Ditka repeats support for Trump, rips "crybabies" who won't back him

While legendary former Chicago Bears tight end and coach Mike Ditka won't be speaking at the Republican National Convention in July--that's not really his scene, he says--yet Da Coach still an enthusiastic supporter of Donald J. Trump.

The only man to coach the Monsters of the Midway to a Super Bowl victory tells Michael Sneed of the Chicago Sun-Times, "Look, I told him I'm in his corner, but I'm not big on going to conventions or going to Cleveland or anywhere out of town for that matter, but that I support him.

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"But I also told him I'm not big on a party that's not behind him. Especially the crybabies who are former candidates who don’t want him. Let those crybabies cry. What's the point of them if they aren't going to support the guy people want?

"The last time I looked, there was freedom of speech in this country," he said. "If you've got a candidate, support him. Get behind him. They should get off their asses and do it."

Autumn is football season. And Ditka is ready for Trump Autumn. Are you?

Conflict of interest: Bill Clinton meets with AG Loretta Lynch; Hillary is under criminal investigation

Hillary Clinton is under criminal investigation by the FBI, which is part of the US Justice Department. On Tuesday Bill Clinton met with the US attorney general Bill Clinton for a half an hour on a private plane. Of course there are no transcripts of this discussion.

That's a conflict of interest. Even Barack Obama's leftist Svengali, David Axelrod, is questioning the wisdom of this meeting. 

If you want four years of corruption, then vote for Hillary Clinton. If you see the need for a clean break from the past, then you need to support Donald Trump for president.

Trump pulls ahead in Rasmussen poll

Polls will be unpredictable this year--but what makes this one from Rasmussen interesting is that is show an eight-point surge in one week for Donald J. Trump.

From Rasmussen's web site:

The tables have turned in this week’s White House Watch. After trailing Hillary Clinton by five points for the prior two weeks, Donald Trump has now taken a four-point lead.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey of Likely U.S. Voters finds Trump with 43% of the vote, while Clinton earns 39%. Twelve percent (12%) still like another candidate, and five percent (5%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Last week at this time, it was Clinton 44%, Trump 39%. This is Trump's highest level of support in Rasmussen Reports' matchups with Clinton since last October. His support has been hovering around the 40% mark since April, but it remains to be seen whether he's just having a good week or this actually represents a real move forward among voters.

Trump Autumn is coming.

(ABC News) ISIS 2 years later: From 'JV Team' to international killers

Even ABC News' Good Morning America is getting wise to Obama's failures in the Middle East.

The deadly attack in the Istanbul airport late Tuesday, suspected to be the work of the ISIS, comes as the terrorist group today marks the second anniversary of the declaration of its Islamic "caliphate," or kingdom.

In that time, the group has gone from obscurity, mocked by President Barack Obama as a terrorist
"JV team," to the world's most brutal terrorist network, not only responsible for thousands of deaths in the Middle East but also linked to hundreds more in dozens of terrorist plots in the West.

ISIS currently controls thousands of square miles in Iraq and Syria, though the U.S. military says the group been pushed out of swaths of land, especially in Iraq, since a territorial high point in late summer 2014.

This is the so-called leadership being provided by Obama. If you want more of the same, then vote for Hillary Clinton in November. If you want the Islamic State destroyed, then vote for Donald Trump.

2016's major terror attacks have one thing in common

The truth can be a bitter pill to swallow. USA Today lists every major terrorist attack of 2016 and each of them was either carried out by a Muslim terror group or it occurred in a majority Islamic nation.

Or both.

Here's another conspicuous fact. Most of the victims were Muslims, although Christians were deliberately targeted in a few of them.

Chicago skyline from 31st Street

Probably the best place to photograph Chicago's skyline is from 31st Street up to 39th Street.

I captured this shot at 31st on Sunday with of course Lake Michigan in the foreground. If you look closely at the skyscrapers you can see the city haze.

Today is National Camera Day. Go out and celebrate and take some photos.

(Video) Former Secret Service agent exposes Hillary Clinton

Former US Secret Service Agent Gary Byrne, who was on White House detail during the Bill Clinton presidency, was on Fox News this morning.

The short story is that Hillary Clinton is part Marie Antoinette and part Game of Thrones' evil queen Cersei Lannister.

Byrne is the author of Crisis of Character: A White House Secret Service Officer Discloses His Firsthand Experience with Hillary, Bill, and How They Operate, which is currently ranked tops in sales at Amazon.

Trump after Istanbul: "The terrorist threat has never been greater"

Does any sane person doubt Donald Trump when he says, "the terrorist threat has never been greater."

Here is Trump's statement on the Islamic State attack that killed 41 people in Istanbul:

Our prayers are with the families of those killed and injured in Istanbul. The whole world is stunned and horrified.

The terrorist threat has never been greater. Our enemies are brutal and ruthless and will do anything to murder those who do not bend to their will. We must take steps now to protect America from terrorists, and do everything in our power to improve our security to keep America safe.

