@Garry H, I too played that game for awhile. I enjoyed the daily delivery and routine of my paper. But over time, they wore me down and retrained me. The continued hikes in price, the difficulty in cancelling, it just was maddening. But in the process, they retrained me. I bought myself a nice tablet and got used to that. And then dropped the home delivery forever at the beginning of this year. I continue to get the reup notices with the great prices. Screw them, I don't like the BS hassles. Online electronic is the way to go. And this is coming from someone with the same history and routines as youl.
It seems a little premature to compare Mayor Johnson’s performance to MJ, the excellent, emeritus Bull’s player Michael Jordan, the standout celebrity-superstar, based on one inspirational, inaugural speech – all of Chicago is going to change now that he is mayor: he speaks it and believes it so it will certainly come to pass? If we the mere public had that kind of authority, we’d have been walking on water long ago. Maybe it is time to issue Johnson a Nobel Peace Prize.
It seems naïve, a kind of public hero-figure image off-the-bat that will redeem the lowly and dispossessed, not only in Chicago but in the whole country – a superhero mayor. By what merit has he earned this characterization?
Talk is cheap, and the people of Chicago may demand action over talk; it has the character of a “believe it and receive it” faith that everything in Chicago will supernaturally change. Shall we have our children begin morning devotionals to Mr. Johnson?
It would be the first time in my lifetime change made in this way actually worked, and I’ve been watching the news since I was 5 years old waiting for the redeemer from above to grace our lowly with eternal redemption and community peace. Maybe Johnson is the messiah we’ve been expecting all these years. Hallelujah!
I’m not a cynic, but this comparison between MJ and Mayor Johnson seems more likely aimed at the identity politics of Chicago more than anything else; and I wish Johnson well, but I’m skeptical about this kind of methodology and vacuous political redemption in Chicago or anywhere else.
Bill Clinton (Stacey King) , Barack Obama (Horace Grant) , Michael Dukakis (BJ Armstrong) , Benjamin Netanyahu (Bill Cartwright) and Joe Biden (Will Perdue)
Regarding subscription pricing, I renegotiate rates with NY Times and Washington Post regularly. They offer me a special rate for 6 or 12 months. I then set a reminder to cancel them at the end of of that period. They inevitably come back with another reasonable rate. I dropped the Tribune because I felt they were underhanded with their special edition surcharges, and were to difficult to deal with.
By the way, I do the same thing with Sirius XM radio.
Excellent batch of visual tweets this week, Eric! This was the first time I laughed out loud at every one. Next week's batch could well be perfect for someone else and leave me cold. That's OK.
"Every $1 in wages that would have been lost without the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) cost $4.13 in relief money." Think about that!
I have a small firm that could have participated, but I could not with a clear conscience answer "yes" that the loan was "necessary for my continuing operations".
A Chicago charity that I faithfully give money to every year answered yes to that question and took a $3.3 million PPP in 2020 (a profitable year without the loan) which was then forgiven by the government in 2021. In that year the charity's revenue exceeded expenses by $11 million and its endowment increased by $45 million. Not picking on NFP's, just easy to analyze since their financials are all public.
When the Lepetomane finalists are selected, I believe that a series of award should be determined. For example, the first runner up could be given the "Thoughts and Prayers" Award (in the shape of an automatic weapon), while the ultimate winner could receive "The Spirit of Flatulessence Award" for a heightened contribution to the art of meaningless rhetoric. Here, the number of possible designs boggles the imagination.
If you can handle one more story about the Trib billing . . . I pay six months at a time. When a payment was due recently, I called to get rid of the extra charge for “premium” issues. The sales rep offered me a slightly better deal which I accepted. I asked her to send me a new bill with the adjusted price. I didn’t get one and forgot to pay. About a month later my husband got a call from Trib billing saying that we were a month behind. My husband asked, again, for a written bill. The caller said they’d already sent us two and he wasn't allowed to send another one. Instead, he wanted us to pay by credit card on the phone right now. My husband refused. Three days later we finally got a corrected bill, which I immediately paid. A shrinking paper AND an inept billing dept.
In Johnson's speech when talking to the alderpersons he said, "But I won’t ever question your motives or your commitment and I’ll always do my part to find common ground." I would like to take bets on how long that lasts given his penchant for casting aspersions on the motives and character of his critics (and debate moderators) during the campaign.
