News Items

  • Affidavit by Daniel Ellsberg for Plowshare Activists Being Allowed a Defense of Necessity

    In 1971 I gave the U.S. Senate, the New York Times and the Washington Post copies of what have come to be known as The Pentagon Papers. I was arrested on twelve felony counts. My trial was dismissed because of government misconduct which figured in the impeachment proceedings against President Nixon…These considerations bear on two other elements of the necessity defense, the “lack of legal alternatives” and the “imminence” of the harms to be averted. Again, I speak from my own experience, but not only mine, in saying that it is the perceived insufficiency of other means, by themselves not…

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  • A Long List of Democratic Candidates Requires a Large Catalog of Their Funders

    By Sam Haut: As the first debates for the Democratic primary begin, and the list of candidates has grown to 24, it can be difficult to contextualize where each candidate has received funding from over the course of their time in office. What follows is a list of the Democratic candidates and the top sources for how much money they’ve made and where those top sources come from.

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  • NATO and US Foreign Policy: Dangers Ahead

    RootsAction.org held a news conference Thursday on “NATO and U.S. Foreign Policy: Dangers Ahead” hosted by the Institute for Public Accuracy. Speakers include former State Department officials Matthew Hoh, Ann Wright, as well as Martin Fleck. The event was moderated by Norman Solomon.

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  • Media Advisory: “NATO and U.S. Foreign Policy: Dangers Ahead”

    At 10 a.m. Tuesday, April 2, 2019 at the National Press Club: On the same day that President Trump is scheduled to meet with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the White House, this news conference will focus on the U.S.-NATO relationship. Speakers include former State Department officials Matthew Hoh and Ann Wright.

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  • Statement by Floyd Abrams in response to Attorney General nominee William Barr’s remarks on the First Amendment

    “It’s one thing to say that there could be circumstances in which a journalist’s need to protect her sources could lead to a potential finding of contempt of court if she refused to obey a court order requiring such disclosure. But the notion that a journalist could properly be jailed for publishing material that the government thinks could ‘hurt the country’ is something else entirely and would be deeply threatening to First Amendment norms in general and journalistic freedom in particular.”

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  • Statement on NAFTA’s “Kafkaesque” Turn

    The supposedly concluded renegotiation of NAFTA has reached a Kafkaesque stage. As the United States Trade Representative has stated: “The United States and Mexico have reached a preliminary agreement in principle, subject to finalization and implementation.” Not only the negotiations have not been finalized, and without Canada, but the texts remain hidden from the public.

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  • What’s the Cost of Medicare for All?

    Even a Koch-backed think tank finds Medicare for all would cut health care spending. In a report released by the Mercatus Center, a single-payer health care system would offset costs with even greater savings. The Intercept and other media reporting on this are citing the work of Drs. David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler. They are distinguished professors of health policy at the City University of New York at Hunter College and lecturers in medicine at Harvard Medical School. They have written an analysis of the work of the Koch-backed think tank, the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, which is…

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  • Trump Team Hired Israeli Spy Firm Used by Harvey Weinstein to Attack Obama Officials on Iran Deal

    “Aides to Donald Trump, the U.S. president, hired an Israeli private intelligence agency to orchestrate a ‘dirty ops’ campaign against key individuals from the Obama administration who helped negotiate the Iran nuclear deal, the Observer can reveal. People in the Trump camp contacted private investigators in May last year to ‘get dirt’ on Ben Rhodes, who had been one of Barack Obama’s top national security advisers, and Colin Kahl, deputy assistant to Obama, as part of an elaborate attempt to discredit the deal.”

