i couldn't care less about jussie smollett or kim foxx, other than that their both full of sh*t. let's move on. he's been given far more attention than he deserves.
Actually, you should care because it is but one more instance of what we could avoid if voters were smarter and paid attention. We got Trump because Americans are clueless just as Chicagoans got Daley before. We get the government that we deserve.
I wish Smollett had gotten some decent advice when this mess first went down. He should have checked himself into some place for something, then upon "discharge" he could have apologized for the false report, note that he was in a "bad place" at the time, say he would submit to full legal process but also make a donation to a police charity for the trouble he caused. He'd be done with the matter in a short time and then cast again in some show or film. America is a forgiving country.
The Trib article on fluoride was excellent and very informative. It is a fine example of the objective journalism that is so lacking in most media reporting. Sadly, I do not expect any such objectivity in future articles on this issue from AP, NYT, or WAPO.
Loved the VandeHei link. He hit all of the points that I hate most in the majority of reporting we have to endure. The lack of knowledge, lack of skeptical thinking, lack of research, and intrusion of ideology are the reason that people have lost respect for and confidence in the news media.
EZ is a good member of society that can still do better, based on his shopping cart response. A good part of this examination of behavior, is to ask what you were taught was good social etiquette and what do you reenforce for others (including your children). I would also add consideration of poorly enforced laws/rules like speeding and stop signs.
The only thing I disagree with is the assessment of benefit. Returning the cart has no immediate benefit to an individual, but the collective correct behavior across all users does benefit all users. This is exactly the same analysis as personal behavior to reduce climate change, reduce waste, reduce litter, get vaccines, etc.
I believe that many of these good social behaviors are given short shrift in educating people. Similarly, these behaviors and individual agency are rarely mentioned in discussions that prefer to place blame elsewhere. An excellent Netflix documentary called "Buy Now" looks at the massive waste problem caused by consumer goods sale and marketing but gives the individual responsibility part a mere few sentences at the end.
My car would have to be a long, LONG way from the cart corral for me not to put the cart back, AND I would have to have something wrong with one of my legs/ankles/hips/whatever that made walking quite painful. Not putting it away really inconveniences others -- the cart rolls into the parking place, say, or the wind blows it into another car. It's a social nicety.
Promise? I am tired of your harangues against Foxx about Smollett. Of course he did exactly what he was accused of (no part of his story was believable). No one was hurt -- well, except his own career, and a hit to Foxx's judgment at the beginning of her first term (why did she NOT require a plea?) And her legacy is not improved by her failure to just say, early on or ever, "oops, yep, I goofed" so we could all just move on. Nonetheless, I do generally support her "progressive" prosecution moves but -- why did (apparently) everyone just nod and move on when the State's Attorney's Office refused to prosecute anyone in a shootout in the Austin neighborhood (Oct 2021) that was shrugged off as "mutual combatants"?! How could it / why should it ever be okay to simply fail to prosecute everyone involved in that event? That was when I feared for the credibility of the office / system.
No, the public was hurt because there was a disproportionate police response in investigating that faked crime, which took detectives away from investigating actual crimes.
It may be a very small thing but I always check to see that I am parked within the lines in the parking lot. And, I do return the shopping cart to the corral every time. I don't want to ruin someone else's day by letting it roam around and bang into cars.
I am not sure it fits the model but I also thank folks for their work. Pour me more water, you get a thanks. Staff the check out for my groceries, you get a thanks. AND if the bagger does a good job of bagging my stuff, I let them know I appreciate their efforts. It costs nothing and I hope it makes their work day go just a little bit better.
After reading the court's decision (chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://ilcourtsaudio.blob.core.windows.net/antilles-resources/resources/dadcff96-2fa0-46b4-9d62-2c3aa687a0cd/People%20v.%20Smollett,%202024%20IL%20130431.pdf) I find that I have to agree with it.
My reading, as someone not a lawyer, is that Jusse considered that he had entered into a contract with the state and had fulfilled his part of that contract and thus was safe from prosecution. It seems to me that Foxx simply didn't complete a process that Jusse thought was completed. What surprises me is that everyone involved seemed to operate in a silo, which ultimately led to a waste of taxpayer money and more punishment of a person after he had already accepted punishment and fulfilled it, forfeited his bond.
We need better people throughout government, but the American people don't seem to agree as they are more concerned with getting something for themselves, such as government price-fixing egg prices, than a functional government. We deserve this shit.
