Chicago - A message from the station manager

The [Thursday] Papers

By Steve Rhodes

Forty percent of America and every Republican in Congress actually believe these things – or they’re doing a damn good job of faking it.


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What the Illinois Republican delegation is saying, via the Daily Herald:
“Since the day President Trump was elected, many Democrats in Congress have been searching for any means by which to delegitimize and remove him from office. And since then, we’ve seen them jump head first from one investigation to another hoping something so treacherous would be uncovered that we’d have no choice but to throw him out. And at that they’ve failed miserably.” – Rep. Adam Kinzinger
“It’s no secret that since President Trump was elected, Democrats have fixated on undoing the results of the 2016 election through impeachment. Our democracy is premised on the power being with the people, not partisan members of Congress.” – Rep. Darin LaHood
“I will not vote to remove a duly elected president of either party or bar them running without a legitimate independent investigation and proof of a crime, neither of which exist in this case.” – Rep. Rodney Davis
“For the past three years, Speaker Pelosi and the Washington Democrats have done everything they could to undo the results of the 2016 election. After endless investigations and partisan inquiries yielded scant evidence, they chose to move forward anyway. They are motivated by politics, not principles, and I will oppose these articles of impeachment.” – Rep. Mike Bost
“The Democrats haven’t even given President Trump an opportunity to defend his executive privilege through the courts, and they’re demanding that he just give up his constitutional powers under Article II. I’m disappointed to miss these votes but not embarrassed. I’m embarrassed that they are even happening.” – Rep. John Shimkus (“He was traveling to Tanzania to visit a son who’s in the Peace Corps.”)
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You are now all inscribed in the history books.
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Media’s Mixed Message
“Chicagoans reacted with mixed feelings to the House of Representatives’ vote Wednesday to impeach President Donald Trump,” the Sun-Times reports.
It’s a media rule: Feelings must always be “mixed.”
I’m quite sure, though, that a poll of Chicagoans would find “feelings” far from “mixed,” which connotes something approaching a 50-50 split. After all, 83.7% of Chicagoans voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016.
But objectivity demands we obscure the truth!
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We’ve all known the vote was coming; you couldn’t come up with a better idea than the tired people-on-the-street reaction piece? After all . . .


. . . cover that!
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The Sun-Times goes on to quote three people at a bus stop who supported impeachment. To get the requisite “balance,” they then quoted an e-mailed statement from the treasurer of the Chicago Young Republicans. That’s a bigger stretch than the downward dog. (I was gonna say “a bigger stretch than Lizzo’s yoga pants,” but I didn’t want to be accused of fat-shaming, which I don’t approve of.)
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“While some praised the House’s historic vote, others criticized the outcome, claiming Democrats didn’t have the evidence to justify impeachment.”
More like “other,” the aforementioned young treasurer.
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The story concludes with couple visiting from Los Angeles. So the assignment to get Chicago’s reaction cannot even be completed!
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I’m not blaming the reporter for this – he was almost certainly set up for humiliation by his editors. At least that’s the way it usually happens. Think harder and more imaginatively. Readers learn nothing from stories like this. They can talk to people at bus stops themselves.
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For example, maybe try to track down as many Chicagoans as you can who spoke on the public record about the Clinton impeachment – both officials and folks on the street.
Or hang out at the bar – there is one isn’t there – at Trump Tower Chicago. That one is easy and kind of boring, but maybe pick a few key bars that might provide interesting color.
What about the history of impeachment in Chicago – i.e., can the mayor be impeached? If not, have city officials ever considered such a provision – and if not, why not?
There are law schools and political science departments here to draw on, and the best “reactions” are going to be found on Twitter.
There are a ton of ways to cover a presidential impeachment locally besides the lazy “go talk to some people at a bus stop” approach.
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Plus:


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Pot Shots
An attempt led by Ald. Jason Ervin on behalf of the Black Caucus to delay the sale of recreational marijuana in Chicago by six months in order to – in their view, if they were being sincere – remedy what they say is racial inequity in the new rules governing such sales was defeated in a raucous city council meeting Wednesday.
I question their sincerity because A) they are quite late to the party; and B) the whole point of going ahead now by allowing legacy (white) medical dispensaries to start selling recreational pot is take a share of their revenue to build a social equity fund that will be directed to entrepreneurs of color. In other words, the plan is to take from whitey and give to everyone else, as it should be.
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Anyway, it was not a good day for Ervin – especially considering that the mayor, state legislators and officials from the Pritzker administration who worked on the state legislation and the city ordinance deriving from it are also of color, and they were none too happy with the proceedings.


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So I didn’t just dream it.


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Huh, imagine that.


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Huh. What an interesting list.


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Also Enscribed In History


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On This Day In Beachwood Twitter History


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New on the Beachwood today . . .
Fraudulent Medical Charges Are Legal Somehow
“What I’m talking about here were the bills for things that simply didn’t happen, or only kind-of, sort-of happened, or were mislabeled as things they were not or were so nebulously defined that I couldn’t figure out what we might be paying for.”
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The Unique Concussion Of Female Athletes
More likely – and more severe – than those of their male counterparts.
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Fossils Of The Future: Us!
“In the far future, the fossil record of today will have a huge number of complete hominid skeletons, all lined up in rows,” UIC prof says.
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ChicagoReddit

Rainforest Cafe in Woodfield Mall will be closing before the 31st of this month. Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Chicago will be closing in 20 months/lease ends. from r/chicago


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ChicagoGram

View this post on Instagram

#unabooksboardthoughts #georgeorwell #corruption

A post shared by Unabridged Bookstore (@unabridgedbookstore) on


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ChicagoTube
Chicago Punk, 1995.

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TweetWood
A sampling of the delight and disgust you can find @BeachwoodReport.


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The Beachwood Impeachment Line: Low crimes, misdemeanors.

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Posted on December 19, 2019