will ferrell as will ferrell. describing how he wound up anchoring the newscast as ron burgundy. this is "way too early." will ferrell knows how to make an entrance. it is friday, december 20th. we start off with the obama administration is doing by making final preparations before the health care law tax penalty goes into effect in 2014. last night white house officials announced any american who had their health care policies cancelled because of the affordable care act will not be penalized next year. lawmakers have claimed the number of cancellations would exceed the number of people signing up through the exchanges. the white house refutes that claiming saying fewer than o

500,000 have lost coverage because of the law. for the rest of america, monday is the deadline to sign up for obamacare to make sure you have coverage by january 1st. officials say hundreds of new agents have been hired to address the rising demand at call centers. still the white house is a long way to meet its own lofty expectations. through november 365,000 people signed up for health care through the exchanges and at one point the white house said they expected to sign up 7 million customers by march 31st of 2014. eight inmates convicted will be released in april after president obama granted them comations. it's a rare move for the president. all of the inmates served at least 15 years for using or selling crack. it's part of a push to alleviate sentencing disparities on drug cases. he signed a law in 2010 to close the gap between drug sentences

and to to limit punishments. one is massachusetts governor and president obama supporter delawa deval patrick's cousin. he's never met the man and had nothing to do with his application. the white house would not confirm whether the president knew the man was related to patrick. dozens of people are injured after the ceiling in a theater of london's famed west end collapsed. it was just after 8:00 p.m. local time. theater goers reported hearing a cracking sound and the unthinkable. >> loud bang, i didn't think it was an explosion. the veal creeling came down. a lot of dust and all that stuff landed on five or six rows sblp we thought it was sound effects of the theater. then we just looked up and the whole ceiling was slow motion kind of came down. >> those in the audience said it became dark, dusty and people were lying on the floor after a section of the balcony and

lighting grid came down. no word of what caused this failure in the theater. 88 patients were treated. somehow nobody was killed. the blowup over air force of an indian diplomat shows no sign of slowing down. she was arrested for trying to get a visa for her housekeeper who was being paid below minimum wage. the diplomat complained of rough treatment including a strip search. she says she was put in with common criminals. now india claims she has immunity, even upgrading her status to insulate her against prosecution. but a state department says it's not proactive. secretary of state john kerry personally apologizing to the foreign minister in india. the pentagon has identified the six u.s. soldiers killed in southern afghanistan earlier this week. randy billings, joshua

silverman, omar. ford, terry gordon and jesse williams lost their lives when their helicopter crashed on tuesday. five of the six soldiers trained together and were based in kansas. it's the largest loss of life in afghanistan in nearly six months. the russian president touched on a number of hot button topics in his news conference. it it resembles one of apple's keynote addresses. this instance 1300 journalists were in attendance jock keeg for position to ask him a question. putin defended his opinion of the lgbt community and eased criticism of his record on human rights saying he will release one of his fiercest critics behind bars for a decade. he will also pardon a group of green peace protesters and two members of the all female punk rock group. he also brushed aside questions on edward snowden saying he's

never met the former nsa contractor. jay carney says the president will veto any bill that places sanctions on iran. the obama administration says it it will derail talks on the nuclear program. right now 26 senators support a bill that calls for increased economic punishments against iran if it doesn't comply with the current deal. that includes a number of democrats seeking reelection next year. however, it's a different group of democrats who are siding with the white house asking majority leader harry reid to not allow a vote on that bill. so you probably heard about this, but the political backlash to the suspension of "duck dynasty" star phil robertson is now featuring some of the most prominent politicians in the country. it was on wednesday that executives at the show's network skpar a&e saying they would suspend

phil for comments in a magazine. the mainstream media should not behave as the thought police censoring the views with which they disagree. governor jindal says it's a messed up situation when miley cyrus get. s a laugh and phil robertson gets suspended. he and sarah palin took to tv to voice their opinions. >> he was reciting a part of the gospel. the liberal left must feel that the gospel then is insulting and offensive. >> he's a good man. i know he has love in his heart and wants everybody to be treated with equality and respect. >> a&e, they were kwauks on this one. >> here's where it's hypocritical of hollywood and the left. they are for diversity, for tolerance, they are for minority views and opinions. unless you disagree with them. >> so many american families have spilled blood and treasure to guarantee phil robert son and

everybody else's right to voice their opinion. >> there's an ongoing assault for those right now that are speaking up for the religious believes. for anybody who dares to disagree with them who are not politically correct who don't agree coming out of the the extreme left. >> this incident could endanger the successful show. the family says they can't imagine the show going forward without phil robertson. while some of his comments to the reporter were course, his believes are grounded in the tea teachings of the bible. phil is a godly man who follows what the bible says with the greatest commandments. love the lord with all your heart and love your neighbors as yourself. phil would never encourage hate. we are disappointed he was placedhiatus. what the duck? should a&e's suspension stand? or should he be back for filming? tweet us why and we'll put the

