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New Day

Dad Defends Virtual Video; Target Hacking; Weather Outlook; How Dangerous are Supplements; A Kettle of Good Stuff

Aired December 23, 2013 - 08:30   ET

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

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Miguel, thank you very much.

We want to talk to you now about this controversial video, OK? It's a father. He's got his four-year-old running next to his car or his truck or whatever and he's talking to him about football and all these things. In order to judge, first you must watch it, then we'll tell you what the father says, then we'll talk about the reaction. Here's the video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on. Faster. See how fast we're going. Come on, run faster. Going eight miles an hour. Pick that (EXPLETIVE DELETED) up. Come on, faster.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going as fast as I can.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on. I don't want to hear your excuses. Run or I'm going to run your (EXPLETIVE DELETED) over. Come on. (HORN) You'd better hurry up. Yes, that's what I thought. You'd better grab another gear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: All right. So that's the relevant part of the video. Nothing worse happened than that. Nothing really else happens. But there was a huge reaction.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: A huge reaction.

CUOMO: Very - a lot of it very vicious. The father's explanation first before we begin the discussion. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See how fast we're going. Come on, run faster. Going eight miles an hour. Pick that (EXPLETIVE DELETED) up. Come on faster.

It was just a playful moment between a father and a son who just got back from watching the Cowboys get beat again and him wanting to have aspirations to play football.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CUOMO: That's how he explains it. Now, let's bring in a psychotherapist here because we have to understand what's going on from the psychological perspective on it and contributor for babycenter.com, Dr. Robi Ludwig.

Robi, I love you. You know I love having you on the show.

DR. ROBI LUDWIG, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: And I love being here.

CUOMO: This one's a head scratcher for me.

LUDWIG: Yes.

CUOMO: The father says he was coming back. The kid was in the back. Maybe there was a little bit of seat belt controversy going on. He said, get out. The kid gets out. You see the video tape. Do you see anything in it that gives you pause?

LUDWIG: When I first heard about this story, I was like, my God, if that --

CUOMO: Heard about it.

LUDWIG: Heard about it.

CUOMO: Yes.

LUDWIG: It sounded like corporal punishment. You know, sending your kid out to run for not having his safety belt on seemed outrageous. But when I actually saw the video, it did not look as harsh to me. The child did not seem upset. The child was not crying. He didn't seem distressed. The interaction between father and son, they seem to have a relationship. So if I did not know that the result or the end result was a result of punishment or for this kid not being in a seat belt, I would not think anything of this video. It didn't look that harsh to me.

BOLDUAN: Which then you -- begs the question, what do you make of the reaction online to this video? I mean this man received death threats because of it.

LUDWIG: Yes.

BOLDUAN: I mean (INAUDIBLE) -

LUDWIG: Well, that seems a little extreme, right?

BOLDUAN: Yes, absolutely. I mean doesn't that -- the kind of violent reaction online that people seem to have these days to videos or any kind of situations like this, that should be part of the conversation, too. What do you think?

LUDWIG: I think it's so interest that the people who are most harsh tend to be homicidal or direct this real aggressive rage towards parents. Listen, when it comes to parenting, many people are very judgmental. And we know that parenting is a gray area. What is right? There is no definitive right. So I think that leaves a lot of room for judgmentalness.

But it's striking. I mean we know that in terms of families, there's a range. There's always those healthy and unhealthy type of interactions. The question I have is, you know, does the punishment really -- is it befitting and does it teach the child a lesson? Does this child actually now know he needs to keep his safety belt on? Otherwise, you know, if you're not teaching a lesson then maybe you're not being effective parent. But being effective and being abusive are two different things.

CUOMO: Very different.

BOLDUAN: Very different.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN ANCHOR: But isn't this the sort of thing where, you know, the father is being fairly rude, to be quite honest, to his kid and is this teaching the kid how to react to the outside world as well? He's using foul language. He's making him run in front. He's scaring him by honking the horn. It's not particularly nice what the father's doing.

