it's more of a happy holidays thing, not mazel tov. but still, nice try. and tonight is the first night of the festival of lights. . good morning, up now on "first look," the department of homeland security aware of the 9-11 references, new details on the interview and the sony hacking scandal. the unspeakable murder of over 140 students. now, will there be retribution against the taliban neighborhood, spreading panic, passengers on a flight forced to make an emergency landing. >> that and a whole lot more on this wednesday, december 17th. good morning, everyone, stirring up fear by using -11 reference, the department of homeland

security and local police departments are aware of the threat. this in preparation of the release of sony's movie "the interview, a comedy farce that depicts kim jong-un, the premier was cancelled and sources tell cnbc sony would support a decision to not run the movie and carmike cinemas has already cancelled its showings him but are these threats credible? >> i really doubt this is a credible threat. i don't mean to him encourage people necessarily to go to the movie and think they are necessarily safe. that said, really, honestly, there has never been a case where a movie showing or any type of cyber terrorism threat has resulted in people losing their lives. >> the point of view stars seth rogen and james franco.

>> after reams of embarrassing e-mails, movies, screen plays and employees personal information were released online. they are claiming responsibility for hacking into sony pictures is making threats that extend far beyond hollywood, all in an attempt to stop the release of the film "the interview." . >> the goal is very clear. they want the movie pulled and not released. >> reporter: the group takes aim at theaters that show the movie. the message says the world will be full of fear him remember 2001. homeland officials said in a statement, quote, at this time there is no credible intelligence to indicate an active plot against movie theaters in the united states. >> we take those threats very seriously. we will take extra precautions during the holidays at theaters. >> reporter: meanwhile, as federal investigators say they are facing the source.

the movie giant could be headed to the courtroom. sony declined to comment on the latest hack and threat from hackers. a few threat, revenge, the country vowing payback over that horrific school attack and the taliban. a short time ago, school children in india standing in silence honoring the 145 victims. tracy potts is live if washington. good morning, tracy, how is the u.s. responding? >> reporter: well, we know they're going to offer help. that's what the obamaed a m administration has said as pack tan mourns dozens of children who were kill. candles are lit across pakistan this morning as the country prepare force mass funerals. 141 people, most of them children. . >> this morning, wherever you live, wherever you are, those

are our children hand the is the world's loss. >> reporter: in a statement, president obama cited the depravity of terrorists behind the track. as it was happening, four drone strikes killed militants next door in afghanistan, where most troops will be leaving by year's end. >> the president is exited to remain on track. >> it's better to be of the thinking that things good enough for us to move out of pakistan. this is a very serious unstable region. >> reporter: just three days ago, congress approved a billion dollars to help pakistan with security. the country launched more airstrikes on the taliban late tuesday. there is growing pressure on the government to do or. >> we need to take on the taliban. snuff enough. >> reporter: this morning a pakistani newspaper reports they actually ordered it and also this morning, we have learned

that pakistan's army chief is going to be in afghanistan today and talking with leaders there about what they can do to track down and defeat the taliban hiding in those mountains along those share border. >> tracy, a mighty big challenge ahead for them, thanks so much. taking america's pulse, a new "wall street journal" report releases a bleak review. four in ten believe race relation in the u.s. are good. that's down from 70% in president obama's first term. half of the voters say they could get behind hillary clinton. whoever wins, more than seven if ten want if the next commander-in-chief to take a different approach from president obama. then there is this, 64% think the country is headed on the wrong track. the good news for the president among all adults is approval is

up a point to 45%. congress's approval is up to 16% as well. a midair scare on board an american airlines flight. the plane slammed by severe turbulence, everyone on board sent into a panic. the 777 was flying to dallas when the pilot was forced to land in japan. >> reporter: the video shakes just as violently as those on board flight 280. sleek shoo iraqs of panic as it jolted passengers for more than an hour. it started out of nowhere. >> from nothing whatsoever the plane just dropped. >> reporter: martin stanley started recording video after plates, glasses and a beverage cart were thrown around the cabin. the woman next to him shows him the plate that hit her in the head and broke into pieces.

>> i askeder what seat she was on, there is so much broken glass and plates and everything throughout there. >> reporter: he says one flight attendant was thrown toward the ceiling knocking out an "exit" sign, they called for nurses and doctors, after an hour-and-a-half, they heard from the pilot. the plane is no no shape. he didn't have enough crew. >> reporter: a massive medical team greeted them as soon as they made an mortgages landing. and that was bianca castro reporting. the economy loses value, investments fall and oil continues a downward spiral. the headlines on time.com reads russia's black tuesday, putin watches russian economy collapse along with his stature. this morning, our report from nbc's tom costello. >> reporter: on the streets of moss cao, the russian currency

