in the. coming up on our t.v. all eyes are on sochi as the twenty second winter olympic games are well underway the top athletes from around the world compete for gold silver and bronze it will both of the winners and losers straight ahead meanwhile the western media coverage of russia as a so-called gay propaganda laws appears to have overshadowed the opening ceremonies from the olympics coming up next we'll take a closer look at that law and similar ones that exist right here in the united states and he's best known as a hollywood action film star but steven seagal has many more traits and accolades listed on his resume straight ahead an exclusive look at his political future and the religion that helped shape his world.

it's monday february tenth four pm in washington d.c. at the neck and lopez and you are watching r t america well i don't know about you but i was glued to my television all weekend watching the world's top athletes compete at sochi at the winter olympic games the massive ceremony showcased twenty eight hundred athletes from eighty eight countries were competing in ninety eight events and right after that beautiful opening ceremony competition kicked into gear let's take a quick look at the medal count up to this point canada leaves with seven medals three golds and three silvers had a bronze the other ones and norway take second and third place also with seven medals the united states takes fourth place followed by germany russia australia and france now today there were competitions for the men's five hundred meter speedskating women's ice hockey women's singles in louche and

a number of other sports i spoke earlier with r.t. correspondent paul scott he is reporting from sochi and he gave us some highlights from over the weekend. well i think i think the highlight from a russian point of view is quite easy to point to it came in the figure skating team event where russia secured gold with a win in the extremely dominant display and there was the emergence of a new star as well fifteen year old usually a late night sky she put in to salute li peerless performances in the ladies' shorts on free programs and really is the new dolling of russian sports and she was helped along the way by a real a real legend a figure skating i'm talking about you have got any push and it was the biggest cheer of the weekend when he took to the ice and it's a really interesting story for you he was touch and go as to whether he was even going to make these home games he's had a number of injuries he's been plagued by back injuries and knee injuries over the years and he's actually on the go in surgery no less than twelve times in recent

years but he did come back he was fighting fetes and he was equally as foolish in his display in the men's free program so between them youth and experience fifteen year old. becoming one of the youngest of a gold medal winners in any winter olympics in winter olympics history combined with the legend in the fans favor that is you have to push and i think that was undoubtedly the highlight for russian sports fans over the course of the weekend and i think the who pays the in the figure skating and of course other events there's plenty more golds to follow now are there any surprising when some happen over the weekend or even today. the surprise is at a premium at the moment i would say in some respects is absolutely no surprises sunny when it comes to the speed skating event where the netherlands the dutch are absolutely a dominant in knots and two events so far they've already had a one two three gold silver and bronze in two events so they are absolutely dominance when kramer he claimed the men's five thousand meters event in the

speedskating down in the blue arena down by the tail in the black sea resort of sochi aza say and there was a silver bronze also went to the netherlands an interesting lead today that continuing their dominance with another one two three this time in the five hundred meters and there were a victory for they were twins who actually secured medal so the dutch keeping it in the family that had the one of the twins one gold and the other one won bronze no surprises i would say dutch dominance in the speedskating now norway has historically dominated the winter games are they continuing that trend this year well no i have one more medals in winter olympic history than any other country and they took the lead of the course of the weekend they were on top of the medals table and as we told right now they are still very much there will they're about so i think pretty much in third place at the moment just behind the netherlands and kind of let me tell you one interesting story of norwegian only unappealing doll

and he won the biathlon ten k. sprint event on saturday to make him the joint record holder for the most amount of winter olympic medals in history ironically or perhaps not so surprisingly alongside another two norwegian now this evening he had the chance in the twelve and a half k pursuit event to become the single most decorated olympian winter olympian in haste but unfortunately he only needed was a top three finish in the twelve and a perceived event bronze would have done it for him it would be his thirteenth winter olympic medals seven of them of course gold but he finished. he was a little a little over one second off the pace that prevented him getting the bronze medal and creating history so norway are still very much there were there about splits i think will be mixed emotions they're saving for. now paula i can hear behind you music i can feel a lot of people moving around despite the fact that it's actually pretty late there in sochi so what's the atmosphere like for you as

a journalist covering this yeah well we're actually by one of the many laws of sites in and around the sochi region there door to door of around sochi which is a little further along the coast which is where the coastal cluster race with all the indoor ice events where they're taking place and of course up in the mountains across napolitano so these live sites dotted all around the region way in the water in sochi by the ports on no show if you can you can make it out it is just beginning to wrap up to the atmosphere has been pretty spectacular throughout the course of the evening there's a giant screen west spectators gather to watch all the sporting events and also the medal ceremony which take place every evening at eight fourteen pm of course that's twenty fourteen to represent the spectators are gathered together to watch the medal ceremony there's also a stage which is now closed there's nobody on its. various musical acts all throughout the evening and as i say this isn't the only one in the region so the atmosphere is pretty pretty good a pretty special in and around sochi on the region at the moment and every single

