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A Budget Deal: Now What?; Battle for Libya; Violent Crackdown in Cairo; Politics in Brain Structure; Toni Braxton, Tamar Braxton Discuss Reality Show; Mother Charged with Encouraging Daughter to Fight after being Bullied; FBI Asks for Help to Break Code in Murder
Aired April 09, 2011 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I just want to say real quick that because Congress was able to settle its differences, that's why this place is open today and everybody has been able to enjoy their visit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: That's right. President Obama is out and about, playing tourist in the nation's capital. This is Congress comes through really in the 11th hour, literally, and keeps the government open for business.
And this just in to CNN. First pictures from the Netherlands. A gunman walks into a mall and opens fire, killing at least five people before turning the gun on himself. This gun violence is unusual in this small European country you know as Holland.
Gun fire and clashes rock Egypt's Tahrir Square as the military cracks down on protesters. This story and more on the region in revolt plus this.
TONI BRAXTON, SINGER: Is this a birthday or a roast?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Unbreak my heart
LEMON: What is going on here? Toni Braxton's new reality show, it goes behind the headlines, really beyond the headlines. She and her sister will join me live in a few minutes. You won't want to miss this interview.
I'm Don Lemon at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. Those stories and more but let's get you caught up on the day's top stories.
And we start with this, days of marathon talks, political back and forth, and accusations of blame from both sides. It all ends in high drama late at night, less than two hours before a deadline that would have brought most federal government operations to a standstill. At the White House, President Obama calls the new budget deal an investment in the country's future. At the capital, Republicans are claiming victory in their attempts to cut spending, and there you see her there, our senior Congressional correspondent Dana Bash. She is there at the capital in Washington and she's been covering it all from the very beginning. We're going to talk to Dana in just a bit and get the details on that deal just moments from now.
President Obama is already promoting the budget deal, though he made an unscheduled visit just a little while ago to one of the nation's most popular tourist sites, the Lincoln Memorial.
OBAMA: I just want to say real quick that because Congress was able to settle its differences, that's why this place is open today and everybody is able to enjoy their visit, and that's the kind of future cooperation I hope we have going forward because this is what America is all about.
LEMON: All right. Well, that was President Obama, and he is out and about, as we said, in Washington. Of course there has been some back and forth, lots of back and forth and accusations of blame from both sides here. Let's go now to Dana Bash. Dana is in Washington and she joins us now with the very latest. So Dana, it was late into the evening when all of this came together. What is actually in this deal?
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's about $38.5 billion in spending cuts And when you look at what that means, Democrats met Republicans more than halfway. But Democrats, led by President Obama I think in this, were able to stave off some of the what they considered the toughest cuts, the toughest cuts for them to swallow because the cuts that they said really hurt the neediest, like in areas of like head start education and housing, but there are going to be cuts in things like highway funding, pell grants. We're going to get more details when we actually see the legislation next week.
LEMON: All right. So Dana listen. Who actually--is there anyone who actually won here? It's very interesting because the president seemed to sort of distance himself from the entire event. Some people were wondering, is he a Democrat? He's certainly sounding like a Republican. Were there any winners in this?
BASH: Well look, the people who elected the Republican Congress to come in and start to cut spending and to shrink the size of government, it's hard to say they weren't winners in this. Now some of them we're already hearing from tea party activists saying it wasn't enough, but the bottom line is that this is historic, the number of cuts. It's small when you can look at the big budget but the fact that they cut nearly $40 billion in spending is pretty remarkable and it's just evidence how the debate in Washington has changed. But this is just the beginning. It's going to be a lot more in the next couple of months about how much spending to cut.
LEMON: What did the deal hinge on, Dana? You heard Harry Reid talk about the influence of tea party members, new tea party members on this. What did this deal hinge on? They were talking about women's health care and other issues. Did it really hinge on that?
BASH: Fancy you ask, Don. Shocker, I know. I think it's really both. I think it was the spending cuts as well as these so-called policy riders. That was definitely what Democrats were hitting in a very big way because for in large part because they knew that it was politically beneficial for them to say that Republicans are holding the bill up because of the fact that they wanted to kill federal funding for women's health clinics like Planned Parenthood. At the end of the day, I should tell you that was not in this bill. The Democrats were able to take that out but there were a couple of other policy issues like banning the District of Columbia from giving their own funds to help people get abortions. That is still in there.
