New tactics called for in these difficult times

Homeless families threatened by coronavirus occupy vacant houses in southern California. 

"This is our moment to prove ourselves and a nation that, in Chicago, we may get bent, but we will never be broken." -- Mayor Lori Lightfoot

Brother Fred and I should be back on the air with Hitting Left by March 27th. Of course, we'll be doing the show from our respective homes so long as this sheltering-in-place (or as I call it, house arrest) remains in effect.

I understand, support, and am complying with the extreme measures called for here in Chicago by Gov. Pritzker and Mayor Lightfoot, necessary for containing COVID-19. But I worry about the unintended consequences and what the new, rapidly-changing conditions mean for us activists and organizers. The victories by Democratic Party centrist Joe Biden over Bernie Sanders in the primaries have progressives looking at new organizing and electoral tactics.

The collapse of the global economy could be catastrophic and will likely cause the death of nearly as many people as the virus itself, especially among the most vulnerable populations throughout the world and people currently incarcerated here in our jails, prisons, and immigrant detention facilities.

These consequences are exacerbated by the Trump gang's misleadership, political opportunism, racism, and propensity towards profiteering from the crisis. In January, millionaire Republican Senators Burr & Loeffler were given a briefing by Trump officials about the COVID threat. Then, as Trump was downplaying the risks, they dumped their stocks before the catastrophic market crash. And they weren't the only ones taking advantage of insider trading.

While some form of bailout may be necessary, it should be targetted at helping those most in need with controls in place on how that money is spent. One of the reasons industries are so short on cash right now is that they have spent billions in past bailout money, buying back their own stocks instead of investing in their workers or preparing for difficult times like these.

I'm also worried about Trump using the crisis as an excuse to suspend democratic rights, grab more power for himself, launch a war against Iran or other perceived enemies, and even canceling the November elections if it looks bad for him and the Republicans.

Some good news coming out of China where Wuhan officials have reported three straight days with no new COVID cases. Whether you believe these reports or not, it's clear that in China and South Korea, the virus now seems under control. Businesses are reopening, including American-owned companies like Apple stores. Apple just reopened 42 of them in China, while at the same time, closing all of its stores in the U.S. and Italy.

Trump and the Republicans, on the other hand (joined at times by leading Democrats), are continuing their anti-China polemics, even referring to COVID as the "China Virus." When asked to explain, Trump said, it was because the virus "originated in China." His explanation had some on Twitter referring to him as Buick Skylark and Motel 6.

Yes, humor, even dark humor, will help us survive all this.

But while Cold War and racist, anti-foreigner politics rule the WH, China and other countries continue to make progress against the disease. Chinese and Cuban doctors have been in Iran, Italy, and Venezuela recently, where they have offered their services and expertise. They have reportedly developed medical treatments that lower the fatality and suffering rates for those afflicted with COVID19, and are distributing them – without any patent or profit – to those in need. Iran and Venezuela are countries to whom the IMF has refused to offer loans under pressure from U.S.-imposed sanctions.

In Iran alone, the COVID death toll could rise to 3.5 million. But the U.S. has announced that it will be expanding its inhuman sanctions anyway.

Now, the epidemiologist who helped eradicate smallpox is calling Trump’s early handling of COVID-19 is "the most irresponsible act of an elected official that I've ever witnessed in my lifetime.”

Among the other unintended consequences...Hundreds of American troops are being withdrawn from Iraq in part over the coronavirus. And mother Earth is getting a breather from air pollution demonstrating the importance of and what's possible with a Green New Deal.

More good news... People here are creatively developing new ways to resist, carrying on political campaigns and where necessary, using Occupy tactics and other forms of direct action to support the homeless.

These new tactics for organizing, including a review of the March 18th NY Times piece by Astead Herndon, Progressive Ideas Remain Popular. Progressive Presidential Candidates Are Losing. Why?" will be food for our discussion on our upcoming Hitting Left shows.

Tune in on Fridays at 11a.m. CDT at WLPN 105.5 FM in Chicago or on livestream at lumpenradio.com.

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Champaign State’s Attorney Julia Rietz

...told WBEZ in an interview Friday afternoon that her office is involved in a “comprehensive investigation” with the Illinois Attorney General, the Illinois State Police and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of Illinois into the content of the email.

“There are efforts being made to unravel this – again – cryptic, unspecific allegation regarding a sexual assault,” Rietz said. -- WBEZ

Hamilton Nolan at the Guardian

Nothing requires less courage than letting yourself go along with a march towards war when you have the biggest military in the world. Show me a candidate willing to fight for peace, and I’ll show you the future. -- The Democrats must become a real anti-war party

State's Atty. Kim Foxx

We've got to have an inside/outside game. Chesa's [Boudin] election should speak to that. -- Hitting Left interview

Tracy Littlejohn, educator and homeschool coordinator

“I’ve gone into some fourth-grade classrooms where they thought we were extinct,” said Littlejohn, a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation. -- LaCrosse Tribune

D.T.'s mercenary army

“I said to Saudi Arabia, you want more troops, I’ll send them to you, but you’ve gotta pay us... they’ve already deposited $1 Billion.” -- Rolling Stone

Not sorry. I will never apologize for protecting immigrants and refugee families in Chicago. https://t.co/pgWn3auhb1

— Mayor Lori Lightfoot (@chicagosmayor) January 12, 2020

I'm missing Friday's show with Erika & Jen from The Girl Talk Show. Damn!

