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Rick's List

Dr. Laura Ending Talk Show; Mom Accused of Killing Her Kids; Brett Favre to Play Another Season in the NFL; Mother of Manchester Shooter Gives Interview; Thome Gives It Back to the White Sox; Kick Boxer Allegedly Kills U.S. Marine in Thailand

Aired August 18, 2010 - 15:00   ET

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

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Topping the LIST right now: Dr. Laura Schlessinger is ending her show this year. She told that to Larry King after all the fallout where she used the N-word numerous times on her radio show last week.

Now, Schlessinger came unhinged when an African-American woman called asking for advice about how to deal with her white husband's friends making racial comments. Schlessinger later apologized for her rant and said that it was the wrong thing to do.

Well, interesting. Last night, she told Larry King that she won't be renewing her talk radio contract. But she also says that she's not retiring or quitting. So, what's next? She says that she will concentrate on a format that will give her more freedom of speech.

Do we have that one?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "LARRY KING LIVE")

DR. LAURA SCHLESSINGER, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: I'm here to say that my contract is up for my radio show at the end of the year, and I have made the decision not to do radio anymore.

The reason is, I want to regain my First Amendment rights. I want to be able to say what's on my mind and in my heart and what I think is helpful and useful without somebody getting angry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Is she looking for a format where she can say things like what she got called out for?

Joining me now live is Michael Harrison. He's the editor and publisher of "Talkers" magazine. He's also a First Amendment advocate.

Hey, Michael. Always good to see you.

MICHAEL HARRISON, EDITOR AND PUBLISHER, "TALKERS": Thank you, Rick.

SANCHEZ: You know, we were the ones who first broke this story last week. And I'm wondering what you make of her announcement last night when she was on with Larry King, because some would argue that it's looking like she's looking for a venue where she can say the things, things like what she said that she's being called out for, somewhat unapologetically.

HARRISON: Yes. Well, she certainly will have the venue, because everybody does with the Internet and with blogs and so many ways of getting your message across nowadays, that somebody with the notoriety of Laura Schlessinger will have no problem having a platform. She may not have the same level of sponsors and she may not make the same type of income for doing it, but she will be able to speak out.

And she has a loyal audience that's huge. They will follow her wherever she goes. So, she will be OK in terms of her finances, in terms of her position.

SANCHEZ: I wonder, though, because you're right, she does have a loyal audience that will follow her wherever she goes. But she's always had an audience that they -- that could depend on her giving them advice about their husbands and their kids and their families.

She did something different during this rant. She went into a very, very political area. In fact, let's listen to some of these. Let's take this comment by comment.

The first one I'm going to let you listen to is where she makes a comment essentially suggesting that people who voted for -- black people who voted for Barack Obama did so simply because of the color of his skin. That's a hell of a thing to say. We will listen to it, and then you and I will talk about it on the other side.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

SCHLESSINGER: Well, listen, without giving much thought, a lot of blacks voted for Obama simply because he was half-black. It didn't matter what he was going to do in office. It was a black thing. You have got to know that. That's not a surprise. All right, chip on your shoulder. I can't do much about that.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: See, that's not about giving people advice on how to be better husbands or better wives or being stern. That was a kind of -- that was kind of far afield of her domain, wasn't it?

HARRISON: It certainly is.

However, you know, her show exists predominantly on conservative news talk radio stations. And there's something about the kind of advice that she gives, whether it's marital or sexual or just how you live your life, that is compatible to the political mind-set of the people that listen to most of the radio stations she's on. That's why she's able to be on so many stations when, in fact, she's not really a category that can be easily duplicated.

There are not a lot of her on the radio. So, it's not surprising that she would occasionally step into politics. She's done that before. But, in this case, she just misstepped and through a little bit of political correctness that she violated and somewhat perhaps she had some ignorance of the sensibilities that people have about the topic, she stepped into a mine field.

SANCHEZ: Yes, it's interesting because you would think, well, the advice she gives is solid advice. That's advice that I could see my wife, my mother, Hispanic audience, an African-American audience taking, because it basically is, stand up for yourself, be strong, don't be afraid to call people out. That's solid stuff.

