Families coping with a big loss this holiday after a deadly suicide bombing in afghanistan. He was a good man, a mans man, a gentleman. What were learning about our troops who died in a region growing ever more dangerous. Plus are last minute mall of america shoppers in for another protest like this . A judge bars three black lives matter organizers from todays rally. But will they stay away. Were still going to be showing up. Lets talk live in the cnn newsroom. And good morning. Im carol costello. Thank you so much for being with me. A Christmas Gift for donald trump. He is once again the clear republican frontrunner at least in a new cnn ochl rc poll that shows trump with a 21 point read. And it comes on the heels of a war of words between trump and Hillary Clinton. Clinton accusing trump of a pension for sexism of a sister trump used a graphic term to describe her loss in 2008. I dont know that he has any boundaries at all. His bigotry, his bluster, his bullying have become his campaign. Trump fought back by tweeting the word he used that rhymes with long. He says its a word on which used in world of politics. Joe johns is in washington with more. And the next Republican Debate set for january, will this new poll, the cnn orc poll matter . Well, yeah, it certainly will matter and ill talk about the debate in just a minute. Ity want to possibility out a couple other things on the poll. Favorability ratings, this is kind of important and were always tracking this. So ted cruz is actually on top of the Favorability Ratings with 74 . Hes seen a big increase in the last few months, cruz followed by rubio, trump in third place even though he leads overall. But trump has seen a 20 jump in favorability since september which suggests the Republican Voters are getting more comfortable with him. And this is interesting also on the issue of voters optimism, the Republican Voters optimism about their chances in 2016 with trump in the picture as opposed to without trump. That number has jumped since august by 8 Percentage Points now up to 46 . Another sign that discomfort with trump appears to be easing. Now, as to your question about what this means for debates, the main thing to focus on is that based on the latest polling, it looks like there will be six candidates in the main event. Trump, cruz, rubio, carson, bush and christie. Six candidates in the undercard debate, rand paul, john kasich, carly fiorina, mike huckabee, Rick Santorum and george pataki. So the people on the stages are beginning to whittle down especially after the departure of Lindsey Graham from the campaign. All right. Joe johns reporting live from washington. tis the season of mean. Crass is in, too. When was the last time you saw a New York Times oped start with this sentence . Everybody you can fill in the blank there on Donald Trumps jab at Hillary Clinton for her bathroom break during the latest debate. Or this headline in the Washington Post that examines if a word used by a candidate is a male appendage. Or a political cartoon depicting senator ted cruz as santa claus and his daughters as monkeys. We wont show you it because its offensive. The cartoonist said his kids are in her words fair game after that ad. Cruz does not agree, he says hes sickened by the ad and his campaign sent out an email to supporters seeking emergency donations after the controversy. His goal, to raise 1 million off the controversy. With me now, ben ferguson and peter beinart. Welcome to both of you. So ben, ill start with you you and that cartoon. Offensive . Cartoonist says no, ted cruz is raising a million bucks off it. The cartoonist is an idiot and even the newspaper pulled it. They should have never run it in the first place. Youre talking about a 4 and 7yearold and for them to justify this by claiming that, well, he used them in his own parody, he didnt mock his kids in his parody. He did not make them look like monkeys. And they obviously enjoyed being in that saturday night life type skit in one state where they ran this. But obviously this shows how biased and it will play right into what ted cruz is saying about the media towards him. It was a really dumb juvenile mistake. They would have never run this or done this with the first daughters. And they shouldnt have. And they knew it was wrong and for him to go out and say this is what were up against if you want to support my campaign, this is the time to do it because this is what were fighting against, i think its a smart move for him and they should have run this in the first place. Yet they did. And the only reason why they pulled it is because there were so many people outraged. They didnt mind doing it yet they did it anyway. Both democrats and republicans spoke out about this. Kids are offlimits. Although i will say that the fact that ted cruz is raising money off a controversy that involves his children is kind of weird. Sure, but yeah, i think thats a little darky, but the paper shouldnt have done it. I dont buy the idea that it wouldnt have been done by a democrat, but the point is politicians trot out their kids because americans want to see that they have a family and it doesnt mean that their kids should be in any way mocked or ridiculed. So the post made a mistake and i think they were right to immediately pull it. And i think as a general rule politicians can trot out their kids, but journalists should not make fun of them. So democrats are saying this is the most crass Nasty Campaign ever, which may or may not be true. But the words being used during this Campaign Season are a lot more crass than the words being used in the last Campaign Season. So is this just what we should get used to . I dont think so. And i think the words that are being used are only really being used by one candidate and that is donald trump. And ill be consistent the same way that i just criticized the Washington Post for what they did with ted cruzs children, hes the one that is going there. None of the other people in the field are going there. So if we want to criticize somebody, lets make it very clear its one individual. Donald trump understands on you to get under peoples skin. And i think he real lies that there is pretty much nothing that he can say that necessarily will hurt him with his core base of supporters. So he keeps pushing that limit because it doesnt seem to be hurting him. The problem is from a political standpoint with his campaign and what they should be understanding is the more you go there, the more you max out your ceiling of your supporters. And i think that is where hes got a problem right now is can you add people to your current numbers. Can people get over this if you win the nomination going into the general election. Thats why people a lot of people are backing ted cruz now and you see his rise in the poll numbers is because people are seeing that, yes, donald trump is connecting. Yes, people think he can fix the economy. Yes, they believe he can go after isis. But there is a lot of people that just think hes flat out too crass to be the commander in chief and the president. But peter, you heard what joe johns says. The poll also shows that many republicans are becoming more comfortable with the trump candidacy. But the problem is what happens when it becomes a two or three person race. I do think there is this ceiling. 30 or 40 is really great in an eight or nine person field, but. Ly eventually can fructrump g 50 . I think the best thing for trump is to remain a threeway race throughout. But the more the field whittles, i think the more you will see an antitrump vote basically going to whoever is still left standing. I will to leave it there. Thanks to both of you. New this morning, the u. S. Stepping up efforts in the fight against isis. Cnn has learned a small contingent of special forces is now back on the ground in Northern Syria guiding local fighters as they battle the terror group. Barb practice braarbara starr i following that story. Reporter as announced by the pentagon policy that was articulated several weeks ago now indeed a number will of special Operations Forces back in Northern Syria. They were always expected to go back in that area helping advise local fighters in Northern Syria how to counter isis. Pentagon very sensitive about it all, not announcing it, not talking about hair locations or the numbers of troops. But again, it was something that they had publicly said they were going to do as part of the overall effort to step up u. S. Action against isis. So we are seeing some efforts stepped up again in syria even as you and i have been talking, that battle across the border in ramadi continues as iraqi forces try to get that city back from isis. All right, Barbara Starr reporting live from the pentagon. Thanks. Violence hits jerusalem. Three people have been wounded at the jaffa gate in the old city. Two were stabbed, another shot. The latest about in a wave of attacks that has left both israelis and palestinians dead. Oren liebermann is in jerusalem with more. Good morning. Reporter good morning. All of this started just a couple hours ago outside the jaffa gate. The jaffa gate leads into the christian quarter. So especially at this time of the year, it is a very busy place. Police say two palestinian attackers came up to that area, stabbed two people, three were injured, thats because Israeli Police say one of those was injured with gun fire, perhaps by Israeli Security forces shooting at attackers. One was shotted a killed at the scene, the other taken to a hospital where he later died. Of the three injured, two were seriously injured, one moderately injured. Police blocked off the entire area. There were moments of panic as weve seen on the video there right after this happening. Again, a very busy area this time of year and weve seen because of at being as because of ongoing clashes, violence and tension, decrease in tourism here. And that perhaps the story of the holiday season, what is going on and what has been going on for three months here. Oren liebermann reporting live from jerusalem. Thank you. Still to come, the woman charged with murder for mowing down pedestrians on the Las Vegas Strip heading to court today. Were live there next. Toto the nations capitalut to support an important cause that can change the way you live for years to come. How can you help . By giving a little more, to yourself. I am running for my future. People sometimes forget to help themselves. The cause is retirement, and today thousands