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Defunding U.S. Mission in Libya; Bailing Out Greece Again; Obama Impersonator's Act Cut Short; First Lady Heads to South Africa; European Debt Fears Hit Stocks; U.S. in Talks with Taliban; McIlroy Wins Open in Record Style

Aired June 20, 2011 - 09:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: 9:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 6:00 a.m. out West. I'm Kyra Phillips.

Fire crews in Arizona getting some relief in their battle against the worst wildfires in state history. Calmer winds and higher humidity forecast for the next few days.

And get ready to type Internet addresses. New rules approved today. What will that mean to dot com, dot org? Will it no longer make up most domain names?

And a President Obama impersonator pulled from a high-profile Republican convention. Offensive or on target? It's all caught on tape. And we're going to talk to him live in 10 minutes for his first television interview.

It's day 91 for the U.S. military mission in Libya and for House Speaker John Boehner, that's one day too many. He says the White House ignored yesterday's deadline to get congressional approval so he may try to cut out funds next week.

Kate Bolduan is on Capitol Hill.

Kate, Boehner facing a lot of criticisms from powerful members of his own party.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kyra. There has been growing criticism up here on Capitol Hill amongst Republicans and some Democrats frankly. Frustrated that the White House has not sought congressional approval for the -- for the U.S. involvement and this NATO-led mission.

And honestly, they don't believe that the president has really explained himself in his answers that he's offered. They've even threatened to vote to pull funding for the mission.

Well, now we're seeing some very strong pushback from some influential Republicans, saying that would be a big mistake. Listen here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: If we do not continue this effort in Libya, if Gadhafi remains in power, it could have profound consequences. So the War Powers Act, every president has said that they don't agree with its constitutionality, but they have adhered to it.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: I would take the course that conservatives have taken the last 30 years. The War Powers Act is unconstitutional, not worth the paper it's written on.

The president has done a lousy job of communicating and managing our involvement in Libya. But I will be no part of an effort to defund Libya or to try to cut off our efforts to bring Gadhafi down.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: You heard Senator Graham say right there that the president has done a lousy job of communicating, in his words. Conservative Republicans like Senator McCain and Graham is that pulling funding would send a very bad signal to the NATO allies that are involved -- also involved in this mission, and also they believe threatens to undermine the overall mission of the whole purpose that we've gotten involved in this.

Now this all could be headed for a showdown this week, Kyra, as the House is set to begin debate on defense -- the defense spending bill for the coming year. Republicans have suggested that they could use the power of the purse, possibly voting to defund the mission, if they need to.

And liberal Democrat Dennis Kucinich has already promised that he will offer an amendment to do just that -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Kate Bolduan on the Hill. Kate, thanks.

There's another headline coming out of Libya this morning. And it goes way beyond politics.

Libya's government is saying that nine civilians were killed in a botched NATO airstrike and that two of the dead are children. NATO is releasing a statement now saying that one of Moammar Gadhafi's weapons sites was the intended target but a systems failure may have sent a missile into a neighborhood.

Another mission that's bringing together a number of counters for a common cause is the financial bill out of Greece. This week European finance ministers are discussing another bailout, hoping to keep the country from collapsing into bankruptcy.

Zain Verjee following this for us out of London.

So, Zain, how desperate has this become?

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This has become a very desperate situation.

Basically, Kyra, the problem is that Greece has lived above its means. What's happening now is that European finance ministers are saying OK, we'll give you $17 billion to help you out here, to make sure that you do not default on loans. But Greece, they say, has to have a much tighter austerity program.

So basically what they have to do is increase taxes, they have to do major cutbacks. There's going to be deep cuts in government spending. And people are going to lose their jobs and people are going to get poorer a lot faster. So you can see on the streets of Greece, people are so angry, the demonstrations continue.

But you know this story is also bigger than what's going on in the streets of Greece because it's affected global markets, Kyra. It's also going to affect the U.S. financial system. Tourism is going to be hit in the U.S. because the Europeans, they can't afford the kind of holidays, as they did before, to come to the United States.

So it is a big deal. And Europe is worried that if Greece defaults, it's going to drag the euro down.

PHILLIPS: And all the papers, obviously, reporting on this, saying various things. Yes?

VERJEE: Yes, exactly. Let's give you a flavor of what the "International Herald Tribune" is saying. This is on the opinion page and the headline is, "The crisis is in Brussels, not just Athens."