But here's another area where she's going into something that's made people go, wow, did she just say that? Let me let you listen and our viewers at home can listen to another clip. Here's where she said to the caller who asked advice on dealing with racial slurs from her white husband's friends -- she tells the woman that she shouldn't marry a white person if she's overly sensitive.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

SCHLESSINGER: Don't take things out of context. Don't NAACP me. Leave them in context.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know what it means and I know it came from a white person and I know the white person made...

(CROSSTALK)

SCHLESSINGER: All right, thank you very much. Thank you very much. Can't have this argument.

You know what? If you're that hypersensitive about color and don't have a sense of humor, don't marry out of your race. If you're going to marry out of your race, people are going to say, OK, what do blacks think? What do whites think? What do Jews think? What do Catholics think? Of course there isn't a one think, per se. But, in general, there is think.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: There again, she's making some very -- it's not just not being politically correct. And a lot of people who have looked at this have said, well, the reason she got in trouble is because she said the N-word 11 times.

There's more to this than just using the N-word 11 times. I think the fact of the matter may be -- and I want you to comment on this -- some of the conclusions that she draws are what has some people wondering about her, how much she revealed about herself. Am I right?

HARRISON: Well, I mean, you're supposed to reveal a lot about yourself on talk radio to be successful. Now, I'm not defending or attacking what she said. SANCHEZ: No, I get it.

HARRISON: But I am defending -- I am defending the format that puts a person out there in a spontaneous way, talking from their heart, talking about controversial topics, and having the right to be wrong.

Are you suggesting, Rick, that she doesn't have the right to be wrong?

SANCHEZ: No.

HARRISON: Because that's really what we're analyzing here. Suppose that what she said was terrible, that she's ignorant of sensitivities, she offended a lot of people, she showed that she doesn't like black people. Suppose all that's true.

Did she commit any type of a crime that would warrant burning her at the stake...

SANCHEZ: That's interesting.

HARRISON: ... or throwing her off the radio?

SANCHEZ: That's interesting, what you're saying.

HARRISON: I'm more concerned about how we -- yes, I'm more concerned about how we're reacting to this and where the conversation should be taken. I don't mean you and I right now.

SANCHEZ: No, I get it, I get it.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: I get it.

HARRISON: Good.

SANCHEZ: It's almost like -- you know what's interesting? You know what you're saying? As I hear you saying this, I'm thinking to myself, well, it's not what you say. It's how well you defend your point of view when you make it.

It's almost like, if you're going to be in talk radio or if you're doing what I'm doing right now, what you're doing right -- we're on the air live, OK? There's no filters here. If I accidentally say some things or utter some bad words, I'm going to get called on the table.

It's how you say it, how you defend it, how you postulate that makes people say, OK, he made an unreasoned statement, but he did it for a purpose, for example, right? That's what makes this craft so hard.

HARRISON: Yes, indeed. And just the fact that you and I are on CNN right now live talking about this topic, one slip of the tongue, one momentary lapse in judgment, we could each destroy our lives right now, right here. That's the risk we take talking about this live on television. It's amazing.

SANCHEZ: So, look, something similar to this was -- remember Don Imus' situation? I have known Don Imus for many years.

HARRISON: But it was different.

SANCHEZ: OK. Why was it different?

HARRISON: Because Don Imus hurled a racial slur at a person. He said that they were nappy-headed hos. Now, maybe I can go to political correctness jail for repeating the words, but everybody else said it, too.

So -- and Michael Richards called these people in his audience the N-word that was captured on video. Laura Schlessinger didn't call anybody anything. Perhaps she improperly or foolishly or maybe just bravely...

(CROSSTALK)

HARRISON: ... it.

SANCHEZ: Respectfully, I could disagree with you on that. What Don Imus did...

HARRISON: Well, go ahead.

SANCHEZ: I will.

What Don Imus did may have been a misstep. There were some words that were improperly chosen, mistakenly used. He apologized for it. It was bad judgment. It was one quick thing.

Dr. Laura Schlessinger's rant was a thought process that continued on for a long, long time. Wouldn't it be more apt to say the person who had a long, established thought process, which they explained on radio, is more guilty than the person who just used a quip or used some words which were unfortunately chosen?

HARRISON: Possibly.

