MotorCity Casino (Detroit) - 2021 All You Need to Know ...

Hey criminal class. So someone I know, and no,.. let me stop you guys right there, because it's really not me! And though it seems like I'm just diverting my guilt , though in complete and utter obviousness of the perpetration done by, none other than me and assuming guilt onto myself through reasonable doubt that I, in fact, am using a common tactic many many guilt ridden people who have never heard of a search engine use, to find out other people's experience with the crime committed. To help them lessen and usually come to terms with the anxiety of, well, not having done thewrong, BUT GETTING BUSTED BY FEDS,... Also I'll be extremely conspicuous in wording to further back up my previous sentence... , because why would I incriminate myself, though anonymously and with no burden of proof, or even any form of substantial evidence to the contrary of me being completely innocent , or even just the more than likely possibility that I am a pathological liar, or simply put a TROLL, and perhaps in an attempt to shroud my narcissistic mind in the relief from longing about the ever present conceit I crave, to attain clout from people who wont see me for what and who I really am, guilty of stated actions or not...and , well, let's call it that "www cred...world wide web cred"....fits ? Fiiinally its All to an online community of people doing just that? Well, yeah....no shit it's me, ok? Anyways I got carried away with that. The SWIM crap is for people who are going to get caught doing whatever scandalous and unethical or even morally twisted deeds they do to get by. I dont do it just to get by , well at least not at first , I was healthy young and demographically inclined...if you catch my drift, also I was hot. Then crack and cancer hit me, within a 4 year period. Now my death is waiting to catch me as I (currenty) freefall through all my years of tomfuckery , shenanigans, and downright evil acts Iv Imposed onto loved one's and strangers alike for my personal gain or benefit in some way. Lemme include, never have I hurt anyone, I am a nonviolence advocate chairperson for an .org I wont mention here, .. to preserve any involvment of me to them, I wont get them involved if I ever am traced back to this post , somehow... , yes, criminals can have values and beliefs on an altruistic plain too. I'm a person, human, homo sapien , no homo but homologous indeed through the way I do bad shit all the time, comparative to how doctors do what they do. Specialists like me only succeed, yet prepare daily for that knock or bang or kicking down of my front door knowing cops r assisting the feds by guarding the backyard... and perhaps a subpoena for electronics only, if I'm a super lucky dude, or like a warrant for search and seizure , which if it happened on a day like this whole past year, considering the amount of associates who I coexist and share my habitat with, though only my name is on the lease....so I would assume I, me , myself, and noone else hold sole responsibility of what is found in the fucking house regardless of any evidence to the contrary, IF I am correct I'm that assumption cool...but haven't researched that because I am quite frankly scared of the truth since precautionary measures will be hard to take at this point , and if were taken would diminish the very strong trust i perceive to be held by my employer and employees alike towards myself. It's a business I am apart of. The United States secret service hates us and has been most likely trying to track us for the past 3 years we have been in ops. If anyone reports this just know I use a 12.99 dollar monthly (on accounts run by someone completely untraceable in any way to me, a friend who died couple years ago, a street brother, truly a brother. As he lay dying of a gunshot wound in his chest , points to his government phone which is cracked and is missing the back battery cover , and says the numbers of his passcode. Ok, I unlock. and next of his password for his BoA, why I ask? He tells me to collect his current reparations from him being born and raised on a Lacota Sioux reservation and add it to his coin base wallet , and the pass is also to all his accounts both on the clear and dark parts of the internet. Just different variants of the first letter and last letter being either lower or upper case. Ok, I started 2 years ago with no knowledge of the depths of internet, yet I suddenly had a dying brother give me access to 1.8 of his earned BTC through God knows how, told to me in those precious dying words, bleeding alot out of his nose n shit, I was worried he would die before he was finished telling me what to do and how to do it and I was right because he did. Turns out I am good at research. Looked up keywords which lead to .onion use and eventually to the point of activity I partake in now... also 1.8 BTC in early 2017 was like aloooot... was an astronomical fucking awesomely large amount of money to Inherit as a homeless and registered runaway, a 17 year old , yes I am currentyl 19. The beauty of all this is if I do get caught now, which I hope it happens sooner than later as odds will be stacked against me as I grow up and have some possible info on background search sites. Il explain, I have such a clean record that I dont have one. Just hospitalizations for psychiatric dues , about 7 in 2016 and monthly every year before that backing up to my 8th grade year. Unstable child I was.... I have been completely off the grind since I was 17, and have 4 pseudonyms and fake but real IDs to back each up. One is a real person living out of state. I bougjt his info, and since he is same age same height and relatively same weight depending on angles of observation, that is the one i carry, my face is in the place of his, and he is 19 as well, and not yet on any databases or lists... cool. I carry that one... also my tVPN I really hope works well, NordVpn. And I burn my phone every 3rd day. So before I do anythimg, on the third day every 3 days, no matter if I'm spitting up more blood than usual or shitting my organs into collapsing on themselves. I also dont pay a rent like on a normal lease like I previously mentioned something about, there's no point in lying,so I'll say it. I live in section 8 housing , ha. So the problem is my earned income since 2017 has been 0 dollars. According to the IRS and US government at least, because in reality my team has quadrupled our ROI the first year, and after this third years start we are making 28 x ROI as of January, and it went from 14 to 28 ROI in the last few months of 2018, holidays were quite a growing stage, with an eerie and unsettling lack of consequence, mistakes or any growing pains at all really, for that much unprecedented growth and how greedy me and my associates are we handled it like a bomb squad averting every mine in front of them, even ones out of our control because of vision blunders. Luck played a factor in certain cases, like follow ups by small businesses when my persona I play was accused of extortion and blackmail of a company I worked with, a laundromat that actually had a facade of lavenderia, but was really sand electric gambling ring. I sold lots of my counterfeited American bank notes to the manager of operations there, and got the wise idea to extort him and blackmail him simultaneously, by not only threatening to report anonymously, but if he managed to not get busted, I would personally destroy his reputation and rapport as I knew his identity and where he and his family lived. Thanks truthfinder.com and spokeo.com as well as other public data archives, u help me do crime research for my actions against other criminals. Anyways, he said the owner of the building found out and is having him arrested within the week, so he will just turn himself in, he has warrants for a ponzhi scheme or some MLM bullshit as well that generated so much cash from lottery fraud it is being prosecuted by the Federal Government, he told me he was the first person he was going to out. And since I divulged in good faith certain bits of info about my whereabouts and minor activities or services I use, I'd be able to be found within a week. So shit, I'm going down I think, we move the operation to a storage facility that doesnt have cameras because it is really an abandoned building in the heart of the unincorporated community of the impoverished part of industrial San fransisco. Yes I'm located in the bay area. Lcation doesnt matter there are many people doing what I'm doing here, but even worse! Anyways never got found out, and didnt stop my frequented locations because I need meth, crack and hookers, and my habits are very set . I buy from the same dealer every other day. I would buy more but that's dumb, PROP47 HAS DECRIMINALIZED POSSESION OF ALL DRUGS EVEN SCHEDIE FUCKING 1. Yup, iv been handcuffed and searched after being witnessed injecting cocaine and heroin into my arm at a moderately trafficked bus stop in the Tl in the City, . So I gave them my doppelganger's ID and the lazy police simply ran it, saw I was not a CA citizen , and thanks to Obama, like really tha I you Obama, and prop 47, gave me back the bag of crack I still had left and my paraphernalia, as well as my phone they didnt go through though I was panicking about bcuz it was actually unlocked for some reason when they searched me, since it was sitting on the chair..,, and with my whole past day and a half of extremely incriminating text messages, so now I have better quality burners I can activate anytime for me and the whole office , so I have like 12 for the next few days or next week, and we used messaging sites like kik who aren't USA based, who claim to not store messages for more than 7 days except pictures and other multimedia. But we figured foreign companies are prone to forced subpoena, since the company doesnt have measures set in place to protect the citizens of the USA, and the govt doesnt set in place those measures for foreign companies. We use strictly deepweb messengers, I take half a day every week to set up the phones for TOR use, also the messages go up in flames every time the screen is locked or changes tabs, so my colleagues best write that shit down! keep all documents for tracking (only vauge descriptions of management of time and certain resources expended so we ar not to go back to use certain services we burnt out. Basically where and when we commit each act of passing off our counterfeit bank notes, where we placed one of our skimming wares, who we contracted eith to sell our product and services to and any description of all of these activities, . A gold mine for feds? Were a step ahead,, in a coded and hard to detect form of South Dakotan Indian unwritten folk language. Yes its unwritten, but only by American and western scholarly knowledge. like really America you haven't translated the written languages of the people who were here before any euro WASP imperialist delusional freedom seeking yet freedom taking hypocritical scum dumplings washed ashore the Americas like 6 to 5 hundred years ago? ? That sounds like a basis for subsidizing the winners mentality of dominiance America has had for hundreds of years against all of these poor men women and children with blatant behaviors of pseudo nationalism (america to me is an illusion, one of grandiosity too, because to be American means to have had family migrate here in this generation or the last for OPPURTUNITY, yet it's extremely saturated, so much that crime is an only option for many, for most, yet people will argue that but there aren't statistics on unreported crimes are there? What have you done today?) And muting of a broken society , one that suffered loss of land , independence in all ways and self sufficiency as a tribe, all forms of culture WASPs didnt find pleasing to the eye, including the languages apparently, and also loss of the way they gathered knowledge of the material and existential world, their natural resources, the way they grew society, the fabric of these peoples existence and other things like basic human and civil rights, even the Fucking MAGNA CARTA was implemented, so why did it not apply to these imperialists when they left the United kingdom? Wow, such integrity, no wonder political entities are all scumbags, they are decendants of criminal genocide, a genocide that isn't completely finished yet, and nobody cares enough to do a thing about it...,they are subjugated as a group of people , who are dead as a culture and own entity or unit, they dont have a sense of identity as the people of Lacota Sioux, and they all resent america and every citizen in it according to my firsthand sources and secondhand experiences with their struggles daily.. ,and for supplying the reservations with enough reparations to become alcoholic druggies who get discounts at casinos that are built to exploit them furthermore, and drive complacency to a severe and epidemic proportions... the youth always introduced to forms of violence unbeknownst to many outside the reservation my street brother lived on and escaped from, seeking political asylum at age 13 in America's foster system which turned out that in his luck was just a bit worse. He, who shouldn't be named for my own protection, is dead at age 26 now. He had been homeless since the age of 14. He has a child in the foster system he didnt have contact with the last year of his life, and the 3rd and last year of me knowing him. He got progressively more mentally unstable causing nervousness in myself. He got shot because he robbed a relatively well known drug dealer in the area, who found out about it because of a tip off , so there is a rat in my circle, and iv effectively closed myself off to any possibility or manifestation of this person in my life which has led me to be in my operational headquarters alot, while everyone elese comes for the nighttime shift. I am there all day, vulnerable to warranted searches anf swats... but fuck it ? ,. But To just not record a language of a large group of people is extremely evilish and wicked, bigoted and very very inherently and not even just fundamentally or systematically racist, but racist on a whole societal level I feel, ...why did no one even far outside of the government construct of America and friends, including the remaining Sioux people of south Dakota who aren't to blame, but have no pride except for the facade of the pride and haughtyness they often display as the Sioux people are known to be arrogant and full of themselves, this is obviously an overcompensating of the inferior complex felt on the level of tribal and ancestor values, they dont see themselves as important but want others to. And its specifically the elders alive within the generation now who were passed doen the language nonchalantly . My street brother didnt learn it until he went back to visit his uncles in 2007 or 2008, in which he took a year of mentorship from the principal of his reservations highschool, he had never attained education, or developed reasonable emotional and logic based skills, it was hard dealing with him sometimes, but he no MATTER WHAT always helped me before himself for no reason other than to see me do ok, ..he helped me to the point of where I could take advantage, and many people did, I got to know him right as he was cutting everyone off from his help. But I soon proved to be a person who gave all of what he gave right back at some point in a reasonable and timely fashion. It was all necessity based yet very superficial and primitive , so carnal things