Month: April 2022

“If I cant be mean what the heck good am I.” (Mike Royko)

Columnist Mike Royko died 25 years ago today. Royko was a chronicler of Chicago; its people, especially the proverbial little guy/gal/it/them/whoever- we must be inclusive today. With all the problems in Chicago and the total silliness in Washington, one could wonder, What Would Royko Do?

Mike Royko would turn his satirical poison pen, dripping with sarcasm, on them all. Unfortunately, Mike Royko would not last in today’s environment. There would be calls for his firing or resignation. Advertisers would be threatened with boycotts, along with accusations of racism, hate speech, antisemitism, and whatever ism or phobia people could make up out of thin air. Most of the allegations would come from his colleagues and peers in the news media. They love to be the story and get their names out front.

Humor and satire are dying in America. Everyone is offended, and they demand action. The offense police are a lynch mob. Mike Royko would not survive in this toxic environment. No humorist or satirist would.

In the Chicago news media, humor, satire, and pointed criticism are dead. Editorials are oh so veddy polite, nice, and sanitary. Poison pens were swapped with delicate bone china teacups. Pinky fingers are properly stuck out in the proper positions.

Since Royko met the Great Comedian, news entities and the public searched for a successor, the new Royko. There will never be a new Royko. There will never be another Art Buchwald, William Safire, Pete Hamil, Studs Terkel, or any other notable columnist or author.

They are one-offs. They made their mark on the world, left a treasure trove of material, then passed on. They could not pass a torch because their individuality made them unique.

Royko was a son of Chicago. Many thought he was a son-of-a-something- else. He was a neighborhood guy, a street guy, and, as we say, an “etnic” guy. He was one of us. Mike Royko was an astute observer of Chicago, from the ethnic and racial neighborhoods to the shenanigans in City Hall, the County Building, and beyond.

If Royko came back today, he would be appalled at what Chicago’s news media turned into. Chicago used to have courageous and fearless reporters and columnists. Now, the snowflakes, cowards, weenies, and wussies “report,” write columns, and run the newsrooms. They spy on each other like Soviet children used to spy on their families. If they even perceive a whiff of “offense,” off to the gulag you go.

Reporters are no longer objective, courageous, and fearless. There is no objectivity. They are social justice warriors. The reportage is slanted. They would turn on their own if they detected perceived offense- whatever offense means these days.

The news media are the spokes weasels for City Hall, the County Building, and Springfield. In essence, they are part and parcel of the corrupt Chicago Way. They sold their souls and shed their courage and fearlessness, in exchange for access.

Reporters used to be trusted by the public. No longer. The news media do not care about the people. They are no longer guardians or watchdogs. They are cute, panting, pink-tongued lap dogs waiting for a treat from their masters.

Humor and satire are considered offensive and risky by corporate media. The executives fear any backlash, especially from their own newsrooms. It is easier to silence voices than ignore the lynch mob.

The grievance industry and their fellow travelers must be heard and satisfied. That is why there will never be another Royko in Chicago. The weasels, cowards, activists, and powers that be would never allow it. There will never be another Pete Hamill, Art Buchwald, Jimmy Breslin, Charles Krauthammer, or others. They would be publicly tarred, feathered, and fired.

Humor, satire, and poking the powers that be are dead in Chicago. John Stewart recently demanded to make humor funny again. That will be a near impossibility in this fragile, humorless society. People break, shatter and fall to pieces if you use the “wrong” pronoun, let alone criticize some cherished person.

No one is safe from the offense lynch mobs and their fairy tale grievances, no matter their political persuasion. We are turning into a society of brittle souls looking for anything to be offended by. There is a need to destroy people.

No one speaks for the neighborhoods, the little guy/gal/them, or points out the follies in local government. No one pokes fun at the inanity and absurdities in this city. Soon, even laughter will be verboten. Joy and laughter are quickly being sucked out of the news media and public discourse. Even the comic strips are longer comical.

