News Items

  • Calls to Suspend Syrian Refugee and Other Recent Anti-Muslim Statements by Government Officials

    Compiled by the Institute for Public Accuracy with Arun Kundnani and Deepa Kumar. Kundnani said: “While it’s very easy to denounce Trump’s recent repugnant, bullying statements — and much of the political class has — it’s important to keep several things in mind: First, as the compilation of statements by elected officials makes clear, he made these statements after many officials from across the country made scores of statements playing on unfounded fears against Syrian refugees and other Muslims.”

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  • Classified Politics: A System and a Clinton in Disrepute

    It is most unlikely, however, that Hillary Clinton will fall victim to accusations that rely on improper over-­classification. The State Department and White House, including President Obama himself, sought to protect her and to minimize the effects of her behavior. The case is extremely high­-profile, Democrats in Congress would attack any borderline classification, and a host of well-­paid lawyers would rise to her defense. Improperly classified items or those deemed Sensitive but Unclassified may be redacted from publicly released documents, but it is hard to imagine that Mrs. Clinton would be falsely accused of felonies.

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  • Video of Sterling News Conference

    Please enjoy the full video of Holly Sterling’s news conference, which was her first such appearance since her husband’s trial and imprisonment. The news conference also featured Thomas Drake, Delphine Halgand, Ray McGovern, and Jesselyn Radack.

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  • Open Letter to President Obama from Holly Sterling

    Does the government have no shame in destroying one man’s life and wasting tens of millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money to punish a man who had the audacity to do two things: Stand up for his constitutional rights and utilize proper channels provided to him to express concern for the citizens of our country? I am deeply saddened by our lives’ events that Jeffrey and I have suffered and endured. You publicly committed to a transparent government led by your administration, yet it has been shrouded in mistruth and secrecy.

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  • Unprecedented News Conference: Wife of Imprisoned CIA Whistleblower to Speak Out

    Jeffrey Sterling was convicted under the Espionage Act as a source for New York Times reporter James Risen’s book State of War. He began serving his three-and-a-half year prison sentence in June. His wife’s news conference will be the first time the spouse of a CIA whistleblower has made such an appearance.

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  • Cultural Shift Needed on Police Militarization

    Police militarization is a 25 year long trend that has only grown in momentum over time. The restrictions on militaristic gear directed by the White House while important symbolically, will certainly not substantively impact this trend in and of itself. Police militarization at this point is as much a cultural problem as it is a material one, and reversing the cultural trend toward police militarization will require more far reaching efforts.

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  • Watch the Short Documentary “The Invisible Man: CIA Whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling”

    “‘The federal courtroom in northern Virginia where Holly and Jeffrey Sterling returned for the sentencing on May 11 was the scene of a disturbing, though scantly reported, simulation of justice in late January. At the outset, covering the trial, I noted that ‘prospective jurors made routine references to ‘three-letter agencies’ and alphabet-soup categories of security clearances.’ Steeped in a local atmosphere of deference to mega-employers like the CIA and Pentagon along with numerous big contracting firms nearby, ‘the jury pool was bound to please the prosecution.’”

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  • On Jeffrey Sterling: From the Filmmaker of “Invisible Man”

    “The most shocking element of this story it that Jeffrey Sterling seems to be punished because he ‘pulled on Superman’s cape’ first with a racial discrimination suit they were able to squash and then by reporting what he considered a dangerous CIA operation to the proper government channels for hearing such a concern.”

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  • News Conference: Whistleblowers Weigh In on Policy

    William Binney (NSA), Thomas Drake (NSA), Daniel Ellsberg (Pentagon Papers), Raymond McGovern (CIA), Jesselyn Radack (Justice Department), Coleen Rowley (FBI) and Kirk Wiebe (NSA) spoke at this news conference, sponsored by ExposeFacts.org, a project of the Institute for Public Accuracy.

