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Socialist Wins French Presidency; Accused 9/11 Plotters Disrupt Court; Author Says Society is Robbing Boys of Future; Colorado Ski Season Ends Today; Qatar Sends Women to Olympics 1st Time; Junior Seau Suicide Sparks Debate on Sports Brain Injuries; Paralyzed Eric LeGrand Offered NFL Contract

Aired May 06, 2012 - 18:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour. Don Lemon here. Thanks for joining us.

This happened overseas, but it is going to affect -- it's going to affect the world. And we're going to begin with a major shift in the halls of power for a key U.S. ally. France's new president is a socialist.

Francois Hollande beat conservative incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy in today's run off. It all came down to the economy -- and where have we heard that before? Sound familiar?

Hala Gorani live for us in Paris.

Hala, quite a turn of events.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Don, this was a new era for France. The first time in 17 years this country has elected a socialist president. It is over for Nicolas Sarkozy after only one term.

Francois Hollande made a victory speech just a few hours ago. He said -- he promised to unify the country because it was a close race. Essentially, half of France did not vote for him.

Some of the big challenges ahead for Francois Hollande, the eurozone debt crisis. Nicolas Sarkozy in agreement with Germany that would lead to big budget cuts for eurozone countries. The socialist challenger said, not so fast, you also need a growth plan.

Why is this important for America, because eurozone debt crisis has a direct impact on U.S. stock prices. Whenever there are (INAUDIBLE) in the eurozone directly impacts the Dow Jones and other major indices in the U.S.

The other big issue that Francois Hollande has discussed that will also affect the interest of the United States is that he promised to withdraw all French soldiers from Afghanistan by the end of this year. Nicolas Sarkozy was a little bit more flexible saying that next year would be an adequate deadline.

But for now, street parties all over Paris and all over France for those who voted for Francois Hollande, a new socialist French president for the eurozone's second largest economy.

Don, back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right. Hala, thank you very much.

Voters in Greece are also showing many of their leaders the exit doors. They are voting out the centrists who pushed austerity measures.

Greece's economy is so bad it could drag the rest of the world down and Europe with it. The country accepted bailout money in exchange for extreme spending cuts. But they are so unpopular that voters flock to the far right and far left today. In fact, painful spending cuts are major factor in both the Greek and French elections. The economic ripples from today's results could hit very close to home for Americans as you heard Hala Gorani say.

And our Ali Velshi now says we better pay very close attention right here in the United States -- Ali.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Don, let me tell you. When you look at these elections in France and Greece, there are a few takeaways. Now, Greece is a small, small economy, but it's kind of have been holding Europe hostage. France on the other hand is the big important economy.

France's president is just the last in the long line of leaders who have been put out of office in the last two years because voters are unhappy with these policies, or this talk of government cut backs. They think government should be spending more.

In Greece, you'll remember, last year, there was a massive parliamentary crisis. A coalition government was put into place to try to impose some of the cuts necessary for Greece to continue to get loans from Germany and other countries. Another rejection of that coalition.

People don't like austerity. It is painful. It's government cutbacks. It's joblessness.

But here's the lesson for America, watching this election, these two elections very, very closely -- on one hand you have liberals and the left, the Keynesians who say to much cutting hurts an economy. So, this is the lesion to you Republicans out there, if you go down this road, we'll have double the unemployment. And everyone who supported will get voted out of office.

But there's a message that Republicans can take away or those in the tea party who are preaching austerity. They look at Greece in particular and say, this is what happens when you don't get your fiscal house in order. You end up like Greece.

And maybe, Don, there's something to be said for both sides of that argument.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Thank you very much. Appreciate that.

Louisville police are investigation this suspected homicide at Churchill Downs, one that may have happened just hours after the Kentucky Derby. Police say the body of Hispanic male was discovered before dawn near the barn area. As many as 400 people were around the crime scene last night. That's according to investigators. They're trying to talk to as many people as possible. Detectives won't know the cause of death until an autopsy is finished tomorrow.

The actor best known as Goober Pyle in "The Andy Griffith Show" has died. George Lindsay was 83 years old. He played the eager and lovable Goober on "Griffith Show" and its spinoff "Mayberry R.F.D."

