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In the last few months in Chicago and all across America, we have experienced a life-altering pandemic, demonstrations, protests, rioting, burning, looting, along with wild accusations coming from all quarters. The hunt to blame, blame, blame, was full speed ahead. It was enough to make any sane person, or gosh, a politician, that has no answers, overlook another staggering reality. I’m not sure if the word overlook is germane, purposely ignore, or pretend to be too busy to notice might just be the proper words. “JUST SAYIN”

Chicago is in the midst of a summer slaughter (Webster’s definition of slaughter is (“to kill in large numbers”) that has seemed to somehow take a backseat amidst all the other chaos. Last month the City endured 82 murders and 392 people shot. In one 24 hour period 18 souls were murdered and over  92 were shot over that same weekend. The final results were 26 murdered and 92 shot. In reality that’s 92 attempted murders.

It did get noticed by at least one major newspaper, after all, it was the most violent weekend in 60 YEARS. The City’s leaders never as much as blinked, as hard as that must have been, they pulled it off. They have seemingly developed the old ostrich theory, keep your head in the sand and you will see nothing. I cannot help to think of Sgt. Schultz from “HOGANS HEROES.”  Sorry, it just kinda fits, “I KNOW NOTHING.”  They even get the same newspaper as I do. See the headline below.

Last year Chicago’s business community via “Cranes Chicago Business” asked me to do an OP-Ed on my thoughts on trying to solve Chicago’s intractable gang violence. Cranes noticed, they even published the startling financial cost to the City because of the violence. See Below. Crain’s, a business paper has put the cost into billions, reaffirming a Bloomberg analysis of a few years ago, which estimated that every single property owner in Chicago was unknowingly paying $15,000 a year to cover the cost of the mayhem. This coldly does not even measure the cost in human suffering.

Back in 2013 after President Barack Obama named Zachary Fardon the U.S Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, one of Fardon’s first statements about Chicago’s seemingly endless epidemic of violence was that the city was “not going to arrest our way out of the gang problem.” Six years later, newly elected Mayor Lorie Lightfoot, a former federal prosecutor, has repeated those same words. It’s almost a YADA, YADA, bag of bullshit.

But since 2012 this is the staggering reality. In just 8.5 years 4,821 souls have been murdered in Chicago and another 24,942 have been shot. Imagine an average of 567 murders a year and over 2,787 people shot in a civilized society. Mostly, due to gang warfare. It’s not cynicism but experience that sometimes has me scoffing at the constant calls for stronger community policing, extended library hours, organized sports activities, and workshops. The Mayor even handpicked a new police Superintendent who thinks it’s a great idea to have COPS help build houses in the Community and deliver meals to those in need. “He says to build trust with the Community.” Not one word on what they intend to do with the gang killers who are not the least bit interested in any of those activities and could care less about cops delivering food and building houses. But hey, I guess even laughable nonsense might appear like at least they are doing something.

Those horrific numbers of murders and attempted murders through the years speak for themselves. Chicago’s gangs are a powerful force that is not going to be intimated by nice, nice. They are a power and will not relinquish it’s arrogant power unless challenged by a far greater force. If we look back at the Federal Government’s attempt to dismantle organized crime in the U.S., no amount of community involvement brought it to an end. The Government agents and the Department of Justice used the RICO Statutes as an extremely effective tool against organized crime. It begs the question of why are we not using those same tactics against those violent offenders that are terrorizing Chicago with a stream of never-ending vicious attacks on entire communities?

In my opinion, the mayor’s call for more community involvement and scores of social programs – including jobs, neighborhood investments, addressing problems in the home, and more educational opportunities – is indeed honorable. But they simply will not stop the cancer that has infected those communities and beyond.

I spent 33 years with the Chicago Police department, including duty with the Gang units and as a SWAT C/O.  I’ve mixed with thousands of officers over the years, and I know my opinions are shared with the overwhelming number of cops who were and still on the front lines. The gangs are there now, to not see that one has to be blind or totally lacking in sense. The guns are there now. The violence is and will continue. And right now removing cancer and arresting and punishing offenders has to be a big part of that effort. Talking and making speeches and marching on expressways, and giving lip service to the mayhem is in no way helping.  “WE MAY NOT BE ABLE TO ARREST OUR WAY OUT OF THE ENTIRE PROBLEM BUT IT WILL BE ONE OF THE FIRST TOOLS TO GIVE A BELEAGURED CITY SOME NEEDED HELP.” Bob Angone

It’s like everything has been leading up to this one moment on the album. That moment is the brilliant song, “We’re All Just On Our Way Home.” Part of me wonders if the rest of the album was written around this song.

