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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  • Presidential Polling and Issues

    MATT WATERMAN Waterman is the designer of a web page that allows people to select their positions on various political issues and ranks the presidential candidates according to how closely their views match, creating a political “blind taste test.” He said today: “Five months after launch we’ve had over 200,000 people use the tool to…

  • Questioning the Candidates on Substance

    ARNIE ALPERT ANNE MILLER Alpert is New Hampshire program coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee. Miller is director of New Hampshire Peace Action. Alpert said today: “During the months leading up to its first-in-the-nation presidential primary, New Hampshire residents really do get the chance to meet all the candidates. With a little skill, preparation,…

  • UN’s Iraq Mandate Renewal

    RAED JARRAR Currently in Washington, D.C., Jarrar, who was born and raised in Iraq, is Iraq consultant for the American Friends Service Committee. He will be testifying at a hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday, titled: “The Extension of the United Nations Mandate for Iraq: Is the Iraqi Parliament Being Ignored?” Jarrar…

  • Why are Clinton, Obama and Edwards Backing Nixon’s Health Plan?

    DAVID HIMMELSTEIN STEFFIE WOOLHANDLER Himmelstein and Woolhandler are professors of medicine at Harvard University and the co-founders of Physicians for a National Health Program. They just had an oped in the New York Times in which they write: “In 1971, President Nixon sought to forestall single-payer national health insurance by proposing an alternative. He wanted…

  • The Mitchell Report: Absolving the Owners?

    ROBERT LIPSYTE “Jock Culture” correspondent for Tomdispatch.com, Lipsyte is author of several books on sports; most recently Yellow Flag, a novel about stock car racing. He said today: “By investigating itself, Major League Baseball headed off a larger and tougher investigation that the government would have done — and would have been happy to do…

  • * Algeria Bombing * Gaza * Israel * Russia

    JOHN ENTELIS Co-author of The Algerian Civil War and numerous other books on Algeria and North Africa, Entelis said today: “The bombing today [in Algeria] is in effect a continuation of the coup that took place in 1992 when the military overthrew the Islamic government. The resulting civil war left 200,000 dead. The violence has…

  • Global Warming

    WILLIAM BURNS Senior fellow at the Santa Clara Law School focusing on international environmental law, Burns said today: “The U.S. government is claiming that it is willing to engage in international negotiations to address climate change; however, it continues to resist binding commitments despite the fact that voluntary efforts have proven to be an abject…

  • Human Rights Day

    Monday, December 10 is Human Rights Day, marking the day the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed in 1948. The following human rights advocates are available for interviews: JAMES JENNINGS Jennings is president of Conscience International, an Atlanta-based humanitarian aid/human rights organization. He has worked on human rights problems and relief efforts in many…

  • * Guantanamo * Al-Arian

    MARJORIE COHN AFP reports: “The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday began considering the right of Guantanamo prisoners to challenge their detention in civilian courts, in a landmark case over ‘war on terror’ detainee rights.” Cohn is the author of the new book Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law, a professor…

  • Writers’ Strike: Problems and Solutions

    Entertainment Weekly reports: “Talks between the striking Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers resume today after breaking last Thursday. Since then, each side has circulated statements indicating that there remain considerable differences between them.” STEVE BODOW Head writer for “The Daily Show,” Bodow’s oped “Why I went from…

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