2014. hannity.com. and of course on our facebook page. and don't forget, start your day each weekday morning with fox & friends. and we'll see you back here tomorrow night. rnchlth you sick of the problems in washington? in this new year, are you looking for leadership? answer this one -- is president obama showing leadership, or is he picking another fight? here's what the president said this weekend in about -- weekend about extending unemployment benefits. >> congress went home at the holidays and let the lifeline expire. for many constituents who were unemployed through no fault of their own, that decision will leave them with no income at all. >> former senior adviser to president reagan pat buchanan joins us. wasn't just capitol hill had a little holiday. >> not at all. listen, if you're going to attack the republicans for not being in washington and working on unemployment benefit, you should probably pick a different venue than waikiki beach,

hawaii, where he spent 17 days. look, here's an individual, the president, who came to town to overcome partisanship in washington. and beginning in the new year, he's right back to the same partisanship that made his last year, even his friends say circumstance the worst year of his presidency. >> what i don't understand, one of the criticisms he when he was first elected in his first term is at least it was reported he said something to the effect of "i won." it steams to me if the idea -- it seems to me if the idea is to get people to work together, the last thing you should do is declare war on them or poke a stick in their eyes. >> right y. don't we have an aide who said, "mr. president, i saw this statement. doesn't look that good, why don't you try this? say, his a great vacation in hawaii, a lot of the congressmen have been with their families, had a great time. guys are suffering out this that don't have unemployment benefits. i think they ought to get 13 weeks. if you got another idea, i'm going to try to work with you." why didn't he open the year like

that? i always thought the most effective weapon he had was his ability to inspire. he used to be able to get thousands and thousands of people to listen. he needed to rev up the crowd now. i mean, if their thing where he's poke -- i mean, this thing where he's poking a stick, and they'll take the bait. and right before the vacation, they went on. he had a press conference where he sort of limped in, got beat up by the press, and limped out. he doesn't even -- he lost that whatever -- that pizazz. >> right. you got to ask yourself, does he want the unemployment benefits, or does he want to a stick to beat the republicans for two years? because this seems, as you suggest, it seems inexplicable. >> but even -- i mean, there's no sign that he is showing the leadership where he's going to capitol hill or bringing them down to the white house and talking. that's the problem. >> i get the sense, and it's surprising after a 17-day holiday, i can understand at the end of the year, he's ticked off. he got 17-day vacation over there in hawaii. and why he didn't come back in a

new spirit and say, look, we had a bad year, we got a new year coming up, i'm going win the minimum wage increase, i'm going to get the unemployment benefits, we're going to get immigration reform. and there's a possibility he can gets them all. come back with that attitude rather than open the new year by firing a straight shot at the republican party. >> you know, going back to president johnson, a democrat, and president reagan, a republican. both of them, i suspect, would have invited their opponents, some in their own team, down from capitol hill to the white house. and at least had a discussion about it -- like starting the new year. that's what's so painful about this -- this punch that he just threw. >> you know, i had two years with ronald reagan, '85 to '87. he came in to some meetings cursing out various members of congress and leaders. he would go at them again and again, talk to donnie lo rostenkowski, democrat from chicago, this is a good tax bill. work with them.

'86, his sixth year, he got the top tax rate cut from 50% to 28%. had to cut a lot of deals, had to give stuff up, had to use the old persona. always when it got to the end he would get on the phone, they would ask, mr. president, this is what you got to, do and he would do. it i don't understand -- i mean, the president sounds like an individual who has given up on the idea of working with the republicans at all, but as i say, if i were him, i wouldn't give up -- he can win some of these battles. >> pat, remember new year's eve when the obama administration could not get it out fast enough that they had 2.1 million obamacare signups. the december number came out so fast, our heads were spinning. so how about the number of who is enrolling, who's enrolling? that's the information we need. today the white house press secretary, jay carney, claiming that demographic data isn't available yet. you buy that? >> look, how do you get 2.1 million names and we don't even have a computer -- it didn't spit out the ages of them all, the residences where these folks

