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CNN Saturday Morning News
Teen Says She Got Sexting Messages from Congressman Weiner; Arizona Blaze Continues to Build; Facebook's Latest Controversy: Face Recognition; Alternative Medicines From Around the World; Gruesome Testimony at Casey Anthony Trial This Week; Muslim Woman's Clothing Roadblock to Olympics; Make it Yourself
Aired June 11, 2011 - 08:00 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.
Congressman Anthony Weiner's sexting investigation dominated headlines this week. Guess what we're hearing now this morning? That a teenage girl got messages from him as well.
Also this morning, Alabama just passed one of the toughest immigration laws in this country. We will take you to Alabama live to see how police are supposed to enforce these new rules.
Also, social media taking it one step further. Now, all Facebook needs is a picture of you and it will do the rest.
From the CNN Center, this is your CNN SATURDAY MORNING on this June 11th. Hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes. Thank you for spending some of your morning here with us.
Messages to a teenage girl from Congressman Anthony Weiner. Reports say she's just 17 years old. Weiner, of course, has admitted to sending salacious pictures to a number of women online but his people say the teenage girl did not get any of those. Despite all this, supporters are still rallying around the congressman.
Our Jason Carroll is in Anthony Weiner's district this morning in Queens, New York.
Jason, good morning to you. I don't know if you've been able to get any reaction at all to the news that he maybe exchanged some messages with this teenage girl, but if you have let us know. But other than that, it seems like a lot of people want him to stay in the job.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly what we're hearing out here in his district, T.J. And despite even getting the latest information about what happened with that 17-year-old girl, and let's very quickly sort of go over what happened there.
Police in Delaware have interviewed a 17-year-old girl who did have online communications with Congressman Weiner. Apparently what happened is, Weiner came out to her school, spoke at the school. She began following him on Twitter. Apparently she told detectives, though, that there was no inappropriate contact between the two of them.
Also, in addition to that, a statement has been released from Congressman Weiner's office from his spokeswoman. That statement now saying according to Congressman Weiner, his communications with this person were neither explicit nor indecent. Again, that is a statement coming from Congressman Weiner's office.
And you talked about the recent poll. That recent poll, recent Marist poll showing that the majority of people out here in his district, still support Congressman Weiner. That poll showing that if asked if whether or not Congressman Weiner should resign, 56 percent said no. He should not resign, 33 percent saying yes, he should.
And we've been out here in the morning, speaking to a number of the folks who live out here wanting to gauge their feelings at this point. Want you to listen to what they have to say about their congressman.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He can stay but he needs to be careful what he does. People are watching you. You really have to be careful.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it would be kind of hard for him to gain people's trust after something like this, so, you know, that's probably his decision, but I definitely wouldn't trust him after something like this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know if he should resign. It's, you know, he's a human being. He made a mistake. But I think he's a pervert, yes, for sure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: Also weighing in on the issue, Congressman Charles Rangel. Apparently he's saying that Congressman Weiner should not resign, that this whole idea of resignation, T.J., is something that's being quoted hyped up in the press.
As for Congressman Weiner, we are hearing that reportedly he will be back in Washington on Monday ready for work. T.J.
HOLMES: All right. Jason Carroll for us this morning, in Anthony Weiner's district in New York, Jason, good to have you with us on a CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Thanks so much.
We turn now to Alabama where they are taking steps to slam the door on illegal immigrants with a tough new law. This new law considered one of the broadest and most stringent in the country. Governor Robert Bentley signed it this week.
It allows police to arrest anyone suspected of being an illegal immigrant if they are stopped for any reason. It requires that public schools report the immigration status of students. It also makes it a crime for anyone who knowingly gives an illegal immigrant a ride or shelter. Another provision, requires businesses to check the legal status of workers using a Federal system known as e-verify.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. ROBERT BENTLEY (R), ALABAMA: The sponsors of this bill really worked hard on that. They looked at laws across this country and they looked at the challenges across the country and they did an excellent job in evaluating those. You know that some of those have already been upheld. Some of the Arizona bills have already been upheld.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Our Rafael Romo is in Alabama. He's actually in a suburb just outside of Birmingham. He has been getting reaction there for us.
Rafael, good morning to us. Tell us what you are finding.
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: Good morning, T.J.
