terrorism abroad. another tragedy at home. and the permanent intransigence of congress. what's new? ♪ >> all eyes will be on new york and the united nations. >> if gun control legislation is going nowhere, no one told president obama. >> i fear there is a creeping resignation. >> there weren't enough good guys with guns. >> we can't accept this. >> when the good guys with guns got there, it stopped. >> our tears, our words, are not enough. >> this has been one of the strangest weeks. >> we had a victory today for the american people. >> they're not focused on you. they're focused on trying to mess with me. >> i asked a direct question. >> first we've got to unify republicans in the senate. >> ted cruz needs some reinforcemen reinforcements. >> if the majority is going to run the minority over with a train -- >> we're not going to allow anyone to inflict economic pain. >> demagoging, scaremongering. >> i call them legislative arsonists. >> i don't think we should throw

tantrums. >> an interesting thing to ponder. that your top agenda is making sure 20 million people don't have health insurance. ♪ she's alone in the revolution ♪ >> good afternoon. the emmys may be over, but there's plenty of serious drama for the president as he arrives in new york to kick off a high-stakes week of delicate diplomacy, both with his fellow world leaders and his opponents in congress. the president and first lady arrived here in the big apple, just a few hours ago, with the president heading straight to a meeting with his nigerian counterpart, president goodluck jonathan. they're meeting comes as the world watches, the third day of a terrorist siege at an upscale shopping mall in nairobi. and with pressing questions remaining about those involved in the attack, including whether americans were among them, the president pledged the nation's

full support, as well as our sympathies. >> i want to express personally my condolences to not only preside president, but to the kenyan people. we stand with them in this terrible outrage that has occurred. we will provide them with whatever law format support necessary. >> as deadly and dire as the crisis in kenya may be, it is just one of the pressures facing the president on the spot over syria. and poised for a potential breakthrough with iran. on the plus side, at least the president gets out of washington for a couple of days. lawmakers there are returning to the capital today for a potentially chaotic week that could result in a shutdown of the federal government by the end of the month. it's all part of an effort by republicans in congress to prevent others from getting the health care that members of congress so heartily enjoy. but hang on.

a little wacko bird told me it's all harry reid's fault. >> look, the house voted last week to fund the federal government. if harry reid kills that, harry reid is responsible for cutting down the government, and he should listen to the american people, open the government, fund the government, but don't fund obamacare, because it's hurting the american people. it's not working. >> yeah. it's not working. make sure you try to convince people of that before they even have a chance to enroll. but if you honestly think the president is going to play that game, mr. cruz, maybe you're even whackier than we thought. >> we will not negotiate over whether or not america should keep its word and meet its obligations. we're not going to allow anyone to inflict economic pain on millions of our own people, just to make an ideological point. and those folks are going to get some health care in this country. we've been waiting 50 years for it. >> we certainly have. and did we mention all of this is taking place as the president

tries to help the nation heal after yet another mass shooting. oh, and he also addressed the u.n. tomorrow morning, and you know the entire world will be watching. let's get right to our panel. in washington, david ignatius, columnist for the "washington post" and here in new york as msnbc political analyst jonathan altar. jonathan, if i might start with you in the u.n. assembly here, one of the big questions, will the president meet with iran he's new leader, hassan rowhani? your latest column calls it, and i'm quoting you, the biggest foreign policy opportunity and danger of his presidency. how is that so? >> well, i think this week's diplomacy at the united nations about iran, also about syria -- i can't remember a time when there was more at stake and when a president through his personal initiatives, could make more of a difference. the reason that i think this is an opportunity is obvious. the united states and iran have

been bitterly divided for nearly 40 years. and we're now at a moment where all of the signals from tehran's new president, hassan rowhani are that he believes that he's been elected with a mandate to engage the united states and try to solve the basic divisions between two countries. >> and yet, david, i'm sorry to interrupt you, but at the end of the day, many people reflect on leaders of that nation and believe that, a., it's the ayatollah that commands iranian policy. and b., we have been led to believe in the past that this is a nation which is inclined towards some kind of democracy and engagement with the united states, only to find that our hopes are dashed. >> you're right. and that's the challenge for the president this week. you asked me whether i think he'll meet with rowhani. i think the white house has set expectations that he will. so i would be surprised if they don't have at least some sort of pro forma handshake. but that's what this week is

