there's more bad news for the u.s. economy numbers are really sharp a slowing of growth where as china has officially become the second largest economy in the world on the same day so what are those two pieces of news mean for our economic future we'll speak with r t correspondent lauren lyster and congressman anthony weiner exploded on the house floor over stalled benefits for nine eleven first responders all the rest of the network's debate the politics of the issue will speak to a first time responder and what we're asking what the rejection of that bill means for him next the unemployed have had enough with over fourteen million americans out of work they are realizing that it's time to unite and to use their political power to tell politicians that calling them lazy and dumb well that's something they just won't stand for and will wrap up the tonight show with the most ridiculous stories of the week from paris's new malaysian boyfriend to wal-mart pornography will get seton smith's two cents but now let's move on to our top story

. tonight we have a grim reminder of the costs of war with one more day left in july this month has become the deadliest ever for u.s. and nato troops in afghanistan so far sixty six soldiers marines sailors and airmen died this month in the longest war the u.s. has ever been involved it so far this year two hundred sixty five american troops have been killed in this war than just this week the u.s. congress voted to spend billions more on the endless war as i said we've been there for close to nine years and we're still no closer to winning or to leave it in fact since taking office has only increased the number of troops by thirty thousand and yet just a few hours ago riots broke out in cobol over the deaths of four civilians the afghan people themselves are tired of our presence there they don't feel like we're helping them and yet we continue on. both u.s.

and nato commanders have also warned that casualties both military and civilian are only going to rise as international military force ramps up the war against the taliban especially in the southern stronghold of helmand and kandahar provinces so that means we can expect more lives lost in the months to come so what i really want to know is when will enough be enough when will the american people the congress and the president finally finally realize that we can't continue to fight in afghanistan with no clear mission or no clear victory in sight and when the people of that country themselves don't want us to be there. a world without nuclear weapons what a thought that's what many politicians at world leaders and even filmmakers are calling for here's a look at a new documentary called count down to zero. they are prepared to start treating you key when you stake knowledge. about it ok you

used to kill americans you know to get to kill people but educate your point of the question. you know it's. now the same time the u.s. senate is holding endless hearings on whether or not to ratify the new start treaty there is opposition or earlier i spoke to lawrence bender the producer of count down to zero and i first asked him why he thinks the with an issue like this like reducing the number of nuclear weapons in the world which to me seems completely logical why is it the politics still seems to come out on top i believe that ultimately the and i hope of course that the story the new start treaty will be ratified it really is a modest reduction from the previous treaty and let's not forget that this idea started really with richard nixon and then ronald reagan this is a big dream of his not just to reduce but the ultimate limit eight there are many

conservative and also republican people that are very much supported this secretary gates. and we kissinger george schultz many many people that of course and senators also and it's a political year and so maybe there is people are you know using this is something but i think ultimately people are going to need to vote for this because it's really ultimately from a country safe and i think at the end of the day whenever everyone looks at all the facts this treaty will keep our country safer while you're right in that sense i hope people do vote for it too and perhaps it is a political year but we are to see you know tea party or is mitt romney standing up against this and that's where i start to worry because this treaty if there are to having trouble just passing this by. it's only a thirty percent reduction and way you are calling for in your film is a world with zero nuclear weapons what not and so do you really think that that's

what we're going to see that one day that it's possible. i do believe it's possible and you know we have some great quotes from people in our movie to count down to zero and one of the most wonderful quotes comes from ronald reagan who has many beautiful speeches one of which we have in the movie about the complete elimination of nuclear weapons from the face of the earth ronald reagan obviously is a republican president most republicans look up to their many republicans have seen this movie and have really loved it and i take a lot of pride in saying that this movie has bit of a nonpartisan feel we live in a very different time now than we did during the cold war and i believe that this is an idea whose time has now come because post nine eleven as we all know. the issue is much more about terrorists getting their hands on a nuclear weapon either buying stealing or making a nuclear weapon and smugly into a city in new york city that could have been a nuclear weapon instead of firecrackers and propane in mumbai indians are very

concerned that that could have been a nuclear bomb smuggled in there are a lot of people who have changed their way. their think about nuclear weapons now that thought about them differently during the cold war and i think that should give us all hope because terrorists you know terrorists proliferation with nuclear weapons is a serious serious issue while you're right securing the materials that are used to make nuclear weapons is one of the issues that's really at the forefront of this today and that's why barack obama had an entire conference about it but i have to ask you this kind of question because. the conference that obama held that really requires a lot of international cooperation a lot of international trust and do you think that there will ever be that unless perhaps it is very. which is one of the countries that you know highly believe that they have hundreds of nuclear weapons and yet there were not signed on to the nuclear proliferation treaty do you think that it's possible to make those steps to

