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the u.s. issues a travel alert to americans in europe, but what does that really mean? a live report straight ahead. also coming up, fighting for votes. the congressional battles with the slimmest of margins. we're going to highlight the showdowns for you. and fat chance. the health risks facing children severed by the national school lunch program. good morning, everyone. i'll alex witt. this is "msnbc sunday" where it's 10:00 east coast and 7:00 out west. what's new, four new justices in five years. tomorrow the supreme court kicks off another term with another fresh case. elena kagan becomes the fourth woman to take a seat on the highest court in the land. >> reporter: good morning, alex. >> what's ahead there? >> well, elena kagan takes her seat alongside sonia sotomayor

and ruth bad er ginsburg. the first monday in object. a lot of controversial cases that the supreme court will hear in this term. number one, a group out of kansas that group church that protest at military final rals, the anti-gay protests. most people consider them very distasteful to say the least. this case has gone to the supreme court as a first amendment case brought by a father of a marine up in baltimore where this group protested outside his son's funeral. man very upset. awarded $11 million and also a case from illegal immigration, from where else, arizona, where state law supercedes federal law according to a complaint filed by the federal government. it's in regard to businesses hiring illegal immigrants and penalties on businesses that do that, so, a full docket for the supreme court coming up. one mob for elena kagan and those who are going to watch her to try to discern which way

she's going to lean. she took the place of john paul stevens, the far left voice, if you will, the ideological left voice for many decades. she will have to recuse herself from many of these cases because it comes from her job as the solicitor general, the chief prosecutor of the eyes from the justice department. she was involved in many of them in that capacity, so a full docket. many controversial, slow procktive cases coming up, alex. >> okay. mike vaccaro, what about for the president, he has a busy week ahead, right? >> reporter: absolutely does. a lot of campaigning and from here on out. we're inside a month until the november 2nd elections. he'll be raising money and hitting the hustings. he plans to do that a couple of times later in the week, but first he's going to be monday engaging in sort of a job training initiative, partnering with community colleges, businesses, to try to encourage people to go to community colleges and get job training and then another community college event on tuesday with dr. jill biden, obviously the spouse of joe biden, the vice president, her signature issue

community colleges. he's got some travel later in the week on thursday. he heads to neighboring maryland to support the democratic governor there facing a stiff challenge from a former republican governor. going to be raising money before he goes back to his home state on thursday of illinois to -- to campaign for the senate democratic candidate there, alex. >> okay. mike v mike, as always, thank you. organizers said they drew 175,000 people to the national mall, though that's an unofficial count. over 400 organizations were represented, including labor, faith and environmental groups and advocates of civil and gay rights. leaders talked about education, immigration reform, equal rights, but most of all jobs. >> we need jobs. we bailed out banks. we bailed out insurance companies. now it's time to bail out the american people. we need to rebuild the infrastructure and provide jobs and training for american

people. >> the speakers also stressed the importance of getting to the polls in an effort to re-energize progressive voters before the mid-term elections. developing now, the state department has just issued a travel alert for u.s. citizens in europe. countries across the continent are already on heightened alert following new threats from al qaeda. let's get the latest now live from london. another good morning to you. this travel alert, what does this exactly mean? >> good morning, alex. americans are being warned they may be potential terrorist threats in europe and should be extra vigilant in public spaces such as tourist places and tourist hubs. this alert is one step below a travel warning advising americans not to visit europe. it is important to remember that at any single point there are several hundred thousand americans in europe including

students, business people and, of course, tourists. what the state department is saying they should be stay cautious and be aware and be vigilant. the statement also says that european governments have been taking actions to guard against terrorist attacks and they are all working closely together on this. over the last two weeks in paris there have been evacuations of the eiffel tower, trains and subways were closed for a bit and bomb threats, too. sweden have raised their terror alerts to the highest level it's ever been. german intelligence have this warnings that al qaeda could be planning mumbai-style bombings across europe's main tourist sites but the message for now is just be very cautious, alex. >> certainly understandably so. can you tell me why the difference between a travel alert and not a travel warning? >> well, look, an alert is less serious than a travel warning. a travel warning would have had much bigger implications. that would basically translate into advising against travel to europe which would mean that travelers would worry that there's a risk of terror attacks and they would mean to think about cancelling their journeys

