THE FLAG
Posts
🇺🇸 So Long Lori

🇺🇸 So Long Lori

Plus, ever hear of a “do nothing” day?

POWERED BY

Good morning, and happy Tuesday! John Winthrop founded Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630. His voluminous journals are essential to colonial scholarship – as well as Ancient Aliens enthusiasts. Among his writings are puzzling passages describing UFO phenomena, even possible abduction.

Plus, ever hear of a “do nothing” day? It’s supposed to make life better…

Also, today’s sponsor, Refind, picks 5 articles that make you smarter. Click here to sign up.

FLAG POLLS

📉 Monday, March 6, President Biden Job Approval: Approve 48, Disapprove 50 (IBD/TIPP)

📉 Monday, March 6, President Biden Job Approval: Approve 47, Disapprove 51 (Rasmussen Reports)

📉 Monday, March 6, Direction of Country: Approve 38, Disapprove 55 (Rasmussen Reports)

📉 Friday, March 3, President Biden Job Approval: Approve 48, Disapprove 50 (Rasmussen Reports)

POWERED BY REFIND

Refine Your Mind

Losing your mind lately? Re-find it with Refind. Refind is a free newsletter designed with a simple goal: to make you smarter each day, as quickly as possible.

Refind picks five articles for you each day to make you more well-versed and authoritative in your interests. Plus, the more you read, the more Refind refines the list, narrowing in on your exact taste with each click.

🧠 Join 100,000 other refined (and re-found) minds today with Refind 💡

QUICK CLICKS

Shaman Escorted to the Senate, Missing in Mexico, Trump Talking Point

World: Xi Jinping urges China to greater self-reliance amid sanctions and trade tensions (The Guardian)

US: Jan. 6 footage shows Capitol cops escorting QAnon Shaman to Senate floor (NY Post)

World: Ukraine war live updates: Ukraine likely staging 'tactical withdrawal' in Bakhmut; Russian mercenary chief's rift with officials deepens (CNBC)

World: 4 Americans who traveled into Matamoros, Mexico, missing in possible kidnapping: FBI (Fox News)

US: 23 face domestic terrorism charges after arrests in ‘Cop City’ protests at planned police training site in Atlanta (CNN) + 35 people detained after "coordinated attack" at Atlanta's "Cop City" police training site (CBS News)

US: CNN Insider Claims Zucker Ordered Staffers To Dismiss Lab Leak Theory As ‘Trump Talking Point’ (Daily Wire)

US: DC Council chair says he's withdrawing the crime bill Congress plans to overturn (NBC News)

RACE

So Long Lori

Last week, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot did not win reelection. The city will hold a runoff early next month to determine her successor. It marked the first time in 40 years that Chicago’s sitting mayor failed to secure a second term.

Reporting from the Right: Chicago ousts embattled Mayor Lori Lightfoot, as race heads to runoff without her (Fox News)

Reporting from the Left: NYC mayor says Lori Lightfoot's loss in Chicago is 'warning sign for the country' (CNN)

From the Flag: Lightfoot, the first Black woman and openly gay person to serve as Chicago's mayor, has suggested she faced undue criticism due to those factors. Others have said Chicago’s spiking crime numbers, particularly homicides involving guns, inspired the city’s voters to make a change. Here’s more from both sides.

LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Bad Timing, and a Subpar Top Cop, Set Lightfoot’s Downfall in Motion

Voters are worried about crime, and we’ve failed to confront the pandemic’s societal trauma, so mayors like Lightfoot are blamed.
Lightfoot was dealt a bad hand with the pandemic and George Floyd unrest, but she didn’t do enough to satisfy voters.
David Brown, Lightfoot’s police commissioner, was overmatched and ineffective – setting her up for political failure.

“The Spectacular Fall of Lori Lightfoot” Charles M. Blow, New York Times Opinion: “On one level, the results of Tuesday’s election speak to how potent the issue of crime can be and how it can be used as a scare tactic. … ‘You’ve got the only white candidate in the race who’s acting like he’s going to be a great white savior on public safety.’ That white candidate is Paul Vallas, who finished at the top of the crowded field on Tuesday with 34 percent of the vote. … ‘He is giving voice and platform to people who are hateful of anyone who isn’t white and Republican in our city, in our country.’ … But two things can be true simultaneously: There can be legitimate concerns about rising crime, and crime can be used as a political wedge issue, particularly against elected officials of color, which has happened often.”

“How Lori Lightfoot Went From Rock Star to Rock Bottom” Fran Spielman, Chicago Sun-Times: “Four years ago, she was a darling among national Democrats. … How did Lori Lightfoot fall so far, so fast? … Part of it was the hand she was dealt: the pandemic, civil unrest triggered by the murder of George Floyd and the violent crime wave after those demonstrations. … (But) Bad timing is too simple an explanation… It does not explain why violent crime is up 40%... It does not explain why Lightfoot has been such a disappointment to the lakefront voters who formed the base of her support in 2019. Lightfoot opposed the elected school board after saying she’d support it; failed to deliver the transparency she had promised; and broke her pledge to raise the real estate transfer tax on high-end home sales to create a dedicated funding source to reduce homelessness.”

