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.

Trump’s Pick For Nat’l Security Adviser Is An Islamophobic Former Army General

Michael Flynn, a retired Army general and former intelligence officer, sits on the board of ACT For America, a group that the Council on American-Islamic Relations says is part of the ‘inner core’ of America’s multimillion-dollar Islamophobia industry.

Kit O'Connell
By Kit O'Connell
Retired Gen. Michael Flynn, left, introduces Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a campaign rally, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016, in Bedford, N.H. (AP Photo/John Locher)

AUSTIN, Texas --- Michael Flynn, a military veteran who was once a key player in the U.S. intelligence state, is likely to have an integral part in setting foreign and domestic policy in the administration of President-elect Donald Trump. If Flynn accepts Trump’s reported offer, the retired lieutenant general’s strong Islamophobic views could be

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Stephen Bannon: Anti-Black, Anti-Muslim, Anti-Semitic, But Pro-Israel

‘Anti-Semitism and right-wing Zionism are varieties of ultra nationalism, or … tribalism,’ one sociologist noted in response to the apparent contradiction between Breitbart’s support for anti-Semitism and Zionism.

Kit O'Connell
By Kit O'Connell
Stephen Bannon, campaign CEO for Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, looks on as Trump speaks during a campaign rally, Saturday, Nov. 5, 2016, in Denver. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

AUSTIN, Texas --- The elevation of Stephen Bannon, former boss at the extreme right-wing news outlet Breitbart News, to chief strategist in the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump has provoked a firestorm of criticism over his racist views on minorities and his support for anti-Semitism. However, despite what may seem like a

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Major Gains For Cannabis On Election Day Make Full Legalization Almost Inevitable

‘It’s likely now a question of when, and not if, the rest of the country will follow suit,’ according to an analysis published after legalization made major gains in voting booths around the country on Election Day.

Kit O'Connell
By Kit O'Connell
A marijuana joint is rolled Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2016, in San Francisco. Prop 64 legalizing marijuana for recreational use passed in California. The number of Americans living in states with recreational marijuana more than tripled after at least three states voted to fully legalize the drug.

AUSTIN, Texas --- Election results poured in on Tuesday night, turning states not just red or blue, but also green in eight states where voters came out in support of ballot initiatives to legalize medicinal or recreational cannabis. While the presidential election revealed a starkly divided electorate and partisan political landscape, voters

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#NoDAPL Spills Over: Musicians Boycott Dakota Access Pipeline CEO’s Record Label & Festival

‘I do not play for oil interests. I do not play for companies who defile nature, or companies who attack demonstrators with trained attack dogs and pepper spray,’ declared singer-songwriter Jackson Browne.

Kit O'Connell
By Kit O'Connell
A water protector watches a fire barricade burn off County Road 134, just north of Red Warrior Camp. Law enforcement wear riot gear as they prepare to remove the frontline camp. Oct. 27, 2016  (Derrick Broze for MintPress)

AUSTIN, Texas --- When it comes to the Dakota Access pipeline, musicians want to stop the music. Kelcy Warren, CEO of Energy Transfer Partners, the corporation building the controversial $3.8 billion pipeline, also owns Music Road Records, a small record label which presents the annual Cherokee Creek Music Festival in Austin, Texas. The

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In 2016, Israel Demolished Over 200 West Bank Homes In Illegal Settlement Expansion

‘True to Israel’s entire history, it’s a story of moving in where people already live and kicking them out,’ noted Abby Martin, a journalist who traveled to Palestine earlier this year to document Israel’s oppressive occupation.

Kit O'Connell
By Kit O'Connell
A Palestinian man tries to stop work by an Israeli bulldozer during a protest outside the village of Deir Qaddis, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, Wednesday, July 13, 2016. Dozens of Palestinians demonstrated Wednesday in front of Israeli bulldozers that were bulldozing land outside Deir Qaddis village near Ramallah for an apparent plan to expand a nearby Jewish settlement. The protesters forced the bulldozers to stop, but residents said they resumed work after the protesters left the area.

JERUSALEM --- Israel’s illegal settlements in the West Bank of Gaza have expanded rapidly over the past year, seriously threatening many Palestinian communities and their farmlands. “This practice doesn’t just mean expanding into Palestinian land,” journalist Abby Martin explained in an Oct. 31 episode of “The Empire

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Could US Elections Be Stolen? Election Integrity Activists Say Yes

‘If it’s a close election, the cheaters are going to win,’ says Mark Crispin Miller, a professor of media studies who’s spent years combing through U.S. election results for evidence of electronic voting machine fraud.

Kit O'Connell
By Kit O'Connell
Voters use electronic voting machines at the Schiller Recreation Center polling station on election day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2015, in Columbus, Ohio.

AUSTIN, Texas --- Election fraud is a dangerously real possibility in the United States, but Donald Trump is wrong about how elections could be rigged under the current system. The Republican nominee has warned his supporters that the election could be rigged against him, and there have already been reports of Trump supporters with guns at

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Should Third Parties Support ‘Vote Pacts’ To Avoid ‘Spoiling’ Elections?

Unlike other vote swapping schemes which pair a voter in a swing state with a voter in a ‘safe’ state, a vote pact pairs voters across party lines who each promise to cast their ballots for a third-party candidate instead.

Kit O'Connell
By Kit O'Connell
Green party presidential candidate Jill Stein, foreground, meets her supporters during a campaign stop at Humanist Hall in Oakland, Calif. on Thursday, Oct. 6, 2016.

Third-party candidates are often accused of acting as “spoilers” by siphoning votes from the two major parties’ nominees and potentially tipping the balance in an election. Perhaps the most notable example of this is Ralph Nader. The former Green Party candidate is frequently accused of helping George W. Bush win the 2000 presidential election

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