headlines this hour social media giant facebook says it is a publisher and has the right to block any content or person as it fights a legal case with an activist band that despite telling senators it's merely a platform and not responsible. also to come us prosecute pharma giant for the multi-billion dollar fine accused of bringing about the deaths of thousands of americans with opioid drugs and an american street where brand sparks outrage by using the names of school shootings taking place on its new range of goodies we get reaction from the relatives of one of the victims. i lost my brother in 25 other families will forever be changed from i think that shows what

type of person you are be decided by those clothes so i think you're going to decide to sell the clothes. for a good morning welcome you watching r.t. international 9 o'clock here in moscow now the facebook c.e.o. mark zuckerberg has met with the president donald trump as part of his d.c. tour social media platforms chief is looking to defend his company amid mounting criticism by lawmakers over privacy issues and also data protection facebook has been going through a rough patch legally of late in a recent case where a band user accuses social media giant of defamation facebook argued it was a publisher and hence had the right to choose what content to put out but previously the company has claimed it is a platform and therefore not legally liable for things that get posted in as more.

so what have we got here. that's better plaintive ultra right activist laura luma who was taken off pretty much all major online platforms defendant facebook one of the giants which kicked her out we carefully flicked through these court papers which the defendant files to try and bury the lawsuit and here's what really caught the eye. to the extent miss lewis claimed targets facebook's decision to deactivate her accounts it is also deficient on the well established law need to facebook nor any of the publish it can be liable for failing to publish someone else's message 1st amendment provides absolute protection for such decisions what was it again neither facebook nor any other publisher protection by the 1st amendment so in this particular case the lawyers of sucking co are happy to legally refer to their social network as up publisher

digging a bit deeper will reveal facebook has done that in the past as well when last year and app startup was crossing swords with facebook in court this is what came from the network spent the thought discretion is if 3 speechwriter respect to what technological means is used so is it just me or something's wrong with how the platform we use every day identifies itself because when facebook bosses take questions in other places it seems they always try to distance themselves from the notion publisher which are you are you a tech company or are you the world's largest publisher because i think that goes to a really important question on what form of regulation or government action if any we would take. senator this is. a really big question i view us as a tech company because the primary thing that we do is build technology and

products as your sponsor for your content which is made exactly on of a publisher. well i agree that we're responsible for the content but we don't produce the content and that's been the message for quite a while. we are a tech company not a media company i do think we have to be the publisher and we definitely don't want to be the arbiter of the truth now just imagine what kind of legal trouble the tech giant may put itself in if it becomes universally recognized the company mr zuckerberg is running is a publisher not just a tech platform are they really ready to be responsible for anything disturbing more outright criminal that gets posted under the blue logo the examples have been out there in abundance.

for what it's simply someone decides to lawyer and bully me with all kinds of offensive stuff on facebook should i then also follow defamation suit against the network because they have a publisher a lot of it's well known you can't have a cake and eat it at the same time will probably unless your last name is sucker berg it trying to there will be off facebook to comment on this story although so far we haven't had a response we got opinion though from a legal and media analyst line. what is facebook now when mark zuckerberg spoke before congress he said we're just a tech company i just make the platform available for people to say what they want i am not publishing i don't put out of it in your hands i'm just like a billboard and that's the way people get around the idea of of perhaps allowing

defamatory or libelous statements and the like now they're saying we're publishers we have the right to have anybody on that we want well if you're a publisher under defamation law libel law you can be held accountable and liable so for the longest time facebook was trying to have it both ways if i'm on a t.v. station and i say something defamatory about you or organisation the t.v. station the magazine they're liable to because they broadcast it they put this libelous statement out so what's it going to be facebook do you want the liability that comes with being a publisher or do you want to just merely be a tech platform and if you want to be just a tech platform you have to make up your mind because you can't limit speech you can't act like a publisher unless you are a publisher. the usa people who produce suppose you fama has started bankruptcy

proceedings has been slapped with a multi-billion dollar fine as a settlement for some 2 and a half 1000 lawsuits the drug maker has accused of creating an epidemic that's claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people but nobody is likely to go to jail it's more pain explains. purdue pharmaceuticals recently found liable for the opioid epidemic has filed for bankruptcy it's reached an agreement for a settlement with 22 different state attorney generals regarding its malfeasance and the lawsuits now some attorney generals are saying it's not enough it should not be about billionaires looking to use the bankruptcy process as a vehicle to further shield their assets and escape accountability this proposed deal isn't worth nearly what they say it is it doesn't require the sac there is to pay back a dime of the billions of dollars they set out of purdue through the sales. over

