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Same-Sex Marriage Vote Nears in New York; Unrest in Syria; Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Wal-Mart in Class Action Lawsuit; Casey Anthony Trail Put on Recess; New Internet Domain Names May No Longer Require .Com or .Org; Band Mumford and Sons Interviewed; President to Open Account on Twitter

Aired June 20, 2011 - 15:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Awesome. We tweet ourselves, Randi Kaye.

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: We sure do.

BALDWIN: We anchor and we tweet. We try to do a lot of things at much.

Randi, we thank you so much.

KAYE: Sure.

BALDWIN: And hello to all of you. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

And I want to start this hour with a big fight going on right now in New York. It's all over same-sex marriage, and the state is one vote away here from making it legal. Take a look at the scene today, people filling up those hallways, chanting, singing on both sides of the issue, feel very passionate about it, very much so worked up about it.

Now, the New York Senate is currently deciding whether to approve Governor Andrew Cuomo's Bill. And demonstrators have been crowding outside the Senate chamber for a couple of hours now. And things have been getting intense.

Here's something we found pretty interesting here about the debate going on right now in New York. And there's another issue here. It's kind of the subtext of this whole conversation. Is this about people's religious views on same-sex marriage or is this about civil rights?

Here's what one rabbi who is very prominent within the gay community told us on the ground.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHARON KLEINBAUM, SENIOR RABBI: This issue, however, is not about religion. It's about civil rights. It's about a civil marriage license. It's not at all about a religious ceremony.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: I'm going to be speaking with our senior legal analyst, Jeff Toobin, about the president's evolving views on the issue making a little bit of news here today here in just a moment.

But, first, I want to bring in our producer Dana Garrett, who is on the phone. She's been watching this debate and the protests there in Albany.

And, Dana, first up, we saw some of the video here. But set the scene for me. What does it look like right now and when might this vote happen?

DANA GARRETT, CNN PRODUCER: Well, hi, Brooke.

As you saw from the video, you know, it almost has the feel of a revival meeting here in the halls of the state capitol, with religious sides on both sides of the issue. But it looks like neither side is going to be very satisfied today, because, though the Senate is in session, they seem to be voting on a lot of non-controversial bills, and it does not look like today they will be voting on the bill legalizing same-sex marriage.

Now, the negotiations are ongoing. We're told that these talks are going well, but they are really bringing it down to the wire. The legislators are due to begin their summer recess tomorrow. But a source told me that nobody thinks they're going home today.

Now, as you said, they're one vote shy of getting that majority to get this bill passed. The sticking point still seems to be language regarding protecting religious institutions from what the Senate majority leader called unintended consequences.

They're worried that maybe some religious institutions could lose their tax-exempt status, for instance, if they refuse to perform a gay marriage.

(CROSSTALK)

GARRETT: So it's caught up a little bit in that. They're negotiating that.

There's also -- in typical Albany, New York, fashion, there's a lot of other bills on their plate. They're looking at tax -- property tax caps and rent control legislation. So, a lot of it is all tied up with that, and we may not see a vote on the same-sex marriage bill until those bills are resolved, so probably not today, maybe tomorrow, maybe later in the week, but everyone seems to be prepared to not going home tomorrow.

BALDWIN: Well, let's back up and let's talk numbers here. And we do know that Governor Cuomo has been quoted as saying, look, he would perhaps be amenable to changing some of the language, some of the legislation here.

But we know 31 senators, including two Republicans, are in favor of this bill. One Republican senator needs to sign this thing. Then it would be a done deal. All but one of the Democratic senators support the bill. He is not budging.

Dana, let's, you and I, listen here to what he told us today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUBEN DIAZ (D), NEW YORK STATE SENATOR: There are a lot of people in the state of New York that are against gay marriage. And the legislature (INAUDIBLE) This is not (INAUDIBLE) issue. This is a people issue. And they have the same right to protest and the same right that anybody else...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Dana, I had a little bit of a tough time hearing him. I think, perhaps, you were the one who interviewed him.