Hell, columns will soon resemble Valentine’s Day cards with XXXs and OOOs, SWAK.

https://youtu.be/nuZhZw-T0gQ

People, politicians, and journalists have their tighty whities in a bunch over Elon Musk buying Twitter. There are calls for “positive” or “responsible” free speech- whatever those mean. Twitter, from its inception, has been the bathroom wall of the Internet.

Twitter is where lazy journalists find stories or use the platform as their assignment editor. They seem to believe Twitter trends are newsworthy. Politicians and celebrities use Twitter to inflate their already air-headed egos. It is their preferred “place” to meet and greet. Except, Twitter is not a real place.

Twitter may be “social media,” but it has no social relevance or socially redeeming value. It also has no social responsibility, contrary to what the social responsibility police claim. Twitter is not the “de facto public square.” It is the de facto public toilet.

Columnists are throwing the word toxic around and engendering fear Twitter will become more “toxic.” Yawn, stretch, scratch. Who cares? Twitter is not a community. It is a site where people throw dung at the wall to see what will stick. By the way, toxic is the new phrase to replace offensive since it sounds worse, and poisonous is too hard to spell.

Meanwhile, prominent Twitter figures are now saying they’ll leave the platform protesting its new owner. Among them is English actress Jameela Jamil, who tweeted her fears Monday that Musk “is going to help this hell platform reach its final form of totally lawless hate, bigotry, and misogyny.” (New York Times)

Is getting your genitals in a twist over Twitter worth all the manufactured angst, anger, aggravation, and grief? Twitter is nothing more than a 24/7/365 popularity contest, especially for celebrities and politicians hoping their tweets go viral. Then they can become famous or infamous. To them, it makes no difference. Twitter is the massage parlor for celebs and politicians to get ego gratification.

“Twitter is the closest thing we have to a global consciousness.” (Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey/AP)

Twitter is not the closest thing we have to a global consciousness or any other consciousness. Twitter is not that influential. It is a tenth of the size of Facebook, with roughly 200 million active users daily versus Facebook’s billions of daily users. Twitter makes money through advertising. Advertisers are cautious about advertising on platforms that allows objectionable content. If Musk opens the flood gates of “free speech,” advertisers may flee, turning Twitter into his big loser. He will learn fast, especially from his investor partner(s), that freewheeling management of a social media company is not a good business model.

All this angst about Twitter is a waste of mental energy and journalists’ time. There are way more critical issues in this country than who owns, how they will operate a social media platform, or how much “offensive” content they allow. If Twitter or Facebook offends you, delete your account. It really is that simple. If you need social media for self-affirmation or acceptance, you need professional help. If journalists need social media to provide stories, they should seek employment in another field.

If Twitter disappeared tomorrow, there would be no wailing, gnashing of teeth, or rending of garments. The world will not end. It would be just one more business on the trash pile of history.

The Birds Aren’t Real movement exists to spread awareness that the U.S. Government genocided over 12 Billion birds from 1959-2001, and replaced these birds with surveillance drone replicas, which still watch us every day. (Birds Aren’t Real)

Some years ago, I did research on conspiracy theories. I learned that like myths, epics, and legends, conspiracies are based on fact, lore, or a historical event. They have a seed of truth to them. The seed grows into a beautiful, alluring plant, sucking in the gullible, naive, and just plain ignorant, including the so-called educated elitists and politicians. They spread like wildfire.

Members of Congress believe various conspiracies like Jewish space lasers, the Gazpacho Police, COVID is a hoax or bio-warfare, the 2020 election was stolen, a pizza parlor was a pedophile sex trafficking operation, and whatever else the febrile minds of people think up, disseminate, and is believed by the dimwitted slap d**ks who inhabit this country.

Listen to politicians like Margorie Taylor Greene, Josh Hawley, or Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. You will realize they believe and spread anything that sounds crazy to normal people. Except, normal people believe them.

I found a group that posits a credible theory, Birds Aren’t Real. Birds Aren’t Real exposed a CIA plot to kill and “extinct” all the biological birds in America. They substituted them with exact look-alike drones with cameras to spy on the people of this country. The goal of the CIA project was to find Communist infiltrators and sympathizers. It was hatched in the late 1950s and is still in full force today. Every bird you see is a CIA drone spy, not a biological bird.

