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CNN Saturday Morning News
Suicide Bomber Vows Revenge in Video; Yemen University in Focus in Plane-Bomb Case; Department of Homeland Security Is Web of Federal Agencies
Aired January 09, 2010 - 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: Hello there, everybody. From the CNN Center, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Happy New Year to you. It's January 9. This is my first time on the air...
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Your -- your first day back at work and now you're saying, 'Happy New Year.'
HOLMES: Yes.
NGUYEN: We, you know, enjoyed the new year so far.
HOLMES: I'm a little behind.
NGUYEN: We're about a week or so into it, but that's OK.
HOLMES: (INAUDIBLE).
NGUYEN: Hey, thanks for coming back.
HOLMES: I'm...
NGUYEN: We appreciate it.
HOLMES: I'm T.J. Good to see you.
NGUYEN: Nice to meet you. Happy New Year to you.
(LAUGHTER)
NGUYEN: Hello, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.
OK, we do have some breaking news that we want to tell you about this morning. In fact, a chilling tape from the suspected suicide bomber who killed seven CIA workers in Afghanistan.
We want to take you straight to that.
HOLMES: Yes, it's very eerie to hear this tape. We're going to let you listen to it in just a second. But this is by the man believed to be behind that suicide bombing that killed seven CIA operatives and also a Jordanian.
Now, it appears the suspected double agent, whose name is Khalil al-Balawai -- he carried out the attack as retaliation for a missile attack that killed a Taliban leader last summer. Now, the video appeared on an Arabic news channel a few hours ago. We're going to show a portion of it to you now.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMAM KHALIL AL-BALAWI, SUSPECTED SUICIDE BOMBER (through translator): We will never forget the blood of a leader, Baitullah Mehsud, may God have mercy on his soul. It will remain that we take revenge for his death in America and outside America. It is a trust on every person who left everything for the sake of God, whom Baitullah Mehsud supported.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: And you heard him there refer to a couple Baitullah Mehsud. That is the head of the Taliban that was killed last summer in an -- in an attack, a drone attack. Now, we're going to have a live report from our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson on this story. And he is just a couple minutes away.
NGUYEN: Well, the young man authorities say tried to blow up a Northwest Airlines plane on Christmas Day says he is not guilty. Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab is accused of trying to set off an explosive device as the plane approached Detroit airport.
HOLMES: Yes, he entered that plea yesterday in a federal courtroom in Detroit. The 23-year-old Nigerian now faces six federal charges.
CNN's Deborah Feyerick has more on the suspect's brief court appearance.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Arriving at federal court, Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab walked into the courtroom slowly and with apparent difficulty, the alleged Christmas Day suicide bomber having suffered second and third-degree lap burns after detonating explosives hidden in his underwear.
Standing before the judge, his feet were shackled, his white T- shirt and khaki pants too big for his thin frame.
The public defender for the 23-year-old Nigerian entered a plea of not guilty. AbdulMutallab told the judge he is on painkillers apparently for his injuries. His lawyers saying, despite that, AbdulMutallab understands the charges against him; they include attempting to blow up a U.S. jetliner and kill some 290 people on board.
Hebba Aref was on Northwest flight 253 from Amsterdam sitting six rows in front of AbdulMutallab. She said it was important for her to see the proceedings firsthand. HEBBA AREF, NORTHWEST FLIGHT 253 PASSENGER: He looked the same, but he had a little bit more actions. When I saw him on the plane, he was very blank. He didn't move, he didn't struggle.
FEYERICK: Several dozen people came to protest against the alleged bomber, holding signs that read "Islam is not terrorism."
AbdulMutallab is being represented by Detroit's chief federal defender Miriam Cipher (ph). She did not fight his detention.
(on camera): The hearing took less than 10 minutes. When it was over, AbdulMutallab was led from the courtroom surrounded by U.S. marshals, his long trip from Yemen to Ghana to Nigeria, then Amsterdam and the U.S., ending not in the glory he thought it would, but in a small Michigan jail cell.
Deborah Feyerick, CNN, Detroit, Michigan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: We will continue our coverage of this story with our Deborah Feyerick. She's going to be joining us live from Detroit, from that courthouse, with more in the top of the next hour.
NGUYEN: AbdulMutallab disappeared in Yemen for more than two months before boarding that Northwest plane. And CNN international correspondent in Sana'a, Yemen's capital.
So Paula, do we know -- what do we know, in fact, about AbdulMutallab and what he was doing there?
PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the main problem here is, no one even knew that he was in the country. So now Yemeni officials have to try and retrace his steps in this country for more than two months, a country that is known to have several hundred hardcore al-Qaida operatives. They want to know where he was and what he was doing when he was in this country, and how it relates to Flight 253.
We did try and retrace some of his steps. Some people speculate that he might have gravitated towards a university right here in the capital.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON (voice- over): Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab disappeared somewhere in Yemen for more than two months just before the Christmas Day attack
Investigators want to know, did he heed the call to prayer coming from the hills above Yemen's capital, the prayers at Al-Iman University?
The Islamic haven has helped Yemen earn its reputation as an incubator of extremism. But the students who pray here now say the university has been made a scapegoat, and what AbdulMutallab is accused of doing is wrong.
"It's against Islam," they say. "Those thoughts go against Islam."
Al-Iman's leader is Sheikh Abdel Majid al-Zindani, a provocative cleric with a flaming beard. To the U.S., he's a terrorist, accused in 2004 of supplying weapons to al Qaeda. In Yemen, he is a free and very influential man.
(on camera): Sheikh Zindani has so far denied our request for an interview, but he has allowed us to come here and basically get a sense of what the university is like. He's built it from the ground up since the early '90s.
(voice-over): Every year, thousands of Islamic students from Yemen, Africa and around the world are cocooned in this compound, studying their faith, but also instilled with a strident defense of that faith.
Last year, Zindani made a public plea that millions of young men should be recruited to fight jihad against Israel.
(on camera): Was AbdulMutallab here?
(voice-over): The answer is, "We don't think so." But more telling, still?
(on camera): Did they come here to investigate after the attack?
ISMAIL AL-SUHAILI, POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSOR, AL-IMAN UNIVERSITY (through translator): To my knowledge, no security and no investigation teams came here. Nobody thought that AbdulMutallab was here.
NEWTON (voice-over): Yemeni authorities have taken a hands-off approach to this university. In Yemen, it is highly respected, its leader admired. It won't be easy for investigators to find out if AbdulMutallab was here during those mysterious two months.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: And that's really key here, retracing these steps of AbdulMutallab means a lot, not just for the prosecution in the United States, but also for intelligence officials trying to figure out if there are more like him here in Yemen or elsewhere.
NGUYEN: Yes, sounds like it's going to be difficult though.
OK, Paula Newton, joining us live. Paula, thank you.
HOLMES: All right. We want to get back to our breaking story we told you about at the top of the hour. This tape we're now getting a look at, left behind by the double agent who's suspected of blowing himself up and also killed several CIA operatives and a Jordanian. This was on December 30 at a -- in Khost, in Afghanistan.
