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The Presidential Tourist; Battle for Libya; Sex and Feds on Campus; New Files of Tupac & Biggie: Philly's Parent University; Black Market Apps Available
Aired April 09, 2011 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: It's your Saturday night and we've got the stories for your night off.
First up --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I just want to say real quick that because Congress is able to settle its differences, that's why this place is open today and everybody --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: That's President Barack Obama, out and about, playing tourist in the nation's capital, just hours after Congress comes through in the 11th hour, literally, and keeps the government open for business.
The Syrian government is making good on its promise to crackdown on demonstrators. Yes, that's a sound of gunfire. Dozens of people are killed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CROWD: No means yes! Yes means (EXPLETIVE DELETED)! No means yes!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: No means yes for some Yale students when it comes to sex. But not to the Feds who are now investigating claims of sexual harassment on the prestigious campus.
Going out tonight? Want to avoid a DUI check point? Believe it or not, there is an app for that. But for how long? Our tech expert weighs in.
I'm Don Lemon at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
There's a lot of news right now. So, let's get you caught up.
(MUSIC)
LEMON: And we start with this -- a rare moment of agreement in Washington: Republicans, Democrats, and President Obama touting the last-minute budget deal as a big success. The agreement required days of marathon talks with plenty of back-and-forth and political posturing along the way. In the end, the deal cuts more than $38 billion in spending through September.
Details from Dana Bash in Washington in just a few minutes.
And Mr. Obama made a quick trip to the Lincoln Memorial this afternoon, taking advantage of a chance to tell surprised tourists that popular parks and other D.C. attractions are open because of last night's bipartisan agreement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I just wanted 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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: And then there's this -- a ferocious wild fire in west Texas has scorched more than 71,000 acres and it's showing no signs of slowing down. Firefighters haven't been able to gain control of the fast-moving fire which has already burned two houses and threatens at least a dozen more. Today, the Texas Forest Service said the fire was, quote, "zero percent contained." Air tankers have dropped at least 58,000 gallons of retardant on that fire.
The prepping is done, now, all residents in North and South Dakota can do is wait and watch. For a third year in a row, the Red River is expected to crest above flood stage. Today, crews in Fargo piled up sandbags and added to dikes along the river. It's expected to crest sometime tonight or tomorrow.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's absolutely astonishing. It's nothing I've ever seen before. And, you know, we're going to be dealing with a lot of the issues for, you know, a long time this year.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going up an inch a day. You know, at some point, we've got to reach -- I mean, how full can this lake get? You know?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Thousands of residents -- thousands of them could be forced from their homes if the sandbags and dikes don't hold.
Dutch police say they have identified the gunmen in a deadly rampage in the Netherlands. Seven people were killed and 16 others wounded when the shooter opened fire at a mall outside of Amsterdam before killing himself. Police say the suspect was a 24-year-old Dutch National who left a farewell note behind that claimed he had placed explosives around the town of Alphen. Some residents are not being allowed to return to their houses tonight. Japanese authorities have announced new tougher regulations for the construction of nuclear plants. Two backup generators will now be required for each reactor unit. The move is in response to the massive tsunami that crippled the Fukushima nuclear plant in March.
Meanwhile, dramatic new video has been released. It shows the moment of impact when the wall of water knocked out generators and pumps at the plant needed to cool those reactors.
The plant has been crippled every since. But help is on the way. Two huge pumps left Atlanta on Friday. You're looking at them right there. They're on a Russian cargo plane headed for Fukushima.
And the pumps can channel massive amounts of water in to the reactors to help keep them from overheating. Each one is fully assembled and ready to start working. The pumps weigh 190,000 pounds each and are usually used in bridge and high-rise construction.
Now, we want to go to Egypt, and a violent military crackdown on protesters in Cairo. It happened overnight when Egyptian security forces raided a large group of demonstrators in the Tahrir Square. They stormed the crowd in the cover of darkness with guns, tear gas, and clubs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you worried right now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I'm much worried about it. Even yourself, how can you see the -- everything is stop, a lot of the activity, nothing at all. That is no good for our stability.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Daylight reveals the raid's and it's torched cars and blood stains littered the square. Demonstrators came to protest against a ruling military counsel calling for the prosecution of former President Hosni Mubarak.
And another Mideast hot spot right now, Syria. I want you to watch this.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
LEMON: Here's what sources are telling CNN. They say 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.
