drinking a lot of beer. >> do you feel sick? >> i have been sick every day. do you have kids? >> we all do. >> we will talk about this more. morning everybody, u.s. troops on the move in eastern europe as more soldiers pour into the ukraine. the president is in japan amid concern of what putin is doing might affect his neighbors. i am bill hemmer. >> and i will martha maccallum. 150 soldiers arrived in poland for joint war games. it is the most aggressive move yet by the united states in this ukraine crisis and pits president obama against russia's

president vladimer putin. >> ed henry is live and republicans are suggesting they perceive the weakness and that impacts us all over the world. >> this is overshadowing the president's trip to europe and now it could do the same for asia. the fear here among japan and south korea and others is if the united states isn't doing more in ukraine it will not do more to stop china's rise. here is john bolton. >> china is watching what is happening in ukraine cavare carefully. they are watching us. >> reporter: what the allies

with worried about is they will not stop allies in the south and east china sea. >> the president has been saying we will pivot to asia. are the key allies nervous? >> the president head today a sushi dinner with the president here. and he did an interview saying quote our strategy is a long-term commitment and our relationship is stronger than every. >> thank you, ed henry. vice president biden continues this ukraine trip, giving more money, $50 million, and throwing harsh words in the direction of the russian

president vladimer putin. but hours after leaving the capital, ukraine was forced to restart its anti-terrorist option without the united states. this raised concern from mccain who said nothing will stop putin without action behind them. >> when he said it was time to act and not have rhetoric. why don't we act? sanctions more people, have a plan to give them energy inpendence and why don't we give them weapons. >> all good questions. we will talk to jack keane about this and if the troops in poland will have an affect. >> meanwhile, an american is being held captive in ukraine.

the man was reporting on groups of mass gunman seizing government buildings. they ruwear of the mat for and contact with the state department to get him to safety. >> the irs doling out millions in bonuses to anything executives feel deserve it even people in some cases who didn't pay their taxes. a watchdog group found between october 1st of 2012 and up the 2013 didn't pay their taxes. imagine this happening where you live. stuart barny is here.

this is hard to believe. >> it is breakdown of accountability at the irs again. you have people who have been disciplined and haven't paid taxes but received a bonus of some kind you know you have a problem. this is in contact with the administrations responsibility. this is another glowing problem of issues. remember the political opponents were bullied by the irs. and $4 billion in bogus tax refound were sent out by the irs. the dallas office was plastered with pro-obama stickers. and now you have taxpays who

have shelled out record numbers. >> underline what you are saying. reporting the basic facts: we know about the irs investigation that was going on at the same time they were rewarded. what is the irs saying the bonus were for? generally it would be increased sales or outstanding performance. right? >> in private enterprise we would be rewarded but everybody in this pool got the bonus. if they broke the rules of the irs, didn't seem to matter. if they not paid their federal taxes when they are in charge of collecting them didn't seem to matter. still in the bonus pool, still got the money.

it is a vivid contrast on how we are the taxpayers and paying for it. there is a rising tide of frustration about this. >> it is amazing. if you are in a profit organization, increasing the bottom line you would see a business. i can only imagine in the government organization if you make it work better there might be an incentive to give someone a bonus but that doesn't appear to be the case here. >> you the taxpayer are paying the bonus of the irs who is collecting your taxes but didn't pay themselves. >> it is not fathible. we will look forward to more on this. flight mh370 -- is this the

real deal? reports of some type of material washing up on the southwestern coast. they are trying to figure out if this is debris. william picks it up from here. >> australian officials say this is an object of interest. a item with a fiber coating on the other side. there are more than a million rivets on a boeing 777. it is promising, but the hull of a vote has the same. the national transportation said the more we look at it, the less excited we get.

it has been 47 days since the flight disappeared. as for the underwater search, bad weather and high seas prevented the high tech drone from going out today. officials requested a second drone that can go deeper. nothing conclusive, no link, no evidence of the missing jet. >> two things. the geography is right. and we have been wondering where the debris is. >> it doesn't seem too difficult to identify if this is a piece of the plane or not. people are used to this leading to nothing that until it is absolutely conclusive all bets are off. the american middle class, once

thriving in terms of relationship to other areas in the world, is no longer number one. the stunning study that shows the united states is loosing the canada. steve forbs is here on what is to blame for that. >> and gunman storm a bus depot not far from where the world cup is and the olympics will be coming up >> a man on trial for killing to teens that broke into his house. when it comes to home defense, how far is too far? >> people have mixed opinions. but they were 17 and 18 and didn't deserve what happened to them. hotel with a wet pool, i go to hotels.com. you can get up to 50% off with their private sales. that man's privates are no longer private.

