terrible, unnecessary onerous safety regulations that are holding us back. gulp. "first look" is up next. it's thursday, november 12th. right now on "first look," wicked weather thursday. it's being called the witch of november. and this weather system is packing quite a punch. mother nature also hitting hard in other ways, including this fast-growing california brushfire. then to an exclusive nbc news investigation into how a man lost his life while in police custody after officers discharged their tasers 20 times. fantasy sports websites fan duel and draft kings fight back against the government. and one dad spent $77 million on these gems for his 7-year-old daughter. "first look" starts right now. good morning, happy thursday,

i'm shannon mulaire. meteorologists call it the witch of november, and it's flying across the middle of the country today. the wild weather the result of an intense low pressure system colliding with a pocket of high pressure, and it's wreaking havoc. intense rain and high winds have been pounding the midwest setting off tornado alarms and toppling power rhines. chicago's willis tower even played lightning rod to the storm. from canceled and delayed flights at denver international to an suv lifted by an uprooted tree in iowa the witch is making her presence felt. many in the midwest are dealing with the damage from the witch's onslaught but she's not done just yet. bill karins will have more on what to expect in the coming days. that's coming up in just a few minutes. and we have some breaking news overnight. the u.s. and its allies are taking the fight to isis. right now our nbc news baghdad producer confirms iraqi kurdish fighters backed by the u.s.-led air campaign are pushing to retake the strategic town of

sinjar. it sits in an important spot right between the islamic state's two biggest strongholds. seizing back control would cut off a key supply line. over 7,000 peshmerga fighters are involved. right now the city is surrounded so isis can't get support or aid in to the city. isis took sinjar in august of last year. it forced tens of thousands of people to flee to the mountains, and then to refugee camps like the one you see here. of course we'll update this story as more information becomes available. surveillance video captured a deadly house explosion in new jersey. if you watch the upper part of your screen, you can see the roof being blown right off the two-family home. 24-year-old man was killed, and 15 people were injured. two of them critically with severe burns. the gas company says a preliminary investigation found no indication the blast was gas-related so the mayor of elizabeth says several people have reported smelling gas. officials say three surrounding structures will have to be demolished.

republican candidates are back on the campaign trail this morning, defending their stances from tuesday night's debate. now, there's new focus on their differences and how they lead their party, and the country they're fighting to lead. ben carson was at liberty university yesterday warning students of secular progressives. >> the secular progressives don't care whether you agree with them or not, as long as you sit down and keep your mouth shut. >> meanwhile, ohio governor john kasich is continuing his theme from the debate. he's saying republicans need to be less extreme, and more pragmatic if they want to beat the democrats in 2016. but neither kasich nor carson can count on help from this man, charles koch. at least not yet. the billionaire industrialist told "usa today" he's unlikely to support anyone in the primaries. but is likely to help a republican in the general election. nbc's tracie potts is live in washington for us this morning, and tracie, donald trump once

again defending his policy on immigration. >> reporter: he is. and we're seeing on the campaign trail and what we saw in that debate earlier this week, was donald trump and ben carson being pressed for specifics. tough policy issues that stumped the front-runners in this week's debate. >> they don't discuss in the agreement. >> china's not part of this deal. >> reporter: continued in new hampshire, donald trump offering few details on how he'd humanely deport 11 million immigrants. >> well it's a whole management thing. >> reporter: ben carson who now says he supports boots on the ground in syria isn't elaborating on his debate comment that china is involved there. >> i would have to refer you to some other people to get you the actual data. >> reporter: ted cruz and marco rubio seem to be gearing up for a face-off. this was cruz in new hampshire last night, on rubio and immigration. >> when the fight was being fought, where did you stand? >> reporter: rubio doubling down on tough talk against russia's

leader. >> and that's what he is, he's a gangster. >> reporter: jeb bush, who held his own amid struggling numbers, is targeting donald trump's promise to send syrian refugees home. >> wow. i'm thinking, donald, to their slaughter? is that the america that represents this extraordinary country? >> reporter: division, highlighted in this week's debate, now playing out on the campaign trail. >> and that was nbc's tracie potts reporting for us from washington. a university of missouri student will appear in court this morning, charged with making terroristic threats. amidst all the racial tensions there over the past week, 19-year-old hunter n. park was taken into custody 90 miles south of the school. allegedly posting on social media site yik yak, i'm going to stand my ground tomorrow and shoot every black person i see. adding, don't go to campus tomorrow, and we will kill you. well some students just packed their bags. security was increased on campus.

