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MuckReads: How America Sucked In 2014

By Terry Parris Jr. and Hanqing Chen/ProPublica

Editor’s note: This is our year-end super MuckReads list. Since you have plenty to read through the holidays, our next weekly list of MuckReads will appear on Jan. 9. Thank you for reading.

Law Enforcement Steps Out Of Line

Beatings. Shootings. Broken bones. Since 2011, the city of Baltimore has paid $5.7 million to settle claims of false arrests, false imprisonment or excessive force by its police officers. In almost all of the largest payouts, local citizens were cleared of any criminal charges. – Baltimore Sun via @petesweigard

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Posted on December 30, 2014

Bankers Brought Rating Agencies ‘To Their Knees’ On Tobacco Bonds

By Cezary Podkul/ProPublica

This story was co-published with Marketplace.
When the economy nose-dived in 2008, it didn’t take long to find the crucial trigger. Wall Street banks had peddled billions of dollars in toxic securities after packing them with subprime mortgages that were sure to default.
Behind the bankers’ actions, however, stood a less-visible part of the finance industry that also came under fire. The big credit-rating firms – S&P, Moody’s and Fitch – routinely blessed the securities as safe investments. Two U.S. investigations found that raters compromised their independence under pressure from banks and the lure of profits, becoming, as the government’s official inquiry panel put it, “essential cogs in the wheel of financial destruction.”
Now there is evidence the raters also may have succumbed to pressure from the bankers in another area: The sale of billions of dollars in bonds by states and municipalities looking to quickly cash in on the massive 1998 legal settlement with Big Tobacco.

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Posted on December 26, 2014

Human Rights Organizations Urge Passage Of Reparations For Chicago Police Torture Survivors

By Amnesty International

On December 16th, Chicago Torture Justice Memorials (CTJM), We Charge Genocide, Project NIA and Amnesty International will hold a five-mile march, deliver a petition, reveal a list of “nice & naughty” alderpeople and hold a memorial at City Hall to demand passage of the Reparations Ordinance for Chicago Police Torture Survivors.
On October 16, 2013, a Reparations Ordinance for Chicago Police Torture Survivors was introduced in Chicago’s City Council. It has already garnered the support of 26 alderpeople, with only one additional vote needed to pass the ordinance. Passage of the ordinance is also supported by the United Nations Committee Against Torture.
Amnesty International USA’s board of directors recently sent a letter to Mayor Rahm Emanuel calling for passage of the ordinance. “As Amnesty International USA Board Members, we were happy to see your recent acknowledgement of the City of Chicago’s enduring obligations to Chicago police torture survivors, their families and their communities. We ask you to continue to show your support by helping to pave the way for a prompt public hearing where the compelling reasons for passage of the ordinance can be fully aired.”
Schedule:

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Posted on December 16, 2014

Trailer: Chicago Public Schools: Closed

By The School Project

Watch the trailer for a short documentary that follows Rousemary Vega, a parent turned activist, through the maze of hearings and protests that preceded the largest school closings in American history.

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Posted on December 16, 2014

The Beachwood Radio Hour #35: Don’t Feed The Comptrollers!

By Steve Rhodes

The truth about Judy Baar Topinka. Plus: Hate Worldwide and Rahm vs. the Leftovers.
Keywords: Cat Stevens, Spock’s Brain, Grayson Moorhead Securities, Marcel Pacatte, Rich Miller, Alan Keyes, Slayer, Hogan’s Heroes, Ronald Reagan, Joseph Stalin, Peggy Noonan, Torture Report, Barbara Tuchman, John Conroy, Jon Burge, Helstar, Rahm Emanuel, Bob Fioretti, Chuy Garcia, Meg Myers, Chicago.

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Posted on December 14, 2014

Fear Of Occupy Wall Street Undermined The Red Cross’s Sandy Relief Effort

By Justin Elliott and Jesse Eisinger/ProPublica

In the days after Superstorm Sandy, relief organizations were overwhelmed by the chaos and enormous need. One group quickly emerged as a bright spot. While victims in New York’s hardest hit neighborhoods were stuck in the cold and dark, volunteers from the spontaneously formed Occupy Sandy became a widely praised lifeline.
Occupy Sandy was “one of the leading humanitarian groups providing relief to survivors across New York City and New Jersey,” as a government-commissioned study put it.
Yet the Red Cross, which was bungling its own aid efforts after the storm, made a decision that further hampered relief: Senior officials told staffers not to work with Occupy Sandy.

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Posted on December 11, 2014

The Tortured History Of The Senate’s Torture Report

By Kara Brandeisky and Sisi Wei/ProPublica

“The Senate began investigating the CIA’s detainee program nearly six years ago. It completed a draft of its report two years ago. On Tuesday, the Senate Intelligence Committee finally released the report’s blistering executive summary. (The full report remains classified.) What took so long? It’s a tale of White House indecisiveness, Republican opposition, and CIA snooping.”

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Posted on December 10, 2014

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