The term “Birds Aren’t Real” refers to biological “Birds” no longer existing on United States soil. After the government forcibly made the entire species extinct in the 20th century, all of these real birds were replaced with surveillance drones designed to look just like Birds. To simplify- Birds no longer exist in the U.S. as a biological lifeform, thus, Birds Aren’t Real!

There is one exception, pigeons. The CIA discovered that pigeon populations were not decimated and kept coming back in large numbers. As any urban dweller can tell you, city pigeons, like rats, are impossible to kill off. It Is hard to distinguish the drones from real pigeons.

You can read Birds Aren’t Real’s history here. It is a fascinating dive into the Communist scare of the late 1950s and beyond. It describes the machinations of CIA chief, Allen Dulles and his zeal for exposing American dissidents- traitors.

Why do I believe Birds Aren’t Real? First, no one from the government has denied their findings. No politicians or celebrities have come out for or against them. Not one comedian has made jokes about them. Wikileaks and Anonymous never discovered them. More important, Twitter, the home of news media lies, has not disowned them. The government’s efforts to shut down Birds Aren’t Real have failed. Their assertions must be true.

There was a virulent anti-Communist craze in the government and American society during the 1950s and early 1960s, including the McCarthy hearings and the House Un-American Activities Committee. The CIA and FBI were involved in all kinds of “investigations,” black ops, dirty tricks, and tactics to fight the Red Menace.

I asked my friend, artist, and amateur ornithologist, Bain d’Oiseau, who informed me that Birds Aren’t Real is the real deal. Their deep-dive research is spot on. He laments the purposeful extinction of birds by our government.

Remember, the politicians and others thought there was a move for Communist world domination. So, the theory holds that the biological bird population would be “extincted” by the government to replace them with clone drones, except for pigeons, AKA flying rats, who are the cockroaches of the avian world. They can survive anything and thrive.

Some people killed or tried to kill the “bird” drones. They were immediately caught and shipped off to Guantanamo Bay. Some have been there for over sixty years in solitary confinement, existing on gruel and water.

So, remember, if you see that robin, cardinal, pigeon, owl, bald eagle, or falcon, it is a drone, a droid, spying on you. Do not try to shoo it or harm it. Your freedom- freedumb- will be at stake.

Note: To the syphilitic paralyzed brain dead population of American drooling numb nut morons, Birds Aren’t Real was started by a Gen Z person to demonstrate how misinformation can spread. It is a fad of the Gen Z population.

“The Reader is kind of like an artery in Chicago,” its publisher, Tracy Baim, said. “It’s part of the last 50 years of the heart of the city.” (Washington Post)

Chicago’s alt newspaper, the Reader’s plight, hit the national news. The Reader was established in 1971. They do some long-form journalism along with culture, food, entertainment, and other interesting stories about Chicago and people in the creative community. Their coverage of Chicago culture is always more accurate and honest than those comic rags, Chicago Magazine, and TimeOut Chicago.

Reader Columnist Ben Joravsky became an accidental expert on Tax Increment Financing and the uses and abuses of TIFs. The Reader covers communities and people who would otherwise not have voices or exposure underserved by legacy media.

Like many alt newspapers, the Reader was struggling. Print advertising was falling due to the Internet. In 2018 the paper was bought for one dollar by attorney Leonard Goodman and developer Elzie Higginbottom.

“We have been kept in the dark about vaccine safety and efficacy by our government and its partners in Big Pharma… As a parent, I will demand more answers before simply taking their word.” (Leonard Goodman/Reader)

Goodman wrote columns in the Reader to express his opinions on various issues. (You can scroll through here to see his columns)

In November, he wrote a column on COVID vaccinations for children expressing his skepticism over them. The piece was published. Several staff members were appalled at the assertions made in the article. Publisher Tracy Bain was concerned and hired a fact-checker. The fact-checker debunked the claims’ accuracy, and the so-called experts cited.

