same brutality different location today a nasty tune out of music city as police in nashville arrest doesn't kill us. but it doesn't stop there america's finest city also experiencing some not so fine behavior with san diego police in riot gear spraying peaceful protesters will have all the latest on the occupy wall street. and as the movement grows marines and military personnel and band together in support of their injured brother scott is that an occupy wall street as a whole though with those who fight over broad heading to the front lines at home what will change. and she is a symbol of the american dream and today lady liberty turns one hundred twenty five years old but with mass protest economic inequality and deportations skyrocketing as the statue of liberty reach her reach her statue of limitations will debate.

to work twenty eight five pm in washington d.c. i'm christine freeze out there watching our team well it is day forty two of the occupy wall street protests and each day seems to bring some new video and some new ideas as well. you. know. this video taken just a short time ago in new york city people chanting you've got mail outside of citibank apparently several of them wrote letters to citibank asking for their money back many people also today decided to dress up i think we have video of the fiction of the fictional character robin hood you see there robin hood m.o. of course rob from the rich and give that money to the poor need it the most robin

hood protesters marched from bank to bank in an attempt to occupy the banks this has of course become a nationwide movement with protesters standing their ground despite threats by police to arrest them. this is video from nashville tennessee very early this morning protesters have been occupying legislative plaza there for about three weeks they were told they would need to evacuate by last night those who stayed were removed from the area by police police light concerns about safety after reports of fights fast and disruptions from homeless people occupiers say police intentionally stopped patrolling the area once they set up camp leading to the increase in crime protesters stood their ground in san diego as well and all more than forty people were arrested you can see police made some arrests and people also those reports came in saying that officers confiscated personal belongings as well as supplies

and food that have been donated to the protesters this video also taken very early this morning. this week was of course marked by the situation though in oakland california iraq war veteran scott olsen you see him standing there peacefully protesting moments after this video was taken he was severely injured carried away taken to the hospital with a fractured skull this video these pictures sent shock waves through the world and in particular through the military veterans community and all throughout occupy movements around the country. take a look at this video from last night in oakland more than a thousand people came out with candles and signs holding vigil and honor of scott olsen we're told by the way his condition has been upgraded from critical to fair he will apparently need brain surgery hospital officials say scott is awake and aware but unable to talk since the injuries he sustained are near the speech center

of his brain. i want to talk more about the evolution of this movement with ron you call it a journalist with alter net who has been covering this hey there ron you're we just covered a lot of ground showing pictures from around the country and i want to talk about the reaction to this movement what are some of the most surprising things that you've been seeing. but well i think first and foremost all the scenes of police brutality that you just showed a very big been seen around the country and around the world and i think one aspect of this is that it's really exposing a large part of the country that's never been exposed to police brutality before to the military as each in. the past three decades or so so i mean that's really the big deal because the people in this country who are really are. generally sort of low income minority communities and one time active and occupy wall street is a movement that really consists of

a broad spectrum of people in causes who've never seen this kind of stuff before so they're really shocked and it's really galvanized the movement and led to i mean thousands of people how do you get away the jewels and protest what happened in oakland the other night i think that's such an interesting point you raise ranya and i was down at occupy d.c. just a few days ago and people were talking about that they were saying you know we're not surprised this police brutality is nothing new to our community but it is certainly getting a lot more media attention seeking media speaking of media attention i want to put up something interesting this photo this was in the washington post today a police officer petting a cat in oakland apparently this cat was left behind by one of the protesters possibly a protester who'd been arrested kind of an interesting choice for a photo taken just after police use you know tear gas and projectiles critically injuring one of those protester and that's the photo that we're seeing of this police sweetly putting this cat what do you think about that well i think this. the

only other means to me up and. any instances of police brutality and in this case you'd like the refuge of the washington post to see it up as are getting a cat and i think the headline was something like protestors overstaying their gun or something along those lines they just want to you know sort of give you that gives you this idea that these protesters are in the way and it has been destructive and so there's good reason most of these are moving that way look how gentle the police are and whatnot but i think one thing that's definitely happened is it's been. gotten so big that it's so difficult to really nor is there so much independent media coverage over the way that an article in the washington post isn't enough to cover what's been happening the way that the overwhelming presence we've been seeing i think that's a really good point just always good to sort of contrast how this movement is being hammered by different outlets you know some people calling what's going on here the american autumn following of course movements in tunisia and egypt the arab spring