Senior international correspondent Nic Roberston joins us now live from Amman, Jordan.
Nic, hello to you. First, just tell us, where do we -- where is this tape coming from? Where -- why is the world getting a chance to look at this now?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's being disseminated by the Pakistani Taliban, the TPP. How do we know that? Because the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Hakti (ph) Baitullah Mehsud is sitting next to Dr. al-Balawi, the alleged bomber and killer of the CIA operatives in Afghanistan.
We've talked to al-Balawi's family. They say it is definitely him.
But the message is a direct putdown to Jordanian intelligence and the CIA, because the doctor tells them directly that he is not about to sell his faith. And this is a clear indication that -- that -- that he -- that perhaps these intelligence agencies had thought they'd bought him off. And he's telling them, that's not the case.
What's very interesting here is, according to the family, the doctor had begun very angry and radicalized, if you will, over what had happened in Gaza. Yet here we see him on this videotape saying that the bombing act he's about to carry out is an act of vengeance for the U.S. drone strike and killing of the Pakistani Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud, last year. It seems quite strange, but that's what he -- that's what he said in this video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AL-BALAWI (through translator): We will never forget the blood of our leader, Baitullah Mehsud, may God have mercy on his soul. It will remain that we take revenge for his death in America and outside America. It is a trust on every person who left everything for the sake of God, whom Baitullah Mehsud supported.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: But of course, this video is going to -- is going to raise a lot more questions than it answers here, because it -- it -- it gives this clear indication that -- that Jordanian intelligence and the CIA thought that they really had an influence over Dr. al-Balawi. And he's just telling them directly, 'No, you didn't.'
HOLMES: Well, a lot of questions there, and it raises -- I mean, it is some scary stuff to think of how sophisticated an operation that they were running, when in fact, they were the ones with the -- with the double agent, if you will, when the CIA thought they had somebody.
We're going to be checking in with you again, our senior international correspondent Nic Roberston. We appreciate you.
NGUYEN: Well, the mother of the suicide bomber who killed seven CIA officers in Afghanistan describes him as a -- quote -- "loner" since childhood. It was a Jordanian doctor recruited as a counterterrorism intelligence source.
His wife, though, says she was shocked to hear what he had done, but proud of her husband's suicide mission.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEFNE BAYRAK, WIFE OF CIA SUICIDE BOMBER (through translator): In fact, I am proud of my husband. My husband accomplished a very big operation in such a war. If he is a martyr, may God accept his martyrdom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Jordanian officials say they thought he had been rehabilitated from his extremist views, and he was being used to hunt down al-Qaida's No. 2 man.
Well, the weather, another big story that we are talking about today. A lot of you feeling it all right. It's been icy outside, snowy in many parts.
HOLMES: Yes.
NGUYEN: And it seems like some of it's not even going to let up.
HOLMES: Anytime soon. Pretty cold out there.
Oregon, they're having issues with the cold as well. But they're also having some issues with the wind.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: I'm sorry. That's such -- we -- we -- we've done it, we have done it, sit out in it, but not to that extent. But it's funny though, in a sense, to watch them standing out there with the wind gauges. Hey, all you have to do is look outside to know that it's windy.
HOLMES: Yes, was that really necessary?
We're going to get the story behind these reporters.
NGUYEN: Oh, watch, she's going to take a tumble in a second.
HOLMES: These reporters and their -- and their live shot. She's actually live reporting right here, folks, when this was happening.
NGUYEN: Look at that. Oh. HOLMES: She got blown away. But we're going to get the story behind that. Also getting the story behind the cold temperatures from our Bonnie Schneider, who is here with us.
And good morning to you.
NGUYEN: And not windblown.
Good morning, Bonnie.
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: All right. You know, sometimes they say, you got to see it for yourself to believe it. Well, a reporter out in Oregon did just that. And boy, she took a tumble because of it.
HOLMES: Yes. Keely Chalmers is her name. She's a KGW reporter. She and her crew were out there, trying to do their thing; they're always out there. Sometimes you're live, sometimes you're trying to tape. But you're out there reporting.
NGUYEN: Mm-hmm.
And take a look at what happens when they're trying to report about the weather, and in particular, the wind.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEELY CHALMERS, KGW METEOROLOGIST: With sustained winds blowing 60 to 70 miles per hour (INAUDIBLE) wind chill, it is just painful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: My goodness.
But if you notice, maybe this will be on loop, the people standing around watching toward the top right-hand part of the screen -- maybe they'll show it again, I don't know if they will -- they're just kind of just standing there. Maybe they're blocked y the building. I don't know.
But it is...
HOLMES: But they didn't have any problems.
NGUYEN: No, no problems at all. Poor thing. See -- see them right there. Yes, they've got to be blocked by the (INAUDIBLE).
But they're probably going, 'What is this lady doing?'
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: Now, apparently, she's OK. No reports, actually, of any damage or anything, and nobody hurt out there, except the reporter maybe. But -- but, you know, you do what you're trying to do. You're trying to get into the story and trying to give the people at home a good, accurate depiction of what's going on out there. And good job, Keely.
NGUYEN: Hey, it was windy. I got it.
(LAUGHTER)
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: So which government agencies are working to keep us safe?
HOLMES: Well, hopefully all of them.
NGUYEN: All of them.
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: But Josh Levs is looking through some of this red tape for us.
Good morning to you, Josh.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONENT: Good morning to you guys.
(INAUDIBLE) think of it: It should be all of them. And you know, we keep hearing about the Department of Homeland Security, right? How it's this big, tangled mess of agencies?
Well, I'm about to show you at last how it actually works, and which critical agencies are not part of it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Get our top stories right now.
The suicide bomber believed to have killed seven CIA employees and contractors last month apparently did it as an act of revenge. Khalil al-Balawi appears in a just-released video vowing revenge for the killing of a Taliban leader in Pakistan.
HOLMES: Well, it could have been a lot better, and I guess it could have been a lot worse, as well.
Companies slashed more jobs than expected last month. About 85,000 jobs were lost. Well, despite this disappointing news, the president says the economy, however, is moving in the right direction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And job losses for the last quarter of 2009 were one-tenth of what we were experiencing in the first quarter. In fact, in November, we saw the first gain in jobs in nearly two years. Now last month, however, we slipped back, losing more jobs than we gained, though the overall trend of job loss is still pointing in the right direction. What this underscores, though, is that we have to continue explore every avenue to accelerate the return to hiring.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, yesterday, the president also outlined an initiative that would create tens of thousands of new clean-energy jobs.
NGUYEN: Well, a New York cabdriver pleads not guilty in connection with an alleged terrorist plot. Zarein Ahmedzay was indicted for lying to a federal agent. Police arrested him Thursday in New York, along with a second man who's also expected to be indicted.
Authorities believe they are both linked to Najibullah Zazi, who is accused of planning to bomb New York on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
HOLMES: Well, weather seems to have been a big story for, really, the past couple of weeks.
NGUYEN: Yes.
