has his favorites. "house of cards," "breaking bad," "the wire," "modern family," "parks and rec." >> seems pretty mainstream. >> good taste. i'm veronicaday la kruz. this is "early today." we hope it's just the first stop of your day on nbc. >>> leading the news on nbcnews.com, cholesterol levels linked to early signs of alzheimer's. a new study finds low levels of bad ldl cholesterol are linked to lower levels of protein deposits in the brain associated with alzheimer's. >>> and in "usa today," i'm not even going to try to pronounce this, but this hawaiian woman's 36-character last name finally fits on i.d. a campaign to get her full name on her i.d. card prompted hawaii's transportation department to expand the number of characters that can appear.

." >>> speaking of the first family, michelle obama tweeted her support for robin roberts coming outcebook over the weekend, saying "robin roberts, i'm so happy for you and amber. you continue to make us all proud." . >>> and a gallup poll found president obama is the most admired man in america and former secretary of state hillary clinton is the most admired woman. >>> hillary's husband, bill, has an appointment at new york city hall at noon on new year's day. he's going to lead the swearing-in ceremony for bill de blasio, who will become new york city's first democratic mayor in 20 years. >>> outgoing mayor michael bloomberg spent $650 million of his own money on campaigning, personal and professional travel, charity, all while taking only $1 per year salary while he was in office. monday he signed the bill banning the use of e-cigarettes in the city, and he heard from a woman protesting his antismoking campaign. >> good people disobey bad laws. >> okay. okay, thank you. we just don't permit smoking in public building. so, appreciate your comments. >> and that's going to do it for

this is what michelle obama tweeted. robin roberts, i am so happy for you and amber.ll proud. roberts joins a cadre of high profile celebrities and public figures who are coming out, but you know, in 2013, is this really news? here to discuss, eric digins from npr. nice to have you on. >> thanks for having me. >> all the buzz, eric, is this news? >> all the buzz. yes, it is news. i think judging whether or not someone coming out is news depends on their situation. some performers who people have always known or suspected or kind of rumored about being gay, that might not be as big a deal but robin roberts is the co-anchor of now the most-watched morning television news show on the network. she's a symbol for the network in a lot of ways so for her to come out, she's been someone who has been very private about her life -- >> her health issues. >> -- other than the way the network covered her struggle with cancer. for her to have something like this to say in this way is newsworthy. >> "good morning america" number one show, family-friendly show, news, feature programm

michelle obama tweet ad picture by jerry susa of her talking to children across the country through thene at the north american air defense command. this tradition began in 1955. a local paper put the santa's telephone number. it was norad's instead. norad has gone with it. this is the third time he has played golf here. traditionally on christmas day he visits troops in hawaii. we'll see if that happens. there is no public or published schedule. with that statement i have fully expended my hawaiian vocabulary. leland: doing pretty good with the hawaiian, doug. we need christmas lights for palm trees behind you. put you in the christmas spirit. ry -- merry christmas, doug. jamie: i don't think ed henry spoke hawaiian when he was there. leland: that was very impressive. jamie: he always goes the extra mile. politics is not making a break this christmas. the president may be golfing but lot of people are starting to beer up for the mid term elections, that is right, next year. obamacare could make some races much more competitive. already we have some front-runners for the race for the wh

after he died, michelle obama tweeted we will forever draw strength and inspiration from nelson mandela's, kindness and humility. bill clinton tweeted a picture and wrote, "i will never forget my friend madibaa," use the affectionate name by which mandela was known to his followers. mandela wasn't always on the u.s. side. in the 1980s president reagan supported apartheid regime, and eastern as protests broke out an college campuses across america demanding the u.s. punish the regime. ♪ ♪ free mandela >> reporter: "free nelson mandela" became a popular anthem for black and white americans. finally, congress, including key republicans, overrode reagan's veto imposing the economic sanctions that helped break the apartheid regime. that set the stage for mandela's triumphant visit to washington as his country's president. >> we are to one another brother and sister, a united rainbow nation that rises from the bond a age. >> bono, mandela's great friend wrote in the end nelson mandela showed us how to love, not to hate, not because he surrendered to rage or violence, but because he learned love

she got a tweet from first lady michelle obama.he been open about her health challenges, but she had not spoken ability her sexuality in her past. she mentioned her longtime girlfriend amber. and she said, i'm so happy for you, amber. you continue to make us all proud. she signed it m.o., as folks may know, when the first lady or president signed it m.o. for the first lady or b.o. for the president, that means they personally sent the tweet out. that's it for me. i'll be back at 5:00 eastern on "the situation room." the "newsroom" continues right now with brooke baldwin. >>> jim acosta, thank you so much. great to be with you on the last monday of this year. and we begin with some of the biggest stories in a flash. we call it rapid fire. roll it. here's what's happening right now, waiting for a helicopter rescue in icy antarctica. ice breakers have been trying to reach the 74 people trapped on a research ship. earlier today, an australian ship had to turn back and abandon its effort, much more on the ongoing rescue effort in a coup

