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Extremist Group Demands Governors Retire; Jobs Created, Jobless Rate Stays the Same; Parents of Autistic Children Face Huge Medical Bills
Aired April 02, 2010 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: President Barack Obama in Charlotte, North Carolina, visiting a company that's hired new workers and has beefed up operations, partially because of grants from the economic stimulus program. Apropos that he is there today, as we get the unemployment numbers, jobless numbers, talking about the economy. President Barack Obama answering some questions. Really apologizing, saying, "You know what? Some of my answers are long, but they just -- you deserve to be told everything, long answers." So again, the president.
We're going to talk about that and we're going to talk about the jobless numbers, as well.
Hello, everyone. I'm not Ali. Ali's off today. I'm Don Lemon, and I'll be with you for the next two hours, taking every important topic we cover and I'm going to break it down for you. And I hope we give you a level of detail that will help you make really important decisions about your security, your job, and today, of course, your universe.
So why don't we get started. Shall we? Here's what we have on the rundown for you.
It is the single biggest thing driving the economy, and it is the key -- the key -- to economic recovery. I'm talking about jobs. The latest job report, it came out just a few hours ago. You heard the president talking about it. It says we have gained jobs. We've gained a lot of them. So why is the jobless rate staying the same? We'll try to answer that question for you. We will answer that question for you.
Also, what if you got a letter saying, "Quit your job now or you will be removed?" What does that mean? Would you be scared? Guess what? Thirty of our nation's governors just got that letter from a group the FBI has its eye on. Is your governor one of them?
And did you watch your local news last night? How many crime stories, murders especially, did you see? A city with one of the highest murder rates in the country has had a dramatic reversal. The mayor and the police chief say it can be done where you live, so watch them, watch our report, and then get in touch with your mayor.
We start with this. Domestic extremist group has sent letters to more than 30 U.S. governors demanding they resign. An FBI and Department of Homeland Security note dated Monday says the letters told governors to vacate their posts within three days, and CNN has confirmed that these are some of the states that received threatening letters: Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Utah, Arkansas, Maine, Colorado, Rhode Island, Michigan, Georgia, Virginia, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Minnesota, Iowa, Ohio, and then Nevada.
The chief of staff for Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons said he has received one letter on Monday and then three more just two days later. One of those was faxed to them. Gibbons spoke to CNN affiliate KTNV just yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JIM GIBBONS (R), NEVADA: The FBI has been working with our office, working through our Department of Public Safety, giving us advice. And we take their advice very seriously as everyone should.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: So this group calls themselves the Guardians of Free Republics, the Guardians of Free Republicans. They want to, quote, "restore America by peacefully dismantling parts of the government." The group's plan calls for, among other things, establishing bogus courts and issuing so-called legal orders to gain control of states.
While DHS has no information that the removal of governors refers to a specific plan for violence, their note said, quote, "law enforcement should be aware that this could be interpreted as a justification for violence or other criminal actions," unquote.
So why don't we talk about this? Talk about this a lot more. I'm joined now by Ken Robertson. He's the senior terrorism and national security analyst for CNN. And then there's Brian Levin, an associate professor of criminal justice, and he's also the director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University.
Good to see both of you.
Hey, Ken, I'll start with you. We heard the FBI and DHS say, "We're not sure if it means violence, but it could," and that's a concern here.
KEN ROBERTSON, CNN TERRORISM AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Oh, it means violence. What these guys do is they do what's called leaderless resistance. They put what they want to have happen out on the Internet in multiple venues, and then they get people who are independent from them, who are cut away from them, to do any bad things that they want done. And then they hide behind the shield of, "Oh, that was not me."
These are anti-constitutionalists. They don't believe in paying taxes. They don't believe in cooperating with the federal government. They fear a dictatorship.
LEMON: So listen, we heard from Nevada governor and I think we had some pictures of the Web site. We just found out the name of that group. So Brian, I want to ask -- I want to ask you this. They said some really kind of -- kind of crazy things. Right? So what is this? Are these just people who are kind of nutty, or should this be taken really seriously?
BRIAN LEVIN, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF HATE AND EXTREMISM, CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY: Well, some of them do have some psychological issues, but it's the belief system that helps direct where the anger goes. And there really is a quite comprehensive belief system. This organization, Guardians of the Free Republics, adheres to part of something called the sovereign citizen movement or the state citizen movement.
LEMON: What does that mean? What does that, sovereign citizen, state citizen, what does that mean?
LEVIN: Great question. They believe that there are two types of citizens: free-born white -- white Christians, and 14th Amendment citizens, who are people like African-Americans, et cetera.
The free-born white Christians -- and this is their belief, I'm not talking about Christian people of good will who are conservative. In this movement they believe that they are opted out of the state and federal government. And many of them file illegitimate documents with their local recorders. And what they say is "We can have our own court system, or our grand juries. We have our own financial system, our own driver's licenses."
