new questions about the death penalty and the procedures after an arizona inmate stayeded alive long enough during his execution for lawyers to file an emergency stay. and a u.s. senator snared in a plijerrism scandal, his condition may have led to lifting the work and claiming it for himself. this is "way too early"! hey there everybody. i'm thomas roberts. it is thursday, july 24th. welcome to "way too early," the show that knows nothing about plagiarism unless we are reporting on somebody else's report on plagiarism. all right, let's get to the top story. that is secretary of state john kerry claiming that head way is being made in a cease-fire in the middle east. however, hamas leaders and israeli leaders alike, they're casting doubt. one israeli cabinet member says they'll take a few days for them to neutralize tunnels into the country.

until then, the bloodshed continues. 32 israeli soldiers killed. 724 palestinians dead. 29 since midnight alone. and this morning, a u.n. school in gaza was hit by incoming israeli fire. this boy lost his mother, sister, his two sons, and his wife pregnant with their third child in a strike over the weekend. >> i had to look on the corridor of the flat and i found my mother was thrown on the wreckage of the flat. and i found the leg of my son am coulding out of the wreckage. so i realized this morning that nobody is going to survive from inside. >> the all out assault on both sides continues so much so that a german astronaut tweeted this photo taken from the international space station of explosions and rocket fire. meanwhile, late last night the faa lifted the ban on american flights into tel aviv.

senator ted cruz of texas accruesing president obama and faa of enforcing a ban as an economic boycott. but former new york mayor michael bloomberg who flew in a show of solidarity into israel was outraged when asked if there weral tearer motives. >> if you don't feel safe here, i don't know where you'd feel safe. the state department is just overreacting and typical bureaucratic fashion. >> political reasons for that? >> that's why would you think that, wolf? >> i'm asking you? >> that's ridiculous. why you would think that? that's an outrage for you to accuse one of our agencies by asking the question you're implying that our government does things for political reasons. and maybe every once in a while they do. but it's your job to prove it, just the allegation against our government i personally take as offense. >> there are fresh concerns about how much that country is aiding pro russian separatists in eastern ukraine. this video which nbc news could

not verify shows the wreckage of a downed ukrainian fighter jet. it is one of two aircraft taken out yesterday about 20 miles from where flight 17 went down. a top official says the two warplanes were shot down from russian territory. the top commander admits they had possession of the missile system that was likely used to target flight 17. and he also says it's possible the system was sent back to russia after the tragedy. meanwhile, it was a day of national mourning in netherlands as the first bodies the victims arrived home. the country's king and queen joined the mourners as 40 coffins were taken to 40 different hearses. two more planes with victims are expected to arrive later today. moscow is trying to down play new or existing sanctions with officials saying the impact is peanuts compared to when russia was part of the soviet union. officials a germany believes the new sanctions are likely by the ent of the month and it comes as the u.s. uses harshest language

yet against vladimir putt in. >> who put their finger on the trigger? we still need to find that out. suffice to say, the russian separatist we believed fired this in general could not be doing what they're doing without the russians and responsibility lays at the feet of president putin. not just for this but for every incident that we have seen throughout this conflict. period. >> in the crisis led to an all out brawl in ukraine's parliament. look at. this lawmakers fought in the aisle over a presidential decree. they called in more reserves to defend the border against russian troops. a majority of the lawmakers approved that measure. >> taiwanese officials are saying it's unlikely that stormy weather caused a trans asia airways flight to crash. conditions were suitable at the time of the crash landing. the black boxes have been recovered and authorities say they are not ruling anything out. 48 people were killed. 10 injured. now to the crisis on our

southern border and appears unlikely that congress will have a fix before the august recess. house republicans and senate democrats have advanced competing propose aldz and both are calling the others approach unacceptable. the gop proposal would lower president obama's $3.7 billion request to $1.5 billion. the plan would also send national guard troops to the border and change the 2008 trafficking law to speed up deportations. democrats initially supported changing the law but have since backtracked after hearing from immigration activists much here's house speaker john boehner yesterday. >> the president clearly isn't going to deal with it on his own even though he has the authority to deal with it on his own. but i do believe that the congress should act. >> all right. so that is interesting, especially in light of his lawsuit against the president's use of executive orders. alabama republican congressman mo brooks turned heads with his choice of words describing the president and his policy on the border crisis.

