dust irritating your eye? ♪ (singing) ♪ visine® gives your eyes relief in seconds. visine®. get back to normal. within the hour, bodies of mh-17 victims are expected to arrive in the netherlands, and a ukrainian official says two more of their military planes have been shot down. the latest on this and russia's

role behind it with senator bob corker. meantime, senator kerry tries to keep israel and hamas from an all-out war if it isn't already there and u.s. airliners steer clear of tel aviv from an increasingly deadly environment. plus georgia republicans decided on a winner last night, but are we all the losers if primary participation keeps plummeting? and what does it mean for the november midterms? the data set you need to see. good morning from washington, it's wednesday, july 23rd, 2014. this is a very busy daily rundown. it's good to be back. let's get right to my first reads of the morning. i'm going to start with 2014. issue this, congratulations, washington. you may have fully broken our democracy. now the public has noticed and they're walking away. we've been warning about this problem for months, actually over a year, and we now have new evidence americans are giving up on the political process. exhibit a, last night's results in georgia's republican runoff where businessman and political newcomer david purdue is the

winner setting up a high-stakes, expensive battle the democrats see as one of their better pickup opportunities headed into the fall. purdue won a narrow 51-49 victory beating jack kington by just 8500 votes and launching a november contest with democrat michelle nunn that will feature two first-time candidates. >> i rep michelle nunn. i respect her work, i respect her family. but with my business career, i will prosecute the failed record of the last six years of obama. the agenda that michelle nunn, her party, barack obama, harry reid and nancy pelosi support. >> kingston's loss, despite the support of the candidates who finished third and fourth in the may primary, was perhaps a rejection of washington. commercials featured crying babies in front of the capitol and he promised to serve only

two terms if elected. democrats believe of the two candidates purdue is the one that's less defined and they can turn him into a 2014 version of mitt romney. jack kingston, who everybody likes in washington and in georgia they figured was going to be much tougher to beat. frankly the biggest takeaway from last night is this number. 482,478. it's the number of ballots that were cast in the runoff after a brutal, expensive nine-week campaign. republican turnout was down 20% from the primary in may, down 17% from four years ago when nearly 100,000 more voters cast ballots in the republican runoff for governor. georgia isn't the only state where voter participation is cratering. it's a trend we've been seeing from coast to coast. frankly it depose back to the debt ceiling in 2011. a new study crunched the turnout numbers in the 25 states that have held primaries so far this year. the report focused on statewide

races for senate and governor and found out only 18 million of the 123 million eligible americans to vote bothered to do so. that's a turnout of less than 15% of the eligible population. overall turnout is down a whopping 18% from 2010 as well. and in 15 states out of the 25 which have voted in 2014, turnout is at an historic low. just three states of the 22 which held statewide primaries in both parties had a higher turnout than four years ago, nebraska, north carolina and west virginia. the pain is being shared by both parties but it is worse for the democrats who saw a 29% decline in turnout from 2010 primary, the biggest drop on record. republican turnout is down 15% but their rate was closer to historical norms after tea party enthusiasm led to that turnout spike. the gop advantage is partly due to a string of more competitive primaries. republican turnout actually hit a record high in four states, arkansas, mississippi in the senate runoff, montana and oklahoma.

now, the states with the highest turnout in 2014 for both parties have been montana, kentucky, nebraska, mississippi, oregon and california. turnout has been lowest in iowa, nevada, maine, ohio, texas, south carolina and pennsylvania. and as the report points out, the fact that voters are staying home isn't a new problem. turnout has been dropping steadily for years on this midterm front. overall turnout is down 54% from 1966. while republican primary turnout has been pretty steady over the last four decades, it's democratic turnout that has dropped this year for the 11th consecutive cycle. republican turnout overtook democratic turnout for the first time since 2010 and there's an even bigger difference this year. what does all this mean? it's more raw evidence that we're likely headed for a record low turnout in the 2014 midterms. primary turnout was up in '94 and up in 2010 and that produced two wave elections in november in favor of the republicans. but there's a lot of evidence that we won't see a wave this