HOLMES: A lot of drivers were having issues around the country. In Atlanta, as well, but certainly, we weren't the only ones here.
NGUYEN: Yes, you got some snow at your house?
HOLMES: Yes, there was a little stuff out there. Some of the side streets were worse. Certainly, still, nothing like this.
NGUYEN: Yes, not like this. These cars slipping and sliding out there.
This is Tennessee. Drivers -- look at that guy out there in shorts. That always cracks me up. I mean, definitely a Southern state, right?
HOLMES: It never fails.
NGUYEN: When you're not used to this kind of weather.
But look at all of these cars trying to make it up that hill. Some of them decided, you know what? Hey, it's not worth it; I'm going to take a detour here.
We'll get you the latest on the weather and the conditions outside right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, President Obama promising to do all it takes to make sure information is shared among the many agencies aimed at keeping the country safe. NGUYEN: Yes, well, part of that means Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano tackling a massive web of agencies, all with different roles.
Our Josh Levs is here to show us just how all of that works.
Hey, Josh.
LEVS: Hey, guys.
This is something we keep hearing from lawmakers, right? They complain that the DHS is too huge.
NGUYEN: Not sharing information.
LEVS: Exactly.
NGUYEN: And this and that, yes.
LEVS: That they're not sharing enough information, that it's all too huge.
Take a look at this chart. I want you to see this thing first. Let's go straight to it, because I want you guys to get a sense of how massive it is. Ignore the words. Everything you're seeing on your screen is a different agency, all of it part of DHS. It's huge.
In fact, I have it on the screen behind me here. Take a look at something; I want you to see this for a second. Again, don't -- you don't need to know the words. This up here is the Office of the Secretary of -- of DHS. Everything all over here is a different agency.
And the way it works is not that this layer reports to this layer, which reports to this layer, on up, which would usually be the case. Instead, every single thing here reports directly to the Office of the Secretary.
So what's happening here is you have this massive web of agencies, and that Office of the DHS, the secretary of the DHS, hears directly from all these agencies.
Now, check out these numbers, because I want everyone to have a sense of what this thing is. We're going to go straight to these graphics.
First of all, the number of employees, 87,000. Federal, state and local jurisdictions are involved in the DHS. And it all -- it totals more than 230,000 employees. And just reporting to the secretary alone, you got more than two dozen officials that she hears from directly about their various agencies.
Let's take a look at a handful of what goes into the DHS there. You got the TSA; Customs and Borden Protection; Citizenship and Immigration Services; Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is different from the other one. You also got the Secret Service, FEMA and the Coast Guard. That's just a handful of what gets packed into the DHS.
So when we hear people say, there's this massive web of agencies, it's important to understand how it works. All those different agencies are tossing their own information at the Office of the Secretary. And it's up to that little office right here to take everything that's coming in from this big web, find ways to put it together in such a way, Betty and T.J.., that will ultimately do what it takes to keep us safe.
So folks, when you hear about this and the concerns people have about security, that's the -- that's the sense that we're dealing with. And that is the web, right here for you, all of DHS.gov, guys.
NGUYEN: All right. Well, Josh, you know, some of these key government agencies are not part of DHS.
LEVS: Right.
NGUYEN: That sounds a little surprising.
LEVS: Yes. In fact, I'm glad you said that, because a lot of people think of everything that's homeland security as being part of the Department of Homeland Security. But you know what's not? The CIA, the FBI.
So the major intelligence agencies, in that respect, are not part of DHS. So not only to keep us safe does the DHS need to pull everything together right here, they also need to cooperate with the CIA and the FBI and all these other government agencies. That's why when we hear President Obama say it's a big task ahead to make sure everything gets shared, you can see right here how incredibly huge it is. You got all this, plus the other agencies. Good luck with that.
But ultimately, that's the goal.
(LAUGHTER)
NGUYEN: All right. And you say, 'Good luck with that.'
LEVS: Well, we all got to do it, right? It's critical.
NGUYEN: Thank you, Josh.
LEVS: Thanks, guys.
NGUYEN: OK, so imagine this: living without heat or power for a year, especially during winter weather like what we've been having lately.
HOLMES: Yes, a lot of people can't imagine doing that. But some people are, a lot of families. We're going to introduce you to one family living on $1,200 a month, and they are squeezing every bit out of every paycheck.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Hello, everybody, welcome back on this Saturday morning. I'm Betty Nguyen.
HOLMES: And I'm T.J. Holmes. Glad you could start your day with us.
We start -- we're talking about weather. We've been talking that a lot in the past couple of days and weeks. And take a look at this. Have you been in this ice rink yet? A lot of people didn't know we have one of these in Atlanta.
NGUYEN: One that's manmade and one that is made by mother nature, it is all at Centennial Park. It's really not that bad. The streets in some areas are a bit icy. You've got some black ice on some patches. But, for the most part, it's quite pretty.
HOLMES: That makes you appreciate this town. Atlanta, the capital of the South, a lot of people say. But that's a gorgeous shot. And this town has a lot to offer. And that's just gorgeous, that's a good picture.
NGUYEN: Yes, it is.
HOLMES: Right outside where we sit in downtown Atlanta.
NGUYEN: We'll keep you posted on the weather. Also want to get you up to date on the top stories we've been following for you.
Just out this morning, a new video from the suicide bomber believed to have killed seven CIA employees and contractors last month. On the tape, Khalil Al Balawi vows revenge for the killing of a Taliban leader in Pakistan.
A Jordanian army captain also says -was also killed, I should say, in the bombing at a U.S. base in southeastern Afghanistan.
HOLMES: Well, police have arrested a man they believe is responsible for security breach at Newark's airport. You remember that big mess we saw a few days ago. Well, the 28-year-old grad student from China, faces now, a charge of defiant trespassing.
Seeing some video, here, of him taken into custody. He was taken into custody yesterday at his New Jersey home yesterday.
Now let's show you the surveillance video. This is all, you see him there, he ducks under that security breach there. He ducks under that partition. Security ropes there.
He's there to greet a woman, so not really nefarious intent, nobody is saying here, but still, you can't do that. Police say the suspect defied the orders to stay back, but then he saw an opening once the guard moved away and he went for it. The incident forced authorities to shut down a terminal for hours, and rescreen thousands of passengers.
NGUYEN: Well, authorities in China, they are investigating a deadly coal mine fire. The Associated Press reports 12 people were killed after becoming trapped. Government officials say the fire appears to have been started by underground cables that short circuited. Poor safety is blamed for many of China's mine accidents.
HOLMES: All right. Let's get you some weather now. Much of the nation feeling effects from this deep freeze, especially on the roadways. Seeing lots of cars slipping and sliding out there, tons of accidents. Cnn iReporters are out there taking it in, as well.
HOLMES: This is Tennessee we were showing you just a second ago. This was Friday afternoon. A lot of these cars and trucks, this is on a hill here. And some of them just gave up. You see others trying to make it and it didn't go so well. And we've recognized this guy here.
NGUYEN: Shorts.
HOLMES: A Tennessee Volunteer.
