the hard hitting this is al jazeera america. mixed signals as the u.s. changes its strategy in syria. is russia rethinking it's allegiance to the regime. 70 million. >> we are holding them responsible for its actions. we are imposing the largest civil penalty in the history jakarta's fine for facilitiy

air bags. will money solve the problem. no vacancy on this election day one big city's push to put air b & b out of business. plus fill donohue the show host pioneer whose show changed tv forever joins us live in the studio tonight qui begin tonight with what could be a major about face by russia over its support for syria's president. the kremlin has been carrying out an air campaign against the opponents of the regime that has driven an even bigger wedge between moscow and the west about how to resolve the collect. today moscow said it was not crucial for the syrian president to stay in power. paul. >> reporter: john russia's

foreign ministry spokesperson said it's not ia matter of principle for russia whether or not he stays in power. she said russia support for azzad has not changed. no matter how you read this, it is causing other big allie iran to say it's more committed to assad than moscow. it is prompting the u.s. to say that russia's record speaks for itself. >> reporter: russia has long been syrian president bashar al-assad strongest backer, but in what could signal a stunning turn around, a russia official opened the door for assad's departure. >> translation: we never said that bashar al-assad he has to leave or stay. the president of the country needs to be decided by the syrian people. >> reporter: in september after a series of defeats at the hands of rebel groups and i.s.i.l., russia started contrarying out air strikes inside syria supporting bashar al-assad's government forces.

russian president suggested that bol terreinga bashar al-assad was the only way to defeat i.s.i.l. >> translation: we think it's a mistake to refuse to cooperate. we are fighting terrorism face-to-face. we should finally acknowledge that no-one in the armed forces are truly fighting the islamic state and other terrorists organisation in syria. >> reporter: most of russia's air strikes have not been aimed at i.s.i.l. instead targeting rebel groups that are trying to overthrow bashar al-assad. he travelled to meet with putin last month marking the first tripe outside syria since the start of the anwar in 2011 s as for the new suggestion that moscow might be willing to syria without bashar al-assad, u.s. the role in syria speaks louder than words. >> i refer back to government of russia for that. russian actions so far in syria

bona fide been to proper up the rape gym. >> reporter: when or whether bashar al-assad should go is one of the many sticking points in the syrian conflict. last week world powers including key syrian allie iran met in vienna to discuss ways to end the fighting that has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions more. russian reported tuesday that syrian officials and opposition groups could meet in moscow next week. u.s. officials say it's too early for that. >> we think that there's a time and a place when the opposition groups will be represented but we're not there. >> reporter: one point on which the u.s. and russia do agree isa voiding accidental clashes between their air forces in the syrian space. to that end the pent gone says that one russian and one u.s. eplane carried out a sort of safety exercise tuesday. the planes flew within about five miles of each other for about three minutes in the skies over south central syria testing safety and communications protocols that were set up last

month. >> reporter: the pent gone says those powers never spoke to each other directly but rather through their own command centres. this comes ahead of the deployment as many as 50 special troops to syria in the next few weeks thank you. >> reporter: congress woman bar brie lee who has been outspoken of fears joins us. when it comes to syria and asme s involvement, what-- u.s. involvement, what occurrence you the most? >> first, of course, my main concern right now is that congress has not done its job in term of debating and authorising the use of force in syria. i believe it's way past time that we have a debate and really begin to move forward and do our jobs. i wrote to our new speaker, mr ryan, and suggested to him that in the past we have been asking for this debate and authorisation, but up to now we do not have that.

i will continue to ask our speaker for that. >> reporter: but don't you see i.s.i.l. as the threat, a threat not just the middle east to but to the united states. >> no-one ever said that i.s.i.l. is not a threat. i believe i.s.i.s. is a threat. they're a terrible terrorist organisation. it's really something that is hard to even believe that human beings can do the things that they are doing. that's not the issue. the issue for me as a member of congress is the constitution and the authorisation to use force to do what is necessary whether we agree or disagree. that is what we have to do and that's what i am saying, whether you agree with the use of force or not, whether you want ground troops or troops in the anwar, we need a vote and the constitution requires that vote. >> reporter: do you believe in the use of force in syria and iraq? awful first of all, we have-- first of all, we have to look at

all the options out there. we have gn in afghanistan for-- been in scan for 140 years. there's no military solution. we need a comprehensive solution led by the people. we need more diplomacy, we need more political initiatives and negotiations. the military option is always there, but i think a stable middle east, and if we're going to ensure our own national security in the united states, we have to look at this from a multi fast edit point of view. look at all the options and then have a vote to determine what the best course of action is. >> reporter: you have the distinction of being the only member of congress to vote against military action in afghanistan after 911. with that in mind, what is your solution to syria and iraq? >> let me say to you that that resolution was a blank check.

