Archive for the ‘politics’ Category

If Trump wins the Popular Vote Watch the Left Suddenly Sour on the National Popular Vote Compact

Posted: October 25, 2024 by datechguy in Always look at the bright side of Trump, election 2024, elections, politics
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I have been arguing for an awful lot of years that the National Popular Vote Compact is an attempt to disenfranchises votes of individual states so that elections can be fixed on a national level.

The left has pooh poohed this and deep blue states like California, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, New York, Illinois, Vermont, Connecticut and yes disgracefully my state of Massachusetts went along and signed this idiocy sure and secure in the knowledge that no Republican would every be popular enough and no Democrat so unpalatable enough that it would bite them in the ass.

And then came this from CNN

Now the catch is that supposedly this agreement kicks into gear when 270 EV’s worth of states sign it, but as the electoral college doesn’t vote on election day (They vote on December 17th) Red states could have legislatures ready to adopt this rule after election day so it will be in effect the day the electors vote. In fact it would be state law. And the best part is once those votes are cast those same red states can repeal said laws boom.

If this actually happens it won’t matter how long it takes Mariposa country in Arizona to count their votes, suddenly by their own rules California, New Mexico, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Connecticut, Vermont and yes my own Massachusetts will go into the Trump column.

Now I still maintain that this disenfranchises individual states but I have a feeling if the Kamala collapse continues I will suddenly find a lot of leftists from an awful lot of blue states and a ton of media will suddenly have my back and rush to the Supreme Court to have all of these laws stuck down. The irony of course is that I expect all three liberal judges will be with me on this one at the very least.

Now with Kamala collapsing so badly that the Washington Post and LA Times won’t endorse her it might be moot so I don’t know if this will be the result but if it is, it will be glorious!

Chicago Public Schools took COVID money and splurged, now that source of funds has dried up

Posted: October 23, 2024 by John Ruberry in education, News/opinion, opinion/news, politics
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By John Ruberry

William J. Bennett, when he was Education Secretary under Ronald Reagan, declared the Chicago Public Schools system was the worst in the nation.

Decades later, CPS still might be at the bottom, despite a recent influx of federal COVID-19 relief cash.

According to Illinois State Board of Education test results, nearly three-quarters of CPS students can’t read at grade level and over eighty-percent of them aren’t proficient in math.

Not shockingly, many Chicago parents are finding alternatives their children’s education, such charter and private schools, or moving out of Chicago altogether. 

The sad irony is that many CPS schools call themselves things like “school of excellence,” or “STEM academy,” or “college prep high school.” 

One-third of Chicago’s traditional public schools, Wirepoints reports, are under half of enrollment capacity. One high school, the somewhat modestly named Manley Career Academy, which was built for 1,000 pupils, has just 100 students enrolled there. “Journey to world class” is the school’s motto.

There’s state-enforced moratorium preventing school closings, but that expires next year. But the Chicago Teachers Union, the straw that stirs the drink in city politics, is vehemently opposed to that.

Fewer schools means fewer union jobs. 

The CTU and its allies say that Chicago schools are underfunded. However, they never say what the proper amount is. Just more, more, and more.

CPS-per-student funding has increased by 40-percent since 2019, when scores were higher, the district now spends nearly $30,000 student, while the statewide average is just $24,000.

As I reported here earlier this month, Chicago’s leftist mayor, Brandon Johnson, who prior to his election last year was a CTU organizer, saw his school board resign because, according to media reports, “Branjo” was pressuring them to fire the CEO of CPS. 

Johnson appointed that entire board.

CTU was the primary funder of Johnson’s campaign. That union is fond of Alinskyite tactics, particularly creating and demonizing an enemy. Usually that’s the mayor, but Johnson is on the CTU team.

Johnson and CTU–assuming there is a difference between the two–are pushing for high-interest loans to increase spending for schools on things like salaries and pension obligations, rather than for capital projects, which is what fiscally responsible school districts use loans for.

CPS has a junk credit rating. 

Johnson’s new appointees will be out of office soon. A new 21-member board–10 elected and 11 appointed by the mayor, will take over shortly after Election Day next month. Many of the electoral candidates for the new school board are endorsed by the CTU.

Things have gotten so bad that even the Washington Post has taken notice.

Chicago and CPS appear to be in a death spiral. How both got there goes back decades. As for the misdeeds of the last few years, the Chicago Teachers Union deserves much of the blame.

Getting out of this mess won’t be easy. While Governor J.B. Pritzker is also a Democrat, he and Branjo aren’t close. Pritzker is a liberal, but Johnson is a quasi-socialist. But a state takeover of CPS isn’t likely. Pritzker wants to run for president one day and if the state is in charge of Chicago’s schools, then CPS becomes his problem.