LUDWIG: No, it seemed like a very macho-esque approach to teach a child a lesson. I would never recommend it. I would never do it as a part. Having said that, the ultimate question is, how does the child feel? Does the child feel abused by his father? Did he feel afraid or upset? I just didn't see that in the video.

CUOMO: We'll have to wait for the book to come out, but -

LUDWIG: Right.

CUOMO: But the question is, why did it get -

LUDWIG: His future therapist will now know all the answers.

CUOMO: What is your take though on why it becomes such a big deal and why in the name of defending the sensitivity toward a child do people reflectively become so insensitive and offensive? Like, why did this happen? Why are we even here?

LUDWIG: I think it has to do with parental insecurity. No parent, as trained as they are, ever has a secure sense that they are in the right. So when we now have these viral videos, we can look at somebody else -

BOLDUAN: WE can point to someone being wrong (ph).

LUDWIG: And then it becomes judgment TV and you say, that person is a horrible parent. And comparatively, any parent who's in that judgment mode can feel, I'm in the right, and feel a false sense of security likely (ph).

CUOMO: Yes. And then they write these tweets. I looked at some of the tweets as this was going on and it struck me that, you know, you're saying to this guy, I can't believe what you're doing to this kid. He's now scarred with this. What do you think your kids are going to think when you - when they read these tweets that you're putting out there about people.

LUDWIG: Right.

CUOMO: These ugly, vicious sentiments over something you have no business opining on in the first place, let alone blowing it out of proportion. I think people need to think, before I write this, forget about being the one who's going to get attacked -

LUDWIG: Right.

CUOMO: But even when I'm responding, I'd better think, someone's going to read my tweets. Maybe my boss. Maybe a friend. Maybe a child. And they're going to see how I'm reacting to things and judge me.

MARQUEZ: The golden rule.

CUOMO: Judge -

MARQUEZ: Treat others.

LUDWIG: And I think people think when it's anonymous they can just say anything.

BOLDUAN: Right.

LUDWIG: And it has to do more with them, the person writing it, than what they're actually saying.

CUOMO: This family's like scared into their house now, by the way.

LUDWIG: Yes. Now that shouldn't be.

BOLDUAN: I'm also kind of shocked to the level of constantly amazed at the level people will take videos and post them online.

LUDWIG: Right.

BOLDUAN: You know there is something to this as well, like why -- why would you want that video -

CUOMO: (INAUDIBLE), you know?

BOLDUAN: Right. Why would you want to (INAUDIBLE) this?

LUDWIG: But we don't also have all the information. We don't know.

BOLDUAN: That's exactly right.

LUDWIG: We can't tell about this father's parenting 24/7 from this slice of life that we're seeing.

CUOMO: Right.

LUDWIG: I mean, I know I could look at some videos of myself and be frightened by something I said or did. It's not that bad, but I'm just saying, it doesn't reveal the whole picture. BOLDUAN: No.

LUDWIG: And I think everybody needs to really take a step back and keep that in mind.

CUOMO: Right.

BOLDUAN: Take a breath.

LUDWIG: Take a breath.

CUOMO: And as much as I want to defend the family and help them, the best advice for them, even the media is not your friend. Stay quiet. It will pass.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

CUOMO: People will move on.

LUDWIG: Don't post anymore. Not on --

CUOMO: The hate parade will move on.

BOLDUAN: Stop posting videos.

LUDWIG: Right.

BOLDUAN: Thanks, Robi.

LUDWIG: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Great to see you.

Coming up next on NEW DAY, more trouble for some Target customers. Their information stolen in a massive hack attack. Well now a bank is saying they're going to cut your -- we're going to be cutting your credit just to be safe. Or is it something else?

CUOMO: And another product that could be doing more harm than good. We'll tell you what doctors are now saying about dietary supplements. A warning that could save your life.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Definitely a lucky day for one dog from Massachusetts. Take a look at this video. Golden retriever named Crosby (ph). You see her right there. She was out with her owner when she fell into the Charles River. The owner called 911, but, you know, when you're in that situation, you can't really stand between this street and this street. You're kind of in the woods. Dispatchers were able to track the GPS on the caller's cellphone helping first responders narrow down the location. And they put, as you see, they put on those cold water survival gear suits in order to go in. They jumped right in, pulled Crosby out to safety, to shore, and she's said to be doing just fine. And she has a nice little blanket, I'm sure, now.

