36 Comments

Gee, Block Club Chicago is really up to date on saying the original opening of the Bob Newhart Show made no geographical sense.

We all knew that the first time it ran 42 years ago, with him being on a couple of different L cars in The Loop & then getting off the train at the now long gone Isabella Street station in Wilmette & walking 15 miles to his apartment at Thorndale & Sheridan!

Yet another reason I won't pay for a terrible website, but do pay for this one, which is far, far better!

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A little harsh Garry. When someone dies we are allowed to bring up any tidbit about them from the past. Then that closes the book on them.

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That wasn't an attack on Bob Newhart, it was an attack on Block Club Chicago!

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founding

I have been a fan of Meathead Goldwyn and his amazingribs.com website for many years. There is a lot of junk science in the bbq world and he cuts through it.

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Love the transcript from the Mike Pesca Gist podcast episode on Shotspotter--but because the podcast itself is so much fun to listen to, I'll just add that Sentinel readers would dig hearing the episode too (and most likely become regularly listeners after that). It's one of only two podcasts I pay to support, even though you can hear most content for free with the ads. Mike Pesca's coverage of the Republican convention was unique, and I look forward to hearing what he does with the Democratic convention here.

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Boy, Kass has really gone over the edge, hasn't he?

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I think Kass follows the very simple minded strategy of writing what he thinks his base wants to hear rather than any actual original thought.

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If Kamala Harris wins the presidency, who certifies the election, given that the vice-president certifies the election?

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founding

She will, I think. Don’t forget that Pence presided over the 2020 certification even though he was on the ticket of one of the major parties.

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If that is the case, I can see the Republicans taking the issue to court and it ending up in the Supreme Court. But we've had other vice-presidents elected to the presidency, so it should be able to be researched.

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founding

It’s a ceremonial duty. I can’t imagine any court requiring someone else to stand in for the Vice President.

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Trump and cohorts didn’t want Pence to certify Biden's election. I'm afraid it could get ugly.

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author

We should look back to 1989 when, presumably, Vice President GHWBush certified his own election to the presidency, succeeding Reagan.

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Yes, but how to we look back. When I asked Google about who certified GHW Bush's election, Google didn't understand the question, nor did any of the websites I tried.

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I'm going to say something out loud that is going to upset some people. There is a lot more crime in black and brown communities than white communities. There, I said it. I'm not supposed to say it because I am white and that automatically makes me racist. Besudes, I supposedly can't understand what is happening in these communities. But I have spent my entire adult life wondering how we can solve problems we cannot accurately state. Note I did not attempt to state a reason or judge anyone. I merely stated a fact. Shot Spotter was not designed to solve crimes. It doesn't care about the ethnicity of the criminals or vvictims. It merely identifies sound. Will it hear sound more often in black and brown communities? Yes, if there are more shootings in those areas. Note that Shot Spotter accuses or arrests no one. The police do that if they catch anyone. Criticism of Shot Spotter ignores that once police get to a shooting scene, either the perps still need to be there or they need the cooperation of witnesses unless there has been other evidence left at the scene. These, to me, are the real issue, not Shot Spotter. Shot Spotter does not identify shooters, so how can it be unfairly targeting black and brown people, unless guns used by black and brown shooters somehow sound different? So the only real argument against it should be whether or not the cost is worth it in catching felons. The issue of Brandon Johnson has been addressed by me many times. He may be the greatest mayor in the history of Chicago at using a lot of words while saying nothing. He is like a dog with his nose constantly in the air testing the scents. Is he for or against something? That depends on what the black community leaders and the CTU are telling him. I'll give him credit for remembering who got him elected. But it's not a great leadership quality.

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I believe there is more crime in black and brown communities because there is more poverty in black and brown communities. The better comparison is between socioeconomic areas - I suspect there is more crime in lower income communities, regardless of race. But I agree that ShotSpotter isn't "hearing" sounds based on race.

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I went out of my way not to give any reasons. I respect most of the other commenter in this forum. But it's still a good way to start a war and I didn't want it to detract from my points about the device. The big complaint by many against the device, including the ACLU, is that it somehow discriminates against black and brown communities. I don't see how anyone comes to that conclusion unless they are saying it is not used in white communities or that it is being used to highlight crimes in black and brown communities.

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Whether we have Shotspotter or not that will not end black on black crime. I believe that most people are rational. They consider the pros and cons of actions that they can take. The problem is that many people have such low expectations of their future that getting caught doing wrong isn’t as big a drop off from what they expect. To ‘solve’ the problem of crime we need to lift people out of their despair. For youthful non violent offenders we have an opportunity to help them if we do it right.

