coming up on our t.v. going for the gold and i'm very another day and the sochi winter games is wrapping up who is bringing home a medal we'll give you the latest results from sochi. and u.s. senator rand paul sues the surveillance state senator files a class action lawsuit against president obama and top security officials more on the fight to protect american civil liberties coming up. and a florida case over the fatal shooting of an unarmed teenager draws to a close both sides delivered closing arguments in the trial of the man accused of firing several shots into a car over loud music and update on that trial later in the show.

it's wednesday february twelfth five pm here in washington d.c. i'm liz wall and you're watching our team america the two thousand and fourteen olympic games are in full swing in sochi it's the fifth day of competitions here is a round up of today's winners germany is currently leading the gold medal tally with six and has a grand total of eight overall medals also bringing home multiple medals canada norway the netherlands along with the u.s. what's real in russia and australia are to correspondent paul scott is in sochi with the latest on the games. well the big winner on day five certainly from a home fans point of view was russia in the figure skating they continued their dominance of that event with a gold and silver medal in the pads event now the gold medal went to the world in

european champions tatiana dollars as. of now they have the lead at the halfway stage after they put in a world record performance in the short program on tuesday evening and they followed that up on wednesday with another remarkable and fullest display in the free program to secure the gold medal and they were clearly visibly overcome by the emotion of it all at the end of their performance which raised the roof inside the iceberg skating palace meanwhile their teammates. and federal claim of came in second so it was almost a clean sweep for russia germany got the bronze but these medals that i added to the gold that russia have already won in the figure skating they secured gold in the team event type of the course of the weekend and with this gold and silver it very much seems that in terms of figure skating russia very much the nation to catch. well elsewhere there was bitter disappointment for american athletes on day five and one of the biggest stars of these games one of the biggest attractions for

fans is twenty seven year old snowboarder shaun white but the two time defending champion lost his crown in the snowboard halfpipe he didn't even claim a medal coming in in fourth place he pulled out of the slope style to concentrate on this event so afterwards he said the moment wouldn't be career defining the gold medal in that went to you already in a cough also it was a pretty disappointing day for another american star in shani davis and he was going to try and make history in the one thousand meters speed skating event in the arena how did he won the gold medal then he'd be the first time that anyone has won three consecutive gold medals in the same event at three consecutive olympic games however he was well off the pace in. in the end coming in in eighth place so really sort of disappointing day for many american athletes but the excitement is building ahead of the men's hockey competition of course there's going to be an expectant

home crowd russia playing on home ice and it's going to be many many nations experts is saying there are many nations who could win the olympic gold medal this time around from sweden to russia to canada and of course the usa now the. men's hockey competition has actually started on wednesday with some preliminary matches but russia's first game comes against slovakia tomorrow on thursday and there's an interesting discussion of course because the n.h.l. is currently on a break to allow the players who play in the n.h.l. to come here to sochi and participate in the winter olympics but there's a tool that that might not happen and in four years time the n.h.l. motw no allow their players to go on a break so that's something that's up for discussion but in terms of the action russia and america their first match begins on thursday. that was artie's paul scott reporting from sochi now to a fight against the n.s.a. kentucky senator rand paul today filed

a lawsuit against president obama and top security officials over the agency's surveillance program paul believes the program that gathers includes gathering citizens phone metadata infringes on our fourth amendment rights are the correspondent mirah dave it has more. on behalf of myself freedom works and everyone in america that has a phone we are filing suit against the president of the united states in defense of the fourth amendment today senator rand paul finally did what he had been threatening to do for months senator paul officially filed a class action lawsuit against the obama administration the national security agency and a host of others regarding a u.s. surveillance program that collects information on millions of u.s. citizens at a press conference here today paula spoke about the magnitude of this case this we believe will be a historic lawsuit we think it may well be the largest class action lawsuit ever

