she has to balance. that's the benef of responsibility. apply online or visit a bank of america near you. bill: new year's eve we start at 9:00. it is like a telethon now. martha: it will be so great. i will be watching. i will make a brief appearance. merry christmas to you, buddy. to you and your family as well. "happening now" starts right now. bye, everybody. >> right now, today's top headlines and brand new stories that you will see here first. jenna: we're waiting for the final news conference of 2013 for president obama following an 11th hour change to his signature health care law. who it affects and what it can mean for the health care law as a whole. a duck dynasty star under fire for his comments. target waiting days before going public about a massive security

breach. it is putting one in eight americans at risk. the lawsuits are already coming in all "happening now." >> but first, just a short time from now, president obama will make remarks before he and the first family head out on a big christmas holiday. his year-end press conference, 2:00 eastern time this afternoon, less than 24 hours after an 11th hour, well it is more than a tweak. it's a big change to obamacare. hello, everybody, i'm gregg jarrett in for jon scott. jenna: what that change means is the big question. gregg, nice to have you with us again. hi, everybody, i'm jenna lee. the white house changing rules for millions of americans who had their insurance plans canceled. those people are now exempt from the individual mandate, meaning they won't be fined for not having coverage next year as long as they get a very basic, catastrophic coverage. the delay coming days before the

critical enrollment deadline which is on monday and sparking a lot of concerns about the federal marketplace even as state-run exchanges report a surge in sign-ups. ezra klein in "the washington post" writes, this puts the first crack in the individual mandate. the question is, whether it is the last. if democratic members congress see this as solving their political problem for people with plans who are canceled, it could help them stand against republicans to want to delay the individual mandate. if democrats use this as excuse to delay or defang the individual mandate for anyone who doesn't want to pay for insurance under obamacare it will be a very big problem for the law. monica crowley, radio talk show host, author and fox news contributor. john hannah, former aide to president john kerry and president obama's presidential campaign. start with the first point by ezra klein.

a crack, is it a temporary one, what do you think? >> this is a big deal, jenna. this is the 14th unilateral change this administration made to obama care without congressional approval. is this even legal? again nobody seems to have a clear answer on that. but the fact that the individual mandate was desend -- the central pillar for obamacare, without it the entire things falls apart, the idea now you have upwards of six million people who had their insurance plans canceled who will now be waived out of obamacare at least for a year, not required under the law to purchase an insurance policy, that means that the whole foundation of this is now going to be shaken to the core. jenna: mark, do you agree. let me ask mark about that. >> -- death spiral. jenna: mark, is it a crack in the foundation that brings the whole thing down? >> i don't think you will be surprised i disagree emphatically with what monica is saying. remember how many people we're talking about.

republican ann commentators on this network, 15 million, 10 million people will get kicked off private insurance and not be able to afford health insurance and through obamacare exchanges. it just came out yesterday actually, "politico" reported the number of people is under half a million who have been kicked off private insurance and who haven't now since registered for more affordable care with the obama care exchanges. in a country of over 300 million people, we're talking under half a million people. jenna: mark, let me stop you there though, ezra klein in his piece points out a contradiction, saying if you never had insurance because you can't afford insurance you will still be required to get insurance. but if you had your insurance plan canceled, suddenly you get a pass, even though you might be one that can afford it. it is not so much about the numbers, about the contradiction with the policy. what do you think about that? >> i don't want to speak for the white house but what i think this represents sensible accommodation for the people who took the president's word if you

had health insurance you can keep it. he came out and recognized that was not accurate in the way it unfolded so what this does keeps faith with those people. i think what democrats and white house all along has been trying to do make reasonable tweaks to the policy to accommodate the american people. make sure everybody who can afford health insurance is quality health insurance is signing up and then people who can not, for example, in republican states with republican governors have not expanded medicaid those people are exempted as well. i think the white house has been extremely reasonable here. all along republicans in congress want nothing more than to repeal the act and every action should be taken through the lens of repeal strategy. jenna: that is the question, monica, politically what happens next? we'll hear from the president today at 2:00 p.m. what will democrats do, what will republicans do with this. everyone in congress is going home and they have to face their constituents. we have seen the poll numbers on this law and they're not good. so what happens next politically? >> this move was done like every

other previous change, exemption, waiver, in part to obamacare. this is done for political reasons. the reason the president did this now is because he has a number of very vulnerable democrats running in red and purple states up for re-election next year and they are screaming about this because their constituents have lost their coverage or they have got to pay for crappier coverage than they had before. this is a mess. mark talks about well the administration is being reasonable. if this were a reasonable administration they never would have gone with this disasterous law in the first place. >> this is the problem with monica's argument. >> mark, i didn't interrupt you. >> go ahead. >> this administration's entire objective to have the thing eventually collapse to get us to socialized med incident. full-on social i'd medicine. >> such conspiracy theories. >> this was more frankenstein bill is more patchwork and logically incoherent. >> this is bill based on idea

what mitt romney enacted in massachusetts. >> six million people's policies canceled are not required to buy insurance? what does that do to the whole plan. jenna: mark, hold on one second. we'll actually be asking an insurance company representative that very question next hour and how the policy actually applies. now what does it actually mean for the bill overall. staying on policy, mark, you may say what monica is saying a conspiracy theory, but certainly a lot of folks have concerns about it. what does the president have to come out to say 2:00 p.m. this is a tweak and this is why we're doing this? what does he have to do today? >> i think what the president needs to do is reassure the american people, no question, whatsoever, that you know, we can all agree, the low enrollment numbers are cause for concern. they're much lower than people had hoped for but what we need to do is realize some context here. when this similar law was enacted in massachusetts the enrollment, took extremely gradual. when medicare rolled out 50

years ago, the rollout was extremely gradual, much lower initially than people had expected. both of these laws are widely perceived completely successful right now. to monica's point about the politics of this, you see moderate democrats and people in purple states and purple districts, she says they're clamoring or yelling at president. i refer any of your viewers and monica to those websites where those democrats have been completely unified in support for this law. they are absolutely sensitive to their constituents concerns. i don't doubt that. jenna: there has been criticism coming from democrats from the law, mary landrieu in louisiana, for example much so we'll leave it there. 2:00 p.m. today, the president will have to speak on this mark, monica, great to have you both. >> merry christmas. jenna: merry christmas to you. >> tense moments in australia as a s.w.a.t. team takes down a man threatening to blow up a government building there. take a look at this. the suspect barricaded himself inside of a parked car in front of new south wales parliament in

sydney. officers tried to negotiate with the guy but when he breaks down, police unleashing tear gas on the car. dragging the driver out and taking custody. the man tried to use a lighter and some kind after flammable liquid to set himself on fire. parliament was in lockdown for about two hours. jenna: now in mexico, violent clashes between parents, teachers and police over education reforms. dozens of parents armed with sticks, throwing stones at teachers riding pickup trucks to work. all this as a result of union disputes in mexico. hundreds of riot police responding to violence. this is the latest of series of disruptive protests in mexico began in september, angry at the poor performance of mexican schools came together. this is part of a scene we see there today. >> fox news alert. a partial ceiling collapse at a crowded london theater injureing dozens of people as people packed the 112-year-old apollo

theater for a show. eyewitnesses described huge chunks of plaster falling on theatergoers. >> massive section came down and the room was filled with dust straight away. seemed to miss everyone in the balcony and went down to people. >> we saw people pulling on us and all of sudden there was a coat of dust that came on us. >> greg palkot is live in london this morning with the very latest. greg? >> reporter: hey, gregg. investigators are still going through the rubble right now. it was quite a scene. imagine you're sitting there enjoying a play and then the ceiling falls on top of you. that is what it was like for many ticketholders of that apollo theater at london's west end, that is the equivalent of new york's broadway. about a half hour into the play running there, kind after noise sir, sound effect filled play, and then a 30-foot wide section of ornate plaster ceiling came

crashing down. equivalent of four stories right into that packed orchestra section. we are told by police right now that upwards of '90 people were injured. two of those at least are still hospitalized. first folks thought it was a part of the play. then they realized it was reality. here is a bit more what some eyewitnesses had to say. >> watch out. we thought it was part of the play. >> ceiling came down. a lot of dust, chandelier, wood, landed on about five or six rose. >> reporter: luckily emergency crews got there fast, gregg. they sorted through the dust and debris. they got injured to the hospital. there was no one remarkably killed in this incident. now they're looking into what caused it. it was an old theater but these theaters are checked pretty regularly and this theater in fact pass ad recent inspection. while there is a lot of rain as we all know in london, there was a pretty big storm last night. we were out in it, just best collapse it came down.

