greatest f'ing week of my life. i'm joe scarborough, almost to "way too early." a federal judge blocked president obama's executive order on immigration. egypt called for action on isis and "snl" broke records for nbc. we begin this morning with a fight against isis. after the release of a new video purportedly showing the beheadings of 21 egyptian christians, egypt's military retaliated monday with a series of air strikes against isis targets in libya. now, egypt's president is actually calling for a u.n. resolution mandating international intervention against the terror group in libya. good luck with that. as if his own military would act again, he said quote, we need to do it again and we all of us together. pope francis also speaking out condemning the killings in the strongest terms possible. and calling the 21 egyptians who

were executed quote, martyrs who all belong to christians. meanwhile, the leader of hezbollah in lebanon saying for the first time monday his group sent fighters in iraq to combat isis. he's urging america's allies in the region to align with hezbollah instead and fighting isis. new polls showing americans are growing more skeptical of president obama's leadership in the fight against isis. 57% disapprove of the way he's handling the terror group. that's an eight-point jump from late september. nearly six in ten believe the military's action is going badly. 41% say it's going well. 80% think congress should give the president more authority to fight isis and the poll points to growing support for sending american ground troops to the battle zone. 47% support that idea of putting u.s. boots on the ground. that's up four points from november while the percentage of those opposed to it ticked down by 5 percentage points well

below the majority in the latest nbc news/"wall street journal" poll. a federal judge in texas issued a preliminary injunction halting president obama's executive actions on immigration reform for moving forward. judge andrew hainan sided with the coalition of 26 states that filed a lawsuit opposing the president's initiatives. the judge indicated that obama's administration failed to comply with basic administrative procedures and the state's cases should be able to proceed. this morning in a statement, the white house reaffirmed its belief that the actions were lawful and said the department of justice would be appealing president obama's immigration plan and would offer protection from deportation and work permits and it would do that for as many as 5 million undocumented immigrants. the first of those programs were scheduled to start receiving applications tomorrow. the judge's stay holds that. 27 million americans are waking up this morning to winter

storm warnings. an a total of 60 million have been affected by snow and ice. one right here mike barnicle barely got out of boston alive. it is miserable up there. the winter storm that pounded the south is stretching back to the northeast. areas from missouri to virginia have already been hit with more than 6 inches of snow. roads are covered with ice and the governor of tennessee has declared a state of emergency to allow the national guard to help stranded drivers. this video from virginia gives you a sense of just how slippery the roads are. a news crew was rolling when an suv careens out of control and crashes into a car and stops inches away from the camera. i think if i were holding the camera i might move. the storm is now sweeping through the mid-atlantic closing schools and federal offices in washington, d.c. forecasters say it's headed to the northeast again where boston's already being pushed to its limits. nbc's miguel almaguer has the latest.

>> reporter: millions woke up across new england, the view wasn't pretty. a region buried in snow is now crippled in ice. >> it's unbearable right now. >> reporter: the wind chill dipping double digits below zero across much of the northeast. the arctic blast setting record lows from maine to new york. in boston where it felt like negative 26 -- >> it's incredibly cold you can barely see over the mountains of snow. >> reporter: insult to injury. nearly 100 inches of snow? just three weeks. residents digging out any way they can as fast as they can. >> we dug a tunnel got the snow blower out and shoveled our way out. >> reporter: what isn't moving is frozen solid. >> as boston digs out, i ask everyone please continue to remain patient and calm. we'll have your latest forecast in just a few minutes on "way too early" for your travel plans.

the governor of west virginia declared a state of emergency after a train carrying 100 tankers of crude oil derailed during the snowstorm. officials say one tanker fell into a river and at least 14 ignited. the video you see is incredible. here you see a witness describing the scene as a tanker explodes in the distance. look at that fireball getting bigger every second. a house was set on fire. hundreds of families have been evacuated and two water treatment plants have been shut down. the area's under a winter storm warning. officials say it's still unclear whether the weather had anything to do with the derailment. now let's go overseas to copenhagen. a city still in mourning after a weekend of violence. a police spokesman estimated from 30,000 people turned out around denmark last night to commemorate the victims of last weekend's attacks. many held torches and candles in a gathering near the cafe where the first attack took place. dutch royalty, elected officials and the country's prime minister

were among those mourning. shoot thor who carried out the attack is believed to be this man, omar abdel hamid al hussein hussein. he was released from prison just two weeks ago, it's being reported. he was reportedly arrested for a knife attack on a train passenger 15 months ago. in sources close to the investigation are telling the associated press he may have been radicalized while he was in prison. and as new details emerge about the suspected shooter, we're also learning more about the attack itself. here's amateur audio recording the moment he opened fire on saturday's free speech seminar. >> and the turning point is -- [ unshots ]

[ gunshots ] zblun believable. eyewitnesses say he shouted allah akbar as he carried out the attack. two other men are in custody, charged with aiding the suspect in the two attacks. they've been accused of helping him evade authorities an get rid of the weapon. for now, let's go back to copenhagen and let's bring in nbc's kelli cobiella. what can you tell us about the shooter? >> reporter: well, joe, this morning, there are reports he pledged allegiance to isis just moments before as he was nine minutes before the shooting at this cafe on saturday.