That's what makes this very interesting. And the fact that we're able to talk about that and talk about her thought process and what it means and the context that Imus said what he said, which in my opinion back then was an old white man trying to be hip, using lingo that he thought was acceptable in hip communities, you can analyze these things many ways. And that's exactly what we should be doing. I don't believe Laura Schlessinger is a racist, though.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: But that's what -- you know, I wanted to get back -- since we brought in the Imus comparison, let me go ahead and -- let's go ahead and finish there. Don Imus was treated very harshly. This guy for a little while -- he's back on the radio now and doing a really good job at another network, FOX Business, I think. But he was all but made into a pariah during that particular time.

Should she -- should Dr. Laura -- I know she's decided she's not going to work anymore or she's going to change her venue. Should Dr. Laura not be on the radio as a result of what she said, just as the standard was set with Don Imus?

HARRISON: No, I think both belong on the radio.

I'm all for free speech and I think that talk radio's job is to bring these topics up, so that we can have reasonable discussions, to seek truth, not victory, to seek commonality, to bring people together, and to air out our differences.

And if some of these people have to be sacrificed to do that, so be it. They chose to be in this business.

SANCHEZ: Michael, you practice what you preach, my friend. Michael Harrison is the editor and publisher of "Talkers" magazine. He knows this business and we're so glad we had an opportunity to have him on.

My thanks to you.

Take a look at this. It's campaign season, right, which means that we are about to see some pretty interesting political videos. And there's a new one from Republicans that attacks President Obama. But they're using the JetBlue flight attendant saga to get their message across. Wait until you see this. It's actually very creative, but is it right? That's what we're here to do for you.

Also, the police say a mom in South Carolina wanted to be free, so she held her bare hands over the faces of her two young kids and smothered them, killed them, and then put their bodies into her car and sent it into a river. Today, she's appearing in court. That's next right here on the LIST.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Hey, welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez. So glad that you're here.

Here's what making our update list on this day: the arraignment hearing of a South Carolina mom charged with a chilling crime -- 29- year-old Shaquan Duley tearfully and nearly inaudibly answered the judge's questions at her arraignment hearing in a South Carolina courtroom just a short time ago.

There she is. This is the first time we see her, by the way, other than those stills that we have been showing you up to now in her mug shot. Her attorney says that she will plead not guilty to the charges of double murder for the deaths of her children. And, for the first time today, we're seeing pictures of the victims as well. There they are, 1-year-old Ja'van Duley and his 2- year-old brother, Devean Duley. Now, she's accused of allegedly suffocating her two babies with her bare hands, strapping them in their car seats and then sending her car into a river to make it look like it was an accident and they drowned. That's where the car with the babies sank.

Police say Duley was apparently fed up and frustrated with her life. Orangeburg County's sheriff believes that Duley couldn't take the criticism that she allegedly had just received from her mother about her own parenting skills and wanted to be free.

Now, many are wondering what drives a mother to do the unthinkable killing of her own child. Psychologists say that, for a parent to kill a child, it is rare, but it happens more than we think.

It's estimated 350 kids each year are killed by a parent in the United States. For the South Carolina prosecutor who tried and convicted another mom, Susan Smith, remember that case, of killing her kids in 1994 and also trying to lie about it, this case, the one we're talking about now, has brought back some eerie similarities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS POPE, PROSECUTED SUSAN SMITH CASE: The biggest thing initially was the two children, the car. And when I first heard a little snippet of it, I thought, here we go again.

If there's any positive -- and not certainly the lost life, but in the Orangeburg circumstance, you didn't have the nine days that Susan Smith took the nation through and took the community through, where she was blaming someone else.

This story in Orangeburg that quickly fell apart of a wreck that didn't add up, Susan Smith painted it, blamed it on someone else, had law enforcement, had us searching for someone else. And it was certainly an uncomfortable situation for that community and for the nation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Now, you may remember that Susan Smith went in front of television cameras and tearfully pleaded for the return of her children after telling police that they had been kidnapped. That was all a lie, a bald-faced lie, before she finally admitted that she had killed them.

Ahead: a moment of terror caught on camera, a pilot's dramatic escape, when his stunt plane just snaps in two and bursts into flames. And you're going to see all of this, this as he's flying it. We have got the video that you're going to have to see to believe.

