hey, there, everyone. just about high noon in the east. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." we have a new message today from president obama in the fight against isis as the administration prepares to intensify air strikes against the islamic militants. kristen welker is live at the white house for us. what's the president saying now? >> reporter: in his weekly address, president obama continues to map out his strategy for destroying the terrorist group known as isis. and this comes as his top officials now acknowledge the united states is at war. with u.s. air strikes continuing to rain down in iraq and expected soon in syria, this morning, president obama called the conflict a campaign in his weekly address. >> what's needed now is a targeted, relentless counterterrorism campaign against isil. >> reporter: top u.s. officials

admits the united states is at war with isil. >> we are at war with isil in the same way we're at war with al qaeda. >> we know we are at war with isil. >> we are at war with isil. >> reporter: administration officials say they're now using the word war to make it easier for the american public to understand, comparing it to the fight against al qaeda. critics are skeptical of their reasoning. >> i think the change in emphasis here is deliberate because the american public was polled two or three days ago saying 71% were in favor of air strikes. >> reporter: meanwhile, secretary kerry continues to criss-cross the middle east trying to build a coalition to help fight isis. on friday, he was in turkey. >> i'm comfortable that this will be a broad-based coalition. >> reporter: while arab nations have expressed some support, it's unlikely the u.s. will get help from their armies, with 1,600 american viradvisers soon the grown, the president is

likely entangled for the rest of his term in the very region he vowed to lead. >> they are soldiers and they are in harm's way. >> reporter: the president says he doesn't need congressional approval to expand air strikes. most lawmakers don't want to vote on that in an election year. they will vote on whether to give the president approval to train and arm syrian opposition fighters, something that does have bipartisan support. the house has canceled a planned vacation day on monday to start debating the issue. alex? >> kristen, thank you so much. joining me now with a have you view from capitol hill is california democratic congressman garamendy. is the united states at war with isis? >> apparently we are at war if that's what the president says. if that is the case, then congress has a constitutional requirement to declare war.

what's happening is a lot of lawyers parsing the legal words of the authorization used in afghanistan and in iraq, 2001, 2002, and saying it's a continuation of those wars. i don't think so. i think this is a new war. this is a new chapter in a longstanding problem in the middle east. and congress has the responsibility and the obligation of taking it up, declaring war or on authorization to use force and circumscribing, in my view, the nature of that war. >> but you have the white house saying something. but then as you're aware on thursday, secretary kerry as well as susan rice saying this is not a war, flip to yesterday, the white house, state, pentagon press secretary say that with identical phrasing. does this confusion hurt the president's cause and credibility coming from the white house? >> well, i don't know about that. but i do know that immediately following the word war, they used the language that it was an

extension of the afghanistan and the iraq. and that is a way in which you can legally claim that you do not need further authorization from congress. i vehemently disagree. this is a war. this is going to involve thousands of american troops in the air and on the ground. i don't want to have infantry on the ground, artillery and armored brigades. but we're headed down a slippery slope that's been greased by the language you're hearing from the white house. >> how certain are you that there would be boots on the ground? the president has vehemently, repeatedly said it will not happen. there will be no u.s. boots on the ground. we heard in an earlier sound bites, there are advisers on the ground. and they have to be considered -- they're there. advisers are on the ground. but the president says it's not going to happen. >> we'll see. we'll see. the vietnam war started this way. other wars start this way. you're in for a dime, you're in for a dollar. we're in for 1,400, 1,500 troops

now and a lot of airmen, aircraft. one gets shot down. what are you doing to do? send in the special forces and what happens then? this is a very, very difficult situation. and when you get to syria, it becomes even more complex. who are the good guys in syria? we've been trying to figure that out for three years. we haven't been able to find them yet. but we're going to spend half a billion dollars arming someone, maybe it's someone who is competent and capable and worthy of our support. but we don't know yet. nobody's bothered to tell us in congress who those folks are. >> one thing that's important is always to think about the end game. and one of the complications of declaring a war is that wars are supposed to end. maybe there's a nice flag ceremony and then everyone goes home. how does a war against isis end? >> we've already learned it doesn't end with military. it ends with the kind of diplomatic efforts that are being made and it also ends in dealing with the underlying economic, social issues in those countries.

you have about 70% of the young men and women in those countries are unemployed with no hope, no promise, no education opportunity. those are the keys to any country's development and yet these countries have very, very serious economic and social issues that manifest themselves in radical religious situations. >> secretary kerry was in cairo as part of his campaign to try to build a unified arab front against isis. there are ten partners right now in a unified front. how realistic is a cross-sect, cross-border coalition in the middle east, given what history tells us? >> well, normally they fight each other. but now they have a common enemy. isis is a common enemy. it is a very violent, very brutal and has territorial ambitions. and those territories are the countries of iraq, syria, quite possibly the kurdish area and on down into the gulf areas. so those countries all have

their own territorial issues at hand and they have to provide the ground troops. we've given iraq a little bit of space with our bombings so that they can re-form their army. hopefully they have a good multiethnic, multicultural economy in place so there will be confidence by the sunnis that have become disaffected by maliki. our role, seems to me, is to the diplomatic role, pull the countries together, have their troops on the ground. give iraq time to get itself back together and get their army back in place so it can push isis out. if they don't do it, it isn't going to happen unless america does it. and we should not. >> well, in terms of what we have already there on the ground, more than 1,000 troops. they are there for protecting u.s. interest and perhaps training other armies. but that number may increase. is this country -- is the united

states prepared to have casualties? and if so, what is an acceptable level? >> for me, an acceptable level is zero. but i'm also a realist. you have planes in the sky. things will happen. there will be accidents. obviously involved in military conflict, we have men and women on the ground, some of whom will undoubtedly be in with the iraqi troops. i understand they already are, as the iraqi troops try to regain their cities and areas. somebody's going to get injured. there will be casualties. that's the nature of war. and this is what congress ought to be debating. we ought not just allow the administration, the president to go at this without congress' approval in a formal authorization to use force, which is another word for a declaration of war. >> congressman, thank you for your time. good to see you. >> thank you. a possible break near the big developing story at this hour. a shooting at a pennsylvania police barracks, police are

talking to a person of interest right now in that case. the shooting happened overnight, east of scranton in pike county. police say that two troopers were ambushed while leaving the building. nbc analyst clint van zant is joining me with more on this. clint, how does this happen at what presumably is an extraordinarily secure facility outside the police barracks? >> this is interesting. and yet, alex, this is a point where troopers, police officers would feel relaxed, too. you feel you're within that green zone. and therefore you're safe. and whoever did this -- they need to develop, number one, of course, motive. why would somebody do this? was it personally directed against one of the two troopers, one shot and killed, one wounded? was it against the state police, law enforcement in general? these are the things they have to develop. but they're moving quickly. they're looking at the physical evidence. there's cameras outside the troop barracks. they could get pictures on those.