of people came to race for retirement and pledge to save an additional one percent of their income. If we all do that we can all win. Prudential bring your challenges® if ynows the time to get your ducks in a row. To learn about medicare, and the options you have. You see, medicare doesnt cover everything only about 80 of your part b medical expenses. The rest is up to you. So if 65 is around the corner, think about an aarp Medicare Supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. Like all standardized Medicare Supplement insurance plans, they help cover some of what medicare doesnt pay. And could save you in outofpocket medical costs. So dont wait. Call to request your free decision guide. And gather the information now to help you choose a plan later. These types of plans let you pick any doctor or hospital that takes medicare patients. And theres a range of plans to choose from, depending on you needs and your budget. So if youre turning 65 soon, call now and get started. Because the time to think about tomorrow. Is today. Go long. The woman who plowed through pedestrians on the Las Vegas Strip appears in court today. Lakeisha holloway is accused of killing one and seriously injuring five others. Her motive remain as mystery, but we do know she legally changed her legal name to paris paradise morton. Stephanie elam live in las vegas with more. Reporter she is facing three felony charm charges including with a deadly weapon, child abuse and effect because when this incident happened on sunday evening, police say she plowed repeatedly into the crowded sidewalk on the Las Vegas Strip, she did so with her 3yearold daughter in the back seat. So thats why shes getting those charges. And the last charge is about leaving the scene of the accident. He is spshl wiespecially when p. 8 00 a. M. Local time will be her first appearance in court. We also believe some of her family members hmay be in attendance. Checking other top stories for you, rescue teams pulled two people alive from a huge pile of rubble and debris in china. They are the first survivors found after a mountain of construction waste collapsed on sunday crushing homes. One of men found later died in the hospital. As many as 73 people are still missing. If youre in nevada or california, you might have seen this overnight, a bright streak of light illuminating the sky. According to the u. S. Strategic command, it was some kind of Russian Space debris that was reentering the atmosphere. So sorry, it was not a ufo. There are threats of tornadoes across the south and southeast this morning, as many as 50 Million People are expected to be in the path of the storms as holiday travelers hit the road. Cities including memphis, nashville and louisville are at risk. Chicago could see flooding and Severe Weather. And were now learning more about the six americans killed by a suicide bomb attack in afghanistan on monday. Staff Sergeant Peter taub is remembered as funny and a good fael man. Leaves behind a 3yearold daughter and pregnant wife. And lewis brother says he lost his hero. He was always a blessing. He was cut from a different cloth, he was a mans man, a gentleman. He loved his family, loved his country. He died doing what he wanted do. He was a real soldier. A real hero. And Adrianna Vorderbruggen was a pioneer in the protest against dont ask dont tell oig. She was one of the First Openly Gay Service members to marry after the policy ended in 2011. Also new york police veteran joseph lemm died at the bombing, too. Flags will fly at halfstaff in his honor. Also Service Member Chester Mcbride of georgia and Staff Sergeant Michael Senko also killed. Still to come, celebrating christmas as an act of defiance. So those of christians will spend december 25 in shipping containers at a refugee camp. Ill talk to sister bann about that. Just about anywhere you can use splenda®. No calorie sweetener. Splenda® lets you experience. The joy of sugar. Without all the calories. Think sugar, say splenda® just as youre taking off for the holidays, were learning about a breach at one of the nations busiest airports. It happened ten days ago. Police at new yorks jfk are trying to figure out how an intruder got on to the tarmac and then slipped away. Lotion of 32, 33. What we have is a male. Roger that. Gate 32. The breach briefly shut down operations as police did a security sweep. Rene marsh is in washington with more. Good morning. Reporter good morning. I mean, you said it off the top, this happened more than a week ago and investigators still are not sure who or where this man is. He was able to get away before police even got on the scene. Investigators are now going through Surveillance Video frame by frame. We do know there are no clear shots of the mans face, but cnn is told that the video shows him from behind as he scaled a fence at jfk. Now, it was a Cargo Airline worker who spotted and questioned the intruder who did not have the required i. D. That is when the trespasser warned, quote, you better not say expletive. The congressman who is representing that district which includes jfk says hes not only concerned, but hes angry. Take a listen. In this day and age when you talk about security, you have to dotis and cross ts. And for someone to be on the airport property jumping a fence or whouhowever they got on with proper credentials, but what is more disconcerting to me is that the person was able to get away. We were not able to retain the individual. So we dont know whether or not they were withere casing the airport, whether they were testing security, what the purpose was. This who doubt demonstrates a hole in security post9 11. We should point out that Perimeter Security is the responsibility of the airport, port authority. A lot of people are planning to fly and theyre nervous about that, especially in light of what youve just reported. So tell me about security at airports across the country. We know a lot of money has been invested not only in the Security Check points inside of the airport, but investments have been made with security cameras and fencing around airports, as well, to prevent situations like what we saw it there at jfk. We know they have fencing with sens sensor, but it doesnt goi away 100 of the airport. So there are gaps. And so things like this can happen. And weve seen this happen at other airports, other major airports across the country. It happens more often than people may realize. But when you see a situation like this, its almost a wakeup call for airports that perhaps areas where there arent cameras or there rrnts sensors in the fencing, they have to make sure that the manned areas, security, keeping an eye out for potential people looking to breach Perimeter Security. Could happen again. That is just the bottom line. They know that it is impossible to make sure that every single inch is secure. And that is just the plain truth, carol. All right. Rene marsh reporting live from washington. Christians are hitting the road getting ready to celebrate christmas. Maybe they will go to Midnight Mass on christmas eve. Or worship as they please on friday, christmas day. Thats the beautiful thing about the United States of america. You can go to church or the synagogue or mosque and pray as you wish. But for christians living in parts of the middle east, targeted by militants, celebrating jesus birth is an act of courage. Simply being christian can mean death. And at this holiest of times, at the need your help. I talked with sister bann, one of the thousands of displaced iraqi christians. She is, in a word, amazing. What is happening to christians is genocide. Thousands displaced by isis, their lives forever changed. You can see in this childs face in a refugee camp under kurdish control, see it in a play put on by refugee christian actors who share a communitys grief on stage. I talked with sister bann over the internet. Can you still hear me . A dough mini can nun caring for christian children at this refugee camp. The connection was tenuous, but we managed. Sister, how do you explain isis to the children . They understand to be very, very dangerous, they would say they would like to be as a s soldier to find isis and we can can go back to our home. Soech t everyone thn the sman want to fight isis as soldiers . Yes, the four to five years children. Reporter millions of people of various religions have fled, among them hundreds of thousands of christians from syria and iraq. Sister donna is president of Catholic Charities usa. August of 2014, august 6 to be precise, isis came in and all of the christians were essentially evicted from their homes. So their contents, their schools, their hospitals, their everything, their mother house, everything was lost. So she left with tthey left wits on their backs and ran from their lives. Reporter they ran from their happy lives, nuns ran from their convent to a refugee camp. They now live in shipping containers, electricity goes in and out. Food is scarce. But they have no choice. So did isis use the usual tactic, you know, either convert conconvert, pay a tax. The sisters would certainly never convert and they didnt have money to be paying taxes. So they fled with the christians. And their desire, which is really courageous from my vantage point, is that they will not abandon their people. Do you want to leave the country or do you want to go back home . Of course we8d we would like to go back home. Because every single day, our first half hour with the children we start with a prayer. So we ask the children what would you like to share with god in your prayer. And they say they would like to go back home. People in the United States want to know how they can help. How can they help the christians in syria, iraq and other places . First we are asking for your prayer because your prayer would help us, we would like to live our lives normally like others in this world. We would like to live our lives in peace because we havent seen peace since we born. And we would like to live in dignity because we lost our d digni dignity. I was so moved that do the me thinking about how fortunate i am to be able to celebrate high patriot as i choose. The me thinking about how fortunate i am to be able to celebrate high patriot as i choose. I wrote an oped called finding jesus everywhere. I hope you check it out. So what is the United States doing about christian persecution in the middle east . Is there anything the United States can do . With me now, peter bergen and general mark hurdling. According to Catholic Charities, in 2006, there were 1. 