Make up your mind, mainstream!

Chicago is many things, apparently. [READER]( The Daily Reader October 3, 2023 At the moment, I’m having a rip-roaring debate with myself over what’s more pathetic . . . The Bears’ response to the challenge of playing football? Or Chicago’s response to the challenge of immigrants getting bused in from Texas? It’s close, but so far, I’m going with the latter. Not that the Bears aren’t trying their hardest to be as bad as they can be. On Sunday, they blew a 21-point lead in the second half to the Denver Broncos (currently also one of the worst teams in the league) by giving up . . . Oh, it’s too painful to relive. Monday’s Sun-Times summed up the debacle with a one-word headline: “HORSES#IT!” Though, I don’t know, Bright One. You kind of wimped out in substituting that “#” for the “H”. All eager to make a big statement, only to pull back in the end—not unlike the Bears. Now: consider Chicago with the immigrants. For the last several years, all the mainstream types—the Trib, Crain’s, the Chamber of Commerce—have been echoing the mantra of the Republicans (probably because these organizations are run by Republicans), about how Chicago’s facing a horrific demographic crisis of falling population. Over and over, they whine, and cry, and say we don't have enough people. Then MAGA Governor Abbott of Texas starts sending busloads of migrants—many who are Venezuelans, Colombians, and from other countries—from the border and suddenly, Republicans are whining and crying that we’re getting too many people. With the papers breathlessly announcing each busload as though it's one more bit of Armageddon being dropped on our doorstep. Make up your mind, mainstream! Which is it: too much or too little? Looks to me like all you really want to do is whine and cry. Which, by the by, contradicts the tough-guy image you generally project when you’re trying to fire everybody up over some boondoggle that will cost taxpayers a fortune. Like Daley’s Olympics or Mayor Rahm and Governor Rauner’s Amazon deal. Then you paint Chicago as the Monsters of the Midway . . . The City That Works . . . The town that reversed the flow of the Chicago River and rebuilt itself from the ashes of the great fire. As everyone walks around misquoting Daniel Burnham (“Make no small plans”). (The actual quote is “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized.”) You remind me of me over the last few weeks, as I lay on the couch, stricken with gout, feeling sorry for myself. As you sob, “Oh, no, what can we do? Boo hoo hoo!” The best we’ve come up with to house the migrants is a half-assed plan to give an out-of-town-contractor $29 million to build a tent city. So ordinary Chicagoans won’t even get the jobs. Let me get this straight: suddenly, Chicago doesn’t know how to build or rehab housing? Gimme a break. This place is crawling with developers and builders looking to make a buck. My guess is that some people think that the wrong kind of people were on those buses, if you know what I mean. And I think you do, dear readers. So here’s what you do, Chicago . . . Welcome the immigrants to town. Put Chicagoans—especially Black Chicagoans—to work building real housing. Not tents. Then build affordable housing for the people who live here and need it. Then build some for some of the Black people you kicked out of town over the last 20 years. And get President Biden and the feds to pay for it—he’ll want to help if only to look good at next summer’s Democratic National Convention, which happens to be right here in Chicago. It’s not complicated, people. You can even pretend you thought this up yourself. I won’t let on that you got it from me. 🎙Listen to [The Ben Joravsky Show]( 🎙 [What Ben's Reading] [Swamp Story]( by Dave Barry. This wacky novel, about a bunch of misfits in Florida (where else?), had me laughing out loud. Dave Barry just keeps them coming! [Michael Jackson]( on the Hyde Park Jazz Festival . . . Thank you, Bob Burford! Ben Joravsky on the proposed [Amazon deal]( (just in case you forgot) [Best of the Ben J. Show]( Inside Chicago Government’s Dave Glowacz: a month’s worth of [City Council antics]( Translator and interpreter Matt Ginsberg-Jaeckle on the [U.S. and Venezuela]( Chicago Sun-Times’ Rummana Hussain on [Jann Wenner and Hasan Minhaj](. [Little Amal invites Chicago to walk a little closer together]( A 12-foot-tall puppet of a Syrian refugee girl comes to town this weekend. by [Boutayna Chokrane]( | [R]( → [Pools of time]( “Life Cycles” paces through fleeting moments and through the storms of the everyday. by [Isaac Vazquez]( | [R]( → [The Lehman Trilogy is TimeLine at its finest]( Three astounding actors bring to life the “double helix of U.S. history and U.S. capitalism.” by [Catey Sullivan]( | [R]( → [The Hyde Park Jazz Festival reached new heights in 2023]( The festival’s bustling constellation of world-class music included a greater diversity of styles than ever before. by [Michael Jackson]( | [R]( → The best snacktime in the city. Our senior writer Mike Sula delivers a delicious helping of food and beverage news every Friday at 3:30 PM. Click below to sign up today! 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