i hope to meet him someday. bridging the partisan divide. good thursday morning. right now on "first look," the isis crisis heats up on capitol hill as they vote on the path forward on the war on terror. another day, another nfl perp walk for domestic violence. and the fallout from nfl's big money backers explodes. and if you didn't already know, beef prices nationwide are at an all-time high. plus, the scene of a horrific church collapse, a dramatic california police chase ends with guns drawn, and serious flooding in parts of the southwest. a very good morning to you. i'm richard lui. just today, more than a dozen raids were carried out and 15 people arrested in australia following a huge antiterrorism operation. australian intelligence officials saying militants connected with isis were planning to carry out public

beheadings. more than 800 police officers in sydney were involved in that operation. and then back at home, it's now up to the senate when it comes to isis. today they take what the house passed wednesday, a measure to approve arming moderate syrians in hopes of taking down terror group isis. president obama thanked house lawmakers at the annual congressional picnic. he urged the senate to take up the bill without delay. some lawmakers, though, remain concerned. on the house floor, representative loretta sanchez saying, "we don't know if somehow down the line they will turn our guns right back on us." here's senator joe manchin with msnbc's chris hayes. >> we'll give them the air support. i'm all for that. this doesn't make any sense for us to go in and embolden them, the isis, and use it as a recruiting tool against us. >> the navy has released this video showing different aircraft supporting strikes, surveillance and reconnaissance missions over iraq. nbc's tracie potts is in washington. tracie watching that story for

us. good morning to you. what is expected, then, to be the outcome, as this measure now makes its way to the senate? >> reporter: sure, richard. well, there's a fairly good chance this will land on the president's desk. what we're watching today, to see if the senate does what the house did yesterday. this is one issue in washington that's not partisan. we had democrats and republicans for it, democrats and republicans against it, and even supporters say it's not ideal, but arming the syrians may be the best chance of changing the situation with isis on the ground. this morning, the iraqis say they're gaining ground against isis, taking back parts of haditha province, but fallujah and ramadi are still under isis control. left unchecked, the administration says isis could become a threat to the u.s. >> when it comes to america's national security, america's united. >> reporter: but not necessarily on how to do it. there's already opposition to today's senate vote on arming syrians against isis. >> i cannot and will not support

arming or training the syrian opposition forces. >> reporter: even supporters are skeptical. >> this is not a blank check. >> best of the bad options that we face. >> an ally today is a sworn enemy tomorrow. >> we need to defeat isil before they develop the operational capacity to perform a september 11th-like attack. >> reporter: but not on the ground, the president promised again. >> i will not commit you and the rest of our armed forces to fighting another ground war in iraq. >> the u.s. troops that have been deployed to iraq do not and will not have a combat mission. >> reporter: secretary of state john kerry testifies again today on capitol hill about the 40 nations president obama says are joining the fight. >> i hope that what we're going to end up with is more than a group of coat-holders. >> reporter: so, the thing to watch today is the senate vote that we expect is going to happen late this afternoon. richard? >> thank you so much, tracie

there in washington, d.c., for us. a new arrest, another embarrassment for the nfl. arizona cardinal jonathan dwyer is accused of hitting his wife. dwyer is being held on $25,000 bond. the new blemish causing more unhappy sponsors. on the player level, wheaties and nike dropping adrian peterson. ray rice losing body armor and verdamax. on the nfl level, pepsi not happy. it pumps $90 million into the nfl. its ceo, indra thank youey saying "i am a mother, a wife and a passionate football fan. i am deeply disturbed by the repugnant behavior of a few players and the nfl's acknowledged mishandling of these issues." adrian peterson's mom, bonita jackson said "when you whip those you love, it's not about abuse but love. you want to make them understand what they did wrong." here's nbc's kurt gregory with more. >> reporter: cardinals running back jonathan dwyer has been arrested for aggravated assault.

