Mark Dice discusses the accusations from leftists, including a member of Congress, that President Trump is not mentally fit to serve in office. But it could be projection, Dice argues, meaning that those finger-pointers are coping with some of their own mental issues.
``
While over at The Federalist Mollie Hemingway is calling such machinations over Trump's demeanor for what it is: a coup attempt led by people who still cannot cope with the reality that Trump was elected president.
Tuesday, January 09, 2018
Monday, January 08, 2018
The abandoned City United Methodist Church of Gary, Indiana
If you are considering the intriguing yet dangerous hobby of urban exploration, you may want to start with Gary, Indiana, particularly if you live in the Chicago area, as it lies on the eastern edge of the metropolitan region.
And if you are traveling on Interstate 80, 90, or 94 in Northwest Indiana then Gary is within reach.
Just a half mile from the Broadway exit on the Indiana Toll Road--that is, Interstate 90--is the long-abandoned City Methodist Church. According to Wikipedia, it was once the largest Methodist house of worship in the Midwest--its seating capacity was 1,000--as it was for the adjacent Seaman Hall, which was named for the congregation's founder, Dr. William Grant Seaman.
It opened in 1926, its address is 575 Washington Street.
The Gothic Revival building doesn't look like a Methodist church--and its many detractors decried the use of the oak paneling of the chancel, altar, and the fellowship hall at Seaman Hall, as well as the stained glass windows, which was a reminder of "popery," that is Catholicism, according to the Sometimes Interesting blog. The massive church organ was donated by Elbert H. Gary, the city's namesake and one of the founders of US Steel, which still operates a large mill in Gary.
That's the Elbert H. Gary statue outside of Gary's City Hall.
US Steel put up nearly half of the $800,000 for the construction of the church, which was a staggering amount in the 1920s.
That's the corner of Seaman Hall.
And that's the view facing where the altar once stood.
Wikipedia shows the roof intact in a 2009 photograph.
Ironically Methodists, both in England where the faith was founded and in America where it flourished, had a reputation for preaching outdoors. Methodism has come full circle in Gary in a way. Wikipedia says an occasional goth wedding is held at City Methodist
The stained glass windows shown here are too high for scrappers to pillage.
But the stained glass windows here were accessible.
Later the church changed its name to City United Methodist.
Besides the church, and the aforementioned theater, the City Methodist complex included offices, a gymnasium, a cafeteria, and a rooftop garden that was never completed. The planned bowling alley never was built.
There's the theater.
Seaman brought plays and lecturers to the theater, he screened travel films, and he held interfaith events. While ecumenical dialogue is the norm in the 21st century it wasn't in the 1920s, even among Protestants.
By 1929 parishioners had enough of Dr. Seaman, who was dispatched to Ohio. The expense of building the church and the hall--as well as maintaining it was too much to bear. As was apparently Seaman's ego and the belief, which seems credible nearly a century later, that the reverend was building a temple to himself.
There were graffiti taggers in the room adjacent to the upper balcony of the theater, so I didn't go there. They looked like nice enough fellows but I didn't want to chance it with them.
That's what's left of the gym. which is two stories up.
While the roof garden was never completed...
Nature always...
Wins in the end.
Way off in the distance is the Gary Water Tower.
Another look at Seaman Hall.
The Great Depression was hard on Gary and City United Methodist Church. But the post-World War II economic boom and the religious revival of the baby boomer era brought good times to the church.
Seaman Hall was rented out to Indiana University around this time.
White flight in the 1960s and the downturn in the domestic steel industry devastated Gary and it has yet to recover. And there are no signs a recovery is about to begin.
A program from 1967 includes photographs of the ministers and parishioners. The only blacks shown are the two custodians and a housekeeper.
Membership in the church plummeted as Gary's fortunes fell. The church was always an expensive facility to maintain even during prosperous times and it closed down in 1975. Indiana University continued to hold classes in Seaman Hall for a while.
Dr. Seaman died in an automobile accident in 1944. His ashes were buried in the sanctuary of the church, and Sometimes Interesting says that a member of the last congregation claims the ashes are probably still there.
The complex, way back when, was known by its detractors as "Seaman's Folly."
