huh the citi thankyou preferred card. now earn 2x the points on entertainment, with no annual fee. go to citi.com/thankyoucards hi, everyone. i'm tamron hall. the news nation is following today's heated congressional hearings on the problems with the health care website. at one point, representative frank pallone from new jersey questioned the legitimacy of the hearing itself. >> so once again, here we have my republican colleagues trying to scare everybody. >> will the gentleman yield? >> no, i will not yield to this monkey court or whatever this is. >> this is not a monkey court. >> do whatever you want. i'm not yielding. i'm trying to tell you that the problem here -- >> protecting american citizens is a legitimate concern of this hearing. >> there's no health information in the process.

you're asked about your address, your date of birth. you're not asked health information, so why are we going down this path? you're trying to scare people so they don't apply. >> and contractors hired by the administration were grilled for hours today by both house republicans and democrats on who is to blame for this, quote, disastrous rollout. >> did any of you come forth to the administration and say, this thing may not be ready on october 1st, we might want a delay until we can get it right? any hands up? no. either you didn't know about these problems or you knew about them and chose not to disclose them. which one is it? >> so chairman, from a cgi perspective, our portion of the application worked as designed. the end-to-end testing was the responsibility of cms. >> all of the concerns that we had, which were mostly related to testing and the inability to get as much testing as we would

have liked, we expressed all of those concerns and risks to cms. >> we did not anticipate any sort of problems with our connection and have not experienced any. >> just give me something to tell these people that i've related to you that are real people, honest people that have to live with what you all have created. >> i would tell your constituents that the system is improving day over day. >> you keep speaking about unexpected volumes, ms. campbell. that really sticks in my crock. amazon and ebay don't crash the week before christmas and pro-flowers doesn't crash on valentine's day. >> there are people there. i'm going to venture to guess that the regular bureaucrats did their job. the political appointees manipulated the system to hide data they didn't want the public to know.

and we're going to find out who that is. >> cgi, the primary contractor for the site, assured the committee the problems will be fixed in time for people to get health coverage starting january 1st. nbc news capitol hill correspondent luke russert joins us. luke, that was just a poe purr ri of some of what the members of congress had to say. but the bottom line here, you had one member of congress say, what do i tell my constituents? at this point, it seems to me the meat that you can hold on to, if it is accurate from these contractors, is that these problems will be fixed and people will be able to start their health care january 1st if they're enrolled early. >> yeah, that's one of the things that we were able to obtain from this hearing, tamron. while there are these glitches and there are these problems, the general gist was that by the time folks need to be enrolled and if they want to enroll by that important deadline, they should be able to do that without problem. i don't think that takes away, though, from what you see here, which is kind of what you've

seen before in government where you have these total arguments between contractors and the contractors blame each other and say, we did the proper thing on our end, it was a lack of oversight by the government's part that led us into this mess. specifically the criticism from the contractors here was on the role of cms, the center for medicare and medicaid systems and what they had to do with it. from listening to this hearing, what they claim is, look, we had our stuff working, but when you pull it all together, which is the responsibility of the government and this specific organization, they did not do their job in making that happen. that's why i think next week's hearing when kathleen sebelius of hhs will be on capitol hill as well as maryland tavaner of cms. they'll face a lot of heat and we'll know more about the government's direct role. >> which then leads back to, i think, what at least some who have been critical of the process -- and when i say some, we include republicans and democrats -- who eventually want to know who is to blame and who should resign or be fired, what

heads will roll. >> yeah, where does the buck stop? as of right now from this hearing it's unclear where it goes. we do not know specifically who is to blame. it seems, though, this miss maryland tavaner from cms is getting the majority of it by saying this group was supposed to test out these faults and figure out a way forward. we'll probably find that out next week. but in this situation, you see the contractors going back and forth, no one wanting to take direct responsibility. in terms of what it means to the american people, i think watching a hearing like this, they go that's just business as usual in d.c. no one wants to take responsibility, passing it off on each other, and everyone is trying to make a political point of it. that was the one thing you saw democrats saying there. why are you making this so scary to the american people, trying to persuade them not to sign up. let's try and fix the problems. republicans, they don't want to talk about anything that has to do with the shutdown and debt limit last week. this is red meat for them. expect this to continue politically next week. >> all right. thank you very much, luke.

