anyway. a new jersey congressman is pushing a new bill to curb government surveillance if passed it would repeal the patriot act among other changes to protect american civil liberties we'll have the man himself on this show to discuss his new bill bradley manning trial inches closer to its end today the prosecution and defense make their final arguments after the judge refused to dismiss the best charges against manning an update on this case. and it's thursday so you know it's time for the tax records with the growth of social media there's also a booming industry for data it's an industry that's working to figure out how we think and how they can market to us we'll discuss that later in today show.

it's thursday july twenty fifth in washington d.c. i'm maggie lopez and you are watching r.t. well earlier this week we told you about new jersey congressman rush holt crafting a new legislation that would get rid of the patriot act as well as the two thousand and eight foreign intelligence surveillance amendment today he introduced that bill to the house h.r. two eight one eight otherwise known as the surveillance state repeal act here's an outline of a few things that this bill does go through kills the patriot and amendment x. it prohibits the government from mandating that electronic devices or other software money manufacturers build in so-called back doors and it increases the terms of judges on the foreign intelligence surveillance court from seven to ten years so does this bill stand a chance well the man who introduced this piece of the. just lation says this is

not rocket science and he would know along with the congressman he's also a rocket scientist new jersey representative rush holt joined me earlier to discuss this proposed bill and i started off by asking him why he specifically wants to eliminate the fightback amendment of two thousand and eight the five amendment was something that was passed in two thousand and eight to make legal the illegal activities that were already under way in the intelligence community and i think it has also been used as the basis for the the n.s.a. and the intelligence community to continue to do things that are out of bounds and so. i think they're probably i'm fact i'm sure there are some changes that need to be made to the original site as well but this would

repeal the patriot act which has been the source of a number of problems excesses in in law enforcement and intelligence and if i said amendments and as you point out it reduce several other things so should we take this to mean that you agree that the original fice a bill or parts of it that have a place in american society today post nine eleven. well the financial bill was set up to deal with. catching spies and and protecting this country from people who would do us harm and there's no question it's a dangerous world there are some things that must be done to protect us to enforce the law and but the way it's being done these days it has turned americans into suspects first and citizens second now answer your question is

is there a chance that this could pass you know as recently as yesterday more than two hundred members of congress out of four hundred thirty five so nearly a majority a large minority voted to cut the spending for the national security agency domestic surveillance so yes there there is a strong interest in congress and around the country to have the debate that we have not had for decades now congressman you have been in congress since one nine hundred ninety nine you voted for house resolution three one six two better known as the patriot act on october twenty fourth two thousand and one now in the year since you have voted against it four times between two thousand and five and two thousand and six what changed your mind why act against it now. well you you've done your homework there when the patriot act was passed you'll recall that date

was just a couple of weeks after the attacks on the world trade center and on the pentagon we were then still sifting out information about the hijackers about these terrorists they had spent time in florida and they had boarded planes in maine and they had. there were indications that there might be terrorist cells all over this country nobody knew. it turns out that that was. exaggerated fear. but this was a time of great fear. passing the patriot act as one of my great regrets in my time in congress. but it's understandable i think how that came about it was pretty clear quickly that. there were not terrorists

cells scattered all over the united states and it was equally clear that we didn't need. national security letters and sneak and peek. techniques where the f.b.i. and law enforcement could come into your house and without without a warrant and leave no you know me nothing behind here and that that they can't just pursue a person on a hunch without having to get probable cup proof probable cause before a judge there and all sorts of things that the patriot act and by some that meant x. x. allow that shouldn't continue now congressman how much did you know about the n.s.a. surveillance and the fifer courts before this quote here is that happened in the guardian just about a month ago as a result of edward snowden's leaks did you. you know how deep they really went for you part of that cell of congress that was informed about all of this i was on the

intelligence committee for a number of years and you can see the letter that i wrote to the director of the n.s.a. in two thousand and five. visit to the n.s.a. where i asked him to. show to me that or give me the evidence so that i can tell my constituents that the american government does not. on americans and he gave me a very. brief thing a couple of days later the new york times james rice and the new york times came out with. an explosive exposé about the n.s.a. spying i wrote a list during a letter i wrote the head of the n.s.a. a blistering letter. choosing him not just deceiving me an

individual but withholding from congress the necessary information for congress to be able to do its oversight. a lot of different things have come in and you are you are learning as much as we are with piece by piece coming out one other thing that i did want to bring up is that the bill proposes extending terms of judges on the foreign intelligence surveillance court as i had mentioned and we have seen one article after another commenting on how laughable this court is considering the fact that the fica court has never once turned down a government request so my question to you is why is it important to extend their terms and is this court a legitimate court. well i don't believe it's true that they have never turned down a request nevertheless it is a fair criticism that they are a rubber stamp court. and because they operate in secret and essentially make law as as as courts do by setting up a you know