and their flights and hotel bookings, and that may be an overreaction for now. officials are saying that this alert is not meant to keep americans at home, but could have a real impact on europe's tourism industry, so there is a risk that the economy in europe could be struck by this alert, but there's not been very much opposition to it from leaders over here. >> what about reports that the nba has a preseason european tour, and so now officials there are reacting to this? do you know what they are saying? >> they are basically saying they will take appropriate security measures for their european preseason tour, but they are also saying that the teams' schedules and activities won't change essentially. officials for the lakers and timberwolves in london will continue at practices and youth clinics as planned before monday's game in london and they are being kept informed by the authorities at the moment, alex. >> thank you so much. well, as the government says tourists keep a closer eye on thing, many americans with plane

tickets to europe says the new alert won't change their travel plans. >> what are the chances it's going to happen? minor, so, hey. not going to let them rule me. >> i figure my faith will come upon me as a grand surprise, but it's not going to interfere with my amusements. >> u.s. officials say there are hundreds of thousands of americans in europe at any one time, including tourists, students and business people. rutgers university in new jersey is planning to hold a vigil tonight for tyler clementi, the freshman who committed suicide after a sexual encounter was secretly streamed online. rutgers paid a public tribute to the 18-year-old at the school's homecoming football game, pausing for a moment of silence. clementi's name was also shown there on the stadium's huge scoreboard and the crowd applauded politely after the observation ended. the gifted violinist jumped off the george washington bridge last week and his body was recovered in the hudson river three weeks later.

prosecutor's say clementi's roommate and another student used a web cam to broadcast live images of clementi having a sexual encounter with another man. those two are being charged with invasion of privacy and could be charged with hate crimes. a neighborhood got quite a square after a rubber fueling hose detached from a c-131 cargo plane stationed nearby. the house it landed on was slightly damaged. investigators say a small amount of fuel may have been in the hose. fortunately no one was hurt. in north carolina, a state of emergency in one town as floodwaters rise as high as 6 feet in some places. half of windsor is still under water falling the heavy rain from tropical storm nicole last week. parts of the state got 23 inches of rain. can you believe that? the river that runs through windsor, it began flooding thursday and it forces dozens of people from their homes. so on the heels of that, let's get a look at the sunday forecast around the country, and we go to the weather channel's

danielle banks. i'm sure hoping there's not a lot of rain out there, particularly for folks in that area. >> i know, and there is going to be some rain there, but we're talking very light amounts, generally less than an inch across the mid-atlantic as well as the northeast. everybody is really jumpy after something like that happens. we at the weather channel completely understand that, so just know that we're not forecasting any large amounts, but there is going to be some rain in your picture the next few days. weave also got some rain across the west, and you can see san francisco is getting a little bit wet. some of you along the i-5 corridor will be able to dodge this. again, this is more of a light, steady rain but we'll see heavier rain coming your direction and also a warmup for areas across the rockies in the coming days. speaking of a warmup, this little bit of a past look of where we were just about a week ago, los angeles, remember that 113? well, weave gone from hot to not with temperatures in the 70s, and this is just a couple of degrees cooler than average for this time of the year, but it's

incredible. another thing i wanted to point out, all those frost advisories and freeze warnings that were in play across areas of the upper midwest, spanning back across the upper mississippi. well, we don't have those anymore. those are generally expired, but we'll see areas of frost again for tonight as we'll continue to see more cool air filtering in from neighboring canada. again, that jet stream plunging. more cool air in place, not just for areas across the upper mississippi and the upper midwest, but it's going to make it all the way down across the south, areas like charlotte and atlanta, anywhere from five to ten degrees below average through wednesday. alex. >> >> time to fire up the heater in some places. >> gives me goose bumps. >> thank you. in a moment the foreclosure fiascos. why have banks put a stop to evicting people who have stopped paying their mortgages? also ahead, why the bank bailout program will no longer shell out any more cash. we'll talk about it ahead on "msnbc sunday." i'm coming to take over the world,

