everywhere we can. i'm on "the kelly file" at 9:00. "happening now" starts right now. jon: ed henry get to washington, there will be a white house news conference later. we're waiting for a pentagon news conference just about one hour from now. defense secretary chuck hagel already issuing a stark new warning, calling isis, an imminent threat much. >> isil is a sophisticated and well-funded as any group that we have seen. they're beyond just a terrorist group. we must prepare for everything and, the only way you do that, you take a cold steely hard look at it and get ready. jon: well the white house and the administration used term isil, most media still call it isis. hagel said all options are on the table to defeat that group as the u.s. steps up airstrikes. meanwhile the parents of rupert

murdoched journalist james foley release ad email received from isis. you and your citizens will pay the price of bombings, which will be first the blood of american citizen james foley. he will be executed as a direct result of your transgressions against us. early this week, james foley was barbarically killed. much more on this story to come. jon: we're getting new reaction to allegations the pentagon broke the law by swapping terrorists for arm sergeant bowe bergdahl. good friday morning to you. i'm jon scott. >> nice to be here. jon: good to have you here, heather. heather:? he defense department released five pressers?

from guantanamo for sergeant bergdahl serving in afghanistan. jon: the government accountability office said congress must be notified about such a deal in advance. james rosen has more on this. >> reporter: good morning a group of republican senators back in june tasked the government accountability office with determining the lawfulness of the bergdahl prisoner swap and that watchdog agency concludes in its final report that the exchange violated two laws. first, failing as required under the national defense authorization act, ndaa, notify congress with 30 days of notice and utessing appropriated fund for the swap when no fund were appropriated for it. senior u.s. officials defended the lie galty of the bergdahl swap at the time. >> we believe that the president united states as commander in chief has the power and authority to make the decision he did under article 26 the constitution.

>> there was determination made that given these unique circumstances such a transfer should go forward notwithstanding the notice requirement of the ndaa. >> reporter: in release of the sergeant bergdahl held captive by the haqqani network five years after apparently leaves his post in afghanistan in june of 2009, the pentagon released five top taliban commanders, inmates at guantanamo bay for a decade into qatari custody. a former army officer suggested the administration is embarrassed by the gao finding. >> i think it does matter. i also believe if the administration had a redo on they would have notified congress appropriately, notified them what the content of exchange was, and adjustments to make and certainly funding would have been right. >> reporter: army officials say they're in the final stages investigating whether sergeant bergdahl desserted his post. jon: james rosen in washington.

thank you. heather: relatively quiet night on the streets of ferguson, missouri, as governor jay nixon orders the national guard to pull out of the st. louis suburb. police making only a handful of arrests as federal civil rights probe gets underway and attorney general holder promise as thorough investigation into the police killing of michael brown. leland vittert is live in washington for us. leland, what exactly is the doj investigating? >> reporter: all right, heather, best described in layman's terms the fbi and justice department looking to see in darren wilson, the officer involved in the shooting deprived michael brown's civil rights and if they can prove it was intentional. eric holder visit it to ferguson and promise to feds looking into things appears to calm the streets down even the attorney general held back making any kind of promises. >> it will take time. i think patience is in abundance in, in ferguson.

doesn't mean that this thing should drag on. we will try to do this as expeditiously as we can. >> reporter: now they might need a lot of patience. the most recent high-profile case involving doj civil rights investigation is the trayvon martin shooting in florida. now 2 1/2 years have passed since his death and doj still has not announced its findings or any charges. experts say ferguson is far from an open-and-shut case. either against the officer on civil rights charges or even state charges. and say the attorney general is now playing politician rather than prosecutor. >> politicized that division and the justice department to an extent never seen and unfortunately the office within the civil rights division that would investigate this kind of incident has a very bad record and a real hostility to law enforcement. >> reporter: critics point to one case from new orleans.

