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October 31, 2016

The Weekend In Chicago Rock

You shoulda been there.

1. Lupe Fiasco at the House of Blues on Sunday night.

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2. Low at the Vic on Saturday night.

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3. Samantha Fish at SPACE in Evanston on Saturday night.

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4. Meshuggah at the House of Blues on Sunday night.

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5. Todd Poole at the Rock 'n' Skull Festival on Friday night.

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6. Anthony Corder at Rock 'n' Skull on Friday night.

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7. Babylon A.D. at Rock 'n' Skull on Friday night.

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8. Pretty Boy Floyd at Rock 'n' Skull on Saturday night.

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9. Stephen Pearcy at Rock 'n' Skull on Sunday night.

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10. Tango Down at Rock 'n' Skull on Sunday night.

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11. Danger Danger at Rock 'n' Skull on Saturday night.

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12. King Of The Hill at Rock 'n' Skull on Sunday night.

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13. Tuff at Rock 'n' Skull on Saturday night.

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14. Phil Lewis's L.A. Guns at Rock 'n' Skull on Friday night.

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15. Jetboy at Rock 'n' Skull on Friday night.

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16. Jack Russell's Great White at Rock 'n' Skull on Saturday night.

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17. Amy Rigby at Reckless Records in Wicker Park on Sunday.

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18. AM Taxi as Cheap Trick at the Double Door on Saturday night.

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19. Local H as Nirvana at the Double Door on Saturday night.

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20. Bow Wow Now as Bow Wow Wow at the High Hat Club on Saturday night.

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21. Damaged Goods as Gang of Four at the High Hat Club on Saturday night.

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22. Coin at the Double Door on Friday night.

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23. Reel Big Fish at Durty Nellie's on Sunday night.

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24. mewithoutYou at Durty Nellie's on Friday night.

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Comments welcome.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 4:55 PM | Permalink

World Series Notebook 6: Stayin' Alive

As I was saying about Aroldis Chapman . . . but man, that was reckless.

Also, Chapman's eight-out performance on Sunday night has made everybody forget his failure to cover first base on a ground ball to Anthony Rizzo. Not me, I remember!

In fact, Respect 90 seems to have gone out the window this postseason.

The list of players who have violated this central tenet - Joe Maddon's only rule! - is growing, from Willson Contreras to Jorge Soler to Jason Heyward (lollygagging a throw to second) to Chapman and even Rizzo, who didn't run hard out of the box on a double that by all rights he should have been dead to rights on.

"Anthony thought it was going out, he did not run that hard," Pat Hughes said. "A good throw would have had him."

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Baez Baloney
Also overlooked: Baez bunting for a hit to load the bases in the fourth. Why overlooked? Because Baez was praised for something he shouldn't have done. I know Baez can't buy a hit these days, but loading the bases with one out and David Ross and Jon Lester coming up isn't the smartest play in the world. "Here, David, you bring them home!"

If Maddon didn't value Baez's defense so much, maybe he would've used Kyle Schwarber to pinch hit in that spot. Two runs were in, and it was a chance to break the game open. Ross did manage a sacrifice fly to get the Cubs a third run, but then the inning ended with Lester at the plate.

Now, some suggested Maddon pinch hit for Lester, which also might have been a good idea. But if Baez/Schwarber had cleared the bases, he wouldn't have had to make that decision. (Lester went two more innings, but by that time he was actually starting to feel sloppy, it was reported after the game.)

At the same time, what about hitting for Ross there? The Score's Dan Bernstein would have liked to have seen Schwarber there. "He's too cute by half," Bernstein said of Maddon on Monday afternoon, "to let Ross bat there . . . "

I'm not sure I want to see Contreras take over for Ross in a game like this - we were confronted late in the game with a rookie pitcher (Carl Edwards Jr.) pitching to an amped up rookie catcher who has gotten sloppy with the season on the line. And it was too early to take out Lester, especially given the state of the bullpen. That's why my focus in that scenario was on Baez.

In any case, we got the three automatic outs we've come to expect from that part of the lineup.

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Now, if Maddon would have pinch it for Baez, Zobrist would have had to come in from left to play second base because Tommy La Stella isn't on the roster. But Albert Almora (Jr.) and Chris Coghlan were available to play left. The tradeoff might have been worth it. Baez is an automatic out right now.

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ADDING: Bernstein and Laurence Holmes this afternoon acted like a caller making a similar suggestion was totally nuts, citing Baez's tag of a would-be Cleveland base-stealer later in the game, but it's not an unreasonable notion. There is always a trade-off between offense and defense; several times in the post-season the Cubs have sat Gold Glove Jason Heyward in search of more hits. In this case, we're talking about the key at-bats of the game for the Cubs. Get a hit there and the would-be base-stealer later doesn't matter.

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As far as Baez's hitting goes, Matt Spiegel said on The Score on Monday morning that "Many hitters have said the pressure of Wrigley Field has gotten to them."

Really? Who has said that?

Spiegel is one of several pundits, including the Trib's David Haugh, who think the Cubs are better off playing the deciding games in Cleveland. C'mon!

The Cubs had the best home record in baseball this season. Home is where players feel most comfortable. In the playoffs, home field advantage may be overrated, but wouldn't you still rather have it?

(It's also better for the fans, who get one more game, and the deciding game at that.)

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A better explanation for the Cubs' hitting woes.

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Halloween Edition
These players are scary to Cubs fans right now but not to Cleveland:
* Miguel Montero
* Javy Baez
* Addison Russell
* Jason Heyward
* Chris Coghlan
* Albert Almora (Jr.)
* Hector Rondon
* Pedro Strop
* Travis Wood
* Mike Montgomery
* Carl Edwards (Jr.)
* Justin Grimm
* David Ross
* John Lackey
* Jorge Soler

That's a big portion of the roster.

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The Cub Factor: Scary Spice | We help them celebrate Halloween.

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Eddie & Grandpa
I'm really sick of Eddie Vedder as the latest Cubs celebrity mascot, but this . . .

I don't even have the words https://t.co/hjNcN4bX3L

— David Ross (@D_Ross3) October 31, 2016

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Comments welcome.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 12:05 PM | Permalink

Scary Spice

Joe Maddon left a note in the Cubs clubhouse Sunday night that players are encouraged to wear Halloween costumes on their flight to Cleveland for the final game/s of the World Series.

We have some ideas.

Aroldis Chapman: Well, he's already going as Andrew Miller, so . . .

John Lackey: Jason Hammel.

Jason Heyward: The post-season Jason Heyward of the Cardinals, because the rest of his playoff record is junk.

Chris Coghlan: Matt Szczur.

Javy Baez: The Javy Baez of the Dodgers series.

Miguel Montero: A ghost, so Maddon can't find him on the bench when it comes time for a pinch hitter.

Kyle Schwarber: Reggie Jackson.

Joe Maddon: Terry Francona.

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The Week in Review: The Cubs lost three of five to Cleveland in the World Series! It hasn't been pretty - not even the wins. In fact, it's been as ugly as it's ever been this season - maybe even last!

The Week in Preview: The final week of the 2016 season ends with one game, maybe two, in Cleveland. Plan your lives accordingly.

Musical Outfielders: And no, we aren't talking about Matt Szczur playing the French horn. In fact, Szczur isn't even on the roster for this series, giving way to the relatively surging Albert Almora (Jr.).

Jason Heyward is heating up!

No, not really.

But we'll get to him.

First, Ben Zobrist started all five games in left - which is not the way Maddon managed during the regular season. The way Maddon got Javy Baez into each game was to play him at second or third, depending on where the analytics said the most balls would be hit. If that meant third, Zobrist stayed at second and Kris Bryant moved to left field. That MO has been abandoned. While Zobrist almost certainly gives you better defense in left than Bryant, there is no question that Baez gives you better defense at third (paging Bryant's two errors in one inning!).

Maddon has also abandoned getting Willson Contreras's bat into the game by playing him in left. I'm not saying it's wrong to preference defense in the playoffs, I'm just noting that it's happened.

Now, to right field. Heyward has started the last two games and gone 3-for-8 with two stolen bases and one terrific catch. He's also pinch-run twice and gone into the field afterwards.

Jorge Soler got two starts in right, while Chris Coghlan got one start in right, plus one pinch-hit appearance and one pinch-run appearance. Finally, Almora got one pinch-hit appearance and one appearance in the field as a defensive replacement.

Oh, and Aroldis Chapman also played three innings in right.

Or did he? Not sure if that happened or it was just my fevered dream.

Annoying Former Cub of the Week: Dusty Baker.

Annoying Current Cub of the Week: Maddon. He's maddening.

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Runner-up: John Lackey.

("Talk about all hat and no cattle." - Jason Goff, Monday morning on The Score)

Mad(don) Scientist: The general consensus seems to be that Terry Francona is outmanaging Poppa Joe, but what's funny is that the general consensus is at odds with itself over what Joe is doing wrong. Is the problem that he's managing as if it's still the regular season? "Maddon was being outmanaged (before Game 5) because he was acting like there wasn't any urgency to this," Jeff Passan told The Score on Monday morning. Regarding Chapman's unusual outing, Passan said, "It's about time . . . it's not like he has a long-term contract." Right. He won't be the Cubs' worry four days from now, so who cares if you ruin his arm?

The other side of the argument is that Maddon is getting outmanaged because he's not managing the way he did during the regular season - he's violating his own rule about not doing anything differently during the playoffs than what got you there and what your players are comfortable with.

I'm more in line with the second side of the argument, though in part Maddon is managing the way he is because he's dragging a degraded team across the finish line. There are few arms left to trust in the bullpen, and few bats to trust on the bench. There are even, really, few gloves to trust in the outfield right now. And, as I've discussed on this site several times in the last week, the presence of Kyle Schwarber on the Series roster is a high-risk, high-reward gambit that so far hasn't really paid off the way folks thought a week ago.

Maybe going back to AL-rules will reign Maddon in a bit in Game 6 (and Game 7, if necessary), but I doubt it. Every at-bat now must be contested at its height of optimization. I'm just not sure if the Cubs have the horses right now to do so.

Kubs Kalendar: Pitchers and catchers report in four months.

Beachwood Sabermetrics: A complex algorithm performed by The Cub Factor staff using all historical data made available by Major League Baseball has determined that not winning it all will indeed be an epic fail for this team no matter what anyone tells you.

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This is The Cub Factor. We welcome your comments.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 10:56 AM | Permalink

The [Monday] Papers

"There isn't going to be room for us bums." - Bill Veeck

"Last night, the Cubs won Game 5 of the World Series, and will return to Cleveland on Tuesday. Over the last three games at Wrigley Field, tens of thousands of people descended on the Lakeview neighborhood, many of them for the first time," MediaBurn notes.

"In this clip, bleacher regular Bill Veeck, who probably went to more than forty games in 1984, pokes fun at the fancy newcomers who showed up only for the postseason."

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From the Beachwood World Series desk . . .

SportsMonday: Maddon's Managerial Meltdown
How should a baseball fan react when desperation works?

The Cub Factor: Scary Spice
We help the Cubs celebrate Halloween.

World Series Notebook 6: Stayin' Alive
Disrespecting 90.

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A Nobel Holiday
The convergence of Halloween with Bob Dylan winning a Nobel Prize in literature strikes me as a good time to recall Cameron Crowe's liner notes to Biograph, which begin this way:

A friend of mine was recently in Australia, where he attended a special costume party. The theme was simple. Everyone was requested to dress as a character from a Bob Dylan song. My friend went as Maggie's Brother, and he handed out nickels and dimes while asking everybody if they were having a good time. ("I ain't working for you no more," most responded.

During the course of the evening he met Louie the King, had an interesting conversation with a Diplomat who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat, and he mingled with a large and noisy crowd that included Einstein disguised as Robin Hood, the Queen of Spades, Napoleon in Rags, several Tambourine Men, and a Preacher with twenty pounds of headlines stapled to his chest.

Once again: Name a better artist ever. Shakespeare? DaVinci? Michaelangelo? I don't think so.

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Beachwood Photo Booth: Butcher Boy
Savory meats.

When A 'Tax Bonanza' Is Actually A Huge Tax Break
Shouldn't the tax-dodging corporations pay what they owe - and pay a fine for tax-dodging - instead of getting a huge tax break?

Hey TMZ, That's Not What I Said
"This reporting is objectively irresponsible and wrong. It perpetuates false fears about this election."

The Week/Weekend In Chicago Rock
Both are still in pre-production because of the World Series' time-sap.

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BeachBook

EpiPen Price Hikes Add Millions To Pentagon Budget.

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Chicago Elementary School Cancels Christian Haunted House Depicting Pulse Nightclub Shooting.

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Eagles Defense Winning With Anti-Bears Scheme.

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Ohio Cheerleaders Display 'Trail Of Tears' Banner Before HS Football Game Against Team With Indians Mascot.

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Smokey & the Self-Driving Bandit.

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AT&T Requires Police To Hide Hemisphere Phone Spying.

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TweetWood
A sampling.

Are you a journalist? The police spying on you specifically to ID your sources isn't a hypothetical. This is today. https://t.co/6JtOIb7Q4n pic.twitter.com/p4pURXH4nU

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) October 31, 2016

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It's getting real creepy in Curie Culinary Cake Wars! #condorpride #CurieCTE pic.twitter.com/MrmgDMzWn5

— Curie Condors (@CurieHS) October 31, 2016

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The Beachwood Tronc Line: End game.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 10:32 AM | Permalink

SportsMonday: Maddon's Managerial Meltdown

How should a baseball fan react when desperation works?

Given that I am most desperate to not sound like Dusty Baker, I wish I could just take a deep breath and move on. But I can't.

Baker capped off his season at the helm of the Nationals earlier in the playoffs by insinuating that Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was endangering the long-term health of pitchers Clayton Kershaw and Kenley Jansen by pitching them so much in the National League Divisional Series.

He hadn't seen anything yet.

I would wager that going into Sunday night's 3-2 victory over the Indians that reduced Cleveland's World Series lead to 3-2, most sentient Cubs fans were still uncomfortable with the idea of Joe Maddon bringing in ninth inning specialist Aroldis Chapman in the eighth inning. So what did the Cubs manager do? He brought him in in the seventh after a series of bizarre decisions.

Maddon was lucky Chapman's agent didn't race onto the field to try to protect the health of his meal ticket. The closer is a free agent at the end of this season and if there is any sort of problem with his arm in these last few days of this campaign, it will potentially cost him tens of millions of dollars.

The accepted wisdom in baseball for a long time has been that you don't spend the season and two playoff rounds having a guy pitch one inning at a time (and every once in a long while trying to have him get four or five outs) and then suddenly send him out for three innings of work. Especially a pitcher who works as hard to throw the ball as fast as Chapman does.

But that was what Maddon did.

He did so after deciding to pinch hit for weak-hitting catcher David Ross with weaker hitting catcher Miguel Montero with two outs in top of the frame, despite having far better other hitting options and the fact that he did not intend to bring Montero in to catch.

And of course, because Ross came out, that meant pitcher Jon Lester (he of the inability to throw to the bases even with security blanket Ross behind the plate - what the heck is he going to do next year?) had to come out as well. Lester had thrown 90 pitches at that point and should have been good for at least another inning, especially since he of course hadn't yet been pinch-hit for.

Sure enough, Montero struck out to end the inning. Far better pinch-hitting options Kyle Schwarber (a lefty hitter) and Albert Almora (righty) remained on the bench and never did get into the game.

Cubs fans would have understood completely if Maddon had pulled Lester after allowing a base-runner in the bottom of the seventh. Watching Lester pitch with a runner on base is torturous at this point. If Lester had been pitching, he would have first faced Mike Napoli, who he had handled earlier in the game, and then switch-hitter Carlos Santana. Santana is much better from the left side. Instead, Maddon brought in rookie righthander Carl Edwards, Jr. to throw to rookie backstop Willson Contreras, who came on for Ross/Montero. It took all of one at-bat to determine that Edwards was overmatched as he gave up a long single to Napoli.

Then Santana, who had blasted a critical home run from the left side just the game before, stepped in. Chapman had been warming up and seemed ready. If Maddon was going to have him go for an eight-out save, why not go for nine outs, especially since the lefty would then force Santana to hit from the right side?

Nope, Edwards stayed out there. And Maddon got as lucky as he ever has in his career as he watched the Indians slugger fly out to left before going to make the final ridiculous pitching change.

Analytics guys like Maddon and the rest of the Cubs brain trust know to avoid outcome bias. Just because something works out doesn't mean it was the smartest decision. There is no defending this usage of Chapman other than "Well, it worked out, didn't it?"

That is the weakest sauce.

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Jim "Coach" Coffman is our man on Mondays. He welcomes your comments.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 9:11 AM | Permalink

October 30, 2016

World Series Notebook 5: It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

A World Series championship will be won at Wrigley Field today for the first time since 1945. Unfortunately, then it was won by the Detroit Tigers and now it will be won by the Cleveland Indians. Wrigley Field has never seen the Cubs win a World Series on its field.

Or, the Cubs will send the Series back to Cleveland. Who knows. But it certainly feels like it's over.

They Are Good
We'll get to Chicago's woes, but first, let's consider Cleveland, which also has something to do with what we're seeing.

"The Indians swept Boston in their division series, holding the Red Sox to a .214 batting average. They won four of five from Toronto in the American League Championship Series, holding the Blue Jays to a .201 average. Now, through four games in the World Series, the Cubs are hitting .204," Tyler Kepner writes for the New York Times.

In other words, this is not just the randomness of the playoffs that so many saberheads have propagated to explain away the "best" teams in baseball getting knocked out in postseason play. The entirety of the playoffs is enough of a sample size to suppose that Cleveland is the best team in baseball - at least right now.

Cleveland won 94 games in the regular season - topped in the AL only by Texas, by one game. Only the Nationals, also by one game, and the Cubs, by nine games, won more in the NL. Cleveland also played in a division that sent three teams to the playoffs. And it made the most impactful mid-season acquisition in Andrew Miller. (Yes, more impactful than the Cubs' acquisition of Aroldis Chapman; maybe we got the wrong guy after all. Would you have given up Kyle Schwarber then if it meant a World Series championship now?)

A reminder from Brendan Dlubala on FanSided:

"[Cleveland] packaged four prospects including highly touted outfielder Clint Frazier and lefty pitcher Justus Sheffield. Miller was thrown into a strong bullpen that already included closer Cody Allen, setup reliever Bryan Shaw and middle reliever Dan Otero. While with the Indians, Miller appeared in 26 games posting a 1.55 ERA and a 4-0 record. He also recorded three saves."

By contrast, Chapman appeared in 28 games for the Cubs posted a 1.10 ERA and a 1-1 record, with 16 saves.

Now, we know that won-loss records and saves are bad metrics for pitchers. And as far as ERA goes, we might want to dig deeper into FIP - Fielding Independent Pitching - where Chapman notched a 0.82 to Miller's 1.53.

Then why does Miller's contribution to the team seem so much more significant than Chapman's?

Maybe because Chapman has only seen 10.1 innings of postseason play - 2.1 in the World Series - in 14 games. Miller has seen 17 innings of postseason play - 5.1 in the World Series - in 13 games.

Of course, Miller and Chapman play different roles on their teams. But which has been the more dominant force? Which gets the more important outs? Which upsets the other team's plans more?

The Cubs are a very good team. But right now, they are not the best team in baseball. There is one that is better.

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That's not to say coming back from a 3-1 deficit is impossible. If the Cubs do, they reclaim the throne. I don't like the chances.

The Schwarber Dilemma, Con't
You can only use him once, so you better pick the right spot!

On the other hand, you could have used Matt Szczur and Tommy La Stella at any time in the game, just like you did in the regular season, and even kept them in the game if you wanted to. Or done the ol' double-switch, which really doesn't work with Schwarber. Just sayin'. Again.

Pinch Tweeting
Leading off the third inning. A lot of folks wanted a pinch hitter - even Schwarber - right there. No.

Because you don't want to burn a pinch hitter in the third inning. https://t.co/RvBreYPnKe

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) October 30, 2016

Said Joe Maddon: "Leading off the inning, yeah. I didn't want to waste that right there. You don't know. The score at that time was still like 4-1, correct? 3-1. So there's no reason to burn him leading off right there. Because if they're going to go to Miller - if the game's close, you would have seen Allen or Shaw there in the latter part of the game. And I was willing to use him in a lot of different spots, not just for the pitcher."

Then, when Chris Coghlan pinch hit for Lackey in the fifth, so-called baseball guru Joe Sheehan tweeted that Maddon was burning his best pinch runner. Dan Bernstein of The Score retweeted that, which is how it ended up in my feed. I had the same reaction as a lot of folks:

Better than Almora? A lot of bad #Cubs Twitter tonight. https://t.co/DaLcaJi00A

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) October 30, 2016

Sheehan actually retweeted me, without comment.

Then, after further pushback by a bunch of others, Sheehan tweeted that people had better start getting his jokes or unfollow him. My response:

Start telling better jokes. https://t.co/rFoUjSmUxn

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) October 30, 2016

You might have noticed that Sheehan's tweets are unavailable to my feed. That's because this is when he blocked me. For that.

That's okay, I didn't follow him anyway, and I think he's highly overrated, but another example of a thin-skinned journo who can dish it out but can't take it in even the slightest. The truth is that his "joke," if it was that, was too plausible given the commentary of him and others to be recognized as a joke. It doesn't seem like Bernstein recognized it as such - was it so funny it was worth Dan retweeting it? He barely tweeted at all during the game.

I don't care about being blocked, but I'm once again exasperated by my profession.

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Maddon, on using Coghlan in that at-bat instead of Schwarber:

"I didn't want to waste him . . . I was looking for a more profitable moment to extend him . . . I want to use him when he can drive in more than himself."

Maddon also said that neither leading off against Kluber nor facing Miller is a good match-up for Schwarber - and he's right. Which brings us back to the limitations of having him on the roster.

TrackNotes: Cubs
In response to my quotes in this AP article about the Cubs, our man on the rail Tom Chambers sent me this:

Given that "performance" last night, somehow it seems as if our world order remains intact.

The Rickettses, with the cooperation of fake strictness by Ald. Tom Tunney and Mayor Rahm, seek only world domination, in clear contradiction of the spirit of Wrigley Field and the neighborhood. Typical. That Nuveen sign in left field nearly made me physically ill.

Mike Francesa on WFAN was reading a press release from the Yankees about "major renovations" at Yankee Stadium, designed to "enhance the fan experience." Basically, adding restaurants and bars and a day care center. Complete with a full array of hi-def video screens and many food menu options. But don't walk through the door, because there's a game goin' on out there. I remember getting a churro deep in the literally dark and cold bowels of right field in the old Comiskey Park but hustling to get back to the game. You could do a full lap of the ballpark, with one eye on the action the whole way.

The business model is that the ballpark is a Pony Express station, with nothing else around it, so as to have exclusive access to your dollars. Jerry Reinsdorf, the new millennium's penurious Charles Comiskey, still hasn't rebuilt McCuddy's, as he and others promised to do. Ricketts is attempting the same thing. We know better, but many do not. The disease even spread to most of the Wrigleyville bars. These are not accidents.

As Sonny told C in A Bronx Tale, "You think Mickey Mantle cares about you? Will Mickey Mantle pay your old man's rent?"

So I haven't shed any tears of joy for "my Cubbies" getting to the World Series, in which just getting to the Series was way too highly celebrated. I can't afford to even go to a game, or stand in a bar for 12 hours. I look upon it as as phenomenon, a soap opera. Interesting, but not vital to me.

I also think the Cubbie spell has fallen upon Maddon and the rest - re: Schwarber - and I was always worried about the Indians. They look hungrier. Imagine that!

Between the manufacturing of affinity through blatant classism, the corporate sellout, the high prices and even the late start times to these games, I do not feel as if this team is accessible to me. They can do what they do, but it's not really here nor there to me.

I've watched two of the games at my favorite West Loop watering hole, and it was much more about the community and meeting new people than it was about the game itself. That was a lot of fun, and those will be my best memories of this Cubs season.

Amen.

Say It Ain't Joe
The top three managers in the game are now, in order, Francona, Maddon, Bochy.

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Top Tweets

This sucks. #Cubs

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) October 30, 2016

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Dexter's wife.

I'm going to vomit.

— Darya Aliya Fowler (@DaryaAliya) October 30, 2016

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Ticket prices for Game 5 are dropping. https://t.co/wNRvQrajI5

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) October 30, 2016

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And the Daffy Duck bit was taken.

I actually feel bad for Vaughn there. "Be funny for 40 thousand people going through an emotional meat grinder!"

— Michael J. Zalewski (@mjzalewski) October 30, 2016

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Re: CoreyKluber on short rest, check out what our very own Roger Wallenstein wrote in #WorldSeries Notebook 2: https://t.co/hogGxoQUyQ #Cubs

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) October 29, 2016

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Not against Cleveland.

Okay, rough night. This courtesy of me @hollytime28 + @ckamka Including Post Season, Cubs have won 3 games in a row 18 times this season.

— David Kaplan (@thekapman) October 30, 2016

Kaplan's rah-rah routine is embarrassing; how can anyone ever know if he's telling it straight? P.S.: He's a grown man.

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At 21:16 of The Beachwood Radio Sports Hour: Why Game 6 Will Decide This Series - https://t.co/GEHedYcHjV (recorded Friday morning) #Cubs https://t.co/t4uy3hw5dZ

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) October 30, 2016

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Old Style truck driver for World Series MVP.

"Oh. Wow. All these after 2 games? You guys went thru some beer!" - our @oldstylebeer driver approves of your fan efforts.

— Nisei Lounge Chicago (@NiseiLounge) October 30, 2016

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Comments welcome.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 1:34 PM | Permalink

October 29, 2016

World Series Notebook 4: Deja Vu All Over Again

Bats go cold, team goes down 2-1, one of the best pitchers in the universe looms. Oh, and Jason Heyward is getting the start in right. What, us worry?

Coco Puffs
"Down the steps of the visitors' dugout at Wrigley Field, a drain cover littered with used gum and sunflower-seed shells and tobacco spit and the other various detritus that finds its way into baseball players' orbits greets those who walk by it. To the left, in a small alcove, is a urinal, a sink, a foamy-soap dispenser and a small cupboard, home to a rosin bag and a pump-spray bottle of Bullfrog sunscreen, which when combined make for a tacky substance pitchers use to get a better grip on the ball. Grimy does not begin to describe the entirety of the scene," Jeff Passon writes for Yahoo! in "How The Indians Spoiled The Cubs' Special Night."

