Thursday, August 31, 2017

(Video) 2012 "Fuck the Police" march in Chicago

Before there was antifa there was the anarchist black bloc. Just as gonorrhea is the same as "the drip" and "the clap," antifa and the black bloc is the same plague upon civilized society.

Five years ago I covered a black bloc "Fuck the Police" march that was held on Chicago's South Side. Of course the leftists didn't bother to apply for a permit.

Here's today's #ThrowbackThursday special. And watch as your beloved Blogger Laureate of Illinois is threatened by a member of the chlamydia cluster.

"No justice, no peace, fuck the police" and "Cops, pigs, murderers," were among their repugnant chants.

Show me someone who hates cops and you've also shown me a criminal.

Chicago cop and firefighter pensions have more retirees than workers paying in

Chicago Fire Department station
in Chinatown
One of the reasons that Chicago police and firefighter pension plans are woefully underfunded is that there are more retirees than active cops and firefighters paying into them, Wirepoints Illinois News is reporting.

Other reasons include "pension holidays," over-optimistic forecasts, and sheer malfeasance by so-called public servants.

The Chicago firefighter pension fund is just 24 percent funded and the cops' fund isn't much better--it is only 30 percent funded.

The pension "red-zone" is 65 percent. Nearly all of the recent Chicago tax hikes are tied to bailing out pension funds. More are coming. Politicians lie and they lie about mathematics, math itself does not lie.

Chicago and Crook County have suffered under one-party rule for decades.

Elsewhere in Cook County things are awful on the pension front too, so much so that even the treasurer of Cook County, Maria Pappas, has taken notice. She says 130 of the 549 taxing districts in Cook County have more retirees collecting pensions than workers are paying into those funds.

Cook County's soda tax and sales tax hike are tied to pensions.

Harvey media montage: Trump lacks "empathy" narrative

Watch as President Donald J. Trump is attacked in what appears to be a fake news MSNBC and CNN coordinated attack in response to his visit to south Texas after Hurricane Harvey hit.

No matter what he would have done, these hacks would have attacked our president. They're not journalists, they are propagandists.



Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Democrat guv of Louisiana praises president and feds' response to Harvey

Governor John Bel Edwards of Louisiana says "the federal government has been excellent" in its response to Hurricane Harvey rescue efforts in his states. He didn't mention Donald J. Trump by name, but he praised "the president:" as well.


Chicagoans slugged with another tax hike to pay for pensions

Closed Chicago school
"People have a tendency to blame politicians when things don't work, but as I always tell people, you get the politicians you deserve. And if you don't vote and you don't pay attention, you'll get policies that don't reflect your interest." Barack Obama in 2017.

The Illinois General Assembly approved an education funding bill that will hit Chicagoans with yet another property tax increase. This new tax is one of eight other recent tax hikes foisted upon the beleaguered residents of America's third-largest city, most of these taxes, including this latest one, are to some extent to pay for woefully underfunded municipal worker pensions.

Chicago is a place where citizens support a government, not the other way around. Yet the dopey people who don't pay attention living there keep voting for the same Democratic politicians--or their clones--election after election.

Obama, gasp, is right.


Tuesday, August 29, 2017

(PragerU Video) How's Socialism Doing in Venezuela?

Venezuela used to be a prosperous nation.

Now its people are hungry. Crime is skyrocketing.

Basic commodities such as toilet paper are scarce.

What happened?

Socialism.

Watch as political activist Debbie D'Souza, a native Venezuelan, explains the collapse.


Chicago had more votes than voters in 2016 general election

Vote fraud? What vote fraud?

Even if these vote tally discrepancies result from incompetence, doesn't such a finding undermine our democracy?

From Chicago City Wire:
More than 14,000 votes were cast in Chicago during the 2016 general election than there were voters to cast them, based on separate figures released by the Chicago Board of Elections, the chairman of the Chicago Republican Party has reported.

Chris Cleveland told the Chicago Wire that "on a whim," he filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the board, which provided him with a list of 1,101,178 people who voted in the general election. An earlier post on the board's website said that 1,115,664 votes had been cast.

"There should never be more votes than voters," Cleveland said. "Every ballot cast should be recorded against a registered voter."

The party did a breakdown of voting by precinct, and Cleveland said it found an uneven distribution of discrepancies. Fifteen precincts had 100 more ballots cast than voters, while others had fewer votes than voters.

Trump: "All options are on the table" in regards to North Korea

There is no longer a ditherer in the White House.

From ABC News:
President Donald Trump sought Tuesday to reassert an American military threat against North Korea, saying that "all options are on the table" in response to its launch of a missile over close U.S. ally Japan.

