>> thank you for joining us on fox business this morning. shout out to canada plaza. shout out to people all over the place. that does it for us. varney is next. ashley webster is in. ashley: wherever she goes, that's how popular she is. good morning, i'm ashley webster in for stuart this morning. here are big stories that we are following, of course, dow 20,000, it could finally be here. tired of saying it, us 55 points away. that's why we have 55 in the middle of the screen. consumers are more confident than in 15 years. and donald trump is taking credit for that. secretary of state john kerry

about to make a speech on his vision for peace between israel and palestine weeks before obama is set to leave office. president obama planning new sanctions for russia, retaliation for so-called election interference, but amazon reporting its best holiday period ever, more than a billion items shipped. that is a lot. "varney & company" begins right now. ♪ >> ♪ babe, i got you babe ♪ ♪ i got you babe ♪ >> sonny and cher. remember that song? of course, bill murray, groundhog day. we're saying that because the dow can't make it up to the high higher.

41 points, could we get to the magic mark soon after ringing the opening bell. we shall see. two hours from now, the white house will defend its actions regarding israel as israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu there's no doubt that the u.s. is behind the u.n. vote on settlements. the story continues to stir up harsh words and anger from the israelis. come in tammy bruce, welcome tammy. >> thank you. ashley: we are going to hear from john kerry later this morning. >> oh, yeah. ashley: get the administration's reasoning for this. what's your take on this? israel obviously praying for january 20th and the, you know, inauguration of donald trump. >> part of what secretary kerry is going to say today is this really is nothing new, he's going to be defending the administration which i find interesting in that they do find the criticism is having impact on something. so, they're in a reactionary mode normally they wouldn't have to. there's a vision of the next three weeks, what they want to do.

what's different about this, it effectively recognizes the 1967 boundaries, or pre-the 1967 boundaries. it has an impact on the ground there and that's why the prime minister of israel is upset and this is long-term. you've got, remember, barack obama with interfering with the israeli elections and sent one of his activists there and they were working to try to have netanyahu's party not win and have him not be prime minister and then you had netanyahu coming here to condemn the iran deal and speaking to congress, barack obama was upset about, he did not want him to do that. this seems to be personal. ashley: a deliberate parting shot from obama? >> this is where, when it comes down to the issue of personal dynamics versus what's right and best for countries and also the fact that though a president trump can veto actions that night expand on this resolution, that would be

difficult for israel and you know, at least could push things through in the security council that would perhaps reverse this for our friends. ashley: as you're speaking, tammy, we brought-- you brought up pre-1967, the borders, you can see the before on the left and then after 1967 on the right. >> that's why you're hearing the prime minister speak about jerusalem and the fact that that's not occupied territory. this changes the dynamic on the ground and it makes it, in their view, more difficult to have an argument and risrael is taking action or withdrawing at least the passive-aggressive action of the action of united states. ashley: and obama administration reportedly close to announcing measures to punish russia for what it calls election interference and our friend cheryl casone with that story. yeah, well, they're working on how they're going to do that.

the devil is in the details for the white house right now and if they passed on legislation and rules back in 2015 that would allow them to go against cyber attackers, but to go against another country and say you interfered with our election, they don't have that in the writing. this is incredible because they're actually accusing russia with interfering with the u.s. election in particular, we believe they're going to cite breaking into the dnc and the cyber attack that happened there. ashley: so russia takes crima, attacks the ukraine, bombs away in aleppo, but the big issue here is the hack of the dnc and embarrassment i guess of the clinton campaign of the e-mails. >> the cyber security and in their own-- that they've created from the white house, they don't have the power to do that, it could be economic sanctions and diplomatic sanctions is what we're expecting to hear from the white house.

ashley: now they get tough. back to the markets, 55 points away from dow 20,000. look who is here. barron's senior editor jack howe, welcome to grand hg's day. we could have pushed-- welcome to groundhog's day. there does seem to be quite strong resistance to take the final step up to 20,000. why? >> i'm not sure. >> i say this every time you ask me, today will be the day. ashley: can you give a time? >> i predict there will be a narrative around it like it means something it doesn't. we'll get there on random distribution, we're so close, you would expect we'll pop over it. and i don't expect a rip roaring broad stock market rally, i don't expect index

fund holders to be high fiving each other in the coming year. i think the big story is a the we have a narrow group of stocks that we're leading the market in recent years and now we've started to see awakening in all sorts of, you know, other groups in the industrial sector, banking, and value stocks. >> the stocks companies that actually benefit from the policies of donald trump? >> i think so, yeah. some companies that might benefit from tax breaks, some would benefit from infrastructure push and got people thinking, you know, whether or not we're going to see economic growth improve, the thought that has people looking around, seeing where are the values right now. they haven't been doing that. it sounds like a simple question, investors haven't been asking where are the values. they've been in the inexdid. ashley: computer algorithms have an impact. is there an algorithm that is keeping us from getting to 20,000?

i was grasping at straws. once it creeps over the line, other things kick in, and more money from the sidelines, and smoking up the computers and we go to the next level. we don't just step a toe over the line? and come back and see what happens. ashley: the algorithms kick in. >> i wish i-- i don't think that there's a -- i don't know a lot of a hedge funds friends that have algorithms that work off round, you know, 10,000 increments, but whatever happens, we'll look back and we'll create a story and make it sound like we know what happened. ashley: anyway, how about this, donald trump taking credit for the economy, why not? here is what he tweeted. the u.s. consumer confidence index for december surged nearly 4 points to 113.7 the highest level in more than 15 years. thanks, donald. i love that, third person conversation. >> sometimes he puts, enjoy

with an exclamation point. would have done one of these here. [laughter] >> why shouldn't he take yesterday, in reality that's going on here. should we say thank you, donald? >> i'm not going to say yet. i'll wait until he's in office. ashley: the consumers confidence index nicely, 15-year high. >> people have a habit sometimes of mixing their personal politics with their investing and their opinions on the economy and this and that and sometimes they're self-fulling prophesy. i'm going to wait for more than the opinion data. ashley: way too sensible. thank you. tammy, what are your last feelings on this? donald trump taking credit for 15-year high and consumer confidence, should he? >> there's been so much going on the last eight years, we would haveeen inclination of it.

the economy is how people feel and whether it's safe to spend. so it's mr. trump's experience, what he claims he's going to do. we already saw like the carrier deal, it was very small, but it was an indicator. ashley: makes you feel good. >> that he can do it after barack obama said he would need a magic wand, he had no how it could happen. the president-elect showed how it could work. that's what we see. a man who knows what he's doing, can convey what he's going to do and have the american people believe him because of his background. ashley: thank you, donald. what we're saying. >> and enjoy. ashley: and enjoy, a historic moment at pearl harbor. japanese prime minister shinzo abe alongside president obama, mr. abe ever lasting condolences and saying that japan must never repeat the horrors of war again. a chaotic scene at trump tower in new york, the building evacuated after police found a suspicion bag. what was it?

it was just a bag full of toys. donald trump, by the way, in florida at the time. and then this, a cafe in hawaii sending this message to trump supporters. you cannot eat here. wow! alo aloho-- aloha. more varney. ♪ you can't predict the market. but through good times and bad... ...at t. rowe price... ...we've helped our investors stay confident for over 75 years. call us or your advisor. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. is it keeps the food out. for me before those little pieces would get in between my dentures and my gum and it was uncomfortable. just a few dabs is clinically proven to seal out more food particles. super poligrip is part of my life now.

>> at last master luke came to rescue me. >> luke skywalker, jedi knight. ashley: oh, that was care ri

fisher of course next to him and passing away at 60 years old. she'd already filmed the next "star wars" movie? >> they had wrapped up production in london where she was flying from last friday over the summer. so, all of that film is complete. but the question is, what do they do for the next two films after that, that they've got planned because she -- as far as we know has roles in those as well. there's no intention of losing the character. ashley: right, she's beloved. >> that's a problem for disney. we saw this with paul walker that died during the filming of fast and furious and did digital enhancement. it's tough for disney and the film makers, they're in mourning over losing her. ashley: and another stair, sin cinnabon in treat for a comment about carrie's hair buns.

>> and rest in piece, carrie fisher, you have the best bons in the universe. >> and they say it was too soon. some on twitter said it was too soon. >> when you've got young people running twitter accounts who might not know or understand social appropriateness. and she may have found it funny, but 2016 has been so difficult, too many losses. ashley: too soon. >> george michael like a week ago. it's a lesson learned. ashley: let's get back to politics. the trump administration saying that the absence of a vote and secretary kerry will give their

reasoning. congressman collins, thank you for joining us. >> good to be with you, ashley. ashley: thank you for joining us. what's your reaction to what the u.s. did with regard to that vote on israel and the settlement question, were you surprised? >> well, i am surprised and to me, it's a vindictive nature of this president. let's face it, he and netanyahu have not gotten along in a very long time and this president has not stood with israel. and so, you know, as we heard obama the other day say if he had run against trump he would have won, i mean, he can't get over the fact that his policies have been repudiated by the american public. so, i look at this, quite frankly, as a personal vindictive move by president obama in the security council itself, you know, to, you know, condemn what israel's done and in effect not even recognize that the western wall is-- we would say not in disputed territory and now according to

obama it is. so trump is going to stand with netanya netanyahu. he's going to stand strong with israel, for the next 20 days, i think, 23 days, we're sure the israelis can't wait for obama to be leaving office and we'll be just fine after the fact because there's no question donald trump is one of the strongest supporters of benjamin netanyahu and also israel. ashley: congressman, you know, how quickly would donald trump in your mind be able to turn this around and, you know, essentially take back what was originally passed by the u.n. security council? >> well, when you consider the united states is the primary funder of the u.n., i don't think it would take very long because donald trump, the negotiator, i would expect would step right in and say we're going to undo this action and if you're-- 'cause this is, you know, there's no way the u.s. having been a strong ally of israel could defend this and i would not be, you know, with the art of the deal, the psident

saying listen, we hold the purse strings, and quite frankly, when we say jump, you jump. ashley: congressman, we just got this. donald trump tweeting this morning, want your reaction to this. he's saying, quote, doing my best to disregard the many inflammatory president obama statements and road blocks, thought he was going to be a smooth transition, not. what's your thought on that, kongman, do you agree with what donald trump is saying. >> oh, yes, i've been getting reports myself from what we would call the landing teams that are in the administration. this administration is not working to help the smooth transition of donald trump into office. they're doing everything they can to make this a bumpy road and again, you see the true thoughts of president obama when he says, if i had been running for a third term i would have beaten donald trump. he can't get over the fact it was a repudiation of his policy and legacy, nothing more than 20 trillion of debt and isis

being a threat to the world. so, you can see the anger he's trying to control it, but he can't control it and so, you know, thank god donald trump won. hillary clinton can't get over it. what does she keep saying, if i-- i won the popular vote, my wife laughed she's a ballroom dancer, you'd think she was on dancing with the stars. in this case she would have had the mirror ball trophy. well, she didn't get the presidency. and you see both clinton camp as well as the obama camp, they're beside themselves they lost this election. ashley: sour grapes. ashley: thank you, sour grapes. >> thank you, ashley. ashley: multiple earthquake on the california-nevada state line. at least seven quakes magnitudes between 3 and 6 shaking felt as far away as lake tahoe, that jarring some nerves there on the california-nevada border. home builder in minnesota

recovering after accidentally firing a nail gun into his head. >> look at that. ashley: this x-ray shows the nail great up into his forehead and the man was framing a closet when the nail gun kicked back and fired in the wrong direction. doctors say he was literally millimeters from death. >> lucky, lucky, lucky guy. ashley: yikes. and this, oh, yes, 55 points away from dow 20 k. we really could hit it today. yes, please. jack here says it's a certainty. you've got to love that. you don't want to miss it when it happens. stay right here. ♪ [pony neighing] what? hey gary. oh.