2 million christians in iraq. Today just 250,000. So general, will christians ever be able to really return home . What i would say is, yes, they will. And this story was very moving to me because i think those individuals and the nun you were talking about are from a little town southeast mosul. It was a town i visited several times when i was stationed in northern iraq. Its very close to the town of sinjar this weve all publicized. So these are various religious sects persecuted by kaed aal qad now isis. Its a beautiful community. They have been there for thousands of years. There are very strong people as you saw. Yes, they will return home. They will been persecuted in the past as have others throughout the middle east. Coptic christians, all the ve e various blends have seen this persecution and all they want to do is go home and practice hair religion. They dont want to come to the United States, they definitely want to go home. T the United States, they definitely want to go home. The kurds are fighting isis, but what if the kurds fail . Well, i think the general is right, all refugees want to return home. The problem is of course that we know that the Syrian Civil War can go on and the iraqi civil war can go on for a very long time. Already in its 12th year arguely and it doesnt show any signs of letting up. Syrian civil war in its different year and doesnt seem to be letting up at all either. Unfortunately the United States is taking a tiny number of refugees from syria and iraq. 1900 so far from syria. Plans to take 10,000 more. So its a very difficult situation. The refugees that are fleeing these conflicts may end up in refugee camps and surrounding countries for a very long time, carol. So general, again specifically, i mean, muslims who dont practice their religion as isis wants to, hundreds of thousands have died. So i know that there is a battle going on in ramadi right now and iraqi forces are trying to overtake that city from isis. But thats just even if they accomplish that, its just such a small thing in a much larger war. It is. And this is all as the arabs say step by step, inch by inch, it will happen. There will be a regaining of dignity for all of these people of different religions and different beliefs. Its just going to take a very long time. As understand, were in the 14th year and the city we talked about has been attacked several times and yet the christians have come back there. There are christian blocks they call them, christian areas in both mosul which im sure has been destroyed now with beautiful churches and baghdad. This is pis biblical territory. Abraham was built in this vicinity, noahs ark built on point s mounts sinjar. And there is a jewish corridor which im sure has been destroyed. And i think its a warning. He we have to pay close attention because were seeing indicators of this in our country. This is a warning to people who say different religions, different races or creeds should be shut out or repressed. This is not what the dig at this time dignity of man is all about. We certainly cant lose it. And that is why its so frustrating to Many Americans that america supports saudi arabia. Its not tolerant of other religions. I understand why the United States needs saudi arabia as an ally, but its frustrating. Well, yes. But the u. S. saudi relationship began right around the time of the discovery of oil, which is standard oil he and he first contract with saudi was in 1932. And we dont import a huge amount of oil from saudi arabia relatively speaking, but saudi did sit on the Largest Oil Reserves in the world so they can effectively set prices. And right now they haves acting very much in american interests. They are not closing down the taps which would raise the price of oil. Gas is at historic lows so that benefits the american consumer. So relations between countries are not like relations between friend s based on common interests and real friendship. Theyre based more on how can country a help me or how can country b help me. And on the other hand, saudi arabia has propagated intolerance of other religions and thats something saudis have to do deep thinking about. I have to leave it there. Thanks to both tof you you for wonderful conversation. Still to come, for four years a mock election in illinois has boasted 100 accuracy in picking who the next president is. So who do they say the next president is this time around is this well talk about that next fp heres a little healthy advice. Eat well, live well, and take of what makes you, you. Right down to your skin with aveeno® aveeno® daily moisturizing lotion with the goodness of active naturals® oat and 5 vital nutrients for healthier looking skin in just one day. Healthy skin equals beautiful skin. And for shower softness, add the body wash, too aveeno® naturally beautiful results® okay funs over. Aw. Aw. Thirsty . They said it would make me cool. They dont sound cool to me. Guess not. You got to stick up for yourself, like with the name your price tool. People tell us their budget, not the other way around. Arent you lactose intolerant . This isnt lactose. Its milk. Bernie sanders is burning the competition when it comes to campaign donations. The democratic hopeful says he now hassed ahad 2. 3 million individual campaign contributions, all of this without a single dollar coming from a super pac. Last night sanders name dropped another top democrat showing how impressive it all is. That is more contributions than any campaign in American History up and to will this point. So obama did very, very well will this both 2008 and 2012. At this particular point, were doing better. We dont have to be dependent on the wealthy and powerful. We can run a Campaign Based on contributions averaging 30 bucks a piece from the middle class and working families. And im proud of that. Despite Hillary Clintons dominant poll lead, her camp appears worried sending this echl mail to supporters after saturdays debate, quote, i dont know how else to say it except by saying it, we could lose the nomination. The other candidates on that stage would like nothing more than than for our team to sit back and relax, but im not taking anything for granted and you cant either. I need your help. The sising on t incing on the ce sanders, a mock election that hasnt been wrong in 40 years declares he, yes, Bernie Sanders will be our next president. With me now is director of the Centennial Honors College in Western Illinois University. He also cocreated this rather reliable mock election. Welcome, sir. Thank you. Its an honor to be be on your show. So tell me about this mock election. Who votes, how is it done . Well, actually ive been doing the Mock Elections since 1975 or so. Started at the university of iowa, then for 30 years at the university of missouri. I came back to Western Illinois University my alma mater and thats when we did a campuswide mock election and we simulate everything from the Iowa Caucuses all the way to the Electoral College vote. Its true lly a campuswide simulation. Our students selected barack obama and our people thought that was unrealistic, but turned out to be right on the mark. So you say you have a 100 success rate. So besides barack obama, what are the other Success Stories . Well, in 2007, we try to do it one year before the actual president ial election. And then we did it in 2011. He won reelection over the Republican Team of romney and ryan. How about that for accuracy. And then this time i dont know how accurate it will be, certainly the students selected Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton in the democratic side and on the republican side, maybe unrealistic, they selected jeb bush, although that was a brokered convention and he won over donald trump. And nobody actually got the majority vote. We had to go with the plurality on that. Interesting. Yeah. So your students think it will be a brokered convention on the republican side. The republican side, they had a devil of a time selecting all the candidates. I think trump did very well. Why can jeb bush do so well, you might ask, is because he sent in a video clip promoting western. We had an Outstanding Group of student leaders particularly their campaign manager. And they were able to pull together a coalition. Now, i dont know whether that is going to hold true in the long run, but you might also note that some of the candidates we didnt think some like bobby jindal and gilmore and pataki, the students long ago saw they were going nowhere, so they gra gravitate toward the more credible candidates as it was. So you say this might spoil your perfect record that the students might be wrong n this case. Where why do you think that . Let me say i thought they would be wrong with barack obama in 2007. Think about the fact that at that time everyone thought Hillary Clinton was the oddson favorite to win the nomination and the presidency. What i found out in 2007 is that barack obama appealed to young people and hillary didnt even get very much traction among the feminists on the campus, which is a signal that she has to be very careful. Same thing this last year in 2015, in october, she failed to get a lot of traction among young people. Bernie appeals to them. My generation grew up thinking capitalism and entrepreneurship is the way to go. Their generation is hearing about social justice. And when Bernie Sanders talks about free education, Free College Education and universal health care, it strikes a chord with a lot of student struggling to get through school. So dont underestimate his appeal. Im not and i hear you, but the appeal of barack obama was twofold, right . They liked his policy, but he was a trance sformational candie and that excited them enough on go to the polls and young people notoriously do not go to the polls. Youre right about that, but we have an old saying in politics. There is no substitute for experience unless youre 19 years old. Thats because 19yearolds will help you you with campaigns. They will canvas, they will do phone banking, do a lot of things to help candidates get exposure out there. And youre right about their voting turnout. I think with the democrats this year, they will have to do well among young people. And bernie is doing particularly well. On the republican side, even though jeb bush did not win on our mock election, he still got a lot of the popular vote. And final thing ill