three eastern. we have great top i cans. don't be afraid to open your four owe one or r statements. it will be one of the best year's all time. >> we'll look at that. "happening now" begins right now. harris: breaking news on headlines and brand new stories you will see here first. leland: twitter taking wall street by storm. why the social media stock soared so much since last month. nobody likes the dmv but is this really necessary? what the thieves were after at the dmv. not sure there is anything there i would want to steal. a new study revealing the most common types of surgery in this country may not actually be necessary. what you need to know and what you need to ask your doctor. it is all "happening now." leland: so even before we ring

in 2014 the possible presidential contenders are already jockeying for position in what will be a very long horse race in 2016. and a new poll is showing us who is on top, who has work to do. for that matter who nobody is talking about except for perhaps you and i for the next two hours. thanks for joining us. i'm leland vittert in for jon scott. harris: i'm harris faulkner in for my friend jenna lee. glad to have you along. president obama is barely a year into his second term but for a "fox news poll" we'll look at very early front-runners who could replace him of keep in mind nobody publicly said they were will run for the white house. for the gop a large possible field of candidates. among them holding a slim lead are new jersey governor chris christie. these are numbers are close followed by former florida governor jeb bush and texas senator ted cruz and congressman paul ryan who ran for

vice president last time. for the democrats, the field is not so competitive. former secretary of state hillary clinton with a whopping 68%. vice president joe biden finish ad very distant second. almost a fraction of that number b followed by massachusetts senator elizabeth warren and new york governor andrew cuomo. for more let's bring in the executive editor for the washington examiner. good to see you this morning, mark. >> good happy, almost new year's. harris: right. just a few days. it is tighter among the republicans. why? >> because there are so many possibilities. the republicans really have the treasure chest of possible candidates ways they can go. i think if i were a republican campaign manager i probably would be feeling like, you know, the world is my top because i have so many choices out there. harris: what are the potential candidates doing that is already getting voters attention? this survey when you look at those numbers, they already have pretty strong idea about how

they feel. >> well you know we have such an intensive media culture now with the internet and everythings, that i think the public understanding of where candidates are coming from develops and advanced much more quickly than it did even 10 years ago. and think because of that i guaranty you there is tendency to dismiss early polls because it is so far out but the people who will be making decisions about where these campaigns go are looking at them very closely now because they are baseline polls and they tell them, for example, who are we going to have to make decisions about how we are going to attack them? how will we go after particular voter segments. that analysis is beginning now with this kind of poll, this early poll. harris: do you think any of these candidates or potential candidates are popular enough to help out their fellow republicans win in 2014 midterms? i have even heard democrats say there is chance they could lose

the house. do see any potential candidates standing next to members of congress? >> you know, the one thing it is too early to say right now is, who is going to be able to help who because the odds are very good that things will be so jumbled over and over again in coming months that is probably one of the questions that it is premature. on the democratic side, i think with hillary clinton, she has two glass jaws. the first one being the fact she is the grand mother of obamacare and she is going to be running in the worst possible year to be running as the grandmother of obama kiar. and benghazi of she will discover next year what the difference is that is made by what happened there. harris: we'll stay on the democrats since you've got enus there and monster lead that hillary clinton has in the poll. is it like pro ball where you can have a lead that is just too early? you peak too early? >> well, politics and pro football are very, very much

alike in the sense you never know until all of the votes or all of the scores are counted who is going to actually win it but the one thing that you can say about hillary clinton is that she has very high negatives. she always had very high negatives and she has got these problems that are very difficult to overcome. such as, being the grandmother of obamacare. and we saw in 2008 just how vulnerable she is with the fact that barack obama came from nowhere and beat her. harris: you talk about obamacare and of course, you know the nation will remember she and her husband, former president bill clinton, you know, had that something they wanted to get done. they didn't call it that. they called it a different name. >> hillarycare. harris:, yes yes, hillarycare. whether this will be fodder for republicans to play with going forward but right now affecting

everybody else. doctors are saying insurance companies may be forced to pay them less money for their services so they can keep the costs of new plans under obamacare down. if the doctors don't earn what they want from the insurance companies what can happen? >> the great achilles' heel of obamacare, medicaid and indeed any government-run health care system is precisely this area where somebody, and with the government, it will be a bureaucrat, has to make a decision who gets paid and how much. and doctors, we talk with doctors all over the country as part of our recent investigative survey how many doctors are dropping out or refusing to participate in it, doctors all over the country, they are saying, we can't afford to participate in these programs. and that's going to be a big, big problem for millions of people next year. harris: you know, also today, report that is even as president obama's health care insurance website, it is limping along back to recovery. it was overloaded and had

problems this week but they say it is doing better, the same contractor who set up that huge website, mark, set up others in state-run website instances. now those states are having difficulties. in at least two states they're saying you know what, we'll not pay for this mess until you guys fix it. >> the washington examiner, our richard pollack reported on cgi, that is the company we're talking about, reported on their tremendously bad record of performance as a government contractor. about two months ago and, you look at what they did before they got this contract and all the mistakes they made and all the contracts that they had canceled because they couldn't perform them. , one of the great mysteries why did cgi get the main contract to build healthcare.gov? we still don't know the answer to that question. harris: what massachusetts and vermont are talking about doing you're alluding to is not paying the bills of cgi invoices coming

in until they fix the problems because they really need to recoup some of the tax dollars people put into those websites. >> also complicating that particular situation is of course the low number of people enrolling at this point. there is no way to know whether the system is going to be financially self-sustaining. the odds are it is not going to be. that forces government officials now to start thinking where will we find the money to pay for this stuff? the contractor is one of the first places they look. harris: just to bring it back full circle to the politics of all of this, when you talk about these types of problems, people say there were probably unintended consequences for some things that went rolling along in obamacare. did the white house, did the administration for see any of these problems? you wonder if people will hold them accountable regardless? >> you know, harris, if you look in the dictionary of definition of government program, right beside the definition is the phrase, unintended consequences. they're always there. they're always much worse than

anybody thinks. >> oh my. >> they're always much worse than politicians who promise they won't be there. harris: they sometimes cost people their jobs. >> absolutely. harris: mark, thank you so much. happy holidays to you. >> you too, harris. leland: for some reason there doesn't seem to be a lot coming out of washington folks are happy about on both side of the aisle and that includes the bipartisan budget compromise signed by president obama yesterday which dips far into the pockets of american heroes to keep the government open. a growing number about of lawmakers and veterans groups are trying to stop the cuts they say are unfairly targeting medical tear rye retiree benefits. steve centanni is in washington this morning. steve, what is exactly happening in the battle to restore the cuts to these veteran benefits? >> reporter: leland, there is that intense lobbying effort by veterans groups underway and there are bills being introduced on capitol hill to repeal that

provision of the bipartisan budget deal. president obama signed the budget agreement just yesterday in hawaii. among other thing it calls for a cut in the cost of living increase for military retirees under the age of 62. this has cause ad huge uproar from veterans groups and some members of congress. the president of military officers association of america says the america sure comes at a terrible price for our existing force and retirees. the 1% annual deduction to uniformed service retired pay cost of living adjustment could have disasterous unintended consequences and does not represent good faith to our men and women in uniform. some house members on both side of the aisle are proposing legislation to overturn the cut. representative julia browning of california said in a statement, as a member of the house veterans affairs committee, i believe our servicemembers, veterans and their families must receive the benefits they have earned and deserve. these benefits are owed to them

without equivocation. gop congressman ted poe of texas is introducing a very similar bill. leland? leland: steve, it seems what is a growing trend, this issue pitted prominent republicans against each other, right? >> reporter: in this case it has. senator john mccain and lindsey graham are on opposite sides of the fence on this very issue. mccain a veteran himself supported the bill in order to get some kind of a budget deal passed while lindsey graham opposed bipartisan agreement because of this very issue, because of cuts and increases in veterans retirement benefits. that battle bound to continue when congress returns next year. leland. leland: lots of battles ahead. steve centanni keeping an eye for us in washington of the thanks, steve. >> reporter: you bet. harris: there are new concerns about airport security after a fan was caught running on the tarmac of the phoenix airport on christmas day. we saw this happening. we know he wasn't the only one.

