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mass firings at the federal level. what agencies could be next to see broad layoffs. explosions near tel aviv in what authorities say may have been a terror attack. and bodies returned by hamas may not be a young mother. and what a former football player said before his arrest. and a new first for amazon, the online giant beating out a major competitor in revenue for the first time ever. and blue and black or white and gold? it's the ten year anniversary of the viral dress. it's friday, february 21st. "early today" starts right now. and good morning. i'm richard lui. it has been just over one month

since president donald trump returned to the white house and began shrinking the federal government. and this morning, one of the broadest efforts to block federal layoffs has failed. a judge ruling against a bid from labor unions to halt the firing of probationary employees. now workers at the irs are bracing for possible termination during their busiest season. peter alexander has more. >> reporter: at a conservative group conference, elon musk showing off a chainsaw, highlighting efforts to slash the federal government. >> it's money taken away from things that are destructive to the country and from organizations that hate you to you. that's awesome. >> reporter: it comes as white house officials say the trump administration is now preparing to fire many irs workers. some likely from cities outside the nation's capital. >> the treasury secretary is studying the matter and feels like 3500 is a small number and probably can get bigger.

>> reporter: democrats are urging the white house not to implement those mass layoffs, warning they could have a catastrophic impact on the filing season. irs workers like daniel sharpenberg in kansas city say taxpayers will suffer the consequences. >> the work's going to get backed up. so private citizens are going to be, like, the irs is not doing their job. and it's because we're getting hollowed out. >> reporter: even one of president trumump's fiercest allies, fox news host jesse watters urged the president to rethink the firing, after learning a friend, a military veteran, was set to be cut at the defense department. >> we just need to be a little bit less callous with the way we talk about doging people. >> reporter: this man was fired without warning from his job at a va hospital in michigan. >> we are not some deep state that has ulterior motives. >> reporter: the president is

showing no interest in slowing down his remaking of the federal government. in his first month, signing more than 73 executive orders with doge operating in 18 agencies. >> we found tens of billions in waste and fraud. >> reporter: while republicans have praised the president for slashing what they view as wasteful spending, the white house has provided no evidence of fraud, which is a crime. also confirmed by the senate, kash patel. despite stiff opposition from democrats and two republicans who've repeatedly questioned his qualifications and his commitment to the bureau's independence. >> when everyone else in the first trump administration said no, i won't do that, that crosses moral, ethical and legal lines, kash patel said sign me up. venezuelans in california now

saying that biden had extended their tps. dhs now saying protections will end in august. meanwhile, nbc news learning the administration has cleared out all of the venezuelan migrants held in guantanamo bay. the removal raising questions about what rights immigrants have once in guantanamo bay. senator mitch mcconnell marked his 83rd birthday with a major announcement. he says he will not run for reelection next year, bringing his four-decade senate career to an end. mcconnell is the longest-serving senate leader in history. he has faced health scares in

recent years but says he will remain in office until his term ends in 2027. israel launching a manhunt after three bus bombs exploded in the center of the country, officials calling it a terrorist attack. there were no injuries or deaths, because all the buses were parked and empty at the time. but the blast led to transportation shut downs across the country. meanwhile, there was outrage as hamas released the wrong body. let's start with this, what do we know about the bus bombing? >> reporter: yeah, richard. these explosions happened in a parking lot in central israel in a city just outside tel aviv. three empty buses were parked when they suddenly exploded. according to israeli police, explosives were found on two other buses, but they never went off. investigators say they identified five bombs, all identical, with timers.

now, out of those five bombs, only three went off. police are trying to figure out if this is a lone suspect or if multiple people planted these devices. the idf is carrying out a massive operation in what they describe as a terrorist hot spot in nearby cities. qassem brigade posted that they won't forget to take vengeance for martyrs as long as the occupation is on their land. but they stopped short of taking responsibility for the bombing. i want to switch gears now to what prime minister benjamin netanyahu is calling a cruel and malicious violation of the cease-fire agreement by hamas, which could put this deal in jeopardy. so yesterday, it was believed that hamas turned over four bodies of hostages, including the bodies of a mother, shiri bibas and her two small children. but israel says a forensic examination confirms that one of the bodies is not shiri. israel says it's that of a woman

from gaza. but her two young boys have been positively identified as has the body of 84-year-old oded lipchitz. now they say hamas will pay the full price for violating the agreement. and at this point, the state of the agreement is unclear even as six more hostages are set to be released tomorrow. >> thank you so much for that report. now, after attacks from president trump these past few days, ukraine's president zelenskyy has finally met with the ukraine envoy. retired general kellogg spoke with him. richard engel has this update. >> reporter: president zelenskyy welcomed retired general keith kellogg. ukraine hopes the visit will change president trump's opinions on the war with russia, who started it and how to end it. but no press conference. it was canceled at the request of the american side, according

