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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  • 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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