Erika, Jen, & Joanna from The Girl Talk Show

I can't believe I'm missing tomorrow's show featuring two of my favorite people. Jen Sabella and Erika Wozniak will be Fred's in-studio guests. For those who don't know them (you must not live in Chicago), Jen and Erika co-host The Girl Talk Show on the 4th Tuesday of every month, over at the Hideout.

Jen, who describes herself as a "professional tequila drinker", is actually a working Chicago journalist. Erika is a veteran, award-winning, teacher and union activist who currently works as an aldermanic chief-of-staff.

I should add that the GTS is produced by ace political strategist, Joanna Klonsky (yes, we are related).

I'm heading down to FL for a few days to visit family, escape the Chicago windchill, and get rid of this damn cold. So, Fred and Annie will have to carry on without me. I'll be listening and kibitzing by text, from 11-noon CT, via live-stream at lumpenradio.com.

One of the funniest (not so funny) parts of The Girl Talk, is when Jen and Erika present the "Douchebag of the Month Award" to some sexual harasser or predator.

My nominee for this month's award is the co-founder of KIPP charter schools, Mike Feinberg.

Feinberg would have been eligible for the award anytime during the past 15 years. He was finally fired by the KIPP board last year in response to allegations of sexual misconduct with former students and now he's suing KIPP and KIPP is suing him back. What a shit show.

According to Chalkbeat:

A former student alleged that KIPP co-founder Mike Feinberg sexually assaulted her under the guise of a medical exam, and a former KIPP employee said he offered her money in exchange for sex, according to a court filing by the KIPP charter school network.

The filing offers new details on the sexual harassment and abuse allegations that led to Feinberg’s firing last year, a move that shocked many in the charter school movement. The motion, filed in November, asks for the dismissal of a defamation suit Feinberg filed against KIPP, the country’s largest nonprofit charter network.

There's still no explanation as to why it took KIPP so long to get rid of Feinberg. He was "involved" with a former KIPP student, employed by KIPP Houston in 2004, which led to a "financial settlement" at the time.

Please don't worry about Feinberg's recovery from this ordeal. He's doing much better than his victims. He's currently the president of the governing board of the Texas School Venture Fund, a conservative group that funnels millions of dollars to charter schools, vouchers, and other school privatization initiatives. 

He'd be a deserving awardee. 

Passage of $15 minimum wage is a big victory for Chicago workers

“This vote is easy for me,” Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza, 10th, said, because it closed the gap without layoffs, increased the minimum wage and opened libraries closed on Sunday.

Chicago's city council has approved by a 39-11 vote, a budget that will raise the minimum wage for city workers to $15/hr and it won't take six years to fully implement as it does under the new state minimum wage law. The city's minimum wage will rise to $15 by 2021 and apply to youth, people with disabilities and other groups that historically have been paid less.

The vote represented a big win for Mayor Lori Lightfoot who, after only six months in office, has been able to end so-called, "aldermanic prerogative" and slowly begin to close the city's huge budget gap without a large property tax hike.

And guess what? Businesses aren't fleeing the city and the Willis and Trump Towers (unfortunately) haven't crumbled into the river as predicted by the corporate lobbyists' fear campaign.

Restaurant servers and other tipped workers aren't fully covered under the new law and that's not good.

As the Chicago Reporter's Nicole Hallet points out:

There are many good policy reasons to abolish the tip credit, including ensuring that workers have pay stability and combating the problem of sexual harassment in the service industry. Women working in restaurants with lower minimum wages than other industries in the state were twice as likely to report being sexually harassed by a customer than women who were paid their state’s minimum wage.

But tipped workers will see their minimum increase to $8.40 an hour on July 1, from $6.40 currently, and the city is directed to study the impact of tipped wages on working-class families so it can revisit the issue in the future. The tipped wage will be set at 60% of the minimum wage — meaning it will rise to $9 in 2021 — and increase accordingly as the minimum wage rises annually with the consumer price index.

As for me, I think all workers should be paid a living wage and that none should have to work for tips. But that's for another post and another day. I still think passage of the mayor's budget is an important victory for the city's working people and marks a significant break from the policies of the previous regime.

Shia Kapos at Illinois Playbook writes:

The vote should have been easy — and it was for 39 council members — but 11 progressives voted no.

Well, that's not exactly right. Six of the no-votes came from the council's socialists who blocked with a handful of what's-in-it-for-me and anti-Lightfoot aldermen to try and stop passage of what is arguably the most progressive budget in the city's history.

"No" voters: Daniel La Spata (1st), Anthony Beale (9th), Raymond Lopez (15th), Jeanette Taylor (20th), Michael Rodriguez (22nd), Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th), Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez (33rd), Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th), Andre Vasquez (40th), Matt Martin (47th) and Maria Hadden (49th) 

This from Crain's:

Supporters said Lightfoot’s proposal pointed the city’s ship in the right direction and closed a projected $838 million gap without raising substantial taxes or fees. Most aldermen praised a brand new budget team—Lightfoot, Budget Chair Pat Dowell, and Finance Chair Scott Waguespack—for conducting a transparent process that included community input.

“This vote is easy for me,” Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza, 10th, said, because it closed the gap without layoffs, increased the minimum wage and opened libraries closed on Sunday. 

While I'm elated that there's finally some real debate in the council, I'll leave it to the 11 to explain their votes on this one.

COMING UP ON HITTING LEFT...

The overstuffed and possibly hungover Klonsky Bros. are taking today off. But you can listen to our archived interview with veteran civil rights activist, Timuel Black and his co-author of Sacred Ground, Susan Klonsky. That's today from 11-noon on WLPN 105.5 FM in Chicago. Streaming live at lumpenradio.com. 

