good to go last night. we went to dinner. my in-laws are in town. >> more on the "fox & friends" after the show show. >> the democrats still licking their wound after the elect losses. now they are trading barbs with each other. i'm eric shawn at america's newsroom. heather: i'm heather childress in for martha maccallum. the democrats' interparty feud on public policy has grown more intense. they include massachusetts senator elizabeth warren who are breaking with other dems and are

actively opposing president obama's nominee for secretary of the treasury. then charms schumer is saying it was a make take for democrats to pass obamacare. that drew a response from nancy pelosi. some folk not so happy that being some democrats. let's take a listen to what senator schumer had to say. >> unfortunately democrats blew the opportunity the american people gave them. we took our mandate and put all our focus on the wrong problem. healthcare reform. the plight of uninsured americans and the hardships caused by unfair insurance practices needed to be addressed

but it wasn't what we were hired to make. the 14 million number, she is reefing to what? >> she is reefing to the individual who will be covered by obamacare who need more help. they need to come together and unite, right? what's real i going on is democrats are trying to explain why president obama's presidency didn't work. the subtle background noise is thoik like the macy's day ba balloons is coming count avenue. they know she is nearly inevitable. what did president obama do wrong and who will be in control

of the party and who will apply the pressure on clinton as she rides her ascendentsy into the nomination. heather: the weather conditions can say a lot. so the weather conditions she's coming towards, what would you say that outlook looks like? specifically talk about the treasury secretary nominee. >> for senator schumer who we heard from who is a close ally of former first lady, the deal is the party has always had a good friend in wall street. wall street has always been a good friend to the party. it's time to get back to that and away from the populist elizabeth warren stuff. it's time to get back to the people who the clintons have always helped.

then her decision to fight the president on a pick from a guy who was a wall street deal maker and has engaged in deals like the one that took burger king to canada and other tax avoidance strategy that democrats don't like. her opposition to him is drawing a line in the sand. a proxy warp where americans can say are you on the which side? whatever you do, whether you have a second helping of turkey and dressing or whatever you do, you always close it by saying and this will help the middle class. that's just some stuff people say. heather: how do you think all of this inner fighting and some people saying we are going to

talk about this later, the democrats becoming the party of no will affect 2016? >> there is that guy name obama who is still president of the united states. he and hillary clinton have not had the best relationship over the years. what we'll watch closely, the story of the next couple years is this. can hillary clinton take control of her party. can she assume her role as the head of her party while there is still a sitting -- a sitting democratic president with whom she disagrees on several points. whether she is able to suppress the sitting president and what he does to fight back will be worth watching. heather: that will be one parade to watch. hope you have had a great turkey day. eric: there are calls for unity

after the grand jury decision in ferguson. several buildings were looted or completely destroyed in the riots. peaceful develop straighters did hold demonstrations in some chain stores. religious leaders and the faithful making a plea for peace. z. >> healing and unity ... [♪] eric: will those lea -- will ths be heard? >> reporter: the idea the holiday played a part that

beefed up police presence played a part and the weather placed a part. we have had snow but last night was the quietest night we have seen since the grand juriy's announcement. there were zero arrests related to the protests. in front of ferguson's police department where we have seen such a bed you have presence. there weren't any national guards menl o --guardsmen or loo protect it. they are waiting for the weekend to see if this continues or fit was a lull in the violence and riots we saw earlier this week. >> there are protests continuing inside some of the chain stores? >> several groups of protesters want to send a message things will not be business as usual. they are boycotting black friday

so when things offed up last night they were there. >> millions of people got shot. that's another way to grab people's attention. >> they are well come their opinion and welcome to protest that opinion as long as they don't interfere with other people's rights to carry on with their business as well. >> reporter: but most of the shoppers we are hearing from, they are more worried about their black friday deals than this demonstrations taking place. for the most part they have been extremely peaceful. they show up, take a loop around the store hands up charnltsin -g "don't shoot." and then they move on to another store. tomorrow a march is planned from ferg southern the state cap --

from ferguson to the state capital as well. the country braces for a wave of anti-government protests. this is a dangerous situation for the egyptian government. why? >> reporter: the possibility of more terror attacks. these demonstrations come just about a month after a deadly terror attack killed more than two dozen egyptian soldiers. already we are starting to see that these demonstrations are becoming violent and bloody. at this point egyptian military officials are bracing and have been preparing for the wave of anti-government protests. so far two military officers have been killed according to reports we are getting and also

we are waiting for confirmation of a third soldier may have also died in an attack today. in terms of protesters, at least one protester was reportedly killed when security forces, egyptian forces opened fire during a demonstration east of cairo. but arab media is saying possibly as many as three protesters have been killed thus far. heather: there are two groups that seem to be fueling these demonstrations and called for bloody uprisings. what can you tell us about these groups. >> one is the muslim brotherhood, the other is called the salafist group. they have a rested 107 alleged members of that group that's banned in egypt on suspicion of planning attacks to coincide with today's demonstrations. the salafist front has called

for a muslim the youth intifada urging demonstrators to clash are security forces. these demonstrations come a month after a terror attack killed protesters near the border crossings of israel and gaza. that group has aligned itself with the islamic state or isis. eric: the islamic state of isis, they want their caliphate in iraq and syria. now they are told they are spreading into africa. can we top them? heather: mother nature creating a travel nightmare and not just for people who were flying. as i started coming down the

bridge you could see the headlights of people spinning and crunching in front of me. and crunching in front of me. at least 20 cars, at least.

