>> right. >> log on for our after the show show. >> be warm and dry. >> be safe. >> stay within yourself. now socking the northeast with snow and ice and millions are affected. here in new york city it is really coming down in the last hour. i'm bill hemmer outside of our studios here. 48th and 6th avenue. that is our camera across 6th avenue. with windchill out here it is dropping into the teens and possibly single digits. maria molina was out here since 5:00 this morning. just to my left this is the amount of snow that has a accumulated. it is, i don't know, a good

eight inches i would say, maybe two inches an hour coming down here in new york city. and this winter of 2014 that no one east of the mississippi will soon forget, arguably this storm has affected the most people of all. a dozen deaths reported in the south already. moving up the coast through charlotte and raleigh, in the washington d.c. they might get eight inches there today. of the philadelphia, new york, eventually into boston, massachusetts. tens of millions are feeling this one. again i'm bill hemmer. also good morning to my partner, martha maccallum. you have never looked better by the way. martha: thank you. you look pretty good out there actually. it is a winter wonderland and it is a tough one. more snow days for the kids. they will go to school into the middle of the summer at this point. millions of people are still in the path of this storm. we're tracking it closely up here from the 12th floor where it is vertical when you look at snow outside the window

here. thethe storm is blowing into the northerly this morning after slamming the deep south and arrived on our part of the shoreline and leaving half a million people without power. causing complete chaos. storm warnings all around the region. forecasters predict this mom sister could dump as many as 15 inches of snow. this is like a shadow over i 95 all the way up the east coast and will be like that in parts over next couple days. bill: certainly will. we positioned people up and down the coast. team fox coverage, laura engel on the streets of new york city. she is moving around in that vehicle. john roberts back in atlanta. people are closed in yet again in atlanta, georgia, today. start here in new york. laura, where are you, and how are things on the roads? >> reporter: we are creeping up north on 10th avenue and it is a very slow commute as you can imagine. snowplows have been out here clanging and grinding away trying to clear out the snow

overnight into the early morning hours. we'll switch to our camera on the roof here so you can see what we're looking at right now as we head up north avenue. it is coming down hard. it is an absolute mess. the snow covering streets, cars, buildings. insult to injure as you mentioned snow and ice built up. central park received 41 inches of snow. this is 25.8 inches of the 30-year average. 15.7. office of emergency management issuing a travel advisory along with winter storm warning urging people to use mass transit. you don't want to be out in this anyway. winter storm warnings in northeast, long island, new jersey, connecticut. timing and intensity are the big factors with the snow dumping down during the morning commute, bill. bill: thank you, laura. be careful on the roads. when the wind starts to kick like it is, this wind must gust at 30 miles per hour, maybe even more than that.

our equipment is just getting rocked down here. often times in new york city, when it snows, it is normal on the street level. martha, as you mentioned you get 10 or 15 stories high, that snow comes down parallel. it is horizontal to the street. that is what we have now out here. they say it might last another 10 or 12 hours? if that is the case that is a full-blown blizzard. we'll see in time if that is the case. martha: that's right. bill, see you up here in a little bit. as you mentioned that storm system is leaving quite a mess in the southeast as well where it started. in north carolina, tens of thousands of people waking up with no lights or heat this morning. snow dumping heavy snow across the region bringing down power lines making tough to walk let alone drive anywhere. >> conditions walking are real bad. hard to stand you. can't see the concrete or anything. >> there has been accidents left and right. just, you know, people being

careless, not taking their time. and unfortunately once you get stuck on a hill and there is ice, you try to get your momentum going you sit there and spin left and right. martha: georgia is under close watch after the last storm crippled parts of the state two weeks ago. john roberts there live for us from atlanta. how is it looking now, john? [no ought yo] martha: we're not getting john's audio. i thought it was in my earpiece. we'll get back to him a little bit. a little bit of context how big this storm is. it has slammed 10 states in the eastern half of the country. heavy snow and freezing rain coming in under the snow. we know of at least 12 weather-related death that is happened in the southeast. the ice knocked down trees. it is weighing heavy on power lines that leaves in this case more than 500,000 homes and businesses with no power in that

region. so far today, flight cancellations around the country total more than 4500. you better just forget it if you live in that area and thinking about going anywhere today, bill. bill: you think about how long it will take in order to get that traffic normal again. in north carolina and charlotte, at international airport there, among many hard hit by major flight delays and cancellations. stranded travelers are doing their best to take it in stride in charlotte. >> as soon as flight is scheduled it is canceled. sleeping on laptops. sleeping on floors. it is everywhere. people are just trying to do what they got to do to survive it. >> i'm pretty much camped out with my two carry-on pieces here. >> everybody is trying to get out. 75% of the flights are canceled and stuck. i was told to get to florida, it will take a week. bill: wow. if you did not stock up before the storm you might be out of luck. shoppers were cleaning out grocery stores all across the south and mid-atlantic in anticipation of being snowed in

possibly for days. stocking up on all the food items you need. bread, cereal in case of a long-term pouter outage. hundred of thousands have no power in the southeast. shelves are bare in markets like west virginia there. expected to get as many as 10 inches of snow. think about all the places in the southeast, martha. let's not admit, not used to seeing storms like these. maybe hit five to seven or eight years but they have one right now. the pictures and images from raleigh, north carolina last night looked exactly like atlanta two weeks ago. you remember all the people got stuck after being released from work and school and abandoned their cars and walked home? that was the scene in raleigh, north carolina. almost transported from atlanta to raleigh. how they get back to the vehicles and secure them will be a process that takes some time because it is really coming down

right now here outside of our studios. really, a winter wonderland, martha. we'll come back inside in a moment. i will see you up there there okay? martha: bundled up and ready. we'll see you when come on up. we want to know what you are seeing out there today. send us your pictures and videos. we're getting tons of pictures and love to see more of them. stay safe while you're doing this. send us a tweet @billhemmer and @marthamaccallum. we'll put them up on a screen. send us the best you have to look at this morning. fox news lert. another uptick in obama care sign-ups. saying 3.3 million americans have enrolled. a far cry from where they need to be but the administration's goal is to have 7 million signed up by the end of march. they have a month 1/2 to reach that goal. 25% of the enrollees they announced are all-important young people, the group crucial to keeping obama care costs low. we don't know how many paid actually or are actually covered

because we're hearing stories when people actually go to the hospital, go to the doctor. remember more than six million americans who had insurance before this all started have their plans canceled and have been scrambling to get coverage. so these numbers are moving very quickly and we're staying right this? of them for you. a growing number of americans worrying about the strength of the u.s. economy. look at new fox news polls just came out. 58% of the voters think the economy has not seen the worst of what is to come as of right now. so that is up from a year ago. 37% say we are over the hump. stuart varney is the host of "varney & company" on the fox business network and he joins me now. good morning to you. >> good morning, martha. this weather is not going to make things any better. this will hurt sentiment going forward. now at the moment the sentiment is running counter to what the president says. president obama says the economy is making progress, that it is showing improvement. in fact people feel that the

economy is getting worse according to those numbers you just quoted there, martha. this weather that we're experiencing now, that will make things a lot worse. why is this happening? well, household income is dead stable. no change in 20 years. that hurts. real unemployment, that's above 11%. we're still not got as many jobs in this economy as we had in 2007 and there's real anxiety over obamacare. makes peel feel bad about the future of the economy. and now, this whopping, great big storm, we just heard that retail sales actually fell in the month of january. so the outlook is actually getting worse. martha: yeah. it will be interesting to see how internet sales while everybody is hunkered down. >> they should be up. martha: in front much their computer. there may be a little bit of an up tick. we'll see. people were asked in this same polling to give the president a grade how they thought he was doing in terms of his job to do what he can to improve the

economy. only 9% gave him an a. 22 members, about, and 22 members. c. 14% gave him a d. 24% gave the president an f in improving the economy. when you put all this together, by a generous estimate, c-minus. most teachers would call it a d, 1.78gpa. there. >> if you look at democrats who were polled, 17% gave the president an a. however that is down from 23% of democrats who gave the president an a in 2012. even among his core base the president's performance is being negatively rated. he is losing ground on the economy among his core base. >> stuart, we'll see you later. thank you very much. >> sure. martha: so it's a growing trend. democrats are facing tough contests in november with new political ads combing out like

