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Sixteen Dead In Afghanistan; GOP Hopefuls Court Deep South Voters; New Poll Shows Romney and Santorum Neck and Neck; Watchman Accused of Shooting Teen; Flood Warnings in Louisiana; Online Glimpse Of the Rich And Famous; Priest Who Rejected Lesbian Suspended; Michael Jackson's Nephew At SXSW; Interview with Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock
Aired March 12, 2012 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Brooke Baldwin, coming to you from the CNN Grill at the South by southwest festival. We're going to get you caught up on everything we're doing here in just a moment.
First, as always, top of the hour. Let's get caught up on all the news. "Rapid Fire." Let's go.
An American soldier, accused of leaving his base in Afghanistan to shoot and kill and burn 16 Afghan men, women and children, has been taken now to a large detention center in that country. The Army staff sergeant turned himself in after the killings. He is a married father of two based in Washington state. The Taliban, meantime, vows revenge for the killing of those civilians there. We've got much more of that story coming up for you in just a of couple minutes.
Meantime, to politics here. Mitt Romney, happy birthday to him. He is the big 6-5 today, turning 65. And he is celebrating it with comedian Jeff Foxworthy, of course, who, by the way, just endorsed him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to get this thing won. Jeff Foxworthy's going to make all the difference in the world. And you guys, by voting multiple times, can make a big difference. Just kidding. Thanks, you guys. Great to be with you. What a birthday present. Thank you!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: A new "Washington Post"/ABC poll out today show Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum polling pretty much neck and neck. Santorum bagged a win in Kansas just over this past weekend. The candidates now, they're courting voters in the deep south today. Keep in mind, we're going to be watching Mississippi and Alabama, those primaries for you on CNN tomorrow.
As for a southerner, Newt Gingrich, he has won two southern states so far. He says he vows to stay in the race even if he doesn't win tomorrow.
And at least 45 women and children have been killed in a brutal massacre in Homs, Syria. Opposition activists say they are only a fraction of the 108 people killed across the country Sunday. And all of this news comes as peace talks between Syria's president, Bashar al Assad, and U.N. Special Envoy Kofi Annan ended without a cease fire. Opposition groups, they are announcing tomorrow will be an official day of mourning.
And to Indiana here. (INAUDIBLE) school bus crashed into a support pillar of a bridge -- this is in Indianapolis -- killing the driver and one child. Ten other students were injured this morning. Two of them, we're told, critically. Right now we don't know why the bus driver lost control. Investigators say it was raining at the time. You can see some of the slick streets there. But they are not saying whether or not they think that was, in fact, a factor.
And a phoned-in bomb threat prompted a JetBlue flight to make an emergency landing just this morning. There's the plane. It was on its way from Chicago to Boston when it had to divert to Buffalo, New York. We're told one passenger was questioned, but at least everyone on board was a-OK.
And the -- Whitney Houston, her daughter, Bobbi Kristina, remembered the tender final moments she shared with her mother in her first TV interview ever since Houston's death. It aired last night on OWN, Oprah Winfrey's cable channel. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOBBI KRISTINA, WHITNEY HOUSTON'S DAUGHTER: The very last day, it was so -- so early in the morning. So early the very last day. I don't know -- I went to go get her and I said, you know, mom, will you just come lay with me? You know, just come play with me. She stayed with me all night and all day. All night and all day. And she was rubbing my head just holding me, you know, everything. And I just -- and I slept in her arms all night. All day and all night long.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Bobbi Kristina says she plans on following her mother's footsteps singing and acting and dancing in the future.
And now to this story. The Obama administration just blocked a controversial law here in Texas. It required voters to show personal identification before going to the polls. In this letter, the Department of Justice told state officials the law could have a discriminatory effect on Hispanics and other minorities here in the state of Texas. The Obama administration did block a similar voter ID law in South Carolina. And that was back in December.
And the Penn State University board of trustees says the late Joe Paterno was fired as head football coach for, quote/unquote lack of leadership. They cite the fact that Paterno failed to call police after hearing about Jerry Sandusky's alleged sexual misconduct with a boy in the Penn State locker room showers. The board posted their full report online today. Of course, we remember Paterno, he died just last month. And cue the "Jaws" theme music now. This is -- this is the distance I like to have from sharks. Check out these pictures. This is obviously aerial video. Very clear water. You can see all the sharks in there. This is from a beach that's known for shark attacks, actually. This is from Perth, Australia. And we're told a higher than normal tuna fish population triggered this shark feeding frenzy. A shark expert says this happens once every couple of years.
