Theodore Chalfen, a gay teenager from Boulder, Colo., thanked his fellow classmates from the lectern of his high school graduation this week. “The kindness and understanding you all have shown me over the past four years speaks volumes about you as human beings. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be myself,” he said, alluding to his sexuality.

Chalfen recounted the difficult decision he made before entering high school, that he would be honest about his sexual orientation with anyone who asked. The “horror stories” he heard experienced by others along with fears of being ostracized or bullied did not deter his decision. Instead, Chalfen said, “The response I have received, by and large, has been stunning.”

The new grad continued, “The amount of people who actually seemed happy to hear that I was gay, outnumbered those who didn’t care. And those who didn’t care far outnumbered the small group who reacted negatively. That says an awful lot more about this class of Fairview High School than it does about me.”

Chalfen started to continue his speech, but the crowd broke out in spontaneous applause. The young man then went on to thank the parents in the crowd for teaching their children tolerance. “You brought your kids up the right way, and they are forever indebted to you for it,” he said.

He also cautioned those who had been less than kind to him throughout his high school career saying, “Like it or not, we’re all in this together.” Chalfen continued, “This generation is never going to accomplish the things I know it to be capable of unless we stop thinking of each other in terms of us and them.”

The teenager’s wisdom was echoed by another speaker at the graduation. The Daily Camera of Boulder reported, “At Fairview’s ceremony, fellow classmate Jackson Wojciechowski took off his shoes to display his striped socks and went on to use socks as a metaphor for high school in a lighthearted speech that equated socks with holes with a bad grade, missing a penalty kick or losing a friend. ‘Don’t change your socks for anyone but yourself,’” he said.

Theodore Chalfen received his diploma this week along with nearly 450 seniors in Fairview High’s class of 2013.

• Obama’s new phase in dealing with terrorism: planning to announce restricting the use of unmanned drone strikes
• Obama administration set to restart transfers of detainees from Guantanamo Bay
• The White House ensuring that Obama had nothing to do with the IRS inquiry
• Conservative economists have signed a letter urging Congressional leaders to pass comprehensive immigration reform
• Reps Issa and Goodlatte to introduce legislation that would increase and improve high-skilled immigration programs
• Hard recovery in store for Oklahoma 
• Families honor young victims of Oklahoma tornado
• House panel moves to curb military sexual assaults
• Connecticut’s gun law faces challenge in federal court
• Texas school marshal bill headed to Gov. Perry’s desk
• Boy Scouts set to vote on lifting gay youth ban
• Ted Cruz: “I don’t trust the Republicans”
• RNC Chair Reince Priebus says there’s a double standard in the Obama administration leak investigations
• Preparing for 2016: Scott Walker fundraising in Iowa
• 7 million college students could see federal loan rates double this year unless Congress acts before July 1
• Nominations hearing considers Penny Pritzker to be Secretary of Commerce
• Barack Obama’s prom photos from 1979
• Almost all states observing huge drop in teen birth rates
• Fleet Week will not happen this year due to sequester

Before police arrived, one of the suspected killers, covered in blood and holding knives, spoke to an onlooker who recorded the scene.

Two suspects were later shot and wounded by the police, officials said, and were in separate hospitals under police guard. London’s Metropolitan Police confirmed to NBC News that the two men have now been arrested.

British Prime Minister David Cameron cut his trip to Paris short, quickly returning to chair an emergency national security meeting in London. “There are strong indications that it is a terrorist incident,” he said. The killing was “an appalling murder” and “absolutely sickening.”

(WARNING: This video contains some graphic images).

A year ago, former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta used the same phrasing to qualify the Department of Defense’s new package of measures to combat sexual assault in the military. “Look,” he said, “there is no silver bullet when it comes to this issue.”

But the metaphor goes back further than 2012. As MSNBC’s Meredith Clark pointed out, Air Force brigadier general K.C. McClain told reporters in 2005 “that a series of actions the Pentagon was taking—again to combat sexual assault—was ‘not a silver bullet. To do this right, it is going to take time,’ she said.”

“During that same period of time more and more service members have been raped and abused by their colleagues,” writes Clark. ”Perhaps it might be time to move on from the “silver bullet” theory and start looking for more effective weapons to combat the problem.”

