winners. of course we hold our nose when something stinks. that's not good if a campaign manager uses the metaphor to describe the experience of running his own campaign. and any sequel needs a good title. we have another one for sharknado. this is "way too early." good morning, everything, brian shackman here, friday august 9, also this morning, a hockey general manager trades his own son. and since we love political implosions, we have one out of australia a little bit later on the cooler. and another embassy shut

down, this one in pakistan, in the country's largest city. right now only emergency personnel remain there. u.s. citizens are being warned to delay any nonessential travel. this terror threat we're told is separate from the one that has kept 19 u.s. diplomatic installations shuttered throughout the entire week. meanwhile, there are new details on the evolution of al qaeda's organization. u.s. officials say that al qaeda ayman al zawahri gave his -- proposed by a regional leader based in yemen. it suggests more of a bottom up approach rather than leaders ordering a 9/11 style attack. also the u.s. has upped it's u.s. drone strikes. u.s. forces launching three of them since thursday against targets in yemen killing 12.

34 people have been killed in drone strikes since late july. the u.s. actually enjoying levels of popularity it has not seen since before the iraq war. pew research shows 64% around the world have a favorable view of america. that's a 14 point rise among those same countries when they were last surveyed back in 2007. still in muslim countries like pakistan, frustration over u.s. foreign policy has deepened. just 11% of people have a favorable opinion of the u.s. and there's been a dip in approval under president obama. the poll said that the highest favorability for the u.s., can you guess? the country that loves us the most is -- it's ghana of all places. we thought that would be good fodder for twitter. we're asking which country should like us the most? we want some good creative ones

for us. we'll put the best answers later on the show. mcconnell has some explaining to do after some comments that were recorded and then released. jesse benton said, quote, between you and me, i'm sort of holding my nose for two years, because what we're doing here is going to be a big benefit to rand in 2013. at the time ben-tan was -- economic policy general doom, benton called the leak sick saying i believe in senator mcconnell and i am 100% committed to his re-election, i look forward to the campaign of 2014. this photo of benton on his

facebook page holding his nose next to mitch mcconnell. all this red meat for democratic and republican opponents alike. this photo of mitch mcconnell with a clothes pin on his nose, quote, don't hold your nose, vote for a real conservative. it's been a brutal summer for wildfires and right now it's southern california that's dealing with the worst of it. 1,400 firefighters are working on the latest which is called the silver fire. it's just 20 percent contained at this hour after days of burning up an arid landscape out there. it has consumed about 14,000 acres to destroy more than 25 homes and commercial buildings and driving hundreds from their houses. >> you always wonder if your house is going to be there or not. but we went through the esperanza fire before and we lived through that. so we're hoping the same here.

>> we have one neighbor that their house was burned the last fire, and they said the fire was within 50 feet of their house. according to gallup, hispanics born in the united states favor democrats by roughly 2-1. hispanics born outside of the u.s. tend to be more independent, but still, a majority side with the political left. meanwhile house democrats are still waiting for speaker john boehner to bring the senate's immigration bill to the floor. there's enough bipartisan support to send the bill to the president. >> if they ask me today go find those 40, 50 republicans, i would say i found them, i know where they're at, they're here, they're present. >> do you have all 200 democrats? >> no, but we have 195.

>> if gutierez's math is correct -- since nancy wiener and eliot spitzer have -- for wiener the road to redemption seems to be slipping away. a poll by the "new york times" finds wiener in fourth place in the race for mayor of new york. christine dunn sits atop the poll with 25%. if no can date receives at least 40% -- governor eliot spitzer faring significantly better in his bit for city comptroller. he now has a 9 point lead over scott stringer. a troubling update on san diego mayor bob filner. he may be undergoing behavior counseling right now, but that's not stopping more women from coming forward with claims of