this. >> tea party billionaires think attack ads can cover the truth. joe garcia is working to fix obamacare. he voted to let you keep your existing health plan and took the white house to task for the disasterous health care website. martha: trying to capture this in the best way possible. will that, and those kind of ads work for democrats in this election? plus this. >> this law of the land doesn't even exist. it exists in obama's head. it is whatever he thinks, he wakes up in the morning and decides what the law is going to be. martha: got more of the new numbers that just came in about what americans really think about the president's promise to simply bypass congress if he needs to get things done. incredible video from a camera that is believed to have been dropped from a plane but is this video what it seems to be? we'll be right back when bill comes inside. come on, get warm, bill. ♪

check it out. i can't believe your mom has a mom cave! today i have new campbell's chuy spicy chicken quesadilla soup. she gives me chunky before every game. i'm very souperstitious. haha, that's a good one! haha! [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. it fills you up right. [ chicken caws ] [ male announcer ] when your favorite food starts a fight, fight back fast with tums. eartburn relief that neutralizes acid on contact and goes to work in seconds. ♪ tum, tum tum tum tums!

there's nothing like being your own boss! and my customers are really liking your flat rate shipping. fedex one rate. really makes my life easier. maybe a promotion is in order. good news. i got a new title. and a raise? management couldn't make that happen. [ male announcer ] introducing fedex one rate. simple, flat rate shipping with the reliability of fedex.

martha: all right. this is a wide shot. you saw bill down on the street corner below. this is what it looks like from here where the snow basically looks like it is completely vertical coming into the camera as you can see it. that is snowing in new york city. visibility about a quarter of a mile in this area what we're being told right now. you have a thousand flights in new york already canceled in this area and as you know down south about half a 348 people with no power. we'll talk to folks from the georgia power authority coming up in a little while. get an update when they expect to be up and running. you see from the weather map, how clearly we're right in the middle of the worst of this in the atlantic states, northeast,

there it is a monster that thing. bill: texas an birmingham. all the way down. i always wanted to wear the irish tweed. >> look good, my lad. very lovely. bill: so it is done. martha: tweet us to tell us what you think about bill's hat. bill: you can do that. fox news alert. we have new polling about how americans feel about president obama's strategy to bypassing congress to further his second term agenda. 60% disapprove the using executive orders which charles krauthamer describes as unconstitutional and a bit hypocritical. here is charles. >> remember democrats were complaining when republicans were trying to overturn obamacare it was somehow unpatriotic because it was an attack on the law of the land. this law of the land doesn't even exist. it exists in obama's head. it is whatever he thinks, he wakes up in the morning and decides what the law is going to be. bill: chris stirewalt is going to an lies this, our fox news

digital politics editor and host of "power play" at foxnews.com live. good morning. >> bill, i want the hat back. shame i didn't not get you a hat. bill: only one of them out there. 60%, you know what that tells you? that people are paying attention to the executive orders. >> he talked about it enough. the president talks about his pen and his phone. this is basically for lack of a domestic initiative slate or anything that would move in congress. the president has talked about this in 2011, 2012, 2013. now in the fourth consecutive year the president talks about how he doesn't need congress and he will do what he wants. perhaps people are finally listening to the president who previously had been ignored on the topic. now people are engaged and they don't like it. bill: here is another poll how we found. is this how government is supposed to work? look at this stunning number. 74% say no! i wonder does the white house take these numbers? do they think about it and say,

whoa, maybe this is not what we should be doing here? >> i think the reality for this white house, if we look how the president and his political team ran for re-election and how they conducted themselves, what the larger electorate and populace thinks what the base of the base, core democrats think about what they're doing. what the president has done, found a way to tell his supporters, people who donate and activists, work for him, he found a way to tell them we don't have to compromise with republicans. even if the majority of americans want us to make a deal and govern like bill clinton has done, like ronald reagan, george w. bush have had to do to make concessions to the other side the president has told his supporters, we don't have to compromise and we don't have to negotiate. and by doing that he has kept a small, relatively small number of people happy with him. that is how he governs. the core of the base. bill: quickly, jonathan turley, kelly file, constitutional

attorney. listen to this. >> i think many people will look back into this period in history and see nothing but confusion as to why people remain so silent when the president asserted these type of unilateral actions. it is dangerous. that is what he is suggesting is to essentially put our system off-line. this is not the first time that convenience has become the enemy of principle. we've never seen it to this extent. bill: why people remain so silent. it is dangerous. that is comment about media coverage. where is the media? >> a bad precedent are set for good reasons. the concern here is that this bad precedent will persist in the future and future administrations. nobody is saying much about it. bill: chris stirewalt. you made it to work today. of the well-done. in washington. >> absolutely. bill: here martha. martha: there is an intense manhunt for two fugitives considered armed and dangerous. we'll have the latest on the search for these two. bill: dozens of dangerous prisoners in afghanistan set to go free over objection of the

united states. former homeland security secretary tom ridge with harsh words for the afghan president hamid karzai. here. >> certainly like to have been with secretary clinton or secretary kerry to take him basically to the woodshed and listen, you dishonor the 2,000 plus men and women that died here and thousands more injured. a simple question:

in retirement, will you outlive your money? uhhh.

no, that can't happen. that's the thing, you don't know how long it has to last. everyone has retirement questions. so ameriprise created the exclusive.. confident retirement approach. now you and your ameripise advisor can get the real answers you need. well, knowing gives you confidence. start building your confident retirement today.

bill: in the middle of a snowstorm a manhunt for two jail escapees considered armed and dangerous. they are looking for chad dasher and raymond thomas smith. broke out from a jail in georgia two weeks ago using homemade tools to cut through a barrier to get to the reef and jump over a fence and get away. it was several hours before authorities had realized that they were gone.

martha: well 65 prisoners in afghanistan, some blame for deadly attacks on americans, just walked free. gates of the prison opened for these folks. hamid karzai, the afghan president ordered their release weeks ago despite protests came from the u.s. military on this. former homeland security secretary tom ridge commented on karzai's decision earlier this week. >> it has been going for quite some sometime what are we trying to do to rein him in? >> apparently not much. he is on his way out the door. the election is in april. what bothers me more than anything else we shouldn't be surprised at this conduct, there hasn't been any public, public challenge to any anti-american statements past couple years from anybody. martha: comments from tom ridge there. leland vittert joins us live from our middle east bureau with more. good morning, leland. >> reporter: good morning, martha. off the record, the u.s. military is not just angry but they are furious about this.

they are prisoners they believe have american blood on their hands. they blame them for deaths of 32 members of the u.s. military and coalition forces. one was the one of the key taliban explosives experts they linked to a number of roadside bombs and that kind of thing. they say releasing this these prisoners right now is a free pass for them to return to the battlefield. once again try to kill afghan civilians, afghan soldiers, part of the security forces there. and try to attack americans who are still there in the country. important to understand that the timing of this. about a year-and-a-half ago, president karzai demanded from the united states to be able to take over holding prisoners that had been grabbed by the united states military during operations against suspected militants. he was granted that permission on the sole basis that he promised not to release anyone unless they had approval from the united states government and from the military commanders on the ground in afghanistan. clearly today's actions, releasing these prisoners flies right in the face of that

agreement. martha? martha: boy, truly, as you say, a brazen move on their part and you wonder how much leverage there even is in this situation as tom ridge also indicated. leland, thank you very much. bill: back to this storm now. it is strong, it is powful, it is on the move. it is arriving in the northeast. live picture from philadelphia. philly could get eight to 10 inches of snow when it is all done. several major cities, the population base in america up et hit by this thing. we're live outside again in a moment on that. also this, martha. martha: and the ground, look at this, opening up. these are corvettes, these are classic corvettes that fell into a sinkhole. i mean, this is a bad day at work if you show up at the museum, right? we'll tell you exactly what happened. more details on that. ever seen a grown man cry? ♪

[ male announcer ] this is jowoods' first day of work.