a series of decisions. it's it's really unfortunate that this happens in secret. and is essentially allowing the intelligence folks to do whatever it is they want. a longer term you know one of the objections that the court. members that the judges on this court. one of the problems that they point to is that this is such a complicated material and so technically complicated that unless they've served on the court for a longer period of time they don't really mastered the material this is a really i would argue a an important but. secondary. modification we need to make in the court we need to make other modifications in the court to make sure that it really functions that. there is an adversarial. situation

created in each case so that it isn't just a rubber stamp. so that the two sides will argue pro and con we have to make sure that what comes before the court. is. you know is subject to review elsewhere in an expeditious way so there are a number of other changes that need to be made to despise the court that this bill does not yet make and other words more and more oversight we have thirty seconds left but can you put quickly tell me what would you like to see done to efforts now in. you know clearly he broke the law as it is part of what my legislation does is change the whistleblower protection so that people who work in the intelligence community have whistleblower protection just like employees in other parts of the federal government and we particularly need it there because so

much of that work is done in secret and unless a whistleblower comes forward there's no way that you know the public or congress can know what's going on and conduct oversight so if there had been a good whistleblower projections. would not be in this situation that he is now thank you so much for weighing in on this new congressman rush holt he is a senate candidate he's also a rocket scientist and the man who beat the watson computer on jeopardy thank you army chose a nice lenhart closing arguments today in the case against wiki leaks our bradley manning the twenty five year old army private first class faces twenty one charges for leaking some seven hundred thousand military and diplomatic cables to the world the most serious charge manning faces as aiding the enemy which could result in a life sentence the prosecution spent its final moments trying to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that manning leaked those documents knowing that they could end

up in the hands of al qaeda and other terrorist organizations meanwhile defense lawyer david coombs is expected to portray manning as well meaning but naive for the latest from fort meade our to correspondent wall. after nearly two months of trial we hear closing arguments today in the court martial of private first class bradley manning today the prosecution said manning recklessly leaked the documents put national security at risk when he did it and put american lives in danger the prosecution kicked off their closing arguments today by saying quote the only human he cared about was himself they painted manning as somebody that was self-absorbed and somebody that craved notoriety at the time that he leaked the documents they all spent a good amount of time talking about the relationship between manning and wiki leaks co-founder julian a songe the prosecution said quote it's obvious manning pulled as much information

as possible to please julian assange so their theory as that manning and a songe work together in this conspiracy to put as much classified information as possible on the internet now the government also spent time kind of downgrading wiki leaks as a journalistic organization saying that their job their or their goal was it was not to do good journalism but rather bad times aided the enemy and putting the sensitive information on the internet the government reiterated that manning aided the enemy when he leaked the classified documents citing his job as an intelligent than the less that he dealt with classified information on a daily basis and received this special training so he should have known in the prosecution's view that he should have known full well exactly what he was doing exactly what the consequences were and that the enemy would see this information when you put it on the internet so we're here we're in the middle of the prosecution's closing arguments very lengthy closing argument still waiting to hear

from the defense it's expected that the defense will paint manning as a whistle blower somebody that just wanted to expose government wrongdoing and spark a national debate so we will keep keep you updated on all of the. elements here in port may have lives of all archy and speaking of leakers a group of whistleblowers journalists and activists hosted a panel discussion at the national press club here in d.c. today the event focused on privacy laws that protect whistleblowers as well as how digital media and journalism play into this discussion a who's who of past r.t. interviewees showed up in hosted the panel discussion to present a united front to push for added protections for government leakers r.t. correspondent erin a.p. brings us more you've heard the old adage don't shoot the messenger but in the age of widespread surveillance it's become easier for the u.s. government to crack down on the people leaking authorized information to the press

under the obama administration an unprecedented eight whistleblowers have been prosecuted under the espionage act for such leaks so how do you prevent yourself from being number nine we've compiled a list of the top five ways to blow the whistle straight from the mouths of those who've done it before take a look you know encrypt the crap of your life especially the parts of realize you just don't want the government looking you know it doesn't mean you're hiding anything member that's that to me is just a surveillance state they want to know as much as they can about you. but i was i had extensive communication with reporter via encrypted means and that was and i know the government got extraordinary frustrated one reason they came to my house and took everything that i had was electronically i tend to stay away from reporters to purposely or inadvertently burn their sources that's why they're probably fewer than ten in this country that i go to with whistleblower stories there is a ton of negative marketing you get based on all kinds of groups including the

