Cook County Courthouse, Daley Center

We lived in DuPage County in Illinois for twenty years. I was relatively active in politics during that time, I served as an election reconciliation judge in the county for years. In our time there, I don’t recall having especially noticed or much cared about county judicial elections.

We moved to Cook County in 2003. When elections rolled around, I was rather surprised about the number of judges on ballots, both for first-time election and for retention. In discussion with a few people, I became concerned with the likelihood that most voters in the county were voting blind. They had no idea about any of the candidates, did not understand the rules of candidacy, and, as many people told me, voted “yes” for all candidates or reflexively voted “no” in the spirit of “throw all the bums out!”

While humor of a bleak sort resides in such “no” votes, blanket “yes” votes were just as bad, at least as I saw it. My discussions with people who knew something about the county court system, never mind about the state Supreme Court, brought realization that these judges, especially the circuit court judges, are of great importance to each of us. In many instances a judge is the most likely county official the average citizen will ever encounter. That encounter could change a life. If the judge’s temperament or judicial behavior is questionable, the persons before her or him could quite literally be in a sort of jeopardy that would not prevail in front of another, better judge. So my sense grew that it’s incumbent (you should pardon the expression) upon each of us to pay much closer attention to who and what we’re voting for (not a bad rule in any case).

I began to investigate how to do two things: evaluate judge candidates and inform people about those evaluations. My research took me eventually to the work of the Alliance of Bar Associations. They send survey questionnaires to each judge candidate. Each member associations makes its own evaluations based both on replies to the questionnaires and on the sense of how a judge has observed the concerns and expectations of the association.

I first found the Association’s judicial screening table in 2010. The Alliance back then had 10 member associations, many of them specific to ethnic representation: Asian American Bar Association, Black Women Lawyers’ Association of Greater Chicago, Lesbian and Gay Bar Association of Chicago, for example. Among the other members were the Chicago Council of Lawyers, Cook County Bar Association and Illinois State Bar Association. Today the Alliance has 13 member bar associations, including most of the originals. The one outlier has always been the Chicago Bar Association. It does its own evaluations.

The Alliance’s system of evaluation then and now rates judges running for election, whether contested or not, with simple codes: HQ – Highly Qualified; WQ – Well Qualified; Q – Qualified; NQ – Not Qualified; HR –
Highly Recommended; R – Recommended; NR – Not Recommended; Not Evaluated Through No Fault of the Candidate. Judges running for retention have three possible ratings: Yes, No, Not Evaluated Through No Fault of the Candidate. Their tables, by the way, are available from numerous sources, including Vote for Judges (see below)

In 2010 I decided to share the Alliance table with as many people as I could. I really wanted to begin the process of ending blind (or non-) voting for judges in the county. Over the years since, my list of recipients for the evaluations grew substantially. A few years back I began my occasional blog, now named “Art Can Save Us and Life’s Ideas” (http://www.edmcdevitt.org, which you’re now looking at). In each election cycle I published my missive about judicial elections there and linked to it on Facebook and Twitter.

In the beginning, penetrating the Alliance’s evaluations to see what went into them was a significant chore. I did it to a certain extent. Sometimes I had outside information on a candidate that sent me to other possible sources. Also, as a frequent attendee at Democratic Party of Oak Park monthly meetings, I got to meet judicial candidates. At times I was a bit of a pain in the butt with candidates: I asked them pointed questions, especially if they were first-time judge candidates.

Anyway, in the early years of my work on this issue, I was not aware of anyone else, outside the Alliance of Bar Associations itself, that was showing public interest in this rather arcane pocket of Illinois politics. I was certainly aware that my audience for the evaluations was very thankful, since my contacts had previously been among the vast majority of voters who were clueless about why and how to vote for such candidates.

Eventually some new players appeared on the scene.

The first of these was Vote for Judges, a website that had the same purpose I had. It used the same source as I did: the Alliance table. Their site says that Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice began their efforts “more than a decade ago in an effort to educate voters about judicial elections in Cook County. Today, the website is sponsored by the Committee to Elect Qualified Judges, a political action committee dedicated to informed judicial voting.” While they might have been around “over a decade ago,” they were not easily found, not even on the site of the Alliance itself. In the past 3 election cycles or so, they’ve become quite a bit more visible.

