that yet another nfl player has been arrested on domestic violence charges, on criminal assault charges. that's the sort of thing that would not typically be national news except the national football league is collapsing into chaos in terms of how it deals with this issue. several billion dollars worth of commercial sponsorship are now teetering on the edge of that story and it has advanced further tonight. in terms of the american elections this fall, everybody's on the edge of their seats today. and tonight, waiting for a ruling which could come down at any time concerning the senate race in kansas, of all places, which very well might determine who controls the whole u.s. senate this year, all eyes tonight on the kansas supreme court. we do not know when that ruling will come but it could come at any time. there's a lot going on, there's a lot worth watching. we start tonight with isis. the sunni militant group in iraq and in syria that the u.s.

government says we're now at war with. isis has now released a new video that is not another beheading video, thank god, but it is plainly aimed at an american audience. it's 52 seconds long. it appears to be a trailer for a longer video of some kind, but we don't know that for sure. what they have released is this 52 seconds worth of propaganda video. it is propaganda, but in terms of its news worthiness, it is worth seeing because it shows what they're capable of in terms of their skill in producing a message about themselves but also gives some information about what strategically they are trying to get americans to feel. it's less than a minute. it's not gory. it is disturbing because it's a propaganda video. but if you look at what they're trying to accomplish with this video, you can sort of see their strategy in terms of what they want from the american people and the american government, how they want us to react to them. it's essentially why isis just released this propaganda video. i have to tell you there were

two moments in which we think there were dead bodies visible in that footage, in this footage that we cut out. but other than that this is pretty much what they released. this the tape. now, part of the reaction to this video today has been about just how hollywood their production values are. how slick they are with video and editing. if part of their success as a terrorist organization is conveying a message that's attractive to recruits around the world who then send them money or come fight with them, then it's helpful to know that they're really good at crafting their own message and making it look like hollywood. but that's only one side of what they're doing. that's one side of their strategy to try to succeed on their own term. they need to build themes up, make themselves stronger and richer by attracting recruit and supporters. they also have to attack. they also have to try to make their enemies weaker. they do that directly with force

in the places they have taken territory in, in iraq and syria. they've just simply used military force to overwhelm rivals and local authorities and take over whole swaths of each of those countries. they've not yet tried to launch a physical assault on the united states, but they do clearly think of the united states as their enemy. as maybe their great enemy, as the enemy they most want to fight. certainly they like to portray the united states as their equal in the world who they want to face off against one on one. the way they're trying to hurt the united states -- at least not yet, is about them physically getting to us. the way they're trying to hurt the united states is instead by making us try to hurt ourselves. they're trying to scare us and so terrorize us that we take actions that we otherwise would never take, that out of fear and anger and upset at what they've done we allow ourselves to be provoked into doing things because of isis that with a cooler head we would not do.

that's global terrorism strategy 101, right? the near enemy, far enemy idea. you can hit the near enemy because you're near to them. the far enemy, you have to convince to hurt themselves. this new video that isis has put out, it's not aimed at the local people where isis is located, not aimed at scaring into submission the people that live in the areas of iraq and syria that this group controls. it is not aimed at upsetting the assad regime, and not aimed at the iraqi government which they also want to overthrow. this is aimed at an american audience. they're supposed to freak us out. in this new video they show the american president, they show president obama. they show a reference to the previous american president. they show the mission accomplished banner from the george bush presidency. they show american troops on the

ground in the middle east. they show the white house. but they're good at trying to scare us, right? they don't just show stock foot ang of the white house or post card picture, they choose footage of the white house that maybe you might take yourself on your cell phone if you were driving past the white house, which then makes it extra scary when it comes from isis. this is the footage they show of the white house. like drive-by not very professional footage. makes you wonder, hmm, how did they shoot this? is isis casing the white house? are they here? that's the feeling they're trying to create, right? they're here, they're coming for us. this is a war between the united states of america and isis. and they think they're going to win. they think they're going to threaten the white house. they thing they're going the take over our country. as the islamic caliphate, right? worldwide ambitions. they're coming for us. late last month in nigeria, a group called boko haram also declared that they are an islamic caliphate. of course, that's awkward

