there is a real good possibility that people go to the store and say, hey, is this a winner? and they go, no. it's not. and then they cash it in themselves. >> that's right. >> don't miss to me's show. coach kay will be here to inspire us. >> see you tomorrow. bill: good morning. senate democrats are poised to released a highly controversial report on cia activity since 9/11. one report says it could lead to violence and death. what is in this? martha: i'm martha maccallum. this report is going to outlike top secret interrogation techniques that were used in the war on terror. critics warn its release will only put more american lives in danger. here is the former cia director michael hayden. >> this will be used by our

enemies to motivate people to attack americans overseas. bill: all of our overseas posts received a warning to review their security posture for a range of reactions that might occur. k.t. macfarland joins us. >> according to the people who read it it will have two block busters. one, that the united states committed torture and suspects and the information gleaned from that torture was not effective. it's the democrats in the senate with the sign-off of the white house and the president. part of it is let's blame bush. the other part is the democrats

are leaving the senate, let many kicked in the doors and smash the windows on their way out. if they can show the world how terrible we were in this, somehow we'll be forgiven of that great season. >> i think this is a terrible idea. our foreign partners are telling us this will cause violence and death. our foreign leaders approached the government and said you do this, this will cause violence and death. our own intelligence community assessed this will cause violence and death. bill: he said it three times. is this true? >> we did this in the late 1970s with the church committee investigating the cia. people were killed as a result. number two, morning intelligence agencies say we are not going to

cooperate with you. we can't trust you to keep the secrets. finally, it takes a cia agent say be we are not going to think outside the box or take chances to protect the american people because it could come back to bite us. even though it's legal now people could womb back and versus gate us. we destroyed our human intelligence networks around the world in the 1970s. and as a rut we never saw al qaeda i guys plotting to destroy us on september 11. bill: do you support the release of this information? >> i don't seep it does any good at all. what it does is endanger americans overseas. what it does do is tell foreign intelligence agencies which we need, don't cooperate with

america, you never know when they will turn on you. and it tells our own people who work for the intelligence gathering communities. just sly low, hide under the bed in a defensive crouch than to lean out and protect the american people. martha: that leaves us with a lot to chew over with this release. do you support the release of this support or do you think it mud be kept secret. he sent us a tweet @billhemmer or @marthamaccallum. is it a burn the doors on the way out for senate democrats? bill: it could be today, tomorrow or a week from now. but when it comes it will be significant. martha: new information about the operation to rescue an american hostage that ended in an awful tragedy.

luke somers and another hostage who was south african were both killed by al qaeda terrorists during the hostage attempt. now the u.s. says it was not aware the south african was set to be released the very next day. tell us about this other hostage and the negotiations we are learning were very much underway. >> reporter: in addition to luke somers, the hostage of al qaeda in the arabian peninsula since december 2013. they had also been holding pierre korkie, a south african hostage. with cork korkie set to be released within hours of the time he was killed. u.s. ambassador to south africa

is quoted this morning as saying the obama administration was you be aware of those developments and had to act hastily. that officials say because they were furious after another rescue of attempt that set a deadline for the murder of luke somers. martha: another question is how our units performed and what did we know about it. >> reporter: the u.s. intelligence community had a pretty good beat on where the hostages were. senior owe u.s. officials are quoted saying december might the tragic outcome, with the pentagon won't be reevaluating the use of the sale teams in these kinds of missions. >> to state the obvious, the women and meant special forces engaged in these two rescue

missions did an incredible job, inflicted serious damage on the captors. reports rorp in a video made earlier this month to plead for the release of her brother luke somers gave information about the risks her brother endured. >> when told to leave yemen he refused go. he said he felt safe that the yemeni people would take care of him. >> reporter: at the end of the day, a tragedy, a terrorist atrocity but apparently one that what not avoidable.

bill: more violence in california at protests spiral out of control for a second night in berkeley, california. they were smashing windows. the windows they could smash. throwing bricks and bomb thes and smoke grenades as the police. police respond with tear gas and rubber bullets. the protests initially started small and peaceful. they quickly swelled into hundreds of people clogging streets and highways. the street protests are said who have been out of control. >> that window starts break, these two windows break. >> he throws brake fluid like he's going set the store on fire. bill: there were protest marches

in chicago and miami, florida. those protests started weighsful and stayed that way. >> a mall -- a massive fire bret in an unfinished apartment complex overnight. it's now completely destroyed. look how huge this fire is. two other buildings were damaged. william lajeunesse live from our west coast newsroom. where does this stand now? >> it's in better maine shape now. we had two fires 7 blocks apart. 250 firefighters and trucks actually used the 110 freeway as a platform to fight that 7-story * blaze. the apartment fire also spread to two other high-rises. the heat blowing out windows on a 16-story building.

activating sprinklers on six floors. damage in the millions. the apartment building is a total loss. cost is under investigation. >> you are talking about a blow torch of heat on two major high-rises in the downtown area that our firefighters were able to control, contain and knock down. >> reporter: that second fire, a commercial strip building was under renovation, it's almost out. both are under investigation. the cause could be unrelated. we don't know. bill: republicans still winning in the 2014 mid-terms. bill cassidy is the new winner from louisiana. >> it's an exclamation mark on

the mess act american people set d -- on the message the american people sent on november 4. bill: what is job one for hip, we'll find out. martha: new fallout on the "rolling stones" fallout over the alleged rape at the university of virginia. why the magazine is revising their own apology. bill: jonathon gruber will face congress as we learn the balk administration does not even want to sit next to hip during thaduringo -- next to him during that hearing. >> lack of transopinion i is a huge advantage. calm ited stupidity of the american voter.