LEMON: Hey Dana, stand by because I want you to listen to this and I want you to comment on it because you were in the middle of it. This all unfolded last night in a very dramatic way. Look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: It appears they are close, very close, I am told, to a one-week band aid budget, keep the government running.
BASH: They're close to figuring something out, and you know what? They don't have a choice because look at the clock.
REP. JAMES CLYBURN: We are close enough on the big stuff for us to feel comfortable voting for something maybe another week.
BASH: The speaker is telling his conference, telling his fellow Republicans that there is a framework of a final deal. Well, I just got an e-mail from a source very close to the negotiators.
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: I'm pleased that Senator Reid and I and the white house have been able to come to an agreement that will in fact cut spending and keep our government open.
OBAMA: This agreement between Democrats and Republicans on behalf of all Americans is on a budget that invests in our future while making the largest annual spending cut in our history.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: So Dana, both sides are saying this really wasn't for the drama. This wasn't grandstanding. It really took this long to come to an agreement. Did you get that sense as well?
BASH: It did take that long to come to an agreement. You know, I mean as sad as this may sound, Don, this is how Washington works. They basically when their backs are up against the wall, when the clock is ticking as it was last night, that is when they have to make the hard decisions and that is exactly what happened last night. We're already seeing statements from members of Congress, even, saying, you know, I'm glad there's a deal, but excuse me, this shouldn't have happened at the 11th hour. I'm sure there are a lot of people out there saying the same thing.
LEMON: All right, Dana Bash. Hope you got some sleep. Thank you very much. You'll be joining us later so stand by.
Rebels in Libya endure intense fighting as they try to keep their grip on a strategically important city. That report is up next. Plus this --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Driving me crazy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shut up!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What did I say?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You also have something to say and then you act like -- and then you act like it's my fault.
LEMON: Well, the latest celebrity to join the reality show drama. Grammy-award winner Toni Braxton is here and we'll talk to her about her upcoming family values show, recent money problems, and caring for a son with autism. That is straight ahead.
And many of you have been sending us and asking us questions about stories that we have here on the air through social media. You can reach out to us on Twitter, on Facebook, at CNN.com/Don and on 4 foursquare.com as well. We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: We begin our top stories with pictures, new pictures of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi broadcast on state TV. He was visiting a school in Tripoli. It was his first televised appearance in five days. In the meantime, after an intense back and forth, rebels are holding their ground in a strategically important city. Fierce gun battles between the opposition and government forces took place today in Ajdabiya. That is the last stop before the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
Egyptian security forces attacked a crowd of demonstrators in Cairo early today killing one person. They stormed into the crowd using guns, tear gas and clubs to break up the protest. Daylight revealed the violence that darkness helped hide. The protestors want the ruling Egyptian military counsel to prosecute former President Hosni Mubarak.
Another Mid East hotspot right now, Syria. Watch this. Sources tell CNN at least 37 people were killed when Syrian police fired on crowds following Friday's prayers. The violence was triggered when thousands of protesters flooded the streets across several cities. Today, President Assad's government promised to crack down hard on the unrest.
Some dramatic new video out of Japan has just been released. It shows the moment of impact when the tsunami hit the Fukushima nuclear power plant last month. The massive wall of water knocked out generators and pumps needed to cool the reactors. In response to the disaster, the government has issued new regulations requiring two backup generators for each reactor.
At least five killed and nine others wounded today when a gunman opened fire at a crowded mall in the Netherlands. The gunman then killed himself. It happened just outside of Amsterdam and witnesses say the man had an automatic weapon and appeared to be firing randomly. The town's district attorney says the gunman likely acted alone and had a criminal record.
Much of the nation's midsection is on high alert for some wicked weather this weekend. Forecasters say dramatically warmer temperatures are expected to trigger powerful thunderstorms, bringing heavy rain, hail, and possibly tornadoes from Minnesota all the way to the Carolinas. Severe weather is expected to be most widespread tomorrow.
