you can tweet me, and tweet the show at cnn sitroom. erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. next, news on "duck dynasty." plus a man charged for a knockout assault. his attorney come "outfront." the massive hack of 40 million customers. data pin number also stolen. how can you protect yourself? let's go "outfront." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good evening. i'm don lemon in for erin burnett. "outfront," breaking news. a & e caves. they just announced they are lifting the suspension of the "duck dynasty" patriarch phil robertson. the company suspended the reality star just nine days ago after controversial anti-gay comments he made were made

public. robertson stood by his comments and his fans stood by him. one online petition to have him reinstated surpassed its goal of gathering 250,000 signatures and a & e ran a "duck dynasty" marathon on christmas day. joining me, our senior media correspondent and host of reliable sources, of course. this is a big topic on your show last sunday. we've been talking about this. this is more than just a television show. this particular story, brian, struck a cultural nerve. how is a & e justifying its decision? >> they are trying to do that with a five paragraph statement that said, well, well, the family acknowledged some of his words and well, we're going to put on a psa campaign with commercial that's promote tolerance. the truth is there is not a lot they can say. they say "duck dynasty" is not a show about one man's views frlg

it resonates a large audience and is for family. it feel like a & e is caving. >> this announcement comes on a friday during washington. you know as well as i do, when washington wants to dump anything and even people in public relations, what do they do? do it on a 40. the week of christmas. just a few days from new years. in the news industry, we call it friday news dump. do you think they were hoping this would get brushed under the rug? >> thisis the shortest ever. people arguing with their relatives about whether to suspend him, now they can spend new years, a bug whether it was right to lift the suspension. a & e has been the focus. the folks i've talked to say we don't have any big fwud the robertson family. everybody needs to catch their breath and decide what to do next. the truth is "duck dynasty" was never going away. it is too valuable to a & e and

to the robertsons. they had on figure out a way forward. and it sounds like that is to lift the suspension. bring him back for new episodes next year and to have this psa campaign promoting tolerance that will be broadcast on a & e and other channels. what i don't know is whether phil robertson is willing to appear in those public service commercials. i guess we'll find out. >> now we'll talk a little more about this. political commentator mark lament hill joins me. and columnist with the blaze, will cain. mark, inthis to brian, this is more than just a reality show. this particular story about phil robertson, his views with free speech, it touched a cultural nerve here. so lots of reaction on this decision already. the la lou governor bobby jindal says i am glad to hear the folks at a & e came to their senses and recognized that tolerance of religious views is more important than political correctness. today is a good day for the

freedoms of speech and religious liberty. is today a good day for that? >> any day that you have religious freedom or religious liberty, it is a good day. i don't think that's what this is about and i sort of giggle when i their conservatives claim this as a victory, as if free speech won. some conservative value triumphed. this wasn't about liberal or conservative values. this was about money. the truth is when 14 million people watch the show, it is worth a lot of money to a network and a& e decided to go with the money. they gave a fake suspension. a friday news dump that the suspension was over. they never stopped taping. this is nothing because charade from the beginning. but let me be clear. they have every right to do this. this was a market based decision and the market dictated to keep the show. on i think it is a shame, morally reprehensible. everybody who is upentity this, we have a responsibility to protest. we have a responsibility to vote with our feet and our eyeballs

by not watching the show. >> when a & e made this announcement, they said phil robertson was suspended indefinitely. usually it lasts a lot longer than nine days. >> it is no surprise that a & e caved. the rating were too high, the dollars were too enticing. the surprise was they caved so quick will. how they got this so wrong, the answer is why would a guy like me who has advocated for gay rights, supported marriage equality side on the side of phil robertson? the answer to that is because he made two statements. once, he stated a preference. you have a preference, mark has a preference as to who we have sex with and how we have sex with them. that's one. the second is he made a theological judgment. and the truth is, he made a statement that is within the main stream of christian and for that matter most world religions bleefl it is not one i agree with but when they suspended him for that, they they said main stream christian thought is outside the recommend of proper

debate. that's what made people so mad. that's what upset fans and free speech advocates like myself. >> that's not what they were saying. we have a particular value system at the network and the person we hired doesn't represent this. if this with a christian network and he gave gq interview saying he is an atheist works they say we won't have one -- >> your two statements contradict themselves. you said this was not some moral principle a & e was standing on. they did it because the rating were too great. they lied when they said -- they lied when them this does not reflect their beliefs. what they found out was the market was not in the direction they thought it would be. they thought taking a stand against phil robertson would be, would please their audience box please the public. what they found out was starkly different. >> i don't disagree with that. we both agree they were making a market driven, money driven decision. my point is that them deciding to make a different decision and suspend him would not be putting

