Chicago - A message from the station manager

The Weekend Desk Report

By Steve Rhodes

Like potholes, maddeningly long TSA lines are hardly just a Chicago concern. It would be nice if local media coverage placed the problems we’re having here in a national context.
For example, CBS This Morning produced this piece over a month ago about security lines doubling at airports around the nation. As you can see, the head of the TSA even went to Seattle and met with airport officials there amidst local talk of replacing federal screeners with privatized workers! I mean, I know Rahm Emanuel (and Dick Durbin et al) are acting as if they are the toughest hombres on the planet, ordering the TSA chief to O’Hare for a dressing down, but in reality this is just the latest in a long line of stops in which TSA officials are saying there isn’t much they can do but thank you for inviting us here.
Watch:

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Pack your patience!


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Signature Building
“Another iconic Chicago skyscraper may be in line for a new name,” AP reports. “The owner of the John Hancock Center is shopping the naming rights for the 47-year-old building to pay for a proposed redevelopment of a plaza in front of the Michigan Avenue building.”
They should let it go back to its original name:

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John Hancock inherited a smuggling fortune and kept slaves, just so you know.
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John Footpenis works in alternative dispute resolution.
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Mell B
“Alderman Deb Mell agreed that the best way to build trust and relationships is to create a space for one-on-one interactions between people from different neighborhoods,” according to the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, in their e-mail newsletter about an “On the Table” event it held earlier this month.
“She advocated a program where aldermen spend time in other wards to better understand the complexities facing each community.”
I couldn’t let this go without reminding readers what Mell admitted 17 months ago after Rahm Emanuel gave his teary apology speech about Laquan McDonald to the national media city council:

Ald. Deb Mell, 33rd, spoke about her relatively affluent North Side upbringing while urging her colleagues to help each other experience different parts of the city. “I’m from the North Side, and growing up we were taught don’t go to the South Side. Don’t go to the West Side. And that is absolutely wrong,” she said. “What I would like to do in the future is go visit, go visit your ward offices and hang out in your ward and see what happens on the South Side and the West Side. And I invite you to come over to our side of the city.”

You’ve had more than a year to visit some South and West Side wards, Deb. What are you waiting for?
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Also, from then:

Far South Side Ald. Anthony Beale, 9th, followed shortly after Mell by blasting Chicagoans who haven’t opened their eyes earlier to the fact that African-American neighborhoods have long been badly treated by police in a way that is only now getting attention because it was caught on a video recording.
“Ladies and gentlemen, if you’ve been living in a bubble, shame on you,” Beale said.

At little shade from Mell’s bubble.
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Maybe no South or West Side alderman wants to be the one who has to show her around.
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Ferguson DOJ Investigator In Chicago

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Your Fear Of Black Men Is Irrational
Made at AnySquared Studio, home of Beachwood HQ. Drop in for Studio Day!

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Related:

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Also related:

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The Week In Chicago Rock
Is still in pre-production.
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The Beachwood Radio Sports Hour #103: The Fevered Chicago Baseball Dream Is Dead
Cubs, White Sox spiraling into oblivion. Plus: Cy Sale And The Rubs; Bulls Offseason Going Great!; Bears 1st-Round Draft Pick Leonard Floyd Is Stuffing His Face Right Now; Absent Alshon; The Olympic Way; and The Nerds Who Are Ruining Horse Racing.
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True to form, the Cubs won easily in San Francisco on Friday night, post-podcast. The Cubs lose to bad teams, the White Sox lose to good teams.
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The Sound Opinions Weekend Listening Report: “While the Seattle grunge bands had the commercial success, the Pacific Northwest’s Riot Grrrl scene had an equally important legacy. Jim and Greg look back at feminist punk movement 25 years on. Then they review the new albums from Drake and Radiohead.”
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BeachBook
Companies Are Stashing So Much Goddamn Cash Overseas.

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Mapping The Military Weaponry Of Illinois Police.

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TweetWood
How To Take A Ferris Bueller Day Off Without Getting Busted.


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Reminiscent of the Dolores Huerta ridiculousness. Also, Al Gore claimed he created the Internet and George H.W. Bush was amazed by a supermarket scanner!
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The Weekend Desk Tip Line: Fuck fear.

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Posted on May 21, 2016