Having watched almost three excruciating hours of Mayor Rahm’s testimony before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations about whether he should be confirmed as ambassador to Japan, I have concluded that . . . I deserve a raise! Seriously, folks, they don’t pay enough to sit through such dreck. Last week’s Senate hearing was a […]
Tag: Jason Van Dyke
Posted inFilm
City So Real is peak Chicago
Steve James’s docuseries authentically captures the people and places that define the city.
Posted inNews & Politics
From soldier to worker
Police unions were born of resistance to discipline for brutality. Do they belong in the labor movement?
Posted inFilm
16 Shots focuses too much on the Laquan McDonald shooting at the expense of McDonald himself
The west side teen was a human being, not just another statistic, and he deserves a better tribute than this.
Posted inBlogs
The Jason Van Dyke case showed the danger of being ruled by fear
The murder of LaQuan McDonald isn’t a just a story about one man’s exaggerated fear. It shines a light on the fear that drives much of Chicago’s and America’s politics and criminal justice.
Posted inBlogs
Family of another teen slain by Chicago police reflects on Van Dyke verdict
Vindication for Laquan McDonald doesn’t mean justice for majority of police shooting victims.
Posted inBlogs
Psychologist and defense witness at Van Dyke trial says police officers suffer from memory distortions under acute stress
Laurence Miller will testify that Jason Van Dyke feared for his life when he shot Laquan McDonald, and that this mortal terror helps explain the discrepancies between his and other police reports and the videotape of the shooting.
Posted inNews & Politics
Following the Van Dyke trial through the WBEZ podcast 16 Shots
The audio show explores every perspective of the high-profile case.
Posted inBlogs
Pro tip for mayoral hopefuls: Don’t govern by press release, do sweat the small stuff
Many Chicagoans never felt that Rahm Emanuel was their mayor.
Posted inBlogs
A jury expert weighs in on what to expect in the Jason Van Dyke trial
“People try to get out of jury duty, but what we find is that once they are actually on a jury they take it seriously and they want to get it right.”
Posted inBlogs
The end of Rahm Emanuel’s rule means that the center may no longer hold in Chicago
Our mayor is on the ropes, and with him the centrist brand of politics aggressively practiced by Emanuel over the last 25 years.
Posted inBlogs
City Council should investigate Rahm, not Lori Lightfoot
There are a lot more questions we need answers to about Mayor Rahm than about his former police board chair.
Posted inBlogs
Public outcry kills proposed FOIA law tweak that would’ve hidden police misconduct records
“If Laquan McDonald hadn’t been killed and they’d elected to charge him with a crime, we would still be waiting to see that video.”
Posted inBlogs
Spectator who exclaimed ‘What?’ in court jailed—without bail—during Jason Van Dyke hearing, activists say
The man was one of two who received stiff penalties for contempt from Judge Vincent Gaughan recently.
Posted inBlogs
Anita Alvarez’s campaign consultants gave her talking points before she announced charges against Jason Van Dyke, and other Chicago news
Also, Chicago is one of Amazon’s 20 finalists for its second North American headquarters.