In 2015 Injustice Watch, which describes itself as a “non-profit newsroom,” was created. It initially did not provide information on voting for judges. It began its own evaluations of judges very recently. While they do publish the Alliance’s evaluation table, they send out their own questionnaires. As a journalism organization, they also do independent investigations of candidates. In 2024 their compendium of evaluations expanded significantly and proved to be extensive, even in some ways exhausting – which is not a critique. The information they provided on certain candidates was unique to them and in one instance caused the Chicago Bar Association to totally change their support of a candidate. Their reporting is now a most important source.

In the 2024 general election, for a number of reasons the evaluations I depend upon and that drive what Vote for Judges provides was quite late in arriving. Early voting had already begun in several Cook County locations, particularly in Chicago. I was unable to get information out to my audience until a lot of people had already voted. The delay was due, at least partly, to the very large number of candidates, especially for retention.

In one sense it’s a bit surprising to no longer be alone in publicizing how to vote for judges in our county. The appearance of Vote for Judges was, for me, a most fortunate occurrence because it helped a lot in making a larger public aware. The sudden appearance of Injustice Watch’s extensive and detailed analyses was a real shock to the system for me, though not because I was feeling competition. I was both amazed and pleased that the fourth estate was finally paying close attention. I would gladly have made a bigger deal of their work had it not appeared so late in the cycle. It’s true that their ethos is, in certain ways, a sort of crusade to publicize the plight of the unnoticed and those poorly treated by the justice system. Be that as it may, the sheer volume and quality of their work is a terrific new contribution.

Just as interesting to me is that some mainstream publications, such as the Chicago Tribune, seem to be paying closer attention to judicial elections. In the past one might have encountered an article about a judge with particularly glaring issues, but that was about it. Now we get much more detailed information from such sources, never mind the excellent material from such services as Chicago Public Square.

Will I continue informing people in each judicial election cycle? Absolutely. Until Vote for Judges and Injustice Watch – never mind the Alliance of Bar Associations – are universally known, I’ll still inform my audience. I’ve spoken to many of them. They were, for the most part, unaware of those two sources. So my work still counts for something. When I perceive it’s redundant, I’ll think about letting it go. But it’s not redundant yet, to sort of paraphrase a character in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Until the plague cart comes by and they throw me in, I’ll keep on going.

Edmund J. McDevitt
© November 2024

The post Assessing Cook County Judicial Candidates – A Brief History appeared first on Art Can Save Us and Life's Ideas.

Injustice Watch (https://interactives.injusticewatch.org/judicial-election-guide/2024-general/en/) has created their own guide for the November 2024 Cook County judicial retention election. I am posting the link to their site (see above) and some additional information on how to use it.

Injustice Watch tells us that 75 circuit (and subcircuit) court judges and two appellate judges are seeking retention in the Cook County court system. To be retained, a judge must receive 60% “yes” votes.

Injustice watch will report on the recommendations of the bar associations as soon as they have them, just as I will.

In the interim, the Injustice Watch list looks at retention candidates from several angles and after what they say is significant investigative reporting.

The first two candidates are the Appellate Court judges running for retention (10-year terms). They are Thomas E Hoffman and David We. Ellis. The following is drawn from Injustice Watch’s reporting..

Thomas E. Hoffman

• Age 76
• Judge since 1984 (Cook County Associate Judge)
• Elected as circuit judge, 1988
• On the Appellate Court since 1993, elected to his first term in 1994; this would be his 4^th term
• In 2011 wrote opinion ruling Rahm Emanuel ineligible to run for mayor of Chicago because he had failed to retain residency in Chicago when he served as Pres. Obama’s chief of staff. Overturned three days later with a “scathing decision” from 5 of 7 Illinois Supreme Court justices. The other two concurred, but called the majority opinion “inflammatory.”
• Hoffman did not respond to Injustice Watch’s survey.

David W. Ellis

• Age 57
• Elected to appellate court 2014; this would be his 2^nd term.
• One of two appellate judges in the first district who lacked prior judicial experience prior to joining the appellate court.
• Was chief counsel to Speaker Mike Madigan
• Was lead prosecutor at Illinois Senate impeachment trial of Gov. Rod Blagojevich
• Is “an award-winning author of more than a dozen crime fiction novels over the past two decades, including nine co-written with bestselling author James Patterson. His most recent novel, ‘The Best Lies,’ was released this summer” according to Injustice Watch.
• Was called to testify in the “ComEd Four” trial; said he “had no involvement in political or campaign work for Madigan while working as his chief legal counsel.”
• Ellis did not respond to Injustice Watch’s survey.

Again, I refer you to the Injustice Watch site on judicial elections (https://interactives.injusticewatch.org/judicial-election-guide/2024-general/en/) for details on each of the candidates. They use a system of icons to indicate specific things about candidates. They also provide a useful glossary of terms.

