bill: so. martha: here we are. bill: with eight seconds to go. have a great weekend. martha: have a wonderful weekend. get all the shopping done over the weekend. stick around. the president coming up at 1:00. bye, everybody. heather: we're starting out with a fox news alert. we're waiting for president obama's year-end news conference and one big question. will the white house take a harder line against north korea? after of the cyberattack targeted sony pictures? welcome to "happening now." i'm heather nauert in for jenna lee. eric: good morning, heather. goodgood morning, everyone, i'm eric shawn in for jon scott. the president will take questions two hours from now at 1:30 p.m. in the white house before leaves for a two-week vacation in hawaii. the last time he held a full-fledged news conference, was after the u.s. voters gave a defeat to the democratic party after the elections.

listen to the president last month. >> what sands out to me, that the american people sent a the american people sent a one they sent for several elections now. they expect the people that they elect to work as hard as they do. they expect us to focus on their ambitions and not ours. they want us to get the job done. all of us in both parties have a responsibility to address that sentiment. still, as president i have a unique responsibility to try and make this town work. so to everyone who voted, i want you to know that hear you. eric: well let's see what he says later on today. we're waiting of course for many questions on variety of issues. one topic sure to come up of course, the sony cyberattack. in fact the fbi blames the attack on north korea which caused sony to cancel the christmas day release of the movie "the interview." the white house has acknowledged that publicly.

some republicans think it is time for the president to respond more forcefully to the rogue north korean regime. with cuba and obama care. leland vittert at the white house with the full menu. hi, leland. >> reporter: a lot on the president's plate before leaves. we expect the fbi to issue a formal statement blaming the north koreans for the hacking in the next couple of hours. keep in mind over the past couple of days the white house has been saying an awful lot but largely sitting on their hands. we have also learned that at the behest of sony, american officials looked at a rough cut of this movie that included the ending sequence where the character that for prays kim young sign the north korean leader dice -- kim jong-un. they gave it their blessing. very interesting. the once unknown movie at the center of the with white house calls a serious national security matter, yet still they are holding their punch. >> before we start to publicly

speculating about a response it's appropriate that we allow the investigation to move forward. sophisticated actors when they, carry out actions like this are often times, not always, but often seeking to provoke a response from the united states of america. they may believe that a response from us in one fashion or another would be advantageous to them. >> reporter: now the attack itself is not playing well for the administration in the larger foreign policy debate. remember the alarm bells about a potential cyberattack and the disproportionate effect, one from a country like north korea could have on the american economy have been going off for a long time. senator john mccain issuing a statement saying in part, the need for sony pictures to make that decision, meaning to pull the movie, ultimately arose profit administration's continuing failure to satisfactorily address the use

of cyber weapons by our nation's enemies. congressman ed royce also piled on. it is important to note that the united states government does provide its cyber warfare defense expertise to a number of private industries. things like the power grid and infrastructure items, not movie studios. they are not on this list. the big question going forward, eric, at the president's news conference does he continue his usually cautious and measure responses to events like these? or does he come out swinging before leaving on that vacation in hawaii? back to you. eric: leland. we'll see what he does about 2 1/2 hours from now. thank you. >> since the last news conference president obama announced a seismic shift on foreign policy for cuba and pushed spending bill through congress and bottom his choice for surgeon general through congress. new poll in the "wall street journal" job approval with the latino voting

block is up 10% since the september alone. we should add that poll sample was small. bob, the things are going the president's way. whether or not people like that is another matter. do you think we expect a more upbeat president obama when he talks later today? >> heather, i think so. the president has an opportunity. he had a very difficult 2014. he remains unpopular in polls but what i think he has done over the last couple weeks, he grabbed the microphone. he has to fight to stay relevant. the political press is focusing on the new republican controlled senate next year and focusing on the 2016 white house race. the president on his own announced the big cuba change and having this big press conference today, he has an opportunity to run and he will take on this republican congress next year which is the congress is unpopular. so he has an opportunity. heather: bob, your paper, "the hill," calls it the president's newfound freedom. do you think that we'll see a

