journalism

They buried Lyra McKee with a pomp and circumstance she would never have expected and would certainly have despised in her – and my – native Belfast on Wednesday. The most promising, talented and fearless young independent Irish journalist of her generation was gunned down at age 29 by two bullets while covering a very minor and typical riot in Derry City on April 18. A couple of dim and drunken young Irish Republican extremist suspects who could not have hit a barn door at point blank range were also immediately rounded up and accused of her murder.

This week friend of the show Kevin Gosztola of Shadowproof.com joined me to discuss the latest developments with Julian Assange. Kevin explained the charges that have been brought against Assange and the spin they have received in the media. He talked about the use of term “hacking” and why that is, in fact, an incorrect definition of what Assange has actually been charged with. Kevin also talked about Chelsea Manning who is still in jail after losing a recent appeal.

Britain, battered and lost, a nation defeated and drowning in its own effluent of self-deprecation and doubt, had little choice to do what is was told as a client state of the US.

So Julian Assange has finally been dragged out of the Ecuadorian embassy by UK police. Soon to be extradited to the United States, this development – as dramatic as the scenes were – was hardly surprising: and has been on the horizon for a very long time. If anything, I’m shocked at how long it’s […]

#julianassange #arrest #leak In this video I give my assessment of the Assange case and why his arrest signals more than just the death of journalism and the fourth estate in the post-post-modern era. I note how Wikileaks itself was somewhat dubious, while Assange was sincere in his approach to journalism. The screen glitch is a YT wide error, it’s not my issue.

Due to recent claims made by WikiLeaks on Twitter that Julian Assange will be forcibly removed from the Ecuadorian embassy in London in a matter of “hours or days,” MintPress News has brings you this editorial first published last June by journalist Whitney Webb in order to again highlight the dangerous precedent for journalism, free speech and much more the end of Assange’s asylum — and his likely extradition to the United States — would set.

For so long, we have been pushed out from democracy. Our elected officials and political parties, both Republicans and Democrats, have been undermining the will of ordinary people. Monopoly media, bought by corporate money has turned against public interests, distorting information and manipulating public perception.

  BRAD HOFF is an independent journalist, teacher, and Marine veteran. He is the founder and managing editor of Levant Report and has written for Antiwar.com, Libertarian Institute, Foreign Policy Journal, Assyrian International News Agency, Medium News & Politics, Commonweal Magazine, The Canary (UK), NEWSREP and others. His work has been referenced and sourced in … Continue reading A Marine in Syria →

In a fair boxing match, opponents enter the ring with similarly padded gloves and battle under the bright lights for the world to see.  There are, of course, cases where one fighter cheats, as in the infamous case in 1983 when Luis Resto wore weakly padded gloves and hand wraps hardened with plaster to make them rock solid.  His opponent, Billy Collins, an up-and-coming boxer from Tennessee with a 14-0 record, was permanently and very seriously injured in the fight at Madison Square Garden. His eyes were battered shut and his vision damaged.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:  A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;  A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time