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President Barack Obama's Christmas Message; Queen Elizabeth Delivers Traditional Christmas Greeting to British People; UPS Apologizes

Aired December 25, 2013 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Fredricka Whitfield, in for Brooke Baldwin today. If you're celebrating right now, thanks for letting us be a part of your celebration today.

From the believers to the nonbelievers, and those who are hedging their bets somewhere in between, Christmas day is always a warm time of year despite the temperature that it might be outside. We're hearing Christmas day messages from leaders around the world today. And on this holy day, each expressed their faith in mankind, that we can be kinder, gentler, and better people overall. Each delivered their message in their own style, of course, online. Text savvy Barack Obama was joined by the first lady. They urged Americans to serve others and volunteer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For families like ours, that service is a chance to celebrate the birth of Christ and live out what he taught us, to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, to feed the hungry, and look after the sick, to be our brother's keeper and our sister's keeper.

MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: So as we look to the New Year, let's pledge ourselves to living out those values by reaching out and lifting up those in our communities who could use a hand up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: And overseas queen Elizabeth II appeared on television as she has done for more than 50 years now. She also spoke of service to others and talked about the newest member of the royal family, young Prince George.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUEEN ELIZABETH II, UNITED KINGDOM: As with all who are Christened, George was baptized into a joyful faith of Christian duty and service. For Christians as for all people of faith, reflection, meditation, and prayer help us to renew ourselves in God's love as we strive daily to become better people.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: And from the balcony of St Peter's Basilica, Pope Francis recently got person of the year by "Time" magazine, encouraged of a crowd of 70,000 to be better people. And he prayed that the entire world strive for peace.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE FRANCIS, CATHOLIC CHURCH HEAD (through translator): God is peace. Let us ask him to help us to be peacemakers each day in our life, in our families, in our cities, and nations in the whole world. Let us allow ourselves to be moved by god's goodness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And not a leader but someone who has received a whole lot of attention recently, former NSA contractor Edward Snowden determined to be in the spotlight surfaced today on video and warned that a system of worldwide surveillance is watching every move we make, speaking from exile in Russia. Snowden issued a 90-second statement to a British television station that airs a yearly alternative to the queen's Christmas address, facing charges here at home for leaking classified documents. Snowden called on citizens worldwide to press for personal privacy rights.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EDWARD SNOWDEN, LEAKED NSA SURVEILLANCE DOCUMENTS: The conversation occurring today will determine the amount of trust we can place both in the technology that surrounds us and the government that regulates it. Together we can find a better balance. End mass surveillance and remind the government if it really wants to know how we feel, asking is always cheaper than spying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: His television appearance follows a 14-hour interview with "the Washington Post" in which Snowden said he has accomplished his mission of exposing the vast reach of government surveillance. Today, he suggested the trackable cell phones we carry pose a bigger threat to our privacy than anything imagined by Orwell.

With us from Newport Beach, California, CNN national security analyst, Bob Baer and from Philadelphia, Mark Lamont Hill, a CNN's political commentator.

Bob Baer, what do you make of this sudden flurry of statements by Edward Snowden? Why he's putting himself out there, especially on this day?

BOB BAER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Fredricka, I think he's overstepped his bounds, you know. Talking about stopping spying on each other, United States spying on Russia or China, is just not going to happen. You know, if we're not quite at that Orwellian world he promised us. Yes, your cell phones take privacy away, but at the end of the day, I look at the Snowden thing, and he has not pinpointed a single abuse against American citizens. They may have gone on, but he doesn't know about it, and that's really sort of the problem with his message.

WHITFIELD: So Mark Lamont Hill, how do you see this? Is Edward Snowden even relevant as it pertains to the message he continues to try to send and especially this time of year?

MARK LAMONT HILL, CNN COMMENTATOR: Well, he is certainly relevant. The fact he gave that address on the channel 4 station is evidence of that. That's the same network Mahmoud Ahmadinejad used. Many big people used that as an alternative message faith. And the fact that he was granted that says how important he is.

