invasive security searches at airports across the u.s. . welcome the lower show will get the real headlines with none of the mercy or can we live out of washington d.c. now today we're going to continue our discussions surrounding the current practices of the t.s.a. we're going to ask if privatizing the airports best could be the best option for safe travel in the skies dr james carafano will join me with the answer and today is national opt out day but it really doesn't seem to be generating as much hype as the media anticipated so does that mean that the average american is ok with their privacy being violated or do they really not just care at all about giving up their civil liberties were to get a unique perspective from hip hop journalist davey d. then the president pardon two turkeys today at the white house but he has yet to

pardon any humans since taking office so we're going to speak with a professor about what it means to pardon someone and how this could affect obama's presidency then another protests broke out in the u.k. today over the threat of rising tuition that's not the only part of the world fighting economic troubles artie's lauren lyster will fill us in on the financial crisis around the world and it's a rubber revolution that attempts to gain awareness of the growing aids epidemic in d.c. one website has come up with a very fun way to promote the use of condoms but some conservative groups are saying that the website is actually promoting casual sex so is the website a good or a bad thing we're going to find out at the end of the show but now let's move on to today's top story. it's safe to say that the t.s.a. the backscatter machines and enhanced pat downs are the biggest story of the last few weeks travelers are up in arms over the idea of a government employee touching their and their children's junk so to speak but what

if they weren't government employees what if they were private contractors like a good old days before nine eleven. and obviously before junk touching now if you airports around the country are already using contractors and members of congress including representative john mica of florida think that that should be the case all around but again he was also one of the chief co-sponsors of the airport security federalization act of two thousand and one to help get the t.s.a. on the map so if that's he has say didn't exist what really be any different and more importantly would we be any safer well joining me to discuss it is dr james carafano senior defense policy analyst at the heritage foundation james thanks so much for being here ok no next question no no i want us to look at this isn't even a yes or no question i want you to walk us through how quickly the t.s.a. seemed to have been formed after all of the nine eleven hoopla i mean really it was two months and boom we had a new agency yeah it was pretty incredible so before that the federal aviation administration was responsible for administering safety and security so after nine

eleven they said that's not good enough we're going to create another agency that could be in charge of security you know nobody really debated that but then we got to the big question is who's going to screen at the airport we came up with this t.s.a. screening force now the law interestingly does allow airports to opt out of having government screeners and initially the right i believe was five airports did that nobody's done it since then because there really isn't a financial advantage in to do it that's it i mean if there is you know since there's so much of an outcry right now if there is that provision there that allows airports to opt out then why are more people doing it just because it's more expensive well you know you ask yourselves what how we got in this begin with if you actually go back and read the nine eleven commission report and you look at this the screeners did the screeners actually correctly follow the protocol that was laid out the screening didn't fail you know per se you could say the protocols were wrong but you know they were just following orders so. you know in

a sense we why do we create this giant workforce and it really was kind of a knee jerk reaction and and eleven. well what happens is if you opt out you still have to follow the same procedures and the same protocols as the government screeners and the part of t.s.a. are vested gaiters who go out and inspect the inspectors every day and they'll inspect the private sector guys just like they do the government ones well in that case if we're going to be forced to deal with all the exact same measures any time you want to get on a plane then what are the advantages of having a private security force working well you know if you're running the security force you can you can certainly affect the courtesy of that force how well how people are treated use of the follow the rules how you follow the rules is really kind of your business so airports could actually do a lot to make the customer experience a lot more pleasant and a lot less intrusive and intimidating they don't have to have guards in uniforms for example now let's talk about the flip side of that i mean you know at least

expect them to be wearing a uniform i don't think that makes you feel a little bit better like well ok well person officially has to do this i mean the point is the airport can do a lot to adapt the customer experience of how they go through a lot of how they present themselves and you know you know regional airports are very different and they have you know different so they can do a lot actually to change things around they're going to have to do the same security but the flipside which is increasingly t.s.a. you know the you know they added the badge not just for show they out of the badge because they really have been trying to train the to say workforce to be less focused on doing what's in the protocol and looking for the bad guys and that is kind of the unfortunate piece that's got missed in this whole story which is the t.s.a. workforce despite the videos that you see and you know incidents that happened in general the t.s.a. were force has gotten dramatically better when t.s.a. when you say looking out for the bad guys you mean like racial profiling ethnic profiling or are how do you know counter about what makes racial ethnic profiling

