Candace Parker is Retiring!

 She announced Sunday on social media:

In 2021, after 13 seasons with L.A., Parker returned to Chicago as a veteran superstar. With teammates Allie Quigley, Courtney Vandersloot and Kahleah Copper, she helped win the franchise’s first WNBA championship and the only championship by a Chicago professional sports team since 2016.

And the city showed up to watch her do it. For Games 3 and 4 of the 2021 WNBA Finals at Wintrust Arena, a sellout crowd of 10,387 was in attendance to watch the Sky defeat Diana Taurasi and the Phoenix Mercury.

Last summer, I wrote about how Chicagoans view the city as a basketball mecca. Parker represents that proud love and legacy.

“She’s the original Caitlin Clark. CP is Jordan and Caitlin is LeBron in terms of visibility,” Marquee Sports Sky reporter Karli Bell told me. “Candace Parker is the epitome of what a women’s Chicago basketball player is. She had a ferocity, intensity, and grit that represented the city of Chicago on such a level that everyone who was playing basketball at that time really wanted to emulate it.”

The Strawberry Statement.

 James S. Kunen

Oops... that's the raspberry, not a strawberry... lol

Dogs Like This, Not Guns

 If you live in a rough area and have to protect yourself, don't choose guns.

People watch as Chicago police and other law enforcement investigate the scene where Chicago police Officer Luis Huesca was shot and killed overnight on April 21, 2024, in the 3100 block of West 56th Street in Gage Park. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

Chicago Buried a Slain Police Officer Today

 Officer Luis M. Huesca was laid to rest on April 29, 2024 after a funeral mass at St. Rita of Cascia Shrine Chapel.  You can read the details here -- how long he had been on the force, no wife or children survive him. How he was shot to death off duty but in uniform coming home from work that night.  His patrol vehicle was stolen...  They don't pay me to cover these stories.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/04/29/editorial-luis-huesca-brandon-johnson-funeral-police/?lctg=A4DDB401F552C5C934D58417D8&utm_email=A4DDB401F552C5C934D58417D8&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=https%3a%2f%2fwww.chicagotribune.com%2f2024%2f04%2f29%2feditorial-luis-huesca-brandon-johnson-funeral-police%2f&utm_campaign=Dont-Miss&utm_content=alert

I just wanted to note:  the family requested that Mayor Brandon Johnson not attend the funeral.  This doesn't bode well for a city where politicians and police will have to work together to host the DNC this summer, imho.

People should be looking ahead in this country, not worried about if a former president paid off his mistress.  We shouldn't be wasting time, news opinion space or money addressing that when so many problems face us... imho.

Who cares about Israel either?  Stop arming them, and let them face the consequences of their actions in the world.  Enough troubles already without Israeli supporters bringing their political messes and constant wars to our nation.  Enough is enough.  We've had enough.

Just issue everybody here at home a gun -- a nice assault weapon -- and let things play out.  Then the authorities won't have too much power, and people will have a chance to defend themselves before dying.  May the best armed win seems to be the game we play today.  So be it then.

Don't Offer Him Any More Money, Joe...

 to "see the light"!  Benyamin Netanyahu has proven himself a very stupid man, but even he is not stupid enough to have his IDF forces raid Rafah now, where there is no way to avoid so many unarmed humans casualties now that Israel's plan to force the Pali's into Egypt has failed...

Call his bluff.  Take back control.  The whole world is watching and there is no way Israel will invade Rafah so don't offer him another dime of our taxpayer money to do what is NOT going to be done anyway.

Let the IDF get off their cowardly asses, stop bombing from above, and get into those tunnels after HAMAS and their hostages like they should have been doing months ago.  Yes, a good number of IDF soldiers will likely day.  It's wartime, baby.  You can't fear death if you want to see results...

Biden to Confer With Netanyahu on a Possible Cease-Fire and Hostage Deal

The president plans to speak with the Israeli prime minister on Sunday, 

the same day Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken left for his latest trip to the Middle East.