We are in Alabaster, just south of Birmingham. This is a supermarket that caters to the Hispanic community and what people here are telling us is that the number of customers coming to places like this one has decreased because there's a lot of fear.
There's a lot of misinformation. People really not knowing how this law that goes into effect on September 1st, is going to be implemented. Parents asking what's going to happen to their children. Part of the law mandates school districts to inquire into the immigration status of children so parents are wondering, are they going to be picked up if there's any sort of irregularity.
Also many people are afraid that if they give somebody a ride and they don't really know what the immigration status of that person is, they're going to get in trouble. So we've been talking to people and that's what we find. A lot of misinformation, a lot of fear and this what is some of those people told us last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Many are afraid. They're planning to go back to where they come from.
WINSTON GARCIA, HONDURAN IMMIGRANT: You got a friend, a Mexican, you never know if he is legal or is he illegal. You go in your car, you never know.
REY BRITO, SUPERMARKET OWNER: It's not good for nobody. I mean it's -- it's not good for the economy of the state. It's not good for nobody.
CLINT TILL, BIRMINGHAM RESIDENT: For me I do think there is some cause for concern, so which is why I'm supportive of the bill because I just want to make sure, you know, we just want to make sure that the people that are here, are coming here legally.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMO: And we were talking to Ray Brito, the owner of the supermarket. As you can see, they sell here Mexican products, stuff that you can only find at a store like this. And he was telling me that he would like to very much comply with the law, but he has trouble trying to hire people who want to do this kind of job which is back breaking really, in this part of Alabama.
And the other thing, T.J., is that law enforcement agencies telling us that they're facing a budget crisis. We were talking to authorities in Jefferson County and they tell us that they have a jail for 900 people. They already have 1200 and they're very worried, concerned about the added responsibilities that this law is going to cause. So, a lot of, again, worry and confusion, T.J.
HOLMES: All right. Rafael Romo for us in Alabaster, Rafael we appreciate you. We will check in with you again this morning.
At seven minutes past the hour, we turn to some political news taking a look at our political ticker, Newt Gingrich, if he is worried about his floundering presidential campaign, he's not showing it. The former House speaker says he'll be in California tomorrow night for a big speech to a Republican group, also in New Hampshire on Sunday, for a presidential debate. Thursday, 16 of his top aides and advisers resigned.
Rick Santorum meanwhile, another Republican candidate, will appear at the New Hampshire debate. Tuesday he opened up an office in Iowa to prepare for next year's all-important caucus. The former Pennsylvania senator also becomes the first Republican candidate to air a radio ad.
We still don't know if Sarah Palin is running for president, but we do know more about her time as governor of Alaska. Twenty-four thousand pages of her emails have been released. Those cover the years of 2006 to 2008. Almost 2,300 other pages have not been disclosed.
And remember, CNN is hosting a debate among Republican presidential candidates. Monday night, 8:00 Eastern. Sarah Palin will not be there; Newt Gingrich, as I just mentioned, says he will.
Our Paul Steinhauser is there in New Hampshire for us this morning. We're going to join him live here with a preview in just about 20 minutes.
We turn to weather now and our Reynolds Wolf keeping an eye on all important weather going on in Arizona right now. It helped for a little while now the weather is about to hurt them again with these wildfires.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HOMES: Also ahead, comedian Tracy Morgan says he's sorry for a recent rant at a Nashville performance that got some folks pretty upset.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEVIN ROGERS, MORGAN SHOW AUDIENCE MEMBER: I knew that I was going to see a comedian that does push the envelope and was expecting to hear all sorts of different probably inappropriate humor, but I didn't expect to hear an attack on the gay community.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: We'll tell you how the gay community is now reacting to Tracy Morgan's apology.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: At 13 minutes past the hour, firefighters battling that huge fire in Eastern Arizona could face stronger winds and lower humidity today. Despite the forecast for worsening conditions, though, CNN's Jim Spellman tells us that firefighters have made progress. Plus, he tells us how fire crews are battling the flames from the ground and the air.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM SPELLMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: T.J., finally a bit of good news here from the massive "wallow fire." The 3,000 or so firefighters that are on scene fighting this fire have taken advantage of two days of lower winds, better weather here for them to fight and they've managed to get a small amount of containment on this fire. They still are protecting the evacuated cities of Springerville and Eagar. Unfortunately, the day before yesterday, 22 homes were lost in nearby Greer.
