Chicago - A message from the station manager

The [Thursday] Papers

While I was prepping for and then participating in a business meeting Wednesday, accompanied by enough Old Style that I wasn’t sufficiently motivated to write a column, FBI agents were raiding the Far South Side ward office of Ald. Carrie Austin.


I’ll have more on that later, but for now, can you guess why I’m so annoyed by these “reporters'” behavior this morning?


&


Answer: Real reporters don’t ask for a statement or if a news subject has “anything to say.” Real reporters ask actual questions. Obviously I have no idea if a specific question would have elicited a response, but asking for a statement is inviting a rote, content-free response.
(Possible questions – and ask just one at a time, please – could include: “Have you spoken to the FBI? Have you hired a criminal defense lawyer? Were you warned about the raid ahead of time? What did they take out of your office? Where is your God now?”)
Anyway, like I said, more on Austin to come, as well as some material on Willie “Casino” Cochran, though he’s a far less consequential mope than Austin.

Im🍑ment Inquiries
“Freshman Rep. Sean Casten, an Illinois Democrat who flipped a suburban Chicago congressional district in 2018, told the Chicago Sun-Times on Wednesday he backs launching an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump,” Lynn Sweet reports.
“Casten is among the 44 House Democrats facing the toughest GOP challenges in 2020, according to a ‘frontline’ list compiled by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
“His public call stands out because Casten is only the third in this group of 44 to support an impeachment inquiry. Casten joins freshmen Katie Porter of California and Tom Malinkowski of New Jersey – a friend whose office is down the hall from Casten’s.”
Good for Casten. But even more significant:
“Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., also on Wednesday called for a Trump impeachment inquiry, notable since she is part of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s leadership team and the speaker has counseled restraint.”
*
Some might say I wrote this item just because I wanted to use the peach emoji. Sources say that’s not entirely true, but it’s also quite delicious that “Thanks to its distinctive cleft, the emoji is commonly used for ‘buttocks.”
*
As for the rest of the delegation:
“Rep. Bobby Rush, through a spokesman, is the only one from Illinois calling for impeachment. Reps. Mike Quigley, Jesus ‘Chuy’ Garcia, Danny Davis and Schakowsky support launching an impeachment inquiry.”
*
Also:


*
For those not ready to call for an impeachment inquiry, I would ask: What have you yet to learn about the president that would change your position? Does the Mueller report, in your estimation, provide evidence of the President of the United States committing crimes?
Of course, impeachment needn’t be limited to what’s detailed in the Mueller report. Trump has provided a laundry list of impeachable actions, any one of which might have derailed any other president. The good folks in Congress should be pressed harder to explain why Trump has not yet, in their minds, reached the bar for impeaching and removing a president.

New on the Beachwood . . .
Joe Biden Just Pledged Fealty To The 1% And Got Wistful About White Segregationists
Oh, Uncle Joe. Do we really have to invite him to Thanksgiving?
*
See also:


+


+



Remembering Sleezy D
Chicago acid house pioneer dies of kidney failure.

Rand McNally Releases Updated Motor Carriers’ Road Atlas Line
The annual editions are anticipated by professional drivers.

Boeing Moving Launch HQ To Space Coast
Not to be confused with Space Ghost.

The Premier Lacrosse League Was Here
See the super-cool highlights.

Meat Is Masculine
More great work about advertising and gender. (With lessons for news media, too.)

ChicagoReddit

Any michelin star restaurants I can go to without feeling bad about wearing very casual clothes? from r/chicago



ChicagoGram



ChicagoTube
Duke of Chicago / Dancing Shoes breakdance.


BeachBook
Hormonal Birth Control, The Pill And Wellness Creep.

*
Knox College Has A Massive Collection Of Documents With Famous Signatures.

*
Amazing Wood Sculptures Carved To Look Like Figures Are Trapped Inside.


TweetWood
A sampling.


*


*


*



The Beachwood McRipTipLine: Monetize.

Permalink

Posted on June 20, 2019