a damper on free speech. it wouldn't be stopping religious liberty. you could say i don't like what you just said and i don't want to pay you to say the anymore. that's well within their rights. >> what people are forgetting here is that when you have a platform. when you're on a cable network, whether it object a news program or a reality show or whatever it is, there are, there are certain standards that go along with that and you have to realize your platform. you can have kitchen table talk and you can say whatever you want around the kitchen table. when you say it publicly, that makes a huge difference. do you disagree with that? >> what are those standards? mark is right. there is a legal right. we're not arguing about the legality about whether or not they can suspend phil rontson. we do have a culture of free speech in addition to the legal rights of free speech. when a & e, when he said that, they ostracize ad great deal of

the american public. fans, religious people and people who simply want to see free and fair debate like myself. that's the standard they got on the right side of. >> it is not a debate network, it is an entertainment network. and they have the right to say we don't like this person. >> of course they have the right. >> i don't just mean a legal right. i mean it is well within even the cultural argument you're making to say in this culture, we don't want this representation being the dominant -- >> listen, i've got one more question. it appears that we're having trouble with your skype there. i want to say this. a & e goes on to talk about the interview and they don't agree with what phil robertson said. here's what they said this time. they said his family said it. they regret coarse language he used and the misinterpretation of his core beliefs based only on the article. so now they're saying, that the

public as a whole and maybe even themselves misinterpreted what phil robertson said and what he believes, mark. no mark? all right. >> can i say this? no matter if you think a & e made the wrong decision the first time like i think, or you think they made the wrong decision had time in the second decision like mark thinks, the truth is this. a & e will pay no price. the ratings will go up. they had a month of marketing. there will be no price for anyone who disagrees with them. >> thank you very much. still to come, new details about the massive hack of 40 million target customers. the retailer now says debit card pin data was also stolen. >> plus a desperate race against time to save a ship stranded in antarctica. the icebreaker is just six mile away. and a dramatic decision from a judge about the nsa spying program. the reason request the agency will continue to collect

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target has confirmed that its customers' pin data was also stolen. that's a turn-around from what the company said yesterday that there were no indications that pin data had been stolen. in a statement today, target said the data was strongly encrypted and, quote, the most important thing for our guests to know is that their debit card accounts have not been compromised. the ceo of trusted sec and a white hat hacker. how secure are those encryption numbers? >> well, the encryption itself is actually an industry grade standard. they use something called triple, which allows it to be protected. unfortunately the problem with pin numbers is they're only four characters. there are only about 10,000

different combinations that do you know to get it. altogether, it is not going to hold up. hackers can brute force to it grab those pin numbers. >> we've seen story after story, i've been in a couple cities since this all happened and seen the local news reports of people whose numbers have been hacked. whose debit cards have been hacked. what should customers be doing if they used a debit card at target during the time of the breach which was from black friday to december 15th? >> i've had a lot of family members impacted. everybody shops at target. and my recommendation to them has been, listen, i know it is a pain but change your pin number. call your bank and get a new card. they say you have fraud monitoring and monitoring detection that you put in place. as a piece of mind, just change it so you don't have to deal with it. that's my best recommendation. >> the wording is very important. i'm going to read. this they've done some tricky pr juggling. yesterday they issued a statement saying to date there's no evidence that unencrypted pin

data has been compromised. in addition, based on our communications with financial institutions, they have also seen no indications that any pin data was compromised. so they didn't really say anything that wasn't true. why did that statement change today? is it possible they didn't know? or was it an attempt to hide the extent of the damage? >> what happens in these situations is you learn as you go. when they find out their point of sale systems had been compromised, they assumed it was what we call track data or track two data which come off the back of the magnetic strip. what we learned is the sophistication the hackers used at the point of sale systems, they started grabbing the devices, the information from the devices which is the debit card pins. as these response scenarios come out, they learn more and more. they're saying one thing and then next day they're changing the issue. they need to find the facts out

