we're. i think. everybody will be curious to know that you know the price is the only industry specifically mention in the constitution. that's because a free and open press is critical to our democracy which health risks. that are you know i'm sorry and i'm this show we reveal the picture of what's actually going on we go beyond identifying the truth rational debate real discussion critical issues facing our families for ready to join the movement and walk and they take. time same sex in for tom hartman in washington d.c. here's what's coming up tonight on the big picture. tomorrow a lawsuit will be heard in

a new york city courtroom that could determine the fate of the n.s.a. and its spying programs we'll break down the case and the impact it could have on america's national security state and last year wal-mart could have afforded to raise its employee wages by over five dollars an hour but it didn't what did it spend billions on instead and what does it say about the company's willingness willingness to pay its workers a living wage. and we start tonight with what's been a very important week for the n.s.a. a week in which some of the n.s.a.'s most critical spying programs hang in the balance first to the united states senate where a group of lawmakers are hoping to use the annual defense authorization bill to force what could be bombshell n.s.a. disclosures senators ron wyden mark you do. and barbara mikulski are pushing

amendment that would force the director of intelligence this guy james clapper to give a report to congress in which he'd have to answer a number of critical questions about n.s.a. spying activities did the n.s.a. ever use provisions under the pfizer act to warrantless collect americans communications or another one did the n.s.a. why did the supreme court in the recent case of clapper very amnesty concerning warrantless wiretapping of american citizens and exactly how has the n.s.a. used cell phone location data to track americans those sort of questions the amendment will also require the attorney general to release any top secret pfizer court rulings that show instances of the n.s.a. breaking the law violating the constitution with its spying activities advise a court in the n.s.a. have already been compelled to hand over several previously classified documents the latest document dump was monday night when a secret court order giving the n.s.a. permission to stay cooped up americans internet data was released for the first

time along with a series of pfizer court orders documenting continuous and systematic abuse by the n.s.a. and all of these documents are proving useful for the several organizations that are taking the n.s.a. to court in hopes of putting an end to many of these spying programs just recently revealed by edward snowden course the first revelation back in june concerning the bulk collection of millions of horizon users' phone metadata it soon became clear that not just verizon customers were virtually all americans were having their telephone metadata collected by the n.s.a. this type of surveillance this bulk collection of data that informs the government of who you call when you're calling them and how long you're talking to them was authorized according to the top secret files of court under section two fifteen of the patriot act but one of the authors of the patriot act republican jim sensenbrenner disagrees he responded to the disclosure saying there is no

legitimate explanation for tracking the numbers locations times and duration of the calls of every american the collection and retention of all telephone records coming in and out of the united states is excessive and does not fall within the guidelines of section two fifteen. one week after this first disclosure about bulk telephone metadata collection the a.c.l.u. filed a lawsuit against the director of national intelligence james clapper calling for an end to this domestic spying as it by lates numerous constitutional rights again that lawsuit was filed one week after the first edward snowden disclosure back in june and tomorrow on friday that suit will receive its stay in court when government lawyers will have to square off with the a.c.l.u. in a federal courtroom in new york city and for the first time this they will have to defend in public court the n.s.a.'s telephone metadata spying program and what comes out of that hearing could have enormous impacts on how the n.s.a. currently operates joining me now to talk more about the case and its consequences

is bred max kaufman legal fellow with the american civil liberties union national security project welcome to the show thanks for having me so break it down for us what's at the core of what the a.c.l.u. will be arguing in court tomorrow. so we're in court tomorrow challenging the section to fifteen bulk phone record collection program as you just described it was the first revelation by edward snowden he revealed the secret court order from the foreign intelligence surveillance court. ordered the collection of all the to less than the mehta data as you said call detail records of all the verizon business network services customers for a ninety day period and we very quickly learned that that was not the only such order and it had not been the program had been going on for about seven years before that disclosure by mr snowden and so it's really quite remarkable where we're at right now we've gone seven years were a program has been reauthorized in reauthorized in

a secret court on secret applications by the government without anyone making any arguments on the other side and we've seen with that's right it's really the secrecy has really poisoned our system of checks and balances and tomorrow is a really momentous day for all americans to force the government to actually answer some of the hard questions that it's bulk collection program raises in particular as you mentioned. representative sensenbrenner who wrote the original picture actually wrote section two hundred fifteen his quotable phrase was you don't need the ocean to catch a fish and that's exactly what the government is doing it's taking a provision that was written for a targeted and narrow use to collect business records and it is engaged in the largest surveillance program in the history of any democracy so that's what we are going to the court we're is several claims here we rightly say that the program doesn't comply with the statute itself it goes far beyond what the statute

