Those protesting on behalf of a man allegedly held hostage inside the Cloud Gate sculpture in Millennium Park are clearly echoing the "Birds Aren't Real" movement
Regarding the Newsmax settlement- Salem Media, the owner of local propaganda outlet AM 560 has paid out multiple settlements for lying to their audience. I Googled the 2000 Mules movie lawsuit for reference, and found many more, including the one against *Mein Pillow* operator Mike Lindell.
Charlie Kirk had Jack Posobiec *Pizzagate Jack* subbing on air after the Lindell settlement, and -wait - Lindell told the host that he had in fact, won (WON) the lawsuit.
Can’t keep a good man down! And remember, Salem is a very **Christian* outlet.
Sorry for all the sarcastic, irony **
These people have destroyed conservatism and make mockery of Christianity - all from inside the house.
I want Newsmax et al to suffer for their lies which is why I'm more and more frustrated by the reporting about such settlements. Everyone focuses on the amounts but the language that Newsmax “will pay” $67million, or “it cost” Fox News $787 million is NOT TRUE. The fact is these settlements - no matter how high - do not cause them to actually suffer at all (and thus perhaps change their ways) because of corporate tax laws. I read a ton of articles about the FoxNews settlement looking for any reporting that addressed whether insurance would cover it or their budget would actually take a hit. I found only one AP story indicating that after paying a deductible and attorney’s fees, the rest would likely be paid by insurance. Their “pain” then is possibly higher insurance premiums or finding it harder to get insurance in the future, while everyone’s rates go up to cover the insurance companies’ bottom lines.
EVEN WORSE is they get to claim it on their taxes as a business loss, which means the rest of us are subsidizing their behavior with OUR tax dollars! Apparently, if a company is sued by the federal govt (DOJ) and loses/settles, they cannot claim it as a cost-of-doing-business loss on their taxes to offset earnings. But it seems the amounts from private lawsuits can be claimed that way.
Getting in the weeds of corporate tax policy is a sure cure for insomnia and it's definitely not my area of expertise. But since tax laws are meant to encourage or discourage certain behaviors, this seems to be a perfect example of how corporations own Congress and get laws written for their benefit. With all the hellacious things going on, asking people to call their congress member to change tax law isn’t going to happen. But at the very least, I desperately want more business reporters to start acknowledging this when reporting on these lawsuits so it becomes better known. Otherwise, nothing will ever change.
I agree and I think they would too. It’s not just the cost of doing business, it is in fact their business model.
These people and their audience proudly fly their flags, go to church and think that they and Orange Versailles are the bulwark against all the treachery and evil that the left perpetrates. Gays, trans, purple hair & nose rings? Here’s a guy with gold toilets, multiple wives, starred in three pornos, slept with porn actress while wife three nursed baby, wrote book about stiffing contractors and tried to stage a coup.
But the the thing of it is, all of that stuff about Trump has all been widely reported, and is in no way a secret. The question that Democrats need to confront is, to paraphrase Andrew Yang, what is it about what the Democrats are selling (or how they’re selling it) that makes so many people look at them and say, “Thanks but I’ll take the lying, petulant, insecure, thrice married, serial wife cheating, porn star banging, blue collar worker stiffing con artist instead.”?
I do not think that Russia/Putin have kompromat on trump. The truth is that he is a bumbling fool with delusions of grandeur who is an easy mark for anyone who flatters him or, even better, gives him the means to make more corrupt dollars. Worse, he cares for nothing and no-one and has no better angel to appeal to. Don't try to address "the legitimate concerns" of the people who voted for him and still support him. There are none and they are simpletons or nascent fascists. TYFYATTM.
I don't know about kompromat (or the more outlandish "Krasnov" conspiracy theory), but his sons have in the past bragged about getting significant funding support from Russia and it's conspicuous that Trump has never uttered a negative word about Putin, let alone acted in any way contrary to Putin's agenda. I think there is a distinct possibility there is a serious financial leash tying Trump to Putin.
Interesting comment because I have read articles where European leaders actually strategize how to deal with him and his ego. Hard to imagine dealing with an idiot by flattering him before dealing with actual issues.
Is it? I do not think it is at all hard. They flattered him and then tried to get him to discuss "real issues." Not successfully because the real issue is that Putin wants to continue the war and is raining death and destruction on the brave Ukranians, just as he has been for years. What has Trump accomplished in either meeting?
Trump had no intention of accomplishing anything at the meetings. I said that before the meetings. How does one settle a war with Ukraine without involving Ukraine? How many threats will the orange stain make and then stall them before even MAGAs stop believing him? Now he has openly stated that Ukraine can't get back territory that Putin took, something Ukraine has pledged not to accept. So there was never any intention to accomplish anything other than give the orange stain another reason to apply for the Nobel Peace prize. If they ever actually gave him one, it would no longer have any meaning for me.
Could not agree more. I think the chance of a small learned group of Norwegians giving him the Nobel Peace Prize approach zero. A couple of years ago, I would have said no chance whatever, but the world has become so insane and topsy-turvey that no prediction is safe.
