By Steve Rhodes

“Get ready for the most heartwarming story you’ll read all day,” Clickhole reports.
“If you met Paul Langdon or Ayesha Qamar on the street, you might think they have nothing in common. Paul is a retired firefighter, Ayesha is a law student. Paul has lived in the same suburb of Columbus for his entire life, Ayesha immigrated to Ohio from Pakistan when she was a teen. Paul is a devout Christian, Ayesha is Muslim. But if you dig a little deeper, you’ll find that they share a common bond: Both Paul and Ayesha have ‘Trump’ painted on their garages!
“Beautiful! Take a look at the side-by-side pictures above to see just how similar these two really are.”

Read More

Posted on November 22, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

The election of an American president made all of these necessary. Let’s pull together and overwhelm the country with love.
* Meet An Immigrant.
* Fifth Grader Uses Google Translate To Make Friends With The New Kid At School.
* Trump Defense Donations.

Read More

Posted on November 21, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

For completists, there was no column Thursday.
And there won’t be a (full) column today.
Just these goodies:

Read More

Posted on November 18, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

For the last week, I’ve been compiling the usual kinds of Chicago news to comment on but I find it hard to care much about county soda taxes, Rahm’s shenanigans and even indictments (both handed down and pending) given the enormity of what we have before us now.
As a friend said on Twitter the other day to a follower’s mundane, local political complaint: I ain’t got time for that now.

Read More

Posted on November 16, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

About the campaign strategist who will now join President-elect Donald Trump in the White House:
“Before joining Trump’s team, Bannon spearheaded Breitbart’s shift into a forum for the ‘alt-right,’ a loose online confederation of neo-Nazis, white supremacists and anti-Semitics. Bannon’s hiring by Trump’s campaign this year signaled the businessman’s dedication to operating outside the norms of Washington,” Reuters reports.
“Under Bannon’s leadership, the Breitbart site presented a number of conspiracy theories about Clinton as well as Republicans deemed to be lacking in conservative bona fides.”

Read More

Posted on November 15, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

“Citing the recent election of Donald Trump, the Mexican Consulate of Chicago said it will be on alert and ready to assist Mexican nationals in the greater Chicago area in asserting their rights,” WBEZ reports.
*
“Students at Hancock College Prep, a predominantly Latino high school on Chicago’s Southwest Side, said they are worried about deportation,” WBEZ also reports.
–
This is the world we now live in – and it goes far beyond the fears of Latinos. Basically, if you’re not an able-bodied white Christian heterosexual male, you have great cause to be scared out of your wits. Obviously I haven’t even scratched the surface with those two links – that’s barely a taste. Reports of violence all over the country are piling up (as are donations to groups like the American Civil Liberties Union) and it’s only going to get worse. Essentially, half the country voted for the same candidate endorsed by the KKK. Our new national mascot is a frog named Pepe. We need to stay together, people.
–
See also . . .
America Just Elected A President Who Made This Mass E-Mail Necessary
The country is now a safe space for white supremacists.

Read More

Posted on November 11, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

Slight revisions and additions added Thursday.
Two encounters:
1. In June, I went home to Minneapolis for my father’s surprise 80th birthday party. On the flight back to Chicago, I struck up a conversation with my seatmate, a white male who looked to be in his 60s. He was a union guy who spent many years as a trucker, working both for others as a Teamster and for himself as an independent. I was quite curious about his work and pretty engaged in his description of it. Inevitably, though, our talk turned to the presidential campaign in progress. He told me he leaned to the right, but considered himself an independent, and was greatly frustrated with the way facts had come to not matter much in public life. Simpatico! I thought.

Read More

Posted on November 9, 2016

* * * * * FINAL EDITION * * * * *
(Updates on social media through the evening, of course.)
Election Hay
I’m going to vote and then I’m going to take my money out of the bank, just in case.
Also, I hope this isn’t my polling station, but I fear it is:
–
Logan Square Voting Royally Fucked Up.

Read More

Posted on November 8, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

“Mayor Rahm Emanuel has used personal e-mail accounts to communicate with top government and political figures, including through his own custom e-mail domain that’s similar to the one Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton used on a private e-mail server as secretary of state,” the Tribune reports.
Lock him up!

Read More

Posted on November 7, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

“Just so many great things on the other side of a World Series Championship,” our very own Marty Gangler writes in The Cub Factor: Yada Yada.
“Sure, all the clichés are there. You know, about being able to die in peace and wishing grandparents and family members could see this, yada yada. Sure, those are all great, and real, but when it comes down to it, when I’m about to die I’m probably going to do my best to just not die and I may not think about the Cubs at all, you know, because I might be about to die.
“I guess my point is that for the living, the coolest thing about the Cubs winning it is that I don’t have to think about next season much at all. Who they need to move, who they are going to acquire, who’s on my hate list, etc. It’s all just Cubbie Blue gravy now.”

Read More

Posted on November 3, 2016