The Agents of F.L.A.S.K.

[Harp]

My wife's family and friends who live in the Chicago area all say the same thing. And my father-in-law... "We would vote for whoever was corrupt in a way we wanted."

Casting ballots along ethnic, party, and, it should be said racial lines add to inherent corruption; though
however unfortunate for this town, the ingigenous franchise is equally guilty and responsible for the current
state of civil and criminal confusion. One-party political rule and all attendant asinine baggage perpetuated
by ideological astigmatism chalks the game board and even those who have fostered ridiculous
shennanigans, shibboleths, and systemic racist claim to excuse consequent result are beginning to
realize a glimmer of truth. And, of course, those most vocal: the all rights but no responsibilities
progressives, have become scarce and taciturn.

The African-American Chicago community is in a state of crisis and its resultant weekly death tally
has served notice some still haven't heard.
And, a surprising deafness falls alongside the judicial bench, whom should know better than
continuously releasing charged individuals back on the block.

 

[Harp]

That just has to be a joke, so I thought, The Brits are exceptionally good at being inept, but even here the deceased take their vote with them to the grave.
In all, the analysis showed 119 dead people have voted a total of 229 times in Chicago in the last decade.

That is just a singular evidentiary lead....
Itza lot more than that.
A whole lotz more.

 

[Tiki Tom]

It’s been twenty-five years since I’ve been to Chicago. Remember going to a famous old German restaurant that was good. Of course everyone knows the “vote early and vote often” quote associated with Chicago. But I didn’t know much beyond that. This thread prompted me to read up a little. Wow. There were 62 bombings during the 1928 primary elections. Something you don’t learn about in history class.

https://blockclubchicago.org/2018/1...the-history-is-even-crazier-than-youve-heard/

well, I guess it is not all bad. At least Chicago has pleasant, temperate winters.

 

[GHT]

Chicago, Chicago that toddling town
Chicago, Chicago I will show you around
Bet your bottom dollar you have some fun in Chicago, Chicago
The town that Billy Sunday couldn't shut down
On State Street, that great street, I just want to say
They do things they don't do on Broadway
They have the time, the time of their life
I saw a man, he danced with his wife
In Chicago, Chicago my home town

For years I thought that Billy Sunday was poetic licence, not realising it was a reference to William Ashley Sunday, one of the architects prominent in the movement to prohibit alcohol sales in the United States.
Sunday reached the peak of his fame in his New York City revival of 1917, two years before prohibition became national policy by constitutional amendment.

What I did know, but for the life of me, I can't remember how I know, a German immigrant, name Albert von Breitenbach, penned that song. Most know the author was Fred Fisher, that's what Breitenbach changed it to after his arrival in the US in 1900. Sinatra made it a worldwide hit of course, in doing so he probably popularised Chicago, or at least give some credence to the city, after Al Capone's brutal reign.

 

[Harp]

It’s been twenty-five years since I’ve been to Chicago. Remember going to a famous old German restaurant that was good. Of course everyone knows the “vote early and vote often” quote associated with Chicago. There were 62 bombings during the 1928 primary elections. Something you don’t learn about in history class..

Truth can be strange.
But the fact of the matter is Chicago was better off when the back room boys ran the show.
This cuts against the grain but undeniably this town was better off when run by the machine.
All things considered.
And this includes the effing judges. Most definitely the elected judiciary.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Back in Vienna, colleagues would sometimes complain about the 100 or so shootings that occurred in Austria in a year. My standard response was “100? That’s a good Saturday night in Chicago.”

Sorry to hear about the current state that toddlin’ town is in. Some years back New York was a war zone, but they eventually got a handle on it. Hopefully Chicago will also come out the other side one day. Soon, I hope.

 

[Tiki Tom]

This is a very creepy ghost story. Afterwards, the cops in charge of the cold case took a look at the field and said they didn’t see anything. They might have considered going the extra mile by getting one of those dogs that sniff for corpses and having it give the meadow a sniff.

https://kmph.com/news/local/sheriff-investigates-ghost-like-sighting-in-madera-county-mountains

 

[Harp]

This is a very creepy ghost story. Afterwards, the cops in charge of the cold case took a look at the field and said they didn’t see anything. They might have considered going the extra mile by getting one of those dogs that sniff for corpses and having it give the meadow a sniff.

https://kmph.com/news/local/sheriff-investigates-ghost-like-sighting-in-madera-county-mountains

Certainly intriguing. I would second canine patrol involve and additional forensic team assist.

 

[Benny Holiday]

Back in Vienna, colleagues would sometimes complain about the 100 or so shootings that occurred in Austria in a year. My standard response was “100? That’s a good Saturday night in Chicago.”

Sorry to hear about the current state that toddlin’ town is in. Some years back New York was a war zone, but they eventually got a handle on it. Hopefully Chicago will also come out the other side one day. Soon, I hope.

Not far from where I live is a suburb called Merrylands. Southwestern Sydney has an enormous Arab population with an entrenched organised crime problem. They are constantly running drive by shootings on each other's homes, peppering half the street with bullets as they go. Merrylands is far from being the only suburb affected, but enough shootings have occurred there to instigate a joke:
"I was eating chicken last night and it had all these crumpled bits of lead in it."
"Oh, you had Chicken Merrylands, huh?"

 

[Fifty150]

Casting ballots along ethnic, party, and, it should be said racial lines add to inherent corruption

The African-American Chicago community is in a state of crisis

Okay, I've been around the block just long enough to remember when people first started getting the idea that in order to fix problems in society, what we needed was more minorities in positions of authority.

