lee, and "happening now", live reports from molly henneberg in washington, steve brown in chicago and janice dean in the fox weather center. we'll show them to you in a minute. first, high drama in the halls of congress at the ethics trial for charlie rangel, what's happening now, molly? >> reporter: jenna, the ethics committee is back to work now, they say they'll go on without congressman rangel in his trial on 13 ethics violations. rangel had asked for a delay and walked out. i'll have more just ahead. jenna: interesting story to watch. also breaking developments in the search for a missing family in ohio after the 13-year-old daughter is found alive. steve, where are police searching now? >> reporter: a nearby park where the 13-year-old girl was recovered and we do have reports from the local affiliates there may have been evidence taken in from that park, three bagsful. jenna: big storms also across much the country. j.d., is it finally winter? is it here? >> reporter: officially it

doesn't arrive until december 21st, jenna, but some areas over the weekend, over a foot of snow. we're calling it snowvember! we'll talk about it. jenna: after snowmegeddon, i don't know if we're read grow that. all those reports coming you on "happening now", but first, it's like the first day of school, washington, d.c.-style, that's jon style. jon: all kinds of bus loads of incoming freshman senators and representatives arriving on capitol hill. orientation day for them. jenna: steve centanni is live on capitol hill with more. steve. >> reporter: the new kids in town are here. the existing congress is meeting in a lame duck session, but of course, some of those members are going to be out of work come january 5th, the new people are just elected during the midterm election are in town now, they're not taking seats just yet but learning how to do their job, with

bus loads from the hotel to the capitol visitors center, the u.s. capitol building, where they're going to have six days of orientation hearings and learn everything from how to get a bill passed so how to hire a staff, how to manage a budget, security concerns, ethics concerns, a lot of things these incoming members will need to know to work effectively as members of congress. but the main thing in their minds is, of course, they think they have a mandate from the public, from the electorate, to change things here in washington and here's what a few of them told us: >> a lot of us come from different regions of the country where we have the same issues that are going on in our state and we want to be true to our constituents back home but recognize the problems we have on a national level so we need to be able to discuss that and a lot of ideas sitting around the table can generate good solution. sue: we have a good group of folks here that are going to be able to stand against special interests, that are going to be able to do the right thing and we're just getting started, so it's

going to be an interesting couple of years and you know, ultimately we're going to do the right thing. >> reporter: they will be sworn in january 5th and we don't know exactly what's going to top their agenda but we no know what their values are and what the voters september them here to do and that is to limit the size of government, to limit the amount of government spending, and first and foremost, in their minds, as many of them told us s. to repeal the health care reform act, or the health care bill, the law that's now in effect. if they can't do that, because of course president obama is not going to repeal t. he'll veto it, they'll chip away at it and make changes at it in an incremental way. that's one of their top priorities. after this full week of orientation here at the capitol, they're going to have a drawing at the very end to find out who gets the best office here in the office building on capitol hill. so that's what the new members are up to. back to you guys. jenna: save the best for last. probably stiff competition for that office. steve, thank you very much.

jon: democrat richard ble men thall won a senate seat from connecticut after a contentious run with libda mcmahon, senator-elect ble -- blumenthal of connecticut joins us live from washington. he's live there as you can see. what's priority one senator? >> priority number one for me is jobs, economic recovery, getting connecticut back to work, getting the country back to work, and i'm very excited about getting to work myself in accomplishing economic recovery for the country as a whole. that's really priority number one and the vie i think of voters nationwide, particularly in connecticut. jon: we get a lot of e-mails in our "happening now" blog and so forth from people who say term limits really ought to be enforced in this country because you get people like christopher dodd who served, what, 30 years in washington, at the same time, a lot of people with bemoaning the fact that you're replacing a guy who had top seniority and that connecticut is not going to have the influence that it's

goingo thee it used to have. >> i promise first of of all i will not serve 30 years. i think age will catch me before then. but i think that we'll have some events that will give me the kind of impact that i feel connecticut deserve, the expertise and background i bring to this work as someone who has reached across the aisle to form coalitions of attorneys general, to box above my weight, so to speak, in uniting republicans and democrats to fight big tobacco or work for internet safety, causes that li bring to the senate, as well as education reform, and of course, economic recovery. there's no democratic or republican solution to that finding people better jobs and putting america back to work. i think we ought to use the good common sense progress mattic realistic solutions that are available regardless of whether they are republican or democrat. jon: well, let's talk about that a little more, because

you've obviously got a divided congress now, the incoming congress, so the house is going to be republican, the democratic majority in the senate, much more narrow, you have a liberal democrat in the white house. what would be your advice to president obama about compromising with this incoming congress? >> stands firm to principles and your conscience is always the best advice in life and i think in public service and government. jon: but standing firm, dishant mean no compromise for this president? >> i think that there are ways to stand. on the issues that matter, and seek solutions, for example, on a better energy policy, green jobs, green technologies, which in connecticut would mean more fuel cell manufacturing, tax breaks for small businesses, so that they can provide more -- you know, small businesses provide more than 70 percent of the new jobs, so payroll tax exemptions, larger deductions for

startups, exemptions on capital gains for investments and i think standing stronger and tougher against the chinese and others with unfair trade polices, particularly against chinese currency manipulation. there are solutions to these economic problems that should not come down to partisan politics. >> on small business a lot of republicans say the bush tax cuts which are slated to go up against january 1, it's going to be an issue that won't affect you because you'll be taking office after they take effect, but if you were to vote on the bush tax cuts expiration right now, how would you vote? >> i would vote to extend those tax cuts for middle class families but not for the wealthiest 2 percent, and i think this argument about small business being affected is really a red herring. almost none of the small businesses in this country benefit from extending the bush tax cuts to families making more than $250,000. i think it's fewer than 2 percent. and of those, they are

subchapter s and sole proprietorships, almost none provide any jobs. so i think there are ways to target tax relief and we should for small businesses, and we should be providing more capital, more borrowing for those small businesses. i'd go around the state of connecticut, i hear the banks aren't lend to go small businesses and they could extend and expand and enlarge their employment force if they have the capital to do it and that in their view, along with skilled job training, are the two primary needs that they face to extend and expand their employment level. jon: have you found your new office yet? >> not yet, no. i'm work out of my briefcase right now. and we have a lot of orientation still to go, and i still have work to do as attorney general. so i'm learning, and i'm very excited about coming to washington, working on these problems, because enabling small business to expand and prosper and to hire more people is really going to be a challenge, and i think

it's a challenge that will remain for our new congress, not going to be done by the lame duck. jon: let's hope you can get it done, somehow. senator blumenthal, thank you. >> thank you. jon: while senator blumenthal has to wait to be sworn in, two democrats are taking office today, taking the oath, joe manchin, stepping down as governor next hour so he can fill the seat of the longest serving senator in our history, the late robert byrd. also senator-elect chris coons of delaware being sworn in, in joe biden's senate seat, the vice president will swear both of them in this afternoon. >> with all due respect, since i don't have counsel to advise me, i'm going to have to excuse myself from these proceedings. jenna: democratic congressman charlie rangel, speaking just moments ago, the new york lawmaker after making those remarks, walking out of his ethics trial, just as it begins,

