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Twitter And The Mentality Of Mob Justice; Obama Signs Up For Health Coverage; Spacesuit Trouble Delays NASA's Spacewalk Until Christmas Eve; The Real-Life "Wolf Of Wall Street"; Top Crimes And Trials Of 2013
Aired December 23, 2013 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. Bottom of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Did you catch the Seahawks/Cardinals game yesterday? The Cardinals beat the Seahawks by seven points, ending the Seahawks home field winning streak. Seahawks fans predictably upset here. Many of them took to Twitter to voice their displeasure.
One notable tweet from a Washington State representative, Joe Fitzgibbon, tweeting, losing a football game sucks. Losing to a desert racist wasteland sucks a lot." Yes, some folks in Arizona and beyond, not too happy with that tweet. Also making waves in the Twitterverse this weekend, comedian, Steve Martin, tweeted out a joke that many of his followers immediately slammed as racist.
Martin quickly deleted the tweet, issued an apology statement, and then you have Justine Sacco. Did you hear about her? The Twitter faux pas took the internet by storm this weekend. The now former PR executive tweeted this before hopping on a flight, "Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding, I'm white." Yep, she tweeted that. She worked in PR.
By the time she had landed in Johannesburg, Twitter was on fire with people outraged by the tweet. Many calling for her to be fired and worse later, she was dismissed by her company, IAC, and then issued this emotional apology statement. So joining me now are senior media correspondent and host, "RELIALBE SOURCES", Brian Stelter, and clinical psychologist, Dr. Jeff Gardere. Gentlemen, welcome.
This is so much bigger than this one tweet, because yes, Justine's tweet, yes, it was offensive and wrong, but if you were on Twitter Friday, and you saw the hashtag, #hasjustinelandedyet. Twitter was ready to pounce, wanted to see the chaos that would ensue, wanted to see her go down. Brian Stelter, why do we, I want to turn this around on us. Why do we care so much?
BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, these stories, let's take Justine Sacco as the first one. They're like fireworks. They light up the sky. Everyone is attracted to them. Everyone wants to watch them, but they can be dangerous just like fireworks. I think these are cases, all of the ones you mentioned are cases where people may go too far on the internet, but then the people who respond also sometimes go too far. We have to make sure we take the high ground when we think someone has been inappropriate or offensive online.
BALDWIN: People jumped on her when she was on the flight, taking it to such a low level, saying I hope you get AIDS and I know you can -- which is ridiculous and you can hide behind this Twitter avatar.
STELTER: What's crazy about that is she was obscure on Twitter until that day. Nobody really knew she was there. The people who were messaging her were making the same mistake. They were being just as rude as she was thinking they were anonymous, but they are not.
BALDWIN: Jeff, what does this say about us, we the people, this Twitter mob justice mentality, taking people down? Do we get some sick, you know, do you enjoy watching people go down? What's with us?
JEFF GARDERE, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Well, Sigmund Freud once said get a life. Look, what's going on here, a lot of these people are on Twitter. A lot of the tweets are very, very boring. When they happen to get one of these Twitter feeds that says something that is outrageous and yes, this young woman was outrageous, but I don't believe one tweet proves that she's a racist.
What she said may have been or was in fact racist, but it means that it doesn't mean that she's racist. And Brian is right. Two wrongs don't make a right. We instead should be the conscience here on Twitter and we should correct her, her tweet. But we shouldn't wish her such bad things, for her to get AIDS and so on. It's the wrong thing to do.
BALDWIN: Agree. I'm like, do a lot of people not have holiday parties to go to Friday night, why are we all jump in on this bandwagon.
STELTER: It's sort of a reflection of all of us. Charlie wrote a really good commentary over the weekend who said the internet. This is not about Twitter or Facebook. This is about all of us. The internet really is everything now. So when we see these things happen online, it's a version of what's always happened in quote/unquote "real life" in the quote/unquote "town square." The internet is a reflection of our humanity.
GARDERE: But at the same time, I have to say when we're looking at these tweets, remember, these tweets they don't have a tone. They don't have facial gestures. We don't see a body language. So something that's put out there with limited characters, it just becomes a raw shock where everyone reads something into it that may not have been the intent.
