slummed washington sanctions on russia's not screen to gas pipeline to germany saying it's crossed a crucial line against its nato allies comes as berlin gives an angry reaction as well being the sanctions interference in domestic affairs. u.s. court rules that american spy agencies counting collect data on citizens without a warrant if done by accident. and the mind has been sentenced to 16 years in jail after stealing and burning analogy between flying from the us church we debate whether the tolerance fits the crime. 16 years for offending probably one of the most privileged groups in america when it came to courts he did not express any regrets and indeed justified his actions based upon his particularly extremist

interpretation of the christian faith. welcome this insulting international. business strong reaction from berlin and moscow over the latest u.s. sanctions that target the russian gas pipeline to europe almost complete it. we're looking very closely at the us crossing a crucial edge of foreign policy as it starts imposing sanctions which russia has already become accustomed to against its own allies we can see the intention to make europe by american liquefied gas and thus to slow the development of the continent's economy to undermine its capability of competing with the u.s. in the global markets washington has decided that even the closest nato allies don't deserve mercy if the u.s.

geo political and commercial ambitions are at stake the german government has regretfully taken into account that sanctions against north stream to turks stream initiated by the us congress they affect german and european companies and are tantamount to interference in our domestic affairs we requested comment from the north stream spokesperson who told us completing the projects essential for european supply security adding the work will be finished as soon as possible the e.u. also slammed washington's punitive measures saying it objects to any penalties against european companies that are conducting legal business comes as the main swiss contractor of north stream 2 was pulled out over washington's tough penalties earlier saskia taylor spoke with my colleague andrew farmer about the story. the trumpet ministration sanctions have become a political tool of choice now often simply automatic reaction to anything that the president takes issue with in this case is apparently no different because

president trump has officially signed a bill which will require him to impose sanctions on any foreign companies and individuals which are involved in the building of nordstrom to no money of course no knowlton to is a huge $11000000000.00 pipeline over 1000 kilometers long running from russia to germany and essentially it's going to flood the european continent with russian gas at a faster and cheaper rate than anything else currently available on the market but since the very beginning washington has had a bit of a problem with the project the united states commands all our european partners who have taken a strong stand against north stream 2. and we commend others to do the same germany is totally controlled by russia because they were getting from 60 to 70 percent of their energy from russia and their new pipeline this pipeline if completed would make europe even more dependent on russian energy would generate billions of dollars for putin billions of dollars that would fund the russian military

aggression. we don't want your energy suppliers to be. so many see this bill as a last ditch attempt by the u.s. to stop trying to end its tracks the pipeline was originally due to be completed by mid 2020 but it seems they're ahead of schedule that in 2 weeks out from it being done in fact there are any around 60 to 70 kilometers left of the pipeline to lay now one of the many companies which will be affected by this bill is the swiss. cheese and they've been providing vessels for the construction a couple of days ago they in fact received a very aggressive left to from the republican senator ted cruz which can only be described really as a letter of blackmail he gave them an ultimatum either you stop participating in this project or we're going to freeze all your assets in the u.k. in the u.s. and we're going to. have your employees from coming into the u.s. so unfortunately they count out and and have stopped all the operations america has

made it clear is concerned it says about europe's energy security but all of the. wild card pipelines between russia and europe run through several european countries such as poland but to russia ukraine. this means that of course that they get a very hefty transit fee for allowing these pipelines through. the baltic sea meaning that these countries will be bypassed washington maintains that this is unfair and specifically with regards to ukraine says that it's somehow politically motivated by what's very important to note here is that just a few hours before the bill was signed into effect russia and ukraine decided that they would likely by the end of $29000.00 sign a new agreement on russian transit gas value crane to europe so that completely undermines what washington saying that somehow russia is trying to cut ukraine out of a deal and it's led many to suspect that really what washington's up to is is trying to eliminate competition and its dominance in the e.u.

. markets especially considering the bill also impose sanctions on another russian pipeline which is tug stream which runs through the black sea to turkey so it's quite a patent being established while of the e.u. and u.s. standpoint on this issue couldn't be more different european countries call this an economic project that benefits everyone involved russia agrees germany 5 and particular has consistently said that european and the g. policy is europe's business and it's asked us to stop meddling so it's probably unsurprising that these latest sanctions were not welcomed. germany's to link a party member thinks that the u.s. sanctions have done some serious damage to relations between berlin and washington . this project is so close to completion and it's so crucial to the german economy . that there will be a way and we will find a way to complete this project but of course the damage to the german american

