coming up on ard c.n.n.'s a whistleblower edward snowden stay in the moscow airport may be coming to an end so will he be staying in russia or headed elsewhere an update on the case ahead and it's not only members of capitol hill who have a bone to pick with the n.s.a. over a dozen organizations are now filing a lawsuit against the n.s.a.'s expanding surveillance program more on this developing story coming up also protests continue still days after george zimmerman received a not guilty verdict efforts are also being made on capitol hill to repeal stand your ground laws in the limit racial profiling this story later in the show. it's wednesday july seventeenth eight pm in washington d.c.

i'm sam sax and you're watching our team and we begin tonight in an airport in moscow which has been n.s.a. whistleblower edward snowden's home for more than three weeks now but his stay there may soon be ended and in an interview with r.t. one of snowden's lawyer suggested snowden could be leaving the airport transit zone in the next few days if you receive the necessary paperwork from the russian government while his asylum request is being processed however according to his attorney snowden still doesn't think it's safe to leave russia and then travel to south and central america where nations have offered him political asylum stoughton has shown an interest in staying in russia and even applying for citizenship of course all of that hinges on what snowden plans to do with all of that information he still has on the n.s.a. russian russian president vladimir putin has put conditions on snowden's refuge in russia saying any more leaks that harm the united states won't be tolerated and

today putin told reporters quote we have warned snowden that any activity of his that could damage u.s. russian relations is unacceptable for us for the latest i spoke earlier with our t's medea cochon over in moscow and i first asked her what documents noted needs right now to finally be able to leave the airport. we've just learned from the attorney who has a representing the former n.s.a. contractor adverse no event that actually russia may become his new home for its least one year now if he does receive a temporary asylum it will allow him to live and work in russia freely for as i said a period of one year and after that we were actually told by his attorney that he may actually apply for the russian citizenship now the lawyer adds that advert snowden has been quite down after he has been staying and transit zone for the last three weeks and he also said that mr snowden has the average chance to gather

a temporary asylum here in russia as basically the main reason why he applied for asylum and the first place was that he was afraid of his life and his security if he returns back to the united states so in the coming days we should he should receive these documents that would allow him to finally go through passport control to come through the ads as at the share of major international airport which is based here in moscow and sad food on the russian soil because as you know now he is incapable of doing that now he's passed where it has been revoked by the u.s. or it is and he has no russian visa but this documents should ever wrong within the next five days and while his asylum application a will be precise and that's a process that should take somewhere around three months given the president putin

has put conditions on snowden remaining in russia saying that he can't keep harming the united states does that put it in a position where he has to choose between continuing the leaked documents or staying quiet and being safe in russia. well it really seems that he has already. he made up his mind as according to his attorney adverse no and said that he would not freeze lease further documents which could damage the u.s. interests while he was on the russian territory now his lawyer also sandbags mr snowden said that this is something that he could actually do and that is a very important point as basically these are the conditions that were voiced by president which in a couple of weeks ago the main conditions in which russia could actually grant mr snowden asylum now if he stops any activities which are. harming the

u.s. interest and again according to his attorney our snowden said that this is something that he could actually do just that depends on how many documents certains already handed over to journalists that are still in the pipeline about to be released here in the united states senator lindsey graham floated the idea of the united states boycotting the olympics in russia in the state department is accusing russia of providing a propaganda platform distorting really just about thirty seconds left how is moscow reacting to some of those talk. right will present. this in this ongoing saga russia's role as humanitarian and the actions that are taken should not be regarded as hostile towards the united states he actually said that mr snowden's actions were in defense of human rights now president putin said that human rights work usually bears some costs for those who are involved in it and when this work is done under the auspices of the united states government now with

this financial and political support as quite acceptable but when someone criticize washington the situation becomes more complicated but again that he all these actions that are taking place now in russia should not be considered hostile towards the united states thanks for the report there was already corresponded by their culture over. from moscow moving on now from where in the world is edward snowden to what we should be doing about all of his leaks members of congress are now stepping up to rein in the n.s.a. republican from michigan justin ammash announced over twitter his plans to defund the n.s.a. spying program this week during consideration of the defense funding bill ammash tweeted quote most important bill this week d.o.d. a probe sweep can defund n.s.a.'s unconstitutional spying on americans if house leaders allow amendments but leaders in the house are hesitant to even put a master's proposals up for a vote but that hasn't deterred democrat rush holt who announced he's drafting

legislation this week to repeal both the patriot act and the amendments act now off the hill the courts in recent weeks have been inundated with lawsuits also challenging the n.s.a.'s newly exposed mass domestic surveillance operations the electronic frontier foundation has brought together several organizations to file suit together against what they are calling the obama administration's legal and unconstitutional domestic spying program also since last month the american civil liberties union has been in court fighting the government's collection of americans phone metadata as revealed by edward snowden's very first leak regarding verizon and the electronic privacy information center epic has also been involved in overturning legal decisions that have paved the way for mass warrantless surveillance of americans for more on this lawsuit and the others i was joined earlier by cindy cohn legal director of the electronic frontier foundation now i started by asking her why she believes the n.s.a.