by the way, in just the past half hour, we did get the first of what will now be daily updates on the improvements to the healthcare.gov website. this was announced yesterday, that the administration had decided the best way forward perhaps in dealing with this crisis is to give the public, you, more information. on a conference call, government officials insisted more and more people are now able to sign up for health coverage. meantime, in just about two hours from now, health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius will tour one of these call centers we've talked so much about, one that's actually in phoenix, arizona, and had a closed-door meeting with people who work there. joining me now, washington post reporter. let's start with this hearing today. i don't think it's a huge surprise you have a couple of contractors who are all kind of slightly or maybe even directly pointing the finger at someone else. this is what happens when any company brings in all parties when something's been screwed up and they say, who is to blame?

rare is a person to stand up and say, i'm the one who messed this whole thing up. >> right. actual actually, if you read their written testimony, they do acknowledge that parts of the things they built are not working properly. but the way they're describing it is they're saying those issues would not have come to light if there had been more testing. i think one thing that was really interesting is that one of the contractors, qssi, said they had been keeping cms, the government, apprised of risks and concerns all the way up until october 1st. but we don't know what it is they said to cms. we don't know who they said it to. we don't know what cms' reaction was. >> we know secretary sebelius will answer some questions today, we're told, after she meets with the folks here at this call center in arizona. i want to read a little bit of what editor of the national review said in an opinion piece for politico. he writes, kathleen sebelius is the obama care rollout, what

fema director michael brown was to hurricane katrina response. he goes on to note that brown was gone two weeks after the storm where sebelius looks to be in a place for grim duration of the effort to right healthcare.gov. and i want to play what former white house chief of staff bill daly said this morning on "cbs this morning." let's play it. >> some people are calling for her to be fired. to me, that's like firing captain smith on the titanic after it hit the iceberg. it's not going to do much right now. i think they've got to get it fixed. they've got to get it straightened out. then there's a question, obviously, whether there need to be new leadership at that department, not only with the secretary but other things going forward. >> again, reiterating what we said earlier, these contractors at the hearing said that they believe these problems will be fixed and those who are able to enroll, start the enrollment january 1st will be able to do so. but that does not leave this lingering issue of kathleen sebelius and what's to happen to her or someone in the department solved. >> well, before you get to

there, i mean, you said that she's going to be at the call center. you know, one of the things the administration has said is don't worry, if you can't get through online, you can always call the call center or do a paper application. i would just like to point out, you call somebody at the call center, guess what? they still have to enter your information into the same healthcare.gov. it's just that they don't go through the same portal. you know, you go through the front door as a consumer. they go through a different way. they still have to go into that system. that system is still having errors in the back end where the subsidies are calculated, where the insurers get information. that is -- that's why this is a more serious issue. same thing for the paper applications. the paper applications are processed by people who also have to go back and log on to healthcare.gov to figure out what you're eligible for, whether you're eligible for medicaid or a subsidy to help you buy private insurance. >> so with that said, and you're absolutely right to make those points, what is a satisfactory

point or conclusion of this week that you're looking for? >> well, i think this one contractor said that they had posed risks and concerns to cms. i would like to know what it was that they highlighted, the degree of seriousness, and whether -- and i think people would want to know how far up the chain were those concerns passed. you know, you heard the contractors were asked again and again, did you raise issues with cms and, you know, the sense you got was, well, if we raised them, it didn't seem to do any good. this one contractor from qssi did say they had these risks and concerns they shared with cms all along. it would be interesting to find out if they follow up on where that information went. >> all right. thank you very much for joining us today. and we are following developing news. u.s. officials say two americans have been kidnapped by armed pirates, this happening off the coast of nigeria.

the pirates abducted the captain and chief engineer of the american flag oil supply vessel sea retriever in west africa's gulf. the ship is owned by a louisiana-based oil transport company, which is yet to comment on this incident. international officials say a tax o -- attacks off nigeria's coast have jumped a third this year. mick, do we have any information on whether or not officials are planning another rescue? what's the latest? >> here's what's particularly vexing about that particular hijacking and kidnapping. if they simply hijacked a ship, that's easy to see and spot at sea. but in this case, once the pirates took the two americans off the ship, that's where the intelligence chain had been broken. they have no idea where they are, no indication yet there will be any kind of military

