By Mark Press/Electronic Frontier Foundation

Last week was Open Access Week and we joined SPARC and dozens of other organizations to discuss the importance of open access to scientific research publications.
An academic publisher should widely disseminate the knowledge produced by scholars, not hold it for ransom. But ransoming scientific research back to the academic community is essentially the business model of the world’s largest publisher of scientific journals: Elsevier.

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Posted on October 30, 2019

Lewis Black wants you to come on out to the grand opening on November 9th.
543 Indiana Avenue, in Indianapolis, Vonnegut’s hometown.
Coinciding with this year’s VonnegutFest.

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Posted on October 28, 2019

By UIC

National Book Award-nominated author Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor will discuss her book, Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership, at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Social Justice Initiative next Wednesday.
Taylor, assistant professor of African American studies at Princeton University, writes and speaks on politics, social movements, and racial inequality in the U.S. She will appear in conversation with Elizabeth Todd-Breland, UIC associate professor of history and author of A Political Education: Black Politics and Education Reform in Post-Civil Rights Chicago.

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Posted on October 25, 2019

By Isaac Arnsdorf/ProPublica

President Donald Trump personally directed administration officials to report to one of his largest donors, Marvel Entertainment chairman Ike Perlmutter, according to a new book by former Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin.
Starting with Shulkin’s interview for the cabinet post, Trump routinely dialed Perlmutter into meetings and asked if the secretary was keeping Perlmutter informed and happy, Shulkin wrote.
Perlmutter would call Shulkin as often as multiple times a day, and White House officials such as Stephen Miller would scold Shulkin for not being in close enough contact with Perlmutter and two of his associates at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club in Florida.
“I didn’t reach out to these guys – these guys had a prior relationship with the president and were advising him,” Shulkin, who was fired by tweet in March 2018, said in an interview. “There probably wasn’t too many times I met with the president when he didn’t say, ‘What’s happening with Ike?'”

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Posted on October 23, 2019

It Was Himself

Director of White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy Peter Navarro claims made-up expert merely a “whimsical device” to lighten the tone of his racist tomes.

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Posted on October 22, 2019

By Allison Stanger/New America

While whistleblowers often bring about changes that serve their fellow citizens, their personal sacrifice is immense. Legitimate whistleblowers are risk-takers for the truth, and what they risk, above all, is their own well-being. They pay dearly after they jump ship to expose corruption or abuse. When they regret their decision, it is generally because they vastly underestimated the potential damage, especially for their families. When whistleblowing succeeds, there is always a loss of innocence – not only among the public, but for the whistleblowers themselves.

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Posted on October 11, 2019

Another Beachwood Special Report

The mayor announced this week that Chicago’s public libraries will no longer issue fines for overdue books and we thought, what’s next, no more books? Precisely! The Beachwood has learned from a whistleblower that a lot more changes are on the horizon.
* Policy change 2.0: Just keep the book – no one cares.
* 3.0: We’ll fine you if you return it.
* 4.0: Librarians start throwing books at random passersby.

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Posted on October 2, 2019