now that senator john kerry has been officially nominated for secretary of state well look at his evolving stance on whistle blowers and wiki leaks if you list for it before he was against it what does that imply that becomes america's top diplomat. in a contentious bill to ban u.s. parents from adopting russian children passes russian parliament how does the bill compare to regulations in place in the usa and why do so many american parents pick russian kids in the first place. and while many deaf like users are watching their favorite shows perhaps they should be asking themselves who's watching that we'll

tell you about the latest u.s. build what it means for your online privacy in just a moment. it's wednesday december twenty sixth two thousand and twelve i'm liz while you're watching r t. well looks like massachusetts democrat john kerry will succeed us secretary of state hillary clinton the former presidential candidate got a reputation as a flip flopper during his presidential run constantly changing his political stances well now we can add something else to the list of so-called flip flops and this one could be particularly troublesome for someone poised to be america's top diplomat kerry was for wiki leaks before he was against it and as reported in the washington monthly this was kerry's statement after the afghan war logs were released he said quote however you legally these documents came to light they raise serious questions about the reality of america's policy toward pakistan and

afghanistan those policies are at a critical stage in these documents may very well underscore the stakes and make the calibrations needed to get the policy right more urgent later the washington post reports that kerry condemns wiki leaks calling it unlawful and potentially endangering u.s. citizens is also gone on the record on n.b.c. speaking out against the documents take a listen yes there is real damage social security numbers of individuals have been made public. technology about roadside bombs has been made public the relationship of the president let's say of yemen who was involved with us in helping to fight the domestic terror in yemen has been exposed for parts of his relationship with the united states that could be very damaging to our efforts there there are many similar kinds of efforts drew. and here's another interesting twist involves john

kiriakou the man you see there a former cia analyst who was the first official to confirm that the us use the technique of waterboarding on al qaeda prisoners kiriakou was later charged with leaking classified information to journalists between two thousand and nine in two thousand and eleven who worked under senator kerry a senior investigator for the senate foreign relations committee kerry is the chair of this committee so what does this all say about the man likely to be the next secretary of state wiki leaks ironically enough gives a nice picture of what kind of diplomat kerry has been in the senate foreign policy magazine shows that wiki leaks cables paint a picture of kerry as a negotiator interested in climate change and in gauging with their world where he has found both success and failure if he is approved as secretary of state it's likely he and wiki leaks will meet again. the russian parliament today passed a bill that bans u.s. citizens from adopting russian children the bill could affect hundreds of u.s.

families hoping to adopt russian children russia being the most one of the most sought after countries for american parents that want to adopt abroad here's a look at the russian adoptions it has six over the span of twelve years you can see it fluctuates from year to year the peak being in two thousand and four with nearly six thousand russian children adopted backers of the bill say there that there's been a trend of american adoptive parents being abusive one of the most recent is a boy by the name of nathaniel craver who was seven years old when he died in two thousand and nine of brain injuries these are the boy's parents the net and michael craver of pennsylvania they were sentenced to sixteen months to four years for beating their adopted russian son to death they were originally charged with murder but ultimately sentence for involuntary manslaughter now this out. age the russian government which said that the punishment did not fit the crime earlier today i was

joined by really polish she is with the foundation against child trafficking and the author of the book you see there romania for export only the untold story of there are many orphans i asked really for her reaction to this adoption ban. then is the number being discussed and i'm in the planning. and the russia is not the only country with we consider something like this in two thousand five. hundred medically and russia is still one of the biggest countries and i would say that. one should always look into country doesn't pollute going to feel to children and not from the amounts of children this is being done no i think that russia has the capacity to look after their own children and they should do that ok i want to ask you how this will affect parents. that wanted to adopt and also russian orphans.

well for us you know our friends first of all are a lot of my who consist of a romanian orphans we often are not really orphans most of your families and russia and i think the most important thing to do is that the child restarts that they will remain in contact with the families so fittest will be similar to this and they will go for a holiday for families and they stay in touch and eventually go back to the children to their families you know that's the first thing for the american family . yes it's getting more and more difficult to go from abroad the the waiting time is getting longer hours because by going higher i just say in time in the united states that are over one hundred thousand children the available for adoption that we declare to the civil trousers and services so like in other countries i think it would be good person who got their own children before the other countries tell them ok i child welfare advocates say that there is

