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CNN NEWSROOM

Obama Signs Violence Against Women Act; Sharks Close Florida Beaches

Aired March 7, 2013 - 14:30   ET

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


BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: He has played a key in forging the gun safety reforms that I talked about largely by working closely with survivors of gun violence and their families. He formed the violence against women act 20 years ago never forgetting who it was all about.

On behalf of everybody here and all the lives he touched through the violence against women's act and survivor who is are alive today because of this law, the women who are no longer hiding in fear because of this law and girls who are growing up aware of their right to be free from abuse because of this law.

On behalf of them and all their families, I want to thank Joe Biden for making this one of the causes of his career. Now as Joe said earlier, we have come a long way. Back when Joe wrote this law, domestic abuse was too often seen as a private matter, best hidden behind closed doors.

Victims too often stayed silent and felt they had to live in shame that somehow they done something wrong. Even when they went to the hospital or the police station, too often they were sent back home without real intervention or support.

They felt trap and isolated. As a result, domestic violence too often ended in greater tragedy. So one of the great legacies of this law is that it didn't just change the rules, it changed our culture. It empowered people to start speaking out.

It made it OK for us as a society to talk about domestic abuse. It made it possible for us as a country to address a problem in a real and meaningful way. It made clear to victims that they were not alone. They always had a place to go and they always had people on their side.

Today because members of both parties worked together we were able to renew that commitment. Reauthorizing the violence against women act is something I called for in my "State of the Union" address and when I see how quick it got done -- it makes me feel optimistic.

Because of this bill, we are keeping place all the protections and services that Joe described and as he said, we will expand them to cover even more women. Because this is a country where everybody should be able to pursue their own measure of happiness and live their lives free from fear no matter who you are, no matter who you love. That has got to be our priority. That what's today is about. Today is about the millions of women and the victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault. We are out there right now looking for a lifetime and looking for support.

Because of this, they will continue to have access to all the services that Joe first helped to establish 19 years ago, the national hotline and network of shelters and protection orders that carry across state lines and because of this bill, we are also expanding housing assistance so that no woman has to choose between a violent home and no home at all.

That's what today is all about. Today is about the law enforcement officials like the Police Chief Jim Johnson. They are the first to respond when a victim calls for help. Because this bill we are continuing all the training and support that has proven so effective in bridging, you know, some gaps that were in actual enforcement of the law so we can actually bring more fenders to justice.

We are giving our law enforcement better tools to investigate cases of rape that remains a consistently underreported crime in our country. Helping police officers deliver on the most important part of their job. Preventing harm and saving lives. That's what today is all about.

Today is about women like Diane. I am so grateful Diane shared her story. That takes great courage. There is a common story. I know we have tribal leaders here today. I want to thank you for fighting so hard on behalf of your people to make this bill a reality.

Indian country has some of the highest rates of domestic abuse in America. When Native American women are abused on tribal lands by an attacker who is not Native American, the attacker is immune from prosecution by tribal courts. As soon as I sign this bill, that ends. That ends.

Tribal governments have an inherent right to protect their people and all people have a right to be protected from fear and that is what today is all about. Today is about all the Americans who face discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity when they seek help.

I want to thank Sharon who is here. There she is. The work she is doing -- great work she is doing with the anti-violence project. Sharon and all the other advocates who are focussed on this community, they can't do it alone. Now they won't have to. That's what today is all about. That's what today is all about.

Today is about the women who come to Rosy Hidalgo looking for support, the immigrants who are victims of domestic abuse. I mean, imagine the dilemma for so many. You know, if your immigration status is tied to a husband who beats you or abuses you, if you are an undocumented immigrant, you may feel there is too much to lose by coming forward.

The violence against women's act already had protections so the victims could call the police without fear of deportation and those protections save lives and because we fought hard to keep them in place, they remained a line for so many women. That's part of what today is all about.

Today is about young women who brought into the sex trade by a neighbor when she was 12 years old. She was rescued by trafficking survivors. Today she is enrolled in college and working to help girls stay out of the sex trade, couldn't be prouder of her so proud.

With this bill, we reauthorize the trafficking victims protection act to help more girls turn out like her. That's what today is all about. Today is about all the survivors, all the advocates who are standing on this stage. It's also about the millions more they represent. That you represent.

It's about our commitment as a country to address this problem, every corner of America, every community, every town, every big city as long as it takes. We made incredible progress since 1994, but we cannot let up. Not when domestic violence kills women a day.

Not when in women will be a victim of rape in their lifetime. Not when in three is abused by a partner. I promise you, not just as your president, but as a son and a husband and a father, I am going to keep at this.

I know Vice President Biden will keep at it. My administration will keep at it for as long as it takes. I know all the advocates up here and all the legislators and Republican and Democrat who supported this. I know they could not be prouder of the work they have done together.

I think I speak for all of them when we say we could not have done it without you. So with that, let me sign this bill!

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: President Obama now signing this bill into law, violence against women act. So the president you heard the rousing crowd and you mentioned he had such a huge crowd as they wanted to watch him sign this bill into law that they actually had to move this signing ceremony from the White House to the Department of Interior.

