Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Sunday Morning
Rep. Weiner to Seek Therapy; CNN GOP Debate Monday; Saving Kids from the Trash Heap; Paraplegic Ballplayer Drafted
Aired June 12, 2011 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. Welcome to this CNN SUNDAY MORNING for June 12th. I'm T.J. Holmes. Glad you spent part of your weekend here with us. And as always at this time on Sunday, we want to say a special good morning to the servicemen and women watching us on the Armed Forces Network right now. Thank you for what you do.
Now, we're going to be taking a look at how civilian preachers are making the switch from the pulpit to combat zones and becoming military chaplains.
Also this morning, Representative Anthony Weiner now says that he needs therapy, but he also says he will not resign despite a number of high-profile Democrats calling for him to do so.
Also, take a look at this. This is what they call, where is it, where is it? Where's the grave - there it is. Well, the vehicle is called Grave Digger. The guy you're seeing is our Reynolds Wolf. He's taking a ride in that big sucker. We'll show you that a little later.
Yes. It's 6:00 A.M. here in Atlanta, Georgia, 5:00 A.M. in Little Rock, Arkansas, 3:00 A.M. in L.A. Wherever you may be, glad you can be right here.
And this morning, we've got new developments. An interesting day yesterday after Congressman Anthony Weiner is asking now to take a temporary break from Capitol Hill, but the power brokers in his own party want that break to be permanent.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES (voice-over): Weiner has admitted sending lewd pictures of himself to women he met online. One of the girls he contacted is just 17 years old, though, he says he had no inappropriate contact with her. Yesterday, he said he needed a leave of absence to become a better husband but still isn't ready to resign.
JIM CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): You've been reaching out to a number of people. Can you tell me about what advice? Have you spoken to the Clintons? How are they advising you with this?
REP. ANTHONY WEINER (D), NEW YORK: I'm having conversations with people, you know, friends, neighbors, members of the family. You know, look, I've made some serious mistakes here and I have - I have to redeem myself and I'm going to try to get back to work, but these were personal failings. I'm trying not to let them get in the way of my professional work.
HOLMES: Not get in the way of work. That doesn't seem like a possibility anymore. A source telling CNN that Democratic leaders set a deadline of Saturday morning for Weiner to step down on his own. When he didn't, they let him have it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... unacceptable distraction for Representative Weiner, his family, his constituents and the House. And for the good of all, he should step aside.
HOLMES: Then there's this, "Anthony's inappropriate behavior has become an insurmountable distraction to the House." That's from Steve Israel, fellow New York congressman and head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Finally, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, who had already called for an ethics investigation says, "I urge Congressman Weiner to seek that help without the pressures of being a member of Congress."
Here's the response from Weiner's office, "Congressman Weiner takes the views of his colleagues very seriously and has determined that he needs this time to get healthy and make the best decision possible for himself, his family and his constituents."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Now, the congressman is asking for that leave of absence. He was saying that he wanted to seek therapy, not exactly sure specifically what kind of treatment he might actually go into.
Also, he is saying he doesn't want to make a decision about what he's going to do going forward until his wife comes back. His wife, of course, is a very close aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is on an overseas trip right now. He says he doesn't want to make that decision until she comes back.
We will have much more on this, this morning. We'll be checking in with our Dana Bash in our next hour.
We do want to turn overseas now, where there has been an ugly milestone in Afghanistan. The number of civilian deaths in one month hits a new high, more than 350 people dead. The United Nations blaming most of the deaths on insurgents.
Our Nick Paton Walsh with the story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, the UN say that the month of May this year was the deadliest for the last four years for civilians in Afghanistan. Three hundred and sixty- eight people they say killed in this month, 82 percent of that number casualties attributable to the insurgency.
Now, this suggests really a large uptick in violence in the summer fighting season months as they're normally known. And, in fact, actually last May was the deadliest month of May for the entire war here for NATO troops. So definitely a rise in violence here and I think many believe that is attributable to different groups in the country trying to show their supremacy in the months ahead.
The Taliban appear recently to have been shifting their focus on the targeted assassinations, taking out key government officials in provinces around here to weaken the strength of the Afghan government aligned with NATO. But really so many civilians that seems caught in the cross-fire and surely in the violence of the insurgency.
Now, many people are asking is this increase in violence going to affect the withdrawal of NATO troops promised by the Obama administration imminently. And I think the answer to that frankly is no. We are likely to see anything between the 5,000 the military wants and the 15,000 the Obama Democratic Party hoped to see pulled out withdrawal at some point by the end of this year. And I think that's really changing the political climate here, people looking at an Afghanistan perhaps without NATO, when it's beginning to decide to work out for themselves where would they sit between the insurgency and an Afghan government that's being weak for quite some time.
Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Kabul.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Let's turn now to Iraq, where the U.S. Military is saying that five U.S. soldiers killed last week in Baghdad were likely targeted by Shiite militias attempting to claim credit for driving U.S. forces out of Iraq. The Americans died when several rockets slammed into a Shia neighborhood.
Also, here we are six weeks after Osama Bin Laden was killed. And now another top al Qaeda operative in East Africa goes down. Kenyan and U.S. officials tell CNN that Fazul Abdullah Mohammed was killed at a Somali checkpoint in Mogadishu. American official believe Mohammed was behind the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The FBI had his listed on their most wanted terrorist list and there was a $5 million bounty on his head.
The report this morning says Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords will leave a Houston, Texas, rehab facility this month. The Arizona congresswoman spokesperson telling "The Houston Chronicle" that Giffords will become an outpatient. Giffords was among several people as you know shot in January in Tucson. Six of those people died.
Take a look, volcano in Chile now causing air travel problems thousands of miles away in Australia, as well as New Zealand. Thick black cloud drifted west as the eruption keeps spitting ash into the air. Qantas Airlines canceled more than 20 flights because of the dangerous conditions. Other airlines are changing routes and flying at lower altitudes to try to avoid the ash cloud. And the Blue Angels are ready to get back in the air. They were forced to take a few weeks off because of safety concerns. The commander quit shortly after leading the Precision Flying Team in a low-altitude stunt during the disappearance in Lynchburg, Virginia. They were only around 130 feet off the ground instead of where they should have been which is about 500 feet. They return with a performance in Davenport, Iowa, next Saturday.
Well, at seven minutes past the hour, time for us to say good morning to our good friend, Reynolds Wolf. Good morning, kind sir. What are you keeping an eye on this morning?
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We're keeping an eye on everything. We're really keeping a sharp eye on parts of Four Corners, namely the Arizona and into New Mexico City, and see if they get any kind of relief from the rough weather they've had the last couple of days, very dry, very, very breezy, the worst conditions for them.
