Just a reminder to the left that if they had treated Donald Trump as a normal pol right now they would be less than sixteen months away from not having to worry about him ever again.
We are just reaching the point where a lot of people, including women who grew up on porn now have families and all of the stuff I suggested to you might suddenly become normalized is out there with a lot worse to come.
People seem to be surprised that CNN & MSNBC continue to deny the Biden scandals, but I can’t see why after all when you have two stations fighting for an increasingly niche market you need to keep moving in that direction to keep it going.
Finally in my 1971 Dynasty league my team has collapse losing 14 of 15 series and the fire sale is on, Frank Howard, Phil Gagliano and Ray Lamb are already gone and Ken Sanders, Tommie Agee and even Ron Fairly may follow as I look for prospects and draft picks to rebuild, wish me luck.
Last week, during a run on the North Branch Trail at Harms Woods in Skokie, Illinois, a speeding cyclist came close to running me over and causing enormous physical harm to me.
And that got me thinking.
Chicagoans voted for a handful when they elected Brandon Johnson as mayor. He’s a leftist whose candidacy was pretty much paid for by the Chicago Teachers Union.
In July, his transition team released “A Blueprint for Creating a More Just and Vibrant City for All,” their gameplan for America’s third-largest city. In it you’ll find a recommendation that Chicago should “lower the default citywide speed limit to 20 mph generally and 10 mph on residential streets.” Currently, unless otherwise posted, the statewide urban default speed limit, when no signs are posted, is 30 miles per hour.
That means for what you might call a through street, or an arterial street, such as Cicero Avenue or 111th Street, unless posted differently–and yes, possibly higher–the speed limit is 30-mph. Expressways have a 55-mph speed limits in Chicago.
Residential streets, or what Chicagoans have always called side streets, appear to also have a 30-mph speed limit too. Although, common sense–there are pockets of it here and there in the city–compels most drivers to motor along around 20-mph. The many stop signs on Chicago side streets, as well as the numerous but not-so-clearly marked speed bumps, which are tall enough to scrape the bottoms of most sedans and SUVs if you are driving too fast–are another form of discipline. And believe it or not, many drivers keep an eye out for pedestrians and cyclists. I do.
An aside: A Southwest Side man, fed up with an alley speed bump damaging his car, removed it. He was fined $500.
These proposed lower speed limits are another bad idea from Chicago, which seems destined to be passed in population soon by Houston. It’s another utopian parlor game idea brought to the mainstream. Most people, even those who don’t drive cars, probably agree with me. Our economy and our society are auto-centric and will remain so indefinitely. Disclosure: I work in the automotive industry. People like their cars. And if people don’t own one, often they wish they did.
That’s not to say that bike riders have a legitimate beef about idiotic and reckless drivers. Many cyclists are severely injured and killed by cars. While running, I’ve been nearly hit by an automobile a few times. But bikers aren’t all angels either. More on that in a bit.
Now one thing conservatives and moderates don’t do, is yell and scream when liberals present fringe ideas. “That’ll never happen,” is a typical response they offer.
Abolishment of cash bail is one of those “loony” ideas that no one took seriously ten years ago. Well, liberals kept pushing, albeit slowly at first, but next week the SAFE-T Act takes effect in Illinois–it abolishes cash bail. The defund the police movement–and some municipal police departments, not in Illinois, did see cuts in funding. Defund the police was another left-wing parlor game dream concept. Thankfully there has been some pushback lately. The left’s war on popular home appliances, such as natural gas stoves, dishwashers, and even ceiling fans, has begun.
One can view the low default speed limit movement as a secondary front of government’s war on internal combustion engine automobiles. But Chicago drivers, few of whom drive EVs, also have to cope with seemingly omnipresent red-light cameras as well as speed cameras that spew out tickets to motorists for driving just 6-mph over the speed limit. A 20-mph arterial street speed limit offers a new revenue stream for Chicago, which, because of unfunded pension mandates, is functionally bankrupt.
Why aren’t more Chicagoans going full “Howard Beale?” He was the tormented antihero in the Network movie. You know, sticking your head out of the window of your home and screaming, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it anymore!” Watch the clip in the link. And the Howard Beale reaction works much better in cities.
Oh, let me return to those bicycle riders. Presumably, the proposed default 20-mph speed limit in Chicago would also apply to them. Or would it? What I call the cyclist lobby possesses the imperiousness of the green movement and the aggressiveness of a testosterone rush after a brutal workout.
Prior to the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, I saw many senior-citizen regulars on the North Branch Trail during my runs. But lockdown queen Lori Lightfoot, Johnson’s predecessor as mayor, closed Chicago’s Lakefront Bike Trail.
Where did the cyclists go?
