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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  • Millionaires: “Read Our Lips, Raise Our Taxes”

    Warren Buffett recently wrote “Stop Coddling the Super-Rich” BRIAN SETZLER, brian.setzler.cpa at gmail.com Setzler is President of TriLibrium, an accounting and business advisory firm in Portland, Ore. and member of Business for Shared Prosperity, a network of forward-thinking business owners, executives and investors committed to building enduring economic progress on a strong foundation of opportunity,…

  • British Austerity and Riots

    MURTAZA HUSSAIN, m8hussai at gmail.com Hussain blogs at “Revolution by the Book” and has been guest posting at  Glenn Greenwald’s blog at Salon.com for the past week. He recently wrote the  piece, “Austerity and the Roots of Britain’s Turmoil” which states: “Had  there been a terrorist attack in Britain this past week as opposed to…

  • Social Security: Endangered on its 76th Birthday

    Altman is co-chair of the Strengthen Social Security Campaign, a coalition of over 300 national and state organizations representing more than 50 million Americans and author of the book “The Battle for Social Security: From FDR’s Vision to Bush’s Gamble.” She said today: “Social Security has transformed the nation, insuring American workers and their families…

  • Mitt Romney’s America: “Corporations are People”

    Speaking to a crowd at the Iowa State Fair Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney stated that “corporations are people.” Asked by members of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement as to why he was focusing on cutting Social Security and Medicare as a means of deficit reduction over asking corporations to share part of the burden…

  • Employment Gap Grows Between Women and Men

    HEIDI HARTMANN, dobuzinskis at iwpr.org The Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) conducts research and disseminates its findings to address the needs of women and their families promote public dialogue, and strengthen communities and societies. Hartmann is the president of the group. She said: “Little noted among the employment figures released…

  • Wisconsin Recall Elections

    BEN MANSKI, brmanski at gmail.com Manski is executive director of the Liberty Tree Foundation and a spokesperson for the umbrella group Wisconsin Wave. He is a lifelong Wisconsinite and a public interest attorney. Manski said today: “Big money spoke yesterday, but big democracy spoke louder. The GOP lost one third of its seats, and the…

  • Senator Kerry Willing “to Cut Social Security and Medicare”

    Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid named his picks to the congressional debt reduction “super committee” yesterday. The Huffington Post reports: “The choices are not particularly trusted in liberal circles either, in part because of concerns that moneyed interests may come in to play when it comes time to negotiate. In Kerry’s home state of Massachusetts,…

  • Libya and Syria: Humanitarian War is a “Monstrous Illusion”

    JAMES PECK, jlpeck1098 at aol.com Peck is author of the new book “Ideal Illusions: How the U.S. Government Co-Opted Human Rights.” He was a Senior Editor at Pantheon Books for almost two decades where his authors included J. William Fulbright, Noam Chomsky, George Kennan, and Edward Said. He also worked in China for more than a…

  • A Simple Deficit Fix

    DOUG HENWOOD, dhenwood at panix.com Editor of Left Business Observer and author of the book “Wall Street,” Henwood said today: “Global markets panicked after the S&P downgrade of the U.S. Treasury (though, paradoxically, in the classic “flight to quality” reaction, investors poured billions into the very same U.S. Treasury securities that had just been downgraded).

  • Verizon Strike

    Time Business is reporting: “Thousands of striking workers in Verizon Communication Inc.’s landline division joined picket lines and rallies Monday at company offices from Massachusetts to Virginia, a union official said. “The contract for 45,000 employees expired at midnight Saturday after the company and the workers were unable to come to terms on issues including…

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