Griffith said this today. "We found ourselves in our 80s and we were not afraid to say 'I love you.' That was the last thing George and I had to say to each other, 'I love you.'"

An al Qaeda figure believed behind a deadly attack in the USS Cole nearly 12 years ago has been killed after years on the run.

And a court hearing for the men suspected of planning the 9/11 terrorist attacks turns into a circus.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: An al Qaeda operative suspected of playing a major role in the USS Cole bombing has been killed in an airstrike in Yemen. Thirty- seven-year-old Fahd al-Quso was on the FBI's most wanted list. Yemen military officials say he was hit by missile today while riding in a vehicle. Seventeen American sailors died 11 years ago when the Cole was hit by a suicide attack while it was refueling.

Two security officials confirmed to CNN that four air strikes had killed six suspected al Qaeda militants. A gunman wearing an Afghan army uniform killed a NATO soldier today in southern Afghanistan. The shooter was immediately killed.

That wasn't the coalition's only casualty today either. An American died when a roadside bomb struck a vehicle in eastern Afghanistan. Two other Americans were wounded in that attack.

The arraignment of the 9/11 terror suspects in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was expected to run about six hours yesterday. Instead, it went much longer. The judge presiding over the case sometimes serving more as the ring master.

CNN's Chris Lawrence has the history for you. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The 9/11 terror suspects turned their arraignment into a chaotic court circus, which left the victims' family members stunned. EDDIE BRACKEN, BROTHER OF 9/VICTIM: They are complaining and our families can't complain no more because they took their lives. They took my sister's life. I don't care if they were on a bed of nails, you know what I mean? But it's our justice system and they have rights as of right now and whatever the due course is and how the process works -- eventually, they're going to be either be in jail for the rest of their lives or they're going to be dead.

LAWRENCE: Walid bin Attash came into court shackled to a chair. Later, when his attorney was alleging mistreatment, he took off his tunic and exposed his bare chest. The judge scolded him and told him, "Put it back on."

Ramzi bin al-Shibh shocked the courtroom by comparing American guards to dead Libya leader Moammar Gadhafi. He shouted, "Maybe they will kill us and make it look like suicide.'

And Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who once boasted he was the mastermind behind the attacks, refused to speak or even listen to the hearing through earphones.

DAVID NEVIN, COUNSEL FOR KHALID SHEIK MOHAMMED: Now the government wants to kill Mr. Mohammed. They want to extinguish the last eyewitness to his torture so that he can never speak again about it.

One of the American defense attorneys came dressed in conservative Islamic hijab and chastised the women on the prosecution team for wearing skirts, saying the detainees had to avert their eyes to avoid committing a sin just by looking at them.

And so it went for hours, silence and side issues dominating the hearing.

REPORTER: "There's a particular paralegal who both in '08 and yesterday was wearing short shirt and was a distraction to our client and therefore could not on the proceeding, which might lead to his death." Could you respond to that?

BRIG. GEN. MARK MARTINS, CHIEF PROSECUTOR: Well, I didn't think it merited or deserved a response yesterday so I don't think it deserves a response today. The women on the prosecution team are dressed in an appropriate and professional manner.

LAWRENCE (on camera): The next court hearing will be in June. But this had to be an embarrassment on all sides for those who push to have these men tried in the military commission here, this cannot be what they had in mind. And for the Obama administration, who promised to close Guantanamo Bay and move this trials to federal court, Saturday was a reminder of that failure.

Chris Lawrence, CNN, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. (END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right, Chris.

Our top story this hour, French voters send their leader packing. The move could have a big impact on the presidential election here in the U.S.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: As we have been reporting here, the French go socialist and a year after bin Laden's death, the president gets accused of spiking the football.

Two great topics for two of our favorite talkers here.

All right, everybody. Fasten your seat belts. Here we go again.

CNN contributor Will Cain, L.Z. Granderson, a senior writer at ESPN, also a CNN contributor.

OK. We're going to start with France. It just took a hard turn to the left. President Nicolas Sarkozy out now. Socialist Francois Hollande is in.

So first to you, Will, France has had enough of austerity they say and the wealthy over there should get ready to pay higher taxes. Any lessons here for the U.S. It certainly does sound familiar, doesn't it?

WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes. It does, right? I think we have two lessons that we can learn or that we will learn shortly here in France. One, that you cannot tax enough to cover up for irresponsible spending and, two, Americans better start debating whether or not we want to bailout Europe.

Let me tell you and how does it play out in just the next few months -- if Hollande does what he has promised, he raises taxes but doesn't put in place the appropriate reforms for spending, you're going to see deficits continue to go on in France, at which point the bondholders will go, no, no, no, we're not lending you any more money France. At which point Germany will go, we're not going to do this forever. We can't prop everybody up, at which point the E.U. begins to dissolve. That can't happen. That can't happen for America.

So, then we'll have to ask ourselves, the Obama administration or Romney, depending on how the election turns out here, or when this happens -- do we want to save the European Union? Do we want to bail it out?

LEMON: Yes. OK. So, listen, while this president is in office now until the election, at least. So, L.Z., what does a socialist France mean for our current president, President Obama?

L.Z. GRANDERSON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I don't think it means much of anything. I doubt if the Romney campaign starts to make some sort of a connection between President Obama and socialist and France, only because, you know, he really doesn't want to begin that whole conversation about who loves France, right? So, it just going to bring us back to reminding us that he opted to go to France as opposed to serve and fight in Vietnam. So I doubt if he goes that way.

What he will do is try to ignore the fact that whatever is happening does not have an impact on the American economy. And if it does hit us hard, if it does hurt us, he's going to point to the numbers that hurts us and he's not going to talk much about the impact that what's Europe been doing has to global economy.

So, you know, if I'm President Obama, I'm very, very nervous about what's happening right now, because, you know, the numbers have been improving under his leadership. But at any moment, the rug can be taken out from under him. And no one is going to give him much room to say, hey, look what's happening to Europe, we don't want to hear that.

LEMON: You know, I caught that little jab there, France. Did you get it, Will? That was a little jab at Romney. We got it, L.Z. Nice one, slipping that in.

GRANDERSON: Soft serve.

LEMON: I know. Soft serve talking point. But we'll let you get away with it.

OK. So, listen, let's talk about spiking the football now. Speaking of talking points, President Obama said there'd be no celebrating the death of Osama bin Laden, but Republicans say he's doing just that.

I want you to listen to this ad by an outside group. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I can report, I directed Leon Panetta, I was briefed and met repeatedly, I determined, at my direction, I called President Zardari, I as the commander-in- chief.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: OK. Will, what's wrong with --

CAIN: Yes, sir.

LEMON: -- taking credit?

CAIN: Well, OK. So specifically how you phrase that, Don, what's wrong with taking credit? First of all, he deserves credit, right? I mean, he did make a call here that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden, which is someone I think everyone in the United States celebrates. Not everyone but a majority of people, I would guess.

So, but then you are asking me, what's wrong with taking it, and cloaking yourself in it, and using the first person over and over and over? It becomes unseemly.

Phil Jackson doesn't go to the podium after he wins the NBA championship with the Lakers and the Bulls and say, I did this, I did that, I did this. He realized there are other players. And that ad you just played, positing him against the military men who actually did it, you know, it becomes unseemly. You want to talk about politicizing things, you have cost to that. It comes off poorly.

LEMON: Listen, I got to ask you this, Will, what if someone took the same, a similar ad and took every single time he credited the men and women in uniform and turned that into an ad. Isn't this just sort of picking apart the part that you want to make into a political point?

I mean, listen, don't get me wrong. Whoever, whether it have been Democrat, Republican or independent, whoever was responsible for killing Osama bin Laden would be patting themselves on the back, I don't understand. And this is someone who is independent. I don't understand the Republican side of this on this particular issue.

Go ahead, Will.

CAIN: You don't understand that it's possible that President Obama could be taking undue singular credit for this? By using first person, I recognize --

LEMON: I do understand it.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Hang on. I do understand it in a vacuum. If you take that particular ad and you play it over and over, everything is about context. If you take the entire context of what the president said, even the night -- yes, he did, and I notice it the night -- I was covering the night Osama bin Laden, when the president made the announcement. And he said say, I was like, well, he's very direct, he's saying I, I, I.

CAIN: Right.