heather: authorities closing down part of a new york internet for three hours on thanksgiving after a massive chain reaction crash involving dozens of vehicles. >>ed the truck behind me hit the

partition between the throughway and the exit. but the guy hit me. his truck is totaled. a couple people are on stretchers. at least 20 cars. at least. heather: 10 people were injured and one driver was traveling too fast for the weather conditions. eric? eric: the battle against the terror group isis. authorities say they are attracting followers along eastern africa. this as the u.s. and our allies are focused on attacking isis in syria and iraq. what does it mean if isis is growing and how do we stop it? despite our efforts and

bombings, isis seems to be spreading? how far can they spread and can al-baghdadi establish a caliphate from syria to north africa? >> they have created a jihadist group. they don't have as many organizations that have sworn their allegiance to isis as they would like to have. but in libya and egypt there are groups that are aligning with isis. eric: egypt has had a terrible problem with terrorists, especially in the sinai. general al-sisi doesn't fool around. can we take a page from what

al-sisi is doing? >> most of these terror organization and insurgencies, they usually lose to government forces over time if you have the persistence and perseverance to stay with it. al-sisi is trying to find an unconventional war again the radical islamists with a conventional military. in the sinai desert. we don't have a comprehensive strategy to help these countries. we learned how to fight against these kind of organizations. we can assist our partners in the region doing that. al-sisi need that kind of assistance. we provided conventional assistance running a traditional army. he has had some success but he's

also had big setbacks. the big danger is it moves out of the sinai desert and moves into cairo and down the nile rough valley, then egypt starts to have a real problem. eric: what do you think are the chances of that? >> i think it's very real. isis is helping the rebels in the sinai desert to establish cells in cairo. we'll see some of that taking place. we need a comprehensive strategy to deal with this and help our partners in the region. eric: how do we do that when you have the secretary of defense chuck hagel resigning. there are apparently deep policy differences between the white house and the pentagon.

a review in the investors daily says hail is just the first in a purge that sees the u.s. military being december made it from a global force to a hollow force. is that fair? is that what we are facing in our country right now? >> the facts of that without the emotion around it are there. the facts are this it in has been cut severely, not to the point of just making a mistake. it's at the point of recklessness to have a military so small with its capacities reduced given the global responsibilities we have. the united states military spend most of its time preventing conflict because of the inherent nature of its high-capacity

level and great telling and people that are in it. most of its time is preventing wars. that's the danger you get into when you are reducing capacity. i believe the republican congress will address this issue with sequestration. senator mccain made statement to that effect when he takes over the chairmanship of the arm services committee. eric: we certainly hope we can finally stop isis at some point. good talking to you. heather: firefighters have a new best friend after a yorkie decide to move into the firehouse. eric: we'll have the latest on the power out ajts that are continuing across new england. >> we had our turkey in the oven for about an hour. >> i heard a crack, and i turn

around and i see the telephone pole go like this and i thought it was going to come down. i'm an idaho potato farmer and our big idaho potato truck is still missing. so my buddy here is going to help me find it. here we go. woo who, woah, woah, woah. it's out there somewhere spreading the word about america's favorite potatoes: heart healthy idaho potatoes and the american heart association's go red for women campaign. if you see it i hope you'll let us know. always look for the grown in idaho seal.

eric: a fire department has a new dog after a yorkie wandered in to escape the cold. >> in 25 years i have never seen in any firehouse i worked in, a dog come into the firehouse and take up residence. eric: they say he's staying with them until they can find the owner. heather: thousands of people

forced to spend thanksgiving without power and they are still in the dark. i know it's cold out there. when are some of these power customers going to receive the lights back on. >> it's probably going to be a while for those in new hampshire. this is being described as a multi-day event. a lot of these folks won't see power on until the weekend. this is the fourth largest power outage in new hampshire's history. just got off the phone with them and they tell fox progress is being made to tree store power. there are 127,000 without power in new hampshire and that is down from the original number of 200,000. that means many people had their thanksgiving dinner by candlelight and making

adjustments to how they got their turkey on the table. i told my dad, you have got to get that generator going so we can get the turkey done. >> some folks coming in from colorado and tennessee. also big problems in maine as well. there are reportedly 31,000 without power. back to you. >> there was also a snow rescue of two boys trapped last night? can you tell us about that? >> reporter: these two little boys,er in okay. it happened 60 miles north of us in newberg. the 11 and 9-year-old had gone out to build a snow sphort outside of their family's home. they were accidentally trapped in a snow bang after a snow plow

operator pushed snow over them burying them for hours. the mother noticed they were missing. police came out and noticed there was a shovel. neighbors started digging with their bare hands. >> as a parent i was shocked and i was distraught. that could have been my son. my son is friends with him. i was praying both boys were safe and nobody was pulled out harmed. >> reporter: the boys continues move their legs or arms. they had to receive treatment to get warmed up. heather: i'm so glad they are okay. they need to rethink how they work the snow plows.

eric: if you have kids, you have got to make sure kids don't play in the snow banks along the streets. don't play in the snow on the road. stay in the yard. for the first time in years republicans will control both chambers of -- of congress. what some of the more liberal lawmakers are saying. heather: a miracle of modern medicine, helping a 2-year-old boy hear for the first time. his parents speak out. >> profound hearing loss. it's great. we were hopeful and we were mistaken.

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some parts of the country. how is the weather going to be today? we are in the fox extreme weather center. >> we are still look at some snow flying around act northeast and the great lakes. you can see on the radar we have stuff scattered across parts of new england and west virginia and parts of the upper midwest. across the city of boston we have winter weather advisories in effect because these snow showers could be accumulating between 2-4 inches of snowfall. otherwise in the pacific another storm system bringing rain for seattle and portland. some of that moisture hitting the rockies and producing snow. that's along some of the higher elevations. temperature-wise we have temperatures well below average especially in the northeast.

atlanta, georgia, 33 degrees and in the between the in chicago and the city of cleveland. you factor in what it actually feels like. a little bit of wind could bring down the with temperatures. you are at zero in minneapolis and down in atlanta, 25 degree is wait fee like out there. a little on the cold side for late november. the high temperatures are cooler across southern california. temperatures making it into the upper 80s. a little bit of a reality check. by sunday across the east. after you are dealing with the cold. take a look at the forecast. 60 for raleigh and atlanta. across the northeast you are looking better by sunday. temperatures forecast to be in the upper 40s for new york city. it's looking good in the next few days. thank you.