and his new boss told him two ings -- cook what you love, and save your money. joe doesn't know it yet, t he'll work his way up from busser to waiter to chef before opening a restaurant specializing in fish and game om the great northwest. he'll stt investing early, he'll find some good people to help guide him, and he'll set money aside from his first day of work to his last, ich isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. bill: northeast is getting its turn at this storm. day after deadly storm pummeled southern u.s. with ice, sleet and snow. live pictures from philadelphia. the forecast there, it is not good frankly. if you do not have to be outside don't do it. folks could see a foot of snow.

rick leventhal checking things out. what is it like now? good morning. >> reporter: most people heeded that advice. there is heavy snow coming down. it was mixed with ice pellets earlier. streets are virtually deserted. they had nine inches of snow that fell at philadelphia international airport. that is the fourth time this winter they had six inches or more. that is the first time it ever happened in the history of philadelphia. this is a look at market street. this is normally a very busy thoroughfare. it is is virtually empty except for a few businesses and other work vehicles. the city was pretty smart, closing all government offices and all schools as well. so the streets are virtually deserted. we were out earlier we saw workers trying to clear some of the sidewalks. there were not a lot of people using sidewalks because conditions are so bad. as you know a week ago a lot of customers lost power. nearly 800,000 customers in the philadelphia region lost power because of an ice storm. they're worried about a similar

event this time around, bill. so far a few dozen outages reported that could change though. bill: if you go to the west probably 10 miles, 20 miles, the snow there in pennsylvania might be a lot thicker than it is in philadelphia if you look at the storm pattern, rick. >> reporter: absolutely. it is causing a lot of problems on the roads as you might imagine. in fact the pennsylvania turnpike actually shut down or restricted access to trucks, empty tractor-trailers and double tractor-trailers are prohibited from using the pennsylvania turnpike in certain sections. reducing speed limit to 45 miles an hour. you can see why. the roads are thick with snow and ice. they're working to clear them. there is a bottom layer here that is really, really messy and the airport has already canceled 800 flights, bill. 70% of operations today are already canceled. a couple of runways are open. they are moving some planes in and out. it is a very, very rough day. it will continue throughout the day into the night. it might warm up and might get

rain mixed in. it will turn to ice and snow again. bill: you don't want the ice. the story's the same in washington and philadelphia, here in new york as well. so we'll check in with you a bit later. thank you, rick. rick leventhal in philadelphia. >> reporter: okay. martha: utility crews are working round-the-clock to try to turn the lights back on, the heat back on for people down south. this is a live look at at ant at that. that is affiliate waga driving around trying to survey the damage. it looks pretty. the roads are really in tough shape and a lot of folks are without power. state of emergency is in effect in northern georgia. one of the hardest hit areas we've seen so far. all told half a million homes and businesses are in the dark right now. you've got more than 200,000 of them in georgia alone. here on the phone to give us an update is georgia power spokesman john kraft. john, welcome. i know you guys are busy with all this. we appreciate you taking the time to talk to us today.

how's it going? >> hi, i'm glad to be here. it has been a rough couple days. we're making progress. we're turning lights back on but we have a good ways to go. martha: how many people would you say you've been able to restore power to and how many roughly are still out? >> good question. i'm just looking at an updated figure. looks like we restored power in the last 25 hours when we saw the outages really pick up. we restored power now to about 267,000 customers in the past 24, 25 hours. martha: wow. that's impressive. how long do you think it will be before everybody's power is back on? folks still in the dark, that's all they care about at this point. >> absolutely. we still have 240,000 customers left to get back on, assuming we don't continue to get some new outages. we are continuing to see some new outages where heavy isolating tree and get some wind and another tree will fall and back to the drawing board for that area that happens in.

so, it is hard to say until we really see the new outages stop. it will certainly continue working on this for the next 24 hours and, then we'll have to see where we are at that point. martha: it gets so frustrating for folks who don't have power but those who are working to restore those power lines are working under very tough conditions today. how are all of them holding up? what do you do to sort of fire everybody up to get this job done? >> right. well these are restoration professionals. these are people in the field that do this every day. they live to get lights back on. this is the kind of work, it is really gratifying to them to be out there working and getting lights back on. we have more than, i think more than 3,000 workers from other states who have come to help us now much like we go to other states to help after these types of events. martha: yep. >> we really appreciate them coming to help as well as our own teams out there. important to make sure they're working safe.

they don't get overtired, get them some rest. get them a hot meal and get them back out there for another day of restoration. martha: john, how do you compare this experience with the mess that happened a couple weeks ago? >> right. here in georgia the event a couple weeks ago did not end up having as much frozen rain or freezing rain. so it wasn't as big of a power event. we had very light outages during that. this one is different animal, completely. a lot of freezing rain which the ice built up on the lines. breaks the tree limbs. breaks the trees come over themselves and -- martha: john in terms of getting around, i'm looking at roads from our live shot from waga right now. looks like people are moving along, those who are out there on the roads. it is not what we saw last time which is cars littered all over the highways and people abandoning them to walk home. >> right. it seems like, that's a different scenario this time

too, both from preparation and advance warning as well as the work of our state d.o.t. and our emergency management officials seem to be doing a great job with that. different, the storm hit in different areas as well. so all types of factors went into making these storms different. martha: yeah. well good for you guys. keep up the good work. i know you're trying really hard to get everybody's power back on. john, thanks so much for taking time to talk with us. best of luck with you. we'll see how we do with out power the next 20 four hours. thank you, jon. bill: almost like they got a redo there. here in washington, d.c., beautiful, isn't it? martha: looks beautiful. bill: federal offices are closed for the day. the white house briefing was canceled. things will move a bit slowly as we start to, we'll see how bad it is in the end. how intense it gets in the end and how long it takes us to dig out of it so.

martha: probably relieved the briefing is not happening, right? one less day to answer questions. bill: i was thinking the storm started down in texas. then they had problems in arkansas. they got worse in alabama, worse in georgia. worse in south and north carolina and now up the coast here. martha: would you like to go out and put the cap back on see how things are going? bill: maybe 21 minutes. looking forward to that. sochi spoiler alert. if you do not want to know time to get second cup of coffee. martha: i will get a second cup of coffee. bill: there we go, maccallum. sweep for the usa taking entire podium in men's freestyle competition led by 22-year-old josh christiansen taking over the gold. that sweep only the third for the u.s. in winter olympic history. well-done, guys. martha: great, great job. bill: talk about "a cinderella story." meet the america's new snowboarding champ.

that is caitlin harrington. martha: amazing run. bill: first time olympics wins the gold. no one saw it coming. martha: glad to be coming. just wanted to do well. goes home with the gold. bill: well-done. her family owns a ranch in idaho. her father sold some of his cows to pay for his daughter's trip to russia. and she comes home with gold. martha: well-done, dad. bill: here is the medal count. norway still on top. team usa is coming back. we're number two with 12 overall medals. plenty of competition to come. we should send some snow over to russia. martha: 60 degrees. bill: some of these pictures over there look down right tropical. martha: i know. looks like they're in the middle of winter. but they're not. it is 60. can you imagine? surprised not skiing in shorts over there. bill: probably could. martha: probably could. the white house touting good news on the obamacare front today as more people are signing up. so we're growing to tell you what you need to know about the whole story there. will they hit their goal that is

needed to get enough money into this thing to make it work? bill: also a huge lawsuit filed against the nsa and our government virtually on behalf of all americans. what senator rand paul says you need to know. >> there's huge and growing swell of protest in this country of people who are outraged that their records would be taken without suspicion, without a judge's warrant, and without individualization. this we believe will be a historic lawsuit.

