Late last month, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) issued a blistering report detailing millions of dollars of waste, fraud, and abuse in the US and coalition reconstruction effort in Afghanistan. The report, issued to Congress on July 30th, presents the results of a series of investigations conducted by SIGAR that revealed $37.4 million in “questionable costs” in the last quarter of the year — those costs lead to a total of $279.5 million in questionable costs identified by SIGAR to date.

Prison mistreatment may have given Oberist Saunders a staph infection after surgery, but under the privatized healthcare of Corizon Health Services, things got even worse, according to a lawsuit. Florida prisons have been home to some of the most horrific stories of inmate abuse and medical neglect and this lawsuit shows the harm caused by putting profit over patient health.

Boston is also one of three cities, selected in February, for the launch of a pilot program with the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department, and the National Counterterrorism Center to “counter violent extremism.” But local advocates for civil rights worry the program is really infringing on Muslims’ rights.

To launch Shadowproof but retain Firedoglake’s history, our tech team had to transfer approximately 4 million comments — ten years worth of conversations. The first Shadowproof Mailbag. Is your letter inside?

“Forgetting about the thug sheriff for a moment — there is a real issue here when children with disabilities in school become violent. My little cousin was victimized constantly by a little girl with disabilities who spat at her and punched her in the face in public …”

Fraudulent paperwork, cheated counterparties, robosigning — no it’s not the housing crisis again. This time the crimes are related to the Too Big To Fail/Jail banks’ conduct with credit cards. Both JPMorgan and Citigroup have now reached settlements with the government related to their criminal credit card practices.

A lawsuit filed yesterday in Kentucky challenges the handcuffing of schoolchildren, especially those with disabilities, as a way of dealing with behavioral problems. According to the ACLU suit, two children with Attention Deficit Disorder and other disabilities, were “unlawfully restrained and handcuffed at school with excessive force and without necessity.”