Re: life without parole. I have the same concern about it causing support for capital punishment to come back. Changing a sentence to allow parole for certain lifers raises the question about what other convicts should be provided with a reconsideration of parole eligibility. Why should 21 be the age cut-off? Is it only life sentences, or could we also include sentences of say 150 years? If he is found guilty of multiple murders, should Robert Crimo III, who allegedly killed multiple people at a 4th of July HIghland Park parade have opportunity for parole? He was not under 21 at the time, but he was still very young.
One of several problems with the idea is sentence revisions only go toward the lenient side. We will never, for example, be able to resentence Jason Van Dyke to put him back in jail because we disagree with the sentence. There is benefit to having sentences be final.
Re: Reuters genealogical study of U.S. leaders found five living presidents, etc. descended from slaveholders.
Reaction: So what? Even with this week's revelation that gravitational waves can warp the spacetime continuum, how can it possibly be a surprise - let alone a finger-pointing event - that our nation's history created genealogies which wander back 150 years to slaveholders. But isn't it ironic that the Presidential list includes Barack Obama, but not Donald Trump, who probably did more to attack minority rights than any of the 5 living Presidents, but is also descended from most-recently immigrants to this country?
And if a person is supposed to be tainted by their ancestors, then is Obama equally tainted because his guilt comes from his mother's side? And shouldn't we also search for criminals in family histories? I also agree with you on the numbers. The ratios seem right to me from pure randomness - 100 of 535 legislators, 11 of 50 governors, 2 of 9 justices since they only needed to find one ancestor in a 236 year period between 1619 and 1865. Even though less than 5% of the population ever owned slaves the fan out effect of family trees would still spread the contagion. This is the same reason that many people can claim some sort of royal lineage.
re: Vanna White. I suspect EZ is trolling us with this one*. If her 3 mil wage were not paid to someone to touch panels then it would go to the owners of the production company that makes the show. So pick a side EZ, do you want the money to go to someone who went into the risky world of show-biz and had it work out or to the owners of a Hollywood production company who are probably part of the illuminati who are channeling demonic powers through Mt. Rushmore?
You might do a cereal-type survey of people that perform useless functions but still make big money. Or maybe solicit a list of candidates. I think that I would put Vanna ahead of the Kardashians in usefulness. The beauty of capitalism is that a function is worth whatever value it commands in marketplace.
It's not just cereal. I've noticed steady increases in most of pre-packaged grocery items and beverages. What I don't like is how you're forced to buy three or four of the same items to receive any sale discount. I don't have the need or space for that much food, let alone the money to pay the extensive grocery bill.
Re: Neil Steinberg. He's a talented writer and his blog offers an endless variety of commentary and opinion. Thanks to Zorn for first introducing EGD on his former blog 'Change of Subject' ten years ago or I wouldn't have known it existed.
30+ days of dry weather, races shortened by torrential rainstorms, and an immediate resumption thereafter of dry, sunny days. The gods (perhaps Hermes or Pallas Athena, with a tip of the hat to Neil Steinberg) were not pleased either.
The fact that Kim Foxx dropped the charges for Jeremy Brown's murder by Carlisha Hood's son, and her subsequent suing of the city and police officers (not Foxx) is much more than puzzling. So if someone starts beating on you, near bystanders that could easily have helped, and you tell your son to come in and shoot the guy, follow him out to his car and shoot again and tell your son to shoot his girlfriend, and then leave the scene before the police arrive it is all ok? And the city and police should be blamed and sued for arresting Carlisha and her son? Where is Black Lives Matter on this one? Chicago truly is the Wild West if this is all ok!
As to 'wild' I would also add the 'take over' party on Monday on the north side where the police stood around watching while teens blocked the intersection and danced on top of cars. One poor schmuck told a cop that his car was being damaged, and the cop told him he was f***ed. The schmuck said his car had $15,000 in damage and that his insurance policy did not cover mob action. https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/lakeview-residents-angry-after-teen-takeovers-lead-to-car-property-damage/3173962/
The only thing that Reuter’s poll demonstrates is that if you go back far enough you can find an ancestor who was royalty and one who was a horse thief (or both, I suppose). Gates’s TV program demonstrates this every week. There’s an excellent likelihood if your American ancestors go back far enough that one was a slaveholder and one signed the Declaration of Independence (or both, I suppose). Not that it’s their fault of course, but there are lots of Black Americans who descend from slaveholders, considering the casual way that slaveholders had sex and children with their female slaves. And not the fault of other fifth-generation descendants of slaveholders either. Let’s put this survey away.
