Peter V. Bella Posts

“Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse.” — Henry Van Dyke

Thanksgiving is on Thursday. The Christmas shopping season starts the next day. Thanksgiving is a secular holiday. It is the only holiday that celebrates 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 eons. They just celebrated with their new neighbors. The feast was wild game, fish, and whatever the Pilgrims and Native Americans cultivated.

Let’s remember why we celebrate and forget the history, legend, lore, or myth. We should ignore those imbeciles who want to change the name to something more socio-political appealing to assuage their fictional guilt. We celebrate once a year to be grateful for what we have, no matter how much or little. As a friend used to say, “If you have a roof over your head and a loaf of bread under each arm, you should be thankful.”

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

We dedicate the day to food, as it should be. It does not matter what you prepare for the feast. 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.

Every year I think of all the things I am grateful for. It is a list of little things. It does not change much from year to year.

I am grateful for every day I wake up, take a breath, my feet hit the floor, and live another day.

I am grateful for my family.

I am grateful to still have a somewhat sound mind.

I am grateful for living in Chicago, the best city in the nation.

I am grateful to have the bare necessities of life, food, shelter, and clothing.

I am grateful that I can still cook the feast with family and friends.

I am grateful for my friends and acquaintances from all walks of life, beliefs, or lack thereof.

I am grateful for our police, firefighters, and EMTs, who keep us safe 24/7/365.

 I am grateful for the emergency utility workers who respond to outages no matter the weather.

No matter your station or status in life, there is always something or someone(s) to be grateful for.

This Thursday, celebrate gratitude, then enjoy the feast, family, and friends.

I woke up at 0-dark-thirty this morning. It was cold and snowing. The snow was falling gently in the dark, sticking to the grass but not the sidewalks or streets. It won’t be long before the sounds of snow blowers and shovel scraping replace those of leaf blowers, rakes, and lawnmowers.

Starting December 1^st, the dreaded winter overnight parking ban will take effect. Parking is prohibited from 3 a.m. to 7 a.m. on over 100 hundred miles of city-designated streets until April 1^st. It does not matter if there is snow or not. The city will tow your car. There are 500 miles of streets that prohibit parking if there is two inches or more of snow. If you park on these streets overnight, the city will tow your car. Check those signs, or trudge down to the auto pound to pay the piper twice for the parking ticket and the tow. Oh, and hope your car is not damaged.

Since this is the first snowfall, the season of Dibs officially begins Dibs is reserving a shoveled-out parking space by putting barricades in the street to claim it. Dibs is a decades-old winter tradition in Chicago. Some people claim Dibs all winter long. They do not wait for the heavy snow. They claim their parking space when there is little snow or even a threat of snow.

People get creative to the point of setting out a dining table set with plates and silverware. There are plastic Christmas religious statues, inflatables, children’s plastic playhouses, nativity scenes, standing frozen pants, and other unique items. The usual items are milk crates, sawhorses, or lawn chairs, some with boards stretched across.

Dibs is technically illegal. According to the municipal code, streets will not be obstructed with items including “crates, boxes, or hogsheads” (Barrels). Like many in Chicago, including our politicians, no one cares about silly laws.

Dibs is controversial and leads people to damage cars, arguments, or even violence. Violent crimes committed over Dibs should not be a worry as our Cook County State’s Attorney, Kim Foxx, will not prosecute crimes of mutual combat.

Columnists and editorial boards have written pro, con, and humorous articles about the practice over the decades. Former mayors supported the tradition. Mayor Lori Lightfoot discourages Dibs, though she understands it- whatever that means.

How popular is Dibs? There are social media pages about the tradition, like this one on Pinterest. There is a Facebook page, too- Chicago Dibs.

Dibs is a form of tolerated subversiveness in this city of rogues, rascals, and reprobates. Your neighbors take to the streets with their shovels and snow blowers to clear a parking space, then put up the barricades. They worked hard for it, risking the widow making heart-a-stroke. They earned it. That space is theirs. “Whose streets? Our streets.” Why should some lazy, low-life motherless mook, mameluke, or jamoke reap the benefits of their hard work?

