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Police Helicopter Crashes into Pub in Scotland; Obamacare Website Prepares for New Launch Date; Man Arrested Over 200 Times; Controversy Over Possible Fat-Shaming Facebook Comments Examined; Amish Family Flees with Child Undergoing Alternative Medicine Cancer Treatment; Homeless Man Plays Piano Expertly; Illinois Town Recovering From Tornado
Aired November 30, 2013 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: A crowded Scottish pub turns to chaos after a police helicopter crashes through the roof. At least one dead, dozens of others injured, and many are still trapped inside.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Tasers fire and tempers flare, unbelievable scene as Black Friday shoppers go berserk, all trying to score the best bargain.
HOWELL: And a second chance to impress, just hours to go before a self-imposed deadline. Will healthcare.gov be ready for prime time this time?
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KOSIK: Good morning, I'm Alison Kosik.
HOWELL: And I'm George Howell. It's 10:00 on the east coast, 7:00 on the west. You are in the CNN Newsroom.
KOSIK: Let's get the CNN Newsroom rolling with the healthcare.gov issue. It's a big day for healthcare.gov after the website's disastrous rollout two months ago. Today's the day it's supposed to work smoothly for the vast majority of users. That's at least how the president puts it.
HOWELL: Officials say healthcare.gov is and will always be sort of a work-in-progress. Tech experts took it down overnight for maintenance, but it is back up and running. The president told ABC's Barbara Walters last night he doesn't feel the website's problems have hurt his credibility. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARBARA WALTERS, ABC NEWS: A lot of the criticism is personal.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes.
WALTERS: People just don't think you're trustworthy.
OBAMA: Well, I don't think that's true, Barbara. The truth of the matter is that I got re-elected in part because people did think I was trustworthy and I was working on their behalf.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: And CNN's Tory Dunnan is in Washington this morning. Tory, let's be clear about this, though. Nobody will be flipping a switch at midnight and everything just magically gets better, right?
TORY DUNNAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Alison, you're exactly right. The White House is managing expectations. The administration saying this is not a re-launch of the website and there could actually be more problems in the future. The latest, though, is that they're on track to meet this deadline.
But let's break down exactly what that means. It's a little confusing. According to the administration, the goal is for 50,000 people to be on the site at the same time. If there are more users at any given time, the administration says people will then be put in what's a virtual queue. They should get an e-mail later telling them of a better time to come back and try. But in total, the goal is 800,000 users go through successfully each day.
An important question -- what does the public think? Will it be ready to roll? A recent CNN/ORC poll shows that people actually think things may get better. Take a look at this -- 54 percent of Americans are saying, yes, the current problems facing the health care law would be solved, 45 percent saying, no, it wouldn't be solved. So, George and Alison, a lot of the numbers, really, it depends on what happens today and the next few days, whether or not they change.
HOWELL: Tory, from a press perspective, how do you grade whether the website is working or not? Clearly you have people on the inside who gets whether it works. How do you grade it from the outside?
DUNNAN: George, let's just say it will be a tough day ahead. It will be a bit of a guessing game. That's until the administration releases information about really whether or not it's working smoothly. But here's what one tech expert has to say about all that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LUKE CHUNG, SOFTWARE DEVELOPER: Without having the internal metrics and status reports of what's going on the website, we on the outside will not be able to tell. But the people who are in charge of the system will certainly know what the load is and will be trying to balance that properly across their different servers. As an outsider, we're not going to be privy to that information.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DUNNAN: So the administration is not expected to release those numbers right away. What I can tell you they'll be holding a conference call with reporters tomorrow, and Jeffrey Zients, who is the man the president has really put in charge to turn things around, is going to be on the call, George and Alison, hopefully answering questions about whether or not it's working to those expectations which they set. KOSIK: OK, Tory Dunnan live in Washington, D.C., thank you.
But even with all the excitement, we are moving to black Friday, sales, at least, on Friday. And retailers are looking to lure even more shoppers over the holiday weekend, but they're not looking to see more of this.
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HOWELL: At this mall in North Carolina, Wal-Mart shoppers, you see them swarming over displays of flat-screen TVs and electronics, literally shoving each other aside, trying to snag the best deals.