the charges against the 25-year-old stem from two separate incidents alleged to have occurred in july. >> he has admitted that these accidents occurred. however, he has denied that he has physically assaulted the victim in this particular case. >> reporter: arizona has deactivated dwyer, removing him from all team activities, the third nfl player taken off an nfl lineup in 24 hours. the minnesota vikings removed star running back adrian peterson, who faces child abuse charges, from their roster and all team activities until his legal issues are resolved. carolina panther greg hardy, convicted of domestic abuse but appealing that decision, has voluntarily taken a leave of absence. they're just the latest legal entanglements for professional football players and potential stumbling blocks for the nfl. the pressure is mounting over the league's handling of domestic violence cases. >> what we really need to see is for the commissioner to come out and stand up to the press and stand up to these inquiries and

stand up to the public, which is outraged at the decisions he's been making. >> reporter: as off-the-field problems overshadow any gains made on the gridiron for america's most popular sport. kurt gregory, nbc news. and we take you to the west. an extreme scene there, fires and floods. the number of wildfires torching california growing to 13. the biggest is outside of sacramento. it's the size of manhattan and just 5% contained, threatening 2,000 homes. that while flooding was so bad, water sweeping away a 1-year-old. water reached the ceiling in his palm springs home, causing the wall to fall. >> his room was gone and he was nowhere to be found. >> the toddler was found safe 200 feet away in the front yard. the home is a total loss. as a massive manhunt continues in pennsylvania, a funeral will be held today for the state trooper gunned down last fwheek an ambush. corporal bryon dickson was killed last friday. thousands of friends, family and fellow officers turned out for

dickson's viewing yesterday. meanwhile, 13,000 students stayed home wednesday in northeast pennsylvania as authorities search for suspect 31-year-old eric frein. he is considered armed and dangerous. voters in scotland are at the polls right now. it's a simple but not so simple vote, to be an independent state or not. turnout is expected to be high, close to 100%. polls show tens of thousands of scottish citizens, though, are still on the fence. british prime minister david cameron expressed concern heading into the vote. >> well, of course, everyone who cares about our united kingdom, and i care passionately about our united kingdom, is nervous, but i'm confident that we set out how scotland can have the best of both worlds. >> media mogul and two-time presidential candidate steve forbes took to the uk's "the telegraph" to voice his opinion, saying, "the breakup of great britain would encourage all the forces of chaos, terrorism and aggression and set a terrible precedent." while supporters of an independent state say it's to

distance itself from a conservative parliament that does not match scottish concerns. well, police in virginia are hoping that new surveillance video will help find a missing college student. the two videos show 18-year-old hannah graham walking through a mall early saturday morning. in the first video, a man is seen walking in front of the university of virginia student. he then stops and walks behind her. two minutes later, graham is seen walking with another woman and the same man is following them. police also released this surveillance video showing her walking outside of a pub about 20 minutes earlier. police do not suspect foul play at this time, but they believe she was under the influence of alcohol. graham's friends reported her missing on sunday after they had not heard from her since late friday night. okay, let's take you to sports right now and the third of six mlb divisions has been clinched, and it's the los angeles angels. they're shut out of seattle in a 5-0 victory and a texas win over oakland gave the angels the a.l.

west, their first division title since 2009. to the nfl, and chicago's brandon marshall is planning to speak out today after being targeted for his domestic violence involvement from five years ago. marshall tweeted he plans to address "the current state of the nfl, roger goodell, domestic violence and espn and using my case to show why i think we need to have the right systems in place before we act." marshall was originally banned three games, but that was reducreduce ed when he was not convicted. phil emery saying "he has the full support of the baird. james winston will sit out the first half of sunday's game after yelling an obscene statement in the student union on wednesday. the heisman trophy winner apologized for the vulgar remark he called selfish. >> that's going to eat me up. two nfl players whose teams are not so friendly got more than friendly. three weeks ago, two brothers, former baltimore player makhe

donated a kidney to his little brother, chris, a former pittsburgh player. >> if my brother or any of my siblings need blood, it would be my blood. if my brother or siblings needed a kidney, it would have to be my kidney. >> true thank you to him for making the sacrifice. it's really been a really humbling experience for me. >> little bro chris coming out, too, whose health was at risk, couldn't play anymore, so big brother, m anma'ake gave him hi kidney and then quit as well, not wanting to go on without his kid brother in the league. >> very heart-warming. >> given what's happening right now. but we have a lot to talk about in terms of weather. yes, lots going on, quite a bit of rainfall that continues to be the major concern across sections of the desert southwest. take a look at the remnants of odile, still producing lots of

rainfall across sections of southern areas of arizona, new mexico and west texas. in the east, things are pretty quiet, high pressure in control from the midwest to the northeast. showers and thunderstorms also from texas to the gulf coast and florida. l.a. finally looking at some cooler conditions, temperatures no longer in the 90s today, more so in the 80s. pacific northwest, some showers in seattle. new york city, we'll see some sunshine with high temperatures in the 70s, and chicago, highs today in the 60s. >> you've got a lot of clouds and thunderstorms across the country. >> especially in the south. >> jeannette calle with the latest. how much money does the government waste out of every dollar they spend? we've got that number for you. plus, the scene of a horrific church collapse. this is "first look."

