were that easy, it would have been accomplished by now. ultimately, it is the israelis and the palestinians who must live side by side. >> nbc's ron allen is live at the united nations. what else did we hear from the president this morning? the highlights of the address? >> -- [ no audio ] >> unfortunately, difficulty on ron's audio. ron, are you there? have we got your mike back? okay. we will move on and ftry to get ron allen back here. and we will talk about the tight rope that each leader is walking here at the u.n. and we will talk to the chief editor of the el air barabita n.

and let's listen. >> america's commitment to security in israel is unshakable. our friendship with israel is deep and enduring. and so we believe that any lasting peace must acknowledge the very real security concers s that israel faces every single day. israel, a small country of less than 8 million people look out at a world where leaders of much larger nations threaten to wipe it off of the map. >> well, president obama really wants to be a part of the solution in the middle east just as many other presidents who have gone before him, so how bad would a u.s. veto of palestinian veto make our nation and the president look in that region? >> a veto by the united states particularly at this moment where we have seen arabs from north africa to yemen in the east rising up demanding

empowerment and digfulnity willt be good for the united states and the peace process if there is such a thing right now, and the obama administration realizes this, and i think that the palestinian authority realizes this. i think that they are coming to new york is not an attempt to be a game-changer, but it is a reflection of their frustration as the president admit head is al -- admitted that he is frustrated and wants the united nations to deal with the symmetry of the issues that exists between them, and notwithstanding the president's good intentions and not withstanding the second day of the white house he appointed george mitchell and he said i am going to work on this issue from the beginning and not during my second term and notwithstanding all of the efforts the president had to back down in the face of an immovable prime minister of

israel benjamin netanyahu, and the president knows between then and the next election they have to push the israelis back to the negotiations b tow the negotiations based on stopping the settlements and serious commitment to peace and let me tell you, i don't think they believe that the current israeli government really seeks the kind of peace that they want. >> and david, same question to you, though, and based on the fact that these are very tense situations taking placet ta u a u.n., and the world is listening and everyone trying to glean what is taking place in the private meetings there, and explain to us in your opinion why a u.s. veto against the palestinian statehood would damage us in the region. >> well, i'm not sure how it would be received more widely in the region, but i think that by people who genuinely seek

reconciliation as are most israelis the indications of the president's speech right now will have been very, very appreciated. he said that twice actually, there are no shortcuts, and that is a direct rebuke to the palestinian leadership and telling them just as the arab world chose not to become reconciled to the revival of israel, the re-establishment of the jewish national homeland 64 years ago, he was saying to the palestinians now, you can't come to the u.n. general assembly where you have a built-in majority to anything hostile to israel and try to establish your state without trying to reconcile israel and he said twice, no shortcuts and he spoke of the israeli children growing up where he knows that children their age are indoctrik trictri hate them, and he supported the israeli statehood and most israelis support the palestinian

statehood, but not through the existential military or diplomatic means. but what obama said will go down well with all israelis and people genuinely concerned with reconciliation. >> and thank you, gentlemen, for your time. well, we are following breaking news out of iran. the long awaited release of two american hikers has finally happened. moments ago shane bauer and josh fattal spent two years in a iranian jail after being accused of spying. this convoy was seen with the hikers inside. we havei who is there to let

us know how this went down with the transfer of the paperwork and the money involved with the $1 million bail. unfortunately, we lost ali from teheran and we will work to try to get it back, but we want to let you know as we have been able to confirm the long-awaited release of two american hikers. we go back to ali arouzi in teheran and we will try it again, explain how it went down with the financial transfer of the $1 million bail for the two gentlemen. >> yes, that is right, thomas. i spoke to the lawyer yesterday who was despondent that he could not get the transfer done, and all of the sudden he got a call from the court to come in and finalize the paperwork and suddenly went into motion quick ly this morning and the swiss ambassador and the lawyer and the officials all showed up outside of the prison and before anybody knew what was happening a convoy with the hikers left the back entrance of the prison and headed straight to the airport. the latest that we have right