year and the trend that we've seen over the last four cycles of vote totals rising won't repeat itself in the fall. since the debt ceiling crisis in 2011, dissatisfaction with washington is at an all-time high. and we felt it at the polls. we saw turnout drop in the 2013 governor's races, mayoral contests that were open in l.a. and new york city, nobody voted. this report is just another piece of evidence that we're on a downward trajectory in simple participation. it's despite the fact, think about this, political campaigns, political parties, super pacs are spending more money ever to target voters individually. there's more direct voter contact than ever, so it's not like the word is not going out. efforts to make it easier to vote haven't been doing much to help either. of the four states with election day registration, they all had lower turnout than four years ago. idaho, iowa and maine set record low turnouts. one of the states with the most innovative voting, california, which has introduced a top two

primary system and where 69% of those in the primary did so by mail set a record low turnout, although 18% is higher than many other states. folks like to weigh in with a solution, if only we had a national primary day. here's the thing, there's a pretty basic answer here. the dogs aren't eating the dog food. americans need to believe that their votes matter. if you're running for office and you're running because you believe you can make positive change, if voters aren't inspired, you're doing something wrong. if you make people feel their vote matters again, maybe they'll show up. if you make actual change in washington, voters might turn out and vote. voters are sick of the fact that after three change elections in the last four cycles, nothing much has been done differently here in washington. they're sick of the fact that they don't hear candidates offering real solutions to the tough economy they're still experiencing. they don't have amnesia, they knew they voted for change three of the last four years and

didn't get it. so what does this turnout problem mean for november? weird things happen in low turnout elections. does it prevent a wave election from happening because the middle doesn't show up? if there's a full-fledged base selection, maybe the two campaigns don't engage in many of these states. they have different conversations because their strategy will be about motivating their side of the aisle. are we headed for a status quo that will really upset the public who definitely wants something to change here? all right. up next, we turn to the two major international stories that are creating some very big challenges here in washington, the malaysian flight 17 investigation. sl vladimir putin still claiming complete russian innocence and the two ukrainian planes that have been shot down. and then there's israel, rocket risk has u.s. and foreign airliners cancelling flights to israel as secretary kerry pushes for a cease-fire talk in tel aviv. new developments and the u.s. response with republican senator

bark corker, ranking member of the foreign relations committee, that's next. first a look at today's planner. a house hearing on terrorism in iraq is at 10:00 a.m. watching the arrival of the first plane carrying victims' remains from flight mh-17 that's due to land in the netherlands at 10:00 a.m. eastern. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. plan you drop 40 grand on a new set of wheels, then... wham! a minivan t-bones you. guess what: your insurance company will only give you 37-thousand to replace it. "depreciation" they claim. "how can my car depreciate before it's first oil change?" you ask. maybe the better question is, why do you have that insurance company? with liberty mutual new car replacement, we'll replace the full value of your car. see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance.

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. as we speak, secretary of state john kerry is in the midst of a string of meetings in israel and the west bank trying to do a little shuttle diplomacy and end the israel offensive and stop the death toll. he has spoke with the u.n. secretary general and mahmoud

abbas and is scheduled to sit down with netanyahu in 90 minutes. kerry said earlier today some progress had been made toward a cease-fire. >> we have certainly made some steps forward and there is still work to be done, but i'm very appreciative that the secretary general is making great efforts. the u.n. is wholeheartedly in this effort to try to see if we can advance not just a cease-fire but a sustainable process going forward. >> while the talks go on, so does the israeli offensive. nearly 60 more targets were struck overnight and the death toll keeps rising. 650 palestinians have now died in the fighting, along with 31 israelis. israel says hamas has continued to fire rockets from gaza overnight, fears that those rockets could put planes at risk has sparked an faa decision to temporarily ban commercial flights to tel aviv's main airport. that decision will get revisited again today. delta's ceo said this morning

