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it's making headlines after that 9-year-old girl accidentally shot her instructor. a losing bet. three atlantic city casinos set to shut down over this labor day weekend. we'll take a look at the ripple effect in the economy there. in politics reverend al sharpton we'll see what he has in common with kentucky senator rand paul. may, there, everyone just past high noon welcome to "weekends with alex witt," dianne feinstein giving her assessment of president obama's handling of the isis threat. >> i think i've learned one thing about this president, and that is, he's very cautious. maybe in this instance, too cautious. i do know the military i know the state department, i know others have been putting plans

together and so hopefully those plans will coalesce into a strategy. >> meantime u.s. military carried out a new round of air strikes in a town about 105 miles north of baghdad. those strikes were in conjunction with humanitarian aid airdrops that have been surrounded by isis fighters for weeks now. shia have been able to keep them at bay. u.s. central command says five additional air strikes near mosul dam took place friday which brings the total number of air strikes across iraq to 116 since august 8th. what senator feinstein is saying, we heard that. what is the chair of the house intelligence committee saying today? >> it was interesting, alex you had a lot of democrats sounding a lot like republicans today.

chairman mike rogers echoing what he heard from dianne feinstein. in syria he made another point, alex, he said he wants the u.s. to try to take on the problem of dealing with those u.s. passports, who have trained with isis militants, who might want to get into the u.s. or other western countries and threaten the homeland. he said he agrees with the proposal under way in the uk to actually revoke passports of suspected isis militants. here's a little more from chairman rogers. take a listen. >> i'm very concerned. >> we're not sure if the brits have a good handle on -- there's about 500 in britain, several in canada. if one gets through, now they have a passport to allow them free travel to the united states of america. >> president obama getting pressure to act in syria, but he

also has poll numbers which show majority of americans don't want the u.s. to get engaged in foreign conflict. officials say the president is working with the pentagon national security team to develop a strategy when it comes to dealing with isis in syria. secretary of state john kerry travels to the middle east at the end of next week to shore up an internal coalition and president obama will travel to nato to build up a co-lags as well. in nato meeting is going to take a a whole new meaning. >> i want to bring in senator robert menendez joining me on the phone from kiev, ukraine. with a welcome to you, sir. we'll get to the latest from ukraine in a moment. first, you heard what your colleague diane stein stein said about president obama's approach to fighting isis. do you agree with her? is he being too cautious?

>> well look i think the president is deciding upon a strategy. he's taking all options into account. i believe isis is a serious threat. there is an interesting story in foreign policy magazine where a laptop from one of isis' operatives were found and a lot of interesting and challenging information there about trying to attack with weapons of mass destruction and biological and chemical weapons. i think you have to take isis seriously. they've been pervasive in terms of their ability to move and move quickly and move successfully even before we had the intelligence analysis to tell us that. and we have to look at them as a challenge, which is why when we return to session, i asked the

secretary of state and others to talk about what is happening in iraq. >> senator, you mentioned this what's being called by foreign policy magazine the laptop of doom. do you believe isis is capable of doing what they intend to do to develop a bubonic plague bomb? >> i don't know if they're capable but it gives you a sense of their intent, right, alex? whether or not it's that or whether or not it's another element of trying to create in the post-september 11th world, we have to remember there are those who took anthrax, took a simple letter and made it into a deadly weapon. those who took an airplane traveling for commercial or pleasure and turned it into mass destruction. have you to think outside of the box in a post-september 11th world. when you see what a terrorist entity is considering doing, whether or not they're capable of it, you also to have to think about what distribution they're

headed in. obviously, they're in a direction in which they want to try to affect as many lives as possible, to kill as many people as possible. we have to judge their capabilities of doing that. we have judged their capability to go over syria and iraq to do it quickly, to be ruthless in the process, well financed. those are all elements we have to take seriously. >> absolutely. let's talk about the crisis in ukraine. senator feinstein also spoke about on "meet the press." let's take a listen to what she said. >> i think there ought to be some direct discussions with vladimir putin. i think this is deeply personal with him. i really do. and i think he's calling the shots himself. people say, well just wait till the sanctions bite and the economy slips. i don't think so. i think if russians follow him and up to date they are following him, the russians are very brave and very long

suffering. they will tough out any economic difficulty. >> senator, what is your reaction to senator feinstein's remarks? do you think the u.s. should deal directly with president putin? >> well, let me just say, i think that the president had a couple of conversations with president putin and described to him what was coming. this is one -- i disagree with senator feinstein in this regard. this is a moment in which weakness is more provocative to putin than strength. and our failure to enforce the international standards that countries don't invade other countries and take land from other countries by force invites violations elsewhere. i mean i have to tell you, we have thousands of russian forces have invaded here in ukraine. with missiles with tanks, with heavy artillery. there's no -- this is no longer

the question about some you know, separatist rebels. this is a direct naked act of aggression by russia into ukraine. and the global international order is going to either be upheld by how we deal with this or other actors in the world are going to say, well the rest of the united states really won't ultimately act in a way that is decisive and creates a real cost, in this case to russia, for their naked aggression. >> senator, i'm actually going to read part of the letter which you recently wrote to the president with recommendations on how to handle this situation. in addition to tougher sanctions here's your coat. now's the time for the united states to act with our european partners to counter russia's goals by providing weapons to allow ukrainians to defend themselves as well as additional support and training to the ukrainian military. does this at all concern you that if you follow this path it could lead to a broader conflict?

>> no i don't. look the west has constantly held back because we didn't want to quote/unquote, provoke putin. so, what has putin done? invaded crimea provided weaponry that killed hundreds of innocent lives in malaysian air flight and now has sent hundreds of soldiers into ukraine. i don't know that our actions have done anything to provoke him. on the con temporary, the european union's retisence to provide you kran yans to defend themselves so the cost to russia would be so significant that they would have to think twice about continuing this aggression has, i think invited putin to pursue the actions that he has done to date. i don't understand how anywhere in the world and one country

would invade another and there would be any question about what our collective response would be. and in this case having just walked out, and seen the hundreds of lives lost and looked at each of the people i don't see how the west can allow this to stand without severe -- if we give them night-vision goggles, that's great, but you can't defend yourselves by seeing the enemy. you have to be able to shoot back at them. >> of course, a good point there, senator menendez. thank you for your time and safe travels home. the mid-atlantic may get hit with severe thunderstorms this holiday weekend. meanwhile, people in southwest louisiana, they're trying to get their homes back in order after a storm in the lake charles area. can you see what it did there.

