. >>> general robert abrahams admits he destroyed letters from bowe bergdahl. he decided to send it to a general court-martial instead desertion and ended up captive by the taliban for five years. >>> we have just two more days to check out the beach tampa. the unique exhibit is a giant ball pit that is built in amalie arena. it's built of more than one million recyclable plastic balls. it's open today and tomorrow and that's it. then the beach tampa will be gone. tickets are free but limited. get them at the arena box office starting 9:00 this it's not as hot as the real beach it was still pretty warm inside. >>> the beach is where you want to go. it will be cool in the water as temperatures are still hot. let's talk about the tropical wave. we have a wave, then a depression and then storm, then hurricane. this is still a wave. an open wave so we have a ways to go before we really get into what is going to be happening with this. hurricane hunters are going to fly in, perhaps we'll update this for a tropical depression for today. really impacting with the isla

general robert abrahams admits he destroyed letters he received from supporters and critic of bergdahl. he's the four-star decided to send the case to a court-martial instead of a lower tribunal. bergdahl is charged with desertion from walking away from his post in afghanistan in 2009 and was held captive by the taliban for five years. >>> two women from idaho seen smoking weed in their house with a 3-year-old sitting in between them. this facebook post gone viral shows the two adults passing a joint in front of the kid. then blowing clouds of smoke into the toddler's face. the two women were arrested for child endangerment. investigators are working on adults in the video, a man and another woman. the five-minute video was posted on facebook saturday, since gone viral with several comments. >>> an 80-year-old woman can finally sleep easy after spending decades fighting to get the money that she was owed. wanda whiter moved to washington, dc in 1996 but couldn't find work as a paralegal and ended up homeless living in a shelter. eventually she qualified for social security but disputed

reporting from rfk stadium, i'm scott abraham. roberte rockies, kimberly: do you remember many of your college lectures? robert: no, not one. maybe one. kimberly: it turns out that good looks may lead to good results in the classroom. not the way that you think. university of the nevada conducted a simple experiment with college students and they found they remembered more lectures from professors that they found attractive. they also did better on a quiz than those who do not think the lecturer was attractive. drive research does not this, it is simple hum the study findings are consistent with past research about physical attractiveness. earlier studies found good-looking people are considered more capable, intelligent, and socially skilled. what was the one lecture that you remember? robert: i don't remember -- kimberly: was it the professor? robert: i can't remember, so i guess not. i had a lot of attractive teachers in high school. kimberly: all right. do you remember high school lectures? now we are digging. it is funny, i think ba

maybe if i spent my entire career, not just with grand, with sherman, andrew johnson, abraham lincoln, robert ely, all these different characters -- , withst with grant sherman, andrew johnson, abraham someln, robert e lee people will say -- how many years are you spending? and i often say -- i find that a lot of my best insights into the character come in the first year or so. and then there is a certain familiarity that comes into play and so there is a point of diminishing returns. the longest i have spent was on washington. six years. you do reach this point of diminishing returns. mr. updegrove: is that because you are in and exploratory phase and you are open to new interpretations about it -- about the individual? mr. chernow: it is like meeting a new friend. you have a strong reaction. samuel beckett said habit is the great deadener. you get fresh insights about jefferson. but i do not know that i could do that. so there is something to think about. jon is right playing the field , has its advantages. mr. meacham: i think we dropped the metaphor. [laughter] : you have covered presiden

i'd spent my entire career not just with grant but sherman and sheridan, andrew johnson, abraham lincoln, robert e. lee, all these different characters, i think my reactions would not be as strong as they are because not that i was unfamiliar with these people before but i'm learning them on an entirely different level writing a biography about grant and i sometimes feel -- people will say well, how many years are you spending on the book? and i often say that i find a lot of my best insights coming from the first year or two. there's a point of diminishing returns. the longest i spent was washington, six years because i feel you reach a point of diminishing returns. >> is that because you here in an exploratory phase where you're open to new interpretations abiliti s about individual? is that the reason the first two years are so critical? >> yeah, it's kind of like meeting a new friend. samuel beckett said habit is a great -- and it's something that you've found ways to counter that that you've mentioned to come up over a sustained period of time with fresh insights about, you know, jefferson.

