the russian state energy company ross nafta and british petroleum have announced a major deal to jointly develop our peak oil and gas fields worth tens of billions of dollars. the new start nuclear arms reduction treaty between moscow and washington d.c. one step closer to reality the second of three readings in the russian parliament. and a rough justice despite no extradition treaty between washington and kabul terrorist suspects are being set to stand trial in the u.s. courts bush critics say butros international law. as president obama gave his tucson address offering the arizona shooting victims many said the speech has restored his connection with the american people but will help and has his chances of keeping the white house more than that in the old you want to show here on our

t.v. . we've got. the biggest issues get voice face to face with the news makers. welcome the loner show at the real headlines with none of the mersey work we live out of washington d.c. now tonight we're going to ask if the media has a band wiki leaks journalism organizations have seem to have dropped off and supporting the songes over organization over the past few years as the government ramps up its offensive on them so where did the media go we're going to speak to the daily banters ben cohen next to look at a budding relationship between the g.o.p. and the latino population here in the u.s. in the past these two haven't really been friends but as the g.o.p.

realizes that they need the lead tetovo down the line they're starting to warm up to the hispanic population but we'll it really work republican strategist leslie sanchez will join me to discuss the topic then would you believe that the u.s. doesn't have an exact knowledge of how many military bases we have around the world according to one author the pentagon other experts none of them can seem to nail down an exact count and to me that is very disturbing we're going to have the author on our show to discuss his findings and why he thinks the u.s. is so clueless on the number of our military bases abroad and it's no secret that new york city washington d.c. these are hot spots known around the world but is there a disconnect between these two cities and the rest of america and what role does the media have to play in all that political journalist david sirota will join me to discuss the growing disconnect and it's friday which means that season smith will be joining me to cover a mash up of the craziest stories making headlines this week canada snubs one of

the most legendary songs of all time. baltimore has a cross-dressing imposter on the loose sorting it seems to sense on all that at the end of the show but now let's move on to our top story. as we continue to wait and see of julian assad will be extradited to sweden may be sent to the u.s. if the justice department is going to manage to build an actual criminal case against him we have to wonder where the u.s. media organizations have all gone that once supported wiki leaks as nancy yourself from mcclatchy points out in two thousand and eight twelve journalism organizations including the associated press all weighed in on a lawsuit brought against wiki leaks after the website published hundreds of private documents from the swiss bank bank julius baer now the organizations were so vocal about the first amendment wiki leaks right to publish that the judge reversed his order in wiki leaks favor but look today to the reaction to the recent release of state department cables and there are very few voices speaking with the

leaks defense aside from perhaps foreign press or the likes of salon's glenn greenwald so where have all the media got did weekly exchange how they conduct their business or is their primary target the u.s. government one which even journalists are too afraid to stand up to joining me from our studio in los angeles to discuss it is ben cohen editor of the daily banter ben thanks so much for joining us now first let's see do you agree with me here when we say that the u.s. press seems to have kind of backed off of supporting wiki leaks all the same while they seem to be using the information that we cue leaks release to write new news stories. i think that's a very fair assessment of what's happening it seems to me that the u.s. for us is petrified. that they might it's in somewhere you know the u.s. government so they backing off as soon as there is any information is leaked about the united states government that potentially holds them accountable for criminal behavior you see the u.s.

press basically go into hiding which is exactly what they did in the boot up to the iraq war so i think your assessment is correct and you know it's so interesting to see like i mentioned there in two thousand and eight the press was so gung ho about supporting regulate when it came to revealing bank documents maybe they're going to do the exact same thing when this supposed to treasure show treasure trove of documents on bank of america is released by wiki leaks but in the meantime we what happened to the media the government watched on what happened to these people. again i think we're seeing an exact replay of what happened in the iraq war when journalists were going out and publishing this information that was detrimental to the government's case building up a building a case to go toward iraq and you saw the way that they went into hiding soon is like the government was going to come down to the valerie plame with a very prime was a name was leaked to the press. i think everyone got petrified and they got scared