dumped up to 6 inches of rain and flooded homes. we have the forecast. good morning -- or actually good afternoon. >> good afternoon. we are tracking the rain across the houston area. houston looking at showers and thunderstorms, heavy at times. houston and nearby areas looking at half an inch to an inch of rainfall. as alex mentioned, lake charles area looking a lot different. what a difference a day makes. yesterday this time southern louisiana was dealing with heavy rainfall. today, a lot dryer. there could be pop-up thunderstorms around lake charles and new orleans. in the east cold front marching east bringing showers and thunderstorms from southern sections of ohio into central pen pep. showers over much of new york. we'll see thunderstorm hitting big cities of the i-95 corridor later this afternoon. best chance for thunderstorms in new york city will be about 4 p.m. today. severe weather threat in the northern plains extended from minnesota to kansas. these thunderstorms looking to

bring heavy downpours, damaging winds and hail isolated tornadoes can't be ruled out. best chance for these thunderstorms will be late today into tonight. another area of concern for severe weather, labor day will be the chicago area as that system heads farther to the south and east. thunderstorms in the northeast on labor day will be early in the day, then looking dryer in the big cities of the northeast by monday afternoon, alex. >> oh, yeah. i can tell it's coming our way. you can feel it outside. thanks for the heads up. two new intriguing elements in the battle for kentucky. they could make the race tighter than ever. , we help with fraud protection. we monitor every purchase every day and alert you if anything looks unusual. wow! you're really looking out for us. we are. and if there are unauthorized purchases on your discover card, you're never held responsible. just to be clear you are saying "frog protection" right? yeah, fraud protection. frog protection. fraud protection. frog. fraud. fro-g. frau-d. i think we're on the same page. we're totally on the same page. at discover, we treat you like you'd treat you. fraud protection.

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we know he's voted against increasing the minimum wage 17 times. he's against insurance benefits and he's turned his backs on college students across the nation. what these tapes reveal is that if re-elected he won't even consider a vote to increase the minimum wage. he won't even consider a vote to extend employment benefits. he won't consider making college more affordable for our students. >> that is democratic senate candidate allison grimes of kentucky reacting to leaked audio, purportedly of mitch

mcconnell. they leaked the tape saying he plans to block many including minimum wage. joining me now, democratic congressman john yarmuth. >> thank you. >> the mcconnell camp is fighting back, releasing this new tv ad. >> renting a tour bus from her father's company for less than fair market value. that would be a violation of campaign finance laws. >> questions swirling whether her campaign gets an illegal sweetheart deal. >> the grimes' campaign and bus company, they say they arrived at a fair price after getting comparative bids. even with all this back and forth, senator mcconnell is still leading in the poles. the most recent one was four points. why hasn't grimes been able to

pull ahead? >> i think two things alex. of course, there was a poll last week that had her up by 49-46. what's happened is you've had $30 million spent by mcconnell and his allies, attacking alison, so that's been a problem. and i don't think alison has made her case yet. she's holding her fire conserving her resources. i think after labor day you'll see her come on really strong making her case and not just attacking senator mcconnell. i think things will change. i think the critical thing, in the latest poll that came out today, mcconnell is no better off than he has been in the last 25 polls, at 46%, stuck in the mid-40s the entire campaign. anybody who follows this type of thing knows if you're not at 50%, particularly as a 0-year incumbent, you're in real trouble. >> which means voter turnout come election day. before we get to that senator

mcconnell's strategy has been to tie grimes to president obama. it's been a tough few months. for grimes to win, do you think she has to distance herself from the white house? >> i think she's trying to do that, specially on the issue of coal. i'm not all thrilled about. i respect that. i think she's taken issue with him where she can. there's no question that senator mcconnell has no other avenue of campaigning. he's got to tie her to obama, tie her to harry reid because she doesn't have a record to attack. she's the first female state wide officeholder in a long time. she got the most votes in her election of any candidate running state wide. she's the youngest secretary of state in the kung. he has a lot to worry about. that's the only thing he can tie his campaign too. that's already baked into the numbers. people understand she's a democrat and barack obama's a democrat. i think she's making a very

strong point and that is he's only going to be president for two more years. we're going to electricity a senator for six years. so, that kind of -- that kind of angle is not something that's really relevant to kentuckians' lives and i think that's where people will ultimately cast their vote. >> in terms of things to worry about, let's talk about the isis threat. on today's "meet the press" senator feinstein said president obama is maybe in this instance too cautious. do you agree? >> no i really don't. people talk about this whole question of a strategy. to me a strategy is a plan to reach an objective. and i don't think you can actually set the objective of how to deal with isis until you know how many partners we have how many resources we have across the world and particularly the region to deal with this. we can set a limited goal to help iraq take back some of their occupied cities which we have done in a couple of instances.

but i think everybody wants to see us have a broader strategy aimed at a broader strategy and that's to stop isis around the region. that's going to require a lot of planning and marshalling of support in the region and also marshalling of resources. >> in that region, i mean the point has been made you can't necessarily go along country borderlines here. so would you support authorizing air strikes right now against isis in syria? >> i think the limited activity we've used in iraq is something i would feel comfortable using in syria if appropriate. the syrians have actually joined with us in resisting isis. and i think any kind of short-term strategy to stop the spread of isis across syria and iraq would require us to do that. beyond that, though again, i think we need to -- we need to do what secretary kerry has talked about. that's getting these meetings with nato with the arab states and figuring out who's going to

starp and what kind of cooperation we'll have. ultimately the existential threat isis poses to countries in that region. it's not an existential threat to the united states. >> king abof arabiya issued this terrorism at this time is an evil force that must be fought with wisdom and speed. i says the international community must face the terrorist. why would king abdullah say this? >> he's being real. i don't minimize the danger of isis at all, but in terms of defining threats, yes, there are a terrorist threats in a variety of places. they're a much greater existential threat to syria, jordan, to iraq and possibly iran. iran has been cooperating in

resisting isis, and they actually offer a great deal of of -- could offer potentially a great deal support. they have a million person military waiting in that region. so again, i think secretary kerry's mission is to find out who's willing to put up to resist isis. because the threat to that region is much greater than the threat to the united states. >> as they say it's making for interesting bedfellows right? >> can't do it without our leadership. i think that's critical. >> thank you. in office politics my colleague reverend al sharpton needs your advice and why he's asking viewers to tweet me. that's coming up. covert ops? double agents? spy thriller? you don't know "aarp" thanks to the aarp tek program this guy is spying on his new grandson. aarp tek gets people better connected to technology, to better connect with each other. with social media, digital devices and apps.

