Is slaughter on the streets a form of slow genocide of the urban poor?

I read with horror the weekly body count of shooting victims on Chicago’s mean streets each Monday. Forty or more shot with half a dozen or more dead is the norm, not the exception.

Chicago hospitals are on track to patch up nearly 3,500 shooting victims this year, excluding the ones simply buried. The relatives, friends, colleagues and acquaintances of those victims is likely over a million.

Most shootings occur in poor, minority communities woefully lacking in every virtually every societal service enjoyed by me and my fellow citizens of privilege.

The majority of folks living outside America’s shooting galleries appear oblivious to the carnage. ‘If it’s not occurring in my neighborhood why should I get involved’ may be a typical response. More ominous might be ‘Let all those undesirables kill each other off.’

Our political class and our capitalist gun industry are doing nothing to prevent millions of guns filtering down to anyone in need, regardless of legal restrictions. This allows kids on those mean streets to play with real guns like my friends and I played with cap guns in the 50’s.

There is a cruel irony that the Second Amendment, designed to arm white slaveholders to control their human property of color, is now used to funnel unlimited guns into communities of color, resulting in a form of self-destruction.

The thought crosses my mind. Is the carnage we’re seeing, even if unintentional, a form of slow genocide from above of America’s most vulnerable?

Euphemism of the Day: Over the horizon capability

Ask a hundred folks what that means and you'd be lucky to get one straight answer.

It refers to U.S. attempts to secure a safe haven just across the border from Afghanistan, which we're in the process of vacating, to bomb the bejesus out of the Taliban who are likely to overrun the puppet U.S. Afghan government we've bailed on after 20 years.

Truth be told we're not really ending the Afghan war. We'll keep squandering trillions to be the first super power in history to subjugate a country that simply will not be subjugated.

American exceptionalism learns nothing from its failures and nothing from history.

For America, 'over the horizon' means there is always a place to blow our treasure blowing up innocent people, rather than spending that treasure to uplift our own crumbling society.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the U.S. is already conducting air ops over Afghanistan from aircraft carriers and distant U.S. bases. So far, nations just 'over the horizon' are telling Austin to 'get lost.'

Good advice.

Dear NATO: You shelf life expired 30 years ago

Back in 1991 the Soviet Union imploded. Russia was left with just…Russia, a shadow of the former Soviet behemoth.

Its remaining population under 150 million was just a fifth of the Europe NATO was designed to defend against. It’s a poor country with a GDP less than Italy. Compared to a united Europe, Russia is more like flea on an elephant’s butt.

Thirty years ago, NATO lost its core mission and should have disbanded. But the U.S. wouldn’t hear of it and the NATO members didn’t want to lose the U.S. gravy train of free stuff to defend against a now phantom enemy.

To keep hyping the Russian threat, the U.S. encouraged NATO to expand from its original 12 members to now 30, practically on Russia’s doorstep. This broke President Poppa Bush’s promise to not do that if Russia greenlighted the reunification of Germany. U.S. betrayal was no surprise. When you’re the only superpower standing, you can break agreements and treaties at will. Just ask Iran and the countries trying to combat global warming and nuclear proliferation.

To stay relevant, NATO expanded its core mission to do regime change with the U.S. in Serbia, Libya and Afghanistan among others. Trump was right to denigrate wasteful defense spending to keep NATO off life support.

Biden and U.S. exceptionalists now proclaim America and NATO are back to ruling the world. U.S. treasure again flows to NATO without threat of drawdown.

With Russia clearly an insignificant threat, both the U.S. and NATO are pivoting to the pacific to oppose their new bête noir China. The biggest threat to catastrophic war comes from right here in the homeland, and NATO Headquarters.

Speaking of shelf life, we should treat NATO like milk. Once its shelf life is over…you dump it.

From bar stool to Stanley Cup win in a few hours

The Blackhawks have had some terrific goalies in their near century existence. Mike Karakas, Al Rollins, Glen Hall, Tony Esposito, Cory Crawford to name a few.

But no goalie had a greater game than Alphie Moore.

On April 5, 1938, Moore, a minor league goalie living in Toronto, was getting blitzed in his second gin mill of the day when in walked Blackhawk star Johnny Gottselig. Moore, who knew Gottlieb, asked Johnny if he could score him a ticket to that night’s Stanley Cup Finals opening game at the Maple Leaf Garden against the Leafs.