lot more in the way of executive orders and those presidential memoranda we learned about this week? >> yes. i mean the president's hand were tied throughout much of 2014 because he had to protect a lot of those red state senators who were up in november. but the problem is they all lost. so going forward, now he doesn't have to worry about that. he is not on the ballot again. of course he wants a democrat to succeed him but he does have newfound freedom. he says he will use his executive power. the tricky part, heather, he has to work with the republicans who don't like him when he uses that executive power. so how can they get deals done? heather: on very, very big issues. talk about the president's news conference a little bit more. we've had that big issue of sony. the fbi may be coming out pointing a finger at north korea prior to the president's coming out. that may happen which puts him in an interesting position. how do you handle that? if the fbi is saying this does the president then acknowledge

it? >> it's a tricky position for the president but i think he has to be pretty aggressive. i mean this has been going on for a while. it is not the first time north korea has done this type of thing. this is the biggest attention that it has gotten. at the same time on foreign policy the president has been very cautious throughout much of this year. so i think though he has got to send a stern warning to north koreans. at the same time he can't promise that the people who are behind this will be brought to justice. that is very unlikely. heather: would that warning, those words, as you say, would that carry any weight? >> i think it, i mean the north koreans will be watching this press conference. they have denied that they're behind it but a lot of agencies looking at this saying they are behind it. of course they don't like this film. so i think he has got to straddle the line where he has to be stern but he can't say, yeah, we'll solve this case and really with north korea, that, the u.s.-north korea policy has just been stuck for years. that is not going to be

changing. very different than the cuba policy. heather: at least not in this press conference. bob cusack from "the hill." thanks so much. we will have a great weekend. we'll watch the president in a little bit. >> thanks, heather. eric: after the white house fence jump evers and intruder, a report on the secret service reveals what it says a lack of leadership in the agency. homeland security secretary jeh johnson calling for the probe after several security breaches from the white house including this man, who jumped fence, ran across the north lawn as you can see and went into the front door of the first family's home. doug mckelway from washington. >> reporter: hi, eric. one of the key findings of this report is being addressed and in the process of being remedied as we speak. workers begun installing a new fence around the white house and taking down the old one. it extend the security perimeter 10 to 15 feet, does not at this point higher than the old one as the report recommends. report issued by homeland

security secretary jeh johnson find secret service problems extend far beyond a fence to a culture of poor leadership that led to series of embarassments. to the fence jumpers after poorly investigated incident with a rifle fired at mansion with one of children at home to the prostitution scandal in cartegena, colombia. it recommend as wholesale change in leadership. >> in my judgment the panel's recommendations are astute, thorough and fair. fundamental change is needed at the secret service though they do a remarkable job of protecting the presidenting, the first family and other national leaders. >> reporter: beginning next year a congressional committee will begin a top down investigation of the service. they will also be looking at whether the department of homeland security which began overseeing the secret service after 9/11 is indeed the right agency to supervise the service. many of these incidents occurred under this new management structure. lastly, eric as changes occur

the public may not be aware of them because of course many security measures are not divulged to protect tactics and ultimately protect the president and other dignitaries. eric? eric: doug, thanks so much. >> major defeat for isis in iraq. what the victory against that terror group means. it was biggest day in three years for the dow. so what do yesterday's gains mean for the markets today and going forward? we'll break that down. @oyu0x?hp could protect you from cancer?

@oyu0x?hp what if one push up could prevent heart disease? one. wishful thinking, right? but there is one step you can take to help prevent another serious disease- pneumococcal pneumonia. one dose of the prevnar 13 ® vaccine can help protect you ... from pneumococcal pneumonia, an illness that can cause coughing, chest pain, difficulty breathing, and may even put you in the hospital. prevnar 13 is used in adults 50 and older to help prevent infections from 13 strains of the bacteria that cause pneumococcal pneumonia. you should not receive prevnar 13 if you've had a severe allergic reaction to the vaccine or its ingredients. if you have a weakened immune system, you may have a lower response to the vaccine. common side effects were pain, redness, or swelling at the injection site. limited arm movement, fatigue, head ache muscle or joint pain, less appetite, chills, or rash. even if you've already been vaccinated with another pneumonia vaccine, prevnar 13 ® may help provide additional protection. get this one done. ask your healthcare professional about prevnar 13 ® today.