a about eighty thousand children now identified as in need of supervision and russia and critics are saying that this will ultimately hurt orphans and russia what do you think about that concern. this is something that is up to me growth not also the case of romania at the time knowledge we set out at first of all all countries had children in care you know that's also important to somebody that the state that section services are there to look after children temporarily or for and over time are a need for for assistance of ok. what i consider it a country that you remain part of this is my baby rescue a few children but the price for the other children is very high because there's not the proper child protection system. and allowing in the country is not you know the saying time is very very difficult because if you store everything it means that the high price on the head of one child it also means that the

orphanage use your own home very often become dependent of foreign money of the money with a lot to pass the facilitators bring in and that's why it's great difficulty to run across a child protection service which we only act in the best interest of the child and love in the interest of the amount of children ok so latin it sounds like you're advocating we know that i am a lot of russian officials have been advocating finding these children homes within russia so do you do you think that that is a feasible solution i think that just like in any other country around the united states or european countries it is fairly easy to find a home or who are very young children it is more difficult to find homes for older children but it might also not. always be in that best interest all the children are also doing well in small and weak cycles or in boarding school. i think the

issue of we just like any other country. ok adam it russia is a very popular place for americans to adopt seeking to adopt a child like the think it is such such a popular a popular place why is it and such demand i guess what do you think is behind that well in the the end of the a c. so beginning ninety's when the eastern europe opened up there were two countries that broke. through it was russia in romania and the second why why girl because so it was just like with this system for the first time that ok if you have a rice field and became a going to go and they were usually very popular because many of their friends are looking for children who who look like themselves with the same feature so romania saw them go see who doesn't spy and was thanks to them the pressure this is now to say. this is a little now and so russia is about the only country that we sent

a wife children who the u.s. and other countries so you're saying that racism is a big factor in this race is a secular although i must say this also reading the minutes you'll get about this from a few races there are also other factors coming whether whether the literacy from countries or whether there's some kind of other feel good story that was racist that was the effect of yes. interesting i also want to ask you well what kind of regulations are now in place to protect adopted children well the regulations in place if you have the un convention the right of the child success in rectified by all congress in the world the united states somalia and south sudan. and that's the most the most important regulation i mean that there is the girl bird or the national association for guess what russians to go lie ok

that's not very and how would you say that those regulations the regulations within the united states compared to other countries. well other countries apply sort of the un convention but. getting the technical allow you united states only rectified equivalence and we've got much more important is because if you don't assume then the un has been from the so i would say that. russia has read the vikings and conventions who have read your rights and who take these kinds of measures because you come here the solution not an obligation of us to mention the rights of the trial is the measure of last resort oh yes i said there's no other man will raise a child including raising the south. entrance saying i want to bring up one more point we don't have too much more time but in two thousand and eleven there were

more than one hundred thousand children in the united states waiting to be adopted out this is according to the department of health and human services so could this cut the ban and russia encourage more adoptions within the united states because there's also children in need of a home right here right here at home. right right and of course this possibility of getting young children away from abroad or children would come with people who think with less brains that test you have because as opponents are not living in countries but a computer less of the heat in the u.s. so yes in the rest of the super russia is micro the. perspective of the irons in the u.s. will turn towards their own children in the united states however it was always very the feel that i was also in the interest of the child and not in the interests of people who are waiting so we must be careful not to create the book to look for people who are we need overtime right at

a really appreciate you coming on the show there really that was really post job representing a foundation against child trafficking. well president obama and most other government officials were celebrating the holidays with their family on monday they also authorized a pair of drone strikes in yemen the first attack was located in the beta province in central again which led to at least two suspected al qaeda militants dead later tonight a second attack in the hundred in the province left five people dead it's unclear at this point of those casualties were members of al qaeda and while the targeted areas are considered hotspots as main operating locations for al qaeda in the arabian peninsula these were the first attacks on the region in well over a month some suggesting that the timing could have been deliberate and while the u.s. has been keeping their bull's eye over locations like yemen somalia and pakistan it turns out the u.s. has had a record number of drone strikes in afghanistan american drone strikes reach

a record of four hundred forty seven attacks in two thousand and twelve about one hundred fifty more strikes than the u.s. launched just a year earlier so it seems like the death of mastermind osama bin laden in two thousand and eleven didn't mean less drone strikes. us a letter on ours he legislators on capitol hill made some adjustments to the video privacy protection act after the break will shed some light on the new bill and what it could mean for your privacy. the worst you are the only one of the. radio guys. what. have you ever seen anything like.