have the international committee work together unless israel is also accounted for unless everyone gets into the same boat and wondering you know what some of the guests that you think your film had to say about that. absolutely well first of all we believe that all countries eventually need to complete limited nuclear weapons that includes israel of course but we don't believe that israel unilaterally should do anything. what barack obama did in washington was actually quite historic and he did three things so we did the nuclear summit as you as you just said he signed the start treaty number two and three they had the nuclear posture review come out which is a pentagon based paper and for the first time in our history since the cold war reduces the role of a number of nuclear weapons in our strategic defense so our president is actually taking great leadership in terms of what you mentioned the nuclear summit this is the greatest amount of leaders in our capital since the creation united nations is a big deal all for one purpose to secure all the nuclear materials. lock them up so

that well terrorists can't get their hands on them this is the stuff that used to blow things up with and that was a really big deal so he came out with you know and i'm a supporter and lots of countries taking committing to taking specific steps to to lock this stuff up and so i think that there is a lot a lot of forward momentum on this issue and i think that's one of the big deals that he's actually taken to show when there's something talked about in the in his in the primaries he talked about in the election cycle he's doing it now and he should be really applaud it. yeah well i agree you know i definitely think that it is a valiant effort and a necessary one because i don't want to live in a world with nuclear weapons in them and i'm sure that nobody wants their children or grandchildren to live in the world either but it definitely is. it's a wonder as to how long it might take to get to that point lawrence thank you so much when we like you. sure sure our pleasure. it's time for

a break but still to come on the show the state of virginia is about to execute a woman it's a first time a woman's been put to death in the u.s. in five years so we'll look at the debate around the death penalty right after the break. every month we give you the future we do understand how to get there and one more reason best in science and technology from across russia and around the world. on r.g.p. . yesterday

a judge set a september twenty third execution date for teresa lewis forty one year old woman who used sex and money to persuade two men to kill her husband and stepson in order to collect a two hundred fifty thousand dollar life churns policy now if all goes as planned she'll be the first woman executed in the state's since two thousand and five and the first woman executed in the state of virginia in nearly a century now the details of this case are on the two men whom dudley hired both received life sentences in prison and one later committed suicide and juries a lewis's lawyer claims that two years before that suicide the man claimed that he was the one who actually planned the murders and yet her execution date has been set and her sentence determined not by a jury or by a single judge which again brings us to the question. of whether or not it's right

or wrong to deal out death well joining me live on skype from portland is radio host tom hartman and live from skype from houston and deadly sharp pro death penalty expert gentlemen thank you both for joining me tonight in studio i have to ask you this the fact that this story is you know surrounds a woman do you think about it changes perspectives a little bit do you think that people look at capital punishment differently when it's a woman that's going to be killed tom we'll start with you. yeah i think that it may cause people to have some haws there was a famous case in texas when george w. bush was president that involved a woman as well and. it. for some reason it's seems to more humanized the situation but still the fundamental question that we have to ask ourselves and this is where we're dudley and i have debated this issue before and i

think that this is the fundamental decision americans want to after me want to me. and every civilized society ultimately has to make is are we a nation of killers are we a nation of people who still or are we a nation of people who don't kill and i would i strongly suggest submit that we are and should be and in most states are a nation that does not kill people people in prison and we discourage killing now dad i have to ask you this because you used to be against the death penalty and now you've changed your mind so can you tell me how that happened how you came to that conclusion. it's a long story but i'll make it as short as i can i studied the definitely for two years i found out that all arguments against the death penalty were either false or that the pro death penalty position was stronger but more important than the idea that a philosophical moral ethical consideration as to when it was just in under what circumstances we give sanctions for specific crimes in after all of that evaluation

and talking to a lot of people i came to the conclusion that in certain cases the jury should be given the option of selecting either life or death or specific cases when i would say that what's so interesting to me here is even though it was actually i had to resign lewis's choice it was not a jury of her peers that decided on the sentence and gave her the death penalty it was actually just the decision of the singular judge a judge that had never given that sentence to anyone before that was a decision that incurred consultation with her or her defense attorneys thought she had a better chance of avoiding the death penalty by selecting the judge to make the decision in that case but now and so do you think that we are a nation of killers and should be deadly. under a certain set of circumstances absolutely i do and so to about eighty percent of americans when it comes to implementing the death penalty for certain crimes we do

it very rarely. and we do it in really extraordinary cases like this one. and i agree with tom i think the the issue really is not man or woman this will get extra media because it is a one but i agree with tom it's it's basically the foundation of the ethical moral consideration of putting people to death is just for us well of course that's the larger issue here but you know what's so interesting to me tom about your answer is the fact that if people look at this and think that there's a woman that's going to be put to death you said it you mean ises it in a way that's a problem to me if people actually think that way of whether it's a matter of woman that changes whether you think that this deals with a human life or not well it's it's a variation on on the women and children into the life boats first there's there's a sense in our culture you know men opening doors for women and you know putting

