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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  • 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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