Some brought their bikes, or rode them, to the North Branch Trail. Several cyclists nearly ran me over in 2020. My guess is that they were speeding along well over 30 mph. Did I say speeding? Harms Woods is part of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, and the speed limit on paved and dirt trails is 15 miles per hour. I suspect there were many complaints about these Tour de France wannabes, because in 2021 I noticed newly posted 15 mph speed limit signs on these trails. A year or so later, all of those signs were gone. Likely there were more complaints, but not from the same people. And not only were those speed limit signs gone, but so were those elderly trail walkers. Those hiking regulars never returned.
Wait, there’s more!
Many of these speeding trail cyclists ride three abreast on a very narrow trail. And it’s now a rarity when I hear a bell ring, horn honk, or an “on your left” shout out from cyclists passing me during a run.
The photograph at the top of this post is of the North Branch Trail during the 2020 lockdown.
When I pass a walker or a runner on a path, I always say, “On your left.” My parents taught me manners.
Oh, until the running and cyclist paths were separated on Chicago’s Lakefront Trail, I experienced numerous close collision calls with cyclists while running there. Just as when there is a crash between cyclist and a car the “winner” of that collision is obvious, so it is when a bicyclist plows over a runner, particularly one like me, who is nearing retirement age. But don’t feel sorry for me. When it’s between me and a cyclist racing up an elevated bridge on the North Branch Trail over a busy street, I usually prevail.
Northeast of where I live is Sheridan Road, which bisects some of the wealthiest communities in America. Sometimes I see packs of bicyclists of more than a dozen, zooming in and out of traffic, seemingly oblivious to cars.
While I don’t see those bike packs within Chicago’s city limits, with a 20-mph default speed limit, will emboldened cyclists misbehave recklessly in the same manner?
As for myself, I can take solace knowing that in three months the North Branch Trail will be nearly bike rider-free. Winter will be here, and the cyclists will retreat into hibernation. As they will in Chicago, whether there is a 20-mph speed limit or not.
While I see fewer runners on the trails on rainy days, particularly cold ones, I almost never see cyclists.
Say what you will about automobiles, but they have roofs and windshield wipers, as well as heating and air conditioning. Unless your car’s A/C is broken, unlike a cyclist commuting to work on a hot summer day, you won’t need to shower when you arrive at your jobsite to remove newly acquired body odor.
Oh, on occasion, I do ride a bicycle. And yes, I’m one of the good ones.
UPDATE September 12:
They’re not all gone! During this morning run, I saw a 15 mph “Share the Trail” sign in Harms Woods just north of Golf Road. I also saw many cyclists–and one jerk on a motorized bike–going much faster.
The whole point of Jacksonianism is “You leave me alone and I’ll leave you alone. You play fair with me and I’ll play fair with you. But if you fuck with me, I’ll kill you.”
I have a friend my age, a devout Catholic who was voting Republican long before I ever considered it who I occasionally get together with for breakfast where we talk sports, religion and politics.
He is appalled at what the left has been doing and has been most applauded and shocked by the blatant lying that we’re seeing being presented without challenge by media etc.
Yet despite all of this there is one thing that he’s said blatantly which surprised me, if Trump is the GOP nominee he will not vote for him. He’ll leave the presidential column blank.
I’ve argued that this is foolish and objectively pro-Biden and his answer is this: He believes that if Trump is re-elected the term will be all about vengeance against the left rather than getting things does and he doesn’t want any part of that.
I think he’s likely right about Trump seeking vengeance bit but I think it’s a feature rather than a bug, not because I want political vengeance to be the rule but because I don’t and the best way to explain why such vengeance is the best way to stop the use of government as a tool against the party not is power is to make sure that both parties suffer the consequences of such a thing.
I plan on bringing this up next time we meet for breakfast…or I can just send him this link to Kurt Schlichter who explains that this vengeance is vital better than I do:
First he notes that this is exactly the situation he didn’t want:
I am not for any of this. I think this is a bad idea. I warned people against creating these New Rules where you use the law, or, instead, you twist the law like some sort of Tibetan yogi into unrecognizable forms and shapes in order to trap your political enemies. I am on record saying it’s a bad idea. I still think it’s a bad idea. But what I think doesn’t matter. The New Rules are now The Rules, and it’s time to use them like Eric Swalwell used Fang Fang.
Quickly and unpleasantly for the recipient.
He points to this site which makes the case against this idea and I will quote it at the end of this piece but let’s make the point he is making and that point is all about consequences:
What about all the people who conspired to prevent Missouri citizens or citizens of Oklahoma or Idaho or Alabama or Florida or any other state not dominated by freaking communists from speaking freely on social media? It’s been a while since I’ve been at law school, but I think that the First Amendment still makes free speech a right, and if you’re interfering with the right to speak freely, well, that’s a conspiracy to RICO a felony rights fraud or something. Blah, blah, blah. It doesn’t really matter. You just take the present indictments against the people challenging an election that they thought was rigged, and you add a few facts. You change some theories from trying to challenge a disputed election to trying to keep people from saying what they think about the election shenanigans, and you file that.
