headlines stories this hour donald trump refuses to approve a covert stimulus package negotiated for congress the us president. focused too much on foreign aid and don't provide enough support for americans. congress found plenty of money from foreign countries lobbyists and special interests while sending the bare minimum to the american people. also stories ahead for u.s. military contractors who were jailed for their involvement in the must occur of iraqi civilians in 2007 or given presidential pardons their own trumps the latest clemency list which notably excludes prominent whistleblowers. also

the french government controversial bill and so-called green passports allowing try . to be allowed for people vaccinated against critics say the move will turn everyone into a 2nd class citizen. just after 10 at night here in moscow this wednesday december the 23rd you are chained in to arch international good to have your company our top story. donald trump wants congress to make changes to the much force over $900000000000.00 bill he's called it a disgrace for including provisions not related to the pun demick such as foreign aid funding the us president is also demanding a one off payment to eligible citizens to be increased from $600.00 to 2000 on

congress found plenty of money for far john trees lobbyists and special interests while sending the bare minimum to the american people who need it it wasn't their fault i am asking congress to amend this bill and increase the ridiculous lelo $600.00 to $2000.00 or $4000.00 for a couple. speaker nancy pelosi was quick to react blaming republicans for not providing information on what a month the president himself expected to be written down in the park and she said democrats are ready to discuss the matter as soon as lawmakers gather again this week while there are other things in this bill that the trump teams on helping since it combine the covert relief package and the government spending bill in one document it features a lot of proposals including military spending foreign aid as we mentioned as well as more obscure issues to the outgoing president has threatened not to sign it if

amendments aren't made it has been taking a closer. hollo lou it the warring sides in congress have finally set aside some of their differences and agreed to dish out $900000000000.00 in covert 19 relief for families and businesses but the $600.00 stimulus checks which are half of what people got back in april have left many under well one time payment $600.00. is this a joke and jobless no health insurance this is going to cut it congress. some senators even took offense at people questioning their life saving bill oh it's real help it's a trillion dollars for god's sakes what is that $1000000.00 and. there is no money fairy we don't have this money we don't have 5 percent of it and your we had to borrow it is real help will it be enough i think it will be but

we're just going to have to wait and see what the code relief package didn't come alone the absence of the money fairy didn't stop congress from slapping on a $1.00 trillion dollars spending bill which combined with the covert bill made the overall document over 5 and a half 1000 pages long the behemoths took so long to upload to the internet that congressmen only received it on the day of the vote and it's kind of hard to believe they managed to read the whole thing before passing it. 4 congressional leaders refused to put any legislation on the floor to be considered and scrutinized and amended now the release of $5593.00 page bill with no opportunity to read it let alone amend it no responsible legislators should vote for such a thing if this is going to goes over 3 hours just to prove that it is. impossible . you need one now to be open to you to read between now and the time we will

if you take a closer look at the bill you can see there's a lot more than covert relief in there military spending for example was more of a talking point than the pandemic and words like missile aircrafts and munition appeared far more times than anything related to health care masks weren't even mentioned once in the document foreign aid also proved to be a high priority billions of dollars are said to be poured into countries like ukraine israel and cambodia funds that could have been spent on domestic needs and then there's a whole bunch of other issues that were deemed very crucial like ensuring the integrity and fairness of the election sorry horse racing how could that sport survive without money from the government also investing in general programs is something the u.s. just can't do without be it programs in pakistan or commissions on determining gender equality in statues and even the dialogue reincarnation gets mentioned in the bill because in case you forgot he can't get reincarnated without u.s. taxpayer dollars this jumbled mess of spending proposals caused even some senators

to trash the bill. tonight i voted no against the suppose it covert relief bill because it sells out billions of dollars to foreign governments the sudan gypsum military and not more important than american citizens and now many are calling on trump to veto the bill don't trump you must veto of this farce relieve bill this isn't a stimulus package this is a message for and. every american left and right should be calling for a veto on the stimulus deal which provides more funding to foreign governments and term merican arts centers than to their merican people covert relief might be badly needed but while 600 bucks why do some good for americans in a tough spot senators are obviously willing to put a lot more money behind their own agendas if you look where the expenditures went look we know what this is this is nothing but a con it's a ruse it's

