>> this is al jazeera america. i'm david schuster in new york. john siegenthaler is off. the white house now calls james foley's beheading a terrorist attack against america and the administration is not ruling out military action against the islamic state group in syria on top of the ongoing u.s. air strikes in northern iraq. a russian convoy today rolled into ukraine and for the first time nato says it has evidence the russian military is fighting on ukrainian soil. the national guard has begun

pulling out of ferguson, missouri as the calm seems to be taking hold, there are new calls for justice. >> it started with the weekend ♪ >> and the biggest bands in the world, hee mormon and he just announced he's gay. we'll hear from tyler glen of neotrees. neon trees. >> after two years of saying the united states military would not get drawn into the civil war in syria the white house indicated today the calculus may be changing. this afternoon president obama's deputy national security advisor addressed a growing threat from the islamic state group and said the united states will not be restricted by borders. that comment came just a day after the highest ranking u.s. military officer the chairman of the joint chiefs said the only way to defeat islamic state is

to fight the group inside syria. the islamic state is responsible for the gruesome beheading of u.s. journalist james foley which the white house calls a terrorist attack. more air strikes against the i.s. in iraq, threats the islamic state has maid to shed american blood on american -- made to shed american blood on american soil. down play concerns about another 9/11. >> to date, we have not seen them focus on that type of planning. but we -- but that doesn't mean we'll be very mindful to them pivoting a tacks towards the western region. mike viqueria, fair to say the tone now is different? >> i think context means everything and you're absolutely

correct. over the summer while senior officials allowed for the possibility that air strikes would in fact happen in syrian territory, making the case as many have that the border has effectively been obliterated, the comments and escalating rhetoric of the past 24 and 48 hours provides really a new context for these comments. ben rhodes, of course, you played that sound bite, the deputy national security advisor, when asked if the u.s. was contemplating air strikes within syria, there have been no perhaps presented to the president but the united states is actively considering what would be necessary to protect americans. and he said any consideration of air strikes would not be restricted by borders. rhodes justed a new construction, a territorial construction, he said not only would the united states go after those who are threatening in iraq but those who are plotting against the united states.

those air strikes happening in iraq three more around mosul dam not to just contain the islamic state group tbowt but also fighting the islamic state group on the battlefield. david. >> the comments fro from rhodes, that seems to be leaving open what chuck hagel the defense secretary said yet yesterday at the -- yesterday at the pentagon, that would seem to include al qaeda before 9/11. what's that all about? >> and it's absolutely right. there's certainly a gap and we've talked about this david between the receipt ruk and between the state -- rhetoric and between the stated u.s. policy. the erbil american consulate there, they attacked the islamic state forces, most of the air

strikes have been against those positions around the mosul dam. on the strength of the logic that that wall of water would sweep down the winter and inundate the american embassy some 200 miles away. a lot of people raised their eyebrows over that. combat forces in part to protect those embassies and to assist in any evacuation within iraq, if the islamic state were to continue to make advances on baghdad. now we understand the administration is not going to choose that route, the military route, and you're seeing a stepping up of u.s. military air strikes with now open talk about the possibility of those strikes within syria itself, david. >> al jazeera's mike viqueria in washington, mike thank you.

every organization needs funding to carry out their activities, but the waying islamic state is getting their funding is different. paul beban has more of that. >> diversified developing a range of revenue themes including outright theft, rafn so many of hostages -- ransom of hostages and black market oil. the so-called islamic state is gathering steam and becoming increasingly dangerous. >> they marry ideology, a combination of strategic and military prowess, they are extremely well funded. this is beyond anything we have seen. >> battle experience and brains. using high resolution videos and hashtag campaigns it broadcasts its message worldwide.