two weeks later. look, credit karma-- are you talking to websites again? this website says "free credit scores." oh, credit karma! yeah it's actually free. look, you don't have to put in your credit card information. whew! credit karma. really. free. >> let's have a check on some international headlines we're following for you. a big loss for the islamic terrorists of isis. they have given up key territory to kurdish forces in iraq. the two-day offensive involved 8,000 peshmerga fighters with us air strikes. opened a path to mount sinjar in the u.s. bringing members of the

ha seedy minority who were trapped on the mountains for months. pakistani court grants bail to a suspect accused of orchestrating the 2008 mumbai terror attack that you may remember left 166 people dead. the suspect's lawyer was released on $5,000 bond. they are calling for the decision to be reversed immediately. this man carrying gas cylinders right into the ruling party's headquarters. thankfully the car did not explode and no one was injured. the driver was arrested and the incident is now under investigation. >> back here at home, stocks skyrocketing yesterday. the dow surging more than four hundred points marking its best one day gain in three years. how about today? the dow is now just about 18 point up. so are we likely to see another santa claus rally after yesterday's huge gains? i like that, santa claus rally. joining us lauren simonetti from

our sister network the fox business network. >> good to see you guys. it was a phenomenal two-day run upbut we're up a little bit today but the two days past gave us 709 points on the dow. that was the best in six years. seems like the momentum stalled a little bit today but the federal reserve promised to be patient when raising interest rates and that is definitely the undercurrent here. some traders are taking money off the table going into the weekend. of course the holiday week next week. what has been so uncharacteristic about the recent rally is heavy volume a couple days before christmas. people are suppose toed be off, right, and not trading and buying stocks. what we're seeing today oil prices is up. it has been volatile trade but oil is down 50% today. if you fill up with gas you can can certainly attest to that. we're watching individual stocks today. one is blackberry. the shares are sharply lower. while the company is finally telling us it is reporting an adjusted profit but the ceo says

sales are not satisfying and will take a couple of quarters before they are. the company introduced a classic model with the traditional keyboard. there is hope for blackberry still. nike is worried about slower growth in western europe and emerging markets. its orders for the future were weak. that stock is down too. it is weighing on the market overall because nike is a member of the dow. but this is just for "today." remember janet yellen and fed still have the markets back. the march towards 18,000 is still very much in site. investors honestly are looking forward to two years of republican control of congress. so santa claus rally into 2015? we'll take it. heather? heather: thanks, lauren simonetti. don't want to miss her on our sister network the fox business network. if you're not sure where to find it in your area, log on to foxbusiness.com/channelfinder. lots of good stuff over there. we want to hear from you. do you think the stock market increases? low gas prices continue into the new year?

we certainly hope so. our live chat is up and running go to foxnews.com/happeningnow. click on the "america's asking" tab to join the conversation. eric: maybe we again the grinch away from wall street. heather: exactly. eric: the big question today, did we surrender? the growing concerns over sony bowing to the terror threats by canceling the release of the comedy about north korea. some ask if this could open floodgates to hackers making all kinds of demands. analysts warn there is even more at stake. new developments in the troubling case of a television weatherman shot right outside of his station. how he is doing today and who police are now looking for.

when you run a business, you can't settle for slow. that's why i always choose the fastest intern. the fastest printer. the fastest lunch. turkey club. the fastest pencil sharpener. the fastest elevator. the fastest speed dial. the fastest office plant. so why wouldn't i choose the fastest wifi? i would. switch to comcast business and get the fastest wifi with the most coverage. comcast business. built for business. eric: police now releasing a sketch of the man they believe shot a television news weatherman in texas. meteorologist patrick crawford,

seen on the left, he was shot multiple times in the station's parking lot 75 miles north of austin. officers say the suspect on the right is white, balding and in his 30s, wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt and jeans. the station that crawford works for, kcen-tv reports that the shooter exchanged words with crawford and pulled out a handgun and opened fire. crawford was hit three times and managed to drive away and call for help. he says he did not know the gunman. he is now in stable condition. heather: fox news alert to bring you right now. fox now confirming that the fbi will blame north korea for that massive cyberattack that forced sony pictures to cancel a comedy about the assassination of kim jong-un. the fbi is set to release an official statement within the next few hours. as our growing concerns that our bought isn't doing enough to stop north korea and other rogue nations that may have been