Being a minority myself, I stopped and thought about that.

Could someone really solve problems just because they were Black, Hispanic, Asian, or a woman? Mitch McConnell's wife, Elaine Chao, is Asian and female. Serving the DOT since Ronald Reagan was president. We now have what progress because of that? I can only see that while she served as Transportation Secretary for Donald Trump, Chinese tires flooded the US market.

Obviously, the power structure for centuries in The United States was white male. And not all white males. Just certain white males. Wasn't Kennedy the 1st Catholic president? And I could be wrong, but we haven't had a Jewish president yet.

Chicago had how many mayors named Daly, for how many years?

Maybe that's about as productive as California Governors named Brown, and New York Governors name Cuomo.

Now Chicago has it's leadership firmly rooted in race. Is it the solution? Does having a Black mayor and "top cop" fix things? Is the quality of life improved? Has crime gone down?

I live in San Francisco. Our mayor is a Black female, and our police chief is Black. Just like in Atlanta & Chicago. When I think of the 3 cities, and the daily quality of life for the average person; I don't know if the mayor's or police chief's race or sex really effects how safe I am on the street, if housing is affordable, if there are jobs, how bad the traffic is, or if I have access to good public transportation.

Living in San Francisco, I support our mayor and police chief. Not because of their race or sex. But because they are doing a reasonably acceptable job. Neither of them is perfect. But we don't have rampant shootings, we have a reasonable public healthcare system, our buses run, our garbage is picked up, and there are ongoing projects to improve our infrastructure. Then everyone will also see that we have a corruption scandal at City Hall, with the FBI arresting city officials. Over the years, the FBI has had to arrest not only elected officials, but also SF police officers. There's an active campaign to recall the District Attorney and members of The Board of Education. We had a Sheriff locked in his own jail for refusing to enforce court orders, and another Sheriff arrested for domestic violence. I just got a refund of hundreds of dollars from the garbage company, because the garbage company bribed city officials to raise the garbage rates.

Overall, there are always things that can be improved upon, but I think that the quality of life is acceptable in comparison to a lot of big cities. However, I lack time on earth. In my memory, because of the inexperience of youth, my community's leadership has always been diversified. So I don't consider race or sex as a factor. I just want the better qualified person to do the job. I'm sure that people with more years on earth than me, can recall when leadership positions were all held by white men, and that in-and-of-itself was a problem.

 

[Tiki Tom]

A real life mystery. What killed a family and their dog on a remote trail? None of the top theories sound very convincing at this point.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/19/us/yosemite-family-death-trnd/index.html

 

[GHT]

A mystery indeed. My first thought was that in the absence of trauma wounds it had to be some sort of airborne toxin, but if that was so, there would have been dead wild animals too.

 

[Harp]

The current evidence seems to be the Merced with its toxic algae, but supposedly public knowledge.

 

[Tiki Tom]

If the toxic algae in a nearby stream theory is indeed correct, that is some potent algae indeed. I have never heard of such a thing… but a little more googling tells me that it does indeed exist and is fairly common. The following link contains a helpful photograph!

https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article253636158.html

However, the article notes that no known cases exist where the algae has actually killed someone; much less wiped out an entire family and their dog.

I remain skeptical. I guess we will have to wait for the final medical lab report.

Does the fact that this occurred in “Devil’s Gulch” have any bearing on the case? How did the canyon come to be called Devil’s Gulch?

https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article253642528.html

The article links to a map, but does not give a history of the name.

 

[Harp]

I shudder to think of suicide/murder poisoning or such deliberate death.

 

[Tiki Tom]

I shudder to think of suicide/murder poisoning or such deliberate death.

I also shuddered when thinking about alternative causes. Specifically, I wondered if it might be another (as yet unknown) lethal virus migrating from nature to humans. Horrible thought in today’s environment. Thankfully it is also unlikely… that would have to be a super fast acting virus.

 

[Harp]

I also shuddered when thinking about alternative causes. Specifically, I wondered if it might be another (as yet unknown) lethal virus migrating from nature to humans. Horrible thought in today’s environment. Thankfully it is also unlikely… that would have to be a super fast acting virus.

My fast read may be inaccurate but I believe the complete post mortem and labs have not yet been
concluded or may present need for further forensic; the canine tests are not finished.
The child also deceased as to possible deliberate intent tips my worst thoughts.

 

[Woodtroll]

I wonder if there were any clouds or storms in the area at the time? A nearby lightning strike could kill multiple people/animals with no marks, and leave no noticeable trace if they were not struck directly. That seems a lot more likely than toxic algae overwhelming everyone at once. Toxic gas could also be possible, but of course there would have to be a source.

 

[Tiki Tom]

I like the lightning strike theory. I have heard of such things happening. On the other hand, I have not seen any mention of inclement weather. I gather that it was hot and dry, although localized extreme weather in mountain environments is always a possibility.

This version of the story mentions that the Hazmat team was called in. At the bottom of the article is a photo of the victims. A beautiful family. R.I.P. I hope we one day learn the results of the investigation.

https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/california/article253572954.html

 

[Harp]

I like the lightning strike theory. I have heard of such things happening. On the other hand, I have not seen any mention of inclement weather. I gather that it was hot and dry, although localized extreme weather in mountain environments is always a possibility.l

I also favor the lightning strike theory if only to allay my worst suspicions. Yet, this was not mentioned
in the above article, or at least I do not recall reading any thoughts in this direction.