similar incidents happened across the country in different areas. we'll tell you about them. driving through the dmv. remember leland said there was nothing he wanted to steal from the dmv. apparently others don't agree. what fast-moving thieves were after. stay close. [ male announcer ] at progresso, we lieve the second chapter of your life should be just as bold as the first. try the new bold flavors of heart healthy so from progresso. of heart healthy so wout of landfills each year? plastic waste to cover mt. rainier by using one less trash bag each month, we can. and glad forceflex bags stretch until they're full.* so you can take them out less often.

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harris: breaking news now. a former lebanese ambassador to the united states has been killed along with several others in a massive car bombing in beirut. it also left dozens of people hurt. it is the latest in a wave of violence over the past few months. fallout from the civil war in neighboring syria and it has been going on now for 33 months. we lose track but we're following the story today. conor powell is live for us in jerusalem. conor? >> reporter: harris, the target of today's attack appears to be convoy of mohammed chatah, and pro-western, anti-hezbollah politician in lebanon. this was a gigantic blast.

it blew out windows for several city blocks and also destroyed several dozen cars in the area, more than 70 people injured and five people were killed. chatah was the important advisor to the hariri family one of the most important dynasties in lebanon. the former prime minister, rafik hariri was assassinated in 2005. it comes as week before trial of five hezbollah fighters accused of killing hariri in 2005. he told fox news investigative tribunal was needed to rein in militant groups in lebanon. >> we believe the tribunal is necessary to put an end to the series of political assassinations which have not only killed leaders of this country but basically sent a bad message to the lebanese that you better shut up and not exercise your democracy. >> reporter: now as you can see political assassinations continue in lebanon.

today's attack appears to have been a very professional attack the type of hezbollah is accused of carrying out in the past. chatah has been outspoken critic of hezbollah and also syria's bashir assad and al qaeda. in fact he was on his way to an anti-syria meeting when he was assassinated today. and it is easy, harris, to point the finger at hezbollah but given all the recent violence in lebanon in recent weeks and months it is difficult to say for certain they were behind this attack but certainly they have the motivation but really lebanon is a real mess right now and it is getting worse, harris. harris: we have a lot of americans in that part of the world too. that is something we'll be talking about a little later in this newscast. conor, thank you. leland: since 9/11 america has spent untold billions on airport and airline security but despite the money it appears there are still some major gaps evidenced by two recent security breaches. in knew york, new jersey, a man,

wearing a dress jump ad security fence and ran around the tarmac. he made it all the way into the terminal before he was arrested. in phoenix, here video of the man, video taken just after he jumped fence, ran ton to a taxiaway. airport security arrived as you can see but not in time to keep him from punch airplane. we don't think the plane was hurt. he was arrested. alicia acuna from the denver bureau. alicia, what more are people say about the incident in phoenix? >> reporter: hi, leland. authorities are saying this suspect got up to the engine and macked it -- smacked it with his hand. authorities say 49-year-old robert bump started walking toward one of the terminals at sky harbor international airport before cops caught up to him. before he made it that far he had to scale a nine-foot bense with barbed wire. sky harbor spent $10 million to

upgrade security after a 2005 breach so there are big concerns about this new incident. >> a person who tries to do something like that is in grave danger and he is very lucky to be alive today. >> reporter: police say bump approached a southwest airlines plane and this photo was taken by a passenger on that flight. police say bump showed signs of being impaired by drugs or alcohol. >> worries me that someone can jump a barb wire fence and go to an airplane without security catching him first. >> reporter: bump was charged with trespassing and sky harbor is reviewing its security now, leland. leland: you certainly think they will if a guy in that kind of shape, looked like that could get through their security. imagine who else could. that is not only place it happened last couple days, right, alicia? >> reporter: right. you mentioned also on christmas day a 24-year-old man wearing a dress was found at the airport on the tarmac, near the tarmac at newark liberty international airport. now port authority says that the

suspect had to jump two fences and cross two runways to arrive at the location where he was finally arrested. what frightens travelers the security system detected breach on wednesday but it wasn't noticed until thursday. >> i'm always flying back and forth. i live in nashville and my family is here. i'm always going back and forth. everyone needs to be staying safe. that is a pretty scary thing to hear. >> reporter: now, that suspect was charged with misdemeanor trespassing and then he was released. leland. leland: unbelievable that people can get into america's airports so easily. alicia acuna live in denver. thanks, alicia. >> reporter: sure. harris: all right. so this is obviously a story that the whole nation has been watching. the nsa and what would be said about all that huge data grabbing that the government has been doing among all our phones and internet. in the matter of aclu versus james clapper, a case in new york's southern district we

know that the nsa data collection is lawful per this matter. the federal government asked the court to dismiss the case and the judge agreed. he did not issue a preliminary injunction as the aclu requested. as we learn more about this, my big question would be, i know we have a legal panel coming up later this hour, what does this mean as we feather across the country? will each state take this up now or how will this work? nsa metadata collection, that is the collection they did, who are we talking to on our cell phones. according to this new york federal judge, that collection is lawful. we'll keep you posted on developments. we'll talk about later this hour. stay with us. hey, we got our cards, honey! great.

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harris: right now if you are

active on social media you know how quickly something can go viral like with twitter, but what's hot right now is actually not a tweet but the website itself the company's stock has been very successful since its initial public offering or ipo last month. although it dropped a little bit today after one analyst downgraded the company, jo ling kent is with the fox business network. she joins us live with more on this jo? >> the stock is red hoot all week and closed at all-time high. it made it larger than time warner cable, target and viacom. in fact through yesterday the stock nearly tripled from its $26 ipo price thanks to recent advertising move like targeting specific ads to groups of users. the run may come to an end today to a company that is still not profitable. he downgraded rating from neutral to underperform. this essentially means sell. here is why in an e-mail. we continue to believe twitter

as a company has a bright future and many opportunities ahead however as a stock we believe nothing has changed over the last 15 days to justify the rise in valuation, unquote. the analyst also raised concerns over white differences in revenue estimates for twitter and just doesn't have that many employees. it is half the size of facebook and it will take time for the company to beef up its workforce. back to you guys. harris: jo, thank you. nice to see you. happy holidays. >> happy new year. harris: thank you. sometimes it pays to be at right place for right time. for proof of that look no farther than delta's online air prices today. i had friends tweeting about this. they couldn't believe it. maybe that is how they found out. delta said a computer glitch that led to prices being slashed by hundreds some cases thousands of dollars, bargain hunters, like some of my buddies began scooping up deals. last time this happened to different air carrier they said they would not honor them.

