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Actor Gary Sinise Helping Veterans; #yesallwomen A Response to Male Shooter Blaming Women; Massive Beef Recall On Holiday Known For Grilling Burgers

Aired May 26, 2014 - 14:30   ET

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

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And you know, I spoke with the Jewish rabbi from his native country of Argentina. Rabbi Abraham Scorca (ph) who accompanied the pope on this trip along with an Argentinean Muslim sheik as a kind of interfaith message. That rabbi described his old friend, Pope Francis, as a revolutionary who does want to shake things up and believes strongly in peace, and would want to see the willingness to work towards peace from Israeli leadership. That was coming from the Jewish rabbi who was brought along on this trip. Who also, I might add specified that Pope Francis really is a friend of the Jews.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: We'll see if he takes questions. Remember the plane ride back from Brazil to the Vatican, a lot happened on that plane ride. Let's see if any news is made as he heads home to the Vatican.

Ivan Watson, in Jerusalem, thank you so much for that.

Coming up on this Memorial Day, I talked to actor, Gary Sinise. He just performed at a Memorial Day concert in Washington, D.C. And he will tell us why this day is so important to him.

Also ahead, in the wake of tragic murders at a California college town over the weekend, a lot of women have taken to social media. Have you seen the #yesallwomen? It's taken Twitter by storm. It's a response to the shooter blaming women for his violent rampage, but it seems like it's much bigger than that now. We're going to discuss. Stay right here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: From speaking for veterans on the screen to speaking for veterans across the country, Actor Gary Sinise is taking part in the national Memorial Day parade. Live pictures on your screen from Washington, D.C. The man who played Lieutenant Dan in "Forest Gump" has dedicated his life to helping veterans, even traveling overseas. While Sinise says he is heartened by Memorial Day's recognition of American heroes, he told me that, to him, every day should be Veterans Day.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY SINISE, ACTOR: I spent a lot of time raising awareness of what our men and women are going through. We have several thousand serving in Afghanistan but they are not on the front pages so we are not thinking about them all the time. Yet, Memorial Day, everyone is focused on our veterans. That's good. I want to be a part of that. Just keeping awareness of what our freedom providers do for us over the years. Over 6,000 we've lost in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. We have to keep them and their families in our prayers and thoughts, and keep them at the forefront of what's happening, especially on a day like today, Memorial Day.

BALDWIN: Absolutely. You used a word. I was reading an article today on CNN.com from a veteran's advocate. He says, "Don't thank me for my service, today is about sacrifice."

And as we honor all of those who have sacrificed, you were hosting the National Memorial Day Concert and during a presentation, you got emotional. You said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SINISE: They're the ones that made the sacrifice. But somebody like me has to come forward and tell their story.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Can you explain to me what you meant by that?

SINISE: Well, there's a fairly large disconnect between the average American and its military. There is a statistic out there that says something like over 70 percent of the American people don't really understand what our military goes through, what our veterans are going through post service.

BALDWIN: Uh-huh.

SINISE: It's very, very important that if I can -- if I can do something to raise awareness about what they go through and keep them in the forefront of the American people, especially in a time where we're just coming out of 13 years of war, that's the way that I can serve. Telling stories, letting people know what our military is going through can help raise awareness and that will generate funding for non-profits and volunteerism within communities to help our veterans.

BALDWIN: You know, you do so much. Of course. we saw that the president surprising the troops in Afghanistan. You have been overseas. For the rest of us, just hearing you say, yes, it is Memorial Day and having the specific moments on a calendar, but beyond days like today, how can we a as Americans better embrace our veterans, understand them and help them living back here at home?

SINISE: I think education is a big piece of it. Not a lot of people have a sense of what the costs of freedom really are. If you simply look at the fact that freedom has to be provided, has to be defended and fought for and that means there is going to be those that sacrifice for it, then we as Americans who benefit from that freedom should do everything that we can to support those who provide it and defend it. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: That was just part of my conversation with Gary earlier today.

Join me next hour where I ask Gary Sinise -- he talked about in terms of solutions in the wake of the V.A. scandal, what the veterans are telling him, and he makes an interesting point about all the thousands of non-profits that help our war wounded around the country. We'll play that for you next hour.

