magic johnson now on record pushing back at the clippers owner and his highly personalized attack. the political whisper that became a roar. is karl rove back-pedaling on his hillary clinton brain damage diagnosis? and the thunder bounces back against the clippers, but is it the refs who really won that game for okc? this is "way too early"! hey, everybody! good morning. i'm thomas roberts. it is wednesday, may 14th. welcome to "way too early," the show that loves ironic t-shirts, even if they're photo-shopped. that's going to make sense coming up in "the cooler," but we want to start overseas, where people and crews are racing to save hundreds of miners after a deadly accident in turkey. at least 201 people are dead with more than 200 others still trapped under ground. the coal mine is located in the town of soma, about 155 miles from istanbul. more than 400 workers are

assisting with the rescue efforts, and nearly 800 people were inside the mine where an explosion occurred, triggering a fire. right now, at least 80 people are hurt, including 4 in serious condition. three inspectors are working to determine what caused the explosion. this is turkey's worst mining accident in more than 20 years and could become its worst ever. we move now to nigeria, where the country's government appears to be willing to negotiate with the islamic extremist group holding nearly 300 schoolgirls hostage. an official says that all options are on the table, and that would include boko haram's demand that militants be released in exchange for the schoolgirls. the white house, however, reiterated its opposition to exchanging ransoms or making other concessions with the kidnappers. it's a heartbreaking wait, though, for the girls' parents, who were able to identify more than four dozen girls seen in a hostage video that was released earlier this week. manned u.s. surveillance planes are flying over nigeria amid criticism that country's government is not doing enough

to rescue the girls. republican senator john mccain says the u.s. should consider deploying special forces. he says in part, "if they knew where they were, i certainly would send in u.s. troops to rescue them, in a new york minute i would, without permission of the host country. i wouldn't be waiting for some kind of permission from some guy named goodluck jonathan." goodluck jonathan is the president of nigeria. magic johnson is responding to donald sterling's verbal attac attacks. magic was first dragged into the controversy after sterling confronted his then mistress, v. stiviano, over a photograph. stiviano posted this image of magic johnson on her instagram. it's a photo made public by tmz sports. now, sterling told her not to bring magic or any other african americans to clippers games during that original racist rant that was recorded and made public. just days ago, sterling went after magic again, this time for having hiv. magic addressed the comments by the disgraced clippers owner yesterday. >> here's a man who we would think would be educated and a

man who is smart enough to build this type of wealth and own a team that has an incredible platform to change the world, but he's doing it in a negative way. he's reaching. he's reaching. he's trying to find something that he can grab on to to help him save his team, and it's not going to happen. am i upset? of course. but at the same time, i'm a god-fearing man. i'm going to pray for him and hope that things work out for him. the problem is, he's living in the stone ages. he can't make those comments about african americans or latinos. he just can't do it. >> magic also denied knowing v. stiviano, saying, "i took a picture with her, that's it." meanwhile, sterling's estranged wife, shelly, is defending her right to remain an owner of the clippers, regardless of the nba's final decision about her husband. >> why am i treated unfairly, because i'm a woman? >> are you saying the nba's being sexist by trying to push

you out? >> i really think so. would an owner's wife say the same thing and would the owner be asked to leave the nba? or would they just say, well, she's only the wife? >> however, the vice president of the players association says, "no sterling deserves to be an owner of that franchise." we turn our attention now to politics. and after a string of recent wins for establishment republican candidates, the tea party got a much-needed primary victory last night. in nebraska, former bush administration official ben sasse cruised to an easy win, capturing nearly half of the vote. sasse has been championed by the tea party, scoring endorsements from sarah palin and ted cruz and outside groups, including club for growth and the senate conservatives fund collectively spent millions on sasse leading up to the primary. sasse earned the admiration of grassroots conservatives when he called out senate minority leader mitch mcconnell to show actual leadership on obamacare, but yesterday, he downplayed it,

telling chuck todd he would absolutely support mcdonnell as leader. meanwhile, a pair of primary wins in west virginia sets up a historic race in that state. republican congressman shelly more capito and democrat natalie tenant came out on top in their primaries and will compete for the seat of senator rockefeller. whoever is elected will be the state's first remain senator. if capito wins, she will be the first republican elected there since 1959. so, now we talk about karl rove, apparently doubling down on his suggestion that hillary clinton better be prepared for some serious scrutiny about her health, should she decide to run for president in 2016. the republican strategist, however, pushed back against a "new york post" headline that claims he openly questioned whether the former first lady may have brain damage. >> my point was, is that hillary clinton wants to run for president, but she would not be human if this didn't enter in as a consideration. and my other point is, this will be an issue in the 2016 race,