attempt to rescue the two americans who have been taken hostage. i can tell you that in that region, as you pointed out, hijackings and pirate attacks against ships have been up 30% wile in the rest of the world those piracy attacks against ships have gone down. so at this point, there is no indication, no idea of the whereabouts of these two hostages and whether or not there can be a rescue. most u.s. officials believe this will result in what has really evolved there into a kidnapping cottage industry where a ransom will eventually be paid for their release. i do want to bring to your attention, though, a totally separate story. u.s. navy officials are confirming now that the u.s. navy base in millington, tennessee, is in lockdown. there are police reports from millington, tennessee, that at

least four people have been shot at that u.s. navy base, which is a recruiting command for the u.s. navy. details are very sketchy at this time. navy officials are describing this as an ongoing shooting standoff. >> mick, i need you to stick around. to your point, we're waiting for confirmation. you've been able to get this confirmation of this shooting. millington navy base. can you tell me more about this base and any other details? i know we're just getting this breaking news. again, how many people believed to have been shot? >> well, reportedly, according to police reports, as many as four people have been shot. no idea on the conditions, no idea on if there's one or more shooters on the base. it's all very sketchy. it's evolving as we speak. millington, it's landlocked there in tennessee, is the recruiting base, recruiting command for the u.s. navy. again, we're just getting all

the fresh reports as they're coming in, but navy officials do confirm there's an active shooting situation at the base. police in the region report as many as four wounded. >> okay, mick. i know you're going to work to get more details. i'm going to let you go. hopefully we'll get some more information on this breaking news. as you pointed out, this is millington navy base. it is on lockdown. if we have more information, guys, you can bring me this information. what we're watching now is another situation after the navy yard shooting that took place right outside of d.c. we now have information, mick confirming this on air for us just now, that shots fired, at least four people may have been shot at this millington navy base in tennessee. it is now on lockdown. we don't have any information regarding the shooter, if this is an active situation, meaning if the person is still on the grounds, firing shots. what we do know, there are

choppers on the scene, ground crews on the way from local television stations near and around there. at this point, there are reporters that there was a shooting at millington navy base. we're working to get more information on this. mick points out -- an nbc station is reporting that at least two people shot here. so we're awaiting more details, and we'll bring this to you as soon as possible. we're going to go to a quick break and we'll be right back with this breaking news. aying wy has never been our priority. our priority is, was and always will be serving you, the american people. so we improved priority mail flat rate to give you a more reliable way to ship. now with tracking up to eleven scans, specified delivery dates, and free insurance up to $50 all for the same low rate. [ woman ] we are the united states postal service. [ man ] we are the united states postal service. [ male announcer ] and our priority is you. go to usps.com® and try it today. [ male announcer ] and our priority is you. staor like this......

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we are following breaking news out of memphis, tennessee, where the local nbc affiliate wmct-tv is reporting at least four people shot at the millington navy base. that is in memphis. right now they're also reporting that the alleged shooter is in

custody. this is a google maps view, if you will, of the location where the shooting has taken place on this navy base. jim was on with us just a short time ago with this breaking news. basically, this base is a recruiting base, and we're hoping to get better images in so that you can see where this base is located and kind of the layout of what we're discussing. right now there are reports that at least four people were shot on millington navy base. the base itself is on lockdown. according to the latest information, a shooter is in custody. on the website for the base itself, they consider themselves part of the navy region midwest. it is a navy installations command. we are working to get more information. jim may be able to join us here with more details on this

shooting. as soon as we get more information, we'll certainly bring it. again, this is the limited details. i'm sorry to say it's very limited details we have at this point. wmc-tv is reporting four people shot. we're awaiting more information. we' we'll bring you the latest from this incident. and the massachusetts high school student accused of killing a math teacher was, in fact, one of her students. investigators say interviewed with 14-year-old phillip chism along with surveillance video led to his arrest in the murder of colleen ritzer. officials still do not have a motive. meanwhile, emotional friends of ritzer spoke out this morning on the "today" show. >> she had so much to look forward to. there were so many things that

she should have been able to do, and it's just not fair that she's not going to be able to do all those things she deserves. she was that person who deserves every good thing in life. >> "boston globe" reporter david abel joins me now. thank you for your time. obviously, the question is why this happened. had police indicated anymore information or given anymore information on a possible motive here to you? >> unfortunately, we still can't answer that question. we are, however, now reporting online some new information. what we've learned today is that phillip chism was this young teacher's student in her last period algebra class. apparently the teacher had seen him drawing while she was speaking before the class. according to some of the students we interviewed, she