LEMON: But also in that same speech, he credited the men and women in uniform and the people who are also responsible and the former -- the president who came before him, but yet no one is using that in an ad. Go ahead.

CAIN: OK. Let's put this way then. You know, you're right. It's not as though he denied credit to the men and women in uniform that put this operation together. I'm not suggesting that he did.

But you just said the same thing I'm saying, Don. That night, you noticed when he's using the first person over and over and over. And that is what this ad is playing off of. When I heard it that night it did resonate, you know what, don't we usually hear people say we? That ubiquitous we? We accomplished something tonight. We made this -- put this mission into place.

I'm telling you that by using and that I, that first person glory has penetrated, not just here but in the ad he used against Mitt Romney where he said, I did this, Mitt Romney might not have done this, or wouldn't have done this, you begin to see, put this image here that you were the one. You're singularly responsible to this.

GRANDERSON: I can't sit back anymore, Will. This is just a bunch of crap, all right? I'm just going to cut right through it, man. It's a bunch of crap.

It's an ad that's put together that strung together him saying the same word over and over and over again. And as Don said earlier, if you were to piece together if many times that he said thank you and giving credit to other people, including our brave men and women, you can put together the same ad.

As a matter of fact, "The Daily Show", which is a wonderful source of information, actually did that. They strung together all the thank yous from the Osama bin Laden, and it was so many thank yous, it was actually hilarious. He was giving credit to everyone.

CAIN: But that's not the debate we're having. That's the problem. That's not the debate we're having. The debate we're having --

GRANDERSON: Will, how can you attack the guy -- you attack the president for not coming through on any campaign promises, when he said he would even go to Pakistan to get bin Laden and then he did it. And now you want to say he is spiking the football because he's making note of the credit of the --

LEMON: Let me rein this in.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Let me rein in this in and ask something here.

What if -- we -- everyone -- most people love the bravado, whether you agreed with George W. Bush or not. You like the bravado, it was like yes.

I'm just assuming, George W. Bush would say, yes, I did it. So what? I'm happy about it. So what? If you want to do that and not give credit to our men and women, I'm very proud of what they did and what I did. So what, move on.

My thing is: why doesn't the president own it instead of denying that it was -- that it is being politicized, everything is being politicized?

CAIN: So that's the right question, then.

LEMON: So, why not just own it and say, yes, I'm very proud of it. So what?

CAIN: OK, that's the right question. L.Z., your rebuttal to me is that the president has not cloaked himself in glory, and said he hasn't taken credit. And I don't think anybody is debating today whether or not the president has taken credit for this. It's certainly clear between his campaign ads and his first person usage, he is taking credit.

Now, Don, your question is right one. What's wrong with that? What's wrong with taking credit?

Now, I'm telling you the answer to that. The problem with taking too much credit is that sooner or later, it becomes unseemly.

And you guys can answer this for me in yourself. Do you think there is any sense out there that he's taking too much credit for this? Ha he is using first person too much? Or are you just going to tell me he's not taking credit?

LEMON: Listen, I'm the one who asks the questions on the show. So, Will, I want you to keep that in mind when you're on.

But I will say to this -- I haven't thought about it that much. I think in this country, some people are such on the extreme side -- very few people are on the extreme, left and right. Most people are somewhere in the middle. That particular parsing of the language does not mean that much to them.

So, to pretend that on the left that is not being --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Hang on, Will, let me finish. To pretend that on the left, that the president showing up in Afghanistan on the anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death and taking credit for it is not politicizing. That would be ridiculous to think that it's not being politicized.

And on the right, to think that the president is not going take credit and embrace it on something as big as a capture of Osama bin Laden is also ridiculous as well. It is what it is. If the Republicans had done it, they'd be patting themselves on the back. That's the ridiculousness of all of this.

Why can't both sides say, yes, it's being politicized, so what, and move on?

Go ahead. Will or L.Z, either one.

GRANDERSON: I fully agree with what you're saying, Don. I just think it's actually hilarious that, you know, there is no sense of barrier when it comes to placing blame on things that's gone wrong. But anything that goes right has to be measured with a teaspoon. I mean, it just seems absolutely hypocritical to me. And I do believe if President George W. Bush had gotten Osama in Laden, they'll be playing that ad for Romney.

