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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  • Congressional Abdication: * Impeachment * War Funding

    THEODORE LOWI Lowi is professor of American Institutions at Cornell University and author of several books including The End of Liberalism. He said today: “Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Judiciary Chair John Conyers and the vast majority of Democrats in Congress are making a grave Constitutional error by keeping impeachment off the table. Impeachment does not mean…

  • Oil and the Environment

    STEVE KRETZMANN Executive director of Oil Change International, Kretzmann said today: “Despite how environmentally damaging and tragic the San Francisco and Black Sea spills are, they are only the most visible of the many costs of our oil addiction. Oil spills cannot truly be called accidents. Like human rights abuses, wars for oil, and climate,…

  • Peru Trade Deal

    AP reports: “The House on Thursday approved a free trade agreement with Peru, the first under a Democratic majority in Congress that has declared that labor rights and the environment must be central parts of all such pacts.” WENONAH HAUTER Executive director of Food & Water Watch, Hauter said today: “Unfortunately, the passage of the…

  • Iraqi Parliament Saying UN Renewal of Troop Mandate “Unconstitutional”

    JAMES PAUL Paul is executive director of Global Policy Forum, which monitors the United Nations. He said today: “UN authorization for the U.S.-led force in Iraq is set to expire. The U.S. government has drafted a renewal resolution to submit to the Security Council, and a vote could come up soon. But Iraq’s parliament has…

  • Calls for Impeaching Cheney

    The Politico reports: “Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) plans to take to the floor of the House Tuesday and introduce a privileged resolution to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney. The privilege approach allows him to circumvent Democratic leadership, which opposes voting on the measure. “His resolution will be met with a motion to table it. A…

  • Pakistan Coup and U.S. Policy

    The New York Times is reporting today: “The Bush administration signaled Sunday that it would probably keep billions of dollars flowing to Pakistan’s military, despite the detention of human rights advocates and leaders of the political opposition by Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the country’s president.” AIJAZ AHMAD Ahmad has written extensively on South Asia. Currently senior…

  • Lieberman-Warner: Give Away to Coal?

    A subcommittee of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee subcommittee voted today to advance the Lieberman-Warner bill — which sets caps on greenhouse gas emissions and promotes “carbon trading” — to the full committee. The following analysts and activists are available for comment: ERICH PICA Pica is director of economic policy for Friends of…

  • Google and DoubleClick Merger: Online Consumer Profiling

    On Thursday and Friday, the Federal Trade Commission is holding a “town hall meeting” on Internet advertising. JEFF CHESTER Chester is the executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, author of the recently released book Digital Destiny: New Media and the Future of Democracy and will testify at the FTC. He said today: “A…

  • Blackwater * Mukasey and Torture * LA 8

    JEREMY SCAHILL Scahill is author of the bestseller Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army. He just wrote the piece “State to Blackwater: Nothing You Say Can and Will Be Used Against You in a Court of Law.” More Information MARJORIE COHN Currently in Washington, D.C., Cohn recently wrote the piece “Michael…

  • Fires Expose “Two San Diegos”

    JUSTIN AKERS CHACÓN Chacón is professor of Chicano Studies in San Diego, California, and co-author of No One Is Illegal with Mike Davis. He just wrote the piece “Divided by Fire: Two San Diegos Emerge from the Flames,” which states: “While the Southern California wildfires do not discriminate against peoples and property values, the machinery…

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