turns out people in egypt today actually marched in support of occupy wall street movements a man in egypt's name mohamed mari posted a photo on twitter that i wanted to show this is showing people walking from tahrir square to the u.s. embassy they say the margin among other things is a call to police here to stop the crackdowns on their people they say they support occupy wall street and occupy oakland as well pretty interesting that support coming from egypt i did but it's really incredible people in egypt a bit like seven thousand miles away or something marching in you know in support and solidarity of what's happening in oakland i think that really shows those are the area around the world this is really a global movement against austerity against exploitation against this sort of globalized corrupt system that is leaving the you know the better vast majority of around the world to stop for this inequality you know they're putting them in. and

i'm able to go where. i need maybe it's really it's really amazing to see that kind of solidarity on the other side of the world. very much so and kind of surprising as well ron i want to get your take on you work for alter net alter net considered an alternative form of media and i know you've been kind of on this since the beginning you've been covering this i want to get your take on how you think the mainstream media if you think they've changed i know that. erin burnett for example on her new show ran a piece of few weeks ago when she was like seriously i don't get it you know like nobody really knows what they're protesting or do you do you think that that they're learning do you think that members of the mainstream media are starting to understand do you think the occupy wall street protesters are being forthcoming enough are being articulate enough about what it is they want what their demands are. well first and foremost i don't think that even if the occupy protests were how do you know a basic was that to me and that was very articulate had spokespeople that were very

articulate the mainstream media would still find fault with so i don't think that that's really an issue that's not going to change that we didn't study it covers. i should mention rhino here the occupy wall street protesters they don't have spoken but they did put forth i think the second or third week a pretty concrete list of demands on their website. but it's late in an interview if still it's like well what are these people what we don't understand you know i think that i think one of the mainstream media is changing so much it is they can't ignore this it's such a large religious point that to ignore it would be you know to really it would just be a complete failure on their part are they covering any differently yes absolutely than when it first started covering it but you know i'm not sure i mean in terms of their coverage well it really bothers me is that the afton have on these pundits who generally white males who haven't actually been charged by wall street. from the perspective ultimately got seventy leaders at alter net who could covering this

protest twenty percent who. are he's been doing a credible job of covering it as well but you know now ladies and a lot of the leaders most in covering these protests have really been invited to speak about them or even just you know. which is a general it's the people who come on to talk about the same things over and over again so that's a little bit you know unfortunate but it's not surprising it is pretty interesting i want to talk to you also ronnie about what we saw over the last two or three days with the severe injury of scott olsen with more and more veterans coming up we've interviewed several veterans now just in the last twenty four hours reacting to this shocked outraged in disbelief that veterans who served tours in iraq and came home safely would be injured in such a way on the streets of california you know what are you hearing what are you seeing in terms. this reaction from the military community well i think one thing is for certain that the military i mean americans are going to have this really

romanticized a you have been military and i mean you know these people go in a straight in the they protect you freedoms as these freedoms of speech and our you know our burst number great to protest so for a better and do like you said he wants to literally be practicing his first amendment rights peacefully nonviolent be chippy who i mean almost killed i mean this is a this is a rule that this could have been fatal is really shocking and in the media irony is not lost on the military community whatsoever. i think it's also shocking to many americans as well that somebody who's protecting their you know their freedom a bride comes home and you know good shop with a police projectile the way you did it. so definitely the shock is understandable and i think it's it i'm still kind of surprised about i'm sort of reflecting on it and trying to understand. the irony in tragedy in that we don't we've been showing some pictures as you've been speaking and just every time i see them it's just

crazy to see what happened to him when i thank you so much for coming on the show today ronnie holic a reporter with alter net in fairfax virginia. well protesters hoping to shed light on a system they call unfair are succeeding in part with more discussion in the public eye about the inequality gap as well as the campaign finance system for example but many protesters say the country the country is still on the wrong track and they also started discussions about the extent to which so many here feel imprisoned and about how freedom is no longer a given in this country i want to dig deeper into this notion as today is the one hundred twenty fifth anniversary of the commemoration of the statue of liberty it was of course a gift from france to mark the friendship between the two countries and that old lady liberty is also a symbol of freedom and opportunity in a country that calls itself the land of the free and the home of the brave people have a very different idea though about what this means earlier i spoke to two people