his airline will not be flying into tel aviv today. lufthansa is cancelling its flights and poland state airline is reportedly suspending flights from warsaw to israel until monday. now to the latest on malaysia airlines flight 17. in a new reminder that the plane crash investigation is happening in the middle of a war zone, ukraine says two of their fighter jets were shot down by pro-russian separatists this morning not far from the crash site. a separatist leader posted this video on youtube. nbc news has not verified the video but appears to show one of the downed jets burning on the grounds. separatists discuss how they shot down the plane and they want to capture the pilots. nearly a week after the malaysian airliner was shot down, the first remains of the victims are finally being returned to the netherlands today. two planes, one dutch and one australian, are bringing the bodies to a military base. 40 bodies of victims will arrive about an hour from now. today has been designated a national day of mourning in the

netherlands, which lost most of the 298 people that were killed in last week's missile strike. the dutch king, queen and prime minister along with other government officials will attend a ceremony at the airport when the bodies arrive. on tuesday before leaving washington for fund-raising on the west coast, the president signed a condolence book at the butch embassy to honor the lives lost. the plane's blacks boxes arrived in britain under the supervision of the international civil aviation organization but most folks think the black box won't contain much new evidence that they don't already have. republican senator bob corker joins me now. senator, good morning to you, sir. >> chuck, good to be with you. >> so let's start with the evidence that the defense department, u.s. intelligence officials were laying out yesterday. it's circumstantial evidence pointing the finger at the russians and these russian separatists. is it definitive enough for you? >> look, chuck, obviously like

all of us we want to make sure the investigation is complete, but i don't think there's any question it's going to point directly at russia. secretary kerry was on the morning shows on sunday talking about the 150 vehicle convoy taking equipment into russia. we know that they have been supporting them financially. we know the russian military folks have been inside the country. we know early on when this was just beginning that as people would take over city halls, if you will, in eastern ukraine, they were on the phone with people in russia asking what they should do. should they stand down, should they go ahead? so this has been going on for a long time with no real response from us and no real response for sure from europe. it's a really sad situation. there's bipartisan support, i think you know. levin, menendez, feinstein yesterday also pushing for the same thing that i've been pushing for for some time, and that is additional sectoral sanctions.

so no response. very, very disappointing. >> so we're not -- we don't have those sectoral sanctions. do you think the u.s. should do this on their own -- >> yes. >> you do think. >> definitely. >> the sectoral sanctions should happen with or without europe? >> absolutely. i do want to give the administration an attaboy. the day before this incident occurred with malaysian airline, they did put in place some sectoral sanctions on some banking entities and arms dealers and i thank them for that. but there's no additional response, chuck, and at the end of the day i think it's been this tepid, cautious, big hat, policy that led to the kind of thing happening that happened recently with the plane. in other words, we've done nothing to push back. russia had 40,000 troops on the border. we did nothing. we knew they were fomenting problems inside eastern ukraine. we did nothing. we knew they were supplying

arms, this buk system, we knew that was going in, we did nothing. we've been saying all along it's these types of circumstances that lead to something really bad happening. if you don't push back early on, it can lead to much greater conflict. >> we know why -- supposedly why there's been this sort of some pushing at putin but not with a full-on assault. the europeans have their economic ties and the u.s. is still holding out hope putin won't shut down the iranian nuclear talks. so at this point do you give up on putin altogether? do you say so what if he shuts down the iranian talks. the time is now to go at him and go at him hard? >> yeah, i think as i talked with our negotiators, i don't think russia is playing a particularly constructive role right now in the iranian component anyway. if you're going to be held hostage in a situation like this, it's very detrimental.

