>> hello everybody and welcome to al jazeera america. i'm david shuster in new york. the storm system that's in the east could ground some of the stars of macy's thanksgiving parade. high wind could cause these giant balloons to crash. macy's is coordinating with the police department and will decide whether to fly the balloons in the morning. according to the huffington post, the nsa has used online searches for pornography, in order to highlight those with radical views. a bankruptcy judge has cleared a merger between american airlines and u.s.

airways. the merger will take effect on december the 9th. >> and it was another record wraiking day on wall street. macy's opened at the opening bell, the dow jones industrial average closed above 16,000 today, better than expected jobs report and unemployment claims. the s&p 500 also closed at an all time high. those are the headlines. consider this is up next on al jazeera, you can always get the latest news online at aljazeera.com. >> a shocking new report about how animals are treated on the

sets of movies. covered up injuries, diseases even fatalities. consider this, is the statement in the credits that no animals were harmed in the making of this film worthless? also game show host and legend bob barker joins us with his effort to save animals overseas. plus, in spite of all the criticism, could john kerry become one of the most important secretary osecretary of states ? are many people getting duped, we'll tell you the best way to protection your donations. butterball's great slinking turkeys, how turkeys have never been bigger. this year movie goers and animal lovers might want to pay more attention to the pledge that no animals were harmed during filming. a stunning investigation into

how animals are treated, injuries and even deaths, including life of pi and the hobbit, the man who broke the story, no animals were harmed, gary good to see you thanks for doing this for us. the american humane association is the association that is charged with monitoring tv and film to ensure that animals are being treated properly. your investigation pretty much says they're not doing their job. >> correct. we found the claims that they're making in public are different that be the ones -- the information they have internally. >> some of the cases are pretty extreme. the hobbit, was something the ama didn't investigate when 27 animals died from exhaustion and in many cases drowning? >> yes, we found that a trainer that brought that information to them was rebuffed.

they were not in the aha was not interested in finding out why that off-set production facility holing facility for those animals wasn't properly checked to make sure that it was safe. and they did not want to discuss those issues. not exactly what you'd expect of a self-professed robust animal welfare organization. >> isn't the whole system, to put it in the simplest terms silly? the reality is the aha almost has an inherent conflict of interest because the money that funds it comes from the hollywood production companies. >> correct, that's true. it's always been a fundamental problem. the aha is funded by almost entirely in its film and tv unit operations which is the operations that send out these on-set monitors through grant funds bestowed on it by the sag afh rampleta workers union,

which the industry studios network pay for these services and it is privatized operation and it seems not to be working. >> let's look at the examples, the bengal tiger nearly drown in a water tank when he was snagged with a rope and dragged to the side of the tank. in another example, a dog was punched by a trainer on the site of eight below, and four horses died during hbo's luck. all these things were happening, and you would think that they would be more careful. >> yes, these things continue to happen but what seems to have been taking place is we have a system where the aha feels that it is a collaborator that it is a partner with the industry and it isn't an independent force and that seems to be what's really needed is a truly independent monitoring service that can ensure safety first.

right now, we have a situation where the aha seems to be bending over backwards for its industry patrons and the results are that animals aren't always -- what's really going on with the animals isn't always the first thing that comes out, and it's not clear, and the -- what's most important is that the no animals were harmed credit which is a very broad statement. there's not much room to wiggle there. just doesn't hold true. >> but what does it mean in the end? it just seems like it means nothing. because you also write about the fact there are very few people that go onto these sets for the aha and they are there for very short periods of time. >> occasionally they are understaffed. for small periods. it took me, an investigative reporter to find out what happened, for them to finally admit in various cases that

there were these discrepancies and they bring up all sorts of quibbling details. the fact is they don't have answers to these largers issues which is accountability and responsibility and oversight. they have the ability to investigate. they have certified humane officers to issue citations, to make arrest, to investigate. here in los angeles, the d.a. reliance on it to pursue animal cruelty investigations, not the they just don't do these things. so this public trust in various manifestations have been enrusted to them and they aren't making use of it. >> hermella what is the viewer question? >> on twitter wants to know, does each animal have its own advocate on set and how are they held accountable? >> sag afhra productions because of this grant have these

