full elevator video five months ago. and all eyes this morning on south africa as we await a verdict in the oscar pistorius murder trial. this is "way too early." good morning, children. yes, that's right. i'm here early. "way too early" in for thomas roberts on this special version. brought to you by adderall and 5-hour energy drink. the show that will never, though, seriously this morning of all mornings, forget the sacrifice of the nearly 3,000 people who lost their lives on this date 13 years ago. that's right. the 13th anniversary of september 11th, that morning, that moment that changed absolutely everything. and here we are, think about this, here we are 13 years later, and we're talking about going back to war. so let's start there and get

right to the president's speech. well, last night he unveiled a strategy to defeat islamic state militants in iraq and syria. one day before the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the president announced a major expansion of the assault on isis. the strategy is a four-part plan. it includes air strikes in syria for the first time. he actually talked about going into syria, something he hasn't wanted to do up until last night. and, of course, more strikes in iraq. the president's also asking congress to approve the training and arming of syrian rebels who oppose both isis and assad and, of course, those are the so-called moderates that a lot of people on the right and the left have been asking the president to arm for quite some time. showing strong support for the increased action, the president is now vowing to hunt down the group that's killed two american journalists in the absolute most gruesome way and is actually threatening more violence.

>> i know many americans are concerned about these threats. tonight, i want you to know that the united states of america is meeting them with strength and resolve. our objective is clear. we will degrade and ultimately destroy isil to a comprehensive and sustained counterterrorism strategy. this is american leadership at its best. we stand with people who fight for their own freedom. and we rally other nations on behalf of our common security and common humanity. >> it was remarkable watching the president talk. the president who got elected by saying he wasn't going to send any more troops to iraq. in fact, he was going to bring american troops out of iraq. but having that president understand the tides of history are actually requiring him to send more troops from this country that, again, he wanted nothing to do with. so last night, he said he's going to send close to 500 more members of the u.s. military back into iraq to work with

iraqi and kurdish forces. about 1600 service members have been sent to iraq this summer, but the president insisted this is not going to look anything like the wars that we've been fighting for almost 13 years in iraq and afghanistan. >> it will take time to eradicate a cancer like isil. and any time we take military action, there are risks involved. especially to the service men and women who carry out these missions. and i want the american people to understand how this effort will be different from the wars in iraq and afghanistan. it will not involve american combat troops fighting on foreign soil. the counterterrorism campaign will be waged to a steady, relentless effort to take out isil, wherever they exist, using our air power and our support for partners' forces on the ground. >> so did you watch the speech last night? i did. right after i read jack "scaredy

squirrel," one of my favorites. and then i watched the speech and then i watched pollsters and pundits and politicians talking about what he did wrong on the left, on the right and then i went to bed. because i knew i was going to come in here and ask the most important question. what did you think of the president's speech last night? seriously, i'm a lot more interested in what you thought about it than most of the people i saw on tv last night. so tweet me. and you can tweet your answers using #waytooearly. and we'll be putting the best ones on the show later on. tribute events will be held this morning to mark the 13th anniversary of the september 11th attacks we talked about at the top of the show. and they'll be in washington where the president and mrs. obama is going to observe a moment of silence at the white house to mark the moment when that first plane hit the north tower. the obamas are going to be attending a ceremony at the pentagon later hosted by defense secretary chuck hagel and the chairman of the joint chiefs,

martin dempsey. in new york, families of those killed at the world trade center will be reading the names of the victims, and they're going to be observing moments of silence to mark the two towers being hit and later falling. and in shanksville, pennsylvania, of course, you'll remember what happened there. former house speaker denny hastert will be speaking at a service honoring the victims of flight 93. actually, that flight 93, the passengers received congressional gold medal wednesday, the top honor that can be awarded by congress. that, of course, is the flight where the passengers took over. and actually, if you want to know, the first counterterror measures that were taken, they were taken by passengers who said that they weren't going to let the terrorists win. and take that plane into the capitol or the white house. they said, "let's roll." and they took their own lives. and a lot of people are alive today because of that. the nfl is asking the former director of the fbi to lead an independent investigation on how it handled the ray rice case.

you know, there's so many questions that are growing up out of the league's response that robert mueller has now been put in charge of the probe. it's going to look at how the nfl pursued and handled evidence including the surveillance video that showed rice beating up his fiancee at a casino. the announcement came just hours after the associated -- i'm sure you guys saw this yesterday afternoon -- the a.p. actually reported that a law enforcement source claimed he sent a video to the nfl three months ago. the a.p. says the unidentified official also played a brief voice mail from an nfl office where a woman says, quote, you're right, it's terrible. high-ranking official at the nfl is telling tmz sports that the a.p. story is wrong and that, quote, no one at the league saw the video until monday. meanwhile, "the washington post" is reporting that nfl

commissioner roger goodell has no plans to resign in the wake of the scandal. goodell's insisted that the nfl tried unsuccessfully on multiple occasions to obtain the video earlier from police. the baltimore ravens, rice's former teams, are going to be hosting the pittsburgh steelers later tonight. let's go now to south africa where you're looking live at pictures of where we're going to be waiting to hear a judge's verdict in the oscar pistorius murder trial. pistorius, of course, is right now being tried for murdering his fiancee. the judge is reviewing the testimony and the evidence in the case before revealing her decision. the olympic runner could face 25 years to life behind bars if he's convicted of intentionally murdering his fiancee. pistorius says he believed she was a burglar and that he shot her in a tragic accident. it's not something that i don't think anybody else in south africa or the world believes.

