happy about it. he's a little dog. that gives him for power. thank you for sharing your morning with us. >> "smerconish" starts right now. first off, exactly what is president obama's plan to quote degrade and destroyed isis? lawmakers want answers from the president's top diplomat secretary kerry. ed royce and elliot engel will join me. the top republican says isis should be bombed back to the stone age. is the gop pivoting to hawk standing. could medical marijuana be the solution to drug addiction? i'll talk to a lead author of the study. let's get started.

my first headline is from today's "new york times." obama recruits nine ally nations to combat isis. lawmakers want answers from the obama administration about what it is doing to fight isis. the house foreign affairs committee will call john kerry to testify on september 16th. ed royce and the ranking democrat elliot engel join me now. the news is the strategy against isis is taking shape. it is a strategy involving nine allies. the u.s. in the lead and u.s. air strikes is the primary component. is this what you have been waiting for? >> it's a long time coming. we will have a hearing in which our secretary of state will layout the strategy. i think it's key here that we

have allies that are willing in that region to put the infantry on the ground. the united states will not do that. we are, however, supportive of targeted air strikes in order to attack isis and especially to prevent them from having the staging area. i think our key concern is that they have been able to have a sanctuary and grow from that sanctuary. we want that sanctuary and safe haven destroyed. >> when secretary kerry is in front of you on the 16th, what do you most want to ask him? >> i think a strategy in which we understand now that there are thousands of europeans with passports that can come to the united states and we have, you know, several hundred americans that are now reportedly in that part of the world fighting with isis. we want to hear a strategy that tells us how do you target those individuals because isis has now said their goal is to carry the

war into attacks in the united states. they are abducting and killing u.s. citizens. there are only about 17,000 of them. if we have other allies in the region willing to put the infantry on the ground, the kurds and iraqi security forces and the free syrian army, we should be supporting them with the equipment they need. we should be working along with nato members on air strikes targeting isis. >> congress member engel, one thing that troubles me with the nine ally nations is the lack of the arab component. i worry this lineup is a recruitment tool for isis to say here we are again under siege from the west. how do we get more arab input? >> i think we will have it as the time goes on. first of all, i'm delighted that the president is taking the lead and making the move.

this is not something with which we have a choice. isis is a very dangerous group. just like we experienced with the taliban in afghanistan, when the russians left afghanistan, we didn't move in or do anything. we allowed al qaeda to have no man's land to plot and plan against the united states. the result was 9/11. this will happen again if we do nothing. that's why i think it is important to take the fight to isis and not let them control when we fight them, but destroy them now. >> is the enemy of my enemy my friend? by that, if iran is willing to play a role, should we welcome them? >> i don't welcome iran into anything. they play a destructive role. nato should take the lead. just the way the united states is vulnerable to a terrorist attack, so are our allies in europe. they are closer to iraq and

syria. it is good nato takes the lead. i think nato really in the post-dictante time is really on the line with the russians. i think nato should be doing. just like in 1999 in kosovo, they were a force for good. >> chairman royce, would you welcome iran if iran was willing to participate. would you want their assistance? >> no, you don't want iran more engaged. iran has been part of most of the problems in that part of the world. you just had a situation where iran was sending long-range missiles to hamas. the rockets you saw fired into tel aviv and jerusalem. i think that any engagement by iran is counter productive. >> let me bring in general mark

hertling. are normal allies in eastern europe pre-occupied? >> they are. they see it as much of a problem as we see isis. i think what was interesting, micha michael, the new york times article. one of the key members that signed up was poland. poe laland has a lot to lose. their ability to look in two directions has said how far they are about to come. >> mr. chairman, doesn't this all necessitate a declaration of war? doesn't need a formal declaration with the chief and the congress? >> it depends on the scope of operations. the authorization the president has right now in erbil.

what we want to see is the president and secretary of state come to congress and layout their plan. once we see that plan, we will see what type of authorization is needed. again, that authorization is not going to include u.s. combat forces in the region. there is no support in congress for u.s. infantry troops on the ground for military combat. >> general hertling, that then begs the question at least from this civilian. how do we know what to strike unless we have support on the ground? doesn't it necessitate some level of u.s. ground involvement? >> it does, but it can be in nuanced ways, michael. that is what the president has been formulating as part of the strategy. it is not just the european allies, but mr. hagel and kerry have been in the area to support

from countries like saudi arabia and uae. he is looking for intelligence factors from jordan and other areas. this has to be a worldwide, not just a nato wild condemnation of isis. that is the critical point of the strategy. you have to get every one in the world countering this horrific terrorist organization. >> congress member engel, if iran wanted to participate, you said the answer would be no. how do we handle bashar al assad in syria? >> i think we missed the opportunity to free the syrian army. if we had done that, they would be willing to help. isis is the terror right now. we have to concentrate on isis. not assad. he is a murderer. he has to go. he has killed his own people. the threat is isis in iraq and in syria right now.

