The Decline And Fall Of The American Empire

Political Animal 30 Comments

A few months before last February’s citywide elections, Hal Baskin’s phone started ringing. And ringing. Most of the callers were candidates for Chicago City Council, seeking the kind of help Baskin was uniquely qualified to provide.
Baskin isn’t a slick campaign strategist. He’s a former gang leader and, for several decades, a community activist who now operates a neighborhood center that aims to keep kids off the streets. Baskin has deep contacts inside the South Side’s complex network of politicians, community organizations, and street gangs. as he recalls, the inquiring candidates wanted to know: “Who do I need to be talking to so I can get the gangs on board?”

h/t EBD

30 Replies to “The Decline And Fall Of The American Empire”

  4. Meet the 2016 US president.
    All the required credentials and then some.
    A couple of Nobel Peace Prizes and maybe one for physics or literature thrown in and we will have the new President of the World if the UN has their way.

  18. Same thing in Ontario.
    You have to get the shysters and shake-down artists on side: Environmental Defence; Sierra Club; Ontario Nature; CPAWS; etc.

  19. Whew! Weeks worth of power brought to you by the same people who hide the deline.
    Eh tu, how much you want to bet this is more green bs propaganda designed to keep the flow of tax dollars flowing. $14 Million euros – and counting. Remember, this is only a “demonstration” unit.
    Tell you what, since you believe in it so much. Why don’t you and your your friends invest your own cash in the company rather than steal it from taxpayers? Win-win eh?

  21. I quit reading when they said they only asked DEMONocRATS.Obviously a biased,misynogistic,racist story by the evil VRWC!

  22. ∞ ≠ ø, good question. The article is about black gangs working together on the basis of race.
    ‘Before the election, the gangs agreed to set aside decades-old rivalries and bloody vendettas to operate as a unified political force, which they called Black United Voters of Chicago. “They realized that if they came together, they could get the politicians to come to them,” explains Baskin.’
    White United Voters of Wherever should be just as fine?

  23. I’m almost there Walter. The truth is ugly and I’m far from church. Must….fight…..nihilism.

  24. I followed “eh tu”‘s link. The “superbattery” in question provided 500 MWh of energy over an 800 hour test period. Simple arithmetic shows this is a rate of 625,000 W/h, or 625 kW/h.
    The article then goes on to say this is enough energy for 1,370 homes. Again, simple arithmetic shows this is ~456 W/h per home Over 30 days, this is about 328 kWh of energy used in a month.
    Now, the average Canadian household of 4 uses about 50 kWh per day, or 1500 kWh per month. So, either Belgians use about one-fifth the energy that Canadians use (possible, but highly improbable, IMHO), or once again, grant-seeking scientists overhype the value of their work, assisted by the ever innumerate MSM. (very probable, IMHO.)

  25. Just in case anyone was wondering why all the black neighborhoods have 99% of the crime…
    …Or why the crime rate of certain Chicago neighborhoods can change 20% from one side of the street to the other…

  26. “So is B.O. a Blood or a Crip?”
    Posted by: scar at February 6, 2012 1:20 PM
    We resent that.

  27. Oh, and the on-topic comment I wanted to make before I was distracted:
    Who needs gangs when you have ACORN?!

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