My Year with Occupy
I remember July of 2011, complaining loudly to friends and family, “Isn’t it obvious to everyone now that we are getting screwed by the government and the banks? It’s all over the papers. What’s it...
View ArticleDemocrats? Greens? None of the Above? Our Unofficial Election Endorsements
The Occupied Chicago Tribune is not endorsing a presidential candidate in this election… not as a publication, anyway. We don’t tend to endorse candidates, although there are exceptions. But with less...
View ArticleA View From Washington: Reality Checking
We’re proud to introduce our newest monthly column, from Don Washington, progressive rabble-rouser, writer and frontman of Mayoral Tutorial. Last time President Obama won there was a honeymoon and the...
View ArticleA View from Washington: The President’s Quest for the Unholy Grail
You are probably tired, angry or resigned to the evil that plutocrats do when you think about the Fiscal Cliff, the Grand Betrayal or, as I like to call it, the Unholy Grail. Most people don’t...
View ArticleLove In A Time Of Mass Incarceration
Originally published at Suicide Girls Blog. “What are you doing for New Year’s?” The question, posed by friends and family members this past week, seemed innocent enough. When I cheerfully answered,...
View ArticleA View From Washington: There is No Bottom
At the end of 2012, HSBC bank was lightly admonished with a $1.9 billion dollar fine, after being told in 2010 that if they kept money-laundering and funding terrorist organizations, the FBI would...
View ArticlePaying More for Less: What’s Behind the CTA Cuts and Fare Hikes?
We Chicagoans find ourselves in an absurd situation. The demand for public transportation services is soaring. The resources exist to vastly expand services – and repair aging infrastructure – in order...
View ArticleA View From Washington: The Illinois Pension Mess
The Illinois pension mess is where broken promises meet bad public policy. A lot of bad things have happened to public servant pensioners and Illinois taxpayers over the past month. The Democrats won a...
View ArticleWho “Banned” Persepolis?
CPS officials may not have intended censorship, says Nick Burt, but the controversy around withdrawing Persepolis from classrooms reveals their undemocratic decision-making process. Under Friday storm...
View ArticleThe View From Somewhere
The fallacy of bland and faceless reporting hurts journalism by allowing bias and prejudice to masquerade as hands-off objectivity, argues Laurie Penny. Originally published at Jacobin. There’s no such...
View ArticleCPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett May Have Met Her Match in Chicago
The new CEO of Chicago Public Schools is only the latest well-paid mayoral proxy working to destroy Chicago schools. But there is powerful grassroots resistance to the planned CPS closings, says Kenzo...
View ArticleA View From Washington: Our First CEO President
If you’ve been thinking that Obama is a Democratic President fighting for a historic compromise called the Grand Bargain for whatever reason, you do not understand what is actually happening, argues...
View ArticlePritzker Cashes Out
As Obama nominates billionaire heiress Penny Pritzker for Secretary of Commerce, Chicago’s gain is everyone’s loss, says Nick Burt. In surveying potential nominees for Secretary of Commerce, President...
View ArticleOutrage Over IRS Targeting Of Tea Party Shows Glaring Double Standard
Aaron Cynic asks: Why are the people outraged by the IRS targeting of Tea Party groups silent on the targeting of Occupy and NATO activists? Originally published at Diatribe Media. Conservatives and...
View ArticleA Bathroom Break with Rahm Emanuel
As the mayor’s hand-picked Board of Education prepares to vote on school closings, Joel Handley had the chance to confront Rahm Emanuel in person – and found a man lost without his talking points. When...
View ArticleA View From Washington: Democracy’s Enemy
The Department of Justice’s spying on Associated Press phone records and James Rosen’s emails are just the latest steps towards the criminalization of news gathering, says Don Washington. In a speech...
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