Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Occupy D.C., Standoff; Mothers of Hazed Students Speak Out; Megachurch Pastor Taking a Break; To Medicate or Not to Medicate; Occupy DC Standoff
Aired December 04, 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 is the top of the hour. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Don Lemon.
We're following a fast-developing story out of Washington, D.C., right now. Occupy protesters in that city face off with police, leading to several arrests. I am told we just saw someone just moments ago take a somersault off of this building on to an air mattress.
So we're going to show to it you -- do we have that tape? If we do have that tape -- all right. We're going to cue that up and we're going to get that for you.
The standoff is over this wooden structure that you're looking at. Again, these are live pictures. They've built this structure in the park. Police said, tear the structure down, get out. They are refusing.
And so our Athena Jones is there live at the site of these protesters. Number one Athena, why did they build it? I guess, I think earlier, you said they built it because of the cold weather and they wanted some place to go in and keep warm. And now this; what's going on where you are?
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right. I just wanted to update you. We saw, as you said, a few minutes ago, someone somersaulted off the edge of this structure onto this giant inflatable cushion that the police have blown up, right next to the structure on the backside. A few minutes after that, someone -- another protester jumped on to the cushion, so there are now four people left atop this -- this building, as you can see.
Now, they said that they built it because it's getting colder and they want to be able to have daily meetings inside, their general assembly meetings, they call them, to make plans and to talk about what they stand for. This is a group, Occupy D.C. protesters, who have been camped out in this park, McPherson Square, since the beginning of October.
And so certainly, it is getting colder. The big issue here, though, is that police say it's illegal to erect a structure like this, a permanent structure. The protesters have been arguing that this is temporary. They erected it overnight in a matter of about an hour, using materials donated from a family in Annapolis, Maryland. They say if you can put it up in an hour, it's temporary. It can be moved, it can be taken down. This is all taking place just a few blocks from the White House, Don. So it's -- it's certainly gotten interesting.
You see the policemen up there. They've been talking to these remaining protesters. It's hard to, of course, tell what they're saying. At one point, one protester shouted, "We don't want to fight with you." But we don't -- it's unclear what their plan is, whether they're going to actually at any point sort of drag or throw the protesters on to that -- on to that mattress. We just have to wait and see what happens.
But as I mentioned, already two of the people up there have come down of their own -- of their own volition.
LEMON: Yes. And so what we're looking at, even on top of this structure now, those are officers as well, right? Or are they only occupy people on top of the structure?
JONES: No those are -- on the very top, at the very top --
LEMON: No, no, not on the very top. Not on the very top, standing near the eve, like, near the -- they're standing ok --
(CROSSTALK)
JONES: Oh right, no those are -- yes, those are -- those are police officers standing on top, yes, on top of this armored vehicle.
LEMON: Ok.
JONES: And at different moments, they've been talking to the -- talking to people who are still remaining up there.
LEMON: Interesting.
JONES: But it still, it seems that they want to -- they want to -- they're trying to avoid confrontation. That's been certainly the theme of the last several hours. A lot of people around here have been saying, what's next? What's going to happen? What are they going to do?
And the lawyer we spoke with earlier, who was a legal observer who's been working with these Occupy D.C. group had talked to police and said that they were going -- that the police were going to give these protesters three warnings, and if they were to come down, that they would avoid arrest. But clearly, now they've reached a point where they're trying to remove them.
She said that the delay, she believed, was that police were trying to figure out a safe way to remove the people from this structure. And you can see, it's several feet off the ground, so it could be very potentially dangerous and hence this large, inflatable cushion that they've blown up. LEMON: Athena, I have to run -- so just really quickly can you give me yes or no the people who did the somersault off this building, they're ok, right?
JONES: They -- we are not on that side, but we haven't seen any ambulances or anything.
LEMON: Ok.
JONES: It's difficult to speculate, but we presume that they are ok -- Don.
LEMON: We're trying to get that video and bring it to you.
Thank you very much, Athena Jones. Oh we do have the video? All right, so let's -- let's take a look. Let's run it.
Ok, so that's the inflatable. One already jumped, and then, and then there's a guy up on the left, we believe, that's going to jump, but I didn't -- it didn't make out the first person.
Do we know how long between two? Oh, he's on the backside of the structure, we're being told.
So -- is it the guy wearing the face mask? Do we know? I'm seeing this as you are seeing it as well, so I don't know exactly what's going to happen here and how much we can see, but again, apparently one of the protesters jumped off this structure on to an inflatable. And that looks like an inflatable that police, I would imagine, that police set up. It's kind of the inflatable that happens when there is a jumper. You know, when there's a jumper on a build or some structure. Anyway, ok.
Hey, let's move on. Let's get it edited and cued up to the exact place where this happened so that we can better inform our viewers about it. We're going to move on now. Thank you for rolling with us there.
Let's talk about the Marching 100 at Florida A&M University. The band may sit on the sidelines while the football players are on the field.
