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Kit O'Connell: Approximately 8,000 Words Posts

Police Killings Down In 2016, But Activists Fear Trump Could Reverse The Trend
A line of SFPD officers in riot gear block Occupy SF Protesters after clearing them from Market Street, San Francisco, Dec. 7 2011. (Flickr / Thomas Hawk, CC NC)
December 14, 2016
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Police Killings Down In 2016, But Activists Fear Trump Could Reverse The Trend

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Available data suggests that fewer people have died from police violence in 2016 than in 2015, but some police reform activists are concerned that this trend won’t survive the administration of President-elect Donald Trump.

At least 1,000 people have been killed by police in 2016, though the lack of available federal data makes it all but impossible to determine a precise count.

Police departments report information on violent encounters with officers to the federal government on a purely voluntary basis. The FBI has announced plans to reform the system next year to add more stringent reporting requirements.

“We are responding to a real human outcry,” Stephen L. Morris, assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division, said.

Read morePolice Killings Down In 2016, But Activists Fear Trump Could Reverse The Trend
Jill Stein’s Recount Uncovers ‘Economic Extortion’ & Broken Voting Tech
Former Governor Martin O'Malley participates in early voting in Baltimore, Maryland on October 30, 2014. (Flickr / Maryland GovPics / Jay Baker, PD)
December 13, 2016
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Jill Stein’s Recount Uncovers ‘Economic Extortion’ & Broken Voting Tech

Posted in Archive, Journalism, and MintPress News

Despite numerous obstacles ranging from the financial to the political, Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein is pushing forward with a controversial recount campaign.

“This is not what democracy looks like,” Stein told MintPress News on Thursday.

“Democracy should be all about transparency and accountability and voter participation. What we see in the recount is exactly the opposite.”

Beginning late last month, Stein agreed to spearhead recount efforts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, citing irregularities in exit polls in these “swing states” and the persistent — though still unproven — claims that Russians tampered with the election.

A crowdfunding campaign has netted $7.3 million so far, but the campaign is requesting $9.5 million to cover the costs of forcing a recount in each state. Stein called these high fees a form of “economic extortion” that prevents citizens from easily auditing elections.

Read moreJill Stein’s Recount Uncovers ‘Economic Extortion’ & Broken Voting Tech
What Is Gonzo Journalism? Interview By ProMosaik’s Dr. Milena Rampoldi
A portrait of Kit O'Connell, wearing a blue crushed velvet coat and holding an amber-handled cane, as he gazes out at the waves on Pensacola Beach, Florida on January 25, 2015. (Jane Michael Stallings)
December 10, 2016
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What Is Gonzo Journalism? Interview By ProMosaik’s Dr. Milena Rampoldi

Posted in Journalism

Milena Rampoldi, ProMosaik: What is gonzo journalism and what does it mean to you personally?

Kit O’Connell: Hunter S. Thompson, author of “Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas,” and many other books, coined the term “gonzo journalism,” but the practice goes back much further. A great example of an early gonzo journalist is Nelly Bly, who had herself committed to a mental hospital in 1887 to expose the horrific treatment of patients. Ken Kesey is another famous practitioner, though what he practiced was a variation called “New Journalism.”

Gonzo journalism is journalism which rejects the idea of neutrality and objectivity. I consider myself an activist first and a journalist second, even though it’s the journalism that pays my bills and lets me continue my activism. For me, journalism is a way to reveal important truths and try to share the knowledge that we need to build a better, more humane world.

Read moreWhat Is Gonzo Journalism? Interview By ProMosaik’s Dr. Milena Rampoldi
After Criticism, Washington Post Disavows ‘Russian Propaganda’ Blacklist Of Indie Media
December 10, 2016
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After Criticism, Washington Post Disavows ‘Russian Propaganda’ Blacklist Of Indie Media

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Amid a wave of widespread criticism and legal threats, the Washington Post has added a lengthy editor’s note to an article which alleged that a host of independent media websites were spreading Russian propaganda.

The article, written by Craig Timberg and published on Nov. 24, relied largely on information compiled byPropOrNot, an anonymous group that claims to be comprised of media analysts and researchers. At the time the Post story was published, the group’s homepage featured a list of 200 websites, including MintPress News and many other well-established independent media outlets, which the organization alleges are either deliberately or inadvertently spreading Russian propaganda.

Among other criticisms levied against the group, PropOrNot’s research depends on overly broad criteria. According to its own stated methodology, criticism of the ”US, Obama, Hillary Clinton, the EU, Angela Merkel, NATO, Ukraine, Jewish people, US allies, the ‘mainstream media,’ and democrats, the center-right or center-left, and moderates of all stripes,” would be grounds for inclusion on “The List.”

Read moreAfter Criticism, Washington Post Disavows ‘Russian Propaganda’ Blacklist Of Indie Media
#GonzoNotes 02: Celebrate Every Victory
Marchers take the streets in solidarity with the Standing Rock water protectors in San Francisco. September 30, 2016. (Flickr / Peg Hunter)
December 9, 2016
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#GonzoNotes 02: Celebrate Every Victory

Posted in Creative Commons, Gonzo Notes, and Journalism

During the first meeting of Occupy Austin, the general assembly agreed that the movement would “celebrate every victory.”

It’s an idea that I’ve often returned to in the years since OWS ended, and I was thinking about it when the water protectors of Standing Rock won an unexpected but hard-fought victory last weekend.

On Sunday, the Army Corps Of Engineers refused to grant a permit for the pipeline to continue under a river that passes through sacred lands in Sioux territory, temporarily preventing completion.

As thousands of veterans streamed into Standing Rock, promising to put their bodies in between cops and Native Americans, “the power structure itself blinked in the face of our unity,” Kelly Hayes wrote, eloquently, on Monday.

Read more#GonzoNotes 02: Celebrate Every Victory
December 8, 2016
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Polar Warming Out Of Control As Trump Dumps NASA Earth Science & Attacks EPA

Posted in Act Out!, Creative Commons, and Journalism

Operation IceBridge, a NASA survey of polar ice, is underway, and to say the results are alarming would be an understatement.

On Friday, the IceBridge scientists announced the discovery of a 70-mile long, 300 foot wide rift in the Larsen C ice shelf, located in the Western peninsula of the Antarctic. Other portions of the Larsen ice sheet collapsed in 1995 and 2002, and climate scientists have been speculating for years that this third portion’s days are numbered as well. NASA reported in a recent press release that once the rift cuts through the ice shelf completely, it will produce an iceberg roughly the size of Delaware.

Elsewhere in the Antarctic, Ohio State University climate scientists reported last month that part of the West Antarctic ice sheet is collapsing from the inside out. And while rifts normally appear at the edges of the ice sheets, this internal rift is a strange and therefore highly unsettling new development.

Ian Howat, associate professor of Earth Sciences at Ohio State University, reported, “This implies that something weakened the center of the ice shelf, with the most likely explanation being a crevasse melted out at the bedrock level by a warming ocean.”

Read morePolar Warming Out Of Control As Trump Dumps NASA Earth Science & Attacks EPA