August 2015 | Hillman Foundation

Clear It With Sidney

The best of the week’s news by Lindsay Beyerstein

August 2015

Sidney's Picks: The Life and Death of Jamaica High

Photo credit: 

Andeecollard, Creative Commons.

Sidney's Picks: Strip Mall Courts, Nail Salon Sweeps, and More

Photo credit: 

Origami gavel, Glenn Sapaden, Creative Commons.

The Best of the Week’s News

Sidney's Picks: ISIS Invents Theology of Rape

Photo credit: 

Territory controlled by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, as of October, 2014. Karl-Ludwig Poggemann, VICE, Creative Commons. 

  • ISIS invents a theology of rape to justify sexually assaulting its prisoners. 
     
  • Rukmini Callimachi, the reporter who broke the news of ISIS’s theology of rape, explains how she reported the story. 
     
  • The federal government asserts that it’s unconstitutional to ban the homeless from sleeping outdoors.
     
  • Remembering Sandra Bland.
     
  • Bumble Bee Foods to pay a $6 million fine for accidentally cooking a worker to death. 

BuzzFeed News Wins August Sidney for Exposing Rampant Abuse of Guest Workers

Photo credit: 

Jessica Garrison, BuzzFeed News.

 

BuzzFeed News wins the August Sidney Award for their sweeping investigation into abuses of guest workers under the H2 visa program. H2 visas exist to supply short-term labor for jobs that Americans supposedly won’t do. H2 jobs run the gamut from crayfish shelling in Louisiana to running carnival rides in Vermont. The program attracts workers from Indian, Mexico, Guatemala, and elsewhere. Unfortunately, as BuzzFeed News discovered, the structure of the program invites abuse. Workers are tied to a single employer. If they are unsatisfied with their pay or working conditions, they have no recourse. BuzzFeed found that thousands of H2 workers complained of abuses ranging from wage theft and false imprisonment to sexual abuse. 

The winning story is the work of investigative reporter Jason Bensinger, senior investigative editor Jessica Garrison, and data editor Jeremy Singer-Vine. 

Find out how BuzzFeed News got the winning story in The Backstory

Sidney’s Picks: Between the World and Me

The Best of the Week’s News

An Interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates

Photo credit: 

Courtesy of Ta-Nehisi Coates.

Hillman judge Ta-Nehisi Coates discusses his acclaimed new book, “Between the World and Me,” with Lindsay Beyerstein on the Center for Inquiry’s radio show and podcast, Point of Inquiry.