By Steve Rhodes

Let’s take a quick spin through (mostly) the (Sears) news. Most of the heavy lifting, though, will be saved for next week.
Worst Dealmakers Ever
Between Pat Quinn’s corporate incentive packages and the City of Chicago’s pinstripe parking meter patronage, our pols are the worst dealmakers ever. If making good deals were actually their motive instead of satisfying cynical political objectives and doing favors for friends, that is. The latest?
Well, just check this out from Crain’s Cleveland Business:
“Gov. John Kasich’s biggest economic development victory this year might turn out to be the losing effort to attract Sears Holding Corp.’s headquarters from Illinois.”

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Posted on December 27, 2011

By Steve Rhodes

“Lack of action by the Illinois General Assembly this fall to send Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn a bill creating a statewide health-insurance exchange hasn’t discouraged supporters of President Barack Obama’s signature legislative accomplishment: the federal Affordable Care Act,” the State Journal-Register reports.
“However, there is some worry about how long lawmakers could wait in 2012 before votes are taken in the Illinois House and Senate. The state could lose more than $80 million in federal startup grants if inaction extends into the summer.
“‘We expected the General Assembly to act on what is really a bipartisan set of concepts that the Affordable Care Act is based on,’ said Michael Gelder, Quinn’s senior health-care policy adviser. ‘The exchange really is a very Republican approach. It’s not a government takeover.'”
*
I wonder if that will be part of the president’s re-election pitch: “I passed health care reform that’s really very Republican!”

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Posted on December 26, 2011

By The Weekend Desk B Team

While Natasha Julius is out spreading joy this weekend, the backup team watches your back.
1. Filmed on a dining room table in Chicago.

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Posted on December 24, 2011

By Steve Rhodes

“He needs cookies and milk, department stores to make his appearances and post offices to handle all the letters from children.
“If Santa Claus ever wants to relocate from the North Pole, he should consider Peoria in central Illinois. That’s the conclusion of a Canadian think tank that analyzed data on Canadian and U.S. cities to compile a scientific list of top-10 places suitable for Santa,” AP reports.
Plus, he doesn’t even have to guarantee jobs cleaning reindeer dung to get a tax break.

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Posted on December 23, 2011

By Steve Rhodes

1. From the Twitter feed of seemoreglass09:

#Occupy exists because the Left has been corrupted as well as the Right

2. From Matt Damon in Elle (via the Huffington Post):

I’ve talked to a lot of people who worked for Obama at the grassroots level. One of them said to me, ‘Never again. I will never be fooled again by a politician.’ You know, a one-term president with some balls who actually got stuff done would have been, in the long run of the country, much better.

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Posted on December 22, 2011

By Steve Rhodes

“A man released in March after serving 25 years behind bars for a 1986 double murder he did not commit filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday alleging he was tortured into confessing by detectives working under disgraced former Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge,” the Tribune reports.
Can you imagine serving 25 years in prison for a double murder you did not commit? And doing so after having been tortured into a confession?
Meanwhile, elsewhere in America . . .

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Posted on December 21, 2011

By Steve Rhodes

Slouching toward 2012.
1. Onion or Sun-Times?
Cabbies Want 22 Percent Fare Hike, Vomit Clean-Up Tax.
2. Daley’s Plan To Honor His Dad.
Dan Ryan to be re-routed to re-segregate Bridgeport.

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Posted on December 20, 2011

By Steve Rhodes

1. Secret U.S., Taliban Talks Reach Turning Point.
Yes. They’re no longer secret.
2. North Korea Mourns Dead Leader, Son Hailed As ‘Great Successor’.
Good thing that could never happen here.

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Posted on December 19, 2011

By Natasha Julius

We were going to post this report early, but we didn’t want to interrupt your weekend with news you need to know.
Market Update
Look, the last European downgrade was pretty devastating. But if, as predicted, one of the big guns falls, it could spark a global depression.

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Posted on December 17, 2011

By Steve Rhodes

1. Best Sam Hurd tweets.

jbooks_23
Sam Hurd has only caught “8 Balls” this season #ironic
Peyton’s Head
BREAKING: NOLA Hornets sign Sam Hurd. Team source says “He’s the only guy I know that distributes the rock better than Chris Paul.”

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Posted on December 16, 2011