Just like Steve Martin. No one knows him as a racist. He was in the movie "The Jerk." He parodied black people. Nobody said he was a racist then. You take that one tweet where no one knows the context it's coming from and then bam, he's in big trouble, but at least he apologized. She apologized. People should be allowed to apologize and learn from their mistakes.
BALDWIN: It is a lesson to every single one of us. I just kept thinking, you know, once upon a time when there was no Twitter, she may have whispered this to someone, now it's a tweet and a video and it's like, what's next? That's a frightening thought. Brian Stelter, Jeff Gardere, guys, thank you very, very much for talking to me today.
We are learning a little bit more as far as how the president has signed up for health care under his new law. And well, given the details we're learning here, it may ruffle some feathers for you, a live report on that update. That's coming up next.
Also, spacewalk part two is scheduled for tomorrow. Details on the risk, the emergency, and the new space suit technology. That's next. Stay with me.
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BALDWIN: Earlier in the show, we talked about how President Obama has officially signed up for Obamacare today, so we've got some new details to even update that. Just in to us here at CNN, we're learning exactly how the president signed up and given the debacle that we have been reporting on the last couple of months, you may not like to hear some of what we're learning. The president is on Christmas vacation in Honolulu.
That's where Athena Jones is there. Athena, when we say the president signed up for this bronze plan on Obamacare, he wasn't actually on healthcare.gov?
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, he was not on healthcare.gov, Brooke. He signed up through Washington, D.C.'s exchange, so in any case, he would have done it through the web site that Washington, D.C. runs. He didn't do that either. The president's staff signed him up in person in Washington, D.C. They say they cited his complicated -- the complicated nature of the president's case. They said that required an in-person sign-up, so his staff went to go do this.
They said, as you would expect, the president's personal information is not readily available in the variety of government databases that healthcare.gov uses to verify identities. So that's the explanation we've got. An interesting tidbit here because of course as you mentioned, there are a lot of folks who had a lot of problems signing on to these web sites, whether it's healthcare.gov, the federal exchange, or the exchanges run by individual states or in this case, Washington, D.C. a little bit of interesting tidbit as we approach the deadline.
BALDWIN: I was wondering if and when there would be a photo op of the president signing up. Athena Jones in Honolulu. Athena, thank you very much.
Now to American astronauts on board the International Space Station will be spending their Christmas Eve doing something so dangerous it was banned for much of this year. I'm talking about a spacewalk and it all started when this crucial pump malfunctions earlier this month. But then to further complicate things, water was found inside of one of the space suits over the weekend. CNN's Alexandra Field has a look at why that water is so alarming.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just wanted to verify there's no rips exposed, correct?
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): NASA astronauts on a mission to make repairs at the International Space Station spend five and a half hours on Saturday on a high-stakes space walk and they'll do it again Christmas Eve. If you thought your holidays had high drama, it doesn't compare.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know if you believe in miracles, but I got the hinch pin on the first try.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's awesome, Rick.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's sort of like a really complex ballet with only two performers.
FIELD: The astronauts, Rick Mastracchio and Michael Huffkins have already successfully removed a faulty pump that's needed to pump that's need to cool equipment on the space station.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nice work, Rick.
FIELD: A new pump was supposed to be installed today, but will now be delayed until tomorrow after a potential problem with Mastracchio's space suit was discovered Saturday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The only issue that I personally am having is it's very, very cold.
CHRIS HADFIELD, RETIRED ASTRONAUT: One of the suits showed maybe a sign that it got a little water into the evaporator on the back, which cools the suit when you're outside.
FIELD: NASA says the astronaut wasn't in danger and that the issue with the space suit isn't related to what happened in July that's when Italian astronaut, Luca Permentano nearly drowned after water leaked into his helmet, a reminder of the dangerous nature of the work being done 220 feet above earth.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Astronaut is off structure.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do I do?