with two very different opinions molly president of less government and jesse an activist with the occupy wall street movement in new york who's been making his way around other movements around the country now i showed them a map this shows that if land in the country was distributed the same way wealth is distributed it would look like that for one percent owning so much of this the ninety percent you see there at the bottom with very little here's their reaction to that you know my grandfather used to say there's never live alone as was rather bigger and i think when you use these graphs it paints a very clear picture of you know i can't stop people i'm not against capitalism i'm against crime and what we have right now is an unjust system that explores human resources natural resources i mean literally the fact is that since the nineteen eighties wages have been totally stagnant while all the world generally in this country is not the wealthiest people in the system and the trickle down that we've been promised for thirty years has not to complete so i feel that we need to try a different track to give people the same opportunities are enjoyed by those who

are given those opportunities. their own income you know says he says numbers don't necessarily lie i mean do you at least understand why some people are upset as they can to. yes it is there is misguided mr acted as government grows the gap between wealth and poor wealthy and poor grows because if you increase regulation if you create increased taxes the rich are already rich and it doesn't hurt them if you took every penny bill gates's me this year in taxes it wouldn't hurt him he'd still be rich but the people who are trying to become rich are woefully impeded by that all these additional regulations or impediments to new business start ups so the rich people kind of absorb those business costs so people who are trying to grow their businesses cannot so as government grows and it has grown exponentially over the last thirty years it why once again if you're one of the decisions that government has made the decision to extend the bush tax cuts when you do that and you know not having new taxes but extending tax cuts for the wealthiest americans.

job creators maintaining a meeting with a rate that's under the last two years of bush however that has resulted in wealthy people getting much out of their our economy they earned earlier money last year i know you. don't know how the other writer monday did what about all the people who were earning their money we're going to jobs and these large corporations the c.e.o.'s of which are earning more and more money are cutting people's jobs they're laying off workers and what about those going to go welcome to work capitalists or some other people do get another job retrain themselves don't. meet all certainly. you know gross in the story of three brothers my best friend was a union i work for when the economy collapsed in two thousand and eight he was not able to find a job so he did exactly what you would suggest he retrain themselves into this new economy in study to be emergency taking action of emergency work even though he

missed his girlfriend is a professional as well she works there are you so you have a two income household now my best friend who seems people's lives thirteen dollars an hour they are struggling to thing. about what they can afford this month rent or food now for a capitalistic system is working and regular what is the capitalist system i consider a corporate assistance when i can only give a lot of favors to multinational corporations cronies so that all the math obama though you guys like very very little change how i think you understand that word i mean to say that it's socialism right now it detracts from an honest conversation i'm trying to get is socialism in what regards because that word that could very well be word yeah ok you guys use it an honest man i think you guys use that if you're taking money from people who say redistribute it to people who don't but so those things that i'm sure you can have going on like president obama to me and it's insulting for you not to not be having is going to them they didn't have an education or a better worse right so you're basically saying if we tax people to fund these wars on the facts i was under the war if you're talking about it we're having the wars nevertheless i was just you know in that late with this is the first time in

american history that we've had we're fair and cut taxes the same time that's created a massive deficit no i wouldn't have said we'd spend more of those we spent well less on both wars but the entire length of the war and we did all the obama still have a spasm to sort it out absolutely certain numbers don't lie the numbers don't lie but let's be honest health care versus ten years of record war you really can't compare the two especially since the elderly are all going because if you weigh the last bill has been implemented i deserve it last night because i could make it work but many conservatives have taken this as an overreach of government i like i don't have health insurance because there's no way the government where we're in growth is going to give the government the authority to run health care didn't george washington order that every able bodied and purchase firearms during the revolutionary war well that's a man that wasn't it was that i mean those because he was free constitutional process and i think he's a very demanding maverick left keep it isn't because i'm going to do it unless we're seeing in these massively what across the country that you can admit that you are visiting and taking part of the last occupy wall street movement what is it

