coming up on r t another u.s. drone attack on yemeni soil and another potential mistake this comes while some members of congress disagree with president obama over whether the pentagon or the cia should control the u.s. drone program that story right ahead in the t.c.p. trade deal could benefit hollywood internet activists worry that the pack will put too much power in the hands of the entertainment industry we'll tell you more coming up and mississippi is looking to end conjugal visit we'll speak with a woman whose husband is behind bars and what this will mean for her family if the visits come to an end.

it's thursday january sixteenth eight pm in washington d.c. i'm in the area david and you're watching our. we begin tonight with the news that another innocent civilian has become the victim of a u.s. drone strike in yemen the attack was thought to have been intended for suspected islamist militants in the southeastern part of the country however it took the life of a farmer instead witnesses say the farmer had been walking home in the village of a how-to early wednesday when he was abruptly killed by the shrapnel of two rockets according to reuters a local government official has confirmed the report but has declined to give further details this attack comes just a month after a massive drone strike killed at least fifteen people travelling in a wedding convoy human rights organizations argue that there were no islamic militants in that convoy and that only innocent civilians were targeted these are just two of the most recent drone attacks that have contributed to a heightened concern amongst yemenis and those in the international community over

the cia's controversial and classified drone warfare program but this news comes just as congress is trying to make it more difficult to bring transparency to the program hording to the washington post congress inserted a secret provision and a massive government spending bill introduced this week that keeps lethal counterterrorism operations under the umbrella of the cia while it's still on known what is exactly in the provision it allegedly prohibits funding from being used to transfer on manned aircraft from the cia to the pentagon earlier i was joined by marine shah an advocacy adviser amnesty usa to talk about these latest developments and the implications going forward i first asked her what happened to the effort to move the drone program to the defense department. bottom line is that congress is not invested enough in getting this program out of the hands of the cia and out of the hands of a secretive agency the department of defense runs

a drone program we think in yemen the cia has a drone program we think in pakistan but neither of these organizations is running the program with any kind of accountability to the public about potentially unlawful civilian casualties while the pentagon does have some strong checks and balances that would certainly be more visible in the cia or so you would think do you think it's possible that congress is really trying to keep this program in the dark i think there are certain members of congress who don't see the need to end the secrecy of the program but we're talking about using lethal force around the globe with drone technology and not telling you or your national community or the american public what's going on who's being killed absolutely and this is not only a funding issue i mean the provision allegedly could do more than just place restrictions on funding what else could be in a number appropriations bill that could determine how the drone program is controlled well the problem here is that we're talking about a classified enix a lot of lawmakers didn't even know that this secret enix and this provision were

what was going to be inserted into the appropriations bill we haven't even seen debate in congress about whether this is a good thing so we've got senator john mccain raising questions about it and why it was kept so secret in fundamentally about what the program is all about it's about operating and using lethal force around the world without informing anybody about what's going on and interestingly it's not just president obama who addressed some concern over this even the cia director john brennan has specifically warned that the drone program in some ways is sort of diverting the cia from its primary mission of intelligence gathering. you know can you talk about sort of how the role of the cia is really sort of changed over the years take on this this drone warfare program you know the cia has a record of human rights abuses whether it's torture or secret detention and not only has it committed abuses but it's trying to evade accountability for those abuses so for us to put lethal force. that kind of power in the hands of a secretive spy agency it really raises some questions now the military has also been really secretive about civilian casualties hasn't been willing to say whether

in these yemen drone strikes civilians have died or whether it's investigated bottom line b. administration needs to commit to reform and if congress is getting in the way of that then there's really a struggle that needs to be had and the administration needs to push back can the administration do anything at this point i mean president obama make a directive and you know can he take sort of unilateral action on this president obama can send people to the hill to talk to members of congress and get this straight in the out but what we haven't seen in the last six months is a real push from the administration to end the secrecy about drone strikes it's hard to give away power once you take it but that's fundamentally important to a program that's setting a precedent not only in the united states but around the world did we see a change at all after his speech that he gave his very powerful speech in may of two thousand and thirteen at the national defense university was there a trend going away from drone strikes or did we see you know what was the transport of when it comes to the drummer for program after that there are fewer reported drone strikes in may two thousand and thirteen speech but we don't actually know

