The Presidents Song: George Washington to Donald Trump

Independence Day will be here soon. There is no better way to celebrate than by singing "The President's Song."

They're all here--from George Washington to Donald J. Trump.

Liberal meltdown over Justice Kennedy retiring

"Get out of my behind," Whoopi Goldberg remarked about the retirement of US Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, "get out of my vagina."

My friends, the left has gone completely bonkers.

Mark Dice: Grilling Out is "Sexist" Say Feminists!

Fourth of July is a time for family gatherings and barbecuing.

But barbecuing is sexist, feminists argue.

Yes, the Democrats are leftists

Welcome to the out-of-the-closet socialist era for the party founded by Andrew Jackson.

Oh, 23 percent of millennials view mass murder Joseph Stalin as a hero.

From National Review:

The Democratic love of socialism was for many years the love that dared not speak its name. No more. Now the party is figuratively jumping on Oprah’s couch shouting its love of socialism. You’d have to plug your ears not to hear it.

Socialist Bernie Sanders is unquestionably the spiritual leader of the Democratic party, which is radicalizing itself in his image, and on the strength of her blowout Democratic-primary win over liberal incumbent Joe Crowley in the party-ruled NY-14 congressional district, soon-to-be-congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is now one of the most prominent faces in the Democratic party. A poll last fall put support for socialism at 44 percent among Millennials, and even more disturbingly, 23 percent of this group agreed that Joseph Stalin is a "hero." Socialized medicine, i.e., Medicare for all, is the hottest issue on the Left (unless you count hating Trump as an "issue").

In short, Democrats are who we thought they were. They’re just losing their inhibitions about it. As the woke-youth site Vox puts it, “Maybe Democrats should stop being afraid of the left” because "Ocasio-Cortez’s victory is a big sign that Democrats can run on socialist ideas and win." Talk of revolution flows naturally. After Justice Kennedy announced his retirement, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews said, "I tell you, the Democratic base is wired now for a revolt."

Trump administration bringing balance to CFPB

One of the most egregious overreaches of the Obama era was the anti-growth and meddlesome Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It was a creation of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), that alone makes the CFPB toxic for the economy. The first head of the agency was Richard Cordray, a megalomaniac, who not surprisingly ran CFBP as if he was a dictator.

The Trump White House is working to rectify this mess.

From Red State:

Cordray even tried to handpick his own successor despite a transfer of power resulting from the 2016 election. Instead, President Donald J. Trump appointed Mick Mulvaney as the new acting director of the CFPB. Mulvaney pledged balance and fairness as the Bureau’s new head. “We don’t just work for the government, we work for the people, “Mulvaney wrote in a memo to his staff, “And that means everyone: those who use credit cards and those who provide those cards; those who take loans and those who make them; those who buy cars and this who sell them. All of those people are part of what makes this country great. And all of them deserve to be treated fairly by their government. There is a reason that lady justice wears a blindfold and carries a balance, along with her sword.“

Mulvaney has delivered on his promise of fairness. Under his leadership, the CFPB has been reconstructed into a fair, even-keeled government organization designed to protect consumers without deliberately trying to damage private companies.

Now begins yet another new chapter for the CFPB. President Trump has said he will nominate Kathy Kraninger to replace Mulvaney as the Bureau’s permanent director. As Mulvaney winds down his leadership of the CFPB, he ought to hand off to Kraninger a clean slate by closing the books on lingering or outstanding investigations, complaints, or lawsuits. For example, in his memo, Mulvaney specifically warned against the negative economic impacts of multi-year Civil Investigative Demands.

Many investigations have gone on for years. The companies being investigated have invested tens of millions of dollars, sometimes hundreds of millions, in compliance and risk infrastructure. They have invested in innovative technologies to help more consumers. These companies should not sit endlessly in the CFPB penalty box after having improved standards since the financial crisis. These were never intended to be open-ended investigations. Mulvaney should conclude these cases, assess fines or other penalties where appropriate, and let them move on.

Meanwhile, Democrats in the US Senate have vowed to obstruct Kraninger's appointment.

Dems, it's time to move on. The Republicans won and you lost.

Trump-Putin summit coming next month

"We only make peace with our enemies. That's why it's called making peace."
Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones.

From Reuters:

U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet on July 16 in Helsinki, the Kremlin and the White House said on Thursday, a first official summit that will be closely watched by nervous U.S. allies in Europe and critics of Russia in America.

The two countries announced the details simultaneously a day after striking a deal on holding the meeting following a visit to Moscow on Wednesday by U.S. national security adviser John Bolton. "The two leaders will discuss relations between the United States and Russia and a range of national security issues,” the White House said in a statement.

Trump and Putin have met twice before on the sidelines of international gatherings.

