Transcripts For CNNW Starting Point 20121206

Protests against political moves by the president , Mohamed Morsi, have turned deadly. Tanks, armored personnel vehicles, all stationed outside the president ial analysis cairo. Not only are they guarding the palace, theyre also keeping apart supporters and opponents of morsi. Hundreds of his islamist supporters already taking to the streets in cairo this morning. Opponents are gathering not very far away. Last night the two sides clashed right outside the palace. The violence killed at least five people. Hundreds of other people were injured. Opponents are demanding that morsi dial back on those sweeping powers that he has granted himself. Cnns reza sayah is live for us in cairo this morning. Whats the latest . Reporter soledad, were getting the first signs that maybe, just maybe, cooler heads are prevailing and peace could be extraordinary in front of the president ial palace. Within the past 20 minutes, weve seen about a few thousand of president morsis supporters move away from the palace area and the crowd seems to be thinning out. Were getting reports that this was a call by the revolutionary guard, the military, for the crowds to withdraw, and it looks like its happening. Its too early to tell if things are going to remain calm in the coming hours, but certainly this is a good sign. Later in the day, president morsi is scheduled to address the nation. Were not sure what hes going to say, but this is a president thats under tremendous pressure to calm things down and unite this country, that at this point, is divided. Based on what the opposition is saying, based on what their position is, anything short of the president saying that hes going to annul this constitution, this draft constitution, and start the process over, anything short of that, is not going to satisfy the opposition. Opposition leaders came out and made that demand yesterday. In the meantime, opposition factions applying the pressure on the president. Last night, of course, you had these ugly clashes. More than 400 people injured in front of the palace, where you had literally a brawl between these two sides. The supporters of the president , the muslim brotherhood, the islamists, and on the other side, the opposition factions. The liberals, the moderates. In many ways, this is a fight for egypts identity. Both sides want their vision to be the future of egypt and thats what this conflict is unfolding. And these pictures are just remarkable, as you look at those tanks right from the president ial palace. Reza sayah for us this morning. Thanks, reza. Appreciate the update. Our other developing story in the middle east this morning. Fears that syria could unleash nerve gas and what could that mean for u. S. Military involvement. Nbc news is reporting that syrias military has loaded the component chemicals for the deadly nerve gas sarin into aerial bombs that could be dropped from fighter jets. Cnn reported on monday that Syrian Forces started combining chemicals that could be used to make sarin gas for weapons. Mohammed jamjoom is in beirut. Hes got more on the story for us this morning. Good morning. Reporter good morning, soledad. This latest report only increasing concerns about the intentions of the Syrian Regime when it comes to their chemical weapon stockpile. Now, why are there so many concerns . Not just because people are worried what Bashar Al Assad might do with these chemical weapon stockpiles, as there have been for months, but more as rebels are advancing on damascus and the battling are getting more heated and pitched around the capital, there are concerns that if damascus were to fall, what would happen to chemical weapon stockpiles . Could they get into the hands of groups that are fighting with Syrian Rebels . A big concern, and weve heard more calls from the u. S. Administration, warning that Bashar Al Assad if we were to utilize chemical weapons against the population of syria, that would be a clear red line, they would face consequences. We must add one more thing, that the Syrian Regime has repeatedly said, including today, they have no intention of utilizing chemical weapons against syrian. Mohammed jamjoom for us this morning, thanks for the update. Lets turn right to Zoraida Sambolin. Shes got a look at the rest of the days top stories. Good morning to you. Breaking the ice, president obama and john byron finally discussing the fiscal cliff. They talked by telephone yesterday. With just 26 days remaining to get a deal done, there are signs of compromise on the republican side. Oklahomas republican senator tom coburn a leading conservative saying he is okay with raising taxes on the wealthiest 2 of americans. In a few moments, Soledad Obrien will talk with oregon senator is jeff merkley. He sits on the Budget Committee. Naeem davis now charged with murder for allegedly pushing a man off a new york city subway platform. Davis was arraigned last night on a seconddegree murder charge. Police say he pushed 50yearold kisuk han on to the tracks and into the path of an oncoming subway train. Internet Security Pioneer john mcafee could be deported to belize as early as today. Guatemalan officials detained mcafee yesterday. They accuse him of entering their country illegally. He turned up in guatemala on tuesday after disappearing from his home in belize. Police there want to question mcafee in connection with a murder, his neighbors murder. He says he is innocent, but that he went into hiding because he feared persecution by police in belize. The duchess of cambridge has discharged from a london hospital. She is nearly three months pregnant and was being treated for acute morning sickness. She was smiling when she left the hospital this morning with Prince William by her side. Kate is headed to kensington for a short period of time of rest. She looks good. She does. And some familiar faces leading the field for the 55th annual grammy awards. Kanye west and jayz each received six nominations. One of the newcomers, the indy pop band fun also got three nominations, including one for best artist. My kids will be so excited. They love fun. Ive never heard of them before, but they love fun. Zoraida, thank. Kind of a big old pot party in Washington State now. Take a look at. Two, one thats because at midnight, possession of up to an ounce of marijuana for personal uses is legal thanks to a landmark Ballot Initiative that passed last month and took effect at midnight. To celebrate, pot smokers have been lighting up in the shadow of seattles iconic space needle. Cnns Miguel Marquez is in seattle for us this morning. Morning. Reporter good morning there. This was only one of many parties across the state with people just taking the first step as this new law is implemented. Reporter the moment recreational pot, anything less than an ounce, no longer illegal in Washington State. Its amazing. Im not a criminal anymore. I cant go to jail for small amounts of marijuana. You know, its im free to be free. Reporter several dozen hardcore smokers showed up here to the base of the space needle, the symbol of the city and of the state to light up at the stroke of midnight. And while the new law does not allow smoking in public places, Seattle Police and Police Departments across the state are turning a blind eye tonight, allowing celebrations to light up. This is what youd assume the stores will look like or something along these lines . So, yeah, our stores are going to have the feel of a fine cigar shop. Jaymon shively, once a highprofile executive at microsoft, now preparing to open as many as two dozen highend marijuana shops in washington and colorado. And yesterday hed be called a drug dealer. Today, an entrepreneur. Our target market is actually baby boomers. So these are folks who may be tried it in college a couple times, maybe they didnt inhale, but now its actually safe to inhale. Reporter hes already working on packaging and attractive displays for future clients. The state liquor control board has a year to regulate and license the growing, processing, and retailing of marijuana here. All of it taxable at a very high 25 . Were looking at the potential of bringing in more than 500 million each year in new tax revenue. Reporter the big question still, what will the federal government do . Pot still illegal federally. Today, a legal toke of revolution burning here and soon colorado. Now, colorados law, almost the exact same, will get going by january 5th. And the federal government has only said so far that they are reviewing both states programs and they remind them that federally, at least, it is still illegal to possess marijuana. Back to you. Miguel marquez for us this morning, thanks, miguel. Lets get right to alan st. Pierre, hes in washington, d. C. , the executive director for the Group Fighting for the legalization of marijuana since they were founded back in 1972. Nice to have you with us. You heard miguels report. There are strict rules, its going to be heavily taxed, still considered to be illegal by the feds. Whats your reaction to what happened at the stroke of midnight . Well, thats a celebration to be sure. Thats pentup 75 years of marijuana prohibition in america, even though the law technically doesnt allow for public use. Lets acknowledge it was just a public celebration. So if you think that this is the end of prohibition, were looking at just two states, do you think that this is kicking off what could be a National Trend . And if, yes, is that in the next year, two years, ten years . Indeed. Look at decrim. When marijuana was decriminalized in 1973, ten more years, it was decriminalized. In 1996, when californians voted for medical marijuana, ten years later, we now have 18 states that have medical marijuana. And i think it passes prologue, the same thing will happen with legalization. Almost the entire west coast and all of new england is going to move in this direction. It will take decades to infill the middle of the country. So what does it look like . Walk me through. Because i think for a lot of people who have concerns, theyre worried about what it tangibly looks like on the streets and in the communities. Its going to bring in potentially millions of dollars for the state, because of high taxation. Will it also change tourism too . To be sure. Why go to amsterdam . Why go to jamaica . I love trout fishing and skiing, so i think ill be making more trips