over you and sticking your head up saying now, will you make me president? it is pathetic. msnbc's "first look" starts right now. it's thursday, october 8th. right now on "first look," an emboldened vladimir putin flexing russia's military might causes the first clash with western forces are since the cold war. president barack obama directs an apology to doctors without borders but that's just the beginning. >> this doesn't change anything. we appreciate the expression of condolences. but it doesn't change the fact that we have 22 dead patients and staff. and then this is the result of a flying mattress. plus, a whole hands on approach to politics and the press. and then something that hasn't happened since 1945, a shutout propels the cubs closer to a world series. "first look" starts right now.

good morning, i'm dara brown. right now a dramatic escalation of tensions between u.s. and russia. moscow is once again stepping up its tactics in syria. the question is, against whom? and the crowded airspace has now become a problem with the high risk encounter in the skies overhead. nbc's andrea mitchell reports. >> reporter: vladimir putin firing missiles into syria for the first time from his warships. and firing goals. seven of them. winning a hockey game to celebrate his 63rd birthday. the russian military campaign in syria, after a week of airstrikes, now escalating dramatically to prop up syrian president assad. not attacking isis, as putin claimed. >> we believe russia has the wrong strategy. they continue to hit targets that are not isil. we believe this is a fundamental mistake. >> reporter: putin's sarcastic retort? meeting with his defense minister, he says, if the u.s.

knows the situation better, let them share targets with us. and we will work with them. in fact, it's a dangerous game of chicken by the two superpowers. nbc news reports a russian jet had at least one close encounter with a manned u.s. aircraft over syria. and russian jets came within a few miles of several u.s. predator drones. since the russian air campaign began. >> they're coordinating actively with assad's forces to support activities to retake terrain that the assad regime has lost to the rebels. >> reporter: russian planes also violated turkey's air space. further raising the risk of a superpower clash. if turkish forces were hit, the u.s. as turkey's nato ally, would be obligated to come to their aid. >> that was andrea mitchell reporting. house republicans will meet today to choose their candidate for the next speaker of the house. kevin mccarthy is considered the front-runner. also in the race are representative jason chaffetz and daniel webster. the more conservative wing of the republican party is backing

webster. nbc's trystee potts is live in washington and tracie, boy it's going to be on interesting day. >> reporter: we'll start to get a sense of who they want to lead the house after john boehner steps down at the end of the month. let's start by taking a look at all three candidates. kevin mccarthy in california is the current majority leader. he's the number two under john boehner, and conservatives think that he may not be a lot different than boehner. there's been a lot of back and forth in the party between the more moderate wing and conservatives, so he may have trouble eventually getting to the 218 votes needed because some republicans say they're not voting for him. jason chaffetz of utah has decided that he is going to run, as well. he's been an outspoken conservative critic of the party. and finally, florida's daniel webster, who is less known, but now the freedom caucus, a group of conservative lawmakers, say that they will vote together in a bloc in favor of him. that's going to take a lot of votes away from kevin mccarthy. so it's not clear at all at this

point if he is actually get to the 218 votes needed at the end of the month, that final election is happening on october 29th. >> tracie potts live in d.c. presidential politics, rupert murdoch following a tv interview on his fox news channel posted a tweet that seemed to compare gop presidential candidate ben carson to current president barack obama. he wrote, ben and candy carson terrific. what about a real black president who can properly address the racial divide? and much else. murdoch has been publicly supportive of ben carson, but this tweet got so much attention on social media, even legendary tv producer norman lear weighed in, he tweeted really, rupert? now you're just being silly. on the democratic side hillary clinton is making news for coming out against the trans-pacific partnership. she talked about it on pbs news hour. >> what i know about it, as of today, i am not in favor of what

i have learned about it. >> the massive trade deal is one of the most divisive issues among the democratic party. as secretary of state clinton helped negotiate the deal, and once called it gold standard of international trade deals. clinton is also making news for a new associated press investigation, according to the ap, after she left office in 2013, clinton's private e-mail server was the subject of attempted cyber attacks out of china, south korea, and germany. and overnight, clinton's team is unveiling a new plan to crack down on wall street. she's proposing a tax on high frequency trading as well as closing a hedge fund loophole. and gop presidential candidate john kasich is facing his own criticism this morning for a joke he made at a campaign event on monday. a student at the university of richmond in virginia raised her hand to ask a question. here's how he responded. >> i don't have any tickets for, you know, for taylor swift or anything, or, lincoln -- go