LEMON: OK. Hey, Will, last word. Really quickly, I have to run. My producers are mad at me right no. Go ahead.

CAIN: If President Obama cut an ad where he was walking around with chest push out and said I just killed Osama bin Laden and it ran for 30 seconds over ands over, would it be unseemly? L.Z., would it be unseemly? LEMON: It would be unseemly. That's not happening, though.

CAIN: OK. No, no, that's the debate. When is it too much?

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: I've got to run. Thank you. You guys know you're going to be back next week. We'll talk more. Appreciate it. Thank you.

In the meantime, let's move and talk about a ticking time bomb. That's how my next guest describes the state of America's young men. Their future, not a bright one and she says we're all to blame.

But first this, CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta and finding inspiration in bees. Here's a preview of "THE NEXT LIST."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Many, many businesses have approached me to put these on their roofs, but I only work with those whom I feel truly embrace the concept of wanting to be greener, wanting to help the environment, wanting to raise awareness of the environment. And bees seem to be a very good way to do that.

UNIDENTIFEID MALE: Today, this is the first phase in the sort of chef's garden, where selling six beehives today and I would hope to be harvesting honey within a month.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have wanted to do, to have bees on the roof and grow honey for years. And when the city council finally repealed the law, I was like oh, my God, I don't know how. That's how Andrew and I got connected.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: If you have a minute, I'd really like you to just pay attention to this entire story. It's very important because statistics are staggering. It's really more than statistics. We're talking about people.

One out of every 18 young men in the United States will end up behind bars, one out of every 18. And for African-American men, the number is much higher.

Lisa Bloom is the author of this book, "Swagger: Ten Urgent Rules for Raising Boys in An Era of Failing Schools, Mass Joblessness and Thug Culture." She joins me right now.

Lisa, there you are in New York. I just saw you in L.A. a couple of days ago. Good to see you again.

Before I get into all of this -- this is an important issue. It has been talked about, but you are addressing it head on. And real quickly, tell me about this book and the interest in this book so far. LISA BLOOM, AUTHOR, "SWAGGER": Well, this is a book for parents of boys and it's already the number one parenting book --

LEMON: Good.

BLOOM: -- on Amazon.com, just four days after its release. We did a whole hour on Dr. Phil on it this week and it's really been doing extremely well. And I'm very grateful to everybody who's reading it.

I talk about the four cultural forces that are hammering boys, failing schools, jobless economy that is hitting young men very hard right now, thug culture and all the negative messages that are getting out to our boys about what it is to be a man, to be emotionally numb, to rape women, to beat up gay men, to use illegal drugs. That's a lot of the messages they are getting from rap and hip-hop, movies and TV. And the fourth is the culture of mass incarceration. The U.S. currently imprisons more of its own people than any country in the whole world, Don, and more than any other country in human history. 93 percent of inmates are men. More prisons are being built every day to house the next generation of American boys. That's an outcome that no parent wants for their son. The second half of the book are the rules that, what the research shows and how to protect your son from that kind of an outcome.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Lisa, hold on. You say, "We medicate, we discipline, we suspend, we expel our boys from school at quadruple the rate of girls. And in the United States -- United States incarcerates men, right? Young men. It's number one in the world, the rate of incarceration.

BLOOM: That's right. So the problem begins as early as preschool, when little boys are made to feel they are not welcome there. They tend to be wigglier, more kinetic than girls. But they have to sit still very quietly and listen. And boys get expelled from pre-school at four times the rate of girls. Who knew anybody got expelled from preschool. The problem continues through elementary school. If boys aren't reading well by the fourth grade, they are tagged for a very difficult time at school and probably become high school dropouts. The majority of our African-American boys drop out of high school. That to me should be a screaming headline every night. Only a bare majority of our white boys graduate high school. And high school dropouts have a very hard time in this economy.

LEMON: The answer to the question about why it is important for young men to catch up, it is better for society, for all of us. For the women in our culture, for themselves, for everyone, that's -- It is a simple question.

Listen, I want to talk to you about this. You talk about the media a lot, not just the news media, but media in general, meaning records, studios --

BLOOM: Pop culture.