Mark Dice: What The Media Really Thinks of You

In a rarity, Mark Dice does not appear in one of his videos. Instead, we get a compilation of insults, most of them are very recent, of the media and entertainment industry people insulting supporters of President Donald J. Trump.

Socialist defeats Dem congressional big shot in NY primary

The defeated congressman was considered to be a possible successor to Nancy Pelosi. The shift to the far left continues for the Democratic Party.

From the New York Post:

Longtime lawmaker and the head of the Queens Democratic machine, Rep. Joe Crowley, lost his bid for re-election in a stunning upset to 28-year-old political newcomer and liberal activist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Ocasio-Cortez, who identifies as a Democratic socialist, led Crowley by 15 percent — 57 percent to his 42 percent — with 78 percent of the 14th Congressional District’s precincts reporting.

Both the Associated Press and New York 1 project that Ocasio-Cortez has an insurmountable lead.

Crowley’s defeat is a political earthquake in New York City politics where political machines dominate low-turnout elections and incumbents often go unchallenged.

Ocasio-Cortez favors government-run health care, which leftists euphemistically call "single-payer," she supports a federal guarantee of a job, something the Soviet Union offered, and she wants to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)>

Democrats, this is your party. If you don't like that, there is room on the Trump Train.

Free speech, taxpayers score big win in Janus decision--unions lose

Today's decision in the Janus case is the best political news to come out of Illinois in my lifetime.

Mark Janus, a state of Illinois worker, is not a member of the AFSCME union, but still was forced to pay dues to them. He objected to that and the left-wing political message it fosters.

He sued and today he won.

From Fox News:

In a major legal and political defeat for big labor, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Wednesday that state government workers – whether they join the union or not – cannot be forced to pay so-called "fair share" fees to support collective bargaining and other union activities.

The conservative majority said a union's contract negotiations over pay and benefits were inextricably linked with its broader political activities, and concluded workers had a limited constitutional right not to underwrite such "speech."

“This procedure violates the First Amendment and cannot continue,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the majority opinion. “Neither an agency fee nor any other payment to the union may be deducted from a nonmember’s wages, nor may any other attempt be made to collect such a payment, unless the employee affirmatively consents to pay.”

While the current case applies only to public sector employees, the political and financial stakes are potentially huge for the broader American labor union movement, which had been sounding the alarm about the legal fight.

Public-sector unions in essence through their political actions is government lobbying for more government, which meant until today, more public-sector union members.

This is fantastic news.

(PragerU) American Media, Soviet Tactics

Mrs. Marathon Pundit and the other people living in the Evil Empire, also known as the Soviet Union, knew that Pravda---Russian for "truth"--was feeding them lies.

But as Project Veritas' James Veritas points out in this PragerU video, the left-wing New York Times and Washington Post feeds us news with a left-wing bias. And many readers don't know it.

Meddlesome priest Pfleger plans to block entire Dan Ryan Expressway in gun protest

Dan Ryan Expressway

You know what, Mike? I think people in Chicago already are aware of out-of-control violent crime there.

Let's hope the Chicago Police arrest and jail every single one of these disruptors. And when they go to court, I pray that the judge throws the book at them.

Fortunately for myself, I'll be in a red state next Saturday.

From the Chicago Sun-Times

The Rev. Mike Pfleger plans to shut down the Dan Ryan Expressway on the morning of July 7 to bring attention to gun violence.

“Nothing else is working right now, so I think we have to go back to the playbook of the civil rights movement,” Pfleger said Monday morning, several hours after he posted a message on Facebook calling for people to join him.

On July 7 at 10 a.m., Pfleger plans to lead a group down the Dan Ryan’s northbound entrance ramp at 79th Street and walk about a mile and a half before exiting at the Marquette Road/67th Street exit ramp.

Pfleger said several people in positions of power, he wouldn’t say who, have tried to dissuade him from marching down the highway — to no avail.

The leftist cleric is a hypocrite, he travels with armed bodyguards.

Big SCOTUS win for Trump as his travel ban is upheld

The president scored a big victory this morning.

From Fox News:

The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld President Trump’s controversial travel ban affecting several mostly Muslim countries, offering a limited endorsement of the president’s executive authority on immigration in one of the hardest-fought battles of this term.

The 5-4 ruling marks the first major high court decision on a Trump administration policy. It upholds the selective travel restrictions, which critics called a discriminatory “Muslim ban” but the administration argued was needed for security reasons.

Trump, reacting to the decision on Twitter, wrote: "SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS TRUMP TRAVEL BAN. Wow!"

SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS TRUMP TRAVEL BAN. Wow!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2018

Review: Evil In Disguise: Simon Pack Novel # 4

A few days ago I completed reading Evil In Disguise, the fourth Simon Pack novel by John M. Vermillion, and it's a work that I thoroughly enjoyed.

