ears. the only question now is when does the president sign an executive order? isis? iraq grows, and so does u.s. concern. what's being done to protect america's largest diplomatic outpost in baghdad. and get ready to lose your voice cheering for team u.s. can our boys cover and smother the belgiums to advance in the world cup? this is "way too earlier." ♪ hey, hey, everybody, good morning. i'm thomas roberts. it is tuesday, july 1st. welcome to way too early, going all in for team usa, unless it doesn't fit with our bracket. that case, cash comes before country. but usa is in our bracket. but, yes, we will be losing our voices today. can i get a usa? there we go. and now a slight italian accent home from vacation. that's all. all right, get to the top story

this morning. we start in iraq where there is growing concern about two potential targets for militant fighters. the international airport and the mass iamerican embassy in the green zone. both get extra protection after american forces were deployed. 775 troops were sent to iraq in june to guard american interests, and step up against the battle ground where the sunny government is going against them. it extends far beyond the middle east. >> reporter: isis has a land, weapons and ambition. and u.s. officials are now very worried. several counterterrorism officials tell nbc news, the threat from isis to american interests is, quote, extremely high. they say isis is developing advanced bomb-making skills. and cultivating a roster of

foreign suicide bombers who could target the u.s. and europe. and they're bragging about it. this fighter claiming to be from chile says iraq and syria are just the beginning. >> we will break the barrier of iraq. jordan, lebanon. all the countries. >> reporter: isis puts out daily propagan propagan propaganda. video showing its brutal attacks. the videos can't be independently verified, but the intentions are clear. >> we are coming for you, barack obama. >> that was richard engle reporting. he will be joining us on morning joe. israeli forces hammering palestinian targets this morning after three teens were found dead in the west bank. in the words of the prime minister of israel, hamas will pay. and dozens of air strikes nearly three weeks after they were abducted.

bodies found yesterday not far from where they went missing. hamas, which the u.s. says is a terror group has not claimed responsibility. there's a lot of reaction to the supreme court ruling of issues of religious freedom and women's reproductive rights. the nation's highest court sided with hobby lobby, and the small cabinet, to the challenge to the contraception mandate. five male justices siding with the companies. justice steven brear and the three females had the dissent. they did not want to require coverage for birth control or risk heavy fines. the court said closely held private businesses should not act against their convictions. they have other options under the aca to obtain the contraception. writing for the majority, they

said, as we have noted, the plaintiffs have a sincere religious belief that life begins at conception. the mandate demands that they engage in conduct that seriously violates their religious beliefs. and justice ruth bader ginsburg called it a startsing breadth. it could be perceived as favoring one religion over the other. it was designed to preclude. the court i fear has ventured into a mine field. hillary clinton called the court's ruling disturbing and sets a dangerous precedent. >> there are companies closely held by people who don't believe in blood transfusions. that's a religious belief they hold. your insurance policy doesn't have to cover it? this is a really bad slippery slope. >> that brings us to the twitter

question. the hobby lobby ruling dealt a blow to the mandate. tweet us your best answers. we will put on later in the show. and house speaker john boehner's pending lawsuit against president obama against executive actions is not stopping the president from taking action on his own. he will overhaul parts of the immigration system, changing as much of it as he can by himself. he has no other option since the house will not consider legislation on the issue for the rest of this year. >> our country and our economy would be stronger today if house republicans had allowed a simple yes or no vote on this bill or for that matter, any bill. they would be following the will of the majority of the american people who support reform. and instead they have proven again and again that they're

unwilling to stand up to the tea party in order to do what's best for the country. and the worst part of it is, a bunch of them know better. failure of the house republicans to pass a darn bill is bad for our security, economy and our future. >> in a statement, congressman boehner said, quote, i told the president what i have been telling him for months. the american people and their elected officials don't trust him to enforce the law as written. until that changes, it is going fog difficult to make progress on the issue. and president obama is also taking a stand for transgender federal employees. he announced he will sign an executive action to ban federal employers from discriminating on the basis of gender identity. president obama making that announcement while celebrating lgbt pride month. it's already illegal to be discriminated against on the basis of the sexual orientation.

advocates it's an historic step to use the word transagendaer in a speech. rob ford, the mayor in toronto, back to work after two months of intensive rehab therapy. the toronto mayor apologizing for his behavior and asked for forgiveness, saying the staff at the treatment facility saved his life. >> after experiencing some of the darkest moments in my life, i decided that enough was enough. i had become my own worst enemy. when i look back, on some of the things i have said, and some of the things i did, when i was using, i am ashamed, embarrassed and humiliated.