whether she likes it or not. she'll be 69 by the time of the 2016 election. she will be 77 if she serves two terms, and this ends up being an issue. >> clinton's spokesperson blasted the remarks, saying the former secretary of state has recovered 100% from a blood clot that sent her to the hospital back in 2012, and it wasn't just the clinton camp pushing back. >> this was not clever and it wasn't an insinuation. this was karl rove running head long into a brick wall. nothing drives decent people away from running for office more than this kind of attack, because they say, why would i put my family through this? it weakens the fabric -- in both parties, it weakens the fabric of democracy. >> here's what i would say about cognitive capacity. which is that dr. rove might have been the last person in america on election night to recognize and acknowledge that the president had won re-election, including the state of ohio. so, we'll leave it at that. supporters of marriage equality are hailing a federal

judge's ruling that idaho's ban on same-sex marriage is constitutional, saying the ban essentially makes them second-class citizens. she ordered gay and lesbian couples be allowed to legally wed in idaho as soon as this friday. however, the state's republican governor, c.l. "butch" otter, says he will appeal since voters approved the ban in 2006. right now it is legal for same-sex couples to get married in 17 states and washington, d.c. private letters written by jackie kennedy are providing new insight into the former first lady's struggles after her husband's assassination. in a 14-year correspondence with an irish priest named joseph leonard, jackie kennedy admits she became bitter against god and that she would have rather lost her own life than lose her husband. she also wrote about her husband, "he's like my father in a way, loves the chase and bored with the conquest, and once married, needs proof he's still attractive so flirts with other women and resents you. i saw how that nearly killed mummy." the letters made public for

auction are expected to fetch more than $1 million. google's road to global web dominance just got a little more difficult and complicated. europe's high court has ruled on the so-called right to be forgotten, meaning that google can now be forced to erase links to content about individual people on their search engine, and that includes news articles and other documents. google says it is disappointed with the ruling. however, legal experts say the decision will only impact google's operations in europe and in searches related to eu synthesis. may have to retire to europe in 20 years or so. now to the markets. dow and s&p closed at record highs. cnbc's geoff cutmore is live in london with more. obviously, a lot of people are reacting to the market moves and think it's positive, but other fears are that this is a bubble. >> yeah, thomas. by the way, you are welcome in europe, my friend. >> thank you, sir. >> but let me tell you, the losers in yesterday's session were the tech and the small caps here. and even though we did cross the

line here for these new record highs, it felt like a bit of a struggle. and you highlight the issues here. you know, we are long in the tooth in this bull market. it's five years and counting. and normally about now, you'd be looking at a top, and at least a little bit of a pullback for breath, but it doesn't seem to be happening. that's why traders are a little nervous about the price action that we're going to see for the rest of this week. and i'll tell you what, when you're looking at why this market's going up, there are some real positives, like housing. it's been a real driver of a lot of activity in households here. and this might help the housing market run a bit faster. the agency that overseas freddie and fannie, that's two-thirds of the u.s. morning market, effectively, is talking about some looser rules on when banks would have to buy back delinquent mornings. some of these changes, if they came in, would perhaps expand the role of these agencies, rather than shrink them, which

would help the overall morning market get bigger. so, just keep your eye on that story. it's a bit of a slow burner. not all the politicians are keen to see these two agencies get bigger. back to you. >> we can imagine why. geoff, thank you, sir. much appreciated. our twitter question now. and today, we're talking about disturbing discoveries. check out this photo from college station, texas. that's a 12-foot african rock python in a woman's bathroom. i have stunned the studio. no one is reacting. jen is frozen in fright. all right, so, we want to know, what's the most surprising thing you've ever found in your home? tweet us your most creative -- yeah, did you see that, mike barnicle? 12-foot python! tweet us with your most creative answers using #waytooearly. we're going to put the best ones on coming up later in the show. i like this song. ♪ let's go ♪ anyway, still ahead on "way too early," the thunder make an incredible comeback on the clippers, and the ref certainly played a role in the frantic final minute and the controversy that followed.

and it's a t-shirt contest like you've never seen before. ryan gosling and macaulay culkin in an epic battle of one-upsmanship you need to see to believe. joan rivers needs to get in on this, on who wore it best. that and weather when "way too early" comes right back. ♪ ♪ shows i took the blows and did it my way ♪ frank sinatra is dead. one of the most influential singers in american history, sinatra died overnight of a heart attack. he was 82. sinatra had been in bad health for some time. he hadn't been seen in public in more than 16 months. i'm type e.