And just who is Simon Pack? A former Marine general, a onetime superintendent at West Point, and a one-term governor, by choice, of Montana. This is the fourth Pack novel by Vermillion, and it stands alone, which means that you don't have to read the other three first.

Although I may reach out to those books now.

What else about Pack? "Trouble found him or he found it," Vermillion, a West Point grad and a retired infantry colonel. says of his lead character.

An Amtrak accident in Idaho and a botched black ops action in Iraq, the second one happened years earlier, sets the plot in motion. From that last one comes a figure from Pack's past, Blaise Paschal, not the 17th-century mathematician with a similar name, but a calculating CIA-trained killer whose skills in disguise border on shape-shifting.

Tom Clancy's works came to mind as I paged through Evil In Disguise. Like Clancy's Jack Ryan, Pack has a stable of friends he can rely on regardless of how gets in trouble, they include his successor as governor, James Dahl, former Secretary of Defense Wilkie Buffer, Sheriff Joe Mollison, and his sidekick, Tetu Palaita, a mountain of a Samoan who calls Pack his "Matai," that is, chief. Pack has a girlfriend, Keeley Eliopoulous. Romance was never Clancy's long suit---Vermillion is much better at it here.

While Pack is a military man--but he uses his knowledge of the seven deadly sins as the basis of his strategy to confront Paschal.

As for the villain, he grew up in a trailer park that he called, The Rathole. Like Pack, he's a multi-dimensional character, one of his credos comes from Carmen Cozza, a longtime Yale football coach who died a few months ago. And I was impressed enough by this maxim to share it my boss, who read it word for word at our weekly sales meeting ten days ago.

If you are poor, WORK. If you are rich, WORK. If you are burdened with seemingly unfair responsibilities, WORK.

If  you are happy, continue to work. Idleness gives room for doubts and fears. If sorrow overwhelms you and loved ones seem not true, WORK. If disappointments come, WORK.

If faith falters and reason fails, just WORK. When dreams are shattered and hope seems dead--WORK. WORK as if you life were in peril, it really is.

No matter what ails; you, WORK. WORK faithfully, and WORK with faith. WORK IS THE GREATEST MATERIAL REMEDY AVAILABLE. WORK will cure both mental and physical difficulties.

Here's something else I like about Pack. He believes that Victor Davis Hanson, a writer I admire, is "one of the country's great men of letters."

Simon Pack is the type of person we need as governor of Illinois. But my corrupt Prairie State doesn't deserve an individual of his caliber.

Evil In Disguise is available at Amazon.com.

Chiraq: 3 dead and at least 36 wounded over weekend

West Pullman

Guns were a-blazing on the final full weekend of June in Chicago. Three people were murdered and at least 36 others were wounded. 

The three fatalities happened all on the South Side, one each in Bronzeville, Englewood, and West Pullman. 

From Da Tech Guy, Sarah Huckabee Sanders kicked out of a restaurant: Can’t we all just get along?

Leftists are intolerant, as I writ at Da Tech Guy, Sarah Huckabee Sanders kicked out of a restaurant: Can’t we all just get along?

Ray Davies - Americana

Here is the legendary Ray Davies, backed by the Jayhawks, singing the title track from his essential Americana album.

CNN panel blasts TIME over fake cover

How embarrassing is it for Time Magazine and it's phony magazine cover showing a crying Central American toddler who was not separated from her parents? So much so that a CNN panel is blasting Time.

Mark Dice: The Truth About Time Magazine Cover Story

More media bias and Trump hatred exposed.

Chicago needs to write fewer parking tickets and it needs to ban red-light cameras

Chicago's Northwest Side

So if middle class and wealthy people are more likely to be issued red-light camera tickets that would be acceptable? Perhaps Chicago should do the sensible thing and ban those accident-causing cameras? And while they are at it, the city should stop writing more tickets. When I lived in Chicago I was ticketed twice for having a "For Sale" sign on my car.

Chicago should also dump many of its parking regulations.

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Mayor Rahm Emanuel was urged Thursday to go easier on parking and vehicle ticket scofflaws after a new report showed the city’s get-tough enforcement policies were having a disproportionate impact on low-income and minority communities.

In a report appropriately called, “The Debt Spiral,” the Woodstock Institute examined 3.6 million vehicle-related tickets issued by the city in 2017.

Those tickets included: 273,000 issued by red-light cameras; 250,000 by speed cameras; 187,000 sticker violations; 175,000 tickets for expired meters; 162,000 for expired license plates or temporary registrations and 144,000 for street cleaning violations.

Results of the ZIP code-based study were not all that surprising, but troubling nevertheless.

Did you notice the number of tickets? 3.5 million. In a city of just 2.6 million and falling.

