He had to say. We hope to eventually destroy the capacity of nigeria to export crude oil from the niger delta. I think the niger delta will soon descend into a fullblown war, which will last several years. [ music ] bill hey, good morning, everybody. What do you say . Welcome to the fullcourt press, here on wednesday, wednesday, february 6th. Good to see you today. We are coming to you live coast to coast on current tv. Good to have you with us. We look forward to taking your calls at 86655press. Thats our tollfree number. I was there in the whiter house Briefing Room yesterday when president obama came out and called on congress to take action to avoid those massive cuts to Pentagon Spending known as the sequester which kick in march 1st. If march cant pass a big bill, they ought to pass a small bill to delay the sequester for a few more months. House republicans led by john boehner immediately said no way. Here we go again. The party of no opposing anything obama wants. We will tell you about that. Also tell you the latest on drones and a lot more here on the full court press. But first, lets get the latest. Lisa ferguson is here. Well, she is not here. She is in los angeles with todays current news update. Hi, lisa. Good morning. Close enough. Los angeles, d. C. Good morning, everyone. The president is in annapolis today after 10 00 this morning and atends the conference at the western annapolis hotel. Vice President Biden is swearing in john kerry as secretary at state from the state department and then later this evening, he is speaking at the House Democratic issues conference in leesberg virginia. He will lay out a renewed plan for combatting climate change. Forces say it will likely include a few executive steps like using president ial authority to curb emissions from existing power plants. Its something the president promised during his inaugural address last month. It fits in with what appears to be to use ex i can youve been authority. The epa is putting together a plan to regulate new power plants, but the president will likely call to take that one step further and tackle coal plants already in existence. Obama is calling on congress as bill mentioned earlier, to quickly pass a package of spending cuts and tax increases in an effort to head off a new round of military cuts kicking in march 1st. The president wants congress to delay those cuts for at least another few months while republicans are so far dismissing his appeals for new revenue. More bill is up next. [ music ] broadcasting across the nation, on your radio and on current tv this is the bill press show. Bill president obama says the sequester is looming. Congress better get busy and fix the damn thing. Hello, everybody. What do you say . It is wednesday, wednesday, february 6th. This is the full court press on your local t. V. Your progressive talk Radio Station and on sirius xm. Thank you for joining us on a brings news day. Lots of big stories particularly here in washington yesterday. Most of the talk was about the department of Justice White paper on drones which where we started our show yesterday. We were the first ones to talk about it. It dominated the news and the white house briefing. We will talk about that. The ravens had a big party up in baltimore yesterday. We had our team member phil bachus representing us. We have it covered, damn it. I am at the whitehouse and phil is at the raven stadium. Covered at both ends bill we are there. We are there. Great to see you today. Give us a call at 86655press. And we will put as many of you we will get to as many of you see as we can to talk to make your points on the air to your fellow fullcourt pressers. Also follow us on twitter bp show. Peter ogburn will follow you on twitter and at facebook. Com billpressshow. Here we go, the whole team peter ogburn and dan henning leading us off. Hello guys. Good morning. Happy wednesday. Phil back from the ravens stadium and cyprian boulding extraordinaryair. Current came. I guess thats what with ought to call it the current cam for now at any rate. Right . We are here for you for now. Until it becomes that other cam,als aljeezera. Do you now work for aljeezera. As long as its current tv. By the way, speaking about now, this is one thing thats never happened to me because sip ran knows what he is doing. Obviously yesterday, very funny at the press briefing yesterday, we were told midmorning yesterday that president obama was actually going to come to the Briefing Room at 1 15 and make a statement. We werent sure what it was about. It turned out to be about the sequester. So, the room was pretty backed. There were more cameras than usual. And the president is right in the middle of making his message to congress. Weve got to do something to prevent the sequester, and if he cant do the big job and fix it, then do a little job and at least delay it for a few months so all of these people wont lose their jobs. And the pentagon will be able to get its checks out to members of the military and their families around the world. So, right in the middle of the president s pitch, one of the cameras i guess it turned out maybe it was the radio. Something. Something went wrong with the camera and it started making this really, really loud noise. The president actually he laughed. He laughed. But he was also not happy to be interrupted. Here is how that sounded. These reforms would reduce our governments bill. Whats up,camman cameraman . Come on, guys. Breaking my flow all the time. You can hear that little laugh of his. Breaking my flow. Breaking my flow. What are you doing here . He had a great big grin on his face but the cameraman was so embarrassed. So he got it under control and the president continued. And there were no more blowups. Usually, you hear the clicks. If the president moves his hands, thats got to be the shot and suddenly there are a thousand catholics. But this was the camera clearly that had gone out of control. I dont know what happened. The