dogs. the video that will make your day. this dog apparently trying to save this fish! this is "way too early." >> all right, everybody, good morning. hi, everybody. thomas roberts here. thursday, august 14th. welcome to "way too early," the show that is not anticat but is definitely more pro dog. and we are going to look at that video and we are going to scrutinize it to figure out whether or not that dog is really trying to save that fish, because some on the team here think the dog is trying to bury the fish. so, we will have that debate going on later in "the cooler." however, we start out with very serious news. fast-moving developments out of ferguson, missouri. for the fourth straight night, the streets of the st. louis suburb looked more like a battlefield. police in full riot gear using tear gas to control crowds, still simmering over the shooting death of 18-year-old michael brown by a police officer. last night, two reporters in

town to cover the story were detained after police ordered them to leave a local mcdonald's. both wesley lowery from the "washington post" and ryan reilly from "the huffington post" claim they were handcuffed after not packing up fast enough. lowery captured part of his run-in on his cell phone. >> get your stuff, let's go. >> i'm working on it. >> stop videotaping. let's grab our stuff and go. >> it's my right to videotape you. >> grab your stuff and go. >> you see me working. please do not tell me not to use my -- >> time to go. let's go. we're down to about 45 seconds. let's go. >> now, is the street, can i ask you -- >> let's go! it's not the time to ask questions. let's go. you can move your car if your car's out here. >> it is. that's what i'm asking. >> let's go! >> i'm working on it, sir. >> let's go. there's a door over here. let's go! >> i'm going to -- >> let's go. you can move. let's go. move -- >> sir, please -- >> let's move! let's move! >> so, last night, lowery told

msnbc's rachel maddow what allegedly happened when the camera stopped rolling. >> then tried to direct me towards another door. i said, officers, where would you like me to go? as i turned to follow their instruction, my bag flipped off of my shoulder. i said i need to adjust my bag, and they slammed me into the soda machine, grabbed my bag, grabbed my phone and then put me in temporary restraints. >> now, the "huffington post's" ryan reilly tweeted this picture just before being detained, saying in part that a s.w.a.t. team just invaded mcdonald's and here's what he told my colleague, chris hayes. >> i was given a countdown. i was told i had, you know, 45 seconds, 30 seconds to pack up all my stuff and leave, at which point the officer in question, who i repeatedly later asked for his name and was never -- or his badge number -- was never given it, decided that he was going to help me pack and he grabbed my things and shoved them into my

bag, and i was then -- when -- basically, he then arrested me. and as he handcuffed me, he put them on very tight. he used his finger to put a pressure point on my neck, and it was just a very difficult experience. >> the fourth straight night of unrest followed calls for calm from local officials and president obama. schools in ferguson, they're closed today and tomorrow. their new school year will now begin monday. and because of the violence, the police chief has now asked protesters to only demonstrate during the day. he also addressed the underlying issue of race. >> what really breaks my heart is that some in this community consider me part of the problem. i'm going to change that. i want to be part of the solution. >> race relations is a top priority right now, and as i said, i'm working with the department of justice to improve that. we turn now to the situation in iraq, where there are strong signs the u.s. will not launch a

rescue operation for displaced civilians. a team of marines and special ops forces spent 24 hours on top of sinjar mountain, where waves of refugees fled from islamic militants. and the assessment team says several thousand refugees still there but far fewer than reported a week ago. the pentagon says the ongoing u.s. air strikes have allowed many to escape, and defense secretary chuck hagel says it is now far less likely an evacuation mission will be needed. meanwhile, prime minister nuri al maliki is once again striking a defiant tone after he seemed to acknowledge just a day before that the political winds are against him. al maliki is refusing to step down until iraq's supreme court considers his claim the country's new president violated the constitution by nominating a new prime minister. members of al maliki's own party are now supporting the new government as well as iran and saudi arabia, two countries which are usually at odds. just hours ago, president obama and hillary clinton, they came face to face for the first time since a public flap over

foreign policy messaging and the debate over whether to arm syrian rebels. and officials say the obamas and clintons sat at the same table last night at a private birthday party on martha's vineyard. earlier in the day, former secretary clinton said she was looking forward to making amends. >> are you going to hug it out with the president? >> absolutely! yeah! we're looking forward to it. going to be there tonight. >> is it a hard choice to call? >> no. read in the book. we agree, we are committed to the values and the interests and the security of our country together. we have disagreements, as any partners and friends as we are, might very well have, but i'm proud that i served with him and for him and i'm looking forward to seeing him tonight. >> again it was a private party, so obviously, closed to the press. not clear if there was a hug involved. however, officials say the obamas and the clintons both had a great time, danced almost every song. despite the much publicized

