the san bernardino massacre as police in london take down a suspected lone wolf terrorist over the weekend. we'll have the latest. and the "new york times" calls for gun control in its first front-page editorial in nearly a century. by the look of these bullet holes that didn't go over so well. it's 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west, this is "way too early." good morning. it's monday, december 7th. i'm jonathan kayepar. those stories and water drinking by marco rubio. the president spoke in primetime from the oval office seeking to reassure a country left uneasy after a wave of attacks led by or unspired by the islamic state across the

globe. the president urging the coalition to take on isis, the recent decision to deploy more special operations forces to iraq and syria, and he called for the authorization of the use of military force. he didn't shy away from invoking domestic gun policy and preventing the attacks like the ones carry oud by syed farook and his wife. >> it is true that the two of them had gone down the dark path of radicalization, embracing an interpretation of islam that calls for violence against u.s. and the west. this was an act of terrorism. designed to kill innocent people. congress should act to make sure no one on a no-fly list is able to buy a gun. what could possibly be the argument for allowing a terror suspect to buy a semiautomatic weapon? we also need to make it harder for people to buy powerful assault weapon like the ones that were used in san bernardino. i know there are some who reject any gun safety measures but the

fact is our intelligence and law enforcement agencies, no matter how effective they are, cannot identify every would-be mass shooter. whether that individual is motivated by isil or some other hateful ideology. >> the president rejected religious tests for people emigrating to america and he also brought up the strategy to stabilize syria, now years into a deadly civil war with an increasingly complex list of regional and international stakeholders. >> with american leadership the international community has begun to establish a process and timeline to pursue cease-fires and a political resolution to the syrian war. doing so will allow the syrian people in every country, including our allies but also countries like russia, to focus on the common goal of destroy isil. >> chris jansing joins from us san bernardino, california, with more. >> reporter: good morning, jonathan. this was president obama trying to calm the fears of a nation,

acknowledging the fact that in the wake of the paris attacks, now it has hit home on american soil here in san bernardino. and in many ways an attack that doesn't make sense. a couple who seemed happy, who had a 6-month-old baby. an evolving threat as he called it. he acknowledged what had been lost here. the lives, disrupting a community. in addition to that he laid out very carefully what he says the administration is doing to fight it. there were no sweeping new proposals here but he did say it's something he's thought about every morning since he became president of the united states. air strikes that are going on now in iraq and syria. the addition of more special operations troops. he said he will hunt them down everywhere. he will disrupt plots. he will counter all of their efforts. efforts of what he called frankly a cult of death, thugs, and killers. and finally said, freedom is more powerful than fear. and he chose the setting very

carefully. only the third time he has been in the oval office, standing at a podium, addressing the american people, and saying essentially, we've got your back. jonathan? >> nbc's chris jansing. republican presidential candidates were quick to criticize president obama's address. donald trump took to twitter and declared, we need a new president and fast. he also noted the president's use of the acronym isil as opposed to isis. trump went on to tweet, should have gone after the oil years ago like i've been saying. he then repeated his attack on the president's unwillingness to use the phrase radical islamic terrorists. texas senator ted cruz also released a statement. it reads in part, if i am elected president i will direct the department of defense to destroy isis and i will shut down the broken immigration system that is letting jihadists into our country. nothing president obama said tonight will assist in either case. florida senator marco rubio in an interview last night saying the president is acting

"completely overwhelmed." >> nothing that happened in this speech tonight is going to assuage people's fears. first of all we heard tonight that the same strategy that has brought us to this point is the strategy he's going to continue with. he announced nothing new other than we need gun control, even though it would have done nothing to prevent the attack in california. we need to prevent people on the no-fly list from buying these weapons, even though there are people that work for dhs on the no-fly list. by the way these individuals that conducted this attack would not have been prevented from accessing the weapons. and the refusal to call this what it is, a war on radical islam. very disappointed tonight. think not only did the president not make things better tonight, i fear he may have made things worse in the minds of many americans. on the democratic side, vermont senator bernie sanders cautioned that the u.s. must learn the lesson of the iraq war and not commit u.s. troops to perpetual warfare in the middle east. and earlier in the weekend sanders said the united states needs to continue to focus on other pressing issues as we continue the fyiight against is.

