drinking water disaster investigation continues. he expects more announcements soon. so maybe there will be even more arrests. this is not how the coal industry expects to be treated by government in west virginia but who know a few more arrest, a few more part-time felony indictments, maybe expectations will start to change. good morning. right now on "first lackook," hy rains, massive flooding, mudslides and that is just the beginning. former vice president dick cheney calls the torture report crap. beyond name-calling, is anyone going down? plunging oil prices sent stocks into free fall but it's not all bad. thanks for join is us today. torture report fallout. former vice president dick cheney is just furious and he's fighting back slamming critics who claimed the cia's enhanced tear investigation tactics don't work. >> this report says it was not successful. >> the report's full of crap. we asked the agency to go take steps and put in place programs that were designed to catch the

bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11. got khalid shaikh mohammed, the mastermind of 9/11, who's killed 3,000 americans. what are we supposed to do, kiss him on both chiks and say, please, please, tell us what you know? of course not. >> one of the teachers behind the torture techniques, james mitchell, a psychologist, who had no training in al qaeda interrogation, asked if waterboarding is torture. >> i don't think it's the right thing to do. i don't think it's the wrong thing to do. i think you can do it in a way that it constitutes torture, i think you can do it in a way nate constitutes training. it's like every tool in the tool bag. you can underuse it, you can overuse it. >> don't expect i didn't mean natural charges against cia officers but attorney general eric holder did say this. >> the senate report i think has done our country a great service. by bringing to light practices that are inconsistent with who we say we are as a nation, who we want to be as a nation.

pointing a light on whether or not the tactics as harsh and as unacceptable as they were, whether 3 were actually effective. >> now, in 2009 the doj did investigate the cia twice. criminal charges against cia officers have already been ruled out. demands for change in the wake of grand jury decisions in two racially charged cases involving police officers. later today, senate chaplain barry black will pray for peace during a walkout organized by black congressional staffers. yesterday students from about 70 medical schools, including this one at the university of minnesota, staged a die-in. in berkeley, california, the number of protesters is dwindling but they are not going away. the continued protests come as new york city police department announces plans for the use of more stun guns. they will be an option for police officers to subdue mentally ill people and others who resist arrest. in missouri a federal judge has scheduled a hearing today over a temporary restraining order

against police. it was filed by lawyers on behalf of ferguson protesters who say police abuse their power during protests. now campus officials at university of missouri st. louis are blaming those violent protests for a decline in their upcoming spring enrollment. that decline has forced them to issue a hiring freeze. in washington, the clock is ticking, the house will vote today on a $1.1 trillion spending bill. what's at stake? keeping the government open. nbc's tracie potts is live in washington to talk more about this. good morning to you. we can see another cliff hanger ending here. some democrats are refusing to vote, is that correct? >> well, you're right about that. and it's because some democrats are fed up with how things are working here and particularly they're concerned about some of the last-minute things that have been added to this budget. this $1.1 trillion spending plan cuts millions for protecting the environment, makes school

lunches less healthy, big campaign donors could contribute ten times more, and rules to prevent another big bank bailout would go away. >> this is a lousy way of doing business. >> reporter: minority leader nancy pelosi's pushing to renegotiate those last-minute changes. >> we would hope that they would consider taking them out. >> reporter: congress woman elizabeth warren says there's no way she'll support a budget that's soft on wall street. >> this is about reckless behavior. it is about a give-away to the largest financial institutions in this country. and it's up to us to say no. >> reporter: republicans need democrats, 60 or 70 of them, to vote yes because the party's expected to lose dozens of their own. conservatives who want to do more to stop president obama's immigration plan. >> we need to be able to hold funding back for who knows what else he's going to do. >> pretty easy to say no around here, pretty easy to thump your chest. but we need to get some things done. >> reporter: it's a year-long budget with money for ebola,

fighting isis, food safety, a small raise for the military. federal employees are bracing for furloughs if congress can't work this out by midnight. if it doesn't work before midnight, the backup plan is a temporary budget extension, probably three or four months. >> we'll see how that plays out, thank you very much. plunging oil prices are offer ac mixed bag for americans. stocks tanked on news that lower prices might mean that the world economy is slowing down. but it is great news for drivers, manufacturers and those who use oil to heat homes this winter. oil prices are at a five-year low. the department of energy predicts gas prices will average $2.60 a gallon next year. it has already caused massive flooding in washington state and now residents in northern california are bracing for a major rainstorm, strong winds, even a blizzard. schools in the bay area are closed as a precaution. nbc's miguel almaguer shows us how residents are getting ready.