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at least six gunman storm a bus depot in brazil setting this massive fire. firefighters battling the flames that torched 35 buses. look at this. police say this was payback for

the recent detect of a suspected drug tractor. no injuries reported luckily. >> canada is number one. their middle class is passing america as the first time as the most affluent country in the world. bill forbes is here. what does this headline tell you? >> in the case of canada, and they cover others, i don't think it is a coincidence. since the mid-90s, they have it together. they have been cutting corporate taxes. theirs is 15%. they didn't boost artificially the housing market so they had no bust. they have been doing the

finances better than us and it pays off. >> you wonder how much the housing collapse has taken from the pockets of middle class americans. >> it really has hurt and gets to the weak and stable dollar and that is hurting the middle class everywhere all over the world. >> you go back to the '50s-'90s and we were doing okay. but the last ten years it has been a collapse. >> we have trashed the dollar. increasing taxes. massive reguially on smaller businesses which is where the new jobs are created. you do that and you pay a price for it. let's not forget much of the rest of the developed world have been making those same mistakes. southern europe is a mess with massive unemployment. and they said germany is an exception.

that is the largest economy in europe and the 4th largest economy in the world. >> they say our problems have to do with stagnating education, income quality with executive pay being higher, low minimum wage and weaker unions in america. did you believe in that? >> france has a $13 minimum wage and youth unemployment is 24%. germany was doesn't have a minimum wage and their youth employment is 8%. states have sales taxes. but europe's is ferocious going as high as 25%. it is apples and oranges. middle class is under pressure, but it is like that in most of the world. >> how has the administration's policies contributed to this or

helped the middle class in america stay stuck on stuck? >> i think they have stayed stuck on stuck because of a rotten economic environment. in the past, we liberated people to move ahead and we do well. but in the last 10-12 years the finances are gobbling up resources, taxes going up, the dollar is unstable, banks have been prevented from regalators. >> the middle class is getting whacked. how does that may in the mid terms? d do you see this continuing for the battle in 2016? >> the republicans are going to do well in the mid-term elections. if they make the issue the economy growing in 2016 they

have a great shot. they will take the white house. but they to get the message right. >> steve forbes, good to have you. new developments on the deadly blast that levelled an entire town. [boom] >> you okay? >> i cannot hear. >> get out of here. >> why investigators say they believe that tragedy would have been avoided. >> a swat team looking for a murder but it was a dangerous prank over a video game. >> and video catches a postal man delivering packages the easy

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>> swat teams burst into a long island, new york home searching for bodies and find a teenager playing games. this is the latest game of sw swating. the more officers that respond, the more points you get. it is a consequence of taking it personal to lose

>> if they lose they mimic the police aby telling them who the killed >> it shutdown the neighborhood and cost the taxpayers about $100,000. the united states has boots on the ground now in yemen sifting through the rubble of a massive set of drone strikes to figure out who may have been hit in the targeted attacks. the pentagon said it took out dozens of al qaeda fighters n region and this happened after the al qaeda video, the likes we have not seen since the old bin laden videos. many officials call this a gold mine for intelligence revealing faces, vehicles, license plate

numbers and even the location of the training camp and that came out last week. mike baker former cia officer and president of a global security firm is here. mike, interesting timing. we just talked about this video and the hit came a few days later. >> you have to assume the two are linked. there is a tremendous amount of information that can be gleamed from videos and this is an example. it isn't just where did this take place. it is who are the actors and what can you gleam from the hardware. yemen is a hot bed of al qaeda and bin laden's father is from that area so there is a long history there. there has been an effort by the

military intelncligee to try to minimize al qaeda in the arabian peninsula presence. this is one of the most successful operations in years. this is a very good win >> they are on the ground trying to figure out who they got. there are two major figures in this. and one was the number two terrorist. he is on the left-hand side of the screen. i look back to the days of the early pictures of bin laden and you think is this the guy we need to be focused on and concerned and also the right-hand side of the screen gentlemen is the master bomb maker who is behind the under r

underwar -- underwear -- did we get any of these? >> there is talk we got the innovative bomb maker. he has the experience/knowledge and has been passing that around and trying to train up other bomb makers. if we were able to pick him up and terminate him that is a big win for us. the second in command is an interesting cat. he is positions himself as a successor and that might have been one of the reasons for releasing this video. >> he is doing pr. >> yes, he is saying i am

credible and also saying we are credible as an organization. >> hopefully it came back to hit him. if the people in the video were hit, and high value targets, it might have blown up in this face. >> there is no indication he was in the hit, but there is talks about the bomb maker being one of them. this is difficult depending on where the strikes take place. we are talking about southern e yemen and we have more control over this area to go in and look at the sights than we do in other places. >> sometimes with the strikes, you don't know if someone is alive and dead. many thought bin laden was dead before he actually was. thank you, mike.

bob dole called out some of the republican front runners saying ted cruz and rand paul didn't have enough experience to run for the white house and senator paul is firing back. >> a minnesota man charged with murder for killing two teens in his home. did he go too far to protect yourself? >> the law doesn't permit you to execute someone once the athlete is gone.

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a man who shot and killed two teen agers for breaking into his house is on trial saying he went too far. garret tinny is live following this. this seems like a case of self defense. is it or is it not? >> the prosecution played audio recording and hope they can paint byron smith as a vigilante not someone who was defending himself. he was sitting in his basement

reading a book and you can hear the rattling of the door handles and a window breaking. he hears the intruder walking down the stairs and you hear boom boom nick brady is shot twice by smith. and then he shot the teenager in the face because quote i want him dead. smith sits there in silence until he hears an 18-year-old come into his home. he shoots her once before the rifle jams saying sorry about that. he unloads several rounds from his revolver and can be heard calling the girl an explicit word. >> how has he been during the deal? cooperative with investigators?