after asking the panel for a delay. so where are we now? molly henneberg is live with the very latest in this story. molly, what does the ethics committee do? >> reporter: hi jenna. the democratic chair, zoe lofgren says mr. rangel is allowed legal counsel and he's been guided at least four times on how to pay for it and congresswoman luv friend says the matter will go forward. here's more: >> we are prepared to proceed today, we recognize that mr. rangel has indicated that he does not spend po -- intend to participate and it is his right not to participate. >> reporter: several members of the ethics committee criticized rangel's washington d.c. law firm for parting ways with him this fall. rangel has said the firm was concerned he wouldn't be able to pay his bills, jenna. jenna: rangel wanted the committee to allow him to set up some sort of legal defense fund, there was a lot of conversation about

that. what is the issue with setting up a fund like that? >> there's no problem with it, except that it takes time to set up and then hire a lawyer and the trial began today. congressman rangel says some lawyers have offered to defend him for free, but that would violate the house ban on gifts so he can't do that. now, a legal defense fund would allow lawyers to be paid a sum of money which would avoid running afoul of the gift ban, rangel argues it isn't fair to go forward without legal representation but the committee chair fired back that rangel has had plenty of tile and advice about how to set up and pay for his legal team, so the committee, as you just saw, is going forward. jenna: a developing story today, molly henneberg, live in d.c., thanks molly. jon: a fox news alert, and the death toll rising now in that terrible skyscraper fire in shanghai, china, a residential building caught fire earlier today. take a look at these pictures. it's a 28-story building, apparently it was under

renovation, and construction materials somewhere in the building or around the building caught fire. that also set fire to scaffolding around it. forty-two people are now dead as a result of that fire. the building housed especially a large number of retired teachers, we're told, more than 80 fire trucks called in to battle it, but the streams of water from the ground just get up high enough to get those upper floors to get to those upper floors. forty-two people now is the death toll. and that number could still rise. we'll keep you updated on "happening now". some troubling new twists in the disappearance of an ohio family. the 13-year-old daughter found alive. one suspect is in custody. but there's still no sign of the girl's mother, her brother, and a family friend. we have the latest on the search. also, freshman lawmakers checking out their new digs in washington why. why theyo know washington today.

why they might want to buy their own drinks. coming up, crirs stierwalt.

jon: brand new developments in the case of a missing family in ohio, right now police blocking off a park near the home where one member of that family, a 13-year-old girl, was found gagged and bound but alive. the suspect has been charged with kidnapping. as the search goes on for the teenager's mother, brother and another woman, a family friend. steve brown is following this story live in chicago. how big is this park that they're searching, steve? >> reporter: it's pretty substantially large. it's just north of hoffman's home where the 13-year-old girl was found. in it, three retention ponds. we're told it used to be a gravel court and property was turned over to the city of mount vernon and turned into a park. so police are looking spoke that. late news from our local affiliate is that four bags of, quote, possible evidence

were removed from the park. we're also hearing reports that there might have been some of the 13-year-old girl's possessions, possibly clothing, found in the park. jon: is this guy hoffman, he has a criminal record, i understand. what for? >> arson, related to a robbery in colorado about ten years ago. apparently he set fire to a townhouse to cover up a burglary inside of a home, destroyed two of the townhouses, forced 16 people out of their homes, but eventually, first of all, no one was injured, but hoffman was found guilty and served prison time in colorado. jon: steve brown, reporting live, steve, thank you. jenna: back to some politics now, the brand new freshman class arriving today on capitol hill and one person says washington right now is like a haunted house and a baptist church. that person, cries

stierwalt, digital politics editor. he joins us now. christopher, what do you mean tbhai? >> i mean if you ever went to one of those at halloween time in church, you sthaw as you walk through, you'd see the wages of sin and they'd have the different, gory, guelish details, scaring people into living right and certainly that's what the freshman members of congress who are coming in to start next year who are getting orientation this week get to see, a lot of grizzly stuff in washington this week. jenna: preparing for e-mails from our viewers, chris. >> nothing wrong with e-mail, that's right. jenna: you gave some advice to some of the incoming freshmen that are on capitol hill this week and this is what you say in your power play today, you say no one is untouchable, the question, taking one for the team, a term in congress is shorter than you think, and buy your own drinks. so chris, which one of those do you think is the one that these incoming freshmen should most pay attention to? >> they should definitely buy their own whiskey

because that is sort of the gateway to trouble because when you think about it, these parties, these lobbyists, these events, it is being on somebody else's cuff that gets these folks into trouble and it might save a lot of marriages, too. so perhaps the wives and husbands of these congressmen at home might be glad if they followed that tip number four. jenna: a little politics advice, a little relationship advice. >> that's right. jenna: real quick, i only have 30 seconds, but it's been an interesting morning with the rangel trial that's happening. any observations from that or anything our viewers should pay attention to? >> look, you mentioned the point no one is untouchable and charlie rangel was probably one of the most powerful people in congress before this all began, head of the house ways and means committee, long time incumbent from harlem, everyone thought he was one of the sultans of the senate or sultans of the house and now he can't even afford a lawyer so for members, folks at home and members coming in and touring and getting their orientation, that's a good example.

jenna: just in time there, chris, thank you very much, chris stierwalt with our power play today. thank you. jon: were mon that real-life towering inferno, a deadly fire at a huge apartment complex, flames shooting out of the building, the death toll, rising, but there are incredible escapes to tell you about. plus consider dollars a contender for the white house in 2012, congressman mike pence will be here live.

jenna: right now lawmakers are gearing up for a major battle over the expiring bush tax cuts and they have two working weeks in congress to figure this out, before the session ends and taxes go up by new year's day. some say finding common ground is not completely out of the question. >> i hope we can get a permanent extension but if the president wants to

compromise on a two or three-year extension, what's important here, chris, is that businesses know what their tax rates are going to be over the next few years so they can plan growth and plan to add people. jenna: our next guest is congressman mike pence, republican from indiana. congressman pence, do you agree or disagree with such a compromise as the one put out there by senator jim demint? >> good to be with you. look, i think the american people spoke in deafening terms on election day, november 2nd, and they said they're tired of the borrowing, the spending, the bailouts, and they're tired of more taxes and more mandates coming out of washington, d.c., and republicans are absolutely determined to oppose any tax increase on any american in the coming months. you know, the higher taxes aren't going to get anybody hired, and as we reconvene in this lame duck session, we're going to continue to fight in the house, to make sure that no american sees their taxes increase on

january 1, not one. jenna: specifically would you be for the type of compromise that's been floated out there about a temporary extension for the upper income earners in order to get a permanent extension for nine # percent of the american public? >> well, look, i've heard the talk about compromise. quite frankly, i haven't -- that's not been the experience in the pelosi-led congress the last four years. there's not been much actual seeking of common ground. it's mostly been a my way or the highway approach to governance and that's how it's been done by this administration as well. i just think we ought to continue to expand firmly on -- stand firmly on the principle that in the worst economy in 25 years the last thing we should do is allow a tax increase to take effect in january on any american. and house republicans are going to continue to fight tenaciously to ensure that no american sees a tax increase in january of next year. jenna: you spoke a little about the pelosi-led congress, and you're

speaking of fighting now but it seems like voters spoke out against the way things were being done, congressman, so what's being done on the gop side to change that, to reach across the aisle and change the tone of washington this time around? >> well, look. we met last night, we welcomed the freshman class to the historic statute area -- statuary hall and we heard june boehner talk not only about the direction of washington d.c. but changing the way we do business. the peoples' house is meant to be a place where the will of the american people is heard and vetted and that means not only members of the majority but members of the minority being able to bring idea necessary broad daylight n. committee, on the floor of the congress and have those issues debated. you know, i'll tell you right now, on this tax increase issue, and remember, we're not talking about tax cuts, we're talking about preserving the current tax relief that's on the books and making that permanent, if there was a fair up or down vote allowed