who is being killed in those strikes and certainly the waiting drone strike of last month or fifteen people were killed raises a lot of questions about whether the rules president obama announced are actually being followed and of course it's incredibly hard to hold the administration accountable to its promises more it won't even tell us what's actually happening. that was sean advocacy advisor at amnesty usa. believe it or not penis pumps cost the us government one hundred seventy two million dollars between two thousand and six and two thousand and eleven which is about twice the amount the consumer would have paid at the retail level this is all according to a new government watchdog report released by the inspector general regarding spending by the department of health and human services the report shows that medicare the government health insurance system for seniors paid for nearly four hundred seventy four thousand claims for vacuum erection systems also known as v e s take a look at this over a six year period yearly claims for the devices nearly doubled from twenty point

six million in two thousand and six to thirty eight point six million in two thousand and eleven government waste is an issue that's taking the forefront as lawmakers try to reach an agreement on a one trillion dollar spending bill to talk about some of this overspending and where we could maybe be saving a little bit more money i spoke with tom schatz president of citizens against government waste i first asked him why the health department is paying more than retell value. there's no reason that they should be they knew about this disparity in one thousand nine hundred nine and medicare is capable of setting a special payment limit for something that is grossly excessive them paired to other costs for other devices veterans department pays about half of what medicare pays for these devices and the private sector pays even less so how do we ensure a more competitive bidding process here and then a carrot has had trouble with competitive bidding for the durable medical equipment

which is where this falls into in terms of the category that there was a change in the law a few years ago they're having trouble of course getting this off the ground this particular item is not covered but they don't need congressional authority for competitive bidding they can just set the price and say what we're paying is far too much because clearly what everyone else is saying seems to be enough to keep those devices around but interestingly they haven't done this for the past fifteen years so the question is why are they not exercising this authority they have a lot of things that they are doing they probably haven't paid attention takes a report by their own inspector general to bring this to light and it's now that it is out front hopefully they will start taking it more seriously and possibly there's not a lot of money but eighteen million dollars a year for them four and a half million for the beneficiaries but it's real money to taxpayers and the people that need these devices well the of taxpayers i think a lot of them would be surprised to learn that the vacuum erection system is

covered medical device how does the agency determine which items are medically necessary and which aren't going to judge what they consider necessary that's a separate discussion but they do provide biography to medicare beneficiaries sixty five recently not that old right but and i think it's a physician says it's medically necessary that is one of the ways that medicare judges whether to provide any kind of drug or device right well a lot of people will look at the story and just laugh but it does you know shed light on a much. bigger issue of government waste when it comes to health i mean why is there so much money being spent on this particular area when it could be perhaps you know better spent on lifesaving treatment and equipment to better serve seniors well again it's a question of what the medical necessity is are a lot of different things that some people might not need but others do need and that's a judgment may be second guessed by congress if they say they can't cover certain devices but the medical field is so large and there are so many things that people

need it's constantly being reviewed and that was tom schatz president of citizens against government waste. and left the n.s.a. revelations role we're just learning that the national security agency has collected almost two hundred million text messages a day from across the globe using them to record specifics like the date time and location of messages sent this is all a result of a joint investigation conducted between the guardian and the u.k. channel four news and it's based off of material provided by former government contractor edward snowden also in the documents are revelations that the u.k. spy agency the g.c. h.q. has been using the n.s.a. database to search the private communications of people in the u.k. the n.s.a. programs code name was dish fire and according to see g c h q documents the goal was to collect quote pretty much everything it can and that means it was used to

