Patterico's Pontifications

2/24/2015

The Continuing Audacity Of Scott Walker

Filed under: General — Dana @ 6:17 am



[guest post by Dana]

Scott Walker, refusing to kowtow to the media’s shameful “gotcha” game, is instead shrewdly taking advantage of the “press” he’s been getting and using it as a fundraising springboard. This in spite of his insidious and cowardly behavior which is causing Dana Milbank’s head to most amusingly explode.

In a bold move, Walker refused to be baited in answering the latest “gotcha” of whether he thought Obama was a Christian:

“To me, this is a classic example of why people hate Washington and, increasingly, they dislike the press. The things they care about don’t even remotely come close to what you’re asking about.

Team Walker, recognizing an opening, sent the following email out to supporters:

Governor Scott Walker has always believed in standing up for big, bold ideas.

And he refuses to be distracted by the small, petty, and pale ideas that the “gotcha” headline writers for the Liberal Media want to talk about. He refuses to be drawn into the sideshow of answering pointless questions about whether and how much President Obama loves our country. To Governor Walker, what matters are ideas, issues, his record, and results. If you agree, please stand with him with a contribution of $10, $35, $50, $100, $250, or more.

When you have a record like President Obama and the Democrats’, the last thing you want to talk about are results. That is why their defenders in the mainstream media love to distract the public. That is why they sensationalize the news, promote Democrat propaganda, and demonize Republicans.

Enough is enough.

Now is the time to stand up against the publicity hounds and the journalistic pack, and help Governor Walker fight back with a “Friends of Scott Walker” contribution of $10 or $100 or $1,000 or whatever amount is right for you. Your support will show the clueless and mindless journalistic herd that you know what matters most and that it is not the pointless minutiae that they are pushing.

Of course, not everyone thinks Walker is being smart about his handling of the press:

The challenge for a new presidential candidate is not limited to coming up with a cogent answer for how you would win the war against ISIS or raise wages. You’ve also got to come up with a strategy for handling the circus. You can engage, duck, or turn it to your advantage. Walker is trying to transform a duck into a weapon by making the press an issue.

Time will tell, but for a lot of us, enough is indeed, enough.

–Dana

UPDATE BY PATTERICO: I think Walker is leaving some rhetorical opportunity on the table. I think he should say, as I have said here recently: “I don’t know if Barack Obama is a Christian or not. What I do know, however, is that he used his claimed Christianity to sell an opportunistic political lie about his beliefs on gay marriage to the American public. I think we need leaders who won’t lie to the citizens, about their religious beliefs or anything else.”

404 Responses to “The Continuing Audacity Of Scott Walker”

  1. Good morning.

    Dana (86e864)

  2. Jeb Bush says that unlike Scott Walker HE would never question President Barack Obama’s motives.

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  3. nk says Jeb Bush should go lick a cowflop.

    nk (dbc370)

  4. Dickerson reads like a white house talking point.
    Walker comes across as his own man, I hope he can withstand the pressure from his own party.

    mg (31009b)

  5. Are you voting for mayor and alderman, today?

    nk (dbc370)

  6. i’m not

    i don’t have my ducks in a row for to do that

    my ducks are all cattywampus

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  7. if i get this one project done though i might skate out of here early and kinda do a practice run

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  8. iow you’re not registered. right, happyfeet?

    elissa (068f28)

  9. mg,

    I agree re Dickerson, but I think he’s a good representation of the prevailing views of our betters in the media. All in all, it makes me more confident in Walker’s tactics out the gate. Of course, this will change as the race picks up, but for now, making a clear and independent stand seems as good and needful thing.

    Dana (49190a)

  10. elissa no i am not registered to vote per se

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  11. I’m looking forward to pulling the lever for 2 Democrats today. 😐

    I confess that Rahmbo is kind of growing on me. And my Alderman is good people.

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  12. I seem to remember Obama did not have any ideas on which to campaign other than Republicans had cooties until about a month left in the 2012 campaign after enough people noticed and criticized him for it. The media has very short memories.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  13. feets – there is no same-day registration for municipal elections.

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  14. no but I can practice the leaving work early part

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  15. What carlitos said. I like my alderman. I’ll vote for Rahm but not because I especially like him. Because after 70 years of Irishmen spending like drunken Irishmen the city’s finances are in terrible shape. We need one of “them people” who’s good with money, and it’s not the Mexican.

    nk (dbc370)

  16. UPDATE BY PATTERICO: I think Walker is leaving some rhetorical opportunity on the table. I think he should say, as I have said here recently: “I don’t know if Barack Obama is a Christian or not. What I do know, however, is that he used his claimed Christianity to sell an opportunistic political lie about his beliefs on gay marriage to the American public. I think we need leaders who won’t lie to the citizens, about their religious beliefs or anything else.”

    Patterico (9c670f)

  17. oh goodness Mr. Scott doesn’t need to get all weird about gay marriage

    he’s doing so well without pandering to those people

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  18. I like my alderman. I’ll vote for Rahm but not because I especially like him

    Jeez, talk about damning with faint praise.

    Someone said Chicago is one-third San Francisco, two-thirds Detroit. Or what’s true of quite a few typical urban American areas, or nations like Mexico, Greece, etc. Or analogous to two dyed-in-the-wool-liberal citadels where the present and future — and whether it’s good or bad — will always be clinging to non-political, non-ideological factors, because most of the electorate is quite drunk on (or resigned to) the idea that being “progressive” is a prerequisite.

    Hope and change.

    Mark (c160ec)

  19. Where do you live, Mark?

    nk (dbc370)

  20. the whole game is fundamental transformation, whether it’s at 100 miles an hour with Obama, or 50 with Hillary,

    narciso (ee1f88)

  21. the question is, why is Guiliani saddled with asking the hard questions?

    narciso (ee1f88)

  22. the journalist will always ask the irrelevant question,

    narciso (ee1f88)

  23. You cannot hope to bribe or twist

    (thank God!) the American journalist,

    but considering what the man will do

    unbribed, there’s no occasion to.

    Gabriel Hanna (64d4e1)

  24. My suggestion: “…Says he is. Why do you ask?” I suspect he’ll get better at turning these questions around with more national exposure, but look at how much the conversation has turned already.

    crazy (cde091)

  25. that’s journolist with an o,

    narciso (ee1f88)

  26. If Walker could get a measly 20 republicans to carry on with his type of rhetoric to the media, it would help the conservatives cause immensely. Take the media off the narrative that conservatives are the problem.

    mg (31009b)

  27. ==Someone said ==
    Oh good grief. As usual, Mark has no clue. But as usual, that doesn’t stop him from spouting stuff about Chicago as if he actually does know something about it. He’d be so much better off not listening to what some unnamed “someone said” and his comments might make more sense, too.

    nk and Carlitos, I do understand. And for what it’s worth, if I still lived in Chicago proper with the available ballot choices I’d be voting for Rahm for mayor today, too.

    elissa (068f28)

  28. Patterico:

    What I do know, however, is that he used his claimed Christianity to sell an opportunistic political lie about his beliefs on gay marriage to the American public. I think we need leaders who won’t lie to the citizens, about their religious beliefs or anything else

    You may know that, I may know that, the people who read your blog post

    https://patterico.com/2015/02/10/david-axelrod-obama-deliberately-lied-to-voters-about-gay-marriage/

    …about Obama saying David Axelrod’s claim in a book doesn’t proper;y disntinguish between her personal position on gay marriage and his political position

    ..may know that

    But I don’t think Scott Walker knows that. He could know that, if he has a good research staff, but I don’t know taht he does.

    This hasn’t been picked up. Barack Obama largely got away with that excuse.

    There’s another problem: Scott Walker may not want to say what his personal view on gay marriage is.

    Sammy Finkelman (e806a6)

  29. If he’d only learn a little Geography and mention Lagos, Moldavia and Bhutan once in a while as a change from Detroit, Venezuela and Greece, it might not be so tiresome. Or Akron, Abu Dhabi and Srpska-Boznia-Herzegovinia even.

    nk (dbc370)

  30. Walker should go after the N.E.A. ask the next hack reporter if they believe the finished product 1-12 is money well spent for the children or the union?

    mg (31009b)

  31. 2. happyfeet (a037ad) — 2/24/2015 @ 6:47 am

    Jeb Bush says that unlike Scott Walker HE would never question President Barack Obama’s motives.

    Unlike RUDOLPH GIULIAMI and he didn’t even mention Giuliani’s name. It’s a bit incoherent. This is not a question of motives. It only becomes motives if the accusation is that he despises America, and is working against U.S. interests, and that that’s the explanation for Barack Obama’s policy blunders, i.e. he’s doing all of that on purpose, because he wants to reduce the influence of the United States on the world.

    Sammy Finkelman (e806a6)

  32. Pound sand seems appropriate to me.

    DNF (c7ec2e)

  33. re #21: RG is not planning on running for Presidential slots plus he is a NewYorker. So certain self-censoring does not apply.

    I’m all for Walker’s approach as long as he does not actually throw redmeat to the MSM lackeys as Patterico suggests. Challenging the MSM’ers directly about their questions would be nice though.

    seeRpea (4be9c4)

  34. the press is a party to the scam:

    http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2015/02/24/pachauri-steps-down-as-head-of-u-n-climate-panel-after-sexual-harassment-allegation/

    Perfidious Albion is stalled in part because of sky dragon netting, and overrun with Salafi, but their big gotcha is evolution

    narciso (ee1f88)

  35. What about – Saint Looey, Joplin, Oklahoma City, Amarillo, Gallup,Flagstaff, Winona, Kingman, Barstow and San Bernardino?

    mg (31009b)

  36. Shorter Patterico update:

    “Well, if you look at the President’s sleeve, it says “Christian” but his actions belie that.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  37. yet another scam the press has facilitated:

    http://therightscoop.com/new-video-james-okeefe-investigates-al-sharpton/

    narciso (ee1f88)

  38. I’d like to see Gingrich take on the media again; he did a fine job of it in 2012.

    If you look at papers like the WaPo, it has gotten to be a full-court press. Ever little thing the GOP does is nitpicked to death, while Obama could be killing schoolchildren on the WH lawn and there wouldn’t be a peep.

