there is still is no explanation for what happened here that makes any sense and seems to be born out by the facts. what happened. and when is the governor going to explain it?

we begin with breaking news out of denver. the broncos defeated and a large fight broke out. three men stabbed. police are looking for a fourth victim. they have three suspects in custody and interviewing witnesses to see how it all started in the first place. the bipartisan deal is one step closer to becoming law. it passed in the house and moves to the senate. danielle lee is live with the latest, including speaker boehner's attack on the republicans. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. speaker john boehner did attack conservative groups trying to convince people to oppose the deal. after that, they lost credibility. what we saw was not a bunch of people opposing the bill, but a rare form of teamwork. the bill passed overwhelmingly in the house.

it reduces the deficit by $23 billion and now it goes to the senate. they are caught up in a power struggle over the president's nominees that sent them into a marathon session that will occupy them through saturday. they have confirmed seven people, several more to go. one is jay johnson, the homeland security secretary. the senate is expected to pass the bill. the vote is much likely to be closer than in the house. mara? >> thanks so much for that. a startling announcement out of north korea. kim jong-un has had his own uncle executed as a traitor. the execution announcement paints him as despicable scum and accuses him of acts of treachery and betrayal of trust.

pyongyang says the military coup days ago. he was charged with corruption, womanizing, gambling and taking drugs and removed from all his posts. the army is at the center of a theft identity case. he wanted to create his own militia. he stole personal information from 400 members of the formal army unit. he planned to use the names and social security numbers for fake identities. novak said he would train them on military intelligence related tasks. a montana newlywed admitted to her role in her husband's fatal plunge off a cliff. he pled guilty moments before jury deliberations began. the eight-day-old marriage took

a violent turn. she has second thoughts. a heated argument that ended with her shoving 25-year-old cody johnson off the ledge at glacier national park. graham could get life in prison. a bombshell report shows a missing american in iran was on an unapproved cia mission. he's been held captive nearly seven years. an associated press investigation says he was investigating the government for years. the a.p. reports the cia paid the family $2.5 million to avoid a lawsuit. three veteran analysts forced out of the agency and seven others disciplined. they urged the a.p. not to run the story out of concern for his life. the a.p. says the decision to publish was difficult, but the

importance of the story. the u.s. government failed to make saving his life a priority like it should be. friday night's mega millions drawing is must see tv. the $400 million jackpot will be the second up for grabs. there's been no winner since october. when it comes to the odds, ticket buyers have a better chance of being struck by a comet or meteorite than picking all six numbers. don't let that stop you. it's been nearly a year since the shootings in newtown. according to the latest nbc news/wall street journal poll, 52% of americans want stronger gun control laws down from 56% in january. 38% think it should remain the

same. members gathered in washington's national cathedral to remember lives lost due to violence. jay gray reports. >> reporter: hundreds gathered at the national cathedral. ♪ raising their voices to honor and remember those who no longer can. victims of gun violence including the 20 children and six women who died at sandy hook elementary. >> we will not stand by and let this massacre be forgotten. >> reporter: the memories and their emotions fuel an ongoing fight for change. >> make change to ensure everyone in all communities are safe. i will not be silent. >> we will not be silent. >> reporter: they will never allow the light of those lost to be extinguished. >> lord in this flickering light, in the lights of this

cathedral, we see the faces of those we loved, who were taken too soon. and oh how we miss them. >> reporter: jay gray, nbc news, washington. it's time now for sports. richard lui is here with the latest. good morning. >> good friday to you, mara. there was an upset in the broncos/chargers game. rivers connected for six in a quarter. the chargers never looked back. pay ton manning. first interception in 121 attempts. the chargers beat the broncos. you can't help but wonder where thursday night's home depot awards went. winston won the player of the year. alabama's a.j. mccarran won and

player of the year award? yeah, chris davis. he made the last second goal line-to-goal line touchdown which we will watch the rest of our lives, no doubt. the quarter billion dollar man robinson canoe put on a jersey. the third largest contract in mlb history. it's $150,000 a game. a new record at university of michigan's football stadium. it's turned into an ice rink on new year's day. the current hockey game record set there, 113,000. the big house has held twice the population of ann arbor. three points. keep your eye on the ball there.