i was wrong. and i have no one -- but no one to blame but myself. >> ford did not take questions. nor did he mention his past racial and homophobic remarks. he returns to office still stripped as most of his power as mayor. he has four months to convince voters he is reformed and fulfilling another year as mayor. he is in second place, trailing the front runner by seven points. but 58% say they would prefer ford resign immediately. the so-called kissing congressman is running for re-election. dead set on not letting the private turned public indiscretion not ruin his career. he says he is not done with washington. he was caught on camera after

winning a special election last year. previously, he said he would not seek another term. however, he changed his mind after speaking with his wife, and after, quote, much thought and prayer. okay, let's shift our attention and talk about business news today. the markets were mixed yesterday. the s&p, streak of quarterly gains. make it six manhattonths, that' longest since 1998. jeff, good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you. a slightly positive start to the trading session in the united states if the futures are anything to go by. watch out for the data on the construction and the manufacturing side. we'll get a look at some auto sales. and that's interesting because here we are with gm, another recall announcement. over 8 million cars this time recalled. 7.6 million of those in the united states. to be honest, thomas, the shares barely budged on the news.

i think the market has become desensitized to this gm recall story. back to you. >> and up to speed on twitter agreeing to buy this mobile ad company for a hundred million bucks. how is that going to impact twitter feeds for everybody? >> this is going to be interesting. twitter's having a tough time. the shares are off 36% so far this year. the market is skeptical about the revenue side of the business. they're going to spend $100 million on tap commerce. now this is an app that encourages you to make a follow through purchase if you've already expressed interest in buying something. this will be on mobiles and on tablets. it will just be interesting to see whether existing users of the service feel in some way that this denigrates or reduces the value of the service they currently have. but, of course, for those who own the shares, they need to see something here that's going to get that share price moving in the opposite direction. back to you.

>> one to watch. thank you, sir. much appreciated. >> still ahead, it is do or die for team usa against belgium in the world cup knockout round today. good news, one usa star player is back in action. and i know the fans are also ready, because belgium waffles are even banned at the waffle house in solidarity. have you heard about this. smothered and covered, not today. plus, the first lady has to save the president from himself at a gay pride event at the white house. how it was cleaned up. i'm interested. and another reason to be nice to your coworkers. more on the app that's the yelp of the work place. that the and the severe weather across the country when "way too early" comes right back.

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welcome back, everybody.

it's time now for sports. and the world cup. u.s. star forward jozy altidore, worked out with the team yesterday ahead of usa's round of 16 match against belgium today. he's had a strained hammy since the 2-1 win over ghana in the group stage. according reports, he's fit and ready, but the coach said he's unsure how many minutes he will be in the game to play. as we look at yesterday's matchups. start with the late game, germany and algeria, both near-goals from both sides. but the goalies, they were sharp. after 90 minutes, it's 0-0 through regulation. look at that. but just 90 seconds into the extra time, germany strikes first. breaks the deadlock, and take another look at that, the ball goes between his legs. >> behind his back. >> yep. now 15 minutes later, germany again, off the rebound. there to hammer it home.

and that second goal was huge. and algeria, a late goal. germany hold on for the 2-1 win, advancing to the quarterfinals. and france and nigeria. in the 69th minute, thinks he has the goal, but still scoreless. but in the 79th minute, the goal keeper mishandles the corner. and into the net for the lead. and france adds the insurance goal in stoppage time. eliminating nigeria, 2-0. and today, arkansgentina agains spain, of course, the usa takes on belgium. argentina versus switzerland. redo the prompter. argentina versus spain. wrong on the prompter, right on the graphic. anyway, it's my first day back. >> they're messing with you.

>> yeah, messing with me. drop the prompter and see what happens. >> hazing. >> oh, no, bring it back. in other world news -- luis suarez has owned up to his toothy antics in the italy/uruguay game last week. he apologized on facebook and tweeter to chellini, vowing to never bite out opponent. and in the true spirit of forgiveness, he responded on twitter, it's all forgotten, i hope fifa will reduce your suspension. suarez received a nine-match ban and the international competition, and a four-month ban from soccer-related activity in this incident. remember mcgruff the crime dog? >> i do. >> that's fifa, get if. >> you many a good vacation, didn't you? yes. take the bite out of crime.

and trailing oakland with bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth. >> driven in the air, toward left field. that ball is deep, that ball is way back. and it's a game-winner! >> he walked it off! grand slam home run. davis! >> can you believe that? a walk off grand slam. tigers win it, 5-4. >> cool. and now to washington, bryce harper, receiving a standing ovation after missing 56 games with a torn ligament in his left thumb. 1 for 3, an rbi single, nationals first lead of the game. beat the rockies 7-3. and check on the weather. bill did an outstanding job on way too early. >> b minus, c plus. >> i heard it was an a plus effort. >> no problem. glad you had a great time. two to thomas' twitter account.