Bain wanted to either pull the article or publish the fact-checkers results. Goodman was angered about being “censored.” Reader board members aligned with Goodman raised concerns about free speech.

“If they think it’s journalistic par-for-the-course to rewrite and edit an article because it’s unpopular, they should go back and review the First Amendment,” Reader board member Sladjana Vucovic told The Washington Post.

Sladjana Vucovic is an attorney. Maybe she should take a remedial course in Constitutional Law for Dummies. The First Amendment prohibits government censorship, not individuals, private entities, social media, etc. Newspapers can decide to censor whomever they want for whatever reason they want. Maybe she got her law license in a Cracker Jack box. Stranger things have happened in this city of scoundrels. She should also study journalistic standards. If misleading or false information is published, a news media entity is responsible for correcting or rebutting it.

Angering your owner and ultimate boss or his pals on the board is never a good idea and might be hazardous to one’s continued employment. Leonard Goodman acts like a terrible two-year-old, screaming, stomping his feet, and pounding his chubby tiny fist. He needs to take a Chill Pill™. (I checked with noted physicians, scientists, researchers, and government experts on the effects of the Chill Pill™. There are no harmful side effects. The only warning is if you experience giddiness for over four hours, you should see a psychiatrist. No one should be that happy or silly for so long.)

Goodman’s non-sense cost the publisher her job and threatened the transfer of the Reader to non-profit status. Goodman is even demanding a say on who will sit on the new non-profit board. He still wants revenge and control.

This whole kerfuffle is not about free speech or censorship. It is about Goodman’s over large ego, ignorance of vaccines, and childish need to be right even when he is wrong. Reading his piece, I thought I was reading conspiracy theories. All that was missing were space lasers, the Gazpacho Police, vaccination fraud, or cries of freedumb.

It is hoped Elzie Higginbottom can talk some sense into Goodman before the whole non-profit situation blows up and the Reader disappears.

Disclaimer: I did not write this piece because I am a fan of the Reader. I disagree with many of their political opinions, especially about Chicago. However, I believe that this city needs alternate news entities. The Reader provides an alternate voice in Chicago, just like CWBChicago does on its accurate crime and court reportage.

“We believe in the victory of life over death…No matter how fierce the battles are. There is no chance for death to defeat life. Everyone knows that. Every Christian knows that. (Volodymyr Zelensky/AP).

I would like to wish my brethren in the Orthodox faith a blessed and joyous Easter. I ask that on this day, they say a prayer for Ukraine.

Easter is the holiest holiday in the Orthodox faith. There will be no Resurrection celebration in Ukraine today. There will be little joy due to the war unleashed upon the country by Russia. There will be suffering and mourning.

The world is watching this immoral war Russia is waging in Ukraine. Every day the news, photos, and videos are heartbreaking. Putin’s orcs are massacring people and destroying towns just because.

Vladimir Putin is the personification of evil. Yet, the West is allowing this evil. They are letting Putin be Putin. What help they are sending is too little too late. They knew Putin would invade Ukraine months before. The West did not want to believe it. It was never a matter of if, only when.

Before the invasion, Europe and America could have provided arms, planes, defensive systems, other weaponry, and equipment. They did nothing. There is a humanitarian crisis that is worsening. All the West does is talk and encourage Zelensky to negotiate. Negotiate what? You cannot negotiate with a monster. With the West’s blessing, Putin will get whatever he wants. They let him do it before and will let him do it again.

The West has a habit of letting Putin be Putin- Georgia, Chechnya, Crimea, and the brutal, inhumane bombing of Syria. If Putin pushes west to take the other smaller former Soviet satellites, like Moldova, the West will let him. Hell, if he wants Alaska back, he will get it. Sara Palin could shake hands with Russians in her backyard.

The West would prefer Zelensky to surrender, flee, and give Putin a victory. Then, things can return to normal. They can be pals again, sucking up Russian oil, coal, and gas while they blather their hypocrisy over climate change.

Putin is more intelligent than all the Western leaders put together. He knows they do not care what he does, so long as he does not do it to them. Putin knows he can get away with the worst atrocities, and the West will just sigh, “Well, that’s just Vlad.”