because the whole idea of the caliphate is that it's supposed to rule the whole world. there can't be two as long as we only have one world. isis declared they're the caliphate. now last month boko haram declared they're the caliphate, too. nigeria is a big country, the most populous country in africa. 170 million people. and boko haram did not declare the caliphate in all of nigeria, they declared it in northern nigh sxwreer ya and eastern nigeria along the board wer cameroon. that geography is helpful for understanding the efforts to fight boko haram so far. you understand those reports that when nigeria sent its troops out there to go fight boko haram, instead of fighting them, the nigerian troops threw down their weapons and fled into over the border of the neighboring nation of cameroon. the iraqi troops that dropped their weapons and left the keys in the tank, nigeria has had the

same problems when they get their troops to fight boko haram. like isis, boko haram does operate like a terrorist organization but they also operate sort of like an army a lot of advanced and heavy weapons. they're a large group. they're holding territory after they take it. they don't just attack and leave. they hold territory, they clear it and they keep control of it. boko haram is the group that horrified the whole world including the united states when they kidnapped hundred of school girls. 270 girl they took. just over 50 of those girls were able to escape in the first couple of days after the kidnapping, but since then none of those 270 girls has gotten away sips the initial few first escaped. those girls were never released. a rash of attention when the girls were first taken five months ago. a lot of international pressure. there was the bring back the girl campaign, but if you

haven't heard anything about it since, it's not because they brought back the girls. they did not. those girls are still gone. boko haram still has them. today they sent two suicide bombers into a teachers college in northern nigh jeer wra. one of the attackers blew himself up inside of a lecture hall full of student. a second was trying to enter but couldn't get in and he blew himself up outside the lecture hall. the initial reports out of northern nigeria in this attack were at least 15 students were killed, more than 30 of them are hospitalized. boko haram has captured lots of modern military equipment from the nigerian armed forces. they're well arm and apparently well funded. they control territory that's about the size of west virginia. they're currently ruling over 3 million civilians in nigeria. in areas under their control they rule with beheadings, they take women and girls wholesale. they're forcing children to become child soldiers for them. they say they're an islamic

caliphate and will take over the whole world. their group is poised the take over yet another large city in nigeria, with a population of about 1 million people. boko haram has it surrounded and seems ready to move into it. their supposed caliphate is about to get bigger. despite all that, boko haram has not caused the same reaction in the united states that isis has. there's not much material difference between these two groups in different parts of the world. if you look at the u.s. government assessments of the kind of threat posed by these groups, the u.s. government has used basically exactly the same language to describe the threat posed by these groups, how much of a threat they are to us and how they want to try to hurt us. watch. here's our government talking about isis now. >> at present, we have no credible information that isil

is planning to attack the homeland. >> what we have not yet detected specific plotting against our homeland, isil leaders have threatened america and our allies. >> so that's how the u.s. government is explaining the threat from isis now. that's the same way they've explained the threat from boko haram. fbi director james comey. he said that the fbi assesses that boko haram does not currently pose a threat to the homeland. it does aspire to attack u.s. or western interests in the region. so according to the u.s. government, that's the rap on boko haram. they have not attacked us at home but they would love to, but they've threatened the region. that's the same rap on isis. they haven't attacked us at home but they would love to and they've threatened in the region. declaring themselves an islamic caliphate committing wholesale

human rights abuses, overpowering local governments where they live, destabilizing whole regions, not to put too fine a point on it, but dechairing their attentions to take over the whole world. same thing, both groups. but only one of them has done this to us. isis is the one over which we're now starting a new american war in the middle east. what's the difference? is it middle eastern oil as opposed to african oil? is it that our path to war in iraq is such a well drawn path that we find it easy to go back down that path again? or has isis got themselves the u.s. war they always wanted while boko haram has not simply because isis is better at terror? they're better in the literal sense of causing terror in us. terrorizing us. they're more skilled at scaring american politicians and scaring the american public. these propaganda videos showing

the shaky drive-by footage of the white house and the terrible beheading videos showing the execution of american hostages and british hostages. they've proven their ability to both get our attention and to scare the american people. are they doing that in the hopes that we would react a certain way? and are we now in fact reacting exactly the way they want us to? today the pentagon announced that it has now completed 174 air strikes in iraq against isis targets. those are expected to continue into iraq and into sear wa. that combat is expected to continue months. the early congress could vote on authorizing that military force that's already under way is apparently the day after veterans day this year. that's convenient. as far as i can tell, that's first day they'll be back after the election for the lame duck session. that's when they're planning on voting on this war effort that's already under way.

