Transcripts For FOXNEWSW Happening Now 20120703

across a huge part of the country, almost a million and a half people are still without power. 22 people have been killed and authorities fear the extreme heat could raise the death toll. jenna: ongoing situation there. ongoing in colorado, fire officials just releasing this video of the waldo canyon fire at its peak. more of this dramatic footage and the very latest on the worst fire in that state's history. jon: the attorney general speaking out on the house vote to hold him in contempt of congress. eric holder says the whole thing is just an election-year attack. those stories plus breaking news all "happening now.". jon: tensions rising right now in the iran nuclear standoff. good morning to you, i'm jon scott. jenna: one of our top stories today. hi, everybody, i'm jenna lee. the extensive war games are happening right now in iran. there is word tehran test-fired a whole bunch of ballistic missiles including one capable of hitting american targets in the persian gulf. the shahab-3 missile can travel 800 miles. we can't forget about our own troops. because rain is-- bahrain is where the u.s. navy's fifth fleet is based. pentagon ordered more american warships into the persian gulf. all this comes days after the european union and its new oil embargo took effect. this is also, just in front of talks restarting on iran's nuclear program and a lot of questions about what those talks will actually produce. national security correspondent jennifer griffin is live at the pentagon. jennifer, what can you tell us about the missiles and some of the war games we're seeing out of iran today? >> reporter: well, jenna this is a shaw hab-3 missile that is capable of going 800 miles. it is capable of striking israel and capable of hitting different american american bases in the region whether kuwait, qatar or bahrain. we have forces based in all three of those places. what is worrisome is the timing of the test. it is clear that the iranians are feeling pressure because the oil embargo from the e.u. went into effect on july 1st but it is not a new missile that they tested and it is also important to point out this missile can not reach the united states. it is not a long-range ballistic missile. but it also is significant because it comes on the heels of the threat in the last 24 hours of legislators in iran who have passed a law saying that they will close the strait of hormuz where all of that oil, the world's oil passes through each day, they will close it to any countries who are a part of this oil embargo against iran right now, jenna? jenna: jennifer, we know the navy has patrols around that area. that is part of some regular patrols that happened but we also understand the pentagon has been quietly sending additional assets so that area? tell us more about that. >> reporter: that's right, jenna. we are not seeing the navy, has not announced it is sending an additional aircraft carrier. it already has one aircraft carrier group in the persian gulf region. another one nearby. they have had a two carrier policy for some time but what we've seen in recent months the placement, for instance, of a f-22 squadron at two different bases in the persian gulf. those f-22s have not been deployed, for instance, in afghanistan or elsewhere in recent years. they are a very significant asset if the u.s. or its allies wanted to strike deep within iran. so the placement of the f-22 is a bit of a buildup as we as the increase in mine sweepers. the navy doubled the number of mine sweepers to eight naval mine sweepers as well as deploying the uss ponce. that was used, remember, off the coast of libya but was reconfigured. there was emergency request for money to reconfigure it into a essentially a floating flotilla. it arrived in recent weeks. it can be used to base special operations forces as well as the navy mine sweepers which would be crucial in keeping the strait of hormuz open should the iranians try to close it. general i can't. jenna: more on this developing story throughout the day. jennifer, thank you. jon: now this fox news extreme weather alert. triple digit heat causing widespread misery and utility crews struggle to restore power to 1 1/2 million people from the midwest to the mid-atlantic, in the wake of those powerful storms that swept across a wide region killing at least 22 people. in richmond, virginia, normally quiet neighborhoods look more like construction zones right now as residents and crews clear away scores of downed trees. others are mourning the loss of loved ones like this woman in north carolina whose friend was killed while cleaning up storm debris. >> he couldn't outrun it. >> i run up to the hospital to see him. he looked like he was sleeping. i've lost people but not like this. told him i loved him. because i still do. jon: folks in hard-hit west virgina are trying to get things back to normal as more than 340,000 people, almost 20% of the state remains in the dark without electricity. in many cases without water. in maryland many folks there hunting for dry ice, trying to save what is left of their food ahead of the july 4th holiday. >> trying to get some ice to go in my refrigerator. >> i think we have $300 worth of food in our fridge. >> the holiday, there is over $750. jon: joining us now on the phone, sergeant michael bayless with the west virgina state police. we heard how bad the situation is in your state, sergeant. is there a bright spot here? is there any prospect for getting that power back on soon? >> well, good morning, jon. we're making progress and the governor's office and his staff are staying onof what. they're doing a fantastic job coordinating available resources and in fact just before i got on the phone here i received a call from the governor's office saying tonight at 5:00 p.m. governor tomlin and many of the state employees will be distributing canned foods at the governor's mansion. jon: overall, what is the biggest problem? is it the lack of power and lack of refrigeration? >> i would say so, yes. lack of power and refrigeration and there is a very big need for ice in a lot of areas as well. jon: i know that in so many of these storms you know the electricity goes out. then you don't have power to pump the gas pumps so people can't get gas for their cars. you can't get gas for generators in that kind of a situation. are you seeing that kind of a problem? >> well the gas stations are, more of them are getting online here and power to them and we're not experiencing as many problems as we did over the weekend. jon: we're looking at pictures of trees that are down and polls that are down. do you still have a lot of roads blocked? >> a lot of roads have been cleared. we still have many so lines down in some areas. again they're making quite a bit of progress. men and women with the power company and everyone else who has been assisting are really doing a fantastic job, working as hard as they can. jon: sergeant michael bayluos with the west virgina state police. we wish you well. i know you have a huge job ahead there. we hope the whole state pulls through. >> thank you. jenna: west virgina is one state among many that lost power from severe storms. the problem is raising a lot of serious questions about our nation's infrastructure. rick folbaum has details from our breaking news desk. >> reporter: what a mess. folks are outraged they would be without power for a long time. not that anybody in washington is talking about what it would take to keep it from happening again. spending is loaded word in the capital where federal deficits stand. not investing for the power grid could be a national security problem. a former official in the bush white house says these power outages keep officials up at night making the country vulnerable to any kind of attack. it was after hurricane katrina the federal government began preparing for all hazards approaches meaning a plan for manmade and natural disasters. for updating the power grid, has components which date back to the days of thomas edison, the obama administration allocated $11 billion toward that effort. a third of that dedicated building a grid with new smart technology. how much of that money has been spent? a small fraction. less than 1.4 billion overall. the rest of it held up in washington red tape. meantime lawmakers are home for the july 4th holiday while people who live full-time in the beltway and other mid-atlantic areas, powerless in triple-digit temperatures. the problem is getting worse, jenna. major power outages more than doubled in the last decade. we all pay for them no matter where we live. a study from the university of minnesota found power outages and disruptions cost the u.s. economy between up to $188 billion each year, making that $11 billion power grid update seem kind of cheap. back to you. jenna: a problem you don't really think about until there is a bad storm and no one has power. then it is a little too late to think about. hopefully we're more proactive. rick, thank you. >> reporter: sure. jon: while while utility crews work to get power back on more trouble could be on the way. dangerous heat seems like the norm in large parts of the country and new areas could get slammed with more severe storms. meteorologist maria molina has the latest from the fox weather center. >> jon, good to see you. unfortunately we're looking at a long stretch of hot weather across a big part of the country stretching from the rockies to the east coast. we're expecting warm temperatures to con in place through at least this friday. you have several more days to go. hopefully people get power back real soon. look at temperatures for today. more triple digit numbers across the state of nebraska. north florida they are expecting a high of 101. rapid city, 105 degrees and 105 in miles city in montana. hot temperatures continue to linger. 