watch all it's all you need is your mobile device watch our to any toy and. it's a story you are to likely to see on the mainstream news about one that speaks volumes about the death penalty debate here in the u.s. a mentally disabled man was executed last night in texas so why are some states willing to overlook science to use the death penalty or question more. plus fox news is on the hunt their prey obama adviser david plouffe and his connections to iran about all of this foreign policy double speak is enough to make your head spin we'll try to sort out the details and say psion r.-o. to your privacy the u.s. appeals court just ruled the government has the right to spy on all your communications without warrants or worry to be careful what you say big brother would be listening.

it's wednesday august eighth five pm here in washington d.c. my name is christine you're watching r t. let's begin the show with a look at the state of texas there last night a mentally disabled man was executed marvin wilson was convicted of killing a police informant twenty years ago he had an i.q. of sixty one well below the average of seventy the number considered to be the bare minimum to determine competency after months of appeals that reached all the way to the u.s. supreme court wilson lost his battle texas of course is no stranger to the death penalty have currently is at the top when it comes to executing prisoners on death row perhaps you know it's no surprise then when governor texas governor and former presidential candidate rick perry spoke about it he got this reaction in the state of texas has a. very thoughtful

a very clear. process in place you also use the old to move justice in the state of texas and that is you will be executed or you make it . so a large applause there for texas governor rick perry marvin wilson was the two hundred forty fifth inmate executed under the governor and the entire story was largely ignored by the media independent journalist ron your colleague has been following this story closely though and joins us from fairfax virginia hey there ranya i know in two thousand and two the u.s. supreme court ruled in virginia that the mentally disabled could not be executed what was different this time. that's actually what has a lot of legal scholars shocked in fact that yesterday the supreme court wouldn't grant a stay of execution for martin wellston even though he had been diagnosed by

a court of. narrows i colleges as being mentally retarded and i had an i.q. of sixty one which is very much below the competency threshold of seventy so you know it's kind of shocking because in two thousand you like you said the supreme court. that it was unconstitutional so it came as a shock to his lawyers and it really came as a shock to a lot of people they were expecting the supreme court has died with a ruling i know right now you wrote a piece for salon in which you talked about a set of standards it seems to me some very nonscientific ones inspired by lenny in the book of mice and men to determine this characterization so i mean i'm wondering are you saying a fictional character invented by john stein back was actually used as an example of precedent. yes that's exactly what happened. after the in two thousand and two when the supreme court ruled unconstitutional right to execute people with mental disabilities they basically left it up to the states to determine how they were going to apply that standard. so most of the death penalty

states passed statutes of some store saying you know that basically adopted clinical standards the same kind of standards used an ak and determine if someone is mentally disabled and is on the other hand in adopt anything so when a case came forward to the texas court of criminal appeals and two thousand and four the court of criminal appeals went ahead and invented temporary standards and they used as inspiration which you can see in their opinion this character lenny small from john steinbeck's of mice and men which is a fictional character who has you know severely mentally handicapped. so they use this as sort of the benchmark so that if they base these seven standards around its character so the standards are completely not going to go completely unscientific have not been used by any scientist clinicians whatsoever in diagnosing mental disability and then running

a new you reached out to john steinbeck's family in writing your article what did they what was their response to all this while they actually what they did was they released his son thomas to the statement basically saying that his family was. disgusted that they had had it known until this particular case that the texas court of criminal appeals was using this character from his father's book as an example so but i tried to actually contact them again a contact them but they actually just said we're going to let our statement stand. and it's a pretty powerful statement and i clued in as the quotes from the article but yeah i mean this is something that is obviously john steinbeck can't say or comment on this because he's been passed away but his family clearly believes that he would be disgusted by this i think most people would have been you're using a fictional character rather than science to determine who is competent enough to be put to death i think that certainly is a bigger picture problem with the system than just this case alone i know though in

this case law enforcement said wilson was trying to manipulate the system by faking his disability what's your take on that. well my take on that is that a court appointed. psychologist board certified doctor is actually sat down with this man and spent time clinically evaluating and determine from there based on a multitude of nationally recognized certified has. and a lot of time spent with them that he was he was mentally retarded so aside from that i'm not really sure what else a court needs. the really shocking thing about texas is that they're basically they've invented these standards and the supreme court said it basically said it was ok that they use these standards to deny this man a stay and it's just it's really shocking i mean you know people sitting on

