breaking news on "first look," a tense hostage situation under way at this very moment in sydney, where a gunman is holding an unknown number of shoppers inside a cafe. then, one of most lucrative movie franchises of all time has been compromised as part of the massive hacking of sony pictures. more torture talk on the sunday shows. but has the cia's effectiveness been compromised in the process? good morning, everyone. i'm angie goth. we begin with breaking news. terror in sydney. right now heavily armed police surround a chocolate cafe in australia. inside an armed man and hostages. so far five have escaped, the daring getaway played out on

live tv. >> we're going to show the pictures. this is what happened roughly ten minutes ago from now. we're talking about a situation still unfolding and, god, we hope people get out safe and well. >> minutes later, the second escape, two women bolting from the building. you can see the fear on their faces there as they sprinted towards police officers. the terror began at 9:45 a.m. that is when the gunman walked in. the cafe is in a very busy tourist hot spot, right by the financial and shopping district. inside that cafe, this chilling image, hostages with their hands up and that black flag with arabic writing on it. it says there is no god but allah and mohammed is the messenger of allah. but officials not ready to call this a terrorist strike. >> we still don't know what the motivation might be. police negotiators have had contact and they continue to have contact. and we will work through this as we do with our negotiators. it might take a bit of time, but

we want to resolve this peacefully. >> and a mile away, another scare at the iconic sydney opera house. it was evacuated. there were reports of a suspicious package found nearby. breaking overnight, a manhunt is over. u.s. marshals report the capture of the last in a trio of inmates following a jail break sunday morning at choctaw county jail. da marcus woodward indicted for the fatal shooting of a work release inmate was caught early monday morning at an apartment in tuscaloosa, alabama. the scheme, woodward with 23-year-old justin gordon and jamaal cobert started yelling for help at 2:00 a.m. on sunday and one began vomiting. a jailer opened up the cell door and the men sprayed him in the face with lysol. the inmates overpowered the guard, stealing his keys and cell phone. gordon was captured in tuscaloosa in a movie theater parking lot on sunday morning. cobert was caught later that afternoon. well, the real scope of that

massive cyberattack on sony pictures is still unraveling. new this morning, it is the screenplay to one of next year's most anticipated movies. and now a new indication that we ain't seen nothing yet. the hackers are promising, quote, a christmas gift. nbc's joe fryer reports. >> reporter: james bond already has a new villain in his next film isn't even out yet, like a scene from the last bond movie sky fall, hackers have attacked. >> can someone tell me how he got into our system? >> reporter: an early version of the screenplay for the next 007 film spektor, still in production, was stolen by hackers. in a statement, ian productions says it is concerned that third parties who have received the stolen screenplay may seek to publish it or its contents. after releasing more stolen files this week, the hackers say they're just getting started. >> promising a lot more to come in what they call the meer ary christmas bash that will have the most devastating consequences to sony. >> reporter: sony declined to

comment on the latest revelation. >> by all indication, it is going to get a lot worse before it gets a lot better. >> reporter: in a tech web side recode which partners with nbc news, says media were pointed to yet another batch of data posted on a file sharing website. >> by disclosing so much precise information about the studio and how it operates, it rips the veil off an industry that for years has worked through smoke and mirrors. >> reporter: in an often secretive industry, some say the ramifications could be felt for years. sony is planning a town hall meeting for employees. meanwhile, the hackers who call themselves guardians of peace, don't appear ready to take a holiday break. joe fryer, nbc news, los angeles. now to that so called cia torture report. there is no mistaking where former vice president dick cheney stands. there were no apologies, no regrets when he spoke to nbc's "meet the press." he came out swinging, calling the report, quote, a crock. nbc's tracie potts joins us live

from washington. tracie, the former vp, he didn't hold back one bit. >> reporter: no gray area at all for dick cheney here. he says this program, the interrogation techniques that we're talking about here, that they were authorized, that they were legal and they worked. >> i would do it again in a minute. >> reporter: former vice president dick cheney with the strongest defense so far of the cia's enhanced interrogation techniques. >> what they did to 3,000 americans on 9/11, that was brutal, bloody murder. it is absolutely can't be compared with what we did. >> reporter: cheney claims that the justice department approved that what the u.s. learned did prevent attacks and help track down osama bin laden and that contrary to the senate report, president bush knew what was happening. >> he authorized it, he approved it. the statement by the senate democrats, partisan purposes, that the president didn't know what was going on is just -- just a flat out lie. >> reporter: a former cia official explained why they