"Ten more paces on the fetid green carpet yields a left turn, and 19 past that is right, and then a quick turn left and one more right, toward a ramp, and after ascending that, on the 49th step from the dugout, stands a single batting tee. These are the trappings of a century-old park, ones with which the visitors long have dealt, and so Coco Crisp hauled his bat along this path around 9:20 p.m. local time Friday, getting himself ready, ready for anything, because in these playoffs, this World Series, the Cleveland Indians understand sometimes they need to leap headlong into the muck."

And they got it. Click through to read the whys and wherefores.

Schwarber, Schwarber, Schwarber
The lineups for Saturday night are out and Jason Heyward is getting the start in right field. Not to beat a dead roster choice, but couldn't the Cubs use Matty Szczur or Tommy La Stella about now?!

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Related: Joe Maddon's Dilemma: When To Play The Kyle Schwarber Card.

Ben's Bike
"The Cubs experience has been everything Zobrist could hope for, enhanced by buying a house in the Wrigleyville neighborhood within a mile of the stadium, close enough that his family could walk," the Tampa Bay Times reports.

"And that before a September game, Zobrist rode his bicycle - in uniform - to the stadium, fans rolling down car windows to wish him well."

That's cute, but here's the lingering question I've had about this: Did he bring his uniform home the day before just so he could ride to the ballpark in it? I mean, when players drive to the game they were their regular clothes and change in the clubhouse. I guess he just wanted to experience riding to Wrigley on his bike steampunk-style.

*

And here's the answer in this video that the TBT failed to embed because it's a newspaper and doesn't understand the Internet yet.

*

By the way, the article also mentions the singing of Zobrist's wife, Julianna, so here you go:

Note: Julianna is scheduled to sing "God Bless America" before Game 4.

*

Oh, what the hell. Meet the Zobrists:

*

By the way, Ben Zobrist is from Eureka, Illinois, which took a community photo in his honor this week.

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Repping Beachwood
Hey, look: Me and our very own Kiljoong Kim in this AP article about Cubs fans.

Here's the video that was mentioned (incorrectly) but not embedded or even linked to, because newspapers:

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Top Tweets

Cleveland Fans Create Joe Buck-Kyle Schwarber Wedding Registry: https://t.co/Bv5uTG4Ae8 | #Cubs #WorldSeries

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) October 29, 2016

Joe Buck and Kyle Schwarber are looking forward to spending the offseason together.... #WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/XWIS4L86P6

— McNeil (@Reflog_18) October 27, 2016

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I do love how the #Chicago & #Cleveland art museums are now trash-talking during #WorldSeries#FlyTheW #JustWinBaby https://t.co/fOvO8IxZc0

— Brendan Reilly (@AldReilly) October 29, 2016

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This has no bearing on anything but the Cubs are 2-12 all-time in WS games at Wrigley Field. Ouch

— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) October 29, 2016

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Cubs were shut out 6 times in 162 regular season games.

And now 4 times in 13 postseason games.

— Katie Sharp (@ktsharp) October 29, 2016

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As we celebrate the feast of St Jude, patron saint of impossible causes;a loyal @Cubs fan has come to our church to seek his intercession. pic.twitter.com/ut6XmU24WJ

— Fr. Manuel Dorantes (@TweetingPriest) October 29, 2016

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Comments welcome.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 2:32 PM | Permalink

Beachwood Photo Booth: Butcher Boy

Savory meats.

(ENLARGE FOR PROPER VIEWING)

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More Chicago photography from Helene Smith.

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Helene on Twitter!

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Meet Helene!

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Stationery, iPhone cases, hoodies.

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Listen to Helene talk about Photo Booth; starts at 57:54.

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Previously:
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Chicago Man Grilling
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Yum Yum Donuts
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Chicago Father's Day
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Vintage Airmaster
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Chicago Time
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Window Shade
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Illinois Slayer
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Chicago Fire Escape
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Golden Nugget
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Hollywood, Chicago
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Flag Man.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Van In Flames.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Fluid Power Automation.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Corn Dog.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Stop The Killing Car.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Chicago Backyard.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: A to Z Things.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Swedish Diner.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Rothschild Liquors.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Chicago Silos.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Chicago Wires.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Orange Garden.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Irving Park Guy.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Chicago Pigeons.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: O'Lanagan's.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: For Rent.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Marie's Pizza & Liquors.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Mori Milk.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: American Breakfast.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: A Chicago Christmas Postcard.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Holiday Harold's.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Chicago Family Fun.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Snow Bike.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Nativity Scene.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Old Warsaw.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Deluxe Cleaners.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Marie's Golden Cue.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Die Another Day.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Sears Key Shop.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Window Dressing.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Jeri's Grill.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Barry's Drugs.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Liberty.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Chicago Kitchen.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Golden Specials.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: We Won The Cup.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Bartender Man.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Blue Plane Blues.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Finest Quality.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Family Guy.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Girls Wanted.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Skokie Savanna.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Signpost.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Old Man And The Tree.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Street Fleet.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Citgo Story.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Fantasy Hair Design.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Chicago Garage.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Clark Stop.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Pole Position.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Window Dressing.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Chicago Geometry.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Found Love.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Fill In The Blank.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Vacuums Of The Night.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Dumpster Still Life.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Wagon Master.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Intersecting West Rogers Park.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Penn-Dutchman Antiques.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Cow Patrol.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Backstage Chicago.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Skully Bungalow.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Francisco Frankenstein.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Long Cool Heat.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Smokers' Mast.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Big Fat Phone.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Happy Day.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Alley Men.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Holiday Show!
* Beachwood Photo Booth: You've Got Mailbox.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Broken Window Theory.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Dali Logan.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Svengoolie.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Horner Park Hot Dogs.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Cubs Rehab.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: 20th Century Schizoid Man.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Men On Vans.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Penn-Dutchman Is Done.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Snowy Lincoln.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Waiting Room.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Avondale Chicken.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Winter's End.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: The Friendly Skies.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Boyhood Buzzer Beater.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: J Date.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: International Window Lady.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Shanghai Inn.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Open For Business.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Andersonville Unplugged.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: 3-Flat.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Evanston Turkey.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Chicagolandia.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Eat At Odge's.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Deitch Pharmacy.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Sud-Z Bubble.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Bands Wanted!
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Belmont Tavern.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Superheroic San Luis Freeze.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Evanston Oasis.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Lyndale Food & Jewelry.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Lincoln Tap.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Book Window.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Alco Dude.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Ballin Drugs.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Don't Worry, Be Cookie.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Four Trey.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: The Office.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: America From Inside The Golden Nugget In Ravenswood.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Cellphone Repair.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Boots 'N' Grill.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Sunrise Strip.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: At The Corner Of Glad And Happy.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Uptown Autumn Night.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Diner.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Mid-Century Modern Halloween.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Autumn Station Wagon.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Betty's & Nick's.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Ohio House Impact.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: End School Zone.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Portage Park Peek-A-Boo.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: South Side Sundown.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Susie's Drive-Thru.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Holiday Ham.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Food & Liquor, Milhouse.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: O'Hare Blue Line Man.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Schwing!
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Ad Deluxe.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Jesus At The Drive-In.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: The Tanks Of Avondale.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Conveyance Belt.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Bonk.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Esquire In The Night.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Nick's Meat Market.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Keep Havin A Good Day.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Knock Knock.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Man At Marie's.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Bonneville.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Logan Bags.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Chicago Stairwell.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Blue Velvet.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Court Is In Session.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: DLER ALKY.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Railyards Rush Hour.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Stop Killing People.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: America, Summer 2016, Part 1.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Greystone Chicago.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: You Are Beautiful.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Auto Part Overlords.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Bearground.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: America, Summer 2016, Part 2.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Skyway Sculpture.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: The Dome Car.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Hello, St. Joe.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Revolution Books.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Chicago Driveway.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Proceed To Checkout.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Summer Ghost.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Daily Double.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: We Are Moving.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: America, Summer 2016, Part 3.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Sunny Day Tap.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Ashland & Pawn.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Party Store.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Donuts.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: AAA Sales.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: House Rule.

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Comments welcome.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 11:48 AM | Permalink

'That's Not What I Said': TMZ Falsely Reports Concerns Of Election Officials

TMZ posted an article Tuesday declaring voter fraud to be "a real concern." (Yes, that TMZ.) Here's how the story begins:

NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN and most blogs are trying to convince you there is virtually NO EVIDENCE of voter fraud, so Trump's fears are bogus . . . but we drilled down and some officials who run the voting systems around the country are VERY worried about fraudulent voting.

But here's the thing: Two of the three election officials the story cites told us TMZ attributes things to them they did not say, and that they have no concerns whatsoever about the possibility of voter fraud.

"That's not what I said," Marcy Crawford, the Republican deputy commissioner of the Board of Elections for Allegany County, New York, said after we read what TMZ had attributed to her. The story does not quote Crawford directly, but says that Crawford "tells us voter fraud in her county is a real concern. She says everyone's talking about it in her office."

While Crawford said she told TMZ she had "heard talk" of concerns of voter fraud elsewhere, she also said she told TMZ she had no concerns about actual fraud in her southern New York county, nor does anyone else in her office.

Crawford's colleague, Democratic deputy commissioner Barbara Broughton, said she was present for the TMZ interview, and confirmed that TMZ misreported the conversation.

Broughton stressed that every step of the process is double checked and bipartisan. "I don't see how [fraud] is even possible," she said.

John Arntz, director of the Department of Elections in San Francisco County, California, also said he never told TMZ he was concerned about fraud.

While he said TMZ accurately described how a voter's identity is checked in California - that poll workers must confirm voters' names and addresses - he said TMZ falsely reported that he "concedes that it leaves the system open to fraud."

"I did not say that this means our system is open to fraud since there are many checks and balances in place regarding the casting of ballots," Arntz told us. "In the 14 years since I've been here, voter fraud has not been an issue and I don't expect it to be an issue going forward."

Casey Carver, a spokesperson for TMZ, said the site "stands behind our story and it accurately reflects the information we were provided." She did not respond to questions about the officials being cited inaccurately.

The story does not have a byline. But Crawford said the TMZ reporter identified herself as Heather Ross. A TMZ producer by that name did not respond to an e-mail sent to the address listed on her Twitter account.

The story focused on the fact that some states use signatures to verify a voter's identity:

States "shockingly rely on the ability of precinct poll workers to match a person's signature with the signature on the voter registration form. So a 70-year-old lady trying to manage a precinct is supposed to do what trained handwriting experts do in court . . . ferret out the frauds."

(Ellipsis in the original.)

Both Arntz and Crawford contradicted that. Voters, Crawford said, must verify their names and addresses, and poll workers also have access to the birth date listed in every voter's registration information, which they can also use as a check. Crawford said if poll workers have any concerns that a person might not be who they say they are, they can call elections officials who will sort out the problem.

The third official TMZ cited, Suffolk County New York Elections Commissioner Nick LaLota, did not specifically respond to questions regarding whether TMZ accurately quoted him in the piece, nor did he respond to questions about whether he believes fraud has happened or will happen in Suffolk County. He did confirm he thinks voter fraud is a concern. "The main way a poll worker ensures the identity of the purported voter is by a signature comparison," he told ProPublica by e-mail. "Our election inspectors are being asked to ensure the integrity of the election with one hand tied behind their back!"

In fact, New York election law allows election workers to do much more than check signatures.

"It's one point in a verification process with many," said Jonathan Brater, counsel for the Brennan Center at NYU School of Law's Democracy Program. "Voters provide all sorts of identifying information [in their registration]: Their name, their date of birth, their address, and sometimes even their drivers license and Social Security number."

TMZ's story also claims that "counties and states are increasingly using signature verification in place of IDs," which is false. In fact only six states rely on signature matches to verify voters' identities. Most states without voter ID laws use signatures as a last resort.

The piece has now been shared on social media hundreds of times, and has more than 4,000 comments. On Wednesday, it was the second "most commented" article on TMZ's site. Other media organizations, like the Independent Journal Review and the International Business Times, picked up the story.

Trump supporters are also using it as evidence to support his rigging claims:

Hey MSM, when TMZ is doing your job for you, might be time to pack it in. https://t.co/GCOh9QGmln

— BaconBits (@baconmanlives) October 25, 2016

https://t.co/WpGToWhnmb When TMZ (aka team Clinton) is even calling out #VoterFraud u know it's serious

— IvyLeagueCake (@IvyLeagueCake) October 25, 2016

As we pointed out in a tweetstorm directed at TMZ, impersonating a voter is exceedingly rare.

"What we're talking about is people going into a polling place and pretending to be someone else," said Rick Hasen, an elections expert and a professor at University of California, Irvine School of Law. This type of fraud is incredibly hard to pull off.

"You'd have to know who isn't voting, and then you'd also have to know that person wouldn't be recognized if you went into their polling place and pretended to be them, since polling places are often run by neighbors," Hasen said.

You'd also have to look as if you could be about the age of the voter you are impersonating, and mimic their signature to the point of passing. To do this on a mass scale - to the point it could tip elections - would be essentially impossible, Hasen added. He said he has never found a single example of this type of fraud impacting any election.

No widely accepted research has found in-person voter fraud is actually a real concern. A study by a Columbia University professor tracked accusations of fraud for two years, and found that the vast majority of reports were "false claims by the loser of a close race, mischief and administrative or voter error."

Another study done at Arizona State University found zero successful prosecutions for voter fraud in five states between 2012 and 2016. A study of 14 years of voting (about 1 billion ballots) found a total of 31 credible instances of in-person voter fraud.

And even these extremely rare cases of in-person voter impersonation are generally caught before they are counted, said Hasen.

"Even if we had these perfect criminals who could figure out how to perfectly sign for someone else, it's not going to do the trick," he said. "Your neighbor can come in to vote, look at their name on the roll and say, 'Hey, someone else has voted as me,' and that puts an end to that."

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Comments welcome.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 5:27 AM | Permalink

When A 'Tax Bonanza' Is Actually A Huge Corporate Tax Break

There is a push underway for a huge corporate tax break from the next administration.

Multinational corporations owe more than $720 billion in taxes on profits stashed in tax havens. They are proposing to bring those profits back if the government lets them pay only a fraction of what's owed.

This is being sold as a "tax bonanza" to pay for infrastructure. Actually it's a "tax-break bonanza" for corporations. Don't be bamboozled.

"Clinton Readies Post-Election Push on Highways, Corporate Taxes," Bloomberg Politics reported this week. To wit:

Clinton says on her website that in her first 100 days as president she'll seek approval of the "biggest investment in American infrastructure in decades," creating tens of thousands of jobs. Gene Sperling, a Clinton economic adviser, said that a $275 billion infrastructure plan would be among her top three domestic priorities at a forum this month sponsored by the National Association for Business Economics.

This is absolutely the right thing to do and would get her presidency off to a great start. We badly need to repair our aging infrastructure, because the economy could use it and because of all the jobs it creates. Good for Clinton.

(Of course, the need is much, much more than $275 billion. The American Society of Civil Engineers' Infrastructure Report Card estimated in 2013 that we need to spend $3.6 trillion just to get things back in shape, never mind modernized.)

Still, $275 billion is an excellent down-payment on the problem. But where will the $275 billion come from?

Clinton has said she would finance infrastructure spending through unspecified "business tax reform." Incoming Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said on CNBC Oct. 18 that the money would come from a lower tax rate on profits stashed overseas by U.S. corporations. Other Democrats close to the Clinton camp said they anticipate she would adopt the Schumer approach.

Uh oh. The Schumer approach?

The lower tax rate would produce a one-time bonanza as companies brought home an estimated $2.5 trillion stockpiled abroad.

Obama proposed an infrastructure plan financed by a one-time 14 percent tax rate on overseas profits returned to the U.S. instead of the current 35 percent maximum rate. Congressional Republicans previously proposed an 8.75 percent rate on repatriated cash.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said in a recent report that Obama's plan would have yielded at least $240 billion for the government to spend.

Wait. Back up. These corporations owe more than $720 billion in taxes. What's this "one-time 14 percent tax rate?" The corporate tax rate is 35 percent (it was reduced from 52% in 1983) and 35% is what all the companies that didn't dodge their taxes paid. Why do these tax-dodgers get to pay only 14%?

Shouldn't the tax-dodging corporations pay what they owe - and pay a fine for tax-dodging - instead of getting a huge tax break?

Collecting $240 billion when they owe more than $720 billion is not a "tax bonanza" in any way, shape or form. It is a huge, giant tax break for the giant corporations that dodged their taxes. Here is a word problem: How much money is $720 billion minus $240 billion? (Hint: this would save $480 billion cash to corporations as a reward for dodging their taxes while other corporations paid what they owed.)

Here is another word problem for you: Which of the following is more for We the People to do things like repair our infrastructure, $720 billion or $240 billion? (Hint, $720 billion is more than $240 billion.)

Closing the loophole that lets these companies get away with stashing profits in tax shelters and then collecting the $720 billion they owe us - and another $90-$100 billion every year thereafter - would be the true tax bonanza (if you can call the receipts from fair taxation a "bonanza.")

Make these tax-dodging corporations pay the taxes they owe us. They don't deserve a huge tax break; they deserve a huge fine. Simple as that.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

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Previously in Tax Scammage:
* Deepwater Horizon Settlement Comes With $5.35 Billion Tax Windfall.

* Offshoring By 29 Companies Costs Illinois $1.2 Billion Annually.

* Government Agencies Allow Corporations To Write Off Billions In Federal Settlements.

* The Gang Of 62 Vs. The World.

* How The Maker Of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing.

* $1.4 Trillion: Oxfam Exposes The Great Offshore Tax Scam Of U.S. Companies.

* How Barclay's Turned A $10 Billion Profit Into A Tax Loss.

* Wall Street Stock Loans Drain $1 Billion A Year From German Taxpayers.

* German Finance Minister Cries Foul Over Tax Avoidance Deals.

* Prosecutor Targets Commerzbank For Deals That Dodge German Taxes.

* A Schlupfloch Here, A Schlupfloch There. Now It's Real Money.

* How Milwaukee Landlords Avoid Taxes.

* Study: 32 Illinois Fortune 500 Companies Holding At Least $147 Billion Offshore.

* Watch Out For The Coming Tax Break Trickery.

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Previously in the Panama Papers:
* The Panama Papers: Remarkable Global Media Collaboration Cracks Walls Of Offshore Tax Haven Secrecy.

* The Panama Papers: Prosecutors Open Probes.

* The [Monday] Papers.

* Adventures In Tax Avoidance.

* Mossack Fonseca's Oligarchs, Dictators And Corrupt White-Collar Businessmen.

* Jonathan Pie, TV Reporter! They're All In It Together.

* Meet The Panama Papers Editor Who Handled 376 Reporters In 80 Countries.

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Previously in the carried interest loophole:

* Patriotic Millionaires Vs. Carried Interest.

* The Somewhat Surreal Politics Of A Private Equity Tax Loophole Costing Us Billions (That Obama Refused To Close Despite Pledging To Do So).

* Fact-Checking Trump & Clinton On The Billionaire's Tax Break.

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Comments welcome.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 12:02 AM | Permalink

October 28, 2016

The [Friday] Papers

Here's a couple of World Series-related offerings. I'm taking the rest of the day off to explore the inner workings of Old Style - and the game, of course.

The Beachwood Radio Sports Hour #125: Historic World Series Edition!
First Beachwood World Series podcast since 1945. Including: Coffman Returns To Cubs Fold!; Wrigleyville Security State; Corey Kluber Introduces Self To Nation; Bam Bam Is Back!; Matchup Mania!; Schwarber, Schwarber, Schwarber!; Jay Cutler Blah Blah Blah; Coach Qalm Down; and Bulls Opener Actually Compelling.

World Series Of The Apocalypse?
The manager of the Chicago Cubs is haunted by a prophetic dream that the world will end if the Cubs defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the National League pennant.

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I'll catch up with everything else over the weekend - which will also include continuing Cubs coverage.

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The Beachwood Tronc Line: Reverse symmetry.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 4:44 PM | Permalink

The Week In Chicago Rock

You shoulda been there.

1. Neon Indian at the Concord on Thursday night.

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2. Classixx at the Concord on Thursday night.

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3. Johnny Gioeli at the Tree in Joliet for the Rock 'n' Skull Festival preparty on Thursday night.

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4. Enuff Z'Nuff at Rock 'n Skull preparty on Thursday night.

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5. Satan's Hollow at Reggies on Wednesday night.

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6. Consider The Source at Reggies for Progtoberfest II on Sunday night.

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7. Joyner Lucas at the Concord on Tuesday night.

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8. Counter Intuits at the Empty Bottle on Monday night.

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9. Flasher at the Empty Bottle on Thursday night.

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10. NRBQ at the Hideout on Monday night.

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11. Peter Groch at the Hideout for the Piano Power Hour on Tuesday night.

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12. Lucas Gillan at the Piano Power Hour on Tuesday night.

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13. Adrienne Schroeder at the Piano Power Hour on Tuesday night.

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14. Cam at Joe's Bar on Thursday night.

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15. Rented Rooms at Township on Sunday night.

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16. Kero Kero Bonito at Subterranean on Wednesday night.

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17. Gabe Janky & Friends at the Sauk Village Community Center in Sauk Village on Sunday night.

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18. Plum Creek at the Sauk Village Community Center in Sauk Village on Sunday night.

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19. Hinds at Thalia Hall on Monday night.

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Catching up with . . .

The Susan Voelz Experience at the Vic on October 22nd.

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Bad Cop Bad Cop at the Chop Shop on October 21st.

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Necromonkey at Reggies for Progtoberfest II on October 22nd.

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The Galactic Cowboy Orchestra at Reggies for Progtoberfest II on October 21st.

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Failure at Double Door on October 21st.

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Chris Bolint at the Star Bar in Chicago Ridge on October 21st.

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Cooled Out Babies at Quenchers on October 22nd.

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Gnash at Lincoln Hall on October 15th.

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Loverboy at the Genesee Theatre in Waukegan on October 13th.

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Rorey Carroll at Thalia Hall on October 11th.

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Billy Bragg at Thalia Hall on October 18th.

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Purge Giraffe at the Elbo Room on October 22nd.

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No Men at Bric-a-Brac for Cassette Store Day on October 8th.

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Slushy at Bric-a-Brac for Cassette Store Day on October 8th.

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Teenage Fanclub at Bottom Lounge on October 21st.

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Nots at the Empty Bottle on October 20th.

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Comments welcome.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 4:32 PM | Permalink

The Beachwood Radio Sports Hour #125: Historic World Series Edition!

First Beachwood World Series podcast since 1945. Including: Coffman Returns To Cubs Fold!; Wrigleyville Security State; Corey Kluber Introduces Self To Nation; Bam Bam Is Back!; Matchup Mania!; Schwarber, Schwarber, Schwarber!; Jay Cutler Blah Blah Blah; Coach Qalm Down; and Bulls Opener Actually Compelling.

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SHOW NOTES

* 125.

:28: Coffman Returns To Cubs Fold!

5:00: Wrigleyville Security State.

Breaking: @Cubs' parking bans spread all the way downtown https://t.co/mY0qGTsEqY #WorldSeries #Cubs

— Crain's Chicago (@CrainsChicago) October 28, 2016

9:07: Corey Kluber Introduces Self To Nation.

14:15: Bam Bam Is Back!

* But should he be?

* Choke job.

* Crisis averted.

21:16: Matchup Mania!

* Why Game 6 Will Decide This Series.

* Hail Szczur!

* The Schwarber Scenarios.

* Unsung heroes: Contreras, Mike Montgomery, Ben Zobrist.

* Free Willy.

I apologize to the fans from both sides I didn't meant to disrespect My Team @Cubs and The game.!! I Promise It Won't Happen Again.

— Willson Contreras (@WContreras40) October 26, 2016

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Willy's Pimpin' Pant Legs.

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* More Schwarber!

"#Schwarber isn't a slugger, he's a great hitter with power."

-@DShulman_ESPN to @Buster_ESPN

LISTEN: https://t.co/d4w3klMsyz

[Getty] pic.twitter.com/3yCGKPiHen

— Josh Macri (@Josh_Macri) October 27, 2016

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* Historic Dexter Fowler.

Wow... speechless. Thanks for sharing this fact. I will carry it with me https://t.co/OkcHe5sx15

— Dexter Fowler (@DexterFowler) October 23, 2016

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Historic Ben Zobrist.

Ben Zobrist & Babe Ruth = only players to have 3 hits in consecutive World Series openers https://t.co/SEpj2GMMwP via @ChiTribSkrbina pic.twitter.com/Rd3oDSzgHP

— ChicagoSports (@ChicagoSports) October 27, 2016

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* More Schwarber!

* Lonnie Scissorshands.

* Wayward Heyward.

54:38: Where's Marty?

The tumblers of the universe are now in place.

56:23: We've Paid Our Dues. This Is Ours.

58:10: Jay Cutler Blah Blah Blah.

1:02:28: Coach Qalm Down.

1:05:13: Bulls Opener Actually Compelling.

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STOPPAGE: 8:54

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For archives and other shows, see The Beachwood Radio Network.

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Comments welcome.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 2:31 PM | Permalink

World Series Of The Apocalypse?

W.P. Kinsella is probably best known for his 1982 novel Shoeless Joe, the inspiration for the film Field of Dreams. But the following year, Kinsella wrote a lesser-known short story titled The Last Pennant Before Armageddon, in which Al Tiller, the manager of the Chicago Cubs, is haunted by a prophetic dream that the world will end if the Cubs defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the National League pennant. This puts Tiller in a bind: He must choose between momentary glory or the end of the world.

Those familiar with the short story may have braced themselves on Oct. 22, when the Cubs vanquished the Los Angeles Dodgers to win their first pennant since 1945. The world didn't end. Not yet anyway.

But if the Cubs defeat the Cleveland Indians to win their first World Series since 1908, it will end the longest period of futility in American sports - and forever put to rest the Curse of the Billy Goat.

Something else, however, could be lost. Failure, melancholy and heartache - not joy and triumph - inspire drama and comedy, and no team in sports has inspired better literature than the hapless Cubs. Over the course of their long, storied history of losing, their failures have played out on the page.

