Month: November 2024

What I love about Thanksgiving is that it’s purely about getting together with friends or family and enjoying food. It’s really for everybody, and it doesn’t matter where you’re from.” (Chef Daniel Humm)

Thanksgiving is on Thursday. Thanksgiving is the only holiday that celebrates gratitude. No patriotism, memorials, or presidents’ birthdays, or gifts. The day is to celebrate gratitude.

Humans have celebrated a “holiday” related to gratitude since ancient times. After the harvest, people celebrated the bounty in various ways. That whole garbage about the Pilgrims and Native Americans being the first Thanksgiving in America is pure horse droppings. Native Americans had been celebrating a harvest festival for ages. They just celebrated that one with their new neighbors. The feast was wild game, fish, and whatever the Pilgrims and Native Americans cultivated.

“The turkey. The sweet potatoes. The stuffing. The pumpkin pie. Is there anything else we all can agree so vehemently about?” — Nora Ephron.

We also dedicate the day to the feast. It does not matter what you prepare for the feast, no matter how lavish or meager. You are sharing the love. There is no rule that turkey must be on the menu. Make whatever you want. It is your choice how you celebrate. Just do not forget why we celebrate. To thank God, some other deity, the Great Comedian, or your friends and family for whatever you are grateful for.

By the way, it is said that Ben Franklin wanted to have the turkey be the national bird. Fortunately, the Bald Eagle won out.

I get nostalgic this time of year. I remember the great feasts my family put on for Thanksgiving. Aside from the turkey, there was ham, pans of dressing, yams, lasagna, salad, fruits and nuts and dessert. My parents and aunts would spend the whole day cooking to feed us. They had a look of joy on their faces while doing all that work. I miss my family, parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. They are gone or moved throughout the country.

I remember other Thanksgivings at friends’ homes. I am grateful for the Thanksgivings I had while working the holiday. A local restaurant would send a whole turkey and ham with dressing and all the other trimmings to the police station. We would come in and feast. We got to celebrate with each other, at least for a short half hour before we hit the street again. To this day, I am still grateful to that restaurant owner.

We live in troubled times with real or contrived issues swirling around us. Sometimes it appears there is more anger and angst than joy in our lives. We forget all we must be grateful for. Setting aside one day to celebrate gratitude. Is a quaint but necessary concept.

Maybe Thursday when we gather, we can leave the tumult outside, not allowing the outside world into our homes. Gather with your family and friends, enjoy the feast, share the love, and be grateful for all you have, especially the people sitting at your table.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Photo: PV Bella

“They’re looking for revenue instead of looking for fat and inefficiency,” Beale said Sunday night. “If they could cut the $300-million increase in half miraculously in a couple of days, it means they’re still trying to hoodwink the people of Chicago instead of making the spending cuts needed to put the city back on track … Johnson said then that he had no doubt that the City Council would ultimately pass a balanced budget that negotiates the “details” while upholding his “values.”  (Sun-Times)

Mayor Brandon Johnson proposed cutting the 3% property tax increase in half. Some alders are still against any property tax increase. Any alder who votes for the property tax increase should not be reelected. The increase would be a disaster for middle and working-class families. Those people that progressives claim they are fighting for.. Brandon Johnson’s staff have no idea how to form a budget. They, like Johnson only have an agenda. At this point, the citizens have no idea what it is.

“The police department has spent $22.6 million in overtime this year for officers working special events — only about $2 million of which has been reimbursed to the city.” (Block Club Chicago)

Events from street fairs to major concerts owe the city millions of dollars for police overtime to patrol and for traffic control. We do not know how much it costs the city for the company who owns the parking meters when they shut down the streets. Not one permit should be issued to any event if they owe the city money, no matter how popular they are or how much other revenue they supposedly bring in. Kill them off until they pay up.

Elected in 2016 with a mandate for reform in the wake of the killing of Laquan McDonald by a Chicago police officer, Foxx has been in the middle of nearly every conversation about safety and justice in Cook County, often with a polarizing fervor. Now she’s on her way out, making way for a successor, Eileen O’Neill Burke, who comes to the office with a different mandate. (Chicago Tribune)

States Attorney Kim Foxx has been making the rounds in the news media touting her failed two terms as prosecutor as a success. She continually refused to prosecute gun possession felonies. Her prosecutors recommended violent felons be released without bail or electronic monitoring. Those violent or illegal gun-toting offenders went on to commit more crimes. Then there was the Jussie Smollett case, which she totally botched. The case is now before the Illinois Supreme Court.