>> if you turn on the tv what they now say is, we've got one problem, it's isis. we don't have to worry about old people not having enough to eat. we don't have to worry about having more people in jail than any other country. we don't have to worry about a disappearing middle class. this is what i say. i say that isis must be destroyed and i say that we have got to build a coalition which destroys isis. but i say that we are a great enough country and a smart enough country that we can destroy isis at the same time as we rebuild a disappearing middle class. we can do both. >> and while hillary clinton has yet to respond directly to president obama's address she did weigh in on the threat of isis earlier in the day and also explained why she, like the president, is reluctant to use the phrase "radical islam." >> i don't want to do that because, number one, it doesn't do justice to the vast numbers of muslims in our own country

and around the world who are peaceful people. number two, it helps to create this clash of civilizations that is actually a recruiting tool for isis and other radical jihadists who use this as a way of saying, we're in a war against the west, you must join us. if you ar muslim, you must join us. no. if you ar law-abiding, peace-loving muslim you need to be with us, against those who are distorting islam. >> can you say today we're winning the fight against isis? >> i can tell you today we have a new set of threats. >> so we're not winning that battle yet? >> we're not winning but it's too soon to say that we are doing everything we need to do. i've outline ved clearly what we have to do. we have to fight them in the air, we have to fight them on the ground, we have to fight them on the internet, we have to do everything we can with our friends and partners around the world to protect ourselves. >> if you were in the oval office tonight would you be

announcing a new strategy? >> i think that's what we'll hear from the president, intensification of the existing strategy. i think there's some additional steps we have to take. investigators are looking into whether tashfeen malik radicalized her american-born husband syed farook and was the driving force behind the san bernardino shooting. that possibility emerged when it was disclosed the pakistani-born tashfeen mall ecpledged allegiance to al baghdadi around the time of the shootings. facebook says it pulled down the post after the attack though no one had reported the account for violations. these revelations came as representatives and family members said they knew little about their sister-in-law. >> she was primarily a housewife. she had only come over here in 2014. the men did not interact with her. the brothers did not actually ever see her face. they've never seen her face, she did wear burqa. they knew her -- she was totally covered. they knew her as syed's wife. >> his wife was recently here.

she was only here two years. we didn't know her that well. >> a source tells reuters the shooters likely planned multiple attacks before they were intercepted by police near their home in read lands. the couple was heavily armed and is suspected of building at least 15 pipe bombs and stockpiling thousands of rounds of ammunition. several law enforcement officials say they've been unable to learn the details of how they acquired the two assault rifles used in last week's shooting spree. they say the weapons were originally purchased by a former neighbor in 2011 and 2012 but investigators don't know how they were transferred to the couple. the fbi raided the neighbor's home early saturday. authorities say the person, enrique marques, is not considered a suspect in the plot and has been so distraught since the shootings he's checked himself into a mental hospital. this as top national security officials continue to hunt for any definitive international link. >> this investigation is ongoing. it's wide-ranging. it's very complex. this is an fbi investigation now

because of the indications that we do have of radicalization. this is a terrorism investigation at this point in time. four days, over 300 interviews. several locations searched. a lot of information being processed, being analyzed, and being gathered. and more to come. at this point we do not have any evidence that they were part of either a larger group or a cell or that they were planning anything else. that's at this time. wha what i will say is we are continuing to run everything to ground we can about these two individuals. >> this morning the man arrested after what london police call a possible terrorist incident is expected to appear in court. at least two people were stabbed saturday night at a london subway station, injuries nonlife threatening. cell phone video captured police arresting the 29-year-old suspect. he's been charged with attempted murder. witnesses described hearing the attacker shout after he was handcuffed. >> he said, this is for syria. and then while he's walking up the ramp, as soon as he got to