[ male announcer ] meet mary. she loves to shop online with her debit card. and so does bill, an identity thief who stole mary's identity, took over her bank accounts, and stole her hard-earned money. unfortunately, millions of americans just like you learn all it may take is a little misplaced information to wreak havoc on your life. this is identity theft. and no one helps stop it better than lifelock. lifelock offers the most comprehensive identity theft protection available. if mary had lifelock's bank account alerts, she may have been notified before it was too late. lifelock's credit notification service is on the job 24/7. as soon as they detect a threat to your identity within their network,

they will alert you, protecting you before the damage is done. lifelock has the most comprehensive identity theft protection available, guarding your social security number, your money, your credit, even the equity in your home. my years as a prosecutor taught me that we all need to protect ourselves from crime. in today's world, that includes identity theft. it's a serious problem. we all have to protect ourselves. [ male announcer ] while identity theft can't be completely stopped, no one works harder to protect you than lifelock. you even get a $1 million service guarantee. that's security no one can beat. you have so much to protect and nothing to lose when you call lifelock right now and get 60 days of identity theft protection risk free. that's right. 60 days risk free. use promo code notme. order now and get this document shredder to keep sensitive documents out of the wrong hands. a $29 value free. don't wait until you become the next victim.

♪ ♪ martha: so new class-action suit anyone who own as phone could care about. it is over nsa once secret program collecting records of the many americans phone calls. senator rand paul of kentucky is filing this lawsuit and names president obama and the leaders of several intelligence agencies in the suit. >> the class could include anybody who has a cell phone or anybody who has a landline.

really virtually everyone in the united states and i think that illustrates the problem is that a single warrant shouldn't apply to so many people. the fourth amendment said that if you want a warrant to look at someone's records, to invade their private sir, you have to name the person, the place and the items. martha: rand paul really fired up about this and made it a cornerstone of his mission at the moment. the obama administration says the program is legal and notes that 15 judges authorized it dating back to 2006. bill: we have updated numbers from the administration on the pace of obamacare enrollment. these are numbers from hhs now, now reporting the following. this is as of february 1, 3.2 million. this was the he cantation at end of january, 4.3 million. well off the target from there and still well off the ultimate goal of seven million by the end of march. ages 18 to 34 rather, the target

was 40%. well under that at 25%. this is a critical aspect of that law too to get young to buy into it. enrollment so far, below the 6.2 million of the cancellations as of mid-february, at 6.2 million across the country. want to bring in a couple friend with us right now. doug schoen, democratic strategist, fox news contributor. rich lowery from "the national review" and also a fox news contributor as well. gentlemen, good morning. you guys look well-ensconced inside and nice and warm. doug, as a democrat, are you tired of defending this law? >> no. i think it is part of the conversation. the law has problems. we have still had canceled policies, people haven't been able to keep their doctors as you emphasize, bill. bottom line we're not getting enough sign-ups from young people to make this economically viable and we still are not clear that the cost benefit analysis will work in terms of lowering costs and coverage. bill: you're okay going out there every day still saying this will work out?

>> it is something that has to be discussed and watched and monitored. jury is still out whether it will work. bill: what do you think of that, rich? >> i think the enrollment numbers show that the worst-case scenario administration that this thing would crash on launch that is not going to happen. it is going to stumble along. one, we don't know how real the numbers are. we don't know how many people are paying which is a key point. also you don't know how many were insured, got bumped off the old insurance because of obamacare and now are signing up on exchanges and the administration hailing it as a big number. some of the estimates from the surveys say 89% were previously insured. bill: that's a great point. because they were asked yesterday how many people have paid? i don't think they were given an answer, were they? >> they don't have an answer and the real issue and i think rich would probably concur with this, the economic logic behind the plan has yet to be proven out. we're getting encouraging numbers on the sign-up.

that is good, every american should be pleased. until we have a clear sense whether it is financially and medically viable and logical plan, the jury is still out. bill: to that point, rich, what happens if the numbers stay the way they are and they don't meet their minimum? what then? >> i mean, they will defend this to the last man and it will take republicans having to have the house and senate and presidency to repeal it. but it will stumble on sort of as a husk of itself. if it continues to go the way it is. the whole idea the way it is you will achieve universal coverage and reduce costs. both of those things are definitely false. cbo says 10 years you will still have 30 million people uninsured. this is pushing premiums up for most people. bill: sorry, continue, finish your point. >> it is pushing premiums up for most people and cushioning the blow for some eligible for subsidies. bill: this 30 million number, you remember that in 2010? that was number told by the

white house didn't have insurance in america. 10 years from now you're still saying 30 million people will remain uninsured so what is the point? >> they have upset the applecart of american health insurance and there will be still tens of millions of people uninsured. because this thing will stumble on, it is incumbent upon republicans to have a better answer. you have a proposal that could cover as many people as obamacare. do it at fraction of the cost and fraction of the disruption. >> that's the real problem. the republicans have just been playing no to obamacare. they haven't done what rich discussed, articulate a concurrent, common vision of what would the alternative be. at the same time, the white house has shown no willingness to bar gain to try to fix obamacare. both i think are sad. bill: thanks to both of you. doug schoen, rich lowery, we'll talk next week. >> we will. bill: i'm going back outside. >> get your hat. martha: going to put the hat back on, folks. i promise. lot of snow. take a look what is going on

outside of our window here. this is times square in new york city. just like i pictured it except today is very, very wintry. bill hemmer will head back out to our corner and tell us what is going on. plus a video of a camera falling from a skydiver. it took a tumble. this is a really great story. we're going to tell you what we think about it, where that camera came from and surprising place somebody found it, when we come back. bill: is it real? martha: i don't know. ♪

get 36 months interest-free financing and save up to $500 on beautyrest and posturepedic. get a sealy queen set for just $399. even get 3 years interest-free financing on tempur-pedic. but only through presidents' day at sleep train.

martha: a lot of folks buzzing

about this morning a deal announced to create a new cable giant. comcast reached an agreement to buy time warner cable for just over $45 billion. look at that number and stock. this merger would combine the two largest cable operators in the country. it still face as very tough regulatory review that needs approval from the fcc and the justice department. the two companies are expected to close this deal they hope by the end of the year. unusual discovery happened in california. a video camera fell from the sky and buried itself in the ground basically. it went undiscovered for eight months. then a woman found it on, in a pig pen on her property and she took a look at it on her computer. this is what she saw. hmmm. how about that. william la jeunesse is on the story for us live in los angeles. william, what do you know about this? >> reporter: well, martha for those not in this business, this is a go pro. a about to see rugged video

camera known to capture wild stunts of skiers, bikers, surfers who will attach it to their chest or head. turn it on, records for a period of time. then you up load the video on computer or internet in just minutes. cliff jordan is a master skydiver with norcal skydiving. it is san francisco company that does single and tandem parachuting in wine country. it was attached to a skydiver last summer but was not clipped tightly to the mount. when the skydiver puts his head out of the door it lands up, believe it or not face up in a pig pen, belonging to mia from closer dale, california. who finds the camera intact after one of her pigs tries to eat it in the pig pen. she up loads video. three days and four million hits later, here we are talking about

it. martha: oh, my gosh. put that back up. i feel like the best part of the thing is looking inside the pig's mouth trying to eat the camera. is this a real deal or go pro publicity stunt? want everyone to look at this. you probably haven't seen this angle before. i know i haven't. >> reporter: hopefully you never will. martha: look at that! >> reporter: there are 5,000 comments on youtube. many say this is stunt. why? less than a week ago go profiled paperwork to go public. basically ipo, means the owners of a startup for the first time can sell their stock to the public and get rich by basically cashing out. but, we have a call into the company but a pr rep already said the story is real. back to you. >> who knows. worth it to see the inside of the pig's mouth trying to chomp the go pro camera. william, thank you very much. we have a lot more coming up today, folks. of course we'll head outside and look at this dangerous winter

storm bearing down on such a big chunk of the country, slamming the northeast with the snow and ice. we have the track and path, what you can expect over the next 24 hours when we come back in "america's newsroom."

