and kills at driver on the race through the unique circumstances around the death, warrant charges. and taking an ice bath for a great cause. i took the als ice bucket challenge on the "today" show on sunday. and now i get to nominate three others that need to make an ice run. this is "way too early"! hey, everybody. good morning. i'm thomas roberts. it is monday, august 11th. welcome to "way too early," the show that looks good dry and dare we say just as good wet. >> wet! >> that's right. thank you. all right. i ask for a big help for that and they helped. it was a chilly weekend i had. we'll talk about that coming up in the cooler. we want to talk about what is happening overseas.

the administration is directly arming kurdish fighters in iraq. american aircraft meanwhile continue to pound targets there but a struggle over control of the iraqi government is threatening to complicate that crisis. the fourth round of air strikes has been carried out against the group known as the islamic state. the american drones and fighter jets are hitting vehicles and mortar locations. u.s. troops have also made at least four airdrops of aid to thousands of displaced iraqis. the latest delivery included 88 bundles of supplies including water and ready to eat meals. the u.s. effort appears to be aiding the kurdish force who's are celebrating a key victory. kurdish officials say they have regained control of two villages in the region. it is the first victory for the group since the militants pushed them into retreat. over the weekend, president obama said the air strike campaign may last for months while once again ruling out american ground troops. but republicans are offering harsh criticism of the

president. >> this isn't iraq we're talking about. we can't wait for maliki or the iraqi parliament to fight isis. every day that goes by, isis builds up and becomes a direct threat to the united states of america. they are more powerful now than al qaeda was on 9/11. i predicted what was going to happen if iraq. and i'm predicting to you now that if we pull everybody out of afghanistan not based on conditions, you'll see that same movie again in afghanistan. >> as this commander in chief has no strategy. he has no vision. they're coming here. this is just not about baghdad. this is not just about syria. it is about our homeland f we get attacked because he has no straty to protect us, then he'll have committed a blunder for the ages. >> democrats, however, are warning against any additional action. take a look. >> the bottom line is this. there is so much we can do to help the iraqis help themselves. but ultimately, they have to save their own country. escalating it is not in the cards. neither the american people nor

congress or in the business of wanting to escalate this conflict beyond where it is today. >> what we will not do is become the iraqi air force as the president has said. and obviously we have to be extremely concerned that we're not drawn into that type of military action. >> meanwhile, iraq's prime minister is accusing the president of staging a coup and violating the constitution. maliki says he refused to name a prime minister for political reasons. maliki is seeking a third term but facing growing calls to resign over this crisis. after the speech, forces were sent to key areas around baghdad. u.s. officials say they support iraq's new president and are alarmed by the tone of maliki's speech. israeli and palestinian officials are meeting today in cairo to negotiate a longer term peace agreement amid a temporary pause in fighting. overnight, the latest 72 hour cease-fire went into effect. at this hour, the truce appears to be holding with no reports of

additional attacks. but just hours before the cease-fire, israel says militants fired a series of rockets at a boerd crossing. it's a key route for u.n. food and supplies being sent into gaza. a top u.n. officials is warning that fighting will likely resume if israel does not lift its blockade of gaza. and while the cease-fire holds, crews in gaza are fixing power lines and residents, they're lining up for fuel. high school kids also rushing out to pick up their diplomas during this period of calm. the conflict left more than 1900 palestinians dead as well as 64 israeli soldiers and three civilians killed. it appears hillary clinton has begun to distance herself from the foreign policy of the administration she once served. in an interview with jeffrey goldberg, she praised the president but also said "great nations need organizing principles and don't do stupid stuff is not an organizing principle."

that's a cleaned up reference to the slogan reportedly used at the white house on how to approach foreign policy. clinton also touched on the factors leading to widespread violence in syria saying in part, the failure to help build up a credible fighting force of the people who are the originateors of the protest against assad left a big vacuum which the jihadists have now filled. in an earlier interview thomas friedman, president obama rejected the idea that arming rebels could change the course of what happened there. >> with respect to syria, it's always been a fantasy this idea that we could provide some light arms or even more sophisticated arms to what was essentially an opposition made up of former doctors, farmers, pharmacists and so forth and that they were going to be able to battle not only a well armed state but also a well armed state backed by russia, backed by iran. a battle hardened hezbollah.

