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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  • Libby Sentence: Commutation or Cover-Up?

    ROBERT PARRY Parry, a former reporter for The Associated Press and Newsweek, has written a number of books about Washington politics including, most recently, Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq. He said today: “President Bush’s decision to spare Scooter Libby from jail time represents the final step in a…

  • “Excessive” Sentences and the Administration

    In a statement about commutation of Scooter Libby’s sentence, President Bush said: “I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive.” KEVIN and MONICA BENDERMAN Kevin Benderman said today: “I was imprisoned for 14 months after trying to apply for conscientious objector status after seeing the reality of the Iraq war.”…

  • Are Biofuels the Solution?

    RACHEL SMOLKER Research biologist at the Global Justice Ecology Project, Smolker said today: “In just the past week [the U.S. government] permitted field testing of a eucalyptus genetically engineered specifically for biofuel production, a $375 million DOE grant was made to fund three major bioenergy research centers, BP and DuPont fronted most of $400 million…

  • Conflict Over U.S.-Korea Trade Deal

    AP is reporting that “South Korea’s largest labor union escalated a strike Thursday against the country’s free trade agreement with the U.S. as the two governments tried to make last-minute changes to the deal before its scheduled signing later this week.” SIN MOON HEE CHRISTINE AHN Sin Moon Hee is with the Korean Women’s Peasants…

  • Nobel Peace Laureates Oppose Iraqi Oil Law Imposition

    In the past few weeks, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and the chief U.S. commander in the Mideast, Admiral William Fallon, have all traveled to Baghdad to press Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki to pass a controversial oil law. Five Nobel Peace Prize laureates have just released a statement…

  • Iraqi Oil Law Challenged

    The Associated Press reports today: “Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki’s cabinet approved a U.S.-backed draft oil law and the Parliament is expected to start discussing it next week.” The law, which institutes privileges for foreign companies at a level unseen anywhere else in the Middle East, has been challenged inside and outside Iraq. The Iraqi…

  • As Civilian Casualties Mount, Air War Is Questioned

    The Associated Press is reporting today that NATO air strikes “left 25 civilians dead.” AP also reports that NATO “blamed [the insurgents] for the deaths of any innocents, saying they had launched ‘irresponsible’ attacks from civilian homes.” This week, Reuters reported: “At least seven children were killed in a U.S.-led coalition air strike on a…

  • Voices from Gaza

    AMJAD SHAWA Shawa is Palestinian NGO Network coordinator for Gaza. The group just released an urgent statement on the health care situation: “In the last few days, the Gaza Strip has witnessed dramatic serious incidents which resulted in tens of deaths and hundreds of injuries. This has dramatic consequences for the political, economic and social…

  • Cluster Bomb Talks Held in Geneva

    This week, talks on banning cluster weapons will be held in Geneva within the framework on the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, ratified by 100 countries. Last month, 68 national governments conferred in Lima, Peru, to ban cluster weapons. SCOTT STEDJAN Stedjan is the legislative secretary for the Friends Committee on National Legislation and…

  • Independent Report on Iraq

    JAMES PAUL CELINE NAHORY Paul is executive director of Global Policy Forum, which has just released a 117-page report titled “War and Occupation in Iraq.” He said today: “While most people focus on the sectarian bloodshed, our report highlights the enormous violence of the occupation forces. There is an increasing air war that results in…

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