live, do they have pre-existing conditions? the computer has got to have all that information come out all at once if it's anything beyond the 1950s computer. >> it seems to me that -- i suspect that information's available. i suspect he could put a search function in and ask something. i can do that on e-mail. >> look what he's done. he's going to have a secondary story which is negative. this obama careis turning into the death of a thousand cut for these folks. they never get the benefit of the doubt because the president when out there with -- if you like your remember plan, you can keep it, because they've left their credibility. they -- >> but what about -- >> he's a smart guy. should know the first question coming out of the box. >> what about the republican oversight? it appears that oversight is after sight. republicans seem content on capitol hill to let bad things happen and then they like to publicize it. i mean, there's no subpoena issuing tonight from any -- any oversight committee demanding that cms show up tomorrow with

that demographic information. zero, none. >> there's something to what nancy pelosi said, we'll find out what's in it after we read it. >> why aren't the republicans more aggressive in at least trying to figure out what's going on? >> the press is doing their work for them. look, they've got television -- >> that's not exactly leadership dish. >> no, it's not, but they've got television -- your audience is bigger than any ecommerce has got today. you're talking about what's happened, what he said, what's wrong with what carney said. i think they figure why put together a great big committee and go into all this when the press is covering this. and the truth is, even the mainstream media finally got on the case, and it's doing the job when w obamacarrot front pages as well as the editorial pages and on the network news as well as -- as well as fox and maybe even msnbc. >> that's the republicans getting into the food fight, too. when i'm searching for is a sense of where's the leadership, where are people trying to figure out what's going on? >> i was talking in the green room to a friend.

republicans get a very tough question -- do they want to fix obamacare, fix the parts that are wrong and have gone badly and work on it and put this machine, put this order together and put itn the road? or do they want this auto pulled off the road and to repeal obamacare in which case the revolutionary slogan applies, the worse the better? >> except that if they were aggressively doing oversight and we found out there are these profound problems that they're predicting, then we would learn about them sooner and would in some way mitigate the damage and harm because maybe we could get on the right track faster. that's about -- that's that the leadership would be trying to -- >> what you're saying is do the repairs. >> i'm not saying -- no, i'm saying identify -- identify the problem. if it's fatal, it is right there. and they just have to get that information right now -- >> well, the press is handling the fatal problems that are there. if they start going and there's debate in the republican party, they start going and fixing it up and it's there in 2017 which it's going to be because obama

will veto anything, i think what you'll wind up -- republicans are saying, look, if we repair this we'll have to live with it -- >> if they sent out a subpoena tonight, found out, hypothetically, that the white house knows exactly what the demographics are of who enrolled and their line, i think that would have a profound impact on whether the american people would get behind the republicans more in trying to get rid of obamacare. i think that would probably rev up more people if they found -- i mean, that would be aggressive oversight if hypothetically they know about it and they're hiding it. >> uh-huh. well, i think that information's going to -- is going to be out 48 hours or something like that. and again, do you understand how you can know there's 2.1 million -- computer throws this out and they don't tell you the age of them or residence? >> that's why if i were a member of congress, i would use my subpoena. i'd get that to you tomorrow. let me ask you about something else. remember that john denver song about colorado -- "rocky mountain high"? i'm not going to sing it. that might be accurate. colorado becoming the first state to legalize recreational

pot. what do you think? >> i know people will make jokes. i think it's a very bad thing. i think you're going to have a lot of potheads, obviously, tens of thousands. you'll have kids as dropouts as a consequence of this. we'll have people injured and killed on highways like they are on booze and things like that. his friends growing up -- >> is marijuana different -- >> if you will, you're adding another drug, another narcotic, a separate, different kind which an awful lot of people have not tried and would not try, and they're going to try. but i think it's part of this cultural social revolution which is gaining speed. you're seeing it with same-sex marriage and dividing the country. look at colorado. they've legalized marijuana. at the same time, what else has happened? the guys who voted for gun control, and 11 northern counties in colorado had a vote on secession from denver this last fall. and five of them voted to secede. so you're seeing an america really which is -- we know it's

