Chicago -
By Steve Rhodes
I’m mentally limping to the end of the week here and I’ve got a lot of other things to attend to, so I’m going to put off a Papers column and some other posts until later this afternoon or even Monday. In the meantime, we do have some new material on the site today.
* We Will Lose 100 Games.
Our new Cubs song from Tom Latourette and Rick Kaempfer. It’s funny.
* The Week in Chicago Rock
It rocked pretty hard.
Posted on September 21, 2012
By Steve Rhodes
“An estimated 1.9 million people in [Illinois] were living below the federal poverty rate last year, almost 150,000 more than in 2010, according to the new American Community Survey,” the Tribune reports.
“Chicago saw another 15,000 enter poverty last year, bringing the city’s total to 261,400, the ACS survey showed.”
Let those numbers sink in.
Posted on September 20, 2012
By Steve Rhodes
“Gerald Reed was being questioned about a double murder in 1990 when a Chicago police detective working under then-Cmdr. Jon Burge allegedly knocked the chair out from under him, then kicked and stomped on his legs and torso while he was still handcuffed to the wall,” Jason Meisner reports for the Tribune.
“Reed eventually signed a confession, was convicted at trial and was sentenced to life in prison.
“His claims of torture went nowhere despite jail X-rays taken shortly after the alleged beating that showed a steel rod in his leg from an old injury had been broken and two orthopedic screws knocked loose, according to court records.
“Now, 22 years later, Reed’s allegations are getting a fresh look. His case was one of five involving the disgraced Burge that were assigned to judges Tuesday at the Leighton Criminal Court Building after lengthy investigations by the Illinois Torture Relief and Inquiry Commission.
“But even as those cases move forward, dozens of other torture claims filed with the commission since its inception in 2009 have been put on hold because the financially struggling state pulled the body’s already meager funding earlier this year.”
Somebody once said budgets are moral documents. Indeed.
Posted on September 19, 2012
By Steve Rhodes
Today’s Teachers Strike Notebook is World-Class Teachers and Second-Rate Pols.
And now, the rest of the news . . .
1. A source tells the Tribune that the Cactus Bar & Grill was the target of alleged teen bomber Adel Daoud. The Cactus is adjacent to Cal’s, so it’s pretty much the same thing.
Posted on September 18, 2012
By Steve Rhodes
Cal’s?!
It was Cal’s?!
Maybe if you have a vendetta against bike messengers, but as a friend put it today, Cal’s is about as far from American hegemony as you can get.
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“Daoud’s family on Saturday insisted he isn’t violent and cast doubt on the allegations. And at least one worshipper at the mosque said he finds it laughable that Daoud posed a security threat.
“He was intellectually challenged and he seemed a lot younger than 18,” said Junaid Ahmed, 36. “He was told to stop talking about that garbage.”
“Ahmed said he saw Daoud daily at the mosque during Ramadan and found him “sweet” and easily-led, though Daoud never discussed terrorism in his presence. He repeatedly had to be told to be quiet while other worshippers were praying, Ahmed said.
Asked if he believed Daoud could have built a bomb without the FBI’s help, Ahmed laughed. “He was retarded,” Ahmed said. “I’m not a doctor, but I’d bet my life that he couldn’t.”
America must really be safe from internal threats if the only terrorists the FBI can find are confused and mentally challenged young ‘uns who would never be able to act on their fantasies if the federal agents didn’t supply them with the plans and the bombs.
Posted on September 17, 2012
By Natasha Julius
We can strike now, right? Fuck it, we’re on strike.
Market Update
With Mitt Romney’s heart declaring moral bankruptcy this week, analysts predict even our Lord and savior will soon be homeless.
Posted on September 15, 2012
By Steve Rhodes
Today’s Teachers Strike Notebook is Rahm Hates Research.
And now, the rest of the news . . .
1. How Bad Did The Bears Suck? Let America Tweet The Ways.
2. The Week in Chicago Rock: Bob Mould, Melanie Fiona, Sexfist, Alabama Shakes, Mary J. Blige, Robbie Fulks and the Scavengers, and the Clams.
Posted on September 14, 2012
By Steve Rhodes
“The American Civil Liberties Union in Chicago is suing the state of Illinois over conditions inside youth prisons,” WBEZ reports.
“In its lawsuit the ACLU says some of the kids locked up aren’t getting enough time in the classroom, and for the time they are there, they’re not getting high quality instruction.”
By that standard they should sue CPS too.
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“One of the principal causes of the inadequate conditions at the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice is insufficient staffing and resources,” says the ACLU’s Adam Schwartz.
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Our society sure doesn’t like children much.
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See also: Teachers Strike Notebook 4: Astroturf and Optics.
Posted on September 13, 2012
By Steve Rhodes
Today’s Teachers Strike Notebook: Nickelback and Numerology.
Now, the rest of the news . . .
1. “A longtime top political consultant to Cook County Democratic Chairman and Assessor Joseph Berrios faces $30,400 in fines after state election authorities found he failed to file campaign-finance disclosure reports until long after they were due,” the Sun-Times reports.
Posted on September 12, 2012
By Steve Rhodes
Where does your alderman stand on the teachers strike? That and more in Teachers Strike Notebook 2: Obama vs. Sveum.
Seeing Red
“A quirk in Illinois traffic laws has complicated Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to pepper the city with speed cameras and slowed down bidding on a multimillion-dollar system scheduled to begin issuing $100 tickets by early next year,” the Tribune reports.
“The problem: a 38-year-old opinion by the Illinois attorney general that says children must be ‘visibly present’ before school zone speed limits can be enforced.”
Sources tell the Beachwood that when informed of the issue, Emanuel demanded to know who the fuck didn’t do their homework.
Posted on September 11, 2012