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martha: think a new group of gitmo detainees going free. the report says they are going to uraguay. it's the largest transfer that we have seen in five years. bill: republicans capping off their triumphant season with

another win. bill cassidy easily beating mary landrieu. good morning to you and congratulations on your victory and thank you for doing your first cable interview on america's newsroom. there were 60 democrats in the u.s. senate when obamacare was first passed. next january there will be 46. how do you explain that? >> the american people are incredibly upset with the president's policies and the direction he's take them in. if you are not getting a subsidy on obamacare you are getting hammered. if there is one working family for the american people it's the republican party.

people look at keystone and it's a no-brainer yet the president and his party find every excuse to gruberize it and deceive it with it's be only a prejudice against these working jobs. bill: in the house democrats have lost 75 seats over the same period of time. that's more than every president since truman. what is your priority with a new majority in the senate and the house? >> clearly we need to do good things for the american people. right now obamacare, for example is hurting the average american family. their premiums have gown substantially, they are going to go up more. that would be place to start. how do we make this less

honorrous or replace it with something that works for the family. bill: do you go against obamacare with individual bills or do you think it's smarter to wait until the supreme court rules on subsidies? >> clearly the president is going to veto anything. it's up to senator mcconnell as our majority leader. there may be a repeal and replace bill. as long as the president is the president he will resist anything that changes the law a dot. we'll need to start with things we all know are working against the interests of the american people. bill: give me a particular or two. what would you do specifically? >> the 40-hour workweek.

you speak to lower-income folks and they have had their hours reduces from 40 to 30. write live the east baton rouge parish will no longer employ a substitute tear for more than 30 workers and custodial swroarks been cut from 40 hours to 30. we eliminate that, that's a way to make the law less harmful to the pocketbook of working families. bill: democrats will not have a single governor from the southern states. >> if you are in a coal mine would you be voting democrat? of course not. if you are working at a wellhead would be you be voting for this president and his policies?

of course not. if you are in the maritime industry or petrochemical, of course not. when we use america's resources to kreef state jobs. this president and his billionaire hedge fund backers oh poise. if you are a working family, you put bread on the table and create a bert future for your children, the republican party is the party for that. bill: mary landrieu would say she was working for the same thing. how do you believe she was beaten so easily. the. >> when you vote with the president 97% of the time, you are going to lose. bill: with the new majority, will republicans get it right? or will they find themselves battling within their own caucus to sideline this new majority.

>> always in a democracy there will and tension between different viewpoints, but we understand that we have to do good things for americans and that is our the charge. i trust we'll live up to that charge. bill: we'll see you in washington. thank you for your time today. senate elect, bill cassidy out of louisiana. martha: a bit of a british invasion. the duke and duchess of cambridge hitting the city. people lining up in the cold to see them. where they are headed today, next. why do i take metamucil everyday? because it helps me skip the bad stuff. i'm good. that's what i like to call, the meta effect. 4-in-1 multi-health metamucil now clinically proven to help you feel less hungry between meals. experience the meta effect with our new multi-health wellness line.

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bill: president obama's ebola czar make plans to return to the public sector. he was not appointed until after a liberian tourist died in dallas want to nurses who treated him were infected. now with no new cases in the united states he will return to his job at a private venture firm. martha: i saw 80-100 people are still dying every day in sierra leone. so this is a look on the right-hand side of your screen at all the excitement when prince william and the duchess of cambridge arrived at the hotel carlisle on madison avenue. that's a place his mother liked to stay.

they took a moment, gave everybody a moat to take some pictures has they walked into the entrance which they don't always do. the duke and duchess of cambridge have big plans the next few days. he's going to washington this morning to meet president obama in an hour. they will cuss wildlife issues and posing. it's a big concern of his. he's been active on that in africa. she is headed to har help. we'll wrap christmas presence with mayor deblasio' wife in harlem. then they will go to a mets game. so that's -- bill: they are 4 or 5 months pregnant. martha: she. bill: whirlwind during the holidays. martha: can do a little shopping as well. bill: the little one stayed

home. martha: it's a trip without the kids. which is a fun thing to do. we had pictures that will cop in from the harlem event and d.c. this is an earlier event. this was in london at the u.s. ambassador's in england back when mr. and mrs. obama went there. he's going to washington and she is staying here for the day. bill: i look at these pictures and i think you and i could be royals. martha: we never be royals. bill: obama care advisor, jonathan gruber, the man who called the law deceptive and the american people stupid getting set to testify in front of a house committee. martha: new york city's mayor he

it's time for an open zmutionis. former nypd commissioner bernie carrick will weigh in. >> what parents have done for decade who have children of color, especially young men of color, is train them to be very cave when they have a connect with a police officer and an encounter with a police officer. it's different for a while child. the's just the reality of this country. [ hoof beats ]

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by breaking news overseas. u.s. joining nato forces in lowering its flag today. officially ending deployment more than 13 years after the attacks of 9/11. the coalition will maintain a force of 13,000 in that country. the mission end with the taliban increases its attacks. president obama allowing u.s. forces to launch operations

against taliban and died were militants, broaden be the mission for the u.s. forces that will remain in the country after the end of this year. martha: new york city mayor bill deblasio saying it's time to have a quote honest conversation on racism as protests continue to park protests across the country. deblasio says retaining police officers is the first step in make that change. >> we have to change the fundamental relationship between police and community. our police keep us safe but there has been not just decades of problems. a history of centuries of racism that gird this reality. we train our entire police force and it will make a huge difference. martha: were hard kerik -- bernard kerik is a former new

york police commissioner. >> i'm not sure what he's talking about. i heard his comments about rudy jerudygiuliani yesterday. giuliani did more for the african-american communities in this city. not one of these two incidents, neither one -- no one has a shred of evidence they were race related. martha: his own family has said -- >> his doubt or and wife both said it -- his daughter and wife both have said this is not racial. it isn't about black or white. it was something else. martha: there was a black female officer on the scene who did not appear to object to this. >> from my understanding it's a sergeant, a first-line

supervisor for the cops. martha: bill deblasio says people need to speak to their children about how intoer act with police. >> what parents have done for decades when they have children of color, especially young men of color, to train them to be careful when they have an encounter with a police officer. it's different for a white child. that's just the reality in this country. martha: is he white? >> this is not right. wry son is white and i know plenty of parents who talk to their kids how to deal with cops. you do what wow told. you don't combat themmer to try to take their gun or arift award. do what you are told to do, you can fight not you court raid --u can find out in court later.

