iowa, a right to life group had challenged the iowa group which banned corporations from making campaign corporations. that would have been a big deal if they agreed the take this case and then send it back to the lower courts in light of the reassessment which would have n been the court taking another look at the ban of campaign corporations, but they decided not to do that case, and anything that led to the iowa b ban. >> and last on the list, and obviously, that people are paying close attention to, pete. the nsa and the bulk mining data and the information from our phone records. >> right. this is a no hf br-brainer, andy expected the court the take this yet. >> right. >> and remember, this is the bulk telephone collection, and the lower courts are split on this, and one said it is fine, and the other said it is not. one of the parties that is challenging wanted the leapfrog over the appeals court and come directly to the supreme court, and a maneuver that the supreme court disfavors and rarely grants it, and the fact that it declined to do it today means nothing. it means that we have to wait. >> okay. pete, thank you very much, and we appreciate it. a laundry list of things to get through today, and i greatly appreciate your joining us. and now the testimony of everyone who has been following the oscar pistorius murder case, the track star is telling what happened the night that reeva steenka steenkampp was killed. he opened up the testimony with an emotional apology to stein kcam camp's family. >> i would like to apologize, and say that there has not been a moment since this tragedy happened that i have not thought about your family. i wake up every morning and you are the first people i think of and the first people i pray for. i can't mention the pain and the sorrow and the emptiness that i have caused you and your family. i was simply trying to protect e reeva. i can promise that when she went to bed that night, she felt loved. >> and pistorius has chosen to testify off camera with only the audio as you heard there throughout the testimony. he struggledle to compose himself, including the description of the trouble he had in coping with reeva steenka steenkampp's death. >> i am scared to sleep. for several reasons, but i have terrible nightmares about things that happened that night. when i wake up, and i smell, and i can smell, i can smell the blood, and i wake up to being terrified. >> the so-called blade runner is accused of premeditated murder in reeva steenkamp's death, and claim s th claims that he mistook her for an intruder and trying to protect her. and he is expected back on the stand tomorrow, and nbc's mike taibbi is in pretoria, south africa, and joining us live. mike, start here with the decision to have just the audio. and help me to understand the mechanics of how it works in south africa that oscar pistorius would have this choice. >> well, tamron, we are all learning how this is working in this case, and presumably in other cases that follow. this is the first trial in south africa that has ever been televised and so that the judge is setting the rules and the rule is that all witnesss have the right to have their testimony shown on camera or just audio. and the barry rupp has said that all of his witnesses do not want their images televised, and we will only hear their words, which is unfortunate for the people following the trial, it is a fact of the trial and the way it is going to go. a and one of the many, many differences of the criminal justice system and how it works here, and how it works in the states. >> and michael a lot of what we heard from oscar pistorius today, is him decussing the mental health, and the struggle he has had since reeva steenkamp was killed, and we will learn tomorrow, i am assuming, more detail from oscar pistorius, and now he is struggling, but the e vents vents of the night. >> yes, we have to get to that point, because he has said and the attorney has said on his behalf, le testify, and he has to deal with the key evidence put out by the prosecution, and ie, the fact that four witnesses said they heard a woman screaming and an argument for a man and woman for as long as 15 minutes two witnesses said before the volley of shots followed by silence. he has to deal with that and reeva steenkamp's text messages to him that said, sometimes i'm scared of you by the way you snap at me, and all i want is to be loved and love, and maybe we can't do that. and was this relationship coming to tend, and is this what threw him into a hair trigger event that night. only oscar pistorius knows what happened that night, and he is going to have to convince the judge that his version is the truth. >> and now joining me is paul rothstein, a professor from the georgetune university law sch l school. thank you for coming to join us. >> thank you. >> and now, oscar surprised the court by apologizing right off of the top to reeva steenkamp's family, but what we heard much today is about him, his thoughts after the murder, and his depression, and the state of mi mind, and what do you make of that strategy, given that there is no jury present, and this is to be decided by the judge and two of oher aides. >> well, he has to convince the judge and her aides that he really loved reeva steenkamp, and the relationship was not over. that is the first thing that he has to convince them, and the second thing that he has to convince them of is that he was nearly paranoid as a man without legs living in a city overrun by crime that he was nearly paranoid about people invading his house, about crime. so that, that explains why he shot, and thought it was an intruder. then he has to also deal with some of of the things that seem inkon sis te inconsistent about the story he told police and the evidence such