saved him from near certain death. and get this. jimmy fallon and news anchors put together something that will turn that frown upside down. this is "way too early." ♪ hey, everybody. good morning. i'm thomas roberts. it is friday, august 22nd. welcome to "way too early," the show that was asked to contribute to that fallon bit. but it was way past our bedtime. but we look forward to showing it to you in the cooler. want to start this morning with the ongoing assault that's happening on militants as militants offer details behind the beheading of the american journalist. chuck hagel says they are an imminent threat and the nation's top general says it is likely impossible to stop the militants without going after them in both iraq and syria.

>> isil is as sophisticated and well funded as any a group as we have seen. they're beyond just a terrorist group. this is beyond anything that we've seen. so we must prepare for everything. and the only way you do that is you take a cold, steely hard look at it. and get ready. >> this is an organization that has an apocalyptic end of days strategic vision. which will eventually have to be defeated. to your question, can they be defeated without addressing that part of their organization which resides in syria? the answer is no. that will have to be addressed on both sides of what is essentially at this point a non-existent border. >> meanwhile, nbc news has learned new details about the efforts to rescue journalist james foley before he was murdered in syria. last november foley's family received an encrypted e-mail in english asked for $132 million

in ransom. since most of the ransoms of syrian hostages are between $3 million and $5 million. after a brief exchange the captors were not heard from again until this week when they said he would be killed. the pope called the foley family to express the condolences for the loss. dr. kent brantly was released from emory university hospital in atlanta yesterday. nancy writebol was quietly discharged on tuesday. doctors say both patients went through a series of tests to ensure they are not contagious or a threat to others. and in a really emotional and powerful speech, he said it was a miracle just to be standing there. >> today is a miraculous day. i'm thrilled to be alive, to be well, and to be reunited with my family.

above all i am forever thankful to god for sparing my life. and i'm glad for any attention my sickness has attracted to the plight of west africa in the midst of this epidemic. please continue to pray for liberia and the people of west africa. and encourage those in positions of leadership and influence to do everything possible to bring this ebola outbreak to an end. >> brantly and writebol were both treated with an experimentexperimen experimental drug but doctors are saying it's not clear if it helped in their recovery. but it's amazing both have left the hospital of their own volition. the national guard is pulling out of ferguson amid a sharp decline in protests over the shooting of an unarmed black teen by police. there were just seven arrests overnight. and captain ron johnson says the kids are out playing once again and used some props to show how tensions are truly on the

decline. >> the kids that were there today gave me this sock puppet before i left. i tell you, isn't it a better sight that can bring a smile to our face and hope to our heart when we can see a table with a coloring book, a box of crayons, and a sock puppet instead of weapons and molotov cocktails? this is what defines a community. this is truly the community of ferguson. >> so it is the third night in a row where protests over the death of michael brown have gotten minimal conflict. and eric holder is speaking out about his visit to ferguson and the impact its now had on him. >> i've seen a lot in my time as attorney general, but few things have affected me as greatly as my visit to ferguson. hi a chance to meet with the family of michael brown. i spoke to them not just as attorney general but as a father of a teenage son myself. the national outcry we've seen

speaks to a sense of mistrust and mutual suspicion that can take hold in the relationship between law enforcement and certain communities. i wanted the people of ferguson to know that i personally understood that mistrust. i wanted them to know while so much else may be uncertain, this attorney general in this department of justice stands with the people of ferguson. >> meanwhile, nbc news has confirmed that darren wilson the officer who shot brown was taken to the hospital after the shooting for undisclosed injuries. the corruption trial of former virginia governor bob mcdonnell is playing out like a script from a soap opera and more testimony expected today. it was yesterday in richmond where he delved deep into what he called a troubled marriage. he said he marriage is on hold and he's living with his priest to avoid the rehashing of the court proceedings each day at home. on the stand mcdonnell said as

his star rose in state government, his marriage was unraveling. he accused his wife of using his doe nnor list. while he was leaving fund raising for mitt romney he had to step in to keep the first lady staff from quitting. he even showed the court an e-mail that was dated in 2011 telling maureen, i want to be in love not just watch movies about it. adding, i'm so spiritually and mentally exhausted from being yelled at, i don't think you realize how you're affecting me and sometimes others with your tongue. and when asked on the stand whether he thought his wife was having an affair with the donor at the center of all of this, he said no. but when asked whether they had a strong emotional relationship, he said yes. now, all of this is being used to show their marriage was so fractured that they couldn't have conspired to solicit thousands in exchange for favors. mcdonnell also said he had no idea williams had cut a $50,000

loan to his wife when he wrote him a thank you note for a wedding present for his daughter. governor rick perry is taking his recent indictments badly, then you wouldn't see it in his trip to washington, d.c. he met the scandal head on and was met with applause. he quickly turned his attention to foreign policy slamming his approach to the middle east and took up an interventionist stand on how to stop the spread of isis. >> others take the view that no matter what comes next in iraq, it's no concern of ours. their attitude is we gave it our best effort, but now we're done. in syria as well as iraq, this terrorist army must be confronted with overwhelming force. as for the many iraqi who is are trying to defend themselves in their country, they need to see more help from us. air power is a major part of it.