heather: with the balance of power about to shift in the senate will we see a if you so-called party of no. a number of democratic states got stumped giving republicans 53 seats in january. one more senator mary landrieu may lose her runoff as well. some are saying many of the liberal democrat will use their power to obstruct the gop. one is saying i'm not going to be part of sitting down and being a part of legislation that i'm fundamentally disagree with. juror john cornyn said i don't expect anybody to give up their ideological convictions overnight. but i have had several

conversations with self democrats and they said we can govern in the center and find some common ground. i believe that's going to happen. mary katharine ham and juan williams, thanks for joining us. what is your party going to be? are they going to become the party of no or are they going to compromise. >> i think you will see an angrier or defiant democratic party. they are the last line of defense for the liberals on the hill. clearly democrats are in the minority in the house. when you get to the senate, 53-54 republican majority that's where you will see the democrats put up the fight. heather: if that is the case, how will they be treated in the media? will we hear what we constantly heard about the republican

minority, obstructionists causing gridlock or will we hear lesser harsh language when it comes to the democrats. politico anticipating this is going to happen. they are saying these democrats who will say no are the last line of congressional defense. >> valent fighters for the truth and the light. the party of no is always an issue of perception how the media portrays it. they won't be as cooperative in portraying democrats that way. when it comes to what they are going to do in the senate. you mentioned claire mccaskill saying i'm not going to lie down for the republicans. but keystone which is quite popular with the american people, she aggrieves with republicans on that issue. it has numbers like obamacare would dream of.

if you get some red state democrats on that issue you could make some progress. heather: three out of four americans support the construction of the keefe stone pipeline. should they pick and choose their battles? >> what the american people would like is some cooperation, compromise and functional government. so the question is whether or not republicans are trying to run that kind of government, and that's what you saw in if the quote from john cornyn you put up earlier. but the fear among democrats is you will see republicans play to their base, especially with newfound power they have opportunity to make a show of support for ending abortion, doing a way with consumer financial protection, easing regulations on wall street. and i think the democrats' feeling is we are going to fight

tooth and nail. i think you will find a lot of refilre -- a lot of filibusters. met * you just made the argument that democrats will play to their liberal base. >> i don't think there is any question about that. they will be protecting against what they see as the excesses of the gop which will be drunk with new power. heather: that brings that language into play we were just talking about. >> i think the media will be tough on republicans which is by itself keeps them from going too far. they might not be so drunk with power as democrats were allowed to be but hung over with power because they will be punished for anything the media thinks is out of line. when it comes to the abortion issue which is taxpayer funding of abortion clings which is

something americans are not keen on. it's not quite extreme issue juan illustrated. but i think there is room for compromise here. flrm liberals who will stand up against the gop. i'm a grownup. that's how politics work. heather: what do you think some of the key sticking points will be? social security, medicare, the environment in general, education. >> they had the opportunity in the past to reach tax reform and part of that is reining in entitlement spend. we have social security, medicare and the likes. we are hearing from the liberals we won't let you do anything to social security or medicare. the republicans will say if you

want a tax deal you have got to compromise. that's a big area fight. both sides recognize the tax system is ripe for reform. >> i think you can get some give and take. i think there can be some give and take. but it might be tougher. it's more fun to say no to the party you are not part of than it is to your own party. so they have might enjoy it more. eric: investigators returned to the home of aaron hernandez. we'll tell you what they are searching for and what it could meaner to this case. heather: earn amazing moment caught on -- earn amazing moment caught on video. >> the one thing i would love to see is for him to hear his

laugh. he has the best laugh in the world.

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clean. clear. brita water. nothing is better. heather: an arizona family sure had a lot to be thankful for this year. their 2-year-old child was born deaf. earlier this year asher received an implant which electronically stimulates the auditory nerve and asher heard his parents for the very first time. >> he finally turned around we said something. he's understanding stuff and starting to tie it together. it makes sense to him. >> reporter: doctors save it will be a long process before he's adjusted to hearing with the implant. but he's making excellent

progress. eric: authorities are returning to the home of former nfl star aaron hernandez. police are searching for sneakers he was wearing on the night of the fatal shooting. why did they wait until now to look for what could be a key piece of evidence? could those sneakers have clues that could lead to a conviction? welcome, good to see you this morning. a year and a half goes by, they hope to find some sneakers that could be in his clothes. could they be too late? >> if they find significant evidence there will be an issue whether that evidence was planted. if they don't it doesn't look good to a jury that you went in after the -- so long after a

crime. eric: you have been a prosecutor in the trenches. why didn't they do this back then? is there a list you rely on to say if there is a murder we'll get their shoes and clothes and anything outside of the house? >> clothes are a significant meals of evidence. this is a d is a significant piece of evidence. it helps in the prosecuteddor's time line. they were seen on a home security video wearing the sneakers on the need of the murder but then they are seen later on video wearing sandals. they could have known something was up and tried to dump evidence. >> especially if you have blood evidence on your sneakers or clothes. we know that clothes are a major piece of evidence you want to

make sure you get to because people can destroy it or try to clean it. a footprint can be a significant piece of evidence. it's an extraordinarily dig piece of evidence. >> they can do tire treads and actually get the impressions of shoes and sneakers and try to match them to see if the defendant has them. >> you can find out based on the nature of the footprint impression whether it matches the size of the person. but the other thing is when we wear our shoes they are wear down and there are unique aspects of each of our shoes. it can be a powerful piece of evidence. witness testimony can be skewed but when you have a powerful piece of evidence that speaks for itself and doesn't have any prejudice with regard to a case, it's a significant and powerful piece of evidence in front after

jury. eric: can they tell the way a shoe is worn or worn down? >> if you have unique identifiers, it's a solid piece of evidence. eric: gru know maglis. o.j. simpson. they had blood evidence. in oj's case that didn't work. you are looking at comparisons of imprints at the crime scene where they were murder as well as of his shoes. that's the kind of evidence that could lead to convictions. >> we are going to get to the point just lining it was in the o.j. case is the manner in which law enforcement is going about securing this evidence. when you go back to the crime scene it gives the defense attorney a perfect opportunity if you don't find something saying obviously they are not

confident in their case. eric: thank you so much for joining us. heather: a new battle in the retail world. shopping malls taking on big box stores to try to catch in on the mad rush of shoppers. some malls even opening thanksgiving day. is there a down side to this strategy? we'll have a live report up next.

