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Waiting For Vote On Middle Class Tax Cuts; Obama Calls For Law Makers To Back Package; Surreal Attack On School Board; Buy Robs Casino; Manning Hero Resolution Tabled; Zuckerberg is Times Person Of The Year; First Chevy Volt Sale; Casino Robbed; Bright Lights, Big Security; Teens Don't Expect Privacy On Line; Organs Stolen From POWs in Kosovo?; Science and Cooking
Aired December 15, 2010 - 12:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Right now. All right. Tony, thank you, kind sir.
And what's happening right now? Let's show you.
The floor of the Senate right now. Because something right there is taking place that affects us all. We are standing by for a vote on those so-called middle class tax cuts. What they are going to be voting on is that compromised deal that Obama made with Republicans, however, that many in the Democratic party are not so crazy about themselves.
We're standing by, expecting that vote to start taking place sometime this hour. When that happens, we will, certainly, take you back there and let you know what's happening and get you the results of that vote. But, still, this is just one more step in the process. Even if they pass this particular package, it doesn't mean that those bush era tax cuts are going to be extended for next year. Another step would have to take place, that's the House, taking up the measure and that's where we could have some problems.
Hello to you, once again, I am T.J. Holmes sitting in today for my good friend, Ali Velshi.
Now, this is extraordinary what we're seeing today. Every vote. You're seeing so many votes take police on Capitol Hill. Every vote affects somebody. It's rare we get to see a vote that affects absolutely everybody out there and you will be affected by this.
This is where we are today. We're expecting the vote to come at any moment now. Again, we will take you back to it and let you know about the results.
But they're talking about taxes, also, the unemployment package is in there as well. Extending those unemployment benefits. This whole package all together is worth about $900 billion. Some like it. Some don't. Some of you out there are working. Unfortunately, some are without a job. It doesn't matter who you are. Rich, poor, middle class, whatever, this all affects you and the money in your pocket. It does center around the two-year extension of those Bush era tax cuts. Now, this has to do with everybody, but it also extends for at least 13 months, the emergency federal jobless benefits.
Also, it grants a one-year break in the payroll tax that funds social security. Also, the rate paid by workers would drop from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent. Also, the tax on estates would be restored, but only on those huge estates that are passed down. Those worth more than $5 million. That, right now, is proving to be, maybe, a turning point. This is really a big political hang-up. They are arguing over the estate tax.
Now, the plan they're dealing with should clear the Senate without a problem. That's expected. But Democrats in the House want higher tax on smaller estates, so that could be the hold up. So, that could be the hold-up. An estate tax that, literally, only affects a handful of Americans - a handful of taxpayers out there. Just a few thousand.
For what it's worth, though, the public wants this deal to pass. A Pew poll finds that 60 percent of Americans like it, 22 percent don't, 18 percent not so sure. Also, by even a greater margin - take a look at this. Americans not really feeling Congress and the job they're doing these days. Take a look at this gallop hole. Only 13 percent of Americans approve of how their lawmakers are doing their jobs. That is an all time low. Eighty-three percent disapprove. That is an all time high.
Again, we're going to keep a close eye on what's happening there on Capitol Hill.
Want to move to the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, now, where President Obama brought together some of the biggest names in business to try to sell them on hiring. And that is our TWO AT THE TOP.
Let's turn to my good friend CNN's Ed Henry. He is at the white House. Ed, hello to you. And the big hang up here for a lot of these CEOs, they say, look, Mr. President, we're scared to start hiring. We're scared to make big moves right now because we don't know what Congress is going to do.
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely, and the president's answer to that is, look, you've been complaining about uncertainty. I'm trying to bring certainty to the tax rates and make sure that the taxes don't go up come January 1st as you've just laid out, T.J. And, so, what the president is first trying to do is to make sure that he gets the help of these business leaders to help finish the job on Capitol Hill.
We see that, now, the voting has actually started there on the Senate floor. They're moving towards final passage of getting this through. All eyes now will turn to the House and that's what the president was really focused on earlier, which was basically telling House Democrats, it's time to act. Once the Senate moves forward, it's time to act.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know there are different aspects of this plan to which members of Congress on both sides of the aisle object. That's the nation of compromise, but we worked hard to negotiate an agreement and that's win for middle class families and the economy. And we can't afford to let it fall victim to either delay or defeat. So, I urge members of Congress to pass these tax cuts as swiftly as possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: Now, House Democrats will move as early as today, although, probably more likely that the House would start taking up this deal tomorrow and after making that point, the president moved on to a second point, which really answers your question, T.J., which is, look, now that there's going to likely be some certainty in these tax rates, he wants to talk to these business leaders.
And he still is across the street from, where I am at, Polare House (ph). He's been in there for over three hours with these CEOs, saying, what's it going to take for you to start hiring? We're bringing certainty to the tax code, number one. We're seeing some hopeful signs in the economy. Why are you sitting on nearly $2 trillion in cash, not using that, to hire more workers - T.J.
