READING FOR THE WEEK (12-18-14)

This may be the most remarkable story in the CIA torture report (Huffington Post).

Ryan Leaf's jailhouse confessions (Playboy).

17 corporate Darwin Award nominees - yeah, they goofed (Brainjet).

Jewish angels and Roman gods: The ancient chronological origins of Christmas (Salon).


WASHINGTON'S GIFT TO CORPORATE AMERICA: THE CROMNIBUS
Cromnibus winners and losers (Creators).

Cramming the CRomnibus: Rushed spending bill creates systemic moral hazard (Aljazeera America).

Incumbency Insurance: Provision in cromnibus bill dramatically increases the amount of money wealth political donors can give to political parties (AlterNet).


BANKING ON ARROGANCE 
A brief history of modern Citigroup: The original gangsta (Creators).

Bernie Sanders: Destroy the big banks before the banks destroy you (AlterNet).


ARE YOU SURE WE'RE A CHRISTIAN NATION?
10 things conservative Christians got horribly wrong (AlterNet).

10 ways conservatives don't act anything like Christians (Forward Progress).

One nation under Galt: How Ayn Rand's toxic philosophy permanently transformed America (Salon).


WHILE YOU WERE CHECKING YOUR PHONE ...
Bush convicted of war crimes in absentia (Foreign Policy Journal).

Hero Mom calls C-SPAN to yell at her arguing pundit sons (Washington Post).

Sean Hannity explodes after being confronted by ThinkProgress about previous offer to be waterboarded for charity (ThinkProgress).

Deadly hazing and the dildo brigade: 5 shocking fraternity horror stories from the past year (AlterNet).

Tarrant police officer delivers groceries to woman caught stealing eggs at Dollar General (AL).


REALLY?
Facepalm: Antonin Scalia isn't aware of anything in the Constitution that prohibits torture (If You Only News).

FedEx: Corporate tax dodger? Here's the numbers/facts (Americans for Tax Fairness).

The Koch brothers Wall Street crusade to rob pensions is under way (Politics USA).


MISCELLANEOUS
No, you didn't build that on your own: A Look at Government Involvement in Technological Development (The Breaktrough Institute).

A simple and very accessible group of charts that tell us what's happening in the state of California (Legislative Analyst's Office of California).

Are charter schools segregating America's school system (Creators).

10 ridiculously useful parenting tips for the holidays (Salon).

Here's how much the storm is helping California's epic drought (Mother Jones).