News Releases

  • U.S. Hospitals in Crisis

    Last month, Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) joined Protect Our Care in relaunching the organization’s Hospital Crisis Watch. Protect Our Care hosts an interactive map and a report that outlines how the new federal budget will shutter rural hospitals, slash healthcare services, and leave communities in crisis. By limiting the ways that states fund Medicaid and reimburse hospitals for care, Protect Our Care states, the “GOP tax scam… will shutter struggling hospitals and make it nearly impossible for states to manage the burden of the largest cuts to Medicaid in history without kicking millions off their coverage and taking away benefits.…


  • Israel’s Attack on the UN Charter and How to Stop a Genocide

    An Israeli sniper detailed in comments to Haaretz the killing of unarmed Palestinians, including children, who were attempting to get aid in Gaza. AntiWar.com reports: “Israel Kills Over 100 Palestinians in Gaza as It Launches Ground Offensive to Conquer Gaza City.” The UN Independent Commission of Inquiry finds in their in-depth report released Tuesday that Israel is committing genocide, that top officials, including President Isaac Herzog have engaged in incitement to commit genocide and Israel has had “clear knowledge of the presence of Palestinian civilians along the evacuation routes and within the safe areas but nevertheless they shot at and killed civilians, some of whom (including…


  • IUD Insertions Do Not Need to Hurt

    Intrauterine devices (IUDs) are among the most effective forms of contraception, but they can create pain upon insertion. Reporting in Slate reveals that healthcare providers with a subspecialty in complex family planning are more likely to offer pain management––including paracervical blocks like lidocaine, or sedation––for IUD insertion. One insidious consequence of the closures of abortion clinics across the U.S. is that fewer clinics may end up offering pain management for IUDs.  Health journalist Sarah Boden notes that as abortion clinics shutter, more patients who want an IUD “to manage periods, prevent pregnancy, or reduce pain caused by conditions like endometriosis…


  • Flotilla, After Being Attacked, Sailing to Gaza

    The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Ireland, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mexico, Pakistan, Qatar, Oman, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain and Türkiye just issued a joint statement expressing “their concern about the security of the Global Sumud Flotilla, a civil society initiative in which citizens of their countries are participating.”


  • New President of the UNGA Has Openly Backed Israel’s Genocide

    “Baerbock is not just any diplomat. As Germany’s foreign minister from 2021 to 2025, she tried to justify over and over again Israel’s war crimes as ‘self-defence,’ rejected ceasefires, and her country continued to provide Israel with hundreds of millions of dollars in weapons, making it its second biggest arms supplier. She de facto became one of Israel’s strongest defenders alongside United States officials, while bombs were falling on hospitals, refugee camps, and schools.”


  • UN Passes “Problematic” Resolution as Push for Measures to Stop Israel Continues

    “The UNGA voted overwhelmingly today to ‘endorse’ the New York Declaration put forward by France and Saudi Arabia.     Among its many problematic provisions, the Declaration supports a ‘stabilization force’ (with many bad elements as well), instead of a protection force as such.”


  • RFK Jr. Abandons Long COVID Patients

    Though Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pledged to tackle Long COVID during his HHS confirmation hearings, he has abandoned the plight of Long COVID patients by dismantling federal COVID prevention programs and the research infrastructure invested in researching and treating the condition. So far, RFK Jr. has fired key officials at CDC, created barriers to accessing COVID vaccines, and cut research funding for mRNA and intranasal vaccines, which showed great promise in preventing symptomatic disease. 


  • Census Figures Show Flat Uninsured and Poverty Rates for Kids

    U.S. Census figures released on Sept. 9 show that the U.S. has made little progress on poverty and healthcare coverage for children. Though child poverty plummeted in 2021 to 5.2 percent thanks to the passage of the Expanded Child Tax Credit, that rate more than doubled between 2021 and 2023. The new figures show no significant change from 2023 to 2024. Roughly 13.4 percent of all children still lived in poverty, while about 4.7 million total children, or 6.1 percent of children, had no health insurance.


  • U.S. Jews Oppose Trump’s Targeting of Colleges and Students

    More than 120 prominent Jewish Americans signed a statement released today voicing opposition to the Trump administration’s policy of “disingenuously” using accusations of antisemitism to facilitate attacks on colleges and the detention and deportation of campus activists. The statement reaffirms the signers’ support for free speech and independent scholarship and condemns the “heinous and anti-democratic policies of the Trump administration.”