if you have a confrontation do what you are told. it's not a black and white issue, it's a respectful issue. >> i think he fundamentally misunderstands reality. we are trying to bring police and community together. delays problem here, there is a rift that has to be overcome. >> a lot of voices on both ends of the spectrum want to keep us mired in a history that hasn't worked for us. martha: when he says this, there are a lot of people who nod their heads and say that's true. he just said we are trying to bring the community and the police together? not by inciting, not by saying every. caller: racist. not by saying, you know, every police officer, every police department in this country has to be retrained because of

racism. that's not bringing a communities of cops together. it's just not. not my eyes. martha: you have said you are also concerned police are going to be nervous that they will back down and be afraid of to their job this environment. >> it started with stop and frisk. police out there working, putting their lives on the line every day, they go out into the streets and they have to think the mayor of the city which is their commander in chief so to speak, he's not going support them. if the city is not going to indem anyify them to do their job. if they are not going to give them the benefit of the doubt, why do i put my life on the line? why do i go do something? right now that is not appearance. martha: you make a great point about rudy giuliani. the thing that helps black communities and white communities as well is lowering

the crime rate. that that's what makes everybody in the stay safer. >> the most substantial crime reductions in the entire country came out of this city and the blacks and african-american communities. the most substantial crime reduction in the whole country came in this city under rudy giuliani. martha: deblasio is saying he doesn't get. he says he doesn't understand black kids are nervous. >> police target crime, not race. they go in high-target area, it's not about race, it's where the crime is. martha: the police chief in detroit who we heard from this morning and charles barclay saying basically, look, the police are there to protect you and what you need to do, young people of any color, is to respect them. if you have got a beef, as you

say you have got to take it to the next stage. there is a process. tough a problem with police there is a process to deal with it in court. but you cannot confront them. martha: thank you very much. bernard kerik, thank you. bill: the brackets officially set for the first ever college football playoffs. top seeded alabama will play the buckeyes at sugar bowl in new orleans. oregon will play florida state in the rose bowl. winners from those two games will play for the national championship. the first national championship tight the ever in today thanks on the 12th of january. it's going to be big, maccallum. martha: they are choosing them and they used to do it by al gor -- thief usedto do it by al.

bill: they got together and decided -- big when was who would be the fourth team, tcu? would it be baylor, or would it be ohio state. but ohio ohio state blew out wisconsin. so that suede the judges. i think this is huge for the game. some people think it's a little bit overboard. before it's been a long time coming. so we'll see how it turns out. algorithm. i'm becoming interested. today marks the anniversary of fdr asking congress to declare war on japan after the attack on pearl harbor. attack that launched our nation

into war and we honor the lives that were lost. bill: house lawmakers gear up for a grilling tomorrow. jonathon grouper will be in that committee. will he be able to explain away comments like these? >> they will no longer get a 40% tax break. what if we put a 40% tax.

>> lack of transparency is a great political advantage. call it the stupidity of the american voter or whatever. but it was critical to get it passed. it's the exploitation of the lack of economic understanding of the american voter.

the american voter is too stupid to understand. by jonathon gruber make himself a household name by comments like that calling the american voter stupid. health and human services officials asking official not to seat them together at the hearing what gruber. ladies, how are you? >> good morning. you guys don't mind sitting next to each other but they won't want to sit next to grouper. >> the administration doesn't want jonathan gruber seated next to health and human services officials because they have been trying to distance themselves from jonathon gruber as the

videos have been popping up by a guy who lives in philadelphia who served in the pry have the sector who dug up these video. credit needs to be given to him for exposing gruber. thed a member straition doesn't want them seated together because they want the plausible deniability and they don't want those photos of them seen sitting together either. bill: when they roll the videotape, they have 7 years of comments where the president and so many others praised the work of jonathon gruber. bill cassidy 30 minute ago said it was they -- says they gruberized the healthcare debate. >> it's not going to go weller to jonathon gruber because the

republicans have been looking for every reason to go after the affordable care act. and jonathon grouper gav jonatho them. the real point is darrell issa says if you can't trust jonathon gruber how can you trust his analytics. n if they doubt the numbers they should have the congressional bucket office rerun them. that's what they should do top. take the pound of flesh and let him sit in the hot seat and let him sweat, he deserves it. bill: what republic cabs are argue is this was all deception and that -- what republicans will argue is this was all deception. will gruber doom obamacare? you said this hearing will not go well.

i don't see how it goes well when you play the clips and you get him to respond. then you have this firing squad that's ready to tee off on him. what is the state of obama care then? >> i'm interested in seeing what the head offed medicaid and medicare services said. she will be testifying tomorrow about the enrollment numbers for obamacare. but let's not forget. i keep repeating this a lot. obamacare has never been popular. it's not like it was popular among the american people in 2010 when it passed. it was unpopular then and it's more unpopular now. by jonathon gruber's own words. he was paid millions of dollars in taxpayer money to build

obamacare and push it through. so that's not going to go well for him. it will give republicans a lot of power when it comes to january and what they will do when it comes to repealing certain parts of obamacare. bill: mary anne. what do you believe the state of obamacare after this public hearing? >> i think if this is about going after the facts, let the chips fall where they may. if this is a witch hunt then it's going to being a long, tough two years for the country. the republicans have a chance tomorrow to show whether they are going to go after the facts, whether it's on enrollment. try to go after obamacare where it will be tough where in kit' a popular program. or are they going to have a side show? bill: it will be fascinating to

watch. the stupidity of the american voter. you play the clip, you ask him the question, do you think we are side. these questions will go on and on. bill: we'll be watching it tomorrow at this hour. you got it. martha: what a story this has become. "rolling stone" changing its tune yet again. we'll tell you about the explosive report on a rape at the university of the virginia that may just be wrong. >> protest rage in california. president obama weighs in on the issue of race but rush limbaugh argues activists on the streets are only fan can the flames. >> i don't don't things things are -- i don't think things are rosie and perfect in america but to say they are no better like the mayor of new york said is absurd. i'm an idaho potato farmer