that said any president, not just president bush, but any future present, is authorised to use force against any nation organisation, individual, whenever for ever, whenever. >> reporter: in a letter to the new york times you wrote this. you said greater involvement in syria and iraq will not make us any safer, but it will cost more lives in endless anwar with no exit strategy. what about-- >> we have no exit strategy for afghanistan and iraq. 14 years of military action. where are we? where are we. >> reporter: where are we in europe? >> in terms of any stability and in terms of the security, you can see many violent acts and see civil war is taking place.

before we gauge with ground groups the congress should weigh in and we have a debate. they may decide to authorise the use of force in syria. that is the con congress's decision it's good to see you again. thanks for joining us. >> thank you now to the refugee crisis in the greek island which has become the main destination. too often a final one for thousands of people trying to reach europe. for many refugees grounds off the coast of lesbos today. over 400 have died in the sea this year. the island's mayor says they have run out of room to bury the dead. >> reporter: at this hour in greece the sky darkens as quick as the fear sets in. but still they come. attention turns first to the ones they risked everything for, the young they must comfort, the old they must aid. having survived the sea, they

landed to a situation so chaotic, even our team was asked to help translate. >> translation: she has on the side of her head, a hurt. >> reporter: the car accident in turkey just a few hours ago, but this woman and her family still made the crossing. >> translation: i can't even explain my emotions he tells me. we came such a long way. we were just praying we would make it to greece and then we did. thank god. >> reporter: the medics arrived quickly and treatment was given, but during these days of crisis on lesbos, even aid workers accustomed to helping the emotionally traumatised are at a loss. >> they seek a better life. most of them are fuguetive because they bring the family, brought the families with them to iran and now they are dead or

they are looking for them. actually, you cannot say anything to a woman that has lost a husband and children as well. but they just need a hug, someone there to be next to them and facilitate the procedure. >> reporter: it's not just identifying their loved ones that so difficult. even finding a final resting place is near impossible. these graves are a stark reminder of how harsh a life and how sad a death these refugees had. what makes their fate even more tragic is the fact that many of those buried here were put into the grounds anonymously. >> reporter: over crowded with bodies, this cemetery has run out of room. grave digger understands death better than most. but this he struggles to comprehend. >> translation: the refugees come to find a better future.

instead they get a painful death. we greeks, we also were migrants but we didn't have to die in the sea. now, even for the refugees who manage to escape with their lives, it's death that seems closer than ever new evidence tonight about the russian jet that crashed killing 224 on board. u.s. satellites detect a heat around the passenger plane just before it went down. what it was and why the plane crashed remains a mystery. one that investigators hope that flight at that tima recorder can help solve. >> reporter: they have formally extended the crash site now. they're looking at an area of more than 30 square kilometres and it's such a large area that they're using drones to search for more bodies but they haven't

found any more bodies today. here in st petersburg the awful task of identifying the dead continues. the families and relations are taken by car to the crematorium and the more tree where-- mortuary where they will have the dna matched. it's an appalling task and when you think that there are 224 crew and passengers killed in this disaster and they've only formally identified just ten people. so it's going to be a very long process. meanwhile, putin's press secretary has warned the media against trying to link the disaster with syria's - with russia's operations in syria. he said this is most inappropriate that's peter sharp reporting. the japanese air bag manufacturer could face the largest auto industry fine in history. it was hit with a 70 million

dollar penalty today for failing to disclose defects to regulators that could go to 200 million if the company fails to comply with federal demands. lisa stark reports. >> reporter: announcing this agreement with the company the government says that fine could increase to $200 million if the company does not keep its part of the bargain in recalling the air bags and does not tell the government about safety defects in the future. the department of transportation also says it is stepping in no speed up this massive recall. >> reporter: i have to say this has been a mess. today u.s. dot is stepping in to clean up the mess. >> reporter: the mess involves defective air bags. this fifty test shows-- government test what could happen. they explode with so much force that pieces of the inflator, metal shards, come flying out.

