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"Forbes" 2014 Most Powerful Women; Bloomberg Speaks at Harvard Commencement; Students Protest Commencement Speakers; CNN Original Series to Look at Future of Cities

Aired May 29, 2014 - 15:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Bottom of the hour, you're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

"Forbes" magazine calls it its definitive annual guide to the extraordinary icons and leaders on the global stage. This is basically the 2014 list of the most powerful women. It is out.

So here you have the top five, Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the IMF, International Monetary Fund; Dilma Roussef, the president of Brazil; philanthropist Melinda Gates; Janet Yellen, the first woman to chair the Federal Reserve; and at number one, German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

She has been number one, by the way, nine times. First lady Michelle Obama, she was number eight.

So here with me now is the publisher of Forbes woman, Moira Forbes. Moira, nice to have you on.

MORIA FORBES, PUBLISHER, FORBESWOMAN: Thanks for having me.

BALDWIN: So, pretty impressive list here. How do you all sit at the table and come up with the top five?

FORBES: Well, an extraordinary group of women to look at around the world, this year we looked at women across eight different categories, categories like business, finance, politics, philanthropy and the like.

We looked at these women and ranked them in three different areas. Money, how much money are they earning or influencing or controlling?

We also looked at media. How often are they part of or driving the global dialogue, and that includes social media, which is a huge, fundamental change in how we look at power?

And the final criteria we looked at was impact. How are these women leveraging their influence not just in their day job, but across multiple spheres to impact the world in a positive way?

BALDWIN: Ok, so you're looking at all those different things. This is year number 10 for you in putting out this list, which is a milestone, and I love seeing all these women coming together.

How important is this list really in advancing the cause of empowering women not just in politics, diversity, workplace, all of the above.

FORBES: I think it offers an extraordinary snapshot in time to see where women are and where women are emerging and ascending around the world.

When we first started the list 10 years ago, it was a lot of firsts, the first woman to head a global corporation, a multibillion-dollar corporation, the first woman to do X, Y or Z.

That is no longer the case. We had 28 corporate CEOs on this year's list. We had women who either founded their own businesses or their own foundations.

We also had nine, self-made, female billionaires with a total net worth of $81 billion. That's extraordinary power.

And I think we're also -- it's so exciting we are seeing women emerge not just here in the U.S., but in Asia, Africa and the like, and so this list, as I said, is a snapshot in time, an encouraging one. And I think it also offers a great set of role models for women around the world with these extraordinary leaders..

BALDWIN: Phenomenally phenomenal women, to quote the late Maya Angelou.

Moira Forbes, thank you so much. Appreciate you coming on today.

FORBES: Thank you so much.

BALDWIN: Former New York City mayor, Michael Bloomberg, giving the commencement address at Harvard any minute now, so let's take a look at some live pictures -- not quite at the podium yet -- live pictures from Cambridge, Massachusetts.

He is expected to be pretty fiery here in his remarks directed at students who vehemently disagree with that choice as commencement speaker. Did he go too far? Will he have a point?

We will debate that, next.

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BALDWIN: Social media is all atwitter over this online scavenger hunt for cash.

So, this wealthy real estate developer who goes by the Twitter handler, @HiddenCash, is paying it forward, because he has stashed nearly $4,000 all around the city of San Francisco.

He then hops onto Twitter, tweets out these crafty clues on where people can go and find the cash.

So this hunt has sparked a city-wide frenzy, but the money grab is not all about free dough. There was a message in the madness, and CNN's Dan Simon talked to the man behind all of this money.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, he just posted a new clue. It says "Find Mr. Franklin along the crookedest street." Let's go.

It's a San Francisco scavenger hunt, and we're playing along, tracking the latest clue for cash to the world-famous Lombard Street.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We came over here, like, superfast, like the second the tweet came out.

SIMON: The search for dollars sometimes just affixed to parking meters has taken people all over the city, thanks to a self-described one- percenter on Twitter with the handle, @HiddenCash.

According to his profile, it's a social experiment for good. He hides money then tweets out the clues. One of them takes us to the sea lions at Fisherman's Wharf --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's got to be around here somewhere.

SIMON: -- where we find at least a dozen people looking.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Barbecue's running, I hope my house doesn't burn down because we're looking.