Civilization under attack: ISIS kills at least 36 in Istanbul

And the Islamic State chose Ramadan for its latest barbarity.

From Fox News:

At least 36 people were killed and 147 more were injured when three suspected ISIS suicide bombers attacked Istanbul's main international airport Tuesday night, Turkish officials said.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim confirmed the death toll from the blasts at Istanbul Ataturk Airport. Earlier, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag confirmed that 147 people had been wounded in the attacks.

The Associated Press initially quoted a senior Turkish official as saying that close to 50 people had already died. However, the news agency later said that the official told them the figure was expected to rise to close to 50.

A Turkish official told Reuters that the "vast majority" of victims were Turkish, but some foreigners were also affected.

ISIS didn't exist when Barack Obama was sworn in as president.

(Video) Gingrich: Clinton lied while Americans died in Benghazi

The House Select Benghazi Committee's report was released this morning. And as that was coming out, Newt Gingrich spoke of Hillary Clinton's lies.

Yes, Hillary lied and four Americans died.

Benghazi Select Committee: White House lied about video as cause; State didn't provide enough security

Four years ago Chris Stevens, our ambassador to Libya, and three other Americans were murdered by a jihadi mob in Benghazi.

And guess what?

Hillary's State Department failed and the White House lied.

From Fox News:

The claim that the fatal 2012 Benghazi terrorist attacks were sparked by an anti-Muslim video was crafted in Washington by Obama administration appointees and reflected neither eyewitness nor real-time reports from the Americans under siege, according to the final report of the GOP-led Benghazi Select Committee.

The GOP report, released Tuesday, followed by less than a day a report by the Democrats on the panel saying that security at the Benghazi, Libya facility was "woefully inadequate" but former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton never personally denied any requests from diplomats for additional protection.

She's part of the student debt problem: Pocahontas paid $300,000 to teach one class

Earlier today Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), the phony Native American, campaigned in Ohio with Hillary Clinton where she talked about the importance of restructuring student loan debt.

Huh? Warren, who used her fake Indian credentials to land Ivy League professorships, collected $300,000 at Harvard to teach one class.

It's swindlers like Warren, or Pocahontas as Donald Trump calls her, who are a big part of the reason why college tuition is so expensive.

Nonprofit deploys military vets to Detroit

Detroit's East Side

Here's a great idea being put to good use in Detroit.

It should be used in Chicago, also known as Chiraq, too.

From ABC News:

Dozens of military veterans have come to Detroit to rebuild neglected areas of the financially distressed city.

It marks the latest — and largest — effort undertaken by St. Louis, Missouri-based The Mission Continues, a nonprofit that encourages and aids volunteerism by veterans to ease the post-military transition.

Teams of volunteers fanned out Monday to three locations in a neighborhood on the northeast side of Detroit. At a park, Iraq and Afghanistan veteran Ben Eichel, 33, and others picked up trash and built benches.

"When you're not part of something that's bigger than yourself, you lose that identity. You become isolated, and a lot of us tend to go to dark places," said Eichel, of Denver, taking a break from trying to remove a rusted-out fence. "So, The Mission Continues was there and got me involved in the community. It helped me reintegrate in civilian society effectively, because I learned that I'm not just a veteran."

From my post at Da Tech Guy:

I walked its streets--the tragedy of Detroit.

From Doug Ross: Open borders zealot Zuckerberg infuriates neighbors; builds massive security wall around his Hawaiian home

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is another liberal hypocrite, as Doug Ross discovered: Open borders zealot Zuckerberg infuriates neighbors; builds massive security wall around his Hawaiian home.

Click the Facebook "Angry" face on Zuckerberg.

(Video) Young people shocked by Hillary's outrageous statements

CampusReform went to a campus, naturally, to play a game. Who made this scandalous statement? Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump?

Chiraq: 4 dead and at least 48 wounded

It's summer which sadly means that there will be more shootings in Chicago. This weekend seven people were shot to death and at least 48 others were wounded. Among the latter was a 19-year-old South Side woman who was shot twice shortly before noon on Saturday--she's in critical condition. Three other people were wounded in that incident.

Hypocrite Hillary attacks donations from foreign gov'ts while ignoring millions given to her foundation

Hillary Clinton is so conflicted and compromised, I'm not even sure she knows what the truth is. That's an understandable outcome of decades of scheming, lying, and venality. But is this the type of person we want as president?

Watch as Hillary condemns foreign money's involvement in our politics while ignoring the millions that her slush fund, formally known as the Clinton Foundation, collects millions from foreign governments.

From Da Tech Guy: Britain's Reagan and Trump moment

Of course I write about the most significant international development so far in 2016 for my weekly entry at Da Tech Guy: Britain's Reagan and Trump moment.

What the GOP needs is fewer eggheads and more Joe the Plumbers

Yesterday longtime newspaper columnist George Will said in a speech that he is leaving the Republican Party because of presumptive nominee Donald J. Trump.

