as lawmakers move closer to a vote. and on a defendant note, the new iphone is coming. the major event announcement and why many are saying it could mean more than just a single new release. also, jon stewart is back and he's ready to tackle the big issues. his take on anthony weiner's summer and his infamous alias carlos danger. and, yes, this is "way too early". it is 5:30 a.m.. do you know where your carlos danger is? hi, everybody. i'm thomas roberts in for brian shactman. it is wednesday, september 4. we're also talking about a meeting between two groups that you never expect to share a room and the typo that has the fighting irish shouting spell check. but we want to start with this major update to a closely watched kidnapping case that shocked the nation. we want to go to cleveland for this breaking news where it all happened. >> good morning. we have learned overnight that ariel castro has killed himself.

he was found in his prison cell in southern ohio around 9:20 last night. authorities performed cpr. brought him up to a columbus area hospital where he died around 11:00 p.m. tuesday evening. he was in protective custody, meaning he was being monitored every 30 minutes in his cell all to his own. it's unclear how he did this, what he may have used. authorities say an investigation is under way this morning. consider how fast this has all happened. four months ago, those three women he kidnapped, raped and tortured were still being held in a home that once stood behind us, now replaced by a park on cleveland's west side. this morning in this community, many are applauding while others are questioning how could there be such a lapse in the system. again an investigation under way this morning as word spreads across the country that ariel castro, the man who was put away for 1,000 years, killed himself just weeks into his prison sentence. i'm chris ty in cleveland.

>> a lot of questions coming out of this because according to reports, the last check was at 9:00 p.m., they went back 30 minutes later to check on him, they had been checking on him in ten minute cycles and then the switch to the 30 minute cycles. we turn our attention overseas and president obama touching down in sweden where he's doing diplomatic matchup work. focusing on lighter fair, trade, technology. the president set to go to russia later this week for the g-20 summit and he scrubbed plans to meet with putin after moscow declined to hand over edward snowden. the president and the international community at large are keeping tabs on washington where a vote could come today on strategic strikes in syria. senate resolution calling for a 60 daytime frame with a one time 30 day extension. however, it prohibits the use of ground forces. a similar plan is being pushed by the house. president obama won over many top leaders yesterday by making a case for limited strikes that

accepted a message to the entire region. >> it is limited, it does not involve boots on the ground. this is not iraq. and this is not afghanistan. >> he crossed a line with using chemical weapons. president obama did not draw the red line. humanity drew it decades ago. >> this is something that the united states as a country needs to do. i'm going to support the president's call for action. i believe that my colleagues should support this call for action. we have enemies around the world that need to understand that we're not going to tolerate this type of behavior. >> but selling the plan on capitol hill proved tough. john kerry was defiant as he faced off with skeptical senators. and when he speculated would the possibility of sending troops, he was quickly force to the back

pedal. >> i don't think there are any of us here that are willing to support the possibility of having combat boots on the ground. >> i don't want anything coming out of this hearing that leaves any door open to any possibilities. so let's shut that door now as tight as we can. >> one of the most heated rounds of questioning came with senator rand paul. take a look. >> the president is asking for the authority to do a limited action that will degrade the capacity of a tyrant who has been using chemical weapons to kill his own people. >> by doing so, you announce in advance that your goal is not winning. and i think the last 50 years of secretaries of defense would say your goal is not to win, you shouldn't be involved. >> do you want to go to war in syria, of course not. 100% of americans will say no. we say no. we don't want to go to war in syria either. it's not what we're hear to ask. the president is not asking you to go to war.

>> joining us from washington, political reporter casey hunt. so we heard over the weekend the president saying that we need to have this debate as a country and we're watching it play out, but did secretary kerry sell their case well enough to get the votes they need? >> well, the senators i talked to after the hearing said that secretary of state john kerry acquitted himself well, but that this is really only the beginning. there are classified hearings set for today, a markup to go over the legislation. but what i heard most from senators as i talked to them yesterday even after this was that they really want to hear from president obama himself. they want him to do more to sell this plan. they have problems at home almost all of them, one of the reasons why you're seeing so many conflicting messages from people of both parties is that polls show this potential conflict in syria is deeply up popular and it's almost unequally up popular among democrats as it is among