people have lost their eyes, even their lives. the company admitted it failed to advise about the defect as required. the company then provided incomplete, inaccurate and misleading information the government says. >> delay, misdirection and refusal to acknowledge the truth allowed a serious problem to become a massive crisis. >> reporter: the recall covers 23 million driver and passenger side air bags in 19 million vehicles. those at highest risk are older air bags that have been used in hot humaned climates, conditions that help trigger the failures. the governments wants the riskiest air bags replaced first and have set up a schedule. car manufacturers must have replacement parts on hands for the air bags at highest risk, about six million of them, by the ends of march 2016. but overall it will be another

two years before most of the recalled air bags are replaced. in a statement, the kilometre expressed reregret and said this settlement will "enable us to focus on rebuilding the trust of auto makers, regulators and the driving public". for consumers such as this person, a fix can't come soon enough. >> my car was parked at my uncle's. it is a self storage facility >> i'm spending a lot of money a month to have it stored there. i refuse to drive the car joochlt >> reporter: the route cause is still unknown. highly explosive ammonium nitrate, the company has to phase out and end the use of this chemical. >> we have enough suspicion about this substance to believe that there is risk to the consumers and so unless and until they can prove that it's safe, we will not see ammonium

nitrate in these air bags in the future. >> reporter: if the company can't ultimately prove the compound is safe, that may lead to t recall of millions more air bags. >> reporter: the company is also appointing a monitor who will keep tabs on the company over the next five years over the recall efforts. on capitol hill, the senator called today's action long over due and he says the company has been given too long, three years, to stop using the chemical entirely coming up next pent gone has lots of money spent on a gas station in afghanistan. retail politics on the secret. amazon is actually opening a book store.

the pent gone is facing a flood of questions tonight but providing few answers. it paid 43 million dollars to build a gas station in afghanistan. that's about $42 million more than it should have cost. >> reporter: the details come from a scathing, and i don'tous that word lightly, a scatsing report-- scathing report from the general for zan reduction. it is dialled dod's compressed natural gas filling station in afghanistan and il-conceived $43 million project. the gas station seen in this photograph has two pumps, four hoses and dispenses natural gas. it was part of what the independent investigator found was a deeply flawed plan to help afghanistan to take advantage of its natural gas reserves and burn cleaner fuel. the station was estimated to cost between 200 and $500,000

but when it was completed in 2012, the total bill came to $43 million, an 8000 mark-up. one of the projects is an cumbrousing miscalculations. it was all ill conceived. while afghanistan has natural gas, it lacks the transmission and local distribution infrastructure, and investigators could find no natural gas vehicles in afghanistan. converting a gas lean car to natural dpas runs about $700. that's more than pity average annual income in afghanistan, which explains why the u.s. was forced to convert vehicles just so someone could use the station. even by pent gone's station, members of congress say it is outrageous. >> mr speaker, that must be a humdinninger of a truck stop. way should have come 500-- cost

$500,000 cost more. there are no handss or explanation-- answers or explanation. afghans don't use the gas station because the cost of the gas. no-one has been held accountable for such wasteful government spending, not surprisingly. this is guessing to be normal for government spending craft the pent gone shut down the task force to over see the property this year just as the investigation was getting under way. there was nope left to give questions why the-- no-one left to give questions about why it went wrong or to give a feasiblity study before embarking on the pricey idea. in unusually strong language, special inspector general john sobko "fronkly, i found - shall frankly i found it shocking and unbelievable that there's no knowledge about the task force and $800 million program that

reported directly to the office of secretary of defense". the pent gone says it saved all the files, gave investigators unfettered access to every document, also says it will help track down any contracting personnel that investigators want to interview. but while this is a particularly egregious example of wrong headed wasteful spending it's not uncommon. in an interview earlier this year, the special i dpchlt said it happens all the time. the contracting officers don't exercise good judgment and no-one is held accountable thanks. more trouble today for vw, the company now says it has under reported the carbon dioxide of 80000 vehicles. it is still realing from the revelation that cars had software designed to cheat on emissions test. the company says this latest issue could cost it $2 billion. that's on top of the 7.4 billion the company has already seta

