Here’s a running list of suggested planks for November, amended by readers yesterday. I’d like candidates to formally identify which planks, if any, they refuse to endorse. The list remains incomplete and in no particular order. Let’s make it clear to candidates that, this year, it’s the platform not the person. As Quincy Jones said, they need to “check their egos at the door.”
1. Medicare for all
2. Running water for all
3. Safe, affordable, adequate housing for all
4. Climate change course correction
5. National “Annual Yearly Progress” educational standards that apply to all students: public schools, private school, home school.
6. Nutrition and pesticides. There’s a reason why US wheat imports are banned in EU.
7. Paths to citizenship
8. Metric system instead of imperial measurements
9. Reading and math literacy
10. Maternal and infant survival (US has the worst rates among developed countries)
11. Restore DEI. My disability requires electronic communication (email or chat with a transcript) but legal teams don’t like written records. I have to surrender agency and assign a proxy to manage a credit card issue or schedule a mammogram.
12. Zero tolerance of corruption
13. Child care. Montessori is Head Start in Italy. That’s what it was designed for. We’ve made it an unaffordable luxury for those who need it most.
14. Amend the 2nd amendment. Texas and FL are responsible for more than 17% of the 40,000 annual gun deaths in the US. The UK has 28. Not 28,000. Not 2800. 28. Their cops are unarmed. Everyone wins.
15. FOIA restored without the loopholes.
16. Enforcement of the laws, regs and court decisions that are on the books but ignored
17. Abortion rights enshrinement
18. Marriage equality enshrinement
19. Infrastructure investment
20. Internet for all
21. We need to stop flushing drinking-quality water. We’re running out.
22. Return the Black Hills
23. Reparations
24. Liveable wages in decent working conditions, ideally in a union environment
25. End citizens united
26. Inheritance reform
27. Enshrine social security
28. Reform SCOTUS and court system
29. Campaign finance reform
30. Tax reform
31. Commitment to ethical conduct
32. Commitment to “truthfulness, transparency, and accountability.”
33. Enshrine voting rights.
34. Outlaw NDAs. They were meant to protect secret formulas, not to silence the voices of victims.
35. Join ICC
36. Restore the covenant of “good faith and fair dealing.”
37. Term limits. Public service is not for accumulating power and influence, it’s for serving the people.
38. Mandatory service to by all citizens reaching 18 for two years in public works, AmeriCorp, National Guard, or other similar organization.
You'll take my miles & Fahrenheit from my cold dead hands! Fahrenheit makes far more sense than Celsius for humans. The range of zero to 100 degrees are the temperatures we can survive at, plus no need for asinine temps like 22.3 & such.
Chicago & many other cities are laid out in half mile grids.
We in Chicago are not running out of clean water. There are 1183 cubic miles of it just to out east!
Never join the ICC, as it's just not a fair group. They've appointed anti-Semitic Muslims to investigate Israel, which like having Pam Bondi investigate the demented, deranged, moronic, narcissistic sociopath, child rapist, fascist traitor!
Agree on which scale to measure temperature. If you told me the weather is going to be in the mid 70s tomorrow, I will know how to dress. If you tell me it will be 23.8 Celsius (75 Fahrenheit) I will have to consult my phone to figure out what that means.
Plus, if you told me it was going to be in the 20s (Celsius) tomorrow that could be anywhere from 68 F to 84 F. Quite a jump if I plan on a motorcycle ride on how much I need to layer up. As long as I draw breath I will be using Fahrenheits!
There are benefits to using Celsius, but in general Fahrenheit has better precision - using 180 degrees to mark the difference between the freezing point and boiling point of water instead of the 100 degrees Celsius uses. That advantage vanishes with the use of decimals, though.
As a math nerd I sometimes like to do the conversion from one to the other in my head…
I memorize just a few numbers to convert easily from Celsius to Fahrenheit:
0 C = 32 F
10 50
20 68
30 86
Below those is "too cold." Above those is "too hot." For every increase / decrease of 10 degrees Celsius, add / subtract 18 degrees Fahrenheit. Unless you require absolute precision, roughly interpolate readings that fall between, and it's good enough.
I memorize just a few numbers to convert easily from Celsius to Fahrenheit:
0 C = 32 F
10 C = 50 F
20 C = 68 F
30 C = 86 F
Below those is "too cold." Above those is "too hot." For every increase / decrease of 10 degrees Celsius, add / subtract 18 degrees Fahrenheit. Unless you require absolute precision, roughly interpolate readings that fall between.
