there's a few steps from the r. and c. convention in tampa hundreds of occupy protesters have set up camp and they call it romney bill we'll take you inside the thirty but go to one of these consistently fourteen fifteen percent and then decide it's twenty plus percent for african-american males that's that's a crisis president obama is working hard to appeal to minority voters however many argue he's overlooking the african-american community of mitt romney is not doing much better so well obama went over this demographic by default. class bradley manning's defense team is pleading his case in court today exposing the brutal treatment the alleged wiki leak there was reportedly subjected to at the military's hands we'll bring you the latest developments.

it's wednesday august twenty ninth ten pm here in washington d.c. i'm liz wahl and you're watching our t well it is day three at the republican national convention day two of actual convention activities and speeches and it would be an understatement to say things haven't gone according to plan hurricane isaac of course the main distraction from the r. and c. but yesterday brought us chaos and protests on the floor of the convention not by a unruly protesters but by the delegates themselves mitt romney is now the official republican nominee for president but yesterday's boos from ron paul supporters opposing new rules put in place by the republican national committee illustrate that full support behind their candidate is not easy to come by our two white house correspondent christine has more from tampa. live as you know we've been spending

most of our time here at the tampa convention center as well as the tampa bay times forum where the actual convention is taking place and right outside these doors i got to tell you it looks like what i call a war zone on the waterfront to see the national guard local police sheriffs we've seen plenty of secret service some of the streets around here are totally blocked off by fences it's really really interesting but i tell you well as we didn't have to travel very far to find out what was a very different scene we went to the parking lot of an army navy surplus store and we found as you said with some people are calling romney bill but what a whole lot of other people simply call home. i organize got another month tara cologne says she's sick of hearing that anyone who wants to can pull themselves up by their bootstraps i work six days a week and only get paid thirty fifty an hour because i'm a waitress and because of that i've been in and out of homelessness homeless people poor people are not lazy the mother of five including eleven month old anthony is

part of the poor people's economic human rights campaign hoping to shine a light on issues faced by those living in poverty as the republican national convention takes place a few blocks away from the area they're calling romney ville a reference to the depression era hoovervilles our government is passing policies that are killing poor people. policies that are allowing children in this country. and allowing policies that allow elderly and disabled children to freeze to death in the wintertime but on these hot summer days those staying here say the amount of power concentrated in their city right now is far removed from the life they have ever known what's a really sad and disturbing contrast. we have one percent of the population controlling more than forty percent of the well i can't find work i've. been looking for ever there are nearly two hundred people staying here some of them have

been here since may others are here just for the week of the convention other messages are very similar to what we've heard from the occupy movement but they're more narrowly focused on the high foreclosure rate and the problem of homelessness in america we have a convention here that talks about family values but they have no sense that keeping your family in the home keeping children fed is a much more important than family value and whether they're gay or straight. a few of these romney ville residents will leave at the end of the week and had to charlotte where obama ville is already being set up. but for now in this pocket of the city post here say their protest is also their reality in tampa florida christine for sound. so if i may have important to mention that what you saw there at romney bill this is not a party specific a whole lot of people angry at some of the policies of republicans but also angry at the system in general they think

a whole lot of things need to change in terms of policies that come forth to help real people and i do want to switch gears here and sort of talk about what we've been seeing here at the convention as you know paul ryan is scheduled to speak tonight it's sort of his grand introduction to the country as a whole in washington he's certainly a famous congressman. the paul ryan budget but it's going to be a big deal and it's going to be something i think that a lot of people are going to watch i want to talk to you about sort of romney the candidate we got to talk about what we showed you yesterday unfold on the convention floor the chaos that happened with a whole lot of people who supported ron paul but also with some of those delegates who just were not comfortable adopting the new rules put in place by the r n c and the republican establishment to sort of try to make support more unified this time around for mitt romney but in the future for whatever chance whichever candidate they choose so a lot of people still upset here i want to mention as well i did take

a picture outside of the convention center yesterday of course those ron paul supporters as we know about them they don't give up and they're still standing outside holding their signs and interesting times i think you have that photo there that i took two women holding a sign that said vote newt or abstain so newt gingrich still on the minds of some people and you know i've been walking around the forum quite a bit and did run into herman cain and it's really interesting you know certainly he didn't do great in the primaries but he has a special star power to him a lot of interesting things happening here and i think what we're going to be watching for is whether or not the republican party is able to sort of leave this convention with a show of brand unity and support for their man now presidential nominee mitt romney. as the r. and c. aims to lure the younger crowd it doesn't appear that they've achieved that so that's why getting big name celebrities to perform as the g.o.p. left hip are his daughter at cerro takes