this year to colorado and washington, and i expect a few hundred thousand other people will be doing the same. Particularly once the laws kick in in a year, when an adult can go, just like to a restaurant, to a bar, to a liquor store, whether its a private license or whether the state controls it, and purchase the product and use it responsibly. Alan st. Pierre, joining us this morning. Hes the executive director of the National Organization for the reform of marijuana laws. Nice to have you with us. Thank you. Coming up next hour, well hear from steve sarich. Hes trying to overturn that new law. Well tell you why, straight ahead. Also ahead on starting point, president obama and Speaker Boehner talk on the phone about the fiscal cliff. But will they be meeting face to face and will they get anything done before its too late . Up next, oregon senator jeff merkley. Hes a member of the Budget Committee. And kobe bryant joins an elite club with basketball greats like Michael Jordan and kareem abduljabbar. His impressive feat, well tell you all about it. The greatest player in the history of the los angeles lakers. Wow thats a savings of over 29 bucks twentynine bucks . . And theyre powered by friendship. See for yourself if you could save on the brands you want. Walmart. Starts with ground beef, unions, and peppers baked in a ketchup glaze with savory gravy and mashed russet potatoes. What makes stouffers meatloaf best of all . That moment you enjoy it at home. Stouffers. Lets fix dinner. We believe the more you know, the better you trade. So we have ongoing webinars and interactive learning, plus, inbranch seminars at over 500 locations, where our dedicated support teams help you know more so your money can do more. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. Our teams have the information you want when you need it. Its another reason more investors are saying. [ all ] im with scottrade. Your soups are so awesomely delicious my husband and i cant stop eating em whats. That. On your head . Can curlers tomato basil, potato with bacon. Weve got a lot of empty cans. [ male announcer ] progresso. You gotta taste this soup. Welcome back to starting point. Im christine romans. Minding your business this morning, markets in a Holding Pattern as fiscal cliff talks continue in washington. But the s p 500 is up 12 so far this year. And a 20year veteran Investment Strategy at goldman sachs, abby joseph cohen, she estimates stocks could rise another 10 to 15 next year. She says the fundamentals of the u. S. Are solid, despite the fiscal cliff concerns coming out of washington. She says stocks could get hit in the early part of the area if we go over the fiscal cliff, but the fundamentals of the economy are still good. All right. Apple stock dropped more than 6 yesterday. Shares were down about half a percent in premarket trading this morning. No concrete news pushing them down, but today theres another hearing in the patent case with samsung in california. And a Tech Research report generatored a lot of buzz that apples tablet competitors could eat into its market share. Interesting. Thanks, christine. Well, the good news is, lets do the fiscal cliff and the good news. And its not very much. But at least the two sides are talking, by phone. Not face to face. House Speaker John Boehner and the president are hoping to break the fiscal cliff ice. Now were just mixing metaphors, left and right. Speaking on the phone, 26 days left, of course, until we tumble over the cliff or slide down the slope or fall off the precipice or however you want to put it. We could, of course, face massive tax hikes, spending cuts. Thats what the fiscal cliff is all about. It would all start with the start of the new year. I want to get to senator jeff merkley. Hes a democrat from the state of oregon. Hes on both the Budget Committee and the banking, housing, and urban affairs committee. Nice to have you with us, sir. Thanks for joining us. Youre welcome. Thank you. Before we get to fiscal cliff, lets talk a little bit about syria. There are now reports that they may be loading the components that would make up sarin gas. And im curious to know and i think a lot of people are watching this, does this mean that we are headed, the United States is headed into military action considering what we know about the red line, if you will, that Hillary Clinton laid out pretty clearly . It was very important for her to draw a very clear line. Because any use of chemical weapons has to be responded to internationally. Im sure the secretary of state is immersed with russia right now, is in negotiations with russia for a united front against this absolutely unacceptable possibility. Okay. So shes laid that out. But then the next step, of course, if, in fact, theyre putting together the components that create sarin gas and theyre leading these into weapons, are we going to war insider to stop this . The United States. I think that the u. S. Is going to be laying out a series of actions in partnership with some other states that will be taken, should they use these chemical weapons. And it is my hope and i think the hope of everyone on this planet that a fierce and United International response will ensure that syria does not actually consider using these weapons. Lets talk about the fiscal cliff. We now know, and its kind of a slow news day on that front, right. The news were reporting, the speaker and the president spoke by phone and nothing came out of it. And thats the headline. We know that weve been talking about the fiscal cliff, in nearly a month, well get over it, but really its nine days, because everybody is supposed to break in just nine days. Do you think everybody in congress fully understands just how frustrated and annoyed the American Public is on this, seeing everybody go off, you know, to their home states for the weekend while this looms for the rest of us . Well, certainly when i was home in oregon, i heard about it from everyone and every meeting. There is an expectation that we come together with these big National Issues and address them. Right now, what we have is a very unspecified proposal from the republicans, just basically saying well find revenues somewhere, well find cut programs somewhere. Meanwhile, well be very specific about cutting medicare and social security. Thats an extremely unacceptable response to the president s initial proposal and quite frankly, its not acceptable that this game of chicken continue right on down the road. The needs will be very specific in negotiations, if they need to keep them very private and contained for a while, to get the details, so be tit, but action is required. The game of chicken is being on played both sides, isnt it . The president s side and the republicans as well . The president has laid out a very clear proposal, consistent with his campaign, that its time to end the bonus breaks for the best off. Recognize that if youre very wealthy in america, you would get all the breaks that anyone would get up to 250,000. I get it, taxes is a Sticking Point, but the spending is also a problem, and both sides are playing chicken. Democrats are not so willing to cut spending and republicans say theyre not going to raise taxes for anybody. Thats a Sticking Point with nine days to go. So certainly those who are advocating as the president did during his campaign that we need to return the bush rates, hes laid out a very specific proposal. The republicans are arguing for cuts. They need to lay out a very specific proposal on that regard. All right. Well, well continue to watch it. Kind of a bummer of news, a phone call thats nothing come out of it is our big headline out of it. Senator jeff merkley joining us from the state of oregon. Appreciate it. Still ahead this morning on starting point, when you cant get washington to reach a deal on the cliff, why not go gangnam style . That would be, yes, the man on your left is 81yearold former senator alan simpson. Hes got a hysterical new video, but kind of a serious point with it. Well talk about that and much more with our starting point team. Theyre heading in. Were back in just a moment. One a day mens 50 is a complete multivitamin designed for mens Health Concerns as we age. It has 7 antioxidants to support cell health. One a day mens 50 . Share not even close. Share you owe me. Share just right. The share everything plan. Sharable data across 10 devices with unlimited talk and text. Get a droid razr m by motorola for 49. 99. Stop instagraming your breakfast and tweeting your first World Problems and getting on youtube so you can see gangnam style. That would be 81yearold former senator alan simpson going gangnam style. Hes serious, though, trying to get young people to understand what the looming fiscal cliff is all about. That little ad, he was hired by this organization of young people, who are concerned about the fiscal cliff, is hilarious. It is the funniest thing. His legs are the best part. Hes getting really into it. I think its brilliant also, though, because it is very effective. Everybodys watching, everybodys talking about it. Highly effective. Everybodys retweeting that thing. And a dancing can to next him. What could be better than that. Our team this morning, jim fricke is International Editor of Time Magazine. Abby huntsman is the host of huffpost live, and also the daughter of jon huntsman. Roland martin will join us in a moment, hes the host of washington watch with roland martin. And whats interesting about the fiscal cliff thing, we havent spoken about young people. Were really just focused on the elect officials who seem to be doing a lot of nothing. Morale is so low for my generation. Because they feel like no matter what, nothing is going to get done. And they speak in a language that they dont understand. I do it for a job, so i know about it, but my friends feel like they have no idea whats going on. And this cynicism is really strong. Because i think they feel, you know, 27 days to go and they just assume nothing is going to happen for the next three weeks. And they look at the countdown clocks on Television News Networks Like this one and say, oh, well, nothings going to happen until we go over the cliff. I dont have tune in or worry about it. I wonder if that dancing 84yearold senator is a way to break through. Were the ones who will be the most affected by it. Were getting the 16 trillion deficit passed