@grammich.bsky.social
This, and the structured roll call to end the "shutdown" last month, remind me of what my youngest said last summer: Team D claimed 2024 was an existential election but spent three weeks dumping all over their presumptive nominee. It wasn't a comment on the candidate(s). But the "leaders"? Yowza.
It really undercuts any of their messaging that democracy is at risk and fascism/authoritarianism is on the rise when they treat vote after vote as if it’s just business as usual.
December 19, 2025 at 2:32 PM
This, and the structured roll call to end the "shutdown" last month, remind me of what my youngest said last summer: Team D claimed 2024 was an existential election but spent three weeks dumping all over their presumptive nominee. It wasn't a comment on the candidate(s). But the "leaders"? Yowza.
As an Illinois taxpayer and, for that matter, one-time resident of Northwest Indiana, I say, go for it. The bluff on this one is strong--unless Bears STH really are more concentrated toward Lake Station than Lake Forest.
"This is not about leverage," added Bears CEO Kevin Warren, but when you issue a public letter announcing that the only reason you're considering leaving your state is because the state won't lavish $1B on you, it's hard to read it any other way.
Bears exec finally threatens to move team to Indiana in fight for $1B in Illinois public money
Chicago Bears execs have been asking Illinois for a pile of dough for a new stadium for years now, and have been consistently told by state leaders to go pound sand. And as a famous Chicagoan once alm...
www.fieldofschemes.com
December 19, 2025 at 4:10 AM
As an Illinois taxpayer and, for that matter, one-time resident of Northwest Indiana, I say, go for it. The bluff on this one is strong--unless Bears STH really are more concentrated toward Lake Station than Lake Forest.
Sad story but interesting map at www.nbcnews.com/health/kids-.... t quick glance, it appears Mississippi has the best DTAP vaccination rate in the nation, and New York right behind it. In Illinois, central and southern counties do better than northern ones. Good for them!
Whooping cough cases soar as vaccination rates drop
In an NBC News data investigation of 31 states, about 70% of counties and jurisdictions fell below the target vaccination rate needed for community protection.
www.nbcnews.com
December 19, 2025 at 4:01 AM
Sad story but interesting map at www.nbcnews.com/health/kids-.... t quick glance, it appears Mississippi has the best DTAP vaccination rate in the nation, and New York right behind it. In Illinois, central and southern counties do better than northern ones. Good for them!
Reposted
The theological musings of . . . Joe Rogan
December 3, 2025 at 4:26 PM
The theological musings of . . . Joe Rogan
Looks like the NFL is having a correlation series: on 12/7 and 12/20, the Bears, 9-3 under the papacy of a, um, White Sox fan, play the Packers, 13-5 when their QB is shilling for a, um, Japanese motor company.
Spurious, you say? Well, they're playing the games to find out!
Spurious, you say? Well, they're playing the games to find out!
Jordan Love's Toyotathon effect: Packers QB becomes unstoppable each holiday season
Love's success during Toyotahon is impossible to ignore.
www.cbssports.com
December 3, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Looks like the NFL is having a correlation series: on 12/7 and 12/20, the Bears, 9-3 under the papacy of a, um, White Sox fan, play the Packers, 13-5 when their QB is shilling for a, um, Japanese motor company.
Spurious, you say? Well, they're playing the games to find out!
Spurious, you say? Well, they're playing the games to find out!
The focus here is on Protestantism, as it should be in discussions of Christianity in the world's most Protestant nation. But the observations about Catholicism in the last few paragraphs caught my eye as well.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
They’re doing to America what they did to Christianity | Bill McKibben
Trump’s wrecking-ball approach to America has a precedent: the evangelical perversion of Jesus’s message of radical love to one of hate and aggression
www.theguardian.com
November 28, 2025 at 12:07 AM
The focus here is on Protestantism, as it should be in discussions of Christianity in the world's most Protestant nation. But the observations about Catholicism in the last few paragraphs caught my eye as well.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
Kudos to CNN for this observation . . .
