"Think about it - local authorities are protecting terrorists and criminals. It is an outrage. Here's what must be done: a new federal law should be passed requiring all local authorities to inform ICE within 48 hours of any foreign national being arrested. Failure to do so would mean loss of all federal funding to the jurisdiction. That legislation should be introduced this fall, and those who oppose it should explain why. It is obvious that people like Mayor Booker and legions of others simply do not have the will to protect us from crime and terrorism. So the federal government must act. In addition, if I were a family member of the murdered kids, I'd sue Newark, Essex County and the state of New Jersey for negligence. Americans have a constitutional right to be protected from foreigners who would hurt us. If the authorities will not do their jobs, then other pressure must be brought."

For more on this topic, The Factor welcomed "our two attorney geniuses" Sunny Hostin and Megyn Kelly (who's also a Fox News anchor). Megyn agreed with The Factor's analysis, except for the family members' lawsuit, which she thought would not be successful. "The city and the city officials have immunity. It's called sovereign immunity... it means you cannot sue the city or the city officials for acts taken in their official capacity." Sunny disagreed with The Factor and Megyn and took the mayor's side. Things got heated when The Factor took Sunny to task over her sympathy for Mayor Booker's chaotic policies. Sunny's argument reminded The Factor of a previous guest: "You're giving the benefit of the doubt to people who are here illegally. You're giving me the Geraldo argument!" But Sunny persisted in her opinion, and the fiery debate didn't end until the "out of time" music started playing.

Joe Bastardi of Accuweather joined The Factor to answer a question: are hurricanes getting worse, or is the media just hyping them for ratings? Bastardi conceded that the reporters camped out in Cancun were putting on a bit of a show, as the winds there only reached 54 mph. But Hurricane Dean is no joke, and may gather strength for a second pass through Mexico. The Factor wanted to know if there's anything out of the ordinary about this hurricane season: Is there "no more heightened danger in 2007 than there was in 1937?" Bastardi doesn't see anything too alarming or unusual about this year, but he does think that we're due for a big storm "within our lifetime, and probably sooner rather than later." Bastardi closed by predicting that 3 or 4 storms (1 or 2 of them major) will hit the US sometime during this hurricane season.

As anyone who flew this summer can tell you, the airports aren't getting any better. Aviation attorney Mary Schiavo and former flight attendant Ellen Simonetti (author of "Diary of a Dysfunctional Flight Attendant") stopped by to give their first hand assessments of the situation. After mentioning that a California congressman might be in trouble for roughing up an airline employee in DC, The Factor confessed to being "worried about the flight attendants and other people on the ground now, because people are being abused... I see more of these bad things happening." Schiavo agreed: "The government is eventually going to have to solve" the various problems affecting the industry, starting with regulating the overcrowded skies. "Congress has to pass the laws." The Factor found this particularly dismaying: "That's always frightening - we're looking for leadership in immigration, we're looking for leadership in aviation... we're getting bupkis." Simonetti chimed in with an insider's perspective on beleaguered flight attendants: "They're stressed... it's a difficult lifestyle to give up. It's glamorous when you start but it goes downhill."

Featured Book: Diary of a Dysfunctional Flight Attendant: The Queen of Sky Blog by Ellen Simonetti

On Monday, August 27th, Michael Vick will go to court and plead guilty to conspiracy. The Factor welcomed Temple University's Dr. Marc Lamont Hill for his perspective on the racial aspects of the case. Dr. Hill was happy to see Vick going to jail, but was worried that the media and the public went too far pre-judging Vick. "In many cases, black athletes in particular are tried in the court of public opinion before they ever make it to a courthouse. Whereas with white athletes, not only does that not happen, but when people attempt to do it, we're told to wait. We saw this in the Duke lacrosse case... we saw it in many other instances." The Factor disagreed with this theory, pointing out white baseball player Pete Rose's gambling accusations. "Nobody in the public eye gets the assumption of innocence... [In the Duke lacrosse case] eighty-eight college professors signed a vicious letter that convicted and condemned those students." Dr. Hill closed the segment by predicting that Vick would eventually return to the NFL, but possibly not until the year 2010.

With his HBO show "Real Time" having its season premiere this upcoming Friday, comedian Bill Maher visited The Factor to give his latest take on politics. The Factor wanted to know right off the bat about Maher's guest line up this week: "You got any conservatives booked or is it all left wing loons again?" As it turns out, Tim Robbins is booked for the show. "He's about as loony left as it gets... from your point of view," Maher conceded.

The conversation turned to Iraq and the surge. "We will never outlast insurgents in their own homeland," Maher said. "We've gotta get out." Maher went on to complain about the president: "That's the thing about the Bush administration - there's never a good time to criticize them. At the moment when they create some horrible crisis it's 'Oh, we can't talk about it right now because there's some horrible crisis going on that we just created.' Then when the dust settles it's 'Oh let's look forward. Let's not look back.' So when's the time for accountability?" The Factor concluded that Bush is only accountable to history now.

On the topic of the 2008 elections, Maher declared that John Edwards has the best shot among the Democrats in the general elections. This led The Factor to decide that Maher is out of his mind. "John Edwards will never get close to winning any election... He used to be a moderate, now he's a left wing guy." As far as Republicans, Maher declared his support for Giuliani and Romney, aka "the cross-dresser and the Mormon."

The Factor once again welcomed body-language expert Tonya Reiman to analyze this past week's newsmakers. "Bill Maher has good body language," probably because he's a relaxed comedian, Tonya concluded. But he does lick his lips too much. (Tonya counted 17 times.) Reiman saw a little bit of anger in Newark Mayor Cory Booker as he defiantly proclaimed that his police force would not go after illegals. "He's trying to make people happy," Tonya decided. The comedian Brad Garrett was caught on tape by TMZ.com angrily attacking a paparazzo. Tonya saw his lips curling inward as a surefire sign that violence was about to happen. The Factor was sympathetic to Garrett: "I know how terrible these paparazzi can be."

Your e-mails covered a range of recent segments. Some excerpts:

Jessica Pyhtila, Sterling, VA: "Bill, you can't have it both ways. When Alfredo Ramos killed two girls, you said it wasn't a drunk driving issue, it was an illegal alien issue. With Elvira Arellano, you say it's a fraud issue."

Chris Loop, Wales, United Kingdom: "I like Nas, I think his songs are great. I think you are ignorant, O'Reilly, only showcasing his songs that are about killing."

Wayne Hepner, Staten Island, NY: "Mr. O, the critics are right! One minute of High School Musical was enough to make my eyes go in different directions."

Todd Salmon, Sacramento, CA: "If High School Musical featured kids rapping, the critics would have loved it."