Ukraine president Zelensky did not and is not asking for troops. He is begging,  hat in hand, like a peasant, for materiel to defeat an ogre and his orcs. The West stalled until it was almost too late. It is a pity seeing Zelensky keep begging for the same things he needs over and over again while Putin’s orcs commit atrocities, war crimes, relocations, and genocide.

Since the West did nothing to stop Putin, they have no right to advise tell Zelensky how to negotiate, what he should negotiate or concede, or if he should bother. If Zelensky wants all lands taken back, including Crimea, the West should either support him or butt out. They do more harm than good. They always have when it comes to Putin.

Chicago Alderman, Daniel Solis, is set for a sentencing hearing over his plea deal. Solis cooperated with the Justice Department’s investigation of Alderman Ed “The Big Tuna” Burke.” Solis wore a wire, taping conversations that led to Burke’s indictment. One could say he helped the Feds land the “Big Tuna.” As an aside, aldermen should have nicknames, like members of what little is left of the Chicago Outfit.

Solis had a truly American story. As a child, he came here from Mexico, attended university, became a Chicago Public School teacher, and involved himself in community work, including school reform. Former mayor Richard M. Daley appointed Solis to two municipal boards. After Alderman Antonio Medrano pleaded guilty to corruption charges, Daley appointed Solis to fill the seat. In a special election, Solis won 77% of the vote. One of Solis’s first actions as alderman was to present a plaque and reward to a well-known and vicious Chicago Outfit boss, Angelo “The Hook” LaPietra, for his “community service.”

Solis was eventually appointed Mayor Pro-Tem of the City Council, sitting in for the mayor when Daley was unavailable. Solis concentrated on job creation, improvements in his ward, and cultural issues, including the expansion of the National Museum of Mexican Art and the Ping Tom Memorial Park. He also involved himself with senior housing issues and significant business issues in his ward.

Solis got bent somewhere along the journey, or he was already bent but did not get caught for years. When caught, he flipped like a gymnast and agreed to cooperate with the Feds, including wearing a wire. His attorneys and the Justice Department crafted a generous plea deal. The Chicago Tribune called the agreement “Unprecedented.” Solis would serve no time, and if he behaves himself and continues to cooperate for three years, he will have a clean record.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot, a former federal prosecutor, is unhappy with the deal. She ordered her Law Department to file a victim impact statement with the court, listing the City of Chicago as a victim.

Solis’s successor, Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez, is not happy either. He sent a letter- victim impact statement- directly to the federal judge handling Solis’s case. He requested she consider Solis’s rampant corruption “…he urged the judge to consider “scaled and appropriate penalties” that reflect the seriousness of Solis’ conduct.” (Chicago Tribune)

All this is political theater, a comical stage play. It is laughable that the mayor and an alderman would weigh in on Solis’s sentencing. Solis must cooperate with the Feds in upcoming corruption trials. His cooperation is critical for them winning a conviction against Alderman Ed Burke. Burke is the most powerful Chicago politician indicted by the Feds. He is the longest-serving alderman in the city council. He has been an alderman since 1969.

He also served the longest tenure as the City Council’s Finance Committee. His full-time job was running a law firm dealing with property tax reductions. His clients were a Who’s Who in Chicago’s commercial real estate and business worlds. One client was the Trump Organization.

The Feds usually take care of cooperators with lenient sentences, or in Solis’s case, wiping the slate clean if he keeps cooperating. Solis crimes were the typical grubby and greed-based stuff the Chicago City Council is historically famous for. As a former federal prosecutor, Mayor Lightfoot knows the Feds have to make lenient deals with minnows to catch “Big Tunas.” The “Big Tunas” are the worst of the worst.

Solis violated two of the Da Twelve Commandments of the Chicago Way, “Thou shalt not get caught and Thou shalt not talk.” His real punishment will be banishment and reprobation. He will be condemned, and his name will be considered an obscene vulgarity. His friends will flee him if they already haven’t. He will be alone in the world, wearing the mark of a mortal sinner, a traitor. He will carry the title of the “Rat” for the rest of his life. When Burke’s trial is over, Solis will be forgotten. That may be punishment enough.

