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The long haul

by Ben Joravsky

I’ve been writing for the Reader for so long that lots of you may think I’ve always been writing for the Reader. Like, you know, I hopped out of my mother’s womb with a pencil in my hand and a question or two for the doctor about TIFs. Not true—I didn’t have a pencil in […]

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Sorry, Arlington Heights

by Ben Joravsky

Pound for pound the funniest headline for the last week, if not month, came from the unlikeliest source—Crain’s Chicago Business. Not widely known for its knee-slappers. But in this case they had me laughing out loud, when a few days ago they posed the following question in a mass e-mailed clickbait post: “A new Bears […]

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The mayoral promised land

by Ben Joravsky

In what was for me a dizzying overload of riches, Mayor Lightfoot delivered her budget speech at roughly the same time that Mayor Rahm’s financial disclosure statement went public. Hello, Monday morning! My takeaway from reading them side by side is this: the rich get richer and the poor get platitudes. Same as always. OK, […]

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They call them ‘moderates’

by Ben Joravsky

While most of you were probably not paying attention, another Republican announced he was running for governor. That makes four. Or five if you count Mancow, who had talked about running. I don’t blame you for not paying attention to the Republican primary for governor—as the election’s not until June of 2022. Gubernatorial primaries used […]

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Lemming city

by Ben Joravsky

For the last few days, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other prominent lefties have sounded the alarm to Dems across the land. Do not support President Biden’s nomination of Mayor Rahm as ambassador to Japan. As he—Rahm, not Biden—buried evidence of murder in the Laquan McDonald shooting. And Dems have responded with their middle fingers metaphorically […]

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Johnny MAGA

by Ben Joravsky

Having been exposed to the wit and wisdom of John Catanzara for a couple of years, I’ve reached a rather obvious conclusion about the president of the local Fraternal Order of Police. It would be better off for everybody—Catanzara included—if he just hurried up and moved to Florida, where he’ll probably be living soon enough, […]

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Teflon Rahm

by Ben Joravsky

I suppose it’s only appropriate that President Biden announced Mayor Rahm’s nomination as ambassador to Japan at roughly the same time as the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. The war in Afghanistan, like Rahm’s reign as mayor, has come to symbolize the deceit and treachery of leaders who claim they’re looking out for us when, […]