thought i'd give the keyboard one more exercise before we close out 2015.
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FINALLY. after four years of being in charge and terminating pregnant teachers, MARY WEAVER was ousted on monday. you read that right. a female principal was firing teachers for becoming pregnant......and not during the 1950's but rather during the last four years.  weaver was the main defendant in a federal lawsuit settled last week for over a half million dollars and although the school district admitted no wrongdoing, weaver got whacked just a few days after the settlement. 

BUT, in all fairness, some pieces to the puzzle are missing. weaver was told by officials to go home where she will CONTINUE TO COLLECT HER $147,000 SALARY............for staying home and doing nothing. "don't report for work and stay off school property" said the officials to weaver but she wasn't served termination papers or suspended....just 'reassigned' to her house. 

so stay home, watch tv and eat bon-bons for three thousand dollars a week. where do i sign up? stay tuned on this one.
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and so once again, a black shooting victim is being hailed by his family as someone "who never got in trouble" and "all he did was study" and apparently was just one step away from sainthood before the police "messed up" and shot this poor boy.  but let's dig into QUINTONIO'S recent past just a little bit.

a student at NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY, 'q' has been arrested or investigated for the following incidents in dekalb during the past year: 
1) a fist fight in the dorm 
2) resisting arrest
3) punching a female cafeteria worker in the chest
4) shouting obscenities at the cafeteria staff
5) arrested for battery
6) chasing a woman bicyclist and arrested for assault
7) another resisting arrest charge

and to add to that this disagreement between parents: his natural father said that q had an emotional breakdown at thanksgiving and was hospitalized but foster mom says no, it was just a reaction to synthetic marijuana. oh, that's better. 

does this sound like maybe he strayed a little bit from his studies?

so lets study the pattern: when the cops shoot, the 'victim' is immediately elevated to citizen of the year status but the cop is downgraded to a lowlife scumbag who shouldn't be wearing a badge.  and please be careful.........don't get run over by the family members as they stampede to the DIRKSEN BUILDING to file the federal law suit. think i'm kidding?? 

well, q was shot at 4:30 saturday morning and his father, who had almost nothing to do with his son since he was 5,  filed a wrongful death lawsuit at 9:30 a.m. monday morning.  how the hell do you find a lawyer on a weekend and have all the papers drawn up in time for the opening of the clerk's office on monday? don't you think the father should have taken a minute or two to mourn the passing of his son?

are there bad cops? absolutely. do some of them abuse their powers? no doubt and those bad apples should be removed just like any other corporation gets rid of bad workers.

but don't act like q and all the other 'victims' are angels and never did anything wrong. post shooting investigation normally finds a long history of violence and gang activity and a general disregard for authority in any form and generally reveals that the 'victim' is a lowlife animal who ignored a lawful order, carried a weapon or ran from the police.  wrongful death, my butt.
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now if you want to read a legitimate wrongful death suit, just read the one that was filed on behalf of LAQUON McDONALD after he was murdered by officer JASON VAN DYKE in october of 2014. that incident couldn't be any more wrong. mcdonald's mother quickly settled for five million dollars. most legal beagles say the suit was worth far more.
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MAYOR RAHM EMMANUEL was already banging his head against the wall with the police problems but recent findings that most major cities have had a reduction in crime and police shootings has to have him reaching for the maalox. he cut short his christmas vacation to return to chicago but exactly what is he supposed to do?
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looking for a prime piece of california real estate? MICHAEL JACKSON'S 2700 acre property called 'neverland' can be yours for a cool one hundred million dollars. 12,000 square feet of living space in the main house with six bedrooms & seven bathrooms should fit your daily needs nicely. you are not allowed to rename it 'pedophile junction.'
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time flies.  jackson died six years and a half years ago.
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the BEATLES are now fully released on ITUNES and the #1 song is.....................COME TOGETHER. thought you wanted to know.
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go see STAR WARS. pure fun & ga reat musical score.
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my new year's wish is a simple one: may the healthy stay that way and remember to count their blessings while i hope those who suffered some bad luck this year sit down at the poker game of life and draw nothing but aces. and i truly mean that!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

THINGS I REMEMBER ABOUT THE HOLIDAYS AS A KID

THINGS I REMEMBER ABOUT THE HOLIDAYS AS A KID

I REMEMBER.......

