coming up on r t's stopping the n.s.a. california lawmakers propose a bill to curb n.s.a. snooping the bill blocks state agencies from cool operating with the n.s.a. all other state joined in this effort to stop government spying the latest on this push for privacy ahead. and although the u.s. war in iraq added two years ago al qaeda has taken over the city of fallujah the u.s. is sending drones to the iraqi government but not true at least for now what this means for the region coming up. and did you hear about the polar vortex turn on the t.v. this week you've seen the mainstream media obsessing over the cold we'll take a look at how the media has made this cold weather hot story later in the show.

it's a lens day january eighth eight pm here in washington d.c. i'm liz wall and you're watching our. look fallout from the edward snowden revelations continues and some of the most significant changes could be first happening in the states and california say lawmakers have introduced a bill that would ban state agencies from working with the national security agency the bill aims to prevent the n.s.a. from spying on californians it would do this by denying n.s.a. facilities in the state access to basic utilities like electricity and water the bill also bans officials and agencies from cooperating with the n.s.a. those that violate the rules would be slapped with sanctions and a press release senator ted lieu who introduced the bill says quote state funded

public resources should not be going toward aiding the n.s.a. or any other federal agency from indiscriminate spying on its own citizens and gathering electronic or metadata that violates the fourth amendment for more of the bill that takes a firm stance against the feds i spoke with shad butare executive director of the bill of defense bill of rights defense committee. goal of the bill is to force accountability on the n.s.a. the courts have abdicated their role of centrally of guarding constitutional rights congress has been abysmally dysfunctional and guarding the constitution and passing either legislative checks to restrain executive abuses or effect conducting effective oversight this bill is a state taking the matter into its own hands and it aims to cut off the water cut off the electricity cut off the prosecutors and cut off the universities as sources of talent to fuel the n.s.a.'s next generation it's a very aggressive opportunity for other states also to raise their voices and i

suspect the california will not be the last state and which will see this bill as a very aggressive very bold move first state government to take on a massive agency a federal agency like the n.s.a. and i disagree you think it's realistic absolutely and i wouldn't describe it as particularly bold at all i mean if anything california is asserting a constitutional position while the rest of d.c. is asserting basically a chinese or soviet position and this is not a left right issue illustrated by the introduction of the bill it was both a democratic and republican state senator who teamed up to introduce it reflecting that this is not at all a fringe issue this is an issue that unites americans from all walks of life all points on the political spectrum and i daresay all corners of our great nation and again we will see this also introduced in other states the particular ones where i think the controversy will be greatest are the states in which the n.s.a. has data centers so utah maryland to figure very prominently in this campaign and i think that that's where the real battle lines will be drawn and in those states

people have also been quite assertive you know residents of maryland were dropping twelve foot banners off a highway overpass outside the n.s.a.'s front entrance saying save america close the n.s.a. over the holidays with dissent like that from so many different corners i don't think the agency can withstand the public pressure and the last thing i'd say is even if for whatever reason you know if it's deemed to be an overreach by a judge somewhere what this legislation can. be very effective in doing is revealing that the congressional and federal emperor has no clothes and forcing congress forcing the courts to take a long overdue action to defend constitutional principles and restrain the n.s.a. well certainly we're seeing demands for action like never before in the wake of these revelations by at weren't so i would add do you think that we would be having this conversation now if it were not for the. massive leak that we're seeing now there's no question we absolutely would not it's the exact same situation as cointelpro in a just earlier this week the peace activists who under oath the f.b.i.