KOSIK: In Las Vegas, a man was shoved while he was being robbed of a TV. He bought it on Thanksgiving night at Target. And then in Virginia, another man was stabbed in a fight over a parking spot. But even with all of the excitement, there's a lot of shopping that needs to get done. The national retail federation estimates that 140 million shoppers will hit the stores over this holiday weekend.
HOWELL: Those shoppers expected to spend $602 billion, that's billion with a "b," dollars, in stores from November to December, a lot of money, plus another $82 billion online during holiday sales.
KOSIK: And with so many shoppers spending so much money, tensions clearly running high. Alexandra Field following the black Friday brawls. What are you finding?
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, George, Alison, there is no rest for the weary this morning. Shoppers are still, in fact, trickling into the stores here in New York City's Columbus Circle. But it's more of a slow trickle. It isn't that rush and crush that started early on the morning of black Friday.
Take a look at this video shot around 2:30 in the morning on Friday.
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FIELD: What we're seeing in this video is some of the worst of what we saw this holiday shopping season. Those are two women fighting each other when one woman pulled out a stun gun. It happened in a Philadelphia mall, but that bad behavior seen all around the country. We are too used to the images, the crush of shoppers fighting, shoving, spitting. In Texas, pepper spray was used on a crowd. In Virginia, there was a stabbing in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart when two men fought over a parking spot. Things escalated beyond that in Las Vegas when there was a shooting after two shoppers fought concerning a deal. But Friday morning, Wal-Mart came out saying that 22 million shoppers had entered its U.S. stores on Thanksgiving Day, and that, in fact, there were fewer incidents of poor behavior than in previous years. Alison, George?
KOSIK: Good to know.
HOWELL: Thank you so much.
Now we go on to Scotland. The flags there flying at half-staff this weekend as the victims of a helicopter crash are being discovered.
KOSIK: The police helicopter slammed through a pub's roof last night, killing at least one person, injuring dozens. CNN's Richard Quest is at the crash scene. Hi, Richard.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Alison, George, good morning to you. Yes, we know, and it's been officially confirmed, one person has died, but the authorities are saying be prepared for more deaths to be announced because there are more bodies in the wreckage of the building with the helicopter, as you can see behind me.
And over the last few hours, people have been coming here to the scene to lay flowers, little tributes of flowers, just a few over there at the moment, and paying their respects as Scotland deals with what the first minister calls a black day for the city and the country.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: All night and into the morning, search and rescue efforts continued after a police helicopter crashed into the roof of the pub filled with Friday night revelers in Glasgow in Scotland. A local member of parliament Jim Murphy said he arrived moments after the crash.
JIM MURPHY, MEMBER OF BRITISH PARLIAMENT: Most of the helicopter appeared to be inside the pub, only part of it sticking from the top.
QUEST: Murphy says he saw at least 10 people injured, including people struggling with consciousness, and others with bleeding wounds to the head. Christina O'Neil, who saw the crash from her apartment across the street, said she heard what sounded like a low-flying airplane.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- a couple of seconds, and then I heard a massive crash.
QUEST: After the sounds of the impact, she saw smoke and people running from the pub. One witness who was inside reported not hearing the crash, because there was a band playing, and all of a sudden there was a whooshing sound and a lot of dust that came down from the ceiling. Then more of the ceiling fell, and people started running out.
Hours after the crash, the helicopter bearing the word "police" on its damaged tale was still smoldering. There were three people on board, two police officers, and a civilian pilot.
People remain trapped inside the one-story pub. Urban search and rescue specialists are working to make the bar safe so firefighters can get to the victims still trapped, says the Scottish fire and rescue service.
The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, tweeted about the situation saying, "My thoughts are with everyone affected by the helicopter crash in Glasgow and the emergency services working tonight."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: And tonight, the helicopter remains shrouded in the tarpaulin. The rescue workers are being very careful how they handle the scene. There may be people still underneath, but they also know it's very fragile, very unstable, and, Alison and George, the last thing they want to do is, if you like, bring the whole thing down by moving anything too quickly.
HOWELL: Richard, one other question from us. From your vantage point, from what you've seen, what's the thought? How many more people could still be trapped in that building?