And again, this is the violence against women now law. You heard him say this is really a lifeline to domestic violence. Victims and also it will provide health assistance for groups to help provides services for domestic violence victims.

There he is. Again, Nancy Pelosi, a couple of other folks around him and he got a huge shout out to the vice president, Vice President Joe Biden who 20 years ago forged this act. So really it's been a cause of his career so he thanked the vice president for that and with that a couple of pens later, it is now officially law.

Just ahead here, from Washington to the water, off to Florida we go, hundreds of sharks turning up. Look at this. The pictures tell the story here. Sharks are on a popular beach. This is the real deal, a shark expert who told me here. He was jus swimming with whale sharks. This is our go to guy and we will talk sharks, next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Sharks. We hate swimming with them or at least some of us do. It is these pictures that have South Florida buzzing today. Look at all of them, a lot of sharks, dozens. Beaches are closed, tens of thousands of sharks migrating south for the winter.

Just 200 yards from shore, this species is the black tip shark. Spinner sharks being spotted as well. Not considered too dangerous, but further out is where you find the big boys, the great white sharks.

Just this week, a monster was caught by research vessel off of Jacksonville, Florida.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been setting sharks for 40 years and have been all over the world, to every continent except Antarctica setting living sharks. Believe it or not, all those hundreds of species I've looked at, I never have seen a great white alive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Joining me now, Alistair Dove, the director of Research and Conservation at the Georgia Aquarium, just down the road from us. And a live look from Florida, we have George Howell. So Al to you first, let's throw the pictures back up. That tells the story. When you look at these pictures, tell me where are they from and where are they going?

ALISTAIR DOVE, DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH AND CONSERVATION, GEORGIA AQUARIUM: Well, it's exciting for me to see this. It should be exciting for anybody. It's amazing natural spectacle. They are doing their natural migration and come down the coast.

BALDWIN: Where are they coming from?

DOVE: They are coming down from North Carolina and that part of the world and make their way down to Florida for the winter. As it warms up they make their way back again.

BALDWIN: OK, and while you say this is exciting, George Howell, it's spring break season for a lot of people in this neck of the woods in Florida here. So I imagine, aren't students aware that there are a lot of sharks in the water?

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, everybody is out here. This is the talk of the town here. Everybody is talking about -- today, I mean, you have a clear blue sky, you can't complain about that, crystal clear water and when you look at the video from the sky, you can see all these tiny dots.

The best time to see it because again we are talking about thousands of these black tip sharks. They are all migrating to the north. This is the time that they do it. A marine biologist told me earlier that it's between February and March for about two weeks.

Al, I want to ask you a question as well, that marine biologist said this type of shark is not so dangerous to people. Still there are precautions we find several of the beaches that are closed. But what is your take on that? Are these pretty dangerous or not so much?

DOVE: No, neither of these species, all the black tip sharks has ever been associated with an unprovoked fatal attack on a human. The risk is really low and you have a greater chance of being struck by lightning than you do of having being attacked by a shark.

BALDWIN: We're all have the jaws music in our head as we talk sharks here at least I do. I had a couple of days off a couple of week ago and I was swimming not far from where George was. I was told today that any given time right now you're 60 feet from one of these guys. So what advice do you have for swimmers, people who like the ocean?

DOVE: I'd say you enjoy it, enjoy the natural spectacle. These species present little risk to you. They are much more interested in things like anchovies. If you are uncomfortable, go sit on the beach, have a sunny day at the beach, that's not too bad.

DOVE: Spoken like a true man who went scuba diving with whale sharks this morning at the Georgia Aquarium. Al Dove, thank you so much for coming by. We'll see you next time and George Howell, enjoy the sunshine. Appreciate it.

Coming up next, our hot topics panel face off including how your boss can put a tracking sensor on you to monitor your conversations and your movements in and out of the office. It's happening in some places.

Plus Michael Bloomberg and his too loud crew getting the word out to the iPod generation via this awareness campaign, turn down the volume. My panelist will weigh in next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Your boss could put a tracking sensor on you, why? To watch your movements, your productivity, your conversations, just about anything you do, almost I should say, anything you do in the office.

Your coffee breaks, your lunch breaks, how often do you get up from your desk, how long you spent on the phone, how you interact with your fellow workers, according to this -- the fascinating read in the "Wall Street Journal" here, Bank of America is tracking study found this.

That most productive workers belong to close knit teams, spoke frequently face to face with their co-workers and you know, we've been talking about this for a couple of weeks now. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, she may agree. She recently banned telecommuting to boost productivity.

So today's hot topics panel, I present you with "Cafe Mocha" host, M.C. Lyte, Paul Mercurio, comedian and host of the podcast, "The Paul Mercurio Show," "Huff Post Live" host, Jacob Soboroff, and "Daily Download" editor-in-chief, Lauren Ashburn. Welcome to all of you.

Jacob, let me begin with you. When do you feel most productive at work, when you are solo or talking to your colleagues?

JACOB SOBOROFF, HOST, "HUFFPOST LIVE": Certainly not when I'm being tracked by electronic device. You know, Brooke, the thing that's so problematic with this is that you don't know what this technology is exactly being used for.