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eric: supreme court justice ruth bairder begin burgers being released from the hospital and is expected to be back at the court on monday. she has been in the past had

cancer and has been resisting calls to step down. heather: for some shopper looking for those ultimate bargains, black friday started yesterday as many of us were enjoying our thanksgiving dinners. peter doocy is live at a mall in springfield, virginia. it look kind of sparse behind you. >> reporter: so far it' been a steady stream of shoppers. not by my any mean the stampede we saw overnight at some big box stores. the outlook for the first ever black friday is very strong. >> right's the tortoise and the hare. the customers are here with a

multitude of choices, not just one store. >> reporter: this year expecting $13.1 by in black friday sales. the whole weekend matters now. between turkey and work monday, forecasters are expecting $13.1 bill in sales. heather: any problem with crowd control? >> reporter: we have seen some reports of shoppers ended up in the slammer. out on the west coast there was a fistfight over a barbie doll at a wal-mart and a separate scuffle at a kohl's location. overall nationwide nothing too serious to report on. here in springfield's town center in virginia, officials are telling us they have

security and safety in mind so they have extra precautions but so far all quiet. heather: i heard those barbie dolls were going for $5. >> reporter: not worth getting punched in the face off. eric: more detainees have been getting out of gitmo. they say the obama administration is getting ready to free even more. who are they? where will they go? is it right? i'll use a bunch o. what are you doing? dish issues? ... ... get cascade complete. one pac cleans better than six pacs of the bargain brand combined. cascade. now that's clean.

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heather: the obama administration reportedly opening the gates again at gitmo, apparently preparing to release a new batch of detainees, despite continued republican opposition. welcome to another hour of

"america's newsroom." eric: bill and martha are still enjoying their thanksgiving turkey. president obama pushing to shut down the detention center at guantanamo bay before he leaves office. right now we are told he's searching for a new defense secretary who is willing to carry out that task. sources tell the "wall street journal" more releases are in the work. there were 242 detainees when the president took office. so far 96 have been restate yaitd or resettled and four have died. 9 -- 142 remain in custody. heather: is this the president doing an end-run around congress. >> the answer is yes and know. the president is providing key

law makers with the required 30 days' notice of intended prisoner transfers from guantanamo bay. but the president has slowly but surely emptying the place of prisoners and thereby rendering its closure a moot point. the gop is trying to make it more difficult to transfer prisoners. one prisoner dubbed the forever detainee because he first arrived in 2002. believed to be a recruiter for al qaeda. the obama administration is accepting ever great risks with the remaining prisoners. heather: we heard the slow pails

at which gitmo is being emptied. that was one of the points of contention from the white house that may have led to the resignation of chuck hagel. >> reporter: officials say it was the source of significant tension between hail and the defendant. the signature of the defense secretary is required for each and every detainee signifying that the transfer would not cause a risk to national security. sue and rice answe -- >> the pentagon wants to move slower on this. they want to makep make sure these are the most dangerous detainees we have, that we do not put them in the hands of people that would facilitate them returning to the fight

against us and our allies. >> reporter: at its height guantanamo bay held some 800 suspected terrorists. eric: who are they? where do they go? and will they come back to kill us? jonah, we just heard james talk about the tension with secretary of defense hagel. he apparently slowed down the process and wouldn't give the green light to much releases. >> i was never a big fan of chuck hagel but the more i hear about why the obama administration wanted to get rid of him, the more i like the guy. i don't know if for idea logical purposes he was slow walking this or he didn't want to sign off on someone who was going to go overseas to attack us. 17% to 18% of former gitmo

detainees have gone back to join the fight. one guy has sworn allegiance to the islamic state. these are very bad guys. i wouldn't want my signature letting one of these guys go. eric: the reports say hagel wanted to make sure those released don't come back to attack us. 620 have been freed and 180 were suspected of joining the jihad. that's 30%. one of the guys freed by the bush administration was just arrested in madrid, spain recruiting for isis. you are releasing these guys to attack us again through al qaeda and isis. >> they told me there would be no math on this segment. here is one of the challenges we see coming down the pipe. obama wants to render guantanamo

moot and get rid of it as part of his legacy building. it was one of his first promises as president. one of the ways he's doing that is by not taking any more prisoners. we are not detaining terrorists abroad for interrogation. so we have a huge blind spot in terms of intelligence. going forward if they don't get albany --if they don't get guao completely closed we'll start interrogating these guys and interrogating them again. it will be much more difficult for the next president to reopen gitmo than to start putting more detainees in there if it stays open through the obama presidency. >> reporter: the president says the three detainees will not pose a significant threat to national security. do you buy that?

>> i don't buy it. guantanamo was always an imperfect solution to a terrible problem. but it was preferable to putting these guys on trial in the united states. one of the reasons this is so tough is these are very bad people. they get better contacts in gitmo, then they are released and they know each other and we are putting these guys back into the fight. that's not going to get solved until these larger structural issues about the war and terror get solved. it's unfortunate for some guy who doesn't want to rehabilitate himself and put his jihadi stuff behind him. eric: do you think it's part of the president's word view, it's something he wishes was true. goes toed the muslim world -- he goes to the muslim world when he was first he atlantic and now he has the spread of isis. what does he do?

