what do the files tell us about the accused and more importantly what it is they are accused of doing? >> well, what they're accused of doing frankly in most cases is some form of sexual molestation and abuse. sometimes physical abuse. there was an instance of a boy punched a young man extremely hard but the rest of them are just unmentionable acts of abuse, often some forms of molestation. we have some redakted parts of the files to reveal to you right now and had shown was that, you know, these are often ingenius alleged serial pedophiles going to great lengths the try to go ahead and get these victims alone with them. let me give you an example of one to show a graphic. in this particular instance there was a young scout who was going to disrobe, going to change and the scout leader also then began to disrobe and here's a quote from the files. he says, what i'm going to do to

you now, if i get arrested, after i get out of jail, i'm come after you and your family. what this shows as far as the lawyers for the alleged abuser is concerned is in many instances the loaders in this era 1965 to 1985 threatened the scouts and their parents. it was a different time in america and you could see from reading the files that the parents would write a letters to the scouts and reverent and almost shy about questioning the acts of a leader and maybe slow to realize what was going on in the first place which was alleged molestation and the instances, brooke. >> no surprise then, paul, to know that the boy scouts, they didn't want these files to be released. they tried stopping the release. correct? >> yes. that is correct. what the boy scouts said is, look, if we release the files, we are going to expose the alleged victims to, you know, unmentionable harm. so, they kept these files secret.

they also said that they were very concerned with any witnesses or somebody reporting the alleged acts of molestation so the boy scouts maintained that for a long time. in portland, they won in court the right to have the files released from 1965 to to h a lotiffent to it. some people watching other parts of the country may know that in california they're seeking to have more recent files released and texas. that could be the next sort of shoe that drops in the larger story. the boy scouts says they look steps and precautions to fix the situation. and if we have a second here, we'd like to let you hear from the boy scouts of america headquartered in dallas. >> i believe this firm has a firm and everlasting deep commitment to youth protection. there are no question that times in the past and 40, 50 years old where we did not do the job we should have and for that and

people were hurt and we're profoundly sorry. >> and when you read the files, you will see that what happened in many instances is the alleged pedophile was able to split off or divide the scout from the rest of the troupe. often inviting the scouts to their homes. and so, what the scouts have done and a measure that helps immensely with the cases of alleged abuse is no longer will there be situations where a scout is one on one with an adult leader or volunteer and must be two adults present at all times and think they it solves a lot of problems, brooke. >> they think it solves a lot of problems but hearing from, paul, the attorney for some of the abused scouts, they say, not so much. things have not totally changed because they say the group continues, continued to fight the release of these files and they say some of the accusers -- some of the highest decorated. >> absolutely. and there are multiple cases right now of, you know, recent

molestation involving boy scout leaders and their troupes and what they said is in some instances you will find that these scout leaders were among the most respected people in the community. they call it a pied piper effect. the popular guy, maybe somebody at the little league or somebody who's involved with the church, everyone seems to respect. and let's hear from kelly clark now who's the attorney out of portland, oregon, who's been at the frnt of this crusade. >> we can learn a lot about the way pedophiles operate. it's consistent. it's almost always somebody that's the pied piper. everybody's favorite. kids flock to this person. the parents trust him. a great guy in the community. oftentimes these people are highly decorated scouters. silver beavers. creme de la creme of the scouts. >> and what clark and others say

parents can learn from this, see this in the files, the level of calculation, premeditation that goes on with all of these serial pedophiles, how they carefully constructed the opportunity for getting alone with the scouts. >> you hear about grooming in stories like this. paul, thank you so much for us from los angeles. we have details in the alleged plot to blow up the federal reserve building with a 1,000-pound. the feds and the new york agents busted this 21-year-old bangladeshi man trying to denate what he thought was a bomb. police say the man who's in custody, he was in the u.s. on a student visa, came for a reason, to destroy america. maggie lake, i want do go straight to you for us in new york and walk me through this. who is this guy? how close to carrying this out?

>> brooke, 21 years old, from bangladesh. came on a student visa back in january to study in missouri but did not -- he went a spring semester there. he was living in jamaica, queens. authorities say he came with the intent to perform a jihad on the united states. he wanted to recruit others to his plot, reached out via social media to someone who happened to be an informant for the fbi. that person in turn put him in touch with an actual fbi agent working undercover, posing as an al qaeda operative who he then monitored him, they provided him with a fake explosive and of course he didn't know until he got to the point and parked a van outside the new york federal reserve and tried to detonate the bomb. >> why the fed and the focus on the u.s. economy? >> that's a good question. it's a fortress-like building and not that recognizable.

many tourists probably walked past it in new york and didn't know that's what it was and clearly looking to cause damage to the economy, to sort of hurt the u.s. right at its life blood if you will. he first of all about the new york stock exchange and as you know and many of us who go down and report, very heavy security and in that case, very heavy police presence. armored vehicle down there at all times. decided that was too risky and turned to the new york federal reserve. doesn't seem like he had a lot of knowledge of what happened at the new york fed or wouldn't have chosen that location and read online and decided that was what he was going to target. >> thank you. i want to talk more about this to the evolution of how these sting operations really work, targeting the alleged terrorists. became very tricky here. to really just for a whole host of reasons to have it operate. christopher dickey with me here from paris, the middle east

editor at "newsweek" and the daily beast. you are author of "securing in the city." an in-depth look inside the nypd's counterterrorism strategy very much so put to use here with this thwarted plot. chris, this guy apparently got in touch with the fbi source as maggie was reporting of targets, a wish list and not just the new york fed. is that how it typically works? >> well, i think that's something that's starting to come to pass. i was talking to a very senior investigator, counterterrorism investigator about this case and he was saying, look. facebook has changed our whole investigative approach. used to be we had to go on the obscure al qaeda blogs and now you have guys getting in touch with each other on facebook saying they want to carry out violent jihad and not only see what they say but their friends.

it's how incredibly stupid they can be. >> thank you. this's the word i was looking for. the fact it's out there for anyone in the public to see. so if they're doing that on places like facebook and you wrote the book on operations like this, i want you to just give me the dirt. when's the timeline in a case, in a sting operation like? how long does it take? >> well, it depends on the people you're dealing with and the people that want to be terrorists. most of the sting operations when you read the criminal complaints and you ahead the details of the case, i think a lot of people wind up feeling almost sorry for the would be terrorists. because you see the way they're pulled in by the confidential informants and the undercover agents. in this particular case, you have a guy who's got some bright idea to have -- carry out jihad in america. he starts out to assassinate a very high public official. we don't know exactly who that is but you can guess.