"The Greek financial crisis," it says, "is neither Greek or financial anymore. It's a political crisis of the whole of Europe. Its solution is no longer financial, but political.

The "Irish Independent" has an opinion page and its headline is Eurozone approach to bailout crisis a fantasy." It says, "Many Greeks say they've had enough. Yet if they don't accept a new round of harsh cuts, it's hard to see how the Eurozone government, never mind the IMF, can agree to more lending."

That's part of the thing, you know, there are three main viewpoints here, Kyra. Greece is saying, keep giving us money, we need the money. You know France is very worried here because it holds most of the Greek debt, something like $56 billion.

And the Germans have been saying, you know what? The Greeks messed up. And it's their problem. Let them deal with it. But Angela Merkel doesn't want some kind of Lehman financial crisis meltdown on her hands. So they've all had to act.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll keep following it. Zain, thanks.

And back here the U.S. has growing concern this morning over wildfires across the west. Seven states under a red flag warning now, meaning that weather conditions pose an extreme fire risk.

In Arizona, the Monument Fire is being called the nation's number one priority. More than 1,000 firefighters battling that fire, which has burned more than 44 homes. Also the U.S. Forest Service saying there's no evidence the wildfires were started by illegal immigrants. That's a claim that Senator John McCain made over the weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MCCAIN: There's substantial evidence that some of these fires are caused by people who have crossed our border illegally. They have set fires because they want to signal others. They have set fires to keep warm. And they have set fires in order to divert law enforcement.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: The president of the National Institute for Latino Policy criticized McCain saying he, quote, "might as well also blamed aliens from outer space for the fires."

The Republican leadership conference took a bizarre turn with the appearance of President Obama impersonator. Listen to this bit from comedian Reggie Brown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REGGIE BROWN, PRESIDENT OBAMA IMPERSONATOR: My favorite month is February. Black History Month. You see, Michelle, she celebrates the full month and, you know, I celebrate half.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Our political director Paul Steinhauser was actually there in the room.

So, Paul, what was the -- what was the feeling like?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: A bizarre moment is a good way to capture it, Kyra. You're spot on there. It was bizarre. But the crowd was actually eating it up when the impersonator was joking about the president. And then that was just a little taste of some of the other racial jokes he did directed at the president and the first lady.

There was a lot of applause, a lot of laughter there. No standing ovations. But the crowd seemed to be enjoying it. Remember this was not on the schedule. It's kind of a bizarre surprise to all of us.

But yes. And what was the crowd like? It was -- you know, overwhelmingly Caucasian crowd. There were some minorities in the room. I did see some African-Americans and Latinos, but it was overwhelmingly a hard core group of supporters for the Republican Party activists as well.

So I guess it's no surprise that they would enjoy jokes directed at the president. This is the person they want to defeat in -- next year -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Now do we know exactly why he was yanked off the stage? I mean he was criticizing everybody. He was criticizing the president, he was criticizing his own home team. He was going after the Tea Party.

STEINHAUSER: Yes. I was taking notes. He's -- he changed. After a while, he gave up on the president, he moved on, he was -- joked about the former first lady, Barbara Bush. Got booed. A joke on John Boehner, the House speaker, fell flat. He was booed when he talked about Newt Gingrich and a joke at Newt Gingrich's expense.

Finally he got to Michele Bachmann and that's when he was just -- he was criticizing or joking about Michele Bachman, the congresswoman from Minnesota, who spoke at the conference. That's when he got pulled. He was up on stage for, by my count, 17 minutes.

He was pulled by organizer, the chairman of the Republican Leadership Conference, a guy called Charlie Davis from Louisiana GOP. And Charlie Davis told us that the performance had gone on too long and was getting inappropriate.

I think the take-away from this, this is a distraction. This is probably not what they wanted from this conference. It was definitely -- you know all the other big moments like Rick Perry speech, Michele Bachman speech, the straw poll results, these are big deals. They were overshadowed. This was a distraction which they probably didn't want -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Paul, thanks so much. I'm actually going to talk with that Obama impersonator. Comedian Reggie Brown joining me live as soon as we come back.

And also ahead, the Internet will soon look very different to you. You're used to saying Web sites ending on dot com or dot org, but what about the dot food or dot kids or dot XXX. The new rules, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: GOP presidential hopefuls were strutting their stuff for this weekend's Republican Leadership Conference. Obama impersonator Reggie Brown was hired for that event. Well, now he eventually got booted as he began to joke about Michele Bachmann, but oh, when he floated some more shall we say racially tinged material, he didn't get a hook. He got laughs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: I love this photo. We were ready to take on the world. I had my team of experts use the latest computer technology to predict what Michelle and I are going to look like at the end of my first term.