a quantum leap over the grainy videos osama bashar al-assad used to release during his years in hiding. in june when the group captured mosul, the iraqi army left behind much of its equipment, including u.s. equipment. making off with millions in cash gold and antiquities, estimates of the islamic state group's total worth is around $2 billion some of which is are ransom money. the group demand he $230 million for james foley but the u.s. refused to pay. european nations may take a different tack. paying for journalists held in syria. the group this is generates cash flow from the conquestionses of

the region's oil fields. >> we can do the math. the estimates, the pentagon, i think this is a conservative estimate, we are talking of 30,000 barrels a day. and in syria another 40 to 50,000 barrels a day of oil. >> selling that quantity of oil on the black market could net the group two to $3 million a day, a significant sum for a group whose ambitions and aggressive tactics seem almost unlimited. now analysts say that black market for oil is largely confined to the islamic state group's territory and the region immediately surrounding it, parts of turkey and jordan, some of the oil is actually being sold to the government of syria's bashar al-assad, even though the group is actually fighting his regime. none of it is making into the

legitimate markets. you don't have to worry if you fill up you're buying islamic state oil. paul beban, thank you. robert we've heard a lot of descriptions about islamic state, the suggestions it has plenty of money. how grave a threat do you see they pose to the united states? >> well, they don't pose a great threat to the united states right now. i think what everybody's concerned about is the threat they could ultimately pose and that we're also seeing islamic state bumping up against u.s. interests. they already see the need to defend themselves against the u.s. that situation is only going to get worse over time. >> there is concern they could perhaps take advantage of the number of europeans an americans going into the fight in syria and iraq and they could easily come back and carry out attacks within the united states.

>> well, that's absolutely true. there are a great many foreign fighters from a host of countries to include western countries that are fighting right now. the estimates are very loose but we hear estimates up to 12,000 altogether. not just around the world but westerners, even own a hundred is a significant threat. so long as they are preoccupied with the fight in syria and iraq they pose much less of a threat to the west. but ultimately, when the leadership of the islamic state wants, they can be trained and sent back. >> chuck hagel said this is alarming, we've never seen anything like it, are they a more serious threat than al qaeda was? >> oh, i don't think there's any question about it. potentially they certainly are a much more serious threat. quealt has always been a -- al qaeda has always been a subnational group and islamic state would fall within that

category of subnational groups but they certainly see themselves and have taken on much of the trappings and resources of an actual state so that is a potential threat of a completely different order of magnitude. >> general dempsey yesterday the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff says need otake down the islamic state in syria, ben rhodes wouldn't throw cold water on it, he said we're not going to be confined by borders. do you think going into syria to confine islamic state is a wise idea? >> as in iraq the united states has to make very calibrated use of its power. at the end of the day the united states is certainly not going to try to colonize eastern syria. it's local forces that really need to occupy that space. now in iraq there are competent forces we think that ultimately the u.s. can provide assistance to and can ultimately again we

would hope drive islamic state out. there really is no competent authority with which we are currently willing politically to deal in syria to do that. and without that the u.s. is going to be very limited as i think secretary hagel pointed out yesterday. >> there are still some ideas though that are floating around in washington that we have almost reached a da detente with assad, he has gotten rid of his chemical weapons, and why not take out his enemy if we're counting on him being in power? >> well, we may get there. we have common interest with the assad regime now. obviously, this is an unlovely regime we have been committed to its overthrow, we have been very, very careful, however, not to throw in with elements of the

syrian opposition with which we disapprove so essentially we have no good partner. now it's going to be very difficult politically for the u.s. to deal with the assad regime for some years to come but there are indirect means of providing assistance to them including through the iraqi government. i think assuming we should look for ultimately and particularly if and when the islamic state poses a much more serious direct threat to the u.s. and foreign interests we need to hold our noses and deal with the regime in damascus. >> putting together that coalition that might take on islamic state is obviously going to take on some weight, we've seen ben rhodes statements today and is it something that the united states is going to have to preempt? >> well, this is going to be a long term process and i think that's something that we simply have to accept.

we have to have elements with which we can cooperate, we can't simply come in and try to fight the fight for them. that's what we tried to do in afghanistan, that didn't work out very well. it's what we tried to do to a lesser extent in iraq, that didn't work out particularly well until we had a competent government that we could cooperate with. the same is true right now. as great the temptation might be, we can't really step in and do this on our own. we have to take it step by step, and do it militarily. >> robert grenier, thanks for joining us. >> you're very welcome. >> an attack on a mosque in eastern part of iraq is causing political gridlock. dozens of people were killed inside the sunni mosque when an armed group opened fire. nobody has claind -- claimed