100 as well in wichita and kansas city and across portions of the ohio valley and tennessee valley we're continuing to see high temperatures as well in the upper 90s like in chicago and st. louis and nashville. expecting a high temperature at 97 degrees. when you factor humidity it feels hotter. heat index values are well over 100 degrees out here. we have a number of heat advisories stretching from parts of south dakota and nebraska to parts of west virgina. many states under some form of heat advisory or excessive heat warnering which means you're looking at dangerous levels of heat. for tomorrow, big holiday, 4th of july. a lot of people will head outdoors for picnics and barbecues. the heat will still be in place. in minneapolis you expect a high temperature of 100. that will be high temperature, not just heat index value. 103 in kansas city. memphis expecting a high temperature of 101. d.c. you will be in the 90s again. widespread temperatures in the 90s across the state of virginia and maryland. otherwise we more storms and showerses firing up. and they will produce storms in mon tan, north dakota and parts of the great lakes. that is north of that ridge of high pressure producing heat across the country. jon? jon: lots of hot air everywhere looks like. maria molina thanks. jenna: that heat is certainly not helping the wildfires at all. a big story for us today as we take a look and continue to look what is happening in colorado. crews are losing a key tool to fight the fast-moving flames. we'll tell you why. jon: also the house of representatives voting to hold the nation's top prosecutor in contempt of congress. now attorney general eric holder says he knows the real reason behind it. he claims it is not only about documents in the "fast and furious" investigation. why he says it has to do with president obama and the upcoming election. we're going to go in depth on that. jenna: plus the supreme court's landmark ruling on health care, why it is leaving many states in a very sticky situation. we talked to the attorney general of texas next. hi. we're spreading the word about new honey bunches of oats fruit blends and their unique taste combinations. like peach/raspberry. with one flavor in the granola bunch and one on the flake. two flavors. in harmony. honey bunches of oats. ke your day hes better. jon: new information on a story we brought you yesterday on those terrible western wildfires. we're now learning two crewmembers died in the crash of that c-130 aircraft we told you about. the big plane went down while fighting to contain the wildfires near edgemont, south dakota. as a result of the crash the air force is grounding all c-130s helping the firefighting effort, leaving crews across the west without one of the key tools they use to put a stop to the flames. look at what they're dealing with. this is brand new video shot by firefighters of colorado's wall dough fire at its peak. it is now 70% contained. but the wall dough fire -- waldo fire damaged 350 homes. giving many their first opportunity to see the damage from one of the worst fires in colorado history. jenna: that is incredible images there. we'll move a little south to texas now. the supreme court's decision upholding most of the president's health care law leaving many states with some tough decisions right now to make. specifically on deciding whether or not to accept of dollars in new funding starting in a few years, in 2014 to cover an expansion of medicaid. that is the federal state insurance program for the poor. joining me now, texas attorney general greg abbott. general abbott, nice to have you with us today. >> thank you, jenna. great to be with you. jenna: you said in an interview you're in the process of evaluating another potential legal challenge to the law. what do you mean by that? >> we already have one additional legal challenge to the law. it is a lawsuit we filed along with some other states and some other parties earlier this year challenging the federal government's regulation issued by health and human services forcing certain reledge just-based organizations to implement measures and provied products contrary to their first amendment freedom of religion beliefs. that is one that is already existing. we'll be looking at others, jenna, because the devil is in the details of health care mandates. as new rulings are issued it could violate american's constitutional rights. jenna: you think your strategy to go after the law, now that the supreme court had the ruling about this big ruling overall on this 2400 page document, is that your strategy, now, to go after the law piece by piece? >> well, the strategy is to make sure that the rule of law is upheld and that americans and states constitutional rights are not trampled. anytime we see regulations issued by the agency's trying to implement obamacare, that violate the constitution it is our responsibility to file a legal challenge to those regulations. and so now that we have passed this first stage, the first court ruling it is incumbent upon us to make sure that the law is implemented in a constitutional way but, jenna, one last point here, and that is americans today are facing something they were not facing this time last week. that is a new, huge, tax mandate on them. americans may have pushed back against their politicians more had they been aware that obamacare was really an obama tax. so we'll have to be taking a look at the tax consequences of this legislation. jenna: so americans will not have to pay that tax though, if they do have insurance. one out of tour texans is without insurance right now. the way in theory this is supposed to go, those without insurance can turn to the state exchanges and find affordable health care. it is up to the states how they set up those exchanges. general abbott, will the texas government set up the exchanges so small businesses and individuals can shop and find affordable insurance? >> well, we still believe that it is putting the cart before the horse because, this is a tax law now, it is different procedurally in the united states senate than it was before it was a tax law. when you consider as i understand it, this can go through the reconciliation process. when you consider that americans may push back against this tax law more than they would have before, you can see the prospects all of obamacare, all of the new obama tax could be brought down four months from now after the election. we don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves and put the cart before the horse and in reality the law may go away in a few short months. jenna: so you have a blueprint just in case? >> we are evaluating the issues whether or not texas should have to spend more tax dollars, engage in more government programs. that is just kind of not the pathway that texans believe is the appropriate pathway. we believe more in limited government, spending fewer tax dollars. we need to find a way to deal with the overwhelming mandates from washington consistent with our philosophy here in texas. jenna: we look forward to have you back especially with your background as a judge as well. important we stay close and continue to follow your pathway here as we move ahead towards the full implementation of this law. thank you for your time today. >> thank you, jenna. jon: one of the big concerns in this country right now, the unemployment rate. it now stands at well, more than 8%. could be even worse though because get this, some folks out of work are not even being counted. jenna: that is always tough. the numbers don't always tell the complete story. jon: no they don't. jenna: eric holder coming out swinging against the contempt vote against him. the attorney general says it has more to do with politics than anything else. we'll have a fair and balanced debate on that coming up. the postal service is critical to our economy, delivering mail, medicine and packages. yet the house is considering a bill to close thousands of offices, slash service and layoff over 100,000 workers. the postal service is recording financial losses but not for reasons you might think. the problem ? a burden no other agency or company bears. a 2006 law that drains $5 billion a year from post office revenue while the postal service is forced to overpay billions more into federal accounts. house bill 2309 is not the answer. jon: some new developments on the job front now where the may unemployment rate stands at 8.2%, and the numbers for june not expected to change when they are released this friday, well that makes it the longest stretch which exceeded n more than 60 years. and while the numbers sound bad, it is really even worse than you might think because a lot of folks without a job aren't even counted anymore. jeff flock has their story in a preview of the fox special, out of work. so, jeff, why don't they count everyone who is unemployed? >> you would think you would but, jon, there are actually six separate measures of unemployment in this country. we hear that 8.2 pig. that is something called u-3. if you're out of work and looked in the past four weeks. what happens if you have given up looking? what happens if you're a part-time worker wants to be full time but can't find a full-time job? you don't get counted. what if you're sick and unemployed but can't look for work? that is goes into something called u-6. that is more than 14%. that is historically a great premium to the actual unemployment rate. in other words there are a lot more people who dropped out of the labor force and not getting counted and it is a real problem. jon: what else did you find as you put this report together? >> reporter: well, yeah, the, a couple things, you find that the unemployment rate is actually based on a survey. it is not based on real actual numbers of everything. it is just a government survey. there is some question about the accuracy of it. we found people, that is the best way to tell a story, somebody, a