there's tire tracks of the vehicle, of the person or persons who did this. there are shell casings. there are recovered rounds from the wounded officer. so there's a lot of physical evidence that they can gather very quickly. and of course they want to get the shooter or shooters off the street before they have a chance to do this again. if you shoot police officers within the sanctity of the state police barracks, you can shoot anybody at any time. >> absolutely. all bets off there. we are being told there's a person of interest who's being interviewed right now and they specifically say not in custody at this point. but in terms of the interview process, how long can that continue and what kind of questions is that person or persons being asked? >> well, we know it's a 48-year-old man somewhere from that local area. we know that the police have put out a b.o.l.o., be on the lookout, for this specific individual in one of two different pick-up trucks that he

was known to drive. so they have some very specific information that led them to him. the question is, is he an actual suspect in the shooting? is he a potential witness? again, as long as he's talking to authorities, they don't have to arrest him as long as he doesn't lawyer up and continues to talk. hopefully they're getting usable information. whether he is a possible shooter or a possible witness, they need to get everything they can out of him. and like so many of these cases, alex, if this guy was involved, who else was involved? is this a lone wolf type of activity directed against state police or is this some type of conspiracy they need to know and they need to know fast? that's why you have law enforcement from at least three different states that are cooperating in this investigation at this time. >> clint van zant, thanks for weighing in. we appreciate it. in other news now, toronto mayor rob ford announced he's withdrawing his name from the race for election.

ford was hospitalized earlier this week with an abdominal tumor. he filed papers to remove his name from the ballot. running in his place, rob's brother, doug. the two made the switch just minutes before that filing deadline. the enterovirus is spreading across the country. new york and connecticut both reporting cases. the infection has been spreading since august. children begin with cold-like symptoms and quickly develop severe respiratory illness. those afflicted with asthma and other respiratory diseases are at highest risk. doctors recommend proper hygiene and handwashing to keep it from spreading. to southern california, firefighters are trying to keep this wildfire under control in orange county. the flames engulfed about 1,300 acres in a canyon in the cleveland national forest. fire crews evacuated about 30 homes in the area as a precaution. the fire is expected to burn an additional 200 acres over the next 24 hours. try --

southern california is bracing for a muggy heat wave atypically. this one could be one or the record books. alex wallace is here with more on that. hi, alex. >> good saturday to you. as we work through the weekend even into early next week, we have a bit of a stormy time to deal with across parts of the southeast. not everyone will see the storms. but we have an enhanced risk for you. quite a bit of moisture plus a frontal boundary hanging around, all going to increase our chances as we head through the weekend into early week. in the northeast, we have cool times to contend with. temperatures well below average. highs in the 60s and 70s. tomorrow you'll see that as well. a fall feel to things. the good news is tomorrow we get rid of the showers. now we're looking at all sunshine here in the northeast. on the flip side, heat in the west. big ridge here building and that's going to mean hot times for us as the general flow is coming offshore. that's going to mean the influences for the pacific won't be felt. that means temperatures will be hot, well above average for us

by a good 5 to 15 degrees. that means we could see quite a few 90s out there, including in and around l.a. today. sacramento, you get to the triple digits. 101 expected for you. tomorrow it doesn't stop. the heat will keep doing tomorrow and as we head into that early workweek. try to beat the heat here. you're going to need it. >> alex wallace, thanks for that. did he or didn't he? conflicting reports on whether ray rice told roger goodell exactly what happened in that elevator. and as the nfl tries to clean up one mess, another star player faces abuse charges. staying active can ease arthritis symptoms but if you have arthritis, this can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain, so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve daily physical function so moving is easier.

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we're following new developments in the ray rice case. a source close to the former baltimore raven tells nbc news during a meeting in june with the league's commissioner, roger goodell, rice clearly described

hitting his then-fiancee in the face. but earlier this week goodell said that race's response was ambiguo ambiguous. brent, first question here. what do you think hopped here? why are there two different accounts of what happened at that meeting? >> it's really hard to say because of the conflicting accounts. that's why there's an investigation to find out what did they know and when did they know it. the thing about this case, we all knew what happened back in february when the incident happened at the casino. we knew that the woman was rendered unconscious. that there was a domestic incident. it's kind of strange in that it took the video to get everybody outraged about it. but that's what the investigation will try to sort out. >> yeah. renee, there's an issue here that i guess has been lost in the story, appallingly. janay rice is being victimized

again because her husband's now lost his job, lost his endorsements. imagine the stress in that house right now. how does that fit into the picture? she's apparently decided to stay with him. >> i'm sure this is a very, very painful time for her. and we need to respect her choices in this matter. she has the right to make decisions for her own life. she's the best expert on what's going to be best for her. we need to keep focused on ray's behavior. and the fact of the matter is he knocked her unconscious. he committed an intentional illegal act. that's where the focus needs to be. >> okay. so, brent, what about responsibility within the nfl? what does it have in this case? what should happen to commissioner goodell if it turns out he knew more than he has said? >> i think he might lose his job if we find out that he knew about this way back when -- >> should he? >> and continued to lie about it.

i think that's dishonest and is poor leadership if he knew about it then and only reacted to this when the video became public. but we don't know that yet. we'll wait for the investigation to find out what happened. but certainly if he knew about this back then, didn't do anything and only reacted to it and extended the suspension of ray rice after the public outrage happened this week, that's not only poor leadership but dishonesty. >> were you going to finish up something? >> no, i was going to say that's what the investigation is going to find out. but that's what it boils down to is the old, what did he know and when did he know it? >> yeah. again something fascinating here, rene, the fans who came out in support for ray rice during thursday's game against the steelers. we saw so many women wearing rice's jerseys and talking about it. let's listen to some of what they said. >> i wear the jersey in support of ray rice because i love ray rice. and i'm sorry, i don't believe in abuse. but she struck him first and any

woman who can hit a man can be hit back. sorry. that's my belief. point-bla point-blank. >> what's your reaction to that? >> well, it saddens me. and i think it's outrageous to say that a push or a spit is equal to knocking someone unconscious. those are two very different things. and we need to not be confused about that. and to say that if she pushed him or she spit on him then she deserves to be knocked unconscious, that's crazy. and it's also to say that that's normal male behavior. and it's not. this is violent behavior that's being perpetrated by a small group of men and it does not represent all male behavior. >> can you explain the ideology of a woman who's basically saying -- she's promoting violence and saying hey, you hit -- where does that come from? >> well, i think it comes from a

lot amiss about domestic violence and a lot of misunderstandings about it. that's where i hope the nfl will really take this as a serious opportunity to engage in putting all the influence and the resources they have to awareness about domestic violence, prevention programs and really making a change within the culture. it's time for us to stop tolerating this. >> yeah. that's for sure. i'm curious from a business perspective, brent, how does the nfl move forward, especially when 45% of its fan base is female? is the strategy to take care of any questions on its handling of domestic abuse before worrying about the business? isn't that the nfl's first responsibility? >> yeah. it's to get to the facts of the case. and the thing about this is, this is not unusual, unfortunately. this ray rice case has gotten a lot of attention because it happens to have video. it's the only time an nfl

domestic violence case has had video. i've tracked 89 different domestic incidents in the nfl since january of 2000. and many of them unfortunately are as bad or worse than what happened in the ray rice case. about 60% of the cases end up in some kind of punishment or diversion program that indicates that there was some guilt involved, yet i think the biggest suspension before ray rice was two games. and these issues just didn't draw much attention before now. and it's because of the video. >> and going forward, what do you think might happen? do you think there will be a zero tolerance policy adopted by the nfl? should that be what happens? >> yeah, there always should be zero tolerance towards this. but i think the commissioner walks a fine line. he has to wait for due process which takes time. unfortunately sometimes evidence comes out, allegations come out that sound and look really bad, but the legal system takes a while to run its course. and the commissioner is walking the line of, you want to appear to be the law and order sheriff,

but at the same time, you've got to allow for due process for your players. >> yeah. rene and brent, guys, thank you so much. on the heels of what we were talking about, specifically with brent, there is new trouble for the nfl today as yet another satellite/radar player faces abuse charges. we're on that after a break. d e. but the energy bp produces up here d e. 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. i quit smoking with chantix. before chantix, i tried to quit... probably about five times. it was different than the other times i tried to quit. along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking.

