2. 54 centimeters is an inch. I like 3 centimeters rolls off the tongue. All right. See you this afternoon. Good morning. Stephanies off today. Wednesday, february 19th. Lets get started. These signs the president s frustrations with the russia probe are boiling over. Reporter the president is pointing the finger of blame on just about everyone except Vladimir Putin in moscow. The number two official at the department of justice personally unveiled indictments against 13 russians brought by special Counsel Robert Mueller. The russian conspirators want to promote discord in the United States and undermine Public Confidence in democracy. As you can see with the fbi indictment, the evidence is now really incontrovertible and available in the public domain. This indictment is not only an indictment of the russian figures involved. Also indictment of the inaction of this administration. If anything, a future platform for conspiracy. The president playing a blame game. Tweet storm, 13 about russian interference in the 2016 campaign. In one stunning tweet the president writing, they are laughing their asses off in moscow. Get smart america. There arent people left except sad and pathetic spokespeople for donald trump and donald trump himself denying this. We will continue to call out russia. Relations with russia are in a tough place. The president suggesting that the investigation into russia caused the fbi to miss signed leading up to the Florida School shooting. Parkland is grieving for the 17 victims over the weekend six funerals. Today two more. It will be a week of mourning and determination. Really outspoken and are not shy. Whats different in the aftermath of this shooting is that were hearing a very loud voice from student survivors. Were not going to let the 17 bullets we just took take us down. If anything, well keep running and lead the rest of the nation behind us. They say tougher gun laws do not decrease violence. We call b. S. they say a good guy with a gun stops a bad guy with a gun. We call b. S. they say guns are just tools like knives and are as dangerous as cars. We call. All b. S. morgan williams, 16yearold junior tweeted, oh, my god. 17 of my classmates and friends are gone, and you have the audacity to make this about russia . Have a damn heart. Im going to ask him how much money he received from the National Rifle association and a senior wrote, my friends were brutally murdered and you have the nerve to make this about russia. I cannot believe this. The white house says President Trump will hold a listening session with High School Students later this week. Okay. A lot to cover this morning. I want to go to the russia side of things. This morning the kremlin is responding to special Counsel Robert Mueller indicting 13 russian officials and 3 businesses with interveering in the 2016 president ial election. President Vladimir Putin called the allegations unfair and baseless, adding theres no indication the russian government was involved in this in any way. For his part, President Trump is marking president s day at his maralago estate in florida after spending the weekend latching out in a tweet storm. 13 tweets at all, you heard Kristen Welker say pointing the finger of blame at just about everyone except Vladimir Putin and moscow. The president took aim at the fbi, his own National Security adviser h. R. Mcmaster, prd obama, Hillary Clinton, democrats, the media, congressman adam schiff and even oprah, but he did not attack putin or russia. One tweet the president said, the fbi missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida School shooter accusing the agency of spending too much time trying to prove russian collusion with the trump campaign. There is no collusion. Thats the one that those students were angry about. Another tweet, the president wrote, they are laughing their asses off in moscow. Get smashg america. Some republicans acknowledging the enormity of the invimt. This indictment tells us russia is not our friend. Tried to undermine the fundamentals of our democracy. Give mueller the time, resources and independence to do this xroxrojob. This is his job. Exactly what we wanted him to do. Just what did we learn from the 37page indictment handed down by special Counsel Robert Mueller on friday . Lets have a look into this thing. The indictment alleges a sophisticated effort to influence the 2016 election going back as far as 2014. Long before donald trump became a candidate. Now, the scheme allegedly sought to incite political discord in the United States. Damage Hillary Clintons president ial campaign, and only later bolster the candidacy of donald trump along with Green Party Candidate jill stein. The plot was overseen by this man, a Russian Oligarch and close ally of Vladimir Putin known as petens chef. A caterer by trade. The work was allegedly coordinated through a troll farm in st. Petersburg, russia. Called the Internet Research agency. A private company not a government agency. It allegedly involved creating social media pages devoted to hot button issues and gathering followers. Also buying digital ads. In 2016, organizing political rallies. The indictment does not say russia changed the outcome of the election. Does not allege collusion