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…

    Read more »


  • 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.

    Read more »


  • 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.

    Read more »


  • 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.

    Read more »


  • 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.”

    Read more »


  • 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.

    Read more »


  • 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…

    Read more »


  • 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.”

    Read more »


  • From the desk of Noam Chomsky

    From the desk of Noam Chomsky

    Read more »


  • 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…

    Read more »


  • Supreme Court and Health Care — Toward Reform Without Mandate

    The New York Times reports: “The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a challenge to the 2010 health care overhaul law, President Obama’s signature legislative achievement. The development set the stage for oral arguments by March and a decision in late June, in the midst of the 2012 presidential campaign.” MARGARET FLOWERS, M.D., [in…

  • Abdullah: Asad Should Step Down

    AP reports: “Jordan’s King Abdullah said [today] that Syrian President Bashar Assad should step down, making him the first Arab ruler to issue such a call over the regime’s deadly crackdown on an 8-month-old uprising. The surprising statement comes as Arabs close ranks against Damascus. On Saturday, the Arab League voted to suspend Syria over…

  • Military Trials “Crushing Egyptian Revolution”

    Protests are resuming today in Cairo. AP is reporting: “The mother of a prominent blogger jailed by Egypt’s ruling generals has gone on a hunger strike to protest her son’s detention and the military’s increasingly heavy-handed approach against critics. “The strike by Alaa Abdel-Fattah’s 55-year-old mother could turn into a major embarrassment for Egypt’s military…

  • Ten Years Since U.S. “Coup” Order

    MICHAEL RATNER, ratner at michaelratner.com, Also via Jen Nessel, JNessel at ccrjustice.org Available for a limited number of interviews, Ratner is president emeritus of the Center for Constitutional Rights. His latest book is Hell No: Your Right to Dissent in 21st Century America. He said today: “Nov. 13 is the ten-year anniversary of President Bush’s…

  • Beyond Penn State: The Failure of the University

    HENRY GIROUX, henry.giroux at gmail.com Giroux’s books include the recently-released “Youth in a Suspect Society: Democracy or Disposability?” and “The University in Chains: Confronting the Military-Industrial-Academic Complex.” He said today: “There is a lot of talk about the culture of silence as if it is simply an offshoot of the need to protect the wealth…

  • Iran: An Iraq-WMD Redux?

    Reuters is reporting: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said an International Atomic Energy Agency report, obtained by Reuters on Tuesday, confirmed long-standing concerns over Iran’s nuclear ambitions.” GARETH PORTER, porter.gareth50 at gmail.com Porter is an investigative journalist and historian specializing in U.S. national security policy. His investigative piece on the IAEA report on Iran is forthcoming.…

  • Italy: Run by the European Central Bank?

    ANTONIO TRICARICO, (in Rome) atricarico at crbm.org Tricarico is coordinator of the Italian NGO CRBM (Campaign for World Bank Reform) based in Rome and has been the economic correspondent of Il Manifesto at several international summits. He was recently at the G20 Summit in Cannes. Tricarico said today: “The Berlusconi era is finally coming to…

  • * New Movie Highlights Continued BP Gulf Crisis * More Offshore Oil-Drilling

    AP reports today in “BP Wants U.S. Probes Barred from Oil Spill Lawsuits” that “The companies involved in the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history are trying to prevent government investigations blaming them for the disaster from being used against them by the people and businesses who are suing them.” JOSH TICKELL, REBECCA HARRELL…

  • Analysts Denounce 100 Reps. Urging Super Committee Austerity

    Fox News features a piece claiming “Moderate Lawmakers Lead Insurrection, Urge Super Committee to Defy Leadership and Go Big.” Fox states: “As the Super Committee butts against a hard and fast deadline for reducing the deficit, a Republican and a Democratic lawmaker on Sunday say they must be willing to buck their leadership and go…

  • Greece: From the Frying Pan, Into the Fire?

    MARK WEISBROT, mweisbrot at cepr.net; also via Dan Beeton, beeton at cepr.net Weisbrot is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research and is just back from Europe. The group recently released a statement: “G20 Continues With Failed Policies in Europe, Putting Regional and Global Economy at Risk.” COSTAS PANAYOTAKIS, [in NYC] cpanayotakis at…

Mastodon