side. amazon, one of the internet giants blamed for killing bricks and mortar stories, which is made news method surprising. it opened the doors to the first physical book store in seattle. it says more can be on the way. >> reporter: there rev been rumours about this floating around for quite some time. here it is this morning. there you go. amazon takes a solid retail format an mall on the north of s earnings attle. prettia mazing this has happened. it feels odd. people have been stopping by the street corner all day long, snapping pictures of themselves with the store. lots of brick and lots of mortar. plenty of books. about five thousand titles on display which is considerably fewer than you would find in a traditional book store.

we don't know where it's going from here, but there it is. store no.1 back to the future. what are the local independent book schedulers thinking about this? >> reporter: a really interesting question with this sort of flip that amazon has done. we talked to a man named robert sindelar who has been in the book store business for a long time, owns a couple of independent book stores and is opening a third very soon. we asked him whether he was worried or maybe even angry that the company that was apparently trying to kill his business is now getting into his business. >> i'm not angry. i'm curious just like everybody else. having a physical store seems completely opposite to what they're saying they're about all this time. it will be interesting to see what they do with it. the store is 1.8 miles from one of my stores. i won't be thrilled of anybody opening a store so close to my store, but outside of that there's no anger.

it's curiosity. defenders of amazon have said stores like mine are dinosaurs. we are holding on to a romantic,ant acquitd idea of what the business is about. they've taken on all these, they have rent and yet they're still discounting at the same price. can they pay the rent and pay their employees that they're generating from that store? i don't know. it seems like they would have to sell aborigine incredible amount of books to do it at the price they're selling at. what does success look like to them some in interesting to see how it works out. he points out if anybody in the world knows exactly what the books are, the people in this area want to buy, it's amazon. people in this zip code are willing to spend money on, their recreational dollar on. they know still ahead election day, marijuana transgender rights and

more. local and state issues that could have a big impact nationally. fill donohue, the talk ledge end. the state in syria.

this is al jazeera america. election day, battles over education, hot in ohio. >> i would want the marijuana despite the monopoly decisions that impact every day life. application and profit, is the company buying the key stone xl pipeline trying to run up the clock. plus the original talk host phil donohue is here and is as outspoken as ever. this is election day and while big names weren't on the ballot, big issues were. the votes were cast today and they could have a rip el effect across the country with

decisions involve education, marijuana, transgender rights. we're going to get to all of them tonight. we begin in san francisco and a ballot measure over the website air b & b. it is a flash point in this city deeply divide over housing and the impact that big tech companies have on ordinary residents. >> reporter: air b & b is in cities cross the country an world. san francisco is different because this is where their headquarters are so the stakes are high. it can't be seen to be losing on the home tufsh of the it is a substantial fight. >> reporter: in a city facing a housing crisis fuelled by the tech boom, the most contentious issue takes on an issue air b & b. >> it's not the people renting an extra room. it's those full units.

we need those to alleviate the affair vertablity of house. >> reporter: the initiative would restrict the private rentals to 75 nights a year. >> this is our bedroom that we rent out. >> reporter: many people and groups oppose the measure, including bruce bennett. a money he earns from his extra bedroom helps pay his bills in this extraordinarily expensive city. >> this proposition actually is severely limiting everyone's ability to stay in their homes, that absolutely need this extra stream of income. >> reporter: others say it is necessary to discourage evictions. left-hand lords-- landlords interested in making money through short stays. >> the impact has been the removal of long-term residents to replace them with short-term visitors. [ ♪ ] >> reporter: in a town that from prides itself on his social

activism, it is a tug of war over proposition s. on monday in one final push ahead of election day, housing rights protesters headed over to the offices. but it doesn't look set to pass. the mayor and the state's high profile lieutenant governor oppose it. >> it takes us in the wrong direction. >> reporter: as do both the san francisco democratic and republican parties. >> we are in the middle of regulating our sharing economy. not only here but across the country and across the globe, whether it's home sharing or just air b & b and many other countries or uber. these companies are very, very young. >> reporter: young, but powerful. campaign financing over proposition f has been lop sided. the campaign opposing the initiative has received $8.4 million with the company contributing 96.6% of that

