we need a theme song with words! hi, everybody. good morning, i'm thomas roberts. it is wednesday, august the 27th. welcome to "way too early," the show that does apologize for implanting the "full house" theme song in your head. we came up with this this morning. we cued that up. and i'll tell you, it has been in my head all morning, so it's going to be in yours, too. we'll tell you about that coming up in "the cooler," that reboot. but we start off with the update on this american writer that's been held hostage for nearly two years in syria is finally home. peter theo curtis is back with his family in the u.s. after being freed earlier this week. he arrived in boston after a flight from tel aviv to new jersey. we want to show you this photo. it's curtis and his mom after landing at logan international airport. he says he was touched and moved by everybody who welcomed him back home. but troubling news has now emerged that an american woman is being held hostage by islamic state militants in syria. the 26-year-old aid worker was

kidnapped last year, and the white house now confirms an american killed was fighting for isis in syria. 33-year-old douglas mcarthur mccain was an aspiring rapper who worked for an islamic non-profit group in san diego. now, he went to school in minnesota and had arrests for disorderly conduct and disruption. friends say he converted to islam around 2004. however, his cousin says he was not a terrorist. >> when i'm hearing that he was a jihadi and with the isis terrorist group, that's news to me and our family. like, we would never believe him to be involved in anything like this. my cousin wouldn't support a terrorist group like that, any group like that, you know? he's a very humble, caring man. like, i don't -- this is crazy. >> meanwhile, the u.s. says there is no chance it will coordinate with syria's government to launch air strikes

in the country against isis. and president obama delivered a stern warning to the islamic state militants who beheaded american journalist james foley. >> america does not forget. our reach is long. we are patient. justice will be done. we have proved time and time again we will do what's necessary to capture those who harm americans. and rooting out a cancer like isil won't be easy and it won't be quick, but tyrants and murderers before them should recognize that kind of hateful vision ultimately is no match for the strength and hopes of people who stand together for the security and dignity and freedom that is the birthright of every human being. an open-ended cease-fire agreement is now in place between israel and hamas after nearly two months of deadly clashes. egypt helped negotiate this truce, which is similar to an agreement that ended fighting between the two sides in 2012. israel agreed to ease imports into gaza, while hamas is

declaring victory. the deal falls short of the group's initial demands. more talks are scheduled for next month to discuss hamas's demand for israel to open gaza's border and israel's call for hamas to disarm. now, the conflict left more than 2,100 palestinians dead and nearly 70 israelis. but israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is facing criticism for this deal. he did not let his cabinet vote on the cease-fire. and critics are outraged that hamas still has its weapons after the 50-day war. and new polls show a dramatic drop in netanyahu's approval ratings. just 38% of israelis now approve of his performance, compared to 82% on july 23rd, after israel launched its ground offensive in gaza. well, it is back to the future in florida, where former governor charlie crist is once again in the running for governor. the republican turned independent turned democrat won the nomination. crist is looking to unseat republican rick scott, and in his remarks, crist said when he

was running things in tallahassee, it wasn't about left versus right, but rather, right versus wrong. he even added, "that's why i accepted billions from a democratic president," and that was to cheers. polling is split, but scott has recently surged after crist led by a wide margin early on. a virginia jury could get the bob mcdonald case as early as today. it was yesterday that the former governor spent nearly, all combined, 24 hours on the witness stand, and the prosecution tried to box in mcdonnell, pointing out his 2010 inaugural included the passage "to whom much is given, much will be required." while mcdonnell expressed remorse that he and his family had taken nearly $177,000 in gifts and loans from jonnie williams, the ceo of a vitamin company, he denied any favors were given in return. now, attorneys for his wife, maureen, will present her defense today. it was nearly a year ago that healthcare.gov finally launched, instantly mired in the glitches and all kinds of bugs

that we've covered. well, now the website is finally getting a ceo. kevin kunehan, the head of the connecticut exchange is taking over. connecticut's site is heralded as the best in the country, reportedly cutting the insured rate in half, though it's not without hiccups in its origination. according to "the connecticut mirror," a programming flaw caused 900 customers to lose coverage for a year and there were concerns about internal controls. now, the job was announced earlier this summer, in part to prevent another tech meltdown during this enrollment period. shifting our attention to business news, and really big news from the airline industry as well as apple, but we want to begin on wall street, where investors had a lot to cheer about after another record day at the new york stock exchange. the s&p delivered, closing above the 2,000 mark for the first time ever, and the dow and nasdaq also closed in positive territory. green arrows across the board. look at that. cnbc's geoff cutmore joins us live from london. geoff, wall street is really sitting pretty right now.