And his message is also very, very important. He's warning us about the dangers of surveillance excesses. Again, I don't think his primary point is about Russia or China saying there shouldn't be any kind of national security interests at play here with regards to surveillance. I think what he's saying is when you spy on everyday people, you run the risk of creating a surveillance culture that's dangerous and undermines American democracy, and the Supreme Court seems to agree with him. The federal court just a few weeks ago said data mining, that this is wrong sweeping data collection is in fact unconstitutional and that suggest that he has been pointed something specific and that the court system agrees with him.

WHITFIELD: Here is more of what Edward Snowden had to say. Let's listen up and then let's talk on the other side of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SNOWDEN: A child born today will grow up with no conception of privacy at all. They will never know what it means to have a private moment to themselves, an unrecorded, unanalyzed thought, and that's a problem because privacy matters. Privacy is what allows us to determine who we are and who we want to be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So, Mark, you first. He's talking about the future now. No one will know what it is to have privacy.

HILL: I think he means not just the future but the present between the cell phones which follow you around in your pocket, the new video game systems many people got with Christmas comes with cameras on the front so people can see you at all times. There are all sorts of levels of surveillance being conducted by government agencies. I'm not a conspiracy theorist. I think we have the technology to surveill people all the time and that's dangerous.

WHITFIELD: So then, Bob, what is Edward Snowden talking about here? Is he talking about NSA, is he talking about classified information or is he talking about technology of today, period?

BAER: He's talking about the national security agency and technology today. For instance, on a cell phone it's possible for the FBI to turn on the so-called harmonics. That means it can listen to room conversation. Same way with your computers. Yes. It is 1984 in that sense. What I think he is really talking about is the potential for abuse here and that we ask, we do need to put under control. Is it a violation of the fourth amendment? I would say it is. This met data collection and storage.

So, he does have a point. It is just were not there yet. We are talking about the future that we better decide what we want.

WHITFIELD: And now, as the Obama administration is talking about, thinking about some sort of reform as it pertains to the NSA's operations, how might this message, Bob, influence or impact what happen come 2014?

BAER: Well, I think that the fact that the federal courts have weighed in and said this may be illegal, I think the press is clearly upset about this and a lot of other people are, and it needs to be reformed. We need to do an accounting of the national security agency because, frankly, I don't have the evidence for it, but I suspect in has been abused at some level. I would like to know that, and I would like to have some independent body go in and just do an accounting of what they have been listening to and what it's contributed to.

WHITFIELD: And Mark, do you expect?

HILL: That's why Snowden is so important.

WHITFIELD: -- particularly in 2014, making more of a lasting mark?

HILL: Absolutely. I mean, the fact that he is out there putting a spotlight on this is why this is happening. This isn't something that NSA didn't know about. This isn't something that the government power brokers didn't know about. They just didn't feel the need to act on it or move on it until Snowden started appearing in our airwaves instead of making like mix tapes about it.

So, as long as he's out there making his voice heard, we'll continue to see movement on the national security front.

WHITFIELD: All right, Mark Lamont Hill, Bob Baer, thanks so much. Merry Christmas.

HILL: Merry Christmas.

WHITFIELD: And today is the day that more than two billion Christians around the world are celebrating the birth of Jesus.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

WHITFIELD: The bible says that happened here, Bethlehem, and it's now the West Bank. Pilgrims gathered at midnight for a special mass but had to be cautious. Just a day earlier the Israeli military responded to a sniper attack with air strikes and tank fire in Gaza.

And then in Baghdad militant groups have often used this holiday to target Christian churches. It happened again just a few hours ago out a Christmas service. A car bomb killed at least 38 people. That did not, however, stop Christians from celebrating Christmas elsewhere in the city.