say, ours is an exercise to teach students about the process. We engage thousands of students across the campus. We had students from music, art, rotc, economics,ing a agri culture. If it comes out that we predict successfully thats an after thought. So our main concern is the process. Youre a good man. Thanks so much for being with me. Still to come, despite legal efforts to keep them out, protestors say theyre heading to the mall of america. But not everybody can show up. Well talk with one black lives matters organizer who was barred from todays protest. Toto the nations capitalut to support an important cause that can change the way you live for years to come. How can you help . By giving a little more, to yourself. I am running for my future. People sometimes forget to help themselves. The cause is retirement, and today thousands of people came to race for retirement and pledge to save an additional one percent of their income. If we all do that we can all win. Prudential bring your challenges® all right. Could we be in store for a santa rally . The dows, well, its not exactly going crazy, but its going in the right direction. Christine romans is here to talk about that. Yesterday it was up 166 points. You recall last week it was ugly. Its been eight days of tripledigit moves one way or another. Ho ho ho or maybe no no no. Whats happening today is youve got Oil Prices Stabilizing and thats whats important. Theres been a crash in the oil market. Now that you have stable oil prices, its good for the energy stocks. Theyre a big part of the s p 500. Theres also this feeling that Portfolio Managers heading into the end of the year positioning into the end of the year trying to figure out where they want to be. The dow and the s p, those are markets right now, the dow and s p frankly are lower now for the year. That hasnt happened since 2008. Theres only been one year that theyve been flat. Weve had such a great rally since 2008. So this year was definitely a pause in the markets. Theres some feeling if youve got oil prices stable, you could have some buying heading into the end of the year. But i would not bet your Bottom Dollar on whats happening today is whats happening next week because its going to be a little crazy. You know, theres going to be a shortened day tomorrow, no trading on friday. And then next week is another the last week before the new year. So make sure youre diversified. Maybe well rally a little bit here. Nice to see this, at least, above 17,500. Im sure many people will be rushing to the phone to be diversified on this day before christmas eve. Or rushing out to buy gift cards because you forgot to do your christmas shopping. No, i have mine done. Really . I do, too. Ready to go. We are awesome. Next year, thats the first year in, like, five, that ive been ready. Your kids will be happy about that. Thanks for stopping by. In a matter of hours, black lives matter says it will be protesting inside the mall of america, this despite legal efforts to keep the organization out. A minneapolis judge ruling yesterday to uphold the malls restraining order against three protest organizers. But the court ultimately decided it could not stop the entire chapter of black lives matter from going into the mall. The group tweeting this after that court decision. Mall of americas latest overthetop waste of taxpayer money to silence free speech has failed miserably. See you tomorrow. With me is one of those organizers barred from the protest, michael mcdowell. Welcome, michael. Thank you for having me. So why did the judge single you out . Its because, you know, the exposure weve been getting in the media, the folks who have been doing interviews, whos been posting on social media the most, i think theyve just been going off of whos been most active in the public eye. Well, you were part of the protest last year at the mall of america, and you were arrested, right . Actually, i was not arrested. I was just charged. There were 25 folks who were arrested that day, but the 11 organizers who were charged, we were never actually apprehended and arrested. Yeah, you were charged with trespassing and later the charges were dropped. But the protests closed down the mall of america for, what, two hours. Yes, it did. Okay. So this time around, even though the court has barred you from protesting again at the mall of america, youre going to go . So myself physically, were not putting that out publicly whether the three of us who have been barred if were going to go, but were just making it known that this was a terrible, you know, failure by the mall of america to try to control free speech and try to dictate, you know, how we can exercise our First Amendment rights. So were looking at this as a win because we cant physically be there, but, you know, black lives matter is still going to show up at the mall. So did this whole Court Procedure stir up even more interest among protesters . I believe it did. Because i think it just blatantly showed, you know, how far corporations will go to try to silence, you know, free speech and peaceful protesters. So i think ultimately it just got more folked riled up and built more support for black lives matter. Business owners are concerned, they make lots of money at this time of year. Its their livelihood. They count on that, right . So is your organizations mission, again, to shut down the mall for a period of time . I mean, thats honestly hasnt been our mission. We didnt shut down the mall last year. That was Law Enforcement, you know, cops showing up in riot gear, inciting violence, and ultimately shutting segments of the mall down themselves because they said they thought we were going to loot and steal. You can see last year with the protests, it stayed very peaceful, nonviolent and we were able to get our message across. Well check it out later this afternoon. Michael mcdowell, thank you for joining me. Still to come in the newsroom, he held up a sign asking for an nfl job. Find out which team took him up on his offer and just signed wide receiver joe anderson. Ab andy scholes is here next. Music thunder clatter by wild cub most weekends only last a couple of days. Some last a lifetime. Hampton. We go together. Always get the lowest price, only when you book direct at hampton. Com its gotten squarer. Over the years. Brighter. Bigger. Its gotten thinner. Even curvier. But whats next . For all binge watchers. Movie geeks. Sports freaks. X1 from xfinity will change the way you experience tv. Carolina panthers head coach ron rif refvera is taking verbal shot at the nfl, and he says his team will not be bringing baseball bats to the field anymore. Cnns andy scholes what a wise man. Yeah. Were talking about nfl football, were also talking about baseball bats. How do these two go together . Well, the panthers this season, they brought a baseball bat on the field before the game for motivation as a symbol to remember to play hard, but theyre not going to do it anymore. Because according to multiple reports, Odell Beckham jr. Says he felt threatened by the panthers players pointing the bat at him. Theres also reports that panthers players directed homophobic slurs at beckham before the game which got him so upset. Coach rivera says those reports are false, to kind of say beckham was acting the way he was. Rivera also said his team is just to avoid any more conflict, not going to bring the bat on the field again. To avoid the set of circumstances, just eliminate it. Thats what its going to do. Now, beckhams appeal of onegame suspension will be heard today. The giants play at the vikings on sunday. And you might remember this next story. Joe anderson, he held outside an nfl stadium that held a sign saying not starving for food but for success. All he wanted was a chance with the nfl. Yesterday he was on the field practicing with the team. A great story. If you persevere, you can succeed. Absolutely. Andy scholes, thanks so much. The next hour of cnn newsroom starts now. Happening now in the newsroom, trumps early Christmas Gift, a bump in a brandnew cnn poll, but Hillary Clinton says give him a lump of coal. His bigotry, his bluster, his bullying have become his campaign. Also, six American Military families coping with a big loss this holiday after a deadly suicide bombing in afghanistan. It was always a blessing to have him in my life. He was a good man, a mans man, a gentleman. What were learning about our troops who died in a region growing ever more dangerous. Plus are lastminute mall of america shoppers in for another protest like this . A judge bars three black lives matter organizers from todays rally, but will they stay away . We are still going to be showing up. Lets talk live in the cnn newsroom. And good morning. Im carol costello. Thank you so much for joining me. Senator cruz is back on the campaign trail no doubt celebrating his surging poll numbers, but not so fast. A new cnn orc poll shows donald trump with a commanding 21point lead. This is a live look from tulsa, oklahoma, the first of two oklahoma rallies that cruz will hold today. Our poll shows cruz is not faring badly, though. He garnered 18 support from Republican Voters, and he tops the republican field when it comes to favorability. Joe johns has more on that poll now from washington. Good morning. Reporter hey, carol. This new cnn orc poll is very much about Donald Trumps huge lead as the choice of republicans for the president ial nomination. If you look at the numbers, weve got trump at 39 , and then if you look at the next three candidates, okay, you did say ted cruz is firmly in second place at 18, but then ben carson at 10 , marco rubio at 10 . You add them all up, Donald Trumps number is bigger than the number two, three and four candidates combined. Real consistency there at the top for trump. Over the last seven months. His largest margin. Now, you were talking about the Favorability Ratings. Ted cruz is actually on top of that at 74 . Hes seen a big increase in the last few months. Cruz is followed by rubio and trump is in third place. But even there trump has seen a 20 jump since september, suggesting Republican Voters are essentially getting more comfortable with him, carol. All right. Joe johns reporting live for us this morning, thank you. I know what youre thinking. These polls are confusing. Yesterday a quinnipiac poll showed trump and cruz running neck at neck at roughly 24 . Last week a fox news poll showed trump with 39 support. And this morning a cnn