we don't have much and this will be one of those prisons are we get this you also tonight will show you examples of those who have not during the holiday season while some made it a top priority to buy expensive gifts many of the less fortunate struggle to find a hot meal. in his december twenty eighth five pm in washington d.c. my name is christine for watching r t well we're wrapping up two thousand and eleven and i think it bears looking at some of the ways things are changing in this world particularly in the world of social media twitter and facebook of course played a major role in the organization and mobilization of the arab spring as well as occupy wall street and it turns out the cia actually has an entire department people whose job it is to sift through tweets and according to the associated press

they go through about five million tweets a day and i think it's worth noting because of some things that are happening as a result of this and because really this isn't discussed enough now on one hand twitter is public for the world to see facebook a little less so but people are posting their business online so just a little earlier i spoke to investigative journalist wayne madsen and i asked him shouldn't people expect that others including the government will read what they post. well absolutely we have to look at where the seed money came from the social networks we do know that the central intelligence agency through in-q tel its venture capital firm provided a lot of seed money for many of these companies that develop these social networking operations and programs so people have to be aware that when they put personal information online they're basically doing the cia job for them it's one of they just pack up all their personal information and send it to langley virginia

. let's talk about something that happened recently because we are still very new in terms of the result in the consequences of social media twitter facebook etc but as i have been very recently the district attorney's office in boston a couple weeks ago subpoenaed twitter they asked for user information and ip addresses for people involved with occupy boston we're showing right now on the screen a copy of the subpoena that's apparently been leaked and you can see here the assistant district attorney benjamin goldberg are saying this information is needed for a criminal investigation asking for the ip addresses of these specific names he doesn't seem to understand that hash tags are actually not twitter handles but that's fine when are we going to see more of this more legal action like this in the future. i think so because what the intelligence agencies and law enforcement want to ascertain is if they have one person under investigation they want to see who they are all their friends and family members are so they're going to start

building up these lists and then they're going to run them through these. relational database very sophisticated algorithms to find out. who's friends with the person under surveillance what kind of politics they practice. religious information. and this type of thing you know the cia and f.b.i. got in trouble for this kind of thing after watergate and the laws were so restrictive on the f.b.i. they could even keep things on paper from the newspaper there's a reason for it then enter should be a reason for it now it's called fishing expeditions and the federal government can't go on fishing expeditions unless they have a criminal predicate and probable cause i don't think they have probable cause in boston to look at people involved with occupy wall street that's that's just called a fishing expedition but don't you think wayne is a little bit different i mean back in the time of watergate in the sixty's and seventy's. newspapers were there people are not posting their own personal

information these days that's exactly what happens i mean you say that people are doing the cia's job for them but don't you think a little different when people choose to put their thoughts out there when they choose to be on twitter they have to be on facebook they go in knowing that other people out there including the government are going to see this. well there is obviously a problem now people have no sense of privacy they're willing to take their personal information what they do almost on a minute to minute basis in some cases but this online not that interested in all that you know what movies are saying what you know songs they like here but. i think there's a sense that people have no sense of ensuring their own privacy the one way to avoid the surveillance state is the just say no to these social networking

programs or the way out it's two thousand and eleven this is how a lot of people including myself as a journalist this is how i find out a lot of information i find out the top news stories that i'm interested in their twitter this is how i keep in touch with my friends i mean what do you say to people wayne who say you know that's just kind of an old fashioned way of thinking social network is here to stay the question is how to best deal with it well i guess you're right and obviously we use e-mail which can also be looked at by the same agencies the problem is would you engage in a private conversation yelling at the top of your voice on a city street you wouldn't do that so you shouldn't there are certain information you probably should be putting online for everyone to see obviously there are some social networks like linked in and are used professionally by a lot of companies lot of businessmen now that kind of information could be of interest of the cia because they're doing this under open source open source collection and that gets into the area business competitive intelligence and that's

the type of information the cia really wants with that the cost the company a lot of money if that information should wind up in the hands of the government who would share it with potentially other countries other agencies and in countries where they may be competitors to their own. business interests i think it's an important point and i think there is a really. fine line here people do complain about the infringement on their civil liberties but they're happy as i am i'll be honest when you know you get a friendly i phone recommendation about you know great vietnamese food in a three block radius of where you're standing so i think that there's positive too but here's one of the most common arguments that i hear wayne and that is well i'm not doing anything that i have to be ashamed of i don't have anything to hide so i don't care that that stuff's all out there so i want to ask you why should people care well let's just say. somebody decides i want to go down to the occupy wall