All this comes in the wake of yet another case of sexual harassment at the U.S. military academy of West Point, where a sergeant was accused Wednesday of surreptitiously video-taping female cadets in the showers, locker rooms, and bathrooms. Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael McClendon has been charged with four counts of indecent acts, dereliction of duty, cruelty and maltreatment, and violations of good order and discipline.

McClendon was himself a health, welfare and discipline adviser at the academy.

According to the Pentagon, 3,374 instances of sexual assault were reported last year, but officials estimate that the actual number of assaults may be closer to 26,000.

Some are trying to fight the problem from outside the military. A recently proposed bill–the Military Justice Improvement Act– would take the reporting and investigation process out of the chain of command and empower military prosecutors in their place.

New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who introduced the bill, says it’s aimed at stopping the rising incidence of sexual assault in the military by changing the current system–which is clearly not working.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett was asked about his staff during an event hosted by a Philadelphia Hispanic newspaper, AL DIA. Corbett told the crowd “no,” he did not have any Latino staffers–but “if you can find us one let me know.” With some nervous laughter, he added, “Do any of you want to come to Harrisburg?”

“Trying to grow jobs in Pennsylvania, I think, is in the interest of whatever nationality that we are talking about,” Corbett said.

Nearly 6% of the state’s population is Hispanic, according the latest U.S. Census. Between 2000 and 2010, the Latino community grew nearly 80% in Pennsylvania.

Democratic Rep. Allyson Schwartz of Pennsylvania, who is running against Corbett for the governor’s seat in 2014, slammed his remarks. “To lead our state toward a prosperous economy, a Governor must recognize and leverage our greatest asset: the people of Pennsylvania,” Schwartz said in a statement Wednesday, The Huffington Post reported. “And a Governor’s administration must set the tone by reflecting our diversity with talented, skilled men and women of all backgrounds.”

Corbett’s spokesman Kevin Harley also released a statement Wednesday, trying to clear up any “misinformation.”

“When asked about the number of Latinos working on his staff during the interview, Corbett said, ‘None, right now.’ However, Corbett was referring to his immediate staff which consists of a handful of people,” Harley wrote. “The facts are that Corbett has appointed numerous Latino-Hispanics in his administration cabinet, including Dr. Eli Avila, who served as Secretary of the Department of Health, as well as boards and commissions.”

Just in case they need any help in their search process, the satirical website Latinos4Corbett.com has already been launched.

More details coming up at 10pm ET. Plus, we’ll have the latest on the Oklahoma tornado recovery and relief effort. Here’s a look at stories we’re following right now:

• IRS official takes the 5th: ‘I have not done anything wrong’
• Greg Sargent: Lerner has to go
• Oklahoma tornado damage could top $2 billion
• Anthony Weiner makes NYC mayor bid official in video
• Virginia Republicans panicking over their choice for lieutenant governor
• Sen. Ted Cruz: ‘I don’t trust the Republicans‘
• West Point Sergeant accused of secretly taping female cadets
• Elizabeth Warren grills Jack Lew on the growing size of too big to fail banks
• Jonathan Capehart: Obama can’t win with some black critics
• Vice President Biden credits Jewish leaders in gay marriage succeed

“Isn’t fantasizing about killing people as a way to get your kicks really the filthiest form of pornography?” LaPierre said in a press conference on December 21, 2012. “In a race to the bottom, media conglomerates compete with one another to shock, violate and offend every standard of civilized society by bringing an ever-more-toxic mix of reckless behavior and criminal cruelty into our homes—every minute of every day of every month of every year.” LaPierre called out the “blood-soaked slasher films” of “American Psycho”and “Natural Born Killers” as specific offenders.

As it turns out, shoot-em-ups like “The Terminator,” “Die Hard” and “Zombieland” get the NRA stamp of approval. The pro-gun group offered up a surprise plot twist of its own by posting a list of the “coolest gun movies” on its affiliated website, American Rifleman.

While it notes the “inaccuracies in Hollywood films featuring firearms,” the top 10 list praises these movies for influencing gun purchases and making gun enthusiasts “think about situations for which we should be prepared.”