thinking GRANDMA HATFIELD'S christmas tree was the biggest one in the world and having to be lifted by an adult just to hang an ornament mid-tree on christmas eve.

thinking MR. BOYD was very religious in our neighborhood because he only used blue christmas lights on the outside of his corner house.

writing out my list from the SEARS WISH BOOK and making sure i included the page number so it was crystal clear to santa.

always choosing the latter when SANTA gave you the choice of singing, dancing or telling a joke in order to get your present at grandma's house. i would rehearse for a week and always got a laugh.

laughing hysterically when my SISTER PAT tried to sing 'SILENT NIGHT' for her gift and then getting a stern look from grandma, who always whispered to me, "be nice, she tries hard."

seeing my first 'flock tree' and my DAD telling me that only jewish people bought those kinds of christmas trees.  i didn't get his joke. (what's a flock tree?--google it)

always hoping for a red SCHWINN bicycle.

being disappointed when we got an AMERICAN FLYER train set and not a LIONEL.

burning my hand when i decided to touch the color wheel for our aluminum tree.  i blamed my sister.

wondering why AUNTIE ALMA always bought me shortie pajamas. no one else i knew had them. i hated them and never wore them. pajama shorts & a short sleeve top. really?

when the only time you heard the word 'gay' was when somebody sang a christmas carol.

EVERY STORE being closed on christmas day. EVERY STORE.

the lines at LARRY'S GAS STATION (later john's marathon) on christmas eve. if you needed gas for christmas day, you had no choice but to get it then because they closed at 3:00 and didn't re-open for two days.

running out of batteries and having to wait until the NEXT day to get more. my god, the agony.

hanging out by MRS. CERVONE'S kitchen because the stay at home mom cooked christmas treats all day long and all month long.  you never said 'no' when she invited you to stay for dinner.

having to listen to RICHIE CRAWFORD telling us about how great his gifts were....the 'best' baseball glove, the 'best' toys....blah blah blah. you probably knew someone like that.

watching the LAFAYETTE TWINS, bobby & louie, walk out of their house on christmas day dressed exactly alike. they hated it but their mom loved it.

keeping an eye out for FRANK LUCENBACH because he'd steal whatever you left laying out in the yard on christmas day. my dad was indifferent to our situation.......until one day he left his new wrench & hammer outside after fixing our new bikes.......and frank lucenbach just happened to be in the immediate area when they disappeared. frank then became that 'miserable bastard' who lived down the street. TRUE STORY---to this day, frank lives in a van with his dog and drives the country doing odd jobs. wonder if he still has dad's wrench?

getting a new sled but NOT having snow on christmas.

watching bubble light ornaments with all the lights off.

rough housing with my BROTHER TERRY and breaking one of mom's GLASS ornaments. it was always his fault.

crying because we didn't get a christmas present for SPORTY, our sex crazed mongrel. my brother told me that sporty got enough presents every night when he wandered the neighborhood. i didn't get it.

crawling under the tree to water it every day after school.

cleaning up the fallen pine needles by hand because the vacuum 'would clog up.' (when mom wasn't home, we vacuumed anyhow and just unclogged the clog)

having to write 'thank you' notes to relatives who gave you clothes for a present.

finding out the mom & dad hid our presents in the 'junk' closet under the stairs and then having to work at looking  'surprised' on christmas morning.

always being happy when i got a book for a present or anything related to sports.

getting to play cards with the adults christmas night and watching UNCLE OLIVER'S nose because the more he drank, the more his nose twitched. true story.

lying in bed reading that new book until i fell asleep. who turned the light out?

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

BITS & PIECES

just some thoughts rolling around in my head.

Let me see if i have this straight.  a white officer shoots a black thug in ferguson, missouri and the locals riot and burn out their own neighborhoods and even though the officer is cleared by both state & federal authorities, the protest & rioting continued.

In chicago, a black commander was accused of sticking his gun down the throat of another black thug but there wasn't a single protester outside the police station. and when that black officer was acquitted yesterday.............nothing. zip. nada.  so black on black crime isn't worthy of protest? and they say it's not about racial hatred when they protest?  please.

what the hell was WHEATON COLLEGE thinking about when they suspended tenured associate professor DR. LARYCIA HAWKINS for declaring on social media that MUSLIMS and CHRISTIANS worship the same God. "the POPE said the same thing last week and i support that statement but apparently the college doesn't."  stay tuned on this one.