And we just witnessed a clash between Democratic and Republican lawmakers over the federal budget. Well, consider this. Do their philosophic differences lie in the physical make-up of their brains? We'll get into that after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOEHNER: Most of the policy issues have been dealt with, and the big fight is over the spending.
SEN. HARRY REID (D), MAJORITY LEADER: The fact that Republicans have made this about women's health and not about money or anything controversial is really a sham.
LEMON: You heard it on the right saying this is about money. The left saying this is ideology. The political conflict has been in overdrive this week, as you know, and now a new brain study sheds a different light on what some call the madness on Capitol Hill. There could be cerebral biology at play here and our human behavior expert Dr. Wendy Walsh is here to explain that. So Wendy in simple terms, this report in the latest current biology publication found physical differences between the brains of liberals and conservatives. Does that explain it all?
DR. WENDY WALSH, HUMAN BEHAVIOR EXPERT: It does in some ways because you're looking at liberals showing bigger areas of the brain for decision making, synthesizing different subjects to make decisions, and conservatives showing an area of the brain, the amygdala, responsible for emotional learning and fear sensitivity. They're more sensitive to threats than liberals might be.
LEMON: All right. So what comes first, then, is it the chicken or the egg? Are you born this way, are babies born this way with a certain area that is more developed than others or bigger than others?
WALSH: That's the million dollar question, but my instinct tells me that this is also environment pressuring biology. You know one of my favorite studies on London cabbies showed that cab drivers had an area that accounted for big spatial reasoning because they're carrying a lot of maps in their heads. It's not that they were born to be a cabbie. So you're not necessarily born to be a liberal or conservative, in my humble opinion, but the environment you're in, the lessons you get from your family, the zip code you live in, your ideas and feelings affect your biology.
LEMON: Okay. All right. Let's move on now to a different study from the University of Michigan that finds rejection, Wendy, is just as painful as physical injury. Words can hurt just as much as sticks and stones and everyone's duh, I could have told you that, right?
WALSH: I'm doing a lot of research on how digital information is affecting our relationships and specifically online bullying. So this shows that the sensory areas that react to physical pain are the same ones that react to social exclusion. And I think that those social dings hurt just like physical pain. So it's showing us that sticks and bones may break your bones but words do, too.
LEMON: Yeah. Would this fall -- would a heart break fall under this category as well because, you know, when you break up with someone sometimes, it could be as painful as if someone hit you?
WALSH: In fact Don that's the population they studied, people who had gone through a recent breakup and reported that they were feeling very isolated and lonely and missing their loved one.
LEMON: All right. All right. So speaking of physical pain, the mother of basketball star Lebron James allegedly slapped a valet at a Miami Beach hotel because she felt she had been waiting too long for her car. Police charged Gloria James with simple battery and disorderly intoxication. Wendy, I'm sure you're seeing something there beyond her legal troubles if this is all true.
WALSH: And I believe this is her third incident. All three have involved public intoxication. So my heart goes out to this family because I think we're looking at a case of substance abuse. We just need to support this woman and hopefully she can get the help she needs.
LEMON: And this is the way it's rearing its ugly head. This is way it's being acted upon through this type of behavior, Dr. Wendy.
WALSH: We're not ourselves when we're drunk.
LEMON: Yeah. Dr. Wendy, thank you. Always a pleasure.
WALSH: Good to see you, Don.
LEMON: Grammy award winner Toni Braxton and her family have a new reality show, and she'll tell us all about the family values she'll showcase in the next show.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Oh, you recognize that voice. That is sultry Toni Braxton who hit it big with the hit "Unbreak My Heart" in the late' 90s. She's glamorous and of course she is gorgeous. Now the singer promises to get real with her new reality TV show. There are no island get-aways or dancing get-ups in this reality show. Braxton says you'll see her far from fantasy life in the new show. It's called "Braxton Family Values." It debuts on Tuesday, and Braxton stars with her four younger sisters who are all trying to break into show business, including the very vocal Tamar. So Tamar and Toni Braxton join me now live from New York. Thank you so much for joining us. There you see it. Look at them, surrounded on each side by gorgeous women. So Toni, you're going through a separation from your husband, and you decide to open your private life to the cameras, why?