dispute, the white house defended the decision to keep reporters away. >> i believe the president and secretary clinton have had many hugs over the past few years. i suspect many of them have been caught on camera. again, i appreciate the request, but i do think this is a private social gathering for someone's birthday, so it's going to be hard to bring all of you lovely people in. israel and hamas are marking the longest cease-fire since their latest conflict began more than a month ago. overnight, both sides agreed to a five-day extension of the truce, just hours before it was set to expire. and it's sparking renewed hope that egypt will be able to negotiate a long-term peace deal. still, it appeared at agreement was not going to hold up, as both sides reported violence before the extension was reached. israel accusing hamas of launching at least eight rockets into the country. officials in gaza reported more than a dozen israeli air strikes but no casualties. so, parts of the mid-atlantic and the northeast, they're cleaning up, drying out this morning after very heavy rain sparked flooding across

several states. the hardest hit appeared to be long island, where islip, new york, saw a record amount of rain, 13.2 inches of rain under 24 hours. just look at this video. that's more than the region typically receives all summer long. the rainfall shattering previous records and came so fast that cars were simply abandoned in the floods. one driver was killed when he lost control in the water and crashed into a tractor-trailer. shifting our attention, moving on to the markets now. in business news, they closed higher yesterday, despite reports that the retail sales numbers slowed down last month. the dow rising 91 points, the s&p gaining nearly 13, and the nasdaq jumping by 44. so, we see green arrows across the board, and cnbc's geoff cutmore joins us live from london to explain what we're looking for this thursday. geoff, good morning. >> reporter: hey, good morning to you. we have some trouble here in europe this morning. we've had a weak set of gdp data, and it's led european markets lower. and i think that's going to have some impact on the early open

for the u.s. trade, because the futures are indicating a flat to negative start to the session. but we've got a little bit of time to go here yet, and an industrial production number for the touz come out about 9:15. so, there is a chance that fortunes might turn, but at this point, it looks like it will be a soft open. i want to talk about amazon for a moment. this is a company that's just getting into everybody's business. and local register is an operation that they hope will increasingly take more of the point of sale business from small and medium-sized companies. what they're trying to do here is muscle into a market that's already quite busy, and they're doing it by offering 1.75% on the transaction, which is a lot cheaper currently than the 2.7% that is offered by rivals. so, just keep your eye on this story. could be a slow burner, but amazon, again, opening a war on another front, this time around

pay settlement for local and small businesses. >> wow. that's a big undercut that adds up, geoff. also, i want to get your take on how ugly things are getting between the rival high-tech car services of uber and the newbie of lyft, because it's getting much more competitive, isn't it? >> yeah. this is an interesting story, because we've seen protests from the transport industry around the world as uber has been muscling in on their business. now uber's got some issues in its own backyard as lyft has been trying to take business from them. and now it's got ugly, as you say, because uber and lyft are now trading insults and claiming that each has been putting fake orders into their systems to slow things down. this one is going to run a little bit further, i think, but there are those on the uber side of the ledger who are saying, look, just crush this up-start. maybe it's time to start talking and step in, and maybe you should buy out the lyft business. but for those who are seeking to

use these services, i guess there is a chance it could mean lower prices. so, maybe not all bad. back to you. >> yeah, a lot of people who use the services like the idea of the competition. it's helping to drive the price down. so, we'll wait to see how it plays out. geoff, great to see you. thank you. the multimillionaires club has grown by one after a colorado truck driver came forward to accept his $90 million powerball winnings. incredible, right? claude g., who goes by the name of al, says he intends to "have fun" with his earnings. his family had never won more than a few dollars in their twice weekly plays. al and his wife, jackie, just celebrated their 33rd wedding anniversary. first up on the agenda, a family vacation. so, we thought, based on al and jackie, that our twitter question should be based on their 90 billion bucks. what would you do if you won the lottery with that kind of money? use #waytooearly and we'll have the best answers later in the show. congrats to them, 33 years of marriage, celebrating that anniversary and then hitting the

$90 million pay day. that's awesome. still ahead on "way too early," this arizona state offensive lineman makes history in college football. we're going to explain how he was able to do that. and hello, litter! you're never going to guess how many puppies this english mastiff delivered. it's going to rock your world. that story and a check on whether when "way too early" comes right back. thousands of people in new york in the midst of a huge and crushing blackout. the street scene at 6th avenue and midtown mat hat right outside our headquarters. no traffic lights, 6th avenue is left to become a pedestrian mall. yeah...