now is that convoy with the hikers had gone insidef of the airport compound, and the swiss ambassador has been seen going inside of the airport compound, and she has not been seen coming out yet so that the next confirmation that we are waiting for is to see if the flight takes off from the airport, but it seems that everybody is inside of the airport and they are getting ready to leave now. thomas? >> again, the breaking news that shane bauer and josh fattal are freed from an iranian prison after nearly two years. we will get back to you, ali f there are more developments. thank you. while the president is working to strengthen our resolve at the u.n., the republicans continue attacks on the president's jobs act and his plan to reduce the deficit. jared bernstein is a contributor for msnbc, and a contributor as well as serving as the chief economist for the vice president joe biden. jared, good to see you and i don't know what is wrong with the hour this morning, because i

have gremlins out of the ying yang here and i'm glad you are in place and we will talk about what is taking place in washington, d.c. >> we have jobs, right? >> yes, we have job, and that issue is on the table. democrats and republicans in washington finally have the president's back when it comes to the deficit plan, but a different story with the american people. put up a graphics with the "usa today"/gallup poll showing 80% of americans believe we are in a recession right now, so why are his proposals not resonating with the public? >> well, they are actually are, but it depends how you ask the question. i don't want to get into too much of getting tricky with the polls, but it is the case. if you ask about the president's job plan or for that matter they tend to conflate it with the t.a.r.p. and the bailouts and things they don't like, but if you drill down and say, what do you think of improving infrastructure and a payroll tax holiday so that the paycheck

fatens up, then you are talking about the poll results in the 70% or the 80% which is the stratosphere so a lot of support for the actual components. >> jared, when we talk about the president's 2012 campaign, and it has begun and he has unleashed vice president biden out on the campaign trail and chicago's mayor rahm emanuel on the campaign trail, and listen to this, the president at a fund-raiser last night. >> you are hearing the republicans and congress dusting off the old talking points. you can write the press releases. class warfare, they say. you know what, if asking a billionaire to pay the same rate as a plumber or a teacher makes me a warrior for the middle-class, i wear that charge as a badge of honor. >> all right. has the switch been flipped and campaign rhetoric all of the way and no chance for any of the grand compromise ideas that have been kicked around in d.c.?

>> i mean, that is certainly would be kind of where it looks like we are headed. but, that does not mean that these debates aren't of very great magnitude. i mean, just today, we have the republicans trying to kind of tell the federal reserve what to do to pull back on any monetary stimulus that might help the economy and that means they are against a fiscal boost and monetary boost and that puts us in a very deep lockup in terms of any hope for the economy. so that the president's only move is to do what he is doing, and by the way, it is important to do what he is doing which is to kind of quickly turn away from the deficit reduction plan and to the jobs plan. and it does not mean he is up o budget because that is critical, but what people want to hear about is jobs and middle income checks and those matters. >> talk about the contenders on the gop side, and when we look at people like sarah palin who has not declared yet and when we don't know whether she is

getting in the race whatsoever, but making the gains of the president, and look at the poll of five points behind the president and 45% of the president's 49% and she has consistently run 20 points behind the president, so how bad are things looking for the president right now when you do the one-on-ones? >> well, obviously tough. you have a 9% unemployment rate. economy bumping along the bottom and zero job creation last month, but i'm an economist and when it comes to the economy here is the ace card of the president, and whether it is sarah palin or rick perry or mitt romney or any of the men or women on the stage, their economic playbook is precisely the same one that george w. bush used to get us into the mess we are in. basically, they are saying that i know that the car is stuck in the ditch, but give me back the keys aed the president is going to hit hard on that and i suspect that the trickle down supply nonsense is not going to resonate with the folks once

they hear it clearly delineated. >> thank you, jared bernstein. and the president is finding some helped with the criminal >> and also john edwards finding help with his criminal defense. and how the fight to spare a man's life is going until hours to go until his scheduled execution. ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste and whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. ♪ [ sighs ] [ bird chirps ] [ bird squawks ] ♪ [ bird screeching ] ♪ [ elevator bell dings ] [ sighs ] how mad is she? she kicked me out. but i took the best stuff. i'll get the wrench. ♪

