Kit O'Connell

A gonzo journalist from Austin, Texas and Staff Writer for MintPress News, Kit O'Connell's writing has also appeared at Truthout, the Texas Observer, and The Establishment.

Foreign Policy ‘Hypocrisy’: Canada Becomes Second-Largest Weapons Exporter To Middle East

‘[E]verybody knows that there is rank hypocrisy right at the core of U.S. foreign policy but I don’t think everybody knows that about Canada,” one anti-war activist said.

Kit O'Connell
By Kit O'Connell
Members of 1st Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment prepare to board their light armoured vehicles on to the French Navy Ship Le Mistral.

OTTAWA --- Despite its reputation as our less war-inclined neighbor to the north, Canada has become second only to the United States in weapons exports to the Middle East. The increase in military equipment and weapons sales was noted by IHS Jane’s in its annual “Global Defence Trade Report,” published June 13 by IHS, Inc., a corporate data

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Islamophobia Industry Spent $206M Building Hatred In US, But Here’s How To Create Love Instead

‘This election cycle you’re seeing Islamophobia become mainstream and quite a comfortable tool in the hands of certain campaigns,’ the author of a new report on anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S. tells MintPress News.

Kit O'Connell
By Kit O'Connell
Cyrus McGoldrick, takes a photo with his cell phone of an anti-Muslim poster in New York's Times Square subway station.

AUSTIN, Texas --- Islamophobia is more profitable than ever in America, but a new report from a leading Muslim civil rights organization offers a new strategy to take the national conversation back from the proprietors of hate. Thirty-three key organizations promoting anti-Muslim sentiment had access to a combined budget of $205,838,077 between

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WikiLeaks’ Assange Enters Year 5 Of Confinement, War On Whistleblowers To Continue Indefinitely

The WikiLeaks founder’s four years of confinement in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London mark him as an ongoing victim of the U.S. war on whistleblowers, but he’s just one of many targeted for speaking out about government corruption and injustice.

Kit O'Connell
By Kit O'Connell
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange appears at the window before speaking on the balcony of the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, Friday, Feb. 5, 2016.

AUSTIN, Texas --- On Sunday, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange marked the fourth anniversary of the day he entered the Ecuadorean Embassy in London on asylum. Many, including fashion designer Vivienne Westwood and philosopher and political analyst Noam Chomsky, voiced their support for Assange and their hopes for his eventual freedom. But Assange

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Amid Anti-BDS Pressure, Facebook Israel Appoints Long-Time Netanyahu Advisor To Policy Post

The move comes amid calls for Israel’s legislature, the Knesset, to criminalize criticism of Israel on Facebook.

Kit O'Connell
By Kit O'Connell
Am Israeli soldier looks at the IDF's Facebook page at the army spokesperson's office in Jerusalem.

JERUSALEM --- An advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is taking a top post at Facebook amid calls for increased censorship on the social network. Facebook recently announced that Jordana Cutler would head policy and communications at the social media giant’s Israel office. Cutler currently works as the chief of staff for the

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PCBs Poison America’s Teachers & Students, But EPA & Monsanto Won’t Take Responsibility

Tens of thousands of schools could be contaminated with PCBs, which can cause cancer and birth defects, but exact figures are hard to come by because EPA regulations don’t require thorough testing for the substance.

Kit O'Connell
By Kit O'Connell

AUSTIN, Texas --- A toxic chemical that used to be prevalent in construction materials may still be hiding in the walls of thousands of American schools, and experts believe the EPA is doing too little to prevent it from poisoning a new generation of children. Polychlorinated biphenyls, a family of chemicals better known as PCBs, were commonly

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Beyond ISIS: Orlando Mass Killing Is About Much, Much More Than ‘Radical Islam’

Although Omar Mateen, the shooter in the Pulse nightclub killing, pledged allegiance to ISIS, he also claimed ties to groups fighting ISIS like the Nusra Front and Hezbollah, according to the FBI.

Kit O'Connell
By Kit O'Connell
29-year-old Omar Mateen attacked a crowded gay nightclub with an assault rifle and a handgun, killing at least 50 people and wounding 53 others.

AUSTIN, Texas --- In the wake of the worst mass killing on U.S. soil since 9/11, politicians and the media seized on the killer’s purported declaration of allegiance to Middle Eastern terrorist groups as an excuse to demand more military intervention overseas and an increasingly militarized homeland. Omar Mateen, the 29-year-old shooter who

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Corruption At The UN: Whistleblower Investigated, Child Sexual Abuse Ignored

U.N. whistleblower Anders Kompass resigned because top officials had ‘complete impunity’ to ignore alleged sexual abuse of children by peacekeepers.

Kit O'Connell
By Kit O'Connell
Anders Kompass, former U.N. High Commission for human rights turned whistleblower, speaks in Guatemala.

UNITED NATIONS --- A whistleblower who alerted authorities to the alleged rape of children by U.N. peacekeepers resigned after top U.N. officials investigated him instead of investigating the accusations he called attention to. When U.N. officials failed to act on a confidential report which accuses French troops of sexually abusing refugee

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