They will scream and yell, and I think it will be funny. And I think it will be beautiful too. I am a big fan of symmetry. What they do to us, we do to them twice as hard. Suddenly, a whole bunch of them will be looking to the fed courts to 86 these nonsense cases, and, luckily for them, I think the federal courts will eventually throw out these nonsense Trump cases and create a precedent for throwing out theirs. Or not. So, they may beat the rap, but they will take the ride, just like thousands of good conservatives had to when leftists manipulated the legal system to screw over their political enemies.
emphasis mine
That is the entire point. Until there are actual consequences to actions they will keep happening, and as an example of this I cite the minor miracle that happened in a city that suddenly decided to enforce laws concerning homeless camps that they had previously ignored:
Murals along Commercial Street in downtown San Diego have long been blocked by encampments. Yet at the start of the week, no tents could be seen on either side of the road. The same went for the people who’d been living in them.
“There were hundreds,” Bob McElroy, president and CEO of the Alpha Project shelter, said in an interview. “Where did they go?”
In short once there were consequences behavior changed. Now if consequences make a difference to a homeless drug addict with very little to lose, how much more would consequences matter to a rich pol or a civil servant with money and position and pension to be put at risk?
Schlichter speaks a very uncomfortable truth in closing:
We should never have gotten this far. But we did. And if we ever want to go back, we better roll up our sleeves and be prepared to get our hands dirty because you can never be submissive enough that they won’t try and destroy you.
I’ll be voting DeSantis in the primary as I suspect my friend will too. DeSantis has actually made the best case against the path of vengeance without trying and it’s illustrated by the piece quoted by Kurt noting the other side of the argument:
All across the country, Governors have been quietly using that exact same “broken” system to achieve exactly the kind of victories we all say we want. They have fired George Soros backed prosecutors. They have removed CRT and gender ideology from grade schools. They have banned transgender athletes from taking opportunities away from women. They have banned vaccine mandates and protected businesses from forced closures. They have delivered on wildly popular School Choice programs. They have forced “Sanctuary States” to endure the consequences of their virtue signalling on illegal immigration. And they have fought the worst excesses of woke corporations who would use DEI and ESG to punish those who refuse to vote the way they want them to.
The careers of these Governors and other elected officials across the country are a testament, a stark refutation of the Conservative black pill position on the coming elections in 2024.
Indeed, Ron DeSantis in particular has been so successful at using our allegedly “broken” system to re-Conservatize Florida that he’s accidentally created an entire genre of social media engagement… the “I’m a Progressive and here’s why I had to flee Florida” post.
That’s a pretty good point and those successes are one of the reason I’m voting DeSantis in the primary but that ignores one fact. If we push on the state level but abandon the federal level to the left’s actions then eventually they will have enough federal judges whose primary commitment is to ideology rather than law to upend all of these state level reforms. Already we have a members of the Supreme Court citing falsehoods in opinions, once there are five who are committed to ideology rather than law then the next civil war is simply a matter of time.
I much prefer the DeSantis route and will continue to argue for his nomination but if I’m unsuccessful and Trump is the nominee I’ll try my best to make the case to my friend to join me in voting for him. I’ll cite Kurt and I’m make my points but in the end people are going to have to decide if they want to give whoever is ruling us four more years to use federal agencies to destroy us.
Yesterday I mentioned that If I was a Trump supporter I’d be pushing the Tucker interview with Orban because of his (correct) statements about the Trump foreign policy which was great if you want peace, but not so great if you want graft for one’s friends.
Now in the aftermath of the hurricanes that hit Florida it’s DeSantis’ turn. He skipped campaign events to head back and take charge which is both the right and the smart thing to do and the wheels are in motion.
The first thing that jumps out at you is that the media seem to be determined to ignore the storm aftermath, this is likely due to the comparison to Biden after Maui to wit:
Governor DeSantis is making him look terrible so he decided he better get to work. Lol https://t.co/8RMG2V2T7k
— GAgirl1967❤️🖤 wishes y’all a blessed 2024! (@Tamzilla_52) August 31, 2023
But the real kicker is this video:
DESANTIS WARNS LOOTERS AFTER #IDALIA: "We are not gonna tolerate any looting in the aftermath."
"You never know what you're walking into […] This part of Florida – you got a lot of advocates and proponents of the 2nd Amendment […] 'You loot, we shoot.'" pic.twitter.com/beEzGum7Ba
You loot, we shoot. If governors of blue states took this attitude a few years ago US history would have been quite different.
If I’m the DeSantis campaign I distribute this far and wide and by the way, have you noticed how quickly the aftermath of the hurricane became a complete non-story.
Why? Because there is no way to spin it that makes DeSantis look anything but good so Hurricane idalia? That’s old news.
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