Whatever. Leave. Will is just one vote, his wife, who worked for Scott Walker's presidential campaign, is another.

But for every George Will-type who swears off Donald Trump there are one-hundred Joe the Plumbers, regular Americans who are sick of egghead elitists like the bow-tie wearing Will telling them how to vote.

Dave Edmunds and Stray Cats: The Race Is On

For his Twangin' album, Dave Edmunds enlisted Stray Cats to back him up on a cover of George Jones' "The Race Is On."

Edmunds produced Stray Cats' first album.

Watch as the band backs up Edmunds for "The Race Is On in an early 1980s concert.

Bunch of purple coneflowers

Part of the Linne Woods restored tallgrass prairie are dominated by purple coneflowers.

(Photo) 2017 Honda Ridgeline RTL-T

Only a few days removed from the factory is this 2017 Honda Ridgeline RTL-T in Modern Steel Metallic.

The Ridgelines arrived in showrooms this week.

This pickup truck puts Honda back into the truck game.

Death Star for Rahm: Star Wars museum won't be on Chicago's lakefront

Chicago was a century ahead of its time when it resolved to preserve as much of its lakefront as possible as park land. While Chicago has always had crooks, chiselers, and con artists, this scum now dominates the power structure of Chicago, which why residents are fleeing for what is now the nation's third-largest city.

But the good guys sometimes win in 21st century Chicago. After being rebuffed by San Francisco, Star Warsproducer George Lucas decided to offer the humbly-named Lucas Museum to Chicago. But not just anywhere in the city, right on the lakefront, just south of downtown. Chicago has plenty of empty space, crime-ridden Englewood comes to mind, but prima donna George Lucas wanted his temple on the lake and nowhere else. And Chicago's mayor, Rahm Emanuel, hopped on the Millennium Falcon for the ride.

Never mind that while Lake Michigan will be where it is for eons and that Star Wars movies may look as hokey as a Flash Gordon serial in a century. But Friends of the Parks, an open space advocacy group argued that the lakefront isn't Rahm's to give away even with a 99-year lease. Citing a legal concept called public trust doctrine, they sued the city in federal court to prevent the land grab.

Today Lucas decided to take his Star Wars toys and bring them back to California. It's a victory for the people of Chicago and a well-earned Death Star moment for Emanuel.

(Video) Clinton: We need to raise incomes in sluggish Obama economy

In Raleigh, North Carolina on Wednesday Hillary Rodham Clinton said, "If we want higher growth we've got to raise incomes."

Who has been president for the last seven years? Clinton promise more of the same.

Trump in Scotland praises Brexit

Cynics were questioning why Donald Trump traveled to Scotland--ostensibly to promote his golf course there--but it turns out he is in the right place at the right time.

From Good Morning America:

Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump, in Scotland for a two-day business trip, called the United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union “purely historic," saying Brexit supporters "took their country back."

Trump compared the U.K. referendum vote, dubbed “Brexit,” to America’s presidential election. "People really see a big parallel," he noted today at a news conference at his Turnberry golf course.

“What I like is that I love to see people take their country back. And that's really what's happening in the United States,” Trump said.

On the global impact of Brexit, Trump said this will happen "more and more," pointing to Germany specifically and its refugee crisis. Trump also argued that the E.U. "looks like it's on its way" to breaking up.

Liberals like Barack Obama love to claim they are on the right side of history. I love it when know-it-alls are proven wrong.

Britain is ready for Trump Autumn.

Just arrived in Scotland. Place is going wild over the vote. They took their country back, just like we will take America back. No games!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 24, 2016

Another Obama defeat: UK votes for Brexit

Barack Obama, being a typical liberal, can't stay out of other people's affairs. Or other countries' matters for that matter. So of course our busy-body president had to weigh in on the British vote in regards to staying in the European Union, and Obama the internationalist, who despises local government because it's a check on the power of national government, and he hates national governments when they don't follow his leftist directives. He can always try to fall back on the United Nations when Congress doesn't do his bidding on issues such as global warming.

Obama was opposed to what was dubbed "Brexit," that is, Great Britain leaving the EU.

And today, after being handed a stinging defeat from the US Supreme Court on executive amnesty for illegal aliens, Dear Leader received more bad news. The United Kingdom voted for independence, it's leaving the EU.

Good.

Welcome back to the free world, my British friends.

Which EU nation is next?

From my post at Da Tech Guy:

Obama the internationalist sticks his nose into UK politics

From Doug Ross, DEMOCRAT GUN LOGIC: An Illustrated Tale

The Democrats ended their childish sit-in on the House floor this afternoon. But Doug Ross and his long-suffering intern, Biff Spackle, are providing on-the-spot analysis of this pathetic stunt: DEMOCRAT GUN LOGIC: An Illustrated Tale.

