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Category: Journalism

Standing Up ‘For The Greater Good’: Kit Will Report From Green Party Convention

Posted in Journalism, Life, and MintPress News

As the Green Party’s Presidential Nominating Convention convenes in Houston, there’s renewed attention on the party’s presumptive nominee, Dr. Jill Stein, and increased interest in third-party alternatives to the American two-party duopoly.

On Saturday, MintPress News will be at the University of Houston, where Stein and her running mate, human rights scholar and activist Ajamu Baraka, are expected to accept the Green Party’s nomination for president and vice president.

Polls consistently show that Americans are deeply dissatisfied with the political status quo. Just 9 percent of U.S. residents voted for either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump in the primaries, according to The New York Times. In a poll conducted in May by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, some 90 percent of voters expressed a lack of confidence in the American political system, while 40 percent said that the two-party system is “seriously broken.”

Indie News Site Newsbud Takes On NBC Over Turkey Coup Propaganda

Posted in Archive, Journalism, and MintPress News

An independent news outlet is demanding accountability from the mainstream media over inaccurate reporting during last month’s attempted coup in Turkey.

At the time this article was being written on Wednesday afternoon, reporters from Newsbud, a crowdfunded outlet focused on media integrity, were en route to New York in hopes of directly confronting officials at NBC News over a report that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had been denied asylum in Germany during the failed coup attempt.

Though widely reported in the media, Newsbud’s founder Sibel Edmonds reported that the rumor originated at NBC. Writing on July 21 on Boiling Frogs Post, the temporary home of Newsbud, she wrote:

Wheelchair Sports Camp On SXSW, Music Festival Accessibility, & Occupy

Posted in Austin, Journalism, Occupy Wall Street, and SXSW

Wheelchair Sports Camp is one of the better-known bands in the “krip hop” movement, led by Kalyn, a self-described “MC/beat-maker/activist/educator/shit-talker.” Their music combines electronic sounds and hip-hop beats with live jazz instrumentation, and, of course, Kalyn’s rapid-fire words. Sometimes funny, sometimes experimental, I’ve enjoyed every performance I’ve seen since I first caught them in 2012 at Occupy Austin’s ambitious “Occupy SXSW” mini-festival.

After seeing Kalyn perform again at this year’s SXSW, I asked her to answer a few questions by email.

I’m looking forward to their upcoming album, “No Big Deal,” which Kalyn mentions below.

WikiLeaks: Trump Advisor Paul Manafort Tied To Ukrainian Government, US Intelligence

Posted in Archive, Journalism, and MintPress News

Although the Clinton campaign accuses Donald Trump of maintaining ties with the Russian government, another key figure on the Republican candidate’s team may have an agenda of his own in Eastern Europe.

Diplomatic cables from the WikiLeaks archive and a mainstream media investigation suggest that Trump’s current campaign advisor, Paul Manafort, had previously collaborated with U.S. intelligence agencies and served as a key advisor to the Ukrainian government, including its president, Viktor F. Yanukovych, who fled the country after a right-wing coup in 2014.

Yanukovych “owed his election to, as an American diplomat put it, an ‘extreme makeover’ Mr. Manafort oversaw,” Steven Lee Myers and Andrew E. Kramer reported in the Times on Sunday.

$3.1B And Counting: US To Give Israel Biggest Military Aid Package Ever

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Israel could soon accept its largest ever military aid deal from the United States, which is reportedly increasing an annual support package that already numbers in the billions.

Currently, Israel receives over $3.1 billion in aid annually from the U.S. under a 10-year deal forged under President George W. Bush and set to expire in 2018, but the Obama administration could soon sign another 10-year agreement to increase that aid even further.

“In addition, Congress has provided additional money for missile defense,” noted The Washington Post on Friday.

Third-Party, Independent Candidates Challenge Dems On Trans-Pacific Partnership Support

Posted in Archive, Journalism, and MintPress News

The day after delegates inside the Democratic National Convention formally endorsed Hillary Clinton, activists gathered outside the convention site to express their opposition to a controversial trade deal that could be ratified later this year.

On Wednesday, about 150 people gathered under the trees of FDR Park, a public space just outside the massive security fence surrounding the Wells Fargo Center, to demand an end to U.S. support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a controversial trade deal that critics warn will devastate democracy and the environment and send health care costs through the roof.

“There’s not a single person this doesn’t impact, but in terms of health care it’s going to raise the cost of health care for everyone,” Dr. Margaret Flowers told MintPress News.