that was never in the cards. a primary season full of drama and surprises got two more big ones in hawaii. listen to this. we want to start with the senate race. there was the democratic primary and it's still too close to call. voters went to the polls on saturday after the tropical storm blew ashore leaving debris in its wake and impacting two different precincts. brian shots is nearly ahead of colleen hanabusa. fewer than 2,000 votes separate them. about 8,000 votes still have to be talleyed up and neither candidate is willing to concede. the late venerated senator wanted hanabusa to succeed him. but when he died, neil abercrombie appointed schatz instead. abercrombie was stunned by little known state senator david egay who got more than double the votes of the incumbent.

amor kr abercrombie spent four times than his opponent. but in a clash move, abercrombie appeared to give his support. >> it's your office. and you have made a decision tonight that democratic party has made a decision tonight, the governor's office is the office of the people of hawaii. i'm going to doefrg i can to see that david ige occupies that office for all of the people of hawaii. thank you very much. >> all right. so it's the first defeat for an incumbent democratic governor since hawaii became a state 5 ayears ago. tensions, they are boiling over in st. louis. that's a suburb of ferguson, missouri. a police officer shot and killed an unarmed young black man on saturday. an investigation is underway into the circumstances of his death. police were in riot gear last night as a vigil for the 18-year-old michael brown turned violent. witnesses reported seeing people

looting, setting fires, smashing windows. nbc's john yang has more on what is bringing this missouri community to the tipping point. >> reporter: on the streets of ferguson, missouri, outrage and anger. protesters of different ages and races demanding answers in the shooting death of 18-year-old michael brown at the hands of a policeman. investigators said that about noon saturday the officer who hasn't been identified encountered brown and another man on the street in an apartment complex. this was a struggle and one the of the men pushed the officer into his car. >> within the police car there was a struggle over the officer's weapon. there was at least one shot fired within the car. >> the struggle spilled out on to the street where brown whom investigators say was not armed was fatally shot. >> police shot this man for no reason. >> he came from this way. >> this woman who took this cell phone video says she saw the shots from her apartment balcony. >> he's running this way. he turns his body towards this

way. hands in the air being compliant. he gets shot in his face and chest and goes down and dies. >> brown's body lay in the street for hours. >> i would like everybody to appreciate that it took a very long time yesterday to process this scene. >> reporter: the shooting sparked a furious reaction. police responded in force brandishing assault rifles. michael brown graduated from high school earlier this spring and was to begin college next week. his mother leslie mcfadden has a message for the officer who killed him. >> you're not god. you don't decide when you're going to take somebody from her. if that was the case, i brought him here. i should have taken him from here. that was mine. that belonged to me. >> i just want to clarify. this happened in ferguson which is a suburb of st. louis. that was nbc's john yang reporting for us. now the justice department has responded to calls for federal investigation saying that attorney general eric holder has instructed civil rights attorneys to monitor the

developments. and benjamin crumb p, the same attorney that represented the family of trayvon martin will represent the family of michael brown. we switch gears turning our attention to business news this monday. gas prices are sitting at a four year low and on wall street, investors keep a close eye on events in the middle east. jeff, set the stage of what looks ahead for the week. it's going to be a fascinating week. we got a late rally on friday on the news that apparently the russians seem to be deescalating and pulling back on this ukraine story. but we wait and watch on that. what we do know is the futures indicate we'll have a positive start to the u.s. trading session. you know those gas prices? they will help. if it's about getting growth, what we've seen according to the lundberg survey is about a six cent on average decline over the last two weeks. nine cents in california. if you are in jackson, mississippi, you're currently enjoying the lowest priced

regular at $3.19. the average for the country right now, $3.52. so everybody getting a little bit of help from those lower gasoline prices. >> deaf fitly. also, geoff, we're expectsing a glimpse at how consumers are spending their money. so what's the -- i guess the outlook on that? >> yeah. we got a couple things going on here. one is we get the retailers continuing to give us their numbers. so look unite this week for both macy's and walmart. that will come wednesday and thursday. and on wednesday, we get the big retail report for july. you know we're looking for another good month here. that would be a run of five, six months of strong retail sales in the united states. all of that suggesting that maybe the consumer is back and feeling a lot more comfortable about where this economy is headed. i'll send it back to you. >> just in time as everybody ramps up for the christmas