Timothy McVeigh didn't have a proper driver's license -- I'm sorry, license tag, and that's why he got pulled over.
So, in other words, this is a broad movement, and it consists of people who are not just for low taxes but people who want to opt out of government. And they believe that they have their own sovereign authority and don't have to pay taxes and could demand that corrupt officials resign or they'll bring them into their own court system.
LEMON: And, Ken, you know, it's interesting that we are seeing this today with the extremist group, although it was sent to governors. But since the election and during the campaign of Barack Obama, we saw the rise of groups like this.
So hold that thought. I'm going to ask you a question about that, but we're going to take a quick break here. Ken Robertson, Brian Levin, stick around. We're going to talk to you after a quick break. Be right back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: My conversation now continues with Ken Robertson, a former military intelligence officer and president -- president activist of the media (ph), and Brian Levin. He's the director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University.
Just before we went to break, Brian, you were talking about the -- you know, the sovereignty of white citizens or whatever. And I said to you and Ken, you know, after the president's election and during the campaign, that these campaigns of these extreme groups sort of were on the rise.
Do we see a racial component here? Is there some sort of racist factor going on here, Brian?
LEVIN: Yes, there is, in most but not all. And here's what I mean.
Christian Identity is the racist religion of white supremacy, and it dovetails and bootstraps into the sovereign citizen ideology. Indeed, they say the post-Civil War amendments do not apply. The 13th Amendment, December 1865, which abolished slavery; the 14th Amendment, February 1868, which conferred citizenship on newly-freed slaves; and 15th Amendment of 1870, which guarantees the right to vote, are illegitimate.
And what they see is these 14th Amendment citizens do not have the same rights and they, in fact, these free white Christian males, not only have their own rights but, by giving up their driver's license and Social Security cards, can form their own government...
LEMON: As you...
LEVIN: ... and do not have to follow other government authorities, as well, state or federal.
LEMON: As you said, with Timothy McVeigh not having a license plate. Hey, I want to move on to other topics. Ken, I'll let you respond really quickly to my question.
ROBERTSON: Sure. There's been 300 of these groups. There's a 300 -- correction, there's a 300 percent rise this year in these type of groups. Janet Napolitano of DHS was demonized for having listing these groups on a report.
The best place to go is the Southern Poverty Law Center to try to look at a very detailed watch center that watches all of these different groups and what they do and don't believe. But they should be taken very seriously.
LEMON: Would they let me in to interview them, you think, Ken?
ROBERTSON: You're not welcome at their dinner table.
LEMON: OK, let's move on and talk about this. These sort of groups, what then do you have to do to sort of gain control over these sorts of groups or to try to rout them out, if you will, Ken?
ROBERTSON: I don't think you can gain control. The -- what they're reacting to is the bifurcation of this country, which is exacerbated by the Internet now and hate radio. The constant haranguing every day, the demonizing of anyone who has any civil thought or discourse, by the extremes on the far left and the far right. And these groups do hide and veil themselves behind Christian Identity in the same way that al Qaeda hides itself around a Koran-ish identity.
LEMON: OK.
ROBERTSON: They veil themselves in Christianity, but do not behave as Christians. And what they want is to opt out of the government. And they're almost advocating anarchy with this type of threatening letters to 30 of our governors.
LEMON: All right, Brian, listen, I'm up against a break, but if you were these governors, I hear some of the governors are beefing up security around their places, putting up barricades, is it -- should they be doing that? Is that the right move?
LEVIN: They should not only beef up security for the governors but also for local tax recorders and officials that deal with documents. And they should take seriously any threat, whether it comes in by phone, fax, or mail, and hit these groups hard when they start with this stuff because what they do, as Ken said, they rely on leaderless resistance. So they have a belief system, so even those folks aren't going to do it. Other folks may act on it.
To the extent that they break the law and cross the line even a little bit, go after them right away and try to avoid escalating violence.
LEMON: Brian Levin, Ken Robertson, great conversation. Thank you, sir. Have a great weekend.
LEVIN: Thank you.
ROBERTSON: Thank you.
LEMON: OK. So March is supposed to be the month that the economy, right, was -- this, that or the economy was supposed to start adding more jobs in earnest. And guess what? It did. So why did the jobless rates stay the same?
There you see her. She's way better looking than me. Want to look at her. Christine Romans will break down the numbers. She's also very smart, a lot smarter than me. She'll do that after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC: DOLLY PARTON, "WORKING 9 TO 5")
LEMON: Dolly, great song.