You know what; but don't be mistaken, it is the band FAMU fans come to the see. Now the school's powerhouse performers are under fire after one of the Marching 100 died.
Investigators are lacking into whether Robert Champion was literally hazed to death. He died on November 19th. The band Director, Julian White -- Dr. Julian White has been fired, four students dismissed, and two mothers of present band members say it all could have been avoided. They complained to the university of their children facing harassment from some of those from the Marching 100.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BERLINDA JOHNSON, MOTHER OF FLORIDA A&M UNIVERSITY BAND MEMBER: My first thought was, I hope it was not hazing.
LEMON: Really?
JOHNSON: Yes.
LEMON: Why?
JOHNSON: I was down in Orlando when the incident occurred, and the rumors among the students within the band was that it was hazing.
LEMON: Yes and you?
FELICIA FABRE, MOTHER, FLORIDA A&M UNIVERSITY BAND MEMBER: I was like just wow. I can't believe that they didn't listen. My husband and I have previously had a conversation with Dr. White and the band directors. And in our conversation, I had said to them, please, you know, stop the hazing within your band, because we don't, you know, out of all the accolades and all the greatness that they had accomplished, it's always going to take one thing and someone's going to die and your world is going to come tumbling down.
LEMON: And it could have been any parent. It could have been you getting that phone call.
FABRE: It could have been anybody.
JOHNSON: Anyone.
LEMON: Yes.
FABRE: Hazing does exist in the Marching 100 and within other organizations or other bands. He likes Dr. White. He loves Dr. White. He's always wanted to be a part of Marching 100. He doesn't want to see the band end. He just wants the hazing to stop.
LEMON: Yes.
FABRE: He wants for them to treat each other with respect that they're due.
LEMON: Same with you?
JOHNSON: Yes. My son is --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: And you don't want Mr. White to have to resign?
JOHNSON: No, I think that others -- I think that everyone who had some knowledge needs to kind of wake up now.
LEMON: Yes.
JOHNSON: Because apparently, Dr. White instantly -- he passed the information to other people, then there are other people who need to also admit that this is going on. LEMON: Yes.
JOHNSON: My son has always wanted to be a part of the band. He's been in the band since the third grade.
LEMON: Wow.
JOHNSON: So when you have a vision of a band and he's been down for the marching band camp for the last four years, prior to him becoming a freshman this year. So it was not something new to him. He absolutely loves the band.
LEMON: And many people, when you saw the movie there's a movie called "Drumline" which is about FAM.
FABRE: Yes.
JOHNSON: Yes.
LEMON: And I grew up, going to Southern University Football games; the southern (INAUDIBLE) and the battle of the bands. It was even bigger than the football game, sometimes, to get people to understand what this means to especially historically black colleges and universities.
What -- specifically, what did your son go through as far as hazing? You said, it's not allegations, there is hazing. What did your son go through?
FABRE: Right. Well, he was never physically hit. His was mostly verbal abuse. They do a lot of name calling, cursing, degrading, you know.
LEMON: Like, what? For what reason?
FABRE: I don't know -- I don't know what the reasons are. I can't even begin to tell you why young people would begin to do that, to behave that way, except to say that their minds need to be renewed. Their minds are so embedded in that culture that they think it's ok, you know?
My son has a statement, you know, an abused freshman or a hazed freshman becomes an angry upper-class man. Because if they're hazed as a freshman, then they think, ok, well, now it's my turn to haze the new group. So it's a cycle that's continuing that needs to end.
LEMON: And your -- your son's specific hazing, that your son went through?
JOHNSON: Yes, he had an incident; I think that in the beginning, we were, you know, kind of hesitant about saying anything. He said that he could take anything verbal, you know, he said, I'll let you know when. And the incident that triggered me to send a message and send an e-mail had to do with him being punched in the back when he was running -- being made to run around a track. You have -- I want to say a handful, maybe two handfuls of people within the band unit that are making it difficult for the other students.
LEMON: Yes.
JOHNSON: I think that if you remove these elements and you send a firm message that it won't be tolerated --
LEMON: It won't be tolerated, yes.
JOHNSON: And although that they are, you know, you hear a lot of people saying there's not a way to stop it --
LEMON: Are you satisfied with what's happening now, at least them talking to you and saying that they're going to work on it to correct it.
JOHNSON: I think that I am pleased that they are now having some conversations with the students.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Berlinda Johnson and Felicia Fabre did not reveal the identities of their sons for fear of retaliation. The moms say when they spoke out before, their sons received threats.
Don't go away, everyone.
One of the pastors of one of the biggest mega churches in the country accused of coercing young boys, young men I should say into sex. Now his wife is divorcing him. He says he is going to take leave from the church. What is next in the Eddie Long saga? We'll update you on the other side of the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: In Suburban, Atlanta, one of the biggest mega church pastors in the country will be without its leader for a while. Bishop Eddie Long of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church says he is taking time off from the pulpit to attend to his family. His wife, Vanessa, filed for divorce three days ago. Her divorce petition cites a bona fide state of separation of marriage irretrievably broken and no hope of reconciliation.