JEB BUSH proved at the las vegas debate that he needs to drop out NOW before he's embarrassed any further. DONALD TRUMP chewed him up and spit him out and no matter what you think of trump, if that's the way bush reacts to pressure, he needs to say good-bye.  i'm amazed he has 3% in the polls.

The CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOL system agreed to pay more than a quarter million dollars to eight teachers who were fired for becoming pregnant during the school year. the teachers will split $222,000 in compensatory damages and also receive their back pay.  worse yet, all 8 teachers were fired by the same principal at the same school.......and she's still employed.

and speaking of the CPS, the teachers have overwhelmingly voted to strike in the spring if negotiations continue to break down.  they needed 75% to strike and they got 96.  great news for MAYOR EMMANUEL who got his chops busted by the union the last time they walked out and already has a lot on his plate.

my head is now back to being a perfect vacuum.  adios for now.

WHAT I THINK & WHAT I KNOW

I think if you want to close the borders for SYRIANS, then we should close the borders to EVERYONE for the next five years. the government could then use that time to ferret out the bad guys living under our roof and take care of business.

i think DONALD TRUMP is a loud mouth bully.

I think PETE ROSE should be allowed into the baseball hall of fame but i also KNOW he shouldn't be allowed anywhere near major league baseball in an official capacity. i can see him now.....selling strip cards in the locker room on total amount of runs scored.

i KNOW the republicans are in big trouble again.

I know that EMPIRE is one of the best written show on commercial television.

i know that i don't understand hip-hop.

i know it's good for every motorist when gas is under two bucks.

i think that dogs are cool and cats are not.

i know that reading a printed newspaper is much better that reading it on line.

i think that the CHICAGO CUBS have stocked their roster with quality players and are ready to make a run at the world series.......in 2016.

i also know that WRIGLEY FIELD is and always will be a dump.

I know that flying first class is great.

i think the death penalty is good and a woman's right to choose is even better.

i know that nice calves and a pretty smile on a woman score points with me.

i know that coffee & beer taste bad.

i know that baseball is great to watch.....in person.

i think chicago police officers are screwed no matter what they do when making an arrest.

i know that riding my lawn tractor while smoking a swisher sweet is very relaxing.

i know i can beat almost anyone playing gin rummy except my brother-in-law roy.

i think roy cheats. 

i think winter snow should be limited to january & february and spring should be a slow season starting at the end of march and lasting at least six weeks with gradual warming.

i think it should be eighty five degrees every fourth of july with no rain.

i think people who are convicted of abusing children in any way should be sterilized as a mandatory part of their sentence.

i think drug users shouldn't go to prison. i think more rehab centers are needed in america and they should be free to first time offenders. 

i also think more prisons are needed and gang related activity needs to be harshly treated by the courts. street gangs are this country's version of ISIS.

i know that when i was a kid, paging thru the sears 'wish book' was always a highlight of the christmas season and so was the colored wheel rotating on the aluminum christmas tree.

i think state's attorney ANITA ALVAREZ will be out of a job come election time.

i think mayor RAHM EMMANUEL won't resign but probably won't run for re-election in 2018.

i know that drones scare the crap out of me.

i know that christmas decorations make me smile.

i know that mexico relaxes me.

i think that summer nights in the gazebo with an amaretto, a cigar and listening to hall of fame broadcaster VINCE SCULLY call a dodger game on the radio is pure heaven.

i think non-lawyers should be allowed to be associate judges and handle simple traffic, parking tickets and local misdemeanors to free the real associate judges to help unclog the felony court rooms. i KNOW i could handle a courtroom.

and finally, i know it's the holiday season so i wish everyone a SAFE & HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON AND AN OUTSTANDING NEW YEAR!