You know, hopes were high for the March unemployment report and, for the most part, it didn't disappoint. The nation saw the biggest monthly job growth in three years. But the unemployment rate really hasn't budged. President Barack Obama just wrapped up a jobs-related appearance in Charlotte, North Carolina. You saw it here live on CNN. And here's a bit -- here's a bit of what he had to say. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I've often had to report bad news during the course of this year, as the recession wrecked havoc on people's lives. But today is an encouraging day. We learned that the economy actually produced a substantial number of jobs instead of losing a substantial number of jobs. We are beginning to turn the corner.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, let's talk about that, what the president had to say, those numbers that are out. Really, Christine Romans, when we talk about numbers, we're really talking about people. So what's the bottom line here? Christine Romans joining us from New York.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the bottom line is the president says we are clearly turning the corner, and that's what economists say, as well. I mean, a year ago you were losing 700,000 jobs every single month. And now you're starting to see some jobs creation.
You made a really good -- really good comment, Don, before the break when you said that why isn't the unemployment rate going down? And that's because 152,000 jobs, that is the first significant jobs creation in three years. But it's not enough to really make a big, big impact overall into where we've come from. So it's a turning point, but it also highlights how far we have to go.
Forty-four point one percent of the unemployed, Don, are what we call unemployed or long-term unemployed. That means they've been out of work for six months or longer. That number right there, for the geeks like me and the economists who really look at these numbers, that startled them. That's a record high.
In an economy like ours, there's just -- it's just very, very -- very disappointing to have a number that high. That -- that shows you those people you're talking about, those people who have been out of work for a very, very long time, not just getting the door back into the labor market.
LEMON: A lot of those people, when -- at its worse, still really bad. Some of the people just stopped looking for jobs so they weren't even counted in these surveys, and now they're starting to be counted. So that affects these numbers, as well.
But here's what I wanted to talk to -- talk to you about. This is -- in addition to -- because of Poppy, and this is from CNNmoney.com and from the group that you work with.
ROMANS: Sure.
LEMON: In addition, because of the population growth, there are always new people entering the workforce.
ROMANS: Right.
LEMON: Economists say -- economists say 100,000 to 150,000 new jobs each month...
ROMANS: Yes.
LEMON: ... just to keep pace with the population growth and keep the unemployment rate from going up. So there are a whole lot of factors here...
ROMANS: Yes.
LEMON: ... that we don't know about unless we're a geek like you, right?
ROMANS: Well, yes. And I've been talking about that number for a long time, Don, because here's the thing. If we lost 8.4 million jobs during this Great Recession, and you need to create 150,000 every month just to keep up with new people entering the workforce, then you have to have blockbuster jobs growth for a period of years before we get back to where we started.
There are some people who are saying we're not going to get back to where we started. Where we started was pretty much full employment, and that there are -- there are different categories of workers that are going to have to start thinking about retraining. As Christi Freeland (ph) from Reuters told us on our weekend show, "YOUR $$$$$," we might have to think about moving to different parts of your country.
LEMON: Can I ask you a question?
ROMANS: Yes.
LEMON: Can I stop you right there, then?
ROMANS: Sure.
LEMON: Then why was it expected that there would be more jobs created, when you say given all of that criteria, you have to get across all these thresholds? Why was it expected to have more job growth, then? Was it just wishful thinking?
ROMANS: Well, no, I mean, they'd expected, what -- they'd expected maybe 180,000 jobs created. And look, we've lost so many jobs that we -- you know, we don't even really know exactly what to expect. This is the report that tells us what's happening out there.
We have census jobs created. We had temporary jobs created. And that's the way the companies can kind of tiptoe in, right? And test the waters but not necessarily have to commit. We did see some construction and manufacturing jobs. Construction jobs grew for the first time since, I think, June 2007. What you're seeing is a thaw. You're seeing a thaw in the deep freeze in the labor market. And that's -- that's a good thing. That's a very good thing. But as Paul Krugman from the "New York Times" wrote in his blog, the patient is stable. So we're still a patient. The labor market is still a patient, but it's in stable condition. And that's better than in cardiac arrest. And so that's where we stand.
LEMON: We've been telling people for months, really, for years now, be patient, be patient, be patient. So this is a little bit of good news. And any bit of good news, we'll take it.
Christine Romans, see you this weekend on "YOUR $$$$$," OK.
ROMANS: Sure. Yes. Bye.
LEMON: Be seeing you. Thank you.
I want to check your top stories right now on CNN.
Federal agents say domestic extremist group is telling most of the nation's governors to resign. FBI and homeland security say the group sent letters to more than 30 governors this week, telling them to leave office within three days or they will be, quote, removed. What does that mean? The feds says there's no immediate threat of violence, but they're keeping their eyes on them.
It is the biggest jump in jobs we have seen in three years. You just heard our Christine Romans talking about it. The economy added 162,000 jobs last month. But those numbers were helped by the government hiring 48,000 temporary census workers. The unemployment rate stayed the same in March, 9.7 percent.
And in Russia, authorities say a teenager who was -- who was one of two women who carried out a suicide attack on Moscow on the subway system there, we've got these new pictures from Russian media that apparently show the teen.
