>> great show. >> thanks. >> we're proud of you. >> that does it. now it's time for the last word with lawrence o'donnell. . good tuesday morning. right now on "first look," hitting a woman is not a real man does. ray rice's actions have sparked a nationwide discussion. we have reaction far and wide. two people were injured in arizona's flash floods on the rainiest day in phoenix's history. las vegas also suffered flooding. and president obama will define his strategy today. the fight against the terror thugs of isis. good morning, everybody. thank you for joining us. baltimore ravens' ray rice is terminated from the nfl indefinitely but it is good enough? that question after that violent new video seen here, rice delivering a knockout blow to his then fiancee's face.

hitting a woman is not something a real man does. this morning a rush to cut all ties with rice, the nfl store has dumped his jersey. here is nbc's jay gray. >> reporter: the video released by tmz sports.com is graphic and disturbing. a savage hit that is overshadowed the first week of on field action in the nfl. ray rice knocking out his fiancee now wife in a casino elevator last february. >> any man that hits a woman should, you know, have to suffer the consequences. >> reporter: monday the consequences were swift and severe for rice. his reported $40 million contract terminated by the baltimore ravens. >> when someone you care about does wrong, you know, and is faced with the consequences of doing wrong and rightfully so, it is tough. it is hurtful. >> reporter: rice has been suspended indefinitely by the nfl. the league also relessed a brief written statement saying we

requested from law enforcement any and all information about the incident including the video from inside the elevator. that video was not made available to us and no one in our office has seen it until today. still, for some, that's not enough to explain why rice initially received just a two game suspension. >> well, everything about it was wrong. the entire thing stunk. it was an embarrassment to the team. >> reporter: and frustrating for fans who spoke out on talk radio after seeing the newly released video. >> don't hit a woman. don't punch her in the face. you walk away. >> that's disgusting. they're role mod tolls so many people. >> reporter: so many who now wonder how long the nfl and the ravens knew about the videotape and why it took the public release to force rice out of the league. jay gray, nbc news. >> that individual joe hard to watch. there is no short arnlg of reaction. here is vice president joe biden in a today exclusive. >> the first reason the nfl

responded in my view was so many women fans in this billion dollar industry. all of a sudden they said wait a minute, and then when the video is out there and saw how brutal it was, the ravens did the right thing. fired him immediately. you can argue they should have done it sooner. >> on twitter, nfl players are just outraged. former falcon tony gonzalez saying he is absolutely disgusted with the tape i saw of ray rice and his then fiancee. the ravens did the right thing by kugt him. rice's former mentor and teammate ray lewis saying, i'm torn because this is a young man i really took up under my wing and tried to mentor. to make sure he had a successful career and stayed away from things like this. also trepding on twitter, why i stayed. women opening up and revealing why they stayed in abusive relationships. now to extreme weather. parts of the country are drying out after being underwater. in phoenix, history making rain though, a three inch down pour

turned into a state of emergency. in tucson, cars were swept away killing two women. >> the city of phoenix and our entire region saw levels of rainfall we haven't seen in nearly a century. >> in las vegas, heavy rain drenched the desert resort. drivers caught off guard. they were forced to maneuver through flooded streets. and along virginia's southern coast, chaos, up to ten inches of rain in some areas. roads sh h. to be closed and people had to be rescued. lawmakers on capitol hill should learn more today about the president's plan to take on isis. there are strong opinions emerging about how to handle the terror group. after alerting congress today, the president will outline the plan for the of us tomorrow during a major speech. nbc's tracie potts is live in washington this morning. what can we expect from the froze day? >> betty, to day he's going to be laying out the final details of that plan. we learned overnight that

president obama had din ardinne biden and nine policy experts to get input on this tragedy. president obama says we're going after isis but how, when, where, and with whom? >> it's not something you do by dropping a couple bombs. you need a strategy and allies. >> almost every single country on earth has a role to play in eliminating the threat and the evil that it represents. >> reporter: secretary kerry heads to the mideast today building the coalition. iraq has a new more inclusive go. as of this week. the president says their soldiers should fight the ground war, not ours. >> this is not a criminal activity akin to breaking an entering. this is a war. >> reporter: after an intelligence briefing last night and more today, some law makers are backing u.s. air strikes in sear yachlt. >> syria. >> we ought to go after the

