well hand over the stuff. coming up on our t.v. edward snowden speaks again this time it's to the people of brazil the n.s.a. whistleblower has offered to help the nation and investigate u.s. surveillance but this time he wants something in return details on that ahead and in texas the fracking industry is on fire literally homeowners fear of a controversial practice is lighting up their drinking water an in-depth look at the boom that's leaving locals boston coming up and in pennsylvania a bar of soap can land you in handcuffs two people spent a month in jail after police mistook homemade soap for cocaine we take a look we talked to the lawyer scrubbing their records clean later in the show.

it's tuesday december seventeenth five you know in washington d.c. i live here in david and you're watching r t. and we begin today with an open letter that edward snowden has written to the people of brazil in the letter which was published today in brazil's folha newspaper so on and said he be willing to help brazil investigate n.s.a. spying on its soil but cannot fully participate in doing so without being granted political asylum because the u.s. government quote will continue to interfere with my ability to speak snowden went on to say that quote american senators tell us that brazil should not worry because this is not surveillance data collection they say it's done to keep you safe they're wrong there is a huge difference between legal programs and these programs of dragnet mass surveillance that put entire populations under an all seeing eye and save copies

for ever now keep in mind that leaked documents have already revealed that brazil is a top end as they target might in america and that includes a surveillance of communications for brazilian president dilma rousseff the revelations angered rousseff who earlier this year canceled an official visit to meet with president obama in washington this september she also spoke at the un general assembly where she pushed the united nations to give citizens more protections against unwarranted surveillance meddling in such a man there in the lawyers and the fears of other countries is a breach of international law and as such it is an affront much to the principles that should otherwise govern relations among countries especially among friendly nations. a country's sovereignty can never affirm itself to the detriment of another country's sovereignty. the right to security of the country's citizens can never be. insured by violating the fundamental

human rights and civil rights of another country's citizens. brazilian senators have already asked for snowden's help during hearings about the n.s.a. is targeting of brazil and snowden is now asking for help in return right now the former government contractor is living in russia on a temporary one year visa of course onan still faces charges in the u.s. here's how white house spokesman jay carney responded to questions about granting snowden whistleblower status at a press briefing this morning it is remains our view that mr snowden is accused of leaking classified information and that he faces felony charges here in the united states and he should be returned to the u.s. as soon as possible. where he will be accorded full due process and protections to learn a little bit more about this i spoke earlier with kevin got stolen a blogger at firedoglake about why snowden is focusing on brazil right now. well he

hasn't formally asked to be granted asylum what he put into his letter was this statement that in order for him to help brazil investigate potential crimes against their country committed by the u.s. when doing surveillance against brazil he would have to be given asylum so that he can really participate in this inquiry his terms for a temporary asylum in russia he wants to respect what russia has given him basically doesn't want to look like he's not grateful for what russia has been able to do for him so that's why that was that way and so there is this concern and this interest in going to brazil because yes tried to go to germany and that hasn't worked out that was rejected by uncle of merkel and there are these other countries like every door that was initially a possibility and that didn't work out. as we know the journalist who broke

a story glenn greenwald is actually based in brazil along with his partner david miranda do you think that could carry any weight and convincing brazil that they should open their doors to snowden or are they doing anything are they speaking to the brazilian government at all on snowden's behalf well you know that's an interesting question i'm not really sure if that's going on right now in the background. now if brazil does decide to grant asylum to edward snowden how to kind of you know shift the dynamic between brazil between brazil and the u.s. . it would be very bad for relations between the u.s. and brazil i would expect that politicians in congress would consider measures to punish brazil for taking action to protect noton but i also think that there would be

a number of people here in the united states citizens who would be glad that he was able to find a country that would protect them people who have celebrated the acts that he has taken to blow the whistle and reveal surveillance that the government had been keeping secret these programs that i think many people are glad that they know about now or and again if he is granted down down the line asylum in russia how could he even conceivably get there it seems like that is a big roadblock a big problem. do you know anything about you know how he would get from point a to point b. if you was granted permanent asylum and that was worked out behind the scenes and i think that we would probably learn that this had happened once he had boarded a plane and was on his way to brazil there's a lot that would have to be worked out between the russian government and the

