Archive for the ‘politics’ Category

Chicago’s Summer of Misery: Criminals emboldened over cop shortages, no-cash bail, and a Soros prosecutor

Posted: June 16, 2024 by John Ruberry in crime, culture, News/opinion, opinion/news, politics
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By John Ruberry

Chicago, not surprisingly, is coming apart at the seams. 

While recently propped up a bit by COVID relief money, which will run out next year, Chicago, because of massive unfunded pension liabilities, is essentially bankrupt. Its streets and roads are in terrible shape. Riding on Chicago’s buses, and even more so its el trains, can be trip into a scene from Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange. The George Floyd riots of 2020 chased out major retailers on North Michigan Avenue, and fear of crime has solidified the work-at-home movement, keeping office workers, and their wallets, out of Chicago’s central business district, the Loop.

Last year, Chicagoans voted in a defund-the-police advocate, Brandon Johnson, as mayor. In 2020, while a county commissioner–as well as working as an organizer for the Chicago Teachers Union–Johnson said of the defund movement, “I don’t look at it as a slogan,” he said. “It’s an actual real political goal.” 

At a forum the month before the runoff election, which Johnson of course won, he answered back to that statement with this lie, “I said it was a political goal, I never said it was mine.”

Chicago used to be a hard-knuckle newspaper town. The Front Page, a 1928 play that inspired two movies of the same name, was written by two Chicago newspaper reporters. Chicago has devolved from that to subservience. Led by its worst journalist, PBS Chicago’s Heather Cherone, the local media barely pressed Johnson on his hypocrisy over the defund movement.

Fourteen months into Johnson’s term, with the exception of murder, the crime rate continues to rise in Chicago. To be fair, not everything is Johnson’s fault. Until December, Chicago is plagued with a George Soros-so-called prosecutor, Kim Foxx. And last fall, Illinois’ SAFE-T Act, which abolishes cash bail, went into effect. 

Chicago has about 11,000 police officers, and Johnson’s handpicked police chief, Larry Snelling, says the CPD is short 2,000 cops. 

It’s a glorious new era for criminals. They are emboldened because they don’t fear getting caught, and if they are arrested, Chicago’s criminals have a decent chance of not getting punished.

As I have here before, I am going to list some recent headlines from the essential CWB Chicago:

Yes, a man was shot near the home of the man who signed SAFE-T Act into law. And let me reiterate, these are recent CWB Chicago stories, the oldest is from three days ago. And notice the anarchic nature, when digested together, of these crimes.

Yes, lawbreakers are emboldened in Chicago. A look at this X video from 16th & 17th District Chicago Police Scanner. Police were dispatched to break up a raucous party. Just a few years ago such a police call would be termed “routine.” Look at how these beasts, many recording the mayhem, react. One law enforcement officer is struck in the head while some women twerk, as if they are in a porn video, in response.

On the upside, the jackals are multi-racial. Even as it’s falling apart, Chicago is coming together.

Chicago’s 16th Police District, on the Northwest Side, was considered a safe place to live. No place is safe in Chicago. On a personal note, my daughter and one of my sisters live within the district’s boundaries.

Also from 16th & 17th District Chicago Police Scanner, is this disturbing sign outside the entrance of the 16th Police District station, which because only one cop is working the desk there, advises crime victims to drive to another police station if they want faster service.

Citywide, the complaints from residents calling 911 and having to wait hours for police to respond are piling up.

In two months, the Democratic National Convention will convene in Chicago. Thousands of protesters rioters are expected to descend upon the city.

And the Chicago Police Department, because of staff shortages, cannot even handle a normal weekend.

Chicago’s Summer of Misery is here.

As of this writing, 3:45pm CDT Sunday June 16, there have been 38 people who have been shot in Chicago. Six of them, including a 13-year-old boy, are dead.

UPDATE June 17:

Last weekend ended up being an extremely violent one. The final shooting total, for now, for last weekend in Chicago was 71 people shot and nine killed. There were two mass shootings early Monday morning an hour apart from each other.

Here is coverage of one of the Monday mass shootings.

Welcome to Detroit.

John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

The Growing Election 2024 Preference Cascade

Posted: June 9, 2024 by datechguy in Always look at the bright side of Trump, election 2024, elections
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Prime Minister James Hacker:  If there were a conflict of interests which side would the civil service really be on?

Bernard Woolley:  The winning side prime Minister

Yes Prime Minister:  A Real Partnership 1985

If there is one axiom in the political world it’s that people want to be on the winning side because it’s the winning side that will decide who gets the contracts and patronage that comes from government.

Furthermore it’s the losing side that tends to get scrutiny and if you are someone doing something dishonest or if the people who decide to examine you (think J6 committee) are dishonest.

