By Steve Rhodes

“In 1917, Melvin Jones, a 38-year-old Chicago business leader, asked a straightforward and world-changing question: ‘What if people put their talents to work improving their communities?'” the Seal Beach Sun of California reports.
“With this issue and some vibrant leadership, almost 100 years later, Lions Clubs International is the world’s largest service club organization.
“Our ‘Pride of Lions’ is 1.37 million members in more than 46,000 clubs and countless stories of Lions acting on the same simple idea: let’s improve our communities.”
The local Lions Club is having its annual Fish Fry this weekend.
“So be sure to come down on to the Fish Fry and enjoy music, some age-appropriate beverages, fish, hot dogs or brats and the best of Seal Beach’s laid-back community feel.
“Be sure to carpool too; it is an excellent way to avoid filling up all that parking on residential streets.
“Prices: Fish and Chips Dinner: $10 / $8 children. Braut / Cajun Sausage Dinner: $7. Hot Dog Dinner: $6. Beer 16 oz. & Wine 9 oz: $6 /$6. Water / Soda / Lemonade Beverages: $1. Fries (ala carte): $2.”

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Posted on July 16, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

“The Double Door rock club must eventually vacate the Wicker Park space it has occupied for more than 20 years because management failed to properly notify its landlord last year it wished to extend its lease, a Cook County judge ruled Thursday,” the Tribune reports.
“Circuit Court Judge Orville Hambright Jr. asked Double Door management and landlord Brian Strauss to return to court Aug. 4 to determine when the club must leave 1572 N. Milwaukee Ave.”
Brian Strauss, you are Today’s Worst Person In Chicago.

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Posted on July 15, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

“Chicago spends more on police misconduct lawsuits per officer than any other major U.S. city – more than $210 million from 2012 to 2015,” Jonah Newman reports for the Chicago Reporter.
“Now, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration says the city cannot begin to analyze those lawsuits for patterns of police misconduct until after the U.S. Department of Justice completes its investigation of the Police Department, a decision a former DOJ official calls ‘not only unnecessary, but unproductive.'”

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Posted on July 14, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

“Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday vehemently denied that he sat on the Laquan McDonald shooting video until he was safely re-elected after the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. accused the mayor of a cover-up in his most blistering attack on the mayor to date,” Fran Spielman reports for the Sun-Times.
“For months, Emanuel has emphatically denied political motives for keeping the incendiary video of a white Chicago Police officer shooting the black teenager under wraps for more than a year and releasing it, only after a judge ordered him to do so.

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Posted on July 13, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

1. Obama, Long Reluctant To Have ‘National Conversation On Race,’ Now Doing Just That.
Please don’t. (As if we don’t have a running national conversation on race every minute of every day).
I have a better idea. Let’s send Chris Rock on tour . . .

. . . with Newt Gingrich.

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Posted on July 12, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

“The final Chicago-made Oreo cookies rolled off the line Friday, ending the iconic cookie’s decadeslong run of delighting hometown consumers and providing good-paying union jobs on the Southwest Side,” the Tribune reports.
“The Chicago plant will continue to make other products, like BelVita breakfast biscuits and Mini Chips Ahoy cookies.”
Which nobody eats. Sad!

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Posted on July 9, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

“Mayor Rahm Emanuel can’t win, no matter what he does when it comes to restoring public trust shattered by his handling of the Laquan McDonald shooting video,” Fran Spielman writes for the Sun-Times.
Poor Rahm Emanuel just can’t win, no matter how hard he tries! He wants to restore public trust, but no one will let him! If only there weren’t so many ingrates in this town.

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Posted on July 7, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

1. Tribune: Video Shows Lakers’ Nick Young Holding Firework That Bursts.
Is “firework” really the singular of “fireworks?” I don’t like it. To me, all fireworks are fireworks – even if there is just one.
But in the interests of readers everywhere, I looked it up. The answer has something to do with ham and cheese.

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Posted on July 6, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

“George Lucas’ decision to take his memorabilia collection elsewhere leaves us with a question: What will become of the lakefront site where the billionaire Star Wars creator planned to build his Museum of Narrative Art?” Crain’s columnist Joe Cahill wonders.
“Mayor Rahm Emanuel offered his truculent answer the other day, telling reporters, ‘We’re left with a parking lot in the middle of the museum campus. If you look into the future, that’s gonna be a parking lot.'”
Why? Did I miss the part where the court ordered that spot to remain a parking lot for time immemoriam? Does the city have to abide by a Lakefront Parking Lot Ordinance? Did Daniel Burnham decree that great men make no parking lot plans?

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Posted on July 5, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

“The U.S. government [Friday] claimed it has killed between 64 and 116 ‘non-combatants’ in 473 counter-terrorism strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Libya between January 2009 and the end of 2015,” the Bureau of Investigative Journalism reports.
“This is a fraction of the 380 to 801 civilian casualty range recorded by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism from reports by local and international journalists, NGO investigators, leaked government documents, court papers and the result of field investigations.
“While the number of civilian casualties recorded by the Bureau is six times higher than the U.S. Government’s figure, the assessments of the minimum total number of people killed were strikingly similar. The White House put this figure at 2,436, whilst the Bureau has recorded 2,753.”
*
“The White House’s announcement today is long-awaited. It comes three years after the White House first said it planned to publish casualty figures.”
And just coincidentally, the release date fell on the Friday of a long holiday weekend! God bless America, our cool president and our Most Transparent democracy.

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Posted on July 2, 2016