helicopter crashed during an overnight operation. it happened in the valley of the wardack province west of kabul, and this is the worst single day loss of life for coalition troops in afghanistan sense the beginning of the war. let's bring in retired army colonel and military analyst jack jacobs. welcome back. what do we know about this crash? >> it was a chinook ch 47. i don't know what model. it could very well have been an mh 47e, which is a type we use for special operations. however, evidently there were seven afghans aboard. the rest were nato troops. don't know how many were americans. it is unusual for special operations forces to bring after began troops with them, so this might have been special forces american units or other nato units going into areas in afghanistan to train locals and they -- the report is that they were actually on a live mission in a built-up area just to the west of kabul. >> then the taliban claiming

responsibility for this. if we are on a mission, this is either a training exercise or some sort of convoy, they have claimed responsibility at this point having shot a rocket-propelled -- >> they claim they shot down with a rocket propelled grenade. most of the time it's nonsense. there's an unconfirmed report from a nato source that, in fact, the helicopter was shot down. it is easy to shoot helicopters down. especially when they're coming into land. or it's getting close to its objective and is moving extremely slowly. it's easy to shoot them down with small arms, automatic weapons and even a rocket propelled grenade. >> we are just getting this. you are talking to us. this is breaking news, everyone. the senior administration official saying this helicopter that crashed was carrying 31 u.s. special operations forces. we are getting confirmation now. the seven afghan soldiers as

well. apparently they're saying according to a senior administration official that it was shot down by insurgent there's in afghanistan. taliban claiming responsibility. you see this as being a likely outcome of what may have transpired? >> well, it sounds like it is. it is extremely unusual. special operations forces typically will conduct a mission without afghans, and they'll do it in the stealthy situation that is usually in a raid that this sends right out an objective and catches them by surprise. it's very unusual for special operations forces to be involved in an incident quite like this. it may still be special forces, which like i said, are american units that are dropped into areas to train locals. that may still come out to be that. >> a difference between special forces and special operations force. >> special forces are green beret guys. they have a number of different capabilities. each person is cross-trained. they have language capability as well. they go into areas in afghanistan, iraq, and other

places to train local indigenous forces to defend themselves. special operations forces, on the other hand, are s.e.a.l.s, rangers, delta force. >> the ultimate guys. >> who are sent in usually on a single mission and it's usually by surprise. sfoo one more time, as you said in your reasoning for believing this may not be special operations forces and instead special forces is because usually special ops don't partner up with, say, afghans. >> typically they don't. doesn't mean that they won't, anden only that, it's unusual for them to go into a live operation that's already underway that exposes them to fire. they usually go in by surprise. you know, anything is possible in these kind of environments. a huge loss of life. >> absolutely. this is a terrible day in that regard. thank you so much for that. we'll have more from you. the u.s. is facing financial problems. standard & poor's has lowered their triple-a credit rating. it's an unprecedented move.

the u.s. has always had the highest rating possible. the big fight over the debt making shows the law making process is less predictable and stable and effecttive as previously believed. it comes on the heels of the newest jobs report. unemployment dropping slightly to 9.1%. the economy, indeed, added 117,000 jobs in july. it's not enough to dwins standard & poor's that the u.s. is moving in the right direction. >> our job right now has to be doing whatever we can to help folks find work, to help create the climate where business can put up that job listing, where incomes are rising again for people. >> we were right to hold the president accountable on the debt limit because he has already backed every to proposing more stimulus spending, higher taxes, and even more regulations. doubling down on this same failed policies is not the answer. >> john harwood has more now on

the white house from what this downgrade means for the u.s. good morning to you, john. >> alex, this is the kind of historical first that no country wants to have happen. a huge symbolic blow to the united states, and this economy, which has always enjoyed a gold plated credit rating. it's also embarrassment to all involved in the process. to president obama because it happened on his watch. to republicans because the president now has a tangible consequence to point to of the way they played the debt and deficit reduction deal, and to standard & poor's because of the back and forth over their math before they finally released that credit rating at the end of the day yesterday. now, the hope of the administration is that this doesn't have major tangible economic consequences. it doesn't raise the interest rates of every american on their car loans and their mortgage loans. the reason for that is that two of the three major ratings agencies have kept the united states at triple-a status. the administration is also hoping that few investors will be forced to divest by their investor guidelines.