we've got the dow above 17,000, and historically, the s&p sitting above 2,000. so, the question is, how can stocks keep climbing? i mean, this bubble has to pop. >> reporter: yeah, it's an interesting question, isn't it? it's one that the street is fighting out, and there are advocates on both sides here. but i think the issue you've got to be wary about is volume. we're seeing very low volume activity in the stock markets at the moment, and we've really got to wait until labor day until a lot of the big fish come back from their vacations to find out how much conviction there is to push share prices higher. and there's one other thing to throw into the mix here. september is seasonally quite a weak month for markets. so, yes, we've had this big push forward. we've gone through the finishing tape, if you like, on 2,000, but will the market then sit back and take a breather while we rebuild conviction, or will we push higher here? it is a two-way marketplace, you

bet now. we'll have to wait and watch when those big traders come back into the market. i want to move you on to orbitz. the company's share price up 7% on news american airlines is going to pull fares from that website. a bit of a disagreement with them over the economic model. us airways apparently going to take the same step in september, september 1st the date for that. and i want to move on quickly and just talk about a big m&a deal. is burger king biting off more than they can chew by taking on tim hortons here? this is a deal that would lead to some tax advantages for burger king moving their tax domicile into canada, but the executives are denying this is the reason for the $12 billion deal. and executive chairman alex bnks erring said this is fundamentally about growth and creating value through accelerated expansion.

meanwhile, the chief executive, daniel schwartz, said we don't expect meaningful tax savings or meaningful changes in our tax rate. there are some in the market, though, who beg to differ here, and certainly, this will not please the administration, who are currently looking at ways of blocking these tax inversion deals. back to you. >> it was really interesting yesterday, watching cnbc to hear the opinions of the analysts that your network had on to talk about tim hortons, where they stand in the market, and also the comparisons to mcdonald's and why burger king might be doing this, why they want to connect themselves, and also, is this un-american of burger king, to try and go offshore for a little bit of tax savings. so, it's a fascinating deal to watch. but i want to move on and get you really quickly about the fact that ipad coming out, possibly next generation, and used to be small tech got everybody's attention. now it's about larger tech, the bigger screen. >> yeah, absolutely. and it will be interesting to see what happens here, because

the message is apple are going to give us a large ipad, 12.9 inches is what's being talked about, and that will come to the market in 2015. we know that ipad sales have been a difficult area in recent numbers. we've seen some slowing here. so, while apple has been moving aggressively to revamp its lineup of iphones, different sizes, configurations, colors, clearly, they think there's some mileage here in bringing out a larger ipad. so, we'll wait and watch on that story as well. some fascinating business news floating around at the moment. back to you. >> all right, geoff. thank you, sir. much appreciated. now we'll move on to an item that's going to make us feeling long in the tooth. beloit college is out with the list that puts college freshmen into perspective. the class was born in 1996 and share the following traits -- press pound on the phone is now translated as hit hashtag. good feedback means getting 30

likes on your last facebook post in a single afternoon. their collection of u.s. quarters has always celebrated individual states. and when they see wire-rimmed glasses, they think harry potter, not john lennon. so, this brings us to our twitter question for you today. tell us what makes you feel old. tweet us your most creative answers using #waytooearly. we're going to put the best ones coming up later in the show. and mika, if you're watching, this means you. i expect a tweet from you, because yes, your daughter just went away to college, so this is her class we're talking about. jen, what makes you feel old? >> nothing. >> nothing makes jen feel old. me either, except for ear hair, which is a sure sign of oldness. anyway, still ahead on "way too early," michael sam makes it through the first round of rams cuts, but why is espn reporting on his shower habits? plus, in "the cooler," we'll try our best to explain why speaker john boehner released his video of a toy monkey inside his office. and watch out! no holding back mother nature as

floodwaters caused this manhole to flip its lid! we're going to have more on that. bill karins standing by with a check on weather when "way too early" comes right back. we are way too young. ♪ [ girl ] my mom, she makes underwater fans that are powered by the moon. ♪ she can print amazing things, right from her computer. [ whirring ]