Could you just more or less explain what it was he said? And then also taking it a step further, if the bill does in fact become law, if they get that one or more additional Republicans in favor of this, how long before this would go into effect?

GARRETT: Right. Right.

Well, you were listening to Ruben Diaz. And he's been a longtime opponent of this. As you said, he's the only Democratic senator who is opposed to this legislation. And he's opposed -- he's a Pentecostal minister and opposed for the same reasons that a lot of the conservative religious groups here feel, that it's God's law that a marriage should be between one man and one woman. And he just thinks it's incorrect. And that's his staunch belief.

Now, if it goes into effect, once the governor signs the bill, it would be 30 days before same-sex marriages could happen here in New York.

BALDWIN: Thirty days. And you also say, we know that this passed the state Assembly last week. In fact, the sponsor of this bill in the state Assembly has a very personal reason for wanting this to become law. Dana, what's his story?

GARRETT: Well, that's Assemblyman Danny O'Donnell. He's been a champion of this effort for the last many, many years. And he is the sponsor of the bill in the Assembly, which has passed about four times since 2007.

But he and his partner of 31 years are anxiously awaiting the passage of this, so that they, like so many gay and lesbian New York couples, can get married this summer. He talked to me and said that they hope to have a New York wedding with New York wine and New York food. So, he certainly, like others, have a vested in the outcome of this bill.

BALDWIN: Dana Garrett, we appreciate you there reporting for us from the halls of the capitol there in Albany, New York. Thank you so much. If anything changes, if you do hear anything more about a vote, hop back on and let us know.

But just to broaden this out a little bit, I want to bring in Jeff Toobin. He's our CNN senior legal analyst.

And, Jeff, we heard Dana mention all the attempts in the past. History is not on the side when it comes to same-sex marriage in New York. The Senate rejected it in 2009, in addition to the last three attempts, Jeffrey Toobin, what would be different this time around? .

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: The country is different, and the state is different, and the politics are different.

The polls have changed so dramatically on this issue. In the early and mid-'90s, the polls said 2-1 Americans were against same-sex marriage. Nationally, same-sex marriage now ekes out a slight majority, but, in New York State, there is a substantial majority in favor of same-sex marriage.

And, look, politicians ultimately respond to the will of the voters, and the voters have changed. Now, that doesn't mean same-sex marriage is going to change. As someone who's followed the New York legislature for many years, it's a very mysterious place, and strange things happen. But, clearly, public opinion is what's driving the difference.

BALDWIN: And, as Dana pointed out, there are concerns on one side about the language and possible unintended consequences, specifically concerns of the bill that would redefine the legal parameters of the marriage.

How would the language need to change to perhaps placate those folks who don't want this to happen for religious reasons?

TOOBIN: I think this is not a major problem.

The concern is that, somehow, churches will be penalized for not holding same-sex ceremonies. Now, if the First Amendment to the Constitution means anything, it means that churches can never be forced to conduct one kind of marriage or another. That is something that is completely within the free exercise of religion.

Now, what the fight appears to be about is that churches, in addition to conducting religious ceremonies, sometimes do various sort of contracts with the government. They run food kitchens. They have foster care operations.

And there would be the possibility that they might be worried, at least, that they would lose the funding for their soup kitchens or foster care operations because they refuse to do same-sex marriages. I think a -- that is a fairly easy fix to put in the legislation. This is not really a problem for the supporters of same-sex marriage. They don't want to see the churches defunded in this way. So, if that's the only problem, it seems like it's pretty -- it's pretty easy to fix.

BALDWIN: I do have one more for you, because in talking about President Obama here, and in broadening out the conversation, no doubt the president will be asked about the issue in New York. He will be in Manhattan this week, hosting this gala with the gay community. In fact, last fall, the president spoke about his stance.