And, back here in Austin, thank goodness, no sharks, just a lot of awesome music, amazing barbecue. We finally had some last night. We've been working, working, working here at the CNN Grill for you. We're going to preview sort of what is south by southwest. Keep in mind, this is the interactive portion of -- you have interactive, you have independent film and, of course, you have music to top it all off here in Austin. We're going to tell you what we did this past weekend. A little sneak peak. It involves skateboarding, by the way, and some pretty cool new apps. But first, watch this.
A teenager is on his way home from buying candy when, for some reason, police say a neighborhood watchman whips out a gun and pulls the trigger.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm hoping that one night, one day he's going to walk through the door and this is going to be a nightmare.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Now as racial tensions heat up, his family wants answers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not a danger to the classroom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: A high school boots a popular teacher for his risque past as a gay porn star.
Plus, the man who ate McDonald's for an entire month joins me live. Morgan Sperflof (ph) on why his new project could change movies and television on the web.
And music Monday goes live when I sit down with Michael Jackson's nephew.
The news is now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: An American soldier is being held this hour in Afghanistan. He allegedly left his base in the middle of the night. He walked to two nearby villages, broke down doors, shot, stabbed and burned civilians. In total, 16 people are dead. And those 16 include nine children. An absolutely horrific turn of events. And I just want to warn you here, our report reflects the horror. Here it is. It is from CNN's Sara Sidner.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just outside a U.S. military base in western Kandahar. A dead toddler with a blood-stained face lies sandwiched between two dead men in the back of a pickup truck. In another truck, a blanket is pulled back to reveal the charred remains of two more people. These are just a few of the victims of the shooting rampage.
"One guy came in and pulled a boy from his sleep and he shot him in this doorway. Then they came back inside the room and put a gun in the mouth of another child and stomped on another boy," this mother says.
U.S. officials, including President Obama, have all expressed their condolences and sadness. But that has little meaning to the victim's families. A local minister said one family alone lost 11 family members in the incident.
"Look at these bodies. They are all belong to one family," this villager cries. Men wept openly, barely able to speak through their tears, while investigators sifted through the grisly scene, picking up shell casings. The evidence something terrible happened. Overwhelming. The floors and walls of these homes stained with blood.
As the day went on, the sorrow was replaced by anger at American forces.
"This base told us to come back to our villages. They said, we won't bother you. This is your land and this is your own village." "Then those dogs come and grab us," another mother shouted. Some of the villagers claim there was more than one soldier on the ground when the massacre happened around 2:00 in the morning on Sunday. But the International Security Assistance Forces refute that, saying this was the work of a single soldier who walked away from base and was acting alone.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: And that was Sara Sidner. And now I want to bring you in, Sara, here, and let me just play a little sound here. We are now hearing from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. She expressing the horror as well here at this one U.S. soldier's actions. Let me just play that for our viewers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: Join, of course, with President Obama, Secretary Panetta and other representatives of our government and the American people in expressing our deepest regret and condolences. A full investigation is underway. A suspect is in custody. And we will hold anyone found responsible fully accountable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: And, Sara, I know you're there on the ground. So far I know the reaction among the Afghan people hasn't quite reached the level that we saw recently after the recent Koran burning, the explosion there among the Afghans, the fury, the anger. I know you have U.S. officials -- justice will be served. You know, the Afghan government appealing for calm. My question is, are those messages -- are they getting through right now?
SIDNER: You know, it's hard to say and it's hard to speculate, but often times we've heard an appeal for calm and that simply just hasn't worked. I mean if you look at the situation with the burning of Korans not long after those images became clear or that reporting started to happen, there was an explosion of violence. There were eventually 40 people killed, four U.S. service members included in that. And we are not seeing the same kind of reaction immediately following this killing of 16 civilians by an alleged single soldier.
What you are seeing is a lot of people who are there on the ground who are directly affected calling for action against the soldier, and the Taliban saying that it is going to seek revenge. But we're not seeing the kind of protest and violence that we saw following the Koran burning.
Will that come in the future? No one knows. And, yes, there's a call for calm. There's also a call by Afghan lawmakers to have whoever is responsible tried right here on Afghan soil in front of the Afghan public. We heard from a spokesman from the Pentagon who pretty much responded to that question with, that's not going to happen. A U.S. service member will be tried properly by the military as is per the agreement and that they will not be tried in an Afghan judicial system.
