california is getting pounded by the same storm that did this to the northern part of the state. just look at these images. major flooding, power outages and now the threat of tornadoes? this is "way too early." hey, everybody. good morning. i'm thomas roberts. it is friday, december 12th. welcome to "way too early," the show that does not have its own e-mail account and for very good reason. have you heard about this e-mail story? no? okay, franco. pay attention. i'll tell you about it right now. we begin in hollywood this morning where sony execs are apologizing over a series of racially insensitive e-mails about president obama. this e-mail exchange between sony pictures co-chair amy pascual and producer scott rudin was posted online following the sony hack and data breach. this involves a whole bunch of other e-mails that came before it. but this batch has pascual

asking rudin what she should speak to the president about at a fund-raiser. so rudin's response, would he like to finance some movies? pascual said, quote, i doubt it, should i ask him if he liked django, a reference to the movie, django unchained, a movie about a former black slave. rudin replied with 12 years, referring to 12 years a slave, another movie about slavery. pascual then mentioned two other movies with black casts, the butler and think like a man. and then rudin followed suit by saying, quote, a ride along. i bet he likes kevin hart. pascual who donated more than $7,000 to president obama's two presidential campaigns is apologizing and saying that the content of my e-mails to scott were insensitive and inappropriate but not an accurate reflection of who i am, though this was a private communication that was stolen, i accept full responsibility for what i wrote and apologize to everyone who was offended. rudin also apologized saying, quote, private e-mails between friends and colleagues written

in haste and without much thought or sensitivity even when the content of them is meant to be in jest can result in offense where none was intended. i'm deeply sorry and apologize for any injury they might have caused. now, pascual is being praised by seth rogan, however the actor, the star, thanking her for making the interview before the film's premiere last night. and there was increased security at this event. no broadcast media and the stars were also not allowed to speak with print reporters. and kevin hart, who is now speaking out after one leaked e-mail, showed a sony executive calling him, quote, a whore. he said he refuses to be broken and knowing your self-worth is extremely important. this brings us to our twitter question for you, this is mind blowing to have all of these e-mails become public. so do we have a right to know the private information that has been going back and forth in these e-mail chains from sony

picture execs to producers or are we giving the hackers exactly what they want? and i'm curious, are you going to go see the movie the interview because there has been a lot of publicity about this now. tweet us your best answers. we'll read the best ones later in the show. now to washington, just over a year since the government shutdown, congress has narrowly avoided doing it again. the house passing a $1.1 trillion spending bill by a vote of 219 to 206 with three hours to spare. a day full of drama on capitol hill, and president obama joined house republicans in support of this bill, while liberal democrats fought back in the 11th hour. leading the pack was congresswoman maxine waters of california, the senior democrat on the house financial services committee, who urged a group of supporters to not be intimidated by the white house. and just hours before the vote, nancy pelosi delivered a rare public rebuke to president obama from the house floor.

>> here we are in the house, being blackmailed, being blackmailed to vote for an appropriations bill. this is a moral hazard. we're being asked to vote for a moral hazard. why is this an appropriations bill? because it was the price to pay to get an appropriations bill. i'm enormously disappointed the white house feels that the only way they can get a bill is to go along with this. >> blackmail or compromise, it passed. but many are crediting senator elizabeth warren who has been urging lawmakers to take a stand against the wall street friendly provisions in this bill, which sparking the last minute liberal rebellion. in the end, 57 democrats joined 162 republicans for passage. the senate approving a two-day stopgap bill following the house vote, but may not vote on the entire package until next week. there is plenty of reaction

this morning to cia director john brennan's unprecedented news conference in response to scathing report on interrogations in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. for 45 minutes, he tried to walk a fine line defending the agency while admitting mistakes were made during the use of enhanced interrogation techniques or otherwise known as eits. >> cia was looked to for answers. not only to the questions on the threats we faced, but also to questions about what we were going to do to stop future attacks. there were no easy answers. and whatever your views are on eits, our nation and in particular this agency did a lot of things right during this difficult time to keep this country strong and secure. the cia was unprepared to conduct a detention and interrogation program and our officers inadequately developed and monitored its initial