before they release these statements. confirm what type of data has been compromise asked then release that to the public. it does seem a bit sloppy on the side of target. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. the race is on to save a stranded ship in antarctica. the expedition ship carrying mostly scientists trapped by ice near the bottom of the world. she said within sight. and an icebreaker ship called the ice dragon is only six mile away. even the dragon is having trouble smashing through the ice. here's the latest on this rescue mission. >> reporter: the end is within sight but not within reach. >> that's the icebreaker coming to rescue us. >> reporter: that tiny dot out there. that's the snow dragon. the chinese icebreaker seen from aboard the stranded russian

ship. an icebreaker that uses the ship's weight as much as 10,000 tons to break through heavy ice. but the chinese ship is still six nautical mile away. itself blocked by ice, up to ten feet thick. the chinese captain telling cnn, the current ice condition is exceeding our capabilities to break through further. it has been nearly 100 hours since the russian vessel first ran into trouble between antarctical and new zealand. the temperatures dropped quick will you freezing the ship in place. >> we moved as quick as we could but the ship could not get through. >> reporter: 74 researchers are on board on a mission to study climate change. the ship and crew are safe and surprisingly in good spirits. posing for photos, tweeting and even collecting data while they wait to be rescued. but they endured a blizzard thursday. >> the vessel hasn't moved the last two days and we're surrounded by sea ice.

we can't get through. >> reporter: now ice is building, closing in. >> we've got two to three meters, maybe four vowing us. and at one point, the ship was tilting a little bit because of the pressure on one side because of the strong winds. >> reporter: in a short time ago we heard an update from the ship. a tweet from chris turney who says the snow dragon is standing by and waiting on another vessel to help. everyone is well, he says. and don, that other vessel is a french icebreaker on its way now to help rescue the rescue ship. >> fingers crossed. thank you very much for your reporting tonight. still to come, 2013 was a tough year for a number of people in the public eye. who had the biggest ill motion of the year? the biggest one. our panel weighs in. first, hundreds of thousands are without power and over 20 people are dead due to ice storms in the united states. also in canada. we'll tell you about one state's unconventional approach to battling the weather. [ male announcer ] here's a question for you:

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very cold out there in a lot of places. sub freezing temperatures, severe ice storms paralyzing parts of the u.s. and canada. the frigid weather has killed over 20 people and left hundreds of thousands without power. misery doesn't look to be letting up any time soon either. as you can see here, more storms are expected over the weekend and many of those already hard hit areas. one state is gearing up to battle the latest round of agonizing one weather with an unconventional winter weapon.

>> 10-4. >> reporter: his job is to get snow and ice off the roads in polk county, wisconsin. a few years ago he had a brilliant classic wisconsin idea. >> why couldn't we use brine water made from a cheese factory. >> reporter: that's what these bricks of mozzarella are floating in. it is basically salt and a little product. he test some product from the local cheese factory and found out that it works great for clearing roads. >> got the green light to go. and now we're running it in all of our trucks. >> reporter: the cheese brine is mix in with the salt which goes on to the road. it helps keep the salt actually on the highway and it is a perfect thing to mix with the salt because cheese brine doesn't freeze at low temperatures. it does, however, have a little bit of an odor to it. >> the roads smell like wisconsin. they smell like cheese. >> reporter: actually that is

just a joke. brine water does have a cheese smell to it but doesn't stink up the roads. it does, however, save money. >> the first year we figure we saved 40,000. >> reporter: and the snow plow drivers like it. >> it burned the ice way faster than using dry salt. even the most hardened skeptics said i'm a believer. >> reporter: at the dairy, they couldn't be happier. they normally have to pay $25,000 a area to get rid of the brine. since his great idea, other counties are taking it away for free. >> i'm thinking we can get rid of almost all of it. we're heading to milwaukee. >> reporter: if they run out, finding more brine shouldn't be a problem in this state. >> there is no shortage of win in wisconsin. definitely needed. >> there's no shortage of cheese. >> the roads smell like wisconsin, like cheese.

or like feet. either one. still to come on cnn, a man is charged with a federal hate crime in texas. he was raised behind his knockout attack of an elderly man. plus we look back at the worst of 2013. what was the biggest implosion of the year? our panel weighs in later in the show. thrusters at 30%! i can't get her to warp. losing thrusters. i need more power. give me more power! [ mainframe ] located. ge deep-sea fuel technology. a 50,000-pound, ingeniously wired machine