with americans. There is no allegation in this indictment that any american was a knowing participant in this illegal activity. All right. Joining me now live, New York TimesJustice Department reporter katie benner and Washington Post political investigations reporter rosalynn helderman. Thanks to you both for joining us. I want to start with you, rosalynn, there are a lot of americans who just may not know about these troll farms and what they are and who they are and what they aim to do. I know if you watched homeland last season you would have become familiar with the idea, but you at the Washington Post have spoken to some of the people involved in these troll farms. Who are they . What were they meant to be doing . What we learned, this is an extraordinarily organized sort of factory of disinformation. The people who work at this Internet Research agency in st. Petersburg are ordinary Young Russians attracted to fairly high salaries and come in. We spoke to some who said there was sort of a Russian Division and an american division. The Russian Division did the similar kind of thing on russian language sites, and they would work in 12hour shifts. 9 00 a. M. To 9 00 p. M. And overnight in rooms with the blinds drawn. In banks of 20 computers. Creating fake content. Posting comments and promoting sort of the ideology of russia and on sowing discord in the United States and around the world. Katie, one of the things, some of these russian troll farm actors, employees, posted things to russian sites. Posted things to twitter, but in your reporting you indicate that facebook became a real focus of their energies . Absolutely. The mueller indictment, facebook and instagram, subsidiary. Mentioned more than 40 times. Facebook, incredibly effective tool for the russians to get information out. Theres been a lot of focus on Facebook Advertising and using facebook ads. In fact, they also stole identities of american citizens. Created fake identity. Created fake infinity groups on facebook. Things people would like and join, political groups, all to stir up as much emotion as possible. Focused on hot button issues in america that citizens were quite divided over and tried to enflame that to create the right atmosphere so the russians to get their messages out to american citizens. They had to be familiar with american english language, with cultural norms. At the bottom of the full screen i just put up to show what they did, they even organized rallies. In many cases without being at the rally. In other words, they would sort of post that there should be a rally. People should join it . Yeah. They worked extraordinarily hard to learn all about us. According to the indictment, several of the employees of this company travelled to the United States in 2014. Visited ten states to learn about us. We got ahold of a classified nsa report from december, showing that they used American Polling to learn what would be hot button issues. And they had to have extraordinarily good english skills. So that they could properly fool americans into thinking that they were american, too. We spoke to a troll, an employee of the company, who was working for the russian language portion and wanted to go work for the american section. It paid better. Took an english exam in december 2014, had to write an essay on what he thought of Hillary Clintons presidency, or campaign, and he said that he wrote that he thought she could win and it would be a big deal for the first woman president , and he didnt get the job. Might have got him disqualified. Thats right. He wasnt sure if it was his english wasnt quite good enough to pretend to be american or that they didnt like he would not bash Hillary Clinton in december of 2014. Katie, President Trump seized on the statement by Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein in claiming in one of the president s tweets his 13 tweets this weekend, that the indictment shows there was no collusion with the trump campaign. How true is that statement . Well, i think we immediatene focus on what the special counsel looked at. Russian interference in the u. S. Election. So lets first say thats what mueller is working on and i dont think that bob mueller ever came out and said he is specifically targeting donald trump. I think thats a little bit of distraction from the president. Also, keep in mind that this is a single indictment focusing only on this russian plan to so w discard ahead of the election. More could come. Table trumps comments and what we should focus on, how easy for russia to gain facebook and to gain Companies Like that, because were going into an election this will be an election again. Facebook, they used facebooks own tools. A lot of these are built for people to take advantage of in this fashion. Absolutely. Ability to buy ads focused on demographics with material that would be engaging and keep people on facebook longer. Absolutely. Its part of what facebook is about. Facebook has always told advertisers, this is the result they will get if they use facebook. They uniquely target citizens and gets them to go out and do something. Most advertisers like cocacola, they would go out and buy a product, but russia is using facebook exactly as facebook