can imagine he must feel, gosh, i wish we could move that quickly. all right. so truth is stranger than fiction. can modern day republicans unite behind a common governing message in d.c.? senator john mccain sends a message to junior members while protecting the old guard. mitt romney gets on record about hillary clinton for president. and the gravity of the situation cannot be understated. the movies and the actors that stole the show at the bafta show across the pond. with oscar watching, this is "way too early." hi, everybody. good morning. i'm thomas roberts. it is monday, february 17th. welcome to "way too early." a show that wishes my name had bitter initials like frank

underwood. ooet think openian airlines plane was hijacked. the man who was taken into custody was apparently seeking asylum because he felt threatened in his home country. the airline released a statement saying all passengers are safe. we'll bring you more details on that story as soon as they become available to us. we'll turn to this ongoing situation in south africa. more than 200 mine workers are trapped underground after a mine collapsed in johannesburg. so far 11 have been rescued, but now there's a new problem. listen to this. some of the minors are refusing to come to the surface. according to the media, it is being worked on illegally. they're staying underground so they don't get arrested. former republican presidential candidate mitt romney spoke on "meet the press"

and spoke. >> i think hillary clinton if she becomes the nominee will have plenty to discuss about her own record. i don't imagine that bill clinton is going to be a big part of it. that being said, the times when he was president were by and large positive economic times for the country. on the other hand, he embarrassed the nation. he breached his responsibility think as an adult and as a leader in this relationship and i think that's very unfortunate, but i don't think that's hillary clinton's to explain. she has her own record, her own vision for where she would take the kcountry and i think that will be debated during 20916 campaign. >> mitt romney denied having interest in running for president again in 2016. so a scramble by the republican leadership during last week's debt ceiling vote is talking about issues. he was asked if he can relate to his colleague from texas?

>> i understand where senator cruz is coming from. we have a cordial relationship and i respect his right to do -- exercise his rights as a united states senator, which he did last week, but i allege that there was no plan. there was no plan once we had taken the united states on the brink of this financial crisis that we were approaching. i appreciate our leadership voting the way that they did even though they face primary oppositions, especially senator mcconnell. >> in a campaign event mitch mcconnell defended raising the debt ceiling saying, quote, my job is to protect the country when i can and step under and lead when it's required. that's what i did. meanwhile, vice president joe biden weighed in on the state of the gop wondering out loud what's left of the republican party. >> there isn't a republican party. i wish there were. i wish there was a republican party. i wish there was one person you

could sit across the table from, make a deal, make a compromise and know when you got up from that table it was done. >> so new reporting by msnbc's steve kornacki connects a port authority police officer to the george washington bridge scandal. that officer personally drove david wildstein on a tour of the area. that was lieutenant thomas chip michaels. he has a history with wildstein and christie. he's coached his son in little league hockey and his brother is a top man in the state. there are a series of text messages. the fbi is now following up on claims by a 19-year-old woman that she killed dozens of people as a member of a satanic cult. in the suspect's words, when i hit 22 i stopped counting.

she is behind bars for killing a man she met on craig's list for having sex. in a jail house interview she says her killing spree extended from alaska to california to texas and north carolina and began when she was just 13 years old. she can pinpoint on a map where you can find the bodies of her victims. a florida man could face 60 years or more in prison for opening fire on teenagers in an suv after arguing about the volume of their music. although michael dunn was found guilty of attempted second degree murder, the jury deadlocked on the murder charge for the death of jordan davis who was hit by three of dunn's bullets. he says he only used his handgun because the teens threatened him with a shotgun but police never found that alleged weapon. the mixed verdict will allow a recharge on the murder charge. second of state john kerry is pointing the finger to

president bashar al assad for the lack of peace talks. the situation is difficult to watch but impossible to disregard. with more on that, nbc's chief foreign affairs correspondent, andrea mitchell. >> reporter: he appears to be 5, perhaps 6 years old. he cries, my brothers died, my brothers, my brothers. the dust from the regime's helicopter bombings still on his eyelashes mixing with his tears. it is one of many youtube videos this weekend, impossible to verify, but u.n. officials say telling a story of uncalculable horror. in homes people are starving, what the u.n. and the u.s. call a war crime. but the bombing continues. barrel bombs dropped from helicopters. despite a u.n. brokered cease fire. evacuees say only a trickle of food is getting through. this man says, we were eating

leftover wheat that they used to throw out. anything to keep us alive. as the syrian people cry for help, peace talks collapsed this weekend. >> reporter: video that has been sent out by opposition rebel groups, how can the administration ignore this? >> number one, the president is committed, as his legacy to the middle class, not the middle east. >> reporter: the middle class in america? >> yes, he's risk averse, not risk ready. that's driven by the two longest and least profitable wars in american history. >> the president is looking at 100,000 people killed, these horrific images, the refugees and so on, and looking for answers, but the country wants him to be focused on the economy. >> reporter: but fighters like these men in homes are overwhelmed fighting on two fronts, against radical rebel groups and against assad's air power backed up by ground forces and the rebel military leader was forced out. >> none of us want boots on the ground but to not revisit other

