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Free Speech or Call to Violence; World AIDS Day Raises Awareness; Visiting Town Abandoned After Chernobyl; Abandoned Fukushima; Getting Up Early Is Good for You
Aired December 02, 2014 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN ANCHOR: Where to draw the line when protecting free speech on social media? That`s what leads off this Tuesday edition of CNN STUDENT
NEWS. The case is Elonis versus United States. The Supreme Court started hearing arguments yesterday. It involves a man named Anthony Elonis.
After his wife left him in 2010 and he lost his job, Elonis started putting violent posts on Facebook. There`s a federal law that says whoever
transmits communication threatening to injure someone, shall be fined or imprisoned. Elonis was convicted of threatening his wife and law
enforcement officials and he was imprisoned for several years.
Elonis says he was just writing rap lyrics, that his rants were therapeutic, that he never meant to seriously threaten anyone. His lawyer
says that justices should consider that, whether Elonis intended his posts to be taken literally.
A lawyer for the government says what matters here isn`t intent. It`s whether a reasonable person would feel threaten by Elonis` posts.
So, what exactly did he post?
Teachers, you may want to preview this first segment. It contains some of the violent phrases that are central with these cases.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are going to talk a little bit about your client in this case, because this really centers on what he posted on
social media.
JOHN P. ELLWOOD, ATTORNEY FOR ANTHONY D. ELONIS: What matters legally is what a reasonable person would think of it. Or what he intended by it.
One of them said, essentially, you know, if I knew then what I know now, I would have killed you and dumped you in toad creek.
They were styled as raps.
The government`s reasonable person standard would make you criminally liable. It would make you a felon, would disentitle you from voting, would
disentitle you from owning a firearm.
Anytime you fail to anticipate that what you say is going to be interpreted as a threat.
BROWN: He`s being very clear. What did he expect to accomplish with these comments?
ELLWOOD: Then he said, you know, this is therapeutic for me. This is just for me, it`s not for anybody else.
And there`s a reason why all these graphic songs are written, and that they are cathartic, they work through experiences. When, M&M wrote these
things, that he`s been prosecuted for a felony for writing this songs. Which are virtually indistinguishable.
It was the government position that they said again and again. And their argument to the jury it doesn`t matter what he thinks, and in the United
States, I don`t think you can say it doesn`t matter what the defendant thinks, in the speech prosecution.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: Yesterday was World AIDS Day. An international event that goes back to 1988. It`s held every year on December 1. And it`s aimed to raise
awareness about AIDS, a quiet immune deficiency syndrome, an HIV, human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS.
Organizers of World AIDS Day estimate that 34 million people worldwide are living with HIV and that 35 million people have died from it.
AZUZ: World AIDS day raises money to fight the disease and to educate people about it. Medical treatments have come a long way since the 1980s,
allowing people to survive indefinitely with HIV, still it hasn`t gone away, and symbolic red ribbons are worn as reminders and in remembrance of
AIDS victims.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just the facts: on April 26, 1986, there was an explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in what was then the
Soviet Union. About 30 people were killed in the blast, and the nuclear radiation spread across borders. Hundreds of thousands had to be
evacuated, forests and farms were contaminated. People and animals became sick or contracted cancer in the years that followed. It was the worst
disaster in the history of nuclear power.
AZUZ: A nearby town in what is now part of Ukraine was abandoned. Just under 50,000 people had to evacuate their homes. 30 years later, it`s a
ghost town, with rotting Soviet-era houses, factories, parks and gyms.
There`s another place like it. Fukushima, Japan where an earthquake and tsunami in 2011 caused the world second worst nuclear disaster. It left a
more modern town completely empty, but quick visits are giving glimpses of the past.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The first thing people ask about, is the radiation. Is it even safe to go in when most are kept out?
Our local government tour guide says contamination levels are low. Allowing quick trips into the safer parts of Fukushima prefecture, still
empty from the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
Nearly four years later, outsiders were getting a rare look at this desolate, abandoned place. Damage from the 2011 earthquake and tsunami
sits untouched.
Crumbling buildings are falling further into disrepair. Weeds are slowly taken over.
(on camera): What do they say when they see it for the first time?