==
The pro-penny group is funded primarily by Artazn, the company that provides the blanks used to make pennies
==
I guess there is (or was?) a lobby for everything!
www.cnn.com/2025/11/12/b...
==
The pro-penny group is funded primarily by Artazn, the company that provides the blanks used to make pennies
==
I guess there is (or was?) a lobby for everything!
www.cnn.com/2025/11/12/b...
The last-ever penny was minted today in Philadelphia | CNN Business
The American penny passed away today after a prolonged illness. It was 238 years old.
www.cnn.com
November 13, 2025 at 5:15 AM
Kudos to CNN for this observation . . .
==
The pro-penny group is funded primarily by Artazn, the company that provides the blanks used to make pennies
==
I guess there is (or was?) a lobby for everything!
www.cnn.com/2025/11/12/b...
==
The pro-penny group is funded primarily by Artazn, the company that provides the blanks used to make pennies
==
I guess there is (or was?) a lobby for everything!
www.cnn.com/2025/11/12/b...
Watching Senate Ds this week made me think of Crash Davis watching Ebby Calvin LaLoosh talking to the press (www.youtube.com/watch?v=golS...), though I told my oldest that might not be apt. His response: of course it's not apt. Unlike Nuke, they didn't get a win.
BULL DURHAM (1988) | Meet Crash Davis | MGM
YouTube video by Amazon MGM Studios
www.youtube.com
November 13, 2025 at 4:08 AM
Watching Senate Ds this week made me think of Crash Davis watching Ebby Calvin LaLoosh talking to the press (www.youtube.com/watch?v=golS...), though I told my oldest that might not be apt. His response: of course it's not apt. Unlike Nuke, they didn't get a win.
Ask them all.
This was a Senate leadership deal with a structured roll call. The real question is if Sen. Duckworth still supports Senate leadership after they made that deal. If she does, then her statement means little. I've asked her staff
Trump and Republicans refuse to fight for American families, but I refuse to give up on them.
I simply cannot vote to do nothing to help protect them from Trump’s vindictive efforts in exchange for a vague promise from the least trustworthy Republican party in our nation’s history.
I simply cannot vote to do nothing to help protect them from Trump’s vindictive efforts in exchange for a vague promise from the least trustworthy Republican party in our nation’s history.
November 10, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Ask them all.
Is the Cracker Barrel logo reversal the dumber version of the New Coke story?
August 27, 2025 at 3:05 AM
Is the Cracker Barrel logo reversal the dumber version of the New Coke story?
Thursday, August 28, is North Central College Night at the Kane County Cougars, featuring a Leo XIV bobblehead giveaway and Thirsty Thursday specials on beer, pop, and hot dogs.
I'm not sure where to go with that, but I'll start with this: do the Cougars know North Central is a Methodist school?
I'm not sure where to go with that, but I'll start with this: do the Cougars know North Central is a Methodist school?
August 20, 2025 at 1:41 AM
Thursday, August 28, is North Central College Night at the Kane County Cougars, featuring a Leo XIV bobblehead giveaway and Thirsty Thursday specials on beer, pop, and hot dogs.
I'm not sure where to go with that, but I'll start with this: do the Cougars know North Central is a Methodist school?
I'm not sure where to go with that, but I'll start with this: do the Cougars know North Central is a Methodist school?
Good for Pritzker on this. But my gast remains flabbered that the Bears could spend $197M on a property in Illinois, of all places, then be shocked by property taxes.
Bears execs clearly don't want to build a new stadium unless it comes with sacks of public cash; whether they couldn't make it work without taxpayer help and would have to stay put at Soldier Field, only they and their investment bankers know for sure.