options which are viable then i think is the only thing that we can do. this is shameful. >> reporter: a humanitarian disaster for all the world to see. >> that was andrea mitchell reporting. governor cuomo has a plan to allow college classes in prison. it will offer associates and bachelor degrees. he announced that alongside new jersey city mayor, bill de blasio. new york spends $60,000 a year on each prisoner and it will costa proximately $5,000 per year to educate an inmate. the state will start accepting proposals from colleges coming up next month. the united auto workers union is evaluating its next steps. employees voted against joining the union. the 712, the 626 vote represents a big defeat for organized labor

in the country. the uaw spent millions of dollars on the campaign. while volkswagen department get involved, many did pushing antiunion arguments. it's a setback organizing other auto plants in the south. there are fewer than 400,000 members of the uaw today. that's down 75% from 1979. overall, just 11.3% of all-american workers are union members. in a statement following the vote the uaw said in part, quote, while we're outraged by politicians and outside special interest groups interfering with the basic legal right of workers to form a union, we're proud that these workers were brave and stood up to the tremendous pressure from outside. so your musical choices may reveal a lot about your political party. pandora says that they do and the company is now hoping to make some cash off of that notion. the internet radio service is starting an advertising service that says it will allow sponsors to target listeners by their political preferences. pandora analyzes your location

and musical choices to figure ought your affiliations. what does your play list say about your party? tweet us your most creative and highly political answers. at #waytooearly. right, donald? >> absolutely. still ahead on "way too early," the slam dunk contest was scheduled for saturday night. you may have thought it was delayed if you caught the record setting all-star game in new orleans. plus, miley cyrus's banger tour is underway. if you thought she couldn't shock you more, you'd be wrong about that. that and more when "way too early" comes back on a monday morning. ♪ ♪ ♪ turn around

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we start off with the nba all-star game. the league has a battle against the east and west. both sides putting on a show. the east has the last laugh. carmelo anthony made an all-star record eight three-pointers. kyrie irving had the top honors. it was the highest all-star game. the u.s. men's hockey team continued yesterday. phil kessel scored a hat trick. they're undefeated through three games. they head into the quarterfinals where they'll play the winner of tuesday's match-up. >> to the slopes now, success for the americans at the men's olympic super g competition. andrew weibrecht finished second narrowly missing gold. team made bode miller got bronze. he's the oldest skier to medal. that was his sixth olympic

medal. he shed a few tears. he had a tough year since losing his younger brother in april. after the flower ceremony miller tweeted, quote, thanks for all the support. today was one of the most emotional days of my life. i miss my brother. apparently he died about ten months ago from a brain seizure. all right. so we go now to the sanku sliding center. jamaica currently sits in dead last. nearly 4.5 seconds behind the record-setting pace of russia. two american teams, neither finished in the top ten. so we move onto the medal count where the u.s. is tied for second place in total medals with 16, four of them gold. the netherlands is on top with 17. germany has 12 total medals but has the most gold. seven in all. now let me give you a look ahead to what you can watch today. catch this in primetime tonight. you'll be able to see the women's alpine skiing, speed skating and bobsled while the

men's coverage is going to focus on freestyle skiing. be sure to tune in for that. fellow students at the university of missouri are showing their support for openly gay nfl prospect michael sam. all right. so sam receiving a standing ovation at halftime of the missouri/tennessee basketball as they celebrated their cotton bowl victory. the s.e.c.'s defensive player of the year is expected to be chosen in april's draft. if he is chosen that will make the nfl's first openly gay active player. there were a number of missou students with their backs turned against protesters. they were members of a controversial baptist church who protested outside the arena. students locking arms to shout them down. let's get a check of our weather.

monday morning forecast from nbc meteorologist bill karins. >> i heard you say you wanted snow. >> i wanted it at christmas. now we're getting it in february. >> another mini snowstorm. it's amazing. it's cold, it snows. it's cold, it snows. the southern half of the country is enjoying a warmup. we're not getting that yet. wind chill in buffalo, minus 12. zero in boston. minus two in green bay. we can't catch a break in this region of the country. what a brutal winter it's been. we have winter storm warnings from minneapolis to chicago. the next winter storm is taking the same path so many have already from minnesota right through southern new england and that means the same area is going to get snow again. if you're driving early today, already snow is breaking up in minnesota. icy/wintery mix across iowa. chicago not yet. the worst of it for you. travel will be very difficult and very slippery on the roads. how much snow are we talking? not a blockbuster event. we're adding this on top of a snow pack. that's like waist high in many

