hollywood mistake or evil genius marketing move? this is "way too early." ♪ ♪ hey, everybody, good morning. i'm thomas roberts, this is thursday, february 12th, welcome to wait wait. we're going to brief you on what netflix was up to, what they're saying about that early release. we want to begin with breaking news from europe where russian president vladimir putin announcing a cease-fire set to begin on saturday in eastern ukraine. talks ran for nearly 15 hours in minsk with leaders of france and germany taking part with ukraine and russia. more than 5,000 people have died in the conflict since last april. we're going to keep you updated on the developments throughout the morning. we turn our attention to washington where democratic and republican lawmakers appear to be in agreement about having

concerns with president obama's formal request to use military force against isis. he says this authorization would cover military opinions for three years. but once again stated it would not involve combat troops. >> make no mistake, this is a difficult mission, and it will remain difficult for some time. it's going to take time to dislodge these terrorists especially from urban areas. but our coalition is on the offensive. isil is on the defensive and isil is going to lose. the resolution we've submitted today does not call for the deployment of u.s. ground combat forces to iraq or syria. it is not the authorization of another ground war like afghanistan or iraq. >> this request pro hibts, quote, enduring offensive ground combat operations and there are also no geographical limitations. so the vagueness is leading to questions on both sides of the

aisle. >> i believe if we're going to authorize the use of military force, the president should have all the tools necessary to win the fight that we're in. the president's point is that he wants to dismantle and destroy isis. i haven't seen a strategy yet that i think will accomplish that. >> there is no limitation no statute of limitations on the original 2001 authorization. i think that's a key problem. the other major issue is the language pertaining to ground troops which is very broad, very ambiguous. none of us really know what enduring offensive combat operations means, and deliberately i think drafted to be ambiguous. >> still many questions remain about that. we'll continue to follow it. this other story is just heartbreaking. he was a reporter's reporter. bob simon, the veteran "60 minutes" cbs news correspondent was killed last night in a car accident. according to the nypd simon was in the back seat of a town car

when the car hit a mercedes on the driver's side. simon's car careened into metal barriers. he was pronounced dead when he arrived at the hospital. the two drivers sur 1r50i6d. simon led a remarkable career working for cbs news for 47 years and for "60 minutes" since 1996. he covered vietnam and was one of the last helicopters out of saigon and he achieved nearly celebrity status in israel while riding a motorcycle. he became close with prime minister yit sack rabin, playing tennis with him before his public as sas sass nation. he and his crew were taken into captivity, beaten with canes, which he then wrote about in his book. >> we saw a jeep in the distance, and it was an iraqi army jeep and they took us away. and we eventually wound up in

the secret police headquarters and treated very badly. >> yesterday they were released in bagdad. this morning they talked with ed bradley. >> bob simon, producer peter bluff, cameraman roberto alvarez and sound man juan calbera. >> has it changed you? >> yeah. >> how? >> i don't know. too early to tell. >> simon says he was sure he would be killed if cbs had not lobbied gorbachev to intervene. he and his daughter were working on a report for ebola for this weekend's "60 minutes" broadcast. bob simon was 73 years old. the murders of three north carolina students has sparked an international outcry that muslim lives matter. 47-year-old craig stephen hicks is charged with three counts of first degree murder for shooting and killing three neighbors over

a parking spot including a newly wed couple. >> six weeks ago i cried at the wedding of my baby brother. today we're crying in pain over the execution style murders over my brother, his wife and her younger sister. >> the sports triggered widespread speculation in the muslim community that violence was motivated by religious bias including the father of those killed. >> this is a hate crime by a neighbor, our children spoke about, they were uncomfortable with. he came to their apartment more than once, condescending, threatening and despising and talking down to them. >> do you think they were killed because they were muslim? >> i do. i have no doubt. i have no doubt it's part of that.

>> the suspect's wife is also speaking out saying the killings had nothing to do with the victim's faith. she claims her husband was just frustrated over the parking situation. >> we were married for seven years, and that is one thing that i do know about him. he often champions on his facebook page for the rights of many individuals. he just believed -- and i know that's just one of the things i know about him, is everyone is equal. it doesn't matter what you look like or who you are or what you believe. that's one thing i do know about him. >> the nation's largest muslim civil rights organization is calling on officials to investigate religious bias as a possible motive. police say the murders appear to be related to a parking dispute. the u.s. attorney says the killings were not part of a targeted campaign against

muslims. testimony continues in the so-called american sniper trial. eddie routh has now officially pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. that was followed by an emotional first day of testimony including from the sniper's widow. nbc's jacob rascon reports. >> reporter: the defendant who walked into the courtroom looks a lot different than the marine corps veteran arrested two years ago. back then the d.a. told the jury eddie ray routh shot chris kyle and chad littlefield in the back, two men there to help him. >> they found chris kyle shot five times in the back inside one time in the side of the head. >> he said he killed two guys he's all crazy. >> reporter: the defense told the jury routh is not responsible for his actions that day. >> when he took their lives, he