What they could use is rain, and rain is something we had in Atlanta yesterday, some stray showers. You see right behind me, there's a shot of Atlanta. Find out what's going to happen in your part of the world. Rain, dry, heat, cool, we'll let you know in just a few moments.
HOLMES: All right. Reynolds, appreciate it, buddy. We'll see you in just a second.
And to our viewers, I want you to stick around for something. I'll be back in 60 seconds. I'm going to show you two frightening crashes at a race - a race, a car race and you wouldn't believe that both drivers walked away. Reynolds and I are back in 60 seconds.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Nine minutes past the hour now.
The wildfire in Eastern Arizona could become the state's largest ever. The fire has burned more than 430,000 acres, 38,000 acres less than the state's worst, which was back in 2002. Despite the wildfire being only six percent contained, firefighters say they are making progress. The fire has forced more than 9,000 people from their homes.
In next door New Mexico environmental officials are warning people and sensitive groups to avoid all that smoke.
Rain, Reynolds?
WOLF: Not a prayer -
HOLMES: Not a possibility.
WOLF: Not a chance, T.J.
The monsoon season that you have in Arizona usually pops up from about November through April, where they can have spotty showers. At times in parts of Arizona you can have heavy rainfall. This is not going to be one of those times.
What's weird, though, is when you're seeing storms of this magnitude or fires of this magnitude, they can actually create their own weather. They're their own weather machines because the temperatures in these fires are over 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, they can create just this giant calm of incredibly hot air, can create very strong winds, at the same time it can take some of the embers and pass them for - for about five miles or so spreading the fires.
HOLMES: Do they - do firefighters know - I would assume, do they keep meteorologists on staff or they just check in with guys like you?
WOLF: They keep their own guys on staff. They also - I have pretty keen knowledge of the forecast. These are smart guys, the men and women and the firefighters who are out there.
When we say one thing about covering fires, I've covered quite a few since I've been here in CNN. When you go out in the field it's a very sad thing seeing people battle the blaze. But I'll tell you, when it comes to men and women that are out there on the front lines, there is no other spot they'd rather be. They're dedicated to the task. They work around the clock. They're amazing, amazing people. We're talking about the ground troops and also the guys above dropping that flame retardant.
Today, unfortunately, the winds are weak now, but they're going to increase in the afternoon. To give you a better idea of how strong they're going to increase, take a look. Winds sustained at 20 to 25 miles per hour, some gusts topping 40, there will be a few exceptions, possibly some that could exceed, say, 50 miles per hour. Relative humidity that's something else is also a key, will be very low for today, below 15 percent.
Well, we are going to see like higher humidity and the chance of storms will be across the Central North and the parts of the Central North Plains and also new portions of Midwest. Stormy conditions including some thunderstorms, maybe an isolated tornado, small hale, damaging winds and, of course, with that the potential for flash flooding.
Here you can see to the Eastern Seaboard, from Maine clear down to the Carolinas, perhaps even into Georgia. You can have a chance of scattered showers, maybe a few thunderstorms. Now, in terms of your temperatures that is also really going to depend where you are. Say, what's interesting about your temperatures in a day like today, you might think, my goodness, gracious, I sure can't stand 93 degrees in Atlanta. Well, one thing that's interesting is these high temperatures will help fuel the chance of some thunderstorms, help create a few pop-up storms, if you will. They wouldn't last that long, but they can drop some heavy rains and certainly cool you off.
Ninety-two will be your high in Tampa, 90 in Miami; 89 in Washington, D.C., 70s and 60s in New York to Boston, 67 in Chicago as we wrap things up; 79 in Kansas City, 102, (INAUDIBLE) look at that 102 in El Paso, 75 in Salt Lake City and 60s from Seattle to San Francisco and back to L.A.
All right. There you go. Wrapped up like a little burrito for you. Let's send it back to you, T.J.
HOLMES: All right. Reynolds, appreciate you, buddy. Thanks so much.
WOLF: You bet.
HOLMES: So the Belmont Stakes is over now. We only had three chances to be horse racing fans, you know, people watching this Triple Crown. It's so unfortunate.
WOLF: It is. It happens so fast.
HOLMES: I'm sorry, folks. But this is the Belmont. Kind of a stunning upset at the finish. Ruler on Ice was the winner. Odds here 24 to one the favorite, Shackelford and Animal Kingdom, supposed to be a rematch between those two horses. They were competing to win the second leg of the Triple Crown. No horse has pulled off a Triple Crown in some 33 years.
Stay Thirsty and Brilliant Speed, those are the two horses that came in second and third. Don't you just love how they come up with the names of these horses?
Also, this is the video I was telling everybody you need to stick around and watch. You wouldn't believe, folks. This was the 24-hour race at Le Mans. Look at this. Unbelievable. It's amazing that this guy walks out. This is one of two horrific crashes to show you.
This is the first one to tell you about. This one came less than an hour after the start of this race. It's what it sounds like. Twenty-four-hour race, you have to balance your speed, your endurance, you know, you got to keep that car going. You've got to keep it on the track for 24 hours. But, again, walks away.
The other crash, this one comes at full speed, and this comes in the dark. This is the defending champion here, loses control of his car, you can see that at the bottom of the screen, kind of goes out of screen there, went off the track, but look at that. It's amazing at the speed these guys go and this happens in NASCAR, where those Indy car. But no matter how bad these crashes are, these guys walk away. Yes, they're always checked out but they build these cars to sustain these kinds of crashes and protect these drivers.
WOLF: It's insane watching these crashes. I mean, you see that kind of driving in I-285 heading home, it's nuts here in Atlanta. But, you know, it makes you wonder what happened inside the car itself. Was he distracted by something? Was it just the shear speed? Was he reaching for a Twinkie (ph) on the passenger seat?
HOLMES: I don't think they do.
WOLF: Well, it's a 24 hours, you know, 24-hour race.
HOLMES: That's a good point.
WOLF: So, I mean, there are a lot of things you got to do inside the - and I say cockpit of the car, because it is designed like a cockpit of the fighter plane, many of them. They made it even like the Audis, the Porsches, whatever type they have, they're designed to have this kind of accidents. You notice that the cars just kind of disintegrate. Everything disintegrates -
HOLMES: Around that cockpit.
WOLF: -- except where the driver happens to be. So Twinkie a possibility, it may have happened.
HOLMES: All right. But last, I know what you're going to doing tonight and a lot of folks. This is the night. Win or no ring this year for the Miami Heat, more specifically and more interesting to folks is no ring for LeBron James. OK.
You remember he promised. They already had a championship celebration after he announced he was going to be going to Miami and he said they're going to win not one, not two, not six, not seven, he went all the way up to six or seven when he decided to go to South Beach. But they are down three games to two, but the next two games if necessary would be in Miami, Game Six tonight, 8:00 Eastern, a lot of folks waiting for that.