In Libya, rebels are tenuously holding on to hard-fought gains in strategically important cities, in one city specifically. Fierce battles took place between outgunned opposition fighters and government troops in Ajdabiya. As Ben Wedeman reports, the rebels may be maintaining ground, but loyalist forces are getting much closer in their march towards Benghazi.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're on the outskirts of Ajdabiya, a city where there was a running battle for much of Saturday between Gadhafi's forces and the opposition fighters. The battle began earlier in the day with bombardment by Gadhafi's artillery of positions to the west of the city. Already we had seen most of the fighters and the soldiers of the opposition had pulled out of the city. As gradually, Gadhafi's forces have moved further and further toward the city of Benghazi.
During the day, we were told that there were intense gun battles in the city. We saw a helicopter belonging in the opposition flying in the direction of Ajdabiya.
According to several eyewitnesses, there were NATO airstrikes around Ajdabiya during the battle. But those airstrikes don't seem to be able to turn the tide in this seemingly endless seesaw war.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, Ajdabiya, western Libya.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: All right, Ben.
A crisis has been averted in nation's capitol, at least for now. The federal government is still up and running. Democrats and Republicans avoid a shutdown with an 11th hour budget deal late last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: At the end of the day, this was a debate about spending cuts, not social issues like women's health and the protection of our air and water. These are important issues that deserve discussion -- just not during a debate about our budget.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: And straight ahead here on CNN, we go to Washington for a closer look at the deal. And many of you have been asking and sending information about stories that you see here on the air. You can reach out to us on Twitter, on Facebook, at CNN.com/Don, and also on Foursquare
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I'm pleased to announce that the Washington Monument, as well as the entire federal government, will be opened for business.
(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: The president and both parties were all claiming victories on the late-night budget deal. It calls for more than $38 billion in spending cuts through the end of September.
We want to bring in our senior congressional correspondent now, Dana Bash, to talk about the details. Dana has been working through this. She's been up working some long hours up all night.
So, Dana, let's start with the obvious here. What's in this deal? Do we know which programs will be cut?
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We don't know the specifics yet, actually. We're waiting for them to actually draft this legislation, putting pen to paper. We're going to see most of it next week.
But we do know generally in the $38 billion what the big fight was over, it was really what to cut. And Democrats were very concerned that there wasn't too much cut in programs that they felt really were going to the most needy and they really fought back on that. And Republicans pushed hard to actually keep some money in some programs that they thought were important, mainly, defense.
LEMON: So, the politicians are all saying this was very cordial. But I understand there was a lot of drama behind the scenes. How did finally they reach the deal?
BASH: So much drama, Don. You know, it was interesting. I was actually down next to a meeting that House Speaker John Boehner was having with fellow Republicans, started at 9:45 -- he walk in there -- p.m. He walked in there and said that he had the framework of a deal and he was beginning to give the details of that.
As he was doing that, about four -- three floors up, top aides to him and to the Senate majority leader and the White House were finishing a deal. They shook hands. I got word of that just as after it happened. They sent word to the House speaker and he announced the deal in the room with fellow Republicans.
It was pretty dramatic. It was definitely down to the wire.
LEMON: Yes. Harry Reid certainly made a big deal about the Tea Party. Now, I hear the Tea Party is grumbling now about the deal. But I was struck by how the debate has shifted to cutting spending rather than social issues.
BASH: It has. It's remarkable, in just a few months since November's elections, since Republicans were swept into power in the House, how much the debate has changed.
And, you know, we're talking about nearly $40 billion in spending cuts. That's pretty historic. And it is much more -- much more than the Democrats have wanted.
And then you saw -- very interesting -- you saw that Democratic leader in the Senate, the president of the United States, come out and tout the deal as if it was the greatest thing in the world to cut spending -- a very, very different message, especially coming from Democrats.
But you're right, some Tea Party activists, some of the more fiscally conservative lawmakers I talked to say that they're still not happy. They wanted the speaker to hold out for more. But in today's world, with Democrats controlling two parts of this, it wasn't going to happen.
LEMON: Dana Bash, thank you very much.
BASH: Thanks, Don.
LEMON: Moammar Gadhafi and his followers are in the midst of a deadly fight against rebel forces for power in Libya. NATO, the U.N. and the U.S. are trying to help restore peace. But would you be surprised to know that American companies have been getting rich from Libya and Gadhafi for years? We'll explain, straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
LEMON: That is Moammar Gadhafi, making his first televised appearance in five days today. The fist-pumping Libyan leader was surrounded by students chanting anti-Western slogans during his visit to a school in Tripoli.