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this as part of the u.s. mission to create a broad coalition to combat the extremist group. earlier i spoke with richard engel who's stationed in erbil, iraq. >> reporter: secretary kerry's mission to form this coalition is showing how difficult it is. it has already been something of a rabbit hole. many countries in the region say they want to fight against isis and they support the fight against terrorism and frankly that's very easy to say because who would come out publicly and say they support a group like isis that relishes in death and has carried out mass murder? everyone if you ask them at a podium, at a press conference do they support a fight against isis, they will say yes. the question is, in practical terms, what is going to be done about it? and when you start looking at the isis problem, you'll see very quickly that it lies right on this ancient sunni/shiite fault line. and when you ask different

countries what are they going to do about it, then you start going down this rabbit hole because the saudis say they'll participate in forming this rebel army. well, the turks don't necessarily agree with that. the iranians who have stake in the game don't agree with that. when you talk about air strikes, the turks have already said they don't want their territory to be used for air strikes. so when you look at the details, you'll see that forming a coalition, getting everyone to agree first on what the strategy is supposed to be, you quickly arrive at the sunni/shia conflict, which is one that the united states for the last ten years has proven is not qualified or should be trying to solve. asking people do they support a fight against isis, yes, of course. how do you do it? we're getting a lot of questions. >> richard engel, thanks for that. time for headlines as we round the half hour. news on the clinic where joan rivers went into cardiac arrest.

yorkville end coscopendoscopy's director stepped down. no word whether he was in the room for rivers' procedure. t.j. lane is back behind bars after he escaped with two other inmates thursday. he was convicted of shooting three high school students in ohio back in 2012. pakistan has announced the arrest of ten people suspected after an attempted assassination on teenager malala yousufzai back in 2012. the taliban targeted her because she advocated education for girls. she was shot in the head but survived. pakistan says a joint operation between military intelligence and the police led to the arrests. more trouble today for the nfl. the minnesota vikings' adrian peterson will not play in tomorrow's game against the patriots. he turned himself in last night on a charge of causing injury to a child. nbc's peter alexander is following this story. good day to you, peter.

>> reporter: alex, good day. the official charge here is injury to a child, reckless and criminal neglect. adrian peterson landed in houston turning himself in to authorities early this morning in montgomery county, texas. that's near houston. he was booked before posting $15,000 bond and released. one of the most celebrated offensive players in the game, the minnesota vikings' marquee running back, adreen peterson, is now on the defensive. on thursday, a goim county, texas, grand jury recommended an indictment of peterson on a charge of injury to a child. his attorney said the former mvp used a switch or a branch to spank his 4-year-old son. he used the same kind of discipline with his child that he experienced as a child growing up in east texas. peterson was at practice friday and is expected to surrender and post bond. according to his attorney, adrian never tended to harm his son and deeply regrets the unintentional injury. the latest headline comes as america's most lucrative sports league which produced more than

$6 billion in revenue last year is still fending off questions about its handling of the ray rice domestic abuse case captured in the tmz sports video seen around the globe. a source close to rice tells nbc news that during his june meeting with nfl commissioner roger goodell, rice clearly described hitting his then-fiancee in the face. and in this suspension letter from goodell to rice sent thursday and obtained by nbc news, goodell again insists rice didn't tell him everything. the video shows a starkly different sequence of events, he writes. >> did you know a second tape existed? >> reporter: and with questions swirling over what the commissioner knew and when, the nfl faces a new level of scrutiny? >> this rice case has cast doubt on the way the nfl has handled a whole number of issues. this goes far beyond ray rice right now. >> reporter: adrian peterson will not be playing this weekend. the vikings have benched him for tomorrow's game against the new england patriots. >> peter, thanks for that. joining me now is former nfl defensive end trevor price.

trevor played on the baltimore ravens with ray rice. trevor, i'd love to get your reaction to everything that's happened with rice. >> thanks, alex. good to be here. >> what do you think? >> it's a long and complicated story. two things you have to look at. one is asking the nfl what they knew when they knew is kind of like asking a third-grader does he know algebra. it's kind of like -- the nfl is such a big organization, it's like trying to steer a big ship and trying to turn it around. i honestly think they did not have -- at least roger goodell did not see the tape. he couldn't have saw the tape and put down the suspension that he did. that wouldn't have made any sense. >> why do you say that? is it because you know roger goodell or the -- why? >> in a sense, all nfl players know him. first of all, if you know him that well, that means you're being suspended. you don't ever want to be called to new york to meet with that guy. but the times i've talked to him in the locker room or anything like that, he's a very, very sensible guy.

nobody with any sense would see thatened a say, okay, two-game suspension. but, wen, the nfl is such a big organization. it's like trying to turn around the "titanic" at the last minute if he had seen that tape. if he didn't see it, that's one thing. if he did see it and put down a suspension that he did, i don't see that happening from roger goodell. i honestly believe him. >> okay. you played with rice. describe him and your relationship with him. >> i was there when he was drafted as a rookie. if anybody plays on any kind of sports team, football, baseball, whatever it is, there are certain guys in the locker room that you understand. so for instance, a story comes out that somebody saved a cat from a tree, there are certain guys you could point at and say, i believe it. something like this happens, there are certain guys you could point at and say, that makes sense. ray was the other. he's the guy you would think saved a cat from a tree.

my kids go to a private school in baltimore called madonna. and they were playing a football game last night against a team from new jersey and ray was on the other side of the stadium in the visitors side, new jersey. and there was a buzz in the stadium where all the kids at madonna school saying, ray rice is here. and everybody loved him so much. and he stood there and signed every piece of paper and took every picture that was shoved in his face. i know ray very well. and this came out of left field for everybody, including obviously his family and janay's family. people in this community. i still live in this part of the country. we're still kind of shocked and saddened by it. >> trevor, i can understand the kids wanting to get an nfl star's autograph and all that. but did you hear buzz at all in the stands from the parents because of the news who would be aware of what was going on? >> no. this was pre the videotape. this was before the video. this was last friday and the videotape came out monday. i'm telling you, as i was sitting there -- i think a lot

of people in this city forgot i played for the ravens. but kids were running past me and saying, ray rice is here. you can divide a lot of locker rooms into two classes. there's the bad guys who just happen to be big and strong and play football. and then there's the good guys. and ray did a great thing as a rookie, he put himself under ray lewis and ray lewis -- he has the mentality. this is a small community. baltimore is not a very big city. and you can endear yourself to these people for the rest of your life if you do the right thing. i'm telling you, ray rice was doing all the right things. and that's why the people that know him, like i do, this is shocking. >> okay. so in terms of the bad guys that you're alluding to, let's look at the other controversies going on right now with some of the nfl players. we've mentioned adrian peterson case. you've also got greg hardy, ray mcdonald, these guys both have domestic abuse cases pending.