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martha: an apology over a controversial ashtd cal that details an alleged rape at the university of virginia. the magazine apologize for not fact check the accuser's account. the magazine blamed the akiers saying it could not trust her account. but the rolling stone magazine is backtracking again saying the mistakes were their own fault. this is a troubling situation for "rolling stone" and this reporter and for the university of virginia. there were a lot of flaws in the reporting of this story it turns out. >> this was a complete jlt

journalistic rain wreck. it didn't look like they did anything other than take the report of this akiers. even talking to jack christmas friends turned up the -- -- talking to jackie's friend, they doubt her version and she was never seen in a bloody dress, all of which makes me wonder why this story was published. martha: there was a big reaction when it came out at uva. the president teresa sullivan band all the greek activities. and there was a question about whether what happened to jackie was part of an initiation which led to an indictment on the greek community all together.

>> uva was acting so dramatically. a claim by lots of people in network if news went with it. i'm reaching the conclusion because this reporter set out to find a dramatic example of sexual assault on campus and because the manage editor wil dan today gave a speem speech called in defense buy assed reporting that rollingstone had an agenda. they they didn't do the due diligence. martha: rolling stone has had other problems over the last few years. you had the andy mcchrystal.

you have dzhokhar tsarnaev being put on the cover look like a rock star which he was not. what is "rolling stone" trying accomplish as an entity. are they desperately trying to do things that get them lot of attention and keep them in business? >> it's a pop keul culture and music magazine that occasionally does this kind of reporting. there was a dispute over whether general mcchrystal believed it statements to be off the record. there is a tendency to fall in love with the story and fall in love with the source and minimize information that should have been a series of red flags that we can't publishing this right now. bill: there are warnings about possible fallout as we after he

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this is our season. martha: democrats on the senate intel committee are about to release an explosive report on top secret tactics used by the cia to fight the war on terror. that has sparked a major political backlash along with warnings that the report could lead to quote, violence and death. welcome, everybody, to brand new hour of "america's newsroom" on this monday. i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer. critics warn releasing the controversial report will put american lives in danger. the report claims that the cia misled president bush and his national security team. that is a claim president bush rejects. >> whatever the report says, if it diminishes their contributions to our country it is way off base and i knew the directors, i knew the deputy directors, you know i knew a lot of the operators. these are good people, really

good people and we're lucky as a nation to have them. bill: chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge live in washington on this. good morning. what are we learning or what do we believe will unfold at the moment? >> reporter: thank you, bill the expectations here in washington both on capitol hill an within the u.s. intelligence community that the report will likely be released as early as tuesday with the head of the senate intelligence committee, senator dianne feinstein telling "the l.a. times" over the weekend that the post-9/11 interrogation undermined quote, societal and constitutional values that we're very proud of. anybody who reads this will never let this happen again. but cia officials say they are not defending techniques that critics call torture but emphasizing that the senate intelligence committee can not simply rewrite history that the controversial program produced valuable intelligence including intelligence that ultimately led to usama bin laden's pakistan compound in 2011. on sunday talk shows former agency officials went on the

offensive. >> so say that we relentlessly over expanded period of time lied to everyone about a program that wasn't doing any good, that beg as the imagination. >> reporter: the report was finished last summer but negotiations intensified in recent months over redactions and whether the senate proposal would ultimately release identities of cia officers who remain covert, bill. bill: many are warning that the senate report could further jeopardize lives. how do we understand that catherine? >> reporter: the state department has confirmed all overseas posts have been directed to review their security posture for a range of reactions that might occur in response to the senate report. and these warnings also apply to cia personnel and similar advisory is being provided to the military combatant commands. over the weekend the head of the intelligence committee amplified this point. >> i think this is a terrible idea. so our foreign partners are telling us this will cause violence and deaths.

our foreign leaders who approached the government said you do this, this will cause violence and deaths. our own intelligence community has assessed this will cause violence and deaths. >> reporter: release according to rogers as former intelligence officials could further jeopardize the remaining american hostages. bill: thank you, catherine herridge on that, out of washington. martha has more. martha: all of this begs the question why release this report now? brit hume is fox news senior political analyst. good morning. good to have you here. >> hi, martha. martha: how about the timing on all this? >> i think it is inexplicable frankly. dianne feinstein is it driving this. this is republicans on the committee, they're the minority of course now, are not for the release of this report and i think they dispute its findings, many of them do. it is a massive document as has been reported. dianne feinstein has long been considered congress's true

grown-ups. not releasing a report to lay bare practices may still be ongoing and therefore need to be exposed and changed. these practices were discontinued long ago. discontinued basically while president george w. bush was still in office. so it has been a long time since we've been doing any of this. so the need to release this document with a lot of gory details at this stage of the game is hard to find. it is just inexplicable to me. martha: and it raises the question, as kt mcfarland brought up earlier, is this a case of burning down the barn on your way out? >> well, you know, that with it seems like. it is hard to associate this with dianne feinstein because she is, she has been around a long time. she cares about the intelligence community. she is sensible. she is not, she is not particularly partisan or never has been, particularly partisan. so you know, i find this all

hard to understand. and i know, we know that john kerry, for example, who is trying to encourage her to delay the release of this program, of this report, i'm not sure that he has had any swear with her because she can do this. she is perfectly at liberty to do this. nothing to stop her. i don't know whether the president reached out to her or not. one would hope that perhaps he would, if he, his administration's view and obviously is or kerry wouldn't say what he is saying that this should not come out at this time and it will endanger and our allies, our at least with you're relationship allies helping us with intelligence and our own operatives abroad and embassies all the rest of it. you know this will be seized upon and be a propaganda festival for our enemies in the middle east in particular. martha: what about the church committee comparison? it damaged our intel for many years to come and led to 9/11 some people believe?