a federal judge accused an attorney who still works in the civil rights division of wide-ranging intentional misconduct in trying to win conviction of five new orleans police officers on civil rights charges. in a blistering 100 plus page finding the judge, even called out the attorney general, heather, for holding a press conference announcing those indictments. heather, back to you. heather: leland vittert, live for us, thank you, leland. jon: russia sending dozens of trucks carrying aid over the border into eastern ukraine today. ukraine's government did not approve the shipments. calls the move a direct invasion. amy kellogg live from our london newsroom with more on that. amy? >> reporter: hi, jon. aid getting to people is a good thing but situation of course is tense, because even though the ukrainian government said that it is not going to fire on any of these trucks, it is also saying that the fact that they crossed into ukrainian territory without approval is a quote, direct invasion. there is also the point of course that food and

humanitarian supplies getting to people who are caught in the conflict is still being politicized. the trucks, according to media reports already in the embattled city of luhansk. they were parked at the border for a week as russia and ukraine argued about modalities getting the 100 plus trucks inside ukraine and making sure they were not that much talked about trojan horse. military convoy white-washed over posing as a humanitarian mission. 34 trucks were inspected under neutral gaze under red cross but russians got fed up. there is increasing sense that the ukrainian leaders are dragging out delivery of humanitarian load in which there is situation there will no longer be anyone left to help. they went ahead and sent trucks on through, via check point that the pro-rush shurn rebels control. so far inspections shown only food stuffs and sleeping bags and that kind of a material inside but many of these trucks

are only half full which makes some people suspicious. meanwhile fighting continues in there. red cross made decision not to accompany trucks into ukraine because they have not received significant security guaranties from the fighting parties and point to heavy shelling overnight. important to point out, jon, 2,000 people have been killed in this conflict so far. 350,000 people have been displaced, amidst all of this of course, the other story of mh17 which crashed over a month ago, still, jon, the situation is so tense that investigators are having trouble getting to the scene of the crash to carry out their work. jon? jon: amy kellogg in london. thanks. meanwhile we're learning some interesting new details about an american army veteran reportedly killed while fighting for ukraine in ukraine. mark pasloski was born in new york, graduated from west point. he lived in kiev for several years and was fighting on the

ukraine side to honor his ukrainian ancestry. according to reports he was battling separatist its who favor russia near the russian border when he was injured and later died. he served in the u.s. army for 10 years and was an army ranger. heather: to hamas now, saying that it has executed 18 people in the gaza strip. the terror group claiming that they had been spying for israel. analysts say the men were likely accused of links to israeli attacks that just killed three hamas commanders. conor powell live for us in jerusalem with more. connor? >> reporter: heather we understand at least 18 people have been executed and more in the coming hours and later tonight. hamas says most of those executed are accused of helping israel during this current conflict though we understand at least some of those been accuses as well. hamas saying they have proof of

the collaboration by these individuals including cell phone records and movements. these executions come after senior hamas military commanders, three of them, were killed by israel and another was targeted in the past few days or so. hamas says this is a warning to any would-be collaborators in gaza. israel and hamas continue to fight. militants fired at least 70 rockets toward israel today, causing some damage to homes and buildings in southern israel though no one has been killed. israel continues to launch retaliatory airstrikes in gaza. they have called up another 10,000 soldiers. though few here in israel are talking about any type of new ground invasion into gaza but the humanitarian situation there does continue to worsen. more than 2,000 palestinians have been killed during the more than month-long conflict. hundreds if not house thousands of homes destroyed. shortages of basic things like food, water, medical supplies. palestinian president mahmoud

abbas, is in qatar, oil-rich country major financial supporter of hamas. abbas met with the top leader of hamas and tried to convince the parties there to try to jump-start talks but, right now, heather, we're not hearing any really talk of any type of negotiations restarting. right now the battle is fighting and raging between hamas and israel. and it doesn't appear, heather, to be changing anytime soon. heather: conor powell live for us. thank you, conor. jon: nfl stars busted. we'll tell you why and which players are now in hot water with the law. plus he was sworn to serve and to protect. his colleagues say one police officer did anything but that. and while he was on duty. also not long ago president obama compared the terrorists who killed james foley to a jv basketball team. did the white house make a huge miscalculation? we want to hear from you, in

light of defense secretary hagel calling isis an imminent threat, how concerned are you about isis attacking the united states? our live chat is up and running. go to foxnews.com/happeningnow. click on the america's asking link and get in on the conversation. you're here to buy a car. what would help is simply being able to recognize a fair price. that's never really been possible. but along comes a radically new way to buy a car, called truecar. now it is. truecar has pricing data on every make and model,

so all you have to do is search for the car you want, there it is. now you're an expert in less than a minute. this is how car buying was always meant to be. this is truecar. ♪

heather: welcome back. right now some new information on several stories we're following for you. pittsburgh police filing marijuana possession charges against steelers running back le'veon bell and legarrette blount following a traffic stop. all three passengers in the car acknowledged the marijuana belonged to them. bell is charged with driving under the influence. oklahoma city police officer has been arrested and being held on a $5 million bond. he is accused of committing a series of sexual assaults while on duty. reports out of egypt say at least 33 people are dead and more than 40 injuredded after a head-on collision between two tour buses near a popular resort.