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welcome back, everybody. breaking news this hour, a last-ditch appeal to spare the life of troy davis denied. moments ago the georgia board of pardons and parole rejected a final bid for clemency for the convicted cop killer can. his execution scheduled for 7:00 tonight offered to take a

polygraph, and issued a facebook statement saying that this struggle for justice doesn't end with me, this struggle is for all of those who came before me and all of the ones who will come after me. i'm in good spirits and i will not stop fighting until i have taken my last breath. joining me from amnesty international is larry davis. and larry, this is international outcry and supporters and vigils held, and any word that they will consider the fact that he wants to take a polygraph test? >> we haven't gotten word yet. i think it is an indication of how firmly troy is convinced that if people would look at the facts they would realize that he may be innocent. >> and hundreds oflarry, have f petitions to sign for clemency, and we have pope benedict, and desmond tutu and william

sessions of the former fbi director, and any political clout that these individuals possess that could alter a course that is events scheduled to take place tonight at 7:00 p.m.? >> well, i hope. so even more is supporters of the death penalty, an congressman bob bar when they look at this case say that this case is not the kind of case that the death penalty was for and even the people who believe in the death penalty should not want troy davis to be executed, because you don't want to see a possibly innocent man put to death by the state. >> we have to understand, too, from the other side, there is a family who lost a devoted loved one. there was a police officer killed in georgia. and troy davis was the man they thought had done it. there are questions that remain unanswered. many of the people who came out and spoke against him have recanted their testimony. there was even an issue that another man on the scene had admitted to being the one who pulled the trigger, and when we get to the bottom of all of this, how come law enforcement

in savannah, georgia, hasn't been more readily available to try to find out if he is really the killer? how can they go forward if there is the any doubt at all? >> well, this is the question that we have been asking for ourselves. we know from experience that more than 130 people on death row have been found to be innocent, because of dna evidence. in this case, there is no dna evidence, no forensic evidence, and you are relying on the eyewitnesses and 7 of the 9 have either recan'ted or contradicted the testimony and ten other witnesses who have come forward to point the finger at another man, and one of the men who actually implicated troy davis. so there is tremendous doubt in this case. it is a problem in our criminal justice system that once the process is moving, it is very, very difficult for people to say, we have made a mistake. mistakingly people think it would discredit the justice system, but what discredits the justice system is if you go

ahead with an execution with so much doubt. >> larry cox from amnesty international, and appreciate your time this morning. many people were outraged 40 years ago when james byrd junior was chained to a pickup truck in jasper, texas, and tonight, texas will execute one of the men in that murder. lawrence brewer will be put to death by lethal injection, and he is described as a racist psychopath. he was found guilty in the death of james byrd. and kansas city loses the accreditation, and what does that mean to the thousands of kids hoping for an education? we will talk with the district superintendent. and elizabeth warren in her bid to unseat senator scott

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[ male announcer ] sustainable solutions. fedex. solutions that matter. , so a devastating blow to kansas city, missouri, schools where the entire district lost the accreditation tuesday and faces a state takeover after failing to meet most of the state's academic performance. student performance is a concern in kansas city for years, and in 2010, the district announced it would close half of the schools in the district and firing hundreds of teachers. joining us now live is r. steven green, the kansas city interim superintendent of schools. steve, nice to have you with us this morning. students met just 3 of the state's 14 performance standard s. 3 of 14. failed in math, graduation rates, college placement and among other areas, and in your

estimation why has it been so difficult to turn around this failing school system? >> well, i don't know if i can answer that, but i can answer what we are going to do about it. we have a laser light focus on some of the areas that you mentioned and plus making sure that we have a deep understanding of why students are underperforming and some of it has to do with just making sure that we customize the kind of intervention that they need in order to master the proficiency that is necessary for them to move forward. so we have had to dig a little deeper and backtrack the data and understand different students learning in different ways and why they are having trouble matching up to the standard. we think that we are having success in that area, and now as may have not been the case before, and we are now focused on the course of restoring our accreditation even as we speak, and even though it not be fully announced until january. >> certainly a major blow to the students and all of the students

falling within that school system, and so for the moment, what does it mean specifically for the students hoping to graduate this year? >> actually, there will be no effect in that regard. a lot of people are confusing the accreditation as associated with somehow compromising the value of the diploma and that is not the case. all of the schools are recognized by the north central accreditation authority and that means that their degrees and the coursework that they take will be recognized or their diplomas and so our students will be able to go and our scholars going to any college or university and compete with anyone else. we still have to do a better job as many urban centers in terms of the preparedness to be successful, but in terms of admission, that is not going to be compromised. >> we should point out that the kansas city school district was run by a man named john covington and to update everybody, he was hired to overturn and oversee some of the worst performing schools in