activities. the agency failed to establish quickly the operational guidelines needed to govern the entire effort. in a limited number of cases, agency officers used interrogation techniques that had not been authorized, were abhorrent, and rightly should be repudiated by all. >> brennan conceded he cannot say for sure the methods obtained useful information. >> our reviews indicate that the detention and interrogation program produced useful intelligence that helped the united states thwart attack plans, capture terrorists, and save lives. but let me be clear. we have not concluded that it was the use of eits within that program that allowed us to obtain useful information from detainees subjected to them. the cause and effect relationship between the use of eits and useful information subsequently provided by the

detainee is, in my view, unknowable. >> democratic senator dianne feinstein attempted to fact check brennan in real time on twitter with the #readthereport. she rejected brennan's claims that it is not known if traditional intelligence methods would have worked, and that there was no cherry picking during the investigation. move on now to the emotional farewell address from republican senator tom coburn who is retiring at the end of the session two years before his term actually expires. as coburn's hometown paper notes, the senator had barely began his speech before he had to stop, collect himself and begin again. so he began with an apology to colleagues for an offense he caused or may have caused over any of his years in office saying his actions were always based on a commitment to the country's founding principles. and during the tearful 27-minute speech he referenced his own father in criticizing the government. >> i think about my father, he had a fifth grade education.

a great believe r in our countr. he wouldn't recognize it today. the loss of freedom that we have imposed by the arrogance of an all too powerful central government. >> coburn wrapped up his speech as you see right there to a standing ovation from his colleagues. we move on to weather and that massive storm that brought widespread flooding and power outages to northern california is now bearing down on the

southern part of the state. it is a blessing and a curse all wrapped in one for the drought stricken region in desperate need of rain and the pictures as you see here just incredible. nearly ten inches of rain reported in one area and at one point the hurricane force winds knocked out power to more than 400,000 customers. that number is now down to about 15,000 as crews have been working to restore power. two deaths have been reported so far. nbc meteorologist bill karins is tracking that storm as it moves south. he'll bring us the very latest in a few minutes on that. want to turn and talk about business news now. we saw stocks go up across the board yesterday, but the big headline on wall street, oil, closing under $60 yesterday for the first time this has happened since the summer of '09. jeff cutmore joins us from london. what is the impact oil prices are having on the market overall and why are we seeing this decline? >> it is interesting, isn't it? you would think the falling oil price has to be a net positive for the economy.

and gas prices are coming down at the station. so that is putting money back in consumers' pockets. but you know what? it is choppy in the markets because there are so many oil companies that make up the headline indices and they are obviously not having a good time on the falling energy price. and i'll just pick out a couple here. oasis petroleum, good rich petroleum both have come out recently and said that they are pulling back investment budgets as a result of this declining oil price. so their investment is somebody else's profit. so you can see why there are some jitters around the markets. i still think net net it is a positive for the broader economy and that's already showing up in the retail sales numbers because we have some strong figures for november. it was a better number than the market expected at a 0.7% increase on october. and buried within that, the auto sales numbers. americans are going out and they are renewing their wheels, a jump of 1.7% for autos within

those retail sales figures. so people are spending. we just have to wait and see what december's number looks like. that's where the biggest benefit of the oil price decline should be felt. back to you. >> quickly, though, it has been an interestingi ing year for sed and bad press and there is now a change in leadership for the theme parks. what is this going to do as they try to get out of 2014 and into 2015 with the more positive leadership role? >> this is a difficult story, isn't it? the share prices of over 40% this year, the 2013 movie black fish really hurt the business effectively the movie suggesting that the whales were not being treated properly in california. that has meant that gate receipts for all 11 parks around the world that seaworld runs have been down. and it has been really tough for the company to try and overcome