The first song, “If Only I Could Hold You,” is a lull that welcomes you aboard. Here we see a man getting on a boat, angling. “Don’t Forget To Breathe” continues to drag you in like that fish on the line, making a slow descent through the green water, it’s hooked.

“In The End I Just Want You To Be Happy” is like the fish thinking it got away, swimming towards freedom, while the fisherman takes a break. We don’t see the fisherman in this shot, but a reverse camera angle of the fish, looking like it got away. The fingerpicking of the guitar is introspective, the viewer needs to understand this is a tug of war. Both sides want to win.

That glimmer of hope was just slack on the line. “IDK Anything” is like this a reprieve before the fish’s capture. It feels a bit like Bright Eyes, until the end where the M83 tidbit happens. This is where we show the fish relenting, but not before one last burst of energy, trying to break the line.

No luck, the battle is over. Show the fish being reeled in, nice and easy. “In Case I Never See You Again” is that slow dirge building towards the crescendo. There’s no point in showing the fate of the fish past this scene.

It’s a beautiful day, bright and sunny. Cut to a speed boat, slicing through waves of endless water. Pod up, “We’re All Just On Our Way Home,” show the fisherman from the side, looking fulfilled.

“Staring At The Sea Without You Next To Me” is the decrescendo. Flashes of memories are passing through the fisherman’s mind. There’s more to this story, but you won’t see it. Not now, not yet. Fade to black. Roll credits. I think I just directed the video in my head.

Aren’t we all just on our way home from something, to somewhere? We are all on a journey.

San Holo might have recorded the best album of the year? It’s called Stay Vibrant. Let me know what you think?

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I am sitting in our sunroom, beams of light pouring through the jalousie windows. Our cat and a visiting pup alternate turns lying in the sun, neither willing to share space with the other. It is a crystal clear and brilliant day. I should be outside enjoying it before the crushing heat returns. But my stomach has been doing flip-flops for the last 24 hours or so, and I feel more comfortable on the sofa, book in hand, gazing out onto the street.

Barb designed this room for days like today; one set of windows facing our backyard; the second opening onto the pond, where only one of four of our newly hatched cygnets has survived the demonic snapping turtles in the water below; the final set of windows giving a view of the street, where we live at the back end of the loop the neighborhood’s main thoroughfare makes as it meanders through the subdivision.

I can people-watch unseen as I flip the pages of my novel. It’s a day made for strolling and all our neighbors, nearly homogenous in their ethnicity, are out. Many proceed as family units–mom and dad on bikes, baby in an attached carrier, young daughters struggling to keep up astride their two-wheelers, bouncing side-to-side on the training wheels. Pairs of neighborly couples stride along, 6-foot distances narrowing, then swelling again as someone remembers. In-line skaters, dog walkers, and loud phone chatters weave in and out to complete the tapestry.

The novel beside me is one that Barb gave to me from her stack on her nightstand after I finished reading the last book in my library pile.  The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai alternates between modern-day Paris and Chicago in the 1980’s, the Chicago scenes taking place in an area that would become known as Boystown. It is the story of a great pandemic, though the disease at the story’s center is not COVID-19, the virus is not SARS-CoV-2.

It was early in my medical career when we first became aware of a deadly illness that was striking gay men with the unusual disease combination of Kaposi’s Sarcoma and Pneumocystis Pneumonia. Medically, it struck home. I had given a presentation on KS in med school and pneumocystis was the organism that had ended my father-in-law’s battle with leukemia.

I remember the heated arguments over whether or not this disease, soon to be named Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, was an infectious disease and if so what the transmitting agent could be. Then came the discovery of a virus, originally titled HTLV-III and eventually renamed HIV. Methods of transmission were identified. Rock Hudson became a symbol, Ryan White a hero.

To protect ourselves in the morgue we began wearing chain mail gloves while doing autopsies, at least until my Laboratory Director discovered a unique and clever way to avoid our performing post-mortem exams on known AIDS cases. He told the hospital medical staff that we pathologists would be glad to do those autopsies, as long as the clinicians “scrubbed in” and pointed out the areas in which they had the greatest concern. Autopsy requests melted away just like the T-lymphocytes that had disappeared under the onslaught of the virus.

I recall the controversy over blood testing for the disease, as well as the emergence of AZT, the first drug to have some success in slowing down the progression of AIDS. And I remember the lost medical school classmates, members of a repressed class that was decimated.

And now, as BLM reminds us, once again a repressed class is being decimated, both by a virus and by inequality.  It is time to move beyond looking out the window. For me, it will be in a medical context. How about for you?

