what is. 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 that trend just ahead. and iraq remains a country divided by sectarian 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 sanctions against russia over the ukraine crisis but some business organizations are fighting back saying more sanctions would not be wise

a look at that later in the show. it's thursday june twenty sixth five pm in washington d.c. i'm manila chan and you're watching r.t. america. if you've looked around the streets of your own hometown and maybe you've seen stuff that looks like it came out of a war zone well get used to it a new report by the a.c.l.u. finds that police forces throughout the u.s. are arming their long foresman agents with weapons and tactics of war this has not come without consequence though last month a three year old baby boy was badly burned when a swat team accidentally dropped a flash grenade into his crib while searching for someone suspected of making a fifty dollars drug sale and back in two thousand and twelve a similar raid saw police throw a flash grenade into the bedroom of a sleeping twelve year old girl she was also badly burned and both incidents swat

deployments were not sent out to deal with some sort of emergency situation but rather they were used to search homes for drugs in fact they say oh you found that sixty two percent of swat deployments were hunting for drugs and it's not only that innocent people are getting caught up in the raids the a.c.l.u. also found that minorities were disproportionately targeted thirty nine percent of people impacted by swat deployments were black and eleven percent or less. 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 also known as m. wraps that were built to withstand roadside bombs and to talk with us about this growing militarization of police departments i was joined earlier by elizabeth beavers she is the legislative associate for militarism and civil liberties at the

friends committee on national legislation i first asked her if the recent mistakes made by swat teams represent the larger issue at hand. sure you know what our good friends at the a.c.l.u. they've done a fantastic job at 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 when 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 and to local police and so when they have it they're going to want to use it and we've seen this rise of swat teams a rise of all these aggressive tactics that you've done such a great job of highlighting here and then also we're seeing that as as they increase their usage of it it's not because crime or 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 executing search warrants drug raids that sort of thing that we're seeing and we don't think that it increases security we've very 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 of 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 short well i think that it reflects exactly what the war on drugs the show is for the the last few decades which is that that's exactly who was affected by this war on drugs and this is just another mechanism of enforcing that and what we've seen is that specifically through this ten thirty three program which best 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 acted we see that no one is really so. from the us 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 in 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 when there's something that's extra that the department of defense doesn't want or doesn't need 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 that the d.o.d. had in their arms that it sometimes is there's a percentage both ways for sure but either way it's the same equipment those specifically designed to withstand bombs and right 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 about these reforms sure this is one of those issues that there's a fascinating sort of uniting of the left and the right on this issue congressman johnson 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 maps of the weapons that are specifically designed for the military not for law enforcement and also try to put some reins around the countability because one of the really troubling things we've seen which the a.c.l.u. a.c.l.u. 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 they're losing them or they're selling them they're generally missing them yet is there evidence of that yes there is 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 was something that congressman johns was trying to put some right in there and that's excellent now what kind. perception do you think this legislation will receive from congress and and what kind of arguments are you expecting or anticipating a short ride again i think that there's real bipartisan hunger here to do something about this representative christie heard as well from utah has been introducing 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 is us really 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 reins around this because what we've seen in the last decade is not only unchecked weapons like this it's come from unchecked worth or you know jack war funding not starting to funnel back home and so it is the responsibility of congress to step in and restore that separation of powers and start to to restore the constitutional bounds of powers there and then another legislative effort is being made by utah

republican congressman chris stewart and he introduced legislation this week that would would ban non law enforcement agencies from buying these high powered firearms what does this entails that that's exactly what i was referencing earlier it's great piece of legislation so good to see it on their public inside as well as the democratic side you know you don't get that so yeah it's great it's how often does this happen in congress so it's great to find something they can agree on might teach them to work together so that's exactly right so you know some of the stories almost sound made up and these are some of them that 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 units i was executing warrants the f.d.a. of these regulatory agencies that don't have a law enforcement purpose for some reason have law enforcement capabilities not something that was billed scaled back that wow we got to have you back on the show to talk some more about already that was a lot of the favors legislative associate for militarism and civil liberties at the

friends committee on national legislation thank you for your insight. 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 that while he did not ask for syrian president bashar al assad's assistance in battling insurgents he did say that these bombings left both countries as winners now 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 caffein off is incorrect hook and 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 we think this this blast really did happen so recently but they haven't had a moment to clean up the blood right here we don't know if this is. ok if relatively. brooke. we're not exactly sure what's happening there some kind of commotion right now you can see there's kurdish authorities here trying to keep calm very hotly contested city that there are kurds arabs the sunnis shias

