Archive for the ‘economy’ Category

After the riots, my walk down Chicago’s Magnificent Mile

Posted: June 7, 2020 by John Ruberry in business, crime, culture, economy, News/opinion, politics
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By John Ruberry

Chicago’s largest shopping district, and its best-known, is North Michigan Avenue, which is just north of downtown. It’s known internationally as the Magnificent Mile. 

The Mag Mile is dominated by luxury department stores and boutiques, including Nordstrom’s, Bloomingdale’s, Cartier, Macy’s Tiffany, Burberry’s, Saks Fifth Avenue, Rolex, and many more. 

So naturally it was a target of the Antifa-driven riots of last weekend in Chicago. 

I was on the Mag Mile Thursday. Nearly every building was boarded-up at street level. Not all were looted, I assume. But who knows?

Someone tried to break down the glass doors at Rolex apparently with a sledgehammer, after which another hooligan sprayed “F*ck Trump” on one of the shattered doors. 

Spontaneous protests aren’t attended by sledgehammer wielding thugs carrying cans of spray paint.

Many stores were looted–probably most. 

There’s an American Girl Store on the Mile–it was boarded up. The Disney Store on North Michigan was not the happiest shop in the world–it was sealed off by plywood too.

There was rioting and looting all over Chicago and in the suburbs. On a personal note the area where I live, the inner northern suburbs, was not hit by rioting and looting. 

The George Floyd homicide was an abomination. But I don’t believe there is any justification for the rioting, looting, and the arson, the latter of which didn’t strike the Magnificent Mile. 

The Illinois lockdown is harsh. Dine-in restaurants are still closed–outdoor dining was allowed on May 29, except in Chicago, which had a June 3rd partial re-opening date. Many of the aforementioned retailers had been closed since late March and were looking at a June 3 reopening. 

Then came the riots. 

Chicago and Illinois’ recovery from the Great Recession was a slow one–political mismanagement, corruption, and unfunded pension liabilities saw to that. And those three underlying failures, particularly the pension bomb, have gotten worse since then. 

Chicago and Illinois seem destined for more misery.

I want to add one more thought. Police brass botched the initial response to the downtown and Magnificent Mile riots. The Chicago River draw bridges were not immediately raised, an opportunity to block or at least separate the mob was lost. And Chicago police officers were guarding Chicago’s 18 miles of lakefront parks from walkers, runners, and cyclists, as they have been for over two months, while the riots and arson raged. 

Those cops are still at the lakefront. 

Anger–and stupidity–rules Chicago.

John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

The Jobs Report & the Upcoming “Well Screw That” Moment for the Black Community

Posted: June 7, 2020 by datechguy in Always look at the bright side of Trump, business, crime, culture, economy, elections, politics
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Marty Pilletti: The burlesque! Loew’s Paradise! Miserable and lonely! Miserable and lonely and stupid! What am I, crazy or something?! I got something good here! What am I hanging around with you guys for?!

Marty 1955

What have you got to lose?

Donald Trump

It’s axiomatic that when you have a dictatorship it takes a dramatic moment for things to change, for people to reach the point where they say as Sigorney Weaver famously did on Galaxy Quest: “Well Screw That”. and decide to bring it down.

When you have a one party state, the principle is the same a breaking point has to be reached. People have to look at a situation and like the title Character in Marty surrounded by guys who all thought the women he met yesterday was a dog say: “What am I hanging around with you guys for?!“

The media would have you believe that the killing of George Floyd is that moment, but the reality is they have ginned up outrage like this before, Travon Martin, Michael Brown and the conditions for Black America did not change.

No I think the breaking moment has arrived but it happened yesterday with the jobs report from Friday:

2.5 Million jobs added, unemployment down but not everwhere (via Glenn):

What else do they have in common? Riots last week so bad that poor blacks in Chicago don’t have sources for food.

Wright, his grandmother and so many around here are trying to figure out which stores on the South Side are even left right now.

Chicago now has food deserts in places that weren’t food deserts before.

“Bronzeville Mariano’s was looted, the Walmart on 47th was looted. Jewel,” said activist William Calloway.

And the food deserts that were there before are worse now.

“Now you have to go out of your way to get this stuff,” said activist Emir Lions. “People that don’t have a car. People that do not have family and friends.”

“Some seniors can’t travel,” added Calloway…

…The biggest fear is that some of these stores won’t come back.

Remember before Cornoa Virus hit Black America had the lowest unemployment it had seen since emancipation and Prison reform combined with the need for workers meant that folks who weren’t given a chance before now had one.

Not anymore, at least if you are living in a blue state or a blue city where unless you want to march, or protest or loot, you are out of luck.

