comedian dean obeidallah schools us with his top ten lessons of 2012. >>> and also good news to tell you about a story we have been reporting on tonight. two missing georgia boys have been found safe in austin, texas. their father, the man who allegedly kidnapped them has been taken into custody. someone at a hotel recognized the boy from the amber alert and contacted police. much more in 30 minutes on their story. also spoke with their mom before she headed off to go pick up her two sons. hear what she told me by phone. >>> gangs and guns, a deadly mix in chicago that's getting more dire by the day. the city marked a grim milestone this week, 500 murders so far this year. it was a shooting on the city's west side thursday that pushed the number to 500. police say a 40-year-old man was shot in the head outside a convenience store. another troubling number, 270, that's the number of children who have been killed by guns in chicago in the last five years. back to this year's 500 homicides. that's up 50% from last year. it is the highest the murder rate has been in the city since 2008.

comedian dean obeidallah schools us with his top ten lessons of 2012.to mix business... with business. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i could get used to this. [ male announcer ] yes, you could business pro. yes, you could. go national. go like a pro. >>> the end is nigh. nigh? we're about to leave 2012 behind. but before we do, our friend, i don't know about that, comedian, not sure about that either, dean obeidallah, that is his name, brings us the 12 lessons of 2012. so, we're going to pick out a couple here. i'm in a really good mood tonight because those kids -- i'm so happy about those kids. >> you found children. who does that? you're not just an anchor. you're a superhero. you're a cory booker of this world. he went into a house that's on fire. you're the equivalent of that. don lemon finds children. >> that's pretty awesome. we're having a little fun and it's good because the kids are found. but it's the p

good well joining me now to discuss this is one of our favorite funny guys political comedian dean obeidallah as well as dr victoria taylor she's a psychologist at the american institute for cognitive therapy welcome to you both . all right so let's let's start off by at what asking what's going on here i mean it seems like when the winter coats go on the tough skin goes away. well there's a clear war on christmas going on atheists are ripping down christmas trees all over new york they're stealing baby jesus from the north from crayfish is selling on e bay it's unreal what's going on in new york i can't even walk five feet without a atheist tackling a christian it's so if there's nothing going on this is a game this is part of fox news is war on intelligence that's what this is about to make us feel like there's a really sure there's not you know with the idea of wishing someone happy holiday there's nothing wrong with that if i know someone's christian i say merry christmas and i'm not sure i say happy holidays because america is a melting pot we're multicultural nation and there are people

the holidays become too politically correct for our own good to discuss this political comedian dean obeidallah as well as dr victoria taylor who's a psychologist at the american institute for cognitive therapy joined me earlier i started off by asking if it's a mental health if it's mentally healthy to have such high expectations and so much consumerism surrounding the holidays but i think a lot of people do struggle with the consumer and i think that people should really be filled with god and happiness during the sea then and i work with a lot of depravity and anxious patients who don't necessarily know that way so i help them come up and tell me in order to deal with those sort of situation and. i think in terms of consumer them up with and lately it is a lot harder to sort of celebrate the holidays the way the used to be celebrated in praying for people to think to a budget and maybe create a new tradition and dean let me ask you this how has christmas become too overblown i mean can christmas drive you crazy. well you know it's such a huge holidays it's a big thing i don't even think you

dean obeidallah joins me. he's in boston tonight. dean, this is role reversal for me.ince you're like a professional tv guest, i'm going to run this one by you. this is my appearance on "the wendy williams show." we talked about the sex scandal surrounding the puppeteer who performs as elmo. here it is. >> question for the panel, do you think that sesame street should permanently retire elmo as -- >> no, no, no. >> don, the "cnn newsroom." >> i ran into elmos last night in times square. i asked all of them -- there they are. i asked them, i said, should you guys be retired? and they said, no. and actually the elmos asked me for tips. >> lindsay lohan was arrested last night, 4:00 in the morning. you know the story. and i want to know your thoughts. i'm going to go to you, don, first from "cnn newsroom." >> i'm going to be honest. i think she needs some help. i think she needs an adult figure in her life, someone to go in and do what they did for britney spears, take control of her finances, take control of her -- she needs a guardian. okay, my initial thought, dean, is

let's bring in dean obeidallah in los angeles. first because you were having problems with your earpiece. it's live tv. you have an issue. it's not a big deal. it works, all right? >> exactly. >> dean on the phone and on tv, should he be held accountable for another band's lyrics he rapped back in 2004 or are people orr reacting about artistic freedom? >> honestly if he had not apologized, if he stood up for those lyrics and that's what he really still feels now, that american troops should be killed, people are right by protesting. time has passed. he said he's performed for the u.s. troops. he's sincerely apologetic. some will forgive him and some will not. those lyrics were horrible. they were horrible for him to rap that. perhaps time will heal that. >> there was some pretty hateful things about u.s. troops. >> they were. >> for me, it's like when you hear a song -- i'm not talking about the song that was offensive, but that gang ham style -- >> it's an unbelievable song. he did apologize. >> i was on vacation and there was so

. >> local comedian dean obe obeidallah joins us. top of the list this year, scandal in washington.you surprised petraeus topped the list? >> no, i'm not. the guy is the head of the cia, the top spy in america, and he can't keep an affair secret. i think there's some human quality in there, and some humor at the same time. it's remarkable to me. it's men in power, thinking they can get away with it, bill clinton, john edwards, newt gingrich. one after the other. men in power think they live by different rules, that's why he deserves to be top of the chart. >> let's turn to the royal family. even the royal family couldn't escape the list. >> well, absolutely not. and in this case, though, prince harry, the kid's had trouble after trouble. if you invite a bunch of people to your room, get drunk and play strip poker, allow them to take pictures, you're going to be in the press. you're going to be in the tabloid. he's a horrible prince harry in that regard. the duchess unfortunately for her, had some expectations of privacy, she was alone on a french villa. they used long lenses to take