(Video) The life and times of Charles Krauthammer

One of the giants of our time has passed away, Charles Krauthammer.

Rest in peace.

Mark Dice: Twitter's Hypocrisy is Off The Charts

Twitter has two standards in regards to punishing those posting abusive content. A tough one for conservatives and a lenient one for leftists, such as in the case of the vile Peter Fonda, who Tweeted a rape fantasy about the Barron Trump, the president's 12-year-old son.

Gutfeld on Peter Fonda's anti-Trump tweets

In a series of since-deleted and apologized-for Tweets, has-been actor Peter Fonda, who doesn't have a TV show that can be cancelled, called for the president's 12-year-old son, Barron, to be locked in a cage with pedophiles. Fonda also called for Homeland Security secretary Kristjen Nielsen to be locked in a cage too, stripped naked, and whipped.

Remember, leftists are the compassionate lot, conservatives are the heartless ones, or so I have been told.

Fonda's rage has something to do with the refugee situation on the southern border.

Farage: Refugee problem may end Merkel’s run

Angela Merkel's long run as chancellor of Germany may end soon, Nigel Farage reports.

Her possible undoing? The refugee crisis there.

Mark Dice: Rachel Maddow Cries

The Democrats finally have a real issue to debate with President Trump--the separation of illegal families who are caught crossing the border. The detention centers are not concentration camps, as the left-wing media claims, but children belong with their parents, which is something mom and dad should consider when they plan to break the law.

Anyway, it looks like a solution might be coming to this problem, as House Republics debate a bill that will keep families caught at the border together.

In the meantime, Mark Dice reports on the craziness and yes, Rachel Madcow cries.

Chicago principal who invited cop-hating radical for Career Day retires

Wildwood School during a one-day strike in 2016

As I wrote earlier this month, the sex-scandal plagued Chicago Public Schools needs to be dissolved and rebuilt from scratch.

From Fox News:

A Chicago Public Schools principal suddenly retired after she outraged parents by inviting an anti-police extremist to talk to students on “Career Day.”

Mary Beth Cunat personally invited the anti-police activist, Ethan Ethos, to speak to sixth through eighth-grade students at Wildwood Elementary School. Ethos is a self-described “radical” who routinely posts violent anti-police rhetoric online.

After a Chicago police commander was shot and killed execution-style in February, Ethos posted online, “F HIM [and] HIS FAMILY.”

Ethos also posts the term “CPDK” which apparently stands for “Chicago Police Department Killer.” The extremist referred to cops as “pigs” and once posted about killing rich people.

From my post at Da Tech Guy:

Perhaps Chicago Public Schools should start over again

Huge victory for justice as extremist Southern Poverty Law Center agrees to multi-million dollar settlement

The leftist Southern Poverty Law Center is a thug organization.

From National Review:

Which brings us to today. For as of today it seems possible that the SPLC’s position may finally be taken back down to the position it should have been reduced to years ago. Perhaps after today those donors who still give money to the SPLC will realize that they are backing a disgraced and disgraceful organization, if any were unaware of and unbothered about this before.

For today it has been announced that the SPLC has been forced to pay $3.375 million to the British Muslim reformist and anti-extremism campaigner Maajid Nawaz.
Two years ago the SPLC published one of its typically poorly put-together hack jobs. It described this one grandiloquently as a “Field guide to anti-Muslim extremists.” Like their opposite numbers in the U.K. (the incorrectly titled “Hope Not Hate”), the SPLC has decided in recent years that it has the ability to judge not merely what is a correct interpretation of Islam and what is an incorrect interpretation of Islam, but also (mirabile dictu) who may criticize Islam with some legitimacy and who may not. In both cases the general sense is given off that in fact nobody can criticize any aspect of Islam legitimately without being named in a “field guide” put together by a gaggle of people who are overfunded and underinformed.

Even by its own standards the SPLC’s 2016 report was more than usually sloppy. For among the many other people they incorrectly labeled “anti-Muslim extremists,” the SPLC listed Maajid Nawaz and Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Which, given that Ayaan was born a Muslim and Maajid still is a Muslim, is really the sort of thing would give any sensible person pause. Or, to put it another way, how many more black people do the white far-leftists at the SPLC have to target before having to put themselves on one of their piss-poor “field guides”?

Anyhow — Nawaz very sensibly sued. Not just to clear his name, but also to make up for the fact that in the wake of the SPLC’s designation, Nawaz’s think tank (the counter-extremism organization Quilliam) found its fundraising efforts to be seriously affected. Of course they would be. Because even two years ago there were still people who took the views of the SPLC seriously. A “designation” by the SPLC that a Muslim reformer is in fact, secretly or otherwise, an “anti-Muslim extremist” is the sort of thing that might scare away all but the most robust and rigorous foundations and individuals from supporting said outfit. The SPLC’s actions were also a serious warning note sounded against any other Muslims keen to get into the realm of counter-extremism. After all, now they must know that if they do dedicate their lives and careers to the cause of battling the extremists in their faith, then they not only face the potential retributions of the jihadists — as Nawaz has done — but the anathematizing and target-selection practices of the SPLC.