needed more from al qaeda suspects like abu zubaydah. >> he had stopped talking and we knew that there were threats against us including a second wave of attacks and we needed to do something different. >> reporter: democrats behind the reporter now questioning the current cia director, john brennan. >> you're comfortable with him running the cia? >> not at this point. john brennan on thursday really opened the door to the possibility of torture being used again. >> it probably would be a good idea in the future to have leaders of the cia come from outside of the cia. >> reporter: on that unprecedented news conference that we saw at the cia last week, john brennan said, yes, there were some agents who went too far, but, angie, he stopped short of calling any of that torture. >> support and pushback for this program. we'll continue to hear it for sure. tracie potts on capitol hill, thanks. well, we want to get down to business now with cnbc's landon

dowdy. good morning, landon. >> good morning, angie. stock futures pointing higher after last week was the worst so far this year. the dow down more than 300 points on friday. attention will remain on falling oil prices and the fed meeting. the senate passed the $1.1 trillion spending bill that cleared the house last week. the government shutdown is unlikely and next it heads to president obama's desk. the world's wealthy have a new collectible passport. the industry has investors shelling out top dollar for express citizenship around the globe. angie, back to you. >> thanks so much. want to move on over to get the latest in sports and we're going to begin with sunday night football right here on nbc. division rivalry. cowboys, eagles. the visiting team strikes first and then two more times to go up 21-0. the eagles fight back to take the lead 24-21 late in the third. the boys pull this one out, 38-27. the new england patriots clinch the sixth straight afc title as tom brady threw for two

touchdown passes in an easy win over the dolphins, 41-13. the afc west goes to denver. peyton manning, they're battling the flu. surpassed the 4,000 yard mark for the 14th time in his career. and the broncos 22-10 win over san diego. and the colts take the afc south title with a 17-10 win over houston. it was johnny manziel's nfl debut and right about now i would probably guess rookie feeling every bruise and every bump of the bengals shutout, visiting cincinnati, dominating on both sides of the ball in a 30-0 rout. the most recognizable face in professional hockey has the mumps. the penguins sidney crosby is the latest in a growing list of nhl players dealing with the outbreak of the virus. and the lakers' kobe bryant surpassed michael jordan for third place on the nba's all time scoring list. bryant had 26 points as l.a. downed minnesota 194. and at a father/son

challenge in orlando, mark and shawn o'mara didn't win, but his son did manage to have the most memorable day. check it out there. shawn shot on the fourth hole, 175, par 3, dead solid perfect, hole in one that made his dad right there as you can imagine very, very proud. way to go. bill cosby breaking his silence. and he's ripping into the media. plus, the change in detroit's skyline. you're watching "first look" on msnbc.

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morning. hope you had a wonderful weekend. checking out the door forecast, the only really bad troublesome weather is in the middle of the country, where we have a little bit of winter weather, winter storm warnings for portions of nebraska. watch out for freezing rain in minnesota later today. it is pretty warm from kansas city to st. louis and also a lot of fog out there. very dense fog, even, at that. from wisconsin to illinois, indianapolis, chicago, all the way down to st. louis, give yourself a little extra time this morning, even if it is not

raining, probably foggy in your area. here is a look at some of the snow. denver is okay, by the way, not getting any snow there. out there, nebraska to the plains, interstate 80 is where we see the troublesome weather. as far as snow goes, three to six inches here, a couple of inches around duluth too. the freezing rain is a bigger story in minnesota. for monday, another pretty mild day eastern half of the country, thunderstorms this morning and this afternoon into louisiana. some of that mild air will make it to d.c., 48 today, 49 tomorrow, but there will be showers in the northeast. if there is going to be any big weather headline this week, it looks like maybe asaturday satu sunday possible east coast storm. stories making news this morning across the country, a show of unity at sunday services. african-american churches supporting the families of eric garner and michael brown. bishop td jakes telling his dallas congregation this. >> at the end of the day, we do not want our children to be