monitors on set i believe most of the time although there are holes where sometimes there are late notifications and distant notifications where different things come up where they're not there. but basically what happens is that the on-set monitor oversees the action and writes up reports on a daily basis of what they find and then send it into headquarters for review. >> the aha gary says in a lengthy statement they sent to us that your piece is a massive overreaction and that the article paints a picture that is completely unrecognizable to us or anyone who knows the american humane association's work. what do you say to that? >> what else are they going to say? that we got busted? there's not much for them to say. they -- you know there's a mass -- it's not a surprise that they say that they don't recognize things because they're not looking. they like to turn a blind eye. i spoke to many people inside the organization, and they -- there's a massive issue with

management not looking at what's going on. and there's a discrepancies between those on the ground and those in the position of power. they're in damage control now. >> so what happens now? what will the a ha do, and will the u.s. department of of agriculture get involved? >> it's to be determined. a lot has to do with public sentiment. when these measures were put into place decades ago, public sentiment about animal use and tv wasn't where it is now. here in 2013 people care about these things deeply and on a granular level. it seems as though the aha hasn't kept up with times, they're out of step. as far as the industry and the industry's political arm in the form of the mpaa will step in and do something, whether the industry will take notice or congress will take notice it's something we'll have to see. >> gary baum, interesting piece,

thank you for joining us to talk about it. >> thanks for having me. while films say no animals were harmed, one organization can say with pride animals were saved, the rescue of 25 lions from a number of traveling circuses in bolivia. >> human beings being forced to live in their bathrooms for the whole of their lives. no sensory experiences, giving them something to do, a bit of fun, something to play with. >> joining me to talk about the film are jan creamer the executive producer of the film and bob barker, the legendary

television are producer and philanthropy. your organization has worked to get laws bassed banning comploitation of animals. , exploitation of animals. let's look at you in action. >> scratching the tires. >> stop that boy, stop that boy, get that boy. stop it. get that please. you're not letting them out. i don't care. leave them where they are. no. no. no. you're not touching them. this is not a committee. so stop it! >> it's a pretty frightening moment jan. how were you able to pull it

off, a whole number of circuses a couple of dozen lobby lions you saved. >> it was, it was 29 lions in total in two rest accuse and the lion arc focuses on the rescue of the whole of the 25 from bolivia. as you say we worked under cover for 25 years. we released the findings to the public and to the bolivian congress and they decided that they didn't want this going on in their country. they didn't want animals to suffer behind the scenes just for a few moments of entertainment. and they were determined to ban them and they stopped all animals from traveling with circuses, and it was a year later that we wept back when some of the circuses said they were going odefy law and they thought the -- to defy the law and working with the government we were able to show them that we were determined to enforce this law.

>> and bob you enforced the effort to get this lions out. you have been a stand-out activist for a long time. you refer to the circus as your archenemy. >> i do. aren't you impressed with the way jan handled that situation. for a petite very ladylike lady, she can really be pretty tough, can't she had? >> she can, she was there. why do you think the circus is the archenemy bob? >> i believe they're archenemy because they abuse animals and not just lions and tigers, but elephants, chimps, they abuse the animals, in some cases they kill the animals and they cause the animals to have absolutely miserable lives. i've said in speeches that i've made, i've said that an elephant in a circus, or a lion or a

tying ner a sir d-tieser in a circus, the best day of its life it dies, because that's the only time it gets any peace. >> you are speaking about that, let's listen to that. >> how are they there trained, they are beat with ax handles, golf clubs, they shock it with all kinds of electric devices. they never know a day that is really pleasurable. and finally after 20, 30, maybe even 40 years, they die. and that day, that they die, is probably the best day of their lives. isn't that a horrible thought? >> it is a horrible thought, bob. how pervasive is the problem? >> well, how many circuses are there in the world? i don't suppose there's a circus anyplace in any country that isn't mistreating animals and