most creative answers oncoming up in "way too early." now we move on to business. later on, we'll get the figures on the gdp and earning reports from blackberry and walgreens. investors tries to make sense of conflicting economic reports. the dow did rise. target is facing major backlash after some 40 million customer credit card accounts were compromised. the store says the hack occurred over the past month starting on november 27th and then finally ending on december 15th. it's one of the largest cyber crimes against the major retailer in recent memory. we have more from london. good morning. >> hi, thomas. i think a lot of people have good reason to feel ticked off about this because it does seem that some retailers occasionally have a cavalier attitude to data security. now difficult to say in this case with target whether this is

down to something they did wrong or just very smart computer hackers. but the bottom line is 40 million bits of information, names, data on credit cards has been taken. they think that this is quite serious. and i think anybody who shopped in target over that period you mentioned needs to be having a good look through their credit card statements to make sure there isn't any inappropriate activity here. it's not the first time. you remember tj max. we have seen these issues before and stores are going to have to take this seriously. we have a bit of news here in europe. s&p, the ratings agency have downgraded the eu's rating. it's been take on to aa plus. maybe it's not going to make much difference to what happens with money raising. the eu not a sovereign. a collection of 28 states, but it's a bit of a slap on the

wrist. and the message here to europe, you need to continue on this reform program from s&p. so it won't stop individual states from raising cash, but it is just a reminder that europe needs to stay focused on this reform agenda, thomas. >> so one more thing. i don't know if we can get this in time for christmas. samsung is announcing an upgrade for tvs, correct? >> absolutely. i feel for those who may be getting a 30 or 40 or 65-inch tv this christmas. i suspect they are going to start feeling inadequate. the latest news, 105 inches is coming your way. lg and samsung are work on these products. there's no chance here that you're going to miss these. they are mammoth. no prices yet, but we expect them to be relatively expensive.

the does size matter when it comes to your pixels? that's the question you have to ask yourself this morning. >> it does. it really does. jen? size matters? she said yes. i wish we had a shot of her face right now. she said yes. jeff, great to see you. still ahead, another setback for kobe bryant. why he won't be in a lakers uniform for awhile. important information from the phone hacking scandal in europe. big reveal in the cooler. that story and a check on weather when "way too early" comes right back. the city is crippled due to a transit strike. 33,000 transit workers went off the job at 3:00 a.m. leaving in their wake an interesting and

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get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. it's time it get to some sports headlines. bad news nor lakers fans. kobe bryant broke a bone in his left knee. he just got back into the line up after recovering from a torn achilles. this latest injury will keep him out of the line up for about six weeks. to the nhl for an incredible game winner tough see to believe. >> shot through the crowd back handed and scores. an impossible angle. >> scoring the time-winning goals rallying the fliers past the blue jackets, 5-4. >> he would love that. >> no fighting though.

>> he did something like that when he was in second grade. >> there would be video to prove it. the nfl season winding down with only two weeks left before the playoffs. there's a handful of great matchups to talk about. we have the saints and panthers battling for the nfc south title and a possible number 2 seed. the colts and chiefs will face-off for a possible first round bye. and the cardinals hoping to keep playoff hopes alive against the seattle seahawks. also a rematch of the afc championship game. the patriots and the ravens, purple pride, people. finally it's the bears and eagles with both teams trying to solidify their playoff position in the nfc. let's get a check on weather with bill karins. >> sunday is not going to be a football day on the east coast. it's going to be like 70 degrees. people are going to want to be outside and running around.

>> break out the shorts. >> 70, you can get away with it it. not with white, pacy legs. let's talk about the big contrast across the koun trip. st it's going to be the roller coaster as we approach christmas. minus 7 in fargo. 66 in new orleans. the difference in the temperature from texas all the way up to fargo is like 75 degrees. so that's a big contrast. ha means we have a good-sized storm in the milddle of the country. in the middle is where it's goings to be very messy. we have ice this morning. we have freezing rain around milwaukee. chicago, you're at 35. your roads are all right. when you get to the northern half of michigan, when you go through iowa, southern minnesota, be careful out there. a lot of freezing drizzle. as we go throughout the upcoming period, we had snow in st. louis and indianapolis. and now we're getting heavy rain on top of that. we have flash flood watches and