The church issued a statement in her name saying she had changed her mind about the divorce. And it came out yesterday. We were like wait, she just filed for divorce, now saying she's going to take that back. But Vanessa Long's attorney strongly disavowed that statement.
The pastor broke the news this morning to his congregation that he was thinking of taking a hiatus from preaching and he's going to do it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BISHOP EDDIE LONG, NEW BIRTH MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH: And we're not hiding nothing or anything like that. I'm going to take a little time off to work with my family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: All right. So the church says Long is not quitting. Long's problems began last year when four young men accused him of coercive sexual relationships. These are the photos obtained by CNN last year when Long was being sued. They were supposedly sent by long to one of the young men. Long denied the allegations, but quietly settled the lawsuit out of court.
I want to bring in John Blake, who writes about religion for CNN.com. John, thank you so much for joining us. There is a serious disconnect between what Eddie Long and his church -- the church people are saying about a possible divorce here, and what Vanessa Long is saying through her attorney.
How serious a blow is this, if Vanessa Long bails out on this marriage?
JOHN BLAKE, CNN.COM: I think it's huge, and I think it's a blow that he might not recover from, because of one big reason. Women are like the primary forces in a lot of black churches. If you go to a black church on a Sunday, often you'll see like 60 to 70 percent of the people in the audience are women.
So women really give a lot of support to a pastor. And one of the things they look for is a pastor having a really good relationship with the first lady. So they might conclude if she doesn't stick by him, why should I now?
LEMON: Yes, ok. The state of the church now, John, are they losing members? I heard that enrolment in membership was down, and what about donations?
BLAKE: Yes, they're hemorrhaging members. I went out there a couple months ago and it's halfway full. A lot of the upper rafters were empty. And it's not just the fact that they're losing members, it's a different kind of spirit and mood there. Like I've been covering New Birth for the past 15 years; whenever you went out to the church, there was this tremendous energy and pride and went people around the city of Atlanta wearing New Birth T-shirts, flying New Birth flags from their cars.
And now there's this sense of like defeat in the air, resignation, like, what's going on? And they have so much -- they need so much money to keep going. They have this big church campus. So the donations must suffer.
So how are they going to keep this religious empire going on? It's going to be difficult.
LEMON: All right. John, thank you. We appreciate you joining us. Let's talk more about this with Goldie Taylor. She's usually here -- she's a political analyst -- she's usually here to talk about politics. But with a figure this big, and we both live here in Atlanta, and you hear. And you said, you know, people walk -- not just Atlanta -- walk around the country -- you and I always have been very honest, so let's talk. People are saying, what took her so long? That's what people are saying. What took her so long?
GOLDIE TAYLOR, POLITICAL ANALYST/SOCIAL CRITIC: You know, I'm not the kind to get in the middle of anybody's marriage. What you decide to do between yourself and your husband and how long it takes you to come to those decisions, that's really got to be up to Vanessa Long and up to Eddie Long and how they --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Agreed, but the reality is that -- Goldie, the reality is that's what people are saying, what took her so long? They don't understand?
TAYLOR: Well, I would invite them to put themselves in Vanessa Long's shoes --
LEMON: In that position. Absolutely.
TAYLOR: -- with a husband that she has had children with, that she has raised a mega-million dollar business; that she has built her life with. And she has very strong decisions to make for herself and for her children. So I would invite people to try on Vanessa Long's shoes for a little while --
LEMON: Instead of looking at the headlines.
TAYLOR: -- instead of looking at the headlines and trying to judge a marriage simply from its headlines.
LEMON: Right. Right. So as I talked to John, John said, half the membership's down. There's a different spirit in the church.
TAYLOR: Right.
LEMON: And the church has done a lot of good things.
TAYLOR: Absolutely.
LEMON: It's done a lot of great things. Do you think the church can survive this?
TAYLOR: I think the church absolutely can survive. I've always --
LEMON: With Eddie Long?
TAYLOR: That's the question. I've always said that New Birth and its spirit is bigger than Eddie Long. But if the church decides to be smaller than Eddie Long, it absolutely will not survive. Yes, their donations are down. Yes, they've had to lay off staff. Yes, the enrolment and membership is down. But, you know, tell me where that isn't true in any church across the country.
LEMON: You said if the church is smaller meaning if they think that they can't survive without Eddie Long --
TAYLOR: Absolutely.
LEMON: -- that's going be the ruination of the church, you think?
TAYLOR: That will be the ruination of the church. If they decide that their fortunes or their future is tied to just one man, rather than the church itself, a church without walls, then, yes, they will have a tough time surviving.
