he could be the new face of the element, putting a handsome face and shine on it. keep it named up, come o good friday morning. right now on "first look," contemplating action. could the u.s. go it alone with a military strike against "today" sad regime. rattled, nfl's almost $800 million settlement over concussion lawsuits. high times. the department of justice has a whole new outlook on marijuana and it's no buzz kill. plus an angry axe wielding neighbor lashes out at a local teen. the aconvenient gears have a new villain. >> your willing to go 415 into the sky and then fall back to earth at 90 miles per hour the?

the u.s. is ready for possible solo action against syria. chuck hagel spoke with congressional leaders on thursday. it detailed the administration's evidence against the assad regime. lawmakers from both parties are pressuring the president for legal rationale. >> the president is going to have to make his case to the congress and to the american people, i think, before he takes any action. >> but new york congressman elliot engel tells nbc news in part there's ample precedent for the president to initially take action without having a formal vote from congress. there are developments abroad. we have team coverage this morning from the middle east and in london and we begin with nbc's annabelle roberts. >> reporter: this was a bad defeat for mr. cameron.

members of parliament were called back from their long kay aviation to vote on military action against syria and they voted against. opinion polls shows the public electronically opposed to any military action. there's a feeling it's happening too quickly. many question what would a few air strikes achieve. this is happening under the shadow of iraq. there's no appetite to get involved in what people feel could be an open ended conflict and there's a real demand for conclusive evidence and intelligence again under the shah dove iraq. for mr. cameron personally this is a bitter blow. he effectively lost control of foreign policy at a critical time and the papers this morning show this. here we have the "daily mail" saying with the headline the humbling of cameron. and all the papers pointing out the fact that the mp rejected the syria strikes.

it raises strikes for britain and its role in the world is going to be i'm sure a period of national soul searching. also it questions the special relationship with the u.s. mr. cameron stood alongside mr. obama but that's not going to happen. >> thanks so much for that. now we turn to ahmen who is reporting live from the middle east. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. it's still a very tense situation here despite that uk vote that seems to have taken that momentum on a possible military strike. the lebanese foreign minister warned any attack on syria would destabilize syria and lebanon. there's the growing concern that a strike on syria would widen the conflict. meanwhile the situation here remains tense. the lebanese government has beefed up security across the border and internally as well

and there are growing concerns among some of the region's closest allies to the united states that a military strike would be very destructive. the humanitarian situation remains tense and we're expecting to see that the end of the u.n. inspection mission either later today or early tomorrow are expected to head back to new york and sun mitt their findings on whether chemical weapons were used on august 21st. turning now to a big sports story. a historic settlement night concussion lawsuit. a $765 million settlement was reached in the case brought by almost 4,500 former players. it breaks down to about $170,000 per athlete with $675 million going to former players and their families. $75 million will be spent on medical exams and $10 million for research and education. additional 5 million is set

aside for players developing cognitive impairments. former players sudden the league over negligent treatment and misinformation regarding head trauma. many cited their head concussions as the root of neurological problems. the federal government is getting more comfortable with marijuana as the justice department gives pot the green light. again it, green. on thursday the doj said it will not challenge laws in states where marijuana is legal. the decision will be felt largest in california where lawmakers cleared the drug for medical use. one caveat from the justice department, state laws must not conflict with eight new federal policies including giving the drug to minors and selling it for the purposes of trafficking.

and now here's your "first look" at this morning's dish of scramble politics. a court appearance for a man arrested in mexico threatening to decapitate a lawmaker. today is the last day of mayor bob filner's. new jersey senate candidate and mayor cory bookering talked to mark hayes. he said he's confirmed many times he's straight not gay but that's not what we should be talking about. >> the point i'm getting a chance to make right now and i want to drive this home is that we need to stop in america talking about anybody in the public realm because what is important the content of the character, the quality of ideas, the courage within their hearts to serve others. that's what's important. >> andrea mitchell talked about

syria with mike rogers who says telephone calls to members of congress are not good enough. >> i do think that legally he needs to come up and consult with congress. again, you know, a few phone calls and those kinds of things you have to have a robust discussion. congress needs to be involved in this process. >> you're not saying there has to be a vote. >> under the wars powers act i don't believe there has to be a vote. >> how about our allied to the north, how much help on syria can we expect from canada? well here's the prime minister steven harper. >> we do support our allies who are contemplating forceful action to deal with this. that said, at the present time the government of canada has no plans, we have no plans on our own to have a canadian military mission. and south dakota governor jumped out of a plane thursday.

