martha: and over the weekend as well. have a great one, everybody. "happening now" starts right now. we'll see you back here monday. ♪ ♪ jon: the war with isis ramping up from syria to france. even as congress approves money for a new part of the president's plan to fight the terrorists. good morning on this friday, welcome to "happening now," i'm jon scott. heather: and i'm heather childers in for jenna lee, nice to be here. jon: good to have you here. heather: isis taking control of more than a dozen kurdish villages in northern syria as we await word that president obama has signed that legislation to arm moderate syrian rebels against isis. and now france in the battle, launching its first airstrikes in iraq. jon: plus isis posts yet another video of what appears to be another hostage, a british journalist the terror is are using as a propaganda mouthpiece. copp nor powell has the latest -- conor powell has the latest for us. >> this is unlike the previous

isis beheading videos, it's very, very different, and at times it feels like it's an evening newscast. it's a big departure from what we've already seen out of isis, but in this three-minute-long recording, british journalist john cantily delivers a slickly-produced propaganda message on behalf of isis. at the start, cantily introduces himself calmly and admits this message is part of a desperate gamble to save his own life. he also says it's the first of several short films, imflying he's not likely -- implying he's not likely to be killed anytime. how the western media is, quote, dragging the public back to the abyss of another war, shifting public opinion away from military action in syria and iraq. but the international coalition is growing. french planes began airstrikes against isis today. now, france's government says they targeted isis vehicles, weapons and several buildings used by militants in the northeastern part of iraq.

france says these airstrikes will continue for the coming days. now, there are about 30 or so countries officially involved in the fight against isis as part of this broad coalition, but few have committed their own resources like the u.s. and now france have, and countries like saudi arabia and kuwait and turkey still sort of continue to support islamic extremist groups in syria, even though they say they don't support isis directly. this is far from being a unified coalition, jon, that is fighting isis across that entire area. there are a lot of issues about who will do what, how much effort and resources will actually be involved in this fight and, ultimately, how the gulf arab allies of the united states and the west will ultimately cut off all of the funding and support to extremist groups that may not be isis, but still have ties to some very bad people, jon. jon: let's hope that in arming the so-called moderate syrian rebels, we get it right. conor powell, thank you. heather: and then there's the question of how we're dealing with the threat of isis here at

home. fbi director james comey is expected to address that today when he speaks at the annual national security summit in washington. just days after he told congress that u.s. airstrikes have boosted support for isis. chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel is live in d.c. with that. hi, mike. >> heather, good morning. chairman mike rogers says we could see the unit of u.s.-trained syrian rebels on the battlefield in the next four to five months. rogers says the fighters won't be great at that point but could be cohesive and effective enough. he says the whole american boots on the ground debate makes him nervous. >> that unit will be effective. you will have to have u.s. personnel with special capabilities down range. and so this debate, that doesn't mean the 101st airborne division, but it certainly means for, i think many people in this room understand that, you have to have the ability to move intelligence collectors down range with these units as well as people can help them with command and control logistics,

development and other sustainment issues. >> top administration officials, secretary of state john kerry and defense secretary chuck hagel, sold the administration's plan to congress in recent days. hagel noted isis has global as rations -- aspirations but says successful airstrikes have disrupted the group tactically. kerry says he has arab commitments to be part of the mission. even with the pitch, a key democrat says rounding up the votes wasn't easy. >> there was a test, and mike and i had to really work hard to get the votes to get that passed because there are a lot of people on his side, and it was almost -- it wasn't, we both on our caucuses, democrat and republican, we got more votes in our caucuses than nay votes, but it was close. >> both key lawmakers say president obama will eventually need a new military authorization from congress for the long term, but that won't happen until after the november midterm elections. heather? heather: mike emanuel live for

us, thank you. jon: we are now just midterm -- weeks away from the midterm elections, and the stakes high for both parties as they battle for control of congress. "the new york times" forecasting republicans have a slight edge in traching the senate -- in taking the senate. meantime politico now accuses senate candidates of giewzing gotcha tactics while ignoring big issues in this election. let's talk about those questions with the politics editor for roll call and jamie weinstein, senior editor for "the daily caller." what about it, jamie? the races are tight, but there have been surprises in places like colorado where all of a sudden a republican candidate who had been very, you know, in a very tight race, the republican seems to be pulling ahead. what does it look like for republicans in the midterms? >> well, they need six seats to take the senate, and they already have about three in the bag, in south, montana and west virginia. at this point they probably could be running charlie manson