republicans. and that's why you're seeing a lot of trepidation on both sides. and one of the toughest things for the administration to explain to senators as they try to convince them to do this is to answer the question why haven't you done more so far. and senator marco rubio raised that at the hearing yesterday. >> casey hunt reporting from washington. we'll talk again later takoday. thank you. in the war of words continuing between governor christie and and a paul. christie ended speculation that they would appear side by side at a rally.nd a paul. christie ended speculation that they would appear side by side at a rally.d a paul. christie ended speculation that they would appear side by side at a rally. a paul. christie ended speculation that they would appear side by side at a rally.a paul. christie ended speculation that they would appear side by side at a rally. paul. christie ended speculation that they would appear side by side at a rally.paul. christie ended speculation that they would appear side by side at a rally. both announced their support, but christie had a good excuse for taking a rain check. >> it was a very tough choice. but i had to choose between my wife and rand paul. and it's mary pat's 50th birthday that weekend and i'm

taking her away just the two of us for her 50th birthday. we're leaving friday morning, we won't get back until sunday night. and in a choice between mary pat christie and rand paul, it's no choice for me. so i'll be with mary pat. >> picking mary pat over rand. rand paul has tried to raise the white flag by offer to go have a beer with the governor, but so far christie has refused. he wanted christie to come to washington. maybe if paul wanted to have a beer on the jersey shore. something's wrong with jen today. she's a little tired. to another political firestorm. boston mayor is in the hot seat for his remarks about the motor city. he said besides living in boston, detroit is a place he'd love to go. they're's where things take a turn for the worse. when asked what he'd do in detroit, the boston mayor responded i'd blow up the place and start all over. it sparked outrage and the

detroit mayor didn't waste anytime to respond saying he would think the mayor of a city that recently experienced a deadly bombing attack would be more sensitive and not use the phrase blow up. now, menino later apologized saying he would like to help detroit anyway that he can. so a mix up there in the wording. no secret that microsoft and nokia have not been seen as must haves for mobile in a while, but the question will the proposed merger shake things up more than just the corporate management. stocks will open slightly up higher this morning after nokia shares were up big, 34%, while microsoft fell slightly. is there any optimism that it can transform mobile business with perception being reality? >> i have to say at this stage there is a lot of skepticism. there is optimism as well, but people i've spoken to say if you take a weaker company and team it up with another weaker company, chances are it could be a weak play that you get out of

it, but we don't know that yet. i need to tell you a little story, though, because once upon a time, there was a man that worked at microsoft, rap a profitable division. three years ago, he decided to swe switch over to nokia as ceo. and then things started to go wrong. during his time at nokia, market share dropped from 35% to 3%, market cap crdropped substantially. lots of people lost their jobs. meek crow soft buying nokia, so that mes he's moving back to microsoft and the speculation is that he could be take the steve ballmer's top job. a lot of conspiracy theories. we love a good conspiracy theory, right? and let's talk about generation y bosses. and before that, let's talk apple. apple has now confirmed that there will be an announcement on

the 10th of september. the invite consists of lots of colorful circles. they say this should brighten everyone's day. so what do the colors signify? probably a new iphone model and they could be colorful. and generation y, as well, 18 to 32-year-olds, they're moving into management positions and they're doing it quickly. ernst & young say 87% have taken on managerial role compared to 38% of the older generation x managers. the problem is that they're very unpopular. they score low as hard working team players. i can't see you, are you older than 32? >> i'm a gen xer. we'll be mad to see the gen yers get ahead of us. >> the young people keep you on your toes. >> they do.

thanks so much. so following that thought, we want to know what your thought is about a horrible boss moment. tweet us your best using the hash tag way too bossy. we'll put the best ones on later in the show. and dish the dirt. we want to hear it. if you do, i might tell you one of mine. still ahead, we'll get into sports headlines where derek jeter topped a major milestone. but did he help the yankees overcome a three run deficit. and stephen colbert says the president considered using miley cyrus to help the crisis in syria. that story and a check on weather. % . turned away by a national

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sports. this is where they really stick to me. so white sox and the yankees. two men on. vernon wells uses the opportunity to steal home. both safe. next inning, jeter singles up the middle. moves past eddie collins to number nine on the all-time hit list. 3314. bottom of the eighth, yanks were trailing, but a two run double down the line for the 6-4 yankee lead. new york takes the victory. tigers and red sox, brooks at

bat. single scores two and the red sox hang on to win. pirates win 4-3 and snaps a string of 20 straight losing seasons. pirates are now two games ahead of st. louis. rangers and athletics. candidate for play of the day. he sacrifices his body to make the catch. good effort, but his team would still lose 5-1. that will leave a mark. rangers lead oakland by one game in the west. headline at theist open, serena williams dominant. serving up what they're calling a double bagel. 6-0, 6-0. can you call that 6-love? i don't know. in their quarter final match, it only lasted 52 minutes.