a look at the high profile hollywood crowd that backs both parties and she asks the question does that really help get out the young vote. with the republican national convention finally in full swing the g.o.p. faithful are out in full force while waving banners wearing pins and hats one thing is very clear the convention floor looks more rickety than rock and roll than that should be a surprise according to the pew research center voters between the ages of eighteen to thirty have voted consistently democrat in the past for national elections this is in stark contrast to americans sixty five and older who citing the economy have become increasingly conservative but why bother well young people are becoming more politically active than their older counterparts and will of course one day be taking their place at the voting booth but not to worry however republicans have

a plan for that musicians like kid rock three doors down and dave navarro are slated to perform this week but who else does the g.o.p. have in their back pocket in order to address to attract the younger set well maybe having chuck norris will change their minds he's given up to thirty two thousand dollars to republican candidates and causes in recent years or maybe adam sandler a registered republican who performed at the r n c back in two thousand and four well they can have rangel you know but maybe angelina jolie's dad jon voight might tip the scales. well the g.o.p. does have a hard act to follow glitz and glamor have always been synonymous with the obama administration stars like george clooney sarah jessica parker and go maher have all ponied up millions for his reelection bid however after the day does having celebrity star power really translate into increasing young voters well that

remains to be seen in this election cycle however both parties might want to keep this in mind maybe garnering a star studded cast isn't the key to unlocking a younger demographic maybe just maybe addressing issues like student loan debt income inequality and other concerns that directly impact their future might be a better bet in order to get their votes from washington i'm a genocidal r.t. . also out here on our tail while the g.o.p. gathers in tampa for the convention president obama is on the campaign trail trying to keep his job but has he done enough to earn the african-american vote will dive into that topic in a moment. here's

mitt romney trying to figure out the name of that thing that you have. far left doesn't want the usa to defeat terrorism. itself neighbor might. be on the ball and the christian. folk are going to call. the support of the service because you know the corporate media distracts us from what you and i should care about because they're profit driven industry

that sells a sensational stick garbage he calls it breaking news i'm having martin and we're going to break this that. many on the left have criticized the g.o.p. for what they see as racially coded rhetoric but while they point the finger there are still some concerns about how the obama administration is affecting minorities while some blacks in the us have been able to progress during obama's term many problems in the african-american community have actually gotten worse that is some black leaders asking ample bomb and doing enough for black america are his or mongol window has a story this is. the united states is a man trash on the streets poverty and homelessness urban decay these unsightly

scenes are really witnessed by the obama's went fund raising in los angeles but it's something to do on the caleb and her neighbors are faced with every day that's a huge to come down to the lower level and see what we're going through in a recent interview with black enterprise magazine president obama said he is not the president a black america he is the president of the united states of america still that hasn't satisfied people who believe he needs to do more to help african-americans in poor communities the fact that black unemployment is consistently fourteen fifteen percent. twenty plus percent for african-american males that's that's a crisis. african-americans overwhelmingly supported president obama four years ago but since then blacks in the u.s. have also been disproportionately affected by the economic downturn i've been they've been around here my whole life and i've just seen the structures crumble while the u.s. unemployment rate remains right

a bug eight percent the jobless rate for blacks is near great depression levels in places like los angeles one in five african-americans is without work yet while it is unconscionable. we don't know what the side of the we don't know a lot on this trip that he's in the united states i'm not there but we don't know that things are so bad the congressional black caucus and some black activists are demanding president obama take an oppressive move in earmarking programs and initiatives aimed at poor black communities while the obama's race campaign money in swank yelling neighborhoods a new report shows the foreclosure crisis is now starting to wipe out much of the wealth black families work for over generations meantime grassroots activists report that black berry a doozy asm is down but experts say he will get the majority of black supporters on his side thanks to his opponents poor choice of words.