the globetrotters saw that. they gave him the trotter tribute award for that shot. he scored 30 points in the game. his team lost, but no doubt here, mara, he won the unofficial of bmoc. >> a moment he will not forget. thanks so much. now, for a look at the friday weather, bill karins is here. >> snowstorm is come k. >> that's all you ever say these days. >> or cold. it's been really cold. let's get to the snow event. first things first. this is the moisture that will turn into snow. cold rain in oklahoma and texas. freezing rain beginning to start in areas of extreme southern kansas and into missouri. missouri is a travel trouble spot. to the north and west of washington, d.c. we have winter weather advisories from st. louis,

detroit and pittsburgh. snow is white. a snowstorm for new england. icy conditions and a mix to the south of that. how much snow? possibilities of a snowstorm, up to a foot in the mountains of new england. the timing is saturday afternoon/saturday night. starting to clear out sunday morning in the ohio valley. that begins later this evening. it's a weekend storm. it's good, won't interfere with many work schedules or school. >> it's good if you want to take a weekend to ski. >> if you can get there and be there and ski in the powder, good luck. have fun. >> thanks, bill. another judge orders a cross from a war memorial. plus, good news on the jobs front. ford plans to hire more than 0,000 employees.

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now to other stories making news this morning. in an emotional interview,

nelson mandela's ex-wife winnie described her last moments with the former south african leader. >> i watch ed him going down an down so slowly. and then he -- he drew his last breath and just rested. >> could this be the end of a 22 year battle? a federal judge in san diego says a 43 foot war memorial cross on federal property must be removed within 90 days because it violates the separation of church and state. the judge was asked to consider alternatives. by running water down the side of an old grain silo, an

oklahoma man created a 40 foot ice wall perfect for ice climbing. he expects it to last another four or five days. the philadelphia flyers game against montreal, a surprise for a family whose son is overseas. they were given a priceless gift. their son was back home three weeks earlier than expected. that's just great. now for a look at all things money. sanford, florida, the place where george zimmerman shot and killed trayvon martin has been named 2013 tourism city of the year by the seminole county convention and visitor's bureau. the play station 4 is leading x-box one. the ds 4 sold 2.1 million con sells in november.

x-box one that went on sale weeks later is the fastest selling. the highest price ever paid for a pair of shoes ever worn in a game went to michael jordan. he played with the nasty flu, but managing to score 38 points. the price for the sneakers, $104,765. coming up, politico's kevin, what president obama would like for christmas. chris hayes gives his take on the rape insurance law. i'm beth...

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join today. now here is your friday edition of scrambled politics. a few positive words about the health care exchanges from the strongest opponents of the affordable care act. >> don't get that fixed. it's incompetency of management. they will get it fixed. it will eventually work and work well. what won't work is the rest of it. vice president joe biden told tmz he and president obama give each other birthday gifts, usually related to golf, but they don't exchange christmas gifts. the michigan law requiring women who might want an abortion to take out rape insurance. >> they will intervene in the market in order to stop insurance companies from offering coverage for a legal, medical procedure.

a party that does that is a party that is committing political suicide. consider this, even the right wing governor of michigan, republican rick snyder did not want the party to pass this into law. new this morning on msnbc.com, a new poll finds 51% of americans have an unfavorable view of the tea party. the democrats have a ten point lead over the republicans in favoribility, 42% to 32%. toronto star bureau chief daniel has served mayor ford with a lawsuit. he's asking ford to retract a false statement that he's a pedophile. he was in his backyard taking pictures of his little kids. he said i don't want to say that word but you are thinking what is this guy all about. a new organization is promoting the affordable care

