coming up on r t the fighting in syria appears to have reached a new turning point the white house now claims the syrian government has used chemical weapons against rebels what does this mean going forward find out in just a moment. the people of iran head to the ballot box a new successor to president of a dentist god will be picked between six people with three of them considered serious contenders for the election later in the show. in the nation's capital protesters gather in response to the n.s.a. surveillance we'll take you to that rally that's demanding an end to the u.s. government spying on their own citizens.

well it's friday june fourteenth eight pm in washington d.c. i'm margaret how well you're watching r.t. the white house announced yesterday that the obama administration has concluded the syrian president bashir al assad regime has used chemical weapons in the fight against the rebels remember when last summer president obama said the evidence would change the calculus of u.s. involvement take a listen. we cannot have a situation where chemical or biological weapons are falling into the hands of the wrong people. we have been very clear to the outside regime but also to other players on the ground that a red line for us is we start saying a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized well this red line may have been crossed the white house released an official statement yesterday about syrian use of chemical weapons skating following

a deliberative review our intelligence community assesses the assad regime has used chemical weapons including the nerve agent sarin on a small scale against the opposition multiple times last year our intelligence community has high confidence in that assessment given multiple independent streams of information the intelligence community asked to me it's that one hundred to one hundred fifty people have died from detected chemical weapon attacks in syria to date the white house did say that it would increase the scale and scope of the military support for the rebels opposition to what extent is still unconfirmed to discuss the obama administration's latest stance i was joined earlier by ray mcgovern a former cia analyst i started off by asking him why the u.s. is only now getting involved in the syrian conflict. well we've been responding covertly for a long time the ninety three thousand figure is just just atrocious what needs to

happen now is we need to bring people to the table get a cease fire we don't need is to furnish more weaponry to people who we don't even really know very well so the conflict needs to be tamped down not stoked up. the most dangerous aspect of this of course is you have shia against sunni within syria and within the whole middle east now and this has a real danger of becoming a conflagration where the sunni countries and this is an issue that trees will be id to those throats for a very long time to come ok so you are not advocating a stronger response from the u.s. to put an end to this violence and take well you know it kind of doesn't pass the smell test we've gone from no confidence in these reports to high confidence in these reports the only thing that i've seen happen in the interim is that we're losing the no go we the the rebels ok the folks that lost out on that town just

north of lebanon so the coincidence in timing. makes me shake me and smell of a bit closer what's going on here you know there's possibly provocation you know a year ago when those five turks were killed that turkey from a shell fired from syria if you know that that was a nato show i want to get to that weaponry sir but you first mentioned that syrians are there in town the city of aleppo quickly tell me with the help of iran and hezbollah they've been able to sort of take that back from the rebels as i understand it do you think that that's played anywhere all in the u.s. response and the timing actually is now you let go it's to sell qusayr every country city up there aleppo they'll try to take back but you know it looks to me is though if russia and we and everybody else is funneling weapons to these people ok. the only real result is one of suffering by the syrian people and that should be put borton talk to me about that weaponry service of the us as if it were

expected to offer small arms and take weapons anti-tank weapons to these rebels but the groups have repeatedly asked for anti aircraft missiles why do you make of that well this will keep the war going you see you have to ask who's profiting from all this it's the almost merchants it's the israelis who like to have a lot of things going on between shia and sunni and they'd love to have his ball and take it on the chin but just the opposite is happening so with these was these vested interests the real interest sorry to say seems to be to keep the conflict going at a level that you know won't get out of hand hate to cut you off but i want to take you now r.t. them sacks has been following this story of let's take a listen in just a couple of minutes. the president is states will be announcing that. it is now conclusive. that bashar assad and the syrian butchers

have. used chemical weapons senator john mccain speaking on the senate floor at four fifty nine pm on thursday he just scooped the white house which is schedule a press call with reporters at five pm to make a big announcement one regarding the united states is role in the ongoing syrian civil war and mccain made clear that see what the announcement was going to be the president also. and now well now said that we will be assisting the syrian rebels in. in syria by providing them with weapons and other assistance senator mccain has long called for direct military assistance to the syrian opposition in fact he spearheaded an effort in the senate foreign relations committee last month to pass legislation to arm the syrian rebels and at the end of may he secretly dropped into syria to meet with top rebel commanders becoming the

highest ranking u.s. official to visit that country since the civil war broke out there more than two years ago and so when the white house officially announced on thursday that the president has authorized new military assistance to the syrian opposition senator mccain knew it was a big victory in jenin bold and he took to the floor place purge the white house to do even more to help the rebels including taking direct military action the president i say said better understand that just supplying weapons is not going to change the equation on the ground at the balance of power. these people of the free syrian army need weapons and heavy weapons to counter tanks and aircraft they need a no fly zone and they and bashar assad's air assets have to be taken out and neutralized by the white house's announcement comes just as mccain and fellow senators are putting the finishing touches on next year's national defense authorization act to give them an opportunity to have a say in just how much the united states intervenes in syria and some of senator