about. it's about testing whether the support in iran for engagement goes as deep as the supreme leader, ayatollah huh manny. and whether the united states is willing to put enough on the table on its side so the iranians think they'll get something out of coming down off this perch they have been on for all these years. but i -- you know, as somebody who writes about this stuff for a living, i can't wait to see how this unfolds. really going to be interesting. >> i agree, david. john, some lawmakers are pressing a fairly high bar for iran to escape sanctions. senator lindsey graham and robert menendez send a letter to the president, i'll quote. iran is not a friend whose word can be taken as a promise. the test of iranian's seriousness must be verifiable action by iran to terminate its nuclear weapons program, including compliance with a mandates of four u.n. security

council resolutions. well, is that going to happen in the next two days? clearly not. >> no. nobody is expecting it to. this is a process that will unfold over the course of the rest of this year. and into 2014. but i think as david indicated, this is the greatest potential to diffuse the major confrontation that bedlefeville the world or potential confrontation, over the last several years. remember, for all this talk about vladimir putin and how difficult the russians have been. in 2009, the russians and the chinese, joined with the united states in applying these security council resolutions and applying these sanctions to iran. this was an area where the entire rest of the world isolated iran, and it seems to be working. >> it appears to be. >> so we focus so often -- >> right. >> on bad news or things going wrong in the world. we need to be cautious, because the iranians can't be trusted yet. but if they pass certain thresholds, and is we have

certain confidence-building developments, where they seem to be on the right path, and not just talking the talk but walking the walk, then we can move into the new year with some confidence of some genuine progress that would bring the world back from the brink. everybody agrees that having to attack iran and take out their nuclear capability would be -- have devastating consequences. nobody wants it to happen, and we may have dodged a bullet. >> david, i've read you consistently on the united states' relationship with iran. do you credit the president with what appears to be a softening and an improvement in relationships. also given the fact that rowhani has just been elected. but do you give the united states' president credit? >> i do, martin, on two counts. i think there was nothing more important to president obama when he came into office in 2009 than trying to see if this very

dangerous breach between the u.s. and iran could be healed. so he sent in that first year two secret letters to the supreme leader. he made every effort through the course of 2009 to negotiate a deal known as the tehran research reactor deal. elements are really still on the table. so from the beginning, he was trying to see if he could reach out and make a connection. at the same time, and this is really equally important right now, he began to build a very powerful coalition, as jonathan was saying, to say to iran, continuing with a program that looks to the u.n., the iea alike. he got russia into the coalition, the main purpose of the restarting relations, to make some concessions to russia so they would feel comfortable being part of it. he got china into that coalition. and amazingly enough, it's held

up now. we're going into the fifth year. and it's held up through negotiations, the so-called p 5 plus 1 group negotiated since last year has held together now i think five sessions with no defections by anybody. so the president has actually done both pretty well. he has opened the door and said, you know, let's walk through this. at the same time, he has put a lot of pressure. economic, diplomatic, to one them through the door and we'll see what the result is. >> let's hope it is positive. thank you both for your expertise. coming up, powerful words from the president to a nation numbed by gun violence. this cannot be the new normal. sometimes i fear there is a creeping resignation that these tragedies are just somehow the way it is. that this is somehow the new normal.

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for the third time in just over a year, the president was forced to lead the nation in mourning after yet another senseless mass shooting. this time, at a naval yard in washington. just as he did after the murder of 12 people in a colorado movie theater, as he did after the murder of 20 children and 6 teachers at an elementary school in connecticut can. the president expressed his grief at the abnormality of our national gun crisis. >> no other advanced nation endures this kind of violence. none. here in america, the murder rate

is three times what it is in other developed nations. the murder rate with guns is ten times what it is in other developed nations. and there's nothing inevitable about it. it comes about because of decisions we make or fail to make. and it falls upon us to make it different. sometimes it takes an unexpected voice to break through. to help remind us what we know to be true. and we heard one of those voices last week. dr. janice orlowski's team treated the wounded and in the midst of one of her briefings, she spoke with honesty as someone who sees daily and nightly the awful carnage of so much violence. we are a great country, she said. but there's something wrong.