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  • Netanyahu Victory Opens Door for One-State Solution

    Just before the election, Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu ruled out the creation of a Palestinian State, which means that he repudiated the two-state solution to the dispute between the Israelis and the Palestinians. This has been the pronounced objective of American foreign policy since the Madrid Conference and the Middle East Peace Negotiations in 1991 held under the auspices of the United States government and with the full support of the international community.

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  • Bangladesh Workers Were “Ordered Back to Work” Before Building Collapse

    “Our staff are on the ground. The garment workers saw the crack yesterday and refused to work. A Savar subdistrict officer came and told the owners that the building was unsafe. This morning the factory owners told the workers that ‘some cracks will not be a problem.’ They ordered the workers back to work. The…

  • Qatar “Deforming” Arab Uprisings

    “At the beginning of the Tunisian uprising, Al Jazeera played a generally positive role, but as soon as the dictator was deposed, Al Jazeera had a total shift to featuring more Islamic groups from Tunisia — giving them the platform. Al Jazeera also highlighted and fostered the uprisings in the Republics (Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and…

  • * Neocons Backed Chechens * Bush/Putin Deal

    COLEEN ROWLEY, rowleyclan at earthlink.net Consortium News writes: “The revelation that the family of the two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings was from Chechnya prompted new speculation about the attack as Islamic terrorism. Less discussed was the history of U.S. neocons supporting Chechen terrorists as a strategy to weaken Russia, as ex-FBI agent Coleen…

  • In Boston Case, Miranda Exception Condemned

    VINCENT WARREN, via Jen Nessel, JNessel at ccrjustice.org, @VinceWarren The Center for Constitutional Rights released a statement from Warren over the weekend: “Our thoughts go out to the friends and families of victims ofthese horrific bombings. While it is difficult to turn to points of law in times of tragedy, those are, in fact, the…

  • Earth Day: “No Profit” When You Add Environmental Costs

    Bloomberg reports: “The environmental impact of doing business costs the global economy $4.7 trillion a year, according to a report released April 15 . “That figure includes the top 100 environmental impacts, such as airpollution-related health costs, the effects of greenhouse gas emissions, the loss of nature-based benefits such as carbon storage by forests, and…

  • Boston Bombings: Reflection from Watertown

    JOSEPH GERSON, jgerson at afsc.org Gerson is director of programs for the American Friends Service Committee in New England. He said today: “It’s been an interesting 18 hours, since we heard the helicopters overhead. I live in Watertown, about a mile and a half from the 20-block area which has been the focus of the…

  • The Other Race: Protests for a New Mideast in Bahrain Today

    BBC is reporting: “Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters have blocked a major motorway in Bahrain ahead of Sunday’s F1 Grand Prix in the Gulf kingdom. Some in the crowd carried banners with the slogan: ‘Don’t race on our blood.’ The rally along Budaiya Highway followed a night of heavy clashes between demonstrators and security…

  • Allan Nairn: Guatemala Genocide Trial Suspended; Protects President and “Institutional Army”

    The New York Times reports: “A Guatemalan judge on Thursday annulled the genocide trial against the former dictator Gen. Efraín Ríos Montt, a stunning ruling that could force prosecutors to begin the case all over again.” ALLAN NAIRN, [in Guatemala City] allan.nairn at yahoo.com A noted investigative reporter, Nairn just wrote the piece “The Genocide Trial…

  • Deadly Texas Explosion: Key Facts

    Reuters reports: “A deadly explosion and fire tore through a fertilizer plant in a small Texas town late on Wednesday, injuring more than 100 people, leveling dozens of homes and spewing toxic fumes that forced evacuations of half the community, authorities said. They said an undetermined number of people had been killed, and that the…

  • Use of “Terrorism”

    BEAU GROSSCUP, bgrosscup at csuchico.edu Grosscup is author of several books on terrorism including Strategic Terror: The Politics and Ethics of Aerial Bombardment. He said today: “Initially, President Obama called the Boston bombing a ‘tragedy,’ a label for which he was roundly criticized by the political right. A day later he declared it ‘an act…

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