you live on one hundred thirty three possible so food i should try it because you know how fabulous i had lunch. i mean family and i know that i'm. really not. the old story so. it's. worse for the little thing the white house or the. radio guy and. they want. to give you never seen anything like that i'm telling. you guys i'm having my own this is breaking the side so guys i know what i've been saying that there seems to be no legitimate basis for the terror alert issued

worldwide but i was wrong say it's just been revealed that there is legit evidence backing up why the us made this in to close the nineteen embassies across the middle east or to the daily beast the intelligence gathered was from a conference call between more than twenty high level al qaeda operatives you heard me right a conference call between al qaeda i know it's crazy but think about it a lot of the revelation that the n.s.a. is spying on every line of communication on the planet doesn't make total sense that terrorists would use conference call dot com to plot the next big terrorist attack but i kid but if you already think this is ridiculous just wait because it gets even better because according to one official the terrorist call was quote like a meeting of the legion of doom you know the cartoon group of villains who fight the justice league so now the government's comparing al qaeda to cartoon villains who took even if this cartoon call actually happened why. a with the government

leaked this to the press member edward snowden edward snowden was charged with espionage for leaking information about the n.s.a.'s dragnet surveillance program why because the government said they would expose how the n.s.a. conduct surveillance of potential terrorists thereby crippling efforts to fight terrorism so by that logic the government's creating espionage against themselves if this work reality is giving you a headache to join me and let's break this that. my . it seems like every day i'm hearing about another case of police overstepping their authority if you a quick update on the most recent cages of agree just abuse nationwide. yes there are many other options the officer has to subdue a suspect other than using deadly force but even though a cop

a so-called other non-lethal methods to apprehend suspects often times of these tactics that are abused the most and this was a story about a whole different a ray of different people who were victimized by police somehow jump to the end so i'm going to tell you about one of them the case of israel hernandez an eighteen year old honor student an artist who was caught spray painting an old store front when police confronted hernandez he did what most teenagers would probably do when he ran so officers proceeded to use a taser gun on him to make the arrest as hernandez lay on the ground witnesses say that officers were celebrating their catch with high fives but hernandez never got up and soon after he was pronounced dead a report from the medical examiner's office still pending on how the taser actually killed the young teenager one thing remains clear that is how this young man died and it's far from an isolated incident they so you recently reported that at least five hundred and forty one taser related deaths have occurred since two thousand and one it's

a stat that should make us reconsider how overuse these so-called non-lethal weapons really are really though whether it be a taser or gun this is about the need for trigger happy cops to face accountability and no not a demin demotion or paid leave i'm talking about actually serving hard jail time because killing someone while dressed in blue shouldn't put you about the law. a little. better she's going to be like. oh. the civil war tearing syria apart is being labeled by many as. worst humanitarian crisis of the twenty first century the conflict has officially reached over one hundred thousand dead since the violence broke out over two years ago resulting in a million syrian refugees moreover syria's geographic and political has also caused an international standoff between global powers and regional alliances so her talk

more about syria the potential for u.s. involvement in another war and for quarter heads to prevail i'm joined by antiwar activist organizer but the answer coalition. i thank you so much for having me. you didn't get an update about where syria's civil war stands right now because it seems like every day more is escalating on the ground well certainly the war as well it could be escalating it's been a bit of a stalemate recently we saw that yesterday one of the primary rebel groups the free syrian army claimed a victory in aleppo the government is also claiming victory so it certainly seems that what we saw a few months ago where the government was able to turn the tide against the rebels which seemed they were sort of marching inexorably towards victory that stabilisation has continued with the government at least apparently having the upper hand in the rebels occasionally being able to get certain victories but not changing the strategic equation but with many people of course as you mentioned continuing to. and i think when we hear the term rebels and i'm going to govern really understand all of the different rebel factions there are so many can you break down a little bit about what who these factions are which faction is the most prominent