going up to toronto now, toronto mayor rob ford is actually in the hospital this morning. he's got a suspected abdominal tumor. ford was admitted wednesday after stomach pain he had had been experiencing for more than three months became unbearable. doctors are going to be performing a biopsy to determine the diagnosis. the mayor has currently run for re-election. he returned to his job in june after admitting he was having alcohol and drug problems and actually went into rehab for those abuses. now to business. new information on why americans are ditching their citizenship in record numbers. and is mcdonald's once again thinking about mm, mm, mm, mcbrunch. jeff cutten joins us live. those stories in a minute. let's start with wall street. the markets closed higher yesterday, but this morning cnbc is reporting that stocks could get slammed today. jeff, what's that all about? >> yeah, good morning, joe.

well, look out below because steve liesman, our very own economics reporter, is saying that the fed could remove the consider time language when it references interest rates at its meeting next week. and if that happens, that will be seen as a less dovish statement from the fed. and that could move forward expectations as to when we get the first rate rise in 2015. it may not be a good signal for the markets. i've got nothing to cheer you up this morning in this first bit of the report because the other news we've got is debt for seniors. student debt in particular. just seems to be on the up and up. you know, 2005, seniors had debt of $2.8 billion to pay back. it's now $18.2 billion. and if they don't pay that back, it could have some impact on the benefits they claim. so it's a tough road ahead for many seniors who are still laden with not only their own student

debt but some of the student debt for loans they've taken for their children as well. back to you, joe. >> geoff, let me ask you quickly, what can you tell us about the report on the surge of americans who are actually renouncing their citizenship? what's behind that? >> yeah, this is interesting, isn't it. you know, a lot of americans i've met abroad are pretty teed off with the fact that they have to continue filing even when they don't make any money in the united states. and what's made it even worse is we've had new legislation that's to do with money laundering and tax evasion. and that's put even more pressure on them to file their returns. and you know what? those who are fed up with it are saying we're just going to vote with our feet here and renounce our citizenship. about 1,500 have done that in the first half of this year. about 3,000 did it last year p a. and the expectation is that number will only grow as it becomes difficult and costly for americans to file their taxes from abroad.

the other story i want to get on to is the mcbrunch just very quickly. why do we not get an all-day breakfast at mcdonald's? mcdonald's now trademarking the mcbrunch brand. so maybe something new is coming here, joe. >> you know, geoff, that's exactly the question you was going to ask. thank you so much for bringing it to us. i greatly appreciate it. one of the worst moments of the day for me is it's, like, 10:30. you've had your breakfast. the egg mcmuffin, the hashbrown and the chocolate shake. but then it's 10:30, right? and you want to have another go of it. and you can't! so now we've got the mcbrunch. i absolutely love it. c.j., are you excited about the mcbrunch? >> i'm thrilled. i'm thrilled. >> you don't really give a damn, do you, t.j.? >> no. >> listen, i'm here early. help me out some, okay? wake up! because still ahead on "way

too early," messi fever has spiked so high. what some in his hometown have banned his parents from doing. i don't know where that's going. and later, the guinness book of world records for doing what exactly? louis will explain that in "the cooler." that and a check of weather when "way too early" comes right back. tonight america is at war with terrorists after a stunning series of attacks today against targets in new york and in washington, d.c. the world trade center and the pentagon. the terrorists used hijacked civilian airliners and their passengers as guided missiles in their attacks. i make a lot of purchases for my business.

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this should be a no-doubter! an inside-the-park home run! >> what the hell's the right fielder doing? >> sleeping. >> what's he doing? >> sleeping. >> seriously! you back him up! look at this. and then he comes on over. he goes, oh, let me put down my tea now. oh. haphazardly. what's the guy doing? >> he got scolded by the manager. >> i bet he did. that ties the game up. pittsburgh won 6-3. guardingity 1 1/2-game lead in the n.l. wild card race. to arlington with the angels leading off against the rangers. alpert pujols sends a triple down the right field line and

scores mike trout from first base. now, get this. that's trout's 100th run, and that makes him just the sixth player in the history of the major leagues, he's unbelievable. the sixth player ever to have three 100-run seasons before the age of 23. >> if he was here in new york, can you paj? he'd be the hugest star in the world. >> yeah, he would. he actually would. but barnicle actually thinks and a lot of sports writers in new york think that anything west of the hudson is beijing. pro football concussion still a major issue. arizona linebacker john abraham is having to take a leave of absence from the team after exiting monday night's 18-17 win over the chargers in the third quarter with a concussion. it is the first reported concussion of abraham's 15-year career, but the league says he's reporting from severe memory loss and has been for more than a year. that is so tragic. for so many nfl players and former players. let's move on to soccer