harassment. a city employee says the mayor forcefully grabbed her at a community event. she says that filner put her in a chokehold when she told his staffers what had happened. 14 women now accuse the mayor of misconduct. the two veterans say they were raped during their time in the military and that filner made unwanted a vances at -- you're driving in your car, thinking about what you would say at the news conference if you had won. so the man you're looking at right now is paul white, an engineer from ham lake, minnesota. father of two and now a very rich man. he opted for the cash payment, which after taxes, he gets $58 million. he accepted his winnings alongside his boss, they

actually joked that at the beginning of the day he was his boss at the end, he'll be his chauffeur. the press in atlantic city says that one quarter of the jock pot will be split -- it appears the trader known as the london whale will not face charges for his role in last year's trading scandal that cost jp morgan more than $6 billion. now the london whale is reportedly no longer the focus of the doj's investigation. also a favorable weekly jobs report helps stock break a three-day losing streak. karen, good morning. >> good morning, brian, let's get to some more stories. the latest industry stats show

that the west and the sun belt ask where the most increases are happening year after year. if you look at the top ten cds with the biggest increases, the sacramento area, if you bought a year ago, you would be sitting on a paper profit of 39%. elsewhere, t-mobile has released some data about new subscribers. the bulk of them were actually the very valuable contract subscribers. about a year ago -- this is a massive turn around. it's managed to do that on the back of offering less complicated contracts. there's enormous frustration about these two-year locking periods and also expensive data contracts, and t-mobile has been able to offer something different and that's why the customers are coming in the door. >> it's amazing how much household income goes to phones and data plans. back to school is in full swing,

so a lot of people want to know how those retail sales are going, got an update on that? >> the numbers are pretty large. we keep hearing about the strength of the u.s. consumer, but so far numbers have been very disappointing. the good news is that the industry is ready to respond with even bigger discounts and that's expected to carry some weight as people stick to some lists and also remain very prudent on a clothing front, brian. >> karen, thank you very much, have a great weekend. still ahead on "way too early" he's a hockey hall of famer, why doug gilmore traded his own son off his canadian hockey team. [ female announcer ] made just a little sweeter...

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[ dennis ] talk to an allstate agent... [ doorbell rings ] ...and let the good life in. . to sports and the pga championship where the golfers hoping for another day of low scoring at oak hill in rochester, new york. two recognizable names, not tiger woods, that's adam scott. he had five birdies at one point. he finished off at 5:58 around time. a fan favorite jim furyk, his best first round ever at a major and his putter is insane. he's one of the best in the world. he tees off just before 2:00

p.m. eastern. and in the british open, phil nickelson basically went from red to black to red. he ends up plus one. six shots off the lead. and finally tiger woods, you know, he really couldn't keep his momentum from that dominant win last week. he had an up and down day, actually a double boggie at 18 left him at one over. he tees off at 1:45 p.m. eastern time. the boo or not to boo, that is the question. >> silent treatment? >> when a-rod makes his return to yankee stadium tonight, we'll see how he's greeted. it will be the first time since mlb announcement his 200-game suspension. bill car rain's news, 90% of a rainout if you hold tickets to

that game. the new york tabloids being less than shy about what they think people should do. enter sandman in mariano rivera. let's get to some highlights. tigers looking for a four-game sweep over the indians. mack cher sir, probably the best pitcher in baseball. i think it was his 17th win he got last night. miguel cabrera had a nice double. kansas city, sox began a four-game set. jon lester has been really uneven this year. bottom of the first, line drive single, royals up 3-0, that's all they need. and channing has been a red sox killer. the royals are in the hunt for the wild card.

kansas city city and pittsburgh are the best stories in baseball this year. meanwhile the dodgers got another road win winning three out of four against the cardinals. must be a little awkward in the family in the gilmore household. doug gilmore traded jake gilmore to the niagra ice dogs. that happens to be his son. he says that jake will have a better chance of getting playing time for the ice dogs. bill, so 90% chance of a rainout? >> i would be surprised if we get that yankee game in. missouri has just been a mess. this is four mornings in a row. we have done it day after day in one small town after another. yesterday it was branson, missouri with over a foot of