This is what came to my mind when I saw this story:

On Friday, in a Fox News exclusive interview, former President Donald Trump reportedly received $12 million from tech company giants in the Silicon Valley fundraiser Thursday evening, and gained the expected endorsement from one of the Valley’s heavy hitters, David Sacks:

and this one:

You see people are figuring out which way the wind is blowing and have decided that it might be a good idea to follow that breeze rather than sail against it. They might not care for Trump and they may or may not have pure motives for it but they don’t want to be on the wrong side when all is said and done.

There is a passage in the book Lord Hornblower that is a great example of how such things work:

Two hours” said Hornblower “will be ample for all preparations to be made, for the deputation to assemble, for the streets to be decorated, for quarters to be prepared for His Royal Highness and his’s suite.”

“Monsieur, you do not understand all that this implies” protested the Mayor. “It means ”

“It means that you have having to decide whether to enjoy the King’s favour or not” .said Hornblower. “That is the choice before you.”

C. S. Forester: Lord Hornblower 1946

Now even late in the Napoleonic Wars such a decision to come out against Bonaparte carried danger, unfortunately for the Democrats this is the person they are crying Vive L’Empereur! for.

and this:

You don’t need the Journal to tell you that Biden is diminished. You need only to open your eyes. Go over Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report into Biden’s unauthorized removal of classified documents. Review Biden’s Oval Office meltdown after Hur released his findings. Watch Biden try to sit at a D-Day commemoration in France on Thursday.

Or read, if you dare, the transcript of Time magazine correspondent Massimo Calabresi and editor in chief Sam Jacobs’s recent interview of Biden. It appeared the same day as Linskey and Hughes’s story.

This is the interview where Biden says—twice—that Russia invaded Russia. Where, immediately after saying, “I’m not going to comment,”

or even this:

I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest if you’re reached the point of low level comics offering to hump a black voter if they come out against Trump odds are your side is not putting the fear of God into anyone..

The people see the writing on the wall and are acting accordingly.

Under the Fedora: Jonah Goldberg and the New Rules, Pride Month Savings on Sports, The annual Business ritual, More Utilitarian Candidates, What Bread of Life Discourses?

Posted: June 3, 2024 by datechguy in Blame Trump, business, catholic, culture, election 2024, elections, politics, Sports, under the fedora
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This weekend Jonah Goldberg noted that a lot of people on the right were comparing Trump to Christ and weren’t taking into account the idea that he cheated on his wife with a porn star.

Well there are two things I’d like to say to that. While Jonah is of course free do disagree on the merits of either verdict the fact is we compare Trump to Christ because Trump we believe both were found guilty unjustly, not of sleeping around but of a completely made up bookkeeping felony, so like Christ he was unjustly found guilty. Nobody (with the possible exception of Laura Loomer) on the right compares Trump to Christ’s divinity.

Second while I do in fact find it plausible that a really rich guy decided to bang a porn star and tried to keep it quiet (frankly I’d hate to have my performance in bed judged by a professional) folks like me who under the old rules thought such things should be disqualifying were massively outvoted on said rules so until the left decides to go back to said rules we aren’t either.

We’re in the middle of a baseball season where the Redsox have a great crop of young players and at the end of a basketball season where the Celtics are in the finals with a solid shot of winning and least we forget the Pats have a new 1st round QB and an old Brady era vet to mentor him. All these things are strong temptations to have me pony up for one of various sports packages from NESN to MLB to NBA etc etc etc…

…and then June roles around and all the professional teams go out of their way to remind me that they are not on my side in the culture wars and suddenly radio and hitting a local bar/restaurant to watch a game rather then giving these guys my money becomes an attractive alternative.

My thanks to various leagues for helping me appreciate the joy of free sports.

Oh and the annual ritual of business shoving gay pride down our throats in the west while making it a point to avoid the same in the middle east continues as always, with BMW actually admitting what we all know that it’s all about the risk and reward of the mob.

Of course in a new years the Ghastly Tom Hagan math will catch up with the west and when it does the west will drop their pride campaigns faster than the Democrats dropped Israel

Speaking of a lack of principles there are quite a few GOP candidates who had been pushing their pro-life credentials in the past who suddenly find themselves willing to compromise on life to gain higher office.

Now there are no shortage of Democrats who run as republicans in red states or republican who run as dems in blue states to get power nor is there a shortage in either party of people whose primary principle is to advance their political power. And the reality is that given the number of honest men & women in politics you likely can’t get a majority without these sorts.

So when there is no other choice by all means elect them but keep such folks away from the true levers of party power because people willing to sell out their principles or their God will have little trouble selling you.

Finally episode one of the Chosen is available free and those who expected to see the aftermath of the feeding of the 5000 and the calming of the waters which closed last season might have been shocked to see they went back to Luke Chapter 1 to the Visitation as their lead.

