I’d say the character of the neighborhood began irreversible changing after 2003 and the new developments aren’t much of a deviation from that trend. Nisei and G-man were still the only two good bars before these new developments broke ground.

A couple of them are a bit more upscale, but for the most part they’re copies of the unremarkable, Cub-fan-catering, giant bar/restaurants that already line Clark.

The Ricketts’ rationale behind getting tax money was they have to add the 12% or so amusement tax to the price of tickets, which is used to fund Chicago’s public sports facilities, but can’t benefit from it. It’s not a good argument though and Rahm did one good thing by flatly rejecting it.

Technically, they got tax breaks for renovating a landmark structure, but no direct subsidy.

Funny, I was going to say the hotel was much nice architecturally compared to the triangle lot building which is so unremarable that doesn’t do it neighbor justice.

lol “shit heal”

Having other people do nearly all of the work and taking a cut on the grounds you’re a “job creator.”

I didn’t read most of these because Ricketts is overwhelmingly tedious, but I did get a kick out of him over-dramatically pouting over the 2012 election and threatening to leave the country but not following through.

This, I would argue, is the one useful point of accumulating wealth beyond its ability to meet your material needs: to avoid any discomfort that would come from having one’s will challenged in any way. That’s why they usually sound and act like spoiled children.

The Ricketts are likely the norm, not the exception, to the rich. Most of them have the ideological sophistication of a self-absorbed high schooler.

Considering how many women have told me their symptoms are often not taken seriously by doctors, the repeat visits are probably a product of trying to get someone just to believe them.

Dean isn’t exceptional in being a Democrat in it for the money, but he’s probably the most glaring example of selling out what he once stood for.

He’s too busy being all-but-official lobbyist against Medicare For All.

Correct. There’s a reason these groups use the “rolodex test” to screen candidates: it’s because the party mostly exists to funnel cash to a group of loyal consultants and production houses and you can’t rake in the same amount of cash from a true grassroots candidate who might actually oppose business interests.

More accurately, it was a “fuck you” to the left wing of the party. Perez is very much in line with what Obama and the party believe.

Dean is probably happy with his current gig being a technically-not-a-lobbyist-because-I’m-not-registered-as-one lobbyist getting paid to oppose Single Payer.

If a predilection for young girls is your threshold for rejecting leaders and their systems, I have bad news about a ton of well-known American leaders who have been on Jeffery Epstein’s Lolita Express.

A few people have brought up (unsolicited, I might add) Chapo Trap House which is 100% ad-free and make their money through Patreon subscriptions to extra episodes. It’s especially ironic in that CTH has been success in a truly grassroots way whereas Pod Save America is leaning on its connections to Obama and…

I’m sorry, but Pod Save America did jackshit to get Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez elected and making that claim greatly undermines your point.

All of those ideas originated from people to the left of them, but it’s pretty standard for mainstream liberals to borrow those ideas, claim them as their own, and complain about the “left” doing things the wrong way.