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Thanksgiving Shoppers' Deal; Comet Ison Grazes Edge of the Sun; Crucial Afghan Deal Eludes U.S.; Giant Balloons Fly at Macy's Parade
Aired November 28, 2013 - 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: These are people lining up early, early this morning at Kmart, which opened all of its stores before the crack of dawn.
This is Burbank, California.
Kyung Lah has been out and about at Kmart all day long.
Kyung Lah, tell me how --
KYUNG LAH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Here I am.
BALDWIN: Tell me how many people you've been seeing. I'm like, where are you?
LAH: Yes, I'm over here, behind the giant Christmas tree that's being bought here. And you can see how long the line is. People are actually out and about. This store has been open since 6:00 a.m. Pacific Time. That's five hours ago. And we met Marvin Tate in line. He's here with his 2-year-old son, shopping before Thanksgiving.
MARVIN TATE, SHOPPER: Yes.
LAH: Why on earth are you shopping before -- when you're really supposed to be home watching football?
TATE: Right. Well, this is the best time to sit -- come shopping. Save as much money as you can when you have a large family like me. This is my youngest. My other two are at home with their grandmother, so this is the best time for me to save the best.
LAH: And you know, there are these theories that you don't save that much on Black Friday.
TATE: No.
LAH: But since we're talking about gray Thursday, I mean, you feel like you're saving anything?
TATE: I mean, to be honest, not really. But only on certain items. But it would be nice if you could save on everything in here but --
LAH: Why are so many people here?
TATE: I guess to save just as much as they can on certain items if they can. You know.
LAH: All right, thank you, and happy holidays.
TATE: And to you, too.
LAH: And enjoy Thanksgiving. Here you go. Here are your -- bye-bye. Bye-bye.
And so, you know, people want to save as much as they can. And if it's before Thanksgiving dinner, Brooke, we are not hearing that many customers here complaining that these stores are open.
BALDWIN: OK. So they're not complaining. They want those deals. What about the employees, though? Is this a voluntary thing? Is this a time and a half thing for these folks?
LAH: It's a time and a half thing. And remember, we've been doing how many stories about the economy? These are tough economic times. So -- the employees that you're seeing over here who are doing all the ringing up, they're making a little extra money. And so what these employees are saying is, hey, that's great. They then can turn around and pump more money into the economy and buy presents for their family and friends.
It's going to be a bit different later in the day because those workers are really going to have to give up Thanksgiving dinner. These workers, at least, are going to be able to work and then head home for turkey.
BALDWIN: Maybe breakfast or dinner.
Kyung Lah, thank you so much. Thank you for working with us here on this Thanksgiving Day as well.
If you are not out and about shopping, you're probably going to the movies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Talk about a problem? I sell ice for a living.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's a rough business to be in right now. I mean, that is really -- that's unfortunate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Disney has this new musical, it's called "Frozen." It's about a young woman searching for her long lost sister with a couple of sidekicks.
If action is your thing, Spike Lee has got a new joint, "Old Boy," stars Josh Brolin who is trying to figure out why he was kidnapped and kept in solitary confinement for 20 years.
And in a limited release, the film based on the autobiography of Nelson Mandela. It takes a look at every chapter of his life all the way from childhood to his rise as a global icon.
And now my fellow space geeks, listen to this. Within the past half hour, just about, let's be precise, about 20 minutes ago, 1:44 p.m. Eastern, Comet Ison passed within 1,000 miles of the sun. This is close enough to pretty much blow this thing apart. Not the sun. I'm talking about the comet. It could blow the comet totally apart.
Here's the thing, if Ison survives and we will know pretty soon, we might be in for a cosmic early Christmas season.
With me here now, astronomer David Dundee.
David, thank you so much for joining me on this holiday.
DAVID DUNDEE, ASTRONOMER: My pleasure.
BALDWIN: This is so, so exciting. And oh, I'm getting in my ear, this is the new picture, guys? OK, so look at this with me, David Dundee. The is the first picture we're getting from NASA. Tell me what we're looking at.
DUNDEE: You're looking at actually from the Soho spacecraft. It's a spacecraft that's observing the sun and it's blocking out some of the bright glare around the sun, looking for any evidence of a comet coming around the sun so --
BALDWIN: So that's the sun in the center, that ball.
DUNDEE: The yellow ball is the center of the sun, and it looks like you've got some image of the tail of the comet over to the right.
BALDWIN: That's what the really bright light is on the right side.
DUNDEE: I'm guessing so. And so we're hoping that in the next day or so, we'll see the comet emerge from behind the sun.
BALDWIN: OK, Chad Myers, jump in because we were talking about this yesterday.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes.
BALDWIN: I mean, prediction time. What is the probability that this thing actually survives because the sun obviously is very, very hot and the comet is not so?