The word if -- I'm sure you read "The Times" article over the weekend -- evolving -- he said -- quote -- "But I also think you're right that attitudes evolve, including mine. And I think that it is an issue that I wrestle with and I think about because I have a whole host of friends who are in gay partnerships. I have staff members who are in committed, monogamous relationships who are raising children who are wonderful parents."

But heading here -- Jeffrey Toobin, this is it. This is my final question for you. Heading into 2012, what is your read here? Is this an evolving stance on same-sex marriage for the president, or might this just be savvy politics?

TOOBIN: Well, I think it's probably both, the way it is with most politicians, is that partially it's a matter of conscience, and partially it's a matter of the partisan needs of the day.

Look, same-sex marriage is overwhelmingly popular in California, in New York, in Massachusetts, in the states that are the very blue states. But, remember, in Iowa, three Supreme Court justices were voted out of office entirely because they voted for a right to same- sex marriage.

So this is not a universally held belief. And Barack Obama has to carry New York and California, but he also has to carry Iowa. And the middle of the country, the more conservative parts of the country are not nearly as supportive of same-sex marriage as peoples are -- people are on the coasts.

So, Obama, you can see, is testing the waters here. What's clear to me...

BALDWIN: Yes.

TOOBIN: ... is that, in 2016, it will be impossible to run for the Democratic nomination for president unless you support same-sex marriage.

But we're not there yet.

BALDWIN: We're not there yet.

TOOBIN: And I think Obama is evolving.

BALDWIN: He's evolving. So, short answer, a little bit of both, says Jeffrey Toobin.

Thank you so much, Jeffrey. Appreciate it.

TOOBIN: Sure thing.

BALDWIN: Now this: Syria's president tries to calm angry protesters through a speech on TV today, only threw gas on the growing fire -- up next, who Bashar al-Assad is blaming for the bloody battle that is raging in his country. Plus, Wal-Mart wins big. You hear about this today? But the retail giant isn't out of the clear just yet in a legal fight with female employees. We're going to explain coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The president of Syria today didn't do much to quiet his critics or offer up any firm, concrete promises to make changes in his country. Bashar al-Assad spoke on Syrian state television this morning, and said his government is tracking down anyone who sheds blood or plots to shed the blood of Syrian people, talking about the more than 1,110 people who have died in the past couple of months of street-fighting in clashes between Syrian troops and anti-government demonstrators.

That is according to human rights activists. But you see the pictures here. Crowds of protesters filled public spaces in Damascus and several other cities today, people who are not at all buying President Assad's positions that armed gangs and conspiracies are to blame for this violence.

Already, more than 10,000 Syrians have fled to the relative safety of Syria's border with Turkey. They're living in what we have shown you, these refugee camps.

And that is where CNN's Phil Black is standing by for me now.

And, Phil, did people there at these camps hear the president's speech today? And what was their reaction?

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brooke, they did. They watched. They listened.

They said they didn't expect much from this speech at all, but they got far less than they had even hoped for. It was a long, rambling speech of mixed messages and ultimately very little substance.

It opened by offering condolences to the families of those who have lost people during these recent months of violence, but then went on to say that most of those people who have taken part in the process are criminals or terrorists or religious extremists.

President Bashar al-Assad said that he believed that many Syrian people do hold legitimate political aspirations, and he said he wanted to help them, he was committed to reform, and he said that would take place through something a little vague and fuzzy called national dialogue.

There was no detail there, but it's some sort of inclusive process of consultation that is yet to happen. And only then, he says, would the country be ready for some sort of major political reform like that which people have been protesting for, risking their lives for, for months now, something like altering the constitution to accept a multi-party democracy. But that still seems some way off yet, Brooke.

BALDWIN: But, Phil, without any of those major change that these -- changes that these people want to see in their country, I'm guessing if they're hearing little -- little substance and seeing messages that they don't feel safe to go home, that they want to stay where they are in these refugee camps; is that correct?