what we've seen that the psyche of this market worldwide is fragile. there are troubles in europe. that's why the g-7 finance ministers are scrambling to have a meeting and how the markets and how investors are going to react is unpredictable and if they get spooked, it could raise interest rates and create further head winds for this american economy, so underscores the argument that president obama made last week after that deal was passed, which is that we don't have a problem with u.s. credit. we have a problem with the u.s. political system, stashed & poor's pointed to those problems in making this downgrade. back to you, alex. >> john harwood, we'll talk with you again. joining me from washington neil irwin, financial reporter for "the washington post." good morning to you. >> good morning, alex. >> let's get your reaction as you are reading the downgrading of the u.s. credit rating. >> in many ways it's not a surprise. s&p was pretty strongly suggesting they were leaning this directions during the debt ceiling debate that ended about a week ago. now the question is what it's going mane, what's going to happen, and, you know, the asian markets open sunday evening our

time. u.s. markets open monday morning. the question is will this cause some nasty ripple effects that it's hard to foresee and hard to imagine what they would be, but will this cause problems in the financial system that have impact for the real competent sxhe for every american's 401k. >> okay. also, does this do anything to change what we got from fitch's and moody's? they kept us at triple-a, so might this influence them or not? >> you know, eventually. i'm sure they're all reviewing their models and their analysis and making sure they're comfortable with the triple-a rating that the other two credit rating firms have. that said, you know, s&p has been more aggressive than the other on moving this direction, and unlike the others, they have lost more faith in the u.s. political system, as you said a minute ago, than the others, and the real question is not can we aforred our debts. the u.s. government can afford its debts. the question is will there be political will to make good on what we owe. >> we know as soon as, i don't know, maybe 30 hours or so from now when we start getting to the

weighing in of the asian markets, what do you expect to see? >> i think you'll see some ups and downs. we've been in a very volatile period even before this. we saw last week just all kinds of ups and downs, more downs than ups, unfortunately. that was caused by a sense that the global economy may be going off the rails and may be heading towards a second recession. europe has a debt crisis that's spiralling out of control. now you add one more thing to the mix. we have what's viewed as the gold standard, the quintessential risk-free asset in the world suddenly that's maybe not risk-free. that's certainly not a good thing. >> not at all. what about the july jobs report? the unemployment rate ticking down by, you know, .1%. does that help at all in the outlook? >> it helps in the sense that it wasn't worse. you know, this was not a great jobs report. the kind of job growth we're seeing is only enough to keep up with the population growth. it's not enough to drive unemployment down over time. that said, people were braced

for the worst and people were worried that there might be a nasty number. you know, something even a job loss or very weak job growth. instead, we got a so-so number, and against the back drop of what we've seen the last week, that was good news. >> does double depp recession worry you, the likelihood of that, or is is it all talk? >> it does. we've seen a number of weak numbers lately. very bad manufacturing number on monday. consumer spending data last tuesday. gdp number more than a week ago. what we're seeing is a very, very weak economy xht north united states. we're seeing growth in the 1 percent range for the first half of the we're. now, there are some reasons for a little optimism. the impact of that japanese earthquake is fading. oil prices have come down some. there are some bright spots, but the truth is we have a very weak economy, and it takes very little to nudge us over the edge. that's what we saw in the first half of the year. let's hope we don't see it in the second half. >> neil, many thanks. >> thanks, alex. republican presidential candidates are placing the blame squarely on the shoulders of president obama.

