Marathon Pundit: April 2021

Friday, April 30, 2021

Vaccinated Joe Biden spends 30 seconds looking for face mask, only to find it in his pocket

Sleepy Joe can't find his mask. He's been vaccinated and I'm fairly certain everyone near him has been vaccinated.

Ugh.

Mark Dice: The mask madness is even worse than you thought

The worse pandemic is the mental illness of the people who live in terror of a virus, unless you are over 75 or have pre-existing conditions, that has a less than one percent fatality rate.

Thursday, April 29, 2021

Chicago two-fer: Alderman and Daley nephew indicted, so is a former alderman

Wow even in Chicago, one of the most crooked cities in America, today's news is probably unprecedented.

First, a current Chicago alderman, Patrick Daley Thompson (11th Ward) was indicted today. And he's not just any alderman as you see.

From NBC Chicago:

Chicago Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson, grandson of former Mayor Richard J. Daley and nephew of former Mayor Richard M. Daley, has been charged in a federal indictment related to a bank in the Bridgeport neighborhood where the powerful family has lived for decades.

The seven-count indictment charges Daley Thompson with allegedly filing false tax returns and lying about more than $200,000 in loans received from Washington Federal Bank for Savings, which was shut down.

One or more of the loans, according to the indictment, was allegedly never reported or fully paid. The loans were allegedly received by Daley Thompson before he was elected alderman.

That's right, he's a member of the Daley clan.

And there's more! One day! Two indictments! In separate investigations!

From WGN-TV:

Former Chicago Alderman Ricardo Munoz has been indicted on federal fraud charges. While serving as alderman of the 22nd Ward in Chicago, prosecutors allege Munoz used campaign money for personal expenses.
Prosecutors allege Munoz used the funds to pay a relative’s college tuition and other personal expenses, including jewelry, clothing, cell phones, vacations, sports tickets, and airline tickets.
Munoz allegedly obtained funds through cash withdrawals and debit card charges from the Chicago Progressive Reform Caucus (CPRC) bank account or by transferring funds from CPRC to another political fund he controlled – Citizens for Munoz (CFM) – and then on to his personal checking account, according to the indictment.

This one is rich too! The feds are accuing Munoz of stealing from a progressive group.

On average a Chicago alderman is sent to prison every 18 months. Since 1973 over thirty City Council members have spent time in the federal pokey.

Thompson and Munoz are Democrats.

Robin Roberts calls out VP Harris on Biden border crisis: “He did not lay out a concrete plan”

Even a media source that is friendly to the Democrats, ABC News, is calling out Joe Biden's failure at the southern border.

Wednesday, April 28, 2021

Chicago monuments under assault, Part 25: Robert Morris-George Washington-Haym Salomon Monument

George Washington of course was the commander of the Continental Army during the American Revolution and is justiably called the Father of our Nation.

Of course he had help. Two of those men who are usually forgotten are the finanacial heroes, Robert Morris and Haym Salomon.

The three men are memorialized by the Robert Morris-George Washington-Haym Salomon Monument in Chicago's North Loop at Heald Square--and it's one of the 41 monuments "under" review by the sneaky Chicago Monuments Project. What Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass calls "Lori Lightfoot's woke committee on problematic statuary." It's the woke mayor's response to the summer riot outside Grant Park's Christopher Columbus statue.

The Robert Morris-George Washington-Haym Salomon Monument was designed by noted sculptor Larado Taft, who died in 1936. It was completed in 1941 by three of his associates, Nellie Walker, Leonard Crunelle, and Fred Torrey.

Washington owned slaves--everyone knows that. So did Salomon and Morris. The latter man, who born in England, was a member of the Continental Congress and he was one of the few men to sign all three of these important American documents, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the United States Constitution. Morris also served as the young nation's first superintendant of finance. Later in life he was a US senator from Pennsylania.

Salomon was also foreign-born--he was native of Poland. Salomon, who also settled in Pennsylvania, was Jewish--making him the only Jew on the Chicago Monument Project's hit list.

Late in the Revolutionay War, when the British were trapped in Yorktown, Washington asked Morris for funds to move the Continental Army to finish off Cornwallis' army and end the war. Morris told Washington, whose army was flirting with mutiny, that there was no money. Washington said to Morris, "Send for Haym Salomon. He secured the funds and you know the rest of the story. About Washington yes. But not of Saloman and Morris. Both men died broke. Salomon passed away in 1784 at the age of 44. Morris lived much longer but his late years were tragic. He spent three-and-half years in a debtor's prison. He was released in 1891 after Congress passed its first bankruptcy bill.

