true story to tell you. are a big for the me visit or a big. coming up on our t.v. a new report reveals a startling trend for local police departments from heavily armed swat teams to military vehicles the nation's police force has become more militarized more on this trend just ahead. and in iraq remains a country divided by secretary and clashes government forces battle isis militants with surrounding nations worried about an expanding conflict a report on the violence from the inside of the country coming up. and the white house considers more saying sions against russia over the ukraine crisis but some companies are fighting back saying more sanctions would not be wise

a look at that later in the show. it's thursday june twenty sixth four pm in washington d.c. i'm an election and you're watching r.t. america if you've looked around the streets in your own town you've seen what looks like a war zone get used to it a new report by the a.c.l.u. finds that police forces throughout the u.s. are arming law enforcement agencies with the weapons and tactics of war this has not come without consequence though last month a three year old baby boy was badly burned one a swat team accidentally dropped a flash grenade into his crib while trying to search for someone suspected of making a fifty dollar drug sale and back in two thousand and twelve a similar raid saw police throw a flash grenade into the bedroom of

a twelve year old sleeping girl she was also badly burned. both swat team deployments were not sent out to deal with emergency situations but instead were used to search homes for drugs in fact the a.c.l.u. found that sixty two percent of swat deployments were hunting for drugs and it's not that only innocent people are getting caught up in the raids they a.c.l.u. also found that minorities were disproportionately targeted forty two percent of people impacted by a swat deployment were black and twelve percent were latino and as for acquiring weapons of war the a.c.l.u. estimates that five hundred law enforcement agencies have received mine resistant ambush protected vehicles or m. wraps that those vehicles were built to withstand roadside bombs. and here to talk with us about this growing militarization of police departments is elizabeth

beavers she's the legislative associate for militarism and civil liberties at the friends committee on national legislation thanks for joining us today thanks for having me now let's get right to this police departments are meant to be prepared for the face of danger and the worst stuff that can happen right but this report makes it look like they're more prepared for war rather than prepared to protect the citizenry can you we've actually highlighted as you saw some of the mistakes that the swat teams have made when children are present but are these kind of a greater sign. with the issues of their tactics sure you know what our good friends at the a.c.l.u. they've done a fantastic job of submitting this report and just sort of confirming what i think many of suspected for a long time which is that the police are looking more and more like military you know and we remember that military forces and police units are two separate institutions and they have separate mandates and separate responsibilities but instead what we're seeing is that weapons and equipment that's specifically

designed for the war zone is flooding in to local police and so when they have it they're going to want to use it and we've seen the rise of swat teams a rise of all these aggressive tactics that you've done such a great job highlighting here and then also we're seeing that as they increase their usage of it it's not because crime where the or the violence is escalating it's because in the local course of and the usual course of law enforcement that's what they're using them for and so it's low level search warrants executed search warrants drug raids that sort of thing that we're seeing and we don't think that it increases security we really necessary that's right and it's actually sort of making things worse because when. police officers are looking like cops looking like soldiers acting like soldiers they're going to start to see everyone around them as an enemy instead of people to protect and to serve and so that sort of keeps the cycle going no violence right and as we mentioned the communities of

color seem to be the most affected by these types of swap deployments can you speak to that trend sure well i think it reflects exactly what the war on drugs the show is for the last few decades which is that that's exactly who is affected by this war on drugs and this is just another mechanism of enforcing that and what we've seen is that specifically through the thirty three program which that's the department of defense program that transfers weapons in vehicles and all this equipment to police departments for free this is reaching every state all fifty states for u.s. territories almost five billion dollars worth of equipment has been handed out since this program was and acted. no one is really safe from this now are these the equipment that the police departments are getting are they i'm hearing that they're hand me downs from our ending wars and they're coming back and just getting redistributed is that right that's exactly right and we do have to look at the root causes of this why is there so much excess equipment in the first place because that's exactly what this program does of when there's something that that straw