LEMON: -- pop culture, all of that. You say they're getting away with the message that being a man means being a thug, and they celebrate it. And I see it as well. And then it shows up in a culture with the sagging pants, with the way people look, with how people treat women, how they treat each other. How is the media getting away with that?

BLOOM: That's a good question. Some of the biggest music companies are celebrating rape, beating up gay men, gun violence, and illegal drug use. Two-thirds of the top-selling rap songs today by the biggest artists -- and I call them out by name in the book -- artists like Kenya West, Jay Z, Eminem, some beloved artists -- have some truly sick lyrics. I have them quoted in the book.

Parents, take the ear buds out of your kids' ears. Listen to the music. If you don't understand it, Google the lyrics. If you still don't understand it, then look up the slang on Urbandictionary.com. And talk to your kids about your values. Emphasis this does not reflect your values. In fact, it's a trap for our sons. If they mimic the language and behavior, they are getting in trouble in school. they're getting in trouble with the law. And you're in for a very difficult life.

LEMON: Lisa, in the short time we have left, you mention some very prominent people in rap, hip-hop, pop culture. And I know what the response is going to be right away. Why are you picking on these people? You don't understand rap or hip-hop.

BLOOM: Yes.

LEMON: They do some very good things. No one is denying that. Some of the music is very good but there is always room for improvement, especially if something is detrimental to the culture and to young people.

BLOOM: I am not going to apologize for calling out people who advocate raping little girls and who cheer and celebrate that kind of music and talk about mutilating them in all the sick ways that they do. In fact, these are multi-millionaire artists. They are being supported by some of the biggest music companies in the world. We don't have to feel sorry for them. They should be ashamed of themselves.

The more important thing to me is that parents need to be aware of what culture is teaching boys. I call the book "Swagger" because swagger is the number-one most popular song lyric across the last decade --

LEMON: Yes.

BLOOM: -- and across genres. Even the Jonas Brothers are singing about it. But when our boys really do swagger, when they are arrogant, it is harmful to them. It hurts them in school and their emotional health. I want parents to know how they can act, how they can protect their sons, and that's what the book is all about.

LEMON: I'm glad you said that because I was going to say the book is called "Swagger." It's by Lisa Bloom. It's doing very well. You get it. I think the information is amazing. Thank you, Lisa Bloom. Very courageous of you to take on this topic, all right?

BLOOM: Thank you so much, Don. Have a great evening.

LEMON: You, too.

I want you to take a look at this. Two very different images. One, lots of snow. The other, not so much. Here is our question now. Which image was taken today, and why we care?

But first this. Buying a prosthetic arm could be like buying a new pair of shoes. You might be able to pick one up in a small, medium or large. The details in this week's "Technovations."

(TECHNOVATIONS)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Skiers and snowboarders in Colorado have to say good-bye to the slopes for another year.

(LAUGHTER)

The last of the state's resorts shut down their lifts today.

Sorry, guys, I know they love it. Crying that it's over.

Meteorologist Jacqui Jeras is here.

Pretty early for them to be closing the slopes considering skiers are still tearing it up. Tearing up the powder through July 4th last year.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I know. Do you believe it? This is early. This is unseasonably early even for Colorado standards. In fact, just a week off, the Arapahoe (ph) Basin is closing from their record earliest. Usually, the go into June.

Take a look at this and why. The bottom line is there is not enough snow. It's snowing right now but there you can see the brown and the bare that is going on, and there is not enough space for them to keep on going.

Let's talk a couple of statistics here and put it in perspective. This is a Google Earth map showing you the current snow cover. Hardly anything. The pick and purple you see there. Now look at what it looked like a year ago.

LEMON: Oh, my goodness.

JERAS: wow. What a difference.

LEMON: What a different a year makes.

JERAS: Yes. By the numbers, we're talking 135 percent of their average snowfall in the last season up to this point, this year, only 20 percent of average. And if we don't care about the mountains but you care about maybe places like Denver, the March and April totals should be around 20 inches for those two months. The total this year, only an inch.

LEMON: Yes.

JERAS: Yes. So big deficit. Two of them down about 9 percent in those areas.

LEMON: Bad news for the skiers and snow borders but, guess what, winter will come again soon.

JERAS: It will.