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>> we are less than five minutes away from the opening bell. futures pointing up nearly 40 points. we're already at 19,915. is this the morning? we say it every morning, but could we get there? we very well could, maybe in the first half hour, maybe the first five minutes, i'm throwing it out there. i did do some history fact checking for you, 44 years ago,

the dow hit 1,000 back in 1972. based on that pace we'll hit 40,000 in 2060 which is another election year. there you go, bring it out at the next cocktail party. adam shapiro joins the party, thank you very much. cheryl casone, keith fitz-gerald and, predicting we'll do it. and the market will open in less than four minutes now. let's go around the horn, dan, let me bring you in. is this the day? make a bold prediction. >> i'm going to say, no. we've been pushing, pushing, pushing. i think we need to see more data to push us above there, but it's not out of the question. ashley: i'm going right back, dan, right back to jack. jack, why are you so certain? >> it's not going to be terribly complicated. we're this close and the average market moves this much every day. >> dan said date a--

data, but what about home sales. i know it's considered a lagging indicator, but we've got nothing to take the market higher and lower. ashley: we're like a boat in the ocean, no rudder. >> somebody announce a merger. >> the growth is okay. the earnings are okay. everything is okay, it's that the market is pricey, not exorbitant, but we'r17, 18 times earnings, no one is saying this p.e. ratio needs to go higher. ashley: let's bring in keith fitz-gerald. is this the day today? >> i think we might get it. and looking at the conditions, it smells right to a short burn. a lot of people taking on shorts, no way it's going to go and getting greedy and usually when that happens, trade,say, let's fleece everybody. ashley: what? >> they get the burn and runs higher. today feels like we might get that. ashley: interesting.

and bless to you, to you. i'm going to come to you based on the back of that. >> i say no. ashley: why? >> because he have' been saying no the last few weeks and i have to be consistent. ashley: it's your fault? >> it's my fault. i'm the downer last week for mr. varney and the downer. ashley: thank you very much. >> i don't think na people have the momentum for the reasons we've discussed, which are show me the money, tax reform, it's going to take 100 days to get the tax reform and time to get the regulatory reform in place. it's going to take time to repatriate, what is it, a trillion, 2 trillion overseas companies are holding. there's too much that have to happen and people want to park their money on the side. ashley: boohoo, bah humbug. let's bring in dan, to cheryl's point, data today on housing. yesterday we had consumer confident hitting a 15-year high and the dow responded with a big yawn. >> well, you know, the data we've had, and cheryl indicated, this is a lagging indicator. this isn't big enough to do it,

but if you look towards next week, we start seeing the economic data highlighted by our employment situation and then we're going to start seeing a lot of manufacturing numbers coming out. nonmanufacturing numbers, things that are throttling the economy one way or the other. those are the things we need to see the prime numbers out there, in addition we're not too far away from earnings season. that's going to be very important as well. ashley: i asked jack this question earlier and ask keith, listen, if we reach 20,000 and we reach that level. do algorithms kick in? does that money on the sidelines suddenly pour in and we start moving nicely and strongly above 20,000? >> i think it's going to be an initial fight. it's an important question, a little backing off and we're going to touch 20 and take some profits and then the games begin. they begin for the reasons we mentioned and the algorithms kick in because they've got to match the cash. >> we put the confetti out for the 3 p.m. show on fox business, because confetti and an all-time record for the dow.

we'll take that, at least. ashley: i want to remind our viewers, we have spectacular graphics waiting for hitting 20,000, when we do, we'll be we blew the entire budget on 2017 on this thing and excited to make it happening if we can make it happen. we'll be opening here, just about now. we're off to the races and we came pretty close yesterday, i think we got within 13, 14 points. the futures reporting we may be up by 40 points and we've got a ways for the stocks to open. we will of course keep an eye on this. 19,969, adam shapiro sitting there shaking his head. it's know the going to happen. we need some good vibes, but there you go. >> like the beach boys. >> five stocks with regard to the dow helped push all of this. goldman sachs accounted for so much of this. so, really, it's not a great broad indicator, is it? the s&p and russell may be a better indicator on the economy

as a whole? >> better. you know, there's a difference in the consistency. in the dow pound for pound, more banking like you mentioned and industrials and you're not -- you don't have at tech, the dot-com highfliers that haven't participated much in this rally. so, i don't know, you would expect the dow to continue to outperform. you know, in the first year of a trump administration. and better for this-- >> of the 1600 points, goldman sachs was 400 of that rally, incredible. ashley: which brings up the question, keith, on financials, they have done very well. is there still more room to run with the financial sector? do you like the banks? >> you know, i've got to tell you, i'm going to be the wolf in sheep's clothing or however that expression goes. no, i don't like the financials. i think they're in a litigious environment and i think they've got ahead of themselves here. ashley: deregulation, higher

interest rates, they get more money back on loans. why wouldn't you be bullish on that? >> well, again, you know, they're pretty rich in here, they've already run up. i don't like to chase things that have left the station. you know, to me, there's a shakeout that's still got to occur. i look at all the lawsuits out there, how disgruntled the american public remains with these institutions. something doesn't feel right to me. i'm happy to have gone, but i don't like them. ashley: tammy, let me bring you in. we said earlier that donald trump was taking credit for the 15-year high. thank you, donald is what he tweeted. if he can't deliver, he talks about hitting the ground the first 100 days, nothing goes as smoothly, does that raise doubts in the mind of consumers? >> obviously. he's expected to do things immediately. things have been so bad and barack obama put in so many regulations and obamacare itself, psychologically

everyone has abouten depressed and removed, that inevitably just by his existence and taking some prefunctory actions, he can lift it up by his pen and his phone, lifting regulations and small business confidence index, also a few weeks ago went through the roof. so, small businesses are expecting to be able to do very well. they're probably already making their plans. and this is all going to weave into the first three months, which inevitably would be good because of how horrible the obama administration has been for small businesses, it will be easily reversed and then the hard work begins as you get more into the weeds. ashley: let me quickly-- >> the russell 2000 is benefitting from the stronger dollar and as tammy talked about, the reforms coming. you're looking at financials, the regulatory reform that takes place under the trump administration affecting the banks may not be what everyone is expecting.

did you see the article this week and carl icahn is saying dodd-frank, there are things about dodd-frank that are good. ashley: pull back a little bit. dan, back to you. as oil got stronger, that the market would go in tandem with oil. it's up again on beliefs that venezuela cut its output for what it's worth. has no impact on the market or commodities. the dollar is strong, it's kind of an interesting environment right now. >> you know, i never bought into the oil, higher stocks, higher oil, oil is supply and demand. we had plenty of supply back there and that might pare off if the opec deal holds. the demand increased over time, it hasn'ts much as lately. i don't buy into that. the rest of it, as far as the dollar strength. it's going to create some head wind for the economy as a whole, but the problem is, is

the economy strong enough to overcome those? i think with proper regulatory reform and trump reaching across the aisle and working together with all partners that can be overcome and we could do well in the next couple of years. >> economic growth, ashley, is the number one priority for this administration. steven mnuchin said that on fox business and repeated it four times in a 20-minute interview with maria bartiromo and they want to see 3 to 4%. if gas prices stay low enough, that's an oil story, to the small businesses that tammy is talking about, the optimism, if we could keep in that range, you could see quick first quarter gdp and 20,000 then, but maybe not today. >> the problem with the low gas prices, the oil price over the past year, what the market's done is decline in corporate earnings, five straight quarters of earnings shrinking because of the energy sector because of the crash in the oil prices. the good thing going forward, that's reached its anniversary and you no longer have that drag on corporate earnings and

we recently returned to growth, a little bit of growth. some growth. next year you'll have, i think, a better environment for corporate earnings growth as long as you don't have a further oil crash or anything like that. ashley: there's still a lot of oil out there, however. let me get to the floor of the new york stock exchange, nicole petallides in the middle of it all. we talked about goldman sachs' impact on the dow, i think it added at least 200 points of that amount above 19,000. it's been remarkable. what are the traders telling you this morning, are they getting tired of it? nicole: are they getting tired? they're watching for dow 20,000, the psychologicals of that. and you he thinks m-- you mentioned goldman. one third of those came from goldman, j.p. morgan and travelers. goldman itself is up from the july lows. the financials are up, for this

last quarter, more than 30%, up to 50% in the last few trading months. financials overall have been a star and the traders still think dow 20,000 is comingment and we know the last two weeks ago for 1 1/2% for gains for the two weeks together. s la last week, the dow gained 1/2 of 1%. and cash, no one-- no manager of money wants to sit on too much cash particularly when everybody has done well. so what they do, he this do the window dressings and shove it into the areas thamake it appear better and that could give you a little prop up and we'll watch for that as well. but right now, we're back to just watching for dow 20,000 and waiting and i settle have the almost 20,000 hat, and 20,000 hats in the box. ashley: it's sonny and cher's,

i've got you babe. >> adasneezed there. >> and we'll move otr stories related to the market and amazon is reporting its best holiday yet. cheryl, what are the numbers? it's impressive. >> they're calling it the best ever. we don't get specific numbers from amazon, obviously. they're telling they sold a record number of echoes and echoes dots and alexa, that stuart made famous on this. they sold enough kitchen aid mixers to maybe 7.5 million cookies altogether once. a watch every 1.5 seconds. they're playing with us, obviously, to give us snipets of information. overall the best holiday ever. and for a market mover if we could get more retail news out today. we have got three bullish reports about the holiday sales numbers coming out from different analytical groups yesterday. if we could get more of that. that could push the market higher. ashley: we had stuart test out the alexa.

do you remember that? and he said, i'm sorry, i don't understand. and i was at a party, and they had alexa, thank you, steve, and alexa knew stuarand gave a bio on him. >> after a complaint to amazon, i'm sure. ashley: let's check the big board. by the way, donald trump taking credit for the surge in consumer confidence, let's go back to dan, if i was him i'd probably take credit for it, but is he going too far? >> he's probably going too far, but the fact is, it's related to the election and not so much that donald trump won, but that the uncertainty of who is going to be in. if hillary had been elected, i don't know if we'd had a bump up in confidence as much as we have, but we probably would have had a little bit of one of the so he gets some credit, not all of it. ashley: should he get all the credit, keith fitz-gerald?