racially diverse, religiously diverse, ethnically diverse, is becoming morally, culturally and socially fragmented. it is really -- it is -- arthur schlessinger wrote "the di disuniting of america." that's what happens. >> thank you. ahead, doctors taking new risks because of obamacare. why could treating patients end up costing doctors big time? a doctor's here to tell you firsthand coming up. first, i'm going to talk off the record about president obama's lavish birthday gift to the first lady. he's trying to take credit for it. but should he? and should she accept the gift? this next.

let's go "off the record." first let's get a few things straight. just because you can or just because others did it before you does not mean you should, that. sometimes setting a good example for americans is the right thing to. do here's what i'm talking about. just before the first family boarded air force one in hawaii on saturday after their two-week holiday, the white house issued a press release. one that surprised all of us. saying the entire first family would not be flying back to d.c., that the first lady would remain behind in hawaii as the president's daughter flew back to d.c. on air force one. that means at some later date an empty air force plane will fly from washington, d.c., to hawaii

to pick up the first lady and fly her back to d.c. that's two ways. empty there, mrs. obama on the return. total cost, an estimated $800,000. the reason mrs. obama was not flying with her family, per the press release, additional days in hawaii are part of president obama's birthday gift to mrs. obama. uh, not exactly. he's not paying the estimated $800,000, we are. he heshould do his own shopping and not take credit for what we pay for asked or not. and the lavish spending of taxpayer money is lousy because so many americans are in need. the president is pushing to extend unemployment benefit which we taxpayers will pay. he, too, might think about walking the walk while he's talking the talk. yes, we want our first family safe and free to pick where they spend their time. this time we are paying for two trips, not one, two. it's lavish.

now, is that a good message to send to americans right now? i think not. and that's my "off the record" comment. if you have an important story or issue you think i should take "off the record," tell us about it. and are doctors going to get stuck holding the bag? a chicago doctor says yes. dr. john vinettos says obamacare's causing so much confusion that he's treating patients, even doing surgery, without knowing for sure if the patients have insurance coverage. we have more. nice to see you, sir. >> thank you. >> so tell me what happened. i understand that you had a patient who needed surgery, and so your office manager went to check to see if that patient had coverage? >> correct. a colleague of mine referred a patient new year's eve, and we contacted her -- she obtained insurance through the exchange, and although she had a card, she wasn't sure whether she was covered.

wasn't sure whether she needed to have it precertified, and so we could not contact the insurance company on new year's day. we started working on this on the 2nd, which was on thursday. but we made her aware that we were going to treat her and take care of her. and regardless of whether there was going to be coverage. >> what effort did your office manager make? how long on hold to identify whether your patient had coverage? >> my office manager stayed on the phone 2.5 hours and could not get through because they were inundated by other calls from i'm sure other payers and offices, whether there was coverage, so there's all that confusion out there. >> now, did you know, is this sort of an anomaly? did you happen to have one patient and your office manager sat on hold for 2.5 hours? or are you hearing that other doctors are having this problem? >> i mean, there's a problem here with the patients.