So EZ thinks that the changes in Louisiana income taxes and sales tax aren't fair? I assume that 'Bless their hearts' is sarcastic swat at them. So let's do some comparisons: The new LA personal income tax is a flat 3%, our Illinois tax is 4.95%. LA new corporate income tax is a flat 5.5%, Illinois is 7%; LA new state sales tax is 5%; Illinois is 6.25%; Average local LA sales tax is 5.56% and the Illinois average is 2.61% (Chicago/Cook is 4%); LA property tax as a percentage of income is 1.89% and Illinois is 3.74%.
It seems to me that an individual of any income is better off in Louisiana. And I haven't heard a peep from any level of government in Illinois about lowering any taxes, but lots of yack about increasing them.
So move there. It's a polluted mess with huge numbers of chemical plants & oil refineries. The state loses several square miles of land along the Gulf Coast every year, because they allowed the oil companies to cut canals through the bayous anywhere they wanted. In fact, one of those canals is why new Orleans got flooded during Katrina.
Plus the state legislature is flat out owned by those oil & chemical companies & the state services are atrocious compared to what we have here.
On the plus side, former Louisiana governor Edwin Edwards is responsible for the greatest political quote in American history: He said: "I'll be re-elected as long as I'm not found in bed with a dead girl or a live boy"
And he was re-elected, only for the feds to get him on corruption charges, as their politicians are almost as corrupt as ours are!
EZ, I totally agree with you about Joe Biden. The commentators who say that his pardon of his son will lead to Trump's justification for his own pardons of the Jan. 6 criminals, etc; have not been paying attention, have they? Because Trump does whatever he wants, with full MAGA/Republican backing, no matter what ANYONE else thinks or does. And as for shopping carts, I always returned my cart. But in March of 2021, I returned my cart and then noticed another one in the grocery store lot driveway, being blown around. I returned it, turned around---and fell full face over the strip on the ground meant to keep in the carts. It was loose. The store manager admitted that he knew it was loose for over a month, but never fixed it. The camera caught everything, and I got a settlement---but I injured my hip (glad I didn't break it) and it took months for me to recover. So much for being a good Samaritan!
Pedro Martinez should run for mayor. That way he could win and basically fire Brandon Johnsons who seems to be a real dolt.
superb idea! except by the time of the next election, the 21 member [😳] school board will control the hiring & firing of the Supt/CEO.
But it would be a nice act of revenge for him!
i couldn't care less about jussie smollett or kim foxx, other than that their both full of sh*t. let's move on. he's been given far more attention than he deserves.
Actually, you should care because it is but one more instance of what we could avoid if voters were smarter and paid attention. We got Trump because Americans are clueless just as Chicagoans got Daley before. We get the government that we deserve.
I wish Smollett had gotten some decent advice when this mess first went down. He should have checked himself into some place for something, then upon "discharge" he could have apologized for the false report, note that he was in a "bad place" at the time, say he would submit to full legal process but also make a donation to a police charity for the trouble he caused. He'd be done with the matter in a short time and then cast again in some show or film. America is a forgiving country.
The Trib article on fluoride was excellent and very informative. It is a fine example of the objective journalism that is so lacking in most media reporting. Sadly, I do not expect any such objectivity in future articles on this issue from AP, NYT, or WAPO.
Loved the VandeHei link. He hit all of the points that I hate most in the majority of reporting we have to endure. The lack of knowledge, lack of skeptical thinking, lack of research, and intrusion of ideology are the reason that people have lost respect for and confidence in the news media.
EZ is a good member of society that can still do better, based on his shopping cart response. A good part of this examination of behavior, is to ask what you were taught was good social etiquette and what do you reenforce for others (including your children). I would also add consideration of poorly enforced laws/rules like speeding and stop signs.
The only thing I disagree with is the assessment of benefit. Returning the cart has no immediate benefit to an individual, but the collective correct behavior across all users does benefit all users. This is exactly the same analysis as personal behavior to reduce climate change, reduce waste, reduce litter, get vaccines, etc.
I believe that many of these good social behaviors are given short shrift in educating people. Similarly, these behaviors and individual agency are rarely mentioned in discussions that prefer to place blame elsewhere. An excellent Netflix documentary called "Buy Now" looks at the massive waste problem caused by consumer goods sale and marketing but gives the individual responsibility part a mere few sentences at the end.
My car would have to be a long, LONG way from the cart corral for me not to put the cart back, AND I would have to have something wrong with one of my legs/ankles/hips/whatever that made walking quite painful. Not putting it away really inconveniences others -- the cart rolls into the parking place, say, or the wind blows it into another car. It's a social nicety.
