neil: ron williams, thank you so much. talk about making the grade. report says that better looking high schoolers are getting better grades. and next, a mother says a teacher state to grading kids to easily move my money when i need to. plus, when i call my local scottrade office, i can talk to someone who knows how i trade. because i don't trade like everybody. i trade like me. i'm with sttrade. (announcer) scottrade-proud to be ranked "best overall client experience." ♪ [ male announcer ] the parking lot helps by letting us know who's coming. the carts keep everyone on the right track. the power tools iroduce themselves. all the bits and bulbs keep themselves stocked. and the doors even handle the checkout so we can work on that thing that's stuck in the thing. [ female announcer ] today, cisco is connecting the internet of everything. so everyone goes home happy. >> most of you did well, some of you can do better. what do you think? neil: talk about grading on a curve. kids have enough to worry about. we have an expert here to delve into the psych

neil: ron williams, thank you so much. talk about making the grade.ort says that better looking high schoolers are getting better grades. and next, a mother says a teacher state to grading so i can reach ally bank 24/7, but there are no branches? 24/7. i'm sorry, i'm just really reluctant to try new things. really? what's wrong with trying new things? look! mommy's new vacuum! (cat screech) you feel that in your muscles? i do... drink water. it's a long story. well, not having branches let's us give you great rates and service. i'd like that. a new way to bank. a better way to save. ally bank. >> most of you didell, some of you can do better. what do you think? neil: talk about grading on a curve. kids have enough to worry about. we have an expert here to delve into the psychology. norlly the smartest kids are not exactly the st beautiful. but they were smart, but again, not stunners. >> of people are having a positive experience, we call this a halo effects. they attribute this to someone who is good-looking and they may respond more warmly in the be

syndicated columnist george will, ron williams with the hill and charles krauthammer, author of thingstter. you may have heard of that book. it has been around the block a little bit. >> it gets mentioned every once in a while. >> george, it is just interesting to see the polls. it is apples and apples here at the same time in both presidencies in this contrast. >> the most rivetting number in the poll you just sited was people were asked do you think the recession is over? i think 79% said now that we are in the 5th year of the recovery that began in june of 2009 that the -- think the recession is still going on which shows pandemic distrust and unhappiness in the country so it is not surprising the president is at 43% sand in a number of polls we've seen he is lower. >> juan? >> there is a touch on something very interesting and that is the trust. the trust for president obama in the polls, i think that is driving him lower among independents and democrats. republicans obviously don't trust president obama. and the second thing to say, it is not apples and apples in terms of bush and

say --s just going to ron rappaport, william and mary. just a little teaser for our paper this afternoon. we look at people who are subscribers to freedom works, which is the largest tea party membership group at least. they went very heavily for romney. the more active they were for the tea party endorsed candidates in the primaries, the more they went for romney. i think the dislike of the other party drives this a lot. and the dislike obama. -- of obama. i do not see this move away to a third party. a few people might say it, but i do not see that. aboutthere was this talk when the senator from ohio -- >> portman? >> portman on gay marriage. the tea party people were going to, in a sense, go against him. >> look at the tea party leaders in congress. who have been the most prominent leaders of the tea party in congress, people like michele bachmann and jim demint, who is now at the heritage foundation, ted cruz? they are all social conservatives. they are all pro-life and anti- gay rights. i do not see any evidence that they are liberta

whole apartheid regime what people fail to remember is that former congressman ron dellums and the former congressman william gray. both members of the congressional black caucus introduced legislation a bill to sanction south africa economically when took them fifteen years. to get that bill through fifteen years and when it finally passed by the house and the senate ronald reagan vetoed it and then that. house had to turn around and congress turn around and overrode his veto that was what you heard in part president obama talking about and it's ironic i smiled because the first time that i actually got arrested what we call act of civil disobedience was at the south african embassy. and you know tom. last night i was and i was in columbus and we were paying tribute to rosa parks because the day nelson mandela died that december fifth was the same day that the mother marie bus boycott started the same day and so there was a group paying tribute to congress woman joyce. beatty who represents that history and the thing that was so fascinating is i interviewed last night we did our tribute danny glover who by

whole apartheid regime what people fail to remember is that former congressman ron dellums and the former late congressman william gray. both members of the congressional black caucus introduced legislation a bill to sanction south africa economically when took them fifteen years. to get that bill through fifteen years and when it finally passed by the house and the senate ronald reagan vetoed it and then that. house had to turn around and congress turn around and overrode his veto that was what you heard in part president obama talking about and it's ironic i smiled because the first time that i actually got arrested what we call act of civil disobedience was at the south african embassy. and you know tom. last night i was and i was in columbus and we were paying tribute to rosa parks because the day now some invalid died that december fifth was the same day that the my government bus boycott started the same day and so there was a group paying tribute to congress woman joyce. beatty who represents that history and the thing that was so fascinating is i interviewed last night we did our tribute danny glover who