Also scroll down to the section about contested elections. Injustice Watch notes that “There are five contested races for open circuit court seats — one for a countywide vacancy; three in the 12th subcircuit, which extends west from Northbrook to Inverness in the northwest suburbs; and one in the 18th subcircuit, which includes the northwest suburbs of Des Plaines, Mt. Prospect, and Elk Grove Village, and parts of Niles.” The section provides a way to choose your subcircuit to see if one of these applies to you.

Finally, they provide a way to print a report to take with you to your polling station or to have in front of you when you vote by mail.

Edmund J. McDevitt
October 8, 2024

The post Cook County Judicial Candidates – November 2024 – Injustice Watch Information appeared first on Art Can Save Us and Life's Ideas.

These days I don’t drive long distances all that much – 20, 30 miles at most.

This past week plus I’ve been in New England visiting family and friends. I borrowed my sister’s car, a 2018 Honda, to drive to Lake Winnepesaukee, a trip of about 100 miles mostly on interstate highways. The car doesn’t have some of the safety features of 2025 models, but it does have adaptive cruise control and lane keep assist, both of which I find very helpful.

Lane keep assist is simple and very helpful. It keeps you awake and alert and helps stop drifting.

Adaptive cruise control is more complex.

My tendency on long highway drives is to get into a space on the highway where I can set the adaptive cruise control to allow good middle lane or, on highways that have two lanes in each direction, good right lane cruising speed and keeps me at a safe distance from cars in front of me.

It’s a mystery to me why drivers in contemporary cars simply fail to use cruise control. I’ve asked some driver friends who seem not to engage it why they do not. “I don’t like it,” they tell me, or “I don’t feel in control of the car.” When I suggest that their foot and personal sense of speed are not “control,” they’re puzzled. It’s not usually possible to reason through the issue.

On the road, getting behind drivers who do not drive to the speed of traffic can be maddening, since their speeds vary so much. So can encountering cars that move to the passing lane at speeds that are only slightly higher than that of the cars they’re trying to pass. Were all such drivers to have adaptive cruise control engaged at the speed of the faster traffic, they’d find that their passing and travel would be far smoother.

My counsel to drivers on highways is: upon entering the highway you’ll be on for a while, determine the ongoing speed of traffic in the far left lane – not that of the speed freaks, but of the traveling drivers – and set adaptive cruise control to a similar speed. Yes, you’ll have to pass some cars; yes you might have to speed up to get past a car that is not paying attention to ambient speed; yes, some drivers you’re passing will speed up as you pass them and, maddeningly, slow down once you’re past. It will all work out. Find a way to keep that speed you’ve set and just enjoy the drive. Don’t hit the brake or otherwise interrupt the adaptive cruise control. It’ll be a much more pleasant drive.

Line Painting on Highways

As automobile technology has advanced, general road infrastructure has deteriorated. Certain states and local communities have not kept their roads up in ways that assist drivers with their safety.

I spoke of lane keep assist above. The sensors for such a technology have only gotten better in the past few years. Unfortunately, the painted lines on roads and highways have not been kept up to allow the assist to work properly.

The “Live Free or Die” state, New Hampshire, proud of the low taxation that limits its services, has faded highway lines on many state roads, especially right-side white lines that separate the driving lane from the breakdown lane or the ditch. Lane keep assist requires those lines to be visible to sensors so that drifting to the right will trigger the steering wheel “shudder.” State Route 104 from Meredith to I-93 is one of the roads whose painted lines are poorly maintained. The lines painted on I-93 itself in New Hampshire, especially north of Concord, are no fine example either.

As the safety technology improves, our highway infrastructure – including that of local roads – needs to keep up to allow the technology to work as it is intended to work.

I plan to pay closer attention to roadways in Illinois, where I live, and to comment on their effectiveness with respect to car technology.

Edmund J. McDevitt
©️August 2024

The post Wondering About Driving appeared first on Art Can Save Us and Life's Ideas.

My hearing aids are up to date and my knee replacement is still going strong after 19 years, even if the other knee is getting a bit balky. The chemo and radiation seem to have worked and I haven’t had a Mohs procedure in a couple of years. The prisms in my left glasses lens have fixed the double vision.

I’m still learning new stuff all the time and occasionally re-learning it. I’m able to drive to the supermarket and back and don’t always forget to get things.

I love long conversations even if sometimes I can’t remember the title of a movie or any of the actors in it and wonder what the name of that amazing violinist – or was it a pianist? – is. But that’s what the internet and Google are for, aren’t they?