Russian papers also say that she was the widow of a Dagastani rebel leader who was killed by federal forces last year.
The second bomber's identity is still under investigation. The attack on Monday killed 40 people.
Three point two million dollars. Listen, $3.2 million, that is the average lifetime cost of treating autism. That is a lot of money. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta breaks down the economics of this very emotional condition.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: April is Autism Month -- Autism Awareness Month. But even with the raised awareness and recognition of autism, the money still isn't there for parents to get the treatment they need for their children. CNN chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, shows us just how difficult it is for families to get insurance coverage for children with autism.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here's something maybe you didn't know. It's estimated that the lifelong cost of caring for a child with autism, $3 million. But that cost could ultimately be reduced by two thirds if a child is diagnosed at an early age and gets proper therapy.
Being able to afford the care is a huge challenge, as you might imagine, for many parents, in addition, of course, to coping with the actual disorder.
(voice-over) When he was born, Darien Sepulveda had his mother's personality and his father's eyes. For 18 months, he laughed, he cried, he even spoke. At 2, it all disappeared.
ADA SEPULVEDA, MOTHER OF AUTISTIC CHILD: I was losing my child, basically, in front of my eyes. He was just dying on me.
GUPTA: Darien was diagnosed with autism. While his family began waging a battle against his disease, another fight was brewing, with Darien's health-insurance company.
A. SEPULVEDA: I had absolutely no problem with coverage until Darien was diagnosed.
OK. Open that.
DARIEN SEPULVEDA, AUTISTIC CHILD: Door.
A. SEPULVEDA: Door, very good.
GUPTA: Now Darien is 11. His diagnosis began a financial spiral for his family: years of denied claims, unpaid bills, mortgages, loans and debt that has become untenable.
A. SEPULVEDA: I call him the billion-dollar baby or the billion- dollar boy, because it's very costly.
KEVIN WREGE, COUNCIL FOR AFFORDABLE HEALTH INSURANCE: Health insurance policies currently cover medical diagnosis and medical treatment for autism.
GUPTA: But many families say not all treatments are covered. For example, Darien's speech and neurological problems and some medications were not paid for. Insurance companies say most autism treatments are experimental, unproven; covering them would cause everyone's insurance rates to spike.
A. SEPULVEDA: You don't tell a person that has a diabetic child, "Oh, well, you know, there is no cure for this." You give him insulin. You treat them. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good job. Keep your fingers up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keep your fingers up.
GUPTA: Those insurance problems continue, into the teenage years, into adulthood. Seventeen-year-old Tyler Bell is about to graduate high school.
PETER BELL, FATHER OF AUTISTIC TEEN: What is your favorite musician?
TYLER BELL, AUTISTIC TEEN: Tyler.
P. BELL: Tyler.
GUPTA: Peter Bell is Tyler's father. He's also a spokesperson for the advocacy group, Autism Speaks. He's been fighting for insurance coverage for most of Tyler's life. Now he's concerned about Tyler's transition to adulthood.
P. BELL: The face of autism is changing. We're talking about kids that are now starting to shave and do all those things that teenagers do and will eventually become adults.
GUPTA: Adults with autism, with no insurance coverage and no other safety net to provide for them.
P. BELL: I've heard some people say, "I hope my child dies before me." And I -- I don't know any other disease or disorder where that's the case.
GUPTA (on camera): Now, while the new health-care reform law doesn't specifically mention autism, behavioral health treatments are going to be required as a part of some health plans. As far as we can tell, it's not universal, in part, because many insurance companies consider some of the therapies experimental, won't cover them.
Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: All right, Sanjay. Thank you very much.
And I want to tell you that you can catch Sanjay every weekend. "SANJAY GUPTA M.D.," Saturdays and Sundays, 7:30 a.m. Eastern only here on CNN.
I want to get to Chad Myers quickly.
Chad, dangerous weather in the plains. Are we talking really heavy winds here? What's going on?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, yes, exactly. Right through Kansas City. And this is probably going to get all the way down into Arkansas, the Arklatex, maybe Louisiana, Texas for sure. But notice that large line of weather that moved through Kansas City about three hours ago. Literally, it has gone through Kansas City -- this is three hours -- all the way through Des Moines and on its way to Cedar Rapids. You couldn't drive there that far. You could barely take a Cessna to get you that far. This thing is really hauling the mail.
And here's what it did, what this weather cell did when it rolled through north of Kansas City on I-29.
LEMON: Wow.
MYERS: You get north of I-29, it kind of opens up. You're in the Missouri Valley, and there are some cliffs on both sides -- cliffs, I mean, you know; I'm from Nebraska, so any hill looks like a cliff to me. As you go down I-29 and the winds get -- really get rolling there. And this was a dangerous cell for those people there today.