What can I say about Michele Bachman that she hasn't already said about herself? The other day, she called me a one-term president.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Reggie now joining me live.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: Hopefully, not in Obama character, hopefully in Reggie character first, and then maybe we can wrap it up with a little President Obama. But I got to see, it's kind of a trip watching this two-shot. I feel like I'm interviewing the president. I have to go into a different mindset here.

But Reggie, let me ask you --

BROWN: What can I say?

PHILLIPS: When you were asked to do this, were you prepped at all with what you could say and couldn't say?

BROWN: No, you know? Whenever we work with a client, we always forward them our Web sites. So a lot of the material that I did do at the leadership conference has been done time and time again in front of all different types of audiences from, you know, Democrats, Republicans, Tea Party, all ends of the political spectrum.

So this wasn't really -- I think we may have added two or three jokes but everything was pretty much standard for my set.

PHILLIPS: Out of curiosity, what two to three jokes did you add?

BROWN: The Pawlenty joke was one that, you know, we just developed and wrote and the Obamneycare and having his foot surgically removed from his mouth and the spinal transplant. But -- yes, I think those were the three. And I didn't even get to the other ones.

PHILLIPS: So, when they booked you, did they know what they were getting? I mean, were you clear with them on what your performance would include?

BROWN: I -- my manager handles all the booking details. I basically show up, do my thing and have a great time. So, to my knowledge, I don't know of any client that has booked me that does not know what I do.

PHILLIPS: OK. So, when you were yanked of the stage, what did they say to you?

BROWN: I like how they say yanked. I don't consider myself being yanked.

PHILLIPS: Should I say nicely escorted?

BROWN: Yes, I was nicely escorted off the stage.

PHILLIPS: OK.

BROWN: And the reason, you know, upon going out, they told me I had anywhere between 15 to 20 minutes. But a few of the other speakers, Ron Paul and, I believe, six or seven others throughout the course of the weekend also ran over their time and were kindly escorted off the stage. So --

PHILLIPS: Do you believe you were yanked because you ran out of time?

BROWN: Well, it all depends on who you ask. I mean, that's what they told me. Then I get back to my hotel room and I see all these articles popping up online, saying that I was yanked for my content. So --

PHILLIPS: What do you think? What do you think? Were you yanked for time, Reggie, or were you yanked for your content? Tell me your gut.

BROWN: Well, I was at the Republican Leadership Conference and I was just entering my set where I started to, you know, have some fun with the Republican candidates. So, I do believe that I was over my time by a few minutes. And I also believe that the material was starting to get to a point to where maybe they started to, you know, feel uncomfortable with where it was going. But, you know, I was just doing my thing.

PHILLIPS: You were doing your thing. OK. You were kind of going at the home team there. So, you got the nice escort off the stage.

But let me ask you a question because you made a handful of racial jokes we saw at the beginning there, even showing a picture of "Sanford and Son," saying this is what the Obamas will look like after the White House, and this comment about Black History Month. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: My favorite month is February, Black History Month. You see, Michelle, she celebrates the full month and, you know, I celebrate half.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Did you get any boos on the racial jokes?

BROWN: No, I didn't hear any boos on any of the racial jokes. You know, the president, like myself, shares a mixed background, you know? My mother's white. My father's black. And I feel very safe delivering content like that.

And the president himself has poked fun at, you know, his heritage, even from his last correspondence dinner when he played the intro, you know, "The Lion King," you know, Rafiki putting Simba up and doing that whole thing, you know?

I wouldn't touch anything that I don't think the president would feel uncomfortable with or hasn't done himself. I mean, he's someone that I respect. I want to make him happy. I want him to appreciate what I'm doing. And --

PHILLIPS: So, you don't think that you took it too far?

BROWN: Oh, no, no. And, you know, I really don't. And I'm glad that it got downgraded to racial jokes, because they weren't so kind in the first reviews when I was reading what they were writing about my material. And, you know, like I said, I performed in Harlem. I performed all over the world, the same kind of material. And it's always well-received. I think this was just kind of an opportunity for people to see me on a bigger level, for sure. Perhaps, like some of the reviews have been -- I haven't really had time to catch up because I've been nonstop since the conference. I made an appearance on WWE's Capital Punishment pay-per-view event last night in D.C., and immediately hopped a train to get here for, you know, you all today.