exempt from the law. or to be above the law. what we are saying is that we don't want them tried on the sidewalk. >> bill cosby's breaking his silence in an interview with the washington informer and published in page six of the new york post, he said i only expect the black media to uphold the standards of excellence in journalism. he also said his wife camille is standing by him. more than 20 women accused the comedian of sexual assault including supermodel beverly johnson. cosby has denied all accusations and has never been charged with a crime. in detroit, check this out, a 42-year-old building brought down in a matter of seconds. the vacant building is owned by community college and to make the implosion very interesting, the school auctioned off the rights to push the button on ebay. the winning bid was $8,000. in cleveland, an odd defying baby, hazel grace, born at 10:11

a.m. on saturday, 12/14/14, so her birthday, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. and -- miss world 2014 is south africa. >> there you have it. a 22-year-old beat 120 other contestants. the medical student's reign will last a year. during her trip -- during her reign, she will help charity causes supported by the pageant. advice from the bush brothers george w. and jeb. the gop backlash against ted cruz. and is hillary getting a big push to announce early? scrambled politics is next. ♪ earlyfit ♪ latefit ♪ risefit ♪ fallfit ♪ ballfit ♪ wallfit ♪ pingfit ♪ pongfit ♪ pingfit ♪ pongfit ♪ rowfit ♪ throwfit ♪ slowfit ♪ olliefit ♪ oopsfit ♪ otisfit ♪ thiswayfit ♪ thatwayfit

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national journal reports signs of infighting from the republican camp. the omnibus is done. ted cruz's feud with gop leaders rages on. his attempt to kill the spending bill to block the president's executive orders that a few republicans angry. senator susan collins called the strategy, quote, totally contribute productive. as for the democrats, the washington post kris cillizza says amid warren buzz, clinton might do well not to wait too long to announce 2016 bid. the longer clinton waits, the longer elizabeth warren will reconsider her decision to not

run for president. jeb bush has not decided if he'll run yet, bit this isn't going to stop all the rumors out there. he announced he'll release a trove of e-mails, 250,000 of them, from his time as florida governor, possibly to get ahead of any digging opposition researchers. not much digging needed here. new jersey governor chris christie might have to give up on winning pennsylvania if he gives it a go in 2016 because of this, yeah. despite growing up in new jersey, he's known as an avid dallas cowboys fan and last night at the philly/dallas game, the camera caught him sitting, cheering with cowboys owner jerry jones there, but weirder than that, perhaps this ad campaign. >> should your tire leave a snowy or icy road, resist the urge to jerk the steering wheel. overcorrecting only results in chaos, and besides, nobody likes a jerker. discover more winter driving tips at don't jerk and drive.com. >> okay, that suggestive language has a south dakota office of highway safety yanking

the campaign. they say the innuendo was intentional. from the new york times, montana dress code has female legislators sporting new look, clenched jaws. in addition with doing away with jeans and casual fridays at the state's capitol, new rules dictate female lawmakers should, quote, be sensitive to skirt lengths and necklines. some are calling the decision sexist. and former president george w. bush had some advice for any aspiring artist. >> never paint your wife or your mother. >> have you painted your wife? >> yes. >> she didn't like it. >> she said -- well, no. and that's your morning dish of scrambled politics. happy wife, happy life, right? that's how the saying goes, right, kevin? >> yes, it is. >> kevin from politico joining us this morning from washington. thanks so much. want to start off with the passing of the spending bill. seems like there is one thing that democrats and republicans

seem to be agreeing on this morning. that's ted cruz's move to force weekend session back fired. >> yeah. republicans are really, really mad about this. basically cruz's moves ended up giving democrats a lot more time to confirm different presidential nominations. i think the total tally will be able to confirm 24 different presidential nominees that they wouldn't have otherwise been able to including 12 federal judges. now, some of these nominees would have just been approved by republican senate come in january, but some of them were pretty controversial and republicans might have been able to block them if democrats weren't able to get to them now. this say pretty big chunk of nominees that democrats were able to successfully confirm. >> all the infighting raising questions about what this can mean for mitch mcconnell as he gets ready to take over the new congress and the new senate. also want to talk about another big name that came out of all of this mess this weekend, and that is elizabeth warren. would you say her rising star could possibly threaten a possible hillary clinton