>> president obama has destroyed the credit rating of the united states through his failed economic policies and his inability to control government spending, by raising the debt ceiling. >> this is a reflection of the familied leadership of president obama. he really is inept when it comes to the economy. >> matt goldfarb is a financial reporter for "the washington post. good morning to you. >> good morning, alex. >> give us an idea of how bad this is for president obama and his re-election campaign. >> president obama has had a number of fists, and this is not aed very good first. the first american president to have the country downgraded under his watch. republicans are counting on that. they're going to pounce on that, and you can already see the ads in the making. i think the president will also be able to say he tried to get a compromise for a big deal to cut the deaf set. that could have really averted this kind of downgrade. i think the ultimate political crisis remains to be seen, but certainly the headline is very

bad for the president. >> yet, you look at the financial implications, certainly, but this downgrade is humiliating and it makes people eveningry in america. do you think voters are going to take that out on the president? >> i think what voters will care about next summer when they're making the decision about who they're going to vote for in the 2012 election is their personal economic situation. they won't really remember what standard & poor's is or fitz is or moody's. >> are they not going to remember that because you don't belief the people are going to feel this in their wallets when it comes to paying they are mortgages and their car loans and anything else from which they have borrowed money from the banks? do you not worry about interest rates going up so people have to pay more for these things? >> that's the question. if the downgrade leads to a series of events where people have to pay more to get a home loan or get a car loan or pay more for their credit card bills or increase unemployment, yes, people will care and people will probably blame the president. if it's sort of a big financial event today that ultimately is

absorbed by the markets and doesn't really translate to real effects on average americans, i don't think the impact will be so big politically. >> right now the headlines are about people pointing fingers at the president, but you know that can change on a dime. "new york times" cbs news poll asked americans about how they all handled the. the president faired the best. the democrats did better than republicans. 72% disapproval of the gop. do you think republicans might start facing more blame for this downgrade? >> i definitely think it's a risk. i think political independence like compromise, like presidents who are centrists and obama really tried to move to the middle. he alien it add a lot of people many his own party as he tried to work for the republicans to get a compromise, and i think republicans near the end of the debt ceiling debate were worried to quote senator mcconnell that they would own the bad economy if there was default of the debt ceiling wasn't raised. i do they republicans have reason to worry. they could be blamed for this

quite as much as the president. >> so, yeah, and back to the president's taking the blame for all this. this is from the s&p statement last night. the political brinksman ship of recent months highlights what we see as america's governance and policymaking because less stable, less evidenttive, less predi predictable than previously believed. >> i think the president did try to compromise with the republicans, and it basically came down to fundamental principles. the president wanted a deal almost no matter what, and the republicans did not want tax revenues to be in there of any substantial amount. so it was a one side basically they wouldn't compromise on each other's principles, and so with that, we had a kind of half baked solution, so it's definitely an indictment of the political system. i'm not sure one side is actually to blame more than the other. >> okay. zach goldfarb with the washington post. many thanks. >> thank you. >> what worries you most about

the credit downgrade? you can talk to me on twitter. i'll be reading your tweets this morning on msnbc saturday. the political blame game begins with republicans and democrats blaming each other for the first downgrade ever in this nation's credit rating. and the heat is on across the country's southern plains for some areas. we're talking about 36 consective days of triple digit temperatures. we're going to have a live report looking at all of it straight ahead. be kind to your eyes with transitions lenses. transitions adapt to changing light so you see your whole day comfortably and conveniently while protecting your eyes from the sun. ask your eyecare professional which transitions lenses are right for you. ask your eyecare professional for your transitions certificate of authenticity for your chance to win instant monthly prizes or our $20,000 grand prize!

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17 past the hour with more on this breaking news from afghanistan. 31 troops and seven afghan soldiers are dead after a nato helicopter crashed during an overnight operation. this all happened in the tangi valley just west of kabul, and it is the single worst day for

loss of life for coalition troops in afghanistan since the war began. though, nbc's attia with the latest now. we just got the breaking news wirmation that was 31 u.s. special operations forces or special forces. can you confirm that you are hearing that as well? >> reporter: we are hearing that as well. what we're hearing it from is actually the afghan president hamid karzai who in a statement sent his condoleances to president barack obama as well as the family of these american special forces as well as the family of the afghan commandos. he also stated that seven afghan commandos were with the special forces when they were operating. we're still trying to hear from u.s. officials here in afghanistan exactly as to what happened in this def staegt loss of life. right now they say they're still currently investigate. afghan officials say they're still retrieving bodies as well