total. the campaign proposing props has collected owned $394,000. >> we're being outspent 25 to 1. it's an enormous disadvantage. i think people would be stunned if we win. if we lose we will do it again next year. >> reporter: this is a tech city, but clearly also a city with social and political aboriginingtivism. this has divide this city how is it fighting back in other cities that threaten to close them down? >> reporter: that's a really good question and one thing is a lot of cities are deciding whether they want to battle with the company or whether they want to be nice to them and welcome it with welcomed arms. they have to decide on regulation and decide - you know it's a brand new world right now because this is a sharing economy and politicians don't know what to do the same with

voters education on the ballot in c on, larodo. in jiverson county wondering whether to recall the history's curriculum and move funds to charter schools. >> reporter: school board elections don't get any attention usually. they're usually quiet affairs. they're about kids and education. this has been different. it has turned ugly and it has been contentious and turned political as well. that is why education experts all around the country now are keeping a close eye on what is happening here, just west of denver because they believe this race has national implications. >> reporter: on an early morning teachers and parents are getting ready to go door to tour. >> this is about making sure that they actually vote. >> reporter: to convince voters to recall three school board members. >> we're just walking this

morning with united for action. >> reporter: they're taking to the streets of suburban denver. they disagree with what the majority conservative board in jiverson county has done over the last years. >> i don't know who it is that they seem to be doing the bidding of, but i don't feel like it's me or my kids, or my neighbourhood. >> reporter: the board members are under fire for plans that included moving money from traditional schools to charter schools and paying teachers based not on seniority but on their classroom performance. changing the advanced placement of u.s. history curriculum to down play civil rights in favor of a more patriotic course. that was enough to send students into the streets walking out of schools throughout the county in protest. >> this is ken whip. i want to urge you to vote no for all three questions. >> reporter: this is the school board president and the main target of the recall. he is the driving force behind

the board's movement. >> of course i want to see this type of education reform, the reform that makes a difference for students and their success. i want to see that replicated everywhere possible. >> reporter: this school district is made up a combination of communities, from the foothills west of denver to suburb i can't. one third democrat accurate, repubbing public and registered voters. it's that numbers that has attracted outside money hand attention from all around the country. if this recall efforts is about noise, that is, who can make more disruptions, then these good school board members are likely going to lose their seats. backers of the board members say the school board's approach should bea political model for schools across the country. >> these type of reforms are danger to the status quo and for a better term, a proxy battle for how we should educate our kids should the bureaucracy

should be in control or should kids' education be first. it's certainly a national group. >> reporter: $75,000 has been donated to refeet the efforts. money has also flowed in from groups like coke brothers, americans for prosperity. for its part, the local teachers union has donated $50,000 to defeat the board. >> if the recall fails, le you stay as a teacher here, do you think? >> i don't know. i really don't know. >> reporter: if wednesday morning i find that i am no longer on the board of education, i will get up and i will continue to work on improving education for students in this state and in this nation. >> reporter: when it's all over, spebding on this-- spending on this recall election is expected to top one million dollars so a lot of money and a lot of voters are involved in this. the county has 85,000 students

and 11,000 staff and teachers here. the polls are still open with half an hour to go. it is closing here at 7 o'clock mountain time should we assume that whatever happens tonight in the election tomorrow, this controversy won't be over? >> reporter: no. it's far from over, even after the election as you said. you know this has been going for a year. there are a lot of wounds to be healed here from the teachers, the parents and the students. this community is deeply divided and this one day of election and the results from this recall will not heal many of these wounds after all of that thank you very much. tonight voters in ohio are considering a ballot initiative that allow the use of recreational and medical marijuana. if it passes, it becomes the fifth state to allow recreational marbling and the first-- marijuana and the first to legalise both forms at the same time. >> reporter: there's a very good