is domestic spying operations forty years ago revealed themselves you know snowden revealed himself a week after his leak broken sort of forty years but otherwise it's the exact same thing what they're leak prompted was a two year congressional investigation which caught the nation's intelligence agencies embroiled in a full frontal assault on the constitution here we are forty years later it's a different federal agency committing a very similarly broad abuse in fact a far greater abuse right the f.b.i. was simply suppressing activist groups of all different kinds you know the movement and the war in vietnam the movement for women's rights movement for native american rights the puerto rican independence movement you name it whereas the n.s.a. is monitoring everyone everywhere all the time i mean it's preposterous quite frankly so yeah absolutely edward snowden is a hero and you had mentioned earlier that on a federal level of reforms have been slow to transpire do you think that this is kind of the way that it's going to go that change is going to be to happen on

a state level first do you think this could set a precedent for other states to policy that absolutely could set a precedent for other states i think ultimately has to whether or not it's the state mechanisms the come to control domestic spying and that's really up to congress whether or not congress gets off its hands and passes a far reaching dramatic reform like the usa freedom act or better yet the surveillance state repeal. that would take the matter out of the state's hands i think states will be much less interested in passing these kinds of bills after there are some assurances that someone is minding the store in washington at the moment nobody is interesting and now we're seeing this debate happen in the national dialogue about transparency about privacy like never before i want to bring some kind of related developments later this year car manufacturers will be required to install black boxes in all new vehicles kind of like the black boxes you hear about after a plane crash the intention is to gather data. in government investigations

insurance companies etc to determine what led up to the car accident so it sounds like a good thing in that regards but the worry now in the wake of these revelations is could this be another avenue for surveillance there's no question that any kind of geo tracking device like the g.p.s. devices the police use or this kind of device or for that matter aerial surveillance drones or automatic license plate scanners although you know the latter two of which are in widespread use by local police departments around the country those tools can absolutely be used to violate people's rights particularly by chilling the willingness of people to come out in public for instance to a political demonstration or a meeting these are assaults not on the rights of individuals who may or may not feel like they have something to hide this is an assault on democracy fundamental rights that enable our political process and we should all feel very concerted. that wish i had but it's hard to rector of the bill of rights defense committee.

the u.s. war in iraq may have ended two years ago but the country remains a war zone the u.s. is rushing to send drones and other weapons to the iraqi government after al-qaeda linked militants claimed the city elf illusia are to correspondent paula slayer has more on the struggle for power. well the situation certainly is becoming increasingly volatile but we've now heard from the iraqi prime minister it is him urging all those who have joined a kind of to give up the fight he has hinted at the possibility of pardoning these militants if indeed they do so they are facing a massive siege that has been launched by the government troops i think he was speaking in his weekly televised address and he volunteered that it was to continue what he calls the sacred war against al qaida is the local branch which is known as the state in iraq and they live and he also said that he would continue to finish

the push to retake the key and boss cities and ramadi which were taken over by the militants and that the militants had to commute from as they new independent state what we see happening now is that all kinds of things militants are trying to capitalize on the sick tailgated tension that is currently inside iraq and this is a tension that the united states failed to result you'll remember of course that the united states occupy iraq for eight years and then called out leaving behind this major sic terry in the cave at the same time some of the al claim militants who are now fighting in iraq all reports with me coming from across the border in syria now of course the united states has been supporting the syrian opposition which one of the two feet has allowed these extremist islamist militants to flourish in the first place the united states is now saying that it will be sending an emergency shipment of surveillance drones and missiles to iraq in an attempt to

try and prop up its allies in baghdad and. that was our t. his policy there to talk more in the fight for four years i was joined by deliberate help political researcher at the university of birmingham i first asked him as a veteran if he felt like the u.s. efforts in iraq were worth it. well i think i think i think that the story of the iraq war is very clear the war the british alive jack gives the united states did not achieve them there was no mass weapons of mass destruction the war in general failed to stabilize iraq because if you look at today iraq is twice as more violent as a places like afghanistan a thing like this. and i think that overall the maliki government and every other government in the future is going to have very difficult problems with these non-state groups such as al qaida and the largely it's because of complete distrust