mccain's colleagues are ready to give the white house a blank check when it comes to arming the rebels senator chris murphy responded saying there are many actions that the united states can take to increase our humanitarian assistance to refugee populations and opposition groups short of injecting more weapons into the conflict i urge the president to exercise restraint and to consult closely with congress before undertaking any course of action to commit american military resources to syrian opposition forces and speaker of the house john boehner weighed in saying as president obama examines his options it is our hope he will properly consult with congress before taking any action but it's likely the white house has already assented to senator mccain's demands without going to congress first the white house's deputy national security adviser ben rhodes made this comment during a conference call with reporters on thursday and the assad regime should know that its actions have already let us increase both the scope and scale of the assistance

that we're providing to the opposition including direct support to the s.m.c. the military option on the ground in other words increased military support for the rebels is already taking place on the ground and so the united states is once again jumping into a war on the other side of the world and picking an ally only it's not the 1980's and it's not in afghanistan this time we have senator john mccain at the helm not congressman charlie wilson the savior of the afghan mujahideen in the 1980's two different men but a. it's the same story a story that's been repeated often throughout history whenever the united states thinks that a steady stream of deadly weapons will somehow bring about peace quicker or set up a stable political solution it hasn't worked yet and so as the president at the behest of john mccain commits the united states to arming the syrian rebels today you can only hope that we're not fighting them tomorrow in washington sam sachs artsy so mr mcgovern we heard him say that john mccain has been one of the

strongest proponents of military action in syria to date calling for that no fly zone and heavy weaponry given to these rebels do you expect the administration to follow suit now. well i don't think that president obama is here to take directions from senator mccain you could have changed to bashir to saddam hussein and had at the same speech several years ago. you know it really is quite remarkable that the people who whose interests are served here the syrian people the american people the people who could become more and more involved those people are really not consulted on either it's a it's a forewarn hope the president will consult with congress on this he's made it clear he doesn't intend to not on libya not on this either so what happens here well mccain not incidentally is the most pro israel senator around ok and so the

interests of israel here are weighing very heavily in this balance and the president feels a lot of a lot of pressure from the israel lobby to do something even if it's just to keep the sunni and shia at each other's throats that is seen in israel as if they were going for them ok that really speaks to the heart of his motivation there but. none other possible aspect of his motivation there are a lot of big stories on the table right now that have left the obama administration on edge the n.d.a. a bill that's before them the n.s.a. scandal even the turkey protests didn't do you think that this stance is taking in syria on the syrian position how is that fitting into his overall agenda at wind that al well i think the why no approximately is the fall of that city just north of lebanon and the turn in fortunes of these rebels that we've been supporting and a more general sense one could argue that the president sees some need to assert some leadership here it's

a cheap cheap gesture to say i'm going to prove more arms one arms already flowing in there so maybe it could be part of it that he wants to say well i'm bracing above all these scandals and i'm doing something on the foreign area. that everyone will see you as a good thing ok well the u.s. is certainly not the first to say that there are chemical for chemical weapons being used in syria britain said it francis said it we're following suit behind them you know they made those announcements similar to ours previously so we all agree that sarin gas is being you know i don't agree ok well we're not going to come to your home if you had a question of the same thing about iraq that's right low that one hundred twenty years ago that was ten years ago ok twelve years ago i want to get back quickly sir that u.s. support network what does it look like the support network yes well the cia is contracting the the ship blows out through air through turkey jordan and will keep the conflict going the arms merchants will keep making more money is rule see this

only sunni and shia at the each other's throats a prolonged period of time and the people of syria ninety six thousand of them already perished will continue to perish and nobody of them mentions them and i find that kind of income and simple mr mcgovern so we have to leave it there i really appreciate your time most welcome that was former cia analyst ray mcgovern today in iran citizens of the islamic republic head to the polls to locked the new president president ahmadinejad successor no doubt how some big shoes to fill there are six men up for the job but only three considered serious contenders all have been vetted of course by iran's religious leadership artiest marie if an ocean isn't her on and brings us the latest on these elections. iran's supreme leader even among the first photos today the country treasonist its next president i hope you had little to see i told