>> well, i definitely think he gets the credit for creating a meritocracy. they're never going to be demonized and markets have hope. ashley: that's true. perhaps leaving a little bit of oomph steam, but we're sticking on it. as we've been reporting and probably know, carrie fisher dead at age 60. this does, however, create some problems for disney, right, cheryl, and the "star wars" franchise? >> how do they further the franchise. the stories have been written and planned out and the movies were scheduled to go into production and she'd already filmed episode eight. >> there were seven, and she's in that and eight, she's in that. what if they have to do fixing? the problems that the production company will do something. digital fixing. what happens to princess leia or organza, she's leia to me.

ashley: adam shapiro is a fan. and-- >> rogue one, i snuck into the theater on 86th street because we had bought tickets and lost them, we were little kids and got in with the crowd to see "star wars." how they fix it, they'll use the digital process, they'll change the story line as cheryl pointed out, but i think that people are going to see number eight because they'll want to see princess leia or organna. >> and she's going to be in two new family guy episodes according to variety. she's already voiced for that. ashley: is that right. and the tweets from seth mcfarland. >> she was the ghost writer and fixer of many scripts, sister act, whoopi goldberg, she fixed the script and apparently some of the "star wars" films, she

would get the scripts and clean them up. >> seven books, accomplished. ashley: the big board is losing steam of the we were up 20, 30, and now we're up, but a long more to go. more on disney, signing a streaming deal with hulu. 7 billion in ticket sales not enough in one year. right now you can watch disney films on netflix, but a whole bunch of films, 50, roughly, only available through hulu, 7.99 a month. the nightmare before christmas, moulin, pocahontas, the musical one. fantasia. that will move over. the new releases no, but i'll call the classics. ashley: frozen. >> you know what? >> it's not the like frozen, they're not going to get. >> every one singing that song over and over again.

ashley: the big board, i've got to go to jack howe, we're going to hit it? i thought we would without of the blocks, but what happened? >> 10:15 is what i said. ashley: oh, 10:15. >> we'll all be here. >> we're close enough and we'll be there. >> how much? how much? salary? >> no comment. we'll keep an eye on it and now we're essentially flat and we're losing momentum. delta airlines canceling its order for 18 boeing dreamliners. is this a big deal? it sounds like it. >> it's a big deal for boeing, but a pretty strong back story why they're doing it. these dreamliners that northwest had ordered and delta and of course, northwest merged several years ago now and it was a back order that has now been canceled. ashley: it's not a huge surprise. expected. >> it shouldn't be to boeing. they're certainly not, millions

per aircraft. ashley: you can see that story, boeing slightly lower. yahoo!'s huge data breach unlikely to scuffle the verizon deal. does this knock down the price a bit? >> it might knock down the price, don't count on it. it's going to go through different financial press reporting 4.8, 5 billion deal ll go through, lots of companies suffer hacks. yahoo! said it was about a billion dollar that it cost them, but verizon and yahoo! still look like it's to become one. >> yahoo! is not being brought by e-mail prowess. and because of the hack, my friend sis because of that i'm not going with that. >> and we said is that compatible with your dial-up account. >> and buying cards they do

that well, and i don't want to direct everybody there. >> fox business.com is the best, but-- >> thank you, cheryl, did you have a yahoo! account, tammy? >> yes, for my very first book, which is september 11th, 2001, came out october. that's, and i maintained that one because that's in all the reprints and people still respond to it, but it's a little dial-upie. >> my dad, i don't know if it's active, but he still had a compuserve and i have a family member and telling my mother if you're watching, why are you paying for aol? this is a crime of the century. every month, you can get this for free! she pays. ashley: my mom just got a smart phone and can't figure out how to answer it and i call her and it keeps going to voice mail. let's move on, they're telling me to. millions of wage workers in 21 states will get a raise next year. jack, let me bring you in and then to keith and dan.

you about, you know, minimum wage, you know, on face, great. these people are getting a pay raise. what pressure does it put on the businesses though? >> look, i'm a contrarian view on this issue. we're talking about a nickel or a dime in most of the cases. ashley: okay. >> the minimum wage is not going to hurt business, we have at 20th century to prove that, we don't need to look at textbook or theories. most of these states are under $10. if you've got a small business and you're not paying your workers $10 an hour right now, i'm not sure you've got a viable business model. you've got a lot of workers earning below the poverty line and claiming berths and your payroll is basically topped off by my tax dollars and when was i your business partner. ashley: i've hed that. and jack says people are below the poverty line anyway. what's your thought on minimum wage increases? >> philosophically it's one thing to say we're going to

give these people more money because they've earned it and valuable skills. and everything deserves the highest standard of living. but if a business has to pay more more core costs, labor, then it raises the prices and i think it hurts the people it intends to help. >> can i step in, $10, most of these states they're 10 or $11 per hour. i think on a national scale. ashley: your point being. >> i don't think it's that much of a hindrance. ashley: it's not going to break the bank. >> i don't believe so, and-- >> you know, respectfully, it doesn't sound like much, 50 cents here a buck there. take a look at something like obamacare, that wasn't supposed to increase costs either, but if you look at what happened, every nickel, every dime is important to a small business owner, it doesn't matter whether it's a dollar or not to the rest of us, if it's important to the business owner

and impacts their bottom line, then you bet it's important. ashley: all right, the dow briefly just turned negative and it's eking out a slight gain of 19, 948. let's bring in dick bove, always a great guest of the show, the capital banking marketing analyst. a question to you first, dick. why can't we hit this magic 20,000 on the dow? it's become almost comical. >> oh, i think we'll hit it. i don't think-- in the last few days of 2016. nobody is around, there are no serious traders doing business at the moment. when you get to the beginning of next year, and there's this huge increase in funding and in pension funds because of the contributions, when you see the earnings coming out of the-- if you woke up and you like goldman sachs, i think we'll penetrate it without any trouble what he ever so. but you know, there's just no reason for anybody to get very aggressive in buying anything. you know, between now and the end of the year. >> well, okay.

let's pour water on that. let's talk about the banks in particular, as we always do with you. is there still room to run on the financial sectors? we have some analysts who say they don't like the banks that much, but my theory is, they get interest rates that go up and more money back on the loans and more deregulation and it should be plus an economy that is starting to heat up. if donald trump can get the reforms in that he wants, all of that to me should be positive for the banks, correct? >> yeah, no, i agree with you, but i'd like to change the emphasis. lookg at banks, from interest rates to what is more important, and that is, what happens to the products that they sell. are they selling more products, and are the quality of the products they're selling any good or not? are they making more loans and are those loans going to come back and bite them with losses or are they good loans? i think when we look at what mr. trump is presumably going to be doing over time, they will be selling a lot more

loans, and the quality of those loans will be quite good because the economy will be in go shape. u know, two days ago, there was a very important, if you will, development at the federal reserve which i think indicates that regulation will be cut back. and in other words, one of the missing, if you will, jobs at the fed right now is the person who is supposed to be the head of bank supervision and that job has been taken by a daniel trullo even though president obama did not nominate anyone for that position. he's been brutal on banks, brutal with regulations, slowed down the growth of the economy based upon what he's done. yesterday it was indicated that the president-elect was speaking to john allison, who would take over the position as bank, if you will, regulator at the fed. if that happens, it means

trullo has been fired. sure, he'll be on the board of the fed, but he's been fired, he's not running regulation through the fed and in a position clearly not surfing at the, if you will, backing of the president and he'll get out. allison is not going to be in a situation where he's going to drive bank regulation more strongly, he's going to weaken it and that's going to be very positive for the banking industry. ashley: very good. interesting as always, dick bove. let's take a deep breath and a timeout and come back and make another run at the 20k. by the way, donald trump defending israel, he says we cannot let israel continue to be treated with disdain and disrespect. and we're on dow 20k watch. we'll be right back. ♪ your insurance company

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>> wa-wa. cue the trombone. well, we started again with so much hope in our hearts and

we're now down 17 points, 19, 927. i should point out we're less than 100 points away. i'm ever optimistic, but investors can't find enough reason to buy and push this market up. it's the same situation for a week and a half and we're kind of stuck. another morning and of course, more donald trump tweets, week say that every day as well. this time it's on the obama administration and israel. adam, what's mr. trump saying? >> well, he's put out two new tweets regarding our abstention on the u.n. vote last week and he says we cannot continue to allow israel to be treated with dispain and disrespect. they used to have a great friend in united states not general more. the beginning of the end was the horrible iran day. stay strong, israel, january 20th is fast approaching. ashley: very interesting, you know, i can imagine there will be some celebrations in israel come january the 20th as well. we know it's been an icy

relationship between obama and israel. >> well, benjamin netanyahu really. >> and not treated well and guests on saying this is the ultimate parting shot from the obama administration. >> there are several discussions we could have and in the time we have, our parents were having these discussions. here is the deal. when you're talking about israel and a two-state solution, what the united states and the u.n.-- forget the u.n., how do you get the palestians to the table. ashley: john kerry will have a press conference in about an hour from now. of course, we're waiting on the elusive dow 20k. we can't make the final push, but if we get there the fancy package graphic. i haven't seen it, but i hear it's spectacular and herman ca cain, former candidate and

owner of godfather pizza moments away.

stuart: it is 10 a.m. 7 a.m. in california, wakey wakingy i'm ashley webster in for stuart varney check the big board here we go again. the dow trading down negative 22 point had hopes to hit 20,000 right out of the shoot today, and we jinxed ourselves close to have to wait longer. about are, only a few trading delays left in fact year new prediction 348 oned from afternoon that's when we're going to do it. i think. one hour from now obama administration will will defend its policyn isel, remember on friday, the u.n. voted and condned israel slementses on the west bank benjamin netanyahu waiting for donald trump to take office i think that's fair to say. get this amazon alexa solve murders believe it or not it could be a reality. but second hour of varney starts right now.