some have cards, some are not sure whether -- whether they signed up, whether they have not received the card. and so there's a lot of anxiety on their part. in terms of coverage. for us, as physicians, you know, we're treating these patients. not knowing for sure. there's no way we can easily go in and -- on a website or to find out whether they have coverage. so it puts a lot more work on our staff to verify their coverage. and quite often they can't stay on the phone for two, three hours trying to verify this. we continue to see patients, hoping that eventually there will be coverage and we'll get reimbursed. it could be two, three months of doing things like this. and at some point, then i think the offices will have to reassess how long they can continue doing this. but at this point, we want to treat the patients. >> all right. was this urgent, this surgery? could your patient have waited two or three months? i'm not suggesting that she

would want to or he would want to. >> no -- >> is this something that the patient could have waited for? >> absolutely not. she -- she needed to be cared for. >> and is the surgery done in an office or at the hospital? i'm wondering, i mean, if you're having trouble getting paid for your work, is the hospital get -- having trouble getting paid? >> correct. it's an outpatient procedure. and i think as some patients become sicker and need more needs, the question bib who's going to accept the risks, not knowing whether or not they're going to get reimbursed. this will become a bigger issue, i think as things evolve over the next two or three months. >> do you have a sense it is going to evolve in the next two or three months? a yes, no, and i've got to go? >> absolutely. i do agree. i think -- as time goes on, things will get more difficult. >> doctor, thank you, sir. >> you're welcome.

students in california are suing the state over bad teachers. and the lawsuit could have ripple effects nationwide. in the suit, nine students claim current laws violate their right to a quality education. the state laws in question deal with teacher tenure, dismissal, and layoffs. the students argue minority and poor students are most in need of effective teachers. in california, those students are most likely to get the bad teachers. now the trial starts january 27th. and some legal experts say the results could impact the entire nation, especially state with strong unions. now you be the judge. are your students -- is it time to get tough against bad teachers? vote in our poll. coming up, a huge international crisis after all we've done. now, al qaeda bursting back to life in iraq. that's not the only place. we have more next.

have you been paying attention to what's going on in iraq? a few days ago, al qaeda captured fallujah. that's a crisis, and it's growing, but that's not all. in syria, al qaeda's dominating opposition groups. that's growing, and that's not all. there's iran and hezbollah, seemingly gaining in strength. ambassador john bolton joins us. good evening, sir. am i overstating it? >> no. i think the middle east is descend interesting chaos. you could name other countries where a similar deterioration in government structures and stability is occurring. it's not entirely due to the united states not paying attention, but it's certainly due to that in part. and to the perception that america's attention to and interest in and ability to influence the middle east is declining. >> well, what can we do? i mean, you say it's not to pay

attention -- you could rewind and go back to last summer when senator john mccain was asking us to support the free syrian army. that was an opposition group not dominated by al qaeda. in the meantime, as i understand it, having been there a couple weeks ago, that al qaeda is dominating a lot of opposition groups. so in that six-month period, something has changed dramatically there. >> well, i think the struggle between the elements of opposition is real and serious. the problem is there are so many mistakes that have been made in my view -- i have to say not just over the last five years of the obama administration, but in the last couple of years of the bush administration, that it's hard to unwind that ball of string. but i think if the perception in the region is that the united states doesn't care, it thinks the only real issue is stopping israeli construction on the west bank and cutting a deal on iran's nuclear weapons program, that adversaries and others can act without serious threat of a u.s. response. >> it is enormously complicated

because there are so many variables. i'm curious, if you were president, what would you do? >> well, the first thing i'd do would be to give up this absolutely hopeless effort to cut a deal between israel and the palestinians. the second thing i'd do would be to unwind the geneva agreement on iran's nuclear weapons program. and i'd focus people on the real alternatives. either iran gets nuclear weapons or we do something about it. i think the notion that you can live with a nuclear iran although the administration won't say it, is what they're aiming for. and i think that's -- that's a prescription for chaos in the region even more than what we see now. >> what's wrong with the deal between -- i mean, i don't know if it's possible, between the israelis and palestinians? that at least was used by many as sort of the -- the fuel to fight these other fights. >> that's an excuse. there's always a pretext. the reason you're not going to get a deal is that the palestinian authority does not have the competence or legitimaty to make real commitment with israel and five years from now carry through them as long as there's no

viable entity on the other side of the negotiating table with israel. there's absolutely no upside in making a deal. you can draw the line on the west bank wherever you want, frankly. it's not a close of where you draw the line. it's what kind of palestinian state will be on the other side of that series. and if it's the terrorist regime or regime that can't stop the terrorist like hamas, now controlling the gaza strip, there's no security for israel, no reason to make that deal. >> thank you, sir. >> thank you. coming up, remember mary y kay letourneau? highway is had sex with her student. she has new trouble. and a fierce fight over obamacare.

