this isw "way too early"! hey, everybody. great to have you with me. it's tuesday, december 16th. welcome to "way too early." the show not up for u.s. surgeon general. we have a new one. we'll tell you who it is later on in the show. it's cool we finally have a new one. we'll get tlietest on what is taking place in side any, australia and the standoff. we want to begin with breaking news we've, following overnight here at home in pennsylvania. the extensive manhunt underway for the iraq war vet suspected of killing his ex-wife and five former inlaws. it unfolded yesterday about 30 miles north of philadelphia. 35-year-old marine reservist bradley stone went on a shooting spree, gunning down his ex-wife,

nicole hill-stone along with her mom, sister, brother-in-law, and news. a 17-year-old which is his ex-wife's nephew was shot and wounded. officials haven't released a motive here but stone and his ex-wife were reportedly in a bitter custody dispute and friends and neighbors said she feared if afor her life. >> she would tell the ladies this man is going kill me. >> as we stand here now we don't know where he is. we don't have vehicle information. we recovered his vehicle and personal cellular phone. we don't have information. those who know stone say he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. he should be considered armed and dangerous. we're going keep you up to speed on how that manhunt is going on. again, that's happening outside

and inside montgomery county, pennsylvania. we're following breaking news out of pakistan overnight. officials say that at least 84 children are dead after the taliban attacked a school in the northwestern city. at least 500 teachers and students were believed to be inside. the militants reportedly took hostages. the school is run by the pakistan military. the students in grades one through ten. peshawar has been the recent attacks of the taliban. they attacked the school because t . >> 84 children suspected to have been killed. emoti potentially more because there's 500 studentsers and stude erere there. australia is m coing to

grips with hostage crisis that left the country on edge. three people dead including the gunman that took 17 people hostage inside the lindt chocolate cafe. after a series of loud gunshots were heard inside. several hostages escaped. >> they made the call because they believed at that time if they didn't enter there would have been many more lives lost. police had to dream with the incide -- deal with the incident. i want to point out they have saved lives. they have saved many lives. and to those men and women, all that were involved, we thank you. >> the victims have been identified at 38-year-old katrina dawson. she was a mochl three and a lawyer. and 34-year-old tori johnson.

johnson managed the cafe and study the washington state university between 2002 and 2003. the gunman apparently dozed off. johnson tried to take his weapon away but moments later police entered the building. authorities are investigating if dawson and johnson were killed by the gunman or wounded in the cross fire. four other people who were also wounded are currently listed in stable condition. flags are now flying at half mass across the country. and hundreds of people have brought flowers to the makeshift memorial by the cafe. officials attended a memorial service. who was the man behind the horrifying 16-hour hostage standoff? he has been identified as 50-year-old man heron monis. an iranian ref too agree. being described as a self-style muslim collaric. he held 17 people hostage with a sawed off shotgun. he demanded an isis flag and

wanted to speak australia's prime minister. he was currently on bail after being charged with helping a woman stab his ex-wife to death and set her on fire. he was charged this year with sexually assaulting at least seven women. he was sent to prison in 2012 for mailing threatening letters to family was australian soldiers who were killed in the line of duty in afghanistan. >> what we know the perpetrator was well known to state and commonwealth authorities. he had a long history of violent crime. infatuation with extremism. as the siege unfolded yesterday, he sought to cloak his actions with the symbolism of the isil death count. tragically, there are people in our community ready to engage in politically motivated violence. the events in martin place also

show that we are ready to deal with these people professionally and with the full force of law. >> officials are now facing questions about not putting him on a terror watch list or doing more to monitor his activities. australia has a tough gun laws in place that ban some semi automatic weapons and force license applicants to show a legitimate reason for needing to own a gun. we want to go to sara james. she's live in sydney for us. two different things i want to talk about here when it comes to heron. we learned about his criminal background and history. have we learned more about how he was able to obtain a weapon and, secondly, the resuolve of the australian people. and i want you to speak to the social media aspect. i understand there's been a big support for the islam phobia aspect of this and being anti islamic phobic with i'll ride with you campaign in australia