QUEST: Absolutely no idea. The statistics are straightforward. They're up to 150 people in the pub last night, listening to a local band playing. We know that about 30 have been taken to a local hospital. One person is confirmed dead.
Now, many people did get out. We've heard from the eyewitnesses, there wasn't much panic. They saw -- they heard a bang, some dust came down, and then the ceiling started to come down. So how many people are still inside, we just doesn't know.
What is starting to perhaps become clear is whether or not this was a full-scale crash of a helicopter, or whether it was a crash landing, because the nature of the way this ceiling came down, and what we're hearing from those who survived and those who were there at the time, there was this bang, then the dust started to fall. It sounds more as if the helicopter was making an emergency landing on the roof, and then the ceiling collapsed. But that at the moment is speculation.
KOSIK: Richard, do you know what the weather was like when the helicopter crashed?
QUEST: Fairly clear. I mean, it's a cold night. It's pretty much like tonight. We're not told that that would have been a factor. The helicopter involved, police Scotland helicopter, the heliport, just off to my left, it's about a couple of miles away. So when helicopters are coming -- and the helicopters are often frequently flying over the river and over the downtown Glasgow, and when it comes in to land, this is the route it would take. It would come up the river, very much following the river as a trajectory, down to the city heliport.
And so, the investigators, the British equivalent of the NTSB, the Air Accident Investigation Board, extremely experienced at looking into these matters. They will be looking at what happened on the helicopter, the so-called sputtering of the engine that eyewitnesses say, and ultimately, why it fell out the sky.
HOWELL: Terrible situation, I'm sure, of course, you'll continue to follow it. Richard Quest, thank you so much for your reporting.
KOSIK: An Amish family refused any more chemotherapy to treat their daughter's cancer, and now claim the daughter is cancer-free, but find out why the family has gone into hiding.
HOWELL: Plus, and the story is a talker, the so-called curvy girls show off their lingerie, but fit mom Maria King says it's unhealthy. She's accused, rather, fat shaming. She joins us this hour to defend herself.
KOSIK: An Amish family in Ohio says their 11-year-old daughter is cancer-free and they halted her chemo treatments and used alternative medicine instead.
HOWELL: The family is currently in hiding at this point. They've been in a legal battle with the hospital over the girl's cancer treatment for years now.
KOSIK: Earlier this month, a court appointed a nurse to make medical decisions as the girl's guardian, but the family had already fled their home and reportedly sought alternative cancer treatments in Central America. CNN's Nick Valencia has spoken to the family's lawyer. Nick, how do we know at this point that she's really cancer free?
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We don't. And as you mentioned, the family is in hiding, so there's no real way for the doctors Akron's Children Hospital to confirm if she is indeed cancer free. Now, I spoke to the lawyer yesterday. He said this little girl, Sarah, has undergone little CAT scans that shows little to no evidence of cancer. And when I spoke to Maurice Thompson, the attorney, he said this really isn't about whether or not the family is going to refuse chemotherapy. They say they're not ruling it out. They just don't want it as a first resort option. He said this case comes down to one simple thing.
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MAURICE THOMPSON, HERSHBERGER FAMILY ATTORNEY (via telephone): I think the most important principle at stake here really is not just the constitutional right but the moral right to refuse conventional medical treatments that carry their own risks that may be as great as the harm from the disease itself. It's really about the right of parents to keep their family together and for parents to control their family, rather than for government to control their family, and for individuals to control their health care decisions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VALENCIA: And the doctors say at Akron Children's Hospital, if she doesn't get treated soon, there's a strong chance she'll die. They also say she has 85 percent survival rate if she goes with chemotherapy, and she got the last treatment in June, so five months ago.
HOWELL: What's the hospital saying beyond that? Anything more about what's happening?
VALENCIA: One of the questions is, if it's because the family is Amish. And that's a question posed to the hospital. And they said, the chief medical officer said, no, we have 10 Amish kids we're treating now. This is about a family's personal decision to decide whether or not they want to pursue chemotherapy. The lawyer says this is about their option of what kind of health care they want to give the child. Earlier this summer, the chief medical officer for Akron's Children's Hospital talked to us how we sort of got into this situation.
