so congress, fair warning. prepare to start getting lobbied by some very intimidatingly fit cue who can bend over backwards, literally, and on tiptoe if need to in order to get their point. their point. "first look" is up next. good thursday morning. right now on "first look," score one for the sony hackers as the entertainment giant pulls a controversial movie, but they're not the only ones. president obama's history changing stance on cuba after half a century of frigid relations with a little push from pope francis. one nation looks to the stars as another hopes to keep watch from below them. good morning, everyone. i'm angie goff. north korea is seen as the instigator as the massive hack attack on sony, a senior official tells nbc news, saying there will be a response. late last night the white house released an official statement saying in part the u.s. government is working tirelessly to bring the perpetrators of this attack to justice and we

are considering a range of options in weighing a potential response. sony decided to pull the christmas day release of the interview because of the threat of 9/11 type attacks from the hackers. the nation's five largest movie theater chains had already decided to hold back or drop it themselves and reaction has been swift. actor rob lowe tweeted, wow, everyone caved, the hackers won. an utter and complete victory for them. from former house speaker knute gingrich, no one should kid themselves. with the sony collapse, america lost its first cyberwar. this is a very, very dangerous precedent. and mitt romney had this idea, sony pictures, don't cave, fight, release the interview free online globally. ask viewers for a volunteer $5 contribution to fight ebola. and sony's not the only movie studio to shelf the project. nbc news confirmed that fox will not be moving forward with a film called pyongyang featuring

steve celarell also set in nort korea. kirk gregory has more. >> reporter: federal officials tell nbc news they believe they now know who is to blame for the massive gate affect at sony pictures, hackers working on orders from north korea. that announcement comes on the heels of the motion picture giant canceling the release of "interview" in the wake of five major movie chains announcing they would not show the film. sony pictures put out a statement saying we respect and understand our partners' decision and, of course, completely share their paramount interest in the safety of employees and theatergoers. >> i think it was made in bad taste, but everyone has the right to freedom of speech. so even constitutes hollywood. >> reporter: stopping the release, a primary demand from the guardians of peace, the group that claimed responsibility for leaking reams of internal information from the film company over the past three weeks. in a posting online tuesday, the

hackers threatened theaters set to show the film. the department of homeland security says there is no credible intelligence to indicate a plot. but some worry more about the response than the threat. >> what this does is set a precedent for others who wish to attack cultural items. >> reporter: for sony pictures, reeling after sensitive and sometimes embarrassing information made public. an additional loss, upwards of $50 million in theatrical revenue alone. kirk gregory, nbc news. now to that historic shift in u.s. cuban relations and decades of distance and a major course change ahead. the headlines from the new york times, u.s. to restore full relations with cuba, erasing a last trace of cold war hostility. in the miami herald, after half a century, a thaw in u.s. cuba ties. in miami's little havana, this reaction. >> i think it is a terrible mistake. >> this will change things, especially for friends and family in cuba.

>> when are they going to free cuba from this dictatorship? >> in el nuevo herald, end of dispute with the u.s., but will be changes in cuba. but it is drawing heat from some lawmakers. >> it is a fallacy to believe that cuba will reform because an american president opens his hands and the castro brothers will suddenly unclench their fists. >> i intend to use every tool at our disposal in the majority to unravel as many of these changes as possible. >> now, part of this historic deal, a secret swap months in the making involving pope francis with the world watching three alleged cuban spy prisoners were exchanged for an american, alan gross. chris van holland told chris hayes -- >> the president recognized if we want to help empower the cuban people as opposed to

empower the cuban regime, we need to fully engage. and that's what he did. >> nbc's tracie potts is in washington with more on the timing of all of this. good morning, tracie. >> reporter: well, angie, the timing is significant. congress is gone. it is the end of the year. they'll have to get involved. and the government is going to have to review and likely remove cuba from its list of terrorist states after 50 years. both countries now ready to put the past behind. three cuban spies released by the u.s. arrived in that van ha exchange, one american spy was released, alan gross, he supports opening relations. >> two wrongs never make a right. >> reporter: the trade embargo will not be lifted right away. congress mandates that. but soon you'll be able to use your debit card there, travel will become easier for families and tourists, eventually cuba's famed cigars now banned could make their way legally to the