detroit and could make apparently $1.4 million in salary and bonuses on top of that and he starts the job next week and in your estimation does he deserve to be given that job after what happened in your district? >> well, that is not my place to make that kind of judgment. i know dr. john covington well and know him as a fine educator and i was his executive coach for a period of time here and i understand some of his thinking, but in that regard, i'm concerned about kansas city. i'm concerned about the students and the families here, and our scholars and what their experience will be, and i'm committed to making sure that we provide the best educational experience they can have to be successful not only in this community, but be successful in life. i'm glad to say that, you know, this is is certainly a setback. but, kansas city has a history of being resilient, and this community, this school district and we are going to bounce back from this setback. >> stephen green, interim kansas

city school superintendent. sir, thank you for your time this morning. 57 appreciate it. >> thank you. >> and a fortune 500 company hiring 4,000 people, and we will talk to them about where the jobs are and what you need to know about them intoday's "hiring now." and those are some good tasting muffin and what government agency is paying for baked goods may have you asking if they are made with 24 karat gold. for more complete oral care. ♪ it works in six different ways to restore enamel... strengthen teeth... freshen breath... help prevent cavities... and kill bad breath germs for a whole mouth clean. so go beyond the brush with listerine® total care, the most complete mouthwash. now get all the benefits... without the alcohol. new listerine® total care zero.

malo oering sushi, benefits... without the alcohol. butso to save some money...e. man: looks great, hun... woman: ...and we're not real proud of this. man: no...we're not. woman: we...um... teen: have you guys seen captain stewie and lil' miss neptune? dad: did you look all over the place? under your desk? all around? teen: uh, they're fish, they live in a bowl. dad: what're gonna do? anncr: there's an easier way to save. anncr: there's an easier way to save. teen: whatever. ncr: 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. welcome back, everybody. right now american hikers shane bauer and josh fattal are headed to the airport after being released from an iranian prison. they were jailed for longer than two years for alleged spying. the report is that they have left iran, but we are awaiting confirmation of that, and we will bring you more information as soon as we get it. on the heels of president

obama's speech at the united nations this morning another gop candidate is slamming the president's mideast policies and mitt romney speaking out moments ago in miami criticizing the president's stance toward israel. >> what the president did that was an error with israel is dictating what he would do. >> and we pointed out that mitt romney pointed out rick perry's criticism of the president yesterday, and to talk more about that we will bring in the political director mark murray, and what do you make of the comments made by romney? >> well, thomas, you are seeing mitt romney and rick perry yesterday really trying to woo over jewish voters and particularly jewish donors as they are trying to create a fissure with this normally democratic group. if you, of course, ended up watching the president's speech before the u.n. general assembly it is hard to say he was trying to throw israel under the bus as romney has maintained before, and the president talked about unshakable bond that the united

states has with israel and if obama was trying to throw israel under the bus, he would have easily allowed the statehood effort at the u.n. to take place for a palestinian state. >> and interesting timing to do this right now? >> absolutely. it is important the know where mitt romney is today, in florida that has a ton of jewish voters and florida is also a key primary battleground between mitt romney and rick perry most likely, and of course, yesterday, we saw rick perry in new york, and he is also coming to florida, too. so, don't let the politics which is playing a big role here. >> and we want to make sure that we mention, mark, harvard professor and friend of the obama administration elizabeth warren is gaining support in her bid to challenge scott brown for the senate seat. and listen to, this she ta, she about her motivation for running. >> this is about economics and about values and somebody has to stand up to talk about that sort of thing. people feel like the game is

rigged against them and it is not right. >> and how worried should scott brown be if she can make traction in massachusetts and get through to the primary? >> he is going to be worried, because this is a close race for him and couple of things going on and elizabeth warren has excited the base of the democratic voters and massachusetts is incredibly liberal and blue state in a lean year, and warren has a primary challenge that she has to deal with, and scott brown has raised an incredible amount of money to win re-election and he has proved to be pretty good candidate. this has a senate contest that is one for all of us to watch come november 2012. >> it is one of the hot races in the mix that we will all keep our eyes pi s peeled for. news deputy director mark murray. thank you for joining us. and john edwards the disgraced former presidential