One more opinion piece from the Left: Lori Lightfoot's Fatal Political Mistake David Axelrod, CNN

RIGHT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Chicago’s Voters, Echoing Others, Say It’s Time To Fix Crime

This is just the latest example of voters making it clear: they want elected officials to get crime under control.
As Lightfoot leaves office, Chicago’s status as a cultural icon and center of industry remains in peril.
Lightfoot’s tenure was bad for Chicago, but it also perfectly demonstrated how destructive Democratic policies are.

“Crime Wave Sweeps Progressives From Office” Sarah Westwood, Washington Examiner: “Over the past two years, Democrats who embraced a liberal criminal justice agenda at the city level have found themselves increasingly unwelcome among voters who once applauded their views. … It was a stunning fall from grace for a Democratic mayor who, just four years earlier, swept into office with a 48 percentage-point victory. Lightfoot had pitched herself as more progressive than her Democratic opponents in that 2019 race, and she focused in particular on the need to reform the Chicago police to address what she described as its unequal treatment of black residents. She pushed for and eventually secured, among other reforms, restrictions on police pursuits that effectively banned foot chases in most cases. … Paul Vallas (accused) Lightfoot of handcuffing the police force as it tried to get Chicago crime under control. (He) was the top vote-getter on Tuesday and will advance to the runoff in April.”

“Does the Demise of Lori Lightfoot Matter?” Curt Mills, The American Conservative: “Until May anyway, all five feet and one inch of Lori Lightfoot’s dainty frame still sits in the seat of Richard Daley. In the city of broad shoulders… Lightfoot is set to exit the stage at a time when many wonder if that is true of Chicago itself, too. … Chicago used to be considered very cool, as late as the early 2010s, when Obama made it once again world-famous. … All that is mostly gone now, as most media elites are loath to pump a freezing cold oasis of liberalism in a region that has started voting GOP. Meanwhile, the right has no real love lost for the place, as its most ambitious young minds have given the legacy of Milton Friedman its own Pinochet treatment. And Chicago’s descent in the national imagination is likely to only intensify whenever President Biden leaves the scene, as his tenure is a last hurrah for a certain kind of Irish American politician.”

One more opinion piece from the Right: Lori Lightfoot Inadvertently Exposed Democrat Party's Excesses By Embodying Every One Of Them Tucker Carlson, Fox News

FLAG THIS

Where Chicago Voters Are At: Immigration, Housing, Police

Polling conducted two weeks prior to last week’s election asked respondents about key issues like housing, law enforcement, and immigration.

Common ground was observed along racial lines, particularly on immigration. Over 75% of Blacks, Latinos, and Whites all agreed with creating “a humane and orderly way to allow immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers to live and contribute to Chicago.”

While 6 in 10 Black respondents said more affordable housing must be created, around half of all Latinos (56%) and Whites (47%) agreed.

As per law enforcement, 48% of Latinos, 47% of Whites, and 38% of Blacks say Chicago PD should add more cops (Northwestern University).

Is it fair to blame mayors when crime spikes in major cities?

FLAG FINDS

Refined Mind, One-of-a-Kind Jeans, Real Good Dog Food

🧠 Refind is for the curiouser and curiouser. Don’t settle for simply being smart – get smarter every day with Refind’s 5 daily links, tailored to your interests. Join 100,000 curious minds today with Refind.

👖 No two bodies are the same. That’s why Unspun puts the “genes” in “jeans” – designing the ideal pair just for you. With their innovative technology, simply scan your body, sit back, and send for your new favorite pair of one-of-a-kind pants.

🐶 Only the best for your best friend. Nom Nom is real good dog food. Because it’s real. And it's good. And it’s for dogs – or so we’re told. You wouldn’t know from looking at these additive-free, scientifically-backed, made-to-order meals. So give your best friend the gift of something real, good to Nom Nom on.

WATERCOOLER

Bloody Sunday, Medieval Babycare, Terrible TP Fact

SNCC protesters in Montgomery, March 17, 1965.

On March 7, 1965, in Selma, Alabama, a 600-person civil rights demonstration ends in violence when marchers are attacked and beaten by white state troopers and sheriff’s deputies. The day's events became known as "Bloody Sunday."

Aeon: Medieval babycare

Inverse: Do You Cause Your Own Stress? How To Stop a “Toxic Cycle”

Big Think: Rules for sustaining peak performance as we grow older

Today I Learned 70% of people in the world do not use toilet paper.

Reply

or to participate.