BREAKING: @splcenter Admits It Was Wrong, Apologizes to @QuilliamOrg & @MaajidNawaz for its Field Guide to Anti-Muslim Extremists, and Agrees to Pay $3.375 Million Settlementhttps://t.co/SGVR33GQMo
Join our civil society movement against extremismhttps://t.co/qSnaEsRJzN pic.twitter.com/h1XtVF8fUs

— Maajid - (Mājid) [maːʤɪd] ماجد (@MaajidNawaz) June 18, 2018

(Bloody Chicago) Violent Father’s Day Weekend in Chicago, 54 Shot, 9 Killed

Father's Day weekend brought more violence to Chicago. Nine people were shot to death and an additional 54 others were wounded.

The intrepid Victor Maggio of Bloody Chicago hit the streets again, not only covering the bloodshed, but he calls out Chicago Public Schools for looking the other way as students were sexually abused.

Warning: Strong language.

(PragerU) What Is Intersectionality?

Ben Shapiro talks about victim status and how much of a victim you are, not the validity of your thoughts, brings status to what you think.

At the bottom of the leftists' pile in this weak new world?

Straight white miles.

Mark Dice: Their New 'Evidence' of Collusion is a Joke

The anti-Trump media, led of course by CNN, can't let go of the so-called collusion story about President Trump and Russia.

Mark Dice dissects the latest canard--and also looks as some Father's Day attacks on masculinity.

From Da Tech Guy, Stormy Daniels weather in Chicago

Dark clouds came to town last week. From my post at Da Tech Guy: Stormy Daniels weather in Chicago.

XTC: Grass

Whenever summer arrives I think of XTC's masterpiece album, Skylarking.

Here's a Colin Moulding penned song about the outdoors, "Grass."




From my post at Da Tech Guy:

(Review) XTC: This Is Pop

Bill Clinton to "Today Show": I don't owe Lewinsky an apology

Hello Bill Clinton: Please go away. Signed, everyone.

Cobain artifacts, including couch I am sitting on, destroyed in Aberdeen WA fire

Blogger in 2016

Aberdeen, Washington is a miniature Flint, Michigan. Or a tiny Detroit. The only thing it has going for it is that it's the hometown of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain.

But part of Cobain's past, including the couch I am sitting on here, is gone.

From the Seattle Times:

And history matters here in this gritty town still reeling from the collapse of the logging industry, and where working-class families have lived for generations.

The fire Saturday gutted the Aberdeen Armory Building, dedicated in 1922 and touted as “a source of civic pride and activity.”

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, according to Aberdeen Fire Chief Tom Hubbard.

The two-story structure housed the Aberdeen Museum of History, a senior center and low-income assistance offices.

Near the entrance of the museum was the Cobain exhibit. That couch is where he slept every night for a few months in the 1980s. The sofa was an improvement for Cobain--he was previously was homeless.

Related post:

(Photos) Come As You Are: Kurt Cobain's Aberdeen

Mark Dice: Not Father's Day Too

Yes, Father's Day is under attack by leftists too, because, Mark Dice tells us, it is heteronormative.

Bill Maher wants a recession if it hurts Trump

Leftist TV host Bill Maher wants an economic downturn--and the pain it brings--if it damages President Donald J. Trump.

"So please, bring on the recession. Sorry if that hurts people, but it's either root for a recession or you lose your democracy."

But remember, liberals care for the little guy.

“Viva le Resistance" text sent by lead FBI attorney in Mueller Russia witch hunt

The Deep State needs to be drowned in the swamp.

Then the swamp needs to be drained.

From the Daily Caller:

An FBI attorney who worked on the special counsel's Russia investigation until earlier this year sent anti-Trump text messages to a colleague, including one exclaiming: "Viva le Resistance."

The attorney’s comments are revealed in a Justice Department inspector general's report released on Thursday.

The lawyer is not identified, but he worked on the Hillary Clinton email investigation and was the FBI's lead attorney on the investigation into Russian election interference. He was assigned to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation soon after it began in May 2017 and left in late February of this year after some of his private messages were shared with the special counsel.

The inspector general's report focuses on instant messages that the attorney exchanged with a colleague about the Clinton and Russia probes.

DOJ IG Report: Comey broke FBI procedures, overstepped his authority

President Donald J. Trump began to drain the swamp last year when he fired FBI director James Comey.

But the president needs to keep going.