And then, don, this weather is moving up to the north. In fact, there's snow in Bismarck. I can't even believe that I have to say "snow" when everybody else is talking spring break. But there you go. Above 7,000 feet in the west, too, we are getting snow. But that will be not be into the passes. So if you're driving east to west, through the west, you're not going to have to worry about that too much.
Eighty-one in Memphis today, 83 in Atlanta.
LEMON: Eighty-three.
MYERS: It is already spring break. And so is the traffic. I'll show you that at 2 p.m. It's getting ugly out there. Take your patience in your car. We already have 6,300 airplanes in the sky.
LEMON: Wow.
MYERS: Luckily, they're not that big.
LEMON: We would be in some major trouble, most of the people up there. Hey, listen, do you have the temperature thing back, 83 degrees? How long is that going to last, a little bit?
MYERS: Eighty-three. For here, for Atlanta?
LEMON: Yes. Because well, we love it. We had a cold winter here.
MYERS: Well, what's happened, you got the big trough and the jet and a big rise here. So this is all part of high pressure right there. Eventually, the cold does swing and push the high temperatures away. But, hey, we'll take one day at a time when you get this warm.
LEMON: Sun tan time.
MYERS: We've lowered our standards to just get to normal, please. LEMON: Time for you to break out the Speedos, Chad.
MYERS: No, I don't do that.
LEMON: It's a little joke. Thank you.
We should watch that storm. It's going to be through the weekend?
MYERS: Absolutely.
I'll get you that next hour.
LEMON: All right. Thank you, Chad. Really appreciate it.
OK. So could this be the start of something good? One city has been murder-free for a month now. Maybe their strategy can help other cities stop the bloodshed.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Listen to this. One month, no murders. The city of Newark, New Jersey, had zero homicides during the entire month of March. That may not sound like a big deal to you, but for the city's mayor, the police director and residents terrorized by criminals, it is definitely a reason for the entire nation to stop and take notice.
Newark hasn't seen a murder-free calendar month since 1966. Forty-four years ago. The city hopes to beat a 43-day stretch back in 2008 when Newark didn't have one homicide on the books, but that stretch was spread over two months. Newark mayor Cory Booker and police director Garry McCarthy say this murder-free month was not a fluke. It took a lot of work and will hopefully be the new norm. I spoke with both of them today. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Director, mayor, good to see you. Thank you so much for joining us here. So, mayor, you credit the man sitting next to you, the police, but I think the citizens of Newark had something to do with this as well.
CORY BOOKER, MAYOR OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY: A lot to do with it. We have police officers that are putting their heart and soul out there every day.
But it's being really matched by a commitment from our city that just is getting better and better. I see residents now forming block associations, neighborhood watches, going out on night patrols, participating in gun buyback programs, really flooding our tip line. We had to pay out tens of thousands of dollars last year alone, so many people are calling our tip lines with real information that is leading to big busts.
LEMON: You talked about an area that was blighted area, but I think the people of neighborhood got together and cleaned up the area and it looked so good that the, you know, drug dealers and the people who are committing crimes sort of went away because it looked too nice.
BOOKER: Yes. Incredibly heroic guy in the south order of our city who was retired state worker. Got a stimulus check in the mail, was so tired of seeing drug users use this abandoned lot, the weeds had overgrown, he said, you know, I'm not going to confront the drug dealers but I'm going to go out there and make that lot look so good. He started mowing and manicuring it and weed whacking it, and residents pitched in. And before you knew it, the drug dealers left their community.
LEMON: Wow.
BOOKER: So, these are the kind of heroic actions that in conjunction with a police department that is doing incredible things under the leadership of a guy we really consider a genius that is helping our crime levels come down in a dramatic way over the last three years. Culminating in this achievement.
LEMON: You said that come down in the last three years, because director, people would say, one month, what's the big deal about one month? But this has happened over time. This isn't something that just happened.
GARRY MCCARTHY, POLICE DIRECTOR, NEWARK, N.J.: Yes. That's really the point. This is not an abberation. This is not an anomaly. This is the result, the outgrowth of all the things that we've been doing and quite steadily, the shooting rate has been coming down in Newark over the last four years. We're down almost 70 percent in shootings in the last three years.
It's been step by step by step. We didn't throw a light switch and it happened overnight. So, this is just a natural progression right now. We had 43 days back in '08, and the goal is 143 days or 243 days. The goal is zero.
LEMON: Yes. You know, other cities are dealing with problems, Philadelphia, Chicago, on and on, New York City, everyone, a lot of cities are dealing with problems. You have surveillance cameras that you put in, community policing. What else, Director, can be attributed to this success of this -- can be attributed to a what?