As to Alderman Sigcho-Lopez, his letter is somewhat disingenuous. Unlike the mayor, he did not file the letter with the court. He sent it directly to the judge and the Chicago news media. He got a nice headline for his deed, which is all he cares about.

The municipal election cycle is coming up. Lightfoot and Sigcho-Lopez can demonstrate their “reformer” chops in their quest to keep their jobs. Ha! Former alderman, Paddy Bauler, was right decades ago when he said, “Chicago ain’t ready for reform.” It is as true today as it was back then.

Chicago deserves what the city failed to deliver. They deserve a domed stadium suitable to host a Super Bowl, a Final Four and a college football national championship game. Such a venue would host concerts, big-time soccer events, Wrestlemania and maybe even the Chris Rock-Will Smith rematch. (Mark Tupper/Herald and Review)

The Herald and Review, a Decatur, Illinois newspaper, published an op-ed by Mark Tupper. a retired Executive Sports Editor.

Tupper is cheering the McCaskey Bear’s potential move to Arlington Heights. The piece is misinformation, lousy historical research, blissful ignorance, or all three by Mr. Trotter.

First, Arlington Heights is not Chicago. Secondly, Chicago did not fail to deliver anything. Going on four decades, the McCaskey’s had ample opportunities to build a new world-class domed stadium in the city. There were vast tracts of available vacant land. There were large tracts along the Chicago River to put up a riverfront stadium. The problem was never the city or its political leaders. The problem was the McCaskey’s.

The McCaskey’s inherited one thing from their grandfather, George Halas, the cheapskate and chiseler gene. They squeeze a penny so hard they make old Abe scream. They did not want to put up money to even purchase the land or go into debt. They did not want to partner with some deep-pocket investors or developers. They expected the city and state taxpayers to finance the whole thing.

The City of Chicago could and would have intervened and facilitated the purchase of land from the owners/future developers. There may have been an opportunity for partnerships. The McCaskey’s refused. They were too cheap, just plain too stupid, or a combination of the two.

After the 1986 Superbowl win, the McCaskey’s were in the catbird seat. Yet, they did nothing, zero, zip, nada. Their intention for four decades was to leave the city. They are suburban and ex-urbanites. They never had any love for the city or the fans. They never had or displayed any civic pride.

Most of those large tracts of land are now being developed into massive residential-commercial-entertainment areas the size of small towns. A few are being proposed for Chicago’s casino-entertainment area. Everyone knew- the city, the McCaskey’s, the people of Chicago- that the Soldier Field renovation to suit the Bears was a fiasco. Yet, the McCaskey’s signed off on it. They, and they alone, are to blame.

The miserly McCaskey’s are solely at fault for not having a world-class domed stadium built in Chicago. Their overblown sense of privilege and entitlement is to blame, not the City of Chicago or other government entities. The McCaskey’s wanted a stadium for free or as close to free as possible. They also wanted out of Chicago.

With their pending purchase of the Arlington Racetrack property, they may get their wish. Arlington Heights already is discussing concessions for taxpayer funding. There may be other funding available, including from the NFL.

The miserly McCaskey’s will fund little of the total price tag for their gleaming brand-new toy. The new stadium will boost the bottom line of the team’s value, speculating a cashout, allowing the McCaskey’s to live a life of Champagne and caviar dreams.

If the McCaskey’s were not such notorious cheapskates and chiselers, they would have had a world-class stadium years ago. Chicago would have hosted Super Bowls and other mass stadium events. It would have been a win-win for the McCaskey’s and the city.

I can understand Mr. Trotter’s misinformation. Decatur is in south-central Illinois. Far away from the big city. His inner fan-boy over the McCaskey’s got the best of him and he failed to do the necessary deep research.

Once again, the only blame for the Bear’s potential move to Arlington Heights, or anyplace else, rests with the McCaskey’s, not the City of Chicago. As I said before, if the McCaskey’s want to move, I hope the door kicks them in the arse on the way out.