responsibility. iraq's miements haider al-abadi has -- prime minister haider al-abadi has a month to form a new government. moscow says they are carrying humanitarian aid. kyiv says the cargo could be used to support the separatists. they have evidence that russian forces are launching artillery attacks from ukrainian soil. neave barker has more. >> reporter: on the move, more than 260 russian aid trucks. the vehicles have been in limbo on the border for more than a week as kyiv and moscow argue over their entry. in defiance of kyiv the trucks are rolling into ukraine, kyiv is calling it a direct invasion. and this is where the trucks are

thought t to be heading. the separatist held city of luhansk where street to street fighting rages. the city remains under constant ukrainian bombardment. of this monastery, more than a thousand refugees have sought sanction wear. a few weeks ago these people led ordinary lives in quiet back waters but the war has changed everything. angelica escaped fighting in the town of horlivka. she and her family gathered what they could and fled. we're on the road to horlivka. now on the scene of some of the fiercest fighting. without water electricity and can't threat of -- constant threat of shelling. down this road, they remain in

control of the town of horlivka. the ukrainian army together with volunteer battalions are continuing to tighten the noose on the separatist's last remaining strong holds. now the ukrainians appear to have the upper hand. >> it looks like donetske and luhansk are already ours, we're just in the process of cleaning up, there are no major forces left. >> reporter: but the battlefield changes slaip on a daily basis. the tide of war could still change. neeivneefnavneave barker, donet. we strongly condemn this action and any actions that russian forces take that increase tensions in the region. russia should not seventh

vehicles persons or cargo of any kind into ukraine whether under the guise of humanitarian aid orother reasons. this is a violation of ukrainian sovereignty by russia. russia must remove its vehicles and personnel from the trair tri of ukraine immediately. failure to do so will result in violations. >> heather hurlburt, first of all, what do you make of what russia did today? >> it looks like ukrainian was doing too well on pushing back on russian backed separatists, and wanted to be sure that separatists were resupplied on either food aid or military aid and second, message to ukrainians if you keep pushing,

there's a risk you will be firing on russians and that's a very serious problem. >> what is the options in this? >> unfortunately our option he are very limited. if you look at the map and figure out what the russians have done there's not an obvious military response. just to be clear, there is no mill tri response. the usual -- military response. the usual response is more sanctions, more pressure on moscow. it remains to be seen even after this latest provocation today whether our european allies are ready to join us in stronger sanctions and this is a time of year where it's maximally difficult to get european decision makers together. >> could it also be viewed as a sign of desperation by putin and in fact he feels that the separatists we have hung them out to dry and to remind them we are out to help them, even though these are not containing military equipment, even though

they are only hiem hume taken supplies, this is a message that putin wants to get to the russian separatists? >> we shouldn't view this as a sign of putin's desperation. he's reacting but not desperate. the other thing this is a sign of, there is a meeting next week between putin the ukrainian president poroshenko and a major signal of strength and a reminder of europeans and their russian backers if russia decides to play the military card. we'll see the summit next week and there we'll see the question of what does putin actually want? is he interested in putting something onto the table and saying to the ukrainians you can keep your state under these conditions which basically ensure that the west, europe and u.s., doesn't gain any more influence in ukrainian, rolls

back some of the issues that are there or let the separatists do what they're doing? >> heather hurlburt, thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> there was heavy fire today between gaza and israel. israeli officials said the hamas attacks killed a four-year-old boy and wounded five other civilians. prime minister benjamin netanyahu declared hamas would pay a heavy price for the death of the child. the fifth civilian killed since early july. group with heads over their heads -- with hoods over their heads was placed in front of a mosque and shot. according to palestinian security officials a court in gaza made up of jihad, extra

judicial executions. the deaths followed the israeli air strikes that killed hamas leaders. religious are leaders over obamacare, and the issue in ferguson seems to be ending peacefully. we will explain why.

