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…

    Read more »


  • 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.

    Read more »


  • 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.

    Read more »


  • 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.

    Read more »


  • 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.”

    Read more »


  • 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.

    Read more »


  • 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…

    Read more »


  • 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.”

    Read more »


  • From the desk of Noam Chomsky

    From the desk of Noam Chomsky

    Read more »


  • 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…

    Read more »


  • Two Years After “Shock and Awe”

    GREG PALAST Author of a BBC report which airs today, “Secret U.S. Plans for Iraq’s Oil,” Palast is available for a limited number of interviews. More Information ANTONIA JUHASZ A Foreign Policy In Focus scholar, Juhasz wrote the article “Of Oil And Elections” and is author of a forthcoming book, about the Bush administration’s global…

  • The Wolfowitz Nomination: “Emblematic of Misplaced Priorities”

    ROBERT WEISSMAN Co-director of Essential Action, Weissman said today: “Wolfowitz brings no apparent development experience to the job, but does offer a record of unabashed militarism and unilateralism that represents exactly the wrong direction for the World Bank. Militarism and wasteful spending on weaponry is a huge problem in the developing world. The nomination of…

  • Administration Agenda on Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

    The New York Times published a front-page story yesterday related to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference coming in May. The piece, entitled “Bush Seeks to Ban Some Nations From All Nuclear Technology,” stated that “Behind President Bush’s recent shift in dealing with Iran’s nuclear program lies a less visible goal: to rewrite, in…

  • Stories from Soldiers

    This weekend marks the beginning of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The following people can provide perspectives on some of the experiences of U.S. soldiers who have been in Iraq. MICHAEL HOFFMAN Hoffman is a co-founder and national coordinator of Iraq Veterans Against the War. He was in the U.S. Marine Corps for over four…

  • With More Funding for Iraq War, Grim Echoes of Vietnam War

    The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote Tuesday (March 15) on the White House request for a supplemental appropriation for the war in Iraq. The following analysts are available for interviews: DANIEL HALLIN The author of the landmark book The “Uncensored War”: The Media and Vietnam, Hallin is professor of communication and adjunct professor…

  • The Significance of John Bolton; Anticipating Impacts at the U.N.

    While diplomats assess the appointment of John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, the following analysts are available for interviews: EMAD MEKAY Mekay is the chief correspondent in Washington for Asharq Alawsat, an Arabic-language newspaper based in London. He said today: “Bolton’s appointment sends a strong signal that the Bush administration wants to…

  • * The Right to Vote as a Constitutional Right * Barred for Life: Felon Disenfranchisement

    JAMIN RASKIN Last week, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. introduced House Joint Resolution 28 with 54 original co-sponsors. The resolution proposes to add a new “right to vote” amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Congressman Jackson said today: “I first introduced the Voting Rights Amendment on November 6, 2001, during the first session of the 107th Congress.…

  • Democracy on the March * Egyptian Election * Vermont War Vote * Iraq Labor Rights

    NAWAL EL SAADAWI Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has recently indicated that he would allow some sort of challenger in Egypt’s presidential elections this year. Nawal El Saadawi is founder and president of the Arab Women Solidarity Association and a writer and medical doctor. She has stated her intention to seek the Egyptian presidency. She said…

  • The Money Behind Social Security Privatization Push

    LAURA MILLER Editor of PR Watch, Miller said today: “The Bush administration ventriloquists are out in full force these days, breathlessly hyping ‘Personal Retirement Accounts’ as a way to save Social Security by destroying it. For the average voter, getting a handle on what the Bush administration is proposing to do to Social Security is…

  • Responses to Supreme Court Ban of Death Penalty in Juvenile Cases

    BRYAN STEVENSON Executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama, a nonprofit organization that provides legal representation to indigent defendants and prisoners who have been denied fair and just treatment in the legal system, Stevenson said today: “About 8 percent of the death penalty cases here in Alabama are juvenile cases, so for us…

Mastodon