And finally to Australia. What a way to celebrate Christmas coming right into the middle of summer down under. So you would expect they celebrate it a little differently, and you would be right if you expected that here in Bondia Beach, not far from Sydney. They decorate the tree with flip-flops. How fun! Santa came to shore on a surf board. Of course, today, where are they. Now, Santa there, kind of on dry land. Well, anyway, he passed on a lot of treats to kids at hospitals as well.

All right, coming up, their logo might be we heart logistics, but apparently this year UPS can't deliver on them. Why UPS' backlog may be delaying your Christmas gift.

And UPS is not the only mail service spreading some holiday disappointment, the U.S. postal service just announced the cost of your stamps going up. We will tell you when and by how much next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVE HACK, LIEUTENANT COMMANDER: Hi. I'm lieutenant commander Dave Hack stationed in U.S.-Africa command in Stuttgart, Germany. I want to wish my mom and dad, Gerry and Beverly Hack in Some Lake, Arizona, a very merry Christmas and a happy new year and to all you sun devil fans, go devils. Go devils!

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, the price of a U.S. stamp is going up three cents. It will now cost 49 cents to mail a first class letter. The postal commission approved the rate hike yesterday to offset massive losses incurred during the 2008 recession. The increase takes effect January 26th. Until then, you can stock up on the 46 cent forever stamps to save those pennies.

And too many packages, by the way, and not enough manpower to deliver them. Shipping giant UPS is backlogged and that means a whole lot of Christmas presents didn't make it under the tree this morning. UPS says it's terribly sorry and explains that it couldn't handle the volume of air packages that it had received. Delivers will resume tomorrow and that didn't sit too well with angry customers though who took out their frustrations on social media.

CNN's Margaret Conley is live for us in New York.

So, Margaret, how does UPS explain this?

MARGARET CONLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, well, they're off today for the holiday but they'll be back first thing tomorrow morning for delivers. UPS did say they're sorry. Here is more from their statement.

UPS is experiencing heavy holiday volume and making every effort to get packages to their destination. However, the volume of air packages in our system exceeded the capacity of our network immediately preceding Christmas so some shipments were delayed.

And to give you a sense of how many packages UPS handles, they projected to deliver over 132 million packages just last week. That was their peak week. The delays will impact at least that many consumers, and here is how some of them have been reacting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't tell you how many countless hours we have spent on the phone dealing with this issue with people in Memphis. And they're still blaming it on the ice storm, which was 2 1/2 weeks ago. It's terribly disappointing. We ordered these things December 1st. They can't find them because there is a thousand packages on pallets in there and they can't find our package.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got to the front of the line after wait about an hour. And they said it hasn't been processed yet.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's been here since.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONLEY: Now, we have seen delays in the past years with UPS but those were generally caused by weather or technical glitches. This seems different. It's a backlog, Fred.

WHITFIELD: OK. So the question is, how did UPS manage to underestimate the volume of deliveries?

CONLEY: We talked with a UPS spokesperson and she that factors in addition to weather in some states was the time period between thanksgiving and Christmas was shorter this year. She also said that more people are shopping online. UPS did consider doing deliveries today on Christmas day. But after a lot of thought, they decided not to have to ask their drivers to come in and work on the holiday.

WHITFIELD: I'm sure they are really grateful they had. So, online retailers are impacted in a big way. How are they responding?

CONLEY: Some companies are offering to help. Amazon, for example, they alerted customers to what they say is quote "the failure of the UPS transportation network." Amazon says they're going to refund some shipping charges and give out gift cards. But for those waiting for delivers know that UPS workers, they are going to be out first thing tomorrow morning, Thursday morning, making the rounds.

WHITFIELD: This is costing a lot of people a lot of money in the end.

All right, Margaret Conley, thanks so much. And hey, Merry Christmas.

CONLEY: Merry Christmas.

WHITFIELD: And we got your packages. All right, a huge gift today from Santa for parts of the country recently slammed with treacherous storms. The weather is super quiet across the nation on this Christmas day. But there is a bit of snow as cold temperatures kind of hang around.

CNN meteorologist Jennifer Gray with us now.

We want snow on Christmas. It's OK.