but looking for behaviors and activities and more importantly looking for the components of an improvised explosive device. trying to think ahead of the terrorists or what they might come up with that's new so they really try to train them to be look out for bad things as opposed to just do a b. c. d. like you're on the assembly line that you know that story's kind of gotten but it was able to i mean now we have essentially machines that are doing it for them right we have these these body scanners that reveal everything about a person now the t.s.a. always does well it's not it's a waste of money but it's also a big moneymaker for people like michael chertoff you know which is why everyone feels that there is this massive conspiracy going on because do we really need body scanners if there is more it and is it a waste of money and the answer is why are we doing this and the answer is simple it's much simpler than. that the simple answer was we had this huge stimulus package and we had to have shovel ready products and we had a shut things out the door and it was something that they could throw money at and so they did and they're throwing more money at it right now but just tell me this

because i'm not convinced i feel like even if you do start using private firms you know then what's to stop from firms that perhaps don't deserve contracts to be getting those contracts because they're putting money into some senators conference well that's easy because bill will still have to meet the exact same standards as the t.s.a. so the people have to have clearances they'll have to have the exact same level of training they'll have to follow the protocols. will it save the taxpayer money. well no and here's that although i look for it well here's the deal is because most of the most of that's paid by user fees at the airport it's not paid out of the tax revenues so you're going to be paying you're going to be paying for that security you know regardless of whether it's a private sector a public sector employee but the scanners are a bad idea i mean i don't think i think a lot of people agree with that at this point i mean i we don't all want to be radiated every time that you know but. here's the irony which everybody misses the scanners are actually developed so people wouldn't have to pat downs it's the look when you send somebody to secondary if they're suspicious or they need additional screening pat downs are incredibly intrusive let's get it here only there now the

only other option but i mean it's like you have to choose you know is for me to evil i knew i didn't want to do this you know you're going to agree with you and i just feel so every now and then i mean every now and then you and i can agree james thank you so much for being here we'll see if this really picks up and if governments i mean airports to start hiring private contractors around the country thanks for being here. well speaking of the t.s.a. today november twenty fourth was declared national opt out day a day when airline passengers were supposed to decide whether or not they'll speak up against the t.s.a. the measures forgo the x. ray body scanners and get a pat down in public to show all travelers just how invasive they really are but nowadays arrived it seems like most passengers are pretty calm and there's really not much for protest at all so we can't help but wonder was the t.s.a. hysteria justified because often finds out. there's another case of outrage over t.s.a. pat downs the fury over the pat down it's not exactly dying down it's the t.s.a.

versus t.n.a. scanners are turning the tables now men can be judged by their package according to the media the american people don't appreciate being scanned or added down it takes make sure your risk so today on one of the busiest travel days of the year some frequent flyers decided to take action you are saying that the day during the thanksgiving holiday is probably a good idea that people protest this stuff at the airport. yes it can be messy and something brewing here have said they have a right to be upset and they should be upset with the government the u.s. government whose presence has increased here since nine eleven air travel in the united states has undergone quite the security changes in last year's christmas day bomber didn't help matters much either because americans usually fear for their safety and welcome heightened security measures when it comes to nudity or even being patted down many folks don't seem to be too aroused i think it would

discourage me from flying even more so really before it's just too invasive it just appears to be too invasive but most people didn't share that sentiment really for the time i was in the skin or the fine i walked through and that was it i mean there was no skimming there was no pat down there was nothing you have to go through a scanner i didn't have the support of the force. why why not on a says such a big drama about it for nothing the drama escalated with a loosely organized internet boycott national opt out day for those bashful of their lady or man parts they could choose a pat down instead of a scanner the story became a media frenzy as far as creating a frenzy at the airport not so much it is inconvenient it is uncomfortable but when you go to the doctor and he examines you they put their hand all over the place and you don't like it. but you put up with it putting up with it or even enjoying does it matter who's patting you down i rather have a choice between a male or female who would you choose