African leaders are trying to find a solution to the violence in Libya. Their efforts come as rebels narrowly averted a setback in eastern city of Ajdabiya. A special African Union committee gathered in Mauritania today ahead of a mission to Libya tomorrow. The committee plans to travel to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi to meet with opposition leaders. It has also been granted permission to meet with Moammar Gadhafi in Tripoli.
Long before the uprising against Gadhafi, before the U.S. and NATO bombing, there was money to be made from the Libyan regime.
And CNN's Brian Todd reports on the U.S. firms that profited from Moammar Gadhafi's money.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Every day, there are accounts from Libya of the viciousness and brutality of this man. But before this war, Moammar Gadhafi had renounced terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, and had really improved his image with the West, thanks in part to lobbying, consulting and law firms in the U.S. who made millions off of him.
(on camera): One of them is the Livingston Group, which works out of this building. It's headed by Former Republican Congressman Bob Livingston. Federal records show the firm made about $2.5 million over less than two years, setting up meetings with congressmen and looking after Libya's interests in Washington.
A Livingston aide said he wouldn't go on camera with us, but both the aide and Livingston himself have acknowledged the firm's work with Libya.
(voice-over): Livingston and his aides say the firm stopped working for Libya's government in 2009 to protest the release of the accused Lockerbie bomber from a Scottish prison.
Another firm called the Monitor Group made several million dollars in its dealings with Libya.
According to documents posted online by a Libyan opposition group, the Monitor Group charged the Libyan government $250,000 a month between 2006 and 2008. In return, according to the documents, the firm sent academics from Harvard and to elsewhere to meet with Moammar Gadhafi. Some of them wrote positive articles about the Libyan leader. They advised Gadhafi's son Saif on the thesis for his PhD.
The Monitor Group offered to produce a glowing biography of Moammar Gadhafi for nearly $3 million, which the firm now calls a mistake.
The group even proposed helping Gadhafi set up his own national security council.
Did the Monitor Group skirt U.S. law in its dealings with Libya?
The documents say one person who went to Libya for the Monitor Group, former U.S. Defense official Richard Perle, briefed Vice President Dick Cheney after returning. Contacted by CNN, Perle wouldn't go on camera, but denied ever briefing Cheney.
We couldn't get comment from Cheney's office.
Paul Blumenthal of the nonpartisan watchdog group, the Sunlight Foundation, says if Perle briefed Cheney, that part of the Monitor's work in Libya could be illegal because it's not a registered lobbying firm.
(on camera): What did the Monitor Group do that was deceptive in your opinion?
PAUL BLUMENTHAL, SUNLIGHT FOUNDATION: Well, the Monitor Group, despite not being a traditional lobbying organization, really should have registered under the foreign agent register act, which is a broader definition of who is a lobbyist and who should register than the traditional lobbying law.
And in this case, they were working to bring intellectuals to Libya who had foreign policy ties in America to elites whether it was Dick Cheney or people in the State Department, the Defense Department. And they really wanted these intellectuals to be able to influence policy on Libya.
TODD (voice-over): We spoke with Eamonn Kelly, a partner with the Monitor Group who is leading an internal investigation to the firm's dealings with Libya.
(on camera): What do you say to the critics who say you not only made a lot of money off of a brutal dictator, but you did indirect lobbying for him and you should have registered and didn't do that?
EAMONN KELLY, THE MONITOR GROUP: First of all, we were working in Libya in a different time in history. The international community at the time that we were undertaking that work believed, as did we, that it was an important possibility that serious and significant reform could take place, and we believed that we could support that.
We were not working for Gadhafi. We were working for Libya. If we discover that there was anything inappropriate that we did, we will take all appropriate measures to remedy it.
TODD (voice-over): Plenty of others made millions off of Gadhafi. Randa Fahmy Hudome's lobbying firm got more than $1 million a year for three years to push for Libya to be taken off of America's list of terrorist sponsors. It was all registered and above board.
(on camera): The critics say you knew about his history. You knew about the chance he could maybe never change. And you made a deal with the devil.
RANDA FAHMY HUDOME, LOBBYIST: I didn't make the deal with the devil. The Bush administration made a deal with the devil. I didn't do that agreement. The Bush administration did it. I only implemented that policy.