The Best That Never Was

Ring Lardner was one of the greatest sportswriters of the early 20th century. He also wrote short stories that captured the distinctive voice of baseball players, and he inspired F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, J.D. Salinger and Virginia Woolf. In Alibi Ike, Lardner's protagonist is a Cubs player, Francis X. Farrell, who has an excuse for every error and every blunder.

In Bernard Malamud's 1952 novel The Natural, 19-year-old baseball player Roy Hobbs vows that he will be the "best that ever was." On his way to a tryout with the Cubs he meets the beautiful Harriet Bird. She invites him to her hotel room and then shoots him, leaving him critically injured, his dreams of greatness dashed.

The novel is based on the true story of Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Eddie Waitkus. In 1949, Waitkus, who once played for the Cubs, returned to Chicago for a game. An obsessed fan, Ruth Ann Steinhagen, invited Waitkus to her hotel room. Once Waitkus entered, she shot him in the stomach, nearly killing him.

A Team Of Goats

For Cubs fans, legendary futility is the recurring punchline.

Chicago newspaper columnist Mike Royko has been dubbed the "poet laureate of Wrigley Field." He helped perpetuate the story of the "Curse of the Billy Goat," a spell cast on the team by the owner of the Billy Goat Tavern after being kicked out of Wrigley Field, along with his actual pet goat, during the 1945 World Series. (Fans had complained about the animal's stench.)

Royko regularly pointed out in his columns that the Cubs failed to win not because a goat wasn't allowed in Wrigley Field but because goats were allowed to play for the Cubs.

The Cubs Reader is a 1991 collection of essays that includes contributions from writers like Roger Angell, Roy Blount Jr., George Will and Ira Berkow. In Will's essay, he admits that his gloomy conservative politics come from his decision to be a Cubs fans at age seven in 1948. "I plighted my troth to a baseball team destined to dash the cup of life's joy from my lips," he wrote.

In fact, the first joke I ever heard came from my father, a lifelong Cubs fan who is now 92:

"Will the mother who left her nine kids at Wrigley Field please come and get them," the stadium's public address announcer says one afternoon. "They're beating the Cubs 7-2."

Armageddon Averted?

The Last Pennant Before Armageddon was included in a collection of W.P. Kinsella's essays called The Thrill of the Grass. In the story, the backdrop for the Cubs' season is the threat of nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union. In one of the manager's dreams, God says, "I think you should know that when the Cubs next win the National League Championship, it will be the last pennant before Armageddon."

Tiller finds himself in the decisive game with a fatigued starter. He can leave in his starter, which could cost his team the game but save the world, or he can bring in his closer and probably win the game - and destroy civilization.

The Thrill of the Grass was published in 1984 - the year the Cubs were one win away from winning the National League pennant. They ended up losing three straight to the San Diego Padres. Armageddon averted.

Almost 20 years later, before the 2003 National League Championship Series between the Cubs and the Marlins, Kinsella was asked if he thought the world would end if the Cubs won the pennant.

"We'll just have to wait and see," he said.

The Cubs were five outs away from winning the pennant in 2003 when things fell spectacularly apart.

If the Cubs do win the World Series, Kinsella won't see it. He died on Sept. 16, a day after the Cubs clinched the National League's Central Division.

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Chris Lamb is a journalism professor at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. This article was originally published on The Conversation.

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Comments welcome.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 1:56 PM | Permalink

October 27, 2016

The [Thursday] Papers

"If you're going to lose a World Series game, you might as well let the bottom fall out," Zack Meisel writes for Cleveland.com.

"Go for broke. Throw every bad habit, every baseball malady out there. Get the Trevor Bauer inefficiency, the Bryan Shaw nibbling, the Danny Salazar rust-shaking, the dormant lumber and the groan-inducing defense all out of the way in one fell swoop.

"This wasn't the type of World Series loss that leaves a fan base with a stinging sensation, like the one Tribe fans suffered on Oct. 26, 1997. This Oct. 26, 2016 defeat was more of the dull ache variety, only fans in attendance couldn't feel it because the bone-chilling temperatures numbed every finger and toe in the venue.

"Little went right for the Indians in Game 2, and now Terry Francona's bunch will venture west for three games at Wrigley Field, with the World Series knotted at one game apiece."

It's like the Cubs had nothing to do with any of it!

*

World Series no big deal at Cleveland.com, where this is top of site:

*

The top story in Cleveland as I write this:

"Police investigating a street gang tied to dozens of smash-and-grab ATM thefts raided three homes in Cleveland and two in Euclid early Thursday.

"SWAT teams with assault rifles stood outside the homes while investigators conducted the searches about 9 a.m.

"Officers took several bags of evidence from each home. An officer in Euclid carried out a large plastic container with evidence."

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FYI: All Signs Point To McCown Starting Sunday.

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World Series Notebook 3: Crisis Averted!
A learning experience.

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See also . . .

When The Cubs Were The Microbes
Stellar work by Robert Loerzel.

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Cleveland's Happy Dog vs. WGN-TV.

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Snowden: 'Journalists Are A Threatened Class'
"Things are pretty bad for our side. For the government's side, it's never been easier."

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.@Snowden: "Sorry, I keep confusing intelligence and telecommunication agencies - because their work is now so similar." #EditorsLab

— Henning Bulka (@sanpietro) October 26, 2016

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Pumpkinpalooza
For example: Bees are needed to pollinate pumpkins.

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The Kool-Aid Report: America's Next Top QB
"Do whatever feels right," our very own Carl Mohrbacher writes, "as long as whatever you're drinking is strong because this Bears game has very little intrigue as a standalone product."

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BeachBook

The Real Story Behind Donald Trump's Aborted 1991 Heavy Metal Video Appearance, Featuring Chicago's Pritzkers.

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Clinton Team Sweated Her Stance On Trade, E-Mails Show.

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Hacked Memo Offers An Angry Glimpse Inside 'Bill Clinton Inc.'

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CJP FOIAs CPD For Staffing Analysis.

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Avocado Shortage Hits Chicago Restaurants, Markets.

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TweetWood

This transcript of Mark Halperin's Trump interview can't be real... pic.twitter.com/M4x4EkuW1f

— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) October 26, 2016

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The Beachwood Tronc Line: Bam.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 1:42 PM | Permalink

Fantasy Fix: Cutler?

Random observations from a week in which it was difficult to care about what happened with my fantasy football teams:

Hoyer done, Miller fading. Cutler? Nah . . . : With Brian Hoyer having suffered a broken arm at the height of his value, there are few Chicago Bears worth owning for fantasy.

TE Zach Miller's value probably takes a plunge with Hoyer done. RB Jordan Howard and WRs Alshon Jeffrey and Cameron Meredith all have some borderline value.

What about QB Jay Cutler, who probably returns his week? You can make a mild argument for him as a bye week filler if you're in a very deep league in which most other options are exhausted, but the Bears are way off course, and I really doubt you will get double-digit fantasy points out of him.

In any case, who cares? By the time Sunday came around in Week 7, I was still too drunk on the Cubs' pennant clincher Saturday night to even check my fantasy football rosters.

Jay Ajayi is so good that Arian Foster retired: Ajayi, the second-year Miami RB, collected more than 200 yards rushing for the second straight week. This comes after Ajayi started the season playing second fiddle to veteran Arian Foster, but Foster, as we all knew would happen, got hurt in the second game of the season. He played the last two games while Ajayi was running wild, but no surprise, no one noticed. Foster promptly announced his retirement Monday after eight increasingly injury-prone seasons.

All I can say is I hope you hand-cuffed Ajayi to Foster in the draft like you were supposed to. Ajayi looks pretty legit right now, though I'm betting his workload comes down a bit - he may only manage 190 yards in Week 9 after a bye this week.

Melvin Gordon is a TD-scoring machine: The Chargers again look like the most pass-happy team in the league, but you won't convince Gordon of that. The Kenosha-born former Badger has scored eight rushing TDs and 10 total in seven games. That's really the bulk of his fantasy value, since he has surpassed 69 yards rushing in a game just twice this season.

Gordon didn't have much of a rookie season last year, and was seen as the second-best fantasy RB in San Diego this season after Danny Woodhead, but the latter is out for the season, and the Chargers seem willing to ride Gordon in the red zone. It's a recipe that has earned him the third-most fantasy points among RBs despite no being in the top 10 in rushing yards.

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Dan O'Shea is our man in fantasyland. He welcomes your comments.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 7:07 AM | Permalink

World Series Notebook 3: Crisis Averted!

The Cubs are right back in it!

Look, we sort of don't know how to behave going this deep into the playoffs. So suddenly every game has become like a Bears game - win and we're going all the way, lose and everybody should be fired. Or, not that exactly - that's where the analogy breaks down - but lose and the season is an epic failure.

The Score's exasperated on Jason Goff had it right on Wednesday when he said "We just went through this, just a week ago!" and no lessons were learned. That's when losing 1-0 to Clayton Kershaw spelled certain doom for the boys in blue. And yet, it didn't.

Learn, dammit!

*

So now the Cubs actually come out of Cleveland with a split, instead of Cleveland merely holding serve with the series shifting to Wrigley. Advantage, Cubs.

Of course, if we wanted to not learn for a second, we'd project a Kyle Hendricks victory in Game 3, a Corey Kluber victory in Game 4, and a Jon Lester victory in Game 5. Kluber is slated to start again in Game 7, if the series goes that long, leaving Game 6, featuring last night's starter Jake Arrieta, as the real decider.

If we wanted to return to learning, we'd remember that Madison Bumgarner threw a real stinker against the Cubs in the first round of the playoffs, despite fears he'd be unhittable, and that, of course, the Cubs got to Kershaw in order to get here in the first place.

Oh, and Schwarber.

Super Bam
Well, Kyle Schwarber is certainly making us skeptics look like idiots.

Of course, we couldn't be happier, but geez.

That's not to say, though, that the full tale is told. First, you never know what would have happened in either Games 1 or 2 if, say, Matt Szczur or Tommy La Stella was on the roster instead.

Second, if Schwarber can't play the field the next three games at Wrigley, he gets one pinch-hit opportunity - at best - in each game.

And it's hard to imagine him getting clearance to play the field - though that's what we thought about him playing in this series at all. Then you have to ask yourself: Do you really want to stick him out there, knee brace and all?

Ben Zobrist would move to right and Jason Heyward, Chris Coghlan and Jorge Soler would stay on the bench, which is alright, but holy cow. (Szczur can blame Heyward in part for losing his roster spot because if Heyward's hitting was even marginally acceptable, the team might not have felt like they needed Albert Almora Jr.)

Wait . . . this just in:

@ESPNChiCubs pic.twitter.com/f5PUD4tQ1O

— MML (@708Terry) October 27, 2016

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Fake Jake
Yeah, I wouldn't say it was vintage Arrieta. I'd say the Cubs got away with one. Their best pitcher Wednesday night was actually Magic Mike Montgomery.

First, Arrieta.

While it's true that he "settled down" after the first inning, his relative success owed equally to Cleveland hitters taking poor approaches. (Cleveland looked out of sorts all over the place, most notably in the field, where they committed two errors and several other miscues that led to most if not all of the Cubs' runs. And when even manager Terry Francona complains about the cold, you know the whole team wasn't comfortable.)

To wit:

Jake Arrieta faced 22 hitters in this game and 10 of them were in hitters' counts. But the bottom line: He leaves with Cubs leading 5-1.

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) October 27, 2016

From ESPN's David Schoenfield:

Arrieta never seemed particularly sharp, however; indeed, 34 percent of his pitchers were deemed "non-competitive," which means nowhere near the strike zone. That was his highest such rate of the season.

He got better as the game progressed, throwing 49 percent strikes the first two innings and 60 percent after that. The Indians squared up a couple of balls, but after Jose Ramirez flew out to medium-deep center to end the first, they didn't threaten until they scratched a run across on a wild pitch in the sixth.

From The New York Times' James Wagner:

What Jake Arrieta did in rotten weather on Wednesday night during Game 2 of the World Series against the Cleveland Indians made little sense. He threw a first-pitch strike to only half the batters he faced. He fired 98 pitches in all, but only 55 were strikes. He walked three batters.

In just 5 1/3 innings.

Tellingly, when Len Kasper came on radio broadcast to call the 5th inning, as he's done throughout the playoffs, he opened with "Jake Arrieta dealing through four." Through four, however, regulars Pat Hughes and Ron Coomer had described in wonderment how badly Arrieta was missing the strike zone.

So no, not vintage. But good enough to win.

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On the other hand, another key outing from Montgomery, who has turned into the Cubs' best - and most-trusted - bullpen arm.

Montgomery did give up two hits and a walk in his two-inning stint, but he also struck out four on nasty change-ups before handing the ball to Aroldis Chapman, allowing Maddon to bypass the scuffling Pedro Strop and, especially, Hector Rondon.

ESPN's Mark Simon called Montgomery the game's unsung hero:

Game 2 of the World Series was the third time this postseason that Montgomery pitched multiple innings in relief; he has done so once in each round. He got a loss in the LDS, though he was impressive for four innings before allowing a walk-off hit in the 13th inning. He pitched two innings to get the win in Game 4 of the LCS against the Dodgers.

What was noteworthy from this appearance was that though Montgomery is considerably better against lefties, he got five of his six outs against right-handed batters, including three of his four strikeouts. To do so, he went to his changeup. He threw it six times, all for strikes, and netted three outs with it.

To wit:

Two big innings out of @MikeMontgum22: https://t.co/nDqWLkd3Ni #FlyTheW pic.twitter.com/3EX2bAkda2

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) October 27, 2016

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Simon also praised Contreras:

Contreras has had the two best games by a Cubs catcher this postseason, as far as getting called strikes for his pitchers: Game 2 of the NLDS against the Giants and Game 2 of the World Series.

On Wednesday, Contreras got four called strikes on pitches that are called for strikes less than 25 percent of the time. In each of the four instances, the Cubs pitcher (Arrieta for three, Montgomery for one) retired the hitter on whom he got the call.

I'd like to put in a word for Zobrist, who followed his 3-for-4 against Kluber in Game 1 with a 2-for-4 night in Game 2, including a triple and a walk.

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Top Tweets

And with that the @Cubs end their 25,951 day #WorldSeries winless streak

— Wrigley Field (@WrigleyBlog) October 27, 2016

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What does #Cubs Russell expect when they get to Wrigley Friday? "It's probably going to be a sellout"

— Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) October 27, 2016

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The Cubs are like those erection pills in your wallet, in that no matter how well they perform tonight, she doesn't love you anymore
Arbys

— Nihilist Arby's (@nihilist_arbys) October 27, 2016

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Sox always trying to one-up the Cubs' buzz. https://t.co/rW4rxucO1p

— jon greenberg (@jon_greenberg) October 27, 2016

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Comments welcome.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 2:49 AM | Permalink

Pumpkinpalooza

PUMPKIN FACTS

* Illinois is the number one pumpkin producer in the United States.

* The top 10 pumpkin producing counties in Illinois are: Tazewell, Mason Wayne, Peoria, Stark, Moultrie, Logan, Kane, McHenry, McLean.

* There is a difference between pumpkins you cook and the pumpkins you carve.

* Pumpkin is a fruit because they are part of the plant that contains seeds.

* Pumpkins are grown primarily for processing, with a small percentage grown for ornamental sales through you-pick farms, farmers' market, and retail sales.

* It takes 110 days for a pumpkin vine to produce mature pumpkins.

* Pumpkins are low in calories, fat, sodium and high in fiber.

* 80 percent of the pumpkins produced commercially in the United States are produced within a 90-mile radius of Peoria.

* Giant pumpkins can grow five pounds a day.

* Pumpkins can rage in size from less than a pound to over 1,000 pounds.

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GROWING PUMPKINS

When to plant: Late May for northern locations, Early July for southern locations.

* Vine pumpkins require at least 50 to 100 square feet for growth; plant seeds one inch deep in the ground.

* Bush varieties: Plant seeds one inch deep, and three feet apart.

* Bees are needed to pollinate pumpkins.

* Pumpkins are ready to be picked with the rind is hard and a deep orange color.

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PUMPKIN PATCHES & FARMS (always call to verify hours of operation)

* Curtis Orchard - Champaign County

* Broom Orchard - Macoupin County

* Ackerman Farms - Tazewell County

* Gail's Pumpkin Patch - Logan County

* Bomke's Patch - Sangamon County

* The Great Pumpkin Patch - Moultrie County

* Rader Family Farms - McLean County

* Eckert's Farm - St. Clair County

* Wagon Wheel Pumpkin Farm - Dewitt County

* All Seasons Orchard - McHenry County

* Bandy's Pumpkin Patch - Williamson County

* Bengtson's Pumpkin Farm - Will County

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PINTEREST PUMPKINS

* Pumpkin Recipes.

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ILLINOIS GIANT PUMPKIN GROWERS ASSOCIATION

* On Facebook.

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Comments welcome.



Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 12:55 AM | Permalink

Snowden: 'Journalists Are A Threatened Class' In Era Of Mass Surveillance

Whistleblower Edward Snowden warned a group of European reporters Wednesday that in the era of mass surveillance, journalists are increasingly a threatened class.

In a live-streamed discussion on investigative journalism hosted by Germany's Süddeutsche Zeitung, Snowden explored the threats to journalists posed by hostile governmental forces and a vast global surveillance network.

"Journalists are increasingly a threatened class when we think about the right to privacy," Snowden said. "Yes, I can give you tips on how to protect your communications, but you are going to be engaging in an arms race that you simply cannot win. You must fight this on the front pages and you must win, if you want to be able to report in the same way that you've been able to do in the previous centuries."

Snowden went on to highlight the critical role journalists play in provoking crucial public debate about government policy, such as the United States' spying activities:

We have technologies that can protect communications in an unbreakable format when they're in transit. Governments have reacted to this as if we've thrown them in a pool of acid, saying you know, "You're shutting us out, you're going dark." This is false. Any government official who claims we're going dark is lying. We know this because we have classified documents from inside governments and we have reportage from journalists who have been in private sessions with these officials. Things are pretty bad for our side. For the government's side, it's never been easier. How do we reconcile this with this idea that these are theoretically, as far as our understanding of mathematics goes, unbreakable communications?

It's because what we're doing is we're thwarting mass surveillance when we use encryption. We're not stopping targeted surveillance. Because even, again, if you have the most well-encrypted device in the world, if the government spends a million dollars to pay a hacker to exploit your phone personally, they will very likely succeed.

In our current state of the art, offense is easier than defense. This is an unfortunate artifact of the fact that governments around the world have prioritized offensive capabilities for the benefit of spying on people so much more strongly than they have defensive capabilities, preventing our countries from being hacked.

And this is what's leading to the kind of dynamics we see today . . . Whether it's the Office of Personnel Management, whether it's this recent Democratic National Committee hack, whether it's all of these other things about infrastructural attacks, fear of the power grid being attacked - these were preventable problems.

But unfortunately we don't have this pressure, that should be simply blistering, coming from newspapers, going, "We are the most advanced societies in the world, we are the most connected societies in the world, and in some sort of computer-based conflict . . . we have more to lose."

We can hack Russia 10 times; it will cause less damage to them than one hack to us will cause. We can hack North Korea 1,000 times, and they will suffer less damage than if they hacked us a single time. This is not a game that we want to get into, so why are we doing so? It's because policy is short-sighted.

And policy is only short-sighted here because it is not being publicly debated

It is not being openly scrutinized outside of this audience of a few special interests.

Watch the whole hour-long talk here:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

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From The Global Editors Network:

Edward Snowden has a message for the press when it comes to government surveillance: "Be as adversarial as possible." The former NSA contractor spoke to Editors Lab participants at Süddeutsche Zeitung in Munich via video chat from Moscow yesterday. He said news organizations are not only uniquely affected by mass surveillance, but uniquely positioned to take action.

In an interview led by author and professor Dan Gillmor, Snowden warned that freedom of the press cannot exist without confidentiality between journalists and their sources. Gillmor kicked off the discussion with a developing report from The Daily Beast on AT&T's massive spying program going back as far as 1987. And in this age of increased tracking, the fear of being identified can have a chilling effect on potential whistleblowers.

See more here: Snowden: Journalists Can't Win Surveillance Arms Race Against NSA; They Have To Lobby For Privacy-Protecting Policies.

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Previously:
* AT&T Spying On Americans For Profit.

* ACLU Demands Secret U.S. Court Reveal Secret U.S. Laws.

* Obama's New Era Of Secret Law.

* EFF To Court: Government Must Inform People That It's Accessing Their E-Mails, Personal Data.

* A Plea To Citizens, Websites: Fight The Expansion Of Government Powers To Break Into Users' Computers.

* NSA Today: Archives Of Spy Agency's Internal Newsletter Culled From Snowden Documents.

* U.S. Surveillance Court A Bigger Rubber Stamp Than Chicago City Council.

* Obama Won't Tell Congress How Many Innocent Americans He's Spying On.

* Ruling Unsealed: National Security Letters Upheld As Constitutional.

* EFF Sues For Secret Court Orders Requiring Tech Companies To Decrypt Users' Communications.

* Trying (And Trying) To Get Records From The 'Most Transparent Administration' Ever.

* EFF Urges Appeals Court To Allow Wikimedia And Others To Fight NSA Surveillance.

* U.S. Government Reveals Breadth Of Requests For Internet Records.

* What's The Evidence That Mass Surveillance Works? Not Much.

* Why The Close Collaboration Between The NSA And AT&T Matters.

* First Library To Support Anonymous Internet Browsing Effort Stops After DHS E-Mail.

* EFF Sues For Records About 'Hemisphere' Phone Call Collection And Drug Enforcement Program.

* Snowden Documentarian Laura Poitras Sues U.S. Government To Uncover Records After Years Of Airport Detentions And Searches.

* Obama Secretly Expanded NSA Spying To Internet.

* Court: NSA Phone Program Illegal.

* The Chicago Connection To The Hidden Intelligence Breakdowns Behind The Mumbai Attacks.

* Human Rights Watch Sues DEA Over Bulk Collection Of American's Telephone Records.

* U.S. Secretly Tracked Billions Of Calls For Decades.

* Amnesty International Joins ACLU, Wikimedia In Lawsuit To Stop Mass Surveillance Program.

* Stop Spying On Wikipedia Users.

* EFF Wins Battle Over Secret Legal Opinions On Government Spying.

* The NSA's "U.S. Corporate Partners."

* I Fight Surveillance.

* Illegal Spying Below.

* Smith vs. Obama.

* EFF Sues NSA Over FOIA.

* Stand Against Spying.

* The NSA Revelations All In One Chart.

* U.S. Supreme Court Limits Cell Phone Searches.

* EFF To Court: There's No Doubt The Government Destroyed NSA Spying Evidence.

* House Committee Puts NSA On Notice Over Encryption Standards.

* Which Tech Companies Help Protect You From Government Data Demands?

* Lawsuit Demands DOJ Release More Secret Surveillance Court Rulings.

* Human Rights Organizations To Foreign Ministers: Stop Spying On Us.

* What The Proposed NSA Reforms Wouldn't Do.

* Technologists Turn On Obama.

* Dear Supreme Court: Set Limits On Cell Phone Searches.

* EFF Fights National Security Letter Demands On Behalf Of Telecom, Internet Company.

* Eighth-Grader Schools The NSA.

* You Know Who Else Collected Metadata? The Stasi.

* Today We Fight Back.

* The Day We Fight Back.

* FAQ: The NSA's Angry Birds.

* Jon Stewart: The Old Hope-A-Dope.

* Four Blatantly False Claims Obama Has Made About NSA Surveillance.

* EFF To DOJ In Lawsuit: Stop Pretending Information Revealed About NSA Over Last Seven Months Is Still A Secret.

* Judge On NSA Case Cites 9/11 Report, But It Doesn't Actually Support His Ruling.

* Edward Snowden's Christmas Message.

* Jon Stewart: Obama Totally Lying About NSA Spying.

* Presidential Panel To NSA: Stop Undermining Encryption.

* The NSA Is Coming To Town.

* 60 Minutes We Can't Get Back.

* Why Care About The NSA?

* NSA Surveillance Drives Writers To Self-Censor.

* Filed: 22 Firsthand Accounts Of How NSA Surveillance Chilled The Right To Association.

* Claim On 'Attacks Thwarted' By NSA Spreads Despite Lack Of Evidence.

* Obama Vs. The World.

* How A Telecom Helped The Government Spy On Me.

* UN Member States Asked To End Unchecked Surveillance.

* Government Standards Agency: Don't Follow Our Encryption Guidelines Because NSA.

* Five More Organizations Join Lawsuit Against NSA.

* A Scandal Of Historic Proportions.

* Item: NSA Briefing.

* The Case Of The Missing NSA Blog Post.

* The NSA Is Out Of Control.

* Patriot Act Author Joins Lawsuit Against NSA.

* Obama's Promises Disappear From Web.

* Why NSA Snooping Is A Bigger Deal In Germany.

* Item: Today's NSA Briefing.

* NSA Briefing: It Just Got Worse (Again).

* Song of the Moment: Party at the NSA.

* It Not Only Can Happen Here, It Is Happening Here.

* What NSA Transparency Looks Like.

* America's Lying About Spying: Worse Than You Think.

* Obama Continues To Lie His Ass Off About The NSA.

* The Surveillance Reforms Obama Supported Before He Was President.

* America's Spying: Worse Than You Think.

* Has The U.S. Government Lied About Its Snooping? Let's Go To The Videotape.

* Who Are We At War With? That's Classified.

* Six Ways Congress May Reform NSA Snooping.

* NSA Says It Can't Search Its Own E-Mails.

* Does The NSA Tap That?

* Obama Explains The Difference Between His Spying And Bush's Spying.

* FAQ: What You Need To Know About The NSA's Surveillance Programs.

* NSA: Responding To This FOIA Would Help "Our Adversaries".

* Fact-Check: The NSA And 9/11.

* The NSA's Black Hole: 5 Things We Still Don't Know About The Agency's Snooping.

* Defenders Of NSA Surveillance Citing Chicago Case Omit Most Of Mumbai Plotter's Story.

* Obama's War On Truth And Transparency.

* ProPublica's Guide To The Best Stories On The Growing Surveillance State.

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See also:
* Jimmy Carter: America's Shameful Human Rights Record.

* James Goodale: Only Nixon Harmed A Free Press More.

* Daniel Ellsberg: Obama Has Committed Impeachable Offenses.

* Paul Steiger: Why Reporters In The U.S. Now Need Protection.

