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News Items

  • Media Advisory: Whistleblowers to Speak About Surveillance and Cyber Issues

    “President Barack Obama is set to sign an executive order on Friday aimed at encouraging companies to share more information about cybersecurity threats with the government and each other, a response to attacks like that on Sony Entertainment. … Obama will sign the order at a day-long conference on cybersecurity at Stanford University in the heart of Silicon Valley.”

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  • Delegation of U.S. and UK Whistleblowers in London: News Conference on “Special Surveillance Relationship” — News Advisory

    Whistleblowers from four American and British “national security” agencies will hold a news conference in London on November 21 in a direct challenge to surveillance policies of the U.S. and UK governments. The whistleblowers — from the NSA, FBI, State Department and GCHQ — will speak about the effects of their governments’ policies on freedom of the press and democracy. They are traveling as a delegation co-sponsored by the U.S.-based organizations RootsAction.org and ExposeFacts, a project of the Institute for Public Accuracy. The news conference is being hosted by the Foreign Press Association.

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  • In Response to the Government’s Lynching of James Risen

    It has been a sharp learning curve for Jim Risen, but by having numerous grand juries and two administrations relentlessly hounding him, he has learned how deeply the government’s malevolence descends. But there was always one steadfast assertion he wound not compromise, Jim Risen assured his sources, from the very start of their first encounter, that he would never divulge their identities nor what information they provided him with.

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  • Militarization of U.S. Police: Ferguson, Mo.

    Community policing reforms came about as a corrective to the 1950-60s professional police model which created a large gulf between police and citizens. Few noticed that underlying all the CP rhetoric was a little noticed yet foretelling trend of para-militarism as found in SWAT teams. What we’re witnessing today, though, with the influence of the Dept. of Homeland Security since 9/11 — along with growing emphasis on military hardware and tactics — is the expansion of police militarization throughout entire police departments — and indeed, the entire police institution.

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  • Unconstitutional acts of war in Iraq

    President Obama ignored the wise direction of President George Washington when he casually told the nation — and Congress — that U.S. military forces will engage in acts of war in Iraq for an extended period of weeks and maybe months. Bombing, he said in a brief statement last week, is needed here and there, but he promised there will be no U.S. boots on the ground. … The announcement seemed almost an afterthought as the president headed for vacation in Martha’s Vineyard. He neglected to seek approval of Congress before authorizing bombardment of the military forces of ISIS, the…

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  • News Conference: Edward Snowden’s Passport, Political Asylum and Related Issues

    Ray McGovern, Coleen Rowley and Norman Solomon spoke at this news conference, sponsored by RootsAction.org and hosted by the Institute for Public Accuracy.

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  • NSA Veterans and Whistleblowers Respond to Obama Speech

    Minutes after President Obama’s major address on NSA surveillance on Friday, Jan. 17, the Institute for Public Accuracy held a news conference with noted NSA veterans and whistleblowers.

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  • The War on Poverty at Fifty

    Fifty years after Lyndon B. Johnson made it the centerpiece of his first State of the Union address on January 8, 1964, the War on Poverty remains one of the most embattled—and least understood—of Great Society initiatives.

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  • Edward Snowden: Profile in Courage

    Edward Snowden may go down in history as one of this nation’s most important whistleblowers. He is certainly one of the bravest.

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  • Obama’s Economic Race Legacy

    From the start, President Barack Obama has shown little interest or loyalty in the issues that affect the poor, working class and people of color in the United States. For almost his entire first term he didn’t utter the words poor or poverty. Early on he reminded African Americans: ‘I’m not the president of black America. I’m the president of the United States of America…’

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  • Media Coverage of Ukraine: When Selectivity Becomes Propaganda

    “The whiteness of Ukrainians may make it easier for Western governments to sell to their publics escalation and intervention instead of urgent negotiations to defuse a potentially catastrophic crisis between nuclear superpowers.

  • What’s Wrong with the CDC’s Decision to Drop Mask Mandate

    The CDC’s new guidelines, which allow around 70 percent of Americans to stop wearing masks indoors, place a double burden on the medically vulnerable, asking them to exclude themselves from society and bear the cost of buying PPE. Disability advocates have decried the agency’s shift. Beatrice Adler-Bolton says, “We should be honest that a lot…

  • Toxic Military “Burn Pits” Across the U.S. and in Iraq: Why Are They Allowed?

    After Joe Biden suggests his son’s fatal cancer could be attributed to toxic “burn pits,” experts and activists question their continued use. Laura Olah of the Cease Fire Campaign said that “Nationwide, there are approximately 60 active private and public sector facilities that routinely conduct OB/OD [open burn/open demolition] of hazardous waste. All are currently…

  • End Ukraine War, and Perpetual Wars: Call for a Transnational Citizens’ Movement

    “What’s needed above all is a courageous and transnational citizens’ movement demanding not simply the end of the war on Ukraine but also an end to perpetual wars. We need political leaders who will speak out about our real security needs and resist the reflex to fall into old patterns that distract from the threats…

  • News Headlines Downplaying Severity of Omicron Variant

    Justin Feldman: “When Omicron first hit the U.S., pundits and government officials painted a misleading picture that downplayed the severe public health consequences of the variant. The truth is that even while people infected with Omicron are less likely to die compared to Delta, it is hardly mild. The narrative of ‘mildness’ provided cover for…

  • Ukraine Crisis: Overlooked Facts

    “Now, sadly, Russia’s illegal actions will embolden the hawks and armament mongers on all sides. Already armchair strategists are calling for doubling the US military budget, for grasping the ‘strategic opportunity’ to bleed Putin in Ukraine while pushing the Europeans to build up their military forces.”

  • Ukraine and the “Borderline Euphoria” of Military Lobbyists

    ANDREW COCKBURN, [email protected], @andrewmcockburn Cockburn is author of the new book The Spoils of War: Power, Profit and the American War MachineAndrew Cockburn’s new book reports on how “Washington expanded NATO to satisfy an arms manufacturer’s urgent financial requirements; the U.S. Navy’s Pacific fleet deployments were for years dictated by a corrupt contractor who bribed high-ranking officers with cash…

  • Can OSCE Help Defuse Ukraine Crisis?

    Nonviolence International released a staetment last week: “A Chane for Peace: OSCE Must Strengthen the Ukraine Peace Monitoring Mission. The U.S. must reverse its withdrawal of OSCE peace observers.” Its director said today: “The escalation in these territories means that peace monitoring to monitor the conflict is needed more than ever.”

  • How Biden Could End the Ukraine Crisis

    Expert David Gibbs on the dangers of expanding NATO into Ukraine and how the Biden administration should deescalate the current conflict. He said that to resolve the crisis in Ukraine, “the Biden administration should offer a written guarantee that Ukraine will not be allowed to join NATO. To do this would satisfy” a “key Russian demand.”

  • Ukraine, Cyberattacks and Undermining Democratic Processes

    Amid widespread reports of cyberattacks on Ukraine, expert John Quigley weighs in on the “slippery slope” of self defense. He says the notion “has been misused as an illegal threat or for outright war” and that since the context for its creation has passed, “there’s really no legitimate reason for NATO to exist as an…

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