within the government and the people because of the greater part of sixty years of government abuse prior with saddam hussein so the war wasn't worth it and i just would like to make a point on this developing of al qaida that when we went in to do the surge with general petraeus in two thousand and seven al-qaeda we were able to suppress al qaida were able to manipulate al qaeda to go away however they simply went into latency they were never exactly defeated in the sense of putting a white flag up and surrendering they just went back into the shadows hiding waiting for the united states to leak so i think that there is a lot of myths and a lot of mystification about what exactly the surge did the surge did bring violence down but it didn't defeat al qaeda it just pushed al qaida into latency which is why we see reemergence what you're saying is basically it was a matter of time before we got into that we are in. yes it precisely it was only a matter of time and there's not really much that the obama administration could

have done because the sofa was agreed to under the bush administration which took us troops out of iraq died there was nothing we could do because iraqis didn't want us there anymore and now this is something that they had to deal with themselves resurgence of al qaida in fallujah is akin to a couple reasons one is because there's been abuses. by. the largely shia government that has kind of isolated alienated the sunni populations within anbar and on this attempt of al qaeda to come back is an attempt to sort of reinvigorate some tensions within the sunni and shia populations so there's a general genuine trend that we didn't resolve in two thousand and seven either there is just another myth that somehow betray us when in and fix the ongoing tensions no we simply kick the can down the road for them to really surface later on yeah i know people in the military members of the air force that are very

disappointed and disheartened who lost people that we are where we are today basically slipping back what do we do now i mean is there any clear solution what action if any should the u.s. take well i think i think for sure that there's a series of things united states used to do and that's one staying out of syria staying out of iraq with our troops staying out of domestic political problems because at the end of the day these are only situations that local syrians or iraqis can fix and can bring solution to are the second thing is i do think that there is a general interest within syrians or rockies and a very very pretty much everyone in the gulf to suppress al qaeda. that was j. dilla barito political researcher at the university of birmingham and for another take on the flavorful asia i also spoke with gareth porter and desiccated journalist and historian he explained what he believes led to the uprising that has

taken over fallujah. the sunni based resistance to the iraqi government a shia dominated government has risen in recent years as a result of the. the the policies of the maliki government and it has had more and more difficulty suppressing the resistance the opposition of the sunnis and now you have al qaeda rising up militarily there is a difference between the two. does not have support from the sunni tribes it has individuals who joined it but the sunni tribes are still resistant to al qaeda and by the way they would have a very major difference over. the islamic state of iraq and levant as it calls itself now wanting to have essentially a sunni stan which combines iraq and syria and the tribes in iraq are very much

opposed to that so there still is very great tension between them but i think the fundamental point is that odierno is still trying to justify his role in the war based on the idea that well you know the iraqis were trained by us to handle this they may have been trained to handle this but the real problem is something that the united states unleashed which is not going to be solved. earlier today i mean is there any solution what is the solution now is there any clear path that the u.s. should take this point i don't think there's anything united states can do to undo the damage that is already done there's going to have to be a long term political process it's going to take many many years who knows how long it's going to take but what we do know is that. even if they the government is able to retake solutia and other places where a cut is currently in control or has a military presence the problem is not going to be settled at all the problem of

sunni shia tension within that government within the country is going to continue for many many years that was a gareth porter investigative journalist and historian. well we've covered the ongoing good controversy over fracking here at r.t. extensively the technique that extracts natural gas has prompted to help an environmental concerns today in the state of new york protestors came together to demonstrate against the practice fracking in albany has been delayed several times but how long can they keep it on the back burner our viewers want to bring up aren't i has more from new york. it was the top story in twenty curtsied that for man's top priority this new year more than a thousand people have gathered in albany new york state capital to take part in and can't type back in probably the only was the governor andrew cuomo to get cracking even this state you know this rally that you see cropping was me just take

you in the seat building where the governor is to expose the liver pate was because he was the eve of the allied schools and through the years the station is currently dealing with the safety of the sea tourists probably. which will leave the decision on whether or not he will allow cracking to come move work states now over the past ten years fracking has led to a u.s. boom in oil and gas production generating hundreds of billions in revenue for companies and land owners but it's also created concerns and fears about pollution the long list of scientists of environmentalists was conducted study of the course computing that the chemical and talking candidates if you will of all how dangerous of many of those that i spoke with people right to see cases dangerous to the same