At the base of the Robert Morris-George Washington-Haym Salomon Monument is this inscription from Washington's address to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island.

The government of United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.

To comment on the monuments "under review" please visit the Chicago Monuments Project's "Feedback page." Please be courteous but firm in your comments.

Please Tweet this post. When you do so use the #ChicagoMonuments hashtag.

Earlier posts:

Related posts of mine at Da Tech Guy

(PragerU) What Is Critical Race Theory?

James Lindsay, the founder of New Discourses, discusses the dangerous and divisive Critical Race Theory, which is being pushed by the Biden-Harris adminstration.

Elemantary schools, high schools, and colleges are teaching it.

It's called indoctrination.

"Critical Race Theory is a uniquely American invention," says in this PragerU course. "Brewed up at Harvard Law School in the ‘70s, now part of the academic and media mainstream, it is also uniquely un-American because it rejects the core tenets of the American, classically liberal, Judeo-Christian value system. It turns the bedrock American idea upside down."

3 killed and at least 12 others wounded Tuesday in Chicago

Warm weather brings forth more shootings and on an unseasonably warm Tuesday three people were shot to death--one on the South Side and two on the Southwest Side--and at least 12 others were wounded.

A couple of years ago these were the typical numbers you'd see on a weekend in the city.

Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Fully vaccinated people can unmask outdoors, CDC says

Everyone should be unmasked outdoors. The scared rabbits I see outdoors on bicycles and even running need to live without fear.

Exceptions for Trump masks are okay.

From CWB Chicago: Man charged with murder of 7-year-old was awaiting trial for other felonies

CWB Chicago, which does the reporting that the local media should be doing, is keeping track of people charged with a shooting while awaiting trial for a serious felony. So far there have been 18 of them and the most recent is a man charged in the murder of a 7-year-old-girl.

From that site:

Prosecutors on Sunday charged a suburban man in connection with the fatal shooting of 7-year-old Jaslyn Adams at a West Side McDonald’s drive-thru restaurant and trying to carjack a family from Las Vegas on the Eisenhower Expressway.

Marion Lewis had two felony juvenile cases pending — one for burglary and looting, the other for possessing a stolen motor vehicle — when he participated in the murder and other crimes this month, prosecutors said. He was previously convicted in juvenile court of a gun charge, possessing a stolen motor vehicle, criminal trespass to vehicle, burglary to auto, and attempted residential burglary as a juvenile, authorities said.

Monday, April 26, 2021

Mark Dice: The Oscars Sink To New Level of Ridiculous

Mark Dice watched the Oscars so you didn't have to.

Three shot and at least 22 wounded over weekend in Chicago

Over this past weekend there were three people fatally shot in Chicago--one in Humboldt Park in the West Side, and there were two South Side killings--one in Roseland and the other in Englewood.

And at least 22 othes were wounded during the same time period.

Police involved shootings remain at eight. Five shot to death and three wounded. For the year that is.

Sunday, April 25, 2021

From Da Tech Guy: To reign, divide. This is the goal of critical race theory

Here's my take on a toxic ideaology from Da Tech Guy: To reign, divide. This is the goal of critical race theory.

Saturday, April 24, 2021

Brian Wilson: Heroes And Villains

Here's Brian Wilson--with lots of help--perfoming, from his Smile project, "Heroes and Villains."

Tucker takes on CNN anchor Don Lemon over 'mansplaining'

Don Lemon awakens each day thankful that someone even worse than him, Brian Stelter, is employed by the Clown News Network.

Friday, April 23, 2021

Psaki grilled on if Biden is aware of 'his own role' in 'systemic racism'

Before he was Sleepy Joe--Biden was Racist Joe, it seems.

White House press secretary Jen "Circle Back" Psaki struggles with the truth here.

What is critical race theory?

Critical race theory, a better name for it would be 21st century Marxism, is a dangerous idealogy. City Journal offers an indipensible summary of it.