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Comments welcome.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 12:04 AM | Permalink

October 26, 2016

The Blue & Orange Kool-Aid Report: America's Next Top QB

I have two critiques of Brian Hoyer's performance as a Bear: He is 30-years-old and his bones are susceptible to injury.

If he can overcome those two shortcomings, he should be an unstoppable force in 2017.

Hoyer was removed from last week's game in the second quarter due to what was later revealed to be a broken arm, which I specifically told him not to do, dammit!

He was replaced by obligatory USC product Matt Barkley, who performed as if he hadn't being doin' much in the way of footballin' since he left the Trojans.

Based on his comments in the postgame news conference, head coach John Fox seemed as underwhelmed as the rest of Bear Nation.

"The personnel people thought he was a taller guy that stood in the pocket pretty well," said Fox (read: I don't know what numbnuts put this guy on my team, but he's a definitely five-foot-nine statue who choked on the big stage).

Fox's tone became distant as he continued.

"A guy that we thought we could work with, that had some experience . . . "

At this point, Fox trailed off and began to blow air through his pursed his lips, the weight of 2016's horrendous start pushing down on him.

He vacantly stared out over the assembled press.

Reflections of simpler days overtook him, as he sought refuge in memories of the young farm boy he once was, running his hand over the blades of wheat that blew gently in Iowa's summer wind.

[Editor's Note: Ooooohkay. The Bears broke Carl again. Sheila, go grab the emergency Scotch while I correct a few things. John Fox played high school football in Chula Vista, California, a town whose only known "wheat" export is juiced wheat grass.The town's nickname is "The Lemon Capital Of The World." You're definitely thinking of the movie Gladiator.]

A distant smile crept across the coach's face as he remembered the feeling of running his small hands over the bumpy yellow bounty that grew from stalks in the ground . . .

[Editor's Note: Sheila, hurry the hell up! He doesn't know the difference between lemons and corn. I've got to patch him up enough to get something posted by tomorrow morning!]

The reporters continued to ask questions, but all Fox could hear were the dulcet tones of a soothing lullaby his mother used to sing . . . Stop, collaborate and listen. Ice is back with a brand new edition . . .

[Editor's Note: Alright, stay with me buddy. I need you to tilt your head back and take few big swallows of medicine.]

Gilk, gilk, gilk.

[Editor's Note: Carl? You ok? Talk to us.]

(Cough, shudder)

. . . And then Brandon Marshall lit up his former teammates on Twitter like Elvira blowing up a gas station on her way to Falwell.

[Editor's Note: Brief mention of a former Bear, reference to an obscure movie scene, link to a picture of a chesty brunette and something on fire; he's fine Sheila, you can get back to your desk. Tell my nine o'clock I'll be in shortly.]

Ugh. What the hell happened?

[Editor's Note: It was the game. At least you weren't bleeding from the nose this time. I mean, we all expected it to be bad, but none of us had any idea how terrible the offense would perform without Hoyer running it.]

No! The Scotch! Was that Johnny Walker Red?! C'mon bro, I know you've got a bottle of Glenfiddich in your desk drawer!

[Editor's Note: I've got a meeting with some potential advertisers. Try to talk a little football while I go scare up some revenue, would you?]

Right. Sure. Whatever.

Obviously, we were all hoping for a spark out of Barkley.

[Editor's Note: Then we could call him Sparkley.]

[Writer's Note: I'll tell the jokes here, thank you. Now, as I was saying . . . ]

Obviously, we were all hoping for a spark out of Barkley. Not just for the sake of beating the Packers (which the Bears did masterfully - if by "did" you mean get outscored 26-10), but to provide some hope that Chicago has something, anything, in the pipeline as far as a young, potentially future starting QB amid what has clearly become a rebuild.

After witnessing Barkley's performance, the Bears medically cleared Jay Cutler to return to action.

What a co-inky-dink!

Hoyer played well enough during the last several games to earn himself a job somewhere in the NFL so, even though he'll spend the rest of 2016 holding a clipboard in his left hand, don't feel too bad for him.

Mr. Cutler, on the other hand (the hand that has a good thumb), looks to spend the next 10 weeks proving to the rest of the world that he has the ability to continue plying his trade at the highest level.

With the guaranteed dollars on his contract set to expire at the end of this season, he'll not only be auditioning for all 32 teams but also attempting to royally fuck up the Bears' chances of securing a top ten draft pick.

Will that be enough motivation for Smokin' Jay to lead the Chicago to win, say, six out of the final nine games?

Haha!

I almost said sixty-nine.

Sure, they found a way to lose to the Jaguars, but with the help of several key cogs coming back from injury, is it really that insane to think that this team can beat the Bucs, Giants, Titans, 49ers, Redskins and just one game against the Vikings, Packers or Lions?

Jay, would you like to secure your future in the NFL and screw a city that has never really fully embraced your efforts, despite being arguably the best quarterback in its history?

That's what I thought.

What Worked

• Leonard Floyd: Many of us have not only written off Floyd, but have begun to seriously question the scouting ability of the man who drafted him. On Thursday night, Floyd had two sacks, a tackle for loss, a forced fumble and a touchdown.

  Perhaps we spoke too soon on both accounts?

  As a counter-argument, I give you Kevin White.

  Remember him? Didn't think so.

  But on an otherwise depressing night, the man who is so football-skinny that he's nearly transparent flashed the kind of physical brilliance Ryan Pace banked on last draft day.

• Uh, The Defense I Guess? Through three quarters, the defense did a good job of holding Green Bay in check and even scored the Bears' lone touchdown.

  But then the fourth quarter happened, the Packers cashed in their opportunities on an exhausted squad, and everyone who doesn't love the Cubs went to bed sad.

  That said, gutty performance for a unit that got no help from their offense.

What . . . I Mean Really. What?!

• Quarterback Play: 81 yards and two picks. That's Matt Barkley's line. Which sucks eggs.

  Fun fact (fun, if you're into the thrill of encountering a mute guy dressed as a clown in the forest): Hoyer's line wasn't any better. He was a whopping four for eleven before Julius Peppers put an end to his arm's season*.

  Hey, maybe holding an open audition at running right now will help things?

  Oh, it didn't? Fuuuuuuck!

Eye On The Opposition: The Deep D
Like the Bears, the Minnesota Vikings have been dealing with a slew of injuries to key players and have also suffered a loss at the hands of the Eagles.

In addition, they play 11 men on the field at once and compete in the NFC's North division, but that's about where the similarities end.

For one, the Vikings win football games.

In 2016.

Which is this year.

Secondly, Minnesota has an exceptional D** and enough depth on their roster to absorb a seemingly endless string of injuries. The defensive unit that represents the Land O' Lakes comes into the week leading the NFL in scoring defense and total defense.

Here's the good news(?) - Our ol' friend Jay Cutler is likely to start this Monday . . . wait, the NFL gave the Bears another primetime game?

If I wanted to flaunt my shame in front of the entire nation, I'd just wander down to Washington Street and waggle my third testicle in front of the glass backdrop of the CBS evening news during a live taping.

On paper, this looks like a horrendous matchup for the Bears, but only because it is.

The Vikes' aforementioned top defense allows 14 points a game, while the Bears offense ranks last in scoring at 16 points per game.

So while Brian Hoyer sure looked good between the 20s, it doesn't take a deep dive into whatever the NFL equivalent of sabermetrics are to conclude that maybe he wasn't as valuable as he looked, given that his level of play did not lead to points.

Minnesota's weakness at the moment is their offense. Their O-line is banged up, QB Sam Bradford is one stiff wind away from a rotator cuff tear, and they have a couple of fullbacks filling in for the injured Adrian Peterson.

With the Chicago linebacking corps nearing full strength, it's possible that this game could be close.

Kool-Aid (1 of 5 Rocks Glasses Of Any Kind Of Whiskey)
My current favorite Monday whiskey these days is Breckenridge.

But do whatever feels right.

As long as whatever you're drinking is strong because this game has very little intrigue as a standalone product.

Bears fans interested in the Jay Cutler's play and the coaching staff's strategy for the remainder of the season can hold your attention if you're planning on coming back for more abuse next year.

Actually, even those guys should just DVR it.

To make this game a contest, the Bears are going to have to do three things: Put Sam Bradford on his ass (possible); put the ball in Alshon Jeffery's hands (with Cutler back, also possible); and put together a decent rushing attack (if we're relying on Ka'Deem Carey again for some reason, unlikely).

So there is a path to victory, and the Vikings look more vulnerable than usual coming into the game.

Will it be enough?

Nope.

Turnovers will doom the Bears to a 1-7 start.

Vikings 20, Bears 13

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About The Author
The Author understands that your time is valuable, and if you choose to spend Monday night doing something besides watching the Bears game (for instance, putting an entire loaf of ciabatta bread in your mouth at once), The Author will not hold it against you.

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* As an aside, try saying "Hoyer Arm" five times fast. Are your co-workers laughing at you yet?

** Not to be confused with the pubic hair-straightening product, "Exceptional D."

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Carl Mohrbacher is our man on the Kool-Aid. He tolerates your comments.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 5:05 PM | Permalink

The [Wednesday] Papers

I like checking out the way sporting events are written up in the opposition media just to get a sense of how the other side sees things, as well as a reminder to my own readers of the way sports coverage is delivered through a hometown prism not unlike the partisan prism that people tend to interpret politics through. So here's what the Cleveland Plain Dealer had to say about Tuesday night's World Series opener:

Regular season, postseason, it doesn't matter. The Kluber Express continues to roll.

And it always helps to have Andrew Miller in the bullpen and Roberto Perez squatting behind the plate.

Kluber threw six scoreless innings Tuesday night and Perez hit two homers as the Indians beat the Cubs, 6-0, in Game 1 of the World Series at Progressive Field. The win made manager Terry Francona 9-0 in World Series games and gave the Indians an 8-1 record in this postseason.

In four starts this postseason, Kluber is 3-1 with a 0.74 ERA. In his last 22 starts, he's 15-3.

Wow, it's as if the Cubs don't even exist!

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Also from the Plain Dealer:

With the Indians three wins away from a World Series championship, 7-Eleven is getting into the let's offer Tribe fans free or discounted food game.

The convenience store is offering its Big Bite Hot Dogs at its nearly 100 Cleveland-area locations for 68 cents during the run of the World Series. Why 68 cents? Because the Indians last won the Fall Classic in 1948. And 2016 minus 1948 equals 68. Get it? Would selling the hot dogs, normally around $2, for 48 cents have made more sense? Perhaps, but hey, quarter-pound hot dogs don't grow on trees.

(7-Eleven is running a deal in Chicago as well: $1.08 for a Big Bite Hot Dog and Big Gulp in honor of the 108 years since the Cubs last won the Series.)

I did not know that. I had to read the Cleveland press to find out! But the PD's Joey Morona just couldn't leave well enough alone.

"Now that's we call a home run," a clever press release said.

Really, Joey? Does that pass for clever in Cleveland?

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Remember: Without the "r," Cleveland isn't clever.

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I just made that up.

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Though I can't be the first.

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Willette: So Cub fans pay more because they had to wait longer - haven't they suffered long enough? If KC were playing hot dogs would be a penny!

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P.S.: "In other free World Series food news, Eat n' Park is offering diners wearing Indians gear free Smiley Cookies with their meals at its Northeast Ohio locations. And, remember, you can pick up a free Doritos Loco Taco at Taco Bell on Nov. 2 from 2-6 p.m. thanks to Francisco Lindor's stolen base in the first inning of Game 1."

*

By the way, the lead news story in Cleveland this morning, besides the World Series and the Cavaliers home opener:

The schemes described in a federal indictment against former MetroHealth executive Edward Hills and three former hospital dentists undertook were complex, intertwined and lasted for years.

They also involved about $250,000, much of which was taxpayer money. Meanwhile, Hills was being paid increasingly larger six-figure salaries for his work at the hospital system.

The U.S. Attorney's Office laid out its accusations in a 93-page indictment unsealed Tuesday, following the arrest of Hills and dentists Sari Alqsous, Yazan Al-Madani and Tariq Sayegh. The charges say the men steered MetroHealth clients and resources toward their private businesses and forced prospective residents to pay them bribes in exchange for preferential treatment.

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Finally, the continuing self-inflicted struggle for newspapers is real:

Newspaper websites 2016, continued. Cleveland dot com, home of the Plain Dealer: pic.twitter.com/JwRN23s3VB

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) October 26, 2016

That's the top of the site. Nice branding.

*

Idea: A national fund - be it Kickstarter or foundation money - to support the retrofits of newspaper websites in order that they may flourish instead of leaving so much money on the table. Perhaps an infrastructure fund!

*

The New York Times has a nice, if flawed, site, and the Washington Post has made strides, but that's about it for the industry.

And, of course, design doesn't exist in a bubble, so any retrofitting must include an editorial/content retrofit - for example, the introduction of my patent-pending "every beat a blog" concept, disaggregating "sections," and tripling down on stables of verticals and niches.

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World Series Notebook 2: Choke Job
Lester set the tone, Maddon set the lineup, and Schwarber set something, what we're not sure.

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AT&T Spying On Americans For Profit
Oh, ho-hum, just more out-of-control mass surveillance, no big whoop.

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Here's some of the spy services AT&T offers law enforcement https://t.co/F9TuWcupG7 pic.twitter.com/9wUGVxlvLG

— Justin Miller (@justinjm1) October 25, 2016

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See also:

This is eternal story of surveillance: first it's terrorism, then it's drug cases, then it's unregistered drivers. https://t.co/lXhAqYwoK0 pic.twitter.com/t8K0b8D7mY

— R Levinson-Waldman (@RachelBLevinson) October 25, 2016

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What I Watched Last Night: Blades Of Bad-Assery
"Given my total lack of aptitude for anything involving tools, I'm always interested in seeing how true craftsmen end up manufacturing awesome shit out of basically nothing," our very own Scott Buckner writes.

"If I learned anything from the three-round, $10,000 winner-take-all elimination competition between four bladesmiths that is Forged in Fire, it was this: It might take a village to raise a child, but it takes a guy with an anvil to arm the village."

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BeachBook

Cubs Fan Ready To Get Completely Drunk Again On Only Two Days' Rest.

*

There's a lot going on here.

*

Logan Square.

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Chicago magazine has wisely asked him to do this for its (nicely designed) website for every World Series game.

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TweetWood
A sampling.

Revealing how politicians only say what they really believe when speaking in secret to Goldman Sachs & other banks: shows who they serve... https://t.co/ajzBDDdKT2

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) October 26, 2016

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I don't remember that. Are you sure?

On this day in 2005, Jermaine Dye's RBI single gave the White Sox its first World Series title since 1917 https://t.co/JSF6sXSS9a pic.twitter.com/Gwv9fDPewh

— Chicago Tribune (@chicagotribune) October 26, 2016

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The Beachwood Tronc Line: Cleverer.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 9:57 AM | Permalink

World Series Notebook 2: Choke Job

Let's face it: Jon Lester choked.

Sure, the Cubs' bats (and Joe Maddon's managing) went cold again, but the game's winning runs were scored in the first inning, when the tone was set.

"It comes down to the first inning," Lester said afterward. "The first inning was tonight's game."

Of course, the other big inning was the seventh, when the Cubs loaded the bases with nobody out and failed to push even one run across the plate.

This is where Maddon - and the (controversial) rostering of Kyle Schwarber - came into play.

With the Cubs down 3-0, Ben Zobrist opened the inning with a single. Schwarber drew a walk. Javy Baez singled to left. Willson Contreras pinch hit for Chris Coghlan, who got the start in right over Jason Heyward. Contreras flied out to shallow center, but Schwarber took off for third anyway. Only the inattentive Rajai Davis prevented an easy double play there by throwing home, even though Zobrist didn't attempt to score. Schwarber made it back to second in time to watch Addison Russell and David Ross strike out to end the threat.

It was nice that Schwarber walked, but is that the match-up you really want there - a guy who hasn't seen a major league pitcher for six months who slashed .143/.213.268 against lefties last year facing the best lefty reliever in the universe in Andrew Miller? Seems like the perfect time to bring Contreras in instead of waiting for the Coghlan at-bat. (Coghlan is slashing .289/.426/.474 against lefties in the last 28 days.)

This is where Schwarber's place on the playoff roster bites you. As much as you probably wouldn't have started righty Contreras as the DH against the Corey Kluber, who is hell on right-handers, you might have liked to have had lefty Tommy La Stella and/or righty Matt Szczur available.

Now, some folks are saying Schwarber had the best Cubs at-bats all night. Perhaps. But here's Maddon:

"You could see on the finish sometimes maybe the brace grabs him just a little bit. I kind of noticed that."

Look, Schwarber could turn out to be a World Series hero. It just feels like the Cubs' bench is suddenly short, given that you have two guys who can't hit in Heyward and Miguel Montero and one guy who can't field in Kyle.

*

The Tribune's David Haugh, who advocated for Schwarber's inclusion on the roster, said on The Score this morning that "They need to get the hot hitter in the lineup." He was talking about Contreras.

With the DH spot taken up by Schwarber and Ross and Montero slated to catch the first two games of the series, that means left field, a position he has barely played since July, with Ben Zobrist (who went 3-for-4 last night) shifting to right.

I'm not sure you want to do that - at least on the road in an unfamiliar park.

*

If not for the Cleveland's home field advantage thanks to a Kansas City Royal in a pretend game three months ago, I wonder if Schwarber would've been taken just to sit around waiting to pinch hit in the first two games and again in possible Games 6 and 7.

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Now watch Schwarber win tonight's game with a grand slam. Still, as Maddon likes to say, don't fall victim to outcome bias!

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But he just missed a home run!

No, he didn't.

Kyle Schwarber's double was hit 96 MPH at a 27 degree launch angle... That's only a HR 12% of the time. pic.twitter.com/10lNRLrKGO

— Daren Willman (@darenw) October 26, 2016

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Pitch Framing
It must be hard to be a sports fan who thinks every umpire and broadcaster is against your team. Cubs fans sounded like White Sox fans last night, particularly when it came to the strike zone. Breaking news:

According to @ESPNStatsInfo through 3 IP, Kluber has gotten one called strike outside the zone and Lester has had one strike called a ball

— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) October 26, 2016

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From our very own Roger "White Sox Report" Wallenstein:

Pat Tomasulo on WGN this morning predicted that no pitcher would be able to beat the Cubs three times in a seven-game series, negating Corey Kluber's chances of matching, for instance, Lew Burdette's three wins in 1957 against the Yankees (3 starts, 3 complete games, 2 shutouts along with a 4-2 win) or even Madison Bumgarner in 2014 when he won twice, limiting the Royals to one earned run in 21 innings.

Tomasulo might turn out to be correct, but Kluber's statistics dictate that the Cubs had better win the games Kluber does not pitch.

Consider the following:

Kluber started 32 games this season, 16 at home and a like number away. He faced the Tigers, a hard-hitting team, four times, recording a 3-0 record and a 2.25 ERA. They hit .173 against him. His WHIP was an eye-opening 0.821.

He also started four times against the Royals, the defending champions, and was 2-1 with a 2.59 ERA. The Royals hit .233 against him. Kluber's WHIP in those games was a more-than-respectable 1.192.

In the eight games against Detroit and Kansas City, Kluber pitched 45 innings and allowed just 38 hits.

So a team's familiarity with Kluber doesn't necessarily mean that he is more vulnerable. In fact, it's the opposing hitters who might be more vulnerable, judging from the record.

Kluber was 10-5 at home with a 3.24 ERA. Opponents hit .221 against him at Progressive Field. On the road, Kluber went 8-4 with a 3.03 ERA and opponents hit .210. He gave up 22 home runs this season, 14 at home and eight on the road. Hence Kluber was maybe a tad more effective away from home than he was pitching in front of the home crowd.

Kluber also was a much better pitcher after the first two months of the season when he was 4-6. The rest of the season he went 14-3 including 8-1 the final two months with a 2.87 ERA. His only loss was a 4-3 decision against Houston on September 6.

Francona pulled Kluber after 88 pitches last night. I'm not saying that no other manager would have done that, but some non-thinkers might have kept him in the game. Kluber seems poised to pitch again Saturday night at Wrigley and certainly could be available for a Game 7.

Francona is well aware that no other available starter can approach Kluber's caliber. Take tonight's starter Trevor Bauer. Although he finished 12-8, in August and September he was 5-4 with an ERA of 5.62. In addition, the guy has been pretty awful in the first inning where he's yielded 20 earned runs in 28 innings for an ERA of 6.43. He's also been ineffective in the third inning this season with a 6.11 ERA. If Francona leaves him in until the sixth inning, which is doubtful, his ERA for that frame is a whopping 7.25.

So the Cubs need to get to Bauer early, not only tonight but down the line if Bauer gets another start. And it would behoove the North Siders to gang up on any pitcher not named Kluber in this series.

Having said all this, in the LCS Clayton Kershaw, obviously in the same class as Kluber, shut out the Cubs in Game 2 but got bounced around in Game 6. That's what makes this game so interesting.

As I said on The Beachwood Radio Sports Hour #124 on Saturday, I learned from the Minnesota Twins' World Series championships that you only need two starters and a closer to get through baseball's playoffs. That's perhaps the biggest factor that makes playoff baseball different than regular season baseball - and why so many folks think the playoffs are a crapshoot that doesn't necessarily reward the season's best team. I'm still not so sure about that kind of analysis, because who's to say Cleveland isn't the best team right now, but this would be one argument to bolster the notion.

Plus:

On normal rest; Kluber would throw 5-6 starts in 30 days and presumably 500-600 pitches. Meaning: He's well well rested. https://t.co/MtgOb9e2mB

— Kyle Rudy (@rudykyle) October 26, 2016

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Bullpen Bollocks
Who do you trust in the Cubs bullpen right now? Justin Grimm and Hector Rondon stunk it up last night, and everyone except Maddon has learned you can't bring Aroldis Chapman in unless it's to start the ninth. Travis Wood has devolved to a left-handed specialist. Basically, you've got Mike Montgomery and Carl Edwards Jr., with Pedro Strop if you must.

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Top Tweets

They didn't.

Hey, @BeachwoodOhio, wanna make a bet?

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) October 25, 2016

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Dear White Sox fans:

National media also missed three championships by my floor hockey team, Moe's Tavern. #rigged #whitesox #norespect

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) October 25, 2016

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Guess Jason Heyward made the right decision choosing the Cubs. If he was on our team, he'd just be sitting and watching the game right now

— Kathryn Yeager (@kayeager24) October 26, 2016

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You have a choice tonight. You can either root for the Cubs or you can make things awkward with a red-skinned Indian caricature on your cap.

— Claire Suddath (@clairesuddath) October 26, 2016

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Six straight Cubs retired in World Series play. Three of them are dead.

— (((Jesse Spector))) (@jessespector) October 26, 2016

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The Bloodshot skellies are ready to #FlyTheW! They were alive the last time the Cubs won the #WorldSeries. #GoCubsGo pic.twitter.com/bM3317zSTN

— Bloodshot Records (@BSHQ) October 26, 2016

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Wtf is this Cleveland. pic.twitter.com/ZdFGcnssNJ

— alex tumay (@alextumay) October 25, 2016

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pic.twitter.com/d18SznV06i

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) October 26, 2016

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Alright I changed how my hat was sitting on my head, and flipped sides of the couch it's all good. #Cubs #WorldSeries

— Ryne Smith (@RyneSmith_) October 26, 2016

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Redface is racism. The headdress is to be honored, not belittled. We, Native Americans, are humans. Not commodities. We are not mascots. https://t.co/2vt2Cmi6bC

— Simon Moya-Smith (@SimonMoyaSmith) October 25, 2016

Clown pic.twitter.com/mg5XDD4bDb

— Paul Sullivan (@PWSullivan) October 25, 2016

@PWSullivan i hate 99% of white people

— Candy Corn Warrior (@TheRealBackBay) October 25, 2016

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Not sure if he means "the black part" of Chicago or the southwest suburbs. So either racist, ignorant or both. https://t.co/mlsl16Azzs

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) October 26, 2016

my pick for the #worldseries: either way, cubs fans win because they don't have to live in cleveland or the white sox part of chicago.

— daniel tosh (@danieltosh) October 25, 2016

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Don't shoot, those bats in our hands are only toys. https://t.co/AGy6BiNQlp

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) October 26, 2016

Missing persons report filed for @Cubs offense. 👮🏽#RallyTogether #gooseegg 🐣 #GoTribe 😳⚾️⚾️⚾️⚾️ @Indians

— Cleveland Police (@CLEpolice) October 26, 2016

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On Baseball: After 71 Years, Cubs Fall Flat in Game 1 https://t.co/UZOzB7IX7E

— Tyler Kepner (@TylerKepner) October 26, 2016

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Re last retweet Maddon said he kind of misspoke pregame, Schwarber hasn't been cleared to play the field by doctors...

— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) October 26, 2016

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Comments welcome.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 8:22 AM | Permalink

What I Watched Last Night: Blades Of Bad-Assery

Eventually, 24-hour news-channel coverage of Donald Trump's campaign of crash-and-burn turns into droning redundancy, so it was nice to find the History Channel in the middle of a Forged in Fire marathon all day Tuesday. I've lived a cable TV-deprived existence for a number of years, so it was refreshing to spend a few hours with a cable program not devoted to The Orange Man proclaiming every single thing under the sun "a total disaster."

Given my total lack of aptitude for anything involving tools, I'm always interested in seeing how true craftsmen end up manufacturing awesome shit out of basically nothing. If I learned anything from the three-round, $10,000 winner-take-all elimination competition between four bladesmiths that is Forged, it was this: It might take a village to raise a child, but it takes a guy with an anvil to arm the village.

The first two elimination rounds are staged in the Forged studio shop, which is equipped with all your basic hearth and forge equipment. This gives the joint all the sweaty ambience of a blast furnace, which creates perfect conditions for bladesmiths not in the greatest of health to begin with to occasionally dehydrate, pass out, or practically die from heart palpitations. Forged isn't exactly high drama, so it's a bit of a big deal when the medics get called for something that doesn't involve blood.

The series is hosted by Wil Willis, whose main job is to tick off the time remaining by yelling loudly. When he's not doing that, his job is to sound dramatic with the usual reality-show pregnant pauses that cue the next commercial for Crown Royal Vanilla, which is just all sorts of wrong.