They hope to do what they can here with this brief break in the high winds. By Saturday afternoon, those high winds will be back and those will ground likely some of their aircraft that are up in the air. They're using super tanker DC-10 to drop retardant and water on the fire while simultaneously using what they call aerial ignitions, helicopters that drop ping-pong ball size plastic balls full of chemicals that start fires.
They start these intentional fires to try to create a barrier between the inhabited towns and the front of the fire, so when the active head of the fire get to the line, there's no more fuel for it to get into town and hurt people.
No word yet on when these evacuated people will be able to come back to home. Likely not before at least some time next week.
T.J., back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: All right, thanks to our Jim Spellman.
We turn to another extreme, take a look at this, folks. Yes, it is June, this is in Massachusetts where it's been 70, 80, 90 degrees and they have this mound of snow still sitting there.
Reynolds, I ask you, how this is possible.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's magic, T.J. It really is. That's exactly what it is, yes. No, basically what happens, looks like a frozen crust so to speak. This will eventually melt away, but this is so much, it's a sheer testament to how much snowfall we really had in the northeast and in parts of the northern plains and the upper Midwest which hence caused so much of the flooding. That will eventually be gone. It's not going to happen instantaneously.
HOLMES: Insulated a little bit there, has all that dirt on top.
This dirt they are doing sandbagging here. This is along the Missouri River. As Reynolds has been keeping us all up to date, we talk so much about the Mississippi and the flooding there, but the Missouri like you said kind of the baby brother to the Mississippi River. But a lot of folks in North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, they are all under flood watch right now and we could see some historic stuff coming their way. How long are they going to be under the gun there?
(WEATHER REPORT)
HOLMES: We're just getting started. Appreciate you as always buddy.
We'll check in with Reynolds plenty throughout this morning.
And, of course, he's talking about this hurricane season we're in. We've seen this flooding, these tornadoes, so much happening and a lot of people will need your help for quite some time, a lot of these disaster victims.
So if you would like to make donations to help them out, you can go to cnn.com/impact and there you will find a list of charities you can donate to.
How far is too far? Facebook tagging your pictures for you whether you like it or not. It's called facial recognition and some people are pretty upset about it.
Also, a Georgia weight lifter carries a debate over dress code and religion all the way to the U.S. Olympic committee. I'll tell you how she could force a change in international rules.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Twenty-two minutes past the hour on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
For many of you social media users out there, Facebook, that's the spot to share personal photos. The site lets you link your friends' pages to your photos so they can be seen and shared. It's a process called tagging, thing is, though, tagging those photos can take a while. It's kind of a slow process or it can be. So Facebook came up with a shortcut, facial recognition. A lot of people not happy about this.
Mario Armstrong here to break this down. Mario, you know I need my handheld to walk through this process.
MARIO ARMSTRONG, CNN DIGITAL LIFESTYLE EXPERT: Right.
HOLMES: Let's keep this as simple as possible here. What is Facebook doing now that has people upset with this facial recognition? How does this work?
ARMSTRONG: So here's how it works. I go to your -- 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 was up on Facebook.
HOLMES: OK.
ARMSTRONG: So now what -- with facial recognition says, 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 these of these other photos, we'll automatically apply that tag to it.
HOLMES: Wow. The way they're doing this, do they have to essentially build a database of all these names and these faces?
ARMSTRONG: You're hitting right at the heart of it T.J. 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. You say how are they doing that? A 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 the next thing you know they'll have a library of those images that say hey, that's Susan, or hey, that's Mario and instantly be able to tag those photos.
HOLMES: They probably got a pretty good database working right now. 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: People are upset for a couple reasons. Number one, because Facebook didn't tell us. This is a -- a mode that they always do and Facebook, I need you guys to listen to us and the consumers out there 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 that 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.
HOLMES: OK. Can you opt out? How can you?
ARMSTRONG: You can disable this. That is a great point. I do think -- I don't want people think I'm just Facebook bashing. I do think there are benefits to this, but I think people should have the choice.
And so to disable it, you want to go into your account settings and then click on your -- excuse me, privacy settings and click on "Customized Settings" and then you want to click specifically on "Suggest photos of me to friends," uncheck that.
HOLMES: Can you do me a favor and email that to me when we get done so I can send that out, because it's specific instructions and I know it's kind of hard to navigate and privacy and this and try to find it. Send that to me so I can get that out.