poll shows trump with 39 support. A Des Moines Register poll, though, done two weeks ago shows cruz beating trump in iowa by ten points. But a usa today poll shows trump is leading in iowa. I could show you more of the polls, but you get the gist. Its confusing, right . So lets talk about that and more. With me, larry sabato, and caylee mcennaanee for above the law. Welcome to both of you. Thanks, carol. Thanks, carol. Thanks for being here. So larry, whats with the polls . Carol, youre absolutely right. Theyre confusing. This is why you need experts like us, and what we wont tell you is were also confused. Look, here is what i think is going on. Its a question of whos being polled . Whos included in the universe of people who are contacted . The cnn poll and some others, contacts, anybody identified as a republican, selfidentified, either leaning or solidly republican. Others narrow it down further to those who are likely to participate in a republican primary or a republican caucus. Theyre very different groups of people. Remember, the republican identifiers are a big portion of america, millions and millions and millions of people. But those who show up at caucuses in particular and primaries as well are actually a subset, a relatively small subset of republicans. Thats one reason. There are many. Thats one reason why we see all of these variable results. So kaylee, you talk to a lot of republicans. What is the sense from republicans about these polls . Which polls do they really buy into . You know, when you talk to republicans, you get an overwhelming sense that this is an outsider election. And i think that materializes in the polls. And while larry, what he said is absolutely right, these polls are confusing. They take different sample sizes. Theres Different Levels of accuracy within all of them. But the one thing i think we can take away both anecdotal with me speaking to republicans and overall is there is an overwhelming trend in Donald Trumps favor nationally. When you average all the polls, he has a 17point lead. When you look to New Hampshire, a 16point lead. So the trend is definitely going in his favor. But i think that ted cruz is right, this is really a twoman race. While trump is trending in a very high fashion, you have ted cruz right behind him. And if cruz can win iowa, hes currently leading when we average the polls by four points, that changes everything. That could shift momentum, and we could see a shift. But this is really a twoman race between donald trump and ted cruz. Okay. So larry, the other thing i think that people should be aware of is when you take a poll and it includes the entire nation, name recognition comes into play, right . Donald trump has huge name recognition. And maybe people, i dont know, in minnesota havent heard much about ted cruz. Yes. This is shocking, carol. But people outside the initial states of iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and the top political activists, they actually havent been paying all that much attention to politics. Now, we know thats wrong. Its terrible of them. We condemn them for it. But theyre normal. And so as a consequence, theyre actually going to wait until the Election Year which i personally think is shocking. You should follow politics every hour of every day, every year. But theyre going to wait. And so were going to see some of these polls change pretty dramatically. Also, remember, its the polls in iowa that matter. And the polls in New Hampshire and the polls in South Carolina because those three states, whether its good, bad or indifferent, get to go first. They matter more than the rest of us. Okay. So i dont mean to throw a wrench into things, but i just wanted to bring this up, kayleigh. Since 1952, the republican candidate who was the main frontrunner in december has ended up becoming the partys nominee. So there you have it. It makes it even more confusing, right . It does make it more confusing, but one thing i think we need to take away from this particular election cycle is its kind of a wild card cycle. You know, we saw in 1964 Barry Goldwater was polling very closely with the number two candidate but pulled out a win in the end, and i think this is similar. Its kind of a wild card election. Trump is bringing in reagan democrats, pulling in voters from new constituencies. Bluecollar workers, factory workers. Hes pulling in new voters. And he himself is a wild card candidate, one that i dont think weve seen since Barry Goldwater or even before then. So this is a different cycle. I think there are intangibles that are at play in this cycle that are not at play in most other elections cycles. Well see. Its exciting for conservatives certainly to have two conservative candidates polling at the top. Okay, well see what happens, youre right. Kayleigh mcenany and larry sabato, thank you. Iraqi forces on the move just about half a mile away from the government compound in the center of the city. If the Iraqi Military can regain control of that city, it would be a symbolic moment in the fight against isis. Barbara starr has more from the pentagon. Good morning. Reporter good morning, carol. A symbolic an important military moment for the iraqis and for the obama administration. Youll recall it was about seven months ago when iraqi forces fled ramadi as isis advanced, and the u. S. Has spent a lot of money in the last seven months trying to train iraqi forces to get ready to take ramadi back. Now the iraqis making their move. We are told the fighting very heavy, very difficult, very slow. And that is because isis has laid ieds, bombs, boobytraps, barricades, all kinds of obstacles that the iraqis are having to dismantle and punch their way through, even houses and buildings in ramadi wired to blow. A lot of concern about civilian casualties as the Iraqi Forces Advance through ramadi. But, again, a very important situation. The iraqi forces had really suffered a huge blow in morale and capability when they fled ramadi back earlier this year. So the hope is now led by the Iraqi Golden Division of special Operations Forces, trained by the u. S. And the iraqis really can eventually get ramadi back. Nobodys predicting victory any time soon. Carol . Barbara starr reporting live for us this morning. Panic in jerusalem. Israeli Police Say Three people were wounded in an attack in one of the most historic parts of the old city. They say two of the victims were stabbed by palestinian assailants. The third was shot possibly by israeli gunfire. More now from cnns oren lieberman. Hi, oren. Reporter hi, carol. An historic spot indeed. This happened just outside the jafa gate to the old city which leads right into the christian quarter, one of the main entrances to the old city of jerusalem and obviously just a couple days before christmas here, a very busy area. Even if tourism is struggling a little bit at this time of year because of whats been happening here the last three months, which is to say the attacks and constant clashes between Palestinian Protesters and israeli forces. But lets take you back to what happened earlier today just outside the gate. Police say two palestinian attackers came up and attacked israelis. Two were stabbed, two are in serious condition, one was moderately wounded. Police say it appears the third of those victims was injured by israeli gunfire as Israeli Security forces opened fire at the attackers in response to this attack. Now, in responding to the attack, police say that one of the attackers was shot and killed at the scene. The other was shot, taken to the hospital and later died. But all of this led to moments of panic outside the old city at a critical time here during the holiday season. As weve mentioned, whats happened here the last three months at this point since october 1st, some 20 israelis have been killed and some 120 palestinians have been killed. That forcing the u. S. To issue a travel warning to this region at a critical time, what should be a very busy time of the year. Carol . All right, Oren Liebermann reporting live from jerusalem. Still to come in the newsroom, the woman charged with murder for mowing down pedestrians on the Las Vegas Strip heading to court today. Feel a cold coming on . New zicam cold remedy nasal swabs shorten colds with a snap, and reduce symptom severity by 45 . Shorten your cold with a snap, with zicam. Just serve classy snacks and bew a gracious host,iday party. No matter who shows up. Do you like nuts . Wheall i can think abouthit, is getting relief. Only nicorette mini has a patented fastdissolving formula. It starts to relieve sudden cravings fast. I never know when ill need relief. Thats why i only choose nicorette mini. The family of sandra bland, the africanamerican woman who died while in police custody, say theyre devastated. After a grand jury decided neither sheriffs officials nor jailers committed any criminal acts. Cnn talked with blands sister. Its been five months since this senseless incident occurred, and what is Crystal Clear and what is the easiest thing in this case is that sandra should have never been arrested in the first place. The same dashcam video that you have access to and that i have access to and that the world has access to is what the Opposing Side and the special prosecutors have access to for the last five months. So to suggest that theres a notion of even more time prolonging the grieving process of this family, dragging it out through the holidays to say that they need more time to bring up charges on the officer, in the 52 minutes that you see the officers encounter with sandy, its very clear that her civil rights were violated and that the officer acted in gross professional misconduct. It has not yet been determined that the officer who arrested bland in the first place will face any charges. The woman who drove her car onto a crowded sidewalk and plowed through pedestrians on the Las Vegas Strip due in court next hour. Lakeisha holloway is accused of killing one person and seriously injuring five others over the weekend. Her motive is a mystery. But we do know she recently changed her legal name to paris paradise morton. Stephanie elam live in vegas with more. Good morning. Reporter good morning, carol. Yes, we understand that she is facing three felony charges. And those charges include one count of murder with a deadly weapon, one count of child abuse, neglect or endangerment. That because police say when she took her car and swerved up onto the sidewalk onto