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will a standoff in pakistan today has supplies for the war in afghanistan stranded at the border. pakistan is blocking nato trucks and supplies on major routes. three pakistani soldiers were killed on thursday. nbc's john yang is in kabul, afghanistan and a good day to you or good evening your time. what is the standoff doing the war effort and, of course, to the pakistani/u.s. relations? >> alex, there are 150 trucks stopped at this border since -- border crossing since thursday, and this is the busiest border crossing for nato supplies, but nato officials have been telling us that they really haven't begun feeling an effect yet and

they say they probably wouldn't begin to feel one for some time. this morning there was a briefing for the top nato military spokesman and here's what he had to say, both about this blockage, this interruption of this supply line and also the more than two dozen nato supply tankers and fuel trucks that have been torched in pakistan. >> it does not have any significant impact either on our logistics and supplies nor on the operations, and secondly can i tell you that what we have, if you wish, quote, unquote lost because of the torching tankers is perhaps less than 1% of what we really need. >> reporter: but this is, of course, another complication in an already very complicated relationship between pakistan and the united states and the west. they are angry over the increased military activity in the northwest territories of

pakistan, the tribal regions, where the united states feels the insurgents have to be driven out of their safe havens from which they launch attacks into afghanistan in order to turn the war around, and they feel that pakistan either is unwilling or unable to do the job. now, a team of the things that figured this was an attack last week killed three pakistani soldiers. there is now a nato coalition team investigating that on the ground in pakistan. pakistani officials hope that this can be cleared up within the next week. alex. >> >> the investigation is a concern that it was an accident. or was it a targeted attack that killed those three pakistani soldiers? >> yeah. what it was is the pakistanis say it was a nato helicopter that shot them -- shot these three soldiers. nato admits that they had an operation in the area, that they did cross the border, but they have not yet made that final

leap to say to say that, yes, it was their forces that accidentally killed those three soldiers. >> okay. the investigation will probably get the answers there. john yang, thanks so much from kabul. this week we'll get a better read on how strong the housing market s.tomorrow the national association of realtors is set to release a key report on pending and existing home sales for u.s. homes. joining us now and the author of "the real cost of living," joins us. good morning. >> good morning. >> can we expect good news? >> not for a while. looking at the worsecond worst numbers in ten years. home sales are so closely tied with important, you need the job to buy the mortgage and get the home. looking at a 10% unemployment rate for the longest time since 1941 so we need to get out of this jobless necessary in order to sell more homes.

>> and that's what's is triggering these unbelievably low mortgage rates. >> these mortgage rates are record lows, talking the lowest in 60 years. this is probably the cheapest money sitting around in a long time. >> right. >> but people cannot buy, and another big reason they can't buy. the credit scores, lenders are so they a so they are vows to lend that people can even put down 25% and still not get the loan. 25% of americans are being blocked. >> jpmorgan chase and bank of america saying, you know what, even though you have foreclosure pending on your home, we're not going to kick you out. why? >> it seems that a lot of foreclosure paperwork, 2 million foreclosures on the market. millions and millions more homes about to go into foreclosures and we're talking about robo signing, you take the paperwork, you sign and there have been

people robo signing the paperwork, we're talking about 100,000 people or so. >> does this mean that people that believe they are in foreclosure, are they in the clear? >> well, you're not in the clear, if you're in foreclosure. however, it may be pending for a while, but we don't know how long. this happened in 23 states where a judge needs to decide if the home can actually go into foreclosure so the judge has to decide. we'll see and keep watch is this going to take 30 days or a year so if you have a mortgage at one of these banks and you're near foreclosure, keep in constant communication with the bank to see what your status is. >> how is this going to affect the housing situation, if you're keeping people in their houses longer? >> here's the thing. a drop in the bucket, less than 10% or 5% of all homes in foreclosure going into foreclosure so it is a drop in the bucket but we have to see what washington is going to do and what the economists and analysts are saying is there needs to be an across-the-board refinancing of everybody, people with good mortgages, people with