a company has just cost me this ballot and of course no one knows who he voted for you can see many journeys to he clued in foreign reporters many have come to iran to cover the event and most of them are reporting on the show today with the supreme leader has cost over the country's politics and today's events speculates and that's going to give those who. vote will unlikely to bring a new radical change to the country all together there are six candidates in today's race but of course no one can say a pig's point who's likely to wean opinion polls predict iran will but as it sat there were these leaflets we distributed on the streets of tehran the future president of iran should believe in god be able to protect the country from its enemies have high moral standards and have a good plan to improve the country's economic situation that was our two years maria for the ocean are reporting. today protesters hit the streets of washington

to tell the n.s.a. we've got sure number they took to the streets to protest the n.s.a. surveillance of phone records and e-mail accounts saying on their facebook announcement the n.s.a. its actions are not only a gross violation of privacy but also a breach of the fourth amendment of the constitution among these groups taking a stand the bill of rights defense counsel wall was there and brings us the story. i am here at a protest rally against n.s.a. spying just across the street from the capitol building we heard from a number of speakers from the civil rights activist group there were a couple dozen protesters here but it didn't go on for very long until capitol police arrived and broke up the demonstration going on one of those lieutenant michael but it was not it's a little police colonel who are demonstrating without a permit. the group is losing that is what we are entitled to move because you're right there was a devoted to chant groups that were not more than twenty people in either group

because apparently more than twenty people in the country are angry you can't have a demonstration without a permit. so we're going to ham over into the park maybe we'll just have themselves a moving press conference we're supposed to have the ability to congregate to address grievances to our government this is the one of the biggest scandals ever and we're not allowed to do that what does that say protestors here voice their support for edward snowden and limited to being the source of we can classified documents to the guardian he exposed widespread government surveillance being conducted by the n.s.a. and these revelations protesters here voicing their concerns about unchecked the government powers i think these discussions about snowden are really a distraction what we need to be focusing on isn't whether or not what he did was lawful it's whether or not what the agency did was lawful and what we do or don't do as a society about this massive accumulation of power through the country to promote

the promotion about people's personal lives as well as there simply was information gathered every good luck trying to get out to the american well protesters here celebrates no exact calling him a whistleblower some calling him a hero government officials have had his actions including some members of congress know it it is believed to be in hong kong right now. here at the capitol this ball arcade. still ahead here on r.g.p. and california's moderate helming locals have to be wary of the water for years the water source for the country has had unsafe levels of nitrate we'll tell you more when we return.

i would grab it as questions for people in positions of power instead of speaking on their behalf and that's why you can find my show larry king now right here on our t.v. question more. sheep here is mitt romney trying to figure out the name of that thing that we americans call a dog and. i'm sorry to think that mr di you care is an awful lot about my country you sir are a fool you know what satisfies a terrorist cells in your face but i know what he was saying to feature a sufi a liberal all the christian religions. should listen to such dismissal from his distracts us from what you and i should care about because their

profit driven industry is that sells of sensationalistic garbage because that breaking news i'm having martin and we're going to break the set. of. six six. six six six six. even now the same story doesn't make good news no sabato views no pollicie food some tough questions.

well how would you feel with a mouthful of nitrates take a sip of moderate county california is drinking water and that may be just what you get county is on the pacific coast is just one of many in california to have dodgy drinking water in the areas water problem has been boiling over since back in two thousand and eleven the county issued an advisory if you do what water safety you better drink bottled water two years later the residents faucets continue to pump out polluted water nitrates interfere with oxygen carrying capacity in the blood so access levels and drinking water can cause serious illness and even death in invents agricultural runoff has been considered the main contributor as farms in the area use nitrates as a fertilizer research has been conducted to find another water source but two years later there's been little to no progress so what are residents to do archie's correspondent linda joined me earlier to discuss this problem. monterey county is

one of the largest agricultural centers the united states and it provides billions of dollars worth of food for the entire world really i mean if you eat packaged salary you look on the back it could be sourced back to monterey county most likely but it's the same. money driven business that is also causing some of these a lot of problems in monterey county years ing years of heavy has decided in fertilizer use has seeped into the groundwater supply and unfortunately it's some of the more low income communities which are living and working on these farms who are suffering the most from these effects of nitrates in the water ok well how widespread is this problem in california or is it just an monterey. sure i mean this is a huge problem not just a moderate but in california and really in rural farm communities a cross the u.s. now looking at california's water problems the university of berkeley law school

did a study and found that there are some twenty one million californians dealing with some sort of water contamination throughout the state and the problem is much worse in these agricultural communities such as monterey county and all up and down the central valley of california where the united nations found that nearly three hundred thousand people have water quality that is so bad that they're forced to get drinking water from bottled water i mean the water that's coming out of the tap is just too contaminated for them to drink well remote as i understand it california was visited by the un a couple of years ago and they documented these conditions of thousands of california communities last year the u.n. wrote a letter urging california to pass a water as a human rights bill they're calling it a human rights issue that the water is so bad there the u.n. is stepping in and what do you make of that. that's right a couple years ago the u.n.