all these shootings, all these victims, she said. this is not america. it is a challenge to all of us, she said. and we have to work together to get rid of this. >> while acknowledging the form of gun violence that is specific to this nation, the president also heralded a voice of reason that rose above the disturbing normality of yet another mass shooting. >> no other advanced nation endures this kind of violence. none. here in america, the murder rate is three times what it is in other developed nations. the murder rate with guns is ten times what it is in other developed nations. the main difference that sets our nation apart, what makes us so susceptible to so many mass shootings, is that we don't do enough, we don't take the basic common sense actions to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and dangerous people.

what's different in america is it's easy to get your hands on a gun. i do not accept that we cannot find a common sense way to preserve our traditions, including our basic second amendment freedoms and the rights of law-abiding gun owners. while at the same time, reducing the gun violence that unleashes so much mayhem on a regular basis. and it may not happen tomorrow and it may not happen next week. it may not happen next month, but it will happen. because it's the change that we need, and it's a change overwhelmingly supported by the majority of americans. >> and finally, the president allowed himself a moment of exasperation as he said that while we talk about gun violence and mourn for those who are its victims, our response has simply not gone far enough. >> our tears are not enough. our words and our prayers are

not enough. if we really want to honor these 12 men and women, if we really want to be a country where we can go to work and go to school and walk our streets free from senseless violence, without so many lives being stolen by a bullet from a gun, then we're going to have to change. >> sadly, with the congress we currently have, it seems that endless words of condolence are frankly all they have to offer. coming up, from the cruel truth of the president to more scaremongering by the nra. you had better get your gun. >> here we have a military base completely unprotected. we have a mental system that's completely broken down. they're trafficking in 13-year-old girls down the street. it -- there's all kinds of drugs, all kinds of guns.

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join us. [ male announcer ] at edward jones, it's how we make sense of investing. last week, the president called the mass shooting at a washington, d.c. navy yard, quote, yet another mass shooting. yesterday, he expanded on these thoughts at a memorial service for the 12 people killed in this most recent massacre. and he does so often and so well, the president found the perfect historical moment to reference in regards to our fight for gun control moving forward. >> even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of god. what robert kennedy understood, what doctor king understood, what all our great leaders have always understood, is that

wisdom does not come from tragedy alone. or from some sense of resignation in the fallibility of man. wisdom comes through the recognition that tragedies such as this are not inevitable. and that we possess the ability to act and to change and to spare others the pain that drops upon our hearts. >> for more now, we're pleased to be joined by msnbc contributor, goldly taylor and from the "washington post" dana milbank. go go goldie, i want to start by offering my condolences for your loss of your cousin champ in st. louis. at a time such as this where gun violence is affecting our nation and your family personally, are you at all able to be hopeful that something can be done or as the president quoted, to spear others the pain that drops upon

other hearts and particularly on yours? >> you know, martin, we are a faithful family. we are a family of faith. and unfortunately, largely we're also a family of women. and so we are ack coupled, it seems, to losing our men. for me, i don't have grandfathers, no father, no cousins who are, you know, of majority age, no brothers. and so i cling to my sons a bit more tightly. it seems to me that somewhere along the line we have to make this stop. that it is not fair that congress is able to walk freely into the capitol without fear of harm, really. but a school child can't walk to school in chicago without being escorted by parents and police. and so we have to figure out. we as a nation, not our congress, we as a nation have to figure out when we are going to move on in congress and demand that they make a meaningful change. >> goldie, it seems to me as

though congress is deaf to the pleadings of people like yourself. the nra is the organization that members of congress listen to. but the broken hearts of individual americans like yourself are simply not listened to. >> you know, people like wayne lapierre are really out there to protect and grow their revenues of gun manufacturers. they don't represent everyday americans. what they do represent is trying to -- decrease the regulation around guns so more guns can be sold. the proliferation of gun violence in this country, as the president said, is exponentially higher than it is in other countries. and it is for a number of reasons. but chief among those is the readily -- the accessibility of guns on our nation's streets. you know, in my hometown in east st. louis, i say you are much safer at a checkpoint in fallujah than you are at a