Also, the Republican Party is channeling Steven Slater ditching his flight attendant job to throw a political punch at the president. Now, this is interesting usage of video. You're going to like this video. It's very, very creative. But we're going to fact-check it for you. We will be right back. Jessica's in the house, as they say. In fact, she's on the way over here now. You see her? Put the camera over there. Let's get a shot of Jessica as she walks. There she is, folks.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi.

SANCHEZ: She's in the house, Jessica Yellin.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Hey, welcome back. And look who's in the house, Jessica Yellin, by golly.

Welcome to Atlanta.

YELLIN: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: You're always in those highfalutin places, you know, Atlanta, New York, L.A.

(CROSSTALK)

YELLIN: We don't get fancy sets like this. This is amazing.

(CROSSTALK)

YELLIN: I like this set.

SANCHEZ: We're very proud of these digs.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: We could have done a lot worse.

All right, first thing that we have to talk about -- we're so glad you're here. There's been this tit for tat going on between Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the U.S. Justice Department. And you could understand that because the guy's trying to hold his ground. But it seems like there's no end to this thing. Where is this right now?

YELLIN: Well, right now, the Justice Department is actually threatening to sue Sheriff Arpaio, which is pretty extraordinary. They're in the middle of a lawsuit, as you know, looking into whether he's engaged in racial profiling there in Arizona.

Now, that's the bigger frame, but they have been asking him for some documents, and he finally said, you know what, enough, I have turned some over, I'm not turning anymore over.

SANCHEZ: Really?

YELLIN: Imagine the feds coming to knock on your door and say, I need some paperwork, we're looking into you and you say, yes, no, I don't think so.

SANCHEZ: Well, here's a law enforcement officer telling another law enforcement agency, I'm not going to cooperate with you. So, that's what makes it so strange.

YELLIN: Exactly. And it falls into this whole frame of Sheriff Arpaio arguing essentially the feds aren't doing their job, he argues, when it comes to illegal immigration. But it seems in this area, he's also saying, you know what, feds, I'm just not going to cooperate with you.

SANCHEZ: That's kind of been the history of this whole conflict since the very beginning. But I guess we don't know at this point where this is headed, right? It's just one of those things we have got to watch.

YELLIN: We have got to watch. There will be a meeting. But it's a real clash between local and federal powers. Unusual.

SANCHEZ: I want to talk about something else now.

There's this ad that caught my attention, because, well, Brooke Baldwin and I have been spending a lot of time recently, because everybody's been interested in this flight attendant who just had a couple of beers, pulled the chute.

(CROSSTALK)

YELLIN: Everybody's trying to take his story.

SANCHEZ: Well, the Republicans have. And they have put out this video. Folks, you have got to watch this. The Republicans have taken that story and they have put out a video to show how a lot of the Democrats are also bailing on President Obama by pulling the chute as well.

Have we got it? Let's -- let's play it. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, AD)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Attention, passengers, fellow Democrats, we're just about to depart D.C. and go on my national fund-raising tour to your home states. That's right. I'm coming to your hometowns.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With the president's approval rating at an all-time low, a lot of Democrats don't want him anywhere near them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Democrats who kind of are afraid to be who they are or who are pushing back on their leaders, I think they are crazy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a three-day sprint from Milwaukee to Los Angeles to Seattle to Columbus to Miami.

(SCREAMING) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not only are some Democrats running from their leaders, but also they're afraid to mention to the electorate, oh, yes, I'm a Democrat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: That's a very creative ad. It's certainly very timely. But we have to ask the question, is it true?

(CROSSTALK)

YELLIN: You know, it's only partly true. It is true that, in this year, people are not -- not a lot of Democrats always want to embrace the president. Or I should say, a lot do not want to right now. His approval rating is at 47 percent.

And it's an anti-incumbent year. So, for Washington, it's not so popular to be seen with the ultimate insider in some ways. But in this particular ad, Rick, there are some boo-boos. Like, they point to Michael Bennet, incumbent senator from Colorado.

SANCHEZ: Right.

YELLIN: They say, oh, he doesn't want to be seen with the president. Actually, he campaigned with the president.

SANCHEZ: Ah.