Here's a snippet:

Critical race theory is fast becoming America’s new institutional orthodoxy. Yet most Americans have never heard of it—and of those who have, many don’t understand it. This must change. We need to know what it is so we can know how to fight it.
To explain critical race theory, it helps to begin with a brief history of Marxism. Originally, the Marxist Left built its political program on the theory of class conflict. Karl Marx believed that the primary characteristic of industrial societies was the imbalance of power between capitalists and workers. The solution to that imbalance, according to Marx, was revolution: the workers would eventually gain consciousness of their plight, seize the means of production, overthrow the capitalist class, and usher in a new socialist society.
During the twentieth century, a number of regimes underwent Marxist-style revolutions, and each ended in disaster. Socialist governments in the Soviet Union, China, Cambodia, Cuba, and elsewhere racked up a body count of nearly 100 million people. They are remembered for gulags, show trials, executions, and mass starvations. In practice, Marx’s ideas unleashed man’s darkest brutalities.
By the mid-1960s, Marxist intellectuals in the West had begun to acknowledge these failures. They recoiled at revelations of Soviet atrocities and came to realize that workers’ revolutions would never occur in Western Europe or the United States, which had large middle classes and rapidly improving standards of living. Americans in particular had never developed a sense of class consciousness or class division. Most Americans believed in the American dream—the idea that they could transcend their origins through education, hard work, and good citizenship.

Most. But not the angry left.

Thursday, April 22, 2021

Mark Dice: The Truth About Black Lives Matter New Poster Child

Ma’Khia Bryant, a 16-year-old who was in the foster care system, attacked two people with a knife in Columbus, Ohio this two days ago. The police were called and after he told her to stop the attack, she didn't. The cop fatally shot her.

Bryant is the new hero for the far-left because she was black and the cop was white.

Mark Dice points out the hypocrisy--particularly how the national media ignores the steady stream of violence in Chicago. For instance on Sunday a seven-year-old black girl was fatally shot six times while sitting in a car in a McDonald's drive-thru lane.

Where is the outrage over that?

That girl was Jaslyn Adams.

According to Hey Jackass! there have been eight police-involved shootings this year. So far there have been over 900 others shootings.

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Chicago monuments under assault, Part 24: Chicago River plaque

The secretive Chicago Monuments Project hasn't just declared war on statues, such as ones of Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and Ulysses S. Grant. Some bronze plaques also, in the words of the Project, "warrant attention or action."

From the left and the right, the Chicago Monuments Project has received blowback on the rationale why most of these statues, reliefs, and plaques have been placed in jeopardy. Oh yes, on their website we are assured, cough-cough, in bold print no less, "No decisions have been made about the following monuments."

One of those monuments is the seemingingly innocuous plaque, unless you are woke, about the Chicago River that is bolted onto the DuSable Bridge. That bridge is named for a black man, Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, the first non-Native American to permanently reside in Chicago.

It reads:

Chicago River - This river, originally flowing eastward from the prairie homelands of the Potawatomi and other Indian tribes, into Lake Michigan, linked the waters of the Atlantic, the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes with those of the Illinois, the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico. From 1673, commerce and civilization followed this natural waterway from the seaboard to the heart of the continent. The strategic importance to early American development of the junction of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan led to the establishment here of Fort Dearborn and to the founding of the city of Chicago. - Erected in 1953 to the memory of those pioneers who plied the water route. - Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Illinois.

While I don't speak "woke," I am quite familiar with wokeness, so I'll ascertain why the permanently-aggrieved chose this plaque to possibly be sent to the scrap yard.

The first recorded Europeans to visit Chicago were Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet--whose monuments in Chicago also might be eliminated--in 1673. Jolliet immediately recognized that the portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watersheds was an ideal location for a canal, which was opened in 1848. As I've remarked before, that canal is what transformed Chicago from a frontier outpost into a major city. But the woke committee likely sees this plaque as something that promotes "narratives of white supremacy." Even though it was Native Americans who told Marquette and Jolliet about the Chicago Portage, they didn't discover it on their own.

Here's something else to chew on about white supremacy in America. I heard on a podcast recently that the early European journeys to the western hemisphere and the settlement that followed would not have been possible were it not for the Four Great Inventions of China: the movable type printing press, the compass, paper, and gunpowder. Yes, China.

No society exists in a vacuum. We build up on the accomplishments of all of them. That's a lessson you won't learn at our woke schools.