WOLF: If you believe in karma, makes you wonder who most people are going to pull for in the game. And if you have to believe in karma and you're from Cleveland, you might happen to wonder who most people will be pulling for.
HOLMES: You know who.
WOLF: Yes. Texas (ph).
HOLMES: Are you pulling for somebody in that game?
WOLF: Well, kind of sort of, but not really but yes. All right. Yes. I'll just keep my mouth shut. I'm going to eat some Twinkies. See you guys later.
HOLMES: Appreciate you, buddy.
Well, we're at quarter past the hour now.
Pay up, Iraq, that kind of comment is drawing heat from Iraq's government. They are now making their own request to a group of congressmen. Stay with us on the CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, 17 minutes past the hour now on this CNN SUNDAY MORNING. Tomorrow, the Republican field for president gathers in New Hampshire for their first major debate. We've got it for you 8:00 Eastern Time right here.
CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser takes us behind the scenes now of this event.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Hey, good morning, T.J. Just a day and a half now from our CNN WMUR New Hampshire Union Leader Debate here in Manchester, New Hampshire. And, you know what, things are getting busy here in the Grand State. You've got a lot of candidates will be campaigning here today. And behind the scenes at the debate site, things are heating up as well.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEINHAUSER (on camera): Let's take a sneak peek at the stage right now. I'm joined by Kate Lunger. She runs special events here at CNN. Kate, please, take it away.
KATE LUNGER, CNN SENIOR EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: I think this is so exciting, Paul. I think many of our viewers are going to recognize some of it from four years ago.
We're going to have our cubes. You can see our "CNN Politics." We're still building everything here. The hall is going to be filled with about 700 voters from New Hampshire. We're going to be asking questions.
The real exciting part I think is the big screens here. We're going to bring in remote sites from other parts of New Hampshire, where we're going to have voters who are also going to be involved in our conversation with the candidates. It's going to be a good debate on Monday night.
STEINHAUSER: Hey, T.J. This is the place I know you know real well, the "CNN Election Express." And you know this guy as well, Josh Rubin. He is the producer on the bus.
JOSH RUBIN, CNN VIDEO PRODUCER: How are you doing, T.J.? Welcome back on board the bus. We're in the bureau in the "NEWSROOM" right here. But as we make our way back, let me show you a little bit around. We've got some editing facilities in post production. Sean Houston manning them at the moment.
Here we've got one of the most important features of the bus, a bathroom with emergency shower, always important. A little gallery area right here. And as you make your way back, we've got bus master engineer, Jordan Placie working our way in the back racks. That's what helps us make television.
STEINHAUSER: Well, T.J., from the stage to the bus, we're just about ready for tomorrow night, back to you man.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: All right. Thanks to the fellows there on the "Election Express" bus. I'll be back out there with you pretty soon.
Here, a full day of campaigning on tap before the debate tomorrow. Newt Gingrich is back on the trail in California tonight. It's his first appearance since 16 key staffers left his campaign. But Gingrich says he's pushing ahead and will be back in New Hampshire in time for the debate on Monday night.
Meanwhile, Herman Cain, Tim Pawlenty, they are already there. They'll both speak at a flag day celebration today. Meanwhile, Texas Governor Rick Perry will be in California today at a Hispanic Right to Life event. We told you yesterday that he was considering a run. He has yet to commit to anything.
Then tomorrow night it will be an even bigger stage for them, the "CNN GOP Debate" comes your way tomorrow right here on CNN 8:00 Eastern.
Well, a group of U.S. congressmen have apparently worn out their welcome in Iraq. The government there says it's time for them to go. Comments about possible war crimes and repayment for the war didn't sit well with Iraq's leaders.
This is California Republican Dana Rohrabacher with Iraq's Prime Minister. Well, the congressman reportedly floated the idea that Iraq's government should repay the U.S. for the invasion and continued support operations in the country. CNN yet to confirm that comment though.
The bipartisan delegation was also denied access to a camp north of Baghdad that was a scene of a deadly battle last month. The U.S. Embassy quick to distance themselves from the delegation saying the congressmen weren't speaking for the U.S. administration.
Well, 20 minutes past the hour. Stick around. This is coming up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNATHAN TAYLOR, TEXAS RANGERS DRAFT SELECTEE: Because I believe I - only I can get back on the baseball field, all I have to do is keep on working hard every day, 9:00 to 5:00, you know, just keep getting stronger everyday, continue to make progress.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: A college athlete on the verge of a baseball career. Now, that player is paralyzed after a horrifying on-field collision, but the story doesn't have a tragic ending. That story is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, 23 minutes past the hour now.
Children as young as 3 years old spending the day sorting through rotting garbage, and that would be all they had to do if it wasn't for this CNN Hero. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELENA DURON MIRANDA, CNN HERO (through translator): Currently in Argentina there are a lot of children working. In Bariloche, most children work recovering waste from the garbage dump to sell for a small profit. They can be very small children, 3, 4, 5 years old.
All parents want a better life for their children than what they had, but there are times when the whole family has to work and try to make ends meet.
My name is Elena Duron Miranda. I founded an organization to help the boys and girls of the Bariloche trash dump to get out so they no longer have to work there to survive.
When I arrived in Argentina, it was hard to see so many small children picking through the garbage. Many of these boys and girls have grown (ph) tired of school. I decided that I had to do something for them.
We tried to be as fully integrated as possible. There's a school tracking group, outside colleges and a social worker. We work with the family and the value of putting them in school. Any time we get a child close to school, it's a seed we are planting. We hope not to see the child on the street again. If he returns, we go after him.
Education is how we start to break vicious cycles, to give children a better future. I learned something from the children every day. To be happy, even under very complex circumstances.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Her organization provides customized educational programs to about 200 children and their families free of charge and again, every single CNN hero chosen from people you tell us about. And you can continue to nominate somebody you think is changing the world. Go to CNNHeroes.com.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Twenty-six minutes past the hour now.
Don't know if you're much of a baseball fan, even specifically maybe a fan of the Texas Rangers baseball team. Well, you may be a fan of the Texas Rangers after this story. They made a decision to draft a college prospect, who is partially paralyzed.
Georgia Bulldog outfielder Jonathan Taylor broke his neck three months ago in a collision with one of his teammates during a game. It left him a paraplegic. Earlier this week, though, in the 33rd round of Pro Baseball's Amateur Draft, the Rangers used their pick to select Taylor, who was presently surprised - pleasantly surprised when he got the call.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) TAYLOR: I mean, the first day the coach is trying to call me, I was like, I didn't believe him for a minute, but when he told me that and then other, you know, my trainer Mike Dillon told me, too, I was, oh, my gosh. I can't believe I actually got drafted after all I've been through.