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, a lot of people want a white Christmas. And about 40 percent of the country is covered in snow on Christmas day. But we did have a lot of ice in northern areas during the weekend and that has left a lot of power outages for Christmas day for a lot of folks in the north.

What we've been dealing with are several of these clipper systems that have moved across the north. It's actually caused a little bit of snow. We're going to see more snow fall in the next 48 hours. A lot of this lake-effect snow and this is going to pull into upstate New York and even as far into the northeast as Maine.

So, you can see the snow out there. We are going to see an additional maybe one to two inches of snow in places like Grand Rapids, Detroit. We're also going to see two to four inches of snow possible in Buffalo, also Syracuse as we go through the next 24 to 48 hours.

Temperatures haven't really gotten above freezing since that weekend storm so that's why we're still seeing ice on the ground. Temperatures in the 20s and highs tomorrow, we're actually going to start warming up, especially across the south.

Houston will be at 61 degrees tomorrow afternoon. So it is going to stay mild but mostly sunny. The country very, very quiet for the most part. Just a little bit of lake-effect snow around the great lakes, the northeast getting some snow as well. But most of the country, Fred, very, very quiet and looking mighty nice.

WHITFIELD: All right, very good. Merry Christmas.

Thanks so much.

GRAY: Merry Christmas to you.

WHITFIELD: All right, coming up next, these names are very familiar and faces. Miley Cyrus, Beyonce, Jennifer Lawrence, all making huge marks on 2013? So, who will be the biggest star of 2014? Our experts give their predictions.

And in a reminder Santa is magical to people of all shades. A mall in California celebrates a Christmas with a St. Nick reflecting his diversity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi. This is (INAUDIBLE), currently stationed at Afghanistan. I'd just like to wish my wife, Rema, and daughter sage, a wonderful, happy Christmas, Merry Christmas to both of you. I love you both and I miss you so much. And Sage, it's Christmas but it's also -- what day is it? Hump day! I love you and I will see you soon. Bye.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The Obama administration again has extended the deadline for federally backed health coverage. Officials say this new extension is intended for people who couldn't sign up due to the well- known Web site problems. Republican opponents of the health care law say the move is another sign that the administration is desperate to pump up sagging enrollment. Insurers are quoted as saying the repeated extensions pose serious threats to their planning.

So with us now from Washington, Jason Johnson. He's an HLN contributor.

So Jason, by our count, this is the fourth signup extension. Is it a sign of desperation in your view, as the Republicans say? And I like the red. Merry Christmas.

JASON JOHNSON, HLN CONTRIBUTOR: Thank you.

Yes, Obama's like the easiest professor ever. He just keeps giving extension after extension to finally get this thing fixed.

WHITFIELD: Is it good?

JOHNSON: It's not a good thing. It's actually a bad sign and it reflects the fact that they still have not managed to fix this Web site. But the fact remains this is a long-term project. They want to get seven million people signed up. It's going to take years. So, mistakes if the first couple months, it's embarrassing but it doesn't mean the whole project is a failure.

WHITFIELD: So, the deadline that really counts is March 31st when the administration hopes to hit the magic number of seven million enrollees as you put it. And here is part of the ongoing ad campaign. Take a look.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

WHITFIELD: OK. So, very wholesome. That ad running in organs saying that attack the youth to Obamacare. Here is a web ad also aimed at youth, young people. Tough, the woman is depicted as saying her birth control is covered. All right, she needs to do is, quoting her now, "get this guy between the covers."

OK. So, what is this all about? You know, just reach out in any way you can, try to be catchy, edgy?

JOHNSON: Yes. I mean, look, it's a good strategy. This is what Republican Aaron Shock was complaining about last week when he said you can bring in all the young people, millennials, and rap stars and rock stars you want, it's not going to change things.