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when folks think about what they get from alaska, they think salmon and energy. but the energy bp produces up here creates something else as well: jobs all over america. engineering and innovation jobs. advanced safety systems & technology. shipping and manufacturing. across the united states bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. when we set up operation in one part of the country people in other parts go to work. that's not a coincidence. it's one more part of our commitment to america. the first openly gay player drafted from the nfl was cut from the st. louis rams.

coach jeff fisher said cutting him was ace tough call. >> this is a football decision. he fit very very well. he was fun to be around. he was a good teammate. there was no issue there. again, as i said earlier, i was pulling for him and it didn't work out. it just didn't work out. >> michael sam responded on twitter. i want to thank the entire rams organization and the city of st. louis for giving me this tremendous opportunity and allowing me to show i can play at this level. look forward to continuing to build on the progress i made her toward a long and successful career. the most worth while things rarely come easy. this is a lesson i've always known. the journey continues. hi, guys good to have you both here. >> thank you. >> jason, i'm going to ask you first. how did he play in the preseason, in your assessment, and all accounts you heard? did he deserve to make that team? >> he played very well. the problem was, he would have had to do something almost super

human to make this team because they already had such a talented defensive defensive corps of players. barring injury or sam playing above a level he might be capable of playing right now, it was going to be hard for him to make the team from day one. >> interesting. sid, as you know there's been a lot of talk about how an openly gay player would be accepted by his nfl teammates. coach fisher addressed that. >> there was no distraction. if someone perceived or thought there may be a distraction, they weren't in the building. and i've been saying that all along. this was a football decision. mike fit in very, very well. he was fun to be around. he was a good teammate. there was no issue there. >> so, sid, you hear coach fisher there. put this in perspective for future players.

>> what jason said, it's going to be very difficult for him to make this team whether he was gay or straight. there was essentially one spot remaining for a nonveteran and ethan westbrooks grabbed the spot. by all accounts he played a little better than mike or so. michael sam is still blazing trails. the journey, as he said continues. this is not the end. this is just another hurdle. >> and i've read assessments, jason, he's going to play somewhere this season. how about from you, what you hear from the nfl front office folks and all your football experts you consult with, do you think michael sam will be an impact player at some point? if so when? >> i think sooner rather than later. you wait for someone to get injured. here's the problem, everyone talks about this being a numbers game. michael sam being cut from the rams, it wasn't a gay thing. it wasn't a sexual orientation thing. it was a numbers thing. in the end, that's what it comes down to in the nfl. now it's a number thing of a different sort. the number of teams that have a

need at that position of michael sam and his skill set. the other number becomes the number of teams willing to deal with what is the perceived distraction, fairly or unfairly that michael sam comes with. and all of a sudden you start to realize the number of teams that that fits into are whittled down quite a bit. there's only going to be a few opportunities out there. >> i'm curious if you have any teams that you can suggest might be looking at a player you know, to fill the need that he can bring. what was interesting he sold so many jerseys. a lot of his products were flying off the shelves. so sid, that gets taken into consideration. not necessarily by the coaches but the front office sees all that, too. >> sure. but at the end of the day the coaches largely make the decision. the general manager obviously plays a role too, but about half the teams the nfl play four-three defense, that's what michael fits into. unfortunately, all of them have passed up on him to claim him off waivers. waiver perioded just ended and

no teams claimed him so the big question is going to be, who's going to sign him to a practice squad? if michael is signed to a practice squad in the next day or so, i'm going to really start rethinking everything that i've been saying about homophobia in the nfl because michael deserves a spot on the roster a practice squad right now. >> so, are either of you concerned that there will still be a distraction with putting him on a team? >> doesn't matter if we think it is. it's a matter of whether an nfl general manager, owner, head coach decide it is. you asked about a perfect fit, by the way. the dallas cowboys would seem like a good fit. they need pass rushers, help on the defensive side of the ball. michael sam would fit a need there. i'm surprised they haven't reached out. it's so hard to say to what sid was just saying in terms of rethinking whether, you know the stance on homophobia in the nfl, i don't think there's a matter of rethinking. i think we know homophobia still exists in the nfl. >> do you think jerry jones on

down then would maybe look at this as a distraction associated with michael sam? >> i've got to tell you, i'm so tired of having the conversation of michael sam being a distraction. it's so idea on theiotic. no man would believe he's going to be a distraction. if they believe that head coach, captain of a team and they think he's going to be a distraction, they should quit their job because that's a failure of their own leadership not michael sam. >> i'm going to let that be the last word because i like what i heard there. thank you. >> thank you. in light of the government report on the cost of raising a baby today's number one looks at the most and least expensive places to raise a child the government says on its website. on average parents shell out $254,000 to support a child until the age of 18. that's just an average. nerdwallet.com cal lates

manhattan is the costliest place. parents in honolulu need about $430,000. san francisco coming in third costliest. the least expensive, norman oklahoma, just under 200k will do the job. hachlt rligen texas. now we're going to the dogs and cities where dogs are most active. a company that makes activity monitors for dog says portland oregon, has the most active pooches. average 94 minutes. new york dogs are second most active followed by our canine cutis in boston. laziest, least active in houston with 65 minutes of daily activity. dogs in phoenix, a bit more active as well as those in the big "d," dallas.

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control of the city of emrly. australian, french and british planes joined the task of dropping humanitarian aid to the city. former commander in chief anthony zini offered his solution to wiping out isis. >> simply put f you put two brigades on the ground they would push isis back into syria in a heart beat probably take less time less cost and i think in the long run fewer casualties overall. >> joining me now, barry mccaffrey who served as division commander. with a welcome, sir, do you think two brigades on the ground would do it? is that what you would do? >> tony zini is one of the most

effective officers i've met. there are zero possibility of us putting two brigades in iraq and carrying out this action. i'm sympathetic to the president's caution on this whole issue. the fact he blurted out the truth and said we don't yet have a comprehensive long-term strategy may have been bad politics but reassuring they're thinking through what they're trying to do. our principle concern out of isis is foreign fighters going back to europe, the united states, australia customs and border protection the national security agency not u.s. air power. >> look you sir, you know the military strategy of these things and you know what the politics is. he is getting heat, i'm talking about the president here from both sides as being too cautious. on the heals of that, how much does that play into and should it play into what he decides to

do ultimately? >> well it's an absolute conundrum. if we went after isis with a 90-day air campaign we could do devastating damage to them using both cia unmanned aerial vehicles as well as u.s. air and naval power. but that require a major shift in u.s. national security policy. and we'd have to get the saudis to let us bed down the aircraft. none of that is going to happen. what we're currently doing is using tiny pinpricks of u.s. air power along with about 1,000 people on the ground in iraq and the agency to try and stabilize the situation. i'm not quite sure what the critics want him to do but there's no appetite from the american people for reopening extensive combat operations in the middle east. there is i think, an appetite

for being very concerned about terrorists coming across the border into el paso and setting off car bombs. >> to avoid destruction in the middle east as well as anything here in the homeland what strategy would you employee if you were in charge and how can you see this playing out? >> well certainly number one, you -- you support your friends. so the kurds, jordanian, egyptians, the saudis the gulf coast states and i use the word friends loosely. you've got to make sure you stand with them both from a political and economic and military perspective. we have to start equipping the kurds to confront isis in the north. and we're not doing that sort of thing. that requires a major shift in thinking. but i think the notion we're going to intervene in syria and not support assad's brutal regime but, yes, counter isis in the eastern regions is sure fool-heartiness. you can't calibrate these

things. this is a massive reshift of the middle east from the post world war i national outlines to something new. it's going to fracture along religious and ethnic grounds. we can't impede that. first i asked for his interpretation of the senator paul rand's outreach to the african-american community? >> i think his overtures are trying to compensate for some positions he took.