MOSTLY CHICAGO SPORTS

"STARLIN CASTRO isn't going anywhere. he fits in just fine on this team and will for years to come."--joe maddon  august, 2015.

well, i hope that castro didn't believe anything that joe gasbag said to him. the cubs, with a long history of lying to their fans and the media on a regular basis, pulled the carpet out from under the simplistic (and uncoachable) castro and to be perfectly honest, filled a couple of holes with a utility pitcher and a backup infielder and then added BEN ZOBRIST as their regular second baseman.   psssst, javy baez......leave your suitcase packed and ready to go. and JORGE SOLER, same to you.

the white sox? well, they're offering an auction to win lunch with HAROLD BAINES but the only problem with that is that baines has only said about a dozen words the last ten years. i bid two bucks.

and ROBIN VENTURA says he's not looking past 2016. trust me, that jerkwad should be in prison for stealing his paycheck from the sox for the last 4 years. my boycott continues..............

PATRICK KANE keeps right on rolling with an open netter tonight to extend his scoring streak to 23, not quite halfway to WAYNE GRETZKY'S record of 51.  whaddyathink?

i don't know if he's the best goalie in the league but COREY CRAWFORD is in the conversation. single handedly, he kept the hawks alive tonight against nashville. same two teams thursday night in music city.

as written here years ago, the CHICAGO BEARS will never win with JAY CUTLER under center.  never. he never won in high school, college or the pros. everyone talked about how well he was managing the team but he still sucks when they need him most.

GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS.........72-0? they are something to watch and STEPH CURRY is like a hot knife through butter.

ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS took control of the NL WEST this week by signing pitcher ZACH GRIENKE and then trading for right hander SHELBY MILLER and when combined with the healthy return of all-star PATRICK CORBIN, it looks like the snakes now have pitching to balance out their tremendous offense. 

i see where relief pitcher AROLDIS CHAPMAN stepped in it big time by choking his girlfriend and then firing eight shots from a handgun. once MLB gets done with it, he'll be suspended 50 games which will kill the pending trade to the DODGERS plus affect his free agency next year, costing him MILLIONS of dollars.......plus he'll have to face legal charges. the morons keep marching on.

adios for now

JUST SPORTS

Would someone please call a surgeon so the GREEN BAY PACKERS can arrange to have the horse shoes removed from their collective rear ends? absolutely incredible.  i've seen miracle finishes before but after being down 20-0 I thought they were toast. and then the LIONS detroited all over themselves........again.  the stupidest organization year after year in the NFL.  can you imagine the celebration last night for the urine & green???? I bet those unemployment checks were being cashed left and right at the local taverns up north and there was probably a run on hard boiled eggs and pickled pigs feet.  yah-hey-dere.

are the CUBS just stroking their fans once again? as recently as last month, THEO EPSTEIN was quoted in VINE LINE magazine  "we need impact pitching. we've developed and obtained position players over the last few years but now it's time to get quality starters to fill out our rotation." whoa. look out, national league. and the impact pitcher will be.......................JEFF SAMARDZIJA ???????????????????????????  you have got to be kidding me.

it didn't surprise me when the cubs failed to get top shelf pitcher DAVID PRICE at 31 million a year but when second tier pitcher JORDAN ZIMMERMAN was signed by the tigers for 22 million a year, I became curious as to what the cubs meant by impact and then I heard JOHN LACKEY and the shark.  lackey is freaking 37 years old and samardzija is a sub-.500 pitcher for his career.  what kind of impact is that?????

cub fans should be really pissed if that's who they sign.  raise your ticket prices 10% and then give you discount pitchers. nice.  but typical.

kudos to TIGER WOODS & KOBE BRYANT on their announcements this week. kobe is retiring from the game and woods acknowledged that seven surgeries have eliminated him from the chase to catch JACK NICKLAUS' record of 18 majors. no one beats FATHER TIME. just ask MUHAMMAD ALI and  WILLIE MAYS, both of whom stayed too long in their respective sports and were embarrassed at the end. enjoy your new life, gentlemen.

FINALLY! the WHITE SOX said goodbye to TYLER FLOWERS, arguably the worst catcher in the American league.  couldn't hit, couldn't throw anyone out, had limited power and couldn't run. other than that, he was perfect. god, what a mutt.  but he'll get snatched up as a free agent and make millions because "he handles pitchers so well."  gag me.

you a football fan? go see the new movie CONCUSSION with WILL SMITH in the lead role. then see how quick you sign your kid up for football next fall.