I was a Trib subscriber for 40 some years before late delivery caused me to drop the physical paper. It's no good to me if it arrives closer to 8 than 6. I tried online for several years until their fees became outrageous. I played the game for a few years before cancelling. I had to actually report it as fraud (which I guess it was actually) for Amex to agree to the cancellation. Their inefficiency allowed me two years of no fee access until they figured it out and erected a paywall. I'm willing and do pay subscription fees to those I deem worth it. But I will never pay for the Trib again. The one remaining columnist I read is not too hard to get past the paywall for his columns. I'd be happy to pay him for his Bears news, so I'm hoping he's out on his own someday.
With the looming disaster that is the Trump economy, I imagine my Trib subscription may be one of the items I have to sacrifice to keep from going broke.
My digital subscription to the Trib ended. After it expired I re-upped through my second email address, taking advantage of the $2.00 per YEAR subscription. Those toads do not deserve any more for their game-playing subscription "policies".
I have watched the movie "Wall Street" probably at least two dozen times. I always remember the moment when Michael Douglas is recruiting Charlie Sheen and says "I create nothing". What does Alden Capitol do besides create wealth and ruin newspapers?
They don't create any wealth, they siphon wealth off people that actually create it. They're a hedge fund, so like a slumlord, they buy a distressed property that is underwater that has a renter in it, on the cheap. Then they cut off most utilities, refuse to fix any problems, sell any bits of the building they can, jack up the rent and add fees. This is all just to squeeze the last bits of income before the renters finally move out and what's left of the building collapses. They are parasites that provide no useful service and add no value of any kind to the world.
I get daily delivery of the Tribune's Lake County paper, the News-Sun, which includes full online access to the Tribune. I was paying something like $73 for 4 weeks. Then last month my automatic payment was $100. I enquired and was told that was a "still competitive" rate of $25/week.
The retail single copy price of the paper is $3 M-F, $3.50 Saturday (no Sunday edition). $18.50 a week. They do deliver a Sunday Trib, which shows up as a separate account # and "comp."
I asked for the promo rate and the best they would do was return me to the $73/4 week rate. This was via the customer service email you shared for dealing with the bogus "special issues."
If you say “itch” when you mean “scratch.” I won't correct you, but my esteem for you will be irrevocably diminished. — @jackboot.bsky.social
So will Zorn if you use a word slightly outside the range of its official definition.
BTW I hope you are as polite as possible to that Trib Operator. Having done similar work once upon a time I cannot tell you how many customers take their frustration out on those who are not empowered to do much to help.
I understand the sentiment that the lowly customer service rep isn't the one making the decisions, but they are the face of the company in that moment. It sucks to have to deal with irate customers, but that is the job.
Ok, so “The Guy in the Bean” theory has a certain amusement value, along the lines of the “There’s no such state as Idaho” campaign one of my former colleagues pushed. But how exactly is this exercise having any useful effect on dampening the nutball conspiracy theories that fuel the current administration and its looney adherents?
I view the "Guy in the Bean" as nothing more than a variation on the "look at me!" content of the internet. It has no purpose other than attracting attention. I also think there is a significant dose of self-adulatory sneering at those that might be duped. I think the participants also like to feel like they have some power to create annoyance for authorities. If it is supposed to be humorous satire, I think it is aimed at a narrow audience.
I recently started golfing with a new group of women at their preferred golf course. It is boring AF. No water. No sand traps. 8 too long par 4s and I par 3. While I agree with you about “unnecessary pain” traps, I wouldn’t mind some “mildly inconvenient” features at my current course.
There is answer to this. My clubs have been in storage for three years. No more stressing over my inability to hit a little dimpled ball into a hole called a green when most of the course is green.
The manager of a famous English rock band established early on that they would spell the first word in their name “Led” as he did not want anyone to make the assumption that the pronunciation was LEED Zeppelin.
This has nothing to do with today’s topics but here goes. Illinois requires front and back license plates, but every day there are hundreds if not thousands of cars with no front plate. Most are Teslas (which, I believe, does not install a front bracket but gives purchasers a do-it-yourself kit). Once again following the law seems to be reserved for fools.
I know that law because once got a ticket for it years ago. I'd moved her from NC where they only required a rear plate. I also learned that within just 10 days of moving into IL, you are supposed to change your car title, get new plates and registration with proof of residency, city sticker, and a new license. Like you've got nothing else going on in first weeks in a new state, you have to worry about getting daily tickets until it's all updated.
IIRC, the whole "2-plate" requirement is a scam perpetuated by a (then) politically-connected company that makes the plates for the state. (They get to charge the state twice as much as for a single plate.)
I stand corrected. While it WAS true that there was no material enhancement to law enforcement when 2 license plates are required, I am now informed that due to modern license plate reading systems, there is a 4% increase in car identification "recognition accuracy". (However, whether this impacts *crimes* versus administrative penalties -i.e., speed/red light cameras, etc. is another question entirely.)