SIMON: And if you happen to find the cash-filled envelope, all that's asked is that you tweet a photo.

The man behind it all is a real estate investor who tells me that he's heartened to see that many of the lucky recipients are using the money for their own random acts of kindness.

Can you tell me why you decided to remain anonymous?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't necessarily want the spotlight on myself. I do want the spotlight on what I'm doing and what I'm trying to do, but I don't want the spotlight on me as a private person.

I have no plans to stop any time soon. I'm planning to continue this, indefinitely into the future.

SIMON: Since it started last week, he's been leaving about a thousand dollars a day. That equates to 10 separate clues, and we're racing to the next one.

All right, he just tweeted that the money is right near the Golden Gate Bridge and we'll be there in just about a minute.

And that's where we find Izzy Miller.

IZZY MILLER, FOUND HIDDEN CASH: Hello.

SIMON: With a crisp bill in hand.

MILLER: I just rolled out of bed and I saw the tweet and ran down here and somehow managed to be the first person.

SIMON: The envelope wedged in this box.

What do you think about what he's doing?

MILLER: I think it's awesome. It's a totally fun thing to do and the fact that he's doing it in a philanthropic and charitable mindset makes it even cooler.

SIMON: It's old-fashioned cash and San Francisco tech coming together for a noble purpose.

Dan Simon, CNN, San Francisco.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Dan Simon, running around San Francisco for that, Dan, that was fantastic.

HiddenCash's mission of giving, by the way, is expanding. The mystery millionaire told CNN affiliate KTVU that Los Angeles is up next, this coming weekend, and next month perhaps New York City.

Speaking of New York, former mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, giving the commencement address at Harvard, here he is, live pictures, right now, expected to get fiery because a number of students there do not want him there, period.

That's next.

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: ... on September 11, 2001, and on April --

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BLOOMBERG: ... our union of 50 states rests on --

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BLOOMBERG: -- in the 1950s, the right wing was attempting to repress left -

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BLOOMBERG: -- on September 11, 2001, and on April 15, 2013, found most threatening.

To them, we were a godless country, but in fact, there is no country that protects the core of every faith and philosophy known to humankind, free will, more than the United States of America.

(APPLAUSE)

BLOOMBERG: And that protection, however, rests upon our constant vigilance. We like to think that the principle of separation of church and state is settled. It is not, and it never will be. It is up to us to guard it fiercely and to ensure that equality under the law means equality under the law for everyone.

If you want the freedom to worship as you wish, to speak as you wish, and to marry whom you wish, you must tolerate my freedom to do so or not to do so, as well.

Now, what I do may offend you. You may find my actions immoral or unjust but attempting to restrict my freedoms in ways that you would not restrict your own leads only to injustice.

We cannot deny others the rights and privileges that we demand for ourselves, and that is true in cities, and it is no less true at universities where the forces of repression appear to be stronger now, I think, than they have been at any time since the 1950s.

When I was growing up, U.S. Senator -- yes, you can applaud.

(APPLAUSE)

BALDWIN: Yes, you can applaud, so says the former mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, and we just rolled into that at that perfect time.

He's speaking live at Harvard, specifically there addressing his own freedom of speech, saying to this group of students there, hey, what I have to say, what I have to believe may offend you, but trying to restrict my freedoms and not your own is absolutely unjust.

So, you see the crowds here, no surprise. He ignored the cries of some of those Harvard students who didn't want him there to give that commencement address in Cambridge. A group of students opposed Bloomberg's support of the controversial NYPD tactic known as stop- and-frisk, which seemed to discriminate against minorities.

Bloomberg, there he is, speaking today, offering his best advice to students, but we can tell you in the bigger context of things at least three other speakers ducked out this past spring at different commencements rather than risk maybe getting booed during their speech.

And that's a list including Condoleezza Rice. Rutgers students didn't want to hear from her because of her role in the Iraq war.

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde skipped Smith College's graduation. Students accused her of supporting systems that oppress women.

And a former chancellor at UC Berkeley had to back out at Haverford College for Cal's alleged police brutality against students in 2011.

So it's not just Mayor Bloomberg here, who maintained his commitment to speak, but a number of others, and we're wondering today, is this -- is bullying the right word? Is this bullying by students or is this a fair response by them to schools choosing speakers they don't want and they don't agree with on their big day.