filed on behalf of the bill of rights we've had three hundred eighty six thousand and twenty six people show an interest in having their records for checked for the last few months potential class action signatories have been volunteering to be a part of the lawsuit signing up through websites like the political action committee web site rand pac and through another web site called defend the fourth dot com another group that has been trying to push support for the suit is a libertarian organization called freedom works now matt kidd be the president of freedom works is also a plaintiff in this lawsuit along with sen rand paul now it's important to note that this case will be focusing only on the n.s.a.'s surveillance of phone metadata not e-mail communications and the court will not be looking at whether section two fifteen of the patriot act is constitutional rather it will be focusing on whether

the n.s.a.'s controversial program falls in line with the fourth amendment we will ask the question in court whether a single warrant can apply to the records of every american phone user all of the job without limits without individualisation. nellie virginia's former attorney general is serving as the lead counsel for the case he says this trial will be different from the federal case late last year in which a judge ruled that the n.s.a.'s mass collection of phone data is constitutional here's what he had to say most times this question has been addressed overwhelmingly it has been on what's called an ex parte basis that means there was no one to the other side there was no one there to defend the constitution vigorously cuccinelli went on to say that this would be one of the rare occasions when we have a debate in front of a judge who will then be able to make that ultimate decision both cuccinelli and

senator rand paul said they were very optimistic this case would go to the supreme court but that it could take several years before it reaches that level in washington david. meanwhile states are doing their part to fight against and say surveillance and maryland the home of the n.s.a. a group of state congressmen introduced a bill that would literally pull the plug on government spying they would do this by cutting off water electricity and other support to the federal agency it's called the fourth amendment protection act and its supporters say the bill is aimed of blocking the n.s.a. from monitoring and tracking citizens in the state here's the bill that prohibits state offices and employees from in gauging in certain activities relating to the collection of certain electronic metadata data and metadata of a person and it doesn't stop in maryland there is legislation like this in the works and other states like washington utah and missouri for more on the state's

fight i joined earlier i was joined earlier with a shot head to tar the executive director of the bill of rights defense committee. in maryland in utah in particular it would have a special force because the bill essentially denies state resources to the n.s.a. and in the states where the n.s.a. has data centers like maryland like utah that would include pulling the plug on public utilities like the water that i say uses to cool the servers amounting to two million gallons per day in the utah bluffdale utah data center as well as the electricity that they used to power the servers so even while congress decides what to do and the courts decide what to do when the president continues to step closer you know one hopes towards the positions he espoused as a campaign candidate back in two thousand and eight the states can take matters into their own hands and that's exactly what we're seeing in maryland utah and a dozen other states around the country and as you had mentioned maryland is a big hub for the n.s.a.

they are based at the headquarters that were in the ad that's right so what is the particular significance of this bill happening in maryland where the n.s.a. primarily operates i mean we've seen various states. adopt similar legislation are or think about in acting this kind of legislation it's got to have even more of a larger effect in maryland to describe it in metaphor if domestic surveillance is a dragon and the effort to fight it in cities is one scale at a time and congress is chopping off its head going after the n.s.a. data centers in maryland and utah is like taking a swipe at the juggler and we could quite easily i think to the extent those states see fit to step forward stop this sordid enterprise whether or not the washington institutions wake up and remember what the fourth about it means going for the juggler as you put it a bill like this now was vetoed it as i understand in california so it's hard to get laws like this pass is it more of a symbolic move or what do you think i don't think it's symbolic at all what it actually will cue up to my knowledge there hasn't been

a veto of this bill anywhere in the country there might have been a similar bill in a different era but the particular challenge that bills like this will face are lawsuits alleging federal supremacies with respect to. foreign policy they'll say that the n.s.a. is a foreign policy instruments that states don't have the authority to make their own foreign policy and that's certainly true but whether or not states have the authority to direct their own public utilities is a pretty settled question and there's no actual legitimate argument that would suggest that the federal government has the right to commandeer those state resources so it actually pits like most constitutional law to very compelling interest against each other the state's plenary authority over its resources against federal supremacies with respect to matters left by the constitution and federal and left out of that equation and what i think will resolve those issues ultimately is the forgotten relevance of the fourth amendment which quite simply makes this government enterprise illegal in the first instance and so the states taking our action to advance constitutional principles will be interpreted very