some buying cross-country flights for $27, delta will honor mistakenly low fares. leland: kind of nice. some folks may be heading to colorado january 1st because they want to smoke pot. in just a few days colorado is bringing marijuana out of the smokey shadows right into the mainstream. january 1st will be the first day retail stores can legally sell pot. residents will be allowed to legally grow up to six plants in their own homes but plenty of concern remains, including how the state's legislation of marijuana is going to work with existing federal laws that are still outlaw marijuana. joining me for that and when it means, david bellow, one of denver's top criminal defense attorneys. david, has the west been born again? what does the law mean practically for folks in colorado? >> well, good morning, leland. i don't know necessarily it is the wild, wild west. amendment 64 passed by a 53% majority of the voters. so while that is certainly a

healthy majority it is absolutely not overwhelming. so state regulators are really going out of their way to make sure they're complying with the will of voters allowing for retail consumption, sale and consumption of marijuana without ultimately having the mile-high city become anything more than the altitude. leland: all right. i wanted to go back to what governor hickenlooper out there in colorado said when the law passed. he said it may be a little bit early to bust out the doritos just now. have they been able to figure things out in the past couple of months in terms of how this law's going to work, how people will be able to smoke pot, where they can smoke it, how to do so safely, whether they can drive smoking pot? >> well you know, the state really hopes so. there have been an enormous number of regulation that is have been put in place but really this is uncharted territory. so really what we're going to be looking at is ultimately what happens on january the 1st.

the state really has gone out of their way to make sure that they are tracking the marijuana from the point of seed to ultimately the point of sale. they're doing so with radio frequency of the actual marijuana plants, making sure they don't cross over state lines. they have put a great deal of regulation in place regarding even he had marijuana. making sure it is not being sold in somebody's residential kitchen. ultimately what happens going forward is yet to be seen. there's a very small number of shops that are actually opening up starting on january 1st. and really everybody's going to be watching to make sure, not just that the retailer is complying with state law, but ultimately that the consumer is as well. you know, there really have been a great deal of restrictions and regulations put in place on where somebody can ultimately smoke the marijuana. this is not public consumption. you can't walk down the street in denver or one of the other jurisdictions smoking pot.

it can only be done in your home, in your private home. landlords can even restrict whether or not a resident is able to smoke pot within a rented home. so really how the police and how regulators respond and ultimately how the customers respond is really going to be interesting to watch over the course of the next few weeks and ultimately months and even into years from now. leland: we're watching closely over next few weeks. already i saw websites are advertising pot tourism. there may be a lot of convenience stores that need to stock up on doritos in denver. david in denver for us today. thanks. >> thank you. harris: ice breakers rushing to the aid of a ship trapped in one of the most dangerous places on earth. the latest on the daring mission to get to them. an exceptional year for news coverage, filled with ground-breaking events and memorable blunders as well. we'll talk about it with our media panel next. ♪ i wanna spread a little love this year ♪

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harris: right now, a look what is still ahead this hour. we'll have latest from lebanon, where a car bomb ripped through beirut's central business district, killing a former pro-western ambassador to the united states. plus some thieves smashed their way into the dmv the whole thing caught on surveillance video as you see behind me. what did they want to steal from the dmv? the most common type of surgery in america may not be necessary in most cases.

stunning new findings have a medical study that you may want to know. leland? >> snow dragon, the ice breaker. there is lot of broken ground and heaving ice just around us but with a few pools of water. things opened up quite a bit last few hours as wind lessened to take price off the sea ice. leland: that expedition leader sound pretty calm. the situation he is in. he is aboard a russian research ship stuck in the thick ice on the edge of the antarctic. they have been there since christmas morning. a chinese ice breaker, working its way, albeit slowly toward the trapped vessel. jonathan hunt is working breaking details. he joins us in the studio. jonathan, it seems like if you're that calm in the situation help has to be close? >> reporter: it was six hours ago, leland, we heard those aboard the stricken ship.

they could see the chinese ice-breaker on the horizon but it is still 13 miles away from them, or it was that point, trying to get through 13 miles of solid sheet ice. so it is going to take some time. that ice-breaker might actually need help from a second french ice-breaker that is also on the way. they will try to cut a channel and get the schakowsky out of there. as you heard professor chris turn any, the extra digs leader say, he is happy to see help on the way. >> we've just seen the chinese ice-breaker snow dragon. it is nine nautical miles from the vessel. a huge sense of relief at the moment. it is not quite here yet. at least we can see it now which is huge improvement for our prospects from a few hours ago. >> reporter: he seems pretty happy about it. in a few hours time, we're monitoring every minute. we hope to be able to report they have cut the channel and

that the schakowsky and 74 passengers and crew are on their way out, leland. leland: 7guys. you're stuck on an ice breaker since christmas morning. harris: sounds like a joke. leland: i'm working on the punch line but did they have a good time? >> reporter: they actually don't seem to be that concerned. professor chris turney has been relaxed throughout and others tweeting and sending out videos from on board. actually taken the time as well to continue with their scientific experiments. they seem to be very much into that as you would imagine the sort of scientific geeks who are on board and sign up for this kind of thing are. professor chris turney, he has been standing out on deck in blizzards and winds that reached 50 miles per hour and seems to enjoy pretty much every moment of it. look at this again. >> the location we're at is notorious for high wind. morrison labeled this area the home of the blizzard. it is in the gyp necessary book of world records as windiest place in the world with average

winds speed of 70 kilometers an hour. >> reporter: they even found time to serve christmas dinner. i know you will both be delighted to hear, roast penguin was not on the menu. harris: i'm relieved and delighted to hear. leland: we're glad they cleared that up. >> reporter: they gather ad picture of penguins gathering around the ship. who knows who might be under more threat. penguins canasty. leland: somebody got off the ship to look back up at them. >> reporter: taking on penguins. i wouldn't do it. leland: you're the guy we're counting on in cases like this. harris: don't count on me to take on a penguin. they're evil things. they can be mean. harris: they look so good. >> reporter: very good all grilled. harris: anybody have a wrap card. leland: roasted penguin. you're getting something for that. of thanks, jonathan. >> from the nsa leak scandal to the souring relationship between our president and the white house press corps and much, much more.

it has been a remarkable year for news coverage, filled with trail blazing events and unforgettable blunders. let's bring in judith miller, pulitizer prize winning investigative reporter, we know the bar is high here, and kirsten powers, "daily beast" columnist. good to see you both. fox news contributors. judith, start with you, six at this minutes, maybe in an effort to catch up on missed coverage of mainstream media on benghazi had a huge fall from grace in regards to that story. >> absolutely. laura logan and her producer were suspended after trying to do the right thing on benghazi, which is to pursue the story. they got it wrong. they fell for a guy who claimed to be a security agent, who claimed to try and rescue people who actually hadn't done any of the above. it was a huge black eye for "60 minutes" which has been regarded for some years as kind

of champagne of investigative television journalism. but laura logan will be back and so will her producer because it is really hard to get fired in television. harris: wow. kirsten what kind of damage does this sort of thing do with reputations and people's trust of the media? >> well, i think the polls show time and time again that the media is among the least-trusted. i think most recent one, they trust used car salesmen more than people in the media. harris: ouch. >> we definitely have hit rock bottom. i think when there are mistakes made it definitely undermines people's trust but even when mistakes aren't made, i think what may affect people's trust more they see as bias. they think media often has biased in favor of certain stories and ignores stories people think are important. harris: kirsten, it took a fee fall with the rollout of healthcare.gov to see some members of the press corps actually pressing the white house on the president's

signature legislation. why so long? >> well i'm not sure that they could have ton much more than they did. you can't look into the future and cover what hasn't happened yet. so, health care was covered as a policy issue and i don't think anybody, even the critics frankly of obamacare thought that the website was going to be such a debacle. there were other criticisms but i don't think people really expected that people wouldn't be able to get on to the website, for example, and would have such difficulty, there would have to be so many changes in the law just to get people signed up. you know, i don't think that in the media could cover until it actually happened too bad we couldn't talk to members who had to go to congress and tell what they knew beforehand. judith? >> absolutely. this will be remembered as the year, harris, where the mainstream media sort of fell out of love with president obama, our golf-playing,