>> tonight, the obama administration is addressing one of the most controversial parts of the affordable care act. payment for contraception. faith affiliated charities, could notify the federal government they object to birth control on religious grounds. the government will then instruct the nonprofit's insurer to cover at no cost to the employer. this accommodation on the heels of the supreme court case regarding hobby lobby. >> inunder recent supreme court actions, balancing our concerns that women had care according to their health while adhering to the administration's goal of applying religious beliefs. in ferguson missouri tonight there is hope that peace will

prevail. the national guard will begin leaving the suburb earlier today. diane eastabrook, how is it going out there tonight? >> reporter: well, david, so far, so good. it's like a peaceful summer night here in ferguson. behind me there's a small gathering of people, at the makeshift memorial that marks the spot where michael brown was shot and killed a couple of weeks ago. up and down the main thoroughfare, there are protesters, peaceful protesters out this evening. what they have been saying for the past two weeks, they want justice served but peace to come to ferguson. what a difference a week makes. the street is peaceful lined with willed roses. mourners including brown's parents pay their respects to the slain teen at a makeshift memorial. for st. louis attorney kelly webb the scene inspires a mix of

emotions. >> just the roses, the memorials people have set up is touching, but it's overwhelmingly sad. a feeling of heaviness. >> for mocha williams, it means something else. >> you can move in peace, you can move in silence, you don't have to be destructive, a mad person, running around tairk things up. >> one week ago, ferguson eruchted again. the same day they also named brown as a suspect in a strong arm robbery at a convenience store. protests all weekend sparked rioting and looting prompting the governor odeclare a state of emergency. but today there's calm on the street where police clashed with protesters for several nights. >> hands up, don't shoot, tee shirts. >> a tee shirt vendor has a friend reply meeting with police

officers handing out water. a few weeks later, business is getting back to normal at a cell phone store. owner sonny diane says he's encouraged by the reactions of his customers and neighbors. >> the tempo on the street and the way the police are handling the situation, it makes me feel there is some light, there is some hope at the end of the tunnel and the tunnel is getting shorter and shorter. >> signs that ferguson is regaining a sense of community. and monday michael brown will be laid to rest and many of the mourners hope that peace will conned then and into the following. david. >> diane thank you. fundraising is on the family of michael brown, the other is for darren wills, the man who shot him. it has raised $117,000, and

organizers for darren wills have raised even more money, $259,000. their nonprofit site is called shield of hope. the number of people contributing to wills's fund is nearly the same as the number of donators to brown's law. a proposed mike brown law and whether cameras on police can really save lives. plus a clarification on climate change, where the heat is going and why air temperatures are staying pretty much the same.

>> this is al jazeera america. i'm david schuster, john siegenthaler has the night off. coming up: muslim leaders have condemned the islamic state group and the beheading of james foley. we will ask one leader what she fears the most. plus it's called vehicle to vehicle technology. cars talking to one another how it works and why the government says it could save lives. and -- >> it started with the weekend ♪

>> but now it's out in the open, the leader of mean trees talks to us why he decides to come out as gay and as a mormon. >> today the white house said it's weighing it's options on how to address the islamic state group. the fighters are trying to cover up their own country from iraq to syria. the group emerged from years of vicious fighting in syria from 2011. 191,000 people have been killed in that civil war. taking advantage of a weak central government there the group now controls several cities in both countries. iraqi and kurdish forces are trying to push the group from iraq back into syria. the group has launched major aattacks to recapture the cities

of jalalla and sedia. the muslim leaders around the world have denounced the beheading of james fellow li, as well as the group's assertion that it representatives islam. the arab league's chief has called acts by the group crimes against humanity and demanded they be brought to justice. imams say the group is illetting and does not in any way represent islam. violent religion is out there. linda sourcer is executive director of arab association in america. the execution of james foley or hamas or the execution of 18 civilians today, what goes

through your mind? >> i'm absolutely horrified just like any other person and our condolences to the family of james foley. that's the most inhumane barbaric thing you could do to any human but to remind people that the largest number of victims of groups in al qaeda or when you talk about the taliban or even i.s.i.s. are muslims. and that's what people forget. muslims are the largest group of victims of these terrorist groups and that's not something we talk about. >> what do you think is driving people like bill maher who has quite a large following, that islam is something different than violence? >> discrimination against arab americans and muslims is acceptable. bill maher knows he's not going to get fired for that. if someone was making remarks against -- using the n word or something antisemitic, they might get more reaction to it.

