wednesday, february 11, and this is "now." >> the stakes are very high right now. >> the president said his proposal. >> asking for new more powers in the fight against isis. >> this reflects our core objective to destroy isil. >> this is a real attempt to try to get democrats and republicans on board. >> the debate begins. >> we need democrats and republicans to take seriously their responsibility. >> it is deadly serious. >> using military force to deal with isis is an important step forward. >> you're going to need a large ground force. >> this could turn into a sprawling borderless war. >> there is no strategy. >> it was clear from the outset a successful military campaign to defeat isil will require a multi-year effort. right now, a very very strange but also very serious

process is underway in washington. just moments ago, a full six months after the u.s. began launching air strikes in the battle against isis president obama requested authorization to use military force in the battle against isis. if that sounds retroactive, it isn't supposed to. >> when i announced our strategy against isil in september, i said that we are stronger as a nation when the president and congress work together. today my administration submitted a draft resolution to congress to authorize the use of force against isil. >> the proposal is theoretically designed to avoid another costly bloody war in the middle east. it would authorize military action for only three years. there are also happens to be language that seems really broad or at least really vague. for instance there are no geographic limitations on the battlefield itself and the enemy is defined as individuals and

organizations fighting for or on behalf of or alongside isil or any closely related successor entity in hostilities against the u.s. or its coalition partners. so does this restrict the scope of war or does it expand it? for democrats, it sounds pretty broad. >> as a practical matter a president could decide to surge 100,000 troops into syria for 18 months and claim it isn't enduring because i've placed a time limit. >> to hear republicans tell it the proposal doesn't outline powers broad enough. >> if we're going to authorize the use of military force, the president should have all the tools necessary to win the fight that we're in. and so as you have heard me say over the last number of months i'm not sure that the strategy

that's been outlined will accomplish the mission the president says he wants to accomplish. >> in the end, it is unclear whether the white house is really all that concerned about the authorization to begin with. the proposal leaves in place an open-ended war authorization from 2001. one that the administration has used to justify air strikes against isis up until now, which begs the question. what is the point in asking permission when you already think you have it? senator bloomenthal, the president didn't talk about the repeal of the 2001 authorization, which seems to suggest that the white house thinks it already has permission, so what's the point of all this? >> that's exactly one of the key questions here. how can we leave in place the supposedly obsolete authority that is so broad and vague that

maybe it makes unnecessary this authorization the president is requesting? part of what needs to be done is to repeal not only the 2002 authorization, but the 2001 authorization. >> the 2001 authorization, to be clear, was written in the wake of the september 11th attacks and is directed at those who sponsored those attacks. isis didn't exist at that point. are you surprised it wasn't in the white house proposal? >> i am in a way surprised. it is a key question that needs to be answered along with others, such as the scope and scale of the united states military involvement. there's this phrase enduring offensive operations. what is an offensive operation or a defensive operation?

that point may need to be clarified. in the background here is a key question that maybe goes beyond an authorization, which is how are we going to pay for it. clearly, we need to learn from the mistakes of prior administrations under these prior authorizations that we cannot put these wars on a credit card for future generations to pay and we need to keep faith with veterans who have fought those wars. >> i do want to talk about, quote, the enduring ground offensive operations. theoretically that could open the door for ground troops could it not? >> it could and that's why i am insistent that it needs to be narrowed or clarified or specified so that we are not, in effect authorizing open-ended

operations whether they are characterized as offensive or defensive. it makes less difference than what is the scope and scale. to be fair to the president, he is the commander and chief and ultimately he has to protect our nation against terrorist threats. it is important for the nation to recognize that. >> to the point about the enemy, senator, the description of the enemy that's being targeted here is associated persons or forces individuals and organizations fighting for or behalf of isis. the president is using the 9/11 authorization to justify the current battle against isis. there is no direct line between the plotters of the 9/11 attacks and isis. there seems to be a fairly broad definition there. if we're talking about generally

associated -- >> there are ways that perhaps a line can be drawn. some of the same people tactics, methods. clearly isis is a different entity but the president is countering a terrorist threat. clearly the objective of degrading and destroying it is in the national interest. no american combat troops should be committed to this kind of prolonged war that we have seen over the last 13 years. americans don't want it perhaps can't afford it and i think the president is to be applauded for this draft amuf overdue as it is but it provides a starting point. now it is our job in the congress to further define and narrow it. >> we look forward to watching you complete that process. thank you so much for your time.