    Any honest newspaperman would have to be embarrassed. Were there any. As Insty says, reporters are just political operatives with by-lines. And newspapers seem just another part of the Democrat machine.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  39. That’s a nice sharp formulation in Patterico’s update, one with which I have not a single quibble.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  40. Jeez, talk about damning with faint praise.

    Someone said Chicago is one-third San Francisco, two-thirds Detroit. Or what’s true of quite a few typical urban American areas, or nations like Mexico, Greece, etc. Or analogous to two dyed-in-the-wool-liberal citadels where the present and future — and whether it’s good or bad — will always be clinging to non-political, non-ideological factors, because most of the electorate is quite drunk on (or resigned to) the idea that being “progressive” is a prerequisite.

    Hope and change.

    Mark (c160ec) — 2/24/2015 @ 7:54 am

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  41. Whoops – hit ‘submit’ by mistake. Mark, what in the hell are you talking about? “Someone said” something – who was that? Drunk on the idea that being “progressive” is a prerequisite for what, exactly?

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  42. Regarding Chicago as an urban liberal bastion, check out this interesting cultural map of the United States. Cook County, along with DuPage, McHenry and some Rockford-type places sits in “Yankeedom.”

    YANKEEDOM. Founded on the shores of Massachusetts Bay by radical Calvinists as a new Zion, Yankeedom has, since the outset, put great emphasis on perfecting earthly civilization through social engineering, denial of self for the common good, and assimilation of outsiders. It has prized education, intellectual achievement, communal empowerment, and broad citizen participation in politics and government, the latter seen as the public’s shield against the machinations of grasping aristocrats and other would-be tyrants. Since the early Puritans, it has been more comfortable with government regulation and public-sector social projects than many of the other nations, who regard the Yankee utopian streak with trepidation. – See more at: http://www.tufts.edu/alumni/magazine/fall2013/features/up-in-arms.html#sthash.OlyOVlli.dpuf

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  43. but Obama DID sell his thinkings on gay marriage to the American public

    he sold it and they bought it

    and they’re happy with that purchase

    they even let a known admitted married gay homosexual host the oscars this year.. in his panties omg

    if Mr. Scott wants to take food stamp over his knew and give him a spanking there’s way more better issues to do that with

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  44. over his *knee* i mean

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  45. I’m looking forward to pulling the lever for 2 Democrats today. 😐

    I confess that Rahmbo is kind of growing on me. And my Alderman is good people.

    carlitos (c24ed5) — 2/24/2015 @ 7:30 am

    He has a date with a pretty ballerina… RRRRrrraaaaalllllppppphhhhh!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  46. I think we need leaders who won’t lie to the citizens, about their religious beliefs or anything else.”

    The Bible says let your yes mean yes and your no mean no.

    You don’t have to believe a word of it know whether someone who professes to be a Christian lives up to their own standards.

    Steve57 (e16ed8)

  47. Regarding Rahm-bo, it’s kind of eerie that the last 2 decades’ worth of Chicago mayors were such avid bicyclists. I used to see Daley on the lakefront path all the time – he went out at like 5:15AM for a long ride with this bodyguards. Rahm does triathlons. Bush Jr. was known for putting the Secret Service through his rides. JD – maybe there’s hope for you?

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  48. I read a post at Althouse linked at PowerLine.
    She said that any journalist who suggested Walker wasn’t ready for prime time and needed to answer questions better was wrong, and it’s the journalists who need to learn.
    He doesn’t get ruffled and he stays on point.
    Repeat 100x.

    The journalists forget that the left imported all they could into Madison to give him grief, and it didn’t accomplish much, just a big bill for WI taxpayers to clean up the mess.

    MD in Philly (f9371b)

  49. MD – I met some of the imported protestors once. I think it was at Louisville airport. They remind me of the morons that have marched in front of the Congress Hotel in Chicago for 20 or 30 years.

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  50. What I like about debates is that the candidates get to speak without the press choosing what the people can hear.

    Kevin M (56aae1)

  51. Why is it supposed to be wrong to be unaware of whether 0bama is a Christian? Is this some point of Christian theology, that if anyone claims to be one they must be taken at their word?

    I also don’t understand why 0bama is supposed to be a Christian. None of his parents, grandparents, step-parents and -grandparents, or anyone else involved in raising him was one. And though he joined a church, he later claimed to have been unaware of its teachings, and to have slept through the minister’s sermons. So where and how is he supposed to have become one?

    Milhouse (0204c1)

  52. Milhouse — who gives a crap?

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  53. anyone who votes for the status quo in 5hitcoghole deserves what they get.

    redc1c4 (b340a6)

  54. Kiss my ass, redc1c4.

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  55. jesus is the reason for the season

    lift high the cross the love of christ proclaim

    and heaven n nature sing and heaven n nature sing

    so endeth the lesson

    there will be cake and light refreshments in the annex

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  56. I enjoyed reading that Rahm’s police are running a black site where they disappear people into an old warehouse for interrogation and deprivation of rights.
    http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/24/chicago-police-detain-americans-black-site
    The place seems tougher than Gitmo which is known as the key to all growth in recruitment for groups like ISIS-it is not, not, the fact that ISIS looks like a winner and everyone loves a winner, its Gitmo, but I digress. Oh wait… tell me the time when Gitmo was the reason why daft teenage fangirls ran off to join al-Qaeda….

    So I really don’t care too much about this Chicago revelation, but the irony is burning.

    That and elissa and hf are voting today (along with the dead) whether they know it or not.

    I prefer Mexican gangbangers to Mexican activists. Some of the Mexicans here call Casa de la Raza “Casa de las Ratas” with cause and there is a group called PODER that even offends our hispanic socialist city councilwomen.
    The gangbangers are fairly easy to read and are all about respect and their business territory.
    The leadership are smart enough not to kill and eat the Golden Goose.
    Activists march around, draw unwanted attention, make Tia late for work and the little primos y primas cry… but they are useful in opposing injunctions and bulls*** like that so they are tolerated

    steveg (794291)

  57. I think that Scott Walker’s responses have been awesome (hence, the epic freak-out over them), but I also think that we have ourselves to blame for the current media. After the Left destroyed Sarah Palin in 2008 with nary a peep from the McCain campaign, after Joe the Plumber got reamed out, and after the character assassinations of the Tea Party, the media has good cause to think that this works. It’s like a child who has been able to throw a tantrum to get his sibling grounded, and having it work, every time.

    bridget (818c46)

  58. i don’t kiss trash, cerote, i bury it.

    go hop in a 5hitclogedhole and i’ll have one of my cats cover you up.

    redc1c4 (cf3b04)

  59. steveg, neither elissa nor feets are voting in the Chicago election today. If you were trying to make some sort of point, you did not succeed. Good luck with with your problems. Printing out this page and handing it to a mental health professional would be a good idea.

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  60. my irony meter just exploded.

    redc1c4 (cf3b04)

  61. cerote?

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  62. elissa and hf are voting today (along with the dead) whether they know it or not.

    reading be hard, yo!

    emphasis added for the mouth breathers amongst us. you know who they are, even if they haven’t a clue.

    redc1c4 (cf3b04)

  63. Not if they’re not registered.

    Milhouse (0204c1)

  64. What you said makes no sense. How are people who aren’t voting actually voting? Seriously?

    If you’re trying to make a point, please, for the love of God, make it in clear terms. This passive-aggressive routing makes you look like you can’t communicate.

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  65. routine. grr.

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  66. yet another scam the press has facilitated:

    So the president of a foundation that is raising money in the name of a burglar and would-be murderer is upset that Sharpton is all about the money? The irony, well, you know the rest.

    Milhouse (0204c1)

  67. What you said makes no sense. How are people who aren’t voting actually voting? Seriously?

    Come on, surely the meaning was obvious, especially in Chicago. Chicago is internationally famous for people voting without knowing it, let alone doing anything. But in this case it seems unlikely, because if they were registered they’d probably have got something in the mail and thus known about it.

    Milhouse (0204c1)

  68. Actually, no. It’s 2015. Registered voters vote, and we just state our name and sign the form. Imaginary “internationally known” conspiracies are imaginary, since about 4 decades ago.

    I hadn’t noticed it before, but this anti-Chicago bias is really weird. redc1c4 even has a cutesy insult that he uses to refer to our fair city. What in the hell are you people on about? It’s the third-largest metropolitan area in the country some of you claim to love.

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  69. better pinch yourself, carlitos… then breathe on a mirror, just to make sure.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  70. Actions speak louder than words – Valerie Jarrett runs the white house – What religion do you really think Obama associates with

    joe (debac0)

  71. Please get a grip people. I live in, and am registered in, and am an election judge in, a completely different county than Cook County where Chicago is located. Hope this helps.

    elissa (bc35c9)

  72. Actions speak louder than words – Valerie Jarrett runs the white house – What religion do you really think Obama associates with

    joe (debac0) — 2/24/2015 @ 2:29 pm

    Again, who gives a crap? Article 4, paragraph 3.