BRAXTON: You know, my younger sister, Tamar, told me it is time to tell your story. Everyone often talks about my financial woes and my health issues, but no one knows all the stories and the details behind it, so I'm going to use this as a platform to discuss it all.
LEMON: OK. So I'm going to talk to you about your financial issues in just a little bit, but I want to get Tamar in here as well. So let the elephant in the room, Tamar. On the show, you address how Toni grabs the spotlight all the time. Look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TAMAR BRAXTON, SISTER OF TONI BRAXTON: Of course, Toni gets all the attention when I know it should be me. I mean, some people might say I'm jealous, but I'm way too cute to be jealous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: One of the guys in the studio said, what? So how do you work through all that attention that Toni gets? Is this just little sister jealousy here?
BRAXTON: No, I'm actually not jealous. Toni is my best friend. And always been this superstar who is my older sister. This is what I'm used to.
LEMON: All right. So...
BRAXTON: But I should be in the spotlight.
LEMON: Toni, are you okay with that?
BRAXTON: You know, I like to call it eagerness. She's very eager to have her say. We were all very talented. I have been the one thus far to have success, but it doesn't mean I'm the most talented by no means. Tamar is very talented. Her mouth, though is a lot of the problem.
LEMON: What do you mean by that? She's got a big mouth?
BRAXTON: Well, you know, she's got a big mouth and she's the youngest so, you know, she's a little bit of the baby and she's been comfortable with saying whatever she wants to say. What's great about the show for me and my other siblings is that the rest of the world gets to see her so hopefully she can start changing a little bit.
LEMON: Okay. I understand, Tamar, that the show was your idea?
BRAXTON: It actually was. I am a reality buff. I love all reality shows. And the one thing that was missing from my point of view was a family show that was entertaining and funny, but also something you can get from and apply it to your regular life. And knowing me and my sisters, I knew that we could be the ones that could do it. LEMON: Okay, so you do take the spotlight in this reality show a lot of the time, Tamar, I have to say. I think we have another clip. Let's look at it and then we'll talk about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRAXTON: I actually always wanted to have an Asian daughter and I want to raise her as a black girl.
BRAXTON: My sister Tamar wants to adopt an Asian baby, raise it as a black woman and name it Disney. There's Prince and then there's the artist formerly known as Tamar.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Tamar, what are you talking about?
BRAXTON: Well actually, it started out as a joke, but you know, now that I feel like the world is gray, you know, I could have an Asian daughter and name her Disney like, you know, Brad and Angelina but except for me and my husband. How fabulous is that?
LEMON: This is only a joke. This is only a joke, and we talked about this --
BRAXTON: No, it's not.
LEMON: I'm going to say for me, for me, Toni. We talked about this in the NEWSROOM, someone said there's already a Kimora. Do we need another one?
BRAXTON: And she's fabulous, so there you go.
LEMON: She has a great reality show and she has a good sense of humor so I think she would find that funny. Toni, listen, anything you learned about your sisters that you didn't know before, good or bad?
BRAXTON: Ooh, gosh. Can I say this on CNN? My next to youngest Trina is a freak. She's a little bit freaky of all of us. I didn't know that. I mean you know so some things came out. Yeah. Would you say that, Tamar? Would you say that Trina was the one that...
BRAXTON: She's definitely very liberal, I'll say that.
BRAXTON: Very liberal.
LEMON: Go ahead. What do you all mean by that?
BRAXTON: She's a bit freaky.
BRAXTON: Well, you know, she says she's, yeah, she's open to anything. Every and anything.
BRAXTON: With her spouse, she'll do anything.
LEMON: And you guys talk about this on the reality show? BRAXTON: Yeah.
BRAXTON: We're pretty candid.
BRAXTON: The show is very real, and that was very important for us. You know, it's hard to get five women together, but it's even harder to act, you know what I mean? So we decided that we were going to do this and be open and be real so somebody could get something out of it.