jon: secretary of defense coming out loud and clear, warning americans of the serious threat isis poses to america. a murder that shocked the world, sparking a major turn around from the administration's position just a few months ago when the president essentially compared isis to a junior varsity basketball team. amy -- a.b. stoddard, associate editor and columnist with the hill. rich lowery, editor for "national review" and fox news contributor. welcome to both of you. >> hi, jon. jon: take you back to january and remind folks what the president said, he said in the new yorker, of that month, he said the analogy we use around here sometime, and i think is accurate, is, if a jv team puts on lakers uniforms that doesn't make them kobe bryant. i imagine, rich, he would like to have those words back now but he said them. i guess goes to show the

importance of presidential decorum and, you know, sometimes holding back in situations like this. >> yeah, a statement that is not just flatly wrong, it is just juvenile and i think the president has underestimated the threat for a couple of reasons. he really doesn't want to admit that his key assumptions about the world were wrong. he thought that al qaeda basically was a criminal gang hoyled up in the frontier areas of pakistan. you kill their leaders and that is the end. unfortunately that is not true. it is worldwide idealogical movement that has real staying power. he also couldn't admit to himself that his policy of passivity and retreat in syria and iraq had created predicate for this catastrophe. jon: so why this sudden turn around, ab? why is the defense secretary saying that this is an imminent threat to the united states? >> well, what you heard from our

top two military officials yesterday who i don't think were being unis a borednant and sent out by the commander-in-chief to begin a campaign to convince the public was that isis is unlike anything we've ever seen. those are secretary hagel's words. more sophisticated, better funded, more easily able to attract and radicalize westerners. more threatening than anything we've ever seen. and so what they were doing was, preparing i think, the public for a change in strategy, even though they said that we wouldn't be attacking isis inside of syria. they said it could be contained only for a while by airstrikes, if it were to be defeated it would have to be attacked within syria. so they made it very clear in ways obama has not, that it is, the potency of the threat of isis, the fact that we're in for another long slog and though obama in his remarks about james foley said, in recent weeks he

has said isis is a potent terrorist threat, he has changed from calling them a jv ragtag insurgent group of terrorists. we have not heard him make the case for why this is threat ultimately to us. in the days to come i think that is what we're going to expect to see. jon: rich, you raise an interesting point, which is, the president was happy to take credit for ending the war in iraq. it was all done, you know, things were hunky-dory earlier in his administration. now that things seem to be going south, it is the bush administration's fault. >> yeah, this is very painful because one of his, his whole political identity was caught up obviously in opposition to the iraq war. one of his main bragging points as president he fulfilled his promise to end the iraq war. he never ended it. he abandoned it which created predicate for what we're seeing on the ground here. ab is right. the start of administration

really grappling with the reality what is happening on the ground there and now what we need to see is the follow-up with a comprehensive campaign plan to defeat isis. jon: yeah. we still have troops on the ground in germany more than 50 years at the end of the world ward two. we still have troops on the ground in korea after that conflict ended. why the rush to get out of iraq? >> that is complicated story involving the government in iraq and whether nouri al-malaki could forge a deal for immunity to our troops that remain and whether president obama pushed hard for one. that will be talk of another day. you will hear talk about new boots on the ground. we have to peep for everything, that is words hagel used yesterday, obviously that will be the kind of preparation and everything on the table, assault that we had after 9/11. jon: well, it is, a mess right now. we're going to continue to keep an eye on this obviously that news conference coming up from the pentagon about 45 minutes

from now. we'll have that life for our viewers. a.b. stoddard, rich lowery, thank you both. >> thanks, jon. heather: still to come with home sales gaining traction across the country why experts say now could be the best time for buyers to take that plunge. and, as the riot torn community of ferguson, missouri calms down, what we can expect from the justice department investigation of the michael brown shooting. >> people of ferguson can have confidence in the federal agents, investigators and prosecutors who are leading this process. our investigation will be fair. it will be thorough, and it will be independent.

