News Items

  • Calls to Suspend Syrian Refugee and Other Recent Anti-Muslim Statements by Government Officials

    Compiled by the Institute for Public Accuracy with Arun Kundnani and Deepa Kumar. Kundnani said: “While it’s very easy to denounce Trump’s recent repugnant, bullying statements — and much of the political class has — it’s important to keep several things in mind: First, as the compilation of statements by elected officials makes clear, he made these statements after many officials from across the country made scores of statements playing on unfounded fears against Syrian refugees and other Muslims.”

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  • Classified Politics: A System and a Clinton in Disrepute

    It is most unlikely, however, that Hillary Clinton will fall victim to accusations that rely on improper over-­classification. The State Department and White House, including President Obama himself, sought to protect her and to minimize the effects of her behavior. The case is extremely high­-profile, Democrats in Congress would attack any borderline classification, and a host of well-­paid lawyers would rise to her defense. Improperly classified items or those deemed Sensitive but Unclassified may be redacted from publicly released documents, but it is hard to imagine that Mrs. Clinton would be falsely accused of felonies.

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  • Video of Sterling News Conference

    Please enjoy the full video of Holly Sterling’s news conference, which was her first such appearance since her husband’s trial and imprisonment. The news conference also featured Thomas Drake, Delphine Halgand, Ray McGovern, and Jesselyn Radack.

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  • Open Letter to President Obama from Holly Sterling

    Does the government have no shame in destroying one man’s life and wasting tens of millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money to punish a man who had the audacity to do two things: Stand up for his constitutional rights and utilize proper channels provided to him to express concern for the citizens of our country? I am deeply saddened by our lives’ events that Jeffrey and I have suffered and endured. You publicly committed to a transparent government led by your administration, yet it has been shrouded in mistruth and secrecy.

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  • Unprecedented News Conference: Wife of Imprisoned CIA Whistleblower to Speak Out

    Jeffrey Sterling was convicted under the Espionage Act as a source for New York Times reporter James Risen’s book State of War. He began serving his three-and-a-half year prison sentence in June. His wife’s news conference will be the first time the spouse of a CIA whistleblower has made such an appearance.

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  • Cultural Shift Needed on Police Militarization

    Police militarization is a 25 year long trend that has only grown in momentum over time. The restrictions on militaristic gear directed by the White House while important symbolically, will certainly not substantively impact this trend in and of itself. Police militarization at this point is as much a cultural problem as it is a material one, and reversing the cultural trend toward police militarization will require more far reaching efforts.

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  • Watch the Short Documentary “The Invisible Man: CIA Whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling”

    “‘The federal courtroom in northern Virginia where Holly and Jeffrey Sterling returned for the sentencing on May 11 was the scene of a disturbing, though scantly reported, simulation of justice in late January. At the outset, covering the trial, I noted that ‘prospective jurors made routine references to ‘three-letter agencies’ and alphabet-soup categories of security clearances.’ Steeped in a local atmosphere of deference to mega-employers like the CIA and Pentagon along with numerous big contracting firms nearby, ‘the jury pool was bound to please the prosecution.’”

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  • On Jeffrey Sterling: From the Filmmaker of “Invisible Man”

    “The most shocking element of this story it that Jeffrey Sterling seems to be punished because he ‘pulled on Superman’s cape’ first with a racial discrimination suit they were able to squash and then by reporting what he considered a dangerous CIA operation to the proper government channels for hearing such a concern.”

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  • News Conference: Whistleblowers Weigh In on Policy

    William Binney (NSA), Thomas Drake (NSA), Daniel Ellsberg (Pentagon Papers), Raymond McGovern (CIA), Jesselyn Radack (Justice Department), Coleen Rowley (FBI) and Kirk Wiebe (NSA) spoke at this news conference, sponsored by ExposeFacts.org, a project of the Institute for Public Accuracy.