NGUYEN: Just checking it out.
HOLMES: I just love us here in the South.
NGUYEN: The thing about that. When cars start to slip and slide and you're the person behind them, or in front of them, you're going, oh, my goodness, I'm a sitting duck and whatever's going to happen is going to happen.
Oh, my goodness. And you see this red -- see the car behind them is thinking oh, my goodness what do I do -- and he tries to back up a little bit, and it becomes a bit of a chain reaction.
HOLMES: And then our guy in the shorts.
NGUYEN: In the shorts, that's so classic.
You know, it's not much better in Indiana. They are breaking out the shovels and snowplows, states slammed with about 3 to 6 inches of snow. Temperatures are expected to stay frigid over the weekend. And more snow to hit parts of Florida, that's citrus crop down there is something of a big concern right now.
Bonnie Schneider in with us this weekend. And we're not used to hearing snow and Florida in the same sentence.
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: All right. We'll brace ourselves for more of it.
The cold weather is taking a toll on crops throughout the South. But in Florida, as I mentioned a little bit earlier, it's not just the oranges that are freezing in the trees. Oh, goodness, you have to watch this.
I'm sorry. That shouldn't be funny. They're alive and everything is OK.
HOLMES: Yes, no iguanas were hurt in the taping of this video. That is an iguana. Now, what happens here, is when it gets below 40 degrees, these are non-native reptiles and they go into instant hibernation. Who knew? So, no matter where they are, they just drop. And they're in the trees. No matter how high up, they're just going to fall.
NGUYEN: But you would think that would wake them up.
HOLMES: Apparently they keep snoozing. Some people are heavy sleepers and iguanas are heavy sleepers.
NGUYEN: Could you imagine if humans had that same syndrome. Oh, it's 50 degrees in here. Too bad.
HOLMES: Some people get sleepy enough that they pass out like that. But iguanas, again, I am just amazed by that. They say they're OK and they wake up with headaches maybe but they're OK.
(LAUGHTER)
NGUYEN: A bump on the head or two. It's all right. Nothing you can't sleep off, right?
HOLMES: But a consequence there of the cold weather as well. We'll continue our coverage of this weather of course throughout the morning with Bonnie Schneider. We do have a couple more incidents to tell you about that we have seen in the past week that have forced airplanes to land before reaching their destination.
NGUYEN: Yes, they weren't terror or security threats but unruly passengers. What did they do that caused all kinds of problems for the airlines? We explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Checking our top stories right now. A new video message from the Taliban in Pakistan shows the suicide bomber believed to have killed seven CIA employees and contractors last month in Afghanistan. Khalil al-Balawi vowed revenge for the killing of a Taliban leader in Pakistan in a missile strike last August.
HOLMES: It's more than economists were predicting. But the economy did lose more jobs last month, about 85,000 were lost. That's a lot more than some of the economists were expecting. Now, despite this disappointing news, the president says the economy still moving in the right direction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: The job losses for the last quarter of 2009 were 1/10 of what we were experiencing in the first quarter. In fact, in November, we saw the first gain in jobs in nearly two years. Last month, however, we slipped back, losing more jobs than we gained. Though the overall trend of job loss is still pointing in the right direction. What this under scores, though, we have to continue to explore every avenue to accelerate to the return to hiring.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Also yesterday the president outlined an initiative that would create tens of thousands of new clean energy jobs.
NGUYEN: A New York cab driver pleads not guilty in connection with an alleged terror plot. Zarein Ahmedzay was indicted on allegations that he lied to a federal agent. Police arrested him Thursday, in New York, along with a second man, who is also expected to be indicted. Authorities believe they're both linked to Najibullah Zazi. Who was accused of planning to bomb New York on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
You know, it's a bad time to be worried about keeping your heat on. But it is a big concern for many, especially those in Memphis, Tennessee.
HOLMES: That's where our Rob Marciano did some reporting for us in the last couple of days on the cold there. He met some people who are struggling, of course, to make it through the economy, but also struggling just to make it through the winter.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Betty, T.J., we told you about a woman who had her power and heat out for almost a year because she just couldn't pay the bills. She's one of people here in Memphis who are struggling to survive. We caught up with a single mom who has her home, and her heat on, at least for now.
DANIELLE BURBIDGE, STRUGGLING SINGLE MOM: Went from making $34,000 a year, to barely making $14,000. It's a big jump. It's been really down for me. And finding a job in this vicinity, it is not one of the easiest things to do.
MARCIANO: Like many Americans, Danielle Burbidge is struggling to make ends meet. Her unemployment checks add to up less than half of what she earned when she was working, making each day a challenge for her to provide for her six-year-old daughter, Shalea (ph).
BURBIDGE: She may eat cereal, sometimes I have to rotate. Depends on the cost of milk, how much milk is. It may not be cereal, we may go with just waffles, or instant oatmeal. Something to provide, something to fill her stomach for school.
MARCIANO (On camera): Right now you have a roof over your head, the heat is on, and is there a possibility of you losing that?
BURBIDGE: There's always a possibility because I'm on $1,200 a month income. And my rent here isn't cheap. So, I was like, it's always a possibility you're going to lose it.
I try not to think how close I am because then I'm just going to get scared.
MARCIANO: According to the Memphis mayor, one in five people are trapped living in a state of poverty here. With so many people like Danielle living check to check, one surprise, like a medical emergency is all it takes to sink into a deeper hole.
(Voice over): When Shalea (ph) recently needed 23 X-rays after an accident playing, Danielle received the bills and panicked.
BURBIDGE: I don't have health insurance and she doesn't either, and the state isn't providing it because I get unemployment they state I'm over the income for getting any health insurance. She broke her elbow back in October, so now on top of not having a job, and have to pay rent and your car insurance, I have to pay medical bills.
MARCIANO: With the ongoing recession continuing to hurt the Memphis economy, Danielle hopes she can find the money to go back to school to study psychology to help increase her chances of finding work.
BURBIDGE: It's a lot of pressure. Sometimes you wake up like you don't know what this day is going to bring. And you're basically living check to check. And unemployment is not much to live off of, so it gets hard.
MARCIANO: In the midst of this bitter cold snap, Danielle knows no matter what, she has to make ends meet to pay the bills, Betty, T.J.?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: We'll be watching the weather outside and the situation with the economy. But also want to tell you about this. Is Jay Leno moving time slots? There's been a lot of feathers ruffled this week.
HOLMES: This is crazy just to think all of the hubbub just a couple of months ago about him changing time slots. We'll tell you what the fellow late-night talk show host Conan O'Brien has to say about all of this. And, of course, amid all the controversy, they keep it funny.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: I love some Bill Whithers. I'm an old soul. I was listening to this stuff when I was a kid.
NGUYEN: Great music. Great wake-up music, too.
HOLMES: It is a lovely cold day here in Atlanta.
NGUYEN: You may want to ease on into today.
HOLMES: Yes. But good morning to you wherever you may be. It's probably cold wherever you are waking up this morning.