English units are greatly under-appreciated. A foot of 12 inches can be evenly divided into 2, 3, 4, or 6 even parts. A gallon can be readily divided into 4 quarts, 8 pints, or 16 cups. Our units are great for every-day halving or doubling quite a few times.
In contrast, a hundred somethings can only be divided into halves, quarters, and useless fifths and tenths, after which you’re into decimal places.
In temperatures, each decade of Fahrenheit degrees has a useful association: 90s-hot, 80s-wsrm, 70s-room temperature, 60s-cool, etc., etc. Celsius packs the entire range of outdoor temperaures into about a 40 degree range which is conversationally useless.
With refinements, I can live with the vast majority of these proposals. Prioritization will be a big issue. Cost are the biggest issue. Tax rates have to change significantly at the higher end. The current limitations on the federal estate tax are a joke. The US is one of only countries that do NOT use the metric system. (But our military uses it, and seems to do just fine.)
🙏 I’d like all blue candidates to clearly identify which of these planks they will and will not endorse so that we’re informed voters. The stakes are too high, imho.
Stop the de jure erasure of transgender people. Support science based health care for transgender people, including puberty blockers. Legally recognize transgender men as men, and transgender women as women.
The "de-escalation" of conflict in Minneapolis by Agent Orange, so heralded by the media, is a load of boloney. Federal agents are still there. Decent people are still there, being terrorised. The replacement of the strutting sadist Bovino by the thuggish Tom "Cava Bag Full of Dollars" Homan is lipstick on the Miller/Noem pig, Listen to Bruce and continue to do everything you can to stand against this vile racist regime in every way you can.
The gun rights hypocrisy is only the latest example of the general approach to the rule of law on the right. It makes sense when you realize the entire philosophy is "you don't tell us what to do, we tell you what to do", or as someone on this board I think pointed to a more eloquent quote, attributed to Francis Wilhoit: “Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in‑groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out‑groups whom the law binds but does not protect.” This is also described extensively in 1984, the doublethink mentality where holding and propagating logically inconsistent positions is not only normal, it's essential in order for the ruling regime to maintain power.
The Olympics will be very bittersweet for me, I might catch some hockey, but will mostly stay away otherwise. My mom loved figure skating of all types and I'd watch it with her, getting laughs out of her with exaggerated reactions to tumbles. I used to try to catch when skating events would be on TV and felt bad when I missed them or forgot to turn them on for her. She'll miss these winter games by about 6 weeks.
It's a 1984 situation. We want everyone to have the right to carry.all the time. But only who we want, and when and where we want. The right to carry is absolute under the Second Amendment. But only when we say it is.
Barbara was an excellent writer, but I liked her dad even more. My dad was a cab driver & picked up Oscar Brotman many times & he always gave him free tickets to the movie theaters he owned!
Regarding the Senate candidates being wishy washy, they are, but do we want people who have predecided stands? I suppose someone can be considered wishy washy if they don’t immediately take a side in a police shooting, but sometimes it takes time and evidence to make a decision.
When do we expect long-standing candidates to get around to this? I think they’re deliberately not committing to anything (other than maybe disdain for the current administration) so as not to risk offending anybody. Feh.
Did you also see the story where the beloved Miller might be on the outs? Obviously I have no sympathy or love lost for him. But he is learning what loyalty to the orange stain is worth when the stain has something to lose, like standing in the polls.
As a person who has registered as a write in candidate, and (separately) worked as an election judge, the 60 day deadline is reasonable. There is a lot of preparation work done by the board of elections, and getting the official list of candidates in all the precinct boxes takes time. This also gives (for what it’s worth) voters a chance to research the candidates.
There's no reason why a write in candidate should have to register. On occasion, a write in has won the election at the last minute because one or both of the others running turned out to be a disaster & people wanted that one gone!
Write in candidates need to register because otherwise you might not know who they are. If someone writes in John Jones (a High School friend of mine) you wouldn’t know for sure which John Jones. Or know how to contact the person. And no one wants to have to count all the (literal) Mickey Mouse votes.
No, they should count the votes for Mickey & every other write in. If they're are a lot of them, it indicates extreme dissatisfaction with the regular candidates!