BLACK: Yes, that is indeed correct.

In fact, during the speech, President al-Assad spoke directly to the thousands of people, tens of thousands who have fled their homes and especially to those who have moved towards and even across the Turkish border. He said they should return home because their communities need them.

And he promised that the security forces would not harm them, would not punish them, there would be no retaliation. Well, they simply don't buy that. They don't believe it. They believe they would not be safe if they had to go home.

So, for the moment, they say they are stay writing they are, even though that means living for the moment in fairly desperate conditions -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: What about, Phil, from the leaders within Turkey? Are they making any kind of -- are they pressuring President al-Assad to make major reforms? Or, even if they are thus far, is that falling on deaf ears?

BLACK: We believe that it is happening subtly. Turkey is a major player in the region. Turkey and Syria have significant relations. And there are unconfirmed reports of diplomatic shuffling going backwards forwards between the two countries in recent weeks.

The belief is that Turkey is very much trying to apply pressure for President al-Assad to embrace reform more rapidly than he has been seen to do, and as well as that to try and control the military crackdown, which has been running so brutally and at such a pace in recent weeks and months as well.

We have yet to hear a confirmed report just what Turkey's response to this speech, but there are Turkish media reports tonight that suggest that the Turkish president, Abdullah Gul, believes that what has been discussed today by the Syrian president is inadequate and not enough -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Phil Black for me in one of these refugee camps where these people have fled for their lives and thus far, as we have heard, are not going home -- Phil, thank you so much.

And quickly here out of Libya, a NATO official confirms that the alliance did bomb a command-and-control site in Tripoli, in the capital city, before dawn today.

Look at this. This is what is left of this compound where NATO says the Gadhafi government planned attacks against the Libyan people. Libyan officials say 15 people were killed, three of them children. NATO officials say they are investigating that claim. Just yesterday, NATO acknowledged that one airstrike missed its target and may have caused civilian casualties.

Eight hundred square miles, that is how enormous Arizona's largest wildfire has now grown. And it's not the only one now burning in the state. Some relief -- some relief is on the way.

Plus, the bad weather is back in a very, very big way. And some storm-chasers had their cameras rolling -- more of this amazing video coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Just what is going on in the windy, hot and dry West? Look at this with me.

Sierra Vista, Arizona, this is southeast of Tucson -- everyone living there ordered to evacuate over this weekend. And this fire refuses to be contained by contingency lines. Folks, this thing is jumping over highways -- the weather not cooperating either. More on that here in a just second with Chad.

But I want to take you to Texas here -- Texas now part of the conversation as well. This is Trinity County, one of 20 separate wildfires burning in Texas today -- 12 more large fires were reported yesterday alone. And here's the tough part. The Forest Service predicts -- quote, unquote -- "critical fire weather conditions" in place for much of the entire state of Texas.

That said, let's go to Chad Myers.

And I think I already know the answer to the question. When we talk so much about relief, I think about these firefighters now both in Arizona and Texas, no relief for them right now?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. No relief.

Arizona's better today than yesterday and the day before.

BALDWIN: OK.

MYERS: Arizona was blowing 60 miles an hour over the weekend.

BALDWIN: Wow.

MYERS: I don't know if you saw any of the pictures over the weekend.

BALDWIN: No.

MYERS: But they were dramatic. You can go on iReport and see them out of there, iReport.com.

BALDWIN: Here they are.

MYERS: But the -- and the fuel was dry. It hasn't rained in Tucson for 70 days. It's a desert, I understand, and things don't -- but they do get rain there sometimes.

BALDWIN: Yes.

MYERS: They're waiting now for what is called the monsoon season. Monsoon is when the humidity comes up from the south and you get daily thundershowers, at least some rain to help these guys out and women out.

