nba finals. the question is could dwne wade outgun dirk down the stretch in what was another great finish? it's way too early for this. good morning. i'm willie geist on "way too early." massachusetts straight toopers call it the midnight ride of willie geist. shoot me an e-mail at way too early@msnbc.com. what you doing up at this hour? or do what my man paul used to, do and text the word awake for theed by response to 622639. we'll read responses later in the show. the next 30 minutes will be our session for the monday, june 6th. d-day was 67 years ago today. there's a lot to tell you about, including the white house telling everyone to just chill out and be cool about those ugly

jobs numbers from friday. plus, our old friend larry king on bill mahr the other night jumping into the political debate with a complaint about the temperature in the studio. we love that man. before we get to that, let's get to the news. live at 5:30 a.m. ure at positive rock in new york city. the "new york times" was reporting this morning that president obama's national security team is considering a bigger troop pull-out from afghanistan than has been considered recently. reports have suggested perhaps 5,000 troops leading this summer. the new report today says it could be more. according to "the times" some officials are arguing that rising costs of the war and the death of osama bin laden are what they call strategic considerations for a sharp withdrawal from the country. this argument will let up against the proposal from defense secretary robert gates who is in afghanistan. he is pushing for a more modest drawdown of u.s. forces. gates told troops in kandahar that he is confident the u.s.

will strike the correct balance on the issue and that leading as many combat troops as long as possible in afghanistan is "a no-brainer." >> if it were up to me, i would leave the shooters to last. nobody wants to give up the gains that have been won at such a hard cost, and nobody wants to give our allies the excuse to run for the exits. >> i leave the shooters -- he means leave the combat troops come home. he also thanked service members for their sacrifice. remember, he is leaving. he choked back some tears as did he that. >> more than anybody except the president, i'm responsible for you being here. i'm the person that assigned signed the deployment papers that got you here. and that weighs on me every day. i feel your hardship and your sacrifice and your burden, and

that of your families more than you can possibly know. you are, i believe the best country has to offer and you would be in my thoughts and prayers every day for the rest of my life. >> secretary gates is now rounding out his final visit to afghanistan as defense secretary before he retires at the end of this month. some breaking news poerch out of iraq. the u.s. military confirms that a "incident" has occurred at a camp in baghdad in which six united states soldiers have been killed. we don't have any more details yet, but we will monday store the story throughout the morning for you. also, breaking overnight in pakistan, a third u.s. missile strike hit the northwest border region near afghanistan today. officials say four people were killed. a total of 16 died in drone attacks over the weekend. pakistani authorities say they're increasingly sure that one of the dead came up last on friday is this man, the man many

thought would succeed osama bin laden as theilyas kashmiri. meanwhile, the taliban has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed 18 people until a bakery near peshawar. people have been killed in attacks outside pakistan since the raid that killed osama bin laden early last month. israel is bracing for more violence after clashes between israeli troops and pro-palestinian protesters turned deadly over the weekend. soldiers opened fire yesterday at syrian demonstrators trying to cross the border in the israeli controlled golan heights between israel and syria. at least 20 people were reportedly killed with hundreds wounded. the violence came on the 44th anniversary of israel's capture of the golan heights, and as the second outbreak of violence in the area in less than a month. more now from itn's john ray. >> reporter: israel had promised to defend its disputed border

with determination and restraint. it soon became clear that meant firing on apparently unarmed protesters. they were pinned down trying to breach israeli razor wire and a deep trench. the injured pulled back up deep slopes into syria and angry and bloody standoff that continued as casualties on the arab side mounted. >> this narrow valley has echoed to the sound of sporadic gunfire coming from israeli forces in the direction of protesters on the hill side. it's not clear whether the shots are -- or whether they're targeted at people. >> this is the golan heights territory by israel in the six-day war. this attempted mass incursion was meant to mark the conflict 44th anniversary. despite a death toll, israel's military insists its response was measured. >> we verbally warned them. we shot warning shots into the air. when this failed, we had to direct some fire to they are

feet in order to try and protect our fence. this is the border fence between israel and syria. >> reporter: there were more clashes across the occupied west bank. palestinian organizers billed this as a day of rage against land lost to israel. it said the demonstrations would be peaceful. >> that was itn's john ray reporting for us from the golan heights. this weekend's death toll in the golan heights was the worst since israel and syria fought a war there in 1973. again, a reported 20 killed over the weekend. israel says those border protests are seary's attempt to divert attention from its own violence. m in the latest crackdown forces loyal to assad killed 38 people, including policemen. most of the deaths took place in the northern part of the country where towns were bombarded by helicopters and machine gun mounted armored cars.