down to us. Do you think young people get that, though . Do you think they understand the longterm consequences . Not like they should. Still ahead this morning on starting point, theyre an army of one, but does it apply if you are not particularly religious . Well tell you why one cadet quit the west Point Military academy just months before he was supposed to graduate because he says hes not religious. Also, more bad pr for penn state. Look at these lovely sorority girls. Yes, they are dressed lake mexicans with mustaches Holding Signs that, will mow lawn for beer, things like that. How clever. Well talk about that photo straight ahead. Yeah. One Phillips Colon Health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. Approved [ female announcer ] live the regular life. Phillips. And the candidates speech is in pieces all over the district. The writers desktop and the coordinators phone are working on a joke with local color. The secure cloud just received a revised intro from the strategists tablet. And while i make my way into the venue, the candidate will be rehearsing off of his phone. [ candidate ] and thanks to every young face i see out there. [ woman ] his phone is one of his biggest supporters. [ female announcer ] with cisco at the center. Working together has never worked so well. That was me. The day i learned i had to start insulin for my type 2 diabetes. Me. Thinking my only option was the vial and syringe dad used. And me. Discovering oncedaily levemir® flexpen. Flexpen® is prefilled. Doesnt need refrigeration for up to 42 days. No drawing from a vial. Dial the exact dose. Inject by pushing a button. Flexpen® is insulin delivery. My way. Levemir® insulin detemir [rdna origin] injection is a longacting insulin used to control high blood sugar in adults and children with diabetes and is not recommended to treat diabetic ketoacidosis. Do not use levemir® if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. The most common side effect is low blood sugar, which may cause symptoms such as sweating, shakiness, confusion, and headache. Severe low blood sugar can be serious and life threatening. Ask your Healthcare Provider about alcohol use, operating machinery, or driving. Other possible side effects include injection site reactions. Tell your Healthcare Provider about all medicines you take and all of your medical conditions. Get medical help right away if you experience serious allergic reactions, such as body rash, trouble with breathing, fast heartbeat, or sweating. With flexpen®. Say good night to vial and syringe. Ask your doctor about levemir® flexpen. Covered by 90 of insurance plans, including medicare. Find your copay at myflexpen. Com. Morning. Welcome back, everybody. Youre watching starting point. In just a few moments, well be talking to an outgoing west point cadet. His name is lieutenant blake page. Hes dropping out, leaving just months before he would graduate, because he says hes being discriminated against because hes nonreligious. Well also talk with michael winestein, with the military religious freedom foundation. A fiscal cliff, an update, were nowhere near a deal, but there may be a smidge of movement in the debate. If an agreement isnt reached in 26 days, we go over the cliff or some people describe it as a gentle slope but basically what happens, there are crippling tax hikes and sweeping spending cuts that will go into effect on the first of the new year. The president and the house Speaker John Boehner finally spoke yesterday by phone. They have both agreed to keep the details of the discussion under wraps. Theyre both Standing Firm on the tax hike, their positions on the tax hikes for the top 2 . Listen. The revenues were putting on the table are going to come from, guess who . The rich. Once republicans acknowledge that rates are going up for top earners, we believe that an agreement is very achievable. Kate balduan is in washington, d. C. , this morning. So thats kind of a depressing thing, when just the advent of a phone conversation between the two top dealmakers is the headline, isnt it . I could not agree with you more. The fact that they spoke, but the fact that theres no progress, and thats a headline. I mean, if we want to take anything from it, any significance, its the first time theyve talked in a week. Take that what you will. Its almost like hope springs eternal, but we are a long way from a deal still. Neither side, as you said is giving on their basic position. President obama continues to insist any deal must include a tax break increase on the top 2 of wage earners, which republicans, we well know, just as firmly insist, that is a nonstarter in these cliff negotiations. Another element to this fight now, which is important, is the debt ceiling. Its likely the country will come up against that marker again early next year, laying the groundwork for another potentially bitter, bruising, and damaging battle between congress and the white house. We know how well that went last summer when we filed a debt ceiling fight. The proposal offered by treasury secretary Timothy Geithner last week to republicans would change the rules as it relates to the debt ceiling, giving more power to the president and making it harder for congress to block a debt ceiling increase in the future. The president clearly wants to take the threat of this continued fight on the debt ceiling off the table. Listen to the president yesterday. If congress, in any way, suggests theyre going to tie negotiations to debt ceiling votes, and take us to the brink of default once again, as part of a budget negotiation, which, by the way, we have never done in our history, until we did it last year, i will not play that game. Well, republicans call it a power grab, when theyre really proposing, and this is where they see the little leverage that they have. Because they see that if they dont want the debt ceiling to be part of the this fiscal cliff fight. They want to talk about it next year, and they see that as a way to be able to force the president to agree to more spending cuts and entitlement changes that he would otherwise not want to maybe agree to, soledad. But bottom line is, were still watching them fight in public, which as you well know, the more theyre fighting in public, the less theyre talking behind the scenes. But maybe not. The fact theyre not talking about anything they discuss on the phone call, i actually see that as a little ray of hope, right . Like lets move it away from the cameras and get some serious work done. I will agree with you. Hope springs eternal. I will agree with you. Take that sliver of hope and ill be back here telling you theres no progress. Kate is an optimist and so am i. Thanks, kate. Appreciate it. Zoraida sambolin has a look at some of the other news. The bodies of two young cousins missing since the summer have been found by hunters in a wooded area in iowa. 10yearold lyric cook and her 8yearold cousin Elizabeth Collins vanished in july. Police found their bicycles and a purse near a neighborhood lake. That lake was the scene of an emotional vigil last night. The families of the two girls have been notified. We are awaiting an official i. D. From police. Elizabeths mother had an Emotional Message on her Facebook Page confirmed the bodies are those of elizabeth and lyric. Police say they have no suspects in this case. And nearly 4,000 emails. That were sent or received by Movie Theater massacre suspect james holmes have been released to the public by the university of colorado. They reveal holmes may have had a romantic relationship with a fellow graduate student. And cnn denver affiliate kmgh reports holmes expressed fantasies about killing a lot of people more than a month before the shootings. And that a doctor who was treating him decided against holding him for a 72hour mental evaluation, because he was leaving the school. Starbucks Ceo Howard Schultz has some sobering advice to offer on that looming fiscal cliff. He says consequences will be far worse than last years debt ceiling fight, when the u. S. Credit rating was downgraded for the First Time Ever. If a deal is not reached, he told our poppy harlow, the Ripple Effect will be felt worldwide. This single issue has a seismic effect on the rest of the world, that we have never been as connected and the domino effect of a bad outcome here will have significant negative consequences, domestically and around the world. Take a minute to come over to your tv, if you can. Penn state has another pr problem on its hands this morning. The universitys kai Omega Sorority is being investigated for stereotyping latinos after a picture showed up on the site tumblr. The photo showed Sorority Members wearing fake mustaches and dressed in somberos while Holding Signs that say, i dont cut grass, i smoke it. The president of the chapter has apologized. Is that enough, soledad . Ladies, as your multiethnic friend, let me help you. Help me help you. No dressing up as any stereotypical figures. Just stop. Call a friend. Get advice. Dont do it. And dont take pictures of it and post it to facebook. Is there a single minority in this sorority who felt empowered to stand up, to say, hey, friends bad idea. Were talking about kai omega, not sigma kappa theta. I doubt it. Moving on. An interesting story. A young man whos just five months away from graduating west point, hes decided that he is going to abandon his degree in a very public way. 24yearold cadet blake page, he wrote a blog page on tthe Huffington Post saying he wanted out because hes being discriminated against for being nonreligious. In his resignation letter, he writes this, i do not wish to be in any way associated with an institution which willfully disregards the constitution of the United States of america by enforcing policies which run counter to the same. The u. S. Military academy sideli declined to give us a statement. They did confirm that pages resignation has been approved and hes being honorably discharged. Joining us this morning is blake page, now an outprocessing cadet from west point. Michael winestein is with the military religious freedom foundation. Theyre in albuquerque. Nice that talk to you both. Blake, ill start with you, if i can. Did you know that before you attended west point, that this is an institution that involves going to chapel, praying over meals. There was a bit, i think its fair, of a religious culture around west