to a really large portion of the rest of california and a lot of people are probably going to be completely out of luck when it comes to getting to work or just getting around in general so carmageddon as they're calling it is going to be big in los angeles but if you live anywhere else in the country then why the hell would you care about this why does need to be a national news because you get to play highway to hell and have a little laugh about it you know if only the media treated the economic situation that our country is in as a scenario of apocalyptic proportions or how about the fact that they don't talk about the wars that we're fighting abroad that have a lot to do with bankrupting this country when that be something well here's some news from you for for you from our ever expanding and costly war front there are reports out today that american drones and fighter jets hit a police station and southern yemen and suspected al qaeda fighters had overrun and the reports vary for now as to the damage done in the death toll some say that eight alleged militants were killed a c.n.n. report said that the body count is fifty and that's because some sources count at

least thirty civilians were hiding out from the continuous attacks and the family members of the suspected militants were also were in the area now at some point all of the details are going to come out as to exactly how many lives were lost but there's one thing that's very clear right at this moment that our air war in yemen is only expanding and of course all reports always come from anonymous officials because well they're not allowed to talk about it but isn't that something this administration continues to act like we're idiots like we don't know that shadow wars are being waged on our behalf in a number of countries so they just pretend like it never happened you know i want i want barack obama to come out stand that his podium in the white house tell us about the drone strikes in the air attacks that are ordered in yemen in pakistan even in somalia i'd like an answer from the administration to jeremy scahill is latest report which we spoke about yesterday about the secret sites the cia has in somalia i want to know whether the practice or the rendition. in and torture black

sites all those things that he chided the bush administration for and promised to end i want to know if they're still going on but we're never going to get an answer to any of that because those people who may actually have the opportunity to speak to the president himself those cowards in the mainstream media who have decided to ignore scales report or the reports of the strike in yemen today they would never ever be bothered to ask our worldwide counterterrorism policies are something that they prefer to simply miss. all the politicians continue to bicker and snipe about the looming debt ceiling debate calling each other names storming out of rooms people aside from the media have started to take notice they know it's not wall street it still seems cool as a cucumber it's the ratings agencies who started to think the unthinkable the historic u.s. downgrade on wednesday moody's placed the united states triple bond rating on quote

a review for a possible downgrade and warned that even if the u.s. did raise the debt ceiling that might not be enough to save the u.s. is aaa rating and if that wasn't enough yesterday the s. and p. announced that there was a substantial likelihood that they would downgrade the u.s. rating in the next three months as to mating the probability of the u.s. losing that rating at a whopping fifty percent so with all of that talk of a potential downgrade for the u.s. well that actually mean for you and i and for the u.s. economy as a whole joining me to discuss this is michael pentode senior economist for euro pacific capital michael pleasure to have you back on the show tonight. tell me what you think first of all should the u.s. rating aaa rating be downgraded. well so that had a long time to go and as a matter of fact if the s. and p. five hundred down res ny state or speak did raise the debt ceiling at me they have

exactly. if we actually raise the debt ceiling that would be impetus for me to downgrade united states because we were fourteen dollars worth of debt that we already have and they say that we raise the debt ceiling that's at least some sigh of relief really i think if they don't raise the debt ceiling straight wonderful dips this will be a staircase billionaire. so when you think that americans actually realize i mean what do you mean when you say austerity and let's break it down first we two and what would that our stare to be if the debt ceiling isn't raised and what would it actually look like for average americans if the credit rating of the u.s. was downgraded well you know who cares about its credit rishi anyway day rate rate aaa was. late and they raised very much like i mean they have no credibility whatsoever lawyer or no one really cares. what i care about

i was. united states and commerce secretary i believe there's a fifty fifty chance that we don't show you all and that means you. and i. were. joined are live with lower day just a beatrice if we're going to radiation or so to pay for security operations. but either way we're going to. actually show that if you don't. play sure that the tax laws do. we deserve it that's already healing process i say bring in our well who are in grand isle and who deserves it my comment is that the american people that deserve this that has been doing their civic duty paying their tax dollars or as are the politicians that i've been overspending of the american money. a lot of politicians are american and we all.

