Boopers is a gentle, sweet and extremely people friendly, two-year-old, eight-pound, green-eyed female black and white cat looking for a loving guardian.

This incredibly outgoing girl was found living in a feral colony. She was just skin and bones, spayed, but had no tags or collar and wasn’t microchipped.

Boopers is so frantic for food that she was returned from her foster home for jumping on the stove continually to eat from pots and pans.

While she gets along with other cats, she will growl and push them out of the way to eat her food, and theirs! So, she can happily live as the one and only feline in the home preferably with someone who doesn’t cook a lot, or who can keep her safe while doing so!

She is now extremely healthy, spayed, microchipped, virus-tested negative and vaccinated for rabies and distemper.

Her adoption fee of $150 benefits the rescued pets of Friends of Petraits Rescue.

If you’re interested in meeting and possibly adopting this beautiful and incredibly sweet girl, please go to http://www.friendsofpetraits.com to fill out an adoption application.

She is currently being fostered in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood.

When an object has components that are alike and have the same capabilities, it’s the imperfections that mark one component and set it apart. When everything is perfect, there are no real distinctions. It’s the visible flaws that catches our attention. The true beauty is in being able to withstand it’s intended purpose and yet still perform even with unhidden blemishes.

None of us are perfect, but we’re all built to get the job done regardless of our wounds and bruises. Be the one that stands out, marked and all and let them marvel at how you keep going, keep grinding and keep getting greater!

Creating a business is an investment. In addition to putting funds into it, you often end up investing blood, sweat and tears as you work to build it from the ground up. Security is an essential part of protecting that investment, but in the age of smart devices and savvy thieves, it’s not as easy as just locking your door anymore. What can you do to improve your business’s security? This article will show you.

Assess Your Current Security

Before you start making changes to your business, it helps to know what works and what could stand a bit of improvement. Complete a security assessment before you make any decisions. If you’re not sure where to start, hunt down a checklist. Remember the basic formula:

• Risk = asset x threat x vulnerability

You need to be able to break down every aspect of your business by plugging it into that formula. Create a list of assets, figure out where they might be most vulnerable and move forward from there.

Consider More Than Just Physical Security

While locking your doors and arming your security system at night are both important, these steps only address one part of the puzzle. In addition to dealing with physical security, you need to consider cybersecurity and even identity theft, which are both growing threats to business owners. There are more than 15 million cases of identity theft reported every year. Something as simple as responding to the wrong email can cost an employee their identity.

Keep Your Software Upgraded

Upgrading software on business machines can get expensive fast, especially when you consider how quickly these programs change. Windows quit supporting everything but Windows 8 and 10 and plans to cease support for Windows 8 in 2023. Once the operating system’s creator stops supporting it, this facilitates numerous vulnerabilities and back doors that hackers can use to access your system.

That’s part of why the U.K.’s National Health Service (NHS) lost access to their systems in 2017 — many of the networks were still using Windows 98 or other outdated operating systems. Don’t skimp on software upgrades. Think of them as a security investment rather than an IT expense.

Utilize Two-Factor Authentication

Passwords are useful for protecting your accounts, but they’re not always sufficient. That’s where two-factor authentication comes in. This system requires you to input an additional code before you can log in, even if you have the correct username and password. The code gets sent to a secure email or mobile device that you keep on your person. Use two-factor authentication whenever it’s available.

Be Vigilant and Stay Safe

Investing in security is essential to ensure your business is protected. This is one part of running a business where you won’t want to cut corners. Start by carrying out an assessment to figure out where you might be vulnerable and what sectors need a little bolstering. Don’t only focus on physical security — cyberattacks and identity theft are just as problematic as someone breaking into your storefront or office.

Reporter: ““Don’t the voters deserve to know where you stand on [packing the Supreme Court]?”

Joe Biden: “No, they don’t deserve [to know]….”

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden had already given voters the middle finger by his non-answer to the question of whether he supports–as do so many of his party’s colleagues–turning the court over to the control of progressives by adding additional seats to it, a political maneuver called “packing.” It would make the court a handmaiden of the progressive agenda.

In essence, he said that voters would have to elect him president and then they would find out what he would do about court packing.

That answer was stupefying and frightening enough, but then he doubled down in an interview (see the video above) by declaring that what he thinks is not something voters deserve to know on this issue. As if voters should have no say in such a fundamental change in our system of checks and  balances.