we helped eachother with... we helped eachother get high and eat, and sleep safely as one of us safeguarded. No growth ever commenced. So when I began working with small white collar intellectual criminals of a higher playing field he alienated himself from me. On the last day of his life, I was was last person to see him alive, and i was the last person he would ever see as the incarnate of himself ... very sad. He earned a place within myself as a brother, but deeper than blood, a street brother. He was the cause of me learning how to survive so quick. He schooled me on his over 12 years of experience being on the street of SF . RIP my dude... I know u aren't in heaven because you rejected the westernGod, I know you are right where u wanna be wherever the fuck it is, you nevertold me what you believe happens to people's anything as they die. Hm...well since we're on the topic ofthat, I'm Suprisingly to most I know , fucking Buddhist. Yes I know I'm not a good one nor do I claim to be , I dont believe in accumulation of merit and karmic consequences of any future life. I am strictly what Buddhists were before Sidhartha Gotama had a following, teaching or any sort of recognition. The buddhism of the rudimentary pali canon, part of theravada tradition. One person I know asked me recently, yesterday actually, how I handle being condemned constantly by myself for not adhering to my core values and fundamental and crucial principles of my system of belief. I responded , well I dont think one rotten Buddhist is going to spoil the entire barrel, such as the inbred people of CERTAIN fanatical, dogmatic and oppressive sects of Christianity Judaism and Islam,. Monotheism is a very cool idea at its core I think, its just been perverted as what started as a figurative fundamentalism based on a core text of messages ,meant to invoke character and hope in the people it was written by, and for each demographic of people's experience at the time, and it was a humanizing experience of morals value and discipline n discernment of good and evil , like a book on HOW TO BE GODLY HOW TO BECOME GOD 101 , all orated from a creator in which to place FIGURATIVE faith in,a creator I have interpreted as a maladjusted mentally disturbed entitled teenage boy who has a near geniusIQ, its 135, I have interpreted creator in any monotheistic religion to be, well, me and you, us, both independently and as a collective at the same time and when we are alone. .,on the flipside , how many and most sects of the 3 main monotheistic world religions I HAVE PERSONALLY studied for years of seeking truth, , the side of non god like human behavior. It all has a decent analogy I compare to it, and one analogy I used before my current line of work, ironically,. So we use bank notes, or any form of paper and metal money for that matter. We understand that it doesnt really exist except for the tangible , completely useless (except conductor metals but irrelevant) materials it is comprised of (the church the preachers and breeders the teachers and the likes of the church involving itself in state affairs where it holds more ground and leeway into its interests based on manipulative machivellianistic leaders) as an inherently valuable commodity or sort of an onformation or anything. but it does play a determining role in society , as faith based and omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient. It rules. So , This tangible object made of relatively easy to dupe or manipulate fabric and materials will shape the quality of life for everybody who understands how to use it efficiently or not. It's a multi tiered hierarchy of who can have the most of it as well, just as God of certain religions in certain bibles favors the peoples of that region. Why does the God of the univers in the jewish Torah favor a minority demographic of Israelite tribes, who have suffered endlessly before and after , as well as during the intervention of this divine whereas those not favored by God live posh lives of pirates and pleasure! Sound familiar . Corporate and non corporate elite are condemned by the majority of anyone who not exclusively insider , they are considered so evil that we cannot see them or touch them in any way, because they have capes that make them invisible or they are vampires who only come out at night. Regardless, they control what, like 90 percent of the wealth, in like 10 percent of the pop. of America and its direct interests not involving anything international iv read and domt cite me because I'm not sure, but I think somrthimg like 1 to5 percent of the 10 percent of these elite families control another vvast 90 percent of that 90 percent of wealth ! So, me defacing the God who doesnt favor them to the point of depriving them of complete attention and accountability has caused them to go rogue and exploit us God like pacified pacifist masses , where residing here, some of us see a great subsidization of wealth with poverty and slave trade, both physical slavery and modern disguised physical slavery as what is called debt and loans, amd we domt want to partake in this! We want out of the forcefed archetype of capitalism that's not practiced in a free market, look st government bailouts to companies like AIG in 2008 , yes it was going to compromise the whole process and system of finance. Rendering the God of our understanding being the dollar bill yall, fucking and wholly fucking useless. I am an anarchist. Ok , why do I capitalize on illegal production of defaced government notes i add value to? Well what's better than rejection is fighting the enemy with it's own weapons . Perhaps he knows how to use it to every degree so its futile in the end. But at least he will know and worry about the massrs becoming better equipped at some point to use the weapon harnessed for themselves. In and of itself a new society would br created, a changing of the hands, but then again out of chaos arises order, except in countries where the united states of Americas government and foreign policy is applied. Well, south east Asia cuz who wants to have a holiday in Cambodia? And we cant forget Iraq, we wonder why the middle east hates us to the point of the jihad era of suicidefighting. It is difficult to surmount enemies who not only want to die for religious incentive of better life after honorable death , holy war, but these people have a real world reality based incentive as well. For starters .the Amiriyah shelter bombing in early 90s killed around 500 innocent civilians. US sent a couple bombs , I think on purpose to send a message, because our society is based on the premise of ends justify means..... also the highways of death and rampant and recorded torturing of high ranking and low ranking Iraqi army officials and soldiers. Ok,I'm not sympathizing with Saddam or his cruel and oppressive regime, I'm sympathizing with the people of Iraq who have suffered , mainly due to ancient religious queries of opposing tribes, due to a split over a thousand years ago when the prophet n leader of the Islamic religion died not appointing asuccessor. Thanks Mohammed, . People who belong to Sunni’s believe the Prophets’ trusted friend and advisor this fuckin guy named Abu Bakr i think was the first rightful leader of Muslims or self proclaimed caliphate, while Shias believe that Mohammed’s blood cousin and son-in-law, which is fucked up on a moral and even scientific level because if your blood cousin is your son in law as well, the implication of one of your female (orMale, I'm progressive), cousins being wedded to him is outstanding, and kind of hot. Just kidding, I think even consensual incest amongst adults who didnt even grow up together whith often thwarts attraction all together, who also understand completely the impact of what they r doing is gross not because of prudence or societies standards, really people upload "so called" incest porn for a reason, taboo is held at a certain level of secret reverance,but really only since it leads to a high high high chance of mutated Genes at some point down the line, usually immediately, creating sufferers of mood disorders and mental maladaptive or straight up complete mental disability , and physical disorder and often painful and very life reducing diseases of the body... it doesnt appeal to me even sexually because of this, not becusde I think nothing sexually of my cousin because truthfully she is hot, and I wouldnt ever fuck her even if she offered and I was on high dose of meth and haven't jacked it in about 3 weeks or had sex ever in my life. Also note physical n mental malody are categorized I'm a bunch of subtypes of each gene pairings and have high chances of making quality of life for offspring very very very low at SOME point, and will have introduced more fallacy to human health and mental faculty for generations to come. What if a person like me was running for office? and won? My family was incestuous on both sides, mom and dad, in the 1800s and late 1700s , yes its recorded on ancestry, gr8 website btw. 60 percent of every member on my momds side of the family has a mental disorder diagnosed as mood based or neurological, whereas 100 percent , yes, every single member who is alive today on my dad's side (48 people of direct bloodline, being my great great great great grandfather and mothers offspring withim 33 percent of relative blood stream I guess , as well as 2 concubines which are half as related to me, and that includes another 60 something presently alive, and they show excellent signs of proof that it was my great ggg grand mother who was the catalyst to my gggggrand father's faculties vice versa in destroying my bloodlines mental health) all of the extended family is diagnosed or suspected of by officials or doctors of at least one occurence of at least one diagnosable trait of that disorder . poly substance drug use and alcoholism, usually in conjunction with mood disorders ranging from bipolar and other manic depressive disorders like Cyclothimea, to things like psychopathy , as well as anxiety related disorders like OCD or panic and body dysmorphic perception. Even severe neurological problems that are embedded and present before they rear their hethings like Tourettes syndrome, any motor and vocal tics, even motion disorders I found prevalent after the 6 marriages within first rate family in czhecoslovakia 1800s..talking siblinging and parent child sick shit . Only after the 100 years of familial marriage reproduction on 2 sides of my retraceable lineage does mental fallacy seem to take off with presice and consistent worsening of volume and individual severity. This Shia cousin fucker is named Ali and he was supposedl chosen by Allah to hold the title, according to Shias .looping back a bit. to deface its intended and totally arbitrary value is fighting the ooppressive industrial regime of the west world. A rich white council of nuts said what has value to all, and in that benefit the reaps of the rest of tthe sycophants. I wont bpart of ideas like " it does for I say it does" . And higher authority began exploiting us from b4 America, ...the nowadays diluted culture of monotheism is very ritualized and empty of meaning to newer generations of western and mideastern kids , like me, it's become a cycle of what is now like a kind of GOD-INIZING of HUMANS to the point of immunity impunity and extreme hedonism, and ability of socially tampering with the world ,, I guess the Sioux weren't always allotted even the desolate land now have,because calvinist scum fuck predestination delusional manifest destiny (they were right tho) preachers, they converted many Sioux and other people's by force, and whipped and caned and mutilated their bodies when the language of their folk was spoken.... What they do have now, and its valuable but not visible is a rudimentary and obviously diluted and broken language. It can b repaired, revised, refined. No clear boundaries around certain aspects of its fundamental properties like homonyms, this problem especially written down. It's written in English as well, sort of ironic, no? Anyways , yes I also use the clearnet services too, just using different persona and subtracting any form of monitoring from Google or third parties I can, anyways I domt want borderline homosexual BDSM porn cartoon games advertised to me all the time....like thanks Google, I appreciate the ssentiment but hey, my friend saw all the ads I get recently by shadowing how i use certain plstform to scam ppls and, and well he does targeted marketing himself on social media, freelance funnel ads, he now gets my phishing domains of mock sites into sight of prospective victims. So , he fucking knows....everything....also including but not limited to all of my activities mentioned here as well as skillset - myj mathematical comprehension skills are on an unbelievably dramatic lower playing field than my inclination towards literature and the likes of management , proactivity, reading people's emotions and still not feeling empath or any sort of even slight sympathy, unless I see them being physically exploited as the weaker or more vulnerable party, and I love them, (i am diagnosed to have both highly evolved sociopoathy as my therapist described it, the reason is of me not being delusional and completely opposed to the true nature of my darkened and mental twists, which developed most likely because of trauma I experienced as an early teen. Saw the deaths of 3 people I cared about so much my perception was altered, eventually developed into complete apathy and resentments, guiding me down the path of least resistance when coming to yield my every craving ! I am horrible....also the fucked up addon of the love-to-control and often less common , rare, dare I say unique? , less commonly known, and undocumented almost completely out of history , ...the merger and blending of machivellianistic narcissism, usually ppl who have this mentality are never exposed. by ignorance or knowledge and sense of godlike superiority withheld 100%. I am a fucking sociopathic machiavellian who displays a multitude of a subtype of narcissism that curtails anyone from realizing the nature of my truest intentions. Simply put, I'm so good at being bad nobody knows I'm bad in the ways I am at all, occasionally I will even get carried away with my fantasy I project. I do everything based on self preservation AAnd self benefit. I won't snitch once I do go down, whenever that may be , because it would benefit my extreme ego of grandiose things to not do so. If I were to snitch, I just couldnt. Really, simply because my true identity which is in constant crisis, and inferior complex I hold onto that is extremely over compensated for in other ways, wouldn't allow me to rat , unless I'm wrongly accused or framed, no associates will ever go down with me. And since all current ties n connections I have are equally CULPABLE in our collective efforts to jeopardize banking, 1 dollar padded with +99 at a time, no leaders r here. Only captains go down with ship, though countless others r CULPABLE morally and legally. I'm better than that, we have decentralized egalitarian ideals at my company...yet I have lots of warped values. I steal from sick people and small businesses, i scam in many other ventures like ID theft and vending to deep web clients cloned CCs skimmed from businesses both corporate and not. I'm a hypocrite, a pathological liar who for the first time can remember told a completely truthful account anything consisting of more than one minute of my all too jaded human experience.....

