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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  • Israeli Forces Commandeer Gaza Boats

    The group U.S. Boat to Gaza has just released a statement that begins: “Canadian and Irish ships, the Tahrir and the Saoirse, sailing with Freedom Waves to Gaza have been illegally boarded by the Israeli military in international waters, about 50 nautical miles from the coast of Gaza, around 9:30 am EDT. The IDF [Israeli…

  • Poverty Rate in Most States and Among Children Lowered by New Measure

    SHAWN FREMSTAD, fremstad at cepr.net, Alan Barber, alanbbarber at gmail.com Fremstad is senior research associate with the Center for Economic and Policy Research and just wrote the piece “New Obama Poverty Measure Lowers Poverty Rates in Most States and Among Children.” The piece states: “On Friday, November 4, the Census Bureau is holding a webinar…

  • WikiLeaks Reveals U.S. Ties to Honduran Drug Dealer

    DANA FRANK, danafrank at ucsc.edu Frank is professor of history at the University of California, Santa Cruz and author of many books, including Bananeras: Women Transforming the Banana Unions of Latin America, which examines the banana workers’ unions of Honduras. She recently wrote “WikiLeaks Honduras: U.S. Linked to Brutal Businessman.” She said today: “New Wikileaks…

  • “Freedom Wave to Gaza” Approaching Shore

    The group U.S. Boat to Gaza has released a statement: “The Canadian ship Tahrir and the Irish ship Saoirse have successfully reached international waters, initiating the ‘Freedom Wave to Gaza.’ The boats have embarked from Turkey and are on the Mediterranean Sea. In all, the two boats carry 27 passengers from Canada, Ireland, U.S., Palestine,…

  • G-20: * Greece * Financial Transaction Tax

    COSTAS PANAYOTAKIS, [in NYC] cpanayotakis at gmail.com Panayotakis is associate professor of sociology at the New York City College of Technology at CUNY and author of the forthcoming book “Remaking Scarcity: From Capitalist Inefficiency to Economic Democracy.” He said today: “Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou’s attempt to escape growing popular opposition to austerity by calling…

  • * Oakland General Strike * “Veterans of the 99%”

    AP is reporting this morning: “Oakland prepared Wednesday to again become the epicenter of the Occupy Wall Street movement as local organizers aided by labor unions and advocacy groups finalized plans for a broad-based call to action that was expected to include marches, pickets outside banks, school shutdowns and an attempt to close the nation’s…

  • Greek Government “Blackmailing” Public

    COSTAS PANAYOTAKIS, cpanayotakis at gmail.com Panayotakis is associate professor of sociology at the New York City College of Technology at CUNY and author of the forthcoming book “Remaking Scarcity: From Capitalist Inefficiency to Economic Democracy.” He said today: “Faced with escalating opposition and resistance to the austerity measures it has imposed on the Greek population…

  • As Violence in Afghanistan Escalates, Drone Trial Starts Tomorrow

    There have been a string of attacks on Western forces in Afghanistan the last several days, killing over 20 troops. On Tuesday the trial of the Hancock Drone Resisters, 38 people from throughout Central New York and beyond who converged on Syracuse, New York on April 22, 2011 to protest the piloting of hunter-killer Reaper…

  • Is the 7 Billion or the 1% Causing Environmental Crises?

    According to the United Nations, world population will reach the 7 billion mark on Monday. IAN ANGUS, ecosocialism at gmail.com Angus is the co-author of the recent book Too Many People?: Population, Immigration, and the Environmental Crisis. He has just published the piece “Is the Environmental Crisis Caused by the 7 Billion or the 1%?”…

  • The Myth of Military Job Creation

    Today, as the Super Committee meets, the House Armed Services Committee holds a hearing on “The Economic Effects of Defense Sequestration.” HEIDI GARRETT-PELTIER, hpeltier at econs.umass.edu Assistant research professor at the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and co-author of the report “The U.S. Employment Effects of Military and Domestic Spending…

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