PHILLIPS: I understand your phone's been ringing off the hook and now you've got gigs, probably three times the gigs.

BROWN: Oh, yes.

PHILLIPS: All right. Well, before we let you go, in character -- Mr. President, in one word, what's the next thing we should look forward to?

BROWN: Well, let me say this. I never know what's coming. And every day is a great -- honestly, I don't know what's going on.

PHILLIPS: I got him.

BROWN: We have so many different things coming up. We have a D.C. show that we're developing and we have a lot of other things going on, comedy tour to be booked for a week straight at a comedy club out in California.

So, I do a lot of corporate events. And those calls have been rolling in.

PHILLIPS: More to follow.

BROWN: We just a got a lot going on. Keep an eye out. Yes. Presidentialcomedy.com or you can just Google me and check me out.

PHILLIPS: Reggie, thanks for your time.

BROWN: Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

PHILLIPS: Taking a look at stories cross country now.

In Dallas, a 19-year-old man died at a rave party overnight. Rescuers responded to multiple 911 calls for emergencies related to drugs, alcohol and excessive heat at the weekend party. At least 20 people were taken to the hospital.

And in Florida, a surgical strike by demolition experts brings down an old electricity power plant. That plant with a familiar red, white smokestack come tumbling down yesterday to make room for a new plant near Palm Beach.

And it's never too late to find love, especially in the digital age. Ninety-year-old Molly Holder found her new husband on, are you ready for this? Match.com.

That's right. She and Ed will be married soon. He's 82.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOLLY HOLDER, 90-YEAR-OLD BRIDE: I don't know why I did it. It was an impulse sort of thing.

ED NISBETT, 82-YEAR-OLD GROOM: A picture that she had on Match.com really didn't do her justice.

HOLDER: Oh, isn't he sweet?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: They were actually married in Florida on Saturday.

Well, the first lady heads to South Africa, her second official solo trip abroad. Where she's going and why -- coming up.

And somebody shows out big bucks for a piece of Hollywood history. Marilyn Monroe's iconic dress sold for millions of dollars.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: In entertainment news, Miss California, Alyssa Campanella, is now Miss USA.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Miss USA 2011 is -- California!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: And she was crowned last night in Vegas. Campanella will represent the United States at the Miss Universe pageant in September.

Singer Amy Winehouse canceled her next two shows on her European tour after being booed off the stage in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday night. Videos posted on YouTube show Winehouse staggering around the stage, stumbling through several songs. According to a rep from the singer, she had been in rehab last month.

Marilyn Monroe's white subway dress sold for more than $5.6 million in a Beverly Hills, California, auction over the weekend.

First Lady Michelle Obama about to start her second official foreign trip without the president. Daughter Sasha and Malia and mom keeping her -- or grandma, rather, keeping her company in some very long flight.

Zain Verjee in London with more.

So, Zain, they're kicking things off, right, where? Pretoria?

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Yes, Pretoria in South Africa, and then Botswana after that.

Kyra, the focus is really promoting health, education and democracy. It's going to be a fabulous trip. The first lady is going to be in South Africa first. She's meeting with the former president, Nelson Mandela's wife, Graca Machel. And then she's also going to be going to Robben Island, that's the place where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned.

After that, she will go to Botswana. She'll meet with the president there and then also with a group of women's leaders.

And the, you can't go to Africa and not go on a great safari, Kyra. So, she's going to go on safari, in Botswana. They have good safaris, but not as good as Kenya, you know?

PHILLIPS: Why are you biased? Maybe because you're from Kenya. OK, carry on.

(LAUGHTER)

VERJEE: All right. Yes, Botswana. So, she's going on the safari there and she'll be with Sasha and Malia, her mom. So, it will be lots of fun.

And you know who's going to be in South Africa this week? Oprah. So, South Africans are really excited that they're going to have these two big women, these big names, and they're very excited about it. The word that they use is lekker, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Which is translates?

VERJEE: Which is an African word.

PHILLIPS: OK.

VERJEE: To great. It translates to great, good, fabulous, kind of thing.

PHILLIPS: Cool, though -- that's you.

All right. Zain Verjee, we'll definitely follow the trip.

VERJEE: All right.

PHILLIPS: Well, we talked about the problems in Greece at the top of the show. Alison Kosik joining us now from the New York Stock Exchange, to talk more on the outlook for the market today and how that's playing in.