advisories. we're looking at possibility of three to five inches of rain on top of the snow pack which will all melt away. could have some flooding issues. we're talking ohio, indiana right back down the ohio area. the biggest issue we're going to have is as we go into saturday. if you're traveling today, east coast is fine. yesterday we had 60 in d.c. people loved it. you'll do it again today. the cold air is in minnesota. as we go into saturday, the cold air starts to move. when it it hits that warm air, it's like a spring-like setup. we'll se severe weather and thunderstorms and maybe even tornadoes on saturday. try to get your christmas errands done. but it's possible from memphis all the way through louisiana. then pushing into mississippi during the day. that's the most important thing to note if you live in that area. saturday, the deep south is a severe weather day. a dangerous day for you. by sunday, 73 in d.c. late day thunderstorms and very cold in the northern plains.

cri christmas, by the way, still looks like no problems at all. saturday, we don't want tornadoes a couple days before christmas. that's not good for anyone. >> it's an odd mixed bag. sunday in the mid-atlantic at 73 degrees? >> record highs. it's never happened this time of year in a lot of areas. >> it's amazing. hopefully for people that have to travel, they will be able to get around in place for santa claus. coming up at the top of the hour, "duck dynasty" getting pl political. how controversial remarks is turning into a conservative talking point. when we come back here, we'll huddle around the water cooler. what will ferrell said a tv station had to promise to lure them to their anchor desk. "way too early" will be right back. ♪

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top of the the show we talked about the credit and debit card security praech at target. if you want to sound smart, the worst security breach in u.s. history took place with tjx in 2007. 47.5 million shoppers at the retail store tj max had their information compromised.

it caused them $256 million. time to huddle around the water cooler. we find out what's hot. >> thanks so much. the trial for the british phone hacking scandal offered insight to a pet name prince william is fond of. a voice mail left by the heir to the throne where he calls her baby kins. in another voice mail left for prince harry, william pretends to be chelsea davy. it's chelsea here saying you are the best looking jiginger i hav ever seen although you are quite ugly for a ginger. i hope you're having a lovely time. i really miss you. it's lovely in africa and hopefully i'll see you very soon. you're a big, hairy, fat ginger. any way speak to you later. prince william is a bit of a prankster there. it's good to see he has a sense of humor. let's go to the late nights

where stephen colbert is in the holiday spirit. >> if you're among the nearest and dearest, jamie dimon had this in your card. it shows them having a great time hitting tennis balls inside what seems to be their home. an image that says, hey, we're so rich we can destroy our own stuff. >> disgusting, covorting around your own home with your own family. at christmas time? come on. this is why i didn't mail out my christmas card this year. it's a picture of me water skiing through the kitchen i had built off of my shoe closet. >> hope he has insurance to put their cull l paintings ong the wall. jon stewart is weighing in on the "duck dynasty" controversy. >> i don't actually really watch "duck dynasty." i would assume it's a show where ducks reenact dynasty.

which, by the way, would have a huge gay audience. >> there's something called the first amendment. >> he's allowed to say whatever he wants. >> political correctness. >> this is the word police. >> yes, i too have a problem with the word police. it is by far the worst "law and order" spin off. i don't care for it. now david letterman is looking forward to the performance at radio city. >> the legendary christmas spectacular runs through december 30th. then beginning january 3rd it's the atheist spectacular featuring "everything's meaningless." >> finally will ferrell stopped by jimmy kimmel and gives insight to ron burgundy's visit

to a north dakota newsroom. >> they let me literally with the regular news team. i read the news. i think there was a warehouse fire. in which they used 5,000 gallons of water. >> that's a lot of water. >> there was a santa claus beard growing contest. it was a big news day. >> did they leak some kind of a deal pr you when you flew out to north dakota? >> our deal was you can't announce that i'm coming on the show. we literally want people to turn on their tvs and say what the [ bleep ] is going on. >> so nice to see will ferrell out of character. every time in an interview, he's been ron burgundy. >> this was a great cooler. royal dynasties, then "duck dynasty." when i text you i can write "baby kins"?

>> of course. your most creative tweets and "morning joe" just moments away. stick with innovation. stick with power. stick with technology. get the new flexcare platinum from philips sonicare and save now. philips sonicare. to share with family.

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earlier in show we asked for your most creative tweets on the "duck dynasty" controversy. time "duck dynasty" controversy. this one. he's got the right to express his opinion no question. a & e has the right to say get lost. no question. free speech and capitalism meet up. "morning joe" starts right now. good morning. it is friday, december 20th. friday, everybody. aren't you glad? december 20th. with us on set, msnbc and "time" magazine -- >> have you done your christmas shopping? >> i'm ready. >> when did you get it