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DR. ROBERT MCGREGOR, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, AKRON CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: And the child did have some side effects, which would certainly be expected. And then the decision initially was they wanted to have additional complementary medicine, which is something we would certainly be supportive of. And then the decision shifted that it would be only using the alternative medicine, or the herbal medicine.
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VALENCIA: So doctors say they want to help, but the family wants to pursue another path first.
KOSIK: We'll keep on track on this.
HOWELL: Absolutely.
KOSIK: Nick, thank you.
VALENCIA: You got it.
KOSIK: A Florida man says the police won't leave him alone.
HOWELL: But the police say there is a very good reason he keeps getting busted, more than 200 times.
KOSIK: Even at work.
HOWELL: Yes. Decide for yourself after you hear about the case ending up in court next, as CNN Newsroom continues.
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KOSIK: So there's a convenience store worker in Florida who's actually taking the cops to court. He's sick and tired of getting arrested since police keep busting him at work, of all places.
HOWELL: Hundreds of times. It's disturbing. But police say there's a reason that this keeps happening. John Zarrella has more on this story.
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JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Take a look at this surveillance video. It shows Earl Sampson being detained in a Miami Gardens, Florida, convenience store, and then led away. Now, get this. Sampson was arrested 27 times at this convenience store and convicted of trespassing. He's been detained many times more. There is, says Sampson and the store owner, a bit of a problem here. You see, Sampson works at the store. He spoke with CNN affiliate WFOR.
EARL SAMPSON, QUICKMART EMPLOYEE: They always stop me, going in my pockets, asking me for my I.D., running my name.
ZARRELLA: In all, Sampson has been stopped and/or arrested at various places 288 times. A year and a half ago, store owner Ali Saleh decided he had had enough, so he installed the surveillance cameras. Over and over again, Saleh says, his cameras recorded police stopping and frisking and detaining not only his employees, but customers, too.
ALI SALEH, QUICKMART EMPLOYEE: I feel abused. I believe I live in America, and, you know, America has a constitution, it has to be protect the citizens.
ZARRELLA: Saleh, Sampson, and several local resident this is week filed a federal lawsuit against, among others, the city, the mayor, and the police chief, charging civil rights violations. The suit reads in part, quote, "Miami Gardens police department officers have used and continue to use race and/or national origin for the purpose of stopping, frisking, searching, seizing, and arresting principally black males."
Before the suit was filed, Miami Gardens police issued a statement to local news stations saying they are investigating the allegations and that they take seriously complaints against their officers. During the past couple of years, Miami Gardens has been going through a rash of shootings and killings. The store sits in a high-crime area. It's not clear whether the store is being singled out more than others, and if so, why. The city's mayor says there's a zero tolerance policy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He knows that his store is a source of problems in that community, and he knows that we're trying to clean up that community.
SAMPSON: They are supposed to protect and serve, but you're not protecting and serving. You are harassing.
ZARRELLA: The lawsuit seeks a change in city policy and financial compensation for Sampson, Ali, and the other plaintiffs. According to the suit, if you took all 288 times Sampson's been detained and/or arrested, that amounts to about once a week for the past four-plus years.
John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.
(END VIDEOTAPE) HOWELL: That is an interesting case.
KOSIK: It's crazy.
HOWELL: More than 200 times.
KOSIK: I feel like there's something missing here. What's going on here?
HOWELL: It's definitely an interesting case to follow.
KOSIK: Yes.
HOWELL: Moving on, the moment of truth for healthcare.gov. The Obama website is supposed to work, Obamacare websites supposed to work smoothly by the end of the day. We'll talk political fallout with our guests.
KOSIK: We're going to meet a man who mesmerizes with the piano, and guess what. He's never had a music lesson. Plus he's lived on streets since he was a boy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOSIK: Bottom of the hour now. Welcome back. I'm Alison Kosik.
HOWELL: And I'm George Howell. Here are the five stories we're tracking here in the CNN Newsroom.
At number one, today is the day that healthcare.gov is supposed to work smoothly for most Americans shopping for health insurance. Officials say the Obamacare website can handle 50,000 people at one time, but they caution the site is undergoing continuous improvements, and there will be some glitches.