brazilian government and then of course the brazilian government would have to be willing to stick its neck out and be willing to stand up to the united states and as far as getting on an airplane that may have to be a private jet that maybe have to be raised through own money or there might be a service that would be willing to take him or there could be a diplomatic judge that would be willing to fly him but this would all be worked behind the scenes something that i'm sure we would all find out after the fact well i want to go back to this letter because snowden said something really interesting about power and he said quote these programs were never about terrorism they're about economic spying social control and diplomatic manipulation they're about power you know considering the country countries we've seen that are in the u.s. a scope of surveillance what do you make of that argument. i think he's got a point because why do you need to know what all of these citizens are doing why do you need to have these vast net cast out on two countries why do you have to put

world leaders under surveillance if it is just to protect the world against terrorism it's obviously about much much more it's about having strategic interests in energy resources around the world wanting to protect companies businesses wanting to make sure that certain markets remain open to the united states and not closed off because you know china or russia or countries in latin america or anywhere around the world are competing it's about wanting to have that information on what diplomats are going to say in upcoming meetings so you can blindside them and get them into a corner where they comply with what you're trying to do and so it is unfair and what snowden lays out in his letter to brazil makes it clear that citizens are being placed under surveillance around the world just so that america can maintain its power in the world and have and i wanted to ask you about the recent news

a federal judge called the n.s.a.'s metadata collection program likely unconstitutional yesterday that was a big win for privacy advocates and such couldn't this ruling strength to strengthen edward snowden's case as a whistleblower either to receive asylum and a country like brazil or even amnesty here in the u.s. . what it does and this is key is that it reopens this question because it has been settled for the last six months that everything the n.s.a. does is legal i mean a lot of us media have accepted this as truth but what this judge doing that opens the question makes it seem like he did have a reason to blow the whistle and that's great for him and that does give him a lot of ability to go around the country and say that what he did was an act of whistle blowing and a very interesting topic kevin to stole a blogger at firedoglake thank you so much. and today president obama met with

executives from leading tech companies those companies including google twitter apple yahoo microsoft facebook and many many more the white house says the meeting was focused on efforts to repair the obama administration's health care dot gov website and for form government information technology however controversial national security agency programs were also on the agenda since n.s.a. documents were first leaked back in june a number of tech companies have been urging president obama to curtail surveillance programs the meeting comes just a week after leaders in the industry penned an open letter advocating for radical reforms the letter said this summer's revelations highlighted the urgent need to reform government surveillance practices worldwide the balance in many countries has tipped too far in favor of the state and away from the rights of the individual rights that are enshrined in our constitution this undermines the freedoms we all cherish it's time for a change the white house meeting also comes just a day after

a federal judge deemed the government's collection of domestic phone records unconstitutional. and last week a u.s. drone mistakenly targeted a wedding convoy in yemen after intelligence reports identified the vehicles were carrying militants it was a gruesome attack in which more than a dozen people were left dead and twenty two injured with nine in critical condition shortly after this tragedy yemen's parliament voted for a ban on drone strikes and although these headlines quickly spread across united states and around the world some are wondering how reaction might have been different if the drone had hit an american wedding instead that's exactly what conor friedersdorf explored in his atlantico article called if a drone strike hit in american wedding we've ground our fleet in the article. asks this question can you imagine the wall to wall press coverage the outrage and the

empathy for the victims that would follow if an american wedding were attacked in this fashion or how do you feel about a foreign power that attacked your wedding to talk a little bit more about what happened this week and what it will take to make americans empathize i was joined earlier by michael brooks contributor at the majority report and host of intersection on ask one media i first asked him for his thoughts on the article you know i think obviously if there was a drone strike from a foreign power that hit an american wedding party or you know for that matter we don't need to go too far away there was a terrorist attack in the united states on september eleventh right that we had an incredible reaction to and rightfully in terms of our policies but rightfully that people were upset by this i think in some ways we could draw an even closer power alone say that these policies that we're implementing overseas and carelessness