that the department of defense doesn't want or doesn't mean they hand it down although i will say that a certain percentage has been shown to actually be brand new equipment that's never been used so that tells us something about the level of defense contracts that were purchasing so it's not necessarily pre-owned we'll call them pre-owned stuff that was used in say afghanistan this is extra stuff that was laying around that the d.o.d. had in their arms that it sometimes there's a percentage both ways for sure but either way it's the same equipment those specifically designed to withstand bombs and in a war zone not necessarily in a small town usa and now you're helping congressman hank johnson develop legislation that will help reform that existing ten thirty three program can you tell us a little bit of. these reforms sure this is one of those issues there's a fascinating sort of uniting of the left and the right on this issue and john fund as you mentioned has been developing some great legislation he's attempting to rein in the ten thirty three program and try to stop the transfer of these and wraps of

the weapons that are specifically designed for the military not per law enforcement and also try to put some reins around the accountability because one of the really troubling things we've seen which they. again did such a great job highlighting is that there's not a lot of oversight these departments are receiving this equipment these weapons and there are losing them or they're selling them they're going missing them yet is there evidence of yes there are eleven jurisdictions just in indiana that were suspended from the program because they couldn't account for their weapons in my home state of north carolina sheriff was found guilty of selling his on e bay i mean these are just some absolutely agree just examples of something that congressman johnson is trying to put some rains around that's excellent now what kind of perception do you think this legislation will receive from congress and and what kind of arguments are you expecting or anticipating sure again i think that there's real bipartisan hunger here to do something about this representative christy word as well from utah has been introducing some legislation of his own to get around. the very related prop problem of federal agencies having sort of

paramilitary units at their disposal so what we've seen of this really is sort of a growing trend it's not something that's isolated to the democratic party the republican party and quite frankly it's time for congress to start putting some marines are on this because what we've seen in the last decade is not only unchecked weapons like this it's come from unchecked worth or united check war funding and that's starting to funnel back home and so it is the responsibility of congress to step in restore that separation of powers and start to to restore the constitutional balance of powers there and another legislative effort is being made by utah republican congressman chris stewart and he introduced legislation this week that would ban non log foresman agencies from buying these high powered. firearms what does this in tale yeah that's that's exactly what i was referencing earlier it's a great piece of legislation so good to see on the republican side as well the democratic side. yeah it's great it's how often is the tappan in congress so it's very good five of them they can agree i might teach them to work exactly right but

you know some of the stories almost sound made up in these are some of them. congressman stewart is looking to get some rain there on because there was you know a story that the department of education have the paramilitary you know that was executing warrants the f.d.a. of these regulatory agencies that don't have a law enforcement purposes for some reason have law enforcement capabilities met them with builds go back that wow we got to have you back on the show to talk some more about already that was a list with favors legislative associate for militarism and civil liberties at the friends committee on national legislation thank you for your insight exams for having me and iraqi prime minister nouri al maliki confirms syrian warplanes did in fact bomb the border town of aim but he contends that this was not a coordinated attack on isis militants al maliki publicly stated though that while he didn't ask for the syrian president bashar al assad's as assistance in battling

insurgents he did say that these bombings left both countries as winners leaders from neighboring countries though saudi arabia the united arab emirates and jordan are meeting with u.s. secretary of state john kerry in paris today to discuss a possible plan of action this while the sunni insurgents continue their attacks in iraq artie's lucy calf and incur cook and she brings us more. the details so far are barky but what we've heard from officials is that one man a suicide bomber was seen on the street wearing an explosive device a vest he was actually aiming for the building down there it's a kurdish political party office apparently authorities had seen him they tried to intercept him and that is when he detonated his device now if you look around chaos this is rush hour a lot of people in the streets. the car here completely destroyed this building also you can see there's damage in the upper floors this must have been an