serena will be in the thursday semifinal. total dominance there. as for the men, novak djokovic cruised to a straight set win. andy murray also advancing there. as we look at college football, we start with the a.p. poll. clemson surging for number four. oregon jumping ohio state for the number two spot. alabama remains at number one. notre dame making headlines, check out this souvenir cup on sale saturday. can you federal government out what's wrong with this? it's a fig thing. spelling counts. now you can buy those for hundreds of bucks on ebay. finally, one nba superstar is extending his kingdom to the world of tv. lebron james is developing a sitcom with producers of classics like the cosby show and

roseanne. called survivors is being developed by the star's network and will be loosely based on his own rise to fame. james won't star in the show, but he will be an executive you producer. not bad. let's check in with dylan dreyer. we just had like an oprah light bulb moment in the commercial break about dylan's name. >> yeah, i thought it was pretty obvious. >> so i'm slow. i was in track three growing up, and you'll know what that means if you were in track three. but it just dawned on me when you said it would be drier in the midwest. you have a freaky weather name. like amy freeze. and who was it storm field? >> yeah. >> is that the bold and the beautiful or is that a real person? >> that is real, too. but it's not like we decide -- >> but dylan dreyer, such a great name. >> we're born into these roles.

it's not like we come up with the name. the names come first. and i really wanted to be an anchor, but i got stuck in weather. anyway, speaking of drier, it is drier out there. no humidity. really not a whole lot going on across the country. humidity is gone. temperatures are nice. sunshine is out. we're looking at high temperatures today in the 70s and 80s in the northeast. still hot in the plain states, but without the humidity, i think the dry air is pretty nice. >> my brain is blown. i have to pick it up. it's like out of the back of my head. like such a light bulb moment for me. dylan, thank you so much. coming up at the top of the hour on "morning joe," inside the debate on syria. they will weigh in on how the president managed to gain momentum as he preps to head overseas. and when we come back here, we'll huddle around the water cooler. jon stewart is back. his summer is off and now he's just catching up on some of the beg stories he missed like anthony weiner. or should we call him carlos danger. wait until you see how jon puts him on the skewer.

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jon is back. hey, stew beef. >> what's up?

>> that's nice. how are you doing? >> it's my john oliver. >> yes, for sure. oh, [ bleep ]. >> i got here as soon as i could. >> thanks very much. >> i'm going in there and i'm going to break this man. and no matter what you hear, whatever monies anding aing ag pleasure you hear, promise me you won't go in that door. >> done. >> oh, my god! i did what i could. >> thanks. >> let's do this. >> they didn't disappoint. it was good stuff. >> it was good stuff. jon stewart also needed to catch up on news like what's been

going on with his old college buddy anthony wiener. >> remember your friend anthony weiner? >> yes, yes, yes, how is he doing? i haven't spoken with him in a while. >> for a start, no one really calls him anthony weeiner anymore. >> do they call him mr. mayor? does he have an alter ego? >> he actually does. yeah. he does have that. >> what is that? >> don't make me say it. >> how ridiculous could it be. >> let me tell you. it's carlos danger. ♪ >> carlos danger. stephen colbert also spent some time abroad during his break. he was shocked to find out about

one of the president's plans to deal with syria. >> i do not speak italian, so while i was overseas, i couldn't get much out of the news. but from what i could make out, president obama wanted to drop miley cyrus on deaamascus which correct me if i'm wrong, i believe that's a war crime. >> that is just wrong. and david letterman is up in arms about a major mistake. >> 30 million $100 bills were printed with mistakes in them so they have to recall -- people that print up the money, the money department, has to recall 30 million $100 bills. here is the announcement from the united states government.

watch this. >> the bureau of englraving and printing would like to apologize for a printing error. we mistakenly used a picture where ben swjamin franklin was blinking. >> blinks happen. >> good to see the late night host back in action. i love it. long summer, time tot back. >> john oliver did a great job. he has a career ahead of him. still ahead, your horrible bosses moments, and, yes, lewis is my new boss. "morning joe" starts in just a few moments. aw this is tragic man, investors just like you could lose tens of thousands of dollars on their 401(k) to hidden fees. thankfully e-trade has low cost investments and no hidden fees. but, you know,

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we have to trim some of the fat. >> what do you mean by trim the fat? >> i want you to you fire the fat people. >> what? >> they're lazy and slow and make me sad to look at. >> we asked you for your

horrible boss moments. what did we get? >> this is a pretty bad one. former boss cut his toenails and spit into a cup at meetings. way too bossy, way too early. way too gross. >> really? i'm sorry for eating breakfast. "morning joe" starts now. after careful deliberation i have decided the united states should take military action against syrian regime targets. >> wow. america taking military action against the middle east regime. it's like i never left. so what's brought the president to this decision? >> 50 tons of mustard gas on a turkey farm.