and still win in those states, they're just way ahead in the polls there, and the dynamics look like they're going to take those seats. there's a handful of toss-ups where they need to pick up at least three of those seats to win the senate, and they have a good shot at many of those, and i think it's for several reasons. one is they've nominated good candidates, up like last cycle where they -- unlike last cycle where they nominated some real clunkers who talked about things that weren't going to help them get elected. the the states that are up this cycle are naturally beneficial to the republicans, and three is you've got the republican all-star this time, and that is barack obama with his low approval ratings, i think, is really going to help republicans win with a lot of voters just going to vote against him in this election more than for the republican candidate. jon: what about that? do you see it as votes against the president more than votes for republican candidates in the senate? >> i think it depends on each individual race, right? you look at a state like new hampshire that in the past has definitely followed the national political mood, and that's one

state where i think if jeanne shaheen loses re-election, it's definitely in large part because of president obama, right? but you look at other states on the map like louisiana, right? certainly, the president is not scoring well, his approval ratings are terrible in louisiana, but mary landrieu's been a senator there for a couple terms, and she has developed her own brand. she comes from a political family in the bayou state, and it's a different case. it depends on the nature of the and the nature of the race just how big an impact the president will have on the ballot. jon: we mentioned that race in colorado where corey gardener, the republican congressman, is taking on senator udall, the senator there. all of a sudden gardener seems to have pulled off a fairly significant lead in a race that had been tight. why? >> well, it's very early, and i would like to see some other polls just to verify that eight-point lead which we saw yesterday with the quinnipiac poll. but i think corey gardener, one, is a good candidate. i agree that all politics is local as they say, but as -- in

recent history as opposed to previous decades, it does seem to be following more and more that these midterm elections follow the presidential approval ratings not perfectly, but more and more as opposed to the past. and i think in colorado you have a lot of people probably just not seeing the president getting the job done on the economy and foreign policy. fox news recently had polls showing the president way underwater there. yes, local things matter, but i think the national scene matters very much as well. jon: yeah. let's talk about this opposition issue that we mentioned in the lead-in, shera. all of a sudden, you know, when the country's plagued with high unemployment, we've got, you know, big issues in, you know, overseas in ukraine and syria, iran, iraq, all of a sudden little issues are sneaking into these elections. where does it come from? >> right. so, you know, in many cases nowadays when newsrooms are feeling the crunch, right, especially print newspapers,

there just aren't as many reporters as there were ten years ago, a lot of times, you know, outside groups will do research and hand this many off to reporters -- hand them off to reporters. it's become more and more a fact of political campaign coverage over the last two years. i mean, there are multimillion dollar organizations on the right and on the left that, basically, research these candidates, they trail these candidates everywhere they go trying to find a gotcha moment or digging up legal documents to eventually send to reporters to write about. jon: yeah. somebody didn't pay a mortgage or, you know, somebody had a divorce when they were 22, that kind of thing -- >> haven't lived in the state for a while, yes. jon: jamie, what's it doing to our politics, anything? >> some of these are little issues they bring up, but some of them are a little bit more than little issues. for instance, the case in montana where a plagiarism issue sunk the candidate there. that might be called a little issue, on the other hand, it's a character issue, and character to a lot of voters matters, and

i don't think for a lot of people that's a little issue. i think character issues get to the heart of the matter of what type of person you want representing you in the senate. jon: yeah, interesting. some of this negative information that comes out about candidates very often comes from the other side. just a note to voters. shera, jamie, thank you both. >> thank you. [cheers and applause] heather: a fox news alert, they're off and running on wall street with possibly the biggest ipo in american history. the chinese e-commerce company alibaba set to offer shares any moment now on the new york stock exchange, and they're expected to open well above the $68 share price. that amount gives the company an initial be market value of $168 billion. and, by the way, amazon? they're worth about $150 billion right now. in fact, alibaba has a bigger

