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 forward. >> i think the line in the sand

should be that american should get involved when american interests are threatened. >> i believe that we will rally behind the principle that use of chemical weapons is wrong and it cannot go unpunished. >> i'm afraid that what is shown an weakness. >> not something that should be undertaken lightly. certainly the mood of the district i represent do not do this. >> god forbid, a tyrant went after our babies, that a nation as strong as the united states would stand up for my children. >> i don't see any way that a civil war in syria and the fact this evil man is using chemicals to kill his own people, how that affects directly or inn directly on national security. >> i think the president made a terrible mistake in going to congress.

he is the absolute power to launch the attack. if it is that serious, he should have done it. >> on a congress call, secretary of state john kerry called this a munich moment. president obama took his case to congressional leaders over the weekend phoning speaker john boehner and phoning allies in lindsey graham and john mccain to the white house to meet. >> a vote against that resolution would be catastrophic. it would undermine the credibility of the united states and the president of the united states. none of us want that. >> previous promises to aid the rebels have gone nowhere. in june, the cia armed some factions, but they are waiting because the obama administration does not want to tip the favor for fear the outcome may be

worse. president bashar al assad calling the situation a powder keg putting the entire region at risk of war and retaliating against france and the report to threaten assad to move rockets into residential areas. china and russia are urging not to strike. through it all, another milestone. 2 million people have now fled the country. some 5 million are estimated to be displaced within syria's borders. turning now to domestic news. another government program has been uncovered that could be bigger than the nsa spy program. this time on the dea and the hemisphere project. according to reports, the federal government is using subpoenas to at&t's database and paying the phone company to place the employees in drug fighting units. a justice department spokesman

said the department has requested phone numbers with subpoenas which are not issued by a grand jury or judge, but by the dea which is under the authority of the justice department. at&t weighed in. quote, at&t must respond to valid subpoenas issued by law enforcement. it does not involve listening, but allows them to connect the dots. this database goes back as far as 1987. a travel alert from russia. russian citizens traveling internationally and cautioning for people wanted by the united states not to visit states with an extradition treaty. recently detentions of russian citizens. extradition has been an issue with russia and the u.s. the disagreements have been

heated over the snowden case. there continues to be no formal extradition treaty with the countries. more trouble to talk about for virginia's governor. prosecutors claiming that governor mcdonnell was aware of gifts from an area businessman. the gifts in question, williams flew the governor and his wife to cape cod. it talks about golf outings at a country club. this among reports of $150,000 of valuables and money. the governor's lawyer states, they are friends and they socialize together. the notion there was anything else to it was plain wrong. end quote. prosecutors asked for a second round of discussions. charges could be filed after the meetings. we turn to the wildfires out west and the two-week-old rim

fire is california's largest fire in the state's history. the massive blaze has claimed 111 structures. no lives have been lost. nearly 5,000 firefighters are now battling the flames and more than 500 california inmates are working to contain the fire. in the end, costs could reach around $47 million to extinguish the blaze. the cause is under investigation. a gold era at the "washington post." jeff bezos will operate the business with the same philosophy that he used for amazon.com. we have the same philosophy. put the customer first and invent and then be patient. if you replace customer with reader, that point of view can be successful at the post, too. he doesn't have all of the

answers, but he plans to meet with staffers today and tomorrow. have you heard about this? there are tectonic moves in the telecommunication areas. this big one of microsoft acquiring verizon. this is a big deal for microsoft to transform it. some would say to goose the lackluster business. >> one is a marriage and one is a divorce. we will start with the marriage. this is, as you say, the arrangement for microsoft to buy the mobile business of nokia. that will effectively cleave that business in half. it means that microsoft has its hands on divisive business. we know that is pushed in the direction and microsoft is focused on mobile and mobility and hand sets and devices and the cloud. this is useful for them.