Talk to Richard J Daley and the Machine. The rules making it practically impossible for anyone other than a Republican or Democrat to be on the ballot due to the number of signatures needed, were passed a long time ago.
I too liked seeing and hearing Liz Nagy. I told my LA cousins she was on the way last November. She was her new stations reporter on the Rob Reiner murder, so I was able to watch that. Her story made the network newscast.
Yes, but usually that's only for rather long and involved questionnaires as part of clinical trials. I find any general marketing surveys, or 'help-us-provide-better-service' corporate consumer surveys provide a *chance* at one of 3 or 10 gift cards, so essentially you're entering a sweepstakes. The Medill one was longer and more involved, so it makes sense it was a chance at a higher dollar amount.
While I appreciate historical references, I think your comment about the "superannuated Solons in the Democratic Party" is off-target. One reason Solon is revered is that after he instituted a series of reforms, he not only stepped down from his position, but he left the scene. He took a 10-year trip outside of Athens. In a sense, Senator Schumer a superannuated non-Solon.
PS: To encourage Schumer and others to be more like Solon, I'd be happy to contribute to a Democratic Leadership Retirement Travel Fund.
I was going to share that here so glad you did, JoanP. I shared it with a ton of friends b/c it's HILARIOUS and had me laughing out loud at multiple points. Green light, 2 thumbs up, and 5 stars for that writer!
The accounting department needs to take additional steps to track our sizable funding. On future invoices and timesheets, please designate your “team,” so we know which donor account to draw from. You should have already received an email as to whether you are on Team Soros, Team Obama, Team Illuminati, Team Secretive Jewish Cabal, The Cheney Family We’re As Surprised As You Are Team, or Oprah’s Very Special Protest Club.
"Paid protester" accusers never stop to think that anyone paying folks to protest surely would budget for professionally-printed, identical signs. Letting a mob stomp about waving hand-lettered poster board and repurposed cardboard boxes looks so amateurish ... and individual ... and personally committed!
Rand Paul came up with an idea that I have long thought should be considered. As a compromise on illegal immigration, why don’t we make a path for permanent residency without citizenship for these people. We still have birthright citizenship, so the next generation would not be penalized. There may be issues, but responsible people should be able to discuss.
This assumes accepting immigrants as decent law-abiding people that contribute to society, which is heresy to MAGA. It's not a question of legal framework, it's a question of visceral xenophobia.
MAGAs are good at framing debates around xenophobia or facts not in existence. No one was complaining about large farm operators hiring illegals to pick vegetables for less than minimum wage if it kept down their food prices. But those farmworkers also lived on the farms and whites mostly didn't need to accociate with them. It became more of a factor when they decided to congregate in metropolitan areas and establish their own communities. It also became common to bash them for coming across the border merely for the purpose of joining the welfare system and ripping off taxpayers. There was probably some of that. But the fact of the matter was that many were scared to death of signing anything for fear of getting caught. I have pointed out previously that a member of my family owns a store where he cashes payroll checks because a lot of local workers were too scared to even sign up for bank accounts. By the way, this also meant they were paying taxes though they couldn't reap most of the benefits. This goes back to a previous comment I made on the immigration issue. Liberals and MAGAs can't have rational discussions on issues because too often they aren't debating the same issues or using the same facts.
There seems to be something of a general consensus that the kind of open immigration of the 19thc and early 20thc is now bad. Industrial society is heading toward demographic collapse. The only continent replacing its population is Africa. There is wringing of hands over Chicago's decline in population but 30,000 Venezuelans willing to work might be a good idea. Sure, they were needy when Catholic Charities of San Antonio sent them here in the winter with no warm clothing but they are potential revenue streams for Medicare and Social Security. Your plan is certainly better than deportation and detention centers, but anyone who pays taxes...? No taxation without representation, right?
Speaking of which, another peeve. D.C. should have full rights in federal elections.
The quip about the spelling of ‘school’ has to be the least funny quip I have ever seen here. Can someone explain why this is funny?
The quip about the surprise birthday party reminds me of a joke I heard (apologies if I read it here): Doctor: I have good news and bad news. Patient: what’s the good news? Doctor: you’re going to have a disease named after you.
I didn’t get it either, but now that it’s explained….I like it even less.
You might dismiss linguistic prescriptivism as being unduly neurotic and pedantic (most people do), but casting aside rules of grammar and pronunciation ultimately makes us all a little bit more ignorant (and, if taken to its logical extreme, will render anything anyone says, unintelligible). As someone who values science, I would think that you would adamantly oppose anything that so systematically dumbs a culture down.
