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Benghazi Attack Suspect in Custody; Dow Aims for 10th Consecutive Day of Gains; Miami Heat Extend Win Streak to 20 Games; Paying Teens Not to Get Pregnant

Aired March 14, 2013 - 14:30   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Got some breaking news for you at CNN. After months and months of that attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, you remember that was September 11th of last year, no arrests. Finally some news today. Someone is in custody. Susan Candiotti with the breaking news. What do you know?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is the first time, as you point out, Brooke, that this is -- that someone has been picked up and is in custody in -- with possible connection to that 9/11 attack on that U.S. diplomatic compound. Two sources are giving this information to CNN, to both me and CNN terror analyst Paul Cruickshank.

This man has been identified by both sources as Faraj al-Shibli. He is -- one of the sources tells us that he was picked up very recently, within the past couple of days, in Libya after coming to that country from Pakistan. Now, an Interpol notice red alert had been put out for him quite some time ago, in fact a number of years ago, because this is the second time that Libyan authorities have been looking for him. Back in 1998, he -- this man was being sought in connection with the attack on the murder of a German counterintelligence official. But now we are hearing that, in fact, authorities are looking at him for possible involvement on that attack on our compound that, of course, killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and four people all together.

BALDWIN: And other Americans.

CANDIOTTI: Exactly. So we're following this very closely. It's a big development in this case. We know from other sources that have told me, over the past several months, that they have been looking at a group of maybe as many as 15 people who might be connected to this attack and that they are making progress all the time each day and eventually the hope is, of course, that it will lead to some charges. It's not known at this time whether this person, Faraj Al-Shibli, has been charged directly in connection with this or just be held in custody.

BALDWIN: Susan Candiotti, thank you very much. That is a huge deal, as this would be the first person really in custody over this. I appreciate it.

Now whether you're a sports fan or have a 401(k), may want to pay extra attention to a couple impressive winning streaks out there that we noticed today, first, involving the Dow. We've been talking a lot about the Dow. Watching the closing numbers on Wall Street, huge, huge records. The other involving the Miami Heat.

Alison Kosik is live at the stock exchange. Rachel Nichols joins me to talk sports. Ladies, let's begin with the Dow. Alison Kosik, Dow, pretty much going gang busters for ten straight days in the green. Good news.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Great news. You know, the last time the Dow had this kind of winning streak that lasted this long, it was 1996. You know what, each day the Dow has gone up since last Tuesday has been a brand new record. But here's the thing with this rally, it's not a lot of traders in the game at this point.

Volume has been really low. Many investors are actually sitting on the sidelines. What they are waiting to see what happens next. One analyst puts it this way saying this is water torture for the bulls and for the bears, as well, because the optimists, they are worried about the momentum slowing.

And then you got the pessimists, they are getting a little nervous about the upticks we're seeing. You know, nobody wants to get off the train too early. They don't want to get on the train too late.

The rally though, here's the reality, the harsh reality, it can't last forever. So the question is, when is it going to turn? Another expert says everyone has their finger on the trigger. They are waiting to pull it when the moment is right. You can't time the market. It's impossible.

BALDWIN: You can't. Perhaps not with basketball either so from the bulls and the bears to the Heat. Rachel Nichols, poor Kobe. I don't know how his ankle is, but the Heat doing pretty well.

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS: Yes, absolutely. Look, it helps when you have at least three hall of fame players on your roster, more talent than anyone else in the league. That will get you a 20-game winning streak.

Then there's this team's conditioning. Way back in October, their coach put them through a particularly intense training camp. A lot of running, a lot of endurance exercises.

So now, fast forward months and months, almost at the end of the regular season, other teams are starting to get tired in games. You see the Heat just aren't and then there's their mental approach.

Take a listen to Lebron James after their win last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEBRON JAMES, MIAMI HEAT: We just don't panic. We, you know, you have a streak like this, you have to have some luck. You know, you have to be able to win some games maybe you thought it wasn't possible to win, but you have to play really good basketball and you can't never panic, no matter what's going on. As a veteran ball club, we don't panic. We move on to the next play.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NICHOLS: Now, Brooke, on Friday, they are going to play at Milwaukee, and it might not be one of the teams in the league that causes a lot of reverence, but they have caused the Heat some problems. In fact, the last time those two teams played, they thumped the Heat by 19 points.

So, there's some who think this streak could end as soon as tomorrow. Other people think I wouldn't bet against Lebron James and the Miami Heat right now. The record, it's 33 set by the 1972 Lakers. We'll see if they can get to that mark.