apparently asked him to stay after class out of concern that he might have questions or issues for an upcoming test. apparently he had stayed after class, and we're not sure exactly the details about what happened after that. >> what more do we know about his background, and what are his parents saying? >> well, we haven't heard from the parents yet. we know that he's from tennessee and that his father was in the military. his parents were divorced. he moved to boston or the boston area, the town here called danvers, this summer and just started school. >> back to the investigation, david. as i understand, there's surveillance video. i saw a report that there were multiple cameras in and around that school that may assist police in piecing this awful

case together. >> right. some of the footage that we've learned about involves images of philip chism using a -- pushing a recycling bin through the classroom or through the hallways of the school. that apparently may have contained colleen ritzer's body. >> david abel, thank you so much for the latest on the investigation there. obviously people want to know what happened to this beloved teacher, why this happened. thank you. and we continue to follow the breaking news out of tennessee where there has been a shooting at a naval installation there, millington naval base. jim is standing by. mick, i understand you have more information for us. >> that's right, tamron. u.s. navy officials telling nbc news that the shooting actually occurred next to the base in a

national guard armory. according to officials, three national guardsmen believed to be army got into some kind of argument. one of them allegedly pulled a pistol, shot one of the other men in the foot, shot another national guardsman, allegedly, in the leg. now, that situation, according to navy officials, is under control. the gunman has been taken into custody by both navy and local police. the situation according to navy officials is pretty much under control, but the navy base itself remains under lockdown as a precaution. so originally it was reported as many as four people had been shot by local police, but again it was three national guardsmen got into an argument, one shot in the foot, one shot in the leg. the shooter, the alleged shooter is in custody as we speak. >> all right, mick.

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and get a quote now. welcome back. have authorities found the biological mother of the mystery child named maria? today police filed preliminary charges against a 38-year-old woman in bulgaria. she says she gave birth to the child while she was working in greece four years ago, but she had to leave the child behind. the woman says she's willing to take a dna test and wants the child back if it is, in fact, her daughter. a roma couple in greece currently under arrest, but there are emerging questions on exactly what sparked the initial interest of authorities. joining me now, research fellow at hoover institution at stanford. he wrote the incredible article titled "rescued by racism." he asked why the world was immediately captivated by maria. thank you so much for joining me. i must admit, as i told you, i

followed this story from the very beginning. this mysterious blond child that had been found, and you bring up something i think incredible. you write, not since faye ray found herself in the black clutches of king kong has a blond ignited the global imagination as has maria. why did you have that reaction to the story? >> well, i had the reaction because, you know, it was a tiny story that happened in an obscure gypsy camp in an obscure part of greece. cops investigated a family looking for drugs and weapons and, in fact, found a blond child. immediately on the mere observation of this blond child switched off their old investigation and assumed this couple had abducted the blond girl. this escalated from an obscure corner of greece into a global incident. i was fascinated by the theater of hysteria that resulted in this. >> many would say the police were doing quote/unquote good

detective work. if you see a child and she seems or he seems out of place, why not pursue that? this is a deeper issue for you on color and race here. >> no, no. my sympathies are with the child. i do hope she finds her parents, if her parents are fit to receive her. what i'm worried about is really the series of assumptions that were made by the press reporting the story. the child was immediately typecast as a blond angel, a blond angel found in the custody of these dark people. it was a sense -- there was racial hysteria. there was a sense of the natural order, the natural racial order being violated in some way. >> you're absolutely right. every headline, if people go online online, it comes up blond angel. you also wrote, disturbing is the fixation on the blondness of the child. her blondness is what these dark

people coveted. >> exactly. the news stories point to the fact there were six other children of dubious providence in this couple's home. we haven't heard from them. we don't know their names. we haven't had any footage. we haven't had any description of them as little angels. >> i'm curious about the reaction you've received to your piece. >> well, i've had -- i try not to read commenters who write at the end. i think a lot of people have come and said, oh, gosh, i wish we had woken up to this reaction earlier. a lot of people are ashamed there was this eruption of interest purely on the basis of the child's race before people actually paused for deeper psychological questions. >> incredible piece. people should go on "the daily beast" and read more about it. thank you for your time. >> thank you. and still ahead, maryland's attorney general photographed at a party where underage kids were drinking. he claims he had no moral obligation to stop it.

