In the wake of a new report out over alleged Apple sweatshops in China, CNN’s Ashleigh Banfield spoke with chief business correspondent Ali Velshi about what Apple knew and when they knew it. “Steve Jobs — he seems like the kind of guy who never, when he was alive, would have allowed any of this to go on,” Banfield observed. “Did he know? Did he not know? Did he not care? Do we know?”

Do you remember those all-nighters in college, during finals period, where everyone would mellow out for a bit before heading out for a cup of coffee and then have a collective caffeine-induced laughing fit over nothing in particular? Prepare to get nostalgic, because that is apparently what happened to the CNN Election Center crew around 1:30 AM tonight as they waited for election results, and a Magic Wall mishap sent the show spiraling out of control.

Ron Paul appeared as a guest on CNN’s American Morning Tuesday, and put on a lively, sometimes-contentious interview with Ali Velshi. The visit began in a state of calm, with talk about Paul’s surge in Iowa, as Velshi quoted a Nate Silver study that gives Paul a 52% chance of winning the caucus.

Back when Mediaite was still in its infancy, when all the writers you know and love were adorable baby versions of themselves being cared for by a mysterious, sock-wearing woman named Nanny, a tradition was formed. Whenever the holidays would roll around, the Mediaite brain trust would choose the big pop cultural event of the year and find all the media counterparts for the various characters. At the time, back in the sepia-toned days of 2009, that cultural event was Harry Potter. Well, now it’s 2011…

According to CNN, the network plans to increase the footprint of Your Money host Ali Velshi to Sasquatchian proportions, bringing his financial reporting expertise to bear as the anchor of a daily CNN International show, World Business Today, and stepping up his business reporting and analysis on CNN. The move should be a good one for Velshi, for CNN, and for CNN‘s viewers.

Rep. Michele Bachmann has made a number of promises on the campaign trail that have raised the eyebrows of her detractors, but tonight on The Situation Room one promise was torn apart for having what they contended to be no basis whatsoever. Rep. Bachmann told a crowd on the campaign trail she could promise $2/gallon gasoline as president– a claim that, according to Joe Johns, was “completely fact-free.”

One of the few people who knew ahead of time that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords would appear in Congress Monday to cast her vote on the debt deal, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Shultz described the moment–and the planning that went into it–on CNN’s American Morning Tuesday, telling Ali Velshi the sight of Giffords–who was nearly killed in a shooting spree in Tucson in January–had an instant effect on the divided House, filling it with electricity. “Gabby melted our hearts.”

Maybe Florida Governor Rick Scott should’ve been better prepared for a debt ceiling discussion with two morning news anchors–who both happen to be business correspondents. But on CNN’s American Morning Wednesday, Scott deflected a series of pointed questions from Christine Romans, and when co-host Ali Velshi jumped in, tag-team style, Scott stuck to his talking points. It was a refreshingly tense and entertaining interview, even if the anchors couldn’t get any of their direct questions answered.

A photographer for KXTV-TV in California was going through the relatively routine matters of setting up for a liveshot, when he sees a bright red car speeding by–with a man hanging off the side. The quick-thinking photog jumped into action and got it on tape. And while the exact reasons behind the man’s road surfing incident remain somewhat vague (he was either trying recover a purse–his or a friend’s–from the car, which may have been stolen–or perhaps not–and which may have been his, or possibly not), the video is quite entertaining.

President of Americans for Tax Reform, Grover Norquist, is angering many who believe his “no new taxes” pledge signed by most Republicans is the primary roadblock for getting a deal done on raising the debt ceiling. CNN’s Ali Velshi demonstrated some of his frustration about Norquist’s unwavering position and concluded Norquist was “unreasonable” for blaming the entire debt situation on President Obama’s administration.

The New York Post is reporting tonight that American Morning co-host Kiran Chetry is leaving the morning show–and CNN. According to the story–citing “sources”–Chetry “was seen packing up her desk today” and plans to leave the network at the end of the month. In recent weeks, Chetry, who previously co-hosted AM with John Roberts (who himself left CNN for Fox News) has been part of a morning trio including Ali Velshi and Christine Romans.