differently by a court than a state taking action to restrict. its these are very concerned fourth amendment concerns that these states are are trying to bring to the forefront here meanwhile a panel of privacy expert that reviewed the n.s.a. surveillance program testified before a senate committee here in washington not too long ago it's a panel of members of the privacy and civil liberties oversight board they took questions from senators about their findings want to take a less a listen to a member of this group rachel brad and. this program has been operating for years that's been the subject of numerous judicial opinions that will go like out of it will ultimately be resolved in cases that are currently pending in the courts it just struck me as gratuitous and unnecessary to also say the program is illegal because it has a very demoralizing and negative effect on the intelligence community you know you want your intelligence agencies to aggressively protect the national security

within the bounds of the law you don't want them to be timid and be scared of the rug being pulled out from under them. and this is an argument that we heard from senators today saying that this board while they should provide some oversight might have gone. too far and it's not really there are really not to discuss our or find our rule on the legality of it what do you think every think those senators and his brand should probably read the nine eleven commission report that recommended the creation of this board to do exactly bad i think they're making this argument because they're uncomfortable with what the board has decided and what the board has decided is the same thing that the founders of our country decided two hundred fifty years ago which was mass surveillance is not american it's that simple actually it's not a particularly complicated question and the p.c.l. will be was well within its ambit of its institutional authority and reaching a conclusion about the legality of these programs and correctly deciding that they can't possibly comply with the fourth of the interesting mr retired great to have you on that wish i had retired the executive director of the bill of rights defense

committee. well outrage over the n.s.a. surveillance program not just in the us it's happening throughout europe the european parliament increased called for increased protection of citizens private data members are also calling for more protection for whistleblowers and journalists are to use poly boyko as more so this is a pretty thorough document it's looking into the scale of mass surveillance in europe in fact this is the first as a parliamentary inquiry into the n.s.a. scandal but there's been a major bone of contention and that's to what extent edward snowden should figure in it there's been wrangling over whether the whistleblower should testify to the committee that is responsible for the report considering he leaked this information in the first place it would make sense but conservatives in the european parliament are against it while edward snowden's lawyers say that he's willing to testify via video link then there's the issue of watching m.e.p.

he's rejected a proposed amendment that would call on e.u. governments to assure snowden of his safety if he were to come to europe there was also reportedly a line calling on the u.s. not to prosecute edward snowden which also didn't make the cut instead the report will call for international protection for whistleblowers but it won't mention snowden by name asshole well the german green politician who was gunning for the snowden amendments to stay has said that it's ridiculous that he's been left in the lurch considering that edward snowden is the reason that the world knows about global surveillance in the first place. that was ordered to use poly boyko. now to west virginia where there is more trouble for residents drinking water so that officials are scrambling to contain a coal slurry spill into a creek and it's in the same area where hundreds of thousands of people were told just a few weeks ago not to drink or touch their tap water after

a toxic chemical leak artie's meghan lopez reports. cleanup crews are working day and night in the aftermath of a major chemical spill in west virginia but i am not talking about the thousands of gallons of four met the psycho hexane methanol that spilled into the river last month a completely different leak is now the top concern of west virginia officials instead of freedom industries this one came from patriot coal just eighteen miles away it happened early tuesday morning at the company's cannot eagle prep plant near winifred at west virginia when a valve ruptured one hundred thousand gallons of coal story flooded into feels a creek during a three hour time period blackening six miles of the creek as well as half a mile of the canal river near the town of chesapeake the canal river is a big body of water that runs through charleston and connects to the ohio river which continues on to indiana and kentucky and beyond also connected to the canal