but to pass antisharia laws, there are policies that target entire muslims, like the new york police department and it is very unfortunate that that is unacceptable to target an entire community. >> it may not be acceptable but is there also some understanding of why certain americans feel that way? >> i think that there is -- i don't really understand the validation, i don't validate those, just like when i think about i.s.i.s. and people trying to coordinate, andrea from the fox news saying that muslims are all one thing. the lord resistance army in central african republic or the buddhists, who take responsibility of the are massacres in burma, for us to always have to defend ourselves and disassociate from terrorist groups i.s.i.s, i.s.i.l, god and

others. >> wouldn't it be better for muslims, jews, christians for their leader to speak out when one group uses religion contrary to what that religion stands for? >> when we have shooters going around, we had one in oak creek two years ago, you didn't see the whole christian community strang up and dashes standing up and saying, we denounce this act of hate. but when it's a muslim or a muslim group that does something internationally, we look, and bill maher says, where is is muslim outrage, we are condemning, no one's listening. it's hard for us to balance that out. >> how fearful are american muslims about islamic state? >> you mean unislamic state state. nothing about the islamic state state is islamic.

it is not something i believe in personally, very concerning to us. but the question is, i don't have the solution. what do we do with a group like i.s.i.s? people are talking military intervention. how do we target this group, how do we eradicate them? we watched what we've done, in the middle east, i think i.s.i.s. is a product of some of the you know unfortunate maybe mistakes or mishaps of what military intervention can do is sometimes breed worst groups than the groups we went in to target same place. >> linda sarsur, good to have you on the program. >> thank you very much. >> this is another peaceful night in ferguson, missouri, there is hope the calm will prevail. preparations are made for michael brown's funeral, being held on monday. sparking a week of protests and unrest. the contradictory accounts of

what happened when michael brown was shot, have prompted police to aware cameras. randall pinkston has the report. >> reporter: this video shows the scene of the shooting after michael brown was killed by ferguson police officer. the question is, what happened before? there's no video or audio of that. so some americans want washington to change the rules. one proposal posted on the white house petition website calls for amike brown law. it would require all state, county and local police to wear a camera to ensure that all police are following procedure and to deter misconduct . in the weeks sin since it was posted, more than 100,000 people have signed it. video would have helped to set the record straight in he mike brown's case. >> in this situation we had a situation of he said he said,

the officer insisting he did nothing wrong and the feeling by the community that an individual should not have been shot by the police. one of the public advocates pushing a similar measure in new york city pointed to its success on the west coast. >> a city in california experienced an 88% drop in police complaints in one year after body cameras were instituted. >> reporter: but the cameras have not worked so well in albuquerque, new mexico. police fatally shot more than 2 dozen people since they adopted the cameras in 2010. some dash and body cameras but not enough to install them. a former sheriff told al jazeera it is something law enforcement should consider. >> it can help because it puts the jury and the public in the place of the officer to see what the officer is seeing. >> reporter: something

supporters of the mike brown law say could improve trust between police and the people they serve. >> imagine the difference in the message we give police when we give them cameras to wear rather than military equipment. >> reporter: because more than 100,000 people signed the white house we the people petition the white house will respond but there is no indication whether this idea will actually become a legislative proposal. >> randall pinkston here in new york. the washington post editorial board is taking a stand on a national football league controversy. the board says it will not be using the word redskins before when are referring to the nfl team. the word is a slur and offensive to native americans. the word would only be used for clarity. the washington post sports desk will continue to use the word. many scientists are confident the plan it is warming but they've been unable to explain why air temperatures have leveled off in recent

years. well now a new study appears to explain where all the heat has gone. our science and technology editor jacob ward joins us from san francisco. jake what's going on here? >> a david in a short's, it is easy to get confused. let's shows you a chart that shows why it is that scientists have become a little bit confused as to why surface temperature is slowing down. over time you see natural variability that sort of bounces up and down. in the short term you end up seeing these periods of time which i'll show you here in a second that basically are kind of a -- that slide down, slide up and you think oh, okay, maybe this is not really change in the long term. but the long term trend is absolutely unmistakable. we're seeing global warming over time. there's been this variability that scientists have had a difficult time explaining.