one notably with rachel maddow about the civil rights acts. i think he's trying to erase some states civil rights -- >> authentically? >> we'll see if it's authentic or if it's political. i don't know. i also think it's very shrewd politics because if undermines the presumptive democratic nominee, hillary clinton, and appeals to black and latino voters talking about mass incarceration, unfair criminalization and talking about she's a hawk and he's not, we talk about someone that could be a real threat in the general election. i think rand paul is an interesting development. his problem is can he get through the republican primary? >> he spoke to the national urban league recently talked about restoring voting rights to the nonviolent criminals. >> oh absolutely. i've been advocating that for

years. and i think it gives him a lot of credibility. that's why i think if he's bringing the issues that the democratic nominees or the democratic candidates are not it's kind of interesting. he spoke out on ferguson. and i think that rand paul might be something that will be the wild card that even if he doesn't win the nomination, could really change the makeup of the race. >> right, rand paul. are you surprised other republicans haven't reached out as overtly to the african-american community? >> i'm surprised. particularly that they have not reached out, other republicans, particularly since they did this whole analysis/autopsy on what they were going to do to reach out. i thought rand paul would do it but we've not seen it. >> how much do you think he will garner african-american support if he announces a candidatecy for

2016? >> i think the danger of rand paul is not that he will get a lot of african-american votes. i think the danger for the democrats is that he will not excite a turnout against him. if he's the nominee and he's running against someone who will not speak to black interests, just lowering the turnout and keep states of 3% 4% of people saying, i ain't going out to vote because they aren't speaking to me and i'm not voting republican just a lower turnout of black voters could turn the election. rand paul's strategy is don't come out to vote in numbers against me. that's dangerous. >> yeah. when you came in here you came after a long radio show. you have a show every day. you're traveling across the country, giving eulogies. you're exhausting to think about and yet you don't me you don't drink coffee. >> no i drink tea, eat a salad

and whole wheat toast in the morning and on the weekends i have a little fish. i'm very disciplined with my diet. i lost 170 pounds. >> you look so good. >> i think because of my diet my energy's up. and i feel good. i work 17, 18-hour days and -- >> that's it. you don't sleep more than five six hours? >> five six hours. i'm very happy with what i do. >> okay. last question, what do you do to relax? what do do you to kind of unwind? you never do. look at you! you can't even answer that. you never unwind. >> it's very, very hard. i can't think of one. i don't have a thing i do to unwind. >> people, call in write, do whatever you can. we have to get this man something. >> tweet alex. give me some suggestions. >> or tweet the rev. you can catch reverend al sharpton every weekday right here on msnbc. next weekend my interview with

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college students tackle debt beyond tuitions and credit cards. just a few changes in course schedule can inflate a student's loans. author of "the financial physician" joins me for all this. lou, changing majors that's common for sclooj students. this really affects their student loans? >> they have to take more credit. you have to add more credits when you change your majors. tuitions are going up three times the general inflation right. we have to ask the question why

does it cost 8% more per year to educate our kids? i don't think so. i think the reason is college and industries is an industry an industry subsidized by the federal government through student loans. the consumer of college doesn't feel a pain till after they graduate. they'll borrow more money and pay more money to go to a school. >> on that borrowing front, the national debt as you know 16.7 trillion bucks, outstanding debt is at $1.2 trillion which is 6% of the overall national debt. staggering number. if parents though are helping their kids by dipping into their savings and their retirement funds, talk about the long-term concerns. >> yes. it's a retirement problem for the parents because they're dipping into the equity if their home, pulling them out of their 401(k)s and they haven't been able to keep up with soaring tuition in their college planning. so, they have a big shortfall. now the burden's really moving from the parents -- i think decades ago parents took the burden of tuition and costs. now they're moving to the students. when they graduate and can't find a good job, they have major payments to make on that student

debt. it's crushing a good portion of the youth in this country. >> one nug the here if a student gets say, a "d" and considered a passing grade and then switches to a college where it's a failing grade, another course gets added to the loan tab. >> that's true. >> the student gets punished for that. >> you get punished for every class you add, it will cost you more money. you want to pass work hard in school. let's face it kids go to school to have a good time. not all of them but most of them. many take fewer courses. many go to school for for 5, 5 1/2, 6 years to graduate because they don't take enough courses and that adds to the financial burden. especially after they graduate when the payments kick in. it's a growing trend in this country getting major scrutiny. how an accidental shooting death by a 9-year-old could change the face of gun tourism. ...because it was easier to smoke than it was to quit. along with support chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. it's a non-nicotine pill.

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a 9-year-old girl

accidentally killed her firearms instructor with an uzi. the lack of regulation is revealing a complicated issue. megan cassidy is joining us. this gun range we're talking about is called bullets and burgers in arizona at the last stop in white hills. you just wrote the article where you quote a former firearms instructor who says they want to run them in there and run them out. safety was not first. it was second. look, we're talking about a 9-year-old girl shooting a gun. why isn't there more attention on safety measures at these ranges? >> well, now there is. i have talked to a few gun safety groups who are just starting to look at this in a new light. they say, we have state regulation for trampoline parks, for swimming pools. why aren't there more regulations for these kind of places. on the other side you know

it's not as if they are operating with absolutely no standards. >> let's talk about the standards that are in place. it's about how they get their firearms, correct? how they are maintained? how they implement them? that's about it. >> that's it, yeah. atf is the federal body that kind of regulates that. they do inspections, audits. as far as the state goes though, at least in arizona, they only really regulate the noise violations and then local laws are preempted from really regulating much of firearms really all together. so it would be under the state's purview but there's not much there. >> another quote here it's upon the consumer to exercise that due diligence when talking about fire ranges. so, they're actually kicking it back to the consumer to say, have you to be really careful when you're out there. >> that is what some people are saying, yes. do your due diligence especially if you want to put a child out

there. it is the parents' obligation to research to see what kind of -- what kind of certification their instructor has. it's kind of -- you know it's up to the buyer to really do their due diligence. >> i want to go over what you said. you described burger and bullets as a place that looks kind of like coney island. people have a good meal. let's get out to the shooting range, use automatic weapons and do our thing. >> yeah. it's definitely a tourist trap. you know there's not much else around. you're driving in. i drove in from phoenix. it's a lot of dusty landscape. and they describe it as a desert storm atmosphere. you walk in and there's one of those zoltar machines that was in "big." it's definitely a tourist destination. if you're a family in a car, it's one of the places you want

to stop. one of the big draws is come shoot a machine gun on the way out from the diner, it says last chance to shoot a machine gun. that's their big money maker. but as far as where the big ticket items go it's not from the customers who are haphazard, stopping by for gas. the big ticket items are the packages. you sign up in vegas. vegas is 25 miles north of there. it's a big industry. especially for a bachelor even bachelorette parties, they have shotgun weddings where the fire and groom get to fire off rounds. >> okay. >> yeah. they all kind much have you know, different angles. well, i -- interesting is all i'm going to say to that. thank you so much megan cassidy. unfortunately, we have to wrap it up. i appreciate the conversation. meantime, everything you ever needed to know. can't stop that

