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Hundreds of tons of dead fish have been washing ashore in Japan as officials struggle to explain the issue. The Japanese government has admitted that it doesn’t have any answers as to why the fish have started dying in unprecedented numbers. An estimated 1,200 tons of sardines and mackerel were found floating on the surface of the sea off the fishing port of Hakodate in Hokkaido. The dead fish formed a silver blanket stretching for almost a mile. This issue isn’t just limited to one location, however. On Wednesday, officials in Nakiri, a town on the Pacific coast hundreds of...

CHICAGO - President-elect Joe Biden is considering former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a substantial and somewhat divisive figure in Democratic Party politics, to serve as his transportation secretary. Biden’s selection of his nominee to lead the Transportation Department is not believed to be imminent, and Emanuel is among multiple candidates in the running for the Cabinet position, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private deliberations. But his candidacy threatens to pull at the divisions among Democrats that Biden has largely managed to avoid as he begins to fill out...

Current Chicago Mayor and former Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel penned an opinion piece in The Atlantic on Thursday, condemning Rep. Ilhan Omar's anti-Semitic comments. Emanuel's position is far different than other Democrats who say Omar's comments weren't anti-Semitic but rather a criticism of Israel. The Chicago Mayor was blunt about his position, saying, "Her remarks are not anti-Israel; they are anti-Semitic." No one is questioning the right of members of Congress and others to criticize Israeli policies. But Omar is crossing a line that should not be crossed in political discourse. Her remarks are not anti-Israel; they are...

Zach Galifianakis uncomfortably questions Hillary Clinton in incredible ‘Between Two Ferns’ video. His Episode 20:

New Top Cop's Fiancee Under Investigation For Alleged Police Exam Cheating By Mark Konkol and Heather Cherone Updated April 5, 2016 THE LOOP — Mayor Rahm Emanuel's newly appointed top cop Eddie Johnson's fiancee is a Chicago Police lieutenant named in an ongoing investigation into alleged cheating on the department's lieutenant's exam, DNAinfo Chicago has learned. It's the same cheating probe that sources said helped derail Deputy Chief Eugene Williams' chances of being promoted to police superintendent. Now the allegations are part of a separate probe, this one by Chicago Inspector General Joe Ferguson, sources said. Williams, one of the...

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Thousands of dead fish washed up on the shores of Rio's Guanabara Bay on Wednesday, not far from where events are being held at this year's Olympic Games, environmental officials said. The incident was the latest involving water quality in the bay, where sailing, open water swimming, and triathlon races are due to take place at the Games in August. "Officials found rubbish in the water and on the beach as well as a considerable number of dead fish all from the same species of sardine," the government's State Environmental Institute said in a statement....

For nearly two years, he was the second-most powerful Democrat in Washington, a famously confrontational, joyously profane White House gatekeeper who traded in his job as the first black president's right-hand man to run for mayor of Chicago, their shared, beloved hometown. Now, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, President Barack Obama's former chief of staff, is facing calls for his resignation amid disturbing questions on the latest and, arguably, most egregious, incident of police use of deadly force against an African American citizen.

'Massive' amounts of dead fish wash ashore in TianjinMore than a week after the Tianjin warehouse explosion that killed at least 114 people, large numbers of dead fish have washed ashore in the northern Chinese city, causing fresh public alarm and inciting fears of greater environmental damage linked to the chemical blast. Photos of thousands of small dead fish on the shore of the Haihe River circulated widely on social media soon after they were published by Chinese state media late Thursday afternoon. One posting was forwarded more than 6,000 times and received 4,300 comments less than three hours...

A federal judge says he'll decide soon on whether the Chicago Transit Authority must let employees distribute campaign leaflets in break rooms that oppose Mayor Rahm Emanuel's re-election bid. U.S. District Judge Robert Dow began hearing testimony Wednesday on a temporary restraining order that would force the transportation agency to allow the materials in advance of the April 7 runoff election. Dow told attorneys he hopes to rule by noon Thursday. The Amalgamated Transit Union filed a lawsuit in Chicago federal court Tuesday accusing the CTA of violating its members' free-speech rights. It claims the CTA allowed the distribution of...

Chicago's newest selective enrollment high school will not be named after President Barack Obama, as Mayor Rahm Emanuel had announced with much fanfare when unveiling the high profile school project. In a statement this morning, Emanuel said he would look for other possible names. “Over the last few months, my team has listened to questions and concerns from the community, ranging from location of the building to the naming of the school. We take that community input seriously, which is why – as we continue to look for a thoughtful way to honor President Obama – we will look for...