motor was like whirring. Whirring . Whirringhirringwhirring. Thats what it was doing. I have seen that word. I dont think i have spoken that word. All right. We all agree with you here today. Here we go with a lot to cover today. Eliot spits eliot spits er from buzzfeed feed, from the new republic and politico just for starters and yes, the focus, most of it yesterday at the briefing on what is our policy related to drones drones. Who decides those questions . Up, but first this is the full court press. Something you need to know as you head out the door newark new jersey mayor told the hill maybe one day about ben and jerry might name a flavor after him. They are considering smart cookie, he is well educated. Or mayor seven layer cake because he is a complex man or public servant, which they say would be filled with pecans and cash ews because the mayors job is simply nuts. No word when these may come to fruition. Bill i dont know that they will ever call him senator booker. Yeah. Banned from eating competitions, you can book competitive eater takaro takaro kukushioti. He ate an entire pizza in front of a crowd in one minute. Thats officially faster than the world record of 1 minute and 9 seconds of eating a large pizza. He was paid 3,200 for his appearance. Bill can you imagine. My, how the mighty have fallen. Having a party on the your house and, we have some entertainment. Yeah. For our childrens birthday party, last year we had a puppet show. This year, weve got kuboachi. He ate it at a minute. He hung out for the rest hung out for the whole game. Thats gross. Fifty hot dogs for your fans and throw up. Like having a clown come to your birthday party. Bill its a little different bill different. A celebration in baltimore maryland for the ravens yesterday, Washington Post reporting over 200,000 people packed city streets from the city hall to m and t bank. Coach and ed reed were there. Ed reed singing a little. Ravens celebrating. They had every right to sell brate. B more super ball champs. A special crap game. Oh, yeah. Oh, sure. Bill yesterday at the briefing, i have to tell you it was pretty intense overs the drones. We started talking about this yesterday when the news broke about this department of Justice White paper. The timing is very significant because tomorrow is the confirmation hearing for john brennan, the president s nominee, a good man, to be the next director of the cia. And brennan is known at the whitehouse, among other things, former deputy at cia, for being the architect of americas drone policy. He is the one who decides when drones are used and who they are targeted and what american citizens might be targeted. This is bound to come up. Several senators have already told me they are going to craze this question with john brennan and publicly said so. And just at the time they are preparing for this hearing this white paper, this was written by department of justice, for members of congress and sent to them last summer but for some reason, it never nobody ever leaked it until this week. We still dont know who leaked it. But this paper is pretty chilling. The paper is an unclassified document. So there is no breach of National Security here and its a department of justice explaining why they think the use of drones to kill american citizens on foreign soil is just justified justified. And they say it is its justified under the blanket authorization to conduct a war on terror that Congress Gave george bush after september 11th, so that that law, they say, is still in place, still gives the president complete authority to use drones. And they say the drones would be used to kill an american citizen if there are three conditions met one, that the this american citizen is believed to be a member of a terrorist organization like alqaeda or affiliated. Two, that that citizen, american citizen, is in an imminent threat to the United States and, three, that its infeasible to capture that particular american citizen. Now, who makes the decision is the real question. Right now, what this memo says by the way, here it is. Its 16 pages. I got it. Ive read it. It says, who makes the decision is, quote, an informed, highlevel official of the u. S. Government, which doesnt tell us much. Who is that . Is that the secretary of defense . Is it the cia director . Is it the National Security advisor . Is it the president of the United States . The Vice President . We dont know. So this topic really dominated the briefing yesterday. Jay carney insisted on every level, we are doing the right thing. We have acknowledged to the United States that sometimes we use remotely piloted aircraft to conduct targeted alqaeda terrorists in order to present attacks on the United States and save american lives. We couple conduct those strikes because they are necessary to mitigate ongoing threats t and save american lives. These strikes are legal. They are ethical and they are wise. Legal, ethical and wise and jay carney says here is the Legal Authority we are talking about. Also takes his responsibility in conducting the war against alqaeda as authorized by congress in a way that is fully consistent with our constitution and all of the applicable laws. Bill of course, he is talking about that blanket authorization for the war on terror, given to george w. Bush by congress right after september 11th. Its worth pointing out, this is the same blanket authorization that george bush used to justify torture, rendition, and wiretapping, domestic wiretapping of american citizens. Actions that Many Democrats and many progressives myself included said was an abuse of his authority at the time that that blanket authorization didnt give him the right to do anything and everything, didnt give him the right to torture, didnt give him the right to tap our phones, didnt give him the right to send people to Foreign Countries to be held and tortured without any trial, without due process. But now, the Obama Administration is using