candidate is getting help with criminal case today. a watchdog group is urging a judge to drop the six-count felony indictment for edwards for election law violations committed to hide his mistress. the group citizens for responsibility and ethics in washington is arguing that the case should be thrown out and they say that the case is politically motivated. new details emerging to i da about the suicide bombing that killed former afghan president in his home yesterday. nato security forces now report that the two bombers were involved in the attack and kabul police reporting that one of the attackers claimed to be a taliban member there to talk about peace and reconciliation, but instead, he entered the home with explosive device in his turban and hugged ra bbrabbani

it exploded and killed him. and the fed does not have many tools left in the tool belt to help the economy. the fed plans to shift money out of short-term securities into longer-term holdings and this is dubbed "operation twist" has not been used since the 1960ed and investors wonder how this is going to take. and markets are with red arrows taking over the dow jones and the s&p. and the nasdaq is up 2 points. and where does a muffin cost $16? there was extravagance spanning the george w. bush and obama events show that the cookies and the brownies cost $10 each, and beef wellington more than $7 a pop, and the $8 cup of coffee

and the $76/per person hotel lunch and the now infamous $16 muffin, and the justice department does not dispute the findings of the report and says that such excessive spending should not occur. hmm. so, as the nation recovers are dismal numbers our "hiring now" series is looking at one company defying the economic odds out there to offer thousands of jobs before this end of this year. csx, an international freight transportation company in florida is hiring as many as 4,000 workers in 2011, and that means right now, folks. how are they doing it and what kinds of workers are they looking for presently? joining me live from the company's headquarters in jacksonville, florida, is lisa mancini, the chief operating officer. lisa, nice to have you on and this is big, 4,000 jobs you forecast hiring by the end of 2011 and what is driving the growth for the country? >> well, a lot of the growth is

growth in the business and the large number of retirements we have this year, and we have already hired about 3500 people for those 4,000 jobs. >> and this is big news, because the positions that are remaining open right now, what are they? what are you looking to fill? >> most of our jobs are entry-level position s fs for t railroad so they would be conductors or entry level signal workers. we train our staff ourselves, so these are people with high school diplomas that can come to us and get training for the very good jobsch. >> tell us the about the recruiting that is taking place around the country, again, to fill the positions that remain open. where are you looking to fill the jobs? >> there are jobs in all 23 states throughout our network. i will tell you 245 the competition for the jobs is very strong. we have had so far this year over half a million applications for our openings that we have advertised so far. >> and compare that to what you have seen in former years? is it just because there is that much saturation in the

marketplace right now or is there some other reason? >> well, we have always had strong demand, but the demand these days with the high unemployment is much stronger. so we are seeing 100 people applying for every job on average, and that is much higher than what we have had in prior years. >> certainly, it does not mean this other people shouldn't be willing to apply though, and obviously, competition is strong, but you encourage everybody, the best candidates to come forward. >> absolutely. yomorning, appreciate it. if there is a company that you would like to have us cover in the "hiring now" segment, tweet me and we may use it in one of the upcoming segments. just before the military's "don't ask, don't tell" repeal took effect, comes this remark that is more dangerous than terrorist attacks, and we will look at the impact of a statement like that. ♪ i like dat

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welcome back, everybody. the parents of a teenaged boy from buffalo, new york, are calling his suicide a tragic reminder of america's ongoing problem with anti-gay bullying. 14-year-old jamie rottermaier took his life over years of bullying in school and online over his sexuality. he kept a blog, and he posted that it gets better video on youtube where he talked about his pain and encouraged other kids like him to stay optimistic. >> they taunt me in the hallways, and i feel like i cannot escape it. i made a string that people say that gay people go to hell and hold your head up and you will go far. that is all you can do is to love yourself. >> and unfortunately the hate that he faced on a daily basis makes its way into the political

discourse. sally caryn is known for the incendiary comments bshg s scom facing new controversy over a comment she made saying that being gay is worst than terrorism. >> everyday, and dult everyday, people especially are bombarded at school, in movies n music on tv in the mall in magazines that it is normal and natural. it's something they have to deal with everyday. fortunately, we don't have to deal with a terrorist attack everyday. >> and now fred who is a human rights expert speaking out about it and tell us what planet does this woman live on and while we are allowed free speech, is this going to quality as hate speech?