get ready to speed read your way through the news. first to the record cold.

a giant chunk of the nation in a polar vortex, pushing its way across the country. the coldest temperatures the u.s. has seen in 20 years. windchill warnings stretching from montana to alabama. in the midwest, wind, snow, and sub-zero temperatures making travel treacherous. airlines canceling more than a thousand flights. and schools are closed from the dakotas stretching all the way to maryland. and former teacher mary kay letourneau under arrest again. she made headlines in the '90s for having sex with her 12-year-old student. highway is went to prison, got out, and married the student. she's back in jail. this time accused of failing to appear in court for a suspended driver's license. and in new york city, mays making an arrest in knockout game spree. a brooklyn man charged with seven knockout assaults. bear baldwin accused of punching victims from november through christmas eve. police say most of his victims were jewish women. and in wyoming, liz cheney announcing she is ending her senate bid. she was trying to unseat

republican incumbent mike enzi. she says she's ending her campaign due to serious health issues in her family. the senator issueded a statement saying, "while it is not always easy, diane and i have always believed in putting family first. we have tremendous respect for liz's decision." and former gop presidential nominee mit romney in the news, accepting an apology from msnbc host melissa harris perry. over the weekend she expressed remorse for a segment on her show that poked fun at romney's adopted african-american grandson. and governor romney saying he's ready to move. on he says everybody makes mistakes. and that's tonight's "speed read." and two republican lawmakers from wisconsin in a bruising fight over obamacare. ron johnson of wisconsin and representative jim sensenbrenner. the court had s being asked to block the federal government from paying for health coverage for members of congress and staff. representative sensenbrenner calling it an unfortunate

political stunt. senator johnson defending his legal action. >> i don't believe this is trivial, frivolous, that this is a stunt. this is, i think, a very important constitutional question. i think it's a very important issue that deserves a full airing, its day in court, quite honestly a very full public discussion. >> joining us, our political panel. washington examiner chief political correspondent byron york, "fortune" magazine editor nina easton, and "the weekly standard's" john mccormack. before i ask about the wisconsin dynamic because he hails from wisconsin, many awhat's the problem here? -- many awhat's the problem here? >> i think this issue has been hanging around for some time. and i think really resonates politically with people. let's go back to the days when congress exempted itself from all sorts of laws -- anti-discrimination laws, labor laws, so forth. those days are gone. but under obamacare, they do get a bit of an exemption.

the 11,000 members of congress and staff get to get a subsidy from congress in order to buy hit and run off the exchange. johnson is arguing that that's unfair, and that it's unequal protection under the constitution. and therefore, he's suing. again, an issue that's been hanging around, and i think really resonates with people, that unfairness argument. >> john, it's -- not too often wisconsin politicians even cross parties take a swipe at each other. >> it's unusual. the problem, johnson seems to have the better of the argument politically -- >> why would sensenbrenner swat him so? >> they're protective of members of their staff. this is the employer contribution effectively. the law had no statutory authority to continue this subsidy. so he said, listen, you can't just change the law, you have to follow the letter of the law. sensenbrenner is looking at staffers, some of whom don't make a lot of money, saying i

don't want to cut someone who's making $30,000, $40,000, $5,000, $8,000 subsidy for them. this is important to their staffers. that's why you see the divide. i think johnson's right. if you want to change the law, you have to go out and actually the law. you can't just say -- i, the executive, get to choose who i want. >> byron, a couple of members of congress, every time we've had the discussion, whispered afterward. even if it happened that they lost the subsidies, that they could raise the pay of these -- of these staff members. so it's not quite, you know, to be commensurate with the cut. >> right. actually, you know, johnson came from private business. and he was shocked when he got to the senate to find out that senators who have a budget for their office and have to consider the salaries of their workers don't actually pay the benefits for the workers because if you're in private business as he was, you'd think of materials and your labor costs and -- including the salaries and the benefits and everything. and then if you're a senator, you pay someone's salary, then someone else pays the health care benefits. and he was always amazed by this.