relations is down and. the idea that america is conscious of the imposing extra cherry extraterritorial sanctions to have the german economy to help the german cinema is now firmly implanted into germany's markets from the left to the right that is absolutely outraged by the actions of the us government because in germany some parts of the governing party are very close to the u.s. government but he was a by this decision because they know the importance of russian gas supply to the entire german on. america's spy agencies are committed to gather information and citizens without a warrant in certain situations u.s. court of appeals ruled this can happen if another national is legitimately being monitored abroad makes contact with an american the case was brought by a u.s. citizen arrested in 2011 he pleaded guilty to attempting to give material support

to a terrorist organization but he questioned whether it was legal for the n.s.a. to collect information on him without a warrant former intelligence official the whistleblower william binney told us the ruling doesn't reveal anything new. it doesn't mean a difference at all it was all under executive order or $1.00 to $2.00 or 3 section $23.00 c. which they used that signed in into effect since the reagan years the reagan presidency so they've been using them. as leeway and also the use the excuse that they are unable to separate. their data as not a right line to that so they've been lying to the courts or wrong they've had the ability to sort that out and just they don't want to because it gives them power or everyone the ability to look into all the political opponents like they did the president. in the city's illegal must phone and internet surveillance of its own citizens was revealed back in 2013 by with snowden a form

a contractor at the agency he's wanted in the u.s. for leaking classified info but was granted asylum by russia. the alphabet soup of government agencies was it carrying out all kinds of wild spying and violations of privacy it was all pretty clearly a violation of the us constitution or that man offers protection under reasonable search and seizure however at the time the n.s.a. tried to fight back pretty hard does the n.s.a. collect any type of data. on millions or hundreds of millions of americans.

no sir. it does not. not wittingly 7 years on u.s. federal courts have ruled that edward snowden the whistleblower who feel this apparatus of surveillance won't be able to make any money from the book that he just published the ruling argues that edward snowden violated his contract with the cia and the n.s.a. because he didn't submit his book for prepublication review who don't want to see books like to skip written especially don't want to see books like this get read from it is still pursuing that case quite strongly they're more focused on that of the financial censorship side of it this court ruling comes as federal courts have also ruled that it is now acceptable to monitor the communications of americans with a. quote foreign interest without any procedure or warrant so while u.s.

courts have ruled that it is now acceptable to continue carrying out practices once considered to be scandalous they have come down pretty hard on the man who revealed these practices to the public so do americans even remember edward snowden we decided to ask new yorkers can you tell us who edward snowden is now he doesn't ring any bells hope it weren't snowden i don't know edward snowden. it's. way to 2nd stone's not the. not to brooks that guy. is the wiki leaks not like the wiki leaks guy but the guy who was working for the government here and is over in russia now that he leaked it's some information he leaves us basically the government spying on us and watching of our things and gave a detailed report as to what the government's doing yes there was a massive outrage back in 2013 when this was 1st revealed but it seems that since

then this is all become part of the new normal in the united states warrantless wiretapping of civilians will continue in the united states and american leaders will also continue to boast that they have the freest country in the world we're going to do with sitting there it's an admission that the and i say. the only targeted data are who aren't fine lines that they're monitoring so i mean to be that know is not a crummy american the $99.00 he could have done that but they decided not to do that then when you click there really was they're not saying here is that the cia the f.b.i. and the d. e a another law enforcement people have access to that data to search for common crime in the united states and they use it against u.s. citizens. in a criminal court without without telling the crew or anybody else in the court lawyers included. so they're fundamentally violating the rights of hours of u.s. citizens every year and they do this without any oversight whatsoever or even know

that. no were saying to us in the united states they believe the intelligence these it's any good anyway it's just it's already look a conversation it's not over. and i'm found guilty of committing a hate crime has been sentenced to 16 years in jail after stealing and burning and l. g.b.t. flag from the u.s. church door for martinez was arrested in june and accused of desecrating the flag belonging to a local church in iowa earlier in the week he was also convicted of 3rd degree harassment and reckless use of fire he's admitted he's against homosexuality the length of his sentence that of course debate why does the left cheer when the american flag is burning no one goes to jail for that but they do for burning an activist movements flag while he got more years than murderers get in the u.k. unbelievable so burning

a rainbow flag is hate speech burning an american flag is freedom of speech i see. he should have been the american flag then he would have been praised statues dedicated well i think in principle people should have the ride to behead flags fly it is a symbol and people have a right to disagree with homosexuality they have a right to disagree with did i did states or britain i don't think that should be a crime per se but i would say that the flag is a bit different from the american flag because it days ignites a specific community in the same way as maybe burning a jewish flag might designate the jewish community if you look at the report of what happened he was kicked out of the strip club he grabbed the flag he set it on fire outside of the strip club and started ranting about i was gonna burn down the club i was in there i don't know it sounds like maybe he was wasted i don't think i don't think this is what they just would go around doing even if that weren't the case it still is extreme and

