the top stories from all series most go down also called the nation's spy scandal in georgia a political farce to say i have seen people accused of secretly working for russia innocent victims of

a stunt by president saakashvili attention seeking before me. rather than putting the wrong forces locals to take desperate measures to make a living some have to resort to passive missiles and have resorted to smuggling alcohol into neighboring iran and risking death across the border in a country where this is strictly prohibited. for the first time in history the united states has been accused by the united nations human rights council of human rights abuses the allegations come up so it is emerged that ex-president george w. bush personally also writes torture and interrogations a while over the last is also accused of racial discrimination at home. up next they don't know show from our washington studios and today we ask whether president obama's administration is just as secretive as the white house under george w. bush over issues including written addition also lying suspects abroad for interrogation.

welcome to load a show where we get the real headlines with none of the mersey we're going to live out of washington d.c. tonight we're going to look at the all mighty subpoena power that's now in the hands of republicans will they wield it as promised and i said we see stalwart keith olbermann was suspended indefinitely from the channel today for improper political contributions to candidates seven of markos moulitsas founder of the daily kos on the show to get his take on this crazy week in politics then today the officer charged with killing oscar grant on an oakland subway platform was sentenced to only two years with time served in other cases galvanize the nation and become yet another example of police brutality in the minority community so we're going to get the reaction to the sentencing from an activist who is at the courthouse next the united states submitted itself for a view to the u.n.

council on human rights for the first time in history opening itself to criticism on the u.s. treatment of immigrants gays and lesbians the muslim population and many more but is the commission hold any weight and should the u.s. even be a part of it we're going to have a debate on that issue then what's the best way for a conservative groups to defeat the new start treaty there of course and that is exactly what the heritage action for america is trying to do we're going to show you the ridiculous mailers that they sent out trying to scare away the votes for the important nuclear arms treaty and october's jobs numbers were better than expected but not exactly good enough to get us back on track we're going to speak to our chief financial correspondent lauren lyster about what tools obama has left to help the ailing economy. now democrats now about two days to recover from the expected yet still a historic ass kicking that they received in the midterm elections but just because campaign season is over that doesn't mean it's time to relax now the republicans

have control they also have subpoena power eric cantor has already said the republicans plan to publicize one major oversight hearing every single week and essence any papers left on shred it will be looked over and that is if playing nice is really can do any good at this point we're now hearing from press secretary robert gibbs that the obama administration is considering a discussion about extending those bush era tax cuts for the rich and idea that they were so vehemently opposed to in previous months so after huge pete's defeat they're still planning on more compromise it makes us wonder if they care about their liberal base at all maybe they just haven't understood that some already giving up altogether more earlier today i caught up with markos moulitsas the founder of the daily coast but before getting into obama i first wanted to ask who himself was banned from the cable network m s n b c what he thought of today's news that keith olbermann had been indefinitely suspended without pay once the network

found out that he donated to three democratic candidates this election cycle without seeking approval from the higher ups at the network. well you know i mustn't be so you have a history of coddling joe scarborough their conservative morning host yes three hours in the morning. i got in a twitter fight with joe scarborough so i've been banned from a ever said b c so and s n b c already tells it most successful polls are meant we can have as a guest or not and i think as a continuation of this because we went back and looked into scarborough has me political contributions to candidates in the past but the explain it away is saying that oh he's just an opinion guy well keith olbermann is also an opinion guy but apparently he lives in a different rules than joe scarborough well that's where you are you have been banned from as i say and i mean they have had a lot of other shake ups this year too so i guess i want to know what part of this could be that they're so desperate to try not to seem like fox you know what some people are saying what do you think of phil griffin you know over all the actions

that he's taken over the past year or sell. well i mean this is a guy who is clearly trying to fight back sort of the liberalisation of m s n b c i mean let there be no doubt the reason amazon b c has been successful is because of its liberal primetime lineup now phil griffin has had very little to do with that he did not bring people into the network government brought rachel maddow in and got her show so basically bill griffin's big score is joe scarborough and that morning show that conservative morning show he's the guy that me there who basically have given pat buchanan's a nazi apologist literally i'm not exaggerating you literally apologizes for hitler settles and so bad. gives him a kind of the green room was constantly on and also the senior political analyst who's name of play going on right now. mark halperin is also a conservative. sort of right wing type of figure. was made the senior political analyst at emerson b.c.