martha: oh, the weather outside the frightful, folks. take a live look outside our studios in new york, a nasty storm is traveling north after it paralyzed the south. nearly a million people woke up with no power, how these that feel finish how's that feeling? our meteorologists are telling us the worst is yet to come. i'm martha maccallum, bill hemmer, we sent him back outside to tell us what's going on. bill: martha, good morning again. we were here last hour just to give our viewers a sense how this is coming down. the snow's one thing, but when you see the wind coming up, chris, i don't know if you can catch that american flag across the street on the mcgraw-hill company, that's parallel. so that gives you a sense now of

how the snow's coming down. martha, last hour, whole sidewalk was cleared off, and this is how much snow has been collecting the last 60 minutes. that's about 2 inches an hour. across the street, go up two streets up to radio city, you can barely see the sign for radio city music hall, and that gives you a sense of how dense the snow is and how much it's coming down. also there's a camera across six sixth avenue. there it is again, way up high. i want to say that's about 100, 150 yards from here, about a good 7-iron, martha, and the thickness of the snow and that wind when it blows and kicks around really creates an added dimension for a storm like this. they warped us, they said it would -- warned us, they said it would be heavy, strong, and it appears so far that is the case. i think the other thing that's critical for folks on the east coast, if this storm tracks to the east a little bit, we're going to get a lot more snow. if it tracks to the west, we're

going to get a little more sleet and rain, so that depends on the track of the storm, and i think maria's going to tell us about that coming up, martha. martha: track right outside to the, right out to the ocean at this point would be the best case scenario. i said before the snow was coming down vertically, what i meant was that the snow was actually horizontal. it looks like it's shooting straight across from left to right which is a bizarre phenomenon that you sometimes see on the upper levels of these bullings in new york. rick leventhal is in philly today, and steve centanni's at ray taliban national airport in -- reagan national airport. there's lots of delays across the country, so we're going to let you know how that situation is. let's go to maria moline that in the fox weather center. how long we're going to be deal ing with it. >> i actually want to talk about new york city first where bill just showed us those images of outside. we were outside this morning for

"fox & friends,"ugrh and the snw really just picked up significantly within just a couple of hours during the morning hours, and we are seeing that snow coming down at a rate of 1-2 inches an hour. and officially at central park they are reporting already 7 inches of snow on the ground. the wind coming out of the area about 30 miles per hour, and that's producing poor visibility, less than a quarter of a mile. so very tough conditions not just in the new york city area, but into connecticut and also farther south into parts of new jersey. but i also want to talk about parts of the south, because they saw significant ice accumulation, parts of south carolina, specifically the city of orangeburg. saw already an inch of ice accumulation. that's the story as well across's central parts of georgia, and some of the snow totals really incredible. alabama, parts of that state picking up to 10 inches of snow. we're talking alabama here. this is very parts of north carolina also

picking up more than 10 inches, 11 inches reported in parts of that state. in the mid atlantic that storm system really has just significantly intensified across the region, and it's been producing, like i mentioned, up to 2 inches per hour, and some of these totals outs here, parts of west virginia, 15 inches. parking lots of maryland, 18 pinches already, and -- inches already, and we have hours to go still. we're going to continue to see snow piling up out here. early this morning we saw now in atlanta and at the same time we had snow in the city of boston. so that's just to give you an idea of how widespread this storm system is. that darker blue, that's where we're seeing some of the more intense snowfall, and the storm is staying close to the coast, so we are expecting mixing ongoing. philadelphia, you're seeing freezing rain. still snowing in new york city, but that transition later this afternoon will happen, and we're going to see rain and several more inches of accumulation, so

we could easily see a foot in the city and gusts, of course, up to 40 miles per hour. big concern. martha: wind is going to complicate things, it looks like. maria, we'll see you later. bill: that could mean a lot of ice when we get to the late hours this evening and overnight. atlanta, they closed school for two days to get ready for this. and now you've got travel issues whether it's at hartsfield international or for a second straight day there are thousands of people across the country stuck at airline, stuck at airports because the flights have been canceled by the thousands now. steve centanni has a sample of that. he's at reagan national, arlington, virginia. got to think a lot of folks are trues traited, but how -- frustrated, but how are the planes running now, if at all, steve? >> reporter: well, they're really not running here at national airport or at dulles about 20 miles away from here. all runways at both major washington, d.c. airports totally shut down right now. they try to clear the snow away.

take a look at the boards here, all the flights are canceled straight down the line. you rarely see that. yesterday all the flights out of charlotte and atlanta were canceled, today all the flights are canceled. and there are very few planes here because the airlines moved their assets out of the way. passengers taking it in stride, some of them sitting on benches all night waiting for their flight to be rescheduled. one man was trying to get down to huntsville to visit his sick mother, and here's what he told us. >> i've been here since 2:00 yesterday afternoon, and i'm leaving tonight at 7:30 if the plane's on time to get down to huntsville at about 9:00 tonight. >> reporter: 30 hours sitting in this airport. [laughter] >> not fun, let me tell ya. >> reporter: not much fun, but people taking it in stride. bill: how soon before the planes start coming in and out, steve? >> reporter: well, thai really not say -- they're really not saying at this point, but take a

look at the pictures, it's like the military moved in. we've got snowblowers, snowplow, trucks to haul away the snow. at dulles they have snow sweepers, just an army of people and equipment out there trying their best to deal with the situation that very rarely happens, that they have to close the runway. and, of course, once they push all the snow to the side, they have to then move it out of there. they can't leave it there in piles. we talked to an airport spokesman a while ago 40 said he's not -- who said he's not making any prediction whatsoever. they're working at hard, -- as hard as they can, and they'll open it as soon as possible. bill: hang in there. steve centanni's watching everything. martha has some news from north carolina. those folks were battered there as well. mar ma they sure were, bill, thanks. we have been hearing about people all over north carolina abandoning their vehicles on snowy roads, kind of looks like what we saw in atlanta a couple of weeks ago. but this guy is not about to

abandon his shopping carts, he has to gather up those carts. that's his job, no matter where they are in the parking lot, no matter what thewet is like. -- weather is like. he is at it. good for him. we like that. let's hear from you too. send us your pictures of the weather wherever you are. we have some really good ones, you can send them to @billhemmer, @martha jobbing maccallum. bill: i just saw a viewer from tennessee, he says he's got 10 inches in his backyard. when has the state of tennessee seen that kind of snow? i mean, really epic stuff. i'm just taking about 10, 15, maybe 20 yard step away from our camera, and you can see the way the stuff is coming down. you almost lose a little bit of vision. when we were out here an hour ago, we caught a gust over here in the corner of our building at 48th and sixth avenue and those big metal barricades that police use to keep folk out of certain

things and keep them headed in certain directions, that barricade blew over on account of that wind. those gusts are coming, and that's another feature we have to deal with for several hours. i'm coming back inside. i'll see you in just a moment. martha: i think that's an excellent idea. this wind, it's like a wind tunnel in those avenues in new york, and once it gets moving, it's incredibly powerful. so bill will be coming back up in a moment, and he'll be taking off his hat, and we'll have him right here next to me. all right, new questions on the opposition to the keystone pipeline. some democrats who are dead set against this project, according to some new reports, could make a lot of money if they get their way against the pipeline. is this a conflict of interest? we're going to have more on a story coming up straight ahead. and this as well getting a lot of attention today, because afghanistan has now released some very dangerous prisoners that the u.s. did not want to be set free. they're suspected of attacking

and killing americans. so what does this mean for the already very tense relationship with karzai? that's coming up. and say good-bye to some iconic corvettes. this is a story if you're a car lover that will make you cry. unbelievable. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ where you think you're gonna go ♪ ♪ when your time's all gone? male annocer ] live a full life. the new lexus ct hybrid with an epa estimated 42 mpg. the further you go, the more intesting it ge. lease the 2014 ct 200h for $299 a month for 27 months. see your lexus dealer.

martha: well, a potentially serious cont of interest revealed among some democrats who are opposed to the keystone xl pipeline. the washington freebie con reporting at least two leaders have big money invested in competitors to the pipeline including tim kaine. ellison barber is a staff writer, and she joins us now.