Brooke.
BALDWIN: OK. And as you mentioned, perhaps some (ph) future fallout there in Afghanistan remains a mystery. Sara Sidner, thank you.
But also a mystery here, exactly how this happened. Here is just a little bit more as far as what we know here. So this Army staff sergeant allegedly left his base in an Afghan district called Penjwai. You see it there on your map. And he allegedly entered not just one but two villages. They are Baraxi (ph) and Alacozi (ph). Out of the 16 dead, there are reports that indicate half or more may have been in one single home. As we said, look, a lot of questions here at this hour yet to be answered. Chris Lawrence is at the Pentagon for us.
And, Chris, what do you know? What can you tell us?
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know he was a combat veteran, Brooke. This was a staff sergeant who had served at three tours in Iraq. This was his first tour in Afghanistan. He had only been in country for maybe two months or so. Not much longer than that.
He was assigned to force protection. So he was a conventional Army soldier working with the green berets there on that combat outpost. Working to sort of stabilize a village. Think of it sort of as a neighborhood watch sort of operation. He was not with special operations forces, but he was working with them to protect the force.
He left that base about 3:00 in the morning. Some of the Afghan forces who patrol that base and who do security, they saw him leave. They called their American counterparts and said, hey, a U.S. soldier just walked off base by himself. And so the U.S. then did a head count of all the troops on the base, figured out that one soldier was missing. They mounted a patrol to go after him, but this soldier had walked back to the base by himself and that's where he turned himself in to the authorities there on the base.
Since then, he has been moved to a larger base while the investigation is taking place.
Brooke.
BALDWIN: But, Chris, you've been on some of these military bases in Afghanistan. I mean talk to me about the security. We're talking, what, 2:00, 3:00 in the morning that he allegedly left? And how hard would it be for one single soldier to up and leave the base in the middle of the night?
LAWRENCE: Well, no one is supposed to go anywhere by themselves, Brooke. That's sort of the golden rule, that no soldier or Marine ever walks out by themselves without another soldier or Marine with them. So that in itself is going to draw a lot of attention. And the Afghan forces would have known something is wrong there. There were no military missions going on in that area at the time that he left.
But when we say "base," sometimes for people at home, that conjures up these Camp Victory in Iraq, Kandahar Air Field, these huge sprawling bases with 5,000 people on base. These remote combat outposts are nothing like that. I've been to several of them not too far from where this happened. Sometimes an Army captain may be the highest ranking officer on the entire base. These are remote areas. Very small bases. They don't have some of the same apparatus that you see at some of these large, sprawling bases. So walking out of a combat outpost, you know, very different than, say, one of the major forward operating bases that we've seen over the years in Iraq and Afghanistan.
BALDWIN: I see. I see. As far as who he is, I know we don't know the soldier's name. You touched on this earlier. Do we know specifically where he goes next, what happens to him next?
LAWRENCE: Right now, again, he's being held at this larger base while the investigation is going on. Typically, an investigation like this by the Army will take about two weeks or so before some sort of findings need to come back. Charges then would have to be recommended. Ultimately where that goes is still very much up in the air, it's so early. The U.S. military does have the death penalty. Soldiers on so- called military death row will ultimately -- are being held -- would be held at Fort Leavenworth.
The method of execution is lethal injection. But no U.S. soldier has been executed since, I think, 1961. So it has been quite a long time. And for that to happen, the president himself, President Obama, would have to sign off on the execution if President Obama was still president when it got to that point. But it takes the president of the United States to sort of authorize the execution of any American service member. And, again, that has not happened since the early '60s.
BALDWIN: Wow. Chris Lawrence for us from the Pentagon. Chris, if you get any more information, please pass it along here. I know this is a story a lot of people here have been talking about. It's just horrific. Thank you so much.
And gas prices. Here we go again. They're up, up, up. Meantime, President Obama's numbers, they are going down just a little bit. According to one poll, Mitt Romney is even beating the president one- one-one. So, now the Republican is really trying to fit in with one very specific group before tomorrow's contest. Can you guess? Peter Hamby's got the scoop. He's going to join me live here in Austin inside the CNN Grill. That is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: All right, before we talk politics here with my colleague Peter Hamby, I do want to just point out, these are live pictures of the radar. And we're really honing in on the specific city of Lafayette, Louisiana. We've got Chad Myers standing by. He's going to talk us through a little bit of this.
