News Releases

  • Billionaires vs. Zohran Mamdani

    “A social-media screed by hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman (net worth: upward of $9 billion) was damn near apoplectic that activists and voters had so terribly transgressed. Ackman described himself as ‘a supporter of President Trump’ while expressing a fervent desire ‘to save the Democratic Party from itself.’ Mamdani’s policies, Ackman wrote late Wednesday night, ‘would be disastrous for NYC. Socialism has no place in the economic capital of our country.’”


  • As Israel Kills Aid-Seekers, Fasters at UN Hold News Conference

    The “Veterans & Allies Fast for Gaza” began May 22 “when six members of Veterans For Peace and allies traveled to New York City to stand at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. It has grown to over 800 people across the country and includes small groups in South Africa, Canada, Italy, Germany, Ireland, Hong Kong and Australia. Friends of Sabeel, NA has added critical behind-the-scenes support.” Fasters at the U.N. have limited themselves to “250 calories per day, considered medically to be a starvation diet and the amount reported early this year as the average available” to Palestinians…


  • Trump is “Far from a ‘Peace President’”

    In a news conference on Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called the White House’s latest strikes on Iranian nuclear sites “highly successful.” But longtime anti-war activists see the strikes as a horrific decision by the Trump administration to attack a country that had not attacked the United States.


  • Nationwide Impacts of Science Funding Cuts

    The Science and Community Impacts Mapping Project (SCIMaP) has created an interactive map that reveals the projected nationwide impacts of the Trump administration’s cuts to NIH funding for crucial health research, including on cancer, diabetes, dementia and more. The White House has proposed budget cuts to NIH research of $18 billion compared to FY 2024. Those cuts are projected to cause more than $46 billion in lost economic activity, given that every dollar of NIH support translates to 2.5 dollars of economic activity. 


  • Does Mamdani’s Win Mean Voters Will “Embrace Truly Progressive Change”?

    In a statement, RootsAction said “we announced our support on the day his campaign launched in October because we knew that his platform — with such planks as freezing rent, creating free bus service, and no-cost childcare — was tailored to help working people in New York City, not the landlord lobby.”


  • War with Iran: * Media Coverage * Corruption at IAEA

    “The New York Times‘ echo of the standard Israeli and U.S. propaganda line offers an opportunity to critically examine this most recent justification for aggressive war. The premise here was that Iran is working to build a nuclear weapon, something that forms the backbone of the Israeli propaganda campaign justifying their actions. The only problem is that there is no evidence whatsoever for this position. Not only is there no evidence that Iran is building a nuclear weapon, there is no reason to think that if they did, they would be anything other than defensive weapons.”


  • Why Did the U.S. Bomb Iran Now?

    “Israel seeks to be the regional hegemon and for a long time Iran stood in its way. The real threat Iran has historically posed to Israel, rhetoric aside, has never been existential but rather strategic and ideological.“


  • Trump “Has Usurped” Congressional War Powers, “Summit of Impeachable Offenses”

    “President Trump has usurped the war power of Congress in making the United States a belligerent against Iran by systematic provision of intelligence, weapons, advisors, and military personnel in support of Israel’s criminal war of aggression. Mr. Trump tacitly acknowledged American belligerency in boasting, ‘we now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran’ and bugling for Iran’s ‘unconditional surrender.’”


  • Israel’s Gaza Killing Spree, Netanyahu’s Manipulation of Americans

    “Israel murdered this baby along with two of his siblings yesterday in Jabalia. … the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, BBC, and others! … You justified his killing with your coverage, even before he was born. Even after his murder, you did not run a story on him. You dehumanized him and his family. You dehumanized all Palestinians, most of whom were born under occupation and siege.”


  • “Impunity is Fueling Israel’s Spiraling Aggression”

    The New Statesman writes in “Impunity is fueling Israel’s spiraling aggression” that “Israel attacked Iran not out of fear but out of hubris. … This is the overwhelming lesson Israel has drawn from the past 20 months amid its intensifying onslaught on Gaza: there is no limit to what the world will let it get away with. Now, as it bombs its sixth neighbouring state or occupied territory in less than two years, there should be no doubt that impunity is the lifeblood of Israel’s far-right government, and the fuel driving its spiraling aggression. Until it runs up against firm…


  • Budget Debate: Public Vs. Politicians

    STEVEN KULL Director of the Program on International Policy Attitudes and co-author of Misreading the Public: The Myth of a New Isolationism, Kull said: “When pollsters ask Americans how they feel about spending — on, for example, defense and foreign aid — they say to keep defense where it is and cut foreign aid. However,…

  • Human Rights, Trade and Foreign Policy

    While President Clinton visits Turkey and tries to bring China into the World Trade Organization, the following analysts are available for comment: BAMA ATHREYA Director of Asia Programs for the International Labor Rights Fund, Athreya said: “The U.S.-China negotiations on China’s entry into the WTO are certainly a boon for U.S. business, but will it…

  • Battles on Campaign Finance

    Mass. Legislature Tries to Loophole Reform; Judge Upholds Maine Initiative DAVID DONNELLY Campaign manager for Mass Voters for Clean Elections, Donnelly commented: “For years the legislature would not pass public funding of campaigns even though that’s what most people wanted. We put it on the ballot and it won by two-to-one a year ago. On…

  • Berlin Wall Anniversary

    MARTIN A. LEE The author of The Beast Reawakens, a recent book about neofascism and right-wing extremism in Europe and the U.S., Lee said: “Ten years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Germany is a deeply troubled nation, vexed by high unemployment, a stagnant economy, acrimonious relations between eastern and western residents, a charged…

  • Microsoft Case

    Federal Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ruled on Friday evening that Microsoft is a monopoly. The following analysts are available for interviews: JAMIE LOVE Director of the Consumer Project on Technology, Love said: “Judge Jackson took a large step toward reining in Microsoft, the company that exercises huge power in markets for software for personal computers.…

  • This Month Will End in an Uproar About the WTO: Here’s Why

    When the World Trade Organization global summit gets underway on Nov. 30 in Seattle, President Clinton and other top officials will be confronted by large protests there. Among the WTO critics now available for comment are: JULIE LIGHT “While 134 governments make up the WTO, it is transnational corporations that increasingly influence and benefit from…

  • Egyptair Crash: Interviews Available

    PAUL HUDSON Paul Hudson is executive director of the Aviation Consumer Action Project, which last week issued a statement entitled “Skies Less Safe” accusing the FAA and DOT of “actively engag[ing] in major programs and actions aimed at reducing existing levels of safety and security.” That statement specifically cited “FAA failure to act to eliminate…

  • “Banking Reform”?

    The Clinton administration, the Republican congressional leadership and the financial services industry all seem to agree on the Gramm-Leach Act. If it becomes law, the legislation would abolish restrictions on banks, securities firms and insurance companies instituted in the aftermath of the Great Depression. Critics charge that — like the Telecommunications Act of 1996 —…

  • Behind the Budget Battles: Probing Basic Assumptions

    WASHINGTON — While the White House and Congress struggle over the federal budget, some policy analysts are questioning key assumptions in the debate. Sociologist Abby Scher and economist Jared Bernstein are available for interviews to discuss underlying issues: ABBY SCHER “Since the late 1970s, Congress has directed more of the federal budget away from social…

  • Money on Wall Street, Money in Politics

    Wall Street is continuing a downward slide this fall, and some economists believe that policymakers in Washington are remaining unrealistically upbeat. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Dole’s withdrawal from the GOP presidential race has sparked more debate on campaign finance issues. The following policy analysts are available for interviews. Wall Street: Realism Needed DEAN BAKER “The stock market…

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