I can recall many passwords, especially for things I no longer use, the names of grammar school classmates and teachers and many of the phone numbers of my youth, a useful skill in certain contexts. My skill at identifying car models remains intact as does my ability to recognize birds I see and hear, as well as being able to recite some of their Latin names, though seeing them clearly can be a challenge every now and again.

I surprise myself a lot when I watch the political news and put names together with faces for local, state and national people of note, to say nothing of international figures. I know the ins outs of all levels of government and am given to reciting them whether asked or not. And I can tell stories of all sorts frequently.

So no, I’m not offended. Just a little surprised that my name is not repeating across the chyrons or coming trippingly off the tongues of the pundits. Maybe it’s that I’m no longer given to wearing suits or that I eschew hairpieces. What’s wrong with the casual look, I ask? I proudly wear cargo shorts and sandals with peds, which I’m sure appeals as a “look” to a large contingent of voters. I shave roughly every other day, as do many of my many compatriots. My varicosities are a badge of honor in some circles.

Maybe I need better PR. Some might recommend a makeover. I’ll get right to it tomorrow, say mid-morning when I wake up.

Ed McDevitt
©July 2024

The post Bypassed Again appeared first on Art Can Save Us and Life's Ideas.

Whenever a primary or general election includes judicial candidates, I normally talk about two things:

A link to the Cook County Clerk’s Voter Information site, where you can enter your name and address and be linked to the ballot that applies to you. Here’s that link: https://www.cookcountyclerkil.gov/elections/your-voter-information

The Alliance of Bar Association for Judicial Screening assessments of candidates for judge in Cook County and for Illinois Appellate or Supreme Court candidates if there are any.

Unfortunately, this time around the Alliance’s published list shows only assessments of candidates in contested elections, which is not fully useful, since we have several candidates running for Cook County judge uncontested and in a few cases some of those candidates are rated unacceptable. So I’m referring you this time to Vote for Judges, a site that provides assessments of all candidates. Here’s the Vote for Judges link: https://www.voteforjudges.org/

Note that Vote for Judges shows ALL of the Cook County subcircuits. Keep in mind that you live in only one subcircuit, so determine who you should care about by looking at your sample ballot from the Cook County Clerk (see the link above). 

Circuit and Subcircuit judges serve for 6 years and must, at the end of that term, either leave or run again for retention. On this ballot we have only first-timers. You will vote on judges running for retention in the General Election in November.

Almost all of the candidates are Democrats. In the circuits and subcircuits in which only Democrats are running, whoever wins the primary is the de facto elected judge. A few contests have candidates from both parties. In such cases the judgeships will be decided in the General Election in November . In March you choose your party’s ballot and vote accordingly.

In the Fall, just to confuse the issue, all of the winning primary candidates will be on the ballot again ALONG With judges running for retention. The difference is that primary winners in single-party circuits and subcircuits will be elected even if they get only one vote in the general election. Candidates running for retention must attain approval of 60% or more of those voting that slot; otherwise they are not retained. I’ll re-explain this in the Fall.

I distribute this information in each election cycle that includes judicial candidates because among public servants whom you might encounter in your life, a judge could possibly be the most consequential. It pays to elect judges who have the temperament, intelligence, experience and knowledge to provide what we conceive of as “justice.” 

I hope you find this information informative.

Thanks to Charlie Meyerson and his every-weekday news service https://www.chicagopublicsquare.com/ for being key to providing the information on this primary election. I subscribe to Chicago Public Square. You can get it for free – or, better, pay for your subscription or, at least, make a contribution at https://chicagopublicsquare.us6.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=c1ce195a775f7d7ff4846006e&id=01942e7bc1

Whatever you do, please do one thing above all:

VOTE!!

Edmund J. McDevitt
©2024

The post Voting for Judges – Illinois Cook County Primary March 19, 2024 appeared first on Art Can Save Us and Life's Ideas.

Image courtesy Binny’s Beverage Depot

Holiday beer time is one of my favorite parts of the year. From just before Thanksgiving to mid/late January, beers brewed for the holiday season hit the stores and make holiday beer drinking delightful.

