City of Chicago offers payouts for police brutality and torture – George Marlowe

The City of Chicago recently announced two proposals to try to contain mass outrage against decades of police torture and brutality. City officials with the backing of Mayor Rahm Emanuel recently announced that an absurdly small $5.5 million reparations fund will be set up for victims of the torture that occurred for more than two decades under former police commander …

Puerto Rico Exports Its Drug Addicts to Chicago – Adriana Cardona-Maguigad

It all started about a year ago when I began noticing more homeless men in the Chicago neighborhood where I work. Back of the Yards is a community that faces some of the city’s toughest problems: joblessness, crime, drug use. Many of these men would be sitting in doorways or shuffling along on 47th Street, many times asking for money. …

Rahm Emanuel: A Symbol of Much of What Is Wrong with America

America’s is a sickness of the mind, the unwavering belief by people in power that free-market capitalism will somehow work for everyone. As with a virus that refuses to die, the effects are insidious, because the very rich have convinced themselves that they made it on their own, and that others have only themselves to blame if they are poor. …

How Wall Street Used Swaps to Get Rich at the Expense of Cities

Yves here. This post by Ed Walker provides a detailed description of how badly municipalities have been fleeced when they bought interest rate swaps from Wall Street as part of financings. It isn’t simply that these borrowers were exploited, but that the degree of pilfering was so extreme that the financiers clearly knew they were dealing with rubes and took …

Kids and Screen Time: What Parents Should Know

Children’s use of technology and social media has become a focus for modern-day parents. What is an appropriate amount of screen time and how should it be monitored? How does use of technology impact children? The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends children and teens generally have no more than one to two hours of screen time – including television, computers, …

Rahm Emanuel, the Face of Democratic Fascism, Deserves to Lose

hicago’s mayoral election may look like a local event, and the media mostly cover it as a local event, but the presence of a large, diverse, and energized opposition demanding change on basic issues of fairness and justice gives the city’s local result a potentially important, totemic meaning for the country. The outcome of the April 7 runoff election, which includes 40% …

Leid Stories – 03.02.15

Nukes & Reactionaries: Boehner, Netanhayu and the Real Nuclear Threat Chicago Hope: “Chuy” García’s Historic Challenge to Big-Money Politics Download this episode (right click and save) Attempting to lessen the presumed impact of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanhayu’s barnstorming speech before Congress tomorrow, the White House has published a brief touting “5 Things You Need to Know About the U.S.-Israel Relationship Under …

Israeli Security Veterans Speak Out Against Netanyahu, Calling Him a ‘Danger’ to Israel

In an unprecedented move, 200 veterans of the Israeli security services accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday of being a “danger” to Israel. The new group, called Commanders for Israel’s Security, warned that Netanyahu was doing irreparable harm to the country’s relationship with Washington, just two days before he is due to address the US Congress. The Israeli prime …