IG reports slams swamp creature Comey

James Comey is just another swamp rat.

From Bloomberg:

Former FBI Director James Comey “deviated” from FBI and Justice Department procedures in handling the probe into Hillary Clinton, damaging the law enforcement agencies’ image of impartiality even though he wasn’t motivated by political bias, the department’s watchdog found in a highly anticipated report.

“While we did not find that these decisions were the result of political bias on Comey’s part, we nevertheless concluded that by departing so clearly and dramatically from FBI and department norms, the decisions negatively impacted the perception of the FBI and the department as fair administrators of justice,” Inspector General Michael Horowitz said in the report’s conclusions, which were obtained Thursday by Bloomberg News.

Horowitz’s report examined actions taken by top officials before the 2016 election, including the handling of the investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server when she was secretary of state. The investigation expanded to touch on an array of politically sensitive decisions by officials including Comey and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

Chicago tops list of MSN Money's 50 cities Americans are abandoning

Decades of corruption and malfeasance from the hands of the Democratic machines headed by state House Speaker for Life Michael Madigan and former Mayor Richard M. Daley are bearing their bitter fruit. People are leaving Chicago in droves. Proof? America's third-largest city--for now--tops MSN Money's tally of the 50 Cities Americans Are Abandoning.

Two other Illinois cities, Peoria and Rockford, also made the cut.

Judge blocks Deerfield IL attack on 2nd Amendment

There is some rare good news out of ILL-inois today.

From WGN-TV:

A judge ordered the village of Deerfield not to implement its planned prohibition of semi-automatic rifles today.

Village officials wrote the ban after the Parkland, Florida school massacre.

The Deerfield Village Board had unanimously approved the ordinance back in April. The ban was scheduled to take effect today, June 13.

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews claims Republicans “acting like North Koreans”

"They're beginning to act like North Koreans, dare I say," MSNBC's Chris Matthews spewed on his low-rated show while #NeverTrump Republican George Will and a leftist from McClatchy looked on. "Because they're marching in step, they're smiling when told to, applauding when told to."

Diamond & Silk go to Harlem with a question

Diamond & Silk, who posses one of the few Twitter accounts that President Donald Trump follows, travel to Harlem to interview people there with a question. "Are you winning?"

Mark Dice: Dennis Rodman Saves the World

President Trump, the man leftists would start a war, is looking like a peacemaker after meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un in Singapore while most of us slept.

There's a long road ahead--but he's gotten more accomplished in regards to North Korea in a few hours then any of his predecessors have in decades.

Things have progressed so far that even a tearful Dennis Rodman makes more sense than the talking heads on CNN.

Yes, Rodman condemns Barack Obama's air balls in North Korea as a devastated Chris Cuomo looks on.

(PragerU) Dangerous People Are Teaching Your Kids

College in North America is no longer a place to be educated and taught critical thinking. They're now leftist indoctrination centers, says Jordan Peterson, Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto.

Chiraq: 4 dead and at least 22 wounded over weekend

Back of the Yards

Despite a rainy weekend the last three days in Chicago were violent. Four people were shot to death and at least 22 others were wounded.

Of the fatalities, one occurred in Englewood, another in Back of the Yards, and a third on the border between the two.

The last killing happened in Woodlawn, in a mass shooting where five others were shot.

Each of these deadly shootings were on the South Side.

From Da Tech Guy: Little Red Riding Hood meets the Big Bad Wolfe in the swamp

Yes, the swamp needs to be drained. From my post at Da Tech Guy: Little Red Riding Hood meets the Big Bad Wolfe in the swamp.

Fats Domino: I Hear You Knocking

Largely but sadly overlooked among the earlier rockers is Fats Domino, who passed away last fall. Fats' recording career goes back to 1950--when rock and roll was simply a rhythm and blues term for sexual intercourse.It was legendary DJ Alan Freed who applied the term to what was then often called "race music."

Here's Domino in, I guess, the 1970s belting out his 1961 hit, "I Hear You Knocking," which Dave Edmunds scored a smash with his version ten years later.

Negative Nancy downplays low unemployment rates, ignores consumer confidence near 18-year high

I hope the Democrats never replace Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) as their leader in the House.

Keep up the bad work, Nancy.

Mark Dice on Hannity's sarcastic advice om following Hillary's example on evidence destruction

Robert Mueller, the special prosecutor in charge of the Russian collusion case--have you found any proof, Robert--wants to collect cellphones from witnesses, not suspects, in regards to his witchunt.

Which leads Mark Dice to report on Sean Hannity's flippant response to Mueller:

Delete all your emails, and then acid wash the emails and hard drives on your phones, then take your phones and bash them with a hammer into little itsy bitsy pieces, use BleachBit, remove the sim cards. And then take the pieces and hand it over to Robert Mueller and say, "Hillary Rodham Clinton, this is equal justice under the law."