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with xarelto® there is no regular blood monitoring and no known dietary restrictions. treatment with xarelto® was the right move for me. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor about xarelto® today. for more information including savings options, download the xarelto® patient center app, call 1-888-xarelto, or visit teamxarelto.com. all right, welcome back, everybody. this one was way late but a great game as we get to nba playoff action. a wild one between the clippers and thunder in an important game five. jumping to the fourth, okc had been down 13 with about 4

minutes left, but the kevin durant three cuts the deficit to four with less than a minute to play. seconds later, durant on the break, lays it in, two-point game. clippers would get the inbound -- >> oh, he stole it. >> chris paul turns it over, no foul called and the ball is out of bounds, okay? so, this one is reviewed, and in a controversial call -- are you watching this? yeah, the thunder end up getting the ball back, all right? so, we've got 11 seconds to play. another controversial call. okc's russell westbrook is fouled shooting a triple. he hits all three foul shots, and the thunder take a 105-104 lead with 6 seconds on the clock. clippers get one last chance, but chris paul loses it again. thunder come back for the win -- >> nightmare for chris paul. >> a 3-2 series. l.a. head coach doc rivers was steaming after this game. >> that's our ball, we win the game, and we got robbed because of that call. and it's clear. everybody in the arena saw it. that's why everybody was shocked when they said oklahoma city. that was our ball. we got two more games to play,

but that could be a series-defining call. and that's not right. all right, let's go on to indianapolis here. pacers looking to wrap things up against the washington wizards, but the wizards won't go down without a fight. martin gortat had 19 points, paul had 27. the wizards blew out the pacers, 102-79. >> this indiana team is like schizophrenic. >> i know. >> it's like crazy. >> indiana still leads 3-2. tonight the nets fight for their lives in miami and the spurs look to close things out against the blazers. we'll be watching that. we move on to the ice and a pair of series-deciding games in the stanley cup playoffs last night. the blackhawks and wild in game six, and the rangers and penguins in game seven. >> from center ice, on the boards. it bounces out in front of bryzgalov. he scores! patrick kane! onehands! he ends it, and chicago is

headed to the western conference final! >> carried back up the ring and worked on by mcdonagh, ricochetted right, score! and the rangers are going to the conference final! >> the rangers are going to face the winner of tonight's game seven between the canadiens and bruins. the blackhawks face the winner of the ducks/kings matchup. game six in the series is tonight. all right, let's check in with bill karins and find out about these dueling weather temperatures. hot on each coast, and especially southern california, not used to this. >> yeah, yeah. the difference is, on the east coast, we don't have a drought. we've had a lot of rain, so it's not a big deal if it's really hot, but on the west, more problems, one after another. it was 92 in san francisco. you know, picture san diego. you think of retirement, you think nice beach weather, not too hot, not too cold. 94 in san diego yesterday with windy conditions, and the next two days, from san diego to l.a., are going to be boiling hot. >> wow. >> 101 today in l.a. thursday 100. and this is in, you know, in the city itself.

in the mountains it's also going to be windy, too. that's why the fire danger's so extremely high. any fires that form are just going to quickly flare up and spread rapidly, so that's the fear. the weather pattern looks like a roller coaster. it was in the low 60s all the way in south texas yesterday. it was 92 in d.c. so, the weather pattern very extreme across the country. and out ahead of this next storm, there's plenty of moisture. we will see some rain today along with some severe storms. it's not going to be horrible, maybe isolated tornado or two, but if you're in the yellow from pittsburgh to much of ohio, right down through louisville, nashville, back into areas of alabama and mississippi, we will see a chance of some isolated strong thunderstorms today. forecast for the eastern seaboard. cooler today in d.c. 79 offer that 92 yesterday. but yeah, kind of extreme out there. you know, we'd like to level things out a little bit. >> really has been nice for us, but it is surprising to see those temperatures for southern california, especially san diego. all right, bill, thank you, sir. appreciate it. coming up at the top of the hour on "morning joe," karl rove

explains his brain damage remarks about hillary clinton. how he managed to backtrack and double down all in one statement. pretty crafty right there. when we come back here, we'll huddle around the water cooler. the bouncy house that went from a good time to a truly scary scene. that's the bouncy house, yeah. what led to this photo? and kids are in inside. >> get out of here. >> yeah. ride of their life. we're back with much more after this.