>> extremly cooperative. he called the police and let them know. he turned over the audio records as well. he showed his first signs of e emorgues yesterday morgues. this is the focal point for the defense: the break-in of the home. >> the trial continues today. thank you. >> rand paul is firing back at bob dole who criticized him by time along with others first timers like ted cruz and marco rubio for not having in his mind enough experience for make a run for the 2016 white house. something rand paul calls a good thing

>> i was a physician and then someone said you need to be a slate legislator and mayor before being in the senate and i disagree with that. i think in some ways when you have career politicians they have been beaten down by the system and are so part of tsystm cannot see the problems of the system. >> alan combs and brad blakeman is here. good to have you. does he have a point, alan? >> i have a lot of respect to bob dole but i am siding with rand paul. it was never supposed to be a permanent job. we have a president who has been successful and we didn't have a lot of washington experience before coming in. so i wonder if the same people

that criticize president obama for not having enough experience will embrace the newer ones. i am with rand paul. >> i think we need freeze that quote. you agree with mr. paul. brad, what do you think? >> i think he is sticking up for president obama. >> that is why. >> i happen to agree with rand paul on this. >> this is applicable to the president. our president ran for senate to run for president. he didn't do work in the senate. he ran for president. so you have to walk before you run. >> no other senator wants to be president. >> you need achievement and you have to have experienced failure to achieve success. our president is a perfect

example. >> there is definitely an appeal that people find out to someone who is fresh and from the outside. as senator paul said, some of those folks get so steeped in the system that any real reform is not going to happen. >> i thought paul had a good idea. when you are outside the system you have a better idea on how to fix it. >> i think back to the first president bush, and brad maybe you can speak to this, he heas been called one of the most qualified people to head the united states. he had exposure to so many different things. and in the foreign policy realm i think that is the area to lack in real experience as you prepare. what do you think? >> i think you are right. president george h bush had national experience as the first

envoy to china and cia director and party experience. you cannot be a general in two years if you were a lieutenant. and you cannot be the ceo of gm if you a good manager. >> but people are reluctant to shake up the system. we hear from people tweeting what about tax reform. across the country, there is an interest in getting rid of this owner process and no body has the guts to take it on in washington. >> well the entrinched people are not taking it on. george w. bush was the weak governor of a state and we was embraced by the republican establishme

establishment. >> he ran the -- he ran one of the biggest states in the united states. >> he had more experience than obama. >> are you kidding me? >> the experienced debate goes on and we will see where it gets us. interesting comments by bob dole. >> is the supreme court stumped? it appears torn on a case that determines how we watch television. why some of the justice don't know which way to rule. >> and a new ad that could start a fire storm. millions being spent to go after one senator on obamacare. >> i did two hours in iraq because of my service i was able to get a health care plan that worked for me. i get a letter from my insurance

company saying my cost went up and by the way you should be happy about it. aiereo

the trial of pop singer chris brown is getting underway for misdemeanor assault charges. a man is claiming brown and his body guard punched him outside a bar last fall. the mega star has been spending the past six months in rehab or in jail. the supreme court case that could change the way you watch television. a legal battle pinning broadcasters against internet start-up against aereo. they seem a bit confused on what decision to make. how does this work? n networks like fox and cbs send

tv signals for me over public airways. aereo subscribers went an antenna for a fee and that grabs the broadcast signal, records it, stores it online in the cloud and subscribers can play them on the devices whenever they want. will this change television for all of us? we have two people there discuss and good morning to you both. let's start with the law, okay, judge, tough thing to read here. when you are trying to decide for one hour of argument. it was said it isn't logical you could make millions of copies and sell them to the public. john roberts said there is no reason to have tens of thousands

of antennas to get around the copyright laws. is that the issue? >> yes, aereo found a way to persuade the trial and appeal courts that there was a lawful way around the copyright and that is this. by putting a vcr in the sky/clouds. we are not preventing you from getting the signal. we are downloading it and storing it for you and you down load it whenever you want. we are making it easier for the networks to transmit by putting it on different methods. >> aereo's attorney said it is like having a vhs. you record and watch it later >> the argument of the network is we are licensed by the federal government to send out a

signal. we deliver that to millions of homes and it is copyrighted. that signal may not be int interfered. the justice were stumped. i read the transcript of the oral argument last night and i have read the briefs. they are troubled with the fact they must make a technilogical decision more than a legal decision and many of them are stumbling on top of each other to show how much they understand and some was chuckling. they used language like cloud 3. who knows what that is? usually they talk about due process and equal protection. >> they gauge the law usually. let's come back to that. if aereo win is it an understatement saying television is changed forever?

or if aereo does win how does change television? >> let's start with one thing. a generous bulk of revenue for all of the network/cable companies, they pay the networks for the content they spent millions and billions to produce. aereo is saying we are going to take that and sell it at a profit. it is no different -- you can go into the a movie theater right now, record it, sell it on the street and sell dvr's and that is the same thing. it is basically theft. how will it change? if aereo it steal, and this is theft, these broadcast and resell them, the cable companies will say we are not going to pay you a dime for your content and then the whole ball of wax is out the window. >> so if aereo wins they will explode. if they lose, we will just go

back to the way it was before? >> yes. if they win, though, the broadcast networks are saying you want that super bowl? it will be on the sports network because it can't be stolen off cable. that is what is going to change primarily. >> coming back to the legal argument, they have to decide. what does the law say? >> copyrighted material that is distributed to the public can't be stolen. joe makes a good argument in the favor of theft. so the question is when an individual's signal is captured by aereo and delivered individually to anyone who rented the antenna is that quote delivery to the public or one

individual? if delivered to the public, that is cleary copyrighted but separate individuals is that copyright? my prediction is aereo loses. i think they were too concerned -- the word theft that joe used and was used in the courtroom and too heavy for them. >> cloud three. >> i don't know what that is. >> joe, judge, thank you both. this has to do with the broadcast channels. nothing to do with cable. doesn't affect fox news. 21st century fox is part of the big company that news corporation. thank you very much. could this be the laziest postman in the united states? stay tuned. >> here is your i-phone.

