Abandoned Georgian style home in Detroit

This Georgian style home in Detroit's Mexicantown neighborhood was once a jewel--now it's a strangled tree-of-heaven hell.

Don't hold me to this--but that appears to be a slate roof.

(MSNBC video) Kerry concedes Obama’s failure to enforce his red line "impacted perceptions about us”

Secretary of State John Kerry, whose wrong more than he is right, spoke the truth yesterday on MSNBC. He said that President Obama's refusal to back up his red line threat about Bashar al-Assad's use of chemical weapons in Syria "impacted perceptions about us."

It sure did. America looks weak now, thanks to Dear Leader.

Chicago values: 12 shot in 7 hours overnight--Oh, gangs are active in city politics

This sign is needed
at Chicago's City Hall

About twenty-four hours ago a shooting spree began in Chiraq that led to twelve people being shot in a seven hour span.

This is absolutely tragic.

Rahm Emanuel had this to say about the bloodshed. "It's time that our criminal justice system and the laws as it relates to access to guns and the laws for using them reflect the values of the people of the city of Chicago."

Ah yes, Chicago values. This is the same Chicago that has seen thirty-one aldermen convicted of crimes since 1972. That's almost one a year.

Guns aren't the problem in Chicago--street gangs are. And here's a dirty secret: street gang members actively participate in Chicago City Council campaigns. This is not a new political development.

So Rahm: Shut up about your Chicago values and attack and defeat the street gangs. And put some teeth into the city's inspector general's office--twist some arms if you have to--but force Chicago's City Council to permit that office to investigate them.

Army veteran shot outside St. Louis' Busch Stadium

Ferguson, Missouri is a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri.

But things aren't well in the big city either--an army veteran shot shot after a baseball game in what is considered a safe area.

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

A Cardinals fan shot and possibly paralyzed after he left Busch Stadium last weekend has police and the mayor promising to keep downtown safe as October baseball looms once again in St. Louis.

Christopher S. Sanna, 43, of House Springs, remained hospitalized Monday. Doctors told his family Sunday night that his spinal cord cannot be surgically repaired because of the damage from a bullet. They hold on to hope that his spine may recover to some degree on its own, though doctors say he will likely never walk again.

"They said it was shattered, and no surgery could repair it," said his mother, Candis Sanna. “They said he could eventually get a little feeling back, but there was no hope for him to walk. It’s horrible.”

It is the latest robbery in St. Louis in which the victim was shot even after complying with a robber’s demands.

Chiraq: Grandmother, pregnant daughter murdered, baby and two men wounded

This is a particularly sad story out of Chicago's South Side.

From NBC Chicago:

A pregnant woman and her mother were killed, and an infant and two men were wounded in a shooting in Chicago's Back of the Yards neighborhood on Monday, police said.

The family was coming back from an outing when a barrage of bullets were shot in the 5300 block of South Aberdeen just after 7 p.m, police said. The 11-month-old suffered a gunshot wound in the shooting and was taken to John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital in stable condition.

Two women, a 46-year-old and a 23-year-old, were taken to Mt Sinai, police said. Deputy Chief Eugene Roy said at a Monday evening press conference that the two had died.

The 23-year-old was the mother of the infant, and the 46-year-old was the grandmother of the child, police said.

Kansas looking for school districts where employees are related to board members

I would love to have such a law enacted in Illinois or other corrupt states. Many school districts are cesspools of nepotism.

From the Wichita Eagle:

Kansas lawmakers are seeking information on the number of school board members across the state with spouses or relatives working for school districts.

The Kansas Legislative Research Department sent out a survey to school board members throughout the state on Friday asking them to answer whether they or any of their relatives work for school districts or the Kansas Department of Education.

The request for this information came initially from the Legislature's Special Committee on Ethics, Elections and Local Government, according to researcher Martha Dorsey, who explained that the committee would be reviewing the impact of HB 2345 "if it passed in its current form."

The bill, which was introduced during the past session, would restrict a person from serving on a local school board if his or her spouse, parent or sibling worked for any school district in the state. The bill sparked backlash from educators and school board members when it received a hearing early this year and was quickly tabled.

(Photos) Detroit's abandoned Grand Trunk Warehouse & Cold Storage

Detroit has many abandoned factories and warehouses, some are famous worldwide, such as the Packard plant. Others less so, such as Detroit's vacated Grand Trunk Warehouse & Cold Storage facility.

Automobiles and anything associated with them fire up people's imagination, frozen food warehouses, well, not so much.

The warehouse, which is at 1950 E. Ferry Street, closed in 2002 and it has been abandoned since then.

Older photos show the name of the warehouse, but graffiti taggers have covered that up. "Division of Beatrice Foods" has not been obscured. Beatrice was once among the nation's largest food conglomerates. But in a 1980s leveraged buyout it was sold off one division at a time. ConAgra purchased what was left of Beatrice in 1990.

