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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  • Libya and War Powers

    ROBERT NAIMAN Naiman is policy director of Just Foreign Policy. He just wrote the piece “Congress Must Debate the Libya War,” which states: “To put it crudely: as a matter of logic, if President Obama can bomb Libya without Congressional authorization, then President Palin can bomb Iran without Congressional authorization. If, God forbid, we ever…

  • Egypt: Army Still Torturing People a “Red Line”

    Dr. AIDA SEIF AL-DAWLA, Dr. MOSTAFA HUSSEIN, @moftasa Al-Dawla is with the Nadeem Center for Victims of Torture. She is a psychiatrist. Hussein is a doctor at the Task Force Against Torture, which brings together non-profits, bloggers and activists highlighting the continuation of torture in post-Mubarak Egypt on the new webpage against-torture.net. Hussein said today:…

  • Tipping Point in Yemen?

    CNN is reporting: “Three top generals in Yemen declared their support for anti-government protests Monday as a wave of officials, including the deputy speaker of parliament, announced their resignations. … The ambassadors to Pakistan, Qatar, Oman, Spain and the consul general in Dubai announced their resignations together later on Monday. The envoys to China, Saudi…

  • Afghan Women’s Rights Advocate Barred from U.S.

    The U.S. government has denied a travel visa to Malalai Joya, an acclaimed women’s rights activist and former member of Afghanistan’s parliament, said organizers of her U.S. tour. Joya, who was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world in 2010, was set to begin a three-week U.S. tour to promote…

  • Declaration of War on Libya?

    PHYLLIS BENNIS A fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, Bennis is author of Calling the Shots: How Washington Dominates Today’s UN. She said today: “Libya’s opposition movement faces a ruthless military assault. They have already paid a far higher price in lost and broken lives than activists in any of the other democratic uprisings…

  • Backing Nuclear: Administration “Disconnected from Reality”

    Bloomberg reports today: “The Obama administration will press ahead with efforts to expand loan guarantees for new nuclear reactors while investigating the failure of Japan’s power plants after an earthquake, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said.” NORMAN SOLOMON Available for a limited number of interviews, Solomon is president of the Institute for Public Accuracy and a…

  • Haiti: “Would Kill Aristide” Says Presidential Candidate Martelly in Video

    MARK WEISBROT, via Dan Beeton Co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Weisbrot has been been involved in Haiti policy work for over 20 years. He has co-authored two papers analyzing the outcome of the first round of Haiti’s elections and several op-eds and columns on the elections and Aristide’s return. He said…

  • St. Patrick’s Day and the Irish Famine

    CHRISTINE KINEALY Kinealy is author of “This Great Calamity: The Irish Famine 1845-52” and other books on Irish history. She is professor of history at Drew University in New Jersey and just returned from Ireland on Tuesday. She said today: “In 1997, the New York St. Patrick’s Day parade honoured the victims of Ireland’s Great…

  • The U.S. and Egyptian Army Are One?

    Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Cairo. RASHA AZAB Azab is spokesperson for the Liberties Committee at the Press Syndicate in Cairo, which is holding a news conference tomorrow on the “hundreds of Egyptians protesting in Tahrir Square who have been subject to detention and torture by members of the army and Republican Guard…

  • Bahrain: Martial Law, Hundreds Wounded

    Reuters reports: “Two men were killed and more than 200 people wounded in clashes in Bahrain on Tuesday, a hospital source said.” Extremely graphic video of Bahraini protester in hospital: youtube.com HUSAIN ABDULLA Abdulla is director of Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain. He said today: “It’s obvious that the Saudi and Bahraini…

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