the situation with football, it's a violent sport. in no way is this an excuse. but do you think to some degree this sport desensitizes players when they're off the field or are these completely isolated incidents? >> completely isolated. go to any prison. there's 1,000 guys in a prison. none of them play pro football. i'm not going to buy the excuse that because someone is a professional athlete -- again, football players, a lot of them played baseball and soccer, a lot of them played basketball. they could have gone several different ways. football is a violent sport. but the thing we are desensitized to as football players is how important things are. as a professional athlete, no matter the sport you play, you take a sport way too seriously. we take something so serious that should not be taken seriously because it's a game. but because there is $6 billion in revenue in this sport, we have to take it seriously. now, when something serious like this happens, it takes us a little while to process it and the serious nature of it because

there's only 16 games in an nfl season. and we have to prepare for those games no matter what happens. that's why you saw john harbaugh when this first came out, ray is going to be our guy out. but i can't subscribe to the violence of it off the field. some of the best people i've ever met as far as human beings are football players. damarcus ware is one of the best human beings walking the planet. there is tons of those guys. ed reid. i've played with a lot of guys. these are isolated incidents that have nothing -- if it happened in a locker room, you could say, yes, that happens. but, again, i played with the ravens. we would have fights in practice and i never saw ray rice in a fight, ever. that's why this is hard for people to process, especially in this part of the country. >> roger goodell aside, how do you think the nfl has handled this? and if the nfl had this tape,

should it have gotten to goodell or can you see it being kept from him for whatever reason? >> i can't see it being kept from him. it's kind of like, you don't want to upset the wizard kind of thing. i can honestly -- that i can say. i can tell you 100% -- i don't even know it as a fact but i'm stating it as a fact. he did not see the tape. the rest of the nfl, the rest of the league office, that, i can't speak to. but i'm pretty sure he has it. i think they've made a mess of it. we are now jumping on roger goodell and jumping on the nfl and roger goodell was not in the elevator. i don't mean to protect him, by no means. i have my own problems with some of the things the nfl does, nonguaranteed contracts with players and things like that. but in the interim, he was not in the elevator. he handed out the punishment which he realized was 100% wrong because the first video we saw was ray dragging an unconscious

woman out of an elevator. >> yeah. >> so when he goes back -- you can't suspend josh gordon because he likes to smoke marijuana for an entire season and then suspend ray rice for two games for something as heinous as this. >> perspective. trevor pryce, great conversation. i appreciate your candor. thanks. >> absolutely, thanks, alex. in today's office politics, my conversation with the bbc's katty kay on the three gs. the differences between europe and america. yeah! vo: don't just dream of being the hero. make it happen. i can't believe we're missing the game for this. we're not. i've got xlte. vo: it doubles our 4g lte bandwidth in cities nationwide, so be that guy with verizon xlte. now get 1gb of bonus data, and our best pricing ever on the more everything plan.

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writing her books has some importance advice for women in the workplace. but first i asked her how the shooting of michael brown in ferguson, missouri, has played out internationally. >> part of it goes back to this idea that here's the world superpower and america has a reputation for kind of throwing its weight around the world but actually it has problems, too. so there's a fascination with that. and then at a deeper level, i think we have it in britain. we have problems with race in britain. they have problems with race in france. every country in the world is to some extent dealing with discrimination issues. >> i'm curious, do the bobbys in england still not carry guns? >> no. >> and that works? >> it works. this is -- i put down the differences between europe and america, described them as the three gs. gods, guns and government. there are attitudes on those

three issues that are fundamentally different. we want more government, more state intervention in our lives, we don't want our politicians to express their religion openly. we don't want that to be part of the political process. we're much more secular in europe than people are here and we do not understand the american gun culture. and those are really three big dividing lines. >> i know you've written a couple of books with a former colleague of mine at nbc news, clair shipman, the first was "womenomics." you're takeaway from that? >> women are very valuable in the workplace. when we wrote that book, we came up with half a dozen global studies that showed that organizations that employ more women make more money. simple as that. and organizations are going to have to adapt to make their companies more female friendly if they want to keep us and we have a lot of bargaining position because of that. >> and book two, "the confidence

code". >> it looks at the gap between men and women. we interviewed women who said to us, i'm lucky that i've gotten to where i've gotten to. i was in the right place at the right time. or i don't have all the qualifications necessary to go for that position. we never hear guys saying this. what is this gap that we seem to see? so we dug into it and the data is stunning. women will apply if they have 100% of the skills, men with 60% of the skills. we need more of realizing our abilities and bringing our perception of our abilities more in line with our actual talents. >> so particularly for childrchildren your kids' age, they're getting into the workforce -- what is your advice to them based on what you've said in these books? >> particularly for women, be less perfectionist. stop worrying so much about

whether somebody's being critical of you, whether you're good enough, whether you've got the skills. take risks, take chances. >> don't be afraid to fail? >> don't be afraid to fail. psychologists are really worried that we've produced a generation of kids who seem very entitled because we've given them everything and we've been -- >> hovering. >> hovering over them and not letting them fail. but actually when you push them, there's no resilience because they haven't met hurdles. they haven't really dealt with problems that they themselves have had to solve because mom and dad have always flown in and solved them for them. and i think as parents that's a lesson to us, too. >> tomorrow at this time, katty weighs in on the ramifications of the ray rice incident in the nfl plus the historic vote ahead this week in scotland and whether it will secede from great britain. hillary clinton on the road in iowa. why tomorrow's appearance is so significant.

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clock? me, that's right. the proud new owner of the much sought after gold mug. it was ugly. big thanks to my colleague, steve kornacki and a definite hat tip to the competition. it was a lot of fun. i did need a little more coffee. but we got it done. hillary clinton returns to iowa tomorrow for the first time since finishing third in the 2008 iowa caucuses. she's going to be at senator tom harkin's traditional steak fry event, considered a highlight of the political social calendar in that state. is it another sign that she's running in 2016 and will she have a chance at winning the second time around? joining me now is beth couey. you were on the road with clinton's campaign back in '08. why is the steak fry so important? >> it's important on a local level and a national level. it's a big celebration of tom harkin who's retiring. this is his last steak fry.

there's a lot of sentimental value attached to it. but it's where the national candidates looking at running for president come to play. guess who's there? hillary clinton. and not just hillary. hillary and bill clinton. if this is not a big return to iowa for the clintons -- this is about as big a rollout as they could possibly have asked for. >> looking back to '08, there's a democratic state representative who had this to say about it. she's taken some things for granted and she won't do that again. she learned a great deal and knows you can't take any wing of the party for granted. do you think it's true, that statement there? is hillary clinton ready to campaign in iowa? >> oh, yeah. if there was ever a place where she was forced to eat humble pie, it's iowa. you don't go from being the front-runner, the former first lady, the new york senator, to come in third in that state's caucuses in 2008 behind two candidates, president obama and john edwards of all people. she was very humbled, very humiliated and realized that iowa was a force to be reckoned with.