they are the ones we really have to destroy. >> chairman royce, you get the final word. >> i would just say it is time to get the kurdish forces and communications equipment so they can communicate with us. let them be on the ground. i agree with elliot engel. we don't want u.s. troops on the ground. we will support air power used to target and eliminate isis. >> congress member royce and congress member engel, general hertling, thank you very much. my headline, i would have written, it's a war without declaration. with the u.s. and the next steps against isis in question, would the path of non

intervention or turn to hawkish moves? and prescription drug ov overdoses are down in states. why some say smoking pot could be the answer. i'm on expert on softball. and tea parties. i'll have more awkward conversations than i'm equipped for, because i'm raising two girls on my own. i'll worry about the economy more than a few times before they're grown. but it's for them, so i've found a way. who matters most to you says the most about you. at massmutual we're owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. ready to plan for your future? we'll help you get there. when your favorite food starts a fight fight back fast with tums. relief that neutralizes acid on contact... ...and goes to work in seconds. ♪ tum, tum tum tum tums! try great tasting tums chewy delights.

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my next headline from the washington post. rise of islamic state tests anti-interventionists. are we seeing the reemergence of the gop war hawks? considering the iraq and syria, senator rand paul says he supports destroying isis and insists he is not an isolationist or interventionist. robert costa joins me now.

bob, that was your headline from the post i was quoting. did isis end the interventionist momentum that seemed to exist within the gop? >> i say it did. senator rand paul was the leading voice for the non interventionists in the republican party. as he moves to a hawkish line, not having paul at the forefront has hurt that wing of the party. >> what is the answer? was he never the chip off the old block of the father that some envisioned he was or is rand paul now taking a look at 2016 and saying, hey, in order for me to win primary and caucus support, this is the way i have to pivot. >> i think it is more of the latter. he worked for his father's campaigns and backed the isolationist when his father ran in 2008 and 2012. it points to rand having ambition. he knows the party has base and

believes in the george w. bush world view. he is moving toward that. >> i would suggest there is an untapped resource within the gop and maybe within the democratic party as well of a voice that reason magazine and libertarians embody of people who say stay out of it. i guess my question for robert costa is who can tap into that mindset? >> i think rand paul is the person who stands to benefit most from that. maybe michael, we're seeing rand paul moving to the right on foreign policy ahead of the primaries in places like iowa. if he ever won the nomination, he would move back to center. >> switch to the other side of the aisle. within the democratic caucus, what is going on? al franken sounded hawkish this week by way of illustration of me not seeing a voice within the democratic party that is pursuing the non interventionist's path. >> i covered senator elizabeth

warren's campaign. the liberals are uncomfortable with clinton and the liberals. they are looking for someone in the republican party step up. they don't see martin o'malley doing that. we will see who will challenge clinton. can they challenge her ideologically on foreign policy? >> i know you are paying attention to the toss up senate races across the country. do you think we are about to see a change in the cycle where it is not the economy and not health care and it is actually foreign policy? >> we have even health care and economics. these are issues on the fringe, but nothing has galvanized. i think foreign policy could be it. congress is coming back next week to try to fund the government and come up with a strategy for isis.

we will see the key senate races in arkansas, iowa and new hampshire become the issue. >> robert, great to see you. thank you for coming to the program. you remember the headline. rise of the islamic state. i would have written hawks win gop primaries. it has been their name for more than 80 years. why the controversy? why now some in the media have banned the redskins? and smoking pot can get you high, but there could be a surprising new benefit. preventing people from overdosing on painkillers. that's all i crave.e that's where this comes in. only nicorette gum has patented dual-coated technology for great taste. plus nicorette gum gives you intense craving relief. and that helps put my craving in its place. that's why i only choose nicorette.

