CHIP BERLET Berlet is senior analyst at Political Research Associates. He recently wrote the piece “Tea Party Loyalists Biased Against Blacks, Latinos, Immigrants and Gays.” Berlet also recently delivered the talk “Reframing Resentments in the Tea Party Movement,” which states: “The signs, slogans, stories, and tropes of the Tea Party troops are often incomprehensible to…

CHRIS KROMM Executive director of the Institute for Southern Studies, Kromm said today: “Outlandish claims of ‘voter fraud’ — while backed up by little evidence — are reaching a fever pitch. In the 2010 election season, Tea Party groups like True the Vote in Texas are calling for ‘millions’ of volunteer poll-watchers to challenge and…

Student Joel Francis presented a debate challenge letter in person to the Wichita, Kansas offices of Koch Industries’ CEO Charles Koch. Koch has bankrolled the California ballot initiative, Proposition 23, with at least $1 million. JOEL FRANCIS, via Gabriel Elsner California State University, Los Angeles senior, former Marine and debate team veteran Joel Francis traveled…

JOSH STIEBER Stieber is a veteran of the Bravo Company documented in the video “Collateral Murder,” released earlier this year by WikiLeaks. The British Telegraph reports: “An American military legal adviser told helicopter crew that Iraqi men were valid targets as they could not surrender to aircraft, the documents show. “The Apache helicopter killed the…

LISA HAJJAR, [currently at Guantanamo] Hajjar is an editor of Middle East Report and an associate professor of sociology at the University of California-Santa Barbara. She is covering events from Guantanamo Bay. She recently wrote the piece “Travesty in Progress: Omar Khadr and the U.S. Military Commissions.” MICHAEL RATNER President of the Center for Constitutional…

JESSELYN RADACK Radack is homeland security and human rights director of the Government Accountability Project, a nonprofit public interest group based in Washington, D.C. She is a whistleblower herself and is closely following the cases of whistleblowers whom the Obama administration is prosecuting. She said today: “Daniel Ellsberg, famous for leaking the Pentagon Papers, in…

Several media outlets have released information based on documents from WikiLeaks about the Iraq war this afternoon. See WikiLeaks Twitter feed PRATAP CHATTERJEE Chatterjee is a regular columnist for the British Guardian, which has had access to the WikiLeaks documents. He is the author of three forthcoming articles, which will appear in Comment is Free…

WikiLeaks has posted on its Twitter feed that it will be holding a news conference shortly. The program Democracy Now reported this morning that “WikiLeaks is preparing to release up to 400,000 U.S. intelligence reports on the Iraq war. The disclosure would comprise the biggest leak in U.S. history, far more than the … Afghanistan…

RICHARD WOLFF Recently back from Europe, Wolff is author of the book Capitalism Hits the Fan: The Global Economic Meltdown and What to Do About It. He said today: “For many weeks now, a stunning and historical shift has accelerated across France. An alliance of trade unions, left political parties and sections of parties, students…

Politico is reporting: “More than 200 Democrats have signed onto a pledge to protect Social Security from any interference, amid some Republican calls for partial privatization of the entitlement program.” DOUG HENWOOD Editor of Left Business Observer, Henwood said today: “It’s cheering to see 200 Congressional Democrats sign a pledge to protect Social Security from…