CUOMO: And Miguel and I, were here, as we were just admiring your broadcast excellence -

BOLDUAN: Oh, there you go.

CUOMO: We were also saying, I can't believe these first responders, the situations that they put themselves into -

BOLDUAN: I know.

CUOMO: To save people, pets. I --

BOLDUAN: Because especially when it comes to an dog - you know, like an animal is completely in panic. So you can make the situation worse as the first responders are trying to help her out.

MARQUEZ: I love how the dog is clinging to the responder almost. It's amazing.

CUOMO: Yes. It's very sweet.

BOLDUAN: She's like, just get me out of here. Oh, look at that face. So cute.

MARQUEZ: Oh, poor thing, she is miserable.

BOLDUAN: Miserable.

CUOMO: (INAUDIBLE) put himself into a dangerous situation. Lucky the outcome was good.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

CUOMO: It's a happy family because they got their pooch back.

BOLDUAN: That's right.

MARQUEZ: And it's good practice for the emergency workers as well in the event they have to do this for --

CUOMO: True. True, true. Well said. Everybody wins.

MARQUEZ: Everybody wins. It's a win-win.

CUOMO: All right. Moving on now. We have news for you about that massive credit card hack at Target and the first look at the effect it's had on the mega store. "The Wall Street Journal" reports sales were down this weekend despite a very public apology and promises of discounts. Meanwhile, making matters worse, at least one big bank is clamping down on those same shoppers buying power if they were shopping at Target during the hack attack. Why? Well, let's bring in CNN's George Howell at a Target store in Warrenville, Illinois.

George, what do we know?

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Chris, good morning.

Talk about bad timing. There are reportedly three class action lawsuits. Sales, as you mentioned, are reportedly down. And all of this is playing out during a crucial shopping week.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL (voice-over): Some last-minute Christmas shoppers may be frozen in their tracks because of the massive security breach at Target. JP Morgan Chase, the nation's largest bank, has temporarily placed limits on those customers, potentially impacted by the hacking. Chase clients who shopped at U.S. Target stores between November 27th and December 15th can now only withdraw $100 a day from ATMs, their daily total spending now capped at $300. With 40 million credit and debit card accounts now considered compromised, irate customers took Target to task online. One tweet reads, quote, "my bank account got hacked and now I can't finish Christmas shopping at Target. Anything to help?" Another chimed in, "the moral of this story, Target hacking and Chase bankcard limits have a backup plan, cash, paper checks, gift cards, one other bank card." And other hacked customers are asking why it wasn't noticed sooner.

ERICA EAKEN, HACKED TARGET CUSTOMER: They purchased six gift cards at $200. And as the person at the bank told me they went for a seventh and it was denied because I didn't have enough. And I just think that would have been suspicious.

HOWELL: U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chuck Schumer are now demanding immediate federal investigations to prevent a breach like this from happening again.

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: We can get to the bottom of how Target's in-store payment security was compromised in order to make sure that Target, in the future, and all other stores adequately protect consumers from this kind of devastating theft.

HOWELL: Some customers in California have already filed what could become a class action lawsuit against Target, saying the chain, quote, "failed to implement and maintain reasonable security procedures and practices." Target said on Sunday it notified millions of effected customers via e-mail and is working with the Secret Service and financial institutions to resolve the problem. They also offered customers 10 percent store-wide discounts this weekend as well as free credit monitoring.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: So the question, could we see more of this sort of thing? The National Retail Federation says yes simply because of the magnetic strip on the back of those cards, the same technology that they say is used on cassette tapes. Technology, Kate, that can be easily compromised and copied.

BOLDUAN: All right, George, thank you so much.

Let's head back over to Indra, looking at the forecast.