christians turkmen this is a very violent city that has seen 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 have essentially fled from these areas 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 they belong to claim this as their historic and cultural power though. oh. it's really not safe to be here 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 attention. 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 two groups provinces he said that this

was a very very calm city that they haven't been problems with the it's not that security was actually getting better it's one of the things that is very clear here from what we see in today is that that's far from the case this the captain of your book and an unlikely voice speaking out against future bombings in iraq british entertainer russell brand he's not only criticizing the violence he's also coming down on a certain media outlets calls for the u.s. to engage in yet another war take a listen. hello and welcome to jones because 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 still a situation in iraq she's i judged to be in league with satan or even the embodiment of say and post live because this is going to knowledge the u.s.

government and military and then mentioning you for a face crazy situation in iraq create different effects is likely. of course the perceived decay you said you could use the instability in that region which generated program should be no intervention omitting because those that would lead to the permanent first thanks of justice the isis the fall of the islamic state of iraq and syria signaled the beginning of the reverse crusade they are coming for us to them we are the infidels. then i could come in oh so interested to read the introduce me to the shade because it was different to me sound clearly disconnected from go to. try and counter it just recently with reduced extremism americans have shed another blood there my

resolution airstrike. them bomb them watching them again and again. only she's pulling a different ball game when they do these brilliant creates model insurgents actual critics of those things are told as character destroying stuff and producers like to see that goes into the growing grows insurgents out of it create more terrorism doing 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 port ny 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 on 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 that was our to use marina. and to talk about some potential economic impact that further sanctions might have on the u.s. i was joined earlier by max wolf he is the chief economist at citizen dot b. c i started out by asking him if the u.s. chamber of commerce and the national association of manufacturers were right in claiming that sanctions would hurt the u.s. worker. absolutely never united states level sanctions particularly leveling sanctions on a major energy and commodity producer in a very tumultuous global market with a lot of pressure on energy prices which is the circumstance we find ourselves in

now it has both direct and indirect negative influence on the u.s. g.d.p. u.s. firms and their profitability as well as their employees 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 and very key global producer of energy and if you look at what's going on lately in iraq and the region around iraq syria cetera 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 that the 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 entire u.s. how might the u.s. citizens just your average joe how might they be affected. will the direct effect

of the average citizen is probably more through a bunch of back channels one is again the energy prices which show up in gas prices electric bills prices are transportation what it cost to run an automobile which an awful large and large number of americans do an initially certain kinds of commodities that we are either needing to import from russia or folks who make a living exploiting 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 they have in specific foreign policy issues like me 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 of the foreign policy which would be

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 and if so what were the results can you elaborate. true there's always vocal opposition to any foreign policy or domestic policy 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 the sitting president. great well thank you so much for your insight mr wealth that was maxwell chief economist at citizen dot b.c. . and the battle to ban large sodas in new york city is finally over after former

mayor michael bloomberg banned a large sugary drinks the decision was tossed out and a court challenge the city tried to appeal but today a judge ruled that you can keep on drinking your big gulps r.t. is honest you're going to has more. the battle between new york city and big sugary drinks lovers and sellers continues in full swing and the latest turn of events in this freedom of overconsumption extravaganza it's a win for the fans of the gigantic delights the state's highest court has decided that city officials have no business meddling in the sizes that people consume after all saying the city's board of health basically went way above their power when approving it and sugary drinks larger than sixteen ounces let's see who wants to celebrate about to go on the run from where we are love them you know on. their sugary they give you energy you know why not i don't really drink soda beer i have

a problem i'm worried about it because i think there's a real problem with obesity in america and i think that kids are drinking too many sugary drinks and a lot of caffeine too. what do you think about us we chicory drinks knowing too soon. i don't think anybody needs to drink that much robust coke or pepsi in one sitting the initiative to put an end to big sugary drinks was the brainchild of former new york mayor michael bloomberg over increased obesity rates and other health concerns a legal battle between the city and companies who sell these drinks lasted for quite some time two years ago a lower court decided to strike down the band before this latest appeal by the city of course health officials in new york city are not happy with this latest decision and intend to keep fighting including by trying to battle the aggressive marketing campaigns conducted by the sugar filled beverage selling companies they should have