extract all kinds of information including people's travel plans contact books and even financial transactions this revelation comes just a day before president obama's expected speech on possible changes to the n.s.a. surveillance rules americans are awaiting the announcement to hear what reforms will be made to n.s.a. programs but foreign governments are interested too when leaks files from the agency revealed that the u.s. had been spying on germany's merkel the german government was furious comparing the practices to those of east germany's notorious secret police artie's peter oliver met with a veteran of that service to find out just how similar the two really are. on finding out that the united states had tapped to private mobile phone and confronted president obama this claim. former

offices in the east german secret police which was known as the stars of a warning for the n.s.a. if they think must surveillance is the solution to a nation's problems who quote if it's even the best qualified and most advanced secret service cannot save the state we showed you that away from the professed shock of the politicians at the n.s.a. spying ability how does it compare with the actions of the east german secret services during the cold war to this can now is to elude this is exactly as illegal as some of the tactics that the stasi used to employ it is a breach of human rights but the government machine is so powerful that you can't stop it edward snowden's leaks about the shape and scope of n.s.a. surveillance show in germany as one of the top targets for u.s. snooping again high up on top of the ominously named devil's mountain life the remnants of the last major n.s.a. spying program to look into the private lives of the people of berlin with

a bond and now back in the day this post with ears to listen in on the private phone calls of thousands of citizens in both the east and the west of the city then it was thousands of calls now it's millions sometimes tens of millions of data connections that are tracked and loved them and they. the way they do it now is much more intensive your web browsing history credit cards they can build a profile on you way easier than was ever possible in my day. didn't have access to this type of technology they rely on developing personal contacts mendelssohn's version even those who are working in counterintelligence in the west were ours even they said it we were pretty good even then the fear of being listened into is taken seriously as one former officer charged with looking into nato told us you mind those fires my superior officer is there anything. for this i can use to stop

eavesdropping on my calls the answer to guests just don't pick it up these veterans of the spy game might be impressed by the capabilities of the n.s.a. but they cautious about the quality of the information collected for dozens yet they relied too much on technology that technology might let you locate a person or listen to their calls it doesn't let you know what they think with the usa doing all they can to justify its intelligence gathering the operation started two point zero by critics looks set to continue for some time yet peter all of a gemini. and speaking of the n.s.a. tonight's politicking with larry king is sure to cover that and much more so it's just as the legendary newsman dan rather here's a snippet of wants to camas dan and larry talk about n.s.a. whistleblower edward snowden i think like most people i'm a bit torn on the one that i think the information on the medium in the war. will

be of value to society we stand a chance of being a better country because this information gets out in the short run i'm going to do the organises listen the country needs to be able to keep some secrets so much as who in our brothers is has contacts in pakistan and other places expose and enjoys difficult to know that i think he's neither a hero nor a villain i think those who say bring him back to this country let him stand trial that's fine but it quickly gives him the question if you're going to put him on trial what about the head of the g.s.a. . the n.s.a. who didn't go to congress. so don't forget to tune in at nine pm for that and much more and tonight's politicking right here on our team. and this morning the senate finance committee held a hearing about the so-called fast track authority which would allow trade deals to pass through congress with

a simple yes or no vote rather than letting legislators add or take away from the deal this fast track authority would then apply to the trans-pacific partnership a pact under negotiation between the twelve countries on the pacific rim including the u.s. three of the witnesses at the hearing represented business interests and spoke favorably about the tepee and other free trade deals ultimately free trade is best for every economy economic growth and job creation at home depend on our ability to sell american goods and services to the ninety five percent of the world's customers living outside of the u.s. only one witness raised concerns about negotiations like. what has the net effect been of twenty years of these trade deals what has happened to our jobs our communities in north philadelphia that i grew up in the cleveland i can picture right now devastation throughout those communities nowhere near the replacement of jobs for that more than seven hundred thousand jobs lost from nafta alone but one