they will try to create linkage, but i don't think russia is being particularly pushy relative to us getting a good place in iran anyway. so yes, i think you do. i think that, look, here's what's happening, chuck. i was just in poland not long ago and i won't name the official, but what they're so concerned about is that western europe and the u.s. are going to settle for what's called a bitter peace, where you put up with russia acting as they are in order just to keep doing business. and i think you know -- i mean history shows that if you continue to do that, the problem festers. at some point things get out of control. and again, i think we've been incredibly tepid and cautious action and i want to say one more time, there is bipartisan support for this administration to act alone without europe. europe, i'm sorry, they can't even act it doesn't look like

until august 30th based on the way they're set up. >> right, the vacation schedules. >> i'm sorry, how feckless are they, right in the neighborhood. >> i've got to ask you, are you still in favor of lethal military aid to ukraine? >> you know, i had a really good conversation with one of my counterparts on the other side of the aisle yesterday. look, let's face it, a bunch of amateurs in eastern ukraine shot down and killed 298 folks. i do think that we need to make sure that ukraine is ready, that they have people that are actually trained. and so what we've said in the bill that 24 of us offered on the floor in april, i might add, we authorized the administration to deal with them in that regard as they see their capabilities grow. obviously ukraine is not particularly well trained, not particularly prepared, and so these things have to build and it's not something that's immediate. it builds over time.

but i think showing that we're willing to reinforce ukraine over time as their capable sends a really strong message and should be done. >> this is the first time i've had you on since i saw a national journal report where you were quoted as saying, well, every senator at some point thinks about running for president. how serious are you in 2016? >> you know, chuck, what i hope happens, and i've said this over and over, is i hope we're going to have an outstanding candidate that's got tremendous recognition across our country that offers solutions to problems. i think the biggest -- i heard you earlier. i think you were dead on. i think the biggest disappointment to me here is the amount of pandering that takes place. the unwillingness of people to offer real solutions to real problems, it just doesn't happen because people are worried, oh, it might offend somebody. i saw it happen yesterday in a committee meeting. so disappointing. so i hope that we're going to have someone.

i've never looked at myself as having to be that person. who knows what happens down the road. >> so that's not a no? >> look, again, i really do think there are people that you and i both know are much more known that can carve out that problem-solving place. we'll just see what happens over time. but we've got to begin solving our problems as elected officials and not just pandering, pandering, pandering. our country is becoming weaker. we've got all kinds of economic growth issues. we need to deal with those, and it really affects people in a real way, so anyway, thank you. >> senator bob corker, i know you've got a busy schedule and i've got to let you go. tons more i'd like to talk to you about, but another sgliem thank you, yes, sir. before we go to break, a little breaking news this morning. we have reports of a plane crash. the taiwanese news agency is reporting that a plane has crashed in an emergency landing situation.

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live in the modern world. where you could save money on car insurance in half the time. esurance. backed by allstate. click or call. well, the u.s. has been laying out their case on the targeting of malaysia airlines flight 17. senior u.s. intelligence officials said that russia was responsible for creating the conditions that led to the crash and continues to provide support and training to the separatists but they could not say definitively that russia had a hand in the actual missile launch. the satellite images show activity picking up at a russian base since june. the base is suspected of directly aiding these russian separatists. they also released images it picked up from social media, supposedly showing movement of surface-to-air missile launchers, all of them in range of the malaysian airline flight path. i'm joined by the top democrat

on the house intelligence committee. good morning to you, sir. >> good morning, chuck. >> so it's a circuit shmstantiae or stronger than that? >> from my point of view it's very strong. there's no strong russia was involved, they gave the resources to make the attack occur and it was a sophisticated weapon used to take down the airplane. it's a surface-to-air missile. you need training. i'm sure russia gave the training. we have the social media bragging about the fact they took down a plane, which they thought was a military plane when ukraine when we know what it was. it's very unfortunate that it happened. putin is a strong ego maniac. he cares about himself more than anything else. he's a billionaire and yet always worked for government. so there's a lot of corruption and he really isn't doing the job as a leader to take care of his people and he's making the

wrong decisions in this situation. >> well, it does seem as if the u.s. is convinced that sort of -- and putin himself is not denying that the separatists were involved. he's instead deflecting. does that in an odd way add to the case against the russians here because he is simply saying, well, ukraine created the condition. you know, he's saying they created the war conditions but he seems to not be denying that the separatists pulled the trigger. >> well, from my point of view those denials show that they are involved and they are guilty. he's the leader of the country that provided the weaponry. he knows what he's doing. just today or last night you had two military planes that the separatists had taken down with surface-to-air missiles. we have the evidence. we still have an investigation. we have got to get the facts. we have not made a determination whether or not it was an actual russian or a russian separatist who actually pulled the trigger and that's what the investigation is for. >> i want to move to a couple