incredibly powerful blast now if we walk this way with this this blast really did happen so recently that they haven't had a moment to clean up the blood right here we don't know if this is. probably only. brooke. we're not exactly sure what's happening there some kind of a commotion right now you can see there is kurdish authorities here trying to keep calm who could very hotly contested city but there are kurds arabs the sunnis shias christians turkmen this is a very violent city that has seen it many explosions many of clashes over the years since the isis the islamic state in iraq and syria militants made their push in northern iraq the iraqi army has essentially fled from these areas and allowing the kurds to come in and take control of a lot of people in the city are not happy about that and we're not sure whether this is a top was retribution perhaps for the kurds reasserting their control over this

territory the prolonged claim this as their historic and cultural capital. oh look. it's really not safe to be here if the authorities have been shooting their weapons into the air we're not sure what's going on but we're going to get out of here before any other tension erupts there hasn't even been a chance to verify the casualties verify exactly what was the target but we do believe that it was the kurdish. political office yesterday we had a chance to speak with the governor of the to prove province he said that this was a very very calm city that there haven't been problems with the it's not that security was actually getting better and one of the things that is very clear here from what we've seen today is that that's far from the case this the captain of your book and an unlikely voices speaking out against future bombings in iraq british entertainer russell brand is not only criticizing the violence he's coming down on a certain media outlets calls for the u.s. to engage in yet another war take

a listen. how long or could be just as this is just it's just a game so what should we do send in more troops to protect sacrifices already made to cut a deal with the devil iran iran is not the physical i know referring to them as such he's essentially provoked stewart situation in iraq she's i judged him to be in league with satan or even the embodiment of say and. post live of course this is going to knowledge the u.s. government and military in the middle name of foreign affairs create the situation in iraq create different effects is likely to them over the course of the perceived decades and certainly contributes to the instability in that region which generates probably should be no intervention omitting because that's what led to the problem the first thanks of justice the ice is the soul of the of state of iraq and syria

signaled the beginning of the reverse crusade they are coming for us to them we are the infidels. then. coming oh so it's interesting to say we did introduce me in the shade because there was infidels for me as i don't really disconnected from god. try and counter religious extremists reduce extremists of americans have shed another log there my resolution airstrikes watch them bomb them can you watching them bomb them again and again. only she's talking and every day when they do these buildings creates moral and such and such will critics of those things unfold as character and street stuff increases like see that goes to the ground grows

exertions it creates more turn or is it getting it that was of course british entertainer russell brand with his take on the way fox news is covering the crisis in iraq as the ukrainian violence is temporarily on hold the u.s. is considering hitting russia where it really hurts in the pocketbook while the state department reportedly is planning a round of sanctions some american business groups are speaking out against that plan artie's marina explains. the u.s. chamber of commerce and the national association of manufacturers are running news a newspaper advertisements right now in the new york times the wall street journal and the washington post right here you could see the advertisement they are asserting that the only effect of additional sanctions would be to bar u.s. companies from foreign markets in seed business opportunities to firms from other countries that in the as they say that we are concerned about actions that would

harm american manufacturers and cost american jobs history shows that unilateral sanctions don't work it's time to put american jobs and growth first now while u.s. business leaders are sounding the alarm meanwhile dow jones is profiting off of the problem it has an advertisement online offering advice of course for a fee to any u.s. companies that are facing any risks are losing any profit so here you see at least one entity trying to make money steer money towards its pocket as these sanctions are potentially piling up u.s. companies fear that even temporary targeted sanctions against russia would damage their export markets and poison relations with russian customers business leaders say potential restrictions on technology transfers would also harm u.s. energy companies that do business in russia and this is precisely what moscow warned of back in march when foreign minister sergei lavrov said any sanctions imposed on russia would be against the united states and the white house told