as pieces of the helicopter. in the meantime, the taliban have claimed responsibility. they say that, in fact, the helicopter came to a compound in the district where they were located, and they were operating from, and as that helicopter was approaching according to the taliban, that's when they fired a rocket at it, having that helicopter come crashing down, killing those americans. the taliban also claimed that they lost eight fighters of their own. >> i guess is it known this tangi valley -- is this known for a taliban safe haven? >> this has been known to be a fighting safe haven for decades now, alex. it's a very good question that you ask, because i have been in areas near the tangi valley, and, in fact, this is an area that the soviets even had problems with in the 1980s. it's easily operatable for the insurgency. it was the mujahedin against the soviets and now it's the taliban and the ininsurgency against the

americans. it's an awkward terrain to operate from, especially if they are using chinook helicopters tom operate. the fact that they're using special forces showed how dangerous it is. >> okay. nbc's atia, thank you very much, and huh for that perspective. thank you very. here at home the dangerous heat is expected to continue across parts of the country this weekend. nbc meteorologist bill karins is joining us now with the latest on what to expect. good morning, bill. >> well, good start morning to you, alex. the heat has been the huge story all summer long. want stopping today. incredible temperatures continue in texas and oklahoma. yesterday it was 107 in dallas. that was almost as hot as phoenix at 109. we got a little bit of a break in kansas city with showers and thunderstorms yesterday. i think that's going to happen again today. heat warnings are in orange. almost all of the state of oklahoma, including tulsa, oklahoma city, dallas, you're under a heat advisory today. we also have heat warnksz around the memphis area. everywhere in the yellow is the heat advisory, so, in other

words, a good chunk of the southern half of the country today still going to be very dangerously hot. the record streak continues in dallas. we've now had 35 days -- can you imagine 35 days in a row where each and every afternoon it's hit 100 degrees at least. the record is 42. we're only a week away from that, and check out the five-day forecast in dallas. no rain in sight. temperatures are easily going to be above 100 for the next five days in a row, so i could be talking next week at this time at the longest hot streaks in history in dallas. today's forecast, there's a lot of areas that are going to be dodging showers and thunderstorms out there from st. louis to chicago, indianapolis, and d.c., especially late in the day today. pittsburgh down to charlotte, raleigh, atlanta, many areas of the southeast. we're going to be dodging showers and storms. not just today, but even into sunday. it's a humid atmosphere the eastern half of the country, and that's where during this time of year you're going to get the late afternoon showers and storms. unfortunately, alex, one area that's not iffing to see any rain is right in the heart of texas.

back to you. >> that's too bad. okay, bill karins. thank you. for a closer look at how hot it is through the south thom tron is here for us. >> it's going to be very muggy and sticky here today. this heat wave that we've been talking about, look, it's record breaking. just one month alone from july until august thousands of high temperatures temt records have been shattered. lives have been lost. crops as well. all because of the punishing heat. >> the heat wave is brutal -- >> i'm not used to, like, this hot, but i'm used to hot. >> unrelenting and becoming increasingly deadly. across the country the number of heat-related deaths is rise. in maryland 21 deaths so far. 15 in oklahoma. 11 in texas with more cases expected. one of the latest victims 79-year-old delores grish am who died of heat exhaustian off thieves stole her air

conditioner. the elderly are especially vulnerable. even the young are not immune. two georgia high school football players died this week following teamworkouts. many schools are now revising their practice schedules, opting for sessions early in the morning or later in the evening. hydration is critical. >> every time we go for 15 minutes or so, we make sure that they hydrate, even if they don't feel like. they go over and get their water. >> reporter: water is in short supply in texas where parts of the drought-stricken states have endured 60 consecutive days of triple digit temperatures. at the other end of the weather spectrum, too much water, heavy bands of rain yesterday triggered a flash flood many charlotte. at least one person was killed. rescuers you'd boats to safely evacuate young children stranlded by the water. flooding and drought, extremes during a scorching summer. zoom one of the georgia high school football players who died this past week will be laid to

rest today, alex,s and as for cooler weather, it doesn'ts seem like there's going to be any coming this way in the south, especially in texas. as you heard, dallas is expecting triple digit heat well into next week. >> yeah. okay. nbc's tom tron there on a muggy morning in atlanta. an argument on a city bus ends in gunfire. those details straight ahead on msnbc saturday. ♪ ♪ ♪ when you're resonsible for this much of the team, you need a car you can count on. ♪ my old contacts would sometimes move and blur my vision.