I actually think that the majority of the US population has no link to slavery. In 2018 28% of the population (over 90 million) were immigrants and their US born children. About 70 million legally immigrated from 1870 to 1990. Less than 5% of the population owned slaves prior to 1865. So the great melting pot surely mixed many families, but I think it is likely that there are still many more that were not mixed. Also, Pew Reasearch found that 41% of Blacks are descended from slaves in the US and an additional 16% from slaves in another country. So, like Obama, 43% of US Blacks are also immigrants or descended from post slavery immigrants.
I have corrected several weird glitches that showed up in today's issue, and alerted email subscribers in a separate post https://ericzorn.substack.com/p/errata
Noticed this week in Kass' blog column about his rehab from his heart attack and stroke earlier this year, he still managed to bring up the Soros kerfuffle and dis the union at the Trib. Dude just can't let it go . . .
Liked all the visual tweets this week. Thought the "entertaining cheeese" was so funny that it might actually break the string of "anything political" automatically winning. Close! 41% each, but must have lost the tie breaker.
The other thing that will affect public opinion is new crimes committed by those given a 'second chance'. I can't find it now, but there was a news story in the last couple of weeks about a guy that had been released that subsequently murdered his girlfriend and her lover. Oops, turned out that young guy was a budding serial killer that picked up where he left off.
Re: life without parole. I have the same concern about it causing support for capital punishment to come back. Changing a sentence to allow parole for certain lifers raises the question about what other convicts should be provided with a reconsideration of parole eligibility. Why should 21 be the age cut-off? Is it only life sentences, or could we also include sentences of say 150 years? If he is found guilty of multiple murders, should Robert Crimo III, who allegedly killed multiple people at a 4th of July HIghland Park parade have opportunity for parole? He was not under 21 at the time, but he was still very young.
One of several problems with the idea is sentence revisions only go toward the lenient side. We will never, for example, be able to resentence Jason Van Dyke to put him back in jail because we disagree with the sentence. There is benefit to having sentences be final.
Re: Reuters genealogical study of U.S. leaders found five living presidents, etc. descended from slaveholders.
Reaction: So what? Even with this week's revelation that gravitational waves can warp the spacetime continuum, how can it possibly be a surprise - let alone a finger-pointing event - that our nation's history created genealogies which wander back 150 years to slaveholders. But isn't it ironic that the Presidential list includes Barack Obama, but not Donald Trump, who probably did more to attack minority rights than any of the 5 living Presidents, but is also descended from most-recently immigrants to this country?
And if a person is supposed to be tainted by their ancestors, then is Obama equally tainted because his guilt comes from his mother's side? And shouldn't we also search for criminals in family histories? I also agree with you on the numbers. The ratios seem right to me from pure randomness - 100 of 535 legislators, 11 of 50 governors, 2 of 9 justices since they only needed to find one ancestor in a 236 year period between 1619 and 1865. Even though less than 5% of the population ever owned slaves the fan out effect of family trees would still spread the contagion. This is the same reason that many people can claim some sort of royal lineage.
re: Vanna White. I suspect EZ is trolling us with this one*. If her 3 mil wage were not paid to someone to touch panels then it would go to the owners of the production company that makes the show. So pick a side EZ, do you want the money to go to someone who went into the risky world of show-biz and had it work out or to the owners of a Hollywood production company who are probably part of the illuminati who are channeling demonic powers through Mt. Rushmore?
* not really
Well, when you put it that way …
You might do a cereal-type survey of people that perform useless functions but still make big money. Or maybe solicit a list of candidates. I think that I would put Vanna ahead of the Kardashians in usefulness. The beauty of capitalism is that a function is worth whatever value it commands in marketplace.
Paying Vanna $3M allows her to purchase items thus stimulating our economy. We all win!
It's not just cereal. I've noticed steady increases in most of pre-packaged grocery items and beverages. What I don't like is how you're forced to buy three or four of the same items to receive any sale discount. I don't have the need or space for that much food, let alone the money to pay the extensive grocery bill.
Re: Neil Steinberg. He's a talented writer and his blog offers an endless variety of commentary and opinion. Thanks to Zorn for first introducing EGD on his former blog 'Change of Subject' ten years ago or I wouldn't have known it existed.