♪ all right let's check the big board dow now turning negative we had such high hopes we knew futures were pointing higher but we've lost steam just not a lot of it but to get market higher at least not now. down 30 points at 19917, cheryl. >> got peptionding numbers out down from the month of november that's a little bit of a hit. yeah the expectations were more positive reaction. >> with wa, wa over half an houn market so don't get too adam shapiro looking at me right now. i told you so. ashley: people react to the extreme. adam: i don't think we'll hit that interest rates is still i know they're over 4%.

but you know, many years of many years, seven, eight years ago would have thrilled to get a 4.5% interest rate very affordable. housing formation has to take place. ashley: move to this country 1982 herman cain is here. thank you 15067 so much for being here. can you get us over the hump 20k i don't know if i can promise that, but what can you promise? >> from the top it will continue. one thing you did not mention i've been watching this show and not goig to hit 20,000 yet in year caution. that's why are people are holding back. after the first of the year, and after the inauguration of donald trump, you'll see your 20,000. >> parking the power is unleashs my prediction. no. i don't make predictions. [laughter]

i don't mind caution but down 0 points stay right there. herman great to have you here. here for the whole hour. president-elect trump tweeting are quoting i love this, pus consumer confidence index for december surged nearly 4 points to 113.7 highest level many more than sp 13 years. thanks donald. i just love that. jeff just the man to bring in smiling there he is trump campaign chief operating officer, long time friend of this show. jeff thanks for joining us. if i was donald trump, i take credit for it as well pep we've had some guest who suggest no, kind of stretching it a bit. what say you? >> you kw, the market is the best prognosticator of the economy an if you look at the dow talking about 20,000 and will -- when will he hit 20,000? on november 8th we were just over 18,200 this is all, called

the trump bump in trading circles and this is because we know that a progrowth low tax pots is coming which is great for the markets what's great for consumer sentiment an should take credit and glad to see him take credit and markets will go up wh his policies. >> so that was the softball question let's get to some a little bit more meaty listen donald trump as webb is very critical of hillary clinton for not holding press conferences. he would mock her saying she's running away and resting she's doing anything but talking to the media. but you know what -- >> rightly so. but it's been a long time since president-elect donald trump has actually held a press conference remember as i said he was very critical of hillary what he does now is he's had his thank tour but not taking questions from the media and then he tweets out what he thinks from what he's doing but we haven't seen him go in front of yeedz and take some questions. why? >> well, he was the most excessable candidate in the

history of american politics. and with the amount of events -- amount of talking to the press, this is back in the campaign. now, imagine hillary clinton during the campaign when she's running for office would not take questions. donald trump was very ab accessible since the lx he has a very big job to do. we will see him be very accessible bus right now if you look at the overwhelming task to get all of these appointments made and basically -- anybody that wins is given 70 a days to get so many places in place he's maximizing his time to do the work that american people elected him to do but no doubt he'll remain most accessible president past january 20th. >> not in the near term but more announcement l via twitter you say opposed to actual taking questions. >> i think in a the short-term you know he's focused on getting the job done and i will tell you he's the most hardworking candidate that i think we've ever seen in politics. he is a machine.

and he works and right now he's getting the job done. but he'll be back to being access accessible and press conferences but in this interim period between january 20th and 8th it is about getting the job done. >> not a hugen past media, is he? depends which had channel and media. they have a spin -- >> you know wikileaks and e-mails and dnc certainly prove that many of the so-called mainstream yeetd were in the popular of the democratic party so i get that. next one donald trump almost filled out the cabinet very conservative. is he going to have although say a tough time getting the confirmations through especially big money guys with conflict of interest when it cools to financial dealings both here and around the world. >> i don't think we're going to have a problem at all. you know, american people voted for change.

and the cabinet that donald trump is putting forward is one of private sector leaders and successful people that are going to bring that change. so you know, i think that we've heard democrats kind of, you know, with their bluster saying they're going to give him a hard time but republicanning hold controlling majority in the house and senate and i really don't see it being a problem. you know, most presidents while sometimes people are given a hard had time during's their hearings you can counting on one hand amount of people that haven't been confirmed once they get to that point. so i don't think we're going to see any issue you kn we'vead had people drop out of the process decades ago because of nanny issues other thing bus people i don't see any of that whatting and i think they're going to sail through the process to be honest with you. j we have herman cain here i want to ask is you about andy -- being picked by restaurant and

likier background do you like andy as a choice? >> i love him as a choice here's why -- >> do you know him? >> i don't know him but he understands labor and run a big organization that has a large work force. both professional salary people and hourly people. secondly, he understands how to manage a big organization, and here's another important point he bring because he has an organization where he has both company own and franchise you also understand the members to which you can mandates they thinks in limit to which you have to be persuasive. now in terms of all of the cabinet picksover all the process is fierce on the part of the democrats for one reason only they have to act like they're being democrats. whether these candidates are good or nothing else -- they have nothing to do to do so they have to put up a good show for the media. but i love andy as a nominee. >> very good. and jeff dewitt thank you so much thank you for joining us we appreciate it. a good sport.

trnlg thank you, you too. hello -- it is happening step on you now this a cafe in honolulu, hawaii, banning trump voters. i thought democrat party was a party of inclusion. but what happened? >> owner of this cafe called cafe eight and a half in honolulu they put up this you know handwritten yellow sign if you write no gnat subsidies. you know, this isn't honolulu but this is a lot of outrage on social media but particularly on facebook it is also on cafe facebook public page but they're proud of their sign. but many people in honolulu are offended be this. they say they hark back to >> it is japanese, filipino you know in a way i don't to say racist but -- you know, herman -- >> how would look i grew up in the south in the 50s and 60s

and said no colors which is same as no black. that's racist this sign is a just as much race arist as sign of this civil rights movement. >> it's offensive and inappropriate. >> welt way they describe supporters as deplorable i would say it is racist. >> trump supporters. let's face it i don't think -- i can't think of any election an i've been here since '82 so in location if you don't sphroart this particular candidate backlash have they remarkable relationships. people very aggressive this is just another example. >> those claim to be most tolerant say they are most intolerant that's what we experience. >> that's exactly right. let's check the big board oh a little bit on the dow where we

are now 24, 25 points at 19920. we're keeping an eye on it don't forget we can turn it around quickly and buy some stock pick up the phone. herman cain. amy dison virtual assistant alexa useed to solve murders? cheryl casone says it is creepy and could become reality we have those details in a few moments. and president obama defaming his legacy uh-huh and says he would have beaten donald trump if he was allowed to run for a third term but it wasn't so we'll never know. more varney after this.

>> a.m. a.m. disol sell ling out of echo device with that alexa, cheryl what's interesting, though, is this device alexa herself could solve a murder. what's that about? liz: d.a. thes ta-ta from amazon and thing koa device of a gentleman accused of murder goes on trial next year james bait.

in arkansas, this was his friend who ended up face down in the hot tub. there's like accusation of murder against james. they want amazon saying they will not provide it but echoes they record everything what you're doing and if you want to play music conversations they want to see if it recorded data from conversation that happened in the room with this man died. >> giant bug in your room picking up what you're asking it making a record of that and picking up the phone. >> amazon says if you service with a warra tn that's a deferent story. but right now they're denying the prosecutor access to information. but it's in the the cloud, though. interesting. >> well it raises the whole issue of privacy -- where does it start and end and same issue came up relative to facebook because they wanted to confiscate someone's facebook pilots and it raises a huge -- huge issue relative to the legality so i don't think this is solved yet.

>> so the solved but i don't wear a tinfoil hat or believe in conspiracy but who is amazon telling -- selling this information to and how are they using this information you're smart television is listening to words you say and remember the scandal a year ago a.m. sunk used key words and used that to sell to advertisers. amazon clearly is a terrific company i do have it but what are they doing with it? ashley: privacy that's a word -- i would say privacy but i'm american too. privacy whatever you want to call it, we're lose it. president obama says he could have run a third term if he ran again. watch this. i'm confident because if i -- if i had run again, and articulated it, ukd i could have

rallied behind it. i know i've had in conversations with people around the country even some people who disagreed with me, they would sate vision, direction you point towards is the right one. >> so great that donald trump is the team elect. donald shay responded twting obama would you lost against you president-elect trumple he left the poor middle class, inner cities behind he's in denial. burnell joins us now speaking, speaking to a mind for sure. i think many people would agree with you from president obama down in the democratic party. they are in denial, and herman cain said they're in the anger phase and can't get to acceptance. why is that? >> you know what it is -- you know god bless you and god bless america first.

what i would say is this, you know, the democratic party was given eight yores of our lives to show us that all of the talking. l of the words that they were putting out there in the air about what they were going to do for the nation, they were given eight years to prove it. and i think that's where our president obama's problem is. you articulate well but you didn't do your job. you didn't turn those words into actions. and because you did not do the work, the people voted -- didn't vote for hillary clinton and thing about it is this, there are so many people races that voted for donald j. trump, they voted for a real change. they voted because they were hopeful, and he donald j. truch trump became beacon and light of those who got left behind. president needs to understand that his time sup.

he has got to -- you know, bring love and a togetherness and not the vision against the president-elect is very unamerican, and very unbecoming. very unbecoming. like disney song from frozen let it go. let it go -- let it go. listen, you're in chicago there burnell every day stunned at the violence and seen a number of shootings and fatality over the christmas weekend. >> yeah. ashley: as president obama leaves offings, does this country in your mind more dividedden that when he came in? >> i would say so a lot of division and so many people like i've said, everybody was expecting hope and change, and nobody got it, and so what had i would say is this, donald j. trump, our president-elect has not

only articulate leak he did on the campaign trail what he was going to do to make america great ain. he's got the opportunity now to show america not just arctic late and a i believe that even just being a result driven person, that donald j. trump, our president-elect is even in his trump organization we know that our nation is in for one heck of a ride and -- ashley: we look forward to it and and your next appearance on "varney & company" burnell thank you so much. >> are you coming to the inauguration? ashley: still waiting for the invite. are you going to be there? >> i will be there you can find out www.f8varep2017.com he can it out. thank you god bless you. >> thank you god bless you another big check of the dow

hopes didn't we every day it seems but trading just slightly negative down 18 points at 19926. by the way, back to those chicago shoot technician over the christmas weekend, find out now who police are blaming on spike in violence right after this. with the xfinity tv app,

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stream 130 live channels. plus 40,000 on demand tv shows and movies, all on the go. you can even download from your x1 dvr and watch it offline. only xfinity gives you more to stream to any screen. download the xfinity tv app today. ashley: star wars actress carrie fisher dead anden pas mourning her death but franchise also left with a bigger problem. fox business reporter hillary vaughn is in los angeles with more on this story and hillary what is disney planning on doing and handle this? >> right within they need to figure out how to deal with fisher offscreen death onscreen and they have a few options. how they can either decide to recast her in a different role

filling in with a different actor. they can reshoot scene from episode eight out in theaters next christmas and rework plot of nine expected to come out in 2019 but use imagery to recreate her had role leak they did for another character in "star wars" "rogue one" out in theaters now played by british actor feater kushing who died had in 1994 must get permission prtate of a celebrity to u imagep 70 years after death. now how disney deals with this could make or break the franchise for some tans. some fans want disney to have princess leia live on in the series and others want her to write her a glorious onscreen death. now disney has said that fisher wrapped filming for episode eight but won't say if princess leia will continue to have a key role in movies after that one debuts next christmas. >> very interesting hillary vaughn in l.a. with what disney, obviously, is pondsering right

now. hill rei thank you very much. before i go to break bring that, do you think they will maybe come up with a storyline in which that character killed off? >> they could. but you're a "star wars" fan -- >> stour star trek first -- i think it's best to let the character die off and go forward. >> let her go. you can never the any other actress in the princess leia -- ever. >> i agree. lindsay lohan. just kidding. ashley: we'll leave it right there adam shapiro star is trek fan. check the big board, and still if you like it last trading week of the year down 18 points at 19927. we're still within striking distance i will hang on to that for dear life. 2016 the year that liberal media bias well that was in pulse view.