was meant to be used. Thats the bigger issue weekesu going into midterms. And yevgeny, known at putins chef, a caterer by trade. Of course, no line has been drawn between the kremlin and the troll farm, and putins spokesperson said theres no interference by the russian government, but it is important to understand who this guy is. Yes. I would say the indictment does 23409 draw that line. The indictment is silent on that. However, the nsa assessment from december that the Washington Post obtained portions are did draw that line, and it in fact said that given his close ties with the kremlin, the chefs tyce, the kremlin certainly knew about this campaign, and likely approved of it. All right. Thanks to both of you for your great reporting on this. Thanks to you both. Thank you. Right now, two students who were killed in the parkland, florida, shooting are being laid to rest. The 14 and 15yearold, days after the latest shooting, the survivors are demanding action. Next, well tell you what they want, what must be done to stop this american problem. Youre watching msnbc. But maybe not for people with rheumatoid arthritis. Because there are options. Like an unjection™. Xeljanz xr. A once daily pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. Xeljanz xr can reduce pain, swelling and further joint damage, even without methotrexate. Xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma and other cancers have happened. Dont start xeljanz xr if you have an infection. 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Welcome back to she velshi rhule. Two of the freshmen students killed at Marjory Stoneman high school last wednesday. Luke warmed any room he walked into, alaina as well. In the five days since the shooting, no new laws passed or proposed to present americans from gun violence. On wednesday President Trump plans to hold a listening session with High School Students and teachers, though its unclear if the teens will be from parmland. Later today, a group of teens from the washington, d. C. Area plan to hold a liein at the white house in a show of solidarity with the victims and survivors of the shooting. Joining me, sarah chadwick, there when the shots rang out at the high school and a moan who son was killed in massachusetts in 1996. Sir ra wh sarah what have you been thinking since this all happened last thursday . Honestly, ali, angry. Angry this should have been prevented and i feel thats my grieving point. Im channeling my anger into the movements that im in, into the activism that im participating in and honestly just want to make a change at this point. Sarah, if you were one of the people invited to the president s listening session, what would you say . Honestly, i just would ask, why . I mean, 17 of my chasemates were killed and coaches and teachers, and its not fair. Its not fair that a mentally ill 19yearold was legally able to buy a gun. Its not fair to me. Its not fair to my community or fair to anyone and honestly i would ask him, why . Gregory, youve been asking that question more than 25 years after your son was killed by a classmate. You volunteer with Mike Bloombergs every town for gun safety, take part in demonstrations and 25 years later still talking to tv and to the media. What changes have you seen peoples beliefs and changes about guns change for the better in the last 25 years . In the first place, ali, im very sorry i have to be here at all. We are, too. If ive seen any change whatsoever, i mean, its hard not to get discouraged after 25 years of watching nothing happen. But if ive seen any change at all, its in this generation whos grown up with this horrific mess. The florida kids are its awful, but i feel we are laying the groundwork for the cultural change that they are going to enable, because this is a cultural change. Were not talking about just laws. Were not talking about just the way people think. Were talking about a whole culture. Its these kids who borne the brunt of this who will make the change and i cant support them enough. I share your view on this. I was down there thursday talking to many of the survivors. Your classmates. And i think the whole nation has been struck by the fact youre asking the right questions, and have the power to do something that our generation hasnt done. What when greg talks about cultural change i want to read something marco rubio said about this when asked. A lot of recipients with money from the nra. If someones decided im going to commit this crime theyll 2350i7bd a way to get the gun to do to. We have evidence, in countries where they dont let guns, they dont make guns available as easily as we do in america, people dont do these things at the same rate as in america . Exactly. The whole point. I promise you if niklas cruz came in with a knife, he wouldnt have killed so many people. The fact he came in with a semiautomatic weapon gave him the opportunity to kill as many as he did. And we were prepared. Went through many drills and still had many fatalities. Its not about preparation but what we can do about preventing these weapons getting into these peoples hands. We know statistics from china, canada, from australia. If youre going to attack someone with a knife you need a far greater degree of proficiency than with a gun. Its worth noting that in 1963 the 1993, the centers for Disease Control came out with alarming statistics about guns in households, for example. You had a gun in your household, 2. 