MCCARTHY: The thing that we're doing probably better than anything else is a step-by-step progression of eliminating narcotics markets. We have a little bit different strategy in Newark. We're concentrating on eliminating markets, not just seizing drugs and making arrests but tying those enforcement actions into ground, real gains in the community. If you don't -- if you just seize kilos and make arrests, you're not going to affect the crime rate.
LEMON: Yes.
MCCARTHY: But if you tie those narcotics markets into the violent drug gangs and take them right down to the ground level where you can improve quality of life and reduce crime. It's a coordinated effort. There's a lot of law enforcement agencies that are doing incredible work in Newark right now. The Essex County prosecutors office, DEA, FBI, New Jersey state police and so on.
BOOKER: It's a group effort.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Hold that thought. I'm going get more advice for other cities and also what else is happening in Newark. Right after the break. We're going to take a break. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: We continue our conversation now with Newark mayor Cory Booker and police director Garry McCarthy. They are shedding the light on what they're doing to keep the city of Newark murder free. I spoke with them earlier about ways to help your city cut down on crime. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: To Director, you know, for years people have looked at Newark as like the place that no one wanted to be. Oh, my gosh, a crime area. It's a bad city. Now you are an example to other cities. What advice do you have for other cities that are dealing with crime problems?
MCCARTHY: Well, like I said, the biggest thing we're doing is intelligent narcotics enforcement. Law enforcement has made what I believe is an error in that we think that just arresting drug dealers, seizing narcotics makes a difference.
It doesn't. What makes a difference is applying those enforcement strategies and tactics to the crime issue. Because drugs are not the crime, drugs is the vehicle that drives the crime. And that's the way that we're approaching it. We're using narcotics enforcement to reduce crime. It sounds like a nuance, but it's actually a big difference.
BOOKER: I witnessed it. Going from just doing buy-and-busts on the street level, turning more men into the system was not solving the problem. We're doing much more in-depth narcotics operations, undercover, surveillance technology. And not just getting the low- level drug dealers but going in and pulling out the entire market.
Even just this week, we seized a quarter of a million dollars worth of drugs, not from the kids on the streets but by doing the extra work to pull out the entire market and stop it. And then fill that market with community activities, opportunities, jobs, activities for young people and making sure we never give that ground back.
LEMON: You know there are going to be people who say, you know, it's kind of a fluke. Maybe they were just lucky. I'm sure you'll take that luck, too, right?
BOOKER: Well, you know, look. We've had now three back-to-back years of reducing shootings, as Garry said, 75 percent. Every year we're moving the chart down. We're going to continue to push over the next two to three years.
And the last thing I'll say, if you asked me what the advice for other communities is, you know, Martin Luther King said it so eloquently. The problem today is not the violent actions and (INAUDIBLE) words of the bad people, but the appalling silence and inaction of the good people. And ifour residents and communities and neighborhoods just wait for police to solve the problem, it's not going to be enough. If you want dramatic change, we've all got to get involved.
Do the same things we did last year, you're going to get the same results this year. The great example, 2.5 million young people on the waiting list for Big Brothers and Big Sisters just this year alone. Being a mentor drives down juvenile crime in a dramatic way. It only takes four hours a month. The amount of time people use watching "Jersey Shore" for crying out loud, they could be engaging with young people and making a big difference in communities --
LEMON: Careful, that's your state, that's your state, man.
BOOKER: I wish it wasn't -- it's not the post best postcard for New Jersey. We have a lot more Jersey pride. I would rather Bruce or Bon Jovi than necessarily that.
But the reality is, Newarkers, and I've got give it to them, from our police officersdoing heroic, more intelligent policing to our residents stepping up becoming more active, more engaged -- that's helping our city transform its reputation from what was one of America's most violent cities to what is one of our cities of promise, one of our places of hope.
LEMON: Mayor Booker, Director McCarthy, thank you, both.
BOOKER: Thank you very much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: All right. Good luck to them. And, oh, boy, they just can't wait. See the Big Apple? you know what we're talking about. Take a look at this line. It's already formed outside the Apple store in New York City. These folks, many others across the country, want to be the first to get that new iPad. I'm among them. I can't hate on them. We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: A lot going on in the news. Why don't we check your top stories right now?
An extremist group sent letters to some 30 governors demanding they quit or face removal. According to a note from the Department of Homeland Security and also the FBI.
Group calls itself the Guardians of the Free Republics, and the letter gives the state's chief three days to resign. Investigators say the note doesn't threaten violence, but security precautions have been stepped up anyhow.
It is the biggest jump in jobs in three years. Employers and the government added 162,000 jobs last month, adding to a pile of evidence that we're slowly recovering from the economic crisis. However, the unemployment rate is holding steady, 9.7 percent.
Tech lovers, the world rejoice. The long-awaited, much-hyped iPad hit store shelves tomorrow morning, 9:00 a.m. For some, it can't come soon enough. And after weeks of build-up, many experts say you can expect lines around the corner at the Apple store. Some are even predicting a sellout by early afternoon. Wow.
