who takes care of us every morning. our makeup artist who just won her third emmy. "happening now" starts right now. >> take care. jon: we begin with this fox news alert. two americans who contracted ebola in liberia is returning home today. the other discharged from the hospital. emory university hospital holding a news conference of the discharge of dr. kent brantly and nancy writebol. you can see the reporters waiting for the news conference to begin. they were flown to let the hospital earlier this month after being treated with an experimental serum. >> very good news indeed.

this still too early to know if the experimental serum played a role in the apparent recoveries or if it was simply the tremendous support of care they were receiving here at emory university hospital where they were undergoing treatment at a special isolation unit. we expect to hear more from the treatment at the news conference about to get underway at any minute. we will hear from the first of the two american ebola patients to arrive here. they had been treating patients at an ebola clinic in liberia around the time he was infected. they say "today i join all of our team around the world in giving thanks to god as we celebrate dr. kent brantly's recovery from ebola and discharge from the hospital." he was with nancy writebol who had been working in that same

ebola clinic. now a spokesman just released a statement to the media saying nancy writebol has tested clear of the virus and that she was discharged on tuesday from emory hospital. according to the spokesman, she is now staying at an undisclosed location with her husband. back to you. jon: very good news all around. jonathan, thank you. some brand-new details emerging of a failed hostage rescue attempt just weeks before the gruesome videotape execution of american journalist james foley. welcome to "happening now." molly: a news conference expected at the pentagon with the secretary of defense and joint chiefs chairman to brief reporters of the special ops mission earlier this summer. the troops sent to syria after

intel believes they knew where he was holding the american. but the hostages were not play player. unveiled one-day after we see a video showing the beheading of james foley and threatening to execute a second american journalist for the airstrikes in iraq continue. jennifer griffin is live at the pentagon. reporter: the foley family would not confirm the hostage takers demanded more than $1 million in ransom for their son but did say there were financial demands a week before the killing his captors sent the parents a venom filled rant via e-mail. here is eric holder. >> we have memories in our reach is very wide. we will not forget what happened at people will be held accountable one way or the oth other. reporter: the special operations

team that attempted to rescue were on the ground longer than they expected. when they got the first compound the hostages were there. evidence they had been their days before i am told. they decided to go to a second location where they got into a firefight. here is the employer from global post. >> we had all the appropriate communications, we hope they would listen. obviously the situation changed when the bombing began. >> coming from interviews with french hostages released this spring. they described where the american hostages were being held. they were being held by british jihadist, the executioner speaks with a self london accent and is left-handed. >> for fact in syria and iraq

more are on the ground. we see some videos and everything else, so we know for a fact european passport holders. as i said before, this is a tourist destination. we need to fight them. molly: there are at least three more americans been held by isis in syria right now. molly: thank you. jon: to the white house i now facing questions about the timing of the closure of the failed rescue attempt in syria. senior white house foreign affairs correspondent live at martha's vineyard where the president is on vacation. >> the president counterterrorism advisor says a white house revealed the mission because several news agencies found out about it and were going to report on it anyway, but sharp criticism for people who say it gave too much information to isis even though

several isis people were killed in the failed rescue attempt, so the group was aware of it anyw anyway. john bolton had other reasons he feels should have been kept secret. >> as it tells people what we were trying to do, and it is an admission of failure. and number three, whoever it was we relied upon, whoever gave us the tip is now in jeopardy from the islamic state and may well be dead already. >> it is the only time we know of the u.s. put boots on the ground in syria, since the president said he would not do when critics called on him to give more help to the rebels. john mccain says u.s. forces should go after isis in syria and iraq, but the president says the fight against isis is something that we will do in concert with other middle east nations.