It's clearly cold where George is.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Just a tad. You want to guess? It's 17 degrees right now. Feels like three. I just need one hand, like a little kid, for him, OK. Three degrees. Thank you, George, for being a trooper and letting me be indoors today. Appreciate it.

All right, let's talk about the extremes. We still have out there - we're still talking about freezing rain, especially in through New England and Maine right now. Only looking for about another quarter of an inch and it should go down by the afternoon. Really just late morning.

The other side of this, heavy rain. Only about an inch kind of in the main cities here. But either way, one to three inches is still possible for the mid Atlantic, back down to the southeast. So, yes, some flooding concerns will be out there. For the Carolinas, it looks like it's not really going to exit until overnight or maybe the early hours of tomorrow morning.

We've already done ice, we've done rain, let's go to the snow. Yes, around the lakes today, still dusting. Well, more than a dusting. About one to three inches still in the region expected today. But I think the temperatures -- that's the big one everyone is really talking about.

Look at these extremes. Again, Tampa, 72 right now; Bismarck, not even 23, that would be cold enough -- negative 23 degrees right now. That temperature spread huge across the country. But even more unique I think is where we should be in the morning -- the coolest time of the day. Typically right now, D.C. should be 31 degrees. This morning you are 59 degrees. That's as cold as you got.

Unfortunately that cold front will be going through today. So we'll actually get colder as we go throughout the day. That's what we're going to have to be watching.

Yes, all the fun is gone. Temperatures are going back down. New York City going from 60 to 30 by Christmas Day. But it's good right. It's a holiday. You want it to feel cold. Boston going down to 23 -- you're talking a good 40-degree temperature change here in about 48 hours.

That's the big story other than, of course, white Christmas. Who gets it? Well, there's an Alberta clipper -- the only hope we have out here. This guy is going to quickly go through so maybe around the Great Lakes, couple of inches of snow. And that is about it for my definition as we discussed for a white Christmas.

BOLDUAN: And there's no way this could change? I'm still holding out hope.

PETERSONS: Listen in the weather world anything can change. Just for you this time, I like it that way.

BOLDUAN: Ok good. Thank you Indra.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: I went through the lyrics to White Christmas.

BOLDUAN: Did you? PETERSON: How helpful.

CUOMO: I did not see any indication of the need for falling snow.

BOLDUAN: Did it define it in the actual lyrics?

CUOMO: Treetops glisten, children listen. That's right. Just saying. I knew that Indra felt too correct on the issue. So I decided to dive.

PETERSONS: See how it goes, guys? Now you know how it feels.

BOLDUAN: Thank you -- Indra. You crack me up.

Coming up next on NEW DAY, they're supposed to be good for you but now some dietary supplements are now being called hazardous to your health especially your liver. The warning that you need to hear -- coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Welcome back to NEW DAY. Could your dietary supplements tell you? New studies suggest they account for nearly 20 percent of drug-related liver injuries that leave its users in the hospital. Among the greatest offenders, body builder supplements and green tea extract. How benign does that sound?

Let's talk about this more with Dr. Roshini Raj, an assistant professor of medicine at NYU Medical Center. Dr. Raj, when I was reading about this. It really is startling. You're talking about 20 percent -- accounts for nearly 20 percent of drug-related liver injuries -- that's up from 7 percent just a decade ago.

DR. ROSHINI RAJ, NYU MEDICAL CENTER: That's right. So we're seeing an increase in this very severe type of liver injury which can lead to the need for liver transplant or even death. Now these are relatively rare cases but they do happen. I think what Americans need to realize these dietary supplements that we're talking about -- vitamins, body building supplements like you mentioned, diet pills that are not prescription -- these are not regulated by the FDA. So virtually anyone can go out there, put together whatever ingredients they want, and sell it without any type of regulation on efficacy and even more importantly safety.

BOLDUAN: So what are people getting wrong when they take these supplements? They could clearly aren't doing this to hurt themselves.

RAJ: Right. Well, people sort of assume if you see it in a store, it's been vetted on some level. And that's just not the case. Now, I'm not saying all supplements are unsafe but you just don't know. You don't know which ones are. You don't know if they've put some added ingredients in there that they haven't really told anyone about because no one is taking them out and really testing them.