Tune in on Friday, Dec. 6th, when our in-studio guest will CTU Pres. Jesse Sharkey. 

Madigan's boys run wild in Springfield

Madigan and Mapes

When Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan announced in February 2018 that he had fired Kevin Quinn, the brother of Madigan’s alderman and political general, he said he’d done so because of Quinn’s “inappropriate conduct” with Alaina Hampton, whom he called a “courageous woman.”

Party boss Mike Madigan's boys are out of control down in Springfield. Have been for years. It's all about the old white boys club which is the IL State Democratic Party machine and wielding power over others, especially women.

IL Playbook's Shia Kapos and Adrienne Hurst report:

A new report detailing complaints of bullying, sexual harassment, intimidation and inappropriate behavior in state government memorializes what many of us already know.

The IG report was issued by Atty. Maggie Hickey, which appears to me to be revealing a little to hide a lot. The 201-page report details dizzying instances of “intimidation,” “hazing-like experiences,” “unclear hierarchy,” “pressure to volunteer,” “favoritism” and “demeaning assignments.”

Hickey uncovered “a purported culture of negative treatment that faced people who were perceived to challenge Speaker Madigan on any issue.” She found "that the fear of retaliation that could arise in unforeseen and unprovable ways was a major — if not the major — concern.”

Chief among the bullies (and sexual harassers) named in the report is Madigan's former chief of staff Tim Mapes. But he is not alone. The IG's report let some of Madigan's boys off the hook, like Rep. Lou Lang...

The report also concludes that there was not sufficient evidence to corroborate Democratic state Rep. Kelly Cassidy’s claims of retaliation by Madigan, Mapes and Democratic state Rep. Bob Rita for Cassidy speaking out about how Madigan’s team handled harassment allegations.

...I believe Cassidy.

Mapes' response couldn't be any worse..

"The recent criticisms made against me do not truly appreciate the size of the responsibility of my position.”

The size of his what??? And then comes the classic...

If my demeanor or approach to my job did not instill trust and a healthy work environment, I apologize.”

That's not much of an "IF".

As for Boss Madigan, who serves as chairman of the state party and is the longest serving statehouse speaker in the U.S., his phony self-crit may be even worse. It's that old, "I didn't do enough of the right thing to change the world." And after all, who among us has?

“I take responsibility for not doing enough previously to prevent issues in my office, and continue to believe that we, collectively, need to do more in the Capitol to improve our workplace culture and protect the women and men who work here who want to make a difference in the world.” 

Which brings me to the case of Alaina Hampton. 

She was one of Mike Madigan’s longtime political operatives who questioned the powerful House speaker’s actions in a federal lawsuit that also alleged retaliation, and for months criticized his handling of sexual harassment claims.

Madigan & Hampton

But Hampton has paid a heavy price. She's been blackballed and unable to work in her chosen profession anywhere within Madigan's reach. In February, 2018, she outlined accusations against Madigan aide Kevin Quinn — a younger brother of Ald. Marty Quinn (13th) — claiming he sent her barrages of unwanted text messages and phone calls in pursuit of a romantic and sexual relationship.

As part of the retaliation, Hampton alleged the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), under pressure from Madigan, refused hire her to help with a political campaign, and the union is refusing to provide documents she claims may prove retaliation was at play.

Hampton said she and teachers union lobbyist D’Javan Conway exchanged text messages in which Conway indicated the union was “eager and ready” to have Hampton work with them on Johnae Strong’s campaign for state representative of the Fifth Legislative District in the 2018 election. The union and United Working Families, a grassroots political group, endorsed Strong for the seat.

However, Hampton said Conway eventually told Hampton union officials had learned she was “on the outs” with Marty Quinn, the suit said. Hampton said the union then ended communications with her.

Hampton subpoenaed documents, including copies of texts, from Conway, union vice president Stacy Davis Gates and Emma Tai, who is executive director of United Working Families, to support her retaliation claim.

According to the Cook County Record:

The union officials and Tai have balked, with their attorney, Josiah Groff, saying the subpoena requests would be burdensome to satisfy and seek irrelevant and private information. In particular, the requested information involves political strategy discussions that need to be kept under wraps, according to the suit. 

Rep. Carol Ammons, vice chair of the women’s caucus, told Playbook in a statement:

“Alaina Hampton’s story is unfortunately a common one. I hope that the due process taking place results in truth and justice. Her determination gives other women hope for a future where these kind of incidents are uncommon and eventually nonexistent.”

According to Capitol Fax's Rich Miller:

 Madigan may have expressed public contrition in 2018, but I know for a fact (because I’ve argued this point with them) that some members of his organization have privately never forgiven Hampton for coming forward. She, in some minds, is the disloyal one for airing Madigan’s dirty laundry in public.

 Now if this story of political intrigue and retaliation is getting too complicated to follow (it is for me, at times), we will try and sort it all out this Friday on Hitting Left with the Klonsky Bros. when Alaina and Joanna Klonsky will be our in-studio guests.

Tune in Friday from 11-noon CT to WLPN 105.5 FM in Chicago and streaming live at www.lumpenradio.com. 

