it's. coming up on our t.v. an exclusive look at a not so exclusive list in san francisco federal court a woman finds to get off the television watching list but why was she on it in the first place and is it effective more on that just ahead and another development in the n.s.a. surveillance of foreign leaders this time looks like our neighbors to the north helped us spying on the heads of state during the twenty ten g. eight and g. twenty summits in canada for the expansion of international surveillance going up and orange county police officers are on trial over the death of a local homeless man for months now there's been video showing how kelly thomas was beaten and tasered by officers before his death the latest on the case later in the

show. it's monday december second four pm in washington d.c. i'm megan lopez and you are watching r t well topping the news this hour a federal district court in san francisco is hearing the case today a woman who has been fighting to remove her name from the terror watch list for over eight years now it's a list that's easy to get your name on but almost impossible to get your name off of stanford university ph d. student ruhani. eager to hear what was boarding a flight home to malaysia from the san francisco international airport in two thousand and five when authorities arrested her they told her that she was on the terror watch list now eventually mrs abraham was allowed to travel again but her student visa was revoked and she was not allowed back in the us now lee evidence that levied against her is unclear. at this point and the government argues that

revealing that information would jeopardize national security even team is not alone by the end of last year the u.s. database of potential to international terrorists the terrorist identities department environment or tide had eight hundred seventy five thousand names on it that's up from seven hundred forty thousand names from just the year before now because the list includes multiple aliases there are fewer individuals than there are actual names but nevertheless a huge number of people are obviously affected by this list and the tide list just feeds into the master terrorist watch list which is run by the f.b.i. which adds in a potential to mess to terrorists however critics argue that the list is not effective. one of the boston bombers was on the list for years if they were has failed to prevent that attack here discuss the effectiveness of the terror watch

list is high heidi and i hope i said that right executive director of the national lawyers guild heidi thank you so much for joining me now how do you get on this terror watch list to begin with well that's part of the problem because the government claims the state secrets privilege we don't know what the reasons are that so many people are being added to the list and it's been so difficult to challenge also because the lists are private with the exception of the ofac list the office of foreign assets control which is public the main terrorist watch list and the secondary lists including the no fly list are private so. people go ahead i'm sorry if i interrupted you. well i think one of the problems that people should be concerned about and that we're seeing is that many people who aren't actually on the list because their names or a middle name may be similar to those on the list there is

a large frequency of error rate and the office of the government accountability office has criticized the department of homeland security the f.b.i. for not making it clear how you can get removed from the list if your name is on there by mistake and with that many people on the list how can security officials really distinguish who is actually a national security risk i think that's the question that needs to be answered and i think that with the increased attention to the surveillance that we've seen over the last several months it provides us with a window of opportunity to ask our elected officials for more accountability and oversight about really how we can make corrections how we can get our names off quickly right now there's virtually no way to do that with the exception of a program called the traveler redress inquiry program that the department of homeland security has started where if you're stopped many times at the airports

you can investigate and ask them to look into it you know the argument that the needle in the haystack in order to be able to find the haystack if you remember that is why the n.s.a. surveillance the n.s.a. director used when you're talking about this bulk collection do you think that that argument holds up or a similar to what they're doing with this terror watch list or they're collecting a lot of names and then trying to pick out the terrorists from that haystack. i think i personally think that the bulk collection argument is a problem we seem to be in a race to gather as much data without really knowing how to sift through the accurate data and how to pursue valid investigative leads all of the guidelines that used to restrict f.b.i. agents and others about starting investigations and inquiries used to be based on having some indication that criminal activity was afoot now we don't know that

they're not racially profiling and putting people on the list because their names sound muslim or you know may be affiliated with someone. we don't know the standards and that's problematic in terms of adhering to the constitution now and just to clarify that eight hundred seventy five thousand that's a lot of people i mean that is more than the population of wyoming that's more than the population of north dakota that's more than the population of alaska and given less than one percent so we here less than one percent of the people on that list are american but given this list this massive massive list what kind of checks and balances are there in order to secure the names on that list there are absolutely no checks and balances there are probably a lot of duplicate names a lot of eroni its names on the list people's aliases middle names names arranged improperly but i do think the fact that there's no oversight there has

been no reporting for example on how many of these names have led to finding someone who might do harm to the country there are no reports issued and i think that's why the g.a.o. has listed its concern over the past many years and finally we only have about thirty seconds left but i was just wondering if there's any kind of incentives for government agencies to keep adding to the list or to take names off that list. i think there's always an incentive in this climate the post eleven climate where we are in a perpetual war as they call it to continue to add names to make it look as though they're doing something people should know that on that ofac list which is public businesses are checking against that list and that's why so many people are denied mortgages denied credit deny jobs because they're checking against a list that itself has a high rate of error. goshen thank you so much for weighing in as director at the

