Jim Dey: Voters mostly have themselves to blame
Nov. 4—Life is unfair
One of the truisms about politics is that people get the government they deserve.
In other words, if voters elect a knucklehead and get knucklehead government, it's their fault. They deserve everything they get.
That's nowhere more true right now that in the city of Chicago, where voters elected a knucklehead mayor, got knucklehead government and don't like it one bit.
Now, they face a long three years before the next election.
The good news is that Mayor Brandon Johnson seems to be having the time of his life as he bounces from crisis to crisis involving public schools, municipal finances and crime.
In a recent public-opinion poll, Change Research found that the public is angry and that Johnson is "now the most unpopular mayor in the history of the city of Chicago."
His public-approval rating is a dismal 14 percent. But his circumstances are even worse than that.
"... it's not as if people have failed to form an opinion about him; his disapproval rating is now an incomprehensible 79 percent. Even more hilariously, a full 51 percent of all voters specifically view Johnson 'very unfavorably,'" writes Jeffrey Blahar in National Review.
Irony abounds in the poll. The only Chicago politician cited in the poll who has a positive approval rating is former school Superintendent Paul Vallas.
Johnson, Mr. Unpopularity, narrowly defeated Vallas, Mr. Popularity, in the city's 2023 mayoral contest. Voter turnout in that race was very low.
Despite his low ratings, Johnson doesn't appear to be bothered. During his increasingly vitriolic sessions with the news media, he routinely characterizes his critics of being motivated by racial animus.
Our gang?
In a move that probably is not without precedent but still unusual, state prosecutors in Peoria have filed racketeering charges against members of an alleged criminal gang.
RICO — Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act — prosecutions are common at the federal level. The law, which targets criminal organizations, has allowed the feds to decimate organized crime families and prosecute corrupt politicians. But prosecutions at the state level are a different story.
Nonetheless, members of an allegedly criminal street gang in Peoria — "The Snakes" — were charged last week under a state RICO law in connection with three homicides and 12 shootings.
The Peoria Journal-Star reports that "the RICO charges carry a sentence of six to 30 years in prison but could be inflated to 31 years to life in prison if it is proven that their involvement in a gang led to the unlawful deaths of others."
Altogether, prosecutors charged "10 suspected members" of The Snakes. The Journal-Star said "many of those charges" are juveniles who were "not named" publicly by prosecutors.
Playing catch up
A recent story on the growth of legal sports betting in Illinois revealed that all the states surrounding Illinois have some form of legal sports gambling, with one exception.
Voters in Missouri will decide Tuesday whether to join the group and legalize sports betting.
Missouri trailed Illinois when it came to the legalization of marijuana, but it eventually caught up. Now, it's likely to do the same thing on sports betting.
Why?
Backers of legal sports betting are touting "the potential for millions of new tax dollars devoted to schools."
It's always the same pitch — approve a vice, and we'll use the tax proceeds to fund a virtue.
That's a scam, of course. If legal sports betting passes in Missouri, it will produce tax dollars. But money is fungible and can be added to — and subtracted from — governmental budgets with amazing ease.
Hey, toots
In the aftermath of Halloween, it's a fair bet there's still a lot of candy around the house.
So what better time to report on the details of a recent press release issued by the Alliance for American Manufacturing.
Its message was crystal clear: "Be sure to stock up on 'Made in USA' candy this Halloween," and it cited the humble Tootsie Roll as a prime candidate for purchase.
"For the past 128 years, Tootsie Rolls have been a favorite among America's children, and production continues to roll at the 3.2 million-square-foot factory in South Side Chicago," it stated.
Tootsie Roll statistics will gladden the hearts of dentists everywhere. Here's a doozie.
"The Chicago manufacturing plant of Tootsie Roll Industries produces more than 65 million pieces of the classic American candy per day," it stated.
The candy was invented by Leo Hirschfield in 1896 and sold for one penny. He named the candy after his 5-year-old daughter Clara, whom he often called "Tootsie."
They were initially made by hand and sold at Hirschfield's small candy shop. In 1905, production was moved to a four-story Manhattan factory, and the rest is history. The company, which employs more than 2,300, is publicly traded, and the share price is roughly $30 per share.
Tootsie Rolls are made from a mixture of cocoa, sugar, milk and corn syrup, all the ingredients necessary to yank out a filling or initiate a cavity.
Terrible, no good, very bad day
Nov. 4 just has to be one of the worst days of the year.
Why, readers might wonder?
Leaving work around 5 p.m. is no longer a pleasant journey into daylight, but, instead, darkness and gloom.
It was time Sunday to move clocks back an hour because daylight saving time officially ends on the first Sunday of November every year. Everyone now can look forward to the second Sunday in March, when we turn clocks ahead an hour.
Legislators have, from time to time, talked about making DST permanent. But that would only mean more darkness when children go to school in the morning. There's no winning this fight over daylight.
Jim's Pseudo- Intellectual Book Club
Fighting a war is hell, and so is figuring out how to end one.
That's the moral quandary presented in this latest selection, Evan Thomas' excellent "Road to Surrender: Three Men and the Countdown to the End of World War II."
Thomas' book focuses on three leading characters — two Americans, one Japanese — as they try to find their way to end World War II in a way that kills the fewest number of people.
There were no good options to bring an end to the slaughter that consumed much of the world. Casualties were in the millions, but how many millions?
Japan was a defeated nation as U.S. scientists finished their work building the first atomic bomb. But the country's top military leaders refused to acknowledge defeat as they prepared to defend their homeland against an anticipated U.S. invasion.
U.S. Secretary of War Henry Stimson was horrified by the prospect of dropping the first atomic bomb. But he and others — most especially President Harry Truman — were even more horrified by the U.S. casualty estimates in the event of an invasion.
At the same time, Gen. Carl "Tooey" Spaatz, who oversaw strategic bombing in the Pacific, also suffered under the heavily moral burden of carrying out the mission, if it was necessary.
Rounding out the trio was Japanese Foreign Minister Shigenori Togo, a realist who recognized defeat but was surrounded by war hawks who insisted on fighting to the end.
All three men — in their own way — sought to end the war short of the atomic apocalypse, and they failed. The diplomatic intrigue on both sides that Thomas reveals is striking.
As diplomatic talks continued, so did the carnage in the form of the traditional military bombing of Japanese cities. These "burn jobs," as U.S. pilots called them, turned the country's urban areas into a smoldering mess. Still, its military leaders, carrying the burden of Japanese honor, refused to capitulate.
That intransigence finally shifted after the first A-bomb — followed by a second — was dropped.
It was then that Emperor Hirohito, at Togo's urging, turned on military leaders and authorized unconditional surrender. Even then, opponents in the Japanese military either were planning a coup or carrying out ritual suicides.
It's not the most cheerful of books. But for those who want to know the inside story — what all the main players were saying and thinking — this is a worthy and eye-opening choice.