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  73. Actually, no. It’s 2015. Registered voters vote, and we just state our name and sign the form.

    And other registered voters vote without stating anything, signing anything, or even being aware that they are recorded as having voted.

    Milhouse (0204c1)

  74. And other registered voters vote without stating anything, signing anything, or even being aware that they are recorded as having voted.

    Milhouse (0204c1) — 2/24/2015 @ 2:38 pm

    And you have evidence, and you will please present it here?

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  75. Valerie Jarrett runs the white house – What religion do you really think Obama associates with

    That’s an odd juxtaposition. What religion (if any) do you think Jarret subscribes to, and why?

    Milhouse (0204c1)

  76. No, I have no evidence, and don’t feel the need for any. Chicago is notorious for this, and I see no reason to suppose it’s changed its ways.

    Milhouse (0204c1)

  77. No, I have no evidence, and don’t feel the need for any. Chicago is notorious for this, and I see no reason to suppose it’s changed its ways.

    Milhouse (0204c1) — 2/24/2015 @ 2:40 pm

    Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic.

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  78. http://t.co/ZxtpaOOnIo

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  79. Patrick, I disagree with your “update” idea. If Walker responded that way, he would be playing into the gotcha crowd. For better or for worse (I think the latter), the public at large doesn’t care for personal attacks on President Obama. They backfire on us. They’re red meat for partisans and those who follow this sort of thing closely, but they’re not successful at the national level. There are plenty of Republicans in Congress who call the President out on the sort of crap he’s pulled from the first day of his campaign, but they get little traction overall.

    Reagan was successful in large part because he attacked his opponents gently, and with humor. The public doesn’t care for the wonky kid who keeps trying to get people to listen to his serious critique. But a good, wry cut-down, with just the right grin, that can be very successful. So to the extent that Walker at some point needs to get a bit personal, I recommend that approach.

    PatHMV (987425)

  80. http://t.co/ZxtpaOOnIo

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/24/2015 @ 2:45 pm

    Oh my.

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  81. Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic.

    So tell me what evidence shows that it has changed its ways. Why would it? What compels it to? On the contrary, it’s so easy to vote in other people’s names that it stands to reason it happens in many places.

    Milhouse (0204c1)

  82. here in Lost Angels, we let aliens w*rk the polls…

    and, of course, vote in the elections as well. hell, we even give them driver’s licenses too.

    #Failifornia

    redc1c4 (cf3b04)

  83. So tell me what evidence shows that it has changed its ways. Why would it? What compels it to? On the contrary, it’s so easy to vote in other people’s names that it stands to reason it happens in many places.

    Milhouse (0204c1) — 2/24/2015 @ 2:51 pm

    Hi Milhouse,

    The way that claims and evidence work is that – you make a claim, you provide the evidence. I am not required to disprove the things that you claim. This has been true since around Aristotle’s time.

    You claimed that “other registered voters [in Chicago] vote without stating anything, signing anything, or even being aware that they are recorded as having voted.”

    You have now further claimed that “it’s so easy to vote in other people’s names” that it stands to reason it happens in many places.

    Please provide evidence for your claims. Or, you can retract them. That’s OK, too.

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  84. “and, of course, vote in the elections as well. hell, we even give them driver’s licenses too.

    #Failifornia”

    – redc1c4

    If you don’t like it, why don’t you just move to Mexico?

    /sarc

    Leviticus (f9a067)

  85. I lived in Mexico for a little while, and have vacationed there a ton. Californians bitching about Mexicans is a hoot. What, since none of you are actually from there, you feel entitled to demean the natives?

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  86. it was yo soy mexicano day at flaco’s tacos where you could get a vegan soy taco for just a buck

    but that’s just special for taco tuesday’s

    i brought a salad plus it’s cold cold cold

    but i bet they were tasty

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  87. i guess that should be *taco tuesdays*

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  88. i had kava kava tea for the first time today

    it kinda mellows you out

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  89. feets – now that you’re a local, get thee to the South Loop and Reggie’s Rock Club. Taco Mondays. $1 beef tacos, great music and lively conversation. If you can eat the beef and not soy, that is. But I’m pretty sure that they have gluten-free beer. Green line to Cermak, and walk a block north on state.

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  90. Well said, bridget #56.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  91. Here’s something Chicago has in common with many other big American cities.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  92. Chicago is number 7 on the list.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  93. Yeah, Chicago isn’t super great on non-segregation. I grew up in black neighborhoods for all my life, but I heard a lot of stories about the white flight in the 70’s and 80’s. My parents did it exactly wrong, buying in the south side at the wrong time. I live where I live now as a proactive attempt at re-integration.

    Is there a point to ripping on Chicago just now, DRJ?

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  94. People were discussing how Chicago is like Detroit and other big cities, and this is one way. Are we supposed to be defending Chicago or is this the usual Beat Up on Mark Day?

    DRJ (e80d46)

  95. OK bookmarked

    happyfeet (386da3)

  96. Most big cities are segregated across the nation. I don’t blame the cities. People decide where they want to live.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  97. Chicago is above need of defense. Mark is a tiresome broken record.

    nk (dbc370)

  98. FWIW I think Mark has a valid point to be concerned about liberal big cities like Chicago, Detroit and San Francisco. But it isn’t just the blue states that have that problem. Atlanta, Dallas, and other red state cities are segregated and liberal. IMO it’s an urban problem, but big cities in blue states have been dealing with liberal issues longer so it’s easier to see how liberal government has harmed them.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  99. Okay, so it’s Beat Up On Mark Day. Who’s next on the target list?

    DRJ (e80d46)

  100. ==People were discussing how Chicago is like Detroit and other big cities, and this is one way.==

    DRJ–if you can honestly read Mark’s comment at 18 and find any logic or make heads or tails of it with respect to the mayoral election today you are a better woman than I. Perhaps you’d be willing to translate it into layman’s terms.

    As to your links: Chicago currently has a population of around 2.7 million, and happens to have a lot of black people as residents along with a bunch of whites and hispanics, –and this is a way you see it as “like Detroit”, which has around 680,000 inhabitants and is almost all black? Are you sure this is the theme you want to go with?

    elissa (bc35c9)

  101. i was born and raised here, so i’ll gripe about criminal aliens all i want… and i want ALL the illegals deported, whether they come from Sonora or Sevastopol.

    and, if i wanted to live in a backwards, corrupt, third world hellhole, i’d move to Mexico, or 5hitcloggedhole, New Yak 5hitty, Delafilthia, Detrot, or any of the other former first world cities ruined by socialist swine and their Free 5hit Armies.

    redc1c4 (4db2c8)

  102. If Walker hires some people to prep him on deflating the press, and he is successful, will that give the republicans any courage to join in the battle?

    mg (31009b)

  103. So tell me what evidence shows that it has changed its ways. Why would it? What compels it to? On the contrary, it’s so easy to vote in other people’s names that it stands to reason it happens in many places.

    The way that claims and evidence work is that – you make a claim, you provide the evidence. I am not required to disprove the things that you claim. This has been true since around Aristotle’s time.

    You are the one who claims that Chicago has changed its ways, that what is well known to have happened there in the past no longer does. I am merely making the perfectly reasonable assumption that what was true continues to be true. Thus the onus of proof is on you.

    By the way, a rule of logic going back to long before Aristotle is that “that which is well known needs no proof”.

    Milhouse (9ccfc4)

  104. Mark asserted that “someone said” that chicago was 1/3 San Francisco and 2/3 Detroit. Who said this? Or is Mark telling porkies or Mis-remembering!

    As ever, I would be happy to be proven wrong. It would be easy. Tell me who said the above quote.

    DRJ’s characterization of this conversation does not strike me as being accurate.

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  105. I apologize to all the Chicago residents and fans who can’t see any way that Chicago is like Detroit or San Francisco.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  106. I would be curious to know if Chicago is like SF in one particular way.

    In San Francisco your average city pensioner collects more than your average private sector employee.

    Steve57 (e16ed8)

  107. Maybe you should stop reading the Chicago Tribune.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  108. I don’t know about Chicago but the least educated workers earn more in the public sector than in the private sector state-wide. I suspect it’s that way in a lot of states, including my state of Texas.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  109. Maybe I should stop reading.

    http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/City-pension-pays-more-than-average-worker-earns-2367116.php

    Here’s some fun facts. OK, maybe not so fun, depending on your perspective.

    The average retiree from San Francisco city government earns an annual pension of $46,272, according to the San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System. The average retiree who worked at least 30 years in city government earns an annual pension of $76,981….

    Steve57 (e16ed8)

  110. The best response to the “what is his religion?” question is: “He asserts to be a Protestant and I take him at his word. I might wish that his policies were more in tune with what I understand Christian teaching to be, but it’s a free country. Still.”

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  111. ou are the one who claims that Chicago has changed its ways, that what is well known to have happened there in the past no longer does. I am merely making the perfectly reasonable assumption that what was true continues to be true. Thus the onus of proof is on you.

    By the way, a rule of logic going back to long before Aristotle is that “that which is well known needs no proof”.

    Milhouse (9ccfc4) — 2/24/2015 @ 4:16 pm

    Just as a friendly reminder, here are your claims:

    And other registered voters vote without stating anything, signing anything, or even being aware that they are recorded as having voted.

    Milhouse (0204c1) — 2/24/2015 @ 2:38 pm

    it’s so easy to vote in other people’s names that it stands to reason it happens in many places.

    Milhouse (0204c1) — 2/24/2015 @ 2:51 pm

    Feel free to provide evidence for your claims. I’m not falling for your reversal of the burden of proof. Nor for your BS appeal to tradition regarding Chicago politics.