HOLMES: Do we have any idea, Ed, on that point, what their response will be to the president when he does throw that back at them. Say, hey, all right, we're getting this done. What's your excuse now?
HENRY: Well, I mean, some business leaders have said, even before this meeting, that it's not just about the tax rates. It's about the regulatory structure. It's about the fact that health care reform is kicking in over the next couple of years, not all at once, and there are a lot of small businesses, in particular, trying to figure out how it's going to impact them. And they're sort of nervous about that. They're nervous about the potential for climate change legislation down the road, whether there will be an energy tax, et cetera.
So, I mean, obviously, these business leaders have a long list of desires, this president, let's face it, has not always had a great relationship with these business leaders. In a way, this meeting across from me here - across from the white House is a chance for the president to reset that relationship. But also, the president is dealing with a new political reality which is that come the beginning of January, he no longer has a Democratic House. He has a Republican House led by John Boehner that's going to be more business friendly. He's got to adjust his agenda to that.
And, in fact, that's why we're hearing president talk more, for example, about trade. He pushed through that South Korea trade agreement. He has to get a vote through Congress. There are other trading agreements that are pending. He's reaching out to the Republicans on these very issues - T.J.
HOLMES: All right, Ed Henry for us at the white House. Ed, we appreciate you, as always, and as Ed just mentioned and we will continue to monitor , in fact, yes, the voting has begun on that tax compromise. We will get you results of that vote as soon as we have them.
We will move on now for our "Sound Effect" for the day.
And, today, it's a bit surreal. That is exactly the word being used from a man who survived this. You may have seen the video already. If you have, you know, words, really, don't do this scene justice. This was a routine school board meeting in Panama City, Florida. Until an ex-con stood up, pulled out a gun and ordered everybody but the six male members of the board to leave.
News cameras were there. They were rolling on the meeting. They captured it all. We're going to play this video for you, but we do need to give you a heads-up, here, that it is disturbing. You should know that, miraculously, no board member was hurt in this. The gunman was shot by a security officer named Mike Jones.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLAY DUKE: Everybody in this room -- counter -- hit the road. Leave. You may leave. You may leave. The women can leave. Six men stay. Everyone else leaves.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's talking. John, go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. Ginger --
CLAY DUKE: This isn't worth it. This is a problem.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please don't. Please don't. Please --
CLAY DUKE: I am going to --
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Now, Several things you saw, there, play out. One, including one of the board members, the woman, come up behind him and try to actually knock the gun out of his hand. She was OK. They tussled for a second and he did not shoe her and she was allowed to go on.
Now, he ended up on the floor. Clay Duke, again, is his name, wounded. Took his own life. Hours later, board members came out. They talked to reporters. Again, one of them - people that came out, Ginger Littleton. That was the woman with the purse. She was asked, like so many of us had when we saw that video, what in the world was going through her mind?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GINGER LITTLETON: I don't think anyone was going through my mind except for the fact these guys were sitting ducks. They were lined up like pigeons on a wire, and I couldn't leave them without trying to divert or somehow or another diffuse the situation or somehow buy some time until Mike Jones, bless his heart, could get there to help us out.
WILLIAM HUSFELT, SUPERINTENDENT, BAY DISTRICT: If you could have seen that gentleman's eyes, this was going to happen. You saw him there. This was going to happen. We could have had this place like Fort Knox and he would have shot us when we come out of the building. He was going to do this. There was nothing we could have done to stop him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Again, the suspect, Clay Duke, his motive right now, still not clear. He claimed, though, that the school district had fired his wife. As for Jones, the chief of security there, the man who shot the man, he was hospitalized with chest pains, but expected to go home today.
A US border patrol agent has been shot and killed. This is near the Arizona-Mexico border. Four suspects already in custody. One still out there. Agent Brian Terry was on the border patrol search trauma and rescue team. He's forty years old. The 111th board patrol member to die in the line of duty, according to a group that tracks law enforcement deaths. The FBI has taken the lead, now, in this investigation.
And we're told it's pretty much impossible to do. They did it on Ocean's Eleven. But this guy robbed a Vegas Casino, in particular, the Bellagio. He, actually, got out of there with $1.5 million in chips. Did this in about two or three minutes. Got out clean. You see him running through there. He was dressed head to toe in motorcycle gear. Spotted zooming away on a black bike.
Cops think he's the same guy who hit the Suncoast casino last week. That time, he got out with about $20,000 from a cashier's cage. Now, even though he got out with $1.5 million worth of chips, they believe he's going to have a hard time cashing that in. Because, you know, these chips are specific to these casinos. Sometimes, they're tracked even by the casinos. So, if you show up and try to cash in a stolen chip, they're probably going to know it's you. The description of the guy, that's going out all across Las Vegas, is a white guy, five-ten to six feet tall, weighing about 210 pounds.
Let's go down to the Bay area now. The city council in Berkeley, California, known for tackling some pretty provocative issues. And the latest, now, a resolution declaring private Bradley Manning a hero.