can you believe that they really do that? i think that what he's doing is -- is emblematic of a larger republican frustration with president obama's unilateral changes in obamacare like the -- the delaying of the employer mandate. so many of these things, they've really frustrated republicans, they had said you have to go through congress to do this. and of course by the way, we'll block anything you try to do. republicans feel that -- the president does not have the authority to do this kind of stuff unilaterally. and so what johnson has done has taken one issue where he thinks he has a good legal case, and he's going to take to it to court. >> and the lawyer who argued against health care in the supreme court, he's back for his second run. paul clemente. >> right. >> he's making a second appearance. all right. panel, byron was busy on twitter today. he tweeted, "one small, good thing about obamacare finally being in effects -- some liberals feel free to admit it was a trick all along." and a second, "a deceptively sneaky way to get a single-payer system." byron, what do you mean by your

tweets today? >> deceptively sneaky is a quote from a liberal writer in the "new republic," who wrote an article today. he was actually -- responding to a column that michael moore had written in "the new york times." moore is disappointed that obamacare is sort of the peacemeal system that it is -- piecemeal system that it is. he wanted a single-payer government system. and he was saying be patient. it was designed to get to single payer in the end because it imposes all sorts of burdens on people. and they're going to complain to government for relief. it creates a lot of really inadequate coverage for a lot of people who are then going to go to congress, and congress' respond will ultimately be to grant more generous and expensive benefits and will keep growing until one day it becomes the single payer system that the most liberal members of congress wanted all along. >> i never thought that was -- i don't know if that ultimately will happen. but sneaky, deceptive acts like that with the intent from the

beginning. i mean, noeps, leader pelosi, she said she had -- she didn't know what was in it essentially. >> that's been the decision by conservatives for a long time, it's true. >> you think they were that clever? >> it's true that they wanted single payer. a lot of people on the left wanted single payer. this cross breed was a grand compromise that got all of -- how many republican votes? none. it didn't turn out to be a grand compromise anyways. and it's interesting, going back to the michael moore column, he i thought vividly points out the costs on one individual person. you take a guy who makes $survi$65,000 a year and pays $11,000 in premiums under obamacare and will have $26,000 -- or $2,600 in deductibles. he really vividly points out from the left the kind of burden that obamacare is putting on people. i thought that was a very telling moment.

>> so is there any chance that we are moving to a single payer? what happen would happen in the insurance industry? >> there's a chance. the democrats have always said -- liberal health care policy experts have said that the natural incentives in obamacare, you get everyone in the system and get the single payer. people, more and more frequently, have been admitting this. harry reid a couple of months ago said he hopes this is just a step. and he's hoping the eventustep single payer. if obamacare fails, and if it fails as quickly as it seems it might, are people going to trust democrats to have more power and more control? i think it's unlikely that people are ready for some canadian-style single-payer system. even if they do, where's the money? medicare's going bankrupt now. medicaid, 1/3 of doctors won't accept new patients. we can't even afford the programs we have. so how exactly are we going to pay for this? >> you could argue that part of it, there's been an expansion of single payer already because you've got four million people in medicaid. medicaid is expanding. that's a single payer system. your seeing that on the medicaid

front. >> but it is important for democrat to say that this would be a market-based system. it would not be a huge,pansion. when they were selling the bill, it would not be a huge expansion. remember senator tom harkin, liberal, democrat in the senate, called obamacare a starter home. it's a way to get where you want to go. it's just a start. >> and a starter home that the industry bought into, by the way. >> i mean -- >> stay with us. coming up, andrew luck stunning colts' fans with an amazing c e comeback win. did his luck run out? see what happened next. also, is president obama engaging in class warfare, or is he fighting for the jobless? the unemployment benefit battle heating up, and you can hash it out with us. do you think congress should extend unemployment benefit without a spending offset?