ellison, welcome. good of to have you here. explain to us, what's going on here? >> basically, we found that there were pdfs from 2012, financial filings, that show that these two lawmakers have some investment in kinder morgan which is a company that is trying to have an alternative to the pipeline if the one that is proposed by transcanada doesn't get approved. so potentially, if this pipeline is not approved, they would make money off of this by this company being the one that kind of comes in and fills that void. martha: so have they been asked to comment on this, and is there anything illegal about them investing in a company that, you know, is involved in a decision that they're making in congress? >> they have been asked about it, and they didn't return requests for a comment. it's not illegal necessarily, but it is a major conflict of interest, and if anyone questions that, i would point them back to do you remember when susan rice was considered to be a nominee for is secretary of state. a lot of environmental activists

came out and said that she has investments, which she does, in transcanada. if she were to become secretary of state, she would need to get rid of those because any involvement or vocal supporting or against it for transcanada could would, obviously, be a conflict of interest. and they were right about that. if he were right a that, this is also a conflict of interest. these guys would profit, their opposition would benefit them if it were not to be approved. martha: so what's next on this? i know you said you contacted them and they had no comment, but is that likely to be forthcoming? do we expect that they will respond to what their stock holdings are exactly in these companies and whether or not they are directly aware of them or making changes in those investments on their own or whether they're independently managed? all those things? >> they certainly should, and i think we'll have to just wait and see and hopefully they will. what's interesting to me about this as a reader, too, is senator tim kaine wrote an op-ed in "the washington post" in 2013 saying why he was opposed, and he said i'm not an anti-pipeline

guy, but i have serious concerns, and i'm opposed to tar sands because those are environmentally dangerous. well, the company that he's invested in, the pipeline they're proposing still uses tar sands, they just use a different process than conventional crude. they have more stuff on their web site about it today where they adamantly oppose that because they say it is more dangerous to the environment than conventional crude oil because it potentially corrodes the pipe more likely, and if there's a spill, it's thicker and denser and more difficult to clean up than the conventional methods. so i think we rightfully can call into question why he was opposed to this from the beginning, particularly since he cited tar sands as the opposition. but he's clearly invested in a company that does stuff where it count stop tar sands, so it doesn't make sense. martha: tell me whether or not we think the keystone pipeline is getting any closer to some of

these folks being on board. >> right. you have environmentalists calling into question the state department report saying there's a conflict of interest because one of the contractors had some ties to transcanada and worked with them previously. "the washington post," i believe, is reporting that sometime today the state department is going to release their own inspector general report where they have investigated that, and they say that there is no conflict of interest. so increasingly from the state department report to showing there isn't a conflict of interest, i think it's becoming increasingly difficult for democrats and people on left to say they don't support this or to say there's environmental concerns, because what we're seeing is increasingly there really is not many valid reasons to still be opposed to this, but you still have some people, like senator kaine, that are saying they're against it. the math on any side, it's not adding up right now. and i would also point out that the stock senator kaine has is also something that tom stire had before, and he recognized

that was a conflict of interest, and he's already dr peppered his stock. -- dropped his stock. >> it sounds like tim kaine and others have questions to answer, and we invite them here to do that if you would like on fox news as well. thank you very much, ellison. interesting reporting. good to have you on. >> you bet, thank you. martha: so let's go back outside and see how our friend bill is doing in the middle of this crazy storm. bill: hey, buddy, how's it going? no one wants to talk, can you imagine? [laughter] martha: they just want to get where they're going. bill: new york is one area, or washington, d.c. is another area, philadelphia. martha, you can tell the flakes have gotten thicker over the past two hours. that starts to heat up a little bit, like maria was telling us on the forecast. but down in the carolinas whether it's columbia, south carolina, or up into north carolina like raleigh and charlotte, we will show you images from late yesterday in raleigh where people literally abandoned their vehicles on the

highway. here's a tow truck driver in carolina who's got a lot of work ahead of him. have a look at here, back in a moment. >> pulled out about 16, 17 cars, you know, people just stuck left and right. it's been terrible all day. the roads are, they're icing up. they're just, they're not even worth taking the rusk. you know, my best advice is for everybody just to stay at home. it's not worth it.

through presidents' day, get 36 months interest-free financing and save up to $500 on beautyrest and posturepedic. get a sealy queen set for just $399. even get 3 years interest-free financing on tempur-pedic. plus, free delivery, set-up, and removal of your old set. keep more presidents in your wallet. this special financing offer ends presidents' day at sleep train. superior service, best selection, lowest price, guaranteed. ♪ sleep train

♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪ martha: using all the snow for something good. one teenager used the snow blanketing illinois to write a message to his mom. she is undergoing chemotherapy for leukemia at chicago's rush university medical center. she saw her son's snow message through the window. mom, god bless you. how cute is that? all across the top of the parking area there on the top deck, and it has a big smiley

face, as you can see, in the mom area. he added the god bless you a few hours later. listen to this. >> i thought it would be nice for my mom to see it and for others to feel happy. >> when i saw what he wrote, i was just proud and amazed that he could think of doing something like that for me just outside my window for everyone to see. it was a big, proud mommy moment. martha: wow, that's a valentine. that's a good one. nurses, doctors and patients began posting photos of the message saturday on social media, and it has gone viral. what a nice boy, and we wish his mom well during her treatments. bill: so, martha, i'm in the middle of 48th street, okay? and this is what we have gathered in just the last couple of hours here. this is just one small sample of new york city right now. come on other here, i was talking to this gentleman during the commercial break. sir, i've seen you working for two hours. are you making progress? >> i've been here since six.

nonstop. no breaks. bill: what do you think of this today? >> it's the worst. the worst i've seen so far. bill: you think this is the storm -- >> yeah, for me it is, yeah. to me, it is. yeah, and they're getting worse. it's getting heavier now. bill: but are you making progress? >> somewhat. bill: keep at it, okay? you've got a lot of of work cut out for you. a lot of cab byes trying to -- thank you, gentlemen, trying to get through the street here. i mean, listen, it's coming down at 2 inches an hour, and anytime you have that rate of snowfall, that's going to be a problem. how's it going? >> not too good. bill: not too good? why don't you take the day off? >> i have to come out and get a little bit. even if i get the lease, i will be happy. bill: all right. brave man. pay the bills. >> i try. bill: will you go. so listen, martha, we were out here a moment ago, and we were talking about the show coming downsideways. and when you catch that gust, i

mean, you really have to duck out of the way. smart idea in new york, carry an umbrella on a day like today, because you can just shield enough snow away there your eyes so you can see where you're going. here it goes, it is here. does it last another ten hours? if it does, it could be a record storm. ow. that's brutal. see you in a moment. martha: get out of the middle of the road. you're making me nervous. [laughter] bill: see you in a minute. martha: back to bill in just a moment. so despite u.s. protests, hamid karzai's government did something thought to be unthinkable, released 65 detainees that america considers to be very dangerous to us. what this could mean for our security as we try to negotiate an exit from afghanistan. this is not a good situation. and it's never good to be in the hole, especially like this. dramatic images from a museum that houses vintage cars,

priceless automobiles. and that's what happened. we'll be right back with more in america's america's "america's newsroom" after this. ♪ you had a bad day, you're taking one down, you sing a sad song just to turn it around. ♪ you said you don't know, you tell me don't lie, you work on a smile and you go for a ride ♪ [ male announcer ] if shaving is a pain in the neck,

cheek or chin, we have one word. hallelujah. upgrade to the gillette fusion proglide. our best shave for about a dollar a week. gillette -- the best a man can get.

martha: so we've been showing you bow hw bad it is in the northeast, bill's on his way back in now. a major blast of winter causing all kinds of problems in some of the nation's biggest cities, but the southeast is still reeling from getting hit yesterday. look at these pictures from raleigh, north carolina. it was a scene reminisce sent of atlanta two weeks ago with people pushing their cars out of the way, some up and abandoning them. amazing tweets from north carolina, we're going to show you those, but first let's go to john roberts who is lye in atlanta with a look -- live in atlanta with a look at how it's going there. hi, john. >> reporter: good morning, marsha. still a winter wonderland. good news, the snow has stopped, the bad news, the wind becoming to come up which could knock down more trees or branches. and the city is still shut down for a third day and potentially a fourth tomorrow. we're outside atlantic station which is the big office complex open-air mall here in midtown atlanta. it's usually bustling, it's been

a ghost town since tuesday night. by the way, there's a great floral shop just down the street, they haven't been able to get deliveries for the last three day, and tomorrow's valentine's day. take a look at this collapse of an old house, it used to be the headquarters of the daughters of the american revolution, it collapsed overnight probably from the weight of the ice. but structure was very weak. it got hit by a tree back in '85 and really never recovered from there. let's come back and take a look at the interstate here, the big connector through downtown atlanta. you can see traffic finally beginning. georgia d.o.t. says they have enough of the melting material that they can clear the right two lanes, but they don't clear the interstates. and let's go back to that picture of raleigh yo showed, martha, pause this is what atlanta looked like two weeks ago. officials got their act together this time, and they managed to avoid that. and here's some pretty pictures from the northern part of georgia. if snow's supposed to fall anywhere, it's supposed to fall in the mountains, and look at.

