0 it is that time of the night for ridiculist. tonight a story of a park in sacramento where a couple of geese live. take a look at them. they're cute, peaceful looking. but looks can be deceiving. because these particular geese, they're kind of jerks. like certain celebrities, it turns out that they get all ticked off when anyone takes their picture. they'll lash out for no apparent reason like some kind of hitchcockian nightmare. >> you're not afraid of these guys? >> whoa! >> yeah, it goes for the vital bits. one intrepid reporter braved the park to get the story. take a gander. >> i'll tread lightly here. there's a certain zone around them where they don't want any people. the only thing they do seem to want is water. >> apparently when these two geese try to go to the pond in the park all the other ducks and geese squawk and flap at them. the other birds are bullying them so they're in turn terrorizing all the people in the park. >> when they extend their neck and hiss, then you know they're ready to attack. i think they probably got traumatized by either dogs or teenagers. >> i'm okay because i know they can't hurt me. they just got these little beaks. >> those little beaks can do some damage. i like to think that geese and people will be able to live side by side in peace. but doesn't look like that day is coming any time soon. exhibit a. >> get, get, get up front! gosh, almighty. crazy ass goose. damn. >> yikes. exhibit b. >> [ bleep ]. >> now, why are geese such jerks? i guess it's because they're always feeling down. still, it's no reason to take it out on the rest of us trying to go to work or kayaking. then you end up on a wild goose chase. that does it for us. we'll see you one hour from now. "piers morgan tonight" starts now. tonight the dreaded s word snowquester. hundreds of schools closed and it's heading your way. if wall street's doing so well, why are you still stuck in neutral? and the death of venezuela's hugo chavez. what it means for america and the rest of the world. i'll ask barbara walters. also a side of the gun debate you may not have heard. parents heartbroken by newtown who say the nra can be part of the solution. a man disagrees but never leaves home without his gun. this guy has a secret to winning. tom coughlin, one of the toughest coaches in the nfl. >> preparation is the key to success. >> plus he's worn out his oscar welcome but she's hollywood's golden girl, kristin chenoweth. this is "piers morgan tonight." good evening. breaking news tonight including a record smashing day for the dow and the death of venezuela's president hugo chavez, more on that in a moment but we begin with a store that's got people nervously eyeing the skies, but with good reason. a monster snowstorm has been dumping heavy snow in chicago all day. you could be right in its path. we're out in the midst of it tonight in chicago. how bad it is there? we're hearing that o'hare saw record snowfall accumulation today. >> good evening, piers, tonight, from the snowy city. it's actually the worst single snowfall since groundhog's day in 2011. here we are. we were expecting 6 to 10 inches. it appears that's exactly what we'll get, 6, 7, 8 inches in chicago and the burbs. this is the type of snow we're dealing with here, it's a meaty, a hearty snow, we in the midwest call this potential heart attack snow. beware if you're out there shoveling. eight inches of the white stuff today. more to come. and that, of course, has created some havoc, especially for commuters locally and regionally. upwards of 2,000 flights were canceled throughout the midwest. 900 of those at o'hare airport, another 240 at midway. good news tonight, midway's main carrier, southwest airlines, are just starting to fly out again. one airline took off at 7:20, and that's the first in a long time. a lot of passengers bottlenecked, and this portends what is now heading to the east as this front moves towards you guys. back to you. >> thanks very much. cnn's alexandra steele is in the weather center tracking the path of the storm. how bad is this going to be, do you think? if you're sitting here in new york, as we are, will it be a huge tub load coming our way? >> no, not for new york. it's a little different. washington will see more of the brunt of it than, say, boston and new york city. it is a heavy, wet snow. it will become a coastal snow. here's chicago where he just was. 6, 7 inches, maybe another inch or two. just snow showers. but what you'll see is the blowing and drifting of this snow around because you have 30-mile-per-hour wind gusts. an area of low pressure. it will move south and east, take this line with it. so indeed, 8, 9, 10 inches of snow through tomorrow. here's where the storm's so interesting. it gets to the mid-atlantic. now what's happening, this area of low pressure, will kind of phase and become an area of low pressure off the coast and become a coastal storm, meaning the farther from the coast you are, the more snow you're going to see. you talked about double digit snows. washington, d.c., inside the beltway, four to eight inches. eastward toward annapolis. maybe one to three inches top, 20 miles, you go west 20 miles, you get to dulles airport. people are certainly there, it's not far from town. 10 to 15 inches. then a little farther west with the appalachians kind of mountains there's that lifting so it squeezes out all moisture, 20 inches of snow there. >> strong stuff, thank you very much indeed. we'll turn to international breaking news. you're looking live at the streets of caracas where venezuelans are mourning the death of hugo chavez. reviled by some, loved by others. he pulled his country out of the world bank, nationalized venezuela's oil fields and in a memorable speech to world leader at the u.n. in 2006 he called president george w. bush the devil. he died today after a long battle with cancer. barbara walters interviewed chavez at the height