cross dresser. with millions of views already, munchkin is on the way to fame achieved by ted the talking teddy bear. >> for some reason i thought you were going to be taller. >> i thought you were going to be funnier. >> there is nothing funny about being a stuffed toy in munchken's household. run before they yank your stuffing out and you become munchkin road kill. jeanie moos, cnn, new york. >> let us know your thoughts. >> take it aids, thanks for joining us. did the u.s. let airstrikes hit their biggest target. isis leader abu bakr al-baghdadi. we will look at that tonight, plus a cnnic exclusive. a father that lost his son, daughter in law and two grandsons, speaks out about the family friends charged with their murder the family and friends who spoke to cnn. which begin with north korea the

reality that the return of matthew miller and kenneth bae does not resist. bae and miller were the last americans known to be held in north korea. part of the state department, clapper's visit came after north korea contacted the u.s. government unexpectedly about two weeks ago. he delivered a letter addressed to kim jong-un. u.s. leaders credit china for securing the release in beijing where he is attending a sum, president obama talked about the successful mission. >> obviously, i'm incredibly thankful to jim clapper for the efforts that he made and i couldn't be happier for the families as we enter the holidays to let them know their loved ones are back. >> they say the release did not fall on north korean relation, saying that could only happen as they abandoned their nuclear weapons program.

some believed a report documenting the human rights abuses may have prompted the release. that i are concerned kim jong-un could face an zooimt dime by international criminal court. nothing could rerace the records of the criminal rights abuses. people live in appalling conditions with tens of thousands living in essentially a concentration camp t. most notorious is a camp 14. in this report that first aired on "60 minutes," i talked with someone that did the nearly impossible. he escaped from a camp he, himself, was actually born in. he's the only person known to be born into this camp who has actually gotten out alive. >> did anybody ever explain to you why you were in a camp? >> no, never. because i was born there, i just thought those people who carried guns were born to carry guns. and prisoners like me were born as prisoners. >> did you know america existed?

>> not at all. >> did you know that the world was round? >> i had no idea if it was round or square. >> camp 14 was all that he says he knew for the first 23 years of his life. these satellite images are the only glimpse outsiders have ever gotten of the place. 15,000 people are believed to be imprisoned here, forced to live and work in this bleak collection of houses, factory, feels and mines surrounded by an electrified fence. growing up, did you ever think about escaping? >> that never crossed my mind. >> that never crossed your mind? >> no, never. i thought the society outside the camp would be similar to that inside the camp. >> you thought everybody lived in a prison camp like this? >> yes. >> he toll us this is the house where he was born. his mother and father were prisoners whose marriage, if you could call it that, was arranged by the guards as a reward for

hard work. >> did they live together? did they see each other every day in. >> no. you can't live together. my mother and my father were separated. and only when they worked hard could they be towing. >> did they love each other? >> i don't know. in my eyes, we were not a family. we were just prisoners. >> how do you mean? >> you wear what you are given, you eat what you are given and you only do what you are told to do. so there is nothing that the parents can do for you and there is nothing that the children can do for their parents. >> this may be a very dumb question, but did you even know what love was when you were for the first 23 years of your life? >> i still don't know what that means. >> love may have been absent, but fear is not. in this building, a school of shorts, shin says he watched his teacher beat a girl to death for hoarding a few concekern els of.

>> if you were escaped, you would be shot. if you planned to escape, you would be shot. even if you did not report someone who was trying to escape, you would be shot. >> the shootings took place in this field, he says. the other prisoners were required to watch. as frightening as the executions were, shin considered them a break from the monotony of hard labor and constant hunger. they were fed the same gruel of cornmeal and cabbage day in, day out. they were so hungry he says they ate rats and insects to survive. so for 23 years, you were always hungry? >> yes, of course. we were always hungry and the guards always told us, through hunger, you will repent. >> which shin and his family were repenting for probably dates back to the korean war when two of his uncles reportedly defected to the

south. shin believes that's why his father and grandfather were sent to camp 14 and why he was supposed to live there until he died. north korea's first dictator kim ill song instituted this punishment. >> here is to eliminate this lineage to eliminate the family on the theory that if the grandfather was a counterrevolutionary, the father and the grandsons would be opposed to the regime as well. >> david hawk is a huh man rights investigator, who's interviewed dozens of former interviews and guards from the six political prison camps operating in north korea today. >> the largest number of people in the prison camps are those who are the children or grandchildren of people considered to be wrong-doers or wrong thinkers. >> i never heard of anything like that. >> it's unique in the 20th or 21st century.

mao didn't do it. stalin didn't do it. they tried to exterminate entire families, but in world war ei world, it's only korea that had this problem. >> north korea denies it has political prisons, but refuses outside observers to see camp 14 or other sites. there is no other way to believe schenn's story. do you believe his story? >> oh, sure, his story is consistent with the testimony of other prisoners in every respect. >> there is also physical evidence he carries around with him to this day. the tip of his finger is missing. he says it was chopped off as punishment when he accidentally broke a machine in a prison factory. he also has serious scars on his back, stomach arnl and ankles. he was willing to show us, but embarrassed to show them on

camera. he received them in an underground torture center. he was tortured because his brother and mother was accused of trying to escape. he was 13 years old at the time. >> did think they you were involved in the escape? >> they did. >> how did they torture you? >> they hung me by the ankles and they tortured me with fire and from the scars i have on my body, i think they couldn't have done more to me. >> shin says he tried to convince his interrogators, he wasn't a part of the escape plot. he didn't know until they took him to that field used for executions. >> when i went to the public excuse site, i thought i might be killed. i was brought to the very front. that's where i saw my mother and my brother being dragged out. >> his mother and brother dragged out. what happened next is beyond imagination. part 2 of my interview with shin is ahead.

plus i will talk with laura ling, who was detained four months before she was freed. all that times, she says she lived in fear of being sent to a heavy labor mon camp. more than four months there. we'll talk to her ahead. [thinking] i'm still working. he's retired.

in a moment, my interview with a man in a concentration camp where essentially generations of families are born and die. they defy possible odds of escaping. my interview tonight with shin on "60 minutes" schenn's account of life inside camp 14 is we think an important reality check on what life is like for tens of thousands of americans. before the break, you heard shin was tone to a site where his mother and brother were brought out. here's what happened next. >> when i went to the public execution site, i thought i might be killed. i was brought to the very front.

that's where i saw my mother and my brother being dragged out. and that's when i knew that it wasn't me. >> how did they kill your mother? >> they hung her and they shot my brother. >> he speaks of it still without visible emotion and admits he felt no sadness watching his mother and brother die. he thought they got what they deserved. they had, after all, broken the prison rules. >> he believed the rules of the camp quite possible. >> a veteran correspondent first reported shin's story in the washington post and later wrote a book about his life. he had no compass by which to judge his behavior. >> he had a compass. but the compass were the rules of the camp. the only compass he had. it was only when he was 23 when he met somebody from the outside that that started to change. >> when he met park?

