Demonstrators shut down two major highways here in new york city culling for justice for Michael Brown. In boston, 1400 people shut down traffic in the center of the city taking over the streets. The early hour of the protests were reportedly peaceful, but in the last hour, reports of arrests there, apparently, some protesters tried to push through police lines there in boston. Here was the scene in northern california. In oakland, second night of demonstrations in that city. Images like this from all over the country. A hundred cities have protests scheduled for tonight. Also in nashville, reports of protesters shutting down interstate 24 in that city. You see them gathered. Also in the streets of nashville, again, Peaceful Protesters there. Images like this from around the country tonight from denver and atlanta and seattle and kansas city. These protesters shut down a main street in new mexico. That southwestern city has been wrestling for a few years now for fatal shootings by police, and people turning out not just for events in ferguson, but also the reports of on going Police Brutality and misconduct. In portland, oregon, couple protesters closed streets downtown during the evening rush hour disrupting bus and Train Service and reports in the last hour they are moving to the interstates there. Police in oregon tonight used pepper spray on some of the crowds. In dallas tonight, protesters shut down interstate 35. That seems to be emerging now, nationwide, as one of the strategies for people who want to be heard on the issue. Making a decision to take the message where people are on the downtown streets and out on the highways, but, again, here is the scene tonight in ferguson on what looks to be an what may be a very long and tense night. Joining us now live is wesley lowry, was in ferguson live, covering the events since they unfolded in august. Thank you for joining us. What are you seeing now on the ground . Caller of course. At this moment we have a good number of protesters who are Standing Chest to chest with Police Officers and the National Guard. Half hour ago, many of these protesters left the front of the ferguson pd and march down to city hall where you saw images of the attempts to flip a police cruiser, tear gas deployed, and many dispersed. We are well over 50 maybe a hundred people still here. Officers in riot gear greeting them, National Guard members, a number of arrests as well. Tear gas, you tweeted tonight in the reporting about some tear gas that may have been deployed earlier. What can you tell us about that . When you saw that potentially deployed, how many people were out and about . So, again, what happened is theres probably a hundred to 150 people at the police station, they marched to city hall, probably a hundred, they attempted to flip a police cruiser. Officers sped to city hall, and there was objects thrown at them. Officers deployed gas canisters. Initially, unclear, i think it was just smoke, but second round was tear gas. Thats what my throat is telling me. At that point, many fled, others tried to through it back, at which point officers stormed the street and cleared everyone out forcing most people to run back, back here to ferguson pd. And, wesley, one of the groups, hands up coalition, said they were not organizing events or getting people out tonight. Who are you seeing . What from your reporting, what are the kinds of groups of people you are seeing out there . Do you think this is winding down, or will there be more folks out in the coming evenings . Caller oh, i believe theres going to be more. This is largely or gappic. These are not the organized profests groups for the most part. Those groups are doing what we saw in st. Louis, shutting down parts of the freeway. This is a combination of people who come in from out of town due to the decision as well as or gappic anger. People who live here locally who are upset. Hands up, united, many other formalized protests groups are largely uninvolved with what were seeing here in terms of these demonstrations in reaction every night outside the Police Department since the grand jury. From your time there, whats it like for citizens who live there who are not looking to protest, but who are trying to go about their lives, thanksgiving approaching, what is it like for everyone else . Caller frustrating. Of course, the people who lost the most are Business Owners suffering Property Damage last night. Most of the violence is constrained to two others, the Police Department, and a set of strip malls, a business district. Fortunately, for ferguson, more of the suburban residential neighborhoods are far removed from this not dealing with any people out there or really harassing them in the same way. Obviously, a small suburb like this and having unrest happening around the corner from your house, the business you go to was vandalized or destroyed, neighbors may have been arrested, its unpleasant living here, but where residents live, we are not seeing a lot of commotion. All right, on the ground in ferguson, missouri, thank you for the reporting from the scene tonight. We appreciate it. Lets go to the nbc news correspondent based in dallas, texas, jacojacob, thank you for being with us. We showed tonight some recent images from dallas alongside what were looking at in live images in ferguson. There is clearly a movement ogranic and organized across the country. What are you seeing there in dallas in some of that tonight . Caller it began as a peaceful, in fact, a prayer service, where a group of pastors