we know that. "the new york times" even admitted it is slant to the left but was 2016 that bad of the year? we report, you decide. more varney, next.

ashley: let's check the big board and survey say we're down 15 points at 1929 and herman cain says caution, caution at the end of the year. i'm not buying it. here are big tech names we check every day. there you go mixed bag generally on the down trend although amazon reported record sales this holiday season up about half a percent. happening soon by the way, the white house will defend its actions regarding israel and u.n. sanctions being placed as

israel prime minister benjamin netanyahu says there's no doubt that u.s. is behind the u.n. vote on settlement. herman cain and caution for the market your take on the israeli situation the u.n. vote, and the u.s.'s lack of action. >> there is no defense for what this administration did. it was clearly even some democrat liberals have said, they stabbed in the become of israel and netanyahu no defense, and the piece that secretary of state carrie supposed to give all it is going to do is lip lipstick on this pig. american people are not buying it. there's no defense for what had they did and it's not the first time. it's just the last stab on the way post door which i think is -- >> delivered by president obama -- sharp, good riddance to you type of action --

>> i call it arrogant power. arrogant power he doesn't care about the will of the people. he doesn't really care about hows it's going to make us look internationally because he's living in an idealistic theoretical world. he has for eight years, and he's sell not out of that ideological world why he did what he did to israel. >> if we have an icy relation that we've had in the last eight years between united states and israel. >> not in the last eight years nor my lifetime. >> long before you and i were on the planet it hasn't been as tight as it has been in years. >> departure from what we've seniorsed in modern history, least last 30, 35 years, not old enough to remember. [laughter] >> thank you very much. i want to get become to prawsm's claim that he could have won a

third term if he ran again this year. come in pastor scott trump supporter, thank you pastor for joining us. you know, we have use term as denial, he's in denial. he's arrogant. would you agree with that? obviously, he can't run for a third term so say whatever he wants by is that appropriate? >> no it is not never seen another president may have the way he's behaving. but you know he's saying what i probably could have want. i don't believe he could have done as good as hillary clinton did. i think she outperformed him because you know hillary could claim the positiveness of the prior eight years but distance herself from the negative where as if he would have ran he would have own both positives and negatives and i believe president-elect trump would have had him on his heels defending his failed policies and wouldn't been able to pass blame like hillary clinton was able to blame obama for the negatives

but embrace positives as she participated in them. >> are you still in touch with president-elect donald trump and what are your conversations about? >> i was with him two weeks ago and tacked about issues to african-american community he's been busy right now. i'm in touch with certain member of the campaign on a regular basis and part of the transition team and so we meet regularly to recommend appointments and different things look that. but you know this guy is a workaholic makes me feel bad when i'm laying arranged the house laying, chilling on the couch and this guy work, he work on christmas and new years. he's making me look bad. fnlings he's impressive so impressive on campaign trail and looking candidates make all sorts of promise when they're campaigning. but do you think he can follow through on his work with the african-american community and what would you want him to do first in that regard? >> well he's absolutely going to follow through because we've

begun behind the scenes working on plan and strategies to positively impact the community to deal with these issues that are in chicago to get boots on ground ander cities to drels combat a lot of the issues so he's working, he's made promise and already begun in his commitment and he, you know, job is one thing that he's very, very -- heavily leaning but we have tods something about this violence and something about this crime. we have to do something about the living conditions. and so his plate is full but he says several conversations with members of the business community that conversations with the community activist, and he's committed to resolving these issues and committed working hand-in-hand with them to making sure these issue are addressed and solved we don't want to be still be ugh tay about three, four years from now but we want to get busy right

away and believe me on january 21st, we're going to hit had the ground running and he's going to open some eye and there's going to be a good time in america a lot of people are going to be very pleased that donald trump won and hillary clinton lost. >> all right action not words i'm inspired fast tore thank you very much. nothing working on the sofa once in a while don't feel so bad. you've earned it. thank you so much for joining us. president-elect donald trump has almost as we talk about sought out his cabinet still got a ways togs his choice is skewing conservative setting him up for hard conversation hearings in the senate. federalist senior editor joins us now to talk about this. molly thank you very much. is it going to be a battle to get some of these key nominees confirmed? >> it is interesting that many people want there to be a battle but i'm not sure if the will have the is really figuressed out exactly where they want to have a battle. they have reacted to every single nomination that trump has put forward with mostly the same

rhetoric oh this person is too extreme. this person has horrible views on this side or the the other they should pick a few people to combat and then focus their efforts on just derailing one or two of the nominations. >> well a lot is being made you've got six or five billion that half elite people with tremendous conflict of interest when it comes to business dealings and job that they would have to fulfill as a government employee, as a member of the trump administration. that is further for the democrats even think they will not be able to stop a lot of this they make a lot of hay. >> that is one of the lines of argument that they're going with. i'm not sure that one has so much in we've gotten very used to billionaires serving in cabinet position and current administration has several billionaires, and also the billionaires in question might have policy expertise or be a suitable candida. other problems people see they think that -- the defense secretary pick james

mattis technically he's not legally allowed tholed that position until congress changes the rule. that might be something that has well even that wouldn't have much because of how popular james mattis is. so --don't see it going very fa. >> yeah, billionaire is a successful person right herman cain? a lot of success. >> give me a billionaire to create jobs for a poor person to create jobs i'll take the billionaire. >> billionaires know how to create jobs that's the point been but yes democrats are going to try to demagogue that because they don't want to see trump successful. >> and when being rich such a bad thing? self-made billionaire how do they do it? duplicate it. >> a lot of people saying that 2016 the worst year in recent memory because donald trump won the election. what do you say? >> you kept hearing people saying 2016 is a horrible year but realizing they meant donald

trump was running for presidents. for many of us not the best that america ho to offer but more we're learning about donald trump people who voted for him perhaps reluctantly or didn't but willing to give hmm a shot are saying doing an all right job with the transition let's wait and see how things go shaping up to be a totally fine year. >> i would agree molly thank you so much for taking time to join us today. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> let's which can the big board we're all excited as soon as the barrels rang on wall street -- got out the trombone didn't we nicole? what can push us over the line? that's the question i have for you. >> you know what first of all i loved your phrase earlier we have hope in hearts for dow 27 and that is the truth of the matter, and everybody believerred that we will hit this to t 20,000 mark right now we're down 20 ponts but we do have winners here that have really shown their colors cold

man sax for example, chevron, exxon travel rs those are some ofhe best of the bun today. so most of the sectors have down arrow here's how they performed year to date se seller performance gold man really shot up in the last quarter, receive ron exxon and travelers up 34% for the year and you have only three dow stocks that are lower for 2016. nike coca-cola and disney i will say in jpmorgan note this morning they talk about the idea of trump, ryeon putting ideas to gop platform bus they really underpin sentiment and that gives a boost. but the realize of those great ideas from corporate to loring taxes and infrastructure, there is some worry in the new year whether or not that could actually m come to fruition so in that jpmorgan note they said it could be a major equity risk during ohming months of 2017 so -- i hope question get -- i hope we get 20,000 and not never see it. that's a double negative but you know what i mean. >> thank you very much.

>> we have the hat. you don't make hats you don't use them. we're going to get you there. don't you worry. environment administration looking to extend policy on israel. israel prime minister netanyahu is not a happy man. more varney, next.

♪ >> the obama administration about to defend its decision to on stain from the united nations

security counsel vote on israel settlements congressman calls it vein dig vindictive. here's what we said next hour. >> vindictive nature of this president let's face it he and netanyahu have not gotten along in a very long time and president has not stood with israel. and so you know, as we heard obama the other day say, if he had run against trump he would have won. i mean he cat get over the factt s policies have been repudiated by the american blic. so i look at this quite frankly as a personal vindictive move by the president obama, in the security counsel itself you know to condemn what israel has done. [vo] quickbooks introduces jeanette.

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improve that lifestyle. to give them alternative to crying. so is boots on the grouped plus jobs on the ground with incentive to businesses to go in. j you know, the police this chicago have also blamed a general attitude of antipolice they're always going to be in the wrong that they're picking on people and that has emboldened and empowered these criminals because thbl they have public support. >> i would agree that is also part of it, but that is not the total driving factor but it definitely is in chicago but not only chicago, but in other cities across this country. donald trump hose tone from the top and administration will have their back. transition, do your job if somebody breaks the law arrest them and don't be afraid of some political correct politician coming along and trying to -- cause you to lose your job.

i think 90% involved in fatalities in shoot technician in chicago to this point, involved people who had criminal histories and were related to ening gas. >> yes. >> what can donald trump do to try and attack all of that punish it's a very difficult one. these crimes crimes are concentn souts, west side in chicago going on all of the time how do you stop it? it's look a war zone. >> so dressing the game problem is one-third of it. i tacked about talked about boots, jobs on the ground and many of these cities have gang-related special initiatives to address it. so if when you add these other two components to what many cities are are already doing addressing the gang problem you have a three-prong approach to try to bring the situation much better under control. >> are you confident that donald trump can bring improvement to situation like that. here's why, he's a businessman. businessman are solutions driven

by the way i have a right solution. glad you're saying -- >> glad you got that in there right solution, and in my book many of the thingings that i talk about are exact maybe not word for word. maybe not exactly laid out the way that trump administration laid it out, but he is right on target with solutions instead of just kicking the can down the road. that's what has people so excited in my opinion. >> very good. the right solution by herman cain -- [laughter] very good. we got it. mr. cain, thank you. >> by the way, mainstream media continuing to attack president-elect trump on his policies. look at these headlines up here in washington post trump is handed a great economy. what happens when it goes south question mark and "huffington post," donald trump and his cab in the will trades on inside information as president. [laughter] but media research center president joinings now you're

going to laugh but i mean it has been never ending and being consistent. it has been biased. and i was just saying i might be nay yeef but totally unaware it was this extent and some user outlets i didn't realized how they were in the poskt democratic party when it kill out from the wikileaks e-mails. >> it is going to get worse. people need to fasten their seat belts. media were laughed at him at the start of this campaign they took him seriously and try to stop them. at the end of the campaign it failed. now they're doing this introspection asking themselves what do we need tods to stop them now. now as you go into trumped administration and introduce policies with new leaders, it is going to be scorched. but here's interesting thing about the headline you show go to "huffington post" about trading, inside information everyone on the left is taking about fake news.

fake news by definition is an untrue story being promoted by the author who knows that it is tun true. that has the title and the very first sentence -- has the author saying, of course, he doesn't know that's true at all. therefore, what you have is a classic example of fake news. so i'm waiting for president obama and everyone else to disvow the "huffington post." >>glad we got you on nevertheles and more with you in the coming weeks and months as we follow the media bias that is -- following president-elect donald trump around. brett thank you so much. appreciate it. yes. stuart may be out. but that doesn't mean you're not writing in. that's a clever line. we have your suggestions for stuart's new year's solutions next. look at that smile. in just a few minutes the obama administration will defend their policies on israel. benjamin netanyahu clearly waiting for donald trump to assume office.

more varney, next.