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all right, time for sports, everybody. and donald sterling has been denied in his appeal of

tuesday's decision to close the sale of the l.a. clippers, although the court ruled against what seems to be sterling's last-ditch effort to block the sale to former microsoft ceo steve ballmer. sterling's lawyers said they're confident the 80-year-old will be vindicated in his federal case against the nba. and listen to this one. we've got arizona state's senior offensive lineman chip serrapin to become the first college football player to publicly come out as gay, revealing the news to a newspaper yesterday. michael sam is the first openly gay player drafted by the nfl, tweeting his support. the 6'6", 320-pounder walk-on hasn't played in an actual game for asu, but we'll watch that and see how that goes. watch this. a scary moment at a minor league baseball game in connecticut when minnesota twins prospect byron buxton collides with another player in the outfield.

halted play. he laid on the ground for several minutes, unconscious, was carted off the field with a concussion. amazingly, his teammate hung on to the ball. we wish him nothing but the best. want to check up with the major leagues and the orioles. >> sports is done. >> no, it's not. orioles third baseman manny machado has been placed on the 15-day disabled list with a right knee -- >> all right, we're all right with that. >> the 22-year-old fell to the ground after taking an awkward swing monday night against the yankees. it's machado's second stint on the dl, beginning there after offseason surgery on his other knee. >> and a wrap. baltimore hosting the yanks last night, trailing 2-1 in the eighth. jonathan scope evened things up with a solo homer to left, his fourth in nine games against the yankees. there you go. same inning, adam jones up with two men on. he jacks a three-run shot to left-center for the baltimore lead. they hang on to complete the two-game sweep with a 5-3 win.

>> is it still baseball season? >> it is! and look at that beautiful shot of camden yards. anyway, the o's won. all right, so we go to pittsburgh. i'll stop gloating. pirates hosting the tigers when some uninvited guests invade the infield. a pair of pigeons camping out in front of the pitcher's mound with no intention of leaving. the players tried to shoo the hummingbirds away. >> where is randy johnson? >> shoo, hummingbirds. not even rolling a ball will get rid of them. the grounds crew got rid of the pesky pigeons. get them with a net. >> what did they get, towels? why don't they have a net like that? >> these are some unafraid hummingbirds. then they've got a box. they don't use it. tigers win it 8-4. and we have no idea what happened to those hummingbirds. to san francisco. the crew chief reviewing the game at the plate where they were called out.

after the review, they reverse the call because of baseball's new rule that doesn't allow catchers to block home plate. this doesn't sit well with chicago manager robin ventura, who storms out of the dugout, visibly livid, starts yelling at the ump, then walks over to the batter's box, starts kicking dirt on home plate in protest. >> did he block it? >> the play goes on for a minute or so, but san fran score six more and go on to win it 7-1. quite a display right there. all right, so, let's check in on weather. nbc meteorologist bill karins. >> you have a right to gloat. the yankees season's over. we're done. i put a fork in it last night and congratulations. >> now you're a fair-weather fan of the orioles. >> no. it's football season. >> oh, already football. >> yes. >> i understand. that's how it works. >> that's how it works. yesterday the epic rains continued. obviously, the big headline is yesterday morning in long island, but after that, we had a lot of flooding and we got againched in new england. even last night towards midnight, we had 6 inches of rain, which is a lot of rain.

that's half a foot in portland, maine. they were telling people to stay off the roads. so, the storm system is almost completely gone, and the rainfall totals, i mean, this is just epic stuff. i mean, this is like a hurricane or a tropical storm, but it wasn't. so, we saw totals up to about 13 1/2 inches in islip, even in maryland we had a report. new jersey, 8. look how widespread the flash flooding was. and of course, it all started around detroit, michigan, three days ago. so, again, we're done with it. the last of that rain from this pesky storm. again, it took three days to go from the great lakes to the northeast. that's why, you know, we had these epic totals. today's forecast in its wake is just a gorgeous day. look at these temperatures today. it almost looks like fall out there. much of the country's going to be okay, a little hotter than we'd like in texas, but they're used to it. it should be hot. >> this cooler weather is giving barnacle the sniffles. >> it's strange, right? some people were telling me leaves are already starting to change in some spots. >> stop it. >> he just blew his nose. >> i did. >> did you see that?

