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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  • Indefinite Detentions, Trial Today

    Today, a jury trial of 14 anti-torture activists is scheduled to begin in Washington, D.C. as anti-torture and indefinite detention protests escalate. AllGov.com reports today: “He waited until New Year’s Eve to do it … but he did it. While expressing ‘serious reservations’ about the bill, President Barack Obama on New Year’s Eve signed legislation…

  • Christianity and Occupy Wall Street

    BLASE BONPANE, ooa at igc.org Director of the Office of the Americas, Bonpane served as a Maryknoll priest in Guatemala and has written five books including Guerrillas of Peace: Liberation Theology and the Central American Revolution and Civilization is Possible. His latest book is Imagine No Religion: An Autobiography. He said today: “I fully agree…

  • Alleged WikiLeaks Source Bradley Manning Getting Rigged Trial, Supporters Charge

    JEFF PATERSON, via Zack Pesavento, press at bradleymanning.org Paterson is a veteran and co-founder of the Bradley Manning Support Network. He said: “Military officials are continuing their star chamber prosecution after abusing Bradley Manning of his rights for 18 months. The investigating officer is not only biased to produce an outcome that is favorable to…

  • U.S.-Backed Egyptian Military Killing Pro-Democracy Protesters

    The Egyptian military is denying charges of brutalizing civilians. The Daily Mail webpage features video of the Egyptian military dragging and beating a woman — a video that had over 2 million views on YouTube. The video, “Martyrs of the Egyptian Revolution,” just had English subtitles added. JIHAN HAFIZ, fahema22 at gmail.com REED LINDSAY, reedlindsay…

  • North Korea After Kim Jong-Il

    CHRISTINE AHN, christineahn at mac.com, Ahn is executive director of the Korea Policy Institute and a member of Korean Americans for Fair Trade. She said today: “While Kim Jong Il’s death comes as a great shock, his illness since 2008 has long been reported in the media, and had set in motion succession plans for…

  • Congressional Deal on Backs of D.C. Residents

    The Washington Post reports on the current spending package: “Social conservatives won a ban on government-funded abortions in Washington, D.C., and restored a longstanding ban on funding for needle exchange programs used to prevent the spread of HIV. But efforts to take away federal funding for Planned Parenthood failed, as expected.”

  • The Iraq War Disaster

    RAED JARRAR, jarrar.raed at gmail.com Jarrar is an Iraqi-American blogger and political analyst based in Washington, D.C. He said today: “Millions of Iraqis are celebrating the U.S. withdrawal this month, in what is widely viewed as a condemnation of the U.S. military involvement in Iraq. This is especially true with the final attempt by the…

  • America Beyond Capitalism

    GAR ALPEROVITZ, via John Duda, jduda at democracycollaborative.org, KEANE BHATT, keanebhatt at gmail.com THOMAS HANNAH, tmhanna at democracycollaborative.org Alperovitz, author of the just-released new edition of America Beyond Capitalism wrote an op-ed titled “Worker-Owners of America, Unite!” published in today’s New York Times. The piece states: “A mere 1 percent of Americans own just under…

  • Protester Time’s “Person of Year” — As Congress Votes to Curtail Rights

    SHAHID BUTTAR, via Amy E. Ferrer, media at bordc.org Buttar is executive director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, which is organizing a news conference today at the National Press Club on the National Defense Authorization Act. He said today: “By naming ‘the protester’ as its ‘Person of the Year,’ Time magazine recognized the…

  • “The 10 Greediest Americans of 2011”

    SAM PIZZIGATI, editor at toomuchonline.org, Pizzigati edits “Too Much” the weekly Institute for Policy Studies newsletter on excess and inequality. He just wrote the piece “The 10 Greediest Americans of 2011,’ which lists the following: 10. Michael T. Duke, Wal-Mart CEO: Duke takes home his millions — $18.7 million in the company’s latest fiscal year…

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