Regarding the teacher who got suspended for posting ‘Go ICE’, there is such a thing as discretion. I liked two girls in High School, but can’t follow them on social media because they are not on. One is a teacher/principal, and the other is a psychologist. In both of those (and some other) professions it is best to not take sides on certain issues. Avoiding Facebook makes that easier.
That's the prudent approach these days and definitely what I would do if I was a teacher. But I think it's unfortunate. Teachers are humans and should be allowed to express political opinions outside of work without fear of getting fired for them.
The issue as I see it is that too many teachers aren't smart enough to read the local situation. Remember these are supposed to be intelligent degreed people. Yes, I know the First Amendment says this and says that. But it's the difference between paper law and the situation in the real world. Here's an example. When I first started teaching in the local town and was still drinking, a habit I gave up years ago, I never once so much as entered a local bar. I was over 21 and had the legal right to do so. But the hazardous possibilities were too many. What if I overimbibed and did or said something stupid? What if I ran into a parent upset with me for some reason? I didn't need schoolkids seeing me enter a bar and running home to mommy and daddy, saying their teacher was getting soused. There were lots of places selling booze in other towns, outside of the prying eyes of my constituency. The teacher in West Chicago taught in an area with a lot of Latinos. What did they think the reaction wold be?
There was a front page article in the Trib Wednesday which was right up Eric’s alley. There’s an Illinois law that states that a business can’t incorporate in Illinois with Democrat or Republican in its name unless it gets approval by the political party. Democrats for an Informed Approach to Gender were trying to file as a non profit but are sure that they can’t get party approval.
I can see both sides. Especially if it had the name of a religion, although that isn’t the law. It’s a little suspect because democrat and republican are also common adjectives.
I mean, they could incorporate under the name People for an Informed Approach to Gender. Why do you think they wanted Democrats for an Informed Approach to Gender instead? Were they trading on the reputation of an established national political party to seem more credible? And if that was the reason, shouldn’t the Democratic Party have the power to prevent the use of their name in that way?
That was among the news items that I just didn’t have time to comment on, but wanted to. Jonie is right that it is an anti-trans group, but is a general rule I don’t like the idea of a state putting that kind of control over the names of groups.
Here’s a running list of suggested planks for November, amended by readers yesterday. I’d like candidates to formally identify which planks, if any, they refuse to endorse. The list remains incomplete and in no particular order. Let’s make it clear to candidates that, this year, it’s the platform not the person. As Quincy Jones said, they need to “check their egos at the door.”
1. Medicare for all
2. Running water for all
3. Safe, affordable, adequate housing for all
4. Climate change course correction
5. National “Annual Yearly Progress” educational standards that apply to all students: public schools, private school, home school.
6. Nutrition and pesticides. There’s a reason why US wheat imports are banned in EU.
7. Paths to citizenship
8. Metric system instead of imperial measurements
9. Reading and math literacy
10. Maternal and infant survival (US has the worst rates among developed countries)
11. Restore DEI. My disability requires electronic communication (email or chat with a transcript) but legal teams don’t like written records. I have to surrender agency and assign a proxy to manage a credit card issue or schedule a mammogram.
12. Zero tolerance of corruption
13. Child care. Montessori is Head Start in Italy. That’s what it was designed for. We’ve made it an unaffordable luxury for those who need it most.
14. Amend the 2nd amendment. Texas and FL are responsible for more than 17% of the 40,000 annual gun deaths in the US. The UK has 28. Not 28,000. Not 2800. 28. Their cops are unarmed. Everyone wins.
15. FOIA restored without the loopholes.
16. Enforcement of the laws, regs and court decisions that are on the books but ignored
17. Abortion rights enshrinement
18. Marriage equality enshrinement
19. Infrastructure investment
20. Internet for all
21. We need to stop flushing drinking-quality water. We’re running out.
22. Return the Black Hills
23. Reparations
24. Liveable wages in decent working conditions, ideally in a union environment
25. End citizens united
26. Inheritance reform
27. Enshrine social security
28. Reform SCOTUS and court system
29. Campaign finance reform
30. Tax reform
31. Commitment to ethical conduct
32. Commitment to “truthfulness, transparency, and accountability.”
33. Enshrine voting rights.
34. Outlaw NDAs. They were meant to protect secret formulas, not to silence the voices of victims.
35. Join ICC
36. Restore the covenant of “good faith and fair dealing.”
37. Term limits. Public service is not for accumulating power and influence, it’s for serving the people.
38. Mandatory service to by all citizens reaching 18 for two years in public works, AmeriCorp, National Guard, or other similar organization.