>> that, well, you know, it is hard to draw straight lines over that long of a period of time but i would say there is no doubt all those investigations of the cia damaged the cia and inhibited its activities for considerable period of time after that and it required a lot of rebuilding to get the agency back up to where it had been in terms of its effectiveness and its reach. martha: brit, thank you very much. >> you bet. bill: if you're on the road and you know gas prices are low, in fact have hit a four-year low. a gallon of regular gasoline costing $2.67 on average. that is down 59 cents from a year ago. while many are happy about saving money, new yorkers say negative side of cheap gas addiction, cheap gas is industrial form of crack. it doesn't really matter how much it damage it causes because we simply don't have the power to walk away. fox business network's stuart

varney. good morning to you. crack is whack. what is up that comparison? >> no pleasing people, is there? if you have cheap gas theory you use more of it, using more fossil fuels and emitting more carbon and greens believe that will destroy the planet. therefore they don't like cheap gas. they want to end cheap gas. they don't want to use more of it. like crack cocaine, does a lot of damage but you can't move away from it. that is the green position on cheap gas. president obama wants increase in the gas tax to get the gas price back up again because i think he too believes that fossil fuels should be eradicated albeit slowly so we don't produce so much carbon. bill: could go all electric. the problem is the grid is not out there. the consumer hasn't shown overwhelming demand to go electric. parts a little bit, but not overwhelmingly. i think the reason for the gas drop needs to be explained here. oil production in this country

is at an all-time high. >> we are producing an extra four million barrels of oil a day in the united states. an extra four million barrels a day, just in the last three-and-a-half years. that is explosion of oil on to the world market which has depressed the price. by the way, bill, we've got another drop in the price of oil today. we're down to $64 a barrel. it was 107 three or four months ago. now it is 64. bill: is that because of our production or is demand is dropping off? >> demand around the world is dropping because other economies, big economies in the world they're coming down a bit, they're slowing down. our production has gone up. so you have got more supply, less demand. so you have got really constantly falling prices. right now the average for gas is 267. it is highly likely to be around 2.50 or less by christmas. with this latest drop in the price of oil. we'll start a new leg down for the price of gasoline. everybody else is standing up

and cheering. this is wonderful news for every single american but the greens don't like it. bill: see you at 11:00, right? >> yes, you will. bill: on the fox business network. see you stuart. merry christmas. don't be a grinch. martha: the mayor of new york city saying racism is to blame for the eric garner case in new york city. rush limbaugh and in fact eric garner's family disagree. >> if you listen to these people, the president, the mayor of new york, you would think it is 200 years ago. you would think we haven't even started working on these problems and that's not true. martha: so are al sharpton and mayor de blasio making this problem better or are they making it worse? fair and balanced debate coming up. bill: you might have missed this over the weekend. more detain knows moved out of gitmo. will the president fulfill the campaign promise to close the facility. what happens when these detainees get back on battlefield? martha: major highway shut down for hours after an oil tanker

goes up in flames. we've got details. >> it is so disturbing and so scary and so freaky to see that happen right in front of you. it is a horribly scary situation because i was very close to the tanker truck. @oyu0x?hy@x@8p

bill: new details now about a deadly crash that shut down a major interstate in new jersey. police say a vehicle got on to i-78 on saturday, drove into the path of a fuel tanker, whoa. both vehicles hit a tractor-trailer. the impact created this, flames

high into the air for hours. the driver of the car was killed. the tanker driver in critical condition after climbing out of a window. tractor-trailer driver said be okay. martha: president obama urging patience in response to the outrage over both the ferguson case and new york city chokehold case. saying while rooting out racism takes time progress he believes has been seen. >> this is something that is deeply rooted in our society. it is deeply rooted in our history but the two things that are going to allow to us solve it, number one, is the understanding that we have made progress and so, it's important to recognize as painful as these incidents are, we can't equate what is coming now what was happening 50 years ago. >> so rush limbaugh said that recent comments from leaders like al sharpton and new york city mayor de blasio are divisive and inaccurate in his opinion.

>> i don't think that things are rosy and perfect in america but to say that they are no better as the mayor of new york said, it is absurd. we've made all kinds of efforts to improve race relations in this country. 1964 civil rights act, firm tiff action. we have bent over backwards. is it all perfect? no it is not but there is no acknowledgement of any of the progress. martha: joined by the president of the conservative review and fox news contributor. and jessica ehrlich, former democratic congressional candidate. good to have you both with us. listen to the president there and rush limbaugh as well, did you agree with rush limbaugh who says we have bent over backwards to make strides in racism in this country? >> we have made significant strides, martha, and listen, i can't tell you how outraged i am with president obama and these so-called black leaders who are whipping up emotions across the

country when it comes to race. look at the representation of black americans in corporate america, entertainment, sports, politics. obama is in a unique position. he could have united our country but unfortunately he is made matters worse. there is also a bloomberg poll that references that 53% of those who were polled also believe that obama has made race relations worse in america. >> jessica, what do you think about that? >> well, i think from just what we even heard, i will disagree with dinneen on the comments the president made. he was urging patience and the whole interview there he was talking about how he met with these young activists and tried to sort of, you know, tell them and explain to them a little bit of history how far we have come and clearly we wouldn't have either our first black president if we hadn't made strides in the

last 50 years. there is sort of a generational frustration, i feel like we've been having the same discussions and arguments over and over for, my lifetime and hopefully we move forward. we won't continue to have them and things will get better. martha: jessica, i find it so interesting, i want to play for you eric garner's widow, what she said, what she feels and believes about what happened to her husband and origin of it. here is what she said yesterday. >> i feel that he was murdered unjustly. i feel like, i don't even feel like it's a black and white thing honestly, you know, in my opinion. i really don't feel like it's a black and white thing. i feel like just something he continued to do and the police knew, you know, they knew. it wasn't like it was a shock. they knew you know. they knew him by name. they harassed us. they said things to us.