a core turning to a fictional character. you know for many medical diagnosis is really insane in and of itself let me ask you this i mean regardless of his i.q. wilson was convicted of killing a police informant twenty years ago i guess what do you think that the government of texas should have done with him well judging by the fact that he clearly is mentally disabled. they should have executed him that is for sure. and they should make sure in cases like that i mean they should make sure that these people have good representation good legal counsel and which oftentimes not the case i mean that's one of the reasons that the court ruled you couldn't execute people with mental disabilities because they were going or a ball to wrongful convictions and they were going or bold to having you know crappy representation and not being able to you know not being able to help themselves. so i think that the state of texas needs to adopt regular standards i mean i actually was it was sort of texas executing people period but it won't be

here jali i don't think any time soon they should be using science to determine who should be using doctors and science to determine whether people are mentally ill mentally disabled or whatever else medically needs to be diagnosed and right now i know you are following this really for quite a while now but i want to talk to you about the lack of coverage overall on this case i know we checked various web sites and you know we discovered it took several clicks of searching to find out anything written about this case i know nothing really on the front page of c.n.n. or fox or m s n b c before or after this happened you often had to click on you know three or four or five different pages before you even got to the story why do you think that is. i mean i think there's a lot of reasons for that one of it is that people are just not sympathetic to quote unquote criminals somebody who's been convicted of taking someone else's life people immediately just don't care i'm also there's

a huge stigma that surrounds mental mental disability and mental illness i mean there was a man a texas just a week prior who was almost executed but luckily his execution was staged who had who was severely schizo phrenic that was almost a death in texas as well and he didn't receive much attention either and i think a lot of that has to do with that people are just not they don't understand mental illness they don't understand mental retardation either those are obviously both two different things but. on top of that americans i don't think that that kind of is that big of a deal they don't realize the injustices that are inherent in the criminal justice system that lead to wrongful convictions and they don't they don't understand that the death penalty isn't a good debtor and it doesn't work as a deterrent to. jim or things that can get you the death penalty so and i think the media at this point texas has executed so many people i mean sure in forty five under one governor is. i think that it's become normalized it's like it's not

a story anymore certainly that's somewhat apparent at least when rick perry spoke back at the early presidential republican presidential debate and that just you know roaring applause that he got for mentioning it it is really interesting especially when you compare the attitude about the death penalty here in the u.s. to other you know developed european countries it's very different thank you for following the story always great to have you on the show independent journalist running colic christine. still ahead here on our t.v. do as i say fox news is quick to blast the holes in the credibility of one of president obama's advisors but the line between a patriot and a traitor is thin and many argue subjective that story.

r t is the state run english speaking russian channel it's kind of like.

russia today has an extremely confrontational stance when it comes to us. of american power continues. things in our country. might actually be time for a revolution. and it turns out that a killer drink at starbucks has a surprising him greedy and. well a story that we've reported on recently has continued to gain some steam fox news among others is reporting that m.t.n. group the firm with ties to iran that reportedly paid white house adviser david

plouffe one hundred thousand dollars in speaking fees back in two thousand and ten has even deeper ties with the iranian government the firm it's been alleged was behind quote a premeditated program of corruption that included bribery and influence and corrupt and control officials and this type of in-depth reporting brings some very interesting questions to light some of which fox news seems to be more than happy to bring to the fray at the expense of the obama administration however this type of coverage is becoming scarce and it's becoming increasingly difficult to find out the actual facts when it comes to politics and our foreign policy q wiki leaks an organization without which we would not know many aspects of how our foreign governments work it was deemed cable great and it unearthed a trove of information a lot of which served as the basis for dozens of stories yet it's been criticized and persecuted for doing just that just last night the wiki leaks i was a victim of district of

a distributed denial of service attack throwing the site off line and also making it unusable so when are leaks ok and what constitutes a leak when it involves government officials and actions and partnerships with other countries to talk more about that double standard on leaks and more i was joined earlier by kevin goes to a blogger firedoglake take a look. well i don't know that this case we actually have a leak although i the point would be that fucking using gaging are things it's engaged in investigative journalism and as they're carrying it out right now this is a form of journalism that they and so has called into question in the past and i think that there's another point to be raised about this particular story which is it's unclear what material fox news actually got so i think that they might be reaching onto material that was published by the washington post and that they've been

