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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  • · Iran · Syria

    CARAH ONG Ong is Iran Policy Analyst at the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation. She said today: “For those who have been monitoring the capture of 15 British soldiers in the disputed waters in the Straits of Arab al Assat, the peaceful conclusion today points to further evidence of how Iran is saying it…

  • 40 Years After: King’s “Beyond Vietnam” Speech

    Following are excerpts from the “Beyond Vietnam” speech that Martin Luther King Jr. delivered at the Riverside Church in New York City on April 4, 1967, exactly one year before his assassination. He was addressing the group Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam: “I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies…

  • Iran in Pentagon Cross-Hairs?

    ROSS POURZAL An Iranian-American human rights activist, Pourzal is president of the Campaign Against Sanctions & Military Intervention in Iran. He said today: “As the Gulf region slides into a cold war, Iran’s maneuvers in the region result from the insecure environment and state of siege that Washington and London are intent on imposing on…

  • “Corporate Junk Science” in Capitol Spotlight

    The House Committee on Science and Technology is breaking new ground this afternoon with a hearing titled “Shaping the Message, Distorting the Science: Media Strategies to Influence Science Policy.” The following policy analysts are available for interviews: SHELDON RAMPTON Rampton, research director for the non-profit Center for Media and Democracy, is testifying at today’s hearing…

  • · Today’s Passage of Iraq Bill in House · Iran-Britain Naval Confrontation

    GORDON ADAMS Adams is a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington. After the House voted today to approve the Democratic bill on Iraq, he said: “This outcome is a good first step. It is an important victory for Nancy Pelosi, as Speaker, and an important second message — after the…

  • Iraq War Supplemental: Troops and Costs

    ERIK LEAVER A research fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, Leaver is closely following the supplemental. He said today: “Contrary to what has been discussed, the proposed supplemental ensures continued U.S. troops in Iraq beyond August 2008. In addition to the granting of waivers for the President to allow non-combat ready troops and continue…

  • Democratic Party and War Funding

    JOHN STAUBER SHELDON RAMPTON Stauber and Rampton co-wrote the recent article “Why Won’t MoveOn Move Forward?” which states: “MoveOn’s organizing around Iraq has become notably ambiguous lately. Although it talks in general terms about bringing the troops home, specific timetables or meaningful steps in that direction are nowhere discussed. Most strikingly, MoveOn has adamantly refused…

  • “There’s Always Money For War”

    This week, the House is expected to vote on the proposed $100 billion military supplemental. JARED BERNSTEIN Bernstein is senior economist with the Economic Policy Institute. In his most recent piece, “There’s Always Money For War,” he writes: “Okay, this is going to sound really naïve. It’s the kind of question you’d expect from an…

  • Iraq War: Four More Years?

    JAMES PAUL Paul is executive director of the Global Policy Forum, which will soon be releasing a detailed report titled “War and Occupation in Iraq.” Parts of the report are now available online. MEDEA BENJAMIN GAEL MURPHY Benjamin and Murphy are co-founders of the women’s peace group CodePink. Benjamin said today: “Gael and several other…

  • Democracy for D.C.?

    AP is reporting: “A plan to give Utah a fourth congressional seat and the District of Columbia its first voting member of Congress advanced Tuesday, making a floor vote in the House a possibility in the next few weeks.” The House Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on the legislation Thursday. ANISE JENKINS MALCOLM WISEMAN…

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