rolling stone, listen up, i'm not going to bite on your controversy bait here. okay, and give you free publicity by holding up your magazine and talking about it. nice try. no big deal for colbert. but others disagree when it comes to the cover. poor students and recent grads, rejoice, your interest rates aren't double. today, it's larry king rapping with snoop dogg. no, we do not make this stuff up. this is "way too early" for a thursday. good morning, everybody. it's july 18th. this morning, we'll look at millions more to be spent just getting out of afghanistan and

at the espys absolutely ran away with it. gives us an opportunity to tell this story yet again. because it's a little slice of awesome. i absolutely love that story. we begin in washington, d.c., not a bad story, don't look now, i appears that the senate may actually be functioning, that's right, first bipartisan plan to reform the immigration plan passed last late month and they hammered out a deal on the president's nominee. yesterday, they got together to address the soaring rates for student loans. a number of republicans have been meeting with president obama's team for weeks in order to strike a deal for the deficit. among the republicans involved, kelly ayotte, bob corker and lindsey graham.

according to graham, it was being filibuster because we don't like the law, that's not a reason to deny the appointment. senator corker reportedly called b.s. on mitch mcconelle who complained he could have brokered a better deal. he took several of his republican colleagues to task to advance the nomination of tom perez to be secretary of labor. >> what i'm saying to my republican colleagues, i don't care what deal you cut, how can you move forward on the nomination when it refuses to comply with a subpoena. >> more now on those student loan rates. they agreed on a deal yesterday to lower the borrowing cost.

it will allow undergraduates to borrow at 8.5% this fall. the new plan brings much needed relief. they're not permanent. after the 2015 academic year they'll likely be raised. in the future they'll be determined by stock market. for graduate students the cap will be 9.5%. for parents it will be 10% 5.. lynn cheney descending on the state for her first campaign events yesterday. she did not mention incumbent mike enzi by name but she called for a new generation of leaders to step up to the plate. some saw that as a reference to enzi's age. >> are you too old to be

senator? >> i'm absolutely not too old to be senator. i'm in really good health and i'm on the committees that i wanted to be on. and i have seniority which is really trust that you develop zwl earlier this week, senator enzi expressed surprise at cheney's candidacy. if he ran for another term she would not interthe race. >> enzi said obviously that's not correct. >> she deflected the claim. >> i think senator enzi may be confused. i called senator enzi to tell him that i was considering a run and i have always believed that decision should be made of irrespective of whoever else is in the race. that's not true if i wouldn't run if he ran. >> the fallout over nsa leaker

now officially having an impact on u.s. foreign policy the white house is saying quote, deliberately vague, excuse me, they're staying deliberately vague on the president's fall travel plans which was expected to include one-on-one talks with the russian president over the crisis in syria, raising speculation that president obama will snub russian president vladimir putin if snowden, the 34-year-old former defense contractor is granted asylum. lindsey graham sticking by his call for a possible boycott for the 2014 olympic games in russia. a plan met with backlash. >> if you could go back in time, would you allow hitler to host the olympics in germany?

i'm not saying that russia is nazi germany but i am saying that the russian government is empowering some of the most evil, hateful people in the world. >> i love senator graham, we have been close friends for 20 years, but i think he is dead wrong. why would we want to punish u.s. athletes who have been training for three years to compete in the olympics over a traitor who can't find a place to call home. >> plus, i really want to cover it for nbc. it would be huge. talking about backlash, editors of rolling stone now speaking out about its latest cover. national chains like cvs and walmart will not sell it on stores and bostonians have been

outraged. the mayor of boston slamming the issue, writing the magazine founder, rewards a terrorist with celebrity treatment. reaffirms a terrible message that destruction. the cover story falls within the traditions of journalism and rolling stone's long standing commitment to serious and thoughtful coverage of the most important political and cultural issues of our day. of course, the piece itself is about how he became radicalized during his time in boston. while many say the cover of the rock magazine is no place for tsarnaev, it was on the cover of new york times back in may. this is not new for rolling stone, charlie manson addressed

the cover in the '70s. the columbine killers in this landmark shooting were also on the cover of "time." southern california's so-called mountain fire has quickly expanding. residents were allowed home to pick up only essential items, over 200 children were moved from nearby camp sites. you're seeing some charred-up vehicles and some of the damage left behind. nearly 300 firefighters are currently fighting the blaze, which is said to be only 15% contained. it has an extreme potential to grow further, more on this story with nbc meteorologist bill karins. the cost of leaving afghanistan, it looks to getting more expensive. $1,000 for every shipping container leaving the country does not have the proper

paperwork. the u.s. military has already accumulated $70 million in fines, that's a lot of bad paperwork. the u.s. will continue to rely on air transportation to move military equipment out of the country. let's turn our attention to the business world now, where we get weekly unemployment numbers at 8:00 this morning. the tech-heavy nasdaq was the strongest of the three indices. bernanke said that the financial markets are beginning to understand its plans to scale back plans. the nation's largest bank is accused of creating schemes power plants into profitable

businesses. now to the ever-changing fast food business, kfc is jumping on the health food bandwagon. testing out a series of new food options near their headquarters in louisville, kentucky, they hope to attract a new younger demographics. i go to kfc when you fry the chicken. the ncaa will terminate its deal with ea sports. this is part of the fallout by the way over lawsuit brought against the ncaa by former ucla basketball start ed o'bannon. ea sports still plans to produce

college football games, with teams from ohio state. we want to know how you're dealing with the heat. i had to sleep with no ac last night and it was not a pretty picture. tweet your most creative stories. still ahead -- the british open under way as we speak. you may be able to guess who the favorite is and we'll run through a couple of the tee times. and the simple ways to avoid mosquitos. ♪

♪ [ male announcer ] some things are designed to draw crowds. ♪ ♪ others are designed to leave them behind. ♪ the all-new 2014 lexus is. it's your move.

time for sports, you know it's great when an athletic event is under way at 5:44 in the middle and that's exactly

the case at the british open in muirfie muirfield. the number one player in the world, tiger woods, the favorite, he tees off at 9:45 a.m. eastern time, he's had a five-year drought in the majors. adam scott looking for a shot of redemption, remember, he won a chance at the open last year when he blew the last five holes and lost to ernie els. justin rose, u.s. open winner, is also even. phil mickelson is minus 3. muirfield, by the way, one of three clubs in the british open rotation that doesn't allow female members. of course, that's come under fire for that policy. the day after baseball's all-star game, we all know that it's the slowest sports day of the entire year, exactly why espn has the espys. the miami heat won best team.

lebron, a little '70s edition tux right there. first repeat winner of the best male athlete award. since lance armstrong, by the way, won it four times. an emotional night by the way the best moment of the year, jack hoffman for his touchdown run. you might recall, hoffman, the 7-year-old cancer patient suited up and dashed the ball across the goal line for nebraska. i can watch this highlight all day long. what a great job by the folks at nebraska. and robin roberts won the awa awa award. >> i never imagined that i will be standing here 20 years after jimmy v.'s speech and say that because of everyone who has

responded to his challenge, because of all of the donations, research and support, mine is one of the lives that has been saved. >> very nice moment. >> there were, though, lighter moments as well. actor jon hamm hosted it. i ran mostly smooth until he was interrupted by a transmission from russia. >> looking for something? what do you americans say? finders keepers, yes. >> president putin what an unexpected surprise. >> you were busy for giving trophies winning trophies. while we were busy looking at homes. this is the ring that kobe gave his wife that one time for no reason.