(LAUGHTER)

And they can hike in the summer.

LEMON: Stick around. Winter will be back.

Thank you, Jacqui.

JERAS: Sure.

LEMON: Appreciate it.

By the way, loved the moon last night.

JERAS: Oh, it was beautiful.

LEMON: It was rally gorgeous, the supermoon.

OK, look at that. For the first time, women in one country will be competing in the summer Olympics.

(ON THE GO)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Americans think nothing of sending hundreds of women to compete in the Olympics. This one might surprise you. Qatar is sending women for the first time this summer. Three to be exact, so far.

CNN's spoke to one of those athletes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RIMA MAKTABI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ready, aim, fire.

19-year-old Bahiya al-Hamad hits her mark. It's early in the day and she is on her way to a perfect game. But this young woman already has a bigger target in her sights.

At this shooting club outside of Qatar's capitol, Doha, el-Hamad is training for the 2012 Olympics. Qatar has never sent female athletes to the Olympics. El-Hamad and two others, a swimmer and a sprinter, will be the nation's first female Olympians.

BAHIYA AL-HAMAD, QATAR OLYMPIC ATHLETE (through translation): It's every athlete's dream to reach the Olympics. I'm so excited I want to cry. I love it. I was optimistic but I never expected to reach the games.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

All right. CNN International's Azadeh Ansari is joining me now.

Azadeh, who are the other two women attending the games? And we say here in the U.S. either "Cut-ar" or "Cutter."

AZADEH ANSARI, CNN INTERNATIONAL DESK EDITOR: It's "Cut-ar," "Cut- ar."

LEMON: Qatar.

ANSARI: One of them is Nada el-Kaji (ph), a 17-year-old swimmer. In addition to Nada (ph), we also Nolensan el-Maliki (ph). And you can see the picture here of Nolensan el-Maliki (ph), the one before that was Nada (ph).

But, Don, without getting a medal finish, these women are making Olympic history. They are breaking down a lot of societal barriers and they are really pioneers in their own country.

LEMON: It's a first for Qatar, but it's 2012. It's surprising we're talking about this about, about other countries that don't allow women in the Olympics.

ANSARI: Most notably, Saudi Arabia. They've taken a very hard stance about not letting women participate not only in these Olympics but in Olympics prior. And Dubai is trying to make a -- they've never had a woman athlete. But they're trying to make last-minute case to allow one of their female athletes to attend.

I just want to read something here from the Saudi Arabian president of the Olympic Committee. He recently came and had this to say in regards to not allowing women to attend these Olympics. He says, "Female sports activity has not existed in the kingdom and there is no move thereto in this respect. At present, we are not embracing any female Saudi participation in the Olympics or other international championships."

He went on to say that if women are living abroad and they're training, they can represent the kingdom but only in the presence of a male guardian and if they're wearing appropriate clothing.

LEMON: All right. A little trivia. I don't know if it's trivia or a history lesson. How long -- would you know how long women have been taking part in the Olympics?

ANSARI: How long? I think they started in 1900s in the Paris Olympics.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: In modern-day Olympics.

ANSARI: In modern-day Olympics, 1900s, yes.

LEMON: All right. See, now you know.

(LAUGHTER)

Azadeh, good stuff. Appreciate it.

All right. Football is a tough game. Too tough, some would argue. And Americas know that. We'll talk more about that subject coming up right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Floyd Mayweather Jr did what he told me he was going to do -- win the super welterweight belt. He never lost a pro fight. Cotto got shots in but Mayweather landed more and won by a unanimous decision. This is why his nickname is Money Mayweather. Gets a guaranteed $32 million. My interview is online on CNN.com. It's very interesting.

A retired star's death fuels a debate over the dangers of football.

I want to talk about it now with Jon Wertheim, senior investigative reporter for "Sports Illustrated." You see him every time at this hour on the show on Sunday.

There's the issue right. S.I., at look at the 40th anniversary of Title IV legislation.

Jon, you know what I'm talking about. Junior Seau played in the NFL for 20 years. Probably, a future Hall of Famer. He killed himself Wednesday. 43 years old. And people are speculating about possible brain damage. And so many former players are showing symptoms of early Alzheimer's and dementia? What is your reaction?