he thinks maybe the stock exchange and now in touch through facebook with the undercover -- not with the undercover informant but another informant and he's basically you can see him being steered as they get ready to put the things together, to try to blow up the new york federal reserve which probably was the informant idea maybe as much as his own idea, he starts saying, well, i think i'd like to go back to bangladesh and the guy who's basically running the sting, the fbi undercover is saying, well, you know, you can do that but then you wouldn't have the glory and maybe al qaeda couldn't trust you and so on. >> let me jump in. >> they get sucked in. >> let me jump in. on that point, we should point out in this particular case, it was, you know, the undercover agent providing him with these fake explosives. is there not -- we have seen a lot of cases like this recently.

is there not a sip ri slope here between the young man, clearly with nefarious intentions and authorities basically helping him almost carry it out? >> well, you know, there are a slippery slope and it can turn against you in an undercover operation. right now, there's a huge scandal about the fast and furious undercover operation trying to deal with gun trafficking with mexico where it all went wrong and americans getting killed with guns supplied by the american officials. so, these things can go very wrong. i mean, one of the classic cases was in 1993, the people who were involved in the first attack on the world trade center. and tried very hard to blow it up, the first guy who was organizing was a fbi informer. but the fbi got bored with the case, didn't think anything would happen. the fbi informer left and a man named ramsey usif was found to

deal with them. he was not an informer. he was the cousin of khalid shaikh mohammed, the master mind of al qaeda and we know what happened after that. so these guys can be the -- didn't shoot straight but if they come in contact with somebody who does know how to shoot straight they can become very deadly, indeed. >> i'm glad it's a point you pick up and talk about in cases like these. christopher dickey for us there in paris. appreciate it. just in to us here at cnn, a mall in virginia, evacuated after we're told a man dropped a lit bottle of gasoline from the top level of food court here. this is a molotov cocktail, in other words. police tell us three more bottles found. no one was hurt. the suspect is on the run. and the fbi is on the scene. as soon as we get the updates here, we'll pass them along to you. tonight, president obama and

mitt romney sharing the same stage and instead of going at one another, they're looking for laughs. i'm brooke baldwin. the news is now. passengers near the end of a long flight suddenly become players in a dramatic search and rescue operation. plus, the day care from hell. a stunning scandal sparks fury and a firebomb attack. and -- >> we matched many of those faces of the people in libya against the bodies. >> the same rebels who took down gadhafi accused of war crimes. [ male announcer ] there are only so many foods

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is not to offer the country a vision forward, is not to say here's how we get out of debt, here's how we grow the economy but just don't like mitt romney. he's basically trying to disqualify his opponent with his sea of negativity. he's trying to distract this country. he's trying to divide this country. pitting people against each other. he is trying to win this election by default. you know what? we're not going to let him get away with that. what mitt romney and i owe you, our fellow countrymen and women is a choice. a clear agenda for how we fix this country's problems. >> so, paul ryan accusing the president of dividing america and trying to win this election by default. very, very strong words. wait until you hear what bill clinton had to say about the republicans. we have that in a moment. but first, i want to go straight

to jim acosta with the campaign in new york. we heard from ann, ann romney doing a delicate dance on the issue of abortion. take me there. >> reporter: that's right, brooke. you know, ever since that moment at the debate on tuesday night when mitt romney talked about the binders full of women, the obama campaign is running with that ever since. you know, trying to apply that to various issues like the lily ledbetter pay equity act that affects women an abortion. no surprise when ann romney was out on "the view" earlier this morning and widely considered perhaps the campaign's best surrogate out on the campaign trail, no surprise she was asked about this issue. >> mitt is a pro-life person and governed when he ran as a pro-choice but -- >> explain that to me. >> when the decision came across the desk to use embryos for

experimentation -- >> that's stem cell. >> he could not have the -- on his conscious creating human life for experimentation and came out with an editorial saying he was pro-life. we have to all understand this is an issue that's so tender and people on both sides of the issue that have -- that come with very good conscience come with a different opinion and the most important thing for us to do is have respect for each over in this dialogue and talking about two separate lives. >> reporter: so sort of a heartfelt explanation of ann romney as to why mitt romney opposes boergs rights for women and in that interview, brooke, she goes on to say there's voters out there going to vote on that issue. she's saying that this election year is different. there are a lot of voters struggling because of the economy and trying to get those voters to focus on the economy

and that issue is determining factor in the election. and brooke, that is what mitt romney and paul ryan have been doing for day after day after day now. trying to say that the issue for women now is not abortion or reproductive rights or other health care issues. it is about the economy. >> well, while we are on the subject of women voters, let's quickly go back to mitt romney's comment at the debate asking for and receiving the binders full of women for potential job applicants as governor of massachusetts. here we are two days later. do that worry that comment is damaging and trying to undo it? >> reporter: well, you know, i think there are a lot of things going on, brooke. one thing that the romney campaign did yesterday is putting out a video and tweeted out the web video and it showed female cabinet members of the days as govern nor of massachusetts talking about how mitt romney understands the issues of working women. and so, i think that is a reaction to what happened on

tuesday night. not only because of that awkward phrasing of saying binders full of women, i mean, keep in mind, he's done this before. he has been known to say things awkwardly out on the campaign trail and because it was in response to a question on pay equity for women, you know, they feel like they have to get that out there, that mitt romney has helped women throughout his political career. >> okay. >> reporter: point to the fact that the lieutenant governor was, his chief of staff as governor, and beth myers was a woman and realizing it's a problem. >> we'll talk more about this and helping to get the women in the higher offices. quickly, why are you in new york and mitt romney in new york? isn't this, you know, a -- >> reporter: great time of year, that's why. you know, it's fall in new york, brooke. why go to a battleground state when we can hang out in the big apple. the al smith dinner is tonight and this is a tradition in

politics where you get both candidates in front of an audience and instead of exchanging verbal jabs at each other, they're exchanging punch lines and so we're going to be hearing from mitt romney and president obama, and what they consider to be funny. and it is interesting to note, brooke, dennis miller, remember him from "saturday night live"? >> why. >> he was in mitt romney yesterday and -- >> giving him pointers. >> reporter: he has a few one liners out there and i asked the romney campaign if dennis miller is helping him write the jokes for tonight and they said, no. they had a draft written and he was not a consultant for the comedy routine. >> okay. >> reporter: there you have it. >> we'll see if they have the zingers tonight. jim, thank you. enjoying the fall in new york. by the way, later we'll look at the highlights of the 2008 al smith din dinnnedinner.