dsl myth #1. it can help your business save money. false. the truth is when you compare our fastest internet to the fastest dsl from the phone company, comcast business gives you more for your money. why pay more for less? call today for a low price on speeds up to 150mbps. and find out more about our two-year price guarantee. comcast business. built for business. jon: in the market for a new home? well, get them while you can before the fed acts.

mortgage rates hitting a new low for this year while existing home sales skyrocketed to a yearly high. the average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage, now 4.1% according to freddie mac. meanwhile sales of previously owned homes went up 2.1% in july. heather: relative calm taking hold in riot-torn ferguson. this as governor jay nixon withdraws the national guard after almost two weeks of violent protests over the police shooting of 18-year-old michael brown. let's bring in nicholas pastore, reporter for the "st. louis post dispatch" who has been covering story from the very beginning. thank you for joining us. >> good to be here. heather: we were told the tensions are easing. significantly fewer arrests last night. what do you think is the primary reason for the change in atmosphere? >> i actually think a lot of the reason is that they started arresting people.

this week was the first time in this entire process that we've seen people actually arrested. they arrested almost 80 people on monday night. they arrested 40. i think that is the big deal. some people are trying to say it is because attorney general eric holder showed up here. i don't think that has anything to do with it. talk to people on the streets, very few people actually even care or know that he was here. >> the st. louis police department actually released some of those statistics you're talking about in terms of number of arrests and they say from august 10th through 12:30 a.m. thursday, in all, the department arrested 204 people. and the vast majority of those people were from the greater st. louis area. only nine actually live in ferguson. when you're out there on the streets, interacting with these protesters, talking to them, what do the people are actually from the community of ferguson say and how do they feel about all of these outsiders who seem to have come in? >> well, i mean this is a

close-knit area. a lot of people are very upset their entire community has been torn apart. people descended on this place. it is a five-block area of their town has become basically epicenter for war almost with tear gas flying out almost every night for several nights. rubber bullets, all of that. they're kind of upset. they're ready to move on. they want to get on with their lives. the people of ferguson have jobs, things to go to. they want to sleep at night. their kids want to go to school. they're starting to get relieved a lot of this died down. whether or not who is coming in and where they're coming from i think is a big factor of it. i think they hope people start staying away. >> move this forward. jay nixon, the governor, says he is pulling out the national guard but the weekend is upon us. what do you expect will happen? >> well you know, jay nixon has had a lot of ups and downs in this. this weekend will be a major milestone in this entire thing. if they can keep the crowds

down, keep from having to use those tear gas canisters that will be major success for them. on monday is the memorial service fo brown. that is another test for them. if you talk to police today, one thing they're looking this weekend trying to keep the crowds reduced, trying to keep everybody orderly and trying to prevent this from boiling over again. last week we had a very peaceful night, last thursday night. the following friday everything erupted. there was looting, rioting and there was tear gas again. so everyone is still on edge here, wondering what will happen? heather: let's hope the peace maintains. thanks for joining us. >> thank you. jon: well, president obama outraged by the gruesome murder of an american citizen but after his remarks on wednesday, he was on the golf course within minutes. a fair and balanced discussion on the politics of perception coming up. also, heavy rain and high water swamped much of the country.

we'll get the latest from the fox extreme weather center. >> it was probably the most insane thing i have ever seen. it was just ankle deep to knee deep depending where you were standing. >> the number of streets i have flood, i have never seen that number of streets being flooded.

>> welcome back. still to come this hour of "happening now," torrential rains leaving parts of one major city upside water.

highways floods and some motorists stranded in their cars. astronauts aboard the international space station linking the harsh conditions of the cosmos with basic life here on earth. and listen to this, one state taking a stand, a new stand against binge drinking, banning the sale of all 190 proof booze. and we'll tell you why the unintended consequences are leaving not only frat kids out in the cold, but also violin makers. jon? ♪ ♪ jon: president obama taking heat from all sides for his golf game, or the timing of it. shortly after news broke of the horrible murder of a u.s. citizen, journalist james foley beheaded on video by isis fanatics. >> i wish i could see my family. jon: those were foe hi's participants -- foley's parents