woman who spent a career managing million dollar a yearbook stores, who found herself shelving books at borders. another guy who had been a court clerk in west palm beach, florida. flew down there to talk to him who just can not find another job and, is, days away from going out on the street. and another guy in milwaukee, a guy named pete, about the most apolitical guy in the world but spent his life repairing typewriters, and is not a not not a bright guy but can't can't find work. very apolitical but he just wants to work. he got up every day, put on a tie and searched for a job. the best he could land years, years later was a emit job only to lose it to a knee injury. he became uncounted. >> thank you, everybody, god bless you. god bless america. >> reporter: when president obama held a rally back in february he took a sign he had made saying, i want to work. you don't look like a protester to me. >> i'm not protesting. i just want to get back to work. there is going to be people like me that will work no matter what. >> reporter: it's funny, a lot of these people we talked to, jon, we sometimes make this political and it is no political at all. they feel as though politicians on both sides of the aisle don't get it, don't understand how serious the job problem in this country is. jon: a lot of people take a lot of pride in their jobs. when you don't have one, that pride takes a real hit, doesn't it, jeff flock? >> reporter: absolutely. these guys are my age. a lot of these guys they profiled are my age. if i lost my job right now, where do i go? am i asking do you want fries with that? jon: young people coming out of college can't find work or working counters at a food joint or something. jeff, thank you. >> reporter: thanks, jon. jon: the special, "out of work" hosted by lou dobbs at 9:00 p.m. on fox news general. jenna: attorney general eric holder is fighting back after the house voted to hold him in contempt of congress. he is accusing republican as quote a proxy to attack the president. we have a fair and balanced debate on that. is he right? iran doing major sabre-rattling as new crippling sanctions hit their economy. what it means for our troops in the region and our security here at home. a question we'll tackle just ahead. jon: attorney general eric holder blasting his gop critics after the house voted to hold him in contempt of congress last week. that for not producing documents related to the failed gun-running sting, "fast and furious". he says, quote, i've become a symbol of what they don't like about the positions this justice department has taken. i'm also a proxy for the president in an election year. you have to be exceedingly naive to think that vote was about documents. house oversight committee chairman darrell issa disputes holder's claims, saying quote, as often as holder has tried to cast himself and his other controversies as the reason for the investigation he still doesn't acknowledge the simple truth. the citation for contempt had his name on it because the lawfully issued subpoena for documents issued nine months ago that his department didn't comply with also had his name on it. joining us for a fair and balanced debate, former campaign manager for governor mike huckabee's campaign, chip saltzman, and advise soar to pennsylvania senator bob casey, donna o'donnell. donna to you first. the attorney general insists that he did everything he could to quash this fast and furious program once he found out about it. that it was bad policy. it shouldn't have happened and that he took care of it. if that is the case, if he did everything by the book, why not just release the documents? >> well, i think that probably there are a number of reasons not to and i'm loathe to speculate on what those reasons might be but what i was so struck by, i did watch the proceedings that were chaired by darrell issa and i was stunned by the tone and tenor of that inquiry. chairman issa was repeatedly requested by his colleagues on the committee to permit the attorney general to answer the questions. the questions turned out to be speeches in which chairman issa articulated very high rhetoric and it was highly inflammatory and clearly not seeking answers. so i think, i think i would begin with, what really was the purpose of those hearings that resulted in this contempt citation? jon: well, chip, the republicans say that it is to get to the bottom of a program that led to the death of you know, immigrations and customs enforcement agent. >> yeah, no question. this is a pretty simple investigation. what did the attorney general know and when did he know it? the reason he doesn't want to let the documents go because that would tell us what did know and when did know it. and this is very serious and i think it is a little bit, kind of gets me frustrated when the attorney general says he is proxy for this president for attacks. this president, has done plenty on his own for us to attack him on. this is about the attorney general. this is about the department of justice. this is about the politics in the department of justice. more importantly this is what the attorney general didn't know and what he knew and when he knew it and what he isn't telling us. jon: chip, you worked for mike huckabee, chief executive of arkansas and presidential candidate himself. doesn't a president have a right to exert executive privilege and protect documents from the legislative branch? >> there is no question the president has the right to do that. but in this case we're talking about the life of a border agent. we're talking about a program that has gone wrong. we're talking about a program that was tracking guns. those guns tracked back and killed one of our citizens. that is wrong. congress is doing its job to investigate exactly what the department of justice knew, when did the attorney general know it, what did he do about it and to do that we need the documents. documents are there. he hands them over and figure out the truth. if it is as the attorney general says it is okay. jon: donna, let me give you this quote from the attorney general. he says, i came to washington in the late '70s. people had the ability in the past to have intense policy differences but didn't feel the need to question the other person's caringer. that is where we are now in washington with one part of the republican party. that is what they do almost as a matter of course. i remember, some of the criticism hurled at alberto gonzales when he was attorney general in the bush white house. some of that was very personal and came from the democratic side. is the attorney general protesting too much here? >> no, actually i was going to suggest the latter. that the protestations of the chairman and others would be more credible if we had seen similar protestations by them when president bush invoked executive privilege on six different occasions. in those instances some of those citations were very serious. i mean we're talking about having the cover of agents involved in covert operations in other countries blown. we're talking about secret meetings that were held with former vice president and no one could gather any data. there were a series, in those six executive privilege assertions by president bush, there was no protestations by chairman issa, by any of the other republicans who were now so focused on challenging this attorney general and being so aggressive. i mean no one in their right mind could have watched those hearings and not come to the conclusion that this attorney general has come to. i think it is completely reasonable for him to, to lay out the case that this really is a proxy attack on the president. jon: all right. chip, if you watched the hearings what was your take on what was going on there? >> yeah. i did watch the hearings. i didn't watch all the hearings. watched most of it. i have other things to do eight hours a day but it is, it was exact opposite. i thought chairman issa, did he go after the attorney general? absolutely. was he tough on him? absolutely. because this is important issue. it is very serious and american people demand to know and they should know what happened in this case with the "fast and furious". the attorney general's blocking it. just absolutely unbelievable he is not turning these documents over. i have a lot of respect for donna but i think her memory is little short in fact during the bush years this committee was very active in going after everything in the bush administration that moved. and think makes this case the republicans have been very serious about what issues they're going after and i think one is incredibly serious because took the death of one of our citizens on our border to bring this to light. jon: we'll continue to watch as these committee hearings and the battle over the documents goes on. thank you both. >> thank you. >> thank you. jenna: commuters in detroit hope their public transportation nightmare is over. for years they had to deal with a system so broken many buses never made it out on the road. and those that did were usually late. the entire system was deep in the red but now, now a turnaround maybe? steve brown is with us with more. steve? >> reporter: jenna, public transportation systems, trains and buses are vital for cities but often they lose money. that is actually the rule of thumb for most public transportation systems but detroit's amazingly is running in the black. about six months ago a company by the name of transpro was brought in with the task of taking a reduced budget and finding a way to make the bus system run better, more efficiently and not at a loss. they managed to do so but they have also managed to cut a lot of bus service including buses that did not have a lot of ridership. have a listen. >> you're constantly trying to make sure you're putting service out on the street that meets market demand. it makes no sense to run a bus with