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That's not a new idea. It's been talked about for decades. First, unions had to be convinced to end whites only policies in trade schools. Then there needed to be opportunities for youth to be engaged in recreation and civic opportunities. It's been tried. For whatever reason, black youth don't seem to be interested in the trades. Recreation centers open and close for lack of interest. The first thing that needs to be done is to break the grip of the gangs. Black youth shouldn't need to walk the streets in fear of gang recruitment and activities or maybe getting killed if they refuse. Black community leaders need to press home the facts that it is not a glorious life, hurts people when drugs are dealt and stands a good chance of young blacks either ending up in prison or and early grave. Offering opportunities is useless until convincing young people that gangs are not the way to go. Brandon Johnson constantly talks about disinvestment. Who should invest? A city and a state that can't pay their views? Private companies used to seeing a return on their investments and not simply giving money away? Retailers, particularly grocers, have tried. They end up getting kicked in the teeth. I don't know if I even want to see people screaming investment any more. Be specific. Investment by who? For who? Where in the city should it do? What are the aims? How do they get community participation, especially young people. Generalities don't work and haven't since the middle of the 20th century when the great black migration north started. We don't have the industrial culture any more. The good low skill, high pay jobs are gone for the most part. What can we do to help Black youth ger educated and train for the modern economy?

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Jul 25·edited Jul 25

Eric - Thank you for the very informative and interesting discussion on the Shotspotter system. If you examine where the opposition to Shotspotter comes from, it is the hard left, not a coincidence that this is the same defund-the-police crowd. They are ideologically opposed to policing, and they are reflexively opposed to any type of tool that aids policing - Shotspotter, police canines, drones, mounted patrols, etc.

Thus far, it is very apparent that Johnson is not simply guided but totally controlled by the CTU and his hard left progressive base. It would be much better governance if he would listen to the alderpersons in the wards with the highest crime rates who are begging to continue shotspotter as it results in quicker emergency response for people who have been shot. But, thus far in his mayorship, Johnson seems to value ideology and ideological solidarity the most, and that is sad.

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Who certified the George H. W. Bush election in 1988? Google does not seem to understand this question.

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Bush himself did that. In 1961, Nixon had to certify Kennedy's win over him. In 2001, Al Gore had to certify that he lost to Junior Bush.

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Thank you!

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Everyone calling VP Harris a DEI hire has made it clear why they would vote for a misogynist, bigoted alternative.

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It's a new way to (just barely) avoid saying the n word

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Every vice presidential candidate for 200 or so years has been a DEI to some extent. Except we used to call it “balancing the ticket.”

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author

Such an excellent point!

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CWBChicago has another amazing post about ShotSpotter:

Cops responding to ShotSpotter alert arrived so quickly, they saw the gunman drive away, officials say

https://cwbchicago.com/2024/07/cops-responding-to-shotspotter-alert-arrived-so-quickly-they-saw-the-gunman-drive-away-officials-say.html

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Sorry to be a naysayers and party pooper. I did not watch a single second second of the Olympics opening ceremony. I don't care how grand or special the media media tells me it was. I have no intention of watching any Olympics events, just as I did not 4 years ago. This is one of the most politically charged and corrupt extravaganzas in the history of man, not to mention that the IOC has been proven to have criminals working for it. I got another example today. Chinese swimmers and divers are competing despite having been convicted of using drug enhancements. On the other hand, the Canadian women's soccer team has fired its coach and the team faces a possible 3 year suspension from international competition for flying drones over the practices of other teams. Now spying on other teams is serious business. Just ask the New England Patriots. Is drug enhancement a less serious crime? This is just one example of many in the Olympic movement. It is far from what the 1896 founders intended. Now I do not judge those of you that love the pageantry and the peudo patriotic fervor. It's just not for me.

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There have been a series of videos on YouTube mocking the female agents with TFG's detail, particularly those in Butler, PA. Today in his Minnesota rally, TFG decried the criticism of the female agents, blaming the criticism of them on "FAKE NEWS, other there, fake news." The criticism is clearly coming from the right, stating that the agents are DEI hires and not competent.

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Michael Kopech. Eric Fedde. Tommy Pham. Now, some might refer to them as "surrender" trades for the Sox. Then my question would be that with a current winning percentage of .250, when did they ever start to fight?

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Biden is right. There should be a limit on federal judge terms. I know the people that wrote the Constitution had our bests interests in mind. They wanted federal judges to be free from partisanship. But what if they aren't? The present justices of the Supreme Court has made it pretty clear where they stand. Isn't there clear partisanship just by which president nominates them? Does anyone here believe that Trump ever would have nominated someone not Republican and not a Trump supporter? How about Republicans putting a hold on an Obama nomination SIX months before the election, claiming it should be up to a new president? The selection is obviously partisanship. Furthermore, justices are supposed to serve in "good behavior". Is that we call the behavior of Clarence Thomas, accused and most likely a sexual harasser and who took presents from someone with cases in front of the court without recusing himself? And let's not forget his wife's association with radical groups that had cases in front of the court. And of course we all believe that Alito had no knowledge of his wife flying the flag upside down after January 6, 2001 and that she had no bad intentions. No, I have always believed in term limits. No matter what people think about the original authors of the Constitution, they were not superheroes or demigods. This is 2024, not 1787 and times have changed as well as people. It's time to adjust to a new reality.

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The Catholic Church contends that the Popes Encyclicals on matters of faith and morals are without error and must be accepted as such. Many people, even some of that faith may not agree with such infallibility. But if the Pope were to murder someone the Vatican could call the Italian police and have him prosecuted. On a somewhat similar note we have in our United States a very learned body of people, not clerics, who have dedicated their lives to Constitutional law and recently issued an edict that our president when acting in an official capacity can not face punishment for a criminal act. Has this Supreme Court now endowed our president with a power that even the Catholic church does not grant it’s Pope ?

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