president obama: peoples across the middle east, there has to be a common effort to extract this cancer so it does not spread. there has to be a clear rejection of this kind of a nihilistic ideologies. one thing we can all agree on is a group like isil has no place in the 21st century. >> to defeat isis, iraq must fill the divide between sunni and shiite muslims at the group feeds on. jon: with president, thank you. so why is all of this information coming out now, should it be released at all? significant criticism over these disclosures. coming up, our political panel on the timing of all of this. molly: the streets of ferguson, missouri, cooling down a bit. the weather may have helped, the crowds were smaller last night and many police officers were dressed in regular uniforms, not their right gear be at at least

two people sorted out of the crowd for their own safety. the couple turned out in support of ferguson police reminding them there were two sides of the story. something attorney general eric holder echoed. >> it speaks to a sense of this distrust and mutual suspicion i can take hold in relationship to law enforcement and certain communities. they can have confidence in reading this process. it will be thorough and independent. >> after his confrontation with brown. adam. >> there has been protests in recent days, 7 miles away, in clayton, missouri, from the

justice center. some barriers to close off a couple of streets prin to ensure safety and security. we do expect him to be here with the hour, leadership coalition is the name of the group delivering 70,000 signatures for the removal of robert. a prosecutor, and please officer killed in the line of duty, they say that makes him unwilling and likely to do this, but the county says otherwise. he met with prosecutors and also met with federal prosecutors as well and seemed to show some support for their actions so far and did show the idea they would get this all right. >> patients is in abundance.

in ferguson. it doesn't mean this thing should drag on, we will try to do it as expeditiously as we c can. but it is most important we do it right. thrown us, completes this is what we will emphasize. >> that is what the st. louis countyoroughness and . we expect those signatures in the next hour. molly: thank you for your work on the ground. jon: now going to emory hospital in atlanta where dr. kent brantly has been release of her coming down with the ebola virus. let's listen in this news conference. >> good morning, and thank you for coming here today. i am the medical director at emory university hospital. i lead the team of doctors,

nurses, laboratory technologis technologists, and many others who have cared for dr. brantley and mrs. nancy writebol. two patients treated at emory university hospital for the ebola disease. today i am proud to announce dr. brantly is being discharged on the hospital after rigorous course of treatment and protesting, we have determined in conjunction with the center for disease control and state health departments that dr. brantly has recovered from the infection and that he can return to his family, to his community and to his life with public health concerns. the second patient, mrs. writebol, was discharged august 19.

the medical staff here is confident that the discharge from the hospital of both of these patients poses no public health threat. the hospital is respecting mrs. writebol's wishes for privacy at that time, so we will not be making any further comments about her clinical course. speaking on behalf of everyone at emory, we are tremendously pleased with dr. brantly and mrs. writebol's recovery, and we are profoundly grateful for the opportunities to have applied our training, our care and our experience to meet their needs. all of us who have worked with them have been impressed with their courage and determination. their hope and faith have been an inspiration to all of us.

in addition, both of the families provided tremendous support throughout this treatment process, their dedication, devotion has strengthened us as well as the patient. limited knowledge of the virus, especially in our country has created understandable anxiety and fear for some patients. we understand there are lots of questions and concerns regarding ebola virus and the affections of causes, however we cannot let our fears affect our actions. as grateful as we are today, our work is far from over. we are very mindful of all of those in west africa were still fighting fighting for their lives against this threat and

those who are caring for them putting their own lives in danger. it was the right decision to bring these patients back for treatment. what we learned in caring for them will help advance the world understanding of how to treat ebola virus infections and help hopefully to improve survivals in parts of the world where patients with disinfection are treated. at emory, our mission is to heal and to advance knowledge. a team of professionals with me here today has trained for years to treat and contain the most dangerous infectious diseases in the world. we are grateful for the successful outcome in this case, but we are never going to be taking success for granted. three other critically important

partners who have helped us throughout this episode deserve recognition today. our neighbors, the centers for disease control, food and drug administration and the state epidemiologist of georgia and north carolina. i will be taking your questions, but before doing so, dr. brantly has requested to make a brief statement. dr. brantly will not be taking any questions following his statement, so i ask that you respect his wishes and save your questions for me and for the other members of our health care team. thank you. >> today was a miraculous day. i'm thrilled to be alive, be well and to be reunited with my

family. when my family and i moved to liberia last october to begin a two-year term working with americans first, h e bolo was nt on the radar. we moved to liberia because god called us to serve the people of leveliberia. in march when we got word had spread to liberia we began to prepare for the worst. it did not receive our first ebola patient until june, but when she arrived, we were ready. during the course of june and july, the number of ebola patient increase steadily and our amazing crew took care of each patient with great care and compassion. we also took every precaution to protect ourselves from this dreaded disease by following