holiday. we'll watch. jef geoff, thanks. now we move on to los angeles. actsing legend donald sujer land took home the teen choice award for his portrayal of the character in catching fire and he even threw berries out to the crowd as if he were in character. did you see that? he was pitching the berries to the crowd. that brings us to our twitter question wloshgs is your favorite on screen villian? tweet us your most creative answers using the words "way too early." i'm going to reveal mib. i'll give you a hint, killer eyebrows. that's all i'm going to say. still ahead on "way too early," coo rain and dark fs stop rory mcilroy from winning his second straight major? a dramatic end in sports. and i'm nominating three big names to take part in the als ice bucket challenge. a great ice water dunking raising money for a very worthy cause. the names revealed in the

cooler. that story and a check on weather when "way too early" comes right back. bill karins is back! bill's back! i make a lot of purchases for my business. and i get a lot in return with ink plus from chase. like 50,000 bonus points when i spent $5,000 in the first 3 months after i opened my account. and i earn 5 times the rewards on internet, phone services and at office supply stores. with ink plus i can choose how to redeem my points. travel, gift cards, even cash back.

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welcome back, everybody. a probe is underway after a dra mat ig crash involving nascar driver tony stewart which left another driver dead. happened on saturday during a sprint car race in upstate new york. 20-year-old driver kevin ward jr. spun out after racing side by side with stewart. ward got out of his car angry and gesturing to stewart before trying to confront him. he even swerved to avoid him. but as stewart came around, his car struck ward killing him. early in the day on sunday, stewart's racing chief said that tony would be racing at watkins glen calling it business as usual. but just a few hours later, stewart indicated that he would in fact sit out the race releasing a statement "there

aren't words to describe the sadness i feel about the accident that took the life of kevin ward jr. it's a very emotional time for all involved. it is the reason i decided not to participate in today's race at watkins glen "my thoughts and players are with his family, friends, and everyone affected by this tragedy." police questioned stewart and said he is being cooperative. they have not ruled out criminal charges but they have no reason to suspect any criminal intent. certainly very sad. now to golf's pga championship and an incredible day of golf to talk about. we take tout soggy sunday afternoon in louisville that saw two hour rain delay and a musical chairs of leaders. stinson, fowler, mcilroy. let's go to the 12th hole. phil mickelson goes for a 30 plus foot putt. look at this. look at this. right there. he stays on par. remains tied with rickie fowler atop the leader board. now doesn't take long though for rory mcilroy to nail a birdie on

the 13th that now ties him with fowler and mickelson. later on in the 17th, mcilroy with a birdie putt to give him a two stroke advantage. now we get to the 18th. mickelson with a good looking chip. but not close enough. doesn't make it. heartbreaker that would have been an eagle. instead, he birdies to end 15 under. because dark fs was closing in after the rain delay, look at those skies. really ominous. rory teed off on 18 before mickelson and fowler. they were done. and rory puts it in for par. those are flash bulbs, not lightning. he wins the pga championship. his second straight major. the kid is on fire. let's get a check on your weather. we welcome back a very tan and relaxed bill karins! >> i was chasing hermit crabs all week. >> really? >> oh, yeah. >> it looks good on you. >> it was like one of the dad things. you go back to your childhood. catching the crabs. >> it's fun. >> the only problem is the kids would stop doing it. i kept going. >> you are part of the catch and release program?

>> i wait for the high tide to take care of that. >> all right. >> we're glad you're back. we missed you. >> last week you were chasing the hawaii hurricanes. >> we were. >> this week looks kind of quiet. we're not going see any huge headlines. last night if you had clear skies, we saw a super moon. we have a lot of these lately. it's one of the new media buzz things. all it means is that was a little closer to you than normal. so especially when the moon was rising last ni, that's a nice picture. it looked a little bigger than normal. pretty beautiful moon. and there was also a little meteor shower activity out there. maybe you had a little double combination if you were up late. that looks like a beautiful shot. that looks like the bridge there in charleston. in alabama, we had significant rain and flooding. this is all cooler they're is coming down from the north. our unusual summer continues. some people are wondering if it's done with in some areas of the country. yesterday was 78 degrees in kansas city. for the middle of summer that, is very cool. we go through day to day and into tomorrow, this pattern

