Picayune Extra: A fount of correspondence

Big thanks to all of you who have signed on to support the PS. It really means a lot to me that you’re behind this effort and want to see it continue and grow. It’s allowing me to think about what else I might do with this publication and where else it might go.

I’m spending a few days with my folks in Ann Arbor this week and looking forward to an interesting and interactive 2022.

Last chance to offer your predictions for 2022

My annual predict-the-news survey will be open until noon Wednesday. Click here to register your best guesses. Results along with my predictions will be in Thursday’s PS, where you’ll also find the top 40 tweets of 2021.

Today, Tuesday, at 2:30 p.m., WCPT AM-820 host Joan Esposito and I will discuss the results of the survey — sneak peek — and other matters. The listen-live link is here.

Notes and comments from readers —lightly edited —- along with my responses

Joe P. — A good test of whether the Anjanette Young settlement was excessive would be to poll 100 people and ask them if they would be willing to stand naked in their own apartment in front of a bunch of cops for $2.9 million. I'd be surprised if you got a single "No."

This doesn’t really take into account the need to craft a threatening stick to encourage better behavior by the police department. Sure, most people would briefly stand naked in front of a group of police officers for a lot less than $2.9 million. But the idea is to create a powerful incentive for the city to be sure it improves police training in ways that make such situations far less likely.

Kate E. — Regarding the Tweet of the Week nominee from the person who just once wants to meet a baby named Ebenezer, my mother had a cousin named Ebenezer. He was called “Ebbie” for short.

"Ebbie." Perfect (until adulthood, I suppose). What a great name. The second verse of the 1758 Christian hymn "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" begins, "Here I raise my Ebenezer / Hither by thy help I'm come​."

The reference is to 1 Samuel 7:12–13 where it says the prophet "Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer” to honor God’s assistance to the Israelites in defeating the Philistines in a battle (I had to look this up, by the way).

“In Hebrew, Ebenezer means “stone of help” (eben = stone; ezer = help). Samuel wanted the people to remember, not just for a few days, but for years, for decades, for generations, how God had come to the rescue of his people when they humbled themselves before him.” (source).

My father’s country gospel group The Bloodwashed Throng used to sing "Come Thou Fount," usually preceded in rehearsals by one of them asking, "shall we raise our Ebenezer?" I’ve taken to using the expression of raising Ebenezer to refer to gathering to sing any sorts of songs. As in "let's get together soon and raise our Ebenezer." Unfortunately during the pandemic there has been precious little opportunity for Ebenezer raising.

Robert J. — Prediction: you will never get over your Trump Derangement Syndrome.

Not as long as Trump behaves in a deranged fashion I won't!

Mark G. — Unvaccinated people seeking medical care at a hospital should be held in tents outside the hospital and only allowed inside — trickling one-at-a-time — when the available bed space and staffing are above a high minimum capacity and staff burn-out is below a low maximum.

Fair enough!

Steven S. — Unfortunately, I must unsubscribe from your interesting and informative newsletter. I want to cut back on my screen time. I will save this issue to a folder where I collect all the subscriptions I cancelled.

The competition for people’s time is intense, I understand. I hope to be here waiting for you should you come back.

Susan S— I appreciate you helping to expose Kim Foxx’s dishonesty.  Why no demand for a recall?

That would require a change in state law. Voters knew about much of this last year when they backed her in the primary and general elections by wide margins.

David L. — I have stopped looking at and voting on the Tweet of the Week. I used to find this enjoyable, but I am now finding that when you add a partisan jab at Trump or conservatives in general, your predominantly liberal readership overwhelmingly votes for that as a self-gratifying shot at the opposition. I would ask that you consider refraining from partisan tweets so that I, and perhaps others can resume enjoying the wittiness of many of them.

I'm considering saving up the political tweets and offering them in separate extra polls because they do tend to swamp non-political tweets. If you happen to come across funny right-leaning tweets send them along!

Patti M. — I’m concerned that staffers in Chicago restaurants will not be required to be vaccinated, but instead can simply submit to testing once a week. Probably, the person who is serving me is the only one I will have contact with. So, I am still not comfortable. Several restaurants have closed temporarily due to staffer infections.