as the screaming that mike tie yeeby talked about and whether it was a shot or the cricket bath that they heard after the screaming, that sort of thing. >> and let me play another excerpt of what he said when responded to asked if he had been exposed to crime at a young age. let's play that. >> i think that everybody in south africa has been expose d o crime at some point. i think that when i grew up, we were exposed to crime. house break-ins, and family members being assaulted and tire-jacked and i can think of -- >> can you give examples of when you were young and when it was? >> we had many house break-ins when i was growing up. one at my father's home in j johannesburg, and when we got back to the house, our house had been ransacked. >> and there you have it, he is talking about the crime in the home, and multiple family members being victimized with the break-ins and the hijackings, and again, none of it explains what you pointed out the text messages or the e-mails presented prior to the testimony. this paints a picture, yes, of the crime situation in south afri africa, and perhaps some of the people there or many can identify with, but tomorrow is critical in that oscar pistorius needs to answer the questions it would seem regarding the relationship, and that key line in the e-mail where, or the text message where reeva steenkamp articulated that she was afraid of him at some times. >> yes, that is the most difficult challenge, i think. he has to portray that as just the natural ups and downs of a truly loving relationship, and that overall at this time, their relationship was a truly loving relationship, and if he can get that point across, then he is go going the win this case. there are some other points that he should also try to address such as, did he put on the legs before he shot? there is an inconsistency in the story about that, and maybe some technical proof of the angle to which the bullets passed into reeva steenkamp's body. there is going to be dispute about whether they had had a meal together fairly rekrecentl before the shooting or whether his story about that they went to bed early at 10:00, and whether that was true. so maybe some testimony about the contents of the stomach. so there may be even a computer demonstration of little stick figures or even better than the stick figures like a cartoon to show how he walked in the apartment at the time of the shooting and where she was positioned, and how the angle of the bullets was. there may be all of those kinds of things. >> and professor, back to the emotion of the testimony, and oscar pistorius in the beginning of the remarks today told the family of reeva steenkamp that she went to bed that night knowing that she was loved and this is a test of the credibility, how he explanins this store i r and how he explains what happened that night. and with the system in south africa, does the judge weigh emotion? does it factor into her decision in something like this where so much of it is really is how he presents the events of the night? >> yes, there is a logical and legal role of his state of mind. it would show whether he shot out of fear that she was an intruder or whether he shot out of anger out of a broken relationship and argument with her. and so there is a good technical reason to try to explore the state of mind, but also, as you suggest, the judge and the assistants are human beings, and they are going to be swayed by emotion, too, and just because he is sorry now about the shooting, it does not mean that he did not shoot her out of anger at the time. you know, you can have regrets, and also, regrets about having been caught and having been arrested, so they have to evaluate the emotional ti -- emotionality on the stand with those events. >> thank you, professor rothstein, appreciate it. and now to the search for the flight malaysian 370. now, the u.s. navy has twice detected sounds from the indian ocean that could be from the plane's black box pingers. and now the ocean shield that is carrying the equipment first heard a signal sunday that lasted for two hours and 20 minutes, and then this morning, another signal that lasted for 13 minutes. >> significantly, this would be consistent with the transmissions from both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder. clearly, this is a most promising lead. probably in the search so far, it is the, it is probably the best information that we have had. >> and now the news comes as the expected one-month life span of batteries that power the black box pingers end. and this is the 31st day of the search. ian williams joining us live from perth, australia. and ian, as i understand it, the ocean shield ping is to detect the black box when it is on top of the black boxes. what are we expecting as the next step here. i know that the ships are still out, and the planes have gone back, and what is happening next here? >> tamron, what they are trying to do now is to reacquire the signal, because they heard it twice over the weekend, and then lost it. so they are back out there trying to reacquire the signal. as you say, the depth is very -- it is 2.8 miles depth there, and they have to be virtually on top of the black box if they are to hear it. and now the task now is to try to reacquire the signal. if they can do that, they can better pinpoint where it is coming from. that point, they will launch submersible vehicle called the bluefin-21 which is going to go down to take a look for itself to see if it can find a black box or any wreckage, but the problem is that the depth is so great there that it is the limit of the ability of the vehicle. so they need to be sure before they can send it down, although, if they don't find another signal, they may send it speculatively, because clearly the timing is running