she hadn't known how to handle that state. requires a lot of personal attention. she really only went in there the last two or three months before the caucus. if she runs, she pretty much clears the field. there's no candidate out there who's hovering who's going to take over the way barack obama did then. what she's got to do is pretty much act like the overwhelming front-runner which he certainly will be but that she also knows she can't just ignore the place. she can't just take it for granted. she has to spend time there even if there's no other candidate to compete against. >> on interesting article in "the washington post." the democrats have traditionally looked for younger candidates. bill clinton was that candidate in '92. you can also look at other examples like jimmy carter, john kennedy. do you think hillary clinton's familiarity is going to be an asset or a liability in iowa and beyond if she runs in 2016? >> it's both.

people are, i think, a little tired of the clintons. hillary certainly has been around forever and ever and ever. and you're right, the younger team this time is going to be the republican side where you've got a marco rubio, you've got ted cruz, rand paul. they're all in their 40s. hillary clinton's almost pushing 70. so you've got a huge, huge gap there. on the other hand, alex, she would be the first woman president. and that is huge. they didn't play that up enough in 2008. they tried to just present her as the strong, the accomplished kind of endroj nous candidate. my hope would be that they realize that and play it as an asset this time. >> beth, always an asset for us. thanks for talking with me. ahead, why is one prominent "washington post" columnist saying the ferguson tragedy is becoming a, quote, farce. we'll talk with him in the next hour. while a body in motion ts to stay in motion.

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ambushed. two pennsylvania state troopers shot without warning. the manhunt and the mystery next. the mug shot, another nfl player arrested. his team takes quick action. the fallout, a new survey shows the impact the ray rice video may be having on the nfl's image. and the word, why now is the campaign against isis being called a war? good day to all after you. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." here's what's happening. another nfl star in trouble. this time it's minnesota vikings running back adrian peterson who's turned himself in to police in texas overnight. he was indicted by a grand jury thursday on one count of injury to a child with reckless or criminal negligence. his attorney says peterson used a switch to spank his son. joining me now, the host of houston's sports radio 610 nick wright.

welcome to you. let's talk about any new details you have about the indictment and also reports of discrepancies between peterson's story and the mother of his child and his child's story. >> yes. that's what i think is the most important details here. i have listened to adrian peterson's entire 45-plus-minute voluntary statement to the police given months ago. in that statement, just being perfectly candid here, adrian peterson comes across as a caring, loving father who is regretful that the whooping, as he put it, went too far, regretful that one of the lashes wrap around the child's leg causing significant injury to the front side of the child's leg, talks about how he did not realize that one of the times he whooped his child, that it hit the boy in the private parts, to put it delicately. and he talks about how -- he's asked, did you hit him with an extension cord?

some of the older markings on the child's body resemble those of an extension cord. and he said, oh, no, i was hit with an extension cord. i would never hit my child with an extension ord. he talks about how he whoops all of his children and offers up information like this was not the only time the 4-year-old child was whooped during the visit to texas. that is in stark contrast to the photographs that i've seen that were taken a week after the incident that show what i would consider serious injuries to anyone much less a 4-year-old. and the testimony that the 4-year-old gave to police. saying things like, that he didn't want to talk to the police because, quote, i'm worried daddy peterson will hit me. where he talks about how when occasionally when he gets whooped that when the leaves are removed from the branch that his father puts the leaves in his mouth. the child's mother relayed to

police that the son relayed to her that daddy has a whooping room and that, quote, daddy has a lot of belts and i don't like the belts. you read what the child said beyoand see the pictures and your horrified. you listen to what adrian peterson said to the police. and he seems to honestly believe that he did not do anything wrong, aside from accidentally inflicting a little more damage than he intended. >> i'm going to have my director murray throw up a quote from peterson's lawyer. he talks about his cooperation with the police. you're drescribing that he voluntarily did that as well. but he says he experienced this kind of discipline as himself as a child there growing up in texas. what's your reaction to that, the switch whooping, if you will? >> well, i think this is -- this is my opinion on it. listening to that interview, adrian peterson makes very clear that he believes corporal punishment is a necessary and important part of raising children.

and i think that's a fair debate to have. i think even if you're having that debate, most people would look at whooping a 4-year-old with a switch as something further than corporal punishment. but adrian peterson reiterates again -- i read the statement from his attorney as well. and it seems genuine. hearing peterson's audio where he volunteers potentially incriminating information, where he talks about how he whoops all of his children, where he describes somewhere between 10 to 15 swats, i think he said. this is a man that i don't assume to get in his head. but the clear inference i think most would gather from listening to the audio is that adrian peterson truly believes he is doing what is right for his son and doing similar things to his son as were done to him. and i think he looks at himself understandably so as a professional success and he certainly implied to the police that he thinks receiving this type of punishment as a child

turned him into the man that he is now. as i mentioned off the top, it is so hard to reconcile that with the images and the testimony of what appears to be a scared, wounded child. >> i have to tell you. i'm reacting almost emotionally to listening to you talk about what you know and your insights. but i thank you for doing so. from houston sports radio 610. nick wright, thanks so much. conflicting stories about what details former baltimore raven ray rice divulged to commission eer roger goodell during their meeting in june. goodell insists rice's story was ambiguous back then. nbc's peter alexander has been covering the story and joins me now. peter, i'm curious what you're hearing today. and i'd also like you to talk to viewers about what you saw when you went out to cover that baltimore game on thursday night in terms of the female support.

>> reporter: we'll tell you about that experience at the game as nfl teams prepare for what's supposed to be another huge sunday in that league. the players back on the field once again. but here's where the two factions are now at odds. you have team goodell as it were and team rice, both sides telling different stories about exactly what happened during a meeting that took place back in june that ray rice, janay rice and roger goodell, a total of nine people, were said to have been in attendance. a source close to rice tells me that rice says during that meeting he clearly described hitting his wife, janay, his then-fiancee, in that atlantic city casino elevator where she fell, hit her head on a railing and fell to the floor. roger goodell in an interview earlier this week with cbs news says that the story he heard from rice was ambiguous and in another word, inconsistent with the video that was later released by tmz sports earlier this past week. just yesterday nbc news obtained

a letter sent from goodell to ray rice where he again repeats that thought, basically saying that the story he heard from rice was, quote, starkly different than what he saw on that videotape. so there's where the two stories stand at this time. there's an independent investigation that's going to be pursuing that right now. what was striking for us -- or i should say what was surprising for us when we went to say the ravens game this thursday is the number of women in particular who were still wearing that number 27, the ray rice jersey. not so much supporting his actions, obviously they did not condone them and said they were unacceptable. but supporting him as a man because ray rice, alex, earned a lot of goodwill over in years in baltimore. he was a celebrated athlete and also a celebrated human as one person put it to me. he had an anti-bullying campaign among others that made him generally viewed as a positive role model in that community. that all changed overnight. >> yeah. i don't know if you heard my interview with trevor pryce last hour, a former player who played with him.

he said, this is a complete shock to him, it is out of character for ray rice. you hear that time and time again. pretty extraordinary. but you have to say, you never know what goes on behind closed doors. >> reporter: exactly right. obviously the big picture is this story is a lot bigger than ray rice at this point. tomorrow on nfl fields across this country, there are going to be at least two players right now who in recent days and months were arrested. one of them convicted for domestic violence. both of them without any discipline so far who will be performing for their teams on the field. that's the real issue most people are focused on. >> peter alexander, thank you so much. more on a developing story out of northeastern pennsylvania. two state troopers ambushed outside a police barracks. one trooper was killed. the other wounded. it happened overnight east of scranton in pike county. joining me by phone is jessica matthews, metro editor from "the scranton times tribune." what do we know about the details in terms of where these officers were and who the shooter or shooters may be?