It's pretty disgusting inside.

Only unpleasant memories are loaded on these docks.

The black ceiling comes from smoke--either by way of arson are by bonfires set by squatters to keep warm. Maybe both.

"Door way--keep clear." Well it's kind of clear.

Clearly this building has structural issues.

It stinks at the Grand Trunk warehouse. The odor doesn't come from forsaken rotting food, but rather from America's largest garbage incinerator. When it was being built it was billed as an economic savior for Detroit. Man, you can't make this stuff up. Like the People Mover, it was another Mayor Coleman Young boondoggle. Trash stinks and burning it just spreads the smell around. Of course Detroiters are complaining about the stench.

The silver sedan beyond the holes in the wall is my car.

I can make out most of the words. The lettering reads, "Grand Trunk [something] and Cold Storage Company.

This neighborhood was an historic African-American neighborhood was known as Black Bottom or Paradise Valley and it thrived with black-owned businesses, particularly along St. Aubin Street. The color refers not to the people who lived there, French settlers coined the name because of the dark soil.

The construction of two interstate highways and misguided urban renewal projects destroyed Black Bottom.

Grand Trunk Western is a railway in the Great Lakes states that was heavily used by the Detroit automakers for transporting cars and truck out of Detroit. If Grand Trunk sounds familiar it could be because of the Flint, Michigan rock band Grand Funk Railroad. Yes, the rail line was the inspiration for 1970s rockers' name.

Chiraq: 3 dead and at least 49 wounded over weekend

Last night's blood moon eclipse was a bad omen for Chicago--three people were murdered and at least 49 others were wounded over the weekend. Among those shot were a 10 year-old girl and a 14 year-old boy.

Sad, very sad.

From Da Tech Guy, Latvia’s ethnic Russians and ethnic Latvians agree: No Middle Eastern refugees

This week I look at the asylum-seeker crisis in my weekly post at Da Tech Guy, Latvia's ethnic Russians and ethnic Latvians agree: No Middle Eastern refugees.

(Photo) Abandoned Detroit Free Press Building

The Detroit Free Press moved out of its Albert Kahn-designed Art Deco namesake building in 1998.

It's been vacant ever since.

But the 1920s high rise just might--finally--be transformed into an apartment complex.

Classic car: 1968 Chevy Chevelle

The second generation of the Chevrolet Chevelle was released for the 1968 model year. Here's one I discovered on Tuesday--and it's a top-of-the-line Malibu trim.

Related post:

(Photo) 1967 Chevy Chevelle

(Photos) One room schoolhouse in Quincy, Michigan

While on my way home from Detroit I encountered many interesting sites on US Route 12 in southern Michigan. One of them was a one room schoolhouse in the Branch County village of Quincy.

The street address is 801 East Chicago Road--the school opened in 1881.

If you've always wanted to own a vintage school--now is your chance--as of this writing it is for sale.

If you do buy this property--remember to ask the realtor to send me the finder's fee!

Related post:

(Photos) Abandoned one room schoolhouse in Three Rivers, Michigan

Boehner resigning

News has broke that House Speaker John Boehner is resigning--effective at the end of October. May the next speaker be a fierce opponent of Obama.

(MSNBC video) Todd can't believe how low Hillary's poll numbers

While on MSNBC this morning, Meet the Press host Chuck Todd is flabergasted that Bernie Sanders is leading Hillary Clinton by double digits in the latest opinion poll out of New Hampshire.

"I thought I was misreading it," he says here.

Chicago Tribune sues Rahm over use of private email

The use of private email on government business could be, in a way, the counterpart to the 1980s savings and loan scandals. They have very little in common--except the misuse use of private email by public officials is beginning to look pop up everywhere like dandelions in spring.

Just like the S&L lootings did back in the day.

Besides the Hillary Clinton scandal, we have a similar one at the University of Illinois--and another at Rutgers.

Is Rahm Emanuel next?

From ABC 7 Chicago:

The Chicago Tribune filed a lawsuit against Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Thursday over claims he violated open records laws by failing to disclose personal emails and text messages used to conduct official city business.

The complaint, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, asks a judge for an injunction to force the former White House chief of staff to produce documents, as well as having him declared in violation of the Illinois Local Records Act.

The newspaper, which filed a lawsuit over email chains in June, argued that its Freedom of Information Act requests to Emanuel's administration have been "met with a pattern of non-compliance, partial compliance, delay and obfuscation," according to the lawsuit.

Over 700 people dead in Mecca hajj stampede

Saudi officials really need to rethink this stoning of the devil ritual. When you bring thousands of people together and work them up into frenzy--things will go horribly wrong.

