BALTIMORE (Mint) — The world watched last week as protesters stormed the streets of Baltimore to oppose police brutality and demand justice for Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old man, who died of spinal injuries suffered in police custody on April 19. But racist policing policies aren’t the only factor leading police officers to allegedly treat Gray, and others like him, inhumanely and …
Radical Visions: Failed Jobs Training Programs Inspire A ‘Black Worker Center’ In DC
WASHINGTON (Mint) — A Washington, D.C., community organizing group held a press conference last week to call out the District government for a lack of transparency and enforcement mechanisms to protect workers and put the city’s residents, who are often victims of displacement and gentrification, to work. “We always hear this rhetoric about public-private partnerships, and giving out public funds to …
Without Sanctions, Iran Could Finally Tackle Pressing Domestic Issues
WASHINGTON (Mint) — Iran is a country with incredible potential. Sandwiched between the Middle East, and Central and South Asia, with the Caspian Sea to the north and the Persian Gulf to the south, it’s situated in one of the most prime pieces of real estate on the planet. It’s home to the largest gas reserves in the world and the …
2016’s Horse Race: The Need For A Third Party And Greater Systemic Change
WASHINGTON (Mint) — The 2016 presidential election is shaping up to be more boring than ever, with the Bush and Clinton dynasties poised to take the reins of America’s corporate capitalist system, likely to deliver unsubstantive debate and the illusion of choice in a duopoly that offers very little in terms of real meaningful change. “We need a good strong challenge, …
Iran, Israel and Foreign Policy: How Structural Disunity is Splitting America
BEIRUT (Mint) — The U.S. government is coming apart at the seams in more ways than one. The world watched as lawmakers played chicken with the debt ceiling in 2011 and forced a government shutdown in 2013. And now, a dispute over American foreign policy in the Middle East is prompting an unprecedented schism between the executive and legislative branches. Nowhere …
Mosaic Special: Iran and the Nuclear Threat
This is a documentary I worked on as a producer, editor, and researcher while at Link TV. Is Iran about to get the bomb? As policymakers in Israel and the US debate whether to take military action to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, this timely program provides expert opinions on Iran’s nuclear program, the impact of sanctions on Iran …
State Of The Union: A Conversation With Former Political Prisoner Eddie Conway
BALTIMORE (Mint) — Marshall “Eddie” Conway, 68, is a human rights activist, who spent 44 years in prison for killing a police officer — a crime he says he didn’t commit — until he was released last March. On April 26, 1970, the former minister of defense for the Black Panther Party’s Baltimore chapter was arrested at the post office where …
The US Will Prosecute You For Your Politics
WASHINGTON (Mint) — On Dec. 11, Rasmea Yousef Odeh, 67, an American citizen originally from Lifta, Palestine, was released on bond after spending five weeks in jail at Port Huron, Michigan. She was imprisoned and awaiting sentencing after being convicted on Nov. 10 of lying on her naturalization form to become a U.S. citizen. Sentencing for her crime will take place …
Justice Is Blind To Those Who Can’t Afford It
WASHINGTON — (Mint) Two days after a Staten Island grand jury acquitted NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of Eric Garner, banking and financial services giant BNP Paribas S.A. (BNPP) was able to delay sentencing that would force it to pay $8.9 billion for pleading guilty to violating U.S. sanctions regulations. Nobody at the global banking giant is likely to …
An Iranian Nuclear Deal, ISIS, and America’s Pivot Toward Asia
WASHINGTON (Mint) — The regional implications for an Iran nuclear deal would be profound, yet they could possibly lead to something even greater, the likes of which have not been seen since Nixon’s rapprochement with China in the 1970s. Iran and the P5+1 countries (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) are scheduled to finalize negotiations for …