TODD (voice-over): Hudome says her contract with Libya wasn't about money. It was about U.S. national security, working with Libya to renounce terrorism, keeping weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of a dictator. She says if Moammar Gadhafi had those weapons now, he'd be using them on his own people.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: All right, Brian.
Heavy gunfire and a military crackdown in Cairo -- why did forces raid a group of demonstrators?
Plus, 16 students file add federal complaint against one of the most prestigious universities in the nation. Why Yale is now under fire. And coming up, why some say the school is breaking a federal law.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: It may be an Ivy League School, but Yale's name was dragged to the mud this week, a band of present and former students sued the university, saying administrators created a hostile sexual environment for women. The suit says they're not doing enough to prevent degrading acts against women on campus.
CNN's Alison Kosik has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Yale University, with its prestigious history and rigorous academic standards, is now mired in a sexual harassment dispute rocking its Ivory Tower. Sixteen students and recent alumni, including junior Hannah Zeavin had filed a federal complaint alleging a hostile environment when it comes to sexual harassment and sexual assault.
HANNAH ZEAVIN, JUNIOR, YALE UNIVERSITY: The 16 of us have stood up and said, "Look, this is what we see and we think it's wrong."
KOSIK: What they've seen are several offensive incidents.
This 2009 e-mail circulated at the university offers, a, quote, "scouting report" of freshmen women ranked by the number of beers needed before a man should sleep with them.
This picture from 2008 shows fraternity pledges outside of Yale's Women Center holding a sign saying "We love Yale sluts." The fraternity later apologized.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
KOSIK: This October video shows fraternity members chanting a vulgar slogan.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's incredibly offensive. As a woman, I was horrified.
KOSIK: A common reaction from women and men on campus.
But it's not these incidents that are in dispute. Rather, investigators are trying to determine whether the university responded to these and other private incidents appropriately. The university says it has.
It issued this statement, quote, "Yale takes extremely seriously all allegations of sexual harassment and sexual misconduct, including allegations of a hostile environment."
The university's dean sent students a letter saying a new committee is being formed to address issues across the university. But repeated requests to answer questions on camera have been denied.
Hannah Zeavin and others alleging a complaint they have not made public that Yale is violating a federal law called Title IX. Mostly known for the equality in sports, the law protects students from a hostile sexual environment on college campuses.
ZEAVIN: Students who experience such assaults are not being given the correct -- the correct or right kind of redress.
KOSIK: If the university is found to be out of compliance and does nothing to address it, it could lose $500 million in federal funding.
This week, while not naming Yale directly, Vice President Joe Biden made it known that his administration is focused on the issue. JOSEPH BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When it comes to sexual abuse, it's quite simple. No means no.
KOSIK: Despite the controversy, some students feel the university has been responsive.
MICA HENDLER, SENIOR, YALE UNIVERSITY: It certainly seemed to me like Yale was taking it seriously.
KOSIK: Still, others feel more could be done.
JESSICA LEAL, SENIOR, YALE UNIVERSITY: It really doesn't say much when we create a committee but don't necessarily do anything about the situation.
CHARLIE POLINGER, SOPHOMORE, YALE UNIVERSITY: Allowing the accusations being made are very fair. A lot of things have not been handled the way they should have.
KOSIK: If the Department of Education agrees, changes could soon be coming to this elite school.
Alison Kosik, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: We get you caught up now on the day's headlines.
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 $38 billion in spending through September.
Police in California say they're looking for a 60-year-old homeless man after an explosion outside of a Santa Monica synagogue on Thursday. The blast was so strong it sent in a large 300-pound, four- foot-long pipe through the roof of a house next door. Police released this mug shot of a suspect, a local transient that they describe as extremely dangerous. No one was hurt in that blast.
In Nigeria, two separate bomb blasts ripped through a polling station and a collection center in the northeastern part of the country today. No deaths were reported, but both explosions caused serious casualties. Today's attacks come on the heels of a deadly explosion Friday that killed eight people. Voters began picking their representatives and senators today. Next week, they vote on a new president.
Aides for Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords say she plans to see the final liftoff of space shuttle Endeavour in person. That's later this month. Her office is finalizing plans. The doctors will have to give the final thumbs up. Giffords' husband, Mark Kelly, is commanding the April 29th mission. Giffords is still recovering from a gunshot wound to the head. Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy is in charge after three rounds of the Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta, Georgia. The 21-year-old is 12 under par and has a four-shot lead over the rest of the field in this year's first major.
Well, Tiger Woods struggled today. He's seen shots of the leading head into Sunday's final -- heading into Sunday's final round.
