June, 01 2017, 02:45pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Jeff Cohen, jcohen@ithaca.edu; or news@rootsaction.org; or text to (415) 488-3606
Over 22,000 Urge Media: 'Stop Ignoring Pence's Culpability'
More than 22,000 people have signed a petition urging major U.S. media to stop ignoring Mike Pence's culpability.
WASHINGTON
More than 22,000 people have signed a petition urging major U.S. media to stop ignoring Mike Pence's culpability.
The petition, found at RootsAction.org, reads:
"Vice President Mike Pence has established a pattern of false statements, misdirection, and blind obedience to Donald Trump. It is time to aggressively scrutinize his statements and actions."
The petition will be delivered to ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, the New York Times, the Washington Post and other major news outlets.
Many petition signers responded to a mass email from RootsAction.org asserting that Pence has largely escaped scrutiny for his role in the Trump team's dishonesty and obstruction -- including Pence's false statements on the firing of FBI Director Comey and the tenure of Michael Flynn as national security advisor. Flynn was hired despite public and private warnings about Flynn's lobbying for Turkish interests while Pence led the Trump transition.
RootsAction.org cofounder Jeff Cohen said today: "The petition reflects frustration on the part of U.S. citizens and news consumers that Pence is getting a pass from mainstream media. Through his false assertions and skillful misdirection, Pence has been indispensible to the Trump campaign and presidency since July of last year."
Cohen, an associate professor of journalism, added: "Trump has a huge and volatile personality that attracts media attention, but journalists need to remember that Pence is just a heartbeat away." The RootsAction email acknowledged that some exceptional mainstream news reports have occasionally given proper focus to Pence's role.
RootsAction is dedicated to galvanizing people who are committed to economic fairness, equal rights for all, civil liberties, environmental protection -- and defunding endless wars. We mobilize on these issues no matter whether Democrats or Republicans control Washington D.C.
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Wyden Says Spying Bill Would Force Americans to Become an 'Agent for Big Brother'
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Apr 17, 2024
Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden took to the floor of the U.S. Senate on Tuesday to speak out against a chilling mass surveillance bill that lawmakers are working to rush through the upper chamber and send to President Joe Biden's desk by the end of the week.
The measure in question would reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) for two years and massively expand the federal government's warrantless surveillance power by requiring a wide range of businesses and individuals to cooperate with spying efforts.
"If you have access to any communications, the government can force you to help it spy," said Wyden (Ore.), referring to an amendment that was tacked on to the legislation by the U.S. House last week with bipartisan support. "That means anyone with access to a server, a wire, a cable box, a Wi-Fi router, a phone, or a computer. So think for a moment about the millions of Americans who work in buildings and offices in which communications are stored or pass through."
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Wyden's remarks came after the Senate narrowly approved a motion Tuesday to proceed to the FISA reauthorization bill ahead of Section 702's expiration at the end of the week. The Oregon senator, an outspoken privacy advocate, was among the seven members of the Democratic caucus who voted against the procedural motion.
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Titled Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA), the legislation passed the Republican-controlled House last week after lawmakers voted down an amendment that would have added a search warrant requirement to Section 702.
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Privacy advocates warn RISAA would dramatically expand the scope of Section 702 by broadening the kinds of individuals and businesses required to participate in government spying. A key provision of the bill would mandate cooperation from "electronic communications service providers" such as Google, Verizon, and AT&T as well as "any other service provider who has access to equipment that is being or may be used" to transmit or store electronic communications.
That would mean U.S. intelligence agencies could, without a warrant, compel gyms, grocery stores, barber shops, and other businesses to hand over communications data.
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More than two dozen House Democrats on Tuesday challenged the Biden administration's claim that Israel is using U.S.-supplied weapons in compliance with domestic and international law—an assertion made amid an ongoing World Court probe of "plausibly" genocidal Israeli policies and practices in Gaza.
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Responding on social media, his wife, Stella Assange—who is an attorney—blasted the U.S. assurances as "weasel words."
"The United States has issued a nonassurance in relation to the First Amendment, and a standard assurance in relation to the death penalty," she said. "It makes no undertaking to withdraw the prosecution's previous assertion that Julian has no First Amendment rights because he is not a U.S citizen."
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