on that in this lame duck session i guarantee it would pass theouse of representatives by an overwhelming margin, but this democrat majority has not allowed the will of the american people to really be played out in full -- in a full and open debate on the floor of the congress. republicans are going to change that, and we're going to change the direction back to fiscal responsibility, progrowth polices and a respect for values and respect for our military. jenna: how? >> well, look, first thing we're going to do is we're going to turn a willing ear to the voice of the american people who spoke, as i said, in deafening terms that they want to see this government change direction. i mean, i know that the administration and speaker pelosi think this was all about the economy or it was all about a failure to communicate, but i think most people truly recognize that november 2nd, this election was an historic

rejection of american liberalism and the obama-pelosi agenda. republicans are determined to turn the ship back in the direction of limited government, free market values, and fiscal responsibility. jenna: speaking of fiscal responsibility, another big issue besides tax cuts has been this issue about earmarks and it seems to be really something that something the tea party-backed candidates of the republican party have come out with and said they really want to eliminate these earmarks. it's one of their first items on the agenda. but there seems to be some pushback from the old guard in the republican party. why is that? >> well, look, what i'll tell you, in the house of representatives, there is virtually unanimous agreement about doing in this coming congress what we did in the last incoming congress and that is embrace ago full-scale moratorium on earmarks among republicans. we think we've got to end business as usual, we think we've got to end earmarks on capitol hill, and house republicans are determined

to do that. i wish my colleagues in the senate, led by my dear friend jim demint, all the luck, all the success in the world to get the senates, to get the r-7s to partner with that. the american people want to see us change the way we spend money n. large ways and in small ways, and i believe they're calling for a fundamental reform of the budget process, and that begins with ending earmarks. jenna: congressman, feel good to be tbhak d.c.? find of feel -- kind of feel comfortable back there again? >> look, i said last night to a lot of gathered freshmen at the capitol building, when my wife and i were walking up the capitol building steps t. hadn't looked that great for a while and with all the conservatives coming to capitol hill, the courageous men and women who made the sacrifice to be part of this new republican majority, it's a good day here in washington, d.c. jenna: we'll be watching you step by step congressman. thank you very much for joining us today, we appreciate it very much. >> thank you jenna. jon: check the calendar. it's not even thanksgiving and one part of the one did is already getting a blast of winter.

tens of thousands, already without power. we'll tell you who's snowed in and where this big storm is heading next. also fox news' senior analyst naj napolitano sitting down with sarah palin and asking her the question: >> governor palin, are you going to run for president in 2012? >> the judge is here live, he joins us next. walmart-preferred prescription plan. ♪ it's a brethrough in medicare prescription drug plans. hey buddy! hey grandpa! with monthly plan premiums less than $15 and copayss low as $2. but for savings this big, visit walmart.com or call 1-800-808-4003. introducing the new humana walmart-preferred prescription plan. a medicare prescription drug plan that's a step forward in health care...

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jenna: well, remember snowmageddon? remember that? how could you forget, right? a winter blast in minnesota already, up to a foot of snow falling in some areas knocking out power to tens of thousands. it's actually the first major snowstorm of this new season, and janice dean is covering it live in our fox extreme weather center. busier than usual, j.d.? this. >> reporter: you know, they haven't seen snows like this in decades in some cases. i'm not ready for snow, i'm not ready for christmas music, jenna lee. [laughter] take a look at some of these snow totals, over a foot in parts of minnesota, iowa, and, sorry, got to keep my belly out of the view here. look at all these totals. yeah. in some cases they haven't seen snow like this in 10-20 years across the upper midwest. a lot of people caught off guard, a lot of people still without power, but they are hearty folks across the upper midwest. we're in between systems so they can dig out and, of course, the

kids can make those snow men. watching this system, though, across the south that's going the bring a couple inches of rain, but they're also getting some snow across the rockies. there's jon scott's denver, colorado. they are reporting some light snow right now, but they love it out there, ski country. southeast, a lot of heavy rain, lots of moisture coming in from the gulf of mexico. in some cases one to even four inches of rain. the good news is here that they're into, in some cases, a severe to extreme drought, so they need the rain but not so much in such a short period of time, so places like birmingham, montgomery, up towards atlanta, watching you this afternoon. as we head throughout time, all of that moisture's going to head up towards the northeast. you can see the snow across the back end across portioning of canada -- portions of can can. we're going to -- canada, we're going to get portions of is 1-3 inches across atlanta, the florida panhandle. ultimately, this is a good story

for them because they need the rain. okay, jenna, if you play your cards right, jon scott will do some shoveling for you. [laughter] jenna: we'll see. he looks skeptical over there. jon: i just had shoulder surgery, come on! >> reporter: true! i'm sorry, you're off the. jenna: that means he's got one good arm. j.d., thank you very much. talk to you soon. jon: this just in, sarah palin ooh sitting down with fox news legal analyst judge andrew napolitano and making some news. judge napolitano, our senior legal analyst, the anchor of "freedom watch" premiering in this an 8:00 eastern time slot tonight. >> reporter: yes, jon. by the way, i'll help you with that snow shovel. jon: i appreciate that. everybody heard you ask the question, what's the answer? this. >> you're going to have to tune in at 8:00 tonight to find out. jon: answer the question. >> i'll tell you this, she's thinking about it. jon: okay. >> in a, in a way that it's worth listening to what she has

to say. a number of things have to happen, and she indicates what those things are. jon: and we have to wait until 8 p.m. eastern to -- >> a little after, yeah. we sat down with her this morning for about 15 minutes, and in a very, very candid and refreshing interview, she's happy about the tea party, she believes that we will see the government shrink, she's happy that it's acceptable to talk about small government on the constitution and sound money and the gold standard, that was considered fringe ten years ago, and she has some interesting thoughts about her own future. jon: she also talked a little bit about political nuances. i think your producers are going to let us play that clip. let's go to that right now. >> go ahead. i love this one line, we're going to put it occupy telephone screen now -- up on the screen now, and then i'm going to ask you if there was a little bit of hidden meaning when you were talking about watching mama bears. take a look. >> i lo watching these mama -- love watching these mama bears. they've got a nature, yeah, that

huge kind can learn from. she's trying to show her cubs, nobody's going to do it for you. you get out the you. were you talking about the government when you said that, or was it at least in the back of your mind? >> oh! you're going to see all these subtleties all throughout the next eight episodes. [laughter] >> she was talking about the government. mama bears make you find your own food, the government should do the same. jon: yeah. >> you have to be in many alaska to understand that kind of a nuance. jon: it'll be interesting to see how that show does over its eight-week run. a lot of people turned in to the premiere. let's turn our attention to charlie rangel for a minute, big surprise what happened in his ethics trial this morning, he basically said, hey, i'm going home. >> it appears as though he's been paying his law firm from an account which is not authorized to pay legal fees. jon: is that an ethics violation? >> that itself could be an ethics violation. he's not been charged with that