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but its a delicious source of potassium. mom make you eat that? i happen to like raisins. now that's what i'm talkin' about. invest in your heart health. with kellogg's raisin bran ®. hey, time for sports. let's start with the nfl. offensive lineman richie incognito has been cleared to play. the league confirming this yesterday. incognito, you'll recall, suspended in november after a bullying scandal involving a miami dolphin teammate and staff member. he's free now to sign with any team. michael sam, the first openly gay active player in the nfl, has survived the st. louis rams' first round of cuts. in three preseason games, he's posted five tackles and three sacks. meanwhile, espn is facing criticism after reporting on sam's showering habits. >> another rams defensive player told me that "sam is respecting our space" and that from his

perspective, he seems to think that michael sam is waiting to kind of take a shower, as not to make his teammates feel uncomfortable. >> teammate chris long came to sam's defense, tweeting "dear espn, everyone but you is over it." anyway. that's all we have in rookie showering news. we've switched gears to tennis and the u.s. open. on the men's side, second-ranked roger federer -- >> doink! >> -- won in straight sets. yeah, look at this. amazing! >> bull's eye. >> he showed off with that shot between the legs, behind the back. even michael jordan being impressed. >> and federer's wearing the jordan-era tennis shoes now. it's the new hot thing. >> well, and jordan is there cheering him on. top-ranked serena williams begins her bid for the third consecutive open title after a 6-3-6-1 victory. katherine see see bellis upset

the 12th seed to become the youngest player to win a u.s. open in 13 years and the first american to do so -- >> 15. we love stories like this, young american upset, underdog. >> yeah. she is amazing. 15 years old. so, hopefully, we'll watch her for a long time to come and continue to see her succeed at the u.s. major open. major leagues, rockies and giants. madison baumgartner entering the eighth inning with a perfect game going. >> this ball lined down the right field line and it is fair. >> nice. >> justin morneau breaks up the perfect game with a lead-off double in the eighth. >> baumgartner ends one a one-hitter, matching a career-high 13 strikeouts after a 3-0 giants victory. taking you to kansas city. last licks for the royals trailing twins 1-0 with a man on first. >> jordan to right field. backing up the right fielder, and it's gone! >> oh! a walk-off two-run homer for

alex gordon. royals take it 2-1 and remain 1 1/2 games atop the a.l. central. to houston, astros trailing in the third. jonny gomes lays out for that diving grab to save a couple runs. nice catch, but the astros would then go on to win this. look at that. astros win it, though, 4-2. the loss drops the a's to one game back of the angels in the a.l. west. l.a. beat miami last night 8-2. and let's rewind to before the a's/astros game, where we have a new candidate for the ceremonial first pitch. this houston fan hangs on to the ball a lit too long. ee. yeah. if this was basketball -- >> the wind-up was good. she had a good follow-through. a great follow-through. >> from the first pitch school of 50 cent -- >> oh, my. >> wasn't it 50 cent who did this? >> yeah, he purposely did that. >> you think he did it on purpose? >> yes, for attention. >> like nicki minaj.

>> ooh. >> oh, no. >> you called that one. >> yeah, i did call that one. sherlock holmes of the -- anyway, what's going on weatherwise? >> rain yesterday was pretty fascinating in the denver area. i've got some pictures for you. you never saw this before. the manhole's doing some mysterious dance there, and that's why. >> ooh! >> just a torrent of water was about to flow up out through it. so, yeah, that was pretty dramatic stuff. it's amazing that the people even were capturing it and knew that was coming. and then, yesterday, unfortunately, because of this huge hurricane out in the pacific, never going to hit land. it has been sending huge waves towards mexico and southern california. this is marie. and actually, we had a fatality yesterday and the huge waves in california, that's the largest waves of the year. so, of course, the surfers are out there. they're warning you, if you're not a good surfer, don't do it. and one guy got caught up and didn't make it out. as far as the big hurricane in the east, this looks like a baby compared to the one in the