Mayor Johnson gave a very good campaign style speech with plenty of soaring rhetoric that played well to a supportive audience. As an atheist, I do not care much for speeches that proclaim a shared soul as represented by New Testament scripture. I doubt that a white Baptist politician could have given this speech without substantial derision and criticism.
I might share some of EZ's enthusiasm for the speech if I thought it was coming from a pragmatic or traditional liberal politician. In macro the speech was a promise to spend huge amounts of money (on unspecified but worthy programs), eliminate taxes on 'working people', and only requires agreement to obtain new revenue. As a vision there are many things to appreciate and hope for.
But Mayor Johnson is a Democratic Socialist ideologue. And from this perspective the speech sounds different. The Mayor specifically used two phrases directly from the pages of Solidarity Economy. Solidarity Economy proponents do not believe that capitalism can be fixed or reformed (to make it fair and non-racist) but must be replaced by democratic collectives. "I’m talking about a city where it will no longer be the case where every network dollar belonging to a white family where only eight cents belongs to a brown family and only one cent belongs to a Black family." This concept claims that the capitalist economy is intentionally and specifically designed to route cash flow to white people. The network dollar problem can only be solved by a 'corrective economy'. He repeated the idea with "rerouting the rivers of prosperity" which in a corrective economy includes the redistribution of wealth and income. So when he proclaims he wants Chicago to be "the economic marvel of our state, the Midwest and this nation", I am more than a little concerned about the marvel.
My final comment on the Mayor's speech is a general annoyance that a politician, with ample income, is proud of the fact that he was on a payment plan. "You can’t stop someone with a payment plan from becoming mayor of the city of Chicago." I am not sure why he would want to bring up his unpaid water bills, traffic tickets, and parking tickets; but it did seem to play well with this audience.
@Garry H, I too played that game for awhile. I enjoyed the daily delivery and routine of my paper. But over time, they wore me down and retrained me. The continued hikes in price, the difficulty in cancelling, it just was maddening. But in the process, they retrained me. I bought myself a nice tablet and got used to that. And then dropped the home delivery forever at the beginning of this year. I continue to get the reup notices with the great prices. Screw them, I don't like the BS hassles. Online electronic is the way to go. And this is coming from someone with the same history and routines as youl.
Re: Johnson's inaugural address
It seems a little premature to compare Mayor Johnson’s performance to MJ, the excellent, emeritus Bull’s player Michael Jordan, the standout celebrity-superstar, based on one inspirational, inaugural speech – all of Chicago is going to change now that he is mayor: he speaks it and believes it so it will certainly come to pass? If we the mere public had that kind of authority, we’d have been walking on water long ago. Maybe it is time to issue Johnson a Nobel Peace Prize.
It seems naïve, a kind of public hero-figure image off-the-bat that will redeem the lowly and dispossessed, not only in Chicago but in the whole country – a superhero mayor. By what merit has he earned this characterization?
Talk is cheap, and the people of Chicago may demand action over talk; it has the character of a “believe it and receive it” faith that everything in Chicago will supernaturally change. Shall we have our children begin morning devotionals to Mr. Johnson?
It would be the first time in my lifetime change made in this way actually worked, and I’ve been watching the news since I was 5 years old waiting for the redeemer from above to grace our lowly with eternal redemption and community peace. Maybe Johnson is the messiah we’ve been expecting all these years. Hallelujah!
I’m not a cynic, but this comparison between MJ and Mayor Johnson seems more likely aimed at the identity politics of Chicago more than anything else; and I wish Johnson well, but I’m skeptical about this kind of methodology and vacuous political redemption in Chicago or anywhere else.
Who would have thought?
So...
Bill Clinton (Stacey King) , Barack Obama (Horace Grant) , Michael Dukakis (BJ Armstrong) , Benjamin Netanyahu (Bill Cartwright) and Joe Biden (Will Perdue)
Regarding subscription pricing, I renegotiate rates with NY Times and Washington Post regularly. They offer me a special rate for 6 or 12 months. I then set a reminder to cancel them at the end of of that period. They inevitably come back with another reasonable rate. I dropped the Tribune because I felt they were underhanded with their special edition surcharges, and were to difficult to deal with.
By the way, I do the same thing with Sirius XM radio.