in the three months since the uprisings began, over 1,100 people reportedly have been killed and more than 10,000 detained. syrian government says the unrest is the work of "armed terrorist gangs." yemen's president saleh is now reportedly out of surgery in saudi arabia after leaving the country this weekend. president ali abdullah saleh was seriously injured in the deadly rocket attack in his palace on friday. the country's ruling party says saleh does plan to return to power within days. questions do remain over whether his move to saudi arabia could mark the end of his 33-year rule. he was intraetd in the streets of yes, ma'am wren, saleh temporarily transferred leadership to his vice president. tribal groups have been violently protest approximating to take power. it is becoming more clear that one of president obama's

biggest challenges to re-election, if it wasn't already, the economy and jobs. the disappointing jobs report released friday indicates the 2012 race will likely be a referendum on the unemployment rate, which is now back up to 9.1%. the president acknowledged that the economy took a big hit on friday, but maintains that the country is still making progress and he says recovery takes time. his top economic advisor, meanwhile, austin said the administration's focus is helping private sector jobs growth. he tried yesterday to down play those bad unemployment numbers. >> don't make too much of any one month's job report because they're highly variable. you want to look at a little bit of a trend to get a more accurate barometer. we have moved a long way from when the economy is in a rescue mode. the private sectors in freefall, and the government is the only thing standing between us and falling into another great

depression. >> nancy pelosi blames the current economic problems on, you guessed it, the bush administration, saying president obama has improved the situation since he took office. >> if he hadn't taken the actions he did, that the situation would be worse. he pulled us from the brink of the financial crisis from an economic crisis and now we have to dig out of a deep -- a deep debt, and we have to -- also we have to make it clear that we're not getting into this situation again. >> this weekend former alaska governor sarah palin went after the president's economic policy saying the country needs to move in a new direction. >> their plans for bigger government, more federal control over our private sector, more regulations and burdensome mandates on the people and on our businesses, it's not working, and we do need to shift gears and change course. it's very noble of president obama to want to stay at the helm and even go down with the sinking ship, but i prefer and

many americans prefer we start plugging the hole, that we start powering up the lbilge pump and gets rid of the unsustainable debt. we don't have to go the way of the titanic. >> power up the bilge pump. one way to jump-start the economy is through domestic energy production. bringing back the drill baby drill slogan from the 2008 campaign. more from governor palin later in the show on paul riveire's ride. later today they unveil the company's latest offering. let's get an early look at the markets as we get all up in your business this morning. cnbc's steve acceptabling wij is live for us in london. hey, steve. a very good morning to you. yes, we're hoping to see steve jobs back to health on the stage over at this san francisco developers conference. it's want not going to be eh shiny new gadget. it's going to be something dubbed icloud, which means if you have already bought music,

can you stream them to pretty much any apple device. whether it's tablets, ipads, ipods, or computers as well, and this is going head-to-head with the likes of amazon and google who are trying to get their own services on-line. over to you. >> steve, i'm sure people will be jumping out to snap them up as they do every apple product. steve sedgwick, thanks so much. still ahead on eye way too early" a frightening display of power on this move by lebron james, but the heat manage to blow another double digit lead with a little help from dirk nowitzki. sarah palin called it a gotcha question that called her tortured telling of paul riviel's read. she defends her version of the story.

>> spilling out of the sky that dawn over the normandy peninsula. a lot of times, things are right underneath our feet,

and all we need to do is change the way we're thinking about them. a couple decades ago, we didn't even realize just how much natural gas was trapped in rocks thousands of feet below us. technology has made it possible to safely unlock this cleanly burning natural gas.

this deposits can provide us with fuel for a hundred years, providing energy security and economic growth all across this country. it just takes somebody having the idea, and that's where the discovery comes from. welcome back to "away too early." it's 5:45. a spring that has already brought us the worst tornado season in recent memory is now adding fire, heat, and flooding to the mix. here now with the latest on more extreme weather, bill karins. hey, bill. >> what's summer going to bring? this is incredible stuff. mostly in rural areas in arizona, but it is forcing a lot of evacuations, and this time of year, the heat really starts to build in arizona. it makes things difficult for firefighters. at the same time the missouri

river, the northern half of our country. we had a lot of snow that melted. there's flooding ongoing. this is mostly due to a lot of dam that is had to release water, and this is caused the missouri river to have numerous problems. there were levee braechz in iowa and there are people sand bagging in 90 degree heat. ridiculous, and talk about temperatures. this heat ridge in the middle of the country was the big story this weekend. yesterday it was 105 in houston, texas. the hottest temperature ever recorded in houston in the month of june. that's a big record that was set there. 96 in kansas city today. 98 in dallas. all this heat is going to slide to the east coast, so be ready on wednesday and thursday. enjoy the nice cool weather in areas of the mid-atlantic and northeast today because by the middle of this week, the years that aren't used to it, like d.c., to new york and philly, we're going to get a thais of what the rest of the country has been dealing with. >> up against the 100 degrees on thursday. >> right now central park has a shot about 98 or so. >> wow. well, get ready.

