how overcease markets are reacting. plus, a tight rope walkers daring stunt goes wrong. we're going to show you what happened next. good morning, i'm alex witt and welcome to msnbc sunday. we are learning new details this morning about the deadly helicopter crash in afghanistan that killed 30 u.s. troops. it's the deadliest since the war began in 2001. >> we lost some great americans in the last day or so. it's a real tragedy and our hearts and minds are with those families. >> these young men are national

treasurers. they are irreplaceable. >> let's start in afghanistan. good morning. what's the latest from there? >> good morning, alex. both u.s. and nato officials continue to investigate what went wrong and just how yesterday became the deadliest day for u.s. forces in afghanistan. >> 30 u.s. service members and eight afghans were killed yesterday when the helicopter came crashing down by insurgent fire. most of the mini belongs to the navy s.e.a.l.s team 6, a group most recently credited for hunting down and killing osama bin laden. preliminary reports indicate their c-47 chinook helicopter was shot down by the insurgen i during the night raid of the province. just southwest of the capital kabul. the target was a taliban compound housing insurgent fighters. the american and afghan special forces were working side by side

when their mission took a deadly turn. as their helicopter became a target of the tam ban. it's not clear if they were shot down at the beginning or end of the mission. >> helicopters, no matter how they are outfitted or armored are particularly at risk at the beginning and end of operations. when they are inserting troops at a target or extracting them from a hot target, it is very easy to hit them. >> the 38 people killed included 22 u.s. navy s.e.a.l.s, five army crewmen, and three air force crewmen and seven afghan interpreters and a dog part of the navy s.e.a.l.s team was also killed. president obama was briefed on the attack and expressed condolences to the families of those killed. their deaths are a reminder of the sacrifices including all who served in afghanistan.

and although saturday was the deadliest day for troops since the start of the war, nato deaths have decreased by approximately 20% in the first six months of this year compared to last year. >> as u.s. forces continue to withdraw from afghanistan, it will be the special operations forces who will be replied upon more and more. alex? >> all right. in kabul, thank you for that. meantime, reaction certainly pouring in across the u.s. let's go live to norfolk, virginia, and tom truong, what kind of impact is this having on the committee there? >> well, the navy is in shock. this is navy place, places like nor foerk. they are revolving around the navy and wra where many of the elite s.e.a.l.s train and one lived in virginia beach, not far

from here. at a baseball game in nor foerk, they paused to remember the americans killed, offering prayers for the loved ones left behind. >> we lost some brave americans in the last day or so. it's a real tragedy and our hearts and minds are with mourning his death and his grandmother released this photo yesterday, saying the 30-year-old was a tough warrior and a gentle man. on facebook, a prayer page survived by his wife and two children. vaughn is one of 22 navy s.e.a.l.s killed this weekend. the elite and claimed destine unit is the top of the sphere in covert military operations. >> they work in the shadows, the happier they are. >> in coronado, california, hearts are heavy.

>> it took me a while to sink in and then when it did i felt like i was nothing. i didn't know what to say or do. >> reporter: although the navy s.e.a.l.s are shrouded in secrecy, they were in the news killing the al qaeda leader. military families are used to sacrifice but there's not much they can do to -- >> you don't find them anywhere. this was a tragedy for the entire country. >> reporter: we often hear about the navy s.e.a.l.s are a tight-knit community after losing 22 of those members and as they wait for the body of the fallen to return home. alex? >> you know, i've got to imagine that a lot of folks at home this morning are people who are heading out to sunday church

services and are going to have thoughts and prayers devoted to those men this that community. i know that's tough on everybody's minds. >> well, certainly here, alex, many people live here, work here, their families often are hanging out together as well. this is very much a military community. when you have a loss in this area, everybody knows a victim, a wife of the victim, and unfortunately no children who are not without their fathers or mothers at this point. it's a very sad situation. >> it is sad. thank you so much from norfolk. >> at the bottom of the hour, the retired barry mccaffery. meanwhile, the president's time line for withdraw from afghan. >> the schedule that the president has outlined, there was no military recommendation. all our military leaders have said that it increases the risk. why would we want to increase to

