snowy owls.

so, i’m in chicago. my ex is in s mich, around benton harbor. lives on a small lake. he texts me his unusual bird sightings.
this morning he says there’s snowy owls on his lake. we get them every few yrs in chgo, but i dont recall them ever being this early.
i’m taking this as a bad sign.

correction- they werent at his beach. they’re in chgo.

since we're talking about mortgages

posted this as a reply in another thread, but thought i’d make it an op.

i just want to point out, since a lot of ppl dont know-
if you make an extra principle payment every mo, even a small 1, u shorten your repayment by A.LOT.
esp in the early yrs. if only $100 goes to principle, and u pay an extra $100, u just knocked a payment off the end of your loan.
$10, $50/mo, every mo, greatly shortens your loan.

always do what u can to fuck the bankers.

ai slop slopping over into ai slop.

so someone shared a story on fb claiming jimmy kimmel did a tearful monologue about virginia guiffre, after reading her book. i figured it was bs, so i googled it. the ai summary reported it was true. the only results were fb posts.
so i searched youtube, where they always post his monologues. no sign of it. no credible news reports, but stupid ai thought it was true.
ai is gonna get dumber and dumber as it swallows it’s own bs.

dan biss for il-9.

i just got off the phone w dan biss. i knocked doors for him in his 1st state rep run. i’ve talked to him several times since. he called me cuz i’m on the list jan gives ppl to raise money. i gave him some money.

he’s jan’s pick to succeed her. he’s been out there at broadview, and speaking out quite a bit.
i know some folks here like kat whatsername. but i dont think we need a podcaster. a pretty face w a big mouth. we need a smart person who knows how this stuff works. that’s dan.

eta link- https://www.danielbiss.com/

How to stop authoritarianism across the globe: a conversation with President Obama.

President Obama issued a stark warning against the rise in authoritarianism in a recent discussion with three Obama Leaders: Zuzanna Rudzinska-Bluszcz, Sándor Léderer, and Stefania Kapronczay, who are on the frontlines of defending democracy by fighting corruption and empowering citizens.

file under- how the true blue do it. my neighborhood's response to ice.

i love where i live.

Another tamalera, or tamale vendor, was arrested by federal agents Thursday outside of a nearby Walgreens, 7410 N. Clark St., organizers said. At least four people were arrested that day along Clark Street in Rogers Park, organizers said.

In response, around 400 Rogers Park neighbors rallied on Saturday near where the arrests were made to show support for at-risk neighbors and businesses suffering from the heightened immigration enforcement, according to organizers with Protect RP, a rapid response network that reports ICE activity.

“We’ve had at least 500 people in our online training sessions,” Protect RP organizer Marissa Graciosa said. “So we had people go out just to be visible on Clark Street and there was a huge turn-out.”

jacob soberoff live from chgo. we aint takin it.

Chicago - My city By Carl Sandburg

Hog Butcher for the World,
Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the Big Shoulders:
They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I have seen your painted women under the gas lamps luring the farm boys.
And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to kill again.
And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the faces of women and children I have seen the marks of wanton hunger.
And having answered so I turn once more to those who sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer and say to them:
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.
Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the little soft cities;
Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning as a savage pitted against the wilderness,
Bareheaded,
Shoveling,
Wrecking,
Planning,
Building, breaking, rebuilding,
Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with white teeth,
Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young man laughs,
Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has never lost a battle,
Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse, and under his ribs the heart of the people,
Laughing!
Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.

revisiting a past obsession.

went through a period of listening to this local band on a loop.
i used to work in an afterschool program at an episcopal church that had a lot of activities, including a weekly music lecture. the guy that ran it brought these guys in for a concert. since the place was rly poorly run, we only had about 20 ppl attend.
but they loved the acoustics of the church, and i got a couple of pony kegs of goose island beer donated, so a good time was had by all that showed up.
sadly not together any more.

i have a ?? about retail unions.

so, the only union jobs i ever had were a short stint in the ibew when i worked in a western electric plant, and 3 yrs as an apprentice carpenter. both long time ago now.
the ibew got me a good wage, but also disciplined me for the (mostly married) men who were always chatting me up. that discipline was valuable to the company.

the carpenters, otoh, gave me great value, but also gave my employers value by doing the training they did. my question is- do retail unions, esp the guys unionizing starbucks, give any value to the companies? do they do any training, etc?