Execs at BET are apologizing today for “human error” that led to an extremely awkward moment at the network’s BET Awards Sunday night. A music fan chosen to announce the viewer’s choice award had a moment of clear on-camera confusion, leading to a most awkward screwup, announcing the right winner, then correcting herself, naming someone else, before yet a third name was announced. The mistake, officials with the awards show explained, may have been caused by a conflict between what was written on the smartphone in the fan’s hand (taking the place of a printed envelope with a winner’s name) and what was written on the teleprompter in the hall.

We can debate politics, football and news till the proverbial cows come home, but wow, when things turn to money, we–okay I–start feeling stumped like those dark days in algebra class. So we turned to CNN’s Christine Romans, who’s a bit of an expert in all things economy and personal finance. She hosts CNN’s Your [...]

Mediaite was first to report on CNN airing of a remarkably sophomoric and disgusting diarrhea scene from the movie Dumb and Dumber to introduce a medical segment about bloody bowel movements. Jon Stewart and his team of producers appear to be readers of Mediaite, as last night they made the derisive point about the clip, though in the larger context of CNN’s flagging ratings.

Seriously, CNN? Seriously?

Imagine being a CNN producer. You’ve got an upcoming medical segment on an unusual treatment for a man’s digestive disease. An illness, that CNN anchor Ali Velshi will tell you in the story’s intro, involves “ten to fifteen bloody bowel movements a day.”

Already, we’re clearly in comedic territory, right? After all, what’s funnier than ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease? Just you wait!

I was on CNN on Thursday to discuss the recent ruling by the National Labor Board, which ruled that an employee’s use of Facebook counts as legally protected free speech where discussing work-related issues, even where it disparages the employer or the employee’s supervisors. Still, as I told Ali Velshi, that does not mean you should rush to trash your employer on social media.

It’s been rumored for months and now it’s official: Piers Morgan is taking over Larry King‘s 9pmET CNN slot, beginning in January.

The first report of this came from an unlikely source: Ali Velshi‘s Twitter.

It looks like the President wasn’t the only one who’s a little worked up today. On CNN, Ali Velshi wasn’t happy with comments from the RNC’s Communication Director, Doug Heye, made which Velshi felt implied that the working people of America were a special interest group. Sensing some compelling television in the making, Rick Sanchez brought Heye back on to respond. Sure enough, we got what Sanchez later called a “spirited conversation” as Velshi and Heye argued over what’s really hurting our nation’s workers.

CNN’s Ali Velshi weighed in on the big news story of August today – getting personal about the ‘Ground Zero Mosque’ controversy.

Following comments he made yesterday, and responding to some of the social media reaction, he addressed the issue head on.

Oh, you Fox News and MSNBC fans are missing out. Yes, you get your partisan opinion shows and whatnot, but during the last couple of days, CNN has taught us to dance! First we got Charlie Rangel teaching Soledad O’Brien the secrets of the “30 second dance,” and now, today, we get this wonderful clip of Ali Velshi both popping and locking. Yeah, call us up when the friends at Fox & Friends show off moves this fly!

Mediaite Office Hours is live today from Livestream.com today at 3pmET – with CNN’s Ali Velshi, John Gapper of the Financial Times, Mediaite columnist Philip Bump and more.

CNN took a break from oil spill coverage today to chat with 13-year-old Aadith Moorthy – winner of 2010 National Geographic Bee. Moorthy talked a bit about wanting to become a physicist and his interest in studying space geography, and then, host Ali Velshi decided to quiz him – and stumped the winner. Update: Velshi responds.

CNN’s Ali Velshi took a few minutes at the end of his daytime program to break down his personal philosophy for cable news.

He also introduced viewers to “Ali’s Crib” – a designation we’ll probably be using from now on to discuss his show.

This weekend, Mediaite Editor at Large Rachel Sklar was a guest on Your Money with Ali Velshi, along with comedian Hal Sparks, to discuss transparency issues around sponsored tweets on Twitter, the notion of “Too Big To Fail” and whether the media’s enthusiasm for covering the first so-called “green shoots” of economic recovery is justified, [...]

Political discourse is no longer the sole province for spirited and emotional debates on cable news; you can now include the ethical debate over keeping wild animals in captivity. Earlier this week, a Sea World trainer was tragically killed while working with an orca in captivity. CNN anchor Ali Velshi had on guests Jane Velez-Mitchell and Jack Hanna to discuss this calamity; things got really heated.