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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  • As Democratic Establishment Sticks with Biden, Is Trump’s Vengeful Return More Likely?

    “It’s stunning that the Democratic leadership is sticking with Biden. … Racial justice activists, Arab-American activists, Muslim-American activists, young people of all colors including Jewish young people, are appalled by what Biden has done in Gaza. And many of them are announcing that they won’t be voting for Biden even if they live in swing…

  • Supreme Court Takes Up Mifepristone Access

    The Supreme Court will decide whether to limit access to mifepristone, a key abortion drug.

  • “Washington is a Direct Partner in the Israeli War on Gaza”

    “In other words, Washington is a direct partner in the Israeli war on Gaza. This realization shall have direct consequences, not only to U.S. reputation in the Middle East, but in the short and even long-term U.S.-Middle East strategies, including its military presence in Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere.”

  • Clarity Sought for Facts on Medicare Advantage

    Four U.S. senators sent a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, calling on CMS to increase data collection on Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. 

  • 153 Countries Vote for Ceasefire, UN Can Do Much More

    Going to the ICJ, also known as the World Court, is especially urgent given that the International Criminal Court has effectively become an instrument of U.S. policy and will not lift a finger to help the Palestinians. Secretary-General of the UN António Guterres took far too long to invoke Article 99 of the UN Charter.…

  • Palestinians Cancel Christmas Celebrations Amid Gaza Devastation

    “The president of the Council of Local Evangelical Churches in the Holy Land, Munir Kakish, said the decision came due to ‘the thousands killed — and in prayer for peace.’ He added that ‘we will only hold traditional services and devotionals on the meaning of Christmas.'”

  • Israel’s Killing of Alareer

    “Israel ordered Refaat Alareer’s assassination after he derided Israeli claim of babies burned in an oven as a hoax. He was right, but died for it.” Silverstein cites an anonymous Israeli official who claimed: “Because of the joke, the war cabinet decided that Alaeer is an ‘Amalekite,’ and ordered Shabak & IDF to find and kill him.”

  • Changes to Census Bureau Data Collection on Disability

    The Census Bureau announced potential changes that could result in the undercounting of the number of disabled Americans by 20 million people.

  • Israel, Starvation as a Weapon and Inaction by ICC

    “‘Intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including willfully impeding relief supplies as provided for under the Geneva Conventions.’ is a WAR CRIME. cc @KarimKhanQC.”

  • Taking Israel to the World Court for Genocide

    “Huge swathes of neighborhoods and five-generation families across Gaza have been obliterated. Over 15,000 people have been reportedly killed, including 6,000 children, and countless others buried beneath the rubble of demolished buildings. …”

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