until next time, i hope you're learning to be more of a healthy you. fox news alert now on a dramatic escalation of the crisis in ukraine, the country now heading na a possible showdown with its powerful neighbor russia putting its armed forces on full alert and warning russia that any military intervention in the country will lead to war. welcome to america's news headquarters, heavily armed russian troops already in crimea surrounding the government building there. tightening their grip. and now the ukrainian government is putting its forces on military alert. and asking nato to look at all possible ways to help protect its territorial integrity. united nations security council

meeting right now to assess what their options are and asking for the input of other u.n. countries and we're also seeing some amateur videotape of russia's growing military presence there. troops wearing uniforms. but reports say they are part of an organized russian deployment. tensions right now in the cri a crimea, a strategic crossroads that has been fought over for many, many centuries. fox news radio reporter joins us live via skype. jessica, you are in the crimean peninsula, what is the latest? >> the latest is the tensions are really high here. yesterday armed men russian speaking stormed the regional parliament in crimea and lowered the ukrainian flag and raised russia's. they've taken over three airports here in crimecrimea, o them only takes passengers, average people, the other two are military airports.

one of the most strategic airports is the one here where i am, russia maintains a military base here and it's a very important region for russia. a lot of crimea is basically 60% ethnic rushen een russians, the have been holding candlelight vigils throughout the evening and they can't wait until russia gets here to help them, they feel they'll be persecuted because kiev has inserted a new government, they want to face east towards moscow and a lot of people in kiev want to face west and go for a more european union approach here in ukraine. so, there's a lot of tension and a lot of confusion quite frankly. >> well, what is the extent of the violence there? and i know that the details are very difficult to gather. but are you getting any word about casualties? >> there was one person that basically died of a heart attack on wednesday before the armed

gunmen seized the regional parliament here because the crowds were swelling. this have been a lot of injuries. but so far, knock on wood, there has been very little violence. it's been sort of a bloodless coup if you will, which is on the plus side, that's a good thing. unfortunately with thousands and thousands of russian troops on the ready and also on the ukrainian side on the ready, that could quickly turn in the wrong direction. but unfortunately one of the things that's really bothering people is that the russian president asked parliament earlier today to give him permission to move in all of these troops to protect crimea and what russian says are its assets and its people, but he has yet to do anything. his spokesperson came out and said, well, you know, mr. putin has failed to act and he hasn't made his decision. he might just recall moscow's ambassador to washington. but it's a very tense situation and, you know, governments are talking about this, everyone is talking about this, and mr. putin hasn't made his decision.

>> jessica, thank you so much for your reporting from the peninsu peninsula, thanks. the white house is speaking out on the growing turmoil in ukraine trying to prevent the crisis from blowing up into a full-scale military conflict. president obama is now warning russia, stay out. saying, quote, there will be costs for any military action. molly, what do we know about a meeting at the white house today? >> greg, we're just getting details in this very minute about what happened at that meeting at the white house. we're told that the president's national security team met today to get an update and discuss potential policy options going forward. participants in this meeting included defense secretary chuck hagel who spoke to his russian counterpart earlier today, cia director john brennan, joint chiefs chairman general martin dempsey and national intelligence director james clapper. we're just getting word that the president did not attend the meeting but that he was briefed on it later.

in his remarks yesterday president obama warned that any violation of ukraine's sovereignty would be, quote, deeply destabilizing. >> just days after the world came to russia for the olympic games, it would invite the condemnation of nations around the world, and indeed the united states will stand with the international community in affirming that there will be costs for any military intervention in ukraine. >> vice president joe biden spoke yesterday with the ukrainian prime minister assuring him that the u.s. stands for, quote, the democratic future of ukraine. greg? >> well, we remember the president said there will be costs if syria uses chemical weapons, and in the end there were none. what kind of a reaction is coming from capitol hill? >> a lot of concern. republican senator john mccain says he's, quote, deeply concerned that russia will expand further into ukraine. he said in a statement, quote, every moment that the united states and our allies fail to

respond sends the signal to president putin that he can be even more ambitious and aggressive in his military intervention in ukraine. i call on president obama to rally our european and nato allies to make clear what costs russia will face for its aggression and to impose those consequences without further delay. on the democratic side, the ranking member on the house foreign affairs committee eliot engel said the international community should help ukraine return to political and economic health. he said, quote, the united states and our allies must be ready to help which is why i support a robust international economic assistance package, and the administration's proposal to provide u.s. loan guarantees and other assistance to ukraine. house republican speaker john boehner says the obama administration's, quote, acquiescence and in some cases silence in dealing with putin in the past several years has imboldened russia to take more aggressive action, greg? >> molly, thanks very much.