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a federal judge ruled it is legal for nsa to check data on almost every phone call made in the u.s. the district judge william pauley says phone surveillance could have hem prevent the

september 11 attacks. he argues the program represents the government's counter punch to terrorism and doesn't violate americans' rights to privacy. but just last week, another federal judge said the nsa tactics are probably unconstitutional calling it, quote, almost orwellian technology. watch out, tourists. police in bali say a giant murderous python is on the look. it looks like this one. a security guard at a luxury hotel tried to catch the 15 foot snake. he grabbed it by the head and tail but it tightened around his neck, suffocating him. the python escaped into the bush. police are still searching for it. now a story we've been following. a court appearance today for a man charged with a federal hate crime in connection with a so call knockout assault. his bail was denied.

27-year-old conrad was charged with punching a black man in the face. the assault was i rachly motivated. the victim suffered two jaw fractures and was hospitalized several days. barrett's lawyer will be joining us exclusively. but first, cnn's margaret conley has more on this story for you. >> reporter: 27-year-old conrad barrett has been charged with a hate crime for knocking out a 79-year-old african-american man. a houston judge said that crime was vicious and barrett struck his victim. there is strong evidence he committed this offense. it is a hate crime. according to the federal xlanltering attacked because of the man's race and color. and he made a video of the attack where he allegedly said, quote, the plan is to see if write to hit a black person work this be nationally televised? in a separate video he uses the n word and says african-americans haven't fully experienced the blessing of evolution. the brutal attack happened here in katy, texas, in november. the victim who does not wachbt to be identified suffered two

jaw fractures and was in the hospital for several days, according to the federal xlanlt. barrett's attorney claim he is bipolar but was off his medicine the night of the attack. later he went to this bar and showed off to bystanders. one of them an offduty police officer. knockouts have been going on since 1992 because string of cases over the last year has garnered more national attention with video that has gone viral from states like illinois to washington to new york. the purpose of the so-called game is to knock unsuspecting pedestrians out cold with a single punch. this caused them to reexamine state versus federal hate crimes. >> state law enhances hate crimes. in other words, your sentence send answered if it is proved that you committed a hate crime. however that is defined in a particular state. but under federal law, hate crimes are a separate crime. which again raises some questions about the constitutionality, with the equal protection clause. >> reporter: barrett's attorney

says he is sorry. he will now await trial and if convicted co-face a 250,000 fine and up to ten years in prison. margaret conley, cnn. new york. >> thank you very much. earlier i spoke exclusively with conrad barrett's attorney. the charge is a hate crime. part of the defense is bipolar disorder i asked him if he thought that disorder could cause racism? >> not at all. what i'm saying is that one must take a look at the mindset of people that do bizarre, sometimes brutal actions and if in fact a person has been diagnosed before as having a bipolar disorder, not on his medication at the time this occurred, that this could have a factor on his mindset at the time this happened. i'm not using it as an excuse.

it is a fact. and every psychiatrist will tell you that the middle component is very important in making a determination of what actually occurred here. this is not figuratively a black and white issue. >> but your client was a functioning member of society. had the wherewithal to plan this, to pick out a victim, an elderly man who could not defend himself. and then now since he has been caught doing it, it appears to most people that using bipolar disorder as a defense is an excuse for racist behavior. >> i think the bipolar disorder is a mitigation, if you will. it can be viewed as such. i don't think that there is an insanity defense in the works in this particular case and certainly i think that the federal definition of insanity

precludes using that particular type of defense in this case. >> it seems to me the criminal complaint that it was premeditated. here's how that reads. it says on the video, described by the officer, the offduty investigator barrett. he said the plan is to see if i were to hit a black person, would this be nationally televised? in another video barrett states he is trying to work up the courage to play the knockout game. and he can be heard in the video saying that he has found the perfect african-american suspect burk then appears to change his mind. it seems like he planned this out every single detail. he could have gone and stolen a car. he could have gone and shoplifted. he could have gone and done a number of things but he planld this out in a manner that used race as the focus. you don't see that as a federal hate crime? >> well, what happens, first of

all, people that are mentally ill make rational decisions all the time. premed tate matters all the time. secondly this individual did something very bizarre. after the action he brags about it. he shows the video around to individuals saying, hey, look what i've done. i have hit a knockout. not being aware of how severely injured the individual was that he hit. and again, that all has to be proven, i'm sure you understand that. but i'm saying that you've got to take into consideration the supreme court has said, whether it is a hate crime or not a hate crime, that you take into consideration the, in mit face, the mental aspects of the individual in question. that's all we're saying here. >> i have to be quite honest with you. i don't really understand what your defense is.