In a terse, written statement, Trump said that North Korea's missile launch "signaled its contempt for its neighbors, for all members of the United Nations and for minimum standards of acceptable international behavior."

"Threatening and destabilizing actions only increase the North Korean regime's isolation in the region and among all nations of the world," Trump said. "All options are on the table."

Trump later told reporters, "We'll see, we'll see" when asked what he would do. Trump, accompanied by first lady Melania Trump, was departing the White House to survey storm damage in southeast Texas.

Monday, August 28, 2017

(Photos) 2017 Backlot Bash Classic Car Show

It's been a long time--a couple of years, I think--since the Blogger Laureate of Illinois has done a classic car post, but the drought is over. Yesterday I attended the Skokie Backlot Bash and there were some vintage automobiles on display.


I've never been to a classic car show where a Chevrolet Corvette isn't on display. Here are two of the, on the left is a 1981 model and on the right is one from 2014.


Coupes are on their way out. For instance, Honda's 2018 Accords will not a have a coupe option. But here's one from the huge door glory days of the two-door: a burnt orange 1973 Cadillac Eldorado convertible.

We're going to see many coupes here.


The 1922 Buick Coupe was built in Flint, Michigan. Last week Flint received some rare good news when Lear Automotive announced it was constructing an automotive seating plant on the long-vacant Buick City site instead of choosing a location in Mexico. Make Buick--and America--Great Again!''


Speaking of Mexico, here is yet another coupe, a 1987 GMC Caballero. I never understood the coupe utility segment or the people who purchased them, but these types of vehicles are common denizens of classic car meetups. Although no one makes them anymore.


Coupe to coupe. The Star Chief was the top trim of the Pontiac Chieftain. This is a 1957 edition.


The Chevrolet Camaro was General Motor's answer to the phenomenally successful Ford Mustang. But when the 1970s hit Ford tinkered with its revolutionary creation by making it bigger, and less Mustang-like. Sales suffered. Chevy made the same wrong turn with its Camaro. This 1974 LT model is a smart-looking coupe, but is it really a Camaro? Even the color is wrong.


Now here's a Camaro--a 1967 SS trim--'67 was the debut mirror for this Chevy muscle car. Note the bright red shade.


Why does this automobile have two propellers?


And why does it have boat registration markings?

Because it's an Amphicar. And a coupe as well! You can drive it on a road--or ride it on water. This is a 1965 model. President Lyndon B. Johnson owned one--he would drive it on his ranch and terrify passengers as he feigned brake failure on his Amphicar as it neared his lake.


Who's ready to party with this Corvette? We began with two Corvette's and we'll end with just one, a 1963 version.

Chiraq: 7 dead and at least 25 wounded over weekend

This weekend in Chicago was a little quieter than the one before. Seven people were shot to death in Chiraq this time around--with at least 25 others wounded.

Two of the murders occurred in Englewood on the South Side, two other South Side killing took place on the South Side, one in Woodlawn and the other in Parkway Gardens. Up on the Northwest Side there was a murder in Humboldt Park, and also one in Heart of Chicago on the Southwest Side.

On the West Side a 16-year-old was fatally shot in East Garfield Park.

Saturday, August 26, 2017

Paul McCartney: I'll Follow The Sun

Eclipse fever struck America this week--with Marathon Pundit Land getting a nearly 90 percent solar eclipse.

In a salute to the center of the center of the solar system, this week's Saturday Musical Selection is Paul McCartney singing an early Beatles song, "I'll Follow The Sun."


President Trump Weekly Address 8/25/17

In his weekly address, President Donald J. Trump make a call for unity.

"We come from all different walks of life but we all share the same dream--to live in peace and safety, to work with honor and dignity, and to build a better future for those we love," Trump says here.


Friday, August 25, 2017

3 injured when car rams protesters in St. Louis

While it is always wrong for someone to use a vehicle to charge at protesters, it's clearly time that people who choose to block streets--without a permit, by the way--need to re-think their behavior.

They need to consider their own safety.
From AP:
A man was charged Thursday after authorities said he pulled his car into a group of demonstrators protesting a police shooting in St. Louis, injuring three people.

Mark Colao, 59, faces a felony count of resisting arrest by fleeing and misdemeanor charges of leaving the scene of an accident and operating a vehicle in a careless and imprudent manner. It's not clear if he has an attorney who can comment on his behalf.

Police said the three people suffered minor injuries Wednesday night during a candlelight vigil and protest in honor of Kenny "Kiwi" Herring, who was fatally shot by officers Tuesday after allegedly stabbing one of them. Relatives and friends have said Herring was a transgender woman.