>>well, if we can start, thomas, with the question about where moneis obtained the firearm, that's a good thing. under the former prime minister they banned weapons like this. it was in the wake of terrible mass shooting in tasmania. after that, they got rid of weapons. australians were called upon to turn in their weapons and they are illegal. so it's really hard to obtain them. that said, there are weapons around. you can obtain licenses in certain circumstances and some are stolen every year. it's a question as to where it came from. it's something police will be investigating. i also should point out that one of the things that has happened tonight is that the new south whales police announced operation hammer head. the purpose of that is to

increase police surveillance and presence throughout the city to, i think, make people feel safer and added presence on the streets and places like the opera house and elsewhere an added security. it will go on for the next three weeks. speaking to the social media question. that's fascinating. there's an "i'll ride with you" campaign reaching out to different faiths. some people who were muslim were feeling like we had nothing to do with this. the campaign has gone viral, and has been one small glimmer of positive in what has been a really, really difficult day for this city. a couple of days for this city. >> fascinating to see australians turning it around. love conquering hate and making sure everybody understands where they feel about this and trying to separate fact from fiction about what the lone wolf was trying to voouf prove. sara james, thank you so much

for your reporting. nbc foreign correspondent ayman mohyeldin is here with us on set. two fronts i want to discuss this morning. the more we're learning about the lone wolf aspect of this, it seems more and more likely that it was social media that played a large part in certainly what he was able to learn about isil and isis activities that inspired him to go and do something like this and, of course, the media attention that he gets from it. >> this is an individual who also has a very strong criminal past. he has been politically active in australia. he's appeared at rallies, he's had controversial statements in the past. he's an individual who was on the scene, so to speak, known to authorities. i think the thing that kind of outshines all that have he had a very disturbing criminal past. some sexual charge, the fact he had been wanted in connection with to the murder of his ex-wife. i think when you put the pieces together in this big picture,

you get a better profile who the individual was. he's a disturbing man. probably a little bit falling less on the spectrum of politically motivated terrorist attack and more on the side of a mentally deranged person who has the prime minister said, cloaked himself in this isil cult of death. >> with magnetism of violence and extremism. especially when he tried to set his wife on fire. it's good thing we have you here with the other breaking news we've been following. the breaking news from pakistan where officials say at least 84 people have been killed. this is a school where there are 500 students and teachers inside. original reports say it's 84 children. new reports are coming out to say it's a mix. mostly children but we don't know the official tally. this is true terrorism as we were talking about in the break. this is what true terrorism is all about. i think about malala.

she won the nobel peace prize. but the taliban will go in and raid a school. be when we say true terrorism it's not to say what would happen in sydney is not terrorism but it has a clear political motivation. it's a act that discriminates against -- that doesn't discriminate against children. and the reason why they targeted the children, believe it or not, they're the children of military officers in the region. that is a military-run school for the children of the service men. they were attacked this morning. i've heard numbers as high as 100 may have been killed including 84 children. it gives you a sense of kind of terror that people in that region are living through. the taliban very much operational in pakistan and in afghanistan. and it just -- i think for us as

from a global perspective it is the kind of terrorism that is shocking. >> but for context, because the taliban gave a statement about why it attacked the school saying because the pakistani government is, quote, targeting our families and females. >> right now the government launched a very aggressive counter offensive counter terrorism operation in that region. it's been going on for several years trying to bring that territory under the control of the central government in pakistan. in doing so, with unfortunately, deadly consequences against civilian populations, the taliban today has responded in this way. it's not the first and it won't be the last time. it's an ongoing war between the central government of pakistan and a lot of these taliban affiliated areas that are trying to push back the government. and also, it doesn't help, again, not to go into different tan again, but it doesn't help that the u.s. is involved in drone strike naps creates, again, the animosity that leads to these type of attacks.

>> great to have you here ayman. we're going keep you updated the latest on australia throughout the morning here on "way too early." straight ahead on "morning joe" as well. and the overnight news from pakistan as we get more details about what the death toll currently is. again, it was roughly 84 people believed to be mostly children inside this school in pakistan that were killed by the taliban. that total is fluid. we turn now our attention to business news. stocks closing in the red after the dow was up 122 points at one point, but they received red arrows across the board at closing. we have more live in london. jeff, explain what are investors watching this morning. a volatile news situation going on, which always keeps the markets pretty skiddish. >> yeah. absolutely. and the big question over the next 24/48 hours is how is the the federal reserve going to respond what we're seeing now.

markets are very nervous. and that volatility has come in because we've seen dramatic falls in oil prices. that's had a big impact on emerging market currencies, and it's also, as you know, hit the big oil stocks in the s&p and the dow here. so really we're looking at the federal reserve for cues as to where to go next on the risk story. volatility will remain the watch word, i think, for the next 48 hours or so. i want to move you on i mentioned emerging market currency being hurt. the russian central bank has hiked interest rates to a whopping 17%. 17% as the bank tries to stop money leaving russia right now. the ruble lost 10% on monday. it has seen dramatic falls prior to that. that was enough to break the nerve of the central bank, which reacted to try to support the

ruble here. it was a mexican standoff on the russian's blinked first. >> thank you, sir. still ahead on "way too early." why the names clinton and bush could be on the ballot come 2016. will voters go for another round for the old familiar faces? that story and a check on weather when "way too early" comes right back. stick around. their mission is to take iraq's nuclear chemical and biological weapons program and the military capacity to threaten its neighbors. their purpose is to protect the national interest of the united states, and indeed, the interests of people throughout the middle east and around the world.