C’mon folks, let’s get some perspective. We used to get two new license plates every year, and now they get replaced about once every 15 years. Bolting two license plates on a car every half generation or so does not strike me as being onerous.
I have one quibble with the gerrymandering chart. The caption under the "Perfect Representation" example says "Blue wins". It should say "Both Red and Blue Win" since each has the representation that matches the population. The other two are rigged "wins" for Red or Blue as they have more than they should.
Aw, thanks! I guess it's evident that I just rewatched Game of Thrones for the third time all the way through. Then I say I don't have time to read for pleasure.
The much derided final season of GoT reminds me of Stephen King's novel The Tommyknockers. The book is plodding along until suddenly (SPOILER ALERT!) the protag finds a spaceship creating all the weirdness, so he flies it to outer space and dies. To me it felt like once King had met his contracted word count he decided to wrap it up as quickly as possible. One of the few times I've literally thrown a book across the room.
Although I haven’t read The Tommyknockers, I know that this trick is not uncommon among King’s works. I believe that the literary term for the technique is “deaux ex machina”, and basically means that the writer just pulled something completely out of left field in order to wrap up the story.
I had a similar reaction to Patricia Cornwell's "Portrait Of A Killer: Jack The Ripper Case Closed". She builds up the person who she identifies as the killer, but the evidence is very poor, and she essentially simply says - "Done. Case closed." I certainly wasn't convinced.
I get it. They just ran of steam...or money! But I'll say this re Game of Thrones: I still don't know if Martin has finished the books, but for sure the series writers had to finish the last few series on their own. I can't quibble with their general plot moves. There are far worse final seasons, and LOST comes to mind immediately. Though I defend the series because the first five seasons were as near perfect as you get. I just pretend the 6th season didn't happen.
The Chicago metro area has about 9.5 million people and about 4 million households.
The Tribune and Sun Times combined have about 120,000 print subscribers and about 450,000 digital subscribers (digital includes those that also have print).
Why do only 11.25% of households subscribe?
Of that small number, why are they not willing to pay a price high enough to support an "adequate" staff?
This low market penetration reduces potential advertising revenue.
The saintly non-profit owners and evil vulture owners have the same problem.
The NYT has about 11 million digital subscribers due to its national audience. About 7.5 million have a bundle that includes news or is news only. About 1.8 million are news only subscriptions. There are about 135 million households in the US. The New York metro area has about 24 million people and 11.7 million households. So they have the same issues with news, as they attract the largest audience for their entertainment products.
Good riddance to Tribune movie critic Michael Phillips. His view of movies was through his leftist political filter, and his reviews all too often subjected readers to a political diatribe. Movies that presented our country, our military or people of faith in a positive light automatically merited a negative review from Phillips. This lack of artistic integrity made for predictably tedious reviews to the point that my wife and I quite often would take a further interest in the movies he demeaned.
I'd be willing to consider your improbable-sounding viewpoints about fine critic Michael Phillips and the Smithsonian, David, if you supported them with examples rather than simply declaring them as obvious truth. What the heck is "woje revisionism," anyway?
And since I'm probably not the only one wondering what "imeni" means, this time I willingly sacrifice myself to communal scorn for displaying my ignorance.
Hi Nancy - Your comment is very valid as my position would have much more credibility with specific examples instead of the very broad general statements I made from my reading his reviews over the past many years. I will do a little bit of Googling to see if I can find some specific examples in his past reviews that would support me on this. If I can quickly find some I will share, but I'm not certain how easily I may be able to find old reviews now. And my bad, "woje" was supposed to be "woke". Also, I would never use the descriptive adjective of ignorant for you, but whatever it is, I am in the same bucket as having no clue what the reference to "imeni" is.
I too am a very fallible typist, so I'm in no position to throw stones at "woje," but the definition of "woke" mystifies me nearly as much. In use, it often seems to mean "I don't like it." I remain just as much in the dark about Biden's crime of Smithsonian "woke revisionism" as before. Oh, and I used "ignorance" to mean "the state of being uninformed."
Nancy - it may be easier to give examples of what I consider to be woke as opposed to a literal definition, but in general, I would state that woke is being performatively and excessively politically correct and overly eager to assign offense to substantively inoffensive things. I love your definition of ignorance. Using that definition, we would all and our society be a lot better off if we would each acknowledge our own ignorance in terms of never having complete information about anything and always being open to and seeking additional new information. When people on either side of the political spectrum believe they have achieved full knowledge and refuse to accept new information on anything is when any opportunity for meaningful dialogue and finding any common ground ceases to exist.
Hello again Nancy - I'm not able to find a lot of Phillips' old reviews come up but I can offer one mild example from his recent review of the movie Eddington (one of those very rare movies that my wife and I went to see in a theater and ended up walking out Midway through because we both thought it was so terrible!)
In his review, Phillips included this quote from a film critic in the UK, "And as London-based critic Damon Wise wrote about “Eddington” in its Cannes Film Festival premiere earlier this year: “How do you make a satirical movie about modern America when the news that comes out of there every day is quite literally beyond a joke?”