When that plaque was installed, the Chicago River was at best an afterthought to Lake Michigan. It was a heavily-polluted embarassment. Yet the Society of Colonial Wars chose to recognize its importance. The Chicago River is now much cleaner, thankfully.

To comment on the monuments "under review" please visit the Chicago Monuments Project's "Feedback page." Please be polite but firm in your comments.

Please Tweet this post. When you do so use the #ChicagoMonuments hashtag.

Earlier posts:

Related posts of mine at Da Tech Guy

Tom Cotton calls out Stacey Abrams' role in smear campaign that led to the baseless Georgia boycott

US Sen. Tom Cotton blew with whistle on Stacey Abrams, who three years after her defeat in the Georgia gubernatorial race, has never conceded.

The new Georgia election laws are, to used the leftists' terms, less restrictive than the Colorado laws. Denver is where MLB moved its All Star Game to, after pulling out of Atlanta to appease the screaming left.

Oh, they can never be appeased.

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

Chauvin guilty on all counts

Derek Chauvin has been found guilty in his trial on the death of George Floyd guilty on all counts.

The media lied to you, police officer Sicknick was not beaten by a fire extinguisher or killed by bear spray during Capitol Riot

You heard about the death of Brian Sicknick, a US Capitol police officer, shortly after the Capitol Riot. A tragedy for sure but the media lied to you about it. Sicknick was not brutally beaten by a fire extinguisher or attacked with bear spray by rioters.

He died of natural causes.

From the Daily Caller:

Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick died from natural causes after suffering two strokes following riots at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, a medical examiner in Washington, D.C. said on Monday.
According to The Washington Post, medical examiner Francisco J. Diaz said that an autopsy showed no evidence that Sicknick suffered any internal or external injuries. There was also no evidence that Sicknick, 42, had an allergic reaction to any of the chemical irritants that were dispersed during the Capitol melee.
The report undercuts some of the early claims about Sicknick’s cause of death, including an allegation that House Democrats made at President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial in February.
The New York Times reported on Jan. 8 that two unnamed law enforcement officials said Sicknick died after being hit with a fire extinguisher. House Democrats cited the report as part of its case to impeach Trump on charges that he cited an insurrection at the Capitol.

Leftist group posts bond for alleged gang member who was with Adam Toledo the night he was shot

The night 13-year-old Adam Toledo was killed in a police shooting in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood he was running around, literally it seems, with 21-year-old Ruben Roman, an alleged member of the Latin Kings gang. Roman, who has a police record, is out on bail now. Who posted it? A left-wing group, the Chicago Community Bond Fund.

From CBS Chicago:

On Monday night, he was out on bond – at home on electronic monitoring.

"We often prioritize cases that are connected to social justice movements – especially the movement to end police violence," said Keisa Reynolds, who currently leads the Chicago Community Bond Fund. The bond fund pays bonds for those who can’t afford to pay on their own.

They bonded Roman out of jail – putting up $40,000.

"We made the decision to post bond for Mr. Roman because we are aware that the city will continue to use him as a scapegoat for the killing of Adam Toledo, which was committed by the Chicago Police Department," Reynolds said.

Toledo is being charged with a probation violation, child endangermentm and reckless discharge in regards to his actions the night Toledo was killed.

In a recent Facebook post the Chicago Community Bond Fund had this to say, "CCBF stands with everyone resisting police violence and white supremacy."

Related post of mine from Da Tech Guy:

Information on the Adam Toledo killing that the mainstream media is overlooking

Monday, April 19, 2021

Five killed, including 7-year-old girl, and 22 wounded in Chicago over weekend

Despite the protest outside Mayor Lori Lightfoot's home on Friday night over the police shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo, who may have been a member of the Latin Kings street gang, violence continued over the weekend. Gang violence most horribly.

Over the weekend five people were shot to death in Chicago over the weekend, including a 7-year-old girl who was shot Sunday along with her father at a West Side McDonald's drive thru. The father was wounded and Chicago Police believe the shooting was gang-related. In what may have been a retaliatory incident, two men were shot outside a Popeye's nearby.

Over all at least 22 people were wounded over the weekend in Chicago.

Lightfoot, a woke Democrat, blamed "gun violence," not "gang violence" on Twitter for the fatal shooting of the 7-year-old.