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. if you put two brigades on the ground right now, they should push isis back into syria in a heart beat. >> this is establishing a vital mission for american security and we need to do it. we need to do it yesterday. >> dealing with isis, what should president obama do? what can he do? >> it's a disgrace they're shutting these places down. people are going out of work. >> economic time bomb. a wave of casino closings begins in three hours and it will put thousands out of work. he's back on track. nascar's tony stewart returns after that raceway strategy. but how will he be received? the search for space aliens? when will we find some. "time" magazine answers everything you needed to know.

let's get to what's happening out there. new today, key republican lawmaker urging president obama to do more to combat the isis threat and to act now. here's congressman peter king. >> we are very concerned about this. i'll say, i wish our president was showing the same leadership david cameron showed. the longer we do wait the stronger isis becomes, more america and britain become at risk. >> let's go to the white house and nbc's kristin welker. we're also hearing comments from senator dianne feinstein. what's she saying? >> what's interesting, alex she's echoing what a lot of her republican colleagues are saying. what you heard peter king saying, which is she wants to see strong decisive action when it comes to the threat of dealing with isis in syria. she went so far as to say she agrees with the op-ed written by her colleagues senators graham called "stop dithering:confront

isis" calling for a strong military response. here's what senator dianne feinstein had to say. take a listen. >> i've learned one thing about this president and that is he's very cautious. maybe in this instance, too cautious. i do know the military i know the state department i know others have been putting plans together. so hopefully those plans will coalesce into a strategy. >> somewhat critical comments from feinstein come after president obama earlier this week said he doesn't yet have a strategy for confronting isis in syria. some of the options would include air strikes in syria, alex. also providing more military aid to the opposition forces inside of syria. so, those are some of the things being worked out.

there is broad bipartisan agreement, though that any response should come with an international coalition. we know secretary kerry will be traveling to the middle east to be working on that and president obama will travel to nato to begin that coalition. >> thank you. on the heels of that report, let's see what they're doing in britain as prime minister david cameron is set to start new aims. they are expected to focus on travel and preventing hundreds of british citizens who joined isis from returning home. chair of the house committee, mike rogers. actually, we don't have that sound bite right there. i can tell you, he says, i'm very concerned because we don't know every single person that has an american passport that has gone on and trained and learned how to fight. and we're not sure that the brits have a good handle on -- they think it's about 500 in britain, several hundred in canada.

what if one gets in there, gets through, now they have a passport that allows them free travel to the united states of america. let's bring in nbc's kelly cobiella. welcome. how many foreign fighters do they estimate are from the uk and with western passports they can travel anywhere right? >> security officials admit they don't really have an exact number. they're guessing it's around 500, possibly more. about half of those, a little over 200, have apparently come back to the uk. as far as travel alex if you're a british citizen with a british passport you can enter the u.s. without a visa but still have to get an esta electronic system for travel authorization. sort of looks like a landing card. you fill out your passport information, your travel plans in the u.s. and submit that to the government a few days before you travel. you don't need one if you enter the u.s. by land from canada or mexico. only if you're traveling by air alex. >> okay. kelly -- >> or sea. >> okay. so talk about how security

officials there plan to put these travel measures in place. is it more security checkpoints? is it more people employed to do that? have they talked about that? >> they haven't talked about specifics yet. we may hear more about that tomorrow when prime minister david cameron addresses the parliament. the idea is to put more passport controls in place, to take passports from people planning to travel to syria, iraq or wherever to either train with a jihaddy terrorist group or to fight with one. the thought is the person is i.d.'d ahead of time as foreign fighter, flagged in a database stopped in the airport, passport taken from them, turn around go home. the government has to be -- or taken into custody, of course. the government has to be aware much the person's intentions, obviously. often they don't know if the person is going to fight for a terror group until that person is already gone. british officials say they have managed to i.d. 23 people who

wanted to fight for terror groups in syria. their passports were confiscated. again, that's 23 out of some 500. >> yeah okay. kind of alarming statistics there. kelly cobiella thank you from london. the ground is shaking again in northern california. a 3.2 tremor struck about four miles southwest of napa around 2 a.m. local time today. the napa sheriff's department said there were no reports of damages or industries. comes just a week after the 6.2 quake caused so far nearly $400 million in damage. parts of southwest louisiana are trying to recover today from a devastating storm is that dumped up to 6 inches of rain in the lake charles area. some other areas may be drenched and in for some dangerous weather. let's get to jeanette. what's you got? >> one area looking at not so pleasant conditions, at least for the next 24 hours, houston.

tropical conditions. this imprar looking at half an inch to an inch of rain. not as active today compared to yesterday in louisiana. things are looking a lot dryer. still the chance for pop-up thunderstorms there this afternoon. cold front pushing across the northeast producing some showers. we expect to see some showers and thunderstorms getting into the mid-atlantic by this afternoon. some thunderstorms locally could produce some heavy rainfall by tonight in sections of the northeast. we have another storm system that's pushing across the northern plains. this is the feature that will bring the threat for severe weather anywhere from minnesota to kansas late today into tonight. these thunderstorms could bring heavy rain and damaging winds. could also see large hail and isolated tornadoes can't be ruled out. that severe storm threat shifts farther east for labor day. cities like chicago st. louis, even into northern sections of arkansas and northeastern sections of oklahoma looking at thunderstorms that could be severe late on monday. in the northeast it will be a warm and humid labor day with a chance for showers and

thunderstorms. best chance for those storms will be early in the day. alex the heat is on once again in the southwest. plenty of sunshine in phoenix. l.a. is still looking at high temperatures in the 80s. >> september it usually the hottest month. no surprise there. thank you much. the social media weapons of isis. how the marauding militants are using the internet as a tool of tyranny. like our van. yeah. we need to sell it. hi. need an appraisal? yeah. we do. vo: when selling your car, start with a written offer no strings attached. carmax. start here. wherever morning takes you take along nature valley soft-baked oatmeal squares. oatmeal. cinnamon. softly-baked.