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  112. I think the reality is that all of us who live in big urban areas have to deal with some degree of governance by liberal Democrats. My little beach city has a generally moderate city council except for a couple of council members who are huge environmentalists and thus take a pretty negative tone towards business, but they are happily mostly outvoted 3-2 in major council votes. But as we move away from my city into Los Angeles County, I start to have to deal with the typical lifetime office holders who pander to the same powerful interest groups. I haven’t had a Republican member of Congress since 2000, I have never been represented by a Republican Senator, and only recently for the very first time did my state assembly district manage to elect a Republican.

    So what I am getting at is that I can understand the idea from our Chicago friends that while Rahm Emmanuel is certainly no conservative he is a whole lot better than what Chicago could easily have ended up with (I’m sure there is a Windy City version of Bill deBlasio or Antonio Villaragiosa waiting in the wings somewhere). This is what you come to understand when you are a conservative living in urban America: you learn to accept the least bad of a whole bunch of bad choices.

    JVW (854318)

  113. Mark asserted that “someone said” that chicago was 1/3 San Francisco and 2/3 Detroit. Who said this? Or is Mark telling porkies or Mis-remembering!

    As ever, I would be happy to be proven wrong. It would be easy. Tell me who said the above quote.

    Again, I would love to be proven wrong. I always learn something when that happens. DRJ, please. Embarrass me in this public forum. Prove me wrong. Who said that Chicago was 1/3 San Francisco and 2/3 Detroit? Or did Mark just make this up? And did you just pile on for some reason because you don’t like Chicago?

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  114. 109. The best response to the “what is his religion?” question is: “He asserts to be a Protestant and I take him at his word…

    Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/24/2015 @ 4:30 pm

    But if you take him at his word, you can’t take Preezy “if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor” at his word.

    He says so.

    http://articles.latimes.com/2010/oct/12/opinion/oe-la-goldberg-obama-ego-20101012

    “You know, I actually believe my own [bull],” Obama told the author of “Renegade,” Richard Wolffe.

    Steve57 (e16ed8)

  115. I can always harp that the capital of the U.S. petroleum and natural gas industry has a lesbian mayor who wants men and women to use the same public washroom. Is that San Francisco like?

    nk (dbc370)

  116. 111.Yes. Thank you, JVW.

    elissa (bc35c9)

  117. Very much. The last thing I’m going to do is defend Houston.

    Fort Worth, maybe.

    Steve57 (e16ed8)

  118. We keep ours segregated by Wrigley Field, at the South tip of Jan Schakowski’s district, and we moved all our black people South of the Loop so they won’t clash with the color scheme of North Halsted Street.

    nk (dbc370)

  119. I could probably squeak by on $76,981, if I lived in a place with the appropriate infrastructure and facilities.

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  120. MSM’s next shot at Walker–accusing him of practicing witchcraft, due to his effortless transformation of their b*ll**it into gold.

    M. Scott Eiland (725705)

  121. As Walker continues to push back and shines a spotlight on the media and remains steadfast, others considering formally announcing would be wise to note that Walker, in spite of his “cowardice” and “insidious” behavior is surging in the polls. It’s no accident: Conservatives have been longing to see a backbone from someone on the right and eyeing the presidency for a very long time:

    PPP’s newest national Republican poll finds a clear leader in the race for the first time: Scott Walker is at 25% to 18% for Ben Carson, 17% for Jeb Bush, and 10% for Mike Huckabee. Rounding out the field of contenders are Chris Christie and Ted Cruz at 5%, Rand Paul at 4%, and Rick Perry and Marco Rubio at 3%.

    Walker is climbing fast in the polling because of his appeal to the most conservative elements of the Republican electorate. Among ‘very conservative’ voters he leads with 37% to 19% for Carson, 12% for Bush, and 11% for Huckabee. Bush has a similarly large lead over Walker with moderates at 34/12…the problem for Bush though is that there are two times more GOP primary voters who identify as ‘very conservative’ than there are ones who identify as moderates.

    Bush is really struggling with conservative voters. Among ‘very conservative’ voters on this poll, just 37% rate Bush favorably to 43% with an unfavorable opinion. By comparison Carson is at 73/2, Walker at 68/3, and Cruz at 68/8 with those folks.

    Dana (86e864)

  122. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22869.html

    2010: Barack Obama pledges to keep U.S. ‘dominance’

    ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Barack Obama told graduates at the U.S. Naval Academy that of all of his duties as president, there is no higher honor than serving as their commander-in-chief, and in that role, he promised to maintain American military superiority.

    “I will only send you into harm’s way when it is absolutely necessary, and with the strategy, the well-defined goals, the equipment and the support you need to get the job done,” Obama said before an audience estimated at 30,000. “We will maintain America’s military dominance and keep you the finest fighting force the world has ever seen…”

    http://freebeacon.com/national-security/end-of-american-military-dominance/

    Steve57 (e16ed8)

  123. Chicago IS like SF and Detroit, its citizens just don’t realize it yet. Living on borrowed time will do that to you.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  124. Ben Carson? JésuChristo, no mámes.

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  125. with military dominance and a tasty soy taco America could piss away super-expensive victories in Iraq and Afghanistan all over again and this time they could do it with 64% more Real American Sniper sniping action

    happyfeet (831175)

  126. Ben Carson isn’t a serious candidate he’s one of them book-selling speaking circuit jobbers

    happyfeet (831175)

  127. I was just making a point about taking Prom Queen’s word, Mr. feets. I didn’t mean to get all Clausewitz on you.

    Steve57 (e16ed8)

  128. is ok i’m just very disappointed in military dominance

    happyfeet (831175)

  129. If Walker had charisma I would feel like he’s the favorite to win the whole enchilada next year. Ah well there was only one Reagan.

    Gerald A (6b504a)

  130. I thought you lived in California, Haiku.

    nk (dbc370)

  131. When I started my last new job, the boss handed me Clausewitz and Sun Tzu. Intimidating.

    carlitos (194f71)

  132. Hillary Clinton has a lot of things Mr. A for example she has two (2) potentially historic if tremendously geriatric breasts and a fascinatingly clotty head

    but charisma?

    not even in the most lurid Brian Williams fever dream

    happyfeet (831175)

  133. Feel free to provide evidence for your claims. I’m not falling for your reversal of the burden of proof

    You can say whatever you like, but it remains the case that you are the one making a claim that Chicago has changed its ways, so you should prove it. Absent proof to the contrary, the default assumption is that the sun continues to rise in the east, and long-established electoral practises continue.

    Milhouse (9ccfc4)

  134. “I will only send you into harm’s way when it is absolutely necessary, and with the strategy, the well-defined goals, the equipment and the support you need to get the job done”

    He was talking about maintaining the golf course at Pearl Harbor.

    nk (dbc370)

  135. Stop me if I’m wrong, Mr. feets, but doesn’t Elizabeth Warren have two historically geriatric breasts?

    We have a plethora of riches to choose from. And I haven’t even gotten into the vaginas.

    Steve57 (e16ed8)

  136. an embarrassment of riches indeed

    happyfeet (831175)

  137. according to Mark Bowden, Slahi was the first detainee to give up the name of the courier, his interrogator, was the one who was the custodian of that facility, which sounds like something out PoI, or the last Captain America film, that lad is shopping his memoirs, to an audience that doesn’t know these facts nor his connections to the Hamburg cell, or that of his uncle, another Mauritanian AQ bigwig,

    narciso (ee1f88)

  138. PPP, Shirley, Dana, a host of other more reputable services, has established Walker’s lead, we don’t need to go there,

    narciso (ee1f88)

  139. Has scott walker decided whether adam and eve rode around on dinosaurs yet? Becareful scott the republican caucus goers in iowa do and evolution is part of the communist conspiracy!

    truther (059bfa)

  140. Call the nurse to change your diaper, Perry.

    nk (dbc370)

  141. btw, you note who’s the Al Ghuardian byline on that piece, Spencer ‘throw someone through plate glass window’ Ackerman, he was the first to interview Joe Wilson, and in a New Republic piece, leaked our holding of a key AQ tech expert, right in the middle of the 2004 democratic convention

    narciso (ee1f88)

  142. sorry a scam artist with a different pitch

    http://townhall.com/columnists/hughhewitt/2010/07/22/journolist_and_the_ackerman_question

    but’s is of a piece with the attempting sliming by McGillis, of Walker some months back, because as the French proverb goes ‘he dares defend himself

    narciso (ee1f88)

  143. 142. Links narcisio?

    elissa (bc35c9)

  144. Since we’re going to hear more from the ISIS types, I just thought I’d mention something about how un-Islamic they are.

    http://www.emirates247.com/news/region/saudi-sentenced-to-death-for-abusing-islam-2015-02-23-1.581973

    Oh, wait. Did I say ISIS? I meant the Saudis.

    http://www.sunnah.com/abudawud/40

    Book of Prescribed Punishments (Kitab Al-Hudud) Sunan abi Dawud – Sunnah.com – Sayings and Teachings of Prophet Muhammad

    (1)
    Chapter: Ruling on one who apostatizes

    ‘Ikrimah said:
    ‘Ali burned some people who retreated from islam. When Ibn ‘Abbas was informed of it, he said: If it had been I, I would not have then burned , for the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Do not inflict Allah’s punishment on anyone , but would have had killed them on account of the statement of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). The Apostle said: Kill those who change their religion. When ‘All was informed about it he said: How truly Ibn ‘Abbas said!

