Exotica Dancer Kalantan “Exotic Buddah Dance” – YouTube.

Chicago’s 1st ward encompasses the wealth of downtown and the large population of transients that used to populate the near south side. A combination that made it a powerfull aldermanic post. John “Bathouse” Coughlin was a flamboyant character who was alderman for more than forty years. For a good portion of those decades he along with his partner Mike “Hinky Dink” Kenna were the center of power in Chicago. Mike McDonald may have been the first vice baron in Chicago but The Bath and The Hink were the first to really organize vice and gambling and turn it into political power in the Windy City. Big Jim Colissimo was a bagman for them before inheriting their vice racket.

In this clip we see a pair of establishments The Bath operated on Madison st. In downtown Chicago. Where St. Peters church now stands used to be the spot where the Brevoort Hotek once stood, In the basement of this luxury hotel (the first in Chicago with an elevator) was John’s bathhouse. Just a few doors west is where he operated the Silver Dollar Saloon.
And if three careers were not enough Mr. Coughlin was also a poet and a bon vivant who wanted to lead a revolution in man’s dress.

So out hats off to you Bathhouse John you might have been a corrupt grafter but you were an honest one. If you’d like to read more about John and his partner try and track down a copy of “Lords of the Levee” by Wendt & Kogan at your library.

This clip is part of a series produced by MindsiMedia and presented on ChiTownView ‘s YouTube station. We are getting some Chicago crime history in HBO’s series “Boardwalk Empire” and more will be on display when the film version of Eric Larsen’s “Devil In The White City”. Our series shows some of the famous places in Chicago crime history as they exist today. While telling some of that history with each clip.

Unione Siciliana, a community and political organization of native Sicilians was a powerful notional social and political organization. It was not a part of the Mafia but a powerful organization that the mob was beholden to in many ways. In Chicago the president of this organization had control over the immigrant cookers that made the alcohol base that bootleg gin was made of. It was a profitable, powerful but very dangerous position. During the roaring 20′s a half dozen Union president were killed as the north and south side mobs fought over control of this strategic position.

Antonio Lombardo was a Capone / Torrio ally who had managed to hold his position for almost three years. Before being gunned down in the heart of the Loop at 4 in the afternoon in front of hundreds of witnesses. This short clip traces his last steps. We see him exit his offices in the, long gone, Hartford building at 8 S. Dearborn and head north towards Madison. A plane is being hoisted up the side of the Boston building and the street is filled with people.

Lombardo his partner Joe Ferrara and bodyguard Joe Lolardo turned on Madison and started walking west. They got about fifty feet before they turned to look at the plane once again. Two men came out of a restaurant doorway snuck up and emptied their revolvers into the three men. Lombardo and Ferrara were killed and bodyguard Lolardo miraculously survives.

But it’s a Chicago miracle as nobody gets convicted and the next president turns out to be Joe Lolardo’s brother. Fancy that?

To read more and see Thom Hartman’s report click here. The 7-10 Split: Adbusters Issues New Call to Action: Occupy Chicago for G8/NATO Summit.

It’s Sunday the 45th anniversary of the great Chicago snow ‘of 67 ans as I sit here in the western suburbs it’s snowing. Anyhow to day we take a look a corporations. First we visit ReclaimDemocracy and get a quick sketch on the history of corporations in the US. Then we check in with Thom Hartman, Move To Amend’s David Cobb and  Bernie Sanders, America’s Senator. They brief us on where we stand today and what thay are doing and what WE can do to stand up for our rights and change the current trend.

The 7-10 Split: Our Hidden History of Corporations in the United States, Past, Present & Future(?).

The filing kicks off the latest phase in a fight over collective bargaining rights that began almost as soon as Walker took office last January.

Democrats also filed 845,000 signatures to trigger a recall against Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch (R) and enough to recall four Republican state senators, according to party chairman Mike Tate.

To read the rest of the post click here.

The Taliban announced on 3 January that it had agreed to open a political office in Qatar for the purpose of holding peace talks with the international community, and said it expected the release of its officials being held at Guantánamo Bay.
At the time, White House officials said the administration was considering the transfer of five Taliban officials to custody in another
country, widely believed to be Qatar. But with still no movement on the prisoner transfers European officials involved in the talks are
urging Washington to act quickly to keep the momentum going towards talks before hardline spoilers on all sides can stall proceedings.

What do possible peace talks between the U.S. and the Taliban mean for Afghanistan’s future?

To finish this story and read more of today’s news visit our new daily news site.

The MindsiMedia Daily.

And a couple of related videos from our Alternative Views series uploaded by Mindsi2.

Israeli Intel Posed as CIA | NationofChange.

We have collected a number of episodes of Alternative Views on this Playlist. http://www.youtube.com/user/Mindsi2#grid/user/DD33E185C1B35C2B

William Greider on Class Warfare 1992 Interview On Alternative View
In this episode Dr. Morrow discusses “Who Will Tell The People” by William Greider with the shows labor expert Jack Hopper. Mr. Greider’s book was a warning about the dangers of the growing corporate influence on and corruption of the American government. Dangers that we now find were all but true. It was from a time (1993) that we were facing disillusionment with Bill Clinton the previous liberal hope who turned out to be another corporate hack in the end. Here we are twenty years later after an even bigger progressive letdown the administration of Barack Obama we can plainly see that the trends he foresaw have only gotten stronger.