2h ago

----------

PS.  Tony Blinken has proven himself ineffectual on every diplomatic mission he's been sent on, but you kinda hope the fella is racking up some Frequent Flier miles the way they are trotting him around the globe as America's presidential foreign-policy substitute, no?

"Say It Ain't So, Joe? Say It Ain't So?"

 The United States if being played:  our taxpayers are cutting billion-dollar checks -- annually -- for weapons manufactured on US soil, and we have NO leverage over Bibi Netanyahu's war(s) or the conduct of the IDF soldiers whose work we are collectively funding?

Who is the Superpower here?  Is AIPAC/the Evangelical lobby really calling the shots?

NYT reports:

The U.S. will not suspend aid, for now, to Israeli military units accused of abusing Palestinians in the West Bank.

 (Have the allegedly abusive soldiers been suspended from duty/detained at least, as the investigation continues? I'm all for Due Process, but this is wartime. Chop-chop.)

In the In Box.

 Malcolm rolls on...

Sanders-Vance.

I'd vote for that bi-partisan ticket for president.

Focus on America.  Don't fund Netanyahu and Zelensky.

Let supporters privately contribute to the "defense" of Israel and Ukraine.

How long until the billions are gone and those two countries are back asking for more US protection from the consequences of their actions?

If they pay for the weapons themselves, they will likely be more careful how the ammunition is used, and be more realistic in what can be accomplished by weapons.  There's no incentive to negotiate an end to any war America is financing... And when we are attacked?  Our allies will not be able to provide a defense for US.

Blest are they who fear the Lord. Psalm 115

 Psalm 115

King James Version

115 Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake.

2 Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God?

3 But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.

4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.

5 They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not:

6 They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not:

7 They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat.

8 They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.

9 O Israel, trust thou in the Lord: he is their help and their shield.

10 O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord: he is their help and their shield.

11 Ye that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord: he is their help and their shield.

12 The Lord hath been mindful of us: he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron.

13 He will bless them that fear the Lord, both small and great.

14 The Lord shall increase you more and more, you and your children.

15 Ye are blessed of the Lord which made heaven and earth.

16 The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's: but the earth hath he given to the children of men.

17 The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.

18 But we will bless the Lord from this time forth and for evermore. Praise the Lord.

Biden' Speech Today Is Gearing Us Up for War

People voted for Barack Obama in 2008 not because they wanted to elect a historical first b/Black president.  People voted for Obama-Biden because they were tired of the Bush-Cheney wars and Barack Obama inspired us with his youthful attitude promising Change.  When he didn't deliver, and got sucked into the DC establishment political mindset, despite being an "outsider" as a one-term US senator, people were disappointed...

They still wanted #Change.  So they took a chance on Donald Trump, who promised to get us out of the endless wars that lingered for years, and he even set a timetable.

If you heard President Biden's speech today, you understand the need for "open borders" because not too many Americans want their children to die for Ukraine or Israel, even Eastern European or Jewish-American ethnics, I suspect.  Enlistment is down, and I bet it's even harder to find recruits today...

David Brooks, whose son chose to serve in the IDF while the United States war actively warring in Iraq and Afghanistan, is slowly catching on too:

Updated 

April 24, 2024, 11:30 a.m. ETJust Now

Just now

David Brooks

Opinion Columnist

Why I’m Getting More Pessimistic About Biden’s Chances This Fall

Wouldn't the World Today Be Better Off...

 ... if some country got a sniper in to assassinate Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet?  Honest question.  Military strategy today says, Yes.

Way more than 100 people, Jewish people too (as if their opinions on American foreign policy count for more...)(?)

As Senator Chuck Schumer of New York prepared for a final vote to pass an aid package that would provide $26 billion to Israel and billions more to Ukraine and Taiwan, it appeared that at least 100 protesters were arrested after blocking traffic in his Brooklyn neighborhood on the second night of Passover to call for an end to the United States’ military support of Israel.All that money the US sent Israel, with no conditions at all!  (You know what they say about stepping in when elders are prey to scammers?  Biden, Pelosi and Schumer are being scammed out of billions and will lead us into another world war.)  Take the keys back, kids!  It's your country and your future! #YesYouCan #ChangeIsGonnaCome...