(Video) Rumsfeld: Why I will vote for Trump

Former Defense secretary--twice--and White House chief-of-staff Donald Rumsfeld told Greta van Sustern that he will vote for Donald J. Trump for president.

It was a wide-ranging explanation, but of special notice is what "Rummy," also a former Illinois congressman, says about the almost-certain security breaches of Hillary Rodham Clinton's fourth-rate email server.

Trump Autumn is coming. Rummy is ready.

IL GOP Sen. Kirk touting anti-Trump stance in TV ad

I won't be voting for Democrat Tammy Duckworth in the US Senate race in Illinois in November. I won't be voting for Republican incumbent Mark Kirk either. The North Shore GOPer has a new TV ad coming soon--and in it he'll tout his opposition to presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Will there be a "None of the Above" option on Illinois touch screens on Election Day?

Trump Autumn is coming. One-term senator Kirk clearly isn't ready.

We are not a nation of illegal immigrants: Obama's executive amnesty blocked by Supreme Court

At least a couple of times, in a speech denouncing the defeat of his extra-constitutional executive amnesty for illegal aliens, Barack Obama said, "We are a nation of immigrants."

But at least for now--we are not a nation of illegal immigrants. Obama and the Democrats want to change that.

Today a deadlocked US Supreme Court let stand a lower court ruling that bars Obama from protecting millions of illegal immigrants--did I say illegal?--from deportation.

Trump effectively uses blackmail fears over stolen Hillary emails

Trump Tower, Las Vegas

Hillary Clinton couldn't even manage her email server. How the heck is she going to properly run America?

She won't be able to do so.

In a powerful speech yesterday morning, the presumptive presidential nominee of the Republican Party attacked Clinton on multiple fronts. But the possibility of blackmail against her was his strongest moment in his great speech.

From Breitbart:

"Her server was easily hacked by foreign governments, perhaps even by her financial backers in Communist China, putting all of America in danger," Trump explained. "There are the 33,000 emails she deleted. While we may not know what is in those deleted emails, our enemies probably do."

Going on to state the implication of this breach of content, Trump pointed out, "so they probably now have a blackmail file over someone who wants to be president of the United States. This fact alone disqualifies her from the presidency. We can't hand over our government to someone whose deepest, darkest secrets may be in the hands of our enemies."

Banana republic: Childish Democrats stage House sit-in

The Democrats in the House of Representatives do not have the votes to pass a gun control bill. And rather propose tougher security measures--such as keeping Syrian economic migrants out of America until we can ascertain they are not terrorists, they are holding a sit-in on the floor of the lower chamber.

That's how government doesn't work in Third World banana republics.

If the Dems want to pass gun control, they can win control of the House in November. All 435 seats are up for grabs. That's how adults do things.

ILL-inois: Hastert arrives at prison

Abe in Chicago

Dennis Hastert, the former House speaker, is now a jailbird. He arrived at the Rochester Federal Medical Center, a prison with better doctors, not too long ago.

The Plano Republican and serial child abuser joins former governor Rod Blagojevich and former Chicago alderman Sandi Jackson, the wife of ex-con Jesse Jackson Jr, as current residents of the federal penitentiary system.

What would Abraham Lincoln say?

Chess coach kicked out of Chicago Teachers Union, worried about job, because he ignored one-day strike

CTU member at an
Occupy Chicago rally

What happens to a Chicago Public Schools teacher who brings his students to greatness?

If you are Joseph Ocol, a chess coach at Earle School in crime-plagued Englewood, you get kicked out of the Chicago Teachers Union. And since CPS is a union-shop operation, Ocol is worried that the hardened leftists who run the union may have cost him his job.

In April CTU held a one day strike, which was probably illegal, but the now-championship chess coach stood by his students.

From CBS Chicago:

Ocol skipped to coach his chess team. Soon after, his Englewood girls won the national championship. It's been noted on the Congressional Record and by the mayor and city council

"It's all a matter of the principles we take in our lives,: Ocol says. "There's a chance I could lose my job."

While not commenting on internal processes, CTU said in a statement: "Mr. Ocol has been informed of his member privileges and is talking to us through media, which is unfortunate. All members are well aware of what happens to strike breakers and are informed by their own peers of the process for both suspension and reinstatement. CTU is a democratically led member-organization."

CPS officials had a different opinion. They praised Ocol: "This is exactly the kind of professionalism that the Chicago Teachers Union should be holding up as a shining example of what it means to be committed to students. Instead, the opposite happened – and he was unjustly punished for his dedication to the people who matter most – his students. We hope he remains a teacher for years to come."

My recommendation to Ocol is to start sending out résumés. And he he prefers to work with impoverished students, that isn't a problem as there are many poverty-stricken school districts in Chicago's suburbs.

As I write this post the CTU leftists are marching--likely without a permit--in downtown Chicago. They want a tax hike to bail out their pension fund. If you see a union thug in one of those bright red shirts, tell that person you support the kids--and Ocol.