is violating not just the fourth amendment but the first amendment protections to. well because the first amendment protection right of association and the supreme court held in as long ago as one nine hundred fifty eight that that includes making sure that the government doesn't have access to the list of organizations that you associate with in the cases is called and double a c.p. versus alabama and in it the supreme court held that the end of the c.p. didn't have to turn over its membership list to the government and you know it's you know our argument here and we represent nineteen different associations that have over nine hundred thousand members and staff is that when the government gets access to your phone records twenty four hours a day seven days a week for over five years worth of time they have access to your associations and that can create a chilling effect so for instance you know if the government knows that is able to tell that i regularly call say

a gun owner's rights group or drug legalization group or even a local church knows i have an association with those with with those those organizations and that can create a chilling effect and i think this association component is what's critical here. in the strategy this law sort of of calling instead of just calling it metadata which seems to kind of be this harmless word that people are just like oh it's just nothing it's referred to as associational tracking program. that's intended to make this sound as nefarious as a really is well it's intended to be descriptive i mean but you know meditated doesn't sound like anything and it doesn't actually give you an idea of what the government's doing with it but association of tracking program tells you what the government is doing with it it's tracking people's association and this isn't a secret i mean the government is very clear that this is what they're doing they're talking about going out one hop or two hops they call it i think contact chaining they have a bunch of euphemisms for what is actually tracking the associations trying to

figure out who's talking to whom and. and that has serious implications for the first amendment and and that's not a that's not a new observation but i think that we were we were concerned that the term edit data was really being used to try to confuse people about what the government is actually doing and and it would be better to pick a term that actually describe what is the government's doing right you mentioned of these hops earlier today the deputy director at the n.s.a. chris inglis testified saying that they used two or three hops for the audience that would mean if they had a suspected terrorists and they looked at his communications one would be who he was talking to to have to be who that person was talking to and now three ops which the n.s.a. is saying they actually do will be who that person is talking to i mean how absurd is this and how many how many hops until you just justified looking at everybody

which i guess is what's going on well i think i think that's right and you know he didn't actually limit it to two or three hops either i think that they're they're trying to give people an example of what they're doing without actually talking about the limits of what they're doing but i have heard now i can't confirm this i've heard that by the time you get to four to five hops you pretty much got the whole world at some level you know it we've all played the games of six degrees of kevin bacon and that's a again that you know matches how many people you know who know somebody who knows somebody who might know the actor this is basically the government doing the same thing and i i think that it's surprising how big the numbers get how quickly so it's likely that the n.s.a. has kevin bacon to mail somewhere. you know what it wanted to say think about this lawsuit is that there's such a mixture of groups involved in it there's the first unitarian church of los angeles the bill of rights defense committee there's the california association of

federal firearms licensees there's like a marijuana reform group what does it say about this issue that all of these groups from all different issues from all different parts of the country can come together for this lawsuit. well it's because the first amendment doesn't care what your politics are the first amendment protects you regardless of your political position regardless of what what your advocacy is for or regardless of what your beliefs are so you know that churches are part of this very intentionally because the first amendment has always protected people's rights to join together to join together to do political action or to join together to do religious work it's the same law so you know the the the purpose of the breadth of the coalition is to really make the point that you know the first amendment protects us all right this is a yes that's first rodeo taking a lawsuit against the n.s.a. here this goes back to two thousand and eight when you were. working to expose this

the domestic surveillance and how legal it all is what's the latest on this two thousand and eight case and what's behind it what's the latest. well first of all we started in two thousand and six so we started with the case against the phone companies for the wire or at least wiretapping and then you may recall in two thousand and eight congress passed retroactive immunity for the phone companies and that killed the first case and so the second case was started in two thousand and eight now the second case is still very much alive and in fact it's called jule versus n.s.a. and it's on behalf of individuals it's more traditional fourth amendment privacy case although it also does have the first of them arguments in it. but it's on behalf of individuals and we just got a very good ruling in that case last a week ago monday where the court rejected the government's claim that the state secrets privilege meant that the case had to be dismissed you know remember and tell very recently the government's argument about the warrantless wiretapping central argument was that it was all just too secret that they could not reveal it

it would hurt national security for them to reveal it and so it and these cases were all being attacked not on the merits but on. secrecy claim that all went away a couple of weeks ago you know first with mr snowden's revelations but more importantly the director of national intelligence has admitted the phone records program and they've admitted to pieces of what they call the president program as well so they were the government has you know i think because they were cornered but but for whatever reason is not claiming secrecy anymore in the central facts of this so this lawsuit can move forward now basically yet with a quote both at once cases i think can move forward. looking forward to that and we'll keep an eye on it over here cindy cohn legal director at the electronic frontier foundation thank you so much thank you so we know of the federal government's interest in our telephone and internet communications but as you might