No, It's Not.

The US is simply throwing billions into an unwinnable war.  Faith in Guns. 

Is $60 Billion Enough to Save Ukraine? 

Congress approved a new aid package after months of delay, potentially throwing the country a lifeline in its war with Russia.

And the US will never make the world safe for Israel either by supplying the little country with advanced military technology they don't know how to use properly.  What good are all the fighter jets in the world if the IDF soldiers are afraid to go underground after HAMAS and their hostages, and prefer a war of attrition attempting -- with US support -- to drive the Palestinians off their lands?

The only hope now is a Pearl Harbor "surprise attack" on the US homeland where everyone gets drawn into Netanyahu's World Wars of "defense"...  (you know that's coming here, right?  We'll be "caught off guard" the way Israel and the IDF was on October 7... wait and see.  History has a way of repeating itself and... character -- or the lack of -- counts!  Either you respect life, or you don't.) 

Israel’s foreign minister thanks the Senate for passing a "hard-fought" aid bill

Congress approved a new aid package after months of delay, potentially throwing the country a lifeline in its war with Russia. 3h ago 

IDF deploying two reserve brigades to Gaza as Israel girds for Rafah offensive

Troops to reportedly secure central corridor and US aid pier, allowing soldiers there now to ready for planned push into southern city; 40,000 tents for evacuees procured

 

Think and Judge for Yourself in America 2024

 I'm sure Bret Stephens did not realize video of the incidents he describes here in his weekly NYT column exists or he would have linked it:

The Free Press:  "I was stabbed in the eye at Yale"

This is a 21st century war. Everything is recorded and fear propaganda is much less effective. (Even in the current media vacuum, the IDF has had to admit disinterring Palestinian remains in recent days, the mass gravesites at the hospital complexes they attacked earlier in the war, allegedly pursuing their hostages who were whisked underground where the IDF refused to follow to find them. =Fear.) 

Readers can now view the video online from the alleged Yale eyeball attack and judge for themselves the degree of danger the Jewish-American student on campus complained of -- whether she was intentionally stabbed in the eye, or was emulating her mother's experience and over hyped her injury for national media purposes.  Stephens bit, but he's biased.  Most neutral observers understand what is happening in the world today and why....

By Sahar Tartak

April 21, 2024

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I was stabbed in the eye last night on Yale University’s campus because I am a Jew...

My assailant was masked and wearing a keffiyeh, concealing his identity. He also wore glasses and a black jacket. I started to yell and chase after him, but the wall of students continued to block me as I screamed. Next, I went to the Yale police, but they offered little in the way of assistance. They told me that their orders came from administrators who weren’t present at the demonstration, and that there were only seven officers to handle a crowd of about 500. So I was checked out by an ambulance EMT, who recommended I go to the hospital.

The midnight demonstration, the encampment, the violence, all of it violates Yale policy. Some of it, like my assault, also violates state and federal law. Yet nothing meaningful seems to happen in response. Given Yale’s permissiveness, I had the sinking feeling that someone would get hurt. I just didn’t expect it to be me.  

I felt pressure where the stick of the flag had hit my left eye and had a headache last night and much of today. I’m okay now, though. But last night, sitting in the hospital, I couldn’t help but think of my mother, Shahnaz, who grew up in Iran. Her neighbors threw rocks at her for being a Jew. She has a scar on her eyelid to this day. 

When Will the Jewish People Speak Out Against Violence Against Christians?

Why do honest words that hurt their ears -- Israel is a genocide state, and entirely dependent on the US for the weapons to kill offensively -- deserve more news coverage than actual physical violence against Christian clergy?

Why don't more Jewish people call for Netanyahu's ouster and for their US-funded military to stop killing Palestinians if they want an end to anti-semitism?  Just like anyone who wants the end to the Israeli slaughter of Palestinians civilians is asked to speak out against Hamas and urge them to release the bodies of the hostages taken in October?

It seems... unsymmetrical the logic that is crumbling every day.  Either we use words, not violence, to address what our tax dollars are doing, or we welcome more violence here at home.  If Guns are Power now, and the best defense is a good offense no matter the collaterol damage, why not just hail gang leaders as our new politicians, well equipped at running guns themselves?