Certain types predominate: winter warmers, spiced ales, Belgian (and Belgian-style) strong ales and stronger-than-usual IPAs. Winter warmer ales are generally higher in malt and malt flavor and higher in alcohol by volume than your everyday ales. Spiced ales have, like their winter warmer brethren and sistren, more robust malt content and add one or another seasonal spice or herb – nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, clove, orange peel, among others – and are also relatively high in abv (6% – 8%). Belgian/Belgian-style strong ales are in a class by themselves: much deeper malt, much higher abv (9% – 12+%), sometimes brewed with a candy sugar that amps up the alcohol, never mind the sweetness. The holiday IPAs are generally just as hoppy as normal IPAs, but have higher malt content and, therefore, higher abv (6% – 9+%).

This list of beers comprises those easily or relatively easily available in the Chicago area. Several of them are piled up in supermarkets (Jewel – Osco for example). Some you might need to hunt for in, say, Binny’s or the The Beer Temple. I’ve also listed some that some sites say are available to us but that I have yet to see.

All in all, this list should keep you busy and happy, no matter how curmudgeonly you style yourself. Meanwhile, I will lament the loss of the holiday beer tradition that started all of this for me: Anchor Brewing’s Our Special Ale – a different recipe every year, a different bottle label every year – now merely a memory.

Holiday Beers 2023

• Trader Joe’s Vintage Spiced Ale 2023
  • Large corked bottle for only $5.99!
  • Made by Unibroue
  • 9% abv
  • Might be sold out in smaller stores
• Great Lakes Christmas Ale
  • Six pack, 12 oz bottles
  • Honey, Ginger, Cinnamon
  • 7.5% abv
  • Available everywhere
• Great Lakes Barrel Aged Christmas Ale
  • Four-pack, 16 oz cans
  • Same formula as standard Christmas Ale
  • Aged in bourbon barrels
  • 8.0% abv
• Begyle Christmas Ale
  • Four-pack 16 oz cans
  • Spiced ale – bay leaves & cinnamon sticks
  • Trader Joe’s, other outlets
  • 7.0% abv
• Bell’s Christmas Ale
  • Scotch Ale (one of the best!)
  • Six pack bottles
  • 7.5% abv
• New Belgium Holiday Ale
  • Six pack 12 oz cans
  • Cranberry and spice
  • 7.5% abv
  • Available everywhere
• Spiteful Jingle Balls
  • Six pack 12 oz cans
  • Spiced ale – ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon sticks
  • 7.6% abv
  • Available generally
• Breckenridge Christmas Ale
  • Six packs 12 oz bottles, cans; larger min-keg
  • Winter warmer brewed the same each year
  • 7.1% abv
  • Available generally

• Goose Island Christmas IPA
  • Six pack 12 oz cans
  • 7.5% abv, 50 IBU (it’s an IPA; what can I tell you?)
  • Generally available
• Sierra Nevada Fresh Hop Celebration IPA
  •  Six pack 12 oz cans
  • 6.8% abv, 65 IBU (it’s an IPA; what can I tell you?)
  • Available generally
• Revolution Fistmas
  • Six pack 12 oz cans
  • Spiced ale – ginger and orange peel
  • 6.5% abv; 21 IBU, so hoppier than most spiced ales
  • Available generally
• St. Bernardus Christmas Ale (Belgium)
  • Stong Ale (Quadrupel)
  • Large corked bottle – 25.4 oz; four-pack 11.5 oz bottles or cans
  • 10% abv
  • Beer stores
• Delirium Noël (also Delirium Christmas; Belgium
  • Strong Ale
  • Large corked bottle – 25.4 oz; four-pack 11.5 oz bottles
  • 10% abv
  • Beer stores
• Shiner Holiday Cheer
  • Dunkelweizen (dark wheat ale) brewed with pecans and peaches
  • Six pack 12 oz bottles or cans
  •  4.2% abv
  • Generally available
• Three Floyds Alpha Klaus
  • IPA/Porter
  • Six pack 12 oz bottles
  • 7.3% abv; 67 IBU ((it’s an IPA; what can I tell you?)
  • Beer stores, some other outlets
• Chouffe N’ice Chouffe (Belgium)
  • Winter ale/strong ale
  • Four pack 330 ml bottles, individual 750 ml bottles
  • 10% abv

Holiday ales available elsewhere, usually available here but I haven’t seen them

• Deschutes Jubelale
  • Six pack 12 oz bottles
  • Winter Warmer
  • 6.7% abv
• Allagash Snow Report
  • “Celebratory Saison”
  • Four-pack 16 oz cans
  • “Honey character complemented by lavender and sandalwood”
  • 8.6% abv
• De Dolle Stille Nacht (Belgium)
  • Strong ale with candy sugar in the fermentation
  • Four-pack 11.5 oz bottles
  • 12% abv
• Avery Old Jubilation
  • Strong ale (English-style Old Ale)
  • Six pack 12 oz cans
  • 8.3% abv
• Southern Tier 2XMAS Spiced Double Ale
  • Spiced ale – orange peels, figs, cinnamon, cardamom, clove, ginger, “inspired by a “Glögg”
  • Six pack 12 oz bottles
  • 8% abv

Edmund J. McDevitt
©2023

The post Holiday Beers – Chicagoland Version appeared first on Art Can Save Us and Life's Ideas.