Hastert due in prison today

Serial child molester and former US House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) is due at his prison assignment in Minnesota at 2pm today.

Yes, another Illinois politician ends up in federal prison.

Who will be next?

(Video) Hillary slams Obama economy in major speech

Even Hillary Clinton admits the Obama economy is a calamity. In what her minions hailed as a major speech, Clinton--not Trump--said this about seven years of Obama.

Still, we know that people are working harder and longer just to keep their heads above water. And to deal with the costs, the everyday costs, the costs of basics like childcare and prescription drugs that are too high. College is getting more expensive every day. And wages are still too low and inequality is too great. Good jobs in this country are still too hard to come by.

Americans--do we want four more years of economic failure?

Trump Autumn is coming. Are you ready?

(Video) Respected analyst shuns recent Quinnipiac swing state polls showing Hillary lead

Larry Sabato, who runs the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, questions the leads in some swing state polls for Hillary Clinton.

Trump is doing better than that, he says.

(Video) Ingraham: Orlando narrative inconvenient truth for Obama White House

The day after Obama attorney general Loretta Lynch promised transparency by releasing partial transcripts of the 911 calls between the Orlando killer and law enforcement officials, she broke her promises. Mentions by the maniac of the Islamic State were omitted, and "Allah" in his ramblings was replaced by "God." 

As with the Benghazi attacks, the Orlando carnage disrupts the leftist happy narrative of the Obama White House, Laura Ingraham explained on Fox News yesterday.

According to Ingraham, the only bad people out there, according to Obama, are Trump supporters.

Even more amazingly, Lynch says that the feds are exploring that that it was Latin Night at the gay night club where the demon murdered 49 people.

Latin Night? We told 911 dispatchers that he was a "soldier of Allah."

Latin Night? Do they really think we are that stupid? Apparently they do.

Lib TV critic brings Cheney into recap of GoT Snow's deserved beat down of Bolton

As I've remarked before many times, liberals politicize and ruin everything, including last night's stellar Game of Throne's "Battle of the Bastards" episode.

Spoiler alert!

After Bastard Number 1 Jon Snow, with an assist from the Knights of the Vale, defeats Bastard Number 2 Ramsay Bolton and retakes his family's castle, Snow, using only his fists comes close to killing the beast who castrated Theon Greyjoy, stabbed his own father to death, and fed his stepmother and his newborn stepbrother to his dogs, Chicago Tribune entertainment critic remarked that Snow "did things to Ramsay that even Dick Cheney would have to describe as torture."

"Winter is Coming." It's
Trump's fault!

That's why liberals are so annoying to be around. With sports, game shows, pizza,  or whatever, it's "Trump this," or "Bush that," or "Cheney this." And of course if it's hot outside, it's because of global warming, not because it's June. If it is cold it's because of global warming and the resulting polar vortex. Everything is politics to them. Everything.

When I was watching Battle of the Bastards last night, my mind, as with every other viewer's mind, was racing. What was I thinking about? The mud bath and the resulting body pile in the long battle scene made me think of the decisive battle of Agincourt, when the outnumbered English led by Henry V defeated the French during the Hundred Years War. Not Dick Cheney.

Then Johnson feebly attempts to excuse himself in this manner:

But this isn't a political discourse — nor is it the kind of piece that asks "Which 'Game of Thrones' characters are most like Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton?" — simply to draw clicks; it would be cheap even to include a sentence like that so that it might be picked up by Google’s content searchers.

Johnson mocks such a stunt while using it.

Liberals always think they'll get away with such chicanery because they are so much smarter than everyone else.

Bolton thought he was smarter than everyone else too. He ended up as dog food.

(Review) The Trump Presidential Playbook: A Wizard's Path to the White House

Win or lose--and I definitely want the former to occur--presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump has altered the way national campaigns are run. The billionaire's skeletal campaign staff--who would expect that from a rich man?--is one way, but what put Trump at the head of the pack is outlined in Geoff Blades' new book, The Trump Presidential Playbook: A Wizard's Path to the White House.

Once Blades gets past the introductions he starts with the initial favorite for the GOP nomination, Jeb Bush.

Blades makes it clear that he is not a "Trump groupie."

Early in the campaign Trump used his messaging skills to label Bush as "low energy." And we was. And despite a massive campaign treasury and an office block full of political "experts," Jeb failed. He probably would have anyway, in my opinion. but Trump hastened his demise. Call it a mercy killing.

Because among other things, Blades points out, Trump has mastered messaging. Even if you hate him, and most people apparently do, you know the real estate mogul's campaign slogan, which of course is Make America Great Again. Do you remember John Kasich's slogan? Kasish for Us. Yawn. Marco Rubio, or "Little Marco" as Trump dubbed him, gave us Marcomentum Is Real (awful) as well as the slightly better, A New American Century, which might have worked in 2000. Cruz, who was my back up choice for the GOP nod, gave us Join the Movement of Courageous Conservatives. "What does that even mean," Blades opines, "does it take courage to vote for Cruz? Courage to be a conservative?" No it doesn't. Brains yes, but that's a topic for another post and another book.