i really don't. >> well, i hope, certainly hope you're not on my jury. >> i hope. people like me who are not experts in the law will be on the jury. and if i work in television and i've done a number of cases that have involved hate crimes, insanlt. if i'm understanding, why do you think a jury will understand? >> well, my question is what is there not to understand when i tell you that mitigation includes evidence of the mindset of the individual that performs the act. the supreme court has said so. we know this person has been diagnosed as being bipolar. that is not an insanity defense in this particular case. i do know of cases where bipolar can develop into a person being psychotic. and that would and could qualify as an insanity defense. that's not the issue here. as far as i know. now i've not talked to his

doctors. i've not had a chance to talk to his doctors. i've had this case since 7:30 yesterday morning. i haven't seen the medical records. i am told by credible individuals that he is and has been diagnosed as being bipolar as well as being an alcohol addict. and those are matters taken into mitigation. >> i want to bring in cnn legal analyst. i'm a little thick sometimes but can you translate? >> wow. yes, i think i can. a very distinguished guy. if i had his head of hair, i would be a lot more successful than i am now. in translating, the whole interview, what he was trying to say was he kept saying it has to do with mitigation. mitigation has to do with the sentencing part of the trial. my read on that is he is saying, do you know something? my client is guilty. but at the time of sentencing the judge might be a little merciful. he has a mental illness and an

alcohol problem. that would be how i would translate all of that. because mitigation has nothing to do with guilt or innocence. it only has to do with should you have mercy at sentencing. >> so when you say he has a mental illness and he's an alcoholic, mental illness does not mean insanity. >> and there's a difference between legal insanity which is extremely difficult to prove and the lawyer says quite rightfully so, i'm not saying that and i can't prove that here, as opposed to mental illness. a lot of criminals have mental illness. the jails are filled with criminals who have mental illness. they're psychotics, serious sickos. that's how they get to prison. >> people are wondering why this is a federal hate crime and all the other knockout games -- there have been one or two that have been prosecuted under the hate crime statute. why aren't they hate crimes? >> they are hate crimes. we've seen a lot of reports of

hate crime in new york. there have been probably 20 or 30 of them. i was at the stats. california has brought 200 cases in one year, hate crimes. they all have local statutes. >> so the knockout game. >> no, i'm just talking about hate crime in general. they get prosecuted. why did they pick this case? a federal prosecutor in a district, he is in texas, he can pick any case he wants. he looks at this case and he sees a guy who videotapes his intent to attack an african-american and then he sees the guy go out and do it and that's also on tape. >> and the language, he used the n word. >> and then he brags about it afterwards to his friends. now what could be a stronger case to bring than that? the prosecutor says, hey, i'm bringing this case. just because a prosecutor in new york or colorado or somewhere else didn't bring a similar case doesn't prove anything except that maybe their cases weren't as strong. >> so it is not because in this case, which people are saying, the victim is black and the

suspect is white. >> i don't think there was a secret meeting in the white house saying, let's do this texas case because the white guy is the defendant. i'm not buying that. but some people think it. they can think what they want. i think a local prosecutor saw a good case and he said let's go with it. >> conspiracy theories. maybe we should have done the best conspiracy theories of 2013. >> we should have. and mr. parnham can be one of the experts. speaking of that, a area of misstems, miscalculations and mistakes. which one was the biggest implosion of the year? look at that guy. and new years eve is just days away. we'll show you how the world will be celebrating later in the show.

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all week we're looking at the highs and the lows, the good and the bad of the past 12 months and sure, everybody has their opinion but tonight i'm getting the final word of the biggest implosion of 2013. that was very thurston howell of me. i'll make the picks based on the opinions of my panel. and here to make their case, the smartest guy i know, brian stall tir. the dapper joe, the founder of inspire 52.com, the ever lovely and gorgeous mel robins, and then the guy who is like, on gilligan's island before they had professor and maryan, and the rest, dino, from the daily weist. i have a name for everyone except dean. and there's dean. let's start with the lady this time. what do you think the biggest implosion of 2013 was, melee

