back to the big picture i'm tom arbonne coming up in this half hour despite being granted political asylum in ecuador julius anja still holed up in the ecuadorian embassy in london when little songe flee to ecuador and where does this extradition battle to sweden stand talk with human rights activist and member of the assigned legal team michael ratner also despite spying on muslims in new york city for six years the n.y.p.d. has yet to turn up a solid lead of any threat from islamic terrorists here in the united states as this program along with anti and muslim advocates caused americans to fear and hate the muslim community and back in one nine hundred forty four f.d.r. called out republicans saying they were using the most one of hitler's most powerful profit began the techniques to win over voters so what was that technique i'll tell you in today's daily take.

it goes to the rest of the news wiki leaks founder julian assange has been in the ecuadorian embassy in london for two months now and it's been six days since the government of ecuador officially granted him diplomatic asylum status and throughout all this time the british government continues to refuse a songe safe passage out of the ecuadorian embassy in london now many are that being up to speak out on his behalf on sunday the former british ambassador to pakistan and former whistleblower himself greg murray attacked his own government and made this statement on why assad and others like him are more important now than ever. this isn't right because if you don't need to be. with me in mind. i'm only going to fool with. you need. a way around what is.

coming. to new york and civil liberties around me we need. more. money. and today in the pages of the new york times filmmakers michael moore and oliver stone applauded the decision of the ecuadorian government and warned of the consequences of what i happen to songe falls into the hands of the united states writing if mr songes acts extradited to the united states the consequences will reverberate for years around the world we urge the people of britain and sweden to demand that their governments answer some basic questions why did the swedish authorities refused to question mr assad in london and why can neither government promise that mr assad will not be extradited to the united states the citizens of britain and sweden have a rare opportunity to make a stand for free speech on behalf of the entire globe now for the latest on this ongoing saga and what might happen from here on forward i'm joined by one of julius on his attorneys michael ratner

a human rights lawyer and president emeritus of the center for constitutional rights new york city michael welcome back to the program good to see you're tom thank you thank and thanks for joining us has the arrest of julian a son changed journalism in the u.s. or the world and if so why and how. well look at the arrest is terrible because what you have here is somebody who should have been treated like the new york times or the guardian and allowed to publish freely what he was publishing instead the united states in particular saw a soft target in their view and they're trying to put an end to journalism as we know it to the exposure of secrets and of crimes and they feel by making an example out of julian assange they will be sending a message to the journalists all over the world you expose our secrets at your own risk look what happened to bradley manning first look what happens to joining us now well isn't it more you said they think that they're sending this message aren't

they in fact sending that message. well yes they are i mean that's obvious that you're right of course tom that's the message they're sending that's the message they want to send i mean in some way they love being in this position they have the major. the major journalist publisher who has exposed everything from iraq to afghanistan the state department leaks to the collateral murder video they have him really in a position not where they want to be yet they want him in a prison in the united states ultimately but they have him quote on the run i think they must have been totally shocked when ecuador gave him asylum i mean it's the right thing to have done for ecuador the u.s. itself gives asylum to journalists and publishers from other countries who expose leaks they do this do so with chinese journalists and others so it fits within the law what's terrible here is that the u.s. refuses to come forward and say we are not going to prosecute julian assange for

his journalism and his publication if they did that this case would be over julian a sonnet would go to sweden deal with the allegations of sexual misconduct in sweden whatever comes out of that and that would be the end of the matter instead because the u.s. insists on continuing its grand jury investigation continuing going after julian assange he now is in fear that he will suffer the fate that bradley manning has currently suffered everything from cruel inhuman and treatment to torture the possible life sentence that's what will happen to julian assange if the u.s. gets its hands on him are there any legal options available to force the u.k. to grant safe passage or has this just now blown all out of control and proportion into an international incident and and even if there was the u.k. couldn't do it. you know what's interesting about that is. it has become a major incident and it's become