pacific, but cristobal is still out there churning up the waters. we're fine today, little bit of rain, hot as advertised in new england. mid-atlantic, one of your few 90-degree days of the summer, and we'll also call it 90s down through the deep south. so, we're looking pretty good. by the way, about your question about feeling old, i have two for you. >> what? >> one, all of a sudden, the oldies station is playing all these songs i grew up with. >> and you know all the words. >> and pee-wee herman is 62 today! >> i saw that! >> ancient! >> what's that, barnacle? >> we won't repeat what barnacle said. >> barnacle, what makes you feel old? >> what makes me feel old? >> every day. >> getting up every day! >> way too young. all right, thanks, guys. >> replacing my walker. coming up at the top of the hour on "morning joe," president obama says the fight against isis won't be quick or easy. nbc's richard engel's going to join the table for the latest on that threat. plus, an influential union takes aim at new york city mayor bill de blasio, urging the dnc to find another place to host

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all right, time for "the cooler." first up, we always knew that vice president joe biden was a charmer, but this might take the

cake. in a video posted on the white house website, biden receives a visit from the nation's oldest living female vet, lucy coffey. take a look at their interaction. >> lucy! [ laughter ] it's joe biden. >> hi, joe! >> how are you? i've got a younger friend. when he found out i was going to be seeing you, he asked if he could come down to see you. >> hi, guys. >> mr. president. >> well, here he is, my buddy that wanted to say hello to you. >> hello. >> say hello to lucy. >> it's so nice to meet you. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. >> it reminds me every time i had a good-looking date, there would be some better looking guy coming along, you know what i mean? >> yeah. thank you. >> aww, that was very sweet, right? we like lucy there. and that was a sweet moment. to the other end of

pennsylvania avenue now. house speaker john boehner has said his hectic schedule has him feeling like a wind-up toy. but now we have a visual to go along with that from this fun youtube video released by his office. >> this sits in my office on my coffee table, because this is me. [ laughter ] that's what i do all day. they wind me up about every 15 minutes. no, no, i've got to go to work. my staff gave it to me. every 15, 30 minutes, they come in and wind me up, and i do my thing. [ laughter ] >> all right, so, the speaker's office says his staff gave him that toy as a friendly reminder not to use the wind-up metaphor again. he has a sense of humor about

the video there. now, checking out this ed headline on "tv guide," exclusive: full house cast and producers mulling a revival. a report that john stamos, uncle jesse, is spearheading the possible return and the actors that played d.j., stephanie and kimmie will be ready with tom saget having some involvement. even the original producers are in on this and many cast members have kept in touch since that show went off the air in '95, and it still holds a really strong fan base. just this year, stamos, saget and kuehl yea all took part in a revival on jimmy fallon's show. and those three guys recently starred in a yogurt commercial. so, if you want to sound smart today, tell your friends that following the series finale in '95, the show's sound stage at warner brothers studios became the host of a promising sitcom called "friends." now your responses to the twitter question. if all that didn't make you feel old, how about this? we told you that those born in 1996 are just starting college, and we asked you what makes you

feel old? we got great tweets. justine delgadio, who is still trying to get herself together after the full house reboot report. what have you got? >> michael says it makes him feel old that young kids of today have never known a world without computers in their home, central air and atms. maya says it makes her feel old that "my so-called life" was when she was a senior in high school. and mike says he has a good attitude until he hears snoop dogg's "gin and juice" on the oldies station. i believe it's called snoop lion now, not snoop dogg. >> we have one from jean saying "received brochures for cremation and hearing aids in the mail yesterday." >> oh, god. >> way too early. that will do it. next a look at the stories in the day ahead. "morning joe" just moments away. and asked for less. there's a reason it's called an "all you can eat" buffet... and not a "have just a little" buffet.

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let's get a check on the day ahead before we toss it over to "morning joe." chicago will honor the jackie robinson west little league team with a parade and rally. despite losing the world series to south korea, the team still

claimed the u.s. title. and today, we say farewell to our technical production manager, adrian cotega! let's hear it for adrian. he's an going to head over to n after five years here with us on "morning joe" and "way too early." he's been at msnbc for 18 years. why are you leaving us? >> it's tiring to get up this early, so i'm going to get up earlier. >> isn't that a great excuse. adrian, good look over there at nbc. that's going to do it for "way too early." "morning joe" starts right now. welcome to "morning joe." hold on. you don't want a painting of new york city. we want an after shot. this is a print that b.j. has in his bathroom. lieu how beautiful that