mel? >> it is good news. check out this clip. >> it seem like the court has said, the federal government does not have a right to not recognize these marriages. >> doma is gone. this is a major broadly written pinch strikes down the law on the ground that it discriminates against gay people. >> people are thrilled. i'm standing in front of the birth place of the modern gay rights movement. >> it is a really, really amazing day. >> i was so young then. >> and it was an amazing day. june 26th when doma implode. it changed the lives of americans today and for future generations to come and nine states have since legalized gay marriage and it is now as far as i'm concerned inevitable and really terrific news that doma imploded. >> whether you agree or not with her, i'm sure you think yours is obviously the biggest implosion,

it was as joe biden would say, it was a big blanking deal. >> it was. sxim glad you bring it up. i think people have forgotten the importance of that story. i think it is a little strange to pick such a big and for many people positive story as an implosion. i'm going more negative with mine. >> mr. negativity, go on. >> i've got to bring up a media person. someone who has been, someone we always see on television but not anymore. let's roll the clip. >> i want to apologize to everybody for the wrong that i've done. i want to learn and grow from this inappropriate, hurtful language. it is totally, totally unacceptable. >> i was invited this morning to speak with matt lauer about a subject that has been very hurtful for a lot of people. and matt, i have to say, i was

physically not able this morning. >> the day i used that word, it was a world ago. it was 30 years ago. i had had a gun put to my head. a shaking gun. >> let me borrow from matt lauer. where in the world is paula deen now? i think you can give never trophy, judge. >> oh! that is confidence. i do like that in contestants. where did they shoot that? in the break ram of a -- i don't know. a kinkos? >> every pr manual will lead with paula deen. >> look how pink she was duffle do her make-up? >> you know, when i do my own make-up it does turn out looking like that. it is just one person's career that imploded. it is not like it is a civil rights kind of moment for the

history of the united states. i also have to say, i have a hard time with that story because i just feel, i've heard you say this. you tried to be curious, not judgmental. when you dig into that story and find out the context of what happened to her 30 years ago and where she had said those hurtful words and to whom, i just felt like the way that she was roasted and the way her career imploded was completely unfair. so maybe i'm making an argument for you, brian. that was a sad story to watch. >> and that wasn't a fun implosion. i kind of felt a little sorry for this. it clearly affected her emotionally. if you put that up side by side with alec baldwin and that implosion, that was so much more entertaining. in terms of ill motion, i have to go with camden one. >> i'm going on let you join in. i hate to see bad things to anybody, anything. we haven't heard from paula deen

in a while that she really didn't understand why she was being criticized and that only made matters worse. go ahead. >> i agree. and the big question is why can't brian forgive people? that's what it is about. you just -- this poor lady wants a little compassion and you have to mock her again. come on! >> if could i find her woirk love to talk with her. >> amen. don't be such a meany. >> that's what we're learning about you. >> all right. state your case. >> okay. how we even, how is this even a debate right now? i'm glad you saved me for one of the last. clearly, watch this guy and tell me if you can find anybody who imploded more than our supple friend here. roll it. >> these allegations are ridiculous. >> absolutely. >> i don't smoke crack and i'm not a crack addict. have i? yes, i have. >> there is only one person to blame for this and that is

myself. [ bleep ]. >> i was sick and tired of all these allegations and all the -- [ bleep ]. sorry, kids i shouldn't have sworn in front of the kids. >> oh! i attempted, i attempted to make you can't that's unfair. >> i'm temp. >> [ overlapping speakers ] >> you might lose -- the only reason you may lose is because you did not put the favorite clip about having enough to eat at home. that's all ill say. does everyone understand what i'm saying? >> explain. >> i don't edit these things, by the way. i come here for the coffee. >> i do -- >> who disagrees -- >> i do. still, that's the best you got, buddy? >> yes, that's the best i got. [ overlapping speakers ] >> pretty good -- >> all rob ford wants is attention. he's like the miley cyrus of

politics, and he has a higher approval rating right now than president obama -- >> dean -- >> he's still in office. he's -- >> great -- >> he has -- [ overlapping speakers ] >> are you smoking crack over there. >> hang on. did you just ask if he was smoking crack? >> i did. >> that's completely incoherent right now. >> this segment is i'm ploiding by the way. the antics of rob ford, yeah, it's funny, it's interesting, you laugh but he's in office. has he inploided -- >> he's in canada. >> he's the mayor. dean, last but certainly not least, go ahead. >> i was going to say it was nice to allow the others to amuse you. now comes the winner, my friend. >> oh, no. >> it's anthony wean's implosion. >> did you say meat -- >> i did. >> i'm the red meat.