three people bouncing around in it. some people would call that a cut. we call that putting service out in a way the community wants to take it. >> reporter: but last month the bus system, a reduced bus system, smaller bus civil, much more efficient bus system saved or was in the black by a million and a half dollars. still the reduced number of buses on the streets has rubbed some of the customers the wrong way. have a listen. >> i understand the city of detroit is in a deficit, you know. it is trying times for everybody. but if you make it difficult for the working man, then you're hurting the economy already because he can't get to and from where he needs to get to be able to provide for his family. >> reporter: keep in mind this was a city that had to reach out to the state of michigan for a $132 million infusion of cash to keep from going bankrupt. now mayor dave bing says the city needs to keep moving forward in an austerity type of budget if it is going to actually stablize its finances and be able to do things on its own but at least for now the city bus system which had run in the red is running in the black. jenna. jenna: steve, thank you. jon: there's a major debate underway right now in texas. with serious implications for the entire country. it is all about the growing use of taxpayer dollars for weight loss surgery. our medical panel weighs in just ahead. is this a good idea or not? also, rick here with a look ahead at the very special guest we have coming up next hour. rick? >> reporter: jon, we've been you can tracking this story of staff sergeant travis mills gravely wounded while fighting for our country back in april. so many are inspired by his bravery and his optimism. a quadruple amputee, he has one of the best outlooks on life of anybody we ever met. we want to introduce him in person. coming up next hour of "happening now", sergeant mills live in our studios. send us your comments and questions on twitwer. at jenna fnc for jenna's account or at happening now for the show account. we'll have more of "happening now" after a quick break. don't go away. jon: let's take a look at some of the brand new stories coming up next hour. a man protecting his home nearly loses his life during a brutal home invision. the incident all caught on tape. police are asking for the public's help in finding suspects. amid growing drug violence along the mexican border the u.s. is employing gun boats in the rio grande. we'll tell you how they're trying to keep the region safe. a major ruling whether the government can look at occupy new york organizers tweets. what does it mean for your privacy on social networking sites? our legal panel has thoughts on that next hour. ♪ . jenna: famous beatles song goes, if you drive a car i will tax the street. if you try to sit i will tax your seat. our next guest says the supreme court's ruling on the health care law is a huge new tax that created a quote, vast new federal power. judge andrew napolitano is fox news senior judicial analyst. judge, did you always take all your inspiration from beatles songs? is that our take away here? >> that is great question, jenna, i did not. they happen to have been right on the mark with that one. jenna: let me ask you here, what has changed? from last week at this time to this week, last week we didn't even have the health care ruling yet. what has really changed as far as law and federal power in your opinion? >> the supreme court has invited the congress to regulate private behavior, behavior that is not delegated to the congress and the constitution to regulate so long as it uses its taxing power to do it. so when justice scalia jokingly said during oral argument on the health care case about three months ago, since the government may be paying my medical bills, can the government force me to eat broccoli, the lawyer representing the government said no. now under the supreme court opinion from which justice scalia of course dissented, the government can order you to eat broccoli and fine you if you don't by calling the fine a tax. so this opinion concocted by the four most liberal, progressive members of the court and one who we all thought was a conservative, basically gives power on a platter to congress, power it never had before, power it never exercised before, power that god only knows what it will do with come september. jenna: judge, when we do our taxes in april already think congress has a lot of power as far as taxes go and different taxes we have to pay. on your legal expertise here, what can possibly challenge the law, or, restrain it so it doesn't eventually become an argument for a taxes us if we don't eat broccoli for example? >> when we pay our taxes in april, we're paying taxes on income that we earned. we went out and earned it. when you put gas in the car you're paying tax on gasoline you bought. if you use tobacco products you're paying federal taxes on tobacco products you purchased. in each of those cases you are affirmatively engaging in behavior that you know is taxable but this is the first time in the history of the country that the court has permitted the congress to tax people for doing nothing. to punish them for refusing to do what the government wants them to do. that is a very, very dangerous precedent. i don't know if they will say eat broccoli or we'll tax you. i do know when they want to regulate private behavior which they are not authorized to regulate in the constitution they have a tool which to do so, a tool given to them by the supreme court. jenna: judge, is there another legal argument, another challenge that can restrain that so it doesn't go into those areas? >> there are two challenges. one, someone could pay the tax and then challenge its constitutionality. because federal law does not let you challenge a tax until after you have paid it. the other is, that another congress and another president could undo the tax by simple votes in the house of representatives. will another house or another congress or another president could undo all of obamacare by simple votes in the congress and the consent of the president. they didn't need the supreme court to tell them how to do it. jenna: judge napolitano, nice to see you. good to see you on foxnews.com. >> thank you for playing the taxman. jenna: we try to please you, judge. one of our little victories. judge, thank you. >> sure. jon: a new report that iran is test firing long-range missiles raising concerns for more than 100,000 american troops still based in the region. we'll take a look what these latest war games mean to the u.s. and to our allies. also a new threat for restaurant owners. pay up for face a negative review on a popular website. places like yelp. we'll take a closer look at some new extortion claims. settt or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. [ female announcer ] take the pantene dare to compare challenge. get healthier, stronger hair in less than 7 days guaranteed. then tell us your results on facebook. pantene healthier hair in less than 7 days. 's about time we made our homes work for us. pantene so let's make our dryers do the ironing. have our fridges cater our parties. and tell our ranges to whip up dinner. let's plug in to summer savings before they're gone... ...without wasting an ounce of energy with smart machines that turn housework into house play. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. right now, save $600 on this maytag french door refrigerator, just $1,598. jenna: we're continuing to keep you updated about what is happening in colorado with those wildfires there. we just heard from the military we have a few more tankers back in the air. air force tankers, six of them, are resuming their firefighting duties today. that all stopped over the weekend when a crew in a c-130 went down fighting a wildfire in south dakota. two people died in that crash. again it grounded the entire fleet. now we have six air force tankers back in action trying to get some of these wildfires under control in the state of colorado and elsewhere. jon: iran appears to be raising the stakes in a nuclear standoff with word today it test-fired several missiles including a long range variety that could hit israel and american targets in the persian gulf. right now know there are 110,000 u.s. troops within range of that missile. this comes as a new report says the pentagon is beefing up our presence in the gulf, sending in more navy ships and doubling the number of mine sweepers assigned to the area. michael adler, public policy scholar at and my understanding you attended most of the negotiating sessions with iran in recent memory. is that true? >> yes i have. jon: as you look at both sides, the iranian side and basically the rest of the world that wants them to drop their nuclear program what can you tell us about the approaches that each side is taking? >> well the approach of the united states at this point is to try to get some sort of concrete results. mainly they stop enriching uranium to weapons that are closer to weapon grade. and the united states in moscow and istanbul, baghdad and moscow, the last three sites of talks, has been very insistent that a concrete confidence-building measure be made by iran before there could be any lifting of sanctions or any move towards lifting sanctions. jon: well, launching a missile hardly seems like a confidence-builder? >> i would say that missile launch, that test which was already in progress is not a military threat but definitely is a political signal. what iran is saying we want to do this on our own terms. we feel we say if we have a fatwa against making nuclear weapon that should be enough of a guaranty for you that we will not seek nuclear weapons. they are also trying to get concessions from the west on the basis of things that they're already under investigation by the u.n. nuclear watchdog and under sanctions by the u.n. security council not to