RYAN COE, TEXAS RANGER SCOUT: Well, injury or no injury, this guys was a great baseball player. He's a fun guy to watch. A table setter type guy, could really run and play defense and I was juts happy to be able to be the one that drafted him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Now, Johnathan is currently undergoing rehab. He plans on making the Rangers selection of him more than just a goodwill gesture from the organization.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TAYLOR: I believe I - only I can get back on the baseball field, all I have to do is keep on working hard every day, 9:00 to 5:00, you know, just keep getting stronger every day, continue to make progress and, you know, just ignore all the negative, you know, criticism that some people might say about me, you know, may not be able to walk. But, you know, all you got to do is be able to fight and continue to work hard and trust in God and the therapy I think I'll get out there again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The Rangers also selected Taylor's best friend and teammate, Zach Kohn, who happened to be the player that Johnathan collided with.
We're getting close to the bottom of the hour here on this CNN SUNDAY MORNING. And coming up, they are getting ready for possible protests in California. There was a police officer, a white officer who shot and killed a man, an unarmed black man, he was sentenced to two years in jail. He's about to get out now, after only serving half of the sentence. The story for you next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We're at the bottom of the hour here on this CNN SUNDAY MORNING. Welcome back and as always welcome to our military men and women who are watching us this hour on the Armed Forces Network. Thank you as well for being here and for what you do.
The update down on the Casey Anthony trial, it's becoming one of the most watched trials we have seen in quite some time. The Florida woman accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter is due back in an Orlando court room tomorrow. Week four of the trial expected to bring the close of the prosecution's case. Among the few prosecution witnesses remaining a trace evidence analyst and a tattoo artist. Anthony visited that tattoo artist in the weeks following her daughter Caylee's disappearance. And a lot of folks you can guess like they're been doing everyday will start camping out, today, to get into the trial tomorrow. It's amazing that a murder trial can be one of the hottest tickets in town. Look at some of the scenes we've been watching here at the Casey Anthony trial attracted kind of a cult like interest, among people trying to get one out of 50 courtroom tickets available every day. Now, Friday morning, it got so tense that a scuffle actually broke out at one point, a woman had to be taken away in an ambulance. So, what exactly is the big fascination here that makes people line up at times 1:00 in the morning, 2:00 in the morning, 3:00 in the morning, just to make sure they get a prime spot? Well, I asked one of those folks, one of the trial watchers, Kelly Heaney.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY HEANEY, CASEY ANTHONY TRIAL WATCHER: Being in there just makes everything so much more real, just seeing Casey in person, same with George and Cindy and Lee just puts everything into perspective for me and just makes it all come into place rather than just watching it on TV.
HOLMES: Now, is that just a part of our culture now, where we're fascinated by and maybe you can admit this, you're fascinated, this story has gotten a lot of media coverage for a while now, is it just that almost celebrity culture and nature in you, that you just want to see it and be a part of this reality television?
HEANEY: I think so. I mean, it's very interesting this whole case. You don't hear about this on an everyday basis, the whole thing is just very strange to me, so that's why it makes it so fascinating to be in there.
HOLMES: Now, what is it like as well, you said you lined up at 3:00 a.m., and we're showing video here I believe, I can't make out which one you are in there but I believe we have a shot of you just how difficult is it, I guess how crazy is it even because we have seen scuffles even break out. What is it like down there trying to fight for a spot?
HEANEY: Oh, yes, when I got there, I was the fifth person in line and once they started getting past 50 we started counting, you know, on our own and writing on our hands which number we were. But the people in the back of the line did not care at all and said that they were going to be running in front of us. But I just took off my shoes and gave my bag to my friend and I sprinted as fast as I could, I got number nine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now, Heaney says, she will try to attend the trial at least once a week from now on.
Let's turn now to some of the stories that making headline this is morning. Pakistani authorities investigating twin bombings that left 34 people dead in the northwestern City of Peshawar. Ninety four others were wounded. The first blast went off the bathroom of a restaurant. A rescue worker responded to that explosion, a suicide bomber detonated another bomb. There has yet to be a claim of responsibility.
Also in California, tomorrow's scheduled release of Johannes Mehserle of the L.A. County jail is expected to be get, met with protests, a white Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer convicted of the New Year's Day killing of Oscar Grant in 2009, and unarmed black passenger. The incident was caught on cell phone video and inflamed racial tensions. The victim's family called Mehserle's early release after a year behind bars, a travesty.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CEPHUS JOHNSON, OSCAR GRANT'S UNCLE: It was painful to us as a family, there was no accountability, there was justice in that courtroom.
JUBILEE SHINE, L.A. COALITION-JUSTICE FOR OSCAR GRANT: He did less than half time that Michael Vick served for abusing some animals, so, it's a perversion of justice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The police in Oakland and Los Angeles say, they are prepared for the plan protests.
Also, you can add the International Monetary Fund to the list of organizations getting hacked these days. The U.S. Defense Department, these federal agents are investigating a cyber attack on the IMF's computer systems, this apparently happened before the former Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arrested for sexual assault May 14th.
Well, Congressman Anthony Weiner has announced he's taking a temporary break from Capitol Hill. However, some of the power brokers in his own party want that break to be a permanent one. Weiner has admitted sending lewd pictures of himself to women he met online. One of the women online he was in contact with was just 17-years-old, though he said he had no inappropriate contact with her. Yesterday, he said, he needed a leave of absence to become a better husband. Still isn't ready, though, he says, to resign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Just to reconfirm about resignation, at this point, you have no plans to resign?
REP. ANTHONY WEINER (D), NEW YORK: I have no news for you today.
CARROLL: And no plans to resign?
WEINER: Nothing changing, nothing has changed.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: So, you are not resigning?
(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: Well, democratic leaders are lining up to demand Weiner's resignation. The House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi already asked for an ethics investigation and now this from other representatives, she says, "I urge Congressman Weiner to seek that help without the pressures of being a member of Congress." It of course is a serious subject but of course the Weiner scandal has been prime material for the Late Night comics. Check it out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY FALLON, HOST, NBC'S LATE NIGHT: Good afternoon. I'm Anthony Weiner.
DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW": The category tonight, top ten questions to ask yourself before tweeting a photo of your deal. Is this my best side? Number seven. Do I have a last name that would make this especially embarrassing?
JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE": "New York Times" reported yesterday that Weiner's wife is pregnant. The only thing that could possibly make this right I think is if we find out Weiner's wife got pregnant by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
FALLON: So, I'd like to take this time to apologize to my family, my constituents, most importantly my staff.
STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE COLBERT REPORT": He lied for ten days and only came clean today when additional photos like this were released. I mean, that is actually understandable. The guy's my age and he is totally cut. It would be hard not to tweet a photo like that.
JON STEWART, HOST, DAILY SHOW: The congressman had a sex scandal and had to apologize to Bill Clinton, for what? Copyright infringement?
CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": One of the women that Congressman Weiner was sexting turns out to be a porn star. Did you know that? He was sexting a porn star, yes. When asked how it was possible to get involved with someone in such a sleazy business, the porn star said, I don't know.
FALLON: So, please accept my apology. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go take a staff photo.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: They'll be having fun with this one for a while. Yes, there is still a funny side they're finding to what has been really a tragic, sad and serious situation.
Take a look at the screen now. Tires on this vehicle, more than five feet tall. The vehicle weighs some 750 pounds, and Reynolds, they gave you the keys to it. REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hard to believe, I have no idea what they were thinking. But yes, it is Sunday, Sunday, Sunday, we'll going to do some monster truck driving coming up in just a few moments. Heaven help us all.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Forty one minutes past the hour. My buddy Reynolds Wolf here, Reynolds, yes, his day job, his main job is meteorologist. But you and Rob, you all go out and you drive race cars, you all jump out of planes, you bungee jump. Where does this now rank on your list of some of the wildest things you've done?
WOLF: It's pretty high up there. First of all, let's keep this straight, I should not be driving any motorized vehicle. It's amazing I have any license whatsoever.
HOLMES: I'm not going arguing there.
WOLF: Thank you. This is a vehicle that has a tremendous, tremendous engine. I have lived in houses that are smaller than the wheels on this tire, the tires that are on this tremendous vehicle. It's owned by a guy named Dennis Anderson, the name of the vehicle is called Grave Digger.
HOLMES: Wow.
WOLF: It is big, it's loud, it is bad, it's on the air now right. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF (voice-over): Roaring engines. Cheering fans. Just the usual cacophony of sounds in the world of monster trucks. But one man and his rides stand above the rocks.
(on camera) This is Dennis Anderson, and that's his ride, Grave Digger. How many years you've been doing this?
DENNIS ANDERSON, DRIVER OF GRAVE DIGGER: Twenty nine years.
WOLF (voice-over): It's a job this North Carolina native loves.
ANDERSON: Yes. I started out just as a good old guy working on a farm and, you know, created this truck and drove it like a madman and my fans love me to death for what I do and I love my fans back.
WOLF: Grave Digger arguably the most recognized monster truck in the world is built to look like a 1950 Chevy panel truck.
(on camera) How big of an engine in that thing?
ANDERSON: I've got a pretty big motors, 540 cube inch, blown fuel injected alcohol motor, and it develops about 1450 horsepower, so it's pretty powerful. WOLF (voice-over): Powerful enough to propel it more than 30 feet in the air at times and to make this beast move, you've got to have these.
ANDERSON: They're called terra tires, they're 66 inches tall, they're 43 inches wide and they weigh 750 pounds.
WOLF: And now, after nearly 30 decades at the controls, Dennis is putting me in the driver's seat.
ANDERSON: I want you to just feel it one time dude, you have to match this raddle (ph) and feel this thing. I want you to feel 1450 horsepower, that's what I want you to feel.
WOLF (on camera): Wow. It's loud. My heart is thumping louder than that thing. Trust me. Scary. Let's do it. Good stuff, man.
ANDERSON: Good deal, man, all right.
WOLF: I'm proud of you.
(voice-over) Of course, I didn't get any air or crush any cars like Dennis. At the top of his game, he's still humbled by the experience.
ANDERSON: Just an all-American guy living a dream. It's kind of like almost like winning the lottery, but maybe it's got a few more bumps in it than that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF: Dennis Anderson is one of the coolest guys I've ever met. And he's the guy who absolutely loves what he does, he loves his fans, and every day is an adventure for the man. A little bit of a back story to this, they have an engineer that works on the crew and they have a radio controlled basically shutoff switch. So, if I went too crazy with the vehicle they'd shut it off because they don't want me destroying it. It's not good for an anchor to destroy their vehicle. So, what Dennis do is Dennis pulled me aside, I'll tell you what, when you get on the far side of the Georgia dome, they're not going to be able to get you that well with the frequency on the (INAUDIBLE), when you get on the far side, you get a little bit of a range, I want you to punch it as hard as you possibly can, so I guess that's what I did.
HOLMES: OK. But still, explain to folks, and many people may not have been to some of these shows but these are very popular, this is a sport that draws a lot of audiences.
WOLF: Really does. I mean, they have thousands and thousands that show up. And what's funny too is you got people that show up before the shows, unlike some sports, we really can't get up close to your stars, they actually open up the floor, open up the auditorium so people can actually go in, shake the hands of the drivers, actually see the vehicles up close and personal and something more. These guys will stay long after the show, Dennis Anderson has stayed any place, and they travel worldwide. He'll stay until the very last person wants an autograph, so it's an amazing thing. Great people.
HOLMES: That was good stuff. Reynolds, thank you. Let me ask you, when you hear of somebody say they're taking a vacation to Amsterdam, what is the first thing you think?
WOLF: I think I wish I was there when I was about 22, 23 years old.
HOLMES: OK. Well, he gets the idea here. Tourists though, a lot of tourists go for, yes, the weed, but maybe tourists won't be able to get any more weed there in Amsterdam. It's quarter of the top of the hour. That story is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. About 12 minutes to the top of the hour. Nadia Bilchik joins me with the morning passport. Are people going to have to change their plans after now?
NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Well, they could have to.
HOLMES: OK.
BILCHIK: So, it's very interesting. Now, the Amsterdam authorities for a long time have been trying to reduce the number of prostitution stores, they're over 400 and the amount of coffee shops where you can buy cannabis.
HOLMES: Coffee shops.
BILCHIK: They've been hoping to do this for a while you see but the law is going to go into effect that only Dutch citizens will be allowed to buy what they are going to have is called a weed pass.
HOLMES: Weed pass.
BILCHIK: A weed pass. So, the idea is the tourists coming to Amsterdam purely to buy cannabis and to smoke, they don't want people to do, they want to beautify the city and they're saying that these people coming to do that is disruptive.
HOLMES: Don't they want that tourism? Isn't that big...
BILCHIK: Of course. You imagine what's going on. That's the controversy because the tourism, anyone involved in tourism is saying it's a great tourist attraction but people in the city are saying, it's disruptive. So, there is a great deal of conflict going on. But I don't know if you know that Amsterdam is also famous for something called the cannabis cup.
HOLMES: The cannabis cup?
BILCHIK: The cannabis cup where you choose the finest grade cannabis. Well, in San Francisco this month, there is going to be a medical cannabis cup where you're going to be choosing the finest grade cannabis and hashish and edibles and they also going to be teaching people about something called canna-biz.
HOLMES: Canna-biz, the business?
BILCHIK: Canna-biz, the business of growing cannabis.
HOLMES: OK. Wait a minute, I kind of -- with the cannabis cup, who is judging this thing, I mean, how do you...
