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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  • To Generate Revenue, Tax the Casino

    CHUCK COLLINS Collins is senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies, where he coordinates the Working Group on Extreme Inequality. He wrote the piece “A Fair Plan to Pay for Economic Recovery,” which states: “The corporations that rigged the casino economy and the wealthy CEOs and investors that profited at everyone else’s expense should…

  • Global Activists on Economic Summit

    As the G-20 convenes in Washington, D.C. this weekend to discuss the global financial system, grassroots activists working on poverty and other issues will be in D.C. and available for interviews. Many are organizing protests and educational events in the coming days. Events in D.C. this weekend are listed online. The following activists just arrived…

  • Election Lessons

    HARVEY WASSERMAN Wasserman is co-author of the books What Happened in Ohio? and As Goes Ohio. He said today: “The primary election protection lesson of the 2008 election is that the entire nation must convert to universal automatic voter registration and universal hand-counted paper ballots as soon as possible. Even with thousands of election protection…

  • Auto Bailout

    SUSAN STEIGERWALT A practicing physician in Detroit and past president of Physicians for a National Health Program, Steigerwalt said today: “The auto industry would be saving a huge amount of money and would not be in such dire straits if we had a single-payer healthcare system. The same is true for many industries and our…

  • Obama’s “Number 1 Priority”

    “Finding the new driver of our economy is going to be critical. There’s no better driver that pervades all aspects of our economy than a new energy economy … That’s going to be my No. 1 priority when I get into office…” — Barack Obama, Time magazine, Oct. 22, 2008 PETER BARNES Co-author of Climate…

  • Toward a Green Economy

    KEVIN DANAHER Danaher is the executive director of Global Exchange, which is co-sponsoring the Green Festival, happening at the Washington (D.C.) Convention Center this weekend. He co-edited the new book Green Festival Reader: Fresh Ideas from Agents of Change. He said today: “There’s far more growth in the green sector of the economy. As the…

  • Who is Rahm Emanuel?

    CHRISTINE CEGELIS An IT professional in the Chicago area, Cegelis ran as the Democratic nominee for Congress against longtime incumbent Henry Hyde in 2004, winning an unexpected 44 percent of the vote. After Hyde announced he would be retiring, she attempted to run again in 2006, but Emanuel — then head of the Democratic Congressional…

  • “Must Bring America Back into the World of Civilized States”

    MICHAEL RATNER President of the Center for Constitutional Rights, Ratner said today: “It is historic. A black family in the White House that slaves built. Yes, slaves were used in the construction of the White House. … “Obama has been disappointing regarding the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. These must be ended and the time…

  • A Better Election Next Time?

    ROB RICHIE Richie is executive director of FairVote and co-author of Every Vote Equal and Whose Votes Count. He said today: “2008 was an historic election in terms of the election of the first African-American to be president and the largest number of voters at the polls in our history. But we have a long…

  • Election Day: Voting-Rights Concerns

    TOVA WANG Wang is the vice president for research at Common Cause. WENDY WEISER Weiser is the deputy director at the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law. CHRIS KROMM Kromm is the executive director of the Institute for Southern Studies. ALEX KEYSSAR Keyssar is the Stirling Professor of History…

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