I am heartbroken and angered that a 7-year-old child was killed this afternoon on Chicago's West Side. This unthinkable act of violence has no place here. The epidemic of gun violence cutting our children's lives short cannot go on.
— Mayor Lori Lightfoot (@chicagosmayor) April 19, 2021

Most shootings in Chicago are gang-related. This is an indisputable fact.

Sunday, April 18, 2021

From Da Tech Guy: Information on the Adam Toledo killing that the mainstream media is overlooking

If you want the truth on the Toledo shooting, click on the link: Information on the Adam Toledo killing that the mainstream media is overlooking.

Saturday, April 17, 2021

The Small Faces - Itchykoo Park

Here's a great track from an underrated--in the USA that is--band, Small Faces.

Enjoy "Itchycoo Park."

Jim Jordan tells Dr. Fauci off in explosive hearing

Watch US Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) tell off that careerist hack, Fauci!

Friday, April 16, 2021

More fake news exposed: White House says intel on Russian 'bounties' on US troops shaky

Yet even more fake news has been exposed.

Never forget--the establishment media does not want to report the news--they want to push their false narratives.

Such as the Trump-Russia collusion canard.

From AP:

The White House said Thursday that the intelligence community does not have conclusive evidence that Russian intelligence operatives encouraged the Taliban to attack American troops in Afghanistan.

The assessment, revealed Thursday as the U.S. announced a host of new sanctions on the Russian government, undermines one of the sharpest attacks Joe Biden and other Democrats leveled against former President Donald Trump during the 2020 White House race. Biden repeatedly attacked Trump on the campaign trail for not standing up to Russian President Vladimir Putin despite his administration being aware of intelligence suggesting Russian agents were offering bounties to the Taliban. But on Thursday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that after a review of those classified reports, the intelligence community determined it had only “low to moderate confidence” in their authenticity.

She said that was due in part to the ways in which the intelligence was obtained, including from interrogations of Afghan detainees. In June, The Associated Press reported that Trump White House officials were briefed on intelligence about potential bounties in 2019 and again in 2020.

Then-national security adviser Robert O’Brien said Trump himself had not been briefed on the matter because the intelligence reports “have not been verified.” U.S. military commanders at the time also said the raw intelligence did not lead them to change their force protection posture in Afghanistan.

James O'Keefe is suing Twitter for banning him, YouTube CEO admits they're screwing over YouTubers

If you are a conservative and you cross Big Tech's leftist line--you'll face trouble.

Thursday, April 15, 2021

Bloody Chicago: Justice for murdered grandson of Congressman Danny Davis

Justice moves slow sometimes. But two murderers are now locked up.

Coup d'état? Dems to propose court-packing bill

Sure, the Constitution doesn't stipulate the number of justices for the Supreme Court. But the Founding Fathers surely would be disgusted by a blatant partistan power play to expand the court only to advance their agenda. The Court has been fixed with nine members for about 150 years.

From Fox News:

Republicans recoiled Wednesday night and Thursday morning over a bill some Democrats are proposing to pack the Supreme Court, calling it an "assault" on judicial independence.
But they also predicted that the move would prove unpopular and help Republicans in the midterm elections. "Democrats are launching a full assault on the independence of the federal judiciary.

Republicans will stop them," Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., said in a tweet.
Democrats are launching a full assault on the independence of the federal judiciary. Republicans will stop them. https://t.co/k9oC3ZXqOq
— Ken Buck (@BuckForColorado) April 15, 2021
"This is such a fantastic gift to the NRSC," added Matt Whitlock, a former staffer at the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC). "And making it a bill instead of a Senate rules process means we get to get moderate House D's on the record on it too. Just a fantastic turn of events."

Such a ploy is something you'd expect from a failed socialist state such as Venezueala. Besides, if the GOP takes control of Congress in 2022 what's to prevent theme from adding even more justices?

Court packing is a resoundingly stupid--yet dangerous--idea.

Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Chicago monuments under assault, Part 23: Fort Dearborn Massacre Monument

The Fort Dearborn Massacre Monument, a bronze sculpture designed by Carl Rohl-Smith, is one of the 41 statues, plaques, and reliefs that "warrant attention or action" according to Mayor Lori Lightfoot's Chicago Monuments Project.