The other thing, and give me 15 seconds on this, why is Facebook beefing up their lobbying effort in Washington, DC?
ARMSTRONG: Because of these types of issues, because of privacy, because of children online and security and the bottom line is they went from one DC staff member just a few years ago to now having 12 DC staff members, four of which are ex-White House aides from both sides of the aisles.
So they are beefing up quickly to be prepared for any type of issues that they may have going forward.
HOLMES: Good information this morning.
Mario Armstrong, good to see you as always buddy. You enjoy the rest of your weekend.
And folks, you know to join us every Saturday this time and our digital lifestyle expert, Mario Armstrong giving us the latest scoop on all the latest technology out there. Thanks to him once again.
We turn to politics again where Newt Gingrich says he's in it for the long haul but two of his key campaign staffers had some other ideas. They may be hitching their wagons to another horse, not yet in the race. We'll check the political pulse in a moment.
Plus, no laughing matter for comedian Tracy Morgan who is under fire for this morning despite his apology for an anti-gay rant during a comedy routine last week. We'll tell you what gay rights advocates want him to do now.
We're getting close to the bottom on the hour in this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We're at the bottom of the hour here on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
Welcome back to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes. Glad you could spend part of your weekend here with us. A look at some of the stories making headlines.
Listen to this now, out of Joplin, Missouri. Health officials there in Missouri are saying eight people who were injured in last month's tornado there in Joplin have contracted a rare type of fungus. Three of these people have died. One of the deaths directly attributed to the infection which can occur when dirt becomes lodged under the skin.
Also CIA director and defense secretary nominee Leon Panetta is in Pakistan today. It's his first visit there since the successful U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden. Panetta is expected to reaffirm a U.S. commitment to cooperation with Pakistan against al Qaeda.
Police in New Castle, Delaware, say they're investigating whether New York Congressman Anthony Weiner had inappropriate communications with a teenage girl. Weiner is under growing pressure to resign after revelations that he sent lewd photos of himself and exchanged messages with several women online.
Well, CNN is Hosting a Republican presidential debate Monday night in New Hampshire. It's the first opportunity for voters to hear from the seven declared candidates at once. CNN deputy political director Paul Steinhauser looks at how one of those candidates may have a little more on the line.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Of the seven people on the stage at the CNN/WMUR New Hampshire union leader debate Monday night, Newt Gingrich probably has the most on the line.
The former House speaker remains defiant one day after many of his top presidential campaign officials and advisers quit. In an email to supporters Gingrich says, "I full well know the rigors of campaigning for a public office. I will endure them.
But a Republican strategist who used to work for Gingrich has doubts.
RICH GALEN, FORMER GINGRICH PRESS SECRETARY: The kind of skill set you need to do the things he did to bring Republicans into majority in the Congress are a completely different set of skills than what you need when you're running for president and I think that's been glaringly obvious.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And our Paul Steinhauser joins me now from Manchester, New Hampshire.
Paul, hello to you.
Gingrich, does he need to have a good day on Monday? Is this early on things can change, but does he need something pretty special to happen in this debate for him to try to at least get the momentum back and survive this?
STEINHAUSER: You're absolutely right. You know, things can change. Remember four years ago John McCain was almost down and out the year before he won the nomination but he did come back and win it.
He does need a big night at our debate. And T.J., the jury is still out on whether he can survive because you do need a strong campaign staff to run a successful campaign. He doesn't have that right now -- Newt Gingrich doesn't.
And also, he needs to raise a lot of money. We will see very soon whether he will be able to do that as well -- T.J.
HOLMES: Did the folks, his staffers, and a number of them, did they jump ship? Just a jump ship or are they hitching their sails to another boat here if you will?
STEINHAUSER: Yes, that other boat may -- may be Rick Perry, the Republican governor, long-time Republican governor of Texas, who just recently for the first time said he was considering a run for the Republican nomination.
But you know what he needed to do that? He needed two very important political advisers who were with him for his last re- election in 2010 for governor. Where were they? They were with Newt Gingrich. They were two of the top people who resigned from Gingrich's staff the other day. Let's see if they now go to Perry and if Perry decides to run for the White House -- T.J.
HOLMES: And Paul for a lot of our viewers and a lot of people around the country who may not be that familiar with Governor Rick Perry, why do a lot of Republicans like this guy, want him to get in?