bad mortgages to 4% to basically boost the housing market by 10%. that's gaining some momentum so we'll see where that follows this week because washington says they will make a move in the next 30 days. >> the author of "the real cost of living," throw that book up there. >> pre-order. >> a good color on you, that lovely olive. >> thank you. >> thank you, much. >> thank you, alex. there may be no such thing as a fat-free lunch for millions of america's schoolchildren and a new documentary is shedding light on the unhealthy meals schools are serving our kids. we'll take a look on "msnbc sunday." of the shrimpers and fishermen, hotel or restaurant workers who lost their jobs to the spill. i'm iris cross. bp has taken full responsibility for the clean up in the gulf and that includes keeping you informed. our job is to listen and find ways to help. that means working with communities. restoring the jobs, tourist beaches,

and businesses impacted by the spill. we've paid over $400 million in claims and set up a $20 billion independently-run claims fund to cover lost income until people impacted can get back to work. and our efforts aren't coming at tax-payer expense. i know people are wondering-- now that the well is capped, is bp gonna meet its commitments? i was born in new orleans. my family still lives here. i'm gonna be here until we make this right.

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kids' school lunch trays. check this out. >> horrible. they eat, like their lunches come in this little square contain we are a film wrap over it so they have to peel the wrap off. >> ironically even fast food chains have to let their customers know what's in what they are serving so why isn't that the case with our schools? >> avis richard, director of that documentary and she joins me right now. good morning. >> good morning, al. >> exheard of a lot of problems. that question being asked right there, why is it that we're not getting the same thick that you go if you get into mcdonald's and know about fat content and sodium content and everything else? >> you know, we examined a lot of schools when we were doing this film. we saw everything. we saw some healthy food, but we saw a lot of junk food. we saw corn dogs and chicken nuggets, hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza, tacos, but we didn't see a lot of good, natural, whole, home-cooked foods like we used to see. >> veggies. >> i went into one school the plate was white. it was mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese and a sugar cookie,

no color, no fruits and vegetables, no meat or protein. >> did you get a sense that the children make the choices and the school has to reflect what they want or is it just not out there be it for fiscal or what's good for the kids? >> well, it's both. we really have to start from the ground up to teach children about nutrition. they are going to take that information home. they are going to learn about fruits, vegetables. if we can have gardens at schools, that's a really positive move and then parents will become more aware of, you know, maybe what our kids are eating, and parents need to ask those questions. what did you have for lunch today. if your child eats breakfast today what, did you have for breakfast today. >> when you think about the kids and the obesity rates, avis, they are skyrocketing in this country. do you think part of this is attributable to the kids and the school lunch programs that are not getting properly balanced

diets? >> doctors are seeing conditions in children that aren't normally associated with children, high blood pressure and cancers. >> you talk about the diseases, isn't diabetes on the rise with kids? >> diabetes is on the rise, and that's directly related to what our children are eating. overprocessed foods, too much sugar and too much salt in their diet. >> do you have something after doing this documentary "lunch," you figured this is what our problem is and preventing our school cafeterias from providing the healthy lunchis. did you figure that out? >> i don't know if you can really figure it out. what we can do is move away from the junk food culture from fast foods and maybe take a look at the slow food movement that's eating in season, eating colors and cooking at home and really making a conscious effort of feeding our children bert and through my film, you know, we're hoping to raise awareness with parents, community leaders and

administrators. >> yeah. >> because what you just said to me when you said you looked at a plate that was all white, that is the color you're note supposed to get any of. >> exactly. >> and we saw that all too often. >> yeah. the film is "lunch." we wish you the best of lunch. thank you so much, avis richards, for joining us. >> my pleasure. >> a live report on more hope coming up next. , and can help you keep a healthy weight. , campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do.