interest group that's been supportive of the t.v. pia's hollywood and industry which has launched a full scale assault on online piracy so why is hollywood pushing for this trade deal our teaser mogul endo has the story. hollywood is the land of glitz and glamour where superstars are made hollywood is also a big money industry with a major role in d.c. politics and the future of the internet they want to raise quote unquote protection for copyright but in a way that really harms users' rights as the entertainment industry pushes for tighter copyright laws on the web hollywood is hoping that the u.s. government will help fight its battles public and online outcry helped beat the stop online piracy act or sopa from passing through congress but trade agreements like the trans-pacific partnership could be a backdoor way for hollywood to get what it wants powerful hollywood interests

failed to push controversial sopa legislation through congress now supporters of the free internet are worried that some of the same provisions that were in sopa are being included in the trans-pacific partnership. the. defenders of digital rights feel the trade deal could undermine free speech on the internet turning service providers into copyright cops and when that happening is. actually woke up and down because there's no consideration for whether there is a fair use so users have a right to use content and commentary and educational etc advocates of the free web feel that media consolidation is part of the problem. there are a few gate keepers controlling. such majority media in this country you could buy your way into politics he'd use money to subvert people as well and that presents a great threat to democracy in the united states can dot com the founder of the

file sharing site make upload was arrested in new zealand based on an american criminal copyright indictment when he talked to r.t. he claimed the indictment was based on politics you know they had to be some kind of plan and i turned it to four soap opera. because the president certainly was somewhere and his team in the white house was aware if they don't have anything to give at those fundraisers to those guys in hollywood who are eager to you know have more control over the internet he wouldn't probably raise that much and you know hollywood is a very important contributor to bombers come pain organizations like the electronic frontier foundation anything google has spoken out against hollywood's copyright crackdown efforts as the entertainment industry fights to protect its profits the worry remains that it could at the cost of a free internet. in los angeles. r.t. . for internet entrepreneur kim dot com it seems the party is stopping before it's

even started kim dotcom was set to launch his new political venture called the internet party at his big birthday bash in a new zealand arena dot com revealed through twitter today that he had begun the process of registering the new party's logo with the electoral commission but this afternoon he announced that he would be pulling the plug on the launch party after the commission notified him that it would violate an electoral law known as treating treating refers to treating potential voters with food drink or entertainment in a way that corruptly intends to influence their vote the commission says that those convicted of trading face up to two years in prison and forty thousand dollars in fines taking to twitter today kim dotcom had this to say received guidance from the electoral commission i feel i have no choice but to cancel the party i am so sorry but he did think the twenty five thousand people that registered to attend the free

event adding on his event page the words you are all amazing. and the mississippi corrections department announced it will no longer allow conjugal visits as of february first of this year conjugal visits refer to a schedule period in which an inmate of a prison or jail is permitted to spend anywhere from an hour to multiple days in private with a visitor usually his or her legal spouse and in that instance the two parties may engage in sexual intercourse but now mississippi which became the first u.s. state to sanction sex for prisoners says it will end its century old program corrections commissioner christopher apps as it will end the program due to raise concerns about costs and pull the number of babies being born possibly as a result yet at the same time studies have shown that there are many positive effects of these visits as well in fact in a two thousand and twelve review a family visitation programs

a yell study showed that the programs functioned as powerful incentives for good behavior help reduce sexual activity among prisoners and helped to strengthen families the decision which was announced in december came as a surprise to prison spouses who rely on these visits and that's why those spouses along with many mississippi advocacy groups have organized a rally tomorrow to protest the policy change to discuss this more earlier i spoke with kelly was school leno who is a spouse of a mississippi state inmate i first asked her why she believes this program is important for her and her family. well it's just essentially keeping us together i mean that's the only time that we have that we're just alone that we can talk and people are not just constantly standing over us and watching us i mean it's only just a little tiny bit of pride that we get and it's just important it keeps my husband out of trouble i mean he he knows that if he loses if he gets in trouble he's going