NGUYEN: Probably in some places a whole lot colder than here in Atlanta. But two comics, one network, one coveted time slot. Who will be left standing at 11:30 on NBC?
HOLMES: The late night battle for so many years seemed to be between Letterman and Leno.
NGUYEN: Letterman and Leno, yeah. HOLMES: But instead you've got two guys working for the same network where the battle seems to be brewing. That's Leno and, of course, Conan O'Brien. Now rumors are flying that NBC is about to shuffle the deck once again, and bring Leno back to his old time slot, which is 11:35 Eastern. Both comics are mining the situation with a few laughs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONAN O'BRIEN, NBC LATE NIGHT: A lot of rumors swirls around about the "Tonight Show," the "Jay Leno Show", and the rest of NBC's late night lineup. And there's a lot of speculation out there. And I wanted to go over just some of the rumors that have been flying around. Just check these out.
The Jay Leno show is going to be canceled is one. Jay is moving back to 11:30, I'm moving to midnight, both of our shows will be on at 11:30 running simultaneously, in split screen, the "Tonight Show" will be an iPhone app, and the "Jay Leno Show" show will become an Xbox game. Jay and I are quitting both our shows and co-starring in a new buddy cop drama called, "Coco and the Chin".
Jay and I will be joining the case of "Jersey Shore" a new character called the "The Awkward Situation". I'm pregnant with Jay's baby, Jay's pregnant with my baby, we're both pregnant with Tiger Woods' babies. NBC is going to throw me and Jay in a pit, with sharpened sticks, the one who crawls out alive gets to leave NBC.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
NGUYEN: Not stay, but leave.
HOLMES: Now, this is a really sticky and serious situation. They are both making light of. But my goodness, can you imagine if they shake this up again? Well, a lot of people say it looks like it's going to happen. Jay Leno's ratings haven't been what they hoped for at that 10:00 slot. A lot of local affiliates are saying you're giving us a horrible lead-in, hurting our bottom line when our news comes on. And then Conan's been kind of been getting killed by Letterman at that time slot.
NGUYEN: In the ratings, it's all a ratings game. And while it seems funny and all that on TV, I would like to be a fly on the wall in some of those meetings. Can you imagine what's going on behind the scenes?
HOLMES: And poor Conan, in a lot of ways. He's just got to feel like the stepchild in a lot of ways to get that spot. We will see what happens. And something is going to happen.
NGUYEN: There may be a "Coco and the Chin" show coming your way sometime soon.
HOLMES: Or they might both be pregnant. NGUYEN: Yeah, that too. Still possible.
HOLMES: All right. Well, no ticket, no problem for the D.C. socialites who apparently crashed that White House state dinner.
NGUYEN: Now there's another invitation in store for them. And this time, though, a very different setting.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We saw a not guilty plea from the man who is accused of trying to blow-up Northwest Flight 253 on Christmas Day. His name is Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. He was in federal court in Detroit yesterday. That is where that plane was landing, he tried to blow up, according to authorities. The 23-year-old Nigerian now facing six federal charges.
NGUYEN: There are a lot of arguments over how this could have been prevented. And this week's GOP address released just this morning calls for a new legislation to keep things like this from happening again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PETER KING (R-NY), HOMELAND SECURITY CMTE.: One of the first things we need to do is pass the Keep Terrorists Out of America Act. A commonsense bill, Republicans have proposed to prevent terrorists from being brought on to our soil. This bill would help stop the misguided plan to put Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and other 9/11 terrorists on trail in Downtown Manhattan. It is at enormous unnecessary risk as is housing terrorists at the proposed Gitmo North Facility near Chicago.
There's a good reason why the government has had such a hard time transferring these terrorist detainees to other countries. They are the worst of the worst. No one should want them. That's why we should put in place a process by which these terrorists should be held and tried as enemy combatants by military commissions.
The Keep Terrorists out of America Act will also help to ensure that we're treating terrorism as what it is, a war crime, not a law enforcement issue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Well, President Obama has said that a series of mistakes kept investigators from uncovering the attempt on Flight 253.
HOLMES: Investigators had been tracking this guy's path from Nigeria to Detroit. There is, however, a period of time where he is simply unaccounted for.
NGUYEN: Investigators especially want to know where Abdulmutallab was and doing during a two-month period when he was in Yemen. Our International Security Correspondent Paula Newton is in Sanna, Yemen's capital, and she has been looking into this. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON (On camera): Betty, T.J., you know, American officials said, here on the ground, in the days after the Christmas Day attack they received good intelligence from Yemeni official. But now the really difficult part begins.
Abdulmutallab was here for more than two months. He went missing from the radar in Yemen. It's important that investigators piece together who he spoke to, what he was doing, and that is crucial in order to find out if there are more like him here in this country.
Now, we have been digging around as much as we can. The problem you find though very quickly is very blunt. We went to an Islamic university here within the capital that is known for its extremism. But even there, the authorities have not bothered to go and try to check out if Abdulmutallab went there. The reason, this becomes highly inflammatory in Yemen.
And that just going to this university is right in the capital walls, a lot of those Al Qaeda operatives outside the capital are now getting sanctuary from tribal leaders. And those tribal leaders really direct and absolute control over huge pieces of territory in Yemen, so trying to figure out how strong Al Qaeda is here, what its capability is, and if there are any more suspected bombers like Abdulmutallab out there, here in Yemen, is going to continue to be a very difficult task -- Betty, T.J.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Let's turn to those White House party crashers now, got some more trouble for these two.
NGUYEN: Yes, the Associated Press says a grand jury is looking into whether Tarik and Mikhail Salahi lied to officials.
HOLMES: Yes, that would be a big deal. They are accused of slipping, of course, into that White House state dinner, in November when they weren't on the guest list. . Two hair stylists, who spent hours with the couple that day, have been subpoenaed now to testify on Tuesday.
NGUYEN: Also, the House Homeland Security has subpoenaed, or has voted to subpoena, the Salahi's themselves. The couple has already said that they will plead the Fifth. The Salahis have claimed that they were, in fact, invited.
Hey there, everybody. From the CNN Center, this is CNN SATURDAY for January 9th. I'm still going to say it, Betty. Happy New Year. My first day back on the air in the New Year.
So hello, I'm T.J., if you might not have remembered.
NGUYEN: I'm glad you're enjoying the new year so far, nine days into it. Happy New Year to you.
HOLMES: Thank you.
NGUYEN: Merry Christmas to you, by the way.
HOLMES: Oh, yeah, there's that.
NGUYEN: Hello, everybody, I'm Betty Nguyen.
While you were sleeping, there's been a disturbing new development that we definitely want to tell you.
It is in the suicide attack that killed seven CIA workers in Afghanistan last month. Before the attack the suspected bomber made a tape detailing his motives. And we'll have a live report on that in just a second.
HOLMES: Also terrorism could have certainly hit a lot closer to home. This attempted bombing certainly was thwarted. But the suspect in that Christmas Day bombing attempt aboard a Northwest airplane, he had his day in court yesterday. We had details on that appearance and the latest on this case moving forward.