Is it?
Once again, according to Sometimes Interesting, in 2005 Gary's planning director, David Wright, envisioned an open space that would include a ruins garden, built among surviving parts of the church. To me it would have been reminiscent of how the rebuilt Coventry Cathedral incorporated the remnants of the old church that had been destroyed during the Battle of Britain.
I believe that can still happen, assuming what is left is structurally sound and Northwest Indiana's legendary snowy winters don't do more damage to what remains a beautiful, yet battered, building.
And if you are traveling on Interstate 80, 90, or 94 in Northwest Indiana then Gary is within reach.
Just a half mile from the Broadway exit on the Indiana Toll Road--that is, Interstate 90--is the long-abandoned City Methodist Church. According to Wikipedia, it was once the largest Methodist house of worship in the Midwest--its seating capacity was 1,000--as it was for the adjacent Seaman Hall, which was named for the congregation's founder, Dr. William Grant Seaman.
It opened in 1926, its address is 575 Washington Street.
The Gothic Revival building doesn't look like a Methodist church--and its many detractors decried the use of the oak paneling of the chancel, altar, and the fellowship hall at Seaman Hall, as well as the stained glass windows, which was a reminder of "popery," that is Catholicism, according to the Sometimes Interesting blog. The massive church organ was donated by Elbert H. Gary, the city's namesake and one of the founders of US Steel, which still operates a large mill in Gary.
That's the Elbert H. Gary statue outside of Gary's City Hall.
US Steel put up nearly half of the $800,000 for the construction of the church, which was a staggering amount in the 1920s.
That's the corner of Seaman Hall.
And that's the view facing where the altar once stood.
Wikipedia shows the roof intact in a 2009 photograph.
Ironically Methodists, both in England where the faith was founded and in America where it flourished, had a reputation for preaching outdoors. Methodism has come full circle in Gary in a way. Wikipedia says an occasional goth wedding is held at City Methodist
The stained glass windows shown here are too high for scrappers to pillage.
But the stained glass windows here were accessible.
Later the church changed its name to City United Methodist.
Besides the church, and the aforementioned theater, the City Methodist complex included offices, a gymnasium, a cafeteria, and a rooftop garden that was never completed. The planned bowling alley never was built.
There's the theater.
Seaman brought plays and lecturers to the theater, he screened travel films, and he held interfaith events. While ecumenical dialogue is the norm in the 21st century it wasn't in the 1920s, even among Protestants.
By 1929 parishioners had enough of Dr. Seaman, who was dispatched to Ohio. The expense of building the church and the hall--as well as maintaining it was too much to bear. As was apparently Seaman's ego and the belief, which seems credible nearly a century later, that the reverend was building a temple to himself.
There were graffiti taggers in the room adjacent to the upper balcony of the theater, so I didn't go there. They looked like nice enough fellows but I didn't want to chance it with them.
That's what's left of the gym. which is two stories up.
While the roof garden was never completed...
Nature always...
Wins in the end.
Way off in the distance is the Gary Water Tower.
The Great Depression was hard on Gary and City United Methodist Church. But the post-World War II economic boom and the religious revival of the baby boomer era brought good times to the church.
Seaman Hall was rented out to Indiana University around this time.
A program from 1967 includes photographs of the ministers and parishioners. The only blacks shown are the two custodians and a housekeeper.
Membership in the church plummeted as Gary's fortunes fell. The church was always an expensive facility to maintain even during prosperous times and it closed down in 1975. Indiana University continued to hold classes in Seaman Hall for a while.
Dr. Seaman died in an automobile accident in 1944. His ashes were buried in the sanctuary of the church, and Sometimes Interesting says that a member of the last congregation claims the ashes are probably still there.
The complex, way back when, was known by its detractors as "Seaman's Folly."
Is it?
Once again, according to Sometimes Interesting, in 2005 Gary's planning director, David Wright, envisioned an open space that would include a ruins garden, built among surviving parts of the church. To me it would have been reminiscent of how the rebuilt Coventry Cathedral incorporated the remnants of the old church that had been destroyed during the Battle of Britain.