bloomberg news that the obama administration has had frequent conversations with business leaders on the issue and understands their concerns but says the u.s. can't proceed with business as usual the obama administration is threatening to impose more sanctions on russia unless it takes more steps to deescalate the crisis in ukraine now at the request of president vladimir putin russian lawmakers already voted tuesday to revoke legislation allowing the use of military force in ukraine however washington and washington. still blaming moscow for any tension that still remains in ukraine is clearly expecting and demanding more action but as the white house is making demands on on on moscow you see the u.s. business leaders are making demands on the white house saying don't don't penalize russia it is hurting us it is better for american jobs it is going to hurt the american economy and that was artie's marina. and joining me now to talk

about some potential economic impacts that further sanctions might have on the u.s. is max wolf he is the chief economist at citizen dot b.c. mr wolfe thanks so much for joining us tonight today let's dive right in now the u.s. chamber of commerce and the national association of manufacturers assert that economic sanctions against russia would harm u.s. workers and businesses are those claims a valid general thanks for having me absolutely whenever united states level sanctions particularly levelling sanctions going to major energy and commodity producer in the very tumultuous global market with a lot of pressure on energy prices which is the circumstance we find ourselves and now it has both direct and indirect negative influence on the u.s. g.d.p. u.s. firms have their profitability as well as their employees or otherwise known as american workers now what types of businesses do you think this might affect

anything in particular. the united states has multiple business relationships with russia including some major food exploiting also russia is a major a very key global producer of energy and if you look at what's going on lately in iraq and the region around iraq syria etc there's a lot of premium already built into oil prices which is having a negative effect on the global economy as well as the u.s. economy so any increased sanctions package against russia hurts direct exploiters to russia importers from russia and puts further negative upward pressure on the price of energy which hurts the entire u.s. as well as global economy now as you mentioned the the entire u.s. how might they the u.s. citizens just your average joe how might they be affected well the direct effect of the average citizen is probably more through a bunch of back channels one is again the energy prices which shop in gas prices electric bills prices of transportation and what it cost to run an automobile which an awful large of a large number of americans do initially certain kinds of commodities that we are

either needing to import from russia or folks who make a living exporting to russia including in the agricultural sector will be immediately hurt by a loss of market and tell me what do you think about this how much influence do you think groups such as the national association of manufacturers and that the chambers of commerce how how much impact of they have in specific foreign policy issues like the authorization of sanctions. generally those are big lobby groups particular the u.s. chamber of commerce is quite a powerful group it does tend to concern itself first and foremost mostly with domestic matters a little bit less practiced and a little bit harder to gauge the exact impact visibly foreign policy vertically the u.s. chamber of commerce does have longstanding and intimate relationships in the republican party and has a history of being quite influential in making republican party political issues come to the fore and get more publicity will have actions like this been done in

the past and if so what were the results can you elaborate true there's always vocal opposition to any foreign policy or domestic policy a move that hurts specific importers specific export or specific lines of business this may be larger but we also do see particularly although not exclusively on the american right a willingness to go much further be much more vociferous and much more critical of this president president obama than we've generally seen as a historic norm in terms of how far business groups and other groups are willing to go in their critique of a sitting president great well thank you so much for your insight mr well that was max wolf chief economist at citizen dot b.c. . and we've talked a lot on our table out three d. guns but how about smart a personalized handgun that only fires in the hands of its owner this technology is already prevalent and weapons that are sold in the european market but you won't find it in store shelves in the u.s.

just yet that's in part because the policy surrounding the technology is spurring a divisive debate r.t. is america david has the story. it's a technology the most people only know from the movies the people or the media. it's your turn you can tyra banks of the random. they're known as smart guns personalize handguns that can only be fired by the authorized user turning the movies into a new reality take the i p one pistol it's a gun that comes with a special wristwatch that uses radio frequencies to identify the user before it fires but perhaps even smarter than that is the intel a gun a system which completely secures your gun and unlocks it only after recognizing your fingerprint and while those weapons are already available on the market the fully operational james bond like technology is currently in the works it said we