it is amazing that you find in a country like the united states which has basically the word of the free press is in the world with a potential to have one of the for its presence in the world. so when there's no need to you have first amendment rights you can you can say what you want you're protected by the constitution and you've got wiki leaks which is doing exactly what us journalists should be doing which is going out and speaking truth to power publishing documents publishing government documents and breaking stories when you have and it's just not the pressure be blowing up in support this it's amazing that they're no find it absolutely amazing and embarrassing but one thing it's interesting to look at is who necessarily the government goes after to right because there are people out there bob woodward for example that has made a career who has sold millions of copies of books off of exposing government secrets but this is somebody that ever been gone after so it kind of gives you the

impression that as long as there is somebody that you know welcomed or accepted by the washington establishment in the halls of washington then it's totally ok to leak all the secrets you want but when it happens to be this organization or a person like julian assigns then suddenly it is now ok. right but this is a person that the u.s. government people insiders in washington believe that they know what he's pretty much what he's going to say he's not dangerous he's not a dangerous leaker but somebody like junior son just completely they have no control of what he says he's not a u.s. citizen he's based nobody knows really where he's based he has access to files that the u.s. government. they have no idea. what follows he's got hold of so he's a wild caught a mouse war thing that's what scares the u.s. government all i know another thing is that so many journalists organizations out there you can talk about the national press club it really is just around the corner from our offices here in d.c. they for the moment are being completely silent on this entire weekend leaks issue

and they've put statements out there saying that if indeed a criminal charge is filed against julian assigns that then they'll stop it because then they actually have proof that this could be an affront to journalists freedoms to the first amendment but where is the solidarity you know why do they have to wait until a criminal charges filed because if you ask me the way that the government is going after week the leaks be it through the use of twitter or the intimidation of businesses like these and pay pal it's already happening. yes i think that's a great point it's a excellent point and the u.s. media should really look at itself take a good look at it from the office itself what it stands for where the response for freedom of the press freedom of speech whether it is going to show solidarity with with a fellow journalist who's doing who's really doing their job because you don't see in this kind of reporting coming from anywhere else certainly the new york times washington post and the l.a. times they're not breaking stories like a song that is in a breaking stories by wiki big stars on

a routine basis and speaking truth to power so i think that's a very very point to make. where all they where is the press they've disappeared again. and quite the opposite you know organizations like the new york times you can say the guardian they work very closely with wiki leaks it was thanks to wiki leaks that they were given this information in the first place they got to be their front page stories but do you think that maybe it's easier for you know the british press or foreign is ations like reporters without borders to support we can leaks because they aren't american because it's not their government you know that is essentially having information put out about it. i definitely think that's that's true and that's fair. but you also in britain there is the press has a reputation for being a lot more facie when it comes to. confronting the government so that about six steps within the acceptable realm of debate in the u.k.

and in america it seems that that's not you have again it's kind of a strange culture of self-censorship where there's no need to self censor but they do for fear of alienating of the thais is the fear of the government cracking down on the. it's a it's a strange culture that exists in the us exists in the us media goes to sleep every now and then. i think we're witnessing another cycle in which there is very important breaking stories that have the whole us government the really accountable for criminal activity for the murdering of civilians spying on un officials these are serious stories that weren't serious attention and the press is although they're happy to publish the stories from wiki leaks and wash their hands of it they're not willing to back in his right to do that and definitely a dangerous time to fall asleep because you know thanks to the disclosures from

wiki leaks we automatically have politicians here in the us that are trying to bring up new legislation you know to make it illegal to disclose certain documents we had representative peter king yesterday pushing on it tim geitner to ban businesses from working with or julian assange you know there's a lot of dangerous legislation being brought up and it's now the time to be silent if you ask me ben thank you so much for joining us. thanks a lot of. well still ahead on tonight's show the latino vote the g.o.p. and dems are battling for just one latino population explodes us we're going to discuss the issue with leslie sanchez republican strategist in a moment and do you know the exact number of u.s. military bases around the world i'm. betting you don't because apparently no one knows tonight we're going to look into why and nobody knows how many u.s. bases exist abroad with nick turse.