making remarks about his death after it was confirmed, and shortly after that, president obama spoke with his parents from martha's vineyard, then stepped out to make a statement. >> the entire world is appalled by the brutal murder of jim foley by the terrorist group isil. jim was a journalist, a son, a brother and a friend. jon: within minutes the appalled president was on the golf course with nba star alonzo mourning and a democratic donor. president obama would stay on course, meaning his strategy against isis, but stay on course is exactly what he did straight from the podium to the first tee. judith miller is a pulitzer prize-winning investigative reporter, author and fox news contributor, tammy bruce is a radio talk show host and fox news contributor. there's really more to it than that, judy, because even foley's parents were still speaking when the president walked out to make

a statement. now, he has press people who are monitoring this kind of thing. he knew that he would be sort of squashing their appearance by going out himself. why? >> well, it's just one of those catastrophic political errors that presidentss in their second terms tend to make, jon. and the terrible thing about this is that it's not only the optics of this situation, the fact that we went from immediately this grieving family to the hand bump, you know, the knuckle bump on the golf course, the juxtaposition of that, it's also the issue that nobody's kind of looking at now which is this policy shift which has occurred. so from every angle whether or not it's the optics of it or the perception of arrogance and indifference -- which i don't think is true for the president -- or the underlying policy shift that is not getting

enough attention now, it's just wrong. jon: yeah. your former employers at the new york times actually changed that headline about staying on course when they saw, you know, how ill-timed it was -- [laughter] >> right. jon: -- with the president being on the golf course eight minutes after he made that statement. [laughter] i want to play for you, tammy, something that vice president dick cheney said on fox and then get your reaction. here it is. >> i think every single day that goes by he's finding that there's a bigger and bigger gulf between his hoped-for view of the world and reality. he's not up to speed and does not want to believe all that's going on out there, but every day we find new evidence that he'd rather be on the golf course than he would be dealing with a crisis. jon: is the president trying to see the world as the way he wishes it would be, tammy? >> well, obviously, i think so. and i think that he may see the world as having let him down. and this is where you get a

passive-aggressive attitude. so you have a man who thought he was right, who probably still believes he's right, and now in some way, either consciously or subconsciously, is punishing everyone. and i have to disagree a bit with my esteemed colleague over there. i do think it's an indifference, and i think that it wasn't just now. indifference with this president has been clear even with benghazi. the difference is how the press is reporting it, is that now they can't deny it, they can't ignore it either. americans have seen a very strange, almost ambivalence as well when it comes to the impact of his policies on people. the failure of obamacare, the nature of benghazi and what was genuinely happening, the economy in general, the attempts -- and this is the other irony as the new york times noted, is that he can't be held hostage to a news cycle. and yet that's all this administration seems to have been concerned about, is winning news cycle to news cycle. so i think there is an awareness

that, yes, the agenda that his intention for the world is not going to hand fest and that -- manifest, and that if you acknowledge that, then it means their entire world view has to change about america being the great satan or at least the problem of what's happening in the world. and for obama i think it's just perhaps easier to be indifferent, to maybe mask his anger and to have a good time in the meantime because, my opinion, i genuinely don't think he cares. even regular americans, if i may say one more thing, we've had difficulty going on with our daily work because of the horror of that video and what happened to mr. foley. none of us, i think, were able to return to regular life or events within 5-10 minutes of seeing that event. jon: yeah. >> it's a very strange thing to be able to do. jon: judy. , the white house defense is that the president is completely engaged, completely in touch, he has always communication he needs while he is on vacation, but optics matter. and take a look at david

cameron, you know, another major world leader. >> yeah. jon: just because the killer has a british video, prime minister cameron cut short his vacation, went back to london, went back to downing street and, you know, started getting his government engaged in finding this guy. and -- >> yes. and when something happens like this, you do do that. but, but president george bush, if i can remind tammy and you, jon, did the same thing, you know, when he appeared indifferent, went to the golf course after he had just talked about a suicide bombing in iraq. and he was so disturbed by the reaction of people that he actually gave up golf for the rest of his presidency. jon: right. that was in, that was in -- >> [inaudible] jon: that was in 2003 when he stopped playing golf and, obviously, served the next eight years without playing golf. >> but i don't think the president is indifferent, i really don't. i think that he is a little overwhelmed, and i think

