another american beheaded. this is "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start tonight with a horror that appears to have no ending. the islamic state has beheaded another american, steven sotloff. this is not a bit of news to absorb, move on and forget. it is a sadistic assault on our country's pride, barack obama, the american people, on the country we love. cutting off the head of one of us is a taunt, a humiliation. it debases us this the eyes of syrians, iraqi, our countrymen. the american intelligence community is working to confirm the latest video that shows him

being executed in the video. mr. sotloff is in an orange jump suit saying he's paying the price for president obama's intervention in iraq. it was obviously scripted. this comes two weeks after the beheading of james foley. in this plea for his life from his mother. >> as a mother i ask your justice to be merciful and not punish my son for matters he has no control over. i ask you to use your authority to spare his life and to follow the example set by the prophet mohamed who protected people of the book. i want what every mother wants -- to live to see her children's children. i plead with you to grant me this. >> bobby gaush from quartz. i want to start with you, bobby. this looks like it will go on. this will be a battle of nerves and whatever else in our

visceral reality. this is personal between the president of the united states and baghdadi leading the islamic state. >> yes. they have already said they will execute a british prisoner next. they have other prisoners. it's worth remembering here they have been executing prisoners of other nationalities for weeks and months now. syrians, other arab nationals. they have been doing it for a while. they clearly take a great deal of enjoyment from this the. for political reasons and perverse personal reason ares they will do it a lot. >> it's sadism. >> absolutely. this is beyond a political message. this is people taking a perverse pleasure in slaughter. these are not the only examples. there have been lots of videos they posted online of atrocities. it's hard to say at this moment, but atrocities worse than dozens, scores, hundreds of

people being lined up and killed. we have been seeing reports from amnesty international, other international bodies and people who survived. reports of women and children taken prisoner, sexual slavery, depravity of a kind that we shouldn't really be mentioning on a show like this. >> it gets to our guts, a sense of self, vulnerability, someone doing this to us. these are just americans not guilty of any particular behavior. they were just picked at because they got their hands on them. they are going to keep doing this. that's the message the president will be confronted with. he goes to bed tonight and as cool a customer as he can b he puts his head on the pillow thinking about they are beheading our guys over there. >> he goes to bed tonight as the president who said a few days ago when you come african americans we come after you. he's already answered this challenge rhetorically. now this increase it is pressure

on him to do something more. the big question and the huge problem for him is what. what can he do that's effective? >> we like to think we are high tech. we can bomb a country with immunity, make a statement and they can't touch us because we don't put people on the ground. to me the message is they have our people on the ground. >> there are people within the reach of this organization and others simply because they are there doing their jobs. journalists in this case, but also aide workers, businessmen, diplomats. people there not because the united states government sent them as soldiers but they are there doing some other job. >> a few days ago the president said and people jumped all over him for saying he doesn't have a strategy yet. put together this. they are going to continue doing this obviously. they made it clear. they are going to keep looking for americans, missionaries, business people, tourists, the average backpacker they can get lost shr.

they will keep looking for americans to behead. as i said, during his news conference last week with president obama made this blunt admission which will flow through the air for the next several days. >> i don't want to put the cart before the horse. we don't have a strategy yet. >> we don't have a strategy yet. today rear admiral john are kirby said we have a strategy. the pentagon says it does. >> absolutely there is a strategy for our approach to the middle east. i can only speak from a military perspective and for the pentagon. but we have been consistently going after the terrorist threat in that part of the world. military strategy with respect to the middle east has been clear. it's not just something we just started doing. we have been going after terrorist networks in that part of the world for more than a decade. with very good success. doesn't mean it's been eliminated.

we have been active, energetic and the objectives have been clear. >> >> that's an absurd statement. we went into iraq, blew the country apart, created the opportunity for isis to grow. it was nothing. anything we faced from hussein. the idea that we have been winning this war against terrorism is ludicrous. we are facing a new danger now going after our people there, threatening to become a country. no one seems willing to take it on in the region. how can you say we are winning like the average said? i don't understand that. i guess he has to say that stuff because of his position. we're not winning the war against terrorism there. >> certainly not in syria and iraq. it's a bad sign when you have to start by saying our position is clear. if it was then you wouldn't have to say it. yes, there have been successes in other parts of the world against terrorism.