Lessons to be learned from Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character and others in “The Terminator”? “In addition to introducing the mainstream world to laser sights on an AMT Hardballer Longslide in .45 ACP,” wrote magazine’s associate online editor Paul Rackley, “the movie featured an Ithaca Model 37 with an extended magazine, carried by Reese (played by Michael Biehn), an IMI Uzi and numerous other firearms. This movie made shooters realize the importance of firepower, and that preparedness might be needed in the future.”

The NRA publication admired “Die Hard” for its portrayal of a crime-fighting cop. “With awesome explosions and one-liners, Bruce Willis fostered those dreams as Sgt. John McClane in ‘Die Hard,’ with a Beretta 92F and a limited number of rounds,” the website read. “While few of us actually followed through and became police officers, which is probably best since this is very untypical in the life of most law enforcement officers, this movie reminds us that good can triumph over evil with skill, training, determination and a few well-placed shots. Yippee-ki-yay.”

The films “Red Dawn,” “The Alamo,” “The Godfather,” “The Matrix,” “The Delta Force,” “The Road Warrior” and “Tremors” also made the cut.

A Washington Post-ABC News poll shows Obama’s approval rating holding steady at 51%, the same as it was a month ago. Gallup shows the same trend: in their poll Obama has remained at 49%. A CNN poll has even shown a 2-point uptick since April, from 51% to 53%.

This doesn’t mean Americans don’t care about the scandals–quite the opposite. The Washington Post poll finds that 56% believe the IRS deliberately harassed Tea Party-related groups in their crackdown on illegitimate 501(c)(4)s. On Benghazi, 55% believe the administration is trying to cover up some facts about last year’s embassy attack. And on the Department of Justice’s secret collection of Associated Press phone records, 69% are at least somewhat concerned that the government is improperly intruding on freedom of the press.

Why does Obama go untouched while Americans  fault the government on these scandals? There are a number of theories, some of which are borne out in the data. Looking at partisan divides on the poll questions asked above, the expected splits are apparent. For example, 81% of Republicans feel the Obama administration is covering up something in the Benghazi attacks, while only 29% of Democrats agree. On the IRS scandal, two-thirds of Democrats say the administration was disclosing what it knew when it knew. Three-quarters of Republicans, on the other hand, think the administration was being less than honest about the scandal.

“The public’s reaction to the scandals is, in other words, being mediated by their reaction to Obama,” wrote Ezra Klein at the Wonkblog. “If they approve of Obama, they’re inclined to believe that neither he nor anyone in his circle ordered the IRS to attack Tea Party groups and that the administration did its best in the immediate aftermath of Benghazi. If they disapprove of Obama, they’re inclined to believe he or someone in his circle was controlling the IRS, and that the Benghazi talking points were part of a cover-up.”

Nate Silver over at the FiveThirtyEight blog suggested there’s a bit more to the numbers. Though Obama’s approval rating has held steady in a variety of polls, he wrote, “analyses may proceed from the wrong premise if they assume that the stories have had no impact.”

Silver graphed a correlation between Obama’s approval rating and the overall approval rating of the economy, and argues that the president’s losses are possibly ”offset by improved voter attitudes about the economy.”

“Based on the historical relationship between Mr. Obama’a overall and economic approval ratings in the poll, you’d predict that his overall approval rating would be 53 or 54 percent given an economic approval rating of 48 percent,” Silver wrote, using the Washington Post poll as his basis. “Instead, it’s 51 percent.”

Officials revised the death toll down to 24, and more than 237 have been injured. But the full extent of the disaster is still unknown.

After surveying the damage on the ground, the National Weather Service now believes the tornado was an EF-5 level — the largest kind on the scale — that ripped through the community at winds clocking in at more than 200 miles per hour.

We’re planning to broadcast the show live from Oklahoma at 10pm ET. Here are the stories we’re following:

• Oklahoma combs through wreckage after ‘storm of storms’ leaves at least 24 dead
• 9-year-old from Plaza Towers school among first tornado victims identified
• Post-tornado rescue efforts in Oklahoma near an end
• Photos: Oklahoma after the tornado
• Video: Time-lapse of Oklahoma tornado’s path
• Conservative Okla. lawmakers face dilemma: Will they support tornado relief funding?
• Cost of tornadoes puts conservative pols in a bind
• President Obama: Nation will stand with Oklahoma ‘as long as it takes’
• Moore officials: Federal grants to help build safe rooms delayed by red tape