bringing you the latest in science and technology something. we've got the future covered. the fight for the latino vote in this country is intensifying in fact according to the twenty ten u.s. census there is a population boom of latinos in this country by two thousand and fifty they're going to make up thirty percent of the u.s. population and you know back in two thousand and eight barack obama captured sixty percent of the latino vote so robbins won it in two thousand and twelve there are

going to be that vote too many are speculating that we are going to see a boom in the series of political and social changes as a result of the latino influence as well as remodeling though reports. the culture and language of latinos is a fixed part of america and apparently an even greater part of its future throughout the country latinos are just coming to the big cities anymore they're moving deep into america's heartland challenging the status quo and changing the electoral map in traditionally conservative states where the future. i'm not going to go anywhere you started me with the whole aspect of economics i think that there's no denying that. it's very poor while americans are long used to seeing latinos harvesting their crops building their homes and came for their

children now they will increasingly see latinos playing a major role in rural america's future but are the residents of traditionally white suburbs ready for this this is about people who may be coming with diseases we've already eradicated bring them back into the united states same thing happened in the thirty's forty's and fifty's same thing happened that i was silent it's the same process you protect but lawful citizens under represented in local and federal government harassed by law enforcement and facing widespread discrimination the forty eight million strong hispanic community is beginning to sense its strength as the largest and growing minority its flexing its political muscle and fighting for its rights this is a community that's getting together seen a we've had enough of these abuses we've had enough of these abuses of people coming down on us over and over again and a political system that doesn't represent us sentiments there will likely strengthen as their numbers do and politicians better take no republicans are sure

to rejoice as traditionally red states gain additional house seats they may be less thrilled that this reapportion in its thanks to increases in the immigrant population specifically latinos unhappy with what they see as a hostile anti immigration stance of the republican party hispanics accounted for more than fifty percent of the past decade population growth more than fifteen million are u.s. citizens under the age of eighteen and not eligible to vote but they will be barry soon that you know movements will be sure to use it to their political advantage or they're going to care they're going to have to care. because we were preserved for example specifically in california almost twenty one percent of the electorate the growing latino population is changing the lives so and taste of america and whether you like it or not latinos are going to change and poised to change the tone and

direction of the political debate in los angeles in the r t. so republican politicians seem to be waking up to the fact that they need the latino vote just yesterday former florida governor jeb bush and other republican leaders launched a new effort to reach out to hispanic voters call the hispanic leadership network now bush warned that it would be incredibly stupid to ignore the hispanic vote in the long haul and considering that by the year two thousand and fifty thirty percent of america's population will be hispanic i think most would agree but republicans do have one little problem that whole image of we hate immigrants made apparent by the tone of november's elections strict immigration laws like the state of arizona and calls to repeal the fourteenth amendment so can republicans still win latinos back or is the damage to great well joining me from miami is leslie

sanchez republican strategist and founder and c.e.o. of impacto group leslie thanks so much for joining us now we know thank you so when we hear the republicans are launching this new effort to reach out to the hispanic voters do you feel like it's a sincere effort to do you think that they're actually going to try to work on the issues that matter matter to the latino voters or is this just about saying hey we're here on your side but not actually acting on it. sure i really think it's an effort it's not only for the next election but it's for the next generation and that's what's critical about it we're not having this conversation in the summer before a presidential election which tends to be the time that everybody republican and democrat decides to look at the latino community i think it's a. because you have to look at the hip of the players involved when you have a jeb bush a senator norm coleman i mean you have organizations that it's been a very strong. older organization like the heritage foundation all the sudden launching leiber died and it's been you know when you have these kind of movements