>> when he met park. >> park was a new prisoner shin says he met in a textile factory. unlike shin, park lived in pyongyong and traveled in china. he began to tell shin what life was like on the other side of the fence. >> i paid most attention to what kind of food he ate outside the camp. >> what kind of food had he eaten? >> oh, a lot of different things, bar-b-que chicken. bar-b-que pig. the most important thing was the thought that even a prisoner like me could eat chicken and pork if i were able to escape the barbed wires. >> i heard people define freedom in many ways. i never heard someone define it as broiled chicken. >> i still think of freedom in with they. >> really? that's what freedom means to you? >> people can eat what they want. it can be the greatest gift from god. >> you were ready to die just to get a good meal? >> yes. >> he got his chance in january,

2005, when he says he and park were gathering firewood in this remote area near the electrified fence. as the sun began to set, they decided to make a run for it. >> as tehran towards the fence, shin slipped in the snow, at the snowy ridge, fell on his face. park got to the fence first and thrust his body between the first and second strand and pulled down that bottom wire and was immediately electrocuted. >> how did you get past him? >> i crawled over his back. >> you literally climbed over him in. >> yeah. >> he was a fugitive now in rural north korea on the run in one of the poorest most repressive countries in the world. though that's not how it seemed to him. >> what did the outside world look like in in there it was like heaven. people were laughing and talking as they wanted. they were wearing what they wanted. it was very shocking. >> how did you manage to get out of north korea? >> i was just trying to get away

from the camp. i ended up going north and on the northern side, people talked a lot about china. >> did you know where china was? >> no, not at all. it just happened that the way i was going was towards the border. >> with amazing luck and countrying, shin managed to steal and bribe his way across the border and quietly work his way through china, where he would have been sent back if he was caught. in shanghai, he nothing into the south korean consulate and was granted asylum. in 2006, he arrived in south korea with not a friend in the world. he was so overwhelmed by culture shock and post-traumatic stress, he had to be hospitalized. more than seven years later, it's remarkable how far schenn has come. he's 30 now. he's made friend and built a few life for himself in seum, south korea. but old demons from camp 14 are never far behind and shiven now admits there was something he was hiding.

two years ago, he finally confessed to author brain harden. >> when he first told me about the execution of his mother and brother, he didn't say that he had turned them in. >> you reported your mother and your brother in. >> yes. >> what did you hope to get out of reporting your mother and your brother? >> ah, well, being full for the first time, more food, yes. but the biggest reason was, i was supposed to report it. >> why was shin tortured after rating out his mother and brother? in there the guard two he ratted out, too, did not tell his superiors he got the information from shin. >> so the guard basically was trying to claim credit? >> yes. >> it was only after seeing what family life was like outside camp 14 that shin says he started to feel guilt about what he had done to his own mother

and brother. >> my mother and brother, if i could meet them through a time machine, i would like to go back and apologize. by telling this story, i think i can compensate kind of repent for what i did. >> repentance has taken shin all over the world. he speaks at human rights rallies, meets with u.s. congressmen and is telling his story to us in part because he's frustrated by how much attention the press pays to north korea's new leader, kim jong-un and his wife and little attention gets paid to the people in the camps. in south korea, he and some friends designed an internet talk show designed to tell the world what is going on in the north. as for that taste of freedom he ricked his life for, he can eat all the boiled chicken and admits it hasn't given him the satisfaction he hopes for. >> when i eat something good,

laugh with my friends, make some money, i'm excited. but that's only momentary, right afterwards, i start worrying again. >> you worry about what now in. >> what i worry about now is all those people in the prison camps. children are still being born there and somebody is probably being executed. >>ened you think about that, do you think about that a lot? >> yes. >> kenneth bae and matthew miller are back with their families tonight and if you know better laura ling, what the past two days have been for them. in 2009, she, a fellow journalist were freed by north korea. you know they were freed by north korea after being held for more than four months. they were arrested reporting from the border of north korean china and svensed to 12 years of hard labor. president clinton helped secure their release. laura ling joins me tonight. so first of all when you heard that kenneth bae and matthew

todd miller had been released, what went through your mind? >> oh my god, i was so happy for them and tear families. i was feeling the anticipation they can feel within they finally get off the plane and embrace their families. when i was held, i thought of the possiblity of never seeing my family again. >> in terms of the adjustment, what is it like to be in north korea that amount of time, to be in captivity and suddenly be back here? >> yeah. right. it took some time to get adjusting to. literally, they are held in the most isolated country in the world in isolation. this ento come out into the world is an ad judgment i know that i, it was hard for me to actually speak words clearly and speak the english language because i really hadn't spoken to many people. that was hard. i kind of went into a self imposed isolation just because i wasn't used to everything.

i mean, it took me. i just got back on twitter him you talk about little things like twitter, technology seemed overwhelming. i just got on five months ago, it's been five years. i think they will be taking the time to spend with their families and appreciate the freedoms that they have. >> in terms of what you went through while you were there, you and your cloaks were out five months. it's probably impossible to describe it. you connected on a certain level with some of your captors. can you explain that? >> i did. i. there was a common sense of humanity i guess. i felting as of compassion towards me and a sense of humanity towards me that i will always be grateful for. so despite the fact that it was the most frightening time of my life, i am grateful for those glimmers of compassion. >> it's interesting, you know, when kenneth bae stepped off the plane, he thanked the government

of north korea. some people listening as an outsideer would think, that's the last group you'd have kind words for, would be the north korean government. did it surprise you he did that? >> it did not surprise me. i thanked the government as well. listen, regardless of why he was held, legitimately or illegitimately, once you are held in north korea, they hold all the cards. and standard rules do not apply. international conventions do not apliechlt so they didn't have to release him. so i think he understood that. to be able to be given a sec chance at life, i think you can see why he was so grateful for that. >> it's also important i think and i know you feel it's important that people watching not lose sight of the plight of the north korean people. as good as it is the two americans have been released, the people, themselves, live in appalling conditions and tens of thousands, if not more than