media-manipulating president. len downey of "the washington post", supervised a panel that concluded that this administration has been the most secretive, the most manipulative of the press of any since richard nixon. that is quite an indictment. but by and large the mainstream media tended to give him the benefit of the doubt. they gave him the benefit of the doubt on benghazi. the only time they kind of finally rose up, said, wait a minute, when this administration started targeting us. and they named james rosen of fox news, a coconspirator in a espionage case. and finally people said, with obamacare and everything else, enough is enough. a little bit of skepticism is warranted. maybe that's why we're slightly, more popular than congress. that is not saying a lot. harris: wow. or used car salesmen as kirsten pointed out. quickly before i let you guys go i want to talk with you about

edward snowden and whether or not we're in a new age of journalism now where you need people like that to kind of have these revelations? quite frankly we wouldn't know some of the things we know about the surveillance gathering of the federal government and u.s. citizens if it had not been for edward snowden. that is notwithstanding the criminal charges against him but it is the truth. so have things changed, kirsten? >> well he changed them. so, you know, i was very happy with pope francis as man of the year because i love pope francis, if it hadn't been pope francis it should have been edward snowden. i think it was close to a tie, he radically, radically changed our understanding of what the government is doing in terms of surveillance. and i think that he was called a traitor for doing that and a lot of false accusations made against him how he was dealing with the chinese when in fact none of those are really been borne out. i think in the end he is a hero. whether there will be ever other people will be as brave as he is i can't say for sure. because he obviously sacrificed a lot in order to be able to

bring this information to light. but hopefully it has changed the dynamic where the government won't feel they can keep so much secret. harris: wow, that is really interesting. judith, real quickly. your thoughts on this. >> i don't think i would call him a hero. i think the precedent is fairly dangerous to have 22 or 24-year-old decide when you can spill national security secrets. i'm troubled by it but kirsten's right, there is no doubt that this has been the man of the year. >> the story of the year and it is now provoked a huge debate about how much privacy we need versus how much security. and this debate is going on with the help of the media. he has used the media, exploited us brilliantly, to ask these questions. harris: he is good at that. >> to get the debate started. he is great at that and very important person to be reckoned with. harris: thank you both very much. take care of that voice, judith. >> thank you. leland: lebanon's former

ambassador to the u.s. is dead after a bombing in lebanon. what it can mean for already high tensions of u.s. troops in the middle east i'm overhe hill. my body doesn't work the way it used to. past my prime? i'm a victim of a slowin? i don't think so. great grains protein blend. protein from natural ingredients like seeds and nuts. it helps support a healthy metabolism. great grains protein blend.

harris: told you earlier this hour, breaking news a car bomb exploding in beirut today killing a pro-western politician and at least five others. that attack apparently targeting the former lebanese minister and u.s. ambassador who opposed syrian president bashar al-assad and their civil war playing out next door. we have steven yates, deputy assistant for national security affairs and current ceo of national advisory. good to have you along today. first question for you, why did they kill this former u.s. ambassador in lebanon? >> part after string of violence taking place in lebanon. unfortunately a lot of violence coming across the region from iran into iraq and syria, now

spilling over to lebanon as taken several leaders from the former prime minister hariri until now. there has been a protracted effort to knock out anti-shia islamists in lebanon. so this pro-western figure was part of a government that was pushing back on those shia islamist that is have taken over syria. harris: the civil war is playing out next door in syria yet our reporter conor powell this hour told us lebanon is a dangerous mess. why? >> it has proximity and iran has a decades-long relationship with hezbollah. terrorist vanguard, hezbollah has conducted violent attacks in lebanon and the broader region for some time. this arc of instability comes from tehran all the way to the mediterranean that is guiding these events right now. harris: all right. sit tight. we'll come right back to you. leland? leland: important stories ahead. including every year hundred of thousands of americans have knee surgery. now a new study warns that surgery may not actually be

necessary. we're going to break it down with an orthopedic surgeon coming up.

harris: all right. so we said we would bring him back and we will. stephen yates, deputy assistant to vice president national security affairs, 01-05. current ceo of d.c. international advisory. we were talking previously about the situation in lebanon and bombing there. i want to move to south sudan because this happened. remind everybody, our twice in ospreys trying to pull american citizens out over the weekend. they shot from the ground at our guys and some of them were hurt in south sudan as they tried to take americans out of harm's way as that country false potentially towards civil war. my question to you, the sees fire hitting the associated press wires. south sudan's government says

they will end hostilities. can we trust that? >> i don't think we can afford to trust it. although i think we have to look very carefully at the situation and decides what kind of strategy the united states is going to have because situations like this are very easy to get involved in and have some sense of mission creep and events take you in a direction you never intended. we have a lot of aid workers on the ground. this is a situation where we see a lot of tragic violence taking place. we'll have to rely on regional allies and u.n. agencies to take the lead here. harris: there were visions of "black hawk down" and people were talking about rwanda and all sorts of things this weekend when ours prays were fired upon and we didn't know if americans would make it out of a evacuation mission alive. what is it like in south sudan and how we get with putting people in there permanently? are we going down that road? >> i think it would be very cautious about putting u.n. forces on the ground in south

sudan. it's a tragic situation. there is no question about the humanitarian need that is there but we have to be very careful about looking at broader region. there is a lot of unstable states across northern africa and eastern africa. the united states needs some sense of what its priorities are and where and how it will use the resources n cases like this, probably should rely on capable neighbors and others in the international commune to fill a void here. harris: who would be the capable neighbor in this case? >> major, relatively major states like ethiopia, right nearby a basing ground for u.n. agencies and others to be able to intervene from. we have the africa union and others we relied upon in unstable situations ranging from eastern to western africa in times past. we have to come to terms with what resources and allies we're working with in the northern africa tier before we rely on the u.s. specifically in south sudan. harris: stephen yates, thanks

for your perspective and context on this. >> thank you, harris. leland: back here at home, brand new polls shedding light on the crucial 2014 midterm elections. they are less than a year away. what it all means for republicans as they try to take majorities in the senate and keep their majority in the house. plus, syria's new questions about the justice department's new role in the case after texas man facing charges for his alleged participation in the knockout game. is there a double-standard? a live report ahead.

leland: fox news alert, may job developments here in the u.s.' massive data collection system. the nsa's metadata collection that we have heard about for so long has just been ruled as lawful. the aclu had sued in federal court here in new york. they had sued james clapper who was named, clapper v. or the

aclu, and the judge there in the southern district of new york has thrown out the case without even hearing it. so a new york federal judge ruling that the nsa's massive metadata collection is lawful. harris will have more on coming up in her legal panel. headquarters harris it's going to be a busy hour. new developments and breaking news this hour. unemployment benefits set to expire for more than one million americans tomorrow. the threat, some say, our nation faces if no action is taken in the new year. and skip school, lose your driver's license? lawmakers in one state consider a proposal to do just that. and a health risk many americans have and don't even know it, high blood pressure can kill you. it's all "happening now." ♪ ♪ harris: looking ahead to the midterm elections in 2014, new polling shows republicans are now ahead of democrats. good afternoon, i'm harris