down on that black box and one reason for the caution we heard today, because still, no wreckage sighted and not a single piece of wreckage in the month-long search, and this is the most important evidence that the aircraft had gone down in that area, but certainly the coordinators here are more upbeat calling pit most optimistic thing they have seen since the beginning of the search, and it goes on and the key thing is to be reacquiring that ping. >> thank you, ian. we will check in with you for development developments. we are also watching severe weather across the south. there have been some flooding and some actually rescued from their homes. look at what happened this morning in alabama, a threat of tornadoes and flash flooding. up until tonight, and we will be with you with the latest. >> and 2016 contender jeb bush? makes controversial comments on immigration. >> yes, they broke the law, but it is not a felony. >> what he said after that, and he admits that the remarks could cause some political problems for him. and we will talk about it in the first read. and plus, a dramatic rescue of a family stuck at sea with a 1-year-old who becomes seriously ill, and now the parents are defending their decision to sail around the world with two small children. the family member is quoted as saying, i thought it was nuts. well, it is today's news nation gut check. join our conversation on twitter. you can find me tamron hall and my team at tathth --@newsnation. s doesn't always travel fast? 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[ male announcer ] we'll be with him all day as he goes back to taking tylenol. i was okay, but after lunch my knee started to hurt again. and now i've got to take more pills. ♪ yup. another pill stop. can i get my aleve back yet? ♪ for my pain, i want my aleve. ♪ [ male announcer ] look for the easy-open red arthritis cap. welcome back. several states in the south are under a tornado watch today as forecasters are warning that more severe storms are on the way with the possibility of flash flooding. severe flooding has already affected some areas in alabama. homes were evacuated early this morn morning as the water quickly rose, at least one driver actually had to be rescued from a vehicle trapped on the interstate. now, this image captured overnight shows how high the water rose. you can see the rescue crews search ing f searching for the stranded people in the apartment complex. and the vehicles are almost entirely submerged in the parking lot. julie martin joins us to update us on the severe weather there in atlanta. it is looking like a long day, julie. >> yes, and this is round one, tamron. we have seen and felt heavy rain here in the atlanta metro area for several hours. atlanta has picked up officially over 2.5 inches which is the most rain in a single day that this city has seen since january. you can see, of course, traffic moving along better now that the rain is starting to taper off a little bit, but earlier, boy, i will tell you what, it was a rough go this morning, and some people are probably still trying to get to work at this hour. reports of minor flooding throughout the metro area, and nothing like mississippi and alabama, and nonetheless, the flood threat does continue, and we have a flood watch in effect until tonight, and also today, we could have this afternoon strong storms rolling through, and a tornado watch. there is a tornado watch on the south side of town until 4:00 this afternoon, and so unfortunately, the ride home is as bad for the ride in for millions of commuters. >> the rain behind you, and scary video coming out of alabama. wow. thank you, julie. well a live look at a maryland high school right now where president obama is about to kick off two big days of focusing on the economy and equal pay. we are moments away are the the president's comments, and we will bring that to you. and plus -- >> i feel firmly and strongly that, yes, that was crazy. >> and so the family members of a couple who brought their two young children on a sailboat trip around the world, and what were they thinking when one of the children got sick and they had to be rescued? it is the gut check. and today, the boston marathon bombing exhibit opens up at the boston library. thousands of items for the original memorial for the victims were on display to the mark one year since the attack. and this afternoon, president obama meeting with the commander in chief, and the executive director of veteran affairs in the oval office. and also, unemployment benefits extension expected to pass in the senate, but unclear how it will fare in the house. >> it is time for your business entrepreneur of the week. ellie and mike started makerhaus in seattle. they allowed the workers to have access to sophisticated prototyping equipment from woodworking to metal shop equipment to 3d printers. for more, join us sunday mornings on msnbc. 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 small. american express open forum. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. 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[ female announcer ] boost complete nutritional drink has 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d to support strong bones and 10 grams of protein to help maintain muscle. all with a delicious taste. grandpa! [ female announcer ] stay strong, stay active with boost. the parents who set sail around the world and had to be rescued are defending the decision. they had to call for rescuers when their baby daughter got sick, and their sailboat broke down in rough waters. it broke down to a rough three-day rescue at sea. miguel almaguer is live with more. >> tamron, the kaufman family began the trip here from the small harbor in san diego and it was supposed to be the trip