Willis is backed by a three-judge panel consisting (at least in the first season or two) of knife and sword mastersmith J. Neilson, historical-weapons authority and swordsmith David Baker, and edged-weapons combat specialist Doug Marcaida. Basically, the trio know a good blade when they see one . . .

. . . and know how to murder the hell out of it to see if it will hold up . . .

When they're not trying to destroy someone's creation, they engage in a running commentary regarding everyone's progress, which is rather helpful to those of us who don't know shit about making an Indiana Jones sword from scratch.

Ornamentation does earn a few points on the show, but for the judges, the only thing that really matters at the end of the day is performance. Bladetestant creations are judged on balance, construction and utility. Sure, a Braveheart broadsword may indeed look like it could spit death, but having one that's light enough to swing all battle long without the blade going dull or being all bendy is what really counts when it comes to slicing, dicing, beheading and bashing in the skulls of an entire marauding horde.

Unlike competition shows like Hell's Kitchen, bladetestants on Forged tend to know what they're doing. Usually. Bending steel in your bare hands to design and build something you've just pulled out of your ass in three hours is not simple or easy, and - like anything else in manufacturing - there are plenty of ways for things to go wrong. That's the sort of train wreck that reality-contest shows love to serve up, but salvaging a roast that's a little burndy isn't quite as complicated as salvaging a hunk of metal that's gone to shit because some little thing in your manufacturing process was a bit off or dumb-ass you failed to notice you've used 24-hour epoxy on your handle instead of the instant-drying stuff.

Naturally, when you mix fire and grinders and welding torches, there are plenty of ways to grind off a finger or light yourself on fire. Consequently, the competitions can be pretty riveting when the challenge is to forge something new and bad-ass out of chainsaw parts, garden hoe, shovel, ax, ball bearings and old lawn mower blades.

As one bladetestant put it, "It doesn't have to be the best blade. It just has to be better than the your competitor's blade."

The biggest challenge comes for the last two bladetestants standing, when they're sent home to their backyard shops to create some wild-ass thing out of distant history they've usually never heard of, much less seen an example of, such as a chakram, a nasty throwing weapon invented in India. Unlike the studio-shop challenge where raw materials are provided, the two bladetestant finalists are sent home to figure out this shit on their own within five days. It's a bit of a guilty pleasure to watch them struggle - and disasters unfold - but it all seems less problematic than trying to boil a pot of risotto to please some screaming kitchen Scotsman.

Overall, the losers take losing in stride, because they recognize where they went wrong. Sometimes though, you get guys like Craig, who got a little emotional after losing the final showdown with contestant Salem on Episode 2 of Season 2. "I need about three gin-and-tonics to make the bad man in the back of my head go away."

Still, the bladetestants on Forged make me a bit envious, given the fact that Donald Trump would be spot-on if he added my tool and shop abilities to his endless list of complete disasters. Still, that doesn't stop me from imagining what kind of totally bitchin' last-minute steak knife gift sets I might come up with whenever Christmas rolled around.

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Submissions to What I Watched Last Night - and comments - welcome.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 12:50 AM | Permalink

AT&T Spying On Americans For Profit

Telecommunications giant AT&T is spying on Americans for profit and helped law enforcement agencies investigate everything from the so-called war on drugs to Medicaid fraud - all at taxpayers' expense, according to new reporting by The Daily Beast.

The program, known as Project Hemisphere, allowed state and local agencies to conduct warrantless searches of trillions of call records and other cellular data - such as "where a target is located, with whom he speaks, and potentially why" - for a massive range of investigations, the Beast's Kenneth Lipp reports.

In one case examined by the news outlet, a sheriff's office in Victorville, California used Hemisphere to track down a homicide suspect.

Hemisphere was first revealed by the New York Times in 2013, but was described at the time as a "partnership" between AT&T and drug enforcement agencies used in counter-narcotics operations.

Neither, it turns out, is entirely true. Lipp writes:

AT&T's own documentation - reported here by The Daily Beast for the first time - shows Hemisphere was used far beyond the war on drugs to include everything from investigations of homicide to Medicaid fraud.

Hemisphere isn't a "partnership" but rather a product AT&T developed, marketed, and sold at a cost of millions of dollars per year to taxpayers. No warrant is required to make use of the company's massive trove of data, according to AT&T documents, only a promise from law enforcement to not disclose Hemisphere if an investigation using it becomes public.

The details were revealed as AT&T seeks to buy out Time Warner in a mega-merger that media watchdogs are warning would create "dangerous concentrations of political and economic power."

Evan Greer, campaign director at the digital rights group Fight for the Future, said Tuesday, "The for-profit spying program that these documents detail is more terrifying than the illegal [National Security Agency] surveillance programs that Edward Snowden exposed. Far beyond the NSA and FBI, these tools are accessible to a wide range of law enforcement officers including local police, without a warrant, as long as they pay up. It makes me sick to my stomach thinking about it."

While the government can request that private companies hand over user data, the documents show that AT&T went above and beyond to make the operation profitable, Lipp writes. ACLU technology policy analyst Christopher Soghoian told the Beast, "Companies have to give this data to law enforcement upon request, if they have it. AT&T doesn't have to data-mine its database to help police come up with new numbers to investigate."

And because the contract between the telecom company and the U.S. government stipulates only that agents not speak about Hemisphere if a probe using it becomes public, investigators may be left with no choice but to create a false narrative to explain how they obtained certain evidence, according to Electronic Frontier Foundation attorney Adam Schwartz.

"This document here is striking," Schwartz told Beast. "I've seen documents produced by the government regarding Hemisphere, but this is the first time I've seen an AT&T document which requires parallel construction in a service to government. It's very troubling and not the way law enforcement should work in this country.

"At a minimum there is a very serious question whether they should be doing it without a warrant. A benefit to the parallel construction is they never have to face that crucible. Then the judge, the defendant, the general public, the media, and elected officials never know that AT&T and police across America funded by the White House are using the world's largest metadata database to surveil people."

Fight for the Future's Greer said that "Customers trusted AT&T with some of their most private information, and the company turned around and literally built a product to sell that information to as many government agencies and police departments as they could. Not only did they fail to have any safeguards to prevent unauthorized use of the data, they actually required law enforcement to keep the program secret and dig up or fabricate other evidence, to hide the fact that they'd received information from AT&T."

Fight for the Future called on AT&T to shut down the program and on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate Hemisphere and reveal all the cases in which it was used.

"If companies are allowed to operate in this manner without repercussions, our democracy has no future," Greer said.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

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See also:

New report: If you use @ATT, they've been tracking you since 1987 and secretly selling it to cops without a warrant. https://t.co/QAxNrC9uqP pic.twitter.com/BF5rtCVrFY

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) October 25, 2016

*

For the first time, @thedailybeast has revealed AT&T documents about the secretive Hemisphere call records program https://t.co/zOdCsckfIk

— EFF (@EFF) October 25, 2016

*

.@thedailybeast has cracked Hemisphere, and it looks like AT&T performing in-house surveillance for law enforcement: https://t.co/7OyXEVdX4V

— Spencer Ackerman (@attackerman) October 25, 2016

*

Nobody gave or told me any of this, it's all buried online, mostly municipal clouds. This is apparently how we gotta do.

— Kenneth Lipp (@kennethlipp) October 25, 2016

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Previously:
* ACLU Demands Secret U.S. Court Reveal Secret U.S. Laws.

* Obama's New Era Of Secret Law.

* EFF To Court: Government Must Inform People That It's Accessing Their E-Mails, Personal Data.

* A Plea To Citizens, Websites: Fight The Expansion Of Government Powers To Break Into Users' Computers.

* NSA Today: Archives Of Spy Agency's Internal Newsletter Culled From Snowden Documents.

* U.S. Surveillance Court A Bigger Rubber Stamp Than Chicago City Council.

* Obama Won't Tell Congress How Many Innocent Americans He's Spying On.

* Ruling Unsealed: National Security Letters Upheld As Constitutional.

* EFF Sues For Secret Court Orders Requiring Tech Companies To Decrypt Users' Communications.

* Trying (And Trying) To Get Records From The 'Most Transparent Administration' Ever.

* EFF Urges Appeals Court To Allow Wikimedia And Others To Fight NSA Surveillance.

* U.S. Government Reveals Breadth Of Requests For Internet Records.

* What's The Evidence That Mass Surveillance Works? Not Much.

* Why The Close Collaboration Between The NSA And AT&T Matters.

* First Library To Support Anonymous Internet Browsing Effort Stops After DHS E-Mail.

* EFF Sues For Records About 'Hemisphere' Phone Call Collection And Drug Enforcement Program.

* Snowden Documentarian Laura Poitras Sues U.S. Government To Uncover Records After Years Of Airport Detentions And Searches.

* Obama Secretly Expanded NSA Spying To Internet.

* Court: NSA Phone Program Illegal.

* The Chicago Connection To The Hidden Intelligence Breakdowns Behind The Mumbai Attacks.

* Human Rights Watch Sues DEA Over Bulk Collection Of American's Telephone Records.

* U.S. Secretly Tracked Billions Of Calls For Decades.

* Amnesty International Joins ACLU, Wikimedia In Lawsuit To Stop Mass Surveillance Program.

* Stop Spying On Wikipedia Users.

* EFF Wins Battle Over Secret Legal Opinions On Government Spying.

* The NSA's "U.S. Corporate Partners."

* I Fight Surveillance.

* Illegal Spying Below.

* Smith vs. Obama.

* EFF Sues NSA Over FOIA.

* Stand Against Spying.

* The NSA Revelations All In One Chart.

* U.S. Supreme Court Limits Cell Phone Searches.

* EFF To Court: There's No Doubt The Government Destroyed NSA Spying Evidence.

* House Committee Puts NSA On Notice Over Encryption Standards.

* Which Tech Companies Help Protect You From Government Data Demands?

* Lawsuit Demands DOJ Release More Secret Surveillance Court Rulings.

* Human Rights Organizations To Foreign Ministers: Stop Spying On Us.

* What The Proposed NSA Reforms Wouldn't Do.

* Technologists Turn On Obama.

* Dear Supreme Court: Set Limits On Cell Phone Searches.

* EFF Fights National Security Letter Demands On Behalf Of Telecom, Internet Company.

* Eighth-Grader Schools The NSA.

* You Know Who Else Collected Metadata? The Stasi.

* Today We Fight Back.

* The Day We Fight Back.

* FAQ: The NSA's Angry Birds.

* Jon Stewart: The Old Hope-A-Dope.

* Four Blatantly False Claims Obama Has Made About NSA Surveillance.

* EFF To DOJ In Lawsuit: Stop Pretending Information Revealed About NSA Over Last Seven Months Is Still A Secret.

* Judge On NSA Case Cites 9/11 Report, But It Doesn't Actually Support His Ruling.

* Edward Snowden's Christmas Message.

* Jon Stewart: Obama Totally Lying About NSA Spying.

* Presidential Panel To NSA: Stop Undermining Encryption.

* The NSA Is Coming To Town.

* 60 Minutes We Can't Get Back.

* Why Care About The NSA?

* NSA Surveillance Drives Writers To Self-Censor.

* Filed: 22 Firsthand Accounts Of How NSA Surveillance Chilled The Right To Association.

* Claim On 'Attacks Thwarted' By NSA Spreads Despite Lack Of Evidence.

* Obama Vs. The World.

* How A Telecom Helped The Government Spy On Me.

* UN Member States Asked To End Unchecked Surveillance.

* Government Standards Agency: Don't Follow Our Encryption Guidelines Because NSA.

* Five More Organizations Join Lawsuit Against NSA.

* A Scandal Of Historic Proportions.

* Item: NSA Briefing.

* The Case Of The Missing NSA Blog Post.

* The NSA Is Out Of Control.

* Patriot Act Author Joins Lawsuit Against NSA.

* Obama's Promises Disappear From Web.

* Why NSA Snooping Is A Bigger Deal In Germany.

* Item: Today's NSA Briefing.

* NSA Briefing: It Just Got Worse (Again).

* Song of the Moment: Party at the NSA.

* It Not Only Can Happen Here, It Is Happening Here.

* What NSA Transparency Looks Like.

* America's Lying About Spying: Worse Than You Think.

* Obama Continues To Lie His Ass Off About The NSA.

* The Surveillance Reforms Obama Supported Before He Was President.

* America's Spying: Worse Than You Think.

* Has The U.S. Government Lied About Its Snooping? Let's Go To The Videotape.

* Who Are We At War With? That's Classified.

* Six Ways Congress May Reform NSA Snooping.

* NSA Says It Can't Search Its Own E-Mails.

* Does The NSA Tap That?

* Obama Explains The Difference Between His Spying And Bush's Spying.

* FAQ: What You Need To Know About The NSA's Surveillance Programs.

* NSA: Responding To This FOIA Would Help "Our Adversaries".

* Fact-Check: The NSA And 9/11.

* The NSA's Black Hole: 5 Things We Still Don't Know About The Agency's Snooping.

* Defenders Of NSA Surveillance Citing Chicago Case Omit Most Of Mumbai Plotter's Story.

* Obama's War On Truth And Transparency.

* ProPublica's Guide To The Best Stories On The Growing Surveillance State.

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See also:
* Jimmy Carter: America's Shameful Human Rights Record.

* James Goodale: Only Nixon Harmed A Free Press More.

* Daniel Ellsberg: Obama Has Committed Impeachable Offenses.

* Paul Steiger: Why Reporters In The U.S. Now Need Protection.

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Comments welcome.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 12:00 AM | Permalink

October 25, 2016

The [Tuesday] Papers

"People who tell small, self-serving lies are likely to progress to bigger falsehoods, and over time, the brain appears to adapt to the dishonesty, according to a new study," the New York Times reports.

"The finding, the researchers said, provides evidence for the 'slippery slope' sometimes described by wayward politicians, corrupt financiers, unfaithful spouses and others in explaining their misconduct."

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World Series Notebook 1: Bam Bam Is Back
But should he be? Plus: The Case for Jayson Heyward & Sad Cub Factor Marty.

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The Coming Corporate Tax-Break Trickery
Who will benefit from so-called "revenue neutral corporate tax-reform?" Hint: Not you.

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BeachBook

Central Illinois Soldier Killed In Afghanistan.

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TweetWood
A sampling.

So CPS poverty rate is down to 80% Two years ago: 86%. We've been asking CPS about this for months, but no answers. https://t.co/30nAFkqCk1

— Catalyst Chicago Mag (@CatalystChicago) October 25, 2016

*

No Politico, I should have highlighted both of these sentences because they're both really bad. pic.twitter.com/imaM2MBVSb

— IL Election Data (@ILElectionData) October 25, 2016

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"I'd love to talk about my impending indictment, but I gotta go get fitted for a wire."

Willie Cochran hustles out of CC chambers w/o talking about the fed.invest.of his campaign finances. Says he'd "love to" talk but can't.

— Fran Spielman (@fspielman) October 24, 2016

*

At what point do we acknowledge that @max_read discriminates against specific writers? pic.twitter.com/eoQ2Nluu39

— Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan) October 24, 2016

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The Beachwood Tronc Line: Game on.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 11:57 AM | Permalink

World Series Notebook 1: Bam Bam Is Back

I didn't think it would happen.

From The Cub Factor:

I find it hard to believe he's being seriously considered, but that's what reports say. Hey, Theo & Co. are far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far better talent evaluators than I am, and they have far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far more information than I do, but . . . really?

The guy essentially hasn't seen real pitching for a year, given that he was injured the first week of April. Now he's going to face a World Series-capable staff? Maybe he matches up well with Andrew Miller (Assignment Desk, activate!), but I doubt it, because as great a comic book hero as Schwarbs is, he was still a platoon player last year who couldn't hit lefties (.143/.213/.268).

And though he's been given surprise clearance to run as well as swing the bat, it's hard to imagine it's worth the risk to have him run with playoff intensity (apparently he's forbidden from sliding). So if he did get a hit (that was less than a home run), you'd have to pinch run for him and burn a guy on your bench. And in games at Wrigley, he'd only be available for pinch-hitting duties. So that's a roster spot that jams up virtually every way in which Joe Maddon has uses his bench, if you can even call it a bench because virtually everyone plays somehow, some way.

Then there is the question of who you would take off the roster to make room for Schwarber. The options would seem to be: Coghlan, Montero, Soler (who makes the most sense given that his role at this point is essentially to smack a pinch-hit home run) and only in the hearts of Cubs fans, Heyward. Then again, the Cubs could drop Rob Zastryzny and go back to the pitcher-position player ratio they used against the Giants. Zastryzny was put on the NLCS roster expressly to give Maddon another left-handed option against the left-handed Dodgers, and even then he didn't see any action.

The Cubs could also opt to drop Zastryzny and add back Matt Szczur or even Tommy La Stella, who would be a much safer pinch-hitting bet at this point than Schwarber.

Look, I love the idea of the Schwarber fairy tale too. I'm just kind of shocked at how seriously it's being taken. My read on the situation is that Schwarber got a surprising favorable doctor's report, he called Theo and begged to be considered, and - with nothing to lose and no reason to crush anyone's soul - they sent him to Arizona for a look-see. I could be wrong, but I don't think there's any way we see him in Cleveland.

Boy was I wrong.

Or maybe I'll be proven right!

*

Dave Cameron at Fangraphs saw it the same way I did in a thorough analysis, concluding:

I hope the Cubs put him on the roster. The spectacle would be great theatre, and he would make the series more intriguing. But from a pure baseball perspective, I might leave him at home, and give those Contreras at-bats instead.

*

The Tribune's David Haugh likes the move because it's "bold," which really isn't a good reason:

Activating Schwarber qualifies as a bold move, but the Cubs didn't win their first pennant in 71 years tiptoeing gingerly to the top. This would not be a regime anybody can call risk-averse. Whether trading for controversial closer Aroldis Chapman or reinstating AWOL infielder Tommy La Stella, the Cubs have been consistent letting baseball reasons rule their thinking. Schwarber is just the latest example.

Letting baseball reasons rule a front office's thinking is the opposite of bold, anyway; it's pragmatic.

Also, Haugh writes:

"The Cubs don't lose any versatility. If Schwarber requires burning a pinch-runner, so be it. That's the luxury of having so many players who play so many positions, making their roster more like a 28-man roster."

That's simply not true - none of it. The Cubs do lose versatility. It might be worth it, but a designated hitter/pinch hitter who can also play the field (and run the bases) is eminently more versatile, just by definition.

Finally, Haugh argues:

"We are talking about sacrificing the 25th man [I thought it was the 28th man!], in this case left-handed reliever Rob Zastryzny. Please avoid using the word unfair to describe how the unusual circumstances affect Zastryzny, the third lefty out of the bullpen who didn't pitch in the NLCS."

I have not heard or read anyone say the move was unfair to Zastryzny. Chances are he would have been left off the World Series roster even without Schwarber coming back.

*

Even the Fangraphs dude who watched Schwarber in his two Arizona Fall League games seemed half-hearted in his endorsement of adding him back to the team:

"[W]hile I can't deny the way Schwarber is running the bases is slightly disconcerting, I think there's enough juice in the bat right now to justify rostering him over either Chris Coghlan or Jorge Soler . . . Rostering him doesn't seem crazy to me."

*

The best case for Schwarber is simply this, which Haugh does also say: If he gets that one big hit, it could be worth it. And Cleveland will have to account for him. The Cubs braintrust obviously thought that was enough, and they haven't turned stupid overnight. Maybe we'll learn more about the internal discussions after the season.

Wayward Heyward
Also at Fangraphs, Craig Edwards makes a (surprisingly) persuasive case that Cubs manager Joe Maddon should keep sending Jason Heyward out to right field.

"Would you believe me if I told you Jason Heyward's play hasn't cost the Cubs anything this postseason?" Edwards asks, knowing our answer. Here's his answer:

"In the games during which he's been benched, Heyward's replacements, Jorge Soler and Albert Almora, have combined for an overall 0-for-17 mark with two walks, a sac bunt, and one double play (including all PA from Soler and Amora).

"Heyward hasn't had too many big opportunities in the field, but his 90-mph throw to nab Adrian Gonzalez at the plate in Game One of the NLCS was an important moment in that contest.

"And for as poor as Heyward's been offensively, he's at least been timely: two of his four hits have been of the leadoff, extra-base variety in one-run ballgames, so his WPA in the playoffs is actually the same as Ben Zobrist's (at -0.32) and not too far off of Dexter Fowler's -0.15 - to say nothing of the defensive plays not counted in WPA.

"Of course, looking at the past 10 games and counting a couple timely hits as worth more due to sequencing is a very poor way to make future decisions. If the Cubs knew in advance Heyward would hit that poorly in the first two rounds, they likely wouldn't have played him."

Three Strikes
* SECCountry: Chicago Cubs Edge Cleveland Indians In SEC Representation for World Series.

* NCAA: Chicago Cubs Players' College Baseball Careers.

* Al.com: David Ross Puts Auburn Back In The World Series.

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Marty's Final Pre-World Series Hate List

(Enlarge)

*

Some readers are wondering where Marty is, seeing as I've handled Cub Factor duties the last two weeks. Well, Marty is on a years-in-the-planning family vacation to Disney World. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, it's too perfect!

@BeachwoodReport @kclarke2112 if I didn't go now they wouldn't be in

— marty gangler (@beachwoodmarty) October 24, 2016

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Saddest e-mail ever:

I should see every game based on the story times

Sent from my iPhone

*

Maybe next year the Cubs can have Marty throw out the first ball.

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Cubs Retweet

Chris Matcovich of TiqIQ sent this along: At the current ask prices, '16 WS would be more expensive than 6 out of the last 7 Super Bowls.

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) October 24, 2016

*

Louisville Slugger busy making World Series bats for Chicago Cubs https://t.co/Fvl1e1ztlK pic.twitter.com/sw5dqfyVYM

— C-J Sports (@sports_cj) October 24, 2016

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Comments welcome.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 12:50 AM | Permalink

Watch Out For The Coming Corporate Tax-Break Trickery

One of the biggest fights coming up in the newly elected Congress next year will be "corporate tax reform."

If you follow policy news you've been hearing that Congress wants to "reform" corporate taxes (again). When you hear talk of "reform" from our corporate-captured Congress it means you need to run as fast as you can - and organize. The way they use the word, it always means give them more and We, the People get less.

Schumer Talking About Massive Break On Taxes Corporations Already Owe

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-Wall Street) might be Senate Majority Leader after the election. In a CNBC interview last week he said he is hoping to work with Republican House Speaker Paul "Gut the Government" Ryan on "some kind of international tax reform tied to a large infrastructure program." In the interview Schumer said:

If you can get overseas money to come back here, even if it's at a lower rate than the 35 it now comes back at, and you can use that money for a major constructive purpose such as infrastructure, if you did an infrastructure bank, for instance, you could get $100 billion in equity in the bank and get a trillion dollars of infrastructure.

When Schumer says "at a lower rate" he is talking about a "tax holiday" allowing corporations to pay less than the 35% tax rate they owe (minus deductions for taxes already paid overseas) on some $2.5 trillion of profits they have stashed in "overseas" tax havens. These corporations owe around $720 billion or so on those profits. So rewarding them for tax dodging with a lower tax rate means handing them up to hundreds of billions of dollars that the country needs for schools, health care and yes, infrastructure repair.

These tax-dodging, multinational corporations used schemes and tax havens to dodge paying taxes they owe. Meanwhile other corporations - usually smaller, domestic companies - paid their taxes. This gave the multinational corporations an advantage over the honest, domestic companies.

So why should Congress reward tax-dodging, multinational corporations by letting them keep some of the taxes they dodged, thereby punishing the domestic corporations that did the right thing for the country? See if you can guess why. (Hint: the tax-dodging corporations have "captured" Congress using a portion of that money.)

Revenue Neutral?

The corporations are also trying to sell "tax reform." This "reform" is really just another huge corporate tax cut that is explained as a "revenue neutral" deal to "cut corporate tax loopholes" and use the resulting revenue to cut the corporate tax rate. The term "revenue neutral" means the tax revenue coming to the government stays the same. "Revenue neutral" sounds like a good deal but in reality it's just a trick. It means taxes go up for some companies but way, way down for others. Guess which companies lose out. (Hint: it won't be the giant multinational corporations that have captured Congress.)

The top corporate tax rate used to be 52 percent. Under Reagan it was 46 percent. Then Congress "reformed" taxes and dropped the rate to 35 percent. Corporations used to shoulder 32 percent of the total tax burden. It has fallen to only 10 percent of the burden. That is a drop of two-thirds. See if you can guess who pays that two-thirds difference. (Hint: it isn't corporations or their wealthy owners. It is cuts to schools, infrastructure, health care and all the things that used to make our lives better. This is one part of the economic squeeze everyone feels.)

On top of that they are also trying to sell a scheme that lets them off the hook for profits made outside of the country. See if you can guess how fast every corporation moves its profit centers and production out of the country if that passes. (Hint: every single corporation will move every job, factory, profit center, etc. out of the country if that passes.)

What Budget Deficit And Debt?

Our country has a budget deficit and a large debt caused by tax cuts and wars. The current hysteria over deficits is driven by corporate-and-billionaire-funded PR "think tanks" that pump out propaganda and hysteria 24/7/4/12. Can you guess what 24/7/4/12 means? (Hint: 24 hours, 7 days, 4 weeks, 12 months of the year.)

With a budget deficit and a large debt the fact is that a "revenue neutral" tax reform for corporations who have already had their tax rates cut and cut and cut is the very last thing the country needs to do. What we need to do instead is close that loophole that lets giant, multinational corporations hide $2.5 trillion in profits in "overseas" tax shelters, and make them pay the $720 billion or so of taxes they owe now, plus the $90-100 billion or so of taxes they will dodge every year after. Period.

Revenue neutral, schmeutral. Just make these giant, tax-dodging, multinational corporations pay what they owe. Don't reward them for tax-dodging. And restore the 52% corporate tax rate instead of cutting it even further.

P.S:. Take a look at this Fact Sheet: Corporate Tax Rates from Americans for Tax Fairness.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

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Dave Johnson is a contributing blogger for the Campaign for America's Future.

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Previously in Tax Scammage:
* Deepwater Horizon Settlement Comes With $5.35 Billion Tax Windfall.

* Offshoring By 29 Companies Costs Illinois $1.2 Billion Annually.

* Government Agencies Allow Corporations To Write Off Billions In Federal Settlements.

* The Gang Of 62 Vs. The World.