the last many years now the opioid epidemic has claimed roughly 400000 lives so paying a big fine does seem a bit lenient right well you'll notice that none of these prosecutors are talking about jailing big pharma execs and they can't it's a civil suit not a criminal case but that raises the question when a big corporation makes reckless decisions in pursuit of its own profits if they sold more they made more money yes. the same ones. every other company in the industry and their actions result in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people shouldn't they face some kind of very severe or real panel think attorneys general. various states where you. should be looking very seriously at the conduct of the jewels and consider the criminal prosecution if those individuals if the elements of the crimes that

they've committed are clear if agreement was brought to bear on those responsible this type of conduct would be unlikely to be repeated well the u.s. legal system doesn't seem to work that way back in the early 2002 nears that general motors put an ignition switch in a very dangerous spot where drivers could inadvertently turn it. off by accident it was very dangerous and as a result 124 people died rather more the company actively tried to cover this up even works to darrelle a recall so what happened well the c.e.o. got grilled by the u.s. senate my sincere apologies to everyone who has been affected by this recall i am deeply sorry but did anyone go to jail no g.m. got fined 900000000 dollars and had expired duction closely monitored by the government for 3 years but did anyone go to jail for actions that resulted in taking over 100 innocent lives no there are principles in. corporations that are in

this country but around the world who are cruel one because of their power and the money they command of some of the people in these companies who contributed the. prescription to get the united states knew that they were likely to be criminally prosecuted if they were identified they would twice or 3 times or not engage in that behavior but for average americans who kill people or commit violent crimes the penalties are not so soft the united states has the biggest prison population of any country in the world it's also the only western country to still practice the death penalty and sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole are handed out in the united states all the time jurors heard 2 days of testimony about goals because difficult childhood goldsby himself asked the jury for mercy but 8 jurors still favored the death penalty why. did you do that you have to serve

at the ceiling so the rule of american justice seems to be kill one person in a fit of rage you're going to jail maybe even for life but kill hundreds or maybe even thousands of people in pursuit of bigger profits for your shareholders well just pay a fine and don't lose too much sleep over it up and r.t. new york. now taiwan has cut ties with the island of quetta batty a sovereign state in the pacific ocean after it recognized taiwan as chinese another former taiwan ally the solomon islands has done the same provoking us anger and the threat of sanctions american vice president mike pence turned down an invitation to meet with the leader of the solomons to discuss further partnership. the decision by the solomon islands to change its diplomatic recognition from taiwan to the people's republic of china has consequences they're hurting is storage the strong relationship by doing this is a setback and it's prioritizing short term gain with china over

a long term commitment with the us while the us says its assistance to the solomon islands is now under review but cutting aid is not the only measure washington is threatening to impose u.s. senators also want to cut access to american banks and now i will begin exploring ways to cut of ties with the solomon islands including potentially ending financial assistance and restricting access to u.s. dollars and banking. that back in the 1970 s. the u.s. actually recognized thailand as chinese as well then president richard nixon tried to boost economic ties with beijing but things are very different now with the u.s. and china engaged in a bit of a trade war constitutional lawyer erik's rockin says the u.s. is looking for excuses to stabilize the asian region. the united states at this point is beginning to resort to old cold war tactics if you will of which side

are you on and trying to get people to make sure that certain countries are aligned with. countries of their choice in opposition to beijing so that they can still continue to make arguments and keep. keep things a little disruptive in the region peaceful asia with relationships between all the nations is a huge financial threat to the united states because that the walk being more cohesive will result in their domination around the planet if you will rather than u.s. economic. domination and so it's it's a very unique day it's. 700 people have gathered in the nevada desert in the u.s. under the rallying cry of storm area 51 what started as

a joke cold to break into the u.s. military base attracted back 2000000 supporters on facebook with many claiming the american government is hiding u.f.o.'s there one quarter picks up the story. it's the day we've all been waiting for a chance to discover we've been contacted by aliens over 2000000 people have already said they're going to storm area 51 a top secret u.s. military base it's notoriously connected to u.f.o. sightings and 2 teens have already gotten their feet wet trespassers caught near area $5012.00 men from the netherlands arrested after getting 3 miles inside the nevada national security site warning the truth is out there but so are the police busting 2 dutchman they say were trying to sneak a peek at area 51 the legendary classified base in nevada supposedly home to little green men in their spaceships it was just a joke at 1st