to a ukrainian official. apparently, to avoid uncomfortable questions about relations between zelenskyy and trump. >> a dictator without elections. >> reporter: president trump this week falsely called zelenskyy a dictator and said he started the war with russia, even though russia invaded ukraine. zelenskyy in turn accused trump of repeating russian propaganda. national security advisor mike waltz called zelenskyy ungrateful. >> they need to tone it down. >> reporter: he did tone it down, saying i am grateful to the united states for all the assistance. what's important is that american strength is felt. but at a school 40 feet below ground to protect children from russian attacks in kharkiv, ukrainians told us they worry about losing their biggest ally. ukrainian civilians are feeling increasingly abandoned by the united states and cut off more each day. this underground school was

built with support from usaid. president trump put a stop to that. it is all making ukrainians ask themselves why the united states seems to be turning on them. >> reporter: this is one of the administrators. what do you make of what president trump has been saying about ukraine? [speaking in a global language] to be honest, we are worried, she said. adding our houses, our cities are ruined. and they say it's our fault we are beg killed. and it's our fault. richard engel, kharkiv, ukraine. now to weather. frosty temperatures are still hanging around. but a warmup is on the way. let's go to angie lassman for the weekend outlook. it's going to be warm and balmy, right? >> i was just going to say we should put warm in quotes. it will be warmer. but i don't know about balmy. we've got 72 million people under cold weather alerts extending from the central plains to the southeast. we've got another morning chilly conditions. even the northern plains, you're

still into the single digits. minneapolis has been a brutal couple days for you guys. we'll still see single digits. and new orleans, 35 degrees with the wind chill clocking in in the mid-20s. by this afternoon we'll start to see a little improvement. upper 40s for savannah, 37 for dallas, 27 for st. louis. as we get into the weekend, notice this is saturday. we start to get temperatures kind of getting back to normal or even above normal. 50 degrees for rapid city. that's going to feel great. 35 for chicago, big improvement there. 50 for dallas. you see this kind of trend as we get closer to the low to mid-60s in dallas heading into

mid-30s for washington, d.c. and philadelphia. 33 degrees with full sunshine in new york city today. and that's a look at your forecast, richard, back to you. >> sweltering! while some agencies have done away with the celebration of cultural events, the white house did take time to acknowledge black history month yesterday. the president was joined by tir woods. trump announcing the new garden of american heroes will include harriet tubman and jackie robinson. the mega studio set to take control of the james bond franchise. and a former nfl punter arrested at a city council meeting after his anti-maga protest. eting after his anti-ma protest. some people have minor joint pain

plus certain stomach problems. they may not be able to take just anything for pain. that's why doctors recommend tylenol. it won't irritate your stomach the way aleve, advil or motrin can. for trusted relief, trust tylenol. ♪♪ okay, y'all. i heard mielle's kalahari melon and aloe vera line is changing the game. up to five days of moisture and no wash days in between? let's see about that. day two, headed to work, but i feel like i'm about to drop a hit single. all the cuties are at the run club. good thing these curls are curling. can you believe this is day five? i think i could go even longer. up to five days of lasting moisture. endless possibilities. imagine what you could do in five days. and we're back with the dramatic arrest of a former nfl player at a city council meeting in southern california after he

spoke out against a plan to display a plaque that said king america great again at a local library. nbc's dana griffin has the story. >> i will now engage in the time-honored american tradition of peaceful civil disobedience. >> reporter: former minnesota vikings punter chris kluwe kicking up a fuss, getting arrested in huntington beach, california. he was swarmed by police officers who carried him out of the room. before the arrest, a fiery denouncement of president donald trump's s make america great agn movement. >> maga stands for trying to erase trans people from existence, for segregation and racism, for censorship and book bans. >> reporter: he was protesting plans for this 50th anniversary plaque for the library, inscribed with maga and making america great again. >> i felt the first officer come up behind.

i warned him i he was going to go limp. >> reporter: once the meeting reconvened. chad williams justified the plaque. >> you'll notice other words. hope and change. who said that? obama. our nation is built back better. who said that? it was biden. >> reporter: moments later, the city council unanimously approving this version of the plaque still with maga at the bottom. council member gracie vander mark defending the inscription. >> do we want america to be great again? 100%. and i think everybody should. and if you don't want america to be great, you're probably not in the right country. because there are millions of people who risk their lives just to come to america. >> reporter: he was released from jail after a few hours, charged with disrupting an assembly, a misdemeanor. >> this is the maga movement. it's not community.