>> this president has caused the problem by enticing children into america by waiving in front of them the prospect of amnesty. this president has promised them all sorts of free goodies like free food, free clothing, free health care, free transportation, free entertainment. until that stops, can you not anticipate that people around the world won't try to break into america because america is going to be their sugar daddy. and right now the president of united states is the world's sugar daddy. that has to stop. >> there is renew scrutiny of lethal injections after what opponents of the death penalty are calling a botcheded execution. this one occurreded in arizona where it took joseph wood nearly two hours to die. witnesses say it was a troubling scene as the convicted murderer gasped and snorted. >> to watch a man lay there for an hour and 40 minutes gulping air, i can liken it to if you cash a fish and throw it on the shore. the fish opens and closes i had

mouth. >> he was clearly struggling for breath. and that's atip kypicaatypical. usually an execution takes 10, 11 minutes and you see virtually nothing. >> woods attorney filed for an emergency stay during the execution which the supreme court denied after he was pronounced dead. it was the first time arizona used the drug but three other states encountered problems in the past. wood was con vicked in the 1991 killing of his ex-girlfriend debbie dietz and her father gene at their family's body shop in 1989. the victims' family says it's wrong to focus on how he died rather than the crimes he committed. >> everybody from what i heard is said it was excruciating. you don't know what excruciating is. what's excruciating is seeing your dad laying there in a pool of blood. seeing your sister laying in a pool of blood. that's excruciating. this man deserved it. i shouldn't call him a man. he deserves everything he had coming to him.

>> koordimedical professionals charge confirm he was comatose throughout the entire procedure and never in pain or distress. jan brewer says wood died in a lawful manner sbut concerned how long the execution lasted and will order a full investigation. democratic senator john walsh and iraq war vet and head of the national guard in montana has been accused of wholesale plijerrism. "the new york times" is reporting a thesis he wrote for his masters at the united states army war college seven years was h copied from other sources. entooer tire sentences were copied without retribution. he says he doesn't believe he plajerized. he added, i don't want to blame my mistake on ptsd. i do want to say it may have been a factor. my head was not in a place very conductive or conducive to a classroom and an academic environment. the army war college is investigating all of this. but there are broader political implications as well.

walsh is running for re-election against steve danes during a critical midterm year. democratic groups say they'll still back his candidacy. many republicans saw this seat as a check in the win column as they try to retake the senate. so this brings us to our twitter question for you this morning. if senator walsh is ptsd explanation for plagiarism is valid, is that enough to keep his degree? what would you do? tweet us your most creative answers. we'll put the best ones up later in the show. we switch gears to talk about business news today. the markets were mixed yesterday. however, the s&p 500 did finish at a record high for the 26th time this year. jeff cutler is live in london. >> good morning you to, thomas. and we have a positive open here in europe. i think there will be some trading wibld coming into the u.s. session. can the s & p breakthrough that 2,000 level? one story that is helping, facebook delivered a double earning of second quarter profit, rising revenue of 61%.

apparently american users are spending something like 40 minutes a day now on their facebook pages. so keep your eye on these earnings. it will be key today as we get around 50 s & p 500 companies reporting. i want to bring you up to speed on apple. rumors there will be a new wearable, possibly called the i time. that is speculation. a patent has been filed which indicates that they are looking at this technology. so keep your eyes peeled on that one. i wonder how long we'll have to wait before we see an i watch or i time or something similar from apple. back to you. >> jeff, real quickly. we have more information about gm and the ceo who warned us that there may be more recalls. now there are. >> yeah this is ugly, we're talking about over 820,000 new recalls for six different problems with vehicles, all sorts of things here like seats,

safety bags, not just ignition issues. so keep your eye on this story. for the time being, we're not seeing these recalls have a big impact on the share price or on earnings. but gm is one of those companies that reports today alongside ford. so the market is keen to get an update not only on the safety issue and the recalls but also on how this is hurting the bottom line over at gm. back to you. >> all right. jeff, thank you, sir. >> still ahead on "way too early," a rough two days for tejada after hit with a pitch two days in a row. first on the hand, then in the helmet. we'll check on his condition. and rethinking 2016. new numbers are out. wait until you see who is more popular than hillary clinton, ran paul and mike huckabee. that story and a check on weather when "way too early" comes right back.