STEINHAUSER: Well, this is an interesting one. Perry seems to have some kind of support among Tea Party activists. He's well liked in Texas -- a fiscal conservative, social conservative.
But check this out. This is our recent number from our CNN Opinion Research Corporation poll. Among Republicans we asked, would you like to see Rick Perry make a bid for the Republican nomination. Look at those numbers right there: 40 percent yes, but 50 percent no.
HOLMES: Now besides Perry, anybody else we're keeping an eye on who's thinking about getting in the race?
STEINHAUSER: Yes. We're keeping our eyes out for John Huntsman, the former Utah governor. He was also the U.S. Ambassador to China. President Barack Obama named him; he just resigned from that post. And now he's running around looking like a candidate.
He spoke to our Candy Crowley for "STATE OF THE UNION". You could see that whole interview on Sunday morning. But you know what he said? He said in a week and a half I will pretty much be announcing for president. So keep your eyes on him as well -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right. Paul Steinhauser, good to see you. We'll check in with you again there live in New Hampshire a little later this morning. Thanks so much.
And to our viewers please be sure to tune in right here. The Republican debate in New Hampshire starts 8:00 Eastern time, Monday night right here on CNN.
A lot of people, a lot of kids in particular, dealing with asthma around the world; we have a remedy. Gulping down a live fish might sound crazy to you, but that's just one of a number of unusual remedies around the world. We are looking at next in our "Morning Passport".
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. 36 minutes past the hour.
Nadia Bilchik here; I might not be hungry after this "Morning Passport" she's about to bring me here. But we're talking about alternatives to conventional medicine. Many of these remedies are taken very seriously around other parts of the world but we might see them or hear about them.
OK. Explain this one to me first. Where is this happening? This is India?
NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EDITORIAL PRODUCER: This is happening in India in Hyderabad in southern India. It's the annual fish medicine festival.
Now, T.J., hundreds of thousands of people line up to get a live sardine, two-inch live sardine, and it's coated in special spices. Now the secret recipe apparently is around 170 years old, and comes from a Hindu saint. And the Hindu saint told the Goud (ph) family they were allowed to administer this but they couldn't make a profit from it. So there's no profit.
And what you're seeing now is children being fed the live fish. Asthma and other respiratory problems, and the Indian government ships, literally busses these people to the place where the festival took place this week.
HOLMES: This is supposed to treat asthma?
BILCHIK: It's supposed to treat asthma and other respiratory problems and it is being criticized by certain people and the Goud family says its pharmaceutical companies who are criticizing them because it cures asthma and other respiratory diseases so well.
HOLMES: OK. It cures -- allegedly cures? Does this really work?
BILCHIK: Well, I haven't personally experienced it. Are you asthmatic in any way?
HOLMES: They thought I was for a while. But it turned out to be allergies. So no, I don't think I am.
BILCHIK: Well, maybe it's the special spice that does it.
But I prefer this cure.
Let's go to Czechoslovakia for a moment. Let's go to west Bohemia where the first beer spa has been --
HOLMES: Now you're talking.
BILCHIK: Exactly. Not only do you bathe in this very warm beer. Now, it's a mixture of warm beer and mineral water and apparently the hops (ph) and the Vitamin b infuses the skin and you glow and then you drink beer while you're doing it. The only criticism for this has come from certain people who are concerned about the alcohol consumption in Czechoslovakia.
HOLMES: OK. The alcohol consumption while you're sitting up doing all this stuff.
BILCHIK: Generally Czechoslovakia has the highest beer drinking per capita in the world.
HOLMES: The stuff that you're actually bathing in, that's not the stuff they're drinking, though, right?
BILCHIK: It's a different quality of beer, but the water that you're bathing in, is beer plus warm mineral water. And the beer you're drinking is cold.
HOLMES: OK. Does that work?
BILCHIK: Apparently extremely well. You feel better; now, whether it's the vitamins, the hops, or the alcohol, who knows.
One more cure -- apparently if you want to have a highly intelligent baby you should let it talk to a dolphin. Now you shouldn't swim with dolphins if you're pregnant but because dolphins can communicate at a high frequency, apparently it stimulates the brain of the baby in vitro.
HOLMES: You talk to the dolphin while you're pregnant, not before you get pregnant.
