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UN: Prosecute Bush Officials Who OK’d Torture at CIA Detention Camps
The U.S. Senate recently released a report detailing how the CIA used enhanced interrogation techniques on al-Qaida suspects after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and the United Nations is now calling for the top officials in the George W. Bush administration who sanctioned those techniques to be brought up on charges and prosecuted, the BBC reports. “U.N.…
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NY Attorney General Wants Permission to Go After Officers Who Kill Unarmed Civilians
On Monday, New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman asked the governor’s office to grant his office permission to investigate and possibly bring charges against law-enforcement officials who have killed unarmed civilians, the New York Times is reporting. “Mr. Schneiderman also challenged state legislators to pass new laws to repair public confidence in the criminal-justice…
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After a $41,000,000 Settlement From NYC, the Central Park Five Want $52,000,000 From the State
The Central Park Five—the five men wrongfully convicted of sexually assaulting and attempting to kill a white female jogger in New York City’s Central Park in 1989—are seeking $52 million from the state of New York in a wrongful-imprisonment claim, an amount that would be in addition to a $41 million settlement with New York…
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Chicago’s Minimum Wage to Increase From $8.25 to $13 by 2019
By 2019, people earning minimum wage in Chicago will be making $13 an hour, up from the current $8.25 an hour, thanks to a recent vote by the Chicago City Council to approve a proposal by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Al-Jazeera reports. “We want to make sure people can afford to live here,” Emanuel said…
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UN Pleads With Texas to Delay Execution of Mentally Ill Man
The United Nations is making a last-minute plea to Texas officials to delay the execution of Scott Panetti, a prisoner who is said to have mental disabilities that should have made him ineligible for the death penalty, Al-Jazeera reports. “There is no doubt that it is inherently cruel and unworthy of civilized societies to execute persons…
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Supreme Court Hears Case to Decide if Rap Lyrics Were Really Facebook Threats
The Supreme Court is hearing a case this week about Anthony Elonis, a Pennsylvania man who was sentenced to four years in prison for posting “explicit rap lyrics” to his Facebook page that expressed his desire to kill his wife, shoot up an elementary school, and “slit the throat” of the FBI agent who was…
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The Root TV: What Nigerians Thought About #BringBackOurGirls and Americans Wanting to Help
From the vantage point of Nigerians, it must have been an overwhelming experience to go from being a nation with a decent amount of obscurity to being at the center of a worldwide social media campaign in just a matter of days. That’s what happened in April, when insurgents from the Boko Haram terrorist group…
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Labor Activists Will Protest in Front of Several Wal-Mart Locations on Black Friday
Wal-Mart—America’s largest retailer—will be facing a lot of hurdles on Black Friday. Not only is there a robust social media campaign under way that is encouraging black Americans to boycott major businesses as a way to protest the Ferguson, Mo., grand jury verdict, but Al-Jazeera is also reporting that OUR Walmart—the “union-backed labor campaign” consisting of…
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Hispanic and Arab Americans Want Their Own Racial Categories on the 2020 Census
Civil rights groups are on different pages about the proposed changes that census officials might make to the racial and ethnic categories that appear on the 2020 census. According to Al-Jazeera, the changes are meant to reconcile the concerns of Hispanic and Arab American groups that don’t feel as if the current slate of racial…
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Obama: I Will Veto Permanent Tax Breaks for Corporations
President Barack Obama vowed Tuesday to veto a package of tax breaks that Republicans send his way if they don’t alter the parts that provide “permanent tax breaks for businesses,” the New York Times reports. “The president would veto the proposed deal because it would provide permanent tax breaks to help well-connected corporations while neglecting…