NewsTrust - Corruption - Most Recent Stories: News (Independent)

George Zimmerman's 'Cozy' Relationship With Sanford Police Questioned

Thu, 24 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Trymaine Lee - May. 24 (Investigative Report) - Neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman had a relationship with members of the police department in Sanford, Fla., long before he shot unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin to death in February, newly released information suggests. During a community forum on J

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This is Your Brain On Fox

Tue, 22 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

The Daily Beast - By David Frum - May. 22 (News Analysis) - when quizzed on current affairs, people who watched only Fox scored worse than people who watched no news at all.

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Under A Withering Industry Assault, Nuclear Safety Chief Resigns

Mon, 21 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Ryan Grim - May. 21 (News Report) - Under a withering assault from the industry, Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko is stepping down, effective upon the confirmation of his successor, according to a statement from Jaczko. The resignation follows months of bureaucratic knife-wielding by the four industry-backed members of the five-person panel.

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The Greenlining Institute : Greenlining Report > Tech Untaxed Report

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

greenlingin.org - Apr. 27 (Investigative Report) - Tax avoidance by wealthy high-tech firms is on the rise, a new report from The Greenlining Institute finds. Cash held overseas by tech firms rose 21 percent from 2010 to 2011. Apple’s 2011 tax rate of 9.8 percent was lower than that of American households making an average of $42,500 per year.

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Using ALEC Playbook, Bobby Jindal Radically Reshapes Public Education

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - Apr. 26 (Special Report) - Gov. Bobby Jindal has remade the Louisiana public schools system with impressive speed over the past legislative session. Last week, he signed into law a suite of landmark reform bills that will likely change the direction of public education in Louisiana forever. But not all change is good, and critics say both Jindal’s agenda and the strategy to move it come right from the playbook of conservative advocacy group ALEC, in an effort to revive Jindal’s national political profile.

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Corrupt Wal-Mart: Bribery Goes Unchecked While Corporate HQ Focuses on PR, Breaks International Laws

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Julianne Escobedo Shepherd - Apr. 23 (Investigative Report) - More gross insider info about corrupt mega-corporation Wal-Mart: the New York Times has run an extended expose about how, faced with charges that Wal-Mart de Mexico used bribery and other tactics to force its own "market dominance," the company spent more time fixing its public image than actually fixing the problem. Which is to say: they likely broke the law in both the United States and Mexico, but neglected to stop it:

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What If the Greedy Rich Paid Their Share? 8 Things to Know About Wealth and Poverty in the US

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Les Leopold - Apr. 19 (News Analysis) - The wealth of the wealthy skyrocketed, not by accident, but by policy design. "Greed is good" replaced the middle-class American dream.

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Eyeless Shrimp and Fish With Tumors: The Horrific Consequences of BP's Spill

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Lisa Kaas Boyle - Apr. 19 (Special Report) - Disturbingly, the allowable levels set by the government for the toxins in our seafood are based on health impacts for a 176 pound adult eating less than 2 medium shrimp a day. The testing is for 1 chemical out of a crude oil mixture containing thousands of chemicals. No synergistic effects are considered. This in no way protects children, fetuses, people who weigh less than 176 pounds or anyone who eats seafood on a daily basis like the folks here on the Gulf Coast.

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SHELBY COUNTY PERFORMED UNAUTHORIZED ALTERATIONS IN ITS (NOW UNCERTIFIED!) VOTING SYSTEM -

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

bbvforums.org - By Bev Harris - Apr. 19 (Investigative Report) - They inserted a completely different program (not from Diebold at all) which alters the way the system works. Documents show that fully half of White suburbs are now processing information in a different way than the rest of the county, and that this selective and unusual processing has been taking place for at least four years. The alterations made to the system are illegal almost everywhere in the USA and automatically render their $600,000 voting system decertified, although they will claim that they don't need to use a certified system.

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Murder, Suicide and Financial Ruin: How the Class War Is Destroying Americans' Lives

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Mark Ames - Apr. 18 (News Report) - This past Thursday, a Modesto, California, man whose house was in foreclosure shot and killed the Sheriff’s deputy and the locksmith who came to evict him from his condominium unit. Modesto authorities responded by sending 100 police and SWAT snipers to counter-attack, and it ended Waco-style, with the fourplex structure burning to the ground with the shooter inside.

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Tax Tips with Mitt

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

ctj.org - Apr. 13 (Special Report) - Millions of Americans will spend part of this upcoming weekend trying to navigate tax preparation software or filling out the actual paper forms to file their income tax returns before the Tuesday deadline. For those wishing they could pay less tax, outlined below are some tax planning ideas taken from a review of presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s tax returns.

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FreedomWorks, Koch Brothers Clash Over Cato Institute Takeover Bid

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - Apr. 12 (News Report) - Dick Armey, chairman of FreedomWorks, released a statement opposing the Koch brothers' attempt to take majority control of the Cato Institute. WASHINGTON -- A split is opening up between two forces that helped to launch the Tea Party in 2009. FreedomWork

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"Fox Mole," We Hardly Knew Ye! In One Day, Fox Finds Employee Hired by Gawker, Fires Him, Threatens Legal Action

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Lauren Kelley - Apr. 12 (News Report) - The post neatly summed up everything that had been troubling me about my employer: Non sequitur, ad hominem attacks on the president; gleeful race baiting; a willful disregard for facts; and so on....