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are you ready for some football? tomorrow is the inaugural sunday game, but for the redskins, it is a new challenge for sports reporters. the headline from new york magazine, the daily news bans the redskins name and logo. first the washington post editorial board said it would know no longer use the term redskins. kansas city star and detroit

news have done likewise. reid hunt is the former chair of the fcc and joins us now. thank you for being here. do you worry about the chilling effect that could take place when media outlets make this decision for themselves? >> one job of the fcc has been to nudge broadcasters to pay attention to decency and standards. in the 1960s, the fcc was making sure broadcasters were not using free licenses to broadcast hate speech and use the "n" word. now we are talking about the "r" word in the standard of decency and it is right and proper for the fcc and broadcasters to have a discussion about that. >> you think it is a healthy role for the media outlets to have that discussion? >> absolutely. give credit to the print media.

they are encouraging members of the broadcast society that the "r" word is just as bad as the "n" word. this is a conversation that should continue not consensus. the last holdout, dan snyder, will come into that eventually. >> it seems at odds with what is drilled in to me with my role is to report on the news and not to make the news. these are media outlets changing the story themselves. >> i think that broadcasters have always been at their highest level. amir decency in american society. i'm sure you, yourself, would not want to use the "r" word. >> if you were chair of the fcc today, you wrote along those words how you would handle your responsibility, what would your approach be? >> first, i would say that nfl should not stand for not following laws. we see in the michael sam case,

awareness in the nfl that gays should be tolerated. we see in the recent suspension of jim irsay, that an owner is subject to decency. having the conversation with the nfl about the use of this name is a good starting point. commissioner jessica rosen of the fcc was encouraged about the use of the name. i would like her to have a meeting with the nfl and broadcasters and have an open discussion. >> final we for reid hunt. i read a report from a senior linguist. i spent issues looking at the origin. he said native americans themselves coined redskins. that has a benign effort. >> this use of the name is a

throwback to the banished era. an era we are glad is gone. time to get up to a current standard of decency, dan snyder and the nfl. >> my prediction on the chyrons on tv, there will be washington and eagles. thank you, reid hunt. we appreciate you being here. remember the headline. the daily news bans the redskins name and logo. i would have written, banning moniker. media makes news. the death of joan rivers was shocking to many of us. why the outpatient care centers is now the center of attention. and should we tell young women to prioritize finding a husband over graduation? the princeton mom sure thinks so.

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author, lisa bloom. lisa, are there clear grounds for making this hot car case a death penalty case? >> that say decision for the prosecutors to make after he is arraigned. they have to look at factors. i'm not clear if it is a death penalty case. i don't know if he has a prior record. there is sufficient evidence to charge him with murder. that's what they have done. there is a lot of evidence to indicate that he intentionally left his little boy in the car to die. i don't know if it has to be under reasonable doubt. that is for trial. >> what is the relevance of the sexting? you and i remember from law school lectures if the probative value is left for the testimony, it might not come in. i'm trying to understand. everybody is talking about the sexting as if it comes in whether it really is relevant to him having potentially killed his son. >> that's right. actually, sexting did not exist when i was in law school.

it does exist now. the argument the prosecutors are going to make he was sending sexually explicit messages to an underage girl, that is illegal, while his boy was slowly dying in the car in the heat of that summer day. that shows the callous nature of his crime and shows depraved indifference to human life. >> you think what a dirt bag this guy is. i guess he did kill the kid. >> the only question is whether it is relevant. that is for a judge to weigh. it is in the case. it was going on at the time the son was dying. we are not talking about a week before or a month before. it is relevant. >> let's talk about ferguson. the justice department announcing an investigation in ferguson this week. similarly, does that poison the well for the police officer because as a grand jury is taking testimony about the mike brown death, now maybe the grand

jury says it doesn't bode well for the officer? >> i don't think so. we are talking about two separate investigations. i question why the doj is being so reactive. why didn't they do the investigation years ago when the people of ferguson were crying out complaining about racial bias and the way the police in the town have been conducting themselves. at least they are doing it now. that's a good thing. i'm not concerned about it poisoning the grand jury. >> i want to talk about the joan rivers passing. the older i get, the more often i find myself saying, my, god, she was only 81. >> yeah. that is an important issue. a lot of people look at the death of an 81-year-old. you say it must have been old age. the fact is joan rivers was vibrant and active. she was doing more shows than anybody else in show biz. she had two tv shows and about to go off to london for live

shows. she had qvc. she was tweeting constantly. this woman was busy. the question the new york state department of health has to answer is why did she die from a routine minor medical procedure on her vocal chords? sure, mistakes can happen at anytime and any medical procedure, but what happened here? >> it seems like a typical potential medical malpractice action and nothing more. i think lay people hear a state investigation going on and there is potentially more to it. >> right. so far, no wrongdoing has been found. look, any of us who go in for any medical procedure are given warnings. anytime you go under anesthesia. it could result in damage or death. she was given all those warnings. the clinic and doctors have to live up to the appropriate medical standards. it is an investigation at this point. >> lisa, great to see you. thanks for being here.