I think is a good idea by the Obama administration. IT even makes me want to buy coffee or sign up for health care. I mean, these are kind of hippie commercials. But ultimately, the test is how many people not once they're signed up, how many people are going to enjoy what they get in the service? Because most of the people who have signed up, they've already signed up already. When we get to next year, March, April, May, when people are getting this health care service, are they happy with it? And that's what will matter for 2014.

WHITFIELD: But before we get to that point, it seems as though the administration is going to do everything it can to explain to explain, re-explain, entice, get people to get online. What should we expect from the administration in the next few weeks ahead.

JOHNSON: A major push. Look, they're spending hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising. And what you will notice is in key states, in places like Florida, in places like Ohio, the president really wants those swing states to have people signed up and realizing what a benefit this plan is. And I expect that we are going to see more examples of that as the weeks go on.

WHITFIELD: And so, now, reportedly there have been some, some might call it kind of desperate tactics. There have been some folks who are working for the administration who are explaining this health care. They're showing up at nightclubs and odd hours trying to reach the young folks in particular, but you have to wonder if that's a kind of strategy that would backfire or it would be enlightening? Would it get the attention ever young people?

JOHNSON: Most young people are aware of this. I mean, I got to say, not just as fact that you remember, but the work that I do. You hear young people talking about it all the time because most of them are happy to be covered on their parents' insurance until they're 26.

So the Obama administration, they're not trying to reach most of those college-age kids. They're trying to get people in their late 20s who might be independent business people, who are like I don't want to pay that extra $250 to $300 a month. SO, that's what they're trying to grab and those people are necessary for the whole program to work.

WHITFIELD: All right. We'll expect more ad whether it's wholesome or maybe not so wholesome.

JOHNSON: Yes.

WHITFIELD: More shot guys as you put it.

All right, Jason Johnson, thanks so much.

JOHNSON: Thank you. Merry Christmas.

WHITFIELD: Have a great holiday.

All right, the color lines surrounding the debate about Santa Claus' race were blurred at one southern California mall. There Santa takes a multi multicultural approach and the shoppers actually love and really appreciated it.

Here is CNN's Kyung Lah.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The heart of every mall at Christmas, elves, cameras, crying babies.

All to see the obligatory mall Santa, but it's a rare sort of Santa at the Baldwin Hill Crenshaw plaza in south Los Angeles.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We came to see the black Santa.

LAH: He draws crowds of pint size, preschoolers and their patient parents.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Merry Christmas.

LAH: Just like every Santa in any mall America.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What you want for Christmas?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Iphone.

LAH: The pictures are characteristically Christmas, at the same time, they're not.

RENALDO SANDERS, VISITING BLACK SANTA CLAUS: They feel good about themselves by seeing someone also that looks like them. When I was little, there were none of those things. There was no black Santa in Chicago in 1953.

LAH: So it's important for them to see this?

SANDERS: Yes, it is.

LAH: Turn on the TV this Christmas, all you see is one shade of Santa. Like most benevolent characters American children grow up seeing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The only important thing is to make the children happy.

LAH: The good guy is white. But not at this mall. Other Santa speak Spanish.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Feliz Navidad.

LAH: And for the last nine holiday seasons, 77-year-old (INAUDIBLE) Paterson has greeted the crowd plopping toddlers like 2-year-old Manhattan Lamont on his lap whose parents want her snapshot with St. Nick to mean more than just a commercial card.

TYRONE LAMONT, PARENT: Kids don't see the no color. I don't think so. I didn't see color when I was little, you know. You only see color when you get older. LAH: Nearly all the shoppers in this mall are African-American or Latino, just like the popularity of the multi-racial Santas here. There are only a handful of them in the entire country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, buddy.

LAH: That's why Santa himself has a wish this Christmas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The malls next year will have a few ethnic Santa Clauses in all cultures.

LAH: Dreaming of a white Christmas and one in many other shades.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, sweetie.

LAH: Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And up next, she came in like a wrecking ball in 2013. You know who I'm talking about, so how will Miley Cyrus top herself next year? We're giving you next year's entertainment headlines. Our experts make some bold predictions, some in, some out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)