evening as well i have to say there's a fireworks display not far from here on out no expense spared it's pretty spectacular now one of the things that has been obviously dominating the headlines recently is the security situation in sochi so what is the security situation like from your perspective in the olympic village. well the organize is a cane for the security presence to be reassuring rather than overbearing there are around forty thousand police and security office who officers who are in and around the sochi region at the moment and as i say the organizers became that the presence was an intimidating it wasn't overbearing and i think it is reassuring everywhere you look you do see a small gaggle of police officers walking around it does reassure you that the area is pretty secure of course there's a lot of talk about the so cooled ring of steel and the fact that they on the rest of all the rest of the caucuses region is not far from here on the terrorist

attacks in volgograd between christmas and new year of course but the issue of security firmly in the spotlight and i think there was sort of some apprehension some tension perhaps in the build up to the opening ceremony last week before the games out slowly started but now the games have begun in the sports is starting to dominate the headlines i think people in and around here are starting to on wind and relax a little bit more r.t.s. paul scott bringing us the latest from sochi as a leg games of twenty four team thank you so much stay warm well world athletes are also weighing in on the atmosphere in sochi from hotel rooms to the security situation take a look. so five are things going to mazing it's running like clockwork and everything's just going really really well there hasn't been any problems as of as of today my parents have been a little bit worried that if i just just be careful what you do and don't really wear the uniform when you have you know when you don't need to just be a bit half of the security is really good so it's better than we thought it would be i had a really great time here and i have nothing bad to say so far well organized and

people are really friendly here and having a good time. however critics are still missing words snuffing out the olympic flame with comments about dangerous competition courses and the mass murder of stray dogs r t correspondent an associate charkha takes a closer look at the sochi backlash. well some saatchi out leads me gain points and their opponents take us through it on the slope the mainstream media are looking for a more widespread tumble this is during the opening ceremony something look off here yeah a glitch taking one of the olympic rings from lighting up glitches are more than a regular occurrence in any games but pundits will tear them apart until blue in the face all played in the winter olympics in sochi russia if even a remotely reasonable assessment showing russia and nothing more than a normal light is brought up we've been receiving well we have a nice hotel our accommodations are justified but from what i hear from some of the athletes who are doing some of the training they're quite satisfied statements like

this fall largely on deaf ears while negative tweets about hotel room conditions go viral for days on end there was a fifteen year old girl who flowed through the air and lay ended on ice on. all right and i'm for to care about outcome for your bad was in the hotel room meanwhile america's only recent history has always gets easily forgotten there was corruption at the winter olympics in the united states several people were tried for this romley was brought in to quote to fix it which he did with. millions and millions of dollars from the u.s. government you basically want to know more these days the former presidential candidate is on the news to give his expert take along with other notable sporting event analysts time to rein in the mantle on this actor gianni russo you know him from the godfather if you really want to get into sporting event issues at this last super bowl they busted child sex ring something tells me that ranks up

a bit worse on the scale than the thread count of the sheets in sochi with the simplistic bad guy approach towards decide she games the mainstream media might as well have expected dancing bears drinking vodka at the opening ceremony there weren't any bears on bicycles drinking out of vodka bottles there were drago didn't show up at any point from rocky. we were all shocked taken aback that the the bull crap we've been sold for forty years wasn't dancing around instead an opening reflecting russia's long history and diverse culture a legacy of sochi will be that if it continues smoothly as it has in the competition part as a very successful olympic games this year money aired in the u.s. ten hours after taking place with edits made to cut the speech of the head of the i.o.c. and providing little translation context or explanation to the historic episodes

presented anchors even going so far as to suggest the viewers google it there's a tremendous ignorance gap here and this is what the media both creates and panders to as the days go by olympic athletes will show more and more impressive results stealing the show from poisonous media stories while the corporate media outlets continue to play a game of their own turning sports into politics and making news venomous but with already dwindling ratings and as more of their tricks are exposed they may be en route to becoming just white noise as they see it you're going to r.t. york. one of the mainstream media's biggest criticisms in the weeks and months leading up to the winter olympics has been russia's so-called gay propaganda law and whether homosexual athletes will be in danger if they flew to sochi to compete well as the saying goes when you point a blaming finger in someone's direction there are four more pointing back at you in opinion piece in the washington post titled the u.s. have pompously over russia's anti-gay laws my next guest argues that several states