the lives of our men and women who we are serving. >> our presence must continued to diminish to the point that we have the ability to protect our national security interest as we go forward. we are not getting out completely. we are reducing the level to a point that i think has the ability to prevent the taliban from taking over the country. >> john harwood is live at the white house for us. with another sunday good morning to you, my friend. how does this accident affect white house strategy in afghanistan? >> reporter: well, it accelerates the debate that you just heard between republicans saying don't pull out prematurely and democrats saying that we're going to protect the u.s. interest. but the dominant sentiment in the country right now is to bring this war to a conclusion after ten years and you can expect the president to stay on that course. he's taking 10,000 of the 30,000 surge troops out this year. 20,000 more projected to come out next year. and given the sentiment of the

american people and the economic strains we're facing at home, the president is likely to resist the calls for people like john mccain on that issue. >> okay. switching to the economics aspect of all of this breaking news, when the asian financial markets open later this evening, we're going to get our first full hint of how the market will react. so the sentiment in washington is what right now? >> reporter: well, it's bracing for the effect of what the market is going to be. we've seen some initial levels of deline, the israeli government is down. you can expect everybody to position themselves and who is responsible for the downgrade. you heard a hint of that between john kerry and john mccain. listen to this exchange. >> i believe this s. without question, the tea party

downgrade because a majority of people in the house of representatives countered even the will of many americans in the united states senate prepared to do a bigger deal. >> the members of the house of representatives had a mandate last november and it was jobs and the economy and it was spending. and for them to then agree to tax increases and spending increases, which obviously repudiation of the mandate that they felt they had. >> reporter: notable that john mccain said the mandate they felt they had because there was, as john kerry indicated, some dissension within senior republican ranks, mark zander, a member of the leadership got behind that gang of 6 that the tea party was resisting. john mccain at one point talked about the demands from the tea party for approval of a balanced budget amendment before there could be a deal. so some of those pressures, i would expect, alex, are going to

intensify within the republican party. the s&p downgrade will put pressure and we don't know whether they will overcome a divide between the parties. >> as always, a great perspective. many things thanks. here's a question. what have you given up as a result of the roller coaster economy. talk to me on twitter. my handle is @alexwitt. meanwhile, let's look at the weather. a tornado tore through eastern south carolina yesterday afternoon. it damaged several homes and uprooted trees. let's go to alex wallace from the weather channel for the latest on that. it doesn't look bad in terms of rain showers across the country but you might like to beg to differ. >> it's going to be really spotty. there's no concentrated area that we're going to be talking about huge storms sweeping

across the country. spotty showers scattered out and about. you can sort of pick up a little bit of that on the map. here's the entire u.s. let's get you into the northeast where we have some of these showers around the boston area, sliding southward across eastern portions of connecticut and more activity across pennsylvania heading towards jersey and new york city. again, it's very, very scattered out there for you. also across kentucky, nashville, tennessee, heavy downpours and in the great lakes region. big storms heading into chicagoland. good bit of activity over lake michigan. that's going to cross over the lake into lower michigan, heads up around grand rapids. heavy rain storms there for you. we have heat. 16 different heat advisories or warnings. including parts of the carolinas. the darker brown, excessive heat warnings out there for us.

heat index values, what it will feel like, hitting well up over 105 degrees. brutal heat to contend with as we head throughout sunday and into next week, all thanks to this big ridge of high pressure. underneath that, 105 for your afternoon right around dallas. we've seen 36 days, straight days of 100-degree heat. we're going to be adding to that streak in dallas for this sunday. so it continues and it's not going anywhere any time soon, alex. >> i'm telling you, fall weather cannot come fast enough for folks in the south. alex wallace, thank you. a fatal police shooting. how peaceful protests turn so violent. republican hopefuls, gearing up for the first test of their candidacy. who will have the winning strategy? this is msnbc, the place for politics. [ male announcer ] if you think "heroes" are only in movies, consider this: over 70% of firefighters are local volunteers...