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Bernie Sanders at last night's rally in Chicago: "Real change never takes place from the top on down, it always takes place from the bottom on up." (Fred Klonsky pic)

More Bernie

Asked if he's interested in any advice from Clinton, Sanders replied, "I think not.""Hillary and I have fundamental -- you know, fundamental differences. And that's what it is," he explained. -- CNN

CTU Pres. Jesse Sharkey

“The top two vote getters are people who have lifted up public education and support a number of our key policies,” Sharkey said. “That said … the case to our membership has to be about what are the concrete things we’re actually going to see.” For example, Sharkey said he was happy to hear Preckwinkle’s stance against closing schools, but he wants to hear her views on other critical issue facing the district. For instance, “can we get a nurse in every school — every day,” he said.
-- Chalkbeat

Toni Preckwinkle would keep Rahm's school chief

 Preckwinkle said Friday she plans to keep Jackson for two reasons: CPS needs stability after a revolving door of five CEOs in the past eight years and Mayor Rahm Emanuel got it right with his fifth try. -- Sun-Times

Chicago law firm explains how it pays its lawyers

 "Our system is a little more, I hate to say socialist, but it's a little more evenly distributed among the folks involved in the team." -- Crain's

 Joe Ferguson, Chicago's inspector general, wants focus on corruption 

"Chicago [is] at one of those paradigm-shifting moments. And its confluence with an election at a point in time that the city still has to grapple with significant fiscal issues because of a pension crisis both locally and at the state level, means that this corruption moment is one that actually could matter," Ferguson says. "If the shift doesn't come as a result of the election, I'm not sure what's ever going to make it change." -- WBUR [Joe Ferguson will be our in-studio guest on Hitting Left on March 29th]

Dumbest quote comes from defeated Alderman Joe Moore... 

A little democracy could be a good thing, but I think people need to understand it’s coming at a very inopportune time." -- Tribune

DAY 7 of our 'National State of Emergency'

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)

“I would say it’s better for the middle school kids in Kentucky to have a secure border,” Graham said on CBS News’s "Face the Nation. “We’ll get them the school they need, but right now we’ve got a national emergency on our hands.”

Ft. Lauderdale, FL -- It's DAY 7 of our "National State of Emergency". I hope all you are somehow surviving, safe and doing well.

I'm the kind of guy who runs towards the danger, not away from it. So yesterday, I flew down to our southern border, FT. Lauderdale to be exact, to see how Floridians were handling having Spanish-speaking immigrants and drugs flowing into their wall-less state. 

I'm also trying to escape the Chicago tundra for a while,  catch some 80-deg weather and get in the therapy pool to help speed recovery of my post-surgical knee.

Bravely carrying on in my stead this morning on Hitting Left, will be brother Fred and our favorite political strategist, Joanna Klonsky (yes, we're related). They will be joined in-studio by Ald. Scott Waguespack of the 32nd Ward and leader of the City Council's Progressive Caucus. Together, hopefully they can make some sense out of the race for mayor. Lord knows, I've tried and failed.

Yes, like everyone else who's awake, I'm mocking DT's phony, self-serving declaration and hoping it can be reversed by members of congress before he can use autocratic power to shift billions out of school budgets to pay for his fu**ing wall. I've already heard Lindsey Graham making the case that paying for the wall is more important than school funding.

Now don't get me wrong. There is an undeclared national emergency down on the southern border that needs responding to. Thousands of immigrant children have been separated, possibly permanently, from their parents and families and hundreds, including infants and toddlers, still remain in custody, unaccounted for, in government camps.

While Nancy Pelosi tries to get a few Repugs to join with Democrats in reversing the SOE, some veterans groups are blasting DT for abusing power with his bogus declaration and slamming his plan to take money intended to build housing for military families and waste it on a racist border wall.

In El Paso, Sunday, hundreds of educators protested the government's treatment of immigrant children in a "teach-in", saying that as mandatory reporters, they are obliged to speak out against detainment and family separations.

Shout-out to protest organizer, Mandy Manning, the 2018 National Teacher of the Year, who teaches newly arrived refugee and immigrant students in Washington state.

I'll try and send more reports on the National State of Emergency from down here on the border as the week progresses.

Stay strong, America!

Progressives split in Chicago race. Can they unite against Daley in a runoff?

With the first round of the mayoral election only a week away, things are starting to get hot and heavy. Progressives are split at least three ways (Toni Preckwinkle, Lori Lightfoot and Amara Enyia) and there's lots of vitriol back and forth among their camps..

Cook County party boss Toni Preckwinkle, with early support from many progressives, including the CTU and SEIU seemed like the clear front-runner a month ago.  The SEIU endorsements alone translated into roughly $2M in cash and in-kind contributions to Preckwinkle and nearly two dozen full-time campaign workers and upwards of 500 part-time volunteers.

Bill Daley, the man from JP Morgan and the candidate without a shred of progressive pretense, has replaced Rahm Emanuel as the darling of Chicago's 1%-ers. They've gone all in on Daley because, 1) they fear a takeover of the city by left-wing insurgents of the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez type and 2) his early lead in fundraising has them believing he's a for-real candidate, who can win.

The irony is that the modern notion of Democratic Partyinsurgency they're so afraid off, goes back to Harold Washington's victory over the Daley machine in 1983. But the latest attempt at building a progressive electoral coalition petered out after the collapse of the Bernie Sanders coalition in 2016 leading to the election of J.B. Pritzker as governor with no real progressive opponent.

The current internecine warfare over mayoral choices results from progressive groups not being able to unify around candidates for mayor and governor two years ago.

Instead, Rahm, their main electoral target with plummeting poll numbers following his Laquan McDonald cover-up and his school-closing debacle, pulled a slick move and abandoned the race altogether, before we had a chance to beat him. Even though #RahmResign was exactly what progressives had been demanding, it took many of them them by surprise, as Amisha Patel of the Grassroots Collaborative admitted on our show on February 1st.