and now do a story explaining what your legislators have been up to shortly before they left

for christmas break u.s. congress carved out some time to look over the video privacy protection act part of what this bill does is loosen privacy protections and it appears it was a legislative priority for the company nothe likes now netflix can have its customers a splay the movies they're watching on their facebook pages it's a nice holiday gift for netflix and facebook but what about its customers this of course comes as congress is in negotiations to prevent the country from falling over a fiscal cliff earlier today i was joined by hugh mancini gum in our l.a. studio to shed some light on the spill. well liz i have to say that if you look back on the video privacy protection act which actually was passed twenty five years ago and it was passed specifically because there was concern that the media or others might get ahold of maybe porn you're watching or other salacious videos when you went into your local blockbuster and now if you look at it times have really changed and people are saying what do you mean i can't share what i'm

watching on my photo stream on our on my sharing stream and on facebook the reality is you can share if you can use this bill to display what your customers are watching whether you're netflix your hulu whether you're doing it through facebook or some other major social media site so at the end of the day it is the marketing side that's going to get a great benefit for this which is why it was a great legislative agenda item for netflix all right sell a good deal there for the marketing side obviously netflix who is going to benefit from this but what about the consumers what about the average citizen and how will it impact them well interestingly the reason we should we should say for your viewers around the world netflix and facebook have already been able to do this and this was a law that was in the us preventing them from do it from doing it from a consumer perspective however you have to upton and not just opt in the companies

have to provide you clear and conspicuous which is the language they're using clear and conspicuous method of saying to you hey do you want to share what you are watching all the time in this particular video that you just watch and make a very interactive from a consumer perspective and i think the real story here is not so much as is there a change in privacy going on but the fact that this bill requires an opt in versus what traditionally bills have been doing in congress that are coming out which is opt out so there's a definite shift that we should as as. consumers in those businesses be paying attention to so you're saying now consumers have even less of a say and less of a choice and you know what they're viewing and their data how that is made public and how that is shared actually is it's the opposite because what consumers have to say is i want to do this and unless i say i want to do it you cannot touch what

movie i watch last night or over the last few months and until i do that you can do it and even if i do it i can change my mind anytime i want and every two years you have to remind me in case i've forgotten that i have said it to share do i want to change it do i want to go back to keeping myself private again and it's really putting power in the hands of the consumer and return what the companies get out of it is the ability to use that information to share with others to use it for sure for marketing purposes so there's a definite balance that was struck here and at the end of the day it actually looks like a good balance because the young consumers specially are saying what do you mean i can i can share what books i read on my photos or in my stream i can share what music i'm listening to but i can't share what movie i watch that's kind of strange so i see young consumers versus folks like me who completely understand and were aware what was happening in one thousand nine hundred nineteen eighty eight twenty five years ago when judge bork was the victim of this type of issue long long time

ago right right interesting i want to talk about another aspect of this bill one part of the bill that was cut right before passage would strength and of privacy protections for citizens by forcing law enforcement to get a warrant in order to search e-mail just like you would need a warrant to search somebody's personal property at home that part of it was cut why is that. well i think the key word here is there's a lot of political maneuvering going on as you know with the fiscal cliff and everything else inside the beltway right now and you have senator leahy who is saying look i've got the video privacy protection act pass congressman good good good law for thank you for working with me on that now when the new year is coming i want this electronic communications privacy law changed so it requires a warrant for everything and i'm doing something for you you do something for me that i think is what's going on behind the scenes from a consumer perspective and

a law enforcement perspective there's something else here and that is a is a balance between the consumers right to privacy and the government's right to investigate a crime because ultimately that is what it will impact and which is probably why this bill has slowed down a little bit right now even though the senate judiciary committee actually had bipartisan support when it did pass it out of committee unanimously a couple months ago. interesting you had mentioned earlier about the possible concern i guess altering what viewers end up watching and our very own tom hartman and sam sachs they wrote an article on this very issue it's called netflix blacks out their revolution and what it contends that if what you watch on netflix becomes public information as you know advertised on facebook that a person will be less likely to watch some mercy of films are kind of the more

cautious about about what they watch what do what do you think about that argument . i think if this was a bill that said it's an opt out bill in other words it's going to be turned on by default and then you have to go in there and change it most people don't even know about these opt out settings and then settings so rick the fact that you have to physically say to the company that you're working with him this case netflix i want you to share is i think the saving grace of this bill and the and that will avoid the issue that tom is raising which ultimately do you do you really worry about what you're going to watch if you're willing to share it and if you're not willing to share it and you want to keep what you're watching private then you have that option and it's it it's put in your face that's why it's clear and conspicuous so there was a lot of there was a lot of what i would call. attention being paid to the balance of technology and how it exists the ability to move things very quickly across social media and