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while leaving behind cleaner emissions. it's how we make gasoline work harder for you. exxon and mobil. good morning. i'm alex witt. a helicopter crash in afghanistan has killed 31 nato troops along with seven afghan soldiers. president hamid karzai is claiming the 31 were u.s. special prayings forces. we'll get that cleared up. we know it is summertime, and it is very hot, but today at least 12 states across the south are seeing record temperatures well above the 100 degree mark. standard & poor's down grades the u.s. drit credit rating from triple-a to aa-plus. it is the first downgrade in history for the u.s. the s&p is saying congress's new deficit reduction plan does not go far enough. zirchl the downgrade means standard & poor's considers canada, france, and the u.k.

more credit worthy than the united states, and the united states has the same credit rating at belgium and new zeala zealand. it is just one step above beleaguered spain. john harwood is live at the white house for us with another good morning to you. you know, how embarrassing is this for the white house and for congress? >> very xwaersing. it's never happened before in u.s. history. everybody involved has some egg on their face. standard & poor's because they made a math mistake in the back and forth with the white house -- or the treasury department as they were explaining the downgrade. the obama administration because it happened on his watch, and the 2012 republican nominee will say, look, under his presidency for the first time this happened. republicans also, they've always said they didn't want mitch mcconnell said recently they didn't want co-ownership of the economy, but they've got it now because they raise the the stakes for a major $4 trillion deal, but then blocked the tax increases needed to get one in a system of divided government.

nobody looks good, and the hope of the administration is that the actual economic consequences will be limited because other rating agencies still have us triple-a and people because people know so much about treasuries already. >> the white house is not taking this lying down, and the treasury department really taking issue with the s&p's rating, right? do they have a leg on which to stand on when they try to make this argument? >> one senior official told me last night it's amateur hour at s&p. it's easier for the administration to make that -- those arguments than to try to discredit s&p because of how badly the ratings agencies did in the financial crisis in 2007-2008. so many bad calls that they m e made. the fourth was over the computation for the amount of discretionary spending and what's going to take place under this deal. about 1:30 yesterday standard & poor's sent over their plan to

downgrade to the treasury. treasury looked at it. career officials said, wait a minute, you've done the math wrong. there was several hours of limbo there. finally, s&p came back with a different rationale, which was more political in nature saying the political dysfunction is why we are downgrading, and the administration teeed off on that last night. >> let's look at what the dow did. having its worst week since 2008. losing 699 points this week. on the heels of all this, john, does the white house have to brace for new problems because of this downgrade? >> absolutely they do. everybody is concerned about how fragile the psyche of the market is in this economy. nobody expected top drop that severe after the administration got that deal with republicans, but, of course, there are tremendous problems m euro zone. that's why the g-7 finance ministers are about to meet to determine how to accelerate a solution to that crisis, but given the soft innocence economies throughout the world, slow growth in europe, slow

growth in the united states, high rates in joblessness, everybody is concerned about a reinforcing cycle of pessimism. >> okay, john harwood. we hope you can be a little more optimistic when we see you shortly again. >> i'll work on it. >> i know. you're doing the best you can. let's bring our panel in to weigh in now. vera gibbons, msnbc analyst and colonel jack jacobs, also an msnbc military analyst. jack has an extensive background on wall street working in the financial industry for more than ten years now. welcome. vera, we have this credit downgrade. unemployment rates above 9%. a tick down from july. does it give you an indication of where the economy is head snd. >> ae also appear to be off the recovery wagon. if you look at the economic data, it's been bad across the board from manufacturing to spending, economic growth basically here is at zilch. our global economic concerns are concerns about the u.s. currency and its ability to pay its debt, and people don't have jobs. you mentioned the rate at 9.1%.