it brings the ex-microsoft guy to run nokia. he is back into microsoft. and all for $7 billion. this is still a drop in the ocean when it comes to the amount of cash. an interesting deal for them. moving you to the divorce. 14 years this relationship has worked its verizon and vodafone. it has been a testy relationship at times, but they are going their separate ways. $130 billion is what verizon will have to pay to get vodafone out of its face. vodafone will give 70% of this back to shareholders in a special cash one off. vodafone shareholders will be happy with that. they pick up verizon shares. >> i like this marriage and

divorce theme. it looks like cbs and time warner has gone to couple s therapy. >> haven't they just? here is a relationship that appeared to be on the face of it very satisfactory and happy for both parties concerned. time warner paid the retransmission fees for the cbs product and everybody thought that was hunky. then time warner said we are not sure we want to pay this much now the contract has lapsed. we had a blackout for a month. the good news for you guys out there who want to watch showtime, they come to an arrangement. the counselling must have worked and we have a deal with time warner and cbs and you get your tv back. >> everybody wins when mom and dad get along. after 110 miles and 53 hours of swimming, diana nyad is the

first to swim from cuba to florida. yesterday's feat comes 35 years after her first try. her equipment, a body suit and silicon mask. this swim is a straight line. nyad followed a pole that extended under water from the catamaran that followed her. >> i have three messages. one is, we should never ever give up. two is, never too old to chase your dreams. three is, it looks like a solitary sport, but it is a team effort. >> i love her. nyad's five boat support team monitored her health and fed her during the three-day journey. such an incredible achievement of endurance.

what is your most impressive feat? tweet us. use the #waytooimpressive. and next at the u.s. open, roger federer is out. what is next for the grand slam winner? we will have a check on weather when "way too early" comes back. russian news agencies show a school command. explosions and gunfire were heard coming from the building this morning. one agency reports about 160 hostages were wounded and killed in the raid. there's nothing like that feeling

of getting something new. and now, with verizon edge, you can experience that new phone thrill, again, and again, and again. phil can you close your new phone box, we're picking up some feedback. every time you're ready to upgrade. having what you want on the 4glte network you rely on. that's powerful. upgrade to the motox by motorola with 0 down payment. mom? come in here. come in where? welcome to my mom cave.

wow. sit down. you need some campbell's chunky soup before today's big game, new chunky cheeseburger. mmm. i love cheeseburgers. i know you do. when did you get this place? when i negotiated your new contract, it was part of the deal. cool. [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. it fills you up right. but, dad, you've got... [ voice of dennis ] allstate. with accident forgiveness, they guarantee your rates won't go up just because of an accident. smart kid. [ voice of dennis ] indeed. are you in good hands? you work. and you want to get an mba. but going back to school is hard...

because you work. now, capella university offers a revolutionary new way to get your degree. it's called flexpath and it's the most direct path, leveraging what you've learned on the job and focusing on what you need to know so you can get a degree at your pace. and graduate at the speed of you. flexpath from capella university learn more at capella.edu more than 50 times a day? so brighten your smile a healthy way with listerine® whitening plus restoring rinse. it's the only rinse that makes your teeth two shades whiter and two times stronger. ♪ listerine® whitening... power to your mouth. and this park is the inside of your body. see, the special psyllium fiber in metamucil actually gels to trap some carbs to help maintain healthy blood sugar levels. metamucil. 3 amazing benefits in 1 super fiber.

all right. many consider him to be the greatest tennis player of all time, but federer's run has fallen short. i think this is way short. tommy lobredo took out federer in straight sets. missed many shots. you are not accustomed to see him fall short so soon. the all-time leader of the grand slam sport -- after going nine straight years of making every quarterfinal, he missed this one and wimbledon. he said he is not considering retiring. i won't look at the video. to college football. florida state and pittsburgh. fsu quarterback looking sharp in debut. he tossed four touchdowns and ran one in. the 11th ranked seminole won at

41-13. we move on to baseball. pirates and brewers. neil walker with the three-run homer. they lead in the central. one game up on the cardinals. tigers and red sox. detroit blanks boston, 3-0. and oakland's coco crisp with the shot over the left field wall. that stays fair. a's are tied with the rangers in the a.l. west. coco crisp? i love that. tommy morrison has passed away. the family is not disclosing the cause of the death, but he tested positive in 1996 for hiv. in the years that followed, he

denied having hiv. he beat george forman in 1993. he gained fame in "rocky" for training a young rocky balboa. >> i'm challenging you to a fight. anytime, any place, anywhere. >> you want my respect? >> come and get it. >> tommy morrison just 44 years old. in what may be the least surprising news of the preseason. redskins head coach mike ha shanahan is reporting that rg3 will be back for the season.