From the New York Times:

At least 717 people were killed, and 863 were injured, in a stampede near Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on Thursday morning.

The deaths — at an intersection in Mina, about six miles east of the city — occurred around 9 a.m. on the first day of Eid al-Adha, one of the holiest holidays in the Muslim calendar, and as millions of Muslims were making their pilgrimage, or hajj, to Mecca.

It appeared to be the deadliest accident during the hajj since 1990, when 1,426 pilgrims perished in a stampede in a tunnel linking Mecca and Mina. And it occurred less than two weeks after a large construction crane toppled and crashed into the Grand Mosque in Mecca, killing at least 111 people and injuring 394 others.

Thursday’s stampede is likely to intensify fears that the kingdom does not have the transportation and public safety infrastructure to channel and protect what is the world’s largest regular human migration.

Albom: NFL, fantasy leagues surge to risky heights

The proliferation of big-money fantasy football leagues will eventually mean trouble for the NFL, Mitch Albom writes in the Detroit Free Press. He's right. Players--the real ones--could be bribed. The money "invested" by participants in DraftKings and FanDuel is too huge to discount that possibility.

Albom didn't even cover this angle: And just like casino gambling, families can be destroyed by fantasy football. And money can also be embezzled from employers or kids' sporting organizations to fuel the fix of these imaginary gridiron GMs, which of course leads to firings and prison terms.

Another Hillary Clinton email story inconsistency

There are lies, damned lies, and Hillary Clinton.

From the Des Moines Register:

Another apparent discrepancy has arisen in what Hillary Clinton has said about her emails.

When The Des Moines Register asked her about the latest twist in the private server saga on Tuesday, she said she had no new answers.

Just before Clinton sat down for a 105-minute meeting with the Register's editorial board, the Washington Post posted a news story that said the State Department's request for her emails was "prompted entirely by the discovery that Clinton had exclusively used a private e-mail system."

That contradicts what Clinton has been saying, which is that agency officials asked her for her emails as part of a benign, general record-keeping effort to sweep up "everything from other secretaries of state, not just me," as she said Sunday.

(Video) NBC’s Mitchell: FBI is now determining which emails are personal or work related

This morning NBC's leftist commentator, Andrea Mitchell, reported--most likely reluctantly, that not only have Hillary Clinton's wiped emails have been recovered, but the FBI is now determining which are personal or work-related.

This will not end well for her.

(Audio) Hillary confronted on role in promoting birther controversy

While on Tom Joyner's radio show this morning, CNN's Don Lemon asked Hillary Clinton to comment on her role in promoting the rumor that Barack Obama was born in Kenya. She denied it--but the speculation did begin when her supporters sent emails in the spring of 2008 that Obama was born in Africa and that he's not a natural born citizen.

She lied. Again.

Rally in Latvia against accepting Middle Eastern refugees

Old town Riga, Latvia

Latvia is standing up for itself.

From AFP:

Hundreds of Latvians marched through the capital Riga on Tuesday to protest against the Baltic state's decision to take in 776 refugees as Europe struggles with a record migrant crisis.

The 500-strong crowd, according to police, waved banners calling on the government to resign and depicting European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker as dictator Adolf Hitler.

Other slogans included "Against immigrants" and "The Baltic is ours" at the rally attended by two members of the right-wing National Alliance, one of three parties in the government ruling coalition.

"The refugees are not victims, most of them are here for money," protestor Pols Vaivods said while clutching a banner in praise of Hungary and its Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who gave his army new powers this week to block the migrant influx.

Vaivods is right--most of Europe is being hoodwinked. Hungary of course is a notable exception. These are mostly economic refugees fleeing failed states.

Hillary is opposed to Keystone XL pipeline, she must favor enriching hostile nations

Hillary Rodham Clinton surprised no one today by coming out against the Keystone XL pipeline--which will bring petroleum from our friends in Canada and will lessen our dependence on oil from hostile nations such as Venezuela and the misogynist totalitarian Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

All of the Republican candidates favor Keystone.

After refugee influx Germany could end up with Europe's largest Muslim population

A new Germany is on the horizon.

From the Arab News:

When the flood of Middle Eastern refugees arriving in Europe finally ebbs and asylum-seekers settle down in their new homes, Germany could unexpectedly find itself housing the continent's largest Muslim minority.

The arrival of so many Syrians fleeing their country's brutal civil war is bound to change the face of Islam in Germany, which until now has been dominated by the Turks who first came as so-called "guest workers" in the 1960s.

While refugees from Afghanistan, Iraq and other Muslim countries are also arriving, the Syrians make up the largest single contingent — estimated at about 45 percent — and have the best chances of being granted political asylum here.