ahead, yes. it's so exciting. yeah. >> well, it turns out that student isn't too happy about kasich's comment. she wrote this article in the collegian, her university's newspaper, and it's going viral. it's titled, no, john kasich, i don't want taylor swift tickets. she writes, i didn't go to a town hall forum for taylor swift tickets, i went because it's my civic duty to be an informed voter. please start treating me like one. a rare presidential apology following last weekend's deadly u.s. bombing of an afghan hospital operated by doctors without borders that left 22 dead and many others injured. nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel has the latest. >> reporter: after struggling to explain how, and why, the u.s. bombed a hospital in afghanistan, the president made a call. >> this morning from the oval office, president obama spoke by telephone with doctors without borders international president dr. jo ann lew to apologize and

express his condolences for the msf staff and patients who were killed and injured when a u.s. military airstrike mistakenly struck an msf field hospital in kunduz, afghanistan, over the weekend. >> but the apology may be too late. >> this doesn't change anything. we appreciate the expression of condolences, but it doesn't change the fact that we have 22 dead patients and staff that were killed as a result of this attack. >> reporter: doctors without borders allowed our cameras access to the injured. now recovering in kabul, who described the bombing, the yelling, and the chaos, like doomsday. >> the united states, when we make a mistake, we're honest about it. we own up to it. >> reporter: but for days, the u.s. military kept changing its story. first saying u.s. troops were under fire. then acknowledging, they weren't. then saying, afghan troops had requested the airstrike. unnamed officials suggested low-level u.s. officers were at fault.

what started as a response to 9/11 now has the u.s. accused of a war crime for bombing a hospital. a war that could last at least another year, maybe much longer. >> nbc's richard engel reporting there. despite the apology, doctors without borders is still demanding the attack be investigated as a possible war crime. well, a deadly crash caught on camera overnight in new jersey wednesday. police say a pile of mattresses sprang loose on the new jersey turnpike causing a tanker truck driver to swerve and lose control. the truck flipped over a guardrail and instantly burst into flames, killing the driver. there's no word on the type of fuel that the tanker was carrying, but thick, black smoke could be seen for miles. the driver of an suv involved in the accident was not hurt. right now, south carolina beach communities are preparing for a second hit of flooding. this time, it's not coming from the sky but from water flowing out from the inland. crews are dropping sandbags as big as 2,000 pounds to help

fortify dams across the state. officials say 62 are still being monitored while 13 have failed. the death toll is now up to 19 in the carolinas. the most recent death happened when a pickup truck drove into a 20 foot washed out gap in the road. it's becoming more apparent that the damage associated with this flood could reach a billion dollars. an elected official in alabama has been released from jail after assaulting a reporter. it happened as the journalist questioned dothan city commissioner amos newsome about whether he'd resign in light of several voter fraud convictions. after a few pushes, this happened. >> would you be willing to resign if it were a better deal? >> let me tell you something -- get! >> dr. newsome! >> that drew blood. the city commissioner was later arrested on misdemeanor assault charges. the station wtvy says newsome is out on $500 bond. well, let's get down to business now with cnbc's landon dowdy. good morning to you, landon. >> good morning to you. the markets could pull back

today, after rallying into the close on wednesday. the dow rising for the fourth straight day. look for data today on unemployment and the minutes from last month's fed meetings that could show just how close a call it was, in the fed's decision not to raise interest rates. volkswagen's u.s. chief goes before congress today to answer questions about the automaker's emissions cheating scandal. he's expected to admit that he knew about the issue at least 18 months before vw told the epa. he will also say vw has pulled the applications to sell its new 2016 diesel models in the u.s. and renters get your checkbooks out. a new report shows your rent could go up by as much as 8% next year. the big reason, higher demand for millennials and former homeowners, and fewer apartments and rental homes on the market. >> landon, thanks so much for that. now to sports. the away teams come up big in the wild cards. in pittsburgh it was chicago's jack arrieta who are youed the night with a complete game

shutout giving up only four hits and striking out 11 and no walks. but in the seventh, tempers flared as pirates reliever tony watson drilled arrieta in the backside. words were had as both sides were cleared with lots of pushing and shoving. first baseman rodriguez was ejected and took out his frustrations with a little rope-a-dope at a water cooler. there was a towering two-run homer and players celebrated big time on the field, and in chicago outside of wrigley, the cubs 4-0 victory electrified the faithful. on friday two former red sox world series champion teammates go against one another. john lackey takes the mound for st. louis. why a man was kicked out of a hospital for ordering pizza. plus, a bizarre accident and the ingenious rescue of one houston construction worker. details ahead on "first look."

they come into this iworld ugly and messy.

ideas are frightening because they threaten what is known. they are the natural born enemy of the way things are. yes, ideas are scary, and messy and fragile. but under the proper care, they become something beautiful.