faulkner, in for jenna lee. leland: and i'm leland vittert in for jon scott today. the international poll asks voters whether they would choose a democrat or a republican in the midterm elections without actually identifying any kind of specific candidates. here is the result. republicans holding a 49 percent to 44 percent edge over democrats. much different from two months ago when democrats were up 50 percent right after the government shutdown. let's bring in john mccormack, a writer for the weekly standard, and christopher weaver, a reporter who covers health care for the wall street journal. john, i want to start with you in terms of these new numbers. how big of a deal it is 11 months ahead of the midterm that you have seen this massive flip from the generic democrat winning to the generic republican winning. >> well, it's a really striking change from just two months ago when the republicans were losing terribly, and people were

talking about maybe republicans would lose the house of representatives. the question now is whether republicans will take over the senate. i think there's a real possibility that could happen absent some huge event in the next ten months. i think obamacare is going to be the dominant issue. you're going to have more stories of people losing their health insurance, a lot of people were able to renew their plans through december of 2014. they're going to get their cancellation notices right before the elections, people learning their prices are going up for health care premiums, they might not be able to keep their doctor. so, again, some big event could happen, change things back. i don't see what that event will be right now, but it's definitely possible. leland: well, things change awfully quickly in politics. another question going forward is whether the republicans are going to be able to capitalize on this new polling because there's so much in-fighting within the republican party. a quote from house speaker john boehner:

leland: he is talking about some of the very conservative groups, the tea party groups within the republican party -- leland: christopher weaver, to you of "l street journal," big article, very interesting article in the wall street journal. headline: republican leaders' allies aim to diminish clout of most conservative activists. is this in of fighting that's going on within the republican party going to make it a house divided when they try to take on the democrats in 2014? well, you know, they've been winning over the last few months because of the obamacare rollout's been such a disaster. i think the stakes over the next few days are huge because if this thing turns around when coverage actually starts beginning next week for many people, you know, we'll see whether this, whether the cloud lingers into the midterms. leland: and we will certainly see how that cloud hangs over president obama whose approval

rating has really taken a shellacking because of the obama carrollout to. we wanted to look at the approval ratings of president obama one year into his second term and president george w. bush. one year into his second term. president obama now 39% approve, president bush december of 2005, 43% approve. going now back to john, i want to ask you this, let's take obamacare out of it. obviously, that is the biggest topic right now. but how does the fact that obamacare has so badly hurt the president's credibility and also his political capital, how does that affect his ability to really do anything in terms of his agenda domestically, internationally over the next couple of years of his term? >> well, there's a very significant correlation between a president's job approval rating and how his party will perform if a midterm election. and as the trending at realclearpolitics.com has pointed out, if a president's

languishing in the low 40s, that's a recipe for disaster for his party. you can expect to see serious losses if he's stuck down there, and i just don't see what's going to turn it back around. he needs young people to turn up. that's what saved him in 2012, that the young voters turned out again, and if they're the ones who are paying disprobe portion nately for obamacare, i'm not sure he's going to get his base out in 2014. leland: christopher, i am going to give you the last word on in this. is there any reason to believe from your reporting going, that you've gone, looked at over the past couple of months and now going forward that the minefield that obamacare has been over the past two months is going to suddenly open up, and things are going to be sunshine and roses going forward january 1st when people start actually allegedly getting the health care they were promised? >> yeah. i mean, for the last couple of months the headlines have been glitches, canceled health plans, fewer choices of doctors. i think, you know, the potential bright side for the administration is that people

might realize, folks who have coverage through an employer, say, that a lot of this doesn't materialize for them, right? the law's had its lowest ratings really ever at about 35% in recent weeks approval, and if folks realize that, in fact, it's not restricting their choice of doctors, just the other two million people who actually signed up for coverage under the law, that could be be a bright side. the real risk going into january 1st when coverage begins, though, is that it'll be with a disorganized bureaucratic disaster where people start showing up at doctors and pharmacies without the coverage that they expect, and that could just continue these negative headlines. leland: christopher weaver, we know that your byline will be under those stories, excellent reporting. harris? president obama is signing a budget deal while on vacation in hawaii. the measure was approved by congress before the holiday break. we reported on that. the two-year deal scales back a number of spending cuts.

doug mckelway is traveling with the president there, he's live from honolulu now. doug? >> reporter: that's right, harris. the president signed the budget deal while at his rental home in kailua beach, the president signing that deal or one of the other smaller bills that he signed yesterday as well. budget agreement crafted by senator patty more orally and congressman paul ryan, it couldn't come fast enough given both congress' and the president's sinking popularity. and americans' perception of a congress and a white house that are paralyzed by gridlock, and it also allowed both sides to save just a little bit of face. >> this budget will unwind some of the damaging cuts that have threatened students and seniors and held back our businesses. it clears the path for critical investments in the things that grow our economy and strengthen our middle class like education and research. and it will keep reducing our deficits at a time when we've seen four years of the fastest deficit reduction since the end

of world war ii. >> reporter: many republicans were reluctant to sign this deal and give up, for them, what had been a tool to cut runway spending, that, of course, sequestration. congressman paul ryan tried to remind conservative skeptics that the deal does, indeed, preserve a lot of the components of sequestration. >> well, first of all, it doesn't end sequestration, it just gives some temporary relief for sequestration over the next year and a half which is the term of this agreement. we keep 70% of the sequester, and 30% of the sequester that we give relief to we more than pay for with smart spending cuts that are permanent in the other part of government spending. >> reporter: though the budget deal is done and signed, potential obstacles remain. this thing sets spending levels, but it does not appropriate money. congressional appropriators will have to figure out how to spend that money, and there's some concern democrats could throw a wrench into the works by attaching an extension of

unemployment benefits into the budget. we will see what happens with that. there's also the next looming battle over the debt ceiling come late february or early march. some republicans have said that they p won't agree to do that unless there are commensurate cuts coming from elsewhere. the white house has said it will not negotiate on the debt ceiling. so 2014 promises to be a year of more conflict. harris, back to you. harris: doug, thank you. leland? leland: no surprise, many would say, iran is exploiting a loophole in the deal aimed at limiting its nuclear program's expansion, announcing a new generation of equipment to enrich uranium. but iran claims the centrifuges are, quote, in the testing stage and not yet operational. chief white house correspondent ed henry is live in washington. ed, what's the reaction on this? >> reporter: well, good to see you, leland. bottom line is we just got new reaction this hour, anger from capitol hill about these latest statements from iran raising new questions about whether the deal cut by secretary of state john

kerry with iran, at least the early stages of that deal, will really stick. as you noted, iran's nuclear chief boasting they're building a whole new generation of centrifuges. the deal does allow them, at least tentatively, to develop these. but for six months they cannot be operational. republican senator mark kirk, though, telling fox just in the last few moments, quote: the american people are rightfully distrustful of iran's true nuclear intentions, and today's news demonstrates once again why congress needs to pass the nuclear weapon-free iran act to protect us from iranian deception. if we want a world without iranian nuclear weapons, we need to make clear to iran's leaders that bad faith in negotiations will be met with the toughest economic sanctions in history. what senator kirk is referring to, he's the lead republican co-sponsor of a bill we're told now has 47 co-sponsors, both democrats and republicans, that would institute a whole new round of sanctions and have them

ready to go if this potential nuclear deal with iran falls apart. the president, as you know, has resisted this legislation saying that if you put new sanctions on the table, iran may walk from the deal. but, leland, if you look at what iran is saying today, their nuclear chief, there's already questions about whether they're really serious about completing this deal. leland: there's been a lot of questions about just how serious iran is. the israeli lobby has been involved, but it seems like the administration is getting pressure from both sides, democrats as well who respect so sure about this. >> reporter: you're absolutely right. when i say this 47 co-sponsors, that's just 20 short of a bipartisan list of 67 that would be veto-proof that would say, look, if the president vetoes this, they can override it. and that's because you have very powerful democrats behind these new sanctions against iran, bob menendez, democrat from new jersey, he's the chairman of the senate foreign relations committee, chuck schumer of new york, also a powerful leader this the democratic party. so these are the president's