But everyone knows what Make America Great Again means. And when Trump says, "we don't win anymore," disengaged voters--who make up the majority of the electorate--will realize that we are losing to nations like China and Mexico. Which brings us back to Make America Great Again. Who will do that? Trump will. Get it?

I'm getting ahead of myself, especially since when this book was published neither Trump nor Hillary Clinton had clinched their party's nomination, but Hillary is burdened with a slogan of I'm with Her. Boring.

But as Blades notes, Trump has a message for her. "Hillary Clinton was the worse secretary of state in the history of our country," Trump has said. "The worst." That's how you properly define an opponent. Jeb Bush is incapable of saying that.

For years Republican presidential candidates have railed about border security. How does one picture that? Border security, that is. Trump doesn't have that problem. He has his wall. Everyone knows what a wall looks like. Not only does he attack border security clearly--with that wall--he even embraces the Mexican people while doing so.

I will build a better wall. And I will build it for cheaper...by the way I love the Mexican people. Many Mexican people work for me. Many Mexican people I do business with...I have great relationships with Mexico. I love their spirit.

And Trump tells us his wall will be beautiful.

But as Blades notes, Trump also delivers his words well.

Donald spoke much the same way in the 1980s and over decades of outmaneuvering the best, Trump has been practicing these skills for a very, very long time.

Trump's rise to the top of the heap of the Republican Party--sorry #NeverTrumpers, he's the nominee--makes a lot more sense after reading Blades' The Trump Presidential Playbook: A Wizard's Path to the White House.

Chiraq: 12 dead and at least 43 wounded over Father's Day weekend

Abandoned home in the
Back of the Yards

It was another rough weekend in Chicago. Twelve people were killed and at least 43 others were wounded. One of the dead was shot while sitting in a vehicle at the corner of Balbo on Lake Shore Drive--shootings once were rare on this gorgeous stretch of road. How did the other people in the car respond? They drove him a couple of miles south and dumped him on the side of a street. He was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

Another fatality was killed outside of a church in the Back of the Yards neighborhood on the South Side while mass was being held.

It was not a happy Father's Day weekend in Chiraq.

Kass: Dems post-Orlando gun control push is about protecting Hillary

Of course the Democrats can never let a crisis go to waste. Especially when it comes to their presidential standard bearer, as John Kass explains in the Chicago Tribune.

Gun control was the shield to protect Mrs. Clinton, to keep the dialogue away from terrorism, from any mention of Islam, which would invariably lead to a discussion of her many policy failures in the Middle East.

The Democrats could not allow this. Clinton and President Barack Obama could not have it. In a time of national grief, one issue would bring Clinton establishmentarians and skeptical Bernie Sanders supporters closer together. The guns.

And so the screaming ensued. It was the guns, they said, the guns, the guns. This was the mantra, not only of gun control, but of reconciliation between the Democratic tribes.

It was not what Mateen said clearly by his own hand on his social media accounts, where he said he slaughtered Americans for the glory of Islamic State.

Tha explains why the narrative on the Orlando killings, with a huge assist from the Democrats' enablers in the mainstream media, turned to gun control.

Guns were not used in the Boston Marathon bombings or in either of the World Trade Center attacks.

We are fighting an ideology. Gun violence is only a symptom.

(Video) Muslim Trump adviser says candidate is narrowing proposed immigration ban

Fox News contributor Walid Phares, a Muslim who is also a Donald Trump national security adviser, says that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee is narrowing his proposed Muslim immigration ban on countries with a high concentration of jihadis.

(Video) Gutfeld: Media blaming everything but Islamism on Orlando

Last night on his eponymous Fox News show, Greg Gutfield told his viewers that the mainstream media is blaming everyone but Islamism for last Sunday's murder of 49 people at an Orlando gay nightclut.

Contestant on Mexican version of The Voice shot in the head in Chiraq

Chicago's Southwest Side

The victim was a contestant in 2011 on the Mexican version of The Voice.

From ABC Chicago:

A Chicago man and contestant on a Mexican version of a popular singing competition show is in critical condition after being shot on Chicago's Southwest Side.

Alejandro Jano Fuentes was shot in the head several times in the 4300 block of South Archer in the city's Brighton Park neighborhood.

There are prayers for Fuentes after a confrontation with a gunman outside his Southwest side performing arts center leaves him in critical but stable condition.

"He's fighting a big battle for his life," said Miguel Sanchez, a friend of Fuentes.

Fuentes, 45, was celebrating his birthday that night.

Update June 19: Fuentes passed away yesterday.

XTC: King for a Day

I've been in an XTC mood of late--here's another song from the Boys from Swindon, a Colin Moulding tune, "King For A Day," from their last great album, Oranges and Lemons.

