There's A Deep Pain Coming To America

All Bad and Incompetent

What’s next for CPS-CTU?

After three battles in three years, the relationship between Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the Chicago Teachers Union is beyond repair. What happens next is anyone’s guess.
By Nader Issa@NaderDIssa Jan 23, 2022, 1:31pm CST

Because of labor strife CPS families have endured multiple interruptions to their children’s education throughout Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s time in office. Getty


Anyone who has followed Chicago Public Schools in recent years knows Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s relationship with the Chicago Teachers Union is beyond repair.

When the mayor accuses teachers of holding their students “hostage” by demanding safer working conditions, and the union president calls the mayor “relentlessly stupid” — two moments that made you cringe during their latest standoff this month — it’s clear there’s little chance of reconciliation.

But with bitter disputes having interrupted all three school years the mayor has been in office — leading to 16 missed school days, countless postponed

Portillo's has a new owner...trying to squeeze every penny out of the place....but I'm sure the food quality is not affected....just the ungrateful workers

Portillo’s workers stage walkout, claim unfair hours and pay

“All we want is to be treated decently, treated fairly and paid fairly,” a worker said a rally in River North Friday.

By Sam Heller  Updated Jul 2, 2021, 5:45pm CDT

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Workers for Portillo’s Food Group hold a walkout in front of the chain-restaurant’s flagship location in River North Friday.

 Sam Heller/ Sun-Times

Workers at the Chicago-based Portillo’s chain restaurant have walked off this job this week in an effort to demand safer working conditions and fair wages.

After five days off the job, the employees on Friday held a press conference in front of Portillo’s flagship location in River North to call attention to their plight.

“All we want is to be treated decently, treated fairly and paid fairly,” 15-year employee Armando Huerta said. “Thanks to the company for the good years, but

Probably nothing improper here but look how much crap they have on their plate already......they should quit thinking about money so much

his two government pensions are just not enough

Ex-Mayor Richard M. Daley, son bankrolling lender profiting off Cook County land deals
They’re investors in a firm cashing in on the Cook County Land Bank Authority, financing rehabbers who flip properties for double, triple, even 50 times what they paid the county.

By Tim Novak, Lauren FitzPatrick, and Caroline Hurley May 29, 2020, 5:30am CDT

Former Mayor Richard M. Daley and his son Patrick Daley are among the financial backers of a venture that’s cashing in by financing rehabbers who buy homes from the Cook County Land Bank Authority and flip them for double, triple, even 50 times the amount they paid the county months earlier.

The company, Renovo Financial, has financed 75 purchases over the past five years of homes that were then refurbished and sold. Sixty-five of the properties financed by Renovo have been resold at a median

Martin Sandoval’s long saga of greed and bullying

Sandoval specialized in intimidating people who needed something from their government. Expect him to roll over on other corrupt public officials.

By Rich Miller  Jan 31, 2020, 5:30pm CST

Former state Sen. Martin Sandoval leaving federal court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to bribery and tax charges. Tyler LaRiviere / Sun-Times
“It’s hard for me to swallow how [people] make so much off of you. Right? And I gotta do the work.”

That’s from the July 31, 2018 federal surveillance of now-former state Sen. Martin Sandoval (D-Chicago) complaining, according to media reports, to one of the founders of the red-light camera company SafeSpeed. Sandoval was bemoaning how he was killing and passing bills on the company’s behalf while watching other people make bank off the red-light cam industry.

This was, apparently, not new behavior for Sandoval. “I usually say, ‘What’s reasonable? You tell me,” Sandoval told the SafeSpeed official when discussing what his bribe would be. He was

This isn’t your grandmother’s sweepstakes Unless your grandmother has a gambling jones.

By Mark Brown@MarkBrownCST  Jan 31, 2020, 6:34pm CST


So-called “sweepstakes” machines are all over Chicago, including this 15th Ward gas station, despite the city’s ban on video gambling. Purveyors of the machines say they are allowed under a loophole in state law allowing sweepstakes contests. Mark Brown/Sun-Times
A lobbyist for the sweepstakes gambling industry raised eyebrows this past week by showing up in Springfield and picking up right where he left off last fall before state Rep. Luis Arroyo’s arrest for bribery.

James Rauh, director of legislative affairs for Collage LLC, made the rounds of state lawmakers asking them to regulate and tax so-called “sweepstakes” machines instead of banning them as has been proposed.