heavy rain, wind, hail, thunder, lightning. there were reports of a lightning strike against the theater and well as reports of water leak down before the accident. that is one thing investigators are looking into. theater managers are looking at safety and security for all the theaters which by the way are all fairly old. 32,000 people a night go to the theater in london so this is a big business. obviously authorities don't want a repeat performance what happened last night. back to you. jon: amazing it wasn't a whole lot worse. greg palkot live in london. thanks. jenna: president obama ready to hold his year-end news conference on the heels of big changes to the health care law we heard about last night. we'll be waiting and watching for that. half the terror suspects at guantanamo bay may be a step closer to going home. how the a sweeping defense bill could be a get out of jail card for gitmo detainees. we'll tell you about a huge winter storm threatening plans

for millions of travelers. outside our manhattan studios, they say it will be 60 on sunday. that is shorts and flip-flop weather in san diego. >> we could do a back stroke there in the water. how about that?

gregg: some developing stories we're watching this hour. senate majority leader harry reid in the hospital. according to his office he went in as a precaution after feeling ill this morning. said to be doing a lot better now. three separate bus accidents in southern california leaving one woman dead, dozens injured. the crashes, all under investigation in each case, authorities say it was either raining or the roads were wet. and no evidence of misconduct or inappropriate behavior widespread in the secret service, a report by the department of homeland security. that report follows last year's

prostitution scandal in colombia. jenna? jenna: the senate passing a broad defense bill that could put terror suspects at guantanamo bay one step closer to getting out. it does not close it but gives the president more room to decide about detainees. he might talk about it at 2:00 p.m. we'll see. correspondent catherine herridge is live in washington with me. catherine? >> reporter: they have reduced detaken epopulation by 30% since 2009 and this legislation will not make it move to remaining detainees to the u.s. but give the administration freer on hand to send them home. 160 detainees are in the detention camp. fox news has visited them more than any other american television network and 30% of the remain prisoners are cleared for release mining there is not sufficient evidence to prosecute them in military courts. under old rules, defense secretary would have to certify a detainee would knot return to

the battlefield which is a high threshold. under the new legislation, the standard is lower, the secretary must take steps to reduce the risk. earlier this week secretary hagel addressed the distinction. >> that fives more flexibility to the president, all of us on this issue. we would anticipate to continue this of transferring these detainees and i think we're making good progress toward that. toward that objective. >> reporter: in a statement released late last night, shortly after the senate vote the aclu said, quote, there has been a sea change on the guantanamo issue both in congress and at the white house. there is now reason to hope that the job of closing guantanamo and ending indefinite detention can get done. now the biggest obstacle remaining are the 90 detainees from yemen. a year ago it seemed possible to send them back to the home country because the country was stable but that is really no longer the case. of course yemen is the home of the most active and lethal of

al qaeda affiliates, al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. jenna. jenna: so important to remember that. the catherine, thank you. >> reporter: you're welcome. gregg: days before christmas target shoppers are seeing red big-time after the retail giant admits personal information, 40 million debit and credit cards, appear to have been stolen. how one victim is striking back. growing backlash over controversial comments. what's next for the outspoken patriarch of duke dynasty? duck dynasty.

gregg: a target shopper is firing back now, suing the

retail giant claiming she may have been exposed to identity theft. this after target admitted that 40 million debit and credit cards were breached during the holiday shopping season. target issuing a statement, quote, we are aware of unauthorized access to payment card data that may have impacted certain guests and making credit and debit card purchases. the trust of our guests is our first priority and we have moved swiftly to address this issue. if you shopped at a u.s. target store between november 27th and december 15th, check your credit or debit account for suspicious or unusual activity. let's bring in ashley merchant, criminal defense attorney, fred tecce, former federal prosecutor. fred, 40 million stolen credit and debit cards. you're talking about 1800 stores. that's, and then some. >> right. gregg: that's a lot of stolen data. >> well it is but, gregg, let me break it down to the lowest common denominator.

you're a lawyer. we all get this. what are their damages? unless you suffered identity theft, you don't have any damages. was target probably liable, yes no doesn't in my mind. is it minimal to class-action lawsuit. you know a law firm will charge target to millions of dollars to defend them. the case will settle with every class member getting 50-dollar gift card. and plaintiffs make a couple million in attorneys fees and only people that make money is lawyers. gregg: ashley, i was saying same thing this morning i first heard about this case, wait a minute, are what the damages here in the class action? after all banks and target indemnify credit cardholders, and debit cardholders. but then i thought, you know what? i was the recipient of identity theft about 20 years ago and it made my life hellacious. you know, just clearing up my credit score and all kind of stuff, i mean, so there's your

damages, right? >> right. right. the damages could be immense and they're not something you can immediately figure out what they are. they could go on for years or years, like you said. 20 years down the line it could come back to bite you because you just don't know. they're taking this sensitive information and just because they haven't actually hacked your account or used it right now doesn't mean they couldn't use it in the future. you could be applaying for a mortgage and all of sudden get a credit report back that's negative and say, i didn't know about this. this is the first time i heard about this. gregg: yeah. >> so there really is future damage here. gregg: but class action against target you not only have to prove damages but you have to prove negligence and causation as well and for any plaintiff, that may be tiff, fred. >> right, exactly. and the cornerstone of a class-action lawsuit is every plaintiff is exactly the same. what ashley is talking about, and she's absolutely right, those people may have a lawsuit but those people are different. if there are 40 million people in the class and 15 of them or

20 of them suffer identity theft as as a result they have a lawsuit but not a class-action lawsuit for all 40 million. that is my point. >> right. gregg: ashley, here's the thing, the long-term business damage to target, that could be really catastrophic. >> it could be catastrophic and i think the reason they're going ahead and filing this now, the plaintiff lawyers are smart. they want to be the first ones to file it. they want to file it in liberal jurisdiction, so they chose the 9th circuit. as liberal as it gets in this country. that is the most liberal jurisdiction. they're more likely to side with plaintiffs and against big business. gregg: i was looking up stats, fred, on identity theft. fraud, only accounts for less than 6 cents for everyone hundred dollars purchased. we talk about all the time and we talk about big numbers. >> right. gregg: but you're really only talking about six cents everyone hundred bucks. >> you know what. as you said if you're a victim of identity theft it stinks

because it really is very, very difficult to fix it but again i can raise another issue. everyone of these people are on notice and told this is issue. they better be wary. i usually grow to walmart because i can take my rv. but i went to target last couple weeks and i will watch this carefully. gregg: my wife loves tar -- target. >> i shop during this time. gregg: your rv, fred? >> you know what? i'm a airplane-flying, rv-driving -- gregg: say no more, pal. say no more. i will stop you before you embarass yourself anymore. >> too late. too late. gregg: fred tecce, ashley merchant. good to see you. >> enjoy your weekend. >> thank you. good to see you. jenna: is he driving up to the studio in his rv like a whole different image of fred that we didn't know about? gregg: clint our producer says, he is blushing over that whole thing. he is little embarrassed he blurted that out. jenna: nice to know our guests.

