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Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Cheat Sheet - Andrew Sullivan: Santorum’s Scandalous Support for Torture

Today: Bureau to Investigate Overdraft Fees, Strauss-Kahn Freed After Questioning, Cherie Blair Sues News Corp.
The Daily Beast Cheat Sheet: Afternoon

February 22, 2012
THE DISH

Rick Santorum has made concern for human dignity the centerpiece of his aggressive presidential campaign, but still strongly supports the dehumanization of human beings through American torture. Ahead of tonight's GOP debate in Arizona, The Daily Beast's Andrew Sullivan writes that Santorum's defense of a "core, absolute evil" makes his message a farce.

CRACKDOWN

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau launched its first big initiative Wednesday, announcing that it would look into the overdraft fees that banks charge their customers, a practice worth billions of dollars. The inquiry is to investigate the fees that an economic research firm, Moeb $ervices, say amount in up to $38 billion in revenue for banks in 2011. Banks charge up to $35 for each overdraft, enabling customers to overdraft but slapping a fee that, the firm said, is most hurtful to low-income individuals. A 2008 study found that 46 percent of young-adult account holders incurred overdraft charges. The CFPB is said to be seeking out a "penalty fee box" for customers' account statements that would detail the total costs incurred due to overdrafts.

LIBERTE

Former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn walked out of a French police station Wednesday after two days worth of questioning. The French police, who are investigating a hotel prostitution ring, said Strauss-Kahn will return to speak before judges who will rule on whether there is a basis for charges. Sources told the Associated Press that Strauss-Kahn spent the night in the police station in the northern city of Lille. According to French police, prostitutes questioned in the ongoing investigation alleged that they had sex with Strauss-Kahn in 2010 and 2011 at Paris hotels and in Washington, D.C. Strauss-Kahn's lawyers said that he could not have known that the female attendees of orgies he frequented were prostitutes.

HACKING

The wife of former British prime minister Tony Blair filed a lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. as the company braces for the first civil trial to result from allegations of phone hacking. "If it is true that a former prime minister's family have been targeted by Rupert Murdoch's hackers, then it is clearly a significant moment in the scandal," said a member of the parliamentary committee investigating the hacking cases. The phone-hacking scandal has already touched Blair's inner circle, though not his family: News International, the British arm of News Corp., settled claims with Blair's former press chief as well as the former deputy prime minister.

ARGENTINA

A packed passenger train slammed into the end of the line Wednesday in Buenos Aires, killing 49 people and injuring hundreds more who were in the midst of their morning commute. The train hit the barrier at the end of the track at about 16 mph, smashing the engine and crushing the next six cars. One car penetrated almost 20 feet into the one behind it. The accident is the worst in Argentina since 1970, when two trains collided at full speed in Buenos Aires, killing 200.


BIG IDEAS
Romney Unveiling New Tax Plan
Swears it won't benefit the 1 percent.
SHOOTING SPREE
5 Killed at Atlanta Spa
Gunman shot four, committed suicide.
TRAGIC
Colvin Had Planned to Leave Syria
Mom says slain journalist was "totally dedicated."
BID ADIEU
'Mademoiselle' Dropped on French Docs
Feminist groups have been fighting for change for years.
ROBO CALLS
Donald Trump Is on the Phone
Mitt's fan is calling Michigan voters.
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