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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  • Bloomberg Backs Off Clearing Occupy Wall Street

    AP reports: “The cleanup of a plaza in lower Manhattan where protesters have been camped out for a month was postponed early Friday, sending cheers up from a crowd that had feared the effort was merely a pretext to evict them.” For more, including video streams from various cities, see. MICHAEL RATNER, mratner at michaelratner.com…

  • Breaking: Protests at Armed Services Committee

    Contacts: Leah Bolger, Vice President of Veterans for Peace, leahbolger at comcast.net Medea Benjamin, Code Pink, medea.benjamin at gmail.com Protesters are currently demonstrating at a meeting of the House Armed Services Committee, standing up one by one and denouncing the continuing wars. Live video stream. They released the following statement this morning: “In 2120 Rayburn…

  • Alleged Iranian Plot Against Saudi Arabia and Israel

    MUHAMMAD SAHIMI, moe at usc.edu Sahimi is a professor at the University of Southern California and lead political columnist for the website PBS/Frontline/Tehran Bureau. He has published extensively on Iran’s political development and its nuclear program. He just wrote “Questions over Alleged Islamic Republic Assassination Plot in U.S.” BEAU GROSSCUP, bgrosscup at csuchico.edu Grosscup is…

  • Protesters Enter Congress; Trade Deals Show “Contempt”

    According to organizers, there were at least three arrests this morning as protesters entered Congressional office buildings and chanted “We are the 99 percent,” “End the wars, tax the rich” and “Senators for sale go to jail.” For further information and forthcoming video clips, see. Meanwhile, Congress is reportedly close to holding a vote on…

  • Wall Street Protests and Columbus Day

    As Occupy Wall Street — OccupyWallSt.org — begins its fourth week, OccupyTogether.org reports there are “occupy” meetups in over 1,100 cities. Roving live video at: livestream.com/globalrevolution KENT LEBSOCK, oweakuinternational at me.com Lebsock is coordinator of the Owe Aku International Justice Project. He will be speaking at Occupy Wall Street at 5 p.m. ET today. He said today: “Corporate greed…

  • Nobel Peace Prize and Protests Against Wars

    Today marks ten years since the U.S. began its invasion of Afghanistan; protests against war and corporate power are underway in D.C. in coordination with protests around the U.S. The New York Times reports: “The Nobel Peace Prize for 2011 was awarded on Friday to three campaigning women from Africa and the Arab world in…

  • Ten Years of Afghan War: * Protests * Costs * From Afghanistan

    DAVID ROVICS, drovics at gmail.com Friday, October 7 is the tenth anniversary of the United States’ invasion of Afghanistan. “Occupation” protests begin today at Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C. opposing wars and corporate power:  livestream rotating from different cities. Singer-songwriter Rovics will be preforming at the launch of the Freedom Plaza protests today. At a…

  • Protests: “Another World Is Possible”

    Reports indicate that today is seeing the largest Wall Street protest to date, see. For more information and for livestreaming see and see. ARUN GUPTA,  ebrowniess at yahoo.com A founding editor of the New York City based Indypendent, Gupta also helped found the Occupied Wall Street Journal. COSTAS PANAYOTAKIS, cpanayotakis at google.com Panayotakis is associate professor of…

  • Largest Wall Street March Yet, Nurses and other Unions Join

    The largest march yet is expected today on Wall Street, see. For more information and for livestreaming, see or see. ROSEANN DeMORO, DEBORAH BURGER, via Carl Ginsburg, cginsburg at nationalnursesunited.org, Charles Idelson, cidelson at calnurses.org National Nurses United, the largest union and professional association of nurses in the U.S. — with 170,000 members — will…

  • “Occupation” Protests Starting in D.C.

    KEVIN ZEESE, kbzeese at gmail.com MARGARET FLOWERS, M.D.  mdpnhp at gmail.com Zeese is a core organizer of October2011.org and co-director of ItsOurEconomy.US. He said today: “The Occupy Movement goes to the next level on Thursday with the occupation of Freedom Plaza. This Washington, D.C. occupation, which has been growing for the last six months, before…

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