Marathon Pundit

Wednesday, March 02, 2016

Trump only wants to use Caterpillar and John Deere equipment to build Mexico wall

Deere tractor south of
Tampico, IL

Just in time for this month's Illinois Primary!

Republican frontrunner Donald Trump said last night that he only wants to build the southern border wall with Mexico with equipment from two Illinois-based firms,a he explained in a reply to a question during a post-Super Tuesday press briefing.

From the Peoria Journal Star:

"And then they say, you'll never be able to build a wall. Well, it's 2,000 miles, but we really need 1,000 miles. The Great Wall of China — built 2,000 years ago — is 13,000 miles, folks. And they didn't have Caterpillar tractors — cause I only want to use Caterpillar, if you wanna know the truth. Or John Deere. (I) buy a lot of equipment from John Deere. I love John Deere, too. But (the builders of the Great Wall) didn't have tractors, they didn't have cranes. They didn't have excavation equipment. The wall is 13,000 miles long. We need 1,000 miles. And we have all of the materials. We can do that so beautifully."

In explaining his certainty that such a wall would be constructed, Trump said, "The reason is I am a business man, I know what I am doing."

Deere is based in Moline and Caterpillar is headquartered in Peoria, both are blue collar towns and my guess is that Trump is already quite popular in those places.

A good man: Ben Carson withdraws from presidential race

Dr. Ben Carson, who rose for inner-city Detroit to become a world-renowned neurosurgeon, withdrew from the presidential race today, saying "I do not see a political path forward."

The Republican is a gifted and honorable man who clearly has great talents to offer the nation he so dearly loves.

(Video) Obama spokesman 3 times dodges question on whether Obama will close Gitmo by exec order

Yesterday a reporter asked White House press spokesman Josh "No So" Earnest if Barack Obama will close the Guantanamo Bay terrorist detention facility by executive order.

Three times Earnest dodged the question.

Poverty up and services down in Chicago's black neighborhoods

Abandoned home in Englewood

Chicago's transition to Detroit has begun.

From Reuters:

The Chicago Urban League found that mostly black areas have lost health clinics, social service agencies and other areas of support in recent years.

The study, which relied on findings and interviews from more than two dozen Chicago housing and transportation advocacy groups, found that predominantly black parts of the city were harder hit by the housing market collapse and slower to recover.

While home sale prices in Chicago overall lost 5 percent of their value between 2005 and 2013, homes in primarily African-American neighborhoods lost 25 percent to 71 percent of their value.

The study also found a lack of affordable housing in mainly black areas. For example, about three-quarters of renters in the troubled mostly black neighborhood of West Englewood spend 30 percent or more of their income on rent. In the city overall, only slightly more than half spend that much.

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Tuesday, March 01, 2016

Chiraq has deadliest start of year since 1999

Keep in mind that Chicago had a larger population seventeen years ago.

From USA Today:

The nation's third largest city has recorded at least 95 homicides in the first two months of 2016, the deadliest start to a year since the late 1990s, according to police department data.

Chicago Police Department officials said on Tuesday that the spike in violence is being driven by a rise in gang activity. The city recorded at least 43 homicides in February after recording 52 homicides in January, matching the deadliest start of a year for the city since 1999. That year the city recorded 643 murders.

"While we have much more work to do, however the Chicago Police Department will not rest until every resident in every neighborhood enjoys the same sense of safety," said Interim Police Superintendent John Escalante. "We will continue to work tirelessly on ways to stop violence, and restore accountability and trust in communities throughout the city."

The CPD will not be resting any time soon.

Who will he be cheering for? Obama to attend Tampa Bay--Cuba baseball game

While visiting communist Cuba next month President Obama will attend an exhibition game between the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Cuban national team.

Who will Obama be cheering for?

Hey, I'm just asking! Calm down.

Big Super Tuesday for Trump, Hillary

Trump Tower, Chicago

Sure other candidates will be mathematically-able to win the Republican or Democratic nomination, but barring a catastrophe--or this the case with the Democrats an indictment--Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton will be the presidential nominees for their respective parties after all of the Super Tuesday votes are counted.

As for myself, I've jumped on the Trump Train.

This fall's presidential election will be the wildest since "the Revolution of 1800" when Democratic-Republican Thomas Jefferson ousted Federalist incumbent John Adams.

Let the good times roll!

Ex-UN climate change chief charged with sexual harrasment

Hot weather does encourage disrobing.

From AFP:

Police brought the charges against the ex-UN climate chief Pachauri in a Delhi trial court, more than a year after a female employee in her late twenties filed a complaint.

Indian police said Tuesday they had charged the former head of the UN climate change panel Rajendra Pachauri with sexual harassment, following a complaint by a former colleague at an environmental think-tank.

Police brought the charges against Pachauri in a Delhi trial court, more than a year after a female employee in her late twenties filed a complaint accusing him of sending inappropriate texts and emails.

"We have filed the charge sheet today and the court will decide when to begin the hearing," investigating officer Virender Dalal told AFP.

(Video) Obama SecDef admits that Obama can't close GITMO and move terrorists to USA

Even Ash Carter, President Obama's Defense Secretary, admits that only Congress can close the terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Impoverished Illinois township wastes $100K on Nobel Peace Prize campaign for SC church

Abandoned home in Harvey

Township government in Illinois--a relic from the Northwest Ordinance of 1787--has long been a sinecure for political hacks.

At the very least township government needs to be abolished in the Chicago area and Metro East near St. Louis.

Oh, like nearly all Prairie State entities, township governments wastes much of the tax money it collects.

Oh, before I forget, Thornton Township is home to the infamous Chicago suburb of Harvey.

From the Daily Southtown:

Thornton Township, in Illinois, spent more than $106,000 on an advertising push aimed at garnering support for awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to a South Carolina church that was the site of a tragic 2015 mass shooting, newly released records show.

The township, which includes some of the poorest communities in Chicago's south suburbs, spent $106,257 on radio and newspaper ads around the Chicago market, mainly aimed at predominantly African-American audiences, records show. Thornton Township's ad purchases followed a $46,000 taxpayer-funded trip to South Carolina taken by township Supervisor Frank Zuccarelli and 14 other delegates in September, which the Daily Southtown detailed earlier this month.

In a previous interview, Zuccarelli said the four-day trip's "main purpose" was to "get knowledge from the people directly in Charleston as to why their reaction was so much different than the reactions in Ferguson and Baltimore," a reference to police-involved killings of young African-Americans in those cities that generated nationwide outrage and violent protests.

What does all of this have to do with Thornton Township? Or Illinois? And why is taxpayer money in broke-and-broken Illinois being pissed away?

Oh, Charleston, from what I hear, is an lovely city for a vacation.

Unlike Ferguson.

Zuccarelli is a Democrat. In 2012 Barack Obama won 87 percent of the vote.

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(Photos) Abandoned homes in the corrupt village of Dixmoor, Illinois