this negative image associated with the brand so that the ceos just left, looks like they'll try hard to refresh this theme park operation, but you know what, i think they have a very difficult job to do here. the waters have really been muddied by this black fish film and it is very hard to see how people around the world are going to embrace the brand again. give management their due. let's see what they can do with a new man at the helm. >> thank you. have a wonderful weekend. still ahead on "way too early," four quarters of football and not one touchdown. we're going to bring you the results of an unusual thursday night football matchup. this is not pop warner either. another accuser steps forward, a very well known supermodel, who says bill cosby drugged her in the 1980s. she couldn't sit on the sidelines any longer after hearing so many other women come forward and she felt she knew the truth and needed to add her own. beverly johnson's story is still

ahead. that and a check on weather when "way too early" comes right back. the woman who once boasted only the little -- pay taxes is paying herself tonight. leona helmsley was sentenced to four years in prison and fined $7 million for tax evasion.

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mri when the team returns to arizona. it was thanks to four field goals made by the kicker, the cards win it 12-6. >> i'm so upset i had to go to sleep last night. that sounded like a can't miss game. >> you look well rested. you look well rested. >> didn't watch any of that. >> the los angeles lakers, they're having a terrible year. nice segue, right? they're off to a 6-16 start leaving a lot of people wondering when kobe bryant will take the stand. it seems the star reached his boiling point and bryant lashed out at teammates during the practice yesterday. during a rant, he said, quote reportedly, now i see why we lost so many games, we're soft like charmin. >> he didn't. >> like the toilet paper, right? don't squeeze the charmin. remember that guy? mr. whipple. mr. whipple. mr. whipple. kobe is coming down like mr. whipple. the toilet paper company weighed

in, you know in terms of toilet paper saying you're soft as sharm charmin is a good thing. in basketball? not so much. they head to san antonio to face the spurs tonight where the spurs fans will probably be throwing charmin, yeah, on the court. mr. whipple. shaquille o'neal is getting in the holiday spirit and encouraging people to donate to toys for to tts. he busted out his easy bake oven to share some holiday recipes. >> take one quarter teaspoon of vanilla. take that and put -- that's a little too much. stir it up homeboy stoyle. any music you want. it is christmas time. we'll add a little bit of christmas music. slide it in. and use the thing ama jiggy so you don't burn yourself. she fell to the bottom.

don't believe me this is the real deal? easy bake oven, baby, shaq's favorite recipe. >> easy bake with shaq. the shake and bake, you get that cookie out, though. >> did you have an easy bake oven. >> my sister did with the lightbulb. very good. i don't think rachael ray or anybody has anything to worry about with shaq taking over a cooking show. i love his hat. that hat. we have a hat like that. i -- i would have brought it in today. >> you will. >> i will. you know i'll bring it back. our 12 days of christmas hats. >> starts tomorrow. >> it does. >> let's talk about what is going on weatherwise. out west, it is blessing and a curse. >> as advertised. this was an impressive storm. the pictures told the story of the high winds, downed trees and rain was just -- it wasn't just an isolated report of three to four inches, so many areas just got so much rain. in san francisco, 11th rainiest

day ever you had yesterday. san jose the third rainiest day ever recorded yesterday. this was a historic storm that came through the region. and, again, it is not over with yet. we are still in los angeles and we're waiting for the rains to make it to you. now we're done with it in the areas that were hit the hardest around san francisco to sacramento. and now bakersfield it is raining. there are thunderstorms trying to make their way down from santa barbara to downtown l.a. as we go throughout the morning rush hour is when the had heaviest rains will be in downtown l.a. we still think you could get two inches of rain, a lot of rain for l.a. even san diego could pick up an inch of rain later today. but the damaging winds are over with this storm. that's good. remember that pesky storm to the northeast, what a view it looks like from outer space. still sitting there spinning and pinwheeling over the top of maine. it will lose its grip this weekend and the weather will improve. that's the story. 63 today in denver. 56 in kansas city. and mid-40s in minneapolis in the middle of winter when it is freezing cold.

