good tuesday morning. right now on "first look," syria front and center. the congress will present the most compelling case. and diana nyad's 153 hour achievement. the jobs in america and mrs., horses more and one step closer to "50 shades of grey." good morning. i'm betty ngyuen.

telling a french newspaper that the fire is approaching. the reaction on the heels of the report that agrees with the united states conclusion that syria used chemical weapons. turkey is joining the ranks of military action. this is making headlines across the globe with profound human impact. the u.n. states that 2 million people fled syria. that is about one-third of the country's population. several developments right here at home. president obama spent his labor day meeting with john mccain and lindsey graham all to drum up support for action in syria. >> a vote against that resolution by congress, i think, would be catastrophic because it would undermine the credibility

of the united states of america and the president of the united states. >> and that was just the first in a string of other meetings. we have tracie potts. what is next for the ground work for approval to the split congress? >> reporter: sure, betty. you want to watch the senate foreign relations committee. they will hear from three relations committees. john kerry and chuck hagel and joint chiefs of staff member john dempsey. their job is to convince reluctant lawmakers that not only should we strike syria, we are ready to strike syria. we are going to take a look at whether or not these reluctant lawmakers to say they are not behind this idea. we hear from the state department that secretary of state kerry will talk about what

happens if we don't essentially punish syria for what the u.s. believes was a government-led chemical weapons attack. if we don't, he will say, iran, hezbollah, al qaeda, elements are in syria, could see that as a green light against the united states and allies in the middle east region. not to act, he will say, is essentially not an option at this point. they have a hard sell to make. today is the hearing. next week when congress comes back in full, we expect the vote from the house and senate. betty. >> a lot of debating. tracie potts, thank you. diana nyad living out a dream from swimming from cuba to

the united states. it was her fifth attempt. the journey started saturday. she did the whole thing without a shark cage. she is the first person to ever do that. when she landed on that key west beach, she said never to give up on your dreams. >> you are never too old to chase your dreams. >> never too old and never too late. keep it right here for more from diana nyad. she will be on the "today" show. at the u.s. open, an upset loss for roger federer. the number seven seed made 43 unforced errors in a three-set loss to tommy lobredo of spain. for the first time ever, he failed to reach the quarterfina quarterfinals. he has not gotten past the semifinals in any tournament

this year. on monday, the town held its 52nd labor day parade. teachers and students from sandy hook were marching. for a region still healing, it was a time to mark strength. we will turn now to new information on another government surveillance program. this time it involves the drug enforcement agency and one of the largest phone providers. it is the hemisphere project and it is linked to at&t. it has a vast number of calls going back to 1987. documents show that federal and local police have been given access to the archives for the last six years. it has been especially helpful for what officials call burner phones. those are phone where is numbers are switched to avoid detection.

one person was injured and 11 horses damaged. 30 horses escaped police custody and galloped down the streets in mexico. officials say the horses were startled by noise when they were removed from the trailers. no one was seriously injured. the city government has offered to pay for damages. get a first look at the dish of scrambled politics. president obama has reportedly filled his schedule. at least two russian lgbt organizations have been invited to a meeting with the president. while mr. obama prepares to travel to st. petersburg for the g-20 summit, russia is telling citizens to stay put. the foreign ministry issued a warning not to visit nations

where an extradition treaty exists. charles rangel is a leading voice. tuesday on msnbc, the democrat said this whole debate may have been avoided if it weren't for those now red line comments. >> of course, it's embarrassing. i wish it didn't happen. i guess secretary kerry is even more embarrassed than me after that speech that this was urgent and clearly as i said earlier, i couldn't see anything urgent about it. i'm glad the president reviewed his thinking. connecticut lawmakers are pressing a law to ban firearms in the stores. starbucks has responded, but no details have been released. diana nyad is receiving praise from around the world after her swim.