Promise? I am tired of your harangues against Foxx about Smollett. Of course he did exactly what he was accused of (no part of his story was believable). No one was hurt -- well, except his own career, and a hit to Foxx's judgment at the beginning of her first term (why did she NOT require a plea?) And her legacy is not improved by her failure to just say, early on or ever, "oops, yep, I goofed" so we could all just move on. Nonetheless, I do generally support her "progressive" prosecution moves but -- why did (apparently) everyone just nod and move on when the State's Attorney's Office refused to prosecute anyone in a shootout in the Austin neighborhood (Oct 2021) that was shrugged off as "mutual combatants"?! How could it / why should it ever be okay to simply fail to prosecute everyone involved in that event? That was when I feared for the credibility of the office / system.
No, the public was hurt because there was a disproportionate police response in investigating that faked crime, which took detectives away from investigating actual crimes.
it also hurt Chicago's image world wide!
It may be a very small thing but I always check to see that I am parked within the lines in the parking lot. And, I do return the shopping cart to the corral every time. I don't want to ruin someone else's day by letting it roam around and bang into cars.
I am not sure it fits the model but I also thank folks for their work. Pour me more water, you get a thanks. Staff the check out for my groceries, you get a thanks. AND if the bagger does a good job of bagging my stuff, I let them know I appreciate their efforts. It costs nothing and I hope it makes their work day go just a little bit better.
Re right things to do: I say thanks to the CTA bus driver, if I'm exiting through the front door.
Best quips ever! I voted for every single one.
After reading the court's decision (chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://ilcourtsaudio.blob.core.windows.net/antilles-resources/resources/dadcff96-2fa0-46b4-9d62-2c3aa687a0cd/People%20v.%20Smollett,%202024%20IL%20130431.pdf) I find that I have to agree with it.
My reading, as someone not a lawyer, is that Jusse considered that he had entered into a contract with the state and had fulfilled his part of that contract and thus was safe from prosecution. It seems to me that Foxx simply didn't complete a process that Jusse thought was completed. What surprises me is that everyone involved seemed to operate in a silo, which ultimately led to a waste of taxpayer money and more punishment of a person after he had already accepted punishment and fulfilled it, forfeited his bond.
We need better people throughout government, but the American people don't seem to agree as they are more concerned with getting something for themselves, such as government price-fixing egg prices, than a functional government. We deserve this shit.
So EZ thinks that the changes in Louisiana income taxes and sales tax aren't fair? I assume that 'Bless their hearts' is sarcastic swat at them. So let's do some comparisons: The new LA personal income tax is a flat 3%, our Illinois tax is 4.95%. LA new corporate income tax is a flat 5.5%, Illinois is 7%; LA new state sales tax is 5%; Illinois is 6.25%; Average local LA sales tax is 5.56% and the Illinois average is 2.61% (Chicago/Cook is 4%); LA property tax as a percentage of income is 1.89% and Illinois is 3.74%.
It seems to me that an individual of any income is better off in Louisiana. And I haven't heard a peep from any level of government in Illinois about lowering any taxes, but lots of yack about increasing them.
OK Marc
So move there. It's a polluted mess with huge numbers of chemical plants & oil refineries. The state loses several square miles of land along the Gulf Coast every year, because they allowed the oil companies to cut canals through the bayous anywhere they wanted. In fact, one of those canals is why new Orleans got flooded during Katrina.
Plus the state legislature is flat out owned by those oil & chemical companies & the state services are atrocious compared to what we have here.
On the plus side, former Louisiana governor Edwin Edwards is responsible for the greatest political quote in American history: He said: "I'll be re-elected as long as I'm not found in bed with a dead girl or a live boy"
And he was re-elected, only for the feds to get him on corruption charges, as their politicians are almost as corrupt as ours are!
EZ, I totally agree with you about Joe Biden. The commentators who say that his pardon of his son will lead to Trump's justification for his own pardons of the Jan. 6 criminals, etc; have not been paying attention, have they? Because Trump does whatever he wants, with full MAGA/Republican backing, no matter what ANYONE else thinks or does. And as for shopping carts, I always returned my cart. But in March of 2021, I returned my cart and then noticed another one in the grocery store lot driveway, being blown around. I returned it, turned around---and fell full face over the strip on the ground meant to keep in the carts. It was loose. The store manager admitted that he knew it was loose for over a month, but never fixed it. The camera caught everything, and I got a settlement---but I injured my hip (glad I didn't break it) and it took months for me to recover. So much for being a good Samaritan!