>> i'm going to post on facebook today of rome too. we had an excellent time. >> unfortunately, not too many people are happy, we could have a hurricane right along north carolina's outer banks. and about three days from now, a tropical depression. a harmless spin there just off the florida space coast. heading up the east coast heading towards the holiday. some significantly impacted, others just brushed. now as far as the forecast goes, this is the latest. it's going to drift near florida today to tomorrow. and then by thursday, starts moving up the coast. it should become tropical storm. warm waters, gulf stream. conditions are favorable to become a hurricane. late thursday to friday morning. very close to north carolina's outer banks, or even eastern north carolina. for everyone in new england, watch cape cod, possibly rhode island. but does look to miss i-95, and

take the hook and go parallel to the coast. as you can see, beach plans, thursday, friday, up and down the east coast. a lot of rip currents, a lot of large waves. not ideal for the big holiday. we'll track this for you. >> it's going to be a real king in the plans for holiday travel, and if they want to enjoy the water a lot. did barnacle make fun of you? >> he -- >> under his breath? >> i said that he was a tropical depression. >> there's medication for that. >> there's a dispenser in the break room. and coming up on morning joe, new reaction to the supreme court rulings, two of the top talk theis morning. and we are going to huddle around the water cooler on why forbes has crowned queen be, beyoncé, the most powerful celebrity on the earth. i kind of agree.

beyoncé, queen. and i am so thankful to angie's list for bringing us together. find out why more than two million members count on angie's list. angie's list -- reviews you can trust. that little guy cleans, brightens and fights stains. so now i can focus on more pressing matters. wow! isn't it beautiful? your sweet peppers aren't next to your hot peppers. [ gasps ] [ sarah ] that's my tide. what's yours?

at the top of the show, we talked about the skoe tus ruling on the hobby lobby contraception case which states that closely held companies can't be told to cover birth control. the irs considers one who has more than 50% of its outstanding stock owned by five or fewer people. back in 2000, as many as 90% of

u.s. businesses were considered closely held. and in 2009, nyu found closely-held companies employed up top 52% of the american workforce. lighten things up, and huddle around the water cooler. we are going to be filled in on somebody we all know and love topping a list. >> so nice to have you back. i wasn't sure you were going to come back. >> i'm back for you. >> beyoncé rules the entertainment world, on the top of the forbes list of the most powerful celebrities. how did she get to number one? reportedly bringing in an average of $2.4 million a city. she also dropped that surprise self-titled album on itunes, breaking records with no p publici publicity. lebron james, number two, dr. dre, number three. and oprah, all the way down if

four. and ellen degeneres. and beyoncé beat her hubby at number six. and president obama cracking jokes for pride month. he was acknowledging his pastry chef bill, attending with his partner. >> we call bill the crust master. because his pies, i don't know what he does, what, he puts crack in them, or -- [ laughter ] >> no, he doesn't. there is no crack in our pies. >> see, the first lady try to do some damage control there. now the president has never been shy about the sweet tooth. >> rocking the bedazzled head band. >> he has a weakness for pies. so do i. there's a new standard for getting dressed in the morning. here's a video viraviral, puttin his pants in under 30 seconds

but with no hands. ♪ i don't know how that works without a button or a zipper there. i think he's got jegings. but nonetheless, the skill and the style, i give him a 10. the video was uploaded saturday, already closing in on 4 million views, thomas. >> wow. >> now, finally -- >> those pants are so tight, i would need you to hold them out as i jumped off a bunk bed. i don't know how that guy did that. it's crazy. now the new app that could make coming to work awkward. business insider reports that a new app lets you rate your coworkers. who's more likely to leave work

early on a date, and which person is friendlier? it's like yelp for the work place. dangerous territory. i don't know if we want to be rating our coworkers. >> everybody likes us. we would do just fine. i'm willing to take a risk. >> morning joe is just moments away. maybe that app will get good use today. stick around. llo! three grams daily of beta-glucan... a soluable fiber from whole grain oat foods like cheerios can help lower cholesterol. thank you!

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asked you what you thought about the hobby lobby case ruling the first time we have gotten anybody in support of what the other side has done. everybody is saying why not work for viagra for men? that is it for "way too early." "morning joe" starts right now. ♪ >> usa!