Let’s look at the current narrative about Pres. Biden. The “old” and “bumbling” tropes are Fox/right-wing concoctions that too many people have willingly bought into and gladly repeat as if they’re facts. They aren’t. They’re merely agenda-setters. We can’t be so stupid as to buy into them.

Is he old? Sure he is. But so is Trump. Is he bumbling and fumbling? No. He stutters. He tells stories (something he’s done since he was young). But his stories are coherent. More to the point, he runs a coherent administration that has accomplished a whole lot. You might not agree that some of it should have been accomplished, but the fact remains: his administration, under his leadership, has accomplished it. He’s restored our status in world politics and leadership as well. And he’s been a compassionate presence for those who have suffered great losses, whether from gun violence or, as is the case with Israel, from murderous incursion into their country.

So why are we so unthinkingly buying a corrosive narrative concocted by his opposition? What are we worried about that we so easily repeat it? Are we nuts?

His main opponent should rightly be the target of a negative narrative in the largest possible way. Bumbling? Just listen to him speak on any topic for 5 minutes (or for however long you can stand to do it). Old? He’s just 3 years younger than Pres. Biden – and he’s been showing clear indications of decline for quite some time. As for coherence – his prior administration was a shit show and the damage it did has taken huge effort to undo. And we’re not even talking about his criminal insurrection.

I’m speaking here mainly to Democrats and disaffected Republicans. And I’m saying, if you’re believing or repeating the right-wing talking points about Pres. Biden, just f’ing stop it! Start paying attention to the sanity that’s been restored, to the powerful legislation Biden’s championed, gotten passed and signed, to the slow but steady restoration of a proper federal judicial system, to an honest and properly focused Justice Department, to a strong and steady (to say nothing of highly respected) foreign policy and diplomatic apparatus, and, no matter what idiotic things get said about it, an economic recovery unequaled in recent times (and confined, in the prior administration, to the very wealthy).

Think about just a few things that have gotten done or that will be done in the coming years. Things like making the Internet available both to remote places and to “Internet deserts” in our inner cities. Bridge repair and replacement (remember the collapse of the I-95 overpass, a casualty of our total neglect of infrastructure?). Getting us out of the COVID pandemic. It’s a long list. Real effort at curbing gun violence, something no opposition administration would even consider. Advocacy for and protection of LGBTQ+ rights and people. Championing the right of women to have full control of their own bodies. Let the other guy back in and this all goes away in an instant.

Let me almost stop here. I want to say something about focusing on “inflation” and the general pissing and moaning about it. Our current inflation rate is 3.7%. So is the whole world’s. Many countries have worse interest rates for loans than we do. But not many have the high rate of employment and of open positions, along with low unemployment, that we have. So the whining is not about “inflation.” It’s up to you to figure out what you’re really whining about. But it’s time to stop it. It’s time to make sure that we don’t, in our constant bitching, let ourselves be fooled into descending into the sheer fascism planned by the truly deranged “leader” of the opposition.

Let’s get real, people.

The post He’s 80. Who Half His Age Has Accomplished So Much? appeared first on Art Can Save Us and Life's Ideas.

But let’s look at the result of Abbott’s ploy. Chicago has thousands of migrants it did not expect to have, migrants who are about to experience a Chicago winter without places to live, proper clothing, and other essential things.

Again, the feds are avoiding the problem because the Dems don’t want to appear to be “soft” on immigration by being humane and providing fodder for MAGA fools who will use being humane (something they are not) to show up the Dems. Not that they have an immigration plan. They have no such thing. They’re not smart enough.

By the way: Chicago has absorbed over 30,000 Ukrainian immigrants without controversy over the last 18 months. They haven’t been forced to live in tents outside police stations. Neighborhoods have welcomed them without nasty bitching. But those 19,000 “brown” folk? Not in our neighborhoods. Nobody is saying about the Ukrainian arrivals, “Yeah but what have you done for ME lately?” But I digress.

It’s clear that the Mayor and city administration need to suck it up and use multiple empty indoor spaces that can be opened at least for the winter.