with things like drone strikes are affecting american security they are blowing back and we might not see a direct relationship but they're definitely they're sure you know and the author said something that really stuck out to me he said even putting yemenis through the most horrific scene imaginable on their wedding day is about a blip on our media radar easily eclipsed by a new beyond say album you know while the headlines did get some traction on the internet we do see it you know marginalized by and large by t.v. media and i mean what what is your sense as to why that is. you know i think it's almost over determines there's so many different variables from kind of lack of resources covering overseas news to lack of public engagement on these issues but i think that what he's getting at that's also really important is we need to broaden our empathy we need to think much more seriously about what's

happening in other parts of the world obviously particularly if it's done in our name and i think you know that aspect of kind of projecting outward morally and emotionally but it's also politically very important we need to be more sophisticated engaged in our thinking so i don't know exactly the specific reason why it's not getting type of coverage that it should get and deserves to get going on what what are you saying right now i want to ask you you know why you think it is that americans can't really empathize with innocent foreigners why is it so hard for them to do you know i don't know if that's of their you know assumption entirely i actually do think that the more does come out on this program polls have shifted on it and people are more engaged with this but i think there's no question that generally the united states is very inward looking and there isn't this kind

of real sense of our footprint on the rest of the world and that's really remains a problem and it remains a problem in most countries projects overseas sure and michael interestingly you know when i hear people defend the u.s. drone program they often say that it's great because we catch the bad guys and we do it with you know real surgical precision the based on what we've seen so far with the strike so far in yemen pakistan and other muslim countries is that really the case. i think the notion of using surgical to describes strikes like this is kind of obscene actually i mean the reality is is that there are two different types of drone strikes broadly speaking and i think when we're talking about targeting a specific individual in a very specific context that's it's own debate and there's more gray there to be you know sort of honest and what i think but signature strikes which i think that's what this for strike would fall under which are based off of behavioral pattern ing

and it basically means by definition we don't even know who we're hitting we're just saying if you're in a certain place if you fit a certain pattern we're going to hit you by definition that's not surgical by definition we don't know who we're hitting and it's really an incredibly problematic way of framing it. given the results it is problematic and it's really tragic to see what's happening over there but i do appreciate you coming on the program and breaking that down michael brooks contributor at the majority report and host of intersection on as one media thank you thank thank you so much a cozy countryside get away from the city hustle is an ideal ruined for some americans who are experiencing the negative effects of fracking boom and places like texas the ground drilling technology has become a proven way to boost corporate profits but as guy in a chick finds out it's the landowners who pay the price the local government in

texas tells us they believe that the water from his well water that he can set on fire is safe to drink and to use in his home. you can't get in here no. thank you but steve has the assessment of other experts who say he's well is it ticking bomb in his backyard loaded with methane and other contaminants why the starkly different assessments. steve claims that a fracking operation nearby contaminated his wealth and that texas energy authorities are shielding the gas company they don't want the world to know that it really is this bad they don't want it in official documents but it could be that the fracking allowed gas from lower formations into the aquifer and subsequently into steve lipski as well the gas company denies the claim the lipski is sued the range resources corp but the firm counter sued and won in cause and effect evidence

a ground water is incredibly difficult to prove madea solace are is an engineer who worked with the federal environmental protection agency is not surprised that the state oil and gas regulator sided with the gas corporation conceit that the rights it seen come in survival from oil and gas production issues really put him in charge of also regulating the protection of groundwater from our going down swells and there's any inherent conflict of interest in that determined to fight for his home father of three steve has been shipping fresh water from the city on trucks at a cost of five hundred dollars a month but the family now faces another blow from the fracking corporation of four point two million dollars lawsuit for defamation steve lipski is dream house and

