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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  • Uproar Grows as Sen. Feinstein’s Husband Profits from Post Office Privatization

    Gary Brechin is founder and project scholar of the Living New Deal Project. Brechin has written a series of articles, including “Selling off the Post Office: Berkeley calls out Richard Blum” and “Congress to Postal Service: ‘Drop Dead!'”– which states: “The fire sale of our post offices is accelerating while the media remain largely asleep…

  • Billions in Local Corporate Subsidies Highlighted by New York Times Series

    Greg LeRoy is executive director and Philip Mattera is research director for Good Jobs First, a group “promoting accountability in economic development and smart growth for working families.” They have focused on exposing subsidies to companies from state and local governments since 1998. LeRoy said today: “Shining a light on the huge costs of job…

  • Alleged WikiLeaks Source Manning Speaks

    Co-author of Truth & Consequences: The U.S. vs. Bradley Manning, Kevin Gosztola is covering the Manning trial at Firedoglake.com. He said today: “Bradley Manning has been in pretrial confinement for over 900 days and, in this current hearing, his defense is arguing he was ‘unlawfully punished’ while imprisoned at the Quantico Marine Brig for nine…

  • Could Israel be Brought Before the International Criminal Court?

    Reuters reports: “The U.N. General Assembly is set to implicitly recognize a sovereign state of Palestine on Thursday despite threats by the United States and Israel to punish the Palestinian Authority by withholding much-needed funds for the West Bank government.” AFP reports: “Britain threatened Wednesday to abstain from a vote for enhanced Palestinian status at…

  • Galbraith: “Fiscal Cliff” a Pretext to Target Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid

    James K. Galbraith recently wrote the piece “Six Reasons the Fiscal Cliff is a Scam,” which states: “Stripped to essentials, the fiscal cliff is a device constructed to force a rollback of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, as the price of avoiding tax increases and disruptive cuts in federal civilian programs and in the military.…

  • Walmart Forced to Finally Admit Deadly Bangladesh Factory Was Supplier

    Kalpona Akter started work in garment factories when she was 12 years old. Now she campaigns for better wages, recognition of the right to organize and higher safety standards. She said today: “I have been a garment worker in Bangladesh and I know the terrible conditions that workers must face every day – dangerous safety…

  • Bangladesh and Walmart

    Associate professor of labor studies at the Murphy Institute at the City University of New York, Stephanie Luce said today: “The fire is a tragedy, but unfortunately not a surprise. Bangladesh has received a lot of attention in its role as a large garment producer, and as such, has been targeted in some high profile…

  • Morsi vs. The Continuing Egyptian Revolution?

    Sharif Abdel Kouddous is a Democracy Now! correspondent based in Cairo. He reported this morning: “Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi dropped a bombshell with this seven point constitutional declaration. … The only check on Morsi was the judiciary — and now he has placed himself beyond that as well.”

  • Walmart Protests

    LIZA FEATHERSTONE [email]: “I have been covering Walmart for more than a decade as a labor journalist. This is the most significant rebellion among the company’s workforce in years, possibly ever. It’s long been clear that change can only come to Walmart when employees organize one another, and these folks are doing that.”

  • Will Palestinians “Be Likened to the Sioux”?

    SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS, [email] [Twitter]  Sharif Abdel Kouddous is a Democracy Now! correspondent based in Cairo, now in Gaza. See his reporting, including about how protesters from Tahrir Square in Cairo got into Gaza. JENNIFER LOEWENSTEIN, [email] Loewenstein is faculty associate in Middle East Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has spent extensive time…

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