June 28, 2017
ELECTED CHICAGO SCHOOL BOARD WILL CAUSE RACIAL STRIFE, POLITICAL TURMOIL
In politics, "great" ideas invariably and inevitably cause more chaos than cure. Such a concept is having an elected Chicago school board, which is poised to become a reality in 2023, and precipitate a great amount of racial polarization and political machinations. As if the CPS and existing Board, which oversees 400,000 children in 600 schools with a $5.41 billion budget, hasn't enough problems (like underfunded pensions, too-large class sizes, school closures, etc.), this new brainstorm will politicize Chicago education. There will be 15 Board Members, one each from 14 single-member districts and one elected citywide as president. Blacks and Hispanics will jockey ferociously for that job, which is a great steppingstone to mayor. There are about 5,000 LSC members throughout Chicago, and hundreds of them will run in their districts, but it will be the Democratic committeemen who will control the outcomes. Each district is about 3.5 wards. The districts will be created by a special commission appointed by the Chicago Election Board, controlled by the Democrats; at least 3 will have white majorities, so there will be 11 blacks and Hispanics elected elsewhere. The jobs are unpaid, but the CTU and other unions will spend millions to get their people elected, and school-choicers and charter school advocates will also spend heavily. The whole scheme has SNAFU written all over it. Full Article...
June 21, 2017
YARBROUGH THWARTS ARENA'S HOPES TO BE COUNTY CLERK IN 2018
In the northwest side's 45th Ward, Ald. John Arena believes in the Biblical proverb that one should "love thy neighbor"...as long as it is he who chooses that neighbor, which is from the CHA's waiting list, and they get "affordable housing" in Jefferson Park or Gladstone Park. Arena is a Bernie Sanders-supporting leftist, and wants to colonize the north part of his ward with people who did not/will not vote for Donald Trump. Arena would also like to be elected as county clerk in 2018, but that is not going to happen. With the consolidation of the Recorder's and Clerk's offices, effective 2020, incumbent Recorder Karen Yarbrough, a black woman, has already sewn-up slating for retiring Clerk David Orr's job next year. And, in the contemporary Democratic Party, a black woman will always get preference over a white man -- even a flaming liberal like Arena. But Arena will still be 45th Ward alderman for the forseeable future. Full Article...
June 14, 2017
"WEATHER CHANGE" IS NOT NECESSARILY "CLIMATE CHANGE"
From an ecological and well as historical perspective, "weather change" does not necessarily presage "climate change." The earth is 4.5 billion years old, the first organism emerged 3.9 billion years ago, dinosaurs became extinct 165 million years ago, and mankind emerged somewhere between 100-200,000 years ago. "Global warming" is a fact -- but not everywhere on the globe. Antartica is getting colder. "Urban heat islands" -- meaning deforestation and population congregation in cities -- has made those areas warmer. Environmental "catastrophe" was not part of the political lexicon until 1989, when the Soviet Union collapsed and the "Cold War" ended. Have we "destroyed" the world in 30 years? The PLM -- political-legal-media complex -- then superceded the Military-Industrial complex as fear-mongerers. The best way to control the populace is through fear, and after 1989 FEAR of an earth-ending ecological implosion and "radical Islamic terrorism" kept people in submission. "Greenhouse gases" and the Kyoto and Paris accords kept the PLM busy. Now Trump calls it a "hoax." There is some truth to that claim. Full Article...
June 7, 2017
GA-6 OUTCOME WILL BE HARBINGER FOR ROSKAM IN 2018
GA-6 is not quite IL-6 -- at least not yet. That could change on 6/20, when voters in Georgia's 6th congressional district elect a new U.S. Representative in a contest where the lines are clearly demarcated: Trump vs. anti-Trump. IL-6 is occupied by Peter Roskam (R). Both districts are historically Republican, GA-6 being in Atlanta's western suburbs and IL-6 being in Chicago's western suburbs (mostly DuPage Co.). Both are upscale, with high median income and low minority population. But both went for Clinton over Trump by 50-48% in 2016. The Democrats, in their 2011 remap, packed every possible Republican into IL-6, including Barrington and west Lake Co. (Lake Zurich), and Roskam won with 59% in 2016, spending $3.3 million. He should have a safe seat. But Roskam is a party-line Republican, and backed the repeal/reform of parts of the Affordable Care Act. Three Democratic women are running, and all will trumpet the anti-Trump line. Watch GA-6 on 6/20. Full Article...
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