There is a Judge Dibs in Chicago. He is wise beyond his years, like the ancient Greek philosophers. Judge Dibs decides dibs cases based on the rules and the situation, using the “Dibstitution.”

Judge Dibs is tough but fair. He named me the Lord High Chamberlain of Dibs. However, I would have preferred Lord High Executioner, but Illinois eliminated the death penalty. I was honored to have such a title bestowed upon me. But I do not have the time to execute my duties. I have my own problems with people blocking my side driveway because Illinois issues driver’s licenses to blind people.

Some claim Dibs is uncivil. They believe people who toil should not reap the fruits of their labor. According to these apostates, we should be kind and understanding towards each other. A few go so far as to suggest people shovel out parking spaces for their neighbors or even the entire block. It is an act of kindness and a neighborly thing to do.

There is one problem with this line of thinking, if you call it that. Chicago, the “City of Neighborhoods,” does not have Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. I don’t know if they noticed, but Mr. Roger’s is dead, like their brain cells.

Winter is coming. Snow is coming. Dibs is the natural order of things. Let there be peace on Earth and Dibs in Chicago.

As Judge Dibs states:

“Respect Dibs. Revere the Dibstitution. And love thy neighbor, baby. So let it be written. So let it be done.”

Well, the McCaskey Ken Dolls lost to the Detroit Lions. They are not the Monsters of the Midway. They are the Ken Dolls of the fashion runway. Like last week and the week before, the Chicago sports media will spend days gloating over Justin Fields’ accomplishments and the stats he put up, while sidestepping the loss. Field’s stats and records are irrelevant and meaningless if the TEAM LOSES. Football is supposed to be a team sport, not a one-man show. Fields is a loser, with the rest of that pathetic team.

Then we have last week’s election. Some areas are still counting results but it appears the Red Tide, Wave, or whatever the party and political pundits called it, turned into a Red drip, like the clap. The GOP, like the McCaskey Ken Dolls, is clueless. They pi$$ed off the country with their extremists so badly that many GOP candidates became unelectable in areas populated by people with more than one brain cell.

Missouri Senator Josh Hawley claimed the Republican Party has to change and build a new party to win elections. If that is true, when are Hawley and all the other tertiary syphilitic-infected extremist elected officials going to resign or not run again in the future?

Like Justin Field’s stats, the minor GOP wins are irrelevant and meaningless. Politicians from both parties refuse to listen to their constituents. The leadership of both parties in the House and Senate cannot or will not control their firebrand extremists. The extremists do not fear the leadership or care about them. They are defiant in their popularity.

Elected officials from both parties refuse to concentrate on issues people care about, the bread-and-butter kitchen table issues we face daily. They are consumed with cultural, social, and religious issues and waging constant political warfare. Too many are more concerned with their social media following than doing their jobs.

We have a municipal election coming in April. The field is getting crowded with candidates for mayor of Chicago. Congressman Chuy Garcia threw his hat in the ring for a second run for the Fifth Floor. Garcia joins a growing list of candidates trying to unseat Lightfoot. Lightfoot is the worst mayor since Big Bill Thompson, but with a crowded field, she can win again if the election goes to a runoff. Every candidate agrees on one issue. Chicago needs a change in leadership.

I hope that voter turnout will be larger than this past election, where a paltry 40.77% voted. That was a disgustingly low turnout for such an important election. The upcoming mayoral election will be the most important in our lifetimes. The faltering and failing Lightfoot must be defeated. We need a mayor who will fight for the people instead of allowing themself to be bullied into submission by Machine Boss Toni Preckwinkle.

Chicago politics is like the Chicago Bears. Incompetent leaders are in charge of both, and the news media ignores the failures and celebrates the bread and circuses.

Today is another beautiful fall day. The weather is mild. The sun is shining, and there is hardly a cloud in the sky. I am sitting in one of my favorite drinking establishments while writing this. There are no bar pests today. Bar pests are people looking to talk to anyone. They talk and never shut the f**k up. You cannot even get a word in edge-wise, like leave me the f**k alone.

There is no conversation about yesterday’s election. No one is celebrating or complaining. It’s as if no one cares who won or lost. I wonder if any of the patrons even voted.