very humorous and interesting. i promise you. okay. so the president, spoke this morning, manchester, new hampshire. you see the crowd. he told these folks willing to do more than he has already to tackle the debt and the deficits problems and once again he said he'll not cut education spending. won't cut other investments an will ask the wealthy to pay more taxes to get the nation's books in balance. i mentioned bill clinton a moment ago. here he is. we'll hear from him in a second but i need to tell you first bill clinton introduced bruce springsteen this afternoon at a rally in ohio. listen quickly to the boss. he is a bom supporter. ♪ ♪ they busted out of class >> so, bruce springsteen

cranking up the song "no surrender" to obama partisans in ohio. now bill clinton. his scathing attack against republicans. he is essentially saying they have tried to blunt job creation, keep americans unemployed for strictly political purposes. bill clinton. >> they worked so hard to keep the unemployment rate above 8%. and they were crushed when it dropped to 7.8%. did you see that? all of a sudden, they had talked about the unemployment rate for three and a half years as if it were scripture. it was right up there with the tablets moses brought down from mount sinai. then all of a sudden it dropped below 8% and said it was all rigged. you can understand that. we've all worked hard for something. and just almost gotten there. and it broke our heart. they came so close.

they almost kept unemployment above 8% all the way to the election but they failed and the drop from 9.0 to 7.8 doesn't sound like much. we're not satisfied. a lot of poem need a job. it's the biggest one-year drop in unemployment in 17 years. >> so, that's bill clinton going off on the republicans and defending the president's economic record in a speech in ohio. and we'll have more politics later. but coming up next, were war crimes committed in libya? investigators looking in to the possibility of very same people who took down gadhafi. we've been there. that's why every bit of financial advice we offer is geared specifically to current and former military members and their families. [ laughs ] dad! dad! [ applause ]

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in the months loading up to gadhafi's death hearing the same rebels this took him down accused of murder. here's cnn's dan rivers. >> reporter: the chaos of sirte a year ago. rebel forces surround the dwindling band of soldiers for an uprising.

before the dictator was captured, beaten and killed, they claimed he was shot in the crossfire but many think he was executed. later we filmed several massacre sites. bodies with hands bound and shot in the head. now, though, human rights watch says has definitive proof at least 66 men were executed by rebel forces at a hotel in the city. peter has spent a year investigating the massacres and has uncovered this cell phone footage showing a group of captured gadhafi loyalists at the hotel in sirte. >> we matched many of those faces of the people in that video against the bodies, the photos of the bodies that have been recovered from the hotel so

now we had a very clear chain of event. >> reporter: it's strongly suggests that, for example, this man with long hair seen in rebel custody in the cell phone video was then murdered by his capt captors. the campaign group says they've asked the libyan government to investigate but think eve not sent investigators to sirte. the government didn't respond to cnn's request for comment. >> these are men taken in to custody, they were brutally beaten and spat upon and abused and moved to a separate location, bound and executed. that's a crime that takes organization and it's a crime that takes decision. >> reporter: a decision that so far has gone unpinnished despite evidence that it may constitute a war crime. dan rivers, cnn, london. in this weekend's

presidential debate governor romney mentioned the binders full of women he says he used to help fill the staff. well, there's been speculation about this. so we will talk to the woman whose office in charge of creating the so-called binders. we have a lot of questions. that's next. fund it? and i have to find a way to manage my cash flow better. [ female announcer ] our wells fargo bankers are here to listen, offer guidance and provide you with options tailored to your business. we've loaned more money to small businesses than any other bank for ten years running. so come talk to us to see how we can help. wells fargo. together we'll go far. anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating? yeah. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. approved! [ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'.

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ask your doctor about novolog mix 70/30 flexpen, covered by 90% of insurance plans, including medicare. find your co-pay at myflexpen.com. we have seen the tweets, the facebook comments, the tumblr account. the comments of binders full of women all over the social media lexicon and talking about it for a couple of minutes and revisit this. hear what mitt romney said tuesday night. >> thank you. and important topic. and one which i learned a great deal about, particularly as i was serving as governor of my state because i had the chance to pull together a cabinet and all of the applicants seemed to be men. and i went to my staff and i said, how come all the people for the jobs are all men. they said, these are the people that have the qualifications. i said, gosh, can't we find some

women that also qualified? and so we took a concerted effort to go out and find women who had backgrounds that could be qualified to be members of our cabinet. i went to a number of women's groups and brought us binders full of women. i was proud of the fact after i staffed my cabinet and senior staff that the university of new york in albany did a survey of all 50 states and concluded that mine had more women in senior leadership positions than any other state in america. >> let's talk the executive direct tort of massachusetts women's political caucus, the lead sponsor and provided the binders of women to mitt romney as governor. good to see you. and just to be crystal clear, we point out you were not with the organization when romney first took office but before we get in to this, quickly, these were binders. binders full of resumes of women. yes? >> yes. it was a bipartisan coalition

founded in 2002 and the work to go out and recruit women to apply for senior level positions in government and, yes, we did vet women and put the resumes together in binders and delivered them to folks in the administration for consideration. >> there were binders and heard mitt romney, we heard mitt romney in the debate, clear say and other folks within the camp saying that he directed these people to find the qualified women but your group says or i should say they say it's not exactly how things went down. >> well, as i said before, it was a bipartisan coalition founded in 2002 to address the issue of the fact we don't have enough women in the leadership positions in government. in september of 2002, masgab approached both candidates to bring up the issue and request that they consider and commit to working with us and really to make an honest effort to put women in leadership positions. we were very excited when they

agreed to work with us and then followi following governor romney's election, we worked with him and the lieutenant governor to address this issue. >> we heard from folks including romney himself saying he had a record in terms of placing the most women on the team. was the best in the country but they say women con prized approximately 30% of appointed senior-level positions in massachusetts government. by 2004, 42% and goes up quite a bit, 42% of the new appointments made by the romney were women. from '04 to '06 the percentage of the newly appointed women in these senior appointed positions dropped by 25%. started out well and then they ended up with fewer women than when he began. why? >> so again, 30% when he started. rose to 42%.