in the u.s. have laws that are just as restrictive or even more discriminatory than the ones in russia i an heiress is a professor at yale law school and he joins me now to explain thank you so much for joining me can you explain this a popper see you are talking about when it comes to anti-gay laws well of several of the states of the united states about eight laws that are on the books that are similar the laws both of you know the states and in russia should be repealed so what exactly does a russian last for bed and what is the punishment for them well both of the above laws in russia and in this handful of u.s. states restrict what can be so especially to children in educational context for example of two thousand and two the united states proudly and without comment served its winter olympic athletes to utah which prohibits

school instruction in the because sea of homosexuality and that language is quite parallel to the russians. so as you are saying there are a number of u.s. states that have similar laws what states are we talking about here utah arizona alabama texas those are for and what kind of laws to these states have is it the exact same kind of. language as we have seen in russia they vary. to a degree misstate what our constitution demands some say that you have to educate children that homosexual sex is is a crime even though consensual homosexual sex has been protected for more than a decade in the united states and so there are these are out of date many of them

were passed. putin was still a communist now what kind of punishments go along with these laws in the united states well those are largely unspecified there can be a huge difference even in the way that these are being enforced there are some reports out of russia of arrested and that goes beyond what has been seen in the united states that the or more. that it's possible that one could lose a job as an educator but it's more of the symbolism of what this does to a green light to that bullying and harassment of gay people is is fostered by the statute so has anyone actually been prosecuted using these laws in any of the states. are you know not i'm not sure about that i've been around now for a couple of decades and. they're the prosecution whether or not to

my knowledge so is this just an example of antiquated laws that have yet to to catch up with the rest of american society do you think that they will be changed in the future for instance not so antiquated most of these were passed in the aftermath of the aids epidemic so they're not ancient laws but they're ones that were passed in the late eighty's and ninety's. and yet these should be challenged in court or repealed by the states are out of step. russia right now like these eight states in the united states are on the wrong side of history and it's very clear what direction. that equality is on the move and they're likely will be taken out within a short order we have less than a minute left but over the weekend attorney general eric holder announced that the justice department plans to expand the recognition of same sex marriages in federal

legal matters how can you just talk about how monumental this is well this is such a surprise. how quickly things are moving toward equality in the united states after state is embracing same sex marriage. and and this is a time if russia really wants to protect its children it should send a clear message that. when they grow up they can love who they. who they want without fear of harassment very interesting article in the washington post thank you so much for joining me to weigh in on this a law professor in error thank you so much you're welcome. well despite mounting international criticism against the american drone program it appears as though the u.s. has picked its next target this one is an american citizen the associated press has confirmed with foreign u.s. officials that the u.s.

is now targeting an unnamed american who is believed to be an al qaeda facilitator and was actively planning attacks on american citizens overseas officials are now in the process of building a case against this man to prove that a drone strike against him is legal constitutional and necessary the justice department will then present the president with a formal review and the president will have the final say this newest information comes less than a year after president obama promised americans more strict drone regulations and a national defense speech in may for the record i do not believe it would be constitutional for the government to target and kill any u.s. citizen with a drone or with a shotgun without due process but when a u.s. citizen goes abroad to wage war against america and is actively plotting to kill u.s. citizens and when neither the united states nor our partners are in a position to capture him before he carries out

a plot his citizenship should no more serve as a shield than a sniper shooting down on an innocent crowd should be protected from a swat team now many congress members have expressed criticism against america's use of the drone program even with the new policies that have been put in place those include house of representatives intelligence committee chairman mike rogers the president's may twenty thirty in policy changes for the u.s. targeted strikes are an utter and complete failure and they leave americans lives at risk. now if he has agreed to withhold the name of the country that the man isn't as a matter of national security this suspect would not be the first american killed by a drone strike he wouldn't even be the second to date there have been four americans killed by drones the muslim cleric anwar although locky was killed in yemen in two thousand and eleven along with some air con all along sixteen year old son of durham on was killed in another strike two weeks later and then in pakistan judith

kennon mohammad was killed in another attack now all locky was the only reported u.s. targeted killing of an american but obviously there are others meanwhile a new article by glenn greenwald and jeremy scahill details the national security agency's role in drone attacks according to the article the primary method used to locate targets is a computer analysis of metta data and cell phone tracking technology often times that data isn't accurate so in other words instead of using informants on the ground who are watching over the suspects movements the drone targets an area where the suspects cell phone is and sometimes that phone is in the hands of a friend or a family mother remember rather than the suspect himself the information comes from a former drone operator who works for the joint special operations command as well as for the n.s.a. it was bolstered by an edward snowden document that details the geo location

technique actually used by the n.s.a. so just when you thought the n.s.a. controls people's lives it looks like they play a role in some people's deaths as well. meanwhile an unlikely ally is working to broker increased cooperation between the u.s. and russia steven seagal is known around the world for kicking butt and taking names in action packed movies like under siege but now he's putting down the toy guns and picking up politics as his next action packed adventure artie's less wall reports. well it's no secret that russia and the united states struggle to maintain a healthy diplomatic relationship but one man says it's his mission in life to try to change that and he's not your typical diplomat steven seagal the actor known for starring in action flicks and we came out here to visit him in the wild west to find out about his efforts in one of my missions in this life is to try to bring us