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a raunchy photo bomb rocks the nfl. tweeting photo. celebrates the team's playoff victory over the kansas city chiefs. colts' fans quickly spotting nearly nude quarterback andrew luck in the background. mac afee promptly deleting the scandalous photo. it did not take long for the image to go viral. he tweeted, "oh, boy, half naked andrew in the back of that last one. he looked damn good, though." and "i feel awful for that luck

photobomb. thankful his parts were covered. i'm hoping the future hall of famer forgives the mistake." and what do you get a dictator for his birthday? the "new york post" tweets, "dennis rodman and ex-nba all stars arrive in north korea to play as a birthday present to kim jong-un. rodman continued his so-called basketball diplomacy campaign, arriving with a squad of former nba players and street ballers including kenny anderson, vin baker, and charles d. smith. the players will take part in an exhibition game on wednesday. and a hollywood tough guy with a krooer in politics? yahoo! tweeting action movie star steven seagal is considering running for arizona governor. talking about the potential bid while promoting his new reality show. the actor teaming one prominent maricopa county sheriff joe arpaio for the series. documents seagal's duties as a member of arpaio's volunteer possy in arizona. and the beard debut heard around the world. at least around the twitter

universe. here are some reactions to carney's makeover -- jillian tweeting, "i think carney's beard finally makes him look like a grown-up." jewelee, "he must be a "duck dynasty" span." and the former white house press secretary tweeting, "imagine if i had shown up to the podium with a beard. now that would have been big news, people." what did carney have to say about his facial hairdo? [ laughter ] >> my wife says she likes it, so there. tmi. >> you can't argue with that. it is time to hash it out with us, #greta. road rage leads to murder and a manhunt on for the killer.

is this class warfare or fighting for the long-term unemployed? president obama pushing for renewed unemployment benefits and minimum wage increase in a campaign against what democrats call income inequality. our panel is back. byron, is this class warfare, or

is this fighting for the people who don't have jobs, and what's the test to figure it out? >> well, it's also campaigning for november. i think that's a really important thing. you have to remember this is important of the agenda that the president laid out in his speech on december 4, the inequality speech in which he basically says his administration is going to be devotesed to this for the rest -- devoted to this for the rest of his time in office. democrats believe they have a winning issue on unemployment insurance. they think the public is with him on that. and also on the minimum wage. on unemployment insurance, i do kind of look for republicans to cave on this at some point. now, if you listen to republicans, they're saying, well, we don't -- we don't really oppose unemployment insurance, but we oppose it if you don't pay for it. so -- >> that's the offset? >> exactly. you could see negotiations in the coming weeks, to find some b -- some way to pay for it. >> nina? >> a couple important facts on the obama administration and inequality.

inequality has grown during the obama administration because there's a lack of growth. whatle has grown during the obama administration -- what else has grown during the obama administration, safety programs,deprograms, dependency has grown. dependency does not get people out of poverty. jobs do. unemployment benefits are an important safety net program. they've been extended time and time again. and what studies show, this is actual data shows, it actually ad adds, extending them add to unemployment. why, some people, not everybody, some people put off getting a job until their benefits run out. and the effect of it is to keep unemployment up. what do you want to do and what the country should be doing is figuring out how to get particularly the long-term unemployed people whose skills have gotten rusty, who need help getting in the work force. that's what we should be focusing on is how it get the training and help -- how to get the training and help and support to help people get jobs. >> john? >> there are creative alternatives. in some states like north