>> why -- >> why are people listening to what his wife and daughter are saying? they both said that, martha? obama use the words that racism is deeply rooted in our country. this is a b.e.t. interview. he says one thing to the black audience and something different to the whole country. really i think is a grand distraction. a way to deflect away from obama's failed policies. his energy policy is recall haing our country. it is designed to drive up electricity prices which will disproportionately black americans where average incomes are lower. unemployment is in double digits. and his immigration policy, his executive action will harm black americans when it comes to jobs who are disproportionately employed in low-wage jobs and low-skilled jobs. a great distraction. martha: what do you make about that? that the president is taking advantage of the situation in order to deflect attention? and also his policies have not

been good for african-americans and minorities? >> well i think it is actually the opposite of what the president has been trying to do and what republicans and especially in the house have been stopping him from doing is helping low-income families speaking to dinneen's point, those are predominantly african-american. >> raising electricity prices, how is that good for anyone? >> i mean the president is not actively trying to raise electricity prices. the energy policy here is trying to move towards a new future. >> epa leg mitigations -- regulations -- >> that is different, epa regulations do not directly -- martha: the arguement is that a number of decisions president made to higher unemployment, a bad economy, which disproportionately affected very people he is talking about trying to support and uplift. we'll have to leave it there. thank you very much. good to have you with us, ladies. >> thank you. bill: 19 past. is the u.s. military dealing

with a morale crisis? eye-opening report show agroing number of ground forces are losing heart in their mission and heart in their commander-in-chief. details on that. martha: the duke and duchess of cambridge in new york city for their first official trip to new york city. they have a jam-packed schedule. what the famous couple has been up to so far. ♪

martha: there are new concerns in the philippines this morning as a powerful storm continues to sweep across that island nation. the typhoon which has now been downgraded to a tropical storm turning roads into rivers as you can see. very difficult situations.

knee-teach waters in many areas there. at least 21 people have been killed in this storm so far. thousands have been left homeless. relief efforts are now underway. bill: u.s. forces lower their flag today in afghanistan. that is sir ceremonial end to combat operations since 13 years ago from the nine left attacks. military men and women are facing growing crisis of morale. pete hegseth, fox news contributor. ceo of concerned veterans for america. how are you, pete? >> i'm good, mill. bill: military times.com writes this. today's servicemembers say they feel underpaid, under equipped and underappreciated. after 13 years of war the all-volunteer military is entering an era fraught with uncertainty and growing sense that the force has been left adrift. the reasons for this are what, pete? >> that's right. it didn't have to be this way. in the poll, in 2009, 91% of

active duty military members felt like their quality of life was good or excellent. today that number is 56%, just barely north of 50, five years later, still after 9/11. crisis what occurred under this administration. listening to a commander-in-chief who is more interested in ending wars than winning them or finishing them properly. sequestration which had a devastating effect on the force across the board. around including pay and squeezing bean newses for troops. they feel that also. difficulty in transitioning to garrison life. when you've been on deployment footing in iraq and afghanistan doing your job, hard to come home and say, well i will not do that anymore. much more difficult to come home to see the legacy of your wars squandered. bill: such a small percentage of the population in in america fought this war. so many have not. the military has done this. and now what the poll suggests that they're worried about the

legacy after the wars they have been involved in. what does that mean, pete? >> that is exactly right. when you're part of 1% committed to difficult, continue schuss, highly politicized battles all you want commander-in-chief, leadership, that will give you resources and morale and support you need to win and succeed in your mission. because if you come home to move on to another, you know you committed to something that was worth the sacrifice, worth the blood, worth the treasure. in iraq you see isis raising black flags over towns we fought for. brutality against christians and american journalists. in afghanistan end of combat mission except for resurgent taliban across the country. i'm not worried about my health care around pay i want those things to be right but i want to win the wars i fought. i want the commander-in-chief to stand up to be resolute in face of vicious enemy. that they haven't seen that in president obama. bill: a shot to the gut as you point out.

towns in iraq hard-fought and one and taliban on rise in afghanistan. when you come home you have matters of va disappointed so many. >> that exactly right. okay, you say regardless what happened over there now i know i will be treated for. whether the military health care system which the military times poll or va, met with wait times, secret lists, bureaucracy, lack of quality pay and single payer top down run health care treats them like a number as opposed to the hero they are. across the board, i see it running a veterans organization, there is angst and visceral sense that our country is off the rails. veterans of military families are trying to do something about it. building organizations getting involved to fight for the future of their nation. their commander-in-chief hasn't done it. congress sure hasn't done it. has to be veterans taking the reins back. bill: underpaid, underappreciated and underequipped. that can not stand. pete hegseth. appreciate it. >> thank you, bill.

>> biggest release from guantanamo bay since 2009. six terror suspects were set free over the weekend as president obama pushes for the close for prison for good. they went to south america. was that a good idea? coming up. bill: republicans winning yet another senate seat. will the gop's new grip on the south mean bad news for democrats in 2016? bill cassidy from last hour. >> there is one party for the working family. there is another party which is not. if you're in a coal mine right now, would you be voting democrat? of course not. if you were working at a well-head, would you be voting for this president and his policies? of course not.

bill: might have missed this over the weekend. president obama accelerating his push to empty out gitmo. having six detainees flying them to uruagay.

good morning to you, welcome back. >> good morning, bill. bill: you ran this program for two years, right, 2006 and 2007? >> yes. bill: now we're down how many in gitmo? >> 26 detainees from over a dozen countries from high number of 779 overall during the bush administration. bill: first executive order signed in january 2009. president wanted to close gitmo. it has not happened. do you believe he will be able to do that now? >> hard to see how he will be favorable to succeed in that. in part because the republicans will control the senate and house. the president had a good window in first two years of office to push to close gitmo when his own party controlled the house and senate. he needed to spend the political capital to do it. he failed to do that. then democrats joined republicans in passing laws that prohibited him, from number one to transfer gitmo detainees not united states or acquiring or