skydiving to benefit hospitals in the children's miracle network. good for him. that's your morning dish of skrafbled politics. after a look at our weekend weather, i can't believe we're talk about labor day weekend weather. >> where did the summer go by. i'm not ready to welcome in september. in some areas it's going to feel like summer for several more days. we're looking at that heat to continue especially back across the central parts of the united states. 98 degrees today in kansas city. we do once again have heat advisories in effect in des moines, iowa today. we still have that excessive heat warning where it will feel we're up at 105. when you factor the humidity with the heat it makes it uncomfortable. cold front up in south dakota to minnesota that will help cool things down in the minneapolis area shortly by sunday it should be back down to 80. it's bringing rain. heaviest of it well to our north but northern michigan is seeing

lighter showers. best chance of severe storms over north dakota. not so much for tornadoes or even that many gusty winds. we're looking for more hail with heavier downpours and lightning. that's the focus for any strong storms. rest of the country minus a few couple of storms in the southeast does look pretty quiet. even though we're getting into september the heat in the middle of the country sticks around. denver had some school closings because it was too hot. >> i say stick around as long as you want. i don't like the cold. vice president joe biden takes action on guns. plus the story behind this axe wielding california man going after his teenage neighbor.

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now to some other stories making news this morning. disturbing video of a screaming match between a man and a teenager about reckless driving. it turned violent when the man brought an ax into the argument. in this cell phone video, the

teen ducks, narrowly missing getting hit in the head by the blade. luckily, bystanders broke up the fight before anyone was seriously injured. that certainly looks like a nasty argument. thursday, vice president biden announced two new measures to reduce gun violence. the first new rule will keep private companies from importing military weapons back into the country. other measures include closing loopholes used by people who would normally fail background checks. >> it's simple, it's straightforward, it's common sense. it's going to help ensure machine guns and other dangerous weapons don't end up in the hands of those who as a matter of law are not entitled to them. a terror suspect accused of trying to blowing up a chicago bar can now add soliciting murder to his list of charges. the 19-year-old has been accused of trying to get an accomplice to kill the undercover fbi agent who helped put him behind bars. the infamous 47% is no more. according to the tax policy

center, now 43% of households pay no federal income tax. the change can be chalked up to an improving economy and rising income. and fast food workers all over the country left the grills, fryers and registers thursday to protest low wages and poor working conditions. but analysts say the workers don't have much leverage due to the weak job market. for your "first look" at business now. >> futures flat so far this morning after we saw stocks rise on the back of some data showing the u.s. economy grew more than previously forecasted this spring although the markets did pare their gains by the close. the british parliament rejected military action in syria. microsoft is in talks about making an investment on

foursquare. it could help enrich local results. and this morning tooth fairy isn't carrying much loose change. a new survey finds she's leaving nearly $4 per toot up 23% from last year and i don't want to giveaway my age built for me it was $1 a tooth. >> i think i was getting less change. thanks. the irs issued new regulations for same sex married couples to filed joint federal tax returns. in june the supreme court struck down parts of the 1996 defensive marriage act which opened the doors for same sex couples nationwide. tylenol will be putting new warning labels on their bottles. the message is meant to educate the public on overdogs. drop of doom. six flags great adventure new jersey is building the world's tallest drop tower. it rises 415 feet into the sky and once dropped you hit speeds

of 90 miles per hour. it makes me queasy. james bader has been cast to play the super bad guy in the highly-anticipated sequel to the avengers. when i said my parents weren't generous the tooth fairy wasn't generous. kobe bryant's rehab program. kic! v8 v-fusion plus energy. natural energy from green tea plus fruits and veggies. need a little kick? ooh! could've had a v8. in the juice aisle. a man who doesn't stand still. but jim has afib, atrial fibrillation -- an irregular heartbeat, not caused by a heart valve problem. that puts jim at a greater risk of stroke. for years, jim's medicine tied him to a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested. but now, with once-a-day xarelto®, jim's on the move.