I think the most immediate item in the news affecting Chicago (and many other areas) is the smoke from the wildfires in Canada.
Nice to see how Chicago will handle this issue by adding to this pollution with the NASCAR set of races on July 1 and 2.
Are folks enjoying the street shutdowns - more to come!
Don’t expect to see Lori at the races - she left town awhile ago.
30+ days of dry weather, races shortened by torrential rainstorms, and an immediate resumption thereafter of dry, sunny days. The gods (perhaps Hermes or Pallas Athena, with a tip of the hat to Neil Steinberg) were not pleased either.
The fact that Kim Foxx dropped the charges for Jeremy Brown's murder by Carlisha Hood's son, and her subsequent suing of the city and police officers (not Foxx) is much more than puzzling. So if someone starts beating on you, near bystanders that could easily have helped, and you tell your son to come in and shoot the guy, follow him out to his car and shoot again and tell your son to shoot his girlfriend, and then leave the scene before the police arrive it is all ok? And the city and police should be blamed and sued for arresting Carlisha and her son? Where is Black Lives Matter on this one? Chicago truly is the Wild West if this is all ok!
As to 'wild' I would also add the 'take over' party on Monday on the north side where the police stood around watching while teens blocked the intersection and danced on top of cars. One poor schmuck told a cop that his car was being damaged, and the cop told him he was f***ed. The schmuck said his car had $15,000 in damage and that his insurance policy did not cover mob action. https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/lakeview-residents-angry-after-teen-takeovers-lead-to-car-property-damage/3173962/
I saw Ms Hood’s press conference in which she announced her lawsuit. She seems to have a cornucopia of gratitude for Ms Foxx.
Such a great issue. How come I'm always outraged (at uncovered stories) AND laughing out loud when I'm finished reading?
One mildly amusing tweet this week—big improvement over last week.
Which one was mildly amusing? I thought the “portmanteau” was wildly amusing, and one of the best ever.
Fireworks, High 4. I thought mansplaining manspaining was a little too obvious. À chacun son goût.
I thought stamps were 59 cents but that wasn’t a choice so I wound up with the correct answer in your poll.
The only thing that Reuter’s poll demonstrates is that if you go back far enough you can find an ancestor who was royalty and one who was a horse thief (or both, I suppose). Gates’s TV program demonstrates this every week. There’s an excellent likelihood if your American ancestors go back far enough that one was a slaveholder and one signed the Declaration of Independence (or both, I suppose). Not that it’s their fault of course, but there are lots of Black Americans who descend from slaveholders, considering the casual way that slaveholders had sex and children with their female slaves. And not the fault of other fifth-generation descendants of slaveholders either. Let’s put this survey away.
I actually think that the majority of the US population has no link to slavery. In 2018 28% of the population (over 90 million) were immigrants and their US born children. About 70 million legally immigrated from 1870 to 1990. Less than 5% of the population owned slaves prior to 1865. So the great melting pot surely mixed many families, but I think it is likely that there are still many more that were not mixed. Also, Pew Reasearch found that 41% of Blacks are descended from slaves in the US and an additional 16% from slaves in another country. So, like Obama, 43% of US Blacks are also immigrants or descended from post slavery immigrants.
The natural successor to a DINK family is the SITCOM -- Single Income, Two Children, Oppressive Mortgage. (Not my creation.)
I have corrected several weird glitches that showed up in today's issue, and alerted email subscribers in a separate post https://ericzorn.substack.com/p/errata
Noticed this week in Kass' blog column about his rehab from his heart attack and stroke earlier this year, he still managed to bring up the Soros kerfuffle and dis the union at the Trib. Dude just can't let it go . . .
Wheel of Fortune should have given the hosting job to Vanna and eliminated the letter "turner" position.
They could drop Vanna and replace Sajac with an AI avatar. Maybe Max Headroom.
Ryan Seacrest is pretty close to Max Headroom, but less entertaining
Or bring in Craig Ferguson with his robot sidekick Geoff to turn the letters.
I would actually watch that.
Liked all the visual tweets this week. Thought the "entertaining cheeese" was so funny that it might actually break the string of "anything political" automatically winning. Close! 41% each, but must have lost the tie breaker.
The other thing that will affect public opinion is new crimes committed by those given a 'second chance'. I can't find it now, but there was a news story in the last couple of weeks about a guy that had been released that subsequently murdered his girlfriend and her lover. Oops, turned out that young guy was a budding serial killer that picked up where he left off.