in the past hour, he's saying something different, and it's our "news nation" gut check. and just weeks after eight house members were arrested at an immigration protest, president obama urges members to take up the bill, already approved by the senate. >> it's good for our economy. it's good for our national security. it's good for our people. and we should do it this year. hold it steady now. i know daddy. [ dad ] oh boy, fasten your seatbelts everybody. [ mixer whirring ] bounty select-a-size. it's the smaller powerful sheet, that acts like a big sheet. look! one select-a-size sheet of bounty is 50% more absorbent than a full size sheet of the leading ordinary brand. [ humming ] [ dad ] use less with the small but powerful picker upper. bounty select-a-size. and try bounty napkins. bounty select-a-size. help the gulf when we made recover and learn the gulf, bp from what happened

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and many democrats and many republicans, that does not mean it will actually get done. >> well, yesterday speaker john boehner raised the possibility that the house could bring up a bill before the end of the year. >> i still think immigration reform is an important subject that needs to be addressed. i'm hopeful. >> joining me now, nbc's latino contributor raul reyes. speaker boehner is hopeful, but let me play what congressman labrador, republican from idaho, what he said last week regarding negotiations over immigration reform. let's play it. >> i think it would be crazy for the house republican leadership to enter into negotiations with him on immigration. and i'm a proponent of immigration reform. so i think what he has done over the last 2 1/2 weeks, he's trying to destroy the republican party, and i think that anything that we do right now with this

president on immigration will be with that same goal in mind. >> so yet again we have speaker boehner speaking of the possibility of something, but then members of his own party using words like it's crazy, the president's trying to destroy the party. where's the optimism? >> well, listen, i still share speaker boehner's optimism, but in those two sound clips -- >> why, exactly? >> because as the president mentioned in his clip, there's so much in support of it. the religious community, the faith community, business, labor. all of these people are on board this time who were not last time. but in a nutshell, the situation we have is the leadership wants it and that small extreme caucus will not let it go forward. >> let me pause you there. you were saying exactly what was said regarding new gun safety laws. >> right. >> that people overwhelmingly supported it in polling, churches, reasonable minds saw that there could be some kind of consensus on reasonable gun

control and nothing. >> and yet, you know, we have to remember, when we're talking about immigration reform, this is an issue that continues. it's still very energizing for the latino community. we have a generation of younger activists. the president actually encouraged them today. he said, continue the activism. they are not afraid to demonstrate, to go right up to the white house to continue to try and push things and move it along. coming out of this shutdown, you know, there's two ways to look at it. one is that the republicans desperately need to recoup in some way and regain public support. that's unlikely right now given this very irrational caucus. the other way we can look at it is now they've backed themselves in a corner. speaker boehner may have to break down as he did before. he's done it five times this year and allow a vote. there are 28 house republicans who are in support of comprehensive reform. it could pass. the immigration reform could pass in the house. >> okay. let me play what senator marco rubio said on fox news sunday,

someone who supposed to be the face of immigration reform for republicans but certainly now is seen as being damaged by his stance. let's play it. >> the president has undermined this effort. immigration reform is a lot harder to achieve today than it was just three weeks ago because of what's happened here. >> if the president is seen as someone who's trying to take down the party, that immigration reform, the passage would be a victory for him. again, what would motivate some of the republicans who are still licking their wounds over the government shutdown and the debacle that will we watched play out here. >> not only that, many of them in the aftermath of this fiscal crisis, many of them are even more resistant to doing anything that would benefit president obama and his administration. but staring them in the face is reality. sooner or later this is an issue that's not going to go away. although right now marco rubio is not being a good team player -- >> who is the good team player in it the republican party as

you see it? who is leading this charge? >> right now i believe mr. diaz because he's still trying to work within the house. the house gang of seven has fallen apart, but he's hanging in there, unlike raul labrador, who abandoned the group over the health care issue. he's still continuing the fight. the sad fact is we are 119 days out from when the senate passed their bill. even though the house loves to say that the calendar is against them, there's only so many days to make this happen, they control the calendar. speaker boehner could add days to that calendar. they could make it happen. >> raul reyes, thank you very much, sir. still ahead, luxury department store barneys new york accused of racially profiling customers. one alleged event involves a college student who saved his money up to buy a $350 belt but ended up in cuffs. >> they was asking me questions like, where did i get this money from, how i got the money.