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ashley: now this with the new year quickly approaching we asked what stuart resolutions should be, and here's what some of you said. quite fascinating first from laura, talk about seniors and a social security's future no real

changes otherwise. i pretty much only one varney now. very kind indeed. debbie say this is i would like him to stop saying uz and start saying us, please, oh, from jim learn how to pronounce us not uz two for that now and eat an american cheese burger on set and oh back off the 20k hike not diagnose that. but thank you from lois i love your enthusiasm for america don't change that. however, let the temper get the better of you and lighter note is more enjoyable. jackie says don't get agitated with guests on your show you have to watch your blood pressure. we tell him that all of the time. he doesn't listen. andrea says happy new year to "varney & company," team, we'll keep up the good work as far as a resolution maybe work with on data and how things look type of commentary twheandz.

from jim report on real market movers such as high frequency traders, treasure and speculators i'll look for it and probable hear buzzer as well. last one from cheryl varney does not need resolutions varney you are perfect! and apparently stuart varney now goes by the name cheryl. [laughter] i'm just kidding adam shapiro do you do resolutions? >> i do but i never keep them -- does anybody? classic is lose weight, eat healthier. yeah i started the lose weight resolution i got become to the gym a month ago so off to a good start. see if it last. [laughter] >> my -- deal this year is just to keep blood pressure down. >> well key it is doing easy resolution for instance enjoy more red wine. who could not keep that? >> adam shapiro coming through with the best resolution adam yep thank you very much. more varney after this.

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ashley: it is 11:00 am on the east coast, 8:00 am on the west coast. i am ashley webster in for stuart varney. here is what we have got new this hour on the left-hand side of your screen, a lot of good-looking flags on the podium was we are watching for doubt 20 k, can come any day. the podium where the flags are, waiting for secretary of state john kerry, moments away from making a big speech, israel and palestine, weeks before president obama is set to leave office, all-star lineup ready to respond to what john kerry has to say. hour 3 of "varney and company" starts right now. [applause]

♪ ashley: as we wait for john kerry, let's go straight to jerusalem where david rubin, frequent guest to the show, president and founder of the children's fund runs a therapeutic center for children in israel. thank you so much. has we wait to hear from john kerry, explain the significance of the resolution by the un security council and why is it important? >> what we see here is a parting shot from the obama administration, the culmination of eight hostile years towards israel and you would think as the lame-duck president we

wouldn't see such a thing but obama doesn't seem to know any limits. and is real demands that israel stop all of what i call settlement buildings in judea and sumerian. a call it the west bank which is a fictional term, not a historical term but judea and samaria is the region in the central part of israel, where such are the jerusalem at its heart. those are the areas that obama and john kerry are demanding israel stop all building in. ashley: we assume donald trump based on his tweets is not happy with the situation. are you confident he can block this resolution, reverse what has been done? >> it certainly could be done come not even a question about

that. the damage, though, is done, the palestinian authority and their band of terrorists, let me point this out very clearly. the palestinian authority consists of the hamas terrorist organization, the fatah terrorist organization and the islamic jihad organization. that is what comprises these people who say they want to have an independent state, who claims that they have an independent state and even heard you refer to it as palestine, a speech about israel and palestine, there never was a palestine. anyone who tells you there was a country, an independent country called palestine, i want them to show me who was the leader of the independent country.

and what year that independent country was founded and in what year it ceased to exist as a nation. it never was a nation. it is all a bluff, all fiction, it is what newt gingrich referred to as an invented people. ashley: stay right there. happening moment ago president-elect trump in front of the cameras just popping out for a brief second, down in florida, there he is in the week between christmas and new year's down in florida, to see if we get any tweets from him after we hear from john kerry who we are waiting for. speaking to the media at the state department in washington dc laying out his vision for israel and i say palestine, david doesn't recognize palestine. >> two things are happening. benjamin that yahoo tweet did the did the a thank you to president-elect trump saying for your warm friendship and you

clear-cut support for israel. in response to david, he brings up issues, the history of what has gone on since the zionist movement of the late 1800s that created the state of israel. we get it and i am talking to david as a jew who supports israel. how do the settlements -- not talking jerusalem, east jerusalem, which editor jewish neighborhood for centuries but how do israelis gain anything by ntinue to expand settlements in what some people call the west bank which you call judea and samaria, what does israel gain by continuing to do that? >> for one thing we have justice on our side. it is important to state that. you cannot learn about israel and try to understand the situation today in israel without understanding the history. i live in a place called shiloh.

and he broke we call it shiloh. this is where the capital of israel stood for 369 years, longer than the existence of the united states of america. 369 years the capital of israel was shiloh which is in the heart of samaria. that was before jerusalem was even the capital. we are talking about justice being on our side, talking about a nation that was sovereign for over 1000 years, sumerian and judea were historically a central part of israel during that time period. you can't ignore that. ashley: you can't ignore that but what i hear you saying is my fellow jews talking about judea and samaria not a two state solution was a one state

solution, it being israel is when i hear people in the united states were part of the bds movement they talk about a one state solution called palestine. i don't see how this moves forward in this way. >> we are talking about a country which including judea and samaria is the size of new jersey. i don't think it is realistic. on that i agree. is real's enemies, it is not realistic to take a country that is the size of new jersey and carve out the center of the country, placed in the center of the country, an independent islamic terrorist state and say there is going to be peace. it doesn't work. the land for peace formula has never worked, never worked in gaza, no way it can work in judea and samaria. ashley: stay right there. we will come back to you after we hear from john kerry when he speaks and we will get your thoughts on that. our next guest says liberal

street the government like santa. here is what he tweet did theed. children grow up and realize santa is fiction, the state is a dangerous fiction by which everyone hopes to live off of others work. joining us now, grover norquist, americans for tax reform, you said parents by the present, kids opened them thinking they are from santa. if any kids are watching, they are from center, liberals do the same thing when they get their gift if you like from the government. do you think it is that said? >> it is. i was talking to my daughters, they wanted certain things and i said they are very expensive and they said santa will bring them. it is free. when you hear liberals talk about getting government money they act as if it was free as if it wasn't first taken by force

and run through the government but the government didn't create that wealth, didn't create those dollars, took him by force. if you don't give the government the money they show up with guns. it is not a giving thing it is a taking thing and they hand it to other people for political purposes. when people forget the taxpayer, there's a wonderful quote, the forgotten man, in 1883 the forgotten man is the taxpayer. a and b wants to help x, they take money from c, and they solve x's problems with the's money, c is the forgotten man, the taxpayer and that is what our friends on the left tend to forget. ashley: stuart is not here but i know what he would ask you. are we going to get that individual tax cut in the first hundred days of a trump

administration? >> yes. through the house in 100 days and the senate runs on its own schedule but when the house facts in the first hundred days it will be in conjunction with the trump administration. the white house and the house will be in the same place, they have been coming together over the last year now. the original plan is close to the beginning, get closer and closer as they come to writing it and the senate will accept that in two years from now senator hatch will have another tax plan that he has been working on which integrates corporate and individual rates by not double taxing, the way to fit everything together is to realize we will have two tax cuts just as we did with the bush tax cut in 2001 and the cheney tax cuts in 2003. ashley: we all our. we appreciate that. just before we head to break, as

you can see, stuck in the malaise down 19 points, we are following it come maybe get another burst of buying on wall street. those at the podium of the state department in washington waiting to hear from john kerry who talks about his vision for peace regarding israel and palestine. more on that and other stories when we come back.

ashley: we continue to wait for secretary john terry, set to layout a speech laying out the obama administration's vision of the middle east in the wake of abstaining on the un security council vote calling the israeli settlements illegal. that is on the left-hand side of the screen. on the right-hand side the dow struggling along a little bit down slightly up 12 points that 19932 as we remain ever hopeful of reaching 20,000. let's bring in former senator

scott brown. thank you so much for joining us. we are focused on what the obama administration has to say about the middle east, in particular israel. were you surprised by the events last friday when the us abstained from voting did not veto the resolution and went through on a 14-0 vote. was that a surprise to you? >> absolutely a surprise. israel is our greatest ally in that region. we always had his relapse back. what i find very interesting is you listen to the administration like it wasn't us, it was the egyptians and palestinians, who cares? bottom line is it is an endorsement of what they did. they stopped it -- could have stopped it but chose not to. clearly there was an effort by this administration, as there is today with listening to john kerry try to box in the new president with a lot of the positions john kerry will put

forth. ashley: it will be interesting. many guests this morning said this is a classic president obama parting shot to israel, putting the icing on the cake for a relationship that has been pretty icy from the get-go. >> it has been the worst relationship since the creation of the state of israel and it is unfortunate. if you have been there you understand it is about the size of rhode island. now it is expanding a little more. maybe the size of new jersey ultimately but bottom line is if you have been there and you go where rockets and missiles have been lobbed at a childcare facility at the town for decades and it is a jewel in that part of the world. ashley: i have asked you this before continuing the theme of the cabinet picks from donald trump, not being made from democrats, billionaires and

multibillionaire's in this group, 5 billionaires, there is going to be a lot made on the business ties, difficult to avoid conflict of interest and have so many financial dealings in the world. do you expect that to be part of the confirmation process? >> thank you to harry reid for giving us a great christmas present. the rules of the senate allow a civil majority in every judge except the supreme court, the ambassador, cabinet positions, the deputies and the like, they can moan and groan and do whatever they want, it is important to avoid those conflicts and you get smart billionaires, legal teams that can help them whether it is wine trustor completely divesting, they will figure it out. i'm not worried about it but it is another effort for the democrats to point fingers, discredit when they had billionaires in their cabinet as well. ashley: that is all they got. president obama says he would

have allowed to run for a third term, he would have beaten donald trump. is that an arrogance that surprises you? don't think it surprises many people. as i speak to you you see donald trump coming up, waves and goes behind a substantial door. mike pierce says nevermind. back to you, scott. >> first of all the president did run for a third term. he and his wife and joe biden and every democrat backed hillary clinton so he did run and he said his policies were on the ballot and the people spoke loud and clear, they don't want a third obama term, don't want higher taxes, more government interference, we want repatriation, lower taxes, less regulation, stronger borders, we don't want sanctuary cities and that is everything he was running on so he did run and he ran and lost. ashley: it is amazing to me, we were saying the other day under

obama more than 1000 democratic seats have been lost on the state and federal level but he doesn't seem to acknowledge that. my legacy, i could win a third term, it is an extreme case of denial and it says to me the democratic party has learned absolutely nothing from this presidential election process. >> he is hanging on for dear life. john kerry, no one cares what john kerry says about the middle east. it is a new page moving forward. we care what the president-elect is going to do about the mess this president created and the reset with russia, what happened in libya, so many things are so screwed up, we have to take the blue by the horns and reestablish trust with our allies and fear with our foes and that is what the president is going to do. i don't know anyone who cares what john kerry says and with

regard to the president, just go away and go away with dignity, you are not running for a third term, don't hang out in dc every time this president-elect makes a decision, try toounter him because all the policies he put forth people don't like. pretty simple. ashley: i think that says it for a lot of people, thank you for joining us. thank you so much. let's take a look at two events, the dow on the right turning out to be a bit of a dud but i am not giving up, down 15 points at this hour, 19929, still 71 points and now john kerry has arrived at the podium at the state department to talk about middle east issues, let's listen in. [applause] >> thank you very much, thank you. thk you very very much, thank you. excuse me. thank you for your patience, all of you, for those of you who celebrated christmas i hope you had a wonderful christmas.