could understand who you were literally by the way that you gripped the gun while you were pulling the trigger and so it was the most unobtrusive google approach is because we are identifying you by the characteristic biometric of your pressure pattern it's a biometric system that's being developed by the new jersey institute of technology the gun works by identifying you through the size of your hand the strength of the muscles in your fingers and the way your brain is wired to pull the trigger the technology is a dream for gun control advocates who have long argued that firearms are stuck in the past in so many other products we've developed. safety features that will prohibit unauthorized people having access we have a thumb print to authorize our our cell phones we use thumb prints to open safes but for some reason with handguns we want to use technology that's fifty to one hundred years old smart gun proponents say the new technology could help save lives

the latest gun death figures out of the center for disease control and prevention show that in twenty ten there were more than thirty thousand deaths from firearms sixty one percent of those were from suicides and thirty five percent homicides but regardless of the staggering numbers so far gun rights advocates have vehemently rejected the sale of any kind of smart gun in the u.s. and back to engage armament a gun shop here in maryland was supposed to become the first seller to offer the specialized gun but after severe bullying and even death threats the owner decided to pull the gun on the shelf analysts say that outrage stems out of fear over a controversial new jersey gun law in two thousand and two the state passed a trigger law mandating that all handguns be personalized within three years of a smart gun going on sale anywhere in the u.s. many gun owners are against any legislative mandates on what kind of gun has to be purchased and they worry that the new jersey law could one day be adopted across

the country opponents have also expressed concern that adding technological features could make the gun less effective r f i d. technology biometric technology all these technologies have issues with reliability and the furious in the firearm either to you know carry out law enforcement responsibilities or military responsibilities or civilian self-defense failure is not an option it has to work but proponents point to the states where smart guns are already meeting reliability standards last year california the state that employs some of the most rigorous firearm testing approved the army takes ip. one right now many states are looking to offer safe for firearms options and even though smart guns were developed with public safety in mind their implementation may take longer than intended with the technology battling through the nation's political debate on guns in rockville maryland near a david ortiz. and another debate there's always been

a debate about the possibility of life on other planets now add this to the list of things that may go. now says that they found a mysterious signal that's baffled astronomers think about that for a moment astronomers are baffled by this signal take a look at this tweet that nasa sent out it says mysterious x. rays signal intrigues astronomers could it be dark matter the shondra x. ray observatory says the signal believed to be dark matter is some two hundred forty million light years away from earth and let me explain why this discovery is so mysterious dark matter is so named because it's neither absorbs nor emits light making it impossible to observe directly but astronomers do know that dark matter exists because it interacts gravitationally with the quote normal

matter that we can see and touch so is this mystery sound actually dark matter and if so what could it mean researchers say dark matter is the key to everything we know about galaxies but we still don't know its exact nature could it could this really be good news it's good news right or could it lead us to other galaxies far far away with other life forms. only time will tell and boom bust is coming up next right here on r t an era eight is joining us for a quick preview hair let's go i want to know if thank you now coming up on boom bust. r.t. correspondent meghan locos is on the show meghan is joining us from detroit where she brings us a full report on the city's water situation there now detroit's water and sewage department has shut off water to its residents who haven't paid their bill and both the city and its citizens are facing tough tough economic times and we're bringing

you the latest from the ground in that city of detroit and then in today's big deal edward harrison and i are discussing net neutrality the supreme court and the future of the technology industry it's all coming up to stay tuned good stuff thanks erin and that does it for now i'm manila chan. well the. show. that nobody. has to be one. to beat with some talk so much you'll to sell something peter stick to front we still believe that the sun. we've got the future of coverage. put it on your cultural harmony like the bank of new knowledge face i think you

know. it was. a pleasure to have you with us here on t.v. today i'm researcher. are you like me to want your comedy news with some t.v. once a comedy news to be a bear fisted no holds barred fight to the dad. but the truth vampire plotting into the next of the corporate elite the billionaire freaks while they're going. out well that's what you get with my new show project at the night.