DUNDEE: Yes, the comet is a few hundred degrees below zero.
BALDWIN: Wow.
DUNDEE: It's coming around the sun. Just a few minutes ago, it was reaching temperatures of about 5800 degrees around the comet. That's hot enough to melt steel.
MYERS: Wow.
DUNDEE: It's traveling 8,044 miles per hour. It's within 700,000 miles of the surface of the sun. And the last comet to survive going around the sun close, back in 1962, the closest approach, was three million miles. So this -- if it makes it, it's going to be the record holder.
It looks like it's holding together. It's a little bit early to tell for sure.
BALDWIN: It looks --
MYERS: Yes. Right.
BALDWIN: Looking good?
DUNDEE: But it looks like it's making it.
MYERS: Is it the heat that would tear it apart or is it the gravitational forces because it's so close to that big ball?
BALDWIN: Good questions.
DUNDEE: It's three things. One, it's losing material very rapidly. It's very unstable. It's sublimating right now.
MYERS: Sure.
BALDWIN: Sublimating.
DUNDEE: Yes. That's our big word for the day. Not only is your turkey roasting at home, this comet is roasting, and it's a ball of frozen gas, and that gas is turning directly from a -- from a solid to a gas.
BALDWIN: OK.
DUNDEE: And I have a little demonstration.
BALDWIN: Yes. Let's do it, a little show-and-tell, fellas.
DUNDEE: All right. All right. So what I have here --
MYERS: He needs gloves.
DUNDEE: Yes.
BALDWIN: He needs gloves and glasses.
MYERS: And there are goggles.
DUNDEE: I do -- you get goggles, Brooke.
MYERS: I think I'm going to step back.
BALDWIN: Step away. I've got this, Chad Myers.
DUNDEE: I've got a beaker here.
BALDWIN: OK.
DUNDEE: And, Brooke, if you could just fill the beaker halfway with some water.
BALDWIN: Yes, sir. All right.
DUNDEE: Water is at room temperature.
BALDWIN: And so what we're essentially going to emulate is the notion of what the comet --
MYERS: Is doing.
BALDWIN: -- passing the sun and the tail of the comet?
DUNDEE: Yes. This is dry ice.
BALDWIN: Oh boy.
DUNDEE: It's frozen carbon dioxide. It's approximately 100 degrees below zero. I'm going to place it in the water. Most folks would guess the water would instantly freeze. But watch what happens when I put it in there.
BALDWIN: It bubbles.
DUNDEE: It looks like a cheap science fiction show. But what you're noticing here inside the beaker is that the -- it's bubbling. It's not boiling. What's happening is the gas from this chunk of dry ice is turning directly from a solid to a gas. You can see it bubbling through the water. Right now, Comet Ison is losing about three million tons of material a second. And so that's one of the reasons, you know, we thought --
MYERS: So this thing must have been really big to start.
DUNDEE: It started out as something about two or three miles across. And so it's losing material now. It's losing its outer surface. It's under great stress. It's changing direction. It's being hurled around the sun.
BALDWIN: If it makes it.
DUNDEE: Yes.
BALDWIN: That's the big if, and that's what we're waiting to see. If it makes it, then when will we be able to see it, A, and B, will it be a naked eye viewing or do I need a telescope?
DUNDEE: Right, so NASA will probably have some nice images with their spacecraft over the next 24 hours.
BALDWIN: OK.
DUNDEE: Earth-bound observers will probably have to wait a couple of days for it to get out from the glare of the sun. As far as the amateur with their telescope or binocular, I'm guessing at least by Wednesday or Thursday if it turns out --
BALDWIN: That soon?
DUNDEE: Yes, it will probably turn out in the predawn sky, about an hour before sunrise and in the western sky, just after dark for a little bit before it sets.
MYERS: Now there are ancient paintings of comets and things like that in the sky.
DUNDEE: Oh, yes.
MYERS: Are we going to, like, see this type of monumental sulenial, millennial kind of event?
(LAUGHTER)
DUNDEE: Perhaps. I know I'm not giving you the straight answer here. Comets are capricious. So the comet could still fizzle and do nothing.
BALDWIN: OK.
DUNDEE: But it was kind of underwhelming coming into the sun. It never really got to be the comet of the century and be really bright.
MYERS: Right.
BALDWIN: OK. We wait and see -- I just wanted to cut you off. Could you come in just for a second and get a shot of his tie?
MYERS: Yes.
BALDWIN: Do you see this comet tie?
MYERS: There has to be a story here somewhere.
BALDWIN: This is a comet tie. We have to --
DUNDEE: I have an astronomy tie for every occasion.
BALDWIN: We have to end it on the astronomy, the comet tie, but, David, thank you so much. I appreciate it and I'm removing my glasses. And here we go.