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looking for one of these? yoplait. smooth, creamy, and craved by the whole family. welcome back. bill cosby's wife of more than 50 years is breaking her silence about the series of women

accusing her husband of sexual assault. camille strongly defended the legendary comedian. questioned the media coverage. her full statement says, quote, i met my husband in 1963 and we were married in 1964. the man i met and fell in lot of with and whom i continue to love is the man you knew through his work. he's a kind man. a generous man, a funny man, and wonderful husband, father, and friend. he's the man you thought you knew. a different man has been portrayed in the media in the last two months. it's a portrait of a man i don't know. it's a portrait many have given a pass. we all followed the story in the article in the rolling stone concerning allegations of rape at the university of virginia. the story was heartbreaking but ultimately appears to be proved to be untrue. many in the media are quick to

link that story to stories about my husband until that story unwound. none of us will ever want to be in the position of attacking a victim, but the question should be asked who is the victim? the statement comes days after bill cosby briefly broke his silence in a phone interview with the washington informer that infoappeared in the new yo post. he expects the black media to remain objective and asked about how his wife is holding up cosby said, quote, the love and strength of womanhood. and you could reverse it the strength of womanhood and love. cosby ended the conversation saying his lawyers didn't want him speaking to the media. the reporter didn't tell cosby he was being interviewed for publication and recorded. through a lawyer denied all allegations in the past. we shift gears now. we want to get you updated on weather. bill karins standing by to fill

us. >> warm but a little bit gloomy. a little interesting fact. since the beginning of november, in the great lakes, especially chicago area, 80% of the time since the begin ining of novemb has been cloudy. it's been a dreary, kind of warm, late fall, early winter. this morning we're 61 in atlanta, 42 in chicago, 39 in new york. it's not that cold but it is cloudy and a lot of rain out there this morning. especially over illinois heading through michigan. eventually it will push to the northeast this afternoon. not until late this afternoon for the big cities from d.c. to boston. you can see on the radar plenty of rain to go around the chicago area today. and there's some beautiful weather out there. it's hard to find. we've been in a murky, gloomy weather pattern across the nation. >> it kept me from holiday shopping. >> it has? >> hasn't been able to get in the mood? >> yeah. won't put up a tree or anything. i'm a grinch. >> i can see that. coming up we'll go live to

sydney, australia. -- mr. grinch, yes. -- live to australia. it's a new normal as the city mourns the victims of the hostage standoff. but there is some inspiration going on. the #i'llridewithyou inspiring how australians are fighting back. when we come back is she or isn't she? senator elizabeth warren said she's not running for president. why the answer leaves the door open to a possible bid. "way too early" back after this. [coughing]

dave, i'm sorry to interrupt... i gotta take a sick day tomorrow. dads don't take sick days, dads take nyquil. the nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever, best sleep with a cold, medicine.

we have heard it before senator elizabeth warren said she's not running for president, but might she in the future? here is what she said on npr radio on monday. >> would you tell the independent groups. give it up. you'll never run. >> i told them i'm not running for president. >> you put it in the present tense. >> i'm not running for president. >> you're not putting a never on that. >> i'm not running for president. do i put an exclamation point at the end? new poll is hillary clinton leading warren for a potential 2016 nominations. 48% to 6%. democrats are open for a active primary challenge. on the other side of the aisle jeb bush, this weekend announced he'll release all 250,000 e-mails from his time as florida governor as well as write an e

book and put about his time in office. he gave a commencement speech at university of north carolina on tuesday. >> we're seeing more and more people often model their lives on their parents. i can fell you from personal experience. if your parents worked in politics, well, you know the rest. don't be depressed by this. you don't have to follow the pattern. you can do what you want to do. in fact, life is a lot better if you find your own reasons to do your own things. there is no motivation as powerful as wanting to do something for yourself and expecting more of yourself. >> go after what your passioned about. a new poll has bush trailing mitt romney in a 2016 primary. when romney is removed from the poll, jeb bush jumps to the top spot over the rest of the field. okay. the united states has a new surgeon general! on monday the senate narrowly

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we begin with breaking news out of pakistan. nbc news has confirmed through a military source at least 126 people are dead. many of whom are children. after the taliban attacked a school in the northwestern city of peshawar. we're told there were ten or 11