point. Sure. I knew there was a religious culture, but being a cadet does not involve going to chapel, it doesnt involve praying over meals, under normal circumstances. Going to chapel is often encouraged in illegal ways here and throughout the military at large. But prayer over meals is explicitly required at certain times. Those things, though, those things werent as big of a deal to me as a lot of the other problems that have arose okay, so walk me through. You spelled it out in your letter to the Huffington Post, religious bigotry. Tick off for me some of the things that you found most offensive. Right. Well, things that have happened to me personally have just been conversational and really just condescension and disrespect from other people. And i can give my personal stories all day long, but so far, it seems that my greatest criticism comes from people saying that they cant believe what im saying. We have over 150 clients here and the staff, faculty, and cadets at west point who also agree that this is a problem. And there are thousands throughout the military who also agree that this is a problem. So if anybody wants to just pretend that this sort of harassment doesnt exist, theyre really missing it. Ive had conversations with forgive me for interrupting you, you said the mrff, and thats the military religious freedom foundation, of which mr. Winestein is founder and president. Well turn to him for a moment. Is it true that this is a how big of a problem is this . And how many complaints do you get . This seems the to be a real rarity, a highprofile departure, just months before graduation. Soledad, its a terrible problem. Our foundation, the military religious freedom foundation, currently represents 30,512 active duty United States marines, sailors, soldiers, airmen, and cadets and midshipmen at my alma mater, the air force academy, west point, and annapolis. 96 of them are actually practicing christians themselves, being told that theyre not christian enough. At west point, as blake says, we have 151 clients, 119 of whom are also christians. But this year, this is very typical for west point. Earlier this year, our foundation had to lead the way with other organizations to stop west point from inviting the raging islamphobe, retired jerry boykin, from speaking at their National Prayer breakfast. We had to go public with that. This man is a raging fundamentalist christian, islamphobe, you know, disgraced. West point, did, at the last minute, disinvite him. A few months later, thanks to other folks at west point, we found out that west point had a fouryear longitudinal study that was assessed with the class of 2013 this time. It came out in august, i think it was, blake, where they were actually asking questions about leadership, and they were testing, you know, asking questions about faith and religion. Which is fine to do, but not in this country, because clause 3, article 6 of our constitution specifically forbids religious questioning. General Benjamin Davis jr. Was the first black to finish from west point. He went through an entire year where no one even spoke to him because he was black. Do you believe that youre giving in to them by leaving . What if you stayed . What if you said, no matter what you do to me, i am going to win and beat you at this battle . Why leave . Yeah, i get that question a lot. I didnt come to west point to get a west point degree. I couldnt care less about graduating from west point. What i wanted to do was become an officer, all right . So thats what was important to me and thats what i was working towards. And im not being beaten, going through the channels here havent been difficult for me, classes havent been difficult. Ive generally had a fair amount of success with my time as a cadet. And anybody who thinks im just giving up and walking away is really missing the point. I found out earlier this semester that i would not be able to commission, but i was told that i would be allowed to graduate if i decided that i wanted to. When i first found out if i wasnt going to commission, i asked if i could go ahead and aleve so i wouldnt waste anymore taxpayer dollars, but i was encouraged by people here to stay, and ended up staying for a few months, and i realized there was a problem, i was going to be outside the system, and i wouldnt be able to affect the changes i wanted to affect as a highranking officer later on. So i made the decision to do what i could to try to get attention to an issue that i think needs a lot of attention. You certainly have with your post on the Huffington Post. Its what all people are talking about. Cadet blake page joining us and also michael winestein as well with the military religious freedom foundation. Nice to talk to both of you gentleman. We appreciate your time this morning. Got to take a short break. Still ahead, the nfl experienced a tragedy this week when a kansas city player killed himself and his girlfriend. Theres a new article that takes look at the lengths that Roger Goodell is going to to protect his sport. Well talk about that straight ahead. Americans believe they should be in charge of their own future. How theyll live tomorrow. For more than 116 years, Ameriprise Financial has worked for their clients futures. Helping millions of americans retire on their terms. When they want. Where they want. Doing what they want. Ameriprise. The strength of a leader in retirement planning. The heart of 10,000 advisors working with you onetoone. Together for your future. Welcome back, everybody. The cover of this weeks Time Magazine is a fascinating profile of the nfl and its embattled commissioner, Roger Goodell. The league has a legion of lawyers who are handling a legion of different lawsuits, not to mention the concussion crisis, the bounty scandal, replacement ref fiasco, four suicides that have taken place from former or current players over the last eight months. Theyre really dealing with a lot. And in the middle of all of this, Roger Goodell is trying to hold all the pieces together. Yeah, its a fascinating look at a man who is trying to manage, you know, one of the countrys most beloved sports and institutions at a moment of its maximum crisis. Probably its biggest crisis since Teddy Roosevelt told the college football, you know, clean up your game or im going to ban it. So its just looking at the way that hes struggling to acknowledge and address the fact that concussions and traumatic brain injury lead to degenerative dementia, but also preserve the spirit of the game. Because on the other side, hes addressing a lot of critics who say, youre watering down the sport, the sport is brutal. The sport has always been brutal. Thats the reason we love it. First of all, which is huge. Even if you broaden it, remember, before even this, he had to deal with the issue of violence within the sport, in terms of also off the field. That is banning players, suspending players. That was the whole issue as well. As relates to the concussions, youve had lawsuits, youve had former players. You see mike ditka out there saying, we havent done enough. Its also been a part of the collective bargaining agreement, because the current players pay into the system. These guys say, why should i be playing for these old guys. So hes had a very difficult task. What does he suggest that we can do . Is there any changes we can make as of now . Well, hes implemented a couple of rule changes. One of the most fascinating aspects is hes proposing or hes contemplating publicizing a rule change that actually involves getting rid of the kickoff. That changing after the team scores, the winning team, the scoring team would be put on the 30yard line with a fourth down and 15yard to go scenario. So they have a choice about whether or not they go for it is and try to retain possession or they punt. And because an overwhelming majority of concussions that are caused on the football field are during kickoffs. Its really the only scenario where 11 players are running at 11 players at full speed. Makes sense. It is the cover story thats interesting. Of Time Magazine. Its the cover story called the enforcer. Appreciate that update. Still ahead this morning on starting point, the story of a shrinking city and a city thats really on the verge of collapse with thousands of homes abandoned, jobs disappearing, its not fiction. Were talking about the city of detroit. Directors of a new documentary take a look at detroits struggle to survive. The folks who are trying to keep that city alive. Well talk to them, coming up next. We are here today for the opening of a show called canteen. My contribution to the show is called imaginary beings, the mythology of not yet. So the show is those mythical beings that are those mythical surrounding the human body. Mft myths that one day will turn into buildings. Theres a series that explores shock absorbent helmets. There is a corsette that allows you to be protected, a stiff armor. And all of these imaginary beings were 3d printed. The artist and the architect, this sunday on the next list. Like a lot of things, trying to find a better job can be frustrating. So at university of phoenix were working with a growing list of almost two thousand Corporate Partners Companies Like microsoft, American Red Cross and adobe to create options for you. Not only that, were using what we learn from these partners to shape our curriculum, so that when you find the job you want youll be a perfect fit. Lets get to work. You can stay in and like something. [ car alarm deactivates ]. Or you can get out there with your family and actually like something. The lexus december to remember sales event is on, offering some of our best values of the year. This is the pursuit of perfection. A new way to save on your prescriptions. Its the aarp medicarerx saver plus plan from unitedhealthcare. With this plan, you can get copays as low as a dollar through a preferred Network Pharmacy like walgreens where youll find 8,000 convenient locations. Best of all, this plan has the lowest part d premium in the United States only 15 a month. Open enrollment ends december 7th. So call today or visit your local walgreens. Welcome back, everybody. Detropia tells the story of an American City on the verge of collapse through four detroiters. It just made the Academy Awards documentary short list. Here is a little clip. They are shutting down schools. Theyre shutting down