the top, he said again, this is for syria. >> those words, this is for syria? >> this is for syria. >> while being arrested a bystander was captured shouting "you ain't no muslim, bruh." the line took off on social media as a recognition that one does not represent all and trended globally. last night police said it's still too early to know the suspect's tack motive. the attack took place days after british lawmakers voted to join the u.s.-led air campaign against isis in syria. it's assess is claiming responsibility for a giant explosion that killed the governor of yemen's southern aid den province yesterday. the governor was traveling to his office when the explosion took place. according to the ap isis claimed in a statement to have detonated a bomb that was concealed in a parked car along the convoy's route. six of the governor's bodyguards were also reportedly killed. if isis is in fact responsible for the attack it would be the most high-profile assassination carried out bit terror group in

yemen. during a campaign stop in iowa dr. ben carson once again railed against what he called plit cat correctness. he was speaking to a group of veterans when he was asked specifically about last week's decision to open all military combat jobs to women. he eventually answered the question but not before sounding off on how the military currently handled lgbt servicemen and women. >> i do not appreciate using our military as a laboratory for social experimentation. you know, we have too many important things to do. when our men and women are out there fighting the enemy, the last thing that we need to be doing is saying, what would it be like if we introduced several transgender people into this platoon? you know, give me a break. you know, deal with the transgender thing somewhere else. i like the old, you know, don't

ask, don't tell philosophy. why do you have to go around flouting your sexuality? it's not necessary. you don't need to talk about that. we need to talk about how we eliminate the enemy. we have to have standards. and if women can meet those standards and they want to meet those standards and they want to do that, then i would never deny them. but, you know, what woman wants to go out on the front line in the dirt and the slime fighting? i mean, if they want to do it and they're capable of it, no problem. >> last week's decision wail open about 220,000 military jobs to women. the defense secretary says the standards will not be lowered. the shootings in california have deepened the national divide in the debate over gun control. the "new york times" published its first front-page editorial in nearly a century titled "the gun epidemic in america" urging barely modified weapons of war

be outlawed. not everyone was impressed. "the washington post" published a story "the folly of the "new york times" pleading for gun control on page 1." while conservative radio host erick erickson shot holes in his copy of the paper and called for his social media followers to do the same. gop front-runner donald trump was asked for his thoughts on the "times" front-page editorial on the campaign trail in iowa. >> i feel very strongly that people in this country, and actually the world, need protection. if you look at paris, they didn't have guns. they were slaughtered. if you look at what happened in california, they didn't have guns. they were slaughtered. so i think it would have been a lot better if they had guns in that room, somebody to protect. they could have protected themselves if they had guns. >> gun shops from texas to maine have all recently reported rising gun sales and in some cases sheriffs have even urged residents to arm themselves. former president jimmy carter

shared some good news about his cancer diagnosis yesterday telling worshippers at his hometown church in plains, georgia, a recent mri showed no signs of cancer. >> when i went this week, they didn't find any cancer at all. so i had good news. >> the 91year-old former president started treatment in august for melanoma that had spread from his liver to his brain. throughout treatment carter has continued to teach sunday school and help build homes for habitat for humanity. still ahead on "way too early," matchups for the college football playoffs are set. plus complete highlights from a wig nfl sundbig nfl sunday, inc this touchdown celebration that got a steelers wide receiver in hot water. "way to early" is back in a moment.

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underneath, stays on his feet, he's gone, touchdown! >> tannehill, play action. deep shot for parker. touchdown! >> and they're coming. mariota. out of it and he can fly. running for first. plenty more. to the 40. got into the end zone. can he finish? at the 30, the 20, 10, 5, touchdown mariota! >> first and 10 from their own 29 yard line. as gabbert goes deep for tory smith, who makes the catch, and smith, end zone, touchdown! >> and brady. has it intercepted and that's malcolm jenkins. on his feet, the 20, the 25. malcolm jenkins will go the distance for a touchdown, no personality -- >> those were some of the

highlights around the nfl yesterday. now to pittsburgh for the steelers hosting the colts on sunday night football. a big night for big ben under center for the steelers. roethlisberger threw for 364 yards and 4 touchdowns against indianapolis. pittsburgh receiver antonio brown hauled in two of those touchdown passes and added a 71-yard punt return for a touchdown that ended with a gymnastic-like celebration involving the goal post that earned him a penalty flag. steelers still won it 45-10. the matchups for this year's college football playoffs are set. the committee selected the nation's only undefeated team, clemson, at number one overall. the tigers will take on fourth-ranked oklahoma in the national semifinal. number two-ranked alabama will face michigan state. those semifinal games will take place on new year's eve. now let's get a check on your weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. >> spread eagle into the goal post, that's a celebration, huh? you said gymnastics.