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it's "msnbc sunday." i'm alex witt and at 31 past the hour here are your headlines. the state department has issued a travel alert for u.s. citizens in europe due to heightened concerns of a potential al qaeda attack. more on that in a movement. guatemala's president is condemning the u.s. experiments that infected guatemalans with syphilis. he's calling the actions of u.s. researchers more than 50 years ago a violation of human rights. president obama has already apologized to the president for those experiments. police in mexico are looking for a group of 22 men kidnapped

thursday while traveling in acapulco. witnesses say the men were taken by an armed gang. t.a.r.p. is dead. that $700 billion bank bailout program expires today. experts say the government will get all but about $66 billion of it back. the supreme court begins a new term tomorrow with newly sworn in justice elena kagan. cases facing that case involve such issues as illegal immigration and protests at military funerals. and those are your fast five headlines. now back to the new travel alert issued today for americans in europe. the u.s. state department says its most up-to-date information suggests al qaeda continues to plan terrorist attacks, and americans visited europe should be extra vigilant at all times. earlier today i spoke with "new york daily news" national security reporter james gordon meek and i asked james if any action was being taken here in the u.s. in light of this new alert. >> obviously everybody is worried in counterterrorism about something bad happening in the united states. they look at transit systems as

being a particularly vulnerable target in light of the fact that last year we had the first al qaeda cell discovered here since 9/11, and they were essentially targeting the u.s. subway at rush hour. you had times square where a guy tried to blow up a bomb on may 1st in one of the most crowded intersections in america, cases where people were operating here and planning terror attacks and we didn't know about them. they weren't on a no-fly lift. abdulmutallab who almost blew up a plane over detroit, no one was on him as much as they should have been so that's the fear that eventually we're doing very good things about stopping things. gotten luck we bombs that didn't function properly or something went wrong in a platt and we discovered it before it was too late but we're not always going to get lucky. most counterterrorism people will tell you eventually the bad guys will score a victory, but so far we've been very fortunate since 9/11. >> is there anything out there,

james, that suggests that people they are keeping an eye on or hearing chatter from or are suspected of plotting things in europe are also concurrently plotting things here in the united states? >> i've been told and waved off of that. i've been told there isn't really a u.s. nexus or a homeland threat yet. i think what's interesting or the information about it emanated from a german citizen who was captured apparently in afghanistan, and -- and that's great that we caught this person and he spilled his guts and we got some, you know, whatever pocket litter he had and we figured this out, but it's also alarming that perhaps for the first time we captured a european on the field of battle in afghanistan, and that's a whole different story, but there are a lot of europeans who are going to the tribal areas of pakistan and being trained by al qaeda, and that's the big fear, that they will come back to europe and do something or worse, that there are people who, for example, are -- there's been a long-standing fear of people who are caucasians who are europeans with clean passports who may use the visa

waver program to easily travel to the united states and do something here, you know, because they don't look like a terrorist according to some people so there's a lot of fear there. >> part of my conversation with james gordon meek from "the new york daily news." more promising news for the 33 miners trapped below ground in chile. this weekend rescue workers tested the capsules that be will be used to pull the miners above ground. the rescue is estimated to take place by december, and now officials say it could be just weeks away. nbc's kerry sanders is joining us again from chile, and with a good day to you, certainly the kind of news we like hearing, but what's latest with the capsule test? how are they going? >> reporter: well, the capsule tests are going well. they have one of the three capsules here, and it's been designed to go down the shafts that are still being drilled. they are building three different shafts, and which ever one gets there first, they will use that one. the capsule itself is 28 inches around, and it will go down the

shaft and then one by one it will come back up bringing up the 33 rescues miners. quite certain right now that there is no definition of who is number one and who is number 33. according to the experts here, the engineers say if there are any medical emergencies, they will be the first ones out, but after that they will leave it to the men down there to decide who goes next and who goes ultimately last here. right now no medical emergencies, so all signs are pointing to the fact that the shafts that are being drilled, that the first one could possibly break through by the end of this week, so they are certainly on an accelerated schedule when they were originally talking about having rescues go on at christmas, alex. >> like the foreman of a jury, i'm wondering if there's one who will emerge as sort of the spokesperson for the group because they are getting media training? >> they are getting media training because the onslaught