But the weather today, the bad weather turns to Texas. That's where the wind is coming in. So it's moved out of the southwest of the Arizona/New Mexico area and into the southwest that we call parts of Texas. And then to the north of that, we have actually tornadoes on the ground right now north of Hill City, Kansas, a big box here, and another box I put in here.

There have been 2,300 lightning strikes from that one thunderstorm. You can see every time it flashes, there's one spark, another spark, another spark. This is going to be a brutal night for a couple of things, for critical fire danger from Dodge City back all the way down into West Texas -- no fires outside. Literally, this is the red flag warning, nothing to do outside with flames. You just can't risk it because of what it looks like on the ground.

I will draw this out for you. This is Arizona right here. Here's New Mexico here. Here's Texas. Everywhere that you see this maroon color, that's an exceptional drought. And, yes, you can even get droughts in deserts. I know deserts are just supposed to be dry. But if you don't get enough rain to even get the plants that live there to stay alive, then you have the exceptional drought.

And it's all the way from east of -- from Tucson up to Albuquerque and all of Texas. And that's why Texas is essentially on fire. It's burning at this hour in many, many spots.

We will continue to watch all of the weather for you here. We will watch that one big cell. That's the one I'm worried about, Hill City, Kansas, right there. This has been on the ground for many, many miles, the big tornado on the ground. The good news is, there's just a lot of farmland in between there and the next big town. But if you see something coming today anyway from Kansas City to Omaha all the way down to Oklahoma City, there will be big, big tornadoes in there.

BALDWIN: Let us know. Send us an iReport.

But, quickly, when talking about fires hopping the highways in Texas, for example, what is it that causes that? Is it simply wind speed and a narrow highway?

MYERS: Yes.

BALDWIN: Yes.

MYERS: It's simply that.

BALDWIN: OK.

MYERS: It's simply that you will get a spark that is picked up by the fire on the west side of the highway. Even though that's a piece of asphalt or concrete, it can fly two miles.

BALDWIN: Causes it to jump.

MYERS: And you don't have a two-mile-wide highway.

BALDWIN: Can't imagine standing there and seeing that.

Chad Myers, thank you so much.

MYERS: Thank you. You're welcome.

BALDWIN: So, it's a story we have been covering for a couple of months here. And it's a class-action no-go now for all those female employees hoping to sue Wal-Mart.

Alison Kosik standing by to tell us this story -- Alison.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Brooke, yes. I'm going to go ahead and tell you why the Supreme Court went ahead and threw out this case, and what it means it for employees who may be looking to sue their own companies. I will have all that coming up after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A big victory at the Supreme Court today for Wal-Mart. The court put an end to a massive sex discrimination suit on behalf of more than 1.5 million current and former employees.

The court said there were just too many different women in too many different jobs at the company for a suit of this size to go ahead. And this decision could eventually affect just about every private employer, both big and small.

Let's go to Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange.

And, Alison, it's so, so important to make that distinction that this got overturned simply because of the size.

KOSIK: Exactly.

And you know what? Even when you look even further into this case, Brooke, it wasn't necessarily that the case would have been too big. It was just too broad. Look at part of the majority opinion from Justice Scalia.

He said, "Without some glue holding together the alleged reasons for those decisions, it will be impossible to say that examination of all the class members' claims will produce a common answer to the crucial discrimination question."

You're thinking, what's the translation here? The translation is, with the case including more than a million women with so many different circumstances it would be too large for one lawsuit. The court saying, there has to be a common thread among them, the Supreme Court saying there isn't. There's no significant proof that Wal-Mart had a general policy of discrimination. Wal-Mart is pleased with its rulings. It says it's going to continue its efforts to build a pipeline of future female leaders, Brooke.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: It's a huge victory for Wal-Mart, what did the mega chain stand to lose here?