BALDWIN: It's incredible. What goes up, apparently, goes down, according to the numbers on the Dow. Hopefully for the Heat's sake, it doesn't happen with them. Ladies, thank you, on the street beat today, thanks so much.

Coming up next, we're going to bring our hot topics panel, including the controversial incentive. Have you read this "Time" magazine article, to offer cash to curb teen pregnancy, you don't get pregnant, you get paid.

Plus, move over Fox News, as a new conservative channel gets ready to hit cable boxes.

And a new reality for Veronica Mars fans as the old TV series breaks new ground in the filming industry and fundraising. My panelists are standing by. The big reveal next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Time to hit the "Hot Topics", the stories you'll be buzzing about around dinner time tonight. I want to begin with this, this article. It's a must read no matter how you feel, this is from time.com, I should say. It may just take up our entire conversation.

It proposes in order to prevent teen pregnancy you pay young people not to get pregnant. So, specifically every young person who makes it to 21 without impregnating someone, this is guys too, or the ladies getting pregnant, Erika Christakis, an early childhood educator and Harvard college administrator, the one who penned this article.

So here her proposition, "Giving teens money to forestall pregnancy makes some people uneasy, why should we pay them to do something they ought to be able to manage on their own, but we use financial incentives in all areas of life, from children's allowances, to tax breaks for home ownership for simple reason, they work."

She goes on, "In a country states impractical values and under strain capitalism, it is surprising that we haven't already put the solution to more widespread or better use." So, Christakis is responding to this new campaign in New York that critics are calling hostile and stigmatizing towards teen parents. You see this display here. These are babies, their pictures are shown. The little girl here says, honestly, mom, chances are he won't stay with you. What happened to me? Erika Christakis was going to come on and speak with us today, for personal reasons she couldn't quite make it. But we wanted to just discuss her idea.

So on the panel today, Lauren Ashburn, editor-in-chief of the "Daily Download," also radio and television personality, Mara Davis, Jack Moore, editor of "Buzzfeed Sports," and Bomani Jones, contributor to SBnation.com. So welcome to all of you.

Mara Davis, I'd like to hear from you first. Tell me, what do you think paying teens not to get pregnant, good idea, bad idea?

MARA DAVIS, RADIO AND TV PERSONALITY: Here's the thing, who's going to rationalize with the teenager, right? If you've got a kid who's 14, 15, 16, whatever you're saying to them now is not something that's going to hold true. When you're at a party, when you like a boy, you're going to do what you want to do.

BALDWIN: You don't think money talks to teenagers?

DAVIS: I do not think so. How many things were you told as a teenager if your mom said don't do this, don't do this, but you still end up doing it. I think the ads are really rough, too, because I think we need to put more attention on these young boys also.

It's all the girls. Look, they have everything they have to show for it by being pregnant. The boys don't. So I think it's a very tough call. I think it's great that we're opening the conversation, but reasoning with teenagers, I don't think so.

BALDWIN: I'll this author has a counter to it. Before we get to that, you say it's ridiculous, Lauren Ashburn, why?

LAUREN ASHBURN, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, "DAILY DOWNLOAD": It is absolutely ludicrous to be spending government money, giving it to teens who can't keep their pants zipped up. I mean, this is outrageous, this proposal.

BALDWIN: She would say it's money the U.S. government or local governments would be paying to help these little babies and moms who need money down the road.

ASHBURN: What does that do psychologically, Brooke? What does that do to that generation of teens? It says, unless you pay me to do something, I'm not doing it. And I don't think that's how we want to go through life in this society.

BALDWIN: Bomani, I know you're shaking your head. Let me just jump in because she's not here, Erika Christakis, so I went to her blog. I wanted to read more about this. To her point on how financial incentives do work, this is what she says.

"We pay people to go to college, student loans. We pay people to get married, tax breaks for joint returns. We pay people to get fat, farm subsidies, she goes on and on. Talks like the smoking sensation study, how you pay people to stop smoking and it worked. Bomani, is the head still shaking?

BOMANI JONES, CONTRIBUTOR, SBNATION.COM: Yes, none of those things that you listed there are sex. I mean, these are long-run decisions you're talking about with buying a house and things like that. The issues that come up with people having a way with pregnancy has to do with sex and more importantly, unprotected sex.

It seems a more effective mechanism would be if we figure out some way that you can honestly have a discussion with your teenagers about sex because unfortunately, you're not going to be able to stop them from having sex, in all likelihood, as one of the panelists said earlier.