a chance to to provide special interest in special issues the money that normally wouldn't be able to be earmarked this is guaranteed to provide monies that would normally not be able to be available but now they are which is a christmas tree the idea is that you take something you slap on benefits and expenditures and bills but america needs something so we hold the american public hostage in the meantime they get a pittance of what they would normally gotten before but maybe rather than giving all this money for covert relief why don't we just remove the lockdowns wonder we remove the shackles because businesses are under these more draconian measures why don't you do that instead as just give money here's your 600 bucks maybe 1200 bucks now leave me alone be happy and shut up. the ultra rage with his latest list of presidential pardons it includes military contractors jail for

killing civilians in iraq but there's no room for whistleblowers this point calls from rights activists ortiz came up and picks up the story well it is the holiday season and the outgoing presidential administration seems to be in a mood for clemency at this point we have 15 pardons that have been issued as well as 5 commute and there has been a wave of anger and criticism of who it is that the president of united states has decided to show mercy to now one of the people involved is george papadopoulos this is an associate of trumps who was caught up in the russia collusion investigation and charged with lying to the f.b.i. the white house made the decision to grant him a pardon. at the time that mr papadopoulos allegedly made the false statements he was not represented by counsel and after he was arrested mr papadopoulos gave additional information on his prior statements to the special counsel today's

pardon helps correct the wrongs that mueller seem inflicted on so many people now in addition to george papadopoulos there has been widespread outrage about the trump administration's decision to grant clemency to some members of the blackwater military contracting company these were guards who were employed by blackwater who killed civilians in iraq or the north american aircraft or. that they were dead bodies everywhere and this is the argument going to be on the only 2 people in authority among the dead body of the ministry but that's a ritual that was in the room of 7 years old at.

the time. paul slow evan liberty and dustin herd were convicted for involuntary manslaughter and the individual nicholas slotting who opened fire and 1st started shooting into the crowd of iraqi civilians he was convicted of 1st degree murder but now the white house is letting all of them off they will no longer be in prison serving their sentences they have been pardoned and this is the feeling of the white house about why they made this decision when the convoy attempted to establish a blockade outside the green zone the situation turned violent which resulted in the unfortunate deaths and injuries of iraqi civilians further prosecutors recently disclosed mold. 10 years after the incident that the lead iraq investigates who prosecutors relied heavily on so very far that there were no incision victims and to collect evidence may have had sonny's to insurgent groups himself now at this

point there is widespread outrage this seems like the trump administration is almost approving of the killing of iraqi civilians 2 children were among the 14 people in the crowd who died as a result of their gunfire but at this point people are also looking at the fact that trumps education secretary betsy to vos is the sister of the founder of blackwater erik prince now there's also been a lot of outrage about who is not on the list of trump's pardons among the 15 people pardon and 5 sentence commuted it's the names that were missing that many were optimistic and hopeful about were julian a son john edward snowden these prominent whistleblowers had many people calling for the trump white house to grant them clemency among those who called for them were not just activists and advocates of civil liberties and for the protection of whistleblowers but also representatives of the united nations take a listen on hoping that he will julian assange it's the right thing to do donald

trump since you're given pardons to people please consider pardoning those who at great personal sacrifice expose the deception and criminality of those in the deep state if president trump is true as well you don't think the least you could do is to end the suffering the purity the songs to pardon him this man has for be enough for the interest of the public will and will now trump still has time to grant a pardon to edward snowden and to julian a son she can grant clemency up until the moment he leaves office he could do it at the very very last minute however the number of people that were pardoned today and the information about who they are seems to have many pessimistic many of the activists supporting the whistleblowers feel like the. indicates the trumpet ministration is moving in a very different direction with its clemency. stateside and u.s. lawmakers have been given early access to cohabit vaccines some are happy to accept

but others say politicians should not be given priority over frontline medics. if enough of us take it we'll get back to. help is on the way. it isn't appropriate for me it was only gotten the virus has immunity to gets in front of elderly health care workers same goes for any young healthy person they should be among the last not to. pay for care. i'm so confident that they covered 1000 bucks in a safe and effective that i decided to take it myself it is disturbing to some

members of the us to get that sense while most from time walk his algebra and announce his tax weight. we need to distinguish 2 different things that handful of leaders are prime minister or president leading members of the senate side of the senate you know the public for a little political figures and celebrities get that vaccine to show the public that it's safe and that is necessary that's one thing it's another thing to say that in general politicians just simply be prioritised because they have political power being politicians these are 2 separate matters they can't be conflated any humane