The longer-term impact on Germany, which unlike Britain or France has no tradition of taking in immigrants from former colonies, is unclear. Many are still struggling through problems all refugees face such as learning the language and getting a job. The number of those yet to follow them is also unknown.

Unclear? Sure. But Muslims do not integrate well into non-Muslim nations. I predict multi-generational poverty, Muslim ghettoes, and yes, violence.

Hobson's choice from Rahm: Huge tax increase or layoff cops and firefighters

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has given residents a Hobson'schoice--suck it in and accept a $600 million property tax hike--or lay off police officers and firefighters.

There's never a middle choice with liberals.

I have a few of ideas, although I'm sure it doesn't add up to $600 million: First: Cut the number of city council from fifty to ten--or eleven, perhaps an odd number works best. And here's a side deal--take away the unofficial control of zoning changes from these venal swines so businesses can prosper and yes, be taxed--then these jobs-creators will no longer have to kowtow to these back alley despots.

Also, Rahm and the city has to take a serious look at arcane union rules that do nothing but add bodies to the workforce. For instance, on some street and sanitation crew truck drivers do nothing but drive a truck--while others work on sanitation.

Walker bows out

Author in Beloit, Wisconsin

Yesterday Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker withdrew from the presidential race. He's a great governor whose place in history is secure--he successfully drew a line in the cheese against the overreach of public-sector unions.

Great governor--bad national candidate. He's not the first one and he won't be the last.

Customer shoots suspected bank robber in suburban Detroit

The antidote for a bad person with a gun is a good person with a gun.

From the Detroit Free Press:

A bank customer in Warren acted within his rights when he opened fire on a bank robber on Monday afternoon, sending him to the hospital with non-critical injuries, according to the city's mayor.

"I'm happy that no one was seriously injured," Mayor Jim Fouts said. "He apparently exercised some caution by not shooting the robber in a vital area."

The robbery unfolded in the late afternoon at the Citizens Bank near 9 Mile and Van Dyke. The 43-year-old assailant entered the bank with a gun and had procured "a large amount" of cash from the bank when, on the way out, he appears to have threatened a 63-year-old customer with his gun, according to Fouts.

That customer turned out to be carrying a concealed firearm for which he had a permit, the mayor said. The customer managed to pull out his own weapon and shoot the suspect three times: once in each arm and once in a leg.

Truth, justice, and the American way win out.

And yes, I post positive things about Detroit and its suburbs too.

CAIR, designated a terror group by the United Arab Emirates, calls on Carson to quit prez race

Snake are devious

That snake-in-the grass called the Council on American Islamic Relations had the gall to call on Dr. Ben Carson to withdraw from the presidential race today because the respected neurosurgeon said "I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation."

In his uncouth accent, CAIR co-founder Niad Awad said, "We believe his views are inconsistent with the American Constitution." Awad is dead wrong. Carson never said that a Muslim couldn't be president--only he couldn't support one.

Does that make Carson, a devout Christian, a bigot? No. Unlike the other major religions of the world, Islam has a governing system called sharia law, which advocates, among other things, amputating the hands of thieves, stoning adulterers, forcing non-Muslims to pay a tax, and capital punishment for apostates of Islam.

Does CAIR advocate sharia? Does CAIR disavow sharia? Until the organization answers those questions--they should keep quiet about politics.

Also, CAIR has documented ties to Hamas and last year it was designated a terrorist organization by the United Arab Emirates.

Blacked-out building in Detroit

Here's another only-in-Detroit scene. In most places if someone wants to pretty-up an eyesore building, whitewash is used. But in the case of this abandoned retail storefront at 5668 Michigan Avenue--which looks like it was an old bank branch--coal black paint was used.

The result is predictably--horrible!

As you might be able to see, there is a spray-painted for-sale message.

Chiraq: 8 killed and at least 45 wounded over the weekend

The last weekend of summer was another violent one in Chicago. Eight people were murdered--including a 14 year-old boy--and at least 45 others were wounded.

(Video) Hillary claims she can’t imagine anyone being more of an outsider than her

Conveniently wearing prison orange, Hillary Rodham Clinton appeared on CBS' Face the Nation this morning and had the gall to claim that she can't imagine anyone who is more than outsider than she is.

Remember--Clinton was First Lady and then a US Senator for eight years--which was followed by a four year stint as Obama's secretary of state.

My name is John and my preferred pronoun is "he"

In this week's post at Da Tech Guy I confront transgender issues: My name is John and my preferred pronoun is "he."

Ben Carson: No Muslim president

And Jesus answering said unto them, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they marvelled at him.
Mark 12:17

While on Meet the Press this morning, Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson said he is unable to support a Muslim president. The sharpened saws of the left-wing media are already out for him. Carson didn't explain his views in detail, so I will help out.