 We should hope her successor, Eileen O’Neill Burke will reverse most of Foxx’s policies and bring the office back to its original purpose, prosecuting criminals.

The Chicago City Council, during a special meeting Thursday, voted down Mayor Brandon Johnson’s $300 million property tax increase. The vote was 50-0, a rare unanimous vote. They should be lauded for standing up to the self-proclaimed Collaborator in Chief. This also shows the mayor does not have a powerful enough mandate to get his way with the council, even with his many allies.

Now the Great Collaborator has to come up with cuts and other revenue to close the hole in his budget. There are ways to cut spending without affecting essential services. The mayor stubbornly and irresponsibly refuses to take those measures. Like his predecessors, he keeps blaming past administrations for his budget woes.

Johnson is the mayor. Last year’s budget was his. The only person he has to blame is himself. He refuses to take responsibility for anything that goes wrong in this city. It is always someone else’s fault, societal failures, or some other nonsense.

Then there is this:

They don’t like that Johnson and the CTU, his former employer, are attached at the hip and that Johnson is doing everything in his power to grease the union’s contract demands. They don’t like that their property taxes keep rising to finance a bloated school system in which one of every three schools is half-empty or worse. They don’t like that a union purportedly representing teachers has morphed into a municipal political machine.(Chicago Tribune)

The Tribune is too polite to use the phrase egregious conflict of interest in Brandon Johnson’s “attached at the hip” relationship with the Chicago Teachers Union. The CTU will demand a ruinous property tax increase to finance their contract demands. Johnson will give them whatever they want. They financed his campaign and own him, lock, stock, and barrel. Citizens should fight this increase too with help from the alders.

“Mayor Brandon Johnson on Thursday pushed back on criticism that his Chicago police budget plan endangers the department’s compliance with the federal consent decree, despite dire warnings from Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and the court-ordered independent monitor… On the same day Raoul wrote his letter, Maggie Hickey, the independent monitor for assessing the city’s compliance with the consent decree, warned slashing those positions would be a “devastating blow” to CPD reform.” (Chicago Tribune)

The Attorney General’s office is the plaintiff in the suit that brought about the consent decree. The mayor’s budget plan proposes hundreds of cuts to constitutional policing, community policing and more. The mayor insists he is not going to lay off police officers. It appears Johnson’s chaotic administration is floundering badly over the budget. It must be passed by December 31^st.

The miserable Chicago Bears are now considering the vacant site of the former Michael Reese Hospital for their new stadium. The South Side site is in the Bronzeville neighborhood. It would give a terrific economic boost to the area. It is easy to get to whether driving or using public transportation. It would also save the lakefront from be despoiled by that ugly monstrosity.

There is still no appetite in Springfield for state funding for the stadium. The Bears organization will have to find other means to finance a new stadium or hope the Governor and Legislature changes their minds. Mayor Johnson is on board for a new stadium. He does not have the pull in the state capitol to get it done.

CPD

“I come to you with a heavy heart, because we’ve lost another police officer who was out working, attempting to protect the city, and was tragically taken away from us by gunfire,” Police Supt. Larry Snelling told reporters outside the hospital Tuesday. (USA Today)

Chicago Police Officer, Enrique Martínez was shot and killed yesterday. He was rushed to a hospital where he succumbed to his wounds. Martinez was 26 years old and engaged to be married. He had 3 years on the job.

Over the course of its history of the Chicago Police Department, almost 600 police officers were killed in the line of duty or while performing their duties.

The Chicago Police Department and the city are mourning again. A family is mourning the loss of a loved one. When police officers leave for work, their families fret they will not see them walk through the door again. They may never verbalize it, but the thought is always there.

“Our officers go out and face this type of danger every single day,” Snelling said. “And this work is unpredictable. We never know what’s in store for our officers when they’re out there trying to keep the public safe. And just remember, in a city where our officers are not safe, its going to be hard for everyone else to be safe.” (Superintendent Snelling/5 Chicago)

I attended many wakes and funerals of officers killed in the line of duty or while performing their duties. It was never easy, especially if I knew them. It is not easy to read about their deaths in retirement. We are one family and when a family member dies, we all grieve. It never gets easier.

An offender was taken into custody and charged with murder. It was reported that he had a warrant out for his arrest from Will County and he cut off his mandated ankle bracelet.