came to california to study though a water problem and while they're open to on human rights and safe water found that for the most part of the united states we do have access to safe water there are so many impoverished communities here in california especially in the agricultural areas who do not have that right as i mentioned before nearly three hundred thousand people are forced to give bottled water and in many cases people are suffering side effects and from this nitrates in the water such as skin issues hair issues health problems with their small children and unfortunately what she found is that in some of these communities the average income can be as low as fourteen thousand dollars for a whole year and one fifth of their income is going towards just getting clean water so that they can drink and clean themselves so definitely a huge huge issue especially for impoverished community which unfortunately does not have their voice heard many times ok well that's a great that's a great point ramon if you can afford the bottled water what are you supposed to do

with the county as i understand it has not found of bible solution to this yeah that's what do you make of that why can't they why can't they figure it out over there well there are a couple issues here but mainly it boils down to money and politics trying to clean up these water systems build new wells or some sort of new infrastructure to hook up to another water system is extremely costly something that most of these small communities would not be able to afford and we have to remember that you know a lot of the source of this contamination is coming from these large farms which are also the livelihood of these people who are suffering from these side effects from the contamination so these big farms are the livelihood of these residents and they're also very influential at the state and federal level when it comes to creating laws and loopholes which impede some of these municipalities from making improvements ok and that's certainly a lot of issues there i'm on we have to leave it there that was our team

correspondent rym uncle and. here in the us freedom of expression includes a range of things like what you wear for example we live in a society of diverse fashion choices and such choices are usually respected within reason but certain states new us would beg to differ even making some of that a criminal offense the residence for harvest has more. wildwood new jersey is set to ban the wearing of low slung trousers jeans or shorts you know that style where guys wear their pants so low you can see all of their

underwear and their bottoms and every time you see them you just want to go up to them and say why ok that's my personal reaction but apparently if the town in new jersey is as well because they want to make the love punishable with a fine and even community service for repeat offenders and it's much as i hate the way it looks to i still can't help but think wait what you are banning the way people wear clothes in the us that doesn't sound very freedom loving but apparently it happens all the time several towns in the us have already banned low slung pants including one town in louisiana there you can also not expose your bra strap ladies this falls under the same legislation which bans exposing any part of your undergarments also in louisiana they are getting set to ban people wearing

pajamas out of the house i don't know how they plan to define the jammers vs date clothing but i'm guessing the law will have to include language about soft pants with stupid patterns on them in the very as senator recently tried to ban sears sucker suits on anyone over the age of eight because apparently he really hates here's a pursuit and schools across the nation are banning tons of fashion. in some schools you can't wear ugg boots you can't wear both in your hair you can't wear a dress without straps you can't wear a cross and you can wear t. shirts with american flags on them and think oh dimaio speaking of shirt one thousand and taxes got in trouble for going to school with a shirt that said freedom of speech on the front and first amendment on the bag because there are school band methods to tease and when any shirt with a message on it. is right it might be stupid or even

offensive to some people's sensibilities to wear pants so low you've completely exposed your underwear you might lower that house. because they roam the mall in their pajamas but this is america dammit shouldn't we be all free to dress as slava nly or as bloody or as stupidly as we like in the land of the free should we be able to wear whatever we want tonight but to talk about that by following me on twitter at the residence. if you are open the mailbox to find one of those red light camera tickets can totally ruin your day well the bay area california woman decided to fight back let me tell you about. she got a five hundred dollars ticket for running a red light near san francisco she believes the fog was a little too steep so she went to court to fight the ticket she argues the public

was never properly informed about the cameras at the intersection she brought in an old newspaper clipping from two thousand and six that proved her case the notice said that the red light cameras would capture vehicles traveling east of the intersection but that's the issue the street she was ticketed on runs north and south the traffic commissioner hearing. the case agreed with her and dismissed the five hundred dollar ticket saying the public was given an adequate notice you have to wonder how many more motorists could get out of their tickets if they did a little homework according to the c.b.s. station san francisco they could be about twelve to be about twenty thousand tickets or about five million dollars in refunds that's going to do it for a male for more on these stories we've covered go to youtube dot com slash r t america check out our website at r t dot com slash usa you can also follow me on twitter m underscore j underscore howell for now will have

a great night. download . the cation so choose your life stream quality and enjoy your favorite. if you're away from your television in the fall it just doesn't matter now with your mobile device so you can watch your t.v. anytime anywhere. and good afternoon to welcome the prime enjoy it's coming to you live from washington d.c. i'm harry and boy a good chance of a top story. now prices are rising at the cording to the lady.