that you and other people out there are fighting for i believe this is a fight for economic justice i believe it's a fight for social justice the reality is. i don't want to take away the ability from people who have those successes i don't like take that away but so many millions of people are being denied he has to share in a sacrifice for a disaster that they did not create and they're being denied these opportunities that we were promised and you know none of this argument is about broken promises that we were promised or security the same our grandparents had government failure of government failure really you guys throw that word a lot of around and i'm not sure if it was a security private but my it was like a mother is going to be receiving source curity if you're telling me that she's participating in a party's female although brother daughter my mother and about your mother and social security i think luxury was a major non-disabled about the consequence of paisley's a wall street no one ever mentioned. to see on social security and out of social security i think a lot of people who receive social security not only now not your mother in the future but what about all these people the past few decades would disagree with you

that it's a failure it works the money you know is it a it's a yes it's true is a dollars and it could be true today as in the reason that people that are older not working are not out on the streets a large. area where you want to hundred percent. for elderly americans has died but you know that since nine hundred fifty where they have ninety percent tax rate on the world is what percent we have the smallest gap of income inequality i mean we look at it let's say we went back to the tax rates are actually sourceless reagan social security and it was one point two percent of you and i and an honest debate was it's a one time or it's what i do you have on. top of your president right now and it's going to go underwater so are you turn it off or want to take it out of people's world he's turned into a tool here and the one i want to tell him later in the area she is there money disappear the government's crashing right now it's a good thing to raise about as there are a lot of talk about as always opposed to occupy wall street activists just feel agrafena as well as president of left government. but we are now to an issue that

is weighing on the shoulders and weighing down the bank accounts of so many young people in this country that from student loans president obama has pledged to her. help students that with a plan called pay as you are in but the problem remains for millions in this country that the decision to get a college degree is often just took spent that are to correspondent lives while take a closer look they call it the american dream because you have to be asleep to believe a student debt is crushing the american dream for millions of students and college graduates it's this thing that eventually you'll have to kind of face but until then you kind of pretend it doesn't exist because if you did then it's it's a bit daunting that majority of youth are unable to. pay for college. for the first time in the u.s. total student debt has surpassed one trillion dollars now more than the nation's credit card debt this as unemployment amongst college graduates is at an all time high president obama recently announced his plans easton

a loan that we're going to make it easier for you to have one payment. at a better interest rate and this will cost but it will cost taxpayers a dime but it will save you money and it will save but his plan won't help millions of americans already drowning in debt and it excludes private loans which is where many students run into trouble due to their high interest rates move on dot org launched a petition's who eliminate student debt which has garnered over six hundred forty seven thousand signatures if you put more money. there. and that will create demand it will create economic growth and it will create jobs robert out obama says bailing out students rather than banks will stimulate the economy by putting more cash in the pockets of the educated middle class they're not starting businesses they're not ours they're not. they're not starving. children

in other developed countries getting a financial education isn't such a financial burden you have free tuition and for. public universities and when they do pay the price tag isn't as shocking as it is in the u.s. twenty one countries in europe for which we have data. there's only four who have to more than two hundred dollars compare that to an average of over eight thousand for public and over twenty thousand dollars for private u.s. colleges cost much more the average teacher charging thirty five to forty five thousand dollars a year and we myself personally i work at two universities and i net about. twenty eight thousand dollars a year and it's not getting better over the past two decades to which has skyrocketed over four hundred percent this year alone the cost of college shot up over eight percent occupy wall street protesters camped out here and across the

nation say this is yet another example of rising inequality with millions shackled to college debt for years and in many cases decades in washington live on r.t. . this is an issue that hits close to home for so many people in this country i want to talk more to this wall who you just saw there and i think liz shackle is a good word that you use there i mean this is something that doesn't leave you even if you declare bankruptcy you still got your student loan that talked to me a little bit about president obama's plan i was curious about it i myself have student loan debt from undergrad. i don't think i qualify though and i don't either and that's why people say that president obama's plan doesn't help enough people so how does that help well it helps it doesn't take it doesn't go into effect until two thousand and twelve ok and it helps those that have public private loans those