That's not even a thinly veiled shot at the Trump administration. Now, almost half the country would likely be fine with that quote, but the other almost half of the country would strongly disagree. My point is that it is a partisan comment gratuitously injected by Phillips that was pure political commentary without adding to the actual artistic review of the film.
Art is indeed quite often intentional social commentary, but an artistic review of art need not and should not contain its own partisan diatribe. Again, that was just one mild example, but I hope it helps explain my position.
Certainly Phillips' interpretation of contemporary American news COULD be party-influenced. Or it could reflect his own personal esthetic taste concerning leadership traditions and established governmental practices, and whether they are being consistently adhered to. Either way, whether or not one accepts his premise that "the news that comes out of there every day is quite literally beyond a joke," the question he posed by itself makes logical philosophical sense: How indeed can a film satirize what already is [allegedly] more ridiculous than satire?
I don't know; it's kind of inconsistent to pay a critic to publish his opinions while decreeing that he is only allowed to opine about a single narrow subject. Do other movie reviewers you admire never mention their families, work experiences, childhood memories, or anything besides the film under review?
I agree that our writers are writing from their Collective life experience and views come out but my objection to Michael Phillips movie reviews is his very frequent use of his platform as a movie critic to unnecessarily inject political commentary, as well as forming a like or dislike of a film based upon its messaging whether he personally agrees or disagrees with it. That lack of artistic objectivity is I believe his failure as a movie critic. (And of course, people on the left would enjoy his reviews all the more for those remarks, while those of us on the right were put off by them.
Highlighting a statement that news coming out of our country is a joke is indeed a political opinion to which many people would readily agree and in equal number of people would strongly disagree. As I mentioned earlier, I could not find many of his reviews and that was simply one mild example of his penchant for hammering readers with his own political views, and over the years there were many much more egregious such statements.
"imeni" is Russian for "named after". In the Soviet days it was common to name things (factories, research institutes, schools, museums, etc.) after prominent communist leaders, so you'd have "The Kyiv Museum of Natural History *named after* V.I. Lenin" or similar.
It is kind of similar to how sponsors can have their names on things here, like the Mansueto library at U of C, but instead of financial reasons it was ideological.
Speaking of iconic Chicago newspapers, I just found out (I'm in Virginia currently) that The Onion has been back as a print publication for a year now:
I find this really interesting and counterintuitive and refreshing. It says they've tripled their revenue since 2024 and expect to be profitable next year. It also says a few other publications are returning to print, like the famous music magazine Creem, which went bankrupt in 1989, but was relaunched in 2022 and now has a quarterly print edition.
Maybe there is something like a vinyl effect, where a combination of nostalgia and dislike of digital media can sustain a valuable part of the culture.
I knew about Creem since I seem to have ended up on their mailing list and am constantly bombarded with ads, all of them prominently featuring their phallic nosed, R. Crumb designed mascot Boy Howdy.
I hope that the vinyl effect parlays into a resurgence in CD popularity that results in their players being standardized (or even optional) for cars again, but I’m not holding my breath.
The illustration you showed on gerrymandering is instructive. But, I believe, also a bit misleading. People simply don't live in neat boxes. I've played around with a number of redistricting formats and they all have problems because they are trying to solve for multiple variables that are not necessarily compatible. If one assumes that the goal is to develop the best system to allow for minority representation (as opposed, for instance, the current Trumplican goal to use every bit of power they have to lever more power--which is a moral problem, not a redistricting issue) our single district, first past the post system is not a great solution. I liked the the proportional representation system Illinois used to have, but also think ranked choice voting is a viable way to make our voting process more representative in spirit. Unfortunately, the current redistricting wars are paving the way for a race to the bottom of the democracy barrel.
To add to this comment. The same day I made it, Nate Cohn and Eve Washington had a good article in the NYT that illustrated the point I was making. There are many folks with what I consider bad intent, but even fair minded people will find it hard to make districts that reflect minority voice. So, part of the problem is the model itself.
Regarding the Newsmax settlement- Salem Media, the owner of local propaganda outlet AM 560 has paid out multiple settlements for lying to their audience. I Googled the 2000 Mules movie lawsuit for reference, and found many more, including the one against *Mein Pillow* operator Mike Lindell.
Charlie Kirk had Jack Posobiec *Pizzagate Jack* subbing on air after the Lindell settlement, and -wait - Lindell told the host that he had in fact, won (WON) the lawsuit.
Can’t keep a good man down! And remember, Salem is a very **Christian* outlet.
Sorry for all the sarcastic, irony **
These people have destroyed conservatism and make mockery of Christianity - all from inside the house.
I want Newsmax et al to suffer for their lies which is why I'm more and more frustrated by the reporting about such settlements. Everyone focuses on the amounts but the language that Newsmax “will pay” $67million, or “it cost” Fox News $787 million is NOT TRUE. The fact is these settlements - no matter how high - do not cause them to actually suffer at all (and thus perhaps change their ways) because of corporate tax laws. I read a ton of articles about the FoxNews settlement looking for any reporting that addressed whether insurance would cover it or their budget would actually take a hit. I found only one AP story indicating that after paying a deductible and attorney’s fees, the rest would likely be paid by insurance. Their “pain” then is possibly higher insurance premiums or finding it harder to get insurance in the future, while everyone’s rates go up to cover the insurance companies’ bottom lines.