amongst the rebel forces of course well yes it is very confusing because the free syrian army which is what the united states consistently says they're supporting it sort of the primary rebel army as it were is really a collection of different types of fighters that have you know a variety of different things some that are affiliated with political parties and religious movements like the muslim brotherhood some that are based on neighborhood region where this city there are also some that are just sort of generally secular cobbled together in different ways and then on the other hand in sort of the most effective form of fighters which everyone is has put forward or groups like. the islamic state of syria and which are some people call them salafi groups some people call them jihad as groups what i believe is a little bit of a. towards the muslim people but nevertheless that are drawn from this mill you have individuals that support this hardline interpretation of islam and that have drawn in a number of foreign fighters from around the world libya egypt tunisia afghanistan russia all over who have the same philosophy and they sort of have taken

a very critical role and have been called by even the united states is the most effective fighting force and in june we heard obama say that we are viciously declaring arm the rebels of course we know that by proxy they've been armed by the us for a long long time what does that mean i mean what stage is the armenian right now can you give us a little sense of what that actually entails and certainly well the united states they're trying to sort of keep a wrap on it but what they have been saying when they said they're officially arming the rebels is that they were sending a large amount of quote unquote small arms rifles that sort of thing as well as things that have been flowing in from europe and sort of through europe and america the gulf states shoulder to shoulder fired rockets that can take out tanks or be used against helicopters and things of that nature so it's still primarily sort of a small arms kind of thing i mean they're not sending them you know huge large missiles but it's huge hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of tons of this type of equipment plus the so-called non-lethal aid which includes communications equipment and all of us know in the twenty first century particularly on the battlefield those who have the communications and electronic advantage are often able to gain

the upper hand so even though it's called non-lethal it's used to coordinate the war effort well i you know as you mention of course we know that very radical islamic groups are fighting alongside the rebels people have called them al qaeda that's unquestionable how is the u.s. making sure that these arms are not getting in the hands of these groups well they are making sure i mean they're just saying that they're making sure and they are setting up these bases in turkey and jordan that are run by cia agents that are supposed to be vetting quote unquote vetting individuals but as has been shown through a number of different media stories and reporters in the area arms are flowing that are coming from the united states and are coming from the west are flowing to these these organizations and these groups. that are affiliated even by the united states government saying that they are affiliated with al qaeda and the war effort is really intensely intertwined we just saw the rebels claim a major victory by taking over an airbase in aleppo now that was a joint operation of the free syrian army and other so-called al-qaeda forces who played one of the biggest key roles and so we see that the united states is

claiming that they're differentiating but really they're just trying to poor as many arms into the conflict zone as they can to attempt to overthrow the assad regime which has been the stated desire of the u.s. government for some time regime change in syria why and i think this all begs the question why because when people look at the syria situation and they look at the rest of the war on terror when they see the u.s. pouring billions if not trillions of the course of the last decade to fight al qaeda worldwide yet sponsor al qaeda in syria what is with syria what what is this end goal here that the u.s. has been you know certainly well you know it's geostrategic i mean what we basically see in syria where you have to take the long view i mean the united states is targeted iraq iran which they have not overthrown and now syria and so clearly the united states is trying to target any sort of independent nationalistic regime that isn't totally pliant and compliant with the united states and the western nations in this crucial region of the world which obviously contains a significant amount of oil it's the world's crossroads a very important area the united states doesn't want any government in there that

they basically can control or at least at key moments pressure to do the things they want them to do so starting with the war in iraq the united states has been marching on in the middle east attempting to eliminate these independent nationalist regimes and they were hoping to do so in syria just by fomenting a civil war and that strategy has been successful right and of course that using that chemical weapons even as a justification is a bizarre considering how we use chemical weapons frequently why is chemical weapons a justification to invade and occupy a sovereign nation is beyond me eugene what will happen if the rebels do defeat assad what can we expect to see in the country and then what i think what we should expect to see is something that has something similar to what. and in libya where the country basically splinters apart while all these factions fight each other for supremacy some small turf battles some larger battles for broader control over oil rigs and things like that i think will certainly break out and also if we see as we've seen in libya or will start to flow out of syria all over the rest of the