>> well, words have koconsequens and history says that they are used for discrimination and bullying, but the unfortunate reality is that oftentimes the statements that are made by our leaders whether they be religious leaders or elected officials are given increased credibility and great weight. and they are certainly not a helpful way for further discussion on the real barriers that gay and transgendered americans face in everyday life, and so the unfortunate part is that these kinds of statements lead to the fact that gays and lesbians can still be fired in 35 states across our country simply for their sexual orientation, or in 41 states for their gender identity. there is also an epidemic of bullying across the country, and we believe that there is a responsibility on our part to call out the statements by representative kern and others like her as not only inaccurate, but as being incredibly

injurious to a civil dialogue in this country about the barriers to equality. and yes, thomas, i do believe that they are the equivalent of hate speech. because they do serve as the basis for discrimination, and oftentimes they lead to very real consequences in our society. and that is why hrc has launched a project called "call it out" and in order to call out the statements of this kind by officials that really are in positions of great trust, because we deserve better as americans, and certainly the constituents in representative kern's district in oklahoma deserve better from her. >> and fred, i wanted to say that we are trying to educate our kids to treat everybody with respect and treat everybody with tolerance, but fortunately we have situations like jamie's situation, the young man who committed suicide, who at the one-year of tyler clemente, the rutger's student, and tomorrow

is one-year anniversary of his suicide and you would think that we have moved forward to a point in time where we can have adult c conversations about these situations, but how are the adults supposed to tell the kids how to behave when the adults around this country, the political leaders are making statements like that? >> well, that is an incredibly important point. you can imagine how a kid who is struggling with their sexual orientation or gender identity throughout the country and especially in places in this country where it is still exceptionally hard to be true and honest to yourself about your sexual orientation or gender identity, and the way in which they internalize these statements as being rejecting statements by society. so, it creates incredible problems not only for their own self-esteem, but for the identity going forward as individuals. we see it play out at all stages of the human development, and we would offer that not only is it not good for those individuals, for those kids who are trying to

dwom themselv develop themselves into contributing and relevant members of american society, but to society overall. so to the extent that especially elected officials have a responsibility to treat these issues responsibly and not only to provide legal protections for all members of their society, but to speak in constructive, accurate ways about truly the barriers that these kids face, and to do everything within their power to make it easier to grow up in this country. and not to provide inaccurate and unhelpful barriers that simply establish further walls in between segments of our society. >> i understand that there is currently, fred a petition online for people who oppose those comments. >> there most is certainly, and we believe that the governor of oklahoma and the president and the speaker of the house have a

responsibility to speak out on behalf of the state and the state's elected official and specifically to say that representative kern's statements are not in keeping with the good people of oklahoma. the factual record of what she is saying, they have a responsibility to correct and we as fair-minded americans and as activists on behalf of gay and transgendered americans have a responsibility to call out this behavior and make sure that americans who may be listening and people across the country who may be listening know that the statements are not only not accurate, but they are certainly not helpful to a real discourse about the barriers that gay and transgendered americans face. >> fred seanez from the hrc, and we appreciate your coming on to talk about this this morning. >> thank you. we want to take you to the tape playback of president obama meeting with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. let's listen. >> and the united states'

commitment to israel's security is unbreakable and it is fair to say that today our cooperation is stronger than it has ever been. i am looking forward to a good discussion with prime minister netanyahu about the events not only here in the united nations, but also the developments taking place in the region. as i just indicated, peace cannot be imposed on the parties. it is going to have to be negotiated. one side's actions in the united nations will achieve neither statehood nor state determination for the palestinians, but the israelis and the palestinians these very difficult issues that have kept the parties apart for decades now, that is what can achieve what is i know the ultimate goal of all of us, which is two stateside by side living in peace -- two states living side

by side in peace. we know how fragile peace can be and why the pursuit of middle east peace is more urgent than ever. but as we pursue that peace, i know that the prime minister recognizes that america's commitment to israel will never waiver. and that our pursuit of a just and lasting peace is one that is not only compatible, but we think puts israel's security at the forefront. i want to thank the prime minister for being here, to thank him for his efforts and cooperation, and i'm looking forward to an excellent discussion. >> thank you, mr. president. thank you very much. thank you. well, i want to thank you, mr. president, for standing with israel and supporting peace through direct negotiations. we agree that this is the only way to achieve peace. we both agree that palestinians and israelis should sit down