YELLIN: The president did a telephone call for him. The president was in his ads the week leading up to the primary. So, he's said he's not sure how much he will campaign with him in the future, but he's been all over that campaign.

SANCHEZ: So, yes, it's a creative ad, very timely, certainly gets your attention, fun to watch, makes an accurate point. By the way, same things have happened to other presidents in the past. This is not the first president.

(CROSSTALK)

YELLIN: Sure. President Bush, it was a big storyline.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: To be treated that way, exactly. But what you're saying is they should have been a little more careful with some of the people who they represented in that ad.

YELLIN: Yes, exactly. They didn't tell the whole truth about all those folks.

SANCHEZ: And that's good. So, we're glad.

Hey, welcome.

YELLIN: Thanks for having me here. SANCHEZ: You're coming back at 4:00, right?

YELLIN: I will see you at 4:00.

SANCHEZ: I will look forward to that.

Here's what else we're going to be covering for you in just a little bit. We're going to bring you the very latest on some of the stories having to do with Republicans as well and Democrats. And we're also going to update that story that we have been telling you about in South Carolina.

Stay with us. We're going to be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: And here we go. We told you about Andy Borowitz just yesterday. And I want to bring you one of his tweets again today.

Are you ready? Here it is. Andy Borowitz tweeting to us -- we keep him on one of our big lists, by the way. "Dr. Laura says she's quitting her radio show to spend more time with Mel Gibson."

The guys here in the studio are getting quite a chuckle out of that one.

By the way, we're going to be right back with this. Did you hear what the CEO of Google said? See, a lot of Americans, he thinks, are going to end up having to change their names. Well, why would they have to change their names?

Well, it's because of the Internet identity that they have already established that they may need to run away from. Think about this. How many people younger than most of us will be changing their names because of what they have already established or said about themselves on the Internet?

OK, this Google official is suggesting that search engines will know more about your life than your own family members. That's interesting. And it certainly deserves a conversation.

Also, anything can happen on live television, trust me. I have my own horror stories I will share with you. In fact, I do in my book -- but nothing compared to what I will show you in "Fotos."

That's next. Stay right there. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.

Most of the broadcast journalists that I know in this business are all hardened professionals, right? But every once in a while somebody forgets that they're on camera, like a discussion we were having just a little while ago with Michael Harrison. Time for "Fotos." Let me tell you about a BBC weatherman who didn't realize he was on live television when he gave the -- well, the "We're number one" sign, the one-finger salute to an anchor who was ribbing him over the accuracy of his reports. Watch it one more time. Yes, I was really scratching my chin.

When the weather guy realizes he's been caught, he quickly tries to pass off the gesture, and it didn't work. Everybody all over the world now seems to know.

Also this -- a terrifying moment in the air. This is the one I told you about. This is in Argentina. The wing of this pilot's plane snaps right off as he flying. The fast-acting pilot was able to activate the planes ballistic parachute just in time. And here's the good news -- he walks away from this crash with just a burnt foot.

And this is every little-leaguer's dream. Check out this homerun. He slams one out of Boston's Fenway Park, sending the ball soaring over the famous Green Monster in leftfield, smashing a car window. That's right -- windshield, gone. Does the insurance pay for that? We're trying to nail that down. I don't know if baseballs are covered. I think it had to be a homerun. If it was a foul ball, no -- I'm just making that up.

That's "Fotos." And you can see more for yourself on my blog at CNN.com/RickSanchez.

A U.S. marine and a kickboxing champion got into a fight at a bar. It's not the beginning of a joke. The next morning, the marine was found dead and now police are using dramatic video in a massive manhunt. We're going to tell you about that story.

Also, what a way to keep us hanging. After months of speculation, Brett Favre -- that's a joke -- just made a big announcement about his future. Just did it moments ago. And I know some of you say, oh, he just keeps doing that. But it's kind of news. Anyway, is he hanging it up or is he not hanging it up? Brooke Baldwin, our sports gal --

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I know. And the kind of news block today -- we'll have the latest on that.

SANCHEZ: She's going to be all over this.

BALDWIN: It's actually kind of a feel like that guy who got his car -- the glass. He should get free beer and hot dogs for a year.

SANCHEZ: At least a free ticket to the next game, really good seats. He had a pretty good parking spot.