He is, of course, you'll remember, the soldier accused of passing classified information on to WikiLeaks.
Last night, though, after hours of debate, inside and protests outside the council tabled that resolution indefinitely. Some members wanted more time to investigate the issue. Others felt that calling Manning a hero is going to be a little bit premature when he hasn't admitted or been convicted of, actually, stealing or sharing all of those files.
Well, "Time Magazine" has come out with its person of the year. Mark Zuckerberg. The Facebook founder. Coming up next. How his social media network has changed the world.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. He is one of the most influential men out there. Now, he is "Time Magazine's" person of the year. Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg. He created the wildly popular social networking site and starting a major shift in the way people communicate and do business.
Let's talk about Mark Zuckerberg, now.
Born in 1984, he's 26 years old. Also, the same year that McIntosh computer was launched. He grew up in New York, graduated from high school at Phillips Exeter (ph) Academy, dropped out of Harvard.
His list of interests, at least from his personal Facebook page, ending desire, minimalism, making things, breaking things, information flow, revolutions, and openness.
Now, his favorite musicians include Lady Gaga, on the list of a lot of people's favorites. Now, his nicknames. Listen to this. According to the "Wall Street Journal", his mom called him princely when he was young and according to "The Daily Beast", when he was in the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity, his friends called him slayer.
Well, slayer is now worth about $6 billion. His life is a major motion picture this year called the "Social Networks." Screen play written by Aaron Sorkin.
Also, one of Zuckerberg's favorite TV shows, "The West Wing." Movie was nominated for six golden globes. Has made close to $100 million, so far, and that's just here in the US.
Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg have changed without a doubt, the world. Let's talk about the technology, alone. Facebook is the world's largest social network. Facebook is close to 600 million users. One billion pieces of new content are posted on Facebook every single day. If Facebook was a country, it would be the third largest in the world. Facebook has also changed the way we communicate. We speak in status updates and wall postings these days. And just this week, Facebook released their top status trends of the year. Topping the list is an acronym HMU. You know what that means? It means hit me up. And then we have World Cup, movies, iPad, iPhone 4. Next comes Haiti, Justin Bieber, games on Facebook, miners. You name it, it's all out there. And rounding out the list, airplanes and 2011.
Now, I asked you all on my Facebook page, which is facebook.com/tjholmes, how do you think Facebook has changed the world. Here are some of your responses.
Kevin Jordan says, quote, "by merely having this as a comment shows how much it has shaped the world."
Another one from Joy says, "it's revolutioned market research and ultimately connected the content, interest and causes of the planet. It's a shift that has taken place in our lifetime, like TV, telephone and e-mail."
Another from Tiffany says, "the 6 degrees of separation is now visible."
Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, person of the year.
Well, going once, going twice. The first sellable Chevy Volt. The new plug-in hybrid car. It was just sold for a staggering amount. How much do you think? Take a guess. You're probably going to be off. We'll tell you in just a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right, welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM. About 19 minutes past the hour now.
The first sellable Chevy Volt just sold at auction for $225,000. The sticker price, however, is not that. It's about $45,000. Bigger story going on here. The money's going to help public schools in a city that could really use the help -- Detroit.
Detroit really feels the pulse of the economy. It's home to the big three U.S. automakers, GM, Chrysler and Ford. When business is booming, Detroit's health is pretty good. But the financial crisis was kind of like a heart attack. A lot of people lost jobs there. Cars, though, like the new Chevy Volt could help out. Stephanie Elam joining me now from New York.
Stephanie, hello to you, dear lady.
$225,000. I guess Detroit would be doing really well if they could sell all of their cars for that amount, but that's not the case.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, T.J., that would be great. I guess they'd want to see a profit from them.
But what is happening here is showing a greater movement to help out the city of Detroit, which sort of became the face of just the dire straits that people were in because of this recession. And one thing to take into account about the fact that this money is going to help out the schools, Arne Duncan, who is the education secretary, actually said, quote, "it's arguably the worst urban school district in the country," end quote. They have a graduation rate in Detroit of 59 percent. Compare that with the state overall of 75 percent. So it just gives you an idea of just how much help needs to happen in Detroit.
If you look at the picture overall, the unemployment rate there, 13.3 percent. It is dropping, obviously not at a rate that anyone would like and we'd like it to drop a lot faster. But part of that, too, is because people are just dropping out of the workforce because they can't find jobs.
At the same time -- the one thing I wanted to balance about that, T.J., though, is the fact that manufacturing is improving because the auto sector is improving. And you've got Ford with record earnings. GM as well. And also the fact that Ford is creating jobs in Michigan, about 1,200. That is also helping out as well.
HOLMES: Well, on that point of jobs, we're going to head over now, Stephanie, to Capitol Hill. The Senate floor right now, where we just saw the vote taken and it was passed, 81-19 in the Senate. This is the tax proposal to extend the Bush era tax cuts for another two years. The Senate took up the bill that the White House and also Republicans -- the compromised bill, if you will. They have passed it. This is not necessarily a surprise here. Still some more steps need to take place, but this is a significant step now.