involved, intelligence sources telling our catherine herridge that russia, iran, or china may have played a role. gordon chang is author of nuclear showdown, north korea takes on the world. gordon, this is perfect for you a. let's start off with the president. he will be addressing the nation in a press conference, after the fbi as we understand it, makes its release. what kind of weight will the president's words carry today? >> the president speaks for the united states so on oust very are obviously this will be important for him to talk about this because very rarely do you hear a national leader talk about the cyber attacks against his country from somebody else. heather: so what does he need to say? >> he needs to say i think three things. first of all to impose sanctions on north korea like the bush administration this 2005. to cut north koreans off from the global financial system. he needs to say we'll enforce security council resolutions prohibiting sale of ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons. he needs to say the word china

because china was involved in these attacks. they're working with the north koreans. probably the unit that launched these attacks, unit of north korean cyber warriors was probably in the chinese city about three hours or so from the north korean border. chinese have been training cyber warriors from north korea. heather: if the case china was involved, how does that work? does that mean governments are directly cooperating with one another to unleash this attack on the united states? >> yes, certainly. this attack came from chinese ip addresses. because chinese has a great firewall, the most sophisticated set of internet controls anywhere in the world, the chinese could see all the data going in and coming through their borders. so china was obviously complicit what was going on. they knew it was occurring. cyber warriors were in china itself. so the conclusion is inescapable. the president can say yeah, it was north korea but that is only half the story. heather: if he announces a new round of sanctions today, or in

the near future, will that dot trick? will that get north korea to back off? will that prevent future cyber attacks? >> we hope so. depend how severe scene shuns will be. i'm afraid, we heard josh earnest the white house press secretary saying we are worried some country attack us and want to get sort after reaction from us, almost indicating there won't be a reaction from the white house because that is good policy he also talked about a proportional response. a response, yeah, may be proportional but needs to be effective. sometimes effective responses are more than proportional. so really will see what the president announces in terms of the press conference today. heather: do you consider this an act of war? >> obviously i think it is. the defense department in 2011 issued guidelines on cyber attacks as act of wars, ones that would justify a military response from the u.s. what they did to sony in terms of damage i think falls within those guidelines. heather: this becomes sort of a

complicated matter. if it does in fact include other companies, countries like you mentioned china, if russia, if iran are involved the bigger question what is the domino effect of our actions that we take? what does that mean for the country and will we get pulled into something even bigger? >> we will be pulled into something bigger. there will be escalation even if we do something or not. and the escalation will be worse. russia and china, big down trips on other side. we can't ignore it. we have been ignoring for two decades. that is why the sony pictures hack is much like 9/11, it grabbed attention of american people. we have to confront issues we would otherwise prefer not to look at. heather: you say escalation. does escalation mean limited to cyber? >> maybe yes, maybe no. escalation can be anything. heather: frightening certainly. gordon chang, the president is set to speak a few hours from now. we'll be watching that one and i know you will as well. >> thank you. eric: thanks, heather and gordon. you wouldn't know about the

brutality of the castro cuban regime amidst all the political coverage. do you know that the political prisoners are increasing? concern that the mainstream media is ignoring reality in cuba and soft pedaling the cyberattack. our media panel will be here to explain. the administration is looking to create a rating looking to create a rating system for colleges and universities. well, put on a breathe right strip and shut your mouth. cold medicines open your nose over time, but add a breathe right strip and pow, it opens your nose up to 38% more. so you can breathe and do the one thing you want to do, sleep. add breathe right to your cold medicine shut your mouth and sleep right. breathe right. and look for the calming scent of new breathe right lavender, in the sleep aisle. many americans who have prescriptions

fail to stay on them. that's why we created programs which encourage people to take their medications regularly. so join us as we raise a glass to everyone who remembered today. bottoms up, america. see you tomorrow. same time. another innovation from cvs health. because health is everything. approaching medicare eligibility? you may think you can put off checking out your medicare options until you're sixty-five, but now is a good time to get the ball rolling. keep in mind, medicare only covers about eighty percent of part b medical costs. the rest is up to you. that's where aarp medicare supplement insurance plans insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company come in.