rain. people had to exit their homes quickly. once again this morning, mon rain is heading for this same area, so we're going to be talking about flash flooding all morning. this batch of heavy rain all throughout oklahoma. i mentioned the heavy rain, we already have heavy rain in northern jersey, all the way into now connecticut, the hudson valley, across massachusetts, it's going to be a very soggy commute in new england. we could pick up about one to two inches of rain, one batch this morning and another this afternoon. so a possibility of over an inch and a half of rain in new york city, the airports of course will be a mess with this. the weekend forecasts does improve, it gets much better, a nice weekend in new england after really a gloomy frayed. >> coming up at the top of the hour on "morning joe," another embassy shut down and more drone strikes in the middle east. the latest developments as the terror threat remains in effect. the sharknado sequel has wings.

it starts with little things. tiny changes in the brain. little things anyone can do. it steals your memories. your independence. ensures support, a breakthrough. and sooner than you'd like. sooner than you'd think. you die from alzheimer's disease. we cure alzheimer's disease. every little click, call or donation adds up to something big. a quarter million tweeters is beare tweeting. and 900 million dollars are changing hands online. that's why hp built a new kind of server. one that's 80% smaller. uses 89% less energy. and costs 77% less. it's called hp moonshot. and it's giving the internet the room it needs to grow. this&is gonna be big. hp moonshot. it's time to build a better enterprise. together.

at the top of the show, we talked about the lucky winners of the power ball drawing. if you want to sound smart today, tell your friends nevada, utah, wyoming, alaska, hawaii, mississippi and alabama are the

seven states in the u.s. that do not participate in the power ball drawing. of course a lot of people go over state lines to buy tickets. the most recent state to join, california, added in november of 2012. more news, although power ball isn't necessarily news. stephen colbert has a dream of many dreams of being rescued by a celebrity and it almost came true last night. >> help! >> steven? stephen colbert? >> matt damon? thank god you're here. >> oifs just walking by, what happened to you, buddy, are you okay? >> you mean other than the vending machine? >> no, i'm not okay. this is so great, i have always wanted to be saved by a big star. >> wow, somebody call 911.

>> you are big, right? >> yeah, however hollywood's measuring that this week. >> it's usually based on box office revenue. what was your latest movie? >> promised land. >> oh, yeah, the fracing movie? >> oh, i got to turn this off. yeah, no, it's me. >> i got -- >> wait, what? i'm on my way. jimmy kimmel got his head stuck in a mayonnaise jar. i'm coming, jimmy. >> i'm dying, somebody call cleanie. -- choony. today was i think the fifth day of shark week on discovery channel and somehow a shark wound up on the subway in new york. true, commuters on the queens

bound train happened upon this foot-long shark. it was very scary to be a rat on the subway today. how the shark got there nobody knows, maybe sharknado? and one man said it's the strangest thing he's ever seen on the subway in new york. that's really saying something. >> sharknado sequel has a name now. drumroll, sharknado 2, the second coming. one could only hope the sequel which will be set in new york includes memorable scenes like this. >> we're safe here. >> there are sharks flooding the streets. >> and now there's one swimming

in your pool. >> are you kidding? sharks in the swimming pool is impossible. >> i think they should release it in the theater. i think they're going to make good money either way. sharknado 2, the second coming, it starts filming this fall and will premier on sci-fi next year. and rick perry thinking he's in louisiana. joe biden telling president obama that passing health care is a big f'ing deal. >> i don't oppose islam has a country, but i do feel that their laws should not be welcome here in australia. >> the mother of two from kingston wants -- >> the koran has the islamist

text is known, kosher food for jewish australians is fine. >> they have their on religion, which is to follow jesus christ. >> judaism rejects jesus christ. >> something to be said for experience, i feel bad. still ahead onway too early, a new poll is out. we want to know which country should like us the most? "morning joe" just moments away, we'll be talking about senator mcconnell's campaign manager caught on tape making some embarrassing comments. we'll be right back.

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[ female announcer ] ultra gentle cleanser. neutrogena®. #1 dermatologist recommended skincare. so pew decided that countries like us the most since the iraq war. >> we have canada who makes so many of their citizens famous. >> that and a lot of m