New Docs Link Polluted Drinking Water Supply to Massive US Military Base

Internal documents obtained by the Japan Times offer evidence that the contamination of local drinking water sources near a massive U.S. airbase in Japan is the result of years of repeated mishaps and “lax safety standards” by U.S. military forces. The reports, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, “expose a spate of accidents at the [Kadena Air Base in Okinawa] during …

BREAKING NEWS: LIST OF WITHHELD JFK ASSASSINATION DOCUMENTS

Now we can at least get a peek at what they have been hiding. The list was obtained in a Freedom of Information Act request by FOIA specialist Michael Ravnitzky, who alerted us. The complete list is below. You’ll note that some documents are briefly characterized by subject, while others are less clearly identified. The government has promised to release …

Ralph Nader – Monsanto vs. Freedom of Information Act

ext year, the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) will celebrate its 50th anniversary as one of the finest laws our Congress has ever passed. It is a vital investigative tool for exposing government and corporate wrongdoing. The FOIA was championed by Congressman John E. Moss (D-CA), who strove to “guarantee the right of every citizen to know the facts …

Tom Philpott – These Emails Show Monsanto Leaning on Professors to Fight the GMO PR War

For a blockbuster recent piece, the New York Times’ Eric Lipton got a first look at a massive cache of private emails between prominent public university scientists and GMO industry executives and flacks. The emails came to light through a barrage ofcontroversial Freedom of Information Act requests by U.S. Right to Know, which isfunded by the scrappy, anti-corporate Organic Consumers Association. In addition to the correspondence …

Dave Murphy – University Scientists Caught Conspiring With Biotech Industry to Manipulate Public Opinion on GMOs

What happens when a private company with a long history of producing some of the most toxic chemicals on the planet and now produces our food starts facing public pressure from a growing national grassroots movement to label their products to conform with basic principles of democracy and transparency? Well, if the company in question is Monsanto, then you take …

Food Safety Experts Sue USDA for Withholding GM Crops Records

Center for Food Safety (CFS) filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), alleging that APHIS has violated FOIA by routinely failing to respond to requests for records related to genetically engineered (GE) crops, unlawfully delaying its responses, and withholding public disclosure of information. APHIS …

US-Israeli Imperialists Plot Downfall of Syria and Iran By Brandon Martinez

The United States has been running a particularly reckless and transparent bluff on the world. ‘We must defeat ISIS’ has been the repetitive mantra bellowed from pulpits and podiums by deceitful US officials. But this bit of shameless Orwellian newspeak is coming from the very same rogue policy makers who have been the primary source of arms and largesse to …

Big Oil Knew. Big Oil Lied. And Planet Earth Got Fried. – Jon Queally

They knew. They lied. And the planet and its people are now paying the ultimate price. It’s no secret that the fossil fuel industry—the set of companies and corporate interests which profit most from the burning of coal, oil, and gas—have been the largest purveyors and funders of climate change denialism in the world. Now, a new set of documents and …

Sex, Drugs, and Dead Soldiers : What U.S. Africa Command Doesn’t Want You to Know – Nick Turse

Six people lay lifeless in the filthy brown water. It was 5:09 a.m. when their Toyota Land Cruiser plunged off a bridge in the West African country of Mali.  For about two seconds, the SUV sailed through the air, pirouetting 180 degrees as it plunged 70 feet, crashing into the Niger River. Three of the dead were American commandos.  The …

Is Flawed Terrorism Research Driving Flawed Counterterrorism Policies?

More than thirteen years after the U.S. intelligence community named the prevention of terrorism its number one goal, it seems to have little understanding of what drives terrorism, or how to counter it. And, if the recently increasing criticism is correct, the government’s investment in academic terrorism research isn’t helping. It may be because the government is continuing to fund research supporting discredited theories of terrorist radicalization, rather than objective empirical analyses. After …