By Steve Rhodes

“The Obama administration has long called itself the most transparent administration in history. But newly released Department of Justice documents show that the White House has actually worked aggressively behind the scenes to scuttle congressional reforms designed to give the public better access to information possessed by the federal government,” Vice reports.
“The documents were obtained by the Freedom of the Press Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports journalism in the public interest, which in turn shared them exclusively with VICE News. They were obtained using the Freedom of Information Act – the same law Congress was attempting to reform. The group sued the DOJ last December after its FOIA requests went unanswered for more than a year.
“The documents confirm longstanding suspicions about the administration’s meddling, and lay bare for the first time how it worked to undermine FOIA reform bills that received overwhelming bipartisan support and were unanimously passed by both the House and Senate in 2014 – yet were never put up for a final vote.”

Read More

Posted on March 9, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

“Dr. Quentin Young, the crusading progressive physician to President Barack Obama among others, died Monday at his daughter’s house in California,” DNAinfo Chicago reports.
“Young, 93, was a lifelong Hyde Parker and the physician to Obama, former Mayor Harold Washington and to writers like Studs Terkel and Mike Royko.”
Young made quite a few interesting appearances in the Beachwood over the year that bear revisiting. (Some external links, sadly, are dead.)

Read More

Posted on March 8, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

“You might think, based on a rare, overwhelmingly bipartisan vote in the Illinois House on Thursday, that creating an elected Chicago Board of Education is a terrific idea. After all, what else would get a landslide 110-4 vote in the usually fractious House?” the Tribune opines today.
“But this proposal is fingernails-on-chalkboard terrible.”
Why? Because the bill that passed the House – and has no chance to pass the Senate given president John Cullerton’s alliance with Rahm Emanuel – would create a 21-member board. And that’s just too much democracy for the Tribune.

Read More

Posted on March 7, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

Here’s Donald Trump talking about a presidential bid with Oprah in 1988 (includes praise for the campaigns that year of George H.W. Bush, Michael Dukakis and, yes, Jesse Jackson).

–
The Beachwood Radio Sports Hour #92: The Many Fetishizations Of Media Fanboys
No detail too mundane, every lame joke an instant classic.
Plus: The White Sox Are Also Holding Spring Training But Let’s Talk About Other Stuff; Memo To Maddon: Up Your Game; Ivy League Not So Smart: Brandi’s Brain; Boring Bears Banishing Bennett; I Don’t Want To See Athletes’ Smelly Naked Dicks; Blackhawks Babble; Bulls Babble; Go Trojans; and The Everton Minute.
–
The Beachwood Radio Hour
Is (still) in pre-production.
–
Weekend Beachwood Politics: Remember Bill Clinton’s Phony Executive Pay Cap? It’s Even Less Effective Than We Knew.
Case in point: Apple.
–
Weekend Beachwood Sports: Behind The Unpredictable Premier League Year That Put Leicester Top Of The Pile.
More money, fewer Englishmen and a dash of Billy Beane.
–
The Sound Opinions Weekend Listening Report: “As we move slowly toward spring, the music release schedule starts heating up as well. Jim and Greg review a bevy of new albums, including records by TEEN, Mavis Staples, Bonnie Raitt, and more. ”
–
The CAN TV Weekend Viewing Report
“Roe on Trial” Rally
“Advocates call on the U.S. Supreme Court to protect reproductive rights in a rally at Federal Plaza.”
Sunday at 9:30 a.m. on CAN TV21 and online.
*
Day of Remembrance
“Chicago’s Japanese-American community speaks about the impact of President Franklin Roosevelt’s World War II executive order to forcibly incarcerate tens of thousands of Japanese Americans.”
Sunday at 11 a.m. on CAN TV21 and online.
*
CPR Training Techniques
“Learn how to treat sudden cardiac arrest in a series of videos produced by Illinois Heart Rescue that feature local high school students.”
Sunday at 11:30 a.m. on CAN TV19.
–
Weekend BeachBook

*

*

*

*

*

–
Weekend TweetWood

Michael Ferro Left Behind A https://t.co/V1L5C6L0PO That Is A Plagiarizing Mess: https://t.co/z1STgfrPI3 | Hopes to repeat in Los Angeles

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) March 5, 2016

*

#Chicago Icon Who Endorsed Bob Fioretti For Mayor Also Probably Voting For Trump: https://t.co/Pqe9IetLDQ | #Ditka

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) March 5, 2016

*

About this new claim that US intelligence & military community would never commit war crimes https://t.co/WwGX9Kr9Ly pic.twitter.com/eP2kd2Pw7l

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) March 4, 2016

*
S/O to the guy with the devil’s horns.