because that just came clear this morning. it appears as though they've walked away from him. you cannot walk away from your client on the morning of trial because you're worried about getting paid. so irrespective of the merits here whether charlie rangel is innocent or guilty of these charges against him, his lawyers have no right to leave, and they have no right to leave today, and he should not be fending for himself. right now there's nobody in the courtroom on his side. the lawyers aren't there and he's not there. jon: maybe what we need is a national legal insurance plan paid for by the government. >> i wonder if government would force that down our throats? [laughter] jon: strategically, i mean, maybe this is not his choice that he's walking out on his trial, but wouldn't it have, wouldn't it have been to his benefit to get this thing heard during the lame duck session of congress? >> yes. he, first of all, enjoys a huge democratic majority in the house now. that might influence the ultimate outcome here as to what

the punishment is if he's convicted. and secondly, he has known about this trial date for months and months. the evidence against him was presented as a courtesy to him under the rules back in june. here we are in the second half of november. right now the case is going forward without anyone challenging the evidence, without anyone presenting congressman rangel's view. and they're not going to try this twice. so this is either a stunt or one of the most ill-guided maneuvers in a courtroom that i've ever seen. jon: but it could, i mean, he could go to trial under, presumably, the gavel of a speaker boehner, right? if this thing gets dragged out? >> no. i think they will finish it this week whether he's there with his lawyers, whether he's there alone or whether he leaves. jon: interesting. judge andrew napolitano. >> pleasure. jon: check hit out tonight on from "on freedom watch" 8:00 this evening, and you'll hear the answer to that question.

jenna: another big story today, they plan to spend six months at sea, and instead paul and rachel chandler were held hostage by pirates for more than a year. they are both free today but what did it take to secure their release? we'll talk about that. also a deadly inferno in china, flames pouring out of that skyscraper you just saw on your screen. the latest on the death toll and what could have caused this high-rise fire.

jenna: well, coming up new next hour, nearly two weeks after election day, one of the biggest senate races is still undecided. the latest on the counting in alaska. plus, what each side is now saying. also, an insightful new documentary on global warming. this time it's a cry for turning down the volume on the debate in a return to sanity. we're going to explain that. plus, we're gearing up for our town hall usa. today the panel will tackle the

lame duck session of congress. what should be on the lawmakers' agenda, and what questions do you have? come and join jon and i at foxnews.com/happening now. jon: new information on a british hostages just released by somali pirates after more than a year. there's word a big ransom might have changed hands here. greg talcott live in london for us. what do we know about what got them released, greg? >> reporter: jon, it was a long and winding road but with a happy ending. first, let me give you the latest what we're hearing about the couple themselves, paul and rachel chandler, we are told, are staying at the residence of the u.k. ambassador right now. we're told they'll probably be heading back to the u.k. to their family and friends tomorrow. we're also told they are in good condition this, amazingly, after their ordeal which included being nabbed by pirates on their sloop, being held in captivity for 13 months, living rough in

the somali brush and, as we understand, also enduring beatings at the hands of the pirates. now, as for that ransom, i've been speaking to people close to the negotiations that have been going on literally for months. we're told the total ransom amount was $800,000, jon. i'm told the first lump of that 800,000 fell into the hands of the pirates back in june and then they reneged on the deal. kind of unusual from our experience with pirates. and then the second portion of that payment came just in the past week, and that sealed the deal. i am told that the talks were not easy, negotiations involved a lot of players. that money came from a lot of players as well, but at the end of the day, it did the deal. here's a very short quote from paul chantler. he made this assessment of his captives yesterday upon his release. take a listen. >> we survived in the hands of a brigade of thugs. >> reporter: a brigade of

thugs, jon. he also had to come to grips with something else yesterday, jon, four months ago his then-99-year-old father died. paul chandler did not know that at the time, he only learned about it yesterday. he is now, obviously, in mourning. jon? jon: so sad. we haven't heard much about the pirate situation in that part of the world. what's going on? >> reporter: well, that's the real back story to all of this, jon. as regular viewers of fox news will know, we and others have been tracking the tale of international navies going after the pirates. we followed the fifth fleet, nato, european union, other international navies as they chased these guys, and they are still going out there, and they are still causing problems. the latest statistics we're getting, jon, is right now pirates are holding 25 foreign ships and 500 hostages. at the same time, there's about 700 pirates in jails and courts and about 12 different countries, and just in the past week the reports are that a $10

million ransom was paid for the release of one ship. the bottom line, jon, is this: as long as lawlessness and strife remain on land in somalia, these guys are going to go out and try to find trouble. as we heard from paul candleler, they are nothing but a bunch of thugs causing a lot of problems to a lot of people including shipping. jon: it's nice to have the chandlers free, but it seems like paying that ransom is only going to create more problems. greg talcott, thanks. jenna: we're on verdict watch in the first civilian trial of a gitmo detainee. the jury's decision could come down anytime. we're live at the court mouth just ahead. or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

jon: a fox news alert and new video just in to our desk here

of the search in that park in mount vernon, ohio. it's quite a large park, formerly a gravel quarry as you can see, where authorities are looking for evidence in the disappearance of three people, tina herrmann, her 10-year-old son kody, and another friend of the family, stephanie sprang. they are all still missing, this after herrman's and-year-old daughter has been sound -- 13-year-old daughter has been found tied up and gagged in the basement of a home all connected to matthew j. hoffman, the man who has been arrested. the 13-year-old found in the basement of the home where hoffman lived, but no sign of her mother, the other woman and her 10-year-old brother. it is a mystery. police say there was a large amount of blood found at the home that tina herrmann had. they don't know necessarily who that blood belonged to or what has happened to those three. they have found the 13-year-old,

as we said, but the search goes on for the others. we'll keep you updates on "happening now." jenna: well, here's another story that's really making headlines overseas as well as at home. a fast-moving fire engulfing a high-rise in shanghai, china. the flames sending desperate residents running from this 28-story apartment building. the death toll now stands at 42, it could even go higher. firefighters taking more than six hours to extinguish the flames. just look at those flames. you can just see how hot and quickly moving that fire was. the building, by the way, is home to a large number of retired teachers. the witnesses say building materials used for renovations are what actually caught fire, and it quickly spread up the scaffolding causing quite a disaster. jon: after kwan president hamid karzai calling on the u.s. to reduce military operations and end raids on taliban leaders. it is causing a whole new rift

with america's top commander there, general david petraeus. conor powell is is live in kabul with more for us. connor? this. >> reporter: well, jon, president karzai has had similar outbursts in the past, but this is being viewed as a very serious outburst. over the weekend president karzai said that he wants to see u.s. troops begin to wind down the military operations here in afghanistan. he also said he wants to see night raids ended, and he also said he wants to see u.s. troops have a less visible presence here in afghanistan. now, today afghan president karzai's spokesman tried to down play the comments, but i'm told that president karzai's comments have really angered and frustrated general petraeus. there is a view here that president karzai's comments are a direct shot, it's a direct criticism of the petraeus strategy here in afghanistan which really puts a focus on protecting the afghan civilians, it has a focus of u.s. troops patrolling being out and about among the afghan population in

order to separate insurgents from the population. president karzai's spokesman said today it was not a criticism of this strategy, but many u.s. officials and and western officials see it as a direct criticism of this strategy. now, it comes at a time as general petraeus is trying to sell the success of the surge, not only to americans, but to the international community. and u.s. officials feel president karzai's comments are undercutting general petraeus' ability to sell the success of the surge and press for more time. there is a growing disagreement here between what the future of the surge and the future of the u.s. strategy should look like in terms of what the international community thinks it should look like and what afghan president hamid karzai thinks it should look like. jon: i know the white house and pentagon are reviewing the current surge strategy, so when karzai comes out and says something like that, what's the impact? >> reporter: well, president karzais has made comments like this before. earlier in the year he said he

