Except for prominent dates on the calendar, Christmas and New Year’s Day come to mind, there is an official day–although I am unaware of any sanctioning organization–for every day of the year.
For instance, according to that austere body, February 11 is National Guitar Day and June 26 is National Canoe Day.
Most notoriously, September 19 is International Talk Like a Pirate Day.
Our 365 calendar–or 366, since this is a Leap Year–can digest one more “day.”
Today, I officially declare, December 8, as International Pundit Day. NationalToday.com, please take note.
A pundit, according to Merriam-Webster, is “a person who gives opinions in an authoritative manner usually through the mass media.” It is one of the few words in the English language that comes from Hindi.
In the early 2000s, many blogs, most notably Instapundit and Gateway Pundit, appeared on the political radar. And yes, to a lesser extent, my own Marathon Pundit.
Blogging has become mainstream since then, as have podcasts.
Yes, podcasters are pundits too.
Why December 8? Well, why not?
But if you need reasons, December 8 is Ann Coulter’s birthday. As you probably know, she’s a noted opinion columnist, and yes, pundit.
And it’s my birthday too.
Say it loud and say it now, I’m a pundit and I’m proud.
And if you are not a pundit yet, you can begin now.
And if you know a pundit, say “thank you!”
And now is the time in Pundit Land when we dance!
John Ruberry, who is celebrating his birthday and International Pundit Day today, regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.
Chicago is descending to anarchy, and it’s not just because of the shootings.
There are also Mad Max style “street takeovers” for Chicagoans to cope with on a regular basis.
Last night, CWB Chicago reports, there were several street takeovers. And at one of them, two people were shot.
So sometimes shootings and street takeovers are synchronous.
Street takeovers generally consist of domestic muscle cars meeting at predetermined gathering spots–social media gives the when and where–and the where is also always on a main thoroughfare. The street takeovers aren’t 1950s-style cruise night parades, the sports cars engage in such dangerous and possibly deadly activities and as drag racing, drifting and spinning donuts.
Chicago street takeovers happen about once a month, although the establishment local media tends to ignore them. For the most part, the cops just watch the cars drift. Last night was different because, as once again CWB Chicago tells us. Bricks were thrown at one Southwest Side street takeover and at another Southwest Side motorized mayhem rally, multiple objects at police officers.
I’ve never been a cop, but it’s pretty easy to ascertain how to end them–in Chicago and elsewhere.
The next time there is a street takeover, cops should just place spike strips on the offended streets. The car will end up with flat tires and possibly damaged wheels and a ruined suspension, but who cares? Driving is a privilege, as we know, not a right. And reckless driving is a crime. And streets are built and paid for by taxpayers for responsible transportation, not dangerous stunts.
Yes, the jackals who attend these might throw more objects at the law enforcement officers who lay down the strips–so cops working to reestablish order need to where riot gear–but word will get out, quickly, on social media of course, that the streets of Chicago are no longer open for street takeovers.
I’m eagerly awaiting the first insurance company to decline a claim on a car damaged during a street takeover.
Yes, speed strips are an easy solution.
Apparently, the CPD owns some spike strips. Two years ago, ABC Chicago reported that a pilot project to use spike strips to combat street takeovers–but apparently this project was grounded.
But will Chicago’s pro-criminal mayor, Brandon Johnson, allow it? He’s an apologist for Chicago’s lawbreakers. For instance, while mayor-elect last year, “Branjo” dismissed a downtown riots, saying that kids make “silly decisions.”
In case you somehow missed it, in 2019, on the night before a polar vortex of bitterly cold temperatures hit Chicago, at 1:00am on the Near North Side, the onetime Empire actor claimed that two men yelling, “This is MAGA country” poured bleach on him and put a noose around his neck after his visit to a Subway restaurant.
As soon as I heard about the “attack,” I had my doubts. So did the Chicago Police.
What really happened is that Smollett, who is also a rapper, paid two Nigerian brothers to stage the attack.
A few weeks later, Cook County’s so-called prosecutor, State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, dropped all of the hoax-related charges against Smollett–without an admission of guilt from Smollett. His $10,000 bond was forfeited.
The uproar forced Foxx to appoint a special prosecutor, tough-as-nails former US Attorney Dan Webb, to try the case against Smollett, and a jury here in Cook County found him guilty–he was sentenced to five months in prison. But Smollett served only a few days of that sentence after being released until his appeal played out.
Keep in mind that many CPD man-hours were wasted as cops, under pressure from police brass, no doubt, investigated the “crime” against Smollett.
Tina Tchen. a former top aide to Barack Obama, called Foxx on behalf of Smollett’s family to work out a deal.
Foxx despises the Smollett millstone around her neck, because she believes they diminish her so-called accomplishments in office. She leaves office after eight years of catch-and-release “prosecution” that has made Chicago and its inner suburbs a worse place to live. Foxx sadly, wasn’t voted out, she chose not to run for a third term.
Foxx should be best remembered for enabling of criminals, but since the Smollett case reignited interest in her botched handling of his crimes, something that will haunt her forever.
When Foxx dies and her obituaries are published, the Smollett case will be the lead.
Good.
Kim Foxx sucked as a prosecutor, and because of Smollett, she’ll be remembered as incompetent. And she is–on so many levels.
There is at least some justice in this world.
John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit from suburban Cook County.
Nearly two weeks after Kamala Harris wipeout at the hands of Donald Trump, there’s a leadership vacuum in the Democratic Party.
That’s good news, but let’s not get cocky. The Dems faced the same situation in 1988 after the Michael Dukakis debacle. Four years later, the Republican incumbent, was denied reelection at the hands of Bill Clinton–with an assist from Ross Perot.
