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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  • Billions for Israeli Attacks as Hurricane Relief Efforts Face Shortfall

    The U.S. government has cited these commercial ties as one of the reasons why the U.S. should continue to supply foreign militaries, including the Israeli military, with weapons and equipment.

  • Two Attacks on Free Speech of Activists Against Israel’s Onslaught 

        Barmada, a plaintiff in the lawsuit and organizer of the peace vigil, said, “we know Blinken and his security detail do not want us there. But it is disgraceful that the State Department can barge into an official court proceeding in which they are not involved and derail a legal outcome. This abuse…

  • Israeli Attack on Iraqi Nuclear Facility *Began* Iraq’s Weapons Program

    “I worked on the pre-1981 nuclear program and I was certain it would not be used for military purposes. But after the 1981 bombing, we were so angry that we were ready to work on a military program. The Israeli attack didn’t end the nuclear weapons program, it began it.”

  • “Escalate to De-escalate”: What Led Iran to Attack Israel

    “’After a string of assassinations and other Israeli escalations in recent weeks, Iran is trying to create a new deterrence equilibrium. They are saying that we can still hit you, and we can hit you hard,’ said Sina Toossi, a senior non-resident fellow at the Center for International Policy. ‘Iran is actually trying to “escalate…

  • From Lebanon: A Million Displaced

    HANADY SALMAN, [email protected]     Salman is a journalist based in Beirut. She contributed to the book Inside Lebanon with Noam Chomsky and others, based on Chomsky’s visit to Lebanon just before the 2006 invasion by Israel. The film “Letters from Beirut: the War of 33” is based on her writings. See her writings in Jadaliyya. 

  • U.S. Bombs Killed “Pragmatic” Nasrallah

    “Just after daybreak on Monday, dozens of U.S.-made warplanes began raining bombs and missiles on Lebanon, killing more than 550 people and injuring 1,800 in the hours that followed. By day’s end, Israel had carried out one of the most intense aerial bombardments in modern history. The Israeli fighter jets were sent by the government…

  • The Uninsured: New Census Data

    Though former President Donald Trump criticized the Affordable Care Act during the most recent debate with Vice President Kamala Harris and said he would like to replace it, newly released Census data from the American Community Survey demonstrates the ACA’s progress in helping more Americans get health insurance. In 2023, the uninsured population declined for…

  • Analysts: If Biden Tells Israel to Stop Gaza Attack, Lebanon War Can be Averted

    “President Biden needs to cut off aid to Israel. Otherwise, it is the U.S. that bears the responsibility for the wider war”.

  • Leon Panetta’s statement on Israeli “terrorism”

    The “protracted terrorism” during the last 50 weeks, he added, “raises the question, for instance, why did the White House just greenlight $20 billion more worth of weapons to this government that might be called a terrorist organization?”

  • Israel Kills 500 in Lebanon as Biden Addresses the UN

    “Biden repeatedly failed to follow through on the most likely path to preventing a regional war: pressing for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, particularly by using U.S. leverage to withhold billions of dollars in weapons to Israel. … The road to de-escalation in the Middle East must begin with a cease-fire in Gaza.”

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