FIELD: The recent hit movie "Gravity" puts a highly dramatized science fiction spin on the risk of space work, risks every astronaut on every mission understands.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The movie "Gravity" is a good movie, but you probably don't want to watch that when you're in space.
FIELD: Maybe not, Masstrachhio will have a new space suit ready to wear where he and Hopkins head back out Tuesday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're welcome. Thank you, good job. FIELD: Alexandra Field, CNN, New York.
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BALDWIN: Coming up after this quick break, she went from this to this. Why this former Eagles cheerleader traded in her pom-poms for an imported carbine.
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BALDWIN: A former NFL cheerleader traded her pom-poms for military fatigues to join the Armed Forces. Now she's being honored by her former NFL team, the Philadelphia Eagles. She is Rachel Washburn. She is a first lieutenant with the U.S. Army. The 25-year-old did two tours of duty in Afghanistan and received a bronze star.
So if you were watching last night at the Eagles game, the team recognized its former cheerleader for her heroic achievements. Her father, an Air Force and Army vet himself, nominated her. Washburn cheered for Philadelphia for three years. She is considering reenlisting in the Army next year.
And you know, there may not be a ton of football happening on Christmas day, but there's no shortage of new movies opening up this week at the Box Office. You have "Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom," Stallone and De Niro's "Grudge Match." Justin Bieber's "Believe," but the movie I'm most excited to see stars Leonardo Dicaprio because he heads back to the big screen in this new film based upon this real life disgraced financial exec in the "Wolf of Wall Street."
Some of the hard partying scenes from the film seem too crazy to be true, but as it turns out they're actually not so far from what happened in real life.
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LEONARDO DICAPRIO, ACTOR (acting): My name is Jordan Belford. The year I turned 26, I made $49 million, which really pissed me off because it was three shy of a million a week.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I said we would reach new levels of productivity. We look back and say the numbers that we have been doing four or five months ago were nothing. I make one more guarantee. Six months from now, what you're doing right now is going to be nothing again.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the greatest company in the world!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I made my first $600,000 in one trade, I went out and bought a white Ferrari Testarossa. Not a yellow one, not a black one, not a white one. You know why? Because it was the car that Don Johnson drove in "Miami Vice."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A great life?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of guys here right now, in a few months, you're going to be making a lot of money. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is all this legal?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely not.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I was greedy. The thousand dollar suits and gold watches and you know, the drinking at lunch, and the cocaine at the end of the day, and it was almost like adult Disneyland for dysfunctional people, basically. Back then, I had 1,000 best friends. Everyone was my best friend because everyone wanted something from me. Everyone could benefit from what I was doing. I was really generous with my money. Yes, sure, didn't have any meaning to me. It was like monopoly money to me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's part of everybody here, not me, not Kenny, not a couple partners. It's made up of everybody here. You guys are part of. You built it. Without you, it doesn't run. If we all stick together, next year at this time, we'll be double the size. We already are the most powerful firm, but we'll be a legend on Wall Street. That's our goal, all right?
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BALDWIN: Totally going to see that this week. "Wolf of Wall Street" hits theatres Christmas Day. Coming up next hour, this.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel her. I can feel my daughter. I just kind of feel like maybe she's trapped inside her own body and she wants to scream out and tell me something.
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BALDWIN: A routine surgery became that mother's nightmare and now the parents of a teenager left brain dead after a tonsillectomy are rallying to keep her on life support. We have an update for you at the top of the hour. Stay here.
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BALDWIN: A super model killed by her famous boyfriend on Valentine's Day. A teenage athlete suffocated inside a gym mat, and a shooting spree inside a military base. We can't close the books on 2013 without a look at the year's most notorious crimes and trials and mysteries. Here is Ashleigh Banfield.
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ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Number ten.
CHRIS CUOMO, ANCHOR, CNN'S "NEW DAY": We have a report that shots have been fired at the Washington Navy Yard.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. Navy is telling us three shots were fired. They tell us an active shooter is still inside that building. BANFIELD: Former Navy Reservist Aaron Alexis, a military contractor, gunned down 12 people before police shot and killed him. Number nine. The mysterious death of 17-year-old Kendrick Johnson.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Got some questions about the Kendrick Johnson case.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not going to discuss that with you.
