frustrating his own boss these days. what made the yankees general manager get a little profane in response to an a-rod tweet. we're not going to shut the blank up. this is "way too early." >> we'll get tote that a-rod story in just a few minutes. good morning. i'm brian smacked the man. it is wednesday, june 25th. we want to start with a special election in massachusetts where last night voters elected congressman ed markey to fill the vacate can't seat left by secretary of state john kerry. >> thanks to the opportunities this country gave me this son of a milkman is going to serve the state of massachusetts in the united states senate. i pledge that i will be a senator who fight for you every hour on every vote on every issue to make progress for you

and for your families. >> markey who has served as a congressman in massachusetts since '76 easily beat gabriel gomez, 55 to 45%. analysts were looking for comparisons between gomez and scott brown who surprised in the 2010 midterm. now to the latest on edward snow deny, vladimir putin encontinues to refuse to hand him over to u.s. authorities. the former contractor apparently staying in the transit zone of the moscow airport without actually being on russian soil which is a bit of a technicality. putin said snowden is a free man and the sooner he chooses his final destination "the better it will be for us and for him." putin said he would prefer not to deal with the issue at all saying it's like sheering a pig. too much squealing and too little wool adding there was no extradition agreement with the

united states. leave it to mr. putin. what remains to be seen is when or if. snowden will leave moscow and where. we saw this picture on "huffington post" and it screamed caption contest. we'll give the best responses later in the show. mine system putin whispering, take your blazer off. you're with me, buddy. if you thought the irs problems ended with targeting political groups, think again. darrell issa is is saying the irs awarded inappropriate contracts to a virginia company worth hundreds of millions of dollars. the investigation found they were secured through an inappropriate relationship between the company's president and an irs contracting official. the irs says yesterday was the first time they heard about these allegations are and are looking into the matter. the computer company is denying any wrongdoing. today the nation's highest court will deliver its rulings on the last three cases of the session. two of which decide marriage rights for gays and lesbians in

the united states. yesterday, the supreme court struck down a key part of the most important civil rights law ever passed in this country, the voting rights act of 1965. nbc's pete williams has the story. >> reporter: the ruling deals a crippling and potentially fatal blow to the law signed by president johnson in 1965, a response to efforts in the south it prevent blacks from voting. >> we're marching today to daum ma tise to the nation. >> veteran john lewis, now a georgia congressman watched as the law was signed. >> without the voting rights act of 1965, there would be no barack obama as president of the united states of america. we've come too far, made too much progress to go back. >> this decision represents a serious setback for voting rights and has the potential to negatively affect millions of americans across the country. >> in a 5-4 ruling, the court's conservatives said the areas covered by the voting rights act have changed but the law has not

kept up. the act requires states with a history of voter discrimination to get permission from the federal government before changing how they conduct elections. the court left that part intact. but it struck down the map, the coverage formula of where that will requirement applies. that's all of nine mostly southern states and parts of six others. chief justice john roberts said the map is based on decades old data and eradicated practices. in five of the covered southern states, he said, african-americans have a higher voter turnout percentage than whites. opponents of the law who helped shelby county, alabama challenge it, hailed the ruling >> we've just elected a black president of the shell bill county board of education over a white incumbent. in a county wide election. >> african-americans are an integral part of southern political life and that's a good thing and that's never going to change. >> but writing for the court's four dissenters, justice ruth bader ginsburg said gutting the

law that has helped end voter discrimination is like dloeing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet. >> that was pete williams reporting from washington. it's a topic that's not sexy, rarely finds a lot of air time and can be you be popular politically, but yesterday, president obama stepped into the debate on climate change and picked a sweltering dale to do it. mopping his brow in the afternoon sun, he laid out the terms for the clean air act trying to cut emissions by 17% by 2020, compared to levels in 2005. the president would limit power plants, carbon dioxide emissions and called for government spending to promote alternative energy development which was also a key part you might recall of his pricey stimulus plan. he presented what's at stake in very stark terms. >> we don't have time for a meeting of the flat earth society. sticking your head in the sand might make you feel safer, but it's not going to protect you from the coming storm.

and ultimately, we will be judged as a people and as a society and as a country on where we go from here. >> this morning begins day three of testimony in the george zimmerman trial. yesterday a civilian employee of the sanford police department who coordinates volunteer programs told prosecutors she helped zimmerman set up a neighborhood watch but she made it clear volunteers were not told not to the approach suspicious people. later the president of the retreat of the twin lakes homeowners association said the program was unnecessary in his opinion. he also testified that participants were told if you see something, stay away and call police. another scandal seems to be brewing for the vatican. a priest convicted of abusing five teenage boyce at his parish in rome has apparently ratted out other clergy and officials for operating a prostitution ring of underaged boys. the disgraced priests named names after the vatican refused to reinstate him even taking one

of the so-called rent boyce with him to police. according to times of london, four people have been put under investigation. now to business. better than expected economic reports fueled a rally as the dow rose by 100 points. barnes & noble reconsidering its tablet strategy by nauntsing they will end production for the nook. we'll get more on that and the rest of today's business headlines. that's economic inning with jeff cut more live fornous london. good morning. >> good morning to you. it appears the color nook is going to be sent out to oems, other manufacturers. barnes & noble saying they are no longer going to be responsible for the manufacturing of this product here. it's to do really with one is the decline in sales. and some of the challenges to barnes & noble's financially from this product and two, it's to find other opportunities for the nook. so if you basically hand it out there for other developers to

get involved in, there is a chance that it will find a new niche. moving you along, costa concordia, the name of the ship that sank in italy last year with a loss of 30 lives, it's finally sunk mickey erickson's career at carnival. 34 years in the job. he is gone now, and it is what happened to the concordia and a number of other ships that is really connected with his departure at the business. so that is one ceo who is on his way out. not the only executive at the moment though who's lost his job. >> no, what about george zirm, the men's wearhouse, in the u.s. it's kind of iconic, you're going to like the way you look, we guarantee it. they're not letting him go quietly giving pretty detailed statements why he was fired last week. what do you have? >> had he say business can be boring. not in this case. my goodness, it's handbags at dawn company between george

zimmer and the team now running this business. zimmer famous pitchman for this business. but ultimately being squeezed out by the new management team who say his face just doesn't fit with the new strategy. they also say he was urging the management team to sell the business on. he still owns a stake in the company here. but a parting of the ways and an acrimonious one, brian. >> jeff, thank you very much. stock futures in the u.s. slightly higher at this hour. majornous overnight, the drama in texas that has many americans hearing the name wendy davis for the very first time. that's because davis, a democratic state senator there filibustered the sp-5 anti-abortion bill for over 11 hours going late into the night and drawing attention all across the country as thousands were watching live online. >> if we were truly talking

about women's health care, if we were truly talking about making sure women were safe after an abortion, this is the kind of thing that goes right to the heart of that and that we could agree. >> according to texas filibuster rules, she had to stay on topic, can not lean on anything and could not take a bathroom break. and she would continue to speak until just under the 11th hour mark when republican lieutenant governor david dewhurst ruled davis violated the senate's three strike rule, a decision that was not well received by supporters outside of the senate chamber. >>. the shouts of let her speak. >> the place was absolutely

packed. according to dewhurst strike one was davis' mention of planned parenthood which republicans said was off topic. strike two came when a colleague offered davis a back brace seven hours into the filibuster, violating the lean policy and the final strike came when davis mentioned that the state's 2011 sonogram law again considered off topic. davis's filibuster fell short of the midnight vote dead line but her fellow democrats appealed the decision causing absolute chaos in the chamber. >> at what point must a female senator raise her hand or her voice to be recognized over the male colleagues in the room. >> supporters for the next 15 minutes, they drowned out any further debate. republicans tried to pass the bill before the midnight deadline, but failed to do so. and in front of a packed capitol building of supporters, the announcement by the lieutenant governor that the bill was dead was read out loud.

>> the lieutenant governor has agreed that sb-5 is dead. >> the bill would have banned abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy and forced the closure of most abortion clinics in the state and the governor rick perry was expected to sign that bill if it passed. the filibuster absolutely dominated the internet last night. at its poke, more than 100,000 people were watching this online and the #stand with wend duh took twitter over. president obama said something special are is happening tonight. >> claire mack caskill said, texas, the eyes of texas are upon you. comedian sarah silver man tweeted to love america is to stand with wendy. incredible images online. still ahead on "way too early," a-rod is letting the world know he's getting healthy. are you ready for hillary?

if so, we have great merchandise for you. that story and a check on weather when "way too early" comes right back. all free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of berlin. and therefore, as a free mannen, i take pride in the words issue bin in berliner. african-americans have been demanding representation since the 1880s. women didn't start fighting for the vote in the 1920s. immigrants to this country have been since its founding fighting for safe and legal status, a change in the political climate

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time for sports where their pretty much sums up the latest drama with alex rodriguez. really no subtlety there, right? the message from yankees' gm brian cashman comes after the injured third baseman tweeted visit from dr. kelly over the weekend who gave me the best

news, the green light to play games again. cashman told espn new york "when the yankees want to announce something, we will. alex should just shut the [ bleep ] up. i'm going to all alex now. >>." >> he's dealing with the performance enhancing drug investigation. cashman says he has no idea when he'll be ready for game action. a-rod by the way turns 38 next week. on to action on the field, texas ace hugh darvish facing hiroki kir row da. kiroda looking for his eighth win. skin to the bottom of the ninth, ichiro, two outs. that would be a walkoff. the yankees take the 4-3 lead snapping the rangers five-game winning streak. the bruins winning streak cut short on monday. and drew ference posted this video. pretty cool. just take the eraser, all done.

handsome man. pretty cool. i'm going to try that tomorrow although it might take me longer to get the beard. to tennis where roger federer will be sporting a different look later this morning. he won't be wearing the same shoes. this is kind of, i don't know, the daily mail reports tournament officials ruled the star's orange soed sneakers violate the all white clothing policy. they're part of a major marketing campaign biffle nike and by the way, those subtle orange sos are completely sold out and on the website. even if he doesn't get to wear them, nike is raking in the cash on that one. being a linesman or lines woman can be hazardous. oh. that's 120 mile-an-hour fastball. from mardy fish. yeah. let's see that again. she knew it was coming. i'm so sorry because i don't want to laugh at that. she was okay and made the right

call. the serve was out. she was almost knocked out. all right. let's go over to msnbc meteorologist dylan dreyer. >> where's the reaction time on that? is it coming so fast you can't react? >> i don't know. i'm going to get something 120 miles an hour and thumb. >> hit me right there. we are going to see a lot of rain today across the eastern half of the country. it's not just one big storm. it's a series of storms as we go into this afternoon. it's actually the eastern half of the country that will see all of the thunderstorms today. severe thunderstorm watches from minnesota right down into southern indiana. that's where the heaviest rain is right now. also back in the pittsburgh area. we are looking at our biggest threat of severe storms basically moving through parts of the eastern half of the country in yellow from new england right back into northeastern arkansas. we're not looking at a whole lot of tornadoes. more damaging wind gusts and other than that, it's all about the heat.

temperatures everywhere across the country except the northwest should be in the 80s and even close to 100 degrees. >> it was pretty hot and humid even when i woke up today. >> almost 80 degrees right now. >> coming up at the top of the hour on "morning joe," a filibuster like we've never seen before. joe and meek cag take on the abortion debate in texas and the incredible reaction on twitter. when we come back, we'll huddle around the cooler. stephen colbert has an interesting take on the voting rights act and how it may relate to child labor laws. we'll be right back. i'm tony siragusa and i'm training guys who leak a little, to guard their manhood with new depend shields and guards. the discreet protection that's just for guys. now, it's your turn. get my training tips at guardyourmanhood.com

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>> earlier we talked about senator wendy davis' attempted 13-hour filibuster. she made it about 11. if you want to sound smart today, tell your friends that the term filibusterer derives from a dutch word meaning pirate and became popular politically in the united states during the 1850s. let's go over to louis. you knew that though. >> that's right. thanks, brian. let's start with steern colbert. he's on board with the supreme court's decision on the voting right act. >> thankfully, chief justice john roberts old blue eyes knows

the south doesn't feed to be babysat anymore. it's just like those outdated labor laws that prohibit children from threading bobbins on a loom. a kid hasn't been sucked into one of those machines in years. >> now, it looks like hillary clinton supporters are ready for her run for president. take a look at some of the merchandise on sale on the ready for hillary website. a couple of t-shirt options like this one and, of course, the classic ready for hillary button. that is some sweet hrc merch. now mika with a look what's next on "morning joe.." >> get me a bag. a lot of stories developing late last night. there's a new senator in massachusetts. we'll show you how ed markey overcame a challenge from the republican newcomer. also, high drama in texas as an 11th hour filibuster by senator wendy davis defeats a strict anti-abortion bill ass to yous of protesters were looking

on. also, the supreme court strikes down a key portion of the voting rights act. we'll talk to reverend al sharpton, mark halperin, robert gibbs, tina brown all straight ahead on "morning joe." >> still ahead your best and most creative tweets on this particular hough post comedy photo. we going to show it again? we got it? hanging me out to dry. there we go. [ shapiro ] at legalzoom, you can take care of virtually

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huffington post comedy. it just screamed caption contest. i just love that. my particular caption for this was, putin just whispering back, at least take the blazer off. you're with me now, buddy. we had some very creative and interesting responses. give us a couple. >> we do. for the last time, no more bathroom stops. sit tight. we have a long way to ecuador. is that a super bowl ring in your pocket? >> those aren't pillows. >>en an matthew writes the nsa

doesn't see this, do they? >> i got one more good one i happen to like from @kaxias. it seemed fair at the time. i leave my wife, you leave your country. ouch, mr. putin i just hope they're not watching because i talk about him way too much on "way too early" between the texas fill butter brian cashman and a-rod and mr. snowden, a lot to talk about right now on "morning joe." >> lieutenant governor has agreed that sb-5 is dead. >> all right. good morning, everyone. it's wednesday, june 26th. welcome to "morning joe." a remarkable story out of texas overnight. with us on set, we have the host of msnbc's "politics nation" and

president of the national action be network, reverend al sharp n sharpton. important morning. msnbc and "time" magazine senior analyst mark halperin and thomas roberts back with us. good to have you with us this morning. >> what happened in texas last night? >> it's a fascinating story. we'll begin overnight in texas with the drama that has many americans hearing the name wendy davis for the first time because davis, a democratic state senator there filibustered the sb-5 anti-abortion bill for over 11 hours going late into the night and drawing attention across the country as thousands were watching live online. >> if we were truly talking about women's health care, if we were truly talking about making sure women were safe after an abortion, this is the kind of thing that goes right to the heart of that. and that we could agree. >> the bill would have banned