By CAN TV
“Now in its fifth year, SlutWalk Chicago gathers at Water Tower Place to fight rape culture and challenge mindsets of victim-blaming and slut-shaming.”
Posted on August 27, 2015
The Beachwood Radio Hour #66: My Newspaper Waterloo
By Steve Rhodes
A police chief, a city editor and Dean’s Place. Plus: Stick To The Coffees And Teas That You’re Used To; The Buffalo News’s Bullshit; The New Star Wars Museum; and Stop Tweeting Prideful Pictures Of Your Punny Print Pages!
Posted on August 25, 2015
Hurricane Katrina 10 Years On
By Carlos Barria/Reuters
When I arrived in New Orleans after the 2005 hurricane, which caused flooding in 80 percent of the city and killed 1,572 people, the scene was quietly apocalyptic. There was dark water all around, empty highways, bodies wrapped in plastic.
The calm before the storm, the saying goes. But for many survivors of Katrina, it’s the calm after the storm that truly haunts.
Posted on August 25, 2015
How To Investigate Workers’ Comp In Your State
By Michael Grabell/ProPublica
With income inequality and economic fairness at the center of national discussion, workers’ compensation provides the perfect lens for examining how the social compact has changed. It is one of America’s first safety net programs. And unlike other laws, it spells out a company’s responsibility for its workers.
The American workers’ comp system was born in the early 1900s as a “grand bargain” forged by business and labor as awareness grew about the grisly workplace accidents that came with industrialization. Workers gave up their right to sue their employers – even in cases of gross negligence – protecting businesses from lawsuit judgments that could bankrupt them. In exchange, workers were promised medical care for their injuries, enough wages to help them get by while they recovered and compensation for permanent disabilities.
But as a ProPublica investigation has found, state after state has been dismantling its workers’ comp system, denying injured workers help when they need it most and shifting the cost of work-related disabilities onto public programs like Social Security Disability Insurance.
Posted on August 24, 2015
The Dyett Hunger Strikers Stand On The Shoulders Of These Forgotten Heroes
By Matt Farmer
Today is Day Six of the Dyett Hunger Strike. Twelve Chicago activists have put their bodies on the line to persuade the suits at City Hall and Chicago Public Schools that the now-shuttered Walter H. Dyett High School, 555 E. 51st St., should be reopened as a neighborhood high school, and not as a politically-connected charter or contract school.
By stepping up their fight for quality public education, the Dyett 12 join a venerable list of Chicago’s social justice reformers.
Posted on August 22, 2015
Show Me A Hero: A Q&A With David Simon
By Marcelo Rochabrun/ProPublica
David Simon’s new HBO miniseries Show Me a Hero, which premiered last Sunday, is the harrowing tale of a hopeless battle. Based on a nonfiction book of the same title – written by former New York Times reporter Lisa Belkin – the show dramatizes the real fight that took place 25 years ago in Yonkers, New York, after a federal judge ordered public housing projects to be built in the wealthier (and whiter) parts of the city.
In an interview with ProPublica, David Simon discussed the legacy of the Yonkers crisis and what desegregation is all about. The transcript has been edited for clarity and length.
Posted on August 22, 2015
McDonald’s Faces Global Crackdown In Brazil; Chicago Worker Testifies
By The Fight For $15
Workers from five continents, elected leaders from around the world testify before Brazilian Senate at first-ever global hearing on McDonald’s ‘race to the bottom’
Citing a pattern of illegal behavior that is undercutting Brazil’s workers and economy, Brazilian leaders Thursday called for major investigations into McDonald’s that will place the fast-food giant under the microscope in its most important Latin American market.
Brazilian Labor Ministry prosecutor Leonardo Mendoca announced the formation of a task force to investigate extensive allegations of labor law violations by McDonald’s throughout Brazil, which could find the company in breach of a national accord it signed in 2013 pledging to respect the country’s labor laws. Mendoca also said Brazil’s new prosecutor general would continue to support enforcement and investigations involving McDonald’s.
Posted on August 21, 2015
EFF Sues Justice Department For Records About FBI’s Plans For Rapid DNA
By The Electronic Frontier Foundation
FBI Says It Can’t Find Any Documents Responsive To FOIA Requests Even Though Congress Has Been Briefed For Years
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI to gain access to documents revealing the government’s plans to use Rapid DNA. The FBI said it found no records responsive to EFF’s FOIA requests, even though it’s been working to roll out Rapid DNA and lobbying Congress to approve nationwide use for more than five years.
Posted on August 20, 2015
Why The Close Collaboration Between The NSA And AT&T Matters
By Julia Angwin and Jeff Larson/ProPublica
Newly disclosed documents unveiling the close relationship between the National Security Agency and AT&T could breathe new life into a long-running legal dispute about the NSA’s controversial method of tapping the Internet backbone on U.S. soil.
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This program, according to documents provided by Edward Snowden, is largely enabled by telecom giant AT&T, which filters internet traffic, based on NSA instructions. AT&T then forwards the “take” to the spy agency’s storage facilities for further review and analysis.
But a single e-mail traverses the Internet in hundreds of tiny slices, called “packets,” that travel separate routes. Grabbing even one e-mail requires a computer search of many slices of other people’s messages.
Privacy advocates have long argued in court that grabbing portions of so many e-mails – involving people not suspected of anything – is a violation of the protection against unreasonable searches and seizures provided by the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital civil liberties group, is now hoping that the new documents will bolster their claims in a long-running case, Jewel v. NSA.
“We will be presenting this information to the court,” said Cindy Cohn, executive director of the foundation. A Department of Justice spokesman declined to comment.
So far, the only court that has reviewed the constitutional question is the secret panel of jurists known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. This court only hears arguments from the government and all of their decisions are highly classified.
Other federal courts have declined to debate the constitutional question for fear that discussing any collaboration with telecom companies would damage American security.
Posted on August 18, 2015
Canada Offers Relief From Trump
By Scott Buckner
BREAKING NEWS: Canada welcomes Americans totally sick of conservatives in new marketing campaign by the Canadian Board of Tourism and Citizenry. Industry and small businesses in Illinois are paying particular attention, given that Indiana and Wisconsin don’t seem to “be all that” these days.
Dear Americans:
We understand the problems you may be having with Mr. Donald Trump as of late. We totally sympathize. Which is why, for a limited time only should Mr. Trump become the Republican presidential nominee, we are throwing open our borders for you to flood over. Bring a Mexican or two if you so desire. We embrace all cultures here. Even yours.
Posted on August 18, 2015