they are about to face is quite frankly daunting for anybody, especially for someone who has never had to face cameras and microphones. these 33 men will come up one by one and when they eventually look out and see what is going to be up wards of 7,0001,000 people with cameras and microphones and with flashes and with all the things going on it, will be sort of overwhelming. as a matter of fact, when they come out, they are actually going to come up in an area that's shielded somewhat from most of the cameras. there will be just one or two cameras in there providing a picture out to the world as they come out and emerge, and then they are reunited with their families and go straight to a medical tent and then they will be flown from that location to a hospital and then eventually we'll hear from them so it could take some time. remember, one of the things we have to deal with, they have been underground so they will give them sunglasses so their eyes will be incredibly sensitive to the sunlight. >> immediately thought of that and flashing lights added, no thanks. sounds like a good plan. kerry sanders, appreciate that.

the search continues off the coast of italy for two missing american balloon pilots. according to the italian coast guard, radar records pinpoint location of the last contact with richard abruzzo and carol reimer davis. the team was flying over the adriatic sea in rough conditions as part of a hot air balloon race. a sharp new exchange this morning from the two candidates battling for a u.s. senate seat in kentucky. democrat jack conway and republican rand paul mixed it up. >> i'm not saying dr. paul is crazy. some of his ideas are out of the mainstream and out of touch with normal kentuckians. >> waiting for him to catch up a little bit in the polls and then we'll refer to more. what he has to do is either defend this president or run away. so far he's running away from president obama and the agenda. >> a.b.stoddard is associate columnist for "the hill." real clear politics took an average and found rand paul

leading jack conway by 6.5 points. what is driving this race in kentucky? >> well, kentucky is a republican state. it should be further than that and there are polls showing jack conway ahead by small leads. this is a very interesting race. remember that it's an open state so you don't have a democratic incumbent having to defend everything that's gone on in the congress and defend president obama and his record in a state like kentucky where he's obviously very unpopular. jack conway is the attorney general and he's run a very shrewd campaign talking mostly about local issues. he's an expert about the state, travels all over and talks about what's going on in this county or that town, and knows everybody's name, and so it's a total contrast to rand paul whose message is more of a big picture, broad attack on the growth of the federal government and talking about what needs to be done to rein and return to constitutional principles, so they are really running two

totally different campaigns and the fact that conway is even this close to rand paul is pretty good news to him. >> do you think there could be a democrat surprise here in a red state? >> it's all about getting the voters out. remember, democrats are apathetic around the country right now. they are very disappointed. if you're a liberal democrat living in kentucky, you might get really fired up, get in the car and vote this year as opposed to someone in new york who is going to say it's going to be fine, i don't need to take care of the party. that's the difference between, you know, a democratic vote in a red state and a democratic voter in a blue state or purple state. again, rand paul obviously hats edge. it is a republican state, but jack conway can be very happy that he's even neck in neck with him and in some polls ahead. >> okay. two more races i really want to get to. the big one out in california for governor because the big topic there is the allegation that meg whitman knowingly employed an undocumented worker for ten years. here's the exchange with democrat challenger jerry brown

last night. >> you and your surrogates put her deportation at risk and put her out there and you should be ashamed for sacrificing nicky diaz on the altar of your political ambitions. >> you're the one who says hey, everyone's got to be accountable, this is a terrible thing. millions of people. don't run for governor if you can't stand up on your own two feet and say, hey, i made a mistake, story, let's go on from here. >> right now the polling gives jerry brown a nine-point edge. do you think this will factor in, the housekeeper issue? >> meg whitman is running in a democratic state and spent well over $100 million to come neck and neck. a lot of polls show her nine points behind and it will all come down to the latino vote, alex. she has before the -- before the housekeeper story broke, she had around a 31% approval rating with latinos.

she needs about 35% of them. she knows t.she is why she's trying to turn it around and say look what you're doing exploit nicky diaz. this is really obviously going to dampen her support among latinos and she knows it, and she's still behind. it's not as if she even has a lead she needs to protect so in the end, in a democratic state where latinos are active voters, it's going to be a very tough challenge forrer. >> getting kind of ugly out there. let's head to wisconsin where the republican ron johnson is leading the incumbent russ feingold, the leader of the liberal base. what does that say? >> it's not a liberal year. liberals are not popular and when he runs away from president obama to the middle and not to the left, people are not listening anymore. you're looking at a democratic party that's disappointed and largely apathetic and longevity is out of fashion when you've been here for 18 years and you're asking for 24.