gathered to pray for ferguson and pray for the family of Michael Brown, and then it became a protest of about 150 people in front of Police Headquarters chanting some of the chants that were hearing out of ferguson, and then quite spontaneously, the crowd took off down Downtown Dallas and for about an hour were there on main street and off of it, blocking traffic, going the wrong way, and though not breaking any windows or causing any damage. Angry, yes. Yelling, yes. Chanting and angry at police, yes, but not causing damage. The climax of the protests came when the group, quite spontaneo spontaneously, i was in and around the crowd, and it didnt feel as though they had one leader with any sort of plan, but the crowd spontaneously went on to the freeway in dallas and blocked one of the main freeways going the wrong way. Its late at night, still, a lot of cars, and, in fact, that lasted about a half hour. Let me ask you weve shown images of places like los angeles and new mexico where theres long standing local issues with the police. Give us context on that for dallas. Caller sure, and about half of the protesters, it seemed, in fact, had some sort of specific example that they could give where they felt that they, a friend, or Family Member was mistreated by the dallas price. There was a number of officer involved shootings here over the summer, and theres been as there are this many major cities, officer involved shootings of teenagers who are unarmed, hispanic, black, or white here, a number of over the summer, and, so, yeah, half of them had that specific feeling thats what they were there for. In the time we have, how were the authorities locally responding to the ferguson solidarity protests there in dallas . Caller we spoke to them before it happened. They were very unimpressed with what was going to happen, was not thinking violence or serious disruption. I think they under reacted. A few cruisers following the protesters. When they blocked freeway traffic, it was serious, and dozens forced the protesters off the freeway just half hour ago. Wow. Nbc news correspondent based in texas, thank you for your reporting tonight. Theres much more to come as we cover the protests in ferguson, and other spontaneous and organized events around the country. Next, rachel will be here with a look at where the Michael Brown case goes next. Stay with us. I told my dentist about my sensitive teeth, he told me theres a whole new way to treat sensitivity. He suggested i try new crest sensistop strips. [ male announcer ] just apply to the gumline of sensitive teeth for a quick 10 minutes. The special ingredient forms a lasting barrier that provides immediate relief and up to one month of protection. See why dental professionals endorse crest sensistop strips to treat sensitivity. Thats 1 strip. 10 minutes. And up to 1 month of protection. Satisfaction guaranteed. [ woman ] life opens up when you relieve sensitivity. Front pages of major newspapers today. St. Louis post dispatch, no charges for wilson. Arson and rioting erupt in ferguson. This is the New York Times today, protester in front of Police Vehicles with his hands up, hands up, dont shoot, continued rally cry for protesters upset by the grand jury decision no one will be indicted for the shooting. L. A. Times had a full color photo, ferguson erupts, and then a picture of the mother of Michael Brown wailing and crying into the reaction to the news from the grand jury last night. This was the front page of the Washington Post today. This was the front page of the Chicago Tribune today. This was the front page of the boston globe today. This was u. S. A. Today, moments after the grand Jury Announcement was made last night when protesters rocked and smashed windows of a st. Louis police car. Crowds that protested in ferguson last night were not the crowds largest turning out there since the case first erupted with the shooting on august 9th, but the headlines from around the country, the front pages around the country show what happens in ferguson now is a matter of Intense National concern. Not just because of the character of the initial tragedy that started this or because of the intensity, and at times, the destructiveness of the Community Anger vented in response so that police shooting, but its a national story. This is now, of course, a touch stone for national anger, dispair, and frustration, and organizing around race and policing and this very difficult and ancient question in the country of whether or not black communities in the country are protected by americas Police Officers or whether actually black communities need to be protected from americas Police Officers. When i say theres been not just upset and dispair, but organizing sprung from ferguson, this is what a mean in a gr granular sense. Part of the reason theres organizations taeds because in advance of the announcement. There is group called ferguson response network, building a graphic template for people to announce protests and rallies after the announcement, so any group wanting to organize ahead of time, could use this template to plug in the graphic, a map of their location, plug in where they wanted to hold the rally. The events were tagged for the day after the announcement. People picked a specific time. Didnt have to be a preexisting organization with a big contact list on standly monthly meetings or something to organize an event in response to the grand Jury Announcement, so weve been seeing events in response to the garages announcement around the country today