like that has time and opportunity to find this kind of equipment at the local strip mall. he thought it was so good he beat it with this. he thought it was so good but he beat it with this. "first look" is up next. it is wednesday, december 2nd. right now on "first look." fallout from a teen shot 16 times. chicago's top cop is fired. now the illinois attorney general wants the justice department to investigate. is mayor raul emmanuel next? after overwhelming evidence that airstrikes alone will not stop isis the u.s. is planning to send many more special ops forces into syria and iraq. republicans battle president obama on climate change while china chokes on record levels of smog. then thieves are keeping an eye on those just-delivered christmas packages. a frightening collision between a deer and a police cruiser, and the countdown to the big tree lighting. "first look" starts right now.

good morning, everyone. i'm shiba russell. chicago's mayor has fired city's top cop following back lash from the release of the laquan mcdonald shooting video. police superintendent garry mccarthy has been criticized for the investigation into the shooting. his leadership and credibility have also recently come into question. nbc's chris clack up has more. >> reporter: ever since last week's release of the video showing officer jason van dyke's shooting death of 17-year-old laquan mcdonald calls for chicago police superintendent garry mccarthy's resignation have been constant. the latest from the chicago sun-times. >> the public trust in the leadership of the department has been shaken. >> reporter: mayor rahm emanuel made it official tuesday.formal resignation. he has become an issue rather than dealing with the issue. >> reporter: earlier tuesday, in an interview with wmaq, mccarthy defended his actions. >> i didn't have the authority to do what people thought i should have done.

>> reporter: but also admitted that a press release on the day of the shooting that said van dyke fired on mcdonald 16 times, only after the teenager lunged at officers, was wrong. >> the initial press release was mistaken. no two ways about it. i guess that's my fault. because i'm accountable for it. >> reporter: mccarthy said in the 14 months since the shooting he never corrected that information because the feds had taken over the investigation. [ chanting ] but critics say that's more evidence of a police cover-up. an accusation bolstered by missing surveillance video from a nearby burger king as well as missing audio from dash cam video of the shooting. mccarthy's dismissal comes the morning after van dyke was released on bond to prepare his defense on first degree murder charges. chris clackum, nbc news. >> the news of mccarthy's dismissal comes as illinois attorney general lisa madigan is asking the department of justice to investigate whether chicago's police practices violate federal law.

in a statement madigan says that trust in the chicago police department is broken. a statement reverend jesse jackson backed up last night on msnbc's "all in with chris hayes." >> i would just think that we need federal oversight, because we need investigation of all who saw the tape and what the actions with subpoena power. >> some are beginning to wonder who else may lose their jobs over the investigation. filmmaker spike lee predicting, quote, some more heads are going to roll. and an op-ed in "the new york times" by former university of chicago and current columbia law professor bernard e. hardquart calling the investigation a cover-up, also calling in prosecutor anita alvarez and mayor rahm emanuel to resign. the u.s. is putting more boots on the ground in the war on isis. the pentagon is sending additional special forces to the middle east. defense officials tell nbc news between 100 and 150 special ops forces will be based in iraq to strike there and in syria.

secretary of defense ash carter says we are at war. >> these special operators will, over time be able to conduct raids, free hostages, gather intelligence and capture isil leaders. >> evidence is mounting that air strikes alone won't stop isis just yesterday the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff flatly disputed a claim made by president obama in an interview two weeks ago. general joseph dunford says the u.s. has, in fact, not contained the terror group. but officials call these next accusations beyond ridiculous. from "the washington post," iraqis think the u.s. is in cahoots with the islamic state, and it's hurting the war. some iraqis say they've seen the u.s. airdropping weapons and water to the militants. adding they are weak, if only america would stop supporting them, we could defeat them in days. maybe black friday should be renamed background check friday. fewer americans turned out to stores the day after thanksgiving.