The FDA only looks at these types of supplements if there had been adverse events already reported. And by the way it's up to the manufacturer to really report them.

CUOMO: That's the big one.

RAJ: Do we know they're going to do that? How much do you trust?

CUOMO: With neutraceuticals -- they call them supplements -- neutraceuticals sometimes.

RAJ: Yes.

CUOMO: It's up to the company to report. That's a big barrier-entry. However, it is the season when people start taking things to lose weight right after the holidays. And when you're dealing with your liver you're not always going to have pain symptoms. What should people know if they're on these supplements -- what's the best advice -- Doctor?

RAJ: I think the best advice is speak to your doctor about your specific supplement. Let them do a little research and find out if it's safe for you considering other medications you might be taking. They can a least look at the ingredients. Again they may not be sure that what the label says is actually in there. But at least they can tell you, yes, this is something I've had experience with my patients. It works, it doesn't work. It's safe or it's not safe.

And as you said -- symptoms to look out for, you're not always going to have symptoms of liver disease early on but the typical symptoms later are jaundice, yellowing of the skin or eyes, itchiness, abdominal pain, weight loss, nausea or, vomiting.

CUOMO: Appreciate it. This is the time of year.

RAJ: Yes. 50 percent of Americans are taking some kind of supplements. So this is definitely out there but you have to be careful.

BOLDUAN: That fact is it's unregulated, 51 percent of Americans are taking them, it's pretty amazing.

RAJ: It's mind-blowing -- yes.

BOLDUAN: Thanks Dr. Raj.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: A lot of money in it, as well.

Dr. Roshini Raj, happy holidays to you.

RAJ: Thank you. You, too.

CUOMO: Thanks for being here.

Coming up on NEW DAY, something very special in a bell ringer's kettle -- two words, bling-bling. Good stuff, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: I like it.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Put a ring on it.

CUOMO: Yes. And here is why I did.

In "The Good Stuff" -- today's edition: you know those bell ringers in the Salvation Army. They ring the bell to get your attention. Well one of them got something in their kettle that they never expected.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today I got a ring, a diamond ring.

LINDA PAYTON, SALVATION ARMY: It's a beautiful gold and diamond ring. And it's our fourth year receiving from the same person.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Key part of the bite -- that's right.

BOLDUAN: What?

CUOMO: -- four years running. The first year, an anonymous donor dropped a gold nugget -- who has those -- worth up to $4,000 in the bucket. The second, another ring. The third, 10 hundred-dollar bills, also known as $1,000, scattered in buckets around South Florida. Each time the donor leaves a note and never asks for credit. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAYTON: Basically she calls and says, you might want to check one of your red kettles at this location. I know she wants to be anonymous. She knows that what comes here stays here. And so it's like she wants to help this community. It's just thank you, thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: She wants to be anonymous but she also is careful for whom the bell tolls. You just have to check the right kettle.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN HOST: Yes. Partly so.

CUOMO: This ring on your screen worth ability $3,500. It's just a reminder the Salvation Army does good work. Even if you can't give a ring or a golden nugget you can give what you can. To this woman she's giving people the reason to be a little bit better off this Christmas.

So thank you to her and that's why it is "The Good Stuff".

BOLDUAN: And worthy of the good stuff. We love it.

CUOMO: Very much. Good to have you with us -- Miguel.

MARQUEZ: Thank you very much for having me and going easy on me.

BOLDUAN: Will you come back tomorrow?

MARQUEZ: I'm going to come back tomorrow. I wasn't sure --

BOLDUAN: All right. The hazing begins tomorrow.

MARQUEZ: Oh. I thought that was going to be today.

CUOMO: No, no, no. Every day.

A lot of news for you --

BOLDUAN: Thanks Miguel.

CUOMO: -- so let's head over to the "NEWSROOM". Kyra Phillips is in for Carol Costello. Hey Kyra -- happy holidays.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hey -- happy holidays to you too.