even this morning we heard of an air strike in somalia. that's not where the world's attention is focused, where americans are being killed in this brutal fashion. the president said he will respond. if you kill americans, we'll come after you. who is the you here? is it baghdadi, the leader of the group? is it all five to seven to 10,000 of the fighters. >> that's my question. this isn't a criminal matter. if it's a war crime first of all you have to have a war. we are not engaging in a war. at some point you single out, after you have won the war, who are the most egregious betrayers of what's considered acceptable behavior, even a military campaign. that's when you get to neuronburg. we are nowhere near that. the idea we'll have holder there with g-men to find baghdadi, you hit the point there without intentionally doing so. it's absurd to say we'll go there, grab somebody and put them in on a eichman-type raid like the israelis.

we're not a little country. we are a big country. >> this is furtherering the whack-a mole problem. some part of the organization, related one or fellow travellers pops up this in somalia or throw a dart at the world. >> there are people in isis now who weren't in it two weeks ago. >> the idea that we can surgically go after pieces parts of that probably won't work. obama has to articulate larger strategy. >> he needs a plan, not words.

if this latest execution of an american, steve sotloff leads to military action we could be fighting against the same side we threatened to oppose a year ago.

plus the battle for control of the u.s. senate. we'll look at the four blocks of states and how they look now. in an alarming violation of privacy hackers steal hundreds of private nude photos of jennifer lawrence and other female celebrities n. the digital age what people do in the privacy of their homes doesn't always stay there. let me finish with this damned if you do, dal fd you don't situation facing the president. this is "hardball," the place for politics. 

the united states justice department is in federal court in texas arguing against that state's voter i.d. law. opening statements began in a lawsuit led by attorney general eric holder. and minority rights groups themselves. they say the law is to tamp downturnout by minorities and young people. a ruling isn't expected until after the midterm elections. we'll be right back after this. bulldog: quarterback takes the snap...

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strike our people -- that's them -- we'll continue to strike yours. we're going to show a very short portion of the video in order to hear in this case the accent of the executioner. >> i'm back, obama. i'm back because of -- >> that's all we got. two other americans are believed to be held by the group and waiting for more of the mayhem. something this terrible goes beyond politics obviously. this is about presidential leadership in the world, strength, who will lead our country out of this humiliation. michael steele was rnc chair and eugene robinson was with the washington post. both msnbc political analysts. you guys are seasoned in thinking about these things. if you're president of the united states i don't know what you think. it's clear they are taunting him, humiliating the president with the bodies and the heads of americans. this is tribal. >> right. >> this is probably the most primitive people on the planet used to to.

>> the thing obama faces that's difficult is he can't appear to be reactionary. the other side of the coin is you can't appear to be distantly removed as well. you have to figure out a way, that thin slice to connect yourself so the american people understand so he under mined the effort at the press conference when he said we don't have a plan. this is something that crept up in the last few weeks. >> the beheadings raises this to a level of visceral reaction. most americans like me call murder. get those guys. >> exactly. >> he didn't want to do it last week. >> right. it's theatrical in this vilest and most despicable sense. bring out all the adjectives you want. the adjectives don't take you far. president obama's general m.o. is don't get mad, get even.

so i think he has to communicate that to the american people that we are not going to let this lie. we are going to respond to this. but we are going to respond to it this a way that we think will be effective, not just react. we have to do something. >> i always have been the one with the itchy trigger finger. when he was 20 points behind hillary clinton in fall of 2007 i said, let's get going here. he did have a plan to win the delegates. there is a price to be paid for his deliberation. that's the difference. >> that's the problem. there are at least 26 other americans that are known to be held by the islamic state, so the question becomes if this video, as it noted, this is because of you that we are doing this. how did the president respond?

the early steps of bringing the community into this are partnering. those with as much of an interest as we do, getting them out in front. you begin to create a wall to go after them. it's not just about american air strikes. it's really communicating globally. this is the line that no one is allowed to cross. the global community -- >> when -- >> the president leading -- >> -- against israel in 46, 67, 73. when do they attack? >> there is a confluence of interests in the region, clearly. an attitude in con fluent interests against isis. how do you get them to act in concert? that's not easy. you're right. it doesn't happen often. there is a lot of diplomatic ground work done on that score. my colleague covered a lot of that in a column today the actually.