Collage has been at the center of aggressive efforts to formally legalize the look-alike video gaming devices, but it claims in the meantime to be operating legally under a provision (meaning loophole) in

It's for the children, don't you know

CTU asks CPS board to resolve $25 million veteran teacher pay fight
The board wants to give the money in bonuses, but teachers want raises instead.

By Nader Issa@NaderDIssa Jan 22, 2020, 4:31pm CST


Teachers strike outside Lane Tech High School last fall. Colin Boyle/Sun-Times
Chicago Teachers Union leaders continued their fight over veteran teacher pay with Chicago Public Schools on Wednesday, urging the district’s board to reach an agreement on the issue stemming from last fall’s teachers strike.

Appearing in front of the seven-member board at its monthly meeting, CTU Financial Secretary Maria Moreno accused CPS of changing the terms of a $25 million agreement on extra pay for the district’s longest-serving and most experienced teachers.

The union has asked for that money to be handed out as base pay raises — and says CPS agreed to that

Will anything for a buck

Walmart, Amazon and Target are selling book for children as young as 5 to summon demons

Posted on December 1, 2019 by Dr. Eowyn | 24 Comments

Walmart, Amazon and Target are hawking A Children’s Book of Demons to kids as young as 5.

Hiding behind the label “paranormal parody,” the book contains the names and sigils of demonic entities and teaches little children how to summon the demons.

Note: Sigils are symbols used in magic or the pictorial signatures of angels and demons.

The book is published by Canadian publisher Koyama Press. The author of the book is a Canadian illustrator and occultist named Aaron Leighton, whose Facebook profile picture is his black cat, Darien, in a witch’s pointed hat:

This is the link to the book on Walmart: https://www.walmart.com/search/?query=A%20Children%E2%80%99s%20Book%20of%20Demons&cat_id=3920

This is the link to the book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=A+Children%27s+Book+of+Demons&link_code=qs&sourceid=Mozilla-search&tag=mozilla-20

This is what Amazon says about the book:

Don’t want to take out the trash tonight? Maybe you’re swimming in homework? Perhaps that big bully is being a real drag? Well grab your coloured pencils and sigil drawing skills and dial up some demons! This paranormal parody is filled to the brim with funny spirits more silly than scary!

Product details

• Age Range: 5 – 10 years
• Grade Level: Kindergarten – 5
• Paperback: 48 pages
• Publisher: Koyama Press (July 16, 2019)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Aaron Leighton is an award-winning illustrator and art director, as well as a fan of all things occult. His first book with Koyama Press, Spirit City Toronto, was published in 2010. Aaron lives in Toronto, ON and spends his free time wrestling with a black cat.

Here are some reviews of the book:

“Leighton’s renderings of the multieyed, multiarmed, sharp-toothed demons are outlandish without being creepy, and the creative concept will likely inspire some readers to create demons of their own.” ― Publishers Weekly

“I wish I had this book when I was a child, warding off the creeps and crawlies underneath my bed, unaware that with the right guidance I could’ve been harnessing their supernatural powers for my own benefit!” ― John Martz, author of Burt’s Way Home and Evie and the Truth About Witches

Below is a reader’s one-star review of the book:

This is purely Satanic. What kind of children’s book teaches kids to summon demons and write sigils? This is degeneracy it’s fullest form and it makes me sick that this is even allowed on the selves of ANY store.

Want to know what makes it worse? It teaches kids the original Greek, Hebrew and Egyptian names of these malicious demons… keep your kids away from this book and if they get their hands on it somehow BURN IT!!!!

Although Target did offer the book, they seem to have removed it. If you go to https://www.target.com/p/a-children-s-book-of-demons-by-aaron-leighton-hardcover/-/A-76619196, you get this message:

It's all about the Ziti

In New York state corruption cases, a preview of coming attractions for Illinois
The New York experience reminds me corruption-busting can be a long process demanding patience, even after charges are brought.

By Mark Brown@MarkBrownCST Nov 29, 2019, 11:40am CST
Former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver exits Manhattan federal court following his conviction on corruption charges in November 2015, in New York. AP file photo

The powerful, long-serving Speaker was the first to take a fall, arrested in January on charges he’d received $4 million in bribes and kickbacks disguised as legal fees.

Four months later it was the Senate president’s turn, indicted for muscling business executives into

Hefner

Hugh Hefner’s #1 girlfriend: Life in Playboy mansion made me want to commit suicide

Posted on November 18, 2019 by Dr. Eowyn 

Playboy magazine, founded by Hugh Hefner in 1953, sold men (and women) the illusion of the promiscuous “playboy” lifestyle as glamorous and desirable. Nothing epitomized that lifestyle more than Hefner’s Playboy mansion in Los Angeles.