Chaotic States of Amnesia (Part 1)
by Jayge 8^J
I can't produce as revealing & depressing a book as Pulitzer Prize winning journalist & Presbyterian minister Chris Hedges' work America: The Farewell Tour, but I can write about my impressions & insights from it. All 4 library books here are borrowed & UH will buy it if any student, faculty, or staff asks. Its 7 chapter headings alone offer enough clues: Decay, Heroin, Work, Sadism, Hate, Gambling, & Freedom. His 1st chapter said that Karl Marx foresaw Capitalism's inevitable collapse & parasitic feeding off its host, like what's happening to some rustbelt cities. Despite nearly daily mass shootings, we haven't seen any levels of violence Marx predicted. Maybe we can expect them in Trump's 2nd term, once the privatization & gutting of infrastructure, education, & social programs are well underway. Big Pharma has dumped opiates onto underemployed whites with similar intensity as CIA heroin & crack infested Black & Latin communities. Wealth-sucking casinos increasingly replace union jobs in manufacturing. Politicians, bribed & cajoled by slick lobbyists, give more tax breaks, favors, & government contracts to corporations & the uber-rich. The rest of us are free to be their slaves.
"...The United States of Amnesia...Gore Vidal coined the expression 'the United States of Amnesia' in a 2004 book about George W. Bush’s America. The particular instance of amnesia Vidal highlighted with that phrase was the failure of those then waging the 'war on drugs' to remember the disasters of the prohibition of alcohol sales in the 1930s, and the ensuing corruption, gangsters, and smuggling rings that came with it. His larger point, however, was that, in general, American historical memory is short. Thirteen years after Vidal’s book appeared, and with a new Republican administration ascendant, it seems that this country is in danger of sinking ever deeper into a state of amnesia. And can there be any question that, in a distinctly Orwellian fashion, the new administration is doing everything in its power to hasten that process? As the Trump administration prepares for a new 'surge' on the perpetual battlefield that is Afghanistan, we’ve conveniently forgotten how little the last one achieved. We’ve forgotten how deregulation led to the Great Recession, as the federal Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission concluded in 2011. 'The greatest tragedy,' that panel wrote, 'would be to accept the refrain that no one could have seen this coming and thus nothing could have been done. If we accept this notion, it will happen again.' Yet the Republicans in Congress can’t wait to repeal Dodd-Frank, the law that restored a semblance of regulation to the world of commercial banking. The fifth-century African bishop St. Augustine was probably the first western thinker to pay attention to human memory. In his Confessions, Augustine observes that it is memory – the ability to bring into present awareness past experiences and the ability to recognize the difference between past, present, and future – that makes us self-aware beings. He described the 'vast hall of my memory,' where 'I meet myself and recall what I am, what I have done, and when and where and how I was affected when I did it.' It is on the basis of memory, he added, that 'I reason about future actions and events and hopes, and again think of all these things in the present. ‘I shall do this and that,’ I say to myself within that vast recess of my mind which is full of many rich images, and this act or that follows.' If Augustine was right and memory gives us our selves, allowing us to 'reason about future actions and events and hopes,' then a political regime that seeks to destroy its people’s memory is an existential threat. In that case, the first act of resistance is to remember who we are." -- https://www.nationofchange.org/2017/05/26/down-the-memory-hole/
"We Are Living in Trump’s United States of Amnesia By Rebecca Gordon & Tom Dispatch May 25, 2017, 6:46 AM GMT The Trump administration seems intent on tossing recent history down the memory hole. Admittedly, Americans have never been known for their strong grasp of facts about their past. Still, as we struggle to keep up with the constantly shifting explanations and pronouncements of the new administration, it becomes ever harder to remember the events of yesterday, let alone last week, or last month. The Credibility Swamp...Trump and his spokespeople routinely substitute “alternative facts” for what a friend of mine calls consensus reality, the world that most of us recognize. Whose inaugural crowd was bigger, Barack Obama’s or Donald Trump’s? It doesn’t matter what you remember, or even what’s in the written accounts or photographic record. What matters is what the administration now says happened then. In other words, for Trump and his people, history in any normal sense simply doesn’t exist, and that’s a danger for the rest of us. Think of the Trumpian past as a website that can be constantly updated to fit the needs of the present. You may believe you still remember something that used to be there, but it’s not there now. As it becomes increasingly harder to find, can you really trust your own memory? In recent months, revisions of that past have sometimes come so blindingly fast that the present has simply been overrun, as was true with the firing of FBI Director James Comey. First, the president ordered up some brand new supporting documents from Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his deputy, Rod Rosenstein. These were designed to underpin his line that Comey was fired on their recommendation -- for being “unfair” to Hillary Clinton. Then, even as his surrogates were out peddling that very story, Trump told NBC’s Lester Holt that, “regardless of [Sessions’ and Rosenstein’s] recommendation, I was going to fire Comey.” And he explained why: “And in fact when I decided to just do it I said to myself, I said, ‘You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story, it’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should’ve won.’” Which rationale for Comey’s departure is true? Both? Neither? What is “truth” after all? When the need to ask such questions occurs once in a while, it’s anomalous enough that we notice. We have time to remark that someone or various people in this story -- Sessions, Rosenstein, the surrogates, Trump himself -- are mistaken or even lying. Fortunately, in the case of Comey’s firing, journalists are still reporting the lies, but what happens if the rewrites of our recent history begin to come so fast that we stop keeping up? During the Vietnam War, President Lyndon Johnson was famously said to have a “credibility gap.” People, including journalists, had stopped believing everything his administration said about one very important topic: the war. Trump doesn’t have a credibility gap; he’s tossed us into a credibility swamp. We’re all there together swimming in a mire of truth and lies, with the occasional firecracker thrown in just to see if we’re still paying attention. If the age of Trump doesn’t end relatively soon, the daily effort to sort out what happened from what didn’t may eventually become too much for many of us. Memory fatigue may set in, and the whole project of keeping the past in focus shelved. In that case, we might very well start to give up the concept of citizenship altogether and decide instead to just get on with our own private uninsured, underpaid, and overworked lives. Sometimes it's easier to simply adjust to an ever-changing official version of reality than to keep up a constant, unrewarding struggle to remember. This was the phenomenon George Orwell described so unforgettably in his dystopian novel 1984. His hero, Winston Smith, becomes aware that the sole party that runs his country incessantly rewrites the past to its own liking and advantage. In fact, he realizes that “the past not only changed, but changed continuously.” Like most inhabitants of the mega-state of Oceania, it wasn’t that Smith couldn’t accept such a reality. He could. What he couldn’t shake was a nightmarish sense “that he had never clearly understood why” the Party needed to do it. “The immediate advantages of falsifying the past were obvious, but the ultimate motive was mysterious” to him. That “ultimate motive,” he eventually realizes, is to so destroy people’s hold on memory that they come to believe that truth genuinely is whatever the Party says it is. ”In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality was tacitly denied by their philosophy. The heresy of heresies was common sense. And what was terrifying was not that they would kill you for thinking otherwise, but that they might be right. For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the force of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable?” Does President Trump know what he’s doing? Does he know that, in a more chaotic fashion than Orwell’s “Big Brother,” he’s grinding away at American memories, threatening to turn them into so much rubble? It’s hard to say; he appears to be incapable of either self-reflection or planning, indeed of acting in any way except on impulse. He does, however, seem to know in an intuitive way what works for him, what gets him things he wants, as he has his whole professional life. He’s called his method “truthful hyperbole.” And regardless of what he himself understands, there are certainly people around him who do grasp all too well the usefulness of that “ultimate motive,” of convincing the public that facts are not all that stubborn after all. The Memory Hole...Supplying alternative facts is one way of destroying memory. Erasing real facts is another. In Orwell’s 1984, there was a slot in the wall at the Ministry of Truth where Winston Smith worked, a memory hole, into which inconvenient documents could be fed to be consumed forever by a huge basement furnace. There are, it seems, plenty of memory holes in Washington these days. Since January, the Trump administration has been systematically removing from federal websites inconvenient information on subjects as diverse as climate change and occupational health and safety, and replacing it with anodyne messages. Take, for instance, this one, which you get when you search the Environmental Protection Agency’s website for the term “climate change” and click on links that search turns up: “This page is being updated. “Thank you for your interest in this topic. We are currently updating our website to reflect EPA's priorities under the leadership of President Trump and Administrator [Scott] Pruitt. If you're looking for an archived version of this page, you can find it on the January 19 snapshot.” " -- https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/we-are-living-trumps-united-states-amnesia
"The Rule of the Uber-Rich Means Tyranny or Revolution by Chris Hedges 10/22/2018 At the age of 10 I was sent as a scholarship student to a boarding school for the uber-rich in Massachusetts. I lived among the wealthiest Americans for the next eight years. I listened to their prejudices and saw their cloying sense of entitlement. They insisted they were privileged and wealthy because they were smarter and more talented. They had a sneering disdain for those ranked below them in material and social status, even the merely rich. Most of the uber-rich lacked the capacity for empathy and compassion. They formed elite cliques that hazed, bullied and taunted any nonconformist who defied or did not fit into their self-adulatory universe. It was impossible to build a friendship with most of the sons of the uber-rich. Friendship for them was defined by “what’s in it for me?” They were surrounded from the moment they came out of the womb by people catering to their desires and needs. They were incapable of reaching out to others in distress—whatever petty whim or problem they had at the moment dominated their universe and took precedence over the suffering of others, even those within their own families. They knew only how to take. They could not give. They were deformed and deeply unhappy people in the grip of an unquenchable narcissism. It is essential to understand the pathologies of the uber-rich. They have seized total political power. These pathologies inform Donald Trump, his children, the Brett Kavanaughs, and the billionaires who run his administration. The uber-rich cannot see the world from anyone’s perspective but their own. People around them, including the women whom entitled men prey upon, are objects designed to gratify momentary lusts or be manipulated. The uber-rich are almost always amoral. Right. Wrong. Truth. Lies. Justice. Injustice. These concepts are beyond them. Whatever benefits or pleases them is good. What does not must be destroyed. The pathology of the uber-rich is what permits Trump and his callow son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to conspire with de facto Saudi ruler Mohammed bin Salman, another product of unrestrained entitlement and nepotism, to cover up the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, whom I worked with in the Middle East. The uber-rich spend their lives protected by their inherited wealth, the power it wields and an army of enablers, including other members of the fraternity of the uber-rich, along with their lawyers and publicists. There are almost never any consequences for their failures, abuses, mistreatment of others and crimes. This is why the Saudi crown prince and Kushner have bonded. They are the homunculi the uber-rich routinely spawn. The rule of the uber-rich, for this reason, is terrifying. They know no limits. They have never abided by the norms of society and never will. We pay taxes—they don’t. We work hard to get into an elite university or get a job—they don’t. We have to pay for our failures—they don’t. We are prosecuted for our crimes—they are not. The uber-rich live in an artificial bubble, a land called Richistan, a place of Frankenmansions and private jets, cut off from our reality. Wealth, I saw, not only perpetuates itself but is used to monopolize the new opportunities for wealth creation. Social mobility for the poor and the working class is largely a myth. The uber-rich practice the ultimate form of affirmative action, catapulting white, male mediocrities like Trump, Kushner and George W. Bush into elite schools that groom the plutocracy for positions of power. The uber-rich are never forced to grow up. They are often infantilized for life, squalling for what they want and almost always getting it. And this makes them very, very dangerous. Political theorists, from Aristotle and Karl Marx to Sheldon Wolin, have warned against the rule of the uber-rich. Once the uber-rich take over, Aristotle writes, the only options are tyranny and revolution. They do not know how to nurture or build. They know only how to feed their bottomless greed. It’s a funny thing about the uber-rich: No matter how many billions they possess, they never have enough. They are the Hungry Ghosts of Buddhism. They seek, through the accumulation of power, money and objects, an unachievable happiness. This life of endless desire often ends badly, with the uber-rich estranged from their spouses and children, bereft of genuine friends. And when they are gone, as Charles Dickens wrote in “A Christmas Carol,” most people are glad to be rid of them. C. Wright Mills in “The Power Elite,” one of the finest studies of the pathologies of the uber-rich, wrote: They exploited national resources, waged economic wars among themselves, entered into combinations, made private capital out of the public domain, and used any and every method to achieve their ends. They made agreements with railroads for rebates; they purchased newspapers and bought editors; they killed off competing and independent businesses and employed lawyers of skill and statesmen of repute to sustain their rights and secure their privileges. There is something demonic about these lords of creation; it is not merely rhetoric to call them robber barons. Corporate capitalism, which has destroyed our democracy, has given unchecked power to the uber-rich. And once we understand the pathologies of these oligarchic elites, it is easy to chart our future. The state apparatus the uber-rich controls now exclusively serves their interests. They are deaf to the cries of the dispossessed. They empower those