covering the story for the fact that they that you know there are gender yet and certainly every news network os included we choose what to cover and what not to cover and you know it's a story that seemed to serve the purpose especially with yours of fox news but it just is interesting to me kevin i mean what distinguishes when it's investigative journalism and when it's too much information that the public should know. yes and i think to an extent that's really ideological and i think that this story hits a nerve for viewers of fox news because it's a way to focus attention on iran which i'd say most viewers the fox news probably despise utterly and feel that iran is going to do something and credibly terrible tomorrow against the united states and the united states turns its back in and let it go about its business on the other hand with wiki leaks with all the stories

that they were able to allow journalists to put together by just closing previously classified documents so their stories i think fox news for a large extent of their reporting they spent time casting doubt on the report and also be aligning those reports by saying that this was terrorism that the wiki leaks organization was engaged in that it was information terrorism believe at the cop was on the show and january twentieth lebanon and she's a so-called atheist or like to think she isn't and along with peter king these other individuals congressman peter king have tried to go after what you like is a terrorist organization and sort of you know turn things around and that the sort of reporting that's being a lot of possible made possible by wiki leaks is something that we like shut down right down our you brought up congressman peter king so i want to play something that he recently said when it comes to you know the media the evil force the state

of hiding these critics the civil liberties types of the york times the washington post i think what the media is probably looking for is they don't want these restrictions being put on they don't want the use of polygraphs outside the intelligence community and basically as i you see it they are afraid that they're going to lose their sources in the intelligence community so basically you have these people aborting their own parochial interests or what the media head of the national interest. far be it for the media to think it's important to report upon and the u.s. government aiding one side of a foreign war soon kevin this is an elected lawmaker essentially telling the media not to do its job how does he get away with. but i think and i had to you know that comment i would just say that what he's essentially suggesting is that the free speech rights of low level intelligence employees be shut down it and in fact is promoting the perception that these will backtrack by making this

statement he's not acknowledging the fact that the intelligence community is one of the last places you would find a leak actually you are likely to find a leak out of peter king's office probably isn't the come some agency and the intelligence community and i think you know what he's really saying just sort of makes me feel like in a perfect world if peter king can make it possible he would like to take away the right publisher of the new york times or whatever other organizations that he would think have a overstepped their privileges and gone beyond started to do actual national security journalism which i think is what in effect is trying to suppress and criminalize when he's actively participating in activities where he's putting together a sort of. policy proposals that crack down on leaks well speaking of publications being accused of you know overstepping their privileges wiki leaks of course continue to be attacked but it wasn't always that way for

a while when we came lakes sort of came out you know especially with the collateral murder murder video and the trove of documents released initially this was the basis for countless stories published by the new york times by several different media outlets print television and that sort of changed course and started to sort of become vilified what do you think happened. i think that it stayed true to what it wanted to do in fact you know it maintain its independence that it didn't assimilate and start to behave like an establishment media organization it stayed that stateless news organization that it that it wants to be and then in doing so it really showed the division here because i believe that the media in this country especially the ones that have access to the white house pride themselves on having this position and they feel like they have this duty

the servant duty that they have to protect secrets from being released which is why the new york times and even the washington post if they would get any materials now and they were leaked documents they would go to the white house and say look i have this material i want to publish it and then the white house would understandably have an issue with them publishing that would work with them because they know that they can't really take away that right but at the same time they would have this ability to work against this leak before or they would be able to work against those publications and that would pose a problem because now they can't you know they won't be caught off guard what change is going to happen if friends or gazeta they're giving them a heads up would get leaked won't give the government or any government in the world that has that they did go to publish yeah it certainly is going to be interesting to watch kevin and see sort of what happened is another you know wiki

leaks to point out pops up you know if people start to get angry about the site being taken down constantly i mean interesting discussion kevin got stolen blogger with firedoglake. we're going to take a short break but we will be back here shortly. to the capital account. what drives the world the fear mongering used by politicians who makes decisions to break through it's already been made who can you trust no one. is your view with the global machinery see where are we heading

state controlled capital is core fashion so when nobody dares to ask we do our t. question more. so when it comes to leaks and of classified information it's still not entirely clear where the lines are drawn and who's information gets to be classified several provisions within the patriot act passed after the attacks of nine eleven gave the government overarching power in terms of surveillance and what you may remember one case in which a couple of wires with the alhurra mean islamic foundation and wendell bellew and a sam gulf war they were spied on and they found out because the government accidentally sent them information and they were awarded more than twenty thousand dollars each in damages plus two point five million dollars and lawyers fees for challenging the t.s.a. but that has all now changed yesterday the nice u.s.