>> reporter: they're already running low on sandbags. >> how's it looking? >> looking like we're going to be here awhile. >> reporter: up to 8 inches of rain could fall in 48 hours. >> they're saying it's going to be bad. i think it's going to be pretty bad. >> residents in washington already got a taste of just how bad it can get. >> reporter: rivers and roads are flooding. 13 inches of rain could fall before week's end. near seattle, tens of thousands have lost power. along the coast, beach erosion has swallowed two homes and threatens even more. >> all right, let's get the latest on this. bill karins is here. seems like there's a lot of warnings up. >> preparation time is over with. now everyone's sitting in home, people aren't going to school today in many areas of the west because of the dangerous winds and because of the elements that could fall like the trees. as far as the rain has gone over the last three to four hours

we've really started to pick up the intensity. notice so far 1.5 to 2 inches. san francisco has yet to get your rain but that is going to begin. for san francisco the worst of it will be an hour from now, probably to about noon or so. that's when the worst and the most damaging weather will occur in the san francisco bay area through napa and back towards sacramento. by the time we're all said and done, we showed you, we've picked up 1 to 2 inches. we still think we could get somewhere between 6 to 7 inches of rain in areas. sacramento to san francisco about 2 to 3 inches for you. even later tonight, this front will move all the way to the south. even santa barbara and l.a. will eventually pick up some of that. with wind gusts up to 80 miles per hour, we're going to get the power out ans too. so again, the big storm in the west all day today. also, people in new england, be careful. from new york state to pennsylvania, connecticut, there's a little coating of ice and snow that happened overnight and there's a lot of accidents already. it could be a treacherous morning commute. >> saw it coming down yesterday

in new york. from weather to an earthquake, or at least what sounded like one to homeowners in california. it was actually a car that came through the roof of the garage. look at this. the rented bmw apparently went airborne off a street above their house. the driver fled and actually hid in some bushes before police found him. on the bright side, at least the homeowners can now say, hey, i've got a beamer in my garage. not the way they'd want it i'm sure. my friend francis rivera, good morning. >> good morning. let's start nba, wizards/magic and a buzzer-beater finish. >> lob inside. caught, score, dagger! the wizards win it at the buzzer! >> nice, huh? who doesn't love a win at the buzzer? bradley beal with the catch and shoot to seal a 91-89 win over the magic. to college hoops. columbia led top-ranked kentucky 25-23 at halftime before the wildcats shook off its slow

start. they rallied to beat columbia 56-46. >> >> nasty at redskins practice, look at this fight that broke out between players andre roberts and breeland. it reportedly started over a dropped pass. >> fists were flying. >> they're not going to have that dropped pass. roberts removed his helmet, went at breeland, likely the tension of their 3-10 season rearing its ugly face. hug it out, you're on the same team. >> that's right, you're on the same team. good-bye, big 10. pellow, pac-12. gary anderson is leaving for oregon state. he coached the wajjers to a 19-7 record over two seasons. he replaced mike riley. wisconsin running back and heisman finalist melvin gordon is skipping his senior year to enter the big leagues of the nfl draft. the college football playoff national championship ring was unveiled on twitter yesterday. it features the national

championship trophy logo surrounded by diamonds and the words that everybody cares about, national champions. >> i like the words, i like the bling on it. >> remember this original design for the new golden state warriors arena. look at it, it became an internet punch line saying, well -- >> it doesn't look like an arena. >> flush it down the big giant toilet. a big old one. the warriors on a 14-game winning streak by the way. apparently they listened and unveiled an updated design. >> much better. >> the privately funded project is expected to cost more than $1 billion and seat over 18,000. it is scheduled to open in time for the 2018-19 season. two days after marvin lewis called johnny manziel "a midget" during a radio interview, cleveland's fox 8 did something, they sent their shortest correspondent, right there, john rinaldi, to a bengals press conference to ask lewis billion