Imagine this, an avalanche of asteroids around the earth. Sounds like a Hollywood movie, conspiracy theory. But actually, you know what? It's a very real threat. And NASA says some new technology in its back pocket can help keep track of the heavens.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The United States government just asked us to save the world. Anyone want to say no?
STEVE BUSCEMI, ACTOR, "ARMAGEDDON": Do you think we will get hazard pay out of it?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Wasn't that a great movie, the special effects? Great movie. Let's hope it doesn't happen, right? An avalanche of asteroids, it's not nearly as dramatic from the clip you saw from "Armageddon," but it is how NASA's describing the findings from a powerful telescope. The telescope is called WISE. Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer. It was launched into space a couple of months ago, and already found a handful of asteroids classified as potentially hazardous.
And just to give you a bit of background on the asteroids, the one thought to have wiped out dinosaurs was about six miles in diameter. That is huge. Back in 1908, an asteroid tens of meters across exploded over Russia, wiping out over 800 square miles of remote forests. Just to be clear, according to NASA, the chance of a dinosaur killer asteroid hitting the earth are almost nonexistent. That's according to NASA.
It is a smaller guy who we should be worrying about. Dr. Ned Wright, the principle investigator on with WISE Project, joining us live from New York. Sir, it's good to see you. So, we said we don't want to scare people too much here. It could happen. Describe, what exactly is potentially hazardous? Can you put that into context for us?
DR. NED WRIGHT, ASTROPHYSICIST, WISE PROJECT: Well, a potentially hazardous asteroid has a very precise meaning. It's one comes within 4.5 million miles to the earth. Now, that sounds like a big distance, and it is. So, even if it's potentially hazardous, it's quite unlikely to hit us.
LEMON: OK, NASA did say we should be worried about the smaller guy, about the smaller ones. How often does that happen, and how much should we be worried about that?
WRIGHT: Well, the very small ones, actually, come by quite frequently. And this search for asteroids, so we know all of the asteroids that can come close to the earth, is an ongoing project. And WISE is certainly part of it, but there are many other observatories working quite hard, so we actually know of several hundred thousand asteroids right now. And currently none of them are on a collision course.
LEMON: We hope!
So, listen, why is it so important that we know about these asteroids, if you say it's potentially hazardous. Why is it so important now?
WRIGHT: Well, basically, it's quite possible that we will find -- at some future time, we could find an asteroid that's going to get dangerously close to the earth, and at that time, we might want to think about moving it. And the most important thing to know about the asteroid if you're going to try to move it is how big it is. And so this is one of the most useful things that WISE is providing is information is about how big asteroids are.
LEMON: Yes.
WRIGHT: Because WISE is looking at infrared, and it's useful for figuring out the size of asteroids.
LEMON: Yes. So, it's better to know than not know. Knowledge is power. Hey, Dr. Ned Wright, principal investigator on the WISE project. Thank you, sir, have a great weekend.
WRIGHT: You're welcome.
LEMON: He was kicked out of Myanmar. That was back in 2008, and now one of our reporters gets back in, only to end up be in the hands of the secret police. It is a backstory you really don't want to miss.
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LEMON: All right. Listen, we're getting some breaking news in here. Really this is just coming over, so bear with me. We told you about the militia group in Michigan, called the Hutaree. We're hearing from the federal court in Detroit, confirms the following information for us. Says the magistrate judge there said he'll be entering orders of detention for each defendant, all appealable to the district judge presiding over the case, meaning they will not let them out. I believe it's four of them that they will not let out. But they can appeal it.
I'm sorry, say again, Kel? All eight of them -- all eight of them -- new information coming in. Again, this is about the Hutaree, the militia group.
Here's Joshua Stone's attorney, that's one of them, said he would be appealing the order. He said he was told by David Stone's attorney, Michael Meek's attorney and Tina Stone's attorney prior to the ruling that they would be appealing if the judge ordered detention. That's four of them. But again, all eight of them, militia group being held in court, and they are going to hold them. And in order to get out, they'll have to appeal.
Be sure to follow CNN, we'll be following this. We'll try to get our homeland security expert on it, Jeanne Meserve, get some guidance from her.
Meanwhile, Myanmar's military dictatorship doesn't play around when it comes to journalists. If it doesn't like what you're reporting, it will come down on you fast. Every Friday, our Michael Holmes gives us the behind-the-scenes story, it's the "BACKSTORY."
MICHAEL HOLMES, "BACKSTORY": I just love this walk-in.
Good to see you.
LEMON: Always good to see you.
HOLMES: You're right about Myanmar. In fact, in Myanmar, you can't go in as a journalist unless you're invited in as a government. This is a sort of hermit nation, if you like. They don't have anything to do with the outside world when they can avoid it. Now, what happened was Dan Rivers, our guy who is normally based in Bangkok, a great fella --
LEMON: I worry about him, by the way, when I read those stories.