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the growing threat by isis has the uk on high alert. how much of a threat does the militant group pose here at home? a little earlier i spoke with the chairman of senate foreign committee robert menendez and here's what he had to say. >> you have to think outside of the box in the post-september 11th world. when you see what a terrorist

entity is doing, you also have to think about what direction they're headed in. obviously, they're in the direction in which they want to try to affect as many lives as possible to kill as many people as possible. >> if isis wants to kill as many people as possible, why have they raised the terrorist level. >> britain has done more than we do. there are 500 british nationals estimated to have traveled to syria. as far as the u.s. is concerned, it's only 100. now, 100 is still a lot. 500 is a much larger number and up to 900 french nationals have gone. those numbers are, frankly, much larger than we've seen in any conflict. yemen, afghanistan, we've never

seen that number of western nationals go there. it's kind of obvious these folks once they go there and radicalized and they learn how to build explosives that presents quite a serious terrorist threat. >> can i ask you why there seems to be a large pre pond rans of citizens from those european countries from the u.s. and what we estimate are our numbers over there. >> part has to do with society at large. the mosul community in the uk has a larger radicalized component than here in the u.s. part also has to do with proximity. the uk and france are a short flight away from turkey. once you're in turk y it's really just jumping over the border and getting to isis. that's another thing we haven't seen before. in pakistan or yemen, it's quite difficult to try to travel there and to join these groups. it's very difficult to find them. you're very likely to get picked up by intelligence or law enforcement agencies on the way there. there's a very good reason to be going to turkey that has nothing to do with terrorism. turkey is a major country in europe. a lot of people go there for

business, for vacations. it's very easy for them to travel for direct flights. they go drishgtly istanbul. it's much more accessible. >> i'm sure you read about foreign -- shows this group was constitutying to develop biological weapons including bubonic plague bombs. >> you have to put it into context. these materials appear to have actually come from an online archive of materials. i can tell you that these particular documents that are referred to here in this article, they're widely available online. these are not proprietary documents relating to isis or revealing specific plans. null nonetheless, look i think you should take that into the context which -- it certainly

indicates their interest and intent. if you're asking me, did these folks have an intent in carrying out terrorist attacks in the united states? yes. would they use weapons of mass destruction if they could develop them or find them? yes. >> how big of an if is that in terms of development? >> that's a good question. if you're asking whether or not there's a likelihood these folks will carry out a terrorist attack in a western country, i think the likelihood is high. the good news they're not that sophisticated. if it comes to weapons of mass destruction, the chances are much lower. nonetheless, you know still quite a serious threat here and, of course, it's a problem for the obama administration as well. if these folks carry out a terrorist attack in any western country, you can only imagine the political fear that comes as a result.

>> in terms of the sophistication, let's talk about the way they go about recruit recruiting. there's a headline in the l.a. times which says islamic state's media-savvy militants. >> they've learned lessons from previous al qaeda factions that innovated as far as this goes. you see al qaeda and yemen, they created this english language inspire magazine which was allegedly used by the boston bombers to help them learn how to carry out their attack. in syria now isis is an english language media unit. the same media unit that produced the jim foley execution video and now launched their own english speaking magazine. it has specific photos and testimonies about battles in syria and has very specific advice geared toward westerners americans, britons, who are seeking to travel to syria and join isis. advice about what they should bring with them about what

concerns they should have about how they should treat local people when they get there. it's very interesting. all this is in english. this is not in arabic. it's not in urdu. it's in english. >> al qaeda targets new york washington los angeles, big cities. same thing with isis? >> it's the same thing. isis began as al qaeda in iraq. they've had a dispute with al qaeda central leadership and they've split off. they're more radical. they're more extreme. their target list and methodology are about the same. the only difference here is these guys have no limits. they don't really care about kilgs innocent men, women and children. it means nothing to them. al qaeda at least that was a consideration. these folks really -- they have no limits. >> evan coleman, thanks for weighing in. appreciate it. >> "time" magazine's answers edition. everything you needed to know you didn't know you needed to know which includes falling stars. 12 brands. more hotels than anyone

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where's the safest place in live in the u.s.? when will we discover alien life? you have questions, "time" magazine has the answers in the nuances edition. with senior editor matt vela. why did "time" decide to do an issue like this? >> we're living in an age of information, second age of information. we have not just more data but better data about everything from pop stars to our elections. we wanted to see what questions some of that data could answer. >> let's get to some answers here. the safest place to live in the u.s. is sweet grass county montana, because it's far from the western wildfires and all the twisters. conversely, the most dangerous place, other thannen enocean county new jersey. there are too many questions to have answers for everything but how did you narrow down the

answers to include on these topics? >> well, we looked at you know data about wildfires, earthquakes, every quon receivable disaster you can imagine. it was kind of a depressing task. then we mapped that on top of each other using some sophisticated programming and we found those two counties were the safest and most dangerous to live in. >> how soon will we discover alien life? you say it's going to be in 26 years because by 040 scientists will have examined so many star sources. in addition to the science there, this issuedelves into drugs, money matters, love lives. what were some of the most interesting answers you found and did this space alien answer rank among them because i think it's cool? >> yeah. we were really surprised because we started out asking as many crazy questions as we possibly could. a lot of them we didn't think we

could answer including this one about finding alien life or finding something out there. and, you know we said different teams of people to look for answers using data or research and that kind of thing. and we came back with this answer based on the rate at which we're exploring our star systems. the rate at which technology is improving. and we came up with this answer. we're confident that you know we'll find something out there somewhere. >> the issue delves into pop culture. that includes the beer capital of america, which happens to be denver colorado. talk about other pop culture answers that the issue covers. i have to say, we teased it and we saw miley cyrus mentioned in there. what's that about? >> we took the billboard hits data and manipulated it around to see if we could figure out how long a pop star like miley cyrus or rihanna would have a career based on people who have gone before her. the person she correlates too the most is cher which suggests

miley will be with us for a long, long time. >> okay. thank you very much. it was a fun segment. he is sticking to his guns about ukraine. more tough talk from vladimir putin. that is next. and behind the wheel, nascar's tony stewart returns to racing.

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that's what pore chenco said saturday as he pleaded with leaders in brussels for tougher sanctions. here's what senator dianne feinstein said about the effectiveness of sanctions this morning on "meet the press." >> people say, well just wait till the sanctions bite and the economy slips. i don't think so. i think if russians follow him and up to date they are following him, the russians are very brave and very long suffering, and they will tough out any economic difficulty. >> meantime the fighting continues today in the rebel occupied city of donetsk, a pro-separatist tv station shows damage from the shelling there. joining me now from our moscow bureau, albina with a welcome, what is the eu's latest strategy to try to deal with putin and the latest events there in ukraine? >> well, good evening. basically yesterday the eu leaders didn't appear to have a

unified strategy when they met in brussels. certain countries like britain proposed tough new sanctions, targeting russia's banking system. also they proposed for example, to strip russia of the world cup. these things would certainly impact russia. but at the same time certain other countries like slovakia said russia needs new sanctions. the sanctions introduced are enough, but certainly russia has been given an ultimatum of a week to change its course in east ukraine. >> talk about putin's reaction to this. you're talking about russian generalities, but putin himself, the man, the president, his attitudes. >> what's interesting is today vladimir putin appeared on russian television -- he said he believes that the crisis isn't going to end any time soon and

at the same time there's still fighting going on in east ukraine. russian media is portraying the rebels as victors and saviors, so it's not clear how this crisis is going to be resolved. the messages are constantly contradictory. back to you. >> thank you so much from moscow. in an exclusive interview for "meet the press," senate intelligence committee chair dianne feinstein criticized president obama for his handling of the threat posed by isis terrorist. >> i've learned one thing about this president. that is he's very cautious. maybe in this instance, too cautious. they cross the border into iraq before we even knew it happened. so this is a group of people who are extraordinarily dangerous. >> peter newman professor of security studies at london's kings college joins me now. with a welcome back to the broadcast. do you think senator feinstein is correct.

