marathon bombers and why authorities thought the pair wasn't working alone. and fights are rare in playoff hockey but these players missed that memo. put in your mouth guard. this is "way too early." ♪ it's always great when jen says something nasty to me five seconds before air. good morning, everybody. i'm thomas roberts. it's friday, may 23rd. welcome to the show that's never willing to drop its gloves and brawl but we have no problem watching from the stands. we do consider ourselves a lover, not a fighter. yeah. yeah. all right. it's a friday edition of "way too early." let's get started. we start in tennessee where fresh off the heels of a botched execution opponents of the death penalty are challenging something signed overnight.

electrocuting inmates after a lethal challenge. 56% of tennessee voters approved of using that method is lethal injection was not available. there has been renewed debate over the use of the death penalty after the botched execution of clayton lockett last month. with tuesday's primaries decided, a new race to collect as much cash as possible heading into november. for democrats that means leaning on president obama to help refill their campaign war chest. many commanding at least a 10 grand a pop to attend. last night in chicago the president said democrats suffer from the, quote, disease of not voting in midterm elections. without control of congress his hands are essentially tied. quote, i need a congress that works. and that means i need to

democratic senate and it would be helpful to have a democratic house. you all know so i'm preaching to the choir, but here's the challenge we have. democrats are not perfect and turns out one of our great imperfections is we have a tendency not to vote in midterm elections. still many democrats including alison lundergan grimes are not exactly eager to be seen aside the president. but democrats are willing to tap into his list of supporters. the senate primary in mississippi is being overshadowed by a growing investigation there. four men who support tea party candidate chris mcdaniel have been charged for their alleged role in photographing incumbent senator thad cochran's wife who is in hospice. he was charged for photographing rose cochran and posting a video online. then yesterday three more mississippi men were accused of conspireing with kelly. john mary occasionally hosted a

radio show with mcdaniel. another of the accused is mark mayfield. he's a chairman of the state tea party. reportedly donated to mcdaniel's campaign and helped campaign for him. but his attorney claims the arrest is politically motivated. mcdaniel has claimed total innocence in all of this and condemned the alleged brief of privacy. his campaign issued a statement reading, as we have said from day one the violation of the privacy of mrs. cochran is reprehensib reprehensible. any individuals involved in this crime should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. waiting list may have left 40 vets dead. three va officials failed to show up on why -- given rise to claims of stone walling. mike kirk is calling into question $16 million in bonuses

in chicago. and yesterday john boehner says he's close tore calling for the resignation of secretary shinseki. >> the reports that continue to come are appalling. and these are men and women who have served our country and we've not just let them down, we've let them die. this is awful stuff and somebody ought to be held accountable for it. >> the president's deputy chief of staff visited a hospital. initially authorities didn't believe the suspected boston bombers acting alone. officials thought the bombs were too sophisticated for the tsarnaev brothers to build themselves. investigators also believed the brothers' use of temporary phones and plans for an attack

in new york city indicated accomplices. his arguments say statements made during that nould should not be admissible. the bombings left three people dead and at least 200 others injured. the house of representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill to cut back on domestic spying by the nsa. the legislation limits the phone records and other the court. but advocates call it an important first step. next wednesday "nightly news" anchor brian williams will host a special interviewing edward snowden, the man who revealed the depth of nsa snooping. he flew to russia to do that interview. criticizing thailand's military for staging a coupe. the leader of thailand's army

made the power grab after months of anti-government protests. most of the constitution has been terminated, curfews in place, and meetings of more than five people have been banned. the ousted government was ordered to appear today before the military. the army general vowed the coup would help restore order in the country. the u.s. condemned the takeover and says there is no justification. they may also suspend $10 billion in aid. this is the 12th coup in thailand since 1932. there are growing concerns about the elections in ukraine following an assault by pro-russian militants. dozens of other soldiers were hurt. witnesses say masked gunmen jumped out of mini vans and opened fire in what is now the deadliest attack since it began. atax occurred in several vill e villages with kiev accusing

moscow of trying to disrupt. stopped short of calling it a full withdrawal. another pro-basketball owner is facing criticism for his commentary on race. mark cuban of the dallas mavericks was trying to be honest about his prejudices but his honesty drew a lot of backlash. >> i know i'm prejudice. i know i'm bigoted in a lot of different was. i've said this before. if i see a black kid in a hoodie at night on the other side of the street -- on the psalm side of the street, i'm probably going to walk to the other side of the street. if i see a white guy with a shaved head and lots of tattoos, i'm probably going back to the other side of the street. if i see anyone that looks threatening, there's part of me that takes into account race, gender, and age. i'm prejudice. but other than safety issues, i try to always catch my prejudices and recognize and be