volume of transactions than amazon and ebay combined. its ticker name is baba. jon: that's going to be something. scotland voting to keep the united kingdom united, and it will not end more than 300 years of partnership. more than three million people turned out to vote, voting 55-45% against independence for scotland. pro-u.k. supporters all over the country celebrating this morning, and british prime minister david cameron vowing to live up to the promises he's made to give scotland new powers on taxes, spending and welfare. heather: still to come, a doctor convicted of murder set to learn his fate today. his wife found dying in a bathtub after he gave her drugs following a facelift. but he's already in prison for something else. and even as congress gives the go ahead for president obama's plan to take down isis, there's no shortage of skepticism on the hill. we will talk with the house majority whip about what is yet

to come. [gunfire] ♪ in the nation... the safest feature in your car is you. add vanishing deductible from nationwide insurance and get $100 off for every year of safe driving. which for you, shouldn't be a problem. just another way we put members first

because we don't have shareholders. join the nation. ♪ nationwide is on your side

heather: welcome back. right now new information on some crime stories that we're watching for you. a doctor in provo, utah, convicted of murdering his wife, learns his sentence today. martin macneill is already serving 15 years in a sex abuse case involving his daughter. he could get another 15-life for drugging his wife after cosmetic surgery and leaving her to drown so he could be with his mistress. a chicago man confessing to killing his girlfriend's mother in bali. his pregnant girlfriend says she helped him stuff her mother's body into a suitcase. and police say that a man in the northern florida town of bell shooting and killing his daughter and his six grandchildren. the children between three months to 10 years old.

police say he shot and killed himself when they got there. jon: we are waiting for word that president obama has signed the legislation authorizing his strategy against isis. that plan includes funding to train syrian moderate rebels and provide them with weapons. the house and senate approved the plan handily this week but certainly not without qualms, even for lawmakers who voted yes. joining us now, republican congressman steve scalise who worked to gather those votes in his relatively new job as house majority whip. tell us about that process. buzz it tough to get -- was it tough to get the votes to say, yes, let's arm the syrian rebels? >> sure, jon. and a lot of our colleagues still questions, would like to see the president lay out a broader strategy. what he talked about haas week before the nation was very limited and, frankly, didn't lay out the broader approach of how we're going the root out isil and other terrorists throughout the world because clearly we see the threat broadening. what he asked for was authority to train syrians.

what we passed was an agreement to let him move forward with that process, but there's also checks and balances. the president's going to have to come back to congress to show us how he's going to vet those syrians, because you don't want the wrong people getting weapons as we're training them and also what kind of coalition is the president going to build? he's going to have to show us the countries that have agreed to work with us and what kind of real commitment in terms of both money and troops they're going to put on the table. jon roughly 40% of the democrats on the house side voted against this thing, most of the support came there you republicans. what about the irony there? >> well, look, our colleagues especially on the republican side take this threat of terrorism very seriously. it's getting worse. and if you look throughout the middle east -- and it wasn't just the beheadings. this has been a threat that's been building for months and months, and so we're very serious about it. we want to see the president get more aggressive in laying out a broader strategy for how to make sure not only we stop them over there, but they don't come to

america. and we have got serious problems on our southern border. it's a national security issue, and we'd like to see the president more aggressive in addressing that as well. jon: when the president spoke to the troops the other day in tampa, he said to those soldiers, you know, on the base behind him, he said i'm not going to commit you to a ground war in iraq. what dueck about that? -- what do you think about that? there's been a lot of criticism that the president shouldn't be taking ground troops off the table. >> any strategy the president has shouldn't be telegraphed to our enemy, you know? you look back at the cold war, ronald ray gab never told the soviet union -- reagan never told the soviet union what he was going to do. frankly, he didn't even have to use options, but the soviets knew he was willing to x that helped us defeat that threat and end the cold war without a shot being fired. so you've got a serious enemy out there that is a threat to our nation, and it's islamic terrorism throughout the region. again, many of them have