street demonstration say well i don't know but then they wind up on the list as somebody who supports the movement and then they wind up in various national security intelligence databases so the next time they go to the airport to try to get a flight they're pulled aside as a potential security risk merely because of something they the government thinks that there are some sort of a threat but they don't think what they're doing it but they're not the ones to make the decision the government makes those decisions certainly an interesting discussion and one that needs to be had more i would argue investigative journalist wayne madsen in tampa florida all right well thinking of twitter a bunch of us here at r.t. are pretty active tweeters one doubted lee our own queen of twitter is our senior producer lucy cavanagh of lucy has spent weeks at occupy wall street both here in new york and oakland and just yesterday she got back from russia where she was covering the protests there she was back here in the studio and a little earlier i asked her about the notion that you're going to see out there

quite a bit that occupy wall street and the protests in moscow are very similar here's what she had to say about that. you know i really don't think it is and i'm almost surprised at the fact that i'm saying that myself because before i departed on this trip to moscow you know sort of read all the new york times articles in the mainstream media articles the time magazine naming the protester as the person of the year lumping in moscow with that and so i generally expected to find the same sort of situation down there what i saw really took me by surprise the large rally that took place on the twenty fourth of december you know we went there to cover that it felt a lot more like a giant political political rally essentially then some sort of organic grassroots protest you know that it was complete with a giant stage plasma screens everywhere political party activists those easily identified by the flags that they literally physically held and when you look at something you think of like the democratic or republican convention it really different corners from the different areas if we had more than two political

parties for instance in those parties got together that would be the equivalent of what's happening in moscow we saw. occupy wall street for instance is genuinely say it's a grassroots movement that was started by american citizens and not top down from by some political organizations or interest groups instead what we see in these large demonstrations was again you know political parties that have been marginalized either by their own radical positions like for example the neo fascist nationalist party whose motto is russia for ethnic russians only or whatever that means these days or other you know the communist party for instance and a lot of people who turned out at a genuine curiosity because again this wasn't really this isn't something that's commonplace in russia so i would say the only similarity from my point of view is that people in russia just like in the states and across the world are sort of becoming more politically less politically pathetic perhaps but i would not say the these two these two movements are similar at all as we have in the way that it's

been described in the mainstream press as some sort of pseudo revolution that's far from them. yeah i mean let's talk about the mainstream press in the coverage of these two movements i want to put up something that the new york times said about media coverage in russia this was just a few days after the protests began michael schwartz wrote quote for more than a week moscow has witnessed some of the largest protests against the kremlin in years yet until saturday most government channels if they reported on the demonstrations at all tended to portray protesters as rebels and lawbreakers which at least one report warning of people arming themselves with improvised bombs i thought this was interesting for a couple of reasons first of all just looking at occupy wall street the mainstream media didn't cover this at all intel they were forced to until there were seven people on the brooklyn bridge getting arrested so i thought it was an interesting thing to say what are your thoughts about on this you know this is the new york times but this seems to be a sort of common notion and well i mean it's you know you're damned if you do damned if you don't i would like to point out that the same new york times covered

for example the november second rally in oakland which was completely and utterly peaceful until the very end of the evening when the riot police turned up with also you know giant headlines saying clashes violence etc etc so there's a bit of hypocrisy there but what i saw i mean i flipped through the channels in my hotel room sort of searching for this state censorship and you know utter silence from the state oriented channels and no i saw healthy vigorous debates you know there were panelists who were very much for the opposition positions they were panelists who were for sort of the the political party that's in power positions and you know frankly much more open discussion about the political issues at hand than what i've seen here and furthermore i mean i apt to say that we've been covering the protest in russia from day one just like we have there and there's almost a sense of eagerness to sort of somehow what's happening in russia without really looking at the media coverage here i mean it's interesting to me that

publications for example like foreign policy or the or the new york times are so. to essentially side with the protesters whoever they may be in other countries but not really look at the impact of the kind of suppressive coverage that we've seen of our own private protest movements here in the states and that's that's unfortunate i think it's a really good thing to look at in a really important point and the people that actually are acknowledging that some of these state run channels in russia are actually covering it are doing so with shock like wow they're actually covering it and it's really interesting let's talk about is sort of the reaction from the higher ups in russia russian president dmitri revenge of. responded to the protests and he's you know the people out there unhappy with some of these results of the recent parliamentary elections they're saying they were rigged so video has said you know let's talk about making some reforms in the political system however you know we're not going to tolerate extremists we're not going to tolerate people trying to destabilize the government talk about that reaction and what you kind of glean from that well what was