it's a beautiful property has become his nightmare several of his neighbors apparently have the same problem but they're reluctant to speak out after they saw how the gas company went after mr lips they shouldn't expect much help from washington either. says the environmental protection agency has not put nearly enough resources into studying the effects that fracking has on groundwater but that didn't stop the e.p.a. from coming up with a report in favor of the practice. phillips case were advised to vent the gas constantly to keep it from accumulating under their property as their neighboring gas well continues to frack despite thousand peter you were pretty much standing right on top of that one hundred years from now when somebody dies because there's some contaminant in the border area and they're able to trace it to this fracking and we've got the office ted who cares investor feel awesome free for now

it seems that the authorities at all levels are so fired up on fracking potential profits that households like steve leaves his family are left to fight alone to get a healthy environment in their homes. down our team parker county texas. and we're now learning that one of the highest paid officials with the environmental protection agency the e.p.a. has managed to swindle the government out of nearly one million dollars and project on wages and benefits how did you do it while simple you just had to convince his bosses that he was also a cia operative a story. bought into for over ten years john beal who retired in april after his suppose it's career began to unravel will be sentenced in federal court in washington in what many are calling one of the most audacious government frauds ever committed be a one served as a senior policy adviser and leading authority on climate change for the e.p.a.

we'll often got away with leaving his job for extended periods of time by telling his bosses he was off on a cia mission often in pakistan or at the agency's headquarters in genya in fact in two thousand and eight he didn't show up for work for six months and told officials that he was working on a massive government project involving candidate security regardless that year he was still paid over two hundred thousand dollars in salary and benefits and he often build the government for his first class airplane trips to london where he stayed at five star hotels john curran who is bill's attorney has said in court papers that thanks to hold the help of his therapist mr beale has come to recognize that beyond the motive of greed his theft and deception were motivated by a highly destructive and dysfunctional need to engage in excessively reckless risky behavior now in september bill pleaded guilty to scamming the government out of

nine hundred thousand dollars since the year two thousand bill will face sentencing tomorrow and he has already agreed to pay one point three million and restitution but he also faces up to three years in jail. and believe it or not certain high. ageing products can get you into big trouble these days for the last month one couple has been in jail on drug charges after police finally discovered that the drugs in question were simply bars of soap an adult cruz and alexander bernstein were pulled over last month for speeding in pennsylvania when the state trooper approached the car he immediately claimed he smelled marijuana to which cruz admitted she had smoked earlier that day police officer then asked if he could search the car and that's when the traffic stop took a turn for the worse soon after the officer found two bricks of a white substance cruisin bernstein and mediately told the officer that it was homemade soap but he didn't exactly buy that argument instead he insisted that the

powdery substance was cocaine and that he determined that by conducting a special field test event arrested cruz and bernstein on cocaine trafficking charges and held them in jail for a month with bail posted at up to five hundred thousand dollars of course charges were dropped when lab testing finally indicated that the substance was in fact a soap and we asked the pennsylvania state police how testing so could turn up as cocaine the piolo offered us a statement we still consider this an ongoing an active investigation and are considering an internal review to make sure our policy was followed to discuss that more i was joined earlier by the attorney for alexander bernstein james hijacker i started off by asking him why an adult cruises car was pulled over in the first place but i was to get a sense it was a profile saw we had a young hispanic lady you know i mean

a twenty thirty mercedes benz she was only going for him out over the limit that's hardly a reason to pull somebody over suggesting to me that if she had she not been a young hispanic lady and not been the company by mr. she would go to lower right well i want to talk to you about the field testing because that's the most intriguing part of all the what exactly does field testing involved typically and how was it determined in this case that it was cocaine. ok so you're testing essentially is a shorthand way of getting a result as to what the substance is that one's carrying it's a it's a cat that is prepared and when you do it you take the product of the suspected drug and the positive in the airfield with the fluid and what happens is the f.b.i. will then turns a certain color depending on the color it turns the term is what the substance is we've been using them in pennsylvania for well over

