News Items

  • Affidavit by Daniel Ellsberg for Plowshare Activists Being Allowed a Defense of Necessity

    In 1971 I gave the U.S. Senate, the New York Times and the Washington Post copies of what have come to be known as The Pentagon Papers. I was arrested on twelve felony counts. My trial was dismissed because of government misconduct which figured in the impeachment proceedings against President Nixon…These considerations bear on two other elements of the necessity defense, the “lack of legal alternatives” and the “imminence” of the harms to be averted. Again, I speak from my own experience, but not only mine, in saying that it is the perceived insufficiency of other means, by themselves not…

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  • A Long List of Democratic Candidates Requires a Large Catalog of Their Funders

    By Sam Haut: As the first debates for the Democratic primary begin, and the list of candidates has grown to 24, it can be difficult to contextualize where each candidate has received funding from over the course of their time in office. What follows is a list of the Democratic candidates and the top sources for how much money they’ve made and where those top sources come from.

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  • NATO and US Foreign Policy: Dangers Ahead

    RootsAction.org held a news conference Thursday on “NATO and U.S. Foreign Policy: Dangers Ahead” hosted by the Institute for Public Accuracy. Speakers include former State Department officials Matthew Hoh, Ann Wright, as well as Martin Fleck. The event was moderated by Norman Solomon.

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  • Media Advisory: “NATO and U.S. Foreign Policy: Dangers Ahead”

    At 10 a.m. Tuesday, April 2, 2019 at the National Press Club: On the same day that President Trump is scheduled to meet with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the White House, this news conference will focus on the U.S.-NATO relationship. Speakers include former State Department officials Matthew Hoh and Ann Wright.

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  • Statement by Floyd Abrams in response to Attorney General nominee William Barr’s remarks on the First Amendment

    “It’s one thing to say that there could be circumstances in which a journalist’s need to protect her sources could lead to a potential finding of contempt of court if she refused to obey a court order requiring such disclosure. But the notion that a journalist could properly be jailed for publishing material that the government thinks could ‘hurt the country’ is something else entirely and would be deeply threatening to First Amendment norms in general and journalistic freedom in particular.”

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  • Statement on NAFTA’s “Kafkaesque” Turn

    The supposedly concluded renegotiation of NAFTA has reached a Kafkaesque stage. As the United States Trade Representative has stated: “The United States and Mexico have reached a preliminary agreement in principle, subject to finalization and implementation.” Not only the negotiations have not been finalized, and without Canada, but the texts remain hidden from the public.

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  • What’s the Cost of Medicare for All?

    Even a Koch-backed think tank finds Medicare for all would cut health care spending. In a report released by the Mercatus Center, a single-payer health care system would offset costs with even greater savings. The Intercept and other media reporting on this are citing the work of Drs. David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler. They are distinguished professors of health policy at the City University of New York at Hunter College and lecturers in medicine at Harvard Medical School. They have written an analysis of the work of the Koch-backed think tank, the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, which is…

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  • Trump Team Hired Israeli Spy Firm Used by Harvey Weinstein to Attack Obama Officials on Iran Deal

    “Aides to Donald Trump, the U.S. president, hired an Israeli private intelligence agency to orchestrate a ‘dirty ops’ campaign against key individuals from the Obama administration who helped negotiate the Iran nuclear deal, the Observer can reveal. People in the Trump camp contacted private investigators in May last year to ‘get dirt’ on Ben Rhodes, who had been one of Barack Obama’s top national security advisers, and Colin Kahl, deputy assistant to Obama, as part of an elaborate attempt to discredit the deal.”

