There’s a little project that I’d like to do for The Day After Ragnarok, assuming they ever bring back the game line. Alas, there’s one big problem: I’d have to write up Chicago. For a game setting written by Ken Hite.
Well, you solve big problems by turning them into smaller ones. Like setting the parameters, at least.
Continue reading The Matter of Chicago [The Day After Ragnarok]Via @kennethhite, I’m not even mad. This is so cynical it comes out the other end and enters an odd state of innocence, and we’re all unwillingly nodding along. Because the man’s sort of right, hey?
Well, no. Not really. Still, I guess that there’s a time that you just roll the dice and hope for a crit.
In case anybody cares: I don’t believe in political violence. The problem is, what happened in Chicago was that one group that does kind of believe in political violence met another group that believes in political violence, and the two groups* decided to have themselves some mutual political violence. Erick Erickson put it perfectly:
https://twitter.com/EWErickson/status/708473151030689797
The government giveth…
On Sept. 24, City Council registered a historic vote to establish a legal path to food-cart vending for Chicagoans.
For decades, Chicago’s food-cart vendors struggled to earn a living in a city that banned their trade. Now, hardworking food entrepreneurs can make an honest living without the fear of expensive fines and police harassment.
…and the government attempteth to take away.
Chicago food cart vendors who have operated in the legal shadows for many decades soon will have the option of going legit under a new ordinance that won City Council approval Thursday, even as two aldermen took the first steps toward banning them on some of the city’s tonier streets.
[snip]
But if Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd, and Ald. Tom Tunney, 44th, have their way, the carts won’t get to operate in some potentially lucrative locations.
Continue reading Chicago: two steps forward, one step back on food carts.
Well, it’s going to be exciting to everybody who lives outside of Chicago.
As of July 1, 2015, citizens of Chicago who enjoy their Netflix, Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Prime, Xbox Live, and/or PlayStation Network subscriptions are now subject to the city’s 9 percent “Amusement Tax” for the privilege. Further, should you decide to digitally rent a movie or videogame via these services, the 9 percent tax would be applied for every rental. In other words, Chicago now taxes its citizens 9 percent on their $99 annual Amazon Prime subscription because of its instant video/music service, plus 9 percent for each $3.99 digital rental through the same service. The same applies for rentals and music services offered directly from Microsoft and Sony. Fans of Sony’s PlayStation Network ecosystem are hit hardest: a 9 percent tax each on their PlayStation Plus subscription, PlayStation Music, PlayStation Now (videogame streaming), and Sony’s recently introduced PlayStation Vue live-TV service. Throw in other rental/subscription services such as Hulu, Gamefly, Google Play, HBO Go, iTunes, and Vudu, and you get a sense of the sheer breadth of this tax on Chicago consumers’ digital lives.
So, basically, avoid living in Chicago if you enjoy living in the 21st Century. Or working in it, because they’re also going to tax the cloud. That’s why everybody outside of Chicago is excited about this. It’s not every day that a major city decides to deliberately drive non-geographically fixed companies out to the suburbs.
And if Rahm Emanuel’s 45.56% percentage holds up, it’s gonna be a gutter war. Admittedly, it’s gonna be a gutter war between two Democrats, but that just makes it more fun. In those cases you can just throw the verbal grenades into the room and not worry about who you hit.
Seriously, I was expecting a 48% vote share for ol’ Rahmbo. Admittedly, that was a gut call; equally admittedly, my gut can’t call Chicago elections. Go figure…
Fortunately, it wasn’t weaponized chlorine gas,* so it doesn’t look like anybody died.
Nineteen people were hospitalized early Sunday after an intentional chlorine leak at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare during the 2014 Midwest FurFest, public safety officials said.
The leak, reported at about 12:45 a.m. Sunday, caused a complete evacuation of the hotel at 9300 W. Bryn Mawr Avenue. The hotel was hosting the Midwest FurFest convention. Attendees dress up like furry animals and celebrate art, literature and performance based on anthropomorphic animals, according to the convention’s website.
Yes, I know that I am a bad man for putting in that ‘despite.’ The reality is, it’s because of the new rules. Turns out that criminals will reexamine their work habits and daily productivity when there’s suddenly an increased chance that their potential victims might have a gun.
Since Illinois started granting concealed carry permits this year, the number of robberies that have led to arrests in Chicago has declined 20 percent from last year, according to police department statistics. Reports of burglary and motor vehicle theft are down 20 percent and 26 percent, respectively. In the first quarter, the city’s homicide rate was at a 56-year low.
But, getting back to the title… hey, it could have been worse: I almost wrote more ‘liberal’ concealed-carry rules. The problem, of course, that these days ‘liberal’ no longer really has the connotation of ‘freedom:’ more like ‘scolding,’ ‘bureaucratic,’ and ‘sour.’
Via Hot Air.
This is not really good news for first-term Mayor of Chicago Rahm Emanuel:
Only one in five Chicago voters credit Mayor Rahm Emanuel with doing a better job of running the city than Richard M. Daley did, and only 29 percent would support him if the mayoral election were held today.
Those are the results of a new poll conducted for Early & Often, the Chicago Sun-Times’ political portal. The telephone survey of 511 registered Chicago voters who said they were “very likely” to go to the polls on Feb. 24 was conducted Wednesday by the firm of McKeon & Associates.
US Constitution:
Amendment II. A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Chicago Tribune: Continue reading Shocker: court rules that Chicago is part of the United States of America. #nra #2ndamendment