a female so you'd like to be patted down as long as it's a female yes while others actually opted for the scanner i'd much rather be scanned and patted down and read as my leg and i just didn't feel right about touching or looking even our favorite celebrities don't see the big deal and it's not the way that i would like to live but if it's going to keep me from getting blown out of the sky you can check anything you want and if you feel some you like i'll squeeze a one of my want. to some americans it's no laughing matter it's difficult that we live in a society where we are so afraid of what's going to happen that we have to have these invasive search for seizures i think it shows a real weakness in our foreign policy and wherever there is frustration with the government or media hysteria there's money to be made a case in point fig leaf underwear brought to you by a las vegas businessman who says this strategically placed leaf along with some powdered metal will ease the embarrassment when having to go through the scanners

would you have a rock rocked underwear. personally i think it's a little out of proportion and. not a fan of figleaves not another fan of figleaves hiding private parts to protect privacy rights that most of these travelers could care less about due to go soft ski r.t. washington d.c. . so it looks like when it came down to the wire the average traveler wasn't opting out of national opt out day now all these pat downs didn't make them did make them feel uncomfortable they did feel there was worth it to ensure their safety so who were all the people that were screaming the loudest about the disgraceful invasion of privacy was unusual we can say that it was politicians and pundits the same ones that scream about the threat of illegal aliens support racial profiling in airport . the muslims the ones who don't believe that the park of some one community center near ground zero should be built when it comes to average white people being humiliated they cry for the heavens so what's with the hypocrisy well joining me

from oakland is hip hop journalist david thanks so much for joining us now i guess first are you shocked that all the national opt out day was kind of a failure no one really opted out no i wasn't i wasn't shocked at all can you hear me clear just i did i can hear you perfectly yes yes i wasn't shocked at all on a couple of fronts one i went to the important saturday i saw all the newspapers in canada zero and i also watched and waited in i do see everybody so that i was that i was in this was pretty crowded. thing out of anything maybe just one person but it was no protest that's the first thing the second thing is is that if i pay five six hundred dollars for airfare i'm not going to go away that is fair so if i decided to opt out and i'm allowed to leave which i don't think you were i'm not going to have the airline go well you make the choice to missed

a flight no refunds body so therefore i knew that that wasn't going to happen and then lastly most of us have in some point in our lives into some sort of event or you know going to the airport or any other number of things when we've been searched i mean just go into a presidential candidate's forum you get searched if you go to one night club you get in searched so i don't think you know this was pretty much blown out of proportion well who exactly do you think it was blown out of proportion by right because we did see a lot of conservative pundits on t.v. we did see a lot of lawmakers the same ones that you know that the day after the failed christmas day bombing attempt who are screaming that we need increased security measures to keep america safe and to do whatever it takes suddenly they were the ones that got a little scared of these pat downs. well they wanted to scare it with a calculated effort to divert attention from what they really wanted if you follow the money you find that they want politicians that might have been getting

a lot of contributions so the private security firms that suddenly said let's fire the t.s.a. that would be representative john mica out of florida he would be one of them saying that you look at his record and go oh this guy was one of the folks then and so i'm doing when we established the t.s.a. and two thousand and one when it was time to cut budgets he put forth bills to say cut medicare in student education but he didn't have the t.s.a. in there now all of a sudden he's saying fire the t.s.a. you look at the money and you go oh ok this guy's been getting contributions from various private firms that would take the place of the t.s.a. so what i'm talking about is that you have the actual coal fired the t.s.a. but you didn't have the more penetrating and more impactful let's change the law let's make sure homeland security comes when it comes up with a new methodology for screening passengers you didn't have that at all and for people who weren't used to being touched or searched as rigorously as was taking

place in the last few weeks they were the ones that jumped on the bandwagon but it seemed very artificial at most well that's one of the things that i you know found so interesting also in reading your piece about this is that there are a lot of americans that know they aren't used to being searched and touched you know and having to deal with these measures but you mentioned that you know there are entire communities that have to deal with this all the time you know the children who had been strip searched in front of their parents men that had to watch their girlfriends and their wives being you know felt up by police officers why don't we ever hear those stories you think that the media just ignores it that comes from those communities. well it comes under the heading of law and order on this a little history first let's take a law and order part in new york city you had unda rudolph giuliani distrait destry task force that went around and frisk and search young men. that lived in predominantly black and brown neighborhoods to the tune of i think one year over