meanwhile the influence of protests at mizzou may be spreading. in new york at ithaca college hundreds staged a walkout over race issues, calling on their president to step down. in california, a brushfire northwest of l.a. has been stopped in its tracks. the 40-acre blaze started yesterday evening in simi valley. fire crews say it is now fully contained, thanks to the quick work of about 100 firefighters aided by helicopters. there's no word on what started the fire. all right. let's get down to business now with cnbc's landon dowdy. good morning, landon. >> good morning to you. toys are making a comeback. the industry is expected to have its strongest in a decade with sales projected to raise 6% to nearly $20 billion. that follows several years with video games and apps over toys. the surge is being fuelled in part by toys tied to blockbuster movies such as star wars. walmart unveils its black friday plans. it will offer the same doorbuster deals online and in store this year starting on

thanksgiving day on walmart.com, at 3:00 a.m. eastern time and in stores at 6:00 p.m. it will also roll out all the deals at the same time, so spreading them out for limited times throughout the day. and christie's and sotheby's hit the jackpot this week. auctioning off rare pink and blue diamonds for record setting prices. both gems were bought by the same man a hong kong tycoon who nicknamed the daughters josephine for his 7-year-old daughter. >> a lot of blink for a 7-year-old girl. landon, thank you. all right. in sports, fan duel and draft kings are fighting back against new york's attorney general, who told them to stop operations in the state. fan duel's ceo signaled that their 500,000 new york customers should keep playing. comcast, which owns nbc universal and nbc sports is among investors in fan duel and draft kings. legal adviser martha copely who is the former massachusetts attorney general says that the new york a.g.'s legal analysis is flawed. russia's vladimir putin has

ordered an internal investigation into the world anti-doping agency's allegations that russian athletes used performance enhancing substances at the 2012 and 2014 olympic games. all right. so the hard court now where the warriors are still perfect. steph curry led the team with 28 and andre iguodala had 20. golden state remains 9-0 with a 100-84 win over the grizzlies. and in orlando, game tied a second and a half on the clock, as vuckovich hits a fallaway 18 footer at the buzzer to lift the magic to a 101-99 win over the lakers. and the crowd went wild. just ahead, it's an nbc news investigation. one man died while in police custody after authorities discharged their tasers 20 times. our report next.

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>> welcome back to "first look." yesterday severe weather outbreak really focused in on

areas from iowa in to illinois and northern missouri. ten tornadoes reported. thankfully no deaths and only a little bit of damage out there. no injuries, either. but it could have been a lot worse. so thankfully yesterday's severe weather event, there's a lot of cleanup to be done but we didn't have anything like massively huge go through any big towns. as far as this morning we're watching the storm system now heading over lake michigan a fast-moving system so that's good. but the winds are hauling. severe weather no longer concerned about that. dangerous winds in des moines, south bend, grand rapids, detroit, cleveland, buffalo all under high wind warnings as we go throughout the afternoon. massive airport delays are possible, o'hare, saginaw, columbus, pittsburgh, indianapolis, and also down towards st. louis. here's the current wind gusts. i mean this is like a serious wind storm. 50-mile-per-hour winds right now in chicago, central illinois around 40, and des moines around 45. that's like a tropical storm is moving through. now as far as this afternoon goes, we will still see some strong winds through portions of ohio and western portions of new york into iowa. that's where we're also going to

be watching the potential for minor power outages. the rest of the forecast, some showers up there in areas of new england, shannon, but it's like a tropical storm force winds but thankfully no more tornadoes, no more severe weather. >> all right, bill, thank you. now to an exclusive investigation into how a man died in police custody. several officers in south boston, virginia, tased him up to 20 times while he was on the ground, and while he was restrained in the back of a police car. now, 2 1/2 years later, msnbc has obtained police videos that shed new light on those final moments. here's nbc's tom costello. >> reporter: it started at a motel complex in halifax county, virginia, where police found 46-year-old linwood lambert unarmed, hallucinating, and acting paranoid but cooperative. >> we're not locking you up. what we're doing here is we're going to take you to the room. >> reporter: they took him to a local e.r. for treatment. but video obtained exclusively by msnbc shows lambert suddenly