What has to happen now? This bill will head over to the House of Representatives where Democrats there are not really feeling this bill. Democrats there are threatening to maybe make some changes to it. In response to that threat, you're getting a counter-threat from Republicans in the Senate who say, if you touch that bill one bit, you risk breaking down this whole process.
And this all comes, of course, as we are running out of time in the year. If something is not done, your taxes will go up at the first of next year. That is what we know for sure. The bill now will have to be taken up in the House. Once it is taken up in the House and whatever -- OK.
I'm hearing now that the bill that was just passed is going to be taken up by the House tomorrow. We are getting that from the House -- the majority leader over there in the House, Steny Hoyer, that it will be taken up. We do not know what it will look like when it goes to the floor of the House. Some House Democrats have backed off a little bit in some of the stronger language, threatening that it wouldn't come to the floor at all in its current form. We don't know how much it will change.
Now, a key provision here, folks, we are now talking about the estate tax. That is something that doesn't affect most Americans. Most Americans are -- just about all Americans are affected by whether or not the tax cuts go for people who make less than 250,000 and those who make above 250,000. That was so much of the debate for so long.
Well, that's not the issue it seems anymore. It seems that everyone's in agreement that, yes, keep the tax cuts in place for everybody over the next two years. The estate tax is now the issue. Democrats and Republicans don't know or can't agree on the threshold. Should it be for people -- the $5 million exemption, the $1 million exemption? A lot of this, quite frankly, only affects a few thousand people in this country. But that is what's holding up these Bush era tax cuts and whether or not they are going to be extended for another two years.
We're keeping a close eye on what's happening in the Senate floor right now. But what you need to know is another hurdle was just hurdled by the Senate, was just jumped over by the members of the Senate and it has passed the Senate. It goes on to the House. We'll see what happens there. It's going to be taken up tomorrow.
A quick break. We're right back, folks.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: $1.5 million. That's how much police say an armed gunman got away with from a Bellagio Casino, the Bellagio out in Las Vegas. They also believe it's not his first casino robbery. CNN's Casey Wian is live in Las Vegas for us.
Casey, I say he got out with $1.5 million, but he got out with $1.5 million in chips. That's a key distinction.
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And it's not going to be very easy, according to both casino industry executives and law enforcement officials for that robber to cash in those chips. And here's why. Those chips have security precautions embedded in some of them, especially the higher value chips. Now the Bellagio officials won't say what specific security measures they've undertaken because they don't want to compromise that, but other industry officials say that some of these chips, and in this robbery, some of the chips were in denominations up to $25,000. So to protection themselves against losses, there are sometimes electronic tracking devices embedded in those chips. Something like a credit card.
Also, casinos have agreements in and amongst themselves to not cash in chips from another casino in the instance of a robbery like this. You need identification to cash in some of these high value chips. So they're saying it's going to be really difficult for this robber to just go in and cash these chips somewhere.
What they suspect may be behind this robbery is perhaps an accomplice. A known gambler at one of these casinos who maybe -- who may have taken the chips from this robber and be trying to cash them in himself. They are confident, the police tell me, that they're going to catch this guy because they say there's nowhere else for him to go to try to cash these chips other than the Las Vegas area. So they think they're dealing with this specific geographic area, T.J.
HOLMES: And one last thing for me quick if you can, Casey. It's a Vegas hotel, Vegas casino. Plenty of witnesses?
WIAN: Plenty of witnesses. There were about a dozen people at the craps table when he walked in, in the middle of the night the other night, but the problem is getting witness statements was a little bit difficult. Law enforcement officials tell me that you can imagine the relative level of sobriety of some of those folks at 10 minutes till 4:00 in the morning. No one was injured in this heist, but someone was actually injured trying to run away from the scene, not by the robber, just apparently tripping. And who knows what kind of level of intoxication that person was under, T.J.
HOLMES: Yes, they're not exactly drinking coffee in the morning at a Vegas casino. Casey, appreciate you, as always.
WIAN: Most of them aren't, right.
HOLMES: Appreciate you, as always. Thanks so much.
WIAN: OK.
HOLMES: Well, cops versus robbers. Sometimes what comes to mind are what batons, Tasers, handcuffs. But there's more than one way to stop a bad guy. Our Gary Tuchman sheds some light on the new crime fighting weapon in this week's "Edge Of Discovery."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In this simulated SWAT team takedown, the bad guy is distracted by a psychedelic green light called a Dazer Laser.
ROBERT BATTIS, LASER ENERGETICS: It's like a flash. The Dazer Laser is capable of blocking your vision entirely.
TUCHMAN: The laser isn't meant to replace guns or pepper spray, it's intended to give law enforcement more options.
BATTIS: If they can take out the vision, they can take down the criminal, they can do it less violently, safer and they can do it more effectively.
