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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  • Iran’s Presidential Election on Friday

    NADER DAVOODI Nader Davoodi, an Iranian photographer who lives in Tehran, describes himself as “a very close friend to” the campaign of Mostafa Moin, the reformist presidential candidate in Iran. Davoodi said today: “In an ‘adsphere’ [where] most of the presidential candidates in Iran introduce themselves as a very helpful technocrat and sell themselves as…

  • Downing Street Memo: Deception and Cover-Up

    On Thursday June 16, 2005, from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Room HC-9 of the U.S. Capitol, Rep. John Conyers, Jr., Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, and other members of Congress will hold a hearing on the Downing Street Minutes and related evidence of White House efforts to cook the books on…

  • Debt Relief for Africa: How to Proceed

    MARK ENGLER Mark Engler is the author of an op-ed in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer titled “Credit Globalization Movement for Debt Victory.” He said today: “Thanks in large part to persistent campaigners in the global South and their international supporters, a plan granting 100 percent multilateral debt relief for 18 impoverished countries has been approved by…

  • Iran’s Presidential Election

    Voters in Iran will cast ballots for a new president on Friday (June 17), choosing from a field of eight candidates that includes hardline clerics and reformers. The following analysts are available for interviews: NORMAN SOLOMON Currently in Tehran, Solomon is executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy and author of the new book…

  • Bush, Posada & Terrorism Hypocrisy

    The AP is reporting: “Luis Posada Carriles’ Cold War past has made for an uncomfortable present. The Cuban exile accused of planning the deadly bombing of a Cuban airliner in 1976 was set to make an appearance before an immigration judge Monday on charges that he entered the United States illegally earlier this year. His…

  • Medical Marijuana: Key Vote in Congress Looms

    STEVE FOX BRUCE MIRKEN Fox is director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project which provided funding for Angel Raich’s litigation in the recent Supreme Court decision. Mirken is director of communications for the organization. Fox said today: “The Raich decision does not overturn any state medical marijuana law or take away any protections…

  • Bush on Iraq: “Comforting Families” and Telling Lies

    Yesterday, President Bush, in an appearance with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, addressed the Downing Street Memo — minutes from a July 23, 2002, meeting of British foreign policy leadership — for the first time. The memo is evidence that Bush lied about his reasons for invading Iraq and the timing of his decision. The…

  • Five Hundred African Children Die Each Hour as Bush and Blair Fail to Agree on Africa Policy

    Reuters is reporting that “Africa can expect compassion but little action when G8 finance ministers meet this week, as no real commitments on slashing debt, doubling aid or making trade concessions will be on the table. … President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair failed to reach a final agreement on African debt relief…

  • Democracy in the Americas

    The 34 members of the Organization of American States are meeting for the first time in the U.S. since 1974. The AP is reporting from Bolivia: “President Carlos Mesa, his 19-month-old free-market government unraveling amid swelling street protests and a crippling blockade of the Bolivian capital, offered his resignation in a nationally televised address. The…

  • Bush & Blair & Bolton & Bustani: “War-Gate”?

    GLEN RANGWALA A lecturer in politics at Cambridge University, Rangwala is a leading expert on U.S. and British policy toward Iraq. He said today: “A series of leaked documents from March to July 2002 originating from the highest levels of the British government demonstrate the extent to which senior members of the U.S. government were…

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