gregg: nothing wrong with having an rv. yeah. jenna: debunking the stereotype about detached dads. new government study sheds light on the real role fathers are playing for their families today. we'll dig deep into that. plus this. drama growing over reality tv star's controversial comments, even louisiana governor bobby jindal is weighing in. >> i think there is also a big issue here. i think there is hypocrisy on the left, when the left is tolerant of every viewpoint except those that disagree with them.

jenna: this next story certainly has a lot of folks talking out there. reaction pouring in after dike dines in at this star phil robertson about controversial comments about homosexuality and race. it got him suspended from the hit a&e show. from family to fans everyone has something to say about this. everyone wants to know what happens to "duck dynasty" moving forward. william la jeunesse is live in l.a. with more. william? >> reporter: jenna, no one really disputes phil robertson's right to say what he did or a&e's right to pull him off the air. the real question as you suggested is, where does it go? how does it end? does the family accept the punishment or do they bolt for another network? no question, gays have a lot of influence in hollywood, but, so do viewers. already 116 have signed a petition demanded that a&e

reinstate robertson and they apologize. sponsors are standing by the family, which last night delivered this ultimatum. and i'm quoting. we're disappointed phil has been placed on hiatus for expressing his faith which is his constitutionally protected right. we have had a successful working relationship with "a&e" but as a family we can not imagine the show going forward without our patriarch at the helm. >> a&e executives had to know they would be alienating part of their fan base by kicking phil robertson off the air. apparently the network found the comments so offensive they felt compelled to act. >> reporter: in his "gq" interview, robertson talked about racism or lack of it growing up in the south. in his words, preentitlement, prewelfare. same quote. where we lived was all farmers. blacks worked for the farmers. i hoed cotton with them. i'm with the blacks because we're white trash.

we're going across the field. they're singing and happy. i never heard one of them, one black person say, i tell you what those doggone white people, not a word. >> you can't watch the show without knowing he is deeply evangelical christian and older american with very traditional views expressed in southern ways that some people are going to find offense sieve. why the network seems surprised to find themselves in this predictment is beyond me. >> reporter: so here's where this stand right now. "duck dynasty" is on hiatus until january 15th. nine out of the first 10 episodes are already in the can, suggesting they don't need phil in front of the camera until march. that's four months away. by then, jenna, many believe this is going to be worked out. back to you. jenna: we'll see. william, thank you. gregg: well as william just mentioned phil robertson's comments about race perhaps even more sensitive than what he said

about sexuality. civil rights groups are taking notice but they have largely been overshadowed in the media. so let's talk about with judith miller, pulitizer prize winning investigative reporter, author and fox news contributor. lynn sweet is washington bureau chief for "the chicago sun-times." good to see you both. >> hello. gregg: judy, in part he said african-americans were happier living under jim crow laws. you know, jim crow laws were basically segregation laws and they led to terrible acts of violence, including beatings and floggings, lynchings, so for the. so that is a statement that i either suggests an utter lack of awareness, or incentive or utter ignorance. >> right. gregg: where do you think it is? >> well i think that, you know the "duck dynasty" operation indicates a great deal of savvy and smarts. they know their operation. they know their audience.

and but a&e has a right to set its own standards and i also predict that by the time those nine out of the 10 episodes have played on the air, somehow, a&e will find a way to get him back on the show. i mean he has a perfect first amendment right to be stupid, to be racist, to be homophobic but a&e has a first amendment right to govern what goes on its shows. gregg: and, you know, lynn, i think it was the point that karl rove or maybe howard kurtz, why should this come as a surprise to a&e? they clearly knew these people and they knew what, inevitably, inexorably would happen? >> i don't know if the point is really a&e is surprised. i think the point is that when you let a star be interviewed as he was for gentleman quarterly, in this no-holds-barred interview, you have to live with what you get and that's the

situation a&e is in. they wanted publicity for the show and they're getting it. gregg: yeah. >> just not the kind they wanted. >> i think they are getting what they want. look how many people are going to tune into this show? a&e will ride the suspension all the way to the bank in higher ratings. >> actually, judy, you have a good point there. this goes on the rule of thumb as long as they spell his name right is what the problem is. on a serious note i want to underscore what judy said, this is a commercial operation and the marketplace speaks. the title of that article is, what the duck? if any of us used the word that it rhymes with we may not ever, fox would have a perfect right to raise some questions about putting us on again. gregg: are you surprised, judy, some people are standing behind him. all these sponsors, sky jacker, underarmor, even, governor bobby jindal standing behind him.

are you surprised by all that? >> i guess i'm not surprised. i am disappointed. more in sadness than in anger. i'm concerned very much with the kind of decline of civility in our country. the fact that these kinds of things pass that a martin bashir will be on the air for three weeks before he is finally yanked off. mr. duck has really crossed the martin bashir line and i think people ought to call him on it. conservatives should not stand behind the first amendment to say he has a right to say that i'm very pro, as is lynn, first amendment but you don't have the right to be offensive on somebody else's network. gregg: i don't know, lynn. i'm not sure that anybody could ever surpass the martin bashir line. that's a line that is so far out there that nobody will ever, nobody will ever beat that one. >> right. well, we'll see. i mean, let's see what the family does. this could be a very interesting fight, once again. and even getting greater writings that their, 12 million

people who tune in. just astonishing. >> it is, but you know i think we do have to speak up and underscore that intolerance is something that the public has a perfect right not to, to react against and what he said, what robertson said was intolerant and it was horrible and if there's a consequence, he will have to face it. gregg: so be it. >> as he says, the ratings i think will get -- gregg: lynn sweet, judy miller, good to see you both. thank you very much. >> thank you. jenna: fox weather alert a massive winter storm threatening christmas travel plans for millions of people. snow and freezing rain are possible today and this weekend from the midwest through the great lakes. for parts of the east coast, near-record warm temperatures this weekend. so a lot going on. our meteorologist janice dean is standing by at the fox extreme weather center with more. jd? >> i have to bring gregg into this. we were on the elevator this morning, jenna. he commented on the 67-degree

heat and said he would bewaring his bathing suit. gregg: my tommy bahama long board shorts. >> where is that -- >> he has to take a picture and got to show us. gregg: yeah. you don't really want to see that. >> with little bells on and everything? gregg: nice. >> so we're making a joke here but it will be very warm. we'll set a record if we get past 63 degrees. when you see the weird temperatures you know there is weird "weather on the 1" way. look at the cold front. can you see it? of course you can. it is 24 in kansas city. 65 in memphis. 74 in new orleans. that is one of the ingredients we need for severe weather. can you believe it, first day of winter on the calendar we'll see tornadoes. look at it. the storm moves out of the southwest, with it potential of severe weather as well as ice all along the central plains. north of that that's where we'll see the snow but we're really concerned for the threat of tornadoes on saturday and sunday

pushing across the northeast. so travel tomorrow will be really tricky. they have issued a moderate risk across the mississippi river valley. we're talking december here. 21st of december, and all the cities need to be on alert for severe weather and hail and damaging winds and also tornadoes. we'll get in excess of four inches across the ohio river valley, tennessee river valley as well as ice here. again it will be really tricky. the snow across chicago, especially, saturday. sunday it will be moving eastward. in terms of delays, saturday will be the worst travel day. look all across the midwest where icy conditions persist. we'll see stormy weather across the mississippi river valley. we'll be tuning in. gregg is working this weekend. so am i, jenna. there will be pictures passed between us. i will make sure you're on the list. gregg: oh, yeah. jenna: i can rely on you. i appreciate it. >> i want to see a santa hat on him as well. gregg: it will go viral, yeah, trust me.