a major incident really in part because the united kingdom took such a severe position in saying they would assault the ecuadorian embassy going against everything we know from international law and the vienna conventions that's what made it into the incident and in a way it backfired on the united kingdom because now it gave a great deal of sympathy not just a joyous songe but to ecuador in the smaller countries of the world they're saying look at if this was chen in china there's no way china would threaten to assault the u.s. embassy in china to get chen out so i think it's backfired on on the the u.s. and the u.k. tremendously as far as legal options i think julian assigned is a protected international person now that he has asylum that's what the law is he cannot be turned over to his persecutors which are the united states which means to me that britain has no right to arrest him if he leaves the embassy and he has to be given the same safe passage out unfortunately the politics of the matter are the

u.k. right now is saying we are going to arrest julian assange if he leaves that embassy i think it's illegal but my saying that doesn't make the british stop doing that so there's going to have to be a negotiation and more pressure on the u.k. to get julian assange the safe passage she is entitled to an asylum his entitle to in ecuador you know there are there have been generations of. journalists activists still in the blank i mean all the way back to world war one is the famous cases of people who were trying to flee to the west or get assistance from the west how unprecedented is this international case of a man trying to flee from the west. well i think it's i don't know the answer to that tom i think it's generally unprecedented that people have tried to flee the west i think it's probably happened what's clearly unprecedented here

is the effort by the united kingdom to go into the embassy and pull out somebody who has been granted asylum that i don't think has happened in history that i can recall certainly in my memory that's a saying saying place and so that is certainly out early unprecedented i mean we've had situations for example in chile where an embassy the canadian embassy interestingly enough during the coup when pinochet took over took in two hundred people fleeing the pinochet coup in the canadian embassy and there was no effort by pinochet to go in and get those people those people eventually got safe passage and that's what has to and should happen here julian assange should be given safe passage to get to where you are on the michael ratner thanks so much for being with us tonight. good to be with your town keep an eye on this story it has major implications beyond just julian a songe and wiki leaks. it's

the good the bad in the very very dust of. ugly the good valerie mark martin is a constituent of california republican congressman dan longer at a recent town hall meeting in the long run hosted mark attacked him over his blatant why i'm a denial and support for big oil take a listen. to me it's ok. it's a little really nice to hear you meet once. you know i'm not. going to say. this and we're going to i'm going to go i mean if you. just. think.

mrs martin ms martin for pointing out the truth and taking congressman longer and task in this climate denying colleagues are basically just showing for big oil so they continue to pad their wallets with corporate contributions the bad congressman steve king of iowa while most republicans rush to distance themselves from representative akin's legitimate rape statement came to the opposite and came out in support of him his explanation for his support though didn't do much to help make the situation any better king told niall reporter that he had never heard about rape victims getting pregnant from statutory rape or incest king said well i just haven't heard of that being a circumstance has been brought to me in any personal way and i'd be open to discussion of that subject matter so apparently if steve king doesn't know about something it doesn't exist that would certainly explain a lot about how he votes and why he's a republican. and the. very very ugly spring valley hospital brittany leon and terry and cinelli domestic partners were just spring valley hospital when leon

was having complications from pregnancy when they got their mission staff told cinelli that she would have to secure power of attorney in order to be with leon even though under nevada law domestic partners have the same rights as married couples doing matters worse leon tragically lost her baby and similarly was still not allowed to come to comfort her partner instead having to rely on updates from the doctor over two years ago president obama told the d.h.s.s. to establish a rule that would prevent hospitals from day nine visitation privileges to the partners of gays and lesbian couples currently spring valley has chosen to disregard that rule instead is continuing to discriminate against same sex couples and that is very very ugly. coming up for the last six years the n.y.p.d. has been spying on muslim communities in new york and they haven't produced one single credible terrorism what role of the n.y.p.d.

and other anti muslim forces play in making muslims the target of violence and hate crimes right here in the united states were.