other intelligence issues that you've been in the middle of. dennis mcdonough, a rare move. the white house sending -- the president sending his personal chief of staff to berlin to try to assuage the german government about this spying dispute taking place between the united states and germany. obviously angela merkel an important ally to the united states. what more can you tell me about whether this is the way america does business with its allies. is this something that america has got to change its ways on intelligence-ga intelligence-gathering when it comes to allies like germany? >> the first thing, all countries have intelligence. since world war i we've had intelligence and that's to get information to protect our country and where it can help with our country. i think because germany is an ally, they're a very relevant partner in the european region, it was very positive that the president sent his chief of staff to meet with merkel. we have to understand that both

germany and the united states have common interests, to protect each other from terrorists and terrorist attacks. believe me, i think if you talk to anyone in german intelligence, they'll tell you that they like the united states, they want to work with the united states and the united states has helped them. but a lot of the information that came out from snowden was not really the true facts. and it's great to see information on national news, whether it's germany, the united states, that things occurred when they really didn't occur. that's why it's important to communicate and to let both leaders come up with a plan on how we're going to deal with intelligence issues. >> so there wasn't double agents? the u.s. wasn't recruiting germans to spy on the german government? >> i can't comment on that, that's classified information. let's just say this. there's information that is received sometimes not even by agents, people give information to other countries for whatever reason they want to do that. >> let me ask you about isis. is the terrorism threat today --

how would you describe it when it comes from isis, is this worse today in this now porous border of syria and iraq than, say, pre-9/11 in afghanistan? >> most definitely. to begin, with i think syria is one of the most dangerous places in the world because you have so many people who are terrorists or wannabe terrorists, jihad individuals from all over the world, including the united states. our concern is that we have over 100 americans in syria right now being trained to attack us or other people. and because they have american passports, it's more difficult for us to identify them when they come back to the united states. the same thing, europeans that are also over in syria. as far as isis is concerned, they're very, very dangerous. al qaeda was more under control in the afghanistan/pakistan area but now al qaeda has grown and grown throughout the world and become very dangerous. now, isis concerns me. i think they're one of the most serious threats we have now

because they have command and control, they have money and they continue to grow. and we have to do what -- we have to do whatever we can to make sure that we stop them. >> but are we? >> because they are dangerous. >> are we? >> yes, we are. we're continuing to work with other factions to do that too. they're the type of group that like the mexican cartels, they scare people. they cut people's heads off, they're very aggressive. so aggressive that al qaeda kicked them out of their organization because they didn't like their tactics and the type of tactics they were using. so i think right now the intelligence community understands this threat. i think that we're working with other countries on how to deal with this threat. you know, if you want to kill a snake, you've got to cut its head off so we have to be extremely aggressive. because the number one priority for intelligence is to protect americans from these cyber attacks. isil could attack us and they're very dangerous. >> thanks for your time this morning, sir. >> good, okay, chuck.

time to hit today's data bank. 3. oregon could become the third state to legalize recreational use of marijuana come november after petitioners submitted enough signatures on tuesday to qualify the measure for this fall's ballot. the measure would allow those 21 and older to possess up to 8 ounces of marijuana at home and cultivate up to four plants. the oregon liquor control commission would oversee the recreational sales, which if passed would start in january of 2016. of course alaska i believe has it on the ballot next month. up next, a look back at a cycle of war in the middle east. how did it all start and why this time the current battle really may be different. but first today's tdr 50 trivia question. who was the first republican to serve as lieutenant governor of oklahoma? the first person to tweet the correct answer will get the on-air shoutout. the answer and more is coming up on tdr. ♪ in the nation, the safest feature in your car is you.