do. so there's a sense that iran is creating new facts on the ground and trying to negotiate from those points and trying to avoid facing the main issue which is answering questions about their nuclear work. jon: you say you're amazed at how little both sides understand about each other. >> it is certainly, one way to look at it is a massive case of misunderstanding. the iranians approach the talks from the, from aspect of their pride, of being acknowledged, of taking their word. on the other side the united states is very nuts and bolts saying, you weren't supposed to do this. you're not honoring u.n. resolutions about this. you must function within the framework of those resolutions before we can begin to deal with you. jon: well, you know, i have raised a number of children and that's how you deal with children. you set expectations. you set goals and if they don't meet them, they get punished what is wrongdoing that with iran? >> i think what happened, especially in moscow, the iranians were surprised at the intransigence of the united states and its five negotiating partners and this has been a long process. this crisis has been going on since 2002. the diplomacy has been going on since 2003. i think from the u.s. point of view it is time to make very clear that certain things have to be done if progress is to be made. jon: yeah. >> at the same time, iran feels that the fatwa against nuclear weapons, the fact that they're talking, is already a great step forward and the united states should be honoring that and dealing from that. jon: michael adler. thanks very much for joining us. >> thank you, "happening now" will be right back. of gian. ♪ home of the brave. ♪ it's where fear goes unwelcomed... ♪ and certain men... find a way to rise above. this is the land of giants. ♪ guts. glory. ram. 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[ male announcer ] ...lost. introducing the musically enhanced htc one x from at&t. rethink possible. jon: fox news alert a sad one. fox news has con tpheurpld that television legend andy griffith has died. he made his first television appearance on thed sullivan show in 1954. his portrayal of small town sheriff andy taylor on the andy griffith show became one of the most enduring characters from television's golden age. >> you hear the whistle you think of the name, andy griffith and mayberry rfd. >> barn aoerbgs don't shoo barney, don't shoot the sling slot in the office. >> i was born with a sling shot in my hand. >> born in north carolina in 1926 after majoring in music at the university of north carolina he taught high school music for three years but he wanted to be a singer. in 1952 he hit the road. turns out he was a better comedian than singer. in 1953 he recorded what it was was football, buy became one of most popular comedic monologs of all times. >> both bunches of those men wanted that funny little pumpkin to play with. they continue eat it because they kicked it the whole evening and it never busted. >> he went to broadway where he received a tony nomination for his role in "no time for sas sergeants. he made his in "a face in the crowd." then it was back to broadway and o onto a guess appearance on the danny thomas show as a mayor of a small southern town, a road that led here. the andy griffith show ran for eight years, and has rerun ever since. andy tried to duplicate the show's success in two other home-spun comedies, both fizzled. griffith then spent several years pushing crackers. >> good cracker. >> in 1986 andy came back to prime-time television with a bang in the series matlock, which ran for eight series. >> aren't you ben matlock the name us lawyer? >> sheriff taylor and the gang did reunite a couple of times, both special were hugely successful. apparently mayberry is where we liked andy best. in los angeles, trace gallagher, fox news. jon: andy griffith died at home this morning, he was 86 years old. rick folbaum in the happening now control room. brand-new stories we have just for you over the next hour, including this one, two thieves breaking into a home, tying up the occupants, shooting one of them in the face, the guy lived to tell about it. we have the surveillance video that shows how the whole thing went down. with obesity rates on the rise should the federal government pay for weight loss surgery? some say it's cheaper than treating the illnesses caused biobeastie, others think it's just plain nuts. a fair & balanced deabout it on that. we introduce you to a true american hero, so many of you inspired by the story of staff sergeant travis mills who lost his arms and legs while serving in afghanistan, he joins us live in our "happening now" studios i. the second hour of "happening now" starts right now. jenna: we turn to one of our top stories today, pow er power slowly coming back on after deadly storms hit overt weekend. i'm sure the power hasn't come back soon enough. we understand that, everybody. we are glad you're with us, i'm jenna lee. jon: i'm jon scott. utility crews are saying they are working as fast as they can navigating streets littered with debris and fallen trees. northern virginia is seeing some of the worst devastation from the sudden, deadly storms. national correspondent steve centanni live in falls church has the latest for us there. >> reporter: this is one of the neighborhoods hard hit in the washington metropolitan area all the way from west virginia to the atlantic seaboard when the storm swept through on friday evening. this street was blocked by a tree for the last four days. neighbors continue go up and down the street. crews are in there chopping down huge chunks of that tree. two cars got smashed, fortunately the house was not hit, as far as we know nobody was injured when the tree fell down. there was a double whammy in this neighborhood. it wasn't just this tree. a larger one fell down on the street behind me. you can take a look down there. they have most of that removed. the street isn't open yet but they have big chunks of the trunk sitting down on the ground ready to move away and open that up. let's take a look at how it looked earlier when they were working on that. they had to deal with the power lines first and bring in the cherry pick eastern the big saws, and now they are pretty much moving their attention over to the other tree behind me. as i said, it's just part of the big picture area wide. we have aerial pictures of silver spring, maryland across the other side of dark ton d.c. thawashington d.c. that was also hit. a tangle of trees and wires all over the place, caused a lot of damage to homes and cars and disrupted life in the washington d.c. metropolitan area. temperatures expected to rise near 100 degrees today. no air-conditioning in a lot of people's homes. life is still difficult and it could be friday until everything is back to normal. jon: steve, good job talking over that chainsaw in the background, thank you. jenna: a new report that says teheran is conducting some massive war games and launching missiles that are believed to be capable of hitting u.s. targets in the heuld east. middle east. all this is happening after an oil bargain against iran went into effect this weekend. leland vittert is live in jerusalem with more. >> reporter: this is tit for tat from iran. the missiles we are talking about the shahad3. they could very easily hit israel and a hundred thousand u.s. troops and also some pretty vital u.s. bases all over the middle east. they launched off a bunch of these missiles there in iran over the last couple of days, and this comes as the iranian revolutionary guard has announced that they are launching these missiles at mockups of their enemy's bases to show how destructive and accurate the missiles are. they are threatening in iran to close the. [musi the straits of hor phurbgs surbgrmuz. that could put the world's economy into a tailspin. they are trying to dissuade the iranians from any kind of hostile ablgt. we are learning more about the iranian's attempt to cleanup some of the sites where they have allegedly been working on nuclear programs. a u.s. base watchdog group shows this is proof that the iranian are trying to cleanup the parchin facility where it is expected they conducted high explosive test. those would be critical in building triggers for tphaoug lar bombs. you can see the difference where earth moving equipment is, where there's been water runoff conceivably from iranians cleaning up the buildings and covering up some of the stuff with hand and dirt from that facility. if history holds the iranians will at some point allow inspectors into this. and that's the tactics that the iranian -rs using to buy more and more time while they are still enriching uranium. jenna: a big story we'll continue to watch today, leland, thank you. jon: welcome now tpho* to america's election headquarters. president obama won the healthcare sreupbgt tree with the ooh bream court ruling but he's not getting much of a bump in the polls. a poll from a competing cable network shows governor romney pulling ahead of the president in the key battleground states. what is going on. let's talk about it with david martosco the daily callers editor. a lot of people thought if the supreme court validated the healthcare bill it would be a good thing for the president. he made it his signature legislation. joe biden said it was a big ifing deal. >> my gut tells me it's been a polarizing decision. it's going to energize a lot of people, especially the tea party members. john roberts woke a sleeping giant. the tea partyers have been going around without a mission, now they've got one. the smart ones understand that it's their ball game if they can get the republicans in control of the senate in the fall, within or lose the white house the entire congress could act conceivably to defund the implementation of obamacare through budget measures. the battle is not over. whatever bump obama might get is just going to be from his base. right now of course the big debate is what is it? is it a tax? is it not a tax? i think the republicans are recognizing that it's sort of like donald triumphs hair. is it bright orange or tkarpblg orange it doesn't really matter. if it doesn't work it doesn't work. we'll see a lot of angry republicans in the fall really coming to the polls with energy. jon: i saw one poll that said a third of republicans say this healthcare decision make them more likely to vote in november. the democrats don't seem to have that kind of enthusiasm. 