hillary clinton tweeted her saying, flying to 112 countries is a lot and until you consider swimming between two. feels like i swim with sharks, but you actually did it. congrats. and duquesne university is saying thanks, but no thanks to geraldo. it is all because of the twitter selfie. it has been seared in our minds. he was scheduled to appear on an october panel, but that picture doesn't jive with catholic values. we don't have the lower perimeter shot. that is the morning dish of scrambled politics. flooding across the nation this labor day has destroyed buildings and created delays for travelers. eastern rhode island was hit with flash flooding this weekend. rain rushed into two apartment buildings displacing hundreds of residents. flooding in texas closed roadways making it impossible

for travelers to get home. now for a look at the national weather, we turn to meteorologist bill karins. tell us this is all gone. >> from the northeast, yeah. who cares now? now it is back to school and back to work. the labor day was not the best of beach weekends. up in new england, everyone dodging the showers. there wasn't a lot of sunshine. we are halfway through the hurricane season and we have yet to have a hurricane. there are a few areas of interest. nothing piques my attention. i think we will get through another week. we are now seven days away from the peak of the season with the most hurricanes and tropical storms. it stays active until middle october. we have six or seven weeks left of the active season. the northeast, we cleared it out. if we will get additional

storms, most likely in southern new england. that front will sweep through much cooler behind it. pittsburgh today at 70 degrees. it will be a beautiful wednesday with. the southeast with a few showers and storms on the front and down in florida. still hot in texas. all of our friends in the great lakes and ohio river valley, it feels like fall. thank you. straight ahead, who hacked our marines and why wine may help ward off depression. and why dennis rodman is back in north korea. we will tell you why. you are watching "first look" on msnbc. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso.

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some stories making news this morning, a senior defense official confirmed the marine corps web site was temporarily hacked. it is not said who is responsible for the hacking, the url was redirecting for a post for the syrian electronic army.

bird strike. a southwest flight was cut short after the flight struck a bird. no one was hurt and the passengers were given a $200 voucher. dennis rodman is back in north korea to visit his quote friend. the trip comes days after pyongyang rejected a convoy visit after a missionary. rodman is not going there to be a diplomat. and spanish researchers say drinking a glass of wine a day could prevent depression. those who drank two-to-seven glasses a week showed moderate decline in depression. put down that cup of joe and pick up a glass of wine. for the first look at business, we turn to jackie deangelis.

>> the futures are higher as wall street is playing catch up after the holiday weekend reacting to positive data from china. the dow coming off the fourth straight losing week. time warner and cbs are ending the dispute for customers in new york and dallas in a month long blackout. and the smartphone business buyout for $2.7 billion. it is the company's largest deal after skype. microsoft and nokia have been partners since nokia started using microsoft software. thank you. it is the third largest deal. verizon and vodafone.

here are the ten fastest growing jobs in america right now. starting at number ten, skin care specialist. person care aide. personal financial advisors. coaches and scouts. research specialist. massage therapy. music director and composers. the fastest growing job in america? service unit operators. oil, gas and mining. no journalist on that list. in hollywood news, charles henman has been picked to heat up the screen. they have been cast as the main characters of the film of "50 shades of grey." when coaches and sports collide. that is all ahead on msnbc. not all foo d chces add up. some are giant.

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time now to get the latest in sports from richard lui. >> good tuesday to you, betty. a bit of a scare. rafa nadal losing the first set in the match. he won the second two set. 6-7, 6-4, 6-1. pittsburgh's homes remain alive. they reclaimed first place in the nfl central. neil walker's three-run homer

putting the pirates in the lead. they do not look back. they beat the bucs, 5-2. oakland and texas, deadlocked for the division lead. the a's are surging thanks to coco crisp. >> i'm trying for the rangers. >> 4-2. we still have more games, betty. the hype was huge. the publicity. does florida state's quarterback choke? he threw four touchdown passes and ran for another one. the seminole win 41-13. just the first game. former heavyweight boxer tommy morrison is dead at 44. he later beat george forman for the heavyweight title. morrison tested positive for hiv in 1996. cause of death is not disclosed.

