frustrating airline. but what you really get is the world's largest carrier. details on what that might mean for you and future travel. the sports world electrified by a pair of 18-year-olds and the two best played last night. i've got to dust up my hoop highlight skills. this is "way too early." good morning. brian schactman here, wednesday, november 13th. a little bit later a little sneak peek at what a lady gaga "saturday night live" will look like. for now let's just put the humor aside for a bit and we want to get you updated with what's going on in the philippines. the death toll has been lowered significantly. we still don't know the full extent of the damage and the loss of life. the country's president now says up to 2500 people were likely killed in the storm. he says earlier estimates of 10,000 may have been influenced by, quote, emotional drama.

the u.s. state department confirms that two americans are among the dead. there's new video that appears to show people inside a mall in the hard-hit city of tacloban. many stores and homes have reportedly been stripped bare by survivors desperate, of course, to get food and water, but there is somewk

test. test. test. test. test. test. in california one provider said it will grant a two-month extension for over 100,000 customers but still some estimates have more than a million people losing their insurance plan in that state alone. in an effort to spark those interested in signing up for health care, the latest ad from two group, colorado consumer health initiative and progress now are drawing some eye rolls.

an ad touting obama care reads let's hope he's as easy to get as this birth control. my health insurance covered the pill which means all i have to worry about is getting him between the covers. i got insurance now. you can too. the group has also done ads featuring a ryan gosling cutout. girls taking shots off of skis and, of course, brosurance, where we have the guys doing keg stands while extolling obama care. the ads not backed by the white house but in their own way trying to help the cause. new polling numbers not good for president obama. his approval ratings touching a new low. he's simply not paying enough attention to what the administration is doing. american voters disapprove of the president 54-39. that's his lowest score ever in the quinnipiac poll. that's identical to how president bush was doing right

around the same point in his second term. president obama's approval rating with most major demographics sinking as well, women, men, hispanics and especially among women. for the first time majority of americans say the president is not trustworthy. he's upside down on everything from his handling of health care to the economy and the administration. congress is not even in double digits any more. the legislature's approval rating down to 9%. that according to gallup. that is the lowest score in the history of that particular poll. in just a few hours hawaii will become the 15th state to allow same-sex marriage. the state senate passed a bill overnight allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry. neil abercrombie is expected to sign it later today. and it's an emotional moment for supporters of the legislation and some of the lawmakers who passed it. >> i hope that we honor each

other's differences and celebrate the life that we have together in hawaii irrespective of the diverse views we hold on this subject. life is too precious not to care for one another with compassion and respect. >> the vote comes one week after illinois also approves same-sex marriage. democratic governor pat quinn will sign that bill into law next week. let's turn our attention to business where an agreement has been reached between american airlines, u.s. airways and the federal government to create the largest airline in the world. this mega merger viewed by many as a victory for the airlines can now move forward with a few concessions. what we really want to know, how will this impact customers? usually it's not necessarily a great thing for pricing, right? >> yeah, absolutely. and i think we'll have to keep a

weathered eye on this one. because bigger isn't always better for the small man at the end of this deal, i.e., the customer. but these airlines will be under some scrutiny from federal authorities, i think, not to ship prices up too much. so the price may be the first place you're impacted after this deal closes in december. but something else that i know is very close to the business traveler's home and that's what happens to the air miles here. both companies say they will continue with their programs. you will keep your points so you won't lose them. but if you are u.s. airways you will go from miles and more to one world. you don't immediately go the zero on your balance once this deal is done. as for the other things like where do you check in, what counters do you use? they say that will probably -- they will harmonize that over the next few months. probably no immediate difference. >> it took about over a year for united and continental to put

all those systems together. i imagine it will take quite a while. you get some info on tesla? the stock has dropped quite a bit. what do you have sf. >>. >> fascinating. he says there will be no recall even though they've had three car fires. a significant decline since those fires started happening. since september 1st, stock down 30%. >> quickly, our government selling off another $1.2 million of gm stock. are we clear of gm motors? >> no, there's still a stake left for government. but will they get back the $49 billion that was used to bail out gm five years ago. at the moment the treasury saying they expect to be $10 million short when it comes to getting their money back on what the taxpayer paid to bail this business out, ryan, in spite of