HOLMES: He gets into (INAUDIBLE) sometimes. He was there in '98, and they did kick him out. They had this army data, and they meant to have elections later in the year. A lot of people doubt whether they'll be very free and fair with the democracy with Ong San Su Chi (ph) still under house arrest.
Anyway, they had the army data, sort of show off for the outside world what they'd been doing, and Dan gets an invitation in the mail. He's, like, "I can't believe I'm getting this," so off he went. Let him tell the story.
LEMON: Oh, wow.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL: Hi, Back Story, well, we're about to go to a country that I thought I would never be allowed back into. We're going to Myanmar, what's formerly Burma, and here's all our kit. We're about to get on the plane here in Bangkok. Here, remarkably, is my journalist visa. The last time I was in Myanmar was for Cyclone Nargis, a couple years ago, and I was actually deported by the military government, kicked out of the country. They were furious with the reports I was doing from there. I was sure I was never going to be allowed in, now, out of the blue, we've been given full journalists' visas to go in and report on Army Day.
We're entering Burmese airspace, and I'm going to be putting my watch back 30 minutes, but someone we talked to said it's a bit like going back in time 30 years, because the country has been such an isolated bubble since the army took power in 1962.
This is a typical slice of life on the streets of Yangon. There are electricity generators, powered by petrol, because the main supply is so unreliable.
This guy is just getting another one out there. Here you've got some shops selling mobile phones and electronic gadgets, but they're mostly out of the reach of most ordinary people, because it's so expensive to get a SIM card and to get a mobile phone line.
So, a lot of people use these landlines. So, you can literally come up here, pay some money, and then phone someone in the city.
(voice-over): We could only spend a few hours in the largest city, Yangon, before we had to drive five hours north to the new capital, Natidor.
(on camera): Well, it's Friday morning, and we've just spent the night at this rather Truman Show-esque hotel with a series of little, small houses. Perfectly comfortable, nothing wrong with it, but the whole thing has only been built probably three or four years ago.
The last time we were here, there wasn't even this shopping center, which has now sprung up. And the whole city of Nakidor has just been sort of created from nothing out in the bush, in the middle of northern Burma.
(voice-over): We went to the ministry of information, where the other reporters were getting their credentials. But I was called into a meeting with several army officers and secret policemen. My cameraman managed to pick up some of the sound as I was told to leave immediately.
(camera): So, how am I going to get back, then? You're going to drive me? Or --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. We will accompany you, yes.
RIVERS: Am I being officially deported?
(voice-over): The officials were polite, even smiling for my camera, because I hadn't been told why I was being forced to leave or where they were really taking me.
(on camera): Well, I've basically been told to leave. I've just come back here to pack my bags. Yes, the special police are waiting for me outside, so I think I better be pretty quick. I can't really talk very much. But it's really weird the way I had the visa, and then for no apparent reason, suddenly I didn't have the visa. Anyway.
(voice-over): I was whisked out of the capital and managed to snatch some shots on the way. In front, another car with army officers.
On a nearby hillside, a brushfire burned out of control. Combined with the country music at the cafe, it made for an incongruous scene and sort of summed up my trip -- strange and mildly alarming.
(on camera): Well, by now, actually it was fine. It was a very long, hot journey. And finally, they kicked me out and stamped in my passport that I had been officially deported.
Here is the proof, if you can see that, deportee. This is the second time that I've been deported from Burma. I have no idea why they gave me a tourist visa in the first place -- I'm sorry, a journalist's visa in the first place, and then waited until I got all the way up to the capital, several hours drive away, before they suddenly decided to revoke it.
Clearly, they thought that I was someone that they didn't want in their country reporting on what's going on there and decided to kick me out. So, now I'm back to where this whole saga started, at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport, about to finally go home.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: What a rigmarole they put him through.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh my goodness.
LEMON: Dan Rivers is little, but mighty. Feisty.
HOLMES: Feisty. Maybe they just did it to mess with him -- come in. No, get out. Come back and we'll see what happens. But he's a terrific reporter.
A very complex country. A lot of people are going to be watching these elections later in the year to see what happens. Most observers think, yes, not for real.
LEMON: Great show though. I enjoy watching it very much, "BackStory."
Thank you very much.
HOLMES: Yes. Good to see you.
LEMON: I'll see you maybe next week.
HOLMES: No. No. I'm going to Afghanistan.
LEMON: You're going to Afghanistan.
HOLMES: I'll see you in a month.
LEMON: You're going to do your own "BackStory."
HOLMES: Exactly.
LEMON: Yes. So we'll be watching you. Stay safe, my friend.
HOLMES: Good to see you, mate.
LEMON: And if you want to see more from Michael and the "BackStory" team, check it out, CNN.com/backstory.