you know, mass-gap, we vet the women and get the information in front of the right people. we were not privy to or part of the internal hiring process of the administration. we hope that when there were any other positions to fill them with women but we actually have seen research there are trends that show across various administrations that even though we may get a bump at the beginning that those numbers do drop down because it's less likely that a woman is replaced by another woman. so that's something that we're trying to address through the project. we hope that we can come up with strategies to really help and change this. >> so to be clear, even though in the years as governor of massachusetts and went up to 42%, the women hired in the end, if someone is rehired in the position it sounds like it was a man, just to be clear. there was a bump but it certainly did go down. >> yes. >> you mentioned the lieutenant governor, mitt romney's, i want to play a sound from her. this is what she said about this just last night with piers morgan. >> if you look at governor

romney's record in office, he not only asked me to run with him as the lieutenant governor but the chief of staff was a very distinguished woman who ran his presidential campaign last time. chief policy adviser was a woman and half the people on the cabinet were women so i think that it's a stretch to make this an issue and it also is a misdirection because if you look at the women and the economy in our country today, there's 500,000 more women unemployed who lost their jobs during the obama administration. >> is she right, quickly? is she right it's a stretch talking about women being hired? >> you know, again, i think that our work at mass-gap to address the issue of women in leadership positions in government. this is a systemic problem. heren massachusetts and across the united states, we really strongly believe that it requires a bipartisan coalition and effort to address that. >> so that's a yes? forgive me, but that's a yes that we should be talking about

it. am i hearing you? >> we are excited there's scrutiny about this and we feel like it's not a one-day issue. we continue to work on it and have for ten years. >> okay. executive director of massachusetts women's political caucus, thank you. times are changing. "newsweek" says it's finished with print. is this a sign of things to come? that's next. i gave birth to my daughter on may 18th, five days later, i had a massive heart attack. bayer aspirin was the first thing the emts gave me. now, i'm on a bayer aspirin regimen.

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♪ ...and copays as low as one dollar... ♪ ...saving on your medicare prescriptions is easy. ♪ so you're free to focus on the things that really matter. call humana at 1-800-808-4003. or go to walmart.com for details. a staple item on the american news stand is missing come december. talking about "news week." they have announced after 80 years of print, they're going digital. today, the editor in chief had to say. quote, exiting print is an extremely difficult moment for all of us who love the romance of print and the unique weekly comradery of those hectics hours before the time of close on friday night. they've struggled to find an online presence. now the merger with news week

and daily beast and job cuts are expected. be right back. so what do you think? basic. at meineke i have options... like oil changes starting at $19.95. my money. my choice. my meineke.

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a teenager dreams of becoming a baseball player but a medical condition changes his life forever. cnn's chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta has his story in today's "human factor factor." ♪ >> reporter: as a drum major of marching maiizu, paul is living his dream. it's a new dream because his original dream of playing professional baseball was disappearing. >> september 7th, 2007, just,

just barely in to my junior year of high school. >> reporter: the 17-year-old woke up and the world was changing. >> everything was just a little blurry. >> reporter: but something was terribly wrong. his retinas detached and started to tear apart in both eyes. >> i didn't know how my life would change and could and couldn't do. i could go blind. >> reporter: paul said it is not caused by disease or trauma but genetics. >> happening to my mom, grandma and uncles and my little sister. >> reporter: they didn't lose much vision. paul, on the other hand is now legally blin. sight in the best eye can't be corrected beyond 2,200. >> my left eye has blind spots. the reriff ral is great. the right eye is just kind of there. >> reporter: he can read but not well. he says family, friends and

music saved his life. he joined his high school drum line taking the music home, magnifying it, memorizing it. >> i just strapped up my boots and went to work. >> reporter: he made the drum line first playing cymbals and then after an interview process clinched the coveted drum major spot. most in the band didn't even know he was legally blind. he suffered three detachments and cataracts in both eyes. one has now been removed. so far, he's had more than ten operations and countless laser operations. >> i could wake up tomorrow and have significantly more vision. i could walk away here today and i could lose vision. >> reporter: he hopes the time on the ladder changes the perception of visually impaired people. >> i want to be able to say when

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working together has never worked so well. fiscal cliff, hardly come up at the presidential debates. yet, we are close to what many call disaster. ben stein joins me next with what he thinks will happen to average americans and a new book on how to ruin ben stein, your financial life. he's next. [ female announcer ] born from the sweet monk fruit,

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some big time wall street ceos have an urgent message for you and your washington lawmakers. we have to avoid the fiscal cliff we've been talking about or the nation as we know it will crumble in just over two months. 16 ceos signed the strongly worded letter. solvency, productive capacity and stability of the united states as well as its moral authority as a global leader require that its fiscal challenges be credibly met. hello. the solvency of the u.s.? let's bring in ben stein with this. we'll get to your book in a second. but, you know, the fiscal cliff,

it actually is not gotten a lot of play in the presidential debates. will you cut through the bull for me and tell me what happens to regular, hard working americans if this fiscal cliff hits first of the year? >> well, not much will happen to regular, hard working americans but the taxes on upper income people will rise substantially with the taxes of obama care. the bush era tax cuts lower the tax on the well to do people expire and go back to the upper rate. the tax on capital gains rises very, very markedly. but the big thing is that there will be a so-called sequester and in which there's drastic cuts in federal spending on defense which is a catastrophically bad idea and federal spending on civilian expenses and also a bad idea so there needs to be a compromise worked out of which there's a tax increase fazed in gradually over time and -- >> you say yes to a tax

increase, yes, yes, yes? >> there has to be. look, mr. romney would say, i'll have a tax increase only do it by cutting loop hoels. there aren't enough loopholes to cut. he'll say i have a tax encrease of a certain kind. mr. obama says a tax increase of everyone on $250,000 or above. but both of them agree not tax increases. i think they have to do bigger tax cuts than either of them is foreseeing. the situation is dire. >> it is dire and i think a lot of americans -- >> extremely ire die hopefully not talking about this through, you know, but i bet we will through the end of the year, right? >> hopefully not through a day on a default of u.s. treasury debt and through the day when china says we won't buy anymore u.s. bonds and the day of inflation 10% because people are so worried about the credibility of the u.s. dollar. >> ben stein, let's talk about your book. called "how to really ruin your