it's under way now, it's been under way since early august. they aren't planning on voting on it until november. let it go on for months. in the meantime, there was a split vote in the house of representatives in favor of arming and training syria groups that are fighting bashar al assad in syria and also occasionally fighting against isis. a substantial portion did vote on this today. it did pass with an easy margin. it had support from nancy pelosi and speaker john boehner. it will now go to the senate where mitch mcconnell and harry reid support it. while there's been vocal opposition to that particularly today from west virginia senator joe manchin, who said he would vote against it, that is expected to pass in the senate as well. it's a controversial idea. first proposed by the white house months ago. but before this week congress

didn't see fit to bring it up. now they've not only brought it up, they've passed it at lightning speed. they're prepared to let it roll on against isis purely on the president's say-so before they even bother to put it up for debate. none of these things that we are doing are new ideas, right? these are all old ideas that we're kicking around for months if not years before, but they were flatly rejected before by the american people and ignored by congress until isis succeeded over the past few weeks in terrorizing us. by so scaring and upsetting us via video that they have provoked us into doing things that with a cooler head we would never do. joining us now is a senior analyst at flashpoint global partners which is a firm that tracks and analyzes teary related groups. the video that was released today, the analysis that you

have of that, you think it may be announcing some sort of larger, longer video message for the united states. am i right in saying that it is aimed at an american audience and essentially meant to be a declaration of war? >> it is indeed. it appears to be a declaration of war. we've seen the footage. american troops in the middle east being hurt, being wounded, engulfed in films. you see the flicker of president obama's speech, passing by the white house, then at the end it's flames of war. the message is very clear. this is only the 52-second trailer before the much bigger video which we'll be discussing likely not only a strategy of some -- some strategy to counter the united states' campaign but also it's going to be a recruitment tool for other fighters to join the fight and likely from the west. it will probably be encouraging attacks on the united states. this discussion brings us back

to ideology, ideology that's difficult to defeat with ground troops. all you need is a few clicks of the button online and the message goes around the world. >> my reaction to this stuff just as a citizen is obviously everybody has the same reaction of revulsion at the barbarism and the violence. i also as a citizen feel very determined to not give them what they want, and i feel like as a layman, just looking at the stuff, i feel like what they are trying to do is provoke an american response that they could not get if we were not so terrorized. it is clear to you when you analyze their own materials, their own recruitment pitch, the way they present themselves, that they're clear what they want the u.s. government to do? that they want ground troops or they want an expanded war effort? can you tell what they want in. >> their message is usually very customized to the audience. so this the clearly directed at the american public. it attempts to influence the american public by influencing

pub lib opinion and it affects government decision making. >> what dee want the american public to do? >> it really aims at getting the public to be outraged, at getting new involvement in yet another messy middle east war. you know, we've only been out of iraq for a little over three years now. and they're trying to tell you that, listen, the united states did not win, if anything we're expanding beyond control. if you come over, we're going to yet expand more. we'll engulf them in flames, we'll carry out ied attacks. but again, isis has demonstrated that it has global aspirations. it has attracted foreign fighters from over 80 countries around the world. something we've never seen before. not even al qaeda was able to attract ta many foreign fighters. we've seen them coming from mexico, the maldives, countries that are not known to host

jihadists. >> does their fencing off against the united states, being equal and opposite to the united states, is that critical to their recruitment efforts? >> one they're headbutting with the united states to demonstrate to their followers they're a real state. they claim to be an islamic state. they're not just a terrorist group, an islamist group, they're an actual state. by butting heads with the united states you are demonstrating to your fighters that you're up to the task. that while al qaeda is basically missing in action, we're rising to the occasion. >> provoking the united states, trash talking, saying we're going to defeat you because we can, because we're that big and we're you're equal in the world. i feel like those subtleties are very important to understanding what they want from the american people and the american government. i wish there was more

determination to not give them what they want. thank you very much, it's really helpful. when you compare the top speed of dsl from the phone company

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so the last time we earthlings got a new country on this earth, it was 2011. that's when the country got a brand spanking new country called south sudan. the last time we got a new country on earth was 2006 when the country that was previously called serbia and montenegro

became two countries called serbia, comma, and also montenegro. used to be one with an and in which both of those things were combined. we do not get new countries on earth all that often. it does not happen frequently. but we might get one as of tomorrow. scotland votes tomorrow on whether to secede from the united kingdom and become its own country. the polls are really close. there's only one question on the ballot. everybody over the age of 16 in scotland can vote on it. they're expecting turnout approaching 100% of eligible voters. in terms of when we'll know the results, this is when the polls are open, we put this up so you can compare it to east coast time. 7:00 a.m. local time tomorrow morning with the time difference that's 2:00 a.m. tonight on the east coast of the u.s. the polls close at 10:00 p.m. local time. that's a really long -- a 15-hour voting day.