but background checks for gun purchases rose significantly. more than 1885,000 requests were processed on november 27th. that's according to the fbi's national instant criminal background check system. nearly 5% more than the year before those numbers, and the highest since 2012's black friday, when over 177,000 requests were processed. with less than two months until the iowa caucuses the races for party nominations are kicking into high gear. hillary clinton ditched her usual stump speech in favor of a special appearance in montgomery, alabama. she marked the 60th anniversary of rosa parks' arrest at an event there. clinton focused on gun control and criminal justice reform. and a new strategy for marco rubio sure to get him points with the gop voters. yesterday he declared he's quote, the only one running for president who has actually scored victories against obamacare, touting his actions in congress against the law. he's now battling chiefly

against ted cruz, donald trump, and ben carson for gop supremacy. for more on that, here's nbc's hallie jackson. >> reporter: in the race for the white house, it's full throttle, two months out from iowa, where ben carson is stalled, slipping behind ted cruz, who's pulling closer to front-runner donald trump. fuelled by evangelical support and his significant strategy, taking on his own party, most recently for not fighting back harder against misperceptions that most republicans do not support contraception. >> this is a madeup nonsense example. last i checked we don't have a rubber shortage in america. >> reporter: cruz's comments raising eyebrows with jeb bush in single digits in iowa, and new hampshire. adding staff there, but trump's still on top, trailed by marco rubio, chris christie stuck in seventh. and in overdrive, hoping to make

his move after several key endorsements in a state where establishment moderates usually do better against outsiders. >> how seriously do you realistically expect to win in new hampshire? >> even the loyal republicans who will be voting in the primary and the independents who decide to participate, they're just starting to tune in now. >> reporter: still, even though insiders, christie, rubio, bush and their supporters have spent a combined $47.5 million on tv ads, the candidates spending less are doing better. just $3 million spent by carson, cruz and trump. who's kicking off december in the lead. >> the establishment knows it, that's why they are generally in angina mode, where they're having many heart attacks, day in and day out, trying to figure out how the hell do we stop this? >> reporter: trump has proven unstoppable so far. warning rivals he's the biggest obstacle on the road to victorv. the finish line in iowa getting closer. >> there's only one way you get to the top and it's all through trump, let's face it.

>> that was hallie jackson reporting. so here in new york city is the lighting of the world's most famous christmas tree, tonight. thousands will pack rockefeller center to watch as a 78-foot norway spruce is lit up for the first time this holiday season. the tradition in its 83rd year dates back to 1931 when construction workers in rockefeller center erected a 20-foot christmas tree on eve, christmas eve, and don't miss christmas in rockefeller center the "today" show gang will be joined by sting, james taylor, mary j. blige and others. it all begins at 8:00, 7:00 central on nbc. let's get down to business with cnbc's landon dowdy. hey there, landon. >> shiba, good morning to you. an early holiday or so-called santa rally could continue today on wall street. stocks posting solid gains on tuesday as investors shrug off a weak report on manufacturing, look for data today on hiring in the private sector and productivity, and a speech by fed chair janet yellen on the

economy. mark zuckerberg is giving it all away in a post announcing the birth of his daughter max. the facebook ceo says he and his wife priscilla will donate nearly all of their facebook stock to charity. those shares are currently worth about $45 billion. zuckerberg will donate up to $1 billion a year over the next three years. and reports say yahoo!'s board is meeting today to discuss whether to sell the company's core but struggling internet business. that division includes yahoo! mail and pages such as news and financing. shiba, shares of yahoo! rallying on the news. over to you. >> all right, landon, thank you. in sports, the wait is finally over. the philadelphia 76ers have ended their 18-game losing streak this season, and 28 overall losses dating back last season. the sixers toppled the lakers, of all teams, and philly native kobe bryant in his final hometown game. sixers win 103-91. to hockey and the red hot patrick kane. the black hawks' forward scores

on a power play goal to extend his point streak to 20 games. kane has 12 goals and 20 assists this year. the wild beat chicago this time 2-1. in college hoops number two maryland on the road to take on ninth ranked north carolina. tar heels and the terps their first loss of the season 89-81. both teams are now 6-1. and in boston, the price is right. according to multiple reports, the red sox will load up the armored car, and pay pitcher david price a whopping $217 million over seven years. and check out this cute video here. former heavyweight champ mike tyson at madam tussaud's in las vegas. iron mike going face-to-face with his very own face. coming up, house republicans welcome president obama home with a battle over climate change. and then, guess who's fighting over governor chris christie? you're watching "first look" on msnbc.