>> what the luxury department store is saying and why some are now calling for jay-z to get involved. an imptant msage for icans eligle an imptant msage for for medicare. the annual enrollment period is now open.

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and glad forceflex bags stretch until they're full.* so you can take them out less often. well, a second shopper is now coming forward accusing high-end retailer barneys new york of racially profiling one day after a teenage student filed a lawsuit claiming that he was wrongfully detained for buying an expensive belt at the store. the 19-year-old says he was hand kufd and locked in a jail cell after buying a $350 belt from barneys back in april. according to the lawsuit, the check-out clerk asked to see his i.d., and after the sale went through and he left the store, he was approached by officers about a block away. christian says they asked him how he could afford the purchase then hauled him to the precinct where he showed them his i.d. as well and his debit card and even

the receipt. >> they was asking me questions like where did i get this money from, how i got the money, where do i work at, what school i go to. everything is legit. my card and everything is legit. i work. why would anything be a problem? >> well, a barneys spokesperson responded in part saying, the company has zero tolerance for any form of discrimination. after the ordeal, the teen ended up returning the belt, saying he wanted nothing to do with it. thegrio.com's associate producer joins me now. you have star jones and other celebrities saying they won't shop. let me read star's tweet. looks like i'm going to have to push #barneys on timeout. quest love says, guess where i won't be christmas shopping for mom this year #shame. barneys' statement has not s satisfied a lot of people. >> no, it hasn't.

they say they have a zero tolerance for any sort of discrimination policy in their store. these stars are come out. the store has been labeled as being hypocritical because they've launched this new line with jay-z, who's arguably one of the most iconic figures in the black community. now they're being labeled as hypocritical because they're targeting the clientele they hope to attract in the future. >> what does barneys say here? >> they've released the same statement they've released to the mass media saying they deny any sort of racial allegations or racial claims associated with the case and they have no tolerance for discrimination. that doesn't seem to satisfy a lot of people because the store has received a ton of backlash. >> and the other incident we mentioned, a second shopper, a young lady purchased a $2300 handbag with her tax return. as she walked out of the store, similar to this other case, she was followed and pulled over. >> in her instance, there are four plain-clothed police officers that approached her at a subway station.

they asked her questions about how she was able to afford the purchase, what she does for an occupation. she's filed a notice of claim suit against the city. >> the reverend al's national action network brooklyn chapter is seeking a meeting with barneys ceo mark lee. where does that stand? >> they plan on taking the meeting, but they have said they plan to take any sort of proper action if these racial claims do not stop, specifically related to barneys. >> back to the jay-z thing here. jay-z has collaborated with barneys for an upcoming holiday collection. some of the items range from $70 to $33,000. that is a watch with an alligator strap, in case you were wondering. but nevertheless, there is a call for jay-z, who's not commented -- >> yeah, he's not commented yet. we have reached out to his spokespeople. we expect him to make a comment in the future along with other stars who have come out and come forward to talk about this. he has a large part, a role in

barneys. so we do expect him to make a statement. >> and let's be clear. this lawsuit is against barneys, but we both live here in new york. there is this culture certainly -- the fifth avenue attitude up and down that street where certain people are seen as -- certain people as in black people -- seen as undesirable customers. you hear these issues not exclusive to barneys. >> definitely not. it's a sad reality. we've seen these cases reflected many times this year alone. >> night clubs have been a problem as well. >> even beyond that. we heard the president say he's had difficulty in the past trying to hail down a cab in new york to oprah's recent incident with a swiss clerk. there are different variations of racial profiling cases. stop and frisk has been claimed unconstitutional, so hopefully some sort of justice will be found in this situation. >> the kids are calling this

shopping while black. >> it is what it is. >> thank you. appreciate it. still ahead, maryland's attorney general now changing his tune after this picture was taken of him at a teenage party while drinking was taking place. he says it wasn't his responsibility to stop them. it's our "news nation" gut check. katy perry is coming to town. can we get tickets, please??? sure how many? thank you, thank you, thank you! seriously? i get 2x the thankyou points on each ticket. the citi thankyou preferred card. now earn 2x the points on entertainment, with no annual fee. go to citi.com/thankyoucards