that's 5:00 p.m. new york time tomorrow afternoon. they do not know exactly how long it will take to tally up all the votes, but we should have results maybe by early on friday. conceivably maybe even late tomorrow night. we'll see. but then we'll know if the united kingdom will continue to be this or whether instead the united kingdom will become this. with a foreign country to their north called scotland, a country that sort of likes to think of itself as a little more scandinavian than british depending on who you ask. so that's the stakes. here's one totally partisan thing to know about this vote tomorrow. and how it came about. this is a small part of it but it is worth knowing and it's partisan. scotland hates conservatives. specifically i mean that scotland hates the political party called the conservative party, the tories in the uk. that wasn't always the case but margaret thatcher and what her conservative economics did to

scotland, scotland broadly speaking hates the tories. this is the delegation that they send to the british parliament in london right now. in london the conservatives have an overall majority but if you were just looking at the scotland delegation, would you never know that. only one is in the conservative party. 40 are in the labor party, one is a conservative, the other 18 are from the scottish nationalist party or their independence or a smaller party called the liberal democrats. scotland hates the torys. but in 2010 the tories won, the conservative party took power in the uk. they only barely made it. they squeaked into the majority just by getting into coalition with one of the smaller parties, but they did win. they did beat labor and they took office. that's how we got david cameron from the conservative party as the british prime minister as of 2010. scotland hated that.

scotland hated that because they hate the conservative party. in the following year when scotland held its own elections north of the border scottish voters gave an outright majority to the scottish nationalist party which ran on the platform of seceding from the uk. yes, being their own independent nation has been a longstanding romantic dream of people in scottp did land for a very long time. in the short-term one significant part of the argument was oh, god, save us from the tories, save us from the conservative party and the conservative prime minister that just took over the uk government in london. we hate those guys, we don't want to be part of that. as an an inevitable outcome of the scottish people voting for the secessionist party when they got a chance to, voting for them in big enough numbers that the party got an outright majority in the scottish regional government, now tomorrow scotland is about to vote on

whether or not to secede. the polls really are too close the call. heading into tomorrow's vote, the government of the uk, they've been pulling out all the stops, beinging and pleading for scotland to vote notice on independence. david cameron himself has been flying the scottish flag over the prime minister's residence at downing street. he's taken multiple trips to try to persuade scotland to stay part of the uk. but the problem when you understand this partisan part of it is he's really part of the reason scotland wants to leave the uk in the first place. if you want an analogy, bringing david cameron to campaign in scotland is little like bringing president obama to wie oling to help campaign against a bill that would ban guns in walmart. in other words, the guy may make a good argument and may want scotland to vote no but every time he shows his face or sets

foot in scotland which hates the conservative party, he reminds them that the conservative party runs the uk and that's part of why they want to leave the uk in first place. there's lots of ways to look at this historic vote. tomorrow one very small part of it is partisan politics. that's part of it. and in terms of partisan politics, if scotland votes to secede and forms its own nation, it's possible that david cameron is going to have to resign as prime minister. he'll be the prime minister under whom the united kingdom lost roughly a third of its land mass and more than 5 million of its population. that said, a yes vote to make scotland its own country would probably help the conservative party in britain. in terms of its majority in parliament because the whole conservative hating scottish delegation of mps would now be foreigners. that would mean they'd have no say in the uk. so they'd be gone. partisan politics is only a very small window into this vote tomorrow. but the bottom line of that part

of it is that a yes vote tomorrow for an independent scotland would probably cost the conservative prime minister his job, but it would help the conservative party overall in what remains of the uk simply by virtue of them having shoved off from their own nation the part of their nation that has always hated them the most ever since margaret thatcher. watch this space.