BILCHIK: People involved in the medical marijuana industry.
HOLMES: OK.
BILCHIK: Simply involved in the medical marijuana industry.
HOLMES: OK.
BILCHIK: Simply involved in the medical marijuana industry are going to look at individuals, they look at the grade of the product. But they also there to teach people how to get involved in the industry.
HOLMES: When is this happening again?
BILCHIK: This is happening on the 25th of June in San Francisco. Now, in Phoenix, Arizona, a gentleman has started a company called, We Grow, and we grow, it's basically called the Wal-Mart of weed and anything to do with growing cannabis and again, all for medical purposes and there even be a doctor on site to say, how do you qualify.
HOLMES: OK. When might we hear? Back to Amsterdam, for a second. When might we hear whether or not this is actually going to happen in Amsterdam?
BILCHIK: It is all happening this year. In some of the southern cities in Holland has passed. But obviously, people involved in tourism are fighting it.
HOLMES: Yes.
BILCHIK: But as far as Amsterdam goes right now, you can still go into Amsterdam and get cannabis in a coffee shop, only up to five grams, only allowed five grams and the law doesn't allow for the growing of cannabis but there is a huge push by authorities to only allow Dutch citizens to buy marijuana.
HOLMES: All right. Well, who knew there was such -- many people thought it was such a draw to the area for this, but they're saying it's kind of a blight on the community.
BILCHIK: Always two sides to the story. Then the other concern is, if there isn't coffee shops, then what's going to happen is, there's going to be a big illegal drug trade. So, like everything else, there are two sides and what happens remains to be seen.
HOLMES: Good stuff this morning, Nadia. I think a friend of mine might have to change his travel plans for the summer, actually.
BILCHIK: Go to the medical marijuana with the cannabis cup in San Francisco.
HOLMES: Cannabis cup in San Francisco. Nadia Bilchik, thank you as always. I'm going to chat with her again a little later this morning.
Take a look at a picture, can you figure out what's happening here? We'll put this picture into motion here in just a moment and explain exactly what happens. We're about nine minutes to the top of the hour here on this CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. About five minutes to the top of the hour here on this CNN SUNDAY MORNING. One North Carolina kindergartener got quite a surprise at school the other day, got a big gift. Check this out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CHILDREN) More, more.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Surprise!
UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: I knew it! I knew it!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: This 5-year-old Madison opened a massive birthday present and there's dad. Her dad, Daniel, has been working as a contractor in Afghanistan since October, and there they are. But we see these time and time again and no, they will never get old. Anyway, in just a few months we could see more troops coming home, but some of the key people advising the president about the drawdowns in Iraq and Afghanistan are changing. Chris Lawrence looking at that for us.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, T.J., we've been down in South Carolina getting the story on chaplain training, getting an inside look at really what it takes to go from the civilian ministry to an army life, possibly being deployed overseas and ministering to soldiers who are under extreme amounts of stress, fascinating story we're working on for the rest of the week. We've been also been keeping an eye on what's been going on in Washington as well, specifically the start of the confirmation hearings. Leon Panetta has been nominated to replace Robert Gates as defense secretary. And the interesting thing about this in the way in which this goings on in Washington may affect, you know, every soldier and marine who is out there in Iraq and Afghanistan right now is because you're going to have a different set of voices around the table talking to President Obama when these big decisions start to come up.
Originally, what we had heard from folks in the Pentagon was that the initial drawdown in Afghanistan was going to be fairly minimal, maybe 3,000, 4,000 troops at the most. Now there is increased talk of that being a more sizeable drawdown perhaps over 10,000 troops being, coming back home. So, when the president starts to make these decisions, Robert Gates is on his way out, Leon Panetta who's been running the CIA, he's seen what unmanned drones and a small amount of troops can do working for the CIA. How will he bring that perspective to the Department of Defense? General David Petraeus has been a huge voice in the military, running the operation in Afghanistan. But now, he's moving out of the military and going over to the CIA. So, we're keeping an eye on that to see how that could influence how many troops are deployed not only in Iraq but especially in Afghanistan -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right. We're getting close to the top of the hour and we will reset things for you in just a moment on this CNN SUNDAY MORNING and something we want to show you here in just a moment, the first pictures of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords that we have seen since the shooting in Tucson earlier this year. You'll want to see these. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Good morning.
Representative Anthony Weiner says he needs therapy and says he will seek it, but what he says he will not do is resign.
Also, social media taking it one step further. Now, all Facebook needs is a picture of you and it will do the rest.
Also, planning to retire? Sounds good. Sure, you could do it -- when you're 80. Details of a new financial study, straight ahead.
But, hello to you all. This is your CNN SUNDAY MORNING for June 12th. I'm T.J. Holmes at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.
And I want to share something with you right now. A lot of people have been waiting to see, this just coming out, being released, the first pictures of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords since she was shot in the head at that event in Tucson earlier this year. This was released just a short time ago on her Facebook page.
There are two pictures of her. You see the one there on the bottom right, certainly with the shorter and the dark hair now and also one kind of in the middle of your screen, but upper left of the page there a bit, another photo of her.
Of course, we have -- the only pictures we have seen of her, there was one picture some of you all night remember, where it just showed the back of her hospital bed with her husband standing by, you couldn't really see her. There is another one where her husband was shown holding her hand in the hospital room. Those were the only images we've seen.
But this is the first time we are seeing her, a smiling Gabrielle Giffords, certainly going through her recovery right now, after being shot in the head. That rehab center in Houston, where we are actually have been getting word this morning as well. "The Houston Chronicle" reporting that she might be released from that rehab center soon, and then be moved to being an outpatient.
But the first we have seen, the first pictures we have seen of her since she was shot.
Now, the photographer who took these pictures also released a statement. They were taken by a photographer P.K. Weis, who has worked as a photojournalist in the southwest for about 40 years, worked in the Tucson area for some 30-plus years and has known the congresswoman for quite some time.
The pictures you're seeing here were actually taken on May 17th at that rehab center where she has been recovering and they were taken the day after the launch of the shuttle Endeavour which, of course, her husband, Mark Kelly, was the commander of.
Now, the statement was released by the photographer. I'm not sure if you can see it on the screen, but at least I want you to listen to it.
Photographer saying and I'm quoting here, "Any photographer in the country would have loved the opportunity to take these pictures and I was delighted to be asked. I've known Gabby for more than a decade. And her staff asked me to do it because she wanted someone who was not a stranger, someone she could be comfortable around. The photos were taken in her room and in an outside area of the hospital."
It goes on to say that "in addition to the congresswoman, her mother, and one of the staff members and a close friend were there," said "it was also inspiring to see how she recovered in four and a half months. I was excited to see her and see her smile. She was glad to see me, was in the good mode, smiling and laughing, and seemed to enjoy the experience. I certainly did."