>> hi, alex. i am talking to you from our newsroom in scranton. and we are waiting for the state police commissioner, frank noonan, to make a statement at 2:30. and we're hoping there will be more information about this horrible incident. what we do know is right now they are talking with a person of interest in the shooting. no one's been charged. we don't have a lot of detail about it. troopers are still out -- there are troopers from neighboring new jersey and new york as well as all over northeast pennsylvania trying to assist in this. it's been a long night. i live about maybe six miles from the barracks and i can tell you all night there were helicopters with search lights flying overhead and everybody was sort of on lockdown. >> which would explain why it took less than 12 hours to have somebody brought in as a person of interest, that kind of a

manhunt would yield that. is anyone talking about a possible motive given where this happened? these two officers were, as we understand it, outside the barracks. if you're familiar with the facility, would it be hard to see someone outside the barracks? is it at all protected in aed wooed area? would it have to be intentional to get there? >> the barracks are sort of in the middle of nowhere but it is an open bar rack. there's an open parking lot. the front doors are facing the main road there. so if somebody were to ambush them, say, from across the street, it really wouldn't be that difficult. especially if you're dealing with someone who is an experienced shooter, it's a big hunting area around there. there's a lot of state forestland. >> okay. >> it wouldn't be that difficult. >> jessica matthews, thank you so much. new reaction to the president's strategy to combat isis from a key lawmaker on the

armed services committee. >> the vietnam war started this way. other wars start this way. you're in for a dime, you're in for a dollar. we're in for 1,400, 1,500 troops, plus a lot of airmen, aircraft. one gets shot down, what do you do? you send in the special forces and what happens then? this is a very, very difficult situation and when you get to syria, it becomes even more complex. >> nbc's kristen welker is at the white house for us. kristen, here wearing more from the president as well today. what is he saying? >> reporter: well, alex, president obama continuing to defend his strategy to defeat isis, the terrorist group that the government calls isil. president obama saying it will be a multipronged approach in his weekly address and reiterating what we heard from him earlier this week when he came out and laid out his strategy for the american people from the white house. president obama saying it will include an expansion of air strikes in iraq and likely into syria as well.

and really emphasizing the importance of building an international coalition. and of course we know secretary of state john kerry has been criss-crossing the middle east trying to build up that international coalition. today he is in cairo. the u.s. anticipates it will get strong support from arab countries. but it's quite unlikely that those countries will be giving support in the form of their armies. here's more of what president obama had to say in his weekly address. take a listen. >> what's needed now is a targeted, relentless counterterrorism campaign against isil that combines american airpower, contributions from allies and partners and more support to forces that are fighting these terrorists on the ground. that's exactly what we're doing. >> reporter: it's interesting, a little bit of mixed messaging coming out of obama administration this weekend. you heard president obama refer to this as a counterterrorism campaign. that is the way that secretary of state john kerry has characterized it.

but on friday, a number of top officials said that the u.s. is at war with isis in the same way that the u.s. is at war against al qaeda. in speaking to senior administration officials, they say it was important to clarify that point to acknowledge the gravity and enormity of this military campaign that the u.s. is waging. but at the same time, to draw a distinction between this campaign and the wars in iraq and afghanistan. the administration making the point that they're not going to be u.s. boots on the ground and saying this will be limited to air strikes and the type of military support and ramping up training and arming of the syrian opposition, which is also going to be a part of president obama's strategy. alex? >> kristen welker at the white house, thank you, kristen. there is a new call for the arrest of the police officer who shot michael brown while a new published report casts doubt on whether he'll be indicted. driver 1 you ready? yeah! go! [sfx] roaring altima engine woah!

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just a few minutes from now in ferguson, missouri, local members of the national action network founded by msnbc host al sharpton will hold a vigil with the parents of michael brown. they are demanding that police officer darren wilson be arrested for brown's death. however, "the washington post" reports that prosecutors are taking quite an unusual approach. presenting all evidence and witnesses as soon as they come in. they are not waiting for the police and the fbi to complete their investigations. joining me right now is from "the washington post," columnist dana milbank. and defense and civil rights attorney eric guster will join us. split timing there. eric, glad you're here. in addition to the way they're presenting the evidence, the

prosecutors are not yet telling the grand jury what charges they think wilson should face. how does all that affect the indictment? >> well, the prosecution has a duty to make sure they protect the integrity of the investigation. they don't want to talk too much about the charges because people who are on the grand jury, they pay attention to msnbc. they read the newspaper. so those people could be influenced by what the prosecutor says. so i'm not very concerned about them not saying exactly what charges they're seeking right now. >> okay. dana, i know you cover the grand jury process here. in your latest column, you write, what happened in ferguson last month was a tragedy, what's on course to happen there next month will be a farce. the prosecutors are saying this gives the jury every possible angle the way they're approaching it. why do you disagree? >> well, look, it is possible that before this wraps up most likely next month that they will recommend a charge. it's highly unusual that they

haven't recommended a charge. not talking about talking about it in public. we're saying they have not recommended any charge, even a relatively low charge like involuntary manslaughter to the grand jury. now, maybe you would give the prosecutors the benefit at doubt. but as my colleagues at "the post" have looked into this, the prosecutor has been on the job, 23, 24 years, not a single prosecution during that time of a police shooting. he obviously has his own personal background, his father was a policeman who was killed by a black suspect. and then there was this infamous case when he was unable to get a grand jury to file charges against the police when two men were shot 21 times in their car at a jack in the box restaurant back in 2000 and justifying -- he said he agreed no charges should have been brought. and he said the guys were bums. so when a guy is thinking that way, you're less inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt.

that's why a lot of people have said if this guy isn't going to step aside, then governor nixon needs to name an independent prosecutor. >> eric, given hearing all this -- and this has been out there, this discussion, should he be recusing himself in this case? >> i believe out of an abundance of caution, mccullough should step aside. in the eyes of the world and his potential bias and potential relationship with the police officers, because this man, he deals with police officers every day. he works side by side with them. and oftentimes, it's hard for someone to separate their personal relationship from prosecution. so in the interest of caution and making sure the public is very, very -- we believe, in his prosecution, he should step aside. if this case comes back as a no bill or if they try it and they get a not guilty verdict, he will be ostracized from the

community. >> combine that with the fact that the brown family is holding a vigil with the banner, arrest him now, is the investigation following a proper time line? >> in these investigations, the prosecutor have to put all the evidence they have in front of the grand jury. so i don't necessarily think that they would be pushing the gun, bad choice of words, with arresting him right now because they know where he is. they know how to locate him. in the event that a true bill comes back with an indictment, then he will be arrested at that point. >> dana, your column says that you think it's a good bet that the grand jurors are not going to charge him. >> uh-huh. >> and the ideology behind that is? >> the old saying is a grand jury will indict a ham sandwich if the prosecutor asks them to. this is not a jury in a criminal trial. but the opposite is ols true. and if the prosecutor -- this