Let's talk about it with Amani Al-Khatahtbeh, who co-organized the protest at Rutgers over Rice's planned appearance, and radio host Ben Ferguson, a CNN political commentator. So welcome to both of you.

BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good afternoon.

BALDWIN: Amani, I'd love to begin with you. I hope you heard, just quickly, what Mayor Bloomberg was saying. I know you're not there at Harvard. You're from Rutgers.

But he is essentially, in talking about his freedom of speech, he is essentially speaking to students such as yourself. What's your response?

AMANI AL-KHATAHTBEH, CO-ORGANIZED PROTESTS AT RUTGERS UNIVERSITY: I think it's really important to distinguish the freedom of speech of a person to speak at commencement and their privilege in speaking at commencement.

There is no public official that is entitled or has the right to give a commencement speech. That is an honor.

And the protests are not trying to protest against a speaker's freedom of speech to speak at that university. I don't think any students are opposed to having a speaker come and speak at an event.

But having them as a commencement speaker is a proclamation that that speaker embodies all the values the students should aspire to, and these protests are basically a rejection of that.

They are saying that we do not worship power. We are not going to admire these people just because they're successful or they're famous or what have you. It comes down to their values and what their actions represent.

BALDWIN: Ben --

FERGUSON: So I'm --

BALDWIN: -- go ahead.

FERGUSON: So I'm assuming what we need to do now is we actually need to find dropouts or people that never went to college, never created anything, never did anything in their life, and we'll have them speak, or, better yet, we'll just cancel it, altogether, because then no one gets offended.

This is the problem I have with activism on campus right now is I say, go ahead and move 20 years down the road and look at your career and see if it was perfect and everyone be accepting of it and then let's see if you go back and you've actually done something with your life.

Bloomberg has. I don't know if I agree with him, politically. But to protest and to act like you have to be some sort of perfect kumbaya- type person to be honored or to have the ability to do this, I think is a little bit unrealistic.

And they are protesting these people, and they don't want them to speak, and they are trying to silence them, and they are trying to get them to be kicked out of their university from doing their commencement.

So, I mean, it is freedom of speech that you are, in essence, protesting a little bit.

BALDWIN: Amani, I want you to respond to that, but let's be specific to your example at Rutgers. I mean, you lead this -- you helped organize this protest.

You found out Condoleezza Rice was invited to speak at your university, and you and a number of other students didn't want that.

You were, essentially, successful, because she basically bowed out from speaking What was it exactly about Condoleezza Rice that so bothered you?

AL-KHATAHTBEH: Well, to start off, it's really not about freedom of speech, and it's not about a successful career.

What is success if it's used to violate basic human right, basic civil rights --

BALDWIN: Let's -- Condoleezza Rice --

AL-KHATAHTBEH: -- students are claiming --

BALDWIN: -- let's stay with her. Tell me about her.

AL-KHATAHTBEH: Our protests against Condoleezza Rice were made for exactly the same reason.

We felt that Condoleezza Rice was violating international law. She was one of the first officials to sanction torture tactics like waterboarding that violated international law, yet she was being honored by being invited to speak at our university and also being honored with an honorary degree of law. And that was completely unheard of.

And, again, we are not trying to get perfect personalities to speak at our commencements. We're trying to get moral ones --

FERGUSON: Sounds like you are.

AL-KHATAHTBEH: -- and I absolutely do not feel that that's unrealistic, to hold them to that standard.

BALDWIN: Amani, should -- the pushback would be, shouldn't -- when you're in college, that's a place of diversity of thought, right?

You're required to take myriad courses in different fields of study just to figure out, ultimately, what you want to focus on. You're friends with folks from all different walks of life. Why shouldn't a commencement speaker, whether you agree with their politics or not, why should that be any different?

AL-KHATAHTBEH: Again, it doesn't come down to political opinions. I mean, in the case of Condoleezza Rice, her actions destroyed an entire nation that is still recovering from a war that was ultimately a failure.

This is not about --

(CROSSTALK)

AL-KHATAHTBEH: -- political spectrum of ideologies, and it's not -- certainly not about free speech.

This is about what their actions represent, the effects of those actions.