100,000 people are in essentially concentration camps and political prisoner camps. >> absolutely. while we celebrate the return of these men, it is important not to lose sight of that. that's one thing that helped me gain strength in my captivity was thinking about what the average north korean people are endureing. i'm sure it was so much worse. and so, i hope that we don't lose sight of that. i hope that this may be a potential opening between our two countries. i really do. >> did you know that, you know, when you were released that this was happening? did you know much in advance? did you know that somebody was flying from the united states that there were high level meetings in did you know the backgrounds? >> you know, i was pretty aware that something leak a high level meeting was going, was necessary. was going to be necessary for us

to be released. but the time frame in which it happened was a total surprise to me. so it went from thinking that i was going to be there for much longer to the next day hearing that an envoy had arrived and when not told that it was president clinton. just it was an envoy. >> do you know someone held but a journalist made the director of national intelligence, of all people, it was he that went over to win a conventional lease. >> you know, i think it serves, it serves propaganda value for the north koreans i mean to have somebody of jay clapper's stature go to make that visit. further legitimizes the leadership in the eyes of the people or will help to do that. but i also think that these are two, we are two countries that just do not have direct relations. our leadership does not talk to

one another and so it was an opportunity for the north koreans to be able to speak to the u.s. directly. >> lawyer are ling, it's good to have you on again, tanks. >> thank you. up next, a man considered a family friend is now charged with the family's murders. tonight the father speaks out in an exclusive interview about the arrest. also ahead, uncovering massive problems at the vietnam a. facility, secret wait list, cover-ups, vets doing waiting for care. the va announced today, we will give you details on that coming up. .

is. >> in crime and punishment, the man that suffered unimaginable loss. his son and two grandchildren vanished and last year their bodies were found in the mojave desert. now his business agent is charged with murdering the mcstays. someone described as a close family friend.

randi kaye has an exclusive interview with his father, speaking on camera for the first time in an unbelievably troubling story. >> and he fwhu that if something happened -- >> reporter: we met patrick mcstay in houston, days after learning of his son's interview. this is his first interview since san bernardino deputies announced they had delays merit in custody. did you get a sense of relief when you heard that? >> a lot of people will say it's like lifting a ton off your shoulders? for me, it was like a bowler falling on me. >> that's because he considered him a friend. he sold custom waterfalls and merritt was one of his welders. >> do you think chase is capable of something like this? >> after all i've seen through the years, and the information we found, i still can't say yes, but i can definitely say i

wonder. >> reporter: patrick mcstay has been waiting nearly five years to find out who killed his family. it was february 4, 2010, when joseph mcstay, his wife summer and their two beautiful young boys joseph and giani disappeared. their remains were found two years ago buried in two shallow graves in the mojave desert. investigators say they died of force blunt trauma. he shared the grave site is 20 miles from his home. >> would you ever have expected this is how it would end in the desert like that? >> in the desert i had no clue. >> reporter: we played some of our interview. >> very visible from the freeway. >> i can tell you and describe the area perfectly, he knows that area really well. >> on that final day, he said he met joseph mcstay for what he

described as a business lunch and they talked by phone a dozen times later that day. >> you were the last person you saw in. >> i know definitely the last person i saw. >> that night at 8:20 p.m., he said his phone rang, joseph was callingfrom his cell phone, he said he didn't answer he says because he was too tired a. statement raising eyebrows among those following the case closely. >> the rest of joey's existence was phone calls, text messages, so if i want to make you look like you are a liar for several hours, i will take your phone, i will tech. i will call myself. >> during our interview, he revealed he took a lie detector test soon after the mcstays disappeared. he never got results from the authorities. did detectives ask you whether you killed joseph mcstay and his family in. >> i don't recall them asking me that. >> nothing that direct. nothing directly. >> i don't recall them being

that direct. >> if he killed the mcstay family, patrick mcstay suspects it had to deal with money. joseph landed a waterfall deal worth $9 million, so merritt stood to make a lot of cash. he says his work had gotten sloppy and joseph was in the market for another welder. patrick said he last spoke with him earlier this year when the two discussed the books they were writing about the kasem looking back, he says he thinks merritt was digging to find out what patrick knew of the murders. patrick hasn't seen or spoke to him since. >> what would you ask him in. >> i wouldn't ask him anything. only one person came out of that room. >> a lot of what he said is very suspicious now in retrospect. could he have done it by himself, one family against the family of four when the kids are little in. >> that's a good question. police say they were killed at their home.

so that's chase merritt, if he did, indeed, do this against the four of them at the home, he would have to take all of them and drive them up 100 miles north of the home, take the car, their truck, found near the mexican border 250 miles south and somehow figure out a way to get back up 250 miles north again without being seen to be home for that 8:30 call joseph mcstay and it pinged off that tower. the other question, anderson is what about mexico? we know san diego has that under surveillance of the family that looks like them going across into mexico. they thought they went willing. chase merritt had the opportunity to say, that's right, that's them, instead, he says, it wasn't them. and he had the opportunity there to take them off his tracks. he said he didn't think it was them t. last thing is he toll us he was the first person at the house.

if he was, indeed, there, was he there to clean up the house? if it was blunt force trauma. was he there to feed the dogs to keep them quiet to have time to clean up the house. >> it's strange he insists he was the last one to see them alive, how would he know that in. >> exactly. a lot of questions. >> fascinating interview, thank you very much, buried secrets, who buried a family airs tomorrow. you can find out a lot more on this story, coming up, iraqi officials say the leader of isis was injured in an airstrike. there is a lot of conflicting information. u.s. officials are not sure what happened. we will take a look at details as we know them, also ahead, a big chill is on the way for more than 200 million people in the united states. we have a live update from the weather center where it's going to hit. gas at the same location. during the day, we generate as much electricity

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. >> it's a huge victory in the fight against isis and attacking its leader. the trouble in the united states, it's not completely sure it happened. iraq's interior minister said

al-baghdadi was injured. there is conflicting information and skepticism. cnn's chief correspondent jim scuitto joins me live from washington. what are your sources saying? >> the u.s. military officials say they have to this point seen nothing that gives them confident that al-baghdadi was killed in this streak. that's always the case with these things, they need a lot of information to be sure. particularly, in this case, it was the iraqi intelligence and military acting on that intelligence in this strike. so that's still a judgment they have to make. they're waiting to see something that gives them a clearer sense of what happened there. >> the fact it was the iraqis that conducted the airstrikes, is there a particular significance to that? >> there is a sign, they took back a town to the south of backed a couple weeks ago. they took back a key border

crossing between iraq and syria just last week. it showed iraqi forces are beginning to take the offensive. that's something that, of course, really the u.s. war plan depends on, everybody knows that air power alone is not going to solve this problem. >> that said, substantial offensive operations, u.s. military officials from dempsey to hagel, right up to the president say it's going to be months before the iraqi military is capable of doing that. that's one reason you have more military advisers there going to iraq to make that possible. >> 1,500. there was a separate airstrike around mosul. do we know the target of that? >> we do. it's a senior isis leader. basically, this was a opportunity. they saw a collection of what they believe to be isis vehicles or a collection of vehicles this an isis controlled area. so they dropped some bombs on it. tear judgment was it's likely there were some senior leaders there, they had no particular information that baghdadi,

himself, was there. that was a part of the confusion, anderson, there was a u.s. strike over the weekend. there was rumors that baghdadi was killed. it turns out the iraqis took their own action elsewhere. in both cases, there is no information he was, indeed, taken down. >> we will have more in the next hour of "360." we will go into detail, incredible lengths baghdadi goes to. jim scuitto, thanks, a scandal uncovered by drew griffin we have been reporting about on this program for more than a year now, veterans waiting months for care, sometimes deadly consequences. we found evidence of secret waiting lists, widespread cover-ups. now it seems the other shoe was dropped. today the va secretary announcing a massive overhaul to the department. saying there has been disciplinary action to hundreds of employees and more firings are on the way.

