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Walmart Sets Black Friday Strategy; Giving Back at Thanksgiving; Tribute to CNN Heroes; Tension Rising in China-Japan Dispute; John Kerry versus Hillary Clinton; Celebrating Thanksgivukkah
Aired November 28, 2013 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: So first it's the turkey, then it's the stuffing. The shopping cart, that is.
Black Friday starts a day earlier this year for many major retailers. With just a few stores in on the early start last year, they already accounted for more than $800 million in sales. Now that coupled with the shorter Christmas shopping season this year means more chains are hoping to get you out of your food coma and into their stores right away.
Our Christine Romans takes a look at how Walmart is gearing up for today's rush.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome to Walmart.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 1.3 million workers in 4,000 stores around the country building up to one event, Black Friday. The world's biggest retailer says, it's the most important shopping day of the year.
STEVE BRATSPIES, WALMART U.S.: We call it the Super Bowl of retail.
ROMANS: Say good-bye to tomatoes and hello to toys and television.
BRATSPIES: If you go into a super center at around 2:00 or so on Thanksgiving Day, it looks like a food store. But then just two or three hours later, we'll go from the largest food store to the largest GM store in the world.
ROMANS: But Walmart can't see what it doesn't have so it's buying more to keep up with demand.
BRATSPIES: We've bought over 65 percent more TVs this year, five times as many sheet sets, two times as many tablets.
ROMANS: And customers won't need to wait for the deals. Thanksgiving Thursday is the new Black Friday. Kmart, Best Buy, Target, Walmart all opening earlier this year.
Walmart's Black Friday deal start 6:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Walmart says its customers bought nearly 5,000 items a second during its four hours of Thanksgiving Day sales last year.
BRATSPIES: We did over 10 million transactions. That was about 1.3 million TVs, 1.8 million towels, 1.3 million toys.
ROMANS: Keeping all the products flowing will take all 600 of this store's employees.
BRATSPIES: So it's a simple, seamless move from off the truck to the back room. Every store is mapped out for exact location of where all of the products are going to be.
ROMANS: And when it's all over it starts again.
BRATSPIES: Black Friday is actually a 52-week planning process for us. We literally start the day after Black Friday and one year and start planning for the next year.
ROMANS: Christine Romans, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCIUTTO: All right. So shopping is one way to celebrate Thanksgiving. But for many Americans the holiday is not just a rest day before the Black Friday frenzy, it's about giving things and giving back. And that's exactly what's happening at the Midnight Mission in Los Angeles.
Stephanie Elam is there.
Stephanie, I know that several thousand meals are being prepared and this is something that's been going on for, what, a hundred years? Tell us -- tell us the whole story.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you're right, Jim. They have been here, helping out people who are in need for going into their 100 years. They say about daily they do 3,000 meals. Today is extra special because it's Thanksgiving. And they have people coming out here, feeding the people who need it, but they're also joined by some very famous faces who have been coming here for a very long time.
Obviously this is Lou Gossett Jr., and he has been coming out here, you say, what, 15 years about?
LOUIS GOSSETT, JR., ACTOR: Well, since Mayor Bradley's time.
ELAM: OK Such a long time.
GOSSETT: We got him in office, I was just 3 years old.
ELAM: Exactly.
GOSSETT: Anyway --
(CROSSTALK)
ELAM: So why do you come out here every year? GOSSETT: God, it's -- my grand mama taught me how do that. My grand mama, we were all poor when I was raised, you know? So it's natural for us to help one another, not just in Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving you celebrate, and Christmas, you thank, you know, but this got to be every day.
ELAM: And you've made this a family affair.
GOSSETT: It's a family affair. They're out there. You know, there's three generations here.
ELAM: Three generations.
GOSSETT: Yes. So I highly recommend this to remember that this was than Thanksgiving. It's got to be every day these days. Things are getting tight.
ELAM: And that's really what it's about. Thank you, Lou.