and into tonight. They have been overwhelmingly peaceful, some angry incidents of violence and arrests, but overwhelmingly, its peaceful but upet. Its organizing thats happening quietly in the background sense the shooting happened in august. Its become a National Focus point. President obama today addressed the issue for the second time in two days. Last night speaking from the white house less than an hour after the grand Jury Announcement was made. Today, president obama made a trip to chicago to talk about his recent announcement on immigration policy but prefaced those remarks with pointed comments about what happened last night in ferguson and elsewhere around the country responding to that ferguson grand jury decision. The president talked about what he expects to happen going forward. A grand jury knead made a decision yesterday that upset a lot of people, and as i said last night, the frustrations that weve seen are not just about a particular incident. They have deep roots in many communities of color who have a sense that our laws are not always being enforced uniformly or fairly. That may not be true everywhere, and its certainly not true for the vast majority of Law Enforcement officials, but thats an impression that folks have, and its not just made up. Its rooted in realities that have existed in the country for a long time. Separate and apart from the particular circumstances of ferguson, which i am careful not to speak to because its its not my job as president to comment on ongoing investigations and specific cases, but the frustrations people have generally, those are rooted in some hard truths that have to be addressed. I have no sympathy at all for destroying your own communities, but for the overwhelming majority of people who just feel frustrated and pained because they get a sense that maybe some communities are not treated fairly or some individuals are not seen as worthy as others, i understand that. I want to work with you and move forward with you. Your president will be right there with you. President obama speaking tonight in chicago speaking on the grand jury decision last night in ferguson and the response to it. Interesting, though, the president went out of his way to say it would be inappropriate for him as president to talk about the specifics of the case in ferguson, the specifics of the case of the grand jury who made the decision. Saying he couldnt weigh in on the facts because that case is the subject of ongoing federal investigations. That case is the subject of ongoing federal investigations. Eric holder spoke to the same point today. Emphasize that we have two investigation ongoing. They will be independent and remain ongoing. At the height of the protests in ferguson after the shooting in august, one thing that seemed to bring a measure of calm, restore a sense that system was finding a resolution to the situation was a visit by holder to ferguson at the height of the protests. It was during that visit when calls came from the kmoupt leaders on the ground there that the federal government should be stepping in, the federal government should be taking over the prosecution in the Michael Brown case because of the lack of trust in local authorities in ferguson to fairly handle the case. That lack of trust that local authorities could handle this fairly did not just come out of nowhere last night after the grand jury made the announcement. The calls for intervention from the federal government to get out of local authorities and put it in the hands of the feds, those calls have been there all along. Its not unheard of when a local prosecution or state prosecution fails to convict someone. I mean famously, the rodney king case, right, five days of riots, a billion dollars of damage in los angeles. That rioting in the rodney king case set off by the acquittal in a criminal trial for the Police Officers who beat rodney king. Eventually, there were federal civil rights charges brought against the four officers, and two of them were ultimately convicted on the federal civil rights charges. Its not impossible for there to be a federal case made either when a prosecution it not brought in the first place or it is brought and fails to convict. I have to say nobodys under illusions thats easy to do in this case, and frankly, asking my opinion, theres no realistic expectation that a federal civil rights case is going to be brougts in the Michael Brown case. It is possible, but theres not an expectation it will be brought. It is possible that the family could bring a civil case against the officer who did the shooting. Its possible to be held liable for a wrongful death the brown family attorneys might bring a civil suit. They have not said for sure they will, they have not filed the suit, but its open as a possibility. Heres where we get to the interesting question. Whether there is a federal case or civil case or both, any future leading proceedings on the case, any further effort to get us through the system, through the courts, any of the efforts depends on the same evidence that the same grand jury has seen, right . Physical evidence, autopsy ro t reports, witness statements. Witness statements. That factor bring us to the most bewildering, jaw dropping decision by the authorities. When they made the decision last night, there was a decision that he would not just present the results of the grand jurys deliberations, not just announce to the world that there would be in indictments in this case, but he would not even just leave it at the anomalous and