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 visited the site of the attack.

although there are very low expectations, folks, for what their probe will actually uncover, secretary of state john kerry says there is little doubt as to what happened there. >> what we saw in syria last week should shock the conscience of the world. 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 obscenity. the reported number of victims, the reported symptoms of those who were killed or injured, the firsthand accounts from humanitarian organizations, these all strongly indicate that everything these images are already screaming at us is real. , that chemical weapons were used in syria. >> the question now is what comes next. at least two destroyers and a submarine armed with cruise missiles are already within striking range of syrian

military targets. however, direct attacks on chemical weapon caches are ruled too dangerous. strikes on president bashar al assad have also been ruled out. congressional leaders including john boehner want the president to consult congress and many on both sides. aisle are opposed to any mail r military action altogether saying syria is too far gone to take sides. meanwhile, in egypt after days of bloody fighting and riots, two islamic militant groups are calling for a truce with the army. this is designed to open the dialogue between the military and muslim brotherhood which has been weakened in the recent set of crackdowns. supporters were staging sit downs for weeks and that led to the violent standoff that led to more than 1,000 dead. the brotherhood promised an end to the protests if the military

stops its attacks and messaging against the group. to the west coast here in the u.s. where crews are making some in roads thankfully on the wild fire threatening yes sosem national park. the blaze threatens thousands of national buildings as well as tuolumne. it's the sixth largest fire in the state's history. president obama, he's chimed in pledging full support. another battle over the debt ceiling is looming on capitol hill. the treasury department announced it would hit its borrowing limit in mid october and not be able to pay all of its bills soon after that time. congress and the white house are still far apart, as you might imagine, on a solution.

treasury secretary jack lew sent a letter to congressional leaders saying a failure to raise the limit could, quote, undermine financial markets and have significant disruptions to our economy. from the debt battle to the fight over president obama's health care law. we are talking about it yet again. according to the law, they're planning a defunding rally on september the 10th. that's three weeks before millions can start enrolling in coverage. republican senator ted cruz and rand paul and mike lee will head the event which is being organized by tea party groups. pressure is mounting. the latest target, republican leader mitch mcconnell. the conservative fund is spending 50,000 bucks on a 60 second video. the group is founded by former governor jim deminutemint. the rodeo clown that was

fired after wearing a president obama mask said he didn't mean it to be disrespectful. he's speaking out telling local stations in kansas city that he wasn't singling out president obama. >> this clown bit has been around for generations and i didn't think anything more of it than what we've done 15 years ago, 10 years ago, 5 years ago when we've done it with bush and clinton and ronald regan. >> and nixon. >> he went on to say that if president obama showed up at one of his rodeos, quote, i would be honored to shake his hand, end quote. army staff sergeant ty carter has been honored in battle. it's his calm commitment that is inspiring others. president obama awarded him the medal of honor and he survived one of the most fierce son attacks in the war in afghanistan. 400 taliban fighters stormed their position. they had rocket propelled

grenades, mortars and machine guns. in the end, eight americans were killed, 25 were wounded. carter's numerous acts of valor including sprinting through fire at least three timings to replenish other's ammunition, that earned him the medal. his work with others who struggle with post traumatic stress disorder is leaving a lasting impression. >> look at this soldier, this man, this warrior. he's as tough as they come. if he can find the courage to seek help, to speak out about it and take care of himself and stay strong, then so can you. so can you. george zimmerman managing to keep himself in the news these days. the latest, his attorney mark o'mara has told the orlando sentinel zimmerman plans to ask the state of florida to cover $200,000 to $300,000 of his legal expenses. zimmerman's lawyer based his

claim on a state law that requires the state to pay all of his legal costs. he was going to make a moeks to authorize them to make the payments. a new report shows larry summers could be named the head of the federal bank when ben bernanke steps down. they say summers will likely be named the chairman of the federal reserve in a couple of weeks so he is, quote, still being vetted. it might take a little bit longer. many believe the race is down to two, between summers and fed vice chairman janet yellen. john harwood will join us a little bit later on "morning joe." later this morning, we'll get a look at how confident consumers are about the economy. yesterday stocks lost posing near session lows and the dow back below the 15,000 level. steve sedgwick live this morning. steve, good morning. >> very good day to you. syria comments from kerry which

were sending stocks down across the globe. asian stocks have been lower today as well. elsewhere, bigger investments, bill ackman became the biggest shareholder in jcpenney. this chap is sitting on a $349 million loss. the shares closed on the 16th at $13.40. he's cashing in his chips there and it could be an enormous loss on that trade which just didn't work from start to finish. last week we were talking about yahoo! beating google in the number of site visits. according to one rival group, they are saying google is beating it by a magnificent factor, 42 billion site visits where yahoo! got only 6.8 billion. depending on how you measure it, it depends whether yahoo! or