kicking out the police car window. >> quit kicking the window. >> reporter: then charging the hospital entrance where officers tased him repeatedly as he lay on the ground. >> every time you get up -- >> i didn't do nothing -- >> reporter: officers never took lambert inside for treatment. >> why you try to kill me, snan >> reporter: instead they bound his legs and tased him again after retraining him back in the police car. each tase carries 50,000 volts. ari mel ver is msnbc's chief legal correspondent and led the investigation. >> the taser company logs for these officers showed they discharged their tasers 20 times in half an hour last night. we don't know exactly how many hit lambert. >> reporter: by the time lambert arrived at the jail he was unresponsive. >> hey! lambert! >> reporter: medics took him back to the hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. now his younger sister is suing police for up to $25 million.

>> he was not a citizen to them. and then, they tied his legs up. where was he going to go? >> reporter: the police department denies all the claims, saying the taser use was appropriate and necessary because lambert damaged property and was a danger. >> it just hurts me to watch officers do that to the guys. >> reporter: former atf agent and nbc analyst jim cavanaugh. >> overall i'd say it's excessive force through excessive use of a taser on a prisoner who is in a dire medical condition and ask restrained already. and that's very disturbing. >> reporter: the autopsy lists the cause of lambert's death as acute cocaine intoxication. >> well, today there's a hearing on the lawsuit in federal court. a local prosecutor says the criminal investigation remains open. george w. bush surprises some veterans. and can you guess who ronda

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all right. time now for your thursday edition of "scrambled politics." sorry, congress, the numbers are in, and it's not pretty. a new gallup poll shows congressional approval slipping to 11%, that's barely better than the all-time low of 9% just after the government shutdown two years ago. even worse, 86% of americans outright disapprove of congress. that ties the high water mark for the 41-year-old poll.

president george w. bush surprised some veterans as they toured a replica of the oval office at his presidential library and museum yesterday. he spent some time to shake hands and sign some autographs. bernie sanders has a kick butt new endorsement, usc superstar ronda rousey tells maxim that she's decided to vote for the democrat. and two satirical looks at donald trump today, vanity fair partnered with the puppeteers from captain america to give us a look at how president trump would react to his inevitable 2020 challenger. >> more money, more problems, is not an economic policy. kanye really thinks he can beat me in 2020? what a joke. that guy's nothing but a big gas bag. he's a complete blow hard. >> well, mr. president. >> and i know one thing about americans. they would never elect a ridiculous big-mouthed idiot as president.

>> and then there's this. a sketch just released by "saturday night live." it was recorded in front of the rehearsal audience. the premise, president trump has a meeting with vladimir putin but it's windy, so they get some navy s.e.a.l.s to save the day. >> how are we doing, mccormick? >> this is just medium. >> the winds are approaching 15 miles per hour. 16 miles per hour. they're going to go. >> no the bangs are the best part! you need to hurry. >> it's too much! i'm freaking out, man! i got to get out of here. >> the president is a symbol of the united states' power in the world. he must not fall. >> and that is your morning dish of "scrambled politics." let's bring in msnbc reporter. any time you can include the hair in there it's just golden. >> always.

>> let's talk a little bit more about donald trump because we've had sort of a day to breathe since the debate here but people still talking a lot about his deportation policy here. why is that? >> you know, we're starting to get some more details. he's been saying i'm going to build a wall, i'm going to deport 11 million people and people are finally saying how, give me some specifics? he's talking about modeling it after dwight eisenhower's deportation policy and say it's going to be very humane and cheap. dwight eisenhower's policy was almost anything but. it was not humane. the idea was bus people up and drive them to very strategically placed remote locations. they weren't given the resources to survive and many people did die as part of that policy. and i think people are starting to like look at this policy a little bit more discriminately and say let's look at the details, and he's saying words like deportation force. that seems very real to imagine a law enforcement literally lined up just to take people out of the country. >> donald trump not the only person people are talking about. marco rubio getting a little bit of momentum here.

