from his heroism in camp keating's final days. and of course from all those cameras that were focused on him today as the commander in chief placed the nation's highest military honor around his neck. now it's time for "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell. good tuesday morning, everybody. right now on "first look," moral obsceni obscenity. that's how secretary john kerry described the attack. will the u.s. send in the military? it's now described as one of the biggest wildfires in california history. over 3700 firefighters battling a blaze that is just 20% contained. american hero, ty carter received our highest honor. we'll tell you his incredible story of bravery. plus, president obama's likely nominee for new fed head. a major dog fighting ring busted and marking 50 years since this man and his message changed the world. good morning, everyone.

i'm betty nguyen. secretary of state john kerry says the evidence is clear. the man mouth human suffering undeniable. >> it defies any code of morality. let me be clear, the indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, the killing of women and children and innocent bystanders by chemical weapons is a moral on sce obscenity. >> ayman mohyeldin is live in cairo. >> reporter: the u.n. inspection team will head back out into the eastern part of damascus where they completed their first day yesterday. now as we were talking about it earlier, they did meet with eye witnesses, interview some of the patients that were being treated for alleged chemical weapons symptoms. they were also able to collect samples from in and around the area. it's not yet clear whether or not they're going to make their

findings public, but a lot of people are going to be watching very closely what they do conclude as a result of it. they're not minute to determine who used chemical weapons, just simply if chemical weapons were used at all. meanwhile, the relationship between russia and the united states over the conflict in syria continues to widen. the u.s. has postponed a meeting that was supposed to take place this week between the under secretary of state and the delegation giving an idea on how far apart the two countries are. the united states is building its options. they will make clear in the coming days the evidence they have collected to indicate the government were the ones who carried out this attack. they're also building allies to build a response against the syrian regime. >> tensions are rising. ayman, thank you.

back in this country, there is a different fight going on out west. a fight to save yosemite national park. more than 3700 men and women are fighting this fire. this morning there is word of small progress. the rim fire is 20% contained, but there is still the need to protect the nearby hetch hetchy reservoir. it supplies 85% of san francisco's water supply and is being slowly polluted by falling ash. at the white house monday, an army soldier received the medal of honor for uncommon bravery. staff sergeant ty carter was recognized for his courage and action during a deadly firefight in afghanistan. our chief white house correspondent has more. >> reporter: surrounded by soaring cliff, staff sergeant keating was under attack. in october of 2009 the taliban lan muched the fiercest assault

yet. army specialist ty carter was jolted from his sleep. >> there was something very different. the sound of the gunfire was nonstop. >> reporter: more than 400 taliban unleashed an avalanche of rocket, mortar and machine gunfire on the 52 americans below. >> we were very low on ammo and everybody who was around us who was friendly was wounded or dead. >> specialist steph fan mace was on the ground kroulg pleading for help. >> can i get the man? i see him. he's right there. he said, no, you're no good to him dead. >> were you angry, frustrated? >> i was insane. there's no true pain until you've actually seen your family members suffer in front of you. >> reporter: eight americans were killed, 25 wounded. under heavy fire, carter eventually carried mace to safety, but he later died of his wounds. >> when i found out he had died i believed that i was a complete

failure. not just a combater but in life. >> reporter: even now he still suffers post traumatic stress. president obama hailed carter. >> look at this man, this soldier, this warrior. he's as tough as they come. >> reporter: and a true american hero on and off the battlefield. nbc news, the pentagon. congratulations to him. more than 350 pit bulls have been rescued in what's described as the second biggest raid on illegal dog fighting in american history. after a three-year investigation the fbi raided several suspected dog fighting compounds. hundreds of wounded and neglected dogs were found living in inhumane conditions. 12 people have been arrested in connection to the rings. they now face multiple charges ranging from dog fighting to gamble willing. a new school year brings a

new start to students whose lives were forever changed. students from sandy hook elementary return today. a task force has approved a plan to demolish the original school and rebuild on that same site. it's awaiting approval by the newtown community. here's your first look at this morning's dish of scrambled politics. six of the republican party stars and potential 2016 nominees including new jersey governor chris christie and senators marco rubio and rand paul will headline a fund-raiser for the republican national committee in new york next month. the event features rick snyder, paul ryan and scott walker. south carolina governor nikki haley announced her run for re-election monday, and governor walker, rick perry and bob yby gind dal were on hand. in tennessee, thomas owens, a former democratic candidate

for u.s. senate has been arrested in connection with an alleged murder for hire plot. he's charged with trying to hire a hit man to kill his uncle who is a deputy sheriff in carter county. millions of reactions to miley cyrus and her performance at the video awards including the words obscene. grover norquist has his own special take saying, quite, miley cyrus is mightily annoying but politicized cosh rupgs of the irs, that is obscene. scott brown tweeted from a concert where he had a special guitar and got to play with the band on stage. that's pretty cool. for decades hurricanes have been given names like andrew and sandy. now a group called climate name change wants to name severe storms after those who deny climate change. >> senator marco rubio is expected to pound the eastern