like newt gingrich having an americano summit this is a movement not only among republicans but among conservatives and that's a very important step i think politically but let's look at the political climate that we saw specially over this last year since their last year since it was a campaign year before the elections we saw arizona's immigration law as a ten seventy you know worry is that this might lead to late racial profiling and you have some of the responses from some conservative politicians or exactly people want to hear i have a clip from john mccain if we can play that. by i would be very sorry that if some of that happens and i regret it but i also regret. that really it's not just the murder of robert cranch it's the people whose homes and property are being violated it's the it's the drive-by of the that are the drivers of cars with the illegal senator that are intentionally causing accidents on the freeway. everywhere

price saw that highlighted narrow zone of the most but afterwards there are many other states they wanted to pass similar legislation but it's this attitude right that latinos are all criminals there are drug dealers i mean can that damaged beyond. well i don't think it damages that base of that that's the rod sentiment i don't think that's what senator mccain was saying there's there's two parts i think you're absolutely correct some of the new show rhetoric made it sound like this could be something that would get latinos could be unfairly racially profiled i think there was some language that was changed and people have made a very concerted effort both republican and democrat to say that's not the case with the arizona law now that being said. i think there is a confusion about how latinos are perceiving it it's a mixed bag you have some in the southwest who really support the idea of border enforcement want to do more about this that are really championing these causes

latinas are not together they're not monolithic on a lot of issues and certainly not this but republicans have to be careful about tone. it's not just this case but many of these state immigration efforts they have to be careful that it doesn't sound anti mexican anti hispanic or reports or any type of antiquities now what about when it comes to talks of repealing the fourteenth amendment this is something that we've seen senator lindsey graham talk about we have a lot of other politicians you know that's that's a movement for the future right for the next generation that would matter if they do in fact change the constitution here is that something that the last you know community is split on or unified. i think it's a it's a non starter i think it's core legislation it's republican and democrats who do it it was senator harry reid who is holding hearings on ending birthright citizenship and then here comes some republicans who jump on that bandwagon i think it's important it's not american i mean it's not the right solution that's my personal

feeling about it and i think there's many that would agree there's other ways to address the illegal immigration problem and that is just something that seems it's more political rhetoric rhetoric and political theater than political reality well we'll see how far you are successful in actually amending the constitution in this case but tell me where where else are the you know the g.o.p. at hispanic voters really aligned because you can say that has been a quote as for the most part are more conservative by immigration clearly as a nation that they feel strongly about health care reform as an issue that they felt very strongly about. very true you know you're exactly right with interesting about hispanic is that it's not they're very much aligned like general market mainstream. american voters they were concerned about the economy jobs health care and national security comes up but what ticks up very high as well is that decay should it's always been up there and in pretty much the top five issues of concern this is a community with interesting about two thousand and ten is you have

a lot more independent maybe soft democrat independent latino voters who are concerned about debt and fiscal responsibility now you can have a lot of different reasons for why that was a lot of us come from latin american countries that have led devaluation of our currency don't trust the banks don't trust the government they don't want to see the same type of measures replicated in the u.s. in think they were more cautious than they need in main street groups while everyone both are in on the can as. i guy in are getting made everyone by the republicans and democrats are saying are going to be fighting very hard to get this latino vote in the future like you said for the next generation so we'll see if this new and initiative works for the lesson thank you so much for joining us. thank you. now in a world of statistics precision a world in which accountability is now a washington buzz word a world where all information is available at the click of a mouse there's one member that no american knows not the president not the

pentagon not the experts know what those are the words of nick turse regarding the u.s. military's empire of bases of broad and just think about it have you ever heard a definitive number is it six hundred seven hundred nine hundred over a thousand it seems that every journalist and writer out there have undertaken the venture of finding out coming up with a different answer and they all admit that it's foggy at best so how is it in this day and age of talks of economic austerity of our military is incredible intelligence gathering powers and nobody knows what earlier i caught up with nick turse author of the case for withdrawal from afghanistan and associate editor of tom dispatch dot com and i first asked him since he's been investigating this subject writing about it for years now all search of this magic number they can't find what is best estimate is for a number of bases abroad. oh you know what i'm relatively sure of is that there is no that's one thousand and seventy seven. days or so it's in our countries but