happy hanukkah, to everybody here, i know it is the middle of holiday week, i understand. but i wish you all a very very productive and happy new year. today, i want to share candid thoughts about an issue which for decades has animated the foreign policy dialogue, here and around the world. the israeli-palestinian conflict. throughout his administration president obama has been deeply committed to israel and its security. that commitment has guided his pursuit of peace in the middle east. this is an issue i have worked on intensively during my time as secretary of state for one simple reason, because the two state solution is the only way to achieve a just and lasting peace between israelis and palestinians.

it is the only way to ensure is relapse future as a jewish and democratic state. living in peace and security with its neighbors. it is the only way to ensure a future freedom and dignity for the palestinian people and it is an important way of advancing united states interests in the region. i would like to explain why that future is now in jeopardy and provide some context for why we could not in good conscience stand in the way of a resolution at the united nations that makes clear that both sides must act now to preserve the possibility of peace. i am also here to share my conviction that there is still a way forward if the responsible parties are willing to act and i

want to share practical suggestions for how to preserve and advance the prospects for the just and lasting peace that both sides deserve. it is vital that we have an honest, clear eyed conversation about the uncomfortable truth and difficult choices because the alternative that is fast becoming the reality on the ground is in nobody's interest, not the israelis, not the palestinians, not the region and not the united states. i want to stress there is an important point here. my job, above all, is to defend the united states of america, to stand up for and defend our values and our interests in the world and if we were to stand idly by and know that in doing so we are allowing a dangerous dynamic to take hold which promises greater conflict and instability to a region in which

we have vital interest, we would be derelict in our own responsibilities. regrettably some seem to believe that the us friendship means the us must accept any policy regardless of our own interests, our own posions, our own words, our own principles even after urging again and again that the policy must change. friends need to tell each other the hard truth and friendships require mutual respect. israel's permanent representative to the united nations who does not support a two state solution said after the vote last week, quote, it was to be expected that israel's greatest ally would act in accordance with the values that we share and veto this resolution. i am compelled to respond today

that the united states did, in fact, vote in accordance with our values. just as previous us administrations have done at the security council before us. they failed to recognize that this friend, the united states of america, that has done more to support israel van any other country, this friend that has blocked countless efforts to deal -- delegitimize israel, cannot be true to our own values or even stated democratic values of israel, and we cannot properly defend and protect israel if we allow a viable two state solution to be destroyed before our own eyes. that is the bottom line. the vote in the united nations was about preserving the two state solution. that is what we were standing up for. israel's future as a jewish and democratic state living side-by-side in peace and security with its neighbors,

that is what we were trying to preserve for our sake and for theirs. in fact, this administration has been israel's greatest friend and supporter with an unwavering commitment to advancing israel's security and protecting its legitimacy. on this point i want to be clear. no american administration has done more for israel's security than barack obama's. the israeli primeinister himself has noted our, quote, unprecedented military intelligence cooperation. our military exercises are more advanced than ever. our assistance for iron dome has saved countless israeli lives as we have consistently supported israel's right to defend itself by itself, including during actions in gaza that strict great controversy. time and again we have

demonstrated that we have israel's back, we have strongly -- boycotts of investment campaigns and sanctions targeting israel in international forums, whenever and wherever its legitimacy was attacked, we have thought for its inclusion across the un system. in the midst of our own financial crisis and budget deficits, we repeatedly increased funding to support israel. more than one half of foreign military financing goes to israel and this fall we concluded a historic $38illi memoraum of understanding that exceeds any military assistance package the united states has provided to any country at any time and that will invest in cutting-edge missile defense and

sustain israel's qualitative military edge for years to come. that is the measure of our support. this commitment to israel's security is personal to me. my first trip in 1986, i was captivatedy a special count, one that i immediately admired and soon grew to love. over the years, this extraordinary place, i climbed out and swam in the dead sea. i have seen the dark side of hezbollah's rocket facilities. walk through the exhibits of the hell of the holocaust, stood on the golan heights, and piloted and is really just over tiny airspace, which would make everyone free to understand the importance of security to israelis. out of those experiences came a

steadfast commitment to israel's community for single years in the center my four years as secretary. i often visited westbank communities. struggling for basic freedom and dignity amidst the occupation, past by military checkpoints that can make the most routine daily trips to work or school and ordeal and heard from business leaders who could not get the permits they needed to get their products to the market and families who have struggled to secure permission just to travel for needed medical care. i have witnessed firsthand the ravages of a conflict that has gone on for far too long. i have seen israeli children whose playgrounds have been hit by rockets, i visited shelters next to schools, the kids had 15

seconds after a warning siren went off. i have also seen the devastation of war in the gaza strip and the palestinian girls, played in the rubble of a bombed out building. no children, israeli or palestinian should have to live like that. despite the obvious difficulties that i understood when i became secretary of state i knew i had to do everything in my power to help end this conflict and i was grateful to be working for president obama, who has prepared to take risks for peace and was deeply committed to that effort. like previous us administrations we committed influence and resources to trying to resolve the arab-israeli conflict, because it would serve american interests to stabilize a volatile region and fulfill a commitment to the survival, security and well-being of an

israel at peace with its arab neighbors. despite our best efforts over the years, the two state solution is in serious jeopardy. the truth is trends on the ground, violence, terrorism, incitement, settlement expansion and seemingly endless occupation, they are combining to destroy hopes for peace on both sides and increasingly cementing any reversible one state reality that most people do not actually want. today there are a similar number of jews and palestinians living between the jordan river and the mediterranean sea. they have a choice. they can choose to live together in one state or they can

separate into two states. but here is a fundamental reality. if the choice is one state israel can either be jewish or democratic. it cannot be both and it won't ever really be at peace. moreover the palestinians will never realize there vast potential in a homeland of their own with a one state solution. most on both sides understand this basic choice and that is why it is important that polls of israelis and palestinians show that there is strong support for the two state solution, in theory. they just don't believe that it can happen. after decades of conflict, many no longer see the other side as only as threats and enemies.

both sides continue to push an arabic that place to bes fears and reinforces the worst stereotypes rather than working to change perceptions and build up belief in the possibility of peace. the truth is, the extraordinary polarization in this conflict extends beyond israelis and palestinians. allies of both sides are content to reinforce this with an you are with us or against us mentality were too off and anyone who questions palestinian actions is an apologist for the occupation and anyone who disagrees with israel policy is cast as anti-israel or anti-semitic. that is one of the most striking realities about the current situation. this critical decision about the future, one state or two states is effectively being made on the ground every single day despite

the expressed opinion of the majority of the people. the status quo is leading towards one state and perpetual occupation but most of the public either ignores it or has given up hope that anything can be done to change it. with this passive resignation the problem only gets worse, the risks get greater and the choices are narrowed. the sense of hopelessness among israelis is exacerbated by the continuing violence, terrorist attacks against civilians and incitement which are destroying belief in the possibility of peace. let me say it again, there is absolutely no justification for terrorism and there never will be. in the most recent wave of palestinian violence has included hundreds of terrorist attacks in the past year including stabbings, shootings, vehicular attacks and bombings,

many by individuals who have been radicalized by social media yet the murderers of innocents are still glorified on fatah websites including showing attackers next to palestinian leaders following attacks and despite statements by party leaders making clear their opposition to violence, too often they send a different message by failing to condemn specific terrorist attacks and naming public squares, streets, schools after terrorists. president obama and i have made it clear to the palestinian leadership countless times publicly, privately, all incitement of violence must stop, we have consistently condemned the palestinian leadership for not condemning it. far too often the palestinians have delegitimized israel in

international forums. we strongly suppose these initiatives including the recent unbalanced and inflammatory resolution regarding jerusalem. we made clear strong opposition to palestinian efforts against israel at the icc which sets back the prospects for peace and we all understand the palestinian authority has a lot to do to strengthen institutions and improve governance. most troubling of all, hamas continues to pursue an extremist agenda, refuse to accept israel's right to exist, they have a one state vision of their own, all of the land is palestine. hamas and other radical factions are responsible for the most explicit forms of incitement to violence in many of the images

are truly appalling, and people at gaza at risk to advance the agenda. compounding this the humanitarian -- the closings of the crossings is dire. gaza is home to the world's dentist concentrations of people in during extreme hardships with few opportunities, 1.3 million people out of gaza's population of 1.8 million are in need of daily assistance, food and shelter, most electricity, 5% of the water is safe to drink and yet despite the urgency of these needs, hamas and other militant groups continue to rearm and diver reconstruction materials to build tunnels, threatening more attacks on israeli civilians that no government can tolerate.