BILCHIK: While you're pregnant you get a dolphin to speak to your pregnant --
HOLMES: Who does this?
BILCHIK: Oh but it's done all over the world. If you look up dolphin practices but they don't recommend that you swim with dolphins.
And finally T.J., cow urine apparently is the cure for -- they're even making it into a drink in India for absolutely everything, from digestion to heart problems.
That is the thing I would rather do, the beer. HOLMES: OK. We should have stopped with the dolphin. We went too far with the cow urine.
Now, Nadia Bilchik, good stuff this morning in our "morning passport". Thank you as always.
We're about 40 minutes past the hour. Stick around.
When we come back we're going to be talking to our legal analyst and friend of our show here on CNN SATURDAY and SUNDAY MORNING, Sunny Hostin. Of course, she's talking about the case that the country seems to be talking about right now, the courtroom drama in the Casey Anthony trial.
But the drama is not just inside. It's outside as well. Crowds are turning nasty, running, even fighting to get inside. Why? Sunny Hostin discussing what's inside and outside the courtroom in the Casey Anthony case.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, 41 minutes past the hour on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING now.
The testimony was pretty gruesome in Casey Anthony's trial this week. Jurors were shown pictures of her 2-year-old daughter's skull. The courtroom was full of people who wanted to see the trial. The judge had a message for them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUDGE BELVIN PERRY, ORANGE COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT: The next witness that will testify will testify concerning certain crime scene photographs. For those of you who may have queasiness or uneasiness about viewing these type of photographs where you may have facial reactions or cannot control your emotions, I ask you to leave.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Let's bring in our legal analyst and friend of our show on CNN SATURDAY and SUNDAY MORNING, Sunny Hostin, who's from "In Session" on our sister network truTV.
Sunny, hello to you. Good morning.
And he was kind of giving a warning there to people in the courtroom but apparently we got some kind of reaction from Casey Anthony when they started showing these photographs as well?
SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: That's right. I mean she started crying immediately. She wouldn't look at the monitors. The photos are being put on monitors, T.J.
It was an extremely emotional day for her. I mean she almost started hyperventilating and folding into herself. Ultimately, on that day, the judge had to cancel court 90 minutes early. This is a judge that is trying to keep time and doesn't want to do things like that.
He told the jury there had been an event and then basically told the media and told the spectators that Casey Anthony was ill.
She was seen by the jailhouse doctors and we never really found out what the illness was. But most people are speculating that it was really the graphic nature of those pictures combined with the testimony which was also very graphic testimony about bones; having eaten little Caylee Anthony's remains that may have caused her reaction.
HOLMES: We talk about reactions and emotional reactions and dramatic pictures and dramatic testimony, but at the end of the day, is this having the impact of at least proving the case, the prosecution's case? Are they moving forward with some powerful evidence here or just having an emotional impact on the jurors?
HOSTIN: No. I think that this week, which I've been calling the CSI week because of all the forensic evidence that came in including Caylee Anthony's remains, was a game changer, T.J., for this prosecution. I mean there was no question there's been sort of a shift, I think, in popular opinion from wow, Casey Anthony could not have done this, to, I want justice for Caylee Anthony. How could she have done this to her?
So there has been a shift. I've seen it on my Facebook page. People have stopped me on the street to ask questions about this case.
This week and I think in large part that is because the prosecution is coming very, very close to putting the pieces together of the circumstantial case.
HOLMES: You know and something else I want to ask you about here. And I asked you about this week, just what this case has turned into. I mean there's been a lot of media coverage, but some of what we've been seeing outside of the courtroom, I don't know what to call it.
If this is just what we have to deal with now in some of these high-profile cases, some of it seemed a little strange, some of it seemed a little sad. But people running, running over each other, fighting for places in line, to make sure they get in and get a seat about 50 seats inside the courtroom.
And I asked you this week, you've covered a lot of cases.
HOSTIN: Yes.
HOLMES: Is this just what it is now when it comes to these high- profile cases? It seems odd that people would fight to get in to see some of these graphic images. I mean, we're talking about the death of a little girl in a murder trial here and people treating this like it's -- they're going to see a big movie. HOSTIN: I've never seen anything like this, T.J. before. And as you mentioned I've covered a lot of trials. I've tried a lot of cases. I have never seen anything like this. There are 50 public seats available to the public.