18% say the decision will motivate them to go to the polls. is this a net gain for the g.o.p.? >> we'll have to see how the swing states turn out. if more and more republicans in a state like, gosh, like, you know, north dakota for instance go to vote it's not going to make that big of a difference. if it really motivates republicans in ohio, florida, some of the swing states to go that could be a game changer. the poll that came out yet from opinion research corp done for a competing network is so important. i would caution viewers, though away from reading too much into this. there were still 20% of the surveyed registered voters in that poll who said they could still change their mind before november. so the middle is very soft. and also they surveyed registered voters not likely voters. so you show me a poll of likely voters that shows mitt romney eight points ahead in the swing states with a very hard middle then we'll have something serious to talk about. until then it's fodder for cable tv shows. jon: they say the only poll that matters is the one taken on election day in november. thank you. jenna: it started with an ad on craig's list a florida man trying to rent out a vacant home. police say there was just one little problem with that. that home belonged to somebody else. how his plot unraveled next. also, many west virginia residents still without power today, days after those violent storms. coming up we'll speak with a west virginia congressman and ask him why it's taken so long to get the power back on. rick is here over at the web wall. >> reporter: this independence day, a story our founding fathers would be proud of. staff sergeant travis mills of the u.s. army gravely wounded on his third tour in afghanistan. we have followed his story, we've been awed by his inspiration and optimism. now he joins us live. what are your questions for staff sergeant mills? you can tweet it as jenna fnc or at "happening now." we'll pose those questions to him. don't go away. aspirin regimen ever since. 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[ female announcer ] new ensure clear. nine grams protein. zero fat. twenty-one vitamins and minerals. in blueberry/pomegranate and peach. refreshing nutrition in charge! jon: fox news alert a desperate effort still underway to try to get power back to west virginia residents after those terrible, violent storms on friday. more than 600 lineman and hazard responders are deployed across west virginia. the power company in charge of repairs says the extent of the damage from the storm is far greater than they initially estimated. joining us live on the phone in west virginia, congressman nick rayhall, ranking member of the house committee on transportation and infrastructure. a lot of your infrastructure is gone. we saw yesterday maybe what 45% of of the state had no power, what is the situation now, congressman? >> that's true, jon. there are still thousands of people affected without power, water, gas, food or banking services. the power company does have more than 2,000 workers on the scenery moving trees, damage assessment specialists, company line mechanics and outside contractors all dedicated to restoring service. we are making progress, but with the devastation affecting 53 of our 55 counties and neighboring states affected as well these workers are obviously strung out pretty thin. so they are restoring power, 50 customers per day it's estimated being restored but we still have a long way to go. those without power, and without food, without gas, and without banking services, it is a very tire situation. jon: i guess the best comparison is what can happen in a hurricane, but usually most of the damage in hurricane is confined to sort of coastal counties. you've pretty much got your whole state facing this kind of a problem, right? >> that's true. and because it's not the normal flood disaster-type of situation, these are power outages that are affecting people's lives, we don't have the full force of a disaster emergency declaration. i mean a disaster declaration. we have only an emergency declaration from people a. but they arfema. they are helping with generators. west virginians help each other. family helping family, friends helping friends, strangers even helping strangers, that's what has got even us through crises before and it will get us through this crises. west virginians are doing what they do best, helping each other and not just sitting and waiting for the government to respond however slow that maybe but effective when it is responding. jon: i know you've got good people there and they will do everything they can. most of those people can't climb up on a power pole and restore, you know, a transformer or a high voltage line. what do you do, just tell them to the patient? >> yes, you know, as dire situation as they are in patience is what is required here, especially if you find a gas station that has gas and is open, when you're in long gas lines it takes a little bit of courtesy and patience. i would say also that a lot of this damage is unseen to the normal eyes, when you're traveling through. a power line may be affected in a remote area where a tree has tpaeupbl o fallen on it or a substation and it affects thousands of people and it's not readily seen when you're traveling through the area. to the naked eye there is not as much damage as previous storms have been. the reality is people with houses are fill affected and thank god for our national guard in west virginia, they responded and perhaps have saved lives. thank god for our volunteers that have come forward and especially all of our e responders. ace say it's west virginians doing what they do best, that is helping each other. jon: it's a beautiful state, it's tragic to see it 4 in such a mess. congressman nick rahall, we'll try to get the word out that your state needs help. >> thee thank you for your prayers. martha jenna: police need your help finding this dangerous duo, we'll tell you all about it coming up. plus, should you pay for someone else's weight loss surgery? it's your tax money. a melody bait straighaa medical debate straight ahead. ♪ i'm making my money do more. ♪ i'm consolidating my assets. i'm not paying hidden fees or high commissions. i'm making the most of my money. and seven-dollar trades are just the start. i'm with scottrade. i'm with scottrade. i'm with scottrade. and i'm loving every minute of it. 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[ male announcer ] for our families... our neighbors... and our communities... america's beverage companies have created a wide range of new choices. developing smaller portion sizes and more low- & no-calorie beverages... adding clear calorie labels so you know exactly what you're choosing... and in schools, replacing full-calorie soft drinks with lower-calorie options. with more choices and fewer calories, america's beverage companies are delivering. on a terrifying home invasion caught on tape and police are asking for your help. rick folbaum has that. >> reporter: imagine it's the middle of the night and you hear men breaking into your home. a man in portland oregon tried to protect his home and wound up getting shot in the face. we loaded it up on the ipad to show you a little bit how this went down. you can see two suspects walking into this man's -- onto this man's property, one of them wearing an orange safety vest like he works for a utility company. he has a hardhat on. another one wearing a sweatshirt. the homeowner takes the story from there. >> the guy comes in. he says get on your stomach on the floor. he tied my hands together. i got out of the zip ties, i grabbed an axe, i ran out the door and he shot me. it came out my back and neck. when i got hit i went down hard. >> reporter: as you can see the man still recovering from miss wounds but he's expected to be okay. does say that this attack haunts him every single night. police releasing the surveillance videos in hopes that it helps to catch these guys. crime stoppers is offering a reward, a thousand bucks for anyone with information leading to an arrest in this case. if you know anything there is the number on the screen, 503823-h-e-l-p, and help police catch these guys. jon: let's hope they do. rick, thank you. jenna: would you be willing to pay for weight loss surgery for sweupbls? it's around 20,000, $25,000. what is the choice between paying for someone's weight loss surgery now for paying later for all their obesity-related medical problems? this is a debate that is raging right now in texas. according to a story in the texas tribune. weight loss surgery paid for with taxpayer money is exploding in that state. taxpayers are footing the bill courtesy of medicaid and medicare, both plans within the state of texas cover this surgery. is this a good use of your tax dollars? we decided to ask the doctors about this. dr. manny alvarez, senior managing editor of foxnewshealth.com and a medical a teamer. and doctor fershiner director of the fershiner school of medicine. >> i think it's a good idea. you're paying all the complications of diabetes, heart disease, amputations, mi's you name it. in many countries nowadays they are dealing with the obesity epidemic, and the type two diabetes epidemic with bear at trick surgery because it keeps the weight off for many, many years, so i think that this is a very effective way of dealing with the most severe cases of being overweight. jenna: we were taking a look at some of the medical bills, if you have gastric bypass surgery you're going to be spending 20 to $25,000 just on that surgery, that is apparently the average cost. if someone is living with diabetes over decades it could go into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. do we really have two choices here, pay now, or pay later? >> well, you know, with all due respect to this argument i think this is a terrible idea, and i think what we've decided is that, you know, the costs that we are sustaining with this particular surgery, $25,000 per surgery is reasonable when we are talking about preventing long-term obesity. right now we spend $147 billion a year on treatment for obesity, it's the second leading cause of death, the most prevent tabl cause of death. right now in this country 33% of the population is obese. 