interesting to me i mean yes you can say that talk is easier than action and you know how these actual proposed reforms will play out in russia only time will tell of course it's obviously a lot easier to promise things and to make concrete changes but at least we're hearing the party in power responds to the voices on the street at least we're hearing it seems like there's almost a dialogue between the people and the political party in power in russia whereas when was the last time that we heard from president obama when it was just just this week we saw president of reshuffle the top cabinet in the kremlin when have we seen anyone lose their job over some of the economic factors that gave birth to the occupy wall street protest you know there isn't even the lip service it seems from the political forces in power here in response to what the people are demanding and what the people want and i think it's safe to say that i mean occupy wall street certainly has resulted in even if not sort of a government response that has resulted in

a change in dialogue in the public you know marketplace of ideas i guess and that's the same thing that's the same thing that's. happening in russia people may not necessarily be all for the opposition parties that are sort of coordinating these protests but people are showing that they're more politically interested they're more politically aware and you know they want sort of a back and forth of the government and the fact that there is some sort of response is a healthy thing i think and one that i would hope to see america here in our own country i think is just a good a good thing to remember to not look at i know senator john mccain was one of the people who might as soon as the protests started said watch out putin watch out video of the arab spring is not going to your door and i think it's important you know to look at all sides of this and always a viewing last and russia has been their revolution you know we it was an early ninety's our senior producer was the caffeine up thanks for sharing and welcome back thank you. well just to have some people saying home for the holidays is really a fantasy that will focus on those who spend their holidays looking for food and

shelter rather than towards. people calling like you said for free and fair elections. and we're still reporting from the clintons as you can hear behind me loud explosions that leap.

it is the police corruption is. what test nobody seems to know. that never appropriate the face but hardly argument that they're being overly dramatic. look at the capital account i'm more in this for.

you just put a picture of me when i was like nine years old a good job with fruit. i'm a confession i am a total get a friend that i love rap and hip hop music and for. that he was kind of a yesterday. i'm very proud of the all without you she has played.

what guess what there's just three hundred sixty one shopping days left until christmas ok advertisers aren't that bad but over the last few months there has definitely been a focus bye bye bye make sure you get the hottest items because the good ones won't

last well wait a second look at this this is a scene in stockton california two days before christmas. so what's this big herd of people one of these people fighting for the new air jordans these are shoes that sell for almost two hundred dollars and people are willing to get a little violent to spend that kind of money for shoes something to think about throughout the christmas season there is a lot of talk of giving helping those in need and wouldn't you know when some hollywood celebrities and other big names pitched in to hand out free dinners to the homeless well there were plenty of news cameras there to capture it all to spread a message of joy red carpet style but what happens when the hollywood stars and the cameras leave and the media forgets about the poverty problem in most cases that problem persists and as artie's ramona lindo shows us those needing help think the media and washington need to pay more attention to what is happening right under

their noses. this year we have we have we don't have much and this will be one of the only prisons that we get this year. maybe softspoken but the twenty year old college student is tough and resilient this young woman is carrying a heavy load on her shoulders as she tries to make this a happier holiday season for her six year siblings we try to live every day by day looking for places that are like this give us the give us the daily bread they've got the family is among the many families who waited for hours in line to get a hot meal from a shelter in los angeles is notorious skid row some four thousand three holiday meals are being served here on skid row and as you can see from the long lines there's definitely a great need recent u.s. census figures show that nearly half of all americans are considered to be poor and

as unemployment remains high and the government's social safety nets continue to be frayed the fear is that in the future these lines will only continue to get longer this to them is it's a miracle you know just to have a hot meal and a present to give their child for some of these families that small miracle was something they had to ask for for the very first time many poor families in this country do where but as food housing and medical costs continue to rise they're forced to make tough choices do i pay for my housing do i pay for my food or pay for the bus to get to work we're seeing a lot of that that is driving people potentially being homeless for economic theory . says the housing bubble burst four million american homes have been lost to foreclosure and according to new government figures one point six million children will soon be homeless on this particular day news cameras show up for the perfect

picture of celebrities and politicians. handing out meals to the poor but for those living on the streets and waiting in line for a meal it shouldn't take a red carpet event to bring attention to their year round struggle there's a lot of homeless out there there's a lot of tents cardboard boxes people they need housing i think it is getting worse too many children and the economy is not those harsh realities hardly get a mention in the mainstream media instead the latest i phone app or crazed mall shoppers get the type of news treatment that usually results in money making ratings family like that they got those are almost certain this country has misguided priorities and instead of that. was putting the money towards our the citizens here isn't doing using it for other things that are on our benefitting us like the more that's going on right now and while more americans are finding