selfremarkable decision to announce the grand jurys decision and release hundreds of pages of evidence and transselfincriminates about the persuadings, but said in addition to that, as remarkable as it was, he would also choose to read aloud a more than 20 minute narrative of his view of the case. Hes not required to do that, but decided to do that to leave his opinion on officer Darren Wilson. His own case why he should not have been indicted in st. Louis county. In order to make that case, which is weird enough, right . The county prosecutor is not charge with defending anyone or have to say anything last night, but in order to make this lengthy case that he decided to make, the prosecutor also went out of his way to try to hamper any further Legal Proceedings on this matter that could happen in civil court or federal court. Anything involving witnesses to the shooting testifying about what they saw because part of what this county prosecutor volunteered last night was his view about how noncredible and unreliable many of the terrible witnesses were. I mean, whether knowingly or unknowingly, thats what he did in the big long statement. Again, he didnt have to say any of this, but he chose to volunteer it. To the nation. Over and over and over and over again. Many witnesses to the shooting of Michael Brown made statements inconsistent with other statements made and also conflicting with the physical evidence. Some admitted they did not witness the event at all, but repeated what they heard in the neighborhood and statements changed, witnesses were confronted with the inconsistencies. Some witnesses admitted that they did not actually see the shooting or only saw a part of the shooting or only repeating what they heard on the street. Some others adjusted parts of the statements to fit the facts. Others stood by original statements, even toe their statements were discredited by the physical evidence. Can we get a crossexamination please . A rebuttal from opposing counsel . Oh, no, this is not a trial. Right. After volunteering this litany over and over and over and over again how terrible the witnesses were and how the witnesses in the case should not be believed, one of the reporters in the room, while he was saying that, asked listening to the prosecutor last night, skds if the witnesses were so terrible and telling lies, was the prosecutor going to bring perjury charges against lying witnesses . They were, in fact, lying under oath. If he said they lied over and over and over again, how about perjury charges against them . The answer from the prosecutor was, no, hes not going to do anything about it, just wants everybody to know the witnesses are liars. You described problematic witness stams, does that require perjury charges . No. Theres a number of witnesses in all honesty believe what they said. Some of the others, yes, were making it up, but they all pretty much acknowledged that, you knowings they saw parts and made up other things. They were making it up. Dont believe what you hear by a supposed witness in this case. The decision not to indict at 8 30 at night last night with no advance notice begin to the governor, the state, Law Enforcement, schools, or the local people who believed they would get advanced notice, that was a remarkable decision. The timing, remarkable. The decision by the prosecutor to read a lengthy, effective, personal Legal Defense of the wouldbe defendant in the case was a remarkable decision. The cnn legal analyst called that an entirely inappropriate and embarrassing display by the prosecutor. He described what bob did last night as an extended whine. This decision by the prosecutor, not just that, to unilaterally call the witnesses to the crime or this case at least, the shooting at least, call the witnesses liars. Witnesses in this case have been totally discredited and should never be believed. That decision, not only refleblreflects what brought us to this point in ferguson, but could be what happens next there too. The prosecutor at the county level appears to be trying not to justify his own decision that theres no local prosecution for the shooting, but in his st statements tries to affect the possibility that any other Legal Recourse might be sought in this case by the federal government or by the family of the deceased in civil court. Since the 18yearold die left to die in the street in the august heat for four and a half hours on that saturday afternoon, people upset by the shooting, including his family, want recourse for what happened there. They tried to get that through the system. It is not irrational that alongside those efforts to get recourse in the system, theres a deep distrust this system offers a fair hearing, a real chance at justice, equitable recourse. Its not irrational to both demand and expect that the system should work for everyone and also to be deeply distrustful that the system will work for everyone. Those parallel lines continue tonight in missouri and around the country. Can you help me up . [ snow intensifies ] [ sleighbells ring in the distance ] aleve. All day pain relief with just 2 pills. Get back to being you. Its not about how many miles you can get out of the cmax hybrid. Its about how much life you can fit into it. The ford cmax hybrid. With an epaestimated range of 540 miles on a tank of gas. And all the room you need to enjoy the trip. Go stretch out. Go further. In 1995, there was this idea. The coming of the super predators. It was meant to sound scary, and it was. Quote, on the horizon are tens of thousands