Hi, Alison.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.

You know, Greece seems to be the main focus here. Over the weekend, we found out that this bailout for Greece that had been expected soon is actually delayed because of all that uncertainty. You can expect stocks here in the U.S. to open lower.

Greece is trying to pass major spending cuts. Now, this is really one of the big hold-ups here. It's getting a lot of push back. Now, we're also getting signs of debt problems spreading to Italy, too. So, that's adding yet more uncertainty to U.S. markets.

One analyst says, you know what, there's nothing positive to balance out this Greek news, but there is one positive I can offer, Kyra. Last week, the Dow snapped a streak of six straight weekly losses. So, today, we may start adding up those red arrows again -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Alison, thanks.

Well, the Internet will soon look very different to you. You're used to seeing Web sites ending in dot-com or dot-org. What about dot- food, dot-kids or dot-xxx? New rules, coming up.

The defense is also representing its case in the Casey Anthony murder trial. We'll see who's testifying today and what we can expect, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Checking top stories.

NATO apologizing for an air strike the Libyan government says killed nine people. NATO says there may have been a weapons system failure but it's denying it killed 15 people today in different neighborhood today.

The Syrian president offering vague promises of reform today. He also warned the government would track down those who instigated anti- government protests. Human rights activists says more than 1,100 people have died in demonstrations.

And the New York Senate, one vote shy of approving same-sex marriages. The vote could come today. A recent poll indicates 58 percent of New Yorkers favor allowing same-sex marriage.

President Obama has opposed same-sex marriage. But on Thursday, he's headlining a gala with the gay community fundraiser in New York. CNN White House correspondent Brianna Keilar joining us now.

So Brianna, is the president about to endorse same-sex unions?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Kyra, it's hard to know, certainly on timing. But I can tell you there's certainly some discussion about whether the president could change his mind ahead of the 2012 election to court the Democratic base.

Remember, as a presidential candidate, his position was that he supported civil unions. So he supported recognizing the legal rights of same-sex couples in the way that heterosexual couples have certain rights, but he stopped short of saying that he supported same-sex marriages. And for some time though, what we've been listening to is the administration saying that the president's views may be evolving, which is a signal that he's certainly contemplating changing his mind.

This is a story, Kyra, that's really getting a lot of renewed interest ever since last week when the president's communications director Dan Pfeiffer was at sort of a liberal or progressive forum. Bloggers were there and was asked about a questionnaire that the president filled out in 1996, about supporting same-sex marriage where the president indicated support, then running for the Illinois legislature. He supported same-sex marriage and Pfeiffer was actually booed.

Listen to this from the summit last week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN PFEIFFER, WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: I think the best way to actually do this would be to -- I'm going to sort of -- I'll try to paraphrase an answer that the president gave.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I've got his exact answer right here. I favor legalizing same-sex marriages and would fight efforts to prohibit --

PFEIFFER: If you actually go back and look, that questionnaire was filled out by someone else, not the president. There was a long debate about this --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So it's a fake questionnaire?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Now, a local newspaper, a local gay and lesbian newspaper got a response from the White House that said Pfeiffer sort of, looking back on this, was not familiar with the questionnaire. So Kyra, I have to tell you, there are still some unanswered questions about that questionnaire exactly and whether the position has changed over time.

But there is certainly, as you mentioned, this fundraiser is coming up Thursday in New York City. The president has a few fundraisers but one does involve the LGBT community and it'll be interesting to see what he says. Certainly he's going to tout what he's already done for this community, talking about repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," most importantly among them as the president sees it -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: We'll be watching closely.

Brianna Keilar at the White House. Brianna, thanks.

Week five begins in the Casey Anthony murder trial and the defense is presenting its case.

Let's go to live now to pictures in the courtroom.

CNN's David Mattingly following the trial in Orlando.

So David, who are we going to hear from today?

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Kyra, we're waiting to find that out ourselves because so far, there's no one has been called to the stand and a fight that started on Saturday inside the courtroom between the prosecution and the defense seems to be continuing today.

On Saturday, the judge warned the defense that you're not supposed to bring any witnesses up here who are going to surprise us with testimony. Both sides are supposed to tell each other what their experts are going to say and both sides are supposed to have an opportunity to depose these witnesses before they get on the stand.

That did not happen on Saturday. The judge threatened the defense with possible sanctions at the end of this trial. The prosecution, getting up today, saying we've got two witnesses that we haven't been able to properly depose and ask questions of that could be coming up today.