Thursday, August 24, 2017

Nanny State Bloomberg cuts ads, pays for them, to perpetuate Crook County soda tax lie

"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are," Ronald Reagan said, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help."

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is the principal promoter of the idea as government as a Nanny State. "Don't drink soda," Bloomberg warns, "it's bad for you," is something he'll say.

I'm someone who believes people should make their own decisions, for better or worse.

But Bloomberg, or formally his charity, is buying into and paying for the lie that Cook County's hugely unpopular soda tax is about health. He's wrong. I've heard his cloying radio spots--yes, they're sweet--but like a sugar rush from a Big Gulp--the pleasure is gone almost immediately.

From AP:
Bloomberg's charity announced Thursday that $2 million will be spent on television, radio and digital ads. The ads will contend the tax could help fight "the epidemic of childhood obesity and diabetes" and support Cook County hospitals and health programs.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle broke a tie vote in November to approve the tax. She initially contended she was motivated by the health concerns voiced by Bloomberg. She has since acknowledged it was more to raise revenue.

Preckwinkle has faced increasing criticism since the tax went into effect this month.

A court challenge by the Illinois Retail Merchants Association failed to prevent its collection.
Taxwinkle shot the myth that the soda tax was about health after she sued the IRMA for $17 million in lost revenue because they were able to delay its implementation for a month.

It's about the money--Nanny Bloomberg--not health. Now please crawl back to New York.

As for Crook County's massive health care system, I have a better idea--tax people less so businesses will stop moving out of Chicago and its inner suburbs. Maybe some new businesses will relocate here. Then users of county health care can receive private-sector insurance instead and there'll be less of a need for Taxwinkle's expensive socialist empire.


Malkin: Trump calling out GOP establishment is refreshing

Not all of the swamp creatures in Washington are Democrats. Michelle Malkin explains.


Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Rauner will sign sanctuary state bill for Illinois

Bruce Rauner is making a giant mistake by letting Illinois become a sanctuary state. He will sign a bill on Monday that will do just that.

From the Chicago Sun-Times:
The immigration legislation would prohibit police in Illinois from detaining or arresting a person based on their immigration status or on federal immigration detainer. It would allow law enforcement officials, however, to detain a person with a judge's order.

The bill passed with bipartisan support and was supported by faith leaders, law enforcement and businesses. But Republicans initially opposed the measure, arguing it will cause a conflict with federal laws.
Who speaks up for the ordinary taxpayer in Illinois?

Robert Lee, an Asian, pulled from UVA football game by ESPN because of his name

Should Robert Lee change his name?

ESPN, the Colin Kaepernick-loving leftist sports network, has gone too far again.

From NY Magazine:
ESPN reassigned a college football announcer named Robert Lee from the University of Virginia's season-opening game because he shares a name with the Confederacy’s most famous general, the network confirmed Tuesday. Instead of calling UVA's game against William & Mary, Lee will instead work Pitt versus Youngstown State. In a statement, ESPN said it's "because of the coincidence of his name."

The statement added that executives and Lee made the decision together "as the tragic events in Charlottesville were unfolding," a reference to the deadly neo-Nazi rally on August 12.

"In that moment it felt right to all parties," ESPN said. "It's a shame that this is even a topic of conversation and we regret that who calls play-by-play for a football game has become an issue."
Two years ago ESPN, remember, it's a sports network, gave Bruce Jenner, or whatever his name is now, an ESPY courage award, even though he retired from competitive sports when Gerald Ford was still president.

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

ILL-inois: Harvey's firefighters pension plan headed to bankruptcy

159th Street in Harvey
Here is the latest unhappy development from Illinois' premier kleptocracy, Harvey.

From the Chicago Tribune:
In an unprecedented ruling, an appellate court declared the city of Harvey so severely neglected its firefighters' pension fund that it was on the verge of insolvency — meaning there might not be any money for retirees or firefighters on the job there today.

The ruling comes as local firefighters complain of equipment in disrepair and manpower cuts. And it follows another embarrassing ruling in which a Cook County judge took away control of Harvey's water finances from leaders of the scandal-plagued and debt-ridden south suburb.

In a scathing opinion filed earlier this month, the 1st District Appellate Court found that for nearly a decade, the city neglected to pay enough money to keep the pension fund solvent, leaving it in danger of running dry in as little as five years. Indeed, the court found that over that period, the city contributed only 17 percent of the amount needed to sustain the pension fund.