do you think congress dropped the ball here on identifying isis as a major threat? >> i think they were definitely surprised, just like everyone else was. i think what happened here is there was a unique combination of factors. was the fact that isis was very keen on expanding its state. it was the fact that you had a sectarian crisis on the back of which isis became a dominant force in iraq. it was that unprecedented influx of foreigners that gave isis additional firepower. very few experts and probably also the intelligence people that are informing president obama, the national security team did foresee that. >> peter, as you know two u.s. fighter jets and drones launched five more air strikes in iraq yesterday. they destroyed the targets at the mosul dam. do you think this is possible to escalate to the u.s. sending in troops on the ground?

>> i think it's inconceivable at this point. certainly military advisers, sending in boots on the ground having a visible american presence would actually make the situation worse rather than better because it will once again create the narrative of the west america at war with islam. obama is kogcognizant of that and that's why he's trying to avoid that. i think the air strikes are having a positive effect. isis has slowed down. i think we need to wait for certain internal dynamics to unfold. isis is becoming increasingly unpopular with its own population. and the coalition partners that have supported isis in the past are starting to turn against them. if that happens, maybe the air strikes are enough. >> but you talk about isis being slowed down. ultimately, peter, how do you see -- what is the recipe for defeating isis? >> the recipe for defeating isis

is to power the forces within isis-held territory wanting to tumpb against isis. much of the population the people who supported isis some of these sunni militant factions that are not isis but supported isis, that wanted to gain sort of a foot hold in the iraqi body politic and go against the shiites, they are ready to turn if incentives are right. what america needs to do is to support everyone who is fighting against isis. the iraqi government and, of course, the kurds. so this is a matter of building capacity sending weapons, sending advisers, pushing back. it will not happen tomorrow but maybe in a few months time. >> you anticipated a question of mine. look we are still battling al qaeda in different parts of the world. how long do you think ultimately until isis could be eradicated considering the money at its hands, i mean ballpark. >> so, i think it will be easier

to get isis out of iraq than to get isis out of syria. i think in iraq the problem may be solved within 6 to 12 months. in syria it may be more difficult because there is not a partner with whom the west can collaborate. so i think in terms of syria, we're looking possibly at an even longer period. >> okay. peter newman always good to talk with you. thank you so much. >> thank you, alex. nascar driver tony stewart returns to the racetrack for the first time in three weeks. first time competing since he struck and killed driver kevin ward jr. at a race earlier this month. nbc's gabe gutierrez is live at atlanta motor speedway. let's talk about the mood that's set there for stewart's return. what's it like? >> reporter: hey there, alex. right now the mood is great. it's labor day weekend. it's warm out here. about 100,000 people are expected here later today. many of them will be here to welcome one of nascar's biggest stars back to the track after an emotional three weeks.

tony stewart is preparing for one of the biggest races of his career. it was all business saturday during practice laps. >> you know i can only imagine what he's going through and the ward family but you know what he's a driver. he needs to do what he wants to do. we're glad he's back. >> reporter: all weekend here at atlanta motor speedway stewart has been the center of attention. friday speaking public for the first time. >> this is a sadness and pain i hope no one has to experience in his life. >> reporter: since he struck and killed fellow driver kevin ward jr. at a dirt track in upstate new york earlier this month. the horrifying collision caught on camera and posted on youtube. the sheriff says that crash investigation will take at least another two weeks. >> that was a total accident. my en it's very obvious. i don't think tony would hurt a fly. >> reporter: stewart's team says he sent flowers and a card to ward's relatives and would like to meet them at an appropriate time but the family still has not commented on stewart's return to racing. >> everybody in the nascar

industry and legal experts, everyone is expecting there will be some sort of civil action and settlement. >> reporter: corporate sponsors are watching how stewart handles the adversity. on saturday bass pro shops said they were proud to stand by him. in the u.s., nascar has the most spectators per event and the most watch sport on television behind the nfl. bobby and sherri gordon drove ten hours to catch a glimpse of stewart. they're not alone. >> i think it's the best thing he can do, get back out on the racetrack. i think it's what he needs. >> reporter: stewart would need to win one of these next two races in order to have a shot at the championship. he came in 12th in friday's qualifying laps and in the top 20 in saturday's practice laps. tonight's big race is scheduled for 7:30 eastern. >> lots of eyes watch that's one. thanks, gabe gutierrez. thousands of casino workers in atlantic city are about to be dealt a bad hand. why are casinos suddenly closing?

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today is the last day to place bets at one of atlantic city's landmark casinos. the showboat is closing its doors after 27 years on the boardwalk. owners couldn't find a buyer after years of falling profits. dropped by $3 billion along with a hefty rise in competition so it's estimated more than 5,000 people will lose their jobs. >> i'm missing my job. i'm missing my friend. i'm missing my supervisors. >> it's a human disgrace they're shutting these places down. people are going out of work. >> two more casinos will be closing. the revel begins closing tomorrow and the trump will be shuddered mid-september. suzanne has been covering atlantic city. with a welcome, let's talk about the numbers. how many people are being laid off, and talk about the financial, the money impact here to the city.

>> hi achl ex. how are you? we're looking at 6500 workers over the next two weeks that are going to be pared from atlantic city payroll, economists estimate that from $150 million of the city's payroll will be wiped out between now and september 16th when trump plaza closes. it's what we've been discussing the competition, the ring of states around atlantic city basically eating its lunch which is slots revenue, 75% of its revenue comes from slots. pennsylvania maryland, delaware new york all have slots parlors now. that's what's happened in the last six or seven years. >> 6500 people out of work. what's being done to help them? >> i've been covering this all week. the faith-based organizations churches the christian administration of trenton is going to be setting up an agency this wednesday in atlantic city at the convention center to help workers try to deal with mortgages and not having to

default while they're looking for jobs. you have the city kicking in. it's basically one-fifth of the atlantic city workforce will be wiped out. the aid is needed desperately for these people. >> how long ago did this start looming on the horizon? how long have they been watching this unraveling? >> i've been covering atlantic city full time since '06 and that's the pennsylvania opened one of six casinos. you can see the ramifications as a result of that? >> i've watched it the last six years. basically those 12 casinos now in pennsylvania, four of them are in the philadelphia suburbs. over 30% of that clientele in the philly suburbs used to be loyal customers for atlantic city. they used to be bussed in. you no you don't have a -- a regular bus clientele to atlantic city. that's been wiped out. your overnight gambler, known as

