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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  • 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…

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