like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, they could help pay some of what medicare doesn't, saving you in out-of-pocket medical costs. you've learned that taking informed steps along the way really makes a difference later. that's what it means to go long™. call now and request this free [decision guide]. it's full of information on medicare and the range of aarp medicare supplement plans to choose from based on your needs and budget. all plans like these let you choose any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients, and there are no network restrictions. unitedhealthcare insurance company has over thirty years experience and the commitment to roll along with you, keeping you on course. so call now and discover how an aarp medicare supplement plan could go long™ for you. these are the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp, an organization serving the needs of people

50 and over for generations. plus, nine out of ten plan members surveyed say they would recommend their plan to a friend. remember, medicare doesn't cover everything. the rest is up to you. call now, request your free [decision guide] and start gathering the information you need to help you keep rolling with confidence. go long™. ♪

heather: right now a quick look what's to come in this hour of "happening now." what a judge said about two wisconsin girls accused of staning a classmate to gain favor with a fictional online character. our legal panel weighs in on the dramatic announcement. the federal government release as controversial plan that could change the landscape of colleges across the country. a live report on the far-reaching announcement. why one sociologist that american children are exposed to much more instability than in the past and how it could be detrimental to our country's future. eric: heather, the biggest headlines this week, president obama moving to normalization relations with a long-time communist dictatorship, cuba. another enemy of our country, north korea, apparently leveled threats against movie-goers. how well did the media cover this? lynn sweet, washington bureau

chief for "the chicago sun-times." judy, nice to see both of you. let me start with you. no free elections, no release of political prisoners. no democracy in cuba. you would think with all the media coverage, about cuban cigars and havana rum and tanning on beaches. >> it was no about cuban cigars? we did not hear the words, repression, dictatorship, lack of freedom and human rights. what we heard, was bold, dramatic, an eloquent departure from the policies of the past that haven't worked. look, i think it is an amazing move that the president has made on his own without consulting with congress of course but i think the jury is out in terms of whether or not it is going to be good for the cuban people. we should have had a little more skepticism from the press about that question. eric: lynn, why do you think we haven't had more skepticism? is the mainstream media buying into the obama narrative? >> not at all, but i think the

jury is out, judy, i want to embrace too, with a little different, maybe i'm a little more charitable here. there is a lot of news happening in this week with cuba. it wasn't the story that people saw coming. you and you had many storylines of the release of alan gross to the change in the diplomatic relations, to the spy sapp. so i think you have a lot to go. and usually, and i think it will happen now, the mainstream media, plus the specialty press will deal with all the issues you say are not being covered now. the other thing that will happen, once congress gets back in january, and you have eventually a nominee to be the new ambassador to cuba coming with a new republican-led senate, don't you think all the issues really will be aired and covered? eric: there is one nugget in "usa today." judy let me point out this to you. number of political prisoners have gone up. >> right. eric: in 2010, just over 2,000

political prisoners. by 2013, it has more than doubled. it has quadrupled, over 8,000 now. thank you, "usa today.." we did investigation, number of arbitrary detentions increased from 2,000 to 3,000. they say, look at that number, 57,000 cubans in work camps. why hasn't the media exposed this. >> as lynn points out it was the first day story. people were taken by surprise. by the way if you're covering the white house, you're covering this administration or latin america, perhaps someone might have known something since there were 18 months worth of secret back channel negotiations leading up to this but i do think we will be focused as lynn suggests on those issues in the future. the problem for me, or at least the challenge will be, to kind of sort out the division within the conservative circles because you really have two schools of thought about whether or not this is going to be effective. one, you get people like senator

rubio who say, no, no, it's terrible and it is propping up a regime that should fall but you also have the ryan wing, paul ryan wing of the republican party that says, let's open the place up and let's have the market work and the market will bring down the castros. cuba si, fidel, no. let's see. those are issues the media will address but i think in the beginning there should be more skepticism about the kind of regime we're dealing with. eric: lynn, how will this all play out? the debate is fascinating and will continue. >> it will play out the following way. we had a discussion this week which is a lot from the obama administration point of view, you tried to change the castro brothers grain through these embargoes and other restrictions. that did not work. so let's try something new and see if it will change. if, you know, the people were imprisoned and the elections