here is your crystal, martha. >> how he got caught and what the postal service is doing about him. >> and astronauts hard at work and we will see what they are up to and deeper in the space with our favorite astronaut today. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] help brazil reduce its overall reliance on foreign imports with the launch of theountry's largest petrochemical operation. ♪ when emerson takes up the challenge, "it's never been done before" simply becomes consider it solved. emerson. ♪ there was a boy who traveled to a faraway place where castles were houses

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>> mr. mailman, the video gone viral stirring anger. a family installed video cameras in their home because they saw the posting worker tossing the items. it is just one arm and there. >> doesn't look like a postal

truck? >> is the steering wheel on the right? >> it looks like a jeep with a label on the side. >> the post office apologized and they are looking into the matter. they have a lot of i-phones smashed there in kentucky. nasa astronauts are going to take a space walk outside to space station to install a new backup computer after the old one failed. phil keating is live. why is this so important? >> the space station could lose significant power and all incoming and outcoming space activity could be curtailed. so this broken computer needs to be repaired quickly. it controls half of the 24 computers on the u.s. space

station and they control the array joints that need to be moved depending on the sun from the space station to derive power. only one of these compauters is working. these two have been space walking for a few minutes. they are still depressure for the conditions of space. they haven't left the iss just yet. when they leave they will be carrying the new computer and tool with them as they shimmy down the rail. it is a relatively easy space walk and should be completed in two and a half hours >> i wish them well. i hope there is no sandra

bullock moment. there is a new space suit as well. tell us about that. >> it arrives sunday morning with the space capsule. it isn't being used today. but they are watching and making sure they don't repeat the major problem that happened when an astronaut's helmet filled with a gallon of water. quite dangerous. nasa engineers say the problem was the water filters in the space suits. they have been flushed out and the suits scrubbed. they undocked the capsule and it is floating away and it will thrust back friday to test. a lot of action up there. >> a lot up there. we have an astronaut coming up next hour. and justice department moving ahead with a plan to send low level drug offenders on their

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martha: starting off with a fox news alert. american boots are on the ground today in poland. this is the first wave of u.s. troops in eastern europe. they are therefore joint war games. it comes as more russian troops flood into the ukraine. where is all of this headed? we will talk about that coming up. but first, back to politics. and a political ad star sets tot a firestorm for vulnerable democrat. the latest shot fired ahead of the 2014 midterms. welcome, everybody com, a brandw hour of "america's newsroom." bill: good morning. the new ad targets louisiana senator for her position on obamacare.

as she seems to be in danger of losing her seat to republicans. the ad features an iraq war veteran who says it is senator's fault that his health insurance premiums have exploded. watch here. >> she said obamacare is going to make things better. better? not for people like me. i don't think she is looking out for my best interest or the people in louisiana. martha: that is the latest from that. what do you think the significance is of this next salvo in this battle? >> this is the second phase we have seen from this group that is part of a network backed by the koch brothers. in round one we saw in michigan upset the senate race everybody thought the democrats had pretty much locked up. they went on the attack. we all remember back in

february. it had the effect of flip and the senate race with a frontrunning democrat was hobbled and trailed to lesser-known republican candidates. this is round two against mary landrieu. landrieu. she is entrenched, well-connected, a famous name in the state, she is an incumbent, but it looks like the size of this spending in this ad, the toughness of having an iraq veteran being the voice of this ad can probably do some harm to her reelection process. martha: it could. mary landrieu has been in tough senate in the past, and she has prevailed. she is a shrewd politicians and she claims she has in many ways distanced herself from some of the things that are coming her way. she has also come out in favor of the keystone pipeline, which puts her in a difficult position for the big money on her side of the fence.

let's listen to bit of mary landrieu's ad currently running in louisiana. >> four years as she is forced washington louisiana. >> the administration calls are simply wrong when it comes to oil and gas production in this nation. martha: how do you think that will cut it for her? the big money on the other side of the fence will not support her because of that. >> welcome a look, think it will go about like this. she got in trouble because they face a couple of segments in the sequences in the ad. overall, her situation in louisiana is very difficult because while she can say she opposes the president and his positions on the keystone pipeline, she's not able to get results. they are delaying on the keystone pipeline and what it looks like setting it up to be turned down after the election, and by the way the counterattack democrats like to make against the koch brothers, guess what

state the petroleum industry is pretty darn popular in. louisiana. martha: let's put up a picture. mary landrieu running. and then you have the tea party candidate. no recent polls to get a good handle on how things are shaping up. they are due for some more polls. it is one we are watching very closely. chris, thank you very much. >> you bet. martha: we will see you next time. visit our politics page to get chris's daily letter. ♪ bill: another fox news alert, the justice department is moving forward with a plan to open the doors for many drug offenders in federal prison receive presidential pardons. no deadlines make it easier for nonviolent offenders to apply for clemency, and the justice department plans to assign dozens of attorneys to speed up the applications. carl on the story in washington. how will this work?