there is a lot more yet to do. one thing you could do, and i think the administration is probably trying to do is you could take one shot at the guy. if you have a sense of where that guy is. i think you could do that and -- >> the united states. >> the united states could do that. >> do you think a decapitation would work? that would achieve something? >> well, what it would achieve is, i think, giving you and me and michael the sense that, yeah, you can't do this. we did have to respond to this. if you behead americans on television like that -- but bu that's essentially a lucky shot. who know ifs they know exactly where that guy is. >> we couldn't get saddam hussein and he was the head of the country. we couldn't find the head of the country. >> that wasn't easy to do. hypothetically, if you had a shot, you would take it. >> i think the president is good at the partisan stuff.

president obama is facing renewed pressure led by hawks like senator graham who put out this statement about the killing. condemnation is not enough to deal with the surge. it is time to act against isil wherever it resides. when american air power has been employed in coordination with reliable partners on the ground isil has been devastated. it should be pursued in syria and iraq. mr. president, if you can't come up with a strategy at least tell us what the goal is regarding isil. the problem is he's confronted by a direct challenge from the head of the islamic state that if you keep bombing me i will keep beheading americans. >> that's the problem. the president has to work out and unfortunately has to work it out publically. we will be as much a part of the decision-making process as anyone, the american people. the problem is the president doesn't have a safe harbor. he can't look at rhetoric from the right and think, oh, we are going the to push this -- some dems say the republican congress

needs to step in and lead on some of this. >> how would that work? >> in other words, that they could reauthorize the president -- >> that would put him in a worse situation. >> it would. the president has to clearly define what this mission objective will be and what the goals will be once the objective is reached. what does it look like once we are done? do we leave an enemy in place that's still capable of attacking us? >> i think -- go ahead. >> i'm going to say the reality is isis will continue beheading people, whatever we do. >> right. >> if we say tomorrow, okay, gee, if they are not going to stop. >> the horror is those people are facing horror in the middle of the desert with a camera running knowing their country is not coming to save them. >> we have to assume that it's not easy to figure out how the to save them.

as lindsey graham said air power with reliable support on the ground. >> who's that? >> who is that? who was that in syria? who was the reliable support on the ground in syria . >> the french, the british? >> you don't know, i don't know and president obama doesn't know. lindsey graham doesn't know. >> easier to criticize. >> it is. >> much easier than to have to make the decision to commit u.s. resources, not necessarily forces but resources to solving a problem as delicate as -- >> i worked for jimmy carter as a speech writer. i have never felt worse than i did then. the humiliation and all we were watching was 50 american hostages not hurt but marched around with blindfolds on, they purned a flag. nobody liked that. imagine if happened and we hadn't gotten war-weary. if it was 2001 and they were beheading americans. would we still sit and watch?

>> think we have a vastly different response. >> are we just war-weary now? >> we are. and the world, especially syria and iraq, are more complicated than anyone could have imagined in 2001. there were two ditators then. it was simple. >> if we have to write the capstone on the presidency, will the big issue of foreign policy and the obama presidency be keel dealing with iran are's nuclear threat or syria and the fanaticism? what's the biggest story? >> for all i know it could be ukraine. i don't know. >> it won't grab us like these two. >> this could be defining. definitional because of the loss of life. >> i think iran will be pusheded back. i think this is center stage. >> he's on our side against isis. >> the enemy of my enemy -- >> we are not sitting through the rest of '14, '15 '16 watching americans being beheaded every two weeks. i can tell you that.

we are not going to put up with that. something else is going to have to happen. >> i agree. >> or we have problems with leadership. the president cannot sit and watch this. grieving isn't going to help. that mother did everything right. everything. it didn't work. we really do worry and pray for you. thank you for that. you are a great example of a great american, mrs. sotloff, doing what you could do. we'll be right back after this. introducing dance-all-you-want bladder leak protection

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still ahead on "hardball," just two months now to go before the midterm elections. we'll look at who's got the best shot in the biggest races around the country and whether democrats or republicans will control the senate come november. plus the massive computer hack that led to the exposure of private pictures of celebrities including jennifer lawrence. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics.

here's what's happening.

i think it surprised a lot of republicans, especially that they weren't at this point able to catch her in some sort of slip-up, goof-up, first time candidate mistake. he she's been able -- >> in terms of the trajectory you see allison possibly winning this. >> yes, possibly. she's this a better position. >> you're a kentucky expert. >> yeah. i lived and worked there,

covered the race there is and kept up with what's going on. i agree. i think kentucky is a better shot for the democrats for the reasons amy said. they have also managed to put mitch mcconnell, the incumbent who would be the majority leader. managed to put him on the defensive in a way he hasn't been in most of the races he won. most narrowly. i would say right now, we have a new polling methodology for the huffington post. a new poll. it shows grimes with a slightly better chance of winning than nunn. >> n-u-n-n. system. >> right. >> these are what you call ten-point difficulties for democrats. they face an uphill battle in west virginia, montana and south dakota. the democratic incumbent isn't running. that's the problem. president obama lost all three states in 2012. at the moment republicans are heavy favorites in the contest. the question is where is the democrat's best chance -- montana, west virginia, south dakota.