the busy Las Vegas Strip on sunday evening, she did so with her 3yearold daughter in the back seat. And then shes also facing one count of leaving the scene of an accident, which is a big offense here in nevada. You cant even get probation for Something Like that. She is expected to be in court next hour when she will make her first appearance in court. Not clear yet why the judge or why the police here have charged her with her former name, lakeisha holloway, and not with her new name which she just legally changed in october. So its a very recent change but not clear just yet. We also understand that some of her family members may be in attendance. Carol . All right, Stephanie Elam reporting live from las vegas. Despite hundreds of tips, 18yearold ethan couch has been on the lam for over a week now. The teenager known for dodging prison because of affluenza, or being too privileged to know right from wrong, is m. I. A. Along with his mom. The sheriff now vowing to punish couchs mother. We will file a criminal case or cases as serious and with as much punishment for her as we can get. Weve said since day one if shes helping him, if shes helping him evade detention, if she helped him get away which we believe she did, if shes helping him hide, then shes breaking the law so we will file a criminal case against her and push along with the d. A. Whos cooperating with us fully in this investigation, we will push for full prosecution of her, and our hope is that theyll both be locked up for some time, and finally ethan will be held accountage f agageabl agable fo. Couch struck and killed four people for drunk driving when he was 16. The probation officer says he hasnt been able to find him or his mother since this party video surfaced. That young man there is believed to be couch. Still to come in the newsroom, details on a dangerous weather outbreak across parts of the south and southeast today. Plus, buried alive under a massive landslide for three days. A dramatic rescue and a miracle in china. Watching football together is great. But i think women would agree. Huddling with their man after the game is nice too. The thing is, about half of men over 40 have some degree of erectile dysfunction. Well, viagra helps guys with ed get and keep an erection. Ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. Do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain or adempas® for pulmonary hypertension. Your Blood Pressure could drop to an unsafe level. To avoid longterm injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. Stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away if you experience a sudden decrease or loss in vision or hearing. Ask your doctor about viagra. Available in single packs. Even tempurpedic mattress sets getat low clearance prices c, save even more on floor samples, demonstrators, and closeout inventory the year end Clearance Sale is on now at sleep train your ticket to a better nights sleep need i tell us today is one of the busiest Jason Carroll is acting up over there. Hey its one of the busiest travel days of the year. And with as many as 50 Million People in the path of the storms trying to get home for the holidays, it could be a mess. Meteorologist chad myers is in atlanta at the weather center. So hit us carol, ive drawn a spring map on the board behind me. But it is winter. I know, a couple days into winter, but this looks like spring, feels like spring, smells like spring out there. And in fact, ive seen pictures of paper whites and crocuses and things that are popping up in boston and in the berkshires, people are seeing their spring flowers because flowers are confused, obviously. The bulbs are confused here. A threat of Severe Weather, there will be tornadoes on the ground. There already have been some today. Centered, really, over memphis and maybe 200 miles around it. Thats where the bullseye is. But anywhere from chicago all the way to mobile and birmingham as far west as texas could still see Severe Weather today. There is the next 24 hours worth of radar here. It is going to be moving on by. Theres 12 hours, theres 24. The cold air here is bottled up to the west. Breckenridge, colorado, had a foot of snow overnight. So if you are flying to go skiing, you are in good shape. If youre flying anywhere today, its going to be slow because the airports are about an hour behind. A lot of flights are stuck because of the cloud cover. But if youre getting out of the northeast because of the clouds or the wind or the warmth, if youre going to the west, the skiing couldnt be better. Going to the south, the weather couldnt be warmer. In fact, tampa, miami, ft. Lauderdale will be well above 80 degrees for the next ten days in a row. Every dot you see here on the map will be a record high broken today. Theyre all in the east. Theres nothing in the west. The west is cold. Snowy and rainy. And they like it out there because if you dont have the snowy, wet and cold and rainy, youre not going to break that drought in california, and they are trying, carol. Above normal right now for the date in californias sierra snow pack. We havent said that in four years. Wow thats amazing. I dont know whats happening, but its kind of scary and nice at the same time. I know, right . Chad myers, thanks so much. Youre welcome. There have been a pair of astonishing rescues in china this morning three days after a mountain of construction waste collapsed, covering everything in its path. Rescuers found two people alive in the debris, although one died later from his injuries. Cnns matt rivers is in shenzhen where dozens are still missing and their families are hoping for a miracle. Reporter this was a rescue 67 hours in the making. Rescuers pull 19yearold ming out of the rubble that buried him alive. Chinese state media said he had been trapped for nearly three days after this sunday morning. After that landslide, his rescue was as improbable as it was joyful. But for so many others, the search goes on. Dozens gather nearby at a shelter awaiting word on family members still trapped. Shung still stunned by what he witnessed. Translator i saw our house collapsing on the way home, and i simply lost the power to walk. My mind completely went blank. Reporter nearly his entire family, his parents, his wife, his three children, the youngest, a girl just 2 years old, were inside their apartment when the pile of earth and construction debris collapsed. They remain unaccounted for. He now waiting on a miracle. Translator right now it doesnt matter if my family is dead or alive. I just want them to be pulled out. I just want to see them. Reporter as the hours tick by, the chances of his family being rescued dwindle. The mud is dense and tens of feet deep. It will take weeks to clean it up. Translator right now there is only me and my brother left in my family. I have no plans for the future. Reporter he is remarkably stoic in all this, supported by those around him. His friend, yu, went to the scene of the landslide. His feet still caked with mud. Hes upset, wondering who to blame and how this could happen. Translator we anxiously wait for any updates from the authorities. We give them our trust. If they cant be trusted, who else can we turn to . Reporter for he, blame will come later. For now, hes numb. Translator nothing like this has ever happened to me before. I dont know what to think right now. I just want to see my family. Reporter and just like any family man, he shows off pictures of his kids with pride, smiles, moments. He prays hell share once again. Matt rivers, cnn, shenzhen, china. And good morning. Im carol costello. Thank you so much for joining me. Flags at the new York State Office buildings will fly at halfstaff today, honoring joseph lem. Lem is a new York City Police officer, a veteran, a member of the Air National Guard as well. And one of the six americans killed when a suicide bomb exploded in bagram, afghanistan. Cnns Jason Carroll is following that story. Good morning. Good morning to you. Its always difficult when you have to tell these types of stories, but you want to do it because you want to do the best to pay honor to any soldier that has fallen in the line of duty. Now, we have six families in mourning today. Six Fallen Heroes. Youve already heard a little bit about Sergeant Joseph lemm. He surprised his family two years ago when he returned home from afghanistan and surprised his daughter who you see there in that video who was performing at a singing contest. Lemm was a former new York City Police officer, as you heard. New yorks governor said lemm embodied the bravery of Police Officers and soldiers everywhere. Also killed, Sergeant Louis bonacassa, he was 31 from new york. I spoke with his mother briefly last night. She described her son as a hero, someone who loved his family and being a soldier. He also had a daughter who had just turned 5 just a few days ago. His brother is speaking out about the familys loss. It was always a blessing to have him in my life. He was cut from a different cloth. He was a good man, a mans man, a gentleman. He loved his family. He loved his country. He died doing what he wanted to do. He was a real soldier, a real hero. Also killed, Sergeant Peter todd from pennsylvania. His father says he skyped with him just a few weeks ago. He thought his son was in saudi arabia. He now knows he didnt tell his family he was in afghanistan because he didnt want them to worry. A real good personality. He was funny. He was thoughtful. He was a really good family man. You know, loved his wife and i think even more so, he loved his daughter. Major adrianna was also killed. She was 36 years old. She was the first openly gay female activeduty Service Member in the u. S. Military and the first openly gay air force officer to die in combat. She fought for years to get dont ask, dont tell, the policy, repealed and later married her partner. They have a son. His name is jacob. Adding to the list of Fallen Heroes as well, 28yearold Michael Cinco who was a resident of mercedes, texas. And Chester Mcbride, a former football hero from georgia. He was described as a quiet young man who was a class act. They are all class acts. You know, last night very briefly, i spoke with louis bonacasas mother, and she just talked very quickly of how proud she was of her son, how she really wanted him remembered as a hero. They will all be remembered as heroes. Jason carroll, thanks for that. The taliban gaining ground in one afghanistan province. Local