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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  • U.S. in Najaf: Putting Out the Fire with Gasoline?

    Hussain Ibrahimi Ibrahimi is the director of Iraqi Human Rights Watch in Karbala. He is with a delegation of religious leaders traveling from Karbala to Najaf. Ibrahimi said: “We want to ask for a peaceful solution to this problem, and for the fighting to stop.” Maxine Nash Currently in Baghdad, Nash is a member of…

  • Venezuela Referendum: Interviews Available

    MARK WEISBROT Co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Weisbrot testified recently before the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations about Venezuela. He said today: “Polls show [Venezuelan President Hugo] Chavez ahead in the referendum [set for Aug. 15], and according to most press accounts it is because of the government’s success in…

  • Millions of Americans Not Allowed to Vote

    CHRIS UGGEN Uggen is a professor and McKnight Presidential Fellow at the University of Minnesota and co-author of the forthcoming book Locked Out: Felon Disenfranchisement and American Democracy. He said today: “Our survey of 1,000 Americans showed that 80 percent favor returning voting rights to former felons once they complete their sentences, 60 percent favor…

  • Presidential Debates: Who Controls Them?

    “The general election presidential debates are the ‘Superbowl of Politics,’” said George Farah, founder and executive director of Open Debates. “And if history is any guide, Senator John Kerry and President George W. Bush will participate in debates sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), which claims to have ‘no relationship with any political…

  • Porter Goss — Cheney Cat’s Paw?

    MEL GOODMAN Goodman, a former CIA analyst, is a senior fellow for intelligence reform at the Center for International Policy. He said today: “Goss has all the wrong credentials. He’s former CIA, a senior operations officer. An over-reliance on operations has been a big part of the problem. He’s from the Hill, so he’s a…

  • Iraqi Government Crackdown on Al-Jazeera

    Over the weekend Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, who was selected by the U.S.-appointed Governing Council, ordered Al-Jazeera’s office in Baghdad closed for one month. According to AP, Iraqi Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib said the closure was intended to give the station “a chance to re-adjust their policy against Iraq.” “They have been showing a lot…

  • Job Growth Plummets

    HEATHER BOUSHEY Boushey is an economist with the Center for Economic and Policy Research. In a statement issued today, the center said: “The economy added just 32,000 jobs in July, far below the expectations of most analysts. The weak July job growth follows an increase in June that was revised down to 78,000, bringing the…

  • Former Nader Supporters Offer Critiques of His 2004 Campaign

    Pollster John Zogby, who is tracking the presidential race weekly in 16 key states, was quoted by Knight Ridder news service this week as saying that Ralph Nader “is the difference in virtually every battleground state.” Few prominent supporters of Ralph Nader’s 2000 presidential campaign are backing him this year. The following former members of…

  • 9/11 Omission Commission

    SIBEL EDMONDS A former FBI translator and whistleblower, Edmonds has written a “Public Letter to 9/11 Commission Chairman from FBI Whistleblower.” In it, she states: “Unfortunately, I find your report seriously flawed in its failure to address serious intelligence issues that I am aware of, which have been confirmed, and which as a witness to…

  • Florida GOP Urging Its Voters to Bypass Touch-Screen Machines as Unreliable

    The St. Petersburg Times reported July 29 that the Republican Party of Florida has urged its supporters to use absentee ballots because “new electronic voting machines do not have a paper ballot to verify your vote.” The glossy GOP mailing read: “Make sure your vote counts. Order your absentee ballot today.” The mailing included a…

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