stoplight in east st. louis. that's because cheap illegal handguns are so available, so ubiquito ubiquitous. you can get one anywhere. inner city children report a higher incidence of ptsd than war veterans. if you take that kind of pathology and layer it over with the availability of handguns, then certainly you're going to have an increased number of murders on the streets of this country. you had 50 shootings in chicago over the course of just two weekends. that has to end. >> yeah. dana, things feel hopeless right now in the fight for the -- for gun control. but i would remind you that the brady bill was first introduced to congress in 1987. it faced enormous opposition from the nra, failed for a long time to get support in congress. and was ultimately signed into law in 1993. so dana, is it fair to say that while things may look bleak now,

there are reasons to be relatively optimistic? >> well, i think there's a sense of despair now, and, you know, look, we talk about gun violence when it's something like what happened at the navy yard, when it's a awful tragedy like happened in newtown. but the fact of the matter is, far fewer people are killed in those sorts of events than in the tragedies like happened in goldie's family that are occurring all of the time and are not moving anybody to action. so i think the despair is not necessarily a permanent one. these things go in cycles. but the pendulum is at such a place where we just can't reasonably anticipate any sort of action. there was even a slight bit of optimism that, all right, congress is stuck on this. at least the states are going to get going. and colorado made some progress there. and then you see these state legislators recalled there. so i think you heard in the president's words, well, hope over the long-term, but no concrete action in the short-term, because nobody

believes anything -- look, this congress can't agree on perfectly noncontroversial things like the farm bill. they're going nowhere on guns. but that doesn't mean after an election or two that we won't be back at it. >> sure. and a final point to you, goldie, i wonder what your reaction was when you heard wayne lapierre trot out his one-note melody once again this weekend, which is, more guns are needed. more guns. not fewer guns. more guns. >> he keeps saying that when good guys with guns show up. you know, the violence stops. well, the studies show that simply isn't true. there aren't many cases, if any, where a civilian shooter has been able to stop a mass shooting in progress. and so the stats just aren't really on his side. but he really speaks to this like he's talking about a game of cowboys and indians. this is real life, real people, dying on the streets of this country, every day. and wayne lapierre has cloistered himself off. he has what i say practice of politics of containment. if it doesn't bother him in his

neighborhood then he simply is not concerned. when these children are dying everyday, i think it is incumbent upon all of us to make sure we stand up and make sure this congress and every congress after it understands what we need as a people. >> absolutely. goldie taylor and dana milbank, thank you very much. coming up, we change gears in today's top lines. and will someone please come to the rescue of senator ted cruz? anybody. ♪ [ male announcer ] house rule number 33. coffee should come in one size: mug. stay grounded with the rich, bold taste of maxwell house coffee. always good to the last drop. then you'll love lactose-free lactaid® it's 100% real milk that's easy to digest so you can fully enjoy the dairy you love. lactaid®. for 25 years, easy to digest. easy to love.

from legislative arson to legislative impasse. here are today's top lines. what's your end game, senator? well, the clock is ticking. >> the shutdown showdown is on. and there is the clock. >> we do have eight days to reach a resolution on this. >> what is the end game? >> here's the question everyone on both sides is asking in washington. >> there is no strategy, no end game. >> which is, what's your end

game? >> ted cruz. >> ted cruz. >> ted cruz. >> why are republicans so angry at ted cruz? >> republicans are arguing with each other about whether this is the right thing. >> what's your end game, because the government is going to shut down a week from monday. >> we don't want to shut down the government. >> the first order of business is going to be to ask harry reid if he will agree to allow amendments to be subject to a 60-vote threshold. >> i call them legislative arsonists. >> you also don't have support in the senate to defund obamacare, do you? >> i'm confused. >> i asked a direct question. do you have support in the senate to defund obamacare or don't you? >> well, we don't know right now. >> the guys who are pushing this plan just do not have a rational end game here. >> i would suspect today, with all due respect to my junior senator from texas -- >> i don't think in america we should throw tantrums. >> this is the first time that the end game was described to any republican senator. >> this has been one of the strangest weeks i've ever had in washington. because as soon as we listed ted

cruz as our featured guest this week, you had ticked off a whole bunch of your fellow republicans. i got unsolicited research and questions, not from democrats, but from top republicans who feel that you have gotten them into this fight without an end game, without a strategy. >> there are lots of folks in washington that continue to throw rocks. and i'm not going to reciprocate. >> let's get right to our panel. joining us now is the "washington post" malika henderson, and ryan grim of "the huffington post." ryan, we all know ted cruz is a clever and well-educated man and yet the only thing that seems to unite republicans and democrats in washington is the shared dislike and hatred potentially for this person. why is that? >> well, i think -- i mean partially it's because he came after them. he has been running actual ads in the districts of a lot of republicans around the country, you know, demanding they get