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getting back toj that piece of breaking news, wer learning more about an airplane that has crashed. it was attempting an emergency landing in ptaiwan. 51 people were killed, another seven injured. it was being operated by transasia airways. we have no details as to why the plane had to attempt an emergency landing in the first place but that is how this crash happened. it was literally having to make an emergency landing and that's how this crash took place. as we get more information, we'll bring it to you. turning back now to the middle east, israel may have committed war crimes by killing civilians in the gaza strip. prime minister netanyahu says hamas is committing war crimes and says israel is targeting terrorists, not the palestinian people. ayman mohyeldin joins me now live from gaza city. ayman, what's the situation like

today? how hot is the war and the battle back and forth today? >> reporter: well, chuck, it is still very much in full swing. the operation continues to intensify. today the focus of the israeli military assault here, the ground invasion, has shifted to the southern part of the gaza strip. that is the area at the very southern part of the territory that borders egypt, gaza and israel. there are reports coming from there that the israeli military is pushing in through a ground invasion very similar to what it did just a few days ago here in the eastern part of gaza by clearing out thousands of people that were living in a home. as you were citing that u.n. official, they also now say that 44% of the entire gaza strip is now a no-go zone. that means the israeli military has pushed out the people who lives there and saying to anybody who lives there they could be in harm's way so you get a sense of just how much people -- >> you say no-go zone.

does that mean 44% of the gaza strip is occupied right now by the israeli military or simply under -- under potential to be an unsafe part of the gaza strip? >> reporter: effectively it means it is under the threat of the israeli military if anybody enters there. they do not have a presence there but because of the long-range weapons they have, because of the artillery shells they have, because of sniper positions they have taken up, they have pushed people out of 44% of that area from the border and into the center of the gaza strip. >> and is there any sense that this is coming -- in many ways when we're in the middle of cease-fire negotiations, a lot of times the israelis want to finish a military operation, then agree to the cease-fire. do you have a sense that they are, as they are moving now to another part of the gaza strip, does this mean that they are in the part 2, part 3 of this ground incursion?

>> reporter: well, to identify the exact stage of the operation is still unclear. that's obviously sensitive to the israeli military. what we do know the israeli military is trying to take over areas where they believe there is a lot of tunnels. they have not yet begun to destroy the tunnels. they have identified tunnels. they're destroying some of the shafts. but there will be another phase of the operation where they try to destroy a ought of these tunnels and the small openings they have that run underground. that's going to take some time and involve a different part of the israeli military operation. right now they're just trying to take control of that area and territory where they feel those tunnels run underneath the border. >> ayman mohyeldin in gaza for us. thank you very much. mahmoud abbas is promising to work hard to secure a cease-fire, but it's unclear how hamas would respond to such a deal and whether abbas has any way of influencing hamas. while the negotiations going on, the plialestinian people are paying the place.

in iraq and syria, muslims are trapped in an ongoing cycle of religious civil war. in an article titled "the arabs long journey into the heart of darkness" it's as if many arabs and muslims are stuck in a rut where they see the modern world like a caravan laiden with riches passing them by and leaving them in the desert. he joins me now. it's always good to see you, sir. >> thank you, chuck. >> okay. one of the things that's been surprising to me about this latest battle between israel and hamas is i think the silence of the arab community in the region. while condemning israel, where's the support for the palestinians? where are the gulf states? where are their traditional allies? they're all just keeping quiet. why? >> last week i wrote an article titled "palestinians alone." you mentioned in your introduction arabs have been numbed the last few years because of the incredible violence they have been visiting on themselves, the incredible human degradation that you and i

see in syria today and in iraq, not to mention libya and yemen and other places. there's a sectarian war that's taking place, which is really a fight over power and influence supported by states. >> using religion where really it's to get power. >> it's easy to get sectarianism to mobilize people and demonize the other and frame the conflict as an existential conflict. when it comes to the palestinians, there are a number of states like egypt and others have a big problem with the muslim brotherhood in egypt. it was considered a terrorist organization by the egyptian government. this is the oldest political islamic movement in the region. hamas is an offshoot of that. so the anger has transferred against ha mass and the palestinians are paying the price. that explains in part the arab apathy. when the israeli attack began, the aerial attack before the