together as real brothers last spring six members of congress went to russia to learn more about the brothers accused of the boston marathon bombings they brought along action star steven seagal to serve as a diplomatic liaison but as an american was trying to do the best i could. think of for what i believe in and what i believe is that russia is an extremely important ally and that the cold war is over and that we meaning america should really have an open mind and open heart in terms of trying to create closer and closer better diplomatic relations with russia sagal tells us about his friendship with russian president vladimir putin we never talk politics you know we're just you know i'd like to say that we're good friends we talk about the martial arts we talk about people we talk about. you know sings they're going on in the world

that don't necessarily concern you know his political views and. we particularly enjoy talking about the martial arts and. events like that together . in vietnam and the seventh degree black belt is best known for his roles in action films like above the law and under siege. under siege. beyond taking down the bad guys on the big screen he does it in real life as a reserve deputy sheriff it's all captured in his reality t.v. series steven seagal lawman now in its third season seagal is taking his police work to arizona he's partnered with the infamous sheriff joe arpaio as the top law enforcement officer in maricopa county arpaio has been criticized conditions and alleged racial profiling we you know the bad guys down and we arrest him and you

know over here they're always trying to make the joran part was a racist and a racially profiled and he hates mexicans and it's hilarious because ninety nine percent of guys on my team are mexican and most of the people we arrest are not mexican we don't care if you're chinese japanese filipino german dutch we don't care if you break the law we are. when he's not putting up a fight he's finding his dad so paul tells us how buddhism shapes his world view what's important is to look into the nature of your mind and find out how we as human beings can help each other how we as human beings can be. more thoughtful. really practice all truisms be more compassionate and try to make the world a better place there have been rumors of seagal running for governor of arizona we

asked him to set the record straight on his political ambitions lot of people who asked me to do it. may be an arrogant. thing to say but i think if i do run or did run i would have a real good shot at winning and the problem is. at this point in time i i don't think i qualify because i've only been in arizona for four years and i think you need a five year residency so there's a lot of little things going on but we may run for governor another time so he's not ruling out that governorship for the future or now we'll have to wait and see if his diplomatic efforts pay off in scottsdale arizona was wall r.t. . well do you remember that crime fighting dog named mcgruff who was frequently featured in public service announcements targeted at children maybe this will jog your memory. now what are you going to say if someone has you to try drugs we're

friends but we will beat you keep messing with great bombard you. and i wouldn't mind if. i don't think you. well it turns out the bat lolloping bloodhound has been up to no good or at least the actor who plays him anyway well look rough takes a bite out of crime like illegal drugs for instance actor john of more alice apparently does not morales has been sentenced to sixteen years in prison after pleading guilty today to possessing the drugs and ammunition police found one thousand barrel want to plant in his house along with twenty seven weapons including get this a grenade launcher and nine thousand rounds of ammunition so it looks like mcgruff missed out on catching a criminal that was right under his nose the whole time well boom bust is up next on our team let's talk with aaron aid for a quick preview erin what do you got for us thanks we're going to house out about mcgruff that's horrible. no comment of

a boom bust though investor and financial pundit kyle harrington discusses deflation in terms of both wages and prices plus we're looking at the cost of a limpet coverage in the digital age you won't want to miss it so stay tuned we're looking forward to that aaron thanks so much but that's going to do it for me for now for more on the stories we covered go to youtube dot com slash r t america and for a bunch of the stories that we just didn't have time to cover today or for our continuing coverage check out our website or to dot com forward slash usa and don't forget to follow me on twitter to find out what i'm doing when i'm not reporting the news stay tuned boom bust does next.

there's a saying you know when you're in the arctic you have the entire world at your feet . she looks like a fairly simple ship but really she's not simple little handful of people ever have access to the nuclear icebreakers the real king here is that the polar bear and ice breakers come second not a single complex expedition to the arctic can be conducted without the russian nuclear powered fleet of ice breakers we've undertaken a unique operation in. the northern sea route russia's arctic ice breakers.

technology innovation. from around russia.

sure. there are i marinate it this is boston these are the stories that we're tracking for you today. first up a column is georgia's elgin a one of the founders of the school of modern free banking theory joins us to talk about inflation the good the bad and the ugly then after that we have a boom bust favorite financial pundit and investor kyle harrington on today's show you won't want to miss it and finally edward harrison and i talk bitcoin in today's big deal a lot has happened with the cryptocurrency over the past couple weeks and we're taking a look at all of it now let's get to the shell.