was in the grip of a psychosis. >> reporter: a psychosis so severe, the defense said routh feared for his life. >> he thought in his mind at that point in time that it was either him or them. >> reporter: the world is watching the american sniper trial just as it watched the movie which predicts kyle coping with host traumatic stress by helping others. kyle's widow taia took the stand first, not looking at routh, fighting back tears talking about kyle and littlefield's friendship, their phone conversation just before he died. i could tell something was up she said. he was just quiet. and then the tragedy which the prosecution argues routh could have easily prevented. >> he admits that he murdered these two men, that he'd used drugs and alcohol that morning

and that he knew what he was doing was wrong. >> we also learned what kyle thought about routh. this came from a text message to littlefield just before this crime happened where chris kyle called routh, quote, straight up nuts. we'll shift gears to turn our attention to business and a contentious back and forth between president obama and office supply company staples. cnbc's geoff cutmore joins us. explain what's going on between the president and staples. >> reporter: this is fascinating, isn't it? buzzfeed had a conversation with the president and he expressed frustration about companies that he feels are penalizing workers who should be part of the health care reform act and should hang on to existing salary and benefits. he targeted staples and said this is one company that appears to be tel to work less than 25 hours a week.

now, we know that the requirement kicks in at 30 hours a week for companies to hemp their employees with health insurance. so right now obama not happy about what he sees as this office supply's business doing its best to duck its responsibility. it's worth pointing out this business generated $620 million in net profit through february 2014 here. so there are those on the president's side who ar gooi gu they could afford to extend the support if they wanted to, but we'll see this one run on, i suspect. i want to change gear and talk a little about the whole foods story because i think this is very interesting. whole foods have reported better numbers than the market was looking for, a revenue line up 10% here. what's interesting about them here is that they are going to expand operations. right now they have 408 stores.

they're talking about room for 1,200 in the united states and they have expansion plans for canada. so it seems like we are all getting the message on healthy eating, and whole foods are benefiting. back to you. >> it's called whole paycheck for me because i wish it were cheaper. whole foods is kind of pricey. we'll watch the markets today, geoff, great to see you. coming up fall from grace. how the scrappy little legal world series champion team that we all fell in love with they've lost their title. later, to resign or not resign, a west coast governor changes his mind on whether he'll be staying in office. that story and we'll give you a check on weather when "way too early" returns. stick around. san francisco city official tried to keep the first wedding confidential yesterday so they could complete it before the

courts intervened. by the end of the day, city hall issued nearly 100 marriage licenses since no state legally allows gay marriage. it's unclear whether the licenses are actually valid.

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is chobani. really. i like this one better. yoplait wins again! take the taste-off for yourself. welcome back. it's time for sports. chicago's jackie robinson west has been stripped of its little league world series title. nbc's john yang has more on that. >> thank you for all the support. >> reporter: they were a storybook team african-american kids from chicago's south side who made it to the little league world series as u.s. champs and even went to the white house, prompted by a complaint from a suburban coach, an investigation stripped them of their title because some players lived outside the team's geographic boundaries. manager darrell butler was suspended. he couldn't be reached for comment. in a statement the head of little league international called it a heartbreaking decision. what these players accomplished

on the field is something kids can be proud of but it is unfortunate that the actions of adults have led to this outcome. that ruling gives the title to mountain ridge little league from las vegas. >> john yang reporting. tiger woods taking a break from competition, the golfer announcing he needs time off to work on his game. woods wrote, quote, my playing scores are not acceptable for tournament golf. i enter a tournament to compete at the highest level. when i think i'm ready, i'll be back. it was on monday that woods dropped to his lowest spot in nearly 20 years on the world golf rankings. pelicans forward anthony davis released a statement saying he won't be police pating in sunday's nba all-star game in order to nurse a sprained shoulder. the mavericks' dirk nowitzki will take his place. the clay thompson james harden replacing kobe bryant and blake griffin. the celtics trailing the hawks with one point with about

five seconds left to play. >> turner in the lane for the win. got it! >> there you go evan turner from boston dropping in that game winner with two seconds left on the clock. celtics win it 89-88. fine i'm putting on the glasses. to press cot, arizona for the colorado rockies fantasy baseball camp featuring 88-year-old lieu dunlap. he has a lot of spark left. when he's thrown a pitch up and in, he is going to charge the mound. hey, sonny -- >> the umpire got out there. >> his performance has sparked a twitter hash tag of the 2003 comedy old school hash tag. look at him, getting out the suds. >> can you imagine. >> isn't that awesome? >> i know what we're doing 40 years from now.