place at the stage throughout the country and they don't see those cases because these are they live air contamination high levels of radiation oakridge the bottom line is extreme a credibly dirty form of extreme energy extraction making fun of any place new york state i feel like the fracking companies have no heart of god is because they're not consoled by the people's house this life or death you know what is now three new above we bring this back in upstate new york we're going to ruin our family and we need to do to renewable energy joy we were going to survive life on the planet the next hundred. thirty years because i don't know how long the others get a little slow to take hold of the ground before she does so it gets rid of the problem it's our job to make our officials accountable for the decisions that they make and i think that they need to start realizing that they need to make responsible ones or else they're going to have really bad consequences for states that have been nurturing that rocking energy boom are now

a dangerous consequences of burning to cedar rapids pennsylvania west virginia ohio woods' taxes received hundreds of them really last year would lead to water pollution and numerous cases were actually couldn't for the workers say they do not want to be the next fracking put her the question is will the governor of the state listen and heed to the concerns of his constituents the forty eight from albany new york read up or not partake. and in orange county california closing arguments continue in the case against two police officers accused of beating a man to death kelly thomas in the last moments were captured on surveillance camera and the footage has been used as evidence throughout the trial but this isn't the only video surfacing that allegedly shows perry's retaliate artie's meghan lopez has more. today the family of keith vital is searching for answers after police shot and killed their eighteen year old schizo for an exxon boiling

spring lake's police officers were called to the home of mark and mary will zoe the night of january fifth to help them subdue the ninety pound teenager who had a small screwdriver in his hand when they arrive please taste and then just seventy seconds into the confrontation shant and killed keith now this north carolina family wants to know why you the three officers resorted to such extreme measures have you ever buried a child i have i know how hard it is ok i'm burying my second child right now because. somebody murdered him and this was called for and this is not healthy mental health patients should be treated this is just one of numerous allegations of brutality coming out from across the country this week on monday a number ask a family filed a lawsuit against thirty two omaha police officers after an alleged parking

violation turned violent back in march this youtube video allegedly shows four officers reporting to a complaint of an illegally parked truck twenty eight year old octavius johnson the owner of the truck is then slammed to the ground. he was later charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct his brothers john and demetrius were also arrested and charged while filming the answered and the family claims the officers violated their constitutional rights when they broke into the house and confiscated one video of the confrontation one officer has been temporarily reassigned as a result of this video the a.c.l.u. is helping the family with the lawsuit meanwhile in new hampshire three seabrooke police officers are on paid administrative leave after this two thousand and nine a rest video went viral monday on you tube the video shows nineteen year old michael berger in having his face slammed into a wall by police officers after leaving the booking room he is then pushed down to

the floor and pepper sprayed one of the officers even takes a moment to look up and smile for the camera burglar and was arrested on charges of driving under the influence possession of controlled drugs and resisting arrest a police report describes him as aggressive and uncooperative the incident is now under investigation by the attorney general's office berger and is considering a lawsuit against the officers all three of these incidents are making headlines at the same time as this ninety nine percent of all complaints over police brutality are left uninvestigated in new jersey that's according to a report published this week by the courier news and home news tribune the report claims that between two thousand and eight and two thousand and twelve citizens filed hundreds of complaints alleging police brutality bias and civil rights violations only one percent were investigated and the other ninety nine percent

police agencies reportedly either exonerated the officers dismissed the complaints as frivolous determine that they did not have sufficient evidence or simply never closed the investigation so what if anything is being done to confront the issue of excess. force well for now anyway it's up to individual police departments to regulate the actions of their officers watchdog groups like the a.c.l.u. are also keeping a close eye on police departments but perhaps the biggest agent of change is your cell phone after all a picture speaks a thousand words but one viral video can mean the difference between action and non-action in washington meghan lopez r t well as you probably know it's been cold out in case you haven't noticed the media was there to remind you just how cold it's been at the wall to wall coverage or to correspondent on a saucy a turban explores at the media needs to chill out. more talked about in the u.s. media than the most ridiculous celebrity baby name and the royal wedding combined