As with Hillary Clinton after 2016, the Democrats are through with Harris and her worthless running mate, Tim Walz. Barack Obama is getting blamed, rightfully so, for the disastrous Joe Biden presidency and Harris’ expensive but failed attempt to succeed him.
Two pretenders to the Democrats’ throne of lies are a pair governors, Jared Polis of Colorado and JB Pritzker of Illinois. Sadly, Pritzker is my governor, and I’m going to return, again, to exposing Pritzker’s failures, because the legacy media–even in decline it’s still a force–isn’t doing its job.
As for Polis, I haven’t heard that he has presidential ambitions. Pritzker does.
Pritzker is not popular in rural Illinois.
Oh, about the headline, the governor of Chicago. In 2022, the Chicago Gold Coast billionaire and Hyatt Hotels heir won his second term over Republican Darren Bailey. Outside of three counties with big universities, and St. Clair County–where you’ll find East St. Louis–Pritzker lost every downstate county. Of Illinois’ 102 counties, Pritzker won only 12. The governor’s base is Chicago and its suburbs. Despite amassing huge vote totals there, he only was able to win 54 percent of the total, which will probably, when all of the counting is done, what Harris will end up with in Illinois. Bailey prevailed in some counties with over 80 percent of the vote. In 2016, when running against a failed Republican incumbent, he only did slightly better downstate.
Hillary Clinton and Harris ran poorly in rural areas. That’s a big reason why they lost.
After six years in office, Pritzker remains unpopular outside of the Chicago area. Successful leaders build broad coalitions.
Transgenderism.
While some of his fellow Democrats are easing away from their party’s extreme stance on transgenderism, Prtizker is not.
Last week on X Pritzker posted, “This Transgender Awareness Week, I want you to know that I see you and have your back as governor. Illinois has enshrined protections for gender-affirming care to meet this moment — and because of that, you will have a home here always.”
This Transgender Awareness Week, I want you to know that I see you and have your back as governor.
Illinois has enshrined protections for gender-affirming care to meet this moment — and because of that, you will have a home here always.
Illinois law allows biological boys, that is males, to play in girls’ school sports.
Pritzker is weak on crime.
Early on Election Day morning, when most of the media was understandably focusing on the presidential race, during a routine traffic stop Chicago Police Officer Enrique Martinez was allegedly murdered by a thug with a machine gun who belonged in jail but was free on electronic monitoring.
Last year, the SAFE-T Act, which Pritzker signed into law, went into effect. Illinois is now the only state that bans cash bail. Despite spin from the establishment media and academia, the result is disastrous for law-abiding Illinoisans. A daily look at CWB Chicago, Second City Cop, and Lake & McHenry Scanner will explain why. Illinois is a criminal’s catch-and-release haven.
Chicago cops and their families hate Pritzker, and prosecutors hate the SAFE-T Act.
The governor of Chicago is not popular with the Chicago Police officers and their families. Martinez’ funeral is Monday, and the slain cop’s family made it clear that they didn’t want Pritzker, or Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, to attend his funeral service. Earlier this year, Chicago cop Luis Huesca was murdered while off-duty in a carjacking, his family made the same request. Pritzker quickly acquiesced, Johnson–and that’s another story for another time–eventually followed the governor’s lead.
On a personal note, my problems with Venezuelan migrants are just annoyances–dealing with panhandlers and people selling bottles of water and candy on street corners. Friend of mine living in Chicago say burglaries are up where they live. The evidence is anecdotal–but the migrant presence in their neighborhoods has a lot of fingers pointing at them.
On a more sinister level, the Tren de Aragua Venezuelan street gang has a presence in Chicago. Because of the SAFE-T Act, most of those migrant gangbangers are set free after they’re arrested.
Meanwhile, Pritzker is Illinois’ self-appointed champion of the Venezuelans and other illegal migrants.
Gerrymandering and depopulation.
As I mentioned earlier, the almost-final tally of the presidential race in Illinois is 54 percent for Harris and 44 for Trump.
What about Illinois’ congressional races?
When I was born, Illinois had 24 congressional districts–because of anemic or no population growth, depending on the decade–now we have only 17.
Since 2014, Illinois has annually lost population.
Pictured above is Illinois’ 15th congressional district. What’s that empty space in the middle? That’s the 13th congressional district, the penis of the Prairie State. The 15th district is represented by Republican Mary Miller, while Democrat Nikki Budzinski is the congresswoman for the 13th. The 15th is heavily Republican, the 13th leans Democratic, and its phallus shape was drawn to include Democratic strongholds such as East St. Louis, Springfield, Decatur, and Champaign. If Illinois had fair maps, the two districts would be split into two similarly shaped rectangular areas and its voters would likely elect two Republicans.
The rest of Illinois is similarly carved up in a biased and partisan manner.
Stay with me on this one.
So, Harris won Illinois with 54 percent. As for Illinois’ congressional delegation, there are 14 Republicans and just three Republicans. Which gives Republicans just 18 percent of the Land of Lincoln’s seats in the US House. Yessir, just 18 percent.
Illinois’ congressional maps are a disgrace to democracy.
What would Abraham Lincoln think?
Pritzker’s Dems enjoy supermajorities in both chambers of the General Assembly. Why? Well because of gerrymandering, of course. Many General Assembly races had victors who ran unopposed. If there is no chance for victory, why run? Why even vote? Citizens, be damned.
During his first gubernatorial run, Pritzker repeatedly promised to veto any legislative remaps that were partisan.
He lied.
Pritzker is a bully of a politician whose power is enhanced by gerrymandering. He won’t build a coalition because he doesn’t have to.
He might be successful as the de facto leader of the Democratic Party.
But as president?
You’ve been warned about the governor of Chicago.
John Ruberry regularly blogs from another oddly shaped Illinois congressional district, the 9th, at Marathon Pundit.
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