institutions that keep us oppressed—the security and surveillance systems of domestic control, militarized police, Homeland Security and the military—and gut or degrade those institutions or programs that blunt social, economic and political inequality, among them public education, health care, welfare, Social Security, an equitable tax system, food stamps, public transportation and infrastructure, and the courts. The uber-rich extract greater and greater sums of money from those they steadily impoverish. And when citizens object or resist, they crush or kill them. The uber-rich care inordinately about their image. They are obsessed with looking at themselves. They are the center of their own universe. They go to great lengths and expense to create fictional personas replete with nonexistent virtues and attributes. This is why the uber-rich carry out acts of well-publicized philanthropy. Philanthropy allows the uber-rich to engage in moral fragmentation. They ignore the moral squalor of their lives, often defined by the kind of degeneracy and debauchery the uber-rich insist is the curse of the poor, to present themselves through small acts of charity as caring and beneficent. Those who puncture this image, as Khashoggi did with Salman, are especially despised. And this is why Trump, like all the uber-rich, sees a critical press as the enemy. It is why Trump’s and Kushner’s eagerness to conspire to help cover up Khashoggi’s murder is ominous. Trump’s incitements to his supporters, who see in him the omnipotence they lack and yearn to achieve, to carry out acts of violence against his critics are only a few steps removed from the crown prince’s thugs dismembering Khashoggi with a bone saw. And if you think Trump is joking when he suggests the press should be dealt with violently you understand nothing about the uber-rich. He will do what he can get away with, even murder. He, like most of the uber-rich, is devoid of a conscience. The more enlightened uber-rich, the East Hamptons and Upper East Side uber-rich, a realm in which Ivanka and Jared once cavorted, look at the president as gauche and vulgar. But this distinction is one of style, not substance. Donald Trump may be an embarrassment to the well-heeled Harvard and Princeton graduates at Goldman Sachs, but he serves the uber-rich as assiduously as Barack Obama and the Democratic Party do. This is why the Obamas, like the Clintons, have been inducted into the pantheon of the uber-rich. It is why Chelsea Clinton and Ivanka Trump were close friends. They come from the same caste. There is no force within ruling institutions that will halt the pillage by the uber-rich of the nation and the ecosystem. The uber-rich have nothing to fear from the corporate-controlled media, the elected officials they bankroll or the judicial system they have seized. The universities are pathetic corporation appendages. They silence or banish intellectual critics who upset major donors by challenging the reigning ideology of neoliberalism, which was formulated by the uber-rich to restore class power. The uber-rich have destroyed popular movements, including labor unions, along with democratic mechanisms for reform that once allowed working people to pit power against power. The world is now their playground. In “The Postmodern Condition” the philosopher Jean-François Lyotard painted a picture of the future neoliberal order as one in which “the temporary contract” supplants “permanent institutions in the professional, emotional, sexual, cultural, family and international domains, as well as in political affairs.” This temporal relationship to people, things, institutions and the natural world ensures collective self-annihilation. Nothing for the uber-rich has an intrinsic value. Human beings, social institutions and the natural world are commodities to exploit for personal gain until exhaustion or collapse. The common good, like the consent of the governed, is a dead concept. This temporal relationship embodies the fundamental pathology of the uber-rich. The uber-rich, as Karl Polanyi wrote, celebrate the worst kind of freedom—the freedom “to exploit one’s fellows, or the freedom to make inordinate gains without commensurable service to the community, the freedom to keep technological inventions from being used for public benefit, or the freedom to profit from public calamities secretly engineered for private advantage.” At the same time, as Polanyi noted, the uber-rich make war on the “freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, freedom of meeting, freedom of association, freedom to choose one’s own job.” The dark pathologies of the uber-rich, lionized by mass culture and mass media, have become our own. We have ingested their poison. We have been taught by the uber-rich to celebrate the bad freedoms and denigrate the good ones. Look at any Trump rally. Watch any reality television show. Examine the state of our planet. We will repudiate these pathologies and organize to force the uber-rich from power or they will transform us into what they already consider us to be—the help." -- https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-rule-of-the-uber-rich-means-tyranny-or-revolution/
"Profiting from pain: Big Pharma, big marketing, and opiate addiction by Marc on January 30, 2018 in Connect This guest post addresses a complex and emotionally-loaded issue: the link between pharmaceutical opiates (and the questionable way they’ve been advertised and marketed) and the current “opioid crisis” or overdose epidemic. Nick does a splendid job of recounting key milestones and contextualizing them within the history of Big Pharma...by Nick Johns...With the number of regulatory departments and protective measures in place today, we as consumers are inclined to believe that a product or service has been proven safe before it’s approved for public use. We’d like to think that if something turns out to be dangerous or harmful, the responsible party will be held accountable and similar situations will be prevented in the future. Unfortunately, in the complex and tangled world of pharmaceutical drugs, that is frequently not the case. Take for example Pradaxa, an anticoagulant and blood thinner most often prescribed to treat and prevent blood clots and reduce the risk of stroke following hip or knee replacement surgery. The medication managed to obtain FDA approval five years before its reversal agent, Praxbind (an antidote to Pradaxa designed to reverse its effects and prevent uncontrollable bleeding) became available, leading to incidents of severe bleeding and hundreds of deaths. Companies with ties to multiple other entities and those that have major influence on the healthcare economy are able to skirt the rules and make deals with federal agencies or court systems to avoid serious legal repercussions. Pfizer, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, marketed a drug called Bextra in 2001, a Cox-2 inhibitor. While the FDA rejected the drug at high doses for acute surgical pain, Pfizer and its marketing partner Pharmacia pitched it to anesthesiologists and surgeons anyway — at doses up to twice what the FDA had approved as safe. What effect have these historically loose controls had on the present overdose epidemic? Sidestepping regulations to bring potentially unsafe drugs to market is only part of a larger problem, and it isn’t the only method that pharmaceutical companies have employed in pursuit of profit. When it was released in 1995, Purdue Pharma’s now-infamous opiate painkiller OxyContin was hailed as a breakthrough in pain management. The active ingredient of OxyContin is oxycodone, a long-lasting narcotic with up to twice the strength of morphine (milligram by milligram). Prior to OxyContin, doctors had historically been reluctant to write prescriptions for powerful opioids outside of end-of-life care or acute cancer pain due to fear of the addictive properties of the drugs. In order to shift this perception, Purdue Pharma launched a massive marketing campaign to diminish concerns about addiction and to promote OxyContin as a safe treatment for an increasing range of ailments. At the forefront of the campaign, and differentiating OxyContin from other narcotics on the market such as Vicodin and Percocet, was the patented time-release formula — a characteristic which Purdue claimed was responsible for the drug’s purported addiction rate of “less than 1 percent”. This, employees of Purdue claimed, made the drug a safe choice for CNCP (chronic non-cancer pain) patients. In an effort to maximize the efficacy of their marketing efforts, Purdue compiled profiles of doctors and their prescribing habits into databases used to identify where their campaigns would have the most success. This aggressive marketing tactic coupled with an incredibly lucrative bonus structure for sales representatives (a range of $15,000 to nearly $240,000 on top of a representative’s average annual salary of $55,000 in 2001) led to a tremendous increase in the number of visits to physicians with higher than average rates of opioid prescription. While pitching OxyContin, sales representatives for Purdue even reportedly claimed to some healthcare providers that the drug, now frequently compared to heroin in terms of potency and risk of addiction, didn’t even cause a buzz. For millions of patients, a prescription for OxyContin provided crucial relief from debilitating pain. For many, however, addiction became so severe that the period of withdrawal between doses became unbearable — especially if the recommended dosage was exceeded. Purdue’s marketing campaign for OxyContin reached its peak in the early 2000s, and sales of prescription opioids (with Oxycontin in the lead) quadrupled between 1999 and 2016. During that same period, over 200,000 people died in the U.S. from overdoses related to prescription opioids — with many cases involving a mix of other drugs and/or alcohol. While federal regulations have since cracked down on OxyContin and tightened around pharmaceutical practices, the opioid epidemic is far from over. Patients addicted to prescription painkillers can eventually find them too expensive or too difficult to obtain, and may turn to other drugs instead — heroin in particular. Drug-related deaths are climbing at an alarming rate, and many can be linked to the addition of fentanyl to street drugs. But there’s little doubt that Oxycontin prescriptions greatly contributed to a wave of addictions that has yet to subside. With prescription opioids potentially serving as dangerous gateways to fentanyl-laced illicit drugs, it’s clear that attention needs to shift to pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and physicians. Doctors and healthcare professionals can help by screening and regularly monitoring for substance overuse or addiction, and by prescribing painkillers only when other treatment options have proven ineffective. Patients can help by never sharing or selling prescription pain medications, and by taking steps to ensure that they are the only ones with access to their painkillers. Friends and loved ones can help by monitoring patients for correct usage of prescription pain medications, staying alert for any signs of prescription drug overuse, and questioning and challenging potentially dangerous habits before they become entrenched. The battle can be won, but we all must fight together." -- http://www.memoirsofanaddictedbrain.com/connect/profiting-from-pain-big-pharma-big-marketing-and-opiate-addiction/
"Government-organized pogroms against the Jews deflected attention from the corrupt regime. It is arguable which of the Russian Czars was the worst to the Jews. We'll start with Czar Nicholas I (who ruled from 1825 to 1855) as one of the prime contenders and work our way down. In 1827, Czar Nicholas I introduced what became known as the Cantonist Decrees. (The name came from the word "canton," meaning "military camp.") These decrees called for the forced conscription of Jewish boys into the Russian Army. These boys were between the ages of 12 and 18 and were forced to serve for 25 years! During their army service, every effort was made to convert them to Christianity. Due to the horrendous conditions under which they were forced to serve, many of the boys who were conscripted didn't survive, and if they did, few continued to identify themselves as Jews. As far as the Jewish community was concerned, either way was a death sentence. Some Jewish parents were so desperate they would actually cut off the right index finger of their sons with a butcher's knife ― without an index finger you couldn't fire a gun and you were exempt from service. Other people would try and bribe their kid's way out. The Cantonist Decrees raise the level of pressure on the Jewish community to new extremes. Each Jewish community was responsible to produce a certain number of boys for the army and the community leadership was held responsible for failure to meet this quota. It's not to hard to imagine the turmoil caused by forcing community leaders to decide which boys had to go and which boys could stay. If that wasn't bad enough, there was the government-sponsored anti-Semitism. Protocols of the Elders of Zion...Around the turn of the century (It was first published in 1903), the Russian secret police began to circulate a forgery which became the most famous anti-Semitic "document" in history ― The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. These protocols purported to be the minutes of a secret meeting of world Jewish leaders, which supposedly took place once every hundred years for the purpose of plotting how to manipulate and control the world in the next century. As ridiculous as this might sound to us today, the Protocols were seized upon as "proof" that the world was dominated by Jews who were responsible for all of the world's problems. Fans and proponents of the Protocols have included such anti-Semites as: Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motor Company; Adolf Hitler, as might be expected; Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser; and King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, among others. Despite the fact that the Protocols are a proven forgery whose allegations are completely ridiculous, an expression of the worst kind of anti-Semitism, the Protocols continue to sell briskly today and are carried by such huge bookstore chains as Barnes and Noble and amazon.com in the name of freedom of speech. Pogroms...We spoke of pogroms ― mob violence against Jews ― in Part 49 when we covered the murderous attacks of the Ukrainian Cossack Bogdan Chmielnicki in 17th century Poland. In Czarist Russia, there were so many pogroms against the Jews that it is simply impossible to even begin to list them all. (In one four year period there were 284 pogroms, for example.) These pogroms were seldom spontaneous, though incitement by Christian clergy around the Christian holidays could drive the masses into a frenzy. However, in Czarist Russia, most of the pogroms were government organized. Why would the Czarist government organize mobs to target Jews? Because Jews were the classic scapegoats for the economic problems of Russia (and many other countries in history). Of course, the problems of Russia had nothing to do with the Jews. The problems of Russia had to do with a totally backward, feudal, and highly corrupt regime. One of the ways of diverting attention from the corruption was to blame the Jews and to allow the masses to blow off steam by taking it out on the Jews. The problems of Russia got worse after Czar Alexander II (who was one of the more competent Czars and who was relatively benign to the Jews) was assassinated in 1881 by an anarchist who threw a bomb at his carriage. And when the problems of Russia got worse, the problems of the Jews got worse as well. The government of the new Czar, Alexander III (who ruled 1881-1894) organized one pogrom after another to keep the anger of the masses focused on the Jews. In addition to the pogroms, Alexander III promulgated a series of laws against the Jews. These laws were called the May Laws and they included such prohibitions as: "It is henceforth forbidden for Jews to settle outside the cities and townships." "The registration of property and mortgages in the names of Jews is to be halted temporarily. Jews are also prohibited from administering such properties."