Without Rahm as a unifying target, the door was left open for a gaggle of old-line, well-financed Democratic Party regulars to jump in and suck up all the money and organizational support.

Mendoza, Chico, Daley and Preckwinkle, none of whom dared enter the race while Rahm was still in it, all jumped in and immediately got the support and credibility from the party bosses and powerful donors who had been sitting on the sidelines. Daley was the biggest beneficiary with $7M in big-donor money. $2M coming directly from Republican billionaire Ken Griffin.

But the good news is that despite their swollen campaign coffers and TV advertising, none of the party machine regulars or great-white-hope alternatives (Paul Vallas & Gary McCarthy) have been able to create any excitement at the base and break from the pack.

If the vote were taken today, undecided or none-of-the-above would be the clear winner. According to most recent polling, the top 5, including underdog and party outlier, Lori Lightfoot are all with a few points of each other and any two could make it to the runoff, especially if this becomes a low-turnout election.

Lightfoot, who if elected, would become the city's first black, woman, lesbian mayor, is a clear underdog. But she's gained momentum and funding in recent weeks, especially after picking up the Sun-Times endorsement, while Preckwinkle and Mendoza have failed to improve their numbers since being connected to the Burke/Solis scandal.

Progressive Preckwinkle supporters, including those in the CTU and SEIU, who backed her early when union haters Rahm, Vallas and McCarthy seemed like her main opponents, probably did so more because they thought she would win rather than  because of fundamental political agreement. But now they're stuck with her even as her campaign falters and stumbles towards the finish line.

They fear a Lightfoot victory next week will lead to Daley's election in the finals and are training all their tactical guns and money on Lightfoot. For her part, Lightfoot sees Preckwinkle as part and parcel of the Burke/Berrios party machinery and has been gunning for her from the start.

Lori Lightfoot goes head to head with Toni Preckwinkle ally, Rep. Martwick: “You were a Joe Berrios surrogate for the entire campaign. You filed this bill [to appoint rather than elect assessor] to profit yourself. Who benefits from a system that’s not changed?” Lightfoot said.

Things really came to a head this week when State Rep. Rob Martwick, closely tied to Berrios and Preckwinkle, tried to disrupt a Lightfoot presser and ended up in a well-photographed head-to-head, David vs. Goliath confrontation with the candidate. Martwick is authoring a bill that would make the County Assessor an appointed, rather than elected position. The bill is obviously meant as payback against anti-machine guy, Fritz Kaegi who defeated Boss Berrios in the assessor's race.

But the damaging confrontation instead meant more bad press for Preckwinkle and the machine. Martwick had to back off, claiming that his bill was only meant as a "conversation starter" while Preckwinkle was forced to issue a joint statement with Kaegi, opposing the Martwick bill.

If all this has your head spinning as you enter the voting booth, join the crowd. Daley seems like the main beneficiary of all this mayhem in the progressive camps, if he and Preckwinkle wind up in a runoff. A Daley/Mendoza runoff is also possible if Preckwinkle continues to stumble.

Amara Enyia, running with big campaign donations from rappers Chance the Rapper and Kanye West, hopes to pick up support from young black activists and hard-left organizers. But she doesn't seem to be gaining traction as the race draws to a close.

But if somehow, Lightfoot pulls an upset on Feb. 26, the whole thing is up for grabs. The progressives only hope is for some kind of reconciliation between Lightfoot, Preckwinkle and Enyia supporters and that's not likely.

But in a close, low-turnout election, anything can happen.

Buckle up and vote.


I'll be AWOL for Friday's Hitting Left show when brother Fred tries to make some sense of all this with Chicago campaign strategist, Joanna Klonsky and Progressive Caucus leader, Ald. Scott Waguespack. But I'll be tuning in to WLPN 105.5 FM, via live streaming on www.lumpenradio.com from 11-noon CT. I hope you will join me. 

Problem: How to talk about Chicago politics on community radio?

Amisha Patel of the Grassroots Collaborative, will be our guest Friday on Hitting Left

Friday's Hitting Left show should be a good one. Brother Fred will be back from vacation and Amisha Patel from Grassroots Collaborative will be our in-studio guest. As you might expect, we'll be talking about the current list of Chicago's pay-for-play politics and machine scandals in the roll-up towards election day.

These will include, of course, the mayor's Lincoln Yards/Sterling Bay land giveaway which was being greased up until recently by prison-bound real estate attorney, Ald. Ed Burke. Sterling Bay had to dump him after the the feds arrested him. And then there's the little problem of having possibly the dirtiest alderman of 'em all, wire-wearing Danny Solis, sitting atop the zoning committee.

Amisha and her group have been in the forefront of the struggle to put the Lincoln Yards project on hold, at least until the new administration comes in and the city council has time to vet it. Problem is, it's looking now like the top-monied mayoral candidates all have strong Burke/Solis machine ties and unless the polls are way off (entirely possible) City Hall will likely remain in hands that are just a corrupt as Rahm's, or even worse.

Let's hope there's at least some progressive change coming in the aldermanic races, where some insurgents, women, teachers, and candidates of color have a chance to unseat the incumbents.

As listeners know, Hitting left is aired on a community radio station WLPN 105.5 FM in Chicago. It is live-streamed on lumpenradio.com every Friday from 11-noon CT. According to latest numbers I have received Friday, 30-50 thousand listeners are regularly tuned in to Lumpen Radio, with many more listening to our show each week on Mixcloud or downloading it on podcast.

I love being a part of community radio and that's exactly what our show is all about-- community building. But having a political show on a community radio station also has its drawbacks. One of which is language censorship. We cannot uses language that is considered obscenity based on "community standards" without facing serious fines.