Is this how Biden will run his administration, as a giant “screw you” to the public? Or is this just another case of Biden following his marching orders from progressive political advisors that he must not answer the question, just like his running mate, Kamala Harris?

Or was this just another stumble by a Biden whose mind is a  bit, well, slow?

Even  the numbest people on Biden’s team must have realized what a gigantic political blunder it was to straight out refuse to answer, because Biden’s next response was different, but not so much. NPR reports: 

Biden Says He’s ‘Not A Fan’ Of Expanding The Supreme Court

After weeks of deflecting on whether he would seek to increase the number of justices on the Supreme Court if elected president, Democratic nominee Joe Biden on Monday went the furthest he’s gone on the issue as of late, saying he’s “not a fan.”

“I’ve already spoken: I’m not a fan of court packing, but I don’t want to get off on that whole issue. I want to keep focused,” the former vice president told WKRC-TV after a campaign event in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Not a fan? What the hell does that mean? Is it a promise that you can take to the bank. The question, “Will he or won’t he” still looms large. In other words, he has trashed the high ideal of transparent and open government.

Weasel: Intransitive verb, : to use weasel words : EQUIVOCATE. Noun: : a sneaky, untrustworthy, or insincere person.

Biden justifies his non-answer by saying that he wants not play the Republican”game” and the court packing issue is just a “distraction.” The gullible among Biden’s supporters might buy that, but seeing through this joke of an excuse takes no special insight.

Just as risible was Sen.  Tim Kaine (D. Vt.) who said, well, Biden doesn’t need to answer the question because it’s none of  “his [the president’s] business.” It’s Congess’ business, Kaine, explained, so obviously ignoring the indisputable, constitutional fact that any court expansion enacted by Congress would require the president’s signature.

Such are the lengths that progressive who run the Biden campaign will go to stymie the people’s voice and to alter more than two centuries of successful governance under the U.S. Constitution.

This episode brings to mind the hollow slogan of the progressive Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness”. You bet it does. 

Watch Jesus Solorio (R-South Side of Chicago), a 33 year old proud son of Mexican immigrant parents and 4th CD cand. taking on 4th CD Dem Chuy Garcia.

4th CD R cand. Jesus Solorio is running on (1) sending kids safely back to CPS for in-person learning & (2) sending adults safely back to jobs so their families can prosper, stay together and avoid the deadly Chuy Garcia favored policies such as “Lock Downs” and “Shelter in place” that cause drug overdoses, domestic violence, serious sickness and deaths in the 4th CD.

The show featuring Solorio airs TONIGHT in Chicago at 9:02 pm on Cable Ch. 21 (CAN TV) and in 25 Chicago Metro suburbs at 8:30 pm on Comcast Cable Ch. 19 or Ch. 35 (See, below).

You can also watch, 24/7, Jesus Solorio, 4th CD Candidate, on the web interviewed by show host Jeff Berkowitz.

Jesus accuses Chuy Garcia of being a captive of teachers’ unions leadership and not representing the 750,000 voters in the 4th CD.

Jesus also argues Garcia has endorsed Speaker Madigan for his various political offices- thus assisting Madigan in imposing higher taxes, public corruption and unsafe streets on the 4th CD residents struggling to survive the destructive policies of Mike Madigan and Chuy Garcia.

*************************

The show featuring Jesus Solorio (R-South Side of Chicago- 4th CD candidate), airs tonight at 8:30 pm in 25 Chicago Metro north and northwest suburbs on 

—Comcast Cable Ch. 19 in Buffalo Grove, Elk Grove Village, Hoffman Estates, parts of Inverness, Lincolnwood, Morton Grove, Niles, Northfield, Palatine, Rolling Meadows and Wilmette and on

—Comcast Cable Ch. 35 in  Arlington Heights, Bartlett, Glenview, Golf, Des Plaines, Hanover Park, Mt. Prospect, Northbrook, Park Ridge, Prospect Heights, Schaumburg, Skokie, Streamwood and Wheeling. 

You can also watch, 24/7, Jesus Solorio, 4th CD Candidate, on the web interviewed by show host Jeff Berkowitz.  

It happens every election season, and both sides do it- using the stock market as a political football, and spinning the state of the indices to their advantage. It’s very important to remember that the stock market is NOT “the economy,” despite what the politicians and the political pundits in their side try to tell us. 

