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‘Which Side Are You On?’ Rapper B. Dolan On Corporate Power & Making Racists Afraid Again
B. Dolan performs at The Met in Pawtucket, Rhode Island on july 11, 2015. (Flickr / Tony Pacitti)
August 15, 2016
Kit
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‘Which Side Are You On?’ Rapper B. Dolan On Corporate Power & Making Racists Afraid Again

Posted in Austin, Journalism, and SXSW

B. Dolan was my favorite discovery of SXSW, an unabashedly political rapper from Rhode Island, and also an anti-corporate activist with Knowmore.org. I caught him during the same show where I saw Wheelchair Sports Camp and I knew we’d have to talk more.

It took until early last month before we finally connected with an interview, and then another month (thanks to the distracting spectacle of the election) before I finally put his words up on my site.

Thanks, B. Dolan, for taking the time to talk, and for your patience in seeing this published!

Kit O’Connell, Approximately 8,000 Words: Talk to me about what it’s like to play a huge commercial event like SXSW, especially the impact it can have good and bad on a community or your career. We had anti-gentrification protests at the event this year, in fact — is this something you take into consideration, as a politically aware musician?

Read more‘Which Side Are You On?’ Rapper B. Dolan On Corporate Power & Making Racists Afraid Again
Developed In Iraq, Deployed At the DNC?: Cell-Jamming Technology Is Being Turned On Journalists
n July 27, 2016, activists, media and citizen journalists with smartphones surround a group of anticapitalist activists burning a U.S. flag. Journalists, including a MintPress News reporter, found it difficult or impossible to upload video of incidents like this one while near the entrance to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (MintPress News / Kit O'Connell)
August 12, 2016
Kit
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Developed In Iraq, Deployed At the DNC?: Cell-Jamming Technology Is Being Turned On Journalists

Posted in Journalism, MintPress News, and Occupy Wall Street

Technology developed to jam cellphones during the Iraq War may be getting deployed against journalists reporting on protests against the political establishment in the United States.

While police and government surveillance of protests, including monitoring of cellphone use, is well-documented, efforts to block signals at protests remains an oft-repeated, but never proven, rumor.

It may be impossible to definitively prove that authorities are using cellphone “jamming” technology, but journalists working with both mainstream and independent media reported unusual difficulties accessing the internet during recent protests at the gates of the Democratic National Convention, consistent with the effects this very real technology could have.

Read moreDeveloped In Iraq, Deployed At the DNC?: Cell-Jamming Technology Is Being Turned On Journalists
‘Don’t Write Your Congressman’: Green Party Candidates On Third-Party Movement Building
Arn Menconi, Green Party candidate for Senate from Colorado, at the Green Party National Convention at the University of Houston. August 6, 2016. (MintPress News / Kit O'Connell)
August 12, 2016
Kit
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‘Don’t Write Your Congressman’: Green Party Candidates On Third-Party Movement Building

Posted in Archive, Journalism, and MintPress News

Record-breaking dissatisfaction with the presidential candidates nominated by the two major political parties is leading to a new push for alternatives on the ballot.

However, building a third-party alternative to the Republican and Democratic parties won’t happen overnight.

“This process of making radical change in this country is a protracted one,” Ajamu Baraka, the Green Party candidate for vice president, said during a press conference with running mate Dr. Jill Stein, just after accepting the party’s nomination on Saturday.

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Red Scare 2016: As Green Party Power Grows, Jill Stein Accused Of Ties To Putin
Presidential Candidate Jill Stein pictured in Moscow’s Red Square during the RT Anniversary Conference. (YouTube Screenshot)
August 10, 2016
Kit
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Red Scare 2016: As Green Party Power Grows, Jill Stein Accused Of Ties To Putin

Posted in Archive, Journalism, and MintPress News

As the popularity of the Green Party continues to rise during this divisive election, attacks and smear campaigns against the Greens, and their presidential nominee, Jill Stein, are ramping up.

The latest rumor suggests Stein is under the control of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and it’s based on a deliberately misleading tweet about a video she recorded during a trip to Russia over the winter.

On Saturday, economist Andrew Weiss tweeted a link to a video of Stein posted on Dec. 20. The video, “Anti-War Message in Moscow: Jill Stein, 2016 US-Presidential Candidate (Green Party),” was assembled from various sources — notably, a video posted on Stein’s Facebook page — by German anti-war site AntiKrieg.

Read moreRed Scare 2016: As Green Party Power Grows, Jill Stein Accused Of Ties To Putin
In First 100 Days, Pres. Jill Stein Would Cancel Student Debt, End Middle East Wars
In this August 6, 2016 photograph, delegates and supporters stand and applaud during the Green Party National Convention at the University of Houston. (MintPress News / Kit O’Connell)
August 8, 2016
Kit
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In First 100 Days, Pres. Jill Stein Would Cancel Student Debt, End Middle East Wars

Posted in Archive, Journalism, and MintPress News

Dr. Jill Stein, the Green Party’s presidential candidate, has ambitious plans for her first 100 days in office.

“First thing we do is cancel student debt, working with the Fed,” Stein told MintPress News in an exclusive interview. “We will be fighting for that from day one.”

Stein would also immediately begin to implement her “Green New Deal” to redirect resources from the military-industrial complex into an economy based on renewable energy. She hopes her plan would put a stop to America’s endless energy wars.

“As the commander-in-chief, the president can also start a peace offensive in the Middle East to end these catastrophic wars for oil that are only making us more endangered rather than more safe.”

Read moreIn First 100 Days, Pres. Jill Stein Would Cancel Student Debt, End Middle East Wars
Standing Up ‘For The Greater Good’: Kit Will Report From Green Party Convention
In this Sept.17, 2012 photograph, Dr. Jill Stein speaks during a demonstration on Bowling Green, New York City, at the 1 year anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement. (Flickr / Paul Stein)
August 6, 2016
Kit
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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.”

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