national lawyers guild i appreciate your time ma'am thank you well another day another edward snowden leaked detailing the n.s.a. spying on other countries this time c.b.c. news broke the story with journalist glenn greenwald's help the broadcaster revealed largely redacted documents that detail how the american spy agency conducted it widespread surveillance during the two thousand and ten g eight and g twenty summits c.b.c. news wrote the briefing notes stamped top secret show the us turned its ottawa embassy into a security compound post during the six day spying operation by the national security agency while u.s. president barack obama twenty five other foreign heads of government were on canadian soil in june of two thousand and ten the covert u.s. operation was no secret to canadian authorities so apparently canadian authorities not only knew about the spying that was going on in their country but they may have

even participated in it and that has privacy advocates crying foul i was joined earlier by steve anderson executive director of the open media group for more on the latest docu drop and i first asked him whether we should be really surprised that the spying was going on or that of canada allowed it to go on in their country in the first place despite all the recent n.s.a. surveillance revelations. you know it be surprising to most canadians we would allow that our government would formally allow foreign spy agency to spy on our soil to actually go into our country set up spying operations and monitor evil in canada in this case trundled canada during the g twenty i think that he's surprised many canadians surprised me maybe it shouldn't be with all the revelations but i just think that's much further than i thought they would go you

know i thought they might collaborate and share our data and that was a concern to us i don't mean to and many others but i really did not expect them to to allow the u.s. n.s.a. to spy on people in canada and is there any evidence as to how far that these links went between the u.s. and canada and cooperating with these efforts. it's hard to say. for we've seen we know that there was some sort of a formal agreement and we know that. they you know brought in equipment they had a kind of very robust operate in in toronto but aside from that it's not it's not completely clear the talking points that have been shared so far haven't been totally clear of that place and what about the evidence is there anything that al uble that we know of came from the spying efforts. i haven't heard of anything

by people that care of it and i think that that actually goes to a larger issue which is how much is all of this spying costs you know this spying with that are of concern in canada we're talking about spending four billion of our tax dollars to house these new spying operations and you know and we know it said to control you know we're spying on diplomats there is a question of that canadians are being caught up in this strike and it's surveillance for spying on our allies in brazil so we don't we don't know the value of it and i think that would be really days we actually had a value proposition put before the committee in public now last month when your open medio dot ca group joined with the b.c. civil liberties association to form a lawsuit alleging that canada's spy agency is a illegal and ellen constitutional what it is doing anyway have you made any progress on that or have you heard anything back. so far we haven't heard anything back but we expect in the coming weeks and months for the government to make its

use known we're hoping that they will dissipate a willing party in the case and bring forward information and and really use this as an opportunity to come clean with canadians on what. what's going on with our site and seeing canada how secure is our data how many canadians are being swept up so i think it's a real opportunity for them but so far we haven't heard anything from them on the matter and what has some changes would you like to say is that mostly transparency related are we talking about viable changes and really bringing in canada spy agency. well i think first we need transparency we need some sort of a public review we need answers how many canadians are being caught up you know what of our information is being caught up in these huge to secure databases so i mean those kinds of questions answered and then i think we need to have some sort of policies in place that ensure that any spying that goes on is really targeted

that there is oversight and accountability and really that or that or if our data is being swept that is kept safe because we know that in recent years we've had over three thousand breaches a sensitive citizen that i think approximately seven hundred twenty five thousand canadians and so at the very least you know if we're going to have our data in these databases the government needs to come clean about we need to know how many people are caught up in those databases and we need to have some assurances that our data safe from you know cyber criminals and and that sort of good now when the people that you've talked to in the reports that you've done or that you've read do you think that it is canada's spy agency which is really taking the initiative here to widen and broaden the people that it spies on or do you think that the n.s.a. is part of possibly behind it pushing canada spy agency to really be part of that five all eyes alliance. yeah i think it's a strange compliment happening i think definitely the u.s. you know the n.s.a.

is really pushing the envelope on spying you know they're engaging in bulk spying on people really around the world including including people in the u.s. and i suspect canada. but from what we've been seeing you know i saw a quote yesterday in a report saying that you know from the ex had a few secs saying we want to play with the big boys so i think that there is kind of definitely a kind of a premier ial aspect that was the second doing where they really want to be a big player in this kind of spy activity even though you know i don't think canadians are really interested in that they seem to be and you know we've heard that they've taken civil servants on kind of while being expeditions within cizik operations to kind of wow them and get in to get more money and that's why there's budget ballooned and that's why it's you know that season when they'll be housed in the most expensive government building canadian history which is just amazing to me