gotten into this, us into this terrible state now. and if he wants to unwind on a golf course or, you know, clear brush or whatever else presidents do, i say he better do it, because there's some very, very rough times ahead for us all. jon: yeah. it just seems like eight minutes after you, you know, express your outrage to the nation and promise that, you know, we're going to find these guys, that eight minutes later to be teeing off seems a little out of the ordinary. >> i totally agree -- >> may i remind -- >> "the new york times" puts it on the front page, you know it's not a tableau story. jon: even the times is turning against him on this one. judy miller -- >> if i could remind everyone -- jon: go ahead, tammy. >> well, jus a reminder that the president did interrupt his vacation for a reason we don't know in washington d.c. and it may have been a dinner for an impending wedding with a reporter with another channel. if he's willing to interrupt his vacation to have a dinner with a friend who's a reporter, it's

the combination of things, jon, that americans are seeing that are disturbing. jon: tammy bruce and judy miller, thank you both. >> and a pattern. how many times do we keep talking about this? where he goes and plays golf after something happens? i mean, quit playing golf, that's what i have to say. stop. jon: that's what his predecessor did. >> i mean, you know. well, coming up, we are waiting for the pentagon briefing to begin shortly. why critics are blasting the administration to leak information about the secret mission to rescue james foley that, ultimately, end in failure. >> this is a stunning breach of security 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: let's check out what's ahead on "outnumbered" at the top of the number. harris and jedediah, what do you

have? >> we are awaiting a pentagon briefing at the top of the hour. one day after defense secretary chuck hagel warned the terror group i is sis is beyond anything that we've seen, so how will this administration deal with the growing threat? >> plus, missouri's governor is calling off the national guard, as you know, after another peaceful night in ferguson. and at the same time, president obama is now the one getting hammered for his handling of the situation in ferguson. >> and has that shaming taken -- fat shaming taken other our cartoons? why scooby doo's movie is now sparking outrage. >> i can't wait what they say. he's my favorite, by the way. >> oh, yeah. mine too. >> all that plus our hashtag one lucky guy. last time he got in trouble for his cuff links. jon, back to you. jon: all right. i didn't know there was a new scooby doo movie coming out. [laughter] >> check it out. jon: thanks. heather: well, as you just

heard, we're about 15 minutes away from the pentagon news conference, this amid a growing backlash over the administration revealing a secret military mission to rescue james foley that ended in failure. secretary chuck hagel defends the decision to release information about the covert operation and warns about the growing threat from the terror group. >> isil is as sophisticated and well funded as any group that we have seen. they're beyond just a terrorist group. they marry ideology, sophistication of strategic and tactical military prowess, they are tremendously well funded. oh, this is beyond anything that we've seen. so we must prepare for everything. heather: prepare for everything. john bolton is a former u.s. ambassador to the u.n., and he is a fox news contributor. thank you for joining us, first

of all. >> glad to be with you. heather: so your opinion on releasing this information about the secret mission that did not go as planned. why would the administration do that right now, and how has that put us in jeopardy? >> well, i think it was a big mistake. i think the administration, the only explanation that makes any sense is that they were motivated by politics. they were able to say, look, we were concerned about the security of the hostage. we tried to get them out. so we didn't stand in the way, but it's these other guys -- military, intelligence community, blame it on somebody else -- who failed. but the administration can say we gave the go ahead. i just think that's irresponsible. i think anytime you reveal an information like that no matter what level of detail, you're giving away something that was intended to be a covert operation and now by our own statements we've blown the cover on it. and it tells our adversaries a lot about us, it tells the world

that america failed again. and so the administration may believe it had some positive political effect for them here in this country, i don't think so, but it will undoubtedly damage us further around the world. heather: and what about to the hostages who are still being held? have we now, essentially, signed their death warrants? >> well, i think we've certainly put them at greater risk and made it harder to conduct another operation. one thing you can say about the way this one was conducted was that the forces involved got in and got out again without really tipping their hand, i think. if people had known that it was a rescue attempt that had failed, isis or another syrian rebel group would have announced it, would have claimed victory. but the fact it remained under the radar screen for this long demonstrates really -- although it failed in its objective, it at least was carried out in clandestine fashion. and now that's gone. the element of surprise, always