    Grade : Sahih (Al-Albani)

    …(2)
    Chapter: The ruling regarding one who reviles the prophet (pbuh)

    Narrated Abdullah Ibn Abbas:

    A blind man had a slave-mother who used to abuse the Prophet (ﷺ) and disparage him. He forbade her but she did not stop. He rebuked her but she did not give up her habit. One night she began to slander the Prophet (ﷺ) and abuse him. So he took a dagger, placed it on her belly, pressed it, and killed her. A child who came between her legs was smeared with the blood that was there. When the morning came, the Prophet (ﷺ) was informed about it.

    He assembled the people and said: I adjure by Allah the man who has done this action and I adjure him by my right to him that he should stand up. Jumping over the necks of the people and trembling the man stood up.

    He sat before the Prophet (ﷺ) and said: Messenger of Allah! I am her master; she used to abuse you and disparage you. I forbade her, but she did not stop, and I rebuked her, but she did not abandon her habit. I have two sons like pearls from her, and she was my companion. Last night she began to abuse and disparage you. So I took a dagger, put it on her belly and pressed it till I killed her.

    Thereupon the Prophet (ﷺ) said: Oh be witness, no retaliation is payable for her blood.

    Grade : Sahih (Al-Albani)

    Steve57 (e16ed8)

  145. Feel free to provide evidence for your claims. I’m not falling for your reversal of the burden of proof

    You can say whatever you like, but it remains the case that you are the one making a claim that Chicago has changed its ways, so you should prove it. Absent proof to the contrary, the default assumption is that the sun continues to rise in the east, and long-established electoral practises continue.

    Milhouse (9ccfc4) — 2/24/2015 @ 5:19 pm

    Nope. Again, your claims:

    And other registered voters vote without stating anything, signing anything, or even being aware that they are recorded as having voted.

    Milhouse (0204c1) — 2/24/2015 @ 2:38 pm

    it’s so easy to vote in other people’s names that it stands to reason it happens in many places.

    Milhouse (0204c1) — 2/24/2015 @ 2:51 pm

    Evidence, please.

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  146. Walker is being smart about this. In several ways. I would suggest he avoid the challenges to the media. Just say his piece and move on.

    Mike K (90dfdc)

  147. although it’s more accurate to say, Steve, Arabian tribes of the Ikwan, the Saudis are one branch of the Anezi, which has been luckier than most,

    narciso (ee1f88)

  148. note how they spun the story, in that last link, which had the ultimate consequence of burning the trail to the 7/7 bombers

    http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/02/24/iran-pursuing-nukes-in-underground-complex-despite-talks-with-west-claims/

    narciso (ee1f88)

  149. Anybody who thinks that Iran will give up its nuclear ambitions is an idiot. Any strategy other than impoverishment through economic sanctions with bunker-buster bombs as the standby is idiotic.

    nk (dbc370)

  150. happyfeet (831175) — 2/24/2015 @ 5:17 pm

    I wasn’t suggesting Hillary has any charisma Mr. feet, which is one reason Walker would likely beat her if he had any. If they become the nominees it will be the first race between no-charisma candidates since 1988. Plus the Republican needs it more since it’s useful for deflecting the media attacks.

    Gerald A (6b504a)

  151. seeing the latest that the GOP hierarchy has caved in on (illegal aliens amnesty, net neutrality, gov’t funding, etc , etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, … ) , i just want to see some of Mr Scott’s gumption get over there.

    seeRpea (4be9c4)

  152. Oh good grief. As usual, Mark has no clue. But as usual, that doesn’t stop him from spouting stuff about Chicago as if he actually does know something about it.

    First of all, sorry for re-entering the conversation so late in the day. I feel like the guest who arrives for dinner just as everyone is leaving or has already left.

    Elissa, the alternative reality you live in sounds pretty damn good. IOW, a reality where Chicago is a largely ideologically moderate to conservative city, with low crime rates, a consistently good economy — meaning there are few to no slum-bum areas all over the place — few crummy public schools notorious for high dropout rates and teachers who suffer from battle fatigue.

    Therefore, the Gold Coast and Loop are but an infinitesimal fraction of the Windy City that can be characterized as “San Francisco,” and much of what can be described as “Detroit” (eg, Chicago’s blissful southside) really doesn’t exist. Wonderful!

    Good going, Chicago! By contrast, most other urban areas throughout the US can be defined as being a little dab of “San Francisco” here and there (ie, the land of the latte liberal living in a happy bubble), and “Detroit” everywhere else.

    Mark (c160ec)

  153. Where do you reside, Mark?

    nk (dbc370)

  154. it’s been a machine town, under Daley sr, it was ‘slightly mobbed up’ but a blue collar New Collar type of place, it has shifted considerably left since the days of Eddy Verdolyak,

    narciso (ee1f88)

  155. Where do you reside, Mark?

    An urban area on the West Coast that is 1/3 “San Francisco” (ie, limousine liberals in their little cocoons) and 2/3 “Detroit” (or “Tijuana”). In that regards, it’s like Chicago without all the snow and freezing temperatures.

    Mark (c160ec)

  156. Vrdolyak was never more than an ambulance-chasing gadfly, narciso. A pretty slimy POS to tell the whole truth. He got some traction when Washington became Mayor, frankly because of white racism, but got his head handed to him by the Daleys after Washington died. Which is one of the good things the Daleys did. The shyster was what mushrooms grow on*.

    *Which is kind of a Chicago joke. Berwyn, formerly a Bohemian (as where Poland meets Czechoslovakia community) has an annual mushroom festival and that’s where the Vrdolyaks are from too. Its main street is Cermak Road, BTW.

    nk (dbc370)

  157. So what color is your limousine, Mark? I presume you’re not “Detroit” or “Tijuana”.

    nk (dbc370)

  158. We keep ours segregated by Wrigley Field, at the South tip of Jan Schakowski’s district, and we moved all our black people South of the Loop so they won’t clash with the color scheme of North Halsted Street.

    nk, your glibness does make me think of a part of the LA area that has been highlighted on a BET cable channel show called “Baldwin Hills.” The show profiles a community in the LA area that was originally affluent and predominantly white (over 50 years ago), but that since the 1960s — post-Watts riot — while still being somewhat upper-middle-class, is now predominantly black. It’s in a geographically ideal part of town and is full of nice homes. But for some reason, for over 50 years, all the latte-liberal whites (who are a dime a dozen in LA/California) have avoided moving to that part of southern California.

    Why?

    Mark (c160ec)

  159. == 2/3 “Detroit” (or “Tijuana”)==

    most people would view that as a flat out racist comment

    elissa (bc35c9)

  160. Yep, I do live in Cali, nk, which is a lot like Chicago in many respects, except for the abundance of natural resources we have here. Which may help save our bacon… or at least stave off the crash for a few more years.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  161. Natural resources? You mean like water?

    nk (dbc370)

  162. I presume you’re not “Detroit” or “Tijuana”.

    To qualify for that, I’d have to be a leftwing whackjob (ie, loyal to liberalism and the Democrat Party until the sun don’t shine) and also tolerant of excessive crumminess (and crime too).

    Mark (c160ec)

  163. most people would view that as a flat out racist comment

    And many of them would be the phony-baloney white liberals who I described in my post #162. Or folks like Barack and Michelle Obama, who’d shriek and holler if they had to send their children (eg, Natasha and Malia) to a school where most of the student body looked like Trayvon Martin, or Obama’s son if he had a son.

    Mark (c160ec)

  164. Well, Mark, you said it yourself: It’s limousine liberal, Detroit or Tijuana. So which one are you?

    nk (dbc370)

  165. in some way, Walker resembles Tommy Thompson, as a multiple term reform governor, who was considered for high office, the former was 45 when first elected,

    narciso (ee1f88)

  166. So which one are you?

    I’m caught in purgatory.

    Mark (c160ec)

  167. Aren’t you the card, nk. Read some Victor Davis Hanson, he’ll fill you in.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  168. But you folks in Illinois? You’re well and truly fu*ked, unfortunately.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  169. Just yanking your chain back. You also have a limousine liberal enclave in Beverly Hills, a Detroit in Oakland, and a Tijuana, well, in Tijuana. It’s the same sad picture you see in such diverse places as Point Barrow, Azerbaijian and Sri Lanka.

    nk (dbc370)

  170. Quite seriously, is there a really dysfunctional community or nation — full of crime, poverty, corruption, etc — which also has generally representative government (ie, a democracy) and is, at the same time, dominated by people (by voters) who are of the right, and is a variation of places like Detroit or Mexico that are dominated by people of the left?

    Mark (c160ec)

  171. an opportunistic political lie about his beliefs on gay marriage

    You mean, you don’t believe that he evolved on May 9th, 2012? Huh.