Unlike Christianity, there is no separation clause between Islam and civil government--they are one and the same. While it's easy to find a spokesperson from an apologist Islamic groups such as Hamas-linked CAIR to denounce terrorism, finding a Muslim mouthpiece to do the same with Sharia law is a real challenge.

For instance: If I steal a woman's purse and I get caught--I'll end up in prison. But under sharia law, I could have my hand chopped off and be flogged. Sharia law advocates wife-beating and the death penalty for those who leave Islam.

Carson, a devout Christian, was also asked on Meet the Press if Islam is "consistent with the Constitution."

"No, I do not," Carson replied.

He's right.

The abandoned Hotel Fort Wayne in Detroit

The Hotel Fort Wayne which later became the American Hotel, is another dilapidated 1920s gem that is vacant.

It's on Midtown's Cass Corridor, which has been, since Detroit's collapse in the late 1960s, on the verge of a turnaround.

The Fort Wayne does have an advantage over other similarly situated Motor City structures--its adjacent to the sprawling Detroit Masonic Temple. The eleven story high-rise opened in 1926 and it closed in 1990. The architects were William C. Watson and Harold S. Ellington.

Notice the few letters left on the blue and white "American" sign.

Related posts:

To be imploded this morning: Detroit's Park Avenue Hotel

Abandoned Detroit high rise: Lee Plaza

Welfare for the rich: Rowing crew center in Skokie, Illinois

The town a few dozen yards east of me is Skokie, Illinois. Taxpayers in that town paid for the construction of a crew facility--the Dammrich Rowing Center on the North Shore Channel--that hosts practices and meets from private high schools as well as Northwestern University, a very expensive private college.

None of these schools are even in Skokie.

Illinois has the nation's second highest property taxes.

Do you wonder why?

Pretty, yes. But can the schools at least pay rent?

(Photo) Girl feeding a doe

While feeding deer is illegal in Cook County Forest Preserves--I couldn't help but smile when I saw this young female cyclist allow a doe to eat wheat kernels from her hand in Morton Grove, Illinois' Miami Woods.

(Video) Flashback: Obama's pastor screams "God damn America"

CNN, that network of few viewers, is spending the bulk of its broadcast say scolding Donald Trump for not correcting a questioner who said that President Obama was a Muslim.

But CNN, in its defense of Obama, didn't show this video of the his then-pastor, screaming "God damn America."

Watch as the man who baptized Obama and his daughters attacks the nation Obama now misleads.

Loyal Order of Moose Lodge in Detroit

Sadly, the phrase "abandoned for decades" can be used to describe many downtown Detroit buildings. Such is the case with the Loyal Order of Moose building. But it may be restored someday. It's owned by the Ilitch Organization, which owns, among other things, Little Caesars Pizza, the Detroit Tigers, the Detroit Red Wings--and a whole lot of real estate in Detroit.

One of those holdings including the Moose Lodge, which is in the Arena District that surrounds the future home of the Red Wings.

Two years ago Detroit Curbed reported that because the Moose building is in that district, public funds are available to rehab the stately structure.

Subsidies for sports arenas and their owners are an awful idea.

The building opened in 1922, Baxter, O'Dell & Halpin were the architects.

Use of private email part of Rutgers football scandal

Why hasn't this man been fired?

Rutgers' head football coach, Kyle Flood, pressured a faculty member to keep one of his players eligible to play for the Scarlet Knights this season. The New Jersey state university suspended Flood for the next three games and fined him $50,000.

From the New York Times:

Academic advisers had made Flood aware of the student's struggles in a class in April. The student;s final grade, issued in May, made him ineligible for this season, the report said.

On July 26, Flood emailed the professor offering to let the student complete extra work to achieve a sufficient grade "during football hours," according to the report, which quoted the email as saying it was sent from the coach’s personal account to the professor’s private account "to ensure there will be no public vetting of the correspondence."

There followed a series of emails and, on Aug. 5, an in-person meeting in Princeton, N.J., at which, according to the professor, Flood deliberately wore no Rutgers gear in an attempt to avoid being identified in public.

Five Rutgers players were booted from team this year after being arrested--four for assault, the other for allegedly committing a series of robberies. Another player, a senior former co-captain, is serving an indefinite suspension after he was arrested for attacking his girlfriend.

From Flood's email to the professor:

I am forwarding a letter I wanted [the Student] to compose to you. I am sending it from my personal email to your personal email to ensure there will be no public vetting of the correspondence.

Wow.

Rutgers' first Big Ten matchup is Saturday--against Penn State, another scandal-plagued school.

The Big Ten school I graduated from, Illinois, wasted little time in parting with its head coach, Tim Beckman, one week before the start of Fighting Illini season as it became clear that he abused players.

Coach Flood should use a defense surrounded by the use of Hillary Rodham Clinton's use of a private email server during her term as President Obama's secretary of state.