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we are one week away from what many candidates say is the major primary test. >> the ames straw poll is not lost on tim pawlenty. >> warmups are over. the preseason is over. this is going to be the kickoff in iowa. the ultimate bowl is to win the iowa caucus since january or february. but the ames straw poll is an important benchmark along the way. joining us is a political analyst from washington, robert, d.c. bureau chief for the comcast network and host of world call tv. it's been great with the two of you. >> good morning, he i agree. >> with michele bachmann being

the front-runner here, if you'll agree to that, will she pull out or might we see a surprise? >> who knows. iowa is so interesting because we have a lot of evangelicals that make up their mind at the last minute. they go for the unconventional candidate. mike huckabee made a huge surprise and won against the more established john mccain and so forth. so we don't really know. but i will say this. it is michele bachmann for that very same reason that evangelicals are so mobilized, energyized, and in tune with michele bachmann's philosophical beliefs. >> we have tim pawlenty leading up to the straw poll on saturday. we heard from him a moment ago. he's going to show good progress, not saying that he's going to win or necessarily be towards the top. do you think he's going to try to lower the bar for himself? >> he might be. look, tim pawlenty might need some kind of game change that he is a viable candidate.

and the ames straw poll is an opportunity for candidates to say, i'm still viable and in this thing. i think he has to place first or second to make the argument that he's got to take to keep going. if he's much lower than that, he will see his fundraising start to dry up. >> robert, the strategy of tamping down the expectations, that goes against what herman cane said. >> i have to win the straw poll but i do believe i need to finish in the top three. >> see, right there, does he have to finish in the top three to stay relative in this race? >> yes. herman cain is very passionate in what he believes in and has loyal following. is it big enough and wide enough?

he's absolutely correct. he's got to be in the top three in order to maintain any momentum. as it relates to the grass roots efforts and going into new hampshire and some of the other states. time will tell but i have a sinking suspicion that he probably will not wind up in the top three. >> i'm curious, karen, if you think this poll is more important for the front runners jockeying for a position or for the longer shot candidates to get the exposure, get themselves into play where previously they haven't been so much. >> it's a little bit of both. if you are like mitt romney and has the money and resources, and even michele bachmann at this point to continue past the straw poll, it's less important. it would be a great bump and a boost for your campaign. if you're a long-shot like tim pawlenty, there were a lot of hopes for the republican side that he was going to be the guide and that's faded. certainly for him this could be very important again, the shot

in the arm. he may need to carry him further. i don't think we're going to see jon huntsman come out of the blue or something like that. >> right. >> but that's the kind of thing that sometimes happens in these contests and it's a strong play to have a good showing and you're seeing pawlenty, he was kind of low key in that sound bite that you played. he's being very aggressive in trying to get people offering bus rides, to get to the straw poll and people, i think it's bachmann, robert we know has a petting zoo. it's all about getting people there. >> it's a party. it's not going to be a party if i don't wrap. they said wrap in my ear. karen, see you next hour. riots erupted in north london after a police shooting angers communities there. residents say they feel unsafe in their own city.

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deadly violence continues to take a terrifying toll in syria where activists say at least 57 civilians have been killed and armored assaults across the country. and 38 in the city of de deir el-zour. to london, now, where there was a riot. protesters threw cocktails and lewded buildings. 26 police officers were injured in the arrest. martin fletcher is in london with us. another good morning to you. is there fear that there are going to be more protests on the way? >> absolutely, alex. there is more and more police going into the area and local residents are gathering around the high road where the riots

and looting took place last night. there is a scent of anger. first of all, the shooting of the local civilian who the police called a gangster, a 25-year-old father of two. that took place thursday night. last night that exploded in rioting, burning vehicles, and then 500 young people, mostly wearing hoods so you couldn't see their faces, began looting local businesses and shops and running off with cameras and liquor and they love iphones that were stolen. and the police are calling it mindless criminality. great fear that there could be more fighting tonight. >> and, martin, i know you were up there a while ago and live on the air. as they prepare for protests, the police are looking at these people thinking, are you going