world really to significantly destabilize things and accelerate other conflicts so i think if we were to see the rebels win it wouldn't just be some clean cut victory where some great new government with been established itself and radicals and we've seen that and a rock can live in iran exactly what you have. there and i want to mention really quickly cia deputy director michael morrell said it would be a huge win for al qaeda and like you just said where these weapons and it go they're obviously getting hands of people we don't necessarily want them to also on top of that the chemical arsenal you know they claim to have would be up for grabs that's according to morrell with russia giving aid to assad regime with the u.s. giving aid to the rebels what do you think should happen now that russia has granted snowden asylum do you this going to affect already the very tense relationship on the ground in syria between these two superpowers oh i think most definitely i mean i think what we've seen despite the whole conversation about a reset of relations with russia the united states has now is not pursuing a strategy of detente as it were and the russians of course i mean they have

different interest in this conflict and i think the asylum given to snowden just adds to the syria issue and a number of other sort of geo strategic linchpins where the two sides disagree so i think certainly this will continue in the snowden issue to degrade relations between the two countries particularly since the united states congress and the republican party which have such a bellicose attitude towards russia continue to push and push and push on the obama administration to demonize and isolate russia or attempt to at least i think the situation is really hard for a lot of people who look at syria and say oh my god it's a humanitarian crisis it's horrifying how many people have died how many people lost their lives for this geo political chess game what can people do to help the people of syria without investing in either side. this military battle well certainly people and i'm sure they're already doing it to invest in humanitarian efforts within the independent groups but i think by and large people here in the united states in particular need to start standing up and standing up aggressively against these attempts by the united states to intervene in the affairs of other nations i mean it was the united states were really the gulf states under the

umbrella in the aegis of the united states and other western countries that poured arms into syria and turning this into a terrible violent civil war real morass of desperation and ultimately it's these broader the broader impulse lying behind these policies the desire to push these core geo strategic interests no matter what the cost to the people of any particular region that we have to stand up against we have to fight against to give the syrian people and other people a chance to reclaim their own future and destiny because if we don't we can almost be sure to expect the same thing that's happened iraq libya all these countries we really do need to stand up against the military industrial complex and their takeover of the planet thank you so much you didn't hear organizer for the answer coalition always happy to be here thank you. don't go away guys when we come back we'll fill you in on everything alec anniversary convention in chicago.

well the british. market. find out what's really happening to the global economy with. the no holds barred look at the global financial headlines. the report. is it possible to navigate the economy with all the details such as dixon misinformation and media hype you up to date by decoding the mainstream status if in your right.

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today i'd like to wish a happy fortieth birthday to an organization that's contributed so much to humanity called alec the american legislative exchange council and when i say contribute actually mean destroy because of the course of its existence the group has crafted some of the most damaging legislation on the books stand your ground it's an act of law in florida that allows for the use of deadly force in self defense has produced some of the most controversial murder acquittals this nation has ever seen but that's just the snippet of the destructive laws alec has sponsored over the years the organization has also made its name by pushing voter suppression laws some of these bills include restricted idea requirements slashing down early voting hours you residency restrictions and even more roadblocks for mass voter registrations

but all of that comes as little surprise if you know who whole way rich is co-founder of alec check out what he had to say about voting back in one thousand eighty. how many of our christian have what i call vote goo goo syndrome good government they want everybody to vote. i don't want everybody go vote elections are not won by a majority of people they never help them from the beginning of our country they are not now as a matter of fact our leverage in the elections why can't it like goes up owning populace goes down let. gee that's a comforting thought apparently it's not about voter turn out it's about voter turn down and if you one of the most important principles of democracy but it's not just voters have been under attack by this organization it's a workers the alec is credited with introducing more than one hundred anti worker bills in thirty one different states in just the last two years alone these bills