For years, rumors, theories, and speculation have surrounded the murder of hip-hop star Biggie Smalls. His death has gone unsolved since he was gunned down back in 1997. Now the FBI has released new files that say a former Los Angeles police officer was involved. Coming up, we have the details on that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: You know the saying, it's the cover-up that counts. That is no doubt ringing true in a San Francisco courtroom where jurors have gotten the case against former baseball star Barry Bonds. He's not charged with taking steroids but lying about it before a federal grand jury. Bonds can get up to 40 years if he's convicted.
CNN wire entertainment editor Alan Duke is here with the very latest on this case. Where do we stand on these deliberations now, Alan?
ALAN DUKE, CNN WIRE ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR: Well, when we return to court Monday morning, the judge is going to read some testimony, read back some testimony to the jury as they began their second full day of deliberations. They got the case late Thursday. It's been three weeks that they've started this trial. Barry Bonds there at the courthouse every day looked somewhat relaxed, actually.
The closing arguments that we heard this past week were somewhat dramatic as well. And there were some fireworks. This has been a pretty dramatic case. And we're - you know, we'll let the jury decide this thing. Because they're doing it.
LEMON: Yes and you have covered this trial from the very beginning. So, as an observer, in your opinion, did the prosecution approve this case? Would you convict or acquit?
DUKE: Well, the nice thing about being a journalist is I'm not on the jury and I don't have to decide. Because it is a difficult case. I can see how they can go either way on this. If they want to believe certain witnesses and there are some credibility issues that have been raised by the defense about key witnesses, including the former girlfriend of Barry Bonds and also his former childhood friend who was the key witness for the prosecution, or they could choose not to believe them either way. And that will decide this. But I - I wouldn't be surprised either way, Don.
LEMON: OK. This one is really making headlines as well. We want to go now from the present to the past. The FBI, Alan, just released documents about the murders of rappers Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shikur. Why did the feds release the paperwork and is there anything in there that we did not know before? DUKE: Well, it was a series of freedom of information request because the case has been closed. It was closed about six years ago by the FBI when the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles said we're not going to go after anybody. We're not going to do any indictments on this. The reason that they were investigating - the federal government, not the LAPD, which is actually still officially investigating the death, is that there were suspicion, reason to believe that a rogue LAPD police officer was behind the killing of Biggie Smalls back in 1997, possibly for revenge in the death of Tupac Shikur, a rap rival. So that's why they were doing that.
And is there any revelation here? They heavily redacted. That means blanking out the names but you can read between the lines based on what we previously knew, and that's they were closely looking at this LAPD officer who later went to prison for a bank robbery.
LEMON: OK. All right. Now, Alan, for something completely different - you had, shall we say, a bizarre face-to-face or maybe I should say follicle to follicle with Russell Brand whose movie, "Arthur" debuted this weekend. What's one that?
DUKE: Well, as some of the viewers may or may not know, my hair is rather long and so is Russell Brand's. Of course, right now, I have it back. And Russell Brand is very short in his answers when I was doing an interview. Very sweet short answers. I posed him to the question, I said, why do you - can you -- can you give me a longer answer to any question? And it was pretty funny what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DUKE: Some people would say, well, he's not taking this seriously. But actually you may be taking it more seriously than I am.
RUSSELL BRAND, ACTOR "ARTHUR": That's right. Just because something it's funny don't mean it's serious. Think of like, Lenny Bruce, he was a very serious man, but also funny.
DUKE: And you keep your answers short?
BRAND: No - DO you want me to do a meandering long answer?
DUKE: Do one, could you?
BRAND: Absolutely. Give me any question. I'll take ages.
DUKE: Oh, really. Oh, really.
BRAND: Oh really. That's not a question.
DUKE: Oh really?
BRAND: Oh really? Yes, I can be incredibly loquacious, and verbal, find humorous ways of phrasing and framing and presenting information. We could say this is an interview or we could say it's a collision of souls, a couple of Randy Staggs locking horns.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DUKE: He's quite funny. And he called me a Fabio after an alcoholic binge. I really enjoyed Russell Branld. We look forward to seeing the movie "Arthur," which is out this weekend. I haven't seen it but everybody sya he is the best one to reprise the role that Dudley Moore made famous.
LEMON: Yes, Alan. Your hair is amazing and so is Russell Brand's.
Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
Have you ever had wanted to attend one of President Obama's town hall meetings but he has never come to your city. Now you can chat with the commander in chief from the comfort of your own home. He's planning to hold a town hall meeting on Facebook. Next, we'll show you how you can ask the president whatever you want.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Whatever you're doing, I want you take a look at television. Look at this. This time-lapse video showing the northern lights like they've never been seen before has gone viral on the internet. Gawker.com and its sister web site Gizmodo plays the video on their site where it's been seen now by thousands. Isn't that beautiful? It is a time lapse video from a still camera mounted on a flight from San Francisco to Paris. The video was stitched together from 2,459 photos from a DSLR camera mounted on a tripod inside the Air France plane. The creator used an iPad app to mix a score live during that flight. There's some music on that video as well.
We're going to talk more about Gawker now. The president seeks friends on line. A congressman tries to edit Wkipedia. And Bristol Palin gets paid but Candie's is attracting criticism.
Now let's talk about these intriuiging headlines with Maureen O'Connor. She's a regular with us and she's a reporter at Gawker.com. Maureen, that's amazing video, don't you think?
MAUREEN O'CONNOR, GAWKER.COM: It's beautiful, yes.
LEMON: It is beautiful. And this is the first time people have seen the northern lights like that. Certainly getting a lot of hits on- line. I want to start with you though on the president, President Obama. He is going to hold what amounts to a town hall meeting on Facebook later this month. How's this going to work?
O'CONNOR: So Obama is going to California where he will sit on a stage at Facebook's headquarters and a moderator will read questions to him that people have submitted to the White House's Facebook page and also to WhiteHouse.gov/facebooktownhall.
LEMON: OK. So is it really going to be a free wheeling on-line discussion?
O'CONNOR: No, it's not like he's jumping in to, you know, the comment section on somebody's blog or something like that. He isn't going to be typing. He rather is just - it's the regular town hall basically except that the questions are coming from people all over the country and they're trying to focus on the economy in this case, which is, of course, is much in the news right now with all of the budget negotiations.
LEMON: OK. I wonder why this next story is getting so much play. It'a about Wikipedia, a web site that we all know that anyone can edit enough data and Florida Congressman David Rivera's staff has been keeping a close eye on the boss' Wikipedia entry. "Politico" was the first to report this and what have they been doing?
O'CONNOR: So, it was discovered that Rivera's press secretary went into Wikipedia and she twice deleted the entire controversy section of his Wikipedia page to make it look as though he had never had a scandal. And she was trying to replace sections about his legislative career with bullet points copy and pasted from his campaign web site. That's against the rules of Wikipedia. You're not supposed to use it as some kind of PR platform. And she got found out.
LEMON: But isn't this a lost cause, Maureen. Because anyone can edit these things at any time, right?
O'CONNOR: It's true. Although anybody can edit it, but there's always a record of it. So both the House and the Senate's IP addresses have been caught plenty of times on Wikipedia. Joe Biden when he was a senator, he and his staffers were messing around with his Wikipedia page too. But the point is really you get found out fast. It's like, you know, a novelist buying a crate of his own books to look like he's selling a ton. It's kind of embarrassing if anything.
LEMON: Yes. Also a story making headlines now. Bristol Palin, she's been the public face of the Candies Foundation, speaking out and making appearances about teen pregnancy, pregnancy prevention. But you have some information about what she's been paid and what the Candies Foundation has actually spent on anti-teen pregnancy programs.
O'CONNOR: So the Candies Foundation has originally said that Bristol was not being compensated for her work. But they released their tax returns and it turns out they paid Bristol $262,000 for a year's worth of making ads and doing a handful of public appearances for them. Whereas they gave anti-teen pregnancy initiative a meager $35,000 that same year.
LEMON: Interesting. So they paid her more than they spent the entire year on the campaign? OK.
O'CONNOR: Yes.
LEMON: Did the Candies Foundation exist even before it hired Bristol Palin?
O'CONNOR: Yes, they did, actually. They were founded in 2001. They had also used celebrity spokespersons to discuss the negative consequences of teen sex. This is the first time they had somebody who actually got pregnant in her high school years discussing the negative consequences of teen sex when we can now see that she had, you know, $262,000 positive consequences too.
LEMON: Maureen O'Connor from Gawker.com. Always interesting stories. Thank you.
O'CONNOR: Yes. Thanks, Don.
LEMON: You know, it seems like there's an app for just about everything, apps that give you the latest on movies, locations of speed traps, and help you keep an eye on your kids while they're driving. Now there's an app that will help you cheat on your spouse. We'll give you the lo down on black market apps coming up.