BALDWIN: Till now. Maybe not so good.

SANCHEZ: We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SANCHEZ: So Brett Favre is back in the news. By the way, we should let viewers know why we pronounce it that way. Favre, it's not like we don't know. But it became very famous. It was used by Cameron Diaz in a very famous movie. What was the movie?

BALDWIN: "There's Something about Mary." He was in the movie. Love the movie.

SANCHEZ: She kept saying it that way.

BALDWIN: We have more news, finally definitive news. Did anyone really think he was going to retire? Really? It's official now. Brett Favre just wrapped up a press conference and he said why he is returning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRETT FAVRE, PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL PLAYER: Bottom line is I'm not here to set any records. People say, you can do this and you can do this. I say, I've done it all. There's nothing left for me to prove. I'm here to have fun, help these guys win. I really enjoy this group of guys like you wouldn't believe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: There's a lot of criticism out there today. I've been listening. I go home and I watch --

BALDWIN: I know. You're all over there.

SANCHEZ: -- ESPN. I'm a big Minnesota fan. I love the Minnesota twins --

BALDWIN: But the Vikings not so much. You're a Dolphin guy.

SANCHEZ: Yes, a dolphin guy. But here's the deal -- people in the NFL are on the record saying they're upset that other players had to go to his house to talk him in to playing for the team.

BALDWIN: If you need people talking you in to playing in the NFL, why are you --

SANCHEZ: Then you really don't want to play. They're saying, buddy, you decide and let us know when you've made your decision. We shouldn't have to get on a plane and convince you to play with us.

BALDWIN: Weren't you talking about it yesterday. I've been poking a little fun at you two.

SANCHEZ: Join the club.

BALDWIN: Some people are tweeting about this and having a little fun with the story. "Is it possible that at Brett Favre's age he just keeps forgetting he retired?" And one from Ashton Kutcher, "Favre is coming back, what a shocker."

Story number two, trending Google.

SANCHEZ: Change identities.

BALDWIN: Totally. Parents these days, you tell your kids not to say this, not to do that. Nowadays, it's also like, honey, don't put that picture of you at that party on Facebook.

Now the CEO of Google is saying the times, they are a-changing, and adults may need to be policing their identities online and it might require an entire name change.

Listen to this, Eric Schmidt, the CEO, he did this interview with "Wall Street Journal" and he said in this days and age with so much information, images, video at your fingertips and search engines like Google that he predicts, quote, "That every young person one day will be entitled automatically to change his or her name on reaching adulthood in order to disown youthful hijinks stored on their friends' social media sites." I hope it doesn't have to come to that.

SANCHEZ: It's fascinating because we live in such a virtual world now --

BALDWIN: Everything's out there.

SANCHEZ: Everything from the time you had a couple or too many drinks at a party and you had somebody's underwear on your head --

BALDWIN: Not that you speak from experience.

SANCHEZ: But look at the things we've had on air about young people making mistakes --

BALDWIN: Absolutely.

SANCHEZ: And what I described is tame compared to some of the stuff that's out there.

BALDWIN: And perhaps in order to get that job later down the line, you know it's on the internet, you may have to change your whole name.

SANCHEZ: We live in a society where every time you meet someone, the first thing you do is look them up. Let me Google them, go to their Facebook page.

BALDWIN: Exactly.

One more -- the September issue of "Rolling Stone," have you seen this? You know the people on the cover. If you're a "True Blood" fan, these are the stars of the hit HBO series. And you can see they're wearing little more than splatters of blood.

"True Blood" creator Alan Ball says the idea of celibate vampires is ridiculous. Here's a snippet I was able to get from this upcoming issue. He says "To me, vampires are sex. I don't get a vampire story about abstinence. I'm 53. I don't care about high school students. I find them irritating an uninformed," speaking to all the other vampire shows and movies out there.

It's out on Friday. I'll admit, I've kind of gotten hooked into this. But I don't know about the cover of the magazine.

SANCHEZ: It's so generational. Every generation has had their vampire thing. And it's just coming back right now.

BALDWIN: This is almost like vampires on steroids, this show. This is not your tame vampire --

SANCHEZ: Can I take my kids to those movies, Savannah?