Gottlieb offered him the best seat in the house…standing guard in front of the Chicago net. Seems Hawks star goalie Mike Karakas broke his toe in the previous game and couldn’t play. Back up netminder Paul Goodman was not yet in town. In a daze Moore was poured into a taxi, suited up, dowsed with coffee and sent out for the chance of a lifetime.

When Leafs player Gordie Drillon drilled the Leaf’s first shot past Moore, it looked like a humiliating night in store for Moore and the Hawks. But that was the last shot Moore allowed on way to a 3-1 Chicago victory.

Goodman arrived for game 2 and lost big 5 – 1. A steel boot for Karakas allowed him to resume netminding in games 3 and 4 both won by the Hawks for a 3-1 Stanley Cup Championship, their second. Of the Hawks 3 goalies used, Moore gave up the fewest goals, 1.

For his improbable heroics in game 1, Hawks manager Bill Tobin awarded Moore $300 and a gold watch.

Moore had a peripatetic career, bouncing between a dozen teams, mostly in the minors, over a 15 year career. Besides his astonishing Stanley Cup win April 5, 1938, Moore started only 21 NHL games, winning 14.

And another footnote to the Hawks ’38 Stanley Cup win? Their 14 wins, 25 losses, 9 ties is the worst regular season record for a championship team in all of sports.

Oberweis election loss challenge was political theater

Karel Jones in her Fencepost defense of failed 14th District congressional candidate Jim Oberweis, sounds at first glance, well reasoned.

But deconstructing Jones’ defense of Oberweis’ unending effort to overturn Lauren Underwood’s win reveals little difference from Trump’s unrelenting effort to undermine our electoral democracy over his loss for president.

Oberweis’ loss of 5,373 votes was not that close. Nationwide dozens, even hundreds of such close races occur without warrantless, extended challenge. The State Board of Election certified it after the official recount a month after the election.

Jones simply makes the same argument that Trump and the national GOP have made for the last 7 months. Jones version is that Oberweis’ loss “continues to raise serious issues among many voters of voter integrity and accuracy.”

Her evidence? Oberweis’ election night lead evaporated from “mail in and drop box ballots that mysteriously began appearing from some counties in the gerrymandered 14 District.” It was no mystery that mail in and drop box ballots were counted later…always have been, always will be. Their totals will only increase as more voters use mail in/drop box voting for its convenience, and during pandemic, their safety.

Jones is simply using the GOP playbook that urged Election Day voting to give their underdog candidate a lead on election night, then charge, with zero evidence, that the more Democratic votes coming in later, prove fraud.

Additionally, the Republican minority in the U.S. House, led by downstate Illinois Republican Rodney Davis, concurred with the Democratic majority that Oberweis’ election redo effort was meritless.

Why don’t we see losing Democratic candidates frivolously challenging relatively small election losses? Maybe, unlike their Republican colleagues, they believe in small d democracy.

Is slaughter on the streets a form of slow genocide of the urban poor?

I read with horror the weekly body count of shooting victims on Chicago’s mean streets each Monday. Forty or more shot with half a dozen or more dead is the norm, not the exception.

Chicago hospitals are on track to patch up nearly 3,500 shooting victims this year, excluding the ones simply buried. The relatives, friends, colleagues and acquaintances of those victims is likely over a million.

Most shootings occur in poor, minority communities woefully lacking in every virtually every societal service enjoyed by me and my fellow citizens of privilege.

The majority of folks living outside America’s shooting galleries appear oblivious to the carnage. ‘If it’s not occurring in my neighborhood why should I get involved’ may be a typical response. More ominous might be ‘Let all those undesirables kill each other off.’

Our political class and our capitalist gun industry are doing nothing to prevent millions of guns filtering down to anyone in need, regardless of legal restrictions. This allows kids on those mean streets to play with real guns like my friends and I played with cap guns in the 50’s.

There is a cruel irony that the Second Amendment, designed to arm white slaveholders to control their human property of color, is now used to funnel unlimited guns into communities of color, resulting in a form of self-destruction.

The thought crosses my mind. Is the carnage we’re seeing, even if unintentional, a form of slow genocide from above of America’s most vulnerable?