to come out at us tonight. are they increasing the number on the streets? >> there's more and more police coming in. not only from london but rioting in one area. and i guess about two miles away from the focal point and there are not enough police around because they are bringing more police in from the area and outside london police force has arrived to back up the local police. >> okay. martin fletcher in london. thank you. a tightrope walker is lucky to be alive. fell more than 300 feet and watch this. ready? strong winds are going to make him do that. fall off the rope. luckily the tether that he was wearing helped him from not going the ground and he was able on round number two to successfully make it across without falling. but my question is, who does that? ease of cooking is very important to me.

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speaking of david gregory on "meet the press." senator john kerry and john mccain mourn the loss of troops. >> we are in a transition in afghanistan. the effort that they are making there is one that is important to our national security and in this transition, notice how there are seven afghans there. >> our presence must diminish to the ability that we protect our national security interests as we go forward. we are not getting out completely. we are reducing the level to a point that i think has the

ability to prevent the taliban from taking over the country. >> the president's decision to withdraw at the schedule that he has outlined, all of our military leaders say that it increases the risk. why would we want to increase the risk to the lives of our young men and women who are serving and we're going to have to address the problem of afghanistan and other parts of the world. >> i can also see. >> more on the deadly crash in afghanistan, i'm joined by retired admiral. general, welcome. >> thank you. >> i want to get your reaction

as to when single worst day of combat losses in afghanistan and even more so because it was such a significant impact on this incredibly extraordinarily courageous and dedicated community. the so-called and this is dangerous work. they are extremely good at it. we are mourning the loss of the servicemens and yet you think about the taliban and how you may use this to boost their morale, talk about that and how that parlays into a success for

the taliban. we are going to press them on the way out and then take the country back. that's the reality of it. the other side of the question is, in the last three months alone and in terms of the exchange rate, there is devastating pressure on the taliban and a lot of it is coming not in the 82nd and marines but from this special opps a very kmal tune tea. and helping short term and long term in afghanistan? >> short term, pretty good. you know, the surge forces, 43,000, 150,000 nato forces.

they are working on it. schools are appearing with both networks. in the short term, things look okay. the question is, if we actually come out by 2014, in is a sustainable on the ground with special opps. that's what is in question. >> all right. always a pleasure. thank you. >> good to be with you. forth latest on the deadly helicopter crash in afghanistan, logon to our website at msnbc.com. well, the managing director of standard & poor's says the u.s. has a one in three chance of being downgraded again. they took away the aaa rating on friday. we will see how they react when the asian markets open. senior host, jim, good to see you. thank you for joining us.

>> thank you, alex. >> do you think we're in for a wild ride tomorrow? >> i think we're in for a wild ride. i've looked at every market decline that lasted eight to ten days in over 100 years even though we have the credit downgrade. we have a soft economy and a lot of issues that we're still dealing with. >> okay. but the standard & poor's, they didn't like our debt deal. it's going to be the super committee looking for more savings. i mean, can this committee save the day? how much power do you think it will ultimately have? >> i think one of the things that they are worried about, is it the same thing that we just went through where you have democrats and republicans and

we've kicked the decision down the road to the nebulous committee and nobody know what is it's going to be made up of or decide on. the other thing is, the actual number of cuts that kick in are low to begin with. if you look at it in terms of an american family, let's assume an american family earns 21,000. they spend 38,000 meaning they added a 17 on to the credit card balance. it's 142,000 so i they're investors were i disappointed that there wasn't more meaningful cuts in this deal. >> yeah. you know what, jim, i'm sorry to say that we're having a technical in and out with the skype. so we're going to have to cut this interview short. thank you so much.