authorizes in terms of this kind of bulk collection risk was never contemplated by congress and certainly was not authorized by the statute we also risk constitutional claims as you mention. the call detail records being collected by the government are reveal incredibly sensitive details about our personal lives these are incredibly intimate things that you can put together when you aggregate not even you know the government's been doing it for seven years but even a month's worth of this kind of information can tell you so much about a person their religion their political associations whether they're struggling with drugs or alcohol is are all very sensitive things and the government's program guys deep into the zone of privacy that is protected by the fourth amendment right we've heard the government trying to defend these programs saying hey it's just metadata it's not the content but as you said metadata can reveal a tremendous amount about a person. what could we i talked in the intro about how the

national defense authorization act is being considered in the senate and there's an amendment to require the n.s.a. to disclose a lot more documents require the pfizer court to release documents that show when the n.s.a. violated the constitution would releasing those documents give organizations like the a.c.l.u. even more evidence to use against this as a down the road in future litigation well we certainly would welcome greater transparency from the vice accord and you know the provision in the n.d.a. authorization amendments proposed by senator wyden and udall is very similar to other provisions in legislation that the a.c.l.u. supports such as the usa freedom act which has been proposed by senator leahy and representative sensenbrenner as well the kind of transparency that we're talking about here is making public. decisions of a constitutional dimension or inter-breeding laws in a way that goes far beyond the face of the statue and these are very important

things not just for the a.c.l.u. but for all americans to be able to see what. what how their rights are being interpreted in this secret court and that's why tomorrow's hearing is so important for years the government's been able to go into a court room in washington d.c. but is a secret place and all of its doing go comings and goings are secret and it's made arguments for in favor of this kind of action of americans data without anyone standing on the other side and so tomorrow is a really important day certainly the release of these kinds of opinions is really fundamental in a democracy like this very shortly even before we filed our lawsuit which came less than a week after mr snowden's first revelation we actually filed a motion in this secret court the foreign intelligence surveillance court seeking all of the disc opinions that interpret the meaning and constitutionality of

section two thirteen as well as the constitutionality of all collection under that program and that proceeding is ongoing we're seeing those opinions on a theory that the public has a first amendment right to inspect judicial records and there's no record that's more core to that first amendment right of access to courts than opinions interpret and constitutional rights that we've had since the founding of the country or is there jurisdictional issue here you keep talking the pfizer court has approved these programs this top secret files according you concern that other courts might be unwilling to do something here saying hey look a court already taken this up despite the fact that it was a top secret court what business do we have to do anything about it. well the fact of the matter is the government has taken action in contravention of the constitution and we don't see any problem with a court here in new york city which has person jurisdiction over us and the defendants adjudicating our constitutional claims in fact on monday there was

a hearing in washington d.c. and the government conceded that there was no problem with a plaintiff that could show standing making these kinds of claims in federal court in a regular district court i would not seek a review of the order and for that matter it's impossible to seek review of the order because third party can intervene in the first so it's entirely appropriate for us to be there and we don't expect that to be a major hurdle we have just just about a minute left here we see movement on capitol hill to do something about the n.s.a. we might see something in the commercial sector here if people start leaving companies that cooperate with the n.s.a. and hand over all this data and now we see this action in the court system which avenue do you think will be the most effective in in reining in the n.s.a. moving forward or all of them. you know i don't think we have to pick i think we're seeing a lot of progress in all of them and all of it comes from the really public ground swell. up and up in arms about this kinds of mass surveillance is not something that the american people ever agreed to it's not something that they elected their

representatives through an act and it's not something that the government asked permission to do this was as we've seen in documents released this week by the government in response to the a.c.l.u. freedom of information act about section two of thirteen this is a government program that was in place under president bush on the president's own say so and it was transitioned into some kind of statutory authority in order to bring it somehow under court supervision and it has never worked and it really was an effort to try to jam a square peg into a round hole this statute was never intended to authorize this kind of surveillance and it was kind of devised as us. solution to it ongoing surveillance program already have but now they have another been caught red mark next kaufman thanks for joining me thanks for having me and we'll have more on the n.s.a. and its role in america's war machine right after this break.

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the best of the rest of the news earlier in the show we talked about what's going on in the senate this week they're debating the national defense authorization act and some lawmakers are open to use this bill as a vehicle to pass reforms to the n.s.a. essentially the national defense authorization act or a lays out how money will be spent within the u.s. war machine think of it as programming the machine that's a very important bill and one reason why as lawmakers always use this bill to legislate on a variety of national security or related issues in previous years the n.b.a. has been used to block transfers of kuantan no bay detainees you probably remember