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welcome back to "first look." as shiba was mentioning, the forecast a little iffy for the tree lighting ceremony. moisture coming from the pacific. you can see the clouds from louisiana up through new england. lots of areas of rain. thankfully not talking about snow or ice. steadier rains have moved through atlanta. now up through the smokies heading up to the appalachians. interstate 81 probably one of the worst drives this morning. rain pretty much from south to north up the eastern coastline. travel troubles will include the airport delays just like yesterday, especially the big airports. low visibility and low sealings. the cloud deck is kind of low, usually shuts down a couple of the runways. scattered showers across the northeast will continue late today. the low clouds, again, still impacting travel, and then tomorrow, as the storm exits, some colder air does commit. vermont, new hampshire and northern maine may get a little bit of some snow and ice. just a little bit. as far as the rockefeller tree lighting ceremony, 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., cloudy, damp, a few showers around. but temperatures are mild. mid 50s isn't bad for sitting

outside in some light drizzle and showers. >> so bring a jacket. >> yeah, small umbrella. >> small umbrella. >> you don't need the big boy. >> thank you very much, bill. as president obama pushes for global climate agreement, house republicans are pushing back. the house voted to block the president's plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions from both existing, and future u.s. power plants. the administration's clean power plan would require states to cut carbon emissions by 32% by 2030. president obama's expected to veto both measures that block his plan. and in china, smog levels have reached such epidemic proportions that children are actually allowed to skip school. plus, over 2,000 factories and other high polluting businesses have been ordered to shut down. air pollution in beijing has reached 25 times the amount the world health organization safely recommends. syrian and iraqi refugees have found powerful allies in washington. and they're urging congress to

allow refugees in to the u.s. a bipartisan group, including former secretary of state madeleine albright, henry kissinger, and george shultz, plus general david petraeus and 16 other military leaders and security experts. in a letter to congress they stated, in part, refugees are victims, not perpetrators of terrorism. categorically refusing to take them only feeds the narrative of isis that there is a war between islam and the west. and check out the shocking dash cam video showing a deer, you hear it, crashing into a cop car in kentucky. the deer slams into the cruiser, twirls in the air, just missing the windshield. miraculously, it gets up and runs off. donald trump in the crosshairs of spike lee and "the washington post." striking accusations up next. bu. i'm on the move all day long... and sometimes, i just don't eat the way i should. so i drink boost

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like bridgegate and pension reform. last night that very nice guy grant bossy, he responded on msnbc. >> at this point the "star ledger" is chris christie's crazy ex-girlfriend. they dated him in 2013, they broke up with him last year, now they're going around town bad-mouthing anybody that he takes out to dinner. >> we told you earlier about nbc's analysis of campaign spending. jeb bush and his allies combined to make the biggest spender in tv ads at $28.5 million. first place team trump has spent less than 1% of that. but he's getting big heat from two places today. first from director spike lee to hold the daily beast, quote, and he, donald trump, wants to close down mosques now? that's like the nazis. that's like hitler, mussolini, the axis powers. you can't do that. and this from "washington post" opinion writer dana milbank titled simply, donald trump is a bigate and a racist. it catalogs his words and

actions about african-americans, immigrants, latinos, asians, women, muslims and the disabled. and what does ivanka trump think about her dad? "the tonight show" may have the inside scoop. >> in a recent interview donald trump's daughter ivanka said there are times when she disagrees with her father. but then there are more times when she likes the idea of inheriting a billion dollars. so, it's -- >> and that's your morning dish of "scrambled politics." time to welcome in jonathan allen, journalist and co-author of hrc. good morning to you, jonathan. >> good morning, shiba. >> all right. let's start with chris christie. and this newspaper debacle here. one newspaper, the "star ledger" calling the other people in new hampshire, the new hampshire "union leader" to question them about their endorsement of chris christie for president. you heard the editorial page editor of the new hampshire paper talking about the "star

ledger" paper as a crazy ex-girlfriend. was this an unusual move by this newspaper, or just them trying to do their homework and get down to business? >> it was absolutely an unusual move to have one newspaper, the "star ledger" attacking another newspaper in another state for its endorsement. but basically arguing that they hadn't done their research, and that i think maybe that their endorsement was a little out of touch i think is the argument. and as you note, grant bosse from the manchester "union leader" now the new hampshire "union leader," you know, he said that the star ledger was like a crazy ex-girlfriend, which kind of tells you what time period the union leader is operating in. which is many, many years ago. because that's not really an appropriate thing to say in modern conversation, i don't think. >> the new hampshire union leader stands by their decision to back christie. the homework they did in making this decision. but it brings up a very good question, jonathan, on how