it's not building anything. it's about doing whatever they want, and damn you if you object. >> reporter: he hasn't been shy about speaking out in the past. iting in 2014 that he believed he was fired from the vikings for his public support of gay marriage, telling cnn. >> when it came to my head coach saying hey, you need to stop speaking out about this, i said, well, no, that's not the right thing to do. >> reporter: the vikings saying in a statement at the time, chris was released strictly based on his football performance. >> and our thanks to dana for that report. still to come, he's got a license to kill, but, does he have a license to stream? a tech giant takes control of one of the most storied franchises in movie history. more details after this. history. more details after this. mr. lee! hi zoe. how can i help you today? do you know if there's a less expensive option for my new medicare prescription? medicare? really? i might have to see some i.d. mr. lee. here, let me check on that for you. okay, so i will give your doctor's office a call... this is not just help with a medicare prescription.

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>> bond. james bond. >> big changes may be coming for james bond thursday. amazon mgm is taking control of the franchise. 007 has been dormant on the big screen. you've probably noticed that since 021's no time to die which marked the last appearance of daniel craig as james bond. that's where died, too. it's interesting how they might bring him back. >> not daniel craig, right? it has to be someone else. >> in terms of bringing back bond. metaverse. >> it's got to be someone good. someone to really like, you have to embody bond. he was one of the first people to say live from new york, t's "saturday night live." the comedy icon, dan aykroyd, is

addressing his absence from the 50th anniversary show. he took to x to offer praise for the special and lorne michaels but did not offer an explanation for why he didn't attend. he is the only member of the original cast who did not appear on sunday. i watched this and i couldn't help but wonder where he was, why he wasn't there, along with bill hader. question marks all around. >> sounds like he's okay, and it was a great celebration for sure. and the signs are still around the building. when we come back, amazon earning a prime new spot. and if you bought and if you bought people whose psoriasis can look very different depending on their skin tone. as the makers of tremfya®, we understand that everybody's moderate to severe plaque psoriasis doesn't look the same. so, we undertook a first-of-its-kind study of plaque psoriasis in every skin tone.

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all the cuties are at the run club. good thing these curls are curling. can you believe this is day five? i think i could go even longer. up to five days of lasting moisture. endless possibilities. imagine what you could do in five days. ♪ [tambourine by eve] ♪ imagine what♪you could do ♪ ten years ago this month, the internet was torn apart by a simple question. what color is this dress?

odds are you're among the millions who weighed in. jenna bush hager looks back at that phenomenon. >> reporter: throughout modern history there have been iconic dresses. but, if you ask someone about "the" dress. there's a good chance they'll bring up this dress, a lace dress from roman originals. it was the dress that launched a million tweets with the internet unable to agree on its color. have you heard about the dress seen around the world? what color do you see? >> some people see white and gold. >> that is really gold to you? >> while others are just as sure they're seeing blue and black. >> this is black and blue! >> reporter: how did this craze begin? with a simple test. this photo was sent to a bride to be. asking if she thought the $77 blue and black dress was nice for the wedding. instantly they disagreed on the color with one seeing it as

white and gold. it was noted by kate. >> i turned to my colleagues, hey, what color is this dress? within five minutes, there were 20 people behind my desk just screaming at each other. and i figured, if we were yelling about it, maybe the rest of the internet would. >> reporter: kate was right. buzz feed launched a poll which sparked the biggest debate of the year, with 67% of people saying it was white and gold. and only 33% saying blue and black. that post was seen by 16 million people in just six hours. there were 7.6 million tweets debating the yes, sir. and roman originals sold out of the dress in 34 minutes. why did so many people see the blue and black as white and gold? >> it was the perfect storm to create an optical illusion. >> reporter: it's all about how

your brain sees the background. >> if a person saw the dress in shadow, there's more blue light in the shadow. they immediately think oh, there's blue light there. i'm going to filter out that blue light, and i'm actually going to see the dress much more white and gold. >> reporter: and now, even ten years later, the debate still illicits strong emotion. do you remember this? >> i do. i see gold pan white. >> right now i see blue and black. >> i'm totally seeing blue and black. >> i see white and gold. >> i see blue and gold. >> that wasn't even an option. >> reporter: the dress will be seared in our collective memory forever. >> and here we go again. our thanks to jenna for that our thanks to jenna for that throwback. (♪♪) years of hard work. decades of dedication. committed to giving back. you've been there, done that. and you're still here for more.

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