Union and Chrysler deal would move nearly all USA car production to Mexico, keeps SUVs and trucks here

Belvidere, IL Fiat Chrysler plant

Remember, the union is going along with this plan.

From the Detroit News:

A four-year tentative deal between the United Auto Workers and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV includes a product shuffle that would move nearly all of the company’s domestic car production to Mexico — filling the voids left in the U.S. with more-profitable, SUVs and pickups.

The proposal, which includes investing $5.3 billion into plants in the U.S. over four years, is part of the tentative contract that was announced Tuesday and still must be ratified by the union’s roughly 40,000 Fiat Chrysler members in the coming weeks. The plan involves at least six vehicles and four U.S. assembly plants, including moving Ram 1500 pickup production from the Warren Truck Assembly Plant to the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant, according to two sources briefed on the matter who didn’t want to be identified because membership hasn’t yet been told about the moves.

Production of the Chrysler 200 in Sterling Heights would move to Mexico, and the upcoming Jeep Grand Wagoneer would be built at Warren, according to the sources. Dodge Dart production, currently in Belvidere, Illinois, also would move to Mexico, one source said.

But Jeep Wrangler production would end up at the Belvidere plant, which is near Rockford.

Detroit neighborhood seeks squatters

Stripped bathroom in the
Grixdale neighborhood

This is an only-in-Detroit story.

From the Detroit News:

Wanted: One good squatter.

It’s no joke. In a remote pocket of northwest Detroit along the Rouge River, neighbors are so desperate to stop a cycle of abandonment and blight they’re recruiting a squatter to occupy a home whose longtime owners left last weekend.

That's because neighbors fear the onetime farmhouse on Puritan and Hazelton will be stripped and torched if it remains empty for long. Eight nearby houses burned in the past two years. A few blocks away, there are more weedy lots than homes.

"We want squatters. There's so much abandonment here, we need them to turn the neighborhood around," said Jennifer Mergos, 33, co-founder of the Northwest Brightmoor Renaissance neighborhood group.

Yes, squatting is illegal in Detroit. But stripping--then torching--a home is a sad Motor City tradition. On the other hand, Mergos' group mows the lawns and on their own boards up abandoned homes--they're not bad people.

UPDATE September 20: A married gay couple, James and Theodore Washington, although they are not technically squatters, have moved into the old farm house.

Related posts:

• (Photos) Part one: Abandoned homes in Detroit's Grixdale Farms neighborhood
• Photos) Part two: Abandoned homes in Detroit's Grixdale Farms neighborhood
• (Photos) Abandoned homes near Detroit's Telegraph Road

Detroit poorest big city in America

No surprise in the latest US Census figures.

From the Detroit News:

Detroit was the most impoverished major city in America with 39.3 percent living below a poverty line of $24,008 for a family of four. But Flint topped the list of Michigan;s poorest cities with 40.1 percent of residents living in poverty.

From my post at Da Tech Guy:

I walked its streets--the tragedy of Detroit.

Low-information voter: Democrat prefers Biden over Clinton because "she’s been in Washington too long"

The Democratic Party is the haven for low-information voters.

From the New York Times:

John Kern, a 28-year-old Democrat from New Jersey who works in financial services, said he believed that Mr. Biden would be the strongest candidate to unify the party and appeal to cross-sections of voters in all regions of the country.

"Before Biden, I would have said Clinton, but I'm not really a big supporter of hers anyway," Mr. Kern said. Referring to the killing of the American ambassador in Libya while Mrs. Clinton was secretary of state, he added, "It has nothing to do with Benghazi or all the other stuff the Republicans are trying to throw at her. But I think she's been in Washington too long."

I'll make sure what little money I have goes nowhere near the clueless Kern.

Biden was a US Senator for over three decades before his election as vice president. Hillary is a relative newcomer to the capital--arriving in Washington twenty years after Biden did.

When I vote next fall for president--my vote will count the same as Kern's vote.

Related post:

Low-information voters: Unknown truck driver who spent no money on campaign is Mississippi Dem nominee for guv

Former Occupy members flock to Bernie Sanders campaign

Occupy Chicago protester in 2011

Members of the former Occupy Wall Street movement, the criminal group that wracked up thousands of arrests and about a dozen deaths--including three murders--are lining up behind the Bernie Sanders campaign. 

This is more proof that the only openly-socialist candidate for president is a fringe character.

A Video Tour of the Reagan Library with Host Gary Sinise

In a few hours the the two Republican presidential candidate debates will take place at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.

Watch as patriotic actor Gary Sinise, who like Reagan was born in Illinois, gives us a tour of facility.