futures basically. Were not going to accept any more downsizing. We want to hear about upsizing, big sizing, supersizing detroit. Its going to be difficult. The city is broke. I dont know how many times i have to say that. Thats mayor binge, talking there. The documentarys directors, heidi ewing and rachel grady join us. Morning. The shots of this movie are dec decaying, falling apart and in a weird way very beautiful. What was the goal . It was the place of great importance in the United States. That majesty is not gone. A lot of the city has been vacated, lost 20 of its population in the last ten years. Were reminded by the people and the buildings what it used to be and maybe what it could become again. Basic services do not exist. They do not. New yorkers and other places take it for granted. But they have no street lights, no police officers. They have no firemen. No garbage pickup. The quality of life is really its not acceptable. We need to understand, how did you get there . Part of that is because of massive corruption in the city. You also saw significant white flight because detroit, when it became a largely black city, you saw folks going out to the suburbs. Dollars going with them. Thats the struggle. Its a struggle, but is the message at the end of your film hopeful or depressing . Well, its realistic. Were not saying that detroit is over, it cant rise again. Were saying please double down on detroit. Please focus on a lot of us our cities going bankrupt and infrastructural problems in detroit. Its not a message of its all going to be fine but if people ban together and we focus on places like detroit, of course, theres hope. You talk to so many people that are struggling. What did they say they want to get done and how do they expect it to get done . They want basic i think they want a basic quality of life. They really do. At this point its donning on them that its never going to be the way it used to be but they want to have a basic life and that their kids will have at least as good a life as they have. What were seeing in greece is whats happening in detroit. Austerity cuts. Were seeing a big bailout right. Starting with the auto industry. The white house is giving money for new police stations, Homeland Security is trying to sustain the Fire Department in detroit. Were talking about a series of bailouts that continue in order to keep detroit proposed up. I dont know how long that is sustainable. The movecy called detropia. You just made the Academy Awards documentary short list. Congratulations on that. Thank you. Good luck with it. Weve got to take a short break. Just ahead, well talk syria. Well discuss that. Space needle, pot party there broke out there right at midnight. I wonder why. I love the holidays. And with my bankamericard cash rewards credit card, i love em even more. I earn 1 cash back everywhere, every time. 2 on groceries. 3 on gas. Automatically. No hoops to jump through. Thats 1 back on. [ toy robot sounds ] 2 on pumpkin pie. And apple. 3 back on 4 trips to the airport. Its as easy as. [ man ] 1. [ woman ] 2. [ woman ] 3. [ male announcer ] the bankamericard cash rewards card. Apply online or at a bank of america near you. Home of the legendary grand prix circuit. The Perfect Place to bring the allnew cadillac ats to test the 2. 0liter turbo engine. [ engine revs ] [ derek ] 272 horsepower. The lightest in its class. The cadillac ats outmatches the bmw 3 series. I cannot believe i have ended the day not scraping some red paint off on these barriers. [ male announcer ] the allnew cadillac ats. Five days later, i had a massive heart attack. Bayer aspirin was the first thing the emts gave me. Now, im on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. [ woman ] learn from my story. You wont take our future. Aids affects us all. Even babies. Chevron is working to stop mothertochild transmission. Our employees and their families are part of the fight. And were winning. At chevron nigeria, we havent had a reported case in 12 years. Aids is strong. Aids is strong. But we are stronger. And aids. Aids is going to lose. Aids is going to lose. Morning. Welcome, everybody. Our starting point this morning, syria. Putting chemical weapon components into bombs. What does that mean for potential u. S. Action . A live report from overseas straight ahead. Theyre lighting up in Washington State. No, not the christmas tree. Literally lighting up. Its the First Time Ever in the United States that the Recreational Use of pot has been legalized. Feds still say its illegal. So, is this law cut and dry . Its been a good year for stocks, soledad. If we go over the fiscal cliff, what could happen to the markets in 2013 . Thats ahead. Grammy nominations are out. Who is in the running to take home the music industrys top honors . Lots to talk about this morning. Well talk to steve sarich, director of cannibus coalition. Steve latourette is with us and nic burns joins us. Its thursday, december 6th and starting point begins right now. Morning, welcome, everybody. Weve got lots to talk about this morning. Were talking about syria and fears that they could unleash a nerve gas and what that could mean for any potential military involvement in the war there. Nbc news is reporting that syrias military has loaded the component chemicals from the deadly nerve gas sarin. Cnn has not confirmed that report yet. On monday we reported that Syrian Forces started combining chemicals that could make sarinn g gas for weapons. Barbara starr has the latest for us. Reporter good morning, soledad. They are declining all comment on that report. If this begins to become true, then everybody is turning to the question of president obamas red line. He said there would be consequences. Officials are telling us the consequences are if they see the intent by the syrians, of course, to use the weapons, what does that mean . That means the military has to start providing the president with options. He might decide on the diplomatic route, but he has to have options for military alcohol. Thats what the pentagon does. Very tough to do, soledad. You have to know exactly where these weapons are, how you would target them, what kind of plane you might use or missile to get in there. Can you get past syrian air defenses . Are you sure that there are no civilians around . All of these very complicated questions. And you can bet nobody is looking for military action on this. All the efforts right now are to possibly through the russians are interest to try to get assad to pull back and not go down this road. Such ominous signs for us, barbara. Appreciate the update. Sure. Well be talking with ambassador nic burns about this a little later. First, lets get to Zoraida Sambolin with a look at the mornings news. This is cairo outside the palace where protesters are starting to gather. Tanks and Armored Vehicles are stationed there. Clashes turned deadly yesterday into the afternoon after they unveiled their constitution, highest Islamic Authority is calling on president morsi to rescind his decree that granted himself sweep iing powers. And seconddegree murder, that is a charge against naeem davis, who reportedly push ed k suk han on to the tracks of a subway in new york. Our family is grieving. We want to thank everyone who reached out to us in help. We are suffering in sore o we have the support of family, friends and our church to help us through this time. Police say the suspect, naeem davis blamed the victim for that tragic incident, telling them han was bothering him and wouldnt leave him alone. With 26 days left before we go over the fiscal cliff, president obama and Speaker Boehner are finally talking. No word of significant progress there or the is scheduling of future talks. There are signs of compromise on the gop side. Tom colburn breaking ranks saying revenues are needed and he embraces an approach that raises taxes on the wealthy. The duchess of cambridge has been discharged from the london hospital, nearly three months pregnant and was treated for morning sickness. She was smiling when she left king Edward Hospital this morning with Prince William by her side. She is heading to kensington l palace forry short rest period. Grammy nominations are out. Kelly clarkson is out for two of the biggest awards, song of the year and record of the year for her hit stronger. Six artists tied for the most nominations with six a piece, kanye west, jayz, frank ocean, mumford and sons, and the group fun. Are you a big ocean fan . Im a big frank ocean fan. Hope he cleans up. That would be nice. Our team this morning, Jim Frederick is with us, International Editor of Time Magazine. Abby huntsman is back, the daughter of former governor John Jon Huntsman and host of huffpost live. Roland martin host of washington watch. And Zoraida Sambolin sticks around. Lets talk about pot. How about that for a sharp turn . It became legal in washington eight hours ago. Its still illegal in the federal governments eyes. They had a celebration in front of the space needle. Miguel marquez is joining us with an update on how that went last night. Reporter good morning. It went very well from their perspective, even though it was cold out and started to rain. Didnt dampen their spirits very much. It was one of many, many parties across the state as they say the first revolutionary step was taken. Reporter anything less than an ounce no longer illegal in Washington State. Its amazing. Im not a criminal anymore. I cant go to jail for small amounts of marijuana. Im free to be free. Reporter several dozen hard core smokers showed up here at the base of the space needle, symbol of the city and of the state to light up at the stroke of midnight. And while the new law does not allow smoking in public places, Seattle Police and Police Departments across the state are turning a blind eye tonight, allowing celebrations to light up. This is what you assume the stores will look like, or something along these lines . So, yeah, our stores are going to have the feel of a fine cigar shop. Reporter once a high profile executive at microsoft, yesterday he would be called a drug dealer. Today, an entrepreneur. Our target market is actually baby boomers. These are folks that maybe tried it in college a couple of times. Maybe they didnt inhale. But now its actually safe to inhale. Reporter working on packaging and attractive displays for future clients. The state liquor control