isn't mccullough but two people working under him. if they say, we have a load of evidence, you guys make of it what you want, less likely to deliver that result. and it sort of gives cover if an indictment is not returned to say, well, it wasn't me, it was the grand jurors. i think it's important to say, i'm not saying and i'm not sure anybody is saying this cop is actually guilty. that's for a trial to decide. but there are a whole lot of people and a whole lot of the evidence that's not really being contested at all that would suggest something has occurred here. >> what charges, if any, eric, do you expect officer darren wilson to face? >> murder or some type of manslaughter charge. based upon what happened, based upon the new witnesses and new evidence that has come forward. and we have to keep in mind, we haven't seen everything. but i would expect some type of manslaughter charge. and what he just said was right. a prosecutor can put forth a

case to indict regardless of what this evidence is. they can influence the jury based upon what they say and how they present it because this is a proceeding where there's not cross-examination and the prosecutor is in total control of what happens and total control of the proceedings. so that's why mccullough should have stepped aside just to protect the integrity of this process. >> and, dana, i know you've covered a lot of these difficult kinds of cases. what sort of impact do you expect if wilson is not indicted on any charges? >> well, obviously the whole conflagration will be reignited again. and people will say that justice is not being served here. i think if there is a trial and he's found not guilty, people would accept that and say the jurors have spoken. but if this thing is -- it doesn't reach that point, i think a lot of people are going to have reason to be questioning justice.

>> and you say justice. the justice department, the feds, what do you think they'll do? >> well, they'll get involved but that will be years down the road as these civil rights proceedings go. really, it's up to the st. louis county prosecutor. if he's not going to take this seriously, then it's up to the state's governor, governor nixon, to get somebody in there who will. >> dana and eric, good conversation, thanks, guys. californians cut back to save the state from that historic drought. that's next. [ r&b slow jam playing ] ♪ yeah, girl ♪ you know, i've been thinking about us ♪ ♪ and, uh, i just can't fight it anymore ♪ ♪ it's bundle time ♪ bundle ♪ mm, feel those savings, baby and that's how a home and auto bundle is made. better he learns it here than on the streets. the miracle of bundling --

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so ally bank really has no hidden fethat's right. accounts? it's just that i'm worried about you know "hidden things..." ok, why's that? no hidden fees, from the bank where no branches equals great rates. welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." 33 past the hour. a new push today from president obama on his plan of action against isis. >> our intelligence community has not yet detected specific isil plots against our homeland. but its leaders have repeatedly threatened the united states. and if left unchecked, these terrorists could pose a growing

threat beyond the middle east, including to the united states. so we're staying vigilant. and we're moving ahead with our strategy to degrade and ultimately destroy this terrorist organization. >> joining me now, republican strategist rick tyler and msnbc contributor jimmy williams. with a welcome to you both, jimmy, i'll begin with you. big picture, did you think six years into his presidency this president would be facing this and how difficult do you think it is for him to be reintroducing troops in iraq? >> the answer to your question, no. and to answer it again, hell, no. i don't think anybody six years ago when we actually voted to elect barack obama as president of the united states, that we would be six years into what's now basically for all intent es and purposes another front on the war on terrorism. i don't think thought we would stamp out terrorism completely. you can't do that. but here we are again and it's knocking on our door, per se. the president laid out a vision

to the country. his intelligence agencies are giving him the information. we will give that information to congress. and we will have a plan -- the speaker of the house, john boehner, said he supports the president's plan. if that's the case, let's do it and stamp these guys like we did al qaeda. >> do you think, jimmy, it's going to absorb the president's final couple of years in office -- >> no doubt about it. >> how pivotal is this to his legacy? >> he ran against the idea of being at perpetual war and he's going to finish his presidency in another perpetual war. the difference here, no troops -- no boots on the ground. that's important to remember. at this point, there are no boots on the ground. my gut tells me that won't last. >> rick, on the heels of what jimmy said, let's listen to house speaker boehner on thursday after the president's address on isis. >> we ought to give the president what he's asking for. >> do you think this is the

sentiment of most republicans, rick? >> if we could take the president at his word. unfortunately we have no evidence that the president follows through on his assertions. the president drew a line in the sand in syria and he summarily erased that line. go back to the president's address to cairo and how he was going to address radical islam in the islamicic world. with the intention i suppose of protecting america. that's honorable and good. but it was a colossal failure. the president now says war in this case may be the answer -- >> are you being totally fair here? >> yes. >> this is a lot different than syr syria. you've got two american journalists beheaded. 94% of this country is aware of these beheadings. it's rare that you have everybody on a unified position like this. they've heard about it and they're appalled by it. >> of course they are.

but i think the president's objective here -- forgive me for being cynical. but the president's objective, he yointpoi he pointed out yemen as a measure of success and somalia. somalia and yemen are in utter chaos. they have no government to speak of. that's not success. if the president means by yemen and somalia have not been on the front pages of "the washington post," which i'm afraid that that's what this policy ultimately leads to, is just to get it off "the post" and then we'll go back to golfing, that's not an objective, that's not a strategy and that's not going to work. >> but if congress is supposed to reflect the will of the people and the thinking of the public, we have 71% of americans out there right now who support air strikes in iraq. >> but that's the commander in chief's call, not the congress -- the congress is supposed to authorize actions of war. i hope the president will do that. he says he's not going to. but the president decides the tactics.

here's he's decided with air strikes. i think air strikes get us where we were before with the islamic community angered at us for shooting people down from the air. personally i believe if you want to wipe out isil, go ahead and wipe it out. but it's going to be bloody and it's going to be brutal and it's going to be full force. you can you can't pinprick isil into submission. >> another angle of the story, the mother of james foley says u.s. government officials suggested that those family members could be charged if they tried to raise the ransom to free him. secretary of state john kerry right now heard about this and then reacted while in turkey. let's play that. >> let me just say that i am really taken aback, surprised, i guess is the word, by this comment with respect to the foley family. and i can tell you that i am

totally unaware and would not condone anybody that i know of within the state department making such statements. >> certainly the demeanor of that answer there would suggest that he was unaware, certainly of that question coming, if not the substance of it. should he be that surprised, jimmy? >> well, if what mrs. foley is saying is true, sure. and if someone at the state department is doing this bidding without letting the top echelon and foggy bottom know this, that is a problem. we call that a lack of communication in the real world. but, again, the foleys certainly have every right to do -- they had every right to do whatever it took to get their son back. it is illegal to negotiate and pay a ransom to terrorists. it's against federal law. but that's the sort of stuff that you have to let your federal government take care of. granted, it didn't end well at all. it was tragic and sad on every level. you mentioned the fact that 94%

of americans know about these two beheadings. but the other story out there is there are lots of other beheadings that isis is doing to lots of different people from lots of different countries. we're americans. we care about our people first and foremost. but these people are evil and we should do whatever it takes to stamp them out. and secretary kerry is saying that. i have to take him at his word. >> there's a new article entitled "rand paul shifts away from isolationism and calling for action against the islamic state." is he an isolationist or not? >> well, everybody tries to put rand paul's foreign policy into some sort of binary. i hear criticism from the left and the right about rand paul's policy. but these are all politically motivated. they want to define him in a certain way. rand paul's foreign policy is actually thoughtful and you can't just approach it in a

binary way. isil is a threat to the united states. it's also a threat to our ally israel and also a threat to jordan. isil has a strategy. they want to erase the lines between iraq, syria, jordan and israel to start. and we don't have a strategic response to that. and rand paul has said that's a threat and they should be eliminated and i agree with him. >> okay. jimmy williams, rick tyler, thank you so much. why some women are given the majority of support for the air strikes against -- a new survey highlights american fears of islam. 62% of americans say they are very concerned about the rise of islamic extremism. 53% say they are very concerned about the potential for a surge of islamic extremism here in the united states. now, why some women are showing support for the beleaguered ray rice. we'll explore that and show you a surprising survey about the nfl's image. hey, i heard you guys can help me with frog protection? yeah, we help with fraud protection.