>> sorry, gregg. gregg: thanks. yeah. payback. you know what they say. president obama will likely face some very tough questions today on the latest so-called fixes to obamacare. we're awaiting a major news conference at the white house, well, a little more than two hours. imagine this, a drivable car you can build yourself using toys! well, imagine no more. we'll speak to one of the innovators behind the lego car. ♪ you can prevent gas with beano meltaways, or treat gas with these after you get it. now that's like sunblock before or sun burn cream later. oh, somebody out there's saying, now i get it! take beano before and there'll be no gas.

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jenna: if you have legos as a kid, didn't we all, you had legos a kid? gregg: absolutely. jenna: i love legos. with a little imagine they cam become just about anything. this really takes the cake. a lego car that actually drives.

it is made of 500,000 legos and runs on compressed air and reaches lightning speeds of 15 miles per hour. gregg: wow. jenna: the kicker, this was funded because of a single tweet. we want too talk about all of this with steve who helped make the lego dream reality. he joins us on the phone from melbourne, australia. from march away. steve, great to have you on the program. where did you get this idea from? >> i met this technology genius on the internet. he told me could build a full sized lego car as he explains it that runs on air. i said that sounds pretty interesting. we costed it up, and costed more than i wanted to spend on a toy car. i went out and thought use my network to crowd fund it on twitter. jenna: how much did it cost, steve? >> well i raised $20,000 from 40 people, or putting in $500 each. unfortunately cost me a little bit more than that i kept chipping in a little bit more.

as we experimented and bent a lot of lego pieces and had to do a lot of trial and error, cost a bit more. i think it was worth it. jenna: steve, did you play with legos as little kid? >> i sure did. everyone does. i'm just a big kid really. that is the one thing, i thought i would keep on playing and acting like a kid. jenna: was this a full-time job for you? >> no, it wasn't. it was a side project. i pretty much would work every day and then at 10:00 at night, once i put the kids to bed, i would start working on the lego project and work with raoul on it until 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning. maybe that is why it took us 22 months. jenna: what do the kids think about it? >> they think about it. they think i'm a little bit weird. why is dad playing with toys as well. they're not quite sure, and they're quite young so they think i'm a bit strange. jenna: have you sat in the driver's seat? how does this thing drive? >> absolutely. it is a pretty simple thing.

the compressed air goes through the engine and has a throttle like a jet airplane engine. when you open up the throttle the air goes into the engine, pushes pistons up and down and turn the drive shaft and pushes the car forward. actually pretty simple mechanically. the engine is the thing quite impressive. >> how long did it take to get the whole thing to road ready? >> it was, about, a little bit more than 12 months of building. it was about six months of designing and 12 months of building. in the last month of just pulling it all together and testing it. i tested all the pieces were right, was about four weeks of working eight hours a day. jenna: is that your face on the wheel by the way? we're seeing the tires? >> yeah, so both raoul and i have on the hubcap as little lego mosaic of our faces. why can't you have your own lego car and if you design your own face you put it on there. jenna: that could be a trend for

other coarse as well. steve, great to talk to you. thanks for creativity and the time today. we really appreciate it. we're excited to see what you do next. >> thanks very much for having me. gregg: "star wars" meet your match. some of the world's coolest robots competing for cash. we're going to show you what these mechanical marvels can actually do. and almost everyone does it but do most of us say regifting is okay? should you tell the giftee? i'm thinking not. a new "fox news poll" has the answers next.

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gregg: right now a competition like you have never seen. gladiators duking it out in a series of extreme challenges that these competitors are all robots and the prize up for grab, a cool $2 million. phil keating has more live at homesead-miami speedway in florida. hey, phil. >> reporter: hi, gregg. the future, robotic future, well, it's a lot closer to reality than many of us actually would have imagined. take a look at this very humanoid looking robot, two legs, two feet, two hands, two arms. that is from ihmc robot design. his name is alice. a competition about to go on over here where that robot, built by hong kong university, is about to believe it or not, climb up those steps on that ladder, one by one. there are eight specific tasks, each of the 17 robots from around the world here, that they have to accomplish today and tomorrow. they have to use their arms and legs to climb a ladder, lifting wood, walking over piles of

debris and even robots driving cars, can you believe it? a lot of brain power is represented here. robot its from nasa, carnegie mellon, boston dynamics. the idea of this challenge emerged from the 2011 tsunami in japan. the department of defense looking forward to a vision of the future when disaster strikes and save lives in hazard does situations. do that with robots with things like hurricane sandy where robots rescue humans. at this stage this year these robots are just babies. >> when you say robots you're spoiled and so expectation is so high from science fiction movie. you think the robots will be running and all this stuff. you see today they barely walk with two feet. we still have a long, long way to go but we can start somewhere. >> reporter: coming up this afternoon, a lot of excitement this afternoon. on the racetrack the military horse or mule-designed looking robot by boston dynamics will

run down the track on all four legs. incredibly impressive. a lot of excitement here. these are some of the smartest masters and phd robot its from around the world. and the future is bright and moves at this point very slowly, gregg. gregg: amazing stuff like the robin williams movie where he became human eventually. i forgot the movie. >> reporter: i hope they don't turn on me while i'm here. gregg: phil keating great. jenna: great to have a camera there if that happens. we don't wish it, please. new study about fathers in the united states disputing old myth that is the fathers are detached from their families. harris faulkner is live with this. harris? >> some key findings in this. 90% said they bathed, diapered, potty trained or dressed the little ones at least several times a week. look at that little one.

high number played with eight meals with their children. the majority of those dads said they read to their kids several times a week as well. you wonder why this is such a big deal. researchers and behavioral experts show is a dads are more involved in their children's lives than society think. we know children are academically successful and fewer behavioral problems and healthier eating habits with dad spending more time. moms are wondering, i'm not seeing that kind of help at home. worth noting all the dads in the survey self-reported their involvement without input from their partners or others. and most were married or living with their significant others. so the issues of single parenting, limited visitation time with kids, et cetera were not a focus or a part of this study but the headline from the survey, increasingly fathers were sharing duties that traditionally have been done solely by moms. back to you. of course i will be watching my own hubby very closely. jenna: thanks. i wonder what the moms think?

okay, harris, thank you very much. gregg: self-reporting? okay. president obama preparing for his final white house press conference of the year. we've got it covered for you. we'll be right back. people join angie's list for all kinds of reasons. i go to angie's list to gauge whether or not the projects will be done in a timely fashion and within budget. angie's list members can tell you which provider is the best in town. you'll find reviews on everything from home repair to healthcare. now that we're expecting, i like the fact i can go onto angie's list and look for pediatricians.