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the legacy of usaa auto insurance can be one of them. if you're a current or former military member or their family, get an auto insurance quote and see why 92% of our members plan to stay for life. . welcome back, everybody. time for sports. trying to explain away his comments, tony dungy told radio host dan patrick his words would not have made such a big deal had they been about jonathan martin, the former miami dolphin who left the organization after being bullied by a teammate. >> if we substitute jonathan martin for michael sam and had the same quotes and same comments, nobody is going to replay the quotes two months or three months later. and, you know, try to say that, you know, there is any more to it than what was actually said. >> now dungy also had a message

for michael sam. >> i would want to wish him the best and let him know that, you know, i have no bitterness or animosity toward him even though i don't agree with his lifestyle. i love him. i wish him the best. and i love to say that to him. >> dungy faces continued criticism after saying he wouldn't want an openly gay player on his team because it would cause a distraction. let's switch gears to baseball. start in atlanta. braves at bat against the marlins. one out and a man on third. >> infield in with a full count. and right to the shortstop. on contact. hayward was headed home. he's in a rundown. he avoided a tag. >> oh, great move there by atlanta's jason hayward. >> that was good. >> getting back to third. slick base running there. the braves win it 6-1 to seattle. scary moment between the mets and mariners.

new york's ruben tejada takes a 93 mile per hour fastball off the helmet. hits him right on forehead. he laid on the ground for several seconds before walking off the field under his own power. this is the second time in a row he's been hit by a pitch. he stayed in after getting plufr plunked on the hand the night before. can you hear that. a strange moment in denver between nationals and rockies. one member from each team refused to leave the field. >> there's one player from each team not about to leave the field. >> we have ourselves a good old fashioned standoff going on right here between barnes and barrett. jerry blevin is coming out providing the sunscreen. so he put a helmet on. just like the base coach. >> look, barnes wants to do rock paper scissors to see who leaves the field first. >> and nobody said a word to either one of them.

there is no way they can let them stand there, can they? barnes is on the field. >> yeah. >> span steps out. first base umpire just whistled at brandon barnes and told him to get off the field. >> this is going to be everywhere on every highlight reel all night long. and barrett wins. the nats win the standoff but they lose the game. >> how did it start? >> i don't know. >> i've seen you and roquer do that in hallways here. you're fighting about weather. >> it gets a little awkward. >> so to st. louis, the cards, molina and the dl on the dl while his team hosts brother jose moline why's raise in between innings, yady had third base coach jose okendo drop off some cheese crackers on the home plate for his brother who was catching. he picks up the crackers and plays the rest of the game, the snack is in his back pocket. if he was suppose to throw them off, did it not work much rays win. firefighters battling that

wildfire in washington state got help from the rain and hail yesterday. it is not enough to put out the fires. they did get to dig lines along the south and east parts of fire. officials said it was 52% contained. that's up 16% from earlier in the day. good setup to check in now officially with nbc meteorologist bill karins. who does not tight with al roker in the hol ways. >> not daily. occasionally. >> when he deserves it. >> yesterday was hot, thomas. finally felt like a hot summer day. how hot was it in boston? >> ask mike barnicle. >> it was so hot that my hair melteded. >> yes. yeah, barnicle didn't even need his cut off jean shorts and cutoff. just the jean shorts. it was quite the scene. >> that's a hot look. >> ask jen. >> that change though. it is actually cooler today. >> so wrong. >> we've had -- >> so wrong. that's so wrong. yet so right.