YUSUKE KATO, TOUR ORGANIZER, BRIDGE FOR FUKUSHIMA: At first they say, of the bubble.
RIPLEY (voice over): Nobody can leave here, not yet. Fear lingers about the invisible threat from radiation released by the damage reactors. Soil
and groundwater is contaminated.
(on camera): Agriculture gone.
KENICHI BAMBA, TOUR ORGANIZER, BRIDGE FOR Fukushima: Gone
RIPLEY: Business is closed.
KENICHI BAMBA: Absolutely.
RIPLEY: So, what`s left?
KENICHI BAMBA: Nothing.
RIPLEY (voice over): Kenichi Bamba says these tours are part of a longterm plan to rebuild Fukushima prefecture. For him, a painful, personal task.
(voice over): You are from Fukushima?
BAMBA: Yes, absolutely.
RIPLEY: What do you think when you look around it all these damage?
BAMBA: I came here several time, that`s still I cannot say anything.
RIPLEY: The nuclear plant is being taken apart, it will take decades and billions of dollars to make it safe. I was there a few months ago, forced
to wear protective gear. It`s one of the most dangerous places on earth. And it`s visible in the distance. Far too close for many to ever feel safe
here again. Survey show only about a fifth of former residents even want to come back. For many, moving on is easier than facing this.
RIPLEY: We are standing two kilometers, more than a mile from the coast. Yet here seats a boat that was picked up and dumbed by the tsunami. Boats
and cars are all over this field, reminders of all the people who died here.
Fukushima tour guides hope by sharing the plight of these people, others will be inspired to calm here and rebuild.
BAMBA: We want to encourage local people for revitalization of Fukushima.
RIPLEY: They hope this school gym, graduation banner still hanging, will have students again. This dusty piano will have someone to play it. And
this nuclear ghost town will someday be brought back to live. Will Ripley, CNN, Fukushima, Japan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: Glasgow, Columbia and Abuja are the three cities featured on today`s "Roll Call." We`ll start in Kentucky. That`s where we heard from Barren
County High School. The Trogents are watching in Glasgow. To the northeast, they load everyone at Eastconn EVC. They are located in
Columbia, Connecticut, and across the Atlantic Ocean, great to see you in Abuja, Nigeria. Our viewers at the American International School of Abuja.
Get out and exercise, drink more water, eat a tomato, floss your teeth. It`s not hard to find healthy habits or the studies behind them, that prove
they help you stay healthier, feel better and leave longer. But what does it take to be awesome besides being a Friday. It seems U.S. founding
father Ben Franklin was onto something.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DHANI JONES: Early to bed, early to rise, Ben Franklin says, makes a man and a woman healthy, wealthy and wise.
I didn`t want to wake up early. It`s just so difficult. But then I read some studies, if I wake up late, I`ll eat more fast food, and I`ll gain
more wait. I don`t want to be that guy. No. I want to be healthy. I`m a healthy kind of guy. If I wake up early, I`m going to have a better GPA,
I`m going to graduate at higher level, get a better job. It all makes a lot of sense. It`s a little bit difficult at first, but here is a couple
of tips. Before you walk into the bedroom, set the time at which you are going to plan on waking up. Don`t give me five different times that you
can set the snooze. Pick one time you are going to wake up. And you know what? When the alarm clock goes up. Get up!
Also, go to bed a little bit earlier, then you can wake up a little bit earlier, and don`t spend time on your phone going through Instagram, going
through your Facebook, going through your Twitter and going through (INAUDIBLE). Breeze. And go to sleep.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: Gallier Hall, a building in New Orleans dates back to 1853. It stands about three stories high. It was once city hall, but it`s never
been lit up like this. A French company that brings together light and art has set up free nightly shows, showing off the lighter side, get it, of
Gallier Hall. Organizers are hoping to spark interest among local artists, so they can learn the craft and use it throughout New Orleans. Crowds
would call it delightful. It sheds light at the new type of art, brings people together in the lighthearted randez with you all. That was big, it
won`t be easy to illuminate the Big Easy, but it`s certainly a bright idea. CNN STUDENT NEWS has more enlightening stories coming at you tomorrow.
END