board has a year to regulate and license the growing, processing and retailing of marijuana here. All of it taxable at a very high 25 . We are looking at the potential of bringing in more than 500 million each year in new tax revenue. The big question still, what will the federal government do . Pot is still illegal federally. Today, a legal revolution. The only thing the federal government is saying is that they are reviewing the laws here in washington and in colorado, which they get going by january 5th. They will see where they go in the days ahead. Back to you. Miguel marquez back for us this morning. Thanks, miguel. Steve sarich is also in seattle, executive director of the canibus coalition. Nice to have you with us this morning. You actually had asked the judge to temporarily block this new law. On what grounds . Well, first of all, we want to block it permanently. What the state constitution requires is that a ballot measure describe everything that the voter is voting on and this adds a new criminal penalty to the Washington State statutes and that wasnt mentioned on the Ballot Initiative. For that and a couple of other reasons were asking them to actually overturn the law not just temporarily stop it. People would be surprised to know youre the executive director of the cannabis action coalition. You run a local dispensary, you use medical marijuana yourself for back pain that comes from severe arthritis. Right. How much of this is your concern from a business perspective about the law and less a moral perspective, if you will, about smoking pot . Absolutely none. This doesnt affect me financially whatsoever. My job is to protect patients in the state of washington. And this law criminalizes every single medical marijuana patient every single time they drive. And for patients under 21 or just students under 21, we know that active tch can stay in your system for up to 30 days so that legal joint you smoked two weeks ago is still in your system today. And under the new law, if you get pulled over and they take your blood, youre going to be guilty of, per se, duid, which is a very serious crime in the state of washington. Its a lifechanging crime for those under 21. Lets walk through for folks who arent aware of the details some of the new driving rules, which i know youre really focused on, under the influence driving. Legal thc limit would be 5 nanograms per mill liter. They could conduct so bright tests. Serious accident would mandate that you get your blood drawn. They cant search the car for smell alone. Youve called these laws, these rules draconian. A lot of people would say, listen, i support draconian laws about people getting in the vehicle under the influence of any kind of drug being held to high standards if theyre going to get behind the wheel of a car. You have to understand something. Per se duid laws have no relation to impairment whatsoever. The National Institute of drug abuse has stated, along with the National Institute national highway Traffic Safety commission, federal department of transportation, all have put out studies that show that you cannot judge impairment simply by blood content on any drug other than alcohol. So by setting an arbitrary limit, i wake up in the morning at probably four or five times the legal limit, where i am right now. Hopefully, i dont appear too impaired. So you cannot were not talking about impairment. Were not talking about highway safety. Were talking about convicting people simply for having trace amounts of tch in their blood. In other words now theyre saying you can have you can legally have an ounce of marijuana. You just better not put it in your body. Let me ask you a stupid question. Are you always at four or five times the the legal limit . Would that be everybodys definition of stoned and this is how you go through your day . But im not stoned. I hope i dont appear stoned. No, you dont at all. Active tch, according to the National Institute on drug abuse, the latest study came out in april from dr. Aaron karshner says active tch, which is stored in fat cells, can stay in your body up to 30 days. 30 days from last use. If youre a medical Cannabis Patient and suffer from back pain, like i do, it doesnt mean you are impaired in any way, shape or form but the drug is stored in your fat cells and it will always be there. I will never be below 5 nanograms. I will always be guilty of duid every time i get behind the wheel even though im not impaired at all. Steve saerin, its nice to talk to you. Youre welcome. Will president obama and Speaker Boehner meet face to face . Steve latourette is joining us to talk about that. Aclu, no surprise, getting involved in the punishment of a man should church be a punishment at all . Depends on who the preacher is. Presenting androgel 1. 62 . Both are used to treat men with low testosterone. Androgel 1. 62 is from the makers of the number one prescribed testosterone replacement therapy. It raises your testosterone levels, and. Is concentrated, so you could use less gel. And with androgel 1. 62 , you can save on your monthly prescription. [ male announcer ] dosing and application sites between these products differ. Women and children should avoid contact with application sites. Discontinue androgel and call your doctor if you see unexpected signs of early puberty in a child, or, signs in a woman which may include changes in body hair or a large increase in acne, possibly due to accidental exposure. 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Our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. Though all Energy Development comes with some risk, were committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. Its not a dream. Americas natural gas. Putting us in control of our Energy Future, now. For the first time in a week president obama and Speaker Boehner talked about the fiscal cliff. It was by phone. Both sides agreed that they would not talk about the details. What we do know is that it has not led yet to any major breakthroughs. We want to get to congressman steve latourette, republican from the state of ohio. He is leaving congress, decided not to run for reelection, citing gridlock as a big reason why. We appreciate your time with us this morning. Thank you. Can we start with syria first before we get to the fiscal cliff . We know that theres this red line that Hillary Clinton has talked about. But nbc news has reported that syria is loading chemical weapon components on to bombs, which could makes us think, well, whats the next step . To what degree does this mean military action for the United States . Couple of things, the nbc report is unconfirmed. The other piece of news is that the secretary is expected to meet with the Russian Foreign minister in dublin, i believe, and talk specifically about getting the okay to put in place economic sanctions that would cripple the Syrian Government, should they continue down this path. Just like a nuclear iran, nobody is going to sit by in the International Community and say its okay for the assad regime to use sarin gas on its own civilian. Well watch to see what comes out of that meeting in dublin. The foek phone call between the speaker and the president , the headline of the meeting is sort of a sad thing. Are you hearing of anything that has come out of this phone call . I think it was generated that we had a meeting of the House Republicans yesterday morning, as we always do every week. The sense was that theres a growing number of folks in our party that are saying, you know what . The president has won this round relative to the rates, but we need to sit down and get the second half of the deal. And thats the spending. If you look at just what the president is talking about, everybody says the 2 , so forth and so on. That generates 900 billion over ten years, 90 billion a year. That will operate the government for 11 days. So, we are borrowing 1. 6 trillion. I think that the president , if he wants to take the deal and comes forward with real entitlement reform, theres a deal to be had. The republicans walked out. Weve got shots of that. They were sort of streaming out of the capitol, heading home. There will be no votes between now and the weekend. I want to show that video. Im curious of what you know of the optics of that. When everybody starts sort of that wasnt it. Hes going up to a podium. There we go. Thats the shot im looking for. What are the optics of everybody walking out as americans are focused on washington, d. C. And trying to figure out every last move in the fiscal cliff . Do you worry about that from your colleagues in the house . Well, ive got to tell you, ive been here 18 years. This is going to be a negotiation between the president of the United States and house Speaker John Boehner. And so we have engaged in some charades over the last 18 years where we all like pretend to be working in our offices, but were not doing anything to get this done because theres nothing we can do. This is going to be a discussion between the top leaders of the house and the white house. And when they signal sort of like the pope being elected. When the white smoke comes out of the capitol, we can come back and execute the deal. Wow, i dont know how i feel about the whole pope reference, talking about congress. Thats better than being sentenced to church, i guess. I suppose that is true. And, in fact, thats going to be our next story. Steve latourette, always nice to have you. When youre in new york, we would love to have you come and sit down with us on our panel. Would love to. Drunk driver, instead of being sentenced to prison, is sentenced to time in church. Not sure how i feel about that. Love it. You do . Presence of the lord is here well talk about that. Back in a moment. Too easily . Time to deploy the boringpotato chip decoy bag. Then no one will want to steal the deliciousness. [ male announcer ] with a variety of tastes and textures, only chex mix is a bag of interesting. [ male announcer ] with a variety of tastes and textures, why they have a raise your rate cd. Tonight our guest, thomas sargent. Nobel laureate in economics, and one of the most cited economists in the world. Professor sargent, can you tell me what cd rates will be in two years . No. If he cant, no one can. Thats why ally has a raise your rate cd. Ally bank. Your money needs an ally. Welcome back, everybody. Here is our tough call. A judge in