>> that's the long term. what explains the short term variability? >> what we're learning is that it's really the ocean that is absorbing all of the global heat. basically, 90% ever heat on this planet is held by the oceans. and basically what you're ending up seeing is there's this sort of tremendous amount of sort of reserve held deep in the oceans, and until now we really haven't been able to measure that effectively and that's what this new study is showing us. >> so jake help us understand what how -- how the ocean can do that. how is it able to in terms of the science? >> well, that's really what today's study is revealing. it's pretty much that the ocean's salinity is dragging heat down. as saltier water is moving into new bodies of water, which is what climate change is creating, you see it dragging heat down to the ocean's depths.

as a result as we have measured the surface until now, shows dips and so forth but now with the advent of new systems, we are able to measure the very deepest parts of the ocean, used argus, and i spoke to kakut tung, has told me we're looking in the wrong place. >> due to convenient to people living on a planet therefore, you want to know what surface temperature is behaving, but from physics that's a wrong metric. the metric for measuring global warming should be the total ocean heat content. >> there are many, many variables at work but the overall trend is one of increased global warming and now we know where a lot of that swarming happening. >> jakjake thank you.

>> thanks david. a new technology could prevent thousands of collisions, called v to v. phil torres is here to tell us about it. >> that's right, david, cars are getting pretty high tech. but the vehicle took huge leap to mandatory vehicle to vehicle devices by the year 2015. done at the university of michigan and "techknow"'s own dr. shini somara got to see what it was all about. >> edging forward, oh, i did not see that one coming. >> that's one of the advantages of v to v, is that it is helps

even what the driver doesn't see. >> triggering warnings when needed like when there's a car you can't see unexpectedly braking or when it's not safe to pass another car or when a car is in a blind spot during a lane change. >> you say vehicles are speaking to one another. what are they saying? >> in a small range, maybe 200 meters, the vehicles are sending out messages ten times a second showing their position, speed and the direction they're heading in steanls. teanls. instantaneously. >> that forward collision was because the car in front stopped and was an obstacle. >> an emergency electronic brake light will show me that someone ahead of me is braking.

>> general motors is one of nine car makers working together. >> what's different about the system that the v to v vehicles offer? >> well, even those aren't enough to see several car lengths ahead of you or to see around a corner so v to v technology starts filling had those gaps and let us have more information to address those driving situations that are challenging. >> now, the government says that these v to v devices will likely add about $350 to the price tag of your car but more importantly should be saving about 1100 lives every year. >> phil in shini's report, she talked about vehicle manufacturers working together. do they have any of the systems ready to go? >> yeah, they have been working on it for years. they can communicate altogether. like a iphone need to be able to call a droid phone, a ford

needs to talk to a gm. they're ready for it. >> and the government mandate would only cover new cars. what about those of us with older vehicles? >> there are manufacturers who are working on after-market products. there is a device you can install that gives you the v to v technology as well. >> what happens if the wifi goes out? >> if the wifi goes out, you just drive normal. this thing is only there to add to the system to make your driving even safer so if you don't have it, then it's just like we're driving today. >> al jazeera's phil torres. you can catch phil on "techknow" saturday nights at 7:30, phil thanks as always. coming up: he is the lead singer of neon trees. he's mormon and he recently announced he's gay. tyler glen is next.

>> heavy rage stretching across illinois and indiana in the past 24 hours have brought significant flooding. burbank illinois pictures like this coming across the wire, flooding across neighborhoods and homes with basements filled with water. so definitely a problem with all that heavy rain and it's only pushes eastward through the rest of our weekend. we're going to continue with showers stretching across the northern plain states, but it is the rainfall from thunderstorms and showers in the cascades of washington that have caused the biggest problem. last night we had highway 20 and 153 shut down from debris flow and mudslides, impacting studies around winthrop over to twisp and omak. so we've got cooler temperatures

here but snow levels down to 7500 feet. above that we are going to get one to three inches of snow, yes, fall is knocking on the door already and we're going oexpect that cooler air to linger to the north. so that rain will gradually shift eastward over the weekend. saskatchewan and flooding here as well. al jazeera america news continues.