what have you had to give up as a result of the roller coaster economy? how about a house and $2 million in real estate investments? music lessons and vacations and home improvements. judona writes, dignity, security, and hope. and gotpolitics says, the realization the future might not be better for our kids. not everyone has been forced to go frugal. high-end items are flying off the shelf faster than ever despite the economic slump, which begs this question, who is buying. stephanie from the new york times wrote about this luxury spending spree and will shed some light on the topic. thank you for being here. >> good morning. >> you know, in the last couple of years across the board we've seen this belt tightening, the

reigning in. that said, what is behind this now luxury goods flying off the shelves mentality? >> a lot of it is real confidence at the high end, or at least -- people in the high end, their job security is really good. their 401(k)s are performing and investments are fine. even if they had money they were feeling that it's too conspicuous. we can't do it. now, all of these very high-end luxury stores are saying what is going off the shelves are full priced things in like python and -- >> and when you talk about the who that is spending, is it predominantly people in the business community that have either taken advantage of the downturn? we know there are elements of the business world that can do that or just those folks that stayed at the top throughout? >> a little bit of both. it's the classic old money rich and new money rich, making their

money through business, and then an infusion from chinese tourists and things like that. >> yeah. but you would think when you have stores like even walmart taking a slump do you go the recession, neiman marcus saks. why are they not going belly up? have they taken in fewer of the luxury goods and their product is flying off the shelves? >> they are trying to create a sense of scarcity. but these people want to spend, is the answer. >> look, these folks are driving bmws. we still have these happening and do you expect there to be another turnaround? you make this point, this was all written and discussed before friday. >> right. and it tends to go to the stock market to some degree.

high and low. >> many people have said about this deal, the rich keep buying and cannot afford to pay the price. does this accurately reflect the sentiment out there? >> i think there is a lot of bitterness. and it accounts for spending and it's important to keep out in the market. in other words, it's good for the economy no matter where it's coming from. >> right. we may be jealous of their shoes and handbags. >> thank you so much from the "new york times." >> thank you. sugar dadlies, the loving terms for the men that pay for their ladies. it's growing at an alarming rate and you're not going to believe how many students are getting in

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a stark new report shows a cash-strapped college women turning to the internet in a way to pay off their college debts. websites like, seekingarrangement.com offers women to get dates by more financially set men. joining me is an education reporter for the huffington post. good morning.

>> tell me how they operate and why many people are turning to them. >> they are traditional to the dating sites, people post a their profile, hobbies, what they hope to get out of the relationship and the way that they are different, the women wind up putting what they are hoping to get in a relationship with their sugar dadly. 1,000 to $10,000 a month. what i found in my reporting is that women are using this money to pay off their debt. >> okay. we all know the subcurrent here. we know what is going on. and the women that you profile in your piece talks about how she puts very suggestive pictures of herself on the website and has her hair tossed and scantily about. are they using sex to get to

this? >> sex is involved in these websites. it's not prostitution, but they are absolutely getting sex for money. the women post very scantily pictures of themselves. >> so let's say these girls get out of college, get these great degrees and try to get a job. what is the likelihood that someone is going to find out about this and say, hmm, this is not exactly in our company profile. >> in this economy you don't want anything against you. >> so talk about this profile. and in greenwich, connecticut, tell us what happens. >> it's a young woman who lives in harlem. she's a currently enrolled student at hunter college and it's the first time that she

gets sex for money. she spent an afternoon with this guy, he's 42 years old, low and behold, he's 20 years older than what he said. >> oh, boy. >> and she's nervous. she has to tell her roommate. >> she's incredibly nervous. there's a huge stigma attached to this. most of these women reveal the secret to their friend so at least one person knows where they are headed. at the end of the day, she winds up getting $350 for having sex with this guy and gets on the train and she starts feeling ashamed and wonders, you know, what it was that led her to do this. >> and how many women are out there, do you think, with this web arrangement website? >> there are about a dozen websites that do this type of thing. there are 800,000 members. according to the site's founder, 800,000, 40% of the guys are married men. of the 800,000, 35% are currently enrolled college

students. so it's definitely increasing. it's something to pay attention to. >> it's absolutely a sign of the times. you can say some people are going to justify certain behavior for things. women try to get an education and it's the focus of your piece. it's tough out there. it's really tough out there. >> amanda fairbanks, thank you. >> thanks so much for having me. >> uh-huh. in the wake of the debt ceiling crisis, both sides of the aisle are doing crisis management and it's not preaching the choir to the bhous. the president's attempt to win back members of his own party. my doctor told me calcium

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governor text sas prays for citizens hit hard by the economic downturn. he also talked about the loss of faith in america generally, including in politics.