are aimed at crushing unions weakening overtime pay and blocking local governments from passing the laws that increase the minimum wage so you see our cars had quite the list of accomplishments and right now they're celebrating all of them at the organization's fortieth annual conference in chicago so to gain some insight on what's actually taking place behind closed doors and why you and i should compare i spoke earlier with someone who's there right now brendan fisher general counsel at the center for media and democracy i first asked him to explain what's going down at this year's conference. this is alex fortieth anniversary they were founded in one thousand seventy three have been holding several meetings per year every year since then for the past four decades this meeting is dangerous cargo which is actually where they were initially founded and. this is the deeds of the meetings where the work gets done where corporations come together with state legislators to

push an agenda to promote model bills that benefit the corporate bottom line. with legislators take them out for meals take in the lavish parties and really promote the corporate control over state law and policy that we've seen for for decades now and let's talk about that that fear of control sphere of influence your organization the center for media and democracy just released a report that identifies four hundred sixty six alick bills introduced in two thousand and thirteen alone talk about the sphere of influence organization really wields sure so we we did. did release a new report today we found four hundred sixty six bills introduced in aid to cross the country and really in just the first six months of twenty thirteen just the first half of two thousand and thirteen which is a fairly astounding number when you get down to it and this is not actually even all of the alec model bills that have been introduced we looked at four separate areas the alec education bill the alec tort reform bills the worker's rights bills

and the alec environmental bill. and we we know that we missed some and the numbers actually probably much much higher but what these bills do when you look at them in the aggregate is you really can see the extent of corporate influence over law and policy in many cases these bills are being introduced by legislators without giving any indication that the bills came from alec or that the bills were initially drafted by corporate interests or voted on by corporate interests and that they benefit the the corporate bottom line if you're in the state and the bills are getting introduced and passed into law in many cases you would have no idea that they're part of this broader right wing agenda being coordinated in many cases at these meetings that the meeting that's happening right now in chicago. in many cases to you would realize that alec is ninety percent corporate funded that almost all of its funding comes from the corporate members that tend to benefit from the introduction of this of this model legislation and right now the huge problem i

want you to actually go over some examples of some of the most alarming bills that we've entered in the past year. sure sure well i think one of them of the larning is the what alan calls the electricity freedom act this is a bill to repeal renewable portfolio standard most states have these standards on the books they require that utility companies provide a certain percentage of electricity or energy from renewable sources and they slowly ramp up the percentage that has to be had to be provided by rituals over over time. the renewable portfolio standard have been enormously successful both in creating demand for new levels and also spurring investment creating new green jobs even in even in deeper and deeper and states these standards have been really successful by this affects the profits of alex polluter members like coke industry or peabody energy or the coal industry so alan has been putting a lot of effort into getting this electricity freedom act introduced and passed

into law they spent a lot of resources done in two thousand and thirteen but they were unsuccessful going in north carolina which as i think most of the or most of europe viewers probably know has been a conduit for the elec agenda in terms of voting rights in terms of workers' rights right terms of you are going with a lot of the moral mondays almost a thousand arrests so far just in that state it's astounding how you mention alex funding is ninety percent corporate what kind of corporations are we talking about here sure well you know that so that bill that i mentioned actually did not pass in north carolina which was shocking and which is a good indication of really just how extreme it is so how it is really upping this this push this at this meeting deciding to try around to to repeal renewable portfolio standard so alex funding comes from in many cases it comes from the same members that are going to benefit from the passage of the electricity pritam act or other efforts to repeal renewable portfolio standard. aleksey presented itself of the membership organization of membership. counts among its members both