Even if Kamala Harris wins the presidency next month, a federal bailout of CPS is very unlikely, especially because the district squandered COVID funds.

And Chicagoans are stuck with Johnson until at least 2027.

John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

Two Weeks of 4th and 20 Plays from the Harris Campaign

Posted: October 17, 2024 by datechguy in election 2024, politics
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One of the things you will see in football particularly when a team is down by 3 scores or more are teams going for it on long 4th downs.

This is not an odd choice. The idea is that you have no chance of changing the path of the game going south without taking long chances, even chances that are unlikely to work out. So you find yourself going for it on 4th and long in the 3rd or early 4th quarter in such games.

If you manage to convert you maintain the chance to come back and win the game. If you fail, well you were going to lose anyways so you might as well take the shot.

Of course if you fail and the lead becomes four or five scores, that when you take out your starter and play your subs to keep key players from getting hurt.

And that brings us to Kamala on Fox.

For weeks Kamala ducked everybody and everything white Donald Trump chris-crossed the nation and took on all comers.

The seeing that this was not having intended effect she started doing interview with friendly location who where willing to ask seemingly softball questions (the view), edit the interviews to omit problems (CBS) or rig that question and audiences to her favor (univision),

Not only has this failed but he viability level has reached such a low point that SNL feels free to make fun of her on the theory that it doesn’t matter.

And thus the 4th and 20 hail mary passes go up, Interview on Fox, possible appearance on Joe Rogan, going to venues that she has dodged because unless something changes the margin will be as Trump puts it “Too Big To Rig”.

Alas the Fox interview appears to be yet another disaster the only question is does she:

  1. Continue to do these 4th & 20th interviews in the hopes that she hits gold?
  2. Pull back and become invisible again so that she doesn’t hurt down ticket Democrats any more than she already is?

I’m betting #2 by the end of next week but the smart thing to do is to fight like the Hail Mary passes were complete

The Great Chicago Train Robbery offers more proof of the city’s decline and fall

Posted: October 13, 2024 by John Ruberry in crime, culture, News/opinion, opinion/news, politics
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By John Ruberry

The evidence of Chicago’s decline and fall keeps piling up.

On Friday evening, at least 30 thugs looted Union Pacific rail cars in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood on the West Side.

The city’s leftist mayor, Brandon Johnson, who lives in Austin, was in London in advance of Sunday’s Chicago Bears game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Although he later backed away, slightly, from his statement, in 2020 “Branjo” called defunding the police “a political goal.”

As you’ll see, the looters are so casual in these videos as they unload the U.P. freight cars, it’s as if they calmly enjoying a visit to a suburban pick-your-own pumpkin patch. They’re not hiding their faces; they’re not covering up their licence plates. One enterprising criminal even brought a cargo truck to speed their 100-percent discounts along.

The mass thievery was so vast that commuter rail traffic on those rail lines was suspended for hours.

Society is rotting in Chicago–as well as suburban Cook County, because we have had a pro-criminal George Soros-funded so-called prosecutor, Democrat Kim Foxx, lackadaisically enforcing the law for that last eight years. Thankfully, she’ll be out of office in two months.

Criminals don’t fear getting caught in Chicago–and if they are–only those accused of the most heinous crimes are locked up to await trial. Since last year, courtesy of JB Pritzker’s SAFE-T Act, cash bail is banned in Illinois.

The Chicago establishment media, TV stations are an exception, are shameful. They minimize rampant criminality, calling it “a perception problem.”

On Facebook, an hour after the brazen looting, a Chicagoan on Facebook, a self-described “entrepreneur,” was advertising a back yard full of widescreen televisions for sale. As of this writing, 5:00pm EDT, those TVs are still for sale on the social network. Facebook doesn’t seem concerned. It’s a good thing this “entrepreneur” isn’t claiming that masks don’t work against COVID.

Then again, maybe it’s a coincidence that the “entrepreneur” is selling those televisions. But there are a lot of “coincidences” in America’s third-largest city.

So far only six people have been arrested for allegedly participating in the Great Chicago Train Robbery. Where were the Chicago Police on Friday? It took the cops over an hour to arrive to the West Side rail yard. ABC 7 News’ traffic chopper showed up much more quickly. Where was Union Pacific’s security detail? Just a thought, but U.P. may want to investigate their West Side employees. I suspect that this heist may have been aided by a tip from someone working in that freight yard.

There have been other thefts of U.P. trains in Chicago recently.

Finally, where are the decent Chicagoans?

There are some, right?

John Ruberry regularly blogs just north of Chicago at Marathon Pundit.

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