allies who have been warning him that they're very skeptical that iran is serious about ending its nuclear weapons program. that's why president obama at his year-end news conference a week ago basically got a tough question about all of this and said this: >> i'm keeping all options on the table. but if i can do it diplomatically, that's how we should do it. and i would think that would be the preference of everybody up on capitol hill, because that sure is the preference of the american people. >> reporter: it's unclear that that's the presence of the american people to just go the diplomatic route. we actually asked a question in the latest fox news poll, asked whether or not the president has been tough enough with iran, 68% saying not tough enough, 12% saying he's been about right, 5% saying the president's been too tough on iran. it gives you an idea of where the american people are thinking right now, but also is in line with this growing bipartisan group of senators that's telling the president they're skeptical

that iran ending its nuclear weapons program, and there needs to be tough new sanctions now, lelandment. leland: and the stakes are just so high. ed henry in washington, thanks. harris: new concerns about a dole standard in the growing cases of the knock out game. why this man is now facing a federal charge, and why some people say it is not fair. and i just tweeted about this, it's already getting amazing, immediate response. some lawmakers are pushing a bill that would punish your kids who skip school by taking away their driver's licenses. isn't that the parents' job? do you want local government making a decision about how to punish your kid? our legal panel will weigh in. [ sniffles, coughs ] shhhh!

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harris: right now new developments in a series of crimes across the country now known as the knockout game where people go up and punch each other and knock them unconscious. a texas man is now charged with a federal hate crime for sucker

punching an elderly black man. it raises concerns about a possible double standard. james rosen is live for us in d.c. on this. james? >> reporter: harris, let us be clear, only a sick or evil imagination could conceive of this kind of behavior as a game. it is now, however, indisputably a multistate phenomenon said to date back to 1992 but with at least 25 cases arising in the last two years and this, to our knowledge, being the first where hate crime charges have been filed. as you probably know, this so-called game involves a criminal sneaking up on an innocent and unsuspecting victim chosen at random or because they're otherwise vulnerable with the aim of delivering a single punch to the face that renders him or her unconscious. it is not part of the game, mind you, that the attacker should wait to face justice or someone his own size. in the case of konrad barrett of texas, the justice department

alleges barrett himself made several videos on his cell phone wearing -- he identified himself, used a racial slur on african-americans and stated his intent to victimize a black man in order to receive national media attention. on november 24 in the town of cady, texas, he allegedly recalled the moment where he fractured the jaw of a black man. >> we have a white guy that specifically say he's looking for an african-american to knock out on national tv. now, that question mark, and i agree with fred be, as to whether the requisite intent for the hate crime is there, but i do believe this is going to be a test case. >> who's involved in this case? the u.s. attorney's office, department of justice civil rights division, the fbi and the dea. an absolute, utter waste of money. why? because cady, texas, i'm sure, has seen a crime like this before, and they can prosecute it and put this guy in jail.

>> reporter: if convicted, barrett faces a maximum of ten years in prison and a hefty fine, but experts told us convicting barrett under texas state law given the victim's age could yield a life sentence, a fact that gives credence to those who say the justice department was motivated principally here by publicity. harris: james rosen, thank you very much. leland? leland: a new study finding the most common orthopedic procedure performed in the united states may not be necessary. every year around 700,000 people have knee surgery to repair something called a torn meniscus, that is a rubbery disc that cushions the knee. so what question should you be asking your doctor? i'm going to bring in a doctor from prestige sports medicine. you've got to picture the knee there. show us real quickly what we're talking about here. >> well, in the knee you have the bones, right, your femur and tibia, and if here you have the

lateral me miscat and the medial -- >> reporter: you get a tear, you go in and clean it out. >> not always. you have to treat the symptoms, not the mri scan and not the diagnosis. leland: so do you buy this study that says there's a lot of these p 00,000 surgeries that don't need to be done? >> well, you actually have to read the story because the study doesn't actually say that. they say that in their conclusion, but that's not actually what the data is showing. first of all, the study actually is only talking about people that have asymptomatic medial meniscus tears. leland: saw what do -- so what do you do, at some level we've become a pill society. a lot of folks say i can eat whatever i want so long as i take the right pill, i don't have to do my physical therapy workouts, i can just have surgery. is there a point you have to actually listen to what your doctor's saying and not just hope for the magic cure? >> absolutely. in this case the meniscus is important to be there. if you have a tear and it actually needs surgery meaning

the symptoms, you have buckling frequently, locking, recurrent swelling and those kind of things, you may need the surgery. the people that had the study done were people that just had, that just had pain on the inside of the knee. they weren't having buckling, they weren't having locking, so there was no real reason to do the surgery in the first place. leland: so bottom line, find a doc that you trust who will tell you what you need to hear and isn't just looking to do a surgery. >> absolutely. leland: thanks for joining us today. harris? harris: skip school and you lose your driver's license, that's what this michigan lawmaker is proposing today. but should driving privileges with controlled by local government, or is that the parents' job?

arrest harris skipping school could put the brakes on teenage

driving in michigan if one lawmaker gets his way. state representative andy shore of lansing has introduced two bills that would suspend driver's licenses or deny them for kids who repeatedly miss school for six months. and joining us now is fred tecce and ebony williams, good to see you both. ebony, how does the law work? what would this do if it were to become law? >> well, harris, here's the thing, there's a greater concern here about general society's safety. if a student is found willfully and repeatedly missing school for at least six month, a circuit judge could then decide to suspend that person's driving privileges for a time period of six months. harris: so why do you need a law like this, fred? >> why do you need it? because it's one more tool to combat the terrible true wan si that a lot of these school systems are suffering. and, you know, look, the most important thing of a child's education is a parent, and, you know, that's our job as parents.

i have four sons. they go to school or losing their driver's licenses is the least of their concerns. but in instances where students have missed six months of school, the state doesn't have to extend them the privilege of operating a motor vehicle. harris: i want the audience to understand how this works, because there is a play for government here that really steps this front of the parent, and i want them to know. the legislation would compel judges to notify the secretary of state in cases of truancy. then the secretary of state would have to suspend the license of a juvenile found by a circuit court to be willfully and repeatedly absent from school for six months. you've got a lot of levels of local and state government involved there. does this get in the way of parenting? >> no. the point that you made when you said it, you picked the right word about stepping in front of the parent. unfortunately, the parent's nowhere to be found. they are nowhere to be found

literally or figuratively in that they are not getting their children to go to school. so ideally, this is the job of a parent. i don't believe it takes a village to raise a child, i believe it takes a family. but if the parents aren't going to do their job, the state has a compelling interest to make sure kids go to school, and they -- harris: ebony, your last thoughts? >> i agree. harris: okay. >> did i get that right? [laughter] >> there's a greater safety concern that we almost have to be accountable for. this is about responsibility. ultimately, we would love it if parents could insure this bottom -- responsibility, but driving is a privilege. we want people to be safe and aer is tiff on the road. and if you can't go to school, how are we to trut you on our streets and highways? harris: what happens when that child needs to drive himself or herself to school or to work when a parent can't step in to do that? you can't undo there a house what -- >> there's a bus. there are buses to school.