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it's time for sports. richard lui is here with all the headlines. >> good morning. there's that far-raeching "rolling stone" article on ex patriot aaron hernandez that came out yesterday. the patriots president said it's not all right. for instance, the article says hernandez told bill belichick his life was in danger. but then the patriots president says that that isn't true. and doubts other claims in the article. to the u.s. open now. rafael nadal destroyed his brazilian opponent. dutra silva only won three games in his straight set loss. defending champ serena williams, she did the same thing, only giving up three games in her win over voskoburya. we'll be watching those two. now to the last preseason nfl games, patriots ryan mallet throws to rookie josh boyce. touchdown there. tim tebow does the same. sadly, andrei brown breaks his leg in the game.

the pat's beat the giants, 28-20. vikings/titans, the vikings left their starters on the sideline most of the game. it works, especially marcus cheryl's kickoff return for 109 yards. minnesota, 24-23. let's talk college football, north carolina and south carolina. south carolina gets moving very early. this touchdown in their very first possession. south carolina for that one, 27-10. i'm looking forward to michigan playing this weekend. 736 stairs. a good workout normally, right? >> this guy is doing on a unicycle. he's doing it in prague. he's going up a tv tower. his old record 299 stairs. kobe bryant, in rehab for his achilles surgery. what does he do?

>> that's smart. >> jump 40 feet into a pool. why not. >> he's 35 years old. >> i hope that dive is worth it. time now for our "first look" today's political stories and for that we turn to politico. kevin, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. thank you for having me. >> i want to focus on syria. the president may not need congress's authorization for limited military action but do you think it's important he acts without their support. >> i think yesterday after a 90-minute phone call with top congressional leaders the message was loud and clear from congressional leaders and that is they would like to see their input in this decision. this is a president who back in 2008 really campaigned against the idea of a unilateral decision from the presidency, then bush, about the iraq war.

so now i think there's a wide range of criticisms that could be lobbed the president's way as he tries to navigate an increasingly complicated foreign policy decision. in terms of shoring up support recent polls show only 25% of the public support military intervention in syria. white house aides say the president reportedly has no plans to deliver a speech prior to military action. do you think it's wise to act without trying to secure public support? >> think it would have a lot of far reaching effects and i think that yesterday england came out and said they were not in support of this so this would be a really go it alone strategy for a president who has straddled the line with trying, to i think, appease both sides of the argument. the common criticism of this

presidency he tries to play both sides of the coin. with a session like this he can't do that and he has to explain. he tried to a little bit in a pbs interview but i think there are a ton for questions for the president that the american people and congress have for him. >> thanks so much for that. have a great weekend. coming up, richard lui will be here for first buzz. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ whispering ] uh! i had a nightmare!

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time now for first buzz all the stories we're talking about this morning. trump and miley cyrus. >> a little bit of buzz we were

talking about. donald trump getting in on miley cyrus performance at the vmas. he put out this video supporting her. take a listen. >> miley, don't let them get you down. they are all jealous. >> he was talking about, obviously, the twerking she had done. >> they both make themselves out so important but everybody just rolls their eyes. >> he piggybacks on anything he can get some press out of it. he's continue the battle. this is a cute story here in new york. two kittens were spotted on the subway tracks in the morning and so -- nobody wanted to see them get electrocuted. she shut down power and train service for two hours. mta and police officials chased these kittens on the tracks all day long and captured them at

6:00 p.m. you know what line they disrupted in the c line. it's surprisingly because new yorkers get grumpy and impatient. people were really supportive of this. >> when you find out it's a kitten. >> the feline. >> i work hard. you have an animal story. >> keeping with the animal theme. there's a 37-year-old chimp in new orleans who paints with his tongue, and he actually won first place in a contest. i think it looks like melted ice cream. >> think it's gorgeous. >> think it's absolutely gorgeous. >> it looks like a chimp did that. >> there you go. >> won $10,000. >> i wonder what he'll do with the money. >> it goes the chimp sanctuary.

>> i'm mara schiavocampo. this is "first look" on msnbc. i want to show dave what i got him and i want all the people to see it at home and in the audience that don't have time warner cable. >> can we see that again? because i recognize -- >> one, two, three, i love you. >> what is the fine print underneath the name there? what does that say? oh, that's great. thank you. >> you don't have sleep in your eyes. bill murray is liberace.

helping to celebrate 20 years on the late show. down in the polls. elliot spitzer 19-point lead in the race for comptroller dwindles to zero. there's mud in this race. snowden's impact. it gives the world insight into the finances of american intelligence and more than a few juicy nuggets. let's go. this is way too early. hey, hey, everybody, i'm almost caffeinated. tgif. i'm thomas roberts. august 30th. we'll have those stories and also talk about nfl settlement on head injuries as well and some news in the enforcement of the federal marijuana laws. a lot to talk about today. we begin in syria. if president obama decides to takei