5 more likely to die a of homicide. One was 5 times more likely to commit suicide. Shortly thereafter the dickie amendment was passed putting a halt on Meaningful Research in america on this issue. In other words, the nra and progun force are are restricting the information that we can use to really look at this problem and figure out ways to solve it. Thats one of the first things. Weve got to incidentally, congressman dickie recanted on his amendment, but, of course it was too late then. Information is one of the first things we need right now. What greg says is interesting. A cultural change. You live in florida with few restrictive gun laws yet every one of your classmates i talked to, in fact, 100 of them, felt culturally we need to get past this strange interpretation weve had about the Second Amendment and just decide that guns are something that require some control. Not everybody suggested no one should ever had a gun but the concept of gun control as bad does not seem to exist among your classmates . No. To be honest, no regular civilian should have an ar15. A regular civilian does not need it to do anything. You can just as easily hunt with a different kind of gun. A handgun for protection. We dont need semiautomatic machine guns. We dont. Honestly, my fellow classmates were at school, i was at school. Hearing gunshots, hearing my friends are in the hospital and my friends are dead is what really drives us. What powers us, and thats why we have all of this why we have this opinion on gun control now. We were there, experienced it ourselves. You have the right to speak on this one, sarah and i hope you main thain tain that passio. I hope were not talking about this in 25 years. Im sorry for your loss. Greg, sorry for yours and appreciate the energy that youve put into it since the death of your son more than 25 years ago. Father of a shooting victim at simons rock at bart college in 1992. Thank you to you both. Pennsylvania is set to matsch a major move that could ask an impact on National Elections in years to come. Well break down why pennsylvania is considered one of the most gerrymandered in the nation plus the latest on a security scare at maralago this morning. Youre watching svelshi and rhule on msnbc. Now that we have your attention. Capri sun has four updated drinks. Now with only the good stuff. Do you know how to use those . Nope. Get those kids some new capri sun welcome back. Here are the top stories were watching now security scare near President Trumps maralago resort this morning. The drive e of a White House Press pool van detained after secret Service Agents found a gun in his bag. It is his personal firearm and he forgot to leave it in his car. Axios reporting without chief of staff had an altercation with chinese authorities during a trip to china. The incident reportedly happened last november when a Chinese Security officer tried to stop an American Military aide following him into the great hall in beijing. Say you go to vote ot your polling place determined by your district, despite what you may think, they arent always chosen based simply on your location. Often designed to specifically benefit the Political Party that has drawn the district. That is called partisan gerrymandering. Weve gone through the meaning of gerrymandering before. Actually named after a guy whose name was pro founded gerry. The swing state of pennsylvania is widely considered one of the nations most gerrymandered. Today the Supreme Court is expected to release the states new congressional map. What were talking about. Every ten years congressional districts are redrawn to reflect changing populations. In most states the legislature draws the district, meaning the Majority Party has power over redistricting. Gerrymandering is partisan when lines are drawn to give one party an an fair advantage. How do you tell . Push into some of these. The Third District in maryland, nothing natural recurring about the shape of that. Look at pennsylvanias seventh district. Something up when designed that . No square boundaries or rivers, roads. Texas 35th district makes no sense either. Look at louisianas second district. Look how far east and west that spans. All right. So look at some of these things. How does this apply to pennsylvania . In 2011 Republicancontrolled Legislature in pennsylvania redrew its constitutional map. Thats the problem you see here. Look at these shapes of these districts. Last month the state Supreme Court ruled the map was unconstitution naally je lally gerrymandered. The states democratic governor rejected that bringing to today, the pennsylvania Supreme Court has taken the issue into its own hands and releasing a new map with independent help. Bring in an expert. David daly, wrote a book about this arguing how politicians rigged their party from gerrymandering. It basically says why your vote doesnt count. Thanks for having me. Talk about this. Look at the map of pennsylvania from the Washington Post. The darker the red on this map, put it up, the more