Again, that from P.K. Weis, the photographer, who was asked to come in and take these pictures of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
But a nice something to see -- a lot of people have been waiting to see her, wondering when we get a glimpse. I mean, she traveled to Florida to see the launch of the shuttle, no pictures of her released then, no photographers, no videographers, no press was allowed to see here. But a nice photo.
She is certainly on her way to recovery. Amazing. She was shot in the head, folks, earlier this year -- just four and a half months ago. And here she is smiling, and a lot of people saying she's even looking forward to getting back to work.
But Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, the first pictures we are seeing of her since being shot in the head. It's a kind of nice something we could bring to you this morning.
We are five after on this CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
We need to turn to some politics now and a story that has really dominated the headlines for the past couple of weeks, it seems now, on Capitol Hill.
A lot of people are asking Congressman Anthony Weiner to resign. He announced that he wants a temporary break from Capitol Hill. However, a lot of people are wanting that to be a little more permanent.
Weiner admitted, as you know, to sending lewd pictures of himself to women he met online. One of the people he met online was a girl -- excuse me -- 17 years old. The congressman says he had no inappropriate contact with her, did not send her any lewd messages or pictures.
Yesterday, he said he needed a leave of absence. The reason for that? He says he wanted to become a better husband -- but still not saying he's ready to resign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You've been reaching out to a number of people. Can you tell me about what advice? Have you spoken to the Clintons and how are they advising you at this time?
REP. ANTHONY WEINER (D), NEW YORK: I'm having conversations with people, you know, friends, neighbors, members of the family. You know, look, I've made some serious mistakes here and I have -- I have to redeem myself and I'm going to try to get back to work. But these were personal failings, so I'm trying not to let them get in the way of my professional work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The congressman says he wants to return to work. Some are questioning whether or not he will be able to do that.
CNN congressional correspondent Dana Bash is joining me now.
Dana, you have been working the phones and sources on the story and over the weekend especially. What kind of happened yesterday where it seems like Democrats just came down on him?
DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): That's a perfect way to say it, T.J., they came down on him big time.
There were private calls that went from the Democratic leader herself, Nancy Pelosi. From Steve Israel, who is the Democrat who is in charge of getting fellow Democrats elected, a member of the leadership, and others who said, look, enough is enough. It is time for you to go.
And these private conversations happened, it was -- it was kind of the last straw for them, and they had realized, I'm told, by several sources who are familiar with these conversations that have been going on really all week that there had been pressure building and mounting again, privately and publicly, for Anthony Weiner to resign. The concern that these leaders had was with the story not ending. You just mentioned the fact that the story this weekend he had communications with a teenager in Delaware. The story not ending after two weeks of talking about this issue and not talking about what they felt -- Democrats felt that they were doing pretty well on politically, the Republicans' budget, their Medicare proposal, they did not want to come back to work on Monday and have a third week of this which they call an insurmountable distraction.
So, that is why they said, you know what? It's time for you to go.
HOLMES: And, Dana, they can't necessarily force him to do anything. They can have conversations and give some firm warnings and highly suggest, but besides -- and I guess maybe their best option is to continue to put this public pressure on him that maybe it would force him out. But other than that, that's pretty much all they can do.
BASH: That's right. They can't. I mean, besides the fact that Nancy Pelosi -- I mean, for people who are, you know, kind of looking at this -- OK, well, you know, some people are calling on him to resign. I think it's important to underscore, this doesn't happen with members of Congress in their own party very much at all.
Nancy Pelosi, for example, has never, ever called for somebody in her own party to resign. So, yes, the public pressure is real.
But you're absolutely right, there's really -- despite evidence of the fact with all of this pressure, he's still not going. He's saying that he's seeking treatment. He is apparently at the treatment center according to his staff. He is taking a leave of absence. I am told that what he said in his private conversations is that he wants to wait for his wife to return to the country.
His wife is a top aide to Hillary Clinton. They have travel abroad as part of their official duties. She's supposed to get back midweek this week and that he's going to make a final decision then.
But it's very hard for them -- it can make life very difficult for him in the Congress. But it is -- it is very hard for them to actually officially kick him out.
HOLMES: All right. Our Dana Bash has been on the story from the very beginning, working it for us yesterday as well. Dana, we appreciate you hopping on. Always appreciate having you here on CNN SATURDAY and SUNDAY MORNING. Thank you so much.
Nine minutes past the hour now.
We turn to the United Nations saying it may be or that May was the deadliest month so far for NATO troops in Afghanistan. Fifty- seven were killed last month.
Our Nick Paton Walsh joins us now from Kabul.
Nick, what are they attributing this uptick to?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, actually, what the U.N. is saying was that this is the deadliest month for civilians in the last four years. That's May. And actually, that's the deadliest month since they began keeping records.
They're saying 368 civilians were killed during that month, large uptick. Also matching an uptick in violence, casualties in months for NATO troops. This month of May was deadliest month of May since the war began, as we should say, 57 troops were killed.
This is an uptick really because it's the summer, because it's the fighting season, but because it is such a vital particular summer. This is the Taliban's response to the NATO surge of last summer and analysts are also saying there are many armed groups in the country, including the Taliban, fighting to put themselves in a position of supremacy for the fourth coming year in which NATO is expected to begin that withdrawal, T.J.
HOLMES: Also, what does this mean now? We talked about the withdrawal. And, certainly, people here in the United States are keeping an eye on that. When could U.S. troops begin to come back in significant numbers? What will this uptick as you say, what will this mean?
WALSH: If I'm being honest, I don't think it will have an impact at all. The decision to start bringing U.S. troops home is mostly a domestic one, in my opinion. There's a huge amount of pressure on the Obama administration to reduce the massive cost of this war, $10 billion a month in military operations. And also, it's deeply unpopular within the U.S.
So, as that pressure going on, I think the two schools of thought about this, the military is pressing for a small and slow withdrawal, perhaps 5,000 troops. And on the other side, the Obama administration and Democrats wanting to see that perhaps as high as 15,000 soldiers brought home. Either way, out of a force of 150,000 NATO troops, that's not going to radically impact their ability to operate here.
What it is going to do is send this very symbolic message to Afghans and insurgents, that there is a change ahead in the political landscape, that NATO are beginning to leave and NATO are discussing how fast they can effectively pull out. And that's having a big impact on people's psychology here, T.J.
HOLMES: All right. Nick Paton Walsh for us in Kabul, we appreciate you as always. Nick, thanks so much.
Well, here we are at 12 minutes past the hour on this CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
Do you have a plan for retirement? You might need to make a revision in what age you're going to retire. We'll tell you why. That's next.
Stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Good morning, Miami, and all of south Florida. Playing some ball this evening, might be the last NBA game of the year, if LeBron doesn't do something in fourth quarter. Just kidding, Bron, I love you even if the rest of the country does not.