circuit court ruled the government was not in the wrong it's a case josh gerstein white house reporter for politico has been covering hey there josh break this down for me. i'm sorry we seem to be having some problems with josh's audio there we're going to work on it for a second and hopefully be able to get him back so we have josh ok let's take another short break and hopefully we'll be back with him and just a little bit. art is the state run english speaking russian channel it's kind of like. russia today has an extremely confrontational stance when it comes to u.s. .

efforts for a let's just burn your eyes right right i mean it's like a derivative of actual pepper it's a food product essentially. much stronger than anything in the bios. thousands of times stronger than any kind of you ever put your. art is the state run english speaking russian channel it's kind of like. russia today has an extremely confrontational stance when it comes to us.

i do want to apologize we were speaking before with political reporter josh gerstein and had some problems with his audio we do hope to have him back on a later show switching gears though the u.s. government is on the hunt for leakers but when it comes to leaking the u.s. government is one of the biggest culprits are reports. the f.b.i. is on a hunt bullied kurds they have interviewed current and former high level government officials from the white house the pentagon the national security agency and the cia all to reveal those who spilled the beans investigation has already cast the distinction chill over press coverage of national security issues as journalists here say agencies declined routine interview requests and refused to provide background briefings on top of that the legislation is in the works in the u.s. congress that would for example allow to strip the government employee of their

position in punishment for on off the ride sharing of information with the media so you have an assault on leakers from both the government and the lawmakers the former assistant director of the cia is that everybody in the intelligence world agrees never have there been so many highly level leaks one has to and what ministration is being so hard on leakers as this one we're talking about all kinds of the leaks about the administration's targeted killings program as it continues to illegally execute suspected terrorists abroad or leaks about government agencies sweeping surveillance capabilities at home feel bomb administration alone has prosecuted government officials believe king information to the press more than all other past administrations combined earlier i spoke with one of them on the break that is who once was a senior executive of america's largest intelligence agency then he blew the whistle on fraud and abuse with regards to the agency's secret surveillance program

here's what he told me speaking truth to power is very dangerous and his world power elites. those in charge they don't like dirty linen being here they don't like the skeletons in the closet being seen. and they not only do they object to it they decide to turn it into a criminal activity. i guess we have to point out that not all the stars being criminalized because you have a type of information that the government lead deliberately to manage and control the discourse in the media so to say but any journalist would tell you that it's see on the also rise leaks that really help reveal a sensitive story to the public otherwise journalists would just have to copy paste and refrains whatever the government decides to release to the press in washington i'm going to shut down. well we're almost out of time but every day we don't always

have time to get to all of the stories that we want to cover that's why we do have a very thorough and amazing web team and i'm joined now by one of the web team writers andrew blake tell me a little bit about what you guys are working on today hold up the stuff today hold on hold on to go to w w w w there you go our dot. com flash you say it's been a very long day for all of us and sharing a tell just finished up both stories on an hour ago really interesting out of easton pennsylvania which is only around sixty miles north of philadelphia and the other day the local occupy wall street offshoot there held a protest at a wells fargo bank in the city now this town only has around twenty six thousand people you know kind of small potatoes it's between philadelphia new york and one of the protesters there held up a sign inside wells fargo to the customers that said you're being robbed and someone had a panic button and the cops came and getting no no no not at all they were robbing the bank no no no you were going to sound so the point to the message here was that

the banks are robbing the every mad but the police you know respond the same which i think maybe they should have you know if you if you had a panic button a bank the police are going to agree but now we have a twenty two year old man from rural pennsylvania who is facing two felony charges one for accused attempted bank robbery and one more for terroristic threatening wound a couple misdemeanors to a so good archie dot com so she was saved but that couple more stories about that's really really interesting are we appreciate having you on and your lake with all of our the web team and for us here that's going to do it but for more on the stories we covered go to youtube dot com slash r t america and of course as andrew mentioned artie dot com slash usa and you should definitely look for me you can find me on twitter at christine for sound.