    Dave (in MA) (db43c0)

  172. I printed that out and my mental health professional said: (and I paraphrase here because she was off from LA to vote in the Chicago election for her dead mom) she said “*bleep* him, some people are irretrievably thick headed and you just need to let him go to whatever corner dunces occupy these days..” I said whoa that seems harsh from a mental health professional to a poor lost soul, maybe some empathy is order here… she said: “Steve. I said *bleep* him. If I have to say it again it’ll be another $200 and I only take cash” OK. Well that seems a bit harsh and mean… even if true. Before she passed, my grandma used to say that just because someone is an ass**** doesn’t mean you have to treat him like one and I said no grandma it goes like this: “If you don’t want to be treated like an ass**** don’t act like one…” and she gave me the look. You know, the look.
    God bless her sainted soul, even if she just voted for a Mexican in the Chicago election

    steveg (794291)

  173. I just rented a movie called Chato’s Land. Charles “Carlitos” Bronson gives a substantial nod to political correctness as bumblef*** whites pursue a Mexican named Chato Bronson (evidently one mestizo with a big flat f*****g nose) through purloined lands.
    What a waste of time. Carlitos guy is vendido all the way.
    I recommend taking a pass and this movie review says one thumb down and get the other out of your… and go get a Western like Open Range

    steveg (794291)

  174. Apologies all around to the city of Chicago.
    Clearly no one ever votes illegally there and jokes about that are outdated by at least 40 years… and no amount of groveling and self flagellation shall suffice to clear me of the most grievious sin of daring to joke about the Whinging City

    steveg (794291)

  175. Chato’s Land is Rambo’s daddy. (Rambo’s mommy was Navajo Joe with Burt Reynolds.) I liked them better than Star Wars. Clone Wars even. But they’re not Leone or Corbucci standard, that’s true.

    nk (dbc370)

  176. The Spaghetti Westerns with Eastwood were great. I mentioned Open Range because the gunfighter scenes show Kevin Costner closing on the target rather than standing off at 30 paces. His shooting and closing movement unnerves his opponents and Costner gets in close and gets the job done. Luck at 15 feet is better than luck at 60. Of course the luck getting to the 15 feet is where the big money bets no… so get in there and scare a m*********** and beat the odds

    steveg (794291)

  177. and a Tijuana, well, in Tijuana

    closer to home we have them in Pacoima, Boyle Heights, Panorama City, Van Nuys, many parts of South Central, Maywood, Bell, Cudahy, Huntington Park, SouthGate Santa Ana…

    the list is long, and getting longer.

    that’s what happens when you encourage and reward illegal behavior.

    redc1c4 (589173)

  178. oh, and, for the record, i live in a limo part of town, but grew up in the TJ part.

    i’d move, but as a rare example of a native #Failifornia Conservative, the EPA won’t let me.

    something to do with the Endangered Species Act, apparently.

    redc1c4 (589173)

  179. the list is long, and getting longer.

    The power of capitalism (which generally still exists in the US) — over the power of politics and ideology per se — is best illustrated by the fact that a big reason a good swath of San Francisco or Manhattan hasn’t succumbed to Detroit Syndrome (or Pacoima-Boyle-Heights-Van-Nuys-Maywood Syndrome) is because of the power of real estate. Because of the ability of people with money — and often the corollary factors of skills, education and talent — to either keep a good-quality community going or to re-invent a formerly down-on-its-luck neighborhood through the process of buying and selling, buying and selling, of gentrifying, gentrifying.

    In general terms, such situations also represent the power of demographics.

    Liberalism, in terms of government and social-cultural philosophy, is like the honor system. It perhaps won’t totally upend the proverbial apple cart as long as the demographics are cushy and comfortable, meaning enough people won’t be overly tempted to exploit and trash the do-gooder, nice-nice, kiss-kiss honor system in front of them. But since most communities or societies are full of typical, average humans, the insertion of liberalism will end up being nothing more than an honor system soon torn apart and rendered a shambles. Consequently, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

    Mark (c160ec)

  180. Nate Silver has a really nice graphic on his blog showing the political space within the GOP that each candidate occupies. Note that Walker is nearly dead center of the five groups Nate sees making up the 2016 GOP (Teas, SoCons, Establishment, Libertarians and Moderates). His most distance is from moderates and Nate has him being both Tea and Establishment, which is what you’d need to unite the party.

    http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/romney-and-the-gops-five-ring-circus/

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  181. i’m wary of charisma Mr. A

    dangling charismatics of any stripe in front of a bunch of neo-fascist dimbulb food stamp besotted loser-assed failmericans as their once-great country is flushed down the toilet of history might could have terrifying unintentional consequences

    happyfeet (831175)

  182. 90, 91. Milwaukee tops despite a quarter century of mandated bussing. Opportunity is a recent arrival to progressive WI.

    124. Taco no puede aprender.

    164. I concur with your VDH assisted prognosis, which affords no pleasure if some awe.

    DNF (c7ec2e)

  183. The Sequoias. The only things that would be a true loss to the world should California slide into the ocean.

    nk (dbc370)

  184. most people would view that as a flat out racist comment

    elissa (bc35c9) — 2/24/2015 @ 7:08 pm

    It was nice of Mark to clarify his thoughts for us.

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  185. I don’t mind “Tijuana” for Mexicans but I prefer to say “the Congo” for black people, not “Detroit”. I have a strong nostalgic fondness for Detroit dating back to my father’s ’67 Chevy Biscayne and I don’t like seeing its name used in vain.

    nk (dbc370)

  186. Racisty racist Chicago cops maintain a “black site” for the disappeared…

    http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/24/chicago-police-detain-americans-black-site?CMP=share_btn_fb

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  187. That’s pretty much a nothing-burger story, Haiku. I’ll just paste the comment I left at Instapundit:

    Well, Escobedo vs. Illinois came out of Chicago. There is not a real criminal defense lawyer in Chicago, even now, who does not have at least one Escobedo story — going from police station to police station looking for his client while the police were stonewalling him and interrogating the client.

    Having said that, this story meets the current SCOTUS Miranda-Escobedo standards. The police can detain and question somebody for several days, not just 17 hours, without counsel or appearance before a magistrate. And the statements are not automatically excluded under Miranda if they are found to be “voluntary” or there are “exigent circumstances”. Thanks, Scalia.

    nk (dbc370)

  188. So much more than the sequoias here in California, nk. Don’t even try to compare the state of Illinois’s beauty with Cali’s… no contest.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  189. The Sequoias. The only things that would be a true loss to the world should California slide into the ocean.

    Fortunately, most of the sequoias are east of the San Andreas fault, and not likely to slide into the Pacific.

    Chuck Bartowski (11fb31)

  190. I said “loss to the world”, Haiku. You have all kinds of nice things, and lots of them, but none that are irreplaceable other than the Sequoias.

    nk (dbc370)

  191. Remarkable organisms and infinitely more precious than snail darters or Hollywood.

    nk (dbc370)

  192. Dang it… Emanuel forced into a dance-off!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  193. That’s how it used to be, anyway. This is only the third or fourth mayoral election after the adoption of a non-partisan 50.1% take all primary/general combination.

    nk (dbc370)

  194. i just want to enjoy chicago while i can

    these people are super-nice and I love them more than beans

    but they don’t have anything like an even rudimentary grasp of the first rule of holes

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  195. It was nice of Mark to clarify his thoughts for us.

    Carlitos, your great grasp of the issue of, for example, global warming is so remarkable and impressive, I totally trust your take on things and people.

    In that regard, you’re not too different from the Obamas, who when residing in Chicago sent their 2 children to a public school whose student body reflected the proletariat that Barack and Michelle profess to truly caring about and loving. (I guess to use another analogy in line with the theme, I should also cite folks like Al Gore, their handwringing about AGW and the way their lifestyle reflects that too.)

    Beautiful and kind.

    Mark (c160ec)

  196. In that regard, you’re not too different from the Obamas, who when residing in Chicago sent their 2 children to a public school whose student body reflected the proletariat that Barack and Michelle profess to truly caring about and loving.

    Is that sarcasm, Mark? The Obama kids went to U of C’s Lab School, the best in Chicago. It is egalitarian in that it is open to the children of all U of C employees, the janitors as well as the professors and administrators. It’s also by entrance exam, and if the kids don’t pass, employee parent or not, they don’t get in (they might get a tuition check if they choose to attend another private school).

    What is your point, anyway? That parents should or should not send their kids to the school they think it’s best for the things they want their kids to learn? As usual, your disconnected ramblings add up only to you.

    nk (dbc370)

  197. “In that regard, you’re not too different from the Obamas, who when residing in Chicago sent their 2 children to a public school whose student body reflected the proletariat that Barack and Michelle profess to truly caring about and loving.”

    Mark – Isn’t the failure of public school in major urban areas a national issue rather than merely a Chicago issue. Just take a look at New York City or Washington D.C. and you see the same phenomenon you describe about the Obama’s. Education reform is something conservatives have been been pushing for years and years, not something merely for you to look down your nose and point at and say “there be latte liberals.”

    I do not recall any proposals to set up free shooting galleries in Chicago with medical personnel to properly show addicts and other who wanted to give intravenous drugs a try, say on date night, the way San Francisco attempted a few years back.

    I don’t recall attempts to change Illinois school textbooks to acknowledge the contributions of LBGTQIIAQ whatever people to the country’s history.

    Federal and state workers on average around the country make more than private sector workers. People who have been paying attention know this has been true for many years.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  198. nk, so the Obamas sent their 2 daughters to a school whose screening process is far, far greater, much more discriminating — and hardly egalitarian — than that which those same liberals want to apply to, for example, the “undocumented” or supposedly legal citizens yearning to vote? That’s nice.

    Limousine liberalism is a beautiful thing. It makes my heart feel warm and gooey.

    daleyrocks, the failure of not just the public school system but also so many other socio-economic issues is not just a national (versus a Chicago-only) matter, it’s also a matter of the way do-gooder liberalism has dumbed down this and other societies.

    Mark (c160ec)

  199. carlitos 112,

    My point was to agree with Mark that there are similarities between America’s urban areas, including that they are liberal and segregated. I’m sure there are other similarities but the Chicago folks are obviously not in the mood to talk about them. As for Mark’s 1/3-2/3 statement, I viewed that as a shorthand way of saying urban areas are adopting liberal social, economic, and racial politics, but guess what? Google is my friend.

    Also, have you seen this peer-reviewed report that questions the reliability of climate change data?