>> i'm very proud, by the way, of cnn's coverage over the past few years of the scandals plaguing the department of veterans affairs, especially our investigative unit andrew griffin. they did an amazing reporting. i suspect over cnn's reporting you and i wouldn't be talking about that right now. >> what i told is every employee in the va, i want them to tell me if there is a problem. i told everyone to tell us, criticize what we do. in this reorganization, my va, we have teams of employees from every level within the department contributing their ideas to how we need to improve veteran outcomes. so i mean to me, that's really critical. >> the outcomes is what it's all about. drew griffin joins me now with more. >> the va restructuring, what does it actually mean in. >> anderson, if you were to sum it up in a one sentence,

mcdonald, the private corporation guy, he wants to make the vaa customer service organization, not a bureaucracy. mart of doing that, though, is to fire the people responsible for this hidden wait list, lying about what they did. he told wolf blitzer the number of people who need to go or be punished is in the thousands. >> you immediately want to fire 35 workers at the department of veterans affairs, but another thousand you want to get rid of as well, is that right? >> what we said is we are taking disciplinary actions of those people who violated our values, our values are in i care t. vow is integrity. we had people violate the integrity. that disciplinary action over the last year has involved about 5, are 600 employees. some are still active. we are in the process of following that to etc. conclusion.

with reacting aggressively, expeditiously and in consistent with the law. >> is that happening? the head of the phoenix va, sharon heldman is supposed to be fired. she is getting paid i understand. >> getting paid for months now, anderson, while on leash, this is where the secretary is taking some heat. he says he wants to fire people. the president expected him to fire people. but as of today, just one person as far as we can tell, in senior leadership at the va has been removed from service. there have been retirements people pay on paid leave. one actual firing. mcdonald says he is hampered by laws. i have a lot of dispute about that. right now, a lot of people that cause this mess, anderson, are still there at the va. >> fixing what's wrong, it will take years. he was talking about hiring more than 20,000 nurses and doctors. i mean, they need a lot of

people beyond just the reorganization? >> yeah. less managers, less administrators and many, many more health professionals. 28,000 is the number that the secretary was speaking of. doctors and nurses and health care providers, who can handle not just the backlog they have now, anderson, but the expected amount of demand in the years to come. it is a big huge job, but you know, as many people say, part of doing this job is to get rid of the jumping that's not working. they, a lot of people in the congress and senate, they want us to fire people and start rebuilding the organization. >> drew griffin, thanks very much. drew's reporting has been way out in front on this. the whole investigative unit has done a remarkable job. an arctic blast. it is far from over. this storm is headed east. it will impact more than 200 million people. the latest from chad myers. where you should be watching. for retirement.

but when we start worrying about tomorrow,

. >> winter is arriving early more some 200 americans this week a. monstrous storm dipping out after canada is bringing windy conditions along with it.

it will move east later this week, where temperatures will plummet 20 degrees below normal. chad myers joins us from weather center. isn't it early to be dealing with this kind of with etc.? >> you talk about all the brutal models, it says brutal windsers ahead. what a start. all these numbers you see, almost a foot of snow. in the north and west of minneapolis between 3:00 and 6:00 a. lot of snow in big places, big cities. >> that know is about done green bay into quebec and ontario, you are about to get it. that's one side of the story. that's one story here. here comes the snow the rest of the night into marquette, into the u.p. of michigan and ontario. the next story is how cold it will get. this area is driving down through denver. it was 65 in denver him right now, it's 24. the wind chill is five. on the other side the warm side, new york, you are above normal at 63. tomorrow, another warm day that.

cold air blunges. the high in denver on wednesday will be 12 after morning lows way before that. you got a couple e-mails that say we are going to open the ski resorts early. there are some people that are happy. >> so the worst place is, are where. you are talking denver and where else? >> all way down to amarillo, to dallas, we will lose 40 degrees from where they are today. they're just not ready. the numbers you see in january are normal. this is not so normal for november. the pets don't have their winter coats. that's the thing. it's so early, people could be in danger especially up here if they're driving the car stalls, they run out of gas, they run into a snowstorm, whatever. you are not ready for that cold this year. >> i don't think i have a winter coat. i have to get one.

they come with snow. >> people are ready to drive in it. the biggest thing i think are the temperatures. not so much the snow. if you get stuck outside rapid city on wednesday, the high is 12. wind chills 20 below. you can get yourself in trouble quickly. >> thank you so much. we will continue to watch the other stories. >> anderson, dr. craig spencer an ebola survivor free of the virus will be released from a opt on tuesday. they caught ebola treating patients in gen knee. new york's mayor says the city will change its policy on possession of a small amount of marijuana. police officers will have the option of ticketing the aurpder and not making an arrest. they say african-americans and latinos have been disproportion family arrested. a new study in the journal of pediatrics shows more than

17,000 children under the age of six were accidentally poisoned by the packets between 2012 and 2013. that's about one child every hour. of that about 4% of the children were hospitalized. the children often mistake the pods for candy. yes, the hit show "sesame street" has been on the airways 45 years. yes that long. >> this is anderson cooper in for oscar the grouch on assignment at the dump. i'm here with two legendary newscasters, ran rather not and walter krompg can i. >> i'd rather not. >> walter remember brrr. >> i can see this will be a tough assignment. >> they didn't say much, did they in. >> no, dan rather not did not. up next, new questions about what general motors knew and when they knew it about

defective ignition switches now linked to at least 32 deaths. we'll be right back. just take a closer look. it works how you want to work. with a fidelity investment professional... or managing your investments on your own. helping you find new ways to plan for retirement. and save on taxes where you can. so you can invest in the life that you want today. tap into the full power of your fidelity greenline. call or come in today for a free one-on-one review.