But here's what I know. We're talking rain. We're talking flooding. Apparently 10 to 12 inches of rain have fallen in this area in the last six hours. So we'll talk to Chad. We'll get a heads up as far as how much more rain you could be getting in just a moment.
But I do want to talk about a big day tomorrow. A couple of primaries to talk about here. Just a quick reminder, if you're wondering why I'm not sitting in the studio, we are sitting inside the CNN Grill live in Austin, Texas. Part of the interactive portion of south by southwest. And I'm sitting next to -- it's so fun actually to see him in the flesh, because he's always out and about on the campaign trail, Mr. Peter Hamby.
And we first wanted to show some numbers, right? So this is this national poll. We have President Obama, Mitt Romney, virtually tied among nationwide voters according to this new poll out today. This is from "The Washington Post" and ABC. And you can see Obama just a smidge lower than Romney at 47 percent versus 49 percent. And when you look at that, the question is why. And I know economy. It's a huge issue for a lot of voters. And I have to believe, you know, sitting here and talking about gas prices up and up and up, it has to be what a lot of Americans are blaming Obama for.
PETER HAMBY, POLITICAL REPORTER: It is. And a month ago this same poll had Obama's approval numbers ticking up, his job approval numbers. His strongly disapproved number on the economy is the largest it's ever been, according to this "Washington Post" poll.
But you're absolutely right, gas prices is the ultimate pocketbook issue. And they're hovering around $4 in some parts of the country. So this is another reminder that as much as we're focused on the Republican primary right now and the likely nominee, Mitt Romney, has perceived problems connecting with the electorate, being out of step with independents on immigration, on birth control, Obama still has some real problems here. I mean if gas prices -- remember, Obama hit McCain in 2008 on gas prices.
BALDWIN: And obviously it's a problem. He gave a, you know, I can't remember where he was speaking the last few weeks saying, look, if you think that I can control gas prices or that a fellow Republican candidate for president can control gas prices, it's like, forget it. That's a bumper sticker. He's like, you know, there isn't a silver bullet. But yet Americans believe he has that control.
HAMBY: Yes. And the Obama administration knows that. While the reality is, he might not have that much control over the price of energy. If the Middle East explodes, for example, that could change things. But Obama's kind of adopted this Republican language of an all-in energy approach. He realizes he has to do that. But, right, like on the Keystone pipeline, for example, Democrats say, hey, even if this does get enacted immediately, it won't start --
BALDWIN: For a couple more years.
HAMBY: Yes, a couple more years it won't start injecting energy into the economy.
BALDWIN: So while we look at those numbers, we're also looking at numbers heading into tomorrow. We're talking deep south primaries, right?
HAMBY: Yes.
BALDWIN: And it will be interesting to see how they do. And I want to break down the candidates here in just a moment. But first, I just -- we have a little mash-up. We were talking earlier. This is Mitt Romney playing to the southern vote.
Rob, roll it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I got started right this morning with a biscuit and some cheesy grits. I'll tell you, delicious.
I'm learning to say y'all.
Morning, y'all.
I like grits. And the things -- strange things are happening to me.
There's a nice little John Deere tractors.
Good ole time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: So the former Massachusetts governor, right, who once lived in Michigan talking grits and catfish. Is this going to work for him?
HAMBY: It remains to be seen. It's certainly interesting. I know this provoked some groans and some eye rolls among southerners that I know. Some Republicans. But he's still on the hunt in both Alabama and Mississippi.
Both these states remind me of Tennessee which voted on Super Tuesday.
BALDWIN: Which he lost.
HAMBY: He lost. But heading into that race -- so it's essentially a three way race, but a large share of evangelicals turned out. The Romney campaign thought they could have won Tennessee, but Rick Santorum blew him out of the water. The Romney campaign says they have a better organization, they're competing harder there in Mississippi and Alabama than they did in Tennessee. But it's still an uphill climb for them.
What I'm looking for tomorrow is, does Newt Gingrich win.
BALDWIN: The Newt factor.
HAMBY: Exactly.
BALDWIN: He did really well in South Carolina. Obviously he won his home state of Georgia. The question is, can he take Alabama or Mississippi. But he also said yesterday, even if he doesn't, he's still going to Tampa in August.