height disparity. lewis had earlier apologized for the remark. manziel, he said it was "absolutely funny." that is a confident man. >> that could have been very awkward. all right, thank you frances. let's get down to business with landon downing. good morning. >> good morning. instagram is now bigger than twitter. the photo and video-sharing app has more than 300 million active users versus 284 million for twitter. like twitter, instagram plans to start verifying accounts of celebrities, athletes and brands. they'll be identified with a badge. so fans know they're really who they say they are. mcdonald's is slimming down dropping items from its menu. it's an effort to revamp its super size me reputation. for example, you'll now get one quarter pounder option instead of four. mcdonald's ceo says the company has failed to keep up with customers' changing diets. don't throw away that old ipod, it could be worth cash. classic ipods are selling for as much as $900 on ebay.

even though apple stopped selling them back in september. the older ipods have more storage with 164 gigabytes than any current apple device. >> i've got to check my closet, i think i have one of those. check out these headlines that caught our eyes this morning. out of "the detroit news," protesters demand msu cancel george will speech on the heels of recent comments he made about sexual assaults on college campuses. the pew research center finds growing support for gun rights. "usa today" has this scoop on the states with worst drivers. tied at number one? montana and south carolina. be safe on those roads. high on the list texas, north dakota, and delaware.

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welcome back. so months after nfl commissioner roger goodell admitted he fumbled several high-profile domestic violence cases goodell says the league is back on

track. new rules have been put in place. any player charged with a violent crime will be sidelined and placed on paid leave. goodell spoke with nbc's peter alexander yesterday. >> why should critics be confident this time you got it right? >> well, we've changed the policy. we've strengthened it. we've toughened it. >> did you say, i screwed up? >> of course. the most important thing in leadership is to be able to say when you make a mistake. the most important thing is to be able to say, this is what i did to correct it. on wednesday, president obama announced a new campaign to invest $1 billion in early childhood education. the money will come from public and private funds. the president said "this isn't a red or blue issue, it's about doing what is best for our kids." the first openly gay u.s. ambassador to serve east asia has been sworn in by secretary of state john kerry. said osias will serve in vietnam. he is the seventh openly gay person named ambassador under the obama administration. on military.com, navy

declares laser weapons ready to protect ships in persian gulf. take a look at this the world's first deployed laser weapon is aboard the "uss ponce." sailors on the ship are equipped to destroy any approaching threat within seconds with that new laser. noah's ark. outrageous comments on torture from republicans. and president obama as an elf. "scrambled politics" is next. powered by microsoft dynamics, azure, and office 365, the team can gain real time insights and instantly share information around the globe. when every millisecond counts, staying competitive begins with the cloud. this is the microsoft cloud. ring ring! progresso! i can't believe i'm eating bacon and rich creamy cheese before my sister's wedding well it's only 100 calories, so you'll be ready for that dress

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time for your thursday edition of "scrambled politics." so since when is waterboarding not torture? outrageous comments from new york republican congressman peter king. he spoke with wcbs a.m., and according to him supporters of the senate's report have an attitude of hate america first. he also said he didn't believe it was torture, but said it was making people "stand in awkward positions." >> we're not talking about anyone being burned or stabbed or cut or anything like that. we're talking about people made to stand in awkward positions, have water, you know, put into their nose, into their mouth. and then there's this. whoops moment from msnbc.com. scott walker's special holiday message -- molotov. in an undated letter posted by "the capital times" walker ends a letter about the menorah in front of the courthouse by saying molotov.