american pass ports. they've been recruiting americans to go over, train with them, and you've got to expect some of their plaintiffs to come back here. we need to be serious and aggressive about it, and you'd like to see the president not the telegraph to the enemy what options he's taking off the table. jon: i know that you republicans were not unanimous in this. duncan hunter, for instance, an iraq war veteran, congressman from california, voted against the resolution, said that it doesn't do anything, doesn't effectively help destroy the islamic state. again, it's your job to try the twist these votes to go the way that the leadership wants. what do you say to a fellow like that? >> well, duncan's got a lot of great points, and he's a great member, he understands. he's fought for our country. and what he said is, frankly, the concern a lot of us have is we still want to see the president lay out that broader strategy. he did ask for a limited authorization, and we said we're going to give him that opportunity. but we also wrote it in a way

where there are checks and balances, and the president's going to have to actually start producing some things, building a coalition that he talks about that hasn't developed yet. he's going to have to do that and come back and show congress what the plan is. as we see that broader plan over the next three months, the president's then going to have to build a broader coalition not just across the country, but in congress to go to that next step. we felt we should at least give him this first opportunity, and ultimately, what congressman hunter and so many of my colleagues agree on is that this is a more serious threat. it's got to be taken with a broader plan and make sure that we're committing everything we can to go and eradicate these terrorists throughout the world. jon: i think the question that so many americans want the answer to is how can you be sure that when you provide funding, when you provide training, when you provide arms to these syrian opponents, how can you be sure that their aims are true? >> right. and that's one of the checks and balances that we put in the legislation. it was something we added in the

house, is that the president's going to have to come back to congress and show us what the vetting strategy is. because as you mentioned, over in syria there are some people that want to take up arms against isil and go fight islamic terrorists. some have their own agenda, and some of their agenda may involve doing harm to the united states. clearly, you don't want to arm those folks that want to harm america, but you want to help the folks that want to go and and fight terrorists. and the's going to have to lay out the plan, and this is spelled out in our language that we passed over this week that the president's going to have to lay out that plan of how to vet these groups that are going to be working with america and the broader coalition that he's got to build. jon: congressman steve scalise, the new republican majority whip in the house of representatives, it's good to have you on. thank you. >> thanks. good to be with you, jon. heather: police in virginia issuing a search warrant for the man they believe is seen in this video as a missing college student's parents continue to wait for any sign of their daughter. and as our country's very

first ally joins the fight against isis today, are the terrorists really as invincible as they seem? is while every business is unique,

everyone is looking for ways to cut expenses. and that's where pg&e's online business energy checkup tool can really help. you can use it to track your actual energy use. find rebates that make equipment upgrades more affordable. even develop a customized energy plan for your company. think of it as a way to take more control over your operating costs. and yet another energy saving opportunity from pg&e. find new ways to save energy and money with pg&e's business energy check-up.

heather: right now france becoming the ft u.s. ally to launch airstrikes on isis. the cup's president, francois hollande, announcing successful strikes on targets in northern iraq, can killing dozens. vowing more strikes to come but stressing that france's help would end there. senior fellow at the foundation for the defense of democrats has just returned from the middle east, and he joins us now with his perspective. thank you for joining us. >> good to join you. heather: how do we defeat isis?

is there a vulnerability? >> isis is a very vulnerable organization. its very dramatic announcement that it had reestablished the caliphate, it requires the organization maintain a viable caliphate. if it loses that, it loses a lot of its legitimacy, and it's likely to expend far more resources to retain territory than is military wise. heather: and speaking of what is militarily wise, in terms of airstrikes we mentioned that france has now joined us. when the president spoke, he also talked about 40 other countries joining in a coalition, arab countries joining us. how important will that be to completing our mission there? >> the coalition gives legitimacy to efforts, but in terms of airstrikes, it's not clear you'll get a whole lot other than u.s., french and maybe british airstrikes. you may see some airstrikes carried out by uae, but they'll only be a small percentage of what's done overall.

