Now that Mayor Lightfoot has officially revealed the three finalists for Chicago’s casino, the bamboozling of the city will begin. Oh, Chicago, you know you’re getting bamboozled. I think you sorta like it—a little attention from the boss. It’s like you matter as they try to win you over into supporting something you don’t really […]
Category: On Politics
Posted inOn Politics
Jussie justice
Let’s start with an apology to readers tired of reading about Jussie Smollett—because having watched last week’s sentencing, I just got to get something off my chest . . . 150 days! Are you kidding me? My Smollett-hating readers, I realize, have a point—there are far more compelling matters to discuss, what with the species […]
Posted inOn Politics
The goalie
Despite his many flaws, Michael Madigan was one of the few Democrats in Illinois with the guts to stand up to the Rauners & Griffins.
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best tribute to my favorite team, from Van Lier to DeRozan
It’s an hour or so before game time, and I’m up in the nosebleed section, waiting for my beloved Bulls to start playing, and wondering what, oh what, to write about for the Best of Chicago issue. And all of a sudden it hits me—right there in front of my face. Up on the huge, […]
Posted inOn Politics
No más
With word just breaking that Kenneth Griffin kicked in $20 million to Richard Irvin’s gubernatorial campaign, I guess you can say he passed the audition. Irvin, that is, not Griffin. No, Griffin’s running the audition. It’s his play, and he’s casting it. I thought Griffin might abandon Irvin after his inability to answer a straightforward […]
Posted inOn Politics
Race and football
After watching Brian Flores parade before the cameras to talk about his racial-discrimination lawsuit against the NFL, I immediately realized who the Bears should have hired as their coach . . . Brian Flores! The man comes off as fearless, strong, cool under pressure, and classy. In short, just about everything any team would want […]
Posted inOn Politics
Profiles in cautiousness
It’s been over two weeks since Aurora mayor Richard Irvin announced he’s running for governor, making him a front-runner for the Republican nomination. And yet he still hasn’t mentioned the T word. That’s T as in Trump. Donald Trump to be exact—the man MAGA loves to love. Though, come to think of it, I haven’t […]
Posted inOn Politics
Fighting the man
I can’t remember where I was when my old friend Adolfo Mondragón first told me he was thinking of suing former Alderman Danny Solis for using campaign funds to pay criminal defense fees. A White Sox game? A restaurant? Doesn’t matter, the point is—it was the summer of 2019, which seems like eons ago. Just […]
Posted inOn Politics
Listen to Olin
With another disappointing Bears season having finally, mercifully, come to an end, the time has once again come for me to once again ask the burning question . . . No, not who the McCaskeys will hire as coach now that they’ve fired Matt Nagy, about a year after it was obvious he was the […]
Posted inOn Politics
MAGA science
Having spent the better part of the last week closely following the showdown between CPS and its teachers, I’ve concluded there’s no way Mayor Lightfoot truly believes the positions she’s been taking. Not unless the mayor—who ran as a progressive—has suddenly transformed into a Chicago version of Ron DeSantis, ’cause the stuff she’s been spouting […]
Posted inOn Politics
Good news, Dems
I’m happy to report a little good news as we head off into the new year—Donald Trump has endorsed Mary Miller in her race against Rodney Davis in the 15th Congressional District. I know you must be wondering why I think a Trump endorsement is good news. It’s because Davis and Miller are incumbent congresspeople […]
Posted inOn Politics
The year of the mogul
Wirtz, Reinsdorf, and Ricketts battle Bluhm to see which mogul the mayor
and council love the most.
Posted inOn Politics
Soak the suckers
In the days since a Cook County jury declared Jussie Smollett guilty, guilty, guilty I’ve been wondering how Republicans will use the verdict to squeeze even more money from the suckers and saps who finance the MAGA cause. This ongoing shakedown of MAGA by MAGA is something I know a lot about. As I receive […]
Posted inOn Politics
FOIA fighter
For the last few weeks, there’s been heated debate about Mayor Rahm and his handling of the Laquan McDonald video. The question is: Did the mayor cover up evidence of a murder when he sat on the video showing police officer Jason Van Dyke shooting McDonald in 2014—only releasing the video after a Cook County […]
Posted inOn Politics
Bad memories
As one of the few people I know who has watched Impeachment, I’m still struggling to figure out why I’m so relatively alone in watching it. Obsessively watching it, I might add. As in having eagerly awaited every new episode, and then rewatching key scenes. Impeachment: American Crime Story being Ryan Murphy’s ten-part series on […]