it's closer to 16% when you consider the number of discouraged workers. definitely a lot of head winds out there, which has had more people talking about possibility of double dip. >> i want to talk with you, jack, about the companies that have announced layoffs this week, because there seems to be this disconnect between companies saying we have to let you go and yet they're sitting on piles of cash, and some of the companies would include in terms of layoffs, merck, sifk yoi systems, and lockheed martin. loofr the four tune 500 companies are saying these are healthy companies, and whether are they doing? >> they are healthy companies, and one of the reasons they are healthy is because they're sitting on piles of cash and they get rid of people they don't messily need in an environment like this. it's large companies that shed jobs because they get more efficient. it's smaller companies, midsize companies. those are the ones who actually create jobs. big companies are in fairly good shape. they good earnings, the majority of them, and they're sitting on

cash. in an environment like this, a very difficult environment, cash is king, and large companies are not going to part with much of it. >> you know, we've been asking this question of the day on twitter and here's what it has been for all of you. what worries you most about the credit down grades? go ahead and send me your reaction. we've got a couple of posts. i want to go over to you, vera, first. kate man john says my only worry is that people will panic. >> panicking doesn't do anybody good. that's going to kill off confidence. that would be your knee jerk reaction is to panic, but i think to alleviate the action newsing zits that are out there because consumers are up against any number of head winds, as jack mentioned, you have to have a cash position. not only businesses, but consumers alike. you have to try to protect your job, try to keep your job and make yourself indispensable. it's a team to try to pair down your debts, and get the downgrade on the credit. >> jack, there's another tweet i want you to respond to. this is from haw 1380. they say the things that worries me most is how it makes our country look on the world stage. >> well, yeah. we should always be concerned about how people think about us,

but, on the other hand, who cares as long as it doesn't have a bad effect on our economy? this downgrade does make us look bad, but it should bother us only to the extent that it raises our interest rates. costs are extremely high in interest in the united states. this -- somebody estimated that this downgrade is going to cost the united states as much money as the entire war in southwest as asia. that's bad news. we should be worried about how we look only to the extent that it costs us lots of money. >> there are internal down grades. it will cost consumers billions of dollars more for their loans. >> wow. it sounds awful, doesn't it in. >> we'll be back with better news, right? >> we'll have to make it up in this environment. >> thank you very much, jack and vera. with a week of tough economic news, what is the impact on mirpts and what can be done to help them? we'll speak with mario solis-marich this hour. police in louisiana say they've broken up a school shooting plot that was supposed to take place

on monday. three 15-year-old boys are under arrest in kovington, louisiana. investigators say they had a detailed plan to bring weapons to school and kill any police who tried to stop them. an alert school administrator notified officials about the plot. video taken from inside a city bus of a shooting following an argument between passengers in pennsylvania. this happened two weeks ago. the video was just played in court yesterday. witnesses say it all started when a man on a bus criticized a woman for spanking her son and a woman got on her cell phone. then at the next stop several men were waiting with guns. they opened with fire. luckily, no one was hit, and those suspects are now under arrest. in norman, oklahoma, six-alarm fire tore through an apartment building. we'll check out this three-story building, which is completely engulfed in flames here. several cars were also destroyed. it happened not too far from the university of oklahoma campus, but because school is not in session, many of those apartments were not occupied. the cause remains under investigation. america's favorite red head lucille ball would have been 100

years old today. this year marks the 60th anniversary of "i love lucy." one of the most popular tv shows of all time, if you lot of to laugh. the celebrations of lucy this weekend include some never before seen photos of her released by "life." joining me now is donny watson. let's take a look at some of the photos, first up, and they are great. never before seen. she's as beautiful as ever in them. >> gorgeous. >> the first one is called groomed for greatness. >> yes. this is a photo of lucy from 1944. that's seven years before "i love lucy" was on the air, and she's at an event for president roosevelt, and she's carefully putting orchids in her hair. what people mapt know about lucy was that she was actually a perfectionist. in years to come on "i love lucy" even those pratt falls were totally planned. totally in control at all times. >> yeah. well, she was wonderful. i have to say. the next photo, happy birthday mr. president. >> yes, this is the same event, and she's entertaining some soldiers there. at that point in her career she was mostly known for movies.