LEMON: If there is a lesson in any of this, you know, as I said when this story started to unfold, there are no winners in this, right? The Long family -- as you said there is a family. And I know Eddie Long Jr.'s son, and actually had a bit of a confrontation with him in the Atrium not long ago about this story. And it was, let's say, a heated discussion about this story.
Do you think that if there's anything that will come out of this, that there's a wake-up call about people who blindly sort of follow people and who don't necessarily see the realities of the world? Is there anything that can come out of this, a wake-up call for any of us?
TAYLOR: I think the lesson about this, and how I've even chosen my own church, this is about stewardship. And this is about how you entrust your life, your spiritual life, your assets, you know, your family, you know, underneath one leader. And you've got to choose your steward well. You've got to understand -- you've got to choose a steward that is compassionate, that is out for your greater good, and not simply out for their own. And I think that's the real question here.
LEMON: Here's my thing too. If the church is really about what it espouses to be, and it's about redemption and acceptance and loving, then they can accept Eddie Long back, because nobody's perfect. No man is perfect.
TAYLOR: Well, there is something in the Christianity called a sit-down. And that's when you willingly take yourself out of the pulpit for a time of reconciliation.
Eddie Long has that opportunity now. I think that's what this is about. And if he can successfully come out of the other side of that, then, sure, I think he's ready to, you know, lead New Birth again.
LEMON: Yes, but I think we're being, you know -- I may be a little bit Pollyannaish about this. I think that that can happen, but in a perfect world, it could. It would be great if that could happen, right?
TAYLOR: I think that's the process and that process of redemption is open to Eddie Long just as it's open to all of us.
LEMON: Yes. Yes. Thank you, appreciate it.
Hey, will you watch these pictures with me because we've discussed this as well, as it comes to the economic and our political system. This is Occupy -- it started with Occupy Wall Street. This is Occupy, Goldie, Washington, Occupy D.C. here.
Do we want to show the video now of the guy? There's a guy who took a leap -- or two of them, at least, off of this building. We'll do that on the other side. These are live pictures. They have erected this wooden structure. Police have told them to take it down. They are refusing. You can see they're still camped out.
We're going to report, update you on these live pictures what's going on there right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: So, you can see it for yourself. There is a man there, I believe it's an officer, in a cherry-picker, and they have been taking people off the structure in these cherry pickers, and the person waving this flag has refused. We were watching in the break, the man came up to her in this cherry picker and said, hey, let's get down from the building -- I assume it's her, I can't tell from the long hair. It could be a man, you never know. And that person refused, waving the flag.
So they're not going to forcefully, I would imagine, take this person down, unless it comes to that. The person you see there on the bottom left of your screen those are officers standing on top of a police wagon, trying to keep the peace there as well. Again, an officer in a cherry picker.
And then earlier, people were jumping off of this structure, at least two people. One we saw -- let's show the video. Look in the back part at the bottom. The bottom of your screen, right in the middle, you'll see the person do a dive, and they've got an inflatable behind there. You'll see all the flash but here he goes. Right there. Boom. Dives off. But dives off into an inflatable. We assume that jumper is ok. There were at least two that did the same thing. So live pictures now.
Let's go. Athena Jones. Hey, Athena, when did they erect this? This is McPherson Square Park. Did they erect this overnight? I would imagine to erect something like this -- to build something like this would take quite some time. Police have told them to take it down, they said, no, they're not leaving. When did they put this up?
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they put it up overnight. They said -- we talked to several demonstrators here, they said it only took them about an hour. It's some sort of prefab construction, it's unclear since we didn't see them do it overnight in the middle of the night. They erected it in about an hour.
It's materials that were donated by a family in Annapolis, Maryland, which is not too far from here. We're also told that they brought in some of these pieces under a tarp earlier in the week, kind of so that people wouldn't notice what was about to happen. And of course, they erected it overnight so that people wouldn't see them in this long building process.
So it's unclear all the, just how they were able to do it, or how it's constructed, but they did it pretty quickly. That's part of their argument, too, Don. They say that this is part of a temporary structure. We were able to put it up pretty quickly, so we're going to be able to take it down pretty quickly. This is not a permanent structure, as police are saying and therefore it shouldn't be illegal.
As you notice, there's still now three remaining protesters. One of them somersaulted off of the back of the building, as you mentioned. Another one jumped, and then a few minutes ago, the officer used a cherry picker to come and put a harness on one of the other demonstrator, and the demonstrator of his own, climbed in with the officer and the cherry-picker and was brought down.
LEMON: Yes.
JONES: So that demonstrator clearly was fine with being taken away. The rest of them -- these three look like they're holding on tight and are not willing to budge.
LEMON: Hmm, ok. Is this the tape of the jumper? Ok. So, again, this is from earlier, what Athena was talking about. Let's just go to those live pictures. Oh, that's what we're getting to.
So Athena, this is what Athena was talking about. The police officer in the cherry-picker putting a harness on one of the Occupy D.C. members and is going to take him or her down from the top of this temporary structure, wooden structure that they have built in the park. It appears to be a him; so took him down.
