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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  • Bin Laden Killing

    GARETH PORTER, porter.gareth50 at gmail.com, ipsnews.net Porter is an investigative journalist and historian specializing in U.S. national security policy. He said today: “The U.S. could have had bin Laden delivered to another Islamic country or to the Organization of Islamic Conference in Saudi Arabia for a trial in mid-October 2001 but wouldn’t deal with the…

  • Torturer at Royal Wedding as Monarchies “Hijack” Uprisings

    Dr. SAEED AL SHEHABI, mrsam13 at hotmail.com General secretary of the Bahrain Freedom Movement, Al Shehabi said today: “We were able to prevent the crown prince from attending the royal wedding by stating that his attendance would be considered backing of human rights violations that are taking place in Bahrain. Now the attendance of the…

  • Big Oil “Swimming in Revenue”

    ROBERT WEISSMAN, via Barbara Holzer, bholzer at citizen.org, Dorry Samuels, dsamuels at citizen.org President of Public Citizen, Weissman said today: “ExxonMobil and Shell today announced skyrocketing profits, as did BP yesterday, and as Chevron will tomorrow. The reason is simple: Prices at the gas pump are jumping, even though the cost of drilling hasn’t changed…

  • Assessing Panetta at Pentagon, Petraeus at CIA

    Reuters reports this morning: “President Barack Obama will nominate CIA director Leon Panetta as defense secretary and Army General David Petraeus as head of the American spy agency, officials said on Wednesday.” MELVIN A. GOODMAN, goody789 at verizon.net, , http://mel-goodman.dailykos.com Goodman is senior fellow at the Center for International Policy. His most recent book is…

  • EPA Office of Civil Rights “Dysfunctional”

    Politico reported Monday: “A whistleblower group is calling on the EPA to fire its civil rights director in response to allegedly sexist and racist remarks he’s made involving ‘pink elephants’ and Rosa Parks. “The National Whistleblowers Center sent a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson on Wednesday demanding the immediate dismissal of Rafael DeLeon, director…

  • WikiLeaks and Torture

    Numerous media outlets — including McClatchy, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The New York Times and NPR — are now releasing information from classified files originally obtained via WikiLeaks on more than 700 past and present Guantanamo detainees. LOGAN PRICE, logan — at — bradleymanning.org, @kstrel, bradleymanning.org Late last week, Price questioned President Obama at…

  • Drone Use in Libya, Pakistan Condemned

    KATHY KELLY, kathy at vcnv.org JOSHUA BROLLIER, joshua at vcnv.org Kelly and Brollier are with Voices for Creative Nonviolence. Kelly was recently in Afghanistan and today will be participating in a demonstration at a drone command base in New York. VCRN just put out a statement condemning “the hypocrisy and immorality of the United States…

  • Targeting Environmentalists

    WILL POTTER, will at willpotter.com Author of the new book “Green Is the New Red: An Insider’s Account of a Social Movement Under Siege,” Potter said today: “With Earth Day approaching, everyone is talking about ‘going green.’ But most people are unaware that anti-terrorism resources are being used to target environmentalists and animal rights activists.…

  • Escalating Iraq Protests: U.S. “Playing with Fire”

    AFP is reporting today: “Moqtada al-Sadr on Wednesday blasted a ban on public rallies in the Iraqi capital, saying it was ‘undemocratic’ and based on fear of rising protests. “Iraq’s government announced last week demonstrations would be allowed only at three football stadiums, ostensibly because shopkeepers in the city’s main Tahrir Square complained of losing…

  • Pickens’ Gas Fracking Offensive Debunked

    T. Boone Pickens and Ted Turner speak at the National Press Club this afternoon. At 10 a.m. ET, a group of environmentalists and scientists are holding a conference call to expose what’s behind Pickens’ plans. For more information, contact: Kate Fried, Food & Water Watch Food & Water Watch reports: “Congress’s upcoming consideration of the…

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