represent a republic we put them in power we. are living standards away all the money that we should what ourselves and today that fire is cheap when you have the radish money supply of. the healing process is that flare great depression. and if your united states. credible seizure earlier in the region really. i don't. we are so much. no but. it's all. for which. i should say this. easy. to change and there's nothing anybody can do about it do you think the politicians are being

honest with the american people when they say what that medicine would actually look like because at the moment it just seems like a lot of grandstanding a lot of posturing to pretend like they have certain principles but come on there's no way that they're going to let the u.s. default on its debt because wall street doesn't want them to do falls on its debt. well all three doesn't dictate what happens and what i want three dictates a lot of what happens in washington get really nice and right now we have it already. eighty seven you let it come we. are idealistic ideologues they don't nagas send eighty increase in revenue and you're not going to get what you mean dollar deal from obama if obama says a little more trillion dollars in spending and their policies say i'm not going to raise why the dollar i read it there is no deal the most are going to get this temporary stopgap measure an eighty it may be a surely not our all charis all elections in november two thousand and twelve what was that stop. i did are all i see now like there's you know we've got

the terrorists thousands of. george w. bush great years lived and still it was raised ten times. now really a new breed of republicans they finally got it right they will agree and raise the debt ceiling they are the problem but that commensurate spending cuts clips the raise the debt stuff. and i agree that why french tax. well the funny thing of course is that. those republicans that are the republican leadership those that are the most vocal the john boehner the eric cantor as the mitch mcconnells they're not part of the new breed these are the same guys that did raise the debt ceiling a number of times under the bush administration and suddenly act like this is just a proposed dress idea that they could never imagine doing it i did when i was referring to. you that you are i'm sure you're as i say i got me the

leadership here is right the people who are supposedly in charge of their party but i want to get back to these to these ratings because you said the who cares about the ratings well internationally how do investors how do those that are buying u.s. treasuries these ratings have to mean something to that. something generally in their chores of job i actually. think you're exactly right it's fine to dump their tree but not reach a lady who got a serious point is the biggest. why it's still uncertain leisure travel becomes intractable and i guarantee it will it's three to five years you know yes it does. and it should be. a shocker say that. what

the american people or the shop. where you can break out and. meet a letter oh right or are you. going to get rid of. all the. interest rate sure that countries in southern cheap polish and. the great. writer who. but i was terribly isn't working let's say in the u.k. right now they've already enacted a number of us terry measures and their economy isn't doing much better sir just saying that we're going to have to go through this very terrible miserable time before anything can be rebuilt or willing to just literally throw millions of americans into a depression like state how do you do it but you know it was a question of you didn't want anyone else to do it for you doesn't want you i got to vote on that and say it was why i agreed with that all along where does don't

blame it on me although you said the word of blame because we voted these people and a lot i would say you know just. watch eat. babies because if you're all you patient then. there's only one way to. prove their. show you're. only way only viable solution i'd show you the real. economics or you might want your ass. rich a lot but it is very short. if not higher michel and i want to thank you for joining us tonight and i don't think that congress is going to let that happen but who knows of the moment it does still be hanging by a string at this point thanks so much. thank you. well still to come tonight the

tabloid phone hacking scandal has the u.k. and brought what does the same type of journalism happen here in the u.s. and find out when we come back and a sweeping hunger strike thousands of prisoners in california are entering week without in day in a look at the demands of these prisoners are seeking before they'll and their protest.

well the hacking scandal at rupert murdoch's media empire seems to be growing by the day both the f.b.i. and the justice department here in the u.s. are now investigating claims the victims of the nine eleven attacks were hacked by reporters from one of murdoch's tabloids meanwhile rebecca brooks the editor of the news of the world tabloid resigned overnight she was at the helm of the paper when it closed last week amid allegations that it hacked the phones of celebrities the royal family and of course a murdered girl's voice mail now today we learned that rupert murdoch himself met with the family of milly dowler that's a thirteen year old girl who was murdered in two thousand and two and at the time she was missing but news of the world is accused of hacking into her voicemail and listening to her messages even deleting some of that which led millions family and

off henri's to believe that she was alive because of the deleted messages now this weekend murdoch is taking out a full page ad and all of his u.k. papers offering up an apology but is that going to be enough the news of the world scandal is cause a huge outcry for reforms of journalism in the u.k. and discussed right here at home but already missing that same type of journalism happening right here in the u.s. they see a chicken that takes a look at tabloid journalism in america. sex drugs cheating and lies phony political scandals slashing dirty laundry. celebrity gossip and crime stories almost human imagination. is served on a platter and sold for a couple of quarters by tabloids headless man in topless bar or something to kids moms in the freezer. as like i bought it veteran journalist michael musto is one of millions falling for the bait of catchy headlines even though he

knows the business inside out in america we don't break the law per se but they do have sleazy tactics i mean they will slant a story they probably make up sources i mean when you read in a source of anonymous source said well who is it many times they can just make up the quote themselves and they say joe smith from queen said blah blah blah a lot of times i feel they're just inventing these quotes to back up the thesis of the story fascination with scandal is almost religiously observed in the u.s. and great britain we are both countries in both media environments where gossip sells and there's a tremendous interest in celebrity both countries are a buzz after rupert murdoch's news of the world newspaper phone hacking shocker broke in london his empire stretches far and wide across the u.s. as well let's not forget he owns the new york post the wall street journal and the daily at a protest outside rupert murdock's in the big apple pad protesters demanded an