Reagan, at the groundbreaking 1988 groundbreaking ceremony, spoke of his plans for his library. "The story that'll be told inside the walls that are yet to be built here is the story not only of a presidency but of a movement," our 40th president said, "a determined movement dedicated to the greatness of America and faith in its bedrock traditions; in the essential goodness of its people; in the essential soundness of its institutions; and, yes, faith in our very essence as a nation."

The current occupant of the White House is utterly incapable of making such a statement.

Related posts:

• Report from Tampico, Illinois on Reagan's 100th birthday
• Marathon Pundit's Ronald Reagan Trail

Danish teen with jihadi boyfriend jailed for 9 years for killing mother after watching ISIS beheading videos

Nine years? Sure, she's a teen, but has nihilist Europe fallen so far that killing your mother only gets a psychopath a slap-in-the-wrist sentence?

From NBC News:

A 16-year-old Danish teen who stabbed her mother to death after watching ISIS beheading videos has been jailed for nine years, local media reported.

Lisa Borch, then 15, killed Tina Römer Holtegaard with the help of her 29-year-old Islamist boyfriend in October, 2014, Danish website The Local reported.

Borch was alleged to have stabbed her mother at least 20 times as she slept in her home in Kvissel, a small village in the country's north.

The court was told that Borch and her Iraqi boyfriend, Bakhtiar Mohammed Abdullah, had watched beheading videos on the night of the murder and had agreed to kill Holtegaard together. However, they blamed each other for the murder during the trial, The Local reported.

The nearly 30-year-old boyfriend received only a 13-year sentence. Hopefully the the sake of five million Danes, Abdallah will be deported when he is released from prison.

Koch family donates $10 million to Wichita art museum

The family liberals like to tar as evil made a hefty donation in Wichita, Kansas.

From the Wichita Eagle:

Before artist and philanthropist Mary Koch died in 1990, she asked her daughter-in-law, Liz, to watch after some things that were dear to her once she was gone.

One of them was the Wichita Center for the Arts.

Liz Koch is fulfilling a wish of her late mother-in-law by helping to move the Wichita Center for the Arts into a new era with a new home.

"She was so passionate about it," said Liz Koch, an honorary trustee for the Center.

She and her husband, Charles, and their family's foundations are now fulfilling Mary Koch's wish in a significant way: They're giving $10.5 million in land and money for a new home for the Center, which started in 1920 as the Wichita Art Association.

I am sick of liberal "experts" on Reagan claiming the Gipper wouldn't fit in today's GOP

Reagan statue,
Dixon, IL

There is one thing I've had my fill of--and that is liberal know-it-alls who, if they are old enough, never voted for Ronald Reagan, or if they could go back in time would have without a doubt chosen the inept Jimmy Carter or the hapless Walter Mondale over the man who revitalized the American economy and won the Cold War--yet these "experts" have the wisdom to claim that the Gipper wouldn't have a place in today's "far-right" Republican Party.

Greg Sargent, a liberal blogger for the Washington Post, fits into the latter category. Yesterday the hack cited as "evidence" a Center for American Progress report that states the current generation of GOP presidential candidates are in Sargent's words, "are all well to the right of Reagan." Even if that is true--it isn't by the way--it was Reagan who pushed GOP firmly into a conservative direction, which effectively smothered the liberal Rockefeller wing of the Republican Party.

Oh, a CAP analysis of conservatism is about as valid as an ISIS discussion on the Talmud.

So even if the GOP is more conservative than it was in the 1980s--then it's just following the direction Reagan pointed to when he won the presidency.

As for Sargent--has he ever voted for a Republican?

Related posts:

• Report from Tampico, Illinois on Reagan's 100th birthday
• Marathon Pundit's Ronald Reagan Trail

Detroit firefighters battle fire and low water pressure

Burned-out Detroit home

There is so much wrong with Detroit. The Motor City is near Lake Huron--but getting any water to fight a fire was a problem early this morning.

From CBS Detroit:

Detroit firefighters battled flames and non-working hydrants in a west side neighborhood Tuesday morning.

Crews were called to the area of Monterey and Lawton and found a house ablaze and fire hydrants that weren't pumping out water.

"We had no pressure in the hydrants on Monterey between Lawton and Linwood," Fire Chief Joe English told WWJ's Mike Campbell. "So, that caused some problems for us in the beginning. We had to stretch across Linwood and all the way down to Elmhurst just to get water."

But by that time the fire had spread to two other homes.

Parking spot grab in Philly by rich electric car owners

Electric cars, such as Teslas, are expensive--so only the rich drive them.

In a Philadelphia with very limited parking--rich people are getting a government-endorsed perk.

From Stu Bykofsky in the Philadelphia Daily News:

Did you know you can reserve a permanent, on-street parking space right in front of your home if you drive a pricey electric vehicle (EV)?