were not held under, for 50 years under a system where we tried to change it one way. so in a sense we'll see if the easing and relaxing of these restrictions changes anything. certainly i would think that bringing in the internet, bringing in free television, bringing in communications, bringing in tourists who will bring in ideas, that is important as anything else, will, will be catalysts for change. russia has changed. china has changed. why wouldn't cuba change? eric: certainly there is the hope that it would. finally, quickly, lynn, north korea, you make fun of it because it is a movie. josh rogan and "the interview" and all this, this is serious, serious implications in terms of the cyber war. >> it is serious on so many levels and we could spend the next hour on the layers of this one but i understand once it became a potential threat or perceived threat to the theater owners, may take a little contrary position here, i understand why a theater owner

wouldn't want to show a film because they didn't want to be responsible for any perceived threats that may be made in connection with it. so it is a very difficult situation and i kind of like the george clooney idea. just put it on the internet and let people see it anyway. eric: clooney is speaking out. i meant seth rogan. we should see the movie, judy. what better message than to north korea, everyone download the movie? just do it. buy it to make it number one. >> governor romney also proposed putting it out on the internet. i think it is terrible that sony has capitulated to north korea. i think the united states is going to have to do something in response because this is very much like salman, rushdie, the fatwa that the iranians, issued against him and the world responded you have no right to do that and we'll read salman rushdie. although this is probably not a very good movie but one everyone

should be seeing over christmas. eric: watch the movie. we can send a message. whoever thought we would have seth rogan about that? >> this is very serious problem. i agree with lynn and it will require a serious response from the united states. eric: absolutely. we'll hear from the president about that two hours from now. lynn, judy, thank you solve as always. >> thank you. heather: good conversation about that. "wall street journal" has an interesting idea in its pages today and that is there is a famous north korean dissident in south korea, take a bunch of b drives and drop them by balloon over north korea. that is interesting idea nonetheless. the obama administration drawing up a controversial new plan to rate colleges and universities across the country. proponents say it will steer federal money to schools that benefit the students but critics argue that the plan doesn't fall under the government's job description. we have fox business network's rich edson. how would this rating system

work and what would it mean? >> good morning, heather, the obama administration is testing colleges and universities after twice delaying the new ratings system. they are relasting -- releasing new draft guidelines for students to pick a school. with ever increasing financial loan debt and financial aid, the administration will evaluate colleges on graduation rates and ability of alumni to pay loans and how much they can make when they graduate. that way they say high school students can make ate per college choice and better use what could be tens of thousands of dollars of student loans. one higher education analyst says they may result and fail to account for certain circumstances giving perspective students an incomplete representation of a school. >> to use one size fits all type of rating system for all of these colleges might not yield good results. i mean some colleges pride themselves on graduating their students into public service,

which is typically a low-paying field. and if you use a rating system that rewards higher income, these institutions might get downgraded. >> the administration says these ratings will encourage colleges to bp better stewards of government money. this is only a draft proposal. the rating sim must go through a lengthy process before officials finalize it to make a change. >> thank you, rich. if you're not sure to where to find the fox business in your area, log on to foxbusiness.com/channelfinder. eric: heather, two teenagers are accused of stabbing a classmate. it is a horrible story, stabbing 19 times. they will stand trial as adults of the court deciding both are competent to stand trial despite challenges from their attorneys. they're only 12 years old. did the judge get it right? robert bashara found guilty on multiple counts including first-degree murder of his wife.

why that legal battle may not be over. our legal panel weighs in on those two cases straight ahead on "happening now."

it's the purple pill, the #1 prescribed acid blocking brand, available without a prescription for frequent heartburn. get complete protection. nexium level protection™

--i don't know my credit score. that's really important. i mean - i don't know my credit score. don't you want to buy a house...like, ever? you should probably check out credit karma, it's free.

credit? karma? free? credit karma. really free credit scores. heather: let's check out what is ahead on "outnumbered" at the top of the hour. harris, andrea, what do you have? >> massive cyberattack on sony pictures, why the investigation may be pointing to countries in addition to north korea as the fbi is set to officially blame the isolated nation-state. >> that could happen at any minute. plus america on the dole. how being dependent on the government may have be one of life's earliest lessons for so many of america's children. staggering new statistics to tell you about. >> who wouldn't want to spend time in a room with brad pitt? so where the star was, thanks, brad, but no, thanks, you can leave. it wasn't here. definitely not in the studio. >> he could be outnumbered. our hashtag one lucky guy at top on "outnumbered." heather: he would not stand a