howard? >> you're giving us a tough one. with our poll i keep mentioning the huff post. it's the best. >> i don't think we bothered to rank those. it's difficult. >> all three are toughment red states. >> montana is hardest when you don't have a candidate. then you have to pick one at the last minute. that doesn't help much. >> cribbing. >> that's a little bit of a problem. in this case, west virginia, the toughest state for barack obama. but they have a decent candidate there. you're splitting hairs. >> south dakota. >> let's go to other red states where they are fighting the anti-obama wave. alaska, polls show mark beg itch with a narrow lead over dan sullivan. in arkansas, a close one for mark pryor and tom cotton. in louisiana, senator landrieu battling questions about residency. the post reported she didn't

have a house of her own in louisiana. she's registered to vote in her parent's home and has an eighth share there. a poll shows senator kay haguen is deadlocked with the speaker of the house there, thom tillis. which do you think is the best et beth? >> if you talked a couple of days ago to the folks on the democratic and republican side they would say alaska is one of the toughest campaigns. it was a tough day today where one of the ads was taken down. we'll see what the reaction. >> outside residency hurt landrieu. >> it's about the run-off. there are few people who think she'll make it whether she's in first place or not. she will be course forced into a run are-off. >> what's the best bet? >> i would put alaska and north carolina. >> as the best bets. alaska and north carolina. >> are you filling out your washington post -- >> wait until thursday before

the election. >> that's what with it's about. >> thursday night. >> i will say alaska is the best shot despite problems with begich has had. the reason is having travelled the country a lot, in the south barack obama's very name the poison. the only one of the four that escapes that basic cultural fact at least to some extent is alaska. that may have nothing to do with it. for that reason i would say begich has the best bet. >> we'll talk about the south on another show. that's a problem. there are four blue states. this is like general grant winning the war in a civil war. state where is democrats are in close contests. recent polling shows colorado's mark udall's lead is within the margin of error. jo any ernst's ad about castrating hogs helped catapult her into a dead heat. she's probably carrying the men despite that.

in michigan, democrats are fighting to hold onto senator levin's seat. he said he won't seek election again. and in a recent poll in manchester, senator jeanne shaheen's lead over scott brown went from 12 points to two in less than a month. let's talk about the new hampshire thing. if you turn on our network election night in november, and you see it's too close to call in new hampshire, look out for the democrats. if it's too close in kentucky, look out the. p republicans won't sweep. 7:00, 8:00. i am amazed scott brown who just toodled his way into the state has a chance to be a senator. >> why are you surprised? >> he just moved there. >> the bigger question -- >> he's not bobby kennedy or hillary clinton.

he's not a national name brand. >> no. that's true. we have seen polls bounce all over in new hampshire. >> they are bouncing down. the bigger question is colorado and iowa are the two states that will be the closest and will tell us a lot about -- >> is it a good campaign? >> no. but it's about bruce braley the candidate versus the campaign. >> right now, about two months out, i will go with poll. >> that's the huffington post poll. says of those four, that iowa is the one the democrats need to worry most about. at this point. >> is that creativity and a funny ad? >> no. it's because i think iowa has been trending -- you know, this is the holy grail for people like karl rove for years and years to try to get that part of the midwest trending republican.

carl thought he saw it in minnesota. didn't materialize. it is materializing to some extent in iowa. we look at the republican primary, caucuses there. we sort of wonder at the evangelical activism there. that bespeaks cultural change in iowa i think is tough for the democrats. >> why is that for somebody who's had somebody from the hard right and hard left in senate? >> they are contrarian in iowa. they like to think of themselves as independent. they like ideology in politics more than most states do. that would be my -- >> minnesota seems to be the same way, too. wisconsin now has that as well. they also reflect the election that they came -- the year in which they were elected. ron johnson in wisconsin is a product of the 2010 election in the same way ernst would be a product of the 2014 election. >> when you look at this, and