might be forced to join the taliban if united states didn't stop pressing him to clean up corruption in his own government. so to some extent u.s. officials are well aware that president karzai makes these types of comments every so often. but this comes at a crucial time as petraeus is trying to convince the white house and the pentagon for more time. it is a very difficult situation for general petraeus and for the other western commanders here in the afghanistan, jon. jon: conor powell live from kabul, thanks, connor. jenna: we're going to take you, now, to capitol hill, a live look where tea party favorite congresswoman michele bachmann is about to give her two cents on earmarks and the lame duck session of congress. no pun intended, two cents -- forget it. all this as freshman congressmen arrive on the hill, and some have confirmed that senator jim demint is also out there, of course, a tea party supporter

and being supported by the tea party himself. meantime, will speaker of the house leader nancy employees by soon -- pelosi become minority leader pelosi? we're going to take a look at her chances. and our town hall panel is going to answer your questions about what you think the lame duck congress should and should not take on. we'll see you there. t month's i? sadly, no. oh. but i did pick up your dry cleaning and had your shoes shined. well, i made you a reservation at the sushi plce around the corner. well, in that case, i better get bk to these invoices... whh i'll do right after making your favorite pancakes. you know what? i'm going to tidy up your side of the office. i can't hear you because i'm also making you a smoothie. [ male announcer ] marriott hotels & resorts knows it's better for xerox to automate their global invoice process so they can focus on serving their customers. with xerox, you're ready for real business.

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can they get anything done in the lame duck congress? jenna: that's a good question. jon: hello, i'm jon scott. it's high noon in the east. jenna: and i'm jenna lee. coming from the white house, while the president was overseas and now mr. obama is back in d.c., and the lame duck session of congress is getting underway, and the president is keeping his options open on a possible compromise. white house correspondent mike emanuel's live on the north lawn with this story. mike, what is the president's approach heading into this week's meeting, big meeting, we should say, with bipartisan lawmakers? >> reporter: well, jenna, he didn't want to put all his cards out on the table, but it's interesting the president coming back from a ten-day trip to asia came back to the press cabin came back to talk to reporters about issues. the audio's a little scratchy, but take a listen. >> are we should be able at

least to get through the lame duck making sure that taxes don't go up for middle class families starting january 1st, that some of the key business provisions that can assure economic growth gets done. >> reporter: so the president will go face to face with leaders later this week here at the us what on thursday -- white house on thursday. a lot of different compromises are being floated, but he'll get his first face to face coming this thursday. jenna: and maybe speak a little clearer. sounded like he was underwater, right? many not his fault. mike, there's been a lot of proposals kind of floated out there. are there any kind of so-called key ingredients that you see are going to be necessary to actually reach a compromise on this tax cut issue? >> reporter: chuck schumer floated yesterday that people making under $1 million, you can already hear the campaign rhetoric of we're not going to give tax cuts to millionaires

and billionaires. senator jim demint on fox news sunday had his own ideas. let's take a listen. >> we're not talking about cutting taxes, we're talking about keeping current tax rates the same. and i don't think there's any room to negotiate on raising taxes particularly on smaller businesses. >> reporter: so the republican position is it's not time for a tax increase on anybody as we're dealing with a weak economic recovery. interesting, though, because some democrats want to see an extension of unemployment insurance, so do you give them that in exchange for an extension of the tax cuts for higher income people? we'll have to wait and see. jenna: seems like some bartering going on. mike emanuel at the white house today. >> reporter: thanks, jenna. jon: remember your first day of high school? well, newly-elected lawmakers are getting the lay of the land today in washington as orientation begins for the freshman class of the 112th congress which convenes on january 3rd. right now 94 newly-elected

lawmakers are going through orientation. six house races are still officially undecided. of the 94 incoming freshman, 85 are republicans, nine democrats, and at least 24 of the newcomers were backed by the tea party. and the tea party is gearing up for action when the new congress convenes in january. tea party leaders plan to flex their muscles on some key conservative issues like a move to ban earmarks. so how much influence will they actually have once they get to capitol hill? let's talk about it with bret baier. he, of course, is the anchor of "special report." it seems like they are going to have more than the usual amount of influence, bret. would you agree? >> reporter: yes, jon, no doubt about it. it's already changing the environment up on capitol hill. as you see these incoming freshman arrive and, of course, as you mentioned, they won't be sworn in until after the first of the year. but the fact that republicans are going to vote on banning earmarks for the next congress and the fact that there is so

much talk about this, the earmark issue, is evidence already that the tea party has made a big move. they've effected the way things are operating already. now, in the big picture down the road you wonder how these new tea party candidates who have been elected now to office, once sworn in, will work in a legislative environment. and that's what we saw over the weekend with various orientations for incoming freshman and what they're doing about how to get the things that they want passed through a republican house. jon: but even among republicans there seems to be some disagreement about the future of earmarks. i know there's certainly disagreement in the senate where senator jim demint of south carolina said on fox news sunday that he wants earmarks completely banned. he's apparently getting some pushback on that from the minority leader, mitch mcconnell. listen to this, bret, and let's

get your take on the other side. >> mitch is a good friend. on this issue we disagree. you would see spending come down dramatically if you took out all the self-interest that earmarks remit. jon: apparently, senator mcconnell has been saying that earmarks really are just a drop in the bucket when it comes to the amount of money the federal government spends. >> reporter: well, senator mcconnell is right in the big picture as far as the dollar amounts and also the fact that earmarks in and of themselves are not the appropriation. they are not the money. they are the directing of that money, the pots of money in all these different departments are already decided at one point, and the earmarks are exactly where that money is directed to. so it's nuance in how you define the earmark, but the bottom line is we expect to hear senate minority leader mitch mcconnell address this in a speech in a couple of hours on the senate floor, and you will likely hear more of a definition

about where this is headed. it looks like the demint crew, the tea party-backed people, have really changed the dynamic in this that this ban will be in effect. jon: yeah. >> reporter: there's still a question about what the definition is. is it just the earmarks that are slipped into bills without anybody knowing, or is it if an earmark is voted on in committee in the light of day, is that technically an earmark? this so that's what -- so that's what you have to figure out the definition is. jon: and before everybody gets on the e-mail machine and starts criticizing me, i'm just quoting the leaders in washington. i mean, the feeling among many in washington is that a few million or a few billion dollars really don't amount to much. that's the consensus of some about this massive federal budget we have, right? >> reporter: yes. but is the symbolic, and it is an effort, and it is according to supporters of a ban across the board the earmark is an insidious thing that effects a lot of, a lot of thought about

passing big bills. the problem is it's not exactly the appropriation. that's already done. and that's what mccobble's talking about -- mcconnell's talking about, you have to drop spending in all these different departments in the lump sums, not the specific earmarks. jon: and senator demint calls himself a recovered earmarker, said he used to like his earmarks himself but he hasn't asked for in i in the past four years. anyway, the battle goes on, and there is the tea party rally that's sort of underway right now with some of the newcomers on congress talking about the budget, the tea party and everything else. i know as you said, bret, we'll be hearing from the minority leader on the senate side a little later today, and we'll certainly hear from you today on "special report." >> reporter: thanks, jon. jon: you can learn more about the orientation sessions for house freshman, check out our web site. great information on what the lawmakers are learning. go to foxnews.com/aehq.