39. Other unmet needs?
You'll take my miles & Fahrenheit from my cold dead hands! Fahrenheit makes far more sense than Celsius for humans. The range of zero to 100 degrees are the temperatures we can survive at, plus no need for asinine temps like 22.3 & such.
Chicago & many other cities are laid out in half mile grids.
We in Chicago are not running out of clean water. There are 1183 cubic miles of it just to out east!
Never join the ICC, as it's just not a fair group. They've appointed anti-Semitic Muslims to investigate Israel, which like having Pam Bondi investigate the demented, deranged, moronic, narcissistic sociopath, child rapist, fascist traitor!
Agree on which scale to measure temperature. If you told me the weather is going to be in the mid 70s tomorrow, I will know how to dress. If you tell me it will be 23.8 Celsius (75 Fahrenheit) I will have to consult my phone to figure out what that means.
Plus, if you told me it was going to be in the 20s (Celsius) tomorrow that could be anywhere from 68 F to 84 F. Quite a jump if I plan on a motorcycle ride on how much I need to layer up. As long as I draw breath I will be using Fahrenheits!
When any standards change, making a switch is tough, but after usage, becomes the norm.
There are benefits to using Celsius, but in general Fahrenheit has better precision - using 180 degrees to mark the difference between the freezing point and boiling point of water instead of the 100 degrees Celsius uses. That advantage vanishes with the use of decimals, though.
As a math nerd I sometimes like to do the conversion from one to the other in my head…
I memorize just a few numbers to convert easily from Celsius to Fahrenheit:
0 C = 32 F
10 50
20 68
30 86
Below those is "too cold." Above those is "too hot." For every increase / decrease of 10 degrees Celsius, add / subtract 18 degrees Fahrenheit. Unless you require absolute precision, roughly interpolate readings that fall between, and it's good enough.
Stupid spacing!
I memorize just a few numbers to convert easily from Celsius to Fahrenheit:
0 C = 32 F
10 C = 50 F
20 C = 68 F
30 C = 86 F
Below those is "too cold." Above those is "too hot." For every increase / decrease of 10 degrees Celsius, add / subtract 18 degrees Fahrenheit. Unless you require absolute precision, roughly interpolate readings that fall between.
English units are greatly under-appreciated. A foot of 12 inches can be evenly divided into 2, 3, 4, or 6 even parts. A gallon can be readily divided into 4 quarts, 8 pints, or 16 cups. Our units are great for every-day halving or doubling quite a few times.
In contrast, a hundred somethings can only be divided into halves, quarters, and useless fifths and tenths, after which you’re into decimal places.
In temperatures, each decade of Fahrenheit degrees has a useful association: 90s-hot, 80s-wsrm, 70s-room temperature, 60s-cool, etc., etc. Celsius packs the entire range of outdoor temperaures into about a 40 degree range which is conversationally useless.
As Ed McMahon always said: "You are correct sir!"
Still, I’m not advocating for “furlongs per fortnight.”
With refinements, I can live with the vast majority of these proposals. Prioritization will be a big issue. Cost are the biggest issue. Tax rates have to change significantly at the higher end. The current limitations on the federal estate tax are a joke. The US is one of only countries that do NOT use the metric system. (But our military uses it, and seems to do just fine.)
🙏 I’d like all blue candidates to clearly identify which of these planks they will and will not endorse so that we’re informed voters. The stakes are too high, imho.
Stop the de jure erasure of transgender people. Support science based health care for transgender people, including puberty blockers. Legally recognize transgender men as men, and transgender women as women.
And recognize non-binary people as such
The "de-escalation" of conflict in Minneapolis by Agent Orange, so heralded by the media, is a load of boloney. Federal agents are still there. Decent people are still there, being terrorised. The replacement of the strutting sadist Bovino by the thuggish Tom "Cava Bag Full of Dollars" Homan is lipstick on the Miller/Noem pig, Listen to Bruce and continue to do everything you can to stand against this vile racist regime in every way you can.
Whenever anyone under a Trump regime gets forced out, the replacement is always worse.