now, rain is soaking southern california's drought-stricken ground. creating serious concerns for flooding and dangerous mud slides. dominick is live in hard-hit glendora, california, southern california. dominick, you know, look, california has been hit with an extreme drought over the last several years. and, of course, government action has diverted some of the other water to save the smelt. but, look, how -- how bad is it right now in terms of the weather, the flooding, the mud slides? >> reporter: do you know what, we are having intense rain this weekend, but it's nowhere near enough, greg, in terms to save california from the very worst of the drought. right now over at malibu and oxnard we've got intensely heavy rain going on there. that's the particular worrisome for mud slides there as much as

it is here because we had a wildfire along the pacific coastal highway in the past couple of weeks and it's created loose earth that can't take much of the rain. and as a result of the bad wildfire season we had in 2013, it's very marred fhard for the be retained on the land and it's running off and going straight down to the coast. it's not being held much in reservoirs or rivers, it's taking it straightaway. while it's a blessed relief we are having the rain, the truth of the matter the long-term crisis with the drought it's actually going to get worse and it's so ironic when we see so much water on the ground on a weekend like this, greg. >> i grew up very close to where you are standing and at the foothills of the mountains and we used to worry all the time about the mud slides there especially when there were fires that would wreck the foliage and, of course, expose the land. what kind of activity, if any, are you seeing in your location? >> reporter: well, we're seeing the authorities out pretty much

in force here. we've got the sheriff's department, we've got the local police, and we're also seeing public works trucks going up and down. they're keeping an eye on whether there's earth movements or just how much water there is on the roads? people trying to get on with their lives, though, people jogging and trying to drive past and they're trying to get on with it as best they can, but they are concerned with those police warnings to evacuate their houses. right behind me here on hillcrest road, this hill was hit pretty bad by a fire back in january. and the earth is so loose that they think that the heavy storm that's hitting oxnard and malibu that i was just referring to is going to move inland at some point and hit here and this is one of the most precarious areas. just a few moments ago we saw a lady evacuated from her home because she's right by a ravine that the mud is going to come through if it hits. that's the danger we've got now, greg. >> you can see an entire mountainside collapse on homes in a nanosecond. it happens before you know it, so it's really dangerous.

so, we'll check back with you in glendo glendora, california, dominick, thanks very much. winter weather is creating very treacherous conditions all across the country now. in north carolina, road crews are bracing for sleet and freezing rain. slick streets causing a deadly pileup in denver. where at least one person was killed. 50 cars, trucks and at least one jackknifed semi were involved in that one. meteorologist janice dean live in the fox extreme weather center with the forecast and the extreme is an understatement. >> yeah, really all winter long we've seen incredible storms. this could be historic in terms of snowfall across portions of the northeast and the mid-atlantic. but all of that moisture streaming into the southwest as some of the energy is going to give us our snowstorm for parts of the plains, the ohio valley, the tennessee river valley in towards the mid-atlantic and the northeast over the next 24 to 36 hours, so you can see all that moisture's beneficial but with its problems, with the mud slide

potential as well as flash flooding. as we get into sunday, see the pink? that's the potential for an ice storm across the ohio valley and the tennessee river valley and then we'll see the thin line of heavy snow we think setting up across the mid-atlantic, just south of new york city for the monday morning commute, so winter weather advisories. 150 million people ahead of this storm system. we also have ice storm warnings in and around the paducah area and then winter weather advisories up towards the mid-atlantic and the northeast. there's your forecast precipitation. in some cases over a foot in around kansas city. they have seen their share of winter weather and accumulating ice for parts of the arklatex across the tennessee river valley, obviously that is going to be a very difficult situation. we'll keep you posted. back to you, greg. >> janice dean, j.d., thanks so much. >> yep. fox news alert. president obama speaking to russian president vladimir putin about the escalating situation in ukraine. we're going to have more details on that conversation in a few

moments. the president also getting some major flak concerning the thin resumes of some of his picks for u.s. ambassadors. like this woman, who could be going from her job as a soap opera producer to ambassador to hungary. and just weeks away from the white house's target of 7 million enrollees for president obama's signature health care plan, the senate majority leader says republicans are playing fast and loose with the facts. or is he? >> despite all that good news, there's plenty of horror stories being told. all of them are untrue, but they're being told all over america.

