as we continue with professor dominic thomas, who heads up -- he chairs the department of french and ancophone studies at uniniversity of california ls angeles at ucla. her answer thomas, i asked you about the rise of conservative and right-wing parties and politics in europe, starting with austria, where the conservative leader sebastian kurz has been tasked with forming a government after he won a slim majority in last week's snap elections. and i also want to ask how trump's presidency here is affecting european politics. >> as i was saying, what is remarkable about t the austrian context, where other leaders had said in a campaigns that if the far right performed well, they would not consider enterering io coalitions with them c come the sitttting foreign ministster sebastian kurz, when he came o t on top and throughout his election, said he would absolutely consider working with this far right party. what was interesting, it has essentially allow these far right views to be mainstreamed and excepted. in the end, about 60% of austrian society elected a chancellor and the far right

to get some context i spoke earlier to european affairs commentator dominic thomas. also the chair of french and frank o'phone studies at ucla. and he had this to say about what's happening across spain right now. >> let's talk about the political risk the central government faces by moving to exert direct rule over catalonia. could this indeed backfire on the prime minister? >> i think the prime minister has completely misread and miscalculated the situation here. not only has he triggered article 155 but he's also been working behind the scenes to enlist cross-party support so that when he goes to the senate he will essentially be able to put this into action. because after all a constitutional monarchy and yet for the second time the king has spoken out on this particular issue and he has the support of the in the region and the latest decisions come on the heel as we saw the police violence that repressed people going to the polls, political leaders still being held in prison, the police chief in catalonia has been threatened and essentially now rajoy is going to

dominated headlines for weeks and months, it goes back to last year. it really height then football season, appears the nfl now wants to move on from the national nan them controversy. >> the question, thomasw do they plan to do that? >> that's the major question here. perhaps the nfl feeling the pressure here. does it come down to the bottom line? we know that anthem protests will be front and center at the nfl owners meeting come next week. the nfl currently has no explicit rule requiring players to stand during the anthem, although, their game day operations manual says they should stand. owners could decide to really change that language, to must stand. nfl commissioner roger goodel sent letter to all 32 teams, saying the league needs to move past this controversy, of course, after cowboys owner jerry jones said any player who disrespects the american flag, will not play for his team. so this that memo goodel says like many of our fans we believe that everyone should stand for the national anthem, went ton say the controversy over the anthem is a barrier to having honest conversations, in making real progress on the underlying issues. all right, so, eagles safety malcolm jenkins says d

dominant night on the mound in game four. so the question is, who pitches tonight? we'll have live team coverage. >>> d.c.'s newest neighborhood opens today with a star-studded celebration. i'm mike thomas turning his attention back to health care today with an order that could mean major changes for u.s. insurance marks. >>> and later, ben affleck caught up in the harvey weinstein backlash. the batman actor now apologizing for his own past behavior

dominant night on the mound in game four. so the question is, who pitches tonight? we'll have live team coverage. >>> d.c.'s newest neighborhood opens today with a star-studded celebration. i'm mike thomasown at the district wharf and we'll have a live report coming up. >>> executive action. president trump turning his attention back to health care today with an order that could mean major changes for u.s. insurance marks. >>> and later, ben affleck caught up in the harvey weinstein backlash. the batman actor now apologizing for his own past behavior we'll have all the details when we check the celebrity dish. good day at 9a starts now. ♪ what great way to start this day. well, hello screech! >> yes. >> you talk about the happiest bird in the world today. right? >> absolutely. >> what great finish to the game yesterday. the entire game was absolutely fantastic. and i see one bird over there that's so excited for you to come down to the ballpark tonight. we've got all the details on the exciting game five coming up. get those rally towels going. >> get them going. >> not quite that close holly but close enough. a little higher. that's perfect. >> sorry. >> we'll be celebrating all mornin

dominates the economy here. todaymake sure to tune in , booktv in american history tv traveling to pierre, south dakota. watch all of the cities we have tour onin the cities c-span.org. abt, ajoined by thomasenior research fellow with the harvard kennedy government school. in particular, we wanted you on this morning, following up on your opinion piece from the new york times on crime statistics, which was headlined, "how not to respond to the rising murder rate." tell us about the murder rate in the u.s. and where it has gone into the fbi report. guest: sure. it is a pleasure to be on. thank you for having me. the first thing to understand is surge in recent homicides in the u.s. is cause for concern but not panic. of a bit of context, rates violent crimes and all crimes has been falling fairly consistently since the early 1990's. it is only in 2014 -- 2015 and 2016 that we have seen this pronounced spike in homicides. it is about an increase of 12% 2014 to to 2014 -- 2015.we have had an increase of about 22% in the last two years. that increase is the largest we have seen in about 25 years. t to minimizent no this, but also to keep it in perspective. there is no crime wave, but there is