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time now for the "news nation" gut check. maryland's attorney general doug gansler is responding to critics after he was seen attending a high school party where many teenagers were reportedly drinking. in the picture here obtained by "the baltimore sun," gansler is seen holding up his cell phone while other teens are seen dancing on a table with rest plastic cups. according to "the sun," the party was held this summer at a house in delaware, rented by a group of parents, including gansler.

after initially telling the paper he had no moral authority over other people's children, in the past hour, he seemed to backtrack. >> this was a dance party with loud music, and there may have been some college students or others drinking beer. i just don't know. but the party was chaperoned by adults. but should i as a parent have tried to determine whether there was drinking by other children in the house or ask the chaperons whether there was drinking going on? perhaps i should have assumed there was drinking going on and i got that wrong. >> joining me now, sirius xm's michael smerconish, also an msnbc contributor and a great dad. what would you have done, michael? >> well, two nights ago our 17-year-old came to us at dinner and said, this summer i want to go in on a senior house. there's nothing new about senior houses. they're as old as time.

i have a suspicion -- >> i don't know what that is. i'm sorry. what is a senior house? >> senior house is you've graduated, you hang out with your buddies and throw parties. yes, beer is consumed. my hunch is that the senior house that my son envisions looks very much like the senior house in that picture. so here's the question that i ask as a parent. is my son safer in a house like that where adults are present, as was the case in this circumstance, where they had rules, no hard liquor, nobody drives, and no boys and girls behind closed doors, or is he safer without me there? now, i know the obvious answer is he's safer not being in an environment like that, but this is the reality. this goes on. it's hard to defend this guy if he's now not going to defend himself because "the baltimore sun" lays the whole thing out. the parents were apparently in on it. they paid. they wanted to keep the kids protected. now he seems to be saying something different. >> i think there's a lot of things to be discussed here. but the bigger issue is that,

yes, he's a parent, but he wants to be the governor of maryland. he seemed to at this news conference try to split the baby. on one half, he wanted to process it as a parent. the other, as a person who'd like to be the governor here. we have laws for a reason. i mean, listen, i'm not a prude here. i'm not saying you have to live in a square world, but there are laws that exist for a reason. >> look, we all have had those circumstances. i certainly did where you lose someone from your high school class. you know, you say there but for the grace of god go all of us. we don't want our kids drinking and driving. when you really get down to it, the issue is, so what is going to keep them off the road? is it going to be a lack of any supervision? you look at this picture carefully. he's not the only adult in the room. in the background i see two other men who look significantly older than the kid. >> well, i can't tell because there's so many shirtless people, but the bottom line is, michael, the number of kids, i

think, stuck out to me. i think it would be one thing if this was a smaller, controlled group. but you have a lot of kids there. i don't know what the parent/kid ratio was. the second thing that struck me, my team got into a heated conversation. i think it sometimes implies that you cannot have fun unless there's alcohol. when you're 19, i mean, listen, it's one thing to have a glass of wine at dinner, but this kind of partying does tell your kids and any kid you can't have fun unless you're popping bottles or you got a keg around. i don't think that's a proper message. i'm not a parent though. so you tell me. >> you know, i look at those kids and i say, 19, really? they could be going off to iraq or afghanistan. there's a whole other issue here about whether the age is where it needs to be. the feds got heavy handed with the auto moneys a couple years ago. otherwise that might be the case. i can see it both ways. i hear all the condemnation, and i'm just saying there are two sides to this. >> okay, michael. thank you so much. so what does your gut tell you?

do you think maryland's attorney general had a moral obligation to stop those teens from partying? go to facebook.com/newsnation. that does it for us. see you tomorrow. "the cycle" is up next. [ both cheer ]

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so you feel free. powerful sinus relief. sudafed. open up. we begin with breaking news here on "the cycle." moments ago the lockdown on millington naval base outside of memphis, tennessee, was lifted after a nearby shooting. at least two national guardsmen were shot. a u.s. military official tells nbc news that three national guardsmen got into a fight at the national guard armory near the base. that argument resulted in gunfire. the men began to fight and one pulled a gun, shooting one guardsman in the foot and the other in the leg. neither is a life-threatening injury, the official said. the alleged shooter was arrested by local and navy police. he is in custody. we will keep you posted if anything new breaks in this story. we turn now to the heated hearing on capitol hill today. lawmakers taking the folks behind the troubled obama care website to task for