LEMON: Okay. All right, so we know it's funny. A lot of it is funny, and we know about all the fun in the show. Now Toni and Tamar are going to talk really about the friction, the addiction, and the other tough issues the Braxton family plays out on TV, that's on the other side of the break. Don't go anywhere.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: That's a scene from "Braxton Family Values." It starts on April 12th on we TV. Back now with Toni and Tamar Jackson, two of the five sisters who star in the program.
Toni, I mentioned earlier, your show hit some really serious issues as well, reflecting some of your tough personal challenges. You yourself have gone through bankruptcy and you suffer from the disease lupus.
TONI BRAXTON, SINGER & ACTRESS: Yes. Yes.
LEMON: Plus, your son, Desel (ph), is autistic, on the left of the screen.
(CROSSTALK)
TONI BRAXTON, ACTRESS: Right there, yes.
LEMON: You're a spokesperson for Autism Speaks. What will parents get from the show and what do you want to say to parents dealing with autism?
BRAXTON: It was very important to me to portray a side of me, other than the singer. I'm a mother with a special-needs son. Desel (ph) suffers from autism, but I'm one of the lucky families. I found out when he was younger. He was 2 years old. He's eight now. Early diagnosis completely changed his life. He's in public school now. We're mainstreaming him. Very lucky. He's in a special education program, with occupational therapy and AVA, but we're mainstreaming him. That's very important.
The best advice I can give parents, no matter what the outcome looks like, there is always hope. My child had no eye contact, wasn't social, wasn't speaking. They thought he was hearing impaired, but look at us today. There's always hope.
LEMON: Tell our viewers what mainstreaming means.
BRAXTON: He's no longer in an autistic school. He's in a regular public school in Georgia, in a school, in a class with typical peers. From the typical peers, they mainstream better, they learn different behaviors and that makes them more special, and those things are very important when you have a special needs or autistic kid.
LEMON: OK.
BRAXTON: And I have to say this is National Autism Awareness Month. Make sure you light the sky up blue. But Lent (ph) as well as Autism Speakers are teaming up. When you do your Easter baskets this year, make sure you buy the Lent (ph) gold bunny, and 10 cents from all those chocolate, delicious bunnies goes to Autism Speaks.
LEMON: We get a lot of feedback from autism.
BRAXTON: I'm excited about that.
LEMON: And I'm on Holly Robinson Peete's e-mail list when she e- mails.
BRAXTON: Yes.
LEMON: She's doing great work. And you continue doing great work as well.
Let's move on because I want -- our viewers will see that you have a pretty luxurious lifestyle. And I think they're curious about how you're able to do that, especially with your financial difficulties. You declared bankruptcy once and you're going through it again. How do you afford to live like that when you're going through bankruptcy?
BRAXTON: Yes. What people don't understand is that bankruptcy is production. Because of this with particular bankruptcy, it's because of my lupus. I got ill and I was forced to cancel my Vegas show and all my upcoming concerts. I had to file to protect myself from all the vendors from the show. It's challenging to have your life out there, but what is great about this platform is I can tell my story. Now, they know, wow, she got sick and that's why she was having financial problems. Because the Vegas show was a business bankruptcy, but because I secured it individually, I had to file individually as well.
LEMON: So this wasn't like the last time when you sort of didn't know how to handle your money?
BRAXTON: Yes and no. It really wasn't like that the last time. Last time, it was a gag order. No one knows that after 40 million records, the first bankruptcy, my royalty statement was less than $200,000. That's the part I couldn't talk about. Now the gag order is over. So in the reality show I also discuss that. A big spending spree, no. Something that says I own a BMW, I don't own a BMW. Sometimes I have to laugh at things.
LEMON: This is with LaFace. Did you have a lawsuit or this was when you were with LaFace Records, right?
BRAXTON: Yes. For example, TLC, we were label mates, and we were going through the same thing. After that situation, it was like a gag order. It wasn't necessarily anyone's fault. The money was really cut up four or five times by the time the artist gets it. If there's 7 cents but you have to pay back $20 million out of your 7 cents, there's no room to make any money. That's what people will find out in the show.