And then later on this same officer in the same cherry-picker goes over to another person, live pictures now. The person you see in the middle of your screen there with the flag -- and that is a man, we have confirmed. We had a close-up picture of him. The man said, nope, not coming down, so the officer backed away.
Athena Jones, don't go anywhere because we're continue to follow this to see what happens with this Occupy D.C., basically, standoff that's happening in McPherson Square Park.
Don't go anywhere. Short break; we're back in moments.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: So parents medicate children who have disorders like ADHD and ADD, our education contributor Steve Perry looks at a family who chose education and how that choice made the decision for their child in tonight's "Perry's Principles."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR (voice-over): Jared Jagfield is full of energy, just what you'd expect from a typical 10- year-old boy. But his life has been anything but typical. He was adopted from Russia just before his first birthday.
CATHERINE JAGFIELD, JARED'S MOTHER: When he first came home, he had a lot of medical issues. His respiratory system was not used to germs.
PERRY: As a result, Jared experienced many physical and developmental problems. When his mom enrolled him in preschool at three years old, she met resistance.
JAGFIELD: They virtually told me he was autistic and he would never go to school. I said, no, he's going to spend two years in an integrated classroom and he's going to be mainstream when he's five.
And they said, that's a nice dream, but it's not going to happen. I said, it is.
PERRY (on camera): How did you know that you're right?
JAGFIELD: I didn't. I just had a gut feeling that, we can improve this, will it ever all go away? I don't know?
PERRY (voice-over): Thanks to various therapies, Jared made strides in preschool, but his transition to kindergarten was rough.
(on camera): In what ways?
JAGFIELD: First was more children, less teachers and he's not blending in.
PERRY: What did Jared do that made him stand out?
JAGFIELD: He was moving all the time. He's not getting up and walking around, but he's moving in the chair.
PERRY (voice-over): Jared was diagnosed with ADD and started taking medication. Now, four years later, Catherine is confident she made the right decision.
(on camera): Did the meds help?
JAGFIELD: Yes.
PERRY: Were they necessary?
JAGFIELD: Yes.
PERRY: There's some people who say that they're not. Say that we're drugging our kids.
JAGFIELD: I was on that side of the fence for a long time.
PERRY: Really? JAGFIELD: Do I need to give him this medication just to be in school, to be socially and academically successful? But then, he's in cub scouts, he goes to camp, he's got to go along with the program.
PERRY: Got to fit in.
JAGFIELD: He's got to fit in. Am I happy that he has to take it? No. Does it work for him? Yes.
PERRY: Are you proud of how well you do in school?
JARED JAGFIELD: Of course.
PERRY: Do you have a lot of friends?
JARED JAGFIELD: Yes.
PERRY: You're a popular kid?
JARED JAGFIELD: Yes.
PERRY: That feels good?
JARED JAGFIELD: Yes.
PERRY: What do you think you want to be when you grow up?
JARED JAGFIELD: Pilot.
PERRY: Really?
JARED JAGFIELD: Pilot, monster truck driver, and architect.
PERRY: Those families who are making a decision about meds, what do you say to those parents?
JAGFIELD: You got to do what you got to do.
PERRY: Steve Perry, Open Gardens, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: All right. Steve, thank you very much.
From the stock market to your 401(k)s, there are plenty of burning money questions out there. And financial expert Nicole Lapin answers them coming up next.
Also, we want to go to Washington now. Some live pictures of the Occupy D.C. movement. Look at that. They're trying to get these people off the structure. They've brought in another officer, two officers now in this cherry-picker. Do we really want to go to break here? We need to watch this right? Let's see what happens.
The person before, just a few minutes before, as we were showing you this, refused the officer's request to get into that bucket, to get into the harness. And now they are - looks like they are going to forcibly remove this person now with a rope and who knows what else.
Athena Jones, our reporter, is standing by live there. Athena, we're going to talk to you. Let's just listen a little bit. See if we can hear what's happening.
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There isn't a lot of chanting going on right now.
LEMON: Yes, we can hear you. You're on air live, Athena. We just want to let this play out.
JONES: All right.
LEMON: So Athena, so this person refused and then they brought - the original person who was in this, is that an officer or is that a worker there? Because it looks like this person now has help, they've come back up?
JONES: Well, exactly, we were just discussing that here on the ground amongst the observers, this big crowd here. Before, it was just one officer who came up with a harness and was able to remove one of the protesters, but that person was really kind of inching toward the cherry-picker, was clearly ready to come and climbed in on his own.
This one doesn't, clearly - didn't want to be removed. That's why they came back with two officers this time and used that rope. You can see now they've got the person - the man in the cherry-picker. Now we're down to - there are two left that are holding on tight, as you can see, but it looks like the police have decided the solution here is to bring not just one officer, but two, and to the use that rope, not that harness.
LEMON: All right. Athena, stand by.