It's just really about giving back for a lot of the people who are coming out here. For those who are less fortunate, having a good Thanksgiving meal, they've made every turkey here on site. They've got pie. They've got all the fix-ins.
Everything you would want for a good Thanksgiving meal, Jim. So a very, very well-received meal happening here out here on the streets of Los Angeles.
SCIUTTO: It's a great -- a great tradition and seeing the stars out there as well.
Thanks very much to Stephanie Elam in Los Angeles.
Now do you have a unique Thanksgiving tradition? A dish that only your family makes? We want to know. Tweet me a picture of that special tradition @Jimsciutto, that's J-I-M-S-C-I-U-T-T-O. Use only the hash tag "onlyatmyhouse." And we'll share the best answers in the 4:00 hour of CNN NEWSROOM today.
Now the family of a New Jersey man is giving thanks in its own way today for a police officer who says he was just doing his duty.
Take a look at this video. You can see Officer Scott Krissinger pulling the driver out of his burning truck. Kissinger was the first officer there and says he couldn't even see the driver through all the smoke.
He recounted the scene on CNN's "NEW DAY" just this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Any fear, any hesitation at all?
OFFICER SCOTT KRISSINGER, CAPE MARY POLICE: It's definitely in the back of my mind, like I wanted to get away from the truck as soon as I could. BERMAN: You know, what are you thinking right now? You're opening that door, you're looking in there --
KRISSINGER: I just --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not knowing if the car is going to blow up, by the way. I mean, you don't know what's going to happen.
KRISSINGER: Yes, when I opened the door, I didn't know what to expect. I couldn't really see anything. I just reached my hand in, and I felt him, and I just pulled him out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: A Thanksgiving Day hero. Now the 61-year-old driver was hospitalized in critical but stable condition. What's more amazing is that Krissinger went back to the burning truck to see if there were any more passengers stuck inside. Luckily no one else was in there. But a great hero story.
Now as we enter the season of giving, we here at CNN are preparing for our own holiday tradition, "CNN HEROES, ALL-STAR TRIBUTE." It's a celebration of the top 10 Heroes of the Year and their extraordinary work helping others. The star-studded gala airs on Sunday, December 1st, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
Our Nischelle Turner gives us a behind-the-scenes peek at preparations for the big event.
NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, everybody, I'm Nischelle Turner. And I'm going to give you a backstage look at what it takes to put this whole CNN Heroes awards show together.
You ready for this? It's going to be cool. All right. Come with me.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TURNER (on camera): This year, we're back in New York, baby, at the American Museum of Natural History where the very first CNN Heroes took place seven years ago.
KELLY FLYNN: I can't believe it's been that long and we're thrilled to be back here. It's iconic and it's beautiful.
TURNER (voice-over): And the first stop of the night for these everyday heroes and celebrities? The red carpet.
(On camera): Wow, look at it in here. Look at all these lights. You know, work like this takes hundreds of people to set up working around the clock.
(Voice-over): And then the centerpiece of the evening.
(On camera): This year's CNN HEROES will be honored right here in the whale room where one of the museum's biggest treasures will be watching over us all night.
I'm talking about this lady right here.
(Voice-over): But that's not all that has to be done to get ready for this special event. Fifty-one tables to set up, nine cameras to put in place, and one giant video monitor.
JEFF KEPNES: You wouldn't believe just really what it takes to put something like this on. And you know we had about two days to bring it in and set it all up.
TURNER: Transforming this beautiful room from this to this, all to honor 10 everyday people who are changing the world.
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, CNN HEROES, AN ALL-STAR TRIBUTE: It's just a nice anything to honor these people. These people, they don't get the limelight, they don't get honored, they don't have celebrities saying their names and praising their work. It a nice thing for them. It's a nice pat on the back.
TURNER: A pat on the back from CNN that becomes a very special night of inspiration.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCIUTTO: A special night, also looks like a lot of fun.
Anderson Cooper anchors "CNN HEROES, AN ALL-STAR TRIBUTE" this Sunday, December 1st, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. Mark your calendars now. You and your family won't want to miss it.