>> we see anger in the halls of government and as a nation we have forgotten who made us. >> and mitt romney's political action has revealed himself. two watch dog groups complained about the contribution and a former executive of the consulting company came forward and said that he was not trying to skirt finance laws. michele bachmann vows to cut waste from every department and program. she also slammed the president's leadership. >> we didn't hear from the president. he got on a helicopter and went to camp david. i'm calling on the president of the united states to come back to the white house and address the american people before the markets open on monday. >> throughout the debt ceiling

debate, some rank and file democrats conceded too much, too soon to republicans. he writes in the washington post, to the dismay of many in the audience, obama conceded that he probably couldn't and probably wouldn't push too hard because he was unwilling to risk a u.s. government default. i have no choice, the president said. and peter joins me now. he's a white house reporter from the washington post. good morning. >> good morning, alex. >> so your article suggests the president to negotiate differently. do you think you could have taken another approach? >> well, it's a very difficult question and that was the difficult issue facing the white house. these democrats at a minimum wanted him not to reveal the bottom line so early, setting up a confrontation where one side, as bernie sanders told me was pushing an agenda and the white house said let's meet in the middle.

let's come up. >> he has presented himself as a pragmatic leader who uses compromise to bridge the gaps. do you think he's not given up too much ground? >> well, this is the image of president obama that many people like. if you look at his job performance on many key issues, including the economy, by the way, they still like him personally and this is what many in the white house think is a big advantage of him. well, you have a lot of screami screaming on both sides. you have the president distancing himself from both parties seeking compromise. but the tension here is, can you be a consensus builder, a great compromiser when this is a grand debate. this is the role of government,

size of government, what will medicare be like, social security, these are big, big questions coming to the floor right now and many democrats, not just the most liberal democrats but many in the party and many in congress worry about president obama being the one fighting for his side when he's looking for compromise. >> certainly those are the issues of our time. in the meantime, up to 100 gop congressmen will let the country default. if he did not, did he fail to inform the american public of that reality? >> that's, again, an excellent question. the white house told me that they believed 100 members of congress were willing to, as some democrats said it, run it over a cliff. he said he wasn't going to go there, not make anybody in the world or the markets think that the country might default. so did he have a choice? well, again, he could have

threatened to use the amendment of the constitution which would have enabled him to lift the debt ceiling on his own. the white house legal advicer said i didn't think that was the right course of action. could he have threatened other things? could he have brought it to the brink, other presidents might have done it. this president, that's not the way he does business. >> in the next year and a half, do you see the president having a different ten nor to the tea party candidates? >> well, i think that the white house feels that this debt ceiling deal, even though they didn't get any guaranteed tax increases, the white house says they have a much stronger bargaining position and will take this to the country. there is almost an embrace of taxes now, an issue that they think will help democrats, a little counterintuitive because it's not typically the case. they think that they can really make the case, the wealthy, the

comfortable should give more to help get the country out of this situation. they think that's a political solution that is good for them and that they are set up for tech medicare and social security through the next phase of these talks and into the election. that's the white house's belief. but, again, so far politically it hasn't worked out that well for them. >> okay. peter from washington post, thanks, peter. >> you're welcome. we continue to follow investigations into the cause of the downed chopper in afghanistan that killed 30 members of a u.s. special ops team. keep it tuned here for those details. a pitcher for the colorado rockies got hit in the head by a linedrive this weekend. he's recovering from surgery. we'll give you the latest on his condition here on msnbc sunday. e rethink how they live. ♪ in here, video games are not confined to screens.

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