This seems absolutely true ... until the dreamed-of removal and public disgracing of Stephen Miller happens to test that idea.
Yes, today's press conference:
Q: Can you be specific about how many ICE and CBP agents are currently operating in the state?
Homan: 3,000. There's been some rotations. They've been in theater a long time.
They refer to Minnesota-St. Paul as a "theater" which is a military term for a geographical area of war.
The gun rights hypocrisy is only the latest example of the general approach to the rule of law on the right. It makes sense when you realize the entire philosophy is "you don't tell us what to do, we tell you what to do", or as someone on this board I think pointed to a more eloquent quote, attributed to Francis Wilhoit: “Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in‑groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out‑groups whom the law binds but does not protect.” This is also described extensively in 1984, the doublethink mentality where holding and propagating logically inconsistent positions is not only normal, it's essential in order for the ruling regime to maintain power.
The Olympics will be very bittersweet for me, I might catch some hockey, but will mostly stay away otherwise. My mom loved figure skating of all types and I'd watch it with her, getting laughs out of her with exaggerated reactions to tumbles. I used to try to catch when skating events would be on TV and felt bad when I missed them or forgot to turn them on for her. She'll miss these winter games by about 6 weeks.
Sorry for your loss.
I have no use for any Olympics. It's just a quadrennial TV show the NBC does & does very badly!
I'm sorry for your loss.
I’m so sorry. This will be bittersweet indeed.
It's a 1984 situation. We want everyone to have the right to carry.all the time. But only who we want, and when and where we want. The right to carry is absolute under the Second Amendment. But only when we say it is.
Condolences.
Mark, I’m so sorry to hear about your Mom.
Thank you Joanie
Sorry for the loss of your mom.
I too watched the Olympics with my mom. How I wish I still could.
I really like Barbara Brotman. I’m sure she was moved by learning your father kept one of her columns for 20 years.
Barbara was an excellent writer, but I liked her dad even more. My dad was a cab driver & picked up Oscar Brotman many times & he always gave him free tickets to the movie theaters he owned!
Different Oscar Brotman, as it turns out. https://www.chicagotribune.com/1994/06/19/finding-you-cant-live-without-him-after-hes-gone/ is Barbara's obit to her father, and https://www.chicagotribune.com/1994/08/25/theater-owner-oscar-a-brotman-78/ is the obit for the owner of a local chain of theaters.
Regarding the Senate candidates being wishy washy, they are, but do we want people who have predecided stands? I suppose someone can be considered wishy washy if they don’t immediately take a side in a police shooting, but sometimes it takes time and evidence to make a decision.
When do we expect long-standing candidates to get around to this? I think they’re deliberately not committing to anything (other than maybe disdain for the current administration) so as not to risk offending anybody. Feh.
1/3 Reichsführer Bovino lied again. I am shocked, shocked I tell you.
This is the end of a beautiful enmity.
We’ll always have Minneapolis
Don't play it again, Tom.
Trump wore orange makeup, you wore blue.
Did you also see the story where the beloved Miller might be on the outs? Obviously I have no sympathy or love lost for him. But he is learning what loyalty to the orange stain is worth when the stain has something to lose, like standing in the polls.
The forum is a little outdated. The orange stain fired the crumb.
... and replaced him with someone worse. Meet the new thug, same as the old thug.
As a person who has registered as a write in candidate, and (separately) worked as an election judge, the 60 day deadline is reasonable. There is a lot of preparation work done by the board of elections, and getting the official list of candidates in all the precinct boxes takes time. This also gives (for what it’s worth) voters a chance to research the candidates.
There's no reason why a write in candidate should have to register. On occasion, a write in has won the election at the last minute because one or both of the others running turned out to be a disaster & people wanted that one gone!
Write in candidates need to register because otherwise you might not know who they are. If someone writes in John Jones (a High School friend of mine) you wouldn’t know for sure which John Jones. Or know how to contact the person. And no one wants to have to count all the (literal) Mickey Mouse votes.
No, they should count the votes for Mickey & every other write in. If they're are a lot of them, it indicates extreme dissatisfaction with the regular candidates!
Talk to Richard J Daley and the Machine. The rules making it practically impossible for anyone other than a Republican or Democrat to be on the ballot due to the number of signatures needed, were passed a long time ago.