Guys, thank you so much.
DUNDEE: You're welcome.
BALDWIN: You can pop them on, Chad Myers.
And speaking of you.
MYERS: Yes.
BALDWIN: Let's talk weather. How -- MYERS: Is this sharp? Does this look good?
BALDWIN: It's a great look for you.
MYERS: Thanks.
BALDWIN: Great look, my friend.
MYERS: Thank you, Mr. Dundee. Appreciate it very much.
BALDWIN: Thank you. Thank you.
MYERS: Appreciate the experiment.
BALDWIN: So weather wise.
MYERS: Cold.
BALDWIN: Cold?
MYERS: Yes.
BALDWIN: Cold. Cold. Cold. Yes.
MYERS: But you know, we know that Sunday's going to be a really big travel day. We emphasize how big yesterday was, but people just all go home on Sunday. And Sunday is going to be pretty good.
BALDWIN: Great.
MYERS: It's not -- it's not -- yes, it's not going to be the day that we had yesterday where thousands of people were standing in line trying to get planes, trains, and automobiles, and trains were getting stuck in under bridges and all that kind of stuff. So I believe your drive home will be much better.
If your car is prepared to wake up in the morning and drive at 15 degrees because there will be some very, very cold temperatures that come down across the great lakes and into the northeast, and so if your car sits out all night, it may not like 15 degrees because it hasn't seen that for a year or so. Your battery may not like it either.
A little bit snow north of Grand Rapids. This is all lake-effect snow but not the organized stuff that sometimes you see in Buffalo and the south towns. They had a couple of inches. I mean, even half a foot, some of the south towns. But this is about a 5-inch snowfall.
What we don't have, we don't have the 850 or the 5,000-foot high winds and the surface winds parallel each other, and that's when you really get the big lake effect snows and growing up in Cheektowaga, which is right outside Buffalo, I tend to -- I tend to think of, and growing up right outside of Buffalo, I tend to think of myself as an expert at lake effect snow.
Thirty-two will be the high in Detroit. That's 11 degrees below where we should be. That means the morning lows will be 11 degrees probably lower than we should be. So a couple of cold days in store. That's it.
BALDWIN: OK. Chad Myers, thank you.
This is -- this is a thought that might warm you up. Let's run through pie. Nine flavors of pie to be precise. At the White House, the first family's Thanksgiving menu has nine pies for dessert. Nine. Read them with me. I feel like I'm about to sell "Forrest Gump."
Here we go, Huckleberry pie, Pecan pie, chocolate cream pie, sweet potato pie, pumpkin pie, banana cream pie, and I'm a -- I'm just a good old fashioned -- I love my apple pie. So they'll have the apple pie as well. And before dessert, the Obamas will dine on a traditional Thanksgiving meal featuring turkey, ham, ooh, oyster stuffing, cornbread stuffing, green bean casserole. Am I making you hungry?
MYERS: I don't see the pyramid here.
BALDWIN: The food pyramid? Let's toss that out today, folks. That doesn't count on Thanksgiving among other dishes here. On the menu at the White House on this Thanksgiving.
Coming up, troops are spending their 12th Thanksgiving in Afghanistan as the country's president faces pressure to agree to a deal or else. Hear America's threat to Hamid Karzai.
Also ahead, celebrities right now are serving food at a homeless shelter. We will take you there live in Los Angeles on this Thanksgiving Day.
You are watching CNN.
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CAPT. STELLA MOORE, U.S. ARMY: This is Captain Stella Moore (ph) stationed with the Task Force Lifeliner in Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. I would like to wish my mom, my grandmother and all my family and friends a Happy Thanksgiving. I love you and I miss you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: The White House says 10 American troops got phone calls today from the president, wishing them happy holidays, and here's a reason to give thanks today.
2014 will be the homecoming year for most of our troops in Afghanistan. And it could turn out they will all come home, but that's not something the U.S. wants.
From the Pentagon, here is CNN's Barbara Starr.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This holiday season, commanders were looking forward to a new agreement with Afghan President Hamid Karzai that would have kept just a few thousand U.S. troops in Afghanistan after 2014. But after a meeting with National Security adviser Susan Rice, Karzai is now refusing to sign the very deal he helped negotiate.
In an Afghan news channel interview, Rice made clear U.S. patience may be at a breaking point.
SUSAN RICE, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: If the agreement isn't signed promptly, what I said to the president is we would have no choice. We would be compelled by necessity, not by our preference, to have to begin to plan for the prospect that we will not be able to keep our troops here.
STARR: After 12 years of war with Afghan corruptions still rampant, billions of dollars in U.S. aide, more than 2,000 troops killed and more than 19,000 wounded, why shouldn't all the American troops just come home?