People are lining up as early as 1:00 a.m., the morning of the trial. They can't get in to line until 8:30 and then once the doors are open at 5:30, they are racing to get to the front of the line.
People have been trampled, they have been sent to the hospital because of this. Yet and still, people are still showing up, just this morning because trial is held on Saturday mornings in this case.
HOLMES: Yes.
HOSTIN: Same thing is happening. Many, many people are -- are lining up, people are trying to bring sharpies and put their number in place on line on their hands. I mean it has been just unbelievable. I think bigger than O.J., bigger than any case I've ever covered, ever seen.
HOLMES: Wow that is something to hear. This is even bigger as far as the interest than the O.J. trial was and that was considered one of the biggest media spectacles, at least trial wise we have seen in quite some time.
Sunny Hostin, we appreciate you being here. I know you had some ripping and running and running around to do this morning to get back in front of that -- in front of that computer for us this morning, but we always appreciate you and always good to have you.
HOSTIN: Oh it's my pleasure, T.J.
HOLMES: All right, enjoy the rest of your weekend.
And as Sunny and I were talking about, we are mentioning there, the trial has attracted and almost cult-like interest among spectators. We're trying to get one of those limited courtroom seats. About 50 given out as she mentioned. Friday morning it got so tense in line, a scuffle broke out, and one woman had to be taken away in an ambulance.
So what exactly is the big fascination? Well, we asked someone, I spoke to her yesterday, a trial watcher by the name of Kelly Haney. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY HANEY, 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 -- of our culture now where we're fascinated by -- and maybe you can admit this -- you're fascinated -- this coverage -- 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 -- you just want to see it and be a part of this reality television?
HANEY: 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 it's -- that's why it makes it so fascinating to be in there.
HOLMES: Now, ma'am 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?
HANEY: Oh, yes. When I got there I was the fifth person in line and once they started getting past 50 we all started counting on our own -- 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 bags to my friend and sprinted as fast as I could and I got number nine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now, Haney says she plans on attending the trial at least once a week from now on. She does work there and she says she has been going to the trial on her days off.
Well, at about ten minutes to the top of the hour now.
A move to change the international weight lifting athletic dress code carried on the shoulders of one weight lifter. Now, her defiance could become an Olympic victory for Islamic women.
Also at the top of the hour, a lot of members of Congress are turning their backs on Representative Anthony Weiner but there's at least one colleague who is standing by the lawmaker. That's at the top of the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, seven minutes to the top of the hour.
I'm now joined by our friend Joe Carter for HLN Sports. How are you doing?
JOE CARTER, HLN SPORTS: Good, how are you?
HOLMES: I'm good this morning. Have you been enjoying the NBA finals?
CARTER: Absolutely.
HOLMES: To the blast. CARTER: It got me actually very confused.
HOLMES: What are you confused about?
CARTER: I'm flip-flopping. You know, one day I want Miami, the next day I want Dallas. I can't tell who's going to win.
HOLMES: OK well, a lot of people are rooting against --
(CROSSTALK)
CARTER: Oh yes.
HOLMES: Against LeBron James.
CARTER: Oh, yes.
HOLMES: Just because it's LeBron James. All right. The series is 3-2. They're going back to Miami for the last two games. So Dallas can end this thing.
But game five, right before game five, a little something happened that people are not going to like. If you didn't like LeBron James before you're really not going to like him now.
CARTER: Great point. All right, so you're -- no, you're the news anchor. You're sort of the leader on the team.
HOLMES: OK.
CARTER: And it looks like you have a fever. Let's say you've got a sinus infection and its hours before you've got to be on the desk. Most likely you're going to come in to work because believe it without you --
HOLMES: You've got to push through.
CARTER: T.J., we wouldn't have the news.
HOLMES: We've got to push through.
CARTER: Dirk Nowitzki kind of plays that role with the Dallas Mavericks. He is the team leader. So Tuesday for game four, the guy played with a 101 degree temperature.
HOLMES: Yes.
CARTER: A sinus infection, he was sick as a dog. Saw him holding his mouth when he was coughing, played OK, but good enough to help them win the game.
HOLMES: Sure.
CARTER: As you said, before game five, his biggest rivals, Dwayne Wade, LeBron James, seen on camera essentially mocking Dirk for overplaying his sickness. Here's that video. Take a look. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DWAYNE WADE, MIAMI HEAT: Oh did you hear me cough? I think I'm sick.
