George Will on how the Democrats destroyed Illinois

Abandoned home in Dixmoor, IL

George Will is wrong on Donald Trump but he is spot-on about his home state.

Oh, public-sector unions are nothing more than an arm of the Democratic Party.

From the Washington Post:

Seated in his office here, wearing neither a necktie nor a frown, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner is remarkably relaxed for someone at the epicenter of a crisis now in its second year and with no end in sight. But, then, stress is pointless when the situation is hopeless. Besides, if you can ignore the fact that self-government is failing in the nation's fifth-most populous state, you can see real artistry in the self-dealing by the Democrats who, with veto-proof majorities in the state legislature, have reduced this state they control to insolvency.

Illinois's government, says Rauner, "is run for the benefit of its employees." Increasingly, it is run for their benefit when they retire. Pension promises, though unfunded by at least $113 billion, are one reason some government departments are not digitized at all.

What is misleadingly called the state’s constitution requires balanced budgets, of which there have been none for 25 years. This year, revenues are projected to be $32.5 billion, with spending of $38 billion. Illinois Democrats are, however, selective constitutionalists: They will die in the last ditch defending the constitution’s provision that says no government pension can be “diminished or impaired.”

The government is so thoroughly unionized (22 unions represent almost all government employees), that "I can't," Rauner says, "turn on a light switch without permission." He exaggerates, somewhat, but the process of trying to fire someone is a career, not an option.

Illinois, not surprisingly, is one of the few states losing population.

Kurtz: Media "Making the case for unfairness" in covering Trump

The self-appointed guardians of the media believe that Donald Trump is too dangerous to be president.

What of course is more dangerous is electing venal woman who has shown reckless disregard for national security and has put America up for sale by way of the Clinton Foundation slush fund.

Howard Kurtz of Fox News, formerly of the Washington Post, condemns his fellow members of the media.

From Fox News:

This is about the mainstream media’s reporters, editors and producers, whose credo is supposed to be fairness.

And now some of them are flat-out making the case for unfairness—an unprecedented approach for an unprecedented campaign.

Put aside, for the moment, the longstanding complaints about journalists being unfair to Republicans. They never treated Mitt Romney, John McCain, George W. Bush or Bob Dole like this.

Keep in mind that the media utterly misjudged Trump from the start, covering him as a joke or a sideshow or a streaking comet that would burn itself out. Many of them later confessed how wrong they had been, and that they had missed the magnitude of the anger and frustration that fueled Trump's unlikely rise.

WikiLeaks founder implies July murder victim was his DNC source, not the Russians

This story should be the lead on every news source. But that's not the way the dishonest media wants it.

From Fox News:

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange implied in an interview that a murdered Democratic National Committee staffer was the source of a trove of damaging emails the rogue website posted just days before the party's convention.

Speaking to Dutch television program Nieuswsuur Tuesday after earlier announcing a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Seth Rich's killer, Assange said the July 10 murder of Rich in Northwest Washington was an example of the risk leakers undertake.

"Whistle-blowers go to significant efforts to get us material and often very significant risks," Assange said. "As a 27-year-old, works for the DNC, was shot in the back, murdered just a few weeks ago for unknown reasons as he was walking down the street in Washington."

When the interviewer interjected that the murder may have been a robbery, Assange pushed back.

He said, "No. There’s no finding. So… I'm suggesting that our sources take risks."

Are you listening, Chicago? Detroit looking to ease complicated zoning rules

Chicago's West Side

Chicago's fifty feudal lords, collectively known as the City Council, take note. Chicago's arcane zoning laws need to be relaxed and aldermanic prerogative needs to be abolished.

Even Detroit is wising up.

From the Detroit News:

City planning officials are on the hunt for designs to revive Detroit’s neighborhood main streets while hoping to ease bureaucratic hurdles that often stand in the way.

Detroit this week is putting out a call to urban planners, architects, preservationists and designers for "Pink Zoning Detroit," an initiative that sets out to transform the city's complex land use rules and speed new development in its commercial corridors by reducing red tape.

The project, funded by a $75,000 grant through the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, will have three multidisciplinary teams put together visions for walkable, mixed-use activity in three commercial sites in Detroit. Later, the concepts will be tested against the city's zoning ordinance and building code to identify roadblocks and work with city departments and others to identify strategies for reforms.

It's hoped the process will ultimately spur regulatory change to make revitalization of the city's neighborhood main streets easier, said Maurice Cox, director of the city’s Planning and Development Department.