one of the things we've been

following pretty closely lately is the competing predictions from different statistics gurus about who's going to win the elections this year. the question of whether or not the democrats are going to keep control of the senate or whether the republicans are going to take control. there's a lot of really smart people making predictions. they change them every day about the likelihood of who is going to win in november. well, today a full scale nerd fight broke out between two of those very famous statistics gurus. nate silver at 538.com and sam wong they both published competing screeds why their own model is right and why the other's model is wrong and woe for those who step between the two. what each of those dueling very skilled predictors are saying today about who's likely to win the senate. but we've also got the strangest possible report out of kansas. we're now waiting on a court

ruling that could determine who is going to win that senate race and, therefore, maybe the whole senate. as we wait for that court ruling tonight, we do have a very strange report out of kansas related to that case. it's a report so strange and so good that it is actually the best new thing in the world tonight. it's amazing. it's from kansas and coming up right at the end of the show tonight. stay right where you are.

if you want to see how fast things are moving in the out of control and still growing scandal surrounding the nfl take a look at this visual. this is monday afternoon this week about the general manager of the nfl's minnesota vikings announcing that their star running back adrian peterson will play in the vikings game this upcoming weekend. adrian peterson was indicted on child abuse charges just a few days before this. he was forced to sit out the vikings game on sunday, but then monday the vikings announced that he'd been cleared to play this upcoming weekend. the vikings general manager said that adrian peterson, quote, deserves to play. that was monday. now, this, this on the right, okay, this was the vikings press

conference today. notice anything different besides the camera angle? on monday, the vikings officials made their announcement about adrian peterson coming back while they stood in front of a purple backdrop with a big radisson hotel chain logo on it. radisson is their main sponsor. today that logo was gone replaced by a logo for the team's website instead. that's because radisson dropped their sponsorship of the vikings after they announced adrian peterson would come back and play. then today after that, the vikings did a u-turn, they changed their mipds again. first he couldn't play, then he can play, now he can't play again. today they decided to deactivate adrian peterson and this time it's an indefinitely deactivation. >> in the end, it really is about getting it right, and that's what we wanted to do here. we made a mistake. and the main thing is we're getting it right and that's how we came to this decision.

>> so adrian peterson gets indicted on choild abuse charges, then he gets benched for a game, then his team announced that he will be able to play after all, then he gets suspended indefinitely all in the course of less than a week. welcome to the mess that's a multibillion dollar nfl. various teams in the league have been careening from one case to other when it comes to players mace faising criminal domestic violence charges. started with ray rice captured on videotape knocking out his then-fiancee in an elevator and then dragging her limp body into a casino lobby. that was the start of this. that has not been the end of it. in addition to the confusing we lost our sponsor adrian peterson u-turn statement by the vikings, there was a press conference by the carolina panthers. they've been dealing with a domestic violation incident of their own tom hardy convicted for assaulting and threatening to kill his then-girlfriend, he was convicted.

the panthers allowed greg hardy to play in their first game last weekend despite the conviction. then they benched him this weekend, then they said the situation was fluid, then they announced that he would no longy play until his appeal and his kour case are resolved. >> they've decided to take a voluntary leave with pay until his legal proceedings are resolved. we understand greg's decisions and given the cirque uchl stances it's very important that he concentrate on his legal issue. we believe this is the right course of action at this time for both greg and the carolina panthers. >> so conviction, then you play, then you don't play, then you get suspended. have i mentioned this is a mess? most of the news today about the nfl was either about those two players being benched by their teams or it was about the various corporate sponsors for the league expressing unease with how the nfl has handled all these domestic abuse cases.

then into that news cycle came breaking news tonight that yet another nfl player has been arrested and that arrest is yet again on suspicion of domestic violence. yes, another one. this is jonathan dwyer. he's a running back for the arizona cardinals. he was pulled out of practice today so he could be questioned by police about two incidents that allegedly took place inside his home earlier this summer. there's not a lot of details yet about those incidents, but police said tonight that they involve two victims, two alleged victims. a 27-year-old woman and an 18-month-old child. jonathan dwyer is known to be married with one child, so presumably this is his wife and child, but we don't know that yet. when questioned by police jonathan dwyer denied that any physical assault took lace but he was booked by police into the maricopa county jail just in the last hour or so. phoenix police announced the charges against jonathan dwyer. >> investigators are charging him with one count of aggravated