snake where the head is. >> reporter: others want more limited action. >> whatever authorization that we agree upon should be on a short tej. >> reporter: the president says descent need authorization but wants a vote of support. tomorrow he'll address the nation. >> he needs to be aggressive. he needs to be to the point. he needs to go after these groups. and he needs to make certain that we shut them down that, they down, that they doement spread. >> reporter: now congress back on capitol hill, there are lots of opinions floating around about how to deal with isis an its followers. ted cruz wants to make shurt passports are pulled from people, americans who are caught fighting with the enemy. same thing that british announced a few days ago. betty? >> we'll see what the president lays out. thank you, tracie potts. now let's get to sports action. richard louie, lots going on there. >> a busy day monday night. good morning you to, betty. two monday night football games to tell you about. first new york giants at detroit, one word here, mega

tron. detroit's calvin johnson, seven catches, two early touchdowns against the giants. quarterback matthew stafford, he threw for 346 yards. he said why not? i'm going to run one in, too. topping the giants 35-14. a lot of people in new york crying. the other monday game, a rocky start for arizona against san diego. multiple turnovers for quarterback carson palmer. arizona pulls the fat out of the fire overcoming an 11 point deficit edging out san diego just by a little about it, 18-17. celebrities on deck to watch the 14 seed face the 10th seed in the u.s. open finals. and then after cilic won two sets this -- >> cilic has won the u.s. open. >> yeah. cilic falling to the ground like

most champs have done so far. >> it's like dropping the mike after a song. >> why not do it after you won what your first grand slam singles title. what, $3 million. he also said that at his hometown in croatia, it almost felt like he won the world cup. no doubt. >> pole lapped build a huge indoor beach for an indoor windsurfing competition. this is indoor. it took 50 hours, 80,000 gallons. the biggest audience turnout for indoor events. >> indoor? >> indoors, my friend. how about that for a pool? >> thank you. last night's super moon put on quite a show. it is called the harvest moon. because it is red pumpkin like appearance, it signals the start of the fall season. yes, almost here. the harvest moon was the last back to back super moon of the season. don't worry if you missed it. the moon will be pretty full for the next few nights. >> if you run outside, you can still see it. >> it is still dark out there. i didn't get a chance to see it.

>> go outside, look out the window. >> i'm kind of working right now, bill. >> oh, the breaks are long enough. we saw that. we had the horrible flooding in the phoenix area and vegas area, hampton roads area of virginia. that flood threat is slowly ending to day. now we talk about the next threat that is coming down from the north. and this is cold air. it snowed yesterday in call guy ga calgary. this is the first real cold invasion as we head toward our winter season. it's going to run into that warm air. we're going to have a severe weather outbreak two days in a row. 15 million people at risk of severe thunderstorms from kansas city, cedar rapids and just into the minneapolis-rochester area. and then as we go into tomorrow, the storm system really strengthens as it moves from chicago to north michigan. we should see a lot of wind damage. we're talking major metropolitan areas. 43 million people at risk. this is tomorrow, wednesday. chicago, detroit, indianapolis, st. louis, that will mean travel delays in all the airports, too. keep that in mind. the other thing today, they're

right along the mid-atlantic, the jersey shore southern areas, virginia beach area, all in between mid-atlantic, a lot of heavy rain and rough surf, too. be careful if you're head together beaches. >> all right. thanks for the warning. the cost of milk, pizza and other dairy proukducts is abouto soar to new highs. >> plus, it spread to 12 states. the illness hospital yidziizing a kids of all ages. vo: this is the summer. the summer that summers from here on will be compared to. so get out there, and get the best price guaranteed.