more important things to think about how sure they do things that are on a healthy that they want to ban do you think well it should be allowed to ban giant sugary drinks. why why should they be allowed to do it that's not their business are you not you like me yeah those are actually yes they go. to. people are still going to drink whatever they want if you want it's not like you're pretty much i actually think like you really can't tell people what they can and can't drink so i don't think anybody's really don't listen to drinks are the biggest source of added sugar in what americans consume say those who are against the fizzy drinks still what's clear is that real fans will continue drinking whatever they want and however much they want despite any potential future regulations because they say if you're going to party. and in a world cup news american productivity no doubt took a dive today as the u.s. battled germany led by a coach jurgen klinsmann himself a star player for germany back in the ninety's klinsmann's background helped fuel

rumors of a possible non-aggression pact since both teams would advance if the game ended in a tie but it was not meant to be after a scoreless first half germany managed a goal in the fifty fifth minute and kept the u.s. at bay until the very end however jubilant fans couldn't get too upset over the last since gonna last to portugal at the same time the u.s. finished second in their group dubbed the group of death this tournament and so they advance along with germany to the round of sixteen and it's the wrong sport but hey three strikes and he's out of here luis suarez star europe why striker is out of world cup play for biting an opposing player for the third time in his career in this case it was italy's giorgio chiellini or on the shoulder no doubt the incident is leaving a bad taste in suarez's mouth now as fifa has barred him from europe weighs next

nine games and any football activity at all for four months his team and fans have found the decision to be hard to swallow and threatened to boycott port part of the tournament in protest not surprising as he's one. of the top players in the world and his absence will likely really take the teeth out of your way scot squad. and before we go don't forget to tune in for a politicking with larry king one of the knights guests is former marine dan caldwell of the concerned that are ins of america here's a clip of caldwell explaining why he thinks that doing nothing about iraq is not an option the middle east is teetering on the edge tonight on the edge of anarchy and if they fall into complete chaos not just in iraq and syria but its present places like jordan saudi arabia could have serious consequences for not just that region

but the whole economy of the united states in general as well so it is our business i do believe it is i am not somebody who believes that we should be policing the world i consider myself a realist and looking at this situation i see real threats to american interests and ultimately the american homeland you know i i don't believe in doing things like arming the syrian rebels or i didn't agree with with some of things we did in libya. but we need to take a look at this situation and realize that there's real threats to american interests around the world and ultimately probably the merican homeland in general will said. tune in for that at nine pm tonight right here on r.t. america and that does it for now i'm manila chance see you back here at eight. the stories we cover here we're not going to hear in iraq that are going story that

has your dad like there's a reason they don't want you to know. now let's break the set. extending one's middle finger while holding the rest but meat ones is one of the most ancient insult gestures known according to anthropologists and historians i'm a big fan of it as anyone who's ever visited me on twitter those the middle finger has been used from at least ancient greek times to present day to express insults or belittlement the obscene gesture is no to wound the globe to convey contempt and

now it seems that building developers have caught the middle finger fever too in washington d.c. developers are renovating residential buildings all over the district and making them up to sixty five feet high and they're surrounded by short two story rowhouses the result a bunch of new buildings that all look like middle fingers they're called pop ups and they're popping up in cities from new york to amsterdam but in d.c. they're going up everywhere and residents are starting to get upset one pop up building on the street has been nicknamed the monster there's even a blog keeping track of them called pop developers love them because they can squeeze more residents into cool neighborhoods while squeezing more money out of small plots of land but detractors including council member jim graham say not only do these middle finger buildings look ridiculous they're also bills for rich people when what the district really needs is more affordable housing now i am strongly

against building more crap for rich people while poor people continue to get screwed but i do think there's a silver lining to these build. do you see the middle finger building on the street actually faces the white house so in effect the building is flipping off the white house and i definitely agree with that when someone is screwing you the appropriate gesture is to give them the middle finger in any way that you can by using your literal fingers your votes your dollars your mind whatever middle finger is yours to give so why not make our buildings shaped like little figures when i trim our trees in the shape of middle fingers or build their fences in the shape of middle fingers let's see everything in middle fingers and then point them all at the white house or the stock exchange or any other building where the people inside are screwing us we should let the establishment know that we know they are screwing us and what's a better way to.