News Releases

  • Ethnic Cleansing Endgame in Gaza * No Ceasefire in West Bank

    On Tuesday evening, the Associated Press reported, President Trump “suggested that displaced Palestinians in Gaza be permanently resettled outside the war-torn territory and proposed the U.S. take ‘ownership’ in redeveloping the area into ‘the Riviera of the Middle East.’ Trump’s brazen proposal appears certain to roil the next stage of talks meant to extend the tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and secure the release of the remaining hostages held in Gaza.”


  • Federal Funding Freeze Rescinded: What Now?

    The Trump administration rescinded its controversial and illegal directive from the Office of Management and Budget to freeze federal funding. On Tuesday, states struggled to access Medicaid and Head Start portals, although the administration stated that programs that provided direct payments to individuals were supposedly exempt. The memo amounted to a partial government shutdown by decree. The fallout created chaos. 


  • Rural Public Health: “Less Messaging, More Listening”

    Instead of focusing on Robert F. Kennedy Jr., many public health experts based in rural communities are focusing on the social and economic landscape that gave rise to the popularity of extreme figures like RFK Jr. They are also concerned about the loss of healthcare infrastructure and the risk of H5N1, or bird flu, in rural areas. 


  • Netanyahu Pivots to Escalating Attacks on West Bank

    “It seems clear that Netanyahu only agreed to the nominal ceasefire in Gaza in exchange for a greenlight from Trump to escalate violence in the West Bank. When Trump was elected, Finance Minister Smotrich told his staff to prepare to annex the West Bank. American officials from Trump’s pick for UN Ambassador Elise Stefanik to even former President Bill Clinton have expressed support for the extreme right-wing Zionist position that Israel has a Biblical right to the West Bank. Yet if Israel annexed the West Bank,” this would tank Trump’s stated plans “for Israeli-Saudi normalization. …”


  • Trump’s “Manifest Destiny” and U.S. Treaty-Breaking Record

    “The United States is a treaty-breaking nation. In the first century of its existence, the United States signed more than 300 treaties with Indigenous nations, more than any foreign power. And it violated every single Indigenous treaty. Today, the United States has the worst record of ratifying international human rights and environmental treaties and has always broken its treaties, pacts, and promises. The recent U.S.-led and supported genocide in Palestine, in defiance of international law, is a case in point.”


  • The Hill: Genocide Lawsuits vs. Democrats Foreshadow Primary Challenges

    “Like other plaintiffs in the Northern California case, I believe that our lawsuit is on solid ground of justice,” Solomon wrote. “The arms shipments to Israel’s military have violated the Constitution, the U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide and U.S. federal laws – including the Leahy law, which prohibits the government from ‘using funds for assistance to units of foreign security forces where there is credible information implicating that unit in the commission of gross violations of human rights.’ The namesake of the law, former Sen. Patrick Leahy, says it is being violated.


  • The Legacy of the Polio Vaccine

    In an interview for Think Global Health, an immunization expert discussed the historic importance of the polio vaccine and the continued risk of future polio transmission. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist and the presumptive nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, has previously suggested that the polio vaccine causes cancer and does more harm than good.  WALTER ORENSTEIN; [email protected]      Orenstein is a professor emeritus at the Emory School of Medicine and former head of the U.S. immunization program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In his interview with Think Global Health, Orenstein noted that the…


  • Is Blinken Trying to Stop a Ceasefire?

    Jeremy Scahill reports: “The Trump Factor: Gaza Ceasefire Deal Appears Close.” Al Jazeera reports that “Israel kills 62 in a day.” The Guardian reports: “Israel admits soldiers used ambulance in raid on refugee camp.” On Tuesday, protesters confronted Blinken, one shouting: “Secretary Blinken: Your legacy will be genocide. You will forever be known as Bloody Blinken, Secretary of Genocide. You have the blood of hundreds of thousands of innocent people on your hands…” 


  • Life Expectancy in the U.S.