As far as Fred and I are concerned, that's not a problem. Mom raised us right and we've managed to get most of our guests to clean up their act for our show. Our producer also keeps a hand on the red bleep button and he's had a pretty strict interpretation of allowable words.

Here's the problem. We're talking about politics and politicians from the likes of our "pussy grabbing" president to Alds. Burke and Solis here in Chicago. We often find ourselves unable to quote them directly or even report the news accurately without resorting to metaphors and code language.

For example, the Sun-Times reports:

The affidavit, sworn out by FBI special agent Steven Noldin, portrays Solis as deeply in debt and routinely on the prowl for sex, Viagra, campaign contributions and other favors.

...In July 2015, Solis called Caldero with another request.
“I want to get a good massage, with a nice ending. Do you know any good places?” the alderman said.

 When Caldero promised to arrange the liaison, Solis asked, “What kind of women do they got there?” “Asian,” Caldero said. Oh good. Good, good, good. I like Asian,” Solis said.

See what I mean? Chicago politics is so vulgar, is so racist, it's unfit for community radio standards. So we have to constantly find alternative ways to talk about it while still keeping our political edge. Actually, it's not such a problem that we can't and don't have fun with it.

Thanks for sticking with us.

Launching our tour from Lincoln Yards to uplift Mayor’s latest proposal to give away $1.5 bill in tax $ to mega developers like Sterling Bay. We must outline what a new Mayor can do differently. #ReimagineChicago pic.twitter.com/SSZ9uDLQBd

— Grassroots Collab (@GrassrootsChi) November 13, 2018

Klonsky Bros. will return to the air next week

Don Rose

The past two Fridays, the K Bros. were like Trump at a French military cemetery -- No Shows. This time off has been great for our own R&R and especially for badly needed recovery time after my knee replacement surgery last Friday. 

But I guess withdrawal pains can't be handled with opioids so I'm planning on hobbling back to Bridgeport next Friday when Fred and I will be back on air. Our in-studio guest will be the legendary, progressive Chicago political consultant, Don Rose. Among Rose's many attributes was his role as both Dr. Martin Luther King's and Chicago Mayor Harold Washington's press secretary.

We will also take some time to commemorate the life of  another progressive Chicago political strategist, Brian Sleet, who’s death was reported Wednesday. Brian's career, though cut-short at age 41, has been on a path similar to that of Rose's. He was also a friend of Hitting Left, having appeared on the show back in March, 2017 along with my favorite Chicago political strategist and media mover and shaker, Joanna Klonsky. 

The two have worked together on several hot political campaigns over the years, including that of State's Atty. Kim Foxx. Joanna is quoted in today's Trib, paying tribute to Sleet, whose life is being celebrated is many disparate Chicago political circles and all over local social media.

Brian Sleet on Hitting Left, March, 1917.

Close Sleet friend Joanna Klonsky echoed that in an interview, saying he was the sort of man who “would show up for people.”

“If you needed him he would be there, and that really matters in a business that is so often transactional,” Klonsky said.

According to Foxx, without Sleet's sage advice, her own campaign might not have succeeded.

In 2015, Sleet threw his energy into Foxx’s reform campaign. Before she decided to run, Sleet talked with her about how to approach black voters and how to dissect complicated issues. And then he guided her through messaging at a time of high tension and anxiety related to the the police slaying of Laquan McDonald and how it was handled.

“Brian understood and embodied nuance in politics, whereas everybody is about simple messages and simple answers,” Foxx said. “He knew people in the community. With him, I was asking, ‘What do I do? What do I say? How do I navigate this time?’ He was really blunt: ‘You don’t pander. … Walk through this period in your voice, doing the things that make sense for you.’”

Tune in Friday, January 4th, 11-noon at WLPN 105.5 FM in Chicago, streaming live across the globe at lumpenradio.com.

Some shocking news on this gray Chicago morn. Our friend Ben Joravsky has been fired from WCPT, Chicago so-called "Progressive Talk Radio".

According to Mark Pinski, general manager of WCPT,  “Ben did a great job of moving our brand forward, and we want our next host to take us to the next level.” 

I hate to break it to Mr. Pinsky, but Ben was the "next level". You blew it.

Until he lands another paid gig, Benny J is always welcome to sit in with us at Hitting Left.

Fans of the Ben Joravsky show: mobilize for WCPT to Bring Back the Ben Joravsky @BennyJshow - Sign the Petition! Sign & SHARE away! Don't let Ben's strong progressive voice be silenced! https://t.co/sZVqHBkNhi via @Change #twill

— Susana A. Mendoza (@susanamendoza10) December 28, 2018

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

The official police explanation, offered by spokesman Anthony Guglielmi, is that Augustus was "exhibiting characteristics of an armed person."

Ben Joravsky, in the aftermath of the police shooting of Harith Augustus

But you know how it goes. In the aftermath of the Supreme Court's anti-union Janus decision, it's obvious that Republicans think the First Amendment is only supposed to protect the speech of conservatives—certainly not football players, like Colin Kaepernick, who kneel during the National Anthem.