The idea here is that it's being presented as something to increase productivity, but in reality, you know, this is just a massive invasion of privacy. It's not unlike a story reported by my colleague, Matt Sledger at "Huff Post."

They are different stories, but similar in the sense that there were drones that Homeland Security is going to be using on the border that can have facial recognition and wire tapping capabilities --

BALDWIN: You're going in one direction. When you read this "Wall Street Journal" piece, you know, they make this point. They talk to these, you know, employees and legal advocacy groups basically saying that -- and I'm quoting this article, "Current sensing techniques don't seem to violate employment laws and not illegal to track your employees in the building." That's the deal right now.

SOBOROFF: It doesn't mean it's not creepy though.

BALDWIN: I'm not saying it's not creepy. M.C. Lyte, do you think it's creepy or would you be OK if it means increased productivity in the workplace?

MC LYTE, HOST, "CAFE MOCHA": Well, I think it's extremely creepy. That's for me to find out how many steps I took and my heartbeat and all of that, but as an employer, I would want to know what can I administer to have some teamwork happen?

I think the way they are going about it is definitely big brother-ish for me, however I know employers that look into their employee's e- mails and this is just getting us a little deeper and further into it than we ever had imagined. It's here and it's happening. I don't know that there is much that can be done about it.

LAUREN ASHBURN, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, "DAILY DOWNLOAD": I agree. It's also true that as a manager when I ran a division, I would have killed for this data to be able to increase productivity. We used a program called gallupq12.

It was 12 questions including do you have a best friend at work. That was a sample in time. We took the surveys overtime. This is an actual measure of behavior, which can be very important to corporations as we are in these tough economic times and they figure out how who to keep and who not to.

BALDWIN: A lost businesses would agree with you. Hang on. They say look, even size matters in terms of lunch tables and you should have 12 instead of five. That's a catalyst to have one coffee machine and they have to huddle around and come up with ideas, just one side of it.

Let me get to you, Paul, as we switch gears because listen, I listened to loud music for so long, I am paying attention. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, he wants to put a bug in your ear. He is planning to warn New Yorkers about risk of losing your hearing from loud music blasting from your earphones to music devices.

Bloomberg has a well-earned reputation for banning items. The 16- ounce sodas and smoking in bars and transfats, you know, menu boards that don't have calorie counts. Let's be clear here. Bloomberg is pushed to prevent the hearing loss. This is not a ban per se. This is an awareness campaign. Paul to you.

PAUL MECURIO, COMEDIAN: It's a slippery slope. It's on the way to a ban. The issue with Bloomberg for me is he is taking New York from the city that never sleeps to be the city that puts you to sleep. The reality is these transfats and sodas and all of this smoking outdoors, this is problematic.

What's next? Rounding off the sharp edges on the buildings so people don't cut themselves? Muggers have to mug people with their inside voice? He should go back to doing what he does best, which is extending term limits.

BALDWIN: What's wrong with being concerned with the hear something the hearing is going. You look at studies and not a lot of us can hear.

MECURIO: He should stick to what he does best.

LYTE: I am saying I'm a hip hop artist and want to listen to my music as loud as I want. I don't think he needs to interfere with that. I don't think it's him, but someone in his office that is compelled to get involved with these types of things. I think more importantly is what about education? There is a 65 percent increase, but a 35 percent drop in high school dropout rates that are crazy in New York City.

BALDWIN: Priorities.

LYTE: The dropout factor.

ASHBURN: You could actually have an education campaign about ear buds. That would be better than a ban.

BALDWIN: This is not a ban.

MECURIO: You need to educate --

SOBOROFF: Let me jump in. That's what's going on here. This is an education campaign. The big question is, is this what you to spend city resources on, the campaign to get people to turn down --

LYTE: A quarter of a million dollars.

SOBOROFF: There so many other things that you could spend -- MECURIO: I don't want my money spent that way.

LYTE: It's hard to hear you. You should speak up.

BALDWIN: Do you think obviously I'm hearing MC Lyte saying it should be up to me if I want to jack my volume up or not and not up to the mayor, but what about the people who make the devices themselves? In the fact that we are all going deaf, should they then turn down the volume?

MECURIO: No.

ASHBURN: That's where you get the ringing in your ears. I have it because I used to run with my iPod turned up rate loud. I went to a lot of loud concerts and it's important that there is some education about this.

MECURIO: I don't think people need to be told not to listen to loud music. Do we need to tell people that? We are in a bad state in the society.

ASHBURN: One out of five teens can't hear. That's a lot.

MECURIO: Is it contributable to loud music through ear buds?

SODOROFF: It may be attributable to loud ear buds, but we can turn down our own volume.

BALDWIN: Who has great hearing?

MECURIO: What?

ASHBURN: What did you say?

BALDWIN: I can't hear you. Thanks to my panel, MC Lyte, Lauren Ashburn, Paul Mecurio and Jacob Soboroff. Appreciate it. My music is too loud. Thanks to all of and you we roll on.

One man busted for drunk driving ends up spending 22 months in solitary confinement and now he is a multimillionaire. I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

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