is in freefall testimony ruble has now lost 50% of its value so far this year with the price of oil also if freefall, going from $115 a barrel to 60 just since june. the problem for russia, nearly half its revenues come from oil and gas and moscow is facing crippleing sanction over actions in crimea and ukraine. >> it will be up to president putin to decide whether or not these economic costs are worth it to him and are worth it to the russian people. >> reporter: the russian foreman was defiant. >> russia will not only survive but come out stronger out of this. >> reporter: but the international community is hurting russia. >> reporter: when they go to the store, all food they buy is imported, it's going to be a lot more expensive. >> reporter: while the drop in oil prices may mean sky high inflation for russia, it's been a boone for americans. more than half the country is now paying less tan $2.50 a

gallon. prosecutors in los angeles have decided not to proceed sexual abuse causes against bill cosby. prosecutors say the statute of limitations has run out on claims that the comedian sexually molested her at the playboy mansion when she was 15-years-old. he is suing cosby. he is filing a countersuit extortion. cosby has never been changed with any crime and through his lawyer has consistently denied all allegations. time now to get down to business with cnbc's landon dowdy. >> reporter: do you want something other than fries with that? mcdonald's is limiting fries supplies. japan consums more than 300,000 tons with most imported from

america. wheat looks to bounce back after a wild day on tuesday. the do you moving up and down 705 points t. dow is down 00 points since closing at record highs on december 5th. mr. sure you are checking your phone calls. sprivent is facing a fine for a practice known as cramming. the company allegedly charged cell phone customers for services they didn't even want. such as text alerts and hor oscopes. back to you. >> thanks so much. in sports, a new nhl record was set between the capitals and the panthers. the game tied at 1-all ended up in a record breaking 21-round shootout. how long is that? 40 shooters, 11 goals. the previous record was 15 t. eventual winner the panthers go to a 2-1 victory. here's something you don't hear every day, a rain delay in the nba, it was halted during the first quarter a. few green

roof was installed at the barclays center. arena workers scrambled with garbage cans and towels to explain it all. the heat took this one 95-91. a. rod, he can leave that glove in the duckout this season. gm brian cashman said the returning alex rodriguez will be a dh this year after cashman designed headley will be the starting 3rd baseman. the u.s. olympics committee is submitting bids to host the 2024 summer olympics. the cities in contention are boston, l.a., san fran and walk. ka washington. liam kneeson team up for a "taken" christmas daypro mo. >> christmas day they're going to unleash their skills on you and your team and they're going to defeat you. >> good luck. >> doesn't seem scared, huh

neighborhood, just ahead, a mom moment on c-span, the ultimate high five. we will show you an astonishing stunt when we come back. good morning everybody. we are about to make more deliveries to more places than anybody on earth. we have the speed. we have the technology. and we have the team. we made over 15 billion successful deliveries last year. 15 billion! football has a season. baseball has a season.

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welcome back. a quick weather update for you on this wednesday, watching rain continuing. heavy rain in the boston area all the way up to northern new england. watch out, a lot of people reporting dense fog into the hudson valley, otherwise today, it's a quiet day. we see snow in the northern great lakes. today's mild day, showers in dallas and san antonio. i tell i what, we are very quiet for about the next four, five days right through this next weekend. next week, though, this is the weather map for wednesday, christmas eve, the circles there in the ohio valley that, can be a very big storm christmas eve into the great lakes in ohio valley. we'll watch that. that's seven days away. >> not a great present around the holidays. some stories making news this morning, does isis have a

twisted weapon? they launched scorpion bombs, they are being blasted into iraqi towns. iraqis used it fighting against the roman empire. jeb bush is close to getting into the business so to speak. on tuesday, he said i am excited to announce i will actively explore running for president of the united states. it comes after he agreed to release e-mails from his time as florida's governor. on c-span a pair of political pundit brothers were left to silence, their mom called in to school them for arguing, let's take a listen. >> let's go to joy in raleigh, north carolina. >> hey, somebody from down south. >> you are right, i'm from down south. >> oh, god, it's mom. >> and i'm your mother. i was very glad that this thanksgiving was a year that you two were supposed to go to your

inlaws and i'm hoping will you have some of this out of your system when you come here for christmas. >> you better listen to mom. in australia, they pull off something very cool. the first air-to-ground high five. check it out. it happened in the french alps right there. nathan jones flying around the hills before smashing through that giant pan. very cool. scramble politics is next. introducing the citi® double cash card. it lets you earn cash back twice, once when you buy and again as you pay. it's cash back. then cash back again. and that's a cash back win-win . the citi double cash card. the only card that lets you earn cash back twice on every purchase with 1% when you buy and 1% as you pay. with two ways to earn, it makes a lot of other cards seem one-sided. wow! [ narrator ] on a mission