its latest sale of $1.2 billion worth of shares. >> they could have waited for the stock price to some day go above what they needed but they didn't want to wait any more. of course say they cash is king, but some businesses may be losing out by not accepting credit cards. new research says small businesses may be missing out on as much as $100 billion in additional sales by not accepting plastic. that brings us to twitter. i've been in line, and i'm a little ashamed by it, but when someone's digging around for coins in their purse, it's annoying. if you're out there and you think i'm just impatient and i need to deal with it or do you get annoyed when people use cash? tweet us # way too early. we'll put the best on the air. controversial new guidelines could have new americans taking cholesterol medicines. the two top american heart groups have cleared the way to double the number of adults eligible to take statins,

raising it from 15 to 30%. that move ka cause doctors to prescribe the medications to millions more people every single year. statins, of course, often prescribed to treat heart attacks but they're now being used to prevent strokes as well. the medications are not without their side effects which include greater risk of diabetes. in terms of what's the tallest building in the world, one world trade center has reached the official height at least in this country. it has been deemed the tallest building by a panel of expert architects. it takes the place from the willis tower which was formerly the sears tower. there was a controversy over whether that needle would count toward the height but the panel ruled it's part of the actual design and not an antenna, which would not have counted. a symbol been 1776 feet. still ahead on "way too early," the college basketball season

just tipping off. but the freshman phenoms not wasting time taking off. there are about 70 nba scouts on hand to watch duke and kansas also wondering what to expect when lady gaga hosts snl this weekend? a sneak peek in the cooler. i'm here tonight to announce my intention to seek the republican nomination for president of the united states. i cannot and will not stand by and see this great country destroy itself. i believe that together we can keep this rendezvous with destiny.

of providing a free world-class education for anyone, anywhere. if you look at a khan academy video, they cover everything from basic arithmetic to calculus, trigonometry, finance. you can really just get what you need at your own pace. and so, bank of america came and reached out to us and said, "we are really interested in making sure that everyone really understands personal finance." we're like, "well, we're already doing that." and so it was kind of a perfect match.

but once a week i let her play sheriff so i can wash it. i use tide to get out those week old stains

and downy to get it fresh and soft. you are free to go. [ dad ] tide and downy together. thank you. thank you. i got this. no, i'll get it! no, let me get this. seriously. hey, let me get it. ah, uh. i don't want you to pay for this. it's not happening, honey. let her get it. she got her safe driving bonus check from allstate last week. and it's her treat. what about a tip? oh, here's one... get an allstate agent. nice! [ female announcer ] switch today and get two safe driving bonus checks a year for driving safely. only from allstate. call an allstate agent and get a quote now. just another way allstate is changing car insurance for good. time for sports. we'll update that miami dolphins situation. the owner of the team was set to meet with jonathan martin today but postponed their talks so the team's former lineman can first

meet with an nfl investigator. we still have obviously to hear from jonathan martin in this story. ironically or not, there's a political reporter for "the new york times" named jonathan martin and he's had a tough time on twitter. he even wrote a column setting the record straight. he got tweets like this one but admitted he got encouragement from jerry sandusky who is actually a baltimore sportscaster unrelated to the penn state assistant coach currently in jail he realized it can always be a little bit worse. college basketball fans thinking final four yesterday at the classic in chicago. michigan state/kentucky, kansas/duke, on hand looking at highly touted freshman each being called the best basketball player since lebron james. andrew wiggins for kansas and duke's jabari parker. parker looking pretty solid. stop, pops, drills the jumper.

duke takes the lead. late in the half. kansas up 4. wiggins will make a steal and he's going to go coast to coast, as they say. and that gives them a 6-point lead. wiggins and the jayhawks knock off duke 94-83. michigan state top ranked kentucky first time since '08 the number one and two teams in the country meet. michigan state keith appling takes it to the corner, drains the three. then watch this. inbounds pass. picked off. that's a 5-point swing in about five seconds. that puts the spartans up. driving, misses the shot. dawson there for the tip-in. spartans win it 78-74. two great coaches. just a brutal incident in a hoke game. this is juniors facing off

against the toledo cherokee. look to the top left of your screen, puck will go around the boards. watch what you see. boom. and he just sticked him right across the neck and starts punching him. >> you can't do that. >> he supposedly had a neck guard on so the injuries weren't serious. but that, honestly -- >> and punching him in the head. >> these are 14-year-old kids. and hockey is a game near and dear to my heart, but that's why they say they shouldn't get rid of fighting in the nhl, because with the masks they think that people do that kind of stuff. >> have you ever in a fight in a hockey ring? >> yeah. not very good at it. >> do you learn thou fight? >> you can, but i never played in a league where they had shields and tiedowns, so i never really had to deal with it. i just got punched in the face. >> we want video. >> it doesn't hurt that much if you get punched in the face with