you do it all the time, is it more important to have a really good candidate or not to be obama? >> hmm. >> is it party label this time or -- i like to believe the best candidate generally wins if they put on the best campaign. people like them the most. joe biden, for example, won in 1972 when nobody else was winning. you can beat the trend if you're a good candidate. is that true or not? >> it is only true if you're a very good candidate running against a not so good candidate. i don't think it is enough to be just a really good candidate to beat back the national tide. >> can i say i think the senate elections have become more and more nationalized. >> i think so. >> that makes president obama's low ratings a problem nationwide. these are becoming parliamentary leks. just as mitch mcconnell versus harry reid in the two brands. >> electoral votes. remember when mitt romney knew

he lost the election because he didn't do as well in virginia as he thought he would, so he knew he lost ohio. >> right. >> it's like that. >> the demographics. >> if you see it is close between allison grimes and mitch mcconnell the democrats may not get wiped out. that's a good showing, right? >> that's fair. >> if scott brown is winning -- that's a very big sweep. >> i still think the democrats will lose the senate, but i don't know. >> the republicans should be farther ahead than they are given the lay of the land. that gives the democrats a dplimer of hope. >> they have all the possibilities. >> they need to win 5 of 9 seats they win control in the senate. >> thank you. it's a mood-changer. thank you, howard, amy. coming up, the massive computer hack that exposed hundreds of nude celebrity photos, including those of actress jennifer lawrence. this is a big story about hacking and getting into

everybody's stuff. this is "hardball," the place

for politics. chris christie is taking the next step toward a possible run for president. trying to learn foreign policy. the new jersey governor is in mexico on what's being billed as a trade mission. for a guy with white house aspirations it's a chance to show he gets world affairs, especially after missteps this year like calling the west bank the occupied territories in

front of sheldon adelson and a like-minded jewish group in las vegas. we'll be right back.

welcome back to "hardball," the fbi is involved and looking into the massive leak of nude celebrity photos targeting stars incluing jennifer lawrence and supermodel kate upton. the anonymous leaker claimed to have gotten them through icloud. apple said celebrity accounts were hacked by a targeted attack on oh user names, passwords and security questions. one actress mary winstead said this on twitter. if to those of you looking at photos i took with my husband years ago in the privacy of our

home, i hope you feel great about ourselves. the incident raise it is the question. in 2014 with more of our lives happening online is nothing secret or sacred? whether it's the phone conversation of british royals or private artwork of george w. bush. everything gets out apparently. swron than capehart is an opinion writer from the washington post and msnbc contributor. and a research professor and chief scientist at the center for secure information systems. anup? >> yes. >> tell me. my general view is to blame the criminal. >> mm-hmm. >> not the person who is the victim. i'm not going to talk about stars and their problems and the way they choose to photograph themselves. criminal activity. we saw it with rupert murdoch in london. these people were sentenced to prison. talk about why that is a crime. hack. >> in this particular case, chances are the people that were after these celebrities are

trading that information for something of value. it might be extortion, it might be re-selling to other people who are interested in its content, but i also think users, all of us including celebrities expect some measure of privacy when we take pictures and, sure, upload it online to i-cloud service. i think what's happened here is apple's failed to secure that data on behalf of its users. >> when i go to the bank to get my money out or put some money in even by going to the bank window, you know, and pnc and put the money in, it's very complicated when you go on the computer and figure out how much you have in there to get your latest account balance. right? what's your favorite first girlfriend's name -- >> that's if you forget your password. >> well, sometimes they just seem to do that for sport. i don't know. how did they get through these kind of password situations is what i'm amazed by. >> well, from what i've read, maybe you can correct me, but

the way these criminals were able to do this was through something called brute force where they just hammer a site with all sorts of combinations of -- >> is this like a monkey will type merry christmas if you keep punching the typewriter? they keep going, there's eight letters or something, and run all the permutations? >> yes, that's how they were able to do it, so there was a flaw on the side of apple but this also speaks to our responsibility as consumers to make sure that we have strong passwords and that we actually have passwords. i left -- i left an iphone on a plane that i had not locked. and so i had to spend the rest of my time trying to change all of my passwords for all of my -- >> did you ever hear from this person that picked it up? >> no, never did. >> how did they know? they're now thinking about, i found this home. >> long time ago. >> the question is, how do you get through? it is hard to get through these systems. these, you know, i was about to throw out my password there, but, i mean -- >> well, i say, most of the