The Chicago Police Memorial Foundation aids the families of officers killed in the line of duty or catastrophically injured. Aside from thoughts and prayers, you can donate to assist their endeavors.

I spent hours Saturday trying to vote early. I went to several polling places. The wait times were from one to four hours. Many had lines a block long or wrapped around the buildings. I finally voted yesterday. I was able to walk in with no wait.

Voting is the most patriotic act you can perform. I was proud to see so many people turn out to vote over the weekend and willing to wait hours to perform that act. The reason we have such a bad city government is less than 30% of registered voters cast their votes in the last election.

I have been voting since 1971. I voted for candidates from both parties over the years. My life was rarely affected by the outcome of national elections. Some presidents, congresspeople, and senators I voted for were OK. Some were disappointing. Most were mediocre. My life went on. I care more about local issues. Local and state politicians directly affect my life.

Getting angry, sad, or afraid over the outcome of this election is a useless expenditure of energy. If you do not like the outcome, start doing something, peaceful actions only. Find social or political groups to work with or for. Get involved. Four years will go by fast. Any damage can be undone. Life goes on and is too short to waste energy fretting or being angry. Do something.

But, always remember political logic. All politicians are liars. Not all liars are politicians. Politicians give liars a bad reputation.

When it comes to funding public services sustainably, doing the right thing is not only difficult, it can really make folks angry. For proof, look no further than Mayor Brandon Johnson’s latest budget address. Chicago was facing an estimated deficit of $982 million in its corporate fund next year…  Generating new recurring revenue is never popular, but in this case, it was needed.” (Robert Martire/ Chicago Sun-Times/ Emphasis mine)

Ralph Martire is executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, a nonpartisan supposed fiscal policy think tank. Raising property taxes is not the right thing to do. Martire is one of those people who never met a tax or tax increase he did not love.

The property tax increase is not right. It is not needed. Martire does not care about the severe negative impact another property tax increase will have across the city. He also proposes a tax on services, which is another one of his bone headed ideas. Chicagoans are being taxed to death.

What if the Chicago Board of Education approves a property tax increase to fund the teacher’s new contract? What if the Park District wants a property tax increase to balance their budgets? Chicagoans will be hit with a triple-whammy disaster.

An increase in the property tax is not the right thing to do nor is it needed. When Jane Byrne was mayor, she faced a budget crisis. She demanded that all city departments cut 10% of their budgets across the board. She sold off city properties, raised some taxes, and instituted a bad idea, the head tax on large companies. It took decades before that disaster was repealed.

The ten percent budget cuts did not affect city services, especially in public safety. There were other impacts because many of the budget cuts were in the departments’ goods, services, supplies, and other assorted services provided to the city. Vendors were squeezed to get better terms for their wares and services, If the department heads did not achieve the 10% target, they would face layoffs.

Public safety was not affected nor were any other essential public services. At worst, many services took longer to perform, and other plans were deferred until the finances were available.

What will affect public safety are the numbers of police officers retiring every month and the many young police officers transferring to suburban or other police departments. They must be replaced. The numbers are greater than the positions the mayor is eliminating. Mayor Johnson was a promoter of defunding the police until he was against it when he decided to run for mayor. He still is but will deny it vociferously.

Several alders will not take a pay raise next year. Washington is taking the raise. He is a cheapskate, chiseler, and hypocrite. Instead of leading by example, Johnson is taking the raise. He is grabbing all he can. In a time of austerity, His wife’s ceremonial office was redecorated to the tune of $80,000, a waste of money. There is no skimping when it comes to the mayor. There will be no cuts to his office budget or his lifestyle. We will pay dearly for it.

Many alders are saying they will vote no on the mayor’s budget unless he brings back the ShotSpotter system or replaces it with similar technology.  It is possible the mayor’s budget will be dead on arrival, and he may have to start from scratch to get a budget passed before the December 31^st deadline. His delayed budget talks with the City Council did not help.

Mayor Brandon Johnson created and continues to be a public relations chaos and governance nightmare. He does not care about people. He does not care about the city. He does not care about the business community, especially small and midsized businesses. Johnson only cares about himself.

Johnson is turning taxation in Chicago to grand theft. Steal from all of us to pay for his extravagant pie in the sky with a gilded cherry on top agenda. That agenda helps no one but himself and the cronies and lickspittles he hired or refuses to let go.