* How The Maker Of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing.

* $1.4 Trillion: Oxfam Exposes The Great Offshore Tax Scam Of U.S. Companies.

* How Barclay's Turned A $10 Billion Profit Into A Tax Loss.

* Wall Street Stock Loans Drain $1 Billion A Year From German Taxpayers.

* German Finance Minister Cries Foul Over Tax Avoidance Deals.

* Prosecutor Targets Commerzbank For Deals That Dodge German Taxes.

* A Schlupfloch Here, A Schlupfloch There. Now It's Real Money.

* How Milwaukee Landlords Avoid Taxes.

* Study: 32 Illinois Fortune 500 Companies Holding At Least $147 Billion Offshore.

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Previously in the Panama Papers:
* The Panama Papers: Remarkable Global Media Collaboration Cracks Walls Of Offshore Tax Haven Secrecy.

* The Panama Papers: Prosecutors Open Probes.

* The [Monday] Papers.

* Adventures In Tax Avoidance.

* Mossack Fonseca's Oligarchs, Dictators And Corrupt White-Collar Businessmen.

* Jonathan Pie, TV Reporter! They're All In It Together.

* Meet The Panama Papers Editor Who Handled 376 Reporters In 80 Countries.

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Previously in the carried interest loophole:

* Patriotic Millionaires Vs. Carried Interest.

* The Somewhat Surreal Politics Of A Private Equity Tax Loophole Costing Us Billions (That Obama Refused To Close Despite Pledging To Do So).

* Fact-Checking Trump & Clinton On The Billionaire's Tax Break.

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Comments welcome.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 12:15 AM | Permalink

October 24, 2016

The [Monday] Papers

"Aldermen can no longer take advantage of the Chicago Cubs' offer to buy playoff tickets at face value, city ethics officials ruled Friday," DNAinfo Chicago reports.

"The offer constitutes a 'prohibited gift' under the city's ethics rules because the tickets are available to the public at a much higher price, according to the revised policy issued Friday by William Conlon, chairman of the Chicago Board of Ethics."

It's not just the reduced cost that is the issue - it's the availability of a ticket without going through normal channels in the first place.

But the ever keen-eyed Tim Willette spotted something in this article even more interesting to our eyes:

The new policy would only allow aldermen to buy the tickets at face value if they performed a "ceremonial duty" such as throwing out the first pitch, marching onto the field with other officials or making a speech.

Asks Tim:

Do first-pitch throwers ordinarily have to buy a ticket if they want to watch the game? What about the national anthem singer? I kind of assumed they got to stick around gratis.

Really! You get invited to throw out the first pitch but you gotta buy your own ticket?! C'mon, Cubs!

*

The Cubs this morning withdrew their offer to public officials, by the way.

So far, though, team spokesman Julian Green has declined to comment, saying that the team is focused on winning the series.

Right - you wouldn't want to distract Jon Lester as he prepares to pitch in Game 1 on Tuesday night. Do the Cubs make the players work in the ticket office too?

*

Judging by the quotes in this morning's article, I know one alderman who was planning to accept the Cubs' generous offer and now won't be attending the World Series.

*

"Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) accused the Board of Ethics of forcing the issue with a pair of rulings, one more stringent than the next after rookie Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th) publicly condemned the offer as a conflict of interest," the Sun-Times reports.

"I went to every home game when the White Sox went to the World Series. Paid face value for the tickets and there was not a problem.

Well, it wasn't a problem for you! But some unlucky fan out there was, um, out of luck because you got to jump the line - and at face value. That's a rather expensive gift, given how much tickets are going for.

"'And now, we let one aldermen make a comment that this isn't fair who's not even a sports fan,' Beale said angrily."

Well, Mr. Beale, you're the chairman of the transportation committee and you don't know anything about transportation, so consider it even.

*

FYI:

"Beale on August 24, 2009 became the second alderman to concede his daughter was admitted (in 2004) to an elite free public college prep high school, Whitney Young High School, after he called principal Joyce Kenner."

Well, he's a fan, so it's okay.

-

Special Edition Beachwood Photo Booth
By Helene Smith.

(ENLARGE)

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The Cub Factor: All-Star Curse
A Kansas City Royal hit a home run in a pretend game three months ago to spoil the Cubs' storybook ending.

Coffman's Curse
"I'm one of the guys who the camera lingered on the next night when we all knew the team was going down again."

Cubsageddon TV
Cultures collide.

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The Weekend In Chicago Rock
Featuring: ONO, Telecult Powers, Chook Race, Green Day, Phantogram, The Interrupters, Brother StarRace, BrandX, Skeletonwitch, Oathbreaker, Earthmover, Organsm, Post Malone, Malaa X Rezz, VNV Nation, Tegan and Sara, Soft Speaker, Los Temerarios, Mason Jennings, Davy Knowles, Sum 41, As It Is, Mana, The Split Squad, Beans on Toast, Will Varley, Oceano, Supernatural Beings, and Boss' Daughter.

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Chicagoetry: Down The South Branch Of My Mind
Where things open up a little.

TrackNotes: Woof
Dog days, a cat and the Breeders' Cup.

Garbage Wars
The Chicago politics of waste management.

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BeachBook

Artist Re-Creates Civil Rights Icon In Minnesota Field.

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TweetWood
A sampling.

The first black Chicago Cub in World Series history will bat first in Game 1: https://t.co/1aBXSmu5kH via @slate

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) October 23, 2016

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Dear Chicago newspapers: Respect 90.

pic.twitter.com/05ey8fG2vp

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) October 23, 2016

pic.twitter.com/b6smPM6CXG

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) October 23, 2016

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Anti-Hillary Ads From #Cubs Ownership Funded Super PAC Air During NLCS https://t.co/gc7q9NHCeW

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) October 23, 2016

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Dear Tribune advertising department ... pic.twitter.com/vTHuApdwXq

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) October 23, 2016

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Before concentrating on NFL the rest of the day...The ViewFromVegas is the Chicago Cubs are up to -210 World... https://t.co/CdJr7ItKtl

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) October 23, 2016

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Busy day at Illinois-based Rico Industries, where they're making Cubs NL Champs flags today https://t.co/mrMuiyuwQR

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) October 23, 2016

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The Beachwood Tronc Line: Tronc woo line woo.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 2:44 PM | Permalink

The Weekend In Chicago Rock

You shoulda been there.

1. ONO at DADS on Saturday night.

I dream of . . . Andrew Jackson.

2. Telecult Powers at DADS on Saturday night.

Fast luck.

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3. Chook Race at Bric a Brac on Thursday night.

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4. Green Day at the Aragon on Sunday night.

Gendron: "The purpose owed not to assuming self-righteous power but defeating oppressive authorities, racist and sexist policies and dead-end futures."

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5. Phantogram at Thalia Hall on Saturday night.

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6. The Interrupters at 1st Ward on Friday night.

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7. Brother StarRace at the Vic on Friday night.

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8. Brand X at Reggies on Saturday night.

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9. Skeletonwitch at Subterranean on Saturday night.

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10. Oathbreaker at Subterranean on Saturday night.

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11. Earthmover at Cobra Lounge on Saturday night.

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12. Organsm at DADS on Saturday night.

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13. Post Malone at the Concord on Friday night.

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14. Rezz at the Concord on Saturday night.

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15. VNV Nation at the Metro on Sunday night.

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16. Tegan and Sara at the Riv on Friday night.

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17. Soft Speaker at Quenchers on Saturday night.

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18. Los Temerarios at the Aragon on Saturday night.

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19. Mason Jennings at SPACE in Evanston on Saturday night.

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20. Davy Knowles at SPACE in Evanston on Friday night.

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21. Sum 41 at the House of Blues on Friday night.

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22. As It Is at the House of Blues on Friday night.

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23. Mana in Rosemont on Friday night.

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Catching up with . . .

The Split Squad at Schuba's on October 6th.

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Beans on Toast at Beat Kitchen on October 8th.

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Will Varley at Beat Kitchen on October 8th.

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Oceano at House of Blues on October 9th.

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Supernatural Beings at the Emporium on October 13th.

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Boss' Daughter at Liar's Club on October 18th.

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Comments welcome.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 11:49 AM | Permalink

SportsMonday: Prelude To A Cubs World Series

The worst was 1984. The 2003 NLCS sucked as well but '84 was the ultimate crusher. And that was despite the fact I never got anywhere near the action.

I will say this about the Cubs' loss to the San Diego Padres in the "first-to-three" National League Championship Series that year: at least it was available on free TV. (Why do we say "best-of-five or best-of-seven" when these series often go less than five or seven games? It is past time to switch to first-to-three or first-to-four.")

In 2016, the league championship series' aren't just on cable, they are on obscure cable. It's as though someone said, "Let's see if these fans are really fanatic and can find the games even if we put them on networks that most sports bars can't even find!"

Turner Broadcasting, which televised the ALCS, was an early cable pioneer, of course. But they are about 27th on the channel surfing fan's list of Most Likely To Televise A Playoff Game stations. And Fox Sports 1? I think I watched a soccer game there once.

Anyway, I know college students these days are streaming whatever programming they need whenever. but back in 1984 I was going to college outside of Philadelphia and I needed the games on networks I could access easily. And that was provided.

The Cubs romped to a 2-0 lead over the bad-ridiculous yellow-and-brown Padres and North Side fans were certain their team was going to charge into the World Series against the powerful and hugely successful (they had started the season 35-5) Detroit Tigers.

Except it didn't happen. The Padres posted one unlikely victory after another, including an awfully memorable Game 4 2-run walkoff homer by Steve Garvey in the bottom of the ninth against the Cubs' dominant closer, Lee Smith.

At that point in my life as a Chicago sports fan, I had never experienced a championship in any sport. The Bears had last won in '63, before I was born, the Hawks' drought went back to '61, and the Sox to '59. (I know they didn't win the Series that year but at least the Sox won the pennant and turned on the air raid sirens). I think you know how long it had been since the Cubs had been in the World Series.

In the aftermath of the '84 loss, I was bereft. Fortunately, a certain football team was soon rising and while it didn't do the job that year, the next one broke the championship drought. And Chicago's overall sports inferiority was forever obliterated by Michael Jordan and friends in the 1990s.

In 2003, I was living in Chicago and was able to attend a couple Cubs-Marlins matchups. I wasn't there for the Gonzalez Game but I took in Game 7 from my customary spot in the upper deck reserved. Don't believe me? I'm in the documentary Catching Hell about that fan who tipped a fly ball that Moises Alou probably wouldn't have caught in Game 6. What was his name again?

I'm not one of the guys screaming obscenities at that fan or throwing drinks at him. Like I said, I wasn't there until Game 7. I'm one of the guys who the camera lingered on the next night when we all knew the team was going down again.

A few thoughts on the NLCS before finishing the transition to the glorious World Series ahead: The Cubs just overwhelmed that sucker didn't they? They didn't just win, they posted three straight dominant victories to put it away magnificently. Top to bottom, inside and out, what a baseball team!

And finally, why in the world did the guys who selected the NLCS MVP force Javy Baez to share it with Jon Lester? Baez played great in all six of the series' games. The left-handed ace pitched well in two - but he was barely even the team's best starter. He tossed 13 innings, giving up two earned runs overall. Kyle Hendricks threw 12.2 innings and gave up one. Both pitchers were credited with a single victory. Hello?

If Baez had just been the Cubs' best hitter, sharing the award would have made some sense. But he was their best defender as well. Don't tell the young man (we need him to continue to be the carefree spirit who has infused this postseason with so much awesomeness) but he got jobbed.

One thing we can say to the most compelling figure in Chicago sports in multiple ways: Don't worry, Javy; just because the dimwits who voted on the MVP don't realize the extent of your wondrous ridiculousness doesn't mean the people who are paying attention don't.

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Jim "Coach" Coffman is our man on Mondays. He welcomes your comments.

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1. From Tim Willette:

What about the Sting! Their victory in 1981 was the first for Gen-X and somewhat known, but it's almost entirely forgotten that they won again in '84 literally in the middle of the Cubs-Padres series. (It didn't help that the '84 game wasn't on broadcast TV so practically no one saw it, including me.)

Coffman replies: I was an Arno Steffenhagen fan (best Chicago sports facial hair ever - better even than the best Hawks' playoff beards in the championship years the last decade)! and Franz Mathieu and of course the glamour guys, Pato Margetic and Karl-Heinz Granitza. I even attended the last game of the three-game semifinal series that year at Comiskey Park that the Sting won to make it to the Soccer Bowl. It didn't feel as big to me as the teams competing in the big four sports but hell, there were more than 39,000 fans at the game I went to so maybe I'm wrong.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 9:59 AM | Permalink

All-Star Curse

The seemingly perfect storybook ending that Cubs fans are waiting for is unlikely to occur. Why? This:

Sorry, Cubs fans. Your guys have to travel for Game 1 because a KC Royal hit a homer in a pretend game 3 months ago.

Cool system, @MLB

— Kyle Brandt (@KyleBrandt) October 23, 2016

The storybook ending, of course, would be, say, Kyle Schwarber with the pinch-hit home run in the bottom of the ninth at Wrigley Field in Game 7. But, really, any kind of World Series-ending win in Game 7 at Wrigley Field. Or even Game 6.

But no.

Because of the stupidest rule in the history of sports, Cleveland has the home-field advantage and Games 1, 2, 6 and 7.

There is only one way for the Cubs to obviate this monstrosity: Win it in four or five games.

That's a tall order, but it's the order we have to play.

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The Week in Review: The Cubs won three of five to pair with their Game 1 win to conquer the Dodgers and move on to the World Series. No big whoop.

The Week in Preview: Two in Cleveland, then a weekend set at Wrigley. Let's end it there, please.

Musical Outfielders: And no, we aren't talking about Matt Szczur playing the French horn. In fact, Szczur isn't even on the roster for this series, giving way to the relatively surging Albert Almora.

You know who the Cubs' most stalwart corner outfielder is? Ben Zobrist. Zoby has started all 10 of the Cubs' 2016 playoff games - nine in left, one in right. He's also played some second base.

Fellow big-dollar free agent Jason Heyward, on the other hand, has been benched in each of the Cubs' first two series. Against the Dodgers, he got three starts in right. Fans can't be dismissed for hoping he doesn't get another at-bat until he fixes his swing over the winter and comes back anew in spring.

Jorge Soler has been all but disappeared, with just one start (in right) and one pinch-hit appearance in the Dodgers series. Now that (relatively, for baseball) cold weather is here, we might not see him again.

Same story for Chris Coghlan, minus the cold-weather caveat.

Almora, mostly because of his defense and (relative) speed, is seeing more playing time, getting three pinch-hit opportunities against the Dodgers, and playing in both right and left field.

I didn't track Willy Contreras; I'm not sure he's seen the outfield during the playoffs, nor should we expect him to, especially given that he's a likely DH in games played in Cleveland.

Likely, that is, if Kyle Schwarber isn't on the World Series roster. I find it hard to believe he's being seriously considered, but that's what reports say. Hey, Theo & Co. are far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far better talent evaluators than I am, and they have far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far more information than I do, but . . . really?

The guy essentially hasn't seen real pitching for a year, given that he was injured the first week of April. Now he's going to face a World Series-capable staff? Maybe he matches up well with Andrew Miller (Assignment Desk, activate!), but I doubt it, because as great a comic book hero as Schwarbs is, he was still a platoon player last year who couldn't hit lefties (.143/.213/.268).

And though he's been given surprise clearance to run as well as swing the bat, it's hard to imagine it's worth the risk to have him run with playoff intensity (apparently he's forbidden from sliding). So if he did get a hit (that was less than a home run), you'd have to pinch run for him and burn a guy on your bench. And in games at Wrigley, he'd only be available for pinch-hitting duties. So that's a roster spot that jams up virtually every way in which Joe Maddon has uses his bench, if you can even call it a bench because virtually everyone plays somehow, some way.

Then there is the question of who you would take off the roster to make room for Schwarber. The options would seem to be: Coghlan, Montero, Soler (who makes the most sense given that his role at this point is essentially to smack a pinch-hit home run) and only in the hearts of Cubs fans, Heyward. Then again, the Cubs could drop Rob Zastryzny and go back to the pitcher-position player ratio they used against the Giants. Zastryzny was put on the NLCS roster expressly to give Maddon another left-handed option against the left-handed Dodgers, and even then he didn't see any action.

The Cubs could also opt to drop Zastryzny and add back Matt Szczur or even Tommy La Stella, who would be a much safer pinch-hitting bet at this point than Schwarber.

Look, I love the idea of the Schwarber fairy tale too. I'm just kind of shocked at how seriously it's being taken. My read on the situation is that Schwarber got a surprising favorable doctor's report, he called Theo and begged to be considered, and - with nothing to lose and no reason to crush anyone's soul - they sent him to Arizona for a look-see. I could be wrong, but I don't think there's any way we see him in Cleveland.

Annoying Former Cub of the Week: It's definitely not Chico "Who?" Walker! Let's give to now-Dodgers broadcaster Rick Monday, who is annoying on two levels.

Annoying Current Cub of the Week: Bullpen catcher Chad Noble.

Mad(don) Scientist: Poppa Joe faces his biggest challenge yet, as it should be. First, he has to manage a bullpen with increasingly shaky choices - and a closer who absolutely should never pitch before the ninth, despite Joe's insistence that he do so. Second, he faces a bullpen with the indomitable Andrew Miller, who would have been a Cub instead of Chapman if Theo had been willing to send Schwarber to the Yankees. Got to get to Cleveland's starters early, which fortunately should be doable as their rotation is probably the least scary we've seen yet in these playoffs. Third, Jake Arrieta and John Lackey are only good for about four mediocre innings each at this point; expect to see Mike Montgomery early in their games. Fourth, the Heyward millstone. Joe says he writes "Don't manage like a fan" on his scorecard before every game. In this instance, you might want to manage like a fan. This is no time to spare feelings. Finally, having dispatched with Bruce Bochy, Maddon now faces the other manager in the elite triumvirate along with his own self, Terry Francona. Game on.

Kubs Kalendar: The first 45,000 fans wealthy enough to attend Games 3, 4 and (if necessary) 5 at Wrigley will get the time of their life. The rest of us who have put in the time can suck it.

Beachwood Sabermetrics: A complex algorithm performed by The Cub Factor staff using all historical data made available by Major League Baseball has determined that win or lose, we ain't seen nothing yet.

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This is The Cub Factor. We welcome your comments.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 9:46 AM | Permalink

Cubsageddon TV

Cultures collide.

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Comicgeddon: Where All of Geek Culture Collides! comic books, video games, movies, tv shows, toys, conventions, etc.

Hosted by Shannon Cornthwaite and John Wise
other cast members include but are not limited to:
Amber, Jeff, Dylan, Mike, Marissa, Hailey and Billy.

Directed and Produced by S.M. Cornthwaite
A Dutch Oven Production

Filmed at Geeking Out Comics
2924 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive
Decatur, IL.

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Comicgeddon TV trailer:

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Comicgeddon on Facebook.

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Comments welcome.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 8:51 AM | Permalink

Why Companies Like Wells Fargo Ignore Whistleblowers

Enron. WorldCom. Madoff. The mortgage meltdown. Now Wells Fargo.

High-profile corporate frauds like these all seem to follow the same pattern. First the misconduct is discovered, and then we learn about all of the whistleblowers who tried to stop the fraud much earlier. Congress then tries to enhance whistleblower protections, with varying degrees of success.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, passed in 2002 after the Enron and Worlcom scandals, was supposed to protect whistleblowers who uncovered accounting frauds, but judges have typically rejected their retaliation claims. The Dodd-Frank Act, approved in 2010, provides financial rewards for certain whistleblowers. Its success is still unclear.

While these laws may protect employees who expose wrongdoing from retaliation and encourage more to do the same, nothing requires employers to take their disclosures seriously. And as we saw with the latest scandal involving Wells Fargo, several former employees say they tried to get the company's attention in 2005, and again in 2006, to no avail.

Their ineffectiveness is hardly unique. The 2011 National Business Ethics Survey found that 40 percent of employees who reported misconduct believed that their report had not been investigated. When an investigation did take place, over half thought the process was unfair.

So why don't companies make better use of the information they get from their whistleblowers - especially when ignoring them could expose their company to millions or even billions in liability and permanently tarnish their brand?

Who Looks The Part

For a start, real whistleblowers don't always match our mental image.

Our idealized image of whistleblowers isn't doing us any favors. We assume that whistleblowing will come from top employees. But when the company already has a poor ethics culture, those top employees may very well be the ones engaged in the misconduct.

Instead, as I described in a previous research paper, important information might originate from employees who don't fit in or are labeled as complainers or poor performers.

In other words, we expect the true whistleblower to be Ryan Gosling's suave character in The Big Short, while ignoring the angry insights from Steve Carrell, on account of his bad haircut and terrible social skills.

To take whistleblowers seriously, we need to set aside our judgements about them and their motives and focus instead on the message they convey. In the words of negotiation gurus Roger Fisher and Bill Ury, "separate the people from the problem."

Where There's Smoke, Is There Fire?

A second problem with whistleblowing is that we tend to assume it's not an emergency if other people don't think so.

There is a principle in social psychology known as the "bystander effect," which essentially means that people defer to others on how to interpret ambiguous situations and dread the idea of overreacting to a situation and later being embarrassed. It also means that when you observe others doing nothing in response to an apparent risk, you're more likely to do the same.

In a famous experiment, researchers observed how people reacted to a room filling with smoke, contrasting the behavior of those who were alone to those accompanied by others who were instructed in advance to appear indifferent to the smoke. Of those who were alone, 75 percent reported the smoke to the experimenter. By contrast, only 10 percent of the subjects sitting with the passive seatmates reported the smoke.

The same may be true of whistleblowing. The fact that "everyone knows" about a particular type of misconduct may actually make people less likely to report it. In addition, when a particular type of misconduct becomes prevalent, those investigating may discount the severity of conduct they see frequently and thereby fail to realize that it has reached a crisis level.

How Whistleblowing Is Like An Iceberg

Another problem is that whistleblowers may not know which information is most important.

ABA Corporate Compliance Officer Deskbook (forthcoming)/Author provided

Whistleblowers, especially those uncovering substantial misconduct, only have one piece of what might be a much larger puzzle. They also aren't lawyers, so they don't know whether a piece of information is legally important. They only know that the situation feels wrong. Consequently, the important nugget of information might be buried within a lot of irrelevant information.

The 2006 letter from a Wells Fargo whistleblower - who disclosed that other employees were opening fake accounts - is a good example of this problem. The first page of the letter contains generic complaints about unfair treatment and possibly age discrimination. The second page then talks about how salespeople "gamed" the system to inflate their sales numbers - but apparently with the assistance and consent of the customer involved. Sandwiched between these (somewhat) benign accusations is a story about how a customer complained that accounts were opened without his knowledge or consent.

Wells Fargo apparently ignored the report, to its peril and the detriment of millions of customers. The person reading the letter may have started out feeling suspicious of the whistleblower, confirmed that suspicion based on the first page of the letter and then completely missed the important information on the second page. Like this illusion, once the reader forms an initial impression (e.g., that the image features a duck), they became blind to additional data that contradicts the impression (the image could also be a rabbit).

The idea that we "see what we want to see" is not mere conjecture. One study found that people literally saw what they wanted to see in a drawing, perceiving an ambiguous drawing as a "B" or the number "13" depending upon which interpretation led to a more favorable result for themselves in the experiment.

Challenges Investigating Complaints

And a final problem: Explosive complaints are as rare as explosive luggage.

Publicly traded companies like Wells Fargo are required under Sarbanes-Oxley to have a process for receiving and responding to anonymous whistleblower complaints. Wells Fargo, like many other companies, had a whistleblower hotline. Why didn't those folks - whose job it was to investigate complaints - uncover the misconduct early enough to stop it?

Investigating corporate complaints is a lot like being a Transportation Security Administration agent. Most of the complaints they are sorting through will be regular luggage, with a few unauthorized bottles of liquid here and there. Take the problem of reading that 2006 letter and multiply it by 100 or 1,000 letters, almost all of which describe an isolated problem or conduct that isn't illegal. You don't get much practice at the most important part of your job (identifying explosives) when it virtually never happens.

Like TSA agents, investigators also have the challenge of identifying a new form of misconduct that doesn't match the mental models of prior bad acts. In other words, Wells Fargo may have been most worried about mortgage fraud when they should have spent more time investigating fraud in retail banking.

Great investigators are like the guys from American Pickers. They meet the owners, listen to their story, go through the stuff themselves and then make judgements about what to pursue based on their independent judgement and experience. They're also open to finding the "best" stuff in unexpected places.

Lastly, great investigators keep an eye out for patterns, noticing when seemingly isolated incidents may indicate a larger problem.

An Invaluable Asset

Managers and corporate officers responding to complaints need to shed their preconceptions about whistleblowers and instead invest in the information they receive.

Rather than grumbling about the cost of dealing with them, companies should view their information as a valuable corporate asset. Preventative investments like training managers on responding to whistleblowers, maintaining a hotline and hiring investigators and compliance officers to follow their leads ultimately serve a company's long-term interests.

If the Wells Fargo scandal proves anything, it is that a 164-year-old brand can be tarnished overnight. A whistleblower - however flawed she may be - may be the last person standing between a company and the loss of its reputation.

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Elizabeth C. Tippett is an assistant professor in the School of Law at the University of Oregon. This article was originally published on The Conversation.

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Previously:
* Meant To Muzzle: Corporate Whistleblower Settlements Could Violate SEC Rules.

* Should Wells Fargo Execs Responsible For Bilking Customers Be Forced To Return Their Pay? (Hint: Yes).

* In Wells Fargo Case, News Really Did Happen To An Editor.

* The Pathogens Of Wells Fargo's Corruption Fester In Every Large Corporation.

* Voices From Wells Fargo: 'I Thought I Was Having A Heart Attack.'

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See also:
* What Have Whistleblowers Done For Elite Journalists Lately?

* The Whistleblower System Referred To By Clinton Is A Colossal Joke.

* Item No. 4: "Obama took office pledging tolerance and even support for whistleblowers, but instead is prosecuting them with a zeal that's historically unprecedented."

* The Obama Administration's Disturbing Treatment Of Whistleblowers.

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Comments welcome.