gerrymand gerrymandered the district. See if we can can we see the map . No point talking about it if we cant see it. There we go. The really dark ones, the most gerrymandered. Only a few states in the country have lines that you would actually think of sensible. You can see a big swath of, the upper midwest, the mountain regions seem to be a little more fair and accurate. Why did this happen . Why did we get into this pickle . We are a closely divided 50 50 countries in so many ways. Look at washington, 70 of our state legislatures are all in the hands of the republican party. This is not a coincidence. Republicans after the 2008 election in which democrats take super majorities in congress and they enact on a very audacious and technologically savvy plan to reinvent the gerrymander as a road back to power. Its state legislatures in 42 of 50 states that draw these lines, and what republican strategisted realized, if they could take control of the state legislative chambers and have complete control following the 2010 census, the new maps drawn in 2011, they could draw themselves essentially unbeatable lines over the next decade and target 107 state legislative seats. Targeting just the local races and flipping those seats, republicans earn themselves the ability to draw 193 of our 435 races on their own. Are there no laws against this . Rules laid down to say, congressional districts must be x or y . Not really. The United StatesSupreme Court has never found a standard on partisan gerrymandering. Thats why a couple cases are at court right now. A case out of wisconsin about gerrymandering state Assembly Districts and one in maryland, that the court will hear oral arguments in the next month about a gerrymandered district by the democrats. A congressional district. Theyre so important. We are heading towards the 2020 elections. Republicans still control the state legislatures in most of the most gerrymandered states and if we do not have some kind of change, and laws about standards. Yeah. The technology that made it possible for the republicans, the big data that the a microtargeting that you can do on these geomapping programs, that technology it only getting better. Thank you. David daly, author of something, while your vote doesnt count. You can see it on the screen. Up next, back to the gun debate and look at Success Stories like americas own machine gun ban proving gun laws actually work. This is msnbc. My 30year marriage. My 3month old business. Plus. What if this happened again . I was given warfarin in the hospital, but wondered, was this the best treatment for me . So i made a point to talk to my doctor. He told me about eliquis. Eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots and reduces the risk of them happening again. Not only does eliquis treat dvt and pe blood clots. Eliquis also had significantly less major bleeding than the standard treatment. Eliquis had both. And that turned around my thinking. Dont stop eliquis unless your doctor tells you to. Eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. Dont take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. If you had a spinal injection while on eliquis call your doctor right away if you have tingling, numbness, or muscle weakness. While taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily. And it may take longer than usual for bleeding to stop. Seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. Eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. Tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. Eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots. Plus had less major bleeding. Both made eliquis right for me. Ask your doctor if switching to eliquis is right for you. Welcome back to velshi ruhle. Through common occurrence, renewed calls to look at how australia responded to a similar situation. A 28yearold gunman opened fire in port arthur tasmania. The worst mass killing in australias history. Within three months the National Firearms agreement was introduced and passed with bipartisan support outlawing automatic rifles and pump action shot gunns creating background checks and requiring a justifiable reason to own a gun. At the same time, a buy back Program Collected more than 446,000 firearms. Another buyback from 2016, brought back more weapons. Every six months this law is reviewed and renewed if they need changes. Since the enaction of this law, australia has had zero Mass Shootings. After 2017s Las Vegas Shooting the australian ambassador tweeted i was in the government that changed aussie gun law us. More persuasive here in the usa. We all wish for change. A miracle. Remember, my last guest said its cultural and much as legal in the United States. In the tommy gun era in the United States, the government enacted the National Firearms act in 1934. The First Federal gun control measure put a high tax on machine gurns and sawedoff shotguns and created a National Sales registry. Amid political assassinations in the 1960s, Congress Pass add gun control act. It prevented convicted felons and the mentally ill from buying guns, expanding dealer licensing requirements. In 1986 the Law Enforcement officers protection act outlawed armorpiercing bullets that can penetrate a bulletproof vest. 1993, the brady handgun violent protection action also known as the brady bill for president reagans press secretary badly injured in the assassination attempt on president reagan laid the foundation for today the nics system. The National Background check system. Do an instant check and flag them to major issues. 