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what did the nfl know and when did they know it? that is at the heart of the ray rice controversy. meanwhile for the fans of the team, including women, their support for the former baltimore raven does not seem to be waning. joining me now, msnbc contributor goldie taylor and nbc sports radio co-host of the show, jordan schultz. ladies first, goldie, before this video surfaced, rice was just punished. he had a mere two-game suspension. do you think this new disciplinary action is more about the video than it is about domestic violence? >> i think it has everything to do with the video. i think the way in which the nfl has approached this issue has everything to do with its public engagement of its fan base and less to do with how it tackles domestic violence or violence in general throughout the nfl. the culture of violence that i think tends to pervade sports

like this by the very nature of the sport itself. each time this man on the field is hit, he's hit both physically and there's a trauma fi physiologically. but did this commissioner know about this tape? we don't know. but we do know the tape was received by the nfl and that someone is guilty of malfeasance. somebody did not carry that tape along. >> jordan, how are they going to go about finding who's telling the truth here? ray rice's camp or commissioner goodell's camp as to whether he knew what was on this tape? >> they're launching an independent investigation. how much trust can we put into that after everything happened? if you believe roger goodell and his camp that they did not see that tape, then it's also negligence and i don't believe it. but i'm just saying, if that point is being made, they had

that tape since april and they didn't see it? that to me shows you all you need to know about this an the complete lack of urgency and respect and trust that has been shown from the nfl. so i don't buy of this if i'm an average nfl fan or a ray rice supporter or non-supporter. >> we had this conversation during the commercial break in the studio. trevor pryce came on, former player with the baltimore ravens, defensive end. talked about ray rice. but he said he could absolutely conceive that people within the nfl, they may have had that tape but thaeey were like, we do not want to show this to roger goodell because he will make a big deal out of it. do you see that as being possible? >> i want to -- >> i heard it. >> you heard trevor's conversation with me? >> i heard that interview as well. and i found it implausible some of the things that pryce had to say. i think that he is a great guy, a great ball player. but i think some of the ways in which he defended this league were implausible to me.

i couldn't wrap my head around it. >> i was also saying in the commercial break, think about secretary kerry, we just had a sound bite from him. he's making a statement about whether or not james foley's family was literally threatened by the state department because they may have wanted to raise money and pay off a ransom which the united states does not negotiate with terrorists. so along those lines, they could be prosecuted or something. and his reaction was complete lack of knowledge. he looked very taken aback by the question and surprised. could owe see that happening in the state department, that they don't want to have secretary kerry something, others may have something, but it wouldn't get up to secretary kerry? is that conceivable, goldie? >> again, i am of the school of thought of this about the bounty scandal in new orleans. ignorance is not an excuse. i hold secretary kerry to the

same standard. it is your operational leadership. it is how you lead and how you manage your organization that says whether or not you're going to receive material. and if he didn't receive it, maybe you ought to look at yourself. >> that's interesting. jordan? >> i think terry o'neal from the national women's organization is making a lot of good points here. obviously she wants roger goodell -- they have an agenda. they want roger goodell out. and i don't blame her. but i think what the nfl -- one of the big mistakes that's been made is that the nfl has been way behind here, way too reactionary, not proactive in a situation that demands proactivity. >> interesting also. just the female reaction, goldie, what do you make of these women wearing their ray rice jerseys this week? what does that say about how we all view domestic violence? >> i think a lot of people were stunned by it. but i really wasn't. looking at this from the

outside, there are an awful lot of women who take part in, who participate in victim shaming. it's unfortunate but true. we saw it play out this week. we saw some women not only wearing those women not only wearing the jerseys but out bright challenging the victim as if she had provoked this man in some way, as if she was culpable in her own viemization. i think it's sad. but at the same time, this is the kind of thought process in our communities that keeps this being as per vasive as it is >> final question to you jordan. but it turns out that commissioner goodell it's proven that he knows what is on this tape, is there any option but to have him step down? >> no np in the wake of what's happened with ray rice, adrian peterson, all of these players with abuse, i don't think he survives this after seven years

as commissioner. >> good to see you both. thank you so much. here os some evidence that the image has taken a hit especially with men. the nfl buzz score was 36 on monday. that was the highest this year. yesterday the nfl score plunged all the way to a minus 17. curiously men are marder on the nfl. they gave the league a minus 27 score while the score from women fell only to a minus 8. an american goes on trial in north korea, the chances he'll avoid prison next. honey, you did it! baby laughs! fancy feast broths. they're irresistabowl... completely unbelievabowl... totally delectabowl. real silky smooth or creamy broths. everything she's been waiting for. carefully crafted with real seafood,

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an american tourist detained in north korea will stand trial in the country tomorrow. matthew miller was arrested. he reportedly admitted his guilty and apologized. joining me now, a welcome to you. very little on this case in

terms of information. he's accused of hostile act pps what should we expect in the trial? >> we can expect it to be short. in china you get a one-kay trial. in north korea, you get a one-hour trial. i think matthew todd miller is going to be convicted in less than and hour. i suspect he'll be deported soon because the north koreans really don't want to hold this guy. >> overall the benefit of north korea going through this, what do they gain? >> people say they hold hostages. they've got two other hostage pps the two others were trying to undermine the regime. matthew miller complimented the regime saying i want to become a north korean. but they want to off-load this guy. >> well, speaking of money, this comes at a time when north korea is actually trying to encourage tourism. the washington post is reporting under some new policy north korea set a goal of wanting to

lure a million tourists. really? is the government sending a mixed message here? what kind of tourism would they offer? >> they have these big mass spectacles that entice people to see north korea. these have some of the best spectacles on earth. north korea is so weird that people want to see it. it's an attraction in being destitute. that's why they want the money. they're going to get it because people are going to the north. >> isn't it kind of a risky proposition for north korea because they certainly wouldn't let people run around on their own. >> it is extremely risky. you one of the other american captives left a baseball in his room. i sort of assume that he did that intentionally. but if you did that unintentionally, you could find yourself in north korea for 15 years in hard labor. it is not a placy you can make a mistake. you can have a simple

conversation and disappear for a very long time. not exactly like a trip to disney world. and that is a wrap-up of weekends with alex witt. i'll see you tomorrow. up next, t.j. holmes is in the house. have yourselves a great saturday. to attain success, one must project success. that's why we use fedex one rate. their flat rate shipping. exactly. it makes us look top-notch but we know it's affordable. [ garage door opening ] [ sighs ] honey, haven't i asked you to please use the -- we don't have a reception entrance. [ male announcer ] ship a pak via fedex express saver® for as low as $7.50. [ male announcer ] ship a pak via fedex express saver® you know.... there's a more enjoyable way to get your fiber. try phillips fiber good gummies. they're delicious and an excellent source of fiber to help support regularity. mmmm. these are good! the tasty side of fiber. from phillips while a body in motion tends to stay in motion.

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