certainly not in the united states and we can only hope that the united states eventually becomes as civilized as bolivia and causes all circuses to stop using animals. >> and jan as we've said you've had a lot of success in bolivia, you've had a lot of success in latin america ecuador and peru, where is your effort focused and how successful are you being? >> we are hoping to reintroduce legislation next year, we've got a bill in the parliament of the united kingdom, we recently got a ban in greece and in el salvador. people don't want animals to suffer for entertainment. when members of the public see how these animals live and how

they're treated and how they're suffering they don't want to go to the an plal circus. there are lots of other circuses that can survive without the use of animals. this is really a worldwide movement now and we see the united states is going to get on board. >> animal defenders international has collected evidence throughout the years, you use it sparingly in the film. animals are found to have feelings. the animals who grow through this kind of suffering. >> it is the -- it is the deprivation, and you know in a recent court case, we prosecuted a circus owner for cruelty to an elephant. and actually, one of the experts said that in his opinion, the fact that she was chained to the ground, 24 hours a day, for weeks and weeks on end, probably caused more pain and suffering because of her arthritis, than

the actual beating she endured. but as we see in the film, when you look add one of the lions, colocolo, who spent his life in a tiny change, 12 years, tiny cage, nothing to do, bare walls, bare floors, nothing to stimulate him, as you say, these are intelligent feeling creatures. they have a way of communication, they feel fear and pain and distress just as we do. it is the deprivation often that is far worse than some of the beatings. >> they demonstrated pacing and show that depression in all sorts of ways. let's talk about the positive side of the film and the positive side of your efforts. and bob, you helped fly these lions 5,000 miles from bolivia to a sanctuary in colorado.

i want to see you greeting these lions. >> line number one. >> what is life like for the lions now? we have some beautiful images of the sanctuary. >> oh, at long last! they're living the way that nature intended for lions to live. and the difference between the expressions on their faces, and the difference in their attitude from what it was back in bolivia, is absolutely astounding. it's -- and heartwarming. they're behaving like little kittens now, running around, wrestling, playing, sleeping with each other, their heads on each other. oh, it brought a lump to my throat, it really did. >> and it happened almost immediately, right? from this horrible depression to

happiness. >> from stepping out into what they knew their life was to be from now on. they seemed to sense it. they thought ah, at last, we've been released, at last we can live the way nature intended. and they began from the first moment around they're still living just as happily today. >> it is wonderful to see and bob barker jan creamer we really appreciate you bringing us this wonderful story and thank you again and have a wonderful thanksgiving. coming up. john kerry, the president's second choice for secretary of state, but could he go down for one of the most popular? and hermella aregawi, what's coming up? >> i'll tell you, coming up. what do you think? are @ajconsiderthis or on our

facebook or twitter pages.

>> could john kerry end up as one of the most significant secretaries of start in recent memory? he has revived mid east peace talks, iran's chemica iran's --s chemical weapons, and iran's nuclear stand down. david roy, form columnist for reuters, two tine pulitzer prize winning journalist. >> i spent months with him. >> i know you did. it's looking more and more possible that when the history of early 20th century

diplomacy gets written, it will be with kerry making the state department relevant again. the consensus in washington was kerry was a boring if not irrelevant man stepping into a boring irrelevant job in the state department. >> he's benefited from this position, hillary clinton was a rock star. the relevance of the state department is the bown administration i bowrm obama administration, in terms of policy related to syria and iran the white house has had iron control of that through hilary clinton and john corey. who's going to be interested in

john kerry? >> but really he's had more break throughs that hillary had in the four years she was there. >> to be fair, they are different people. his risk taking which is his hallmark will seem wise. she is a more prudent person. hillary clinton is this voracious reared and she would read all the briefing papers, john kerry does not read through his briefing papers. he's more of a one man show. she is much more cautious in general. they are different people. he is a high risk high reward secretary of state. we'll see what happens with that approach. >> and she also had to be more careful because she has a political future which kerry probably does not anymore. so she may be thinking more about the white house, she may be more risk adverse.