KOSIK: A lot of money. You know what, billions of dollars. Think about it, if this went into class action status, it means more plaintiffs, a bigger liability for Wal-Mart, if it had gone through, it would be the biggest class action case dealing with jobs in history. Keep in mind this isn't the end of this suit, but now every woman will wind up having to fight individually or it could prompt women to back down, because it could be intimidating to take on Wal- Mart yourself, not to mention really expensive.

BALDWIN: If we're talking 1.5 million both former and current employees, this has to go down to the lower courts because it was too broad, it can't possibly be a case -- is it a case by case basis here of 1.5 million people?

KOSIK: It would wind up being that, that's what the Supreme Court is insinuating here, these cases have to have more of a common thread, you can't have all of these different women coming forward en mass in this number as well, brook?

BALDWIN: Alison Kosik there with the latest, a huge victory for Wal- Mart. Thank you.

I want to get back to our top story. New York's battle over same sex marriage, they're waiting for that one single Republican vote to have this thing passed in the state of New York. The state, as I said, is a vote away from legalizing it. President Obama's opinion has come back into the conversation. He's hosting an event this week with members of the gay community. Does he support same sex marriage, endorse it or not? Watch this exchange just a short while ago with White House press secretary Jay Carney.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did the president support same sex marriage?

JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Once again, what I know is what his position was during the campaign and what it is now. You know, he's been very clear about it, he's very clear about the fact that his opinion is evolving. I don't have anything to add to it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The word we keep hearing is evolving with regard to the president and same sex marriage not yet ready to endorse it.

If you were hoping to catch the Casey Anthony murder trial today, not going to happen. Coming up the judge's unexpected pull of the plug.

And holycow.com, the Internet is about to get bigger. We get to all get more creative. You don't want to miss this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: The Casey Anthony trial in recess. The judge cancelled today's session without explaining why. But earlier in the day he scolded attorneys on both sides of the courtroom for slowing down the pace of the trial. You know the story -- Casey Anthony is an Orlando woman accused of killing her two-year-old daughter Caylee. The judge announced a recess until tomorrow morning.

First lady Michelle Obama starts a week-long visit to Africa today. Her first stop is in South Africa. Her focus is youth leadership, education and the continuing struggle against apartheid. The first lady's mother and two daughters will get to travel right along with her.

One of the "Jackass" cast members is dead. Ryan Dunn was known for performing, dangerous stunts on the TV show friends and in the movies. Family members say he was killed this morning in a car wreck not too far from Philadelphia. Ryan Dunn was just 34 years old.

I want to you take a look at this putt with me, let's roll the video. And there it went. A give me with Rory McIlroy, he still had to drain it. He won the tournament yesterday by eight strokes. He beat the U.S. Open record set 11 years ago set by Mr. Tiger Woods.

Soon the days of dot com and dot org will be a distant domain memory. You're about to be able to dot com dot anything you want. The implications are huge for this, folks. Why the big change and how it's going to affect how you and I and the rest of us surf the web. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Get ready for Google to become your best friend online. A group in charge of the Internet domain names in the world is changing the rules in a big way here. That means just about everything goes when it comes to choosing an address for a Web site.

What does it mean for you and me? Let's ask tech expert Kate Linendoll. Katie, I know this is like nerd heaven for you. But it sounds a little bit like recipe for confusion when you think about all the possibilities. I understand you know web address won't have to end with dot com or dot net, instead you could have CNN.com or redcross.com becoming dot CNN or dot Red Cross? Can I ask why?

KATIE LINENEDOLL, CNN TECH EXPERT: I know this can be confusing, but it is an exciting day for nerds. There are 22 top level domain names, we use the dot comes, dot net, dot orgs or dot TV. You can put in a proposal for anything you can conjure up in your mind. But it's not cheap. It costs about $185,000 to apply. So when the applications start January 12th, 2012, a lot of people in big corporations will be applying. You can get creative and get dot awesome if you want it, but have you to have the money to do so.