1994, Violent Crime control banned semiautomatic assault style weapons for 15 years but allowed to expire in 2004. Six of the ten deadliest Mass Shootings occurred in the last five and a half years. We have yet to see if washington has the political will to curb this trend or if well be back here adding more to this list. Once again, comparing heartbreak and outrage to the indifference and inaction we see in state legislatures and in washington. Joining me now, al hoffman, significant donor to republican candidates and groups. Served as former rnc finance chair supporting the election and reelection of george w. Bush. Also served as the u. S. Ambassador to portugal from 2005 to 2007 and now said he will not write a check to people who do not support sensible gun legislation, and when that comes from al hoffman, thats a big deal. Ambassador, thanks for joining us. Youre very welcome. Talk to me about your thinking behind this. First of all, you are connected to parkland, florida . Well, i am. For years i was the leading developer of parkland. My company, wci. We built 2,000 houses in the area, were present when the school was built there and for the dedication and opening of it, and so i was happy to learn about the way that the city of parkland and their parents and School Children were performing there. And then when i heard about the i was following on tv the shooting, and my heart dropped. And i was so devastated, terrified, if you will, because i have children, schoolaged children, and i thought, what about if my children were being picked up by me or my grandchildren, even, and then the shooter emerged . What could we have done . A totally preventible tragedy, and so i wanted to do something about it. I thought, what can i do . Finally, a good friend said, why dont you start withholding checks until you find somebody who will support the advocacy for a gun legislation, banning assault weapons . How is that going so far . Because youre a big donor, but the fact is, the nra is a bigger donor . Well, you know, i dont think its about the nra. The nra can do for Second Amendment rights. Im in in 235i6favor of Second Amendment rights. For years i carried a weapon. To my knowledge, no one in florida, for example, to which a murder can be traced who had a permit for carrying a gun. And so im a supporter of Second Amendment rights for sure. Its not an nra issue. A lot of other people may think it is, but weve got to create a wedge issue here. Its all about the kids and the schools and the young teenagers who are exposed right no if something crazy, undoubtedly, there is around the country, thinking about a mass shooting and cant wait to see one happen. That seems to be the menu du jour. Lets plan another mass shooting. I had a guy on my show who lost his son in a shooting 26 years a s ago, wrote recently werent we pretty much compartmentalize gun death. Seems to agree 33,000 gun deaths a year is an acceptable price to pay for our unique constitutionally unique guaranteed access to firearms. The argument he makes, this is cultural. Pe believe these are inalienable rights because its in the constitution. Not everything needs to be especially when it costs that many lives. Thats right. For example, an assault weapon skied by the u. S. Millary and used for year. The purpose of that assault weapon . To kill people. Soldiers trained to kill people. And very successful creating guns used to kill people. Then laws emerged allowing people to buy these assaultstyle weapons exactly the same make. Just for example, the United States allowed a permit for a guy to start assembling ac 47 kalashnikovs right here in sunny florida, pompano beach. Imagine that . What will they do with those guns . An assault weapon is an assault weapon sdesigned to kill people and no question, an ar15 now legal to buy is an assault weapon. No doubt about it. Weve got to ban those laws ban those guns, i should say. And lets think about other ways they can be used restrict measures allowing authorities to confiscate guns from the mentally ill. I applaud President Trump for focusing on mentally deficient people, and, but we could have prevented that event here, and did not do it. So weve got to go forward and ive been ive ever since i wrote this article in the New York Times sunday, ive had hundreds, hundreds of tweets and emails supporting the issue. Yeah. So many parents, so many mothers involved in this. Its incredible. Thank you for joining me and taking a stand on this. Weve got to do this and sending hundreds of thousands of letters out now to all republican donors to take that position. No money, no guns. Well keep track of that. Former ambassador, gop donor. Black panther crushing in at the box office. The film brought in 192 million after just three days. That is the fifth biggest opening of alltime. Why this movie is causing sufficient a sensation. You are a good man. Step into the spotlight. With