If you did not vote, you have no privilege to complain about elected officials. You are no patriot. Your political opinions are worthless hot air. There are 1,540,821 registered voters in Chicago. Only 628,244 voted. It is pathetic and disgusting that only 40.77% of Chicago voters showed up at the polls. What is wrong with these people?

If someone complains about an elected official or political party, the first thing I ask them is if they voted. If they say no, I cut them off. I do not want to listen to their manic ravings. If they go on, I walk away. People who do not vote are worthless citizens. They are responsible for the election, and worse, the reelection of horrid politicians.

Governor J.B. Pritzker handily beat the deplorable Darren Bailey in the Illinois gubernatorial race, winning a second term. Bailey ran a dirty campaign based on lies and his total ignorance of how government and governance work. Worse, an affiliated PAC ran horrendous ads and sent prevaricating mailers. Bailey may be a good representative for his downstate constituents. He can keep representing them. The man did not lose. He still has a job as a state senator. He is still on the state payroll.

Some Republicans are touting Bailey as a GOP leader in the state senate to fight the governor and the Democrats. Bailey should be nowhere near a leadership position. Besides being an extremist and Christian Nationalist, he would be at constant war with his fellow legislators and the governor. We do not need open warfare in Illinois. It is bad enough both parties in Washington are constantly battling instead of working for the people. They are more concerned with their Twitter following than serving.

Democratic Machine Boss, Toni Preckwinkle, handily won the election. I guess there are still people who believe she is a reformer instead of a typical old-school political machine boss. She is one of the major drivers of criminality, especially violent crime, in Chicago and adjoining suburbs with her control of the courts and the State’s Attorney’s Office. She has the blood on her hands of all the murderers and victims of violent crime in Chicago.

We have the municipal election coming up in April. One would hope more people will vote to send Lori Lightfoot to the unemployment line. Hope died in Chicago. Too many supposed citizens are to apathetic or lazy to vote. No matter how easy they make it with mail-in ballots and early voting, just over 40% of registered Chicago voters turning out is unconscionable.

There were some big winners in this election. They were not candidates. They were the political consultant class and the people who run PACS. No matter who wins or loses elections, they win the big money. They get rich on the backs of the idiot politicians who hire them or agree to let them represent them. They are the only real winners in every election.

Numerous people reported a series of loud booms at around 10:30 p.m.; many said they specifically heard seven of them.

The reports came from neighborhoods that included Lincoln Park, Lake View, Uptown, Ravenswood, Avondale, Logan Square and Albany Park.

Several people attributed the booms to fireworks and described clouds lighting up. (News Radio 78)

That’s all, folks. Seven neighborhoods reported loud booms Thursday night. Some with bright light. Security or door cams caught some blasts.

The above is the only news report on the loud booms. I searched yesterday morning and afternoon, and this morning. Not one other supposed Chicago news media entity in Chicago reported on the multiple blasts. There was no word from the Chicago Police or Fire Departments. Nothing from the mayor or the alderpeople in the affected wards.

Except for the citizens who heard the booms, there was not one peep. Zero, zilch, nada. Inquiring minds want to know why there was no coverage or official statement over these apparent simultaneous multiple blasts across the Northside of Chicago. There were no reports of damage or injuries. Maybe that is why there are no reports of the incident.

Why is there no speculation about what caused these multiple simultaneous booms? Was it some social media prank? Some dare? Was it a natural or weather phenomenon?

I found a story from the spring of this year where similar simultaneous incidents occurred in Rogers Park. That may have been a TikTok challenge using homemade bottle bombs. Was Thursday’s incident something similar? Three people I talked to are upset over almost zero coverage of these incidents, except by News Radio 78. They are also upset that the Chicago Police did not have a statement on this.

This is Chicago under Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the total degradation of what used to be called journalism. It is a pity The Fifth Floor of City Hall and the Fourth Estate are equally useless. The Chicago news media only reports what they are told. To keep them aroused, the city and Police Department generate XXXX pornography, data and data analytics, which are meaningless. But, hey, those reporters sure drool and slobber in self-pleasing pleasure when they get them.