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The message that this white liberal heard the loudest the last few weeks is that “Do no harm” is not enough. It’s not enough to try to treat everyone decently. Antiracism requires more than passivity.

African Americans are understandably tired of whites asking them for suggestions of what to do. Yet it can be hard to figure it out, especially for introverts uncomfortable with agitation. (Acknowledgment: our comfort level may be irrelevant.) My past actions, like volunteering to tutor and to cook meals, won’t help change underlying systemic racism.

This post isn’t going to conclude with an answer, but heeding How to Be an Antiracist author Ibram X. Kendi’s call for self-examination, I can think about questions such as the following:

• I’ve lived in a big city for 30 years but not among African Americans. I experience black people mostly as store clerks, transit employees, and strangers on the sidewalk. How has that affected my notions?

• I can count on my fingers the number of African Americans colleagues I had in all of my jobs combined. But why didn’t I reach out to the few, asking them to lunch and taking more time to chat? When they seemed to keep to themselves, why did I assume that was their preference?

• There have been a few times that I’ve felt rudely treated by black strangers. A couple of weeks ago I wrote about one. Why did I feel guilty about standing up for myself? Was race relevant? Was it biased of me to detect an attitude? Could I have misinterpreted because I don’t understand black behavioral norms ? On the other hand, isn’t it offensive to attribute what feels like rudeness to racial difference?

• I have ventured into few neighborhoods on the South and West Sides because of the assumption that it would be unsafe to do so. Why haven’t I double-checked that assumption, neighborhood by neighborhood?

• How should I have responded when an acquaintance said, “I did not enslave anyone, I’m not guilty”?

* How have I benefited from white privilege?

• Why does it make me uncomfortable to hear that I’m part of the problem if I’m not doing anything to solve it? There are so many people discriminated against — other minority groups, women, people with disabilities, lesbians and gays, gender-nonconforming people, seniors, etc. — how could a single person take action for all?

*****

ANTI-TRUMP COMMENTS: 118TH IN AN ONGOING SERIES

The planned Trump rally in Tulsa is “an extraordinarily dangerous move for the people participating and the people who may know them and love them and see them afterward.”

— Dr. Ashish Jha, director of Harvard’s Global Health Institute

As a small business owner, you have a responsibility to care for your employees. On top of offering them an appropriate salary, you’ll have to consider various types of insurance. When it comes to providing coverage for your workers, where do you start?

The kind of insurance you legally have to offer varies from state to state. You may even want to provide non-required coverage as an added benefit. Here’s a list of different types of insurance you can and may have to consider.

Unemployment Insurance

Unemployment insurance doesn’t work like most other forms of coverage, but the law requires it, so it’s worth the mention. The Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) requires you to pay unemployment taxes based on what your employees earn. Depending on your state, this rate will vary.

Instead of buying through a vendor, you’ll fund unemployment insurance through taxes. If you just started hiring employees, though, you should be aware that you’ll have to start this process.

Health Insurance

When you think of employee benefits, you probably consider health insurance. You may have to provide coverage, depending on your state and the kind of business you run. Even if you’re not required to, though, offering health insurance is a good idea.

Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), you may qualify for tax credits for providing healthcare. Going above and beyond the requirements, like offering dental insurance, can also improve morale.

Life Insurance

The law doesn’t require you to offer life insurance, but your employees will appreciate it. Providing it will give your workers, especially those with families, some peace of mind about the future. You have a lot of options, too.

Life insurance types vary by factors like coverage and length, as well as cost and payout type. Look at the options in your area and think of your employees’ needs to find the best fit.

Workers’ Compensation

The requirements for workers’ comp vary quite a bit from state to state. You may have to provide it no matter what, or you may only need to if you have enough employees. Check with your state laws to see what you need to do.

In most states, you can get this coverage from private insurers, but a few require you to go through the government.

Disability Insurance

Disability insurance serves as a kind of extension to workers’ comp. It provides payment to employees if they’re unable to work because of a job-related injury or illness. Depending on your location, you may or may not have to provide disability insurance.

Disability insurance comes in two forms — long-term and short-term. While some states require that you offer short-term coverage, nowhere requires long-term disability insurance, though it’s popular. Providing this kind of coverage can improve employee morale, especially if you work in a risky industry.

Balancing Legality, Benefits and Budget

You have a lot of options when it comes to offering insurance to your employees. Consider your legal requirements, what’s available, your budget and how you want to help employees. If you can afford it, going above the legal obligations can be an excellent decision for your business.

Providing competitive insurance benefits improves morale, attracts new workers and inspires loyalty. If nothing else, think of how you’re helping your employees. With all these options, you should have no trouble finding a solution that fits your needs and budget.