behind his -- his defund obamacare strategy. and that's the last thing that any elected official wants, is somebody coming from out of their area, coming in and accusing them of not being principled or conservative enough. but, you know, the problem he has here is that i don't think that he expected his plan to get as far as it did. and so that's why it's -- it appears to be so poorly thought out, because i think he didn't think that the house republicans would go along with his strategy. >> so you're saying he smoked the crack and he didn't think he was going to get high. >> well, i guess -- i mean, i guess that's one way of putting it. but, you know, to his credit, why would one junior senator be running the entire house republicans legislative strategy? so from his perspective, a couple months ago, you could at least see why he would think the house wouldn't be crazy enough to follow him. >> we have heard so much from senator cruz's detractors, let's take a listen now to perhaps his very last and final defender. here she is.

>> we finally have a tool to be able to take those steps to repeal, and that's unfunding obamacare. and that's what ted cruz, mike lee and others want to do. so now these gop elephants that would turn on someone who is trying to fight for the will of the people, for liberty and for economic justice, if you will, to have those turn on him is extremely disappointing. >> i'm not sure how ted cruz will enjoy being described as a tool. but should he be enthused and encouraged he's joined at the hip by one sarah palin? >> well, i've got to say, i think sarah palin is representing a lot of rank and file republicans who actually do believe that they can repeal, defund obamacare if enough republicans would just stop being squishes, right, to use ted cruz's word. so i think ted cruz's end game has always been the same, and that is ted cruz beating the face of something that really

resonates with the base of his party. so in that way, you know, i think it only helps him that people like sarah palin are defending him, and people like john mccain, a and more moderate establishments are going after him. >> switching gears for a moment, ryan, hillary clinton is featured on the cover of "new york" magazine this week. it's getting a lot of attention, naturally. but according to her husband, mrs. clinton's 2016 plans are yet to be determined. take a listen to mr. clinton. >> it was the first time the country had ever gotten to see her as somebody who just what you see, what you get. shows up for work every day, gets stuff done. and is very strong about it. i think that's -- but these polls don't mean much. we're a long way ahead. i think she would be the first to tell you there is no such thing as a done deal ever, by anybody. but i don't know what she's going to do. >> do you believe what he just said, ryan? >> well, i mean, it depends on what you mean. by running. i mean, there's no question that

at this very moment she's running. she's doing everything that she would need to do to run for president. and people that have spoken to her in recent weeks have said, and have told me, she speaks in very detailed terms about a run. as in, you know, how many -- you know, delegates would we need from x state or who is over here in this state that we might need. so, you know, it's not like she's punting the decision down the road. now, sure, you know, at some point in 2016 could she drop out of the race or decide that the polls have turned against her and she's not going to run anymore? yeah, sure. but at this point today, she's running. >> right. nia malika, final question to you, it seems there is a view amongst family members. ron paul says he never speaks to his son about the potentiality of a run in 2016. and president clinton says he doesn't know what his wife is going to do. is basically, it's not worth asking the closest people to the

individuals themselves, because they'll never tell you whether they are or not going to run. >> that's right. that's all malarkey, right? if you look back, talking to ron paul's advisers from his old campaign, that entire campaign apparatus was about rand paul in 2016. and you feel like here with hillary clinton certainly she's talked to her husband about the decision that she's staring at. but i think one question is, whether or not they're actually making the right decision right now to get out so soon, to possibly give these policy speeches they have announced a while ago to give so many interviews. she talked herself in that article about whether or not people sort of get tired of that. they want to focus now instead on who is in office and whether or not it's too premature to be looking down the road so early at 2016. but she certainly is leading people to look at her really early. and i think a question of that is whether or not hillary fatigue will set in. and she is starting out much too soon. >> i guess we're as much to blame for that as anybody. thank you both so much. when we come back, what's an

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the president took time in his speech to the congressional black caucus this weekend to deconstruct the gop's cynical attack on poor americans who have the audacity to ask for basic affordable health care. >> your top agenda is making sure 20 million people don't have health insurance. and you would be willing to shut down the government and potentially default for the first time in the united states' history, because it bothers you so much that we're actually going to make sure that everybody has affordable health care. >> and joining us now is senator bernie sanders of vermont.