okay, here's some stories we're following for you. rescuers still don't know how many died. new video showing the nigerian church collapse killing almost 70 almost a week ago. south africa says 300 of its

people were visiting and in the building at the time. texas put a woman to death last night. lisa coleman was convicted in the deadly starvation of her girlfriend's 9-year-old son. she's the 15th woman executed since 1976. 1,400 men were executed in that same time span. toronto mayor rob ford has a rare form of cancer in his abdomen. he'll need chemo. there's hope, his doctor says, "we're optimistic about treatment." beef prices, as you might have seen, are at an all-time high. drought is partly to blame here. the bureau of labor statistics says ground beef passed the $4-a-pound mark last month, almost double from a decade ago. the new apple mobile operating system carries a health app and updated siri, among other new things, but it also takes a lot of space, nearly 5 gigabytes, and can take hours to download. twitter reacting to that. here are some of those reactions. "in order to download ios 8, you must delete every app in your phone and sacrifice your

first-born child." and "i had to break up with my girl to make space for ios 8." maybe not that bad. also part of the mobile ios, though it keeps data so private, it won't allow police to retrieve data from iphones or ipads. new encryption prevents the company from unlocking data for law enforcement, even with warrants. only the owner of the device can hand over data. the latest gallup polls find americans believe the federal government wastes 51 cents out of every dollar that they spend. proctor and gamm pable has agreed to remove the beads from toothpaste. they gave the toothpaste color but actually had no benefit to improving oral health. they looked purdy, i guess. is the dnc in disarray? big bucks pour in from las vegas. and a very prominent, new driver is on the road right now. "scrambled politics" is up next

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it's time for your thursday look at "scrambled politics." has dnc chair debbie wasserman schultz become political kryptonite to her party? inside interviews even call her a liability to the dnc. sources telling politico she's used meetings with donors as a way to solicit for her own political action committee and that she tried to get the dnc to play for her wardrobe during the 2012 convention, allegations she

denies. now we're learning the obama administration dropped plans to replace her in 2012 and that her relationship, though, with president obama has soured to the point where they do not speak with each other anymore. back in 2012, las vegas billionaire sheldon aidleson shelled out $100 million to help elect republican candidates like mitt romney and now is making his first major contribution in the 2014 midterm psych wael a $10 million check to karl rove's crossroads gps. what do you think of this? a city in washington state passed an ordinance banning people with bad body odor from the park and other places. the aclu says it's unconstitutional because it singles out homeless people. a hair-raising appearance between obama and a school in tampa, florida, yesterday. take a listen. >> i like that hairdo, man. can i touch that? it's kind of spiky. your hair's short, yeah. mine, too. you want to touch it.

>> maybe a little gray, too. do you think the president's hair has kind of moved that way? well, it's about to get even more gray. during an event this week, first michelle obama revealed malia has started driving. can you believe she's already 16 years old? time has gone by. and that's your morning dish of "scrambled politics." all right, let's bring in syndicated columnist bob franken. good morning, bob. both you and i have a little bit of gray hair, huh? >> well, i was really thinking about you with spiked hair. >> you know, there was a time where i had it, or even better, if you had spiked hair, bob, but that's another discussion. >> think of the combination of gray and spiked. >> that's for our next discussion. all right, my friend, so, we're talking about politico and how they -- i'll read the headlines -- "democrats turn on debbie wasserman schultz." that article just coming out, describes how sources, according to politico are aiming at the chairwoman, debbie wasserman schultz, saying she has flubbed, criticizing the white house in comparing the tea party to wife beaters. they say those are reasons she