Will we ever find out what happened Thursday night? Don’t count on it. Remember the Cool Hand Luke movie quote; “What we have here is a failure to communicate.” That is the state of Chicago today.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot loves failures. David Brown, her cowpoke mercenary Superintendent of Police, is an epic failure and has been since day one. Police officers derisively refer to Brown as the Top Flop. The rank-and-file officers have no respect, trust, or confidence in David Brown.

Lightfoot’s CTA President, Dorval Carter, is another epic failure. The buses and trains do not run on time, sometimes not at all. The terms ghost buses and ghost trains entered Chicago’s lexicon. Crime is up on the CTA. Carter implemented a patchwork solution of ghost security guards to patrol the trains and stations. They are ghosts because no one can see them.

Worse, Carter snubbed his nose at the Chicago City Council by refusing their requests to appear and justify his epic failures. Under mounting pressure, he finally agreed to meet with the City Council.

Lightfoot stubbornly refuses to fire these dunderheads. No other mayor in my long memory tolerated such epic failures. Heads rolled and kept rolling until the failures returned to normal. Those past mayors did not accept excuses when public services were so poorly handled.

Aside from being an initial private business(s), public transportation was designed to get people from one place to another and back expeditiously. They designed it to transport workers to and from work on time, as Chicago was a city of major commerce and industry where time is money and money is time.

The CTA leadership does not care if people who need to be places on time are late. The apathy is appalling. An organization, Commuters Take Action, tracked late buses and trains along with the ghosts. They reported 3000 incidents over six months.

There are no excuses for poor performance by highly paid public executives. Except, Lightfoot appears to wallow in mediocrity. Under her watch, failure is not just an option, but the only option. Public safety and now public transportation are failures. The failures are because of the supposed leaders of the Chicago Police Department and the Chicago Transit Authority are out of their leagues.

Firing failure is not wrong. There is nothing wrong with replacing them with competent people. Keeping dunderheads on six-figure payrolls is a problem. There is nothing wrong with firing a mayor either. Next year Lightfoot runs for reelection. She does not deserve a second term. Lightfoot should be kept as far away as possible from the Fifth Floor of City Hall.

It is November. The weather is warmish, and fall is still in all its glory. It is time to discuss something unmentionable to many people. The upcoming holiday feasts are on the horizon. So is turkey terror, the paralyzing effect of cooking that big fu**king bird(BFB) for the first time. Turkey terror is a fear, not grounded in reality, that the feast will be a disaster. It does not have to be this way.

Remember the military axiom: P*ss poor prior planning leads to p*ss poor performance. Start preparing for the holiday meals now, especially if you have never cooked a turkey before. Stores are getting ready for the holidays, and you should too. Preparing for the feast can be challenging and a lot of work. There is no need to kill yourself or your wallet.

Now is the time to plan your feast, especially if you are doing it for the first time. The best way to plan is to create your menu, find recipes, and list all the ingredients you need. Every time you go to the grocery store, pick up a few non-perishable items and cross those off your list. Put them in a box, bin, or empty shelf, so you will know where they are for the big day.

The grocery stores will set up displays of those non-perishable goods. Many will be on sale until the day(s) gets closer. Stock up. This year, due to inflation and some continuing supply chain issues, those sales may not be as generous as in years past, but products will still be less expensive than waiting for the week or two before the big day.

Decide ahead of time if you are buying a frozen or fresh turkey. A frozen turkey takes a long time to defrost, so buy it ahead of time if that is your choice. Allow 1.5 pounds per person since about 1/3 of a turkey is waste- bones. Predictions are turkeys- both fresh and frozen- will be expensive this year. Who says you must serve turkey? Ham or another roast are suitable substitutes. Hell, roast a chicken or two.

Prepare side dishes and dressing a day or two ahead. Heat them while the turkey is resting after you pull it out of the oven. Do not be shy about asking people to bring side dishes or desserts. It means less work and expense for you. If guests offer, accept their generosity. You do not have to prepare everything.

Timing is everything. Figure out the approximate time the turkey or other protein will come out of the oven and the resting time. That is the time you will serve dinner. If you want guests to come earlier, figure out some light appetizers and drinks. I would stick with wine and excellent beer. Thanksgiving is not supposed to be a drunken booze and puke fest.