HAMBY: Right. And I think he will no matter what. And Gingrich advisors even way off the record will be like, hey, he's in it for the long haul.
BALDWIN: Wow.
HAMBY: But what's interesting about these two states is, Rick Santorum has said, hey, Newt, you need to get out of the race so we can consolidate conservatives against Mitt Romney.
BALDWIN: In the meantime Mitt Romney's saying, hey, Newt, stay in the race.
HAMBY: I know that's true too. But if Santorum loses to Newt in these states, that undercuts Santorum's rationale that he's the main conservative alternative to Mitt Romney. So, Santorum doesn't have a good organization in these states. Gingrich understands southern politics. And, you know, whether Gingrich loses or wins, he's going to stay in the race. But Santorum kind of has to show well tomorrow to prove again that he is the lone alternative to Mitt Romney. The stakes are high for Santorum as well.
BALDWIN: So what I'm hearing is there is no slam dunk yet again when it comes to tomorrow's primaries.
HAMBY: No. No. No (INAUDIBLE). BALDWIN: So as we, you know, wait for tomorrow, I do want to look ahead to Illinois. This is a state that's supposed to be -- supposed to be a slam-dunk for Romney. Not necessarily. Let's pull up these recent poll numbers here and you can see what exactly we're talking about. And this is "The Chicago Tribune"/WGN poll and you see Romney up at 35 percent, but Santorum, he is not too far behind. And, Peter Hamby, what's also interesting, and we've seen this trend as well, is that one in -- I think it's one in, you know, two voters -- so this is almost half the voters there say, you know what, I might change my mind.
HAMBY: Right. Well, we've seen that a lot --
BALDWIN: A lot.
HAMBY: In this race. Late deciders have had a huge impact on the race. Romney's done well with late deciders in places like Illinois. The sort of swingy to moderate state.
BALDWIN: But Florida was the same way.
HAMBY: Yes, exactly.
BALDWIN: Yes.
HAMBY: So Illinois is interesting though because we assume it's a firewall for Romney. It's not a conservative state. But remember, while most of the votes are concentrated in Chicago, there's a huge down state area that resembles more Kentucky, Missouri, Indiana. So that's probably where Santorum will do well on March 20th.
BALDWIN: That's fascinating. I can't wait to see what happens tomorrow night.
Peter Hamby, go have some fun now.
HAMBY: I will.
BALDWIN: Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Now this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love my son dealer. My heart is broken and I don't know what else to say. I'm hoping that one day -- one day -- he's going to walk through the door, and this is going to be a nightmare.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Police say her teenage son bought candy, and on his way home a neighborhood watchman shot and killed him. He was just 17 years old. There is still all kinds of mystery here, though, including what exactly happened that night and why police will not release those 911 calls. That's next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: A Florida family is desperate today for answers. Their son, 17-year-old Trevon Martin, was shot and killed more than two weeks ago.
But the man who allegedly shot him, he hasn't been arrested, and CNN affiliate WFTV reports the neighborhood's watch captain, Gorge Zimmerman spotted the teen and called 911 to a report seeing a suspicious person.
When police got on the scene, Martin had been fatally shot in the chest. I want to bring in CNN's David Mattingly. He's been making calls on this following this case for us today.
David, I know we have very, very few details. Not a lot of reporting on this. You I am hearing had a very brief conversation with the police chief down there. What did he say?
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, we're hearing today that the police department is ready to come out and have -- talk to the public about what they've been doing over the past couple of weeks.
They feel like their investigation has gotten to the point now where they can possibly turn it over to the state's attorney to determine what kind of charges, if any, will be filed in this case. We're waiting to find out later this afternoon what might be the next step here.
But in the meantime, the chief did talk to CNN late last week, and he was saying that they were listening very intently to the 911 call made by George Zimmerman and they were listening to that tape.
And on that tape they were able to hear arguing and they were able to hear the gunshot. The chief was saying that there appears to be some evidence supporting the story that Zimmerman was saying, that he was acting in self-defense.
But again, we haven't heard a definitive word from the chief or from the state attorney on this, and we expect to hear something a little later today on that.
Right now, still so many questions how such a peaceful afternoon where this young man was walking to a convenience store and then walking back home to his father's house, how he encountered Mr. Zimmerman and how this encounter somehow turned violent and ended up with Mr. Martin ending up dead so a lot of questions to be answered.