>> ten years into his music career, the lead singer of neon trees made a big decision. tyler, in tonight's friday art statement, he sat down with thomas drayton, to talk about how this affected his latest album. >> instead of focusing on the darker part of that i decided to celebrate what the outschoo outs and write about it that. that's why i think the record is so fun and colorful. >> really about your personal life and your journey. >> yes. >> about a year ago, you held a leap. you held a secret for a large part of your life.

>> coming out as a gay man just released a real -- a real weight. and i've loved being able to talk about it now and being able to share my story, because i didn't know it was going to be such a big deal for people. because i don't think it's as surprising anymore when guys come out. but it really was important to people. and to share that i not only have faith in god, but i also am gay and this is who i am and i'm figuring it out and i'm trying to be honest and open. >> it's surprising because your friends pretty much call you an open book. was that torment to hold it back? >> yes, surprising, i was good at departmentalizing leading the double sometimes triple life you do when you are hiding something. i thought music was my security

blanket because i could be who i wanted and be that free, flam buoyant performer. -- flaflamboyant performer. ♪ >> what was that release like when you told your family your friends and your band mates? >> it was awesome. the first person i told was my producer, who i made the record with and who was one of my closest friends. when i got an answer that was exciting and loving, versus the, like, things that i always expected, my world was rocked and i wanted to tell everyone, you know, and it's been wonderful to be able to tell everyone in my life and have them all still here. when you're brought up, in certain areas of the country that maybe are more suburban and more conservative, you're told that you could lose family and

friends. and there's a lot of fear. ♪ ♪ i've been here looking dynamite ♪ ♪ alone again so long ♪ girls like you give it all too call ♪ >> but along the way along the journey you've hold onto your faith, in fact when you were 18 you said you doubled-down on mormonism. >> i served a application for my church. >> for two years. >> in nebraska. if it wasn't successful, i would say it was my favorite year because i grew a lot. >> was it a battle with the church? >> sure, there's definitely a teaching but there's still something about it that i feel connected to. and i also feel like leaving

plenty of people leave but i would rather stay and try to promote maybe a new face of homosexuality and maybe be more of a role model for those who do struggle like me with faith and their sexuality. because there are people, a lot of people like me, that i discovered, and that i hear from constantly. ♪ why mess up a good thing baby ♪ it's so rich to even fall in love ♪ ♪ so when you give that look to me ♪ ♪ i better look back carefully ♪ >> did that change your approach in song writing? >> you know i wrote the record and then i came out. so i haven't really written new material since. so i don't know. i don't really know the answer to that. i'm sure it will, yes. >> is it a little bit of a release writing the lyrics? >> yes, i was really frank in a lot of the material and yet it still has a lot of pop sensibility in it. ♪ i love you

♪ i love you ♪ i love you ♪ but i ain't your friend >> your home town fans, 80% mormon will look at you differently? >> that was a concern. i definitely felt like maybe somebody, somebody won't start -- won't keep coming to the shows or -- but we played this summer in salt lake and it was sold out. and when i talked about my journey on stage, the applause was immense. and it was really, really -- it just felt good, i felt like they had their arms around me. >> looking at you your fans, wht would you tell the person who was battling with their sexuality? >> don't feel -- i would say don't feel the pressure to ever be something that you're not. but also, take your time and figure it out. and the one thing i can hold

onto this whole experience so far is that i've been true to my heart and spoken from it. and i don't have all the answers. and i don't think any of us -- any of us do. but i think when you're true to yourself, it really -- the happiness comes ten fold and that's a personal discovery of mine so -- >> what is next for tyler glen, neon trees? >> world domination, i don't know. >> who knows? good to see you. tyler glen. neon trees. >> neon trees just announced their fall u.s. tour dates. at 11:00 p.m. eastern tonight. watch this: ♪ >> eric hutchinson talks to us about how he's getting his music out to the masses. plus, do you need a parking spot on a busy metropolitan

street, there's an app for that. at 11:00 p.m. eastern, 8:00 p.m. pacific. we end the show today by a canine mom who stepped in to help. this tiger mom rejected them. so this one stepped in to help. next, al jazeera america, borderland. we'll see you at 11:00 eastern.

>> coming up on al jazeera america's "borderland". >> yeah! >> my boys! >> good to see you! >> i don't know if i would say that i've every seen anything like this. >> are you and your daughter gonna take this train? this, takes guts.