Also, if you would like more information on the lingering cost of war, go to CNN.com/impact. A special feature written by a veteran who served in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. That's the piece we were leading to, that this is about sacrifice this Memorial Day. CNN.com/impact.

Coming up, for those of you not working, at home, hopefully firing up the grill with friends and family, there is a major beef recall that you need to know about. How can you know what to avoid? That's the problem. It's not so clear. Elizabeth Cohen will try to help us understand what we should not be eating.

And next the 22-year-old who went on the shooting rampage, he left writings that seemed to indicate that he had a major problem with women. In the wake of this violence, the #yesallwomen has taken social media by storm with a lot of women saying this not about one killer and his six victims. It's about all women. We'll have a much bigger discussion about that coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The killings in Santa Barbara led to an instant and curious reaction on Twitter. Of course, there were condolences to loved ones but also real anger, not just at the senseless deaths but at Elliot Rodger's hate-filled rant against women. Women acknowledge that not all men are dangerous but that is not actually the point. And, yes, all women have a difficult, at times, place in the world. This hash tag that has now been trending for days, #yesallwomen, trending since Saturday, with more than 1.2 million tweets.

One woman summed it up this way. She tweeted, "Not all men practice violence against women but, #yesallwomen live with the threat of male violence every single day all over the world."

Here is another tweet. "#Yesallwomen. Because 'I have a boyfriend' is more likely to get a guy to back off than no because they respect other men more than women."

Another tweet, "If you think, #yesallwomen is an attack on men, you're not listening to women, which is kind of a problem.

Rachel Sklar is the founder of TheLi.st; and Olivia Nuzzi is a reporter with "The Daily Beast." They are joining me now.

Ladies, welcome. Olivia, let me begin with you, because you can really take time and read the tweets. I read your piece on the daily beast. What do you think this campaign is about?

OLIVIA NUZZI, REPORTER, THE DAILY BEAST: The broader issue is women face sexism everyday, in everyday exchanges, and it's not always big enough to make a big deal about it. With this hash tag, women feel more comfortable sharing their stories. Strength in numbers. When you see a woman talking about facing sexism, you feel more comfortable facing those experiences.

BALDWIN: Rachel, when I was looking through them, there are all kinds of themes from an unwanted look on the street to stories of attempted assault. This has gone way beyond the mass shooting in Santa Barbara. And it seems like this is obviously coming from somewhere. Is this just an outlet for women?

RACHEL SKLAR, FOUNDER, THELI.ST: I think what you saw happening has been just a collective trigger for women. We have an example here in Elliot Rodger. There is absolutely no excuse. He was clearly anti- woman. He clearly felt that women. He felt women owed him something. That he was being denied his due. And the hate that he spewed was specifically targeted at women using sexist, degrading language. And it manifested itself in violence and actual murder. I think there was a familiarity in that language that hit home for a lot of women who live with this implicit threat of danger. Someone said #yesallwomen because I always text my friends after we go out to make sure they got home safely. There is an extra layer of danger that comes with being a woman that this early taps into.

BALDWIN: I was reading a bunch of different articles, getting different takes on this hash tag. I read this article on Salon.com. Let me quote part of what Katie wrote. She said, Just as we examine our culture of guns, once again, in the wake of yet another mass shooting, we must also examine our culture of misogyny and toxic masculinity, which devalues both women's and men's lives, and work and inflict real and daily harm. We must exam the dangerous values that treat women less than human and make them, according to Elliot Rodger, deserving of death.

Rachel, when she talks about this culture, in a sense, I mean, whether you are walking through a grocery store or you flip on the TV or a magazine, are we all contributing to this culture?

SKLAR: I think that the culture minimizes women who push back and who complain and who call out sexism. There's a sense of just take a joke or, hey, baby it's a compliment, or what's up, Sugar, why don't you give me a little smile. There is a sense that women are on display, that their purpose is gratification, that the most important emotion is that which is experienced by men. Even on this hash tag, initially I tweeted, "It's an important hash tag to read. Don't protest. Just take it in." The push back I got back from men was, oh, we're not allowed to say anything? What about us?

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Olivia, what has the pushback been from men?