but it's also going to take more special operations, intelligence, and advisory support than we've offered so far. >> so perry added that despite having to clear -- having no clear evidence that the threat of the terror operations did remain high along his state's unsecured border. take a listen to how he responded. >> three ukrainian individuals were apprehended in a ranch in far west texas within the last 60 days. so i think there's the obvious great concern that because of the condition of the border from the standpoint of it not being secure and us not knowing who is penetrating across that individuals from isis or other terrorist states could be and i think is a very real possibility that they may have already used

that. let's shift our attention to wall street and see how we're going to close out the week. it was a banner day on thursday with the dow up 60 points, the s&p and nasdaq both up nearly 6. with the s&p in a record-breaking close. cnbc's steve sedgwick joins us with this. my eye goes to that dow jones number above 17,000. >> yeah. absolutely. and right to do so as well. 17,000 for the dow. 1992-plus for the s&p. it came at a day where we were talking about yesterday bank of america got a massive $17 billion fine. what did it do to their share price? they went up three points. ebay was moving up as well. but we saw sears moving in the opposite direction. sears under a lot of pressure. they lost about half a billion dollars in the first half of the year. the new ceo says this is unacceptable and we need to carry on looking at our performance. but they did see some increases in their offering.

that aside, everyone is looking towards jackson in wyoming today. we're looking to see what janet yellen has to say about the economy. >> and when we talk about what's going on with united airlines and they're trying to lure customers back, because we know we've been looking at how so many different airlines have nickelled and dimed people over the years. but what is it about the meals that might just do it for those customers? >> well, it seems they're trying to get back the high-end customers, the business customers by offering them better food on the longer routes. if you're in the air for over two hours, you'll get a better meal. away from the small snacks. they're going to offer proper hot meals as well. this is interesting because the same situation is being felt in american airlines. american airlines is saying for journeys of less than a thousand miles, they're going to cut out the hot meal options as well. two airlines moving in opposite directions. but we know there's no such thing for a free lunch.

we'll all pay for it in the ticket costs. >> but it would be nice to bring a little glamour back to the industry. maybe start with a nicer meal for everybody. steve, have a great weekend, sir. thank you. a heartwarming story to pass along out of st. petersburg, florida, this week where a an act of kindness lasted for 11 hours. it started with a woman going through the starbucks drive-thru paying for her coffee and picked up the tab for the car behind her. when the starbucks employees explained that to the next driver about what happened, that driver went on to pay for the drink of another driver. and so on and so on. you get the idea here. that chain kept going for a chain of 378 people. when a woman said she just wanted to pay for her own drink. employees believe she didn't understand the pay it forward idea. so it stopped at 378 people. but that's pretty impressive,

right? lasting 11 hours. that brings us to our twitter question for you this morning. what acts of kindness have you witnessed or taken part of, if any? tweet us your best answers using the #waytooearly. we see so many people maybe being inspired about community support and giving back and helping others. let us know if you have seen acts of kindness. i have not on twitter so far. because someone tweeted me already that my hair looks frazzled. so thank you. still ahead on "way too early," can the washington nationals keep their streak alive? we'll let you know if they made it to ten in a row. then stick around for the cooler when we show you this new favorite we're calling the tortoise and the truck. look at that little thing. he is a fast little guy. but will he catch the truck? that story and a check on weather when "way too early" comes right back.

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all right. time for sports. to williamsport for the little league world series. teams from chicago and philadelphia vying for a shot to play in the national championship game. the game was tied bottom of the first. a pitcher sends a wild throw to mo'ne davis at first base. chicago then takes the lead. jump to the fifth, cummings sends a solo shot over the wall to make this one-run game. but chicago could hang onto this 6-5 lead.

they head to the championship game against nevada an saturday. we get to mlb highlights for you. the tigers against the rays. it's a looper into the short center. charging in to make the diving catch right there. that grab, tampa outfielder kevin keirmeyer. >> can't they fix the turf in tampa? why is it multicolored like that? >> no. that's just your screen. it's your monitor. it's nicer in person. >> i know they have ten people show up for games. that's just the worst field ever. >> rays hang onto win it 1-0. to the cwashington with a man o second. >> near the bag. long throw. it gets away. it's in the camera bay. and denard span is being sent home. the nationals have walked off

again. >> that throwing error brings home the winning run for the nationals for the fifth time in ten games they have walked off with victory. we've got to show you this at the bronx. chris rock at the game watching the yankees and astros. pops up just behind third base in the dugout. guess who comes up with that ball. chris rock. see that? there you go. >> a charmed life. >> isn't that nice? he hands off that souvenir to a young fan. and as for the game -- there we go. as for the game, the yankees win it 3-0. isn't that nice, bill kairns? >> chris rock is a great guy. i just thought i have to endure a washington nationals and orioles world series. what would that be like? >> that would be nice. add to the gridlock that exists there. >> it would be good for you and