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. >> hey, welcome to our second long hour of "360."

we begin with our new story, general motors is raising new questions about when se first knew act defective ignition switches that have now been linked to at least 32 deaths. an attorney claims e-mails between the car maker and a parts supplier that show the company was placing a huge rush of orders more than a month before the recall was announced. a smoking gun, according to attorney, that suggests mary barra knew about the problem much earlier than she's admitted. cnn's renee marsh joins us with the latest. i know you looked at the e-mails. what do they say? >> we have e-mails here, several pages. you get a sense of urgency. gm putting in a rush order with an ignition swip asking for half a million replacement parts. gm says it needs to start seeing shipments asap. in another e-mail, they are

asking for a shipment plan. they end that e-mail saying get me something by 4:00 p.m. in the subject line of another e-mail it reads, field action urgency. you get the tone of these e-mails. they were once classified as confidential. they were later turned over as part of discovery in the class action litigation against the auto maker. >> basically, it's a question of who knew what and when. >> an attorney for the victim pointed out that not once did these e-mails come up during four congressional hearings. now we heard from at least one law maker calling for gm's ceo mary barra to return to capitol hill to answer why the parts order is placed two months before the company notified safety regulators there was a problem. >> what is gm's response to all

this? >> well the company is not pushing back, really. a spokesperson told them the e-mails confirm the system they had in place to identify or investigate product fault plugs needed reform, gm says they've made those changes, they've added verdicts. they say they are moving issues much more quickly. they say they're making decisions with better data. >> all right. we'll see what happens. they have been linked to 32 deaths. ericsson, he was killed in a crash years before the e-mails you just heard about and gm was aware of the ignition problems. his death devastated the family. his girlfriend spent a decade believe, she was, in fact, responsible for the death. because general motors never told her or his family his death had been lempged to the ignition switch problem. now he isn't doing anything to

help her clear her name. >> reporter: the best i have for them, a form of a prison. >> reporter: michael ericsson was candace ericsson's first love. >> i can still hear his laugh. big laughter. >> and rhonda ericsson's only child. >> there's gifts on the wall he's gave me. he's everywhere in this house. >> the father of two young daughters, sierra and savannah. >> he'll never walk them down the aisle. he'll never, he can't go to their ball games and achievements. >> reporter: november 15th, 2004. everything changed. candace and her boyfriend michael are in a major car crash. candace is behind the wheel and is severely injured. michael doesn't survive. >> i went through the windshield

on the hood of the car and his face was face down in my lap. >> candace anderson pleaded guilty to criminal negligent homicide. only this year, a decade later, she learned it may not have been all her fault. >> you were being prosecuted as a murderer. what do people in this town call you is this. >> i have been told a couple of times point blank to my face that i was a murderer. >> that i killed him. >> reporter: candace could not have been prouder the day she brought her brand-new 2004 saturn ion. >> this one right here. >> this is the tree you hit? >> mm-hmm. >> less than nine months later, it crashed on this east texas country road. >> that was the day my old life ended. >> two police cars and a neighbor pulled up in my yard

and youco kind of know what that is, a mother does him it's just like your whole world crashes right there. >> the police report says neither candace nor michael was wearing a seatbelt. the airbags did not deploy. >> do you ever have moments when you think, why did i survive? >> oh, yeah, i thought that way the whole ten years. >> after the crash, she was not prescribed a drug but says she took one pill the night before. the police report says candace's intoxication resulted in the accident. >> i did have a minimal amount of xanax. that's not a question. do i think i was intoxicated that day? no, i wasn't intoxicated. >> but the authorities disagreed and she was indicted on a felony charge of intoxicated manslaughter, facing up to 20 years in prison. later, she pleaded golet to criminal next homicide, a felony and sentenced to five years

probation and fineed.n but just this year, gm recalled millions of cars for a defective ignition switch, disabling the anti-lock brakes and her 2004 saturn ion was one of those. at least 32 people died as a result. but gm didn't contact rhonda or candace. was eight fluke that you found out that this is why your son is dead? >> pretty much. >> after news of the recalls, michael's mother contacted the national highway traffic administration who told her, her son is one of those deaths. >> you may have never known. >> i don't believe i would have ever known. >> did gm ever reap out to you? >> no. >> did they ever tell you? >> i still haven't heard from them. >> in fact, as this dragged on, there is proof general motors saw signs of the problem and

didn't fix it. in 2004 the same year as candace's crash, gm engineers were investigating internal switchoffs. this shows gm didn't identify the problem as a safety issue and didn't fix it. they called it, quote, a convenience issue. in 2006, as candace was do it and fatesed 20 years in prison, gm's own document show a defective switch was improved. those investigating the cause of the crashes weren't told about the changes, delaying them for years, from getting to the root of the problem and from recalling the car as they should have. and in 2007, the same year candace pleaded guilty to felony charges, gm did their own internal investigation into her crash, calling it unusual and noted the air back should have deployed. candace and michael's mother say gm never told them. despite all these warning signs,

gm didn't issue a recall for the defective switch until this year. while gm acknowledges widespread incompetence and neglect the company says there was no cover-up. >> i want vindication him i want them to say, you know, i want people to know it was the car. it wasn't me. >> the state trooper who arrived at the scene of the crash. he filed intoxication manslaughter charges against candace. >> i think it's important not to gloss over any mistakes that were made or any wrong that might have been done. if a corporation withholds information and that results in very unsafe conditions, that's terrible. but there was still an individual driving while intoxicated. >> while he says it would be his duty to file the same charges today, he believes candace may not have eastern been prosecuted if they knew her car was defective. >> it may have changed everything for candace.

it may have changed everything for michael. >> and candace has lived with immense guilt over michael's death for nearly ten years. >> my name is candace anderson. i'm a survivor of the gm ignition defect. >> now her fight is to get that conviction off her record. she's got some in washington on her side. >> will you recommend to the governor of texas that he pardoned miss anderson? >> we will provide information to support that decision, but i don't think it's in -- it's not something i think is appropriate for me to do. i don't have all the facts of the case. >> with all due respect, that answer is unworthy of gm. i hope you will think more about it. this is a young woman whose life has been changed as a result of a per version of the justice process as a result of gm knowing and concealing that she

was innocent. >> now, even the former district attorney who prosecuted anderson is fighting for her, in a letter recommending a full pardon, she writes, it is my opinion that no action or omission of miss anderson was the cause of the accident. she also writes, if she had all the evidence from general motors, she would have stopped the prosecution. last month, gm's ceo mary barra reiterated to gm it's not her place to step in. do you believe anderson should be pardoned? >> that is not something for gm. they are the right experts. i have the full complete details. those are the people that should be making that decision. >> you do not think gm should way in at all in. >> i do not. >> looking back, do you think someone at gm when there was an internal investigation reached out to her in. >> we looked across this, we are making the right changes with the learnings from the report, we are working to make sure what

the industry leaders in safety as we move forward. we've taken steps to do the right thing. >> every november 15th, candace anderson comes here. there is no headstone yet. rhonda ericsson has been been able to bring himself to lay one. >> it's not an easy task. it's like, you know, letting go of all the pieces. >> gm's ceo mary barra has apologized to victim itself and their families. >> i am deeply sorry. >> and a deeply compensation fund has been set up. candace and rhonda have accepted a settlement from that fund. it bars them from suing gm over this crash in the future. but that doesn't remove the felony from candace's record. she is now fighting for a pardon through the texas courts. down that some individuals at general motors should be criminally prosecuted? >> i was.