This performance is from 1989--and it was on Late Night with David Letterman. It was XTC's first performance in front of a live audience in seven years.

Joining in are some members of the Late Night band, including Paul Shaffer.

Marathon Pundit wins twice in Morton Grove photography contest

The Blogger Laureate of Illinois submitted several pictures for this spring's Morton Grove photography contest.

And two of mine were selected as winners.

The theme of the contest is Morton Grove' new tagline Incredibly Close - Amazingly Open.

These two Marathon Pundit originals are on display at the Village Hall.

That's Miami Woods in what is clearly and autumn shot.

One month later I captured this scene of Linne Woods and the North Branch of the Chicago River after a late fall snowstorm.

Liberal Chicago columnist disappointed gun shop won't sell him AR-15

Des Plaines Theater

For Little Marathon Pundit's 18th birthday my wife took her to Maxon's Shooter's Supplies in Des Plaines, which is about ten miles west of where we live, where she shot her first gun at the shooting range there. Yes, we're raising her right--and and daughter loved the experience.

Maxon's says it's Chicagoland's Finest Gun Shop and Indoor Shooting Range.

Earlier this week liberal Chicago Sun-Times columnist Neal Steinberg went to Maxon's this week to by an AR-15 so-called assault rifle, presumably to show how easy it is to purchase such a weapon. The Orlando jihadi used that rifle to kill 49 gay night club patrons on Sunday.

And you know what? Maxon's wouldn't sell Steinberg an AR-15. In Illinois gun owners don't have to supply a reason for refusing to do so. Yes, they recognized Steinberg, but after being pushed the gun shop did inform the self-righteous lib why they pushed the "No Sale" button on their cash register: Like many media know-it-alls he has a history of alcohol abuse--but Steinberg also has a domestic battery arrest rap involving his spouse on his list of accomplishments.

Good for Maxon's.

But Steinberg still unloaded on gun shops anyway in his pissy-fit column.

Here's an ironic bit. Mike, the Maxon's sales rep who Steinberg worked with, clearly knows more about Chicago gun laws than the city's corporation counsel.

No, you cannot bring an AR-15 into Chicago's city limits. Despite the ban, the murder rate in some Chicago neighborhoods are at Third World levels.

If I need to buy a gun--and the Blogger Laureate of Illinois may have to if I keep venturing into violent neighborhoods--I'm going to Maxon's.

(Video) Lindsey Graham says Obama's policies created ISIS

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), one of Donald Trump's fiercest GOP critics, was channeling the Republican frontrunner last night when he sold Fox News' Greta van Sustern, correctly, that it was Obama's policies that created the Islamic State.

ISIS didn't exist when George W. Bush was president.

Dem senator said he'd call it radical Islam 'in a heartbeat"

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) isn't afraid to call the ideology that declared war on us "radical Islam."

He said so two days ago on Fox and Friends.

From Politico:

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin has a problem with President Barack Obama's refusal to call acts of terrorism like the one perpetrated Sunday in Orlando "radical Islam."

A day after President Barack Obama laced into his Republican critics and Donald Trump for slamming his rejection of the term "radical Islam," the West Virginia senator told "Fox & Friends" that he does not "know a Muslim in West Virginia or a Muslim anywhere in the country that doesn't believe that these people are radical if they have been radicalized to the point they want to kill innocent people or themselves."

As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Manchin said he had not been briefed on terminology as a strategy to defeat the Islamic State or other terrorist groups.

"If we could start using the term radical Islamists it shouldn't offend moderate Muslims, because they're not radical Islamists. And if we leave them in power for four and a half years, you know they're just going to get stronger. They have a legal system, they have a tax system. They have a news service. How does that show that we're effective in fighting ISIS?" Brian Kilmeade asked.

When Kilmeade directly asked him if he would use the term, Manchin replied, "I would do it in a heartbeat."

Chicago school employee fatally shot in front of school

Abandoned home in Austin

Wow...right around lunchtime too.

From ABC Chicago:

A CPS employee was fatally shot outside Ronald McNair Elementary School, prompting a lockdown Thursday afternoon.

Police said the man was shot in the head by someone on foot around 12:30 p.m. in the 4800-block of W. Walton in the Austin neighborhood.

The Cook County medical examiner's office identified the victim as Denzel Thornton, 25.

Sources told ABC7 the man was a nutrition support compliance officer who worked at McNair, among other schools.

Even in Chiraq it's unusual for people who aren't mixed up bad things to get shot in the head, presumably at close range, by a gunman on foot.

Related post:

(Photos) Abandoned homes in Chicago's violent Austin neighborhood

Orlando killer and his wife texted each other during murders

It appears these two whack-jobs were perfect for each other. Too bad they lives in the United States and not in Islamic State controlled territory.

From CNN:

The Orlando shooter and his wife exchanged text messages during the Pulse nightclub rampage, a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation told CNN.