>> her aides flat deny that. it is not fair to say she was cautious. there wasn't one particular instance where she was thinking about a run and didn't take a chance. kerry visited more in his first eight months in office than she did throughout hurry entire four years. another journalist said she was very careful to not try to make her name as a deal broker in the middle east, that's a pretty risky endeavor and kerry has leapt into the middle east and decide that's where he's going to make his name. >> leading to recognition and positives, they are still risky deals and they could come back and to put it bluntly kick him in the butt. already, hamid karzai has to some extent embarrassed him.

kerry and president obama talked about drawing down troops and an ongoing agreement with afghanistan but karzai has blown that up sort of. >> the afghanistan deal you talked about now up in the air, appeared to be done but not clear. there was reviving the middle east peace talks and that wasn't a peace agreement, it was an agreement to bring the parties back to the table to negotiate for nine months. >> which is a point on its own. >> getting the ball rolling, there was a recent agreement with iran about an interim nuclear deal, that is really a freeze in iran's program and not an agreement. in january there's going to be peace talks related to the war in syria very low optimism that that's going to go anywhere. >> and while they are taking control of the chemical weapons, assad still manages to continue to kill some of his own people.

and in effect one of the issues with the whole syria negotiations was it may have all happened by accident. let's look at that exchange that led to this conversation. >> yes. >> is there anything thich that his government -- at this point that his government could do or offer that would stop an attack? >> sure. he could turn over every single bit of his chemical weapons to the international community. in the next week. turn it over. all of it. without delay. and allow a full and total accounting for that. but he isn't about to do it and it can't be done obviously. >> so he does this, and all of a sudden, the russians jump on board, assad starts saying he'll do it and this all leads to a deal. it's been referred to as gaff diplomacy. >> kerry said it was a

purposeful comment. there were private talks for months even before kerry was secretary of state. >> where this had been brought up. >> yes, the administrators, administration, everyone doesn't want the chemical weapons to fall into the hands of jihaddists, the idea was suggested by president putin to president obama. again no one thought the russians were serious, so kerry puts this out there and within hours foreign minister lavrov was calling him. >> you what about his relationship with president obama, he certainly was not the first choice for the job, susan rice whose hopes were scuttled

with the benghazi, what does he have with obama? >> he has a long history with obama. his first appearance on stage was at the 2004 democratic convention where kerry was the nominee. the real break through for kerry surprisingly was performing as -- this was for debate preparations during the 2012 race, kerry portrayed another tall politician with good hair and apparently kerry was such a good mitt romney that he got under the skin of obama, but there were days and days of preparation for those debates, and they kind of bonded, they both operate with small staffs, and very private people, kerry

is more patrician, he solidified his position with the president because he has taken on the issues and worked tirelessly in the middle east. >> you talk about his real big desire for results. is there a danger that wanting to achieve things might lead to him settling for less than he should? >> that's the criticism is that a, he's arrogant and has this big ego and he is too eager for deals, forced the israelis and palestinians back to the table, where there isn't any room for compromise, all these major issues that have snarled negotiations for decades, same issue for syria and iran. time will tell how serious those break throughs are. >> you mentioned his arrogance, not that likable a guy but a lot of people -- not a lot of people

like him but it seems like you like him. >> losing the 2004 race to george w. bush makes him a more private person. but he can show his passion for foreign affairs, his fluency in french, i think kerry has changed. one diplomat said, every secretary of state has an enormous ego. >> you don't get there without it. >> that's part of the package when you're dealing with this level of a leader. time will tell about kerry's performance. >> it's a great read. david, great to have you with us. happy holidays. >> thank you very much. >> let's check in with hermella. >> antonio, the day after thanks thanksgiving, thousands of people are going to protest low

wages. black friday protest to be the biggest yet. last year the median wage in the united states was about $27,000 the lowest since 1998. though it's not the only one walmart is the biggest target of these protests. activists say most of them will be taking place across walmarts across the country. lynn tweeted, i hope it works. these people deserve to get better pay and benefits. they are not endentured stlaifs. david said, find a better job. even waiting tables you can make more than $250 a week. thank you for joining the conversation. you can read more at the websi website, america.al jazeera.com. antonio. >> you probably already have your big turkey for thanksgiving dinner but was it a little