extensive the vetting process should be before an endorsement is declared. >> well, look, i think papers have the right to make an endorsement under whatever circumstances and for whatever reasons that they want to. for another paper to point out the faults of another publication in another state again is pretty unusual. but i guess everybody who buys has the ability to get their opinion out there. >> let's delve into donald trump. there's so many headlines to deal with today. first out of "the new york times" and "washington post" talking about the fear factor of donald trump, republican leaders, elites including the koch brothers fearful that if they speak out against trump that they will become the subject of attack. how would you rank the fear factor here? and what could eventually take shape over the next few weeks for republicans to try to get trump out of the raes? >> i think the fear factor is high. but i'm not sure it's necessarily that they're fear being attacked even though that's the way it's being portrayed. remember the koch brothers are

attacked on a daily basis. i think it's more about being attacked by republicans. >> all right. jonathan allen, thank you so much. and then there's those comments from spike lee and "the washington post" striking accusation which everyone will be talking about on the campaign trail for sure today. jonathan, thank you. just ahead, 'tis the season for having your holiday packages stolen from your front stoop? a new report says it's happening at an alarming rate. we'll have the details next. y ig this out for you. it's your grandpappy's hammer and he would have wanted you to have it. it meant a lot to him... yes, ge makes powerful machines. but i'll be writing the code that will allow those machines to share information with each other. i'll be changing the way the world works. (interrupting) you can't pick it up, can you? go ahead. he can't lift the hammer. it's okay though! you're going to change the world. tcount on someone's kid mistaking me for santa. i'm so sorry. come on sweetie. it's okay. and knowing right when my packages arrive.

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and this includes our commitment to being on time. every time. that's why if we're ever late for an appointment, we'll credit your account $20. it's our promise to you. we're doing everything we can to give you the best experience possible. because we should fit into your life. not the other way around. you may want to keep an eye out for those gifts you ordered over the thanksgiving shopping weekend, because millions are stolen every year right from your doorstep. a new report shows a season of giving could be renamed the

season of stealing. i smell some grinches out there tracie potts. >> yeah, you got to be careful, because millions of people are having packages stolen, literally, right from under their noses. there's a new study out by princeton, this was commissioned by an insurance website, and they found that 23 million people say that they've had packages stolen during the holidays. they call this porch pirating where thieves literally follow trucks around, and pick up those packages. so what can you do about that? fedex and u.p.s. have some suggestions for you. first of all, they say make sure that someone signs for your packages, and you can even go online, and change things. you can leave instructions where to leave the package, whether or not to knock. other instructions that will help ensure the package actually gets to where it needs to be. and use those free e-mail alerts, as well. they will let you know if the package that you're expecting actually arrives on time. >> you've got to be careful this time of year. tracie, thank you.

i'm shiba russell and this is "first look" on msnbc. don't forget to like us on facebook at first look msnbc, "way too early" begins right now. i'm born and raised in this city here. i have seen a lot of things, but nothing like this here. i think what has to change in this city here is bring in new leadership in. >> more protests in chicago after the mayor fires his embattled police chief amid fallout from the killing of laquan mcdonald. now some are asking if the mayor will be the next to go. plus -- >> mr. secretary, how do you respond to the allegations that the department of defense, centcom, perhaps even your own testimony today, is painting a much rosier picture than what we're facing? >> we are gathering momentum, and it is a fact that the territory under isil's control has shrunk.

that's not a declaration of victory -- >> you've indicated that it's war. are we winning, mr. secretary? >> we will win. >> are we winning now? >> we're going to win. >> the secretary of defense gets grilled on capitol hill, as he announces plans to ramp up the fighting against isis. and thinking ahead. jeb bush may be down in the polls but it's something that he let slip that has some wondering about the future of his campaign. it's 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west, and this is "way too early." good morning. it's wednesday, december 2nd, i'm jonathan capehart. we begin in chicago this morning. the city's police chief has been fired, amid outrage over the videotaped killing of a black teenager by a police officer. mayor