act. >> so, no standing bill. topnotch health care. while you figure that out, when i'm in the oval office call me president barack, president barack. >> that's your morning edition of scrambled politics. if it's friday, it's kevin. good morning. thanks for being here. >> thanks for having me, happy friday. the house passed a bill. why do you think we are learning this now? is this a lesson learned from the shutdown? >> absolutely. it's a rare show of bipartisanship and a huge moment for house speaker, john boehner in taking on the tea party. a lot of outside conservative tea party groups oppose the plan. they say it didn't go far enough. boehner was able to get the republicans on board and get it through the house. >> you mentioned him challenging

the more conservative members of the party. he's been reluctant to do that in the past. do you think he's going to take them on on issues like immigration? >> i think the last government shutdown was a wake-up call. a lot of americans that blamed the tea party and the republicans for the shutdown. the potential for another one in january was something they did not want to do heading into 2014. representative paul ryan and senator patty murray, they were able to come up with a plan to prevent that for two years. i think that is -- provides a lot of economic certainty heading into the new year. >> it's friday, so i want to have a little fun if that's okay with you. >> of course. >> president obama and vice president biden exchange birthday gifts, but not christmas gifts. what do you think the president wants? >> a new hardware system to make

sure all the glitches for the obama care website are ironed out. >> yeah, i think the president wants santa to bring him new approval numbers. >> that's a good one, too. >> thank you for your time, appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. >> richard lui will be back for first buzz. why the queen went nuts about nuts. a holiday surprise for beyonce fans. don't go anywhere. ♪ [ female announcer ] let betty do the measuring and get a head start on delicious homemade cookies. visit bettycrockercookies.com for fun holiday ideas. betty crocker cookie mix. just pour, mix...love. betty crocker cookie mix. if hey breathing's hard.me,

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it may be cold outside, but not too cold to go surfing in 18

degree weather. they braved the freezing cold to catch waves in lake michigan. the water was 45 degrees. one surfer said the frigid cold temperatures are in addition to the adrenaline rush and the waves are better this time of year. whatever floats your boat. to each their own. >> if you like it, you like it. >> right. speaking of what we like, christmas has come early. today is a foreclosureious day. beyonce dropped a new album. she surprised everybody. no marketing, no buzz, no announcement. this is it. i know you are not surprised. she drops it on itunes before midnight and fans are going crazy on twitter. i have listened to it. her bar is very high. >> i'm asking the wrong person. >> is it marketing genius or is it because it's not that great and she just kind of wanted to quietly let it out?

>> it's a visual album. she released a music video with every song on the album. that's amazing. and to keep it from the rest of the world, i'm bowing down to the queen. from one queen to the other. are you doing the queen? >> i am. >> all right. the other queen. in buckingham palace, they had cashew nuts. the queen was furious. she was concerned the police were doing it. to find out who was doing it, when and where, she marked a line on the levels of the nuts. this is the queen. this is before the wedding of prince charles. >> i would love to hear the conversation as she's asking about this. >> if anybody has nuts to spare it's buckingham palace.

>> cashews are expensive. >> what do you have? >> mine is not as good as yours. there's a study out of fairfield university that says as we take pictures of things and experiences, we tend to forget them. >> i believe that. have a great weekend. >> take a picture of the nuts. what really hurts is who stabbed us in the fiscal back. republican congressman and reagan tribute paul ryan. listen to the lame way he defends himself. >> marco rubio said this last night, quote, your deal is going to make it harder for americans to achieve the american dream. what would you say to marco? >> read the deal and get back to me. >> read the deal and get back to me? the gall. listen, buddy. i don't have to read a bipartisan budget to know i

despise it anymore than i need to read "harold and the purple crayon." john boehner was popping at conservative groups. he got his whit in the house and now we have to wait to see if the senate can pass it. an american missing in iran. the government says he was a private citizen, a report says he worked for the cia. a beyonce shocker, not another baby, she released an entire album out of nowhere. there's a bit of a catch. we'll explain on this friday edition of "way too early." actually, jennifer, it's friday the 13th. no one picked up on that, by the way. good morning, brian shactman here. in the cooler today, we have a