areas. detroit to pittsburgh, maybe even d.c. to philadelphia to new york. especially north and west of the big cities that will be tuesday afternoon that you'll get the snow. maybe up there in the berkshires we could get some significant snow. so your forecast today, thomas, look at denver, look at atlanta. even kansas city is not bad. that middle brutal area from minneapolis to chicago. there is a silver lining. there's enough warm air out there. we do get it in here. thursday looks like a great day in the northeast. maybe even 55 on friday. all right. good. i'm looking forward to that snow melting because then they can come pick up all the trash that's in tnchts it's gross. not going to be pretty. it will be an ugly early march. >> oh, man, it is bad. big piles of gray snow in it. >> we'll all need boats, too. >> coming up at the top of the hour, chris christie finding himself back in the headlines this morning. will this further damage his reputation or is it just a

negligible detail? then when we come back here, we'll huddle around the water co cooler. is it a precursor to oscar? we'll investigate after this. ♪ ♪ emily's just starting out... and on a budget. like a ramen noodle- every-night budget. she thought allstate car insurance was out of her reach. until she heard about the value plan.

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all right. so at the top of the show we talked about the hijacking of an ethiopian flight bound for rome which landed in geneva, switzerland. the hijacker went to switzerland to seek asylum. switzerland, a neutral country, has a long standing history of kindness. in 2013 the country granted more than 3,000 people asylum. this is a good news/bad snus situation when it comes to the powerball lottery. the bad news, neither you nor i won the jackpot. the good news, no one won the jackpot so that means there's $400 million up for grabs. no one has gotten the perfect match-up since december and if one winner is able to nail all the numbers, he or she could take home this lump sum payment of nearly 228 million bubblicks. the next drawing is wednesday night. get your tickets. it's the last academy award program before the oscars. one movie in particular could be

in for a big night at the oscars. >> the bafta is awarded to "12 years a slave." >> all right. so the film about a man kidnapped and sold into slavery took home the top price at the baftas last night in london. its lead actor won the prize for best actor. many insiders say this film is the favorite to take home best picture honors at the academy awards. while "12 years" may have won the top prizes, "gravity" walked away with the most trophies. the best actress award went to australian kate blanchette for her role in woody allen's "blue jasmine." angelina jolie caught the camera's eye by wearing a

matching tuxedo. mr. and mrs. smith looking good there. the oscar-nominated actress best known for her lead role in "juneau." she made a major personal announcement. >> i am here today because i am gay and because -- [ applause ] and because maybe i can make a difference to help others have an easier and more hopeful time. regardless for me, i feel a personal obligation and a social responsibility. i also do itselfishly because i'm tired of hiding and i'm tired of lying by omission. >> ellen paige there. many in the hollywood community and others congratulating page immediately. her next project is a drama called "free held."

based on a gay couple whose benefits are frozen after one is diagnosed with a terminal disease. just when you thought that miley cyrus couldn't get any raunchier, she launches her bangers tour. she launches the show with the tongue, plenty of innuendo. the shocking moment came when one of the dancers came out in a bill clinton mask. cyrus then did her best virtual imitation of monica lewinsky. the performance is getting a big reaction. tonight will be an historic moment for nbc. this as jimmy fallon becomes the host of the "tonight show." jimmy will be back at the "tonight show's" regular time of 11:35 next week and for those of us just getting here to "30 rock", there are people camped outside since i think 10:00 last

night waiting to get spillover seats. i hope they do get inside because they're freezing their tails off. not freezing their tail off is lewis. he's flown to warmer pastures in orlando. this was his valentine's card to me on friday. there's even a better picture. i'm tweeting you this picture right now. mark halpern doesn't think we show enough skin on this show? right? he's nodding. so, tweet. it's sent now. check it out. still ahead on "way too early," what does your playlist say about party politics? it's a picture of lewis. wait until you see what i just tweeted. >> what just happened to me? >> i just tweeted it out. yeah. ♪ ♪ instead of paying too much for an ipad, i got the surface 2. first of all, it comes with office and outlook. then, with free skype calls to phones in over 60 countries, i can talk to my cousins any time. and then, i got 200 gigs of cloud storage -- free -- so i can get my photos and stuff almost anywhere.

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it said i did well. encouraging. >> that's how we do it around here. "morning joe" starts right now. ♪ >> re can get done shooting on day and i'll come home and turn on the news and i'll think our story lines are not that crazy, they are really not. some people 99% of the show is accurate and the 1% isn't you could never get an education past that. >> it seems like president obama a little bit of frank underwood in him. >> i can't imagine why he would. i found over the last year, it must be really interesting not just an american public, but people around the world to view a very effective congress