News Releases

  • HHS Moving to Restrict Head Start Access

    The Department of Health and Human Services has announced that it intends to redefine Head Start as a federal public welfare program, not a public education program, barring access to the program for undocumented immigrants. The change is at odds with the way that the Supreme Court has treated K-12 education since 1982, when it ruled that children have a right to free public education regardless of their immigration status. Historically, Congress has not considered Head Start a welfare program. Experts expect there to be legal challenges that would put a temporary restraining order on the change. 


  • Hague Group: Action or More Rhetoric?

    The only thing that Israel understands is power. So governments that would truly enforce international law and protect Palestinians from Israel’s depravity must impose economic pain and render it vulnerable to attack by cutting it off from trade, weapons and fuel.”


  • Will The Hague Group Live up to Their Legal Obligations?

    Colombian president Gustavo Petro is hosting a meeting of The Hague Group in Bogota and recently wrote the piece “Governments like mine have a duty to stand up to Israel. Far too many have failed.”


  • 80 Years After Trinity Atomic Test, “Oblivious to the Threat of Oblivion”?

    Eighty years after the atomic age began with the Trinity bomb test in New Mexico on July 16, 1945, American media and politics are “routinely oblivious to the threat of oblivion,” says an article published today by The Nation.


  • Peace Force for Gaza “the Least” the Hague Group Can Adopt

        “The Uniting for Peace precedent was established to break Security Council deadlocks and to uphold the UN’s founding promise: to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, as well as to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights and in the dignity and worth of the human person, and to establish conditions under which justice and respect for international law can be maintained. That promise is being tested by Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.” 


  • Measles: U.S. May Soon Lose Elimination Status

    The U.S. is at risk of losing its elimination status for measles after the CDC reported the highest number of cases of the virus in 33 years. Cases have been reported in 38 states, with the highest concentration in West Texas. 


  • Epstein, Blackmail, Israel: Trump “Annihilates” His Credibility

    The Trump administration has made numerous false and contradictory statements about Jeffrey Epstein — and Trump himself has attempted to dismiss the story as old news.  Marcetic highlights some of the critical information and falsehoods:  BRANKO MARCETIC, [email protected], @BMarchetich Marcetic is a staff writer at Jacobin magazine, and is working on a piece on Epstein. He writes for other outlets as well, including Responsible Statecraft.      He said today: “Other than former president Bill Clinton, Trump was probably the most high-profile, long-standing, and intimate friend of Epstein’s among the political elite — his ‘closest friend,’ in the billionaire paedophile’s own words. Trump’s name, as well as more than…


  • Latest “Draconian” Assault on Free Speech Targets Palestine Action

    “For 20 months the Israeli military had been committing acts which most genocide scholars and experts consider to be genocide. The population was now being starved, and the very distribution of humanitarian aid had been turned into a killing field, according to UNRWA. “To say that Palestine Action were committing terrorism was the precise opposite of what they were doing. They were rather seeking to prevent terror and genocide.”


  • Netanyahu: Crimes and Lies

    Israel killed a reported 288 Palestinians in Gaza over the last three days. Middle East Eye reports: “Secret Trump letter would let Israel resume war despite ceasefire: Report,” citing Israeli media. AntiWar.com reports: “Israel Carries Out ‘Intense’ Airstrikes in Yemen.” The Intercept reports: “The Israeli Plot to Extinguish the Journalists Documenting Genocide.”


  • Israel Killing 100 Palestinians a Day; 1,844 Strikes on Healthcare, 2,792 Infants and Toddlers Dead

    “Israeli forces have struck health-care facilities and personnel in Gaza at least 1,844 times, killing hundreds of patientsand health-care workers. According to the World Health Organization, 94 percent of hospitals in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed. All are starved of the most basic medical supplies, electricity, and even clean water.”


  • Sharon’s Visit

    SUSAN AKRAM An associate professor at Boston University School of Law who specializes in refugee issues, Akram said today: “The deteriorating situation is a reflection of a complete lack of focus on the international law principles that should guide a just solution for the millions of Palestinian refugees and for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict generally. Israeli…

  • Coke and Commercialization of Schools

    The Coca-Cola company announced on Wednesday that it intends to change the way it does business with school districts. The list of changes includes encouraging local representatives to negotiate non-exclusive contracts, supplying of vending machines that have school messages on the outside rather than Coke ads, and offering a wider variety of “nutritious” beverages. The…

  • A Year After Warning of Stock Collapse, Economist Cites Political Leaders’ “Negligence”

    An economist who predicted a collapse of stock prices a year ago, when the Nasdaq composite index was near its peak, said today that “the nation’s political leaders chose to ignore the stock market bubble” — and “as a result, millions of families have seen their dreams of a secure retirement or their children’s college…

  • Taxes and Triggers

    MAX SAWICKY Senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, Sawicky said today: “Because some members of Congress view President Bush’s proposed tax cut as a budget buster, they would like to make these large tax cuts subject to cancellation or postponement if economic and budget prospects begin to dim. The buzz word for such devices…

  • Repeal of Workers’ Safety?

    Last night, the Senate voted to roll back a new federal rule protecting workers from repetitive stress injuries. House action is expected later this week. The following analysts are available for interviews: PAMELA VOSSENAS Vossenas is co-chair of the health and safety committee of the National Writers Union, which is affiliated with the United Auto…

  • South Africa AIDS Trial

    With a historic trial underway in South Africa, as 39 pharmaceutical companies try to stop the South African government from importing cheaper versions of AIDS drugs, the following analysts in the United States and South Africa are available for interviews: ROBERT WEISSMAN Co-director of Essential Action and author of the recent paper “AIDS and Developing…

  • Below the Surface of Bush’s Speech

    WILLIAM SPRIGGS Director of the National Urban League Institute for Opportunity and Equality, Spriggs said today: “President Bush misspoke when he said that he was offering tax relief to the $25,000 a year waitress-mom who faced a 50 percent marginal tax rate for working overtime. Her high tax rate comes from being close to the…

  • Changes in Mideast Policy?

    In the aftermath of Secretary of State Colin Powell’s trip to the Mideast, the following analysts are available for interviews on the direction of U.S. policy in that region: PHYLLIS BENNIS Author of Calling the Shots: How Washington Dominates Today’s UN and co-editor of Beyond the Storm: A Gulf Crisis Reader, Bennis said today: “The…

  • Opponents Vow to Defeat Fast Track

    At his news conference Thursday afternoon, President Bush expressed a desire to gain approval from Congress for presidential fast-track negotiating authority. “I’d love to have fast-track approval,” he said. “I think it’s going to be important to work with our neighbors to the south and Canada to the north to promote free trade throughout the…

  • How Do You Spell “Tax Relief”? Should the Estate Tax Be Repealed?

    With public debate intensifying over tax-cut proposals, the following policy analysts are available for interviews: JAMES K. GALBRAITH The author of Created Unequal: The Crisis in American Pay, Galbraith teaches economics at the University of Texas at Austin. He contends: “Bush and Cheney have rightly called for tax action to save our slumping economy. Congress…

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