Officials Say the district is completely overrun with the exception of a Police Chiefs office. And that the help needed just isnt coming. With me now, former cia counterterrorism analyst aki perez. Good morning. Good morning. So what is happening in afghanistan . How much territory does the taliban control . Well, remember afghanistans about the size of texas. And a lot of these places are mountainous. Theyre there are a lot of mountains, a lot of valleys. So theres a lot of fighting going on in each valley depending on where how strong the taliban is. Remember, its also wintertime. And so youve got snow passes are impassable, its much more difficult to move organizations and troops and men and materiel around. So its actually quite difficult. But were moving into the Spring Season for fighting. And the fact that we only have about 9800 troops, plus about 3,000 to 4,000 additional nato troops to patrol and fight and kind of hold back the taliban, its something thats actually quite difficult. And the fact that those six u. S. Troops were killed near Bagram Air Force base shows that the taliban is willing to project power throughout the country even on the steps of where we have our military forces. I was just going to bring that up because that supposedly is one of the safer areas in afghanistan for u. S. Troops. Generally it is, obviously, on the base itself, its relatively safe because its heavily patrolled, heavily everybody is pretty well guarded. However, it seems to me that the six americans were killed were killed outside the base. And so thats actually quite a difficult part. And thats one of the things that americans sort of have forgotten about whats going on in afghanistan is that we do still have 9,800 americans serving abroad in that country even though technically combat operations has really sort of come to an end. And the things that happen to american soldiers over there oftentimes dont actually make it into the media, but it affects a lot of americans here. So, for example, staff Sergeant Peter taub who you showed just now, his family runs a very popular Sandwich Shop here in washington, d. C. So the things that these people are sacrificing for this country is very, very much. And, you know, one of the more frustrating aspects of this is that you just cant get a good leader. I mean, a good president in afghanistan, you know, hamid karzai left, but he was replaced by a guy who has so far been just as infectual. Reporter we well, thats one of the problems. If you look at the budget of the country, they cannot actually maintain a competent afghan Security Forces on the money that they generate, the tax revenue that they generate here. And so its going to rely on the United States and other partners to actually help the country pay for its troops, pay for their guns, logistics, pay for their air force, all these sort of things. You have have to remember that afghanistan is one of those countries which has a very, very low education low levels of education. So your average afghan cop cannot read at a first grade level. How can that person actually give a ticket or maintain control without using Excessive Force . And the taliban really understands this. And so the taliban is making some very impressive pushes into places that used to be safe and now are not. Aki peretz, thanks for your insight. Thank you very much. Youre welcome. Coming up in the newsroom, ted cruz just commenting on that controversial cartoon involving his children. Well talk about that next. Heres a little healthy advice. Eat well, live well, and take of what makes you, you. Right down to your skin with aveeno® aveeno® daily moisturizing lotion with the goodness of active naturals® oat and 5 vital nutrients for healthier looking skin in just one day. Healthy skin equals beautiful skin. And for shower softness, add the body wash, too aveeno® naturally beautiful results® oh no. under his breath hey man hey peter. unenthusiastic oh. Ha ha ha joanne . Is that you . Its me. You dont look a day over 70. Am i right . Jingle jingle. If youre peter pan, you stay young forever. Its what you do. If you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. You make me feel so young. Its what you do. You make me feel so spring has sprung. A political cartoon sparking controversy on the campaign trail. Ted cruz, senator ted cruz, on the stump in oklahoma right now, speaking out about this cartoon. This appeared in the Washington Post. You see it depicts ted cruz as santa claus. And on the leash there, two little monkeylike figures that supposedly are meant to portray his young daughters who are 5 years old and 7 years old. Now, the cartoonist says she created this cartoon because ted cruz uses his children on the campaign trail often. And if you take a look at what she was talking about, he made this parody comedy ad, if we could put that up. There it is. So you can see ted cruz, and it was quite funny. It got 1. 5 million hits on social media. This political ad ran during saturday night live in iowa. And thats what sparked that political cartoon. Needless to say, senator ted cruz is not happy about that, saying that his kids should be off limits. Lets listen. Its not complicated. Dont make fun of a 5yearold girl and a 7yearold girl. Listen, everyone. Expects the Mainstream Media to be liberal, to be bias. If folks want to attack me, knock yourself out. I signed up for that, but my girls didnt sign up for that. I have to say when people ask me whats the hardest part of the campaign, the single hardest part of the campaign is being away from my daughters is getting up and getting on an airplane and leaving and not being able to kiss my daughters good night, not being able to read them a bedtime story. And so it used to be for a long time the rules across the board, the kids are off limits, that should be the rules. Dont mess with our kids. Dont mess with my kids, marcos kids, hillarys kids, dont mess with anybodys kids. Leave kids alone. And if the media wants to attack and ridicule every republican, well, thats what theyre going to do, but leave our kid as loan. Kids alone. So the woman who drew that cartoon stands by her editorial judgment, but the Washington Post itself said it was a mistake to publish the cartoon. Its pulled it off the website and out of the paper. And just an aside for you, ted cruz is now raising money off the snafu. His goal, and he put this on the internet out to his supporters, is to raise 1 million for his campaign. All right. Lets talk about donald trump now. Donald trump says as president , he would cut everyones taxes, but without increasing the deficit. If that sounds too good to be true, well, you know how the saying goes, it probably is. Cnn chief Business Correspondent Christine Romans has the bottom line on the plan. Its a whole category of impossible math when you look at tax plans of candidates because its totally aspirational. This is candidates saying what they would like to do if everything were perfect, but they cant do it because this just couldnt happen. The Tax Policy Center, that is from the urban institute and brookings institutions, the middle middleoftheroad tax scorer, trumps plan, no, the center says it would add 10 trillion in deficits the first ten years, another 15 trillion in the next decade after that. So it would explode the deficit most likely. He would have to cut so much defense spending and so much spending out of the budget, he has medicare and Social Security are off limits. It just isnt quite possible to be able to balance that. So heres what hes promising. And this is what is the populist appeal of his plan. Hes promising tax cuts for everyone carol. Hes promising millions of American Families who are poor would pay no taxes. Hes saying the middle class would have a 5 savings on their tax bill. The top 0. 1 would have 19 savings on their tax bill. Everyone would pay lower taxes, but somehow you have to pay for it. So this is clear lly a starting point. You also have to go through a little thing called congress when you have tax cuts youd like to push through. This was a fourpage plan that was put out in september. Couldnt he just say well, theres a lot of government waste and a lot of Government Programs that we dont need and start cutting out federal programs . I mean, government waste alone cant get to you those kind of numbers. There are programs that you can take the moral, you know, and policy prerogative and say this is what i would get rid of. He doesnt do this in this document. He doesnt say how he would make that happen. This is familiar territory. Weve seen these kinds of plans that dont quite work out. Theyre trying to tell you what they would like to do and what their aspiration is. The Tax Policy Center saying it is impossible. Everyone would get a tax cut. Rich people would get the biggest tax cut, and youd have to figure out how to pay for it. I will say almost all of the candidates tax plans result in more red ink, you know, they all do. And theres not a lot of details in some of these plans. You know, youve got to wait till you get further thats why the meat around policy is so incredibly important. And on taxes, everyone talks about making taxes simpler. Trump wants three tax brackets. Rubio and cruz want you to be able to file their taxes a 3 x 5 card. Wouldnt that be nice . How . The how is where the devils in the details. Everybody says that every Election Campaign and that never happens. It doesnt. The code is complicated. Everyones got their own lobby and own special interests in the tax code. Is there some hope that maybe corporate taxes could be lowered . Loopholes could be, you know, j jettisonned . Theres always hope. There is. And it is christmastime. Thank you. Youre welcome. Still to come, dr. Sanjay gupta shows us what one new england town is doing to try to stop heroin addiction. Treatments invented at st. Jude have changed how the world saves heres living proof. Rs. Donate now at st. Jude dot org or shop wherever you see the st. Jude logo. Came out today thousands of people to run the race for retirement. So we asked them. Are you completely prepared for retirement . Okay, mostly prepared . Could you save 1 more of your income . It doesnt sound like much, but saving an additional 1 now, could make a big difference over time. Im going to be even better about saving. You can do it, it helps in the long run. Prudential bring your challenges just serve classy snacks and bew a gracious host,iday party. No