>> thank you. with me now is "new york times" correspondent peter baker and washington bureau chief of mother jones, peter corn. how much do they care about this amuf being authorized by congress? >> i think they do care. i think as a matter of legal authority their argument is they don't need it. they have the 2001 and the 2002 authorizations. there is some argument that you could make about whether his constitutional authority would allow it. but as a matter of politics they do want it. having sent it up there and having congress for it to not get it and not get something through would be a setback. he thinks the country would look stronger with a bipartisan support of congress and to fail in that conversely, would make the country look weaker. >> this is a tricky moment for

everyone. certainly the white house. it is almost an impossible line to tread between being too broad and too restrictive. it is a tough vote for republicans to take but in many ways it is the toughest vote taken by democrats at this moment. your sense of the lay of the land in congress. >> that may be. in some ways congress is like the dog that captures the car. when obama doesn't come to them for responsibility or authorization to use military force overseas like in libya, they really sort of kick up a fuss about their institutional prerogatives. if they vote for this and it goes sour they can be blamed too. the president, i think, constitutional scholar points aside, would like buy-in from congress. what he's doing with isis in the middle east is very tricky. it is very difficult. it is very hard to come up with a good strategy. there's no telling if any the

best strategy will get you the outcomes you want because you are dependent on coalition forces on the iraqi government maybe on jordan and saudi arabia. players and partners that sometimes aren't really big players or trusted partners. as i say, the best strategy may not work so the president, i think, and whoever comes after him will want congress on his or her side. we're all in this together. but congress members of congress in both parties, often like the ability to criticize without having the responsibility of coming up with a strategy. i think on each side the republicans and democratic side you will see internal debates about whether to support this and what type of amendments and shaping to go through as it moves through the process on capitol hill. >> the fact that the white house is not calling for a repeal of the 2001 authorization would seem to be an escape hatch, right? if all goes terribly and

pear-shaped, the white house still has the justification to continue to conduct military operations against isis. >> certainly. this is probably the first time a commander and chief has asked congress to put limits on his war making power. he is putting a limit on the idea of an enduring ground operation and yet these limits are to some extent you know, offset by the fact that the 2001 authorization will continue to be there under his version, at least, giving him the power to do a whole lot more than the thing he set up today would seem to give him. >> right. david, that's part of this. war votes are always distressing, right? >> yes. >> proposing limits but not limits that would exist at the end of the day if congress wanted to abdicate its responsibility and a congress that seems incredibly reluctant to take a vote on something that

is granted difficult, but really important to take a vote on. >> peter is right. the president is offering to impose limits and usually commanders and chief don't do it at all. at the same time, he's leaving himself an out. if things go awry there's still the 2001 out there and there's still also article 2 of the constitution. i don't think a president of the right or the left or the middle wants to tie their hands. the president is trying to come up with a semi-good faith attempt. let's agree on general parameters without me giving away too much power. if something does change that is unforeseeable, i still have the right to do what is necessary to protect this country and

congress can work out guidelines on what to do the next three career years. after the break american journalist austin ties was kidnapped in syria more than two years ago and he is still missing today. i will speak to his parents about their efforts to get their son back. that's next on "now." can this decadent, fruit topped pastry... ...with indulgent streusel crumble, be from... fiber one. fiber one streusel.

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amid heated debate about president obama's request for new war powers in the fight against isis one name is being largely left out of the public discussion. that is austin tice a freelance journalist who went missing in syria of august 2012. there is still at least one

american hostage in the region after the death of kayla mueller. this grainy video that surfaced in september of 2012 purports to show tice blind folded with his hands tied behind his back walking with masked men in deserted countryside. they believe he was in syrian government custody. austin tice's parents are taking the rare step of launching a public awareness campaign to help free their son and to change u.s. policy around hostage situations. joining me now are austin's parents mark and deborah tice. thank you so much for joining me. i know these have been difficult days for the nation but especially for families who are waiting to find out the status of their loved ones. a lot of people are confused as to who might be holding austin. we have only really heard about isis and the hostages isis has had.