They're complaining to the judge. The judge somewhat exasperated by all of this right now, admonishing both sides that you're never going to agree on anything, you're never going to interpret my rules the same way. Here's what the rules are. One of the rules is, we're supposed to start on time. So he's sort of laying down the law again today to both sides. And, again, we haven't heard one single bit of testimony yet. All the while, the jury is still waiting to come inside the courtroom.

So, a rather rocky start to this trial on this Monday -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. David Mattingly in Orlando. David, thanks.

The group that controls web addresses is smashing its own rules. You're used to seeing domains like .com for businesses, .gov for government operations. Now coming up in 2013, you're going to start seeing names like .pepsi, even .kids and .food.

The "New Yorker's" Nicholas Thompson is a tech pro, among many other things.

So Nicholas, why is this important to businesses and consumers?

NICHOLAS THOMPSON, SENIOR EDITOR, "THE NEW YORKER": Well, it's important to businesses because it allows them to have slightly more control as to how they're presented on the internet. And it's important for consumers because it makes it slightly easier to search for domain names where people have been willing to pay the $185,000 price tag.

So in one way it makes the internet a little more organized. In another way, it actually doesn't matter that much. There are some people saying this is a revolutionary transformation, this transforms everything. But we generally don't get to the web pages we're interested in by typing in their domain names. We get there through links or we're increasingly pressing little buttons on apps or we get there through search, which is getting better and better.

So this isn't as transformative as its advocates would have you believe.

PHILLIPS: So, all right. What about, let's say, like a .XXX? You know, adult sites, specifically porn sites.

Does this mean that they can be regulated? THOMPSON: Well, that was -- so the .XXX was approved a little while ago and the porn industry actually opposed it because they thought it would be putting out a .X would sort of tarnish the site.

It does allow possibly -- you could have a .kids site, which could have some sort of regulations. They wouldn't be governmental regulations, but some sort of proprietary and brand-controlled regulations, which could be helpful.

There could actually be some security benefits. If you go to -- it would be harder to create a fake Verizon site. Nobody is going to spell $185,000 to buy Verzon, leaving out the I. So, if you go to something that looks like Verizon, you type in .Verizon, you get a better shot of it being the real thing than you do now, but not that much.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll be looking for .Nicholas soon.

Thanks for your time.

THOMPSON: Yes. Thank you very much, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Well another tough state immigration law, another tough court challenge. Coming up, a federal judge about to hear arguments on blocking Georgia's controversial crackdown. You're going to hear from one of the case's more unusual plaintiffs.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, Georgia's tough new immigration law is getting its first day in court. It's set to actually take effect next week and it's similar to Arizona's controversial immigration law. And its supporters make a similar argument.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. NATHAN DEAL (R), GEORGIA: While I believe immigration is an issue that can ideally be identified and addressed and should be addressed at the federal level, this legislation, I believe, is a responsible step forward in the absence of federal action.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, there could be some action today and opponents are asking a federal judge to block it from taking effect until their lawsuit has been settled. The ACLU is leading that charge.

But one of the individual plaintiffs here, the mayor of Uvalda, Georgia, Paul Bridges, he's a self-described conservative Republican.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: So Mayor, you call this a heinous law. Why?

MAYOR PAUL BRIDGES (R), UVALDA, GEORGIA: Yes, I did. Well, because it's going to affect all of Georgia, the economy and the social fabric of our state.

PHILLIPS: Well let's talk about that social fabric of your state. What do you mean by that?

BRIDGES: We are a mixed people. There are people who are documented and undocumented citizens, who are all within one family. And this law targets one segment of that family and it's breaking those families apart.

PHILLIPS: In addition to that, you say it's going to make a big impact on the economy.

BRIDGES: Yes.

PHILLIPS: I know your area, specifically, known for the blueberries there. I mean, farm life is huge in your town.

BRIDGES: Yes, ma'am.

PHILLIPS: And obviously throughout Georgia. Vidalia onions, peaches, you name it. How do you see it impacting the economy?

BRIDGES: Well, the majority of these produce you just mentioned cannot be mechanized, they cannot be picked by machines and they need the skilled labor hands to do it in such a fashion that it's rapidly produced and marketed because the timeframe for getting it to the market is critical. Once the produce is ready, it has to be picked at that time.