a full helmet. >> who knew? i love it. as far as the forecast, a mix of ice in the backyard. but middle of winter, not november. it is cold for this time of year. we're at 22, wind chill in atlanta. this front made it all the way down to the deep south. it will make it to central florida. there's really no rain or snow out there to cause you any travel concerns. just plain old cold with sunshine this afternoon. the midwest begins their warm-up, but a very chilly day in the mid-atlantic. especially with a little bit of a breeze. warmer things to come. a short-lived cold snap. washington, d.c. by the weekend should be 60 degrees for a high on saturday. maybe a little rain around on sunday. even areas in the midwest like chicago, we will warm it up, although a little wet weather towards your weekend. >> our viewers strolling in from their evening in l.a., 90 degrees today. >> southern cal fire danger. coming up at the top of the hour "morning joe" bill clinton

weighing in to the president's misleading statements on obama care. how his statements could impact an already heated debate. miley cyrus' "wrecking ball" causing quite a stir on one of the campuses. the statue and the spoofs at the center of it all when we come right back. [ woman 1 ] why do i cook? to share with family. [ woman 2 ] to carry on traditions. [ woman 3 ] to come together

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at the top of the show we

talked about the merger between u.s. airways and american airline. if you want to sound spart today tell your friends this merger will be able to offer people 6700 flights to 300 destinations. compare that to united when they combined with continental. they had 5446 flights. this is bigger by a wide margin. good morning. it was a casualty surrounding the miley cyrus "wrecking ball" video ♪ acame in like a wrecking ball ♪ ♪ all i wanted was to break you up ♪ ♪ all you ever did was break me ♪ >> the students at michigan will finally get their beloved wrecking ball returned. the school removed the pendulum

sculpture after students kept riding it like miley cyrus. they kept damaging the cable. a fragile piece of art. they removed the sculpture which has been there since 1995. a four-foot-tall, $25,000 fence will be built to protect the popular piece of art. glad that sculpture's going to be okay. lady gaga is set to host and perform this weekend on snl. if you're wondering what that will look like, take a look at this. >> i'm lady gaga and i'm the host and musical guest. >> we might flip things. >> upside down. >> okay. that's sideways. >> maybe we can turn it. >> uh-oh, wait, that's too far. now, that's too fast. i think i'm going to be sick. oh, well i actually feel way better. >> sometimes you just got to let it out. >> ooh. >> oh, kenan.

>> we'll see how that turns out. finally jon stewart noticed something strange when covering the iran nuclear talk. >> the air is filled with excitement, the weight of history lying on this moment. long drama finally coming to fruition. what is [ bleep ]? decades of hostility in a conference room in a best western? what is this? what, the time share group get the roosevelt suite or did you blow the whole budget on that jon stewart impersonator? stop stealing my life. you handsome dog. >> the same exact hair. stewart had a great show last

night. actually, joe was on the show. >> yeah. >> we'll see a bunch of it coming up on the show. he looked dapper in the sweater look and the good little interplay with mr. stewart. we'll have that coming up on "morning joe." still ahead on "way too early" those folks using cash over credit in front of you. your tweets coming up. that's mine. ♪ that's mine. that's mine. ♪ come on, kyle. ♪ [ horn honks ] that's mine...kyle. [ male announcer ] revenge is best served with 272 horses. get the best offers of the season now. lease this 2014 ats for around $299 a month with premium care maintenance included. ♪ with swiffer bissell steamboost...

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by the way, if you missed our news blog, we'll post it on facebook and twitter so you can get all the top stories, boom, just like that. earlier in the show we talked about the people using cash instead of credit. and wondering if you were annoyed by it. we have answers. >> marie says most of the diners in my area are cash only. it doesn't seem to affect business. i prefer cash. >> the diners used to take cash only and they recently switched over. they're coming into the times. >> be grateful you have cards and be patient with those who

have to use change. >> i should be more patient. my manhattan sensibilities to the sticks of new jersey. a ton of people talks about checks. this from jeff logan, i don't mind cash but [ music playing ] >> thank you for joining us, a little late. some of you have to get up at 4:00 in the morning. it's a terrible thing this morning. >> the right path. >> the beginning of the show, watch the show, i haven't seen the show, but the show emerged. >> two months before the election of 2004, i said, bush is bankrupting us, his foreign policy is bankrupting us, we will lose the next election and wreck the commitment i was