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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  • With Iraq in Flames: Critical Perspectives

    KELLY DOUGHERTY Dougherty is a co-founder of the newly formed group Iraq Veterans Against the War. She was in the Colorado Army National Guard for eight years and was a military police sergeant for a year in Iraq before returning to the U.S. in late February. She said today: “When we first arrived in Iraq,…

  • National Security Experts: 9/11 Commission Falls Short

    Today a group of 25 veteran former agents, analysts and other experts from a number of government agencies involved in national security are releasing a letter critical of the 9-11 Commission. Among the 25 signers are John M. Cole, former FBI intelligence operations specialist, and Diane Kleiman, a former special agent with U.S. Customs assigned…

  • Nader vs. Nader: Signatures Gathered by Republican Party Get Ralph Nader on Michigan Ballot

    “Michigan Republicans turned in 45,000 of the 50,500 petition signatures on behalf of Nader for a ballot spot.” — Detroit Free Press, Sept. 4, 2004 “We have not been accepting signatures obtained through organized Republican Party efforts in the three or four states where we have learned of such activity.” — Op-ed article by Ralph…

  • Bush With Big Lead Among Missouri Job Outsourcers

    ROBERT HICKEY Hickey is author of the just-released report “No Holiday For Missouri’s Outsourced Workers: Outsourcing, Executive Campaign Contributions and the 2004 Presidential Election.” He said today: “The report looks at all companies that have been approved for the federal Trade Adjustment Assistance program for sending Missouri jobs overseas since January 2001 when Bush became…

  • As Problems Persist in Florida Elections, Law Students Organize for Voting Integrity

    In an editorial published on September 7, the New York Times stated: “There is no excuse for turning away eligible voters at the polls, but that is what apparently happened in Florida’s primary elections last week. Under Florida law, registered voters can vote without showing identification. But election officials at some polling places misstated the…

  • With More Than 1,000 Dead U.S. Soldiers in Iraq: Hearing Their Families

    Nancy Lessin Charlie Richardson Interviews are available with the following relatives of U.S. soldiers who died in Iraq. They can be contacted through Nancy Lessin and Charlie Richardson, co-founders of Military Families Speak Out. * Celeste Zappala lives in Philadelphia, Pa. Her son Pennsylvania National Guardsman Sgt. Sherwood Baker was killed in Baghdad on April…

  • * Protesters Inside the RNC * A Big Lie Last Night

    FERNANDO SUAREZ DEL SOLAR JUNE BRASHARES MEDEA BENJAMIN GAEL MURPHY JODIE EVANS They are among the activists who protested inside the convention center during speeches including Bush’s. Fernando Suarez del Solar (whose primary language is Spanish) is the father of Marine Lance Cpl. Jesus Alberto Suarez del Solar Navarro, who died in Iraq on March…

  • Trustworthy Guardians of the Electoral Process?

    ARTHUR HEITZER Heitzer is a civil rights attorney and spokesperson for the National Lawyers Guild chapter in Milwaukee, where Chief Justice Rehnquist grew up. Heitzer said today: “The Supreme Court is the ultimate judicial authority on voter and civil rights, which means Chief Justice William Rehnquist’s record on this issue is very crucial. During the…

  • * Bush/Cheney: Cruel and Unusual? * AIDS Protests * Pataki:

    MARK CRISPIN MILLER Professor of media studies at New York University and author of the just-released book Cruel and Unusual: Bush/Cheney’s New World Order, Miller said today: “This regime is not conservative, but represents a radical subversive movement — one now largely in control of all three branches of the government… What ultimately drives them…

  • Voting Machine Manufacturers Wine and Dine Election Officials

    CHELLIE PINGREE Chellie Pingree is the president of Common Cause. She said today: “Last week, a four-day conference for election officials was held, co-sponsored by voting machine vendors who want their business. The conference was organized by the Election Center, a non-profit organization that describes itself as an association of election and voter registration officials,…

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