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1. From Steve Rhodes:

The author is naive in supposing that corporate executives desire to run a tight ethical ship but dismiss whistleblowers merely because they are often odd and/or cranky. To the contrary, practices whistleblowers seek to bring to light are rarely unknown by management, but instituted by them, and the last thing they want is for some scold to drop a turd in the punch bowl.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 3:36 AM | Permalink

Garbage Wars

"In Garbage Wars, the sociologist David Pellow describes the politics of garbage in Chicago."

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From the publisher:

"[Pellow] shows how garbage affects residents in vulnerable communities and poses health risks to those who dispose of it. He follows the trash, the pollution, the hazards, and the people who encountered them in the period 1880-2000. What unfolds is a tug of war among social movements, government, and industry over how we manage our waste, who benefits, and who pays the costs.

"Studies demonstrate that minority and low-income communities bear a disproportionate burden of environmental hazards. Pellow analyzes how and why environmental inequalities are created. He also explains how class and racial politics have influenced the waste industry throughout the history of Chicago and the United States. After examining the roles of social movements and workers in defining, resisting, and shaping garbage disposal in the United States, he concludes that some environmental groups and people of color have actually contributed to environmental inequality.

"By highlighting conflicts over waste dumping, incineration, landfills, and recycling, Pellow provides a historical view of the garbage industry throughout the life cycle of waste. Although his focus is on Chicago, he places the trends and conflicts in a broader context, describing how communities throughout the United States have resisted the waste industry's efforts to locate hazardous facilities in their backyards. The book closes with suggestions for how communities can work more effectively for environmental justice and safe, sustainable waste management."

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Also from the author: The Slums of Aspen.

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From the Reader, 2001:

"'Our account of recycling differs substantially from popular views of recycling as an activity generated by the goodwill of people who are trying to do something beneficial for society,' Schnaiberg and his coauthors, Adam Weinberg and David Pellow, warn in their book Urban Recycling and the Search for Sustainable Community Development.

"'Recycling has become a commodity-based, profit-driven competitive industry in which large private firms using public dollars are squeezing the life out of smaller nonprofit and family-owned recyclers. Some programs achieve modest economic gains but distribute them primarily to the private sector. Ecological gains are modest.' When the authors start talking like that about the most popular environmental cause ever, you know the story won't have a happy ending."

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Comments welcome.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 3:08 AM | Permalink

Chicagoetry: Down The South Branch Of The Mind

Down the South Branch of the Mind

Like anyone else
In a committed relationship,
Whenever I am offered a stark life-choice

With deep ramifications
I insist on being given time
To talk it over

With my mind.

We've been together
A long time, after all,

And life-changing decisions
Are not to be taken
Without mutual consultation.

We like to take time
Down the south branch,
Where things open up a little,

Away from main branch busy-ness

And north branch condos,
Past River City,
Down by the old Pullman Palace Cars

And those memories

Of brain travel's Glory Days,
Where the natural prairie grasses
Overtake the abandoned rails,

Past the Bascule style (center up)
Drawbridges to their clumsy, antique precursors
(Improbable contraptions, like

Any persona, all webbed steel
And reinforced concrete),
Toward Ping Tom Park

And eternal imagination: Chinatown.

We accept the cost/benefits
Of a long-term commitment;
It's not always easy.

It takes patience, empathy, flexibility,
Respect and perhaps most importantly,
Communication.

If the initial romantic excitement
Has waned somewhat,
We endeavor to nourish

An enduring friendship:
We flourish,

Sharing goals, values,
Even dreams. We're here
For each other.

We linger in the quiet channel
And often come to terms
Well before Bubbly Creek.

Down the south branch
We can breathe a bit,
Really listen to each other

And gird for the return
To the clutter and clatter
Of main branch bustle

Renewed, restored,
Strengthened in our bond,
Recommitted to our partnership.

My hope is that
When we leave this earth
We leave together, or nearly so.

Actually
I hope I go
First.

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J.J. Tindall is the Beachwood's poet-in-residence. He welcomes your comments. Chicagoetry is an exclusive Beachwood collection-in-progress.

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More Tindall:

* Chicagoetry: The Book

* Ready To Rock: The Music

* Kindled Tindall: The Novel

* The Viral Video: The Match Game Dance

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 3:00 AM | Permalink

October 23, 2016

TrackNotes: Woof

Ordinarily, these would be the dog days of Chicago sports.

It always happens at least twice a year. Now, and again in February.

Sometimes, our local dogs are such hounds, these days last from February through February.

The biggest offenders are the Chicago Bears, who are nothing more every year than the same old 1950 flathead four chassis and drivetrain - still recovering from the war, you know - with a new hood ornament and the revolutionary addition of cupholders, only because the league ordered them to add them to the list of options. It's the Bears' only acknowledgement that we are in a new-but-getting-older century. John Fox represents the ashtrays and cigarette lighters we miss so much.

Like the North Siders clinching early, my under 7.5 on the Bears season is making me so confident even the scary clowns had better stay out of my way this Hallowed Eve.

And Arlington Park tears our guts out every summer, the sharp PolyTrack knives of six or eight races three or four days a week cutting us all the way from Kentucky Derby weekend to beyond Labor Day. Folks up at the palatial suburban oval have tortured us, or at least me, into such submission; there's no will left to even pull out the summer finery and make a day of it.

Ah, but this year, we have the Cubs. It's been fun, and getting funner, but you'll have to scroll up or down the rail to catch the real Beachwood experts on the boys in blue.

The other shops don't give a damn, but we do. So it's time for a little reminder: Just two days after the Cubs' tango out of the seven-song dance card early next month - I ain't got no goat, ain't got no disco, but I'm of the age we don't talk about such things out loud or by name - the Conestogas land in Arcadia, Calif., home of beautiful Santa Anita, for the 2016 Breeders' Cup Championships.

Is America the land of sporting opportunity? Apollo thinks so, and I won't argue with the heavyweight champion of the world. From this zip code, seems right. It's been a great year, human and equine, and it's not over yet.

Just like all the other young hopefuls disembarking in Hollywoodland, hoping to break into the biz, workouts are happening, plane reservations are being made, stalls are being assigned, scripts being greenlighted.

And, lo and behold, the three classic winners from the Triple Crown trail are confusing, retired, and retired. That is a head-slapping turn of events. This might be the most lucid example of racing's challenges when it comes to sustaining itself, not unlike trying to find a good tomato for your Super Bowl salsa.

Remember, we're not losing a Secretariat to the business, like we did in 1973, dontcha know, but it's at least perplexing.

Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist, is working well, but they almost always do. After eight straight including the Derby, Nyquist ran into Exaggerator and his mud in the Preakness and the Haskell. He finished a mediocre sixth last out in the Pennsylvania Derby. Which Nyquist, who is HQ'd at Santa Anita, will show up?

Preakness winner Exaggerator has been retired to stud.

WinStar Farm president Elliott Walden spoke out of both sides. "He is a sound horse that passes all physical exams, but as the only 3-year-old to test all the Triple Crown races and summer classics, he's a horse that is asking us for a rest. The fact he remains sound after 15 big-time starts in the last 16 months is a testament to his ability, consistency, fortitude, and class. He is an extreme racehorse - a tough, durable throwback to the old days, like Curlin."

Then why not run him in the Breeders' Cup, or not, pasture him out and bring him back next year? And call Skilling, because he needs mud, baby.

Grandson of Smart Strike and son of the great Curlin, out of the Vindication mare Dawn Raid, Exaggerator certainly has the pedigree to succeed. The only horse to run in all three Triple Crown races this year, he also won the Santa Anita Derby and the Haskell Invitational, all in the sloppy mud he craves so much.

If there was a deal to be made, this was the time, because how would he have done in the dry stuff next month? But he provided a few thrills and chills we'll remember.

Belmont Stakes winner Creator has been sold by WinStar Farm and Bobby Flay - who bought his share just days before the Belmont - to the Japanese Bloodhorse Breeders' Association.

Son of Tapit out of Argentinian mare Morena, Creator also won the Arkansas Derby.

Back on the red carpet, our spies have eyed California Chrome working well for the Breeders' Cup Classic, where he'll be exclamation-point favored for a fantastic season finale.

Super female turfer Tepin seems back on track after winning the Woodbine Mile and then losing the First Lady Stakes in an October 8 wheelback 21 days later. That bodes well for a monster effort, although you won't get a price.

Our friend Frosted has been designated for the Breeders' Cup Classic assignment. Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, not wanting to run the short, two-turn Dirt Mile.

I despise the debunked concept of multitasking, invented by slavedriving bosses seeking only worker dominance. But I will have to give it a thought as our batsmen in blue forge ahead and I'll have a mess of handicapping to do.

But, woof, I wouldn't trade these here dog days for anything. My cats - one of whom is at least half named for a race horse - would have none of that anyway.

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Tom Chambers is our man on the rail. He welcomes your comments.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 8:05 AM | Permalink

October 22, 2016

The Chicago Cubs Are On The Air

Here we go.

1. Tomasulo.

ICYMI This is what happens when you dress up as Ronnie Woo Woo in L.A.. See the rest here https://t.co/Lkp2AT4GR2 pic.twitter.com/yHh47wXSlp

— Pat Tomasulo (@pattomasulo) October 21, 2016

*

2. Guillermo.

*

3. Sync up, people.

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Previously:
* Wild About Harry And The 1988 Cubs.

* Tomasulo: No, We Don't Want To See 'W' Flag Cupcakes.

-

Comments welcome.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 9:26 AM | Permalink

The Weekend Desk Report

"Sluggers World Class Sports Bar and Grill, a cavernous Wrigleyville watering hole, used to spend $20,000 a year on ballpark advertising," the Tribune reports.

"But several years after the Ricketts family bought the Cubs in 2009, that relationship ended.

"All of a sudden, they didn't want our money anymore," said Zach Strauss, co-owner of the 32-year-old family business. "They only want the million-dollar deals."

"Don't get him wrong. Strauss is grateful to the Ricketts family for keeping the Cubs at Wrigley and building a winning team. But there's a lingering wariness."

Sluggers, a Wrigleyville icon that helped build the neighborhood's value, is too downscale for Rickettsville. The already-gentrified neighborhood is getting gentrified again. Call it meta- (or mega-)gentrification.

And who will benefit most from changes underway? The Ricketts family.

"Indeed, an uneasiness pervades the neighborhood around the 102-year-old ballpark, where the grinding and clanking of construction equipment is a constant reminder that radical change is coming to an area long known as a rough-around-the-edges mishmash of sports bars, convenience stores and fast-food joints for those on beer budgets."

Well, that's not really true. Wrigleyville hasn't been a beer-budget neighborhood for at least two decades. If you can find an Old Style in any of the establishments around the ol' ballpark, it's only ironically. But the neighborhood still isn't grand enough for the Ricketts' tastes.

"Wrigleyville does the bar business pretty well," Cubs president of business operations Crane Kenney told the Trib. "What's missing - and particularly for our professional clients, our corporate guys - is, 'Where do I take a client to dinner before the game? Where can I go afterward and have a cocktail but also a conversation and maybe not fight a large crowd?"

Because the Cubs experience, now that they're good and fashionable, is for corporate guys and clients now. And when you're wining and dining for your hedge fund, who wants to fight large crowds of the merely affluent?

"And so our vision is to create a little bit of a different feel for Wrigleyville north of Addison, where it becomes more of a white-tablecloth experience, something with a little upper-end feel to it," he said.

And those whose undying fandom built the franchise's value beyond any ordinarily reasonable amount can go to hell.

*

"No one has ever had to work harder for the right to spend $750 million in private dollars in the city of Chicago than the Rickettses," said "family spokesman" Dennis Culloton, from a wahmbulance steaming down an undisclosed suburban street.

Go read the rest - and weep.

Wrigleyville Roots
Wrigleyville used to be, basically, Wicker Park. Before Wicker Park became Lincoln Park. Which used to be Wicker Park. In other words, it used to be cool. And developers, marketers and posers can never just leave cool alone; it's in their DNA to ruin it because they can identify it, but they can never understand it.

From Rolling Stone in September:

You really go out of your way to visit there for two reasons: Cubs games and shows at the Metro, the area's long-running venue that has played host to everybody from Metallica in 1983 to Nirvana in 1989 and nearly every important Chicago band or artist from Ministry at the dawn of the city's burgeoning industrial music scene to Chance the Rapper in 2016. Joe Shanahan, who opened the venue in 1982, remembers a time when he needed to be escorted by security to his car after a late-night. Not so much because of the fans, but because it was a neighborhood in a big city in the 1980s. "It was scary," he says of his early days turning the former Swedish Community Center built in 1927. "But it was inexpensive."

(Shanahan went on to co-found the Double Door in Wicker Park when that neighborhood, and Wrigleyville, were changing in their own ways; now the Double Door is getting mega-gentrified out to Logan Square, where the gentrification movie is already in its final reel. Also, there's a reason why Lounge Ax, which many music denizens feel was the finest music club this city has known, was located in Lincoln Park, across from Wax Trax, and died an ignominious death there.)

*

Back to Rolling Stone:

"Like any neighborhood in any American city that has drawn certain subcultures - from hippies flocking to Haight-Ashbury in the late-1960s to various neighborhoods across Lower Manhattan where all kinds of punks, burgeoning art stars and other weirdos moved to in the 1970s - Wrigleyville was a place with cheap rent that just happened to be situated around the ballpark of Major League Baseball's most notoriously pitiful team."

Me, during last year's playoffs:

"It was like all the street romance of a Bruce Springsteen song, 81 times a year - if you knew the lore, of course. And no other team had the lore of the Cubs. It was like the living embodiment of "Deacon Blues" - a team for the losers of the world who lived by a different set of values where winning wasn't everything. Wrigley Field was where the game was beautiful, and that was the thing. It wasn't that fans of my ilk didn't want to win, but that, like in life, the quality of the experience - and its inclusion of everybody who appreciated it - was of far more value. It was a team for those who despise the jockocracy. Not all Cubs fans fit this profile; not even close. But those who did and who loved baseball gravitated to the team, the ballpark and the real live literary glory that came with it. It was no coincidence that the alt-nation to come was filled with Cubs fans; we found each other as surely as we found the Replacements. (A college friend used to wear a South Side Cubs Fan t-shirt; a colleague at The Minnesota Daily swore off McDonald's after 1984; The only cool person to ever appear on The Real World was skateboarder chick Sarah, whose frequently worn Cubs tee was as much a signifier as a Yo La Tengo record.)"

*

Back to Rolling Stone:

"Somehow, almost inexplicably, the neighborhood that catered to drunk sports fans there to see their Cubbies lose another day game (Wrigley Field didn't have lights for night games until 1988) also became a punk-friendly area. The Metro is a few blocks up on Clark, and the Cubby Bear sit directly across the street from the stadium. The latter bar played host to a number of punk and hardcore bands in the 1980s, from Discharge and Sham 69, to locals like Big Black, Articles of Faith and a Naked Raygun show that also happened to be the first punk show ever attended by a kid named Dave Grohl (who was in town visiting family). Sports fans and punks making a specific neighborhood a destination for their respective groups - you don't really hear of that very often . . .

"[T]he area embraced its strange side. Up the street into the Lakeview neighborhood, you had The Alley, a store that opened in the late 1970s and served as sort of a mini-mall for all things counter culture, from punk and metal to goth and whatever else was popular at the given moment. The store took over its corner on Clark and Belmont, circling a Dunkin' Donuts that would famously become a spot for local punks to gather before and after shows, earning the nickname Punkin' Donuts. In 1991, Chicago Comics would open up between The Alley and Wrigley Field, remaining to this day one of the best comic shops in the city. Clark Street from Belmont to The Metro became sort of a thoroughfare for people looking for everything from bullet belts to bongs . . . "

"You know the story: people living on the fringe make the area seem attractive to people with money, the people with money move in and, soon to follow are the bars with 20 televisions all showing sports. Wrigleyville, already a strange neighborhood because of its cozy little ballpark and the cursed team that plays there, somehow seemed like a decent fit for a bunch of outcasts. It was normal to end up at the McDonald's across the street from the ballpark and see kids from whatever show let out ordering Big Macs alongside sloshed baseball fans. It was awkward, but both groups were strange in their own way: kids with the funky hairstyles and clothes, and the baseball fans that would cheer for a team that they know will only disappoint."

As the author notes, the old, weird Wrigleyville is long gone. Now the frat boys and junior account managers are getting a taste of their own bad medicine; square Wrigleyville is giving way to white-tablecloth Wrigleyville. May the curse be broken so some of us oldhead Cubs fans can finally move on.

Cubs Law
"For a lesson in how to deal with the burden of the past, the Cubs could do worse than to look to its own in-house legal department and its lawyers at Kirkland & Ellis and DLA Piper. The renovation and expansion of historic Wrigley Field has been a key element of the Cubs' comeback strategy, but the entire project was threatened by the team's legal history and the uniqueness of its 102-year-old ballpark, which in addition to being designated a city landmark is located in a residential neighborhood," The American Lawyer reported in September.

"Fortunately for the Cubs, its legal team is nothing like the Lovable Losers of yesteryear. Its lawyers are close to a sweep of wins at City Hall, a local landmark commission and federal court. Wrigley has already undergone or received approval for most of the planned changes, including the installation of two giant, controversial video screens in the outfield. In September, a federal judge in Chicago again ruled in the team's favor after owners of buildings near Wrigley, who sell tickets for rooftop views into the stadium, sought to revive a suit over the video boards that had been dismissed in 2015.

"The Cubs' grand plan was put in place shortly after the Ricketts family in 2009 bought the Cubs from the Tribune Co. for a reported $900 million. The family says that the investments were necessary to keep Wrigley safe and to add advertising revenue to support a competitive team on the field."

If you believe that, I've got a not-at-all-fake box seat ticket to tonight's game to sell you.

Beachwood Sports Radio: Cubs - And Us - On The Brink
Including: Players Performing Playoffy; Keys To Kyle Vs. Clayton, and; Problematic Pitching Problems. Plus: Jay Cutler's Thumb Vs. Johnny Manziel's Drinking Problem and Your World Champion LA Sparks.

Cubs Baseball Is On The Air!
Kimmel, Guillermo, Tomasulo, and how to sync local radio with national TV.

Cubs Retweet: Bringing It All Back Home
Starring Yogi Hendricks.

Why They Don't Run Like Mad On Jon Lester
Someone should put these to music.

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Beachwood Photo Booth: House Rule
Teach Love.

Tweeting The Bears: QB 911
"This team is completely broken."

ACLU Demands Secret U.S. Court Reveal Secret U.S. Laws
"The people of this country can't hold the government accountable for its surveillance activities unless they know what our laws allow."

The Week In Chicago Rock
Featuring: The Kobanes, Helado Negro, Mick Jenkins, Prodigy (of Mobb Deep), Bob Weir, Tesseract, Anthony Janas, Jeremiah Fisher, Cute Is What We Aim For, Schenay Mosley, Papadosio, In The Whale, and Yandel.

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The Sound Opinions Weekend Listening Report: "The spookiest time of the year is upon us. To celebrate Halloween, Jim and Greg turn the show over to listeners who share the songs that tingle their spines the most. Plus, they share their thoughts on Bob Dylan's Nobel Prize and review the latest from singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen."

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Weekend BeachBook

Jim Beam Workers Approve New Contract.

*

Voices From Wells Fargo - And The Rest Of The American Workplace.

*

UN Decries Global Assault On Freedom Of Expression.

*

Thank God Candy Corn Is On The List.

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Weekend TweetWood

pic.twitter.com/Mn6os6JUXy

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) October 22, 2016

*

Macy's considers closing downtown Minneapolis store, a Minnesota retail landmark https://t.co/NqTRT9PlMu

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) October 22, 2016

*

👀 https://t.co/HZOa7VoIhA pic.twitter.com/EMaqKLraHO

— andrew kaczynski (@KFILE) October 21, 2016

*

Former NSA director on Russia hacking US political party emails: We do it too. https://t.co/x5lMAIqVhp pic.twitter.com/WAjG0oSCuC

— Christopher Soghoian (@csoghoian) October 19, 2016

Sometimes you just gotta tip your cap.

*

I'm old enough to remember when libraries were co-located with schools.

When two become one: @theCHAtweets and @chipublib announce innovative partnership of co-located housing & libraries! https://t.co/ILPCd4tDQ1

— ChicagosMayor (@ChicagosMayor) October 21, 2016

*

What's extra-bizarre about @chicagotribune cheering Ecuador's internet block is *they themselves* repeatedly reported on content of emails pic.twitter.com/MvUvxPy5wS

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) October 21, 2016

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The Weekend Desk Tronc Line: Worldwide pants.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 12:30 AM | Permalink

October 21, 2016

The Beachwood Radio Sports Hour #124: Cubs - And Us - On The Brink

Bringing it all back home. Including: The Bunt Is Back!; Keys To Kyle Vs. Clayton; Players Performing Playoffy; Problematic Pitching Problems; Jay Cutler's Thumb Vs. Johnny Manziel's Drinking Problem, and; Your World Champion LA Sparks.

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SHOW NOTES

* 124.

* All that's missing is Ryan Braun!

* John Smoltz is good at his new job:

Wow John Smoltz is some kind of broadcaster. Notes lazy spin on Blanton's slider, then Blanton throws it again and Montero hits it a mile.

— Tyler Kepner (@TylerKepner) October 16, 2016

* Funny, but unfair, according to Coffman:

* Buster Olney Is Obviously Biased Against Your Favorite Team.

* How Vin Scully Is Spending The Playoffs:

Vin Scully says it best: "It's time for Dodger baseball". #NLCS #postseason #LALovesOctober https://t.co/AIXiW8FstO

— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 21, 2016

1:49: The Bunt Is Back!

* Jon "Lackey" Lester:

.@JLester34 wants a shot at ring No. 3. #NLCS pres. by @TMobile pic.twitter.com/lAEE1vh9gE

— MLB GIFS (@MLBGIFs) October 21, 2016

17:44: Keys To Kyle vs. Clayton.

* Be aggressively disciplined.

* Free Willy!

WC a little showboating on the way to first holding up his hand and looking into Cubs bench. Oh and WHY ISN'T HE PLAYING MORE!

— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) October 21, 2016

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Agreed (.063/.167):

It's time for Joe Maddon to sit Jason Heyward https://t.co/zioTY76EBT

— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) October 21, 2016

25:52: Players Performing Playoffy.

* Javy Baez is hitting 368/.381 in the postseason. Oh, and he's playing a little defense, too:

"Javy Baez Makes Insane Play on A-Gon Bunt" via @BleacherReport App: https://t.co/pSO3VTGN52#DefenseWinsChampionships
Incredible play..!!

— Jose David Flores (@Flo11Cubs) October 21, 2016

Javier Baez had an exchange of 0.57 seconds on the bunt ground out of Adrian Gonzalez. Arm strength 74 MPH.

— Daren Willman (@darenw) October 21, 2016

Baez had a 99% efficiency route on the bunt with 80mph arm strength and a 1% chance of making the play. (By my stat tracking mind)

— wayne schnier (@mustangbaseball) October 21, 2016

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Greatest sports play ever?

On This Date 10/13/2001: Jeter's flip play saves game. Mussina & Rivera shutout A's for 1-0 victory in Game 3 of ALDS. #Yankees @yankeepride pic.twitter.com/ROsrJExELs

— Brad Badini ⚾️ (@celeBRADtion) October 13, 2016

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Addison Russell is also pretty good:

.@Addison_Russell getting in the #postseason spirit. #FlyTheW https://t.co/hMXruc4vx1

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) October 21, 2016

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Ben Zobrist:

Zobrist said he thought about bunting "two days ago." : "I've said it before I'm not a clean up hitter I just bat fourth."

— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) October 20, 2016

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Kris Bryant:

This is what Kris Bryant looked like the last time the @cubs reached a NLCS Game 6. Also, you are old. pic.twitter.com/rKgN4Xvrey

— Kevin Kaduk (@KevinKaduk) October 21, 2016

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* SI: Den Leader: Anthony Rizzo Holds The Cubs Together.

* John Baker: Playing The Right Way?

"I'm going to hit a bomb today, pop this rosary out of my jersey, and spin it around my neck before I walk halfway down the line."

43:28: Problematic Pitching Problems.

* Strop, Rondon, Chapman, Lackey, Arrieta. And what's up with Carl Edwards Jr.?

* The Z Man!

* Magic Mike:

3 months ago, I never could've imagined that Mike Montgomery would be saving the #Cubs' bacon in the NLCS...because I'd never heard of him.

— Frustrated Fan (@Frustrated_Fan) October 20, 2016

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Arrieta/Montero:

Arrieta/Montero combo was statistically the easiest to steal on, of any pitcher-catcher duo in entire playoffs. Silly to bunt on pitch 1.

— Matt Spiegel (@MattSpiegel670) October 19, 2016

55:54: Jay Cutler's Thumb vs. Johnny Manziel's Drinking Problem.

Next man up:

The #Bears should sign:

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) October 21, 2016

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Rodgers:

How can #Packers QB Aaron Rodgers get back on track? Looking at technique, deep ball accuracy & more. @ESPNInsider: https://t.co/OAL9PRpGwo

— Matt Bowen (@MattBowen41) October 20, 2016

1:04:13: Your Champion L.A. Sparks:

What an ending! 🏀💛💜#WNBAFinals @LA_Sparks https://t.co/1XwUQh5Kgd

— Jeanie Buss (@JeanieBuss) October 21, 2016

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STOPPAGE: 9:38

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For archives and other shows, see The Beachwood Radio Network.

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Comments welcome.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 1:34 PM | Permalink

The Week In Chicago Rock

You shoulda been there.

1. The Kobanes at Liar's Club on Tuesday night.

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2. Helado Negro at the Hideout on Thursday night.

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3. Mick Jenkins at Thalia Hall on Thursday night.

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4. Prodigy (of Mobb Deep) at Subterranean on Thursday night.

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5. Bob Weir at the Chicago Theatre on Thursday night.

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6. Tesseract at Bottom Lounge on Tuesday night.

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7. Anthony Janas at the Empty Bottle on Tuesday night.

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8. Jeremiah Fisher at the Empty Bottle on Tuesday night.

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9. Cute Is What We Aim For at Subterranean on Wednesday night.

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Catching up with . . .

Schenay Mosley at the Beat Kitchen on Oct. 12th.

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Papadosio at the Concord last Friday night.

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In The Whale at the Double Door last Friday night.

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Yandel at the Aragon on Oct. 9th.