investigation into his publications that whole we know what murdoch does in england because he was caught and we want congress to investigate what he's doing here in the united states we don't know if newspapers are backing other people in this country yet but i see no reason to put it past them so how far from potential public embarrassment do american newspapers stand but the ones that are owned by rupert murdoch without question the new york post. is one of the most hideous deceitful. tools of criminals that there could be when it comes to getting scandal sold in the u.s. counting on the readers short attention span is a common publishing trick jennifer aniston brad pitt have gotten together about forty two times so far this year and i haven't seen in port a graph together since two thousand and six they're able to keep selling and repackaging the same story that isn't even a story no publication would admit to paying for and for me. but that's also often a technicality what a lot of mainstream news publications can get away with doing is even though they

won't explicitly give someone money in exchange for an interview someone might set up a terrible organization and then the news will happen to donate twenty thousand dollars to that charitable organization the culture of sensationalism in the press is putting the future of journalism on the line the anglo-american style is it's trashy it's ribald there's just sort of this tone that is very american you know we're a juvenile society we're young society i don't really know what the brits excuses i mean they've been around a long time but. we blame it on them because we're their children while some will always remain fascinated by tabloids as continue to sell others have reached a breaking point i don't have that great of a sense of what happens in britain but i know it's pretty bad here and there are a lot of people who are really upset about the culture of news in america and just how little information to get to get out in between all the gossip the press has to be vigilant and in the united states the press has fallen asleep and. your.

well this is the second week of a prisoner hunger strike that's taking place right now in california and some fear it may lead to deaths thousands of prisoners across the state of joining together in a protest that began in the security housing unit at the pelican bay state prison but the california department of corrections and rehabilitation is now admitting that over six thousand inmates across the tape states are refusing meals and it's become the largest hunger strike in over ten years to hit the troubled california prison system and the s.a.g. one pelican bay prison is one of the oldest and largest isolation units in the country with over a thousand prisoners prisoners in isolation and they say that it's designed to monitor control and isolate only the most dangerous of prisoners but striking prisoners are trying to draw attention to and peacefully protest what they call twenty five years of torture he had the same. as arbitrary illegal and progressive progressive we punitive practices and some of the demands include an end to long

term solitary confinement and adequate and nutritious food some striking prisoners say that they feel no meaningful change will come until prisoners start dying so will the state let it go that far and if they do what does that say about our prison system joining me from our studio in los angeles is clyde young revolutionary communist and former prisoner of life thank you so much for joining us tonight now for starters do you have any updates for us as to the latest and whether any negotiations are going on in this prison strike well thank you for having me on first of all the latest report that i have received is that there have been negotiations and perhaps those negotiations are going on today as well but that they started yesterday between the leaders of the strike inside pelican bay and also there mediators on the outside but no substantial progress has been made in those negotiations and i like to say that it's outrageous that the prison authorities have allowed this situation to progress as far as it has with

a person whose health is in serious jeopardy without you know giving serious consideration to the vans that they varies which are alleged which are just and legitimate well you know you mentioned acquired some of these demands are they include things like adequate food access to natural light warmer clothing and one phone call a month those sound like basic just demands and yet up until this point the c.d.r. see wasn't even willing to negotiate i just can't understand why they would pretend or where they would act like those demands are really radical. yes well i think it shows you something it tells you something about the callous nature of the prison authorities these days i was in prison myself eight years ago and i served time in isolation for months but never years and decades and one of the most poignant things that was said in a letter from a prisoner recently was that prisoners who are incarcerated in pelican bay in an

ice are in pelican bay i should say. actually do not see the sun for decades and another thing just for your viewing audience to understand the nature of the problem they do and don't hear music for decades just imagine being in the situation where you hear music no more. could you tell us about your personal situation like you said again you were in solitary confinement for a time a lot of international organizations would say that that's something that amounts to torture when you describe it that way. i would absolutely describe it that way if you look at the conditions and i'd like to focus on the conditions that tens of thousands of prisoners of facing today. their estimates are up to as high as one hundred thousand prisoners are in or confined in isolation cells and at pelican bay what i understand is that prisoners are in a cell no larger than a small bathroom they have a concrete slab protruding from the wall which is their bed and they have

a sink in the toilet and it's a soundproof room and there should say it's a soundproof what prisoners have described as a tomb and they're confined there for twenty two and a half hours a day and whenever they leave their cells they have to be handcuffed and cavity search this is nothing less than torture to convert in human beings under these circumstances and i think there's absolutely no justification for it at all well the thing is that the california prison system will try to tell you that they place people in isolation that are only the most dangerous of criminals that they do this in order to break up the gang violence within california prisons as well but has any of that actually stopped isn't gang violence inside prisons worse than it ever has been. well you know i don't exactly and i don't want to speak to the claims that the prison authorities have made but what i will say is this there's absolutely no justification for confining any human being in the kind of