TUCHMAN: Robert Battis says there are plenty of other applications for the device.
BATTIS: It can be used for air marshals. It can be used in applications of the military, in applications that would even be for park ranger, for animal control. It could be used for riots, crowd control. It can be used in security applications.
TUCHMAN: The makers say the technology they use is safe and effective from just a few feet away to over a mile away. And they say it doesn't cause any permanent damage to the eye. Dazer Lasers could be in the hands of our U.S. law enforcement agencies soon.
Gary Tuchman, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, teenagers divulge more information online than just about any other group, but are they savvy enough to understand how much privacy they really have? We'll hear from some teenagers and their parents in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right, the breaking news we just got a moment ago. The Senate has, in fact, passed that compromise tax deal. It's a tax cut plan worth about $900 billion. It's expected to be taken up by the House tomorrow.
Meanwhile, President Obama -- he met with 20 of the top CEOs in the country today, encouraged them to find ways to get jobs for people who need work. The president says the goal of the meeting is to find ways to help the country climb out of recession.
Also, just a few minutes from now, we're expecting that thing that you're seeing a live picture of to take off carrying an American. Cady Coleman, U.S. astronaut -- she's going to be riding along that Russian rocket to the International Space Station. CNN had exclusive access to Coleman as she trained for her mission over the last year. We'll bring you the Soyuz launch live. It's coming up just after 2:00 o'clock Eastern time.
Well, probably no other age group out there shares more or divulges more about themselves than teenagers. As part of our "End of Privacy" series, Carl Azuz of CNN Student News talked to a group of teenagers and their parents about their expectations when they're on line.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS: As far as phones go and sharing your numbers with people, how many of you expect your numbers to remain private? Phone number?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
AZUZ: And have you ever gotten a text or call from a number that you didn't recognize?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
ADAM VRTIS, STUDENT: But that's normally from someone that's given my number to someone else, not that I've approved it, but -- so -- never mind. Hand goes down.
(LAUGHTER)
KATHERINE THORNBURGH, STUDENT: I tell my friends not to give away my phone number, but it still happens.
AZUZ (voice-over): These teenagers Atlanta may want their phone numbers to be private, but I found their expectations were very different when it comes to the Internet.
(on camera): Do you expect what you post on line to be private?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not really.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know it's not.
AZUZ: Why not?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everyone sees it. I mean, the Internet's -- I mean, it's the World Wide Web. Everyone in the world can get to it, so -- I'm pretty careful about what I put on there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I know nothing's really private.
AZUZ: So how does that affect what you post on Facebook?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't say anything that I don't want anyone to hear.
AZUZ (voice-over): It's a caution instilled by their parents.
(on camera): How much privacy do you give him on Facebook?
LORI VRTIS, PARENT: Very little. If they do want privacy, they can get a journal, they can write in it, keep it in their desk drawer. I will never read it. But when you're posting something that everyone can look at, I'm going to look at it also.
KAREN THORNBURGH, PARENT: Anything you're willing to put out there in either a written form, you know, be willing to stand up in front of the whole high school and announce this.
ARIA GALT, PARENT: Well, I teach in a school, so we deal with a lot of these issues each day. And so I sometimes talk about situations that I've encountered at work and hoping that maybe something would be learned from those, as well.
AZUZ (voice-over): And while all three students said they'd texted something they wished they could take back, they were far more reserved in their Internet behavior, largely because of their parents' involvement.
JOE VRTIS, PARENT: Professing ignorance of it and not monitoring it, I think you're setting yourself up for failure as parent because I think the kids definitely need guidance.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: ... that students whose parents are engaged in their education generally get a better education. And what we're seeing through what they post on line is those students whose parents monitor them generally make fewer mistakes. In fact, these students had said they hadn't posted anything serious on line that they regretted, T.J.
HOLMES: Do they feel crowded by their parents? Kids have a tendency to...
AZUZ: There was -- yes, there was one student who spoke out and said, you know, If I publish something on Facebook, it's kind of weird when Mom is the first person who chimes in and follows up with it.
(LAUGHTER)
AZUZ: So he did feel a little bit -- but also, you know, they said they appreciated what their parents were trying to do in keeping tabs on them. In fact, one girl said, Katie (ph) Thornburgh had told me that it's nice for her to think of her mother thinking of her and watching out for her.
HOLMES: Wow. That's -- you know, we love having you on because you always -- you got some smart kids you keep up with for Student News.
AZUZ: Yes, these were fantastic.
HOLMES: All right, Carl, always good to see you.
AZUZ: Thanks, T.J.
HOLMES: Good to see you on a weekday. We always have you on Sundays with us, so good to see you here on a weekday. Thanks so much.
AZUZ: Thanks very much, T.J.