if i had spent my entire career not just with grant but sherman, sheridan, andrew johnson, abraham lincoln, robert e. lee, all of these different characters, i think that my reactions would not be as strong as they are because -- not that i was unfamiliar with these people before, but i'm learning them on an entirely different level writing a biography about grant. i sometimes feel -- because very often people will say, how many years are you spending on the book? and i often say that i find that a lot of my best insights into the character come in the first year or two of writing because that's when my senses are most alive. then there is a certain familiarity that comes into play. so there is a point of diminishing return. so i never -- the longest i've spent i guess was washington, six years, because i feel that you do reach this point of diminishing returns where the person -- >> is that because you're in an exploratory phase where you're open to new interpretations about the individual? is that the reason those first two years are so critical? >> yeah. it is kind of like meeting a new friend.

aspect of general grant's staff, there was a young captain named robert lincoln on his staff, and he, of course, was the son of president abraham lincoln, and he was here in the room. another interesting participant in this ceremony was -- at least, maybe not participant, but a witness to this ceremony was this rag doll of lula mclean, youngest daughter of wilmer mclean. it was sitting on the couch when the officers came in, and they moved it to the mantle during the meeting. after the meeting, some of the officers took the doll off the mantle and began tossing it around. captain thomas moore of general phillip sheridan's staff took the doll home with him as a war souvenir. in the 1990s, the family wanted the doll to come back to appomattox court house and it is now on display in the park visitors center. the meeting lasted about an hour and a half. it was said to be a gentleman's agreement. general grant was very generous with the terms. in the end when general lee said he had nothing to feed his men, general grant ordered rations to be sent to feed lee's army. the men shake hands, general lee departs, goes out into the yard,

aspect of general grant's staff, there was a young captain named robert lincoln on his staff, and he, of course, was the son of president abraham lincoln, and he was here in the room. another interesting participant in this ceremony was -- at least, maybe not participant, but a witness to this ceremony was this rag doll of lula mclean, youngest daughter of wilmer mclean. it was sitting on the couch when the officers came in, and they moved it to the mantle during the meeting. after the meeting, some of the officers took the doll off the mantle and began tossing it around. captain thomas moore of general phillip sheridan's staff took the doll home with him as a war souvenir. in the 1990s, the family wanted the doll to come back to appomattox court house, and it is now on display in the park visitors center. the meeting lasted about an hour and a half. it was said to be a gentleman's agreement. general grant was very generous with the terms. in the end when general lee said he had nothing to feed his men, general grant ordered rations to be sent to feed lee's army. the men shake hands, general lee departs, goes out into the yard,

just as roger tawney is going to be swearing in abraham lincoln and you remember the slightly flubbed swearing in when obama was sworn in by john roberts. these are slightly tense moments. i'm getting ahead of the story a bit. marbury versus madison is conventionally thought as john marshall inn validating act of congress, but the real drama is john marshall against thomas jefferson because marshall's opinion goes on and on about how lawless the jefferson administration has been, in the same way that today's court is being invited to say, well, the obama administration is lawless on immigration policy, and the obama administration was lawless on obamacare and not just in the law, but the implementation of the law, and the obama administration is lawless on some of their carbon rules and the epa. so this is nothing new. it's a feature of the distinct structural pattern of a presidency that's a four-year term with this tidal feature and justices who have life tenure. so marbury is a drama. now flash forward. roger tawney and abraham lincoln. abraham lincoln becomes president by running against roger tawney, by telling everyone who will l

aspect of general grant's staff, there was a young captain named robert lincoln on his staff, and he, of course, was the son of president abraham lincoln, and he was here in the room. another interesting participant in this ceremony was -- at least, maybe not participant, but a witness to this ceremony was this rag doll of lula mclean, youngest daughter of wilmer mclean. it was sitting on the couch when the officers came in, and they moved it to the mantle during the meeting. after the meeting, some of the officers took the doll off the mantle and began tossing it around. captain thomas moore of general phillip sheridan's staff took the doll home with him as a war souvenir. in the 1990s, the family wanted the doll to come back to appomattox court house and it is now on display in the park visitors center. the meeting lasted about an hour and a half. it was said to be a gentleman's agreement. general grant was very generous with the terms. in the end when general lee said he had nothing to feed his men, general grant ordered rations to be sent to feed lee's army. the men shake hands, general lee departs, goes out into the yard,