principle for who gets the vaccine 1st should be those that are most vulnerable and that is. specially is frontline workers essential workers the elderly and the infirm so it's true that public some some politicians might be infirm some politicians might be front line workers but they're not there's no reason why publicist politicians should be pushed to the top of the list simply because they're overseas. you know the big story of the day possibly the u.k. the european union may be finally about to announce a post breaks a trade deal there are reports that ambassadors are preparing to meet as soon as 30 of us christmas eve to start the ratification process shoddy at her specialty only more. boris johnson and his european counterparts have been working 'd at tirelessly and they say they're closer than ever before to getting a trade deal of course they would be closer than ever to getting a trade deal considering the amount of time left the deadline is obviously the 31st

of december but today is widely seen as a deadline day the final day for any provisional agreement as both sides are quite keen to get a deal in place by christmas all that said fisheries is still one of the main stumbling blocks it's still one of the key obstacles it has been throughout all of the talks throughout the year and it is still today in fact the loss what we heard from banja the chief negotiator just last night he said that the u.k.'s latest offer is absolutely unacceptable for the european union so it is quite hard to see that we're really getting to a breakthrough moment but it seems as though it hasn't it's all to do with how killing now the amount of percentages in the waters at the e.u. the u.k. are now negotiating but when we look at the wider context of that we know that brics it has almost been the political death of david cameron and indeed theresa may 2 prime ministers for boris johnson we know 6 that he has predicated much of

his political career that aside all the breakfast it in the u.k. is general election much of it all boiled down to breakfast the very eager to get the best deal in place for britain and in fact many m.p.'s within his own party are holding to ransom on that very fact saying if he doesn't get a good deal for britain that if essential he should quit if mr johnson fails to reach an acceptable trade agreement with the e.u. the prime minister will also feel the people of the united kingdom as a lifelong member of the conservative party i believe that mr johnson's position as prime minister would be untenable well in terms of ratification then that could all be done and dusted here in the united. in within. this day that has been penciled into diaries for m.p.'s here in the united kingdom is the 30th of december over across the channel then for the e.u. 27 member states a little bit more complicated they could all agree though on video link but

parliament would have to ratify it to that suggesting that they would then ratify it potentially alter the event that's also not quite ideal because if anybody objects to anything well it's already being provisionally applied but all of that being said that's quite forward thinking that because still the e.u. and the u.k. need to sign on that down to the line they need to get that deal in place what's a green post board and why is talk of infuriating so many in france we've got that story in 90 seconds and counting. is your media a reflection of reality. in a world transformed. what will make you feel safe.

isolation community. are you going the right way or are you being led. by. what is true what is. in the world corrupted you need to descend. to join us in the depths. or a maybe in the shallowness. a lot of questions what does it mean to be conservative it's coming from the conservative and the change we need to be conservative what about the issues that it might take for conservatives to believe.

just coming up to 20 minutes into the hour welcome back the french government is pushing for the introduction of so-called green passports allowing greater freedom of movement to those covert immune critics say those who decide against getting vaccinated will be essentially treated as a lesser so the sins that is as they live suggests some 6 in 10 people in france don't want the job. as more. france is preparing to end its health emergency by april the so says the french prime minister john kass sticks he's presented a bill in the national assembly ended establishing a so-called long health emergency management regime simply to it is vaccination and those opposed to it might just find themselves in trouble even if they just planning a trip around the city the prime minister made on to the plan measures make the movement of people and their access to transport subject to presenting test results

showing that the person is not in fact is following vaccination or remedial treatment to some politicians the maisha will leave i'm vaccinated people feeling as though they say can process and if this bill has really been tabled it must be fought but all elected officials and citizens committed to democracy and freedom in the face of this senseless deviation it is up to us to bring the government back to a semblance of reason this is the bill establishing a long term health emergency management regime which has just been introduced by cast x read the following and this law the prime minister can make you a 2nd class citizen if you refuse the vaccine we must wake up it flies in the face of a promise made by french president emanuel not quantities government they should skeptics their feet and covered vaccination which begins on sunday would be purely voluntary . but i want to be clear i will not make the vaccination mandatory.

