By Steve Rhodes

“Chicago was once a major destination for African-Americans during the Great Migration, but experts say today the city is pushing out poor black families. In less than two decades, Chicago lost one-quarter of its black population, or more than 250,000 people,” Kalyn Belsha reports for the Chicago Reporter.
250,000 people.
That’s just about the population of Buffalo.
If those 250,000 people formed their own city, it would be the 83rd largest in the United States.
That’s a lot of people, and the city hasn’t really reckoned with it – other than to close schools instead of investing in those folks’ neighborhoods to make them more appealing. (I suspect the foreclosure crisis/scandal has a lot to do with it too, which just goes to show how incredibly weak both local and federal responses to it have been.)

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Posted on December 22, 2017

By Steve Rhodes

“Mass surveillance society subjects us all to its gaze, but not equally so. Its power touches everyone, but its hand is heaviest in communities already disadvantaged by their poverty, race, religion, ethnicity, and immigration status. Technology and stealth allow government watchers to remain unobtrusive when they wish to be so, but their blunter tools – stop-and-frisk, suspicionless search, recruitment of snitches, compulsory questioning on intimate subjects – are conspicuous in the lives of those least empowered to object,” Barton Gellman and Sam Adler-Bell write for The Century Foundation.

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Posted on December 21, 2017

By Steve Rhodes

Today in The Paradise Papers: Nevis Is An Offshore Haven Of Opportunity.

Dear Steve,
Today we’re releasing more data from the Paradise Papers. We’re adding more than 160,000 entities to our Offshore Leaks Database from four Caribbean jurisdictions.
We also dive into a story about Kurt Donsbach – a doctor with a history of practicing medicine without a license. He reconfigured a trust in Nevis and moved assets, after being sentenced, which is not surprising given the island’s asset-protection laws.
There is also an update about our UK partners, the Guardian and the BBC, which reported that Appleby – the law firm at the center of The Paradise Papers – is pursuing a legal case against them for their reporting. Our director, Gerard Ryle, called this a “dangerous moment for free expression.”
Until next time!
Amy Wilson-Chapman
ICIJ’s Community Engagement Editor
P.S. We’ve also just made it easier for you to financially support ICIJ. In four easy steps you can organize a fundraiser for us.

Of course, now the United States is its own tax haven – well, even more than it already was – for corporations and the ultra-rich.

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Posted on December 20, 2017

By Steve Rhodes

“The [Bureau of Investigative Journalism’s] 2017 annual report from our Drones team shows a massive increase in air attacks by American forces in Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia since President Donald Trump took power.
“There have been twice as many strikes in Somalia and three times as many in Yemen as the year before. In Afghanistan the number of weapons dropped is now at levels last seen during the 2009-12 surge. There are also signs that drones are returning to Pakistan’s skies.”
The problem?

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Posted on December 19, 2017

By Steve Rhodes

The Papers will appear next this weekend, maybe.
–
Real-time commentary on the Alabama Senate race/result can be found at @BeachwoodReport.
Meanwhile . . .
New on the Beachwood . . .
Why Was This Game Even Scheduled?

Why Was This Game Even Scheduled? https://t.co/uyF5xuOmc8 From now on, we’re Cougars fans. #Northwestern #ChicagoState pic.twitter.com/bq9hkrOix8

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) December 13, 2017

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Posted on December 13, 2017

By Steve Rhodes

NOTE: The home page is busted somehow. Working on it. You can still access this column here (you’ll have to copy and paste, links on the home page aren’t working right now): /column/the_tuesday_papers_589.php. Through that page, where links are working, you can still access the rest of the site in the usual way.
Fixed, thanks to the fine folk at Hosting Matters, who once again went above and beyond. I highly recommend them, if you’re looking for a host. After our early years with hosts that gave us all sorts of problems, Hosting Matters has been stalwart. I can’t express my appreciation for them enough.
–
Meanwhile . . .
–
New on the Beachwood . . .
The Political Odds
Updated to reflect recent developments.
*
The Weekend In Chicago Rock
Featuring: Marked Men, Skip Church, Daylight Robbery, The Jesus Lizard, Chicago Farmer, Steel Panther, The Weeks, The Joe Marcinek Band, The Low Down Brass Band, Dispatch, Needtobreathe, Iron Chic, and The White Buffalo.

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Posted on December 12, 2017

By Steve Rhodes

Note: The Papers will not appear on Friday. It looks like Monday is a bust, too.
Meanwhile . . .
ChicagoGram

#loganproject #artisticbombingcrew #writersbench #writersbenchchicago #flash_abc #bboybabc #seenabc #logansquare

A post shared by FLASH ABC MARS (@flash_abc) on Dec 6, 2017 at 6:15am PST

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Posted on December 7, 2017

By Steve Rhodes

“The attorneys for the families of two men suing an ex-Chicago cop and the City of Chicago are asking for severe legal sanctions after city attorneys produced a critical disciplinary report against the former cop well into the trial and years after it was requested,” the Sun-Times reports.
Here we go again. Just nine days ago:

“A federal judge has ordered the city of Chicago to pay $62,500 for withholding records in a wrongful death lawsuit, marking the eighth time Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration has been sanctioned for failing to turn over potential evidence in a police misconduct case,” the Tribune reports.
“The city agreed to the amount this month after U.S. District Judge Joan Gottschall upheld an earlier ruling that the city acted in ‘bad faith’ when it ignored a court order and made little effort to provide documents to the lawyer for the family of Divonte Young, 20, who was shot and killed by an officer five years ago.”

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Posted on December 6, 2017

By Steve Rhodes

A bunch of stuff in the pipeline but the day’s getting late, so I’m just gonna leave y’all with this stuff . . .
ChicagoGram

#chicago #illinois #factory #unitedstates #statiuniti #usa #travelblogger #picoftheday #passport #vsco #vscocam #ig_chicago #igerschicago #follow4follow #followforfollow #chicagogram #wanderlust

A post shared by Alessio (@_alev77_) on Dec 5, 2017 at 12:19pm PST

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Posted on December 5, 2017

By Steve Rhodes

I have a deadline today; I hope to finally have The Luis & Chuy Show tomorrow as well as an update of The Political Odds from the Beachwood Bookmaking Bureau.
Meanwhile . . .
“Students at the City Colleges of Chicago, the state’s largest and most diverse community-college system, are eligible for a guaranteed admission program to the University of Illinois’ flagship campus in Urbana under an expanded partnership this fall,” the Champaign News-Gazette reports.
Gee, that sounds good.

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Posted on December 4, 2017