so phil griffin has tried very hard to push back against the notion that m a c b c is liberal even though it makes people all of its money from its liver. primetime lineup now you definitely could say that the ad the polarization is what makes them successful and makes them not c.n.n. and these days now i want to switch gears and of course go into obama right now everyone is reeling from the after effects of the midterm elections that's from two days ago but first i want to get your take on what you think happened i mean look back to two years ago obama had this massive army of people behind you know i mean he could have been leading the populist wave essentially and somehow he had that being their target it all turned against him so why do you think that happened where do they all go wrong well what happened is that army did not turn out i mean they were they were mobilized in two thousand and eight with the notion of real change and hope and they were asked to too cold that obama could deliver true change and change the way business was done in washington d.c.

and so on and so forth of course we saw very little of that i mean there was progress let's not let there not be any doubt that there was progress but frame of time again we saw corporate is forces inside the democratic party as well as republicans undermine the democratic agenda they watered down the health care bill they watered down financial reform they watered down piece of legislation after legislation nothing got done an immigration reform nothing got done. he labor issues and suddenly you have a situation where the key component of the progressive movement feels that they've been abandoned and they turn out and you cannot win an election particularly a midterm election which is the base election you cannot win them if your voters stay home and it's clear from the exit polling that the. turnout was basically forty eight forty eight became voters it obama voters now remember all the other one of you lection by seven points that need that seven percent of the electorate that voted for obama skipped this election and as a result we lost big well ok now we're already after the election has happened and

yet we have you know robert gibbs obama's press secretary now announcing that. administration now might be up for discussion of actually extending those air bush era tax cuts for the rich even though we've been vehemently opposed to them for months so why now after they've already lost when they continue this whole you know method of compromising we had to me it feels like why would their liberal base support them after all this because they seem to have just you know given them the finger and basically said we're not going to do anything that we promised during the progress you said small progress has been made but that clearly that's not enough i mean how long can you defend the obama administration you know i would like to see more sites now. to defend the administration a little bit a lot of the talk about wanting to compromise such as roe political talk radio that's just nonsense the proof will be the proof will be in how they truly negotiate this because it's of the battle that democrats can truly win and they should win i mean everybody is getting

a check if the middle class tax cuts pass even the believe there is are getting a tax cut up to two hundred fifty thousand dollars of their income so this is a universal tax cut for all americans republicans want to single out the rich for particularly juicy benefits this is not a battle that republicans are on solid footing and democrats should fight i hope obama gets beyond the rhetoric the post-election rhetoric and actually puts up a front because the reason that the base is dejected is as you see there is capitulation after capitulation and in this cave negotiating compromise means that both sides get some up now if you give republicans everything that they want which is tax cuts for the millionaire buddies that's not a compromise that is one hundred percent capitulation that we've seen enough so that we don't want any more of that here i mean i haven't really seen a republican give too much up and if you look at the you know the news cycle today all everybody can talk about is the fact that obama's asia trip which is a lie is going to cost two hundred million dollars a day but i mean but that's all words that messaging somehow works you know on the

the right the g.o.p. they never have to be questioned about well why do we still wage two wars why is to . and that's never on the table why do we have hundreds of bases abroad you know that's the rest of the way the rest of the world sees it and some of these people they don't get criticized for it they don't ever have to compromise and the obama administration liberals democrats for some reason we're supposed to always then be on the defects which i just don't quite understand which is i want to ask you you know how much of that much of the attack can we expect now because we had people like michele bachmann saying that once republicans take over the house if they do in midterm elections all we should do is just issue a subpoena as you know and hold our oversight hearings how many promises of those are we going to see delivered thing there's going to be a million years investigations coming out of the republican house and there's no doubt about that i mean to me what's more interesting though those those witch hunt is going to be a very sort of tightrope he has to walk between actually having to govern now it's