"It is forbidden for Jews to engage in commerce on Sundays and Christian holidays." Writes Berel Wein in Triumph of Survival (p. 173) of the reign of Alexander III: "Expulsions, deportations, arrests, and beatings became the daily lot of the Jews, not only of their lower class, but even of the middle class and the Jewish intelligentsia. The government of Alexander III waged a campaign of war against its Jewish inhabitants... The Jews were driven and hounded, and emigration appeared to be the only escape from the terrible tyranny of the Romanovs." It did not help matters any that during the reign of Alexander III a terrible famine struck Russia in which 400,000 peasants died. Those who survived were bitter and their resentments grew (which would erupt eventually in an aborted revolution in 1905 and the successful Russian Revolution which ushered in Communist rule in 1917.) The Last Romanov...When Alexander III died, he was succeeded by Nicholas II, the last of the Romanovs whose incompetence and inflexibility helped bring about the Russian Revolution. The new Czar had to cope with the mess left behind by his father and he did so badly. During his reign one of the most famous pogroms took place ― in Kishinev, on Easter (April 6-7), 1903. The Kishinev pogrom happened when there was a lot of tension in Russia (two years before the first, unsuccessful revolution). Wanting to dispel the tension, the Czarist government once again organized a pogrom against the Jews. Strange as it may sound, the Kishinev pogrom received a lot of international attention. This was because by this time pogroms were something that the "enlightened" Western World no longer found acceptable. (If only they knew what they themselves would do to the Jews 40 years later!) Here is an excerpt from a description of the pogrom printed in the New York Times: "It is impossible to account the amounts of goods destroyed in a few hours. The hurrahs of the rioting. The pitiful cries of the victims filled the air. Wherever a Jew was met he was savagely beaten into insensibility. One Jew was dragged from a streetcar and beaten until the mob thought he was dead. The air was filled with feathers and torn bedding. Every Jewish household was broken into and the unfortunate Jews in their terror endeavored to hide in cellars and under roofs. The mob entered the synagogue, desecrated the biggest house of worship and defiled the Scrolls of the Law. "The conduct of the intelligent Christians was disgraceful. They made no attempt to check the rioting. They simply walked around enjoying the frightful sport. On Tuesday, the third day, when it became known that the troops had received orders to shoot, the rioters ceased." After two days of mayhem, the Czar said, "Okay enough ― mission accomplished. Now it's time to stop it." And it stopped. 118 Jewish men, women and children were murdered, 1,200 were wounded and 4,000 families were rendered homeless and destitute. There were also 12,000 Russian soldier in the city who did nothing for two days. Until the next time. Between 1903 and 1907 was a period of great internal unrest in Russia. Nicholas's incompetence coupled with excessive taxation and the humiliating defeat of Russia during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05) let to the first Russian Revolution in 1905 which led to a few short-lived reforms in the government. This period also proved disastrous for the Jewish community there were 284 pogroms with over 50,000 casualties. The level of violence was unbelievable. There was only so much of this kind of thing that people could take. The Jewish community was being devastated and people were looking for a way out. Jews were running out of the shtetls and joining all of the anarchist, communist, socialist, Bundist movements that they could find in the hopes that they would be able to change the situation in Russia. Jews have been history's great idealists and during this time they were desperate to find some way of making things better. (We will cover their activism when we discuss the events surrounding World War I.) Another thing that was happening in this time period was emigration. We see mass emigration of Jews out of Russia. Between 1881 and 1914, some 50,000 or more Jews left every year to a estimated total of 2.5 million Jews. Despite these migrations, the Jewish population of Russia stayed constant ― at about 5 million Jews, due the very high birthrate. Had these Jews not left Russia there would have been 7-8 million Jews there. And it was America which absorbed most of the Jewish immigrants during this period of time. Golden Land...We might recall (from Part 23) when the Jews were exile by the Babylonians, the exile had happened in two stages. First the Babylonians took away 10,000 of the best and the brightest, and that turned out to be a blessing in disguise because when the Jews arrive in Babylon, there is a Jewish infrastructure in place. Yeshivas had been established, synagogues built, there was a kosher butcher and a mikveh. Jewish life could continue and as a result we saw hardly any assimilation during the Babylonian exile. However, when the poor Jews of Russia arrived en masse in America at the end of the 19th century ― passing through the famous Ellis Island ― they found no Jewish infrastructure in place. The Jews who had preceded them in the migration of the 1830s were German Jews (about 280,000 of them). These German Jews ― who resented the poorer Russian Jews ― were either Reform, (and did not believe that the Torah was God-given nor in any specific God-given law that Jews had to keep) or they were secular Jews who totally eschewed Jewish tradition. Thus, the poor Russian Jews stepped into the Golden Land of Assimilation as we shall see in the next installment." -- aish.com

Sunday:
NORTH:
·1. Beach Park man shot multiple times in parking lot of Evanston IHOP restaurant (NBC 5)
·2. Gov. Rauner appears at 5K run at Chicago Executive Airport in Wheeling (WGN TV)
·3. Three men sought in connection with robbery of Wadsworth gas station; may have robbed liquor store two weeks before (Chicago Tribune/Lake County News-Sun)
NORTHWEST:
·4. Mount Prospect man held on $500,000 bond for sexually, physically assaulting two teenage girls (Chicago Tribune)
·5. Motorcycle passenger killed on U.S. 20 when motorcyclist swerves to avoid a stopped vehicle, loses control of bike and crashes (Chicago Sun-Times)
·6. Backers of Schaumburg Convention Center, adjoining hotel pleased with businesses' 10 years of success (Daily Herald)
·7. Hanover Park seeks public input online on its policing services (Daily Herald)
WEST:
·8. Rental truck gets stuck in ditch, causes fire on Cemetery Lake near Arlington Heights Road in Elk Grove Village (Daily Herald)
·9. Human Library of Fox Valley allows people to have conversations with interactive content provided by humans (Daily Herald)
·10. Morton Grove man arrested for sexual abuse of a co-worker at a home for people with disabilities in Berwyn (Chicago Tribune)
SOUTH:
·11. 19-year-old Homewood woman killed in crash with tractor-trailer truck in Peotone Township, Will County (Chicago Sun-Times)
·12. Hazel Crest police: Shooting deaths of father, two daughters not a random act; police ask for information on what happened (WGN TV)
NORTHWEST INDIANA:
·13. Gary man arrested for stealing mail, packages from Gary home (Chicago Sun-Times)
·14. Ogden Dunes, Portage sign pact as non-federal sponsors to shore up beaches being eroded by rising Lake Michigan (Northwest Indiana Times)
·15. Lowell swimmer notches record time in 50-meter free swim for ages 15-16 during semi-finals for U.S. Olympic Team trials (Northwest Indiana Times)
·16. Motorcyclist killed on Indiana Toll Road in Portage when his bike collides with Indiana State Trooper patrol car making a U-turn (Northwest Indiana Times)
·17. Indiana Court of Appeals rules in favor of now-deceased woman in 25-year-old tax-sale case over Crowd Point properties that previous owner had failed to pay taxes on since 1984 (Northwest Indiana Times)
·18. Town of Munster's school head named president of Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents for 2016-17 (Northwest Indiana Times)
·19. 1989 Merrillville High School graduate who faked his own death to avoid prosecution features prominently in short film '$cammed: Investment Fraud Revealed' (Northwest Indiana Times)
·20. Object thrown through window of Hobart apartment building sparks fire, which remains under investigation (Northwest Indiana Times)
·21. Questions raised after tattoo parlor opens in East Chicago without Town Council's approval (Northwest Indiana Times)
·22. [Merrillville may be on verge of becoming broadband-ready community](www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/m-ville-closer-to-becoming-a-broadband-community/article_8e77d4bb-fb68-5273-8151-a7d8c67adf5.html) (Northwest Indiana Times)
Monday:
NORTH:
·23. Morton Grove man arrested on charges of burglary of gas station, falsely reporting his vehicle stolen (Chicago Tribune)
NORTHWEST:
·24. One person arrested in connection with June 29 drive-by shooting in Elgin (Chicago Tribune/Elgin Courier-News)
·25. Maine Township High School District 207 superintendent gets $50,000 merit bonus after completing goals set by the school board; his annual salary is $210,000 before bonuses (Daily Herald)
WEST:
·26. Nazi banner on display causes flap at Kane County Flea Market in St. Charles; vendor removed it at staff's request after it appeared on facebook (Daily Herald)
·27. Body of elderly man found in retention pond in Downers Grove (WGN TV)
SOUTHWEST:
·28. Motorcyclist killed in late-night crash with another vehicle at intersection of 3rd Avenue and Richards Street in Joliet (Chicago Sun-Times)
·29. New Lenox man killed when motorcycle he was riding crashed near intersection of 179th Street and Spring Meadows Drive in Homer Glen (Chicago Sun-Times)
SOUTH:
·30. Harvey woman shot to death, live-in 'companion' wounded on Sunday morning (Chicago Sun-Times)
·31. Ford Heights man with schizophrenia in jail for killing cousin who made made fun of him (Chicago Tribune)
·32. Man wounded in shooting at Pioneer Motel on Torrence Avenue in Lansing (Chicago Sun-Times)
·33. Blue Island teenager struck, killed by vehicle in 13600 block of South Western Avenue; coroner's office rules death an accident (Chicago Sun-Times)
NORTHWEST INDIANA:
·34. Westchester Township History Museum puts up exhibit on the wife, daughters and granddaughters of Joseph Bailly and their influence (Northwest Indiana Times)
·35. Michigan City-based Save the Dunes searching for new executive director after departure of Nicole Barker (Northwest Indiana Times)
·36. Former Chesterton swimmer the first from stories swim program lands place on U.S. Olympic Team (Northwest Indiana Times)
·37. Cedar Lake has timetable in place for restoration of town's namesake lake (Northwest Indiana Times)
·38. Roadside bomb discovered along Welnetz Road near Trail Creek, LaPorte County (Northwest Indiana Times)
·39. St. John police chief heading to Washington, D.C., to participate in conference on 21st-Century policing (Northwest Indiana Times)
Tuesday:
NORTH:
·40. Lake County to join national Data-Driven Justice Initiative as way of diverting mentally-ill residents from repeated jailing (Chicago Tribune/Lake County News-Sun)
·41. Lake County Finance & Administrative Committee meetings to be telecast on LCTV (Daily Herald)
NORTHWEST:
·42. Bartlett Royals Little League team, undefeated in regular season, sweeps playoffs; eight players selected for Little League All-Star game (Daily Herald)
·43. Elgin-O'Hare Expressway now a cashless tollroad from I-290 to Lake Street (CBS 2)