of tensions between venezuela and the u.s. barbara joins me by phone. first of all, how are you? because there's a concern over your health. you're back to work. >> i'm back to work and i'm just fine. chavez not only called him -- called president a devil, he called him a donkey. and he said he wasn't too smart either. no respect for our country or our democracy. >> you went to interview chavez in 2007, at the height of the tension between the u.s. and venezuela. many journalists said he could be incredibly charming in person. was that your experience? >> yes, he could be. i mean, he certainly wasn't the most physically attractive person, but he was very welcoming, although it was for us somewhat of a frightening trip. i had not been places where i had to have bodyguards. abc wanted us to have bodyguards because it was such a dangerous time in venezuela. the rich, the people who had some money, were living in house with gates and barricades, but the other people, when he wanted us to go see the people, the people liked him because he had given them running water and toilets. and he could be very warm. he was very vulnerable, complained that he'd been married twice, piers, but had no time for relationship because he was married to his country. didn't get to see his children. he was this vulnerable man that we were supposed to be touched by. >> but he was an extraordinary character. he based himself on a combination of che guevara and his old friend fidel castro. he used to speak for hour had every day to the nation through radio and television. if you look at his record domestically, he reduced unemployment significantly, brought millions of venezuelans out of the poverty trap. that's why he had a kind of working class appeal. >> he was born very poor, unlike castro, who came from a family with some means. and he was a socialist, and he understood the poor because he did feel that way himself. he talked to castro every day. he had a radio show in which he not only talked to castro, but he also -- this is something, pier, you may want to try it. he not only talked to his audience, but he sang to them. >> i don't think my audience is quite ready for me to sing. i want to play a clip from your interview, a particularly prophetic one given his death today. >> you have accused the u.s. government of trying to assassinate you. >> translator: it is the cia and some right-wing people here in venezuela who believe the only way they can control the rove lugs's impact on latin america is to assassinate me. and i have said if something happens to me, if i get killed, the president of the united states should be held responsible. >> obviously, the unite not responsible for his death. he died after a long battle with illness. >> remember how much oil we got and get from venezuela. there are some people who were grateful to him because of this oil. when he wanted to, he could turn that off. he told me he would not, but if there was a threat, do something to me, good-bye oil. >> barbara, thank you for joining me. good to have you back on the airwaves, too. i want to turn to doug brinkley, presidential historian. you went to see hugo chavez in 2008 with christopher hitchens and sean penn. what was your take on him as a world leader? he was there 14 years on and off. how do you think history will judge him? >> well, he's a classic cadillo of latin america, a strongman, who was infat baited with che guevara and fidel castro. they would go visit castro all the time and write a regular letter that would be messengered. some day there will be niece castro slv chavez leaders. he had a love/hate with the unite. sean penn and danny glover were his friends. couldn't understand the u.s. government. thought the cia was behind all the mischief in the world and was very prone to conspiracy theories such as the apollo missions were a fraud and done in a hollywood backlot. baseball was a big deal with him. the cincinnati reds baseball team was his team and because his really good friend was dave enconcepcion. >> he made a statement but i preferred his tweets. he said hated by the entrenched classes hugo chavez will live forever in history. i mourn a great hero to majority of his people and those who struggle throughout the world for a place. and sean penn who traveled with you, said the venezuelan and it revolution will endure. today the united states lost a friend it never knew it had. and poor people of the world lost a champion. i lost a friend i was blessed to have. a mixed bag today. people saying a lefty dictator who abused his people. a lot of people say no, he was very much a freedom fighter who fought for the underdogs in his country, took on the americans, took on the big boys of the world but protecting venezuela's national interests. >> yeah, but i think he was quite dangerous. if you look at some of the things he says about iran and his friendship that he wants to build with that country, he backed people like gadhafi. he had an inhinged view of history. his real nemesis was the country of colombia because there's a different economic model there and he was worried when i interviewed chavez about colombia, them doing nefarious activities within his own country. he's just not a friend of the united states, but he believed in the gospel of christ. in that way he was different than castro. and did care about the poor people tremendously. we went on these back trails and went to rallies, and you could just feel the people coming up to him. so i do think he's going to live as kind of a folk figure like che guevara in the annals of american history. a record smashing day. the dow climbed to a high of 14253.77. the previous record from 2007. good news for investors but will it make a difference on main street and more on the death of hugo chavez potentially on the price of oil. joining me is cnn's chief business correspondent, ali velshi. any real reaction to the death of hugo