welcome back to "first look." the only bad weather we have in the country, light rain up in the northern great lakes. and areas of wisconsin and southern minnesota. then some flash flooding is possible, even ongoing right now the border of new mexico and also into texas. pecos, texas, a couple flash flood warnings still exist. we've seen about one to two inches of rain and there is a possibility for another one to two inches. this continues until about 5:30 avlt m. central daylight time for kermit and thorntonville, texas. areas of rural, west texas have the best chance of isolated flash flooding for the next 24 hours. fort stockton, del rio, one to three inches if possible. the other story is this cold front going through the country. a very warm day today, chicago, st. louis, kansas city. that cold front will cool you off today and then friday, one last warm day for the eastern seaboard, as that cool air will move in for the upcoming weekend. it looks like pretty quiet weather. we also continue to be very dry in south carolina so that's nice also. >> thank you so much for that,

bill. rhode island man weighing nearly 800 pounds was kicked out of a hospital in providence after he ordered a pizza. he was being treated for an eating addiction and had broken hospital rules by ordering food. he is now at another hospital, after he was forced to live out of his father's suv. and a frightening scene out of houston, a worker was dangling from a bridge after he fell off while conducting maintenance work. rescuers opened a manhole on the bridge's roadway, built a makeshift tripod looking tool to lift the man to safety. the man was taken away by ambulance. no word on his condition at this time. and the coast guard has called off its search for crew members of the doomed el faro cargo ship. the ship disappeared seven days ago when it collided with hurricane joaquin. officials say it's unlikely anyone, including the american crew members on board, could survive past five days. >> any decision to suspend a search is painful. in this particular case, we were

searching for fellow professional mariners. >> did hillary clinton inadvertently raise money for rand paul's campaign? plus, does jeb need w. to rescue his campaign? "scrambled politics" is up next. ♪ hp instant ink can save you up to 50% on ink delivered to your door ...so print all you want and never run out. plans start at $2.99 a month. ♪ the most affordable way to print. hp instant ink. more and more people with type 2 diabetes are learning

about long-acting levemir®. as my diabetes changed, it got harder to control my blood sugar. today, i'm asking about levemir®. vo: levemir® is an injectable insulin that can give you blood sugar control for up to 24 hours. and levemir® helps lower your a1c. levemir® lasts 42 days without refrigeration. that's 50% longer than lantus®, which lasts 28 days. levemir® comes in flextouch, the latest in insulin pen technology from novo nordisk. levemir® is a long-acting insulin used to control high blood sugar in adults and children with diabetes and is not recommended to treat diabetic ketoacidosis. do not use levemir® if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. the most common side effect is low blood sugar, which may cause symptoms such as sweating, shakiness, confusion, and headache. severe low blood sugar can be serious and life-threatening. ask your doctor about alcohol use, operating machinery, or driving. other possible side effects include injection site reactions. tell your doctor about all medicines you take

and all of your medical conditions. check your blood sugar. your insulin dose should not be changed without asking your doctor. get medical help right away if you have trouble breathing, sweating, extreme drowsiness, swelling of your face, tongue, or throat, dizziness, or confusion. today's the day to ask about levemir® flextouch. covered by most health insurance and medicare plans. just about anywhere you can use splenda®... ...no calorie sweetener. splenda® lets you experience... ...the joy of sugar... ...without all the calories. think sugar, say splenda® time now for your thursday morning dish of "scrambled politics." as we mentioned yesterday, hillary clinton mailed a copy of her book "hard choices" to some of her gop rivals. well it turns out gop presidential candidate rand paul

is cashing in on his autographed edition. he's written a note inside his copy saying, hillary, your refusal to provide security for our mission in benghazi should forever preclude you from higher office. he's selling the book on ebay. the bidding is already over $1300. and there is just over two days to get your bid in. on pbs evening news gop presidential candidate jeb bush was asked about getting help from his brother, former president george w. bush. >> he doesn't have to rescue me. i'm on the path. i'm totally confident about where we are. i will continue to ask his advice and counsel, but i got to go win this. this is my job. >> bush said he likes to call himself the tortoise in the race, slow and steady. after a new year's day workout left him blind in his right eye senate minority leader harry reid sued an exercise company that manufactured an elastic band. reid said the band broke, causing him to spin and hit his

face on a cabinet. house gop primary candidate kay bailey is launching his new attack ad on her challenger. in the ad bailey derides him as a rhino, a republican in name only. >> i'm a republican, rino. >> i'm kay daly and this is my message. i'm hunting rinos. care to join me? and last night on "the tonight show," host jimmy fallen pointed out there's a political birthday coming up. >> hillary clinton's 68th birthday is coming up this month. to celebrate hillary is planning to hold a big fund-raiser here in new york city. yeah. we got to give it to hillary. she's the only grandmother who hears about a birthday and expects the check to come to her. that's not the way it works. grandma, send me this five bucks. >> and that is your morning dish of "scrambled politics." it's time now to bring in syndicated columnist bob franken.