The police department taking their time, listening very intently to this, canvassing the neighborhood multiple times, talking to the neighbors to make sure they talk to every possible witness in this case to see if there was anybody out there that saw or heard anything that might help them make sense of this case -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: David, can you help at all, and I know you said there are a lot of questions here, help fill in the blanks as far as that night, you know, just about two weeks ago, the circumstances, what exactly happened when this alleged shooter, this night watchman, George Zimmerman, actually encountered this teenager? Do we know?
MATTINGLY: Well, filling in the blanks, it's all going to depend on that 911 tape. The public hasn't been able to hear this yet because the police department has been taking it as their most important piece of evidence.
They felt like if they played it for the public, any potential witnesses might have been able to hear it and it might somehow affected their story, affect their recollection. So they wanted to make sure they held onto that until they talk to all the potential witnesses.
So filling in the blanks, that's going to be up to the police department, the police chief and the state's attorney who is handling this case, and right now we're possibly waiting to hear a little bit later today, to hear from the police on exactly where they stand with this.
And, you know, they are under a tremendous amount of pressure from Martin's family. They say the weeks have gone by. They're not getting answers and they believe Zimmerman should be charged with something in this case.
BALDWIN: David Mattingly, we will look for those answers potentially coming as early as this afternoon. Thanks so much.
In the meantime, we mentioned reports of flooding across Louisiana here. Chad Myers is standing by with more details. He'll explain what's happening, what people are seeing in Louisiana, what they can expect. Looking ahead to a whole lot of rain. Next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Just in, as we mention aid moment ago, there are all kinds of flooding issues for folks in Louisiana. I want to bring in Chad Myers who has been watching the radar. Chad, where are we talking, specifically Lafayette and the surrounding area?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Correct, and drilling just north of Lafayette. But you know what? All that water is going to have to go down through Lafayette before it gets to the Gulf of Mexico. Let's just give you a lay of the land here. Biloxi, Baton Rouge, this is I- 10 all the way to Charles.
Lafayette Right there, I-49 goes to the north here and even more rain coming down right now, Brooke. I'm going to take you back. This is not going to be a live radar. This is going to be a look at what has been added up by the radar over the past 12 hours.
And I'm going to take you to Lafayette right here. It's going to be a little hard to see but I'll do my best. There is Lafayette. There's I-10 right through there and the line of I-49 right there.
And that white spot, Brooke, believe it or not, come over here to the side, you'll see that is 15 inches of rain and that's only been in the past eight hours. They are sending dump trucks to get people from their homes that are under water right now -- Brooke?
BALDWIN: Wow, you said 16 inches, 15 inches? When is this going to end?
MYERS: In 12 hours. Well, we thought it was going to end now, but it's called training. If you think about a train track where one car goes over the same spot as the car in front of it went because that's what the train track as it goes and this is what's happening now. We have storms that are going over the same road that just happened about an hour ago.
Another storm behind it and another storm behind it, this could be -- we could see some spots easily, Brooke, that will have 24 inches of rain in 24 hours. I know it's the bayou, but it's not that hilly. Things flood significantly when you get almost two feet of rain in one day.
BALDWIN: Don't drive in it, don't drive through it, don't drive anywhere near it, Chad Myers. I know we say that time and time again. Keep an eye on the radar. Let us know what happens next.
Meantime, back here live in the CNN Grill. I want to introduce a guy to you. There is a guy who ate McDonald's for an entire month. He also videotaped his mission on finding Osama Bin Laden.
Coming up, he's standing right over my shoulder. Morgan Spurlock joining me live. He's going to talk to me about why following certain people around a lot, a day in the light. Our interview next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: South by Southwest is really about getting everything first, be it stories, songs, gadgets, what have you, and one of the sneak peeks here at South by Southwest this particular week is happening right now, actually. The second season of this documentary is a series. It's called "In The Day Of The Life."
But guess what? You don't check out your TV listings to find it, this material is actually exclusive to the web. You can get access TV shows and movies including this series by the guy next to me, the executive producer, Morgan Spurlock. It's such a pleasure to meet you.
MORGAN SPURLOCK, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, "A DAY IN THE LIFE": You, too.
BALDWIN: Thanks for joining us in the grill.
SPURLOCK: Yes.