But Hefner’s #1 girlfriend, Holly Madison, 39, said that life in the Playboy mansion made her want to kill

PROPERTY-TAX SHELL GAME

Suburban businessmen linked to Ald. Carrie Austin and a federal investigation didn’t pay taxes on properties for years, then bought up $861,000 of their own tax debts — for $26,000. 

By Tim Novak and Lauren FitzPatrick Nov 15, 2019, 5:30am CST
Boris Nitchoff prides himself on the fortune he’s made since emigrating from Macedonia.

He pays off other people’s unpaid Cook County property taxes through tax sales. Then, he reaps the interest when the property owners repay him with interest. Or, if they don’t, he takes over the properties.

Nitchoff, 77, has been known to tell how he discovered this arcane way of making a living when someone bought the taxes on his own home and threatened to take it from him.


Nitchoff himself has let the taxes lapse on seven south suburban properties he owned for years, until

NBA has to pick one....Freedom or Tyranny

to help them decide, I propose an American boycott of all things NBA until they come to their senses

Perhaps it's too harsh to say that American companies like the NBA have sold their souls for 30 pieces of silver. China is a huge market and it would be irresponsible for a publicly-traded company to ignore the economic opportunities inherent in bringing their product to the attention of a billion people.

But businesses are social organisms as well. They exist in our community and should be expected to uphold community values. That includes supporting the guaranteed American right to make public comment on the issues of the day. Foreign countries that don't understand this or reject it should be told in no uncertain terms to go hang themselves if they're upset about it.

The NBA is going to have to decide which side they're on: Freedom or tyranny.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss

dedicated to fighting flooding

Floodplain flap: Is assessor’s fix for well-heeled North Shore homeowners a ‘correction’ — or a ‘gift’?
Many of the affected properties are routinely marketed on the desirability of their scenic locations along Forest Preserve land or golf courses, despite their proximity to the floodplain of the North Branch of the Chicago River, also referred to as the Skokie River.

By Mark Brown@MarkBrownCST Sep 19, 2019, 6:02pm CDT
This mansion on Locust Road in Winnetka is one of 1,136 homes in New Trier Township that would receive a major property tax assessment reduction under a proposal from the Cook County Assessor’s office. The seven bedroom, eight bathroom house was purchased in 2017 for $3,550,000. The assessor is seeking to reduce its assessed value to $2.4 million from $3.7 million. Apple maps

In an unprecedented move, first-year Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi is seeking to slash the

Tucker Investigates: How did Chris Cuomo get into Yale?

I thought this only occurred at Notre Dame.

What exactly is his "bitch"?

Blackhawks owner unloads on Rahm Emanuel in transition memo to Lightfoot (just not happy)

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Rocky Wirtz, Chairman for the Chicago Blackhawks talk at the United Center last year. | Maria Cardona/ Sun-Times

By Fran Spielman
@fspielman | email

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has basked in the glow of a parade of corporate relocations to downtown Chicago and a tourism industry that attracted a record 57.7 million visitors last year.

Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz tells a dramatically different story in his transition memo to Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot.

According to Wirtz, there are “serious problems” between the retiring mayor’s City Hall and the business community.

Relations “are frequently strained, often contentious and disappointingly counter-productive. This does

Amazon is coming to Chicago if

the money is right. Total package could cost $1,000,000,000. Is it worth it? 

Amazon's pullout from NYC illustrates city is run by Liberal idiots 

It's a sad day indeed when city officials think it’s a good idea for 25,000 jobs to

Why is a profitable business getting government subsidies?

angry-over-cutbacks-trump-threatens-to-end-subsidies-to-gm

The need for a union.....demonstrated

black-friday-amazon-workers-protest-poor-working-conditions

Why the secrecy?

State has given $420 million in tax breaks to TV shows, movies, won’t detail why

Atwater (LaRoyce Hawkins, left) and Ruzek (Patrick John Flueger) in an episode of "Chicago P.D." Over the past decade, the state of Illinois has granted nearly $420 million in tax breaks to companies that came to the state to make TV shows such as “Chicago Fire,” movies like “Transformers” and dozens of commercials. | NBC

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Tim Novak and Tanveer Ali

Over the past decade, the state of Illinois has given nearly $420 million in tax breaks to companies that came to the state to make television shows such as “Chicago Fire,” movies like “Transformers” and dozens of commercials.

What did those 1,817 productions do to earn those tax breaks? State officials won’t say.

I lifted this from Second City Cop, Their reward for a job well done.