oklahoma has sentenced a man to attend church for ten years instead of going to prison for killing two people in a deadly dui crash. It happened last year. 17yearold tyler alred says hes okay with the judges ruling. I imagine so. Aclu, though, will step in. The group has filed a complaint, saying that the judge disregarded the first amendment, violated the teenagers religious liberties, even though the teen has been attending surch every sunday. So nothing will change in his life. Do you remember the story back in 1993, the two sisters in mississippi that were charged with robbery, stole 11 . I remember that when they got out. They were sentenced to life in prison. Can someone explain the comparison here . You know, i do wonder if judges overreach by sending someone off to church. The kid already goes to church, right . How much latitude is the judge given statutely. On the other hand 17 years old. We got a great pastor, great choir. May be a good experience for him. He killed two people. I understand he killed two people. I might look at this from a judges standpoint, sense of redemption, also saying do you send this person to juvenile, do you send them to prison . A cost to taxpayers in some places upwards of 40,000 to 50,000 a year. What is more likely to turn him around . Is prison or is church going to turn him around . You said he goes to church already. He apparently has been attending church on sundays. Maybe it wasnt a really good church. How do you monitor whether hes taking any action in order to improve and not theres a violation of separation between church and state. What message does it send to other teens . Worst case, i go to church. Aclu all these reasons and more why the aclu has hopped into this debate. Still ahead on starting point there are fears that syria could unleash weapons on its own people, drag the United States into its war. Well talk to ambassador nicolas burns. How the United States could still pick up another gold. Is it really 100 calories . Let me put you on webcan. Lean roasted chicken. And a creamy broth mmm i can still see you. Since Ameriprise Financial was founded back in 1894, theyve been committed to putting clients first. Helping generations through tough times. Good times. Never taking a bailout. There when you need them. Helping millions of americans over the centuries. The strength of a Global Financial leader. The heart of a onetoone relationship. Together for your future. Good morning. Welcome back, everybody. Youre watching starting point. In a few moments well be talking with ambassador nic burns over fears of syria putting chemical weapon components into bombs. John mcafee could face deportation to belize as early as today. Guatemalan officials seized him, accusing him of turning up in that country illegally. Police in belize want to question mcafee about a murder. He says he is innocent and went into hiding because of fears of persecution. Hundreds still missing. Rescuers did find a 77yearold man who survived for two days on coconuts, rescued while clinging to a boulder near a river with a broken leg. Washington state is issuing its first samesex marriage licenses. The first couple to receive one in king county, jane abott and peterson. About 250 couples were lined up at the king county courthouse at midnight to get their marriage licenses signed. They are 81 and 77 years old. Wow together for a long time as well. American shotputter adam nelson may take home the gold. Did you hear me . I said eight years. The ukrainian who originally won the gold medal was found guilty of using drugs after a reanalysis of his urine. He must now wait for track and fields governing body if they will official ly reassign the medals or just void the gold. A Stocking Stuffer for you, pizza hut is out with a perfume. The whole idea started as a joke on facebook. The restaurants Canadian Branch decided to produce a limited quantity of eau de pizza hut. Thats insane. The crew likes it. That would be such an insult. Would someone order that . Sure. You can wear it. Can you imagine . Ooh, baby, deep dish. Ooh, deep dish. Yeah, baby. I dont know how to turn to the new numbers on the job market. Christine romans, will you help me with this uncomfortable and awkward segue . I smell good job numbers. We certainly hope that the eau de pizza hut is creating jobs. 370,000 jobless claims down 25,000 from the week before. Remember, we had big jobless claims reports for a few weeks in a row because of hurricane sandy, Superstorm Sandy. It looks like those are coming down again. The big jobs report will be tomorrow, which will give us the real gauge of whats happen iin here. They expect only 77,000 jobs added. And the unemployment rate, they think, will tick back up to 8 . 77,000. Why . Because of Superstorm Sandy. You didnt have hiring, people getting jobs in the northeast because during that time the last month or so. Jack welch right now, they went up after the election. Those chicago people. All morning weve been following major developments in both syria, in egypt and syria there are new fears that they could unleash nerve gas on some of the rebels. Thats a report from nbc news, that syria is loading the component chemicals. Cnn has not confirmed that report yet. Egypt, protoasters have started to gather outside the president ial palace in cairo. Lots of anger building after the new president gave himself extra powers. The protests were very violent last night. The clashes killed at least five people. Nic burns, former u. S. Ambassador to nato, now a professor of foreign relations. Cnn on monday reported that the Syrian Forces, battling the rebels, had started combining the chemicals that could be used to make the deadly sarin gas. On wednesday we had that nbc report that syria is loading those chemical weapons components on to bombs. What is the significance of that reporting . Some of it has not been confirmed, at least by us, yet. Are we right on that red line as Hillary Clinton has described it . Well, its a very dangerous moment, soledad. Really, its a nightmare scenario that weve worried about since 9 11, that a terrorist group might be able to get possession of chemical weapons. Youve seen how the United States has reacted this week. President obama made a very pointed warning publicly to the syrian leadership. Secretary clinton has done that twice on her current trip. Secretary clinton will be meeting with the Russian Foreign minister and the u. N. Mediator in syria today in brevlin. Lets talk about those meetings. You can be sure that this issue of chemical weapons will be at the top of the list. No question about that. What are the options there . What can the International Community do at this point if, in fact, they are already in a position where theyre loading these components on to the weapons . Well, one is this public message from the United States, from the nato secretary general and from the russians. The Syrian Government, including assad personally, will be held accountable. Second is perhaps to see if the russians can use their influence. Theyre the big egest arms supplier to syria, the biggest ally that syria has, to dissuade the syrians from letting this chemical weapons loose or using them against the rebel alliance. If assad should fall and theres a chaotic period of time where no one is in charge of the government in damascus, if one of those radical rebel groups gets control of chemical weapons, that could be potentially very, very dangerous and that might lead to some kind of military intervention by the United States or other countries to secure those weapons. So would your best analysis be that, in fact, the United States is going to be drawn into some kind of military conflict in syria . It is possible. Im not sure its likely at this point. The Syrian Government would have to think long and hard before using those weapons. There will be all sorts of negative repercussions from them, including the threat of military intervention. And i do think the russian government will not want to see syria use chemical weapons or let them out to the control of rebel forces. Were really counting on the russians here. You know assad. Is he the type of person that in the right situation would use chemical weapons on his own people if the option was losing and being ousted . Its really impossible to tell. The Syrian Government spokespeople have been saying over the last couple of days under no circumstances would they use them except for Foreign Military intervention but assad is desperate. His back is against the wall. He is going to lose in this civil war. Rebels have made extraordinary advances over the last couple of days. He has got to be thinking about either exile, war perhaps, creating an enclave within syria where his clan can defend themselves perhaps along the mediterranean coast. Before we run out of time, i want to talk about egypt and Mohamed Morsi and whats happening in cairo. Things seem pretty calm at this moment. Last night the clashes were very violent over this proposed constitution. Where do you think this ends . Its a power struggle. And morsis called a december 14th referendum on this very flawed constitution. Liberal democratic groups have been much more united than many people expected, in the streets, battling morsis supporters and morsi will make a speech, soledad, in a couple of hours. It will be interesting if he decides to postpone that referendum. The opposition to him is much more verciferous than he expected. Reporter and much more coalesced. Exactly. Nice to have you with us, sir. Thank you for your time. Appreciate it, soledad. Many biracial minorities say they struggle to find a place where they belong. One young woman, this lady right here, is turning her pain into art. Well tell you her story straight ahead. Plus Superstorm Sandy. One queens, new york, family lost their home but say their teenage son saved their lives. Weve got his story as well. Annes tablet was chatting with a tablet in sydney. A desktop in zurich. And a telepresence room in brazil. The secure cloud helped us get some numbers from my assistants pc in new york. And before i reached the top, the Board Meeting became a congrats we sold the company party. Wait til my wifes phone hears about this. [ cellphone vibrating ] [ female announcer ] with cisco at the center, working together has never worked so well. A new way to save on your prescriptions. Its the aarp medicarerx