themselves living in poverty the average pay for a c.e.o. shot up between twenty seven to forty percent a discouraging trend that continues to divide this country meantime the u.s. economy continues to be afflicted by high unemployment the struggling housing market and the ongoing political wrangling in washington d.c. making it likely that the pain felt in two thousand and eleven will linger into two thousand and twelve in los angeles that i'm on the in the r t all right and i want to talk to ramon about this because he was there he's in our los angeles studio right now ramon how to go and talk to me a little bit about i mean i read somewhere you showed us the long lines i read that there were actually three thousand people in line could that be true. actually there were three thousand people who showed up for the line last year this

year the mission actually ended up serving four thousand people so i mean right away evidence that this problem is only getting larger and the thing was about this year is that we saw so many more families and so many more children in this line now you know some people might have very stiff serial typical thoughts on what a poor person looks like what a homeless person looks like now we've definitely seen a lot of homeless people on the streets of skid row but today or on the day that we went to this particular food giveaway i mean there are families who in previous year would have never gone to ask for help people who had a very secure job in the construction industry and once that industry drug dried up i mean there was nowhere else to go and now unfortunately they're they're just trying to keep their family fed in order that so that their children aren't going hungry on that during the holidays and a reminder you talk to a lot of these families one thing i noticed just from the video in your report was

how many children were there. what did these people say i mean i have no idea how long these people waited it seems like they waited a very long time just to get a hot meal in many cases with their children what did they say about you know doing that that they would wait for so long just for a hot meal. right well there are some people who started lining up at about midnight just in order to get a free meal and hopefully have a chance to get a toy for a child in their family and the thing is with families such as that they've got a family who we've talked to these are families who in previous years had no problems feeding their family giving a gift to their child during christmas but these children they do have really no idea that their families are going through so much economic troubles and they have no idea that the country as a whole is going through these economic troubles so right now what these many of these parents are doing is trying to hide the fact that their family is struggling

which is very understandable you don't want your children to suffer you don't want your children to stress out on the fact that it's really really hard to make ends meet and it's really really hard to keep that roof over your head it's so we see a lot of this heartache and frustration the mugs parents and older siblings who in past years really had no trouble putting something underneath the tree this year having to wait hours just in order so that their child going to have at least one gift under the tree it's so interesting ramon when you said people actually got there at midnight the night before i i think of the lines we see at you know best buy when the new nintendo comes out of the winds we showed a little earlier in stockton california people waiting hours to get the new air jordans here you have people waiting simply to get a hot meal i know ramona you live and work in l.a. in the l.a. area skid row it has been a typical sort of ghetto for as long as i can remember but talk about what else

you're seeing it seems to me that there's a lot of neighborhoods around southern california that are becoming impoverished that weren't so before and what you think of thousands specially the having hollywood folk with by. no that's exactly right well you know during this past two to give away we saw a sharp contrast of the haves and the have nots obviously celebrities there who you know come down to the shelters you know once or twice a year to lend their support and you know kind of put a face to their cause but on the other end we're seeing these families who have been just ravaged by the foreclosure crisis ravaged by just massive unemployment here in california still remains in the double digits much higher than the national average and just sheer desperation in neighborhoods where we didn't see it before once. growing neighborhoods like in riverside county where the housing boom was great for business all of

a sudden we see businesses being displaced we see residents middle class residents who were once comfortable being displaced so there's definitely a very easy in this even by the people who are really still in the middle class right now a lot of uncertainty about where where their future will be headed and i think you raise an important to point here i'm on just real quick about the fact that it was the celebrities that got the media to show up. no that's exactly right now we saw crews from c.n.n. and a.b.c. news national news crews now the l.a. mission does a very good job at media outreach and they were able to get these media outlets to pay attention to this but at the same time these things are happening year round we go to skid row on a semi-regular basis here at r.t. and they're always very suspicious of the t.v. cameras and what they are doing there i mean it takes a lot of convincing for us to be able to talk to people and let them know that we

want to share their story but unfortunately other media outlets because they think that the poverty issue is not going to get them radiance they are at the homeless issue is not is not going to sell commercials it's very hard to get the attention of the mainstream media i think that's a really good point artie's ramona lend out and we are just about out of time want to thank you so much for watching i'm christine for sao. paolo and well crosstalk i'm peter lavelle as he turns eighty meal got a bunch of split you see seasoned loved abroad in lose their home as glasnost and perestroika become distant memories we ask how will history judge the man who seemingly ended history.