of severely morally impoverished juvenile supper predators, capable of commits physical violence for the most trivial reasons like a perception of disrespect or accident of being in their path fearing neither stigma of arrest or imprisonment and live by the meanest codes of the streets, reenforcing their violation, hair trigger mentality. Scary, right . He said there was no way out of the superpredator hell that waited us because it was demographically inevitable. Some people, you know who you are, are just destined from birth to be this monster, inescapab inescapable. Saying, quote, americans are sitting on a demographic crime bomb. The next wave of homicidal violence growing up fatherless, jobless, and godless gives rise to a new vicious group of predator street criminal that the nation has ever known. We have to be prepared to contain explosions force and limit its damage. That when george w. Bush became the next president , he named john diolio to the office of faithbased outreach. He named teenage superpredators that could be predicted at age 7. The states started locking up tens of thousands of kid criminals in adult prisons for life. It was very scary stuff about remorseless superpredators. He said it was about to happen. Demographically, it was a time bomb. Heres the juvenile arrest rate for murder into the 1990s. He starts writing about that in 1995. And then his very racialized, very scary predictions coming just over the horizon, they did not pan out. And then, ultimately, john dilulio took it back. In a court filing, john dilulio had just written back. He signed a briefing saying he had been wrong when he predicted a murderous future for all of those 7yearold boys he was so afraid of. Sorry about the superpredator thing. Sorry about all of those kids doing life in an adult prison. But it turned out the glassyeyed, superpredator was just a racial fantasy. Yesterday, in missouri, the documents were generated by that grand jury proceeding. As part of that, we got to see the grand jury testimony of the officer, Darren Wilson. We got to see what happened with his encounter of 18yearold Michael Brown. The encounter that left Michael Brown left laying dead in the street with 12 bullets expended from the officers gun in the process. He describes mr. Brown as looking at him with, the most intense, aggressive face. The only way i can describe it, he told the grand jury, it looks like a demon. Thats how angry he looked. Officer wilson testified that Michael Brown was huge. He told the grand jury, i mean, hes obviously bigger than i was and stronger. Now, it is true that Michael Brown was a big guy. 18 years old, 64, 290 pounds. Darren wilson himself also stands 64, although hes not quite as heavy as Michael Brown. Darren wilson is not a small guy, 64, 210. But faced with what he describes as a demonicseeming young man, a young man he called it to the grand jury, Darren Wilson said he felt like a toy,like a kid in that actual kids presence. He said, when i grabbed him, the only way i can describe it is i felt like a fiveyearold holding onto hulk hogan. Thats how big he felt and how small i felt just from grasping his arm. Thats the way he said it to the grand jury according to the transcript. And then, tonight, in an interview with abc news, Darren Wilson said it again. I reached out and grabbed his forearm. I just felt the immense power that he had. And the way i described it, it was like a fiveyearold holding onto hulk hogan. Thats how big he was. He was very large. Very powerful man. Youre a pretty big guy. Yeah, im above average. 64, armed, Trained Police officer inside a police car. The 18yearold, he says he struggled with, also 64. But, to the officer, he seemed like hulk hogan. And the officer comparatively was a child. To the officer, that young man seemed like a demon. He told the grand jury that after he started shooting 18yearold Michael Brown, the officer said he kept shooting further shots at him because of the way Michael Brown looked to him after he started shooting him. He said the teenager, after he had been shot, looked like he, he was almost bulking up to run through the shots. Like it was making him mad that im shooting at him. Bulking up to run through the shots. Officer Darren Wilson was afraid for his life, he says he says that was his defense. He thought that he met hulk hogan. A largerthanlife threat. And even then, that he would somehow bulk himself up to make himself immune to the shots because he was so angered by him. Gunfire only made him angry, this demon. We are two decades out from the superpredator panic from the mid90s. We now know that that was just a racial fantasy. The fact that that was two decades ago and there hasnt been a policy since doesnt mean that that fantasy is still gone. When youve only have one hand, youre not doing anything as fast as you used to. Do you need help . What is that . Swiffer dusters. I can extend it so i dont have to get on the step stool. Its like a dirt magnet just like my kids. I think swiffer definitely gave me some of that time back. Ugh. Heartburn. Did someone say burn . Try alka seltzer reliefchews. They work just as fast and taste better than tums smoothies assorted fruit. Mmm. Amazing. Yeah, i get that a lot. Alka seltzer heartburn reliefchews. Enjoy the relief. Hes just like you. Except. Hes in a commercial. He got hands like glue. And just bought. A 10,000 gallon salt water fish tank. Otherwise. He do what you do. Drives to work, listens to his music,. Gets caught up in a wirebased headphone situation. Uhmm. I