those reports in several local media outlets including one of the country's most respected newspapers. there are conflicting reports about the character of this man, arrested of course 15 months ago, as you mentioned, reportedly for a stabbing attack on a commuter train. a reporter who covered one of his court appearances said he appeared as a hardened criminal a man with a shaved head pock marked with scars. he told us he didn't seem religious at all, almost the opposite, more of a hardened unfeeling criminal. a friend of his who knew him through thai boxing described him as a normal guy with a good heart and loyal to friends. the question is where was the change? when did it happen? >> all right. that's a question obviously a lot of terror experts and authorities are going to be asking. thank you so much. we greatly appreciate that report from copenhagen. now to the ukraine where

fighting between ukrainian troops and pro-russian separatists reignited monday. about a day after the start of that cease-fire you've been hearing so much about between the two neighboring countries. five ukrainian soldiers have reportedly been killed more than two dozen others were wounded. russian rebels continue to advance on an eastern ukrainian-held town that acts as a strategic railway hub. the short-lived cease-fire was negotiated last week in an attempt to bring to an end the deadly conflict. separatists, though insist that the cease-fire agreement doesn't apply in this town. now, a possible peace deal appears to be collapsing this morning after both ukrainian government forces and pro-russian separatists say they're not going to carry out an agreement to pull back their weapons in eastern ukraine. time . time now for business news and a bleak picture of what's going on in brussels where talks over greece's debt fell apart

monday. cnbc's steve sedgwick joins us live from london. steve, good lord it is hard to get greece together with germany, merkel and the eu. it looks like it just got a little harder. >> yes. i've been looking at this story ever since i was on the streets of greece in 2008. to say it's protracted is a massive understatement. we've still got the same issue, a highly indebted country that doesn't want to necessarily abide by the bailout terms of the previous package. the previous bailout is set to expire february 28th as well. and various ministers from both sides of the divide from the greek to the germans to the dutch have been saying look this is the make or break week. some people are talking about the risk of a grexit the greek exit from the eurozone. they're putting that up as high as 40% now. that's putting an damper on the equities as well.

the market on friday in the u.s. close ed closed at record highs. you mentioned ukraine, greece being another one of those being a concern. we've also got data out on housing today, plus numbers from mgm resorts. >> i'm also hearing that apple, who already has enough of my money, i've got an ipad i've got an iphone. i have mac books. the family is an apple family. but now i hear they may be getting our money in the car business. are they really thinking about getting into the business of cars? >> well that's the rumor. there's lots of reports going around. "the wall street journal" on friday had one about a secret lab. industry insiders are looked at connectedness, driverless cars possibly electric cars as well.

it would be the ultimate mobile device for apple as well. they are refusing to speculate on rumors what apple very often does, it takes projects from the drawing board and goes further and then suddenly shelves them or what have you. a lot of people looking at autonomous or semiautonomous vehicles. a lot of the auto manufacturers are going down this root. it could be a natural extension in partnership with apple or if apple went on their own. they're refusing to get involved in the speculation at the moment. >> thank you so much. greatly appreciate it. coming up new details from texas on the american sniper trial. up next who's on top? new rankings of the u.s. presidents show george w. bush and barack obama, what they have in common. that story, a check on the weather and "snl" ratings going through the roof when "way too

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i love rankings. best songs "rolling stone" always has the best songs. i'm such a nerd i even like the rankings of the best presidents. "the washington post" is out with its new rankings of the best u.s. presidents. abraham lincoln comes in at number one. president obama is 18th. scholars consider john f. kennedy as the most overrated president in history. bill clinton ranks eighth. i'm sure he's happy about that. ronald reagan comes in at 11 and george h.w. bush is number 17. scholars consider george w. bush the most polarizing president, followed closely by barack obama. "the post" compiled the list from surveys of more than 160 members of the american political science association of

executive politics section. lance armstrong lost a $10 million lawsuit. it's a fallout from his doping scandal continues. arbitration panel says armstrong has to pay a dallas-based sports promotion company bonuses he received over winning the tour de france three times between 2002 and 2004. a few weeks back mr. character himself, armstrong admitted to the bbc that he would use drugs again if given the chance. it reminds me of that "snl" exit with chris farley. i'll tell you about it when we get off the air. i'd do it again! amar'e stoudemire is leaving the big apple, heading for dallas. nbcsports.com nbcsports.com cites the five-year, $100 million contract being waived. he becomes a free agent tomorrow

at 5:00 when the waiver clears. he printed this message on instagram, telling new yorkers, new york will always be my home. 23rd ranked west virginia beat 8th ranked kansas. jawan statin scored the winning layup. they edged the jayhawks 62-61. it marked the first time in four seasons that the mountaineers won 20 games. poor sportsmanship in the city of brotherly love. take a look at this. second half of the big east game between seton hall and villanova. seton hall guard sterling gibbs hit a villanova player after the two were fighting over a loose bag. he went to twitter and apologized saying quote, my emotions got the best me. really? that wasn't acceptable at all. i hope you are all right and i will face any consequences going. the villanova player accepted