financial life and portfolio." so, chapter 1, trade frequently. let's quote you. do something. likewise, when there is any kind of news in the papers or online, is there a war in syria. could mean oil prices. don't pretend. you can't sit it out. you have to be in there trading, tradi trading, trading. you are being entirely facetious. >> there's a good way to ruin your financial life. trade frequently. trade foreign currency. perhaps one of the worst ones, try to pick stocks individually yourself. don't just go with broad index funds which i had to pick the hot stocks of the future never works. yet people try it over and over again. if your last fame is buffett, you can do it. but probably don't try to do it. don't set up a plan to match your future liabilities namely

your retirement with your assets. just let that take care of itself. when you hit 65, you're going to be in miserable fear you won't believe it. >> chapter 18, believe that the people you see on tv can tell the future. >> i can't tell the future. i don't think you can. although i'm sure you can tell it better than i can but just because man or woman on tv doesn't mean he can tell the future. there are certain channels on with people on throughout the day early in the morning to late in the afternoon tell you they tell the future. they can't. don't believe them. the future is entirely unknowable except a very long period of time if you buy the indexes, you can keep on buying them and if you're especially buying them when the stock market is down, you will make money. >> how to ruin your financial life and portfolio. take your advice and do the opposite. ben stein, thank you. >> thank you so much. thank you. hour two. i'm brooke baldwin. beginning with this.

we are heard from paul ryan. we have heard from bill clinton. let's listen quickly now to president obama speaking early this afternoon in new hampshire. apparently trying to blunt mitt romney's attacks on the debt and the deficit. here's the president. >> finally, we've got to cut the deficit by $4 trillion over the next 10 years. i put forward a plan to do it and worked with republicans and democrats, all ready to cut spending that we didn't need or couldn't afford and i'm ready to do more. but i'm not going to cut things like education. i'm not going to cut research that helps grow our economy. we can't get this done unless we also ask the wealthiest households to pay higher taxes above $250,000. pay the same rate when bill clinton was president. we created 23 million new jobs and we went from deficit to surplus. the's how you do it. >> so, there you heard it. the president invoking bill clinton who's in ohio today

campaigning with bruce springsteen also in ohio, john king. john king, we've talked about ohio. we have called it the mother of all battleground states. you, sir, may be in the mother of all battleground counties within the state of ohio. tell me where you are. tell me why it's important. >> reporter: if you don't notice the skyline behind me, brooke, i'm in cincinnati, the core of hamilton county. go back and look at the map. 2004, president bush won ohio. 53% of hamilton county. he won the state an re-elected president of the united states. bright blue and obama carried the county with 53% of the vote. went on to carry ohio, he is president of the united states. this is the battleground county within the battleground state, if you will. there's no question early voting is up from 2008. the question is, does any party benefit from it? the obama campaign trying to gin up african-american turnout and

critically important to his chances in this community and hoping to get them to vote early so they don't have to count them on election day. republicans say they sense more intensity than four years ago and a dynamic. this again is the bellwether county. ohio, ohio, ohio. you know the history. no republican's won without it. mitt romney needs this state. >> back there and the candidates back there. bruce springsteen there campaigning today on behalf of the president there in ohio and once again underscores the battle for the working class voters, correct? >> reporter: without a doubt. if you go through -- look. the president will get the african-american vote in columbus and cincinnati. the republicans will get the rural vote in most of this state. then you have middle class swing voters. largely white voters, middle class and feel the squeeze and many of them springsteen fans. he is more about generating

excitement of the president's supporters. get the volunteers out. get people to come to the rallies and then maybe hand them the flier for the early voting. bill clinton is about making the policy argument and that's a smart punch for the obama campaign. in iowa the other day. here in ohio. now to gin up excitement and getting people at the rally, trying to grab them by the ear, take them down and vote early so that they can focus on the last possible votes on election day, not a big wide audience. >> okay. one-two punch with the boss and clinton. we talked so much about ohio, florida, virginia. key, key states here. the battleground states and there's a second tier battleground states. you have colorado, iowa, nevada, new hampshire. i'm wondering, 19 days until the election. are there any other states that could be also coming in to play? >> reporter: i would say, yes, but. if you look at the polls and you are the romney campaign you see michigan is four points for the president. pennsylvania's four points for the president. you think, boy, maybe we should

go there and try to take a state and expand the map. as president obama, you look and say arizona might be three or four points in favor of governor romney. should we try to change the map in the campaigns debate this, brooke, but such a dangerous decision. if you fly the president, the vice president, spending more on tv and then wake up and lose by this much on election day because let's say you lost ohio, you will regret that choice so so far the romney campaign, for example, made a huge buy yesterday of tv only in the nine toss-up states, nevada colorado, iowa, wisconsin, ohio, new hampshire, north carolina, virginia and florida. they did not go in to michigan or pennsylvania. maybe the superpacs will. the president did not invest in arizona. every choice you make now about spending ad money, steering the candidates is a risky one. i watch for the president to block mitt romney from getting to 270. will the president pull out somewhere? will he pull out of north carolina or florida and try to

build a firewall around ohio and iowa and new hampshire? that is being discussed among the democrats. the campaign said we'll compete in all of them. watch where they 0 go and where they spend. >> watch what they do. watch the money. john king for us in ohio. thank you. as we mentioned, president obama, governor romney both in new york for the white tie dinner tonht held every fo years just before the election. here's senator john mccain being introduced as was barack obama. this ishe al smith charity dinner back in 2008. it's kind of a funny time jokes but that's how they do it. want to take you back to 2008. >> i think it's a tribute to american democracy that with two weeks left and a hard-fought election, they could come together and sit down at the same dinner table without preconditions. >> i come here tonight to the al smith dinner knowing that i'm the underdog in the final weeks but if you know where to look,

there are signs of hope. there's signs of hope, even in the most unexpected places, even in this room full of proud manhattan democrats. i can't -- i can't shake that feeling that some people here are pulling for me. [ applause ] i know i didn't -- good to see you here tonight, hillary. [ laughter ] >> recently one of john's top advisers told "the daily news" if we keep talking about the economy, mccain's going to lose. so tonight, i'd like to tuck abo talk about the economy. >> when a reporter asked him if senator obama was qualified to be president, bill clinton pointed out, sure. he's over 35 years of age and a u.s. citizen.

