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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  • * New Healthcare Ads * Corrupted Finance Committee?

    MIKE FARRELL, CLARK NEWHALL Farrell is an actor best known for playing Dr. B.J. Hunnicutt on M*A*S*H. He appears in a series of just-released TV ads calling for healthcare reform. Available for a limited number of interviews, Farrell is author of the book Just Call Me Mike: A Journey to Actor and Activist. One of…

  • Mother’s Day: A Day Against War?

    The first Mother’s Day proclamation, an impassioned plea for peace, was written by Julia Ward Howe in 1870; see here. SUSAN GALLEYMORE, via Karen Pomer Galleymore, author of the new book Long Time Passing: Mothers Speak About War and Terror, said today: “During a trip to Iraq in 2004 to visit my soldier son on…

  • Doctors Arrested at Senate “Roundtable” on Healthcare

    Doctors and other advocates of a national single-payer health system — also known as improved Medicare for All — directly confronted senators at a Senate Finance Committee “roundtable” on health reform today. Videos are available here and C-SPAN coverage is here. One by one, single-payer advocates in the audience stood up and asked why single-payer…

  • Wolves Targeted

    AP reports: “Wolves in parts of the northern Rockies and the Great Lakes region come off the endangered species list on Monday, opening them to public hunts in some states for the first time in decades.” RODGER SCHLICKEISEN, SUZANNE ASHA STONE President of Defenders of Wildlife, Schlickeisen said: “This delisting is a potentially disastrous turn…

  • AIPAC

    The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is holding its annual convention. Speakers include Democratic and Republican leaders from both houses of Congress. On Friday, the administration dropped espionage-related charges against two former officials of AIPAC. MEDEA BENJAMIN RAE ABILEAH Benjamin is co-founder and Abileah is national organizer of the peace group CodePink. During Israeli President…

  • Kagan on the Supreme Court?

    Solicitor General Elena Kagan is widely reported to be a leading contender for the Supreme Court position being vacated by David Souter. FRANCIS BOYLE Professor of law at the University of Illinois, Boyle is author of Tackling America’s Toughest Questions. He said today: “As dean of the Harvard Law School, Kagan hired Bush’s outgoing director…

  • Swine Flu and Factory Farms

    ROBERT WALLACE Wallace is visiting professor in the department of geography at the University of Minnesota and author of the forthcoming book Farming Human Pathogens: Ecological Resilience and Evolutionary Process. He writes a blog called “Farming Pathogens: Disease in a world of our own making.” His most recent piece is “The NAFTA Flu,” available at…

  • Torture, State Secrets and Spanish Prosecution

    FRIDA BERRIGAN In his news conference last night, Obama seemed to claim that the detention center at Guantanamo Bay was closed: “We have rejected the false choice between our security and our ideals by closing the detention center at Guantanamo Bay.” Berrigan is an organizer with Witness Against Torture, which is protesting outside the White…

  • Swine Flu: Budgets and Immigration Status

    DAVID KATZ Katz is a family physician at CommuniCare Health Centers in Yolo County, California. He said today: “We have had decreased capacity in our clinics in dealing with something like swine flu because we’ve had county and state cutbacks over the last year. … “CommuniCare is a network of community health centers that cares…

  • Swine Flu and Sick Days

    BARBARA GAULT, via Elisabeth Crum Director of research for the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, Gault said today: “The Centers for Disease Control has recommended that those who are sick should stay home from work or school to avoid infecting others. “However, analyses of Bureau of Labor Statistics and other data conducted by the Institute…

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