LEMON: And LaFace records, that's Baby Face, who is the artist that also had the record label --
BRAXTON: Yes.
LEMON: Yes. I just wanted to explain to our viewers.
Let's go to Tamar because she's going to get upset that I'm talking to you the most.
Tamar, I didn't want to leave you out.
(LAUGHTER)
TAMAR BRAXTON, ACTRESS: Never.
LEMON: So you deal with other issues that confront you and your sisters. You're also confronting one sister about her drinking, which is Trina. But do you have an issue as well with drinking or addiction we'll see in the show?
TAMAR BRAXTON: I don't have that issue, but Trina, my sister, she was going through a lot of marital problems, and she wasn't really going on the positive path. And so -- I can't really hear myself.
LEMON: Go ahead.
TAMAR BRAXTON: She was devastated, and she started drinking. Then she got a DUI. It was actually on my birthday. And you know, we're very scared. We were very concerned. And we decided to confront her on it. And thank god we did because she was on probation, so that meant she went to meetings, and she got to the core of what her problem was. And now she is the Trina we all know and love.
LEMON: I'm going to ask you if people -- I'm sure you're hearing this. Why put all your business out there? Why are you all doing that?
TAMAR BRAXTON: It's not about putting your business out there. You know, this is life. You know, and people are going to be in your business anyway because, you know, of who you are, because of who Toni is. You might as well tell the story the way that it is, and that way, someone will benefit from, you know, your problems and the things you have gone through in your life.
LEMON: Toni, why put all your business out there?
BRAXTON: I think it's important that people see our family in a positive way. We love each other, we fight hard, but in the end, it's about family. And we're P.K.s, preacher's kids, and my parents, after 35 years, decided to get a divorce. And you never look at yourself older and go, I come from a broken family. It impacts you. Every family gathering is challenged, every graduation. We portray, in this show, something a little more positive, not always about fighting and buffoonery, but a family in a more delightful way.
LEMON: Well, I think if you can bring light to --
BRAXTON: But I'm comfortable displaying it.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: If you can bring light to autism, if you can bring light to financial issues and also addiction, you have done a good thing, especially in the black community.
BRAXTON: Yes. Yes.
LEMON: We don't like to talk about those issues. This could do some good.
BRAXTON: We don't. That's true. You're right.
Thank you. Thank you, Donny.
LEMON: Good luck.
And Tamar --
BRAXTON: Thank you, Sugar Lips.
LEMON: It's not just Toni.
(LAUGHTER)
You're a star, too, all right?
(LAUGHTER)
TAMAR BRAXTON: Thank you very much. But Toni is a superstar. She always will be.
BRAXTON: Thanks, Tammie (ph).
LEMON: All right.
My new nickname, Sugar Lips, from Toni Braxton.
BRAXTON: You have very sexy lips, Don. Thank you.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: I will be watching.
All right, serious news now. A Colorado mother is facing child abuse charges for not allowing her daughter to fight a bully, but encouraging her. Did she do the right thing? Should she be charged? We'll talk about it with our legal expert, Sunny Hostin.
First this, crime and gang violence run rampant on Chicago's west side. When one mom worried her own her daughter might fall into trouble, she opened her front door and invited area kids and gang members inside. They call her Ms. Diane, and we call Ms. Diane Latiker this week's "CNN Hero."
(CNN HERO)
LEMON: And remember, all of this year's "CNN Heroes" are chosen from people you tell us about. To nominate someone you know who is making a big difference in your community, go to CNNheroes.com.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: Someone recorded it, but this time, in the crowd of people cheering them on, there was a woman's voice, a voice police say, a voice that shouldn't have been there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: That was our Denver affiliate, KDVR, reporting on a fight between two teenage girls. But the story doesn't end there. I'm going to bring in Sunny Hostin. She is a contributor to "In Session" on our sister network, TRU TV. We talk legal matters with her every week at this time.
Sunny, good to see you. You see the video there.
SUNNY HOSTIN, CONTRIBUTOR, IN SESSION: Good to see you.