he was pandering to the strict constructionist crowd. >> given all that's happened these past few weeks on wall street, it feels like an odd time to be dressed up in white tie but i must say i got a great deal. rented the whole outfit from the treasury department at a very good price. >> we all know the press is really an independent, civic minded and nonpartisan group. like acorn. >> john mccain is on to something. there was a point in my life when i started palling around with a ugly crowd. i have to be honest. they were serious deadbeats, low lives, unrepentant, no-good punks. that's right, i've been a member of the united states senate. come to think of it, john, i swear i saw you at one of our

meetings. but i know senator mccain agrees that some of the rumors out there are getting a bit crazy. i mean, rupert the other day fox news actually accused me of faring two african-american children in wedlock. by the way, john, i'm curious, is fox news included in the media because i'm always hearing about this love. just curious. >> barack obama and john mccain at the 2008 al smith dinner. tonight, as you know, it's obama and romney. same stage. not jabbing one another but looking for laughs and watch it during piers morgan's hour 9:00 eastern here on cnn. this is crazy. a solo yachtsman runs in to

trouble off the coast of australia. the story about exactly how he is rescued here, this is a pretty incredible one and cnn writer/producer amy laporte is here. hello, my friend. first, begin with how did this go down? >> you know, i love a good rescue story. particularly one from my home country, australia. imagine this with me, if you will. you're on a passenger flight, a long flight. coming in to sydney. you think it's coming to an end. having a cookie. all of a sudden the pilot comes over the p.a. saying, just let you know, passengers, we'll be dropping from 35,000 feet to 5,000 feet and if you could roll up your shutters and scour the seas, we're looking thor a stranded yacht. >> what? >> i know. take a listen to what the pilot and one very nervous passenger had to say. >> i made a p.a. announcement to the passengers, please help us look for -- if you see anything because very difficult to find anything down even at 5,000 feet

is almost a mile above the water. >> heart beating faster. anything out of the ordinary on an international flight is a bit concerning. >> okay. quite out of theordinarywodas tt above this -- the ocean. >> yeah. >> they find him. >> they do. the pilot actually manages to turn -- they don't see anything for a while. the pilot manages to turn the plane. the passengers that somehow had binoculars with them. >> what? >> go figure. yell out, we see him, we see him. there he is floating adrift and out there for nine days. being a typical aussie, took him eight days to set off the emergency beacon thking i'll be all right, mate. he really did need the help of the passenger crew. i mean, it is just an incredible story. he actually lost the mast off his boat in high seas. a wave tipped over the boat and

there you go. lucky guy. >> i have never, ever heard of something like this. >> incredible. passenger plane. here i was thinking my next flight back to australia might be boring one. >> keep your eyes peeled. amy, thank you, very much. now this. just a short time ago, damning evidence against the boy scouts. you're about to hear the stories no parent wants to hear. i'm brooke baldwin. the news is now. forget mitt romney. president obama's got a new swing state challenge. the nra. plus, the day care from hell. a stunning scandal sparks fury and a fire bomb attack. ♪ and as the boss stops, we take a look at other celebs running the trail. [ ross ] we are at the bottom of the earth: patagonia, chile. this is the first leg of our world challenge with the cadillac ats.

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so i brought it to mike at meineke. we gave her car a free road handling check. i like free. free is good. my money. my choice. my meineke. the boy scouts of america is calling them the perversion files. some 20,000 files released in oregon giving details of alleged

child sex abuse by more than 1,000 boy scout leaders and volunteers. details given along with some names and i'm not talking about victims' names or witness names. but the names of some of the scoutmasters who were banned for perversion. it is a lot of information the boy scouts never, ever wanted you to see. paul verkammen is looking at the details and joining me live from los angeles. first, crystal clear here, cnn is not naming any names. tell me, paul, what do the files tell us about the accused and what they're accused of doing. >> well, they're accused of molestation mainly. some acts could be physical like a scoutmaster punched a young man in the chest and 50 states and professions. i saw a schoolteacher, an alarm system dispatcher, a customer service representative for the airlines and an engineer, an auto parts clerk, a repairman, a real estate appraiser. had a varying level of

education. some of them had college degrees including master's degrees and a lot of them were married and the act of alleged molestation while the scout leader in the own home with his wife and one case children in another room. so it tells us a lot about that, brooke. >> the president out boy scouts of america says they have absolutely changed. they have taken precautions but on the flip side you have the attorneys for the leged victims saying, yeah, they're not so sure about that. what ectly has changed? >> well, i think the scouts' big point is right now a lotf molestations took place when a scout leader, alleged pedophile, pry away a young scout from the rest of the unit. a lot of these by the way happened at the scout leader's home. so right now, the scouts are saying, we no longer allow an adult to be alone with a young person, a scout. you have to have two adults

present and they think it's a start in the right direction. by the way, signing up for scouts, the parents have to sit down and go through a lot of documents and other sort of stipulations with the scouts. and realize that there's been some problems in the past, brooke. >> joining the boy scouts is different it sounds like than once upon a time. did lawyers say anything noon today, paul, accessing more recent files? >> absolutely. as you may know, there are fights on several fronts incl e including here in california and texas to get the 1985 to present files released. also, the boy scouts are a congressionally chartered organization and quoting from the presser, they're calling on congress to audit the scouts so a development there. we'll see what happens with all of this as it's fought on different fronts, brooke. >> paul, thank you. top wall street ceos sounding the alarm, pressuring the president and congress to reach a deal to reach a fiscal

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now, some wall street titans are getting in to the game. here you have ceos of jp morgan chase, bank of america, goldman sachs and citigroup and they're urging the president, urging congress to, quote, reach a bipartisan deal to avoid the fiscal cliff. a term referring to the automatic $1.2 trillion cuts in government spending over the course of ten year that is will go in to the effect the first of next year if the president and congress do not agree to do something else. meantime, administration officials say the president wil include an increase in tax rates for top earners. and our chief white house correspondent jessica yellin is live in manchester, new hampshire, traveling with the president. jessica yellin, sounds like the president is preparing for a showdown. >> reporter: well, brooke, this is what he's consistent sy said since the original deal for the tax cuts, he would notything to

cuts for the wealthiest again. but this is the sort of strongest expression of that and the idea here is to lay out clearly both sides staking their ground to force a compromise and the idea is they would hope to avoid a government shutdown. when's most interesting of the ceo letter, by the way, in the debt ceiling drama over last summer, democrats and republicans privately complain business leaders telling them something has to be resolved but wouldn't say it publicly. now business owners are clearly worried enough they're speaking out. >> making the letter public for us. you're in new hampshire. why is the president in new hampshire in 19 days to go to the election and 4 votes there? >> reporter: right. seems a little odd to spend time for four votes but i spoke to the senator from new hampshire here, jean thshaheen, she said e

was governor here and if al gore won the four state's votes he would become president so in an election as tight as this one is expected to be, the campaign is taking nothing for granted and includes new hampshire. >> thank you. thank you so much. speaking of politics, the nra taking aim at president obama's campaign and what the president said at the debate this past week fueling the fire even more. coming up next, how the n a ra is using the president's own words against him. [ ross ] in the taihang mountains of china, hand-carved on the side of a cliff is the guoliang tunnel. what?! you've got to be kidding me. [ derek ] i've never seen a road like this. there's jagged rock all the way around. this is really gonna test the ats on all levels. [ derek ] this road is the most uneven surface, and it gets very narrow. magnetic ride control is going to be working hard. the shock absorbers react to the road 1,000 times a second. it keeps you firmly in control.