people it doesn't help and those are the loans that oftentimes are more burdensome because they're not protected by the government and there's higher interest rates on that but this plan it doesn't address all those people but if you have some government loans you don't have to be in school right now you could have gone to school five six years ago from my understanding. we don't i don't qualify you wouldn't qualify. because our loans are in the past that they go back starting next year though i think it only helps something like one million one point six million student then there's a lot more people that are in debt in this country right now and we just saw you in your report earlier today at the occupy d.c. protest just down the street from here i have visited there several times we know we have other crews who have gone to zuccotti park in new york this is a topic that people are talking about it's not just you know wall street is evil it's this system is evil that leaves people with student loan debt that they can't

afford to pay back even like but like the guy in your piece is that he has two jobs makes twenty eight thousand dollars a year i mean that just doesn't seem. real that's exactly it going out there and hearing all these stories about people like that i mean people i'm there trying to find a way to gain from leverage and this economy is also back to school and you know as as i mentioned my packages and the cost of college is skyrocketing over four hundred thirty nine percent since the one nine hundred eighty two eight percent this year so the cost of college kids going up does that mean people's educations are getting better well look though it's just getting more expensive and what are you going in order to afford it id and what do they do they take on more debt and then they get out of college and then the economy right now is that an all time all time high for unemployment among recent graduates so it's kind of this vicious cycle. and it's and people are suffering you know it's going to be really interesting to see i mean when i was applying to college or going to college

college which is something that you know in my family it's what you do because you're going to go in you're gonna get a great job and you're going to be able to pay back your loans that the fact is going through these last two years since the economic crisis of two thousand and eight and what we've seen yes three years with these movements across the country the occupy wall street i'm wondering if people are going to be a lot more skeptical of people are going to apply to college and fewer numbers because. you know having a job you'll be able to get a good job is fine but if you can't pay those long back what's the flow exactly and i think people are starting to see that i mean there was once this promise you go to college you graduate you get a job it's you know a decent paying job you go in you and you you know you make or you make your next step in life and i was talking to. the guy from move on dot org that last episode was dead and he was saying that you know it's really affecting the lifestyles of people here and the us i mean people aren't buying homes they are

buying cars they're putting off getting married they're putting off their life to pay back their student loans and it's getting it getting out of hand it's so interesting when you hear that figure one trillion dollars because on one hand to hear that student loan debt has surpassed credit card debt in this country i want you can set up a great thing people are putting more money into their education and you know shopping lesson or two or whatever hopefully that is what it means but the fact is i think it's just that debt is piling up and when you don't pay back your debt and you missed payments that interest piles up as well i guess i just want to get your take a look at me what do these students who you talk to what are they expected to do they expect that these loans someday will be forgiven or they think the system could change or are they optimistic well i definitely wouldn't use the word optimistic i mean these there is what they're looking at ten zero sum over hundred thousand dollars you're seeing people going to law school and grabbing up you see

over two hundred thousand dollars and in the legal field they're not really hiring right now as we are hearing a lot of desperate stories right now and with the economy going to way that it is. we don't really see a solution in place president obama's plan to help some people but definitely doesn't help enough people it's so interesting to those promises and those those lessons that we've learned when we were younger for example real estate is always a safe investment. going to college you will always. be able to get a job if you go to college and especially if you go to grad school lawyers as you say the legal field is suffering even to nurses who you'd think there would never be a shortage i have a lot of friends who went to nursing school because they figured i'm going to have a guaranteed job that's still not happening i guess liz last words from you in terms of those who are in college right now as far as the president's plan and what we can expect. well for those that are in college right now i mean speaking from my own experience of definitely not trying not to borrow because once you graduate

you're going to be faced with the reality of paying those loans back so definitely going to college now is. the financial burden that bill goes along with that is something that students need to consider consider when they think about certainly an interesting story and important because this is a topic that is really on the radar of so many people as these occupy wall street movements begin to address it more and more are to correspondent was lawful so much . and that is going to do it for now but for more on the stories we covered go to our t. dot com slash usa or check out our you tube page at youtube dot com slash r t america you should also definitely follow me on twitter frenzy stay tuned in thirty minutes we'll be having ilona show and we will be back here in an hour and a half.