dakota, they have tons of jobs. they have this fracking oil boom. you have people in other states who can't find any jobs. >> they are also under water and can't move. they can't sell their houses to move to north dakota. >> exactly. one creative idea is to help pay for relocation for people. if you're stuck in the situation where you're under water, it doesn't help you just to pay for your moving cost to get to a place where there are jobs. there's another policy where it doesn't help people on the lower end of the scale necessarily. a lot of people, it's a second income. and a family that isn't poor. if you really wanted to help the poor, another idea would be to expand the earned income tax credit which is targeted to the poor. it wouldn't go to a family where it's a 17-year-old getting a bump in minimum wage rather than someone who's really poor and needs it. >> panel as always, thank you. >> thank you.

now it's time to show you what we are watching. we put together the most fantastic video. you've heard of snowmen, snow angels, how about snow sharks? three men building a 16-foot snow shark. that's right. it wasn't easy, took the brothers 95 hours. we're guessing the shark will be around for awhile. it's minus 19 degrees right now. and a bad day for the chinese auto dealer. a ban of 20 vandals bashing car windows and the front desk. no word on a motive for the attack. and watch out, a bull goes rogue at a bull fighting festival in costa rica. after charging out of the gate,

the bull charged a woman standing in a bull ring. he then launches her in the stands. luckily she's okay. she said she was terrified and is laughing about it now. and that's what we are watching tonight. coming up, road rage leads to murder. now a multistate hunt is on right now for the killer. the latest is next.

vicious road rage on a snowy highway, a terrifying encounter

ends in a deadly shooting and at this hour, a man hunt for the killer. charles thompson from the patriot news joins us. good evening, and can you tell me, first of all, is there any indication they have located or identified the man they suspect of killing this driver? >> no indication of that right now. the most we know about that is that the state police have said they will be holding a press conference tomorrow, some time midday, possibly, with the maryland state police. as you know, this was right near the pennsylvania/maryland state line. and we'll get more details on the extent of the search at that point. >> so what happened? >> well, what happened was a man from maine traveling alone, timmy davison of poland, maine, was headed back to his home from a vacation visiting grandfather,

uncle, and sister, who lived in florida. and at some point around where interstate 81 passes through maryland, and that's just about a little ten-mile stretch where that highway passes through the very narrow neck of maryland, between pennsylvania and west virginia at that area, he got into some kind of a conflict with another motorist. right now, there's no other indication but that it was an apparent road rage kind of issue, and i don't know who instigated what. police haven't shared that kind of detail. but he calls 911 in maryland, hits the pennsylvania state line. the call apparently drops. he calls 911 again, and is talking to a dispatcher in franklin county, pennsylvania, when the shooter in this --

person we believe to be the shooter in this incident, literally rams his vehicle, drives it off of the interstate into the median between the northbound and southbound arteries. davison's vehicle becomes disabled there. the attacker stops his vehicle, gets out, walks up to davison vehicle and pumps three shots into the driver's side door, and mr. davison is struck. apparently while he's on the line with the 911 operator. police do get to him, but unfortunately, and tragically, later in the day he died in a hospital. >> well, it's a terrible story, but if anyone has any information, do call the police immediately, because this man who is a suspect is still out there. charlie, thank you very much for joining us. >> yeah. okay. >> and thank you for being with us. but before we go, we want to

wish former president george h.w. bush and his wife barbara a happy 69th wedding anniversary. see you tomorrow night here at smk paul mccure yow would do. you are about to ep ter the greg zone tonight on "red eye." >> coming up on "red eye." dogs on scooters and bicycles? the story msnbc refuses to investigate. plus, does the president think "anchorman 2" was a huge mistake? >> you don't have to take my word for it, but probably nothing has done more damage to america's credibility in the world. >> and does this bizarre female obsessed with laughing 24/7 have a more sinister purpose? the interview with the mad man behind the movement. none of these stories on "red eye" tonight jie. and now let's welcome our guests. he is