because of my negligence. i think that if a 21-year-old girl is charged with negligent homicide and has to go through the motions, that there should be someone held criminally responsible. i do. i do believe. poppy harlow, cnn, hampton, texas. >> it's hard to imagine what she has been through as well as the family, for all those families involved. up next, a nightmare for dozens of college students in mexico. why some of them believe their kids were murdered by a crime ring, drug traffickers, a police chief, a mayor and his wife. . ally blind. and sometimes i struggle to sleep at night, and stay awake during the day. this is called non-24, a circadian rhythm disorder that affects up to 70 percent of people who are totally blind. talk to your doctor about your symptoms and learn more by calling 844-824-2424.

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biotene, for people who suffer from a dry mouth. . >> it's a story in mexico almost too hor rec to be believed. dozens of college students missing and now presumed dead. the details on what may have happened to all those kreej students are so brutal it is not hard to understand why some

parents can't believe it, won't believe it, until they actually see proof. that proof may be lard to come by. >> reporter: dep in the hills of southern mexico a horror so terrible, the parents of the missing refuse to accept it. >> it's really tough. >> his son is one of 43 college students who disappeared more than a month ago. he says on the day they went missing, he would dial his son's cell number and he never answered. >> reporter: all 43 lives were abruptly interrupted by what authorities call an organized criminal ring. the attorney general says that the ring operated out of city all here in i guala, involving the mayor, the police chief and drug traffickers. the student were on this highway

headed towards iguala. they belonged to an all male teacher's college known for protesting the government. the city mayor didn't want them in town and ordered the police chief to stop the students according to authorities. this is where the plot thickens. the last place these 43 students were seen alive. nowing walk with me. you see a make shift memorial. i want to show you this wall because you can still see bullet holes, which authorities say could be possible clues of an ambush by local police who would later turn over students to a cartel. now another make-shift memorial a. tee-shirt from the school and signs asking for help. >> he said he prays to god that his son is okay and that they're not being beaten or tortured.

>> did the mayor and his wife order police to shoot the students? did they order them turned over to the cartel? authorities aren't saying. but four days after the students went missing, officials say the mayor and his wife went underground because investigators were eyes them. they evaded police for more than five weeks until authorities say the couple was hiding out in what is described as a working class but dangerous mexico city neighborhood in this abandoned house. authorities raided this house, they sealed the doors. you can see the signs are still here. the arrest caught on cell phone video. but the headlines didn't stop there. federal authorities say three cartel members confessed to driving up this road, which loads to a public monita city and they say that they were driving two trucks filled with about 40 people some of the people inside were dead. others were unconscious.

the rest were locked. the federal torts say the bodies were dropped to the bottom of this pit and set on fire. they used firewood, tires, diesel to keep the fire going. video confessions released by federal authorities revealed the remains were placed in plastic bags and taken to the san juan river, where children play, adults gather water for every day use and according to authorities, the suspects came to this river and emptied out most of those black plastic backs, except for one. >> that one was found sealed. >> she saw federal police behind his home, along the river bank and is skeptical. >> i was asking him about what authorities were saying, the bodies were dumped in this river? he says he never saw anything.

>> according to officials, the remains are in an ad advanced state of decomp situation and id'ding them will be difficult. >> you try to be strong. because they tell them, we will go look for them again. >> that gives the mom hope, he says. >> as the painful wait for answers stretches the mayor and his wife remain in custody, are yet to be charged and have yet to offer public comment. meanwhile, parents and their supporters have burned cars and government buildings in major cities, hoping toic pose what they say are the deep roots of corruption in southern mexico. >> that's an incredible story. i know there were more protests tonight. what itself the mood there like? >> reporter: well, you know, these demonstrations have become more and more. just as we've arrived here in

the southern state. we've seen cars burngs the doors of the national palace burn and today more than a thousand protesters ascended on acapulco and flipped the airport and canceling flights, they released video of the protesters boating a police officer t. president of mexico condemned the violence. if you ask the pro testers, zay they say they condemn the inaction by the government. >> a quick reminder, set your dvr. up next, new details about the secret mission to north korea that secured the release of kenneth bae and matthew miller him details on that ahead. for those kept awake by pain...

. >> welcome bang. tonight kenneth bae and matthew miller are about 48 hours into re-uniting with tear families. they were freed after the director clapper. bae and mill rer the last known to be held in korea. clapper's visit came after they

were contacted two weeks ago. he delivered a letter adretsed to kim jong-un. they credit china for securing the release. in beijing, president obama talked about the successful mission. >> obviously, i'm incredibly thankful to jim clapper for the efforts that he made and i couldn't be happier for the families as we enter into the holidays to know their loved ones were back. >> president obama said the release of bae and miller does not mean a thaw between the two nations. sol analysts believe a recent u.n. report documenting the human rights abuses may have prompted the release of the americans, his report triggered a concern that kim jong-un could face indictment by the criminal court. what do we know about how and 82 the releases occurred? >> the how, this is a difficult

and delicate time that they reached out. the last few weeks, they asked for a cabinet official. he is not a diplomat. you send a signal, there is not a broader negotiation about other things. he is a korea expert. he leads the 16 u.s. intelligence agencies, many of which keep a close eye on north korea and its nuclear activities. the why in addition to the pressure faced by this international criminal court potential proceeding, i am told by a number of diplomats in beijing right now north korea feeling the pressure at the apec summit. have you world leaders, including president obama the chinese president and others gathering. one ting they very much agree on is north korea needs to be dealt with. its nuclear program dealt with in very tough terms. that's something in a lot of ways china has come around on in recent months to the u.s. point

of view. >> i want to bring the u.s. ambassador, he's on the front lines for american diplomacy, a memoir. you know you led the six-party talks during the bush administration. what do you make of the timing of this release? why now? >> i think the north koreans don't want to influence the time of the meeting, especially the part of the agenda dealing with north korea. so i this i the north koreans were hoping by doing this, the chinese would be inclined to sort of cut them some slack and say, look, americans, they've done something, you no toad do something in response. i think it was an effort to kind of head off what jim just described very accurately as this kind of mood in the entire apec meeting something needs to be done about forth korea. >> the fact that the u.s. sent