their coats over a puddle for a woman you know the whole the whole chivalry thing over the ages. on the one hand has been used in many ways very successfully to oppress women to keep to keep them in their place in quotes in a place and on the other hand that acknowledges the typically it's men who are violent typically it's men who are the provocateurs and in situations that are violent and it's typically men who go off to war and i think that the the other thing about this case that's interesting beyond the fact that she's a woman is that she's white dudley said you know we execute people in united states we do so rarely but the fact the matter is we execute a lakh people in the united states way out of proportion to their representation the population back way out of proportion to their represent representation among murderers and and you know. not only are we as sex a society we are races and not only is death the death penalty in my opinion

morally wrong because i don't want to be part of a society of murderers i'll leave that to saudi arabia they're one of the few countries they agrees with dudley on this i prefer to join with all the countries of europe that say no thank you we're not killers but but also there's the issue of it being a butt and there's a there's a finality to it that makes it impossible and look at this guy who is just let out of prison last week after serving twenty seven years for a rape he didn't commit how many people have been executed on death row who were not guilty of the crimes they committed there's no possibility to go back and reexamine the case i'm not suggesting this woman is not guilty the way the evidence is overwhelming but there but that doesn't mean that that's not always the case particularly when it is black people in the south who have committed murder or who have been accused of murder against white people and its eye witnesses who are notoriously unreliable as those as the primary basis of the case which is that which is so common in death penalty cases in the united states now exactly what do

you think i mean is it inevitable that in a society like america is where racism is rampant that the largest know that overwhelmingly their race will be involving capital punishment and that minorities will be killed more than white people ilana you only have one death penalty expert on the show today and it's me and what tom said about race is completely the opposite of. the reality is that white murderers in the united states are twice as likely to be executed as are murderers with regard to to be executed as not to be sentenced to death right right. it's still way more likely than a white person to be sentenced to death on. ok. i'm a expert on the show i'll send you both the information after the party send it to alone but be that as it may regarding innocence no one disputes that there's a risk of executing innocent people but when you're looking at any public policy

issue you have to look at what it will be like with or without choosing that particular issue in the case of the death penalty we have a lot of a legit cases of innocence executed but there are really wanting on the proof aspect of it however we have overwhelming proof that living murder harm in murder again in other words that to sickly we are already know that living murderers are much more likely to harm and murder again than dead ones are and we have no proof of an innocent executed what that tells us is that innocent people are more protected when murderers are put to death row the reason you have no evidence that innocent people have been executed is because once they're dead everything stops when i believe it was george ryan was the governor of illinois and he discovered that there were several people at least one for sure who were on death row in illinois who were clearly innocent because the innocence project started using

d.n.a. evidence which was not available back when these people were convicted and they would have been he was he was fixedness as to sign the death warrant he was so horrified by what he put on hold those executions just to say that we haven't gone back and done the reverse even dudley i am i am sure you would be the first to acknowledge that innocent people have been executed in the united states insists i generally i go i want to thank you both for joining me but you know we can't deny that there is always that chance that someone might wrongly be calles and personally i don't think unless i saw somebody walk up and shoot someone in the head or right in front of me i would ever believe whatever other evidence there might be think about it and you. all right still to come on tonight's show another sign that the u.s. economy is not gaining any strength the nation's economic growth slowed during the second quarter so does that mean that recovery is just a minute i'm going to discuss it next with our team correspondent lauren lyster.

every month we give you the future we help you understand how to get there and want to bring the best in science and technology from across russia and around the world to join your knowledge update on our g. we all knew it was bound to happen the north korean soccer team who lost in last month's world cup tournaments now is facing a public shaming that's right the north korean soccer team faced six hours of public inquiry into their performance during the biggest opportunity but in the

world as you might recall north korea was bounced from the world cup by portugal in a seven to nothing and in fact the game was broadcast live on state run t.v. in fact it was the first game ever broadcast live on t.v. and north korea so talk about a bad match to pick seven to zero that's horrible which is why of course there's the public shaming taking place now now as report of the coach and the players are subjected to criticism from the country's sports minister as well as four hundred government officials students and journalists who all watch pretty harsh and apparently most of the players through their coach under the bus in fact he was forced to become a builder and was expelled from the workers' party of north korea wow going from a soccer coach to a can structure will work or talk about a life changing event now the team and the coach were accused of betraying kim jong il and one of supreme leader kim jong il sons and the heir apparent for this loss