LEMON: A mom is accused of allowing her daughter to fight another girl. In fact, police say the mom showed up at the fight and cheered on her daughter. The whole thing was caught on tape and posted online. And now the mom is facing charges. What is the mom being charged with here?
HOSTIN: Well, she's being charged with child abuse and the delinquency of a minor. It really is a difficult case, I think, for prosecutors, actually, Don, because she says the reason she was here was to try to end two years of bullying. The mother said she felt like there was nothing else she could do.
Let's face it, this bullying epidemic is just all over. And parents, I think, really don't know what to do about it. Is this the right thing to do? Absolutely not. But in her defense, she's saying I didn't know what to do. I needed my daughter to stop being bullied, and I need her to stand up for herself. Really, a very interesting defense, I think, in this case is available to her.
LEMON: This is about bullying, though, so will the court have any sympathy on the mom who is trying to protect the child against the bully? HOSTIN: I think it's quite possible. It's an epidemic. I have been covering the bullying cases over and over and over for the last couple months. I think the judiciary is really aware of the fact that this is going on and we need to implement some sort of change. Again, is this the answer? Clearly, violence isn't the answer to end bullying. But this is what the mother said she felt her daughter needed to do. Her daughter needed to stand up for herself, and she was cheering on her daughter.
LEMON: I want to speak to you about another story out of Colorado. We spoke earlier in the week about this story. You were having a difficult time with it, as many of our viewers were as well. A second grader in Lakewood has a violent tantrum, spitting at teachers. Police say he even tried to stab a teacher with a piece of wood trim that he broke off the wall. Police arrive, and when the boy refused to drop the wood, Sunny, the police spray the kid with pepper spray. Keep in mind, this is in a district that, of course, saw violence. And we're talking about the school shooting there in Colorado. Did police go too far, though?
HOSTIN: You know, again, I mentioned earlier this week, I'm sort of conflicted here. When I put my legal hat on, I think, they didn't do anything illegal, because when police are confronted with a situation like this, they have a lot of things at their disposal. They can use a taser, a firearm, a baton. Pepper spray is considered one of the least intrusive methods, the least aggressive methods. But when I spoke to my law enforcement friends from the NYPD, they all said the appropriate thing to do is isolate and contain. They all felt that time was on these officers' side and they did go too far. But again, when is enough? When do you say, wow, a child is terrorizing these teachers and police are called in? Just the pepper spray, too much? I don't know.
LEMON: Again, as I mentioned, this is the Columbine school district, so they may be jumpy here and --
HOSTIN: That's right.
LEMON: Right?
HOSTIN: That's right. And I hate to second-guess law enforcement officers, because they were there. They were confronted with this 8- year-old wielding what many are saying was a makeshift weapon. Did they go too far? Everyone is all over the place on it. I don't even know where I am, but legally speaking, nothing they did was illegal.
LEMON: Finally, the last chapter in a sorted story. This one is out of Florida. You might remember the man, a guy, who wrote a self- published book called the "Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure." It was on Amazon until public outcry forced the retailer to drop it. Then the county sheriff in Florida had him arrested and extradited. This week, he took a plea deal and he gets two years probation in Florida. Is this justice, Sunny?
HOSTIN: It's the beginning of justice. I give kudos to the Florida detectives. They way they got him extradited and charged is because they ordered the book from him, and he had the audacity to mail the book to Florida and charge them $40 and even autographed it. So, yes. Is it the beginning of justice? Absolutely. He's on two years probation and he's going to get mental health evaluations and treatment. Yes, I think it's the beginning. It's certainly, in my view, not enough. Someone who would have the audacity and the criminality to publish a pedophile's guide to loving children needs -- it's so sick, but I think also needs some prison time.
LEMON: Sunny Hostin, thank you.
HOSTIN: Thank you, Sugar Lips. Sorry, I had to use it. Toni Braxton used it.
(SINGING)
LEMON: All right, Sunny.
An opera singer survived cancer that spread all over her body and lives to tell an amazing story. That's next.