·44. Park Ridge reports spending about $1,950 on Hillary Clinton's May 19 visit (Chicago Tribune/Park Ridge Herald-Advocate)
·45. Hampshire renames Memorial Park as Henpeck Park to recall village's history (Daily Herald)
·46. Senior-housing project proposed for 300 N. State St. in Elgin (Daily Herald)
·47. California man charged with battery after hitting man repeatedly at wedding reception in Streamwood (Daily Herald)
WEST:
·48. Oak Park native uses KICS Cup soccer competition to promote global unity, teach about diversity and other cultures (Chicago Tribune/Forest Leaves)
·49. Man robs Fifth-Third Bank on North Neltnor Boulevard (Route 59) in West Chicago (WBBM AM 780)
·50. LaGrange police charge Maywood teen for June 21 robbery, recover iPhone (Chicago Tribune/The Doings)
·51. Kane County State's Attorney reports 7 percent increase in felony charges over same time last year (Daily Herald)
SOUTH:
·52. Park Forest man arrested on attempted-murder charge after allegedly stabbing his housemate 18 times (Chicago Tribune)
·53. Two houses, several vehicles damaged in University Park blaze that might have been sparked by fireworks (CBS 2)
·54. Mysterious hero rescues partially paralyzed man from burning home in University Park (NBC 5)
·55. Peotone Junior High School basketball coach charged with grooming female student with 'inappropriate' texts (Chicago Tribune)
NORTHWEST INDIANA:
·56. Merrillville-based MonoSol launches water-soluble film product to deliver food color to food processors in Latin America (Northwest Indiana Times)
·57. Two men wounded in separate shootings in Hammond over the holiday weekend (Northwest Indiana Times)
·58. Merrillville man arrested in scheme that exchanged counterfeit money for prepaid debit cards (Northwest Indiana Times)
REGIONAL
·59. Skyrocketing property tax bills enrage Cook County homeowners; County Board president promises not to consider property-tax hike (ABC 7)
Wednesday:
NORTH:
·60. Divvy rolls out service in Evanston (Chicago Tribune/Evanston Review)
·61. Chicago Blackhawks draft former Lake Forest Academy hockey star (Chicago Tribune/Lake County News-Sun)
·62. Lake Zurich Village Board approves proposed Illinois Secretary of State drivers-license facility at Deerpath Commons on Rand Road (Daily Herald)
·63. Wauconda officials hold off on decision on red-light camera at Bonner Road and U.S. 12 (Daily Herald)
·64. Metra completes $328,000 renovation of 127-year-old Ravinia station in Highland Park (FOX 32)
·65. U.S. Department of Labor fines Lakemoor Dental $53,900 for failing to protect employees from risks of blood-borne pathogens (Daily Herald)
·66. First American Bank on Golf Road in Skokie robbed (Chicago Tribune/Skokie Review)
NORTHWEST:
·67. Arlington Heights Park District to install 20-foot netting along Kirchoff Road as part of project that will bring in artificial turf to soccer, football fields at Sunset Meadows (Daily Herald)
·68. Des Plaines to keep 'City of Destiny' motto; decision on 'dP' logo yet to be made (Daily Herald)
·69. Sleepy Hollow considers prosecuting first-time DUI offenders locally rather than in state court (Daily Herald)
·70. Sleepy Hollow institutes ban on raising chickens in residential backyards (Daily Herald)
·71. Longtime Maine West High School girls basketball coach Derril Kipp loses battle with pancreatic cancer at age 71 (Chicago Tribune/Park Ridge Herald-Advocate)
·72. Park Ridge accountant pleads guilty to defrauding Chicago Cubs of $364,000, embezzling $358,208 from cancer patient (Chicago Sun-Times)
WEST:
·73. Man, woman shot multiple times inside Westchester home (Chicago Tribune)
·74. Aurora Police: Five people shot during Fourth of July weekend (Chicago Sun-Times)
·75. Campton Hills Village Board discusses, but doesn't vote on, firing village administrator (Daily Herald)
·76. While preservationist prepare to fight DuPage Forest Preserve District's move to demolish McKee House at Churchill Woods, Sierra Club argues for building's removal (Daily Herald)
·78. Wheaton City Council approves contract with Lakeshore Recycling Systems that will bring radio-frequency-ID technology to city's garbage collection (Daily Herald)
·79. Chicago man shot multiple times outside Oak Park gas station (Chicago Tribune/Oak Leaves)
SOUTHWEST:
·80. Pair of men who carjacked a vehicle in Chicago now sought for fatal shooting of clerk at gas station on 5300 block of Harlem Avenue in Summit (CBS 2)
·81. Palos Park homeowner with valid concealed-carry license shoots two home invaders, leaving one dead, the other wounded (WBBM AM 780)
SOUTH:
·82. Lincoln-Way High School District 210 superintendent claimed balanced budget in 2014, but private communication showed he expected $6 million deficit (Chicago Tribune/Daily Southtown)
·83. Frankfort man killed when semi tractor-trailer collapses on him at Monee industrial facility (Chicago Sun-Times)
NORTHWEST INDIANA:
·84. Merrillville man shot to death inside his home (Chicago Tribune)
·85. Friday Night Cruise-In brings motorcycle enthusiasts to South Point business park in Valparaiso every Friday evening (Northwest Indiana Times)
·86. Valparaiso police pull drunk man off Rail America tracks two-and-a-half block in front of approaching train (Chicago Tribune/Gary Post-Tribune)
·87. Bishop Noll Catholic High School graduate Matt Pobereyko heads to Arizona League Diamondbacks after his Independent League contract is bought by MLB team (Northwest Indiana Times)
·88. East Chicago graffiti artists represent area at Indiana State Museum competition (Northwest Indiana Times)
·89. Lake County coroner's office identifies body in Merrillville retention pond as Munster man (Northwest Indiana Times)
·90. Indiana Court of Appeals refuses to reduce mentally-ill LaPorte County man's 60-year sentence in the murder of his brother with a samurai sword (Northwest Indiana Times)
REGIONAL
·91. Cook County's slick new website and data portal goes live; site cost taxpayers $1.245 million (Crain's Chicago Business)
·92. Three men from Chicago, Lansing, Lowell appear in U.S. District court in Hammond on charges of trying to buy HUD homes with the intent to sell them for a profit (Northwest Indiana Times)
Thursday:
NORTH:
·93. Zion-area man pleads not guilty to charges he was driving recklessly before a crash that killed girl, her father in Lindenhurst in August 2015 (Daily Herald)
·94. Drone operator flying small, remote-controlled machine over Bangs Lake prompts Wauconda officials to draw up limitations on drone use over public, private properties (Daily Herald)
·95. Objection filed against incumbent Lake County coroner's run for re-election as independent (Daily Herald)
NORTHWEST:
·96. Elgin police chief attends three-week program at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, learns how communities judge departments' success and how money is allocated (Daily Herald)
·97. Des Plaines City Council enacts restrictions on which flags can be flown on city property after Des Plaines Public Library puts up gay-pride flag following mass shooting in Orlando (WBBM AM 780)
·98. Algonquin man pens book inspired by his and his wife's adoption of a show dog (Daily Herald)
·99. Carpentersville suffers power outage after car-vs-semi crash downs power lines at Binnie and Randall roads (Daily Herald)
·100. Trustee who served for 13 years resigns from Arlington Heights Memorial Library board (Daily Herald)
WEST:
·101. Less than half of requests for grants from Kane County riverboat-casino gambling fulfilled (Daily Herald)
·102. Glen Ellyn college student was found dead last year along Tiber River after traveling to Rome to study at John Cabot University, echoing death of Wisconsin student (NBC 5)
·103. Cicero police officer sustains minor injuries after vehicle he stopped sped away, running over the officer's foot; suspect escaped into Chicago (WBBM AM 780)
·104. Onetime owner of Hollywood Palms, Hollywood Boulevard theaters pleads guilty to tax-evasion and bank-fraud scheme; faces up to 15 years in prison and $6 million in payments (Chicago Tribune/Naperville Sun)
·105. West Chicago officials consider building band shell in Reed-Keppler Park; Park District to be responsible for planning and management, while the city will pay for rest (Daily Herald)
SOUTHWEST:
·106. Four suspects in attempted home burglary stand charged with death of fifth suspect after Palos Park homeowner with conceal-carry permit fatally shoots man (WBBM AM 780)
SOUTH:
·107. Man found dead outside house on 200 block of Miami Street, Park Forest (Chicago Tribune)
NORTHWEST INDIANA:
·108. 15-year-old Hammond boy shot to death at 1:30 a.m. Thursday on block where he lived (Chicago Sun-Times)
·109. Film about East Chicago outsider artist Peter Anton set in Northwest Indiana to air on PBS, Lakeshore Public Television in September (Northwest Indiana Times)
·110. New state law allows former K-9 partner's cremains to be interred with late Michigan City police officer (Northwest Indiana Times)
·111. Ivy Tech Community College Northwest to restart welding program after 10-year hiatus (Northwest Indiana Times)
·112. Group of Munster residents call for changes or cancellation of St. Thomas More Fun Days following shooting that wounded woman across road at Jewel-Osco (Northwest Indiana Times)
·113. Griffith officials get OK to pursue referendum to secede from Calumet Township (Northwest Indiana Times)
·114. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency takes action to protect residents of East Chicago housing complex from effects of lead-contaminated soil (Northwest Indiana Times)
·115. Stepdaughter of ex-Lake Station mayor sentenced to 6 months home confinement, two years probation, fined $664 as result of her involvement in corruption scandal (Chicago Tribune/Gary Post-Tribune)
·116. Lakes of the Four Seasons man killed when his car slams into a tree on East 109th Avenue in Winfield; passenger from Crown Point declines medical attention (Northwest Indiana Times)
·117. Portage police arrest 10 people in connection with underage drinking party (Northwest Indiana Times)
·118. Gary man charged with arson after setting ex-girlfriend's car on fire while they talked about their relationship (Northwest Indiana Times)
Friday:
NORTH:
·119. Northbrook homeowners association seeks to stop housing development on country club property that tests show has high levels of arsenic from century of herbicides, pesticides (Chicago Tribune/Northbrook Star)
·120. Target unveils plans for small-format store at Dempster Street and Bronx Avenue in Skokie; slated to open in 2017 (Crain's Chicago Business)
·121. Chicago man arrested on gun and drug charges after allegedly shooting a Beach Park man multiple times outside Evanston IHOP (Chicago Tribune/Evanston Review)
·122. Lake County Municipal League board of directors chooses officers (Daily Herald)
NORTHWEST:
·123. Arlington Heights 'Pastafarian' convinces Illinois Secretary of State's staff to allow her to wear colander on her head for driver-license photo (Chicago Tribune)
·124. Plainfield man dies three days after being pinned between two vehicles near O'Hare International Airport (Chicago Sun-Times)
·125. Man critically injured when boat crashes into dock on Fox River in Trout Valley (ABC 7)
·126. Motorcyclist killed after being struck by flatbed truck on Route 25 close to Kenyon Road near Bartlett/Elgin (Chicago Sun-Times)
·127. Elgin fire chief announces retirement set for Oct. 10 (Daily Herald)
WEST:
·128. Illinois Attorney General sues owner of Berwyn apartment building over violation of 1978 Lead Poisoning Prevention Act (Chicago Sun-Times)
·129. 74-year-old woman killed in four-vehicle crash on Route 64 near St. Charles (Chicago Sun-Times)
·130. Carol Stream Public Library accepting applications for trustee position after Patricia Johnson resigns to care for family member; deadline is Sunday, July 17 (Daily Herald)
