News Items

  • Affidavit by Daniel Ellsberg for Plowshare Activists Being Allowed a Defense of Necessity

    In 1971 I gave the U.S. Senate, the New York Times and the Washington Post copies of what have come to be known as The Pentagon Papers. I was arrested on twelve felony counts. My trial was dismissed because of government misconduct which figured in the impeachment proceedings against President Nixon…These considerations bear on two other elements of the necessity defense, the “lack of legal alternatives” and the “imminence” of the harms to be averted. Again, I speak from my own experience, but not only mine, in saying that it is the perceived insufficiency of other means, by themselves not…

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  • A Long List of Democratic Candidates Requires a Large Catalog of Their Funders

    By Sam Haut: As the first debates for the Democratic primary begin, and the list of candidates has grown to 24, it can be difficult to contextualize where each candidate has received funding from over the course of their time in office. What follows is a list of the Democratic candidates and the top sources for how much money they’ve made and where those top sources come from.

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  • NATO and US Foreign Policy: Dangers Ahead

    RootsAction.org held a news conference Thursday on “NATO and U.S. Foreign Policy: Dangers Ahead” hosted by the Institute for Public Accuracy. Speakers include former State Department officials Matthew Hoh, Ann Wright, as well as Martin Fleck. The event was moderated by Norman Solomon.

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  • Media Advisory: “NATO and U.S. Foreign Policy: Dangers Ahead”

    At 10 a.m. Tuesday, April 2, 2019 at the National Press Club: On the same day that President Trump is scheduled to meet with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the White House, this news conference will focus on the U.S.-NATO relationship. Speakers include former State Department officials Matthew Hoh and Ann Wright.

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  • Statement by Floyd Abrams in response to Attorney General nominee William Barr’s remarks on the First Amendment

    “It’s one thing to say that there could be circumstances in which a journalist’s need to protect her sources could lead to a potential finding of contempt of court if she refused to obey a court order requiring such disclosure. But the notion that a journalist could properly be jailed for publishing material that the government thinks could ‘hurt the country’ is something else entirely and would be deeply threatening to First Amendment norms in general and journalistic freedom in particular.”

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  • Statement on NAFTA’s “Kafkaesque” Turn

    The supposedly concluded renegotiation of NAFTA has reached a Kafkaesque stage. As the United States Trade Representative has stated: “The United States and Mexico have reached a preliminary agreement in principle, subject to finalization and implementation.” Not only the negotiations have not been finalized, and without Canada, but the texts remain hidden from the public.

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  • What’s the Cost of Medicare for All?

    Even a Koch-backed think tank finds Medicare for all would cut health care spending. In a report released by the Mercatus Center, a single-payer health care system would offset costs with even greater savings. The Intercept and other media reporting on this are citing the work of Drs. David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler. They are distinguished professors of health policy at the City University of New York at Hunter College and lecturers in medicine at Harvard Medical School. They have written an analysis of the work of the Koch-backed think tank, the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, which is…

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  • Trump Team Hired Israeli Spy Firm Used by Harvey Weinstein to Attack Obama Officials on Iran Deal

    “Aides to Donald Trump, the U.S. president, hired an Israeli private intelligence agency to orchestrate a ‘dirty ops’ campaign against key individuals from the Obama administration who helped negotiate the Iran nuclear deal, the Observer can reveal. People in the Trump camp contacted private investigators in May last year to ‘get dirt’ on Ben Rhodes, who had been one of Barack Obama’s top national security advisers, and Colin Kahl, deputy assistant to Obama, as part of an elaborate attempt to discredit the deal.”

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  • From the desk of Noam Chomsky

    From the desk of Noam Chomsky

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  • 15 Years Later: The Whistleblower Who Almost Blocked the Iraq War

    Media Advisory: Press Conference to Mark 15th Anniversary Of Leak by GCHQ Translator Katharine Gun Revealing US “Dirty Tricks” at UN for Iraq War When:  Thursday, 1 March 2018 at 11:00 a.m. Where:  Head office, National Union of Journalists Headland House, 72 Acton Street, London, WC1X 9NB Who:  Katharine Gun, Thomas Drake, Matthew Hoh, Jesselyn Radack This press conference will take place the day before the 15th anniversary of the Observer’s publication of the explosive March 2, 2003 story “US dirty tricks to win vote on Iraq war” — based on a leak by GCHQ translator Katharine Gun — revealing the US National Security Agency’s UN surveillance memo that aimed to grease the way for the…

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  • EPA Protesters: Years After BP Spill, Toxic Effects Continue

    “Address the problems posed by landfills in our communities. Hazardous wastes cannot be disposed of at landfills that were not designed to handle hazardous wastes. For example, oil and chemical dispersant-laden wastes from cleanup in the Gulf Coast were disposed of in many non-hazardous waste landfills. These landfills are located in and near communities, often…

  • Families Confront EPA’s Failure to Protect the Public

  • Membership to Vote on Railroad Strike; Role of Wall St.

    Mel Buer, contributor to The Real News Network, “It will ultimately be up to the union membership to decide if the deal negotiated by their leadership is satisfactory: the tentative agreement is to be sent back to members for review, with a vote later this month.”

  • Economists Find Roughly 500,000 U.S. Adults Out of Labor Force from Covid-19 Illnesses

    Economists Gopi Shah Goda and Evan Soltas estimate that roughly 500,000 U.S. adults are still out of the labor force due to past Covid-19 illnesses. 

  • Prominent Anti-Vaccine Doctor Under Indictment in Brazil

    Dr. Flávio Cadegiani, a founding member of a prominent anti-vaccine, pro-ivermectin doctors’ group called Frontline Covid-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC), is under indictment in Brazil. 

  • Activists Exposing “Forever Chemicals” Confronting EPA

    One reason harmful chemical PFAS are manufactured in Brenda Hampton’s community is to make food packaging grease resistant for companies like McDonald’s. A chemical plant owned by a company called Daikin makes PFAS upriver from Lawrence County’s drinking water intake valve — and pollutes the water in the process.

  • Biden’s “Anti Hate” Agenda Perpetuates “Harmful Counterterrorism Framework” that “Furthered White Supremacy”

    On Thursday, President Biden is scheduled to give a talk at the “United We Stand” summit which he is hosting. But dozens of groups have just released a letter criticizing the Countering Violent Extremism program, writing that they are “deeply concerned that the United We Stand summit will continue or expand the harmful counterterrorism framework and initiatives that…

  • Military Victims of the Red Hill Water Crisis to Join Others at EPA Protests

    U.S. Army Major Amanda Feindt’s entire family has experienced adverse medical effects from fuel-tainted water. Now, she is involved with SAFE — Scientists, Activists, and Families for Cancer-Free Environments, which has announced a protest at EPA headquarters in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 20. The demonstration will feature families, firefighters, and military members from around the…

  • Mississippi Water Crisis Highlights Infrastructure Needs Proposed in WATER Act

    Mary Grant, Water Program Director for Food & Water Watch, said today: “Congress must pass the WATER Act to fully fund our water and wastewater systems nationwide, and mitigate the burden on communities already struggling with unaffordable water bills. The federal government must restore its commitment to safe water and provide water justice to communities across…

  • Behind the Severe Drop in Life Expectancy in the U.S.

    The average life expectancy in the United States fell again in 2021, leading to what the New York Times called the “sharpest two-year decline in nearly 100 years”. Jim Kahn at Health Justice Monitor says that single payer would have made a “huge difference… What’s the role of health insurance? The [New York Times] doesn’t…

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