circumstances that i've described not only the cells that i've described where they're confined for twenty two and a half hours a day but oftentimes they're denied the reading material and they're also prevented from you know having materials like colored pencils so that they can draw and they hear no music i mean just think of yourself if you are confined to a small space for ten twenty thirty years and have no access to music or anything like that this is just torture this is absolutely no justification for either inside the borders of the u.s. or outside the borders of the u.s. now do you think what it why do you think that we don't hear more of an uproar about this is it because so many americans don't realize how many people are sitting in solitary confinement and suffering within the us or is it because we have this tough on crime attitude where you say that these people deserve that treatment they're criminals lock them up and treat them however you see fit. let me answer that question in two ways i think that yes there is an attitude in

a climate in the country of being tough on crime but one of the reasons why so many people were incarcerated and in prison period to begin with you have to point million to two point three million people incarcerated in prisons this has everything to do with the fact that the upsurge in the one nine hundred sixty s. didn't go all the way to a revolution and here you see what is a repressive steps that have been taken by the system to actually say that something like that will never happen again in this country and it was people like the ones that are confined at pelican bay and all across this country not only in solitary confinement units but also in prisons. black and latino those in overwhelming majority of black and latino people should read michelle alexander's book called the new jim crow mass incarceration an age of color blindness to get more details on this particular situation of the mass incarceration racially targeted mass incarceration of people across this land now clyde lastly like i said

so this is going on for more than two weeks now apparently some of these prisoners reportedly are in horrible health some are saying that they're willing to die for this cause do you think there were some fatalities here that that would change the system at all. why i think first of all i think the prisoners have said that they're willing to die but they don't want to the demands that they raise are completely just and legitimate demands are not outrageous demands you have articulated what some of them are and they've also said the end to long terms solitary confinement and also the end to the practice of what the prison officials call gang validation where someone on the word of another prisoner or on the word of a guard with absolutely no evidence whatsoever can be labeled as a gang member and confined and pelican bay in the security units so i think this is just completely outrageous the second thing i want to say is that the prisoners are the hell. many of the prisoners are in grave it's a grave situation in terms of their health their deteriorating and i think it

really requires for the public and the public has actually been duped it's important to say that the public has been duped in this situation these prisoners have been labeled they've been demonized they've been incarcerated on a massive scale and people have the impression that basically what we're dealing with in terms of the people behind the walls is that they're animals but they're not animals they are i mean i'm sorry i have to interact here it helps we have we have to take a break but i want to thank you very much for joining us and we'll continue to cover this story thank you thank you very much to. i'll be right back.

in broadcasting live direct from the heart of moscow this is our team from thomas let's take a look at the top headlines over thirty countries including the u.s. have officially recognized the libya's rebels as the legitimate government with authority the libyan contact group took the decision in turkey where it's been meeting to discuss the future of the conflict torn country under nato attack. and debt saga continues as italy becomes yet another country embroiled in the european financial crisis while in the u.s. lawmakers are running out of time to deal with its mounting debt and the head of rupert murdoch's british operations and former editor of the news of the world

rebecca brooks has finally resigned over the phone hacking scandal engulfing that murdoch's global media empire there's a growing belief in the affair could mark the biggest shake up in the british media for decades during which murdoch enjoyed rival power and political influence. in coming up in about thirty minutes time and my colleague josh will be here with a full look at your news but right now it's back to the second part of the show. hardest time for tonight's tool time award and tonight it goes to a past winner two thousand and twelve presidential candidate herman cain has seen its stock in the race for the g.o.p. nomination improve and recent weeks while the spine is believe that he's not going to be the nominee he's still on the campaign trail shaking hands and looking for possible votes and he's polling pretty damn well to ok ms in tennessee on thursday

when he was asked about a new mosque is being built in murfreesboro and without hesitation he launched into the g.o.p. typical talking points when it comes to muslims and islam came said it is an infringement and an abuse of our freedom of religion and i don't agree with what's happening because this isn't an innocent mosque now this key need a refresher course on the constitution and religion a document that our founding fathers came up with more than two hundred thirty five years ago guaranteed everybody the freedom to practice the religion of their choice without interference from the government just because cain likes to spread islamophobia doesn't mean that islam is not a religion in fact there are about one point five billion muslims worldwide islam is the second largest religion it's the fastest growing religion in the world so how can herman cain say that allowing somebody to practice islam is an infringement and an abuse of his freedom of religion i think he's a little bit confused here but should we really be surprised about cain's latest offensive remark about islam he has made some off the wall comments about muslims.