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CNN 10
Monsoon Flooding in South Asia; Debate Involving Free Speech and the Internet; Some Scientific Reasons for Climbing Trees
Aired August 23, 2017 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: We`re traveling around the world today on CNN 10 and we`re happy to have you with us. I`m your tour guide Carl Azuz.
And our first stop is in Southern Asia, where massive flooding tied to monsoon season is soaking parts of Nepal, as well as areas of India and
neighboring Bangladesh.
Heavy rains are typical in this region during August, which is when the monsoon rains blow in. But aide workers affiliated with the Red Cross say
this season has been worse than usual, that some of the affected areas haven`t seen flooding like this in decades.
Hundreds of people have been killed in floods and landslides. Tens of thousands of homes have been damaged or destroyed, and with some
communities completely cut off, the only way to get them help and supplies is by boat.
The waters are receding in Nepal and a government spokesman there says the situation is improving. Aide workers are on the lookout for diseases that
can follow natural disasters like malaria and other bacterial infections. They can be spread through tainted water supplies and the lack of
sanitation.
Southern Asia is one of the wettest regions on the planet and many cities there were not property built to account for flooding.
Next story involves speech, private companies in the Internet. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives American certain rights. To say
what they want and to assemble peacefully in public are two of them.
But let`s say a hate group wants to put its views on the Internet. Though many may find the content offensive or unacceptable, in many cases, the
Constitution protects its freedom of speech. But the group needs a server, a computer to host the site and a domain name and Internet address so
people can get to it.
Here`s where this gets tricky, domain names have to be registered. Private companies do that. If they decide not to register the name of the hate
group, that group as no online address that Internet users could get to. So, the question is, is that an unconstitutional limit on free speech?
CNN`s Jeffrey Toobin says it`s not.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUBTITLE: After a derogatory post about Heather Heyer, Internet-domain provider GoDaddy kicked The Daily Stormer off their platform.
Since then, The Daily Stormer has had trouble finding a domain provider that will let them stick around.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Cloudfare, GoDaddy and Google all cut ties and refuse to host this Website. And that`s raised questions
about the intersection of the Internet and free speech.
The First Amendment to the Constitution does not give you a right to be on the Internet. It simply gives you a right not to be censored by the
government. The First Amendment does not prohibit private companies from regulating who they want to do business with. So, Google, GoDaddy have the
perfect right to say to the Daily Stormer, we don`t want anything to do with you.
Tech companies have somewhat contradictory goals, because at one level, they want to be like the phone company. You can`t sue the phone company
makes a threat over the phone. The phone company is not responsible for the content of what`s said over the phone. And the Internet companies, by
and large, want that same protection.
At the same time, they recognize that they`re not the same as the phone company and they do have some greater role to protect against copyright
violations, other kinds of obscenity. They want to regulate by they don`t want the government to punish them if they don`t regulate correctly.
SUBTITLE: You don`t have to violate the terms of service to be kicked off.
TOOBIN: Companies on the Internet all have terms of service that they can enforce and they can do business with who they want to business with. On
the left, or the right. And the government, by and large, leaves it to the market to decide who has access to private companies.
If Google starts censoring all political content, presumably, people will stop going to Google.
SUBTITLE: In many cases, hate speech is protected by the First Amendment.
TOOBIN: The term hate speech can have different definitions in different context. When you`re talking about the First Amendment and what the
government can prohibit, there`s almost no hate speech that can be banned. The First Amendment does not apply to private companies and Google and
GoDaddy can say, we don`t want racism, anti-Semitism, bigotry on our Websites.
And I think that distinction between what the government can do and what private companies can do is an important one to remember.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ (voice-over): Ten-second trivia:
The United Kingdom`s Elizabeth Tower is often called what?
Big Ben, Tower of London, Ironbridge, or Windsor Castle?
Though it`s technically the 13-ton bell inside of Elizabeth Tower, Big Ben is often used to refer to the whole clock tower.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BIG BEN CHIMING)
SUBTITLE: This was Big Ben`s last chime before falling silent for four years.
(APPLAUSE)
SUBTITLE: The iconic bell will remain silent until 2021, while conservation works are carried out.
The chimes emanating from the bell have kept time in the British capital for 157 years.
Big Ben will continue to chime for "important national events" such as New Year`s Eve and Remembrance Sunday.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: To get to some of the most unexplored places on Earth, you don`t have to have a jeep, a helicopter or a submarine. You just need a rope.
The forest canopy, the highest reaches of leafy branches, hosts an incredible number of mammals, plants and insects, some of which never even
touch the ground. It gives people a sound scientific reason to climb trees.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TIM KOVAR, MASTER TREE CLIMBING INSTRUCTOR, TREE CLIMBING PLANET: My name is Tim Kovar, founder of Tree Climbing Planet. It`s a technical tree
climbing school based here in Oregon City. And we teach people how to climb trees, but not only in Oregon, but also around the world.
I think there`s something deeply rooted into our DNA that draws human beings to trees. When you`re a child, to grow up around trees, you climb
trees. So, taking people to kind of recapture their youth up into the tree tops, but by doing it with ropes and saddles makes it a little bit safer,
not just for the climber but also for the tree too. We don`t want to be damaging the tree.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) must be warned at all times when you`re underneath of the tree.
KOVAR: I`ve worked with children from 5 years old all the way up to 85 to 90 years old. Pretty much anybody can do it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One hand above, one hand below, going to stand and slide that knot up.
KOVAR: I like a tree-climbing more as a place to be rather than a thing to do. This is going to take some of the pressure off people who may be
afraid of heights. Once it`s explained, you know, we`re just going to go up there and hang out for the day. You go as high as you want and as slow
or as quick as you want.
Probably, you have two more and you should be pretty much in the clear.
The most challenging part is giving our lines into the trees. Some of the taller trees, we have to use giant slingshots. We use bow and arrows,
crossbows. Once we get that up and over the branch, then we tie our climbing roofs unto that, pull that up and over.
It`s always a good feeling when it comes back down.
The canopy is really one of the last frontiers in our planet. We`ve studied the ocean. We`ve studied the moon. But just the rooftop of our
planet, especially the rainforest, 80 percent, 90 percent of life lives up inside that canopy and it hasn`t been studied a whole lot.
And so, when people ascend up, even though it`s only 40, 50, 60 feet above their head, they`re going into the world that`s usually unexplored.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I may be sleeping up here tonight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tree boat, all situated.
KOVAR: One of the highlights for a lot of people is actually sleeping in the trees. When you wake up in a top of a tree, you got the birds singing
above you, below you, off to the sides, it`s like you in this vortex of morning symphony.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: Normally, it would take around 45 minutes to fly from Santa Monica, California, to San Francisco, or just six hours to drive. This bus does it
in eight hours and costs more than 100 bucks for a one-way trip. So, why would you take it?
Because sleep. Cabin is its name, hoteling is its game. It calls itself a boutique hotel that sleeps 24 guests and takes a slow comfortable,
overnight drive from one city to the other.
So, if you`re looking to catch some Zs while getting from A to B, if road trips bore you to sleep, or if you suffer from santa insomnica, you can see
why some folks might want to hop on that omnibus and catch some cabin fever.
I`m Carl Azuz for CNN 10 and we`re leaving the station. See you tomorrow.
END