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so it's called one of the biggest tech announcements of the year. the question is how many of the rumored gadgets will apple fimly unveil later today? topping the list, a smart watch and an iphone that come with a bigger screen and a digital wallet. today's unveiling will take place in california. what are you seeing there, jennifer? >> betty, people in line already for weeks and the buzz around here, well, still some buzz saws as they work on this big super structure putting the finishing

touches on for the big unveiling. a lot of buzz around the event even for apple. >> apple's invitation reads, wish we could say more. they're saying plenty with not just the venue but where steve jobs introduced the macintosh but what they krublgted there. this is the big white box. >> if all the rumors hold up, i think this could be apple's best product launch in 25 years. >> for starters, the expectation is an iphone 6. some so certain lines formed more than a week ago. >> even though me and my cousin were first in line, these people right here actually bought our spouts for $1250 apiece just to move to third and fourth in line. and i think that's pretty worth it. >> consumers have a wish list. >> oh, my god. please do do it within day. >> i think it will be cool to have a larger screen. >> the rumor 4.7 and 5.5 inches? >> that's too big. i don't want a tablet on my ear. >> but many don't see the need for constant revamps. >> i already have what i need.

it works fine. >> but innovators like steve jobs gave us things we never knew we wanted then can't live without. now it may be apple's ceo tim cook's turn. some believe to revolutionize the wristwatch. >> they reinvented whole categories in the past. they changed music. they changed pc. they can probably change time, too. >> the wearable and new i phones are the first to incorporate nfc, near field communications, radio waves which can mean the end of credit cards, even car keys. with apple taking hits from competitors that are beginning to resonate, many apple watchers say the technology giant hasn't been sleeping, just working on something huge. apple has its countdown on to the he investment online. we'll be streaming video live from here at 10:00 a.m. pacific time. the world will be watching. betty, back to you. >> i want to give you a shot of the crowd. a little bit sleepy right now. but they're watching.

they will be later today. they're lined up outside the apple store in new york city off fif fifth. many of them have been lined up for days waiting for this big announcement and trying to get their hands on the newest thing from apple. we'll see what it is today. in the meantime, though, stories making news this morning. cdc is now investigating possible outbreaks of a severe breathing illness 12 states. they're warning this may just be the tip of the iceberg with kids returning to school. it has infected more than 1,000 children. it starts like the common cold but turns into near less pier tore i didn't remember failure. marijuana will be decriminalized in philadelphia. mayor michael nutter is expected to sign the bill thursday. possession of a small amount of weed will get you a $25 fine. smoking in public, though, will be a $100. it can be waived with community service. bloomberg is reporting that milk futures are at an all time high. the u.s. is exporting more dairy causing smaller inven tore yifz

milk, cheese and butter. you know what that means? prices for milk, pizza and other dairy products will rise. earlier than expected, the punishments for penn state's football program are over. they were sanctioned. the ncaa says the school has shown significant progress towards insuring integrity in athletic department. the nittany lions are now allowed to play in the postseason and will have all scholarships restored. coming up, george bush's warning for bill clinton. the republican senator who doesn't live in his home state. and the governor immortalized. 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. chex. full of what you love. free of what you don't. you asked for gluten free oatmeal. now it's here. new chex oatmeal. in the hot cereal aisle.

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mfs. because there is no expertise without collaboration. all right. time for your first look at scrambled politics. questions surrounding pat roberts residents won't stop. during his first debate with greg orman, he revealed he had been in his home state of kansas about seven times this year. after the primary, his former campaign manager insinuated in a newspaper report that the republican senator lived in northern virginia. she became known for an epic pill buster of a restricted abortion law in texas and now wenldy davis has opened up about her decision to have an abortion 17 years ago. davis will speak about this revelation as well as the texas governor's race tonight on msnbc at 9:00 p.m. eastern. don't miss that. in the meantime, lawyers for outgoing texas governor are

invoking a roman emperor and louie xiv in a new approach in trying to get abuse of power felony charges against him dropped saying a texas governor is not agustus traversing his realm with a portable mint and imperial treasure in tow, he no more has custody or possession of the state's general revenue funds than does any other texan. no governor can say of his or her state what the son king said of france, i am the state." the official portrait of former california governor arnold schwarzenegger and president obama dished out some advice for his predecessor president clinton on how his life will change once he becomes grand father. >> be prepared to fall completely in love again. we all hope the very best for chelsea and that the child's health be strong like i'm confident it will be. get ready also to be like the