driving is a privilege. [laughter] harris: in some areas. real quickly, let's pause. for this fox news alert now on something that is taking shape in the last hour. a new york federal judge has ruled that the huge metadata grabby the nsa was lawful, and this is a big case because the aclu was going after james clapper, the director of national intelligence. and what this new york is judge is saying, no, no, no, you can grab all those albeit there were tons of them and probably more than they needed to get, but it was lawful. fred, your reaction to this. >> i think he's dead wrong. i agree with the judge in the district of d.c. last week. i think this is a flagrant violation of our fourth amendment rights to just grab data from everyone. and you have to understand something, this is what's called packettized data, so when you make a phone call or have an e-mail, at the top of the box is a header, and in that is

information about where the call is made, stuff like that. the nsa grabs the entire box. it's all sitting in one of their servers out in utah, and they can look in and see what the conversations are about or what the e-mails are about with the flick of a switch. and without probable cause or some suspicion as to why they should go through my e-mails, your e-mails, your cell phone, i think it's just wrong. harris: ebony, does this open the door for other states to take a look at this too? i mean, what happens after this point? >> absolutely, it opens the floodgates here. this is not narrowly tailored enough. >> correct. >> we do have the fourth amendment, and i agree, this is absolutely flagrantly unreasonable. it's beyond the pale. now, again, if you can give some articulable suspicion to something special you're looking for, totally understood, fair play. but in the absence of that, harris ors it's overbroad and absolutely unconstitutional. harris: no doubt the bulky program vacuums up information

about virtually every telephone call to, there or within the united states. he still says it's recall. fred? >> no. i mean, think about it, could you imagine if the police went in everyone's home at night and rifled true their papers and said, look, we're just going to photocopy these in case we decide to look into you for terrorism. that's a violation of the fourth amendment. you just can't grab this stuff up. eastboundny's right, you have to have some reasonable suspicion to look at specific people's cell phone data and usage. that's not a violation. this is. and, look, we now have two decisions, one from the d.c. circuit, one from the second, ultimately, the supreme court's going to have to weigh in on this. but you're watching your fourth amendment rights get eroded away, pay attention. harris: representative king here in new york has issued a statement saying this is what's needed to keep us safe. twitter is alive on this, how much more will american people take, from road hog rider on my twitter page right now. good to see you both. thank you.

leland: starting tomorrow, more than a million hearns are set to lose their --, americans are set to lose their unlimit benefits. the impact and how it could shape next year's agenda in congress. plus, you'll remember the report on benghazi that lara logan and her producer are on leave of absence for. coming up, why are people asking what happened to "60 minutes"?

uh just gonna hang out. with gary and todd? yea. i've been meaning to ask you, is there any drinking going on in this crowd? no. so if any of your buddies ever pressure you to take a drink, just tell them you promised your dad you wouldn't. i'd do anything to keep you safe. ok. i will. i hope this is working. i promise. i love you too dad. they really do hear you. for tips on what to say visit underagedrinking.samhsa.gov

harris: fox business alert now on unemployment benefits set to expire tomorrow. more than one million americans will feel it. but if congress does not reinstate the benefits, the unemployment rate could actually take a big drop. rich edson of the fbn is live for us in washington. why will the unemployment rate fall if these extended benefits expire? >> reporter: economists say the primary reason is thousands of those losing benefits would just stop looking for work. when the government calculates the unemployment rate, it only considers those actively looking for a job. in a research note, rbc capital markets says, quote: >> r eporter: that's why economists are beginning to question how accurately the unemployment rate reflects the quality of the job market. some of the recent drop in the rate is from americans retiring or just giving up their job searches, harris.

harris: regular viewers will know we always remind them of that. that is the flipside. yes, the numbers go down, but that's because people have given up. so will congress actually extend the benefits? or. >> reporter: not before they expire. law make is are out of town. some republicans have shown a willingness to discuss an extension, though many say they should expire because of the improving economy. there's also the cost. more than $25 billion. and one analyst says lawmakers have a handful of issues to negotiate early next year, and these benefits may fall into those talks. >> i think that this is also sort in the category of being an issue where the parties start pretty far apart on where cuts should take place, on whether to raise new revenue and, if so, how to use that type of revenue. those types of issues prevent, i think, a lot of compromise particularly, again, because it's an election year. >> reporter: the law allows up to 73 weeks of unemployment

benefits. when it expires tomorrow, that maximum falls to 26 weeks. the benefits depend on the state. harris? harris: rich, thank you. leland: happening right now, a lot of criticism for "60 minutes," media critics questioning whether the tv news magazine has been heading down a slippery slope following a series of mistakes, one writer saying this is the year he lost faith in the broadcast he believed in, as many of us do and have, for decades. these days, he writes, everyone is ripping "60 minutes" for the lara logan report on benghazi, the infomercial-like report charlie rose did earlier this month with jeff bezos about his drone delivery plans, and correspondent john miller's in the tank piece last week on the national security agency. lauren ashburn joins us now. i want to start with this, what's happened to "60 minutes"? >> well, they have a credibility

crisis over these three stories. it's as if cbs lost its compass. first of all, as you mentioned, you had benghazi. you have two wonderful journalists in lara logan and max mcclellan, her producer who have been put on indefinite leave for believing an eyewitness who turned out to be completely and absolutely wrong. and as you said, jeff bezos, boy, did he get a christmas present after their report the day before cyber monday that talked about his drone program, and charlie rose was all gaga about these drones. but not one really serious question about whether or not the faa would be able to handle this, when would this happen, what are the technical problems. it was really good publicity. leland: i wonder how much this has to do with money in the sense that doing ard-hitting investigation -- hard-hitting investigation, sending crews all

over the country, sending anchors to stake out people that you want to ask tough questions to, that's really expensive. going to interview jeff bezos and having him fly a drone around is pretty cheap. is this a money issue or actually a fundamental crisis in journalism? >> well, leland, i think if we were just talking local news and maybe some not-so-successful, money-making organizations that, yes, it could be. but cbs and the "60 minutes" program brings in money hand over fist. and i think that that is not what's happening. there's something going on in the leadership. the chairman of cbs news and also a fabulous journalist who's now running the division and he's executive producer of "60 minutes," and one of the issues with the program doing the benghazi interview that turned out to be wrong was that he was also the executive producer and the chairman, and nobody took that interview outside of "60 minutes" to other cbs reporters

who maybe could have said, hey, let's check the veracity of this guy. so you raise an excellent point, leland, in that there isn't the money there used to be for investigations. and you see that all over the country. and you've seen nonprofits coming in to take over some of that. but in this instance i don't think so. leland: lauren, "60 minutes" is such a venn -- venn rational name, the gold standard for so long, is there anything you can do to get that back? you've had a really bad couple of months here for them. what do they have to do in 2014 to regain the credibility? >> i think they have to do what any organization has to do that goes through a public relations nightmare, and that is to get back on the horse and do what they do best; hard-hitting investigative journalism. and, yes, they have done puff pieces in the past. i'm not saying they haven't done, you know, the andy rooney

at the end of the show, that was very entertaining. they've done interviews with celebrities. but i think in order to rehabilitate what needs to be done are some serious investigative digging stories. and i have confidence in the journalists. they're all very good journalists that they would be able to do that. be. leland: regroup, we'll see if they can get it back. we'll come to you and ask you that question in a few months. lauren, thanks for joining us. >> thank you. harris: when members of congress go back to business, they may face a very difficult decision, whether to create thousands of new jobs for people in an arizona town desperately in need of work or preserve land which native americans consider sacred. will carr is covering the story for us from our los angeles bureau. will? >> reporter: hi, harris. well, this land swap bill came up before congress in november, but it was pulled at the last second. now proponents are hoping it comes back up in early 2014. in superior, arizona, homes are boarded up, businesses sit empty, the unemployment rate