she had been in some musicals as a dancer and a singer, and, you know, she was a little known. not the icon that we know today, but certainly the guys loved her. >> that's got to be before "i love lucy" because she exploded on the scene with her husband, desi arnez, and you have come across the color stills in which both of them look just stunning. let's tack about the first one. "i love lucy" ended, and do we know when these were taken? was it around that time. he has a little bit of gray hair going. >> this was the next year, actually, and they had kept the ricardos alive, the characters they played through the lucy desi comedy hour. it was through the company they ran together. lucy was a vice president of that company. one of the first major female executives, and she rose to the rank of president later. >> yeah, and then her line was so great always in reaction to desi saying you got some splaining to to. there are more photos of two of them that are extraordinary.

that was so funny. talk about their relationship, what we know about them. they did not stay together. >> they did not. they were together for 20 years, though. had two children. they were partners not only in life, but also in business, as i said, and you know, they did the lucy show for six years. the gribd of it sort of wore on them, wore on the relationship. they decided not to do the show anymore, and eventually they did divorce by 1960. >> i want to bring up a photo of lucy smoking a cigarette while sifting through rolls of photos. you guys there at life.com, you say this depicts who lucille ball was. >> actually, you know, it's so funny that you say that because it is a very different sort of look that we're -- than we're used to seeing. you know, we know the whacky lucy, but this is a sultry lucy back from before "i love lucy." >> she's beautiful. >> she's so gorgeous. the look of determination, i think, in her eyes is so amazing. it's the determination that she took throughout her career. you know, she had been working in hollywood for 20 years before

she hit with "i love lucy." she was 40 years old. she always had that confidence. >> yeah. well, thank you for bringing us these pictures. it's so good to see you. do you believe she would have been 100 year old? that's remarkable. absolutely. happy berth day, lucille ball. >> thank you. >> it's also worth noting that the google doodle is dedicated to lucille ball. it shows the little television and black and white heart on it just like the opening credits to the show "i love lucy." you can check that out today. all in the family. police say a sister and two brothers armed with an ak-47 are behind a brazen bank robbery and an attack on a police officer. more on that coming up. the front-row tickets you never bought. the lucrative investment you never made. the exotic vacation you never took. but there's one opportunity that's too good to miss. the lexus golden opportunity sales event,

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two growers and a sister are suspected in a two-state crime spree. official saz the trio shot at a police officer in florida before

robbing a bank in georgia. surveillance video from that bank shows the suspects using guns during the robbery. that would include an ak-47. joining me live former fbi profiler and msnbc analyst clint van zandt. good saturday morning to you, clint. >> good morning. >> what is all this about, the three siblings suspected in these crimes? >> as parents we're glad to see our adult children getting along together. >> oh, wow. >> i don't mean to minimize what you are doing. when you shoot at a police officer, these are dangerous young people. you realize one of the three was recently put on probation for exchanging hundreds of elicit emails with an 11-year-old child. >> oh, boy. >> these are not necessarily good people. you know, when we look at bank robberies, that's what i did as an fbi agent, part of my time was chasing bank robbers. in a recent year, alex, there we,0 across the country. abt 1600 of them involved guns like we see here. only about 5% were takeovers

where the bad guys come in like bonnie and clyde, shoot the place up, and everybody stops and gives the money up. this is a very challenging time for the fbi and police, and $46 million was taken last year. about $ 8 million was recovered, so these three, they've only robbed one bank, but number one, they've you'd their weapons in a bank. they've used their weapons shooting their police officers, and they made a statement to their mother we all have to die. if they don't be careful, the police and the fbi are going to give them a chance to carry that out. >> yeah. and you're talking about ryan dougherty, the one who had the lewd and loosiveus behavior against him. the sister is charged with dui and attacking an officer in may. talk about their mindset as a profiler. get inside the head of these three. what are they thinking? >> they've all had, know, interesting incidents that have gone on in their lives, but we see this sibling bonding, if you will. they've all come together.

you know, the question for a profiler or anybody look atting at this is what allowed them to do this. i mean, the oldest was this 29-year-old woman who was part of this. she was engaged to marry a college profession. she had been living with him for a number of months. why do they all throw their lives away? in fact, one of the brothers who was just put on probation for exchanging these terrible emails with a child, you know, he had one of the martha stewart bracelets on his ankles to monitor him. he cut that off and took off. it looks like the three of them have come together, alex, and made a decision none of -- we either don't like our lifestyle or we're going to support each other, but where are they going to go, alex? when you are a bank robber, wielder guns, robbing banks, you have every law enforcement agency in the country, usually you find out you can run but you can't hide. >> i want to see if my director lisa can throw up that billboard that we saw with them. there's a description of a car.