EVEN WORSE is they get to claim it on their taxes as a business loss, which means the rest of us are subsidizing their behavior with OUR tax dollars! Apparently, if a company is sued by the federal govt (DOJ) and loses/settles, they cannot claim it as a cost-of-doing-business loss on their taxes to offset earnings. But it seems the amounts from private lawsuits can be claimed that way.
Getting in the weeds of corporate tax policy is a sure cure for insomnia and it's definitely not my area of expertise. But since tax laws are meant to encourage or discourage certain behaviors, this seems to be a perfect example of how corporations own Congress and get laws written for their benefit. With all the hellacious things going on, asking people to call their congress member to change tax law isn’t going to happen. But at the very least, I desperately want more business reporters to start acknowledging this when reporting on these lawsuits so it becomes better known. Otherwise, nothing will ever change.
I agree and I think they would too. It’s not just the cost of doing business, it is in fact their business model.
These people and their audience proudly fly their flags, go to church and think that they and Orange Versailles are the bulwark against all the treachery and evil that the left perpetrates. Gays, trans, purple hair & nose rings? Here’s a guy with gold toilets, multiple wives, starred in three pornos, slept with porn actress while wife three nursed baby, wrote book about stiffing contractors and tried to stage a coup.
Take that Libz!
But the the thing of it is, all of that stuff about Trump has all been widely reported, and is in no way a secret. The question that Democrats need to confront is, to paraphrase Andrew Yang, what is it about what the Democrats are selling (or how they’re selling it) that makes so many people look at them and say, “Thanks but I’ll take the lying, petulant, insecure, thrice married, serial wife cheating, porn star banging, blue collar worker stiffing con artist instead.”?
I think it was the Gaza genocide, paid for at the request of the Biden administration, that lost the election for the Democrats.
Sure, because it was obvious that Trump wouldn’t make that situation even worse.
Look at the voting in Dearborn, Michigan.
I do not think that Russia/Putin have kompromat on trump. The truth is that he is a bumbling fool with delusions of grandeur who is an easy mark for anyone who flatters him or, even better, gives him the means to make more corrupt dollars. Worse, he cares for nothing and no-one and has no better angel to appeal to. Don't try to address "the legitimate concerns" of the people who voted for him and still support him. There are none and they are simpletons or nascent fascists. TYFYATTM.
The easiest explanation for Trump’s fealty to Putin is bribery. Money is the only thing Trump truly covets…
Well flattery runs a very close second in Agant Orange's hierarchy of desires.
I don't know about kompromat (or the more outlandish "Krasnov" conspiracy theory), but his sons have in the past bragged about getting significant funding support from Russia and it's conspicuous that Trump has never uttered a negative word about Putin, let alone acted in any way contrary to Putin's agenda. I think there is a distinct possibility there is a serious financial leash tying Trump to Putin.
You can never rule out avarice when it comes to the Agent. On the other hand, Uday and Qusay Trump are lying fantasists of the first water.
Interesting comment because I have read articles where European leaders actually strategize how to deal with him and his ego. Hard to imagine dealing with an idiot by flattering him before dealing with actual issues.
Is it? I do not think it is at all hard. They flattered him and then tried to get him to discuss "real issues." Not successfully because the real issue is that Putin wants to continue the war and is raining death and destruction on the brave Ukranians, just as he has been for years. What has Trump accomplished in either meeting?
Trump had no intention of accomplishing anything at the meetings. I said that before the meetings. How does one settle a war with Ukraine without involving Ukraine? How many threats will the orange stain make and then stall them before even MAGAs stop believing him? Now he has openly stated that Ukraine can't get back territory that Putin took, something Ukraine has pledged not to accept. So there was never any intention to accomplish anything other than give the orange stain another reason to apply for the Nobel Peace prize. If they ever actually gave him one, it would no longer have any meaning for me.
Could not agree more. I think the chance of a small learned group of Norwegians giving him the Nobel Peace Prize approach zero. A couple of years ago, I would have said no chance whatever, but the world has become so insane and topsy-turvey that no prediction is safe.
IMO, it's hard to earn a peace prize when you turn loose your own military upon your country.
And bombing a country and threatening to take over another country and the sovereign territory of yet another country by "force, if necessary."
I was a Trib subscriber for 40 some years before late delivery caused me to drop the physical paper. It's no good to me if it arrives closer to 8 than 6. I tried online for several years until their fees became outrageous. I played the game for a few years before cancelling. I had to actually report it as fraud (which I guess it was actually) for Amex to agree to the cancellation. Their inefficiency allowed me two years of no fee access until they figured it out and erected a paywall. I'm willing and do pay subscription fees to those I deem worth it. But I will never pay for the Trib again. The one remaining columnist I read is not too hard to get past the paywall for his columns. I'd be happy to pay him for his Bears news, so I'm hoping he's out on his own someday.