many voters, even in your own party, just don't want to hear it anymore. >> even russ feingold, i'm kind of surprised by him. here's a guy who has reached across the aisle, the feingold/mccain act and done a good job reaching across as needed. do you think that's going by the wayside now in. >> this is not a year when people are looking for anti-war campaign finance champions who have made some bipartisan efforts. they are really looking, you know, for deficit hawks and russ feingold has not made a career of trying to cut debt. this is the top issue right now and unless he's running out making this the top issue of his campaign, running against a businessman who is and who is running a pretty good campaign, that's why you see, you know, him eight points behind. >> a couple of great conversations today. thank you. >> thank you so much, alex. prettiy in pink. this pink diamond worth more than $200 million. mm-hmm. it will soon be auctioned off. the jewel is currently on display in hong kong.

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beauty supplies flew off the shelves, not because of a sale, rather a car crashed into this building in south florida. three people were injured in the car crash on saturday. the driver of the car was not hurt though. the inside folks there in the broward county store were taken to a hospital with minor injuries. they are all expected to be okay. police are still investigating the cause of that crash and whether to file any charges. student groups, parents and gay rights organizations across this country are calling for more protections to keep students safe. those calls come after four teens who were gay or perceived to be gay killed themselves this last month. all four were reportedly targets of anti-gabelies. a new "newsweek" magazine says the recent suicides have prompted a fear of bullying

epidemic but asks the question is any of this really new? joining me is the author of article, jessica bennett, staff writer with "newsweek." glad you're here because this is a very timely article. what is the answer to that question? is any of this new? >> we're not here to say this is not a problem. it's a huge problem particularly it is a relates to lbgt students but we're using this use of bullying as the label du jour and we're seeing labels of bullyside and bullied to death to describe these cases long before the facts are in. >> and part of what you write in the article, the question isn't just whether these students should be held accountable. they should, but whether the bullying of today is truly any worse than the bullying of the past, so in terms of the severity of it, i realize the targets are perhaps maybe more well identified, but what's being done? is it more severe? >> well, there's a couple ways to think about this. cyberbullying is different. it is broader in scope, you

know. in the past a bully might write a nasty thing on a bathroom wall and you could erase it and today you can't erase things from the web and you often feel like half the world is laughing along with the bully in your humiliation, but at the same time, you know, statistics, longitudinally shows that bullying is not on the rise, remained relatively stagnant and even gone down over the past ten years, if you look at it as a whole. not to say it's not a problem and particularly as it relates to lbgt students it's not a huge problem. >> i want to pick up the statistics that you found. bullying affects one in five students in the u.s. and for lgbt students, nine in ten, a huge difference in terms of getting affected. >> stag sglerg and the lgbt youth four times more likely to commit suicide. you've quoted some world renowned psychologists and bullying experts in the piece saying the picture created in the media does not tie in with reality, but those stats are something right there.

is there something that we are missing in the media? >> i think what he's trying to say is that if you believe what you see on the 24-hour cable news cycle or everything you read you think that every child in america is sexting up a storm and be stalked by cyber harasses and behaving like a mean girl and in reality, when it comes to mean girls, bows boys are still three times more likely to bully than girls and when it comes to technology, in spite of the horrible, horrible cases we're hearing about, like tyler clementi, most teens do use technology responsibly. >> okay. is it the way they are being bullied? i'm surprised. i have a son and daughter and i'm surprised that male bullying is still more prominent than female bullying. >> it is. >> what i've seen with my two children is what the girls do is just nasty. >> i think there's different ways of bullying. i think that male bullying is oftentimes more physical and female bullying is more passive aggressive in some ways where the mean girls thing comes in and it's different. the numbers as a whole aren't going up but certainly cyber

bullying is a whole new threat in some ways because you can't get rid of it or control it, and it's often much harder for teach, and parents to monitor. >> i'll tell you, it's worthy of the discussion. brought you wrote that article. jessica bennett with "newsweek." thank you. >> thank you. a duck with an odd accessory is giving officials a run around. he got a fishing bobble stuck in his bill. wildlife officers want to get that line out. the duck is just too quick for them at this point. we'll see. bold. daring. capable of moving your soul. ♪ and that's even before you drop your foot on the pedal. ♪ the new 2011 cts coupe from cadillac. the new standard of the world. ♪