and brady quinn will be back for another season. and mark sanchez is out with a shoulder injury and is expected to be out on saturday. rookie gino smith could be favored to start. let's get to high school football. two coaches coming to blows in alabama when pushing turns to punching. scrum on the ground. one coach suspended and one walked away with visible injuries. it is not clear what got those two started. but they kept it going for a while. i had to break up donny and bill. this is leftover from the hamptons you had. the scuffle. >> i'm thinking of the girl scout mom leaders fighting.

not good. the labor day weekend holiday weather was not good for the beaches. there were a lot of downpours. it figures, the weather will improve as we get back to work and school. it is iis humid ahead of the fr. everyone else should clear out. it is cool back in buffalo and pittsburgh. 20 degrees cooler in pittsburgh than d.c. give it one more day and the cool and less humid air will sweep through. today, a few storms in the north and tennessee. texas remains the hot spot. the big heat wave the last couple of weeks. still about 100 from san antonio to dallas. not bad. we're in the middle of the hurricane season and i'm bored. coming up on "morning joe," the president's push and how he plans to get congressional approval to authorize an attack

on syria. when we come back here, we will huddle around the water cooler and target james franco at a comedy central roast. i heard it was kind of blue. we will show what we can. too big. too small. too soft. too tasty. [ both laugh ] [ male announcer ] introducing progresso's new creamy alfredo soup. inspired by perfection.

all right. at the top of the show, we talked about microsoft buying nokia for $7.2 billion. if you want to sound smart today, tell your friends this is the second largest deal ever done by the giant. microsoft's biggest acquisition came when they paid $9.3 billion to buy skype. it is time to huddle around the water cooler. lou. >> mississippi set a record in an alligator catch. dustin and ryan bachman captured the animal in the mississippi river. the catch is two inches shorter than the mississippi lengths record, but it is the heaviest. it took four hours to get the massive creature in the boat. turning to hollywood news. the film for "50 shades of grey" has two key roles.

dakota johnson will play steele she had a role "the social network." and charlie will play christian grey. he is on "sons of anarchr." i know the women in my family cannot wait for the film. and vladimir putin is well known for his love of animals. let's start to where he visits an oceanarium. he helped feed dolphins. he pressed here for a photo op. he watched some rare female tigers being introduced into their enclosure. on a separate trip to a school in russia, he goes up to the board and draws. i'm not sure what he is making out there, but local and state

media responded that putin said it is a cat from the back. that's a little strange, but i don't know. i don't know if i see it. that doesn't look like a cat from the back. i don't know about that. moving on, last night was a big night for james franco and comedy central roasted him. our crack video staff found a few moments we could play for you. take a look. >> robert di nero, sean penn, julia roberts. these are just some of the huge stars james has worked with who did not want to be here tonight. >> james always has that look of, oh, man, how did this perfect amount of facial hair end up on my face? i'm from palo alto, california. no one questions why i talk like

i'm from brooklyn. >> i know it is not easy for you, james. you overcame a child hood affliction known as dumb face. >> look at me do all the talking while you sit they're doing nothing. i feel like i'm doing the oscars with you. >> that was good stuff, thomas. we could not show you the real meaty stuff. >> it is blue. let's look at the christian grey guy. i know you lost out on this part. the girl has famous parents. if he had famous, it would be heath ledger and chatum tanning. >> i am upset i missed out on that part. >> thanks, buddy. still ahead, your best tweets and "morning joe" moments away. [ male announcer ] running out of steam?

♪ now you can give yourself a kick in the rear! 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.

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. all right. earlier in the show, we asked for your i mpressive feats.

what did we get? >> natalie completed 20 marathons in under five out how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop. >> i don't know if it's directed at me or lewis. >> endured another awkward segment with lewis. sorry i'm still trying. was i awkward? >> never. >> never. >> i might have been a little awkward. time to go. "morning joe" starts right now. >> i have three messages. one is we should never ever give up. two is,