HOLMES: Well, here we are now at 36 minutes past the hour. Just stick around for this story. Listen to this. Soldiers accused of stealing organs from prisoners of war. Just one story as we go "Globe Trekking" after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Welcome back. Time for us now to go "Globe Trekking," and our first stop, in Greece. What you're seeing here is just one of the scenes after unions staged protest marches today against Greek financial reforms. Now, most of the protests were peaceful. You're seeing some of the ones that were not. Some of them did turn violent. Protesters were throwing Molotov cocktails at times, burned two cars, at least. Police then had to respond with tear gas and stun grenades.
Now, what the unions' workers are upset about are the wage cuts and changes in labor laws required under terms of the May bail-out. You'll remember Greece was in dangerous threat of defaulting. They had major debt problems. This is all tied into that. Today was the climax in a week of strikes. Hospitals, airlines, courts, banks all have been affected.
Let's turn now to Iran, where suicide bombings took place there outside of a Shi'ite mosque. Iran's semi-official news agency says at least 32 people have been killed here. Another 60 had to be rushed to the hospital. The governor there says a suspect is, in fact, in custody. This is a story we continue to follow.
I want to turn now to a story about Kosovo, a developing story. A new report alleges soldiers stole organs from prisoners of war. This was all during the Kosovo conflict.
Matthew Chance is live for us in Moscow. Just some -- just some sketchy, just some horrible details here, Matthew.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, some pretty dreadful details. What the report by the Council (ph) of Europe is saying is that guerrilla fighters of the Kosovo Liberation Army -- you may remember, back in the 1990s, they were the guerrillas who were fighting against the Serbs in Kosovo, and at one time became the allies of the United States on the ground, and NATO forces when they intervened there.
Well, it seems that this new report has identified evidence that says that they took prisoners, mainly from the Serb ethnic group, harvested their kidneys and sold those kidneys on the international market. The report goes further than that. It actually names Hashim Facci (ph), who's the current prime minister of an independent Kosovo. He was also the head of the KLA back in the 1990s. Says that he's been very much the head of this criminal organization that has been dealing in trafficking of human organs. Also been using violence, this report says, to take over the heroin-trafficking trade in that region, as well. So some very damaging accusations of Hashim Facci. The Kosovo government, we should say, rejects them as baseless, saying they're Serb propaganda to undermine the independent Kosovo state, T.J.
HOLMES: So Matthew, sounds like you're saying that the prime minister is certainly denying it. But what could this mean as the investigation into this goes forward? What could this mean for the prime minister?
CHANCE: Well, the report is only a draft report at the moment. It's going to be submitted for debate at the Council of Europe tomorrow. Domestically for the prime minister, it's probably not going to have a big impact. Just a few days ago, he won elections in which his party says that they were victorious in the first elections since Kosovo was made independent in 2008.
The report, though, is going to damage him internationally, of course. The allegation is that the United States and others knew about this or long -- they've ignored it for the sake of stability in the Balkans, T.J.
HOLMES: All right. Matthew Chance for us there in Moscow. Matthew, we appreciate you, as always.
Coming up in today's "Big I," something that scared the devil out of all of us. We invited the guy in, and he shows up with a big bin labeled "nitrogen." He is combining science and cooking, so we're told. That is the host of Science Channel's "Blais Off." He is live for us, and he will try not to kill us all. Stick around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right, I have to admit I was a little nervous about this segment, all right, a little nervous. This is Richard Blais here. He is the host of the "Blais" -- "Blais Off."
RICHARD BLAIS, HOST, SCIENCE CHANNELS "BLAIS OFF": "Blais Off"...
(CROSSTALK)
BLAIS: ... Friday night, 10:00 o'clock.
HOLMES: All right, Now, it looks like it's part cooking show and part science experiment.
BLAIS: Sure.
HOLMES: OK, science and cooking. What made you want to -- you're the owner of Flip here in Atlanta, right?
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: ... as well. What made you want to combine the two? Why should we be combining the two in the first place?
BLAIS: Well, I think if you can take science and technology to make food tastier and/or more interesting, and hopefully, both, that's a good thing. So that's what "Blais Off"is about. It's about taking iconic, traditional American foods and sort of facing off against them and seeing if science and technology can make something like pizza or a hamburger or a taco taste better than the original...
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: ... are people going to learn stuff on the show that they can do at home? Because, clearly, I see the big nitrogen tank over there, and we all don't have those at the house.
BLAIS: Sure. This is the way to do it. They can go to Discovery.com.
HOLMES: OK.
BLAIS: They'll find out ways to do it. But I want to do a dish about eggnog. Like, it's the holidays, right?
HOLMES: Eggnog? Of course.
(CROSSTALK)
BLAIS: Spiked eggnog.
(CROSSTALK)
BLAIS: And of course, I'm going use a little bit of science and technology.
HOLMES: OK.
BLAIS: So to start, what we've done is we've actually taken our eggnog base and we've cooked it sou vide, and "sou vide" means "under vacuum." So we've actually increased the volume. We can't break (ph) our eggs because this machine cooks the ice cream base or the eggnog base at a very precise temperature.
HOLMES: OK.