BLACKWELL: Why not, sir?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because our case is closed.
BANFIELD: His body found upside down in a rolled up wrestling mat in the high school gym last January. Local authorities ruled it an accident. Kendrick's parents believe he was murdered. Now federal authorities are investigating.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are Kendrick Johnson. That's my child and we're going to fight until it's all over.
BANFIELD: Number eight. Oscar Pistorius, the blade runner, a double amputee, beloved South African Olympic athlete, indicted on charges of murder in August for the shooting of his model girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. He admits he shot her on Valentine's Day, but says it was an accident. His trial starts in March.
Number seven. California teen, Hannah Anderson rescued after a week- long hunt for her abductor in August. Family friend James Dimaggio killed her mother and her brother and the family dog. Their bodies found in his burned home. FBI agents killed him in a shootout.
Number six. A woman who needs no introduction --
JODI ARIAS: Could have at least done your makeup, Jodi, gosh.
BANFIELD: Her outrageous behavior in the interrogation room, the brutal murder of her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander, and ex-rated details of their sex life gripped the nation. Jodi Arias convicted of first degree murder, but the jury could not decide if she should live or die for the crime.
Number five. A gang of bikers taking on an SUV driver on a highway in Manhattan, his wife and 2-year-old daughter inside. It started with a bump. And moments later, this terrible scene. The driver runs over one biker. His wife says he was left paralyzed. Eleven other bikers, including an undercover cop, are indicted.
Number four. Edward Snowden, branded by some as a hero, by others a traitor, for exposing the NSA's spying programs in May, perhaps the biggest intelligence leak in U.S. history, charged with espionage, granted asylum in Russia.
Number three. George Zimmerman, found not guilty in July of murdering Trayvon Martin.
UNIDENTIFIED 911: Do you think he's yelling help?
UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: Yes.
BANFIELD: A tragic case that ignited questions about race.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trayvon Martin put race in this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't think that creepy ass cracker is a racial comment?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
BANFIELD: A 17-year-old in a hoodie with a pack of Skittles, enduring images from a case that's prompted cries for civil rights charges and an emotional debate, even the president weighed in.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon.
BANFIELD: Since Zimmerman's acquittal, he's had a few other run-ins with the law. Number two, inside a Cleveland house of horrors. Three girls kidnapped, raped, and held captive for more than a decade. But on May 6th, Amanda Berry, Gina De Jesus, and Michelle Knight finally broke free.
MICHELLE KNIGHT: I will not let the situation define who I am. I will live on. You will die a little every day.
BANFIELD: Ariel Castro sentenced to life in prison plus more than 1,000 years.
ARIEL CASTRO: I am not a violent predator, a monster. I'm not a monster.
BANFIELD: Ultimately, he would do himself in, killing himself in his cell. That was ten through two. This is number one.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Apparently, there's been an explosion at the Boston marathon. I am told.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, CNN'S "SITUATION ROOM": A 26-mile, 385-yard marathon and it was wrapping up. Wrapping up when you look at these devastating pictures right at the finish line. These are pictures that were shot just moments ago.
BANFIELD: Double-bombings at the finish line of the Boston marathon on April 15th. Three people were killed, 264 others were wounded.
And days later, a police officer would be killed. Another wounded. Within four days, one suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, shot and killed by police. Then the manhunt for his brother, Dzhokhar, that shut down the city.
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, CNN'S "AC 360": We believe that the suspect is cornered in a boat.
BANFIELD: Tsarnaev arrested April 19th and later charged. Now, the U.S. attorney is deciding if he'll face the death penalty. The attack knocked the city down, but it was far from defeated.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I kind of feel like we're all Boston.
BANFIELD: The whole country united with one re-sounding message.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Strong. Not just strong, Boston strong.
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BALDWIN: Ashleigh Banfield, thank you very much. I will not ever forget being in Boston at that time. You can vote on the top ten overall stories of 2013. Go to CNN.com/yir, for year in review.