jenna: in the meantime, outgoing house speaker nancy pelosi fighting to remain her party's leader. today pelosi is coming face to face with some democrats who blame her for the democrats' midterm showing. that's the tough thing, you've got to come face to face with those who didn't win. carl cameron's live on capitol hill watching the drama there. carl, what would you say is the tone amongst the democrats? >> reporter: much more somber. i mean, the contrasts couldn't be more clear to republicans who come in with great energy and enthusiasm, and they're determined and ready to get to work. they're so charged. republicans have a completely different series of problems, and it starts with their leader, nancy pelosi. on wednesday this week all of the, both chambers of the house and senate will elect their leaders, and nancy pelosi will, in all likelihood, become the minority leader of the house democrats. she's not going to give up her leadership post. there had been tremendous

pressure from moderate and some conservative democrats -- there aren't a lot of them left anymore, truth is they were still beat b -- so beaten up in the 2010 election, those folks aren't going to be around to vote against her. there is a democrat who may, in fact, run against her, his name is heath shuler of north carolina. a blue dog, fiscally-moderate democrat who has been complaining that nancy pelosi's liberalism is in part why they got so pounded in the 2010 midterm election. as a consequence of that, however, schuler recognizes that nancy pelosi is an effective vote counter and does have it pretty much locked down, so it's a symbolic counter to her leadership, and it comes as a second letter has circulated asking nancy pelosi, asking, first, for signatures as a petition exercise and asking for her not to do this because in their view it's toxic for the future of the democratic party. the concern among these socially

and fiscally-moderate democrats is that her liberalism shrinks the party and makes it too far left to be able to get it done, sets them up for more problems down the road. nancy pelosi, however, has made it clear to insiders that she's excited and enthusiastic, and she's energy eyed to -- energized to start working at as the minority leader. a lot of people think she should step aside, no sign she's going to do that at all. jenna: so, carl, going back to that point about some democrats being concerned about the future and what her re-election could mean for them down the road, what specific issues could this present a problem with her leadership and, again, a more liberal-leaning, it seems, democratic party? >> reporter: sure. well, the democratic party is made up of a vast array of coalitions, and there are a number that have to be attended to not only in congress, but across the country with voters. and there's a little bit of internal problems because when you go from being the majority to the minority, your leadership

team necessarily shrinks. you no longer have a speaker and you end up with less bosses. but nancy pelosi's tried to come up with an accommodation to avoid that, specifically to take care of steny hoyer and jim clyburn. in the prior democratic leadership structure, jim clyburn was one of the leaders, but he would essentially not have a seat at the table anymore, so nancy pelosi has create add job and decided that jim clyburn, one of the deans of the congressional black caucus and very important in democratic politics nationwide, will remain in the leadership as a, quote, assistant leader. he won't be number two, he'll sort of be number two and a half, three, and that's an illustration of how democrats have to make sure they keep their coalitions in play and together while nancy pelosi is their leader, even though the moderates and the centrists, democrats worried about too much spending and not enough pro-growth tax policy, are deeply concerned that nancy pelosi makes the party look, sound and continue to be too liberal to win, to govern and to

lead. jenna: all right. carl cameron off the road, back on capitol hill. carl, great to see you. thank you so much. >> reporter: thanks, jenna.jon jon i think they call that job creation, don't they? a jury is back at it, a live report from the federal courthouse next. also, we've seen the scary ads from those who want to fight global warming, but do they go too far? a brand new documentary that might make you want to see the issue in a whole different way. >> if you want to get people's attention on a complex issue, you scare the pants off them. >> if we only listen to worst-case scenarios, we're likely to be spending most of our money on the people who shout the loudest. jon: we are also taking your questions for our town hall usa panel. it's all about the lame duck congress and what you hope they

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jon: a jury continuing deliberations today for the first gitmo detainee facing a civilian trial. iowa med ghailani is accused of attacking the united states. david lee miller, what's the latest from this jury today, david? is. >> reporter: jon, just moments ago i got word of what could be a significant and curious new development in this trial. the jury began meeting at 9:30 this morn, and just a few moments ago u.s. marshals brought into the jury a note. not clear at this time who wrote the note or what the note says, but as we know this is the first note going in to the jury.

it does appear there is some disagreement on that jury, jon. last thursday, which was the last day of deliberations, the judge asked the jury essentially how things were going, and the foreman replied on thursday, quote, we've been talking about certain points all day. it will take a long time to get into anything else. that was thursday. the jury had a three-day weekend, they began their deliberations this morning about three hours ago, and as best we know, the deliberations continue at this hour. jon? jon: so is there any indication of what might be holding up a verdict here? >> david, any indication what might be holding up the verdict? this looks like we don't have an audio feed into david -- jenna: he usually doesn't ignore you. j. jon: no, he's a very smart man, and he usually has the answers to most of those questions. we'll try to reconnect. jenna: really interesting trial. jon: it is. and kind of surprising they

don't have a verdict yet. jenna: well, we'll see, that secret note. we're also watching another big note is coming the end of the line when it comes to alaska. who's actually ahead? we're going to have a live report on the ballot counting just in moments, and why this race really matters for the senate still as we wait for the results. plus, trying to stop the violence at the u.s. very mexican border. casey casey teague gal live with the effort. >> reporter: the national guard on a new mission, this one not in iraq or afghanistan, instead it's along the u.s./mexico border right here. we'll she you how they're fighting america's third war coming up in a live report. receiving the bronze star, that was definitely one of my oudest moments.

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jenna: well, alaska's senate race is still undecided at all those -- as all those write-in votes are still being counted, and right now joe miller remains slightly ahead in the total, but senator lisa murkowski is predicting she will be taking the lead once those write-in ballots are counted. there's a lot going on, so we're going to go straight to anchorage. jill has been working around the clock on one of the really top races we've been watching as these midterms have come and gone. so where do we stand today? what does it look like is going to happen here? >> you know, the murkowski camp anticipates that at the end of the day today there'll be much closer to being able to declare victory. they're basing that, as you mentioned, miller is technically ahead right now, but they're basing that on once the votes that are still outstanding come in and are counted, at some point votes for him will stop, and the votes that have been

separated into a write-in category which are presumably going for murkowski and the trend has shown about 90% have gone to murkowski, that she'll outpace the margin and she'll outpace it enough that a victory for her is clear. now, of course, we don't know until we know, those votes need to be counted and tallied. we have about 10,500 write-in votes left, we also have about 8800 absentee votes plus, i believe, about another thousand overseas votes which are predominantly the military. miller has said he's not willing to make any acknowledgment about anything at this point other than votes still need to be counted and it's inappropriate to say anything until all the votes have been counted, so i wouldn't expect to hear anything from him until wednesday. and certainly we do have, also, some court challenges underway from the miller campaign including whether or not ballots that are less than perfect should be allowed to be counted, particularly those with misspellings. so one of the big things that

all the analysts and reporters and, i'm sure, both campaigns will be watching today is what does the margin look like. does it look like, perhaps, there could be a murkowski win that is solidly with these clean votes, or are we going to be looking to the margin that's within those that include some of the challenge votes? if that's the case, this certainly isn't going to be over for a while. jenna: right. that's an important point to mention, that there still could be so many contested write-in votes. and one of the reports we've heard come out of alaska over the weekend, and maybe you have some confirmation about this, the departure of some or all of joe miller's legal team and what that actually means, can you tell us a little bit about that? >> you know, it's -- i've read those same reports that maybe half of the attorneys that were here on his behalf have left on friday. we do know that ben ginsberg who's the permanent republican attorney who was brought in to monitor the ballot count for murkowski also departed on friday saying that it appeared

that the outcome was obvious and that the vote count was in good hands. some people have suggested that the departure of the attorneys signals that there's not much of a legal battle to wage, and people are reading that as a good sign for murkowski. but, you know, you don't really know. there are certainly attorneys who are still here and present in alaska, there are still, certainly, court cases that have been filed both in federal court and in state court to try to assist the miller campaign. those are still underway. jenna: all right. something to continue to watch as we watch all the signs to see if we're going to get any results sometime soon. jill burke, thank you very much for the alaska dispatch. thank you so much. ♪ jon: from alaska, let's head south to the battle on our southern border. as part of president obama's promise to tackle drug and human trafficking, about 1200 national guard troops are on duty now in california, arizona, new mexico and texas.