But this isn't an issue about not being willing to negotiate with teenagers, that we shouldn't reason with teenagers, we need to actually have conversations with teenagers, because if your 15-year- old decides he or she wants to have sex, it's probably going to happen.

Now would you rather that 15 or 16-year-old talk to you rationally to figure out what to do to make sure that pregnancy does not occur? That makes a lot more sense than money when you consider the financial disincentives to pregnancy already.

BALDWIN: Look at the statistics, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, yes, teen pregnancy rate has fallen 27 percent, but still 20,000 teen pregnancies happen in New York City each and every year. I think what's interesting about her proposal, Jack Moore, I want to get to you. She's not talking about ladies getting pregnant. She would reward the guys, which I don't quite know how they would keep track of that.

JACK MOORE, EDITOR, "BUZZFEED SPORTS": How is that possible? In what world would that work? Deadbeat dads are a big part of the teen pregnancy problem. There are a plenty of dads that deny they are the father of the baby. The "Maury Povich Show" has made a living on that fact.

So to assume that the government would be able to keep track of which teenaged men have impregnated women is just ludicrous. The fact that we're thinking about this as the way of handling this problem rather than just, I don't know, acknowledging that teenagers are going to have sex and providing free birth control.

Maybe that's a good idea to cut down teen pregnancy instead of paying people. Also, this assumes that this would cause an end to teen pregnancy, the plan she lays out or the idea is that this money would come from --

BALDWIN: Or curb it.

MOORE: -- this money would come from the government's money that takes care of teen moms. There would still be teen moms, now we just have two things to pay for. People are going to have sex and make mistakes. To assume in that heat of passion that an 18-year-old's going to be like, wait, I shouldn't do this because I really want that money in three years, that's insane.

DAVIS: It's not possible.

BALDWIN: One thing to talk about, trying to lose weight, it's not thing to stop smoking, Bomani put it perfectly, this is sex. We have to move on, but I love the article. It's in time.com.

Coming up, we'll talk about this new right-wing TV network set to launch. Could it spell trouble for Fox News? We'll weigh in on that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Here we go, new choice for conservatives. Not talking candidates, I'm talking cable TV. The "Daily Beast" is reporting this new network it's called One America News Network. It will officially announce its launch at CPAC, that's the Conservative Political Action Conference, which is under way today there in the National Harbor in Maryland.

Now, "The Daily Beast" reports this, quote, "One America News Network has a two-tier mission, providing opinion-free straight news reporting and right-leaning talk shows." Has a Twitter page, a web site, giving sample newscasts of what is to come in July.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good evening, topping our news, a scathing report on the terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The investigation points the finger at the Obama administration's State Department.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The man behind it, broadcaster Charles Herring, also runs Wealth TV. Bringing the panel back in. Lauren Ashburn, just because you cover media, I want to begin with you, reliable, credible, fact- based news with libertarian and conservative voices. How's that supposed to work?

ASHBURN: Good luck with that. That's all I have to say. Here's the problem, Fox News has a motto that says it's fair and balanced, yet because of its primetime lineup of very conservative talk show hosts, it's almost impossible for the journalists to get their due.

Secondly, talk about carriage for a minute. Current TV, left-leaning network, had tens of millions of subscribers. Al Gore couldn't make it work, had to sell it to Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera is putting together an English-language network.

It is really hard to get traction in the TV marketplace, especially if you're going up against a behemoth like Fox News, and you're coming out in a report like this?

BALDWIN: And if you read the article on "Daily Beast," they are saying basically that, you know, MSNBC is so far left, Fox News doesn't quite counter that, so they need something farther to the right than Fox.

ASHBURN: Good luck. I think Fox is going to have to say something about that. I can't imagine they are going to support this very much.

BALDWIN: Bomani?

JONES: If their ideas are going to be farther to the right than Fox, I have no idea how in the world they are going to produce straight news reporting. I don't even necessarily blame them for this because I think people have asked the question as to whether it's profitable in this television landscape to have news that is not slanted in one direction or another because people want to cheerlead so much.

But you can't say on one hand that we're going to specifically cater towards one wing in the political experience and then try to tell me it's going to be straight up. What context is going to be offered with the content?

BALDWIN: We'll watch and see. It launches this fall. In the meantime, let me move on, Veronica Mars, anyone? Veronica Mars will rise again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, are you going to tell me why I'm here or should I just sit back and enjoy your impression of a mildly constipated David Caruso?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: From 2004 to 2007, actress, Kristen Bell there, she played the sleuth on the TV show that ran on the CW, on the UPN networks, now Veronica coming to the big screen fuelled by a record breaking response from fans. This is huge. They responded to this Kickstarter drive.