saver plus plan from unitedhealthcare. With this plan, you can get copays as low as a dollar through a preferred Network Pharmacy like walgreens where youll find 8,000 convenient locations. Best of all, this plan has the lowest part d premium in the United States only 15 a month. Open enrollment ends december 7th. So call today or visit your local walgreens. This morning, we have for you the story of 17yearold nayo jones. She was raised by her father, who is white, and teased by her fellow black students. Its a poem about her life. Nayo jones is struggling to recite it. They always called me white girl. I was never ashamed of myself until they taught me to be ashamed. She calls her poem other or the biracial poem. Its about being bullied by black kids for being light skinned. Weirdo and vanilla took years to fade so i became ashamed. Now the tough part. She has to perform it at the first spoken word poetry competition of the season. But its painful. And she can hardly get through it. I pretended i didnt know they were all wondering if i was adopted. No black mother to explain how this tall, angular white man ended up with this short chestnut girl. Nayo cant remember her poem. You got it. I can tell you right now why youre not remembering it. Youre not connected to the pieces yet. When theyre pieces that are personal, you dont want to connect with it. Youre like, i wrote it. Im done. Thats the beginning. Part two is owning it, proclaiming this is what it was. They always called me white girl i was never ashamed of myself until they taught me to be ashamed. I refuse to be defined by it either. Dont, dont. I dont want this is gross. Its not gross. Im just so frustrated. I dont know. Its okay. I promise you, it gets easier. Come here. Let go. You got this. Its all right, sweetie. Nayo jones is one of the stars, if you will, of our documentary. Another young woman we talked to is rebecca kalil. Her roots in after ricka. Because its northern africa, thats egypt. She says im more black than some people who im truly africanamerican. Im truly african. Its an interesting debate about who counts, if you will, as black in a country that really likes to define people as black or white. What does she say is this. Nayo will tell you i cant say im black. Im mixed. I am biracial. Her mom is black, her dad is white. My mom is black. Because of the one drop rule, im black. We have completely diametric opposed ideas and identities even though were surrounded by the same genetic makeup. Shes unclear. Its more of a question, does nayo get to say this is what i am . Does society get to say, no, listen, this is what you are. Does it even matter at all as we get to younger people in another generation . Thats a very good point. There was another magazine that talk about most of our kids will end up being biracial. The question is how do you identify yourself . Im raising half puerto rican, half black kids and my son considers himself black, my daughter considers herself puerto rican. Our own president said he struggled with his own identity growing up. Remember when Michael Jackson came up with that video, black or white . Yeah. This documentary really is revealing an inside discussion within black america. You talk about society, but within black america, weve had paper bag test for so many years. We talk about that in this documentary. It is a major issue. You go different parts of the country, especially, louisiana, you go to some parts of texas. Its a major look, i go to my family reunion, its like the united nations. Im going, i dont recognize a lot of these people here. My mom says, no, thats your cousin. Really . Okay. Thats a good dialogue to have. Very talented young woman. She cant give it away. Abby, no cliff notes. You have to watch sunday. Im not going to tell you. Whats wrong with you . 8 00 pm on sunday, our documentary who is black in america will air. Im going to be live, tweeting the show as well, along with russell simmons, who will be tweeting. Feel free to join us on twitter as you sit on your couch and watch our doc. Still ahead a family that lost everything in Superstorm Sandy except they didnt lose each other. Story of a teenager who bravely jumped into the waters to swim for help, saved his family. Were at walmart with the simmons family. How much is your current phone bill . Four sixteen seventy six a month okay, come with me were gonna save you money. With Straight Talk at walmart, you get unlimited talk, text and data for only 45 a month per phone. Would we get the same coverage . Same coverage on americas best networks. You saved 146. 76 by switching to Straight Talk. Awesome now you can afford to share your allowance with me. Get the seasons hottest smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy s2 and get Straight Talk with unlimited data for just 45 a month from americas gift headquarters. Walmart. Time for citi price rewind. Because your daughter really wants that pink castle thing. And you really dont want to pay more than you have to. Only citi price rewind automatically searches for the lowest price. And if it finds one, you get refunded the difference. Just use your citi card and register your purchase online. Have a super sparkly day ok. [ male announcer ] now all you need is a magic carriage. Citi price rewind. Start saving at citi. Com pricerewind. Neural speeds increasing to 4g lte. Brain upgrading to a quadcore processor. Predictive intelligence with google now complete. Introducing droid dna by htc. Its not an upgrade to your phone. Its an upgrade to yourself. Welcome back, everybody. Its been just over a month since Superstorm Sandy hit. Many people are still struggle i ing. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie goes to washington today, lobbying congressional leaders for emergency funds to try to cover the cost of the devastation. Amazing stories are still emerging in the aftermath of the storm, like ryan panetta, victimized twice. Poppy harlow tells us how he lost his home and his school. Reporter the sun isnt up at breakfast time for the panettas. How tired are you . Very. Reporter now living in a borrowed onebedroom apartment with their parents. How long is your commute to school now . It feels almost like two hours. Reporter what did it used to be . 15 minutes. Reporter wow 6 30 am and theyre out the door. A long car ride. Have a good day. Reporter then a bus to ryans temporary school, ps13. Its unreal how much our life has changed. Were trying to make the best of it. Reporter an eighth grade honor student, one of 5,400 new york students still in different schools because of sandy. Hes the one that was probably impacted the most. And yet he has the strongest will to be here every day. When something brings you down, you got to get up. Reporter are you okay, buddy . What makes you so sad . I honestly dont know. Reporter everything . Its everything. How did it go today ryan . Good. Reporter every day after school, ryan returns to Broad Channel to help his dad try to put their home back together. Everything i owned, everything i worked hard for is gone. Reporter karen was home with their four children when sandy hit. It was unbelievable how quick it came. Reporter water rushed into their onestory house. Ryan swam to a neighbor for help. I jumped out. You jumped out here in the water . Yes. I wasnt even thinking that a log would hit me or anything. Reporter or the electrical power lines . Yeah. Reporter you swam to this house . Yeah, right here. They took us in to their second floor. Reporter the neighbor helped to bring the rest of the family over and they watched as the water engulfed the only home theyve known. What did you think when your 13yearold son jumped into the water . I was panicking. Reporter did ryan help save your family . Absolutely. Reporter no question . Absolutely. I was thinking that the water was going to come inside. Reporter you feel like your brother helped save you . Yes. Reporter now all the panettas are working to rebuild their home and erase the bad memories. After what ive just been through, i dont think i have to see anything that terrifying again. Its hard to put into words what this family was like. But you saw them. And this is an incredible family. This is a family that has been through so much and is coming together, trying to rebuild their home. They have no idea what theyre going to get from insurance, if any money. They had little flood insurance, no content insurance. Everything they had was in that home that they built up over 16 years. If you want to help victims of sandy, if you want to help this family go to cnn. Com impact f you want to help the Panetta Family directly get in touch with cnn. You can even email me. Well put you in touch with them. This family needs a lot of help right now. That is part one of our series. Tomorrow well bring you part two, showing you more of the impact on the schools themselves across new york city that have been hit so hard by this. Such a heartbreaking story. What a remarkable kid. Dont you want to see him in 20 years . He is going to make big waves. Mayor of the city of new york. Absolutely. What an amazing kid. We spend enough time talking about the gulf coast but people across the country do not understand how folks like this are impacted still. This is going to be just like new orleans and mississippi and alabama, five, eight, tenyear process. Years. And hud secretary over this effort, its a major deal. It will take a long time to fix. This is a whole community. This is a working class community. Firefighters, people that work for the city here that built these homes, these little bungalows right there on the water, put everything into them and theyre completely gone. Whats the name of the town . Broad channel. Its right past far rockaway. Thats a heartbreaker. End point is up next. Music is a universal language. But when i was in an accident. I was worried the Health Care System spoke a language all its own with unitedhealthcare, i got help that fit my life. Information on my phone. Connection to doctors who get where im from. And tools to estimate what my care may cost. 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End point. I love the discussion here, but end point. Do you want to take it . Were rightfully consumed by the fiscal cliff but it would be wise to keep an eye on the middle east. There are life and death things happening there right now and will have huge