With the looming disaster that is the Trump economy, I imagine my Trib subscription may be one of the items I have to sacrifice to keep from going broke.
My digital subscription to the Trib ended. After it expired I re-upped through my second email address, taking advantage of the $2.00 per YEAR subscription. Those toads do not deserve any more for their game-playing subscription "policies".
I have watched the movie "Wall Street" probably at least two dozen times. I always remember the moment when Michael Douglas is recruiting Charlie Sheen and says "I create nothing". What does Alden Capitol do besides create wealth and ruin newspapers?
They don't create any wealth, they siphon wealth off people that actually create it. They're a hedge fund, so like a slumlord, they buy a distressed property that is underwater that has a renter in it, on the cheap. Then they cut off most utilities, refuse to fix any problems, sell any bits of the building they can, jack up the rent and add fees. This is all just to squeeze the last bits of income before the renters finally move out and what's left of the building collapses. They are parasites that provide no useful service and add no value of any kind to the world.
So birds aren't real, and all this time no one noticed that Colonel Sanders has been selling Kentucky Fried Drones ...
I get daily delivery of the Tribune's Lake County paper, the News-Sun, which includes full online access to the Tribune. I was paying something like $73 for 4 weeks. Then last month my automatic payment was $100. I enquired and was told that was a "still competitive" rate of $25/week.
The retail single copy price of the paper is $3 M-F, $3.50 Saturday (no Sunday edition). $18.50 a week. They do deliver a Sunday Trib, which shows up as a separate account # and "comp."
I asked for the promo rate and the best they would do was return me to the $73/4 week rate. This was via the customer service email you shared for dealing with the bogus "special issues."
If you say “itch” when you mean “scratch.” I won't correct you, but my esteem for you will be irrevocably diminished. — @jackboot.bsky.social
So will Zorn if you use a word slightly outside the range of its official definition.
BTW I hope you are as polite as possible to that Trib Operator. Having done similar work once upon a time I cannot tell you how many customers take their frustration out on those who are not empowered to do much to help.
I understand the sentiment that the lowly customer service rep isn't the one making the decisions, but they are the face of the company in that moment. It sucks to have to deal with irate customers, but that is the job.
Have learned to say to Customer Service staff,
"I know this isn't your fault but please let management know that I am not happy about this."
I do that as well, though it can be difficult at times.
I am NEVER querulous or rude with customer-service operators. They have tough jobs and are trying to make a living and I know they don't set policy.
Everyone’s grocery bills are going up. Is there any point to yelling at the cashiers?
Ok, so “The Guy in the Bean” theory has a certain amusement value, along the lines of the “There’s no such state as Idaho” campaign one of my former colleagues pushed. But how exactly is this exercise having any useful effect on dampening the nutball conspiracy theories that fuel the current administration and its looney adherents?
And every March, Jimmy Kimmel starts the "There's no such school as Gonzaga".
You mean there is?
I view the "Guy in the Bean" as nothing more than a variation on the "look at me!" content of the internet. It has no purpose other than attracting attention. I also think there is a significant dose of self-adulatory sneering at those that might be duped. I think the participants also like to feel like they have some power to create annoyance for authorities. If it is supposed to be humorous satire, I think it is aimed at a narrow audience.
I recently started golfing with a new group of women at their preferred golf course. It is boring AF. No water. No sand traps. 8 too long par 4s and I par 3. While I agree with you about “unnecessary pain” traps, I wouldn’t mind some “mildly inconvenient” features at my current course.
Hmm, which course? I can't think of any with no sand or water.
Park District course in Springfield.
There is answer to this. My clubs have been in storage for three years. No more stressing over my inability to hit a little dimpled ball into a hole called a green when most of the course is green.
My Mr. Language Person Personal Pet Peeve (MLPPPP) is people who write “lead” (rhyming with the metal) when they meant “led”. Especially in resumes.
I try to lead by example when it comes to that word...
The manager of a famous English rock band established early on that they would spell the first word in their name “Led” as he did not want anyone to make the assumption that the pronunciation was LEED Zeppelin.
This has nothing to do with today’s topics but here goes. Illinois requires front and back license plates, but every day there are hundreds if not thousands of cars with no front plate. Most are Teslas (which, I believe, does not install a front bracket but gives purchasers a do-it-yourself kit). Once again following the law seems to be reserved for fools.
I know that law because once got a ticket for it years ago. I'd moved her from NC where they only required a rear plate. I also learned that within just 10 days of moving into IL, you are supposed to change your car title, get new plates and registration with proof of residency, city sticker, and a new license. Like you've got nothing else going on in first weeks in a new state, you have to worry about getting daily tickets until it's all updated.
IIRC, the whole "2-plate" requirement is a scam perpetuated by a (then) politically-connected company that makes the plates for the state. (They get to charge the state twice as much as for a single plate.)