guidelines for safety. after taking our children to the airport to return to the states on sunday morning july 20, i poured myself and my work even more than before, transferring patients to our new, bigger isolation unit, training and orienting new staff and working with our human resources officer to fill the staffing needs. three days later on wednesday, july 23, i woke up feeling under the weather. and then my life took an unexpected turn as i was diagnosed with the disease. as i lay in my bed for the following night and days getting sicker and weaker each day, i prayed that god would help me be faithful, even in my illness and i prayed that in my life or in my death that he would be glorified. i did not know then, but have

learned since that there were thousands, maybe even millions of people around the world praying for me throughout that week and even still today, and i have heard story after story of how this situation has impacted the lives of individuals around the globe both amongst my friends and family and also among complete strangers. i cannot thank you enough for your prayers and your support, but what i can tell you is that i serve a faithful god who answers prayers. through the care of missionary team in liberia, the use of instrumental drug and the expertise and resources of the health care team at emory university hospital, god saved my life, a direct answer to thousands and thousands of prayers. i'm in credibly thankful to all

those involved in my care from the first day of my illness all the way up to the day of my release from emory. if i tried to thank everybody, i would undoubtedly forget many, but i would be remiss to buy did not say thank you to a few. taking care of me and my family as though we were their own family. thank you to the samaritans first community, you cared for me, i ministered to me during the most difficult experience of my life. in the love and mercy of jesus christ. thank you to emory university hospital and especially to the medical staff and isolation unit. you treated me with expertise, yet with such tenderness and

compassion. for the last three weeks you have been my friends and my family, and so many of you have ministered to me which has been an important part of my recovery, i will not forget you and all that you have done for me. thank you to my family, my friends, my church family and all who live to be up in prayer asking for my healing and recovery. please do not stop praying for the people of liberia in west africa and a quick end to this ebola epidemic. my dear friend nancy writebol, upon her release from the hospital wanted me to share her gratitude for all the prayers on her behalf walking out of her isolation room all she could say was to god be the glory. nancy and david are spending much needed time together.

thank you for your support throughout this whole ordeal. my family and i will now be going away for a period of time to reconnect, decompress and to continue to recover physically and emotionally. after a have recovered a little more and regain some of my strengths will look forward to sharing more of the story, but for now we need some time together after more than a month part. we appreciate the opportunity to spend some time private talking to some of you is this interest in our journey. thank you for granting us that. again, before we slip out, i want to express my deep and sincere gratitude to samaritans first, emory and all of the people involved in my treatment and care. above all, i am firs for everytg

felt a guide for sparing my life and whatever tension my sickness has attracted to the plate of west africa in the midst of this epidemic. please continue to pray for liberia and west africa and encourage those in positions of leadership and influence to do everything possible to bring this it bol ebola outbreak to a. thank you. jon: and emotional dr. kent brantly, the man who went to liberia as a medical missionary and then came the epidemic. that is the situation he found himself, became a patient himself and now one of the very few in the world that survived an encounter with a virus. dr. kent brantly up, alive, well and very grateful for his feeling.

molly: let's bring in dr. marc siegel, and professor of medicine. thank you for joining us, we look forward to talking to you about this. this is the outcome a lot of people were hoping for. in africa when people survived the virus and go home, they are greeted with some fear and hesitation to gets too close to them. is that warranted in this case? the doctors at the hospital said no reason to be concerned about this. >> they have both told me the only contagious as long as you're feeling sick and you can see by looking at him and bring him talk he feels strong, he does not look sick to me and i have looked at sick patients my whole career. chances are he is not contagious right now. there is a report of somebody who carried the ebola virus and

secretions up to two months, but i talked to him about that tod today, they said that is not a sign of contagion. we don't believe he is contagious right now. molly: your thoughts on instrumental treatment that the doctors had mentioned. >> the director of the national institute of infectious diseases, he pointed out to me, he said look, it looks like this treatment which targets the virus directly, wraps around it and destroys it, it is only two people and can be a queenston. it is not scientific proof, he also points out people are recovering with the right care, so we don't know. molly: one of the things mentioned was what an opportunity this was for

american doctors to study this disease so we don't see it here in america. will this matter around the world we had a chance to look at this? >> i always believe that. he was under observation 24/7 with the cdc looking over everything in the ice isolation chamber. we've only been able to look at ebola in the infants before th this. molly: what about the thoughts of quarantine? in africa they are blocking off neighborhoods. >> there is a historical precedents about this. in europe in the 60 16th and 17h century the cause so much fear people tried to escape and in escaping the cause more of a virus.