KOSIK: Number two, search and recovery efforts under way at a debris filled pub in Glasgow, Scotland. At least one person is confirmed dead after a police helicopter smashed through the roof the pub last night. Police expect the toll to rise. Dozens of people were injured and others may still be trapped.
HOWELL: Number three this Saturday morning, federal officials are now investigating a fatal plane crash near St. Mary's Village, Alaska. Authorities confirm four out of the 10 people on board the Cessna died when it crashed last night. No word yet on how the six survivors are doing.
KOSIK: Number four, an American is supposedly confessing to crimes against North Korea. In new video released by Pyongyang, a man thought to be 85-year-old Merrill Newman is seen apologizing for killing civilians and troops during the Korean War. Until now, Pyongyang had not explained why it was holding him. He was detained last month during a tourist event.
HOWELL: Five, one of Mitt Romney's sons, Josh, is touting his own heroism this morning. He apparently helped rescue four people from a car wreck on Thanksgiving near Salt Lake City. Police say the driver may have had a seizure and then crashed into a house. No one was seriously hurt, but Josh Romney tweeted this photo of himself smiling in the wreckage and noted that he was the first person on the scene after the crash.
President Obama says healthcare.gov should work for the vast majority of Americans searching for health insurance, but keep in mind, it's not going to change overnight at just a flip of the switch.
KOSIK: Officials warn that more glitches are inevitable, but they add that the website should be able to handle 50,000 users simultaneously. Last night, ABC's Barbara Walters talked with the president about Obamacare's impact on his legacy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALTERS: You have said you would rather be a good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president.
OBAMA: Yes.
WALTERS: Which are you?
OBAMA: Well, I think the best would be a good two-term president, so that's what I'm shooting for. Every president in their second term is, you know, mindful that you've only got a limited amount of time left, and you want to make sure you are squeezing every last ounce of energy that you have to try to deliver on the commitments you made to the American people.
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HOWELL: All right, let's talk to Amy Holmes in New York, anchor for "The Hot List" at "The Blaze" online, and on Skype from Palm Beach, Florida, Hilary Rosen, CNN political commentator and political consultant.
So guys, you know, first question I say to you, Amy, if this works for the president, if the site works, it's great obviously for him. If it doesn't work, what does it mean politically?
AMY HOLMES, ANCHOR, "THE BLAZE" ONLINE: Well, we're already seeing the political damage with the president's approval numbers nose- diving, and a lot of very nervous Democrats distancing themselves, criticizing the healthcare.gov. And we'll see in 2014 if they want the president campaigning beside them.
But you have some Democrats, like Mark Pryor, Kay Hagan, Mary Landrieu, and others who are really banging the drum that healthcare.gov needs to work. And it looks like, unfortunately, it won't be fully functional even by the White House's own deadline.
KOSIK: Hillary, it winds up being a black eye, doesn't it?
HILARY ROSEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Politics is, I think, the furthest thing from the president's mind right now about this. And I think you will hear more and more stories like I heard this week sitting around our Thanksgiving table where my cousin, who had been unable to get insurance for the last 15 years because of a preexisting condition, all of a sudden walked into an insurance agency and could not be refused. Those stories are going to multiply and multiply and multiply. That's what this is about.
You know, I think you're hearing the Republicans trying to sustain a political story, and why they want to make a political story out of preventing people from getting health insurance coverage is just beyond me.
KOSIK: Hillary, let's move on to the economy. Let me ask you this. There was a CNN/ORC poll, and what the numbers show is that fewer than a quarter of those surveyed actually feel the economy is recovering, with 36 percent saying it's stabilized, and 39 percent saying it's getting worse. So we're seeing this disconnect, we're seeing the record prices with stocks, you know, the Dow, the S&P 500 breaking these record highs. Why are Americans so pessimistic?
ROSEN: Well, you know, we've had a jump in the income inequality, so the rich have gotten richer and the poor have gotten poorer, and that is completely unacceptable. And I'm hoping that, you know, the president, who everybody seems to be writing off, has three more years in his term. I think we're going to see more leadership on the economy. It's important to see more leadership on the economy, because this is -- this is a crisis for -- particularly for young people graduating college and high school, and not being certain about whether they'll find jobs.