JONES: There's a huge crowd.
LEMON: Stand by, Athena. Stand by. We're going to have much more of this.
JONES: OK.
LEMON: We're not done with the story. You're looking at live pictures now from Washington, D.C. of a standoff with protesters and Occupy D.C. members in D.C.. More right after a quick break. Quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: What a week. We're talking about for the markets. Yes, for the markets. The ups and downs have you scratching your head about how to interpret the state of the economy and where to put your money, have no fear, the financial expert Nicole Lapin is here live from Los Angeles. What the heck are you doing in Los Angeles.
NICOLE LAPIN, FINANCIAL EXPERT: Los Angeles. LEMON: OK. Nicole.
LAPIN: It's early bird special for our date night, Don.
LEMON: OK. A grab bag of money questions for you that we have received from Twitter and Facebook.
LAPIN: Bring 'em.
LEMON: So first up, you ready.
LAPIN: Yes.
LEMON: Mike Chin writes, "Does the unemployment rate affect the market and does the stock market affect the job market?"
LAPIN: Yes and yes. That's a good question, Mike. And you know what, Don, the market was craving a good jobs number and that's what we saw on a Friday. It was the lowest unemployment rate we've seen in two and a half years. We're at 8.6 percent. Let me keep this real. It sounds really great. It's kind of weird how this is calculated though. 315,000 dropped out of the jobs force, so they were so disillusioned that they're not even in the jobs force. That doesn't sound good.
And I will tell you from firsthand experience of being on the floor of the stock exchange during one of those jobs Friday, and that's, of course, the first Friday of every month. They are clinging on these numbers and vice versa. You're not getting a whole lot of great morale when you're seeing the stock market in the you-know- whatter when you're out looking for a job. So it's very cyclical. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy, one feeds off the other. That's what we've been seeing as of late. The top three issues hanging over the market these days, number one, jobs, number two, jobs, the number three, jobs.
LEMON: The you-know-whatter. I'm going to hash tag Nicole Lapin and you-know-whatter. You should own that one. OK. The second question comes from Brian Tanguma "With all the ups and down of the stock market these days, is it worth to invest in a 401(k) anymore, Nicole?"
LAPIN: I've got to say, Brian, this is one of the biggest questions I've been hearing as of late, because when you see it in the you-know-whatter, you're thinking, OK, if I'm aggressive, I'm in a stocks plan, and when the stocks plan, so does my money. So you're looking at this and you're saying "Well, great, my employer usually matches this but lately we've been seeing more and more employers not match it, and on top of that, you've been seeing fees that are ridiculous, commissions that are ridiculous.
So I would say, if you're employer does not match your 401(k) investment, it may not time to re-think that investment. After all, trusting your employer with your investments is trusting your employer with your investments.
LEMON: There you go. OK. One more from Dan Wasser who writes in -
LAPIN: Bring in.
LEMON: Here's what he says, "How can I find a financial advisor that I can trust?" This is one I thought about too, he says, i.e., "one who will give me advice and won't steal from me." If the adviser is not a millionaire, why should I rely on him or her to advise me? I mean, if they are not rich, then, obviously, they can't make me rich. I have often thought about that and I think that is a very good question.
LAPIN: No, I don't! You know, Dan, I hate to break this to you, but the head of Goldman Sachs is not going to be your financial adviser. I hate to say it. And you know what you're saying, you're basically saying, "I'm not going to be a class because the teacher teaches because he or she cannot do." That is hogwash. Do not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. You've got to man up, Don and Dan, both of you guys. You've got to ask some friends, you got to ask family to do the initial homework. If not, there are a lot of organizations you can do this homework with. The National Association for Personal Finance Advisors is one of them.
And you want to make sure that this guy or this gal has expertise, not only in one service or product, but in a wide swath of products. You don't want a millionaire, Don, you just want somebody who understands Don Lemon and his financial situation.
LEMON: All right. Thank you very much. Thank you, Nicole. Appreciate it.
Speaking of financial situations, that's part of the mission of these Occupy protesters, all over the country. And this one that's happening in D.C. right now, pulling one more person off this structure with a cherry-picker. This person is not going easily. He has gone limp on them because he doesn't want them to take him off.
All right, well, they got him. So we're going to continue to follow that. I think they still have one, at least two more. How many people? Have you noticed how many people are still up there? There's one more left. I can't see these pictures when we're doing the other story, so, there we go! It's kind of a standoff, I would imagine. Doesn't look to be too violent. We're going to continue to follow that. No worries.
Katie Linendoll is here and Katie made my night with some high- tech - Katie, do you know how much I love Angry Birds?
KATIE LINENDOLL, TECH EXPERT: Yes, and with that said, I brought your Christmas present.
LEMON: Ah!
LINENDOLL: It's a giant Angry Birds plush! LEMON: We'll be right back! I don't know about me!
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: What do you get for the man who has everything? Angry Birds!