gibbs' apology and the big east says it's reviewing the incident. jason giambi is retiring after 20 years in the bigs. he ends his career as one of the 20 players with at least 400 home runs 1400 rbis, 1200 runs 1300 walks and who keeps up with those numbers? his legacy however, was tarnished by his involvement in the balco performance-enhancing drug investigation. 2007 he admitted to taking p.e.d.s and apologized for doing so. during his career giambi played for oakland, colorado and cleveland as well. let's get a check on your weather from nbc meteorologist dominica davis. it's bad in the south, all of new england, and it's coming back again. >> this is going to translate into a no big deal for them which is good news. >> oh, good. >> they are going to get a little bit of snow showers through the late morning, early afternoon. i want to show you the radar

what we have going on. this system coming through, it did make for decent snow through the beltway. the heaviest snow showers this morning are hugging the eastern shore of maryland pushing up through the jersey shore, passing the philadelphia area now. the leading edge is pushing up into providence. this snow does make it into new england. it is just going to take until probably after the commute. a tough commute for much of i-95. here's a look at the snowfall forecast. this is why it translates into not a big deal for boston because we're expecting only an inch with this system as it's really just a coastal system with not a whole lot of snow. d.c. has had over 5 inches of snow philly is closing in on 4 inches. the heaviest snowfall is going to come from philadelphia down to d.c. remember yesterday, kentucky was looking at the snow they picked up 10 inches in some cases. the good thing is for the northeast, it's not a big snowmaker. the cold is sticking around though, temperatures easier to take this morning. we will have lake-effect snow showers sitting out through

minneapolis and chicago and on the eastern part of the great lakes, cold returns by the end of the week. we could be looking at actual air temperatures friday morning below zero. so the cold is here to stay. >> dear lord. >> i know. sorry. >> i'm a floridian. i'm not used to this. >> what are you doing here. >> i don't know what i'm doing here! >> take me with you. >> oh, my god, i need to go home. the big 4-0 looking very good on "snl" as it turns 40. much more "way too early" right after this.

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viewers of "saturday night live" span several generations from the baby boomers to generation x all the way to whatever you call the little dummyies who are live tweeting this right now instead of watching it. >> yes, yes, yes, "snl's" 40th anniversary special scored nbc's biggest ratings in years. according to the early estimates, 23.1 million viewers tuned in. the 3.5-hour special is nbc's most watched primetime entertainment show in more than a decade not including post-super bowl programs. the red carpet coverage also beat competitors with 11.1 million viewers. mike barnicle i saw ellis

andrew stanley's review of this in "the times." it was pitch perfect as always. >> she nailed it. >> it was funny except when it wasn't. that's "snl." you go back to the very first "snl." they ran out of time and stood there. >> it's always been uneven always spotty but those magic moments, man, they're magic. and her point, joe, 3 1/2 hours of tv you couldn't stop watching in anticipation well maybe one of the clips will be the thing i remember. >> exactly. >> you couldn't stop watching it. >> i remember a hilarious line i think in the 30th anniversary where chris rock stood up and said "welcome to snl's 30th an anniversary anniversary" and maybe three or four years were actually good. everyone laughed. it's kind of like when johnniey

carson missed a joke. >> he had ed there laughing at the nonfunny jokes. >> exactly. we laugh sometimes at the not so funny jokes on "snl." "it's my party" was the theme song of the 1960s. ♪ it's my party and i'll cry if i want to ♪ ♪ cry if i want to cry if i want to ♪ ♪ you would cry too if it happened to you ♪ >> of course that was before my time, mike barnicle. you remember it a little bit better. i heard those songs growing up "it's my party," "it's judy's turn to cry." "you don't own me." she had all of these hits, all recorded before she was 18. >> that's an incredible fact. 18 years of age. didn't do much after 18. sort of like you and i. >> sort of like us.

sadly, leslie gore passed away yesterday in a new york city hospital after battling cancer. 1963 "it's my party" made the 16-year-old a teen sensation when it topped the charts and she did like i said before went on to record "judy's turn to cry" and "you don't own me." incredible, three huge hits before she graduated from high school. leslie gore was 68. now let's bring in someone who was 28 and what she's accomplished before her 30th birthday remarkable i speak off of the lovely and talented mika brzezinski. >> what's wrong with him? i thought you were inappropriate, barnicle. >> when? >> all the time. >> are you 29? >> oh, come on. >> what are we going to be talking about, mika? coming up on "morning joe," we have to talk about the story affecting millions of americans with be this ridiculous and dangerous weather. different angles on that.

dylan dreyer will join us from washington, the nation's capital. they're getting absolutely buried in snow. and witnesses say a train crashed in west virginia. the explosion sournded more like a bomb going off. keir simmons coming up andrea mitchell coming up as well as others. a packed show. >> that's it for "way too early." thank you, mika. "morning joe" just moments away. (coyote howls) was that... a coyote? and who gets to choose the movie this time? but they never had to wonder if their network could stream it. if you're not on the largest most reliable network, what are you giving up? verizon.

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