oh, how good this must feel. lindsay vonn back on the slopes. tiger woods' girlfriend plans to race in the winter olympics. >> good to see her back on the slopes. how about this? >> of course, you like that. >> who put that there? a little for you. these are hard bodies at the muscle beach body building championship. lou ferigno won a lifetime achievement award. stan lee there to honor him. >> if i had those kind of muscles, i would terrify you. >> terrify you. ferigno won the title twice. he is acting. >> he still looks tough. >> he gives inspirational speeches. the game was tight.

so your rival teams. 20 penalties. >> what are the coaches doing? >> this is high school. two alabama high school coach e throwing elbows. the game winning coach? he lost the brawl. bloody nose. in the blue shirt. not good stuff. >> not leading by example. football is king in the south. thank you, richard. let's dig deeper in the push for syria. joining me now is boris epstein. thanks for being with us, boris. >> no problem. good morning, betty. >> several camps are forming. one saying we must act now if the president wants congressional support. why haven't he called them right away? >> he would not get it right away. he needs the support after great britain. if he did call the special session, more likely he would

not get the answer that he says he wants. and i'm not convinced the president wants to act right away. he should be able to come up with a cogent plan. >> let me stop you right there. there is a second group saying that we need a bigger military action. anything short of that would be inadequate and sent the wrong message. if we wait too long, doesn't the syrian government move things so a strike would be more difficult? >> the president has painted himself in a corner. he has not made the case to the international community. the french are in agreement. the germans and italians and british are against the president on the foreign front. on the democratic front, he does not have the support of the american people. he is in a tough position right now. there is not a lot of support

internationally or domestically for a strike. >> boris, thank you for giving us your insight today. >> thanks for having me. coming up, bill karins will be here for our first buzz. that's next. before he could easily transfer funds between the two in real time... before he could even think about planning for his daughters' future... mike opened a merrill edge investment account and linked it to his bank of america bank account to help free up plenty of time for the here and now. that's the wonder of streamlined connections. that's merrill edge and bank of america. 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.

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time now for the first buzz with richard lui and bill ka karins. >> this is hunting season. don't go into the water. this is a 727 pound male alligator. this breaks the mississippi state record. that picture right there.

once they caught it at 4:00 a.m., they had to wait until another boat at daybreak came to get it into the boat because it was so big. >> what do you do with that? >> do you really want to know? >> a lot of shoes. let's talk about something happier. spidy came to the rescue. a guy wanted to pay for his daughter's wedding and he did not have the money. he reached into a drawer and it had an "amazing spiderman". he got almost $8,000. he helped his daughter and spidy came to the rescue. >> great retirement fund right there. >> you have something interesting. >> you remember the earthquake in san francisco? the bridge came down. they said let's fix it. the bridge has finally opened in

2013. it opened last night at 10:50. it is a beauty. i don't know if you have a day shot. $6.4 billion. it is the world's longest self anchored suspension bridge. "way too early" starts right now. >> this whole idea of any president of the united states drawing the line saying if any country does something that he considers wrong, that the nation is going to war, it's unheard of. drawing the red line. of course, it is embarrassing. i wish it didn't happen. i guess secretary kerry is even more embarrassed than me after making his emotional speech that this was urgent. >> congressional showdown lies ahead for the president and national security team. a bipartisan group of supporters pushing for action in syria. the democrats and republicans appear reluctant to act.

time warner cable customers, your nightmare is finally over. why the giant came to a deal with cbs to get the network back on the air. could it be the beginning of the end for one of tennis' all time greats? roger federer's loss at the open and the future on the tour. this is "way too early." hey, everybody. i'm thomas roberts in for brian shactman. in is tuesday, september 3rd. in washington d.c., the obama administration starts the sell with the fate of syria now in the hands of congress. secretary of state john kerry and chuck hagel will lobby. they will try to sell the international community that is deeply divided on the way