where the hometown of fc barcelona star lionel messi has passed a new law. they are actually going to bar residents from using the first name messi for their children. it was prompted by a family who used the surname for their newborn son. the law is meant to avoid confusion for recordkeepers and the police pimpl. now to a golf course in canada. a baby bear puts on a show. >> look at that thing. >> look at that bear. look at that bear. that bear's crazy. the cub clings and dances around the hole for several minutes. it's a delight to watch. animals and groundskeepers' nightmare. he eventually walked away but not without taking a player's ball. as a souvenir. a cute bear. but a very crazy bear. >> what's going on here? >> what do you mean? >> mika, do you think joe could have had a career in sports?

>> i could have been a contender. >> you could have been bob costas. >> it's a home run! something like that. i don't think so. i think i'm happy right where i am. >> understood. >> i'd like to be a matterologist, though. >> oh, it's easy. >> is it? >> best gig in the world. >> i love it. you just kind of show up. >> you're right, you're wrong, doesn't matter. >> you're on vitamin c and cocaine. it looks cold, man. >> i've got to show you calgary. >> you know what i asked you before? can you show me calgary? >> we're going to show you calgary. the mayor saying this is unprecedent, never seen anything like it. they've had three snowstorms in three days in the beginning of september. you can see the leaves on the trees there. they weren't even turning up there yet. and they have a lot of power outages to deal with and a lot of snow to melt. and this morning in the last hour, rain just changed over to snow in south dakota, in rapid city, south dakota, it is

snowing. people in chicago are waking up, it feels like it's in the upper 40s. and there's the snow right now in the black hills of south dakota. very early in the season for this. almost unprecedented. rain through kentucky and tennessee. and if you're on the east coast today, we're going to avoid really powerful, strong storms. no tornadoes or anything like that. but a line of storms will go through d.c., new york, philadelphia. we could get minor airport delays out of that. keep that in mind. as we go throughout the next week, that cold air, joe, slides to the east. especially in the great lakes. it's going to feel like football, like maybe october. >> okay. thank you so much, bill. greatly appreciate it. coming up on "morning joe," how did the president do last night? we're going to get reaction from senators, from congressmen and also get a live report from nbc's bill neely. he is in syria this morning. plus, more fallout for the nfl over ray rice. we're going to be speaking with the a.p. reporter who actually reports that someone at the league had a copy of the entire elevator tape five months ago.

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welcome back. now, earlier in the show we recapped president obama's address to the nation last

night. a speech he delivered from the white house state floor. if you want to sound smart today -- and don't we all -- tell your friends that president obama has chosen to give only two primetime addresses from the oval office. one to talk about the bp oil spill in 2010 and the other announcing the end of combat operations in iraq later that same year. now, ronald reagan holds the record for oval office speeches with 29. time to gather around the water cooler with our own louis bergdorf. >> we begin with a new one for the record books. a man in india set the record for the most consecutive pullup with the dead hang position, the 112 26-year-old had to clear the bar and fully extend his arms on the way down. he managed to do 16 pullups in under 30 seconds. i don't know if i could do one of those, joe. that's pretty impressive. now, let's go to the olive garden. recently sold out of their

limited edition $100 all-you-can-eat pasta passes. conan o'brien took this one step further. take a look. >> saw how successful it was so they came out with passes of their own. for $100 golden corral offers ladle to grave. long john silvers gives you fish sticks made with actual fish. and white castle gives you jump to the lead bathroom. and applebee's unlimited so dad. >> waffle house, least racist waitress. and starbucks, as much hot coffee you can hold in your hands. >> official look at the new

batmobile. the the director of the upcoming bat minnesota versus superman tweeted these photos out. "dawn of justice" is set to hit theaters on march 25th. i look forward to seeing ben affleck as batman. >> i don't know. i think the last batman trilogy was so good, i don't know. i don't think it will happen. thank you so much. greatly appreciated. let's get your response to our twitter question earlier this morning when we asked what you thought of the president's speech. our senior producer john taylor has your responses. >> the president said what i hoped he would but we have to see what this coalition is and congress should vote on something. >> yankee 72, the president showed strength. reluctant to use warfare. not everyone was happy with the speech. 91 said, when all is said and

done more will be said by this president than actually done. >> we'll see. don't go anywhere, friends, "morning joe" starts right after this. one day, machines will be sprayed to be made. and making something stronger... will mean making it lighter. one day, factories will work with the cloud. one day... is today.

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i made it clear we'll hunt down terrorists who threaten our country wherever they are. that means i will not hesitate to take action against isil in syria as well as iraq. this is a core principle of my presidency. if you threaten america, you will find no safe-haven. >> so what do you think, mika? >> well, it is thursday, september 11th, the day with massive symbolic meaning and on the eve the president addressed the nation talking about his strategy to defeat isis or isil. >> what do you think? >> i think he was clear. the mixed reaction from congress was interesting. i think richard engel's reaction last night in primetime was fascinating. i don't think it was