If the stock market is up, as it is now, the party in power will try to convince you that Wall Street’s gains are good for Main Street. This is why President Donald Trump incessantly tweets about stock market gains, and gears his actions and ideals towards trying to do whatever satisfies the Dow Jones Industrial Average. His acolytes, despite the fact that many, if not most of them don’t even own any stock, will parrot this line repeatedly during these last three weeks up until the election.

Buying and selling stock always has an element of risk, just like gambling. It’s like being a PA punter, someone who bets at the legal online casinos in Pennsylvania. The keystone state is really seeing a surge in their casino industry recently, especially since the state passed the legalization of sports betting. Of course, long before these new laws were enacted, you had a kind of legalized gambling available at various brokerage houses.

Charles Schwab, Edward Jones, TD Ameritrade and Wells Fargo…well, on some levels they’re not all that different from Bally’s, Rivers, Harrah’s and Caesar’s Palace. Just like the house usually wins, it’s the insiders who typically come out ahead when it comes to so-called “playing the market.” As the saying goes, position is 9/10 of the law, and the top of the economic food chain already has the cards, in this game, dealed out to their favor.

The top 1% of net worth Americans own 1/2 the total valuation of all stocks held by individual households. The top 10% own 88% of it market’s value. In fact, 47% of Americans don’t even own a single share of stock. 

Which again speaks to why the market fluctuations don’t mean anything at all to most of the country. Forget all the propaganda about “trickle down” economics and the “job creators.”

Employment statistics don’t relate to the stock market indices either. For instance, we lost 20.5 million jobs in April, the first full month of the shutdown economy. Meanwhile this month saw the S&P 500 reach a three year high. “The economy” itself is defined by general economic activity, often reflected by GDP or gross domestic product. The working definition of a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth as measured by GDP.

The NBER officially declared an end to the last economic expansion in February of 2020 as the U.S. fell into a recession amid the covid-19 pandemic. In addition to recession and expansion, there are two more economic phases to complete the cycle. 

A slowdown is defined by a period in which GDP growth slows but does not actually decline. Finally, a recovery is generally characterized by a sustained period of improving business activity, following a recession and preluding an expansion. Again, none of these are defined by the DJIA numbers!

Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.

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Full Company of A Christmas Carol–An Audio Play
By Charles Dickens
Adapted by Tom Creamer
Adapted for Audio by Neena Arndt, Jessica Thebus and Richard Woodbury
Directed by Jessica Thebus

Kareem Bandealy………………Jacob Marley/Young Marley/Hat Seller
Dee Dee Batteast……………….Frida
Ariana Burks…………………….Fan/Martha Cratchit/Catherine
Thomas J. Cox………………….Bob Cratchit/Tree Seller
Allen Gilmore……………………Abe/Ortle/Schoolmaster/Poulterer
Cindy Gold………………………Mrs. Fezziwig/Passerby/Chestnut Seller
Gregory Hirte……………………Dick Wilkins/Musician/Fiddler/Wreath Seller
Susaan Jamshidi……………….Mrs. Cratchit
Vikram Konkimalla……………..Tiny Tim/Child#1
Jennifer Latimore……………….Belle/Frida’s Guest/Young Woman
Aurora Real de Asua……………Ghost of Christmas Past
Malcolm Ruhl……………………Musician/Mr. Spinet
Christopher Sheard…………….Young Scrooge/Young Man
Paris Strickland………………….Emily Cratchit/Child#3/NewspaperGirl
Bethany Thomas………………..Ghost of Christmas Present
Penelope Walker………………..Mrs. Fezziwig/Mrs. Crumb
Andrew White……………………Narrator
Larry Yando………………………Ebenezer Scrooge

Creative Team

Eva Breneman…………………..Dialect Coach
Andrew Hansen…………………Original Music
Malcolm Ruhl……………………Music Director
Richard Woodbury………………Sound Designer
Alden Vasquez…………………..Project Coordinator

About A Christmas Carol

Beloved voices and the Goodman’s signature soundscape bring to vivid life Charles Dickens’ heartwarming, uplifting classic. Miserly businessman Ebenezer Scrooge’s sizable bank account is only matched by his disdain for the holidays. One Christmas Eve, Scrooge is visited by four ghosts who take him on a spectacular adventure through his past, present and future, helping him on his discovery of kindness, compassion and redemption.

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