but the idea of a stick to certain freedoms for vaccinated people has been mentioned several times in public debates since this presidential announcement for example a member of the union of democrats and independent party valerie 6 has proposed the issuing of green pos folds to people who have been immunized with the public we could take the example of israel which grants each vaccinated person a green passport allowing them to go to places of culture and to restaurants and to get back to normal living the french inoculation program will target the most vulnerable members of society 1st such as the elderly and only off to a medical examination and come since he has given it's a great start but it's what comes next that has people here worried policia out see paris well earlier we spoke to a member of the french national rally party who believes the government has gone

a step too far. you know emanuel micron the prime minister and the health minister of iran promised 1st there would be no compulsory vaccination and that they would leave the freedom to choose to the french in fact thanks in particular to marie le pen we see that the draft law speaks of a measure completely veiled aimed at limiting subjecting the french people that certain rules in their public lives thereby deciding for them whether they will be vaccinated or not i think that it is shameful in fact it is a restriction of freedom which moreover contradicts the constitution this is a manifestation of dictatorship it seems to me that the government does not understand that today the patience of the french has run out they agreed to strict discipline for many months they said yes to the introduction of quarantine said yes to the imposition of a curfew said yes to the imposition of sanitary rules they agreed to everything

that was imposed on them the next day the government came up with nothing better than to further could tail their personal freedom this is called segregation if the government wants the french to get vaccinated they must restore an atmosphere of trust that's the voice of wisdom. a statue of confederate general robert e. lee has been removed from the u.s. capitol building following a long running campaign against symbols associated with slavery it's now being moved to the state of virginia which is the legal owner of the sculpture. general lee was a prominent figure in the coalition of southern states during the us civil war and also a slave owner he's become a hate figure for anti racism campaigners but is still seen by many in the american south as a hero because of his military achievements and bravery the vacant spalt will be

taken by a statue of black civil rights activist barbara jones democrat house speaker nancy pelosi has welcomed the move the removal of a statue of robert e. lee and its forthcoming replacement by a tribute to bob or johnson is welcome news there is no room for celebrating the bigotry of the confederacy the capitol or any other place of or not in our country or near a symbols of america's slave owning past how have been removed in recent months the movements noble after the death of george floyd in minneapolis back in majoring in alter cation with police it spread to several other countries with activist destroying or removing monuments associated with historical races i.

or tempers are still flaring after the summer of start yourself link to get some perspective from both sides we spoke with conservative commentator christopher horace historian gerald ford. even today there are more symbols of statues honoring races and labelled hours then and races and slavery happening and this is now the greatest badge of it in berlin there were still statutes honoring hermann gerbils or at all 'd hitler for example that i would be considered outrageous certainly removing statues of elop that are anchors the pro nazi forces the pro fascist forces but they deserve to be anchored i believe that the statues that were

put up were celebrated democrats some great in the confederacy so i think it's just odd that democrats are the ones who put them up and they don't want the rest of the world to know that they're the ones who put them up they don't want the rest of the world to know that the confederacy was pretty much all democrats but now they want to celebrate and they want to be they want to give you the credit for taking them down as if now they're such great fighters against racism and slavery when they're the ones who put them up it may be true that you cannot undo the past and certainly you can honor the best of the past and you can remove the worst of the past i think that's what this statue of property believe it's movable it's all about it's trying to say that slavery was wrong that's what reid never should have taken place and certainly no statue honoring a slave owner never should have been erected in this country anyone who is actually studied the real history of the united states of america knows that it was the democratic party went out of their way to try to maintain slavery there removing

these statues so they can remove their own. their own just horrid the history trip with that 1000 miles begins with one step removing the steps is this just a step towards redistributing the wealth in this country is just a step towards basically attacking this racial wealth that you just made reference to and certainly i don't see how we can accomplish those white a lot of the goals as law. we have statutes honoring it slave owner and slave masters littering and pockmarked in the lands of more of them how can we be so high and mighty about slavery when he has actually been apartment party to one of the most vile institutions which is the institution of abortion which has killed 20000000 black babies there were only 12 and a half 1000000 blacks who were brought across the atlantic on on the trail on a transatlantic slave trade but there's been that was all roughly 280 years that

that happened but in 45 years 20000000 black babies have been aborted so how important are statues really maybe we should be taking down planned parenthood buildings instead of taking down statues offer a deeper dive into any of this our stories our website how is it you cover and it's just a click away absolutely free to all i mean and only you can buy for that. join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to guest on the world of politics small business i'm show business i'll see that.

master of fancy and welcome to going underground the team and i will be back with a brand new season starting on my birthday january 13th but until then we will be showing some of your favorite shows from this season. one scholar forecast a global food like pandemic it's one of the causes and it's profound effects as mike davis known for his devastating critique of capitalist urban development city of cortes excavating the future of los angeles here he is 15 years ago and why should be we be so worried about it is easy which is infected under $200.00 people killed less than $100.00 or we live in a world where millions of people die every year from the laureate burke says hiv and the answer of course is the experience of humanity in 24 weeks and 1018 when between 40 and a 100000000 people died of a pandemic influenza this is the greatest mortality about in.