good afternoon, sir. >> good to be with you. >> you is, sir. in a week when republicans voted to throw 5 million people off the food stamps program, and want to deny at least 20 million people affordable health care, can you tell us, what is the underlying philosophy of your friends across the aisle? what kind of society are they proposing with their measures? >> martin, that is an excellent question, and one that is not asked too often. today, it is trying to defeat obamacare, throwing millions of elderly people and children and working families off of food stamps. but it is important to understand what their real agenda is. their real agenda is to end social security, to privatize it. to voucherize medicare, end it as we know it. massive cuts in medicaid. to do away with the departments of education and energy, and, by

the way, not only not raise the minimum wage to a living wage, do you know what they believe in terms of the minimum wage? >> oh, i've heard it. >> they believe the minimum wage concept should be abolished. >> of course. >> and if employers in america can hire you for 3 bucks an hour, that's freedom. >> yeah. >> so you have freedom to work for 3 bucks an hour, the freedom not to have any health insurance, the freedom not to deal with global warming. that's their definition of freedom. >> well, the thing is, sir, we keep being told that the food stamps program has to be slashed, because it's being exploited by free loaders and fraught straudsteres. what about three quarters of households receiving s.n.a.p. benefits have a child, elderly person or disabled person and the center for budget and policy priorities reports the house gop's bill could deny benefits to 170,000 veterans.

now, you chair the veterans' affairs committee. i mean, can you describe what may happen if these men and women are simply tossed off food stamps? >> in terms of veterans issues, we send people to iraq and afghanistan, they gave up their employment back home. they come back, we're living in the midst of a very high unemployment era. they're searching for jobs. food stamps in many cases are the lifeline. it's how they feed themselves, how they feed their families. take those people off of food stamps. those families are going to be living hand-to-mouth and they're going to be in desperate shape. >> but sir, republicans say they're all fraudsteres. this whole program is riddled with fraud. they say that there are surfers throughout the country who are basically using food stamps to exploit the goodwill of americans, and what needs to happen is that the whole -- the whole program needs to be slashed. >> right. well, martin, look.

that is what -- here's where they come from. they are phubbfunded in a signit way by billionaires like the koch brothers who want more tax breaks for the rich and for corporate america. now, these guys don't have the guts to stand up to big money, so what they try to do is to take out people's anger against low and moderate income people. we have been hearing that line since ronald reagan, the so-called welfare stuff. but the bottom line is right now poverty today at 46.5 million is higher than it has ever been. middle class is disappearing. people are working longer hours for low wages. many people in america who walk into food shelves, you know what, they have jobs. maybe they have two jobs. but they're getting paid 8, 9 bucks an hour, can't feed their families. at the end of the day, what you're talking about is incredible cruelty and arrogance for a party representing the

wealthy and the powerful, to punish poor and working people. that is immoral, and, by the way, if we get this sequestration budget passed for another year, it will mean the loss of 900,000 jobs in america. these are bullies who are beating up on helpless people in many cases, and representing the rich and the powerful. they don't empress me. >> senator burr nissanders, thank you for representing people who do not have a voice in this argument. thank you, sir. >> thank you. still ahead, the president today responds to the ruthless terror attack at a kenyan mall. the very latest when we come back. [ sneezes, coughs ]

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. kenyan security forces say they now control nearly all of the west gate shopping complex after an attack that began saturday and has killed at least 60 people and injured more than 150. the president, who will deliver

a major speech at the u.n. tomorrow, said this afternoon that attacks such as the one propagated by the somalian terror group, al shabaab, will not be tolerated. >> all of us as an international community have to stand against the kind of senseless violence that these kinds of groups represent, and the united states will continue to work with the entire continent of africa and around the world to make sure we are dismantling these networks. >> the president of somalia has described al shabaab as, and i'm quoting him, not only a threat to somalia, but a threat to the continent of africa and the world at large. is this, in your view, the clearest sign yet that since announcing its allegiance to al qaeda february last year, al shabaab is now determined to