LINENDOLL: And angry pigs.
LEMON: I love angry birds! I love angry birds. How do you do it?
LINENDOLL: Yes, it plays sounds. 50 bucks, thinkgeek.com and it is your holiday present. Can I tell you a funny story about this? So I had these gadget contests on my Twitter page. And I had this contest and like you can win the giant angry bird, right? And guess who wins? Ibmwatson and sends me a picture back. That is the most awesome thing ever.
LEMON: So I love angry birds obviously. Katie Linendoll is here, our tech guru and these are all gift ideas. Take it away. Let's go. What do you have first?
LINENDOLL: Let me give you something unique. Obviously, the iPad, of course, the best go-to gift, one that kids want and adults want but let me give you different kind of options. Let's start off with this (INAUDIBLE). Don, you're going to love this. Because Zaggfolio is not only a very durable case, and it snaps in just like that.
LEMON: Oh, cool.
LINENDOLL: So for business travelers or for college students, awesome. But what I love about this, and what's unique is, it has a great base stand. This is a blue tooth keyboard that also pops out. So if you're looking for a nice little option and you only want to use Ipad when you travel, that's the zaggportfolio, zagg.com, $99.
LEMON: I had a similar one that I got like this I think it was from Brookstone.
LINENDOLL: Or Logitech's popular.
LEMON: OK.
LINENDOLL: But I like this because of the base. Next up, let's go to all things bacon. This is kind of nerdy and quirky. Because we always somebody in our life that loves things bacon related. All right. Bacon frosting, try that out. Bacon frosting, floss.
LEMON: Can I really eat this?
LINENDOLL: Yes, absolutely.
Bacon toothpaste, bacon soap, because nothing says, "hey, I want to get clean and refreshed like scrubbing yourself down with some lard." A little everything for that bacon lover in your life. Bacon croutons. Here you go, Don. Bacon croutons. Try that out.
LEMON: Are you sure that's human food?
LINENDOLL: It's edible. It's certainly edible.
LEMON: Good.
LINENDOLL: And bacon hot sauce. Anywhere from $3 to $18 again from think geek. Next, the crew is going to eat bacon croutons.
LEMON: You want some?
LINENDOLL: Dude, you guys, eat it! Step up.
LEMON: Try it. It's good.
LINENDOLL: They're not as good as our light sabers from yesterday, but we brought some unique stuff. Next up on my list, this is a jawbones jam box. Looks like a little giant brick, right? This is one of my go-to portable speaker options. What's awesome about it is it's wireless.
LEMON: Oh, cool.
LINENDOLL: You can be in the kitchen or it could be in the living room. This will connect to anything with bluetooth. So your computer, your tablet, your smartphone. You can even use this as a speakerphone for conference calls. It's 199.
LEMON: Jawbone is a jawbone thing?
LINENDOLL: Exactly. It's known for audio, known for giving you good quality sound. Something that's a little small. A nice go-to audio option for the audio lover in your life.
LEMON: Hang on one second. I didn't hear you guys. Did you guys say -
No. Sorry, go ahead.
LINENDOLL: OK. Next up on our list. I'll do this really quick. This is a rainbow maker. This is really interesting because my friend gave this to me as a present and it's my go-to lift for under $20. 20 bucks, amazon.com. It is solar powered. You put this on any window in your house and it creates all these little mini rainbows all around the room. And you wouldn't believe how much power this puts out. We have a little video, we can show it. It's really amazing. Every single time it goes off, it makes me smile, it really fills your room with little rainbows. 20 bucks, nice little option from amazon.com.
LEMON: OK.
LINENDOLL: Next up, should we do our R2?
LEMON: What do we have?
LINENDOLL: All right. Let's do our interactive R2-D2 robot.
LEMON: OK. Wait a minute. R2 and you're going to talk to R2.
LINENDOLL: Yes.
LEMON: And R2's going to respond?
LINENDOLL: Totally.
LEMON: Are you serious? Really. No way.
LINENDOLL: Yes.
LEMON: You're serious.
LINENDOLL: Yes, we're going to do it right after the break. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: There we go. R2D2. All right. So Katie Linendoll is back. Katie, (INAUDIBLE) tweet me everyone. I don't think I've ever seen the "Star Wars" movie all the way through.
LINENDOLL: I don't know what planet you're from.
LEMON: I know.
LINENDOLL: You were all into the light sabers yesterday.
LEMON: I know. I called them light savers with a "v." Sorry, (INAUDIBLE) when it comes to "Star Wars." Anyway, so what's up with R2? What's going on?
LINENDOLL: This is truly the only thing that I don't have that I asked for Christmas in terms of gadgetry. This is an interactive R2D2 robot. You ask it 40 different commands and it will respond to. Typically about 250 bucks, on sale on Amazon for $119. I'm going to show you how it works.
Hey, R2. Go on patrol.
LEMON: Like what kind of stuff can you ask him?