incursion, arabs like everybody else were watching the games in brazil. there's incredible apathy. i wrote about that apathy in the arab world and that's why the palestinians are alone in that sense. they have been squeezed between hamas and israel. >> so you have -- so, for instance, hamas, the last time we had this, you had mow maumd morsi in charge of egypt. >> 2012. >> and he was a very important -- morsi stopped that battle, stopped that war. >> because he was talking to hamas. the current government in egypt doesn't want to talk to hamas. >> what is the united states doing trying to have egypt involved in this? is this naivete? >> secretary kerry imposed himself to the egyptians. he wanted to go. he is forcing them to negotiate and he's forcing them to go beyond the 2012 cease-fire to talk about the core issues behind the conflict. >> who can talk to hamas, if

abbas has no influence over hamas. abbas wanted this cease-fire, he was desperate for the cease-fire, hamas won't listen. the egyptians have no influence over hamas. there was a time assad used to have influence over hamas, he used to keep a marshal and give him safe haven. he is not a player, he kicked him out of there. who can talk to hamas? >> the egyptians can talk to hamas. actually turkey and qatar can talk to hamas. you need the egyptians. egypt controls the crossing points and that's why the egyptians should be involved with the united states, indirectly involved and directly involved. what happened recently is that the palestinians established a united government. there were no members of hamas in that cabinet. and that cabinet did not work effectively because the united states and the europeans and other arab states did not want to allow qatar and other states to pay the salaries of the civil

servants in gaza because essentially this is a terrorist entity. that was a huge mistake. you have to empower moderate palestinians. the israelis say they want to isolate hamas. the only people who can isolate hamas politically are the palestinians themselves. moderate palestinians should be helped. and the egyptians should change their approach to hamas, at least just to have a cease-fire and then talk about the real issues. >> so what you're saying is israel should cut a deal with abbas. >> absolutely. >> to basically saying, hey, we'll negotiate with abbas, we'll negotiate with moderate palestinians just not with hamas. >> but you have to deal with the human suffering of the people of gaza. gaza is a huge interment camp. the israelis say if canada bombs boston we cannot sit silent as if these two entities are sovereign. israel controls the airspace, the coastline, the borders. and yet john kerry said on sunday that israel is under siege while in fact it's gaza that is under siege.

you have to address that issue. you ask the palestinians in gaza to stop the fighting. okay, what about the closed crossing points under siege? >> very quickly, the prime minister, soon to be president of turkey says he cannot speak to president obama anymore. >> he is unhinged. he is a populist. he thinks by just raising hell against the israelis and against the americans, instead of helping the egypt to mediate, instead of really engaging in the politics of the region and the politics are very complex, he is pleasing his narrowing base and saying these things and burning his bridges with the united states. and even with israelis, he is really unhinged. this is incredible. >> five years ago turkey was going to be the shining -- >> the model. it's no longer the model because of him. >> all right. thanks for coming and thanks for your passionate views on this. well, nearly a week after the crash of the malaysian airlines flight 17, the first

victims' remains are arriving now. that's the plane you see in the netherlands. the country is observing a national day of mourning today. family members of the victims, as well as the dutch king and queen and prime minister will be at the airport to meet these two military planes, one dutch, one australian, which left earlier today. the two planes are carrying a total of 40 bodies. 298 people, most of them dutch citizens, were killed when that malaysian airlines flight 17 was shot down last week over eastern ukraine. we believe this is the first of two planes as it's coming in, just a rough day for the people of netherlands. again, a national day of mourning. a ceremony will take place at the airport. this is just 40 bodies. as we know, there were nearly 150 dutch citizens killed. it's unclear whether they will find all the remains but these were the first 40 victims of that flight. we'll be right back. [ female announcer ] it's simple physics... a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms.