beautiful winter scape from the northern mountains in the blue ridge of georgia, martha. martha: it's beautiful in some places and treacherous in others. is this any relief in sight? how much longer for this in your neck of the woods, john? >> reporter: there is, as a matter of fact, because temperatures are beginning to creep above freezing, though that breeze is actually keeping the wind chill factor down a little bit. the best way to get rid of snow in the south, and this is their best system, is that the sun comes out. we're expecting in the next couple of hours or so that that sun is going to peek through the clouds and maybe begin to melt things just a little bit. latest update, by the way, 362,000 people in the state without power. the worst-hit areas to the south and east of atlanta. martha: yeah. that's the roughest part of the whole thing. you can deal with it if your power's on. if it's not, it's really, really difficult. john, send some of that sunshine our way, we'll take it when you're done with it. thanks a lot. look who's back? bill: ten minutes out there. martha: you okay?

bill: you're toast. martha: freezing, right? bill: yeah, really bad. so it continues. but john roberts saying atlanta could be shut down for three, possibly four days? a major american city from a storm like this, unheard of. martha: and the flower shop around the corn or's going to have a hard time on valentine's day. and that building committeesly collapsed, the historic building, gone. bill: millions affected by the storm, we're going to let you know what you need to know on that in a moment. first, though, hamid karzai commenting on the release of dozens of detainees against the wishes of the u.s. military. karzai saying the move is, quote, of no concern to the u.s. the u.s. might feel differently. mike baker's a former cia covert operations officer and president of global intelligence and security form diligence llc, mike, good morning to you. >> thanks very much. bill: simple, basic question. why is karzai doing this? >> well, or the simple answer is he's trying to save his own skin. ever since we got into

afghanistan, karzai, senior officials and really the afghan public has known that at some point we're walking caught someday. i mean, they just know that that's the reality of it. for quite some time karzai in particular has been playing both sides here. he's got to find a way to appease the taliban because in his estimation they're coming back. and i think that is, actually, the eventual reality here. i don't see how without a very heavy presence that reality doesn't occur. bill: so these detainees, the 60, 62 some odd detainees, in your view, are they dangerous, yes or no? >> absolutely. bill: so you believe -- >> this is not theoretical -- bill: but, mike, if you believe that, then karzai knows that. so again the question comes back to why, because they will only return to the battlefield once they are free. >> absolutely. look, over a quarter of these 65 are directly linked to ied

incidents, explosive incidents against u.s. and allied troops, killing dozens of u.s. troops. that is indisputable. and karzai doesn't care. he is, again, he is playing to the taliban. that is where his focus is. we have, this white house currently has terrible relations with karzai and with his government. we have almost no leverage there. i mean, senator graham, others, military commanders out there, they all talked to karzai and his personnel and explained to him that you can't do this, you can't release these dangerous prisoners, prisoners that we captured on the battlefield with evidence, dna evidence, direct evidence, explosive residue, you know, on them, them carrying armaments, military-grade exe employeesives, homemade explosives, and we handed them over to the afghans and said, you know, okay, now it's up to you. give them fair trials, and you'll see that the evidence that's been provided will show

this. and karzai just doesn't care. bill: can we change that relationship? >> i would argue that, you know, frankly, we shouldn't care about that relationship anymore. i mean, that's -- i think we've, you know, we made a mistake, i believe, after the spring of 2002. we had a terrific, very tactically-successful operation in there at the end of 2001 and going into the spring of 2002. we routed the taliban, we took care of the problem that was in our national interests, you know? and then i think since then we haven't had a conversation necessarily in the public about why is it in our national interests to nation build in an environment like afghanistan where it's just not going to happen? i mean, we can talk about improving the abilities of their police force, of their military at some point, but once we're gone -- and it certainly appears that we're gone, karzai refuses to sign the bilateral security agreement at this point, that shows you where his head is --

but the reality is, the taliban have been sitting on the sidelines, and they know this moment's going the come. bulk bill they've got watches too, right? that's the old saying. mike baker, thank you. it's good to have you back on. appreciate your time today. >> absolutely. thank you, bill. bill: 37 minutes past the hour. martha? martha: back to a story now that's gotten a lot of anticipation. the contestant who lost more than half her body weight to become the reigning champ of the tv show "the biggest loser" is now responding to her critics. we'll tell you what she's saying today. plus, this -- >> tea party billionaires think attack ads can coffer the truth. joe garcia is working to fix obamacare. he voted to let you keep your existing health plan and took the white house to task for the disaster roust web site. bill: that is a campaign ad for a democrat?$3oj putting distance between himself and the law of obamacare, and he's not the only democrat who's afraid that the health care law could hurt him come election day in november. ♪

[ male announcer ] how did edward jones become one of the biggest financial services companies in the country? hey. yours? not anymore. come on in. [ male announcer ] by meeting you more tn halfway. it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. come on in. [ male announcer ] by meeting you more tn halfway. i dbefore i dosearch any projects on my home. i love my contractor, and i am so thankful to angie's list for bringing us together. find out why more than two million members count on angie's list. angie's list -- reviews you can trust.

bill: that's a nice break, right? today's throwback thursday takes us back to 2000, 14 years ago today the final strip of the peanuts comic from charles schultz was run. in all, 17,897 strips were published, but lucy and linus and peppermint patty and charlie brown and snoopy, comics animated specials for television have become a staple for holiday, and the final strip ended with a those from its creator that read the following. quote: i have been fortunate to draw charlie brown and his friends for almost 50 years, it has been the fulfillment of my childhood ambition. end quote. martha: i don't think there's ever been more beloved characters. i mean, they're, you know, they're real to us, you know? lucy and charlie brown and linus and the christmas special which

is classic. so it's nice, nice to revisit and hear that music this morning. bill: 14 years ago today. martha: warms your heart. ♪ ♪ martha: some vulnerable democrats seeking re-election seem to be running away and pretty solidly from obamacare when it comes to the whole election strategy. apparently, the president's signature health care program, they believe, would be bad for their political health. supporters of florida congressman joe garcia spent $90,000 to run this ad for him. >> joe garcia is working to fix obamacare. he voted to let you keep your existing health plan and took the white house to task for the disastrous health care web site. and joe garcia fought to hold the insurance companies accountable so they can't deny coverage for pre-existing conditions or drop coverage when you get sick. martha: interesting, right? mike slade is a radio talk show host, and julie roginsky is

former political adviser to new jersey senate frank lautenberg and also a fox news contributor. welcome to both of you. you know, there was a time, julie let's start with you, where you would not have expected to hear the words "fix," "disastrous," and obamacare in a democrat's ad for election. >> first of all, i agree with him, and i think i have for a long time that the rollout was disastrous. they seem to have gotten it under control. and in terms of fixing obamacare, that's something that democrats have actually been saying for a while. certainly, nobody's claiming the president was right to say -- maybe some people are, i certainly wouldn't claim the president was right to say that if you like your insurance plan or your doctor, you can keep it because, obviously, that wasn't true. if you look at the second part of the ad, he's actually not running away from obamacare. he's holding insurance companies accountable, not allowing them to get rid of you if you get sick. that's a major plank of obamacare, and he's on record, joe garcia, as supporting