reporter: it is an executive clemency offer. the justice department is offerg the rules and guidelines in which nonviolent criminals can have the remaining sentences reduced and even eliminated based on the nature of their crime and particular circumstances. you see him on the side of the screen. president obama poised to exercise his authority to grant the executive clemency on a wide scale. hundreds, perhaps thousands of inmates could be released by the end of the presidency. it's controversial and congress has been delaying sentencing reform for quite some time. there's clearly a problem, 216,000 people in the prison system in 2010, half of them were drug offenders. bill: congressional, congress wise, how are they reacting? reporter: it had a lot of support from republicans including rand paul and ted cruz and mike lee. the smart sentencing act pass

the judiciary hearing this year. nine house republicans cosponsored it, and it would reduce sentences for thousands of nonviolent drug offenders but there are plenty of skeptics about the order and/on both sides. not at all clear what will happen. this is an election year, and it is volatile. worried it could reduce the crime rate. and democrats like in new hampshire where she will have to take a look at this before taking much of a position. it appears the type of inmates eligible would have to observe 10 years of sentences and this may even apply to those on crack convictions who were convicted and got long sentences years ago which have since been reduced. bill: thank you, watching that for us in washington. ♪ martha: a cousin to usama bin laden runs the planning branch of al qaeda. now he is said to be in syria.

raising new concerns as they are setting up camp to train and recruit new followers. katherine harris joins us live from washington. what do we know about him at this point, catherine? reporter: this operative is very open, has a twitter account with 14,000 followers. while he is not a household name, he is guarded as a leading fighter in syria. this is his id photo from the interior ministry. he is wanted on terrorism related defenses. he leads al qaeda victory committee responsible for sending policy, setting the agenda for a terrorist organization. in his recent repair testimony before congress, the top counterterrorism official explained al qaeda's shift to syria. >> syria has become the preeminent location for al qaeda aligned groups to recruit and to train, and to equipped what is

now a growing number of extremist including sending billions of dollars in military and economic aid, training, pro-regime and militants deploying their own personnel into the country. reporter: counterterrorism officials emphasize his pedigree. he is the third cousin of usama bin laden, and all of the brothers have fought alongside the al qaeda network. two of his brothers wound up at guantanamo bay held by the u.s. martha: a family business is sounds like. what does it say about syria? if it really has become a safe haven for al qaeda, catherine. reporter: another educator the network sees conflict as a strong base of operations and fertile ground for training and suggest al qaeda's leadership is not just located in pakistan but rather the leadership renew alliances now sending it senior members to syria, the operation is not an affiliate but rather

an extension of al qaeda's core leadership as some analysts suspect. >> it tells me they actually feel not only safer there, but they have more flexibility than they do in pakistan. reporter: significantly they have coordinated with another senior core al qaeda member in syria. until his death earlier this year, martha. martha: catherine, thank you. interesting stuff. ♪ bill: about 150 people confirmed dead in the south korea ferry disaster. another 150 still missing. officials say the divers in the water will have to rip through the cabin walls to find the bodies. many victims, as you know, high school students on the way to visit a tourist town. what a tragedy, indeed. martha: u.s. troops on the ground in eastern europe. very tough talk coming from

vice president biden. it hasn't stopped live near put in. and new wave of troops pouring from russia into ukraine, so what will the united states do next? bill: also, martha. new concerns of who is big and the cost of obamacare. why your doctor coulde bill. plus this. [explosions] >> are you okay? >> get out of here. please, get out of here. >> oh, my god. martha: remember that the explosion we showed you in texas. now the authorities say they believe this could have been easily prevented. when you sat down to dinner with anticipation, not hesitation.

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that works round the clock with zero daily hassle. no batteries to change. no taking off and putting on everyday. sound good? call 1 800 411 7040 now. this is the lyric. lyric fits comfortably right next to your ear drum to deliver truly natural sound quality. in fact, 95% of users prefer lyric sound quality to their old hearing aid. now the miller twin with lyric can hear and do most everything her sister does 24/7. an invisible hearing aid is wonderful. finding one with zero daily hassle... too good to pass up. call 1 800 411 7040 right now and ask about your risk free 30 day trial. get a lyric in your life. bill: a deadly blast leveled at texas town could have been prevented after all. you may remember the explosion in west texas. that happened about a year ago around the boston bombing. 15 people killed, hundreds

injured. ammonium nitrate blew up after a fire at a fertilizer plant. thinvestigators say the ammonium nitrate should have been stored in fireproof containers and that a sprinkler system should have been in place as well. >> if it does not cause any change throughout the united states, i would consider that a second tragedy. bill: that is a strong warning. it allowed the accident to ohchr in texas. martha: developments in this story because there are now u.s. boots on the ground in eastern europe as pro-russian forces spread across eastern ukraine at the same time. ukraine's government is relaunching a crackdown on armed militants. they have far fewer military resources than the russians do. more than a dozen cities are still under the control of pro-russian. u.s. military sending troops to

poland, latvia, lithuania. live drills and training exercises. military action assured nato allies of america's commitment. >> as for russia and their intentions, you need to ask president putin what his intentions are. nothing we have seen i would of moscow, but we have seen or armed forces is making things any more stable in ukraine or the content of europe. martha: a fox news military analyst. general, good to have you today. you basically called this a month ago we needed to do exercises, it is happening now. too little too late? >> absolutely not. this is an important step in the right direction. this is the smallest headquarters we could possibly

deploy. from the 173rd brigade, it is about 130, 150 troops. they will go into one of four countries, from a battalion about 600 or so troops. i would like to see a larger deployment, but nonetheless it is absolutely clear, not only reassuring our allies but sending the message loud and clear to putin and his folks that if you cross the border into one of these countries, you are at war with nato and specifically the united states. this is definitely a step. martha: we have brand-new pictures that have just come in. these are live pictures. and alerts to the activity going on on the ground in poland. this is the u.s. army paratroopers the general just referred to mobilize about 150 people in that area as a show of strength.