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  • Netanyahu Victory Opens Door for One-State Solution

    Just before the election, Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu ruled out the creation of a Palestinian State, which means that he repudiated the two-state solution to the dispute between the Israelis and the Palestinians. This has been the pronounced objective of American foreign policy since the Madrid Conference and the Middle East Peace Negotiations in 1991 held under the auspices of the United States government and with the full support of the international community.

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  • Malcolm X’s Legacy

    February is Black History Month. Malcolm X was assassinated on Feb. 21, 1965. KEVIN GRAY Author of the new book The Decline of Black Politics: From Malcolm X to Barack Obama, Gray said today: “Whenever anyone uses the phrase ‘by any means necessary’ we automatically think of Malcolm X, otherwise known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz.…

  • Obama and Canadian Healthcare

    President Obama is in Canada today. CLAUDIA FEGAN and via Mark Almberg Co-author of the book Universal Health Care: What the United States Can Learn from the Canadian Experience, Fegan is former president of Physicians for a National Health Program. She said today: “Obama has said that if we were starting over, a Canadian-style system…

  • Afghanistan Escalation Creep

    The New York Times reports: “President Obama will send an additional 17,000 American troops to Afghanistan this spring and summer in the first major military move of his presidency, White House officials said on Tuesday. The increase would come on top of 36,000 American troops already there, making for an increase of nearly 50 percent.”…

  • Auto Industry and the Environment

    SUSAN HELPER Professor of regional economic development at Case Western University in Ohio, Helper focuses on the auto industry. She recently co-wrote a piece in the New Republic magazine: “Better Than a Bailout: Here’s how to rescue Detroit without forcing them into bankruptcy.” More Information AL BENCHICH Retired president of UAW local 909 and a…

  • Who Was George Washington?

    George Washington’s birthday is February 22. HARVEY WASSERMAN Author of Harvey Wasserman’s History of the United States, Wasserman said today: “Washington inherited substantial riches from his wife Martha, the widow of Daniel Custis, a wealthy plantation owner who died when she was 26. She married George soon thereafter. He was (and is) often referred to…

  • Obama, Lincoln and Native Americans

    JAY WINTER NIGHTWOLF Nightwolf is host of “The Nightwolf Show” on WPFW Radio in Washington, D.C. and a member of the Echota Cherokee nation. More Information ROXANNE DUNBAR-ORTIZ Author of the forthcoming books Home of the Brave and Myth and Empire: Indigenous History of the United States, Dunbar-Ortiz said today: “President Barack Obama, speaking at…

  • GOP “Filibuster Hypocrisy”

    ROBERT PARRY Parry is editor of ConsortiumNews.com, a reader-supported investigative webpage. He recently wrote the piece “The GOP’s Filibuster Hypocrisy,” which states: “Though seemingly forgotten by most TV talking heads, it was only three years ago, when the Republicans had control of both the White House and Congress — and ‘filibuster’ was a dirty word.…

  • Venezuela Referendum

    Reuters reports: “Venezuelans will vote on Sunday in a referendum on lifting a two-term limit on presidents, which would allow Hugo Chavez to remain in power for as long as he keeps winning elections.” DEBORAH JAMES Director of international programs at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, James said today: “It is not surprising…

  • Getting the Credit Card Industry Under Control

    The Senate Banking Committee is holding hearings today on the credit card industry. ROBERT MANNING Available for a limited number of interviews, Manning is author of Credit Card Nation. He said today: “The credit card industry is the most unregulated sector of retail banking with an economic impact that could play an even greater role…

  • The Year of Lincoln — and John Brown

    DAVID S. REYNOLDS Distinguished professor at the CUNY Graduate Center, Reynolds is author of John Brown, Abolitionist: The Man Who Killed Slavery, Sparked the Civil War, and Seeded Civil Rights. He said today: “This is a year for Americans to remember not only Abraham Lincoln but also his great antislavery contemporary, John Brown. This bicentennial…

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