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jenna: new developments on our top stos and breaking news this hour. tregg greg the president making a sudden public appearance on the heels of an obamacare bombshell. 11th hour changes, big ones, to the affordable care act. why insurance companies are outraged and how it could impact you. plus, brand new fox news poll numbers, americans sharing their opinions on our president and our government. the numbers, not very good for the administration. also, is laughter really the best medicine? it's all "happening now." ♪ ♪ gregg: and "happening now," big changes to obamacare just days before the enrollment deadline.

hello, i'm gregg jarrett in for jon scott. jenna: no laughing matter, this story. tying it all together. hi, everybody, great to see you on this friday, i'm jenna lee. and we're awaiting a year-end news conference from the president this afternoon. he'll be be asked about the announcement that some of the millions of americans whose insurance policies were canceled will be allowed to buy bare bones policies next year. such plans had been restricted to people under age 30 or who qualified for specific hardship exemptions. the 11th hour change causing a lot of new concerns to the. ed henry is live at the white house, he, of course, will be inside that press briefing with the president today, so how do we expect the president to talk about this latest change happening just hours before his final news conference of the year? >> reporter: well, jenna, good to see you. frankly, it's going to be harder to explain because it raises more questions about whether the

administration is going to be ready for the next deadline, january 1st. the president acknowledged very candidly that he had fumbled, himself and his team, the last deadline on october 1st with the rollout, so are they really ready when they're making these last minute changes, and can also the president has to explain the fact he's previously said we're not going to delay the individual mandate for all americans, well, now you're delaying it for some, that's going to anger other americans. and it also raises questions about how all this is going to work with these last minute changes because these are what the president has basically called junk plans with very low standards. it doesn't have the high standards he says his new law will have. hhs, joanne peters says, quote: >> r eporter: they're telling me at the health and human services

department this will only affect, they think, about 500,000 or less in terms of the number of consumers. but i've talked to officials in the insurance industry who insist to me it's going to be far more than that, and they're worried, frankly, this is another thing dumped on them at the last minute that will cause more chaos as we approach january 1st in a few days, jenna. jenna: that's one of the few questions we're going to be asking, how does this really impact the way insurance companies have set forward their plans for the new yearyou're expecting all these extra people to get catastrophic plans and not complete coverage. that's a big question later this the show. in the meantime, ed, politically critics say this is another reason to delay the individual mandate. does this change the conversation on that? >> reporter: it could. i mean, look, you have republican eric cantor, the house majority leader, who's out there this morning, and here's what he has to say. he says, quote:

>> r eporter: so you see, the republican point there that this has changed, the president using his executive power sort of on the fly. i think part of the pushback you'll see from the president is, number one, he's acknowledged there have been mistakes, and he's going to maybe talk as he has before about how the republican plan has basically been let's just repeal the affordable care act. he's going the suggest, undoubtedly, that, look, this thing's here to say, the supreme court's ratified it, you people have to deal with the fact that we're moving forward on it. but one of the challenges for him will be, look, can you continue to change this on the fly, and will there be reasonable changes moving forward, a much broader change to this law to actually improve it so you're not doing all these last minute tweaks? that's certainly the president has promised he would do, to sit down and work with republicans to figure it out -- jenna: do you have your question

ready, ed? >> reporter: i've got a couple ideas. i'll tell you in a little while. [laughter] jenna: 2 p.m. eastern time, ed, we're going to be watching for you. we have a lot to get to, ask now we're going to talk about the economy. here's a live look at what's going on in the dow after new numbers are out on the u.s. economy and how well our economy's growing. the commerce department revising a previous estimate, and this is a final reading, by the way, for gdp, meaning that our economy grew at a pace of 4.1% in the third quarter, that's up from a previous reading and one of the better readings we've seen in the last few years. so it will be interesting to see if the president touches on in this as well, health care, the economy so intertwined. wig pig news today that we're seeing better growth than we thought. gregg: he may try to grab any news he can find because the poll numbers are not good news. as we countdown to 2 p.m. eastern time, brand new fox poll numbers show his favorability rating really taking a huge nose dye. here are the numbers -- nose

dive. plunging 30 be points since 2009, 30 points with 46% of americans now saying their opinion of him is favorable, and another fox news poll, look at this, shows 71% of americans feel the federal government is broken. 21% say it's working just okay, 6% consider the goth to be functioning -- the government to be functioning pretty well. elise vivek is a writer for "the hill." all right, a 30-point plunge in his own numbers, the government broken, 71%, he's head of the government. these are ugly numbers. could that ugliness be reflected in the questions posed to the president today at 2:00 eastern? >> i believe they will, because these year-end press conferences often reflect wider concerns about what's happened over the last 12 months. and certainly what's on everyone's mind is the fact that president obama is in a much weaker position than he was certainly at the beginning of the first term, but also at the

beginning of the second term which it's hard to believe that was just in january, but it's true. of course, everyone is think about obamacare given the news about the catastrophic plans today, but i think there will also be questions about the economy and how it's getting better. certainly, democrats on capitol hill see those pieces of news as a boon to them given automatic other problems they're -- all the other problems they're facing. gregg: yeah. you've got to think obamacare is front and center. he made so many different promises. our own fox news poll found that a majority of americans think that he deliberately and knowingly lied when he promised you can keep your plan, then there was you can keep your doctor, you keep your hospital, your premium's going to go down, all of it, a lot of the evidence indicates is simply untrue. and look at his numbers, let's put another poll up here. bill clinton was impeached over a sex scandal and allegedly lied about it, yet people have a 24% more favorable rating of clinton

than obama, even george bush does better at 50%. president obama has a 52 percent unfavorable rating. what does that portend for the remainder of his presidency, is he already a lame duck in the first year of his second term? >> i think some have speculated that he is, but i think it'll ultimately be determined by next year's midterm elections and whether senate republicans can ultimately grab a few more seats and then potentially take control of that chamber which would result in a divided government and even more pressure on president obama from the right which would hamper his ability to carry out his agenda items. so i think it remains to be seen. next year's elections will, of course, be crucial, and democrats are looking at a generic ballot that pits them evenly with republicans for the first time in a long time. so i think they're looking for issues that they can pivot to the center on and help grab back some of those independent and young people who have been disappointed in the president and in this administration.

gregg: yeah. that's got to scare democrats and the dnc. you know, he's losing a lot of senate democrats over obamacare who are really rebelling over this whole thing. it could get uglier. thank you very much, elise viebeck. good to see you. of. >> thank you, gregg. jenna: another fox news alert on target, target is now apologizing as customer or anger and frustration grow by the minute after hackers stole data from about 40 million credit and debit card accounts. garrett tenny joins us live in chicago. what's happening now? >> reporter: well, jenna, there's a whole lot of unhappy customers that are out there right now after having their personal information stolen, they are now complaining that they aren't getting any help from target. on the company's tastebook page -- facebook page, customers are complaining of waiting on the phone for an hour or more, only then to have their calls dropped. the store's web page for affected customers, it isn't much better as it's been flooded

with requests. on its facebook page one customer says: are you kidding me? after 48 minutes on hold with target suddenly a busy signal, and my call was dropped. are you kidding? this is completely unacceptable. for its part, target says it is working to resolve those issues by adding staff to the call centers and increasing system capacity, but for many of the customers who have already had their accounts compromised, they say it's a little bit too late from the retailer. this one, he writes: well, that explains the e-mail about $900 being spent on my card in russia. target was my go-to store on a weekly basis. that's pretty ridiculous. jenna: those stories match what we've heard around the newsroom from folks shopping at target and having some issues. is target to blame for any of this? did they not protect their customers enough? >> reporter: well, it's still early on in the investigation to

be able to know just exactly how much target is to blame for this, but that is what four state attorneys general want to find out, massachusetts, new york, connecticut and south dakota, they are now demanding answers from target. what they want to find out is when did the company find out about the breach, and did it then take appropriate steps to protect consumer information? were there proper safeguards in place to prevent the breach, and what steps are being taken to address the breach and the millions of consumers affected by it? if the group finds target fell short, they could impose hefty fines on the retailer, and with so many shoppers affected, there's also a growing threat of class action lawsuits against the company. there's already one that's been filed in california so far that we know of. jenna: yeah. we talked a little bit about that last hour. it'll be interesting to see where the story goes from hemo. garrett, thank you very much. gregg: as we await president obama's year-end news conference coming up at 2 p.m. eastern time, new concerns about

chronically high unemployment among a group that was key to the re-election of president obama. a live report coming up next. and with just days to go until the obamacare enrollment deadline, the administration announcing another 11th hour fix for the botched rollout. how insurance companies are reacting to that, just ahead. ♪ there are. ♪ ♪ [ fishing rod casting line, marching band playing ] [ male announcer ] the rhythm of life. [ whistle blowing ] where do you hear that beat? campbell's healthy request soup lets you hear it in your heart. [ basketball bouncing ] heart healthy. [ m'm... ] great taste. [ tapping ] sounds good.