critical, to the extent there was any surprise left that could help rescue the other hostages or others in similar circumstances is gone. heather: let's talk about this. a recent fox news poll on president obama's job performance, 42% approve compared to 49% who disapprove. incidents like this that we're talking about, are those contributing to these approval ratings? >> well, i certainly hope so. i don't understand how his approval rating is still at 42%. but i think it's important to talk to the american people in adult terms about the threats we face overseas. the president consistently does not do that, and i don't think honestly republicans do enough to explain that we're not going to be protected against threats by ignoring them or not talking about them. they're only going to be made worse. i think the american people are a lot smarter than their political leaders. i think they now we've got threats to face, and i think it's important to have that discussion. and if we had a robust

discussion of the threats we face, that approval rating would be a lot lower. heather: yeah. and possibly a robust foreign policy that you can speak of. ambassador bolton, thank you so much for joining us, we appreciate it. >> glad to be here. jon: and we are about ten minutes away from that scheduled news conference at the pentagon. a new discovery on the international space station. do scientists now have evidence that life can spread across space on comets and asteroids?

female narrator: it's posturepedic versus beautyrest it's posturepedic versus beautyrest with up to $400 off. serta icomfort and tempur-pedic go head-to-head with three years' interest-free financing. mattress price wars are on now at sleep train. ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪

it can help your business save money. false. the truth is when you compare our fastest internet to the fastest dsl from the phone company, comcast business gives you more for your money. why pay more for less? call today for a low price on speeds up to 150mbps. and find out more about our two-year price guarantee. comcast business. built for business. jon: a bit of life found very far from home. cosmonauts collecting samples on the international space station found traces of sea plankton. phil keating in miami with details on that. phil? >> reporter: jon, microbiologists around the world are suddenly trying to figure

out how on earth or above earth is this even possible if it's true, that is? very few earthlings have ever thought of the possibility that a living organism from earth could successfully live and thrive in the void of space without any sort of protection or oxygen. well, on monday shortly after two space-walking cosmonauts spectacularly released a satellite to emit messages out into other galaxies, they then conducted several other experiments including taking swabs on the exterior of the space station around one of the portholes and the exterior. russia's space chief then stunned the scientific community with this. quote: >> r eporter: this sea plankton is abundant in our oceans and even lower earth atmosphere, but nasa

is still a little skeptical and still trying to confirm whether this plankton data is even true. meanwhile, the russians, americans and german living onboard the orbital outpost could soon have brass living among -- rats living among them later this year if they can get on a spacex or orbital cargo ship. the plan is to study the effects of microgravity on living organisms long term. these rats would set an out of this world record living in space for up to three months before splashing down in the pacific ocean and being rescued by the u.s. navy. and even though mice require less food, which is always more convenient when you're using space travel, rats are actually preferred for these experiments because the neurocognitive functions of rats are similar to humans. who knew, jon? jon: yeah. [laughter] and i can't imagine, you know, the rats running around on the little wheel in space, because

there won't be any gravity to keep them in place. going to be weird. >> reporter: very interesting. jon: all right. keep us updated on that one. phil keating in miami. thanks, phil. heather: we are just moments away from a pentagon briefing where we may hear more on the military response to james foley's murder. we will have that for you when it happens. and we want to hear from you. how concerned are you about isis attacking the homeland? our live chat is up and running, go to foxnews.com/happeningnow and click on america's asking to join the consideration. you're here to buy a car.

what would help is simply being able to recognize a fair price. that's never really been possible. but along comes a radically new way to buy a car, called truecar. now it is. truecar has pricing data on every make and model, so all you have to do is search for the car you want, there it is. now you're an expert in less than a minute. this is how car buying was always meant to be. this is truecar. ♪ what do college kids, violin makers and cake deciphers have in common? they can no longer have everclear, maryland banning the sale of 190-proof liquor. as you may not know, it's a favorite among college students for its price and potency. everclear also used by violin makers to make the wood, the new wood look aged, and bakers use

the booze in the paste for decorating cakes. jon: why don't they let people decide? [laughter] heather: more government regulation on everclear. jon: we'll see you back here in an hour, "outnumbered" starts now. >> we begin with a fox news alert. we are awaiting a briefing from the pentagon following yesterday's chilling words from defense secretary chuck hagel on the threat isis extremists pose to the homeland. hagel, saying that islamic militants that have been overrunning iraq and syria are, quote, beyond anything that we have ever seen and that terrorists are a bigger threat to america than even al-qaeda was before 9/11. this is "outnumbered," i'm andrea tan tar process, and here today, haste faulkner, jedediah, and today's hashtag one lucky guy, charles payne, and he's "outnumbered," except on the issue of making money because we