Around 4 a.m. on June 12, about two hours after he started the attack and while holed up in a bathroom, Omar Mateen texted his wife, Noor Salman, asking if she'd seen the news, the official said.

At one point, she responded with a text saying that she loved him. Salman also tried calling her husband several times during the standoff, a second law enforcement official said.

The timing of her calls came after reports of the attack had emerged, and apparently after she realized her husband might be responsible. He didn't answer, the official said.

Salman lived for a while in the Chicago area--in suburban Berwyn and Oak Lawn. The latter town borders Bridgeview, which is home to the extremist Mosque Foundation, colloquially known as the Bridgeview Mosque.

I wonder if she was a member?

McCain rightly says Obama is "directly responsible" for Orlando, then wimps out

Man, I haven't agreed with John McCain in years. Today I did. But then he backed away from this rare display of brilliance.

From Business Insider:

Sen. John McCain on Thursday delivered and quickly walked back comments saying President Barack Obama was "directly responsible" for the terrorist attack on an LGBTQ nightclub in Orlando, Florida, earlier this week.

The Republican senator from Arizona reportedly argued that Obama was to blame for the shooting that left 49 people dead because his administration's Middle East policy led to the rise of the terrorist group ISIS.

"Barack Obama is directly responsible for it, because when he pulled everybody out of Iraq, al-Qaeda went to Syria, became ISIS, and ISIS is what it is today thanks to Barack Obama’s failures," McCain said, according to The Washington Post.

But then McCain retreated.

What a coward.

Orlando killer raged against "filthy ways of the West"

Amazingly many mainstream media reporters wonder openly what the motive was for the Orlando jihadi's killing rampage was.

His motive seems awfully clear to me.

The evil son-of-a-bitch hated American and he hated western civilization.

From AP:

Orlando gunman Omar Mateen apparently made a series of Facebook posts and searches before and during his attack on a gay nightclub, raging against the "filthy ways of the west" and blaming the U.S. for the deaths of "innocent women and children," according to a Senate committee letter released Wednesday.

The killer whose rampage left 49 people dead also searched for "Pulse Orlando" and "Shooting" online on the morning of the carnage Sunday and said on Facebook: "America and Russia stop bombing the Islamic state," according to the letter.

This murderous jackal was an American citizen--as the media never wearies in telling us--but in my definition he was not an American.

Yep, I know what I just wrote.

Video shows Chiraq murder

Of all the violent Chicago neighborhoods that I've visited this year, North Lawndale is the worst.

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Last night a North Lawndale man who was steaming live on Facebook recorded his own murder.

About 8:45 p.m., 28-year-old Antonio Perkins was found face-down with gunshot wounds to the neck and head in a vacant lot in the 1600 block of South Drake, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner's office.

He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 9:07 p.m., authorities said. He lived in the 3500 block of West 12th Place.

The video, posted by the New York-based website MediaTakeOut.com, claims that Perkins, also known as Cicero Yayo, was taking a Facebook Live video of himself partying with friends.

Warning--this video may be disturbing to you.



Perkins was an ex-con who did his time for heroin dealing. According to the Sun-Times the known gang member was on Chicago Police list of people who could be shot--or shoot someone.

Related post:

(Photos) Abandoned homes in Chicago's violent North Lawndale neighborhood

10 arrested for brawling at Detroit memorial vigil

Abandoned factory, Detroit

Some people just don't get it.

From ABC Detroit:

Ten people are facing charges after a large brawl at a vigil held Wednesday night.

The vigil was organized after two people were killed and one other injured in a shooting Wednesday morning.

What was supposed to be an act of peace quickly turned south when women related to the victim began arguing.

Police were called to the vigil where more than 100 people showed up at Kilbourne and Leroy on the city's east side.

The marred vigil was supposed to celebrate the life one of the victims of the Wednesday murders but an argument broke out between the mother of one of those slain and the mother of his kids.

From my post at Da Tech Guy:

I walked its streets--the tragedy of Detroit.

Former GOP and Dem prez advisor: Trump naming "radical Islam" is like Reagan calling USSR an "Evil Empire"

Berlin Wall segment,
Reagan Peace Garden,
Eureka College

On CNN yesterday David Gergen, a former advisor to presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Clinton, defended presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump for his insistence that we call our enemy "radical Islam."

Says Gergen:

On the second point, radical Islam if I may be permitted a quick story. Back in the early 1980s, President Reagan was trying to decide whether to call the Soviet Union an evil empire. I was among those who urged him not to do that on his staff. I thought it was wrong. I thought it would upset the Soviets. I think in retrospect I was wrong. He used the term. I think it worked well. Tony Dolan who was a speechwriter was the one who persuaded him. He had the better argument and that is rhetorically confronting, telling, having plain-spoken truth about what you’re facing helps to clarify and helps to strengthen your hand.

And we know that Reagan won the Cold War without firing a shot.

That's the kind of America we need to strive to return to.