JON WERTHEIM, SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED: It's tragic and horrifying. Every indication -- by every indication this is another former NFL player and a good one who is suffering from this post-career trauma. And he shot himself in the chest, not head which is very significant. The implication is he wants his brain to be explored and examined. The NFL has a problem on its hands. This is not the first time we have seen this. The players seem to be getting younger and younger. 20 years that is a lot of collisions and violation. The NFL has an issue on its hands.

LEMON: The object of the game is to score points, but it is to hit. It's hitting. So the man who wrote -- I want to talk about this. This interview to me was significant. It's you're a football fan and they need to examine it. This next person says it, too. Buzz Bissinger wrote "Friday Night Lights," saying that college football should be banned. He said the game is in trouble at all levels including the professional level. Here's what he told me last night. Then we'll talk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUZZ BISSINGER, AUTHOR: It is a vicious game. I'm the first to admit this. I like it vicious and violent. But no one wants to advocate people repeatedly getting hurt and dying at an early age.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: If it continues like this and research finds out that brain injuries are responsible for those things, can football survive?

WERTHEIM: I think it's going to be hard to legislate against football. Who is going to let their kids play football? If you look at the contemporary parent, you make sure they wear knee pad and there is no diving boards. You are going to let them play a sport where players are suing the NFL about the link. I wonder who is going to let their kids play this as these types of stories keep mounting.

LEMON: As we talk about injuries here, this man was injured but, on a positive, it's inspiring this next football story. In about 30 minutes on CNN, Jon, I'm going to talk with Eric LeGrand. He's the Rutgers football who was paralyzed in a game in 2010. You know him, Jon. You chronicled his story on "Sports Illustrated" and on CNN. His old Rugters coach leads the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This week, he offered him an NFL contract. What an honor for Eric.

WERTHEIM: I defy you not to like this guy. Just a great guy. It's easy to lapse into cliche when you talk about him. But he's relentlessly optimistic but realistic. There are no delusions here. He believes he will walk again. We all hope he does. In the meantime his attitude is I'm not going to let it get me down. I'm going to raise awareness and get better. You'll enjoy talking to him, I'm sure.

LEMON: Jon Wertheim, thank you, Jon.

You just said you saw him in the studio. It will be exciting. You guys will get to talk, 30 minutes.

Thank you, Jon Wertheim.

We're going to interview Eric LeGrand right here on CNN. You don't want to miss that interview

Facebook meets Wall Street. Will investors like the pairing? Get it? "Like"? We'll have the details about the possible new friendship.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: To the big stories now in the week ahead. From the White House to Wall Street, our correspondents tell you what you need to know. We begin with the president's plans for the week. DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dan Lothian at the White House. After hitting the campaign trail in battleground states of Ohio and Virginia, President Obama heads to Albany, New York, where he will attend an event focused on lifting the struggling economy. Then later in the week, the president flies west to attend two major fundraisers. They're expected to haul in millions of dollars for the DNC and his reelection campaign.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: I'm Paul Steinhauser at the CNN political desk. Tuesday, the longest-service Republican in the U.S. senate fights for his political life. Senator Dick Lugar, of Indiana, faces a primary challenge from the state's treasurer, who had strong Tea Part support. The same day, a controversial anti-same sex marriage amendment is on the ballot in North Carolina. And Saturday, Mitt Romney speaks at Liberty University, the evangelical school founded by the late Jerry Falwell.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM CORRESPONDENT: I'm Poppy Harlow in New York. Following the jobs report on Friday, Wall Street will turn its attention to corporate earning on Monday. This coming week we'll get results from Disney, AOL, Cisco and Sony, just to name a few. And Facebook kicks off its IPO road show in New York on Monday where it is pitching the company to institutional investors, big hitters on Wall Street before it goes public. We'll track that and all the business news of the week for you on "CNN Money."

A.J. HAMMER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: I'm "Showbiz Tonight's" A.J. Hammer. Here's what we're watching this week. The winner of The Voice stops by Showbiz Tonight right after his or her big triumph.

And the latest cast member to hear, "You're fired." Celebrity Apprentice tells all to me.

Catch Showbiz Tonight exclusively weeknights at 11:00 pm Eastern and Pacific on HLN.