I stand corrected. While it WAS true that there was no material enhancement to law enforcement when 2 license plates are required, I am now informed that due to modern license plate reading systems, there is a 4% increase in car identification "recognition accuracy". (However, whether this impacts *crimes* versus administrative penalties -i.e., speed/red light cameras, etc. is another question entirely.)
C’mon folks, let’s get some perspective. We used to get two new license plates every year, and now they get replaced about once every 15 years. Bolting two license plates on a car every half generation or so does not strike me as being onerous.
I have one quibble with the gerrymandering chart. The caption under the "Perfect Representation" example says "Blue wins". It should say "Both Red and Blue Win" since each has the representation that matches the population. The other two are rigged "wins" for Red or Blue as they have more than they should.
That's a good point.
"The political night is dark and full of terrors." That is a great line! Thanks Cate Plys!
Aw, thanks! I guess it's evident that I just rewatched Game of Thrones for the third time all the way through. Then I say I don't have time to read for pleasure.
The much derided final season of GoT reminds me of Stephen King's novel The Tommyknockers. The book is plodding along until suddenly (SPOILER ALERT!) the protag finds a spaceship creating all the weirdness, so he flies it to outer space and dies. To me it felt like once King had met his contracted word count he decided to wrap it up as quickly as possible. One of the few times I've literally thrown a book across the room.
Although I haven’t read The Tommyknockers, I know that this trick is not uncommon among King’s works. I believe that the literary term for the technique is “deaux ex machina”, and basically means that the writer just pulled something completely out of left field in order to wrap up the story.
He often gets lazy at the end. 11/22/63 and the novella Elevation are exceptions.
I had a similar reaction to Patricia Cornwell's "Portrait Of A Killer: Jack The Ripper Case Closed". She builds up the person who she identifies as the killer, but the evidence is very poor, and she essentially simply says - "Done. Case closed." I certainly wasn't convinced.
I get it. They just ran of steam...or money! But I'll say this re Game of Thrones: I still don't know if Martin has finished the books, but for sure the series writers had to finish the last few series on their own. I can't quibble with their general plot moves. There are far worse final seasons, and LOST comes to mind immediately. Though I defend the series because the first five seasons were as near perfect as you get. I just pretend the 6th season didn't happen.
The Chicago metro area has about 9.5 million people and about 4 million households.
The Tribune and Sun Times combined have about 120,000 print subscribers and about 450,000 digital subscribers (digital includes those that also have print).
Why do only 11.25% of households subscribe?
Of that small number, why are they not willing to pay a price high enough to support an "adequate" staff?
This low market penetration reduces potential advertising revenue.
The saintly non-profit owners and evil vulture owners have the same problem.
The NYT has about 11 million digital subscribers due to its national audience. About 7.5 million have a bundle that includes news or is news only. About 1.8 million are news only subscriptions. There are about 135 million households in the US. The New York metro area has about 24 million people and 11.7 million households. So they have the same issues with news, as they attract the largest audience for their entertainment products.
https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/fact-sheet/newspapers/
Good riddance to Tribune movie critic Michael Phillips. His view of movies was through his leftist political filter, and his reviews all too often subjected readers to a political diatribe. Movies that presented our country, our military or people of faith in a positive light automatically merited a negative review from Phillips. This lack of artistic integrity made for predictably tedious reviews to the point that my wife and I quite often would take a further interest in the movies he demeaned.
Oh you are just going to love the trump Smithsonian.
Soon to be renamed The Glorious and Patriotic Museum of America, imeni D.J. Trump.
"imeni" - I see what you did there, excellent, no notes.
Rima - I have loved visiting our Smithsonian museums for decades, until the Biden Administration turned them into temples of woke revisionism.
Even Clint Eastwood was a revisionist. "Deserve's got nuthin' to do with it."
I'd be willing to consider your improbable-sounding viewpoints about fine critic Michael Phillips and the Smithsonian, David, if you supported them with examples rather than simply declaring them as obvious truth. What the heck is "woje revisionism," anyway?
And since I'm probably not the only one wondering what "imeni" means, this time I willingly sacrifice myself to communal scorn for displaying my ignorance.
Hi Nancy - Your comment is very valid as my position would have much more credibility with specific examples instead of the very broad general statements I made from my reading his reviews over the past many years. I will do a little bit of Googling to see if I can find some specific examples in his past reviews that would support me on this. If I can quickly find some I will share, but I'm not certain how easily I may be able to find old reviews now. And my bad, "woje" was supposed to be "woke". Also, I would never use the descriptive adjective of ignorant for you, but whatever it is, I am in the same bucket as having no clue what the reference to "imeni" is.
I too am a very fallible typist, so I'm in no position to throw stones at "woje," but the definition of "woke" mystifies me nearly as much. In use, it often seems to mean "I don't like it." I remain just as much in the dark about Biden's crime of Smithsonian "woke revisionism" as before. Oh, and I used "ignorance" to mean "the state of being uninformed."
