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 »


  • With the Kyoto Pact Taking Effect, Eyes of World Are on U.S. Rejection

    The Kyoto Protocol on climate change will take effect on Wednesday (February 16). The United States initially signed up to Kyoto’s framework but the Bush administration rejected the accord in March 2001. The administration also opposes caps on carbon dioxide emissions, deemed responsible for the greenhouse effect and global warming. ROSS GELBSPAN Gelbspan is the…

  • REAL ID Act — Increasing or Decreasing Security?

    The House of Representatives has begun debate on the “REAL ID Act of 2005” (HR 418) and may vote as early as Thursday. The following people are available for interviews: JUDITH GOLUB Available for a limited number of interviews, Golub is senior director of advocacy and public affairs for the American Immigration Lawyers Association. She…

  • Guaranteed Income — Brazil, U.S., Iraq

    Senator EDUARDO SUPLICY A senator from Brazil, Suplicy was the sponsor of the “Citizen’s Basic Income” legislation that was signed into law last year. The law is grounded in the concept that an unconditional and guaranteed minimum income is the simplest and most effective step toward the eradication of poverty. It will be implemented gradually…

  • While the United States Makes Demands on Iran, Budget Calls for Boost of U.S. Nuclear Weapons

    The New York Times reported Monday that U.S. scientists “have begun designing a new generation of nuclear arms meant to be sturdier and more reliable and to have longer lives, federal officials and private experts say.” More Information JACQUELINE CABASSO Executive director of the Western States Legal Foundation, which focuses on nuclear policy, Cabasso said…

  • Budget

    FRANCES FOX PIVEN Author of the recent book The War at Home: The Domestic Costs of Bush’s Militarism, Piven said today: “The new budget proposals continue the Republican strategy of emasculating the parts of government that serve ordinary Americans in order to build the military, subsidize corporations, and slash taxes on the affluent. With deficits…

  • Rice Trip

    Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is currently traveling to Europe, Israel and the Israeli-occupied territories. The following are available for interviews: GEORGE MONBIOT Monbiot is a columnist for the London-based Guardian and author of the book The Age of Consent: A Manifesto for a New World Order. More Information HOUZAN MAHMOUD Mahmoud is the U.K.…

  • Social Security: Behind the Spin

    LEE PRICE Price is research director at the Economic Policy Institute. He said today: “Four years ago, President Bush assured us that we could afford his massive tax cuts tilted toward the well-to-do and still maintain a budget surplus large enough to maintain Social Security commitments. Now, four years later, we have deficits largely caused…

  • State of the Union: * Social Security * Health Care

    The following analysts will be available Wednesday night and Thursday to comment on policy proposals in the State of the Union address: DIANA ZUCKERMAN Zuckerman is president of the National Research Center for Women & Families. She wrote the article “Social Security and Women.” More Information BILL SPRIGGS Spriggs wrote the recent articles “African Americans…

  • * Gonzales Nomination * Guantánamo Ruling

    The Senate is expected to debate the nomination of Alberto Gonzales for attorney general until Thursday, a nominee that lawyers at the Center for Constitutional Rights describe as one of the architects of Guantánamo as well as the torture and abuse of detainees. U.S. District Court Judge Joyce Green on Monday ruled that special military…

  • Aftermath of Iraqi Voting

    ANTONIA JUHASZ Juhasz wrote the recent article “Of Oil And Elections.” She said today: “The front-runner for the new Prime Minister of Iraq is Adel Abdul Mahdi, Iraq’s current Finance Minister who announced on Dec. 21 that his government was hoping to privatize its oil and that this would be ‘very promising to the American…

Mastodon