>> i think obama has a well-established habit of thinking that if he says something, that somehow the universal reality will bend to his rhetoric. what he says about the islamic state, of all the religions in the world the islamic state is least of all islamic. there is nothing islamic about it. >> for the rest of us who believe our own lying eyes, that's ridiculous. he has a habit of arranging policies to conform with his rhetoric rather than bending his rhetoric to the necessities of the job. eric: what do you think will happen with gitmo with the republican congress coming into power? >> i think it will get much more difficult. whoever is the nominee to replace chuck hagelle which is the least -- chuck hagel, which

is the least desirable job in washington right now. i think it will be a big fight and congress will control both the house and senate and is in the position to slow this process down even more. i think that's what the republicans are going to do. eric: thank you, jonah. heather: to ferguson where they are trying to rebuild after the violent and destructive reaction to the grand jury's decision not to indict the officer involved in the shooting of michael brown. they are reassuring business owner they will have help when it's time to rebuild. mike tobin has been coughing this start to finish for us. not finished yet. what is the scene like there today. >> we are seeing some of the

rumored black friday protests materialize but not on a large scale. there was a protest that popped up at a target store in brentwood, missouri. that's a st. louis suburb. the demonstration did not last for very long. a similar deputy straying popped up at a walmart in bridge ton, missouri. the idea is to disrupt black friday commerce with a loose tie-in into the notion of injustice to the death of mike brown. st. louis county police sent out an advisory saying all the shopping malls in the greater st. louis area are safe and secure. there was word on social media that there was going to be a demonstration at the st. louis county justice center where the announcement came from the grand jury, but you can see this

particular demonstration didn't materialize at all. you have got the weekend coming and the weather forecast look like it will get a little bit warmer so we'll see water eyed over the weekend. --. eric: plumes of smoke and ash thousands of feet in the air. heather: missouri' governor under fire as people in ferguson try to recover from this week's violence. many lashing out at governor nickonsa lack of actions during the crisis. >> yes was not on top of it and being the lead person is frankly beyond me.

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it says here that increases at the age of 80. helps reduce the risk of heart disse. keep hrt-healthy. live long. eat the 100% goodness of post shreddedheat. doctorrecommend it. eric: one of the world's largest volcanoes erupting. lava and cheungs of everything. that is mount asha releasing plumes of smoke and ash into the air. it's the first eruption in 22 years. but researchers don't expect it to increase. heather: many accuse governor

jay nixon of turning away from ferguson when the city needed him the most. among the critics, the lieutenant governor. >> the desperate pleas by the mayor of ferguson at the critical moments late in the evening, he could not get the governor. i spoke to him yesterday. he's still trying to deal with the situation with no communication. and i can't understand the governor's failure to communicate with the mayor of the city affected. heather: former d.c. homicide detective rob wheeler was there when the grand jury announcement was made. a lot of rumors being discussed saying it's possible that the doj actually informed the governor to stand down, to tell the national guard to stand down initially. what have you heard about that.

do you think that's a possibility? >> anything is possible. but i must say the governor, his actions or inactions with his entire events, heather, ever since santiago, have been what i call a colossal failure. let me quickly tell the viewers why. back in august when the rioting first started after the shooting and i was there as well. right in the middle of the riots, everyone including myself was asking, where is the national guard. the national guard wasn't there then. the governor didn't even arrive on the scene until four days after the rioting began. an was asking questions, what's going on. fast forward to the decision this past monday. i interviewed a guy by the name of gabe crocker who was the president of the fraternal order of police in st. louis. he said we cannot handle rioting in the city. we don't have the resources so we are relying on the national

guard. he said this before the decision was announced. the national guard were there, they were staged in the city of jennings and the city of playton. they were not there where the main rioting was going to take place. the night as you all know when the rioting started the national guard was nowhere to be found. they were behind the target and behind the walmart but they were told not to move and to stand down and that's why we saw take place what took place monday night. heather: we spoke with you that monday morning. that's the question then. why would the governor tell the national guard to stand down. if they were there and could have moved in earlier. >> they could have moved in much earlier. they should have moved in. we all flew the decision was going to come down late at night which was a horrible decision from the beginning. why they decided to announce

this decision late at night. heather: that's the other question. who made the decision to say the grand jury had couple with a decision and then with all these hours later, and then come out and say in fact what that decision was? that gave a lot of leeway and time for some of these protesters, these groups to band together and plan what their action would be. >> not only did they give leeway to them. but right around that same time would have been the perfect time for the national guard to get in position. i was there, i was there on west laugh on street. everybody -- i was there on west laugh o d west -- west lawson s. who was it to make that decision? it was governor jay nixon.

not only was the national guard nowhere to be found. he was nowhere to be found. we saw what the end result was, and all of those businesses. all of them were on fire, people were shooting guns. no national guard around anywhere. and the police were simply outnumbered. heather: the protesters given time to prepare. the national guard not given time to prepare. these innocent people who now have lost their livelihood and the people who work in those businesses. now you have protesters coming out on black friday. what have you seen in terms of the protesters that are there and trying to disrupt these black friday sales? >> ineffective. they need to have change of laws in that city. but this isn't the way to do it by not shopping at the local stores. i think it counters what they need to be doing and that's supporting their local business.

thank you, rod, we appreciate your insight as always. eric: christmas light displays have already earned a spot in the record books. we'll show you how many thousands of l.e. developments and miles of cable were used to make this incredibly colorful display. heather: an unlikely hero saving this woman's home and they are child. >> i have my daughter and our home still, it's all because of a very thoughtful and kind and considerate person. to stretche earth 230 times. each brita filter can replace 300 of those. clean. clear. brita water. nothing is better.