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the second presidential debate certainly gave ammunition to the nra that it didn't exactly expect to label the president as someone to take your gun rights away. the gun advocacy group seizing on this from tuesday night.

>> weapons that were designed for soldiers in war theaters don't belong on our streets. and so, what i'm trying to do is to get a broader conversation about how do we reduce the violence generally? part of it is seeing if we can get an assault weapons ban reintroduced. >> the nra created new tv ads to air in four swing states, florida, ohio, virginia and wisconsin. here's an exclusive look at just one of them. >> obama's national gun ban would outlaw common rifles, including some of the most popular of law-abiding citizens. >> on top of that, the nra will spend another $800,000 in anti-obama ads online and in seven swing states and chris cox is executive director of the nra institute for legislative action. chris cox, welcome.

look. i know how you feel about the 2nd amendment rights and i imagine you're upset with the president saying what he did. but here's the but. mitt romney who nra endorsed did month did sign an extension of a an assault weapons ban in to law as governor of massachusetts. do you fear what mitt romney might do if elected president? >> not at all, brooke. in a rare moment of honesty, president obama admits he supports a national gun ban. if you watch the debate, mitt romney said he doesn't support additional gun laws. president obama wants to ban more guns. that might be an october surprise to some but not to the national rifle association. >> but i'm not -- sir, i'm not asking about president obama. i'm asking about mitt romney. and you can say one thing but you can do another. we saw what he did in massachusetts. >> that's right. the president -- >> the president, are you at all fearful he may enact a ban? >> the president was very clear on tuesday night and mitt romney was very clear on tuesday night. mitt romney said that he doesn't

support additional gun bans and the president wants a new national gun ban. the president, it's consistent. he supported every gun ban before him his entire career. this might be a surprise to some but not to the national rifle association. >> if you are not too worried of mitt romney to do or not do if elected, what then took the nra so long to endorse him? that happened october 4th. >> we traditionally wait until the fall but here's what nra is worried about and it's the supreme court. our basic right to own a gun survives by one vote on the supreme court. this means we're one retirement or death away from losing the 2nd amendment. president obama's already put two anti-gun justices on the court. god forbid he puts another one to three on it. this is a very, very high stakes gun owners know why it's so important and doing everything to arm the supporters across the country with the truth and the truth is president obama simply can't be trusted with the gun

rights. >> with, chris, with 2nd amendment rights, i know you'll tell me any kind of ban on a weapon threatens the rights but an example. the shooter in aurora, colorado. investigators say he used an ar-15 assault weapon and didn't figure out how many rounds are fired. we can deduce at least 70 since that's how many people were hurt or killed. when some of the victims' families say, yes, let's ban assault weapons because of instances like this, what would you tell them? >> well, two points. we tried a gun ban. 1994 to 2004, they banned these guns. it didn't work. every study that was done showed that it wasn't effective because criminals by definition don't obey the law and with aurora and other tragic shootings, there's been one common thread and that's a red flagas been up. all these people had serious mental issues and no one reported it.

there needs to be a discussion on mental health in this country. we need to do everything we can to make sure those with mental health problems don't have access to firearms. the national rifle association has done more than anyone on that. >> i think people would agree with on mental health and say it's not the gun. they get their hands on a gun no matter what. bottom line, would, again, to the person wanting in favor of a ban, would that not at least reduce the probability of something hor ren douse like this from happening? >> it's important to note that under president obama, the federal prosecution of gangbangers and drug dealers in possession of firearms has collapsed and calling for more restrictions on law-abiding gun owners. >> let's ask you. new york mayor bloomberg announced a superpac to support

moderate candidates of gun control. are you, the nra working on a plan? >> michael bloomberg has a lot of money. we take that seriously but what bloomberg will find out on election day is all the money in the world's not going to buy the hearts an minds of american people who support this god-given individual freedom. >> did you try to counter that? $10 million is a lot of money. >> absolutely. the national rifle association not only targeting the battleground states but all over the country making sure that supporters and 2nd amendment supporters armed with the truth and we like our chances because the gun owners and 2nd amendment voters vote for the right reason and michael bloomberg will learn his money can't buy everything. >> chris cox, thanks. >> thank you, brooke. a bomb plot foiled and the heart of the u.s. financial system but was the sting operation, was it a slippery

slope, legally speaking? we are on the case, next.

all right. let me first just explain what it is we know here. this 21-year-old bangladeshi man in jail accused of trying to blow up the federal reserve bank in new york. he got caught because the people who were helping him plan the alleged attack, the people that gave him the fake explosives were the fbi. folks, this was a sting. we have sunny hostin on the case with us because, sunny, this goes to court. defense presents this as a sting or entrapment? how do they do is that? >> the government, of course, will say, no, not entrapment. this is a sting operation but there really is a fine line between the two but there's no question that should this go to trial, brooke, this will be presented as entrapment by the defense because, get this, in