almost 20%. that's why many residents hope resolution copper, a mine that could be the largest in the country, opens soon. you hear resolution copper, what do you think? >> jobs. >> we need the mine. people still want to work the mine. they make good money. >> we'll be generating a with dollars of economic stimulus a year. that's the equivalent of two, three, four super bowl withs every year for 40 years right here in the town of superior. >> reporter: jump in a bucket, and you can see the resolution copper mine are runs more than a mile deep. they've been developing this mine for years, and when it's all said and done, the developer says it should bring thousands of jobs to the area. but to finish the mine, the company wants to trade property it owns for 2500 acres owned by the federal government, land the apache tribe considers sacred. >> we have family there, we have prayer there. since this whole thing came up, we felt necessary that the public know how close we are and

how we're tied to that area. >> reporter: now it's up to congress to decide on the land swap, a deal congressman raul -- [inaudible] to pez toes. >> what's in it for the taxpayer? what is the real value of in the extraction, and is this trade worth it? >> reporter: for one community, it's not worth losing its heritage. for the other, the value could be priceless. the land swap deal was pulled in november because a number of native american tribes lobbied to try to kill that bill. harris, i can tell you the proponents say when 2014 hits, they want to continue to push for the deal and the jobs. harris: so next week. [laughter] because 2014 is almost here. >> reporter: that's right. harris: good to see you. happy new year to you. >> reporter: you too. harris: leland? leland: harris, the doctor is in, she's been tweeting with him all the time and looking at a serious medical condition one in four adults don't even know they have. and we're learning more about the long-term effects of

concussions. details on the new study linking head trauma to the development of alzheimer's. [ male announcer ] this is george. the day building a play set begins with a surprisewinge of back pain... and a choice. take up to 4 advil in a day or 2 aleve for all day relief. [ male announcer ] that's handy. ♪

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harris: you may have high blood pressure and not even know it. a new study shows about one-quarter of adults are unaware they have it. that's a lot of people. and many who do have it or do know about it don't have it under control. left untreated, high blood pressure can increase your risk for heart attack, stroke. dr. kevin campbell, who is very active on twitter. i follow you, i had no idea, you have a legion of followers, practicing cardiologist and assistant professor of medicine at the university of north carolina. good to see you today. what does the study show? >> you know, it's really a unique study. it was done at vanderbilt university, and they looked at some southeastern u.s. citizens. and they found that about half the people surveyed knew they had high blood pressure, but 25 percent didn't even know it.

what was more concerning in that study was that of the people who knew it, over half of those were inadequately treated and not being treated true to guidelines. the physicians didn't have them on the proper medications. and that's very troubling to we. harris: you know, i saw you talking about this on twitter. this is a condition which people really should worry about. what are the symptoms? how do we know in. >> well, the scary thing is hypertension or high blood pressure is the silent killer. often there's no symptoms. over time it can hurt your kidneys, it can help produce heart attacks, strokes through hardening the arteries and really causing these very bad health problems. the thing is if you do have symptoms, you may have a headache, blurry vision, double vision, but that's rare. it's over time that it hurts you. harris: you know, it's more debilitating than ever, because the patients are getting younger and younger. why is that? >> i think it is the american lifestyle.

obesity and obesity-related illness is about $150 billion worth of health care costs. and we're trying to be health care conscious in the era of health care retomorrow. and i think -- reform. and i think because we have more unhealthy lifestyles, less exercise, worsening our diets, lots of stress from financial reasons and other things, that really plays a big role in the development of high blood pressure earlier in life. harris: well, the good news from what you're saying at least in some of those are things that we can change and work on in our own lives. i want to get to this next point, new research on long-term effects of concussions. and, you know, immediately sports comes the mind here. it suggests that some patients having a serious concussion can be a risk factor for developing alzheimer's later in life. it also notes, though, that not all people head trauma will lose their memory. what are your thoughts on this one? >> this study was conducted at the mayo clinic, and it was very interesting. they took a sample of patients and determined whether or not they had any mild memory loss or

cognitive impairment suggestive of alzheimer's, and they imaged their brains. and they asked those patients do you remember ever having a concussion. and what they found was that the brain scans showed evidence of these protein deposits that we see in alzheimer's patients at much greater rates in patients who had had concussions. it's very interesting i. really shows us a possible link and a possible risk factor to think about. harris: dr. campbell, good to see you. happy holidays to you. >> and to you. thanks for the twitter follow. harris: absolutely. leland: you probably can't tell looking at the windows behind us, but it is cold outside here in the northeast and, therefore, the after-christmas getaway is on. arrest harris oh, look at that! leland: wouldn't you like to be will? harris: i like that one woman's suit. leland: phil keating is arrive in sunny florida where there is now a record-breaking week for tourism. we wish we were live on the

beach, but phil keating will be live on the beach coming up next. harris: where is my bikini 1234. ♪ ♪ ... ... ... ... ... ...

harris: oh, i get cold just thinking abt this. right now snow, ice, frigid temperatures sending a lot of people south to florida. tourism leaders are predicting the busiest holiday travel week ever between and new year's. phil keating is live from ft. lauderdale, florida. he's always sunny. we love phil. hey. >> reporter: hi, harris. you know, right now it is 81 degrees on this beach. the sea breeze is blowing, and be in a nutshell, that explains why when there are icicles up across the rest of the country, people tend to bring their dollars and spend it right here this florida. we've got a lot of people

represented, they're from new york, they're from michigan, people from quebec and chicago. if your neighbor's not home, they just might be down in south florida this week, and the miami-dade and broward counties officials expect this holiday week to be the busiest of all time. tourism officials report 3% increase in tourists this year over last year. they all come down here to be on the sand and look at the beach, and these numbers are absolutely positive for the economy, about $t 0 billion -- 90 billion every year comes into florida's economy. this is going to be the most crowded beach week of south florida history this wreak. the marketing secret no secret at all when the national weather map looks like this. people not in florida, well, they book travel to the sunshine state. hotels and restaurants are packed this week, and they bank on it as well. and rooms are going for very high prices, and most hotels from ft. lauderdale to key west are sold out or near capacity.

>> we're seeing the best numbers since 2007. i think it was kicked off by the cold weather up in the northeast and canada. they got a lot of snow early this year, and that really pushed demand. so we're looking at sold outnumbers and the best rates in almost five years. >> reporter: and it's happening in florida's panhandle as well where tourism leaders report three straight years of increased tourism. after 2010 bp oil spill, and one family here from new jersey in a nutshell, why is it better to be in florida today? >> because of the weather. it's gorgeous! >> reporter: that's all we needed to say. happy holidays. >> thank you. merry christmas. >> reporter: harris, i wish you were here -- harris: tell 'em hi. [laughter] >> reporter: i will. harris: oh to, look, it's getting a little cloudy. were you actually going to complain? >> reporter: i know. what happened? where's my sunshine? i love it. the beach is packed. harris: we'll will right back.

thanks, phil. ick with innovation. stick with power. stick with technology. get the new flexcare platinum from philips sonicare and save now. philips sonicare.

what a tree i have had in jerusalem. it is fun. thanks for having me and putting up with me and my mom told you to say it. >> and she did. thanks so much. stunning fox news alert. target confirming that pin numbers were stolen in a massive security breach and they are saying they are confident that they are safe and secower because of the encryption system. target denied pin numbers were taken and now just made the announcement following the stunning revelation that thieves possibly got the hands on credit and debit information of 40 million