that the n.b.a. was also used to deal with the issue of indefinite detention of american citizens and this year might be used to rein in the n.s.a. as i mentioned and it could be used to address sexual assaults in the military so as you can see this is a very critical debate in the senate that touches on all of those serious issues that are usually ignored by the mainstream media issues that often break down traditional left right party coalitions. john isaacs joins me now he's the executive director of the center for arms control and nonproliferation and the council for a livable wage drawn welcome to the show thank you so the senate armed services committee chairman carl levin is kind of overseeing the national defense authorization act in the senate he said that the n.b.a. is not the appropriate vehicle for a debate over the genesis is about a bit so it considering has been used as a vehicle for pretty much everything that's right it's one of the few must pass bills in the senate it. passed in the senate fifty one stray years and no other

bill can claim that even appropriations bills which might be a vehicle for a few moments have not gone to the senate floor this year so this is people's only hope senators only hopes and they introduce something like four hundred fifty amendments across the board national security foreign policy nuclear weapons sanctions on iran you name it in a few domestic issues maybe minute minimum wage on this why did you do all the kolsky amendment that's being considered that would force the n.s.a. to make these disclosures how important is that effort when it comes to overall n.s.a. reform what could disclosure of these documents lead to whether this is that it's one of a number of amendments that have been offered including to get a vote on the head of n.s.a. the senator mikulski software these are important political steps trying to get a handle on the spying that's been done by the end of national security agency which of course was revealed by mr snowden and was pretty much unknown to most americans and most senators with a few exceptions so getting some more visibility more light on what's happening and

maybe some more restrictions on what the n.s.a. does would be very helpful but again i don't know that there can be any votes the senate's gone for another couple weeks to come in on december ninth they don't have much time to try to deal with. these amendments much less four hundred fifty other mamet's the interesting thing we saw a few months ago when the house was considering this bill was the emotion about it but nearly. passed they just lost by a few votes and what we saw in that vote is we don't see republicans versus democrats on these issues we see usually party leadership first rank and file you see progressive democrats joining with libertarian republicans on these issues does that sort of these new political coalitions that you see them emerge on the n.s.a. you see them emerging on things like drones as well. does that make it harder or easier to push this because you're not dealing with partisan gridlock and said you're going up against leadership which might even be harder now in fact it makes it easier the fact that it's not just

a bunch of liberals complaining about spying by n.s.a. but you have a number of serious republican especially tea party people like a march as you mentioned senator paul and of kentucky senator lead. who are joining with democrats not just in these issues on drones and they say spying but also military spending levels and some nuclear weapons questions so suddenly you have left right partnerships and that makes it easier to pass certain things and mr marsh didn't when he came very close but a couple other manage with a left right coalition the house of representatives passed earlier this year and it's possible to happen the senate it's hard to know. another issue that's in the senate is kuantan of oh just this week the senate was able to defeat some amendments that would put in place these restrictions on transfer in guantanamo detainees to the united states and to elsewhere. previous years we've seen these restrictions in place and we might end up seeing them when the house and senate get together and create one bill what's really behind this effort to keep guantanamo

bay open at this point i mean we had prisoners going in there at the any in two thousand and two it's now the end of two thousand and thirteen what purpose does it serve anymore and why do lawmakers want to start keeping it open i think one reason is just the symbolism it's a it's a prison that's well protected in cuba of all places but a lot of it's i think of barack obama in other words republicans are objecting to any changes. and guantanamo bay transfer prisoners to the u.s. trials in the u.s. transfers to other countries because brock obama's president it was george w. bush's president republicans wouldn't have acted so much and it had that i think that's a major factor we saw in last year's n.b.a. that carl levin was able to slip this national security waiver to allow the president to use this waiver to and he hasn't used it yet be curious to see if he uses it next week another issue that's popped up next year another issues that that's popped up this year is drones when brennan was going through his nomination confirmation that the issue of drone warfare and how the united states uses our

drones leapt into the forefront of the media might we see that we just have thirty seconds with might we see something about drones addressed in the series and you know i've gone through the four hundred fifty amendments thus far and there hasn't been much of anything on drones as far so i don't really expect that to come up there have been some amendments i think senator paul managed to get amendment that he couldn't target american citizens with drones but i don't expect anything else on the defense bill at this point we'll have to look at whatever this fight is going out the next few weeks it should be interesting john isaacs thanks for joining us here. in other news wal-mart is the world's largest retailer and our nation's largest employer the giant corporation makes nearly thirty five thousand dollars in profit every single minute and as of two thousand and twelve its average annual sales stood at four hundred five billion dollars according to mother jones the six walton's whose money comes from wal-mart control an estimated one hundred fifteen billion dollars fortune that's more than

a whopping forty two percent of americans combined that the average wal-mart employee makes only around nine dollars per hour and would have to work over seventy million years about wage to accumulate as much wealth as the walton family has and wal-mart employees are paid so little that you and i and the rest of america as taxpayers are footing the bill for their health care housing and food costs a report released earlier this year by a congressional. democrats found that wal-mart's wages and benefits are so low that many of its employees are forced to turn to the government for aid costing taxpayers between nine hundred thousand and one point seven five million dollars per store on march extraordinarily low wages and poor benefits have prompted many of its workers to protest in recent months with many more planning to protest again this holiday season but those protests might not be necessary hording to a new report from the group demos wal-mart could pay higher wages to its employees right now and it wouldn't cost consumers