HOWELL: Amy, I want to ask you about this. Another CNN/ORC poll, 24 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents favor New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. He is followed by Senator Rand Paul, Congressman Paul Ryan, and Senator Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush. Now, look, it's early at this point, but what does it suggest about 2016?
HOLMES: Way too early. We still have three years to go before 2016. I think what this has -- what this speaks to, really, is name I.D., and Chris Christie, as we know, was on the cover of the "TIME" magazine. He's a nationally known political figure.
I think it also is the fact he's ahead because he's not in Washington, D.C. I don't know if you noticed the poll numbers about you who people feel about Washington, but in the basement, in the tank. So I think Chris Christie is really benefitting from that. He also just had a landslide victory, a Republican winning in a blue state, which I think cheers a lot of Republicans about, you know, the possibility of 2016.
HOWELL: Here's a question. So 10 years from now, just on the Obamacare website, do people remember this website debacle or do they remember the rollout of the coverage?
ROSEN: There's no question. This is a health insurance program for 30 million Americans who have been worried for their families for the last, you know, how many years. In the last four presidential elections, the number-one or number-two worry among people was health care. This is a huge -- still a huge victory. We have a long way to go. And I'm glad AMY recognizes that there's still three years left in this presidency, because you know, this guy's bouncing back.
KOSIK: Amy, what do you think? Is he bouncing back?
HOLMES: I don't see that at the moment, where this springboard will be for the president. I think the real question is, does Obamacare survive the rollout? And there are very serious concerns among insurers, among policymakers that if people can't get on healthcare.gov and seen up for this health insurance and the entire architecture of Obamacare falls apart, and we already have the president delaying small businesses, being able to go onto the website, to be able to go to the website shop, to be able to get health insurance through that federal exchange. We saw the delay, of course, for businesses, now we're hearing, even Democrats suggesting that there ought to be a delay for the individual mandate. The rollout is very much intertwined with the success of Obamacare, and so far, it's been botched.
KOSIK: OK, Amy Holmes from TheBlaze.com, and Hilary Rosen, CNN's political commentator. Thank you so much for your political insights this morning.
HOLMES: Thank you. Happy Thanksgiving.
KOSIK: Back at you.
All right, she got moms all worked up over this photo we're about to show you. Now the woman known as "Fit Mom" is back.
HOWELL: This time she's got curvy girls in her sights. After the break, we'll talk with the fitness guru, Maria Kang, as well as the businesswoman behind these curvy lingerie pictures.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOSIK: OK, ladies, for all of you not happy with your figures, I know, it can be a daily struggle. We all go through it. What do you do? Do you try to lose weight or do you try to just love the body that you have? Curvy Girl lingerie has opted for the latter. The company markets sexy lingerie in sizes 12 and higher. And what it does is it urges women right now to send in pictures of their real un- Photoshopped bodies wearing the lingerie.
HOWELL: OK, but that mission didn't sit so well with fitness guru Maria Kang. Kang took to her Facebook page venting her frustration at those curvy girls who were putting their pictures there. That post ended up getting Kang kicked off Facebook a couple of days before her account was reactivated.
Fitness expert Maria Kang now joins us from Sacramento, California, and from San Jose, Chrystal Bougon, who owns Curvy Girl Lingerie. Maria, so we want to start with you. Along with some of your support, your posts on Facebook also have critics calling you a bully and fat- shamer. How do you respond to that? MARIA KANG, FITNESS EXPERT: When I saw the article online, they used women overweight, nearly obese, or are obese, and they are saying this is what real women look like. And I was a little bit peeved, because I felt like, no, that's how real women look like or should look like. I think there's a fine line we're walking as a nation with the obesity crisis that we're in. For people who think I'm a bully or fat-shamer, I'm absolutely not. I'm here on their side. I have programs out there that are promoting health and fitness.
KOSIK: So, Chrystal, you said in an interview Maria posts was, quote, "hate speech," and that you wound up reporting her to Facebook and essentially getting her kicked off. Is that right?
CHRYSTAL BOUGON, OWNER CURVY GIRL LINGERIE: Yes. On my page, we do not allow any kind of shaming of any kind. We don't allow skinny shaming, any fat shaming. We're here to celebrate women of all sizes. We feel like all women deserve to feel sexy and beautiful. You might be fat today, you might not be tomorrow. Who knows? But whatever you look like today, you get to feel beautiful and as sexy as possible.