another thing that's important other than airstrikes is that you have people who are going after isis on the ground because the u.s. isn't going to be putting this ground troops other than perhaps with special operations forces. to that extempt, you have iraqi forces, kurdish forces and, actually, iranian forces as well that are working against isis on the ground. heather: yes. and the president mentioned training and supplying weapons for syrian forces, syrian opposition groups. how do we know who, n., we're dealing -- who, in fact, we're dealing with there, and is it choosing the lesser of evils? >> i don't think we do know who we're working with there. i mean, there are moderate are groups, there clearly is isis and more moderate groups who are fighting them, but they haven't broken with the us in rah front which is -- news rah front which is al-qaeda's recognized affiliate on the ground in syria. the majority of them have not because nusra, unlike isis, has worked with other people on the ground. look, for the rebel perspective, it's perhaps understandable when

you're fighting against the assad regime and all the terrible things it's done, you're going to look for all the allies you can. but from a perspective of u.s. strategic interest, i have a lot of concern that the things we provide to rebels will end up in the wrong hands. heather: i want to talk about part of the propaganda campaign that isis has launched, and you where this article, it was released on wednesday, when you were talking about their vulnerabilities, and you said that their brutality that they have broadcast this these videos, these beheadings, could actually end up working against them. >> absolutely. it looks very good right now when they're winning. it's drawing people to the theater. you have these zealous young men who are celebrating the beheadings, the raw brutality that's being broadcast to the world. there's actually a very good analog to this which is the predecessor of isis, al-qaeda in iraq. in the 2005-'07 period, it looked like al-qaeda in the iraq had basically eclipsed the overall organization. it also had videos of the

beheadings, and its leader, zarqawi, was perhaps a more towering figure than bin laden. but if you fast forward a few years to when you got a backlash against that brutality, the group's brand had had become to. similarly, when isis starts to lose, the brutality may not look so cool. heather: and we did notice a difference in the video of the british journalist, different than the ones released before, obviously. thank you so much for joining us. we appreciate your insight. >> my pleasure. jon: could there be echoes of the iraq war in the run up the take military action against isis? some critics raising concerns now about the media coverage of the isis threat. also, brand new details just coming in. police are scouring an apartment complex right now in the search for a missing college student we've told you about. we're on the scene with the latest, next.

if you want to make things that move, move better, just talk to one of our scientists.

they'll show you a special glue we've developed that bonds metal to plastic. and that makes the things you're trying to move... lighter. the less weight... the less energy. and what you save can be used for speed. for efficiency. or just for fun. this is the human element at work. dow.

jon: still to come this hour of "happening now," could facebook end up changing the face of divorce? a judge's surprising decision that could have a big impact on the legal system. also the family of a missing university of virginia student fearing the worst, still no sign of hannah graham as police now search for a man seen with her shortly before she vanished. and why wouldfires raging out -- wildfires raging out west threatening thousands of homes, now we are learning it may have been intentionally set.

heather: as jon just mentioned, we have a fox news alert for you now. brand new developments in the search for that missing university of virginia student, hannah graham. the 18-year-old vanished after leaving a party last weekend, and right now police are executing a search warrant at an apartment complex. leland vittert is live this charlottesville, virginia, with the latest. >> and, heather, police have been working through the night on these leads. let me step out of the way and give you a look at the apartment complex. we're talking about the apartment there and the open door that police now have their forensics teams looking. we also can confirm they took away a car to search from this location, they're interested in getting a better look at. this all develop inside the past 24-48 hours after surveillance tape was released showing a timeline of hannah graham's trip from an apartment complex where th a party all the way down a pedestrian mall in

charlottesville: they were able to talk to a witness, the witness provided the description of a second person who they call a person of interest in this case who the witness described putting his arm around hap that graham around -- hannah graham around 1:00 in the morning, the last time she was ever heard there via text message. and from this surveillance tape and the tips they got, police came to the apartment complex. >> i would hope that it is, you know, obviously not knowing what, if any, evidence we might find during the result of this, i'm unable to say whether it's a break or not. >> is this the first solid lead you have? and police say they will be here all day looking for evidence about hannah graham's disappearance. a very popular second-year student at the university of virginia. last night it was an overflow crowd for a vigil held in her honor here, and this community is not immune or unknown to this type of situation. in the past five years, there