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jenna: well, "happening now," more tha9 90% of african-americans voted to reelect the president despite high unemployment. carl cameron is live in washington with more on in this story and how african-americans are doing in this economy. carl, jenna. well, overall the economy has had some pretty good news this week, but in the aggregate over

the course of the last five-plus years, african-americans have been behind the curve and not fared as well. take a look at in this. over the course of the last five years when president obama took office in early 2009, there has been a drop in the unemployment rate, but it has been far smaller for african-americans than for latinos and certainly for whites. overall, the black unemployment rate is still at 12.5%, that's only a two-tenths drop over the last five years whereas whites and latinos have dropped significantly more, and it's still more than double what the white unemployment is. the republicans have been complaining about -- democrats, excuse me, have been complaining about this, african-americans, minorities have been trying to put pressure on the obama administration and have even suggested over the course of the last couple of years in the form of the urban league, the naacp and a number of others have actually been having meetings to try to help the president develop a, quote, black agenda. lots of criticism over the last couple years, and they still tend to lag.

jenna: so there's a few sides to the story, the economic side and the political side. what are african-american leaders doing about it? >> reporter: well, from the very beginning there was criticism back in the '08 campaign, even some african-americans were trying to pressure president obama in being more aggressive in talking about race. there was serious criticism that his cabinet was just too white, and then you had earlier this year ben jealous, the former president of the naacp, who stepped down and said, in effect, that the african-american community is about back to where it was before president obama got elected and said that while whites are doing fairly well, blacks have actually dropped a point. and he was specifically referring to the idea that poverty has gone up and the median income for blacks has gone down during the obama administration. jenna: carl cameron live in d.c., thank you. gregg: big changes to obamacare, the white house announcing new rules that could impact millions of americans. we're going to take a closer look at what that may mean for

you. and we're awaiting a year-end news conference from president obama. he's sure to take a whole lot of questions on this 11th hour change just hours before he leaves for beautiful hawaii. and the christmas video card that went viral. we're going to talk to one of the stars and co-creators of this masterpiece. ♪ ♪ wearing christmas jammies. ♪ now for lola, 2013 was suppose to be the best.

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jenna: well, right now we're awaiting a news conference from the president just hours after some major changes to the health care law were announced ahead of monday's enrollment deadline, making another change to the

rules: the president is sure to get a lot of questions on that. they allow some people to buy so-called catastrophic plans if they recently lost their policies. so they don't get fined for not having coverage in the new year. you know, what does this mean for not only consumers, but for the insurance companies as well? let's bring in a spokesman for america's health insurance plans. it's nice to have you, robert. what is your reaction to this change? >> well, first off, thanks for having me on. of you know, continually changing the rules at this stage in the process is creating a tremendous amount of confusion for consumers and also uncertainty for businesses that are trying to implement this law or trying to help people get health care coverage that they need and get into the new marketplaces. jenna: the health and human services department had this to say, joanne peters:

jenna: "the wall street journal" quotee administration is saying only 500,000 people will be affected by this law change. is that how you see it? >> well, i don't think we know yet how many people will be affected and, ultimately, what consumers are going to decide as a result of this change. but let's keep in mind the spire success of e -- the entire success of health reform depends on having broad participation in these new marketplaces, particularly among those who are younger and healthier that are needed to balance out costs of those who are older and have high health care costs and increasingly allowing people to buy policies outside of the market or opt out altogether undermines the fundamental structure of the law, undermines what is needed to insure we have a stable marketplace and prevent premiums from going through the roof next year. jenna: when you say undermine the law, what happens to the insurance market if several hundred thousand people or several million -- we don't have the number -- opt for a catastrophic plan rather than a full coverage plan? >> well, i think what's

important to understand, and i know this is actuarial speak, but the pool of people who are covered in the catastrophic policies are separate from those in the broader marketplace. so for people who are going into the exchanges and buying coverage, they're all pooled together. if you take out young and healthy people, that's going to mean everybody in the marketplace is going to see their premiums increase and creates tremendous amount of instability in that marketplace. if they buy a catastrophic policy or decide to opt out entirely. and i think what's important to keep in mind is that health plans set their premium rates months ago based on an assumption about when people were going to to be coming intoe market, who was going to be able to buy catastrophic policies, who was going to buy coverage in the marketplace. changing these rules at this change completely throws those systemses out the window. jenna: your organization is saying to consumers if they don't get their premium payment in, they have until the 10th, and they'll still have coverage. how concerned are you that this is just plain too confusing from

the government side, from the insurance side for consumers to actually do this and do it correctly? >> well, that's a great question, and let's explain why we made the decision that we did this week. we said this week was that, you know, consumers have until january 10th to pay their premium and have coverage start on january 1st, and the reason we did that is because of the various deadlines of when people had to pay. we were hearing from consumers that they were confused about what the rules were, and we came out as an industry saying we want to make sure consumers have peace of mind, have less confusion in the marketplace and know that they have until the 10th of january to get their premium in. we did it to try to help alleviate confusion for consumers in the midst of all these changes that keep happening. jenna: robert, it's great to have you on the program, hope to have you back especially in the new year. >> absolutely. always happy to. jenna: elizabeth carpenter's joining us, senior manager for avelier health, we're going to talk more on this policy wise because there's a big question about what this actually means

for the law overall. elizabeth, what's your take on it? >> i mean, i guess my original take is that there's no question that we've had some bumps in the road over the past couple of months, and that this is one more step to try to smooth the transition. but the reality is that no policy change is going to make this law work for 100% of americans on january 1st. and the bigger question is over time how does the dust settle? you know, the reforms and the new rules and regulations going into effect on january 1st represent a big shift, and disruption was expected. but the question is over time do these new rules and changes actually create the incentives in the marketplace that proponents of the law had hoped would occur? and does the market start to work better for consumers over time, and that will be the long-term question of some of these -- jenna: well, that is the question, and one of the questions is just simply about

numbers. the administration had hoped to have three and a half million people enrolled by the end of the year, seven million by the spring. and from the readings that we have, we're not close to that right now. so can the hype nettics that elizabeth's laying out, will this eventually start working in is that even a possibility to see if there's simply not enough people enrolled? >> yeah. so elizabeth used the phrase smoother transition which is what hhs secretary kathleen sebelius said yesterday in explaining this rule change. but the reality is that there's going to be a massive disruption in the market for individually-purchased insurance as a result of this change. i wrote about it for "forbes" today describe canning it as utter chaos which is what it will do because as many as six million people will now be exempted from the individual mandate, people who had previous coverage, and the administration now agrees the new coverage is going to be, quote, unaffordable, unquote, and that's why they're going to be exempted. it's going to be a hardship exemption. but the thing is the uninsured