BLAIS: All right? And then we take our eggnog base, and that's what's right here. That's room temperature. And then we add this ingredient that came in the 650-pound tank that's been hissing throughout the afternoon.
HOLMES: Yes?
BLAIS: And this is liquid nitrogen. So don't do this at home. But you know, liquid nitrogen, you know, you can handle it. It's like your hand through a flame, all right? But it's very, very, very cold.
HOLMES: It's like your hand through a flame?
BLAIS: Like, you know, if you had a candle and you put your hand...
(CROSSTALK)
BLAIS: All right? So what we're going to do is we're going to make ice cream out of it because it's really, really cold. It's minus 320 degrees, something like that, Fahrenheit. So pretty cold. As cold as frying oil is hot. And then I'm going to just simply sort of make this into a scrambled egg, sort of almost ice cream texture by adding -- you're backing away a little bit.
HOLMES: You know, things start smoking, I start running.
BLAIS: This is true. All right? And that's going to actually freeze the eggnog. And actually, you know what? You can help me out. Can you pour in a little dash of bourbon in there?
HOLMES: Now, you say a dash?
BLAIS: A dash...
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: How's that?
BLAIS: Beautiful. That's great. And the neat thing, you know, you can -- you don't have to add the bourbon to it, but nitrogen is so cold, it actually freezes alcohol.
HOLMES: OK.
BLAIS: Which I should have realized that in high school (INAUDIBLE)
HOLMES: Now, why the nitrogen? Where did the idea -- why did you even think to combine these (INAUDIBLE)
BLAIS: Well, you know, I do a lot of competitive cooking on TV, as well. Some sometimes, you have to make ice cream in two minutes, right?
HOLMES: OK.
BLAIS: So you know, that's what happens here. And if you can kind of see, we have this beautiful -- you know, if I just show that to you -- you know, does it look like scrambled eggs?
HOLMES: It does.
(CROSSTALK)
BLAIS: It looks like scrambled eggs. So this is our sort of scrambled eggnog. And we've taken science and technology, frozen the eggnog in what, 10 seconds, a minute? And we've also sort of manipulated the texture of it to make it exciting and new and something different. So let's plate it in our glass. Any questions so far?
HOLMES: Yes, I'm waiting for the -- I'm wondering how this is going to be presented now because I was thinking eggnog, and I wasn't thinking it was going to come out looking like scrambled eggs.
BLAIS: Well, that's kind of the neat thing, right, because it's kind of exceeded expectations, or it comes out -- like, you order eggnog, scrambled eggnog ice cream, you're not sure what it's going to look like. You know, it looks like scrambled eggs. You know, kind of looks like it could be hot, but it's actually cold. You know, and we're really playing with texture and temperature, and again, using the science to make the food more delicious.
HOLMES: Who's your audience going to be? Do you -- I mean, this is something -- because I mean, quite frankly, kids -- kids hear science and might get turned off, but they see something this, an experiment, something hands on?
BLAIS: You mentioned Flip Burger Boutique I have here in Atlanta...
HOLMES: Yes.
BLAIS: ... and Birmingham, Alabama. We make our milk shakes with liquid nitrogen.
HOLMES: Yes?
BLAIS: And we have a lot of kids...
(CROSSTALK)
BLAIS: We have a line of kids that show up, and like, What are you doing, you know? We're using science to make something that they're familiar with, you know, milk shakes or -- you know, we're using it in the context of burgers or pizza to make the food delicious. So it is kind of a way -- a neat way to teach people about science that, you know, maybe don't even know that they're learning about science while they're experiencing it. HOLMES: Now, are you all serving this at the restaurant?
BLAIS: No. We will have to tonight, of course, because we've done it now today. So I'm going to have to rush back and get my chef to do it. And then this is a little nitrous oxide-charged whipped cream with vanilla.
HOLMES: OK.
BLAIS: All right? And this you see -- you know, you might see at the local coffee shop. But that's again going to give this another neat little texture. We're almost sort of making, like, an eggnog parfait, if you want.
HOLMES: Nitrous oxide?
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: ... Cool Whip or something to throw on there.
BLAIS: You could, but I mean, it's cool. This is cooler whip.
HOLMES: Cooler whip.
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: Now, will these taste any differently from what we're -- if we'd done it normally and taken the time and whatever else? Does it add anything to the flavor?
BLAIS: It does. You know, by changing the texture -- actually, by using the nitrogen -- you know, if you have, like, ice cream in the freezer, it gets sort of crystallized and you can -- you know, it gets chunky sometimes? Because the nitrogen's so cold, it freezes the ice cream so quick, you don't have those ice crystals that form. And also, we've really manipulated the texture, so we've changed the experience of eating it, altho9ugh we haven't really changed the flavors in this case.
HOLMES: OK.
BLAIS: And then just a little fresh nutmeg, you know, because it is (INAUDIBLE) carry nutmeg in my pocket just because of that.