know you seen that. So like you. He went and did something about it. And now he walks into work like a boss. Like who . You. There you go aj. Exclusively at verizon. From San Francisco to silicon valley, Boston Private Bank works with all kinds of people who are innovating, building, contributing individuals, Business Owners, private partnerships, nonprofits, families planning their financial futures. People like you. If you want the individual attention and expertise your financial needs deserve, this is your time. This is your private bank. What is the purpose of mr. Mcculloch trying to undermine the credibility of the witnesses, undermine the credibility of the victim, still has not explained to us how you have a man on the force that feels like hes a child up against hulk hogan. So what kind of training and policing do you do . Reverend al sharpton today with some pointed questions in the way that he announced the decision last night of the grand jury not to bring an indictment in the Michael Brown case. Reverend sharpton is the head of National Action and also the host of politics nation. Thank you, rachel. First, i want to ask you first just at a personal level how Michael Browns family and the people that are close to them in this scenario watching his mother erupt and his stepfather erupt last night with so much grief and anger. I just wonder how theyre doing personally . Theyre very pained. Ive been since day one involved when the grandfather called and asked he to get involved. Its been a very agonizing, painful thing for them. And it has been exacerbated by watching on live World Television the disparaging of their son. I think that would have made it so painful for the mother and father and the family was to have him so disparaged. Youre talking about an 18yearold young man who cant defend himself. And this is a prosecutor giving this profile to the world. It was like pouring salt in the wound for them. Rev, one of the things you raised today at the press conference that you did with members of the brown family, was that this prosecutor, in giving his own, personal narrative about the case, essentially, a lengthy Legal Defense of officer wilson and a justification for him not being indicted, you, essentially said that he impugned the integrity of the witnesses and raised the prospect that that might affect the ability to bring other federal proceedings in the case. What do you think will be the results of that prosecutors decision . What do you think he was trying to do . Well, i think that what is clear to me is that he set a premise that whatever proceedings go forward, lets say theres a federal grand jury to determine civil rights charges. You would have to wonder if the potential federal grand jurors from this district have in any way be prejudiced against witnesses that come before them. Because the local county prosecutor has basically put a blanket over all of them that theyre liars. The same with a civil jury. And this is so far out of the norm, if a prosecutor chooses not to prosecute or a grand jury sells them that they voted against that, it is very rare. Ive never heard of it. Where they decide to come on National Television and say not only are we not going to prosecute, were going to castigate and call liars the witnesses. The first thing you have to ask yourself is if the witnesses were not credible in your judgment, then why did you put them in front of the grand jury . The grand jury is at the discretion of the prosecutor to bring witnesses that would lead to probable cause to indict or not indict. For you to bring them on that you found to be not credible, inconsistent and or liars, means in and of itself, youre making a mockery of your own proceedings. Reverend al sharpton, host of msnbcs politics nation, rev, thanks for being here. All right, theres still a lot to cover tonight, including big protests in los angeles, oakland, in new york city. Stay with us. Right now, you can get a single line with 3 gigs for 65 a month. 3 gigs. Is that a lot . Thats about. 100 app downloads, 45 hours of streaming music, and 6 hours of video playing. singing and five golden rings ha, i see what you did. singing four calling birds. Three french hens. the guys starts to fizzle out two. Turtle. Doves. I really went for it there ya you did. You really, really did now get 3 gigs of data on one line for 65 a month. Switch to at t, buy a new smartphone and get 150 credit per line. Soft holiday music ] can you help me up . [ snow intensifies ] [ sleighbells ring in the distance ] aleve. All day pain relief with just 2 pills. Get back to being you. Introfrom the experts inuwant blfeminine protection. N, new always discreet underwear, for sensitive bladders. Absorbs heavy leaks faster than the leading brand so you can feel comfortably dry. Plus a discreet fit that hugs your curves. You barely feel it. New always discreet. Now bladder leaks can feel like no big deal. Because hey, pee happens. Visit alwaysdiscreet. Com for coupons and your free sample. What looks to be increasingly stand up there. At the fergusonrelated protest, this is a scene here near downtown. One of the many protests going on across the country tonight after that grand jury decision. We look at live footage. This is oakland. You can see the broken windows. Just moments ago, people were going in and out of that store. Thats live footage right now. We will keep an eye on that tonight, and rachel will be right back. Well, did you know genies can be really literal . No. What is your wish . No. Ok. A million bucks oh no. Geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. Ugh. Heartburn. Did someone say burn . Try alka seltzer reliefchews. They work just as fast and taste better than tums smoothies assorted fruit. Mmm. Amazing. Yeah, i get that a lot. Alka seltzer heartburn reliefchews. Enjoy the relief. Twhat do i do . You need to catch the 4 10 huh . The Equipment Tracking system will get you to the loading dock. There should be a truck leaving now. I got it. Now jump off the bridge. What . In 3. 