u.s. >> neither the american nor cuban people are well served by a rigid policy that is rooted in events that took place before most of us were born. >> reporter: conservatives fear u.s. security could be at risk. >> it is disgraceful for a president who claims to treasure human rights and human freedom. >> most of my colleagues feel we are long past due. 50 years. 50 years. >> reporter: there is mixed reaction in cuban communities across america. >> i think it was way overdue. >> the time has come to allow cubans, americans, people of all places to go to havana, to go to cuba. >> very, very disappointed. i don't want more communist system in cuba. and now it is forever. >> this repression will continue. >> reporter: the u.s. will open an embassy and press for reforms to boost cuba's economy, signaling a new era, after half a century, the door is now open. and the u.s. is already trying to sell this to latin america.

vice president biden made phone calls to leaders in colombia and mexico. tracie potts, nbc news, washington. back in the u.s., police and canine units are searching for a gunman who shot a meteorologist outside our nbc central texas affiliate kcen. law enforcement says patrick crawford was in his car after 9:00 in the morning, confronted by an unidentified man who pulled out a semi-automatic weapon and fired his weapon several times. remarkably the weatherman survived. he was able to drive away and flag down a construction worker for help. police are looking for the shooter. crawford, meanwhile, is expected to be okay. but his co-workers were shaken up. >> to be holed up in that room and not able to do anything about it i think was the toughest part. >> all of us are trying to be journalists, but it is kind of hard to be journalists when one of your colleagues is in the hospital in surgery. a south carolina judge tossed out a 14-year-old's

murder conviction 70 years after his execution. george stinn was convicted for the beating deaths of two young white girls. he was the youngest person in the u.s. to be executed in the 20th century and he was so small he had to sit on a phone book on the electric chair. the judge says stinny didn't receive a fair trial. some of the issues at hand, he was arrested without a warrant and questioned without an attorney, his lawyer was a tax commissioner who did not cross-examine any of the prosecution's witnesses, it took only ten minutes for an all white jury to convict and condemn him, and there were no appeals. at this moment, this just in, russian president vladimir putin is addressing his country on the steep slide of their economy. in the face of sanctions from the west, and falling oil prices, the ruble has plummeted by almost half since january and dropped even more as putin spoke to the press. but staying calm, putin admitted the economic trouble could last two years, but said a rise in the ruble is unavoidable.

he said he would not wastefully burn the country's $419 billion reserves. he also pledged that moscow was ready to mediate the crisis in ukraine. let's get down to business now with cnbc's landon dowdy. good morning, landon. >> retailers are rolling out deals to lure in the last minute holiday shoppers. amazon is offering same day delivery on christmas eve in cities like new york, l.a. and seattle. if you get your order in by 10:00 a.m. target is keeping most stores open until midnight from now until new year's. customers can get same day in store pickup as late as 5:00 p.m. on christmas eve. starbucks is hoping to cash in on the holiday gift action. the coffee chain expects to sell more than 2 million starbucks cards on christmas eve, that's roughly 1500 per minute. in the past year, more than $4 billion has been loaded on to starbucks cards. avon is paying $135 million to settle charges it violated u.s. bribery laws. the cosmetics company pleaded guilty to giving cash and gifts

to chinese government officials in order to win business in that country. angie, back to you. >> a lot of money. thanks, landon. now we switch to sports with my girlfriend frances rivera. good morning. >> good morning, great to be with you. let's start it off with spurs and grizzlies, a showdown of multiple buzzer beaters. watch. >> trailing by 23. manu for three. fouled! everybody outside the circle. gasol. >> three shots, grizzlies edge the defending champs, 117-116. the bears are benching jay cutler in favor of jimmy clawson. is that the benching there a single of cutler's end with the struggling 5-9 bears. cutler just signed a contract worth $120 million after last season. the san francisco 49ers released ray mcdonald as san jose police investigate him on

