coming up on r t edward snowden speaks again this time it's to the people of brazil the n.s.a. whistleblower has offered to help the nation investigate u.s. surveillance but this time he wants something in return details on that just ahead and in texas the fracking industry is on fire literally homeowners fear the controversial practice is lighting up their drinking water and in depth look at the boom that's leaving locals busted 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 talked to the lawyer scrubbing their records clean later in the show.

it's tuesday december seventeenth in washington d.c. i'm here at david and you're watching our team we begin tonight with breaking news at least two people a gunman and another person have been killed in a shooting today at a hospital in reno nevada that's all according to the reno police department the gunfire occurred this afternoon at the renown medical center and according to the city's communications center the shooter went to the neurology office of nevada advanced medicine on the third floor and opened fire the medical center is apparently the only level two trauma center and that part of nevada and his home to the area's only children's hospital according to authorities that shooter carried one weapon and ultimately died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound but there are two more people who are reportedly injured and right now they are being true. he did at

a hospital. and now to edward snowden who has spoken again this time in an open letter he's written to the people of brazil in the letter which was published today in brazil's newspaper so instead he'd be willing to help brazil investigate n.s.a. spying on its soil but could not fully participate in doing so without being granted political asylum because the u.s. government 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 it's 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 put entire populations under an all seeing eye and save copies for ever keep in mind that leaked documents have already revealed that brazil is a top n.s.a. target in latin 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 it is an affront. to the principles the 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. 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 and russia on a temporary one year visa of course snowden 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 so 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. but 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 in 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 snowden 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 act 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 sure 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. 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 nets 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 as 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 could this ruling strength 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 or the last six months that everything the as they does is legal i mean a lot of us media have accepted this as truth but with this judge doing those it opens the question and 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 countries and say that what he did was an act was a lowing indeed well very interesting topic kevin to solo blogger at firedoglake thank you so much last week a u.s. drone mistakenly targeted a wedding convoy in yemen after intelligence reports identified the vehicles were carrying al qaeda militants it was a gruesome attack in which more than

a dozen people were left dead twenty two injured and 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 the united states and around the world some are wondering how the reaction might have been different if the drone had hit an american wedding instead as exactly what conor friedersdorf explored in his atlantico article called if a drone strike hit an american wedding we've ground our fleet and the article friedersdorf 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 or attacks in this fashion or how 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 joint earlier by michael brooks contributor at the

majority report and host of intersection on aslam media i first asked him for his thoughts on the article. 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 a large by t.v. media 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 is getting at that's also really important is we need so 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 and engaged in our thinking so i don't know exactly the specific

reason why it's not getting the type of coverage that it should get and deserves to get going off of the way what you're saying right now i wanted 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 fair or 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 that 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 just really remains a problem and it remains a problem in most countries that are projects overseas sure and michael interesting lino 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 based on what we've seen so far with

the strikes 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 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 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 a cozy countryside get away from the city hustle is an idea ruined for some americans who are experiencing the negative effects of a fracking bill in places like texas the ground drilling technology has become a proven way to boost corporate profits but as dion a check finds out it's the landowners who pay the price. the local government in texas tells us that the water from his well water that he could set on fire is safe to drink and to use in his home. you can't get in here. if you drink it but steve has the assessment of other experts who say he's well is a 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 bad they don't want it in official documents it could be that the fracking allowed gas from lower formations into the aquifer and subsequently into steve lidsky as well the gas company denies the claim the lipski has sued the range resources corp but the firm counter sued and won in cause and effect evidence in groundwater is incredibly difficult to prove madia 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 corp the agency that derives its income in survival from oil and gas production is usually put him in charge of also

regulating the protection of groundwater and from doing god's wells and there's an 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 his 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 lipski they shouldn't expect much help from washington either . money to sell us our 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 p.a. from coming up with a report in favor of the practice. i believe these were a device to vent the gas constantly to keep it from accumulating on that their property as their neighboring gas wells continues to frac it five thousand feet or we're pretty much standing around the top of the one hundred years from now when somebody dies because there's some contaminant in the border and they're able to trace it to this fracking and we've got the old who's dead who cares invest in philosophy but now it seems that the authorities at all levels are so fired up on fracking potential profits that households like steve leave his family are left to fight alone to get a healthy environment in their homes. going to check out our t. park a county texas. and believe it or not certain hygiene 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 and adult cruisin 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 cruzan bernstein and me it leave told the officer that it was homemade soap but he didn't exactly buy that argument and said he insisted that the powdery substance was cocaine and that he had 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 just