KOSIK: Why did Maria have the same -- why couldn't she go on Facebook and have her feel? Why did you get her kicked off Facebook?
BOUGON: She can say whatever she wants on her page, but not on my page. My page is no shaming of any kind. So that's when I said, I'm sorry, but this post feels like hate speech on my page. She can feel free to go and say whatever she would love to say on her page, it's OK with me, just not on my page or on my blog.
KOSIK: Maria, do you have a response?
KANG: Yes, I do. Chrystal, I think you're being a little -- I don't know what the correct word is, but not accurate. I posted on my personal fitness related page, everyone can see the actual post on my website, MariaKang.com, where I posted. And I was talking about an article. I didn't give your name. I didn't provide an image of what I saw. But I talked about the article and I talked about the obesity stats in America, which is two-thirds are overweight, and we spend $3 trillion on health care every year. So it was absolutely on my page, it was no hate in my speech. So I'm sorry if we're on the wrong story here, because I absolutely did not post on your page.
HOWELL: Chrystal, the tone of Maria's message, and that can be debated, but a health crisis in the U.S. The CDC says a third of adults are obese. Does the message of embracing your body put image ahead of health?
BOUGON: Well, I think, you know, I've never seen one study that shows that bullying somebody or shaming somebody into becoming thinner has ever worked. In fact, there's several studies out that show you that the more you shame people the more you embarrass them about their weight, the more weight they gain. So we probably all need to take an approach of just loving our bodies exactly the way they look today, and then, nature versus nurture. Some people are not born to look as thin as, you know, some that you might see, that works out six times a week. Some of our bodies don't have the kind of genetics. KOSIK: Maria, you see that body, not everybody can look like you. Putting the picture up, with the three sons. I'm curious, Maria, what is your regimen? Have you had the mommy surgery, a tummy tuck?
KANG: No, I have had the tummy tuck. I follow what the surgeon general says, and I work out, 30 to 60 minutes a day. And I eat right. And I think people like me who are average, not a size 0 -- I can't be on the cover of "Vogue," but however your body manifests, it should be celebrated whether it's a size two or size 12. What I'm saying the images that I saw are of a woman who are borderline obese, or obese, and they're saying this is who I am, and I celebrate myself, and I'm proud. And I think that's great. You should love and accepted yourself. The problem is, I think you should love, accept, and desire to progress yourself.
KOSIK: OK.
BOUGON: You can't tell whether or not I work out. You cannot tell how healthy I am by looking at a photo of me. You just can't.
KANG: I think that -- you're right. I think there's definite levels of fitness. However, I do think there's a line we need to draw where, I think, a lot of people can tell, that person is not healthy.
BOUGON: No, you cannot. You cannot tell.
KOSIK: We've lost Chrystal's video. We'll go ahead and end it here. I'm sure the conversation will continue.
HOWELL: I'm sure it will.
KOSIK: Fitness guru Maria Kang and Chrystal Bougon.
HOWELL: Thank you both for joining us.
KOSIK: Some people spend years trying to play classical music.
HOWELL: The man you're about to meet can barely feel his own fingers. But he has no problem making great music. We'll have his incredible story after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOSIK: This is an amazing story. David Welsh, has never, never taken a music lesson.
HOWELL: In fact, he's been homeless nearly his entire life, and while he can't read music, he can definitely play it. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: Welsh has literally moved people to tears as he played at the secondhand music store. He believes his gift must be God-given.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID WELSH: I've been on the streets since I was six years old. I don't know how to play music, but I like what I hear in my head. Sometimes I don't know what key I'm pushing. My eyes aren't even open. I'm letting the music play the music.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: It's really amazing. Welsh has been living on the streets of Vancouver for so long his fingers are numb from freezing, cold nights, but that doesn't stop him from playing.
HOWELL: For the past year, he's come to the same music store. Obviously, they don't mind him stopping by there.
KOSIK: This time of year is tough for many people. Not everybody gets to spend the holiday weekend at home with loved ones.