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back now, of course, tdr 50 our state this week is oklahoma. ma . the news isn't just the repeal. it's how the governor herself got there. just six months ago she backed the standards calling it a critical tool to get students ready for college and a career. while serving as the chair of the national governor's association. she defended the standards as part of the effort to raise the bar in the classroom. she insisted that states would be in charge. >> i want to be really clear, common core is not a federal

government program. it is driven and implemented by states that choose to participate. it is also not a federal curriculum. in fact, it's not a curriculum at all. local educators and school districts will design the best lesson plans, will choose appropriate textbooks, and will drive the classroom learning. that was january of this year. by june, she had to do a political 180. she signed legislation that officially repealed common core in oklahoma. she says, quote, federal overreach has tainted common core. we should point out fallin is a reluctant critic. it was thrown on her desk. she's the only republican governor suddenly walking away, probably due to politics. back in 2012, louisiana governor bobby jindal said common core would raise expectations for

every child. after conservative critics emerged he reversed course and withdrawing his state. there's a fight internally between him and his education chief over this decision. north carolina governor signed legislation to replace common core with standards drawn up by a state commission which was the point of common core is have them drawn up by states. it isn't officially being repealed but reviewed. the governor supported the standards last year. it's not just republicans backing away from common core. jane nixon signed a bill last week to trigger a review and possibly repeal of common core in time for the 2016 school year. welcome to the divided states of america these days. what is happening. the politics behind the destruction of common core is the most bizarre we've seen. this is what is going on. the polarization of the country and the way things get demonized and twisted. common core is one of those

things people that were so for it suddenly out of fear of losing an election have suddenly flipped on this on something that was not seen as controversial at all just six months ago. all right. back to this national day of mourning in the netherlands. both planes that are carrying the victims of flight mh17 have landed in the netherlands, the country is observing that national day. family members of the victims as well as the dutch king and queen and the country's prime minister are gathered on the tarmac. you see them. they're about to observe a moment of silence. two planes are carrying a total of 40 bodies. most were dutch citizens. when malaysian airlines flight 17 was shot down over eastern ukraine. in a few minutes here, i will hand things off to jose diaz balarat. we want to stay with the moment of silence as we honor the victims of this ridiculous civil

war that is taking place in ukraine. jose, i hand it off to you. >> thank you so much, chuck todd. we are witnessing live pictures from holland as chuck was telling us. 40 bodies arrive back home for the attack of the plane in eastern ukraine. almost 300 people on board. the prime minister, the king, queen, and family members of those that least their lives here. you see the royal family arriving at the base where these two planes have already arrived. the c 130 dutch air force plane as well as the other plane from australia that is carrying a total of 40 bodies. there will be a moment of silence to remember the victims and we will be bringing you this live this morning as well as

other news. the fresh reminder, by the way, of the danger in eastern ukraine. the ukraine military said two fighter jets were shut down, this morning, by pro-russian separatists. we obtained video posted on youtube from a pro separatist leaders. it appears to show one of the downed fighter jets. msnbc news has no way to verify the video. and we're going to be bringing in general barry mccaffrey and former american airlines pilot. they'll be with us this morning. and gentlemen, thank you so much for being with us. of course, we're honoring what is going on in the netherlands with the arrival of the 40 bodies of almost 300 people that lost their lives on that malaysian airlines flight 17 attack. general, as we keep an eye on this. let me get your reaction to the latest information that two jets

were apparently also blown out of the sky today. >> yeah. well, this is an active air combat zone. you know, the ukrainian government is using fighter bombers to attack the separatists rebels, and there are daily attacks. and the separatists have some very sophisticate ed weapons to defend themselves. it seems almost transparent it's going to remain an area of intense danger to any commercial aviation. >> you know it also -- it seems like, you know, the world's reaction, the horrific scenes that we've been seeing, and the pressure that really the world has been placing on putin and others really is, you know, it's falling on deaf ears. >>well, you know, chuck talked about a ridiculous war in the ukraine. these are incredibly intense emotions. i've been in and out of the in