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time for a special hump day of splik politics him jeb bush's decision to actively explore a 2015 run. and one asks, if we have to live through the clinton-bush era again, can we get the budget, too? the donald said the last thing this country needs is another bush! as for hillary clinton, a new endorsement, well, i guess kind of, senator al franken stumbles into it on msnbc's "the kite i cycle." . >> i think hillary would make a good president. i certainly fool i haven't announced i'm supporting her, but does this count? i guess, maybe this counts. >> hey, could this be a reason for her to be concerned? according to ad week, hillary

clinton's june cover on "people" magazine was the publication's worst selling issue of the year. senator ted cruz says he's really sorry for ruining everyone's weekend plans. he apologizes after his tactics caused the session to be in session over the weekend. samantha power is feeling the love. in a new yorker profile the writer says the french ambassador complicated her beauty saying, quote, as a frenchman, i'm not condemned to be politically correct and one day we were on the security council, and i sent her an sms saying, on behalf of the french delegation, i want to tell you, you are very beautiful. she responded saying it was one of the nicest sms's she reefd. as of last fight, the 115th congress is over, putting a cap

on the least productive ever. to put that into perspective the so-called do nothing congress in 1948 passed more than 900 laws. on tear way out, a few senators given some passing thoughts from sno senate majority leader harry reid. there is a lot more we should have and could have done. that which cannot be spoken must be passed over in silence. senator joe man chen put it quickly, thank god it's over. that's your morning dish of scrambled politics. i am joined by politico reporter katy glick. good morning, nice to see you. >> thank you for having me. >> i want to start with jeb bush's announcement. will it start a ripple effect? will this put the pressure on romney and christie? >> that's one of the important questions coming out of his

announcement yesterday, does this encourage or discourage anyone else from getting into the race? what does this do to marco rubio and chris christie? you can ask about a range of potential other candidates. >> he's been at odds with common core and immigration so what are the chances of him really being able to get past the primaries? >> rand paul actually took a shot at him over last night. that may be something we are seeing more of from the conservative when of the party. some suggest that jeb bush, who is more moderate as you know on issues like immigration and common core education issues may have a hard time in places like iowa, new hampshire, south clone, some of the early primary states. at the same time, there are a lot of republicans waiting to see what he's going to do, a lot of donors excited about him. it will be a fight if he decides

to get if. >> i want to switch over to this nbc-"wall street journal" that says hillary clinton holds a strong lead among 2016 candidates. we are learning 40% said they prefer the next president to be a republican. so this is a far cry from her being a strong front runner, would you say? >> well, you know, at this juncture, we are so far out. some of those numbers may be reflecting on frustration with president obama, for the last year, his poll numbers have not been particularly high. so you may see some sort of partisan breakdowns along those leans, as far as looking for change, something we saw pan fegs itself in the mid-terms. the republicans took back the senate as well, in terms of what that means for 2016, it looks on the republican side, it's a wide opened field, should she decide to get in, still looks to be declared the front runner. >> there is still a lot of time 18 side gets a tom nation.

thank you for joining us. >> thank you. up next the game of thrones theser that has fans upset. no. it's called grid iq. the 4:51 is leaving at 4:51. ♪ they cut the power. it'll fix itself. power's back on. quick thinking traffic lights and self correcting power grids make the world predictable. thrillingly predictable. twhat do i do?. you need to catch the 4:10 huh? the equipment tracking system will get you to the loading dock. ♪ there should be a truck leaving now. i got it.

now jump off the bridge. what? in 3...2...1... are you kidding me? go. right on time. right now, over 20,000 trains are running reliably. we call that predictable. thrillingly predictable.

now for some entertainment news. >> the winner of "the voice" is. is...craig wayne boyd. >> the 7th season of "the voice" ended last night. team blake won again. look for winner craig wade body on "the "today show."" look at this new 9 sect game of thrones trailer.

don't blink or you'll miss it. yeah, that's it. >> wow, team e people will go, slow it down. >> probably all the blogs like brake it down. >> this is "first look" on nsnbc. it puts pressure on the other so-called establishment first runs, chris christie, mitt romney, jeb bush getting in now makes their candidacy longer shots today. actively exploring, jeb bush's biggest moves yet. but he is closer to a presidential run. so what does that mean for republicans and democrats? a hacker threat expanding to theaters, running the sony movie "the interview." now a cancelled premier, no more interviews for stars seth rogen and james franco and, oh, god, it's mom the reaction from two mothers on opposite ends of the

political spectrum when they get a call on live tv from good old mom. this is way too good and this is "way too early" from d.c.. good morning, it is wednesday, december 17th. welcome to "way too early" live from washington, d.c. this morning, we are here. this is the show that hears from its mom during the entire show. pom, we got facebook up. we expect to hear from you. mrs. washouse, who you will meet later in the show. she's the ma'am that called in to her two sons on c-span, she is our new he ra. you will love it. we want to get straight to our top story, breaking news related to that massive sony data breach t. show is not going on for the fork premier of "the