The leftist media didn't get the joke.

Chicago Bears CEO speaks out in favor of new players-must-stand anthem rule

Earlier this week four leftist members of Congress from Illinois released to the media a letter they sent to the management of the Chicago Bears that criticized the team for supporting the new NFL policy, which is popular with fans, that requires players to stand when Our National Anthem is performed. The spoiled millionaires do have the option of remaining in the locker room while the Star Spangled Banner is played.

One of those left-wingers who signed the letter is the woman who, in theory at least, represents me in Congress, Jan Schakowsky (D-Evanston). If that name sound familiar, it's because her felon husband, Robert Creamer, spoke favorably of sending leftist goons to Donald Trump rallies to disrupt them.

Liberals don't support free speech unless it toes the leftist line.

Today the chairman of the Bears, George McCaskey, spoke out in favor of the new policy.

“We think players should stand and we encourage our players to stand,” McCaskey said “We told our players that last September and we feel the same way.”

Good for him.

Go Bears!

Tucker Carlson on the civil war brewing in California

California has always been a trendsetter in America--but let's hope the time had ended. The Tarnished State's anti-growth polices are driving out its middle class. Will California became the Brazil or Venezuela of the United States?

Mark Dice: Miss America Ruined by Feminists

Former Fox News host Gretchen Carson, a onetime Miss America, now runs the pageant. Except now it's a competition.

And she'll quickly learn that the only reason people pay attention to it was that it had a swimsuit segment.

Mark Dice takes a hilarious look at the new Miss America competition.

On this day in 2011: Marathon Pundit drives entire Ronald Reagan Trail

Henry, IL

Early in the morning on June 6, 2011 I left Marathon Pundit world headquarters in Morton Grove to drive the entire length of Illinois' Ronald Reagan Trail.

"Dutch" was born in Tampico in Whiteside County on February 6, 1911--of course that was the centennial year of Reagan's birth--and after moving around with his family all over northern Illinois, the Reagans finally settled in Dixon,

Click here for a drive through history.

(Video) Top 10 reasons NOT to move to Illinois. And yes, Chicago is on the list.

The World According to Briggs gives us the top 10 reasons not to move to Illinois. He hits the obvious buttons, crime, corruption, and of course taxes, but adds one that I've noted a few times--terribly-maintained roads.

But while Briggs rightfully condemns political malfeasance, he leaves out mentioning Speaker for Life Michael Madigan (D-Chicago). He's a one man wrecking machine.

But there's an upside. "Illinois is a great state with really, really good people," adding "their biggest problem is the people running it and Chicago."

Madigan, who is also the longtime chairman of the Democratic Party, has been misruling Illinois for over 30 years, and as you know, he's from Chicago.



To be fair, Briggs has similar videos about other states.

Four leftist members of Congress question Chicago Bears on new NFL anthem policy

It's leftist members of Congress vs. the Monsters of the Midway over the new NFL national anthem policy.

The Democrats wonder why they keep losing elections. Sure, they do better in Illinois, because of gerrymandering engineered by party boss Michael Madigan, but here's another case where leftists side with those holding a view that is despised by the majority.

And while I also hold the First Amendment dear, it does not offer blanket protection in regards to private employers.

Left out of every news report on this letter--see below--on this dopey letter to the Bears that I could find is that the majority owner of the Chicago Bears, Virginia McCaskey, supported conservative gubernatorial candidate Jeanne Ives over Republican-in-name-only Bruce Rauner in this spring's primary.

The left takes names and it remembers.

From SB Nation:

In a letter to Chicago Bears ownership, Rep. Robin Kelly (D-IL) calls for Virginia McCaskey, principle [SB Nation means "principal"} owner of the franchise, to give more clarity on how the team plans to enforce the NFL’s new anthem policy. She is the first member of Congress to ask for transparency from a team regarding the new rules.

According to a draft of the letter obtained by SB Nation, Kelly wants to know how Bears ownership voted on the policy, how they intend to enforce it, and what the team’s overall policy is on free speech, noting that teams around the league play in stadiums that are largely paid for with public funding.

“Given the investment of taxpayer dollars, the NFL and its team should be held to the highest possible public standard, especially when it comes to protecting and defending the First Amendment rights on players, employees, and fans,” Kelly states in the letter.

She mentions that the Bears’ roster is 68 percent black, that the NFL is 70 percent black, and that the team receives a large amount of support from communities of color.

But Kelly fails to mention that Bears fans hate when players refuse to stand for the anthem--or purposely ignore it. In the Bears only quality win of 2017, Bears fans booed the Pittsburgh Steelers when they entered the field after the anthem was played. "Da Bears," all standing, were on the playing field.