once again, these are live pictures coming in from poland at 4:16 p.m. poland time. when you look at that, general, what is next? >> well, it's frankly up to putin. the fact of the matter is we are now sending a message to him that nato is actually hands-off, but the fact of the matter is he is still hands on ukraine. and we're going to have to at the breakdown of the geneva talks last week, that you talk so much on the show about, the fact of the matter is as he pointed out in the intro, they are still occupying those 12 cities so that deal hasn't taken hold. the issue is ukraine, he is using intimidation to get the government to move toward him, that is what this is all about. we will have to get a lot tougher with sanctions if we're going to get him to back away in ukraine. martha: sanctions.

the white house has said they put in place sanctions and there has been a chorus of disapproval with the fact it is not enough coming from many supporters of the administration as well. why do you think that is not happening? >> i think the policy is misguided. when you listen to the president and the vice president and secretary kerry speak, they are talking relations and talking of avoiding, provoking putin. we need a policy of confrontation and one that isolates putin. we have to accept some of the risks of those consequences. sanctions on the system from the energy system not on a couple of dozen, but a couple hundred. the fact of the matter is the economy in russia is already in trouble. negative growth in the last quarter, possibly another negative growth this quarter could with them in a recession,

so there is not much we can do economically because that is where he is most vulnerable. martha: you are so right. over a barrel in so many ways, that maybe one of the reasons we see the show as well because he tries to bolster his own status which he had them quite successfully the last couple of months. always good to see you and talk to you. bill: the man accused of murder for defending himself in his own home, shooting to teenagers. he claimed self-defense. the prosecution says that man crossed the line. martha: a hot air balloon hitting the highway. look at that. ♪ bulldog: [yawn]

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♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪ martha: a hot air balloon made an unexpected landing in the highway. it pushed the balloon away from intended landing area and the pilot to the only thing he could do, set it down next to a shopping center on the road. >> the winds were not what i would have liked direction wise. they were little too far west of the area we usually clear of obstacles. there were no cars in it when i was landing. the cars are now being directed to stay out of our way. martha: the people at the mall helped pull the balloon away from the light poles. "the wizard of oz" had the same problem. ♪ bill: pretty good job by the pilot. better than the house.

new concerns of who picks up the cost of insurance under obamacare. for people who stop paying their premiums there is a grace period. live in washington with this. good morning. what is the rule all about? reporter: even though we don't know how many obamacare enrollees are actually paying the premiums, another aspect of the law as you said temporarily rewards those who stop paying. >> section 14.12 of this law requires a 90 day grace period for people who have subsidize obamacare exchange plans and stopped paying their premiums. >> insurance company covers you for 30 days and then you are still entitled to cover for another 60 days. insurance company doesn't pay, you don't pay, who pays? the doctors and hospitals have to eat it. it is a strange feature of this health reform.

reporter: "the american medical association" is so concerned they send a letter they can give their patients telling them if they didn't pay a full premium they could lose your insurance coverage. this letter is intended, it goes on, to let you know if you lose your coverage you may be obligated to pay the full cost of services that we provide to you. so just a little warning to patients. bill: will the doctors, what hospitals know if somebody does not have active insurance here? reporter: they may not. they have them notify doctors as soon as a patient falls behind. washington state passed a law requiring insurers to do that. >> doctors and hospitals that are accepting the exchanges are already taking low fees and agree to the low fees and then to discover the patient hasn't paid his premium so they will not be paid at all is going to be an unpleasant surprise. reporter: they may have to bail

them out, required to treat the sick anyway. what more doctors and hospitals to participate in obamacare having them hold the bag on cost would have the opposite effect. bill. bill: thank you. more to come. martha: the justice launching a strong defense of affirmative action as her colleagues uphold a ban in michigan. we look at the very important decision and her descent. bill: a manned mission to the red planet. nasa unveiling a flying saucer out of this world. you will see a glimpse of that. we will talk to our favorite little astronaut.

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martha: whenever we get the chance would love to show you these pictures. this is a live spacewalk happening as we watch. we heard earlier from our reporter on this. they came out just about 50 minutes ago. they are now outside of the international space station. they are in the process of beginning the computer repair that needs to be done to allow them to continue to research the exploration. >> cannot have you hold?