IOWA has been complaining all year that no one respects them. well, they get their chance to show the world how good they are on Saturday night when they play MICHIGAN STATE for the right to compete in the national championships new year's eve.

want a head banger game this sunday? SEATTLE visits MINNESOTA at high noon. the stakes are very high for both teams. now this game will have real impact.

later, dude.

THIS WORLD SUCKS

due to computer issues, this blog was delayed and originally delivered via e-mail.

 

There was a time in America when you could drop your kids off at school or church and know that they were safe and when you dropped them at the movies or the mall, maybe you kept your fingers crossed that you wouldn't get a shoplifting call from mall security or the manager of the cinema for throwing popcorn but at the same time, you knew you'd see them in a couple of hours and all would be well.

 

You might have crossed your fingers a little tighter and exhaled a little harder when they finally arrived home from a concert but attending musical events was part of growing up. after all, we did it and we're ok, right? 

 

For the adults, what could possibly go wrong when you and your friends stop at a small café for drinks and snacks and talked about the upcoming company Christmas party and all you had to worry about was your husband having too much to drink and telling the boss what he really thought about his management style. Or maybe you discussed going to an upcoming sporting event to cheer on your favorite athlete as he runs the local marathon. Small concerns for everyday activities.

 

But no more. the psychos and zealots have taken to the streets and mass murders have begun on what seems to be an almost weekly basis and it's painfully apparent that there is no safe place anymore in this great country of ours or for that matter, any place in the world.

 

I don't have children but I worry and pray everyday about the safety of my brother & sisters, my girlfriend & her daughters, my pain in the ass nephews and their families along with my nieces and their loved ones, not to mention my close friends. During 20+ years in law enforcement, I saw my share of tragedies but not to this level and certainly not this often and I'm struggling to find the words to explain the world to my friends and even to myself.

 

What drives two brothers to plant bombs at the Boston marathon ? What political symbol could 10,000 racers, most running just to run, possibly possess to drive those madmen to make that decision? or to open fire at an outdoor café in Paris and kill at random?

 

How does a guy in his 20's decide that it's ok to massacre first & second graders while they sit in a class room on the east coast? or open fire in a Colorado movie theatre and kill 12 people and wound 58 others watching the premier of the new Batman movie and bring ten full magazines of extra ammo with him? he obviously didn't have one specific target but just random killing in mind.

 

recently, we had a psycho open fire at a prayer meeting HE attended but to what end? and of course, we're all still reading about yesterday's carnage at a California Christmas party.

 

there is a temptation to just shake our heads when the bad guy is from the middle east and say "of course" or when the shooting involves the military, we tend to accept it as one of the hazards of the job but the sad part is we're becoming numb to the killing because the shooting sprees are just piling up and they tend to blur together. 

 

 here's a test for you: Blacksburg, Virginia,......Newton, Connecticut....Fort Hood, Texas......I bet you got at least two of those as sites of killing sprees but how about these?

 

Binghamton, NY..... Atlanta, GA.....Kinston, AL.....Roseburg, Or..........Red Lake, MN.......Seal Beach, CA....

Carthage, NC......Appomattox, VA.........

 

how did you do with those cities & towns?

 

those were all locations of shooting sprees that killed at least eight people and they all occurred within the last six years but unless you have family or friends living there, I doubt that you remember anything about them. one after another after another....the beat goes on.

 

there is some validity to the argument about closing our borders but even if you do that, how do we stop our home grown whack jobs?

 

most times, their own parents have no idea as to what they were up to and I'm going to spit the next time I hear a parent say "I had no idea he had so many guns" or "he was just a quiet boy who had no friends so most of the time he stayed upstairs in his room playing on his computer" or "he had problems holding down a job because his bosses would always pick on him because he was different."  hello? FYI--if he lives in YOUR house, you have right to know what he's doing so get your head out of the sand. but personal freedom and civil liberties is a discussion for another day.

 

I'm sad & frustrated and I don't know how to help other than to protect my own but I wish your kids and their kids a lot of luck in the future and they're going to need it because evil answers to a different god that has no morals and knows absolutely no boundaries. 

 

Hug them every day because you never know. 

 

sorry for the content but I had to get this off my chest.