HOLMES: You know what? I don't doubt that you actually do.
BLAIS: It's true.
HOLMES: Well, that is fascinating, science and cooking. Everybody's itching to try this. We will all try it during the commercial break. But "Blais Off"...
BLAIS: "Blais Off."
HOLMES: ... is the name of it.
BLAIS: Yes.
HOLMES: Starts on Friday.
BLAIS: Friday night (INAUDIBLE) Science Channel.
HOLMES: And where do you get all your ingredients here? I wouldn't know where to go to get nitrogen if I wanted to make this tonight.
BLAIS: Well, again, you know, go to Discovery.com, or I'll give you a little...
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: Richard Blais, it's good to see you.
BLAIS: Appreciate it.
HOLMES: I like your restaurant.
BLAIS: All right. We'll see you there soon.
HOLMES: All right, I'll be back over there.
All right, we -- there you have it, and you see this recipe here. We're going to post it on my blog, CNN.com/TJ. You can check that out. All right.
Well, stick around here. Coming up, Congress going to get schooled. What are we talking about exactly here? Congress getting schooled? The answer straight ahead in our CNN "Political Update."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. As we get close to the top of the hour, we showed you just a short time ago that the Senate, in fact, has voted. They have approved that tax cut compromise, so it seems like maybe their work is done. Maybe they're winding down the year. Not necessarily. That's tops in our "Political Update" now.
CNN chief national correspondent John King joins me now from Washington. John, good to see you, as always. But they got a whole lot more work to do.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, T.J., the Democrats want to do a whole lot more work, and some Republicans say, Why don't we just pass a bill to keep the government running and go home for the holidays and pick up in January?
One of the things the Democrats want to do right now is the top priority of the president, that is to pass the START treaty, the new START treaty. It's a nuclear reduction -- nuclear arms reduction treaty the president negotiated with Russia. He wants to get it passed, verified, ratified by the Senate before the end of the year. But conservative don't like this, and one of them, Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina, says at least as of now, he's going to use his right -- every senator has this right -- to ask for a full reading of the treaty. That means they have to read every word, every word, every page, before they can have a vote. The Democrats say that's an outrage, that the document's been up there on the Hill since May, and a lot of past Republican presidents support it. But that's one showdown on Capitol Hill.
Here's another great story, Congress going to school, you might say. Michele Bachmann -- she's the Republican from Minnesota, a favorite of the Tea Party -- she's planning for the Tea Party Caucus in the House a bunch of seminars for the new Congress come January. One of the guest lecturers, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia will come up. And the Supreme Court just gave us a statement, T.J., saying he will help the new members of Congress and anyone else who wants to come understand the separation of powers, the difference between the legislative, the judicial and the executive branches.
And finally, a big meeting over at the White House today, President Obama sitting down with a group of CEOs. There's been a lot of criticism in corporate America that this White House doesn't get it sometimes, doesn't understand the economy, needs a CEO-like person on the economic team. Well, the president meeting with those CEOs today to try to say, Look, I just signed a trade deal with South Korea. I'm getting this tax cut plan through. I do understand your concerns. Tonight on "JOHN KING USA," we're going to talk to the president's liaison to the business community, Valerie Jarrett, to see if maybe, T.J., after this meeting, a less bumpy relationship between the president and the corporate world. We'll see.
HOLMES: Yes, we will see. John, we appreciate you. Looking forward to our live coverage of the reading of the START treaty up on Capitol Hill.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: All right, John. Good to see you, as always, buddy. And your next CNN "Political Update" just one hour away.
Well, coming up, the fury of a coastal storm unearths a piece of the historic record, while the fury of a teenager may lead to a police record. Yes, it's all in our "Odds & Ends." That's up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Time now for our "Odds & Ends." We've kind of got a lost and found theme going for you today. Let's start in Israel, which lost a chunk of coastline in recent storms but recovered something absolutely priceless. Take a look here. This is a Roman statue nearly buried by sand and rubble from a collapsed cliff. It was found by somebody that was combing the beach there. Israel's antiquities authority thinks it's between 1,800 and 2,000 years old. The head is missing. It is the figure, you can see, of a woman. No arms on it, either. But still weighs about 500 pounds. Archaeologists are studying the statue right now. It's expected to end up on display at a local museum. Switch gears here completely. We're going to turn to high school basketball. A high school basketball star lost his temper, but may find himself in some legal trouble. Take this video here now for you. Take a look, the left part of the screen, the player in white whistled for a foul. He shoves a player. All right, he gets upset with the ref for teeing him up and ejecting him, shoves the ref, then goes after him, as you see there.
Again, we're not talking about two players fighting here. We're talking about a player going after a referee. Coaches rush the floor. They tried their best to protect the referee, everybody did, but the kid has clearly lost his mind there for just a moment. Going to be repercussions, you can bet, including the player. He has been kicked off the team, suspended from school, could face a battery charge now. Police report on the attack found probable cause against him. It's on to the Florida general attorney's office now.