LEBRON JAMES, MIAMI HEAT: Man. This weather, man. Weather is -- it's hard to go from 85 degree weather and then go to 90.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARTER: All right. So -- so is this a big deal?
HOLMES: Yes.
CARTER: I think it is too.
HOLMES: Yes.
CARTER: I think it is.
HOLMES: OK and again this -- the guy was sick. He was bad off. And then they did this right before game five in which they went out and Dirk handed it to them again.
CARTER: They got punked.
HOLMES: Yes.
CARTER: Yes, he goes out that night, scores 29 points, has a great game. They go on to win game five, now they stand just one win away from their first NBA title. And as you said, it shifts back to Miami but I don't know, I think the team's got to feel a little embarrassed. Here's their two leaders, their two superstars --
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: Yes.
CARTER: -- they're looking like kids. I mean, we forget because these guys are millionaires because they are super stars, but they're only in their 20s.
HOLMES: Young guys.
CARTER: And they're acting like a couple of 20-year-olds.
HOLMES: Yes, what do you do? But -- but hey, anybody are looking for another reason to pounce on LeBron, has another opportunity to do so.
CARTER: Fuel to the fire, right?
HOLMES: All right.
Let's move on to another, a little more uplifting story here. This is a cool story here. An Atlanta woman, I believe now, she could be setting new standards when it comes to international weight lifting competition.
CARTER: Not only is she going to be setting new standards she's believed to be one of the only Muslim woman -- women in the world who is trying to compete in Olympic weightlifting.
Now, she's trying to get the uniform policy changed for Olympic sanctioned events because now the -- you know, the rule is you to have to wear the Unitard, the shoulders that shows -- that shows the legs.
HOLMES: Yes.
CARTER: And she wants to wear the Hijab which -- which covers most of her -- most of her body. The Olympic Federation is considering it. She'll find out her fate at the end of the month. That could change -- really change a lot for the standard and how people dress for Olympic events.
HOLMES: Well, good -- more power to her and good luck to her. They are at least taking it up. We don't know when we might hear back.
CARTER: At the end of the month.
HOLMES: At the end of the month. All right, there we go. All right.
Joe, it's good to see you as always, brother. Thanks so much.
CARTER: You bet.
HOLMES: Thanks so much.
Well, we're getting closer to the top of the hour.
Usually when the President meets with college football's national champions it's the team star that often greets him. Well, not necessarily this time. We'll tell you why one of Auburn University's unsung heroes was chosen for the honor on Wednesday.
Also, a teenage girl is the latest player in the Anthony Weiner drama. He's not denying making contact, but police want to know exactly what he sent to her.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: So the future has arrived. Have you heard yet about the Makerbot? Essentially if you can imagine it, you can create it with this thing. Joe Carter explains the Makerbot in our "Start Small, Think Big" segment.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARTER: Computer printing is stepping into another dimension.
Bre Pettis is one of the investors of the Makerbot. A personal 3D printer. BRE PETTIS, INVENTOR, MAKERBOT: Normally when you need something (INAUDIBLE) where am I going to go shop for that? When you have a Makerbot, you just think, "Huh, maybe I'll just make it myself."
CARTER (on camera): Tell me why and how it started.
PETTIS: So we really wanted to have a 3D printer but we couldn't afford one. So we decided to make it ourselves. When it finally worked we were having so much fun with it that we decided everyone should have one of these.
CARTER (voice-over): The Makerbot costs about $1,300 and works by melting coils of plastic into a fine thread that creates 3D models of just about anything.
(on camera): You got some practical things and just some fun kind of toy type things.
PETTIS: You nailed it. It's a mix of things that are really fun and playful like toys and puzzles and then really practical things like things you're going to use in the house.
CARTER (voice-over): You can create your own designs or download other creations and simply print them out.
(on camera): Here we are, a practical item the Makerbot can make, it's chess pieces.
PETTIS: Yes, you go ahead and you print them all out, you got a chess set and you're ready to play chess.
CARTER: You know, there are so many times in my life where I have lost one single chess piece. Now I can just print it out.
(voice-over): If you can imagine it, you can create it.
PETTIS: Once you have a Makerbot, you get Makerbot goggles and you start looking at things as if the whole world could be made with a Makerbot.
CARTER: Joe Carter, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