>> the rain continues in virginia. we're cooling you off. the thunderstorms rolled through new york city last night, too. and they actually are helping things. today will be a nice summer day. about 80 degrees. the sun will be out in the afternoon in boston. dramatically cooler. 0 degrees cooler by the water. diesel have clouds and showers during the day. what is interesting about this summer, people are saying what summer? especially in the ohio valley, great lakes. we went from a very cool spring to a very cool summer and unfortunately, thomas, next week it looks like we're having another big polar invasion of air. we're going to be in the 70s in chicago for like a week and a half straight. >> so weird to go into august this way. we're closing out july. >> just makes you wonder, they're literally saying where is summer? >> thank you, bill. at the top of the hour on "morning joe," we're going live to gaza where the israeli air strikes continued. john kerry is in the region. how close is he to brokering a cease-fire? first, after more than three decades on the charts, the man

who makes a living spoofing other inentertainers finally hits the number one spot. hey. i'm ted and this is rudy. say "hi" rudy. [ barks ] [ chuckles ] i'd do anything to keep this guy happy and healthy. that's why i'm so excited about these new milk-bone brushing chews. whoa, i'm not the only one. it's a brilliant new way to take care of his teeth. clinically proven as effective as brushing. ok, here you go. have you ever seen a dog brush his own teeth? the twist and nub design cleans all the way down to the gum line, even reaching the back teeth. they taste like a treat, but they clean like a toothbrush. nothing says you care like a milk-bone brushing chew. [ barks ]

is. all right. it's time to huddle around the

water cooler and strike up that star wars theme music as we check in with lewis. >> just when you thought american's opinions of politicians couldn't fall lower now comes this. there are numbers analyzed on how popular iconic star wars figures are. even darth vader does better than some 2016 con tepders. luke sky walker and han is solo topped 95%. and this is when you take the favorable rating and subtract the fawn afrable one. darth vader come in at 58% and that is well ahead of hillary clinton, mike huckabee and rand paul who fell below 20%. i think that's very telling, thomas. >> so many people love star wars. >> it's the best. now a few kayakers in argentina had quite a experience. they found themselves among hump back whales and they were taken for quite a ride.

they lifted the kayak out of the water and later setting them down and heading o on their way. i don't know about you, i would have been pretty freaked out. >> that is unbelievable video. i don't know if they used a go-pro there. it's cool they captured this. they shaured their trip with tw million youtube viewers. what a whael tale. i had to do it. >> now last but not least, weird al is back. the satirist -- >> from the whales to weird al, he's been having fun with hit songs for decades. amish paradise is one. now he hit number one with "mandatory fun." he's been releasing daily videos of song parodies like this one called "tacky," spoofing for the song "happy." ♪ it might seem crazy with

stripes and blad ♪ ♪ i instagram every meal i've had ♪ >> look at that outfit. i love it. it is so psychedelic. if you told me 30 years ago this would happen, i never would have believed it. if you told me two weeks ago, i never would have believed it. and i don't believe it. but i have to say, congratulations weird al. >> yeah. >> very entertaining. >> long time coming for him. >> we have nothing but mandatory fun on this show. >> we do. it makes us so happy. >> early in the show we told but report that claims montana senator john walsh plajerized his masters thesis. is the senator and former iraq war vet and explanation enough to keep that degree? our producer has some of your responses. what did we get? >> morning. our followers have a lot to say about plagiarism today. michael says, blatant acts of plagiarism are unexcusable. what other short cuts did he say

in and then phil tweeted plagiarism is one of the most intentional things you can do. i don't buy him calling it a mistake. zbh we'll see if the war college is going to take away that masters from him. thanks so much, appreciate it. that's going to do it for "way too early." "morning joe," as can you hear from our gang that's collected, such guy class today, they're a quiet bunch. morning joe is just moments away. we are the solis family. and this is our chex commercial. there's lots of choices and each of us has a favorite. like chocolate, honey nut and cinnamon. there's no artificial colors or flavors. that's good. and it's gluten free. so we're jumping for joy cause it's full of what we love, free of what we don't. and that makes for one very happy family. chex. full of what you love. free of what you don't.

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♪ the dutch people today paid tribute to their own. >> six days of confusion and indignity ended at last. >> a solemn procession across the dutch countryside. >> the sight of 40 hearses tell one painful fraction of this story. but the dignified science of those who stood and watched tells another. >> i couldn't say good-bye. they'll be i h