lowest person in the pecking order in your family. >> chelsea clinton will deliver her baby in the fall. and that is your morning dish of scrambled politics. those that is pretty good advice. i'm joined by political analyst and "newsday" columnist ellis henikan. >> you would do that frefrnl thi french thing again? >>, no i practiced that. let's talk about ray rice. everyone's talking about that this morning. even the president weighed in on saying that, you know, no man should hit a -- no real man hits a woman, essentially. could the nfl, could they be in some hot water over this because of the fact that they didn't do anything sooner than now after seeing this video? i mean we had video of him dragging her out of the elevator. he admitted to hitting her. why did it take this video before we saw something like this done? >> right. roger goodell says the two game suspension was completely inadequate. it really reminds you --

>> but is that enough? >> no. they could be in hot water. their fans are in an uproar. they're 5:00 tacked in the political realm. there is already an issue that nfl is facing over the concussions and the actual violence inside the game. and all this stuff all just gets intertwined. parents across america are saying, you know, doinlt know if i want my kids playing football. it's not necessarily because of videotape in elevators, but the game is under siege on many levels. and this is another one. yeah, there is real trouble here i think. at the same time, his now wife, then fiancee who is knocked out cold. >> very depressing right there. >> that is a whole other issue. honestly, it is. but, you know, look, we don't know the situation. we don't know why some people stay, this, that and the other. but could she have perhaps a suit on her hands by saying, look, i was victimized here. you put me out there. you didn't defend me, the team here, because you basically said this was a distraction.

you put me out there in front of the media with my attacker and then the lawyer comes out saying that maybe she provoked it. >> it's an argument that a good lawyer could put in front of a jury and maybe find some sympathy. there is some arguments against. that i mean she really did continue to go back into the situation. >> all right. i'm going to need you to hold that thought for a second. we're going to have to check out this. we're going to go to a break for just a second. check out an interview on msnbc.com featuring an academy award actress talking about her role in no good deeds and hear what she has to say about the ray rice situation in the nfl having been a victim of domestic violence herself. we'll be back with more on this discussion.

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all right. we are back now with ellis henikin continuing our conversation about ray rice. i wand to broaden this out a little bit. this is shocking and the video that all that comes with it. but what about others like hope solo, u.s. soccer player. we're not hearing this kind of suspension, let's, you know, get her out of the game. let's punish her. is there a gender bias here? >> some of ray rice's defenders would say we treat differently when the woman is the aggressor. no, she does have criminal charges. the seattle team will make decisions based on what happens in the criminal charges. we ought to come up with a basic principle, right that, people even off the field who treat their loved ones horribly, beat them up, maybe we don't want them entertaining us in sporting events. >> could ray rice maek a comeback after this? >> it's possible, sadly, yeah. >> you think he can make it? is this a situation, i mean we

saw others do it. michael vick, a totally different situation but with dogs. he is back on the field. >> he motional stuff. yeah, it could happen. >> all right. thank you for your input. we do appreciate it. and "way too early" with thomas roberts is coming right up. you don't want to miss that. it starts right now. so you know the first reason the nfl responded in my view, there are so many women fans in this billion dollar industry. so all of a sudden they said, wait a minute, he got suspended for a couple game? whoa. that's not enough. they got a little more sensitized. and then it was longer. and then when the video was out there and saw how brutal it was, the ravens did the right thing, fired him immediately. now you can argue they should have done sooner. they didn't want it. whatever the reason is, it is happening. >> vice president biden on the shocking video that led to ray rice's indefinite suspension from the nfl. but the bigger question remains, what did roger goodell and the nfl know and when did they know it? life after the white house,

two former presidents, bill clinton and george w. bush talk selfies and grandfatherhood. and family feud fallon style. jimmy fallon against the roots on to the night show and steve harvey holds a buzzer beater you won't want to miss. this is "way too early"! >> hey, everybody, time thomas roberts. welcome to "way too early," the show that grew up getting fashion tips from richard dawson on family feud. remember him? all right. extra bonus round. show was he on as a young man? a series. who? not match game. hogan's heroes. that's right. survey says hogan's heroes. we have a lot of serious news to get to this morning. we want to start with sports. ray rice has been cut from the baltimore ravens and suspended