this is actually a november type weekend across the country. it is -- after a stormy week, no cold air in sight, and no snow in sight either, all the way until christmas. >> santa is wearing shorts, bill karins? >> could be. >> all right, excellent. >> tan lines. >> see the tan lines. all right, bill, thanks so much. at the top of the hour on morning joe, split among democrats to keep the government running. we'll speak to robert gibbs. and when we come back here, we have a recap of who is in and who is out among golden globe voters. really interesting breakdown, especially given the fact we have the s.a.g. nominations come out and typical names for the golden globes are not there this time around. we'll break it down after this. ♪ many americans who have prescriptions fail to stay on them. that's why we created programs which encourage people to take their medications regularly. so join us as we raise a glass to everyone who remembered today.

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here we go. we can add another name as another woman has come forward with allegations against the legend bill cosby. this time supermodel beverly johnson speaking out on the latest issue of vanity fair saying the comedian drugged her three decades ago. nbc's kate snow has her story. >> reporter: beverly johnson was a groundbreaking figure, a supermodel in the 1970s, now joining more than two dozen women who publicly accused bill cosby. >> she was a supermodel, the first black woman to appear on the cover of vogue. she does not have anything to gain by coming out and making an accusation and, in fact, she probably has a lot to lose. >> reporter: johnson said she thought she was auditioning for a part on the cosby show when she went to his brown stone in the mid-'80s.

she claims cosby insisted she drink a cappuccino. i knew by the second sip of the drink cosby had given me that i had had been drugged and drugged good. johnson said she's thought cosby expected her to bend to his will, but she fought back. he yanked her down the stairs, she says, and shoved her into a cab. an attorney for cosby had no comment for latest allegations. johnson said when she heard other women come forward, she still struggled with whether to tell her story. a voice in my head kept whispering, black men have enough enemies out there already, they certainly don't need someone like you, an african-american with a familiar face and famous name fanning the flames. she said she thought of trayvon martin, michael brown and eric garner. >> we're living in an era where those young men were seen as thugs. she wanted to combat the kind of skepticism about black males identity on the one hand while holding the horrible secret in another. >> reporter: johnson writes, i reached the conclusion that the current attack on african-american men has absolutely nothing to do at all with bill cosby. he brought this on himself.

her story comes one day after a defamation lawsuit against cosby. his attorney responded to that suit saying we are very confident we will prevail in this proceeding. but the court of public opinion is already judging him. >> that was nbc's kate snow reporting. bill cosby has never been criminally charged and his attorney previously denied past allegations. the race for the oscars. that's starting to take shape after the nominations for this year's golden globes were announced. birdman, flying high after scoring seven nods, more than any other movie. fargo in front on the tv side of things with five. birdman will compete in the best comedy or musical film category against the grand budapest hotel, into the woods, pride and st. vincent. on the drama side, boyhood, fox catcher, imitation game, selma, shut out by the s.a.g. awards, and the theory of everything. to your twitter responses. question being this morning,

should we know and do we have a right to know about all the private e-mails that had been put out there after the sony hack and are we really giving the criminals exactly what they wanted by talking about it, putting it on tv? our producer has some of the best responses on this. >> our viewers seem to think we do not have a right. lucy says, do we have a right to know what people say in private correspondence? no. but that doesn't make what -- but does that make what it said appropriate? absolutely not. then brian tweets, we have no right to the sony e-mails but once read they're like evidence stricken from the record, hard to ignore. >> i know. it is pretty amazing. that will do it for "way too early." you know what day it is, justine? >> payday friday. >> payday friday. that's it. "morning joe" start right now, after this. ♪ wellllll... ♪ ♪ earlyfit ♪ latefit ♪ risefit ♪ fallfit ♪ ballfit ♪ wallfit ♪ pingfit ♪ pongfit ♪ pingfit ♪ pongfit

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