suspicion of sexual assault. the gm said the decision was prompted by a pattern of poor decision-making. and could 49ers head coach jim harbaugh return to his alma mater michigan? there is reportedly a six-year offer worth around $48 million, that's $1.2 million more a year than alabama's nick saban. angie, that's sports for you this morning. >> thank you very much, frances. find out what happens when a shoplifter fakes a heart attack right in the middle of a store. that story coming up next. first, according to nbc on yahoo! sports, the dallas cowboys are now the most valuable u.s. sports franchise with a worth of $3.2 billion, followed by the new england patriots, and then the new york yankees. well, to worth its weight in gold, an accurate forecast for the holidays. huge storm over new york city on christmas eve. i'll give you the details coming up.

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we continue our kind of murky mild weather pattern across the country. there is a lot of area dealing with light rain or snow showers thisrrendous for travel. we have snow in the northeast, snow over missouri and also into kansas. starting off in the kansas area, from st. louis across interstate 70 into kansas city we have light snow out there for you this morning. maybe up to two inches on the ground around kansas city. be careful driving there. and also up into northern new england, snow up into maine and new hampshire. temperatures are warm. the road surfaces are doing okay. for today's forecast, not a lot of problems, just murky, a lot of clouds across the country. rain breaks out today in texas, tomorrow that moves into the southeast. so look for a soaking rain down here in the deep south. as far as the christmas eve forecast part goes, this storm is going to develop not until probably monday or tuesday next week. it should be some over the top of new york city on christmas eve, windy as all can be, very,

very rainy too. not a lot of snow with that system. so -- but it looks like for christmas eve, for millions of people, a big wind storm and a lot of rain. so -- >> that's a big story. >> airports. >> there should be a record number of people traveling this year too. thanks, bill. some stories making news this morning in florida, nice try. two suspected robbers targeted walmart. one distracted folks by faking a heart attack there so that his pal could rob the place. when the crime was complete, he got back up, but the getaway didn't last long. cops eventually caught them. it is a bird, it is a plane, it is a blimp? the u.s. military has a new air ship, the balloon-like air ship is called j-lens, test flying over maryland. it won't carry weapons or cameras. they'll use it for surveillance. in india, the launch is a success. country's largest rocket and unmanned capsule was sent into space. the rocket is 630 tons. the mission will take india's space program a step closer to sending astronauts into orbit.

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time for the thursday edition of scrambled politics. yesterday at the hanukkah celebration, the president tried his best at hebrew to address the release of alan greece frosa cuban prison. >> i'm told that in the jewish tradition one of the great mitvahs is -- my hebrew is not perfect. but i get points for trying. >> great. >> hillary clinton praising the decision to repair relations with cuba and that's appropriate in her book hard choices. she listed her inability to secure the release of alan gross as one of her biggest regrets as secretary of state. now, in the passage she also talks about a conversation with the president saying, the end of my tenure, i recommended to president obama he look at our embargo. it wasn't achieving its goals and was holding back our broader

agenda across latin america. a day after jeb bush announced he would consider a 2016 run, new jersey governor chris christie told the associated press he talked with his family over the holidays and would make his own 2016 decision after that. democrat allison lunder begun galundergan games may have lost. but she said she may take senator rand paul to court if he decides to run for president and the senate seat. but we should note, both paul ryan and joe biden were on congressional tickets while they ran for vice president. how would you like to own dick cheney's cowboy hat? the rnc is selling a limited edition hat that has an engraved medallion bearing his signature. it will cost you 72 bucks. school curriculum probably looked like this. math, english, science. how about adding soccer to the mix? that's what is happening in china. the president there was so