    The U.S. is failing to keep pace with its peer nations when it comes to increases in life expectancy. Researchers at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation estimated that U.S. life expectancy is forecasted to increase from 78.3 years in 2022 to 80.4 years in 2050––a modest increase which lowers the country’s global ranking.


  • War Crimes: Who Are the Criminals?

    “Who are the criminals? U.S. news coverage of five former or current presidents gathered for the funeral of President Jimmy Carter never hinted that hideous wars of choice along with massive increases in weapon sales had marked the administration of each of the five. There was no mention of President Biden’s order to send $8 billion of weapons to Israel. This gathering of U.S. presidents is referred to as ‘The World’s Most Exclusive Club.’ Exclusive indeed. What other club of so few has caused so much suffering to so many?”


  • Alternatives to More Violence?

    ALI ABUNIMAH Vice president of the Arab-American Action Network, Abunimah drove from Chicago to New York City just after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. His writings since then have elicited substantial response. He said today: “While we grieve and come to terms with this outrage, people in the Mideast and in the…

  • Terror Aftermath: Deeper Analysis

    JILL NELSON Author of Volunteer Slavery: My Authentic Negro Experience and a columnist for MSNBC, Nelson said today: “What we can do is demand leadership. Not the leadership of politicians angling for pet projects like missile defense shields or casting about for somewhere to lay the blame and someone to wage war upon. We certainly…

  • A Way Out?

    At the National Cathedral today, President Bush said “this nation is peaceful.” The following analysts are available for interviews. HOWARD ZINN A renowned historian who has authored numerous books including A People’s History of the United States, Zinn was a bombardier during World War II. He said today: “The images on television horrified and sickened…

  • “Blowback”?

    RABBI ARTHUR WASKOW Director of The Shalom Center and author of Godwrestling — Round 2, Waskow said today: “Even the greatest oceans do not shield us; even the mightiest buildings do not shield us; even the wealthiest balance sheets and the most powerful weapons do not shield us. The lesson is that only a world…

  • Another Gulf of Tonkin Resulution?

    FRANCIS BOYLE Professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law, Boyle said today: “According to the facts in the public record so far, this was not an act of war and NATO Article 5 does not apply. President Bush has automatically escalated this national tragedy into something it is not in…

  • Terrorism Aftermath

    ROBERT JENSEN Author of the forthcoming book Writing Dissent and an associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin, Jensen said today: “The last time the U.S. responded to a terrorist attack, on its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, it was innocents in Sudan and Afghanistan who were in the way. We…

  • Racism Conference

    The UN conference on racism in Durban, South Africa is scheduled to end on Friday. The following analysts are available for interviews: HUMBERTO R. BROWN Coordinator for the African and African Descendants Caucus, one of the main caucuses of the conference in Durban, Brown said today: “Colonization and slavery should be considered crimes against humanity,…

  • Attica, 30 Years Later

    Next week marks the 30th anniversary of the uprising at Attica prison in upstate New York. In 1971, on Sept. 13 — four days into a rebellion by 1,281 prisoners demanding humane treatment — more than 500 state troopers assaulted the prison compound, under orders from Gov. Nelson Rockefeller. The troopers’ gunfire killed 29 inmates…

  • Education Issues as School Year Begins

    WASHINGTON — With the start of the school year, Education Secretary Rod Paige is speaking today at the National Press Club. The following analysts are available for interviews: JOHN TAYLOR GATTO Former New York State Teacher of the Year and author of the recently released book The Underground History of American Education, Gatto said today:…

  • Labor Day

    HOLLY SKLAR Co-author of the just-released book Raise The Floor: Wages and Policies That Work For All Of Us, Sklar said today: “A job should keep you out of poverty, not keep you in it. Most Americans believe that. But as we celebrate Labor Day, hardworking Americans [who are] paid minimum wage have to choose…

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