If you never roasted a turkey, practice roasting chickens. If you can properly roast a chicken, you can roast a turkey. Even try roasting a duck. They are usually frozen, so you can practice proper thawing procedures. The turkey is just a bigger fowl and takes longer to cook.

Here are some tips for roasting that BFB. These are just the basics. Do not get fancy schmancy with brining or slathering butter if this is your first time. Plain salt and pepper and a few other ingredients are acceptable.

If roasting a frozen turkey, allow one day for every 4-5 pounds of turkey to thaw in the fridge. Put the turkey in a pan on a rack on the bottom shelf of the fridge.

The day before, remove the wrapping and giblets package. Blot the turkey with paper towels inside and out. Put it back in the fridge. This will dry the skin. Dry skin browns nicer for presentation.

On the day of, remove the turkey an hour before cooking and let it sit on the counter for 30-45 minutes. This will bring the bird close to room temperature. Preheat your oven to 450 F.

Season the turkey liberally inside and out with salt and pepper. You can put some herbs- parsley, sage, rosemary- onion and orange wedges in the cavity, along with a stick or two of butter (this will enhance your sauce/gravy)

Put the bird in the oven. After 15 minutes, lower the oven to 350 F. Figure 13-15 minutes per pound from the time you put the turkey in. Note: if you put the BFB in the oven right out of the fridge, cooking time will be longer.

Check the temp with an instant-read thermometer in the thick part of the thigh- do not touch bone. It should read 165 F. (The thighs take the longest to cook.) If you make a slit where the thighs meet the body the heat will penetrate evenly.

Remove the bird, cover loosely with foil, and let it rest 30-40 minutes depending on the size of the bird.

While that BFB is resting, heat your sides and prepare your sauce/gravy, using the pan drippings. Usually the week of Thanksgiving, stores have turkey wings. You can use those to make the stock for your gravy/sauce or buy turkey stock.

Who says you have to roast a turkey? You can buy whole legs and bone in breasts. Braise the turkey over vegetables and a liquid. Google braised turkey. There are an infinite number of recipes. The photo above is a Moroccan-style braised turkey I did some years back for Thanksgiving.

Where is the rule that turkey is the only protein for Thanksgiving? Ham or other roasts are just as good. Traditions are made to be broken. So, if you do not want to attempt that BFB, choose something else.

Start planning, prepping, and practicing now.

If you are dead set on roasting that BFB, here is a video by the master.

Yesterday was Halloween. I went to get jabbed with the latest COVID vaccine. Then, I went to vote. I had to hold my nose a few times, as usual. I am prepared to be disappointed in some of my choices.

Wandering around, I saw people dressed in creative costumes, including the waitress in the restaurant where I had lunch. After dark, I watched children and with their parents trick or treating. There were fewer than in years past.

Our mayor, Lori Lightfoot, was out in costume with her wife. Lightfoot is not one to turn down a good time, any day or night of the week. One could wonder if she was our trick-or-treating or just scaring children and their parents when handing out candy. Lightfoot is the Chicago Empress of Bread and Circuses.

Last night, Halloween was shattered for many by a mass shooting in the East Garfield neighborhood. 14 people, including a 3-year-old child were wounded. An 11- and 13-year-old were also wounded. Some were critical. CFD took the wounded to Stroger, Mr. Sinai, Northwestern, and Loyola hospitals. Their conditions were listed as good, serious, and critical.

According to police, people gathered for a vigil and a balloon release for a deceased person. A car drove up and two people opened fire on the group. A police camera near the scene captured the crime. The shooting lasted three seconds.

Violence keeps impacting children and families in this city. The rest of the public just yawns, stretches, and scratches, just another day. If it did not happen to them, it did not happen. It is yesterday’s news, to be forgotten. Apathy is just as rife in Chicago as violent crime.