but are more troops actually making a difference? this here with our brand new series titled america's third war, casey steegal live in arizona. so how effective is the military presence, casey? >> reporter: well, jon, the boots on the ground have only been here since, oh, the beginning of october, so at this point it's difficult to measure any failures or successes. but one thing we know, history does tell us that a strong military presence along the southwest border is a good deterrent because back in 2006 a lot of people might remember when president bush ordered roughly 6,000 troops to the southwest border under operation jump-start, and over that two-year period the number of illegal immigrant arrests went down by more than 20%. the other thing that we're already noticing, we're seeing an immediate effect according to officials, the bad guys already taking note of the hundreds of armed soldiers at work out here. >> we're an additional part of

the barrier that cbp has put up, and you can see them watching us from the other side with their scouts, and we are definitely making them do different things and use different tactics. so we are jamming them up. >> reporter: now, of course, on the other hand, there are critics saying that while 1200 troops is a nice start, that simply isn't going to make a dent into the real problem out here along the border, especially when you talk to people who live in these border towns and certain members of law enforcement. and, jon, keep in mind the u.s./mexico border is nearly 2,000 miles long, and a lot of folks are saying we need more troops and fast. jon: yeah. 1200 troops not very many for a 2,000-mile border, so what are they doing, and where are they stationed? >> reporter: well, they're sprinkled throughout the four southwest border states. take a look at this graphic, and it breaks down the deployment numbers for you. about 263 are already at work in california, about 541 here in the state of arizona, 80 in new mexico, 284 in texas.

they're essentially serving as extra eyes and ears of the border patrol agents. they're looking for people attempting to jump the fence and enter this country illegally. also looking for people trying to smuggle drugs into the homeland. u.s. border patrol saying there's no such thing out here as too much help. >> we assign them to some of our mobile surveillance systems which allowed us to take border patrol agents out of those vehicles and put them out on the border so it enhanced our deployment posture along the border. >> reporter: now, of course, this is going to be an issue we're monitoring closely for you. this deployment, by the way, expected to last just about a year. jon? this. jon: casey steegal live on the border there, thank you, casey. so in the light of the increasing violence in mexico, would you favor increasing the u.s. military's role along the southern border? you can weigh in on today's you decide and check out our special new section of original fox news stories about america's third war. it's all on your online

resource, foxnews.com. jenna: well, tough words from a top u.s. diplomat following comments about our troops from afghanistan's president. we're going to have a new reaction in a live report for you. plus, a leading expert wants everyone to cool it when it comes to global warming. a brand new documentary shedding new light on this issue. take a listen. >> science has been hijacked by alarmists, and the public are given to believe that they are to blame. >> we started washing our clothes with stone. >> are i'm completely off electronics. >> energy-efficient lightbulbs. >> recycle more. >> are giant hybrid. @=h [ male announcer ] it's simplehysics...

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♪ ♪ jenna: well, major developments today in afghanistan, and fox news gets brand new reaction from a high-ranking u.s. official. this after fiery comments from afghan president hamid karzai. he's demanding a less visible u.s. military in his country. dominicty any tally streaming live for us from afghanistan. dominic? >> reporter: jenna, yes. president karzai alienating even further the ally he has in america, and it was clear to see the irritation on the face of the u.s.' special representative to afghanistan, richard c. holbrook, who is here in pakistan today. i caught up with him, and he wasted no time in indicating just how short-sighted he thought president karzai was

with his comments. >> some of the things he objected to are things which are being done at this time necessarily to support his government. and i think that that has to be understood. >> reporter: now, the obama administration has let it be known that 2014 is now the new deadline for the transition of the military operation, the military mission in terms of afghan security to the afghan forces themselves. we will hear more about that at a nato summit in lisbon later this week, but the ambassador also let it slip that the u.s. will issue a so-called vision 2015 statement in what we will understand more about the role of combat soldiers in the afghanistan after then. now, beyond that -- and this is an important development -- early next year there will be then what he described as a strategic partnership declaration with afghanistan. he didn't expand on when that was, but it could be a precursor to a so-called state of forces

agreement rather like what we saw in iraq where u.s. troops did stay on to assist the forces there but also to take part, when needed, in combat missions. however, let's put this in the context of where we currently stand right now. we're not even sure whether the number of u.s. troops we've had increased in afghanistan this year has worked, so obama's plan for withdrawal come july next year may actually be a little short-sighted at this time. and, of course, this does depend, jenna, on just how complicated president karzai does make thicks for -- things for its ally, america. back to you. jenna: dominic, thank you so much. jon: you know, for years we've seen all kinds of scary ads from those who are fighting global warming. the message is loud and clear, it is the worse problem mankind -- worst problem mankind faces. but now a leading expert is telling folks to cool it, there's no need to panic. here's a clip. >> the ice is going to melt.

>> the trees will die and fall down. >> countries will be underwater. >> it's going to happen quite soon. jon: joining us now, the author of the book "cool it." you might have seen this out before. he's also directer of the copenhagen consensus center, and the book is essentially now a documentary that is opening to rave reviews around the country. >> it is. and really it's about both cooling the conversation, you know, al gore's realizing global warming is a problem, but he did so by scaring the pants off of us. of course, we also need to cool the planet, but we need to do so smartly and, quite frankly, we're not right now. jon: all right. so you believe global warming is a man-caused event. >> yes. if you ask even the most skeptical scientist the terrorists, they tell us it's not the end of the world as we have been told. jon: and you think there is a better way to approach the

fixing of the problem than we've had so far. >> absolutely. you know, listen, the only global warming policy on the books right now is the e.u. policy in 2020. it's going to cost $250 billion every year throughout the century. and do you know what the benefit is? it will have reduced temperatures by one-tenth of one degree fahrenheit. that's silly. instead, what we should do is make green energy so cheap everyone wants it. imagine if we could innovate the price of solar panels below the price of fossil fuels. jon: it would seem you could just about put solar panels on every roof in europe if you wanted to. [laughter] >> they're trying, but that might not be a good idea as long as they're so expensive. the real point we tried to do in the film is say how could you spend that $250 billion? well, you should be spending it on research and development into green energy because that's the solution over the long run, and you should also adapt. remember, three-fourths of this world still lacks basic things

like food and clean drinking water and health care. jon: yeah. that was fascinating. you sat a bunch of really smart people down, nobel laureates some of them, and gave them a list of the world's most intractable problems and where did global warming fall on that list in terms of ability to solve it? this. >> what we said was, you know, where would you spend money first? they told us there's lots of really important things we need to fix. we should also fix global warming, but it was somewhat far down the list on what they have to do smartly. we're not right now. we're actually not tackling it at all. jon: my little daughter came home from school and said, daddy, the polar bears aren't going to have a place to live in ten days. that's not accomplishing anything. >> are well, it's not even true. listen, polar bears have increased about four times since the 1950s, so we've seen a quadrupling of their size. even if we accept they're going to have problems with disappearing, what should we do? if you do the kyoto protocol,

you'll save one each year. we shoot 300 polar bears each year. why don't we stop shooting them first? this. jon: and there are other examples of this kind of logic. where can people see it if they want to see it? the it's playing in the limited release? >> yes, it's playing all across the u.s., 125 theaters. go get your friends to see it, and really let's have a cool conversation. jon: has al gore seen it yet? >> no, i doubt that he has. he doesn't want to engage in this conversation, but i think one of the things we need to do is start having that conversation of the smarter way forward. jon: interesting. thank you for coming in. jenna: we're seeing developments in many downtown manhattan, we're going to update everybody on the other side of the break. also, our town hall panel is gearing up to answer your questions on the lame duck session of congress. what truly can be done during this time? you can log on to our live web chat, just go to foxnews.com and join the conversation.