humiliated when his country did not qualify for the world cup, he is now forcing students to play in hopes of turning china into an international soccer powerhouse. and that's your morning dish of scrambled politics. joining me now from washington, syndicated columnist bob franken. great to see you, bob. >> about the president's hebrew, it is funny, he doesn't look jewish. >> he doesn't. but, like he said, he gets an a for effort. >> he did. but, you know, you have to compare that to the wisconsin governor who instead of mazel tov says molotov. >> that's a big gaffe. the president's decision to shift policy towards cuba, we want to start with that. do you think this will trigger change in cuba? >> well, that is the hope of the president as expressed, saying that the 50 plus years of isolation certainly hasn't done the job. and the expressed hope is that by engagement in a variety of different ways that the cuban government will sort of in a

nuanced way start improving on its human rights record. as a matter of fact, raul castro said yesterday that human rights was among the things subject to further negotiation. >> and that's -- that leads me to my next question talking about the cuban government what does this mean for the legacy of the castro brothers? >> well, it would seem at first blush to suggest that this is an affirmation of their legacy. remember that the person they took over from over 53 years ago was definitely a dictator, supported by the united states, but nevertheless a dictator. the question really is not only the legacy of the castros, but what is this going to mean for the legacy of president obama? >> that is a big question. now, i got to ask you about the sony hack. u.s. officials pointing the finger at north korea for the hack. what do you think the government should do next and really the question is, can they do anything? >> well, that is a really big question because it is the kind of thing just about anybody, any geek sitting at a computer

sitting in a basement can do the kind of damage that can cause the uproar that this has caused now, the indicators all point to north korea. i think that you have to add to the fact that maybe sony pictures should take a little bit of heat for coming up with such a stupid idea as to do a movie about the assassination -- the attempted assassination of a head of state. >> do you think they made a mistake by pulling the movie and -- >> i don't think they had much choice in the matter. i know both you and i were looking forward to seeing "the interview" on christmas day. >> that's right. all plans put on hold for that. >> but the question among other things is the legal liability. if there was any sort of problem, and people got injured or even worse, then the legal liability would be obvious. so it was a business decision among other things. >> all right, bob franken, joining us live from washington, thanks so much. >> thank you. >> have a good day. just ahead, the adrenaline pumped way to ride the

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leading the news in the daily mirror, scorned wife leaves love rat husband and twin sister naked in car park. it happened in eastern china. the wife used the cell phone tracker to locate the whereabouts. she jumped in and took off, leaving them exposed and embarrassed. oh, my goodness. ski trails previously thought unrideable are now a possibility. the relatively new sport of speed riding is a combination of mountain skiing and human flight. they say anybody can do this.

riding in the most remote mountain environment, they're proving the sky is not the limit there. >> you think this is -- >> don't be a scaredy cat. i'm angie goff. this is "first look" on msnbc. i'm thrilled today. i want to thank president obama, the canadian government for the efforts that went into this huge breakthrough in cuban-american relations. >> i think it is a terrible mistake. obama has given in to basically an act of terrorism and racketeering. it's a practice of the castro brothers and the dictatorship to do things like extortion. >> a completely new era, american alan gross returns from captivity in cuba and now new plans to open an american embassy in havana and restore

relations with cuba. reactions from supporter and critics of the surprising move by president obama. the interview you won't see, the film pulled from theaters. sony holds release of the film amidst the threat of theaters as u.s. officials say north korea is behind the company's hack. and watch out, rand paul. if you think you can run for the senate and president in 2016, well, there is one woman in kentucky who is trying to stop you. this is "way too early." hey, everybody. good morning. i'm thomas roberts. it is thursday, december 18th. welcome to "way too early," the show that wishes north korea stopped the release of the adventures of pluto nash starring eddie murphy. remember that movie? alan remembers that movie. you think that was the worst movie ever? no. we'll get your -- who?