might be out. what are you hearing in d.c.? >> well, i'm hearing a lot of dissatisfaction, but i think to have to factor in a couple other contexts. number one, right now the democrats are just dissatisfied with themselves, and that always means, particularly in washington, that there's going to be some intramural fighting. >> right. >> the democrats stand to lose the senate right now, so there's going to be a lot of recriminations before and after the election, if, in fact, that happens. secondly, i've often wondered how it is that a party chairperson, which is a full-time job, could also hold another office. certainly, this is not the only case, the only time that this has happened, but it would seem to me that she is a congressperson first -- >> right. >> and that would seem to me that that would be enough of a distraction that she could possibly be making some mistakes as a result of that. >> just because -- >> and by the way, i have no knowledge about whether she, in fact, did ask for help with her wardrobe, although that charge is being certainly flying around

and is discussed in the article. >> that one's going around. but she's not being accused without those defending her. i'm going to go to "the miami herald," and their article, their opinion article says that this is a "d.c. democrats' wage war on one woman" and they're doing it for a third year in a row. is this a d.c. democrat thing? >> well, d.c. thing, probably -- >> against the florida congresswoman here? >> i mean, there's an old line about things being so bad in d.c. that they're stabbing each other in the front. and the point being, of course, that back-stabbing is just a part of the way that things happen here. so, imagine being in politics where that's also a characteristic and being in d.c. always walk with a wall behind you in d.c. >> and perhaps as time goes by, with a mohawk. bob "mohawk" franken, thank you so much. you have a good one. >> thank you. just ahead, a radar gun that can tell if you're texting. and drag queens take on facebook. stick around.

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leading the news from nbc, cincinnati affiliate wlwt 5. u.s. senate candidate uses campaign to spread slogan "with jews we lose." write-in candidate ryan ramsdale says he knows he can't win against mitch mcconnell or alison lundergan grimes but is using the campaign to spread his anti-semitic message. and from the nbc bay area, drag queens will mobilize if facebook does not change real names policy. several drag queens here trying to convince facebook to let them use stage names on their facebook pages instead of their real names. on wednesday, a meeting with facebook officials did not go their way. take a listen.

>> we can't let some entity tell us that we're not genuine. >> we're not going to rest until this unfair, discriminatory policy is taken away from facebook. >> sister roma speaking there. some other stories we're following. we're learning more about an attack on a gay couple in philadelphia last week. this police video exploding online and helping authorities find persons of interest. some of them are being interviewed, but no official charges. a local school says one of them works as an assistant basketball coach and has been fired. so help me god. those words were mandatory for airmen taking enlistment or officer appointment oaths until now. that decision from the air force after one airman was allegedly told by his commanders, swear to god or leave the service. and police may soon be able to use a radar gun to tell if you're texting while driving. the "virginian pilot" reports comsonics isn't far from creating that device that would trace radio frequencies unique to texting. in l.a., a chase that had it

all. a stolen van jumps the curb, a cop car spins it, but it's still going, rolling on three pictures. sparks fly, then another cop bump. >> geez! >> the van finally stops and the suspects taken down. "way too early with thomas roberts" up next. ♪ more problems for the nfl. another player arrested for alleged abuse against his wife and child. the swift action taken by his team. independence day. scots head to the polls to decide whether to break off from the uk. are 300-plus years of partnership now over? and jimmy fallon brings out gwen stefani and blake shelton for an epic lip-synch contest. see these "voice" judges like you've never seen them before. this is "way too early." ♪ hey, everybody! good morning. i'm thomas roberts. it is thursday, september the 18th. welcome to "way too early," the

show that does not recommend downloading ios 8 if you are pinched for time and you want to shave and you like any of your social applications, because i am still working on getting them back. and hopefully, by the end of the show, i'll have them all back and we'll be able to talk on twitter. all right, let's begin with the nfl. we have a new update about a new story because yet another player is facing charges for domestic violence. police say jonathan dwyer, a backup running back for the arizona cardinals, is suspected of committing aggravated assault against his wife and 1-year-old son. dwyer was arrested before practice at the cardinals training facility. he was deactivated from the team just hours later. nine days ago, via twitter, a tweet was sent to dwyer asking why players were not criticizing ray rice. dwyer responded that players were not allowed to talk like that but that all players were opposed to domestic violence. meanwhile, the minnesota vikings are admitting it was wrong to initially let adrian peterson rejoin the team amid child abuse charges. e