can you tell us a little bit about who you guys may -- what the theories are out there in terms of who may have austin in captivity? >> from the very beginning, alex -- and thank you for having us -- we made a decision not to speculate because we felt that speculation was a short road to insanity for us, so the only thing that we can tell you with certainty is we do not know who is holding austin. we know that he is not being held by daesh. he's not in any syrian government facility. we certainly understand people's frustration with not knowing who has him. >> what was your reaction? we talk about those who have been in the news the names of those in the news. kayla mueller was not someone known to the public until recently. can you tell me what your

reaction was to what happened to her in the recent days and whether or not you have talked to her family or that of any of the other hostage victims? >> yes. i mean we have spoken to and talked with the muellers and the foleys and the sotloffs. our hearts go out right now especially to the muellers and to everyone that loves kayla. what can you say? it is worst nightmare that a parent can have. >> are you at all concerned that speaking out about austin and his situation would endanger his captivity? >> well austin's situation has been known publicly since about ten days after we noticed that

he had gone missing, so that's not a decision that we made. over the last 2 1/2 years, we have been more or less in the media, depending on circumstances, things that we might be working on things that we think might be happening, but we have never been completely silent. austin's case has been well known, especially among his journalistic colleagues from the very beginning. >> and alex one of the things that we have learned is that all of these cases are different. there are different situations. >> right. >> we don't believe that a hard and fast rule of a black out or no black out is appropriate. what's appropriate is doing the right thing based on the circumstances that are known. >> and i think that's a fair point. each one of these situations is dramatically different. if you could, just tell us a

little bit about -- you mentioned the ten days after austin went dark effectively. walk us through what that was like for you in terms of not knowing where he was and to what degree the u.s. government assisted you or didn't in helping determine whether or not he had been taken hostage. >> go ahead. >> well the way it transpired was he had been in touch with austin in one way or another every day that he was in syria. either we heard from him or someone we knew heard from him or communicated with him. i had spoken with him via e-mail exchange on august 13th and that was the last contact that we had. debbie was actually on a canoeing trip in the wilderness and was completely out of touch. during that week that she was gone was the week that his editors stopped hearing from

him, i stopped hearing from him, his friends stopped hearing from him. we became alarmed after a couple of days. we knew he was still traveling, but it was very unusual. i had a call on the friday that week from the state department telling us they were aware that he had been reporting missing and that they were beginning to start their work to try to find out where he was. >> debbie in terms of the state department and the involvement of u.s. government officials in giving you information, in coordinating with you or asking for your thoughts about austin and his situation, how robust has that line of communication been? >> well that line of communication has primarily been one way. they are certainly interested in any kind of contact that we may have, any kind of information that we have. they are very reluctant to share

their information with us. and while we have been tremendously supported, especially by the state department, certainly by our senator john cornyn orur congressman al green, the communication has been ekhorrible honestly. >> the president spoke yesterday in an interview about his correspondence with the families whose children who have been taken hostage. i want to play that sound byte. >> you know, it's as tough as anything i do having conversation with parents with parents who understandably want by in means necessary for their children to be safe and we will do everything we can short of providing an incentive for future americans to be --

>> mark has the president spoken to you by phone? >> we have not spoken directly with the president by phone or otherwise. you know, we have talked to white house officials, but not the president himself. >> and when you hear that sound talking about wanting to disincentivize future hostage taking situations, what's your reaction to that? >> in our situation, that hasn't been an issue at all. there's a lot of room between initiating discussion and ransom. so what we need in our situation is for our government to engage in dialogue with the syrian government because our son went

missing in syria. we're not even approaching a place about talking about ransom. >> mark and deborah tice i hope you guys know the prayers and thoughts of the country are with you and everybody is hoping for the best outcome here. thank you so much for your time. >> thank you, alex. >> thank you. coming up, we just heard from family members of three muslim students who were killed in north carolina last night. more on that coming up next. ling to give up sharing your moments? sacrifice streaming all night long? is it okay to drop a connection, when you need it most? if you're not on the largest, most reliable network, what are you giving up? verizon. ♪ ♪ ♪ tigers, both of you. tigers? don't be modest.

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46-year-old craig steven hix appeared in court today. his wife said the victim's faith played no role in the shooting. >> i can say this incident had nothing to do with religion or victims' faith. it was related to the longstanding parking disputes. >> he was frequently con fron confrontational confrontational. he was angry with everyone and feared by residents. this afternoon the alleged murders are not part of a targeted campaign against muslims. just ahead, jon stewart's stunning announcement last night that he will step down as host of "the daily show." we'll look at the man and his legacy next on "now."