who also can't afford these new high premiums are not going to be exempted. so it strikes me as odd that people with previous coverage are going to be exempted from the individual mandate, but people who were uninsured before will not be exempted. jenna: and what do you make of that, elizabeth, because we expect the president is going to have to tackle that in some way in the press conference at 2 p.m. how do you explain that? >> i can't disagree with what he said, and i also can't explain what the president may or haunt say this afternoon. what i can say is that there's no question there is going to be some confusion and disruption, but we have to kind of take a step back -- jenna: what's your timeline on that, elizabeth? when you talk about disruption, and we have heard that from all sides, quite frankly. we seem to be asking, well, when? now we're almost at the end of the year. so when do the disruptions stop? are we talking about several years down the line? how patient do we have to be? >> no, i don't think it's going to be several years down the line, but there's no question

that january and february are going to have some bumps in the road, and it'll be interesting to kind of go back to the enrollment point how enrollment does pick up. when medicare part d started, two-thirds of tokes who signed up voluntarily did so after january 1st. so we're certainly behind where we were with part d, but should a similar pattern kind of come forth, we will see an uptick in enroll. , and when we get everyone in the system, hopefully some of these bumps in the road will smooth out. jenna: we have of seen that in certain states like california and new york, they're reporting that there are more people coming into the exchanges now, and some suggest once everybody gets past the holidays and actually focus on what's going on in 2014, we are going to see the people come. do you expect that? >> yeah. i think the pace of enrollment will increase, that's typically what we see, but the real issue is not the number of people who enroll, it's the mix of people. is it older versus younger people, healthy people versus sick people, and all the

indications we have today is it's mostly sicker and older people who are enrolling in the exchangeses which means the plans will be a lot more expensive in the following year and the insurance companies may lose money on the plans they offer in these exchanges. jenna: if they don't get the enrollment, then they're owed subsidies as well which launches another conversation completely. elizabeth, great to have you. thank you very much. >> sure thing. gregg: and as we await president obama's year-end news conference at about 2 p.m. eastern time, there are mounting concerns about a lack of media access to the chief executive. media buzz host howard kurtz weighs in coming up next. and saving wild horses never looked so good. the animal sanctuary that's getting a glitzy makeover all to attract big dollar tourists. ♪ ♪ across america people are taking charge

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♪ ♪ gregg: president obama suddenly scheduling his year-end news conference today in about 90 minutes from now, and it comes amid questions, persistent questions about media access to the president. these complaints from the media running counter, of course, to mr. obama's campaign promise over and over again to lead the

most open and transparent administration in history. how'd kurtz joins us, he recently reported on the white house press corps' lack of access. he joins us live. howard, committee to protect journalists called the obama presidency the most closed, secretive and media-hostile white house since nixon which is saying something -- [laughter] and david sanger, of course, chief washington correspondent for "the new york times" said this is the most closed, control freak administration i've ever covered. do they have it about right? >> well, i know that some of this sounds like media whining, gregg, but the access that we journalists get to the president is important because we're the ones who ask questions on behalf of the public. give you a quick example the other day the president was with radio and tv personality steve harvey, they went around through the white house tours and chatted people up, a nice light segment. but a few weeks back when the white house tours came back after being shut down by budget cuts, the press had to ask

access to the president and first lady greeting them, the white house said, no. there are more and more instances now where official government photographers are the only ones allowed access to certain events, and photojournalists are just shut off the process. gregg: the press has been allowed to photograph the president in his entire presidency twice in the oval office, once in 2009, once in 2010 which just pales with his predecessors. and instead they limit access, and they produce their own sort of sanitized version of the president in his daily activities and what he's doing. doesn't that smack of the stuff, the propaganda the kremlin issues? >> i don't know that i'd use that analogy. i don't have any problem with the white house in the age of twitter and instagram producing its own version of reality, but i do have a problem when journalists are shut out.

and the irony here, gregg, of these photojournalists is they're not trying to make the president look bad, they're just trying to get real, sort of candid photos. if it's a national security meeting, i understand that, but when president obama went to the mandela memorial service with hillary clinton, george w. bush, the only pictures we saw were, again, from these government photographers. another point of contention here, gregg, has to do with the white house argues, with some justification, that president obama has done three to four times as many interviews as either george bush or bill clinton, but look, a lot of them are with jay leno or espn on "the view." where the president has changed his approach are at these photo ops where you've seen he's with a foreign leader, everybody gets to come in and take pictures of the first couple of minutes, or he's meeting with his cabinet. that's an area where under george bush, for example, in the first term 354 times president bush allowed reporters to ask one or two questions before they

were escorted out. under president obama in his first term, 107 times. and those were important because they're often news of the day questions. gregg: yeah. howard kurtz, good to see you. thank you very much. and you can catch howard, of course, this weekend covering the coverage of this week's top stories, mt. media buzz" airs sunday 11 a.m. eastern and again at 5 p.m. right here on the fox news channel. thanks, howard. >> thanks, gregg. jenna: "happening now," a sanctuary saving hundreds of horses, also a resort soon to open to tourists as well high up in the mountains of nevada. it looks like an old west town. it's in the middle of nowhere, but it's far from rugged. alicia acuna is live in denver with more. >> reporter: yes. madeleine pickens worked for years to close horse slaughterhouses. now she's giving wild mustangs a safe lace to live, and tour -- place to live and tourists a different place to visit. it's like the old west with a

bit of luxury. >> every morning we come out and feed the horses, and i tell you, it's -- there's nothing like it. >> reporter: a 900-square-mile sanctuary housing more than 600 wild horses rescued by madeleine pickens, head of nonprofit group save america's mustangs. >> these are federal horses. they belong to the people. >> reporter: her passion for saving horses developed into a plan to sustain them and an eco-resort to was born. >> there's no other place on earth that allows you to interact with them, to ride one, to watch one run in the wild. >> reporter: the 600,000-acre ranch is fully sustainable, grows its own hay and uses solar power. >> this land has been put in this foundation for the horses forever so it can never be taken away from them, and there'll always be a tremendous sanctuary for these horses. >> reporter: and starting in june, it will also be a sanctuary for people. guests will get tepees with

24-hour butler services, fully-stocked bars, overnight stays start at $1400 a night. less expense f day trips will also be available. >> great hikes to amazing lookouts, you have horseback riding, cattle drives, paintball activities, things that really bring you back to the old west. >> reporter: there have been some issues with the bureau of land management which oversees some of the public lands where the horses graze, the blm says it is evaluating any environmental impacts. jenna? jenna: looks pretty cool. going to have to check it out. alicia, thank you. gregg: i don't think paint bawl, though, takes you back to the old west. [laughter] jenna: good point. still some changes, editing, if you will. creative editing. gregg: we are counting down to a year-end news conference, president obama is going to be taking questions at the white house following a bombshell announcement about big changes to obamacare. and you've probably seen it by

now, the family that rapped a christmas card video, and it went viral. we're going to talk to one of the stars next. >> this is the hq cafeteria. >> i'm carb loading for our show. i'm going to need energy. >> hey, what do you have? >> karl rove to talk about what's happening with the obamacare deadline, also how safe is our country's nuclear arsenal? wait until you hear what one in thive journalist has to say. >> also big press conference coming up, karl rove will tee that up. >> i did. did i steal your thunder? >> i don't know. again. top of the hour. .. you know, check my policy here, add a car, ah speak to customer service, check on a claim...you know, all with the ah, tap of my geico app. oh, that's so cool. well, i would disagree with you but, ah, that would make me a liar. no dude, you're on the jumbotron!