BALDWIN: I want to start with "A Day In The Life." It's like a window on mostly famous folks. SPURLOCK: People who are thought makers, game changers, people who are changing our world in ways we may not realize. We had folks like Richard Branson and Missy Copeland, the lead dancer of the American Ballet theatre.
And now season two, we just launched the first episode today on lulu.com with Mark Maron, the brilliant comedian who asked the WTF podcast. So it's cool and if you have a watch choice, check it out.
BALDWIN: And check this out right, a little bit of the trailer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you see Richard Branson in the show and he's talking about how many more planes he's going to be on in the next four or five days, it's remarkable.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you like a ticket?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Really?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They all are very focused. They're so goal oriented, it's incredible to see. That's one of the things that really comes across in the show is that you see these people who have really pinpointed, this is who I am and this is what I'm about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: I actually saw it last night before I went to bed and I watched the girl talk episode. I guess looking at this. My question is how do you choose which day to profile and also the person?
SPURLOCK: We try and find people who, you know, I think are innovators in a way. That's the biggest thing. You know, iIs this a person someone who's kind of innovating the world within which they work?
And then just finding a day that works with our schedule, you know, like this year, we're working with Quest Love, the drummer for "The Roots" who plays on Jimmy Fallen show, amazing.
Where we follow him as he goes to the community and he's like juggling his family life in the middle of all this.
BALDWIN: Have you ever gotten, this is Morgan Spurlock. I'd like to follow you for a day. Click?
SPURLOCK: I get that all the time usually from my parents.
BALDWIN: It was actually your mom's idea, right?
SPURLOCK: I was talking with my mom about -- I was traveling somewhere during a promotion for one of the films. It might have been when I was looking for Osama Bin Laden and traveling all over the planet. She said, God, your life is so crazy. If only people knew what happened in a day of your life. I said, that's a show, mom. She doesn't get a percentage of what I make, though. She gets my affection.
BALDWIN: Of course. Let me ask you though because it's so interesting. This is original content and it's on the web.
SPURLOCK: Yes.
BALDWIN: Why?
SPURLOCK: Well, I think that the internet is an incredible place to try new things. Just as Elvis was innovative back in the day. Radio was innovative and it went to, you know, the idea of cable Television pushing the envelope. Now this is kind of the next rage where you'll try new and exciting programming. Google took a chance, Yahoo.
BALDWIN: And now your big show here.
SPURLOCK: We just made an announcement that Premantle is going to come on and "A Day In The Life" internationally. So now people all around the world will be able to see it.
BALDWIN: Online.
SPURLOCK: Online and on television like we're going to selling it through traditional media outlets as well.
BALDWIN: Got it. I look at you, I think super size me. I think of those moldy containers. I was told you were tweeting about something you ate at the grill.
SPURLOCK: I just had the black angus burger right now. I had the burger, the fries and the fried chicken sliders.
BALDWIN: Wow, I'm full just thinking about it. Is that something you would ever go back to doing? Eating that every single day?
SPURLOCK: I love a good burger. Here it was fantastic. You can't do that at a fast food restaurant.
BALDWIN: What's next for you?
SPURLOCK: Yes, the next film we're putting out is my new movie. We produced the film with Stanley and Josh Weedin. We follow people as pop icons. So on April 6th, the film will be in select theatres, but the cool part is it will be everywhere.
It will be on demand. It will be on your Xbox. It's going to be on ITunes so wherever you are in the country, you'll be able to watch it.
BALDWIN: We cannot get away from Morgan Spurlock. You are in every platform. Congratulations.
SPURLOCK: Thank you very much.
Now to this, totally switching gears. A priest denies this woman's communion, it happened at her mother's own funeral. Why, because she is gay.
She spoke with me recently about her efforts to get the priest removed. And get this, the church has now made a decision and you're going to hear it here next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: A Maryland priest who denied a lesbian communion during the funeral mass for her own mother is no longer now working at that parish.
Officials from the archdiocese of Washington say, after learning of how Father Marcel treated Barbara Johnson back in February, they chose to place him on administrative leave from the St. John Newman Parish in Maryland.
Now the archdiocese says, and I'm quoting here, the action was taken after Bishop Barry received credible allegations that Father Guarnizo had engaged in intimidating behavior toward parish staff and others that is incompatible with proper priestly ministry. We spoke to Johnson days after, and this is what she told me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARBARA JOHNSON, LESBIAN DENIED COMMUNION: We believe the only reason to keep talking about this still is that we wouldn't want any family to go through what was the worst experience on the very worst day of all of our lives. So we believe that it's important that Father Marcel is removed from parish life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Johnson also told me that Father Guarnazo, also that same day of her mother's funeral mass, actually walked out during the eulogy.