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heather: australia's capital setting a guinness world record for christmas lights, a huge display. canberra now holding the title of the world's largest ever led image display with nearly, get this, 1.2 million lights on 75 miles of cables. cardiac texts, engineers, work -- architects, engineers, work i crews spent months raising the display raising money for a local charity that supports families who have suffered a sudden infant death. that's remarkable. eric: absolutely amazing. heather: you do your house like that, right? eric: i wish. young, thanks for being here one idaho family will be forever grateful to the ups driver. >> reporter: monica forbes left the house last wednesday to run some errands. the day seemed pretty typical

until she got a call from her daughter two hours later. >> the trash can's on fire! i'm like, call the fire department. she goes, no, the ups guy put it out. >> that's right, not a firefighter, steve walker, the forbes family's usual ups deliveryman. >> oh, yeah. that's the first time i've seen fire on my route. [laughter] >> reporter: steve pulled the trash can into the center of the driveway, then rushed to the front door to alert anyone inside. >> he woke up my daughter who was recovering from having her wisdom tooth out. >> reporter: it took monica a few minutes to realize when she threw out the kitchen trash, she put it right on top of ashes from the family's fire two nights earlier. >> well, if the garbage can catches fire and it's up against the side of the house, the side of the house catches fire, runs up the siding and goes up into the attic space. oftentimes the homeowners are not even aware the house is on

fire. >> reporter: that's why the forbes' are calling walker their hero. >> i don't know how to say thank you. you saved her life and our home. >> well, you're welcome. >> reporter: while they give him a hero's kit, the forbes family realizes just how lucky they truly are this holiday season. >> i have my daughter, i have our home still, and it's all because of a very thoughtful and kind and considerate ups driver. eric: wow. go, steve walker. amazing. heather: their slogan used to be what can brown do for you? a whole lot. good for him. eric: and great advice they say she threw the ashess before. so those ashes can stay alive a long time. douse 'em, before you put them in the garbage. heather: mental note. new taliban attacks targeting

the diplomatic district in kabul. [gunfire] the spiraling violence coming as the international mission in afghanistan is set to end in a month's time. now, what it means for the fight against terror.

get fast-acting, long-lasting relief from heartburn with it neutralizes stomach acid and is the only product that forms a protective barrier that helps keep stomach acid in the stomach where it belongs. for fast-acting, long-lasting relief. try gaviscon®. eric: we have a fox news alert. a taliban homicide bomber has attacked an upscale diplomatic district in kabul with. witnesses say there was an exchange of gunfire and explosions followed that initial blast. [gunfire] eric: this attack came hours after an attack on a british embassy vehicle that killed at least five people including a british embassy guard. the series of new taliban attacks raising more security concerns as the coalition mission in afghanistan will

approach its end on december 31st with plans to leave behind only a residual force. will that be enough to stop the taliban gains? richard grinnell has served as a spokesman and adviser to four u.s. ambassadors to the united nations. rick, let me first start by saying what does it mean and why is it significant when the taliban is now gunning after diplomats in kabul? >> yeah, eric, i mean, this is in the suburbs of kabul, it's very close to not only our embassy, but it's very close to all of the international offices that are there to try to stabilize afghanistan. you know, it's important to note that what we have january 1st of this coming 2015 is a bilateral security agreement with the afghanistan government. and that's important because we will leave a force behind. unlike in iraq where the obama administration couldn't get a status of forces agreement to

leave some troops behind in iraq, and we've seen the violence really escalate out of control inside iraq, we don't want to see the same thing happen in afghanistan. so this bilateral security agreement, which was signed after karzai left, by the way, in an important distinction, that goes into effect this january in afghanistan. it goes into effect through 2024. so what that really tells us is that we have got a very long time for some u.s. presence. the obama administering has -- administration has made it clear that they want very few troops. they're going to start with 9800 troops, u.s. troops that will stay behind in afghanistan. they will not be patrolling. the lead will be the afghan national force. and yet this american presence will be very good because it will help bring stability. it sends a strong message to the iranians and to others that

afghanistan is a place that needs to be safe. this taliban attack last night is a very serious concern. embassy personnel told me that they could actually hear the gunfights, they could hear the explosions. as you know, u.s. ambassador jim cunningham, our ambassador in afghanistan, he leaves, eric, next week. and the new ambassador has not been confirmed yet. so we do need the senate to get moving to approve a u.s. ambassador to afghanistan so we have someone fully credentialed there so that the situation doesn't spin out of control. we don't want afghanistan to go backwards like what we've seen in iraq. eric: yeah. talking about iraq, look, the administration pulled the plug on the troops there. they said there wasn't a status of forces agreement. do you think that the administration and the white house has learned its lesson, seeing what happened in iraq without any u.s. troops? and do you think that just under 10,000 u.s. troops remaining in afghanistan will be enough?

>> well, i don't think the administration has learned its lesson. i think what happened is that the press, the media, the public really responded after the failure of the obama administration to take the negotiations seriously inside iraq. the public responded with really shaming the obama administration as just a weak negotiation. so what's happened now in afghanistan is we do have a team, like i said, jim cunningham. he's a very good diplomat. and i'm sure that having someone experienced and having the white house beaten back a little bit would, helped the situation so we were able to get an agreement inside afghanistan. but the troop presence on january 1st will be roughly 9800, as i said. that's what the obama administration wants. but if you look at the details, eric, by 2016, by the end of obama's presidency, he's got the troops down to about 1,000. so clearly, the white house has

not learned its lesson. what they're trying to do is just make it seem like they have a troop presence there. they're really more concerned about the promise that obama made, the political promise to bring all the troops home. so we want to whittle that down to 1,000 u.s. troops. i don't think that's enough. i think we're going to need to have a lot more, and it's a good thing that the bilateral security agreement goes past obama's presidency so that the next president of the united states can take it more seriously. eric: so finally, you obviously don't think that thousand figure, let alone the 10,000, are enough. this is at the same time, rick, they've announced they're moving assets from that war theater down to syria and iraq to fight against isis. >> well, i think the isis problem, eric, is simply because we didn't have a presence in iraq. that's one of the reasons. it's not the only reason, but if we would have had a stronger u.s. presence there, the situation wouldn't have spiraled out of control. it may have just stayed in

syria. but clearly, what happened is isis, you know, felt like they could go further, and they bled into iraq, and that's -- now we're seeing all the problems that are because we weren't able to get a status of forces agreement inside iraq. the same thing won't happen in afghanistan, hopefully. eric: i mean just quickly, do you think this would be enough to finally get afghanistan under control? >> well, who knows? the taliban -- it's warm weather right now, and the taliban are still inside afghanistan. that's a problem. they should already be in pakistan, they're not. so i think what's going to have to happen is the afghans are going to have to fight even harder, and we're going to have to do some sort of a bombing campaign. nato or the u.s. are going to have to have airstrikes. and since we don't have a secretary of defense and a white house that's very lazy on these issues, we're -- we could be seeing some problems. eric: it may not be fair to say they're lazy, but certainly there are issues, and this is continuing. >> yeah.