chance. would i like to see it though. we'll check it out. >> two wisconsin teenagers will stand trial as adults for the brutal stabbing of a classmate a judge upholding a doctor's findings that the girls are competent to stand trial despite challenges from their defense attorneys. the girls who were 12 years old at time of this attack, they're accused of attempted murder in the savage stabbing of another girl, a friend of theirs, who was also only 12 years old. thankfully the victim survived. prosecutors say the two girls were trying to please the fictional character online known as slender man. how does happen? fred tecce, former federal prosecutor. fred, let me start with you, as former prosecutor, this is unbelievable and so horrible and tragic when people think something is real on the internet and go out and savagely, allegedly attack somebody? >> it is horrible. and it is tragic and it boggles my mind that two 12-year-old girls many that is what they

are, girls, not young women or ladies would stab a classmate. interestingly from the legal perspective is whether or not they knew right from wrong and whether or not they could aid in their defense. as one girl there was not conflict between the doctors. and other girl there was and judge found they could. i have four sons between 18 and 19. we need to know what our kids are doing when they're online. it is not easy. i get that. eric: rebecca, they're 12 years old. is it fair to try them as adults? >> i don't and i don't think they will be tried as adults. they have a chance to prove to be tried as juveniles. the court decided they were competent to stand trial. they have a chance to try to get back to juvenile court and i think that will be appropriate. eric: seems with juvenile cases get a year in juvenile detention and they're out even when this is a murder. thankfully this is not a murder. what is the standard? at what age whether you decide someone is competent as an adult or not? >> eric, tell you rebecca raises

great points. i'm wary of the fact these two young women or girls are 12 years old. that is incredibly young age but this is incredibly horrific crime and it, society calls out for just punishment. a year of house arrest that would happen to juvenile is not appropriate. sometimes the system lets us down. this is one of those cases. eric: as defense attorney, rebecca, how would you defend this. >> i think my first job would be try to get this in juvenile court. in juvenile court they still face serving incarceration until they're 25. that is much less serious than what they're facing as adults. what i have to convince a judge first that juvenile court is the right place for them and no need to be treated in the adult sim. after that, it is hard after that. because they have admitted to what happened here. defending them on the merits is challenging but proper punishment -- eric: what do you think is going to happen? >> when is this going to happen? oh, what is going to happen? eric: rebecca, go ahead. >> so the next step will be what

is called a reverse waiver hearing where the defense argues that they should be returned to juvenile court because they can be best treated in the juvenile system. and because that will properly reflect the severity of the crime. and arguing that here will be tricky because the crime is so severe. but that will be the next step and it will be a big deal here. eric: fred, finally a slam-dunk if they admit it? >> yeah. i think proving their gilt or innocence, proving their guilt will not be difficult. if i was the prosecutor again i'm wary how young they are. maybe deal to be made that they would serve 10 to 12 years of incarceration which is awfully long time for a 12-year-old but again it is a very, very serious time. eric: we'll keep following that. meantime another story we're following, that of a former detroit area businessman who will be likely spending the rest of his life in prison. he is robert bashara. he was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy in murder-for-hire killing of his wife jane. the jury found him guilty on all

five counts, solicitation, witness intimidation, and man oy man, this case involved bondage and discipline and said dough massism, all this horrible stuff this guy allegedly did. does the sentence fit the crime? >> oh, well first of all, they found him guilty. interestingly in this case the guy who committed murder pled guilty didn't even testify. the state was able to convict this guy it would his testimony. the evidence was overwhelming. the facts in the case were so difficult his defense lawyers had their hands tied. ultimately, figuratively i think the judge will put him over his knee to give him a gaining and severe punishment he edeserves. he is already in jail to have the guy killed that killed his wife. he is not very bright. eric: what happens to people? you hear about people all the time where they go out to get a hit man and pay them money to try to kill their spouse. >> well, off then they end up convicted of murder which was

here. i would argue the facts are not overwhelming. you had a amount of overwhelming creepy disturbing testimony about his personal life and s and m. those are hard facts as a defense attorney to overcome but honestly they're more prejudicial than probative as they say in my mind. the fact he was intoy, kinky stuff doesn't necessarily mean he is murderer. it is hard to defend a case when you have that going on. >> rebecca raise as great point. she raises a great point. i guaranty you that the defense lawyer hammered away to the jury you may find what this guy does is creepy and disgusting but doesn't make him a murderer. but unfortunately the jury did not buy that. >> we'll follow what happens with these two cases as they go forward. thank you very much. >> thank you. merry christmas. heather: within last two seconds we got in a fox news alert. it is now official, the fbi statement on the hack of sony is