it's called a polar vortex the polar vortex the polar vortex the polar vortex more frightening than your worst nightmare it's a whirlpool of dense frigid arctic air ladies and gentlemen the cold cold hell if you can imagine so it is the coldest it has been decades every thirty seconds and all it's really cold out this is the most important mainstream news story for days on end we have a team of correspondents covering this arctic blast it's really obvious that it's cold but just to keep your journalistic integrity you want to first hand account of how cold it is and if a mailman is all bundled up saying yeah it's cold then you know it's actually called here's a hamburger and a steak even though there's really only that much to eventually talk about how does your skin doing since weather is weather no matter how hard you try to keep your attention look at this is a little. chicago pizza hard as a rock you could use this as a weapon if you wanted to ok temperatures dropping to subzero extremes it is

a rare occurrence in certain parts of the us from watches amping it up like there's no tomorrow might be a tad over exaggerated you go. people know it's cold people know they shouldn't go outside you don't need to go on and on and on and meanwhile there's really really important news that not getting covered then again weather coverage doesn't require bringing up the truly unpleasant you don't to worry about the confusing stuff the stuff with new ones like the syrian civil war like the pros and cons of genetically modified food you just walk outside and go by examples or art as a result other countries are rolling their eyes at us because we're complaining that it's cold but they're also rolling their eyes at us about everything else it looks like the us mainstream media are taking their tips from an old piece of advice if you don't know what to say just talk about the weather and if they are. well the number one new year's resolution to as children is wait and so tonight's

president takes a look at an interesting new surgical procedure that may help. one than one third of u.s. adults are clinically obese and yet according to market data america has one hundred meat million dieters revenues for the weight loss industry are over sixty billion dollars so we're all obese but we're all diety because we want to look like movie stars and we just can't seem to lose that weight that's the conundrum and a plastic surgeon has an answer for it that is nothing short of amazing he's offering the procedure where he implant a hard plastic mesh thing into

a person's tongue that makes it incredibly painful to eat and he's solid food he implants it for two thousand dollars a person follows a strict liquids only diet for one month they lose a ton of weight and then the match implant is removed whom they are movies to our doctor should get the cosmetic surgeon who introduced the procedure in the u.s. so the procedure is not unhealthy at all he says it's all about interrupting patterns like when patients throve doing dongs into their mouths they'll be inundated with terrible pain which will make them stop and think for a second hey i probably shouldn't eat any more horrible ding dongs that's why i have this mashed patch. now obesity is a complex social economic issue a lot of it is that people don't have the education or information about just how crappy our food is and how to find ways to eat healthy and it's also

a time issue when you have to work two jobs just to pay rent it's like more and more americans have to you know. the time or the money to crisp up some kale chips or tended to your hydroponic garden but this story has nothing to do with any of that because if you're too poor to eat organic or to over of work to have the time to cook then you certainly don't have two thousand dollars to blow on the plastic surgery procedure this story is about how far america has come and it's idiotic relationships with food and body image people who get this done you don't have strong food addictions and need intensive therapy not plastic surgery or they're asleep at the wheel sheeple who have disposable income and want to quick fix doubt that look like a movie star and i don't like to sleep people here are do many of them in this country so i kind of hope this tongue procedure not only messes up their ability to eat but it also interferes with their ability to talk at least for

a month because anything that anyone who gets this done has to say is bound to be as easy as the procedure itself tonight let's talk about that by following me on twitter at the resident. that's going to do it for now for more on the stories we've covered head to our you tube page you tube dot com slash our to america our website r t dot com slash usa or follow me on twitter at liz wall for now have a great night. wealthy

british style. time to write. market. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines kaiser reports.