mitt romney and his using kind of racially coded language about welfare reform another thing is doing its best to motivate the african-american community to get out the vote they did not want a culture of dependency dependency to continue to grow in our country behind their grumblings many black voters at a minute they're optimistic of the man they overwhelmingly supported in our families in our communities we never out let me criticize our so-called black leadership will they with selected or elected and if there is a silver lining in the past four years for african-americans black leaders praise over. for his health care and education initiatives still many of them feel the president is taking their vote for granted i think the president is doing more courageous job of speaking up on racial disparity not just in unemployment but in all walks of life while the president walks a political tightrope over how to address issues affecting black communities people

like joy mccaleb continue to hope change will come one day in los angeles ramon guillen though archie. president obama the african-american community occupy l.a. activists quantity and chroma i spoke to him a short while ago i first asked him whether or not obama has done enough to help the african american community. personally i'm not particularly satisfied with with what has been produced by president obama's administration most of the statistics on the reality of day to day life in the african-american community tell us that conditions have been growing steadily worse this is not simply a phenomenon limited to the obama administration the general decline in conditions in african-american communities has been the national trend at least since one

thousand nine hundred sixty eight and we have yet to find any administration which has truly done any of anything effective to reverse those trends for those who are on the bottom of the economic and political rungs of the ladder and we have some to six here to illustrate this this downward trend that you speak of if we can pull it up there black americans in during the u.s. recession well plunged by fifty three percent homeownership rates lowest in sixteen years unemployment currently at over fourteen percent and the it's currently at over fourteen percent that's correct there so can you just describe what we're seeing the statistics there but just exactly how the african-american community has been impacted during this economic downturn. well i mean. in the first place in the area of him on the employment where

black people tend to be historically less secure in jobs positions in positions in the economy itself ten million jobs across the board were eliminated out of the u.s. economy because of of the decline and the shut down of a broad range of businesses as a direct result of the economic crisis now this is on top of a general trend of marginalization of african-americans out of the economy due to factors such as the flight of capital to overseas locations the real relocation of production and also the general mechanisation in cyber nation of production itself which is making human labor less and less name necessary in many branches of production and you know i mean i have to point out that in this

trend as in most of the other significant trends these are not simply trends that are limited racially to african-americans they are trends which are affecting more and more other sectors of the general american economy because they are general trends however because of our location in the body politic and in the economy. traditionally and presently we are more severely impacted than any other group likewise in the area of homeownership as you mentioned there's been a huge. phenomena of foreclosures on homes in the during the first two years between two thousand and six and two thousand of an eight of the economic crisis it was those who had sub prime loans homeowners who have been basically lured into the mortgage. market by the banks under the rubric

of giving them a chance to own a home but really. giving the banks an opportunity to make a lot of money very quickly on properties which they estimated and guesstimate that they would soon be able to get back into their hands and at the same time drive up the general rate of mortgages artificially on the market market in general but after two thousand and eight it was the with prime loans and again not just african-americans but millions up to twelve million and more americans of all races creeds and colors whose homes have been foreclosed on by the banks largely illegally largely due to fraudulent and manipulative practices on the market and there has been no real intervention on their behalf not only by by the obama administration but by any other. political entities in any real sense that has

brought any relief so we are seeing how people have fallen victim to the system getting back to the african community and it's thanks to the african community that president obama was elected because this community came out in droves to support hand and now we're seeing a lot of people disillusioned by this promise of hope and change. when where that our african-american voter is going to go how will they vote this coming election. well i mean i think that what we're actually witnessing is the bankruptcy of elite politics in regard to the politics of the african-american community. on the one hand yes it is true that african-americans turned out in massive numbers to back president obama in the last national elections but it is also true that a large numbers huge numbers of americans who are not black people also backed him

because they wanted to see some change in the policies and politics coming out of washington d.c. and they felt that his candidacy embodied that and so perhaps the most profound aspect of that election was that so many white americans decided to look past the issue of race in terms of their candidate and decide to vote on the basis of what they thought were the merits that he was putting forth in terms of what his objectives were in pursuing national policy i think that the general disenchantment with what has actually occurred over the past four months is not just restricted to the african-american community although it's a much more intense issue in our communities because of the question of of representation because of the many barriers that have have store. and continue

to be put to political expression of our community in the body politic and so yes there is a very special level of concern and disenchantment in the fact that we have not really found adequate advocacy to to address the severity of the crisis that is hitting our communities but a lot of this is also the fact that in the political structure we are not exerting . adequate pressure on the body politic no matter who is sitting in office to ensure that our interests are being protected ok i think that one of. the i don't mean to cut you off there we are at a time but really it was a share of coming on the show that was occupy l.a. activist kweisi and chroma but it marks day two of the latest pretrial hearings for bradley manning the army private is accused of leaking massive amounts of classified information to the whistle blowing web site wiki leaks lawyers for both