harder to find a family-sized turkey this year? subjective interpretation of subjective interpretation of their policy as to whether or their policy as to whether or not your particular report was not your particular report was actually abusive, because if it actually abusive, because if it doesn't contain language that doesn't contain language that specifically threatens you specifically threatens you directly or is targeted towards directly or is targeted towards you specifically, they may not you specifically, they may not consider it abuse. consider it abuse. they may consider it offensive. they may consider it offensive. and in that case they just and in that case they just recommend that you block that recommend that you block that person. person. >> i don't want to minimise >> i don't want to minimise this, because i mean, there's this, because i mean, there's some really horrible things that some really horrible things that are on are on line, and it's not - it's line, and it's not - it's not just twitter, what has not just twitter, what has happened through social media happened through social media

and the anonymity of the net is and the anonymity of the net is that you see websites, that you see websites, hate-filled websites hate-filled websites sharif.

>> the season of giving is here. and last year americans generously opened their wall street. their wallets. but is all that charity going to use, claimed to have 41 state chapters and about 66,000 members, but it turns out the whole thing was a shax and the man behind it all is facing a minimum of ten years in prison. in eight years he raised over $100 million and none of it went to charity. joining us from washington, d.c. is ken stern a former executive of npr, the author of with charity for all, why charities are failing and a better way to give. ken rest start -- let's start

with this case. how does something of this magnitude happen? >> 59,000 with the word veterans in the title, you set up a boiler room you start calling. it's easy to see how they can raise money. without much information, a lot of harried donors hearing another love stories. >> he managed to bamboozle so many people, he was hobnobbing with the likes of george bush, john boehner. john mccain. how did he do this? >> he lawfully registered the

organization as a charity. came away with a, quote, clean bilch health. he ran a careful operation and it wasn't until two reporters from the tampa bay tribune came sniffing around that it all began to unravel. a lot of what he was doing was actually lawful and if he hadn't done -- taken a few missteps there was nothing that regulators or reporters could have done. >> as long as they keep their heads above water when it comes to legality, they have no obligation to pay this out. >> the vast majority of charities are lawful. but there are a group of charities who keep somewhere between 90 and 99% of their revenue to come in for

fundraising costs for overhead and really for their own accounts. and that's actually sort of a successful business for them. >> in 2008 is when the irs looked at this particular charity and gave it a clean bill of health and as you mentioned before there are more than 59,000 groups with the word veteran in its name. 1.1 million charities as you said. so it's pretty much impossible, from what i've read and i think you've written, there's only about 100 people across the united states, at the state level, who are actually looking at these charities. so by my calculations that means that you've got one person per 1,000 charities. is it impossible for these to be monitored? >> very had hill that the government can do or does, the irs approve 99.8% of the

charities, there's only 100 charity regulators whose job it is to regulate 1.1 million charities. there is very little in the government level that regulates these charities. just as in your last interview, cacaveat emptor. you better do your own research and make sure the charities you want to support are doing the right thing with the money. >> again as you said most of these charities are good charities that are doing a lot of very good work. so what exactly would you recommend that people do before they donate their money? >> so i would say really two things. and this starts, a lot of what i've written actually is message to domiers, the average donor reports putting zero hours and zero minutes into research each year to the organizations they give. that is against an average gift

of $2,000 per household. there's a lot of money at stake as you said in your introduction. go to reputable sources on charities, givewell.org is the one i always recommend. charity navigator and guide star provide relevant information as well. go to the website of the charity. if the charity -- each charity should be transparent as to what their goals are, how they're doing, what independent testing they have on the charity. as to their effectiveness. if they don't have that i'd say move on to the next charity and look to find the best. >> you also point out that most people give their money based on the brand, on the name of an organization and that's a common mistake because you say that sometimes established charities may not be the best charities to give to. >> there's a really interesting study out of harvard business school a few years ago, looked at the largest charities of 40 years ago and to today, they

determined it was exactly the same, red cross, salvation army, american cancer society. not because they are the best the most effective, it's because they're the most familiar. if you look at the for profit sector, think of the creative destruction that goes on there, you wonder about the innovation and supporting the best charities. people's lives and fumes are at stake. the current way that people give is really not supportive of that. >> what people give has to do with time and what's happened. many times people's spirit of giving is motivated by the holidays or many times after a major tragedy but that actually increases the likelihood that they could get scammed. >> that's true. after katrina the fbi estimated there were 2300 fake websites set up to deprive people of

their money. sounding names, katrinasurvivors.org and mobile giving, many more chances for people to take advantage of technology. be careful that you support the best chawrts. >> incredible these these are taking advantage of those who really need that generosity. it's an important time to think about it. hope you have a happy thanksgiving. if you are looking for aturkey twice the size of steiny tim you might be out of look. we'll explain in the data dive next.

>> this isn't a new channel, >> this isn't a new channel, this is a watershed moment this is a watershed moment in media for america. in media for america. >> this entire region is utterly >> this entire region is utterly devastated. devastated. >> people our here are >> people our here are struggling. struggling. >> the fire jumped the highway >> the fire jumped the highway we took earlier. we took earlier. >> your average viewer want's to >> your average viewer want's to actually understand how the actually understand how the health care law is going to help health care law is going to help them or hurt them. them or hurt them. >> they know they can get >> they know they can get extremist bickering somewhere extremist bickering somewhere else. else. >> people say that we're >> people say that we're revolutionary. revolutionary. our revolution is just going our revolution is just going back to doing the best in back to doing the best in journalism. journalism. >> this is the place to go watch >> this is the place to go watch high quality journalism, period. high quality journalism, period.

>> today's data dive talks turkeys and the curious case of their shrinking size at least for one company. butterball's kerry expressed concerns that enough turkeys wouldn't grow to 16 pounds and why. especially mysterious because the department of agriculture says the average weight of slaughtered turkeys is up 30% more than 30 pounds a bird, other companies such as whole foods and cargill, said they didn't have time. a major train big y supermarket said it was told to expect half

the company's inventory of prior years. but even butterball's size is big. dpiercompared to a century ago. they have gotten nearly two and a half times bigger since then. wired magazine examined the issue. turkeys got so big they became inefficient breeders. farmers started using artificial insell nation. genes is another reason, the artificially insell necessitated birds grew twice the size as those who weren't using the exact same bird feed. so why do we eat turkey on thanksgiving? history says, been franklin wanted them to be our national bird and our first secretary of agriculture, alexander hamilton,

will well before the national holiday in 1863. and then there's the the size again. turkeys request feed more people than chicken. something especially more important as our waist lines and our appetites have expanded. coming up, a college football star has faced shocking allegation he of sexual abuse, why hasn't he been side lined? next.

>> and now a techknow minute... >> and now a techknow minute...

>> the front runner to win college football's most prestigious award, is embroiled in a big scandal. florida state quarterback jameis winston has been accused of sexually assaulting a student off campus the case was, quote, basically closed when they claimed that the witness had stopped cooperating. the case, though, picked up steam earlier this month when

some media outlets requested copies of the police report and connected it to winston. winston submitted to voluntary dna test which matched the accuser's underwear. dave, innocent until proven guilty. winston the top heisman candidate, would he still be playing? >> he would still be playing. because florida state under the bobby bowden regime, that was their former coach before the current coach, jumbo fisher, he had been the coach for 40 years, bowden had been. when there were allegations of social misconduct that he had

played favorites. some players got suspended and some didn't. star players have taken place at big football schools around the country. so florida state did something very smart. they enacted a team wide set of guidelines. that said anybody accused still gets to play until they are formally charged. no matter what they are then taken off the field until those charges are dealt with and the case is dismissor adjudicated in some way, shape or form. you can see the intelligence of that policy in a case like this. it immediately takes off the table, if this wasn't jameis winston, florida state can waipe its hands and say, it's the policy.

>> no pr surprise the florida state is backing their quarterback. >> in cases of sexual assault cross with the hero worship that we often see in sports and yes, innocent until proven guilty, absolutely. but what you're seeing on a lot of somebody media outlets, i've gotten anonymous e-mails disparaging the young woman in question, in a character assassination of people who bring charges against sports heroes, i'd argue in florida state i've never seen it as intense as this. it's almost as these football crazed fans are preemptively pry defending jameis winston because he is leading them to football glory. >> part of the argument that's raised an even bigger scandal that the tallahassee police were doing that too.

