Chicago - A message from the station manager

The [Tuesday] Papers

By Steve Rhodes

1. Obama, Long Reluctant To Have ‘National Conversation On Race,’ Now Doing Just That.
Please don’t. (As if we don’t have a running national conversation on race every minute of every day).
I have a better idea. Let’s send Chris Rock on tour . . .

. . . with Newt Gingrich.


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Meanwhile, the real work continues on the ground in places like Chicago, where in the aftermath of Laquan McDonald we have more police resolve than police reform.
2. Ja’mal Greenwashing.
“A Cook County courtroom erupted with shouts of ‘black lives don’t matter’ after a judge set bail at $350,000 for a well-known activist charged with striking one police officer and trying to disarm another during weekend protests,” the Tribune reports.
“Prosecutors told the judge that Green was among 150-200 demonstrators who were protesting last week’s fatal shootings by police in Louisiana and Minnesota. As they left the Taste of Chicago Saturday evening, an officer saw Green climb a fence and ordered him to get down.
“Green threatened the officer, saying he was ‘going to beat his ass’ and stood face to face with him, swinging his arms, prosecutors said. Green was allowed to continue the protest, but later struck a police commander, George Deveraux, in the shoulder, prosecutors said, a moment captured by a Chicago Tribune photographer.”
You know what would have been nice to include right there? The damn photo!
I found it in this DNAinfo Chicago article:


That looks pretty inconclusive to me.
The way DNA described it:
“At one point, a Tribune photographer captured Green reaching toward Devereaux. Prosecutors showed the photo to Chiampas on Monday, arguing that Green punched the officer.”
Back to the Trib:
“Green also spit in a police officer’s face, prosecutors said. Green was allowed to continue in the protest . . . ”
Look, Green may have done all that. But I would think that punching an officer and then spitting in his face would have resulted in immediate arrest. I’m guessing instead a lot of pushing and shoving was going on and whatever happened wasn’t considered assault and battery.
” . . . on Michigan Avenue near Water Tower Place, he grabbed the duty belt of a police captain about an inch away from the officer’s service revolver, prosecutors said.”
Fortunately, that moment was captured on video:

Oh, looks like we used the wrong clip there, we’ll try to find the right one for you.
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“[Judge Peggy] Chiampas took the unusual step of barring Green from discussing his case on social media.”
Is that even constitutional?
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“Video shows Green standing on a police barricade, beginning to address the crowd of demonstrators, when officer George Deveraux, the executive officer of Area Central that day, first orders him to step down,” Chicagoist reports.
“He then pulls Green down by Green’s left short leg.”
Yeah, that doesn’t look like the smart play:

Let the guy speak and when he’s done, help him down. Facilitate the protest.
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One count against Green is attempting to disarm a police officer. He may have touched a cop’s utility belt (or he may not have), but if so, was he really trying to get the officer’s gun? C’mon. But Green has been ordered held on $350,000 bail, so mission accomplished.
Trust: It’s a-buildin’!
3. Cubs Flub.
“Cubs deserving of heavy All-Star presence,” David Haugh writes for the Tribune.
“Nobody should suggest otherwise.”
Including the players themselves?


UPDATE: ESPN Radio’s broadcasting duo agreed during the game that the Dodgers’ Corey Seager should have been the NL’s starting shortstop, not the Cubs’ Addison Russell.
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A PLEA FOR HELP

Our photographer Helene Smith needs help. Housing is the primary, urgent issue right now. Please read, and if you can offer some assistance, send me a note.

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Freaks, Geeks, Norms And Mores
Why people use the status quo as a moral compass.
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In other words, people confuse what is with what ought to be – to deadly consequences.
Real Life Is Not Game Of Thrones
And lazy journalists should stop making the comparison.
Breakfast In America: Recruitment Tips
Do’s and don’ts from our resident EPL expert.
A New Kind Of Losing
Distressed Cubs caps for everyone!
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Since going 25-6 to open the season, the Cubs are 28-29.
So they’ve been mediocre almost twice as long as they were great.
All-Star Laments
Featuring this line from our very own Roger Wallenstein: “If Robin Ventura were the most interesting manager in baseball, he might proclaim, “We don’t often lose, but when we do, we prefer to be shut out.”
The Weekend In Chicago Rock
It was a doozy.
Featuring: Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, Maldita Vicendad, Monoplasma, Sexy Zebras, Lng/SHT, Comisario Pantera, Mexrrissey, Helado Negro, Aterciopelados, Cloud Nothings, Luna, Estelares, Cuca, Glass Lux, The Giving Moon, The Templars, Neil Finn, ERRA, Riesgo de Contagio, Noah Chris, Lydia Loveless, Derrick Carter, DJ Silverio, Los Cafres, Dentist, The Decemberists, Panteon Rococo, Instituto Mexicano del Soni, Natalia Lafourcade, Soul Asylum, Breathe Carolina, Israel Nash, Sheila E., King, Ibiza Pareo, Odiosseo, Carnivale, Thieves, Dead to Fall, Ryno, The Plot In You, Duran Duran, Billy Idol, Sons of the Silent Age, Chic, Hollywood Vampires, Weezer, Panic! At The Disco, English Beat, Matt Nathanson, Phillip Phillips, Lonesome Cliff, Phoebe Ryan, Kongos, Adele, Peter Gabriel, Sting, Dale Watson, and Devon Allman.
Your time is well spent getting to know most of these bands.
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BeachBook

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TweetWood
A sampling.


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The Beachwood Tronc Line: All-Star tippage.

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Posted on July 12, 2016