they're paying a heavy penalty. or many more than just to be sure but why is it so hard to find an answer why can't you be sure. there's a number of the use of all of these numbers under wraps especially beings who is in war in countries where google says he believes the host nations don't want to know just how incredibly u.s. news aside from secrecy and other things will be just. how can they just not bother to keep count i mean let's talk about exact gamma stands for example rights that we've been. war for almost ten years i know that you made a lot of phone calls spoke to a lot of people to try to get you know a definitive member for afghanistan and how many bases we have there this is our primary theater of war i guess you could say at the moment why is that not

important to keep count of. i mean it's a good question and one that they weren't really able to answer to my satisfaction when and when i started trying to figure out how many trees was there were going to get us there and this time last year i was told they were hungry and i did. this i was told. i wondered where the hundred of them when when i when i asked. the humor of a lot of excuse and eventually came back with a number of one hundred eleven i got the sense that they were grasping at straws but he just didn't know. bar the excuses ever that you know we have to keep some of this sacred you know in order for security because we are in fact fighting a war there we don't want to just make it public where all of our bases are or is it just you know a lot of bad accounting poor intelligence and miscommunication. this . secrecy was an issue. they're going to spend billions of dollars on construction

on experience in their tracks were the ones you're going to. be with. you know the lower echelon and the investment you will need to have good numbers and. well that's so strange for our government not to bring up secrecy right that's usually the first thing that they fall back on as a reason not to tell you the true number of something which i mean let's be honest there has to be a number of bases in countries where we don't necessarily want to admit that we have you know military forces where the other country doesn't necessarily want to admit they were there either because the populations tend to be you know anti-american let's say pakistan for example or you know a what are we doing in yemen or. using bases there did you get any kind of information on that you know i mean is it in the books at all. when it comes to publish what it is and who's they. are. minimized are all a good example is korea it's a country where there's

a whole set of these so where the pentagon as they will this one i'm in a vocation in kuwait. and one of those deployed go to the middle east over the years we're watching as an american because the as i would you know is that there are fewer than six u.s. bases in hawaii right and there are hundreds of personnel there but. you know it's they're telling out of minimize that one of their official kerry and his unit in saudi arabia you see this in pakistan and students in car. so it's on the books that we have people there we're just not going to tell you where these people haven't to be within that country what about when it comes to size because you know we have make a basis you can talk about bach america and afghanistan that it was eight square miles there are popeye is there a burger king is there as you know they get i think three hundred sixty thousand pounds of mail a day this is essentially is a city within itself do they stop the measuring at

a certain point if the base is considered too small you know are we obsessed with size. of the pentagon or really. super sized businesses and being. that are small they don't care and when our oil bases there will be money. to the pentagon they're the only ones we consider something that's less than ten acres which is their way of life for babies or anything less than ten years anything that they don't value it ten million dollars or more they don't bother you know i guess at the end of the day is that really the number that even matters or is it just proving the point to us that this military industrial complex has gotten so completely out of hand that there is nobody out. out there in the knows how to rein it in or even put a finger on it. i would go for it when i was with the most. of the world. what more was understand me.

and so shall we but no one really knows it's true so. well that's comforting that means we also have absolutely no idea how much money they're spending on a our empire of bases abroad hopefully someday we'll get the answer that question nick thanks so much for joining us so much trouble. so to come on tonight's show our tool time is a little bit different let's just say that we are all to blame for what's coming and we come back and while the u.s. economic woes continue one of the places that's riding despite the recession is washington d.c. to look at the issue discussed why there seems to be such a disconnect between everyday america and the bubbles of influence here in d.c. .