Still ahead, as tensions increase between China and Japan over disputed islands in the East China Sea, we'll find out how people on the street feel about it in both Tokyo and Beijing.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCIUTTO: Japan, the U.S., and now South Korea are refusing to recognize China's newly declared Air Defense Identification Zone saying, it is territorial overreach. All three countries have flown through the zone -- outlined here in red -- without bowing to China's demands for flight plans and other information.
All of this comes during a territorial dispute with Japan over a set of small uninhabited islands in the East China Sea.
David McKenzie is on the streets of Beijing while Karl Penhaul is in the heart of Tokyo asking people for their thoughts on the conflict.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARL PENHAUL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: China and Japan are engaged in a tense tussle to control of the skies over the East China Sea so I've come to the streets of Tokyo to see if the alarm bells are ringing. DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: But first I'm on the streets of Beijing. China started this round of tension when it unilaterally announced an Air Defense Identification Zone which bisects islands disputed with Japan, so patriotism is running high.
(Voice-over): "This is between our countries. I think China should protect its sovereignty," says (INAUDIBLE). "But it's too sensitive," he says.
In fact, many people wouldn't talk on camera. But not Hong Kong-born Dickie Wu (ph).
"This isn't about confrontation," he says. "It's defending our rights."
State media tabloid "Global Times" took readers in another direction, holding an unscientific survey online, pushing options like intercept unidentified foreign aircraft, shoot after warning and flaming tracer bullets. 51.8 percent went for that one.
Soldier-turned-makeup artist (INAUDIBLE) knows about military matters. But does he think China should take on Japan?
"It depends if China has enough power," he laughs.
PENHAUL: Over in Tokyo that kind of Chinese tough talk is striking a raw nerve. Office worker Kenji Iwadate thinks enough is enough. Time Japan flexed its muscles.
KENJI IWADATE, OFFICE WORKER (Through Translator): Japan is weak against foreign countries and I don't think we get respect from them. So I want the government to take a stronger stance.
PENHAUL: There's no love lost between neighbors. This poll published by the Japanese government days before the airspace declaration showed 80 percent of Japanese dislike the Chinese. They don't like the Russians much better.
Despite rising tensions, Eiko Kondo recalls the lessons of World War II.
EIKO KONDO, HOUSEWIFE: (Through Translator): I really don't want a war. That's the last thing we need. We cannot repeat our dark and sad past. Our two countries should find a solution.
PENHAUL: That's not to say younger generations are ready to roll over. Nursing student Miki Sawada has no doubt who owns the disputed islands.
MIKI SAWADA, NURSING STUDENT: Japan.
PENHAUL: But she's not worried about a flare-up.
SAWADA (Through Translator): Japan promises in the constitution it will not go to war, even if China tries to start it. I believe Japan can solve it by negotiation. So I'm not worried. PENHAUL (on camera): Many of those I've been speaking to say the Japanese government should do more to stand up for itself. But although they may not like the Chinese that much they clearly say they want peace, not war.
I'm Karl Penhaul in Tokyo.
MCKENZIE (on camera): And I am David McKenzie in Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCIUTTO: Get a sense there of the local politics driving the geopolitics in Asia.
Now grading America's top diplomats. Hillary Clinton versus John Kerry. They have very different ways of getting the job done. But where do the last two secretaries of state stand on the world stage? We'll take a closer look, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCIUTTO: He's only been on the job about 10 months now and already racked up some major diplomatic deals. We're talking about Secretary of State John Kerry. So is he more successful already than Hillary Clinton as the nation's top diplomat?
Jill Dougherty has been looking at their records.
Jill, do we have a verdict? Is it a fair question?
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a fair question, definitely. A lot of people are asking it. But the answer I think the jury's still out. But Secretary Kerry next week, in fact, has another marathon trip. He'll be going to Europe, eastern Europe, the Middle East, and he's nipping at the heels of Hillary Clinton's record travel.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DOUGHERTY (voice-over): He took her job as secretary of state, but he still praises her.
JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: One of the country's remarkable secretaries of state.
I, John F. Kerry.
DOUGHERTY: John Kerry has been America's top diplomat for only 10 months, but already, he's racked up some significant achievements.
KERRY: It's been a long day, long night, and I'm delighted to be here to share some thoughts with you about this negotiation.
DOUGHERTY: A breakthrough interim deal with Iran to halt its nuclear program. A plan with Russia to force Syria to give up its chemical weapons. Peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians that seemed to be on track.
In her four years as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton covered nearly a million miles in the air. Her key issue, women's rights.
HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: An Afghanistan that is stable and secure and peaceful is in everyone's interest, particularly women and children. But it can't come at the cost of women and women's lives.
DOUGHERTY: She's scored some foreign policy successes. Repairing America's image around the world, preventing a wider war in the Middle East by brokering a cease fire in Gaza. An historic opening with Burma. Building an international coalition to remove Libya's dictator, Moammar Gadhafi, although her critics claimed that victory was overshadowed by the killing of the American ambassador to Libya and three other Americans.
So whose scorecard looks better? Former undersecretary of state Nicholas Burns says they're both successful in different ways.
NICHOLAS BURNS, FORMER STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: He is a deal maker in the best sense of that term. He has thrown himself into the toughest negotiations that the United States can face.
She took a longer-range view of the job as well and she did emphasized development. And the ties between development and diplomacy, and the role of women, which is a very important issue that had not received the attention it deserves.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCIUTTO: So, Jill, having watched Kerry at work a couple of times in the last couple of months in Geneva, first on the Syria chemical weapons deal, now on the Iran nuclear deal, you know, there's a story out here that it's because he's not running for president and Hillary is thinking about running for president.
Is it all about politics? Is that a fair -- a fair story?
DOUGHERTY: You know, I think it's a legitimate issue. There could be, let's say, Kerry not really feeling that he has to take any chances anymore. That he has to guard himself, that he can really take chances. He can really try to accomplish something.
Hillary Clinton, perhaps, hoping for her legacy and the record that she will bring in if she does run, into the election. Maybe being more careful. But that's not necessarily what they have done. I think it's an important point that -- as you know, some diplomats say history deals each secretary their own cards.
And look at the Iran deal. Would the Iran deal have happened, in fact, if the Iranian people hadn't elected a new president themselves? And the U.S. didn't elect that president. So there's a bit of history that comes into play, too.
SCIUTTO: Jill, I suppose also fair to say it's far too early to say if these deals are going to be successful in the long run.
DOUGHERTY: Absolutely.
SCIUTTO: Thanks very much to Jill Dougherty at the White House. And Happy Thanksgiving to you on a chilly Thanksgiving Day out there.
DOUGHERTY: Thank you.
SCIUTTO: Now back to the holiday. Today people all over the country are celebrating Thanksgivukkah. An event that won't happen again for another 70,000 years. We'll tell you what it is right after the break.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. CMDR. ZOLETO HIRAT (PH), U.S. SOLDIER: My name is Lieutenant Commander Zoleto Hirat, Kandahar Airfield with the NATO MMU Role 3. I'd like to give a shout-out to my wife Shirley, my son William and my daughter Isabella in San Diego. Happy holidays.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCIUTTO: This Thanksgiving is a once-in-a-lifetime event for millions of Jewish Americans. That's because this year, turkey day and Hanukkah are happening at the same time. It's a double holiday known affectionately as Thanksgivukkah.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to make hundreds if not thousands of --
SCIUTTO (voice-over): Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld is getting ready for the big day. His congregation is celebrating in style. Deep frying turkeys and mashing together a holy Jewish holiday with a holy American one.
RABBI SHMUEL HERZFELD, OHEV SHOLOM, THE NATIONAL SYNAGOGUE: Hanukkah has come out, quote-unquote, early this year. Really, Hanukkah comes out on the same date in the Hebrew calendar every year. But in the secular calendar it's coming out early and so that's why there's this fluke that there's this overlapping of Hanukkah and Thanksgiving.