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i don't think i'm going to be -- miss being on television every day. i'm going to miss the people here. i love them and respect them so much. >> we love you, jon. >> no. it's been an absolute privilege. >> today the tributes are pouring in for the most trusted man on television in an era of profound cynicism. the fake newsman who made a difference. 2 million people tune each night for jon stewart's version of the news. for an entire generation stewart has acted as both economic and cultural authority. his rally to restore sanity drew a quarter of a million people to

the national mall. stewart has never been comfortable being a champion. he's always presented himself as a simple satirist. >> the ultimate feeling for me of satire is it helps deflate something that you might think is toxic, but it doesn't help build anything. >> right. >> and that impotence is always -- people say, you say yourself just a comedian. i take great pride in that. there's no real honor in satire. we have all bought into the conflict in this country is left and right. the news networks have allowed these two sides to become the fight in the country. i think the fight in the country is corruption versus not corruption. >> joining me now is the chairman of the slate group jacob weissburg and james

ponwosic. >> it feels like it is settled. he may not have thought of himself as one, but i think he was one. >> he was a pioneer. he discovered there's an interesting space in between "seinfeld" and c-span. you can like both and do something that involves news and is entertaining. the definitional question isn't that interesting to me. he created this role as a satirical conscious for the country. was it news? i don't know. that's not really the issue. >> if the broader goal was to educate the people he did that. >> sure. what he was doing was -- i understand wanting to have the out of i'm a comedian.

i would like to be able to say i'm not a jurnlournalist. it's a form of journalism. criticism is a form of journalism. i'm a media critic. i think anybody doing that job has to honestly admit that jon stewart and the people of "the daily show" have been doing a better job of that than any of us. >> it would not have been seen as satire. >> call it what you want but it is dealing with ideas. >> jake we talk about the debt that liberalism owes jon stewart or jon stewart owes liberalism. in salon today, there is this provocative thesis. stewart was the liberal organizer and rallying point before obama's presidency. as difficult as it has been to advance a progressive agenda over the last 16 years, it would

have been impossible without stewart's ability to connect millions of viewers and reminding them they weren't alone in hoping for something better. do you think that's true? >> this is the day to say nice things about jon stewart. i'm a huge fan of his. when he stopped being funny, he could be a little bit of a bore on politics. when he got very literal about what he was trying to accomplish he tended to take refuge in a smug view of the world. his politics are conventionally liberal. i think it was his satirical angle on things. it is hard to imagine a conservative jon stewart. colbert was in a way -- created that part. >> was the most searing liberal

voice. james, to that end in terms of the liberalism and whether or not stewart was an influencing force, i will say that rally on the mall -- i'm not sure anybody else could have brought 250,000 people and a lot of young people out in this day and fantastic. a lot of liberals and strong progressives didn't like that rally. there was also an element in that rally in some of his rhetoric about pushing against the idea that there are only left things and right things. there's this thing in political dialogue whatever your position on kids getting vaccines is supposed to be tied to your position on tax policy. so i think he pushed against that but certainly i think he found his voice, for instance through iraq and the bush era, that sort of whole period where

this was the sense that maybe the people running things don't necessarily know what's going on. whether it was the chicken or the egg, whether that gave him his voice or he gave this movement his voice, it was in sync with something that was going on with the body politic at the time. >> he has spawned other franchises that are similar in tenure long john oliver. there's a generation that jon stewart fostered. i wonder if you think this is part of a movement in terms of reframing analysis in the 21st century. >> i do. it has a generational component. younger people relate to the world being treated that way. that in a way is stewart's legacy. he gave rise to one bona fide genius, who is stephen colbert.

stewart will be remembered as the guy who invented colbert. maybe just my point of view but all these people are good. you look at the people who are being talked about as potential successors to stewart. it is a whole generation and style of serious comedy that he gave rise to. it goes to james' point about this mode of expression. it has the indignation that liberals often have but in a way that is engaging and entertaining as opposed to off-putting. >> you can laugh at it so it is never too self serious. does that lead to genuine change if we're talking about it in the context of news and politics? >> you know i don't know what leads to change but i think that at the very least what something like that does besides making you laugh is it gives people tools. >> yeah. >> again, i return to you can't

underestimate the role of media criticism and what he did. so much of the message of "the daily show" wasn't protesting against this or that political reality but saying these are the means by which these issues are frame framed. this is how this reality is created. a lot of the segments on that show were spectacular video essays essays. whether that spelled out an agenda gave people a new perspective on that problem. >> that problem being cable news. i'm just kidding. thanks a lot guys. >> thank you. we also want to update you on another developing news media story. nbc news has decided to suspend brian williams for six months without pay. the suspension is effective

immediately. lester holt will continue to anchor anchor the "nightly news." it then became clear that on other occasions brian had done the same while telling that story in other venues. this was wrong and completely inappropriate for someone in brian's position. this was a very hard decision. certainly there will be those who disagree but we believe the suspension is the appropriate and proportionate action. we'll have more after the braex. in a race, it's about getting to