NGUYEN: Then the sound that no driver ever wants to hear.
Oh, goodness. Wrecks like that all across the South thanks to a wicked streak of icy frigid weather. Just part of the damage sweeping the country in this deep freeze. And, get this, the temperatures are still going down. We'll bring you the weather stories from the worst hit areas -- coming up.
HOLMES: Oh, my goodness.
All right. Well, we will turn to that suicide bombing that killed seven CIA operatives. A lot of people have been wondering about answers about this alleged suicide bomber, this double agent. Well, we're getting some answers now from the very man believed to have carried out that attack.
We've got a newly released video we're just seeing this morning and it's claiming revenge as the motive. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMAM KHALIL AL-BALAWI, SUSPECTED SUICIDE BOMBER (through translator): We will never forget the blood of our leader Baitullah Mehsud, may God have mercy on his soul. It will remain that we take revenge for his death in America and outside America. It is a trust on every person who left everything for the sake of God, whom Baitullah Mehsud supported.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: And to get some answers on what we're seeing here. I want to bring in our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson. He's been following this for us. He joins us now live from Amman, Jordan. And I'll let you first tackle the motive here, Nic. We heard Baitullah Mehsud. That might not be a name familiar to a lot of folks watching this morning. So, explain why it is this man was so important that in the video now, they're claiming this man and his death is a motive for this revenge.
ROBERTSON: T.J., Baitullah Mehsud was the head of the Pakistani Taliban. And estimates of the numbers of Taliban fighters under his command range up to the tens of thousands in that border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan. He was killed by a U.S. drone last year. And that's what this Jordanian doctor is saying, that this attack is in revenge for his death.
It is slightly -- I would say, slightly out of context, if you will, because we heard from this Jordanian doctor that he'd been radicalized and made angry by what was happening in Gaza, not Pakistan. But nevertheless, Jordanian intelligence said that he'd gone to Pakistan, that he had contacted them, that offered to put them in touch with al Qaeda.
But very clearly in this message now, he lays out that he double- crossed the CIA, double-crossed Jordanian intelligence, and tells them very, very clearly that he is not about to sell out on his faith to God for the millions of dollars he says that he was offered to provide information on al Qaeda. A very clear indication that Jordanian intelligence and the CIA miscalculated with this agent, it appears -- T.J.
HOLMES: And, Nic, give us the significance on a couple of fronts here. The significance one, you might need to rely on some historical context just why we are seeing this video, where it's coming from, and also, the significance of who he's appearing in this video with.
ROBERTSON: Yes, it is a -- it is a little strange here, T.J. He's sitting next to Hakeemullah Mehsud, who is the new commander of the Pakistani Taliban, TTP, took over when Baitullah Mehsud was killed last year. So, he's sitting there very symbolically with an operation that's being run by the Pakistani Taliban.
And again, when you think of this normally, you know, a doctor coming from the Arab part of the world would have gone -- you would have thought to join up with al Qaeda, core al Qaeda in Afghanistan, Pakistan, perform whatever operation he was going to do under them, al Qaeda would've claimed it as he was one of theirs. But here he is, a doctor from Jordan and the Arab world teaming up with the Pakistani Taliban.
And when you look at the details of how these groups operate, it really sort of shows you this greater symbiosis that's happening, this connectivity, and the way that the Pakistani Taliban are teaming up with what al Qaeda and their supporters can offer them, T.J. I think, for intelligence analysts, this is really going to give them big insights into how these two groups are teaming up there.
HOLMES: All right. Nic Robertson for us in Amman, Jordan -- Nic, we appreciate you. NGUYEN: Well, the mother of the suspected suicide bomber who killed seven CIA officers in Afghanistan describes him as a "loner" since childhood. He was a Jordanian doctor recruited as a counterterrorism intelligence source. Now, his wife says she was shocked to hear what he had done but that she was proud of her husband's suicide mission.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEFNE BAYRAK, WIFE OF CIA SUICIDE BOMBER (through translator): In fact, I'm proud of my husband. My husband accomplished a very big operation in such a war. If he is a martyr, may God accept his martyrdom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Jordanian officials say they thought he had been rehabilitated from his extremist views and he was being used to hunt down al Qaeda's number two man.
The young man authorities say tried to blow up a Northwest Airlines plane on Christmas Day says he is not guilty. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is accused of trying to set off an explosive device as the plane approached Detroit's airport there.
I want to check in right with Deborah Feyerick, who was at yesterday's plea proceedings. She's at the federal courthouse in Detroit.
Deb, give us a breakdown on exactly what happened.
FEYERICK: Well, Betty, this was an arraignment. He heard the charges against him. He'd entered that plea of not guilty. It was his lawyer who did that on his behalf.
You know, very interesting to see him so up close, face-to-face. A very thin man. The clothes he was wearing, the white t-shirt, the khaki pants, way too big for his thin frame. He walked with great difficulty. Clearly, he's suffering from injuries he self-inflicted when he detonated the device that was hidden in his underwear. He did suffer second and third-degree burns from that.
And he told the judge that, in fact, he is taking pain pills. Still, he told the judge that he understood the charges against him -- this through his lawyer. And those charges waved the reading of those charges, took that about 10 minutes, start to finish, and he was sent back to jail -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Any idea, Deborah, if there were family members or friends there with him? Because we know that his father was the one who tried to tip off authorities about a possible plot.
FEYERICK: Well, that's exactly right. There had been a lot of speculation that, in fact, the dad was going to fly in from Nigeria. The State Department had not confirmed whether he had a visa or whether he was going to be arriving. But the family did send someone, somebody who described herself as being there for the family, but not authorized to speak on behalf of the family. There are about six men from the Nigerian embassy. They, too, were in court.
Plus one woman, a passenger on the plane -- she's a lawyer. She said it was really important for her to come and see him face-to-face. She's a Muslim and she was just trying to sort of put the dots together. She's very emotional since this whole thing happened, clearly, which not only sends the lives of the passengers into sort of a -- sort of a, you know, question, but all of the people who now travel using the airports, Betty.
NGUYEN: All right. CNN's Deborah Feyerick joining us live -- Deborah, thank you for that.
HOLMES: On the big story of the day we have today -- weather. It's been a big story for the past couple of weeks, it seems. You'll be able to see the current temperatures and any delays at the bottom of the screen, which you see there.
NGUYEN: Yes. And watch out for the ice out there. It's causing all kinds of accidents here in Atlanta and -- oh, out there in the southwest. That is the worst, too.
Oh, goodness. Hopefully, everybody's OK in those fender benders.
Meteorologist Bonnie Schneider is also tracking the ice storm.
This is exactly what you don't want to see, Bonnie, but sometimes, you know, people got to get to and from and -- hey, the roads have become treacherous.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: They have and they still are. So, take it slow out on the roads this morning, for sure, Betty and T.J.
I have to tell you something, very exciting happening right now that you don't often see. It is snowing in Florida. We have reports of snow flurries in Inverness, Florida, that's 60 miles just to the north of Tampa.