60% is overweight and that number is continuing to grow. what we need to do is we need to come up with a plan that actually deals with the problem. there is good research, there is information that people can get, and ways to lose weight that really don't require us to start getting into this kind of program. jenna: but doctor we know this we have all that information out there right now. if people know they should eat better and exercise but they don't and then they get sick and they are on the bills that we all have to pay if they are on medicare and medicaid. what kind of plan would you suggest? what do you think could really work here. >> a study came out in the journal of the american medical association and they found that low carbohydrate diets, such to the one that dr. adkins recommended are very effective. they burn 300 more calories per day, the equivalent of light exercising, about an hour per day for the average individual, and that in addition to the actual weight loss that was sustained with a low-fat diet. so we're learning that there are ways to lose weight. a ca calorie is simply not a calorie. people need to start thinking about incorporating exercise. it improves weight loss by 10 to 15%. jenna: i bought pizza for the team for lunch today speaking of carbohydrates. are we on a slippery slope if we start paying for this type of weight loss surgery, what is next? arguments can be made for a whole host of surgeries that prevent long term illness or expenses. is this a fine line we really have to walk? >> no, jenna i think we should get the doctors do what they need to do in order to fix the current problem that we have. i agree with you, surgery is not the solution for anything. but, you know, i'm sick and tired of hearing things like we need to look at and we need to study. doctors haven't done anything about the obesity epidemic in 50 years. a lot of doctors have got even rich in books, diet, adkins and all that nonsense. at the efpbtd day whe end of the day and make minimum wage you didn't afford an adkins diet, you can't afford to go to whole foods and by a 15-ounce steak. once people begin to change their behavior perhaps we can talk about other things. right now we have a big problem and we have to deal witness because our funds are limited. jenna: you're both invited to pizza by the way. >> thank you very much. jenna: it's a big debate, one we'll continue to have, interesting argument on both sides, doctors, thank you. jon: a new effort underway to secure our border with mexico, what police in texas are doing to try to head off the drug cartels. casey stegall takes a ride on the rio grande boat patrol. a major ruling in a battle between twitter and occupy protestors and the law. what a court has decided which may make you think twice before you tweet. the postal service is critical to our economy, delivering mail, medicine and packages. yet the house is considering a bill to close thousands of offices, slash service and layoff over 100,000 workers. the postal service is recording financial losses but not for reasons you might think. the problem ? a burden no other agency or company bears. a 2006 law that drains $5 billion a year from post office revenue while the postal service is forced to overpay billions more into federal accounts. house bill 2309 is not the answer. jon: a fox news alert and big news out of pakistan. that nation says it has agreed to open supply routes in afghanistan. secretary of state hillary clinton held a phone conversation with pakistan's foreign minister today. she expressed the united states's regret and apologies over the airstrike last november that killed a couple of dozen afghan, i'm sorry, pakistani soldiers. ever since that airstrike the pakistani government had been refusing to allow american and nato forces to cross the border into afghanistan. it had been demanding a payment of thousands of dollars per vehicle in order to make that happen. now apparently they have agreed to withdraw any request for those kinds of payments. they have accepted the secretary of state's apology and it appears that the forces, the troops, the supplies that our forces need will be flowing across the border once again. the united states says, secretary clinton says, this will help the u.s. and the nato forces conduct the planned drawdown of troops at a much lower cost. we'll keep you updated on fox. jenna: police in texas are bringing out the big guns now, ramping up their fight to head off violent drug cartels south of the border. the texas department of public safety deploying its own fleet of armored gun boats patrolling the rio grande. casey stiegel live in the dallas bureau with or on this. >> reporter: we've been calling america's third war and that it is but now local law enforcement has a new tool in its arsenal to battle these violent cartels. >> support vehicle in the south side. >> reporter: the rio grande river in south texas, places where only a few hundred feet of water separates mexico from the u.s.. >> it is very rough down here. >> reporter: and that is putting it lightly. >> officers at gunpoint and three rafts. >> reporter: almost every single day the smugglers try to use the river to move, weapons and people into our homeland. >> the people we go up against with the drug cartels they have unlimited monies. they have unlimited firepower. >> reporter: but these new 34-foot boats boasting 900 horse power, should help serve as a deterrent. s as drug cartels on the mexican side get more and more brazen law enforcement has to be one step ahead of the game. that's why these vessels are equipped with everything from bulletproof shields and fully automatic machine guns that can fire 900 rounds a minute. >> it is very important for us to be armed better than they are. >> reporter: those things are fast. soon there will be six of those interceptors out patrolling the waters at a price tag of $580,000 apiece, money that came from grants through the department of homeland security and also the texas legislature. jenna? jenna: casey stiegel in texas today. casey, thank you. >> reporter: yep. jon: a new york judge orders twitter to hand over several tweets as prosecutors wage a legal battle with an "occupy wall street" protester. the man is one of 700 protesters arrested last october after a massive rally on the brooklyn bridge. district attorneys argue the messages will show whether he will fully disregarded police orders at the time of we'll talk about it with lis wiehl, fox news legal analyst and fred teece, former federal prosecutor. sounds like a reasonable request, lis. the prosecutors want to know whether this guy was willfully defying police orders. >> this is intent crime. you have to get in the mind of the person to say did know what he is doing? if he tweeting away with his friend we're going for it, whatever he was saying we don't know, he is absolutely right to get this before the prosecution. the judge said something so brilliant, when you tweet like screaming it out the window. it is not private. you have no expectation of privacy when you tweet or facebook or any of that. the judge got it right. jon: so, fred, the company, twitter, tried to prevent the judge from getting ahold of these tweets. said it is private information. should it be? >> well, you know it is interesting, you want things to be private, you keep them quiet short of that here's what we're faced with. when i tweet something out only goes to my followers. i have 10 followers. to argue, all 10 of them --. jon: 11, jenna just signed up. >> me too. >> you know what? went up by 10% but the point is this. not like screaming out the window. it only goes, what you said only goes to the people that follow you but -- >> fred, called a social media. social media. >> but it is not open to everyone. like sending an e-mail to everybody in my contact list. also under the twitter use agreement people have a reasonable expectation that what they have will remain theirs. there is one other point. if it is less than 180 days old you can't get these with subpoena. you need a court order. reasonable to assume after 1 to days these things will vaporize. at end of the day -- >> judge made a ruling about that saying you can't have anything over 3 months. that is true. >> correct. >> but also the judge is saying, i'm going to look, the judge will look and say making sure that the tweets he gives to the prosecutors are relevant. can't be grocery list or call to a girlfriend or something like that. >> correct. >> that is okay. prosecutors need that kind of information if they're going to prosecute an intent crime to show what was in the mind of a person. >> hey, lis, i'm with you. i was fellow prosecutor. i would throw my mother in jail if she broke the law. i get that. >> she one of your 10 tweeters? >> the point at some point there's been an erosion of our privacy rights, and it is starting to get a little troublesome. >> but, fred, a lot