Chiraq: 5 dead and at least 31 wounded over weekend

Roseland in 2016, near the murder
sites

Unless you live in Roseland on the Far South Side it was a relatively quiet weekend in Chicago, five people shot to death and and at least 31 others wounded. But four of those murders occurred in Roseland. A triple homicide took place at 114th and Yates. Less than a mile away a man was fatally gunned down at 111th and Michigan.

Chiraq's other weekend murder happened in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, which is also on the South Side.

From Da Tech Guy: Illinois guv candidate dropping socialist running mate over BDS support exposes Dem rift

I take another look at the dysfunctional state of Illinois in my latest post at Da Tech Guy: Illinois guv candidate dropping socialist running mate over BDS support exposes Dem rift.

Trump Weekly Address 9/8/17

Once again, President Donald J. Trump addresses natural disasters in his weekly address.

"This is a storm of absolutely historic destructive potential," Trump says. "I ask everyone in the storm's path to be vigilant and to heed all recommendations from government officials and law enforcement."

"Nothing is more important than the safety and security of our people," he continues. "We are doing everything we can to help with disaster preparations and when the time comes we will restore, recover and rebuild together as Americans."

Hugh Laurie: Swanee River

Florida's state song is "Old Folks At Home," more popularly known as "Swanee River." It was one of the better known songs by America's first composer of popular tunes, or should I say, pop music. That writer was of course Stephen Foster.

The original lyrics are racist by the contemporary definition, but they've been cleaned up for modern ears. Much of Foster's work was written for blackface minstrel shows. In the 19th-century this was mainstream entertainment.

We've progressed a great deal since then.

Still, I feel that Florida before long will be compelled to chose a new state song.

Here is, Hugh Laurie, the accomplished British actor, singing "Swanee River."

Shop Marathon Pundit when buying from Amazon

Do you shop on Amazon? Do you like what you read here? If so, click on the ad below and start shopping. It costs you nothing extra and I earn a small commission.

Happy shopping!

Rep. Trey Gowdy on questions surrounding anti-Trump dossier

Reo. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) wants to know who created the now anti-Donald Trump dossier that is behind the witch hunt against the president.

Cheapest Chicago Hillary book tour tickets nearly double what originally promised

Two likely Chicago Hillary supporters
in pussy hats

To swipe a phrase from Eric Idle's underrated rockumentary, The Rutles - All You Need is Cash, Hillary Rodham Clinton's Magical Misery Tour--oops, make that her book tour--begins later this month. "The final torture," left-leaning Politico quipped about Clinton's jaunt to hawk her book about her defeat at the hands of Donald J. Trump.

I can't think of a single person who'd want to sit through Hillary, who even her supporters admit is not a likable person, moan about the 2016 election for free. And yes, I know a lot of liberals.

The organizers of her tour think differently. Originally tickets for Clinton's Chicago stop, which occurs on the night before Halloween, were to start at $45, but now the cheapest seats are a whopping $75--plus a $13.50 handling fee, according to the Chicago Tribune. A Hillary spokesperson claims that there were a few $45 tickets but they "sold out quickly."

Really?

But where are the $75 tickets? When I visited the box office site for the Auditorium Theatre, which is hosting the Hillarypalooza, the cheapest tickets I could find were $149--and they are up in the nosebleed section. Front section seats are as high $603 each. I'm sure there is a handling feature for those too. And is Clinton's book, which I hear is titled, "Why I'm So Horrible," even included in the ticket price?

Chicago Tribune! Are you reading this post?

Whether it's cattle futures, book deals, or the Clinton Foundation, the Clintons have always been about collecting cash. Politics is simply a means to an end for them.

But they're for "the little guy." Yes, even you over there.

Twitter account of wrong-envelope accountant Brian Cullinan deleted

As a blogger who dabbles in urban ruin, it's natural that I keep an eye on human failure as well. So since the Academy Awards debacle, you know, when PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC accountant Brian Cullinan handed Warren Beatty the wrong envelope for the Best Picture award, leading his fellow presenter, Faye Dunaway, to incorrectly declare La La Land the winner, instead of Moonlight, I've been occasionally checking Cullinan's Twitter account.

Cullinan, according to multiple media accounts, was Tweeting backstage on his smartphone shortly before he handed Beatty the incorrect envelope. He Tweeted a lot that night, instead of focusing on the job he was hired to perform. Think of an oblivious Little League baseball outfielder flirting with girls in the bleachers who then drops a routine fly ball and loses the big game.

Cullinan deleted all of his Oscars night Tweets that evening and didn't Tweet afterwards, possibly because his bosses at PwC told him to stay away from Twitter.

But his unused account remained active for months.

Now @briancullinan_, Cullinan's Twitter account, has been deleted, the Blogger Laureate of Illinois can exclusively report.

Martha Ruiz, the other PwC accountant on duty that night, apparently isn't innocent in this fiasco. She hasn't Tweeted since the night of the Academy Awards presentation either. But her account is still active.

While PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC will return as the firm responsible for counting the Oscar ballots, Cullinan and Ruiz won't be a part of it.

Gutfeld on exposure of SPLC's finances

"So the Southern Poverty Law Center," Greg Gutfeld says here, "appears to have no poverty and does virtually no law."

The SPLC, an extreme-left organization, collects tons of cash by calling everyone who disagrees with it a hater or a hate group--and 20 percent of that dough is stashed away in offshore equities.

They are frauds.

Failing Chicago mayor declares Chicago a Trump-free zone

Blogger at Chicago's
Trump Tower

Now if only Chicago was a Rahm-free zone.

America's third largest city suffers more annual murders than New York City and Los Angeles--combined. Its residents are getting hit with tax hike after tax hike, yet its public pension plans are the worst-funded among any major city. And of the big cities, only Chicago is losing population.

But Chicago's pandering mayor Rahm Emanuel, has the nerve to declare the city "a Trump-free zone," in response to President Donald J. Trump's decision to "revisit" Barack Obama's likely illegal executive order on DACA.