it's no gymnastics i've ever taken part in. good weekend, huh? beautiful weather, ridiculous how warm much of the eastern half of the country is. we do have this big storm. this week all the bad weather's focused in the pacific northwest. just a huge plume of tropical moisture coming into washington state and oregon state. that's where the bad weather will be. it's going to head up into canada which leaves the rest of the country in just an incredibly warm period for the start of december. we're going to go not just through the first week which we already did, we're going to go halfway through december with above-average temperatures. we're starting this morning. when you see that billings, montana, is near 40 early in the morning you're in for a warm week. all the stormy weather early in the week, even into the middle of the week. northern rockies and pacific northwest. showers in the ohio valley. as far as the temperatures go, it is incredible how warm it's going to be. all week long, enjoy this, even into next weekend. i think d.c. this upcoming weekend could be 60 degrees both saturday and sunday. so bottle this up and enjoy it.

it won't last forever. >> it's beginning to look a lot like summer. good grief. >> i keep wanting to put away my summer and fall choetsds and i can't yet. >> the cashmere weather's never going to come. >> not yet. >> all right, bill, thanks a lot. politico delves into senator marco rubio's "water thing." apparently it really is a thing. not a one-off from his parched state of the union response you're looking at there on-screen. we'll talk about that when "way too early" comes right back. but a few might shape the future. like turning algae into biofuel... ...new technology for capturing co2 emissions... ...and cars twice as efficient as the average car today. ideas exxonmobil scientists are working on to make energy go further... ...no matter how many tries it takes. energy lives here.

ryan gosling kicked off sunday night live this weekend by talking about his fond memories of growing up in new york city. before cast member sicily strong interrupted pointing out he's from cornwall, canada. gosling got into the canadian christmas spirit with a little help from a special guest. >> you're right, okay? i shouldn't have lied. i'm sorry. >> sorry? >> i'm sorry. >> oh! all righty. he's sorry! well, you know, don't be sorry. >> i am sorry. >> no, no, no, no, no, don't be sorry, it's christmas time. how about we sing a canadian christmas song, eh? ♪

♪ from ottawa to manitoba saskatchewan to nova scotia ♪ ♪ there's a feeling in the air sorry, i sang your line. >> no i'm sorry. >> no, you go ahead. you're mike myers. >> that's a little true, that's a little true. we'll both sing, come on. ♪ santa's coming so don't you pout ♪ ♪ it's time to break the moltens out ♪ ♪ we've shop some deals and then we'll shout ♪ ♪ that's what canadian christmas is about ♪ mark rubio's water drinking came under scrutiny during his famed response to the state of the union in 2013. now political reports quote, the water take has persisted and remain noticeable and adds his advance team has guidelines about how it should be served.

never in a stem glass or in a water bottle. "marco does have a water thing," says one long-time rubio associate, "i don't know what it is. he says he just gets thirsty but it's clear it's just a nervous tic, it's something he just has to have around like a security blanket or something." rubio spokesman responded to the story unequivocally saying, politico has lottist mind. that does it for me and "way too early." coming up on "morning joe" reaction to president obama's rare primetime address from the oval office on terrorism. did we learn anything new and did he accomplish the goal of easing americans' fears? plus new information on the wife in last week's attack in san bernardino as police in london take down a suspected lone wolf terrorist. we'll have the latest. three presidential candidates join the conversation this morning. senator rand paul and former governors jeb bush and mike huckabee. "morning joe" is just moments away.

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and hillary clinton said. >> sanders is authentic and clear. >> i need my morning joe. >> here's w