The statue got plenty of attention in 1999 when Chicago's Office of Public Art of the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs placed it in storage. Last summer, after a riot--oops, unrest--outside Grant Park's Christopher Columbus statue, all three of Chicago's Columbus statues were shipped off to storage too.

Click here to see the Fort Dearbon Massacre Monument.

First some history. Early in the War of 1812 Potawatomi Indians attacked soldiers and their family members about about a mile-and-a-half south of Fort Dearborn. They had just abandoned the fort, which stood where now Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive meet. The Fort Dearborn Massacre, or if you prefer, the Battle of Fort Dearborn, was a resounding victory for the Potawatomi. While to this day historians argue over who was the winner of the War of 1812--some say the British, others say the Americans, more say it was a draw--the clear losers were the Native American tribes who sided with the British.

Rohl-Smith's monument shows an Indian wielding a tomahawk about to attack a white woman, Margaret Helm, the wife of a US army officer and the stepchild of John Kinzie, Chicago's first white resident. Another Indian, Black Partridge, is trying to protect Helm.

The chances that the Fort Dearborn Massacre Monument seeing the light of day in Chicago are dismal. But what purpose is served by locking it up in a warehouse? I have an idea. The city of Chicago, which is banrkupt in all but name, should sell it. Seriously. Rohl-Smith is an accomplished artist and there has to be a museum somewhere, perhaps in the sculptor's native Denmark, that will buy it.

Proceeds of the sale should go to one of Chicago's several woefully underfunded pension plans.

Again, I'm totally serious here.

To comment on the monuments "under review" please visit the Chicago Monuments Project's "Feedback page." Please be polite but firm in your comments.

Please Tweet this post. When you do so use the #ChicagoMonuments hashtag.

Earlier posts:

Related posts of mine at Da Tech Guy

Media tries to correct police chief who called Minnesota unrest a riot

Do you remember last summer the widespread riots in America's big cities. Only the media called the "mostly peaceful protests" and "unrest" because leftists were behind them.

Then in January a mob of hooligans who were Donald Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol. The same media people labeled that "a riot."

Watch as the now-former Brooklyn Center, Minnesota police chief, Tim Gannon, call the violence that occurred after one his cops shot a young black man "a riot."

The media flacks jumped in with, "Don't do that" and "It was a protest, there was no riot."

Gannon calmly replied, "There was."

It's been years since the media reported the news. They want to push a narrative.

BLM co-founder labeled a 'fraud' after buying luxury homes

If you only watch and read the mainstream media then you probably didn't hear about the co-founder of Black Lives Matter, Patrisse Khan-Cullors, who calls herself a Marxist, buying luxury homes.

From Fox Business:

As protests broke out across the country in the name of Black Lives Matter, the group’s co-founder went on a real estate-buying binge, snagging four high-end homes for $3.2 million in the US alone, according to property records.

Patrisse Khan-Cullors, 37, also eyed property in the Bahamas at an ultra-exclusive resort where Justin Timberlake and Tiger Woods both have homes, The Post has learned. Luxury apartments and townhouses at the beachfront Albany resort outside Nassau are priced between $5 million and $20 million, according to a local agent. The self-described Marxist last month purchased a $1.4 million home on a secluded road a short drive from Malibu in Los Angeles, according to a report.

The 2,370 square-foot property features "soaring ceilings, skylights and plenty of windows" with canyon views. The Topanga Canyon homestead, which includes two houses on a quarter acre, is just one of three homes Khan-Cullors owns in the Los Angeles area, public records show.

Fox News' Outnumbered weighs in here:

Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Chicago monuments under assault, Part 22: Ulysses S. Grant

As I noted in my John A. Logan post in this series, only three people are named in Illinois' state song, named, appropriately enough, Illinois. Logan is one of them--as are two other targets of the Chicago Monuments Project, Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant. Lincoln, you know, is that Land of Lincoln guy, and Grant was the commanding general of the victorious Union army during the Civil War, which brought forth the end of slavery in the United States.

New York, Pennsylania, and Ohio produced more soldiers and sailors for the Northern armies but Illinois was the home of Lincoln and Grant when the Civil War began in 1861. Grant and Lincoln, along with Barack Obama, were the only US presidents who were residents of the Prairie State when they were elected. Ronald Reagan was born in Tampico and grew up all over northern Illinois, but he has no Chicago statues. Reagan lived briefly in Chicago as a child.