fantasy baseball camp. >> that's true it would be 40 years from now. sooner for me with my old man glasses. a check on the weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. >> you know how they say the people in new england are hearty and they can deal with it. >> yes. >> boston is going to get another blizzard on sunday. >> let's ask barnicle about it. mike are you upset about this? >> he sent me a picture of him shoveling his snow. barnicle's snow banks were above his head at the end of his driveway. he's not happy. >> poor barnicle. >> let's get in to this. today, snowshowers this isn't the main event. it looks like it's going to be over the upcoming weekend. here comes the storm. the storm itself is going to be just like a lot of the last ones. it hits eastern portions of new england the most a glancing blow for areas like new york and maybe a little more snow around hartford providence and albany. our computers say a possibility exists for another foot in areas of boston through maine. it is going to be very windy.

regardless, if the storm is further off the coast, we get a little less snow it's going to be so windy and cold we'll have a ground blizzard. you can actually have a blizzard without it even snowing. it's going to be blowing all over the place. people will have to shovel all over again. windchills in the dangerous levels on sunday like negative numbers when people are trying to clean up. this will be the most painful cleanup of any storm we've had there in this brutal period in the last three our four weeks. that's going to be sunday. as far as the cold goes it is right now finally starting to arrive in the north earn plains negative 3 in chicago, negative 24 in fargo, north dakota. that is the cold air going across the country. the series of arctic air, friday morning in the northeast, windchills can be as low as negative 30 in areas like albany, new york. we do it all over again behind that big storm saturday and sunday thomas. i don't know what's going to be a better story, either boston getting another blizzard or some of the coldest air in 20 years.

coming up at the top of the hour on "morning joe," this morning's top stories brought to you live by reporters from ju crane to jordan to washington big breaking news overnight especially with russian president vladimir putin calling for a cease-fire against ukraine. when we come back here we'll explain the netflix story, showing its cards, the leak that was a little more like a bluff for fans of one of the most popular shows out there. how did this mistake happen? back with more after this. ♪ ♪

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want to give you a check on some of the other morning's headlines. the house has passed a bill supporting drilling the keystone xl pipeline. even though it passed by 120 votes, it doesn't have hope to pass the veto by president obama. there's stim hope that the pine line could be built. in vetoing the bill he retains the last word on the potential for is construction. rumors began swirling on wednesday that embattled oregon governor john kits borough was on the cusp of resigning. now it appears he's not. apparently the governor is under allegations his fiancee used the governor's office to secure contracts. speculation that he was about to

resign began on wednesday after his would-be replacement oregon secretary of state abruptly left a conference in washington, d.c. to return home. the a.p. citing three sources reporting the governor said he was resigning and later changed his mind. he said i have no intention of resigning as governor. i was elected to do a job for the people of this great state and i intend to continue to do so. just three months after california re-elected jerry brown as governor the state already has its first candidate for the 2018 race lieutenant governor gavin newsom announcing on wednesday he's running for governor. he began a facebook post announcing his candidacy by saying, quote, i've never been a fan of pretense or procrastination. he says the it means he had to quote, start raising resources now. biggest development for political junkies yesterday was

taking place in their own living rooms. without any warning season three of "house of cards" leaked. they were live for about 30 minutes before being taken down. net flex denying the release was a ploy to generate buzz about upcoming season three. it says the episodes were posted because of a technical glitch. they went on to say that they're lying -- no i'm kidding. the show's twitter page also had fun with this leak tweeting quote, this is washington there's always a leak. all 13 episodes will launch february 27 and we look forward to it. 30 minutes is not enough to bing watch that many episodes of "house of cards." if you want to sound smart, tell your friends house of cards is the only series in history to receive nominations and wins in major categories at both the prime time emmys and the golden globes. there are at least three people this morning waking up a whole lot richer. none of them apparently working

here. howard dean is here too. three winning tickets for the powerball, first time sold outside the continental u.s. $564 million the third highest prize in powerball history. officials say 125 million tickets were sold yesterday alone. if you haven't checked on your tickets yet, the winning numbers are 11 13 25 39 54 the powerball is 19. congratulations to those who won. i hope you're friends with me. next up a look at the stories you'll be talking about in the day ahead. "morning joe" on the way. i make a lot of purchases for my business. and i get a lot in return with ink plus from chase. like 60,000 bonus points when i spent $5,000 in the first 3 months after i opened my account.

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to make your enterprise more agile, borderless and secure. hp helps business move on all the possibilities of today. and stay ready for everything that is still to come. welcome back. let's get a check on the day ahead before we toss it to "morning joe." fbi director is expected to give a speech today on the relationship between the police and communities of color. this afternoon the senate is expected to vote on the nomination of ashton carter to be the next defense secretary. he was given a unanimous nod of

approval from the senate armed services committee earlier this week. president obama expected to design a bill improving suicide treatment for ptsd but took his own life. that's going to do it. a thursday edition awaits of "morning joe" right now. very cold on the east coast right now. this comes to us from brooklyn, new york. it's a cautionary tale about irony and karma and about the dangers of making your dog wear little footies. >> come here. come here. come here.