"Harvey has set up a collision course over a period of many years where the beneficiaries of their firefighters' Pension Fund are being paid substantially out of the money that the firefighters have themselves contributed to the Pension Fund and the money the Pension Fund earns from investments…" the court wrote. "In essence, Harvey is robbing Peter to pay Paul, but what happens when Peter retires?"
Related posts:

Arrests down 24 percent in Chicago--murders of course are way up

In 2015 there were 480 murders in Chiraq. Last year there were 2016 killings.

And what about arrests?

From the Chicago Sun-Times:
Chicago Police officers made 85,493 arrests in 2016, a 24 percent drop from the year before and roughly half the number of arrests they made the year before Mayor Rahm Emanuel took office.

The steady and precipitous decline in arrests coincided with the mayor’s decision to rely on overtime — to the tune of $143 million last year, and even more during in the first quarter of this year — to mask a severe manpower shortage before abruptly reversing course and embarking on a two-year hiring blitz.
This is part of a long term trend, a disturbing one if you are a law-abiding resident of the city.
They show that Chicago Police officers made 167,355 arrests in 2010; 152,740 in 2011; 145,390 in 2012; 143,618 in 2013; 129,166 in 2014; 112,996 in 2015, and 85,493 last year.

The largest percentage drop occurred between 2015, when a judge ordered the city to release the Laquan McDonald shooting video, and 2016, when the U.S. Justice Department conducted its sweeping civil rights investigation of the Chicago Police Department triggered by the shooting of the black teenager.
According to HeyJackass, no one is charged in nearly 90 percent of all Chiraq homicides.

It won't get one, Chicagoans are at best misguided, but the city needs a law-and-order mayor.

Monday, August 21, 2017

Chiraq: 9 dead and at least 54 others wounded over weekend

West Pullman
You can't blame the solar eclipse for this weekend's carnage in Chicago--the eclipse is today.

Nine were shot to death and at least 54 more wounded in shootings across the city.

The most horrible incident was in West Pullman on the Far South Side when a man was killed and seven others were wounded early Sunday morning in a mass shooting.

The other fatal shootings were in North Lawndale and University Village on the West Side, Rogers Park on the North Side, Logan Square on the Northwest Side, Brighton Park on the Southwest Side, and in Englewood and West Englewood on the South Side, along with another, unrelated, shooting death in West Pullman.


Sunday, August 20, 2017

Truthout editor invokes 1970s Nazi march in Skokie that never happened in fundraising pitch

Truthout is a far-left online publication that I peek at once in a while. I mean, someone with a level head has to do it, right?

I live 50 yards from Skokie, Illinois, which is famous worldwide because a neo-Nazi group based on Chicago's Southwest Side applied for a permit to march there in 1977. What made this story a very big deal is that back then Skokie's population was about half Jewish and among those Jews were approximately 5,000 Holocaust survivors.

By all accounts the tiny Nazi group--they all are tiny, by the way--had no desire to march in Skokie, as they would have feared for their lives if they followed through. What they craved was publicity and contributions to their twisted organization from sympathetic whack-jobs who otherwise wouldn't know they existed. Skokie and the Nazis was a major national news story in 1977 and 1978. The Nazis, led by the son of a Jewish survivor of Dachau, Frank Collin, enlisted the aid of the Illinois American Civil Liberties Union, who successfully overturned an injunction by the village of Skokie to prevent the Nazis from marching because it would likely inflict emotional harm to thousands of residents. The case was finally resolved by the Illinois Supreme Court. The ACLU--and the Nazis--won.

Collin later served time in prison for child molestation. Some stuff you just can't make up.

But the Nazis didn't parade through the streets of Skokie. As the leftist legal group tells us, "Although the ACLU prevailed in its free speech arguments," we learn on its website, "the neo-Nazi group never marched through Skokie, instead agreeing to stage a rally at Federal Plaza in downtown Chicago."
Holocaust memorial
in Skokie

A very good made-for-TV movie, Skokie, starring Danny Kaye who plays a Holocaust survivor, was first broadcast in 1981. Eli Wallach. Carl Reiner, and Brian Dennehy are in it too.

Back to Falseout--I mean, Truthout.

In an email fundraising appeal from Truthout's editor-in-chief, Maya Schenwar misinforms us. "A large group of neo-Nazis famously marched in Skokie in the 1970s, targeting Jews and other marginalized groups," she claims. Schenwar then mentions a 2000 Ku Klux Klan rally in Skokie that she witnessed. That one did occur. And it was a rally at a courthouse, not a march. Still, I guess some stuff you can make up.