government that. may. necessarily not be so keen on what you're doing but you have to accept that and really refocus on. what is right so if you decide disclosure already of you're already a mark person so why would you want to work within the system there's no reason to there isn't because you'll be flagged immediately made a conscious decision to sell it now secured to the highest better and. it's one of the great huge elephants in the room mass of redistribution of wealth. in this country to a very small select group just think about the trillions literally the trillions have been spent since i've been alone on quote unquote nash security homeland security and defense. and what have we gotten in return you have to really ask the

question this panel was assembled by the government accountability project that's the nation's largest whistleblower protection organization and whistleblowers and former n.s.a. executives alike spoke to members of the media in washington d.c. thursday morning and now while it's fair to say the whistle blowing process for these folks was no walk in the park they are helping to make the treacherous waters of whistleblowing a little bit calmer for all this to follow aaron a day r.t. . well to egypt now were a lot of information is coming out today egypt's military the very one who was trying to quell the protests is now calling for massive demonstrations on friday in order to confront what it described as islamic violence yesterday general sisi urged egyptians to take to the streets to give out a mandate to come front terrorists meanwhile more critics are saying that the seeds from morsi ouster were planted as soon as the constitutional convention was over deferring to islamic law on issues like women's rights additionally there were

bread and butter concerns with egyptian facing constant power blackouts also out today officials say the obama administration will tell lawmakers that it will not declare each of government overthrow a coup this move will continue to allow the u.s. to provide one point five billion dollars in annual military and economic aid to the country however the pentagon has announced that it will delay the sale of our f. sixteen fighter jets to egypt's military that are part of that aid package the planes were supposed to be delivered as part of a previously arranged deal with the military the u.s. already has delivered eight f. sixteen earlier this year but what the obama administration declaring that the overthrow was not a coup who knows how long that the way will really last here to talk all things that egypt is the heart disease she's associate law professor at texas was only in university thank you so much so far obviously i just covered a lot in that intro so let's break these things down one by one first of all it's

been a month since more cesar overthrow where does the country stand right now while the country is very divided unfortunately prior to june thirtieth when the big protests started in culminated in the morsi being deposed on july third one could arguably say at least based on my experience being there that a large majority of egyptians were no longer in favor of morsi it was quite unpopular but that. doesn't necessarily mean that they all wanted the military to depose him and take over so at this point you have a divided public in terms of whether that was the right way to deal with a very unpopular president and we have seen a similar divide in the past when they were trying to figure out who would come into power and it ended up being morsi there were so many groups that were playing into that and eventually the muslim brotherhood and mohamed morsi won out so do you have any idea where morsi is at the moment what his whereabouts are and whether or

not he would be potentially prosecuted in the future like we saw hosni mubarak was in potentially end up in the same cell as the person that he helped out that is a very good question nobody knows where he is and i think that's a very disconcerting fact that notwithstanding his agree just violations of law and very poor politics he has been he's disappeared he's been abducted by the military and there's no charges that have been filed against him yet i suspect there probably will be and i think that that demeans and cheapens the office of the presidency of egypt it's not about morsi it's about whoever occupies that office has at the very least due process rights always gyptian should have due process rights and i think the fact that the liberals and the opposition parties are silent on this issue is very disconcerting because it could be digging their own graves in the future now if you had mentioned this we are seeing this process

of criminalization of presidents will there be mubarak or whether it be morsi is this just a result of it actually being a criminal process or of just simply the newness and the ignorance of the muslim brotherhood on how to run a country or how do you think that the muslim brotherhood is really stacking up in the eyes of the people right now well i think the consensus is that they are incompetent and they are very politically uncivil. it catered and made many many political mistakes some of which were in violation of the law there are those who are their strongest detractors who believe that their malicious and their loyalties lie with some grander muslim brotherhood organization as opposed to their loyalties with egypt and those. theories are the ones who really caused a lot of the problems for the brotherhood or at least pushed them and finally we have just about a minute left but obviously when hosni mubarak was overthrown the u.s.

lost it very big ally in that region they've been very hesitant about who to choose next to support what do you think of the government saying that this was not a coup is that choosing a side essentially absolutely they took they made a political decision the law the american law is pretty clear that whenever a military is plays a decisive role in moving a democratically elected president that qualifies as a coup and therefore prohibits however there are waivers and there are ways to interpret the law and i think that the obama administration has decided that its strategic interest little foreign policy interest trumps any narrow interpretation of the law and we've seen that foreign policy and interest backfired before we'll have to see how it plays out in the future we could talk about this topic all day i really appreciate you coming in so far as these associate law professor at texas wesleyan university. well still ahead here on our t.v. in the free flow of data on the web we may be all rats in a cage telemarketers use data from social media to understand how we think more on

that after the break. the worst you're going through. what out of a. radio guy in fort lauderdale in a minute. what the large global are about to give you never seen anything like this on color.