one of is officials, you think the u.s. think they got someone who runs the u.s. government. can you explain? >> they like that kind of thing. they value the idea of people running intelligence, especially people running the cia, which they believe kind of of runs the world. so they would have been very happy with the idea of sending general clapper. but i think from the administration's point of view, as jim clapper said, earn understands general clapper is a lot of things. he's not a diplomat. he's not there to negotiate something. he probably read his talking points andters way the way he could. i think everyone could have benefitted by the means by which they did that. i would take the president at face value when he said the holidays are coming. we are pleased this humanitarian gesture happened. the big problem is kim jong-un has not shown the slightest

interest. his father kind of flirted with it. he shut down things. kim jong-un has shown zero in in this. this is a big problem going forward. >> there is a logistical question that emerged. apparently, he had mechanical problems, do you have any idea what would have happened if it broke down in north korea? >> it's nothing no one would want to face. worst case scenario, you have to fly another plane in. you don't have a lot of commercial flights out of there secretary of state john kerry, his plane had some trouble. he was in europe. you can take a commercial flight back. in pyongyong, it was a problem he didn't want to face. he arrived a day late. he had to take two stops there. >> is there any reason to enfer from this or be optimistic in general that the north koreans

will change their way, whether it be human right, nuclear weapons. they've released americans before. nothing's changed. >> i think it's pretty clear the rest of the world is sick at them. clearly the obama administration halls had no interest in just talking for talking's sake. the north koreans failed to follow up on their commitments made earlier. they are probably having a look at this. they will be very omake about it. they consider omakeness a kind of national asset. so i don't think they're going to signal it too much. they would love for us to get into discussions with them. with the idea that we're just too important countries and that way wouldn't then raise any inclination to move on the nuclear issue. so i think the u.s. has to continue to keep that in focus and i surely hope that president

obama made that very clear that we welcome this humanitarian gesture. we need to keep the feet to the fire on nuclear issues. >> great to have you. up next, was the head of isis killed or wounded in airstrikes over the weekend? iraqi officials can't seem to agree what happened, where or when even? we will august about that. firefighters battling a deadly fire in arizona. take a look. >> it's hot. >> smokey hot. hot smokey. >> we're good. good. we're good. (receptionist) gunderman group.

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. >> welcome back. the united states is still not certain of a claim that airstrikes took out or injured the leader of isis abu bakr al-baghdadi. there is conflicting information, however, coming from other iraqi officials. iraq's interior minister says al-baghdadi was wounded on a different day in a different

town. clearly, there is skepticism among analysts. more on who he is and who could possibly replace him. >> reporter: he runs the terror group like a ceo, with spread charts with assets and shrouded in secrecy, except for a sermon in mosul, where he emerged from the shadows, and flashing an expensive watch. >> you should take a jihad to please god in fighting his name. >> r. >> reporter: now, u.s. officials cannot confirm whether isis leader al-baghdadi was wounded in airstrikes over the weekend. how much trouble would they be without him? >> this is an organization with a deep bench. either they have, either baghdadi has signed off on a line of success or the schara council agreed to a line of succession. >> reporter: according to

researchers, baghdadi has two principle deputies. one oversees isis operations in iraq. the other fulfills that role in syria. >> these people who have previously served in osama bin laden's timing, are brutal because the regime was brutal. they inherited the disciplines and military skills that are now benefiting isis in its contain against its enemies. >> reporter: analysts say turkmeni could take the rapes if bangedi is taken out. >> he could have outstanding qualities. >> that certainly makes him a potential contender. >> reporter: there is also 37-year-old abu mohammed al-adnani, a syrian, a chief spokesman for isis. in september, he launched loep wolf attacks him some of his top deputies were in prison with him at a u.s.-f run detention center

in iraq where bangedi was held for years. >> he was able to trust these individuals as sharing his ideology, sharing his hatred for the west. >> reporter: the analysts say if and when baghdadi is killed, look for a retaliatory strike from u.s. interests. she says they would do that to memorialize the martyred leader and show the coalition isis is still a threat. >> we will talk with internal agent and a retired commander of u.s. force, in iraq from 2007 to 2009. ali, if al baghdadi is either killed or wounded, how big a blow to the organization of isis would this be? >> it will be devastating for isis to recover from, especially in the long run. al baghdadi is a bern that branded isis. he is unique because he is a

common thread between the tribal factions, the baathists and the jihadis. >> so because there is different factions, it's a different organization to control? >> exactly. and he is connected to this place. he brought the baathists to the organization and gave them most of the senior positions in the organization. and he is very also well connected with the jihadis as you know thousands of jihadis from around the world went with -- >> is it a top down organization, he is calling all the shots? my understanding is it was somewhat more decentralized? . >> it is decentralized. he has many cabinets. he runs it as a company. there are people that hand out if assassinations, people that hand out finances, media, so forth. but, however, he is a leader of the organization. he is the kaliff of that estate that he established and many of these kids go, you know, report

up to him. so he is totally in charge the of the organization. he will be very difficult to replace. isis won't be the aim organization without him. but i think isis will survive. >> general, how hard is it to actually target this guy? i mean, he's notoriously a reclusive figure. on top of that the intelligence situation has been less than optimal. >> with baghdadi at the lead, it is very difficult. he claimed himself akala. if he is injured, that takes away the aura he has. in terms of targeting, this is extremely difficult because we don't have the sources to track his location and give us high value target lists, the people associated with them. you go beyond that because he has made himself a hidden source. he even doesn't meet with his own people when they know who he is in some cases. at least that's what the intelligence analysts are saying. this is a difficult

organization. the organization will suffer more when we dill near captured leaders. >> your organization reported on the lengths that baghdadi goes to stay hidden. >> he's a very secretive individual. he has to in order to survive. there is a guy before he appeared in the famous speech on mosul. he used to meet with the top leaders of the organization. and the only thing that they were told, that baghdadi is with us, without them thoughing who al-baghdadi is. >> oh, really? even today when he movers, all the intelligence tell us you don't know he is moving. he is covering his face. he is wearing a mask. people don't know he is dealing with them. that's after people know who he is, they know who he looks like. >> even people in the organization who meet with him sometimes, up until really the video appears and even know somewhat, they don't know who he is. >>. no. >> so it's not that he is such a charismatic figure. >> well, he has a speech in mo sum. he is not away from being as

charismatic as he can be. he is not a psalm saul or the leaderf he's a totally different individual. yes, he is extremely secretive. people don't though who he is. when they meet with him, they have no idea, they are meeting with al baghdadi. only maybe the most seniors, the shariah council, they know who he is. second tier leadership in the organization until mosul, they don't tow who he looks like. >> how do you know it would survive? >> i do. reenforcement what ali says, it's not only the aura about him as being a khaliff, it is the fact he is not charismatic. from all the indicators, he does not have the charisma that draws the fans to him. but he knows what he is doing. >> that in itself in this culture is critically important because he gets things done. he drives people. he has management tools that are

far beyond what we have seen in the past with the leaders of these organizations. >> all right. we appreciate you being on. up next, an elite team of firefighters trapped in a massive fireball. there is new video that shows what they faced when they were overcome by the flames.