Grant's Galena home is owned by the state of Illinois and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Lincoln's Springfield home is owned by the National Park Service. I've visited both.

The statue of Grant on horseback--click here to see it--in Lincoln Park, designed by Louis Rebisso, is among the 41 monuments, statues, plaques, and reliefs that are "under review" by Mayor Lori Lightfoot's Chicago Monuments Project. It's her response to what I call the rioters' veto after a violent protest outside Grant Park's Christopher Columbus statue.

Our 18th president's life story is amazing. I heartily recommend History Channel's Grant documentary series to learn more about him. as well as Ron Chernow's biography. In just a decade Grant, a West Point graduate who had fallen on hard times, went from selling firewood on street corners to the White House. In between he prosecuted the successful Vicksburg campaign that split the Confederacy in two and a couple of years later he accepted the surrender of southern general Robert E. Lee. The Confederate States collapsed shortly afterwards.

Amazingly, the Chicago Monument praises Grant in its explanation of his inclusion in what John Kass calls "Mayor Lori Lightfoot's woke committee on problematic statuary," but ends with, "Grant's American Indian policies were well intentioned, but ultimately disastrous." His most notorious Native American measure was allowing white settlement of the Black Hills, which was in violation of a treaty with the Sioux. Lincoln's prosecution of the Dakota War in 1862 is probably why Lincoln's five statues are now in jeopardy in Chicago.

Grant had trouble managing his own finances throughout his life and was broke when he arrived in Galena in 1860. The year prior Grant freed the only slave he owned--at a time when he desperately needed money. He was the last slaveholder to serve as president. But as president Grant pursued a strong Reconstruction policy and undertook forceful actions to undermine the Ku Klux Klan

But that may not be good enough for the sneaky Chicago Monuments Project.

To comment on the monuments "under review" please visit the Chicago Monuments Project's "Feedback page." Please be courteous but firm in your comments.

Please Tweet this post. When you do so use the #ChicagoMonuments hashtag.

Earlier posts:

Related posts of mine at Da Tech Guy

Gen. Keane: China sending message to Biden admin with Taiwan incursion

A weaker America means a more dangerous world.

Currently we have a weak old man as our president.

Monday, April 12, 2021

Three killed and at least 22 wounded over weekend in Chicago

Over this past weekend there were three people shot to death in Chicago and at least 22 wounded. Included in that total are two people who were shot--one fatally--in a West Side expressway shooting.

Sunday, April 11, 2021

From Da Tech Guy: School lockdowns lead to urban carjacking spike

The lockdowns need to end. From my weekly post at Da Tech Guy: School lockdowns lead to urban carjacking spike.

Saturday, April 10, 2021

Joey Ramone - Danny Says (live)

Phil Spector's production of the Ramones album was a mixed bag. One song from that that definitely worked was "Danny Says."

Here's Joey Ramone performing it.

Cincinnati Reds minority owner says MLB commissioner 'didn't do his homework'

Rob Manfred, the commissioner of baseball, is either a coward or stupid.

Perhaps both.

Definitely the first one.

Friday, April 09, 2021

Chicago monuments under assault, Part 21: Jean Baptiste Beaubien Plaque

Born in Detroit, trader Jean Baptiste Beaubien was likely the second European-American man to settle in what is now Chicago.

An elementary school on the Northwest Side is named for him, as is a Southeast Side forest preserve and a short downtown street. Outside of the Chicago Cultural Center in the North Loop is a plaque that notes where Beaubien's home once stood. It reads:

"Jean Baptiste Beaubien - On this site, then the lake shore, Jean Baptiste Beaubien, Chicago's second civilian, in 1817, built a mansion to which he brought his bride, Josette LaFramboise. It remained their home until 1845. - Erected by Chicago's Charter Jubilee - Authenticated by Chicago Historical Society - 1937."

The plaque is on the hit list--oops, make that "under review" list--for Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot's Chicago Monument Project, which was her response to the riot outside the Christopher Columbus statue a mile-and-a-half to the south of the Beaubien plaque.

There are 41 monuments that the sneaky committee says "warrant attention." Often the Chicago Monuments Project gives no reason why certain public statues, plaques, and reliefs are in jeopardy, but not so the Beaubien plaque. "The distinction of being 'Chicago's second civilian' is dubious," you are informed at their site, "but must refer to the primacy given to John Kinzie, as it ignores the footprint of Jean Baptiste Point DuSable (before 1750-1818), whose presence in the area that was to become the city is noted by at least 1790."