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an alarming new report details the hidden world of child trafficking in america. this month "essence" magazine reveals how police and prosecutors in oakland, california, are working to combat the city's child sex trade. janine ambrose spent a year investigating this issue, the second part of the magazine series on this subject and welcome to you. i'm glad you're here, because i'm thinking oakland, child trafficking into sex slavery, are you kidding me?

why aren't we hearing about this more? >> i'm not sure why people aren't hearing about it more, but it's a huge problem and it happens in virtually everisy in the country, not just oakland. i happen to be focused on oakland because of the efforts they are making there to put an end to it, but this is happening across the country. >> tell me what exactly is happening. >> young girls are being trafficked for sex. the thing is we used to look at this as prostitutes so people would see girls on the corner, and they would think, okay, they are prostitutes. what's happening is those are actually underage girls who are being lured or threatened into this or snatched off the street and are being trafficked and not being treated as victims. these are young girls who are being exploited and as one person that i talked to put it basically raped by multiple people every night for money that someone else is taking. that's what's going on, and it's been going on forever, but people haven't really looked at

it as a thing that they need to put an end to. >> but you say oakland is looking into this. >> yes. >> what has tipped them off to this, and what are they doing? >> well, it's -- it's a joint effort by both the police department and also by the d.a.'s office so they are cracking down both on catching the pitches and also on prosecuting them so that they are going to prison for extended periods of time and instead of what's happening in other jurisdictions where the cops will pick up the pitches and they will be charged with a misdemeanor and thrown away for maybe a few months. >> but part of the equation seems to be missing to me. if you're picking up the pitches, there are people who are paying for this. what about the people that are going to these young girls and having sex with them what. about them? are they being arrested? >> well, yeah, you're talking about the johns. >> right. >> yeah. of course, they are also targeting the johns, but if you look at sort of the best way to combat this, if you have a pitch

who is trafficking a number of girls, and you've got to get him off the street because the -- the johns can't get to the girls unless there's somebody who is actually putting the girls out there. >> and who are these girls? i mean, are they -- are they girls from lower socioeconomic income families looking for a way to just make ends meet? are they girls from other -- i mean, does it cross the spectrum? >> it absolutely crosses the spectrum, but they are not -- these are not girls who are thinking that they want to do this. they are not -- this wasn't their plan. these aren't 12-year-olds who thought i'm going to go out and sell myself. that's not how it works. there are a couple of ways that it works. either the pitches will take -- will target a girl, and, you know, a vulnerable girl, maybe a girl who has run away from home or she might in fact be living at home. there are girls who -- who have lived at home and this has happened, and the -- the pitch

will start showering her with attention and affection and, you know, your parents don't understand you, but i know how special you are, and i'm going to be your boyfriend. and after she's hooked like that, you know, in order for you to be my girl, you're going to have to make some money for me, and, you know, she's 12, 13. she doesn't understand that this is not how things work. now other girls are actually kidnapped off of the street walking home from school and that's how they are taking. this is not about girls thinking i'm going to make some money. >> this is clearly something of an epidemic and it's darn good you're writing something in "essence" magazine to expose it all. >> thank you for having me. >> travel with caution. why do americans in europe need to worry about their safety? the day's top stories and top issues next on "msnbc sunday." >> so, ah, your seat good?

got the mirrors all adjusted? you can see everything ok? just stay off the freeways, all right? i don't want you going out on those yet. and leave your phone in your purse, i don't want you texting. >> daddy... ok! ok, here you go. be careful. >> thanks dad. >> and call me--but not while you're driving. we knew this day was coming. that's why we bought a subaru.