they have to take precautions being constrained like this. molly: thank you very much, we appreciate your time on this new disease thin seen this has home. we appreciate it. jon: or on the beheading of the journalist in retaliation for u.s. airstrikes in iraq threatening to kill another american if those strikes do not stop, what would the option the u.s. is weighing now many more boots on the ground. we will go in depth.

♪ ♪ jon: we are learning more about that u.s. attempt to rescue the hostages that isis was holding in syria, including james foley who, as you know, was executed this week by terrorists. american special operations forces went into syria but could not find the hostages. the unsuccessful rescue operation coming to light one day after isis posted a video showing foley's horrifying execution. some people want to know why these details are being made public now. >> i think this is a stunning breach of start for the united states. obviously, ordered by the white house. i cannot conceive of the pentagon releasing this on their own. this is exactly the sort of thing that should remain completely confidential for 50 years. jon: we are joined by nina easton, washington editor and columnist for fortune magazine

and a fox news contributor, jamie weinstein, senior editor of the daily caller. welcome to both of you. >> thank you. jon: nina, obviously orchestrated by the white house, i believe that was the quote from the ambassador there are. what do you think about that? >> well, yeah. it obviously came from the white house, and, you know, the white house said it was in reaction to media inquiries that were simmering over the incident. but it's clearly the white house saw a political strategy behind this which was to show that they are actually doing something to rescue or to protect americans in isis captivity. but it's a very strange decision on their part. i mean, you released some of the details of basically a botched operation based on faulty intelligence. and i have to say it reminds me of the bad judgment call, jon, that they made over the whole bowe bergdahl swap for the taliban prisoners in gitmo, bowe

bergdahl being the last p.o.w. in afghanistan. they took a victory lap thinking that they were going to be applauded, and they weren't. i mean, people didn't consider bowe bergdahl a hero, and they were scared about this release of the taliban prisoners. so their pr judgment comes into question on this as well. jon: yeah. jamie, i'm thinking back to the operation that got osama bin laden had to be the high water mark of this administration, and perhaps, you know, they were hoping for another one. i mean, we all would have liked to have seen it succeed. the fact is, the hostages apparently had been moved a few days before. the special operators who got there didn't find, you know, anybody no rescue. to rescue. but with still, why release the information? >> absolutely. the administration's excuse doesn't make very much sense, they said they were trying to get ahead of news reports that were going to come out about it, but why did they need to get ahead of it if this is the actual story? this wasn't 1979 jimmy carter.

there was no grand disaster. it's not like many troops died or any troops died. one was minorly injured. this is clearly a pr move by the administration to show that they're trying to be proactive. i can understand that they want to project that image, but as several pentagon sources told the new york times and retired general keane told fox news yesterday, they're revealing sources that allow the terrorists now to better secure themselves against this type of raid in the future. there's no reason that the white house should reveal this. it's one thing for news outlets to try to get the story, but for the white house to volunteer this kind of hurts operations going forward. jon: here is what caitlin haden who is be spokeswoman for the national security council had to say: we never intended to disclose this operation overriding concern for therativs much secrecy as possible. we only went public today when

it was clear a number of media outlets or -- were preparing to report on the operation and that we would have no choice but to acknowledge it. does that pass the smell test? whatever happened to "no comments"? >> well, it's also kind of interesting if you read carefully between the lines, this is also a white house that very much wants to control the storyline and is very aggressive about trying the control the storyline about itself and is right now under attack, under fire on the foreign policy front -- jon: sur the middle east. and they are trying to get the upper hand on this and show that this is a proactive president. and it is, again, i think it was -- even from a pr perspective, even if that's your intent, this doesn't help. jon: no, i mean, the special operations forces, jamie, have rescued, you know, captain phillips, they rescued jessica buchanan and her boyfriend.