#Right>Might   #JoeBidenGottaGo  #ClearTheDCSwampOfEntrenchedPoliticians

How Far We've Fallen...

Twenty years ago today, Pat Tillman was killed by American forces in Afghanistan.  And today? Dick Cheney's daughter Liz has an op-ed running in the NYT -- currently being published by the former publisher's son -- urging the Supreme Court to play politics and "Get Trump!" (a pragmatic man who never started any wars under his watch).

A big problem is demographics.  The war boomers -- the children of the men and women who won WWII -- only see war as profit makers, and they stayed in power much too long, promoting their own children into their ranks.

Now, Age has come for our leaders, who still refuse to leave the stage and let smarter minds in younger bodies have their due.  The old boomers and their ilk (Biden might not be one, but he's a political grifter all the same) are clinging by their fingernails, unable to give up the easy money yet unable in their physical and mental deterioration to call the shots...

Our country is being sold out to the top bidders, whether that be in business or housing stock.  We see it happening but are still slow to take action -- applauding politeness and "going along to getting along".  But never count America and Americans out.  We have an innate sense of justice, and respect for women and children and down deep, we know our country has thrown in with with so lowly people who do not respect life.

So on this Earth Day? Lift a glass of clean water to the memory of Pat Tillman, and gird your loins for the heavy work still ahead.  "Tis a gift to be simple, tis a gift to be Free..."  There's still enough not yet caught up in the trappings, with honest hearts and clean hands who can make this country work.

Know Justice, Know Hope.  Know Peace, Know Love.  

Ah, but What Do VOTERS Think?

 What are they teaching in J-school today? They don't seem to understand how power works either.

1. Lawmakers reiterate support for Johnson on heels of approval of foreign aid package

   This was featured in live coverage.

   5h ag

Police Officer Targeted and Killed in Chicago...

Off-duty but uniformed and returning home from his shift last night. Shot multiple times. Almost 31 years of age... 6-year department. veteran. #Sad.

Added: They stole his cop car. No suspects in custody. Evidence is being collected. God Bless Chicago.

If you're political and like charts,

 Happy Sunday afternoon:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2024/04/20/ukraine-israel-border-funding-house-vote/?itid=hp-top-table-main_p001_f003

((Tik --tok ban voting results, too.) Enjoy.

"The Emperor Will Have No Close..."

 Pray for the people of Israel. Pray for their hostages. May they one day know wisdom:

The House, with a bipartisan vote, approves an aid package for Israel.

This was featured in live coverage.

58m ago

Israeli raid on a refugee camp in the West Bank kills at least 10 people.

This was featured in live coverage.

2h ago

Democracy Doesn't Die in Police Custody Because Young People Always Rise Refreshed.

 

That's how Nature works -- like when the stronger ones take down an aging leader of the pack so together we fare better in the future. We just haven't seen that attitude in this country for so long, expecting "adults" to "buy in" and march in lockstep behind octagenarian leadership in America today that doesn't allow everyone's voice to be heard while addresses issues of concern only at the top (sex scandals, free speech protections, endless wars of conquest...) 

 

“The police presence and the arrests do not deter us in any way,” said Layla Saliba, 24, a Palestinian-American student at the School of Social Work, at a news conference organized by Apartheid Divest, a coalition of student groups.

Team D takes a hit: Biden Down. Biden Down!

I think we can state firmly:  today was the day Joe Biden lost the November election:

ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz

@Israel_katz

I commend President Biden

@POTUS

for his ironclad commitment to Israel's security and his announcement of new sanctions on leaders and entities affiliated with Iran's IRGC, the Iranian Defense Ministry, and Iran's missile and drone program, following its brutal attack on Israel. President Biden has called on all G7 partners to take the same path. This is our opportunity to form a global front and a regional coalition against Iran, together with the US, the EU, and moderate Arab states, to stop the serpent's head that threatens global stability. We must stop Iran now before it's too late.

9:03 AM · Apr 18, 2024

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