a lot easier easy to close everything when you're in the minority now he actually has to pretend to govern and he's going to sort of deal with the people in this caucus that want your approach to their districts to get reelected who realized that they'd have to do things like raise the debt limit less the united states the fault in create mass economic chaos and are you going to have to michele bachmann's who are going to basically want to oppose everything zero zero zero on everything except for two hundred million dollars a day in iraq or in afghanistan i mean that's a major study of afghanistan and they don't care about that so let's see how being or what's a terabyte i think you can win i think either way use easynews dude if he does it's due to be doesn't because he has a caucus that is dominated by the right wing ideologues who think that the government is the enemy and they will have zero fund all of it and then you have more pragmatists republicans who realize that if they become the party of no even when they have control of the house that that's on that's not going to auger well in two thousand and twelve because remember two thousand and ten was not a repudiate was that a brace of republicans it was

a sort of mix of democrats for not delivering on their promises but even the exit polls show ironically. that republicans are less popular good democrats. that's are the irony of two thousand and ten and nothing's going to change in two thousand and twelve people in a lot of punish where ever is in charge and that the republicans are in charge of the house and i would ask you very quickly though do you think that's going to be enough just the fact that people are going to want to punish or i mean are they never going to trust another liberal progressive president like obama again. you know what i mean it is about a really liberal right as about it also as the main question but but no i don't progressivism itself has not been rejected and if you look at the exit poll they going to be you had a third of the american public who voted to tuesday who said that wall street was a result of our economic problems forty percent of those people voted for republicans so you have i think a very good sir frederick can use an electorate to look at rational but if you look

at the numbers themselves the american people that reject progressive policies that we detail big tax cuts should be extended to the rich they want more spend the to try to improve the economy this is a the ex of in the same election democrats got to rub them this is what's so crazy about what happened tuesday so liberalism has not been rejected democrats have been rejected in the sort of broad based way republicans have not been embraced you just have a great daughters and they're lashing out and i don't think they care who was in power the lash out at republicans when they had control but on grass i guess what they want to see is just a little more fight but i think all of us want to see marcus thank you so much for joining us thank you very much. so to come on tonight shell the california officer they could have shooting an unarmed black man was sentenced today to only two years in prison for his speech to one activist who was at the courthouse today and the

country that likes to be the world's policeman is in the spotlight for their own human rights abuses the u.n. is investigating the u.s. for abuse has right here at home we're going to have a debate on whether or not the u.s. should listen to the u.n. say as we come back. we've got. the biggest issues good voice ceased to face with the news makers. the killing of oscar grant an unarmed african-american man of bart subway platform in oakland california by a transit officer shocked the country like the beating of rodney king so many years ago this death was also caught on tape take

a look. earlier today johan his message really the officer who shot and killed oscar grant who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter was sentenced to two years in prison with time served from los angeles courtroom a los angeles superior court judge could have sent this mess really to fourteen years in jail or walk free with time served and probation now not only are there questions as to where more whether more violence may result across california but more importantly whether this will go down as another black mark on america's record of social justice joining me from our los angeles studio to discuss it is carl gomez an organizer for the los angeles coalition for justice for oscar grant caro thank you so much for joining me now i guess tell me first you know what's what's the reaction like what was a life in the courtroom when you heard that it was just two years with time served