. >> first lady michelle obama took to twitter to show her support for robin roberts who came out on a face book page over the weekend. mrs. obama sent out this tweeto happy for you and amber. you continue to make us proud. roberts battled a rare disease and thanked her long time girlfriend amber in her post. it marks the first time they acknowledged their ten year relationship. >> coming up, an update on breaking news that is a ruling a judge issued moments ago concerning jahi mcmath's life support. >> m rusha, two deadly terrorist attacks in two days. what does it mean for winter olympics? >> new plan to rescue passengers and crew of that ship stuck in ice. plus. >> do you have plans for new year's eve? if you don't i've got last to thoseworried...ited... poked and prodded... taken risks... and lived in a state of "what if?"... welcome to a new state... of health. welcome to covered california. the place to find quality, affordable coverage. financial help for those in need. and nobody can be denied because of a pre-existing condition. enroll now at coveredca.com. check it out. learning's fun now. yeah, back in our day, we didn't have u-verse hig

tweets per minute. this from michelle obama.ple of moral courage, kindness and humili humility. and charlize theron. my thoughts and love go out to the mandela family. rest in peace, madiba. you will be missed. but your impact on this world will live forever. hear, hear. british prime minister, david cameron. a great light has gone out in the world. nelson mandela was a hero of our time. i've asked for the flag at number 10 to be flown at half-mast. i'm sure a thought echoed around the globe. and this one, we spoke about the impact of nelson mandela on the world. but his impact left this world. and rightfully so, looking down from the heavens. nasa tweeted, in honor of nelson mandela, who died today, here is an image of south africa from the international space station. it certainly looks, from there, from that vantage point, united. >> it was like a global hug last night on twitter. social media can be used for good. and as you said, nelson mandela spent 27 years of his life in prison. we're going to look, now, at those years.

still, first lady michelle obama was one of the first to take to twitter in support of robin coming out, tweetingpy for you and amber, you continue to make us proud. and ellen degeneres was quoted as saying, good morning america, congratulations, robin roberts. and rosy o'donnell tweeted this, only love to robin roberts with the hash tag, courage, as robin roberts told fans, i encourage you to reflect what you're grateful for. sometimes that means putting a face and name to those you love most. randi kaye, cnn, new york. >>> up next, retired racing legend michael schumacher after a skiing accident in the french alps, his recovery next. >>> and also we'll get the latest from the cnn weather center on the new year's eve weather when we continue. there's no secondhand smoke in here... ...and no cigarette advertising around here. there's a reason we know this is really bad... ...and this is really good. there's a reason 2 in 3 people are surviving cancer. and we cannot be silent until it's 3 out of 3. this shout-out is for everything the american cancer society has done in the last 100 years. make yo

still, first lady michelle obama was one of the first to take to twitter in support of robin coming out, tweetingm so happy for you and amber, you continue to make us proud. and ellen degeneres was quoted as saying, good morning america, congratulations, robin roberts. hip hop designer russell simmons tweeted, sending good thoughts to robin roberts #love is love. and rosie o'donnell tweeted this, only love to robin roberts with the #courage. as robin roberts told fans, i encourage you to reflect what you're grateful for. sometimes that means putting a face and name to those you love most. randi kaye, cnn, new york. >>> up next, retired racing legend michael schumacher after a skiing accident in the french an ps. we'll have the latest from his doctors next. >>> and also we'll get the latest from the cnn weather center on the new year's eve weather when we continue. just by talking to a helmet. it grabbed the patient's record before we even picked him up. it found out the doctor we needed was at st. anne's. wiggle your toes. [ driver ] and it got his okay on treatment from miles away. it even pulle

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the national post tweeted barack obama's selfie and chatter with danish pm has critics including micheleeg ferguson. >> president obama is in south africa for the mandela tribute and got caught taking a selfie. look at that. doesn't that make you proud. michele looks really happy about it as well. look at that. [ laughter ] >> most comments were funny and meant to be and as the former russian ambassador told the bbc it's not uncommon for world leaders to use such events to strengthen relations. in the case of diplomacy there's the thing as a working funeral. >>> thanks to both of you for being here this morning. >> good morning, carol. >> so the photographer, his name is roberto schmidt. he took the photo of the selfie. he's a photographer. he said president obama and british and danish counterparts were acting like human beings and makes me sad we're obsessed with day-to-day trivialities. he can't believe everybody is making a big deal of this selfie. is he right, john? >> yes. how dare our politicians like human beings. the photographer really did sort of lay it on the line that this i

tweets here. to which john kerry added, between us, we've sold 30 million. you're watching msnbc. >>> first lady michelle obamaoined -- craig? >> that was stupid. >> that was me on steve kornacki's show this morning. the game is called "against the clock." it went downhill from there. >> 200-point toss-up question, the creator and designer of this firearm which has killed more people than -- david? incorrect. of this firearm which has killed more people than any other firearm in the world? >> ak-47. >> that's correct. craig, bonus question, name that creator and designer of the ak-47? >> what did you just say his name? >> i'm not telling. >> we can't accept that. >> i lost. i finished third. called back. a & e lifts its suspension against "duck dynasty" phil robertson despite his controversial remarks. what the network is saying now. >>> and the economy of porn, changing the industry in a big way. what it means for workers and why consumers should care even if you don't watch. we'll ask two former actors next. [ sniffles, coughs ] shhhh! i have a cold with this annoying runny nose. [ sniffles ] i better take s