self-aware that, you know, my stream of thought is never perfect and i've got to be careful. >> now, because of that hoodie example, cuban later tweeted an apology to the family of trayvon martin saying he should have used a different example and wasn't considering their family. but otherwise he stands by the substance in the statements of that interview. we shift gears and let's talk business news. investors look to make three days of gains in a row. yesterday stocks extended the rally after interest rates would remain low for the foreseeable future. still in the green. so what are investigators talking about today seema? >> stocks rose for the fourth time on thursday. this s&p 500 index just a few points shy of a record. investigators showing sales of previously owned homes picked up last month. while more people filed for

unemployment benefits in the past week. look for data on new home sales. now, in other news, the cost cutting efforts roll on at hewlett-packard, the company which struggled with sliding pc sales over the past few years plans to cut up to 16,000 more jobs. that brings the total of jobs cut to 50,000. >> all right. quickly, though, we can't leave you without talking about facebook. they're going to try to make things simpler for privacy settings. >> facebook wants to make it harder to overshare. posts from new users will only be shared with friends unless they change the default setting. before posts could be viewed by everyone. for existing users facebook has a privacy checkup tool that lets them see who's viewing their post, what apps they're using, and what private information they may be share on their profile. >> but that's not going to stop

people from oversharing in general. we'll still see it. have a wonderful weekend. with that news, facebook trying to simplify its privacy settings to contain oversharing, we began to wonder what's the most embarrassing thing you put out on social media? tweet us your answers to #waytooearly. we'll post the best ones later in the show. we'd like you now to tell us about it so we want to embarrass you on national television. isn't that a good system? that's a good system. right john heilemann? >> looking forward to seeing yours. >> i've not nothing. clean as snow. the stanley cup playoffs are heating up -- what do you know? you were missing yesterday. the cheap shot that led to the gloves coming off and end in regulation. then the lead singer of the smashing pumpkins showing his sensitive side. and the magazine cover having

his fans crying meow. look, there's john heilemann! ♪ >> you've never had this kind of feeling before, right? no? obviously not. you know katie once told u.s. magazine -- yes. ♪ @ñ when it's donut friday at the office

i use my citi thankyou card to get two times the points at the coffee shop. which will help me get to miami...and they'll be stuck at the cube farm. the citi thankyou preferred card. now earn two times the points on dining out with no annual fee. go to citi.com/thankyoucards. ♪ okay. let's get to sports. it looks like we have a series in the eastern conference finals in the stanley cup playoffs. montreal's enforcer setting the tone with a cheap shot on derek stepan. the blue shirts would not let the hit go unanswered.

settled this score. but there was some actual hockey played in the end here. skip to the third. game tied at one when daniel briere sends it into the back of the net. the rangers would not go quietly. they pulled their goalie and kreider banks in off the skate to tie the game. here's the shot off the skate you see there. then we go into overtime. >> holds and shot one. they score! an overtime-winning goal and the canadiens are back in the series. >> canadiens win it 3-2 in overtime. but the rangers maintain the 2-1 lead in the series. so he may be the most well known american mens soccer player of all time, but landon donovan won't be on this year's world cup team in brazil. the 32-year-old has been the

name and face of the national team for the last ten years. donovan did take a break from soccer last year. missed three world cup qualifying matches. it's unclear exactly why he was left off the 23-man roster. while some say it's simply a roster decision, others point to a possible rift with the team's head coach. he's a very nice guy though. >> very disappointing for a lot of us. i followed u.s. soccer mostly because of landon donovan. >> he's well known. all right. baseball news for everybody. and while yasiel puig may not always have his mind in the game, that man's got some skills. >> curve ball hit. chasing to the back he won't get there but puig will. makes an incredible diving catch. >> so take a closer look at this incredible catch. whoa. may have saved a run, but still

gave away the game. look at this. torii hunter has no idea how to react to this 55 mile-per-hour lob. watch his head just fall back as it passes by. yeah. the pitch was a ball, but he would strike out looking. let's get a check on the weather. that tickled you, huh, bill? >> yeah. there were awhile back it was similar to that. fool the batter and mess with them. good morning, everyone. yesterday was incredible. down in the philadelphia area down to d.c. and pennsylvania. there was a lot of storms. there was even a confirmed tornado that was on the ground for 20 miles. thankfully it was mostly over rural areas. it did destroy one house. we had a lot of huge hail reports out there. we have cleared things out far

nice, quiet morning. that's good. it's going to be a very chilly day up there in areas of the northeast especially around boston today. later today if we're going to get any severe weather, charlotte to myrtle beach. charlotte airport is the only one i'm concerned with. maybe a late-day storm in new york. but as far as friday travel goes, it's nice out there. >> for the northeast, unofficial start of summer, a little stink-o. >> especially for new england. >> all right, bill. thank you, sir. coming up at the top of the hour on "morning joe," could be another sign of the demise of the tea party. the criminal investigation in tennessee and how it relates to the primary campaign. and when we come back here, we're going to huddle around the water cooler. will ferrell and his celebrity twin. they are almost -- you can't tell them apart. they look so much alike.