The ACLU and I are right, Truthout's Schenwar is wrong. But the image of Nazis marching in a heavily Jewish suburb really tugs at the purse strings.

Always tell the truth when soliciting for cash. Wait, rewind. Always tell the truth.

From Doug Ross: 15 antifa photos you'll never see in the legacy media

President Donald J. Trump is right--there were some very bad people on both sides of the protests in Charlottesville. The white supremacists and the antifas have some bad hombres in their ranks.

From Doug Ross: 15 antifa photos you'll never see in the legacy media.

From Da Tech Guy, Series review: Broadchurch

I return to reviewing television shows for my weekly post at Da Tech Guy. Series review: Broadchurch.

Saturday, August 19, 2017

Schoolhouse Rock: Shot Heard Round the World

With George Washington--the Father Of Our Country--is under attack in the United States, it's time to look back at happier times.

Yes, Washington is under attack in America--not North Korea.

Watch as Schoolhouse Rock looks back at Washington and the American Revolution.

Let Freedom Ring!


Ted Nugent: David Crosby can 'kiss my ass'

Recently Ted Nugent, the conservative rock icon, said that he isn't in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame because he's on the board of directors for the National Rifle Assocication, which led leftist druggie David Crosby to reply on Twitter, "No the asshole just isn't good enough."

Nuge, a Fox News specialist replied, back the Crosby can "Kiss my ass."



Friday, August 18, 2017

Ex-Detroit union boss strikes plea deal after spending kickback money on booze, meals, and daughter's wedding

As with this other labor corruption story I blogged on today, here's another that the national media will ignore.

From the Detroit News:
The former head of Operating Engineers Local 324 struck a plea deal with federal prosecutors Friday, admitting he forced union workers and officials to pay kickbacks that he blew on booze, meals and his daughter’s wedding.

John Hamilton, 62, of Rivera Beach, Florida, reached the plea deal three weeks before he was scheduled to stand trial in federal court. Hamilton faces up to five years in federal prison and has agreed to pay $250,000 restitution to victims of the crime, prosecutors said Friday.

He will be sentenced Jan. 16 by U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman.

Hamilton, who was indicted two years ago, admitted conspiring to violate the Hobbs Act with at least two other leaders of Detroit-based Local 324, which represents 18,000 heavy equipment and crane operators throughout the state.

"What did Abraham Lincoln do?" Tucker Carlson BLASTS lefties for vandalism

Once leftist revolutions begin--they always go further than anyone imagined.

Think France in 1789, Russia in 1917, and Cambodia in 1975.

Left-wing radicals in the United States are calling for the removal of statues honoring Confederate generals. But will they stop there? No. The Rev. Al Sharpton wants the Jefferson Memorial to be razed from the National Mall. Another pastor wants Chicago's Washington Park and Jackson Park to be renamed.

Also in Chicago, a bust of Abraham Lincoln, you know, the guy who free the slaves, was vandalized this week.

Tucker Carlson has more.



UAW bosses questioned on spending on shotgun, designer purses

Not surprisingly outside of Detroit this corruption story is getting little traction because of inherent media bias.

A shotgun?

From the Detroit News:
Federal agents probing a $4.5 million corruption scandal are investigating questionable spending by more leaders of the United Auto Workers, including pricey designer purses and a $2,180 shotgun bought with union training center funds, The Detroit News has learned.

The investigation has entangled current and former top UAW officials, including union Vice President Norwood Jewell, who received the shotgun as a birthday present in 2015 after the firearm was purchased with funds earmarked for blue-collar workers, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

The purchase is part of a broader pattern of personal spending by some board members at the UAW-Chrysler National Training Center, multiple sources told The News. The UAW said that Jewell didn’t know the shotgun was purchased with training center money.

Thursday, August 17, 2017

Chicago pastor suggests renaming Jackson Park for Jacko or Jesse

Jackson Park last fall
Bishop James Dukes, a black man who presumably is not related to white supremacist cretin David Dukes, wants the statue of George Washington at the northern end of Washington Park removed.

But that's not all, as CBS Chicago tells us.
The pastor also said President Andrew Jackson's name should be removed from nearby Jackson Park, because he also was a slave owner. He said he’s not necessarily asking the city rename the parks altogether. He suggested Washington Park could be named after former Mayor Harold Washington, and Jackson Park could be named after civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson or singer Michael Jackson.

Dukes said he’s not trying to erase history. He said black people should be able to decide who is and is not honored in their communities.
What a load of crap piled upon more crap. First of all, neighborhoods change and the area surrounding Washington and Jackson Park used to be as white as Mount Greenwood on the Southwest Side is now. And while the white, Asian, and Hispanic populations of Chicago are increasing, the African-American population of America's third-largest city is falling fast.