And prents are signing up for a new -
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LEMON: Parents are signing up for a new program in Philadelphia schools designed to get them on the same page as their kids. It's called parent university and it can help parents to get caught up on math, computers, and other skills to help their children in the classroom.
CNN education contributor Steve Perry checks it out in tonight's "Perry's Principles."
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please take a colored marker -
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you remember when we went to school, we did what was called the traditional method of multiplication.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have five minutes to complete this task.
STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR (voice-over): It's a busy night in the Philadelphia classrooms. They're packed with men and women hoping to connect with the most important people in their lives, children and grandchildren.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And that might be an issue that we have today in mathematics because we really do need to understand why we're doing what we're doing.
PERRY: It's a real challenge for parents everywhere. What they learned in school is very different from what kids are learning today. That's why superintendent Arlene Ackerman created parent university.
ARLENE ACKERMAN, SUPT., SCHOOL DISTRICT OF PHILADELPHIA: Not every parent has a computer. Not every parent has access to the resources that many middle class families have. So in this district, we've really focused on engaging parents in this process. It's worked.
PERRY (on camera): What's the reason so many parents have signed up?
ACKERMAN: They're free. All you have do is have a child in the public school system and you can come.
PERRY (voice-over): Jose Ramirez has two boys in middle school. He's originally from El Salvador.
JOSE RAMIREZ, ATTENDS PARENT UNIVERSITY: Sometimes as an immigrant, we say the teacher can handle the classroom, my children are fine. But because of the culture and the barrier right there and right now I feel like we're close in.
PERRY (on camera): What are some of the classes that you've taken at parent university?
RAMIREZ: Well, character development, computer classes.
PERY: What changes do you see in your dad as a result of this?
NICK RAMIREZ, JOSE'S SON: He seems more confident in doing things as he was before.
PERRY (voice-over): Octavia Lewis, another parent university student is a grandmother and foster mother.
OCTAVIA LEWIS, ATTENDS PARENT UNIVERSITY: When your child comes home and they're in tears because they don't understand what the teacher just told them, to be able to give them the help they need is priceless.
PERRY: Steve Perry, Philadelphia.
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LEMON: We all know it's illegal to drink and drive. But now your iPhone may help you avoid trouble with the cops. I'm not saying you should go out and break the law, but there's an app that will help you locate DUI check points. We'll tell you about black market apps, next.
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LEMON: Tricking the cops has gotten as easy as turning on your Smartphone with apps that let users know where DUI checkpoints are. But they're not the only ones, the only thing that you can call black market apps. Applications that help you (INAUDIBLE) for your boss, cheat on your wife, even spy on your friends. They're all available to use right in the palm of your hand.
The CEO of TechSavvy Global, Scott Steinberg is here with the details for us. So Scott, this week the attention has been on apps, like this one actually called "Buzzed," which helps drivers find checkpoints where police are looking for drivers under the influence. How do these DUI checkpoints work?
SCOTT STEINBERG, CEO, TECHSAVVY GLOBAL: Well, the way a number of these work, and you can look at things like trapster, for example, or Phantom Alert or Fuzz Alert. They're essentially like radar detectors. They help make you aware where speed traps or camera traps are coming, DUI checkpoints. People actually provide the info, users themselves.
So as you find out about cops, checkpoints, possible stopping blocks, users share this information. So it's very hard to keep tabs of it all and you get updates on realtime. You can put it on your GPS, your Smartphone and it's allowing drivers to circumvent many of the precautions designed to keep themselves safe as well as others on the road.
LEMON: Yes, I want to know now about the latest on if these DUI checkpoint apps are avaiable because several senators and attorneys general in Maryland and Delaware have requested Google and Android ban these apps, Scott.
STEINBERG: Hmm. Yes, and a number of them are still available. Now some of them (INAUDIBLE), the folks who make the Blackberry smartphone have been kind enough to pull some at the behest of the senators. But others, Apple still remains undecided, undetermined on many of them. And Google (INAUDIBLE) that many of the apps for Android should not be pulled because in fact, they don't violate any laws, specifically.
And that's the big question at the heart of this debate, is whether or not there's actually anything illegal about them. Now certainly impractical, because the issue is that you may put yourself as well as other drivers at risk if, in fact, you choose to use them.