BALDWIN: Savannah, no.

SANCHEZ: Too young? Well then, good.

(LAUGHTER)

Take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOLLIDAY: He said, 'I'm going to kill myself. I killed the five most racist people and I'm going to kill myself."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: I killed the racists. That's what Omar Thornton said to his mother after he killed eight of his co-workers in Connecticut earlier this month. Remember, that's his story, by the way, just to be clear. He was also fired that day.

We have some chilling CNN exclusive new interviews with Thornton's mother. It's the first time that she talks. She talks about her last phone call that she had with her son right after he'd killed eight people -- seven people, and just before he'd killed himself. I'm going to play this for you when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back.

Remember Omar Thornton? This is the guy, as you saw first here, the guy who killed eight of his co-workers at a beer distributorship in Manchester, Connecticut. He'd been confronted by his bosses and asked to resign.

They said that they caught him on video selling beer that he had stolen from his own company. Thornton said, no, it was racism that made him grab a gun.

But before he turned that gun on himself, he made one last phone call. He made a phone call to his mother. She hasn't spoken to anyone on camera until now. I want you to listen to what she tells my colleague, Soledad O'Brien.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LILLIE HOLLIDAY, OMAR THORTON'S MOTHER: He just started to seem to get more frustrated, more aggravated. And I could just kind of see slowly he was just getting really frustrated and agitated.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The company said they had no complaints from him, that he never reported any problems, any issues with colleagues.

HOLLIDAY: Oh, he reported problems because he brought home the papers that they signed, he brought them home to me. So I know that he reported them.

O'BRIEN: When he called you, what did he say?

HOLLIDAY: It was around 7:48 or somewhere around that time.

O'BRIEN: So what happened?

HOLLIDAY: I answered the phone and I'm so used to him calling me every morning, he said, mom, and I said, hello? He said, "I just killed the five most racist people." And I knew he wasn't playing because he don't talk like that, but I was I guess hoping that it wasn't true.

And then I said to him, Omar, what are you talking about? And then I looked down at the phone and I saw that that wasn't from his cell phone, it was from the job. And I knew. And I just kind of lost it. And I was trying to talk over him and tell him to don't do it, because he said, I'm going to kill myself. That's what he said. "I killed the five most racist people and I'm going to kill myself."

O'BRIEN: Were there any clues?

HOLLIDAY: The only clues that I could say that I really had is that he was getting more stressed out. And he started to just kind of change a little different --

O'BRIEN: What do you mean?

HOLLIDAY: Where he was being more relaxed, he started not being so relaxed. But I never thought that it would be possible that something like this would happen.

O'BRIEN: There were some reports that said he saw a picture of a noose and racial slurs written on a bathroom wall. Did he tell you that?

HOLLIDAY: Yes, he did. He told me that. And his girlfriend said that she saw the pictures. And I think the landlord in that building said he saw the pictures on the phone as well.

O'BRIEN: There's this call that was made, the 911 call. He sounds so calm.

OMAR THORNTON: This is Omar Thornton, the shooter over in Manchester. I just take it into my own hands and I handled the problem. I wish I could have gotten more of the people.

O'BRIEN: Like he didn't kill enough. Have you heard that?

HOLLIDAY: I heard that.

O'BRIEN: What did you think when you listened to it? He sounds so calm.

HOLLIDAY: I think that he was at his limit. The calmness is something that he's always been. I've never really seen him in a rage or just being very angry. I've never really seen that.

O'BRIEN: What's going through your mind now?

HOLLIDAY: What's going through my mind is that I wish he was still here with me. I miss him so much. He's just a gentle spirit. He's the kind of kid that I could be out somewhere and come home and he'll be the one who went out and bought my favorite ice cream and put it in the freezer or left a rose on the table for me. I miss him, and it hurts so bad.

O'BRIEN: There are people who think he's a monster.

HOLLIDAY: He's no monster. He's no monster. He's a very good -- was a very good individual.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Lately you've been sending me some tweets that have caught my attention. You've been saying to me, Rick, once in a while in your newscast, we'd like you to bring us some good news, something that puts a smile to our face, something that makes us feel good about ourselves.