mr. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture. pepper spray that just burned gerard's right right i mean it's like a derivative of actual pepper it's a food product essentially. this is much stronger than anything if you buy a lot of sort of these is thousands of times was stronger than any kind of the body

of ever put. into it on your military mechanisms to do the work to bring justice or accountability. i have every right to know what my government's doing you want to know why i pay taxes. but i would characterize obama as a charismatic version of american exceptionalism. for the last six years the n.y.p.d. with the help of the cia has been spying on muslim communities in new york was part of a top secret unit within the n.y.p.d.

known as the demographics unit hopes of this ethnically based surveillance program was to detect civil threats from islamic terrorists is the a.p. reports on the program the demographics unit is at the heart of a police program built with help from the cia which assemble databases on where muslims live shopped worked and prayed police infiltrated muslim student groups put informants in mosques monitored sermons and catalog every muslim in new york who adopted new americanised surnames we now know according to documents and sealed on monday night but this unit failed to produce even one single credible lead on any case or uncover a single instance instance of wrongdoing it was a big waste of time and only work to further distance muslim communities from law enforcement and while the n.y.p.d. was busy spying on muslims should have been protecting them in just the last month muslims or other religious denominations they're often confused as muslims have

been the targets of a number of hate crimes including vandalism bomb attacks arson and as we witnessed with the sikh temple shooting massacre so what role has the n.y.p.d. and others who are stoking the fears of muslims in america plane in making muslims a threat and class of americans for more i'm joined by god. staff attorney with the council on american islamic relations welcome welcome to the program thank you for having me thanks for joining us first but what's curious reaction to this well it comes as little surprise that a program that targets community for no reason at all that has as its modus operandi blanket suspicion of a community that program is in effect. so in addition to being unconstitutional at that my p.t. is doing where we're left with the conclusion by petey's own words that it's not leading to any type of actionable information and that causes further

investigations and this is just a further indication of that and why p.d.'s propensity to profile not only the muslim community but the black and latino community as well as misguided and unfortunate legacy that mayor bloomberg is building for himself as part of a miracle was the spine operation legal no it wasn't legal there is something that we cherish and it's something that america understands better than most any other country in the world and it's in trying to in the establishment clause and free exercise clause of our constitution and here requires very clearly prohibits the government from taking actions that advance or inhibit a religious group it doesn't allow government to castigate or do something that sends a message of condemnation against a group and that's exactly what the n.y.p.d. has done here by instituting a program that casts an institutional aspersion of guilt or

a propensity to commit acts of violence and sending out an unmistakable message and apparently an unjustifiable message that somehow the muslim community is more likely to commit acts of violence than other communities wasn't the n.y.p.d. is goal though to keep this secret and therefore not inflame those kinds of things that you're talking about her or was there some provision in this where they actually did want people to know well what was not known was the details and the fact that they set up a unit called the demographics unit but you could ask communities all across the east coast and perhaps anywhere anywhere in america about whether or not law enforcement was spying. them and those communities would tell you that yes in fact they were being spied upon when the a.p. reports about the n.y.p.d. these. surveillance program those a.p. reports simply confirmed this is long held suspicions that american muslims hold

across the country that yes in fact they are being surveilled while. we're now seeing domestic threats emerging to the sikh massacre for example they're not muslims but the often mistaken killings in louisiana associated with the soccer in this groups were seen mentally ill americans perpetrating massacres it's like the new in thing to do it seems. isn't focusing on muslim americans this way law enforcement's focus on this and for that matter politicians like michele bachmann's focus on this is this actually making us all of us were americans less safe because we're not paying attention to real potential threats and not frankly taking care of business yes there is an assumption that underlies actions such as the n.y.p.d. used by a program that. rests on a foundation of unwarranted suspicion and when law enforcement efforts and

attention are misguided as they're blinded to countering the real threats to communities across the country and that's something that we're seeing not only with. spy program but with other efforts by other government agencies and the comyn. the common assumption between acts of violence against muslim houses of worship and government programs that cast these institutional aspersions of suspicion against the community is a fear of islam and a fear of muslims and it's it's destructive and counterproductive in dangerous for government programs. two fuel anti muslim sense in that by institutionalizing suspicion of muslims in the very programs that are funded by taxpayers and we're just about out of time here but it it's also generative obviously you know if it generates more of its own every time