The Mayor should be shouting to the rooftops to the State of Illinois and the federal government to supply funding for the housing. clothing and feeding of these folks until they can be on their own feet.

The city Health Department should be scrounging for a whole panoply of immunizations – especially Flu, RSV and COVID; but also Tdap, tetanus, shingles, MMR, PCV15/PPSV23 or PCV20 (pneumonia) for those who are without them. We don’t need a hothouse of disease to arise.

At least here I don’t want to get into the cynicism of the right wing on immigration. They’re totally irresponsible, yes. But that’s for another time and place.

The post Chicago’s Immigration Crisis – Let’s Stop Screwing Around! appeared first on Art Can Save Us and Life's Ideas.

According to the Goodman description, “creating the perfect sandwich is the shared quest of the formerly incarcerated kitchen staff of Clyde’s, a truck stop cafe.” It has 5 main characters, including Clyde, the namesake owner of the cafe, who is herself formerly incarcerated.

Clyde, the owner, is a horribly abusive, demeaning presence in the play. Her employees, dreamers all, each try to create their own perfect sandwich and are roundly suppressed in their ambitions by a Clyde whose obsession is to protect Clyde’s reputation and retain its menu, upon which she sees the reputation resting. Each of the employees has emerged from incarceration with glimmers of hope, but they are scarred by their imprisonment and its grinding depersonalization and the constant reminders of their worthlessness. Clyde, as if she were the apotheosis of a sadistic warden, is determined to keep her workers reminded of the precariousness of their lives and of a low-life status from which they are trying to escape.

Ironically, it is, in the end, the demeaning itself and the crushing of their sandwich dreams that frees them from what has seemed inescapable life-long hard-scrabble struggle. Without revealing how this occurs, I will say that yes, resolution, even a sort of absolution, arrive in the end. 

In its thematic development, the play has an intensely engaging power. The play is, however, an extended metaphor on something else entirely, according to the Chicago Tribune’s theater critic, Chris Jones, who says, “Nottage really is going after the forces that control Broadway and the upper echelons of the other branches of showbiz. This shrewdest of American playwrights is tacitly accusing them of a lack of imagination, unkindness toward vulnerable workers, the propagation of unsafe work environments and a determination to play to the lowest common denominator when it comes to the tastes of customers who would prefer better quality fare, if only they were offered such a menu.”

This metaphor likely has escaped all who are not part of the inner circle of American theater production, including me. No matter. Whether or not the play is about theater in America or about rising above the circumstances that crush a person, this production obscures the subtleties and layers of possible meaning. In a word, it yells at you.

Experienced singers, choral singers especially, learn from good directors what dynamic range is all about and why it’s important. The conveying of emotion and meaning comes from where the emphases are and where they are not. One learns what “pianissimo” and “fortissimo” mean and about everything in between. Dynamic range is but one of the vehicles of musical expression, but a very important one. One learns that singing softly can convey as much meaning as singing loudly, and can have its own sheer power.

This production of “Clyde” begins fortissimo and, except when one of the sandwich-makers, Montrellous, or, occasionally, two others, Rafael and Jason, speak, the sheer volume of dialogue is assaultive all by itself, never mind the aggression of Clyde’s driven degradations of her workers. It seldom gets below what musically is termed mezzoforte. This was jarring enough. But the urge to “loud” intruded on articulation, and the dialogue became both strident and muddy, a real impediment to understanding and insight. In fact, articulation was a problem with most of the players, with the exception, as noted, of Montrellous, whose every word was clear and understandable, spoken always mezzopiano (not all that loud). 

It is possible that the loud stridency is an intentional assault on the audience, making its members unwilling participants in the awfulness of post-convict life. I would hope not. Many other more effective dramatic techniques are available to a director for pulling an audience into the emotion and plight of the characters. And, in fact, this play has many junctures at which such involvement could be invited without shouting about it. Unfortunately, Ms. Whoriskey has chosen to turn up the volume to 11 most of the time as her audience involvement technique. It wasn’t pleasant and caused my companions to withdraw in their seats and to think about other things. I strained to comprehend to the end and can say that the resolution for the characters was a resolution of relief from bombast as much as it was a denouement for me.

If this production emulates, in all ways, the Tony-winning Broadway production, I certainly hope it does not portend a trend in presentation. We have enough of unhinged shouting in our daily lives. We don’t need it as a steady diet in theater. Sure, we seek to be invited into the lives of the characters we see on the stage, but we don’t need to be bludgeoned into participating. 