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america has a history that is not spoken of much. this is the old red museum in dallas texas. until 1966 this building was the dallas county courthouse. it is now a historic government building and it is on the national register of historic places. it is also the spot where over 100 years ago in 1910 a group of men threw a rope around the neck of an elderly black man accused of sexual assault and tossed the rope out the window where a mob lynched him. despite the fact that thousands of these murders took place across the south, it is one of the only spot across the country where a lynching took place and is actually marked.

a new report from the equal justice initiative between 1877 and 1950 there were nearly 4,000 black lynchings in southern states. the orange dots represent premeditated murders. the report is part of a larger project to help the country reckon with its ugly past and a plan already being met with local resistance. joining me now is brian stephenson. thank you so much for joining me. this is such a hugely important project and such a hugely difficult project. the number 4,000 is not, i think, a number any american can fully wrap their head around in terms of the pervasiveness, the

scope of these lynchings, and yet this seems to be one of the only full accountings of how we terrorized a certain group of people in this country. how have you learned in ways the which we have reconciled or not reconciled our past with this bloody project? >> it is so difficult. it is so disturbing but it is essential that we understand this legacy of terror lynchings. we spent an enormous amount of time first reviewing the accumulateingeing data at tuskegee university and then we went into these communities. we worked in this area for a very long time. we went to historical archives and to museums and to local newspapers that found additional evidence that allows us to document several hundred more of these lynchings.

it is not just the 4,000 people who were murdered. it was all the african-americans who lived in these states that are threatened and menaced and terrorized by these acts of supported violence. >> that's one of the most devastating, aside from the horrific brutality. the fact that these lynchings took place in public and that children attended them. in 1904 both victims and a husband and wife were tied to a tree and were forced to hold out their hands while members of the mob chopped off their fingers and distributed them as souvenirs. then their ears were chopped off. it is hard to read this. both victims were thrown onto a raging fire and burned. you talk about having people acknowledge this putting up

markers to say this is where this happened i can imagine how difficult it is for people to acknowledge that this is a part of our history. i guess i wonder in your conversations how do you underscore the importance of that. >> i do think it is hard but i also think it is necessary. not only did that grotesque violence take place, but it took place in front of hundreds of thousands of people who celebrated that barbarity, who were eating popcorn and cheering. that is that community. i think we have to talk about what that represents. these lynchings created a narrative of racial difference. it terrorized people until they fled. yet we mark and monumentalize events going on at the same time behind that. we talk about the good ole days in the first part of 20th

century. because we are interested in talking about that era, we have to talk about all aspects of that era. it is true that these incidents were violent and disruptive. that's part of what we have to make some peace with we have to deal with. our ability to achieve racial justice and improve racial relations has been compromised by our failure to do so. >> these were people who were -- a black man who knocked on a white woman's door and was lynched for that. terror is the word to use here. we emphasize that these were acts of terror. >> absolutely. many people of color are offended when they hear newscasters talking on tv about how we're dealing with terroriststerror

istismterrorism for the first time. you're right. they weren't just for people being accused of serious crimes. they were for social transactions. a world war i black man comes back from war and is lynched because he refuses to take off his uniform. running to a train station in mississippi, a black man is lynched because he bumps into a white woman. this kind of violence and response to these very minor social transgressions absolutely traumatized people of color. >> it is a powerful and devastating project that you have embarked on brian and a really important one. thanks as always. >> thank you. coming up kansas governor sam brownback just went out of his way to turn back the clock

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as if blowing a hole in the state's budget wasn't enough, kansas governor sam brownback has sought back to wind back the clock by rescinding protections for lgbts. brownback defended the new order saying, quote, it ensures that state employees enjoy the same civil rights as all kansas residents without creating additional protected classes as the previous order did. state employees can now be fired

from their jobs for being gay. anybody still confused as to the question of what is the matter with kansas now has a definitive answer. sam brownback. good evening americans, and welcome to "the ed show" live from new york. let's get to work. >> i will not allow these terrorists to have a safe haven. >> tonight authorizing against isis. >> the president's point is he wants to dismantle and destroy isis. >> i believe this resolution can grow stronger with the thoughtful and dignified debate that this moment demands. this resolution strikes the necessary balance by giving us the flexibility we need for unforeseen circumstances. >> later, interrupting your regularly scheduled programming.