BALDWIN: Wait, $185,000 just to apply? Hang on. As people begin to apply, say you're really in to pinot noir, and you want to do dot pinot noir. What steps you take to try to get that as your domain? LINENEDOLL: Yes, for our big business this is a no-brainer. We think of the Cokes and Pepsi, there's no doubt they're going to pick up dot Pepsi or dot Coke. If they pick up something vague like dogs or shopping or sales. They could turn that around and sell it as a second level domain. For big businesses, this is pocket change to throw out $185,000 for one application fee. But it could get very interesting to see what goes through, and what other individuals start to pick up.

I want to put a perspective on this for you too. We talk about the 185 k base. Right now, a dot com average is about $12. And a dot net is about $8. As you can see here, the price has skyrocketed. Come that time where people are starting to apply, it's going to get interesting.

BALDWIN: People are creative. And we know what happens on the Internet and there can be some offensive things and people get creative in that regard. What happens when someone tries to register a naughty domain name?

LINENEDOLL: The organization will be looking through every single application. In many cases it could take from six to 18 months to get something through. I think with that price tag on it, this is going to stop the crazies and the cyber squatters as well. We're going to see a lot of big businesses fighting for those domain names, but will keep a lot at bay, which is a nice thing.

BALDWIN: And we'll be looking for some domain name of yours as well.

LINENEDOLL: Absolutely.

BALDWIN: Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

And 700 million people connect on Facebook. But 7 million of them just deleted those accounts. The Facebook fatigue, do you have did?

And this --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Do you recognize those guys? The music world is going gaga over these guys, Mumford and Sons. Have you heard them? I was at the show last week. They are awesome live. I got one on one with several of these guys, part of the British blue grass quarter. That's coming up next on you Music Monday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Facebook fatigue. Do you have it? It's trending today, and let me explain why. The blog called "Inside Facebook" says the social networking site lost seven million active users just last month. Facebook dispute those numbers, but we have seen reports that people are using Facebook less and less. What gives? Some say they are making a conscious effort to spend less time Facebooking and engage more in the offline world.

Whenever a great band rolls through town, a group I'm listening to, maybe you're listening to as well. We'll take you backstage with one half of a British quartet. They got together in London just a couple years ago. On the Music Monday I give you Mumford and Sons.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

BALDWIN: How many instruments do you guys can't play.

"COUNTRY" WINSTON MARSHALL, MUMFORD AND SONS: I know a lot of things I can't play.

BALDWIN: What can't you play?

BEN LOVETT, MUMFORD AND SONS: So talented.

MARSHALL: I can't play the guitar very well.

LOVETT: That is not true. You are very good at the guitar.

MARSHALL: Violin, can't do that.

LOVETT: You could if you wanted to, though.

BALDWIN: What's your favorite?

MARSHALL: My favorite instrument is drums, or the piano. It never gets played, the piano. We tour around with keyboards and stuff. I'd love to have a grand piano on stage. That would be awesome.

BALDWIN: So when people say you're the "it" band of the moment, is that a compliment?

LOVETT: It's -- those are silly things because we just -- we've just been doing what we're doing for the last three years, you know. It hasn't really changed for us except it gets played to more people.

BALDWIN: But look at all the seats you fill. You fill this.

MARSHALL: This is one of the most beautiful venues we've ever been to.

BALDWIN: It's beautiful here in Atlanta.

MARSHALL: We try not to take too much nights like this.

LOVETT: It feels like even though this is amazing, we don't feel like we've had any major jumps even though this is a bigger venue than we ever could have imagined.

BALDWIN: Because you started out playing to like 50, right? LOVETT: No, less than that, but like it's every tour. We've done five U.S. tours, and every tour it's slightly bigger. It's like the next step up. So it doesn't feel like going from a small club to a big venue like this. We've done each step one at a time. It's been really helpful to work on everything in detail and worked on a set to play bigger places because it's grown into a bigger place.