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♪ jenna: well, "happening now," a north carolina family giving christmas rapping a whole new meaning with a christmas card video featuring everyone in matching festive pajamas. the video going viral in a very big way. take a look. ♪ rolling in the car going 25 and pushing the stroller up

norfolk drive. ♪ these are christmas jammies, look at my christmas jammies. ♪ there's room for child number three, but again i just had a vasectomy. ♪ recover's much easier in these christmas jammies. jenna: you really learn a lot about this family. the matriarch and maybe my personal hero, by the way, this year is kim, and she joins us now. kim, did you ever expect this type of response? millions of hits to your christmas -- >> no! [laughter] no, we are not that interesting. we are not that interesting. i mean, i knew my mom would like it and maybe my dad -- [laughter] and, you know, so we shared it with grandparents and friends and family, and they started sharing it on facebook. it was really fun to see the positive response, for sure. but this is insane. [laughter] jenna: so you put this -- how did it all happen? i saw that you actually did a music video last year, this is

sort of the thing for your family. >> right. jenna: how did it go to youtube sensation? >> this is what happened. my cousin is a great professional photographer in there'll and the only photographer that can take family pick hurs. i didn't want have her around last year, and i was trying to take my own pictures, and i was terrible. and i have a video production company, so i said why don't we make a video instead. so my husband's very creative, he wrote a song last year, and we sent it out, again, to friends and family, and they loved it. so we thought, hey, let's do it again this year, and let's just -- we do not take ourselves that seriously, so let's just put it all out there. [laughter] let's get in our christmas jammies and drive around raleigh and try to get people to dance with us and see what happens. and it was so much fun to put together. and it's been so much fun watching all of this happen. jenna: we're watching the video

now, i think we're at the part where it's talking about your little boy who's so cute in his hip-hop class. like i said, you learn a lot about the family. i think a burning question, kim, is how did you get the kids to participate in this way? it's hard enough to get a family for a photo, how did you do it for a video? >> well, here's my thing, a video -- you just hit record and watch what happens whereas a photo, to me, you have to have real skill and talent to capture a child the in a photo, i think. you need a professional for that, or at least i do. [laughter] and so we just, we just hit record, and are you kidding me? we told them they could leave the house in their pajamas. they loved it. after that laugh let's face it, if it were socially acceptable, i would be in my pajamas right now. jenna: we too, it's remarkable. >> right? jenna: a final question, it was a shameless plug this your video, but you actually have a

production company, and your husband's joining you, and you're going to put together videos like this for who? >> for, well, we've -- it's interesting. we have been, we are a working production company and have been, and we work with bloggers and brands and companies, and our goal has always been just to produce videos that are very fun and outside the box and, of course, the shameless plug at the end of the video has now solicited some really interesting offers. so stay tuned. jenna: visit the green room.com, it's not a shameless plug, because i'm doing it as well. a great video, and it certainly put a smile on our face, and our next segment is going to be about laughter being the best many medicine, so this all ties together. merry christmas to you and your family, thank you for the time. >> merry christmas. thank you so much, jenna. jenna: we'll be right back with more "happening now." ♪ and the neighbors walk by and this is what they say -- >> those christmas jammies? >> they are christmas jammies.

♪ check it out, we just bought a prius, and it matches these perfectly. ♪ wearing christmas jammies farmer: hello, i'm an idaho potato farmer. and our giant idaho potato truck is still missing. so my dog and i we're going to go find it. it's out there somewhere spreading the good word about idaho potatoes and raising money for meals on wheels. ... ... ... ... ... would you? thanks. what? to book this fabulous tel. michael, tell us why you used priceline express deal wellou can see if a hotel is pet-friendly before y book it and i got great deal without bidding. and where's yoururry friend? i don't ha a cat. save up to 5 during priceline's holidahotel sale. use promo code"holiday" for amazing savings

on express deal hotels. now this sale won't last forever so dash on over to priceline.com. express deals. priceline savings without the bidding. it's hard to describe, because you have a numbness, but yet you have the pain like thousands of needles sticking in your foot. it was progressively getting worse, and at that point i knew i had to do something. once i started taking the lyrica the pain started subsiding. [ male announcer ] it's known that diabetes damages nerves. lyrica is fda approved to treat diabetic nerve pain. lyrica is not for everyone. it may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior. or swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, changes in eyesight including blurry vision, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling,

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gregg: well, just in time for the holis there's a new study from a british medical journal suggesting that laughter can be harmful to your health. we're not kidding here. researchers say laughing can dislocate, for example, your jaw, it could even prompt asthma attacks, headaches and a whole lot more. dr. david su matty is a member of the fox news medical a-team, he's our scrooge for the day today on laughter. he's also chair of urology at lennox hill hospital. professor of requirology at hofstra lij school of medicine.

bah humbug. [laughter] you're not really going to throw cold water on laughter, are you? >> no, look, i think laughter still remains the best medicine out there, especially at this time of the year. the idea behind this research was that the emotional aspect we know that laughter slows down anger, depression, so the emotional aspect works really well. and be i will tell you, in fact, when people are depressed, if you smile, the facial nerves send a signal to the brain, and it makes it feel better. this study is talking about the physical aspect. if you have a vigorous, robust laugh, then it can rupture things. what laughter does really, gregg, it increases the pressure in the abdomen. so if you have a minor hernia, by laughing so hard, you can cause hearnuation, and that's not so good. you can cause emphysema or asthma because you're pushing your muscle, and then you get

short of -- gregg: i've actually laughed so hard that i can't catch my breath. usually i'm laughing at my daughters and doing their funny things because thai very funny, but a, you know, i can't catch my breath. >> yeah. so that's what we're talking about. you've got to be careful because the you continue to do that, there are times you can actually pass out. so we don't want people to have that. but yet i would say to tell you that laughter remains still a very healthy thing. it's great for you, we want people to smile, to laugh. it's a great medicine. gregg: right. >> not to a point where you're going to really hurt yourself and cause all these, you know -- gregg: yeah. >> mechanical -- gregg: but it lifts the spirits, doesn't it? >> 100 president. gregg: it just makes you feel -- >> christmas and new year, we've come a long way this year, went through a lot, so we all need to laugh together. gregg: great advice. >> that's pri prescription. -- my prescription. gregg: doctor, so good to see

you. of we're going to have a laugh at your expense during the commercial break. jenna? jenna: a little more than ab hour until a white house news conference, the last one from the president this year. the president is set to take questions before he leaves for hawaii on on the heels of the announcement of major changes to his signature health care law. we'll get into that coming over the next hour. plus, the half court shot that kids from one school will never forget. what one boy that did that moved many of them to tears. (announcer) at scottrade, our clients trade and invest exactly how they want. with scottrade's online banking, i get one view of my bank and brokerage accounts with one login... to easily move my money when i need to. plus, when i call my local scottrade office, i can talk to someone who knows how i trade. because i don't trade like everybody. i trade like me. i'm with scottrade. (announcer) scottrade-proud to be ranked "best overall client experience."

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>> >> time is running out to get your christmas present. >> that is an annual dilemma. and what would you do to the unwanted presents. most people think it is fine to regift anything. 50 percent say it is always okay to regift and 58 percent say sometimes and 25 percent never.

>> what do you say? >> for certain items. a bottle of wine, i am okay with that but nothing too personal, right? >> my mother would regift the same birthday present to me. it was a plastic plate and cup of batman and robin and all the way until my 20s and 30s, i would get the same birthday gift. it was great. >> and it was col. >> we want to take you to something else that is col, a basketball court in a florida high school where one boy, made a different. cameron is autistic.

he made it and kids were crying and teachers were crying and everybody was overwhelmed. >> and that is great. the principal said the shot helped to raise awareness to the schools special athletes. >> we hope you have a wonderful weekend. thanks for joining us and american news headquarters. >> and president obama will hold a new's conference one hour from now as the administration comes under fire for a major last-minute change for obama care. welcome to hq. i am alisyn camerota. >> and i am bill hemmer. it could affect the bottom line for millions of americans. ed henry leads our coverage. first on the change, ed. what does it mean?