2. 1. Are you kidding me . Go. Right on time. Right now, over 20,000 trains are running reliably. We call that predictable. Thrillingly predictable. Get to the terminal across town. Are all the green lights you . No. Its called grid iq. The 4 51 is leaving at 4 51. They cut the power. Itll fix itself. Powers back on. Quick thinking traffic lights and self correcting power grids make the world predictable. Thrillingly predictable. The same day yesterday, when we got this news out of ferguson, when we got this news out of ferguson about the made it barely a year. Shot made it almost two years of. The announcement that he is out on his year after almost no time on the job raises a few questions. First, why did they push him out . Was it just personality, which is what the Beltway Press always focuses on when anyone gets canned. Or was it policy . Second their hagel vocalized reluctance to move prisoners out of guantanamo. In the past four days, six prisoners have been transferred out of guantanamo. On saturday, the New York Times had another scoop anonymously sourced fwi the white house deciding to basically restart the Afghanistan War. Although president obama has long said u. S. Troops will end their combat role in afghanistan this month, the times said in secret discussions, the military pushed back an the military pretty much got what it wanted. And so now, the war will keep going for at least another year. Its even got a new name apparently. Operation resolute support. Well, if the times is right, civilian advisers to president obama got overrun and overruled on this decision and this extension of the war in afghanistan is chuck hagel one of the civilian advisers who objected to that . Does the reported decision to extend the war have anything to do with chuck hagel leaving . Either in terms of who fed that story to the times or how the fight over that policy has gone inside the administration. And yes, the belt way has moved on immediately to the question of whats going to replace chuck hagel. This is a former top pentagon official widely respected. She would be the first female defense secretary if she were nominated and confirmed shes probably the press favorite in terms of speculation. But she pulled herself out of the running for defense secretary. She told her colleagues shes asked the president to take her out of consideration to be the next secretary of defense. The new name on the white houses short list for the job is reportedly this man, jay johnson, currently the secretary of homeland security, former general counsel at the pentagon. Hes been talked about as everything from a potential Supreme Court nominee to a potential attorney general. So even though it would be a little soon after he took over at homeland security, the possibility of him being moved out of there and instead being named to run the pentagon, that is not an inconceivable thing for somebody like jeh johnson. As fascinating as all that is, as much as everybody likes to gossip about Musical Chairs and who might get whos job and who doesnt like who, before we get to that, before we get to who replaces chuck hagel, maybe the best conceivable outcome here is that the fight over chuck hagels eventual successor might actually be an occasion to fight other this important poll circumstance as opposed to letting it all run on autopilot, never debated, never debated by congress, just leaked to the New York Times as a young deal while the democracy looks on impotently as if the decision to start and end wars has nothing to do with us. Apparently we are getting another year of combat in afghanistan and a new name for the Afghanistan War and everything, not to mention our new undebated on, war in iraq and in syria as well. Washington has given up on debating and deciding on war these days. Maybe replacing chuck hagel at the pentagon will be an occasion to fix that. This has been a very big news week and it is only tuesday. Chuck hagel out at the pentagon. Who knows whos in in his place. All eyes on ferguson, missouri, again tonight and around the country as people continue to protest the grand jury decision. Lots more still to come. Stay with us. I have a cold with terrible chest congestion. Better take something. Theraflu severe cold doesnt treat chest congestion. Really . New alkaseltzer plus day powder rushes relief to your worst cold symptoms plus chest congestion. Oh, what a relief it is. Here we go toasty or frosty . Exactly the way you want it. Until boom, its bedtime your mattress is a battleground of thwarted desire. Enter the sleep number bed. Dont miss the ultimate sleep number week going on now. Hes the softy. His sleep number setting is 35. Youre the rock, at 60. Silent night not so silent . Elk bellow sleep numbers even got an adjustment for that. Give the gift of amazing sleep only at a sleep number store. 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He got an interview with Dorian Johnson who fs with Michael Brown when officer Darren Wilson shot and killed him. Thank you, rachel. We are watching live protests