a good heart. It is hard for a good man to be a king. Have you smelled this new litter . No. Nobody has its unscented vo new tidy cats free clean unscented. Powerful odor control with activated charcoal. Free of dyes. Free of fragrances. Tidy cats free clean. When no scents makes sense. Like you do sometimes, grandpa . And puffed. Well, when you have copd, it can be hard to breathe. It can be hard to get air out, which can make it hard to get air in. So i talked to my doctor. She said. Symbicort could help you breathe better, starting within 5 minutes. Symbicort doesnt replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. Symbicort helps provide significant improvement of your lung function. Symbicort is for copd, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. It should not be taken more than twice a day. Symbicort contains formoterol. Medicines like formoterol increase the risk of death from asthma problems. Symbicort may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. You should tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high Blood Pressure before taking it. Symbicort could mean a day with better breathing. Watch out, piggies get symbicort free for up to one year. Visit saveonsymbicort. Com today to learn more. If you cant afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. Woo lets go all right. Hollywoods newest superhero sensation black panther is breaking box office records, raking in a staggering 192 million in ticket sales this weekend. Its the fifth biggest opening all time by money and the top grossing film ever by a black director and majority black cast. Audiences across the country seem to be loving it. The film scored a rare aplus from movie goers. Critics are giving it a rare 97 review on rotten tomatoes. But theres much more behind the headlines. Heres nbcs rehema ellis. Reporter black panther has all the thrills of a marvel superhero movie, but its also making history. The first ever big budget comic book story with a black superhero about a World Without racism where black people have wealth, technology, and power. Sf this film reminds us whats great about ourselves. Reporter its been called a masterpiece, a worldwide phenomenon, and for some it feels like resistance. My son, it is your time. Reporter the Creative Team gratified by the response. I knew that, you know, this could be something that i would be proud of, but you never know if everybody else will feel that same way. Reporter Academy Award winner Lupita Nyongo is the leading lady. What do you hope this movie can offer children . When you have images like this, you see people assuming positions of power that look like you. It becomes that much more possible. Reporter kids celebrating free tickets. At the harlem boys and girls club, an Online Ticket fundraiser went viral. Do you think we need more movies like this in the future . If we have more of those t will inspire more people. Its very cool to watch something that inspires everybody. Kids can absolutely walk away from this and feel like royalty, feel like warriors, feel like kings and queens. Reporter a fantasy rooted in reality. Now leaping from the big screen. Rehema ellis, nbc news, new york. I want to bring in kevin noble mallard, a professor specializing in racial norms. Theres a lot here we dont have the time to do, but for black actors or directors or producers, one of the examples thats often cited is that if youre white, you have more chances to get it wrong. If youre black, your chances of getting it wrong in the movies is very, very small. And this would be 200 million of getting it right. So what were looking at is this major movie thats international that is representing what black people can and can be capable of. This world where theres wealth, theres equality, theres women that are able to fight just as strong as men, this teaches people and especially young kids that all of this is possible, and its about a shared reality. Its not only about this being about black people and then black directors, but its also for the white people and the latinos and the asians and native people that are able to see this as well. Its a universal chance for us to realize this power that has been hidden in entertainment. And that power in the movie, its good and bad. Theres people of color on both sides, but it Shows Breadth that a lot of africanamerican actors and directors struggle with. They say, you know, you can make black movies, but they got to look a certain way, and the characters have to be a certain type and have a certain amount of depth or not. Right, and one of the breakout characters, heres this black woman whos into science, into technology. Shes the gadget person. Then for the young girls that are seeing this, theyre saying, well, look, this is awesome because i can be interested in science and technology as well just like she can. And it shows this diversity of approaches and interests in a way that its not just people are only being seen as criminals or drug dealers or maids or nannies. So this is a diverse showing of a Diverse Group of people. We also have actors that are african, that are africanamerican, that are english, that are german as well, germanafrican. Its a wide range of looking to see