"The solution does not just include policing — although we'll continue to look for ways to put more police where they're needed. We also have to give our young people alternatives to the street, and as a community we need to demand more of ourselves and our neighbors." — Mayor Rahm Emanuel, on Chicago's blood-soaked Fourth of July weekend As Sunday night crept (no doubt cautiously) to Monday morning, residents of the South Chicago neighborhood endured a firefight. They witnessed a tide of mayhem worthy of urban war zones worldwide. This is not how Chicago wants to build its reputation...

It turns out that American citizens “are not allowed” to criticize Israel. Or so says Rahm Emanuel, the mayor of Chicago and former chief of staff to President Barack Obama. Emanuel was asked his view of the prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace in an interview appearing in the April 21 issue of The New Republic. He ventured to say that while Israel “has a security concern involving geography, geography does not have the same value it did in 1967.” Emanuel’s strategic notions are highly debatable. Without the territories captured 47 years ago, during the Six-Day War, Israel would be nine miles...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)The recent Conservative Political Action Conference provides a forum for big names. But it’s also a platform for the murmurs and asides from political strategists who’ve been everywhere and done everything, and like to speculate. Such is the case when the potential presidential candidacy ofHillary Clinton was parsed by a pair of insiders. Would she run? Maybe, if her health and vigor remain strong. But is she holding a place for someone else? Could be. The take-away suggestion: Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is seriously being groomed as a White House contender. “Maybe in the lead role, maybe the running mate....

Twelve people, including a 3-year-old child, were shot at a Chicago park in the Back of the Yards neighborhood Thursday night, authorities said. Ten adults and the 3-year-old were transported by Fire Department ambulances after in the attack in the 1800 block of West 51st Street in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, said Fire Department Deputy District Chief James Mungovan. A twelfth victim was believed to have driven himself to Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park, a source said, citing preliminary information. …

Abbott and Costello Do Unemployment (Someone e-mailed this cleverly written riff to me just after the April 2012 Obama unemployment figures were released. If they were alive, I am sure that Abbott and Costello would do a gag just like this.) COSTELLO: I want to talk about the unemployment rate in America . ABBOTT: Good Subject. Terrible times. It’s 9%. COSTELLO: That many people are out of work? ABBOTT: No, that’s 16%. COSTELLO: You just said 9%. ABBOTT: 9% Unemployed. COSTELLO: Right 9% out of work. ABBOTT: No, that’s 16%. COSTELLO: Okay, so it’s 16% unemployed. ABBOTT: No, that’s 9%…...

Mayor Rahm Emanuel may find it difficult to free city hiring from federal court oversight if his legal team continues to withhold documents based on attorney-client privilege, a new report states. Inspector General Joseph Ferguson raised the issue Monday in a quarterly report where he stated city lawyers have invoked the privilege "in an increasing number of" investigations of potential wrongdoing. Some of those investigations involve efforts by Ferguson's office to ensure city compliance with the federal court's ban on considering politics in most personnel decisions, he wrote. The ban is part of the long-running Shakman case. "The withholding of...

Minjiang aquaculture base. A large amount of cultivated fishes were found dead with unkown reasons in recent days. The Minjiang River is the largest aquaculture base in Fujian. The floating dead fishes, decaying in hot weather, have been polluting the river, the main drinking water resource of the province. The cause is still under investigation.

ISLAMABAD — Pakistani authorities still have three of Osama bin Laden's wives and eight of his children in custody, nearly a week after the U.S. raid that killed the Saudi terrorist leader, and no countries have asked for their return, the government said Sunday. Pakistan gained custody of bin Laden's family members after the covert U.S. operation on May 2 that killed the al-Qaida chief and four others at his hide-out in the northwestern city of Abbottabad and further strained relations between the two nations. Their questioning could provide more information on the U.S. military operation and help reveal how...

Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak, Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi and King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz are Despots. Mubarak and Gaddafi are in the process of being disposed. King Abdullah has promised first $10.7 then $22 and now $37 billion dollars in benefits to the Saudi people attempting to ward off the uprisings that his fellow Strongmen or dictators Mubarak faced in Egypt and Gaddafi faces in Libya. John Kass of the Chicago Tribune.com describes the Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel as a Strongman in this article, “The city wanted a strongman — and it got one” But quite frankly reading the article one could...

I just heard on WLS radio in Chicago that the Illinois Court of Appeals (the second-highest court in the state) overturned the recommendation of the electoral panel and ruled that Rahm Emanuel may NOT be on the ballot for Mayor. They ruled that he did not meet the statutory residence requirement nor did he meet any of the statutory exceptions. Wow.