With An Assist To Chicago’s Rats
“It all started when a rat ran over author Anne E. Beall’s husband’s foot outside their Chicago home.”
Posted on September 30, 2016
The Homesick Phone Book
By SIU Press
Terrorist attacks, war, and mass shootings by individuals occur on a daily basis all over the world. In The Homesick Phone Book, author Cynthia Haynes examines the relationship of rhetoric to such atrocities.
Aiming to disrupt conventional modes of rhetoric, logic, argument, and the teaching of writing, Haynes illuminates rhetoric’s ties to horrific acts of violence and the state of perpetual conflict around the world, both in the Holocaust era and more recently.
Posted on September 28, 2016
Donald Trump And The Return Of Seditious Libel
By Richard Tofel/ProPublica
In 1733, New York printer John Peter Zenger began publishing the eighth newspaper in the American colonies, and the first willing to venture criticism of the government. The New-York Weekly Journal was the second paper in a city of 10,000 or so people, 1,700 of them slaves.
As we are reminded in Richard Kluger’s comprehensive new book, Indelible Ink, the first full-length account of Zenger’s travails, by 1735, Zenger (and the likely editor of his paper, James Alexander) had so offended Britain’s royal governor of New York and New Jersey, William Cosby, that Cosby brought suit against Zenger for seditious libel – the crime of criticizing the government.
Under the law then in effect in Britain and its colonies, truth was not a defense to this charge. The leading legal treatise of the day explained that “since the greater appearance there is of truth in any malicious invective, so much the more provoking it is.” And: “The malicious prosecution of even truth itself cannot . . . be suffered to interrupt the tranquility of a well-ordered society.”
This was deemed especially the case with true attacks on those in power, as they would have “a direct tendency to breed in the people a dislike of their governors and incline them to faction and sedition.”
Posted on September 26, 2016
Meet Chicago’s Newest Vampire*
Mayor Creates Office Of Supernatural Affairs
“Merit, Chicago’s newest vampire, is learning how to play well with others. Other supernaturals, that is.
“Shapeshifters from across the country are convening in the Windy City, and as a gesture of peace, Master vampire Ethan Sullivan has offered their leader a very special bodyguard: Merit.
Posted on September 20, 2016
The Wrigley Riddle
Who Would Want To Sabotage The Stadium?
“Next up to the plate: book six in our early chapter book mystery series, where each book is set in a different American ballpark!
“Ivy-covered walls – they’re the most famous part of the Chicago Cubs’ historic ballpark, Wrigley Field. Mike and Kate can’t wait to get down on the field to see the ivy for themselves.
“But when they do, they’re horrified to discover patches of the ivy have been ripped away! Who would want to sabotage the stadium? Is it someone trying to curse the Cubs? Or is the rumor of a treasure hidden under the ivy tempting greedy fans?”
Posted on September 19, 2016
Casey, Illinois Just May Be The Guinness World Record Capital Of The World
By Deb Bohannon/Bolin Enterprises
It’s not every day that a small town of 3,000 receives national attention. However, Casey, Illinois has done just that with the help from Guinness World Records. Each year, thousands of travelers from Interstate 70 get off Exit 129 to see the unique attractions that have made it into Guinness’ world-famous book.
To understand Casey’s success, it’s best to look back to June 22, 2012. On that day, Jim Bolin received the record title World’s Largest Wind Chime from Guinness World Records. What started out as a dream to build something from his childhood memories and become a record holder ended up inspiring the addition of even more BIG things.
Since that day, Bolin and his team have created and achieved seven more World’s Largest record titles: the golf tee, knitting needles and crochet hook, pitchfork, wooden shoes, rocking chair and mailbox.
Posted on September 14, 2016
Why Are Police Inside Public Schools?
By Aaron Kupchik/The Conversation
Children across the U.S. have now returned to school. Many of these children are going to schools with sworn police officers patrolling the hallways. These officers, usually called school resource officers, are placed in schools across the country to help maintain school safety.
According to the most recent data reported by the Department of Education, police or security guards were present in 76.4 percent of U.S. public high schools in the 2009-2010 school year.
In many of these schools, police officers are being asked to deal with a range of issues that are very different from traditional policing duties, such as being a mental health counselor for a traumatized child. This is an unfair request.
Posted on September 7, 2016
The “Miracles” Of Saint Teresa
By Philip Almond/The Conversation
In 2002, the Vatican officially recognized as a miracle the healing of an Indian woman’s cancer of the abdomen. This occurred as the result of the application of a locket containing Mother Teresa’s picture. The woman, Monica Besra, said a beam of light had emanated from the picture, curing her cancerous tumor.
This one miracle was sufficient for Mother Teresa to be beatified in 2003. This meant that she had the title “Blessed” bestowed on her and that she was, from then on, able to intercede with God on behalf of individuals who prayed in her name.
Posted on September 6, 2016
How American Policing Fails Neighborhoods
By James J. Nolan/The Conversation
How should we understand the violence, counterviolence and civil unrest that mark American policing? And, based on this understanding, what can we do to stop it?
Rather than focus on the characteristics of “bad apple” police officers or angry, vengeful citizens, sociologists like me tend to look at the context in which the violence occurs or at how individuals within this context interact.
For example, sociologists might study a sport like soccer. Participants learn the rules of the game, what behaviors they expect of each other, how to score points and what it means to be considered a “good” player.
Policing also has rules and logic that makes certain actions the right things to do and other actions the wrong things.
Posted on September 5, 2016
Missing The Point Of The Clinton Foundation Controversy
By Richard Painter/The Conversation
Hillary Clinton’s critics claim that federal ethics laws were broken when her subordinates at the State Department arranged meetings and other favors for donors to the Clinton Foundation.
Evidence is still surfacing as to who at the State Department did what and why. But as a former chief White House ethics lawyer in the Bush administration, I can tell you that allegations of favoritism for donors is nothing new. There were plenty such allegations during the Bill Clinton administration. If nothing changes, I believe it will be more of the same in a Hillary Clinton administration.
As I illustrate in my book, Getting the Government America Deserves, there was also favoritism for donors in the Reagan administration and both Bush administrations. Same for Congress over many years. The same is arguably true for the Obama administration. One case in point: access to staff in the White House and Department of Energy granted to investors in the Solyndra Solar Energy Company. The Clinton Foundation may be a novel twist to an old problem, but donors get high-level access every day in Washington.
Posted on September 1, 2016