And apparently, the NRA thinks the Second Amendment only applies to white people. -- The Reader

Ald. Ricardo Munoz (22nd Ward)

"Yes, there will be a Latinx candidate for mayor." -- Hitting Left

Laura Washington

 As far as I know, [Trump] hasn’t set foot in Chicago since he ran away from his own “Make America Great Again” tour back in March 2016. -- Sun-Times

Millionaire Chicago mayoral candidate Willie Wilson 

He handed out $300,000 in cash to attendees at a South Side church Sunday. And it gets better: According to Wilson, $100,000 of it came from Gov. Bruce Rauner. -- POLITICO

The French ambassador to the U.S. @GerardAraud criticized Trevor for congratulating Africa on France’s World Cup victory. Trevor responds #BetweenTheScenes: pic.twitter.com/5nJklXRyY8

— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) July 19, 2018

Karen Lewis on Hitting Left (archives show) today

Karen Lewis with the Klonsky Bros. on Hitting Left, March 3, 2017. 

Brother Fred and I are taking the day off. Retirement has exhausted us both. Instead of our usual live show on Fridays, today we will be rebroadcasting a show from the Hitting Left archives, March 3, 2017, featuring in-studio guest, CTU Pres. Karen Lewis. As most readers know, Karen, suffering from failing health, resigned from her position last month.

Tune in at 11 a.m. today at WLPN, 105.5 FM or catch the livestream at www.lumpenradio.com to hear Karen at her most upbeat and feistiest self. Or, you can listen to the whole show on podcast.

The latest word from Karen is, she's still in the fight. 

“I want my members to know first that I’m not abandoning them, I just will be an emerita,” Lewis said. "I will be around to help do things, I’m not disappearing anywhere and I’m going to be here for whatever people want to do with me.”

Lewis said she also planned to be involved with the city’s upcoming mayoral election, and revived her past criticism of Mayor Rahm Emanuel as he faces a crowded field of challengers.

“My plan is to try to get somebody to unseat Rahm,” she said. “I think we can do better than that.”

Happy (dare I say it) holidays!

Escaping the Chicago winter for a few days in the Florida sun. I haven't had the time to do much blogging. Been too busy getting sand in my toes and worrying about finding a restaurant in Sarasota that's open on Christmas day. I think that's called a First World problem. Still tweeting though @mikeklonsky

Speaking of...Thanks to Pres. Trump for ending the war on Christmas and making it safe for us to say the C-word again and to sing White Christmas aloud again without fear of repression from the politically-correct, multi-cultural, "happy holidays" crowd. Next, DT should pardon all the C-sayers currently rotting away in America's prisons. #MAGA

I found myself nervous and fidgety yesterday with no Hitting Left show to do. Lumpen Radio is down for the holidays and doing re-runs. But Brother Fred tells me that we still had record podcast downloads of last week's show. You can listen to any and all of our 44 previous shows on iTunes or http://hittingleft.libsyn.com/ 

We'll be back on air at the usual time next Friday, the 29th, with in-studio guest, Chicago DSA activist Kenzo Shibata. Democratic Socialists of America, which claims a membership of more than 30,000, has experienced rapid growth on the heels of the Sanders campaign and Trump's election. For those unfamiliar with the organization, there's this recent, positive piece in The Nation.

One of the subjects I want to broach with Kenzo is DSA's electoral strategy which I've been critical of since they failed to support Democrat Doug Jones in the AL senate race against Roy Moore.

Tune in to www.lumpenradio.com Friday at 11 a.m. CT.

Happy holidays!!!

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Fred Klonsky

Fred Hampton (August 30, 1948 – December 4, 1969) 

I'm not going to die slipping on no ice.

Sen. Orin Hatch after GOP killed Children’s Health Insurance Program

"I have a rough time wanting to spend billions and billions and trillions of dollars to help people who won’t help themselves – won’t lift a finger – and expect the federal government to do everything.” -- Mic 

Sen. Bernie Sanders

 “This is class warfare, and we’re going to stand up and fight.” -- Washington Post

Steve Askin on Harold Washington

"Harold was a mensch. He reached into many different directions, listening to many different voices, many different people." -- The Reader

 Harper Local School Council Co-Chair Clifford Fields

"If these schools have to go, the mayor has to go." -- ABC7 News 

Prexy Nesbit, striking Columbia College part-time faculty

Students are having their best teachers laid off or having to live out of their cars because of low salaries. It's really sad. I also think about what it would mean to the founders of this great college to see where the current leadership has taken it. -- Hitting Left

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Taking a knee at Oak Park - River Forest High School

Barry Romo, Vietnam Veterans Against the War

Twenty-two vets a day are killing themselves. And they aren't killing themselves because someone spit on them. They're killing themselves because they can't face the reality of the wars they went through. -- Hitting Left 

 Matthew W. Finkin, Univ. of IL law professor

"There are really no new arguments on this, just a change in the membership of the court, The unions have just been waiting for the other shoe to fall." -- Huge Stakes for Teacher Unions

 Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke

"I know it is really a good news story in terms of our ability to reach people and the limited number of deaths that have taken place in such a devastating hurricane." -- CBS

San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz

"Dammit, this is not a good news story. This is a people are dying story." -- CNN

Rep. Darren Soto (D), first FL congressman of Puerto Rican descent 

“. . . We’ve invaded small countries faster than we’ve been helping American citizens in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.” -- Washington Post

Lt. Gen. Russel Honore (Ret.)

 “The mayor is living on a cot. I hope the president has a good day at golf.” -- Mediaite 

...Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan, and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help. They....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2017

You're going straight to hell, @realDonaldTrump.
No long lines for you.
Someone will say, "Right this way, sir."
They'll clear a path. https://t.co/xXfJH0KJmw

— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) September 30, 2017

Burns Vietnam doc jarring our national amnesia

I've only seen bits and pieces of Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's 10-part, 18-hour-long documentary series on the war in Vietnam. I watched as much as I could last night, but had to leave the room when the part about the 1968 My Lai massacre came on. Although massacres of Vietnamese civilians like the one in My Lai were not uncommon, we in the anti-war movement didn't learn about it til a year later because of the press blackout. Still, it and the other earth-shaking events from '68 -- the King assassination, cities in flames, the Chicago Democratic Convention protests, and more -- are seared in my memory, along with so many of the images we are revisiting in the Burns/Novick film.