good morning to you, bob. >> good morning. no age jokes from here. >> no, no. but let's talk about hillary clinton. she's speaking out against the trans-pacific partnership. what do you think her strategy is here? especially since she helped negotiate the deal. >> well, she was involved in the preliminary discussions. and she's made it clear that she is not against the idea of a trade pact in the pacific. per se. but she's saying that, pardon the cliche, that the devil is in the details. specifically she's concerned about provisions that were negotiated in secret that would favor the pharmaceutical companies, and also would not really provide protections against currency manipulation. this is still an ongoing process, and as a matter of fact, while there is a trade deal, it's still subject to change before congress gets its way with it. >> so i'm sure we'll be hearing more about that. now i want to turn to this advertising saturation that's going on. because jeb bush is leading the super pac back, spending $1.9

million to back him in iowa, new hampshire and south carolina. all that was spent in one week. do you think this saturation is going to help his campaign? >> well, certainly, it can't hurt. because, he has not done as well as many people expected with his nonadvertising program. that is to say, his personal campaign. he is really down in the polls, although he claims that he is just a tortoise in the race, and this is all going according to plan. but the man who interviewed him, major garrett at cbs, pointed out that that metaphor only works if the tortoise is going forward and not backward as jeb bush seems to be. >> we'll have to see how that ad campaign works out. i'd like to move on to this race to replace boehner in the republican congress. they meet today to vote for a new speaker. kevin mccarthy originally deemed the front-runner. now he's got competition from chaffetz and daniel webster. what do you think is going to happen here? >> i suspect that kevin mccarthy is going to prevail, particularly since he has the backing of just about all the members of the caucus except for

a group of about 20, they're called the freedom caucus, and they're a group of real hard-liners who think that they want more of a place at the table, more of a voice in how the republican caucus lasts. i suspect there's going to be some bargaining and kevin mccarthy will prevail. >> bob franken, thanks so much for being here. >> thank you. just ahead, a first in collegiate basketball. plus a japanese festival that brings new meaning to the phrase us against them. you're watching "first look."

what if there was a bank that didn't just ask members to save; but also helped them to save?

that allowed families to keep more of their money; letting them use any atm nationwide for free. and, because every dollar matters, didn't nickel-and-dime its members with monthly fees. saving them more than three-hundred forty-five million dollars in one year. that would be a different kind of bank. that would be usaa bank. go online to find out more about our free usaa secure checking account today.

welcome back. leading the news in "the new york times." officer in james blake arrest used excessive force. the complaint stems from an

incident outside a manhattan hotel where the officer mistook the former tennis star for a criminal wanted on credit card fraud charges. the civilian complaint review board said the officer on desk duty could face disciplinary action. the police union called the group cop hating and said the officer did not strike blake or seek to harm him. and "usa today" a couch comes out -- coach, sorry, coach comes out of the closet. the assistant men's basketball coach chris burns has become the first openly guy coach in men's and women's division i basketball. burns says his players responded to the news by hugging him and telling him that they loved him. and have you ever seen a festival quite like this? well in japan, it started yesterday morning. the shrine es weigh nearly 1500 pounds and collide together. >> coordinated. >> the tradition is centuries old and started as a way to pray

for a rich harvest and business austerity. >> obviously it works. >> yeah, i think i'll pass on that one. i'll watch it on individual crow. i'm dara brown and this is "first look" on msnbc. don't forget to like us on facebook. "way too early" starts right now. >> vladimir putin. >> russian president vladimir putin celebrating his 63rd birthday on the ice. just as his military unleashes a coordinated campaign with the assad regime, attacking from land, air, and now sea. and president obama makes a call to the head of doctors without borders, apologizing for the bombings that killed nearly two dozen, but the aid group says that's not enough. and changing positions. hillary clinton comes out against president obama's controversial trade pact, the same deal that she once hailed

as the, quote, gold standard of trade agreements. it's 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west and yes, this is "way too early." good morning. it's thursday, october 8th, i'm jonathan capehart. we begin with fast-moving developments from syria. a new coordinated assault from russia and the assad regime. russia now backing up -- backing up weeks of airstrikes with new attacks from the sea, just as syria launches a new ground effort targeting rebel groups. the russian defense ministry released this video yesterday of what it claims to be its first naval attack against isis targets in syria. this comes with news that a u.s. warplane was forced to yield to russian aircraft over syria to avoid conflict. the pentagon confirms the close