Mayor Bloomberg has sponsored policies that directly --

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AL-KHATAHTBEH: -- what he just said in his commencement speech. He said that we're all equal.

FERGUSON: Who would you --

AL-KHATAHTBEH: But programs like "stop-and-frisk" --

FERGUSON: Let me ask you a question.

BALDWIN: OK. One voice.

FERGUSON: Who is it --

BALDWIN: One voice.

FERGUSON: Who is it you would actually like to come and speak, if Condoleezza Rice is someone and Bloomberg on two major extremes on the outside politically --

BALDWIN: It's a valid question.

FERGUSON: -- politically, who --

BALDWIN: Amani, who would you like?

FERGUSON: -- would you have?

AL-KHATAHTBEH: Honestly, it does not come down to a single name, and it's certainly not up to me.

FERGUSON: Well, give me an example.

AL-KHATAHTBEH: -- up to the students. It's up to the students themselves. FERGUSON: Give me an example.

AL-KHATAHTBEH: Like I said, part of the problem is transparency. Students should have the ability to express their voices in avenues that are not -- that don't have to come down to protests.

FERGUSON: This is the problem that I have, though, Brooke --

BALDWIN: Go ahead, Ben.

FERGUSON: This is the problem I have with this campus activism that we're watching right now unravel around the country at these campuses.

I asked you for an example of someone that would be acceptable. You don't have one. It's like you just want to go out there, get the moment in the sun, act like you have this intense power to stop someone.

Condoleezza Rice obviously didn't want to take away from the day of the graduates, so she bowed out. Others have as well.

But you can't give me one example of a person that you would find acceptable, and this is campus activism that I don't understand, because there's not anybody that you can say right now that you're OK with, so how do I get behind you on this?

BALDWIN: OK, Ben and Amani, we have to leave it. And my final thought is this, because we talk so much about Millennials, and at least we could give Amani and some of these students credit because a lot of Millennials are seen as lazy, lack of real thought and passion, and she's got it.

Maybe she can't name someone. Maybe she can tomorrow, but I appreciate the discussion.

AL-KHATAHTBEH: It's really not up to me to name someone. It doesn't come down to a name.

BALDWIN: It was just a question. Amani Al-Khatahtbeh, thank you for joining me.

AL-KHATAHTBEH: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Ben Ferguson, appreciate your perspective.

FERGUSON: Thanks, Brooke.

BALDWIN: We'll be right back.

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BALDWIN: Before I let you go, let me tell you about this new series CNN is working on. It's called "THE CITY OF TOMORROW," and we're taking this closer look at how surveillance is transforming the way we work and the way we live.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is the city of tomorrow already here? The high cost of energy, crime, choking air pollution, around the globe, these 21st century challenges are being met with real innovation.

In England, wind energy from the Atlantic is powering London homes. Police in Los Angeles are crunching big data to solve every day crime. And in Seattle, one building is redefining what it means to be green.

Real solutions, but the challenges only grow bigger. According to the U.N., the world population will reach 8.3 billion by 2030. In that same time, greenhouse gases are expected to increase by 25 percent, the world's trash nearly doubled, while half of the world will live in areas threatened by lack of water.

What does that mean for cities? Sixty percent of us will live in one and, by 2050, 70 percent.

And the demand for clean air, water, energy and, yes, convenience will skyrocket.

By 2017, nearly half of the world's population will be online, and almost half of all Internet traffic will travel through smart devices.

Imagine, fewer drivers commuting to work, smarter policing, buildings with no carbon footprint and trash cans that tell us when they're full.

Life in the city of tomorrow could be pretty great if we develop the technology that we have today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Tune in to "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" tonight, 7:00 Eastern, for a look at surveillance in New York.

And just a quick reminder, make sure you watch. We're excited about the CNN Original Series premiering tonight.

It's called "THE SIXTIES." It was the decade that changed America, war, assassinations, the struggle for civil rights, and Americans watched it all on TV.

Tune in to "THE SIXTIES" tonight at 9:00 Eastern and Pacific, only right here on CNN.

And make sure you stay right here, because I'm Brooke Baldwin, here in Atlanta, but we have to turn things over to -- as always, in Washington -- my colleague, Jake Tapper.

"THE LEAD" starts right now.