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Author: Kit

Kit is a gonzo journalist from Austin, Texas.

Stephen Bannon: Anti-Black, Anti-Muslim, Anti-Semitic, But Pro-Israel

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

The elevation of Stephen Bannon, former boss at the extreme right-wing news outlet Breitbart News, to chief strategist in the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump has provoked a firestorm of criticism over his racist views on minorities and his support for anti-Semitism.

However, despite what may seem like a contradiction between the xenophobic views of Bannon and the news outlet he guided, Bannon’s appointment as Trump’s chief strategist could actually be good news for apartheid Israel and its ongoing occupation of the indigenous Palestinian population.

Under Bannon, Breitbart News published articles that were Islamophobic, homophobic, and anti-women. The site fueled racist attacks on the Black Lives Matter movement and journalist Shaun King. The KKK and other white nationalist groups are celebrating his appointment to the post, while human rights groups are condemning it.

Bannon, himself, was accused of making anti-Semitic remarks by his ex-wife, a charge he denies, while Breitbart News has been accused of hosting anti-Semitic content. Bannon also bragged that the site had become the online home of the so-called “alt-right,” a far-right white nationalist movement that is openly anti-Semitic.

Major Gains For Cannabis On Election Day Make Full Legalization Almost Inevitable

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Election results poured in on Tuesday night, turning states not just red or blue, but also green in eight states where voters came out in support of ballot initiatives to legalize medicinal or recreational cannabis.

While the presidential election revealed a starkly divided electorate and partisan political landscape, voters overwhelmingly moved to ease restrictions on cannabis. Polls show that a majority of Americans are in favor of cannabis legalization, which enjoys widespread support across the political spectrum.

Voters in California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada opted to legalize cannabis for recreational use, while Arkansas, Florida, and North Dakota passed laws legalizing medical access. Montanans passed an initiative which improves access to medical marijuana under a pre-existing program.

Arizona, which already has a medical cannabis program, was the only exception to the legalization trend, as 52.1 percent of voters rejected a proposal to legalize recreational use in the state.

#NoDAPL Spills Over: Musicians Boycott Dakota Access Pipeline CEO’s Record Label & Festival

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

When it comes to the Dakota Access pipeline, musicians want to stop the music.

Kelcy Warren, CEO of Energy Transfer Partners, the corporation building the controversial $3.8 billion pipeline, also owns Music Road Records, a small record label which presents the annual Cherokee Creek Music Festival in Austin, Texas.

The Indigo Girls announced in September that they would not be playing at the next festival, slated for May 2017.

Reaffirming their support for “Standing Rock, the Standing Rock Sioux, their friends and allies in protecting their sacred land and water by stopping the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline and all pipelines that carry dirty oil and threaten massive ecosystems,” the folk rock duo also encouraged other musicians to cancel their plans to perform at the festival.

In 2016, Israel Demolished Over 200 West Bank Homes In Illegal Settlement Expansion

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Israel’s illegal settlements in the West Bank of Gaza have expanded rapidly over the past year, seriously threatening many Palestinian communities and their farmlands.

“This practice doesn’t just mean expanding into Palestinian land,” journalist Abby Martin explained in an Oct. 31 episode of “The Empire Files.”

When Martin traveled to the region for several weeks in August and September to report on the effects of Israel’s apartheid policies on the indigenous Palestinian population, her movement around Gaza was heavily restricted by Israeli forces.

Martin continued:

Could US Elections Be Stolen? Election Integrity Activists Say Yes

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Election fraud is a dangerously real possibility in the United States, but Donald Trump is wrong about how elections could be rigged under the current system.

The Republican nominee has warned his supporters that the election could be rigged against him, and there have already been reports of Trump supporters with guns at polling places intimidating voters.

However, Mark Crispin Miller, a self-described “election integrity activist,” dismissed Trump’s claims.

“It’s basically impossible to vote ten times or fifteen times,” said the professor of media studies at New York University who has spent more than a decade studying election results.

Should Third Parties Support ‘Vote Pacts’ To Avoid ‘Spoiling’ Elections?

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Third-party candidates are often accused of acting as “spoilers” by siphoning votes from the two major parties’ nominees and potentially tipping the balance in an election.

Perhaps the most notable example of this is Ralph Nader. The former Green Party candidate is frequently accused of helping George W. Bush win the 2000 presidential election by diverting votes which otherwise would have gone to Democratic nominee Al Gore, although this theory has been disproven many times.

“A lot of people have basically grown to depend on the confines of the two-party system and have a hard time getting their brain around a constructive, strategic path out of it,” Sam Husseini, a political activist, told MintPress News.

Husseini proposed an alternative strategy in which voters form “voting pacts” across party lines. For example, a Democrat and a Republican might each agree to vote for a third-party candidate of their choice, rather than the two major parties’ candidates. The strategy reduces the potential for “spoiling” votes, as long as voting pacts don’t cross state lines, because each of the major candidates loses voters equally.