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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  • Can WikiLeaks Save Lives?

    WikiLeaks has posted on its Twitter feed that it will be holding a news conference shortly. The program Democracy Now reported this morning that “WikiLeaks is preparing to release up to 400,000 U.S. intelligence reports on the Iraq war. The disclosure would comprise the biggest leak in U.S. history, far more than the … Afghanistan…

  • France: “A Stunning and Historical Shift”

    RICHARD WOLFF Recently back from Europe, Wolff is author of the book Capitalism Hits the Fan: The Global Economic Meltdown and What to Do About It. He said today: “For many weeks now, a stunning and historical shift has accelerated across France. An alliance of trade unions, left political parties and sections of parties, students…

  • Election Ignoring Social Security

    Politico is reporting: “More than 200 Democrats have signed onto a pledge to protect Social Security from any interference, amid some Republican calls for partial privatization of the entitlement program.” DOUG HENWOOD Editor of Left Business Observer, Henwood said today: “It’s cheering to see 200 Congressional Democrats sign a pledge to protect Social Security from…

  • Do Veteran Suicides Exceed U.S. Deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq?

    AARON GLANTZ Available for a limited number of interviews, Glantz just wrote the investigative piece “After Service, Veteran Deaths Surge: Suicides, vehicle accidents and drug overdoses take lives,” simultaneously published in the Bay Citizen and by the New York Times. The piece states: “In the six years after Reuben Paul Santos returned to Daly City…

  • Killing Emissions Law Would Hurt Alternative Energy Industry

    California’s Proposition 23 seeks to suspend a 2006 law (AB 32) intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. DAVID CHENG Available for a limited number of interviews, Cheng is a senior manager at the Cleantech Group a research and advisory company focused on clean tech innovation. He is also a member of E2 (Environmental Entrepreneurs), a…

  • How Upton Sinclair Helped Energize the New Deal: Lessons for Today

    GREG MITCHELL Mitchell wrote the book The Campaign of the Century: Upton Sinclair’s Race for Governor of California and the Birth of Media Politics. A new edition has just been released. Excerpts of the book and relevant videos are available Mitchell, who writes the Media Fix blog for TheNation.com, just wrote the piece “Upton Sinclair’s…

  • * Public Citizen: Rove Breaking the Law * Spoof Corporate Money Ads

    ROBERT WEISSMAN, via Angela Bradbery KEVIN ZEESE President of Public Citizen, Weissman said today: “American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS [created by Republican strategists Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie] are this year’s poster children for everything wrong with our campaign finance system in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election…

  • Oil Price Gouging Behind Drive To Stop Greenhouse Gas Caps

    California’s Proposition 23 seeks to suspend a 2006 law intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As of October 8, oil company Valero has donated more than $4 million to the effort to suspend the law. JAMIE COURT Court is author of the new book The Progressive’s Guide To Raising Hell: How To Win Grassroots Campaigns…

  • Education: Rhee’s Resignation

    Bloomberg is reporting: “Michelle Rhee, the public schools chancellor of the District of Columbia … has resigned, effective at the end of the month. Deputy Chancellor Kaya Henderson will take over, Rhee’s boss, Mayor Adrian Fenty, said at a press conference today. Fenty lost his bid for re-election Sept. 14 in a primary in which…

  • What About Water Infrastructure?

    WENONAH HAUTER, via Kate Fried Executive director of Food & Water Watch, Hauter said today: “President Obama’s recently-announced infrastructure plan aims to modernize crumbling roads, rails and airports while providing jobs for the nearly one-in-five construction workers who are unemployed. Another way Obama could modernize our infrastructure while boosting the economy is to renew America’s…

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