hasn't changed. another shot of coolish type air, it's no the cold. it's just cool, from chicago northward. and the leading edge of that has a lot of rain with it. it poured overnight in northern illinois around the chicago area, milwaukee. continuing with thunderstorms heading for the grand rapids area. if you're nind nap list, detroit, southern michigan, areas of northern ohio, rain free on and off during the day to day. southeast, that will be your typical afternoon rain. for the northeast, you get one more gorgeous day in mid-atlantic. feels like summer. then it looks like we're going to cool it off with rain and storms tuesday. no huge headlines this week. we are approaching the peak of hurricane season. in the atlantic, it's a big hush. >> we like that. >> and we like having you back, like i said. >> it was good -- >> you have a little glow. >> it lasts for a day. a week off one day glow. >> you have to go to makeup todayst just breezed right in here. he has the weather graphic. ready to rock 'n' roll. >> bitter bill will be back tomorrow. >> we look forward to seeing him too.

coming up at the ton of the hour, more on thant view with hillary clinton where she distances herself from the foreign policy of the obama administration in which she served. then when we come back here, we're going to huddle around the water cooler. all right, so i have the opportunity to get doused with this ice bucket on the "today" show. it was actually kind of fun. if you saw the amount of fans i surround myself with at all times, i run hot. but i get to nominate three people and we're going to see if they accept my challenge. what do you think? let's get this going viral, people. we're back after this. two medium cappuccinos! let's show 'em what a breakfast with whole grain fiber can do. one coffee with room, one large mocha latte, medium macchiato, a light hot chocolate hold the whip, two espressos. make one a double. she's full and focused. [ barista ] i have two cappuccinos, one coffee with room, one large mocha latte, a medium macchiato, a light hot chocolate hold the whip, and two espressos -- one with a double shot. heh, heh. that's not the coffee talkin'. [ female announcer ] start your day with kellogg's frosted mini wheats cereal.

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so earlier in the show we told you about last night's super moon, the full moon each year that appears closest to earth. tell your friends that for the period from 1990 to 2020 astronomers say the closest approach will be on november 14th, 2016. on that day will also happen to be do a full moon making it the most super moon in decades. it's now time for the cooler. man, we're talking cold cooler today. this weekend i was nominated by weekend today co-host erica hill to get ice dunked for a great cause. all part of the challenge to raise funds and awareness for als. erica dunked her cousin and jenna wolf challenged her partner stephanie goss. they decided to dunk their

executive produce and dylan dry her the bucket honors with me. without further ado, here's how it went. >> o so now it's our turn to pass the bucket. >> my dear, dear friends thomas roberts. >> i love you. i love you very much. >> so you guys are all already? >> take a little step forward, i don't want to get any water on me. all right. buckets in hand sh everybody. and on my count, one, two, three. go! ♪ ice, ice, baby >> yeah! >> as they say, better you than me. >> nice! >> how did that feel?

>> kind of makes you feel alive. >> let's do it again. rerack it. one more time. >> you guys are good sports. all right. so a little freeze frame here. nothing like a great bucket of ice to wake you up on a sunday morning. part of the fun challenge as we watched the instant replay here, you get to nominate three people to be iced next or they make a donation to als for research. so my nominees, california lieutenant governor gavin newsome. rachael ray who says she watch this is show on the treadmill every day. rachael and i ate cat food together on the set of "morning joe," we have a bond. in baltimore, third baseman for the orioles, manny machado. they had a bad day yesterday against the cards. we hope for them to have a better day against the yankees today. let's get responses to your twitter question. we asked you because donald

serious bodily inju sotherland took home the teen choice awards. sorry, i looked at that chilly video. i got confused. >> we have a lot of viewers repeating the same things. we have dr. hannibal lecter from "silence of the lambs" and then a lot of people said darth vader from star wars. my favorite is ursula from "the little mermaid" and yours is ming. >> yes, best eyebrows in the business. thank you. that's going to do it for "way too early." rachael ray and manny machado, you have 24 hours. me. much like these majestic rocky mountains. which must be named after the... that would be rocky the flying squirrel, mr. gecko sir. obviously! ahh come on bullwinkle, they're named after... ...first president george rockington!

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you love it so much. yes you do! but it's good for you,too. [announcer] healthful. flavorful. beneful. from purina. ♪ ♪ ♪ when you're up on the stage so unbelievable ♪ ♪ oh, unforgettable >> i don't think we are going to solve this problem in weeks if that is what you mean. i think this is going to take some time. the iraqi security forces, in order to mount an offensive and be able to operate