So when we come back, I'm going to do that for you. This is a story about a guy who was told, you're not good enough, you've got to go. And he proved that he was good enough. This is an unbelievable piece of video. We're going to watch it together. Stay right there. I promise this is good stuff.

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SANCHEZ: All right. Full disclosure here, OK? I am a rabid Minnesota Twins fan. I have been since I was a little boy, loved the Minnesota twins. I love baseball in general.

So last night I went home to watch the Minnesota Twins playing the Chicago White Sox. I wanted the twins to do well. Hell of a ball game. One team goes up and the other team goes up. Then it's tied. Now they go into extra innings. It's still going on.

Finally my wife says, I'm going to bed. I said, I know, but I want to see how this finishes. So it's late at night and I am sitting there like a little kid watching this game to see if something magical happens. And you know what? Something magical did happen. I want to share this with you because it's kind of special. Let me show you this picture. This is Jim Thome. What makes Jim Thome the most intriguing person in the news today is, and you can't quite make out exactly who he is there because he is pixilated. There you go. That's Jim Thome.

Imagine if you worked for somebody and they told you, you know what? You're not that good. Or you're too old. We don't want you anymore. And they get rid of you. So you go to another company, maybe a competitor, and you kick butt.

That's what Jim Thome did last night. He came up to bat in extra innings. The score at the time was six-five. And the team that had told him that he was too old was on the field. So he comes up to bat. In fact, you know what? Let's see how he does.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And there it goes! My oh, my. Oh, my. Jim Thome! The first walk off --

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: I got to tell you, I was sitting on the couch last night. I woke up for breakfast this morning -- yes. His own players came up and gave him the old -- the old razing while he was doing an interview with the foam pie.

But this morning when I woke up my kids said, dad, what were you screaming about last night? You know, it's one of those moments when even though you're an old codger like me, you're sitting on the couch jumping up and down because you're a little boy again. Something magical happened, and it was magical, and it was Jim Thome's story, and I'm glad I had a chance to share it with you.

Now take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: A plane crash at 1:45 p.m. We have to be careful with the --

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SANCHEZ: What a story. This is an emotional message. She's pregnant. She is a passenger on a plane that has just apparently been hit by lightning, snapped in three pieces, and crashed. And she's telling her story of what it's like to be on that plane.

But first, an international manhunt under way for a man right there. Police in Thailand believe that he killed a U.S. marine. You're not going to believe why and what police are using now to find him. That's next right here on "The List." I'm Rick Sanchez. We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I was telling you about this international manhunt that's under way for a British kick boxer. He's apparently accused of killing an American marine after a bar room brawl. Police say that the marine was killed because he wounded the kick boxer's pride. During their fight he apparently knocked the Brit to the floor.

Here is our Kristie Lu. She brings us the details of this story.

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KRISTIE LU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is British kick boxer Lee Aldhouse wanted by Thai police for allegedly killing a U.S. marine. Police say Aldhouse has been on the run since the early hours of Saturday morning. Last Friday night he and an American marine DeShawn Longfellow had a fight inside this bar in Picket (ph) a popular Thai resort island. Both were trained kick boxers and adept at the local Muay Thai style which involves using the fists.

Police say when Longfellow returned to his hotel with his Thai girlfriend, Aldhouse came from behind and fatally stabbed him.

Police are investigating this surveillance video from a 7-Eleven convenience store which shows a man demanding knives from the staff behind the counter. The clerk throws two knives to the floor. The man picks up knives off the floor and leaves the store. Police tell CNN they believe the man in the video is Aldhouse.

They have released this video of a knife which police found outside the hotel where the American was killed. Police have also sent a photo of Aldhouse and a copy of his passport to every immigration checkpoint in Thailand but say there is a chance he might have escaped to neighboring countries by other small islands.

Twenty-three-year-old Longfellow who grew up in Oklahoma served as a marine in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was awarded the Purple Heart. His mother spoke to CNN affiliate KOCO before flying to Thailand to meet with police.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He had the prettiest smile in the world that anybody can have. And I'm a mess. Every morning he'd tell me he loved me and every night he'd tell me good night he loved me.

LU: Longfellow had been in Thailand for less than a month. Thai police are appealing to locals and tourists to come forward with information that might help them track down his killer.

Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong.

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