Yes, LeBron James and the Heat taking on the Dallas Mavericks tonight in game six. We may or may not get to game seven. Dallas up three games to two, as we know.
How's the weather going to be in Miami for them today?
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: In Miami, it's going to be 100 percent chance of raining threes in the fourth. That's what I'm thinking. It's going to be interesting.
Ninety degrees will be your expected high. The thing about that, they're going to have a chance of showers in the afternoon.
Now, in Dallas, the home of the Mavericks, it's going to be a little bit warmer, 99. Not as great a chance of rainfall there. We can expect that heat to continue through much of the Southeast.
Look at this, 93 in Memphis, 94 in New Orleans, 89 degrees in Washington. But one thing you have in all of the spots is at least a chance of some afternoon showers that might cool things off.
Not so much luck out towards the West of the battling the blaze, it is expected to be very dry. It's going to be breezy, very tough times for them highs in the 90s and 100s. In terms of severe weather we're expecting the chance to pop up across parts of the northern plains in spots today, primarily in places like say back into right across the Dakotas, maybe the front range of the Rockies and into parts of, say, Missouri and even into a sliver of Arkansas, if you happen to be in Fort Smith you might have thunder boomers, north of Little Rock.
But then when you get to the Eastern Seaboard, you can't rule out the chance of rain drops, actually from Florida Keys, clear up to Boston, even into Maine, near Kennebunkport, scattered showers and your best chance of severe thunderstorms will take place into Carolinas and even into parts of southern Virginia.
That is a snapshot of your forecast. More weather coming up throughout the morning.
T.J., let's pitch it back to you.
HOLMES: Reynolds, appreciate you buddy. We'll check in with you again here shortly.
Well, a lot of people hoping, praying for a comfortable retirement. You might have to keep working and working and working until your late 70s or even early 80s. That is according to a new study from the Employee Benefit Research Institute. The group says it may take that listening to save enough to cover basic expenses and uninsured health costs. The group was founded by members of leading benefit consulting organizations.
Well, how far is too far? Facebook is tagging your pictures for you. Whether you like it or not, using some new facial recognition. Now, a lot of people are not too happy with that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Twenty-one minutes past the hour now.
For a lot of social media users, Facebook is a place to share personal photos. The site lets you link your friends' pages, your photos, so they can be seen and they be shared. It's a process called tagging.
Many of you know already that. But the thing is, tagging those photos can actually take some time. So, Facebook came up with a shortcut. They're using facial recognition, a lot of people not happy about that however.
Our digital lifestyle expert told me why.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARIA ARMSTRONG, DIGITAL LIFESTYLE EXPERT: Let's say I go to your wedding or I was at your wedding. And I took several photos of you and the bridal party, maybe 50 or so pictures. Nowadays, what I would have to do normally is if I wanted to let you know I put those pictures up on Facebook, I could tag your name and associate your name with that photo and then you would be alerted that your photo, you know, that I took is up on Facebook.
HOLMES: OK.
ARMSTRONG: So, now, what facial recognition says is, hey, you don't have time to do all 50 of those photos, do it once. Now, we recognize that's T.J. Holmes' face, and in all of these other photos will automatically apply that tag to it.
HOLMES: Wow. Now, the way they're doing this, do they have to essentially build a data base of all of these names and these faces?
ARMSTRONG: You're hitting right at the heart of it, T.J.
HOLMES: OK.
ARMSTRONG: This is why you're good, right? This is a great question because they do have to scan all of the images in the database.
And, look, you say, well, how are they doing that? One hundred million photos are being tagged every day on Facebook. So, all they have to do is run the facial recognition software to start looking at all of these images and next thing you know, they'll have a library of those images. Let's say, hey, that's Susan or, hey, that's Mario, and instantly be able to tag those photos.
HOLMES: OK. So, they probably got a pretty good database working now.
ARMSTRONG: Right.
HOLMES: Mine might be in there right now and I don't even realize it. Is there anything you can do about it? And I guess why wouldn't you want to be a part of something like this? Why are people upset?
ARMSTRONG: So, people are upset for a couple of reasons. Number one, because Facebook didn't tell us. They do -- this is a mode that they always do and Facebook -- I need you guys to listen to us and the consumers out there that are saying, let us opt into this. We find out about it after the fact.
So, what's happening, T.J., is, in some cases, photos are being tagged of you, that you wouldn't want publicized. Even though you can be notified and you can take the tag down, the fact is, it's already been published. And people are saying, at least let us opt in, don't make it an opt in by default.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: All right. I'm going to break this thing down for you now.
A lot of people want to get out of this. It's not that easy to do. This is how you can opt out. I know there are about 550 million of you Facebook users out there. So, this is good information.
You need to login, first of all, to your Facebook profile, click on account. That's in the upper right-hand corner. From that menu the drop-down menu, then click on the privacy settings.
Then from the privacy settings, you need to click on custom. At the bottom of the custom menu there's something that says customize settings. Now, then you scroll down to something that's called "things others share."
That's the whole section and it says suggest photos of me to friends, and that's where you need to click on "edit settings." That's where you'll get a pop-up window that will then say photos yes, and it will say "photos: suggest tags," it will be enabled by default. And just click on the drop-down menu and select "disabled" to turn off that facial recognition tool.
Now, my apologies. I told some of you all when we did this segment yesterday, I was going to tweet out the information so you would have it. Well, Mario, blame him -- he didn't get it to me in time.
I have it in my hand; I will do that for you this morning, if you didn't follow all that. But it's kind of a little ways to go to get it disconnected. But a lot of people want to. I'll make sure I get it out to you.
All right. Well, they are getting ready for protests in California after a man got a two-year sentence for manslaughter but then only served half the time. The California transit cop who says he reached for his taser when he fatally shot an unarmed black man -- yes, he is about to get out of jail. People are furious.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, some of the stories making headlines this morning.
We are getting our first real look at Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords since that January 8th shooting that nearly took her life. These images published on her Facebook page just this morning that were taken nearly a month ago, though, by a longtime friend of the congresswoman.
But you can see her smiling, the hair is shorter. It's a little darker. But her recovery certainly continues and appears at least by some of these pictures to be going well.
Also in California now, tomorrow's scheduled release of Johannes Mehserle from L.A. County jail will likely to be met with protests. He's the Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer convicted of a New Year's Day killing of Oscar Grant in California. That was in 2009.
Oscar Grant was an unarmed black passenger. The incident caught on cell phone video and claimed racial tensions.
The victim's family now is calling Mehserle's early release after a year behind bars to be a travesty. And police in both Oakland and Los Angeles right now say they are prepared for these possible protests.
And I'll be back with you at the top of the hour with more live news. Right now, time for the good doctor.