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>> coming up on "america live," crisis point for social security and medicare. what has to happen and when to avoid a total meltdown? and voices from the left calling for president obama to commit to just a single term, no 2012 run. we're going to have an interesting debate on that. and proof that you may actually have psychic powers, plus we'll have the latest on the ohio missing persons case at the top of the hour. jenna: a fox news awe letter for you now, major developments in the trial of ahmed georgia landny, the first civilian court case for a gitmo detainee, and david lee miller is following the story closely. what's the developments here? >> reporter: this could be a very significant development, jenna. it now appears, in fact, we now know that the jury has sent a note to the judge. this note was signed by jurors 12 and 82, possibly one of them

is the jury foreman, and the contents of the note which was written in broken english, we are told, but read out loud by the judge in court said my conclusions are not going to change, being attacked by my views. is it possible to be replaced by an alternate? the judge, the defense and the prosecution began to discuss this matter, and then the decision was made that the jury would be released for lunch about half an hour sooner than had normally been scheduled. they are now scheduled to resume deliberations at about 1:45, but the question still looms, jenna, it appears at least now there is a serious possibility that there could be a hung jury in the trial of ahmed georgia landny. jenna: and what would that mean? what happens next? >> reporter: that's not entirely clear. i can tell you this, it would be nothing short of a disaster for the prosecution. not only has this been a very expensive trial, but logistically it's been very

difficult because many of the government witnesses, jenna, were flown to the united states from africa. just from that perspective alone, there's serious question whether or not the government would be able to put on the same case again be they were required to do so. jenna? jenna: yeah. interesting development, david lee. we'll be checking back with you over the next hour or so. thank you very much. jon: all right. it's time for our town hall panel. democrats were planning an aggressive agenda for the lame duck session of congress, but after the election blowout, democrats are returning to capitol hill with a much more modest to do list. let's talk about it with trey harden, a former aide to the he republican house leadership, charlie hurt is new york post washington bureau chief, and alexander lyons is executive directer of group the trains, democratic operatives. welcome to even of you.

trey, here's a question, what earmarks will be pushed through? right now there seems to be an awful lot of argument about whether to allow earmarks at all in thisincoming congress. >> jon, it's interesting, the earmark debate with will be discussed within the republican conference that really will have nothing to do with the lame duck session other than internal to the republicans that they will set a moratorium going forward on earmarks for next year. but, you know, the interesting thing about this lame duck session is that while your viewers certainly deserve high expectations especially after the recent elections, i would urge them to keep expectations relatively low. i've lived through lame duck sessions as a former staffer on capitol hill, and there are some traditional dynamics in play that typically serve as obstacles to passing major legislation. we have to remember that the government that the people voted for on november 2nd do not go

into effect until january. so you have this lame duck session that will be run by large democrat majorities in the house and the senate, so the key will be what do they decide to do, what do they decide to do on specific issues, what do they decide to do on earmarks, and then ultimately the x factor is what does the president decide to do. jon: al sand bra da, here's a question from kathy mcpherson, she says if lame duck session passes bad legislation, can it be reversed by the new congress? is. >> well, sure, but really a lot of the legislation that's being proposed for this lame duck session is just kind of tying up loose ends. i think, perhaps, the most controversial piece would be an extension of the bush tax cuts for the wealthiest americans. i think that's what we'll see tying up most of this lame duck session. there's a couple other bills that democratic leadership has proposed to put through, things like the smart treaty with

russia that the senate needs to ratify before they leave, but, you know, i don't expect huge, controversial spending bills to be attempted in this session. democrats got the message last tuesday and know that passing anything controversial would not be in their best interests. jon: here's a question for you, charlie, from alan many in maine. he wants to know who might be more concerned with finding employment, these members of congress who are outgoing, how hard is it for them to keep their focus during a lame duck session, and how does it effect how much can get done? >> well, that's actually a pretty good question. i think a lot, you know, especially when you have the large number of members and not to mention the enormous number of democratic staffers who are suddenly out of work and need to find, you know, need to find employment. actually, i think they get paid through something like march to be exact which is always sort of

a curiosity. but in the any event, you're going to have an enormous number of people tying up all their time trying to look for work. jon: yeah. >> but traditionally i think the members will stick it out, certainly. jon: charlie, stick with us. we're going to be back with more of our town hall panel ahead. jenna: major developments in the first trial of a gitmo detainee in civilian court. breaking news just ahead. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement

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jenna: all right, everybody, we're back with our town hall panel. we have trey harden, charlie and alexandra. this was coming from ed harden, he had a question just about why we even have a lame duck session at all. why don't we just let the new

people start legislating right away? alexandra, why do we even have a lame duck session? why is it important? >> well, there are just some loose ends that need to be tied up, some things that'll extend by the end of the year sup as the -- such as the bush tax cuts, unemployment benefits, things of that nature. the new congressional session doesn't start until january 5th, so there is still some business of the country that has to be addressed and, frankly, i won't want to see our elected officials get paid for two months without doing some work. jenna: that's a good point. trey, what do you think? >> well, it's interesting because there typically is not supposed to be a lame duck session, but there has been because there's not enough work that they get done during the regular time frame of the, of the congressional year. but, you know, the interesting thing is that coming up over these next couple months it's a real opportunity for this poker game that will start between the president and the republicans in the house and the senate to see

whether that's going to go over the course of the next year. so i think this year will be a little more interesting than past. jenna: so, charlie, we have two full working weeks for this lame duck session of congress to really tackle some very big issues, and some of our viewers are wondering maybe we should give them that timeline all the time and see if they can get something done. charlie, what do you think about that? >> it's a great question because looking back over the years, i do not remember a lame duck congress ever accomplishing much of anything. obviously, the tax cuts are going to be a big deal this time, but the way i'm sort of looking at it and the way i think a lot of democrats are looking at is it's their opportunity to come back and make one last ditch effort at taking some of the issues they failed to accomplish on and sort of make those changes, you know, obviously, the tax cuts is the big one. they don't want to be -- they don't want to always be remembered that they were against extending all those tax

cuts even for those below 250,000. jenna: sure. i wonder if they get to expense all their last dinners with friends, things like that? trey, charlie and alexandra, thank you so much for joining us today. >> thanks, jenna. jon: new warnings that the social security system is in even worse shape than you might have heard. lou dobbs is here to talk about it and weigh in on deficit reduction plans that could effect you. let me tell you about a very important phone call i made.

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