a quarter century and there are by the lower courts by the by the magisterial courts and getting cases not only arrested and prosecuted but getting them into the courts of common pleas our courts accomplis a trial you have to come with a formal state police crime lab report that would be asked a by registered chemist but what it does is allows troopers of police officers to have a quick study so to speak on what the substance is and get a result right the what happened here is there were two packages and the police are on the trigger that access the packages presume that it was controlled substance i.e. cocaine he then tested each package allegedly and each package allegedly produced the result that these substances were cocaine predicated upon that he bought the arrest warrants against not only added l. was the driver of the car with the packages being the truck against my client mr bernstein who was a passenger and had no connection to a car other than being barred as a passenger in

a freight and he said allegedly allegedly at this substance was tested is it possible at all that the state trooper did not actually conduct a field test at all. absolutely possible there's three errors number one the test wasn't the call number two the trooper wasn't honest and mrs misrepresent or the result is that the number three test doesn't work and it doesn't work we have jail that awful lot of people is ultimately on the accuracy of these tests which are accepted by the court so i want to ask you about that because you know i remember covering a similar case and which two young men were stopped and frisked in new york and officers ultimately arrested them for allegedly carrying crystal meth which they later found out was only jolly ranchers and so this is obviously not the first time we've seen these sort of field test tests yield sort of bogus results i mean how detrimental can these field tests really be if they're not done properly well there are additional my clients casey since november thirteenth up until last tuesday was

found present in the five hundred thousand dollars bail and saying all through there are no clues there were used and accepted by the court to issue an arrest warrant issued reviewed by a magistrate who denied our bail motion because the law the predicated upon me says be accurate so they can be very daring and i will and i want to ask you about that i mean they were in jail for an entire month and i can't conceive of how they could have been in jail for that long i mean what does this testing involve why does it take an entire month. the detesting at the state police barracks actually this liver and i was actually dime what happens is that the people are prosecuted to the preliminary hearing based upon the surgeon are cuter than our kids the the short form testing that we just discussed the results don't come back from the state police crime lab often times or five six months later it was it was really for tortoise in this case that the testing at the state police crime lab which exonerated substances from being controlled was done rather quickly i did not been

done within a month later still than i was in prison that's incredible i cannot believe it takes that long and that ad and or san it alex your client will be filing a suit can you talk about how this experience has really affected him and what sort of damages her be seeking well we're not we're not seeking damages but we haven't determined whether suits going to be with me right now mr bernstein's home enjoying the holidays he's that's his decision whether or not he wants to pursue this any further at this point there's been no decision whether or not this is the underpinnings of a civil rights or not we have to leave because the benefit of the doubt is like we weren't given the benefit of the doubt a little bit at least as they pleased to find out how much for the power and the tests fail us was there some bad people unhappy on behalf of the troopers are really what went on here because something like this shouldn't happen. that was james heidecker an attorney at karalee law firm l.l.c.

. and one london artist has found a solution to the surveillance cameras that are seemingly becoming more and more intrusive let me introduce you to the surveillance balder it's a wearable device that's inspired by the actual spalled are which is a medieval plate armor used to protect the wearer from unexpected and unseen blows from above and this case those blows from above are surveillance cameras now how does this all work well the surveillance apparatus alerts the wearer to cameras that are in its vicinity by detecting the infrared lighting that they use now here's the best part once it's detected the device sends an electric signal to two nerve stimulation pads but then makes your shoulder jolt so you might look a little crazy while walking down the street but at least you no longer have to depend on just your eyes now you'll have your entire body to shock you back into reality and that does it for now for more on the stories we covered go to youtube dot com slash r t america check out our website r t dot com slash usa because also

follow me on twitter at amir david. we tried to tell you which we warn you. the government is not publishing well we have been reporting on this show that they have to buy scheme will cause more than one hundred percent guaranteed outcome a crash in the real estate market and people will be underwater negative equity and the banks will need another bailout and the wealth and income disparity will increase yet again. i've got a quote for you. it's pretty tough. they were it's a story. it's just this guy like me are about guys started working for the people most issues the beach for me.