I believe that can still happen, assuming what is left is structurally sound and Northwest Indiana's legendary snowy winters don't do more damage to what remains a beautiful, yet battered, building.
Chiraq: 4 dead and at least 16 wounded over weekend
For the first full weekend of 2018 there were four murders in Chicago and at least 18 others were wounded. Two of the shooting deaths happened in Austin. Also on the West Side a man was fatally shot in East Garfield Park. The other murder took place on the South Side in Englewood.
Sunday, January 07, 2018
From Da Tech Guy: Democratic candidates for Illinois governor resort to scapegoating
The top two candidate for the Democratic nomination for governors have nothing to run on except for dumbing down on the failed policies of the past that drove Illinois into the ditch. I explain in my Sunday post at Da Tech Guy: Democratic candidates for Illinois governor resort to scapegoating.
Saturday, January 06, 2018
Hothouse Flowers - Thing Of Beauty
Outside of Christmas, there aren't many memorable rock songs about winter.
Here's one of them, Hothouse Flowers' "Thing of Beauty."
Whatever happened to Detroit filing for bankruptcy?
Matt Finn of Fox News takes a look at Detroit four years after it filed what is still the largest municipal bankruptcy in American history.
This Detroitoligist agrees with Finn--the Motor City is noticeably improved downtown--but the outlying neighborhoods are another matter.
Detroit is also burdened, despite the bankruptcy, with $11 billion in debt.
This Detroitoligist agrees with Finn--the Motor City is noticeably improved downtown--but the outlying neighborhoods are another matter.
Detroit is also burdened, despite the bankruptcy, with $11 billion in debt.
Friday, January 05, 2018
A "glitch?" Harvey, Illinois misses payroll for elected officials
 |
| Blogger in Harvey |
From the Daily Southtown:
Elected officials in Harvey learned Thursday they would not be getting paid this pay cycle due to the city's "financial constraints," according to an email obtained by the Daily Southtown.Yes, I've done some urban exploration in Harvey, which is the Chicago area's answer to Detroit.
City comptroller Louis B. Williams notified officials early Thursday afternoon that the city could not pay them this pay period, but hoped to process payments as early as within a week.
"Due to the financial constraints the City is experiencing, we are unable to pay elected officials for this current pay period 01/05/18," reads the email, which Williams sent the mayor, aldermen, treasurer, clerk, deputy clerk and a mayoral aide. "Regarding your paychecks, we will keep you all updated, as we are hoping to process them sometime next week if funding is available. Thank you for your patience and understanding at this time."
The brief communication prompted email responses from multiple aldermen, who claimed they had been left in the dark about the city's financial state and requested that a meeting be called to discuss the matter, emails provided by one of the aldermen show.
Related posts:
- (Photos) Abandoned homes in the corrupt city of Harvey, Illinois
- (Photos) Abandoned homes in the corrupt city of Harvey, Illinois, part two
Gingrich: Elites passionately avoiding the Trump reality
The Donald Trump-hating media and other so-called elites are avoiding reality, Newt Gingrich points out to Laura Ingraham.
Justice Department investigating Clinton Foundation
There's a group of people that the Justice Department might find colluded with Russia.
From The Hill:
From The Hill:
The Justice Department has launched a new inquiry into whether the Clinton Foundation engaged in any pay-to-play politics or other illegal activities while Hillary Clinton served as Secretary of State, law enforcement officials and a witness tells The Hill.
FBI agents from Little Rock, Ark., where the Foundation was started, have taken the lead in the investigation and have interviewed at least one witness in the last month, and law enforcement officials said additional activities are expected in coming weeks.
The officials, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, said the probe is examining whether the Clintons promised or performed any policy favors in return for largesse to their charitable efforts or whether donors made commitments of donations in hopes of securing government outcomes.
The probe may also examine whether any tax-exempt assets were converted for personal or political use and whether the Foundation complied with applicable tax laws, the officials said.
Thursday, January 04, 2018
Winning! Dow tops 25,000
From Fox Business:
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 25,000 for the first time in history Thursday.
It took a mere 23 days for the Dow to jump from 24,000 to its latest milestone. This is the shortest stretch between 1,000 point milestones ever.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)