Lepetomane Award - looking around there seems to be nominees all over..
https://media.tenor.com/NzLTmypOKvcAAAAC/blazing-saddles-farting.gif
Excellent batch of visual tweets this week, Eric! This was the first time I laughed out loud at every one. Next week's batch could well be perfect for someone else and leave me cold. That's OK.
"Every $1 in wages that would have been lost without the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) cost $4.13 in relief money." Think about that!
I have a small firm that could have participated, but I could not with a clear conscience answer "yes" that the loan was "necessary for my continuing operations".
A Chicago charity that I faithfully give money to every year answered yes to that question and took a $3.3 million PPP in 2020 (a profitable year without the loan) which was then forgiven by the government in 2021. In that year the charity's revenue exceeded expenses by $11 million and its endowment increased by $45 million. Not picking on NFP's, just easy to analyze since their financials are all public.
When the Lepetomane finalists are selected, I believe that a series of award should be determined. For example, the first runner up could be given the "Thoughts and Prayers" Award (in the shape of an automatic weapon), while the ultimate winner could receive "The Spirit of Flatulessence Award" for a heightened contribution to the art of meaningless rhetoric. Here, the number of possible designs boggles the imagination.
If you can handle one more story about the Trib billing . . . I pay six months at a time. When a payment was due recently, I called to get rid of the extra charge for “premium” issues. The sales rep offered me a slightly better deal which I accepted. I asked her to send me a new bill with the adjusted price. I didn’t get one and forgot to pay. About a month later my husband got a call from Trib billing saying that we were a month behind. My husband asked, again, for a written bill. The caller said they’d already sent us two and he wasn't allowed to send another one. Instead, he wanted us to pay by credit card on the phone right now. My husband refused. Three days later we finally got a corrected bill, which I immediately paid. A shrinking paper AND an inept billing dept.
Concerning tattoos…comments I have never heard.
1. That tat looks better on you as you get older.
2. Are you still in the gang or did you resign?
3. Can you read Chinese or is that just an arbitrary character?
4. How long have been a fan of Tweedy Bird?
5. Can you believe how awesome that Nixon tat looks on Roger Stone!
6. Did that hooked cross on your arm help at the job interview?
Yes I am a geezer and I guess some tats do make sense.
A long eloquent article on Le Petomane appeared in a 1984 "Straight Dope" column in the Chicago Reader. It's available online at https://www.straightdope.com/21341537/did-a-french-vaudeville-star-once-specialize-in-trained-flatulence
In Johnson's speech when talking to the alderpersons he said, "But I won’t ever question your motives or your commitment and I’ll always do my part to find common ground." I would like to take bets on how long that lasts given his penchant for casting aspersions on the motives and character of his critics (and debate moderators) during the campaign.
Mayor Johnson gave a very good campaign style speech with plenty of soaring rhetoric that played well to a supportive audience. As an atheist, I do not care much for speeches that proclaim a shared soul as represented by New Testament scripture. I doubt that a white Baptist politician could have given this speech without substantial derision and criticism.
I might share some of EZ's enthusiasm for the speech if I thought it was coming from a pragmatic or traditional liberal politician. In macro the speech was a promise to spend huge amounts of money (on unspecified but worthy programs), eliminate taxes on 'working people', and only requires agreement to obtain new revenue. As a vision there are many things to appreciate and hope for.
But Mayor Johnson is a Democratic Socialist ideologue. And from this perspective the speech sounds different. The Mayor specifically used two phrases directly from the pages of Solidarity Economy. Solidarity Economy proponents do not believe that capitalism can be fixed or reformed (to make it fair and non-racist) but must be replaced by democratic collectives. "I’m talking about a city where it will no longer be the case where every network dollar belonging to a white family where only eight cents belongs to a brown family and only one cent belongs to a Black family." This concept claims that the capitalist economy is intentionally and specifically designed to route cash flow to white people. The network dollar problem can only be solved by a 'corrective economy'. He repeated the idea with "rerouting the rivers of prosperity" which in a corrective economy includes the redistribution of wealth and income. So when he proclaims he wants Chicago to be "the economic marvel of our state, the Midwest and this nation", I am more than a little concerned about the marvel.
My final comment on the Mayor's speech is a general annoyance that a politician, with ample income, is proud of the fact that he was on a payment plan. "You can’t stop someone with a payment plan from becoming mayor of the city of Chicago." I am not sure why he would want to bring up his unpaid water bills, traffic tickets, and parking tickets; but it did seem to play well with this audience.