so when we asked the pennsylvania state police how testing so could turn up as cocaine the p.i. you offered us this statement you still consider this an ongoing and active investigation and are considering an internal review to make sure our our policy was followed to discuss that more i was joined earlier by the attorney for alexander bernstein james high decker i started off by asking him why amabel cruises car was pulled over in the first place when i was going to since it was a profile stop young hispanic lady you know i mean a twenty thirteen receive these burdens she was only going cuomo it would literally be reason to pull somebody over suggesting to you that if she had she not including the young in spirit leave you not. going to struggle. she would not have been pulled over right well i want to talk to you about the field testing because that's the most intriguing part of all that why exactly does field testing involve

typically and how was it determined in this case that it was cocaine ok field testing sensibly is a shorthand way of getting a result as to what the substance is that one's carrying it's a it's a camp that is prepared and when you do it you take the product of the suspected drug and the positive and the airfield with the fluid and what happens is the and if you will in terms of 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 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 the substances were cocaine predicated upon that you've got the arrest warrants against not only added all of the driver of the car with the packages being in a truck against my client mr bernstein who was a passenger and had no connection to car other than being guard as a passenger in a car right and you 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 issues number one the castle isn't the whole number two the trooper was an artist and with mr represent of the results and that's the number three test doesn't work and it doesn't work we have

jailed it off a 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 test sealed 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 dollar 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 well 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 that are actually the sleeper and i was extradited what happens is that the people are prosecuted to the preliminary hearing based upon the the surgeon are cuter than markets the short form testing that we just discussed the results don't come back from the state police crime lab often times or five or six months later it was it was really for tourists 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 of this building housing present that's incredible i cannot believe it takes that long and that as i understand it alex your client will be filing the suit can you talk about how this experience has really affected him and what sort of damages help me thinking well we're not we're not seeking there is just what we

haven't determined whether suits going to be with family right now mr bernstein's home enjoying the holidays he's it's his decision whether or not he wants to pursue the senate further at this point there's been no decision whether or not this is the underpinnings of a civil rights suit or not we have to leave because of the benefit of the doubt just 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 treatment happy on behalf of the troopers are really what went on here because something like this shouldn't happen. that was james decker an attorney at karalee law firm l l seem. and when you hear the word america what do you think of corrupt politicians corrupt bankers maybe corrupt corporations and it's resident takes a look at the saying if you can't beat em join on and how the american system is living up to its associations.

with. our country has gone to crap so much that it seems like it's the norm to say our politicians suck our bankers are thieves and our corporations are actively ruining the only home we have and that's all true so it's good that more and more people are waking up to it but now there is this trend where people have the attitude where well if you can't beat them join them and that sucks take for instance chris on nesby in new jersey five years ago at the age of twenty nine he was a new jersey transit cop who shot himself in the left finger with the stapler he said the accident left him on able to shoot a gun properly so he retired and went to court to file

a disability claim he now receives a disability pension from new jersey that could total more than two million dollars every year this day because of a check for about forty six thousand dollars tax free for the rest of his life but it turns out he can fire a gun because you see chris goes to the firing ranges all the time and posts videos of himself on facebook shooting. in one video he's seen. firing off five rounds with a sniper rifle and grinning at the camera in his facebook post he says the austrians really know how to make awesome firearms when confronted about this christy yet it's ridiculous he's got no visible signs of an accident whatsoever and can clearly fire a weapon in his. he knows it's absurd to collect a disability pension but he says the whole system is absurd he's just taking

advantage of an absurd system and why now but when the slime balls who are running the show do the same thing and that's exactly the rationale i'm taking issue with here people know our politicians bankers and corporations are corrupt beat those who govern and absurd a system so when they get the opportunity to be slimeballs themselves they take it they say why not profit from the crap system by grabbing whatever i can and screwing everyone else this guy is taking taxpayer dollars for nothing but he doesn't care because the system sucks and that mentality is becoming more and more prevalent in our no accountability culture here in the us and i think it's gross because if we all follow the if you can't beat em join em mentality then we'll all be very and then where will we be kind of where we are right now right mired in corrupt thieving crap the only difference is if we all turn into them we'll have

only ourselves to blame enjoy your neighbor's tax dollars crist's tonight let's talk about that by following me on twitter as the resident. and that does it for now i'm a mirror david have a great night. there are marinated.