George Washington, not Harold Washington, is the Father of Our Country. When he died he freed his slaves.

As for Jackson, the first Democratic president--did you know that?--was the hero of the battle of the New Orleans who also was the first president who came from humble roots. Yes, Old Hickory was a slave owner. As for Jesse Jackson, the race hustler is a shakedown artist who is the patriarch of a family of losers--his half-brother Noah Robinson is serving a life sentence of extortion, racketeering, and murder. His son, former congressman Jesse Jr, is an ex-con, as is Junior's estranged wife, ex-Chicago alderman Sandi.

Michael Jackson? Really? No, really?!? The Gary, Indiana-born "Jacko" was a serial child molester.

We've fallen far as a people.



Video after Barcelona terror attack

There has been, according to authorities, a likely terrorist attack when a van killed at least two people in an area of Barcelona, Spain that is popular with tourists.

RTVE has video:

Alderman: Lincoln bust vandalized on Chicago's South Side

So it begins. Chicago Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th)  reports that an 81-year-old bust of Abraham Lincoln in the West Englewood neighborhood on the South Side was vandalized. Lopez doesn't say when this criminality occurred.



Removing statues of Robert E. Lee can easily lead to razing George Washington statues. President Trump is right. Sure, Washington was the Father of our Country, but he also owned slaves. Yes, Lincoln led the Union during the Civil War and he despised slavery, but his opinion on blacks for most of his life was arguably racist.

This week the Lincoln Memorial in Washington was vandalized with red spray paint and this message: "Fuck law."

Where does it end?

Chopper in Charlottesville crash was en route to support governor's motorcade, had prior mechanical problems

Blue Lives Matter flag in Chicago
Did you see some of these headlines about the Charlottesville tragedy?
As you know, a man who has shown sympathies to Nazism, James Alex Fields, Jr., has been arrested for killing a woman, Heather Heyer, when he allegedly rammed a group of protesters with his Dodge Challenger. Nineteen others were injured.

What about the other two deaths? A couple hours after the homicide in Charlottesville a helicopter crashed, killing two pilots with the Virginia State Police. Was their deaths, which occurred over three hours after Heyer's killing, directly tied to the rally?

From WDBJ-TV:
The National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement on Monday that the purpose of the flight of the chopper was to provide a continuous video feed of activities on the ground. This was accomplished with multiple helicopters on Saturday, the day of the rally in Charlottesville.

The helicopter in the accident was a Bell 407 that was manufactured in 2000.

Officials say it departed Charlottesville airport around 3:54 p.m. and was over the downtown area by 4:04 p.m. and was engaged in mission-related activities there until 4:42 p.m. They then departed the area to provide support for a motorcade carrying Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe.
Ah, at that point the cops were providing security coverage for McAuliffe.

Now, let's say there was a flood instead of a racist rally in Charlottesville. Would the media blame the pilots' tragic death on the flood? Maybe.

Let's say instead McAuliffe was in Charlottesville to dedicate a new bridge. Would the media blame the bridge?

On Tuesday it was reported that the chopper in the crash was severely damaged in 2010 during an emergency landing. The National Transportation Safety found that "the improper repair of an engine component by a repair facility" was the cause of that first incident.

Nazis and KKK members are scum. But hey there, mainstream media members--don't use them to distort the news.

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Will the left demand blowing up Mount Rushmore?

Blogger with Little Marathon Pundit at Mount Rushmore
Why stop at tearing down statues of Confederate generals, leftist radicals are surely wondering. Raze statues of Founding Fathers and presidents who owned slaves, they'll demand soon, if they haven't already. Oh, wait, they have, at least in the case of the primary author of the Declaration of Independence.

And when the left-wingers are done with those stautes--and streets such as Washington Boulevard in Chicago and parks such as Jackson Square in New Orleans are renamed for Bill Ayers and Assata Skakur, "Let's blow up Mount Rushmore," they will cry out!

Two slaveholders, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, a suspected white supremacist, Theodore Roosevelt, and.Abraham Lincoln, a onetime racist, are carved into the mountain.

Did Amerigo Vespucci--remember, the full name of our nation is the United States of America--own slaves? If so should we pick a new name?

Tucker Carlson: If we erase the past, prepare for the consequences

Tucker Carlson raised some great points in his show last night, based on President Donald Trump's remark in his Trump Tower press conference, "Are statues of slave owners George Washington and Thomas Jefferson coming down next?"