Once a week testing strikes me as ineffectual given how long someone can be asymptomatic and yet still be contagious. If I were the mayor I would require all employees at the specified establishments be fully vaxxed.

Lyn C — Your thoughts on COVID-19 scared the hell out me. Bbut I’m terrified everyday. I’m not vaccinated as it’s contra indicated for me with autoimmune disorder. I don’t socialize, double mask when forced to grocery shop and constantly wipe everything with bleach(although haven’t drunk any). If I get it, I’ll die a painful death. Life really sucks for people like me. I’m not anti science - just the opposite. Your article makes it sound like it’s just a matter of time before I get the all pervasive virus. It’s a roll of the dice to take the vaccine. I struggle with it constantly. Damned if I do, damned if I don’t. Life feels truly surreal.

So sorry to hear about your predicament, which I feel has been exacerbated by those who for selfish or churlish reasons have refused vaccinations. 

Chris N. — Regarding the consensus on the Mincing Rascals panel that the vaccine mandate (now in all of Cook county) is "too little, too late," I must disagree. It is late, but not too late. And it is not too little-- it is something. Yes, there will be fake vaccine cards and fake doctors notes, but to reject the mandate on that basis is akin to saying "if we outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns."

It’s too little by my lights because it doesn’t require employees to be vaccinated. I agree with you about fears of inevitable fraud — it’s no reason not to try.

Brad S. — Any thoughts on people who are getting vaccinated and dying of Covid anyway?

Yes, they are similar to the thoughts I have about people who put on their seatbelts but died in car crashes anyway/ And people who never smoked but died of lung cancer anyway. And people who ate heart-healthy died but died of coronary disease anyway.

It’s heartbreaking, but no one promised that vaccines would provide perfect protection against COVID-19. But we know that they provide increased protection and help to stop the spread.

John O: I'm somewhat surprised that you are criticizing the delay of Lightfoot's COVID-19 orders and not pointing out that they will add yet another layer of burden on the restaurants and their staff. Restaurants are not and have not been spreading the virus in any major way. I’m tired of it all.

I’m not sure how we know that, given how hard it is to identify the sources of spread. We don’t even know in my family who got it first and how, then who gave it to whom exactly. I, too, am tired of it all. More than tired. So I want government to administer a number of stout, stern sticks to those who are refusing to get vaccinated. No admittance to public venues and no working in establishments that interface with the public.

Leave a comment below or…

Ya’ gotta see these tweets!

I often run across tweets that are too visual in nature to include in the Tweet of the Week contest (the template for the poll does not allow the use of images). Here are a few good ones I’m come across recently.

(((steeljawscribe))) @steeljawscribe

+++ BREAKING NEWS +++ First picture from the James Webb Space Telescope! #JWST

Uncle Duke @UncleDuke1969

*checks watch* *pulls off ski mask* "Shit."

MF FairyPrincessSmoo @Smooheed

Safety first

NurseBrianRN @rn_murse

last-minute christmas shopping for your toddler

You can buy the “My First Fire” gift box online (“hide an age appropriate gift inside”). Long-time fans of “Saturday Night Live” will remember the 1976 sketch about Mainway Toys and its line of dangerous toys: Pretty Peggy Ear-Piercing Set, Mr. Skin-Grafter, General Tran’s Secret Police Confession Kid, Doggy Dentist, Johnny Switchblade Adventure Punk and Bag o’ Glass.

‘Truly Scrumptious’ dies at 91

Sally Ann Howes in “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” 1968

I promise not to turn this into a “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” fan site, but seeing as how I updated subscribers about the child stars of the 1968 movie on Dec. 14 I thought I’d post an update that the adult female romantic lead, Sally Ann Howes, died at age 91 on Dec. 19.

The role of “Truly Scrumptious” was initially offered to Julie Andrews. Howes’ post-Chitty career was mostly on the stage.

Thank you for supporting the Picayune Sentinel. To help this publication grow, please consider spreading the word to friends, family, associates, neighbors and agreeable strangers.