2010 there was a study of law and security at nyu and nyu tracks terrorism cases. the study found of 156 prosecutions and identified the most significant 50 cases since 9/11, informants relied on in 97 of them. that's about 62%. however, since 9/11, the entrapment defense has never, ever been successful. so that goes to sort of show you that it's a real issue that comes up and these terrorism cases but it is very difficult to show that entrapment occurs. >> there have been a number of these stings in the last couple of years. let's run down the list here. portland, oregon, 2010. christmas tree lighting ceremony. a naturalized student working with undercover ats allegedly planned to detonate explosives in the crowd and that was a sting. and then, just this past february, immigrant from morocco

allegedly planning to detonate what he thought was an explosive vest near the u.s. capital. there are, you know, i could go on and more cases of the stings. legally, is this a good thing to find and identify the people or is this a troubling trend? >> well, certainly, since 9/11 there's been a real push by the government to stop these plots before they occur. so to be sure, we are certain this is an effective law enforcement tool. a tool the battle -- the war on terror. but it is a fine line between a constitutional line of what is a sting and entrapment. entrapment is illegal. there are guidelines put in place by the justice department on the fbi. these are carefully thought out, carefully planned sting operations but the real question is whether or not the suspects, whether or not the defendant

would have committed the crime regardless of the government action. was this person -- not just thought of it but taken it there. >> taking it there. exactly. and also, in these sting operations, brooke, they are given, the suspects are given the opportunity to choose a different path. that is built in generally in the protocol. if they continue on, then that's a sting operation and not entrapment. >> sunny, thank you. on the case with us. >> thanks. from clint eastwood to bruce springsteen -- ♪ famous faces on the call pain trail. stumping for their guy. we'll show you the left and the right next. ♪ into a scooter that talks to the cloud? ♪ or turn 30-million artifacts... ♪ into a high-tech masterpiece? ♪ whatever your business challenge,

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the team traveled around the world to look at renewable energy, natural gas and the fifth fuel, the fifth fuel efficiency here, take a look. >> reporter: trains, planes and automobiles burn over 13 million barrels of oil every day in the united states. and we spend over a billion dollars per day buying that oil. almost half of which comes from foreign countries, some of whom are considered national security problems. >> winning ourselves off oil saves about $4 trillion net present value in the united states. look, that money then stays at home. >> reporter: so, he reasoned, what if we wasted less fuel getting gas to the wheels? and he designed the hyper car which could weigh about two thirds less than a normal car and could run up to an astonishing 240 miles per

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george zimmerman is getting some strong advice from the only guy who ever used the stand your ground defense against the same florida judge handling the zimmerman case here. this man says forget about it. the stand your ground argument just will not work with this judge. zimmerman says he acted in self-defense when he shot and killed unarmed teenager trayvon martin. and cnn's david mattingly

interviews with the man who tried that. >> reporter: he claimed he was standing his ground when he shot and killed a florida man during an argument over $20 and a gun. he now has two words of warning for george zimmerman. anything you want to say to him? >> good luck. >> reporter: jones argued stand your ground in front of circuit judge debra nelson, the same judge now handling zimmerman's case. jones' attorney thought the law was in their favor. what was it that made you feel like you had a strong case for stand your ground? >> i knew right away he was not looking for any trouble and trouble came to find him. and that is a classic stand your ground type of scenario. >> reporter: and just like george zimmerman, jones claimed he believed his life was in danger the moment he pulled the trigger. he even had a witness backing up his story. but in the end jones was denied. where did you go wrong? >> this wasn't obviously a jury

trial. this was a stand your ground hearing. the judge was the juror, only juror in that situation. >> reporter: in this case judge nelson not only looked at the facts but sized up jones as well. his demeanor, his frankness, his emotions, voice, even his body language played into her decision. and that could be a problem for george zimmerman. his last judge said that zimmerman tried to deceive the court about money he had raised for his defense and may have actually planned to leave the country to escape prosecution. will he have enough credibility now to convince judge nelson that he was standing his ground when he shot and killed trayvon martin? is there any advice you want to give george zimmerman? something that he needs to be prepared for when he goes in front of this judge? you're shaking your head like, it's not going to be easy for him. >> not going to be easy.

that's all i got to say. >> reporter: if you're wondering why he's a free man today, it's because when his case later went to trial, he was acquitted. the argument of stand your ground didn't work with the judge, but it did with the jury. what were you able to say to the jury that worked that you weren't able to do with the judge? >> well, i asked -- i essentially asked the jury in a roundabout way to think about how they would react in that situation. >> reporter: a question zimmerman's defense will no doubt be asking as well. david mattingly, cnn, seminole county, florida. after decades in the print business, a popular news magazine forced to catch up with the digital age. ♪

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there is only one place where you will find the hottest news on the internet in realtime, it's called cnntrends. this is a new feature we are officially rolling out on cnn.com. to show us how all this work, victor blackwell, talk to me,

victor. >> brooke, it's really the place to start the conversation about the big stories, all the stories everyone's talking about. you go here not only is there the cnn story, but other sources "daily beast," "new york times," bbc, so i asked the creator, the ceo, mark johnson, why would we want our competitors on our website? here's what he told me. >> people really want to be interesting. they want to know kind of a broader perspective of the story than any single source can give you. typically what people do is if there's a new story coming out, they'll look at a trusted source like cnn, but then they'll go to other places too to see what other people are saying. that's what we want to do is mimic user behavior. show people what they're doing anyway. we believe even sometimes when a user goes off to a different news website, they're going to come back to us because they know on cnn trends they're going to get the complete broad view of the story. >> and of course you've got the broad categories, but you can close the scope in, narrow it a bit. if you want to talk politics,

click the politics tab and it will give you the top stories in the political arena. again, cnn.com/trends. brooke. >> okay. why waste our time googling all around when, boom. >> that's the point. cut out the middleman. >> victor blackwell, thank you so much. >> yep. >> one more before i let you go here, speaking of the digital age. a staple item on the american newsstand will be missing come end of december. "newsweek" has announced after 80 years of print it's going digital. today the editor and chief had this to say "exiting print is an extremely difficult moment for all of us who love the romance of print and the unique weekly camaraderie of the hectic hours before the close on friday night." in the past the magazine has struggled to find an online presence, job cuts are expected. and in arizona, maricopa county, to be exact, this county listed the wrong election date on the spanish version of the voter registration card.

so instead of saying november 6th, the cards erroneously read november 8th. officials say the error affected approximately 50 cards out of 2 million and the error has since been corrected. thanks so much for being with me here. here we go, 19 days until election day. wolf blitzer is all over politics. everything else happening here. thanks so much for being with me. let's go to wolf blitzer in washington. hey, wolf. thanks very much. happening now, the presidential candidates' wives make a pitch to a vital block of undecided voters, women. we're getting new details now about the man accused of plotting to bomb the new york building that holds more gold than ft. knox. and a reason to take the window seat. we have the amazing story this hour of how an airline passenger -- or a few passengers, spotted and helped save a man who had been stranded at sea for nine days. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room."