chavez in the terms of oil prices? venezuela's the fourth biggest supplier of oil to the united states. >> the eighth biggest importer of oil, the fourth biggest to the unite. no, oil markets trade all the time. there's nobody reaction so far. while hugo chavez nationalized a lot of the oil structure in venezuela, they kept producing oil. it was less efficient under nationalistic infrastructure. still the number one source of income for that koucountry. what happened to the money? he directed it to a lot of social programs, but they'll still produce oil, they'll still sell a lot of oil. >> let's turn quickly to the dow. on the face of it, great news. booming economy, the dow soaring, but not as simple as that. the last time the dow soared like this it led to the big recession a few years ago. the previous time before that, it led to the great depression. it tends to be a signal of rather ominous news. >> let's disassociate the dow from the financial crisis and the crash and the recession that happened. but the thing to remember about the dow jones industrial average, the dow is not the economy. the economy is not the dow. it's 30 companies which right now are doing really nicely, but think about all the other stuff that's going on in this economy. unemployment is 7.9%, consumer confidence is shaky, real estate market barely coming back. a disconnect between what's happening on wall street and what's happening out in the real economy where the rest of us live. >> ali, there is a disconnect, isn't there? this is not the real world, this is not where 7.9% of americans are unemployed or losing their homes. but it is a them and us? the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer? >> i'll say a few things. one thing bigger than the dow is the s&p 500. it is up from 2009, which was the low. >> is a combined indicator of the strengthening of the economy? >> much of their revenue comes from the rest of the world. there are still fast growing places in the world that are doing very well. they're slowing, india and china, but they're doing better than we are. there is growth. we've had 2 1/2 years of job growth but slow are than we need. real estate is turning out to be a fantastic investment because of low interest rates, but that takes time and capital. you have to have your investments increase in value, your home increase in value or your wages increase in value. 47% of americans have no direct investment in the stock market. >> if you have got a bit of cash -- and many americans don't, but if you do at the moment, is it a good or terrible time to invest in the stock market? >> oh, for crying out loud do not put your money in the stock market right now. you buy at the high and where does it go from here? far be it from me to tell anybody what to do with their money but have common sense and do not buy at the highs. that's the worst possible thing you could do. >> we don't know where the high is. that's the problem. if you compare earnings, which is what stock prices are based on, they're cheaper today than they were five years ago in october of 2007. back then a stock was trading for 17 times its earnings. today it's 14. there are people who say we don't know it's a high. we broke a record. >> is it not encouraging generally for the perception of the american economy, people are buying the stock because they're buying into a promise that the future's going to be rosier. that has to be another indicator. >> this isn't the tech bubble where people were buying up stocks that had no revenue. the question is how long does that go on for? can governments around the world trip up economies to the extent that this doesn't live up to its expectation? but markets generally look ahead. other indicators often look behind. >> last word. >> let me interject a note of reali reality. we have going nobody washington, d.c., a political drama that will affect the american economy in ways we don't know for the next period of time. anybody who looks at the stock market today as an indicator of the health of the american economy, is not seeing the whole picture. >> the lowest interest rates we've had since i had hair. natural gas, oil, there are some things happening in the united states that are economically interesting. >> does it help -- >> i completely agree. >> the government -- go ahead. >> i completely agree there are good things happening and the economy is growing. we know that. and jobs are being created. we know that. i'm just saying that thing that businesses hate, uncertainty, has never been more prevalent in the environment right now than it st at the moment in washington, d.c. >> okay. >> it's crazy. >> that's a good point. that's down to the politicians. thank you both very much indeed. a new idea on guns. a couple who saw the tragedy in newtown and said the nra can be part of the solution. they're here next. [ male announcer ] from the way the bristles move to the way they clean, once you try an oral-b deep sweep power brush, you'll never want to go back. its dynamic power bristles reach between teeth to remove up to 76% more plaque than sonic in hard to reach areas. oral-b deep sweep 5000 power brush. something this delicious could only come from nature. new nectresse. the 100% natural no-calorie sweetener made from the goodness of fruit. new nectresse. sweetness naturally. new nectresse. and you wouldn't have it any other way.e. but your erectile dysfunction - you know, that 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 frequently or urgently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sexual activity. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess with cialis. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or if you have any allergic reactions such as rash, hives, swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, or difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis for daily use and a 30-tablet free trial.