assault for causing a fracture, one count of aggravated assault involving a minor, two counts of criminal damage for damage that was done at the residence during the altercations and to a cell phone. one count of preventing the use of a cell phone in an emergency and one count of an assault for allegedly assaulting the victim. >> arizona cardinals today perhaps seeing how other teams in the league have been flailing in terms of how they've handled these situations, the cardinals tonight announce they've deactivated jonathan dwyer from all team activities effective immediately. joining us now from phoenix is bob mcmahon oman, a sports reporter. appreciate your time tonight. >> glad to be here, rachel. >> so we heard the charges that jonathan dwyer is facing there from the sheriff's department, do we know anything more about these two incidents, about what's being alleged here? >> back-to-back days in july 21st and 22nd as you heard, the

officers stated a fracture was sustained on the 27-year-old. we don't know what happened to the 18-month-old. and we don't know if that's his wife and/or his child, but it does appear that way. they needed medical records. they didn't get that until after september 11th, that was a week ago. now here we are. deactivated. they guess is this player will be placed on the commissioner's reserve list, exempt list, a way to get paid, not get punished until you go through the court system. >> in terms of how the cardinals have dealt with this, we're watching lots of teams struggle with these issues, watching the league struggle with these issues. as far as i understand it, this has come up for the cardinals before, albeit not with the white hot spotlight on the issue right now. the running back that's sort of a backup to jonathan dwyer, his name is chris rainy and he's had a history with the law over domestic abuse allegation. >> they signed him to the

practice squad. he's not an active player, but he could be activated this week ironically now that jonathan dwyer was deactivated. you have a one domestic incident for a guy that has two. chris rainy was accused and later pled guilty to slapping a girlfriend and a stalking charge that included some other nefarious situations. he's been kicked off of two teams. the steelers and the colts within the last three years. and now he's here. we asked bruce arians the head coach of the cardinals about that. this is the interesting part to me. i checked it out with two veterans who know this player. one of them was jonathan dwyer and he gave me his blessing. i don't noah to make of that. other than it's a zoo. >> when you say he gave you his blessing, that doesn't bother him, the charges hanging over him? >> the coach went to two players who played with rainy in 2012 with the steelers.

one of whom he went to was jonathan dwyer. and he said, he's a good kid. you can count on him. he said he wouldn't have signed him if it wasn't for the endorsement of the two players one of whom was the player we're talking about. >> one who was stepping out of practice today to go speak to police on his own charges. >> yep. >> do you sense that -- without strong leadership from the league here, that essentially we're in sort of a -- i don't know if it's a race to the bottom, but to see the cardinals having picked up this guy rainy after he was cut from two other teams. each team has to make their own decision about what their standards are here and what they want from a player in terms of what they can stand in terms of the moral stain of that playerp about can the teams compete with each other on those terms or how do they relate to each other when they make these decisions? >> speaking for the team i cover, the cardinals, knowing the people, players, coaching, staff that i do and especially

bruce arians, he's a players coach. he does have moral background and moral fiber, no question about that. but this leelg, you're so cal enged to win, you don't win, you don't produce, you get fired. the owners want to win. they see one team go from worst to first, they want to do everything they can. he's not a starting running back. he's not a number one. he's a number two. that is what it is in and of itself, but players and coaches, they want to win and go after who they can the best players who can help them win. >> one of the things we're starting to see if whether or not you are punished for beating a woman are a child to the point that the police get involved depends in part on your star value. until the league figures this out. it seems so chaotic. those factors are being weighed as much as anything else. thank you for helping us understand in story. just ahead, we need a new

best thing in the world, don't we?

there's new information in the investigation of michael brown. that's the case that led oto a national uproar and weeks of protests and confrontations in the streets of suburban st. louis. mike brown, as you'll recall,

was an unarmed teenager. he was shot multiple times by a single police officer on august 9. the weeks of protests that that led to in the streets of ferguson have since continued at city council meetings in ferguson. and also in greater st. louis. people in and around ferguson are not letting this case go. they're still calling for a full investigation. they want justice for mike brown. part of that investigation has to do with the st. louis county prosecutor's us a. prosecutors are offering evidence to the case to a grand jury. they will decide whether or not they want to indict the police officer who's implicated in this shooting. now, at the outsaid they they expected the grand jury to make a decision by mid october. this week, though, a decided to extend the appointment for the grand jury until january. it doesn't mean the grand jury need that long to make a decision, but they do have until january 7 now. now we got an important glimpse into how the work of that grand jury is going.

