Today

With Trump Appointees, Potential Conflicts and ‘No Transparency’
New York Times/ProPublica
President Trump is populating the White House and federal agencies with former lobbyists, lawyers and consultants who are helping to craft new policies for the same industries they recently worked for. That's the conclusion of an analysis of documents and interviews by the New York Times and ProPublica.

Philippines: A Businessman’s Murder Unmasks a Web of Violent Police
Wall Street Journal
The abduction and killing of an innocent South Korean executive in the Philippines has blossomed into a national scandal amid President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs. Civil-rights campaigners say police sometimes use the violent campaign as cover for kidnapping and extortion.

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Chechens Tell of Beatings, Electric Shocks in Anti-Gay Purge
The Guardian
A violent anti-gay campaign is under way in the Russian republic of Chechnya, involving the rounding up of possibly several hundred men. One said he was held in an informal detention facility with more than a dozen other gay men, who were all subjected to torture daily. The detentions were reported in towns across the republic.

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Older Workers Challenge Firms’ Aggressive Pursuit of the Young
Wall Street Journal
PricewaterhouseCoopers bills itself as the “place to work for millennials.” But the firm’s aggressive pursuit of youth is now the focus of a class-action suit, part of an emerging wave of litigation that is both testing the boundaries of age-discrimination liability and casting a legal cloud over companies' college recruitment programs.

Calif.: Predatory Bail Schemes Flourished in Santa Clara Jails for Years
KQED
Bail bond agents paid inmates to drum up business behind bars, giving them money or free phone calls, according to interviews and court records. The inmates threatened other inmates or promised cheap bail to pressure them to sign contracts with certain bail agents. The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department reportedly knew about the illegal activity--known as "bail capping"-- but did little.

Did George Washington Take ‘Emoluments’?
Wall Street Journal
Donald Trump is not the first president to have business dealings with foreigners, a law professor writes. That was actually George Washington. His nephew George Augustine Washington managed the President's business matters while Washington remained very involved. Thomas Jefferson did much the same while in office.Â

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