online service providers, whether it's google, or twitter, they've adopted more secure technology called two factor authentication and what that really means is not just your user name and password but something else as well, right? so even if i gave you my user name and password, unless you have this other code, which is usually texted to you, you can't log in with my credentials. apple needs to do that at a minimum. you know, this brute forcing, you're right. pretty much everyone has developed systems that eliminate brute force attacks. >> will they be sued on this? >> you know, it's not probably a big enough problem for apple today. it's a media issue as opposed to celebrity. >> the stars have pictures all over the place. >> good point. >> a statement a publicist for jennifer lawrence, one heck of an actress said this is a flagrant violation of privacy. the authorities have been contacted and will prosecute anyone who posts the stolen photos of jennifer lawrence. i don't care about the kardashians and paris hilton and giggle-worthy crap. i care about people of talent,

and somebody as good as her in the business she's in of acting, these people are being abused here. >> they're not the only ones being abused. we know about this because they're actors, they're famous and have the platform to make us think about this. for every jennifer lawrence out there, there are hundreds, thousands, maybe even millions of people who become victim to these hackers who take their information, whether it's pictures, whether it's their bank account information, whether it's all sorts of other information, and ruin their lives with that information. >> sure. what's gone unnoticed in all of this celebrity news is home depot is likely hacked on a scale that will match target. that happened in the same day. of course, the celebrity photographs make the news, but all of us, all of our credit card information is getting hijacked because of the insecurity of the systems and as consumers we need to demand better security from the people who develop the systems. >> is it more difficult to do

what they did, hacking in these people's nude photos than it is to hack into your bank account and start pulling the money out? >> you know, it depends on the particular system. i hate to say that, but some people implement security better than others. we need to demand better security out of our retailers. i mean, the dhs put out a report last week that said, 1,000 retailers have been hacked by one particular malware. 1,000 retailers. that means basically all of our credit data is out there. someone has access to it and could ruin our lives because of identity theft and fraud. >> is this a part dan issue where the libertarians have one side, the democrats another? is there a fight over regulation between the two parties? in other words, i bet we're going to see something like this on the party platforms in '16. they'll be up to date on this. >> if not '16, definitely by '20. you'd hope something like this knows support for making sure that americans' information is protected knows no party, that it is a nonpartisan issue where folks come back to washington

and actually do something. here's thing that they can actually get done if they come together and do something to protect the american consumer. good luck. >> advice i heard years ago in politics, if you can say it, don't write it. if you can grunt it, don't say it. keep it to yourself. your communication could be the worst enemy you ever had. richard nixon taught me that. anyway, thank you, jonathan capehart and anna ghosh for joining us. we'll be right back after this. ♪ oh-oh, oh, oh, la, la-la, la-la, la-la ♪ ♪ na-na-na, na-na-na-na-na some things just go together, like auto and home insurance. bundle them together at progressive, and you save big on both. ♪ oh, oh-oh, oh, oh hey, it's me! [ whistles ] and there's my dog! [gasps] there's my steps! i should stop talking. perfectly paired savings. now, that's progressive.

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let me finish tonight with this terrible challenge now facing the country. i put the question to you, you're president of the united states and an enemy is beheading one of your people every couple of weeks. what do you do? can you do nothing? can you sit and watch it happening? this open-ended barbarism against your people? what if the one thing you can do to stop the beheadings is invade syria, begin taking control of the country, city by city, village by village? how do you know who is isis and who are the people it's terrorizing in order to conceal them in their midst? how do you avoid becoming immeshed in a country that will soon come to hate you, the enemy among the innocent. entering syria militarily we're choosing sides in a war between the assad government and isis. a year ago we were pushed to back them. this is an exact situation of damned if you do, damned if you don't. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "all in with chris hayes" starts right now.

> tonight we are "all in." >> thoughts and prayers first and foremost are with mr. sotloff and his family. >> another american apparently executed by isis as the group promises more beheadings. tonight, the latest on the isis offensive and the growing muslim backlash. then, the mystery behind the fund-raiser for the police officer who killed michael brown. plus, a down on his luck ex-congressman makes good on his concession speech promise. >> i look forward to continuing to fight with all of you for the things we believe in. >> we'll tell you about eric cantor's new job. and here come the victim blamers. >> don't put naked pictures of yourself on the internet, people. >> tonight, investigation into the nude celebrity photos leaked over the weekend and why your photos could be next. "all in" starts right now.