updating facilities here in the united states. his window is closing but he is trying. bill: based on that there is no path to closing gitmo? >> i think the path is right now, important to note, releases when you let people off the island with no preconditions, not mitigating the threat they pose. transfers are times you work with a country and that country mitigates the threat that they pose. the obama administration had 111 people leave the island. 105 were transfers, that countries. these six were no preconditions. they're free to leave today. there is a warning sign on people on capitol hill, received notices 30 days beforehand hey they're changing up here. transfers have some level of security. releases are out they go. bill: that is whole different ballgame, cully. >> it is. bill: what you're saying they are free to do what they want? >> correct. bill: i draw that distinction,

when bergdahl was swapped for five detainees they cut a deal they had to stay in the u.a.e. for one year. >> in qatar. and my office worked with other countries and state department to craft these transfer agreements where the receiving country would mitigate the threat they posed. those mitigation efforts span ad whole series of things, clipping their wings in their passport, monitoring them, to house arrest. the taliban five who were exchanged for bowe bergdahl are in qatar for a year where they can't leave. and that is transfer. these guys have been released. president of your waa guy, said in a said in article in "the new york times" and these guys can leave today. >> they could return to battle. you know they go home as heroes. when you're a former prisoner at gitmo and go back to the home country, you're a rock star.

>> yeah being a gitmo grad is a badge of distinction in the jihadi world. bill: the distinction, if you get below 100, congress will change its mind and close gitmo and bring remaining 100 to the united states. who believes that logic? >> senator mccain one. senator mccain has sent signals, remember when obama ran against mccain they both had pledged to close gitmo. it wasn't a campaign issue. and mccain believes, with all due sincerity guantanamo has been a sustain on america's reputation. that we can and should bring some small number of detainees from gitmo to the united states for de10 shuns and -- detentions and close gitmo once and for you will. he will try to work with the administration to close gitmo in the last go years of the administration. a lot of republicans will say no. bill: we'll have a lot more to talk about. cully stimson. four released. four syrians, tunisia and

palestinian. cully, thank you. 25 minutes before the hour. martha: school districts across the country are changing the way they punish students. many are ditching the strict zero tolerance policy that forces administrators to hand down the same punishment to kids who commit minor offenses as those who bring drugs or even guns to school. adam housley is live in los angeles with more on what all this means for parents and kids. good morning, adam? >> good morning, martha. the zero tolerance policies came into the effect in '80s and '90s across to a lot of school districts due to the drug problems and gun problems. shootings you know we have covered. the problem is this, firm tone that was set means administrators have little wiggle room with tolerance. student busted for vandalism or tobacco could get same punish ment as a child that brings a gun to school. >> zero tolerance in this

country has lost its way. >> reporter: sentiment echoed by school districts across the country as many announced first major changes to discipline policies in decades. >> not about not initially criminalizing youth who make mistakes but rehabilitation so you do not make that mistake again. >> reporter: los angeles loss and san diego both made sweeping policy changes this is year, reducing number ever infractions that result in suspension and expulsion and focusing on restorative justice. >> there used to be the 15 items on zero tolerance list. we cut that down to more realistic five. >> reporter: educators say one size fits all approach is no longer working and can do more harm than good who are already at risk. >> when they have been expelled or suspended, it is often they fall further behind in their studies. they are tracked sometimes to not graduate or for dropout. >> writing citation is easy.

you write a citation and move on, not addressing problem. we're keeping kids in school. >> reporter: cities like baltimore, denver, philadelphia, changed their policies in recent years. >> i think it's a good approach to change agriculture which is right now "crime and punishment" culture. it is more, we're moving towards more restorative justice. >> reporter: students tell us, a problem, martha is college. if they do have minor infraction that could cause them a problem if they get into a four-year school. a lot of people are looking at what zero tolerance is and maybe it needs to be altered. martha: maybe let judgment into the picture. adam, shah very much. -- thank you very much. bill: the show was on stage but real action was outside. what led to those dramatic pretests? martha: a little bit of royal glamour come to the big apple for a few days. new york city rolling out the

red carpet as will and kate touchdown for a bit of a whirlwind tour. ♪

bill: opening night of the famed la scala opera house in milan more action on the outside than inside apparently. watch. [shouting] >> whoa. violent protests taking place as the curtain rose on most glittering events on europe's cultural calendar. they were protesting labor reforms approved bit italian government which will make it easier for employers to fire employees. martha: so as you probably heard by now, william and kate are making their first trip to new york city. it started last night at the world famous carlyle hotel which was a favorite of his mother,

princess diana and the kennedys like the carlyle as well. a very busy place for well-known people. they have a packed schedule. prince william will meet with president obama this morning. he is meeting with vice president biden and his wife. kate is in harlem with mayor de blasio's wife. they have a big nets game. they love sports. they will meet this afternoon with hillary clinton and chelsea clinton is expected to be part of that get together as well. there is look at welcome on the empire state building last night. it is red, white and blue. but in this case it is welcoming the royal highnesses the duke and duchess of cambridge to new york city by red, white and blue on empire state building that was pretty cool. we we're joined by imogen lloyd webber news editor. >> good to see you again. martha: we were saying during the break when royals do something there, is always a goal and mission as part of way forward they call it.

what is the purpose of this trip? >> the big change going on in the u.k. at this moment, the queen is 88. she is busy handing down more of her responsibilities to prince charles and of course to prince william. so as a result she is not doing long haul trips anymore. prince william and harry are doing them with kate. prince william is here. this trip is turning him into a statesman. so as a result he is going to washington and it's a big coup for him. he is going to meet with president obama and so forth. there is a big shift going on in the u.k. and in the world for him right now. martha: it is interesting she is not going to washington. she will be staying here today. why is that? >> well, a couple of reasons. she is of course five months pregnant. so slightly different schedule for her. let's remember charles and diana trying to avoid mistakes of the past. what would happen, charles and diane would go there, always remember that picture of john travolta dancing with princess diana.