that same authorizeation, that same justification to the same authorization, rather, to justify the use of drones. The aclu among others, has raised questions about this. Chamcy is the spokesperson for the aclu. Essentially claimed that the executive branch can be judge, jury and executioner in cle declaring american citizens and targeting them for killing far from any battlefield bill so that is the problem. I mean, it seems to me that we are really saying yeah, the president can be well put, judge, jury and executioner. Due process . There is no more. Due process is out the window. There is no need to prove in a court of law, no judge is involved here at all. No jury is involved here at all. That person is guilty. This highlevel informed highlevel official of the United States decides that that person is guilty and we just send a drone in to whack em. I dont know about you. This is scary stuff. This will raises a lot of serious questions. I think we have got to be as tough asking these questions of the Obama Administration about drones as we were asking the Bush Administration about torture and about rendition, and what i want to know more than anything else is who is the informed highlevel official of the u. S. Government who makes these decisions . Again, who is it . Is it leon panetta . Is it the head of the cia, whoever the acting head is right now . Is it john brennan as the National Security advisor . Is it president obama . I mean is it jay carney . We dont know. We dont know who at the whitehouse is making these decisions. Thats what makes us different is we ask these questions of our president that we fought for. Yeah. These are real questions that should be answered. Bill its. What do you think . 86655press. I am there is i am not totally against drones. I am just saying we have to know what the rules are and who is pushing the button. We will be right back. Heard around the country, and seen on current tv this is the bill press show t [ music ] his ability, is trying to look out for us. That viewers like about the young turks is that were honest. They can question whether im right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. vo this afternoon, current tv is the place for compelling true stories. Jack, how old are you . Nine. This is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. vo with Award Winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines, way inside. vo from the underworld, to the world of privilege. Everyone in Michael Jacksons life was out to use him. vo no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current. This is the bill press show. 25 minutes after the hour. Should the United States be conducting drone warfare around the world and should the United States be killing american citizens whom they suspect of being involved in a terrorist organization on foreign soil without any trial, would youithout any due process, with the president playing judge jury, judge, and executioner. Its hard to get numbers on how many people have been killed. My column last may on this issue, i quoted in my column the new America Foundation survey that are looking at pakistan between 1785, 1,785 and 2,771 individuals have been killed in pakistan by Remote Controlled drones, of whom 1, 1,492 and 2,300 were militants. In other words, the nonmilitant or civilian deaths or collateral deaths were 17 . Thats pretty high. 17 collateral including 174 children. What do you say then . Oops . I mean at some point, you have to ask yourself whats the threshold here . What is the acceptable amount of collateral damage, as we are calling it, for this to be worth it . I mean we have killed a lot of kids. Bill not to mention the blowback in these countries from the use of these drones. These things are circling overhead for maybe a month before they finally, hit. People talking about this on twitter bp show. Mama for obama says an informed high level official is president obama and you know it. Dont act as if thats not the case. What we do not know t thats also echoed by damien cash who says that informed Government Official is defined as many different people. Bill if it is the president , i think we have got a right to know it. If the president is giving the orders to kill these americans i think thats, you know, thats pretty significant. A big deal. John calling from eureka springs, arkansas. Thank you for taking my call. I am not nervous. I am just angry, and its hard to remain civil when you are an angry american as me. Bill go for it. I am a veteran. I served during the vietnam era, but my point is this what constitutional or bill of rights and yet the paradigm we keep fussing under is this dualopathy of the two parties. We are paying them extreme amounts of money and there is no political accountability. I think i am so against the drones, i dont know where to begin. But when you start blowoiling things down whats americans definition of insanity because we keep repeating the same thing by reelecting the same incumbents. Bill john, those are all good questions and i think, again, we are not saying never, never, never. But we are saying, you know, what are the rules that apply here . Should we really be doing it . This is the bill press show. Armed with the facts, and the arguments to feel confident in their positions. I want them to have the data and i want them to have the passion. But its also about telling them, youre put on this planet for something more. I want this show to have an impact beyond just informing. An impact that gets people to take action themselves. As a human being, thats really important. This is not just a spectator sport. [ music ] chatting with you live at current. Com billpress. This is the bill press show live on your radio and Current Tv Bill 33 minutes after the hour on a wednesday, february 6th. It is a full court press coming to you live from our nations capitol here and brought to you today by the enternational brother harry reidhood of teamsters, the good m