perpetrate terror beyond just the borders of somalia? >> it does look that way. although, as you know, there have been previous incidents. for example, in uganda. and i think that the group is sort of fighting back against the countrieses that it see as its onan mes on its own soil. i'm certainly not defending anything that happened but drawing a line between any attacks in places like uganda and kenya versus attacks elsewhere. these are the two countries that as i recall are the most important contributors to the u.n. presence in somalia. and this group, al shabaab group, may feel it's so on the ropes that it's got to fight back and discourage these countries from continuing their role in that u.n. mission. i think it's actually an interesting question, whether the rest of the world ought to now stand a little more strongly behind uganda and kenya and offer some limited degree of military help. of course, the israelis do appear to be helping at this particular mall, partly because some israelis own much of it. but i think it raises the

broader question of whether other countries should be involved in trying to help dismantle al shabaab physically to pick up on president obama's comment. but that's another matter, perhaps. >> can i move, mike, in the short time we have left, to the issue of iran. its representatives are expected to meet with the security council and germany, and its newly elected president has signaled a willingness to talk nuclear disarmament. do you see any grounds for optimism, or do you think we should treat rowhani as a slightly quieter and perhaps better behaved version of ahmadinejad? >> well, i see plenty of reason for hopefulness. i'm not sure i go quite so far as optimism. i think we have to keep our guard up and recognize there is no deal until there is a deal. and we're not even talking about specifics yet. the good news is that rowhani does seem to have a mandate from the iranian people to oh change iran's role in the world and also lift these sanctions, whatever it takes to let their economy get going again. and president obama clearly

doesn't really want to strike the iranian nuclear facilities militarily and there is a reasonable range of compromise outcomes here in terms of how many centrifuges iran would get to keep, how many inspectors would be on iranian soil for the u.n., iaea, and how much enriched uranium iran could keep. it would have to give up quite a bit of what it's got now, of course. >> of course. >> but if it were to do so, i think the international community would begin to lift sanctions. so there is a reasonable deal that you can spell out. there arin sen testifies on both sides to pursue that deal. so, yes, i'm going to be hopeful until proven otherwise, but i'm also not going to let down my vigilance or expect we will automatically get a deal because there are words being expressed right now. >> michael, thank you so much. we'll be right back in a moment. ] the biggest news in breakfast is actually tiny. new kellogg's raisin bran® with omega 3 from flax seeds. plus plump juicy raisins. flax seed? who are you? i still got it. [ male announcer ] invest in your heart health with kellogg's raisin bran® cereals.

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but you had to leave rightce to supnow, would you go? world, man: 'oh i can't go tonight' woman: 'i can't.' hero : that's what expedia asked me. host: book the flight but you have to go right now. hero: (laughs) and i just go? this is for real right? this is for real? i always said one day i'd go to china, just never thought it'd be today. anncr: we're giving away a trip every day. download the expedia app and your next trip could be on us. expedia, find yours. and finally, a literary note with a political dimension as we learn that congressman paul ryan, avid disciple of rand and helped mitt romney lose the presidential election will now

attempt to disseminate his own brand of severe conservatism by writing a book. the associated press reports that it's scheduled for august next year, just in time for a last-minute vacation purchase at an airport kiosk. of course, a book deal has become a rite of passage for any politician with eyes on the white house. why not pad the bank account while the iron is hot, or in this case, while the iron is sort of tepid. the working title is reportedly "where do we go from here," which might easily apply to his own budget and it is a title that our friends on twitter were only too eager to rework. "america shrugged" is suggested, invoking ms. rand and questioning the mass appeal. "dishes, they can't be cleaned enough" is suggested, unable to forget the old adage, you don't simply feed fish. but here's the biscuit, the

finest of all, "defending the 1%: my shortest marathon." let's hope the publisher hires an experienced fact-checker. thanks for watching. ed schultz is next. good evening, americans and welcome to "the ed show," live from minneapolis. let's get to work. if the majority is going to run the minority over with a train, the minority has the ability to stop them. >> they're there to burn down what we should be building up. >> republicans get blamed for shutdowns in washington, always have. >> you've got to give it to the republicans. they can fill the atmosphere with a lot of static. >> i would rather shut the government down. >> just so they can make an ideological point. >> i call it the limbaugh theorem. >> i don't think in america we should throw tantrums. >> i live in a glass case of emotion! >> i believe we can win this fight.