now is favre anderson executive director of open media. meanwhile the chairs of the intelligence committees on capitol hill hit the airwaves this weekend senator dianne feinstein and representative mike rogers many parents on c.n.n.'s state of thing union talk about everything from the n.s.a. to terror threats facing the last now one surprising comment that come out senator feinstein told candy crowley that we are no safer than we work to garrus ago the two also defended the n.s.a. and said it's time to let the agency get back to its job sounds x. reports. i think terror's up worldwide this is the cystic indicate that the fatalities are way up. the numbers are way up there are new bombs very big bombs trucks being reinforced for those bombs there are bombs that go through magnetometers the bomb maker is still alive senator dianne feinstein chairwoman of the senate intelligence committee playing the fear card on sunday to

defend the n.s.a. her counterpart in the house representative mike rogers also played by card we're fighting amongst ourselves here in this country about the role of our intelligence community that is is having an impact on our ability to stop what is a growing number of threats and so we've got to shake ourselves out of this pretty soon and understand that our intelligence services are not the bad guys so what has the two congressional intel jeeves using scare tactics on a sunday morning this pressure building in congress to hold a vote on actual n.s.a. reform on actually reining in some of the u.s. is most egregious programs including the bulk collection of virtually all americans phone metadata so with one month left in two thousand and thirteen congress has a lot on its agenda from finalizing a farm bill to avoid another government shutdown in the near future but fueled by edward snowden's leaks members of congress want to make sure n.s.a.

reform is on that agenda too whether leadership likes it or not in the house the usa freedom act is for now the legislation of choice with more than one hundred co-sponsors including fifty one democrats and fifty one republicans there's a similar bill working its way through the senate and should leadership refuse to bring either of those bills to a vote there is yet another route for n.s.a. reformers to take using must pass bills at the end of the year as vehicles for reform to defend the fourth amendment to defend the privacy of each and every american that was a tactic. tried earlier this year with the conyers amendment to the national defense authorization act that would have stripped funding from the n.s.a.'s bulk collection programs as it amendment was narrowly defeated but now months later in several new explosive leaks later lawmakers in the senate are eager to try it again with their and they believe that if the vote were held today it would pass there

too however leadership is pushing back as the chairman of the armed services committee carl levin doesn't want any n.s.a. reforms included in this year's and. this fray over the n.s.a. along with other issues related to sanctions on iran might prevent congress from even passing an n.d.a. for the first time in fifty one years again no n.d.a. for the first time in fifty one years so that is what's going on in congress and that's also what has the top defenders of the n.s.a. so concerned chairman rogers and chairman feinstein their rank and file members willing to wreak havoc on the legislative schedule just to make sure they get a vote on an essay reform but the wildcard here will be the american people and what they want number they didn't want to bomb syria and we didn't bomb syria they want and we've seen march after march rally after rally of people calling for n.s.a. reform so win or lose this issue isn't going away the n.s.a.

is plugged into our culture it's in our advertisements the n.s.a. is listening and fearne agency that operated in complete secrecy just six months ago this is a major change in washington d.c. same sex party. while the yemen now where a national pastime is turning into a national addiction con is an edible flower about has a mild narconon effect and is known for causing a loss of appetite and giving users that warm and fuzzy feeling inside it's a custom that goes back in the country for ages and many farmers it will grow their product however it could be causing a serious whiner shortage in yemen as a result artie's lissa caffeine off dives into the issue. it's midday in sun off like clockwork each afternoon these now means fill up with people buying cut you know how you got this b.s.

it's a nature of the city if you don't choose where not. banned in many countries but legal in yemen the leaves contain a mild have caught it and almost everyone shoes more than ninety percent of men are into the world health organization at this market to countless realities and plenty of customers. have a second so this is about five dollars worth of caught stealing the substance moving around the national past time somebody will say i'm national a dataset i know already having a lot of addiction comes out of a hole one that the country as a whole is that is it ok for the idea to logically yemen has no shortage of problems but a shortage of water could make some not the first world cup at all to run dry current is one of the main culprits. yemen is chewing itself to death the country has limited water resources ninety three percent of the extract of water goes to agriculture and that's mostly to grow pot amid the rugged landscape on the

outskirts of the capital got trees as far as the eye can see they can be harvested all year round and the farmers here say they earn more cash from drugs than food it takes an incredible amount of water to irrigate these got fields the more you pump in the faster these trees grow but even here it's taking its toll of the thirty wells that serve this village ten have already gone dry and true more are on the verge. in some know the consequences are already visible those who can afford it buy their water from these trucks the rest struggle to get by however they can there are public taps but. the water is often dirty and shortages are common the city's groundwater could be depleted in less than a decade but for the poorest residents it's as good as gone should be talking about some of what they're saying this is a true sign of what it's