Possibly. Two years ago Ashleigh Banfield mused on air about the possibility of razing the Jefferson Memorial. Last year hundreds of leftists called for the removal of a Theodore Roosevelt statue inside the American Natural History Museum because they say he was a racist.

Many of the Founding Fathers were slaveholders. Does that make the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, and the Bill of Rights illegetimate?

Some leftists, Carlson says here, claim hate speech, whatever that may be, should not be protected. The point of course of freedom of speech is to protect unpopular speech.

But hate speech to them, in my opinion, is speech that leftists don't agree with.


Tucker delivered a tour de force last night.





Gingrich: Elite media, left-wing Dems represent a big lie

Most of the political violence in the United States this year has come from the left, Newt Gingrich tells Sean Hannity here.



Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Leftist Chicago alderman running for guv picks mayor of tiny decaying town as his running mate

Downtown Cairo in 2008
Yes, I haven't been there for nine years but I have no reason believe that Cairo, Illinois hasn't gotten worse. Today Chicago alderman and leftist Democrat Ameya Pawar, who is running for governor, chose Cairo's mayor, Tyrone Coleman, to be his running mate.

Calling Cairo a mini-Detroit is an insult to Detroit--I've been to both towns. Parts of Detroit are on the rebound, Cairo's destiny is rubble, it will be a Pompeii without the volcanic eruption.

And what does Pawar think that Coleman brings to the table for his ticket? Cairo has just 2,800 residents. Over 12 million people live in Illinois.

Oh, here is one of my posts on the little town located where the Ohio and Mississippi rivers meet: Cairo, Illinois--Slum Town.

Related post:

Cairo IL: Housing bureaucrats live well while residents suffer in "third world" conditions

Josh Thompson video of "Way Out Here," filmed in Cairo, Illinois

Taxwinkle's soda tax now under attack from Illinois Liquor Commission

Toni "Taxwinkle" Preckwinkle's hated soda tax is under attack from a surprising source, the Illinois Liquor Commission. Last week news broke that the federal government may withhold $87 in funds because of the way Crook County handles refunds on the tax when food stamps are used to purchase sugary drinks.

Let's review: The people of Cook County detest the tax and the state and federal governments have problems with it. You know, it's pretty clear that Taxwinkle's pop tax is a wretched idea, although it's the predictable result of nearly five decades of Democratic control in the county.

From Crain's Chicago Business (paid subscription required):
Cook County is in hot water with yet another government agency over its pop tax, this time the Illinois Liquor Control Commission.

In a letter to Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, the commission wrote that even though the tax on sweetened beverages excludes alcohol, many of the wholesalers to which it applies distribute both kinds of products and therefore have to deal with the tax complications of the county's new levy. As a result, it "may lead to practices that violate the Illinois Liquor Control Act."

"ILCC is concerned that the unintended consequences of the refund and credit procedure for the sweetened beverage tax would result in ongoing, continuous violations of existing law," commission Executive Director Donovan Borvan wrote. Other difficulties he cited include "extreme costs of enforcement and audit, and the potential for mandatory denial of deliveries to retailers."
There is a group that loves the sweetened beverage tax-retailers in located just outside of Cook County.


Monday, August 14, 2017

Chiraq:10 killed and at least 33 wounded over weekend

While news of the ramming death of a counterprotester woman at a Charlottesville, Virginia white supremacist rally dominated the news, the people of Chicago continued to slaughter each other.

Nine people were shot to death and at least 33 others were wounded over the weekend. Also, there was a stabbing death.

The shooting deaths occurred on the South and West sides, and among them a double murder stands out. Two men were gunned down while walking up the stairs of a church in Austin. That West Side neighborhood is Chicago's homicide capital.

Sunday, August 13, 2017

Saturday, August 12, 2017

Modern English: I Melt With You

Nuclear war, because of the missile rattling of that fat brat misruling North Korea, Kim Jong Un, is a real threat in America for the first time since the west won the Cold War.

Here's a Cold War nuclear war song from Modern English, "I Melt With You."



Friday, August 11, 2017

(Photo) Soda taxed in Crook County at 42 percent

Mrs. Marathon Pundit was shopping at the Dollar Tree today. While strolling the aisles she came across this display of AriZona Iced Tea, which was, wait for it, selling for one dollar.

But after the penny-per-ounce Cook County sugary drink tax is added, that $1 bottle becomes a $1.42 bottle of iced tea. That's a 42 percent rate. Oh, that doesn't include the nearly ten percent sales tax.