From my post at Da Tech Guy:

I walked its streets--the tragedy of Detroit

Related entry:

(Photos) South Works site, 24 years of Chicago failure

(Video) Howard Dean dodges question on Hillary's State dept, Clinton Foundation slush fund

And I thought Hillary Clinton turned over all of those emails on her flimsy private server from her time as secretary of state to authorities.

Patriotic group Judicial Watch found a whole bunch of emails Hillary missed from her early days as Obama's SoS. And of course they touch on State and the Clinton Foundation slush fund.

Former Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean dodged when asked about this new troubling disclosure.

Blago's prison sentence stays the same

Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich's request to have his 14 year corruption sentenced reduced failed today. The hair-brained Chicago Democrat is four years into his incarceration term, among the crimes he was convicted of was strong-arming a children's hospital and construction contractors for campaign contributions, lying to the FBI, and most notoriously, attempting to sell the US Senate seat that belonged to Barack Obama.

Blago's daughters made emotional appeals to US District Judge James Zagel, who originally sentenced him, to shorten their father's prison term, but the judge stuck to his guns. Good for him. Blagojevich should have thought of his family, as well as the people of Illinois, before he began his graft spree.

Sentences like the one Blago received might, just might, convince an Illinois politician not to give into the temptation of going crooked.

Illinois is a basket case because of Blagojevich and his incompetent predecessors, including Republican George Ryan, who also went to prison. But being a lousy governor in itself is not a criminal offense. Otherwise Pat Quinn, Blago's two-time running mate and his successor, would be in prison too.

Nine murdered in Chiraq Monday in deadliest day of 2016

Abandoned home in
North Lawndale

It was a very bloody Monday in Chicago--nine people were shot to death--which makes it the deadliest day of 2016. Two of the murders took place in the North Lawndale neighborhood on the West Side; one of those killings occurred around the corner from where a 10-year-old boy was wounded while sitting on his front porch.

Homicides in Chicago are up over 40 percent from 2016.

Related post:

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

Parents of two Benghazi victims file lawful death suit against Hillary

Besides those hideous pantsuits she wears Hillary Clinton has another suit to worry about.

From NBC News:

The parents of two Americans killed in the 2012 terrorist attacks on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi, Libya, filed a wrongful death lawsuit in federal court Monday against Hillary Clinton.

In the suit, Patricia Smith and Charles Woods, the parents of Sean Smith and Tyrone Woods, claim that Clinton's use of a private e-mail server contributed to the attacks. They also accuse her of defaming them in public statements.

Smith was an information management officer and Woods was a security officer, both stationed in Benghazi.

"The Benghazi attack was directly and proximately caused, at a minimum by defendant Clinton's 'extreme carelessness' in handling confidential and classified information," such as the location of State Department employees in Libya, the lawsuit said.

Orlando shooter's dad at Hillary campaign rally

The terrorist's dad makes his choice known. And why was he sitting so close to Clinton?

From NPR:

Among the 3,000 people Hillary Clinton drew to a rally in Florida last night was the father of the man responsible for killing 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando on June 12, according to a local news report.

A Clinton campaign official tells NPR that the rally in Kissimmee, Fla., on Monday was open to the public. NBC affiliate WPTV identified one attendee as Seddique Mateen, the father of Omar Mateen, who was killed in a shootout with police after carrying out the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

"This individual wasn't invited as a guest, and the campaign was unaware of his attendance until after the event," said the Clinton campaign official in an email exchange.

Not only was Mateen at the event, but he was positioned behind Clinton, so he was visible in photos and video of the candidate's speech. Mateen is recognizable, in part, because he did so many interviews after the nightclub attack.

Chiraq: 10-year-old shot on his front porch

Abandoned home in
North Lawndale

The Chicago carnage continues.

From ABC 7 Chicago:

A 10-year-old boy was shot several times Monday night while standing on his front porch on Chicago's West Side.

The victim, identified by his family as Tavon Tanner, was outside his home in the 3900-block of West Polk Street in the city's Lawndale [actually North Lawndale] neighborhood around 10:20 p.m. when someone opened fire, police said.

His mother, Mellanie Washington, said she didn't hear where the shots came from, but she heard at least five.

"I didn't even know (Tavon) was next to me until he fell backwards through the doorway when I was crawling in the house," she said. "He was talking and we didn't even know he was shot at first, until we saw blood on his shirt."'

Of course no one is in custody--but I can assure you this shooting has some sort of street gang connection. Most Chicago shootings and killings go unsolved.

Related post:

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