>> no problem. >> take your time. martha: an interesting to hear e back and forth as they are talking through some of the operations they are carrying out. two of our astronauts out on this spacewalk. this will take about two and half hours out there today. extraordinary pictures and an amazing mission and ability. more power to them. good luck out there. bill: better than sandra bullock. but she gave it a good shot. supreme court handing down a decision on affirmative action. 6-2 ruling allows the state to eliminate racial preferences when determining college acceptance. justice sonia sotomayor the tramples on the rights of minorities. we ought not sit back and wish away rather than confront the racial inequality that exists in our society.

a contributor, democratic strategist and radio talkshow host. good to have you both on today. sonia sotomayor had a lot to say. it reveals how little my colleagues understand about the reality of race and merit. and on she went. was she right? >> the reality of race in america is on the supreme court, african-american president actually appointed her to that court. i would say the dream of affordable action has been realized. once a doctor cure the disease, does they continue to treat the patient? bill: you agree with her. what is it the other justices have an issue with? >> listen, don't think the disease of discrimination in this country has been cured. there's a lot of disparity. i think the nuance in this case

in particular is what this does is it sort of puts the rights of the minority up against the voting power of the majority, which is the problem here. what she talks about is the ideal we solve discrimination by having a conversation about it. what affirmative action is used for is to make sure you have a diverse class. the right amount. >> the legal question wasn't necessarily a question of race. the question was if people in the state of michigan had a right to decide their own law and change the their own constitution. watch this. >> when people hear the term affirmative action, they have thought this is an attempt to make sure that if there were

qualified applicants that they were given the opportunity to go to these schools. people now have understood it is racial preference. it is a form of racial discrimination. it is supposedly to combat racial discrimination. >> he is 100% right about that. interesting case in chicago, running for state of illinois, he tried to get his daughter intina very competitive public school, and he was having trouble getting her in even though had really great test scores, was told by ministers she cannot get in because she is white. so he actually went to the head of the school and said can you help her get in? now he is in trouble for that. that speaks to the exact issue here. >> what about that delicate

balance? >> i think the justice addresses this in her opinion when she talks about that alumni's of university, i can get preferential treatment meaning the school does not discriminate against folks who are not alumni. if one petition the university for preferential treatment, another group should be allowed. the petition is subjective to the state, you can do that. bill: one final point on this. as a justin seven other states may now change the law because of this ruling. is this the beginning of a crack in the wall of affirmative action when it comes to race in america? >> no question about it, bill.

the fact the example i just gave is one of millions of examples across the country of kids applying to programs not given the same preferences that are given to other kids, and that has to stop because truly the dream of america is everybody has an equal shot. we have begun to address this problem. we have fixed it, i believe. >> we still have to wait and see. the fact the supreme court did this, they turn the back of the practice of the nation that has had a history of discrimination we have to fix. beyond that point, the major point is we need to have a better at it brought her conversation about race in this country and how we deal with it. what policy will we put in place to make sure everybody has equal

access to opportunity? bill: thank you. martha: n.y.p.d. twitter campaign backfired. requiring people to tweet photos of themselves with police officers but some posted not so friendly pictures. rick leventhal with us on this. >> this is trending in ways the n.y.p.d. may not have considered it came up with the idea. the department got some positive posts a lot of embarrassing reminders of officers allegedly behaving badly. it started with this tweet. do you have a photo with a number of the n.y.p.d. tweet us and take it. it may be featured on our facebook. as of the family post with new york's finest, the account saw hit after hit of police officers

using what appeared to be excessive force. cops sleeping on the subway and even shooting a dog. they rehashed the wall street protest like this on the said he may not have known this for the n.y.p.d. can help you for the kink in the neck. this guy says free massages from the n.y.p.d. what is your police department offer? and yet another offering hair care advice to the neighborhood. beating and 84-year-old man for jaywalking. while this clearly is and what the department hope for with the public service campaign, at least a first amendment statement saying n.y.p.d. is creating new ways to communicate effectively. twitter provides an open forum for uncensored exchange. this is good for our city. it is one o one of the top treng items on twitter as we speak.

martha: my goodness. thank you very much. bill: why family members say it is fedex then knew that something like this could happen. martha: a homeowner charged with murder. he shot two teenagers who broke into his home. a lot of interesting legal questions and debates on this story. did he take self-defense too far? >> did he show him the gun or anything they probably would have ran scared. i know i would have.

bill: the mother of a california teenager who was among the 10 killed in the fiery crash between a bus and a truck is now suing fedex and the bus company. some say the truck was on fire

before the crash happened. the negligence suit claims the fedex trucks have a history of catching fire. five teenagers, five adults died in the crash including both drivers. martha: a legal case that is stirring up a new debate over how far is too far when it comes to self-defense in your own home. what a case this is. byron smith shot and killed the two teenagers you see on the right-hand side of your screen after they broke into his home. he is now charged with murder. a former prosecutor, a criminal defense and litigation attorney, former prosecutor and former assistant u.s. attorney. welcome to both of you. this is an amazing, awful situation really all around. it was thanksgiving. he said he went to the basement to read a paperback, heard rattling at the door, he had been robbed before. he had ideas of who it might be.

thought a neighbor's daughter might be involved with this. he came down the stairs, shot him, and time lapsed between, several minutes, he pulled the body and the work room that would not lead on the carpet in the basement. and then number two comes down the stairs, shoots her and gave her a final deathblow because she was still twitching and he wanted to put her basically out of her misery. what do you make of this case? >> martha, this is a very tragic case. i think the prosecution is going to have to focus on whether mr. smith's actions were reasonable. did he reasonably believe he was in danger of suffering some kind of great bodily injury or death or to prevent a burglary in his home? some of the things the prosecution is going to have to rely upon are the multiple shots he fired, execution type of shot he fired to the girl and the girls face. the fact he moved the bodies onto a tarp, and of course the fact he did not report the incident until a day later.