a penny or her wal-mart's competitiveness last year wal-mart spent seven point six billion with a b billion dollars to buy back shares of its own stocks even though the buybacks did nothing to increase profits if that seven point six billion dollars have instead been used to boost the wages of wal-mart's low wage workers there would have been an increase in wages of five dollars and seventy three cents per hour across the board. so wal-mart has the power and financial freedom to raise its workers' wages it's just a matter of whether the company will ever be willing to do that and if wal-mart decides against paying wages that its workers can survive on tom knows exactly what should happen to america's largest retailer. as we all know wal-mart is the largest retailer in the world employed over two million workers giant transnational corporation makes nearly thirty five thousand dollars in profit every minute and as of two thousand and twelve its average annual sales stood at four hundred five

billion dollars in two thousand and eleven wal-mart c.e.o. michael duke received a pay package worth eighteen point one million dollars which believe it or not was a three percent decrease in two thousand and ten and in two thousand and twelve he made twenty point seven million the waltons the six heirs to the vast wal-mart fortune on more wealth than a staggering forty two percent of americans combine according to forbes as of september twelfth two thousand and twelve the walton family controlled an estimated one hundred fifteen billion dollars fortune more than the g.d.p.'s of one hundred seven countries as ranked by the world bank and that one hundred fifteen billion dollars the walton family has is more than the entire two thousand and twelve operating budget for the state of california more than the federal government spent on food stamps in two thousand and eleven and more than the combined two thousand and twelve budget shortfalls of all fifty states simply put wal-mart is rolling in

money on the outside it seems like the giant corporation has the perfect business model right executives are making millions shareholders are raking in massive dividends and the company is expanding its reach more and more every year unfortunately while while mark executives are making millions and the walton family fortune is ballooning wal-mart employees the ones who actually do the work that makes wal-mart profitable are reaping the same rewards average wall. martin play makes about nine dollars an hour would have to work over eight hundred years of that wager in the same amount the c.e.o. michael duke made in two thousand and twelve and while wal-mart ripping off their employees the people who make them rich is bad enough wal-mart also offers a terrible health insurance plan that only some of its employees qualify for as a result you and me and the rest of american taxpayers are subsidizing this company by paying for the health care costs of many of wal-mart's employees who have turned to state funded programs like medicaid and food stamps to keep their families

intact for example a report released earlier this year by congressional democrats look their workers are just one wal-mart store in wisconsin just that one store is costing american taxpayers over nine hundred thousand dollars in subsidies for food stamps and other social welfare programs that the in-store at that the stores employees needed in order to survive and in addition to our picking up many of wal-mart's costs for their employees american taxpayers have given over one point two billion dollars to the corporation wal-mart gets this money from us by pain politicians and bullying communities to give them tax breaks to give them free land to give them infrastructure assistance low cost financing and even outright cash grants from state and local governments bottom line here is that wal-mart is ripping us all off rip you off its employees but it's more importantly it's ripping off the american taxpayers and it's using that money to pay for corporate jets millions to its executives and billions to its stockholders this type of business model isn't even

genuine capitalism it's parasitic capitalism and wal-mart has become like a giant tick on the back of america sucking the blood out of all of us and our communities the walton family and wal-mart executives get richer and richer and richer if a company's business model depends on screwing its employees so the executives and stockholders can get rich and that's not a business model that should be happening here in the united states of america. it's that simple. if you think tea partiers are crazy you ain't seen nothing yet as austerity takes hold the united states be prepared to see a whole new level of crazy europe is already dealing with in the form of neo fascist movements so how long until we see these movements jump the pond and take hold in the united states.

i would rather ask questions to 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 for. i know c.n.n. the m.s.m. b c fox news have taken some not slightly but the fact is i admire their commitment to cover all sides of the story just in case one of them happens to be accurate. that was funny but it's close and for the truth from my think.

it's because one full attention and the mainstream media works side by side with you is actually on here. at our teen years we have a different breed. ok oh yeah because the news of the world just is not this funny i'm not laughing dammit i'm not god. if. you guys stick to the jokes well handled it makes sense that i've got to.

i think. everybody. should you know the price is the only industry specifically mentioned in the constitution and. that's because a free and open press is critical to our democracy which threaten all books. that are you know i'm sorry and i'm this show we reveal the picture of what's actually going on we go beyond identifying. rational debate and real discussion critical issues facing america family member ready to join the movement then welcome the big picture. and welcome back to the big picture i'm sam sachs in for tom hartman coming up in this half hour now we all know that the tea party is crazy but could austerity be fueling it even more danger.