chance that this initialive could pass earlier. polls show that the issue was split right down the middle. legalising marijuana has been debated here for on months and now it is up to the voters to decide. those who support this issue, they feel that it will help spur economic health throughout the state of owe high yo, but there are those who are not for this and they're not for this mostly because they feel a small group of big-time investors have a lot to gain if issue 3 passes. earlier today i had the opportunity to talk to a young voter on why she voted yes for legal marijuana. >> i did vote for legalised marijuana despite the monopoly. >> reporter: why is that? >> because i think there's a lot of importance people see it as a bad thing, but i like to look at positive in how it is going to affect people with cancer and different ailments. i think that will really help them. >> reporter: one polling place remains open throughout this day

because there were issues earlier today b you i'm told that we can start seeing results within the next half hour. john so what do opponents of marijuana say about this? >> reporter: well, you know, they have a number of issues. one of the many that we have heard, there are concerns about children gaining access to marijuana, thosedible forms of marijuana in particular. you know, the forms that come in cannedy - condy or baked goods. the conversation always goes back to the monopoly that this issue could face. >> i don't think it's ready yet. i think the idea is good and eventually i will vote for it, but i don't think right now the way the wording is, is really beneficial to most people. it's going it beneficial to just a few. at least on the, i guess, the growings part versus the dispensery. >> reporter: if this initiative

fails, we are told that it is still very likely that the issue of legal marijuana will not go away, john, any time soon has there been talk of nationwide impact if the legalation goes ahead? >> reporter: the people who were backing this, if legalised here in ohio tonight, that it will actually open a national dialogue on the issue thanks very much. the polls closed in houston at the top of this hour where voters are deciding on a contentious non-discuss crim nation referendum. it sparked a nasty 18-month battle for the protection of transgender people. opponents ran ads saying it will allow them to use women's bathrooms. they say that will lead to sexual predators. last week the white house got involved in endorsing the pricks. the white house says the

president is about to make a decision before he leaves office on the key stone pipeline. the state department has been asked to delay review. critics say the plan is to stall until the president leaves office. >> reporter: the day after the being asked to delay the decision on the pipeline for another year, presidential spokesman this man greeted it with scepticism. >> given how it has taken, it seems unusual to me to suggest that somehow it should be paused yet again. >> reporter: the pipeline would carry 800,000 barrels a day of carbon-heavy petroleum from the canadian area to the coast. president owe be that as it may was was seeking to build up his environmental legacy.

many liberal actists along with all of the remaining democratic potential candidates have declared their opposition to the pipeline. >> i don't think we should be transporting some of the dirtiest fuel in the world and we have to be vigorous in terms of transforming our energy system. >> reporter: on tuesday, transcanada ceo denied that the decision to ask for i delay was politically motivated. he says the company just needs more time to get approval from regulators in necessity brass ca. meanwhile, republicans who say the pipeline will bolster american independence and bolster jobs, tese the request for a delay is wise. >> i agree with what the pipeline company has done by putting the pause button now, that allows things to stay active, in my opinion, until after 2016 election when we may have a republican president in office who can then approve it.

>> reporter: with oil prices staying low, the value of key stone to the industry has dropped. top political support in canada has eau rod following the recent victory of the liberal leader. in u.s. politics in both the right and left, key stone has long been a defining issue and will likely stay that way even after the obama administration's next move is clear. >> i venture to psi there's no project in the history of the united states that has been as politicised as this minimum wage is 17.25 an hour. tonight we look at the people making way less than that. >> reporter: these are american citizens. they're paid on the books and yet paid below the federal minimum wage, some as little as $2 an hour the i'm talking about disabled american workers and it is all perfectly legal under the fair labour standards act.

the idea back then was to encourage bosses to hire people with mental and physical disabilities. experts say this is discrimination. if you raise wages disabled americans might not find that way at all. we're talking about that tonight thank you. coming up on this broadcast a chat with chat show icon phil donohue. abouted abouted