appreciate it. >> time for sports now. we begin with a pivotal game three in the nba finals between the heat and the mavericks. series tied 1-1 coming into last night. dallas back at home after a big comeback win in game two. miami has yet to lose two consecutive games to the playoffs. end of the first quarter. just watch and enjoy. lebron james down the lane and just throws one down. how does he even get this to the rim? heat up 47-42 at the half. let's go to the fourth quarter. two and a half minutes to play. jason kidd finds wnowitzki. the two-handed slam. dwyane wade, who was great, answer with a crossover. he had 29. now nowitzki's turn. a tough fall-away jumper. not much you can do about that. dirk had 34. under a minute left. wade double-team. gets it to chris bosh. he nails the 20-footer. the lefty jumper probably his

biggest shot in a miami uniform. five seconds to go. dirk go does get another shot at it. one-on-one with haslem. the fade-away does not fall. dallas had come back in this game from a 14-point deficit, but they couldn't complete it as they did in game two. miami hangs on to win 88-86. the heat now lead the series 2-1 in game four tomorrow night in dallas. turning to baseball. this was the scene in st. louis on saturday. albert pujols of the cardinals beating the cubs with a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 12th inning. yesterday cubs and cardinals were back at it. the game once again in extra innings. albert pujols once again at the plate. here's what happened. >> 30th career relief appearance for lopez. 2-1 pitch. >> he has done it again. >> maybe we start pitching around pujols. making them pay. another walk-off home run. this one in the tenth inning.

st. louis comes from behind to give the cubs 3-2. cubs have lost six consecutive games. they are 11 games behind the cardinals in the al central. back to back walk-off home runs for albert pujols. >> roger federer and rafael nadal on the red delay in a tha nadal has owned over the years. great exchange in the first set. federer challenged nadal early. he had some chances to win the first set, but he just could not close them out. nice rally there. not enough, though. nadal puts it away. then match point in the fourth set. federer hits the ball long. nadal drops to the ground. the 25-year-old, hard to believe he is only 25 years old, spaniard now has six french open titles tying the record held by bjorn borg. this is nadal's tenth grand slam title overall. coming up at the top of the hour on "morning joe" a new report this morning suggests the obama administration is looking for a quicker exit from afghanistan than was previously being considered. even his defense secretary gates

urges patience. we'll discuss that contradiction in a few minutes. and when we come back, we'll huddle up around the water cooler to hear sarah palin defend her creative version of the midnight ride of paul revere. she said she didn't make any mistakes. "way too early" coming right back. [ female announcer ] ever wish vegetables didn't taste so vegetably?

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when he retires at the end of the month, defense secretary robert gates will end a career that spans eight presidents. he is also the son of a former defense secretary. he made history when he joined the obama administration. at the renaissance march today, tell your friends that robert gates is the only secretary of defense in united states history to be asked to remain in that office by a newly elected president. in december 2006 gates was sworn in under president george w. bush and, as you know, was kept in the post by president-elect obama in december of 2008. for the real news, let's huddle up to give former alaska governor sarah palin another crack at this whole paul revere thing. you know the story by now. perhaps a tortured version of what happened on that fateful day in 1775. she was asked on thursday in boston as part of her bus tour the following question -- what

have you seen so far today and what are you going to take away from your visit? here's your response. >> we saw where paul revere hung out as a teenager, which was something new to learn, and, you know, he who warned the british that they weren't going to be taking away our arms and making sure as he was riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be secure and we were going to be free. >> all right. you've heard all the criticism that former governor palin took for that. there were no bells involved. he wasn't warning the british. et cetera, et cetera. palin was on fox news sunday yesterday xshgs she explained that answer about paul revere. >> you realize that you messed up about paul revere, don't you? >> you know what, i didn't mess up about paul revere. here's what paul revere did. he warned the americans that the british were coming, the british were coming, and they were going to take our arms.

part of his ride was to warn the british that were already there that, hey, you're not going to succeed. you're not going to take american arms. you are not going to beat our own well-armed persons, individual, private militia that we have. he did warn the british. in a shout-out, gotcha type of question that was asked of me, i answered candidly, and i am my american history. >> she makes no apologies. one more time. that gotcha question. what have you seen so far today and what are you going to take away from your visit? one more thing for you here. we love larry king. in fact, we'll have larry king on "morning joe" tomorrow. he joined the roundtable discussion on "realtime with bill maher" on hbo friday night. they were talking about all kinds of things. larry's greatest concern was about the temperature in the study yes. . >> turning the tables on you, larry king. >> finally. >> tuscaloosa, your call.

>> by the way, the air conditioning in here -- >> yeah. >> who planned this? >> why? are you cold? >> am i cold? >> throw a log on it. this is freezing, bill. >> get larry king a shawl. please. i want mr. king to be perfectly happy. >> it's cold. >> i don't mean to complain. >> time nor new rules. >> we're going to warm it up for larry we visits us on "morning joe." still ahead, while you're awake, your crackdown texts and morning joe is moments away. [ man ] i'm some guy you just met.

you listed this midlife crisis on the internet. and three emails later, you trusted me with a test drive...

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the united states postal service running out of options. more specifically, running out of cash. they've got $12 billion from the treasury and apparently they ain't getting any more. perhaps some inefficiency at the u.s. postal system, dare i say? who knows? rob gifford, our producer has answers. rob. >> sharon writes, "i decided to