Also signing the letter were three other left-wing members of the Illinois congressional delegation, Danny K. Davis, Bobby Rush, and Jan Schakowsky. The latter nominally represents me in Congress. Schakowsky's husband, felon Robert Creamer, used thugs to shut down a Chicago Donald Trump rally in 2016.

Where does Schakowsky really stand on free speech?

Mark Dice: Maxine Waters Meet and Greet Didn't Go As Expected

US Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), one of the more whacked-out members of the House, had a "Meet Auntie Maxine" rally in Los Angeles.

Just 11 people showed up, Mark Dice hilariously reports.

There is hope for California.

Carpentersville IL rescinds English as its offical language

Carpentersville in 2014

Some places, such as Carpentersville, favor the balkanization of America.

Fortunately, at least for now, English remains the official language of Illinois.

A common language binds us as a people.

From Fox Chicago:

A Chicago suburb has rescinded a resolution that made English its official language.

Carpentersville's then-trustees said the 2007 measure was intended to encourage assimilation and discourage illegal immigration, The Chicago Tribune reported . Current village officials say the resolution only caused controversy.

"All we're doing tonight is righting a wrong," Trustee John O'Sullivan said before the vote to rescind the resolution. "We're righting an injustice that was clearly done by previous councils to make a point ... a very mean-spirited point that was specific to one group of people in the village."

None of the trustees who passed the original language measure remains on the Village Board. Many Spanish-speakers left the village about 40 miles (64 kilometers) northwest of Chicago in the wake of the 2007 resolution. After that, local and federal authorities cracked down on Latino gang members in the village and gradually Hispanic people began to trickle back.

In 2007, Carpentersville was approximately 40 percent Hispanic, now that number is about 50 percent.

(PragerU) Adam Carolla: Don't Make Things Worse

Watch as Adam Carolla takes on millennials and their loser attitudes.

Mark Dice: I Accept Your Challenge

Watch as Mark Dice takes on CNN's John King on whether a president prior to Donald Trump telegraphed jobs numbers before they were officially released.

From Da Tech Guy: Perhaps Chicago Public Schools should start over again

Disappointment follows failure again and again with Chicago's government-run schools. What is next? From my post at Da Tech Guy: Perhaps Chicago Public Schools should start over again.

The Band - The Weight

Arguably the first performers to create music that we now call Americana was The Band.

Ironically, four its five members were Canadian, only Levon Helm, who sings "The Weight" here, was from the USA.

This is from their Woodstock gig in 1969.

Streetcar in front of Chicago's since-razed 8th Street Theatre

Pictured below is a streetcar--what we now call light rail, in front of the Eighth Street Theatre in Chicago's South Loop.

The streetcar belongs to the Stony Island 93 line.

This photograph once belonged to my late father.

The Eighth Street Theatre was the longtime home of the WLS Barn Dance, also known as the National Barn Dance. The radio show began in 1924, predating the Grand Ole Opry. It showcased country music acts, utilizing the clear channel station's 50,000 watts to entertain people throughout much of the United States and Canada.

The Eighth Street Theatre was demolished in 1960, three years before live broadcasts of the Barn Danced ceased.

Much thanks goes to the Forgotten Chicago Facebook page for identifying the theater.

Mark Dice: The Hypocrisy of Hollywood

As I'm sure you've heard, the day after Roseanne Barr's extremely popular sitcom was cancelled, Full Frontal host Samantha Bee called Ivanka Trump a "feckless c___."

But as Mark Dice tells us, last night Bee was awarded by the Television Academy Honors for "advancing social change." What? You didn't hear about that?

That's because shortly before the event press access was blocked to this event.

Dinesh D'Souza opens up about being pardoned by Trump

Conservative writer and filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza just finished an interview about his pardon yesterday from President Trump.

On this day in 1918: Battle of Belleau Wood begins

The American Expeditionary Force played a key role in the month-long Battle of Belleau Wood in World War I, which began on this date in 1918.

Early in the battle a French colonel ordered an American Marine captain, Lloyd W. Williams, to retreat. He replied, “Retreat? Hell! We just got here.”

And they didn't. But nine days later Williams was killed in action.

Later in the battle another Marine, two-time Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. Dan Daly, urged on his man with these equally immortal words, "Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?"

As for the enemy, the Germans in that battle supposedly referred to the Marines as "Teufelshunde," that is, devil dogs.

Over in Des Plaines, Illinois, where I work, Senne Wood was renamed Belleau Woods in honor of the battle. I took the photograph of the monument, which is on the corner of Ballard and Rand, appropriately enough on Memorial Day.

Back to France.

After the Allied victory Belleau Wood was renamed "Bois de la Brigade de Marine" ("Wood of the Marine Brigade").