legislators and private sector members but the legislate. pay just fifty dollars a year to join corporations pay tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to join al a joint task force a sponsor meetings sponsor workshops and act just legislators and push their agenda and in many cases to legislators who are attending these meetings are doing so on the corporate dime they're getting the travel expenses paid for by corporations that stand to benefit from from the same legislators introducing model legislation . so that you could really see these these these payments of travel expenses and hotel rooms and slaves to be to be almost a bribe as a as a payment in exchange for advancing our agenda in exchange for a dent in the corporate the corporate agenda yes and and of course operating as a five a one c three nonprofit and by extension have a charity of course they can get away with this insane lobbying effort really is a lobbying organization that kind of threw the guys to something else let's talk

about what they're doing and now i mean more people of course are starting to learn about al experiment who in the wake of trayvon martin stand your ground laws are they taking any measures to become even more secretive and there have been yeah absolutely when you mention their charity which means that all of these tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars that are being paid to join alec and access legislators that's actually a tax write off so we as taxpayers are essentially subsidizing. corporations to lobby and access legislators through alec it's really very much a very it's really quite the scheme their charitable status has been challenge three very credible complaints we filed a supplemental letter this this week noting that they're under reporting to us that they're providing to legislators. but could you repeat that last part of the question again i'm sure you had no i read that they were actually taking more measures to try to hide the legislative process of the bills and public document

that people can access yeah that's that's absolutely right so just balance forty of the. anniversary which means that they've existed for four decades for the most part without anyone really noticing and that change in two thousand and eleven when a whistleblower came to the organization organization i work with the center for media and democracy with over eight hundred of alex previously secret model bills and with those bills and could begin to connect the dots begin to recognize just how much influence alec has had over or law and policy for a really long time. and how it has not done well in the sunlight they have not responded well to this sort of transparency over forty nine major corporations have dropped their alec membership in the past year alec is very much become a liability for a lot of the legislative members and as we've seen with the protests outside today a lot of people are really unhappy once it by what alec is and how it operates. so we've seen a lot of new renewed efforts to remain secret to continue operating in the dark. so in addition to just

a secret the secretive nature of these meetings press are not allowed inside i know a number of reporters who try doing press credentials out this meeting that were they were turned away there were a few is. they've also begun stamping their documents with a disclaimer asserting immunity from every state's open records law they're claiming that they don't need to abide by the oil law is the freedom of information laws that every state that most states have enacted to me make sure that legislators are acting on behalf of their constituents that they're acting in an accountable and transparent way legislators attend these meetings in their official capacity they're attending as legislators not as private individuals so everything that's going out of these meetings should be public record anything will run and i can't believe that they're doing that you know to sum it up we have about thirty seconds left but where can people find out more about how to stop alec sure so we are suing over over this open records issue but you can find more on our web site n.p.r.

watched or p r w a t c h dot org and alex expose dot org a l e c e x. pos e d dot org thank you so much for being out there today reporting from the front lines of this fibroid in fisher general counsel at the center for media democracy thanks for your time that attracted me. so as you heard him four hundred and sixty six bills have been introduced this year no think about it for one second alex has been in existence for forty years just imagine how much influence it's had over the policy of the term in the way you and i live and what's most scary that it's being done in secret now the guise of some innocuous charities that the majority of americans don't even know what's really happening and that's why we need to keep a critical eye on alec and never stop question that's a real motives were guys that's it for the show today thank you so much for watching and don't forget to join me all over again to break the set tomorrow have

a great night and follow me on twitter you guys at abby martin if you want to see what i'm doing when i'm not on the show have a great night. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so for life you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything

you. are welcome is a big picture. is it possible to navigate the economy with all the detail statistics and misinformation and media hype will keep you up to date by decoding the mainstream stating it's in your.

blog tell harben in washington d.c. and here's what's coming up tonight the big picture. the b.p. oil spill is the biggest single manmade disaster in american history because the cleanup have been just as destructive as the oil spill itself more on that would like to happen tony in just a moment also today was the second day of the fortieth annual alec conference taking place in a five star hotel in chicago what does america's most powerful group of right wing billionaires and republican politicians have up its sleeve next and owning and operating a business in america it isn't a right it's a privilege so if you won't pay your employees a living wage then you have no.