>> he went there. i don't know, bill, how i feel about sunglasses inside an awards show. every star had sunglasses on. i think it's kind of ridiculous. >> i haven't watched the espys. >> i have. i'm going to tell you, it's hot again. >> hot again until sunday still? >> on the east coast. yesterday, it was 97. two spots the hottest in the country. new york and washington, d.c. the same today. heat advisories. heat warnings for the philly area, hartford, providence and areas just south there of boston, where it could be dangerous for the elderly and young children. so, it's pretty much the same today, as yesterday. d.c. may be a degree hotter. someone may have a chance of hitting 100 today. the changes do come this weekend.

the cool air starts saturday up in the great lakes. by sunday it arrives in the northeast. the end of the heat wave by the time we get to monday next week. coming up at top of the hour, on morning joe, lynn cheney hits the campaign trial in wyoming. when we come back here -- we huddle around the cooler, the rap you need to see to believe. look at larry. come right back. my mother made the best toffee in the world. it's delicious. so now we've turned her toffee into a business. my goal was to take an idea and make it happen. i'm janet long and i formed my toffee company through legalzoom. i never really thought i would make money doing what i love. [ robert ] we created legalzoom to help people start their business and launch their dreams. go to legalzoom.com today and make your business dream a reality.

at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side.

at the top of the show we talked about the controversy surrounding the latest cover of rolling stone magazine featuring a photo of accused boston bomber tsarnaev. tell your friends that the circulation rate of rolling stone in the u.s. is 1.45 million. the 1907 issue featuring exclusive interview with charlie manson was one of their biggest selling issues of all-time and won a national magazine award. louis is back for the cooler. >> thanks, brian. you probably heard the phrase, don't mess with texas especially if you have a girlfriend from texas like me. this comedian isn't heeding the

warning. he has a warning for governor perry. taking jobs from new york and bringing them out west. >> this is new york, the city that never sleeps. people come here from all over the world, for the freedom to live as they choose, for the variety of cultures, but most of all, for the fact that it's not texas. you say everything is bigger in texas? we have a 300-foot beacon of liberty and you have a whatever the [ bleep ] this thing is. we have two baseball teams. one is the best in history. and the other we keep just out of pity. you say we got too much regulation. we got wall street. they break the law for a living and never get punished. new yorkers go to the bathroom anywhere they want. we love the smell of urine. >> this is my city. >> this is our city. >> this is our city.

>> this is new york, our city. >> this is my [ bleep ] city. >> rick perry, you are a schmuck. >> remember the alamo? neither do we. >> texas. don't mess with texas. no. don't mess with new york. >> that should be new york's new psa. hands down. don't bleep with new york. larry king is a man of many talents. best known for his interview skills and his strange ability to look the same over the past 20 years. and with the help of snoop dogg he's giving rap a shot. ♪ the most important thing i like is eating ♪

>> as much as i love to hate on larry king i just can't. it's just too good. next time you're at a barbecue and the bugs won't leave you alone, we have some advice, put down the beer. a publication said that mosquitos like the brew. the research doesn't explain exactly why the insects like beer. it made no mention of the hard stuff. so when the mosquitos are out switch to scotch. in mika in your case, you can switch to vodka. >> thank you, louis. coming up on morning joe, retailers dropped rolling stone from the magazine racks as editors defend it. now the executive director said that eric holder wants to

use the george zimmerman verdict to push a new gun control agenda, we'll tell you about that straight ahead. also, lynn cheney hits the campaign trail, taking shots at her opponent, senator enzi, for being confused. is that a code word for something else? we'll break it down. also, our conversation with actress and comedienne jane lynch. brian, back to you. >> thank you very much, mika. still ahead -- how are you dealing with the heat? your most creative tweets. ♪

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little bit of a heat wave in the good portion of these united states. we asked what are you doing to beat the heat? the producer has some responses. >> hay, brian. jennifer said that he doesn't have to worry about how to keep her mind off the heat with three kids, she lost her mind a long

time ago and donna said, crawl into the ice to retrieve it. they never watch, you know. >> depends how big the container. >> want to share if they are below the age of 5 optional. "morning joe" starts now. i understand why people are angry that dzhokhar tsarnaev is on the cover because up until now "rolling stone's" covers feature role models like o.j. simpson or charles manson