river is the elk river which is where the m.c.h. spill happened on january ninth coal slurry is a mixture of coal dust rock and chemicals luckily the company discontinued its use of c.h.m. in its supply just last month as a result of the freedom industry spill and very little of it was in this batch of slurry otherwise the amount of him c.h.m. would have been ten times higher than the leak that contaminated the water of three hundred thousand charleston residents but the chemicals that are in this lorry include highly toxic metals like arsenic lead cadmium sure medium iron magnes aluminum. and nicole that's according to the environmental group the sludge safety project the west virginia coal association spoke with r.t. today and said that the spill of coal slurry is not a danger to west virginia's residents since there aren't any public water intakes immediately downstream from that plant that is the spokesman went on to say that

the association will work with the department of environmental protection once the cleanup is complete to discuss how this spill happened and its environmental impact and that impact could be significant according to the d e p they warned that the leak could affect the surrounding area and might contaminate the groundwater now for its part patriot cole says it is fully cooperating with investigators as it looks into the cause of the spill in a statement to r.t. the company said quote containment activity began immediately after the site and is continuing in fields creek and is our top priority cleanup activities are underway and will continue until the state regulatory officials determine the spill is remediated the e.p.a. says the leak could have been confined much more quickly but the plant's still alarm failed as for west virginia residents this latest information is just a nother item to add to a growing list of environmental and public health concerns in washington meghan lopez r.t.

. unfortunately it's not the first time resident drinking water has been contaminated in the us not many people know about it but it happened in camp allision on a military base in jacksonville north carolina is the site of what is thought to be one of the largest water contamination sites in american history between one hundred fifty seven and nine hundred eighty seven hundreds of thousands of marine corps members and their family members were exposed to tap water containing toxic chemicals during that time people living at the base drank and bathed in that water it's believed the chemicals leaked from underground storage tanks gary and the men are a career marine who raised his family at camp legend tells our team about the death of his nine year old daughter while living at the base. the contamination began at the largest and worst contaminated drinking water system on the base which was that had not point or put two marines called referred to is main site in one

nine hundred fifty three that's verified by a.t.f. the orders or the agency for toxic substances and disease registry their water model confirms that date. as mayor is in the capitol this week meeting with lawmakers to spread awareness about the problem and get compensation for victims. still ahead here on our t.v. a high profile murder trial nearing an end both sides gave closing arguments in the trial of the man accused of firing several shots into a car over loud music an update on that case right after the break.

new developments in the so-called loud music case and in florida the jury heard closing arguments today in the trial against michael dunn the man accused of shooting seventeen year old jordan davis inside and as you dunn is accused of murdering the teen over loud music the suspect has testified that it was all in self defense his lawyer told the told the jury today that deadly force is

justifiable if dunn believed he was acting to protect himself and the walls in the state of florida. is it you who reasonably believe that. you have to buy michael dunn not guilty of every cow in dykeman every lesser included you don't even start your discussion they met their burden of beyond a reasonable doubt but the prosecution sees it much differently they argue that there was no reason for done to think his life was in danger when this defendant shot and killed jordan davis there was no gun in the rain there was no death there was no bag there was no life high. there was no gun. artie's nicholas l. donovan joined us earlier with more on this controversial murder trial and what

happened inside the courtroom well it was day nine day of closing arguments in the michael dunn trial we heard prosecutors say that for dunn the shooting was just simply a target practice prosecutor erin wolfson was in charge of deliver in the state's closing argument and she said that when michael dunn pull up to the s.u.v. with jordan davis and his friends were as you said listen to music his blood literally started to boil obviously the state is trying to depict a picture of michael dunn where he was some way triggered by some sort of irrational hate towards a certain kind of person or that there was some sort of premeditation in his actions on the other hand dunn's lawyers to pictured the faulty seven year old as a love in caring father that was literally scared to death and acted in self the feds therefore very different stories that we heard today in jacksonville let's