welcome back well have you ever logged on to your facebook or twitter account to find out that your post received a ton of likes or comments or read tweets or other feedback be honest did it give you a rush well scientists are saying that rush is a form of dope i mean a neurotransmitter that helps you control your brain's control centers for reward and pleasure and dopamine is not immune to the temptations of technology nora volkow the director of the national institute on drug abuse told in p.r. quote writing a blog that then becomes viral will then hook you to want to repeat that act that specific experimental story has not been done but equivalents have actually been shown the first one was many years ago in which they had people playing a video game and when individuals got a point dopamine got activated an unexpected reward well this brought in p.r.

reporter steve henn to liken our relationship to technology and social media to a lab rat experience experiment known as the skinner experiment which found that when rewards were unpredictable rats would become obsessed with trying to get more of them meanwhile scheduled rewards would not create that same obsession so when we refresh our facebook pages for new likes and comments are we those rats in skin or escape each to discuss that i'm joined now by breaking the set producer manual raffaello and r t producer rachel curteous thank you so much for joining me so are we just a society of addicts here or do we really need all this dopamine nanny i see playing with your phone. i think so go to there's anything wrong with with dopamine in fact a lot of what the research was focusing on was video games was a huge aspect of this and i think one aspect of yeah we get the feel good dopamine

that comes with playing video games but it's also kind of a community builder so i think that when it comes to you know certain aspects of whether or not we're doing. technology i don't think the technology should business really be seen as a way you know like i'm not paying attention to what you're doing it's also bringing people together and i think video games are a good way to bridge that rachel do you think that we are rats in the social media cage well i certainly feel like sometimes i personally have very little control over over how obsessed i've become with things like twitter and facebook sometimes i find myself we do typing my way on to facebook and beyond kind of to post down realizing how did i even get here at a certain point it becomes almost like second nature so even though it can be a community i think that it's a zero sum game here you know you can build an online community but oftentimes that means that you're losing something in real life and it's not just the small rewards that we get from facebook posts or read tweets i love them but you know it's also about the sounds that these things make

a ping from your e-mail can be considered don't mean they're like a little rushes down your back yeah you want you want to feel loved i guess what is that really any different than dopamine surges that we experience in real life right like from finding a friend on the street or something like that that certainly can give you a rash i think that things like facebook and twitter have anything or make in front of the right exactly divans on who you find in the street but you know i think that it has to do with the way that these sites are engineer in the first place is to create that sense of game a fixation right every day in the street you might get a rush but you're also kind of not you're not expecting anything otherwise when i have a when i have a good twitter post for instance and i think it's really a lariat and then you know nobody retreats it no favorites nothing you kind of get that down surge to which i don't think you get normally walking down the street because you're not expecting anything so i think that just like there are some studies showing that facebook can actually make you more sad in the long run it's like we're getting these these nice boosts but then there's a downswing as well and maybe you should just mention the downsides of it i mean

the experts that we're talking to n.p.r. said that it's like drug abuse so there is definitely downsides right absolutely well i mean. i don't i actually don't see this is a downside i think that especially if you look at the study of the study was suggesting that people like to talk about themselves people talk about themselves all the time on facebook that itself gives you this like sense of the little extra boost of dopamine every time that you make a status update about what you had for breakfast or whatever that's that that's a positive point and i guess that speaks volumes to how popular facebook and twitter are globally i mean we're talking about millions and millions of users so i don't think it's the necessarily about the i think that yes we should maybe take a couple of hours out of the day beyond what we're sleeping to disconnect from the virtual world but i think that ultimately it's a positive thing and it's good for people however many you have to admit that it could be abuse right if we could see advertisers using these things get people to come in obviously twitter isn't really profiting off of you getting reach weights

but if you're given a certain reward that can be a downer you know facebook profits every time people spend significant amounts of time on the web site in the first place so certainly they're taking advantage of the fact that we feel so good connecting with people so interesting so we think that it's free but we really were the commodity if you look at you we think we consider things like twitter and facebook as being free but we're being data mined it's our information that's that's valuable to them everything we like everything we we click on everything else that we see and i mean essentially we're the commodities here and apparently so is our dopamine and our feel good feelings breaking the set of producer manny rappel and our t.v. producer rachel courteous thank you so much. all right well that's going to do it for now for more on the stories we cover and go to youtube dot com slash r t america and check out our web site r t dot com slash usa and speaking of help me and i would like some of my own so follow me on twitter at megan underscore lopez stick around breaking the set with host abby martin is coming up at the top of the

hour. wealthy british style. markets why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mikes concert for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to cons a report on. you know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture.