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Kit O'Connell: Approximately 8,000 Words Posts

‘WikiLeaks Did Not Disclose “Gays” To The Saudi Govt’: Whistleblower Site Fires Back Against Media Attacks
A police offier interrogates the drive of the "WikiLeaks Truck," an activist effort to raise awareness about governent transparency, near Occupy D.C. on January 17, 2012. (Flickr / Chris Wieland)
September 1, 2016
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‘WikiLeaks Did Not Disclose “Gays” To The Saudi Govt’: Whistleblower Site Fires Back Against Media Attacks

Posted in Archive, Journalism, and MintPress News

WikiLeaks has filed a formal complaint accusing The Associated Press of violating journalistic ethics in a recent report that claimed the transparency site was responsible for “outing” private data belonging to Saudi citizens.

The Aug. 23 investigation by AP reporters Raphael Satter and Maggie Michael accused WikiLeaks of releasing the private data of “scores” of residents of the Gulf kingdom as part of the The Saudi Cables. This collection, which the site launched in June 2015, consists of over 122,000 files leaked from Saudi foreign affairs ministry.

In the report, Satter and Michael lodge serious accusations, including that WikiLeaks published private medical data relating to “sick children, rape victims and mental health patients.”

Read more‘WikiLeaks Did Not Disclose “Gays” To The Saudi Govt’: Whistleblower Site Fires Back Against Media Attacks
European Governments Want To Combat Terrorism With Prison Segregation, Solitary Confinement
A captive is escorted by two guards in Guantanamo Bay detention camp on December 2007. (Navy / Petty Officer 1st Class Michael Billings / Wikimedia)
August 30, 2016
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European Governments Want To Combat Terrorism With Prison Segregation, Solitary Confinement

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

British and French prisons may soon employ controversial methods like solitary confinement and ‘terrorist-only’ units in an effort to curb radicalization efforts in prisons and to keep inmates from turning to terrorism.

Compared to their overall populations, England, Wales and France disproportionately imprison Muslims. A study conducted in March 2015 found that the number of Muslim prisoners in English and Welsh prisons increased 122 percent between 2002 and 2014, while the total number of prisoners only increased 20 percent over the same time period.

And although French laws prevent an exact count of Muslims in prison, it’s estimated that as many as 70 percent of the country’s 67,500 prisoners are Muslim.

Read moreEuropean Governments Want To Combat Terrorism With Prison Segregation, Solitary Confinement
Israel And Honduras Enter New, Blood-Soaked Military Alliance To Support State-Sponsored Terrorism
Israeli soldiers aim rifles during a large-scale military exercise on October 30, 2014. (Flickr / Israel Defense Forces / Gadi Yampel)
August 29, 2016
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Israel And Honduras Enter New, Blood-Soaked Military Alliance To Support State-Sponsored Terrorism

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Israel and Honduras announced a new security agreement this month in which Israel will supply weapons and training to the Honduran military.

Honduras is ruled by an oppressive and murderous regime that took power after a 2009 coup, and the agreement marks just the latest chapter in Israel’s long, bloody history of arming Central American despots.

The deal, inked on Aug. 20, would dramatically upgrade the Honduran regime’s offensive capabilities.

Read moreIsrael And Honduras Enter New, Blood-Soaked Military Alliance To Support State-Sponsored Terrorism
Trump Stokes Hate Against Journalists, Clinton Attacks Whistleblowers & Press Freedom
Protesters hold signs reading "Love Trumps Hate" and "Stand Against Racism" during Donald Trump's speech to AIPAC. March 21, 2016. (Flickr / Stephen Melkisethian)
August 26, 2016
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Trump Stokes Hate Against Journalists, Clinton Attacks Whistleblowers & Press Freedom

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Donald Trump is known for voicing his negative opinions of the media, and the Republican nominee’s supporters are increasingly reflecting those sentiments with bizarre and sometimes threatening behavior toward reporters covering his rallies.

Hillary Clinton also has a history of attacking press freedom, though more through supporting the prosecution of whistleblowers and backing repressive Middle Eastern regimes than through the kind of open contempt expressed by her opponent.

Read moreTrump Stokes Hate Against Journalists, Clinton Attacks Whistleblowers & Press Freedom
Climate Change Could Cost Millennials $8.8 Trillion Unless We Act Now
A June 30, 2016 photograph of the Erskine Fire, near Lake Isabella, California, which had consumed 46,684 acres. (Flickr / US Forest Service)
August 26, 2016
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Climate Change Could Cost Millennials $8.8 Trillion Unless We Act Now

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Attention climate change deniers: Every month in 2016 has brought new evidence that climate change is real and having measurable, harmful effects on the planet and its people.

July was the hottest month since meteorologists began recording weather data, according to both NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

To understand how rapidly Earth is warming, consider this: This year’s record-breaking temperatures shattered records set just last year, when July 2015 was the hottest month ever recorded.

Read moreClimate Change Could Cost Millennials $8.8 Trillion Unless We Act Now
From Drone Killings To Hospital Bombings: 15 Years Of Civilian Deaths In The Global War On Terror
People stand near the rubble of Abs Hospital in northwestern Yemen, bombed by a U.S.-backed, Saudi-led coalition on August 15, 2016. (Doctors Without Borders)
August 25, 2016
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From Drone Killings To Hospital Bombings: 15 Years Of Civilian Deaths In The Global War On Terror

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

The recent bombing of a hospital in northwestern Yemen has drawn international outrage and new criticism of the Saudi-led, U.S.-backed forces fighting there, but it’s just the latest in a slew of war crimes committed over the past 15 years in the name of the U.S.-backed global war on terror.

Nineteen people were killed and 24 were injured in the Aug. 15 bombing, which struck Abs Hospital in northwestern Yemen. Among the dead was Abdul Kareem al Hakeemi, a staff member of Doctors Without Borders (frequently referred to by its French name, Médecins sans Frontières, or MSF).

It was the fourth and deadliest bombing of an MSF-supported hospital since the attacks on Yemen began in early 2015, leading the NGO to evacuate its six hospitals in the region three days later.

Read moreFrom Drone Killings To Hospital Bombings: 15 Years Of Civilian Deaths In The Global War On Terror