. i actually wasn't inside the courtroom because there were so many people trying to get in that there had to be a lottery and priority was getting the family but i was right outside the whole time and it was outrage it was complete outrage for all of us that were standing out front because it's a complete injustice and a direct assault on the community specifically people of color now is there something i mean you know the maximum that officer mess really could have gotten was fourteen years in prison but would that have been enough for for the family for the supporters for all the activists like yourself out there. no definitely not because we believe that it was murder he should have been found guilty of murder it was not an accident nobody believes that nobody who sees that video is going to believe that you took your gun for a taser which is bright yellow and weighs a pound less and if if you did do that then you're not very bright and you should be on the streets anyways so no we wanted murder however it was

a beginning it would have been a beginning to have at least him sir fourteen years now we also have a sound bite here from the the lawyer who was representing oscar grant's family you know because there's a lot of debate as to whether there are you know a lot of strong racial tension surrounding this case so we're going to listen to that right now. but it does not give hope good not give a sense of balance because not make people feel that you can trust the system particular situation we have. many cases down to. tell people and so yes this case believe. that the system itself you remember so there's not necessarily protect you with this type. now caro what do you think about that do you think of this reaffirms the system does not protect people who perhaps are minorities in america. oh it definitely does and it

shows that the justice system doesn't value the lives of young black men or young people of color i mean just in the last two months here in los angeles we've seen three more people murdered one what i mean is. james davis and then jonathan of us we definitely know that our lives are not valued by the justice system now you know there's been a lot of violence has broken out in the past because of this case both in los angeles especially in oakland california do you think that we're going to see anything similar tonight this sentence has finally been dealt. i wouldn't be surprised and i wouldn't say that it's uncalled for i mean this we were directly assaulted it's up to the community to defend ourselves so i wouldn't be surprised and that's why when you hear the media sometimes say like why are you so angry why are people so angry well this is exactly why now tell me you know why is it that you got involved with this case and in specific were you an activist before oscar grant's tragic death. i wasn't different areas i'm an educator

so i work a lot with youth and so i was active within the education area however working with the youth you know i taught middle school you constantly see your students harassed and terrorized by the police on and off campus and so as a teacher i feel like it's my duty to fight and stand up for my students and their families now if anything of course like i said this is a very tragic incident but if anything can you say that it's brought together some of the communities i mean you mentioned also the immigrant who was killed in downtown los angeles a couple of weeks ago or a couple months ago you know has italy's brought people together perhaps in the different minority communities to try to stand up together to do the social justice system. i think it has i mean this system has been fighting for a while to try and divide us because that's how they keep us oppressed fighting each other instead of fighting the system and i feel like the recent murders and all the injustice has started to build bridges across communities so that we can

work together to ensure that we are organized and fighting for justice our car well thank you so much for joining us and you definitely are not alone and a lot of people out there that are disappointed with the sentence that was given today thanks. well today the united states underwent its first appraisal by the u.n. human rights council known as the universal periodic review this is a process that started in two thousand and eight and one through which every u.n. member state is expected to go through every four years now the obama administration submitted a twenty nine page report listing america's human rights achievements but also admitting to discrimination against blacks and hispanics as well as a broken immigration system specifically referencing arizona's immigration law however activist groups in other countries were also allowed to chime in referencing everything from nine eleven to the death penalty and of course the u.s. treatment of detained terror suspects now to add even more fuel to the fire. the

u.n. system allows other nations to sign up to speak so at the top of the list today are cuba venezuela and iran so is it about time that america was roasted so to speak by its international u.n. partners or is the entire process made a joke when countries like iran top the list joining me in studio to discuss it is wendy wright the president of concerned women for america and from pittsburgh we have danielle kovalchuk labor and human rights activist i want to thank you both attorney excuse me i want to thank you both for joining me now wendy i guess i'll start with you is it about time that the u.s. you know put itself up for this type of review considering that they are a member of the u.n. that everyone else has to do it too well it's important we look at the human rights council itself it's a road gallery of human rights abusers and it makes sense there are forty seven seats on the council so the countries that have the worst human rights records are going to be the ones vying to sit in those seats so that they can divert attention away from their own abuses so that's why we have china saudi arabia cuba sitting on