HOWELL: After a series of deadly tornadoes ripped through the Midwest, hundreds of people in Washington, Illinois, were left with no home at all, and more than 100 people are still recovering from injuries. Many were left with no home at all just days before Thanksgiving. My colleague in Chicago, Ted Rowlands, has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: George and Alison, good morning. It is a very emotional holiday weekend here in Washington, Illinois, as you can imagine. Normally this neighborhood here, where more than 500 homes were completely destroyed, would be hosting family and friends over this weekend, but obviously not the case because of the tornado. Only one person died, however, and talking to people here in Washington really, that is what they're most thankful for -- their lives.
PASTOR JOHN BATES, ST. MARK'S LUTHERAN CHURCH: When you see it on TV, it's one thing. When you're out there and working, it's almost overwhelming. It's surreal. But the support of the community working together and everyone lending a hand, is really heartwarming.
BERNICE VAUGHN, HOME DESTROYED IN TORNADO: I don't have a kitchen to prepare a meal today. And it has been just wonderful. Everybody is just so kind, so supportive, and, of course, my friends are -- I've seen my friends here. It's just been so nice to come in and really, it's a festival day.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROWLANDS: One of the really amazing things we've seen this weekend, George and Alison, is the volunteers, the people that don't even live in Washington, or even around here, people from Chicago, even met some people from Iowa, who came to donate their time to help with the cleanup efforts. This is a huge project when you look at this, it's overwhelming. They have months, even years ahead of them, but they're getting a lot of help. The people here are appreciative of that help, especially on a holiday weekend like this. George and Alison?
KOSIK: Ted Rowlands, thank you.
And some tornado survivors got kisses from one very, very cute therapy dog.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are a very special therapy dog.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: That's Smoky that you see there. He brought smiles to one of the many families hit hard this month in Illinois. Several dogs were flown in to help make the aftermath for those affected a little easier.
KOSIK: And doctors were shocked when one woman's cancer suddenly began to disappear.
HOWELL: Hear about her brush with death and how she may have had a visit to heaven, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOSIK: Maybe you've heard about someone who survived a brush with death and then told of returning from a place that they couldn't quite explain. Was it heaven?
HOWELL: Tomorrow night, Anderson Cooper brings us the fascinating stories of three people who came close to clinical death and say they actually went somewhere else, or at least felt something profound or otherworldly. Mary Neal is one of those people. Here she is with CNN's Randi Kaye.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY NEAL: And I could see the riverbank. I could see them pull my body to the shore. I could see them start CPR. I had no pulse and I wasn't breathing. One fellow was yelling at me to come back.
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You were unconscious, so how did you know this was all happening?
NEAL: I felt my body break free, and I felt my spirit break free, and I was greeted by these people, or these spirits. I could be with them and be going down this incredible pathway, and simultaneously look back at the river.
When I saw my body, I will say that was the first time that I actually thought, well, I guess I am dead. I guess I really did die.
KAYE: In the book, you write about dancing with them.
NEAL: Yes.
KAYE: Were you celebrating something or --
NEAL: Yes.
KAYE: What? What were you celebrating?
NEAL: It was a great homecoming. And I was really surprised by the fact that I had no intention of going back --
KAYE: You didn't want to return?
NEAL: No. And I had all the reasons to return. I had a great life. I had a great job. I had a great husband. My children are wonderful, and I loved them more than I could ever imagine loving something on earth. But the love that I felt for them in comparison to god's love that was absolutely flowing through everything is just pale in comparison.
And then, at a certain point, one of the people or spirits told me that it wasn't my time and that I had more work to do on earth, and that I had to go back to my body.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: And check out Anderson Cooper's special report "To Heaven and Back."
HOWELL: It airs tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. eastern and pacific, right here on CNN.
KOSIK: That'll do it for us today, thanks for watching.
HOWELL: But stay right there. There is much more ahead in the CNN Newsroom. We turn it over to my colleague, Miguel Marquez, straight from in from Los Angeles.
MIGUEL, MARQUEZ, CNN ANCHOR: George, Alison, thanks very much. Happy Thanksgiving to both of you.
KOSIK: Thank you.
HOWELL: Same to you.
MARQUEZ: Thanks, guys.