All right, back here in Austin, Texas live in the CNN Grill. So today we are actually making "Music Monday" history for the first time ever, we're making "Music Monday" live here.
Standing by is singer, Austin Brown. He's got some moves, he's got some pipes and he happens to be Michael Jackson's nephew. Do not miss this. Austin Brown is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: It is "Music Monday" here, and singer Austin brown has a blood line he really can't deny. His mother is Reggie Jackson, which means Michael Jackson was his uncle and Janet, his aunt. And you don't have to Austin Brown to pick up the strong family resemblance.
I want you to watch this. Here is performing just as fast as we can here at the CNN Grill. Check it out.
And live at the CNN Grill, I get to sit right next to him, Austin Brown. Nice to meet you.
AUSTIN BROWN, SINGER: Nice to meet you.
BALDWIN: Like we mentioned, music is in your DNA.
BROWN: Yes.
BALDWIN: Your parents kind of wanted to keep you out of the spotlight.
BROWN: Yes, 43 years.
BALDWIN: It's 43 years. So how did you say, all right, I got to do this?
BROWN: I just left home and did it. You know, I always knew my love for music and I knew what I was passionate about, so I just kind of told them, I'm going to do my own thing.
And I left when I was 18 years old, started working on it organically and tried to find that love and my own natural sounds where I could articulate it to the world my own way.
BALDWIN: So your uncle, Michael, I understand he really did help you hone your voice and your moves.
BROWN: Yes, he kind of helped -- he spent time with me and all my cousins to really show us why music is important and where to kind of put the elements to make the right message.
So really honing in on what type of moves you're doing and what message you want to portray when you're singing, including my mom and the rest of my relatives.
BALDWIN: You can tell just a little bit seeing you perform. Let's watch one more clip.
BROWN: OK.
BALDWIN: Austin Brown, you have the moves, my friend. You have the moves.
BROWN: That is awkward seeing that.
BALDWIN: Is that hard seeing yourself?
BROWN: Yes, because I never like watching myself.
BALDWIN: When you look at yourself, the way you move like that, how did you learn that?
BROWN: You know, dancing was always something that came kind of natural. You take the elements that you have and you try to enhance them your own way to create your own unique vibe, and you take elements from everything you like.
Not just watching Michael, it might be James Brown or John Travolta footage from grease. Just anything. You take elements that you like and you apply them your way.
BALDWIN: And Janet Jackson, you're close to her, I hear.
BROWN: Yes. She's my heart.
BALDWIN: What do you mean by that?
BROWN: She's a great person, and a great person to talk to about anything. We really have that relationship to where she's the one that no matter what I say to her, she never judges and I can talk to her about completely anything.
It's really cool to have that and to have people in your family who share the same passion for what you love to do that you can really go to for anything. It's really cool.
BALDWIN: It is really cool, but you also know, I'm sure, you have the people who say, my gosh, we look at his family. He's going into it. He doesn't have to earn it. What's your comeback?
BROWN: My comeback is just listen to the music. The proof is in the music. You can have all those things that you feel about me. Listen to the music and see if you feel that way after.
BALDWIN: Let it speak for itself.
BROWN: Let it speak for itself.
BALDWIN: OK, put you on the spot, dream collaboration, if you could meet one person.
BROWN: Andre 3000.
BALDWIN: Andre 3000, if you're watching --
BROWN: Andre, call me.
BALDWIN: Austin Brown, it is wonderful to meet you.
BROWN: Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure.
BALDWIN: Our very first live "Music Monday." You're making CNN history.
BROWN: Thank you, CNN, for having me on your first live "Music Monday." And I have my Music Monday, every Monday, austinbrown.com. We're releasing a new song just to give fans and everyone a real chance to hear the song before the album is released. This Tuesday we're premiering my new song, "City of angels." So check that out.
BALDWIN: Good luck to you. And as always, you can check out all of our "Music Mondays," all of our interviews, just go to my blog, cnn.com/brooke.
Also send me a tweet, if you like this "Music Monday," if you want to see someone else, send me a tweet at @BrookeBCNN.
And now this.