half a million there was no outcry from that but any of those people and i have friends who've been searched you know yourself up and many of them you know all my friends they never had guns or anything but they looked the part they had a hoodie on baggy clothes on and you know it's subjected to them to these random searches for what seemed like random searches when you talk to people in l.a. where i'm at a lot of times most of the people i know have had some sort of experience where they've been deliberately humiliated in a city that's known for really smashing down on people when it comes to the police so if you talk to a lot of people this been more than a few occasions where people have been told drop your drawers in front of everybody as a way of showing who have power and to to to really just kind of put it in people's minds not to talk back on or do anything to the police i have a friend who actually works in law enforcement he's had that happen to him four

times in different occasions over the past five years and he's a probation officer so this is how rampant it is to the point that i think people of i hate to say got used to it when they're not surprised when they hear that it's going on in other parts of the country and just now other americans that aren't used to these measures are waking up to a david thank you so much for joining us ok thank you. now i guess that we already should have known the national opt out day isn't going to work because away here at r t already tested it we sent a producer out on the streets of d.c. who was offering up free pat downs to look. in front of the time running a search area to see you. know. would you opt out of it or would you get the body scanners would up till. nobody touches my junk nobody touches your jaw no no junk touching here right i think having your nipple tied by some of these hand for

a split second really not a big deal compared to dying on an airplane i mean if i had an option i guess i would let them touch me i don't want to do this kind of thing is it more of like you think they're going to keep the pictures they say that too much of that radiation is not good for you what makes it different from me touching you than a t.s.a. employee i can do i can close your investors draw i'm not going to read to you that's a good point what's the difference i guess he's got a legit badge and certified you're welcome it was good enough come on it was what. you have no problem with like you liked actually john green no. all right all right you are trying to get a little bit i mean that's what it is i was just saying moments ago that i'm thinking that might be as lucky as some people get all year. when you know by the way we're giving away free t.s.a. pat downs here if anybody's interested they can ask you a quick question about which. means it's coming but.

well still to come on tonight's show russian prime minister vladimir putin has become very close friends with one of hollywood's idols stay tuned to find out who it is and why the band and it's thanksgiving tradition at the white house the president pardoning turkeys but would you be surprised to learn that since taking office obama has pardoned a single person i mean discuss the issue with a political science professor in just. when you leave. the realm. of harvard.

as is tradition today president obama pardoned some turkeys just in time for thanksgiving named apple and cider by schoolchildren from california they not one but two words are going to live out their days in peace i don't pay to approve livestock facility in mount vernon it's a sweet little tale or not overshadowed by the lack of compassion that this president has shown to any human beings seeking clemency obama has not yet pardoned a single person in this six hundred seventy four days that he spends in office and as of today he becomes the second slowest president in history to use his clemency author already surpassed only by george w. bush and this is a woman he can blame on washington gridlock or the party of no in fact ever acquires no permission this is a power constitutionally reserved for the president of the united states to act

absolutely and unilaterally so why hasn't our hope and change president used his power to offer both to offer both by correcting injustices and giving people a second chance or earlier i caught up with p.s. ruckman jr associate professor of political science at rock valley college you know some have a wrong perception that granting clemency means letting violent murderers out onto the streets to run. wilde so i first asked professor ruckman to clarify for us exactly what the requirements are and who is eligible to be granted parole. well for the past century the typical our innovative economy well over ninety percent is not grandison want to serve their time it also issued fines and penalties they've integrated back into society is law abiding members and they've waited for spray a period of time. i think it's five years now for pardons and they're there they're background checks by the f.b.i. and so you're right they're not being sprung from prison or being tossed out on the