Edmund J. McDevitt
© October 2022

The post “Clyde’s” at the Goodman Theater appeared first on Art Can Save Us and Life's Ideas.

He was not.

We have a large number of states in which a radical right religious faction has taken over as the legislative, moral, literary, and thought police. They are today’s American Taliban. the extreme religious zealots who set themselves up as arbiters of societal behavior, perfectly willing to impose their warped view of society on the rest of us.

They police womens’ bodies. They police libraries, They police sexuality. They spin up horror stories and ideas of conspiracy to spread fear among their own ranks. They prey on terrors inculcated in people by religious leaders whose readings of foundational texts are rife with hate of the “other,” often in direct contradiction of intentionally unmentioned lessons in the same texts. They willingly spout falsehoods in the service of power and they do it in very intentional ways. They ban the teaching of accurate history.

They give license to bigotry, to the inchoate fury of the deeply troubled in our society, to the worst instincts of the mob and use the results to their political power advantage.They cloak their lies and imprecations with references to false “freedoms” that they claim are being stolen while, by design, they steal and muffle guaranteed and hard-won freedoms they do not agree with. They cloak their lies in their loudly bruited concern for non-existent humans while demonstrating contempt for existing humans they decline to care for.

This American Taliban is a blot on our body politic. It has arisen in states some of which have unscrupulous actors who use the background radiation of other-hate not only to champion draconian, punitive laws, but to play willingly with lives in the service of playground posturing. These “leaders” get a lot of press from their outrages, and that’s precisely the point. It’s about them, not about principles. But what they do merely increases the overwhelming stench of Talibanism in their states.

Florida is, and has been, a Taliban state. Texas is an extreme Taliban state. Indiana is a Taliban state. Missouri is a Taliban state. 

Michigan has significant pockets of Talibanism, as do Arizona, Kentucky, and Iowa. Wisconsin’s legislature and courts are in the hands of that state’s Taliban. Many other Southern states emulate Kentucky in their Talibanness, particularly among those who pine for Civil War days and the “rising” of the South again, presumably as slave states (or at least one would think so, given the rhetoric of the zealots in those states). 

We readily condemn what the Taliban in Afghanistan does to its people, especially to its women. The attitudes about and treatment of women in our Taliban states is qualitatively the same, particularly in their draconian intrusion into the lives of women. Their attitude is one of possession, of holding women as objects which, if they happen to become pregnant, are merely containers for the fetus and without personal ownership of themselves. 

The states of the former Confederacy, which if you recall, was a treasonous excrescence in our history, wish not only to “rise again,” but also to expunge any truths that expose their actual history. They claim not to be responsible for the sins of their forebears, but even while acknowledging that there were such sins, they legislate away any evidence of the transgressions. In this and in their contempt for the lives of women, it’s as if they have invented their own version of Shariah law. But it’s actually worse than Shariah law by reason of its being perpetrated in a land ostensibly of freedom.

The main difference between American Talibanism and that in Afghanistan is that the Afghanistan Taliban can claim a certain doctrinaire consistency in their terrible suppression of their citizens. Not so here. The major Talibanish perps in our country do what they do mainly to appeal to the worst instincts of their followers and to make political points against their opponents. So the Greg Abbotts, the Ron DeSantises, the Trumpists throughout the south and southwest and plains states, are stunningly dishonest in their motives and actions, and do not hesitate to be patently disingenuous when they are not outright lying. Many of them are masters of political manipulation, of playing to the audience, and of pure fabrication when it suits the occasion.

Decry and scorn the Taliban in Afghanistan as we will, it’s only consistent to recognize our own large areas of Talibanism. And keep in mind that our Taliban cloak their political machinations in religion too, a particularly corrosive version of American christianity that is hell-bent on imposing itself on our secular society. The zealots of that broad sect care not for your liberty or beliefs. They are fine with Taliban-style measures when they can get them. But they’re much more aiming for a theocratic state in the mode of Iran. Our job is to oppose them at every turn, to shout them down (they shout a lot), to expose their schemes and their full-throated lies. We need not waste our time trying to convince or “convert” them. We have to convince those they speak to incessantly.  They are a major danger to our democracy and need bright lights shone on them to expose the tripe they spout.

Don’t think that terming these actors an American Taliban is merely an analogy. It’s a reality in our body politic. We cannot expunge the Afghanistan Taliban. We can and must expose our own Taliban and wipe it out of existence. It’s an imperative for the Republic.

Edmund McDevitt
© October 2022

The post Our American Taliban appeared first on Art Can Save Us and Life's Ideas.