at the same time, we have to be clear about what is happening in the west bank. the israeli prime minister publicly supports a two state solution but his current coalition is the most right-wing in israeli history with an agenda driven by the most extreme elements. the result is policies of the government which the prime minister himself just described has more committed to settlements than any in israel's history, leaning in the opposite direction, they are leading towards one state. israel has increasingly consolidated control over much of the west bank for its own purposes effectively reversing the transitions to greater palestinian civil authority that were called for by the oslo accords would i don't think most people in israel, certainly in the world have any idea how

broad and systematic the process has become but the facts before themselves. the number of settlers in the roughly 130 israeli settlements east of the 1967 lines has steadily grown. the settler population in the west bank alone not including east jerusalem has increased by nearly 270,000 since oslo including 100,000 since 2009 when president obama's term began. there is no point pretending these are just in large settlement blocks, nearly 90,000 settlers are east of the separation barrier that was created by israel itself in the middle of what might by any reasonable definition would be the future palestinian state. the population of these distant settlements has grown by 20,000

since 2009. recently the government approved a significant settlements well east of the barrier, closer to jordan than israel. what does that say to palestinians in particular but particularly to the united states and the world that israel's intentions? let me emphasize, not to say the settlements are the whole or primary cause of this conflict? of course they are not, nor can you say if the settlements were suddenly removed you would have peace without a broader agreement, you would not and we understand that in a final status agreement, certain settlements would become part of israel to account for the changes that have taken place for the last 49 years. we understand that, including the new democratic demographic

realities that exist on the ground. they would have to be factored in. if more and more settlers are moving into the middle of palestinian areas it is going to be just that much harder to separate, that much harder to imagine transferring sovereignty and that is exactly the outcome that some are purposefully accelerating. let's be clear, settlement expansion has nothing to do with israel's security. many settlements actually increase the security burden on the israeli defense forces and leaders of the settler movement are motivated by ideological imperatives that entirely ignore legitimate palestinian aspirations. among the most troubling illustrations at this point has been the proliferation of outposts that are illegal under israel's own laws. they are often located under

private palestinian land and strategically placed in locations that make two states in possible. there are 100 of these outposts and since 2011, nearly 1/3 of them have been or are being legalized despite pledges bypassed israeli governments to dismantle many of them. leaders of the settler movement have advanced unprecedented new legislation that would legalize most of those outposts. for the first time it would apply is really domestic law to the west bank rather than military law which is a major step towards process of annexation. when the law passed first reading in the israeli parliament in the knesset, one of the chief proponent said proudly and i quote, today the israeli knesset moved from heading towards establishing the

palestinian state towards israeli sovereignty in judea and samaria. even the israeli attorney general said the draft law is unconstitutional and a violation of international law. you may hear from advocates that the settlements are not an obstacle to peace because the settlers who don't want to leave can stay in plus like the arab israelis who live in israel but that misses a critical point. the arab israelis are citizens of israel subject to his relapse law. does anyone here believe the settlers will agree to submit to palestinian law in palestine? likewise some supporters of the settlements argue the settlers could stay in their settlements and remain as israeli citizens in their separate enclaves

protected by the idea. there are 80 settlements east of the separation barrier, many located in places that would make the contiguous palestinian state impossible. does anyone seriously think that if they just stay where they are you can still have a viable palestinian state, some have asked why can't we build in the blocks which everyone knows will eventually be part of israel? the reason building there or anywhere else in the west bank results in such pushback is the decision of what constitutes a lock is being made unilaterally by the israeli government without consultation, without consent of the palestinians and without granting the palestinians a reciprocal right to build in what will be, by most accounts, part of palestine. bottom line without agreement

for mutuality the unilateral choices have a major point of contention and that is why we are where we are. you may hear these remote settlements aren't a problem because they only take up a small percentage of the land. again and again we have made it clear it is not just a question of the overall amount of land in the west bank, is whether the land can be connected, like swiss cheese that could never constitute a real state. the more outposts are built, the more settlements expand, the less possible it is to create a contiguous state. in the end a settlement is not just the land it is on but also what the location does the movement of people. ashley: we have been listening to secretary of state john kerry speaking at the state department in reaction to the us's

non-action at the un security council vote condemning israeli settlements in palestine, coming back strongly to criticism from others in the us john kerry saying we voted in accordance with our values saying we cannot allow a viable two states aleutian to be destroyed before our very eyes. he said friends need to tell friends the hard truth, that by the way was in direct reference to what benjamin that yahoo said about john kerry saying as i told john kerry, friends don't take friends to the security council, no stepping down at all from the obama administration taking aim at israel saying it flaunted the laws, if you like, two state solution and saying it quite strongly. joining us now, ambassador james woolsey, former director of the central intelligence agency, trump senior advisor. this is a very strong case made

by john kerry taking aim at israel. >> i don't get a strong case, but very deceptive, and weak case. there are about a sixth of israel as secretary john kerry pointeded out consisting of israeli arabs, arab citizens of israel who elect members of the knesset, have judges on the supreme court, have their own publications, well treated and none of the israeli arabs have to worry about somebody breaking down their door in the middle of the night and killing them. on the other hand, what john kerry did not mention, what is the love and in the room that he doesn't want to discuss is that if israelis, or let's say jews from the united states, decided they wanted to live in a

palestinian state, there is no way they can do that without being part of a settlement because they would be killed. the palestinians, hamas, the whole system that didn't seem to link it up to the impracticality of trusting the palestinians not to murder is really's were living near them. and i think it is a deceptive speech, he talks about wanting the narrative is bad so we have to change the perception. the words narrative and perception are very favorite ones i think with the obama administration and they show indirectly the deceptive nature of what we are being told. ashley: i have 30 seconds. i wrote this one down, no one has done more for his relapse security than barack obama. how would you respond to that? >> some of the military programs

are good but generally speaking by betraying israel with this abstention, letting this past, obama has done more to damage is real than any american president ashley: thank you for joining us, we appreciate it. david rubin has been listening to this in jerusalem, former mayor of shiloh, in israel. i would imagine everything we have heard from john kerry is exactly what you didn't want to hear. is that to hear. john kerry is a very confused man or he is a very dishonest man. one or the other but i heard lie after lie from the demographics in israel in which he cites this

50/50 percentage of israeli population versus arab population, absolute nonsense. if you include samaria we are talking more like slightly more than two thirds of israel being jewish, one third being arab. furthermore, the fact is the jewish population in judea and samaria is the fastest growing population in the world. when you puthat together with the population of jerusalem which is at the heart, what you. -- judea and samaria meet, you are talking a tremendous population growth among the jewish population, which at this point is greater then the population growth among the arab population so i don't know where the gloom and doom comes from except for the panic he must

have because i'm sure he knows the accurate demographics. ashley: breaking news, apple ceo tim cook on the new york stock exchange. >> he was a surprise guest on the floor when tim cook, head of apple came on the floor, quickly started to speculate and say why is tim cook here? are they transferring apple to the nyse? no, in fact you see the young gentleman next to him, that is his nephew so his nephew wanted to learn a little about stocks and injecting and the like so tim cook came here, we chatted and i asked what he was telling his nephew, what do you think that if you learned? passive investing, the best kind of investing which was interesting, then we chatted about apple and he asked several

questions including the earbuds that have been popular, whether it would advance production but i will say i asked what apple is looking like in 2017, how are you feeling about 2017? are you feeling optimistic? he said very, very optimistic for 2017 so that was good. ashley: unusual to have such a big guest on the stock exchange. >> thank me for going to the apple store. ashley: he can get his own 20,000 on the dow, just off 7 points, lagged on that. is an end of the show, was it you who said 21,000 by december 21st? >> it was me. i should have predicated that with we had enough, should have predicated that i'm getting to 20,000. the enthusiasm from donald trump rally, repeated a little bit but

over 20,000, my metric i thought we had a good chance of getting 5% up higher but we seem to be dead in the water, had a couple days. a matter of hours, don't think we can get to 21. i think it is so parabolic, stocks went up so quickly that the anticipation, a lot of analysts but the institutional managers hop on board behind the index averages and cleanse momentum that things have gone up so quickly people i digesting great moves. ashley: look into your crystal ball for 2017, i have 10 bucks, a lot of money. where should they put -- what stocks would you buy? >> we like bp because it is one of the largest integrated, 6.5% dividend yield.

ashley: i want to get them in. >> infrastructure energy play, a 3% evident yield. apple is looking -- ashley: tim cook. >> close to a ties, the iphone 8 coming out to look at come out earlier, the supplies we are talking about based on what they are supplying. apple looks terrific. ashley: i would have thought with a trump presidency gun sales would go down. >> we own it and it is gone down, 3% dividend yield, solid earnings, great company if there is a rotation, stocks underperform in this parabolic move they got caught up with and look for those and this is one of them. ashley: you made a counter, still waiting for 21,000. hopes are fading but we will

see, back to politics president-elect trump's nominations to the epa, scott pruitt vows to dismantle president obama's climate agenda can it back regulations. let's bring in the attorney general of west virginia republican patrick morrissey joined the sunset, tell me about the obama climate agenda and what it has done for industry in your state. >> if you look at the obama power planet has had a devastating effect, not only coproducing states but many places across the country because it is trying to slowly but surely kill off cold but also starting to drive the price of electricity up and that is one of the reasons we know 24 states have stepped up to challenge this in its recent letter, the big one at the us supreme court, we are hopeful under a new president trump that on day one he can begin the process of rolling back some of

these burdensome regulations. ashley: with a republican congress, the house and the senate, you must be pretty hopeful that can happen. >> i really am. there is a terrific pack to be the epa administrator, i worked with scott pruitt, he has done a terrific job, he cares about the will of la. on the attacks you are seeing, know what that means? they know you have a serious person, someone who has been at the forefront of challenging these regulations, scott has done it trying to ensure the rules are enforced the right way, let's refocus the epa's core mission to protecting air and water, not these far field regulatory expeditions where they lack the authority. ashley: whatever galatians under the coal industry? >> they have heard our people badly. i travel around southern west virginia and talk to families, they are hurting, tens of thousands of people lost their jobs. when you talk about call it is not only the coal miners job but

the related job. there may be 7 jobs tied to the coalminer, whole communities have been wrecked as a result of the decline on call so that is something we are hopeful we can reverse a bit. hard to predict what the exact outcome will be, 25%, 30% of a bounce back but if you can add 5 or 10 jobs that is a start. ashley: we will check back in with you and see what you do, west virginia attorney general. jampacked hour, we are not even done yet, stay right there.

.. rodney and his new business.

he teaches lessons to stanley... and that's kind of it right now. but rodney knew just what to do...he got quickbooks. it organizes all his accounts, so he knows where he stands in an instant. ahhh...that's a profit. which gave him the idea to spend a little cash on some brilliant marketing! ha, clever. wow, look at all these new students! way to grow, rodney! know where you stand instantly. visit quickbooks.com. >> markets have been open for two and half hours and the initial list 21 points. we started off so positive that the future is pointed higher. we're going to say the dragon, hit 20,000. he said this was going to happen. you were hopeful, weren't you? >> i'm hopeful by friday we can get there and just call it a done deal at that point good a

completely different story. >> 20,000 next year. ashley: there you go. down 20 points. connell mcshane, a little bit of the irish luck. he is in for neil cavuto. connell: thank you i'm ashley. not like we don't have other things to go. in this weekend for the other things we have to talk about "-begin-quote the secretary of state john kerry and those remarks he saw here. it was a big speech on the middle east and the peace efforts there, especially after the vote at the united nations. there have been heightened tensions certainly on the overriding message from secretary kerry two state solution is the only answer. watch. >> this is an issue which all of you know i have worked on intensively during my time as secretary of state for one simple rea