nomination? >> well, it could, but right now the problem is that warren has still said always she's not running. now, people have analyzed her language and her language always seems to indicate she's not running now. she hasn't done a lot of steps that otherwise would indicate she's running and she even signed a letter with all of the other female senators encouraging hillary to run. she wouldn't have done that if she was planning on running herself, so it just doesn't seem too likely that warren will make a run, but if she did, yeah, she could give -- >> do you think this could speed up a possible clinton announcement? >> maybe it could. clinton has certainly shown that she's taking her own time and that is one thing that sort of all the candidates seem to be taking their own time. at this point in the 2008 cycle, the last one wide open, both obama and hillary clinton were on the verge of making their announcements, no one really appears to be that close yet. and i think that would beinclud

warren if she does run. >> let's talk republicans. we saw that jeb bush trying to be a little more transparent in releasing the 250,000 e-mails saying he's going to write an ebook. do we have an bush running for president? >> this certainly looks like it is a sign and also a lot of talk that bush has done a renewed around of reachout to donors, particularly a lot of people on wall street, people who might fund his campaign. it certainly looks like he is preparing to run. and the fact is that releasing the 250,000 e-mails if these are all the e-mails from his time in office is probably a pretty good way to get ahead of those opposition researchers because there is bound to, in those 250,000 e-mails, be at least one e-mail that makes him look dumb or something like that. if he can get that out now and everyone can laugh at it now, that means they won't be laughing about it in, you know, october 2016. >> right. also going to be interesting to see what this could mean for the other big names we have been hearing in the race, like christie and rubio. thank you so much, kevin, for joining us. >> yep, good to be on. coming up, a way to get

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where is it? where is it? oh, hilarious. very funny. very amused. northern white rhino, one of six in the world dies at san diego's zoo safari park.

the 44-year-old extremely rare rhino died sunday apparently from old age. attempts to breed him with a female white rhino at the zoo were unsuccessful. poaching has pushed his species to the brink of extinction. from business insider, this plane will be able to fly anywhere in the world in four hours. british firm reaction engine says its new engine technology will allow the skyline to fly at mock five, five times the speed of sound. also able to fly in space, they say. test flights are planned for 2019. some other stories that we are following right now, in sydney australia, a gunman entered a cafe, taken multiple hostages and hung a black flag with islamic writing on it. five hostages have made escapes from the cafe but the situation is still ongoing. talk about a proposal gone wrong as a couple was being lowered into a garden for an elaborate proposal, the crane gave way and crashed into the roof below. when a second crane came in to

clean the mess, it dropped the first one causing further damage. but the good news is nobody was hurt and the woman said yes. >> she needs to walk the other way. i'm angie goth. this is "first look" on msnbc. "way too early" with thomas roberts starts right now. our plan, our only goal tonight and for as long as this takes is to get those people that are currently caught in that building out of there safely. that remains our number one priority. and nothing will change. >> standoff in australia. breaking news at this hour, hostages held by a suspected islamist in a sydney chocolate shop. we'll bring you the very latest. doubling down. dick cheney says it would do it all over again. the former vice president stays on defense in light of the cia interrogation techniques following the 9/11 attacks. and all signs pointing to 2016. read the tea leaves or better yet read the e-mails.

the biggest sign yet that jeb bush will make a bid for the white house. this is "way too early." hey there everybody. good morning. i'm thomas roberts. it is monday, december 15th. welcome to "way too early." hope you had a fantastic weekend. a lot of developing news overnight, and we begin with breaking news this morning out of australia. much of sydney is still at a stand still at this point where right now nearly 12 hours after a gunman entered a chocolate store in the city's central business district, dozens of people were inside and they were held captive. australian prime minister tony abbott says the gunman is, quote, claiming political motivation. the prime minister has not declared this incident to be an act of terrorism. we know a jihadist flag, black with arabic writing there, see the white writing at the top, was displayed in the window where the hostages with being