  • Israel Obliterating Gaza City; Qatar, Tunisia, Lebanon and Syria Bombed

    “The Israeli military on Tuesday ordered the full evacuation of Gaza City, where famine is taking place, as it continues to escalate its offensive with the goal of cleansing the city of its Palestinian population and razing every building to the ground.”Drop Site News reports: “Israel Bombs Hamas Office in Doha, Issues Displacement Order for 1 Million in Gaza City.”


  • Pro-Bush Forces Working to Help Nader in Push to Get on Oregon Ballot

    The Oregonian newspaper reported Friday that “groups allied with President Bush are encouraging their conservative members to do the seemingly unthinkable: attend a convention Saturday to help put left-leaning independent candidate Ralph Nader on the Oregon presidential ballot. The groups — with the encouragement of some Republican political operatives — are telling their members that…

  • * Cost of Iraq War * Negroponte’s Record in Honduras * Bush’s AIDS Claims * Survivors of Torture Speak Out * Regime Change in Guatemala: 50 Years Later

    PHYLLIS BENNIS, [via Emily Schwartz Greco] A fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, Bennis is the primary author of the just-released report “Paying the Price: The Mounting Costs of the Iraq War,” which is available at the above web page. More Information LARRY BIRNS Birns is director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, which…

  • Clinton’s Domestic Legacies

    IDA HELLANDER, M.D. Executive director of Physicians for a National Health Program, Hellander said today: “The HMOs — which rose during the 1990s — are, in effect, practicing medicine by deciding which tests and treatments will be covered. They skimp on coverage to maximize their profits. When they deny medically necessary care for patients, they…

  • Electronic Voting — Danger for Democracy

    DAN WALLACH Wallach is an assistant professor of Computer Science at Rice University in Houston specializing in building secure and robust software systems for the Internet. Along with colleagues at Johns Hopkins, Wallach co-authored a groundbreaking study that revealed significant flaws in Diebold’s AccuVote-TS electronic voting system. He said today: “Neither the source code [for…

  • Military Contractors in Iraq: Privatizing Unaccountability and Torture?

    PRATAP CHATTERJEE Program director for CorpWatch, Chatterjee is the author of the recent articles “Controversial Commando Wins Iraq Contract” and “Private Contractors and Torture at Abu Ghraib, Iraq.” He said today: “Occupation authorities in Iraq have awarded a $293 million contract effectively creating the world’s largest private army to a company headed by Lieutenant Colonel…

  • Why Is Dick Cheney Still Lying About Iraq and 9/11?

    “The commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks reported Wednesday there was ‘no credible evidence’ that Saddam Hussein helped al-Qaeda target the United States.” — Associated Press, June 16 www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0616-01.htm Vice President Richard Cheney on Saddam Hussein: “He had long established ties with al-Qaeda.” — Associated Press, June 14 www.cnn.com/2004/US/South/06/14/cheney.terrorism.ap ANDREW RICE COLLEEN KELLY BOB McILVAINE…

  • “A Nation of Laws”? Presidential Authority, Immunity and Torture

    REED BRODY “The torture and mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison was the predictable result of the Bush administration’s decision to circumvent international law,” Human Rights Watch said in a new report. Brody is special counsel with Human Rights Watch and author of that report, titled “The Road to Abu Ghraib.” He said…

  • * G-8 Summit Backstory * Iraq Resolution

    NEIL WATKINS, [in Georgia], MARIE CLARKE, [in Georgia Watkins is the outreach coordinator for Jubilee USA Network. He said today: “In this critical moment, Jubilee USA Network calls for … 100 percent cancellation of the debts of all impoverished nations without harmful conditions, not piecemeal and partial relief…. Jubilee USA Network recognizes Iraqi debt as…

  • Reagan’s Foreign Policies: Beyond the Myths

    BILL FLETCHER President of TransAfrica Forum, Fletcher said today: “Reagan had this ability to project warmth and compassion while implementing incredibly draconian foreign and domestic policies. One example of this was his stubborn resistance to sanctions against the apartheid regime of South Africa.” More Information JOSEPH GERSON Director of the American Friends Service Committee’s Peace…

  • From Reagan to Now: Assessing Domestic Policies

    JILL NELSON Author of the book Straight, No Chaser: How I Became a Grown-Up Black Woman, Nelson is critical of “the current orgy of accolades” for Reagan. She said today: “On civil rights Reagan was a complete disaster. He tried to gut the Civil Rights Commission, to stop the extension of the Voting Rights Act…

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