that plawr from the accuser -- the lawyer for the accuser says that tallahassee police told her that tallahassee is a big football town and if she pursued the case her life would become miserable. the question is what was the intent that police had there, was it trying to warn her or was it trying to warn her don't go there? >> no matter how kind the intent may have been, there are no words how profoundly inappropriate that is for a law enforcement official to say that. i mean give me a break. this young woman is in tallahassee for her not to know that this is a football mad town and she would be taking her privacy and her well-being into her own hands by coming forward, for her not to know that, strains credulity to put it mildly. so no matter what happens out of this case, maybe the case will be dismissed against jameis winston, maybe this will go forward. we don't know what will happen but no matter what happens, the

allegation from the young woman's camp come forward, the police officer said maybe you don't want to be doing that i think is grounds for investigation in and of itself. heads should roll if that is found to be true. it is beyond inappropriate, especially what we know about the number of women who don't pursue the courts and don't pursue legal justice in cases of sexual assault and of course the overwhelming majority of those cases don't involve a famous football star. >> one of the cases where it didn't involve a famous football star but where a town undoubtedly covered up for football stars, the town defended them, now attorney general mike de wine of ohio, announced a coach, a principal and a superintendent, so this is just how deep this went. >> absolutely. and in a town lie s.tuebenville, an economically depressed place,

a place where the football program is a major hub of not just the social life of the town but the economic life of the town, the cultural life of the town, they have a stadium with enough seats to actually fit most of the town inside of it, that's how big a deal it is, it is the football policeman that people feel like has put the high school program on the map. you see all the ingredients there, it's created a very distorted culture where these young people, 15, 16, 17 years old are in effect playing the tune that the grown-ups dance to. you can see the ugly truth, with mike de wine who by the way has painstakingly come forward with this, this is a long investigation, it is clear based on the indictments that i read that they think something very ugly happened in steubenville happened there, which wasn't the

reactions of the parents involved but where to go with the football players. >> the hacking group anonymous, if that group hadn't gotten involved the case would have gone away. in some cases, i don't want to completely compare these, but in tallahassee had not some media group not passed this, that case would have gone away too. >> these anonymous group could have five times as much time behind bars as the sexual assaulters themselves but there's a big lesson, right, has to do with social media. as we see in tallahassee, social media giveth and social media taketh away. even though this woman's woman's

anonymity can be protected, the spoils of being a star athlete, clearly, this issue in steubenville went terribly wrong. on monday, ten former players filed a class action lawsuit against the nhl. the cases are differently. >> yes, the cases are very different. the number one difference is just the scope of the cases. in the national football league you're talking about over 4,000 plaintiffs when this went forward. this is a case of 10 plaintiffs coming forward. >> won't that grow? >> yeah. i'll tell you one of the things that is going to make this particularly interesting is the fact that the way the nfl case

ended was that is national football league was indemnified and didn't have to admit gift in open court. what's interesting is whether that will affect the nhl players ability, their play in the national hockey league, not in the juniors or minors coming up in the nhl that led to their post-concussive syndromes. >> the nhl took some action sooner than nfl and they resisted what might have helped them. >> there has been a code of conduct in hockey about the way you are supposed to play the game. for a lot of players even the idea of wearing helmets which has now taken place over a generation is seen as often bizarre. there is a hockey league near me

where the players actually wear to. signs on the back of their uniforms so if you are rushing a plear from behind it's like a cue to make you hold up and stop, for you to touch them. for a lot of young players that is not hockey. these lawsuits are important because they get out a lot of the information to educate parents and young people that there may need to be some generational changes in how we play these sports so people don't suffer for it decades down the line. >> there's a lot of suffering down there. dave, great to have you on. the show may be over but the conversation continues. on our website. are on @aj consider this. and on our twitter and facebook pages. happy thanksgiving. robert valea

hello everybody. welcome to al jazeera america. i'm david shuster in new york. here are the stories we are following this hour. >> holiday count down - the storm, the stress and the push from stores to get you shopping early and often. are you ready for thanksgiving. >> an assassin - a baby-faced cartel killer returned to the united states a freeman. >> the stadium collapse in sao paulo, and questions about brazil's race to be ready for the moment watched sporting est. >> george bailey returns as hollywood considers making a