Illinois governor opposes “propping up” Bears’ profits with tax breaks
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has weighed in on Chicago Bears execs' demand for property tax breaks, and his response was yeah nope: "I’d like the Bears to stay in the City of Chicago, if they could," Pritzker said. "They’re a private business. They can choose to do what they like with their business. I do not think...
www.fieldofschemes.com
August 13, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Good for Pritzker on this. But my gast remains flabbered that the Bears could spend $197M on a property in Illinois, of all places, then be shocked by property taxes.
If you were a Catholic priest, then why would you give money to *any* political candidate?
The Chicago Sun-Times found that more than 70 Catholic clerics in Illinois collectively gave over $50,000 to political campaigns since 2021. The money was almost evenly split between Democrats and Republicans.
Just like their flock, Catholic priests are deeply divided politically, based on their campaign contributions
The Chicago Sun-Times found that more than 70 Catholic clerics in Illinois collectively gave over $50,000 to political campaigns since 2021. The money was almost evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, with President Donald Trump and his 2024 rival Kamala Harris both recipients.
trib.al
July 25, 2025 at 6:09 PM
If you were a Catholic priest, then why would you give money to *any* political candidate?
Reposted
Can't argue with this, either...
July 3, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Can't argue with this, either...
On the left, my first MLB jersey, a 2023 Xmas gift. On the right, my second MLB jersey, a belated Father's Day gift that arrived today.
Of all the possible #14 combinations in MLB jerseys, this is one of them.
Of all the possible #14 combinations in MLB jerseys, this is one of them.
June 23, 2025 at 5:52 PM
On the left, my first MLB jersey, a 2023 Xmas gift. On the right, my second MLB jersey, a belated Father's Day gift that arrived today.
Of all the possible #14 combinations in MLB jerseys, this is one of them.
Of all the possible #14 combinations in MLB jerseys, this is one of them.
Tonight's CWS attendance: 36,916. Highest this year by nearly 6K. Only the second sellout that wasn't Opening Day or a CHC game since 2012 (or earlier?). The other was last year and, like tonight, was Mexican Heritage Night.
June 7, 2025 at 4:24 AM
Tonight's CWS attendance: 36,916. Highest this year by nearly 6K. Only the second sellout that wasn't Opening Day or a CHC game since 2012 (or earlier?). The other was last year and, like tonight, was Mexican Heritage Night.
I don't know if I can credit the Leo XIV effect, but I will: www.mlb.com/whitesox/pre...
White Sox Announce Long-Term Ownership Investment Agreement
CHICAGO - The Chicago White Sox today announced that Jerry Reinsdorf and Justin Ishbia have reached a long-term investment agreement that establishes a framework for Ishbia to obtain a future controll...
www.mlb.com
June 5, 2025 at 5:41 PM
I don't know if I can credit the Leo XIV effect, but I will: www.mlb.com/whitesox/pre...
A week ago, "The Pope Is a White Sox Fan" is the title of a surreal detective novel set on the South Side. Or at least it would be if any publisher would touch it, which they wouldn't.
Today, it's maybe only the third-craziest angle coming out of that surreal conclave?
Today, it's maybe only the third-craziest angle coming out of that surreal conclave?
Wrote about the pope being a White Sox fan. It's pretty crazy! soxmachine.com/2025/05/so-t...
So the pope is a White Sox fan - Sox Machine
In his autobiography, Bill Veeck wrote, “If there is any justice in this world, to be a White Sox fan frees a man from any form of penance.” Now that a White Sox fan is literally the pope, I guess we’...
soxmachine.com
May 11, 2025 at 10:32 AM
A week ago, "The Pope Is a White Sox Fan" is the title of a surreal detective novel set on the South Side. Or at least it would be if any publisher would touch it, which they wouldn't.
Today, it's maybe only the third-craziest angle coming out of that surreal conclave?
Today, it's maybe only the third-craziest angle coming out of that surreal conclave?
I would not want to sing the anthem in front of Taylor Swift.
January 26, 2025 at 11:39 PM
I would not want to sing the anthem in front of Taylor Swift.
Reposted
December 13, 2024 at 4:21 PM