a matter of definitions not. and that's not just some. of the most serious wealth folks in the world. it's a race against time and one that young is the using but here the evenings belong to khat men gather together to talk smoke and true those are chosen the speeches for a country that has precious few of them are now speaking the water places they simply have to wait another day. to see how far no party so no yemen. two police officers who are involved in the death of thirty seven year old kelly thomas are on trial this week former folotyn officer manuel ramos has been charged with second degree murder and involuntary manslaughter from a police corporal jay kitchen only has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and the use of excessive force a third officer joseph wealth will face trial in late january now this is the first time in the history of orange county where police officers are on trial for their

actions while on duty the charges stem from this surveillance video showing the police officers beating kelly thomas with their fists and the butts of their guns as well as taiz in him no fewer than four times thomas eventually died from mechanical compression of the thorax which made it impossible for him to breathe more in the trial our teams are among the lindo joins me now from mona thank you so much for joining me now walk us through the moments that led up to kelly thomas' death. well as we speak right now defense attorneys are presenting their opening statements in an orange county courtroom in the trial of sirius's aneli and money in the killing of kelly thomas now this is a murder trial two years in the making this all started back on july fifth of two thousand and eleven when officers got an eye when one call about somebody trying to break into cars in the downtown area an investigation later found out that kelly

thomas wasn't trying to break into any cars and was not in possession of any sort of stolen goods when officer ramos and says no he confronted kelly thomas there of questioning him and according to the district attorney there in orange county thomas was having a difficulty understanding the commands that police were giving them after about fifteen minutes of back and forth with with ramos and the notorious video then shows ramos putting his fists up to kelly thomas' face and threatening to punch him with his fists after that. district attorney tony rackauckas says that what should have been just a routine police stop ended up with kelly thomas on the ground bleeding unconscious and dying and ramon we're looking at the video right now that surveillance video and it's black and white a little bit hard to see what's going on with all those police officers kind of crowded around kelly thomas how instrumental and how instrumental is this

surveillance video in that case. well this is really the center of the case in as i mentioned earlier the district attorney tony rackauckas said that if it weren't for this tape and the other week cortines. police were equipped with police with audio recorders on their bodies if it weren't for these tapes he probably could not have prosecuted this case and really the dissemination of these videos online and the efforts of kelly thomas' father ron thomas really really resonated and got a lot of attention on on this case the final words of kelly thomas is kelly thomas before you went on client conches were dad dad dad those words really engrained in kelly thomas' father's brain he talked to me last year right after the announcement that a civil rights lawsuit was being filed against the city of fullerton let's hear

from them. you're not taught this type of thing we want you to risk patrol time and you don't teach this you know this is just brutal murder that's all there is to i think everybody needs to be concerned of copping off like that in murder somebody right iran thomas is himself a former orange county deputy he was actually hoping for more severe charges against these officers however before the trial started he said he is very confident that justice will be served and ramon the defense attorneys for the officer say that thomas was a schizophrenia and he had multiple run ins with the law he has a prior conviction for assaulting his grandfather was a fireplace poker his own mother saw the restraining order against him after he held her by the throat during an argument he's a known meth user and he was allegedly attempting to take the guns off the officers that night so how did kelly thomas' past play into this trial and how it affected him that night. right and we're going to definitely hear

a lot about that during the trial from defense attorneys and prosecutors are well aware of this they say that it is it is routine for defense attorneys to distract from the actions that their clients did and then try to put the victim on trial. the defense attorneys say that the image of kelly thomas being a frail mentally ill man is furthest from the actual case but we also have to remember that the autopsy following kelly thomas' death that he actually had no drugs in his system that the time of the beating artie correspondent ramona lindau thank you so much for bringing us that story and i'm sure we'll be staying on top of this trial as it continues to develop. all right that does it for now but for more on the stories we covered go to youtube dot com slash r t america and for the latest and greatest on all the stories we covered today and a few that we just did not have time to get to check out our website r.t. dot com slash usa you can also follow me on twitter at meghan underscore lopez and

stay tune boom bust is next. technology innovation all the developments from around. the future covered. the problem is terrible they are led very hard to take out a letter to get the among their peers a plumber that never had sex with her make their lives let alone. listen to the

i'm . melissa block. under law more like the policies i dislike you know. pleasure to have you with us here on our t.v. today i roll researcher.

there i marinate and this is boom bust and here are some of the stories we're tracking for you today first up thanksgiving day is about stuffing ourselves with turkey but this year many stores were stuffed with shoppers twenty four hours ahead of black friday as well now i'll tell you what this means for the retail sector all come in the write up plus a bart chilton is leaving d.c. f.t.c. at the end of the year will be maverick commodity commissioner's next move be to politics is a book deal in the works will explain coming up out later on in the show and it's been at ninety years since the end of germany's inflationary well as we'll tell you about the lessons the u.s. can learn from them i am a republican but now let's get to the show.