>> phil donohue is one of the best known talk hosts in american's history. haddise show was aired for almost 30 years. his questions were passionate, on point. phil is in our studio tonight. welcome. >> thank you. nice to be here i have a lot to talk about. i want to start with syria. the president had said no boots on the ground, no boots on the ground. now he is sending special forces there. he says that's consistent with no boots on the grown. what do you say? >> what else can he say? i just think it's - it's the result of a rooten tooten shooting policy. we lash out, we don't reach out,

and we have so much to sell. we have so - we could be fabulous. we have a fabulous democracy here to - we could export, we have lots of very bright people, but we also spend $2 billion dollars a day on things that go voom, but would eget into situations. if somebody dies we have to send somebody to this soldier's death and i just think that the president is surrounded by generals that say that if we don't, it's going to be, we have to, and he looks up and says he has no choice you think otherwise. you think that we can deal with i.s.i.l. another way? >> i think we can deal with i.s.i.l. if we would use our power to form coalitions,

company - countries that talk to each other. we don't even talk to putin. it's like some sort of a bad thing if the president would talk to someone. i think we could facilitate so much goodwill between people which already exists. when i was in russia i found that. there's some really nice people in russia. the day after 911 the entire front of the american embassy in moscow was covered with flowers. they were from, you know, middle - working people in moscow. they weren't organised. why don't we exploit that more? so you think the u.s. squandered the goodwill after 911? >> i certainly do. imagine, you're going to take them out.

this is high school mac, had west texas sheriff-type stuff. really. we have - we're going on 6000 dead americans both in iraq and afghanistan, millions of refugees, thousands and thousands of injuries that we don't see because it's an sanitised anwar and america is watching and we're spending a trillion dollars on these wars and kids can't pay back their college education you're a student of politics. compare this presidential campaign so far to all the presidential campaigns you've seen before. >> well, it's the best thing that has happened to cable news. some cable news. it has been - it's not unlike the sports press.

the sports people have an annual super bowl, world series. stanley cup, the tennis matches. the mainstream media has a quadrennial super bowl and then it has the semi-s in the off-yeah elections and so on. what happens is the coveriage, and that's all, it's wall to wall trump on cable knews what do you think of the c.b.n.c. today? unfair? >> well, i didn't think it flattered. it looked like they stayed up all night thinking how they're going to get the - and so that-- got ya question. >> yeah what is the got ya questions. you asked them all your life. >> i did. i didn't compare them to -

cometic book. >> yeah. cometic book. but on the other hand they're big boys and they should be able to respond without collapsing in front of the - and getting angry about it. but that's scored well for them. i, as you may know, worked very hard. i think the best - the way to have these debates is to put them all in a room with cameras around them and let them - and no moderator. no moderator at all. they can have a pad and a pencil and then we will think about it, though. think who will start the conversation, what subject will that candidate choose, who will interrupt, who won't interrupt enough and let's just watch and see how they behave it does not sound like the candidates are listening to that

advice. i've tried it, except clinton and jeer jerry brown did and it turned into a democratic party commercial. so i tried we will continue our conversation with phil donohue right after this. pa pa clear clear clear clear

>> i don't know why the conversation is taking place. we are doing it against the constitution, without

authorisation. authorisation for the use of military force, it resides in the executive. not with the others. they don't do it. we are kicking in windows, phone calls, i just don't - we are a nation of law unless we are scared. then all these protections which the framers so brilliantly encoded in our institution. become qantas ideas. >> you missed going into the background. >> absolutely. it was - i felt very blessed. it was one of the - it had my name on the show, we were talking to all these people going to gaol or going - running for office. sometimes the same person. it was a real magic carpet ride,

and i would wish it on anyone i love. >> then you went to m.s. n.b.c. and you have done documentaries since. is there a chance that they would go back to doing this kind of thing? >> well first of all, i'm not sure how welcome i would be. liberal is not a career promoter. it's the political idea that dare not speak its name. especially in the states. dissent is active voice to be heard. it's marginalized. we are not patriotic, we don't love america, and you're immediately shut down. and i think a lot of it has to do, i may say, kompt media is not a promoter of criticism of america, for example. >> we'd like to have you back.

we are out of time. >> pleasure to be here. >> thank you very much that's the broadcast. thank you for watching, i'm john seigenthaler. [ ♪ ] i'm ali velshi "on target" tonight. little or nothing, that is the choice for disabled americans making less than the minimum wage, and it's legal. stranded on the sidewalk, watch what happens when americans try to book with uber. tonight i want to talk about a group of american workers earning less than the federal minimum wage. first