now we know the ferguson police officer who shot mike brown, he has appeared before that st. louis county grand jury. a source telling the st. louis post dispatch that officer darren wilson was, quote, cooperative with the grand jury. the officer was not obligated to appear before that grand jury but he did. and when he got there, his appearance before them lasted almost four hours. four hours. we will keep following this story. watch this space. "best new thing in the world" coming up next. whoa, my cuts still there. my cuts all better. cause sarah's mom discovered neosporin. with patented technology... ...that heals cuts two days faster than store brands. neosporin. buy three johnson & johnson first aid products and get a free bag.

nineteen years ago, we thought, "wow, how is there no way to tell the good from the bad?" so we gave people the power of the review.

and now angie's list is revolutionizing local service again. you can easily buy and schedule services from top-rated providers. conveniently stay up to date on progress. and effortlessly turn your photos into finished projects with our snapfix app. visit angieslist.com today. ♪ introducing new listerine® healthy white™. it not only safely whitens teeth, but also restores enamel. lose the nerves, and get a healthier, whiter smile that you'll love. listerine® healthy white™. power to your mouth™! the best thing in the world is not about politics at all. the context here is the race to win control of the u.s. senate. sam wong, the guy who correctly predicted the outcome of the every senate race in the country in the last election, sam wong

says as of today, the democrats have 74% chance of keeping control of the senate after the elections this year. a 74% chance. on the other hand, statistical guru nate silver over at 538.com, they say the opposite. right now, nate's model says the republicans are more likely to take control of the senate. he gives them a 54% chance of taking over the majority from the democrats. so sam wong says bet on democrats, nate silver says bet on the republicans. who's right? i don't know. and you don't neither. you shouldn't bet anyway. but control of the senate is a fascinating unknown right now, and one of the races that we've been watching really closely nord to try to figure what's going to happen in the senate is this race in kansas. and this race in kansas, the secretary of state, republican chris kobach, he's trying to

force a democrat to be on the ballot who doesn't want to be on the ballot. it's a small thing and could have a huge impact on who wins that senate seat and that could have a huge impact on who wins the control of the whole u.s. senate for the rest of the obama presidency. so chris kobach on one hand and democrats on the other hand both made their arguments in front of the kansas supreme court. that ruling could come down at anytime now. but here's where the best new thing in the world comes in. in the course of reporting on that story, we've been, of course, constantly refreshing the web page on the kansas secretary of state's website, looking for any updates, maybe on his twitter feed as to what's going on. we're anticipating the decision could come at any moment. it has national imp pli cases. it's like refresh, refresh, refresh, refresh. since we've had our eyes glued, we've noticed something. it's existed since 2010.

in the four years, the office has tweeted sparingly. mostly dry stuff about upcoming elections. the account has followed under a handful of other twitter accounts. only followed 26 people after four years. they're only following 26 other twitter feeds. and mostly local news media, like the kansas free press, kansas city star, some other government agencies like the kansas labor department and lyon county election office. but then there's one standout thing. sometime in the spring of 2012, the kansas secretary of state's office started following this guy, the topeka lamp dancer. not lap dancer, lamp dancer. tell me more. he describe himself on his twitter page as, quote, always dancing. always dancing with one of my 12 lamps here in the top city. and if you search for the topeka lamp dancer online, behold, there it is. and there are lots of videos of him doing his thing.

he dances away. a lot of energy. usually holding up a small electrical table lamp. although i do not think he plugs in his lamps. he just dances with them. the topeka lamp dancer told the "topeka capital journal" his lamps are either bought or borrowed from local thrift stores. he sometimes dances up to five hours a day. he's usually alone but he can draw dancing partner or two at sometimes. obviously, he is fabulous. and he has apparently made a fan out of secretary of state chris kobach. the most aggressive, most partisan, most radically conservative secretary of state that has never done anything that i've identified with ever. turns out he has a soft ospot for the topeka lap dancer. and now i do, too. best new thing by a mile. and i have to tell you, i now follow the topeka lap dancer and i hope to meet him someday.

bridging the partisan divide. good thursday morning. right now on "first look," the isis crisis heats up on capitol hill as they vote on the path forward on the war on terror. another day, another nfl perp walk for domestic violence. and the fallout from nfl's big money backers explodes. and if you didn't already know, beef prices nationwide are at an all-time high. plus, the scene of a horrific church collapse, a dramatic california police chase ends with guns drawn, and serious flooding in parts of the southwest. a very good morning to you. i'm richard lui. just today, more than a dozen raids were carried out and 15 people arrested in australia following a huge antiterrorism operation. australian intelligence officials saying militants connected with isis were planning to carry