Nancy - it may be easier to give examples of what I consider to be woke as opposed to a literal definition, but in general, I would state that woke is being performatively and excessively politically correct and overly eager to assign offense to substantively inoffensive things. I love your definition of ignorance. Using that definition, we would all and our society be a lot better off if we would each acknowledge our own ignorance in terms of never having complete information about anything and always being open to and seeking additional new information. When people on either side of the political spectrum believe they have achieved full knowledge and refuse to accept new information on anything is when any opportunity for meaningful dialogue and finding any common ground ceases to exist.
Hello again Nancy - I'm not able to find a lot of Phillips' old reviews come up but I can offer one mild example from his recent review of the movie Eddington (one of those very rare movies that my wife and I went to see in a theater and ended up walking out Midway through because we both thought it was so terrible!)
In his review, Phillips included this quote from a film critic in the UK, "And as London-based critic Damon Wise wrote about “Eddington” in its Cannes Film Festival premiere earlier this year: “How do you make a satirical movie about modern America when the news that comes out of there every day is quite literally beyond a joke?”
That's not even a thinly veiled shot at the Trump administration. Now, almost half the country would likely be fine with that quote, but the other almost half of the country would strongly disagree. My point is that it is a partisan comment gratuitously injected by Phillips that was pure political commentary without adding to the actual artistic review of the film.
Art is indeed quite often intentional social commentary, but an artistic review of art need not and should not contain its own partisan diatribe. Again, that was just one mild example, but I hope it helps explain my position.
A single question now constitutes a diatribe?
Certainly Phillips' interpretation of contemporary American news COULD be party-influenced. Or it could reflect his own personal esthetic taste concerning leadership traditions and established governmental practices, and whether they are being consistently adhered to. Either way, whether or not one accepts his premise that "the news that comes out of there every day is quite literally beyond a joke," the question he posed by itself makes logical philosophical sense: How indeed can a film satirize what already is [allegedly] more ridiculous than satire?
I don't know; it's kind of inconsistent to pay a critic to publish his opinions while decreeing that he is only allowed to opine about a single narrow subject. Do other movie reviewers you admire never mention their families, work experiences, childhood memories, or anything besides the film under review?
I agree that our writers are writing from their Collective life experience and views come out but my objection to Michael Phillips movie reviews is his very frequent use of his platform as a movie critic to unnecessarily inject political commentary, as well as forming a like or dislike of a film based upon its messaging whether he personally agrees or disagrees with it. That lack of artistic objectivity is I believe his failure as a movie critic. (And of course, people on the left would enjoy his reviews all the more for those remarks, while those of us on the right were put off by them.
Highlighting a statement that news coming out of our country is a joke is indeed a political opinion to which many people would readily agree and in equal number of people would strongly disagree. As I mentioned earlier, I could not find many of his reviews and that was simply one mild example of his penchant for hammering readers with his own political views, and over the years there were many much more egregious such statements.
"imeni" is Russian for "named after". In the Soviet days it was common to name things (factories, research institutes, schools, museums, etc.) after prominent communist leaders, so you'd have "The Kyiv Museum of Natural History *named after* V.I. Lenin" or similar.
It is kind of similar to how sponsors can have their names on things here, like the Mansueto library at U of C, but instead of financial reasons it was ideological.
Speaking of iconic Chicago newspapers, I just found out (I'm in Virginia currently) that The Onion has been back as a print publication for a year now:
https://www.wsj.com/business/media/the-onion-print-subscribers-6c24649c?st=Lz4Dyt&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
I find this really interesting and counterintuitive and refreshing. It says they've tripled their revenue since 2024 and expect to be profitable next year. It also says a few other publications are returning to print, like the famous music magazine Creem, which went bankrupt in 1989, but was relaunched in 2022 and now has a quarterly print edition.
Maybe there is something like a vinyl effect, where a combination of nostalgia and dislike of digital media can sustain a valuable part of the culture.
I knew about Creem since I seem to have ended up on their mailing list and am constantly bombarded with ads, all of them prominently featuring their phallic nosed, R. Crumb designed mascot Boy Howdy.
I hope that the vinyl effect parlays into a resurgence in CD popularity that results in their players being standardized (or even optional) for cars again, but I’m not holding my breath.
The illustration you showed on gerrymandering is instructive. But, I believe, also a bit misleading. People simply don't live in neat boxes. I've played around with a number of redistricting formats and they all have problems because they are trying to solve for multiple variables that are not necessarily compatible. If one assumes that the goal is to develop the best system to allow for minority representation (as opposed, for instance, the current Trumplican goal to use every bit of power they have to lever more power--which is a moral problem, not a redistricting issue) our single district, first past the post system is not a great solution. I liked the the proportional representation system Illinois used to have, but also think ranked choice voting is a viable way to make our voting process more representative in spirit. Unfortunately, the current redistricting wars are paving the way for a race to the bottom of the democracy barrel.
To add to this comment. The same day I made it, Nate Cohn and Eve Washington had a good article in the NYT that illustrated the point I was making. There are many folks with what I consider bad intent, but even fair minded people will find it hard to make districts that reflect minority voice. So, part of the problem is the model itself.
Article: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/08/21/upshot/up-massachusetts-redistricting.html