google is winning in that battle. >> mcdonald's could basically throw the whole chicken wing world, i don't know, on its heels, i guess. i mean, that's a lot of wings they could sell. are they really going into this business? >> it looks like the likes of kfc and pop eye could have a new rival. mighty wings. i find it quite finicky. they have a whole host of dishes. premium mcwrap, chicken and bacon, southern style crispy chicken sandwich, barbecue snack wraps as well, premium grilled, chicken ranch blt. they're missing one key ingredients. >> the wings. >> they're taking on colonel saunders. ronald mcdonald's and colonel sanders, it's the battle we're waiting for. >> i think you're too excited. >> too excited. >> steve sedgwick, live for us with cnbc.

have a good day. explosive report from espn says the fix may have been in on a classic battle of the sex's match between billie jean king and bobby rigs. the article says rigs was heavily in dent with the mob. king strongly denies that report. so we thought it would be good for twitter. if you could go back and change the outcome of a sporting event, which one would it be? #waytoofixed. we already have some phenomenal ones in the in box. we'll put it up. still ahead, chris christie takes another controversial stance. this one supporting mark sanchez. why he thinks the jets qb is getting a bad wrap. >> we know the vma has a good buzz but did they get good ratings? we'll check on that and the weather when "way too early"

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too small. too soft. too tasty. [ both laugh ] [ male announcer ] introducing progresso's new creamy alfredo soup. inspired by perfection. sports. devastating news for the new york mets and baseball fans in general. ace righthander, matt harvey, the all-star, has a tear in his pitching elbow. an mri revealed the injury. he complained after his 102 pitch start saturday. harvey is unlikely to pitch this season. if he needs tommy john surgery which he wants to avoid. this will keep him out for most

if not all of the 2014 season as well. highlights, matt halladay, boom, three run shot. st. louis on the board there. let's go to the top of the seventh. cincinnati up 5-4. bases loaded for alan crane. that is a high fly ball deep to right. that is a grand slam. the first of his career. cards get the win. they are in sole possession of the nl central over my favorite team, the pittsburgh pirates. the yankees lose. the captain, derek jeter, back in the lineup. a-rod takes r.a. dickey out. that's 650 for his career. tied the game at 2-2. that was pretty much it. jays would score in the go ahead error by ichero. got to get it with the fingers, not the palm. blue jays win it 5-2. that loss an an a's victory drops the yankees 4 1/2 games

behind oakland. to football or the soap opera that is the new york jets. now new jersey governor chris christie weighing in on gang green quarterback controversy. >> the fans, too, have amnesia about this guy. >> because he was so bad last year. >> he was awful last year. by the way, he had no weapons to throw to, he had no receiving core, he had no running game and the offensive line was below average. what are you looking for from a guy. i think they've treated him awfully. it seems like they're determined, i think it's the new general manager is determined to play the guy that he drafted. >> pretty good analysis from the governor. spot on with everything, right, mike and bill? pretty phenomenal. in other football news the nfl players association filed a grievance on behalf of aaron hernandez. the union is seeking $82,000 in unpaid workout bonuses for hernandez's participation before he was cut from the team in june. hernandez was indicted last week

for murder. a lot of this is related to press is he dense. must-see video. this is a socker match in paraguay. he comes in and takes down a guy. penalized. red cards are handed out. watch this. there's going to be a flying kick to the referee. and that thing connected. holy cow. what is up with these people? obviously a little low level. looks like slap shot for soccer. he connected, bill. >> follow that. >> what do you say? >> i don't know. contact sport. >> i don't know if ban narcotrn could connect on that. >> his walker. >> pent up aarp jokes for barnacle. >> the fires in the west they went from 7% to 20%.

the big rim fire burning outside of modesto. we'll watch this in yosemite. if you're having driving concerns, central michigan towards flint. that will travel towards detroit. it's raining pretty good towards the cape, boston, providence, newport. it's starting to end in hartford. again, southern new england, you'll have a little bit of rain to deal with and we'll clear it out. forecast, little bit of wet weather in the northeast. not a bad day. the middle of the country, brian, there's people in schools, high school kids on football fields. it's still 95 to 100 from texas to minneapolis. >> hydrate, be safe. coming up on the top of the hour, "morning joe," a team is back, willie, barnacle, mika, joe. the white house is weighing its actions to chemical weapons and use in syria. what's on the table and what could impact that decision.