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welcome back, everybody. at the top of the show, we talked about that tragic mining accident which has claimed the lives of more than 200 people. if you want to sound smart today, tell your friends that they are pretty common when they happen in turkey. since 1941, we've seen more than 3,000 people die in mining accidents there, the worst back in '92, when an explosion killed 263 people. all right, let's huddle around the water cooler and check in with lewis. this is a story that's going to get a lot of parents out of getting summer bouncy houses for their kids' birthday parties. >> yeah, this is actually a scary story out of upstate new york. a group of children were playing in a bounce house when a gust of wind ripped it off its stake, sending it flying into the air. a witness took this photo. >> whoa! >> it's unbelievable. still their children inside there. one child escaped with minor injuries, but two others were more seriously hurt, falling from about 15 or 20 feet in the

air. one boy had some broken bones after falling into a parking lot, while another has serious head injuries after he landed on a car. police don't plan to file any charges against the house's owner, calling it a tragic accident -- >> look how high that is. >> i just cannot believe how high that bouncy castle got. >> yeah, those kids are really lucky, very lucky. >> they are, and it's just a horrible story, probably any parent's worst nightmare. now, let's shift gears to a classic battle of iconic t-shirts. it started with ryan gosling rocking a sweet macaulay culkin t-shirt last year. culkin saw that irony and raised the bar with his t-shirt of ryan gosling wearing a macaulay culkin t-shirt. and then the picture of gosling wear the culkin t-shirt of the culkin wearing the gosling t-shirt of gosling wearing the original culkin t-shirt -- i can't even get all of this out. i hope you got all that. >> ahhhhh! >> i made my parents disappear.

now, at this point, we can't confirm the authenticity of this photo. we think it could be photo-shopped, but we have our "way too early" crack investigative team on that one, and we expect to have the case cracked very soon. who wore it better? i don't know. i think they both did a good job. >> i know, ryan gosling. >> gosling. probably gosling, you know. now, everybody's favorite teen pop star is in trouble once again. l.a. police are investigating a robbery complaint against who else but justin bieber, after he ledgy tried to steal a camera from someone taking his picture in an l.a. arcade. the singer hasn't been arrested, although the unidentified victim says bieber got angry when he was trying to take a photograph of him near a mini golf course. we're not sure if this was before or after it all happened. >> i'm the best mini putter in the whole world. icy. >> oh, the humility, oh, the

confidence of the biebs. >> that was a decent putt-putt shot, though. >> not bad. must have been holding the camera phone under his chin, too. >> how many takes? do you think he got it on the first one? >> i'll give him credit. i think he was able to do that on the first. >> let's hope he stays out of trouble. thanks. we asked you, what is the most surprising thing you found in your home? this is after a woman in college station, texas, found a 12-foot python just wrapped around her toilet. our producer has some of the best responses. we got interesting ones today. >> we did. they're kind of bizarre. chris says a raccoon eating a stick of butter. >> raccoon has good taste. >> he does. shawn says "i found my wife cooking dinner once. it was very scary." which is a little mean. and then doug a. fresh says "i found a bat in my manhattan apartment. took two pairs of cops, then an auxiliary unit who used a fire extinguisher to freeze it." >> all against the little bat? >> yeah, a lot of detail there.

that's kind of weird. >> that is a little weird, but we did get some great tweets today about what people have found in their homes. a lot had to do with animals, but i would not want to find a 12-foot rock python on your toilet. crazy! all right, coming up next on "way too early," a look at the stories you'll be talking about in the day ahead and "morning joe" is just moments away. i make a lot of purchases for my business. and i get a lot in return with ink plus from chase like 60,000 bonus points when i spent $5,000 in the first 3 months after i opened my account. and i earn 5 times the rewards on internet, phone services and at office supply stores. with ink plus i can choose how to redeem my points. travel, gift cards even cash back. and my rewards points won't expire.

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welcome back, everybody. let's check the day ahead before "morning joe." oscar pistorius will undergo a series of psychiatric evaluations, placing his trial on hold. this decision follows testimony from an expert witness who suggested the man known as the blade runner has an anxiety disorder that could have influenced his judgment when he shot his girlfriend, reeva steenkamp. president obama will use the back drop of the tappan zee bridge to kick off a speech about funding. he will also speak at the dedication of the 9/11 memorial museum coming up tomorrow. and the 67th cannes film festival kicks off today in the south of france. the festival will preview some of the biggest films this year.

we look forward to seeing that kick off. that's going to do it for a wednesday edition of "way too early." "morning joe" starts right now. ♪ the top democrat in the u.s. senate majority leader harry reid has now mentioned the bill nra koch brothers this year more than 140 times. >>er in in it to make the money. an attempt to buy our democracy. it's dishonest, deceptive, farce and unfair. >> it is wrong. incorrect. [ laughter ] erroneous. [ laughter ] >> even the keystone debate, mr. president, they're one of the main owners of all that stuff up there. that ugly tar stuff in canada. they are, if not the largest, second largest owner of that stuff up there. [ laughter ]