    DRJ (e80d46)

  200. “daleyrocks, the failure of not just the public school system but also so many other socio-economic issues is not just a national (versus a Chicago-only) matter, it’s also a matter of the way do-gooder liberalism has dumbed down this and other societies.”

    Mark – From my perspective I see much more of that afoot in states like California with its wacky developmental and environmental restrictions, social experimentation and hostile business environment than I do in a state like Illinois. Just because people live in a place does not mean they agree with everything that occurs there, which seems to be your default assumption.

    I could take that assumption and describe for pages the flaws I see in California, but I assume the commenters on this board who live there have good reasons for doing so and also understand that individuals change the status quo by themselves. Those concepts are things you seem to have trouble grasping and instead your longstanding habit is to frame your comments more as personal attacks without explaining your reasoning.

    Only you understand why you do what you do, but your arguments do not come from a position of strength.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  201. Or informed knowledge.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  202. PS – you have to read to the last paragraph of the first link to find the 1/3 – 2/3 reference.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  203. DRJ – I did. Thank you.

    I think Mark should outline why he believes Chicago is 2/3 similar to Detroit and 1/3 similar to San Francisco without using the phrase “latte liberalism” if possible. It was his argument, he should have the balls to defend it.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  204. daleyrocks,

    My PS wasn’t directed at you but thanks for reading that link. I thought it was interesting.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  205. It would be nice if we all provided links for the claims we make. I like Mark’s comments because he often offers contrary views that we need to hear, but sometimes he comes across as emotionally charged instead of fact-based. But it is a blog and venting is part of blogging.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  206. carlitos, I was responding to your comment 114 and not 112. Sorry if that was confusing.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  207. So, someone did say “one-third San Francisco, two-thirds Detroit”. Mark didn’t make up.

    You know what someone else said? “Turn on, tune in, drop out.” Just ’cause it’s quotable don’t make it so.

    nk (dbc370)

  208. And you can quote me. 😉

    nk (dbc370)

  209. I was thinking about all the wonderful places in America last night. Beautiful California, the many forests, mountain ranges, and coasts, and the glorious cities. I love living in my state but it doesn’t have any of the beauty or history that the rest of the country has.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  210. most people would view that as a flat out racist comment

    elissa (bc35c9) — 2/24/2015 @ 7:08 pm

    It was nice of Mark to clarify his thoughts for us.
    carlitos (c24ed5) — 2/25/2015 @ 5:54 am

    ah yes, the last argument of someone who’s wrong, but refuses to admit it: “That’s RAYCSSSSSSSSSS!”

    your “Participation” trophies are back stage, and thanks for playing!

    redc1c4 (6d1848)

  211. “your “Participation” trophies are back stage, and thanks for playing”

    redc1c4 – Gold star for your forehead is in the mail. 🙂

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  212. Y’all need to eliminate the word “racist” from your vocabulary, otherwise redc1c4 will make fun of you and won’t talk about the latest issue of Guns & Ammo with you anymore.

    Leviticus (f9a067)

  213. JD taught me how meaningless and overused the words racism and racist have become.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  214. My usual responses to accusations of racism or homophobia come, respectively, from Blazing Saddles (the little old lady when Bart says “good morning” to her) and The Boondock Saints (Willem Dafoe when his boyfriend told him he wanted to cuddle).

    nk (dbc370)

  215. When Mark so casually altered his now famous 2/3 comment from “2/3 Detroit” to “2/3 Detroit (or Tijuana)” he both tipped his hand and dropped his veil. I agree that the term racist is vastly overused and misapplied, and I try to avoid it. There are still times, though, when it is appropriate to drag it out of the tool bag. So I did.

    I am sorry, DRJ, if you thought using that word to challenge what Mark wrote was “meaningless”. Would “bigoted” have set better with you?

    elissa (08e46c)

  216. Why is it racist to note that sections of our Southwestern cities look like Tijuana or Juarez?

    DRJ (e80d46)

  217. red or yellow black or white they are precious in his sight Jesus loves the little children of the whirl

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  218. Doesn’t Chicago have Hispanic neighborhoods, too? There are references online to Pilsen and Little Village being largely Hispanic, but maybe you’d know more about that than I would.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  219. Let’s be clear here. Saying that part of a city is like Detroit or Tijuana is, to me, a way of saying it’s largely black or Hispanic. The maps I linked earlier show many American cities are segregated by race, so there are parts of every city that are associated with specific races. This is a phenomenon that is not new — anyone who has ever read about Little Italy in NY or Chinatown in San Francisco knows this. How is it racist to say it?

    DRJ (e80d46)

  220. It’s not racist, but it is indiscriminate. Chicago is not bankrupt; city government services have not broken down; there are no abandoned houses; people do not hunt raccoons for food; there are no brothels for sailors and tourists from San Diego; cab drivers will not sell you cocaine; all kinds of little differences like that. The similarities are superficial — skin tone, hair texture, and dialect.

    nk (dbc370)

  221. Chicago is not Detroit but there are similarities between tjose two cities and many others across the nation. Do you really think Chicago could never be Detroit? Couldn’t every city become Detroit if it follows the same policies?

    DRJ (e80d46)

  222. I linked this above from your hometown newspaper comparison of Chicago and Detroit financing. Maybe it’s wrong — we all know newspapers get a lot of things wrong — but help me see why.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  223. The policies that made Chicago more like Detroit are the policies that made Detroit more like Detroit. The policies that sent the American factories to Mexico and China. I’d rather not go there.

    nk (dbc370)

  224. Yes, lets be very clear here. If Mark thinks people don’t already know that many of our nation’s largest cities have substantial populations of blacks and Hispanics, and for some reason he thinks that he must helpfully inform us of that surprising news, then why play coy and pussyfoot around and use euphemisms like “Detroit” and “Tijuana”? I think you know why.

    elissa (08e46c)

  225. we cross-posted. That’s why I voted for Rahm. Chicago’s financial problems.

    nk (dbc370)

  226. sweet mother of stupid

    i give you… national soros radio

    Produce Pride: Showing The Love With Vegetable Tattoos

    Vegetable tattoos, both temporary and permanent, can make for beautiful body art. Some enthusiasts are hoping to use them to encourage healthy, seasonal eating.

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  227. DRJ – thanks for the link. I still find Mark’s coy racism offensive (Detroit and Tijuana), but it was a good read. I hope that you checked out the site I linked above from tufts. I thought that it was thought-provoking on this topic.

    feets – If I ever get a tat, it’s not going to be a vegetable, that’s for sure.

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  228. Chicago is not Detroit but there are similarities between tjose two cities and many others across the nation. Do you really think Chicago could never be Detroit? Couldn’t every city become Detroit if it follows the same policies?

    DRJ (e80d46) — 2/25/2015 @ 11:25 am

    I realize that this is anecdotal, but seriously – go walk around downtown Detroit on a Sunday morning, and then go do the same in downtown Chicago. Night and day doesn’t begin to describe the differences. If people want to compare Gary or Windsor to Detroit, then fine. Chicago? Please.

    nk – I thought that you were in Riverside? Where you at – Jefferson Park?

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  229. So you think Mark is a racist trying to hide his animus by using words like Detroit and Tijuana?

    DRJ (e80d46)

  230. Duly nited, carlitos. It’s like insulting the Alamo to compare Chicago and Detroit.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  231. I need to put down this infernal auto-correct machine, but in what world does those become tjose or noted become nited?

    DRJ (e80d46)

  232. “I linked this above from your hometown newspaper comparison of Chicago and Detroit financing. Maybe it’s wrong — we all know newspapers get a lot of things wrong — but help me see why.”

    DRJ – I cut and pasted the extent of the comparison between Chicago and Detroit in your link immediately below. Why don’t you explain to me how much substance there actually is in the comparison? Does it address the decades long population decline of Detroit and flight of the tax base? No. It’s a complete throwaway comparison. New York City has higher per capita debt than Chicago. That might have been a more interesting comparison.

    That’s not how they did it in Detroit, either. There, too, the pols borrowed, and accumulated debt, and essentially used one credit card to pay down another and another. Until they landed in bankruptcy and couldn’t play those games any longer.

    Chicago is not Detroit, as defenders of Chicago’s deteriorating status quo retort.

    Of course, for many years Detroit was not today’s broke and broken Detroit. Msall again: “Detroit politicians made choices based on short-term political benefits rather than the long-term welfare of their city.”

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  233. So you think Mark is a racist trying to hide his animus by using words like Detroit and Tijuana?

    DRJ (e80d46) — 2/25/2015 @ 12:00 pm

    Yes.

    Duly noted, carlitos. It’s like insulting the Alamo to compare Chicago and Detroit.

    DRJ (e80d46) — 2/25/2015 @ 12:02 pm

    No.

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  234. I read your link yesterday, carlitos, although I had seen it before. I really like info like that. It’s interesting about all the areas but the only ones I can verify are in West, North and Central Texas. It strikes me as true for those areas.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  235. If it’s not an insult then why refuse to discuss the similarities? Yes, there are areas in Chicago that are safe and fun and beautiful. Does that protect Chicago or any city from becoming Detroit if they follow similar policies?

