Chicago - A message from the station manager

The Weekend Desk Report

By Steve Rhodes

“Illinois Republicans held a virtual state convention Saturday with Chairman Tim Schneider declaring President Donald Trump ‘a man for our time’ and contending the COVID-19 pandemic has helped Democrats move the country toward socialism while trying to win the White House,” the Tribune reports.

Schneider said actions initiated to stop the spread of the coronavirus appeared aimed to “move our country more toward socialism and to defeat our president, Donald Trump, in November, and we can’t let that happen.”
Pritzker, Schneider said, was “ruling like an unaccountable king” during the pandemic. He accused the governor of issuing “meaningless” shutdown orders and making up “arbitrary timelines and metrics for reopening not used by any other state.”

Pritzker, not Trump, is “ruling like an unaccountable king.”
Pritzker’s shutdown orders have been “meaningless.”
Timelines and metrics for reopening are “arbitrary” – not drawn at all from Trump’s CDC.
Imagine believing all that.
*
“The state GOP complaints over the state’s handling of the pandemic come as a study by the New York Times had Illinois showing the largest decrease in new coronavirus cases in the nation compared with two weeks ago based on changes in the seven-day average against comparable figures as of June 11,” the Trib helpfully notes.
–
Trump’s Finest


*
As for the CPD, here’s the mayor responding to a reporter’s question on June 5, via Capitol Fax:
REPORTER: The Chicago Police Department issued a requirement that all on duty personnel wear CPD-issued surgical masks and gloves anytime they are out of their vehicle in public.
Over the last week, there’s been scores of officers, according to this question, at protests without these masks.
Can you tell us why this is happening and what your office is doing to get officers to comply with this basic public health requirement in the middle of COVID-19?
LIGHTFOOT: This was an issue that we saw way before this week.
We’ve spent a significant amount of money and resources to make sure that our officers are safe in discharging their responsibilities every day, including PPE, masks, gloves, cleaning supplies.
And the superintendent I know has issued a number of reminders and directives, and I’ve told him that our patience with this has to be and end. If officers are not complying, if they are not wearing the mask and protective gear that we provide, they need to be disciplined.
And that was an issue that we were dealing with way before the events of this week.
But clearly no officer should be going out engaging with members of the public. It’s for their protection, as well as members of the public, and we expect them to abide by the directives that have been issued, and if not, then disciplinary action shall be taken.
*
Assignment Desk: How many officers, if any, have been disciplined for not wearing a mask?
*
Of course, it’s not as if no Chicago police officers are wearing masks:


*
But a lot aren’t:


*
FYI from the Washington Post: Spate Of New Research Supports Wearing Masks To Control Coronavirus Spread.
*
Callback: Illinois Republicans Say Wearing Masks Spreads Socialism.
–
New on the Beachwood . . .
E-Mails Reveal Disgusting Meatpacking Shitshow Over COVID-19 Outbreaks
A striking example of greed that values profits literally over people’s lives – aided by the President of the United States.
*
The Beachwood Radio Sports Hour #308: We’re All NASCAR Now
A moment when everything seems possible. Plus: MLB Draft’s Dizzying Heights Of Hype; We Blame The (Lying) Owners; The Neverending Sammy Sosa Saga; and NBA & NHL Flux.
*
Gone With The Wind: My Lost Cause
Insidious lies wrapped in charm.
*
How Studying History Made Me A Stoic
“I’m not a historian, but I feel qualified enough to assert that the history of human affairs is consistently filled with misery and strife.”
*
There’s A Unicorn Riot Goin’ On
Unicorn Riot is the modern heir to a history of on-the-street grassroots video documentary filming of protests and social movements that started in the late 1960s.
–
Weekend ChicagoReddit

Financier of Ipsento Coffee in Bucktown takes down Black Lives Matter posters from r/chicago


–
Weekend ChicagoGram

View this post on Instagram

Andy Austin has created over 3,000 watercolor sketches in her 43 years as a courtroom sketch artist in Chicago. The collection has found a new home in the Pritzker Legal Research Center, where it will be preserved for future generations of scholars. “The Andy Austin Collection visually represents some of the most important moments in Chicago legal history,” says George H. Pike, director of the center. “As courtroom sketches, they represent a valuable and otherwise unavailable snapshot into the courtroom process and the lives that become entwined with those processes in a way that files and transcripts can’t convey.” “It’s amazing what the court cases show about a city’s life and history. Since I had this material, I felt like it would be wonderful if it were preserved, catalogued, organized, and able to tell a story of what was going on for those 43 years,” Austin says of her decision to donate her life’s work. “The courts changed and the reporting changed too.” 👩‍⚖🎨

A post shared by Courtroom Art (@courtroom_art) on


–
Weekend ChicagoTube
UFO Live in Chicagom, 1981 (in loving memory of Paul Chapman).

–
Weekend TweetWood
A sampling of the delight and disgust you can find @BeachwoodReporter.


*


*


*


–
The Weekend Desk Tippy Martinez Line: Durable.

Permalink

Posted on June 13, 2020