we're back after this. ♪ i'm type e. i know what my money is doing. i rebalanced my portfolio on my phone. you know what else i can do on my phone?

place trades, get free real time quotes and teleport myself to aruba. i wish.

all right. welcome back, everybody. earlier we talked about the governor of tennessee signing a bill to bring back the use of the electric chair. if you want to sound smart today, tell your friends the new york was the first state to

reintroduce electrocution without giving prisoners a say. it was first used by the state in 1890. since 1976, 150 inmates have been executed this way. let's huddle around the water cooler. louis, you have an update on someone who was popular for me in college. >> billy corgan, front man from the smashing pumpkins is known for his powerful melodies and his alternative lifestyle especially when his band peaked back in the '90s. ♪ >> i love the smashing pumpkins. well, the band is still going strong. corgan may be trying to appeal to a different audience. this is him on the cover of paws chicago magazine. he's apparently a big fan of the organization and those are his two adopted cats. sammy and mr. thom. i guess today, in fact, is the greatest day he's ever known.

and look at his little kitty theres. >> that's what happens when you grow up and adopt and have cats. you get on paws and then on aarp magazine. >> i like it. he's advocating for cats. let's go to incredible video out of china, thomas. local news reports say a baby was searching for his mother in the middle of a thunderstorm when he made his way to a ledge. a passerby sees the child in danger and gets in position to make the catch. and miraculously prevents the baby from falling two stories. talk about being in the right place at the right time. oh, my goodness. >> at the end we see the child reunited with its mom. >> it's just an unbelievable video. >> lucky kid for sure. >> lucky kid. lucky guy. happy ending. now, some say they may be the same person, but we're now finally getting to see them side by side for the first chance. we have will ferrell's doppelganger chad smith of the red hot chili peppers facing off

on a drumoff. ♪ >> take that, funny man! >> looks like baby learned how to play the drums. but can baby do this? ♪ >> come on. let's see what you got. what do you got? >> that was cute. do you play for the lukewarm

chili peppers? >> they look exactly alike. i don't know if will ferrell was actually playing but he did a good job. >> thank you. appreciate it. we asked you for the most embarrassing thing you posted on social media. our producer has some of the responses. justine, we're asking the people to confess. did we get? >> well, we have one person here named eric and he says thomas roberts, it's been a year since you've ignored my friend request. >> oh, no. >> yeah. so he had official proof of that too. >> really? >> it said it's pending. >> eric, do i know you? so we can be friends? that's not too embarrassing. >> and then morgan miller brings up a good point. the word should be deleted from webster. nothing seems to be embarrassing these days for a post on facebook. >> i know. it's a whole new world. >> oversharing. >> appreciate it.

coming up, a look at the stories you'll be talking about in the day ahead and "morning joe" is moments away. stick around. ♪ you smarter about your insurance,because what you don't know can hurt you. what if you didn't know that collisions with wildlife on the road may not be covered? and that you could be liable for any accidents on your property? the more you know,the better you can plan for what's ahead. talk to farmers and get smarter about your insurance. ♪ we are farmers bum - pa - dum, bum - bum - bum - bum♪ [announcer] call 1-800-farmers and see how much you could save.

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welcome back, everybody. let's get a check on the day ahead before tossing it to "morning joe." president obama will nominate the mayor of san antonio to be the next secretary of housing and urban development this afternoon. julian castro in his third term right now serving as mayor of mayor of san antonio. officially ushering in mem torl day weekend. the rolling thunder will hold a candle light vigil. a meteor shower expected to happen this evening into saturday morning. this type is uncommon because it's strongly influenced by the gravity of jupiter. peak activity is expected between 2:00 and 4:00 a.m. though the midwest will have better visibility. that's going to do it for a friday edition of "way too early." >> whoo! >> "morning joe" starts right now.

♪ these veterans are suffering under obama's watch. after he declared them a top priority and his team had been alerted to misconduct. do you know what that means? it means we finally have a real scandal. a real scandal! jimmy, drop 'em! whoo! whoo! whoo! >> good morning. it is friday, may 23rd. welcome to "morning joe." can you believe it's memorial day weekend already. with us on set, "morning joe" contributor john heilemann. that's interesting, isn't it? isn't that interesting, thomas? >> i once was lost. >> the alarm went off. >> and now i'm found. >> you look good. >> that's good. it's good you're here, john.