>> thank you. love the show. >> thank you. medical marijuana is now legal in 23 states and district of columbia. a lot of people use it to dull chronic pain. a new benefit to legalizing the drug and it may surprise you. i got this. [thinking] is it that time? the son picks up the check? [thinking] i'm still working. he's retired. i hope he's saving. i hope he saved enough. who matters most to you says the most about you. at massmutual we're owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. whether you're just starting your 401(k) or you are ready for retirement,

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my next headline from the st. louis post dispatch.

states allowing medical marijuana report fewer prescription drug overdose deaths. 23 states and the district of columbia have legalized the use of medical marijuana. there may be a benefit. the states that allow medical marijuana have 23% fewer overdose deaths on average. we have a professor with us from the johns hopkins school of health. we know opioid addition can lead to heroin addiction. what did you want to find out? >> so many individuals use prescription pain medications like vicodin and oxycontin to fight pain. we are looking to see if medical marijuana as an alternative might lead to a reduction in

overdose deaths. medical marijuana is not subject to the same risks. >> what did you find? >> we compiled death certificate data from the cdc. we found across all states, the rate of prescription pain medication deaths have increased over the years. we found the yearly rate of overdose death in states with medical marijuana laws, as you said, had a 25% lower on average rate than in states without medical marijuana laws. in absolute terms, this is sizable. in 2010 alone, there were about 1,700 fewer overdose deaths in the medical marijuana laws. >> do you know enough to conclude that there are a significant number of individuals who given the option

to smoke pot are turning away from the opioids or does more need to happen? >> there is more that needs to be done to research and policy. we don't know the mechanism. we think as the risks of addiction and overdose are better known, providers may look to medical marijuana painkillers. we don't know if that is a supplementation. we need to know the benefits of medical marijuana in terms of helping people and the long term health and quality of life ex a trajecto trajectory. >> is it fair to say that we as a society are better served if given a choice between the two,

patients are pursuing pot instead of the opioids because of the less side effects and repercussions. >> it is better to find better options for individuals who are experiencing chronic pain and proponents of medical marijuana laws identified this as a strategy for dealing with people with severe and chronic pain like cancer and multiple sclerosis and glaucoma. i think we benefit from having more options available and i think it is critical for people to better understand what the risks are associated with narcotic pain medications. we have a tripling of a rate of overdose in the country in the last ten years. overdose death has exceeded motor vehicle crashes in terms of cause of death. >> dr. berry, thank you for being here. you remembered headline.

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my next headline, why i told female princeton students to find a husband. my next guest has caused a lot of controversy with college women. susan patton, known as the princeton mom, is the author of "marry smart." advice for finding the one. she joins me now. susan, when i read the original piece, i think i understood what you were saying. there are so many institutions out there. family, workplace, our social environment, that are conducive to finding a spouse. why shouldn't college be considered one of them. >> not only college, but the best one, michael. the best one. you are saying the workplace, no. do not consider finding a spouse in the workplace. what an awful idea. i'm a human resources

consultant. don't think about dating someone at work. you put your professional persona at risk dating at the office. don't do it at work. when you are on campus and a student, it is the very best opportunity for women to find a husband. you are talking about a concentration of men who are age appropriate, single, like minded and you have an opportunity to meet them in an organic way. over class or walking on campus or over a meal. you will never again have this concentration of extraordinary men to choose from. >> you are always saying, i think, take advantage of all of the leg work and investigation and screening that the admissions office did. >> already did for you. yes. >> okay. >> that's right. >> i want to ask about something going on in california. california has a yes means yes law. silence no longer consent. yes only means yes. your reaction.

gloria steinem thinks this is going to cut down on sexual assaults on college campus. >> it is absurd. certainly yes means yes, we never have verbal consent. people are out on a date. getting remomantic. do you think they will stop and one says to the other, would you like to have sex with me now? and the other says yes, i would like to have sex with you now. that doesn't happen. that never happens. so the de facto consent in the scenario, women get a little tipsy and men get tipsy. women, i hate to say it, they have to be smarter for themselves. they are falling out of their clothes and draped all over some man and whispering nasty things in his ear. they take that as consent. that is de facto consent.