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"Merchant of Death" Viktor Bout Sentenced to 25 Years; Trial Ignored His Ties to U.S., Dick Cheney

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Apr. 06 (News Report) - Notorious arms smuggler Viktor Bout, known as the "Merchant of Death," has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for conspiracy to commit terrorism. Our guest, former United Nations arms trafficking investigator Kathi Lynn Austin, says the case allowed American companies to avoid exposure of their collusion with with the U.S. government and private companies linked to Dick Cheney during the Iraq war, even after United Nations sanctions against him in 2004. Authorities say Viktor Bout was involved in trafficking arms to dictators and stoking conflicts in Africa, South America and the Middle East. He has also been accused of furnishing weapons to al-Qaeda and the Taliban, and achieved particular notoriety for selling arms in Rwanda in 1998, just four years after the Rwandan genocide. [includes rush transcript]

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Did the Koch Machine Put Romney Over the Top in Wisconsin?

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Adele M. Stan - Apr. 04 (News Report) - To celebrate, Romney delivered a speech that seemed tailored to the agenda crafted by Charles and David Koch, the billionaire principals of Koch Industries, decrying government regulation, so-called entitlements (code for Social Security) and labor unions. At the Grain Exchange in Milwaukee, Romney was introduced by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who has received over $65,000 in campaign contributions from Koch Industries PACs and its employees over the course of his career,

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SuperPAC Money Infecting Judicial Races

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

care2.com - By Jessica Pieklo - Apr. 03 (News Report) - These groups are also funneling unprecedented amounts of dark money into judicial races as well, and the impact the campaign cash has on the nation’s judicial system is not good.

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As Fukushima Worsens, US Approves New Nukes

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Common Dreams - Mar. 31 (News Report) - Despite reports this week that the Fukushima nuclear situation may be even worse than previously thought, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has given approval today for two combined licenses for two nuclear reactors in South Carolina, only the second time in the last three decades that new nuclear plants have been approved in the nation. read ...

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ALEC, Walmart and Trayvon Martin?

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

readersupportednews.org - By Lauren Feeney - Mar. 29 (News Analysis) - What does Walmart have to do with the tragic death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin? The answer starts with Florida’s 2005 Stand Your Ground law, promoted across the country as "model legislation" by the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC — "a corporate-backed organization that has managed to keep a low profile even as it exerts vast influence," as Paul Krugman of The New York Times explains:

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US Acted to Conceal Evidence of Intelligence Failure Before 9/11

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

readersupportednews.org - By Ian Cobain - Mar. 28 (News Report) - "This is the same State Secrets Privilege, and same American government, that the British green paper on Justice and Security is designed to protect," Davis said, adding that the case demonstrates "how intelligence agencies misuse these laws, not to protect our security, but to avoid their own embarrassment and cover up criminal activity."

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New from CTJ: How Corporate Tax Dodgers are Buying Tax Loopholes

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

ctj.org - Mar. 22 (Special Report) - Why the disconnect between public opinion and political action? Could it be because 98 percent of the sitting members of Congress have accepted campaign donations from the country’s most aggressive, successful tax avoiding corporations? Citizens for Tax Justice and U.S. PIRG’s new report Loopholes for Sale pursues the intersection of corporate campaign contributions to members of Congress and the absence of Congressional action to close corporate tax loopholes and raise additional revenue from corporate taxes.

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Gangster Banks Keep Winning Public Business. Why?

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

readersupportednews.org - By Matt Taibbi - Mar. 22 (News Report) - Because both banks, Chase and Bank of America, have been repeatedly inveigled in scandals involving the issuance of public debt. Bank of America paid a $137 million settlement for rigging the bids of bond issues in numerous communities (including places as far away as Guam), while Chase also paid a big settlement of $211 million last year for more or less exactly similar offenses involving localities in 25 different states. Chase also entered into a $722 million settlement with the government over its behavior in Jefferson County, Alabama, where the bank essentially bribed local officials to stake on onerous swap deals that left the county in debt until the next millenium.

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Police Arrest 73 in Occupy Wall Street Crackdown As Protesters Mark Six Months Since Uprising Began

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Mar. 19 (News Report) - Michael Moore led hundreds of people from the Left Forum conference to Zuccotti Park on Saturday where hundreds had gathered to re-occupy the park to mark six months since the launch of the Occupy Wall Street movement, which began last September and launched protests around the world that gave voice to "the 99 percent." That night, New York City police officers cleared the park making at least 73 arrests. Many people reported excessive use of force by officers, several cases were caught on camera. In one widely reported incident, a young woman suffered a seizure after she was pulled from the crowd and arrested. Witnesses say police initially ignored Cecily McMillan as she flopped about on the sidewalk with her hands zip-tied behind her back, but she was eventually taken away in an ambulance. For more we talk to Guardian reporter Ryan Devereaux, who has been following the Occupy movement closely.

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Goldman Sachs Takeaway: Fix Our Financial System or Get Ready for the Next Horrific Collapse

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Marshall Auerback - Mar. 18 (Special Report) - Only an overhaul in our broken banking and financial system will prevent the next collapse. Goldman Sachs' misdeeds are merely a symptom of a much bigger problem.

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States Get Cash for Prisons

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

populist.com - By Chris Kirkham - Mar. 15 (Special Report) - Corrections Corporation of America, the nation's largest operator of for-profit prisons, has sent letters recently to 48 states offering to buy up their prisons as a remedy for "challenging corrections budgets." In exchange, the company is asking for a 20-year management contract, plus an assurance that the prison would remain at least 90% full,

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When a Congressman Becomes a Lobbyist, He Gets a 1,452 Percent Raise (On Average)

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

The Nation - By Lee Fang - Mar. 14 (Special Report) - Selling out pays. If you’re a corporation or lobbyist, what’s the best way to “buy” a member of Congress? Secretly promise them a million dollars or more in pay if they come to work for you after they leave office.

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