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  • From the desk of Noam Chomsky

    From the desk of Noam Chomsky

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  • 15 Years Later: The Whistleblower Who Almost Blocked the Iraq War

    Media Advisory: Press Conference to Mark 15th Anniversary Of Leak by GCHQ Translator Katharine Gun Revealing US “Dirty Tricks” at UN for Iraq War When:  Thursday, 1 March 2018 at 11:00 a.m. Where:  Head office, National Union of Journalists Headland House, 72 Acton Street, London, WC1X 9NB Who:  Katharine Gun, Thomas Drake, Matthew Hoh, Jesselyn Radack This press conference will take place the day before the 15th anniversary of the Observer’s publication of the explosive March 2, 2003 story “US dirty tricks to win vote on Iraq war” — based on a leak by GCHQ translator Katharine Gun — revealing the US National Security Agency’s UN surveillance memo that aimed to grease the way for the…

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  • National Implications of California Greenhouse Gas Emissions Measure

    California’s Proposition 23 seeks to suspend a 2006 law intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As of October 6, contributions to Yes on 23 from oil interests Valero ($4,059,678) and Tesoro ($1,525,000) make up more than half of all Yes on 23 contributions. TYSON SLOCUM Slocum is director of Public Citizen’s Energy Program and can…

  • IMF and World Bank Meetings

    The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are holding their annual meeting in Washington, D.C. this weekend. COLLINS MAGALASI ERIC LeCOMPTE, via Julia Dowling Magalasi is director of the Malawi Economic Justice Network. LeCompte is executive director and Dowling is communications coordinator of the Jubilee USA Network, an alliance of more than 75 religious…

  • Has the Nobel Peace Prize Been Corrupted?

    The recipient of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize is scheduled to be announced on Friday. FREDRIK HEFFERMEHL Author of the new book The Nobel Peace Prize: What Nobel Really Wanted, Heffermehl argues that the Nobel committee has violated the terms of Alfred Nobel’s will, which established the prize. He states that for decades, the parties…

  • Solar Panels: The Green House?

    Today Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced solar panels will be put on the White House. HARVEY WASSERMAN Author of Solartopia! Our Green-Powered Earth, AD 2030 (which includes an introduction by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.), Wasserman said today: “We have been fighting for three decades to get the solar features restored to the White House roof.…

  • Vets on Afghanistan War After Nine Years

    RICK REYES, JACOB GEORGE, via Maggie Martin ETHAN McCORD ZACK CHOAT Reyes, George, McCord and Choat are veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and are members of Iraq Veterans Against the War. Martin is media coordinator for the group, which just put out a statement: “October 7 marks the nine-year anniversary of the…

  • NOT Waiting for Superman: What Kind of Education Reform Model Is Rhee?

    LEIGH DINGERSON Dingerson said today: “While [Washington, D.C. Schools Chancellor] Michelle Rhee enjoys the media spotlight as ‘Waiting for Superman’ opens across the country, voters in the District of Columbia had a different message on her education reform agenda. On September 14, Rhee’s boss, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, was sent packing, after staking his re-election…

  • Ecuador: “Obama Should Oppose Any Attempted Coup”

    AFP is reporting: “Ecuador was plunged into political crisis Thursday as troops seized the country’s main airport and stormed the Congress building in what President Rafael Correa denounced as an attempted coup.” The Organization of American States is in an emergency meeting in Washington, D.C. MARK WEISBROT, via Dan Beeton Weisbrot is co-director of the…

  • Education Policy: What “Superman” Got Wrong

    RICK AYERS Ayers recently wrote a piece for the Washington Post titled “What ‘Superman’ got wrong, point by point,” which states: “While the education film ‘Waiting For Superman’ has moving profiles of students struggling to succeed under difficult circumstances, it puts forward a sometimes misleading and other times dishonest account of the roots of the…

  • Kissinger at State Dept. — U.S. Repeating Vietnam Policy in Afghanistan?

    Henry Kissinger spoke at a conference at the State Department today. See: State.gov FRED BRANFMAN Branfman recently wrote the piece “Hillary Clinton and State Dept. to Celebrate War Criminal Henry Kissinger, While the White House Repeats His Deadly Mistakes,” which states: “Nothing more symbolizes how the temptations of power can corrupt youthful values and idealism…

  • Protests Against Austerity in Europe

    AFP reports: “Angry workers mounted mass street protests against spending cuts across Europe Wednesday, bringing cities to a halt, clashing with police and even ramming the gates of Ireland’s parliament.” For more information and pictures, see: “Workers swarm Europe’s streets in anti-cuts protests.” RICHARD WOLFF Recently back from Europe, Wolff is author of the book…

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