>>. >> tonight, a newly released video reveals what firefighters faced. it was sunday, when the hot shots were engulfed and died. the new video shows what happened before and after they were engulfed by the flames. >> reporter: we need to get everybody out of here. we have fire coming across, get them out. >> reporter: june 30th, 2013, 19 elite firefighters overtaken by flames near the small town of yarnell, arizona. this video captured by other firefighters shows the intense 2000 degree conditions of that massive fireball and just as important, it also captures some of the last radio communication

from the group, moments before deploying their emergency shelters, a safety device of last resort to protect themselves from the heat. >> we are preparing a deployment site and we are burning out around ourselves in the brush and i'll give you the call when we are under the shelters. >> okay. we've got several aircraft coming to you. we'll see if we can't take care of business for you. >> then for several anxious minutes fellow firefighters try to determine the group's whereabouts. >> bravo 33 on the ground. >> how long's it been? >> i don't know. 30 minutes? >> reporter: at that point the firefighters were likely already dead. >> come on, let's hear you talk here. >> it's a long time. >> reporter: fellow crews raced to find their location. and as they feared, found no survivors. >> on scene. 18 confirmed. >> let's go ahead and obviously

secure the area and we'll go from there. >> just confirming, no medical treatment needed at this time. >> reporter: another body was later found. all but one member of the mountain granite hotshots was killed. the lone survivor serving as the crew's lookout. >> i miss my brothers. >> reporter: a father who now travels the country to help other firefighters struggle with similar losses. >> i'm happy that i get to -- to spend time with my daughter. you know. i'm 22. i have so much to learn. and i don't want to put what i've been given to waste, an opportunity to help others. >> reporter: in arizona an investigation found there was no negligence or recklessness on the part of the firefighters, but it did reveal there was a communication problem that prevented an aircraft from dropping retardant.

now, obviously the video doesn't show us an inside account of the unit, but it is a sobering reminder that even the most seasoned professionals can be overtaken by dangerous conditions. dan simon, cnn, san francisco. >> incredible, the sacrifices they make. we'll be right back. huh, fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. everybody knows that. well, did you know words really can hurt you? what...? jesse don't go! jesse...no! i'm sorry daisy, but i'm a loner. and a loner gotta be alone. heee yawww! geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. jesse?

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time now for the "riduculist," and tonight we're talking about co-worker crimes.

you know what i mean. when people leave the break room a mess, won't stop talking when you're trying to work. that sort of thing. one of the most egregious offenses in a shared office space is best illustrated by this video which i actually haven't seen before now. okay. that is actually my office. i did not know that. all right. i get it. it's the candle. i have a candle burning in my office. oh, really? this is what the "riduculist" is about tonight? i didn't -- i should have read it ahead of time. apparently, some of my -- really? some of my co-workers do not like the way my candle smells? this is cold. and you don't tell me? you let me read it on teleprompter? wow. this is news to me. this is completely news to me. here's another video. oh. okay. extreme close-up. isn't that fun? these videos all were apparently taken by our executive producer, who's apparently also the fellini of surreptitious office filmmaking. i guess this one has the white

background to show how strong the smoke is that wafts from the candle into the newsroom. very clever. listen, first of all, somebody told me that i smelled. it was kirk, my researcher, told me that i smelled or my jeans smell because i don't wash them. so that's why i got the candle, people. anyway. it's a fancy basil-scented candle, i will have you know. it cost an obscene amount of money to me for a candle. i don't know if you know about candles, they seem to cost a lot of money. i think the smell is lovely. here now is an abbreviated list of what my co-workers say my basil candle smells like. wow. this is just -- you're all -- you're all in trouble. some people say it smells like grandma's house. some people say it smells like old mall. italian salad. woodstock vomit. i don't even know what that means. and garden gnome's underwear drawer.

what? listen, i've been reading a lot about meditation lately, mindfulness, and i've been trying it. i'm attempting to create a serene space in my office. i thought it would be a pleasant change for my co-workers. better than the smell of the rotted cheese that's sitting out in the break table. i get a candle and this is what happens. the staff treats me like i'm brian fantana in "anchorman" with the cologne. >> it's called sex panther by odeon. it's illegal in nine countries. yep. it's made with bits of real panther. sow know it's good. >> it's quite pungent. >> oh, yeah. >> it's a formidable scent. it stings the nostrils. >> god, no, it smells like -- like a used diaper filled with indian food. >> what is that? it smells like a turd covered in burnt hair. >> it smells like bigfoot's

[ bleep ]. >> all right, people. just ponder this. what's the name of this program again? oh, yeah, it's "ac 360." right? what does the ac stand for? oh, right, it stands for anderson cooper. that's me. i don't like to say my name out loud because it sounds like i'm a politician talking about himself in the third person. until this program is renamed "anti-candle 360" i will do whatever i want to try to create a serene frigging office environment for my co-workers and myself to enjoy. i really don't know what they have against the scent of basil, by the way. here now are some more descriptions -- oh, man. some more staff descriptions of my candle. dumpster ravioli. mario batali's crocs. okay. that i draw the line at. i mean, those crocs must reek. because he just needs to change his look. but there's no way my candle smells like mario batali's crocs. someone else said it smells leek a herb garden growing in a

landfill. someone said a brothel in tuscany. i think that was jack gray. and lastly, better than the jeans anderson insists on never washing. all right. fine. that's what i call a burn on the "riduculist." that's it. i'm going to get rid of my candle. you can go back to the smell of rotted cheese. that does it for us. thanks for watching. ungrateful employees. "cnn tonight" starts now. this is "cnn tonight." i'm don lemon. you're looking live now. new york city, where the rules are changing when it comes to marijuana. pretty soon people are going to start getting tickets instead of being arrested for pot possession. well, you know i'm not unfamiliar with marijuana, and a lot of you watching right now could probably say the same thing. but in the wake of pro-pot votes in alaska, oregon, and d.c. last week are we getting ahead of ourselves? is weed spreading too fast? and speaking of changing the rules, there's news on another topic we talked about a lot, and that's the n word. the nfl wants to ban the word on the field. but is it