Nearly five decades of Democratic misrule in Crook County is showing bearing its predictable fruit. Cook County Board President Toni "Taxwkinkle" Preckwinkle needs to be banished from public life along with the supervisors--all Democrats--who voted for the hated soda tax.



Trump on Twitter says USA "locked and loaded" on North Korea

This is language the North Koreans will understand:
"Military solutions are now fully in place,locked and loaded,should North Korea act unwisely. Hopefully Kim Jong Un will find another path!"

Thursday, August 10, 2017

Taxwinkle's soda tax could cost Illinois $87 million in food stamp funds

If it was a Republican who rammed the hugely unpopular soda tax down the throats of Crook County residents you'd see liberals like Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the establishment media howling as if Donald Trump was re-elected. Especially since food stamps for the 900,000 county residents who receive them might be in jeopardy. The "starving kids" of the Chicago area would be the lead story on CNN and MSNBC for days.

Cue the somber music. Preferably something from Sarah McLachlan.

But Cook County hasn't had a Republican president leading the board of supervisors in 50 years. And the current one is a leftist Democrat, Toni "Taxwinkle" Preckwinkle.

From WGN-TV:
The federal government is threatening to withhold about $87 million in food stamp funds from the state of Illinois if Cook County doesn’t alter the manner in which the penny-an-ounce tax on sweetened beverages has been implemented, officials said Thursday.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is objecting to how the tax is applied to purchases using food stamps, known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. It says the county must take "immediate steps" to become compliant, adding no taxes can be collected until the problem is solved.

Cook County officials told retailers that purchases made with food stamp benefits are exempt from the soda tax under federal law. However, it allows retailers to tax those purchases and provide refunds as a workaround for stores that haven;t been able to properly update their point-of-sale systems.

The Agriculture Department on Monday warned the Illinois Department of Human Services in a letter that the refund system violates federal law and money could be withheld.
The sugary drink tax was passed in November, Preckwinkle cast the tie-breaking vote. No Republican voted for it. And the county was warned by the feds last month that is was non-compliant. To be fair, soda should not be covered, in my opinion at least, by food stamps. Remember--the "N" in SNAP stands for nutrition.

But let's not forget, this tax is "for the kids." It has nothing to do with revenue.


(PragerU Video) College Made Me A Conservative

Jay Stephens, who put herself into tens-of-thousands of dollars of debt to finance her education, which is reality was a failed attempt by leftist professors to indoctrinate her.

After graduating with a useless degree she still managed to get a job--where she learned how the real world works.

Sadly, many of her former stoner pals from college are working in politics.


Simple reason why the Toyota-Mazda plant won't be in Illinois

1997 Toyota Celica
Illinois is among eleven states reportedly under consideration for a massive Toyota-Mazda plant that will employ 4,000 people.

Here's that rundown, courtesy of the Dallas Morning News:
Besides Texas — Toyota’s new North American headquarters — other states on the companies' shortlist are Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina, The [Wall Street] Journal reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the potential investment. Those sources also said the manufacturing facility would require at least 1,000 acres of land.
Except for Illinois, these states have one thing in common--they are right-to-work states, meaning "closed shop" union workplaces are banned.

There are no fully-unionized foreign automobile plants in the United States. There was one, a Mitsubishi factory in Normal, Illinois--the United Auto Workers were put in place because the facility was originally a joint venture between Mitsubishi and Chrysler. It closed in 2015.

There are 28 right-to-work states--that number is growing. Every state that borders Illinois--as well as Michigan--are right-to-work places.

Illinois represents the past. And the Toyota-Mazda plant won't be in Illinois.

You heard it here first.

As if forced-unionization wasn't enough, Illinois has other serious drawbacks such as high personal and corporate income tax rates--some states don't even have state income taxes--as well as runaway pension debt, topped off by a dysfunctional state government exemplified by Boss Michael Madigan of Chicago, the chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party and the longest serving state House speaker in history.

Wednesday, August 09, 2017

(PragerU Video) The War On Cars

The left hates cars, particularly individual ownership of internal combustion engine cars. As a car owner, I can drive anywhere at anytime I want--as long as there is a road. You can't do that with airplanes, trains, or buses. And automobile-free zones are beginning to pop up in left-wing cities such as Seattle.

 I drove all over the north woods last month. There is no bus route for such a trip.

As for fully-electric cars, they are beyond affordability for most families, they take hours to charge--you can't go anywhere at anytime, and they are hard on the environment. The rare earth minerals needed for those cars batteries are mined--and a lot of energy is used to do so. And disposing of these batteries presents a toxic risk.

In this PragerU video, Lauren Fix, "The Car Coach," explains.