·131. Former CEO of Lisle-based Navistar fights federal lawsuit that he lied to investors about status of engine technology that was never developed (Crain's Chicago Business)
·132. Villa Park lifeguard saves boy's life on first day on job at Jefferson Pool (NBC 5)
·133. Campton Hills man convicted of choking a family member at Geneva hospital sentenced to 10 years in prison (Chicago Sun-Times)
·134. Man and woman shot in a parking lot early Friday morning in 700 block of North Lake Street in Aurora (Chicago Sun-Times)
·135. Geneva woman jailed for poisoning death of her husband attempts to kill herself again (Daily Herald)
·136. DuPage judge rejects Naperville Township road commissioner's lawsuit seeking full funding; trustees' decision to cut $500,000 from his budget stands (Daily Herald)
SOUTHWEST:
·137. Oswego man charged for third time with threatening, stalking Illinois Toll Highway Authority chairman Robert Schillerstrom (Daily Herald)
·138. Preservationists try to save run-down Joliet mansion owned by Civil War veteran who served in 13th Colored Infantry (WBBM AM 780)
·139. Plainfield police receive anonymous thank-you letter in wake of Dallas shooting (NBC 5)
·140. Evergreen Park woman charged with disorderly conduct after allegedly threatening police in a Facebook post (Chicago Tribune)
SOUTH:
·141. Monee mayor has been accused of aggressive behavior four times since 2011, but no charges were ever filed (Chicago Tribune/Daily Southtown)
·142. Teenager charged in Chicago carjacking that led to murder of gas station clerk in Summit (CBS 2)
·143. Coach at Thornridge High School in Dolton accused of having sex with student after mother catches them undressed in South Holland home (ABC 7)
·144. Crete woman rescues rabid bat from pool, gets bit on hand, neck (WBBM AM 780)
NORTHWEST INDIANA:
·145. Indianapolis man charged with molesting, incest of two girls in Merrillville (Northwest Indiana Times)
·146. Michigan City doctor develops app to help children eat healthy and fight obesity (Northwest Indiana Times)
·147. Gary parents of three children killed in 2014 Hammond fire caused by propane heater now charged with neglect in their deaths (Chicago Tribune/Gary Post-Tribune)
·148. Man charged with domestic battery, criminal confinement, battery causing great bodily harm after breaking car window with brick and beating woman in the face in Gary (Northwest Indiana Times)
·149. Man, woman from Gary arrested in charges of stealing $3 million from the Internal Revenue Service (Northwest Indiana Times)
·150. Chesterton native and Oklahoma City Thunder forward Mitch McGary suspended for violating NBA's anti-drug policy (Northwest Indiana Times)
·151. Four Portage Township YMCA day-care workers fired after 3-year-old boy was left unattended on a playground on June 30 (Northwest Indiana Times)
Saturday:
NORTH:
·152. Gurnee's Welton Village Plaza on Old Grand Avenue to be ready in time for annual Gurnee Days (Daily Herald)
WEST:
·153. 47-year-old Cicero man dies from electrocution after making contact with Blue Line train in Oak Park (FOX 32)
·154. DuPage Forest District to post signs reminding users of horseback riders after Wheaton woman thrown from horse which was startled by a mountain bike (Daily Herald)
·155. Tickets for La Grange's Just Desserts Tour summer schedule sell out, but tickets for October now on sale (ABC 7)
·156. Warrenville man injured when motorized glider he was piloting crashes near Newark (Chicago Tribune)
NORTHWEST INDIANA:
·157. Al's Supermarket location in LaPorte Townsquare Mall closes (Northwest Indiana Times)
·158. Calumet Township assessor's employee to plead guilty to shaking down five businesses in exchange for reduced tax assessments (Northwest Indiana Times)
·159. Two people drown in Lake Michigan off Wells Street Beach in Gary during air show; three others rescued (ABC 7)
·160. Crown Point artist workshop Board & Brush to open new location in Valparaiso (Northwest Indiana Times)
·161. Food-and-nutrition director at East Chicago's St. Catherine Hospital named semi-finalist in Jenny-O How American Burgers contest (Northwest Indiana Times)
·162. Portion of Hammond's Lyman Avenue evacuated while police search chemical-smelling car driven by Valparaiso man (Northwest Indiana Times)
REGIONAL
·163. Federal agency says Great Lakes Basin Transportation needs to outline alternate routes for proposed freight bypass (Northwest Indiana Times)

Subreddit	Title	Brand
IAmA	Hi Reddit! We are Kevin Hunter & William Chergosky from the Toyota Calty team behind today's Concept-i announcement. Ask us anything about how we're helping to build the future of transportation!	Toyota
mildlyinteresting	Dawsonville. Home of NASCAR, the McDonald's with live music, and "THEM THERE HOTDOGS".	McDonald's
todayilearned	TIL Russia bans mailing "information about the Earth's interior" from the United States	United
videos	Brutal fox attack - London United Kingdom	United
worldnews	Chicago Police captured 4 black teens who tortured and cut a white boy on Facebook Live, while screaming fuck Donald Trump	Facebook
pics	Dicks out for Google Streetview! Google Blurred this officer's hand an now it looks so much worse than it is.	Google
explainlikeimfive	ELI5: Why are synonym suggestions on Microsoft Word tend to be bad or just way off?	Microsoft
Art	Coco Chanel painting	Chanel
tifu	TIFU by breaking the Verizon representative.	Verizon
videos	An Original Song About How Facebook Sucks	Facebook
mildlyinteresting	My friend accidentally drew the perfect Nike Swoosh on me	Nike
Jokes	Did you hear about the kid who drowned at the Pepsi bottling plant?	Pepsi
Jokes	4 in custody after young man tortured on Facebook Live	Facebook
AskReddit	What's the difference between Microsoft Encarta and Microsoft Bookshelf?	Microsoft
todayilearned	TIL that Angela Merkel chancellor of Germany is the only G7 leader that doesn't has a Twitter account	Twitter
gaming	Decided to hook up my old Xbox today. Bought it on launch day and never had a red ring of death! Haven't really played since 2009! Is CoD still a thing?	Xbox
mildlyinteresting	My Taco Bell sauce packet was blank.	Bell
funny	Inspiring Facebook advice	Facebook
WritingPrompts	WP The power of Google is used to defeat the riddles of an ancient magical guardian	Google
WritingPrompts	WP 99% of the worlds athletes have mysteriously disappeared. After a year long search the governments have finally decided to give up. You, a 30 year old Uber driver and single father, are suddenly the worlds most talented player in every major sport.	Uber
pics	Francis Ford Coppola's draft cast for The Godfather	Ford
Futurology	The Amazon e-commerce effect: Macy's restructures, closes stores	Macy's
WritingPrompts	WP The year is 2050 and the world is coming to an end. Google has unexpectedly shut down its servers.	Google
gaming	Desperate father can't get EA to give access to game for son on Xbox One	Xbox
gaming	Suggestions for New Xbox One owner?	Xbox
Futurology	The Toyota Concept-i team are doing an AMA over in /IAmA right now	Toyota
explainlikeimfive	ELI5: What causes that texture in your mouth when you drink classic Coca-Cola or eat cooked spinach?	Coca-Cola
explainlikeimfive	ELI5:How does Facebook get away with stealing other companies' core platforms, and just adding them to their site e.g. FourSquare check-in, Periscope live streaming, etc.?	Facebook
Showerthoughts	There should be a professional sports league that changes what sport it plays every season. They could do all of the sports from ESPN 8 The Ocho.	ESPN
explainlikeimfive	ELI5 why Facebook cares so much about live videos.	Facebook
Documentaries	National Geographic _ US Marine Corps Boot Camp Training 2016 Women - BBC Documentry	BBC
news	CNN: 4 arrested in Facebook Live beating	Facebook
personalfinance	Budgeting with Google Sheets	Google
funny	somebody is still recovering from NYEs drinkathalon at Southwest Airlines.	Southwest
Jokes	Why did the Chase employee cross the road?	Chase
WritingPrompts	Wp You're proposing to your girlfriend in a McDonald's half way through your big Mac.	McDonald's
movies	The state of Sony Pictures.	Sony
LifeProTips	LPT: Have a security system at home with cameras? Invest in a UPS Uninterruptible Power Supply to keep your cameras working when the power goes out.	UPS
videos	Chicago Police: 4 in custody after man tied up, tortured on Facebook Live	Facebook
pics	I wanted a rolling briefcase for Christmas to bring a laptop, notebook and possibly lunch to and from my white-collar job. My wife decided to farm it out to my parents and this is the Kohl's monstrosity I got...	Kohl's
todayilearned	TIL: You can still use the Facebook search bar to search for unknown mobile telephone numbers, if Facebook knows it, it shows the person connected to the number regardless of privacy settings.	Facebook
videos	This will probably get taken down, but here's the video of the guy that got tortured on Facebook Live as an apparent hate crime.	Facebook
gaming	Eye in the Sky :O	Sky
AskReddit	What importance of Google in your life?	Google
funny	My cat enjoyed No Man's Sky more than me	Sky
worldnews	Marine Le Pen cheers Ford move out of Mexico as win for protectionism	Ford
listentothis	Somali Yacht Club - Up In the Sky Stoner Metal2014	Sky
funny	Won My Yahoo Fantasy Football League But Yahoo's Been Hacked a Billion Times...	Yahoo
news	No I won't go to Macy's any more, more, more - Macy's closing flagship stores, laying off 6,000 employees	Macy's
videos	Teens did a Facebook live video of a assault/kidnapping of a mentally disabled teen. NSFW may include offensive language and disturbing imagery.	Facebook
funny	I wonder if Kohl's cash qualifies for this sale.	Kohl's
worldnews	Facebook Live attack: Four held in Chicago - BBC News	BBC
videos	NSFW My sister had a PICC line inserted into her heart. Here is the removal process. The line is very, very long.	PICC
worldnews	A man has replaced Baroness Ford as the chairman of Grainger, breaking up the first all-female board of a FTSE company.	Ford
explainlikeimfive	ELI5: How can Sony make an XBONE equivalent while being significantly smaller AND without a power brick?	Sony
explainlikeimfive	ELI5: Why is Macy's closing so many stores all of a sudden?	Macy's
videos	Gotta love working for Starbucks :/	Starbucks
news	Facebook Live attack: Four held in Chicago - BBC News	BBC
gaming	Can I use an Xbox one S controller with a regular Xbox one	Xbox
worldnews	Dementia rates 'higher near busy roads' - BBC News	BBC
pics	If aliens ever show up, this is where I imagine them landing. Google Earth exploring with my kids and noticed this strange area in China, complete with a Big Dipper and Yin-Yang symbol.	Google
food	Sesame Chicken Fingers with Spicy Orange Dipping Sauce Recipe	Orange
Showerthoughts	The new MacBook Pro is to Apple as Cars 2 is to PIXAR.	Apple
news	Lawsuit Seeks to Ban Google From US Government Contracts	Google
worldnews	Philippines: Facebook suspended several pages and accounts critical of the Duterte administration	Facebook
Documentaries	Hitler's Hidden Drug Habit: Secret History 2014 - BBC Documentary 41:06	BBC
worldnews	Scuttled Ford plant has Mexico fearing more under Trump	Ford
todayilearned	TIL Greenland was occupied by the United States during World War II to defend it from a possible Nazi invasion.	United
pics	Dwight Durant? Kevin Howard? Maybe the regular sportswriter for CBS is on vacation...	CBS
mildlyinteresting	In the movie Demolition Man all subtitle references to Taco Bell are replaced with Pizza Hut	Bell
nottheonion	CES: Intel demos VR headsets with barf bags	Intel
news	Secretary of State Nominee Rex Tillerson to receive $180 Million Severance Package from Exxon Mobil as he steps down as CEO	Mobil