>> yes. you're paying close attention to today. >> with a huge hanky that he just put back in his pocket. >> did he reuse the hanky or a towel? >> it was a towel, like a bath towel. anyway, we have to go, leave it there. >> that's a bad visual. >> the invention of kleenex, michael. coming up at the top of the hour on "morning joe," president obama has said he won't put combat troops back on the ground in iraq, but with special forces already on mt. sinjar, are we seeing the beginning of mission creep? when we come back here, we'll hudding around the water cooler to get that hanky out of barnacle's pocket. no, we're not. then, we'll investigate what's going on between the puppy and the fish. it says the fist in the prompter, but no, it's the fish. [ laughter ] we're back in a moment. nineteen years ago, we thought,

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all right, so, earlier in the show we told you a colorado tow truck driver who goes by the name of al stepped forward to claim a $90 million powerball prize. tell your friends, if he takes the lump sum, the colorado lottery says the jackpot's going to result in a $54.9 million cash payout to al and a $50,000 commission for the convenience store that sold the ticket. so, we want to get your responses to our twitter question, what would you do if

you won that money? justine delgado, our producer, has some of the responses. what'd we get? >> aiden says he would pay student loans, which is a great idea. >> that's a good one. >> then brian says i would buy thomas a new shirt and tie combo. >> i love new shirt and tie combos. obviously, this person likes this one and would like to buy me another one just like it. i like that. thank you very much, justine. >> you're welcome. >> all right, let's huddle around the water cooler and check in with louis. an interesting debate about this video. >> also, i'm always accepting new shirt and tie combos. send them this way, too. hearts are melting after this video surfaced over what looks like a pup in thailand doing all it can to revive a fish by splashing water on it, thomas. some skeptics say the pooch may have been trying to bury the fish. we don't know for sure, but if this dog understands that fish need water to breathe -- >> exactly. >> -- then he is one smart and compassionate pooch. >> pro dog. trying to save the fish. >> yeah, we'll just say that he's trying to save the fish. >> pro dog. now, mississippi, where a 3-year-old english mastiff

became the first-time mother to 18 puppies. >> wow! >> the suggs family's still marveling at their dog's large litter, because they were only anticipating ten puppies. she delivered last week in an emergency c-section. it was believed that kimber couldn't even get pregnant, but obviously that was wrong. >> really wrong, like 18 times wrong. >> 18 puppies. unreal. >> amazing. finally, another member of the "morning joe" team is tagged with the ice bucket challenge benefiting als. bobby jindal got iced yesterday and look who he nominated. >> i want to thank drew brees for challenging me to take the als ice bucket challenge. i'm happy to accept in honor of team gleason. i'll also be making a donation to the als foundation. i want to challenge coach les miles, willie robertson and joe scarborough. you've got 24 hours. >> joe got the challenge. i really appreciate the gatorade bucket, too. since the challenge went viral,

the als association says it raised almost $5.7 million, thomas, from more than 100,000 new donors. that's way up from the same time last year. and i know what we're all wondering here, did joe accept the challenge? and i think we're just going to have to wait and see what happens on "morning joe." >> i think we are going to have to wait and see, but i just want to say that i brought up my inflatable kiddie pool from my office -- >> you just have that in your apartment? >> i have it down there, you know, because i like to lay in that after the show and soak my feet. so, we'll see what happens. louis, thank you, sir. coming up next on "way too early," a look at the stories you'll be looking at in the day ahead. "morning joe" moments away. [ man ] adventure, it means taking chances.

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welcome back, everybody. let's get a check on the day ahead before we toss it over to "morning joe." the army major general killed in a so-called insider attack in afghanistan last week will be laid to rest today. major general harold greene is survived by a wife and two children. and major league baseball owners will vote on three finalists in their search for the next mlb commissioner. whoever receives 23 of the 30 votes will replace bud selig.

all right, that's going to do it for this edition of "way too early." "morning joe" starts right now. ♪ >> good morning! look at that, willie. that is a beautiful view. >> beautiful day. >> it's a beautiful day. >> last couple , not so beautiful. >> it's thursday, august the 14th. great to have you here with us. along with you, we have got washington anchor for bbc world news america, katty kay and nick consori and then with bloomberg news, al hunt. yesterday, willie, really bad storms out there. >> did you see some of the pictures? even out here on long island. cars on the highways up to their roofs. >> looked like a river. >>