PHILLIPS: Now, the Republican sponsor of this bill, State Rep. Matt Ramsey did address the economic concerns that you've been talking about. And he says HB-87 represents our responsibility to watch the taxpayers' bottom line just as the business community vigilantly guards their bottom line.

However, you still say that this law goes against the values of the Republican Party?

BRIDGES: Yes. We are a business party. We believe in the economic growth of our nation and specifically our state. If we take away the ability of our farmers to produce what is needed to be marketed and bring in the sales of those products, then it goes against what Republicans are for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: If you would like to read Mayor Bridges' full op-ed on Georgia's immigration law, it's posted at CNN.com/opinion.

U.S. soccer team making a run at a regional title. Jeff Fischel with just a little bit about what's coming up in sports.

JEFF FISCHEL, HLN SPORTS: Yes, absolutely. The U.S. soccer team catching a lot of heat for how they played the last couple weeks. But, Team USA getting it going in the Gold Cup match against Jamaica. Finally. Just over three minutes in. Now watch goalie Tim Howard. Makes the kick save, the rebound. Oh, boy. It looks like U.S. would again would give up an early goal. They escape. Second half, Jermaine Jones gives the fans at Washington's RFK a thrill. The deflected shot here. Watch it comes out to Jones right into the net for the goal. That gives the U.S. - a 1-0 lead. Then midfielder Clint Dempsey took a red eye flight back from his sister's wedding to make it back to the game. He came in the second half and he scores right here. The U.S. beats Jamaica 2-nil as they like to say in soccer. They advance to Panama in the semi-finals Wednesday in Houston.

And coming up, Rory McIlroy runs away with the U.S. Open. I will have that in just about 10 minutes.

PHILLIPS: All right. And I want to ask you. We're talking about this former manager, 80-year-old Jack McKeon with the Marlins.

Am I saying the name right?

FISCHEL: Yes, Jack McKeon, Trader Jack.

PHILLIPS: Trader Jack. I like that. We're going to talk about him coming up, as well. He's actually going to be coming in as the interim manager. I would love to hear what he has to say.

FISCHEL: Coming out of retirement, he needs a job.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: And some stories developing later today. A federal judge in Atlanta hears arguments on a lawsuit challenging Georgia's new immigration law going into effect July 1st. That starts at 10:30 Eastern.

President Obama and Vice President Biden meet with a bipartisan group of mayors at the White House to discuss the economy and how best to spur growth. That's at 4:20 Eastern Time.

And the last crew to fly on a space shuttle arrived about 4:45 Eastern at the Kennedy Space Center. The shuttle "Atlantis" is set to lift off July 8th.

It's been nearly 10 years since a U.S.-led coalition went to war in Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban from power. The militant group had harbored al Qaeda and the architects of the 9/11 attacks. But now that Osama bin Laden is dead, the U.S. and Afghanistan are in peace talks with the Taliban.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT GATES, DEFENSE SECRETARY: The question is when and if they're ready to talk seriously about meeting the red lines that President Karzai and that the coalition have laid down, including totally disavowing al Qaeda.

(END VIDEO CLIP) PHILLIPS: Nick Payton Walsh is in Kabul, Afghanistan. So Nick, why do you think Gates is talking about this now?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'm not sure he had a huge amount of choice. A couple of days earlier Afghan President Karzai had said that there were talks going on between the Afghan/Taliban and the U.S.

But also I think, what Secretary Gates has -- is doing has two real purposes. The first is part of -- for the last two years now really softening up American public opinion to the idea there could be some kind of political settlement to the war here.

But secondly on a more subtle, psychological level, if you're a member of the Taliban out here who has not accepted some kind of offer of negotiation and that's a vast majority of the insurgency, you might be thinking there's a party going on to which you are not invited and perhaps accept that NATO olive branch as it were, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, we'll follow these talks. Nick thanks so much.

And firefighters battling dozens of wildfires in Texas, the largest burning north of Houston and has forced evacuations. We'll have the latest.

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PHILLIPS: Stories cross country now.

In Texas firefighters battling a massive wildfire burning between Houston and Dallas. It's already spread to 15,000 acres. The entire town of Midway, Texas, has been evacuated.

In Nebraska a storm chaser caught this on his video of a funnel cloud touching down in the southwestern part of the state yesterday. More strong storms in the forecast today.

And MLB.com reporting that the Florida Marlins expected to name 80- year-old former manager Jack McKeon as the interim manager. Marlins manager Erin Rodriguez resigned yesterday after less than a year on the job. Marlins dropped their tenth straight game.