together and negotiate an agreement of mutual recognition and security. i think this is the only way to get to a stable endurable peace. but you've also made it clear that the palestinians deserve a state, but it's a state that has to make that peace with israel. therefore, the attempt to shortcut this process, not negotiate a peace, that attempt to get a membership, state membership in the united nations will not succeed. i think the palestinians want to achieve a state with the international community, but they're not prepared yet to give peace to israel in return. and my hope is that there will be other responsible leaders who will need your call, mr. president, and oppose this effort to shortcuts peace negotiations, in fact, to avoid them because i think that

avoiding these negotiations is bad for israel, bad for the palestinians, and bad for peace. now i know that these leaders are under enormous pressure, and i know from personal experience can tell you the automatic majority is against israel. but i think standing your ground, taking this position of principle which is also i think the right position to achieve peace, i think this is a badge of honor, and i want to thank you for wearing that badge of honor and also to express my hope that others will follow your example, mr. president. so i want to thank you for that. thank you. >> mr. president? >> thank you, everybody. [ all talking at once ] >> and that was the meeting after the president's speech this morning at the united nations. the president meeting with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. president obama speaking first, basically reiterating the points

of his speech but saying that there needs to be a negotiated israel and palestine sitting down at the table so that they can come to an agreement about the two states living side by side. prime minister benjamin netanyahu talking in reference, direct reference to the president's speech, saying that there is no shortcuts, avoiding any of these talks is truly bad but saying to the president, i want to thank you for standing by israel. we'll have much more to come and the meetings as the president's day persists, a busy day of meeting the world's leaders and diplomats in new york city. in other news today, one of nasa's orbitters is about to come home and the hard way. a 20-year-old upper atmosphere research satellite first sbout space in 1991 is -- put into space in 1991 is expected to c come crashing back to earth on friday. where it's going to hit, it's anybody's guess. what are the chances any chunks of it are going to land near you? derek pitts is a chief astrong her and joins us in studio. good to have you here in person. i know we've talked before.

>> thank you. >> when we hear about this in terms of where the coordinates are, 57 degrees north latitude, 57 degrees south latitude, how big of an area are we talking about right now? >> the way -- when you put it that way, it's almost anywhere because we're talking about a space between very far north of the continent and very far south, eliminating the north and south poles essentially. almost anywhere. >> there's a report that fema is laying the groundwork for a direct response in case this satellite hits u.s. soil. when will nasa have a better idea of being able to pinpoint where it's going to come back to land? >> the closer we get to the targeted re-entry time, somewhere in the, say, 36-hour period around friday, nasa will have a better idea once it starts to dip into the atmosphere. they'll be able to tell where it's going to fall. the footprint is going to be 500 miles long over which it falls out.

who knows where it could be. the good thing is that 75% of the earth's surface is water, so most likely it will fall in an ocean somewhere. >> fingers crossed. >> get out your titanium umbrella. >> will do. that i've got one today -- we'll see what happens friday. chief oastronomer franklin pitt. thanks. that's going to do it for me. see you back tomorrow, every weekday morning for that matter. until then, follow me on twitter, @@thomasroberts. my name's jeff.

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[ beatboxing ] good day, i'm craig melvin. president obama telling palestine and israel there's no shortcut to peace. >> i am convinced that there is no shortcut to the end of a con dplikt th conflict that has endured for decades. peace is hard work. peace will not come through statements and resolutions at

the understanding. if it were that easy, it would have been accomplished by now. >> pro-democracy uprisings during the arab spring are shining a spotlight on the palestinians' bid for statehood. >> we are here -- >> outside the united nations, protests against it. >> this is a side show, a distractio distraction, call it what you will. abbas is frustrated, he may hope this gets america to put pressure on the israelis, but this is a bad idea. >> the u.s. is trying to stop the rest of the world from recognizing a palestinian state. >> we could not be clearer that we have for some time opposed palestinian efforts to pursue statehood on a unilateral basis through the united nations. >> a new poll finds 42% of americans support statehood. 26% do not. and 1/3 don't know. >> each side has legitimate aspirations, and that's part of what makes peace so hard. and the d