ILL-inois: IRS says judge owes $227K, he makes $190K a year

I think it's time that patriots converge on government buildings wCourtesy of the Chicago Sun-Times, here's another Illinois embarrassment.

Cook County Circuit Judge Tommy Brewer is being hounded by the Internal Revenue Service.

The IRS has slapped Brewer with seven liens — two filed as recently as last year — seeking payment of a total of $227,559 in personal income taxes while Brewer was an attorney in private practice between 1997 and 2010, the year the Illinois Supreme Court appointed him to a vacant seat on the Cook County bench.

"I'm a good guy," the judge says. "I'm not trying to cheat anybody out of anything. I'm trying to battle them as I can. I'm not saying I don’t owe them anything. I thought I owed them about $50,000 . . . I pay my tax religiously.

"They're just claiming that I didn’t file," says Brewer, who's among thousands of Cook County residents and businesses the state or federal government have gone after since 1985 for unpaid taxes, court fines or restitution in criminal cases. "In the later years, they say I didn’t pay enough. So I went out and hired an accountant. He suggested I start paying them. I have an installment agreement with them. I'm paying them a pretty penny."

Opposed to gay marriage until 2013, Hillary now will make gay rights the center of her campaign

Hillary Rodham Clinton was opposed to same-sex marriage until three years ago. Now she's running a gay-centric campaign for the presidency.

She's a hypocrite.

From AP:

Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday delivered the strongest speech in support of gay rights in the 2016 presidential race on Saturday, promising that ending discrimination against gay, lesbian and transgender people would be a central pillar of her administration.

"I see the injustices and the dangers that you and your families still face," she told hundreds of gay activists at the annual meeting of the Human Rights Campaign. "I'm running for president to stand up for the fundamental rights of LGBT Americans."

She added: "That's a promise from one HRC to another."

The statement marked a remarkable evolution for Clinton, who opposed same-sex marriage for more than two decades in public life as first lady, senator and presidential candidate. As recently as this year, Clinton said that while she personally supported gay marriage, the issue was best left for states to decide -a position held by most of the Republican presidential field.

(Photo) Sulfur shelf mushroom

I think I've only posted a photograph of a mushroom just once before. This entry is a treat--it's of a beautiful sulfur shelf, also known as chicken of the woods, because of its texture.

They grow on old tree trunks--and in some cases they can be edible. Here's my advice--purchase your mushrooms at supermarkets.

I found this specimen at Dam Number 4 Woods East in Des Plaines, Illinois.

(Photos) Big waves on a Chicago beach

There was a strong northeast wind yesterday in Chicago--which is a rarity. And I just happened to be in the city most of the day.

Lake Michigan put on a wondrous show.

On most days the pier leading to this light tower is a popular fishing spot.

The view facing north...

And the view facing south.

Related post:

(Photos and video) Hurricane Sandy winds and high waves on Lake Michigan

Over 70 drug overdoses on Chicago's West Side in last three days

Chicago's descent into hell continues.

From the Chicago Tribune:

More than 70 people have overdosed from dangerous batches of narcotics -- apparently heroin laced with the painkiller fentanyl -- on the West Side since Tuesday, according to city health and fire officials.

Emergency crews have responded to 74 cases over 72 hours, according to Larry Langford, spokesman for the Chicago Fire Department. "It’s up significantly," he said.

An alert from the Chicago Department of Public Health and obtained by the Chicago Tribune said the drugs were bought at two locations on the West Side. A sample of heroin recovered by Chicago police may have contained fentanyl, authorities said.

Police are looking into whether a man who died of an apparent drug overdose in the East Garfield Park neighborhood had ingested narcotics from the dangerous batch, according to law enforcement sources.

ObamaFail: Jobs fall flat in September

September was a rotten jobs month. Only 142,000 jobs were created--which falls way short of what is needed to match population growth. New jobs estimates were revised downward for the two previous months, as is common with the Obama administration. A record 94 million Americans are not part of the job force and labor force participation is the lowest it's been in 38 years.

Unemployment remains at 5.1 percent, but that's a deceiving figure, as you can see.

Heckuva job, Barack.

America's new murder capital is St. Louis

Detroit still has a sky-high crime rate but there is some good news for the Motor City. The United States has a new murder capital.

From the Detroit News:

Detroit has been toppled from its perch atop the list of cities with the highest murder rate.

But the Motor City’s overall violent crime rate remains the nation’s worst for the second straight year for cities of more than 100,000 residents, according to FBI crime statistics released this week.

St. Louis, with a murder rate of 50 per 100,000 people, topped Detroit’s rate of 44. The Gateway City, with a population of about 318,000, had 159 murders last year, according to the data. Detroit had 298 murders in 2014, down from 316 in 2013, a 6 percent drop.

Tragedy in Oregon

This morning a maniac, Chris Harper-Mercer, murdered nine people at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon. The shooter in turn was shot to death by police. Seven others people were wounded.

President Obama wasted no time in politicizing the tragedy by calling for tougher gun laws. However, the campus is a gun-free zone.

Pray for the victims.

Classic car: 1956 Plymouth Belvedere

Here's a car that looks like it drove off of the set of the movie Grease, a 1956 Plymouth Belvedere.

Russian airstrikes in Syria harming civilians, not ISIS

In a 2012 presidential debate, President Obama mocked Mitt Romney for saying that Russia was America's biggest geopolitical threat.

But Romney was right then and right now.

From the Arab News:

Russian airstrikes in Syria had caused civilian casualties while failing to target the hard-line Daesh [Islamic State] militants, a top Saudi diplomat said on Thursday as he sought an end to the raids.

In remarks at the United Nations in New York, Saudi Ambassador Abdallah Al-Mouallimi suggested that both Russia and Assad's other main ally Iran cannot not claim to fight Daesh "terroris"” while at the same time supporting the "terrorism" of the Bashar Assad regime.
Al-Mouallimi expressed "profound concern regarding the military operations which Russian forces have carried out in Homs and Hama today, places where ISIS forces are not present. These attacks led to a number of innocent victims. We demand it stop immediately and not recur."

"As for those countries that have claimed recently to join in the fight against ISIS terrorism, they can’t do that at the same time as they support the terrorism of the Syrian regime and its terrorist foreign allies like Hezbollah and the Quds Force and other terrorist sectarian groups," he added in comments broadcast by Al-Arabiya television.