Neither did the residents on Delancey Street between 2nd and 3rd in Society Hill until they awoke to find their parking spots reduced.

City planners sometimes forget that "good" ideas can have a "bad" impact on people. The EV program was not thought through. It turned into a land grab for the wealthy, providing them with a bonus worth more than $100,000 a year. Call it Electric Privilege.

More...

Perhaps most unfair is that the permits "basically are deeding land to private homeowners for $150 a year," when off-street deeded parking in the neighborhood goes for well more than $100,000, says [Society Hill Civic Association Bob] Curley.

Yes, any electric car can park in those spots, which have charging stations--but they war typically locked by the homeowner who installed it.

And while EV cars can park in any legal spot, regular cars--meaning less pricey ones--can't park in an EV spot.

Who else besides me thinks the Saudis are lying about taking in 2.5 million Syrian refugees?

Chicago is home to about
2.5 million people

Last week Reuters cited an unnamed Saudi Foreign Ministry official, via the the Saudi Press Agency, who claims that since 2011 that Saudi Arabia welcomed 2.5 million Syria refugees into the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia has about 30 million residents. And who is dumb enough to assume that 2.5 million people-which almost matches the population of Chicago--made their way to the totalitarian state without anyone noticing? Could this quietly occur in a country that has regular water shortages? 

Where are the reports about this mass migration on Al Jazeera? Or on Al Arabiya? Or on the Saudi-based Arab News?

How did Google miss this Chicago-sized population shift?

Could it be because Saudi Arabia hasn't accepted anywhere near 2.5 million Syrians?

Well, that's what I believe. And shame on Reuters for parroting Saudi propaganda.

(Video) Heilemann: New poll shows Clinton’s "atrophying support with Democratic women"

Author and political analyst John Heilemann, while on Bloomberg TV today, discussed the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll and he commented that the survey shows that she has "atrophying support with Democratic women."

Isn't that her base?

(Photos) Detroit ghost signs

Ghost signs are old hand-painted wall advertisements and store signage that survive decades after they were first committed to bricks or other hard surfaces. They're more common in decaying neighborhoods--abandonment of a building or simply not caring allows these throwbacks to survive.

I found a few in Detroit during my visit this summer.

The storefront at 527 Larned Street East in downtown has been vacant for years. But the wall ad where an all service station must have stood reads, "Goodrich De Luxe Truck Tires" remains. Barely readable on the bottom is the tiremaker's old slogan, "Best in the long run." That is certainly the case with this BF Goodrich ghost ad.

At 12094 Rosa Parks Boulevard a grocery once touted itself as "Your Family Food Store." But it is abandoned and you can no longer purchase Lotto Daily tickets.

Across the street is a closed radiator repair shop. When I checked out Google Street View's 2008 drive-thru--this business was open.

And back across the street is the onetime Bible Community Mission, a former auto repair garage.

I might be pushing the definition of a ghost sign with this entry because the faded lettering may not have been painted on. This structure on Seven Mile Road is the former headquarters of Local 98 of the Plumbers Union. As with many Detroiters, the union fled to the suburbs--in their case Troy.

Returning to Rosa Parks Boulevard--but several miles away--is metachronistic painted wall sign that I posted on Marathon Pundit in July. This one originally read, paradoxically, "Out of a job yet? Keep voting Republican. Bet $10,000. Obama & Biden. Vote 2012."

The host apartment building was destroyed in a fire last year.

It appears that the Incredible Hulk broke out of the Astro Warehouse, which used to operated out of the old Packard plant.

A couple of blocks away from that abandoned factory is the former Helen Supermarket at 5500 Helen Street. It's an amazing throwback--although this building is too small to host a real supermarket--this grocery store is on the corner of two side streets, Helen and Ferry. Even in Detroit there was a demand at one time for a walk-up grocery store. You will notice that there are now windows here--break-ins were likely a problem before the store was sealed off.

At 14th and Marquette the appropriately-named 14th and Marquette Clinic once operated--with Dr. R.P. Young in charge. It looks like another ghost sign is beneath this one.

Now we're back downtown. While the Farwell Building at 1249 Griswold Street is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it has been vacant for an astounding thirty years. Yes, office space is available.

Particularly in Detroit an abandoned building attracts new kinds of painters--graffiti taggers.

'
Near the Cobo Center in downtown Detroit is the Riverside Storage ghost sign.

Above the Detroit News Building at 615 W. Lafayett is a faded Detroit Free Press sign. Until last autumn the two newspapers shared space in the Albert Kahn-designed structure. On its website the new owners PhotoShopped the sign out.

As Target emerged from Dayton's, Kmart emerged from Kresge's. Similar to Woolworth, Kresge's was a five-and-dime store. The better stores were 25 cents to $1 dollar stores.

As for Mince, I hate him too.