have been five women who have disappeared in what they call the 29 corridor here in virginia, only one of those women has been found. she was found dead, her murder is unsolved, and tomorrow they are organize toking a large community -- organizing a large community search for hannah to try and find any more clues. people are registering all over town to participate in that, heather. whether what they find will make that search unnecessary or not is still too early to tell. police say they will have a press conference later today with what they say is a lot more information about what led them specifically to this apartment complex. back to you. heather: very interesting. leland vittert, thank you. jon: we have seen the brutality of isis in the executions of two american journalists and others. also the terrorists have threatened to kill even more americans. this is the latest video of isis fighters today. but despite the beheadings, the crucifixions, the iraqi villages that they have overrun, isis has caused mayhem across syria and

iraq. but there are those who question the rush to take military action and the media's handling of the isis threat as well. senator rand paul yesterday accusing democrats of being hypocrites for supporting war under president obama while opposing military action under president bush. let's talk about it now with judith miller, a pulitzer prize-winning investigative reporter and fox news contributor, tammy roos is also with us. what about it, tammy? there are accusations that the media, you know, putting still photos of the unfortunate journalists just before they were beheaded on the front pages, that the media are driving an attack on isil which maybe does not need to take a place? what do you think? >> well, look, i mean, that's news. what's happening in the world is news. americans should know about it. and what senator paul is doing is part of the problem that president barack obama's doing in that they are referring back to the past of a situation that

was entirely unique and a dynamic that was different. this is now. this is a different situation. this is a dynamic that is created out of syria. the meltdown of the syrian dynamic, isis coming out of that, and this is what's so very strange, is the these to attach a political framework to the choices we make. at the same time, you know, the media in some ways is covering certainly some very basic news like the beheadings, but they're not covering the murder of a man out of new jersey by a self-declared jihadist, some headlines out of australia with their round-up of jihadists declaring that they were going to behead somebody in public. so the rhetoric that comes out of isis with their propaganda is, in fact, worldwide. it's international. it's not about isis coming over here, you know, and parachuting into miami, it's about the impact they're having using social media. jon: tom friedman wrote in "the

new york times," judy, that isis is a threat -- or isis is awful, he says, but it is not a threat to america's homeland. >> well, i think that's right for the moment. and that's the issue, for the moment. i mean, i've just come from israel and, believe me, the israelis are not worried about isis, but they are worried about groups like isis such as hamas, with whom they've just fought a 50-day war. al news -- nusra, the other group in syria, but they are the al-qaeda affiliate there. so i think journalists are raising questions correctly, jon, about whether or not they should be questioning the, quote, strategy such as it is. who do we want to eliminate if we get rid of isis? do we help assad solidify his control of the country? those are both bad outcomes of what could be the president's strategy. but because the president

doesn't can like to use the w word -- and i'm not talking about george here, i'm talking about war -- we're arguing about whether or not we're at war, whether or not we should take boots on the ground. that's not the issue. does the strategy make sense, that's the issue. jon: tammy, some of the problem, i think, is the president's pronouncements to the media and the way his approach to the problem has changed back in january describing isis in that new yorker interview as, you know, a jv quad, and then in a prime time address announcing that he's going to destroy them because they are, you know, evil and a threat. >> well, see, this is the problem to some degree with the media, is that they're moving in a day-to-day basis, and perhaps for them like for senator paul, this is some kind of a rush to war. but we now know that, in fact, the administration was discussing the problem with isis for years, we know at least certainly since january when they took over fallujah, so i'm not quite sure where the rush

is. we've also been giving warnings to isis, effectively, as they are now moving their equipment from known locations, they're moving their weapons depots, themselves, their headquarters. so we're seeing a lot of a change happening when it comes to isis realizing that that we, apparently, are going to be taking our time in dealing with certain things. we finally have a french strike which is helpful, but isis has been able to move because of this being handled as a news event, as a news cycle event versus a governmental event. jon: even the number of airstrikes, you know, when the president got involved and started targeting isis in iraq, judy, 124 airstrikes so far, that's not a huge number. >> no, it's not, and there are no plans, it seems, to move more aircraft carriers into the region or to enlarge the capacity of america to strike. but here's the problem, whom are you bombing? i mean, if you bomb the sunni villagers who are supporting isis, you're going to drive them

closer to this extremist group. so you have to have really good intelligence on the ground. that means putting together the coalition that the president has slowly been putting together. it's tough going. i mean, i was over there, and the turks just said, no, we're not going to help because we've got hostages. hello? we have hostages. they have a long border with isis. how do you defeat them if they can keep going back and forth? there are so many questions here that i want to hear the media asking. jon: all right, very good. thank you both. >> thank you. >> thanks, jon. heather: a groundbreaking court ruling that could make facebook the last place you want to go. how social media could become the new serving ground for legal papers. our legal panel weighs in and explains the implications of that ruling. and a texas mom accused of poisoning her adopted son with salt. granted a brand new chance at freedom. why the court approved a new trial for the mother of five, up next. when fixed income experts

work with equity experts who work with regional experts that's when expertise happens. mfs. because there is no expertise without collaboration.