a facebook event encouraging people to storm the mysterious space. we will all meet up in rural nevada and coordinate own parties if we know who to run we can move faster than their bullets let's see them allianz even the guy who came up with the idea wasn't taking it too seriously it was all fun and games until the f.b.i. came knocking on his door thinking he could be a terrorist and started out as just from a pure stroke of imagination it's just meant to be funny i want to do something cool out there now that we have a bunch of people but i don't want anybody to get hurt still that hasn't stopped people from jumping on the bandwagon maybe most will just stick to being keyboard warriors and chicken out at the last minute ok but the authorities are not treating this as a joke which may just be adding to the curiosity all joking aside we're taking it very seriously on nation has secrets and those secrets deserve to be protected secrets well they've got to be important because extra security and barricades have

already been prepared in anticipation of the hoard it also doesn't help that several videos have surfaced in recent years of supposedly u.f.o. sightings all captured by u.s. navy pilots. and the navy only added fuel to the fire of speculation when it labeled those objects and identified aerial phenomena movie does ignatz the objects contained in these videos is only been to find a real phenomenon the unidentified aerial phenomena terminology is used because it provides the basic descriptor for the soil observations of. objects that have been observed entering operating in the is space various military controlled training ranges government secrecy always will fuel all kinds of speculation when you have a government that is not transparent it's going to lose the confidence of the

people this was. lesson of the soviet union it's the lesson of the united states today where there is a lack of transparency where people know that they're not getting the truth from their government on a large number of matters area 51 and u.f.o.'s in general have never gone away in the public imagination certainly not in the united states. there have been many sightings of apparent us those in the vicinity of area 51 and people know about that and there's always been the stories so. i think it has captured the imagination of a lot of people we might not know how many people are really going to this area 51 of that but one thing's for sure u.s. government is acting like it's got something to hide donald quarter r.t. . still ahead this hour european politicians want to pull the plug on a mega trade deal between latin america and the e.u.

over the fires in the amazon rainforest at the moment would think deep into that plus have a look at other stories to tell you just off of the for. most people thing to stand out in this business you need to be the 1st one on top of the story or the person with the loudest voice of the biggest raid in truth to stand down the losers and you just leave as the right questions and demand the right answer. the. question. seemed wrong. but old rules just told. me you get to shape out these days to come get educated and engage with equals betrayal.

when so many find themselves worlds apart. just to look for common ground. welcome back now the u.s. street where brand be strong has released a collection of hoodies featuring the names of schools where deadly shootings have taken place this though has prompted outrage with many people accusing the firm of trying to profit from the tragedies the new collection unveiled in new york features not only the school names but also imitation bullet holes survivors and relatives of the victims of called the line disgusting and disrespectful. this coup

shooter who it is that these toy designed are absolutely disgusting what the hell would make you think that the who designed with bullet holes was a good idea no one thought about the families or the pain that was felt on the largest scale that these are then it's caused disgusting profiteering over the lives of our nation's children nothing artistic about this at all be sure this is really where we are as humanity and with what looked like bullet holes in the switch that our lack of empathy for others is horrifying how this can be fashion as a joke to someone is beyond disturbing mystery wants to profit from murder children nothing ajay upon the b.s. opportunistic and cheap besides you are some free p.r. shut them down well the designers behind the hoodies do came at their message is ironic and is actually meant to empower survivors the past decades have seen

a dramatic rise in machines things in the us especially in schools. we spoke to the brother of a sandy hook shooting victim he does think the fashion is capitalizing on the tragedy i don't think it empowers anyone to show bullet holes and to show the names of the schools that have experienced shootings you know this is a very raw subject for a lot of people i think that the best way to get back at this company is not to sue them it's to let them sell the clothes and let them find out for themselves that no

one is interested in this i really think if you decide to wear a clothing item that is. exaggerating the shooting that trying to bring it into society and trying to bolt holes in your clothes and exploit the shooting that you know i lost my brother in 25 other families will forever be changed from i think that shows what type of person you are but i think if they're smart they'll decide to take this live out of production and they won't try to sell to the public to save face for themselves frankly i think what they did was a p.r. stunt and again it's just a group looking to capitalize on tragedy. now austrian m.p.'s religion vienna's to be to have a major trade deal between he and south america they are unhappy about the way brazil is handling the large scale amas and fire is similar concerns to being expressed by france and germany however many businesses do work with that have a direct connection to the 5 says he shouted to bin ski he explains it's an