i'd say they're lazy. [laughter] eric: thank you so much. heather? heather: can't be lazy on black friday. black friday is best known as one of the biggest shopping days of the year. but today it's a time for some workers to demand better wages. and better working conditions. organizers say that they expect today's walmart protest, for example, to be the widest reaching yet. william la jeunesse with the latest from our west coast bureau. hi, william. >> reporter: well, heather, some of those protesting today are not actual walmart employees, but members of the united food and commercial workers union, and it is now for the third year in a row that they're protesting outside walmarts across the country. we're expecting several busloads of protesters to arrive here in the next few hours. they want walmart to pay workers $15 an hour. walmart has said it pays workers about $13. the union, which calls itself the organization united for

respect, in this case our walmart, says it's closer to $9. now, part of their justification or rationale is that the founders of walmart, the walton family, are so wealthy, they should pay their workers more. >> what i would want to see happen today is that walmart would close its doors and try to show some kind of example for all the other corporations because there they're our, you , number one retailer, and they have a lot of power in running that industry. >> reporter: now, the police are here today, heather, because members of the protesters, members of this union are not permitted to go inside of walmart unless they're there to shop. heather? heather: and what is walmart's response? have you heard from them? >> reporter: yeah. we talked to them earlier today. they did not want to address these charges head on, if you will, they wanted to talk about black friday itself.

of course, walmart discounters like sears attract millions of shoppers. in fact, we have some video from last night. do you know that a survey said 8% of black friday shoppers would eat a spider to get to the head of the line? as for that argument about income inequality, well, it cuts both ways. many union leaders of united food and commercial workers, they're making $500,000 a year, and yet union workers at these grocery stores are earning less than $15. so that argument cuts both ways. now, walmart officials did not want to get into that, but they did offer us one of their employees who said she is more than happy with her job. >> i can't tell you about over there, but i can tell you walmart has been good to me, okay? i went from -- i came here about a year ago, and i started off as a customer service cashier, then i went to a sales association in electronics, and then i became a manager within six months. >> reporter: up to $13 billion

will be spent today, heather. most shoppers say they'll spend about $390, maybe a little more because of the decline in gas prices puts a little bit more money in the pocket, and from the shoppers that we've seen here today, they seem to be rather indifferent to the protests. back to you. heather: but are they indifferent to the spider? william, i have to ask you, would you do that? would you eat a spider? >> reporter: nope. [laughter] not to get to the front of the line. heather: no. >> reporter: don't need that. heather: me either. i just don't understand that. thank you, william. >> reporter: you bet. eric: yuck. heather: no way. eric: i know. when republicans take over congress, some agencies like the epa, they could be in the budget crosshairs. is there a political agenda, or do lawmakers simply want to cut government waste? we'll is -- we'll have a fair and balanced debate on that coming up. heather: plus, a gang of crooks pulls off a thanksgiving robbery. >> it's really sad.

i mean, thanksgiving is a day you're supposed to be with family. i'm going to lose black friday sales. i mean, it's one of the biggest days of the year. d i quit smoki. i had tried to do it in the past. i hadn't been successful. quitting smoking this time was different because i got a prescription for chantix. along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. the fact that it reduced the urge to smoke helped me get that confidence that i could do it. some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. some people had seizures while taking chantix. if you notice any of these, stop chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of mental health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix or history of seizures. don' take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. if you develop these, stop chantix and see your doctor right away as some can be life-threatening. tell your doctor if you have a history of heart or blood vessel problems, or develop new or worse symptoms. get medical help right away if you have symptoms of a heart attack or stroke. decrease alcohol use while taking chantix.

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give the gift of amazing sleep only at a sleep number store. this week only, save 50% on the ultimate limited edition bed. know better sleep with sleep number. eric: well, one high end clothing store's been missing out on some black friday sales. a brazen gang of thieves rammed a stolen truck into the place over this thanksgiving holiday, and they swashed their way right through the a brick wall. you can see at least 20 suspects making off with clothing worth tens of thousands of dollars. the chicago store owner estimates that his losses including that damage to the building at over $100,000. >> for them it's like fun, you know? i mean, they're doing it, they're grabbing the stuff. for us it's like, we have no choice but to close the store. last month i closed down one of my stores because of that problem. eric: the owner of the stolen pickup truck says it hurts to see anybody doing this, especially over thanksgiving when people should be home with their families.

you know, there's been a string of grab robberies in chicago that have struck some high end stores like louis vuitton and ferragamo. heather: a new report that the house gop is pushing to rein in the national science foundation. according to politico, republicans, quote: plan to push proposals to cut funding for global warming and social science research, put strict new rules on the national science foundation's grant-making process and overhaul how science informs policy making at the epa. well, scott any nell hughes is news director for the tea party network, and attorney jessica ehrlich is a former democratic congressional candidate. thank you both for joining us. >> thank you. heather: and, scotty, i'm going to start with you. do republicans not like science? [laughter] >> well, honestly, heather, with our country being more than $18 trillion in debt, thank god somebody's trying to cut this

down, because we all know when it comes to academia and science, this is probably one of the biggest places for pork when it comes to government spending. and the smorgasbord of waste that this government has been spitting, so way to go to those guys trying to cut something as we continue to see more and more debt continue to pile up. heather: and, jessica, what do you think? do you think this is really a war on science by republicans, or are they just trying to rein in unnecessary spending? >> well, i hope it's not a war on science, because traditionally the house committee on science and space and technology has been one of the few places where we've been able to really find, you know, bipartisan working together. and we'd hopefully like to see that as sort of the first place where in the next congress, particularly with the two committee chairs, both the chair and the ranking member being from texas as well as working with the senate, that this would be a place where we could get