jon: fourteen minutes away there the top of the hour, and "outnumbered." harris and andrea, what do you have coming up? >> president obama is winning congressional approval to arm the syrian rebels, but some democrats are not onboard. how their concerns could affect the president's plan. >> and growing outrage after slender man costumes go on sale, can you believe this, in the exact same county where two girls allegedly stabbed a classmate to please the character. >> and first comes love, then comes marriage. you know what? maybe not. some stunning new numbers about the nation's marriage rate. >> all that plus our hashtag, first timer, harris, one lucky guy at the top of the hour. >> yes, outnumbered! jon: somebody may not be prepared for what he's about to get. >> i don't know if he is. >> surprise is always fun. jon: see you next hour. heather: forget facebook's like icon. after this ruling they will need

to add a served icon. a judge giving a new york man permission to serve his ex-wife notice via facebook that he no longer wants to pay child support. a family court magistrate saying he's allowing him to use the social media site since more traditional methods, apparently, didn't work. the groundbreaking ruling the first of its kind in new york and the first in the u.s. that does not involve an attempt to serve someone overseas. fred tecce is a former prosecutor, arthur aidala, a fox news legal analyst. thank you for joining me. you've had to deal with cases dealing with the social media. >> usually to find information about people to cross-examine them on the witness stand. but now it's taking things to another level, and what the judge is saying is it's right here the wife is, basically, hiding from the husband. the husband's trying to tell her, look, our child's 21, i don't have to pay you child

support anymore, and she's ducking him. she's very active on social media. so the judge said, look, stop sending her the checks and let her know on social media that she's not getting any more. heather: so, fred, what kind of precedent does this set? >> i've actually been involved in cases where we have done this stuff. she's ducked every other effort. he's tried to serve her by mail and in person, so the judge is letting her do it by social media. >> can heather, what i don't think this should set a precedent for is you cannot start a lawsuit by serving -- >> but it's either -- >> heather, you're being sued -- >> no, i disagree. >> you don't really know -- >> you're going to duck people because you're lying in your basement playing on facebook, then too bad. >> how do we know heather's the person on her facebook account? >> answer the door when the process server comes there and says -- >> well, how does it work? heather: someone else could be

on the computer. >> they could be, and that's the argument that you make. but ultimately, the law doesn't protect people who duck service. so if you duck service, you basically give away some of the due process rights -- >> right. the law is right now if you're not at the door, they have to try three times, and the third time they have to nail it to your door, and then they have to put it in your mailbox. heather: is they're mailbox your facebook page instead. >> you've been served. heather: switching gears, to a brand new chance at freedom for a texas mother of five. she was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted in the 2006 salt poisoning death of her adopted son. a texas state appellate court granting hap thatoverton -- anna overton a new trial over prosecutorial misconduct. now, the prosecutor in this case has admitted that she was, what, an alcoholic, and she was also taking diet prescription pills, all kinds of problems. so there were some problems with this case to given with. fred, i'll start with you.

>> there were some problems with this case. and, you know, i don't do criminal defense work, i leave it to guys like arthur, and it pains me to say in this case this may have been the right decision to give this woman a new trial. i'm questioning the evidence that i saw against her. the thing about the prosecutor, i mean, that's like a little bit of sauce for the goose, but ultimately, the question is what evidence was there to convict this woman of a very, very serious charge. >> here's what the most telling thing is, heather, texas is a very pro-prosecutor state. the ruling by the judge here was 7-2 that this woman did not receive a fair trial. and other judges wrote a concurrent opinion of those seven, i think another three were like we don't like this whole prosecution, and then they also faulted the defense because the child is allegedly being poisoned by salt, they never called an expert about how to be poisoned by salt. heather: i have to wrap it before you get boo a back and forth. >> good decision. heather: you both seem to agree.