out and the fbi squarely places the blame on north korea for the attack on the movie the "the view." they reaffirm that cyber threats pose one of the greatest dangers to the united states. a pretty lengthy statement just issued. they looked at technical analysis of the data. they can't share some of their methods or sources but they say that our conclusion is based upon sort of a broader look at all of this. and cooperation with that company, sony. we'll have more on this just after the break. we'll be right back. will that be all, sir?

thank you. ordering chinese food is a very predictable experience. i order b14. i get b14. no surprises. buying business internet, on the other hand, can be a roller coaster white knuckle thrill ride. you're promised one speed. but do you consistently get it? you do with comcast business. and often even more. it's reliable. just like kung pao fish. thank you, ping. reliably fast internet starts at $89.95 a month. comcast business. built for business. ♪ heather: well speaking of weddings, our next guest says

that the working class family is now on life-support. he wrote a book called, labor's love lost. a recent piece that was written in the "new york times" really grabbed our attention. he says that some of the country's biggest problems can be blamed on the decline in marriage and the rise of family life that is less stable. andrew is a johns hopkins sociologist and author of that book. thank you for joining us. so is a vibrant, working, middle class now a thing of the past? >> as i said it is on life-support because the kinds of jobs that used to support with we used to call the working class family are not there anymore. there was a steel mill in baltimore where i live that used to employ 30,000 people at good wages and support a lot of families. that plant closed two years ago and those jobs are probably not coming back. the basis and support of all the working class families we knew in the past aren't there anymore. heather: are they getting jobs in service industry and

high-tech? haven't those replaced some of the old manufacturing jobs? >> the service industry jobs replaced manufacturing jobs but at much lower wages. jobs coming into baltimore pay far less than old ones. they're less stable and less likely to give you full-time work. there are jobs out there but they don't pay a lot. young ad dulls don't think they can find a job that will support a marriage. heather: you say this is not a tragedy, thedown fall of the middle class. why is it not a tragedy? sound like it would be? >> it is a shame. and the, working class family certainly has upside but it was out of step with the times, the idea that women must stay home and be full-time mothers and can't work outside of the home was something that the working class family had as part of its in the middle of the 20th century but now it is out of step. heather: boy, isn't that better for kid when you have a wife ad home and you don't have two stressed out working parents trying to commute and bring home money and not having lot of time with kids. >> it could.

but it doesn't work for a lot of families. the tragedy is not so much that this kind of family life is passing away, is that nothing stable replaced it. nothing stable allowed a generation of young adults to form stable family bond to connection up with the middle class. that is the real shame. we haven't found a way to provide stable family lives for this group of young adults. >> maybe getting married and having kid is nice stablizer. if we don't have industry or jobs to support it, maybe getting married to have some kids might help out. we'll leave it there. do you agree with that? >> sounds good to me. >> excellent. go have some babies. have a great weekend. eric: i like that. next hour of "happening now," president's news conference. 90 minutes to his new conference happening 1:30 eastern at the white house. we'll have it all for you live here on "happening now."

eric: and we'll see you back here in an hour as we preview the president's 1:30 p.m. news

conference. heather: "outnumbered" starts right now. see you back here in a bit. ♪ ♪ >> this is "outnumbered." i'm andrea tantaros, and here with us today harris faulkner, melissa francis is back from our sister network, fox business, actress and fox news contributor stacey dash and today's *oneluckyguy, you know him, you see him on saturdays and sundays on "fox & friends" weekend, clayton morris is here, and you're outnumbered. >> it's about time. [laughter] >> it's about time. >> what took you so long? >> i don't know. i'm getting it from all sides this morning. >> you are on the weekends. >> exactly. we've got rick, tucker myself and one woman, so the roles are reversed this morning on this show. >> as it should be. >> that's right, that's right. >> well, we are happy to have you. >> thank you for having me. >> hit it. all right, the investigation into the sony hack attack may be getting even bigger. sources tell fox news