of people were disgusted with those "occupy wall street"ers and all the others around the country that took place just about everywhere it seemed. they were using media like twitter to organize, they were using media like twitter to organize. why should law enforcement, if these people are breaking the law why should law enforcement not be allowed to go to the source so to speak? >> hey look, let me tell you something. i don't like them one bit. i went to go home, the ones in philadelphia had roads blocked off. i would like to grab them by the throat and get them a job. our privacy under the bill of rights have to stand dealing with people like occupy we don't particularly care for. i don't like them anymore than you do. >> that would be assault. please don't do that, grab anybody and choke them. >> figuratively. >> when they come to your home, coming into your home and spying on you with droids and drones i get that. that is not what we're talking about. when you go on to twitter, you go on to facebook, you go to social media you are putting everything you say out there for society to see. that is open. that is no expectation of privacy on that. jon: but, lis, what about this. let's say that i go on twitter and take part in an nra meeting or something like that and at some point down the line some judge decides that there was, a legal -- illegal activity discussed there. does that become open records as a result of this decision? >> if you were potentially involved in that illegal activity it could be. if it was social thing and had nothing to do with illegal activity of course you're fine and covered. jon: i wonder about the precedent though? >> discovered taking your hypothetical, jon, are you teaching like a law school professor, taking your hypothetical, it is true if you were to be found or that organization was found to be doing something illegal and urn involved in that activity as a prosecutor i would say absolutely turn that stuff over. jon: i wanted to say, fred, jenna signed on to your twitter account, found my face next to your picture on your twitter feed. my face is very private, fred. >> because i got a letter from brad pitt saying take his picture off. you were second in line. jon: i don't know. you may be hearing from my attorney. >> i'll represent you. jon: great. >> can i get that in writing? jon: serious discussion though. it is an interesting case and we'll see where this goes from here. lis wiehl, fred teece, thank you both. jenna: your face is right in the middle of the screen where his face is supposed to be. jon: the old screen grab, huh? jenna: 17 twitter followers what fred teece has now. could be double that by the end. jon: we'll get those numbers boosted. jenna: go to commercial. business owners are facing a new form of extortion today. apparently like something out of the godfather movies. how cyber skm scammers are making them an offer they can't refuse. we've been following the progress of a wounded warrior and his progress. staff sergeant travis mills is making progress to overcome any obstacle. this american hero is joining us on set in just a moment. jon: well, expect some cosmic-sized fireworks and could be here just in time for the 4th. rick folbaum live in the newsroom with details on that. >> reporter: nasa says a powerful solar flare has already erupted on the surface of the son sun. what scientists call a wave of plasma that will create a majestic light display we'll see perhaps this 4th of july. several space telescopes are monitoring the sun around the clock. they're anticipating this event. it is expected to be one of several strong solar storms in the days ahead. nasa says on the scale of sun storms this is kind of a medium-sized one. some radio communication in europe has already been affected by this scientists say tomorrow's storm will only result in brighter displays of the northern and southern lights. a lit 4th of july show from mother nature. macy's eat your heart out. back to you. jon: rings folbaum, thank you. jenna: we are very excited about this next story. it is quite a story in the spirit of the july 4th holiday. we'll tell you a little more about the journey of army staff sergeant travis mills. there he is, with his daughter close. he will clone us next. cloe will make you laugh. he will join us about his story in his own words next. >> my right shoulder -- a legalt or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? 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[ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge! jenna: we have some new information own a story we've been following the progress of staff sergeant travis mills. travis now, a quadruple amputee. less than three months ago he lost both his arms and both his legs in an ied explosion on the third deployment to afghanistan. we tracked his journey from the beginning. the april 10th attack to his time spent overseas where he endured five surgeries and walter reed army medical center in d.c. where he went through five more surgeries. there you see him with his daughter by the way. we watch him zipping around in his wheelchair making his little girl chloe laugh and mastering the use of a new prosthetic arm that can rotate and there he is with his daughter. the new prosthetic legs something as well we showed you. countless hours to build strength in the gym one hour at a time. travis joins us in the studio. promised to bring your moneymaker to "happening now". >> there it is. watch out. jenna: this is the beginning of the end for all of us, travis. this will be the travis mills show. >> i'm thinking show. no. i'm here to help out. jenna: nice to have you here on set with us. >> thank you. thanks for having me. i appreciate it. jenna: let me go back a little further than we even went there. we started in april 10th. tell is why you joined the military in the first place? >> oh, i went to college and i couldn't focus right. i moved back home. my dad had rules. my dad had rules. i lived in my own apartment. i will join the army with no rules. they have a lot of rules. i always wanted to go in the military. i joined up. they got me excited about airborne and infantry. i couldn't do anything else. that was it. jenna: what is your job? >> airborne infantry. jump out of airplanes and come on the ground and take care of bad guys. jenna: we haven't talked about this on television yet. what can you tell us about the day what happened when you got injured. >> it was a horrible day, considering. i actually, it was, we went out 4:00 in the afternoon, 1600. why are we going out? we'll have dinner at 5:00. my lt wanted to go. i was walking along. happened to set my bag on the wrong spot. it was full of ammo. and my bag went boom. and, about 10 seconds later woke up on the ground, looked at my hand. oh, that is no good. i had thumb and index finger still. they had to take that too because the skin was dying. and then i was awake the whole time as medics working on me. they call it shock. i call it adrenaline. i didn't feel no pain. actually on the aircraft, flying back, then in the ambulance. i guess they had to see date me when they got me on the table. jenna: wow! long journey back. >> it was quick. it wasn't a couple days. it was like, probably less than 10 minutes there, an hour where i needed to be to be worked on. jenna: now to fast forward we showed video of you doing some of your workouts. i was hoping you would tell us what is the focus right now for you? you've been able to get this hand. you've been working on walking. we have video of you put on the website on the trampoline. what is the goal right now. >> i mean to walk, that is really big one for me. the trampoline is cardio. but for me, my guys get back later on the year, those legs are short legs they call them. makes me 5'4" and i'm really 6'2". i want my 6'2" legs and in my uniform and be able to salute my guys when they come in. that is my goal now. jenna: get 6'4" legs. >> pump the them up like the old shoes. jenna: why the not? >> i could be as tall as i want. it is a long fall to the ground. jenna: that's true. they say, hey, where does he get the inspiration from? where does he get the drive to keep going every day? where does it come from? >> energy drinks. i drink just --, no. i would say i was happy outlook on everything and just as this happened i'm not always the brightest about it but it did happen. life has to go on. i have my daughter who is smiling all the time and my wife. all the support of everybody out there. my hometown. my parents and my family and my wife's family. just amazing, the support i receive. i can't be down. i have a life to live, you know? jenna: just real quick, what do you think about the war in general? what do we need to know? about the war? >> it is still going on. a lot of people think it is over but it is still going on. walter reed is still filling up not to make people feel bad. it is still going on. i would do thebidding. i want to stay in the 82nd if they are willing to be instructor. the soldiers i trained up personally. you go over for them. keep their spirits up. we just keep on, you know, fighting doing what we have to do. jenna: great to have you on set. >> i appreciate it. jenna: i know you will be back here tomorrow, by the way. >> arms and legs move but don't worry. it's cool. jenna: you can do whatever you want to do at this point, travis. you will be back here talking to me? >> i'm here on a tunnels to towers, helping them out. frank siller foundation. that is great organization. they help soldiers like me. and frank siller's brother actually do it after him. jenna: america live will have more on that. travis, thank you very much. i wasn't eating well. she's a dietitian and she suggested i try boost complete nutritional drink to help get the nutrition i was missing. now i drink it every day, and i love the great taste. 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