Thanks for the great visit @mtvernontwp! pic.twitter.com/B4s9CsHrTw

— Bruce Rauner (@GovRauner) March 4, 2016

*

Il Democratic Senate Primary: @tammyduckworth will not debate next week on public tv, voters lose #RoseGarden #WTTW

— Mary Ann Ahern (@MaryAnnAhernNBC) March 4, 2016

*
And she was supposed to be the reasonable one.

Anita Alvarez adds about $19K including $3K from Laura Ricketts. https://t.co/PrXuOJjVKI

— IL Election Data (@ILElectionData) March 4, 2016

*

Great seeing good friend: Actor @RealJamesWoods. Known this kid for yrs. In a lot of films. Great intelligent guy! pic.twitter.com/yhZHfeG6dl

— Dennis Rodman (@dennisrodman) February 23, 2016

–
The Weekend Desk Tip Line: To ensure prompt service.

Posted on March 5, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

“After a series of primary wins on Tuesday, Donald Trump is the man to beat for the Republican Party nomination for president. And as you surely know, Trump voters are enamored of his carefully burnished reputation as a businessman supposedly worth ‘in excess of TEN BILLION DOLLARS,'” Joe Brancatelli writes for the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal.
“But like his all-caps boasting on Federal Election Commission financial forms, Trump’s record doesn’t translate to the travel industry. His travel forays over the past 40 years have been a strange brew of missed opportunities, dreadful timing, questionable financial maneuvers, swaggering braggadocio, tear-down-the-competition innuendo and outright failure.”
Here’s the part that particularly interested me:

Read More

Posted on March 4, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

“GOP frontrunner Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States is racist, discriminatory, and a betrayal of American values. It’s also very popular among Republican voters,” the Intercept reports.
“Exit polls conducted by ABC News on Super Tuesday show that more than 60 percent of GOP voters in five states favor Trump’s proposed ban. In Alabama and Arkansas, that figure rises to nearly 80 percent. Trump won seven of the day’s 11 state primaries.”
*
Before Democrats get too smug, though, consider this:

Read More

Posted on March 2, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

“The editorial staff of Gawker Media, which voted to unionize with the Writers Guild of America East last summer, has approved its first union contract. The vote was 88-2,” Gawker reports.
“Ninety of the 99 current members of the bargaining unit cast a vote. The full contract, which will be in effect for three years, can be found here. A number of other digital media organizations are currently negotiating their first union contracts as well.”

Read More

Posted on March 2, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

“As professional sports have grown increasingly lucrative, highly-paid front office executives, coaches and players no longer need to press to act as boosters for their teams,” says Malcolm Moran, director of the Sports Capital Journalism Program at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
That’s how they see you, sportswriters – arms of the marketing department. That’s why you have access to locker rooms.
See the item The Hurt Locker Room.

Read More

Posted on March 1, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

“Apparently learning that science does not always come naturally – even to geniuses – helps children succeed,” Quartz reports.
“Students who learned that great scientists struggled, both personally and intellectually, outperformed those who learned only of the scientists’ great achievements, new research shows.
“Ninth- and 10th-grade students in low-performing New York City schools who read about Albert Einstein’s struggles, including multiple school changes and trouble convincing others that gravity from a large object like a planet could actually bend light, performed better in science than a control group who learned only about what the scientists achieved.”

Read More

Posted on February 29, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

Situation Normal All Fucked Up.
Or, as Big Audio Dynamite said, situation no win.

–
The Beachwood Radio Hour #74: Untitled
Is in pre-production.
–
The Beachwood Radio Sports Hour #91: Cubundant™
The only fans sadder than the ones in Baltimore today are the ones on the South Side, because Cubs.
Plus: Blackhawks Deal Tops Cubs Deal; Follow The Bouncing Bulls; Mocking The Bears; and Up The Toffees!
–
Weekend Politics: The Washington Insiders Who Work To Get China Deals Done.
“A spate of proposed Chinese takeovers of U.S. companies, from the Chicago Stock Exchange to makers of high-end semiconductors, has created a vibrant business for a small circuit of Washington insiders who advise on how to get cross-border deals approved by the U.S. government.”

Read More

Posted on February 27, 2016