the convenience gambler, is staying in their home states. these states like pennsylvania maryland, new york you'd to be all feeder marketing to atlantic city meaning feeding customers to those resorts. they're now direct competition. >> what's going to happen next? more hotels? more casino closings? is that expected along the boardwalk? >> analysts told me this week that possibly one or two more ka shut down by 2017. but that's two years away. basically over the next two years we have to watch the market right size itself and stabilize. they're hoping two of the four casinos shutting down which atlantic club shut down in january, at least two of the four will be stand-alone hotels because the city desperately needs rooms to accommodate a convention business which it's trying to transition to its gaming decline in revenue. >> can they do that? think about the image of atlantic city can they

transition to convention destination place in time to manage the fallout from lack of casinos? >>s there are skeptics out there. the city has less than 1500 rooms. philadelphia has 12,000 in center city. baltimore has 10,000. it's already at a disadvantage because only 8,000 of those rooms are available for conventions. the rest are comped to avid gamblers. this shows and reflects the 30-year heavy dependency on gamblers. you give them free rooms, they keep gambling away. now that that's falling apart they have to transition and find other income. but some people are saying, you know, you squandered the last 10, 15 years. it took vegas 15 years to transition from strictly a gaming mecca to a nongaming mecca, where now 20% to 30% of its revenue is from entertainment, dining, shopping. >> oh heck it's a family destination. who knew.

when it was created. it's now like a family destination. can i ask you quickly, the christie administration, what's coming out of that in terms of how they expect to approach this and what they want to do about it? >> the governor announced a couple weeks ago, alex he's holding a summit in atlantic city on september 8th. roughly a week from now. i'll be covering that. basically it's almost a crisis management. two casinos will close right before a summit. they've got to talk about the future. are there going to be casinos in north jersey to help atlantic city? what are you doing with the layoffs? what's the destination when the gaming revenue is on the wane right now and what are you going to become here? he's having that actually next monday. in atlantic city. >> we'll see what comes from that with your help no doubt. thank you so much. >> you're welcome, alex. >> the new and shocking revelations in senator kirstin gillibrand's new book. let that phrase sit with you for a second. unlimited. as in, no limits

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new reaction today to the isis threat from the intelligence committee chairs of both the house and senate. >> the goal is baghdad, and i think it's very very serious. and we have to have a strategy to deal with it in syria and in iraq iraq. >> the president wants to tell you what he won't do he's having a hard time putting the coalition together to talk about what they will do. you are not going to humanitarian aid isis out of iraq and syria. it's going to take more than that. >> joining me now, politics reporter for "the washington post"," jackie gusinich and from "the washington post" is edwin o'keeffe. a lot of reaction from key lawmakers, but talk to me about what's happening inside the white house right now. what is the approach moving

forward on the isis threat? >> president obama has always been a deliberate president when it comes to foreign policy and this is not any different. the speech the other day on thursday was to kind of quell the talk about military strikes in syria and in the near future right? he's not going to be without congress. he's not going to move ahead without a coalition. and i think that's what the speech was designed to do. we saw today he's being pulled in a lot of different directions and that played out on the sunday shows. >> i'm curious, ed, i talked to a lot of feel in the broadcast over today and yesterday, and a lot of people said look they appreciate the honesty of the president at this point, but in terms of the white house's interpretation of all this is their regret about the no strategy comment last week? >> well, we know they spent a lot of time after that press conference and on friday pushing back and kind of clarifying what the president meant by no strategy yet. yes, one is in the works. they are clearly talking about

it. the president has about a week which would coincide with congress's return to come up with some sense of what the united states is going to do besides the late-night military air strikes and humanitarian strike before this becomes a significant political issue. it is one thing to have the intelligence chiefs writing this stuff talking about it on the sunday shows with some alarm. it will be another one when everyone else gets back to washington and they start getting questions about it back home and can point to the president to say, look he's the guy to make a decision. we are more than happy to give him authorization if he comes with a plan but after that it could snowball into a big issue with the midterm elections. so obviously the president is going to spend some time on this this week and we'll see what transpires, but again, if there's no answer within the next few days, it becomes a bigger problem for him. >> but in terms of the president's comments jackie i heard earlier that some believe

the president is taking a thoughtful approach do. you think the president could be stung by members of his cabinet to ratchet up the drama over isis including secretary of defense chuck hagel? >> i don't think he's stung. this president doesn't seem to get emotional over much especially foreign policy. it's his style and he's received a lot of criticism internally and externally, but it goes to the tradition of the team of rivals we have seen through several presidencies. the president is going to do what he thinks is best on this and give as much input as possible or that's what they say they are doing. >> is there consideration to come back from break, come back early to confront the crisis because congress has to be an early part of this process, right? >> and the president said he'll keep them informed because there's a brewing debate among democrats over whether there's new authorization over the new

entity when previous authorizations were given. but so far there's no talk about them coming back early. a year ago this weekend, alex you and i were talking about the congressional authorization of military action in syria. here we are a year later and this issue is not entirely resolved. it is interesting we are at the same point we were this time last year. >> well, it indicates the quagmire that it presents. all right, we'll switch gears here and jackie i want to ask you about kirsten gillibrand's new book. she remembers one of the lawmakers telling her, good thing you're working out because you wouldn't want to get porky. and one male congressman said you know kirsten, you're even pretty even when you're fat. don't look too much weight now, i like my squirrelgirls chubby.

come on have you heard females complaining about similar things happening to them? >> i wish i could say i was surprised by this. any women who work in male-dominated fields, this is going to up what. it's not okay but it's a fact of life. you move on and do your job. so, yeah it doesn't matter if you're a senator or if you're working at a fast food restaurant. this happens quite a bit. and it's -- it's something that changes as time goes on but we have not seen a pop culture. look at "house of cards" and the sexism that goes on in this show. hopefully this goes the way the dinosaur does. >> i'm curious, sometimes you think the lawmakers forget that women make up a large percentage, half the population and they are the ones to whom they need to appeal for votes? >> i think they do. having been up there the last few years, it's happened twice where a male lawmaker said something questionable to a female reporter. it was horrifying and revolting.

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and see why 92% of our members plan to stay for life. good morning. huge challenges for president obama this holiday weekend from enemies old and new. the president admits he does not yet have a strategy for defeating isis as britain raises its terror threat level. i'll ask dianne feinstein, chair of the senate intelligence committee about the threat posed to the u.s. and whether the president's recent comments show weakness. and facing down an old adversary. ukraine's president says its country is near full scale war with russia. how far will vladimir putin go. can president obama and the allies get him to back down? plus a new e