We're tracking that, plus extreme weather. I'll have more coming up on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: OK. So after a week or so of this, it's probably no surprise that you should keep off the roads in some of these tricky areas, especially in some of the southern states where the ice is on the roadways and a lot of folks not really sure how to handle that slipping and sliding.
And that's when we get this. And this one is -- can you just imagine just slipping right into a tree?
HOLMES: That's a serious accident.
NGUYEN: Yes, it is.
HOLMES: And people wonder how do the stations -- how do we know with this video? It's because you can go to the same spots year after year and set up a camera and you know people are going to be coming through driving too fast and you'll be able to catch this time and time again.
NGUYEN: And this is around Georgia that we're watching some of these accidents take place. Look at -- almost a 360, did you see that?
HOLMES: Yes. And it is scary stuff, and Bonnie is here to tell us about the weather.
Bonnie, it can be tricky out there because they call that the black ice and certainly in the dark and some of the side streets are worse than some of the highways. But just sometimes -- oh, the lessons have to be learned the hard way.
SCHNEIDER: Absolutely. And, you know, here in Georgia, a lot of people say, well, it's just 1/2 inch of snow or ice, it's not so bad.
HOLMES: Yes.
SCHNEIDER: But we don't have the salt trucks and the plows to treat it. So, that's the difference when...
NGUYEN: It's not our driving skills per se?
SCHNEIDER: We can -- we don't take it slow either, yes, apparently.
NGUYEN: So, that's your insurance company, right?
SCHNEIDER: Yes, that's a good point. You've got to take it slow. This morning, too, we actually have more ice on the roads, probably not as bad as yesterday but enough to make a difference.
I've also heard reports of a lot of people saying their driveways and walkways are very icy. You can slip and fall very easily. So just be careful out there.
Our iReporters on the scene are tracking this severe weather, CNN iReport. The bitter cold certainly does linger.
Angela Walker of Douglasville, Georgia, not too far from where you saw those pictures -- well, there are the kids enjoying a nice snowball fight and they have some great pictures of making snow angels. That's so much fun because it doesn't snow that often here in the southeast. But when it does, at least the kids have the day off from school so they got to enjoy the snow.
And I'll tell you somewhere else we are tracking some snow in a place that really hardly ever sees snow. That's right, in Florida. Just now, I checked the latest observations in Inverness, Florida, that's 60 miles north of Tampa and there are snow flurries falling. Now, in Gainesville, the temperature, as you can see, is 28 degrees, maybe 30 degrees.
But it's really more in this area that we're seeing the snow hitting the ground. And if you're wondering why, it has to do with the dew point. When the air is so dry -- as it is in Florida right now -- the snow that's falling evaporates before it hits the ground. And that's why we are seeing not so much falling from the sky and maybe a little bit more rain than snow, but big changes are on the way.
When we are looking at very cold conditions -- look at what's happening Monday. Less cold, so we are going to see some better weather and that means even here in Atlanta, warming up to 45 degrees on Tuesday. Notice I say "warming up." I think that sounds great.
Back to you.
NGUYEN: Yes. Hey, we all need a warm up, especially after all of this snow and ice and wintry mix that we've been getting.
Thank you, Bonnie.
SCHNEIDER: You're welcome.
NGUYEN: We appreciate a little bit of sunshine.
Well, you wouldn't think of the economy as being a laughing matter.
HOLMES: Not at all. But we've got a story of a guy -- Josh Levs is going to bring us a standup guy who turned the recession into a routine.
Good morning, again, sir.
LEVS: Good morning to you guys.
Yes, it surprised me, too. He's calling himself the first ever stand-up economist. He that's actually him right there, he is the new comedian on the scene. You have to see the kind of responses he's getting.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: All right. So when times are tough, sometimes you need a good laugh. What they say, sometimes better laugh than cry?
HOLMES: Yes, laughter the best...
NGUYEN: To keep from crying.
HOLMES: To keep -- got to laugh to keep from crying.
Our Josh Levs has a story of a guy who is turning the economy into comedy goal.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CONAN O'BRIEN, TALK SHOW HOST: Due to the recession, Americans are eating cheap, unhealthy fatty foods.
LEVS (voice-over): Sure, the late night kings can joke about the economy...
O'BRIEN: So, apparently, the recession started in 1957.
(LAUGHTER)
LEVS: But who can do this?
YORAM BAUMAN, STAND-UP ECONOMIST: You might be an economist if you're an expert on money and you dress like a flood victim.
(LAUGHTER)
BAUMAN: If you refuse to sell your children because you think they might be worth more later...
(LAUGHTER)
BAUMAN: ... you might be an economist.
LEVS: Yoram Bauman, Ph.D., declares himself the world's first and only stand-up economist. While his fellow number-crunchers have been busy processing the effects of the recession, Bauman shows up at meetings and conventions to lighten the mood.
BAUMAN: My dad told me I was crazy. "And, Yoram," he said, "you can't be a stand-up economist, there's no demand."
(LAUGHTER)
LEVS (on camera): How did you start doing this? Where did it come from?
BAUMAN: While I was in graduate school, I wrote a parody of an economics textbook and then I start performing it live and one thing just led to another, it goes -- it just kind of developed.
I only have a couple things going for me as a stand-up economist, one of them is low expectations.
It takes them a little bit to loosen up. And it's hard, sometimes, because they don't drink a whole lot necessarily.
LEVS: All right.
BAUMAN: So that's another -- that's another disadvantage. But you try. And, you know, there's -- because they don't get so many opportunities to laugh, I think it's easier to make them laugh when you try. Microeconomists are people who are wrong about specific things.
LEVS (voice-over): His shtick can also help make fun and sense of economics for the rest of us.
BAUMAN: The macroeconomics (INAUDIBLE) has the exact same translation maybe with blah, blah, blah.
(LAUGHTER)
BAUMAN: You remember jokes a lot longer than you remember diagrams, equations, lectures.
LEVS: That's why his new book, "The Cartoon Introduction to Economics" is packed with his kind of humor.
BAUMAN: Economists go into Chinese restaurants and open up their fortune cookies and instead of putting in bed (ph) at another fortune cookie, they put at the margin at the end of their fortune cookies, you know? That's a geeky joke.
I just keep throwing stuff out there. You know, I'm eventually going to find something that sticks. It's kind of like what the Treasury Department has been doing for the last year and a half. Just keep trying things until you find something that works.
LEVS: And he isn't afraid of bombing on stage.
BAUMAN: People are always asking me if I'm afraid of failure. And I'm like -- afraid of failure? I used to teach introductory microeconomics at 8:00 in the morning...
(LAUGHTER)
BAUMAN: ... in Walla Walla, Washington.
If I do comedy and half the audience is still awake at the end, and I'm like, yes, I killed them.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Well, Josh Levs is here.
Is this a living for this guy, Josh?
LEVS: You know, it's taken off for him. I got to say, more and more people are booking him. So, he's getting a lot of good gigs out there. He says it's still -- he calls it a significant minority of his total income. So, he still has to keep his job as a teacher.