I too liked seeing and hearing Liz Nagy. I told my LA cousins she was on the way last November. She was her new stations reporter on the Rob Reiner murder, so I was able to watch that. Her story made the network newscast.
Seeing her reporting on Rob & Michele Reiner is when I first learned she's moved to LA's ABC7
ABC7 Chicago reporter Liz Nagy, always the most elegantly dressed TV newsy in town -- I will miss her -- even if says shtreet!
I guess I answered the first question of the Medill survey wrong, because it said, ‘thanks’, and ended. No $100 for me.
Just curious, has anyone here ever received a gift card for filling out a survey?
my wife has. I think I have too.
Yes, but usually that's only for rather long and involved questionnaires as part of clinical trials. I find any general marketing surveys, or 'help-us-provide-better-service' corporate consumer surveys provide a *chance* at one of 3 or 10 gift cards, so essentially you're entering a sweepstakes. The Medill one was longer and more involved, so it makes sense it was a chance at a higher dollar amount.
I have - $25 (twice) for different companies' surveys.
Only when all participants get one. Amazon does this for advance opinions on an upcoming series.
While I appreciate historical references, I think your comment about the "superannuated Solons in the Democratic Party" is off-target. One reason Solon is revered is that after he instituted a series of reforms, he not only stepped down from his position, but he left the scene. He took a 10-year trip outside of Athens. In a sense, Senator Schumer a superannuated non-Solon.
PS: To encourage Schumer and others to be more like Solon, I'd be happy to contribute to a Democratic Leadership Retirement Travel Fund.
On political tenacity, I just heard on my car radio an ad for Jim Oberweis. He’s running for congress in FL. At 79 he is in favor of term limits. 🙄
Good grief!!!
I wonder if the Florida media are referring to him as the Milk Dud yet.
Regarding those paid agitators, their payroll accountant's memos were posted in McSweeney's: https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/i-am-the-payroll-accountant-for-professional-protestors-in-minnesota-and-i-am-swamped
I was going to share that here so glad you did, JoanP. I shared it with a ton of friends b/c it's HILARIOUS and had me laughing out loud at multiple points. Green light, 2 thumbs up, and 5 stars for that writer!
Great bit!
This one is my favorite:
TO: All protest staff
FROM: Joyce
The accounting department needs to take additional steps to track our sizable funding. On future invoices and timesheets, please designate your “team,” so we know which donor account to draw from. You should have already received an email as to whether you are on Team Soros, Team Obama, Team Illuminati, Team Secretive Jewish Cabal, The Cheney Family We’re As Surprised As You Are Team, or Oprah’s Very Special Protest Club.
Excellent!
"Paid protester" accusers never stop to think that anyone paying folks to protest surely would budget for professionally-printed, identical signs. Letting a mob stomp about waving hand-lettered poster board and repurposed cardboard boxes looks so amateurish ... and individual ... and personally committed!
Rand Paul came up with an idea that I have long thought should be considered. As a compromise on illegal immigration, why don’t we make a path for permanent residency without citizenship for these people. We still have birthright citizenship, so the next generation would not be penalized. There may be issues, but responsible people should be able to discuss.
This assumes accepting immigrants as decent law-abiding people that contribute to society, which is heresy to MAGA. It's not a question of legal framework, it's a question of visceral xenophobia.
MAGAs are good at framing debates around xenophobia or facts not in existence. No one was complaining about large farm operators hiring illegals to pick vegetables for less than minimum wage if it kept down their food prices. But those farmworkers also lived on the farms and whites mostly didn't need to accociate with them. It became more of a factor when they decided to congregate in metropolitan areas and establish their own communities. It also became common to bash them for coming across the border merely for the purpose of joining the welfare system and ripping off taxpayers. There was probably some of that. But the fact of the matter was that many were scared to death of signing anything for fear of getting caught. I have pointed out previously that a member of my family owns a store where he cashes payroll checks because a lot of local workers were too scared to even sign up for bank accounts. By the way, this also meant they were paying taxes though they couldn't reap most of the benefits. This goes back to a previous comment I made on the immigration issue. Liberals and MAGAs can't have rational discussions on issues because too often they aren't debating the same issues or using the same facts.