Granted they decided to knock off John the Baptist in episode one but if there is one thing you could always be sure of in any protestant movie about Christ skips the 6th chapter of John once it reaches verse 26 the beginning of the bread to life discourses. The only exception being word for word adaptions of Gospel.

Given that The Chosen is a TV series rather than a movie there would have been more than enough time to include them but as Catholic as Jonathan Roumie is, he does not have creative control so the bread of life discourses had to go.

Don’t get me wrong, it was a good episode and I liked the juxtaposition of the Canticle of Zachariah (the Morning Prayer of the Catholic Church) with the scenes of John’s end and the reaction to it but some things never change, and if you were expecting to see The Chosen break that mold you will be mistaken.

Oh and I’d watch it via the youtube live stream because the loading time of the app seems to be very slow likely due to the sheer number of people trying to watch it there.

Meta AI on Facebook gives biased answers on Biden and Trump’s health

Posted: June 2, 2024 by John Ruberry in election 2024, News/opinion, opinion/news, politics
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By John Ruberry

Artificial Intelligence, AI for short, is dangerous.

Musical instruments can be used to create beautiful and soul-stirring music, such as Beethoven’s 9th Symphony; they can also be abused to grind out aural rubbish such as Screaming Lord Sutch’s Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends, which a BBC poll found to be the worst album of all time.

Artificial intelligence can be twisted to produce ugliness, distortions, and lies.

On my smartphone, I asked Meta AI, thru Facebook, “Is Biden healthy?”

This is the answer I received:

President Joe Biden has generally been considered healthy for his age. In 2021, his physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, released a medical report stating that Biden was “healthy” and “vigorous” and that he was fit to serve as president.

However, like many people his age, Biden has had some health issues, including:

– A history of brain aneurysms (Successfully treated in 1988).
– A pulmonary embolism (treated in 1988).
– Atrial fibrillation (an irregular heartbeat).
– High cholesterol.
– Acid reflux.
– A minor foot fracture in 2020.
– COVID-19 in 2022 (mild symptoms).

Despite these issues, Biden has maintained an active schedule and has been cleared by his doctors to continue serving as president.

While I am not a doctor, but clearly the president is that the president is “an old 81” and at the very least, should submit to a full cognitive exam from a qualified and unbiased team of psychiatrists.

Meta AI doesn’t mention Biden’s frequent mental wanderings, the most recent of which was last month’s disastrous Biden press conference that was abruptly ended by Karine Jean-Pierre.

Let’s check into Meta AI’s opinion on the presumptive Republican nominee for president, Donald J. Trump.

“Is Trump healthy?”

Former President Donald Trump’s health has been a subject of interest and controversy. In 2019, his then-personal physician, Dr. Harold Bornstein, wrote a letter stating that Trump was in “excellent physical health” and that his lab results were “astonishingly excellent.” However, there have been some concerns and controversies surrounding Trump’s health, including:

– Obesity (he is reportedly 6’3″ and weighed 230 pounds in 2019).
– High cholesterol.
– A history of fast food consumption and poor diet.
– Questions about his mental health and cognitive abilities.
. – A bout of COVID-19 in 2020 (he was hospitalized for a few days).
– A history of esophageal reflux and sleep apnea.

It’s important to note that Trump’s health records have not been fully disclosed, and some of his medical information has been disputed or controversial.

Shameful.

As the Washington Post says, “Democracy dies in darkness.” It can also choke to death from lies.

Yes, Trump’s diet sucks and he’s overweight. Yet one Meta AI distortion about Trump jumps out: “Questions about his mental health and cognitive abilities.” Trump’s political rallies are an exercise of streams of consciousness. No one ever questioned James Joyce’s cognitive abilities. The same goes for legendary baseball manager Casey Stengel. Trump’s mind is as sharp as a pin, while Biden can’t even make it through a brief speech in front of a teleprompter.

“Controversy” and “controversial” are used in Meta AI’s account of Trump’s health, but not in Biden’s health rundown.

I could go on and on, but two more things: I’ve always been skeptical about the established line that Biden’s “minor foot fracture” was the result of the then-president-elect playing with his dog. And while Meta AI while mentions that Trump suffers from sleep apnea, it’s been widely reported–but not by Meta AI–that Biden uses a CPAP machine to treat his sleep apnea.

If America ever collapses, an Edward Gibbon of the future will need to include a chapter or two about social media in that account of the decline and fall.

I played around the Meta AI a bit more, not every answer about Trump’s health was a biased as the one documented here, but perhaps Meta AI was getting wise to me.

I’m sure Meta AI has a file on me that includes the words “right-wing lunatic.”

John Ruberry regularly blogs, without the use of AI, at Marathon Pundit.

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