how many black people can represent themselves in this movie. Its like the star wars of black people. Absolutely. You could say this is a wonder woman paradigm as well. Heres this group thats not really been represented. Weve had previous films before like blade. Weve had hancock before. To have it on this scale internationally is something that is extraordinary. So you mentioned wonder woman and girls seeing figures that they can follow in science. You actually took a group of seventh graders to see the movie. Right. Tell me about that. I took a group of seventh graders from ps282 in brooklyn. I wanted to see what the kids had to say about the movie. Theyre so much about, well, this is good for the kids, but we werent hearing from any actual kids. So i contacted a school. I said, arrange a group for me to come, screen the movie early. They could not sit still during the entire movie because they were so excited. Theyre fidgeting, clapping. One girl was on the edge of her seat the entire time. They were screaming. No one was crying. Probably some of the parents that were with them were crying. But it was just amazing to see first hand and have them write it up. They reviewed it for the New York Times. Then to have them not only watch this movie but to have their own voices be seen, which was the entire purpose of the film, was lets have black people be seen as strong. Now i wanted to give these kids a chance to be seen as strong as, you know, this word articulate, as wonderfully written. They were just funny. They were candid with that wonderful innocence that only seventh graders can have. And many of them did achieve what you were hoping for. They saw themselves in that movie, whether they were a king or a superhero or a woman with, you know, a scientific edge. They saw it. Right. They reflected in their comments to you they saw it. Absolutely. And they were very specific about what they saw. Then they said that i like seeing black people in this film because it teaches me that i can be strong. One girl said it teaches me that i can be a black superhero as well. Just like the women, the soldiers in the film. So in the experience of doing this, i loved it because they were so enthusiastic about having everyone being able to hear what they had to say. We can see just not only from black panther, but from the shootings last week, what kids can tell us. Absolutely. I read that with renewed interest after having been in florida and talking to these kids. All of a sudden, it has occurred to me again that when you want analysis on something, sometimes turn to a kid. Right. I remember when i was 6 or 7, i always used to say, if all the politicians would just listen to me, everything would be solved. I think a lot of these kids have that same thought. Especially for reviewing a film like black panther. I wanted them to be the it was very easy to read. And here they are. Those kids make me want to see the movie. I will see it. Ive not seen it yet. I just havent had a chance to. Thank you for your analysis. Absolutely. Thank you. Professor of law at syracuse university. And it is time, as it is at the end of the show, for our favorite part of it. Thats monumental americans, honoring someone who may be deserving of more recognition. Today its oscar, the first major africanamerican filmmaker. He was born in illinois in 1884. He worked for restaurants, stockyards, steel mills, shoe shine stands, and railroads as a young man. Then he moved to south dakota as a homesteader and began writing novels and films. In 1913, micheaux published his first novel, which was adapted into his first film in 1919. Until his death in 1951, he wrote, directed, and produced more than 44 films, all dealing with racial injustice. Were showing one of those films right now, within our gates, about an africanamerican woman who goes to the north to raise money for poor black children in the deep south. This that youre looking at is the oldest known surviving film made by an africanamerican director. All right. If you have a monumental american, please tweet us velshiruhle, or send us a tweet velshiruhle. Ill be back at 3 00 with more on the two topics weve been covering closely, the russia investigation, and of course were not forgetting what happened in parkland, florida. Stephanie ruhle will be back with me tomorrow. Remember, i would normally show you markets right now, but i cant do that because its a holiday. Markets are closed. Time now for Andrea Mitchell reports with my friend Andrea Mitchell. And right now on Andrea Mitchell reports, a new generation. The young survivors of the florida masksacre cry for actio. The president hints at minimal background checks. Not likely to silence these young voices. They say that tougher gun laws do not decrease gun violence. We call bs they say a good guy with a gun stops a bad guy with a gun. We call bs fast and furious. President trump lashes out in an epic weekend tweet storm against the russia indictments, putting himself at odds with his own National Security adviser. Were becoming more and more adept at tracing the origins of this espionage and subversion, and as you can see with the fbi indictment, the evidence is now really incontrovertible and available in the public