There seems to be something of a general consensus that the kind of open immigration of the 19thc and early 20thc is now bad. Industrial society is heading toward demographic collapse. The only continent replacing its population is Africa. There is wringing of hands over Chicago's decline in population but 30,000 Venezuelans willing to work might be a good idea. Sure, they were needy when Catholic Charities of San Antonio sent them here in the winter with no warm clothing but they are potential revenue streams for Medicare and Social Security. Your plan is certainly better than deportation and detention centers, but anyone who pays taxes...? No taxation without representation, right?
Speaking of which, another peeve. D.C. should have full rights in federal elections.
I think many demographic groups after a couple generations are just as varied politically as people born here.
re: Illinois Democrats are hoist with their own petard. Was the law passed in 2024 or 2004?
also in Qoatables, you have "Donald Trump during a campaign speech in North Carolina on Sept. 21, 2004 (secondary source)" would this also be 2024?
Michael M - I, too, think it's a typo.
Yep, typo fixed online.
The quip about the spelling of ‘school’ has to be the least funny quip I have ever seen here. Can someone explain why this is funny?
The quip about the surprise birthday party reminds me of a joke I heard (apologies if I read it here): Doctor: I have good news and bad news. Patient: what’s the good news? Doctor: you’re going to have a disease named after you.
I thought it was funny b/c it mocks many grammar and pronunciation pedants and know-it-alls.
I didn’t get it either, but now that it’s explained….I like it even less.
You might dismiss linguistic prescriptivism as being unduly neurotic and pedantic (most people do), but casting aside rules of grammar and pronunciation ultimately makes us all a little bit more ignorant (and, if taken to its logical extreme, will render anything anyone says, unintelligible). As someone who values science, I would think that you would adamantly oppose anything that so systematically dumbs a culture down.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3vB9U2hx6Qg&pp=ygU_QmlnIGxlYm93c2tpIGFtIGkgdGhlIG9ubHkgb25lIHdobyBnaXZlcyBzIHNoaXQgYWJvdXQgdGhlIHJ1bGVz
Regarding the teacher who got suspended for posting ‘Go ICE’, there is such a thing as discretion. I liked two girls in High School, but can’t follow them on social media because they are not on. One is a teacher/principal, and the other is a psychologist. In both of those (and some other) professions it is best to not take sides on certain issues. Avoiding Facebook makes that easier.
That's the prudent approach these days and definitely what I would do if I was a teacher. But I think it's unfortunate. Teachers are humans and should be allowed to express political opinions outside of work without fear of getting fired for them.
Clearly that teacher was trolling which is obnoxious, but I have to agree with you.
The issue as I see it is that too many teachers aren't smart enough to read the local situation. Remember these are supposed to be intelligent degreed people. Yes, I know the First Amendment says this and says that. But it's the difference between paper law and the situation in the real world. Here's an example. When I first started teaching in the local town and was still drinking, a habit I gave up years ago, I never once so much as entered a local bar. I was over 21 and had the legal right to do so. But the hazardous possibilities were too many. What if I overimbibed and did or said something stupid? What if I ran into a parent upset with me for some reason? I didn't need schoolkids seeing me enter a bar and running home to mommy and daddy, saying their teacher was getting soused. There were lots of places selling booze in other towns, outside of the prying eyes of my constituency. The teacher in West Chicago taught in an area with a lot of Latinos. What did they think the reaction wold be?
There was a front page article in the Trib Wednesday which was right up Eric’s alley. There’s an Illinois law that states that a business can’t incorporate in Illinois with Democrat or Republican in its name unless it gets approval by the political party. Democrats for an Informed Approach to Gender were trying to file as a non profit but are sure that they can’t get party approval.
Democrats for an Informed Approach to Gender is an anti-transgender hate group.
Should the Democratic Party get to veto a group called Democrats for Trump?
Should Republicans get to veto Republicans against Trump?
Why shouldn’t the Democratic Party be able to control its own messaging? I can’t sell a carbonated cola drink called Joanie’s Coca-Cola.
I can see both sides. Especially if it had the name of a religion, although that isn’t the law. It’s a little suspect because democrat and republican are also common adjectives.
I mean, they could incorporate under the name People for an Informed Approach to Gender. Why do you think they wanted Democrats for an Informed Approach to Gender instead? Were they trading on the reputation of an established national political party to seem more credible? And if that was the reason, shouldn’t the Democratic Party have the power to prevent the use of their name in that way?
That was among the news items that I just didn’t have time to comment on, but wanted to. Jonie is right that it is an anti-trans group, but is a general rule I don’t like the idea of a state putting that kind of control over the names of groups.