you have the three of them there, and this is the kind of billboard hundreds apparently have been put up there in the state of florida. we have them in florida and georgia. they've been tracked there. how much does this kind of thing help out in terms of tracking them down? >> well, it does. it shows their pictures. you know, when they rob a bank, they had masks on, but they may as well have been had badges because we know who they are. these are good picture. that car, they probably dumped the car. they switched to something else again. where are they going to go? are you going to stay in a cheap motel or stay in a hilton? i mean, law enforcement is putting these pictures all over the country. the biggest challenge and what i'm afraid of is that some young police officer or otherwise deputy sheriff will encounter these three in a car, and just like they did earlier this week, when they see that red light go on, they'll turn around and start cranking off rounds at that deputy or police officer. they missed last time. they may not miss again. and this is -- this is truly

what you call armed and dangerous. when people start talking about they have a willingness to die, everybody, you know, is going to die at one time or another, that mindset coupled with their age, the possession of weapons makes these three very dangerous. >> yeah. i tell you, very legitimate concerns you're sharing. thank you very much, clint van zandt. employers added 117,000 jobs in july. still not enough with millions of americans still looking for work. some minority groups are struggling more than others. we'll take a look at that coming up on msnbc saturday. [ female announcer ] this is no[ kate ] can't bele i have hh blood sure. what's that thing? another medication. ♪ i really should have taken my shoes off before i got weighed. [ female announcer ] you've got a lot on your mind. that's why every walgreens prescription goes through a 10 point safeguard check that reviews your current walgreens health record for allergies and potentially harmful drug interactions. [ kate ] i can do this. [ female announcer ] the 10 point safeguard check from walgreens.

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standard & poor's lowering the u.s. credit rating because it doesn't believe the u.s. is doing enough to cut its debt. we'll bring you more reaction and on msnbc saturday. with 20 million americans looking for full-time work, the job market is tough for almost everyone. however, according to the u.s. labor department, minorities

seem to be struggling the most. 11.3% of hispanics are out of work. 15.9% are unemployed. you can compare that to the national average of 9.1% of people without jobs, and you see what we're talking about here. joining me now radio talk show host mario solis-marich. is he in from los angeles. >> glad to be here. >> what is the reason this is so disproportionately effective for minorities? >> the pew center put out incredible numbers over the past couple of weeks. what we've seen is that the wealth and the businesses that were created in the african-american and latino middle class during the clinton administration have been virtually wiped out ---ing -- by this particular recession. in fact, what's happened is that even though the country is having a recession, latino and african-american communities are really having a depression. there's been -- there has been absolutely no targeted efforts

to stimulate the economy within latino communities or within african-american communities. it's severely tragic. it's completely unsustainable. it's -- when you look at the impact that this down turn in the economy is having on our communities and you project that to the future, there's absolutely no way that we could maintain this current economic system, our democracy, because if you combine the latino and african-american communities, they're clearly the emerging majority in this country. >> sure. >> if you compare that and take a look at the numbers, take a look at our place in the future of this country, there's just no way to grow the economy, to have the prosperous middle class that we've been accustomed to and ignore this terrible problem. >> there are so many issues to discuss, but really briefly, i have always been of the mindset that education has to be at the base of everything, and i know getting better education won't turn thing around on a dime, but you have to invest in the future. do you think the fact that a lot

of jobs require at least high school diplomas, that has what is impacted these numbers? >> i think that those numbers -- that's something that's an important factor, but i think the other factor is that african-american and latino businesses, small businesses have crumbled under this particular recession. they are more likely to hire african-american and latino employees. they're more likely to invest in businesses within their own community, so at the very core of it we're talking about this elusive group that we always hear about these job createors. if the job creators within the latino and african-american communities have lost their ability to receive credit and, unfortunately, it's having a devastating effect on the entire community. >> oh, my gosh. it absolutely is. mario solis-marich we'll have you back and talk further. >> great. a senior u.s. official says 31 american special prayses forces were on board a helicopter that went down in afghanistan. we've got the latest details at

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