we have a pretty good track record. so everybody would understand if a mission like this was atented and fail -- attempted and failed but, again, it comes down to were they looking for good pr by saying, well, we tried to get james foley before he was brutally executed. >> absolutely. there's no fault with the attempt to do it, they tried, they failed, they were able to kill some terrorists, so maybe in that sense it was a little bit of a success. but what caitlin hayden said at the white house, they're not releasing operational details. but from the reports that come out, they are. they talk about helicopters and fixed plane aircraft they used, the number of special forces that they used and not just from people like me. in "the new york times" they quoted two pentagon sources who were very upset that the white house went on and released these details because they thought it caused substantial harm to future operations like this where the united states is trying to rescue people.

jon: plus, nina, apparently this took place in syria where, to my knowledge, we hadn't gone before, and i suppose the terrorists thought they were is safe in syria because the united states wasn't going to go there. >> that's right. i mean, this president, keep in mind, overold his own -- overrode his own national security team including hillary clinton, including leon panetta a couple of years ago when they were pleading witheding with ths administration to go in and arm the good rebels as opposed to the isis-type rebels. he overrode them, and, yeah, this was our attempt to go in and or a very narrow level protect citizens. this goes to the narrow focus this white house is insisting on having on the threat of isis. isis is not just about kidnapping americans in the region, it's about a direct and deadly threat to the united states the same way that the prime minister of britain very clearly made that statement this

week. barack obama does not see this as a clear and deadly throat the united states -- threat to the united states, which is it is. jon: this is the same group he compare today a jv team putting on lakers' jerseys back in january. thank you both. >> thank you, jon. molly: now to the u.s. strategy in iraq, the u.s. stepping up fighter jet and drone strikes in iraq, and the obama administration is weighing more military intervention that could include boots on the ground. joining us now, k.t. mcfarlane, former deputy assistant secretary of defense in the reagan administration. thanks for being here. isis has gained so much ground -- >> so concludely. molly: yes. agricultural resources, energy resources, and now the u.s. airstrikes have helped to take back the mosul dam. will airstrikes be enough to temper their rise at this point? >> they help. they may help stop the spread, but they don't roll it back by any means.

some people have said on one hand, well, we can't have any boots on the ground. the president said that. on the other hand, we have others who say we've got to have boots on the ground. we don't need it in the sense we have them in afghanistan, iraq, vietnam. what we need is sandals in the sand, and it's local sandals. now, what can the united states do to help the fight? number one, give the locals who want to fight everything they need, the kurds, the peshmerga, they want to take on isis, and they have been doing it, they just don't have the modern equipment. isis is now the best-equipped army in the middle east because they picked up off the ground the stuff that the iraqi army threw down when they fled. peshmerga wants to fight, provide the close air sport that we're doing, the bombing, share intelligence. give everybody in the region who wants to fight isis whatever they need to fight. help them with humanitarian assistance because there are large refugees. and number two, understand that

the situation there has changed in the last six weeks. why? all of a sudden the moderate sunni states, saudi arabia, egypt, they look at isis, and they said this is what they've done in two months' time. we're next. they've already said our necks are next. so they have to look at this and say if we don't stop the spread of isis, it's going to be our heads on the stake next. so what the secretary of state should be doing instead of thinking about peace between the palestinianens -- palestinians and israelis, see if we can't craft an anti-jihad coalition and then go the europeans. and then finally, understand we better get serious about homeland defense. there are 7,000 european passport holders who can't wait to bring the fight from syria and iraq to europe. and there are several hundred americans. molly: and isis creating this multilingual propaganda wing in which the tape of james foley is

beheaded speaks perfect english. claiming all these assets, military assets as well, are they isolated politically? they can create as much as they want to a state and claim land, but who's going to work with them and trade with them? >> agriculture. they don't care. molly: how long can they continue? >> president obama has said they're going to collapse of their own weight, they're going to ultimately fail. well, they're going to do an awful lot of damage before that happens. in june there were some 1500 thugs. what happened? they were able to scare a 30,000-man iraqi army into dropping their weapons. they're now in in the best armed. they robbed a bank, they now have oil fields that are giving them $2-$3 million a day in revenues. now, they may be a little bit overextended but, man, they're on a march. and if you're looking at the region and if you're somebody in the region, what are you saying? i could be next, but on the other hand, who's going to lead? that's why american leadership is so important right now, and the president goes to play golf.