It was these very images, along with TV news reports of dogs and fire hoses used on civil rights marchers coming out of Mississippi and Alabama, that led so many of us to begin making connections and seeing the war as much more than just a mistaken policy of misguided liberals. In 1965, SDS organized the first mass anti-war demonstration in D.C. By 1968, with the war dragging on, the draft, the body counts mounting, the almost-daily images of napalmed villages coming across our screens, we moved beyond just anti-war, to opposition to global imperialism and systemic white supremacy.

I'm not ready yet to offer a full-blown critique of "Vietnam" without seeing more. Many of my friends from back in the day are already going at it, reviving the fierce debate that went on at the time over the nature of the war and how to end it. I think that's fine and I already credit the film with with jarring the national memory -- or maybe I should call it, national amnesia -- about the war, regardless of Burns' perspective. For us educators, it's a teachable moment. For organizers and activists, its a signal to get moving again.

I only wish the same heat, passion, analysis and organization, was taking shape over our current "eternal wars" in Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere in the absence of the kind of movement we built back 50 years ago. This, even as Trump, his generals and war profiteers bring us once again to the brink of nuclear war on the Korean peninsula. There are many reasons for this absence. But I'll save that for another post.

Barry Romo

On Friday's Hitting Left show, our in-studio guest will be Vietnam war vet, Barry Romo, a long-time organizer of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW). Barry helped organize the protest in D.C. where decorated war vets introduced themselves one-by-one, each stating his name and rank, and then threw their medals over the fence, toward the Capital.

His story of how the war transformed him is a compelling one. Tune in Friday at 11-noon CDT, streaming live at Lumpenradio.com.

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Columnist Mary Mitchell: "But the privileged class doesn’t get to tell the oppressed class how they should react to oppression." -- Sun-Times

Deborah Meier

If it’s such a wonderful idea, democracy, why don’t at least the adults who make up the school operate democratically? Why don’t we provide the time and space so students can witness it and over time can become more and more part of it as they grow older, so by the time they graduate at 18 and are full citizens with the right to vote, they’ve had a long apprenticeship in what it means to be a citizen. -- EdWeek interview 

CTU Pres. Karen Lewis 

 “We should not be surprised by this most recent ethics breach by Claypool and his CPS general counsel, Ronald Marmer. These are not people who care about our public schools or the public trust.” -- Sun-Times 

David Orr & Steve Valles on Hitting Left

Stevie Valles, Exec. Director of Chicago Votes

"We're the most progressive generation in the history of politics". -- Hitting Left

Donald Trump

“These are Alabama values — I understand the people of Alabama. I feel like I’m from Alabama, frankly." -- Washington Post 

Sports writer Rick Morrissey

Calling any player who kneels during the national anthem a “son of a bitch,’’ as Trump did, and doing it in Alabama, as Trump did, is beyond code for “African-American.’’ If he had said “uppity,’’ he wouldn’t have been any clearer. -- Sun-Times

Former NFLer Chris Kluwe 

“Well, I think that the players and the teams are saying that they are not going to be dictated to by a racist, fascist white supremacist who currently occupies the highest place in our government...this is not what America is.” -- CNN

Dolphins safety Michael Thomas started breaking up when talking about Trump calling him "a son of a b!tch." pic.twitter.com/Z4wroPcvzW

— Omar Kelly (@OmarKelly) September 24, 2017

Saying no to vouchers in IL

CTU cartoon.

As expected, IL speaker Mike Madigan didn't have enough votes yesterday, to override Gov. Rauner's veto of school funding bill SB1, so he postponed the vote until next week. He's now claiming that in the interim, eight Repugs will jump ship. If that's true, there's no need for any further compromises on the part of Democrats. Right?

Rauner hates SB1, even though it is essentially a Republican bill that fails to bring any new revenue (higher taxes on the state's wealthiest). He claims it's a bailout for Chicago schools -- it isn't --and as we know, Rauner is only interested in bailouts for billionaires.

But not so behind the scenes, an alternative bill, hatched originally by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Cardinal Blase Cupich which would inject the same inadequate immediate funding into the school system while throwing a lifeline to the politically isolated governor (his own education proposal, didn't get a single "yes" vote last week). The win for Repubs would be a school vouchers or "scholarship" plan that would pull an estimated $75M in tax credits, away from public schools and into the pockets of private and Catholic school operators. It would also further the state down the school privatization road.

When we asked Democratic State Senator and candidate for governor, Dan Biss about vouchers on Hitting Left a few weeks ago,  he called vouchers, "a catastrophe" and "unacceptable". He said, for him, vouchers are "a red line" that he, and assumedly other Dems wouldn't cross.

Protesters in Springfield along with the CTU are trying to make sure they don't cross it.

Another HL alum, @Ameya_Pawar_IL, also running for governor, tweets:

#SB1 is a funding equity bill. Adding school vouchers undermines equity. School vouchers is not a compromise. Override @GovRauner racist

We will be continuing the conversation on SB1 and vouchers tomorrow on HL with parent activists Wendy Katten, from Raise You Hands, and Cassie Creswell from More than a Score. Brother Fred will be out of town. So my co-host, back by popular demand, will be CTU political organizer Brandon Johnson.

Don't miss.