Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Traveling to Mexico?
“Gunbattles have occurred in broad daylight on streets and in other public venues, such as restaurants and clubs. During some of these incidents, U.S. citizens have been trapped and temporarily prevented from leaving the area,” the travel advisory said. … More than 47,500 people have been killed in Mexico since late 2006 when President Felipe…
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Speed Cameras Save Children
Quinn pulls out an old line: Gov. Pat Quinn gave Mayor Rahm Emanuel something he wanted Monday: the power to use cameras across nearly half of Chicago to nab speeding drivers and fine them as much as $100. Questions linger about the effectiveness and scope of the speed camera plan, but the governor sought to…
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Picketers Demand Local (Union) Labor at Costco
Seems like the Gazette’s missing the real story here: A group of unemployed tradespeople, many with union cards, have been picketing Near West Side construction sites for more than a month, demanding that community workers get a share of both local building jobs as well as permanent retail positions. via Gazette Chicago. From what I…
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Peoria Illinois Carp Hunters
My throat hurts from laughing.
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FOID Card Requests Sink Police
Illinois has so many requests for Firearm Owner’s Identification cards that state police can’t process them in a timely manner. In addition, people calling the state police to ask why they haven’t received their FOID cards are put on hold for as long as 35 minutes, if they’re lucky enough to get through to an…
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Team Crane Unveil Turnaround Plan
Crane is not a school; it’s voluntary daytime detainment for youth. It can’t die soon enough. If only parents had a real choice of schools they would never send their children to Crane. But some refuse to let it die. A coalition of Crane teachers, students, parents and Near West Side community activists unveiled a plan Friday…
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Your Water Bill Doubles For What?
God bless Ben Joravsky. All summer long, in press conferences and at public hearings, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s budget refrain remained the same: no more accounting gimmicks and no new taxes. “We have been doing smoke and mirrors on the budget and avoided taking control of our own future as a city,” he said at a…
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Taxpayers Pay for Political Payback
Kudos to Crains on this unbelievable story: Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan cost taxpayers nearly half-a-billion dollars by blocking repeated efforts to restructure McCormick Place bonds and finance a much-needed second hotel at the convention center, a Crain’s investigation finds. Between 2005 and 2010, Mr. Madigan stopped five refinancing bills, ignoring declining interest rates that…
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Ward Map Gerrymandered
Really? We didn’t know. Residents in this area had hoped Chicago’s new ward map would put homogeneous communities in the same ward. Those hopes were dashed on Jan. 19 when the Chicago City Council passed one of the most gerrymandered maps in its history. Second Ward resident Barbara Burchjolla summed up local frustration when she…
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1 Block Away 2 Arrested
The wife and daughter head over to the Walgreens about 3 blocks away. The daughter wants to walk; the wife insists on driving — smart move. Two men have been arrested in connection with the robbery of a man’s iPhone outside a dry cleaning business in the Wicker Park neighborhood, authorities say. … The Thursday…
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