environmentalist would not back wildfire is raging in the amazon destroying the world's most diverse tropical rainforest. our house is burning literally the amazon rainforest the lungs which produce 20 percent of our planet's oxygen is on fire as an international crisis i couldn't agree more manual macro we need to act for the amazon and for our planet are kids and grandkids are counting on the lungs of the entire earth our frac to and that's why we need to find common solutions here leaders of the globe's most advanced countries pledged to do more at the g 7 the heat may have died down but the blame game certainly hasn't with some looking closely at where the amazon would make. europe's financial institutions the companies and the financier's housed in those countries are

contributing to the forestation many of these companies are known to have unsuitable practices in their supply chain to be clearing areas for the expansion of agriculture especially pursuing cattle so yeah and cattle ranching account for 80 percent of amazon deforestation major companies such as a.t.m. call gail j.b.s. are being financed by some of us biggest banks including b.m.p. paragraphs don't spank and block walk they not only bankroll the debt they're also major shareholders with a voice in how these companies are run so areas of the amazonas sometimes tension only to provide all earned for cows to graze all to grow crops to feed life's stock these european banks are directly funding the forestation do it your bank and he black rock in vanguard collectively on more than

a $1000000000.00 in debt in just the 3 largest saw in the 3 largest cattle companies operating in brazil are these even banks often vocal about their staying ability policies. are also being accused of hypocrisy environmental campaign group amazo watch contacted them about their role in the amazon the wall flies deutsche bank and blackrock didn't respond b.m.p. paragraphs had this to say the m.p. paribus has been strengthening the sec to policies related to deforestation for several years and this prompted his clients to protect natural active systems and preserve biodiversity to the best of their abilities but that experts say is just simply not good enough we can encourage that use it finally is yours he karole in requiring that the companies have certain standards they adapt deforestation

commitments that they implement those commitments and that they were poor on their progress to address the deforestation with in their supply chains given that even if they're not producing these materials or directly clearing the forests they have a role to play in ensuring that that clearance doesn't happen without the traceability and the accountability of all actors involved including here in europe the fear is that our house will continue to burn. off to paris where we have our storage abang to comment on their links to the deforestation of the amis no life so far they haven't responded meanwhile finance giant credit agricole has also said it will no longer do business with companies that are expanding their coal operation so that brings you up to date that's how the news is looking more from us at the top of the.

join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to guests of the world of politics small business i'm show business i'll see if. they all see themselves as dying swans in their dreams. but only one in a 1000 will ever make it to the top. they're ready to give their lives for the chance to die on stage if only once. no even broken wings come to 10 of them. for generations at the madrid ski theatre ballet sweats and to is going on to.

the federal reserve lowers interest rates will this add to speculation of a looming recession and new poll numbers show joe biden and elizabeth warren gaining supporters and leaving the rest of the democratic pack well behind what's driving their favorable numbers it's all next on this edition of pounds. welcome to politicking i'm matthew cook in for larry king on wednesday the federal reserve cut interest rates for a 2nd time this year by a quarter percent will this action increase the fears of a coming recession and how might that impact the 2020 alexion and a brand new n.b.c. news wall street journal poll conducted after the last democratic debate shows joe

biden and elizabeth warren both gaining ground and leaving their. as well behind what's behind the strength of the new front runners and how might the rest of the pack adjust their campaigning as a result of this poll let's talk about that with the political panel they are chris wilson he was director of research and digital strategy for ted cruz's 2016 presidential campaign he's in oklahoma city and atlanta robin by road democratic strategist and former obama campaign regional field director he's also retired u.s. army ranger welcome to the program thank you matthew good to be with you thanks for having so let's jump right in 1st your reaction to this federal reserve cutting interest rates by a quarter percent does this lend credence to a coming recession let's start with you chris. well i think the fed is clearly concerned about some type of downturn but let's face it recessions are notoriously hard to predict and if we tried to bet every time the federal reserve cut interest

rates it was going to lead to recession we've lost a lot of money i'm betting that way i think what is probably more correct to say is that the fed doesn't see any signs of looming inflation and they don't want they want the economy to continue to grow without it with this passed off without inflation but what you will see if there's one assumption made from this is anyone who is not refinance their home in probably the last 18 months is going to get out and do it because you're not going to find much lower interest rates ever again robin do you agree oh i definitely agree with chris's point about refinancing i'm in the middle of one myself so this is good news for me not today but all joking aside i think this is a prudent move right now because there is somewhat of a slowdown when i'm not doing political punditry analyzing the economy and i've been seeing the prices of gold going up there's other telltale signs that there's some some confidence waning in the economy i'm a little bit concerned about my party just getting ahead of the horse ahead of the game here and talking about.