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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  • Healthcare: Repeating Massachusetts’ Mistakes?

    TRUDY LIEBERMAN Lieberman is a contributing editor of the Columbia Journalism Review, where she regularly writes for its Campaign Desk on healthcare. She has written a series of ten articles on the Massachusetts plan, which was signed into law by then-Governor Mitt Romney in 2006. Her articles document the similarity of the current proposal in…

  • Healthcare Reform or Insurance Giveaway?

    JANE HAMSHER Hamsher, founder of the blog FireDogLake, writes that the current healthcare bill “is a dangerous and unprecedented step on the road to domination of government by private corporate players.” A longtime advocate for a public option, she comments: “President Obama disingenuously confirmed his support for the public option in his September address to…

  • After Seven Years: Iraq War “Forgotten”

    DAHLIA WASFI Born in New York to an American Jewish mother (daughter of Holocaust survivors) and an Iraqi Muslim father, Wasfi has a medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. She spent three months in Iraq with her family in 2006. She has been speaking against the occupation since 2004. She is…

  • Israeli Attacks on Human Rights Activists

    CINDY CORRIE, via Libby Lenkinski Exactly seven years ago (March 16, 2003), Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old American, was killed by an Israeli military Caterpillar bulldozer while attempting to protect a Palestinian home in Gaza from demolition. Her mother Cindy and other family members are now in Israel, where they have filed a civil suit charging…

  • Corporation Running for Congress Following Supreme Court Ruling

    On Saturday, the Washington Post published a front-page story about the corporation Murray Hill running for Congress: “After the Supreme Court declared that corporations have the same rights as individuals when it comes to funding political campaigns, the self-described progressive firm took what it considers the next logical step: declaring for office. “‘Until now, corporate…

  • Will Women and Girls Be Jailed for Miscarriages?

    ROSE AGUILAR Aguilar recently wrote the piece “Utah Governor Signs Controversial Law Charging Women and Girls With Murder for Miscarriages,” which states: “On Monday afternoon, a controversial Utah bill that charges pregnant women and girls with murder for having miscarriages caused by ‘intentional or knowing’ acts, was signed into law by Gov. Gary Herbert. “Contrary…

  • U.S. Billions to Israel

    Wednesday, Vice President Joe Biden said: “I condemn the decision by the government of Israel to advance planning for new housing units in East Jerusalem.” He also stated that the U.S. will hold Israel “accountable for any statements or actions that inflame tensions or prejudice the outcome of talks.” JOSH RUEBNER National advocacy director of…

  • Now: Congress Debating Afghanistan War

    The House is now debating a War Powers Resolution to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan; see live video. GARETH PORTER Porter recently wrote the piece “Fiction of Marja as City Was U.S. Information War.” He is an investigative historian and journalist specializing in U.S. national security policy. His latest book is Perils of Dominance: Imbalance…

  • Afghanistan Withdrawal Debate in Congress

    The Washington Post reports today: “House leaders will allow three hours of formal debate, probably Wednesday, on an antiwar resolution written by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (Ohio), one of the leading antiwar voices in Congress. The resolution, which has 16 co-sponsors, calls for the United States to remove all of its troops from Afghanistan in 30…

  • The Fed, Watergate and Arming Saddam Hussein

    ROBERT AUERBACH Professor of public affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, Auerbach is author of the book “Deception and Abuse at the Fed.” His book was the basis of Rep. Ron Paul’s recent questioning of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Paul, who introduced the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, which has passed the House…

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