Ben hits the old interwebs to offer listeners a quick message of peace and love this Christmas! It's been a tumultuous year in Chicago, America and around the world. And Ben offers his three wishes for the future.

The full show returns on Thursday, with special guest; Senior Digital Strategist at Heartland Signal, and Chicago radio veteran, Antonio Correa.

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Corporate Chicago hates unionized teachers so much that they fall in love with Pedro Martinez. Ben riffs. Monroe wonders why they weren’t this upset at mayoral power plays when Daley sold the parking meters. Or Rahm gave billions in property tax dollars to developers. Trump fires up MAGA over the Panama Canal, Mount McKinley and Greenland. And more,

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Thom Clark is one of the few who has been around long enough to distinguish reformers from deformers. And so he contemplates the current state of the city council, filled with aldermen and women who swear up and down they're looking out for the taxpayers. Don't laugh, listeners--you elected them. Also, a few words about standing up to Trump. Thom Clark is, among other things, a writer, editor, photographer, organizer and teacher of wannabe journalists and activists who want to win coverage from journalists.

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The Sun-Times fantasizes about the awesome wonderfulness of Mayor Rahm—a thing that never existed. Ben riffs. Denali turns Ben’s attention to health care in the age of Trump. MAGA wants agency over their care. Meaning they want the freedom to take any old horse pill that any old grifter promotes. But they don’t care if they have the agency to pay for their medical bills. How is this populism? And what’s the point of voting Democratic if they run from tough fights? Denali explains it all and then fools Ben with a quote from the past. No 90s nostalgia here. Denali is political philosopher and strategist and great thinker.

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Miles Kamp-Lassin covers it all. The oligarchy of Musk. The kakistocracy of Trump. And the gerontocracy in the Democratic Party who launched a counter attack against Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, apparently cause she has the the audacity to want to win future elections and use government to help ordinary people. The Democrats seem determined to keep making the same old mistakes. Miles is an editor/writer for In These Times.

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David Faris tells you everything you need to know about last week's congressional budget debacle--a spectacle of madness starring Elon Musk as the president and Donald Trump as Musk's loyal sidekick. Trump has the constitutional authority but Musk has the megaphone. Listen and learn about continuing resolutions, debt ceilings, and budget hawks. Also, a few words about lawsuits and self censorship. David is a professor of political science at Roosevelt University and a columnist for Slate and Newsweek. His views are his own.

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Elon Musk uses X to pull the plug on funding the government. Ben riffs. Scott Waguespack riffs on the riff, reminding Ben about Musk’s bromance with Mayor Rahm. Bullet train to O’Hare. Then Scott tells the tale of the fast one Mayor Johnson pulled with a zoning proposal in Lincoln Park. Looks like Mayor Johnson learned a thing or two from Mayors Daley and Rahm. They wrap it up with some TIF and tax talk, like the tax geeks they are. Scott is the alderman of the 32nd ward.

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