obamacare and opposing its repeal, so i think that's the most important thing. martha: yeah. i think there's no doubt that this will be the central debated issue when it comes to the 2014 election, and it seems like in some of these areas you're going to have one perp on one side of -- one person on one side of the fence that wants to repeal, and then it looks like on the other side you're going to have somebody who want withs to fix it and make major changes but not a whole lot of folks who are ges terrific, and we're so glad it's going so quell. >> i'm not celebrating this ad as much as most conservatives might be. it's undeniable that obamacare's a failure in every single way, but this congressman, in this democrat is not exactly a champion of the free market, right? i'm against obamacare, he's against obamacare, but i'm against it because it's too big, he's against it because it's not big enough. and when he says we need to keep insurance companies accountable, that means a single payer, and that's what the left has been pushing for. >> that's not true at all. the only thing he's alluding to

is what's in obamacare is before insurance companies were able to deny you coverage if you got sick, able to throw you off the rolls if you got cancer, for example, and they no longer wanted to pay. there was a lifetime cap on your benefits, and obamacare got rid of all of that. that's not expanding obamacare, that is obamacare. that's important to note. martha: there's a couple other very prominent democrats who have spoken out on this as an election issue, and i want to sort of stick to that framework of whether or not this will work and how it will work for democrats. this is nancy pelosi and what she said. she said, so there will be other issues that weigh in discreetly for people, but how successful the economy is, i think, will be the overriding issue, she says. by the time we get into the spring, i believe the affordable care act will either be a wash or a plus for democrats going forward. and then you have this one from senator claire mccaskill who was a huge supporter of president obama and now says on campaigning with him this time

around, probably not. the president's numbers are not strong in my state or in arkansas or louisiana or north carolina. he did not win those states when he won for re-election in 2012, so she's saying thanks, but no thanks to help from the president. >> are yeah. they want obamacare -- they want us to ignore the failures of obamacare. new york times just the other today wrote a story about danielle. she has cancer, signed up for obamacare. because in california 70% of doctors are not accepting obamacare patients, she couldn't see her oncologist. now, julie, you know the whole pitch of obamacare was to increase access, and now we're seeing access is even worse for millions of americans under obamacare. this is nothing to champion here. >> i will tell you, i mean, as of today there's a new report out that 3.3 million people now have health care thanks to obamacare. >> and like 10% of those were uninsured previously. >> let me, let me --

[inaudible conversations] let me finish my thought which is that you're now suggesting by repealing obamacare that you're going to go to those millions of people and say to them, sorry, but you no longer have health care, or let's go back to the old days where if you had cancer, we'll be able to throw you off the rolls or we went insure you again. when you go to people with that specific proposal to get rid of obamacare which we're saying to those millions of people is this new status quo where you essentially have better access the health care than you had before, you're no longer eligible for. martha: when you look at this coming election, you know, often we talk about are you better you have off than you were four years ago, and you guys can debate back and forth whether you think the program's working, but it's going to come down to individual people's experiences all across this country, and they're going to answer that question. when it comes to my health care, am i better off now than i was four years ago? and i don't think any of us yet know the answer to that question. but that, to me, is the decisive question to be answered in this election. >> you are 100% --

>> absolutely. >> you are 100% right. aye done campaigns for almost 20 years. what you've seen in this joe garcia district is what works for him in florida and the message that works for him in florida, what works for mary landrieu in louisiana is not something that works, for example, in cory booker in new jersey who's got an easier race and other people who may be up in new hampshire, for example. so, you know, as you said, it not only comes could be to individual rotors, it comes down to individual message, and that's why people like me get to make a living because we don't make blanket statements about the economy. >> yeah, right. martha: all right, guys, we're going to leave it there. bill: "happening now" rolling our way in 11 minutes, jenna lee -- jenna: bill, great job outside. next two hours, you want to do that for us? bill: may i get back to you? [laughter] jenna: we have a lot coming up. prosecutors grill amanda hayes, husband's ex. she's facing a lot of tough

questions on the stand. was she convincing? we're going to let you decide on that. plus, a crazy twist to a story we brought you yesterday about an amber alert in oregon after two children were left in a car. that alert is now lifted, wait until you hear why. and with valentine's day coming, love is in the air, and so is something else. what the fbi is warning people to watch for if they're look for the perfect match online. we'll tell you all about it, all "happening now." bill: coming up, right? jenna: absolutely. bill: thank you, jenna. vintage car loves, you may want to look away. eye-popping video, a sinkhole swallows classicnú corvettes ata museum. in a matter of seconds, they were gone. is there any way to know before the ground starts to move that you might be a victim? what do you think that runs? what is that, there are 70, $80,000? martha: that looks like an old mercedes. ♪ ♪

get 36 months interest-free financing and save up to $500 on beautyrest and posturepedic. get a sealy queen set for just $399. even get 3 years interest-free financing on tempur-pedic. but only through presidents' day at sleep train.

martha: so the 24-year-old champ of the show "the biggest loser," responding to the controversy over her loss of 155 pounds. she went from 260 all the way down to the 105 you see on the right-hand side of your screen there. rachel fredrickson is her name, and she confess today people magazine, quote, maybe i was a little too enthusiastic in my training to get to the finale. a went52ñ to assur, however, that she is healthy x the biggest loser's executive producer saying she has passed all of her medical tests. she, you know, she looks very thin. we wish her well. i hope she's doing okay. maybe went a little too far and hopefully -- bill: we saw it the other day and thought she looked great. good luck and hang in there.

this time putting the old chevy phrase like a rock to the it's in a big way. surveillance video, you see that right will? that's the corvette museum in kentucky. a 40-foot-wide sinkhole swallows eight vintage car. total mess for the museum and so much damage done, and where do they go from here? ted cover less is with me, the attorney, their actually is one in tampa, florida, because florida's a place where there's so many sinkholes going back 50, 100 years. welcome back to "america's newsroom". >> thank you, good morning. bill: that museum in kentucky or anyone living anywhere say this the state of florida, can you tell whether or not you have the possibility of being a victim of one of these sinkholes or not beforehand? >> like any other scientific process, the investigation is subject to a lot of assumptions. you gather data the best you can, and you draw conclusions regarding whether sinkl hole activity is present at a

particular set. at the same time, false negatives are very common. in fact, that's one of the reasons there are sinkhole lawyers in florida. bill: false negatives suggesting there might be one -- >> that you could -- bill: -- and there's actually not? >> well, right. in fact, most of the investigation procedures can identify the existence of a sinkhole at one location or not in another, but you could be as far as just 5 feet away and miss the sinkhole. the average size in the state of florida is just a couple of feet wide. the kind of sinkhole that a attacked the museum was measured at approximately 40 feet. if you had gone out another 10 feet from that hole, an engineer may have well said there was no sinkhole there. bill: and missed it entirely. another basic question here, before you start construction for a museum like this museum in kentucky or even a home inr u florida, i guess it's possible to detect a sinkholebñ< there. but then again after the ává-q 10, 15 is, 20 years down the line, could a sinkhole then

develop and take you down like we see here in kentucky without your knowledge? >> that's the game that a lot of insurance companies in florida play, this idea that the sinkhole activity was present prior to them issuing insurance for a particular property. i'm one of the people that went through that process. my wife andyíf÷ i were buildinga home. we had them investigate the cite prior to construction, and they i3t cavern under what was going to be our living room.jsáo bill: oh, my. >> right. bill: get out of that thing quickly. i was looking at some of these corvettes, 1962, anywhere from 60-$180,000 per car. appreciate your time. thank you very much. >> my pleasure. bill: out of tampa, florida. martha: somewhere there's an unhappy insurance man many that deal. all right, you know that we're getting a massive blast of wintry weather crippling traveling conditions, showering sleet and snow throughout the northeast. how much longer is this going on, and when is spring coming? we'll be right back.

bill: wow, if you don't have to go outside today, don't do it. martha: thank you for doing it. thank you forgoing out there, bill. bill: hazardous duty. martha: you're on at 1:00. i'm on at 2:00. have a great day. stay warm and dry. bill: wear a bigger hat. martha: no, we love your hat. see you later. jon: i have one you can borrow, bill. today's top headlines and brand new stories you will see here first. jenna: we don't snead to say it. the storm slamming the south knocking out power to hundreds of thousands is pummeling the northeast. we're live with fox team coverage how it affects everybody in the country. brand new polls released offering a grim outlook on the economy. what it means for your pocketbook and also for politics as well. also a camera falls from a plane and lands in a pig pen. that is the not the most amazing