SCIUTTO: That calendar fluke won't happen again for another 70,000 years, experts say.
HERZFELD: We call it Thanksgivukkah, but it's really a beautiful fusion of the two days, a day of giving thanks and a day of giving praise to God. Thanks to God for all the miracles.
SCIUTTO: His congregation in Washington, D.C. Ohev Sholom is having a feast to mark the special occasion.
HERZFELD: This is the only time I think that we're going to be able to celebrate Thanksgivukkah in our life, so we're going to make it a good one. JENNIE RIVLIN ROBERTS, OWNER, MODERNTRIBE.COM: This has been surprisingly great.
SCIUTTO: Jennie Rivlin Roberts is the owner of Modern Tribe. They sell kitschy and quirky Jewish themed gifts online.
ROBERTS: Thanksgivukkah sales were so big that we had to move from my basement into a commercial space. We did in a weekend.
SCIUTTO: They opened this brick and mortar store in Atlanta for the holidays.
ROBERTS: We've never been able to have a physical store. We've only been online, and now we can interact with customers and we get to see their excitement about Thanksgivukkah and Hanukkah and our wine of Thanksgivukkah products.
SCIUTTO: Roberts said part of the profits from her Thanksgivukkah line are going to a Jewish charity that works to end hunger. The must-have item here, the menurkey, a menorah shaped -- that's right -- like a turkey.
ASHER WEINTRAUB, MENURKEY CREATOR: Everyone wanted to know what I thought it should look like, so I went to an art store near our house and got some brown clay.
SCIUTTO: The menurkey was dreamed up by Asher Weintraub, a fourth grader from New York City on a road trip with his mom and dad.
CAROLINE BARON, ASHER WEINTRAUB'S MOTHER: Asher says, wow, we should make menorahs in the shape of turkeys. And Anthony was driving. I looked over to Anthony, I was like, that's brilliant.
SCIUTTO: With dad's help, Asher used software and a 3-D printer to turn his idea into a real product.
WEINTRAUB: Then we have the plaster ones, which are made in a factory.
SCIUTTO: And so far they have sold almost 7,000 menurkeys.
BARON: It's been pretty intense.
ANTHONY WEINTRAUB, ASHER WEINTRAUB'S FATHER: It's a pop-up. Incredible pop-up business that will end on a certain day.
BARON: Right.
ANTHONY WEINTRAUB: Potentially. Yes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCIUTTO: I don't know. I got to get myself a menurkey.
So do you have a unique Thanksgiving tradition? A dish only your family makes? We want to know. Tweet me a picture at Jimsciutto, that @J-I-M-S-C-I-U-T-T-O. And use the hash tag "onlyatmyhouse."
I'm going to be back in the 4:00 hour to share the best answers. We've already got a bunch in so please, please send more. We want to pick the best.
That's it for me for now. NEWSROOM continues right now with Brooke Baldwin.
Happy Thanksgiving, Brooke.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you very much, Jim Sciutto. Same to you, and same to all of you who are watching and hopefully filling your bellies with goodness on this Thanksgiving Day.
I'm Brooke Baldwin. And speaking of filling bellies and other things here, you know, this is a day we celebrate with overconsumption, a national feeding frenzy, if you will. Overstuffing, which I plan to do in about two hours, ourselves on turkey and dressing and sweet potatoes and gravy.
But this year is a bit different because retailers are really hoping we take our overconsumption to a whole new level.
Take a look at this list. These are several huge stores that are open today, on Thanksgiving. Big names. Macy's, Walmart, Kohl's, Penny's, Best Buy, Kmart, Sears, Toys "R" Us. They're all dishing out deals. Some of them before the turkey is even out of the oven.
Obviously, they're hoping to coax you, to coax millions of shoppers to venture out on this Thanksgiving Day, and look at these pictures because people were certainly out and about.