seaboard. windows are being boarded up and grocery stores are empty. >> michele bachmann is on the way. specifically the eye of michele bachmann will be hitting florida in a few hours. >> can you imagine if that was the case? well, that is your morning dish of scrambled politics. so if monsoon rains weren't enough, phoenix was just slammed with massive dust on monday. a dust storm with gusts up to 68 miles per hour created the wall of dust hundreds of feet high and miles wide followed by heavy rains and lightening. the storm left thousands in the area without power. that's the latest on biz from nbc meteorologist bill. bill, with the dust storms, the rains that follow, does that wash everything away or do people need to line up with a car wash. >> a lot of storms don't have a lot of rain so not usually. >> probably makes it a muddy mess, right? >> yeah. if you're lucky it rains and

washes it away. as far as the big story yesterday, it's the heat. here we are the end of august. we have high school sports underway. people on the fields. we have kids in classrooms. some of them don't have air conditioning in the northern plains. it is 97 in minneapolis. record high temperature. this is one of the warmest periods they've had in literally the entire summer as far as the midwest. cooler in the northeast. little bit of rape we're dealing with this morning. boston to providence out towards the cape. this will be gone by 6:00 a.m. hartford, a little bit less for you. big thunderstorm complex diving down towards michigan. get ready in detroit. 6:00 to 7:00 a.m. in detroit. rain and thunderstorms heading your way. unsettled in new england. look at the middle of the country. this is as hot as it gets for this time of year. >> summertime still in effect. thank you, bill. concerns over syria push stocks below the 15,000 mark and could cause gas prices to rise. plus, a measles outbreak is causing major concerns.

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welcome back, everybody. there were celebrations over the weekend. tomorrow was the 50th anniversary of martin luther king's i have a dream speech. tracie potts is in washington. tell us what's in store. >> reporter: betty, you saw the crowds over the weekend. tomorrow is the actual anniversary. there's a program planned, four hours of speeches and presentations. the highlight of that is at the end president obama delivering a speech at the very site where martin luther king delivered his i have a dream speech 50 years ago. that's happening tomorrow, but there are some events leading up to that today. at the white house, a film screening hosted by first lady michelle obama. she'll be speaking there. there's an educational response happening there as well. the big event, hundreds of thousands of people expected here on the national mall tomorrow. >> that's going to be quite a sight. thank you, tracie.

some stories making news. george zimmerman's legal team wants the state of florida to cover some of his legal fees. they're seeking between 200 and $300,000. a second teen accused of beating delbert belton to death on monday, the 16-year-old is being held on $2 million bail is charged with first degree murder and first degree robby. monday marks the first day of school for the city of chicago school children and also the safe walking paths. and former reality tv star has filed a lawsuit against her ex-husband for stealing and hacking his way into her private information. she says her ex, jon gosselin, gained access to e-mails and bank accounts in order to publish a tell-all book. >> the joyce of reality tv, folks. joining us in health news.

one area in texas has an outbreak of measles. the same church where leaders have warned against vaccines citing the debunk theory that they cause autism. they're hosting vaccination clinics to try to stop it from spreading. the senior past who are is encouraging everyone to get vaccinated unless you have it covered by faith. now for your first look at business. we turn to cnbc's jackie deangelis. >> betty, good morning. cnbc has learned that president obama will likely name larry summers as the next fed chairman. he will replace ben bernanke who is expected to step down before his term ends in january. summers is former secretary of the u.s. treasury. meantime, starbucks ceo howard schultz says the coffee chain won't follow other

companies in cutting worker health insurance. the companies with more than 50 employees have to provide coverage for those who work more than 30 hours a week. mcdonald's is adding chicken wings to the menu for a limited time on september 9th. wings are one of the fastest growing categories with sales topping $8 billion last year. that's a lot of wings, betty. >> i'm so excited. i love winks. given this schedule, hopefully they offer it for breakfast though it's probably not recommended. thank you, jackie. straight ahead, richard lui and all your sports highlights. . 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.

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the latest in sports. my colleague, richard lui. >> very good tuesday to you, betty. not so good for the struggling mets. they got some devastating news. pitcher matt harvey has a partially torn ligament. he's hoping to avoid tommy john surgery. that would likely take him out for this and possibly next season. harvey is second in the majors in earned runs, fourth in strikeouts and started in july's all-star game. >> i'm going to do everything i can so i don't have to get surgery, whether it's strengthening areas in my shoulder and elbow and, you know, stretching. a lot of stretching and making sure that, you know, i obviously stay out of the doctor's office. >> and the mets will definitely miss him. the nfl players association wants the new england patriots to pay $82,000 in workout bonuses. they're doing it for tight end

aaron hernandez, indicted last week for murder. the players association says it wants to protect future player's pay. we are not tone deaf to what he was charged with. serena williams. dominating. opening round here. italy's francesca sciavone. >> she was getting beat that bad she needed a hug? >> yeah. >> he was like, what is she doing? >> in the personal space. she really needed games and said defending champ williams, she wallops, 6-0, 6-1. >> rafael nadal beat ryan harrison. this was his 16th straight win on the hard course. get out of his way. would you pay 6500 bucks for somebody's stitches? >> no way. >> they come from andrew shaw's cheek? >> no. that's straight up nasty.