get back into the white house situation room and start dealing with the threat that is coming to our shores. molly: k.t. mcfarlane, thank you so much. a terrifying situation still continuing. thank you very much. jon: as we consider leadership in this country, it is the dog days of summer. but there is no rest for the democrats. why one columnist says the president's party is stuck in crisis mode. also, heads up. customers at a coffee shop scramble out of the way. what caused this near disaster?

jon: let's check out what's ahead on "outnumbered. qualification harris and kimberly, what do you have? >> as we learn more about the circumstances surrounding an american journalist's horrible death, president obama is sticking to his vacation. while one of america's biggest allies in the war on terror is canceling his. >> plus, support for common core appears to be dropping very fast.

the widespread dissatisfaction americans are having with the government's role in our schools. >> and when you put on your workout clothes, you hit the gym, right? or maybe not. [laughter] >> why do you look at me? i go to the gym sometimes. >> i don't. >> rarely. >> more and more americans are wearing yoga goer but not actually -- gear, but not actually going to gym. >> i have 'em on underneath t my pant. don't tell anybody. plus, our hashtag one lucky guy coming up at the top of the hour. jon: cannot wait. thank you both. molly: danger outside a high speed police chase near san francisco, customers having to scramble out of the way. a car jumped the curb, knocking tables and chairs all around and pinning one person against the wall. the crash sending four people to the hospital including a mother and her child inside the car. the driver of the car was wanted in a domestic assault incident. ♪ ♪ jon: well, we are in the month

of august, that usually means a small break on capitol hill. but there's no rest for the weary, especially if you are a democrat this year. the bad news seems endless. less than three months from midterm elections. in a blog post, ed rogers writes: r.n. jon ed rogers, the author of the words, joins us now. he's a republican opinion writer for "the washington post," a former deputy assistant to george h.w. bush. you thought this might be the month when the democrats would sort of turn things around. >> well, maybe. i was thinking just the absence of bad news would be some sort of relief for the democrats, an. there's usually some sort of political thunderstorm in all this, but the republicans are just as vulnerable to that as the democrats are. but they can't catch a break, from forget to uneven economic data to chaos in iraq.

nothing is going the democrats' way. we're on the brink of the kickoff of the campaign cycle here on labor day, and there's no chance the republicans would trade places with the democrats right now. jon: you say democrats right now, in your view, are in more trouble politically than republicans were ahead of the last two years of the bush administration. >> yeah, there's no question. this is exactly what a wave election looks like right before labor day. everything from the polling to the economic data, again, they're on the back foot on foreign policy, domestic policy, nothing's going their way. they're fighting among themselves, republicans are winning, the right republicans are winning, the primaries. this is what a wave looks like. if you had to bet today -- and it's a little early -- you would say the republicans are going to take control of the senate. jon: well, and thinking about that, i mean, mr. obama has spent an awful lot of time complaining that he could get so much more done if it weren't for

those pesky republicans in the house. if republicans take the senate, then what's the president going to do? >> yeah. i mean, the president has based a lot of his capital and explained a lot of his problems and challenges by blaming somebody else. he still blames bush, he certainly blames republicans. he lacks none of the artful nimbleness required to engage the other party, to engage the other institutions of government to get something done, to manage anything both big and small. and he's quick to lay blame. he's quick to declare, well, i tried, and it's the other guy's fault. it's not getting him anywhere. those -- that line is hollow, it doesn't bite, it's not working, and more of the same is undesirable for the democrats. they've got to think of something other than blaming others for their problems. first of all, by never