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fox news alert. unsteady situation in the ukraine and we've just learned that president obama has spoken with his counterpart the russian president vladimir putin moments ago. mr. putin reportedly said his

country reserves the right to protect its interests and of russian speakers if violence in ukraine or crimea continues. and we're just learning now that samantha powers moments ago here at the united nations, left side of your screen, was speaking, she said actions were more powerful than words, it's ironic that russia goes out of its way to talk about concerns of sovereignty yet it has not done so with ukraine. we'll continue to follow what's happening here. there are growing concerns over president obama's u.s. ambassador appointment, soap opera, that's right, soap opera producer, colleen bell, the ambassador to hungary, stumbling through her senate confirmation hearing. she is called a bundler, if you know what that means. you raise a lot of money. millions of dollars. the president, she did so for two elections for president

obama. but she is -- is raising campaign cash, enough of a qualification to serve as the president's personal representative overseas. let's bring in jamie weinstein who joins us now in washington, senior editor for "the daily caller." you know, colleen bell, nominee to hungary, soap opera producer is her creds. but maybe more important creds are $800,000 the campaign that she raised. it was sort of an inept delivery. we watched it on television. she appeared to know almost nothing about that particular country. what do you think? >> well, let's stipulate at the top, it is not new that presidents choose campaign donors to certain ambassador posts. that's happened in the past with all presidents, republican and democrat. and, in fact, some of them are quite good, you know, you don't need to be a career foreign service officer to be a good ambassador. but even by the standards of

past picks from campaign bundlers and the such, which often weren't very high, these picks are preposterous, you mentioned colleen bell. she couldn't answer questions about what is america's strategic interests in hungary. but at least to her credit, she had been to the country. several of the picks that president obama have chosen for ambassadorship to iceland, to norway, to argentina, have never even stepped foot in the country that they're now going to represent, so this is, you know, comical if it wasn't true. >> you know, the guy who is getting the most heat is max baucus, u.s. senator, who is now the pick to be the ambassador to china. he uttered a rather strange and clumsy response to a question during his confirmation hearing. the question was, what do you think would motivate china to initiate the air defense identification zone? now, that's a very specific question. and listen to this response --

>> senator, i am no real expert on china. but it's -- it's my strong belief that chinese people are just as proud as we americans are proud. >> all right. let's skip over that because it speaks for itself. let me talk about george tunis a wealthy obama campaign bundler, he's the or ambassador to norway. he's never been there! he testified in his confirmation hearing that norway is a constitutional democracy. it's not. it's a constitutional monarchy. i mean, geez. is this the definition of, you know, incompetence? >> here's what's the most amazing about george tunis who i think is by far the most embarrassing pick we've seen so far. he was asked about the progress party by senator mccain. he said, you know, the government has condemned the progress party for being a fringe group. well, in fact, the progress party is part of the government of norway. they have not condemned them for

being a fringe part of the political situation there. what's amazing to me about this is not that, you know, he didn't know coming in that much about norway. that's problematic in and of itself, he's never been there, but he knew he was going to a hearing. he didn't even study about norway. he didn't learn about it. you think you would take some time to learn about this country if you're going to have to testify upon it. he didn't know anything about it. i think we're just lucky that senator mccain didn't ask him what continent norway was on. i'm not sure he could answer that. it was completely, completely preposterous. >> listen, you got to answer it in 20 seconds. i'm up against a president obama promised a new higher ethical standard, no more cronyism. he was going to be brand new, different. didn't happen, did it? >> it didn't happen in a lot of areas and certainly didn't happen here, where 50% of the picks this year for ambassadors

are bundlers. many of them are not even close to qualified. >> i had so many great examples of people making fools of themselves as nominees. we're just out of time. thanks for being with us. good to see you. we'll be right back. when jake and i first set out on our own, we ate anything. but in time you realize the bett you eat, the better you feel. these days we both eat smarter. and i give jake purina cat chow naturals. made with real chicken and salmon, anit's high in protein like aow cat's natural diet. and no added artificial flavors. we've come a long way. and whatever's ahead, we'll be there for each other. naturally. purina cat chow naturals. you are gonna need a wingman.

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somebody like my dad. this is my dad. somebody like my mom. my grandfather. i'm very pround of him. her. them. this is "the kelly file." and welcome to a special edition of hannity. we'll be joined by a lively studio audience. how the president's policies have brought this country to a tipping point, we begin with liberal constitutional professor jonathan turley who said it best on wednesday on capitol hill. >> the president has, in fact, exceeded his authority in a way that is creating a destabilizing influence. the rate at which executive power is being concentrated in our system is accelerating. and frankly, i am