you guys are appetizers. here common sense the entree. >> roll the clip. >> roll the clip. >> anthony weaner. >> the behavior i did was problematic to say the least, destructive to say the most. >> these things are in my past and i think the citizens understand that. >> you're a real scum bag. you have the nerve to walk around -- >> are you a perfect person? are you my judge? rabbi taught you that? >> did these things. i know what did this to me, i did this to me. i made these mistakes. >> what is wrong with you? anthony, i think there is something wrong with you. >> chillax buddy. >> did he say chillax? talk about self-awareness or self-unawareness, right? >> look, the wife is still with

him. so a complete implosion, she's out the door. >> robbie -- >> rob ford and weiner wipe each other out. they cancel each other out. >> this isn't algebra. >> a plus b -- >> you found amusement in the clip. >> i was thinking back to the days when we thought he had a chance to win. >> it's a -- >> he was the trofront runner. >> 25%. he was ahead of bill who won by 15 months and in one month imploded because we found out his nail was carlos danger and hanging out with cindy leathers and sending more pictures. unbelievable, almost redemption, implosion. perfect. >> okay. time to make the choice. >> like listening -- >> paula deen was the biggest implosion this year because --

and here is why i saw paula deen has a multi, multi, multimillion dollar empire and she should have had better people around her and it was a lawsuit -- wasn't -- it was like $2 million. i forget what it is. >> the lawsuit is forgotten. >> it was dismissed and had she settled the lawsuit for whatever million dollars it was or whatever, she would have still been around and probably would not have come to light. you would still see her multi million dollar -- >> still be on the food network. >> now the only people you see are her sons trying to keep the brand going. >> we love more than implosion, though, don, a come back. maybe that's 2014 for paula deen, we'll see. >> amen. >> i can't tell you how much i miss erin burnett right now. >> i can't tell you, either, because i have to sit here and work with you. >> thank you. >> love you guys, this is to you dean. >> good-bye. >> thank you, judge.

>> thank you, guys. still to come, what will you be doing on new year's eve. we'll tell you about the strangest new years' customs next. it's lots of things. all waking up. connecting to the global phenomenon we call the internet of everything. ♪ it's going to be amazing. and exciting. and maybe, most remarkably, not that far away. we're going to wake the world up. and watch, with eyes wide, as it gets to work. cisco. tomorrow starts here. the energy in one gallon of gas is also enough to keep your smartphone running for how long? 30 days? 300 days? 3,000 days? the answer is... 3,000 days. because of gasoline's high energy density, your car doesn't have to carry as much fuel compared to other energy sources.

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so, the old song asks what are you doing new years eve and with christmas behind us, it's time to consider that question. what are you doing new years eve? many of us in the u.s. will probably attend a party or watch the ball drop in time square or watch anderson and kathy griffin, but, you know, the more adventurous should look outside america for ideas. there was a survey to find the world's strangest new years traditions, and while things like firing guns into the air, three-day water fight, scotland's spinning balls of fire and an old british movie

scored high. the three countries with the strangest new years traditions are number three, ireland where people bang bread on doors and walls to frighten evil spirits, okay? so number two is romania where people try to hear animals talk, and if they don't, it's good luck. they don't care what the fox says. all right? and then number one is chile or chile where some people spend the holiday in a cemetery to be with dead relatives, but we want to hear from you. what is the strangest tradition you know about, and what do you plan to do on new years eve. let us know on twitter at don lemon and at "outfront." where is what i want to know, what are the lyrics -- do you guys know -- >> no, no. >> can you sing it for me?

♪ ♪ >> that's how people sing it. there you go. that's exactly how people sing it on new years eve. learn the words to old langs him. it's a tradition. it's a tradition. "ac 360" starts right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com done, thanks there is a huge development in the "duck dynasty" controversy and the government spying on you, the target data breach got worse. hackers have millions of pin numbers to go with the credit and debit card data they stole. we'll ask an expert if you should be worried and we'll take you on board the ship stuck in polar ice as 74 passengers and crew members learn a rescue ship steaming their way might need to be rescued, as well. we begin with the big court ruling on your privacy and security and the government's power to keep you safe by snooping on you, me, the guy down the