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…

    Read more »


  • 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.

    Read more »


  • 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.

    Read more »


  • 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.

    Read more »


  • 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.”

    Read more »


  • 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.

    Read more »


  • 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…

    Read more »


  • 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.”

    Read more »


  • From the desk of Noam Chomsky

    From the desk of Noam Chomsky

    Read more »


  • 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…

    Read more »


  • Time Magazine, U.S. Government Using Afghan Women to Sell War?

    The new Time magazine cover featuring a young Afghan woman with her nose missing and the headline “What Happens If We Leave Afghanistan?” has been challenged by many critics, including: * FAIR — “Time Magazine: We Cannot Leave Afghanistan” * Greg Mitchell — “What ALSO Happens If We Leave Afghanistan” * Feminist Peace Network —…

  • WikiLeaks: A Soldier and a Veteran Comment

    BROCK McINTOSH An Army specialist who did a recent 10-month tour in Afghanistan, McIntosh said today: “It is a surreal experience looking at the WikiLeaks reports. I searched on date and region and then our unit, Dragon Hammer, unit 333. You can follow our steps as we sent out SITREPs [situation reports] as a situation…

  • Obama Going After Whistleblowers

    COLEEN ROWLEY Rowley, whose May 2002 memo described some of the FBI’s pre-9/11 failures, was named one of Time Magazine’s people of the year in 2002 along with Enron and WorldCom whistleblowers Sherron Watkins and Cynthia Cooper. Rowley said today: “The Obama administration is detaining Bradley Manning in Kuwait. It is prosecuting Thomas Drake [formerly…

  • After the Big Leak: More Escalation?

    NORMAN SOLOMON Solomon today wrote the piece “State of Denial: After the Big Leak, Spinning for War,” which states: “Washington’s spin machine is in overdrive to counter the massive leak of documents on Afghanistan. Much of the counterattack revolves around the theme that the documents aren’t particularly relevant to this year’s new-and-improved war effort. ……

  • Wikileaks and Realities of Afghanistan War

    Wikileaks (if overloaded, http://wardiary.wikileaks.org) on Sunday released more than 90,000 internal records of U.S. military actions in Afghanistan from over the past six years. The group’s founder Julian Assange spoke earlier today at the Frontline Club in London; video is available. Information based on portions of the Wikileaks data was published simultaneously by The New…

  • “Breaking the Gordian Knot on Climate Legislation”

    Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Thursday effectively killed the Kerry-Lieberman climate bill for this legislative session, saying: “We know we don’t have the votes.” PETER BARNES Co-author of “Climate Solutions: A Citizen’s Guide,” Barnes said today: “Now that the ‘pragmatic’ approach of buying off special interests hasn’t worked, it’s time to try the…

  • NAACP and Tea Party

    KEVIN GRAY Gray is author of the books The Decline of Black Politics: From Malcolm X to Barack Obama and Waiting for Lightning to Strike: The Fundamentals of Black Politics. He argues that the real needs of African Americans, including dealing with unemployment, inadequate housing and wars, are being unmet. BRUCE DIXON Dixon is managing…

  • 87 Senators vs. the Facts on Turkish Group IHH?

    IARA LEE Available for a limited number of interviews, Lee is recently back from Turkey. She wrote the piece (and produced accompanying video) “Slandering the Good Guys: Some Basic Facts About IHH,” which states: “In the immediate aftermath of the massacre aboard the Mavi Marmara on May 31, 2010, while journalists and activists were detained…

  • “BP’s Scheme To Swindle The ‘Small People’”

    DAHR JAMAIL Currently in Tampa, Florida, independent journalist Jamail has been in the Gulf region for three weeks. His recent pieces include “BP’s Scheme To Swindle The ‘Small People’” and “BP Oil Poisons the Gulf of Mexico’s Food Chain.” More Information For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy: Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020

  • “Amiri Told CIA Iran Has No Nuclear Bomb Program”

    GARETH PORTER Porter just wrote “Amiri Told CIA Iran Has No Nuclear Bomb Program” for Inter Press Service. The piece states: “Contrary to a news media narrative that Iranian scientist Shahram Amiri has provided intelligence on covert Iranian nuclear weapons work, CIA sources familiar with the Amiri case say he told his CIA handlers that…

Mastodon