the consumer's desire to say look this is kind of creepy to me i don't want that to happen what are going to do but the answer was well if you want to do it you can if you don't you don't have to and unless you say yes basically say yes it won't happen ok and i guess that kind of serves as some comfort to people for a peaceful that wants you know what they're watching on netflix or remain a secret i want to talk to you about the tight timing of this veil of course we have these fiscal cliff negotiations going on there's also some other pieces of legislation for example the electronic communications privacy act that's kind of still on the backburner. of course congress is tackling this tackled this piece of legislation christmas eve what do you make of that that timing i guess their priorities. well i think what happens in congress is sometimes what you want to do is at least get the easy ones out of the way and then come back and deal with the

harder ones after there's no question the fiscal cliff is not an easy one and i think we're all seeing what's going on in that the electronic communications privacy act because law enforcement has said you are affecting my right to investigate i think what congress is saying is you know you're raising a public safety concern we do care about our freedom and our citizens and we also care about privacy let's figure out how to strike the right balance rather than rushing to judgment getting something through the door when no one is paying attention and at the end of the day i think the more debate on this particular bill there is it will come out with a better result one thing i do have to say liz is this in the law enforcement perspective if you actually step back when you do create a search warrant requirement for any kind of e-mail versus what it was before where someone or some other search warrant some are subpoenas there was confusion in the industry there was conspiracy and in the in the consumer sector and there was a difficulty in law enforcement in trying to figure out which law is applying based

on what jurisdiction you're in all of this will be cleared up so in the end of the day this will be a positive result if it were to pass and strangely if i'm a criminal knowing that things are protected by a search warrant i'm probably inclined to keep things longer for example using cloud storage and keeping what has been said by law enforcement child to child pornography for example i'll keep it longer and i'll keep my communications related to it longer so when law enforcement comes in door knocking with a search warrant into that cloud service where i'm putting it they're going to get a bigger goldmine than they would otherwise there's so there is a saving grace in this particular bill as well that's that's now i really appreciate you coming on the shallow human sheila that lies that thankfully mancini's found her ass as people. well we turn now to los angeles a talented city it's on one side you have some of the richest people in the world and on the other you have a large population of the poor and homeless in fact the poverty rate in los angeles

county is among the highest in the nation and it's even higher for people of color here's our theater mungle uno with a closer look at the capital of glitz and homelessness. from exotic cars to extravagant fashion the rich and famous give los angeles a reputation of opulent prosperity but just around the corner from this glamour is the los angeles of utter despair here on skid row the homeless live in third world conditions and things they say are only getting worse they feel there's no hope for them they're afraid of the police l.a. remains the homeless capital of the u.s. with more than fifty one thousand people living in shelters cars or in homeless encampments like these staying in the shelter you know getting better every day

having scars and scratching and it's really bad i would i would just rather be more mystery well mary and her neighbors sleep on tattered blankets just a short drive away are some of the wealthiest neighborhoods in america in this city of extremes the celebrities in the super rich enjoy living in the late show hillside mansions homes like this los angeles an image of glitz and glamour behind these fences lies a more team million dollar home complete with a swimming pool and even a suite for a maid the wealthiest rest safely behind their elegant walls while some of the city's poorest face another long my next to a warehouse wall a lavish mansion costing more than fifty million dollars in beverly hills. it's thinkable for most people in a city where one in five children live in poverty have time with two o'clock in the morning and my kids when i've been on

a bus stop now that was the first time ever on a bus not after the real estate crash and one hurts but lost his job as a mortgage loan officer and became disabled now he struggles to feed his wife and their three sets of twins i don't want to see him so. i can't have them while they wait in line for a sandwich l a's wealthy dine in pricey gourmet restaurants and inside the massive dining rooms of theirs states the startling gap between the haves and the have nots is seen in the growing number of families who cannot afford food and housing we've had families that have stayed with us over here and yes that's sad but we're still trying to do our best to make sure that we get them the best that we can give them and definitely connecting with the resources as financial austerity looms those resources are shrinking it will be those in line for the soup kitchens not grass fed beef and organic or rubella who will feel the pinch of california's belt

tightening. in this economic crisis las rich flaunt their high end lifestyle while more families fall into poverty making it likely the city will remain a place of fame and fortune but also of great financial anguish in los angeles raimondi lindo r t. let is going to do for now but for more on the stories we covered you can check out our you tube channel you tube dot com slash our team america has also check out our web site that is our t.v. dot com slash usa and you can follow me on twitter outlets wall.