June 30, 2021
PTSD, ANGER,URGENCY SURGE AS 2022 ELECTIONS APPROACH
Good judgment is a commodity. It is accumulated over time and predicated on experience - which is itself predicated on years and years of bad judgment and stupid mistakes. Good judgment (GJ) is not to be confused with good feelings (GF), which are based on immediate need. No experience is necessary for that. That's called narcissism. I want what I want and I want it right now. It's also the current political norm, and the Democratic Left's urgent priority. It's called PTSD, an acronym for a raging political mental affliction known as Post-Trump Stress Disorder. Trump is gone, but those on both the Left and Right are still stressed. He was useful in a strategic sense. I do watch FOX News, but I sucked-it-up and tuned into CNN and MSNBC, and virtually every commentator is ANGRY and not celebratory. They manifest rampant incomprehension and intolerance: We are right and righteous, they think. We know what's best. Just do and think as we say. If you do not subscribe to what they are selling then you are obviously stupid, deplorable and racist and a white supremacist. Full Article...
June 23, 2021
NO ARTICLE THIS WEEK
June 16, 2021
LIGHTFOOT'S POLITICAL "BASE" STILL A WORK-IN-PROGRESS
How "woke" does Mayor Lori Lightfoot have to be to win reelection in 2023? What is the sweet spot of being "woke enough" to secure a second term? That is Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot's political positioning challenge. After 25 months in office she is still a work-in-progress and her political base is nebulous and unformed. Her support is wide but shallow. A recent ABC Channel 7 poll registered her approval/disapproval at 48/33 percent. A May 31 Emerson College poll had her up 48/39. That is beyond minimally satisfactory: Any incumbent with positives close to 50 percent is in good shape, and any incumbent with negatives under 40 percent is in good shape. Full Article...
June 9, 2021
DEMOCRATS' PARTISAN REMAP MINIMALLY AFFECTS STEPHENS
"It is what it is," said state Representative Brad Stephens (R-20) regarding the Democrats' state legislative remap, which passed May 31. Actually, it's a gift for Stephens. Stephens' current district contains Chicago's 41st Ward and close-in suburbs to the west, and his redrawn district kept 70.3 percent of his former district's precincts. Overlaying the 2020 party vote in the new boundaries, Stephens said he would have won 50.5-49.5 percent. The lines for legislative, IL Supreme Court and BOR were redrawn, as will those for Congress and subcircuits after the 8/18 final Census release. Here's an analysis of the new boundaries on the NW Side and suburbs. Full Article...
June 2, 2021
LONGTIME COLUMNIST STEWART ONCE FOCUS OF 'CANCEL CULTURE'
When Mayor Lori Lightfoot said that she would grant one-on-one interviews about her mid-term performance only to journalists who are "Persons Of Color" I immediately thought, well, that ruins all my plans on a column about her performance. I've always had this weird notion that journalism is not unlike other professions, like sports, where talent and ability are paramount. Not many people on the left demand "equity" in the NBA, NFL or PGA. The best are simply the best. Meritocracy matters. In journalism, asking tough questions is the only thing that matters. Full Article...
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