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Amid Shootings, Chicago Police Department Upholds Culture of Impunity

Sarah Macaraeg and Alison Flowers Truthout
An exclusive Truthout investigation - released today on a day of national protest against police brutality - reveals that the City of Chicago fails to recognize, let alone sanction, police guilty of repeated episodes of violence, including the shooting deaths of unarmed civilians.

Toni Morrison and Angela Davis on Friendship And Creativity

Dan White University California Santa Cruz
UC Santa Cruz Review writer Dan White had separate in-depth conversations this summer with Toni Morrison and Angela Davis about their past collaboration, their longstanding friendship, and their bedrock belief in the power of literature. Davis introduced Morrison while she was in Santa Cruz to deliver the Peggy Downes Baskin Ethics Lecture at the Rio Theater on October 25. The subject: “Literature and the Silence of Goodness.”

A Lesson Plan for A+ Teachers

Joel Klein The Wall Street Journal
Former New York City schools chancellor Joel Klein on how to raise the quality and performance of teachers.

Twelve Nobel Peace Laureates Call Upon Obama For Full Torture Disclosure

Jon Queally Common Dreams
Twelve Nobel Peace Laureates have called upon President Obama, who received the award in 2009, to ensure full disclosure of the torture practices of the CIA and other U.S. agencies conducted in the name of "fighting terrorism." The Nobel Laureates' letter urged President Obama to take four specific steps to reject the “flagrant use of torture and other violations of international law” and close one of the “dark chapters” of U.S. history.

Chief U.S. Ally in War on ISIS Conducts 61st Beheading of 2014

Al Akhbar Mint Press
Saudi Arabia, a chief U.S. ally in the “War on ISIS,” conducted 61 beheadings in 2014. Rape, murder, armed robbery, drug trafficking, and apostasy are all punishable by death under Saudi Arabia's strict version of Islamic Sharia Law. Christof Heyns, the UN Special Rapporteur on executions has called for a moratorium on the death penalty in Saudi Arabia, charging the trials are "grossly unfair," often relying on confessions obtained through torture.

UPS To Stop Kicking Pregnant Women Out Of Their Jobs

Bryce Covert ThinkProgress
In response to a lawsuit filed by one of its female former employees, UPS announced it had "voluntarily decided" to provide light duty work as an accommodation to its pregnant employees, much as it does for workers with on-the-job injuries, disabilities, and other work restrictions. The announced change in policy was submitted in a brief filed in a Supreme Court case brought by a pregnant UPS employee who was denied light duty and placed on unpaid leave.

Can We Defend Our Pensions Without Challenging Financialized Capitalism?

Kevin Skerrett Socialist Project
Can privately invested pension funds be disconnected from destructive financial patterns and deployed in socially positive ways? Can neoliberal capitalism be forced to provide decent pensions to all workers? Can a predatory private financial system be reformed?