From 2018 through today, Chicago has the distinction of leading the nation in mass shootings. We are NUMBA ONE. Let that sink in. It is something our costumed party mayor and her incompetent and oblivious Superintendent of Police, David Brown, ignore. Mass shootings in Chicago killed or wounded almost 900 people since 2018, including last nights. This is an embarrassment on all levels.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot is directly responsible for the continuing crime wave in this city. Contrary to the lies goobernatorial candidate Darren Bailey spews about Governor Pritzker, Lightfoot alone wears the hat or the costume(s) for her public safety failures.

Lori Lightfoot is now demanding a pay raise. $216,000.00 is not enough for her to live on. She demands a yearly 5% or the cost-of-living raise, whichever is less. This would give her a hefty $227, 000.00-plus salary. People should get pay raises when they are competent. Lightfoot is an abject incompetent failure, though she sure knows how to have a good time donning costumes for various occasions.

14 people were shot and wounded last evening, including a 3-year-old. The mayor was prancing around in a costume like Nero playing his lyre while Rome burned. There is no shock from City Hall or the public. Chicago is too accustomed to living with continuing violence. I weave violence into the fabric of this city. Soon, some will claim violence is part of Chicago’s shared values.

Today is the Day of the Dead, Día de los Muertos. Chicago should declare November 1^st a city holiday to celebrate the murder and mayhem. The city should commission and erect a large bust of the calavera, the skull, like the one depicted above. The city should place it in a prominent place for all to see. It ought to be the official symbol of this violent town.

“Fall has always been my favorite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale.” (Lauren DeStefano)

Fall is in full swing. The days are getting chilly, with a few Yoyo warm days. Fall has always been my favorite season. I love the crisp, clean weather.

Fall is the best season. It is significantly better than spring. The sunlight is different and more pleasant in the fall. On cloudless days, the light is not as harsh as the overbearing summer sunlight. The sky becomes an artist’s palette, with hues of pink, orange, and purple clouds at sunrise and sunset.

The trees change colors to yellows, oranges, reds, and eventually brown. They are works of art. Someone once wrote that “The leaves become flowers in the fall.” Fall is nature in all its glory. Eventually, the trees will become bare. Many will look like twisted gnarly Ents suffering from rheumatoid arthritis.

 Birds migrate south for the winter. Honking geese fill the skies with their vee formations. If you are lucky, you can see flocks of starlings swirling in their formations. The swirling is called murmuration. It is a joy to see.

We eat heartier foods like stews, soups, various roast meats, fowl, chili, and other comfort foods. The harvest puts seasonal products for us to savor. Ovens and slow cookers get used to make savory hearty meals. You can go apple picking or pumpkin harvesting. We cook and enjoy food more. It is too uncomfortable to eat well in the humid heat of summer.

Fall is the harbinger of death in the seasons. We dread the thought of Chicago winters. The harsh crunch of walking on snow and ice replaces the crackly pleasantness of walking on fallen brown leaves. The hawk assaults us with its deadly blasts. We suffer. We squeeze every ounce of pleasure and beauty out of fall, knowing winter’s nasty bite will make us miserable.

There are some drawbacks to fall. That f**king nasty fake pumpkin spice s**t that drooling, slobbering idiots and less-ons (Lower than morons) line up for at those oh-so-precious coffee shops. Candy corn, which resembles rat pellets and has the texture of earwax, is another horrid treat that makes its presence in the fall. Then there are the pi**ed off parents on Halloween who curse at you for running out of candy for their crotch critters.

Fall starts football season. Since the McCaskey Bears want to move out of the city, I thoroughly despise them and their evil, greedy, cheapskate, and chiseling owners. I root for their opponents, causing some consternation in my local drinking establishment. I want to see their QB and back up QBs get taken out for the season. Yeah, I wish for harm. I have no pity or mercy for Ken Dolls. The pork sword grand spawn of George Halas are despicable orcs.

Get out and enjoy the season. Appreciate the artistry of fall. Take in as much as possible because winter is coming. Winter is the season of bit**ing and moaning in Chicago. Yeah, yeah, yeah, those first snows are pretty until they turn into gray, sooty, and dog p**s yellow slush piles.  We will slip, slog, and slosh our way everywhere in misery.

The gray winter days will weigh heavily on us, causing SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder or, as it is known, S**tty All Day Disorder.

Happy fall.