expect law enforcement is interesting tristen what we say over the phone or send via e-mail they're also interested in where we drive our cars today the a.c.l.u. released an explosive new report on license plate readers which the group says are the most widespread location tracking technology you've probably never heard of mounted on top of police cars or bridges in light poles license plate readers are in wide use in several cities across america capturing photos of virtually every driver's license plate along with a timestamp and a location tag now all of this data these millions of license plate photos all of it was being used to track illegal activity but this is a you alleges in the still report that this data is now increasingly being stored giving law enforcement access to location information of millions of innocent americans in maryland of the over a million license plates read only forty seven were flagged as associated with

a serious crime in between the cities of burbank illinois rhinebeck new york and high point north carolina over eight hundred thousand license plates were collected and stored with far less than one person. all of those license plates affiliated with any sort of crime and these are you claims the federal government is behind the proliferation of this technology on a local level with the department of homeland security providing fifty million dollars in grants over the last five years to acquire these license plate readers as of right now there are still a lot of questions to be answered about just how much the federal government is using all of this data and we'll stay on top of the story. now on to the latest fallout from the george zimmerman trial the congressional black caucus is preparing several bills in response to the shooting of trayvon martin and the subsequent acquittal of george zimmerman they include provisions to get rid of stand your ground laws provisions to limit racial profiling and provisions to provide better

training for a neighborhood watch volunteer congresswoman frederica wilson from florida argue quote until we pass meaningful laws against profiling americans will continue to be singled out and arrested for driving while black shopping while black walking while black and just plain being black. well protests in response to the zimmerman verdict continue across the country and los angeles protesters have taken to the streets for days and there have been reports of several arrests as early as monday night and yesterday's protests that leimert park in l.a. were peaceful with bulk up security from the los angeles police department and calls from community organizers to keep demonstrators in demonstrations lawful. now on to the issue of drones on capitol hill this week senator rand paul said he would put a hold on president obama's nominee to head up the f.b.i. james komi until he receives answers from the administration regarding domestic

drone use earlier this year senator paul used a filibuster dedicated to domestic drone use to slow the confirmation of john brennan to head up the cia now in this case senator paul wants the f.b.i. to reveal if they get a warrant before using domestic surveillance drones you might remember in june that then f.b.i. director robert mueller admitted to congress that the f.b.i. does indeed use drones for surveillance on u.s. soil however a nother question that might be helpful for senator paul to ask is why are drones keep crashing for the second time in a week in an unmanned drone has crashed at tyndall air force base on the florida panhandle it happened this morning just after eight am and according to witnesses the q f four drone crashed on the runway during takeoff and exploded and roads around the crash site were closed out of concern for fire since these drones are equipped with a self destruct charge triggered to go off when the aircraft diverts from

a pre-approved flight plan. the u.s.d.a. is hot on the trail of a mysterious wheat crop that was found growing earlier this spring in an oregon farm the wheat was genetically engineered to be a medium to weed killers like roundup but no such crop was ever approved by the u.s.d.a. it was developed by monsanto a years ago but after several field trials months santo never asked the government to approve the crop so how to get into a field in oregon well that's still a mystery but it's a fitting mystery since most of what we eat today as americans is also one big bioengineered mystery as well r t correspondent margaret howell with more on what eggs. please in the foods were all eating on a regular basis is there any other decision we make that is more important than what we eat if you're shopping at an american course resort chances are you're buying products laced with chemical petroleum even brought my new no that thought

since that keep carpet from catching on fire and you may not even know it dr jason colton co-author of rich foods poor foods had this to say about bro mine one of the prizes called b.v. or brominated vegetable oil this is a big one in the united states and it's found in things like gator a fresh mountain dew so a lot of the a lot of it does is it's an oil that helps to the colors stay saturated and as well as the flavors they step saturated throughout the drain now in the united states our government said that they would let b.t.o. come on the marketplace and on an interim basis they were pending review that this was over forty years ago that they said that it's been banned in over one hundred other countries and what this does is it causes a bromeliad the thyroid which means it doesn't allow your thyroid to absorb iodine which is an essential nutrients help with metabolism and in extreme cases it can lead to cancer of the thyroid famous american companies like post kellogg's quaker