everyone down there. >> and you would root for? >> football season. that sums that up. the rain overnight, thomas, everyone's waking up to wet cars out there in areas of the northeast and through the mid-atlantic. that rain is now pushing just about off the coast. almost going off the coast to the jersey area. but it's going to be a cool day. there's so much heat and humidity out there. we're in the 60s for highs today from albany. it'll be kind of warm and steamier around d.c. overnight we got drench z in chicago. it was torrential rains. it's still flooding out there. it's starting to improve. midway airport picked up almost 4 inches of rain overnight. that's a lot of water in a short period of time. we're still under flash flood warnings. not to mention it's slowly getting better. we're still watching the tropics and about monday to tuesday next week this will be near the

bahamas. the question is what will the intensity be? it looks like over the weekend we should have a tropical storm by sunday. again, there's no significant impacts on any land areas through the weekend. by the time we get to friday afternoon, though, the heat wave is in full effect. it doesn't go anywhere, thomas. we're looking at 110 heat indexes from texas all the way through the carolinas through the weekend. but the people in new england are like, is it over? is fall here? >> probably. >> i know. >> lewis' engagement party is on saturday, is the weather going to be good? >> looks perfect. >> good to know. for lewis especially. coming up at the top of the hour on "morning joe," more on the continued threat from isis. the table is going to weigh in on that. and when we come back here, we'll huddle around the water cooler. we'll tell you who owns the rights to a selfie taken by a monkey. there could be a legal debate over that.

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rkingings. time for the cooler. first up our pal jimmy fallon trying to put a twist on the news and asking anchors for the help. >> it seems like the news is worse than ever both here and around the world. it seems like nothing but bad

news out there. we at "the tonight show" have decided to do something about that. we asked local nbc anchors to read stories we wish were true. >> president obama and speaker of the house john boehner took a hot air balloon ride together to discuss what their favorite color is. according to reports, they each said every color at the same time then hugged and floated off into the sunset. >> vladimir putin says he's over the whole being evil thing and is currently in the process of writing a children's book called "the happy octopus." >> there's a new iphone app out that gives advice to people going through a divorce. but it didn't sell well in the stores. it appears everybody is happily married. >> a new study found that water slides, pizza, sunshine, friendship, shooting stars, breath mints, dance parties, and turtles are all awesome. >> great news, everybody. ghosts cannot hurt you. nobody's ever been hurt by a

ghost. ghosts are scary. nobody's saying they're not. but there is not one reported case of death caused bay ghost. >> this just in. stressed spelled backwards is desserts. think about it. >> a new report finds that i love you. yes, you. i know we haven't met before, but i think about you all the time. and together we can get through this. it's us against the world, buddy. >> don't you feel better! >> we do. chuck scarborough, we love you. that's our nbc guy here in new york. if a monkey takes a selfie on your camera, do you own it or does the monkey? david slater sues comments for posting a picture that a monkey took on his camera. slater claimed he owned the rights. the u.s. copyright office says neither slater nor the monkey can copyright that pic.

quote, the office will not register produced by nature, animals, or plants. and you remember the fable the tortoise and the hare. look at this little guy. he may try, but has a hard time keeping up with the blue remote controlled truck. still, that little tortoise is not giving up. although he does not have the turning radius of the truck to spin as quickly. but that's a really good little video there. let's get your response today. our twitter question we asked, what acts of kindness have you witnessed or taken part in. i don't know if twitter is the best place to go to find out about kindness. >> i don't know. a lot said a child wanted a ride on a rocking horse outside a market and the mom had no quarters to i dropped two in for her. and some coming to your defense, that's an act of kindness.

one says your suit is always on point and your hair looks fine. >> thank you and thank you. manag"morning joe" just mom away. to quality... today's chevrolet has it all. and the time to buy is now. it's the chevy labor day sale! and 0% financing for 72 months is back! plus, no monthly payments for 90 days. 0% financing for 72 months plus no monthly payments for 90 days on most 2014 vehicles. the chevy labor day sale going on now. find new roads at your local chevy dealer. the summer of this.mmer. the summer that summers from here on will be compared to. where memories will be forged into the sand. and then hung on a wall for years to come. get out there, with over 50,000 hotels at $150 dollars or less.

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welcome back, everybody. let's get a check on the day ahead before tossing over to "morning joe." rick perry dips his toe to be i hampshire today with business leaders attending a gop reception. bob mcdonnell is back on the stand again today in the corruption trial against he and his wife maureen. that is going to do it for "way too early." great week, everybody! know what day it is? payday friday! "morning joe" starts right now! ♪ >> president obama played eighth round of golf of his vacation today. he's played so much golf, i guess he is getting pretty good but still not at the pro level yet and i'll show you what i mean. here is rory mcilroy's tee shot. >> in the hole!