LINENDOLL: All right. So you can ask him, hey, R2. And he goes (INAUDIBLE) and then you say, do you know remember Princess Leia? And he's like he starts sounding off Princess Leia like sound bites. Maybe ask him about Darth Vadar, Luke Skywalker. You can ask him about the characters. He does dance moves, all these awesome things. He goes on patrol as you see there. Super fun.
LEMON: So you if say, hey R2 - turn him on.
LINENDOLL: OK.
LEMON: So you can do it, right? LINENDOLL: Yes, hey, R2. Do you remember Princess Leia?
LEMON: Oh, cool! He's playing Princess Leia.
LINENDOLL: Yes.
LEMON: Will it listen to me? Hey, r2. Dance.
LINENDOLL: You've got to say game program, dance.
LEMON: Hey, R2. Oh, whatever. We confused it as I am known to confuse people.
LINENDOLL: All right. Let's move on to the next one. This is something very practical. If you're loving your headphones like I do -
LEMON: Sorry, R2.
LINENDOLL: Here are ear buds that truly do not fall out of your ear. These are my go-to ear buds. Great for travel, great for sticking in your purse. They are Skull Candy fix in ear buds. And what's nice is a lot of different color option. But $70, they actually will stay in your ear. I bring this to the gym all the time. Great, practical gift.
LEMON: I just got this. I got the $19.99 ones. Skull Candy, no sound like it.
LINENDOLL: Yes.
LEMON: No sound like it. It's great.
LINENDOLL: Do those ones - are those ear buds?
LEMON: They stay in my ear. They're good enough. But for running and stuff you need this kind.
LINENDOLL: Totally. All right. (INAUDIBLE) my ipad, because this is an app-ccessory that I love. The number one asked for gifts by kids is the iPad. That's too easy. Let me kick it up a notch and give you an app-ccessory that you can love. When I was little we used to have Disney singalongs, right? Nowadays you get Disney spotlight karaoke. It's 100 bucks. You get a wireless mic, come around the front because you got to create your own music video. And it records it. And you can share it with friends.
LEMON: Do you have any Lou Rawl on there?
LINENDOLL: No, dude. That's out of my era.
LEMON: Sorry.
LINENDOLL: So you get right in front of the thing.
LEMON: OK. Oh, you can do like you're in a video. LINENDOLL: It's karaoke style.
LEMON: Got it. Got it.
LINENDOLL: You can have pitch enhancements, too, and echo. Nice, Don! Break it down! You've got to sing with it, man.
LEMON: I don't know.
LINENDOLL: It's karaoke. The words are right there, you can't screw this up.
LEMON: OK. Great.
LINENDOLL: OK. Yey. Stop that. I'm going to go ahead and save that video. And then you can go back and you can play any of the videos that you take. Disney spotlight karaoke. 100 bucks. Wireless mic. You can get it at Apple stores or disney.com.
LEMON: OK.
LINENDOLL: And last on my list but not least, nothing says holiday spirit like homeland security cologne.
LEMON: What does it smell like?
LINENDOLL: It smells amazing. No. This is actually from the onion store. This is a fake decoy box. I also am a big fan of the USB toaster. So I actually used these last year during Christmas time and people thought I was, like, joking. It's an amazing decoy box. You can get six of them for 38 bucks on theonionstore.com.
LEMON: I like this. I said I was going to start a cologne that's going to be called cigarettes and regret.
(CROSSTALK)
LINENDOLL: Can I start one? It's going to be new electronic smell. That's mine.
LEMON: Hilarious. Thank you. My favorite is this.
LINENDOLL: The angry bird.
LEMON: Thank you so much. Angry birds. This was great. Don't forget these.
LINENDOLL: Our scrolling L.E.D. name badges. Naturally.
LEMON: Our favorite thing to do. Ready? Beach ball. Ready?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. Live pictures now from Washington, D.C. specifically this is McPherson Square Park. And they're getting the last of the protesters off of this structure that they erected overnight against police orders. Police have been telling them to take the structure down, to get off of this building. They're saying no.
Now police are going up with the cherry picker. For those who volunteer, they put them in a harness. For those who don't, they rope them, put them in the cherry picker in a bucket and they take them down. There's one person still left.
I want to tell you this, though. This is tape - this is of one of the last people. This was a person who was waving a flag, right? Who had refused earlier. Yes. This is the person - the other people they had before when the police came up in the cherry picker they said OK. They put the harness on and they brought them down. This one person refused. They put a rope around him and got him down. These are live pictures now.
But I want to tell you just before when we didn't have the cameras on, somebody said, "Oh, why are you doing this toy segment or whatever?" There was someone urinating off the top of this building which we would rather our viewers not see live on television. Now you know. That's the reality of it.
I'm Don Lemon at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. I'm going to be back here at 10:00 p.m. Eastern tonight. There's a Larry King special coming up after this. And we're going to have more on Occupy DC tonight at 10. Good night.