>> somebody did. the stitches come from a puck to the face. proceeds going to cancer research. >> there you go. make a donation. >> want to win a year's free tuition? do this half-court shot. >> oh, wow. >> 19-year-old. >> nothing but net. >> colorado state university. he had three chances. he only needed one. that year's tuition, betty? >> what? >> worth 23 grand for residents, 40,000 for nonresidents. >> you know his parents are thankful. >> i know. >> all right, richard. thank you. time now to dig a little deeper into the situation with syria. joining me now on the phone is the washington post david nakumura. >> hi, betty. >> john kerry says the use of chemical weapons is, quote, undeniable, which really crosses the president's red line. we've yet to see major action. how is president obama backing up those words? >> well, betty, as you said, the white house has been hesitant to take any serious action militarily because the president

has been trying to sort of withdraw and downsize from other conflicts as we know, but i think this time they feel that there has to be some consequences. that's why you're seeing the ramping up of the rhetoric. they're trying to lay down the groundwork for airstrikes on some of syria's military targets. now all that you're waiting for is a sense of the sort of legal rationale under international law. the white house will probably lay some of that outcoming forward and then a sense of who our partners might be in that effort. >> right. speaking of our partners, i want to see how this really plays out on a bigger forum. how strong of a leader does obama appear to be on that world stage especially since the syria situation has him butting heads with russia, a long time ally of the assad regime? >> absolutely. they're trying to put pressure on russia but they're having issues with the leaders, putin,

edward snowden, gay rights. the international community is trying to turn up pressure. for the white house, it is an issue for president obama to be strong. this year he said, hey, we're going to give more military help to some of the rebel groups. we haven't seen a lot of that. we haven't seen it working. these latest images out of syria and finding that the government is probably using chemical weapons, that's turning up the pressure on the president. that's why you're going to see stronger action. >> the whole world is watching. david, thank you very much for your insight. we do appreciate it. coming up, bill karins and richard lui will be here for our first buzz. we'll tell you what caught our eyes today. that's next. you're watching "first look" next on msnbc. [ male announcer ] come to the golden opportunity sales event and experience the connectivity of the available lexus enform,

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welcome back. i am joined by richard lui and bill karins. we're talking about first buzz. straight out of the gate, let's go with this one. facebook, could your friends actually help your credit score? i sure the heck hope so. that would be great, wouldn't it? according to some financial lending companies, social connections can be a good indication of a person's credit worthiness. if you keep up with facebook and twitter, you'll be on top of your life. >> better friends, the more stuff you do on facebook and twitter, the more credit you have. >> i need more friends so tweet me. what have you got today? >> this is an interesting development from noaa. we talk about lightening strikes every year. unfortunate statistic. what we've learned from noaa, they've had the 17th death from lightening strikes. florida and arizona are the big

states. looking at 2012 and '11, we're behind those averages. >> that's a good thing. >> i was wondering -- >> that's one of the biggest killers. being careful. a lot of the soccer fields and baseball fields have systems on them when alarms go off. >> get out of the way. >> everyone get out of there. >> you have a sweet story. >> it is a tear jerker. we don't have time enough to do the whole thing. it's on my twitter account. 96-year-old man was married to his wife for 76 years old. there's a song writing contest. he's not a musician. he's not a singer. he decided to write a song about his love for his wife of 75 years. he sent the song into the contest in a manila envelope. he ended up winning the contest is here is when he was listening to the song "sweet lorraine" for the first time ever. it's a ten-minute video. they interview him and play the song for him. he cried. they show pictures of him and his wife. it is really -- >> i love that he actually wrote it down and mailed it in.

in this day and age you want to fax it, e-mail it. >> go to my twitter account. i dare you not to cry. >> i'm betty nguyen, this is "first look" here on msnbc. stay tuned, "way too early" starts right now. i went back and i watched videos. the videos that anybody can watch in the social media, and i watched them one more gut wrenching time. as a father, i can't get the image out of my head of a man who held up his dead child wailing white chaos swirled around him. >> the secretary of state weighs in as tough talk on syria intensifies. we'll update the when and the if as it relates to possible action. also, progress made with those massive wildfires in california, and you will not believe just how many firefighters are working the blaze. of course, some say new jersey

governor chris christie is working towards the white house in 2016. yesterday he was stumping for the new york jets. sounds like a failed campaign already. this is "way too early." sorry to take a shot at the new york jets so early as a patriots fan, they've beat them twice. i'm brian shack man. tuesday, august the 27th. later in the cooler, we'll have letterman chiming in on miley cyrus. no joke. we have a story on drive-in prostitution and a topless news interviewer, but i do want to begin on a much more somber and serious note this morning. the latest on syria. the top u.s. officials say chemical weapons were used and the president is considering a limited military strike on select targets inside that country. yesterday u.n. inspectors