(SINGING)
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LEMON: Each week, we take a look at ordinary people accomplishing extraordinary things as part of our "Human Factor" series. Tonight, the story of an opera singer from Shanghai who moved to the U.S., overcame many obstacles to be successful, but then two years ago, nearly lost her life and her voice. CNN chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, has her inspiring story.
(HUMAN FACTOR)
LEMON: All right. So crack this code and you may help the FBI solve a murder. We'll explain next.
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LEMON: Code breaking is featured in a lot of famous movie thrillers. Think "The da Vinci Code" or "Our National Treasure," for example. But at the FBI laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, there's a small band of people whose real life job is to unlock encrypted communications. Right now, they are stumped in an old murder investigation and they are asking for your help.
Here's CNN's Jeanne Meserve.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In 1999, in this field near St. Louis, police found the body of Ricky McCormick, unemployed, 41 years old. Authorities think he was murdered. But why? By whom? Two pages of encrypted notes written by McCormick and found in his pocket could hold key clues, but 12 years after they were found, no one has broken the code.
(on camera): Could it just be gibberish?
DAN OLSON, CHIEF FBI CRYPTANALYSIS: I don't think so. We have patterns. We have very consistent character, repeating sequences. There are almost rules to whatever language this is. This is not random.
And what, G, Q.?
MESERVE (voice-over): Dan Olson's team at the FBI Cryptanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit has sliced and diced, theorized and analyzed but still hasn't found the key. They have unlocked lots of other messages relating to murder and other illegal activity.
OLSON: These are codes made by humans and they're best broken by humans.
MESERVE: Their biggest triumph, cracking a code created by Brian Regan, convicted of attempted espionage.
OLSON: This message contains the locations of seven different drop sites in Patapsco State Park in Maryland, where Brian hid the most secret documents he had stolen.
MESERVE: In the end, a gag photo in Regan's middle school yearbook was the key to decoding the sequence of numbers.
(on camera): What's the most important skill for someone in your line of work?
OLSON: Tenacity, high self-esteem. You can't get discouraged. You also have to know when to let it go.
MESERVE (voice-over): And that's where they are with the McCormick messages, stumped. So the FBI is asking the public for help. In a week and a half, 2,000 e-mails and 365 letters have provided theories and leads, but, as yet, no key to the mystery of Ricky McCormick's death so very long ago.
Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Quantico, Virginia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Think you can solve the mystery? The FBI has set up a web site where you can see the original note and code for yourself. It is forms.FBI.gov/code, all in lower case.
Your top stories right now.
Police in the Netherlands on alert after a deadly rampage at a shopping mall outside Amsterdam. At least seven people are dead, 16 others wounded after a gunman randomly opened fire and then killed himself. Dutch officials are investigating a letter the gunman may have left behind.
President Obama is touting the last-minute budget deal as a big success. Mr. Obama made a quick trip to the Lincoln Memorial this afternoon where he told a group of surprised tourists that the deal represents what happens when political leaders work together. Republicans are praising the deal, too. It cuts more than $38 billion in spending through September.
Police in California say they are looking for 60-year-old homeless man, a 60-year-old homeless man after an explosion outside a Santa Monica synagogue on Thursday. The blast sent a large 300-pound, four- foot-long pipe through the roof of a house next door.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SGT. JAY TRISLER, SANTA MONICA POLICE: All the information I have is that something caused that explosion. We believe it was an intentional act.
We've heard now the police are looking for some type of suspect, that they believe now it was deliberately set off. As a result, it's made us all a little more nervous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: That suspect is this man, a local transient police describe as extremely dangerous. No one was hurt, fortunately, in that blast.
Aides for Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords say she plans to see the final liftoff for space shuttle "Endeavour" in person later this month. Her office is finalizing plans, though doctors have to give the final thumbs up for it. Gifford's husband, Mark Kelly, is commanding that mission. Giffords is still recovering from a gunshot wound to the head.
Sixteen students and recent alumni have filed a federal complaint against one of the most prestigious universities in the nation. They are claiming Yale allowed a sexually hostile environment on campus. These students say they have e-mails, videos and pictures to prove it.
I'm Don Lemon. We'll have more on that story coming up at 7:00 Eastern. See you then.