brand cereals as well as diamond nuts chex mix and gum brands like wrigley's and try to are allegedly made the products that have chemicals known as b a h a n beach tea these have been banned in food products in european countries and japan for their known health hazards but here in the states they get a rubber stamp for your consumption according to a two thousand and eleven national toxicology program report on carcinogens it can reasonably anticipate that b.h.a. causes cancer in humans but that doesn't stop it from entering our food supply. in a peer reviewed study published in the environmental health perspective it down thirty six common food items in a dallas grocery store just half had to talk to bill levels a bro mine the flame retardants but there's more than just bro mine now american consumers along with their global counterparts have something else to worry about genetically modified foods as it stands now the government doesn't require them to carry a label chances are you may have eaten them and not even known it one study from

french scientists real eric serra leni found a link between g m o's and cancer dr robert byrne hof explained the sara lee new study in this way in france there was a study through your study of eating g.m. our core into rats but it's early any. goalie rats are sure this better cancer sensitive breast as a national yes or institute uses eighty percent of the reds got breast cancer i think that's significant because fifty percent of the male resco develop cancer as an investigator after being fed months and as roundup ready g.m.o. corn the roundup herbicide for two years according to the sara lee new study female rats produced massive tumors on mammary glands and golfing their body for male rats testicular and abdominal cancers occurred both sexes displayed lesions on the liver as well as kidney failure and yet months santos was just awarded a major humanitarian award for its contributions to society food and drug administration declined to comment on dr sara lee new study as well as the effects

of bromance found in common processed foods we're told here in the u.s. that the food and drug administration has our back right plus all the information coming out that there are allowing these substances in our food supply it just may be time to get another option in washington margaret how old are c. now coming to a television or radio station near you good old fashioned american propaganda for several decades a federal law has been on the books that banned the department of state from decide . mading government made media intended for foreign audiences from being broadcast to americans right here in the united states you see the fear was that the government could begin using its media right here on americans as a form of propaganda but thanks to legislation passed earlier this year that longstanding law banning u.s. propaganda on american citizens has expired meaning the airwaves could open up to state department funded media reports that were intended to sway people's opinions

of america around the world supporters of repealing the law say that this will help us media and other organizations gain access to material they were otherwise banned from sin but others caution that this new open door to government media comes at a curious time when public approval of our government in particular our congress is at an all time low suggesting that when it comes to instilling more confidence in the american government she has the american government a little propaganda may be just what's needed as many people hopefully know now there's a growing gap between the nations of nations wealthiest and well everyone else this gap grows larger as wages for the average american stagnate while those of the top have only gotten wealthier and with many americans facing dire economic situations like foreclosures and layoffs the nation's biggest spenders have never had it

better and are making those luxurious purchases like never before for some examples of what most of us could never buy the residence laurie harkness. realtor david ogilvy and associates just released images of the most expensive house in america a one hundred ninety million dollar home in greenwich connecticut media outlets immediately made headlines out of it because they all know that we americans love our wealth porn you know what we all just love to lust after a really expensive toy

a few more examples to get you excited the most expensive hot rod ever just sold at auction it was a nine hundred fifty four mercedes-benz formula one racer that sold for twenty nine million dollars the most expensive juicy burgers is the fleur burger and not fake it which you can sink your teeth into for five thousand dollars when you technophiles the most expensive i phone it's fifteen point three million dollars and is covered in gold and diamond or if you're more of a fashionista you'll love ogling this most expensive dress that dripping with red diamonds and has a price tag of seventeen point seven million dollars or for all you hipsters with beards out there just take a look at the most expensive beer sam adams utopia which sells for one hundred and ninety dollars for a twenty four ounce bottle. sure the average annual salary is between forty and

fifty thousand dollars here in the u.s. and the vast majority of us will never be. able to afford any of that but still when the media shows us these hot blood jury items it doesn't make us mad at the gross misuse of resources or income equality it just makes us lust after all that luxury why because we americans are taught from an early age that there is nothing hotter than being filthy rich we're constantly being told by our media and corporations that will only be spatially if we have war money to buy more. but it goes even deeper than that it's not that we just lost after wealth we are ready think we are wealthy we're all told that we too will have all that wealth and say because america is just so great we already feel

a part of the effect the opulent lifestyle even though a large part of the one percent get that rich by manipulating a corrupt system that screws the rest of us still we fell a break them because we think we're one of them and it's only a matter of time before it's our turn so the american media uses the porn of these publicity stunts of the most expensive toys as a great way to satisfy the math is that much like porn they leave us empty inside and it's ultimately a poor excuse for the real thing tonight let's talk about that by filing and twitter at the resident. that does it for now for more on the stories we covered go to youtube dot com slash r t america or check out our website r t dot com slash usa and you can also follow

me on twitter same sex and don't forget to tune in at nine pm for larry king now for a special panel discussion on nutrition and food politics it will be sure to be an eye opening look at what america's americans are needed so you don't want to miss it until then take it easy. i would rather as questions for people in positions of power instead of speak on their behalf and that's why you can find my show larry king now right here on our t.v. question more. stories

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