And we're following a lot of developments in the next hour CNN NEWSROOM. Let's start first with deputy political director Paul Steinhauser in Washington -- Paul.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well Kyra, a comedian who impersonates President Barack Obama. He was pulled from the stage while performing in a major Republican conference. Details on what he said and why he was pulled at the top of the hour.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hi, I'm Zain Verjee in London, a rare speech by Syria's President Bashar al-Assad. What did he say? I'll tell you next.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I'm meteorologist Bonnie Schneider. We are tracking wildfires blazing across the southwest but there are some changes ahead in the forecast. I'll tell you all about it coming up.

PHILLIPS: All right. Thanks guys.

And a former NFL player steps up for his community. When the school district drops the bus service, guess what he does? He creates his own bus company. We're talking to Troy Evans live next hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: What a comeback for Rory McIlroy. Two months after falling apart at the Masters, the 22-year-old has won his first major, Jeff Fischel, with his record-setting fashion as well. but I want to know what's the story behind the necklace.

JEFF FISCHEL, HLN SPORTS: Yes, you know, some guys don't recover, right, when they have a tragic epic fail like he did a couple of months ago at the Masters. He came back -- he came back fast, just two months later. He said, I'll recover and he did. He collapsed in the final round of the Masters.

Yesterday's final round though, Rory McIlroy was fantastic. He just blew away the field, finishing 16 under, the best score ever at a U.S. Open. In all, he set or tied 12 U.S. Open records, including youngest U.S. Open winner in 88 years.

Here's the thing, Kyra that you and I have talked about, you won't hear anyone say a bad word about this guy. He actually took time off from preparing for the U.S. Open a couple of weeks ago to go to Haiti on a humanitarian aid mission. I mean that's an example.

A great gift for dad Jerry on Father's Day. Dad took three jobs when Rory was a kid to help pay for golf lessons. And there's Jerry celebrating a huge, huge four days for Rory McIlroy.

PHILLIPS: Everything about this kid is fantastic.

FISCHEL: Yes. It's going to be fun to see where he goes from here.

All right. The people of St. Louis are jittery this morning. They could not sleep all night. They're waiting to find out how badly Cardinal slugger Albert Pujols got hurt yesterday. This play right there. Ouch. He jammed his wrist and shoulder running into Royals Wilson Betemit (ph). Pujols having more tests done today.

As it is, St. Louis fans already nervous because Pujols is a free agent at the end of the season. The Cardinals did beat the Royals in the game in the bottom of the ninth.

NHL champion Boston Bruins brought Lord Stanley's Cup to Fenway Park. Their 6'9 Captain Zdeno Chara holding the cup real high -- that's right. Then the bruins lined up on the field to throw out the first pitch. I guess that's a lot of first pitches really.

Look at them throwing out to the Boston Red Sox players. Great day for Boston fans. The Red Sox did go on to beat the Milwaukee Brewers 12-3. 12 runs, that's like four hat tricks, I think.

Drive fast, turn left, it's Father's Day being celebrated at Michigan International Speedway. The drivers spending time with their kids before they hit the track. Final lap, Denny Hamlin, in the lead, Matt Kenseth tried to pass him, winds up going sideways. Hamlin holds on to the checker flag. It's his first win of the year and his second straight at Michigan.

Finally, the Iowa State Granny Basketball tournament was held over the weekend. Players have to be at least 50, but many in the tournament were at least in their 60s. Upper bracket is 65 and older. Some in their 80s, in fact. The teams wore vintage 1920s uniform and played by vintage rules. No running or jumping. Makes for an interesting game when you can't do either of those things. The National Granny Basketball Tournament will be held in Branson, Missouri, in August.

PHILLIPS: Can I tell you my mom played basketball back in the day. I think it was -- yes it was high school. She told me they only were allowed to do the shot from -- you know what I'm talking about.

FISCHEL: Oh, right. Right, yes. We call them granny shots.

PHILLIPS: The granny shots, yes. Don't be telling a 50-something- year-old or 60-something-year-old, don't tell them it's a granny league. Hey, 50 is the new 20.

FISCHEL: They play these rules where you don't even like wander past half-court. There's three players on each side for you. It's really a different set of rules but they're loving it.

PHILLIPS: They're doing little Harlem Globetrotter moves there. Did you see that? Thanks, Jeff.

FISCHEL: All right.

PHILLIPS: All right.