But, you know, the book is doing pretty well, it seems. And he's getting bookings at some big conventions. We met him at a convention of 8,000 that took place here in Atlanta. So, you know what? Maybe it's quite possible that he has a future ahead of him as, indeed, the nation's first ever stand-up economist. We're going to keep an eye on that guy.
NGUYEN: It's a market that's growing, apparently.
OK. Thank you, Josh.
HOLMES: Well, five years ago, still on the economy front here, the housing market was really, really hot, and you weren't hearing the term "short sale" that much.
NGUYEN: No, but we are certainly hearing it now. "Home School" analyst Clyde Anderson has more on this exit strategy that could close the door on your credit.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Checking our top stories right now.
There is new video, in fact, a new video message from the Taliban in Pakistan. And what it shows is the suicide bomber believed to have killed seven CIA employees and contractors last month in Afghanistan. His name is Khalil al-Balawi. And what he's doing on this video is vowing revenge on the tape for the killing of a Taliban leader in Pakistan in the missile strike last August.
We'll continue to follow this story for you.
HOLMES: Well, a hug and a kiss leads to an arrest. But let me explain. Police have arrested a man they believe is responsible for a security breach at Newark's airport. The 28-year-old graduate student, you see him there. He is from China. He's now facing charges of defiant trespass. He's taken into custody at his New Jersey home yesterday.
Now the surveillance video, this is from the airport. This was last weekend's incident. You can see the man, police say is him, is the suspect. He dips under the security ropes and then he greets a woman, gives her a little hug and whatnot. He does it after a guard leaves his post.
Police say the suspect defied orders to stay back. The incident forced authorities to shut down the terminal for hours and re-screen thousands of passengers.
NGUYEN: Well, the mother of Vice President Joe Biden has died. Mrs. Biden died yesterday. She was surrounded by her friends and family members. She was 92 years old.
HOLMES: Well, all right. Coming up in a few minutes, we've got a new show with the same old guy. It's got a new name.
NGUYEN: It's a new name.
HOLMES: New name. NGUYEN: Yes.
HOLMES: Dr. Sanjay Gupta. It was "HOUSE CALL." He didn't think that was good enough...
NGUYEN: Right.
HOLMES: ... the good doctor. And he wanted his name more prominently featured in the title.
NGUYEN: We're just going to call it like it is, Sanjay. So, now, it is "SANJAY GUPTA, M.D."
We have a new name for our show as well.
HOLMES: What's that going to be?
NGUYEN: "Betty and T.J., OMG."
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: Oh, yes. That's right.
NGUYEN: That's our new name change. No word on exactly when that will take place officially. But "SANJAY GUPTA, M.D." takes place at 7:30 Eastern. You don't want to miss that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: All right. You can call it the perfect storm. Your property value has plummeted. You can no longer make your mortgage payments on time. So, if you file for bankruptcy or end up in foreclosure, it will likely be years before you can get another home loan.
So, what do you do? Well, millions of Americans are trying something called a "short sale." But it's an answer to a mixed bag of problems per se.
Finance specialist Clyde Anderson joins us to sort it all out for you.
And really what we first want to do for those who are trying to figure out how do I go about this. Define what a short sale is?
CLYDE ANDERSON, FINANCE SPECIALIST: A short sale is when you can sell your property for less than you owe on the property and not take a hit.
NGUYEN: Not ideal.
ANDERSON: Not ideal, but the bank allows you to not take a hit for it.
NGUYEN: OK. Well, why is that beneficial? ANDERSON: Right now, it's beneficial because most of us have lost money on our homes. You know, the property values have depreciated. So we're in a situation where if you need to move, you're not going to have the value, you know, depending on when you bought your home, it's just not there. So, you're going to need a way to get out of that house and banks are really doing this as an option instead of foreclosure. And this is a lot better than foreclosure.
NGUYEN: Now, will this affect your credit in any way?
ANDERSON: Well, it will affect your credit. You know, your credit has already hit. And I'll tell a lot of people -- when you're in a situation, if you're behind, or you know you're going to be behind, you're going to have some late payments. That's going to hurt your credit a lot.
But now, when you get out of this house, a lot of times they're going to forgive that deficiency balance and banks are willing to do. So, say, if you sold your house for $300,000 but you owe $200,000, that $100,000 deficiency, the banks will forgive it.
NGUYEN: All right. And are the banks a little more willing to accept a short sale? Because a lot of people still owe the bank for their house?
ANDERSON: Yes. A lot of them are now, because, again, they save so much money as opposed to let it going to foreclosure. So, this is a great alternative for banks. The problem is that it's taken a lot of time. It's a long process. Banks are inundated with a lot of requests right now for short sales.
Like you mentioned, you didn't hear about them several years ago. Now, this is a popular term. So, add that on top of loan modifications, you've got an interesting recipe.
NGUYEN: Which is interesting, too, because back in the day before the recession...
ANDERSON: Right. Right.
NGUYEN: ... a short sale was something you absolutely did not want to do, unless, perhaps, can you take a tax write-off for what you lost in the home?
ANDERSON: Well, what happens a lot of times is: in the past, you would get a 1099 for the capital gain, because you've got that difference there that the bank is writing it off, you've actually earned that, look at it as earned income. But now, since the capital law gains have changed, you don't have to worry about anymore. If you make $250,000 as an individual or $500,000 for a couple, you don't have to pay that.
NGUYEN: OK. What I'm saying is, say, your home is worth $100,000, right?
ANDERSON: OK. NGUYEN: And you had to sell it for $80,000.
ANDERSON: Right.
NGUYEN: You got a $20,000 loss.
ANDERSON: Right.
NGUYEN: Can you count that as something that you can get back in your taxes for that loss?
ANDERSON: Well, it really depends on the situation. I would say, talk to your tax representative or your tax accountant to really find out for sure. Depending on the situation you're in, because you've got that $20,000, you know, there that if you sell it -- and what you're saying is that you're selling it at a $20,000 loss.
NGUYEN: Right.
ANDERSON: You know -- so the bank lost, too, if you have a loan on there. So, the bank is the one that took the loss and you've got to see how they're going to look at that.
NGUYEN: Oh, I see. But if you own it outright...
ANDERSON: Yes.
NGUYEN: ... will you be able to...
(CROSSTALK)
ANDERSON: Oh, yes. Then you can look at that as a loss, definitely.
NGUYEN: OK. So, that's maybe another area.
ANDERSON: That's maybe -- yes, talk to your accountant.
NGUYEN: We can see a little glimmer of hope, a little bit of the bright side.
Clyde, thank you so much. We appreciate it.
ANDERSON: It's always a pleasure, Betty.
NGUYEN: All right -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right. And I need to be talking to Clyde. I need some housing advice. We'll do that off-air, though, Clyde. Talk to you here, shortly, buddy. Thanks so much.
We've got a quick break and we're right back. Stay here.
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HOLMES: Of course, we will have more of your top stories live here at the top of the hour when CNN SATURDAY MORNING continues.
NGUYEN: Yes. But first, "SANJAY GUPTA, M.D." begins right now.