a muslim is profiled in airports and pulled aside it's a despicable infomercial that. confirms people's prejudices against muslims and so it's really about ensuring that government does not perpetuate and and catalyze this is fissions that people may have very well so thanks for being with thank you so much. it seems the right wingers we call them republicans here in the united states haven't changed their strategies much at all over the years that romney and ryan for example are following an all game plan according to godwin's law the first person to use a hitler comparison in an argument loses the argument well call me

a loser and call present president franklin roosevelt a loser too because in one thousand forty four while running for reelection roosevelt compared the republican's political strategy that year to hitler's the opposition even if. it was probably to diminish. a very interesting thing because. the propaganda technique invented it take a breath. remember. mine. written by clinton though. only roosevelt didn't lose that year he won thus proving godwin's law is wrong and roosevelt won because he was bold enough to call out republicans for what they were doing which was using hitler's most powerful propaganda technique to sway voters raises the question what is that incredibly

powerful propaganda technique well pretty simple tell a big fat lie over and over and over again. remember a number of years ago although of. mine have written by clinton. the technique was a sham. and it was copied by the records of italy and japan according to that pick me you should never be rudely smashed. as a big one. but it's very sad task to make sure it would make it more credible if only you keep repeating it over and over and over again and in that same speech roosevelt won on to rattle off

a few of those big lies that the republicans were trying to sell it to america that year back in one thousand nine hundred forty eight a look we have been going to give not a republican right but a democratic approach from which this nation what and three from other example. much to my amazement the problem of the right. to keep men in the army when the world but broke them might be no jobs for them in. not only did roosevelt identify the origin of the big lie strategy of hitler and the republicans in one thousand nine hundred four he also identified the big lie strategy of mitt romney and paul ryan today forget about the small lies tell big lies for example accuse a democratic president of stealing more than seven hundred billion dollars to medicare and cutting benefits from seniors when in reality that president

eliminated seven hundred billion dollars of waste fraud and abuse and gave seniors more benefits by closing the donut hole obama extended and strengthen the medicare program for years without cutting a single benefit for a single senior citizen but as f.d.r. pointed out hitler said it's a lie over and over again it just might work what president obama will not tell you . is that his signature achievement obamacare raids seven hundred sixteen billion dollars from medicare to pay for obamacare there's only one president that i know of a history that robbed medicare seven hundred sixteen billion dollars to pay for a new risky program of his own that we call obamacare think of that the president's plan. cuts medicare excuse me well let's see i'm going to rest there we go by seven hundred and sixteen billion dollars it's still

a lie no matter how many times you say it it's still a lie the same with the big lie that obamacare adds trillions to our national debt . over here and trillions or deficits or national debt versus those obligations of the coming generation. that's a lie too little fact called the claim blatantly false and it's a lie if you think you accuse the president of undoing welfare reform in a campaign campaign ad as mitt romney did. since one thousand nine hundred six welfare recipients were required to work this bipartisan reform successfully reduced welfare rolls on july twelfth president obama quietly ended the work for. one of the most respected newspapers in america golden notes saying if you want to get more people to work you don't loosen the requirements you tighten mitt romney's plan for a stronger middle class we'll put work back on welfare i'm mitt romney and i

approve this message it's not a shred of truth in that ad but if it got enough air time that it worked because it's all about telling the big lie over and over and over again i don't expect president obama to compare republicans to hitler the way roosevelt did he shouldn't but he should call out the liars and use the actual word liar in doing so because if he doesn't the propaganda machine on the right won't stop and he could be left wondering on november seventh how he lost an election in the republican and rove and koch brothers attack ads were all filled with lies big big lies considered a warning mr president oh and one more thing in that same speech that roosevelt called out republicans for using hitler's techniques he also called them out for suppressing the vote which just so happens to be the republican strategy to date to right along side line for the right. thing the thing. if. it's. a. the more things change the more they

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