and the entire public shaming was intended by kim jong il maybe just called into one of those invisible cell phones and claim to invent it now while this public shaming might seem a little over the top to us in the past north korean athletes and coaches who performed badly were sent to prison camps so at least this was some kind of a step forward but i got to say i really feel for these guys they're athletes they've played their hardest and they deserve some respect. now there's more bad news for the u.s. economy according to a report released today by the commerce department the nation. economic growth slowed sharply in the spring only showing a modest two point four percent growth much lower compared to the year's first quarter and seemingly just more evidence that if this recession ever had any momentum it's definitely slowing down now and at the same time on the other side of the world china has officially overcome japan and become the world's second largest

economy so good this we proof that this is no ordinary recession and that the u.s. is taking a serious downward turn we're here to tell us what it all means so what we should expect is r t correspondent lauren lyster laurent now analysts were predicting the growth to slow a little bit from the first quarter this year but no one thought it would be this bad so what are some of the actors that contributed to that well we've seen a softening of consumer spending we've seen a trade balance that's gotten worse and what a lot of economists that i spoke to say is what we're seeing is the result of bad policy of not enough stimulus coming from washington and the fed that's been too tight and hasn't reacted to the financial news is we've gotten over the past few months hasn't done enough to deal with the persistent joblessness the slow growth and has been too worried about inflation and now many people are much more concerned about deflation the way that japan saw where they last a decade and had persistent high unemployment very slow growth and many many more

people are becoming more concerned about that of these people saying that it's going to get worse and we should we expect the third quarter of the year two to be back up and you know she will be smiling again unfortunately people are concerned that it's going to get worse next quarter people believe that unemployment is going to stay above nine percent they believe that that none of this is going to get better in terms of the policies stimulus is going to run out and they expect this to continue to have a negative and more negative effect on the economy with those rising deflation concerns as well while wall that's quite the argument for all of those people that are opposed to stimulus spending right now i mean this is the big debate around the world so it's definitely interesting to see. these figures you know might really play into that but do you think that this really proves also that this isn't your typical cyclical recession that happens you know every couple of years or so well we've heard we've discussed many times the concerns about a double dip recession and economists that i've been speaking to with the news that have come out has come out today say that if

a few things were to happen if any other countries were to run into real trouble as we've seen in european debt crisis over the last several months if something like that another country was to go down or if a financial firm a large financial firm was to go down they believe we would be thrown into another recession so many people think that we are kind of on the brink of being right back there again what that is you know it's scary news and at the same time today some of the top news stories is that china has now officially overcome japan as the world's second largest economy and by the year two thousand and twenty five they're expected to overcome the us too so i mean is this just all bad news for us if we're you know on the constant downward slope and there are constantly of and we could even overcome our economy before that before twenty twenty five things continue to go bad here is what's interesting it may not be all bad news for the u.s. economy if china if china is richer that could mean more money to buy american

goods that could actually benefit us we've seen how well g.m. has done in china it's one of the only places they're growing they're certainly not in the u.s. that's an example in addition china a stronger china could mean more cheap goods for the united states that could mean that that could help with r. and d. and with new products and that sort of thing could help globally to help growth in these tough times which could in fact benefit america in addition one thing that's really interesting that policymakers say is that this is an example of good policy they say that china has actually done a much better job in dealing with the downturn. then the united states has that china actually put in a much larger percent of g.d.p. and terms of stimulus and it has actually done a better job of phasing out and that this really shows how much more successful they weren't implementing their policies than the fed and ben bernanke and congress has done in implementing policies in the united states which is interesting out

that a lot of not for all of the top u.s. economists for ben bernanke you think of the smartest guys in the world to hear that china is much better off than the us right lauren lister filling us in well still to come on tonight's show they've been called lazy and spoiled by members of congress but cannot employ to use their political muscle this november to pay back those lawmakers who have bad mouth them for being out of work i'll discuss it with someone organizing the unemployed to vote and nearly nine years after the nine eleven attacks a huge debate as a rough time in congress over benefits for first responders ask a first responder about the drama unfolding on capitol hill and why the congress needs to provide help to those who continue to suffer. for the. we've got. the biggest issues get one voice face to face with the news

makers. you're watching all see live from the russian capital the headline. twenty five people have died and schools have been made homeless so raging wildfires are russia's record breaking heat wave an official state of emergency has been declared in fourteen bridges across the country with around one thousand homes burned to the ground in front of destroyed western. emergency crews are scouring the same inquiry but in china the barrels of highly toxic chemicals which could reach crushing two weeks thousands of the containers was swept away during severe flooding. and germans hear more criminals could soon be living in that community is that the european court of human rights as they continue to tension of

some convicts viewed as dangerous after their sentences about it. as the headlines up next let's go back to the idea on the show. time for friday's edition of tools time and we have an unbelievable statement from a conservative activist her name is phyllis schlafly and she is no them in this this woman she was addressing a group during a fundraiser in michigan and she took aim at president obama and all unmarried women who voted for him she believes that obama is trying to grow the size of government and to make people more dependent on big brother but her comments about

the.