some movement going in this sort of gridlocked congress that really helps all americans and our health and our future and our future technologies. heather: we have to have the conversation about some of the work that is being done. where some of these monies are going. specifically, rand paul, he was talking about this origami condom and money that was going to create this versus money that was going to creating a vaccine for ebola. and that's just one example, but, you know, if republicans want to take a deeper look at exactly how the money's being spent, why does anyone have a problem with that? >> well, i think -- [inaudible conversations] >> that's simply the question right there, heather. you know, you sat there and looked at president obama and the democrats going into the november elections sat there and said and threw at the republicans they were the ones that were wanting to cut the spending of the cdc and the nih. the truth was they wanted to sit there and study why people like

seinfeld or the sex life of fruit flies. it was that kind of superfluous spending and the wasting of taxpayer dollars instead of the study of ebola. and that's sort of like nitpicking is the reason you're having the issues today. we sit here and look at the friday before thanksgiving, you know, barack obama sat here and gave us 3400 new regulations on businesses and epa regulations that are going to hurt small businesses and taxpayers, and yet on the reverse of it you're going to sit here and see taxpayers are going to be hurt with these kind of issues. who is the real war on? it's not necessarily science to throw money at this sort of superflowous spending and yet our taxpayers and small businesses are being overtaxed and hurt like this. heather: jessica, i'll let you respond to that. >> i think they're two separate issues. hopefully, we can all agree if we're going to be spending this money on things like ebola, on new technologies w. the fruit

flies and all these things, we aren't the scientists who are actually using this information to then go forward and create cures for cancers to help with the, you know, they had a study that they did that probably everyone would think was ridiculous about brushing small rats which then led to this amazing technology which is saving premature babies. so, you know, it's difficult -- some of these things sound a little absurd, but that's why we have scientists who run the nih and the cdc. we need to fund them. they complained earlier about not being funded. we can't be penny wise and pound foolish. we need to make sure we've got a structured budget, but we need to spend wisely and doing things that will help our economy by having new technologies, by helping the health and future of the american people is something we should all agree on and hopefully work together with the scientists to make sure they're spending -- heather: yeah. and since you are correct, none of us are scientists, they're a little bit more transparent in

how they're spending that money and how it is helping us. thank you both for joining us. hope you both had a great thanksgiving. have a good weekend. >> thank you, you too. >> bye-bye. eric: pope francis speaking out against those who wage war in the name of god. how his message in turkey, the muslim nation harboring more than a million refugees fleeing from the violence of isis in syria and iraq. with contour detect technology that flexes in 8 directions for the perfect shave at any angle. go to philips.com/new for savings on shavers and trimmers. innovation and you. philips norelco. boy: once upon a time, there was a nice house that lived with a family.

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♪ ♪ eric: the white house is getting ready to deck the halls for christmas. they are now awaiting the arrival of the official white house christmas tree, that tree due to be welcomed by first lady michelle obama at the top of the hour. the tree's an 18-and-a-half foot

douglas fir from pennsylvania, right now the camera showing you the old executive office building as reporters are standing out there waiting for this tree to be delivered from the botek family farm in pennsylvania, chris is the second generation of his family to grow christmas trees, and this is the third time they have had one of their trees at the white house. this is what reporters do, we stand and wait in the cold for news events even when it's something as wonderful as the official white house christmas tree. heather: it is exciting though. happens every year, and it's always exciting. eric: franklin pearce was the first official christmas tree, 1856. heather: franklin pearce, that's where it came from? eric: yeah. heather: pope francis denouncing how isis uses religion as an excuse for violence. the muslim country is caring for more than one and a half million revenue gees who escaped -- refugees who escaped the ongoing violence in syria and iraq.

amy kellogg is live from london right now. why is this so important? >> reporter: hi, heather. well, it's important because it comes at a time when christians are being persecuted in ever increasing numbers across the middle east. and as you mentioned, it's a time when terrorism that's being carried out by warped extremists in the name of another religion, islam, is on the rise and one of the biggest threats, frankly, to world security. pope francis, upon his arrival in turkey, acknowledged turkey's unique position and responsibility as a bridge between east and west in remarks he gave just a short while ago. and his host acknowledged the importance and significance of the pope's visit to turkey. one of the pontiff's first stops was the mausoleum of modern turkey's founder, ataturk, who set turkey on its past to being a muslim, yet very secular country. the current leader has been making the country increasingly

islamist. turkey's leader did talk about what he considers to be a growing phenomenon of islam phobia and what he described as racism in western countries, but he did acknowledge this spike in terrorism carried out by extremists like al-qaeda and isis has been, to a certain extent, responsible for any backlash against muslim communities. heather: amy kellogg, thank you. eric e eric getting out of gitmo. you know, the pentagon's apparently getting ready to release even more from guantanamo bay in the next few weeks that despite continued opposition from republicans and critics who say the push by the president to close that facility is putting the u.s. at risk. but the white house defends the plan. we're live in washington with that debate.

heather: well, the first trailer for the new "star wars" sequel, "the force awakens," has just been released online. take a look at the my millennium falcon back in action.

you will have to wait until next december to see the series. j.j. abrams, you have our attention. eric: they release these things, and then you've got a year to wait. heather: live long and prosper, right? [laughter] nice to be with you. have a great weekend. bye. ♪ ♪ jon: speaking of prospering, it is black friday for shoppers across the country, but it is a dark and cold day for tens of thousands of people who have no electricity across the northeast. welcome to "happening now," i'm jon scott. leah: and i'm leah gabriel. power companies are working around the clock to get the lights back on after the ferocious snowstorm fouled up plans and heft about 300,000 people celebrating the holiday without any power. jon: the state of new hampshire hit especially hard, we're told it could take a few days to get everyone