the prosecution and defense today argued over the military withholding hundreds of e-mails related to manning's attention in quantico virginia for more on what has happened with the case today i was joined by alexa o'brien founder of us day of rage dot org. keith it was a lot of housekeeping though the big discussion today related to a motion that happened yesterday that you mentioned around these thirteen hundred quantico e-mails. and so seven hundred of those are in contest eighty four were given over after the defense had already filed an article thirteen motion to argue about the eagle pretrial confinement of bradley manning. and everybody knew that this article thirteen motion was supposed to happen during this session back to january of two thousand and eleven the government decided to hand over eighty four of the thirteen hundred e-mails after that motion had been

filed by defense and so. it's interesting listening to the government a talk about these e-mails is like listening to a heroin addict who's stolen your wallet offer to help you find it. there is a great complicity all the way up to lieutenant general george flynn down to the company level so that's what's being sort of discussed in court can we talk about talk more about these e-mails and question and what they possibly contain and why the motive is there to keep them under wraps. well the e-mails themselves reveal what the motive this in some of those as described by the defense or quantico is desire in the u.s. government's desire to spin the stripping and the keeping of bradley manning on maximum prevention of injury watch to spin it to the advantage of the u.s.

government i mean there's e-mails also that were described in court that essentially implicate the statue advocate in the u.s. government working with the prosecution to try to counter article this article thirteen motion what's interesting is that this is really not just surprising news this is actually fleshing out what the u.s. government has been doing since early january of two thousand and eleven i mean the defense didn't learn that bradley manning had moved from quantico to fort leavenworth until according to to the defense's postings the the government found out that the defense knew about a secret high level want to pull meeting in january where the security of italian commander robert altman essentially said that nothing was going to change. furthermore there is a clearly. implication as i said of the chain of command from tenet general george

flynn the quantico base commander of turndown bradley manning's. earlier article one thirty eight complaining about his treatment at quantico. the security battalion commander robert altman the to quantico brigade commanders the january commander. over for james part and then in the march incident in stripping was. home to denise farms the e-mails show that denise barnes was more concerned about her career and everyone from the company level upward knew that this intended. gen essentially had put out the order that nothing was going to change as long as he wanted bradley manning at maximum security prevention of injury watch i also want to bring up prosecutors said today that they have evidence showing that manning knew he shouldn't present classified information to people that aren't authorized

to receive it what do you think about this argument the prosecution makes well it's interesting i mean this what you're talking about is the desire by the government to create mitt really an charged. what they consider wrongdoing or criminal behavior that's not charging the defense came back and said if the government wants to use a training counseling incident. essentially when bradley manning was training to be an analyst he posted personal videos on you tube and they were like you know to his family and they said you know like hey i'm here from my top secret location and i got canceled on it you know that you're not supposed to post stuff like that on the internet. so the defense said if the government wants to use these they should put these on the charge sheet that there's case law that shows that you can't simply just connected together just because it relates to the elements of the charges knowing you know one teeny causing and all those kinds of things so that's what's

going on with us today is just one of a series of pretrial hearings even covering them as this kind of plays out why are there so many of of the. well these are actually why there are so many of these to question these motion hearings or actually a typical for any court martial i mean this is where the prosecution and the defense hash out the instructions for the panel that will judge him what will be admissible what won't be just the definitions that you give to the charges i mean what does it mean to interact we give intelligence people don't know what that means and of course you have to follow the precedent the legal precedent legal case law why is this why are there so many of these that's a good question i mean bradley manning has been in confinement for two years now and the government really actually wants to push it past seventy where his trial date so you worry. i suspect that there is there are a couple reasons that that could be one of them could be how they are strategically

converging this military prosecution with a potential imminent criminal prosecution of what special agent or commander referred to in the article thirty two as the seven individuals sounds to uncover to have been too long doing that are being investigated by the f.b.i. including the founders allures managers of wiki leaks so there are certainly a lot of. other forces at play in this prosecution right alexa thanks so much for keeping us updated on this very important and controversial case that was alexa o'brien founder of us a day of rage or. that's going to wrap it up for tonight but for more on the stories we covered head on over to our youtube channel youtube dot com slash r t america or check out our web site our team comes last usa you can also follow me on twitter at the wall for now have a great night.