presumably instead of mazel tov, a hebrew phrase for "congratulations." a molotov cocktail is a homemade explosive. from "usa today," kentucky rejects $18 million in tax incentives for noah's ark park. they cite the separation of church and state. and talk about chump change in the $1.1 trillion spending bill. it's 1,600 pages. so there are a few odd things being buried deep in there. "the hill" points out this little nugget. two kinds of birds can no longer be declared endangered by the federal government because that would create extra hurdles for oil and gas drillers. bit way, it also blocks a pay raise for the vice president. sorry, joe biden. and president obama helped spread the christmas cheer at a toys for tots event yesterday. he even compared himself to a pretty famous holiday character. >> ho ho ho! >> that's a pretty serious ho ho

ho. >> ho ho ho! i'm the big elf. i'm like will ferrell. >> yeah, kind of sort of not really. that's your morning dish of "scrambled politics." i'm joined by bob franken. he didn't have the same outfit or anything. >> so little time, so many one-liners. >> all right, let get to this. this is serious news. former vice president dick cheney called the cia torture report full of crap. his words. is that to be expected? or did he also make some good points? >> well, first of all, i would congratulate him for his blunt language and wish him molotov. secondly, he was never a nuanced kind of guy. so pretty much he was able to encapsulate the defenders of the cia's position on this. it would have been news, of course, had he said that the senate report was absolutely correct. the question is, what is the crap that he talks about? the question is whether these

techniques were torture that went above and beyond questionable approval, legal approval, in the bush/cheney administration. the other question and big argument is whether they worked. the senate intelligence committee has outlined in a 500-plus-page summary of their findings that there's evidence that this didn't even work, this very questionable material. >> well, the report also suggests little intelligence was gathered from the use of torture. while cheney denies that, he does pose an interesting question. if not these techniques then what should be done to find those guilty of terrorism? >> well, you know, the question really is, what techniques can be done by a civilized nation? the united states has always presented itself as above such insidious torture. so the question really is, is the u.s. in a position where it has to get into a messing contest with a skunk when it gets into this kind of dangerous situation? >> i want to shift to the government funding bill. senator lit beth warren is

furious about a provision she says really undermines protections established after the financial crisis. so what is at stake here? >> well, what's at stake here is the president -- the presidential campaign. elizabeth warren makes a big deal out of saying she's not interested in running for president but she's always way out front there. in the case of the riders put on the bill, they're routine. her reaction to it is sort of like casablanca when the person says "i'm shocked, shocked." >> all right. well, we appreciate you joining us today, bob. always enjoy the insight. thank you very much. >> molotov to you. >> would you stop. still ahead, a barbershop medley that can only air on late night. we'll show you why. ou were covered for this. [boy] check it out,mom! [prof. burke]when you're really only covered for this. or how you figured you were covered for this. when you're actually paying for this.

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welcome back, everyone. coming up on 28 minutes past the hour. look at the beautiful christmas tree, it's about that time. christmas 14 days away? shop quickly, time is running out. let's get you entertainment news right now. on "the tonight show," steve carell stopped by last night to make the barbershop quartet into a quintet. ♪ ♪ and i can't hold it much longer it's getting stronger and stronger ♪ ♪ when i get this feeling i want sexual healing ♪ >> when i think of barbershop quartets i don't think of marvin gaye. >> where'd the jackets come from? >> they sounded really good. >> they did.

it's like the reason i watch like "way too early" is for that sexual healing -- i don't know what to think about you now, that was a little creepy. thanks for joining us today. this is "first look" on msnbc. "way too early" starts right now. we asked the agency to go take steps and put in place programs that were designed to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it didn't happen again and that's exactly what they did. >> it's bad enough not to prosecute these officials. but to reward or promote them and risk the integrity of the u.s. government to protect them is incomprehensible. >> the reaction pile-on after the stunning report on enhanced cia interrogations. more leaders come out to defend the report that dick cheney says is "full of crap." so the deal is set for the spending bill to prevent another government shutdown. it does that and it includes

some other little sweetheart side measures. now senator elizabeth warren is leading a revolt to vote it down when the deadline is tonight. california bracing for its most powerful storm in years. it's expected to be so strong that schools in the san francisco area, already canceling classes for the first time since 9/11. this is "way too early." hey, everybody. good morning. i'm thomas roberts. it is thursday, december the 11th. welcome to "way too early," the show that warns you there are only two weeks left. that's it, 14 days until christmas. who's done their christmas shopping? >> i've done half. >> joey's done some. zero, franklin's done zero, rob's done zero, mike all done? all by amazon? nobody, nothing. hey, all right. stockings full of coal.