ron claiborne. >> reporter: the investigation into this week's deadly train derailment, now focusing on this man, william rockefeller, the train's engineer. sources telling abc news rockefeller admitted to "dozing off" right before the 82 mile per hour crash. >> it was a shock to him. he was stunned. he caught himself but he caught himself too late. >> reporter: his lawyer says rockefeller felt well-rested earlier that morning and that he had succumbed not to sleep, but to something called "highway hypnosis" -- a kind of trance-like state usually associated with the boredom of long distance driving. >> people that often tell you they have been hypnotized by the highway are in fact, very sleepy. >> reporter: fatigue is a factor in many transportation accidents. the air disaster outside buffalo in 2009 blamed on pilot fatigue. on our roads, as many as 250,000 drivers nodding off every day. look at this woman, caught on tape, seemingly fast asleep. many victims of something called micro-sleep -- episodes of sleep as brief as a few seconds. your eyes can be open, but your brain is asleep. >> micro sleep is v

ron mott, nbc news, pittsburgh. >> great story to end on for this tuesday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williamswe, of course, hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. >>> right now at 6:00, some pictures from our nbc chopper. you can see the layer of smoke and smog blanketing the south bay and beyond. thanks for joining us here at 6:00. i'm raj mathai. >> i'm jess a aguirre. a day of air alerts, advisories and warnings. you can see from as far north as oakland, to south as san jose, the bay area buried under bad air. >> there are two primary reasons for all of this. a fire at a redwood city recycling plant and the fire that's burning south of us in big sur. that's not all. this is our tenth spare the air day in a row. >> we have live team coverage for you of the perfect storm creating this poor air quality. we begin, though, with chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. >> that's right. we'll take a look right now at the visibility. it's the worst here down toward san jose. that's where it's at 5 miles and/or less. the reason why, not only do we have bad air quality today, but for

ron fournier and susan page. amazon has thought of everything. almost. their plan to use small drones to deliver purchases to your doorstep in 30 minutes or less in the future raises questions. don't worry brian williamsteven colbert are on the case. >> don't take my word for how simple it is when there's this carefully produced short film from amazon. there's the drone picking up the package and flying out of the warehouse navigating through parts of america with no trees, phone lines or building, then landing on your doorstep while your family cowers inside while the blade wielding copter leads. >> big story all over this amazon idea and we've been testing it ourselves, home delivery by drone. whether it's a new book or a dozen eggs, as long as it's under 5 pounds. what could go wrong? if i can impart one lesson to a new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community, that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions. if you mess up, fess up. be your partners best partner. we built it for our members, but it's open for everyone. there's not one way to do something. no details too sma

ron, cornel, terry, thank you. >>> coming up next on "the lead," freezing temperatures, power outages and snow. we take a look at what you can expect whenever you're traveling this holiday week. >>> plus, serena williamsrabbed the honor on the female side. who is crowned the male athlete of the year? 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 pulled strings with the stoplights. my ambulance talks with smoke alarms and pilots and stadiums. but, of course, it's a good listener too. [ female announcer ] today cisco is connecting the internet of everything. so everything works like never before. [ female announcer ] today cisco is connecting the internet of everything. it's been that way since the day you met. but your erectile dysfunction - it could be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph like needing to go frequ

ron dellums in 1972 was pushing for divestment. didn't happen until 1986, but every year was pushing it forth until william gray was actually able toe united states then joined with this great movement. >> i don't want to miss that point at the end, that ronald reagan, of course, tried to override there, right, that notion that in fact we did not have support that these were truly grassroots activism and that, in fact, much of the national leadership of the u.s. wanted to stay invested in the south african apartheid regime. >> that was an interesting divide between the political leadership, at least the administration, and grassroots activists and other activists on the left and really the u.s. congress. the overriding a presidential veto is a pretty extraordinary act. we haven't seen it for a very long time. democrats controlled the house and the senate at that point. didn't control the white house. and pushed through a significant bill that the administration completely opposed. >> it had never been done in foreign policy ever. >> that's right. and the administration was carrying out a policy of constructive engagement in south a

williams from the philadelphia 76ers joins us live. we have to go to the couch. >>> when i first graduated from college and started college i was doing my best ron burgundy impressioning a wall in berlin so he could deliver the news, when it was knocked down. >> real action poison, where do you buy poison? >> he's the most legendary news anchor in history. >> real actual poison. where do you even buy poison, wolf's best. >> wolf deadpan. >>> nba point guard michael carter-williams is long and strong this guy. tough to stop on the court, in contention for rookie of the year but we're praising him for a different reason. why? the 22-year-old carter-williams put part of his salary in a trust that he can't touch for three years. why such a smart move? we should note on average 60% of nba players declare bankruptcy after retirement. keep that in mind. michael carter-williams joins us live from philadelphia, we couldn't have you on set because you got the games coming up and you're too tall and i didn't want you here. so tell us -- >> how are you doing? >> good. >> first of all congratulations on a phenomenal season so far. i'm sure he living the dream. tell us how this