news	Secretary of State Nominee Rex Tillerson to receive $180 Million Severance Package from Exxon Mobil as he steps down as CEO	Exxon
funny	Did you just put Rogers on hold? Hilarious Roommate Interview!	Rogers
news	Secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson Leaves Exxon With A Clean $180M Severance Package	Exxon
worldnews	Mentally handicapped man tortured on Facebook Live as Attackers Yell 'F*** Donald Trump, F*** White People'	Facebook
gaming	Girlfriend Rages And Smashes Boyfriends Xbox After Losing!	Xbox
AskReddit	You've hacked Donald Trump's Twitter account and get to send one tweet, what do you tweet?	Twitter
Showerthoughts	3D printers could be used to print things out into lightweight parts Lego Technic style and built to be vehicles and stuff for space exploration. Need a bike? Print it.	Lego
AskReddit	What are some questions even Google can't answer?	Google
worldnews	Mosquito-borne virus prompts warning in Australia - BBC News	BBC
worldnews	Diana letters about William and Harry to be sold at auction - BBC News	BBC
videos	Kottonmouth Kings - Tangerine Sky hip hop	Sky
personalfinance	Other Help with a disputed charge on a Chase credit card.	Chase
funny	Wendy's Twitter is now solving geometry questions for people	Twitter
videos	NSFW Facebook Livestream of Chicago Kidnapping/Torture, 4 in Custody	Facebook
funny	I get more relationship advice from a Taco Bell sauce packet than I do from my entire friend group.	Bell
Jokes	One day YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook join together and be called....	Facebook
worldnews	Warning, graphic video: Man tortured in Facebook live post	Facebook
AskReddit	What's the coolest thing you would do with a lighter, a cat, and a Volkswagen Beetle?	Volkswagen
AskReddit	Who would win in a race war in the United States?	United
Showerthoughts	It's a fact of life that if you're on Google long enough your searches end in alien conspiracy theories.	Google
worldnews	Black group kidnapped a white special needs man TORTURED on Facebook live in Chicago	Facebook
videos	Remember Otis Johnson, the man released from prison after serving 44 years? This peaceful, down to earth man had nothing after being released. Now he's found his family.	Otis
videos	NSFW Young teenager kipnapped and beat on Facebook Live Full Video	Facebook
explainlikeimfive	ELI5: Why does it feel more comfortable to say Sony Playstation than Microsoft Xbox, in terms of company name added on?	Microsoft
explainlikeimfive	ELI5: Why does it feel more comfortable to say Sony Playstation than Microsoft Xbox, in terms of company name added on?	Sony
explainlikeimfive	ELI5: Why does it feel more comfortable to say Sony Playstation than Microsoft Xbox, in terms of company name added on?	Playstation
funny	What ESPN really stands for.	ESPN
pics	Google Express'es Whole Foods shipment.	Whole Foods
Documentaries	The Real Story: Casino 2017 The real story of the high-stakes battle between the mob and the law for control of Las Vegas.	Casino
Showerthoughts	After searching "porn" for the first time, Google should have a sidebar step by step how to on "clearing your search history"	Google
worldnews	Obama urges fellow Democrats to fight for Obamacare - BBC News	BBC
gaming	#7 Delta Force Black Hawk Down Game Play Russian Underground	Delta
funny	When a Youtube channel has no time for bullshit	Youtube
television	The Real Housewives of ISIS skit by BBC could be as insensitive as the cancelled sitcom on Hitler, 'Heil honey, I'm Home!'	BBC
Music	King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Eyes Like The Sky Full Album Rock	Sky
Music	Saint Pepsi - Enjoy Yourself Vaporwave	Pepsi
Showerthoughts	Even though I know I can simply Google stuff and it'll take me 10 seconds, I still contuine to ask people around me questions	Google
todayilearned	TIL during WW2, BBC broadcasts were halted right after a mickey mouse cartoon played. After the war when broadcasting resumed, they started broadcasting with the same mickey mouse cartoon that was stopped.	BBC
food	Knockoff KFC chicken homemade	KFC
worldnews	China forced Apple to remove New York Times app in China because NYT had an article about Chinese Propaganda Video	Apple
pics	Mug shot of Brittany Herring one of the Chicago kidnappers who went live on Facebook to abuse the special needs boy.	Facebook
WritingPrompts	WP You are traveling to away from Earth at more than 99% the speed of light. Rather than spend the trip in cryosleep you decide to stay awake and check Facebook and Reddit, but due to time dilation every time you refresh months or years have passed.	Facebook
AskReddit	If you were to make a website, what service would you use? AWS, Google Cloud Platform or different?	Google
worldnews	'No evidence' of New Year mass sex attacks in Bangalore: Police - BBC News	BBC
WritingPrompts	WP It's 4591 Archeologists everywhere are digging up ruins from what they believe are huge temples for ancient gods. Every big city had multiple gods Like the god Yankees or the god Mets or the god United in the city of Manchester.	United
todayilearned	TIL Antarctica is owned by seven countries under a joint treaty formed together by Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom.	United
pics	My compensation from Delta Airlines after being stuck on a plane for 3.5 hours without taking off, and then being told we were going back to the gate to wait for a different flight the next day. Tiny water bottle for scale.	Delta
worldnews	Two Moroccan troops killed in Central Africa convoy attack: United Nations	United
todayilearned	TIL Facebook alters newsfeeds to sway political opinions	Facebook
Music	Gabby Gaborno of Orange County punk royalty has died.	Orange
sports	Nike+ Apple Watch2	Apple
gaming	Who's Waiting For Them Top 20 Upcoming Next Gen Open World Games Realistic Graphics On PS4 Xbox One PC In 2017	Xbox
Futurology	Ke Jie, the world's best Go player, says he still has "one last move" to defeat Google Deepmind's AlphaGo AI	Google
todayilearned	TIL I learned a 2015 report by the Nomura Research Institute concluded that half of all jobs in Japan could be performed by robots by 2035.	Nomura
Jokes	I've been using my current version of Microsoft Word so long, we finish each other's...	Microsoft
funny	Finishing touches to your moms custom McDonald's order being made	McDonald's
Showerthoughts	Every day Google says traffic in my area is slower than usual.	Google
funny	I think Google translate may be a little off....	Google
worldnews	Theresa May snubs BBC after Tory MPs complain of anti-Brexit bias - The Prime Minister has ditched the Corporation for her traditional start-of-year interview	BBC
Futurology	Toyota unveils Concept-i car with AI and autonomous driving tech - Toyota Motor Corp. has unveiled a concept car with built-in artificial intelligence and autonomous driving technology designed to interact with the driver.	Toyota
pics	My favourite Google review of Rochdale's Jobcentre!	Google
worldnews	Dolphins escape from Taiji facility in Japan - BBC News	BBC
videos	Actual cost of McDonald's items is interesting	McDonald's
dataisbeautiful	BIQdata - Twitter diplomacy vizualized. Will Donald Trump turn it upside down? OC	Twitter
worldnews	UK service sector sees strong expansion in December - BBC News	BBC
worldnews	UK car sales at record high in 2016 - BBC News	BBC
worldnews	UK manufacturing on 'strong footing' - BBC News	BBC
worldnews	UK construction sector sees strong growth - BBC News	BBC
dataisbeautiful	BIQdata - Twitter diplomacy vizualized. Will Donald Trump turn it upside down? OC	Twitter
movies	BAFTA announces the nominations for the EE Rising Star Award 2017	EE
worldnews	Israel police arrest two over threats to judges in Elor Azaria case - BBC News	BBC
AskReddit	To the elder people of reddit: Were Jimi Hendrix, Otis Redding, Led Zeppelin etc. mainstream music? And what was not mainstream this time?	Otis
worldnews	India reluctant to give special tax incentives to Apple - India is resisting Apple Inc.'s demand for tax incentives to make iPhones in the country, with the trade minister saying on Thursday that New Delhi may not make exceptions for the U.S. tech giant.	Apple
news	Gang films torture of man with special needs on Facebook Live	Facebook
mildlyinteresting	Just stumbled across McDonald's condiments from 1986 in a drawer at work.	McDonald's
gaming	Should I get an Xbox One S ?	Xbox
funny	When baby boomers try to tell you about how hard their childhood was, show them this Pizza Hut employee.	Pizza Hut
worldnews	US Company GPNE Crop sues Apple Inc for patent infringement in China.	Apple
Showerthoughts	What I ordered at Taco Bell yesterday roughly translates to Cheesy Fat Girl Crunch.	Bell
videos	Family Guy - Peter Becomes an Uber Driver	Uber
news	Police: Man at Ohio Walmart used syringe to squirt semen on women	Walmart
videos	Mark Hamill Original Star Wars BBC Interview 1977	BBC
worldnews	Guildford parkour runner dies in Paris Metro 'accident' - BBC News	BBC
news	Without Uber or Lyft, Austin Experiences Skyrocketing DUI Rates	Uber
funny	I think Google translate might be a little off...	Google
Futurology	UK military to build prototype 'laser weapon' - BBC News	BBC
videos	Manchester United player Morgan Schneiderlin seen training hard	United
gaming	Looking for good split screen game for Xbox One. Any suggestion?	Xbox
Showerthoughts	If Nike is pronounced Nikee,then why isn't Bike pronounced Bikee?	Nike
gaming	Top 10 UpComming Zombies Games Insane Upcoming Realistics Graphics Anticipated On PS4 Xbox One PC	Xbox
todayilearned	TIL Mike Tyson Bit Holyfield's Ear Because Holyfield Kept Headbutting Tyson	Tyson
worldnews	Chicago police hold four over live-streamed attack - BBC News	BBC
AskReddit	If you were given control of Donald Trump's Twitter account for one day, what would you tweet?	Twitter
worldnews	Turkey car bomb and gun attack near courthouse in Izmir - BBC News	BBC
gaming	Does anyone else wish that No Mans Sky played out like an episode of Rick & Morty?	Sky
AskReddit	4 in custody after mentally disabled man tied up, tortured on Facebook Live. Why would they not charge them for a hate crime?	Facebook
AskReddit	You're the president of the United States of America, what is the first thing you'll do?	United
gaming	Looking for a new Xbox One game	Xbox
funny	When you eat Taco Bell before shooting a music video.	Bell
mildlyinteresting	What world do we live in: top stories for BBC news U.K.	BBC
funny	My parents used to be great gift-givers, and then Kohl's came to town	Kohl's
videos	A CBS SPECIAL PRESENTATION - 10 HOURS	CBS
worldnews	Woman used hammer to fend off Viagra OAP - BBC News	BBC
gaming	In a world where the United States created English. 😂	United
funny	seeBotsChat - Livestream of Two Google Homes Having a Conversation.	Google
news	U.S. economy adds 153,000 private-sector jobs in December: ADP report	ADP
Showerthoughts	Of all the everyday technologies that we use today that would blow someone's mind if shown to them in the early 00s, Google Maps 3D imagery has to be up there. Blows my mind even today.	Google
food	Homemade Chuck roast and au jus	au
nottheonion	People who post their fitness routine to Facebook have psychological problems, study claims	Facebook
dataisbeautiful	Presidents of the United States OC	United
personalfinance	Reversal Charges in JP Morgan Chase	JP Morgan
personalfinance	I'm currently banking with JP Morgan Chase as a Private Client, but, I've been unhappy with their customer service lately. What are comparable banks that offer specialized customer service for select clients?	Chase
personalfinance	I'm currently banking with JP Morgan Chase as a Private Client, but, I've been unhappy with their customer service lately. What are comparable banks that offer specialized customer service for select clients?	JP Morgan