when we come back here, we have the cooler. canadian reporter advocating women's rights and she's not afraid to show a little skin to make her point. we'll be right back. [ whispering ] uh! i had a nightmare! the house caught fire and we were out on the streets. [ whispering ] shhh. it's only a dream. and we have home insurance. but if we made a claim, our rate would go up... [ whispering ] shhh. you did it right. you have allstate claim rate guard so your rates won't go up just because of a claim. [ whispering ] are we still in a dream? no, you're in an allstate commercial. so get allstate home insurance with claim rate guard... [ whispering ] goodnight. there are so many people in our bedroom. [ dennis ] talk to an allstate agent... [ doorbell rings ] ...and let the good life in.

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at the top of the show we

talked about president obama awarding staff sergeant ty carter the medal of honor. if you want to sound smart today you can tell your friends staff sergeant carter is the fifth living recipient to be awarded the medal. 37 army commendation medals, 27 purple hearts, 18 bronze stars and 9 silver stars. let's hit the cooler here. say what you want about sunday's mtv's vmas, they drew more than 10 million viewers. that's a 66% jump from last year's audience. the awards show has been slow in last year. it broke social media records. twitter caused more than 300,000 tweets per minute. that record spurred by miley cyrus and her performance. meanwhile, david letterman caught the performance and wants a little bit of help controlling her tung. >> today they're advertising for

people to get help if you suffer from this -- it's not funny. i don't know why i'm laughing. well, you are. >> i shouldn't be laughing. >> oh, no. >> nothing funny about it. this little known affliction here. take a look. >> every day is a struggle and every day you pray for things to get easier, but now there's help. if you're one of the millions of americans who suffer from restless tongue syndrome, there's a wide range of treatments that might be right for you. consult your physician today so we never have to see this again. a message from the restless tongue syndrome. >> by the way, the restless tongue looks like it went on the front of an old barnes & noble. mika's here. we're going to talk about it. the government wants to make prostitution safe. in fact, voters in zurich voted

to have a drive in sex park. sex workers can meet with customers. they have alarm buttons, security guards, posters promoting safe sex. prostitution has been legal. we did not get a closeup of the menu although there are dos and don'ts, i'm going to move on. a canadian reporter advocating women's rights. she's not afraid to take her cause to the extreme. >> recently there were headlines about a woman in new york city who went to the restaurant and she took her blouse off and the owner came over and said, you can't do that here and asked her to put her blouse back on. what are the laws here? what if i went walking down the street topless? can you hold this for me please? >> topless.

what are you doing? i i >> it's really hot in here. >> really? i think it's fine. someone would probably call the police thinking that that was illegal. >> and is it illegal? >> no, it's not. >> oh. >> no. no, the bylaws were repealed and they were all bylaws. one goes back over more than 100 years ago. >> so i can go topless here. >> well, evidently. i'm not suggesting you should do that but -- >> no? >> -- i don't think you would be committing any crime or breaking any bylaws. >> doesn't that seem like a really bad entry into a porn video? >> i think she was trying to make a point. >> that's what we do over here on "way too early." try to provide information. all right. coming up on "morning joe," we will talk about the miley cyrus controversy. what a parent advocacy group is

saying about her performance at the vmas. don't show it. also, what's next for syria. the state department comes out with its strongest statement yet on the use of chemical weapons. is a military strike inevidence ab inhe have vittable. and his incredible story of selflessness in the face of danger. we have some of the names that will weigh in on "morning joe" just moments away. thank you very much, mika. a reminder on thursday "morning joe," "way too early," we'll be live from the factory floor of the ford plant in detroit all morning. taking a look at the financial crisis gripping the city and the innovators still trying to fix it. your best tweets on the sports moments you'd like to rewrite in sports history. still to come, "morning joe." ♪ turn around

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we asked you what would you change in the sporting history if you could. we have some answers. natalie. >> chris says the drive signed all of cleveland. >> that's said, game seven, 200 world series. yankees win and complete the feel-good story. >> post-9/11 would have been nice. the '07 super bowl, the tyree catch keeps a lot of my friends up a the night. perfect season gone. "morning joe" starts right now. ♪ >> good morning. it is tuesday, august 27th. welcome to "morning joe," everybody. with us on set, we have msnbc contributor mike barnicle. hello, mike. former governor of vermont and former chairman of the democratic national committee, howard dean is with us. on the set. and in washington, pulitzer-prize winning columnist and associate editor of "the