a hate crime laws are silly anyway they should exist no a crime happened here it is absolutely 100 percent our institutionally protected speech to burn the gates of the gay pride flag in the same way that according to the supreme court's also protected speech to burn the american flag well i'm gay and much of my human rights involve supporting the human rights of l.g.b. plus people but i've got to say this sentence is excessive it is disproportionate it is not commensurate with the crime committed however there are some disturbing elements a he was not given the sentence purely for stealing the flag and for burning it there were also. accusations and claims of arson and threats to burn down other properties namely a strip club when it came to course he did not express any regrets and indeed justify his actions based upon his particular extremist interpretation of the

christian faith now i don't believe that this flag necessarily represents the rainbow flag i don't think it. uppers and gay individuals maybe at one point attempted to but we've come to a point where the rainbow flag and all the symbolism represents an l g b t political ideology which is becoming increasingly authoritarian increasingly toxic increasingly anti-christian so people are going to have gripes about it i mean this is actually proven that people are are millennial was a study done recently that young people millennia old are less in favor of now they were a few years ago now the left in the gay lobby would say that that is due to hate speech on the internet and trumps america blah blah blah no i would say the real reason is probably because this movements that is symbolized by the flag has become authoritarian and ridiculous we see it with the insane trans narrative in the bathroom trance people in women's sports we see it with the children with the trans soldier and the drag queen story anything you can think of and this is just another

example 16 years for offending probably one of the most privileged groups in america so to come to us democrats have released a guy don't have to come by propaganda we'll bring you that top tips up to this quick break. you know world a big part of the lot and conspiracy it's time to wake up to dig deeper to hit the stories that mainstream media refuses to tell more than ever we need to be smarter we need to stop slamming the door on the bad and shouting past each other it's time for critical thinking it's time to fight for the middle for the truth the time is now for watching closely watching the hawks.

the world is driven by shaped by. the dares thinks. we dare to ask. this democrats have an axe to grind when it comes to propaganda which perhaps is why they've released a guide on how to spot and fight it top tips include don't watch on t.v. and read george orwell auntie's daniel hawkins delves think. the us democrat party is concerned about the information people are consuming so they've created

a handy guide to make sure you can distinguish right from wrong we've seen what happens when dissin from ation goes unchecked it threatens our democracy and makes us less safe that's why we're making sure you know how to combat bots troll farms think accounts dissin from ation and propaganda it's short and sweet and prepares you on how to fight fake news and use social media properly and responsibly so let's take a look actively seeking out information online from multiple authoritative sources firstly you should actively look for news don't just absorb but there is one caveat you should try to find only authours of sources if you can't decide what those are just use the ones approved by fact checkers and don't go near the blacklist speaking off fact checkers news guard is one plug in the list recommends it's got several high ranking officials on its advisory board where previous cia director x.

the nato secretary general to former us government officials and leading media figures and it marks many mainstream outlets as trustworthy despite any scandals they may have been embroiled in while r t is a big no no so change channel right now before it's too late. ask yourself who the all through online content is where they post the information and what they're hoping you will do with it next check is the author factuality and objectivity seem to be prioritized in their guidelines something one can argue with until they mention social media transparency features as one tool to help find the facts there's a link to facebook's transparency of god lines which separate the real from the fake but it's fair to say not all those telling the objective truth get verified and all those verified stick to the objective truth. rules 3 and 4 go without saying of course one should never be manipulated nor let blatant fakes go

unchallenged the void to be manipulated by divisive or dishonest content if you see something untrue and social media trying to inject truth into the debate and then we move on to the final and most comprehensive point educate yourself on the tactics of online manipulators as a whole list of recommendations of what to watch and read and perhaps unsurprisingly the emphasis is on democrat leaning outlets from n.b.c. to the new york times they also have recommendations for you to watch projects launched by loyal media you can learn all about internet outrage on the right wing's role in fake news controversies on a podcast by the daily new york times enterprise also in the recommended reading list of pieces on russian interference the $26000.00 election and trumps alleged collusion with moscow as even a special warning reserved specifically for right wing this information though no