matter who shows up. Do you like nuts . A recent poll shows the number one concern among New Hampshire voters isnt isis or the economy or education, its heroin. Narcotic addiction has reached epidemic levels across new england. In this series, primary concern, heroin, cnn chief medical correspondent dr. Sanjay gupta reports on one small towns radically different approach to the problem. Reporter it is a mystery. Why exactly in this tiny Fishing Community of gloucester, massachusetts, has heroin addiction become an epidemic . It could be the long and lonely winters. It could be the stigma of addiction and lack of resources for treatment. Whatever the exact cause is unclear. But one thing gloucester has is pills, lots and lots of pain pills. A lot of this addiction came from a very legal and very accepted way to deal with pain. And thats a big problem. Reporter now chief of police Leonard Campanella tells me we could leave the station, walk anywhere, up the north shore, and come back with heroin in just ten minutes. Were finding it all the way up to legislators, judges, Police Officers, sons, daught s daughters, you know, family members. This has no boundary. Reporter so the chief decided on a radical approach, probably best described as the opposite of a war on drugs. He used facebook to make an offer to the citizens of gloucester. If youre a user of heroin or opiates, let us help you. We know you do not want this addiction. We have resources here in the city that can and will make a difference in your life. Do not become a statistic. Reporter we wont arrest you. We will help you. He had no idea if it would work. He had no idea if anyone would listen. He didnt even know if it was legal. Did you hesitate . I mean, did you have any concerns about this sort of strategy or putting it out there . So boldly . No, i think the worst thing they could do was fire me. Reporter did you talk to your wife about it or anybody else before you hit send . No, this was, you know, plausible deniability for everybody is a good thing sometimes. Reporter i want to give you an idea of how this Remarkable Program works. Were here at the Gloucester Police department. If youre someone whos addicted to heroin, you would walk through these doors over here. And right away, you notice that somethings a little different. First of all, you pick up the phone and tell them that youre here because youre a heroin addict. And that would start this whole process in motion of getting an angel assigned to you. But also take a look over here. Your needles, this container over here, your paraphernalia, your drugs, they go over here. When you start to walk through these doors now, youre not going into the Police Station to get arrested but to get help. When we first started this program, it was an end of the war on drugs. And as we started thinking about it, was it really ever a war on drugs, or was it a war on addiction . And i think that we made a statement, at least for our gloucester residents, that seems to have resonated in a lot of different places that we are back to working for people who need help. So theyll come in here. Reporter and the people are showing up. So far this year, almost 300 people have come through the doors. And are now in treatment. And the patients arent just from gloucester. Unable to get the help he needed in california, steven got on a plane and came knocking on the chiefs door. I showed up here at 3 30 in the morning. And the officers, they treated me with respect and dignity like i was a normal human being, not any kind of stigma that society has attached to addicts. And i got the help that i needed. Reporter the story that led steven here was all too familiar. Pills. Did you break your ankle . No, i tore my achilles heel. Reporter pretty painful, i imagine. Yeah, it was very painful. I couldnt walk for a couple weeks. I didnt have a cast, but, you know, i had to problp my leg up. And that just kind of persistently got worse. I was prescribed vicodin, painkillers for that. Reporter how long after you first got that prescription for vicodin after your hurt your ankle before you were taking heroin . 18 months. Reporter 18 months. Give or take a month or two. Less than two years. Reporter i want to make a really important point. These are fdaapproved doctorprescribed pills. This is heroin. They both virtually have the same effect on the brain. The most typical course is someone starts with pills like this, they get cut off, they turn to heroin. Which is an illegal drug, but it works fast. It gets you high. And it is very, very cheap. We now know that 80 of heroin users started off with pills like these. The question always arises, i think, with these sorts of am practi programs, does it enable people to keep doing heroin . Because they think, look, im not going to be criminalized. Ive got a safety net. I can keep doing this. Nobody wants to keep doing it. They want to get better. They havent had the help to get better. This is a chronic relapsing condition. People need help lots of times. We have, as a society, told them that if they relapse, they fail. Weve sent all the wrong messages. So people dont want to continue to suffer. Reporter the chief knows this because he lives this. You were a plainclothesed narcotics detective for some time. You saw these people. I mean, you still see these people, but you really saw them up close, people who were addicted to heroin, who were living that life. We had a mom that was a heroin addict for years. She had a 2yearold son. In her care. We would routinely do search warrants if we knew that she was selling out of the house. And we came in one night, and in the corner was a crib. And was the 2yearold. And walked over just to check if that kid was all right. And he immediately put his arms up, and he grabbed me around the neck, and he would not let go. And he stayed like that for three hours. And so heres this guy coming in, you know, back in the day when, you know, arm to the teeth, you know, ready to go, ready to sniff out drugs with a team of Law Enforcement who spent the night, you know, cradling a child. And that stuck with me for a very long time in terms of, you know, where is that child now, you know . The atmosphere that they grow up in, can something be done to stop this next generation . And where do we start . Reporter dr. Sanjay gupta, cnn, gloucester, massachusetts. And the next part of the heroin series focuses on rehab and the difficult road to recovery. You can catch it tonight on a. C. 360. 8 00 p. M. Eastern. Still to come in the newsroom, a bright ball of fire in the sky over california and nevada turns out, well, what exactly was this . Santa has a magic snow globe for every family. And whatever he puts in our snow globe, shows up at our house. And this year, look at what he put in our driveway. Santa can do that . He sure can, honey. The lexus december to remember sales event is going on now, with some of the most magical deals of the year. This is the pursuit of perfection. Usic thunder clatter by wild cub most weekends only last a couple of days. Some last a lifetime. Hampton. We go together. Always get the lowest price, only when you book direct at hampton. Com new zicam cold remedy nasal swabs shorten colds with a snap, and reduce symptom severity by 45 . Shorten your cold with a snap, with zicam. If you live in nevada or california, you might have seen this overnight. Hmm. A streaking fireball illuminating the night sky. According to the u. S. Strategic command, it was a ufo im just kidding. It was Russian Space debris from a rocket that was reentering the atmosphere after being launched on monday. Thank you so much for joining me today. I knew we had something next. Whats coming next . Oh, producers . Oh. We have a package with politicians poking fun at themselves. Lets watch. Reporter for political candidates being parodied on saturday night live is almost a rite of passage. Look at this guy. Great, great, great, great, great. Isnt he doing fantastic . Reporter but former Vice President ial candidate sarah palin is turning the tables. Shes a tv writer who left a small town for the big city. Reporter yep, that is palin, spoofing her tv lookalike tina fey. Instead of liz lemon, sarah is lynn melon. Instead of 30 rock, this is palins version, 31 rock. Nerds reporter tackling allimportant subjects like the missing snowflakes on starbucks cups. No snowflakes . Reporter and bashing political correctness. The only pc i need is right here. Reporter clinton and palin have been fodder for years. I believe that diplomacy should be the cornerstone of any foreign policy. And i can see russia from my house. Reporter and the two are still favorite targets of the show. Oh, god, that was a real fun election. I was paired up with that cute little john mccain fella, may he rest in peace, im guessing. Hes alive. Reporter but palin isnt the only one enjoying the last laugh. Melon, okay. Heres what you do. Reporter senator john mccain tweeting, i think i like sarahs impression of tina better. Senator ted cruz is also getting in on political satire. Remember that time when he read dr. Seuss to stall a vote on obamas Health Care Bill . I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, sam, i am. Reporter now he has an snl style commercial about it. Imagine the greatest christmas stories told by the senator who once read green eggs and ham from the senate floor. twas the night before the shutdown and all through the house. Reporter looks like politicians are taking the old saying to heart. If you cant beat em oh, geez, looks like i went through time and space again. Reporter join em. Nerds star wars didnt actually change cinema. See . That was worth getting in. Thank you so much for joining me today. Im carol costello. At this hour starts now. Happy holidays and merry christmas. Hello everyone, im kate bolduan. John berman is getting a muchdeserved day off today. We have very big political news this hour. But first, we do need to head to las vegas where any moment now, the woman who police say intentionally drove her car into dozens of people along the Las Vegas Strip, she is set to face a judge for the first time. Lakeisha holloway, you see her right there on the left side of your screen, she faces three felony charges including murder. And prosecutors say more charges, theyre likely to be added as the investigation unfolds. One person is dead after all of this. 37 others injured in that
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