But the legal status of these is the big question here, and because in many cases it comes down to free speech, because they do operate in the same way that a radar detector would. Proponents argue that they actually help make users more aware of the some of the driving precautions out there and safety measures out there and therefore should not be banned and thus some of the companies are having trouble deciding which way to go.
LEMON: And there's also an app out there that can help you fool your boss, like this one that lets you send a fake e-mail.
STEINBERG: Yes, you can send fake e-mails to your boss, you can actually route phone calls. In fact, if you're in the middle of a meeting, you're having a review, you don't want to be there. You're uncomfortable, you can actually schedule it so you get a call that can take you out of the meeting. And certainly, it's a little bit dubious the use that these can be put to. But yes, there actually are apps that can help you fool your boss, among others things. Of course, there's others that can help you cheat on your spouse. There's plenty of apps out there that can help people think that you're working when you're, in fact, sunning yourself in Saint Tropez, and on top of that, of course, you also have apps that if you want to have an affair, yes, they are out there. There's a variety of them and let's just say not all of them are put to good uses.
LEMON: Let's talk about the affair ones, because if you listen to Satellite Radio, especially if you've listened to Howard Stern, there's one that lets you spy on your friends, one that's fittingly called the "Informant," and there's also the ones where you can, as you said, have an affair. Ashleymadison.com right? Which lets people looking for lovers outside their marriage connect. So what's the concern regarding these random sexual encounters apps here, Scott?
STEINBERG: Well, I think the obvious concern, apart from the immorality of it is perhaps some of the sexual encounters they can provide, facilitate prostitution, in much the same way that you see services like Craigslist having to be hyperaware of what's going on on their networks. Because the fact is, at the end of the day, a lot of the ways in which they are used comes down on how users choose to apply them. Not everybody is going to do it in safe manner, necessarily the most upright manner.
And of course many of them are in fact, designed to promote illicit affairs, which at the end of the day, I'm not sure you can argue that's a positive benefit, although many would say that certainly being able to keep it on the down low, is, in fact, necessary for their relationships, and of course, perhaps, and maybe there's an argument to be made that putting on your smartphone is actually better than putting it on your home PC where your wife and children may potentially stumble across it. But at the end of the day, you know, there definitely are some questionable apps out there.
LEMON: All right. Scott Steinberg of TechSavvy Global, we appreciate it.
STEINBERG: Thank you.
LEMON: Heavy gunfire and a military crackdown in Cairo. Why did Egyptian forces attack a group of demonstrators?
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LEMON: We're going to talk more now about about a story we reported on earlier. Egypt and today's violent military crackdown on protesters in Cairo. It happened overnight when Egyptian security forces raided a large group of demonstrators in Tahrir Square. The attack was brutal and it was bloody. But defiant protesters say they're not going anywhere. CNN's Ivan Watson reports from Cairo.
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IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Egyptians woke up today to once again barricades erected around Cairo's landmark, Tahrir Square. This is after clashes erupted here overnight under cover of darkness. What appeared to take place were demonstrators were trying to do a sit-in here in the central roundabout. Included among the demonstrators were about 15 uniformed army officers and soldiers who defied a ban by their generals and joined protests here that took place on Friday.
Around 3:00 in the morning, eyewitnesss tell us that the military tried to come in to force the demonstrators out of this area. It was after curfew. There were long rounds of gunfire, vehicles torched, and the people here, who are coming out here, very angry and confused over just what took place here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You think the people did this? They're going to make us look stupid. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) They have been beating a lot of us, and pulled from three of us from about three to six.
WATSON: A spokesman for the ruling military council is blaming what happened here, the tear gas, the bullets, the burned vehicles on remnants of the former regime of Hosni Mubarak. But in the eyes of some of the people we've spoken to, this may have struck a crippling blow to the credibility of the ruling military council, which took over executive and legislative powers in Egypt after Hosni Mubarak stepped down on February 11th. And now we are seeing signs the demonstrators are going to continue their sit-in here, in Tahrir Square, instead of facing off against a former President Hosni Mubarak. They are now appearing to head towards a conflict, a standoff, with the ruling military.
Ivan Watson, CNN, Cairo.
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LEMON: Another remarkable story coming out from overseas. A Japanese journalist documents his adventure through the evacuation zone around a failed nuclear power plant. You will be amazed to find out what he learned. He'll join us tonight, live at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.
I'm Don Lemon at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. Thank you so much for joining us. See you back here at 10:00 p.m. Eastern. CNN presents "STALKER: THE REAGAN SHOOTING" is next.