(MUSIC)

MARSHALL: Fortunately, we've hit that wall now that it's time to make a new record because we can't play anything bigger than these venue venues. You see a lot pour people, and they want more music, more material, and they want to you play for longer, and our album is like 50 minutes long. We've been playing new songs constantly. Even at our album launch party, we were playing new songs at that. We write all the time.

LOVETT: Every night. We always play new songs, and it makes the old songs sound fresh.

BALDWIN: How is it going?

LOVETT: It's been going well. You never know. We might try a new one, just got to practice it a little bit.

BALDWIN: How are sounds different than this album? I read it was influenced a little bit by your time in Tennessee. True?

MARSHALL: Yes, I think Tennessee and the rest of America has slightly been an influence. We're quite kind of transparent when it comes to our writing in the sense that we reflect the experiences that we have on the road and our lives in general. I think we've seen a lot more, and we found we have different things that are tricky that we had to cope with in life that didn't exist five or six years ago.

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: I'll tell you what, that is one of the better live shows I have seen in quite a while. And if you want to watch it again, pass it along to your friends. I put all of the interviews on my blog, CNN.com/Brooke.

And I tweet, you tweet, many of us tweet, right? Now the president is about to start tweeting as well all by himself. Wolf Blitzer is going to tell us why coming up next on your Political Ticker.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Time for your CNN = Politics update. Let's go to my colleague Wolf Blitzer on this Monday with the latest on the CNN ticker. Wolf Blitzer, hope you had a nice weekend.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Not as good as you. You obviously had a great weekend watching Mumford and Sons. I just tweeted I love that interview. You like that song "The Cave," right?

BALDWIN: I love "The Cave." they played a couple new songs. It was a tease. They're about to hop back in and record it once they're done touring. They were amazing live.

BLITZER: Amazing. Those guys are very, very talented. Then again, you are very talented yourself, Brooke. Let's talk politics for a little bit.

The president is getting ready for a huge announcement, the start of withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, 100,000 U.S. troops there, another 40,000 NATO troops. The president says starting in July. He's going to start withdrawing troops. A few weeks ago people thought maybe 5,000, 10,000. Now, who knows? It could be more, given the growing unpopularity of the war, the death of bin Laden, the fact that it's costing $120 billion a year, $10 billion a month to keep troops in Afghanistan right now.

So the pressure is mounting. As a lot of our viewers know, the vice president Joe Biden, he's probably been the most assertive, the most aggressive in calling for a reduction of troops. He's got a counterterrorism strategy in mind that doesn't require as many troops, boots on the ground as they say. In the past the president sort of decided with Defense Secretary Gates, General Petraeus. Maybe this time he'll side with Biden. We'll see what happens. It's a big decision that's coming up. A lot of people are wondering.

By the way, I don't know if you noticed the conference of mayors at their meeting just now. They passed a resolution basically calling for a withdrawal of forces from Iraq and Afghanistan as quickly as possible so that money could be used for domestic purposes. Think about it, $10 billion a month that could be used for education, building infrastructure, or whatever.

So there's a lot of growing pressure on the White House, especially as they gear up for re-election season, to bring those troops home as quickly as possible. We'll see how many troops the president announces are going to be coming home. All U.S. troops, as you know, are supposed to be out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

One little additional political note before I let you go over here, the president's going to start tweeting personally again, according to the White House, as he gets up for reelection. Barack Obama will be tweeting just like @brookeCNN, @WolfblitzerCNN. Get ready for more of the president of the United States. I assume you'll be following, Brooke.

BALDWIN: I already follow the president. We'll know specifically it's the president because it ends with the initial B.O. And that's how we know it's a presidential tweet. Wolf, thanks for the love on Mumford and Sons. Check them out when they're back in D.C. Thank you very much. We'll get another political update in half an hour.

And now as we approach the top of the hour, round two, watch this.

It's a decision that could affect your company and your paycheck. Wal-Mart accused of discrimination, and now the Supreme Court makes a game changing decision.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.