(CROSSTALK)

NUZZI: I think a lot of men are failing to understand how we can look at this senseless violence and take from it a broader social issue. I think a lot of men think it's wrong to paint with a broad brush and they don't want to be associated with this lunatic who did this mass killing. But this is a big issue. This boy was a product of this culture. To talk about the culture is not wrong. And I think we do need to talk about it. If we want to know how to end this kind of violence, we need to address the culture that created the violence.

BALDWIN: Now we're having an actual conversation, which is important. Now we're having a national conversation, Rachel Sklar. Now what?

SKLAR: We keep having this conversation and I think that making the issues explicit, forcing people to examine their attitudes, all of this is part of moving towards the elimination of rape culture, the recognition of real bias and real sexism that woman experience. And the more this happens, this is one of the conversations that has been about the fact that 98 percent of these mass shootings are perpetrated by young white men.

BALDWIN: Young men.

SKLAR: The last time I was on this show with you, we were talking about Mark Cuban's comments about crossing the street when he saw a black kid in a hoodie. We have to move away from that default assumption of danger. The cops that came to interview Elliot Rodger, they said they found a perfectly nice polite boy. Would they have reacted the same way if they had gotten a tip about a black man in a hoodie? We need to redistribute our assumptions.

BALDWIN: Let's check ourselves.

Rachel Sklar and Olivia Nuzzi, thank you both very, very much.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Coming up, a lot of people flipping those burgers on this Memorial Day, but with this massive beef recall because of E. coli, you are probably wondering which beef to buy, which not to buy. Not exactly crystal clear. That's the issue. Elizabeth Cohen joins me after the break to explain what we should not be eating.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: There is a massive beef recall underway on the day when a lot of people are probably getting ready to fire up the grill, one week after Wolverine Packing Plant recalled nearly two million pounds of ground beef. Here's the thing. We still don't know what labels to look for at the grocery store. That's a huge problem. The beef is being blamed for at least 11 E. coli illnesses.

Senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, is here.

It's beyond frustrating because people don't know what to buy.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. Someone just asked me at the hair salon, they recognized me and said, what should I not buy, and I said I can't tell you. I don't know. Usually, they say, "Don't buy XYZ brand." In this recall, we don't know. This is in 15 states and growing. This is really frustrating to consumer advocates who have been working to make it easier for consumers to know what to do in a recall.

I spoke to a woman named Barbara Kawalkchek ph), who's 2-year-old son died of this exact kind of E. coli back in 2001. He went from totally healthy to dead in 12 days. She said, here we are in 2014 and I still can't tell people.

BALDWIN: Why not? Why can't the USDA tell us?

COHEN: A USDA spokesperson gave me two answers. She said I don't have the authority. We can't tell consumers what brands not to by. The second thing is that she said it's very complicated. If you look at this case, you have that one manufacturer, who issued the recall. This manufacturer has over 200 distributors. One of those 200 alone has 7500 customers. So you can see that this is -- it's not like when a pharmaceutical company recalls a drug. This is complicated. This is thousands of people who need to contact other people. It's not easy.

BALDWIN: What do you do when you want to eat a burger, because I just did last night?

COHEN: There you go.

(CROSSTALK)

COHEN: As did I. I think the people, whose house I was at, thought I was crazy because I wanted to see the package and I wanted to look for the establishment date.

BALDWIN: I would feel good if I was eating a burger with you.

COHEN: You feel safe. That's good to hear. So you have to look for this establishment code on the product and look for these production dates.

I will tell you --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: So you can look for something.

COHEN: You can look for something. But I'll tell you, we went to the grocery store, and we didn't always find these codes. We didn't find any codes on some of these and on many of them we didn't find production dates. Who's going to remember that code? We have it up here and in our CNN.com news story. Are consumers really going to remember that? That's really hard to do and pretty unlikely. So because of all of this, what you can also do is just cook everything really thoroughly. Cook with a meat thermometer. Make sure it gets up to 160 degrees. Do not go by color and do not mix up your meat with tomato slices or lettuce that you're not going to cook.

BALDWIN: OK. Thermometer, got to get one.

Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much.

COHEN: Thanks.

BALDWIN: And coming up in the next hour of CNN, the secretary of defense, Chuck Hegel, speaking out on the embattled V.A. secretary, Eric Shinseki, who we saw this morning at that Arlington National Cemetery event. We will play that interview with Jake Tapper, coming up next.

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