talk about the evidence that we've heard throughout this case as it comes to a close knit to last because as we had mentioned dunn maintains that he opened fire because he felt that his life was threatened and does the evidence to back that up . well actually that is the essential question here and in self-defense cases the line is extremely thin how can we know if he really saw something that looked like a gun and feared for his life we would never know that although we have to say that the medical evidence presented in court suggest that jordan davis died in the car in a defensive position the truth is that when done himself testified he told the court that he thought that he saw a gun in the vehicle where jordan and his friends were all the asleep we now know the police never found the gun in or near the vehicle although it is true that that vehicle left off leave the scene right after the shooting and basically dunn's

version is that you know he asked the teens to turn down their rap music and it all escalated from there literally michael dunn said the jury in this. exchange with jordan it was always jordan davis who kept escalating the situation to the point where he had no you know choice and this is very important no choice but to defend himself and it was basically a life or death situation and convict ed what sentence is done a thing. well if the racially diverse jury formed by ten women in six men finally find michael dunn guilty of first degree murder will he obviously faces up to life in prison dunn also faces three counts of attempted first degree murder related to the other three teenagers that were with jordan davis but survived the shooting one of them was severely injured so as i say he's facing life in prison ray and this is the same state where the very controversial

trayvon martin trial took place and we saw a strong reaction from the community there really come together in protest nicholas what reaction are you seeing on the ground there to the death of jordan davis. for the very two similar cases we are starting to see protests outside the courthouse in jacksonville i remember all the coverage of the reactions after that trayvon martin very ticked and i can tell you there was an outrage when george zimmerman was acquitted the truth is that it's inevitable to link both cases both in florida both involve a seven year old african-american kids apparently unarmed being shot by middle aged men the feeling is well that there is a problem down here in florida the question now is is it a social problem is it a racial one is a legal problem stand your ground law has been linked to almost twenty six deaths

of march. down here in the state of florida many opposed to no we also heard attorney general eric holder say after the trayvon martin case that the stand your ground law is basically a dangerous expansion of the concept of self-defense there's like signal stevie wonder said he will not put in the state of florida until the stand your ground law comes to an end and certainly it's hard not to draw those parallels between these two cases nicholas appreciate you staying on top of this that was artie's nicholas donovan. music is sometimes used to soothe the soul but there is a prayer instance is that it's used for torture abby martin interviewed one artist who found out their music was used to torture inmates at guantanamo bay abby this group skinny puppy tell us about your interview with that yes the lead vocalist ogre. i found out that he's actually

a huge fan of the show shocking enough i covered the fact that they had sent a literal invoice to the u.s. government after they found out that their music was used to torture and mates and so i had him on the show was an amazing interview he just talked about what they felt like and what they did in response to finding that out let's hear from him you're going to do an album where we actually researched all the frequencies for torture and do a narrative with songs and then how about specs with a booklet that would say ok now put the hood over i want to just start music you know and then we're going to insert subliminals in different dialects polish to whatever i'm saying things like you know although this music sounds horrible and terrible and scary please understand that in our country it's used to fight the very thing is torture. amazing they're i mean he's talking about how they wanted to put all these subliminal messages in the in the album and what i found out through this is it wasn't just that that sparked them to be political they have been political for decades they're actually one of the pioneers of

a genre called industrial music and they have this huge cult following and they really just insert political imagery and political symbolism in every single one of their albums to call attention to a variety of issues i went to their show last night they gave us a shout out on the show years like abby martin why don't break in the so everyone check it out as i understand amazing television interview about this subject incredible everyone check it out tomorrow. six pm all right definitely looking forward to it thanks out there that was breaking the set host abby martin that is it for now for the stories we covered go to our you tube channel you tube dot com slash our to america and check out our website r t dot com slash usa and follow me on twitter outlands wall we'll be right back here at eight pm see that. i have. a site that i think we're. going to.

thank. all the money and i'm actually sick for a politician write the laws are. just too much. mission star wars lead. the lead. in to the finish line of a marathon. possibly . the lead. senior u.s. state department official.