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.”

    Read more »


  • 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.

    Read more »


  • 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.

    Read more »


  • 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.

    Read more »


  • 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…

    Read more »


  • 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.

    Read more »


  • 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.

    Read more »


  • 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.

    Read more »


  • 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.

    Read more »


  • 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…’

    Read more »


  • Amazon Union Leader Beaten by Israeli Military

    “’The Freedom Flotilla Coalition confirms that upon arrival in Israeli custody, U.S. human rights defender, Christian Small, was physically assaulted by seven uniformed individuals,’ wrote the Freedom Flotilla Coalition on Instagram. ‘They choked him and kicked him, leaving visible signs of violence on his neck and back.'”

  • “Transparent Farce”: Israel’s Latest Strategies of Deliberate Starvation

    The resumption of aid airdrops “approved by Israel and implemented on Saturday evening, does not reflect a genuine shift in the humanitarian response. Rather, it aims to mislead international public opinion and downplay the severity of the crime, diverting attention from Israel’s systematic starvation policy in the Gaza Strip, which has caused an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.” 

  • U.N. Still Hasn’t Declared a Famine in Gaza, a Year After Palestinian Groups Called for It

    “Secretary General Guteress should not allow Israel’s deliberate blocking of data collection to impede a formal famine declaration and provide cover for this genocide by starvation. The international community has sufficient evidence, including video documentation of starving children, testimonies from U.N. officials, and Israel’s own statements about cutting off food supplies to support an immediate…

  • Protests Demand Aid Get Into Gaza, Sanctions on Israel

    More than 100 organizations are demanding the entry and distribution of lifesaving aid to Gaza, see statement from Doctors Without Borders: “As the Israeli government’s siege starves the people of Gaza, aid workers are now joining the same food lines, risking being shot just to feed their families. With supplies now totally depleted, humanitarian organizations are witnessing…

  • Gaza: “Countries MUST Act to Stop Starvation”

    The Independent reports: “‘No one is spared’: Children are starving to death in Gaza and even the medics treating them faint from hunger.” AntiWar.com reports: “Fifteen More Palestinians Starve to Death in Gaza Due to US-Backed Israeli Blockade” and “Israeli Forces Kill 72 Palestinians in Gaza Over 24 Hours.” Michael Fakhri, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right…

  • Vaccine Intentions of Parents

    A new study finds that between 35 and 40 percent of pregnant women and parents of young kids in the U.S. plan to fully vaccinate their child on schedule, including Covid and flu vaccines. Women in their first pregnancy expressed the most uncertainty about vaccinations, with 48 percent being unsure of how they would proceed…

  • Not a War in Gaza — It’s Genocide

    “I don’t know of any comparable situation. Recent estimates show that about 70 percent of the structures in Gaza are either completely destroyed or severely damaged. The argument that the I.D.F. [Israel Defense Forces] is conducting a war in Gaza is simply cynical, there is no war in Gaza. What the I.D.F. is doing in…

  • ​Medical Debt Rule Struck Down

    A federal judge in Texas has vacated a Biden-era Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule that removed medical debt from Americans’ credit reports. 

  • Pope Condemns “Barbarity” as Israel Kills People Waiting for Food

    The Guardian reports: “Pope condemns Gaza war’s ‘barbarity’ as 93 reported killed by Israeli fire while waiting for food” and “Christian patriarchs make joint visit to shelled church in Gaza.” The Guardian also reports: “‘Humanitarian city’ would be concentration camp for Palestinians, says former Israeli PM.” America magazine reports: “A Palestinian Christian community is the latest target of settler violence in the…

  • HHS Moving to Restrict Head Start Access

    The Department of Health and Human Services has announced that it intends to redefine Head Start as a federal public welfare program, not a public education program, barring access to the program for undocumented immigrants. The change is at odds with the way that the Supreme Court has treated K-12 education since 1982, when it…

Mastodon