>> i get that this doesn't happen, but there would be less ambiguity if it were to happen. less of the gray area cases where someone miss interpret. >> imagine it at any point in any adult life, do you ever really stop in an intimate situation and say may i now do this to your that and do you want me to do -- no, it simply doesn't happen. there are clues and visual clues that move this process along in a natural way. talk about organic. there is absolutely nothing organic about this kind of exchange that leads to what gloria steinem is hoping is yes. >> we have a minute left. a great deal written and expressed recently about the data pertaining to sexual assaults on campuses. i know you have strong feelings about this issue. lay it out for me quickly. >> i have strong feelings. it is absurd to say one in five

women on college campuses are going to be raped. college campuses are not a women's prison. what they are talking about is sexual occurrence that happens usually under the influence of alcohol or drugs. the way to really cut down on assault on campus is to tell young women you have to not allow yourself to be so drunk or stoned that you can't extricate yourself from a situation you are not comfortable with. the way to cut down on sexual assault, women have to remain sober enough to say i don't like this and you get up and you walk out. >> susan patton, thank you. we appreciate your expertise. you remember the original headline, why i told female princeton students to find a husband. what i would have written, admissions office as matchmaker. a facebook post about death panels lit a fire among conservatives and nearly

derailed obamacare. now it could pay for end-of-life counselling sessions and my take is next. dad,thank you mom for said this oftprotecting my future.you. thank you for being my hero and my dad. military families are uniquely thankful for many things, the legacy of usaa auto insurance could be one of them. if you're a current or former military member or their family, get an auto insurance quote and see why 92% of our members plan to stay for life.

former alaska governor sarah palin introduced death panel. >> death panel. >> the death panel lie, that's what it is. >> we should not have a government program that determines you're going to pull the plug. >> i'm sure you remember those fireworks from the debate over the affordable care act. well, end of life planning was back in the news this week and thus far no one is repeating the death panel mantra which is a good thing. according to the "new york times" as early as next year medicare will reimburse doctors for end of life consultations. it's an important development

given increased longevity and the desire of many to determine how they will spend their final days, at home, in a hospital with what level of treatment. cost is another consideration. according to a 2010 stud fri health services research, one out of every four medicare dollars more than $125 billion, is spent on services for the 5% of beneficiaries in their last year of life. and it's the financial element that fueled sarah palin's involvement. on other facebook page she famously said, who will suffer the most when they ration care? the sick, elderly and disabled, of course. the america i know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with down's syndrome will have to snand front of obama's death panel so his bureaucrats will sow to decide base and level of productivity in society whether they are worthy of health care. such a system, she says is downright evil. the hyperbole worked. that section of the affordable

care act would have covered in 2009 was removed. and among the dispipted was earl bloomenhour, the congressman whose idea it was to include the coverage. on the house floor he explained his motivations. >> i'm sad to say that the minority whip, the minority leader, have been part of an effort to deal with fear and misrepresentation attacking bipartisan legislation that would have done precisely that, reform the health care system. the american public especially our senior citizens deserve our best efforts to meet their needs, not treat them like political footballs. >> so now five years later insurers have begun to fill the void left by congress and clearly there's a need. consider that a 2010 study in the journal of pay leetive medicine found only 15 to 20% seriously ill patients had end

of life care in medical records. some insurers begun reimbursing physicianses $35 for each conversation they have about end of life decisions. it's not comparable to a lawyer or an accountants hourly wage, for some burnout family physicians it's a start. after all, physicians are reimbursed for smoking cessation and weight-loss counseling. why shouldn't they be compensated for having the most important discussion of their patient's life? i know many are going to cynically say that insurance companies are only interested in the cost savings that might result from end of life counseling, and maybe so. but by enabling doctor/patient communication, those insurers help patients make informed decisions and articulate their individual preferences and they, the patients, are the real winners. that's it for me. thank you to my producer, off to greener pastures. you'll be missed. everybody else, i'll see you back here next saturday.

-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com i hope saturday's been good to you. we're grateful for your company. i'm christi paul. >> and i'm martin savidge in for victor blackwell. you're in the "cnn newsroom." great to you with you. >> so good to have you here, martin. thank you. all righty. let's talk about what a lot of people are talking about today. president obama saying, make no mistake, isis poses a long-term threat. >> the president is just back from actually this morning from his nato summit in wales and says key allies are ready to stand shoulder-to-shoulder to degrade, destroy and dismantdal isis. >> joining us live, erin, what are the nato al lishgs the first question here, what are the nato

allies agreeing to? do we have any specifics? >> reporter: well, christi and martin, basically secretary of state john kerry and defense secretary chuck hagel met with nine our countries or representatives from those countries yesterday afternoon and essentially they agreed to train and supply iraqi force there's on the ground as well as stopping the funding for isis or countering it in some way. president obama said yesterday it will take a long time. returning from talks in europe over how to deal with the isis threat, president obama now faces a returning congress, and lawmakers demanding a strategy. >> there was eu n unimty that i poses a threat to nato members. >> reporter: the president alluding it in the past weeks but becoming