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  • From the desk of Noam Chomsky

    From the desk of Noam Chomsky

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  • 15 Years Later: The Whistleblower Who Almost Blocked the Iraq War

    Media Advisory: Press Conference to Mark 15th Anniversary Of Leak by GCHQ Translator Katharine Gun Revealing US “Dirty Tricks” at UN for Iraq War When:  Thursday, 1 March 2018 at 11:00 a.m. Where:  Head office, National Union of Journalists Headland House, 72 Acton Street, London, WC1X 9NB Who:  Katharine Gun, Thomas Drake, Matthew Hoh, Jesselyn Radack This press conference will take place the day before the 15th anniversary of the Observer’s publication of the explosive March 2, 2003 story “US dirty tricks to win vote on Iraq war” — based on a leak by GCHQ translator Katharine Gun — revealing the US National Security Agency’s UN surveillance memo that aimed to grease the way for the…

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  • U.S. Report Stating Iran Halted Nuke Program Finally Released

    The New York Times lead headline this afternoon on its website was “U.S. Says Iran Ended Atomic Arms Work: Report Contradicts Prior Intelligence Assessment.” The report in question is the National Intelligence Estimate, “Iran: Nuclear Intentions and Capablities.” REESE ERLICH Foreign correspondent and author of the new book The Iran Agenda: The Real Story of…

  • Pakistan: What Musharraf Stole

    ALI AHSAN The Chicago Tribune notes in a profile published Wednesday that leading dissident Aitzaz Ahsan, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, was the first person jailed when Musharraf declared a state of emergency on Nov. 3 and remains under house arrest. See “Musharraf not among lawyer’s many fans.” Aitzaz’s son, Ali Ahsan, also…

  • New Bush-Malaki Agreement: “Undermines Iraqi Sovereignty, Democracy”

    On Monday President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki signed — via video conference — a Declaration of Principles covering a host of military and economic issues. The AP reported on Monday: “Iraqi officials foresee a long-term presence of about 50,000 U.S. troops…” stemming from the agreement. The agreement is on the…

  • Broken Peace Process?

    STEPHEN ZUNES Zunes just wrote the piece “Broken Peace Process.” He writes: “Ever since direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks began in the early 1990s, U.S. policy has been based on the assumption that both sides need to work out a solution among themselves and both sides need to accept territorial compromise. As reasonable as that may…

  • Annapolis Conference

    LAILA EL-HADDAD A journalist based in the U.S. and the Gaza Strip, El-Haddad recently wrote the piece “Annapolis, as seen from Gaza. More Information Amb. ROBERT KEELEY DANIEL LIEBERMAN A former U.S. ambassador to Greece, Zimbabwe and Mauritius, Keeley was recently on an 18-day delegation to five Mideast countries organized by the Council for the…

  • Scott McClellan and Iraq Lies: What Happened?

    “I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice President, the President’s chief of staff, and the President himself.” — From former White House press secretary Scott McClellan’s forthcoming book What Happened regarding the leak of Valerie…

  • * “Born to Buy” * Toxic Toys

    JULIET SCHOR Chair and professor of Sociology at Boston College, Schor is author most recently of Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture. Her past books include The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure and The Overspent American: Upscaling, Downshifting and the New Consumer. MARK SCHAPIRO Reuters reports: “The California…

  • “Mandate Model” Healthcare: Massachusetts Highlights Problems

    The Boston Globe reports: “Enrollment in the [Massachusetts] new subsidized health plan is growing so quickly that the state could face a funding gap as large as $147 million by the end of the fiscal year, according to a state projection.” The following analysts have been warning of the program’s problems: STEFFIE WOOLHANDLER, MD Associate…

  • Fact-Checking Clinton and Obama: Healthcare * Social Security * Iran

    The following analysts are available to scrutinize some of the claims of Democratic presidential candidates at the debate Thursday night in Las Vegas: DON McCANNE, M.D. At last night’s debate, Hillary Clinton claimed: “I have a universal health care plan that covers everyone.” Barak Obama claimed that “the fact of the matter is that I…

  • Pakistan: Critical Perspectives

    JONATHAN SCHELL Schell’s most recent book is The Seventh Decade: The New Shape of Nuclear Danger. He just wrote the piece “Are You With Us… or Against Us? The Road from Washington to Karachi to Nuclear Anarchy.” More Information MOHAMAD BAZZI Bazzi recently wrote the piece “U.S. Must Cut Ties to Pakistan’s Dictator,” in which…

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