However if you are living in a red state outside of a blue city within it, you’re open for business, jobs are surging back and people are heading back toward the prosperity they once had.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are still millions of black Americans who aren’t done playing Charlie Brown to the Democrats Lucy and Joe Biden should easily get 75% of that vote or more.

But the Democrats are SO dependent on said vote that if POTUS even grabs a small bit more then he did last time or disgusted black democrats stay home it changes everything.

I submit and suggest that a lot of Black Americans not on the payroll of the DNC or any activist group are looking at this and saying and while not deviating publicly from the line BLM line will go to the voting booth on the city state and local level and vote “Well Screw that”.

And like Sigorney Weaver those who read lips will see the expletive come Nov 3rd.

The full scene is here

DaTechGuy off DaRadio No Frills LiveStream Podcast Friday 3 PM EST “I Will Not Submit” Edition

Posted: June 5, 2020 by datechguy in business, crime, culture, economy, media, politics, Uncomfortable Truths
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At 3 PM EST DaTechguy’s no frills livestream podcast is on and the topics are all George Floyd related.

  1. 4 Questions for the left/BLM/Media
  2. why I blame Da Media/Left for the riots
  3. William Bainbridge and I will not submit

You can watch the livestream here

Feel free to join the chat and like or dislike what you hear. You have a right to your opinion. But if you like what you hear consider subscribing & sharing it and if you REALLY like it consider hitting DaTipJar

The desecration of the Cook County Forest Preserves

Posted: May 31, 2020 by John Ruberry in culture, economy, News/opinion, politics
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By John Ruberry

One respite from the hectic way of life in Chicago and its suburbs are the 70,000 acres that comprise the Forest Preserve District of Cook County. I run on trails there that are near my home. I take nature photos there. Others walk, ride bicycles, or just sit and collect their thoughts. Some picnic in the preserves, whether it’s a family or a group of hundreds.

On there is a seamy side too. Some parking lots at the preserves are popular spots for romantic hookups, once in a while some of those large picnics turn violent, occasionally the bodies of murder victims are dumped there, and the Forest Preserve District has a reputation of hiring otherwise unemployable Democratic Party patronage workers. Charles “Cap” Sauer ran the preserves for years. He once confided to Chicago newspaper columnist Mike Royko about some of his workers, “They know that if they are going to receive a day’s pay, they must give me at least a half a day’s work.”

Despite little or no evidence that outdoor activities pose COVID-19 risks, the FPDCC is making using the preserves more difficult and less enjoyable for the owners of them, that is taxpayers, even though exercise is essential for maintaining good physical and mental health. 

Many forest preserve parking lots, which are often strewn with potholes, are closed on weekends and even daily in some cases because of alleged overcrowding. Oh, if a parking lot is full, drivers do what? They leave. Public washrooms are closed. Where are people supposed to relieve themselves? As a runner, I know how to, let’s say, improvise a short distance from a trail. Let’s say you’d like to sit down during a long walk and you don’t care to plop down on the grass. There’s a rare bench here and there but during normal times people find a picnic table. At most of the preserves near me the tables are now stacked. wrapped in police tape, and barricaded by snow fences. There are “snitch signs” placed all through the preserves asking those full-bladdered visitors to rat-out large groups. Even though for most people their forest preserve experience is a solitary one, as it is with me, or it’s done in twos-or-threes.

Story continues below the photograph.

Barricaded picnic shelter with stacked tables at St. Paul Woods Forest Preserve

Water fountains have not been turned back on after being shut off last year for the winter. Yes, today is the last day of May. Oh, there is no shortage of FPDCC workers–none have been laid off.

Those most revealing sign is one outside St. Paul Woods here in Morton Grove. “Keep it moving. No picnicking. No congregating.” Or as Dean Wormer famously phrased it in Animal House, “No more fun of any kind.”

How did it come to this situation? Yeah, I know, the coronavirus outbreak. Cook County has over 5 million residents. There have been 45,000 confirmed cases of it in Cook with about 2,100 confirmed deaths. And of course most of those fatalities consist of people who were already quite ill.

But we got here because Cook County voters elected a hardened leftist,  Chicago Democrat Toni Preckwinkle, as president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners. Part of that job is overseeing the Forest Preserve District. Leftists remind me of the smug titular character in the underrated Coen Brothers movie Barton Fink. He loves “the people” but Fink doesn’t like people. The same goes with Preckwinkle and other leftists in government. And their idea of government is that we are a government with a people, not the other way around. 

These are their woods, not ours.

Stay out of my parking lot! 

Stay away from other people! 

No water fountains for you!

Hold your bladders!

No more fun of any kind!

John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

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