to lose his visit with me and said that in itself is just enough to motivate us to make sure that nothing that he does not get involved in anything our is not in the wrong place at the wrong time i mean it just it really motivates him to keep maintaining good behavior. all one state representative by the name of richard bennett who i'm sure you know is an outright opponent to this practice and he said the following he said i don't think it's fair to the children conceived and to the taxpayers you are in prison for a reason you are in there to pay your debt and conjugal visits should not be a part of the deal so there are certainly other people out there who are going to agree with those sentiments what's your response to wife taxpayers should support this. well i just believe that what we're with map what we feel is like just out so many people have been given just excessive sentences like my husband was given twenty years for armed robbery he didn't hurt anyone he didn't need to think two

hundred dollars and at the age of twenty they gave him twenty years and so i just feel like it's almost like a life and at that time when he was twenty he got the same amount of time and you know that he'd already spent on this planet and it's going to take their right away to have a child we've taken everything away from them are ready we're not giving them any kind of rehabilitation options. that they are but the family is the rehabilitation those people that have family that are in facilities the family is who has rehabilitating them those are going to be their support network when they come home . and we need to make sure that we keep those barns as as close as possible and makes a lot of sense how that could help you know the commissioner is saying that he can no longer justify the supervision and maintenance costs and light of the department's twenty two point four million dollar budget deficit but the department won't say how much money will be saved by ending these visits and at the same time

only one hundred fifty inmates out of more than twenty two thousand of them have actually taken part in this program so do you believe that you know do you believe what they are saying about the cost being an issue. no ma'am i don't believe that and i would like you know that if mr rove could prove these these prices these numbers there are ways that he could come up with some statistics to actually show us he claimed that there is one hundred fifty five people receive in the visit but he's only counting minimum security inmates minimum and medium security inmates both receiving the visit so i know that there are more than one hundred fifty people so he hasn't put a price tag on how much it costs being for the. the families that that are in my group we're willing to pay for it we feel like it's that important and so if we knew how much it cost we would be willing to you know pay

a fee every month or every year that is not an issue. but as far as the cost i don't feel like there's anything associated with it is it minimal that was kelly muscular you know director of the mississippi advocates for prisoners here in the u.s. or seems to be a cultural obsession with gangsters so tonight's resident takes a look at two gangsters in kentucky who took selfies of themselves while in prison . there are many kinds of gangsters here in america all of which involve wads of cash and selfishly living large this story stars the life kind of gangster that's

embrace by our culture it takes place in a prison of course in christian county kentucky inmates timothy porto and earl caldwell are serving lengthy sentences there for drug charges they recently took selfies that themselves from inside the prison in their prison outfits holding about a thousand dollars in cash and making tough guy gangster faces and then they posted the selfies to facebook now prisoners are not allowed to use facebook or any of those will be the up and jail administrators say they have no idea how the prisoners managed to do this but they do know where they got the watch the cash apparently they were charging other inmates to use a contraband cell phone they had so they could all make phone calls where the jailers put in less than and as a result of posting these selfies they both face contraband charges that is simply a pity me as american gangster i don't know what it is first it got people in jail

for drug charges and we know now that the u.s. has billions of people in prison literally and about half the people in federal prison are there for drug crimes according to recent numbers from the bureau of justice statistics the story also has selfies the quintessential gangster expression of our fame and self obsessed culture it's got facebook and it to a social media site that is constantly being abused by gangsters. posting pictures of themselves doing illegal things like raping girls or posing with stuff they've stolen facebook is also now being constantly used to catch and imprison gangsters to as a result it's a super gangster story and the jail administrators and it explain the mentality well they say it's a constant game to see how they can one up authorities or one up the system yep that's american gangster in a nutshell this story is so gangster what one that you could swap out the thug for

another kind of gangster in our country the politician you could almost see one of those selfish living large gangsters posting a selfie with cash to facebook to write except the only difference would be they'd be in a different kind of suit they'd be in the oval office and better than a prison and they'd be holding a hell of a lot more cash tonight let's talk about that by following me on twitter at the president. and that does it for now for more of the stories we cover go to youtube dot com slash r t america check out our web site r t dot com slash usa follow me on twitter at a mirror david or now have a great night. crosstalk

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