mention of the same risks on the other side of the political spectrum and if you're short on time and can't read a lot there's some quick links the democrats supported social media accounts although if you do have a bit more time on your hands you can always delve into a longer reports where you can mainly learn all about russia's efforts to attack and destroy worldwide democracy always a classic democrat narrative it was borrowed short who said if you teach a man you will never learn this god may go even further not teaching but telling in no uncertain terms where the truth apparently lies to be found only in acceptable narratives and only trustworthy sources and summing up that list george orwell's 1984 though i only lost their. you said this is the pulitzer prize winning host of the show on contact he says the d.n.c. is advice is designed to shut down alternative views. but guidelines are meant to

tarnish our discredit critics of the system unfortunately because they have a megaphone and a platform it's somewhat effective we now have lived with since the beginning of the trumpet ministrations services 3 years is a whole demonization of russia which is burn a convenient for oil to attack social critics they want those voices shut down and they have of course facebook twitter you tube have created algorithms to shut us down independent of anything to do it's a combined assault against critics and they use the idea of us working as foreign agents or. influence or manipulation of a foreign power as a kind of excuse that's nothing new we saw in the cold war. in the u.s.

it's been alleged the mormon church is sitting on $100000000000.00 of donations that it misled its members into making the whistleblower behind the claim used to be a senior portfolio portfolio manager at the investment division heels this is the church may have breached taxation rules. for many years the mormon church has been starting $1.00 to $2000000000.00. into a reserve of the reserves inside the one c 3 non profit well according to the whistleblower a company called and signed peek advises helping the church to exploit its status as a nonprofit organization in order to dodge taxes alleging the mormons could a huge amount to the state the whistleblower also says that members of parted with their money on false pretenses including propping up a couple of businesses the mormon church asks members to give it 10 percent of their income that money is meant to be for charitable educational and religious purposes but that was supposed to simply been school the way for the last $2.00

decades the church itself denies the accusations claims being currently circulated are based on a narrow perspective and limited information the church complies with all applicable law governing our donations investments taxes and reserves. chill sometimes the whistle blower is a disgruntled former employee seeking compensation and r.t. source inside the church told us that the internal revenue service finished a major rule did 2 years ago and found no problems the people we spoke to in new york were not surprised by the whistle blows revelations i'm not terribly surprised after all the scientology. money tax evasion what i feel like churches are corrupt there's always issues with $5.00 a one c. carries in churches and money in doing what they're doing i mean i guess it just depends i should pay definitely should pay taxes especially with the guys who out of those big houses in the jetson tax free it's not fair they should pay something

but they just don't that's constitution it's constitutional question do this a place axis more investigation more arrests you know and it's doing that i mean but no taxes let everybody everybody pick one and sign peak advisors it was an arm of the mormon church which proved that it was not. part of acquirements which is why they got into this in the 1st place because we didn't have to reports what was going on under the i.r.s. tax laws you are and then you have to use that money for such a charitable purpose but in this situation this particular and that's an arm there was a bailout evans sure and they also. thought when he said those are projects where there is no charitable purposes that once per week you priceless and they have a plaque form we are getting involved in those crimes that are for profit then turns you're making. 2 u.s.

senators a verge the n.b.c. broadcast the principle of profit and not the 2022 winter olympics but a huge reason that china doesn't deserve to bask in the sporting glory such an event brings. please allow me to outline this mission being to unite the world in a peaceful competition to achieve this we must remain a strictly police union. we

hope you one like the international olympic committee understand this is not about politics but about human rights and the security of afflatus and international visitors. and. do it in the american politics expression when the americans why don't you other countries the u.s. is trying to have a full fledged conflict with china but the us can no longer wean single sightedly

by the minute you force by economic competition by innovation and by the sympathy of their allies so do us too. very little local tactics don't carry too much it's all inmates every dose for smooch. and staying with international live with updates on top stories in half an hour and oh forget to check out a website for more information that's all to. join me every thursday on the alex simon show and i'll be speaking to us from the world of politics or business i'm show business i'll see you then.

time after time we're going on the ground in our final show of this season coming up in the show time for the rich have a cigar floyd from the band. of a coal miner. sacrificed his life for britain on the pitch villages that when tory old etonian boris johnson as britain's $58.00 prime minister plus the britain arguably know it by the year in the run up to the 21000 general election or through an illustrated tape will not one illustrating living on the breadline bus from food banks to love sickness we speak to downton abbey actor and director john pelan about his new film wall the american love story in wales oliseh more coming up in the final going on the ground of this season but 1st in the wake of u.k. prime minister johnson annihilating the socialist project of jeremy corbyn we caught up with pink floyd front man what you watch is via skype at his home in new

york i started by asking him about the end.