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Comments welcome.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 12:31 PM | Permalink

Cubs Retweet: Bringing It All Back Home

Here we go, folks.

Baez clears the bases and Dodgers stadium (of Dodger fans). 8-1 now. Kershaw v Hendricks looms for WS appearance

— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) October 21, 2016

*

Lester has a 0.86 ERA in 21 IP this postseason

— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) October 21, 2016

*

Yogi Hendricks.

Great line by Hendricks re the turnaround last night and attitude going in: "The only reason it changed is because nothing was different."

— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) October 20, 2016

*

Baez doesn't drop anything. Literally. pic.twitter.com/8OsvkS5z5V

— Cubs Insider (@Cubs_Insider) October 21, 2016

*

Um, wait a second . . .

YO THE CUBS MIGHT WIN THE WORLD SERIES ON HALLOWEEN DAY 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

— Ivan (@Pitasss_) October 21, 2016

*

Chicago sports tonight pretty much 😂#Bears #Cubs pic.twitter.com/MruVP28q5I

— Mallory (@Mally_ChiHawks) October 21, 2016

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Comments welcome.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 10:28 AM | Permalink

ACLU Demands Secret U.S. Court Reveal Secret U.S. Laws

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a motion to reveal the secret court opinions with "novel or significant interpretations" of surveillance law, in a renewed push for government transparency.

The motion, filed Wednesday by the ACLU and Yale Law School's Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic, asks the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court, which rules on intelligence gathering activities in secret, to release 23 classified decisions it made between 9/11 and the passage of the USA Freedom Act in June 2015.

ACLU National Security Project staff attorney Patrick Toomey says the opinions are part of a "much larger collection of hidden rulings on all sorts of government surveillance activities that affect the privacy rights of Americans."

Among them is the court order that the government used to direct Yahoo! to secretly scan its users' e-mails for "a specific set of characters." Toomey writes:

These court rulings are essential for the public to understand how federal laws are being construed and implemented. They also show how constitutional protections for personal privacy and expressive activities are being enforced by the courts. In other words, access to these opinions is necessary for the public to properly oversee their government.

Although the USA Freedom Act requires the release of novel FISA court opinions on surveillance law, the government maintains that the rule does not apply retroactively - thereby protecting the panel from publishing many of its post-9/11 opinions, which helped create an "unprecedented buildup" of secret surveillance laws.

Even after National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed the scope of mass surveillance in 2013, sparking widespread outcry, dozens of rulings on spying operations remain hidden from the public eye, which stymies efforts to keep the government accountable, civil liberties advocates say.

"These rulings are necessary to inform the public about the scope of the government's surveillance powers today," the ACLU's motion states.

Toomey writes that the rulings helped influence a number of novel spying activities, including:

• The government's use of malware, which it calls "Network Investigative Techniques."
• The government's efforts to compel technology companies to weaken or circumvent their own encryption protocols.
• The government's efforts to compel technology companies to disclose their source code so that it can identify vulnerabilities.
• The government's use of "cybersignatures" to search through internet communications for evidence of computer intrusions.
• The government's use of stingray cell-phone tracking devices under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
• The government's warrantless surveillance of Americans under FISA Section 702 - a controversial authority scheduled to expire in December 2017.
• The bulk collection of financial records by the CIA and FBI under Section 215 of the Patriot Act.

Without these rulings being made public, "it simply isn't possible to understand the government's claimed authority to conduct surveillance," Toomey writes.

As he told The Intercept on Wednesday, "The people of this country can't hold the government accountable for its surveillance activities unless they know what our laws allow. These secret court opinions define the limits of the government's spying powers. Their disclosure is essential for meaningful public oversight in our democracy."

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

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Previously:

* Obama Worst FOIA President Ever.

* How Obama Undermined FOIA Reforms.

* Obama's FOIA Fail.

* Obama's War On Truth And Transparency.

* Only Nixon Harmed A Free Press More Than Obama.

* Why Reporters In The U.S. Now Need Protection.

* Technologists Turn On Obama.

* EFF Sues NSA Over FOIA.

* EFF Wins FOIA Battle Over Secret Legal Opinions On Government Spying.

* Oscar And Pulitzer Award-Winning Journalist Laura Poitras Sues U.S. Government To Uncover Records After Years Of Airport Detentions And Searches.

* Obama: No Questions, Please!

* Sunlight Wins 13 Years Of Federal Contract Data.

* Workshop On Government's Openness Is Closed To Public.

* Government Could Hide Existence Of Records Under FOIA Rule Proposal.

* Trying (And Trying) To Get Records From The 'Most Transparent Administration' Ever.

* Delayed, Denied, Dismissed: Failures On The FOIA Front.

* SPJ, Again: Transparency Has Gotten Worse Under Obama.

* Obama Snags General In Book Leak.

* Obama's New Era Of Secret Law.

-

Comments welcome.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 4:08 AM | Permalink

Beachwood Photo Booth: House Rule

What's the alternative?

(ENLARGE FOR PROPER VIEWING)

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More Chicago photography from Helene Smith.

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Helene on Twitter!

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Meet Helene!

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Stationery, iPhone cases, hoodies.

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Listen to Helene talk about Photo Booth; starts at 57:54.

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Previously:
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Chicago Man Grilling
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Yum Yum Donuts
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Chicago Father's Day
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Vintage Airmaster
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Chicago Time
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Window Shade
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Illinois Slayer
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Chicago Fire Escape
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Golden Nugget
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Hollywood, Chicago
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Flag Man.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Van In Flames.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Fluid Power Automation.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Corn Dog.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Stop The Killing Car.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Chicago Backyard.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: A to Z Things.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Swedish Diner.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Rothschild Liquors.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Chicago Silos.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Chicago Wires.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Orange Garden.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Irving Park Guy.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Chicago Pigeons.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: O'Lanagan's.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: For Rent.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Marie's Pizza & Liquors.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Mori Milk.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: American Breakfast.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: A Chicago Christmas Postcard.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Holiday Harold's.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Chicago Family Fun.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Snow Bike.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Nativity Scene.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Old Warsaw.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Deluxe Cleaners.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Marie's Golden Cue.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Die Another Day.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Sears Key Shop.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Window Dressing.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Jeri's Grill.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Barry's Drugs.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Liberty.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Chicago Kitchen.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Golden Specials.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: We Won The Cup.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Bartender Man.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Blue Plane Blues.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Finest Quality.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Family Guy.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Girls Wanted.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Skokie Savanna.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Signpost.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Old Man And The Tree.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Street Fleet.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Citgo Story.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Fantasy Hair Design.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Chicago Garage.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Clark Stop.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Pole Position.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Window Dressing.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Chicago Geometry.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Found Love.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Fill In The Blank.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Vacuums Of The Night.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Dumpster Still Life.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Wagon Master.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Intersecting West Rogers Park.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Penn-Dutchman Antiques.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Cow Patrol.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Backstage Chicago.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Skully Bungalow.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Francisco Frankenstein.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Long Cool Heat.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Smokers' Mast.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Big Fat Phone.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Happy Day.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Alley Men.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Holiday Show!
* Beachwood Photo Booth: You've Got Mailbox.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Broken Window Theory.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Dali Logan.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Svengoolie.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Horner Park Hot Dogs.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Cubs Rehab.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: 20th Century Schizoid Man.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Men On Vans.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Penn-Dutchman Is Done.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Snowy Lincoln.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Waiting Room.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Avondale Chicken.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Winter's End.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: The Friendly Skies.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Boyhood Buzzer Beater.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: J Date.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: International Window Lady.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Shanghai Inn.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Open For Business.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Andersonville Unplugged.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: 3-Flat.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Evanston Turkey.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Chicagolandia.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Eat At Odge's.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Deitch Pharmacy.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Sud-Z Bubble.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Bands Wanted!
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Belmont Tavern.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Superheroic San Luis Freeze.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Evanston Oasis.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Lyndale Food & Jewelry.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Lincoln Tap.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Book Window.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Alco Dude.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Ballin Drugs.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Don't Worry, Be Cookie.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Four Trey.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: The Office.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: America From Inside The Golden Nugget In Ravenswood.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Cellphone Repair.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Boots 'N' Grill.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Sunrise Strip.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: At The Corner Of Glad And Happy.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Uptown Autumn Night.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Diner.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Mid-Century Modern Halloween.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Autumn Station Wagon.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Betty's & Nick's.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Ohio House Impact.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: End School Zone.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Portage Park Peek-A-Boo.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: South Side Sundown.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Susie's Drive-Thru.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Holiday Ham.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Food & Liquor, Milhouse.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: O'Hare Blue Line Man.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Schwing!
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Ad Deluxe.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Jesus At The Drive-In.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: The Tanks Of Avondale.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Conveyance Belt.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Bonk.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Esquire In The Night.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Nick's Meat Market.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Keep Havin A Good Day.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Knock Knock.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Man At Marie's.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Bonneville.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Logan Bags.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Chicago Stairwell.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Blue Velvet.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Court Is In Session.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: DLER ALKY.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Railyards Rush Hour.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Stop Killing People.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: America, Summer 2016, Part 1.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Greystone Chicago.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: You Are Beautiful.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Auto Part Overlords.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Bearground.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: America, Summer 2016, Part 2.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Skyway Sculpture.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: The Dome Car.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Hello, St. Joe.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Revolution Books.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Chicago Driveway.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Proceed To Checkout.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Summer Ghost.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Daily Double.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: We Are Moving.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: America, Summer 2016, Part 3.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Sunny Day Tap.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Ashland & Pawn.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Party Store.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: Donuts.
* Beachwood Photo Booth: AAA Sales.

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Comments welcome.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 3:39 AM | Permalink

Tweeting The Bears | QB 911

The current back-up quarterback is Zach Miller, according to Thursday's night's broadcast crew. I would've sworn it would be Cam Meredith, but whatever. Just hike the ball to Ka'Deem Carey and run the read option without the option.

The Matt Barkley era is here pic.twitter.com/ogqLRYBhiz

— Adam Hoge (@AdamHoge) October 21, 2016

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In 2014, Matt Barkley threw 1 pass. It was incomplete. That is the last time he has played in an NFL game.

— Adam Hoge (@AdamHoge) October 21, 2016

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Ted is Barkley's personal right guard. Like David Ross for football. https://t.co/y2wHJF7VFY

— jon greenberg (@jon_greenberg) October 21, 2016

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Matt Barkley is the closest thing the #Bears have to a developmental qb on the roster. Verdict: keep looking. This team is completely broken

— dan durkin (@djdurkin) October 21, 2016

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The #Bears should sign:

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) October 21, 2016

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Who is John Fox's backup?

The #Bears just got a delay of game out of a replay review.

— Adam Hoge (@AdamHoge) October 21, 2016

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The #Bears, who were already dead last in the NFL with 16.8 points per game, finish tonight with just 10. Only TD was a defensive score.

— Adam Hoge (@AdamHoge) October 21, 2016

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Bears' best play all night was on a penalty.

Bears De'Vante Bausby catches penalty flag thrown on him for holding pic.twitter.com/wDfErrZBIO

— The Cauldron (ICYMI) (@CauldronICYMI) October 21, 2016

*

Chicago sports tonight pretty much 😂#Bears #Cubs pic.twitter.com/MruVP28q5I

— Mallory (@Mally_ChiHawks) October 21, 2016

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Comments welcome.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 12:25 AM | Permalink

October 20, 2016

The [Thursday] Papers

"Chicago Fire Commissioner Jose Santiago on Wednesday defended his 60-day suspension of a lieutenant who refused to send underlings into an area where they might be exposed to Ebola but said the city will accept an arbitrator's ruling overturning the suspension," the Sun-Times reports.

What area in Chicago could expose someone to Ebola? The article doesn't say.

Really.

I mean, I read it four times. Am I missing something? Am I currently sitting in the Ebola area? Is it someone's house? Was it on fire?

Did the lieutenant in question just generally refuse pre-emptively to enter an Ebola scene? The article says it was a specific, actual incident. Again, is it me or is there a hole in this story as big as the one in Jason Heyward's swing?

*

I tried, but Google had no comment.

I did learn, however, that in May the department introduced its first so-called "Ebola ambulance," though it seems to be designed for a range of infectious diseases. More are on the way. Perhaps they will have cloaking devices to maintain the mystery.

Judge Not
"The lawyer who allegedly posed as a judge has been indicted on criminal charges, the latest fallout from the scandal that began when the judicial hopeful from the South Side put on a black robe and presided over three traffic cases, her lawyer said Thursday," the Tribune reports.

"The indictment, handed up by a Cook County grand jury, charges attorney Rhonda Crawford with two criminal counts, according to her lawyer, Victor Henderson, who said the Cook County state's attorney's office informed him of the indictment but did not specify the charges."

For the somewhat mind-blowing background, see The [Tuesday] Papers.

*

I presume Crawford is still the favorite in her campaign to be elected a real judge. #Rigged

Bar Exam
"A Northwestern researcher who sent hundreds of fake resumes to law firms found that hiring managers were most impressed by male applicants who claimed passions for polo and sailing," Crain's noted in its "Morning 10" newsletter on Wednesday.

Here's the Atlantic article that explains it all.

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Wouldn't you love to see a similar experiment run on our esteemed news organizations? Assignment Desk, activate!

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Riv Stagehands Trick-or-Treat For Union Contract
Target: JAM Productions.

Fake News And False Flags
Shaping public opinion for war.

Chicago Artist Loads Up On Bank Of America Stock!
Or did he?

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From the Beachwood sports desk . . .

Cubs Retweet: The Bats Are Back
But the series is still a toss-up, yo.

The Blue & Orange Kool-Aid Report: Nip Slip
What if I told you . . .

Fantasy Fix: Hoyer Plays Well (Again), May Lose Job
Throwing a fourth-straight 300-yard game somehow a disappointment.

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BeachBook

Cubs Made Los Angeles A Home Before The Dodgers Did.

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Ex-Sports Marketing Agent To Plead Guilty In FIFA Bribe Case.

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TweetWood
A sampling.

My brothers got a great idea for Trump's next move pic.twitter.com/vvH5pXlWBU

— Erin Gloria Ryan (@morninggloria) October 20, 2016

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It's official. 4 debates and 0 questions on #climatechange #debatenight

— Praveen Madhiraju (@BytyqiBrothers) October 20, 2016

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1. Make claim Gore took election to federal court.
2. Show claimant it was Bush who petitioned.
3. Claimant rejects fact as "liberal"
SMH

— Walter Katz (@katz_oversight) October 20, 2016

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Absolutely priceless. Read the replies.

Look at the angle of Hillary's gaze. She is NOT looking down at her notes, she is looking AT the lit panel. pic.twitter.com/sl3eZEP5b8

— Bill Mitchell (@mitchellvii) October 20, 2016

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The Beachwood Tronc Line: Double-dog dare ya.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 1:05 PM | Permalink

Cubs Retweet: The Bats Are Back

At least they were back for three innings.

Tonight we'll see if they're back for good.

Crazy series. Cubs scoring: 8, 0, 0, 10. Game 5 should be a good one.

— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) October 20, 2016

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Addison Russell & Anthony Rizzo were a combined 3-for-53 in the postseason entering the at-bats where they hit their HR

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) October 20, 2016

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Cubs playoff beard. They're learning. pic.twitter.com/M666tVTBr6

— Coach Q's mustache (@CoachQsMustache) October 20, 2016

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Anthony Rizzo and Angel Hernandez had an unusual conversation after Rizzo left the box early: https://t.co/1afE0A4WJd. H/T @TheBlogfines.

— Andrew Bucholtz (@AndrewBucholtz) October 20, 2016

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No.

Our setup for tonight's #Cubs Game! We will be watching #Game5 in the bar W/ SOUND. Let's keep... https://t.co/k3em1F0WUh pic.twitter.com/F7Rhz2iJut

— LUXBAR (@LUXBARChicago) October 20, 2016

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Comments welcome.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 10:42 AM | Permalink

Riviera Stagehands To "Trick-or-Treat" For Union Contract At JAM Productions

WHAT: Local clergy and JAM Productions stagehands workers, represented by IATSE Local 2, will "trick-or-treat" for a union contract at the JAM Productions offices.

Clergy will deliver a letter of support to owner, Jerry Mickelson.

Workers and clergy will then hold a press conference to announce the union's filing of an NLRB charge Thursday morning alleging the company is illegally refusing to negotiate.

WHEN: TODAY, Thursday, October 20th at 10 a.m.

WHERE: JAM Productions offices: 207 W Goethe Street.

WHO: JAM Productions Riviera stagehands workers, IATSE Vice President, local clergy and community leaders, Arise Chicago, Chicago Federation of Musicians band.

VISUALS: Workers and community supporters in Halloween costumes Trick-or-Treating for a union contract at the JAM offices. Local clergy delivering a letter signed by religious leaders. Lively band playing music.

BACKGROUND: In September 2015, JAM Productions stagehands working at the Riviera Theatre in Uptown expressed interest in union representation by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 2.

JAM Productions owner Jerry Mickelson immediately fired the entire stage crew.

After issuing a complaint, the National Labor Relations Board reached a settlement with JAM requiring it to rehire the fired workers.

The NLRB then held an election, in which a majority of the workers voted for representation by Local 2.

Despite the NLRB's certification of Local 2 as the workers' chosen union in June, Jerry Mickelson has refused to negotiate, as the law requires, leading Local 2 to file an NLRB charge on October 20th.

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See also:

* Tribune: Riviera Theatre Stagehands Claim Firing Was Due To Union Organizing.

* Consequence of Sound: Former JAM Productions Stagehands Speak Out On Mass Firing.

* DeRogatis: Jam Productions vs. Stagehands.

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Comments welcome.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 9:30 AM | Permalink

Did A Chicago-Area Artist Just Buy $88 Million In Bank Of America Stock?

In the latest apparent spoof on a U.S. securities regulator's online filing system, a Chicago-area artist with a fondness for inspirational quotes claimed to have acquired about $88 billion worth of Bank of America Corp shares on Wednesday.

The filing did not appear to influence the stock price of the second-largest U.S. bank, which joins companies including Avon Products Inc, Integrated Device Technology Inc and Berkshire Hathaway Inc to have had fake filings attached to their ticker symbols on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Edgar system.

While the SEC did not respond to a request for comment and Bank of America declined to comment, securities experts said there was no doubt the filing was a hoax.

In it, a company called YNOFACE Holdings, purportedly run by Antonio Lee said it had acquired 798.4 million Bank of America shares in an exchange on Aug. 15, and purchased another 4.2 billion common shares and 100 million preferred shares on Sept. 22.

The common shares alone would represent nearly half the bank's total market cap. Bank of America's largest shareholder, The Vanguard Group, has roughly 610 million shares, a stake of less than 6 percent.

In an earlier filing, YNOFACE said it had implausibly raised over $1 trillion for an art fund.

A YouTube account characterizes YNOFACE as a company that "acquires, markets, and holds original art as a capital appreciation investment based off the fundamental metrics."

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Offering Explanation, 2014.

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Lee's Twitter account, which hasn't been updated since 2014, showcase colorful paintings of a beach, elephants in love and a naked person with a bird's head. His avatar is question mark over a blank face.

'Trust' When an artist follows their intuition & dreams, society can only benefit. -Antonio Lee pic.twitter.com/CX0OQMQtYX

— Antonio Lee (@Ynoface) December 28, 2014

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Reuters' attempts to reach Lee were unsuccessful.

While Bank of America appeared unscathed by the apparent scam, past phony filings have had real world consequences. Last year, Avon shares soared 20 percent on a filing about a fake takeover bid. The alleged fraudster was arrested earlier this year.

The SEC's vulnerability to phony filings has attracted the attention of Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, who wrote to the regulator last year to express his concern.

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Links, embed and editing by Beachwood.

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See also: Lee's "Our Legacy."

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From Lee's Facebook page:

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Comments welcome.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 9:20 AM | Permalink

Fake News And False Flags

Recent articles about the firm Bell Pottinger are a stark reminder of the power and pervasiveness of PR in today's media landscape.

The Sunday Times and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism just revealed that Bell Pottinger was hired by the Pentagon to coordinate a covert propaganda campaign to boost America's profile in Iraq following the "end" of hostilities in 2003.

And earlier this year, South Africa's Business Day newspaper revealed that the firm had been retained by the scandal-hit billionaire Gupta family to burnish its image after a string of stories accusing it of "state capture" - allegedly using its influence with the president, Jacob Zuma, to advance the family's business interests.

Bell Pottinger's former chairman Lord Tim Bell confirmed to the Sunday Times that the company had been paid $540 million for five contracts with the U.S. government between 2007 and 2011. He said the firm reported to the Pentagon, the CIA and the National Security Council while working on the account.

The investigation, Fake News and False Flags relied on interviews with a former Bell Pottinger employee, Martin Wells, who claimed that the PR company created short TV reports in the style of Arabic news networks for broadast in Iraq. According to Wells, Bell Pottinger also scripted propagandistic soap operas and distributed fake insurgency videos which could be used to track the people who watched them.

The revelations were a classic example of investigative journalism: painstakingly poring over U.S. Army documents and federal government records as well as Bell Pottinger's corporate filings. It must be stressed that Bell Pottinger changed ownership after a management buyout in 2012 and that the Iraq unit closed in 2011. The investigation reported that key personnel who worked in the Iraq unit denied allegations about using tracking software.

Lord Bell won acclaim as the man who helped the Conservatives win general elections under Margaret Thatcher (he became known as Thatcher's PR "guru"), which helped him secure a knighthood in 1991. (It's worth pointing out he was made a life peer by Tony Blair in 1998.) His former firm has history with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism: In 2011, while he was still in charge, an investigation revealed the continuing close links between the firm and the Conservative Party.

Fake News and False Flags is the latest indication of how nation-states use PR firms for propaganda purposes during wartime or times of crisis. Perhaps the most famous example of this practice occurred around the time of the first Gulf war in 1990-91 when Citizens for a Free Kuwait - a "human rights agency" created and financed entirely by Kuwait's ruling elite to promote its interests in the U.S. - retained Hill & Knowlton, at that time the world's largest PR firm.

Saddam Hussein's Iraq had invaded Kuwait, and H&K's brief was to persuade U.S. citizens that American military involvement in the Gulf was vital to save a fledgling democracy from the hands of a brutal dictator. As John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton point out in their book Toxic Sludge Is Good For You - Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry, H&K produced dozens of video news releases for consumption by the U.S. media, and through them, the American public. As they wrote:

TV stations and networks simply fed the carefully crafted propaganda to unwitting viewers, who assumed they were watching 'real' journalism.

But by far the greatest public relations coup occurred when Nayirah, a 15-year-old Kuwaiti girl, appeared before a public hearing of Congress's Human Rights Caucus on October 10, 1990. She tearfully told of atrocities committed by Iraqi troops who had entered a Kuwaiti hospital with guns and took babies out of incubators leaving them to die "on the cold floor."

In the run up to war, then-President George H.W. Bush quoted Nayirah's testimony repeatedly. As Mitchel Cohen wrote years later, six times in one month the then president referred to:

. . . 312 premature babies at Kuwait City's maternity hospital who died after Iraqi soldiers stole their incubators and left the infants on the floor.

Bush Sr. invoked Hitler, while pro-war senators raised the ghosts of World War I by referencing "bayoneting babies." But there were elements of this story that later came into question. Nayirah was a member of the Kuwaiti royal family who had - it was repeatedly alleged - been coached in what "even the Kuwaitis' own investigators later confirmed was false testimony."

The scale and power of the public relations industry is becoming almost overwhelming for journalism. According to the Public Relations and Communications Association the PR industry is worth £12.9 billion in the UK, £3 billion more than in 2013. The PR census of 2016 also disclosed that there were 83,000 employees in the industry in the UK - up from 62,000 in 2013. This is important because, as media commentator Roy Greenslade illustrates, the findings confirm there are far more PR workers than journalists in Britain. (In the U.S., PR professionals outnumber journalists 4.6-1.)

This is alarming because it means PR firms will become ever more adept at manipulating the media to ensure their content appears. Fewer and fewer journalists have the time or opportunity to research their own stories or to check press releases for inaccuracies.

I have written about how useless it is to simply reject PR as the "dark arts" when its presence in modern journalism is so complete and involved. There has to be a working relationship - and the obvious and only way forward for journalism is to set the parameters of the relationship.

Thank goodness, then, for the Sunday Times, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and others like them for the work they continue to do.

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John Jewell is the director of undergraduate studies at the School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies at Cardiff University. This article was originally published on The Conversation.

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Comments welcome.

Posted by Beachwood Reporter at 6:17 AM | Permalink

The Blue & Orange Kool-Aid Report: Nip Slip

You can't stop Arrelious Benn (I wish that would stop auto correcting to "Areolas Benn"), you can only hope to contain him . . . as well as his career has through Sunday. Benn's fourth quarter TD reception was his seventh since 2012.

The late, demoralizing and ultimately deciding catch and (and run aaaaaand run) was a play that featured Tracy Porter falling down and the Bears safety help falling down on the job.

It shouldn't have come to that.

What if I told you before this game that the Bears would dominate the time of possession, Brian Hoyer would throw for over 300 yards, Connor Barth would make all of his field goal attempts and the Chicago's defense would hold the Jacksonville Jaguars scoreless through three quarters?

You'd definitely think I was about to try and sell you a timeshare because every timeshare pitch starts with the sentence "What if I told you . . . "

You might have also suspected that I was about to reveal that the Bears (gasp!) lost again because nobody would bother loading up all of that preamble unless some horrendous bullshit went down late in the game.

And if you've made it all the way to my small corner of the Internet, I'm sure you already know that the Bears lost 17-16 and fell to a record of 1-5 heading into a Thursday night game against the Packers.

We're not mad.

We're just disappointed.

What Worked

• Ball Control: Opting to expand their ball-control strategy beyond jock straps and double-sided tape, the Bears absolutely dominated the time of possession battle by creating turnovers and converting third downs throughout the game.
• Willie Young: The NFL player most likely to portray the likeness of the Gorton's Fisherman* in his career's second act had another excellent outing with two sacks and a forced fumble.
• Cameron Meredith: The Hoyer-Meredith connection isn't just a great name for a '70s funk band anymore. Meredith was the Bears' leading receiver for the second week in a row.

What Made Us Say Aloud "I Sure Am Glad I Have A Drinking Problem! Bye Bye, Memories!" Before Rapidly Shotgunning 12 PBR Tall Boys