the prosecution will try to prove this is more along the lines of exacting revenge as opposed to a man in fear of his life. martha: did he have time after the first shot when he took down the first robber which would be justified in doing entering his home coming down the basement. did he have time to call police and stop the second person from coming down the stairs is an issue, right? >> i don't think his defense will have a hard time with that point. the statement he gave was he heard steps and thought they were gaining up on him. could be a whole group of folks coming on to him. he now thinks there are more people who have come in. an older individual, by himself, broken before. it is clearly frightened.

if he can convince those people he was scared to death, he will get a pass after. troubling about the tarp not calling police. consistent with the whole experience being dramatic. martha: outthink the defens defe have to prove he felt truly under siege in the neighborhood and felt nobody would come to his aid. why not get them involved instantly as you are being attacked? >> that is what i think the prosecution is going to argue. the jury heard the audio recordings and the prosecution will argue he was not in fear of his life, he was calling the female victim a derogatory namee dead." they could have been premeditation and deliberation. the prosecutor will have to convince the jury and give the jury a reason to convict and not to nullify the verdict.

martha: is there a way for the history to separate the death. you had every right to kill these two people for coming into your home, but you exacerbated your own case by these additional blows? >> it could be a degree of murder. he is charged with first-degree murder and second-degree murder. some states there are lesser included offenses including reckless homicide, manslaughter. the jury could give him a lesser charge because of that or they could say the first death was justified, and the second one was not. martha: seems to me there are a lot of different stages they will have to determine in terms of premeditation. the fact he was recording all of this, what about all that? he had an audio recorder set up to tape this. >> if anything i don't think the recordings are helping him. if anything they are hurting him because when the jury hears the bone chilling account of these two teenagers.

they were intruders in his home, but when they are hearing about the death and his reaction allegedly was more callous as opposed to a man fearful for his life, they're going to work against him and it is going to bolster the prosecution's argument is is more about premeditation and deliberation than self-defense. martha: it will be very interesting to watch how the jury comes down in this case. thank you very much. bill: "happening now" rolls your way in a couple of minutes. jon scott, how are you? jon: good morning. there's a hunt for the malaysian jetliner. did new clues wash up on a beach? and the sinking of the fairy. in poland, childhood bullying victim still suffering sometimes into the 70s and revolution in the medical world to tell you about. nothing on this, bionic eyes.

bill: i saw the picture of your son on twitter. well done. >jon: thank you. bill: monday, "happening now" airs twice. in between at noon eastern a brand-new show called "outnumbered." it is called "outnumbered." on the fox news channel. martha: you are used to that. here and at home. how close are we to putting a human being on mars? what nasa has planned. coming up.

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is slowing down the entire organization. i'm looking at you phone company dsl. go to comcastbusiness.com/ checkyourspeed. if we can't offer faster speeds or save you money we'll give you $150. comcast business built for business. bill: nasa hoping to land a man on the red planet in the next decade or two. listen to the nasa chief. >> we think right now with modest increases in the budget over the years, we will be able to get to mars in 2030 as president obama told us. and we make it happen. bill: make it happen. a visiting professor at colombia university, how are you? >> good to be here. bill: there is a value in this, we will debate.

a challenge in this and a status update. what is the value in going to mars? >> there are a few things, but we can learn a lot about planet earth from going to mars. mars and earth from the time of the revolution were very similar. earth went in one way, and we live here. mars went another way and doesn't support any life that we know of. bill: you are convinced of that? the way mars went one way and we went the other. >> very similar planets at the early stages and just went different directions. bill: so finding out more about mars would help us. >> we might learn about our planet. bill: would you go to mars? >> i would. the plan is not to go there until about 2030, so i don't think it will be myself. bill: physically do you have the ability to do this? >> to get there?

it could be a very long time. a few years worth of a mission. we will be very confident when we go there about keeping people healthy and safe because of what we are doing on the international space station now. we have had people in space for 14 years. we have learned about keeping people in space for a long time. now we can use remaining 10 years to do the research and develop the technology we need to get us to mars. bill: the third segment of this question is the status of such a trip. we are at least 10 years away. >> it is a big deal. to get there we have sort of a process in place. continue the international space station research and development, see what it takes for technology and people to go on a trip like that, and to do it on an asteroid is the plan. that would be an asteroid that we will capture and put in orbit

around the moon and use that information to then make the leap to go to mars. bill: you say we will go to mars, it is a question of when. >> absolutely. i think it's a place to go. the benefits for our economy, technology will pay for it. in the end it's an interesting place to go, and i think is the next step for us. bill: interesting. thank you for catching up. martha: big news today because the u.s. has sent troops to poland as pro-russian forces tighten their grip on eastern ukraine. so what happens next? ana live report from the pentag.

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>> wait a minute. , he didn't get that yet. bill: what was going on there? martha: written 20 years ago, top 10 suggestion and didn't get the job. guess what? bill: got it now. martha: got it now. "happening now" starts right now. jenna: we start off the day, a new lead for the hunt for malaysia airlines flight, objects of interest, washing ashore in southwestern australia. hello, i hope you're off to a great day. i'm jenna lee. jon: i'm jon scott. australian authorities examining the material including a large piece of metal with rivets. they plan to go deeper, taking the search in the indian ocean far below the surface. a u.s. navy robotic submarine, scanning 120 miles of seafloor thus far has come up empty until