VALI NASR, JOHN HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: Americans are very right to be frustrated with Karzai. But frustration is not national security policy. Frustration is not foreign policy.
STARR: Some in the administration believe without a U.S. presence, al Qaeda will return, Iran's influence may grow, and Afghanistan will become a radical haven.
NASR: If things fall apart in Afghanistan, then much of what we have gained can unravel. We may find ourselves having to go back in again.
STARR: For now, however, U.S. troops are thinking about coming home.
SGT. TYLER BAXTER, U.S. ARMY: Hi, I'm Sergeant Tyler Baxter. This is my father.
CHIEF MASTER SGT. RICHARD BAXTER: Chief Master Sergeant Richard Baxter.
T. BAXTER: Coming from Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, just wanted to wish our family at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri, a happy holidays.
STARR: Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Some troubling signs out of North Korea. The rogue nation may be trying to restart an aging nuclear reactor. This is coming from the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency. It's observed activities thus triggering this concern, but the IAEA also reports since it's been blocked from going to the site, it can't say for sure if the reactor has been started up again.
Now the agency is calling on North Korea to fully cooperate to resolve that issue. And the leader of a billion some Catholics is headed to their holy land. Pope Francis plans to visit Israel. The Vatican won't say when, but an Israeli official says the pontiff will go near the end of May.
This past April, Pope Francis met with Israeli President Shimon Peres at the Vatican. They discussed Middle East peace efforts and Syria's civil war. The "Jerusalem Post" reports Francis would be the fourth Pope to visit the Jewish nation.
Still ahead, an 89-year-old Thanksgiving tradition in jeopardy today. Find out why parade organizers had to keep a very close eye on the weather in Manhattan.
Also, instead of shopping today, some workers and customers are protesting. Details on what's causing them to strike on Thanksgiving.
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AMBER RILEY, ACTRESS: My family is actually on their way to my house to start cooking for Thanksgiving. It's also my mom's birthday. So happy birthday, Mom, on Thanksgiving.
KYLE RICHARDS, REALITY SHOW STAR: We have a competition with our turkey. She thinks she wins.
KIM RICHARDS, REALITY SHOW STAR: I make a great turkey.
KYLE RICHARDS: I do, too.
KIM RICHARDS: Yes, we actually both make a good turkey, although I think I make a better one.
JENNIFER HUDSON, ACTRESS: Provide all the food and let someone else eat them, because I'm not going to experience it, I tried it one time. And that's a lot of work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: It was a game time decision, but Snoopy and Woodstock got the all-clear to fly between Manhattan's skyscrapers today for the Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Now they may look a little different. And that's because Snoopy and these other huge, huge balloons, they flew a bit lower than usual. About five feet lower because of the wind. The 16 largest balloons could have been grounded if winds had gotten too strong today. But when you look at the crowds, I mean, thousands of people jammed the streets to see the famous balloons and to take in the performers marching down the streets of Manhattan.
CNN's Jason Carroll talked to some spectators there along that parade route.
Hey, Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, the helium heroes made it into this year's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Papa Smurf coming down right now on Central Park West, making his way down the parade route.
You know, there was, as you know, we had talked about this yesterday. Talking about it again today early this morning. Whether or not the wind would allow the balloons to make it into the parade. But it turns out that the wind measurements were where they needed to be to let the parade go on as it should be.
A lot of excited fans came out for the parade. The weather turned out to be cold but sunny. Listen to what some had to say about what they liked about this year's parade.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's awesome.
CARROLL: Any favorites?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
CARROLL: Well, tell me, share.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, my favorite is Santa at the end, but what came out, I think the football was the best.
CARROLL: The balloon football? Out of all the -- out of all the balloons to see, you had a choice of like SpongeBob and "How to Train Your Dragon," you picked the football?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because football is like the best sport ever.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: And it's not just the balloons that were in the parade. There were 900 clowns. 900 clowns also made it into this year's parade. 900 clowns, not just a dozen or so that we have here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 901.
CARROLL: 901. Very funny. Thank you very much.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is extremely tiring.
CARROLL: I bet it is. I bet it is. So lots of clowns, lots of bands. Everyone coming out here, Brooke, had a really good time. You know, you just really got to love the clowns, though. Got to love the clowns.
Brooke, back to you.
BALDWIN: You've got to go with it, Jason Carroll.
Jason Carroll there for us in Manhattan. Jason, thank you very much.
The store ads, the shopping, the working, is it becoming too much? On Thanksgiving Day. I know a lot of you say yes.
Coming up next, we will show you what these people are doing to protest the business of Thanksgiving.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. This is Patty Poole. GSA L & O station with Task Force Lifeliner, Bagram Airfield. I wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to my family. Wish I was there, but I'll see you at Christmas. Love you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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