Kinzie was the first recorded European American to live in Chicago but the first non-Native American resident of the city was the aforementioned DuSable, who was born in Haiti. A plaque at the site of the Kinzie mansion has also been targeted by the project.

Outside of the woke, it's hard to envision anyone else is angered by this plaque. A common sense solution would be to replace this plaque with one that says Beaubien was "Chicago's third civilian" won't work as the woke appears to be more interested in erasing history.

Two blocks north of the Beaubien plaque is the DuSable Bridge, which until recently was simply known as the Michigan Avenue Bridge. No portraits of DuSable were made during his lifetime so one can only speculate as to what he looked like. But there is a bronze bust of him near the bridge on Michigan Avenue.

To comment on the monuments "under review" please visit the Chicago Monuments Project's "Feedback page." Please be courteous but firm in your comments.

Please Tweet this post. When you do so use the #ChicagoMonuments hashtag.

Earlier posts:

Related posts of mine at Da Tech Guy

Joe Biden confuses gun control talking points again, repeatedly calls the ATF "the AFT"

Great Grandpa Joe Biden's squinting into his teleprompter brought forth more confusion.

Yesterday, in a speech where he made the incorrect claim about the US Constitution that "no amendment is absolute," he repeatedly referred to the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms at "AFT," not the ATF.

Thursday, April 08, 2021

Biden on Second Amendment: 'No amendment is absolute': 'The Five' react

Great Grandpa Biden is a dangerous man. Today, while squinting into his teleprompter, he said about the Constitution, "No amendment is absolute."

Tucker sounds off on United Airlines latest 'gender, racial' quota

Another airline has gone woke, Tucker Carlson tells us.

This time it's United Airlines.

Wednesday, April 07, 2021

Chicago monuments under assault, Part 20: A Signal of Peace

I return to my series on Mayor Lori Lightfoot's Chicago Monument Project, her response to last summer's riot outside the Grant Park Christopher Columbus statue. Oh, it's been a week since my last post in this series. Sorry, real life, car problems and work duties, intruded.

Cyrus Edwin Dallin designed today's entry, A Signal of Peace, which as you can see potrays a Plains Indian. If you go by the way of the bronze statue's title, it is of course about peace.

Who can be against peace?

In 2021 it's quite easy to be opposed. Dallin's problem, my guess, is that he was not a Native American. Which makes Dallin, who died in 1944, guilty of cultural appropriation. Odd term, that. It should be phrased as "cultural misappropriation."

Last week in a New York Post op-ed Bruce Bawer wrote, "If things continue on the current trajectory, soon we will have no real culture at all, save for the most drearily PC kind, drearier than even the worst of Socialist Realism — the Soviet Union's one acceptable genre of art and culture."

As I noted in my post on the Haymarket Monument, a Socialist Realism piece stands where the police statue once did.

In that same editorial Bawer notes that Tom Hanks' Oscar-winning performance as a gay man in Philadelphia was universally lauded. Now the expectation is that gay men can only portray gay men, trans people can only portray trans characters. It's still okay for gay people to act in heterosexual parts, of course. Hanks, coincidentally, is distantly related to Abraham Lincoln, by way of the 16th president's mother, Nancy Hanks. Lincoln's five Chicago statues are "under review" by the secretive Chicago Monuments Project.

Dallin's parents left the Church of Latter Day Saints prior to their marriage. Yet he was still hired to design the statue of the angel Moroni that stands on top of the Salt Lake Temple, the closest thing to the Vatican for the Mormon faith. Dallin was a Unitarian.

By all accounts that I could find Dallin, who grew up in Utah, had a deep respect for Native Americans. A Signal of Peace is part of a four-statue series, The Epic of the Indian.

A Signal of Peace stands, for now, in Lincoln Park quite close to the Lake Michigan shoreline. Another targeted statue of an American Indian, The Alarm, isn't too far away.

To comment on the monuments "under review" please visit the Chicago Monuments Project's "Feedback page." Please be polite but firm in your comments.

Please Tweet this post. When you do so use the #ChicagoMonuments hashtag.

Earlier posts:

Related posts of mine at Da Tech Guy