>> we agree on that one. heather: jon, we'll move it on that. >> will i think arthur's moving his practice to texas. eleven major wildfires still burning in california. an update just ahead. don't compromise. ok, how about 10 gigs of data to share, unlimited talk and text, and you can choose from 2 to 10 lines. wow, sounds like a great deal. so i'm getting exactly what i want, then? appears so. now, um, i'm not too sure what to do with my arms right now 'cause this is when i usually start throwing things. oh, that's terrifying at&t's best-ever pricing. 2-10 lines, 10 gigs of truly shareable data, unlimited talk and text, starting at $130 a month.

iwith something terrible to admit. i treated thousands of patients, risked their lives, while high on prescription drugs. i was an addict. i'm recovered now, but an estimated 500,000 medical professionals are still out there, abusing drugs or alcohol. police, airline pilots, bus drivers... they're randomly tested for drugs and alcohol... but not us doctors. you can change that: vote yes on proposition 46. your lives are in our hands. bulldog: [whimpering] bulldog: has your old bed got you in a twist? well, mattress discounters has up to 48 months

interest-free financing. plus, mattress discounters has the largest selection of memory foam mattresses under one roof! queen-size memory foam mattress sets as low as $697! now what's best about 48 months interest-free financing at mattress discounters? it's 28 years in dog financing. ♪ mattress discounters with the top speedou compare of comcast the top speed of business dsl from the internet... phone company

well, there's really no comparison. 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: the massive king fire in california continues growing today. it now stretches across two counties. so far the wildfire in the northern part of the state has driven nearly 3,000 people from their homes. it's threatening at least 12,000

homes overall. adam houseley live in pollack pines with the latest. >> yeah, jon, the latest we know this morning the suspect, wayne alan huntsman, identified as the person authorities believe started this fire on purpose six days ago, about four hours from now he will be arraigned. currently he's being held on $10 million bail, so he will face a judge shortly and hear the charges against him, felony charges of starting this fire on purpose according to authorities. meantime, this fire is burning in more rural and rugged areas. the good news has been that it's moving away from homes and into areas that are less populated. in fact, really the way to go at this fire right now is from the air, the aerial drops have been significant and impressive. not only water, but fire retardant. they're using nearby reservoirs and lakes as well as flying down near sacramento to come back up here and make these drops really when the sup comes up, throughout the day.

we haven't seen hem or heard about them doing the drops at night. the fire itself, as you mentioned, 76,000 acres. the good news on that side is that the two previous nights it had doubled in size, and last night only about 4,000 acres, heading more towards lake tahoe. we're told that the forecast here, the temperatures will continue to drop which has been good news. humidity has come up. the winds may come back, but some forecasters saying it may below the fire back on itself. yet to be seen, of course, because that's going to happen this afternoon. firefighters are cautiously optimistic, at the same time, they say this thing is going to burn for some time and, again, as we know especially here in california, very difficult conditions, drought-like conditions, and as one fire captain told me yesterday, this is just the beginning, jon, of a very long fire season at the end of summer and into the fall. jon: and just appalling to think somebody may have started that on purpose. adam houseley, thanks. heather: well, here are some brand new stories that we are working on for the next our hour

of "happening now." have you stopped by the home depot lately? keep a close eye on your credit card statement. details on a massive data breach at the home improvement store. how much money do you have in your pocket right now? i have $40, $21. could something that small make an impact on something as big as your retirement? i don't think so. well if you start putting that towards your retirement every week and let it grow over time, for twenty to thirty years, that retirement challenge might not seem so big after all. ♪

jon: we'll be back in an hour of the "outnumbered" starts right now. >> this is "outnumbered." i'm andrea tantaros. with us one lucky guy, jonah goldberg. nationalreview.online. he is outnumbered. we have 50% of bret baier's panel today. take that bret. you. >> guys have a connection through alaska. >> yes we do. >> my wife and my wife's little sister were very close friend with the powerses in fairbanks, alaska. >> would you like to share the relationship? >> no,