The show creator Rob Thomas asked fans to show Warner Bros that there's interest in the movie. Guess what, in 4 hours and 25 minutes fans gave money this funny web site, they raised $1 million, the fastest time ever to hit seven digits, this is according to Kickstarter, and they are still giving as I speak.

Latest check in, 45,000 backers have kicked in $2.7 million. Jack, what do you think, power to the fans for making something happen?

MOORE: Well, I'm torn, because on one hand, I love Veronica Mars. I will reveal myself to be a giant Veronica Mars fan. I don't care if it's designed for teenage girls.

BALDWIN: Do you get a speaking role?

MOORE: Well, I'm not that far into Kickstarted giving, but I may have thrown a few bucks their way, but it does raise an interesting and somewhat concerning question, that is Warner Bros is now getting this movie for free. This movie has been totally financed by fans, $2.7 million and growing. Who knows where this is going to stop. Warner Bros doesn't have to have any of the liability financially on the movie.

Yes, they'll put up money for marketing and distribution, but this is kind of a concern. These people who are donating aren't producers in the traditional sense. They are not going to get a cut if it goes well.

It raises kind of concerns for precedent going forward of what's to stop this happening more and more, where big studios take even less of a risk?

ASHBURN: That's the power of social media.

DAVIS: I totally disagree with that.

BALDWIN: Let me quote a super fan, this is a guy that gave $10,000. What I love about Kickstart, it's really empowering to say, look, skip the bologna, let's make it and not involve this crazy stupid layer of people who think they know what you want. So, any of you all, do you think the fan --

ASHBURN: The power of social media is what is driving this. You've seen the internet change television, change viewing experience from passive to interactive. People want to feel like they have a role in something, that, I donated to that movie.

And, we reported on this in "Daily Download" two years ago. "Time" said it's one of the best inventions of the century or something like that. It is really about the people, it is making people in the studios and on networks almost irrelevant. People are going to push for what they want to see.

DAVIS: Otherwise you have to listen to people in a boardroom who are working for a network and think they know what the audience wants. Veronica Mars is a hugely popular show, now the fans have spoken out. They are going to get this movie made. How many other shows are like that? That were so wonderful and, you know, the network just pulls the plug or they don't like the concept.

BALDWIN: Maybe it's a trend.

DAVIS: I think it's a great thing.

BALDWIN: You think it's a great thing?

JONES: Is it enough, now I got to pay $10,000 to see the movie? I mean, spend your money however you want, but if you give a movie studio money to make a movie, you are a sucker.

BALDWIN: Listen, it's up to you. They will on the movie, maybe you're not compensated but do it out of the goodness of your own heart. I didn't give, Jack Moore did maybe. Jack Moore, Bomani Jones, Mara Davis and Lauren Ashburn, thank you. Hot topics panel back after this. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is what the world looks like through our Arlene Gordon's eyes, 100 percent darkness, 100 percent of the time.

ARLENE GORDON: It started, you know, in my 30s, 40s. The vision became so bad that I decided to gamble. I said, you know, it's worse this way. I'm neither here, nor there.

GUPTA: Gordon scheduled herself for an operation she was told that could potentially make her vision even worse.

GORDON: For six weeks, I had the best vision I ever had in my life. It was fantastic. I was -- I could baby, walking around looking at everything.

GUPTA: But just as she'd been worn, Gordon's remaining vision vanished, rendering her completely blind. But soon she learned to navigate her new world.

GORDON: As you tap, you are deliberately clearing a path in front of you.

GUPTA: The streets of New York City were never enough, and Gordon refused to let her blindness stand in the way of her passion for traveling, Cuba, South Africa, countless cities in Europe, collecting souvenirs at every stop along the way. And this is fascinating, hand her a souvenir, and by feel alone she can tell you exactly what it is and where she got it.

GORDON: It's a Buddha, isn't it?

GUPTA (on camera): Yes.

GORDON: And that is from India.

GUPTA (voice-over): Travel, she says, gave her a life, as any she'd seen in the movies.

GORDON: When we were in Venice, the windows opened up, I remembered seeing the movie with Katharine Hepburn where she's looking out over the piazza. There are so many things you can experience rather than visually. As a matter of fact, one friend said to me, you know, I never saw as much as I did when I traveled with you.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)