acknowledging a mistake they don't learn anything, so they don't change course. more of the same is undesirable, and blaming bush, blaming the republicans isn't going to get them the turnout that they need. jon: what about the art of the deal? what about doing some behind-the-scenes negotiating instead of, you know, just taking to the podium and making these pronouncements? >> at some point the white house, the administration, the whole party reflects the personality of the president. and what you're seeing is a solitary, isolated guy that finds other people a nuisance, other people are a distraction. maureen dowd wrote a scathing piece we can't recount now, but her whole point was this solitary figure has gotten elected to the most public office in the world and res a sol area -- remains a solitary figure who doesn't like to engage with others. i think it was his own sympathizer, his own apologist, senator claire mccaskill from

missouri, who said eating his spinach is schmoozing with other politicians, and obama doesn't like to engage with other political figures. he considers it to be tiresome, he considers it to be an annoyance, he considers it to be beneath him. and how do you think other political leaders react to that? and they were talking about democrats, not just republicans, where he's built no meaningful relationships in congress on either side of the aisle abroad, overseas. there's not one leader where he has a unique personal relationship that leverages his own power as president. it's remarkable. it's stubbing. stunning. jon: ed rogers with the washington post, good to have you on. >> thanks, jon. molly: the annual farmers' almanac forecasts are in, and if you thought last winter was bad, wait until you get ad load of what you're in for this year. and why a guy behind a home invasion could go right to the top of the dumb criminals list. >> when i came home from work that day, that screen was laying

right here. finish credit cards, cash for a soccer tournament, checkbook, watch. kind of started to panic. he -- [laughter] he pulled up his facebook profile and left --

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molly: brace yourself for another bruty cold winter, at least if you live in the northeast, that according to the newly-released old farmers' almanac. maria molina in the fox news weather center, this last winter was miserable. >> i know. and it's been a cool summer across parts of the northeast so far, and guess what? the almanac predicting a colder than average winter, and many of you will are remember last year's polar vortex and how we kept talking about that phenomenon across portionings

of -- portions of the northeast and into the midwest. take a look at the eastern two-thirds of the country. they are predicting not just a cold, but a super cold winter with temperatures that are going to be well below average, and they are predicting in general more snow than average as well across parts of the northeast, although portions of new england could remain a little bit below average. parts of the west coast could be looking at temperatures that are above average. california has been experiencing a significant drought, and it is forecast to stay dry out there as well as we head into this winter, but florida, you're expecting to see a lot of rain out there as we head into this upcoming winter. so a lot of different weather expected across the country in terms of upcoming winter. and by the way, the hurricane season, they're also saying it won't be especially active. and i want to take you now to our current hurricane season because it has been quiet, but we are tracking an area of showers and storms just east of the caribbean and, molly, this system does have about a 50%

chance in the next 48 hours of becoming a named storm or depression. models take it out toward the obama maas next week -- bahamas and eventually most curve it back out to sea. a lot of up certainty, we'll have to track this storm carefully. molly: maria, thank you very much. we're not giving in yet. thank you. jon: those of us who ski can't wait. [laughter] brand new stories we're working on for the next hour of "happening now." the staggering number of americans on welfare, what that means for our economy. we'll go in depth on that. plus, three autopsies done on missouri teenager michael brown. how much can investigators really learn from doing them time and time again? d. michael baden -- dr. michael baden will be here live to discuss his findings.

jon: well, a minnesota man is in jail right now apparently because he just couldn't stay off facebook. cops say this guy broke into a house, taking everything from credit cards to soccer tickets.

molly: but he also decided to log on, check his facebook account and then forgot to to log back off. police arrested him a day later. jon: i guess they got his fingerprints off the keyboard too. [laughter] we'll see you back here in one hour, "knockout -- "outnumbered" starts now. ♪ >> this is "outnumbered," and i'm kimberly guilfoyle. here today, sandra smith, jedediah bee la, and today's hashtag one lucky guy, dr. keith ablow, and he is outnumbered -- perhaps by the world, dr. keith. [laughter] >> i sometimes get that feeling. >> let me say you kind of stepped in it last time, right? you heard comments about -- >> i did? >> we're going to get back into that. >> don't worry, nobody noticed. >> i know. it was a whisper. >> but we're going to get to the news for now because the united states is ramping up airstrikes in iraq and considering sending up to 300 more troo