this council and who like you mentioned where the first in line to make sure that they got time to criticize united states when you look at some of the criticism. like jesus said take the log out of your own eye before you try and take the splinter out of another person when you look at the criticisms that these countries waged against united states it turns out it's the very things that those countries have the worst record on things like racial discrimination china made that charge a rand made the charge of. the united states not investigating abuses by our military so you have to take this all with a grain of salt when you consider who are the ones making the criticism and say i what are your thoughts on that because you know a lot of people are saying you have to look at who else is making the criticisms but if we are a member of the u.n. if we in fact like to act like we are leaders a role model for the world then shouldn't the u.s. also look at its own faults. why. loosely and i think it's good that for

a change the camera was turned on the united states and its human rights abuses i mean the commentator just mentioned cuba the worst human rights abuses being perpetrated in cuba or england guantanamo by the united states itself the u.s. right now for example to take one thing has five percent of the world's population and yet has twenty five percent of the world's prison population most of them minorities most of them in jail on petty drug offenses. the u.s. needs to come to grips with the fact that it has serious human rights problems within its country and that it perpetrates serious human rights abuses around the world including in afghanistan iraq pakistan yemen just to name a few i think to say that to talk about rogue states the us is

a rogue state into terms of human rights now when you don't you think that it's it's a little unfair to just point fingers at everyone else who is speaking without actually realizing that there are problems in this country they need to be confronted and you know at least there is some kind of a forum now where internationally people can speak about it where the obama administration themselves will have volunteered to be a part of it and will submit their own reports there's been no lack of criticism at the united states you don't need to have a forum in the in the u.n. to do that of course it happens all the time and then i see it in the united way see the need to address guantanamo bay to address you know the fact that our prison population is one of the largest in the entire there and we already have a system in place and it is we have we have laws in place that take care of problems of discrimination so people have it related to the process of those laws are working you know i would think they would agree with me that hear me that there wouldn't be human rights abuses if every law worked perfectly well and we have good reason for our law. we have let you have the law works fine because the law

works to put who our people and minorities in jail again we have the largest prison population in the world by far our most of those are minorities let me also mention something that happens in jail to poor people in jail for nonviolent crimes there is a massive sexual abuse of those people last year alone eighty thousand prisoners were raped ok that is something that's not discuss we have a serious human rights problem we just choose to sweep it under the rug by putting people in jail again china's popular. actually we we were involved in helping to pass a law in the united states regarding prison rape and we've been trying to get the department of justice to enforce that law so there's not that there's not any attempts there not under the united states but what we need to recognize you can't

say that a prisoner in the united states is in jail for murder is equivalent to a person someone who's in prison in cuba for expressing an opinion against the government there is not an equivalency there but here what about you know if the united states has docked it essentially here is abroad airs later prison in cuba and. here's the best thousands of people flee china flee cuba every year to get away from their tens of thousands of people try to get into the united states and then i mean does that leave it as a anything that's wrong in the united states is completely forgiven because people i'm not going to say i like you and nobody i don't actually want to discuss that there are problems in america and they're saying that they're think i get everything set by the way is well we have a system for that well we have laws for that but they still exist so what do we do about them is there a perfect place on earth of course not but here's the point i was asking are you can make it more perfect and you can doubt it and that's why we have work to pass

laws like i mentioned and why there is there are people who are working hard in the united states but let's be clear when it comes to human rights abuses there is no equivalency between the united states does not is ready to eat equivalent to get saudi arabia and i'm sure that we're very cozy with who we make sixty by now going to work and i think that's why a lot of states are upset and so is our here is that i'm going to. get a word i'm sorry sort let's mention saudi arabia you just mentioned saudi arabia the u.s. supports saudi arabia and in fact obama has proposed to send sixty billion dollars in weapons to saudi arabia our best friends in the world are some of the worst human rights abusers so we need to start there and start dealing with that. i think about is a very good point to bring up but i think that's why a lot of people also like to point fingers at america's because you know we do like to treat ourselves as this role model abroad and yet we do pick and choose according.