so the spotlight can't be can be on prince william and diplomatic role he is now taking. martha: look back at that trip, charles said on that trip, i guess all the fuss is about my wife. he was not too enthusiastic and they don't want to kate to steal the spotlight from william. >> exactly that. that is more to this trip than her baby bump and what she is wearing and camera on jay-z and beyonce for basketball. it is on diplomacy and putting spotlight on charitable causes and promoting brittish business interests here in the united states. they're not here on the behalf of the queen but the british government. this is diplomatic mission if you were. martha: surprising to me, they're in their 30s, neither one of them set foot in new york city. they can go anywhere they want and anytime they want and never been here before. >> it is extraordinary, on some levels william is constrained wherer can go because of who he is. very interestingly, they only of gone to commonwealth countries

together. apart from the quick brief moment in california in 2011. yes, they're here in new york. first time for both. but as we said, only william is going to washington. kate will be remaining in new york. martha: i mean i remember discussion after charles and diana divorced she might move to new york. once they get here they will probably like it. the red carpet being rolled out for them. they have a big event at metropolitan museum of art for st. andrews, right. martha: that -- >> that is for st. andrews university where they met. there is hullabaloo. is it cash for access? people pay a lot of money to attend. royals walking fine line between raising money for charity and causes but at the same time are they abusing their position? they always manage to walk it. kate we assume will. kate's itinerary, very similar to the one diana took on many occasions. diana went to harlem. kate is going to harm lemm.

fascinating to see how the de blasios with william and kate. martha: they complain they spend too much money and cost too much money. they have to raise money to make up more than that. great to have you here today. bill: harry's been here burning the town down. martha: absolutely. he knows where the fun is, right? bill: yes he does. jon scott on "happening now" a few minutes away. how are you doing? >> don't they light up the empire state building for you when you come back from vacation? bill: not to so much. work on that will you? >> we're waiting on hush-hush negotiations on that spending bill. looks like there is a deal to fund the government through september so what's in it? we're also continuing our analysis of that investigative report published by "rolling stone" gone way wrong. debating the release of a new intel release on torture. is it being held up because of national security concerns or

worry about release of unnecessary secrets? all that ahead "happening now." bill: big story. we'll see you then. republicans locking in their grip on the south for their senate. what bill cassidy's win in louisiana could mean for the bid white house in 2016. here he is last hour. >> start with obamacare, if you're not getting a subsidy you're getting hammered. our hours perhaps have been reduced from full time to part time or laid off. it goes beyond that bill. if there is one party for the working family it is the republican party.

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this president and his policies? of course not. bill: congressman bill cassidy from last hour here in "america's newsroom." sweeping to victory in the louisiana senate run. his win means republicans in complete control of the south. what are implications for 2016? ed rollins former campaign manager for reagan-bush in '84. joe trippi former howard dean campaign manager. both are fobs news contributors. come january, i read it to you. ed, kick it off. in january, democrats will not have a single u.s. senator or a single u.s. governor across nine states. that begins in the carolinas in the east and runs to texas in the west. wow. >> it is extraordinary. in my lifetime and i'm 71 years old this is revolutionary. we have more house members than we had since 1928. senate, seat we won in louisiana, had not been a republican seat in 130 years. it really become our base. i think to certain extent it is a strong base.

obviously it will be very, very important. bill: joe, can democrats win the white house knowing they have been blanked and shut out in way in the south. >> no, absolutely. i mean, look, one of the things that happens in these elections is, both parties take too much out of their wins and reflect on what is going to happen next. again go back to 2010. republicans thought they were on top of the world. 2012 they don't get the white house. you know, it is same thing this time. the states are very different next time. five of the states that come up, republican senate seats that come up in 2016 are in states that obama won both times in 2008 and 2012. the electoral college, again, without these states, i mean democrats have not won any of these nine states, i don't think. i think maybe clinton won his home state of arkansas. those kinds of things have

happened. these are states -- bill: gore lost tennessee in 2000 and. had he won his own state would be a very different world. ed, does the republican nominee or nomination run through the south? >> well -- bill: invariably in 2016. >> certainly, very, very important. we have good candidates. bobby jindal, governor of louisiana, former governor mike huckabee. governors that come out of that base. interesting thing, my friend joe is exactly right on premise, with the exception of obama, the only president who has won modern times and jimmy carter and bill clinton was southerner. to get locked out of that base, obama had extraordinary black turnout changed dynamics. the white vote is become extraordinary vote for republicans. 70% of the vote in last midterm was white voters. unfortunate the way it is but it is. my sense polls indicate a very close competitive race, two or three southern states that will matter. florida certainly will matter.

north carolina will matter. virginia will matter. other than pretty much the same eight we went through the last time. bill: joe, you agree with that? >> i agree it will be florida, north carolina, virginia, southern states will matter. maybe georgia. georgia is changing demographically as well. i don't think democrats could win it. i think that is state where we start seeing both parties competing at presidential level. bill: to both of you in 30 seconds or less, okay? what do republicans do with a new majority come january? ed, start? >> they have to govern very effectively. they have to quit being obama party and republican, pro-working people's parties. cassidy's message is pretty strong. if you're a coal mine who do you want to represent you in washington, d.c. bill: talking about middle class and working class. joe, what do they ned to get done? >> i agree with ed. not to be party of no. will the not enough to say we want to repeal obamacare. what do you want to do?

that will be interesting thing to see if there is unity in both caucuses to be able to do that. there is a split in the republican party. that will be, can they unify? bill: that debate will continue in the new year. thank you, joe, thank you, ed. talk to you real soon. martha. martha: congress could soon pass a bill to keep the government running into next year. it is that time again. house and senate negotiators agreeing to a one trillion dollar spending bill, why not? we're 18 trillion in debt. some conservative lawmakers say it is not doing enough to counter president's executive action on immigration.

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folks sitting next to them at the table. >> an apology for all of you stupid americans. starting at 9:00 a.m. eastern time. >> w they will see you tomorrow. "happening now" starts right now. goodbye, everybody. ♪ jon: and good monday morning to you, this is "happening now." a fire so big it lit up the night sky over downtown los angeles as a massive apartment building goes up in flames be at the flames to be seen for miles and hundreds of firefighters responded to the blaze that shut down the freeway's which could make for a tough monday morning commute. shannon: william has much more on this. reporter: northbound lanes split downtown in half remain closed because firefighters