and i think a lot of people say he sort of hit his stride on this last debate here but fellow republicans a little shy to take him on. why is that? >> i think with ben carson and donald trump rounding up half the electorate it's easier to go for them. it's easier to go where the ducks are, and marco rubio has something like 12% right now. it's not enough to really fight him yet. i think as we go on, and as he gains momentum, which most people expect him to do, we will see people start to go after him a little bit more. >> hillary clinton starting to take a little pride in the fact that she is sort of the object of all of their energy here. who can beat hillary of this group when you look at it? >> you know it's going to be someone who can or tick rate a conservative and compassionate message in a great story telling way. you look at the people who can talk about their upbringing and their values in a way that appeals to people's heartstrings. and that's marco rubio. that's people like carly fiorina. and we even saw chris christie talking very passionately about addiction, and treatment. and that was kind of the thing

you are going to see. >> jane timon thank you very much. just ahead he put his life on the line to save his fellow soldiers and now he is about to be awarded the nation's highest military honor. details on that next. can a business have a mind? a subconscious. a knack for predicting the future. reflexes faster than the speed of thought. can a business have a spirit? can a business have a soul? can a business be...alive? when a moment turns romantic why pause to take a pill?

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this morning, president obama will present the nation's highest military award, the medal of honor, to army captain florent groberg of the fourth infantry division. he was serving his second tour in afghanistan in 2012 when his security detail came under attack. msnbc contributor colonel jack jacobs, also a medal of honor recipient, spoke with him. >> i was always going to join

the military. >> you were? why the army? what motivated you to join the army? >> war. we're at war. and then i felt it was my duty as an american to go out there and wear the uniform. >> what kind of mission were you engaged in? >> that day we were just going to the security meeting. so we're walking down this road that we've walked many times prior. >> when did you notice something was wrong? >> right after the bat it felt weird. you know you've been there. you know, you step up, and it's just that day doesn't feel right. i knew something was really wrong when we saw the motorcycle was coming from towards us. so i immediately took a look to my left, and there's a guy, who's walking backwards, parallel to my patrol. i took off. you know, my position. i grabbed him by the chest, and you know, the vest. >> he had a suicide vest on. >> i think at this point it's just get him away. got to get him away from the rest of the guys. so you know, push through him. he just landed on my feet, and

detonates. i just remember waking up and kind of like laying there, my leg, looking at my fibula sticking out, my leg's burning, foot's all messed up and i'm just kind of like, oh, i must have stepped in an ied. they lifted me out of this ditch and started dragging me. i told them stop. like i still got a good leg, so they picked me up, and that's when i saw major kennedy, and rafael were all killed in action. so i'm grateful. we got this. i got this. it was the end of my war. >> did you find yourself thinking about the other guys that were kia? >> all the time. i have this bracelet here with their names on it. when i got a phone call saying you're going to be receiving, you know, the medal of honor, i felt like, you know, mixed emotion. this medal belongs to the true heroes, and you can attest to this, sir, the guys that never make it home. and their families. >> incredible. >> so incredible. >> whenever you hear these stories they never think they

deserve it. they always want to give it to the people that unfortunately, their friends that were lost. >> and we understand that. we thank him of course for his service. i'm shannon mulaire, this is "first look" on msnbc. don't forget to like us on facebook at facebook.com/firstlookmsnbc. i was in washington, iowa, about three months ago, talking about how bad washington, d.c. is. it was, get the kind of the -- anyway. >> what happened? because he sets up the joke but then it seems like he's just too lazy to figure out the punch line. and it wasn't just his jokes, his foreign policy material didn't fare much better. >> the idea that, and it's a good idea for putin to be in syria, let isis take out assad and then, then putin will take out isis, i mean that's like a board game. that's like playing monopoly or something. le. >> wait, let me get that straight. monopoly is the first board game that comes to your mind? there's no better board game to

describe the risk? of a strategy that puts our battleships into trouble? sorry. >> that's the daily show's take on tuesday night's republican debate. donald trump, also making headlines for touting president eisenhower's 1950s deportation program to prove he can do the same. but does trump really want to be like ike? plus, threatening behavior. police make an arrest connected to the online warnings that caused panic at the university of missouri. and severe weather tears across the midwest. nearly a dozen tornadoes in one state. bill karins is tracking where the storm is headed next. it's 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west, and this is "way too early."