street straight from prison instead they're simply getting their civil rights restored right so there's this isn't shouldn't be perceived necessarily as a soft on crime stance on presidents do actually grant somebody a pardon but president obama hasn't done that yet not for a single individual so do you find that disappointing i mean considering that this man was not only a constant constitutional law professor but you know considering that he's a democrat or that is the first black president in america. you know it is certainly surprising democrats are generally been more liberal with the pardon power oh lawyers have been more liberal former governors have been more stones even he's not a former governor and he didn't come to the office on the heels of the green card controversy like other presidents have so one would have expected much more on the other hand he did appoint mr holder as attorney general and holder brought quite a bit of luggage with him to that office in terms of pardon controversies and he

retained mysteriously enough george to have your voices ardan attorney and that's a mystery to some of us who follow this this stuff but what do you think that it could be those individuals that are holding him back i mean it's not like you know they've been too busy that they can't pay any attention to this matter because we know that just in the month of october they formally denied seventy one partner requests six hundred and five commutation requests so you know what's going on here what's holding obama back. well in the department of justice for the office of the pardon attorney is housed that process dominated by career prosecutors and individuals who don't have experience on the other side of the criminal justice equation i mean leave the defense and they just don't have a personal interest or vested interest in looking into pardon application seriously and it's just much easier for them to reject them outright then it is for them to grant clemency sometimes also there's

a notion that granting apartment choir's some kind of political capital but again that's just simply not true and the vast majority of cases so you know i mean obama obviously doesn't have to pardon anybody just as much as he has the right to do it he is allowed not to make that decision at all but do you think that the longer that he waits if he now you know has already surpassed bill clinton as the slow as democrat to get to the matter he could in only twenty seven days surpass even george w. bush and that matter the longer he. waits doesn't make you know it looks like he thinks that our justice system is perfect like there's nothing to be fixed like there's no one out there that's been wronged. you sit in a decision also sends a signal that clemency is kind of an afterthought. and by the way i would bet that he would argue rogan some pardons before. christmas time or so because one out of every two pardons for the last thirty nine years has been granted in the month of december and that's unfortunate because it sends

a signal that pardons are gifts things which people may or may not really deserve and again it's very unfortunate and very bad signal now you know pardoning also doesn't have to be limited to an individual you can also grant it to a certain class of people if it were up to you know those are there any class of people out there that you think you could recommend that you think that obama should pardon i've read a few critiques out there people that think that you know nonviolent drug offenders that are serving incredibly long sentences should be on that list when congress you know exists to use the law the law in the eighty's created one hundred one disparity in sentencing for crack cocaine in congress recognizing the error of its ways lower than to eat he stated just don't read it all together but it makes turned of sense is if congress agrees it was a mistake it has reduced it to eighteen to one then any first time nonviolent federal offender who has served past eighteen and one more in my opinion should be

released immediately as a class now very quickly you know historically since i i guess that early one thousand nine hundred it's president has started pardoning fewer and fewer people if we look back to truman and eisenhower their memories are you know well over one thousand or two thousand and then george w. bush was only at two hundred so how do you explain that trend. well if you're correct since early one thousand nine hundred twenty happened there was we created a probation and parole. turnitin release mechanisms and so the need for clemency was reduced however we got rid of parole in the federal system and there is the belief that the pardon power to pick up the pieces and he just hasn't done that in large part because of the the law and order campaigns of richard nixon and the emphasis on retributive notions of justice as opposed to rehabilitation for example by professor rockwell thank you so much for joining us and i guess they'll all have to keep on waiting to see if obama does indeed one of these days pardon

a human being instead of just a tartly. thank you very much. still to come tonight our tool time segment calls out a g.o.p. senator who pledged to ban all earmarks then three later years he took an earmark with two hundred million dollars so find out who we're talking about in just a moment and the european financial crisis deepens with more protests across the u.k. today so how could this affect the global and u.s. economic recovery i'll be joining in studio would argue financial correspondent lauren lyster in just a moment. you're

watching r t seven thirty in the morning here in moscow and here are the headlines for this hour the russian president says his country understands its democracy is imperfect but that the system is on the right across from a friend to the latest almight a video blog dimitri medvedev calls for more political competition to avoid stagnation. tustin once again turned violent as thousands mobilize against university the riser son's education process while agger intensifies and other european union countries over a crippling a staring reference to savor the illegal euro. and r.t.e. travels to central asia to look at what's being done to bring back to life the dried out dust refused to be assume the soviet union's drainage.