    DRJ (e80d46)

  236. If it helps, I agree these aren’t simple issues and residents can save their cities, even Detroit. I would like people to realize it can happen anywhere. None of us are immune from bad consequences, no matter how pretty or wonderful it feels now.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  237. DRJ – The Michigan economy has gotten clobbered by the fortunes of auto industry over the past 20-30 years, as plants shutter, relocate to right to work states, etc. The Chicago area does not have the same single industry concentration issue that I am aware of, although a lot of steel industry jobs disappeared along the south shore of Lake Michigan, primarily in Indiana, during the 1980s.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  238. a lot of work chicago people do can be done by plucky robots

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  239. daleyrocks,

    I realize cities like Chicago feel like the global economy is their backstop and they will survive in ways the manufacturing cities can’t. I think there is some truth to that, but I don’t see how they can continue spending the way they have in the past. But I’m prejudiced because I know they will expect the rest of us to pay the balance due, and I don’t like that.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  240. daleyrocks,

    The same guy who wrote the 1/3-2/3 quote also addressed the comparisons between Chicago and Detroit, and he sides with you. He sees more similarities between the two cities than you do, including more flight, but he agrees with you that Chicago will endure because it has a larger and more global economy. As I said above, I can see that argument … but I’d hate to bet on it.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  241. Re: Providing links.

    As you say tho Googs is yo friend. Around these parts links are disqualified for substantive infractions like resembling in name some site that gave offense to the irreproachable.

    Make nimrods do they own woik.

    DNF (c7ec2e)

  242. …a lot of steel industry jobs disappeared along the south shore of Lake Michigan, primarily in Indiana, during the 1980s.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 2/25/2015 @ 12:20 pm

    Yeah, but that have that Dave Matthews fest down there now. That’s a big earner for the city, minus the clean-up costs.

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  243. A note on my Detroit – Chicago links: The author in the 1/3-2/3 link and my last link says he grew up in Detroit and was a Chicago city planner for 20 years. He wrote the article telling Chicagoans and not to worry about becoming Detroit in 2013. He wrote the article describing Chicago as 1/3 San Francisco and 2/3 Detroit in 2014. I doubt he changed his opinions in during that year but FWIW.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  244. and won’t talk about the latest issue of Guns & Ammo with you anymore.

    i don’t have *any* magazine subscriptions, albeit Resident Evil does, such as “Guns & Gardens” & the USCCA mag, etc…

    however, i’m sure that, were i to look, your mug would have been featured on the front of Hoplophobia Digest at least once, as a text book case.

    redc1c4 (a6e73d)

  245. Hoplophobia is a real word. I read that three times before I had to google. Thanks.

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  246. I was going to ask more questions regarding what in Mark’s comments makes him a racist or bigot. However, it occurs to me that two respected voices on this blog have now labeled Mark as one and I’ve defended him, so I guess they look at me the same way. It’s one thing to be called names in jest or by an unknown troll, but quite another to be labeled a racist by fellow conservatives. Add that to Leviticus’ report that someone tried to out him in his internship and I have to warn everyone: Be careful what you say here, if you decide to stay.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  247. DRJ – That post could be taken a couple of ways. Might you be kind enough to assure us that it isn’t a threat to “out” people for whatever reason?

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  248. Well this has been fun. Have we decided yet what days we’ll be doing the post mortems on LosAngeles, New York City, and Seattle?

    elissa (08e46c)

  249. Chicago is way way way overdue for a Lake Michigan Tsunami Tragedy

    there never been one ever in all of history i googled it

    so this is in many ways a city under siege

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  250. “I was going to ask more questions regarding what in Mark’s comments makes him a racist or bigot. However, it occurs to me that two respected voices on this blog have now labeled Mark as one and I’ve defended him, so I guess they look at me the same way. It’s one thing to be called names in jest or by an unknown troll, but quite another to be labeled a racist by fellow conservatives.”

    – DRJ

    That’s a heck of a leap, DRJ. No one here has labeled you a racist. You are one of the most “respected voices” on this blog, if that matters, so any guess that you would be deemed a racist by others is off-base, I would say.

    Leviticus (f9a067)

  251. ditto

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  252. “Chicago is way way way overdue for a Lake Michigan Tsunami Tragedy”

    Mr. Feets – More likely a sharknado.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  253. 253. I suspect Mark’s sin is effete nuance inciting provincial inmates to imagine whatever offense most arouses righteous indignation.

    So much for indirect approaches.

    DNF (c7ec2e)

  254. “But I’m prejudiced because I know they will expect the rest of us to pay the balance due, and I don’t like that.”

    DRJ – Thank you for providing the links. I don’t recall what, if any, federal bailouts the city of Detroit has received during its bankruptcy proceedings, do you?

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  255. 261. Begin with $100 Billion HRAC.

    DNF (c7ec2e)

  256. 262. Ooopsie, HARC. My apologies.

    DNF (c7ec2e)

  257. carlitos, yes. I’ve been back at Old Irving Park for a couple of years now. My ward used to be called the 35th now it’s the 45th. Is that progress or inflation?

    nk (dbc370)

  258. So Cruz supported McConnel’s kowtowing to Harry Reid re: the Senate bill? Shameful.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  259. Self Criticism is always my favorite part of the morning Good Communist Citizen Exercises.

    SPQR (4764ea)

  260. did cruz really do that for reals?

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  261. “262. Ooopsie, HARC. My apologies.”

    DNF – English please.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  262. my kind of town, Chuycago is, my kind of town…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  263. “The only votes against proceeding to the bill came from Sens. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.).”

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  264. carlitos 254:

    254.DRJ – That post could be taken a couple of ways. Might you be kind enough to assure us that it isn’t a threat to “out” people for whatever reason?

    This is a serious question and I will answer it as seriously as I can, and hopefully with no misunderstandings or questions about context.

    First, I would never out anyone unless I thought they were going to hurt themselves or others, and that obviously isn’t the case here. I was disappointed and shocked to read Leviticus’ comment that it happened to him, and I can’t imagine doing that to someone else over a petty internet quarrel or political matter.

    Second, I don’t have permission to access the blog or personal information like emails, and I haven’t since I stopped blogging. So I couldn’t out you even if I wanted to (which I don’t).

    Third, given your skepticism when I’ve tried to convince you of things in the past, I don’t expect you to believe me. Thus, I hereby give the blog owner and moderators permission to confirm to you that I don’t have any privileges at this blog and haven’t since I stopped blogging.

    Finally, the people who have something to fear in this Age of Obama aren’t the ones who intentionally and knowingly decide to call someone else a racist. The people who have something to fear are the ones who are being called racists. You and Leviticus may not think that applies to me but no one here has said it doesn’t apply to Mark, and I supported Mark’s statements. Do the math.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  265. According to this report, Ted Cruz said he saw nothing to be gained from delaying the bill’s passage for a day or two. I guess that’s true but I wish he could do more. Maybe there is a plan in the House, although I doubt it will do much. If there is, they may need the extra time there instead of in the Senate.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  266. Correction: extra time link.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  267. No worries, DRJ, we just have a tempest / teapot problem. I will certainly take your word for it, and I apologize if any of my remarks caused you undue worry, as yours briefly caused me. I confess that I linked that comment to Mr. Patterico, as it really weirded me out.

    As for “Age of Obama” and fear, let it go. You’ll be just fine.

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  268. Rs need new, intelligent leadership in the House and the Senate. This is like a bad joke.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  269. Thank you for confirming my concerns are valid, carlitos.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  270. Col. the fix has been in for a long time.
    Cash only when I work. Or trade for dental, medical and ammo.

    mg (31009b)

  271. daleyrocks:

    261.“But I’m prejudiced because I know they will expect the rest of us to pay the balance due, and I don’t like that.”

    DRJ – Thank you for providing the links. I don’t recall what, if any, federal bailouts the city of Detroit has received during its bankruptcy proceedings, do you?

    I guess your link comment is sarcasm since I didn’t provide any links, but I will now. In 2013, Obama Administration offered over $300M in private and federal aid (not a bailout!) for Detroit. The WSJ has the details.

    In May 2014, it was announced that Michigan would pay $195M to help a bankrupt Detroit. Also in 2014, the Obama Administration freed up an additional $100M to help Detroit pensions. Finally, in December 2014, Michigan announced another $50M for Detroit in federal funds from the Hardest Hit Fund.

    Some of this may be double-counted. It’s hard to tell for sure. Then again, there may be even more we don’t know about. It’s not as if the details were transparent. FWIW, Michigan gets $1.08 from federal taxpayers for every $1 it sends to the federal government.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  272. Which of the following is not a fish?
    a. Swordfish
    b. Flying fish
    c. Angelfish
    d. Jellyfish

    nk (dbc370)

  273. 268. Homeowner Affordable Refinance

    274. “weirded out”

    A complete insignificance, reprobate.

    DNF (c7ec2e)

  274. daleyrocks–I guess we have our answer re: Jan Schakowsky.

    The AP has a report on the politics surrounding Netanyahu’s upcoming speech — the boycott by Democrats and all that. One of the boycotters is an Illinois congresswoman named Jan Schakowsky. Listen to this: Schakowsky said she was concerned that the address could end up scuttling delicate negotiations with Iran. “If the talks are to fail, let Iran be the party that walks away from the table rather than the United States,” Schakowsky, who is Jewish, said in a statement. Oh, so that’s how it will be, is it? “Who is Jewish”? Maybe we should just hand out yellow stars, for convenience? Do the Democrats get two points for every Jew who boycotts, rather than the standard, Gentile one?

    http://www.nationalreview.com/corner

    elissa (08e46c)

  275. 257, 258. Thing1 & Thing2 making mischief 4 U.

    DNF (c7ec2e)

  276. Hey, Haiku. Which city has the second largest Mexican population in the world?
    a. Mexico City
    b. Guadalajara
    c. Monterrey
    d. Los Angeles

    nk (dbc370)

  277. elissa – I did not see Schakowsky on the list of yesterday’s boycotters. Perhaps I will drop her a note.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  278. mrs. Robert Creamer,* the scam artist who went to jail and wrote the blue print for Obamacare, she made plain that it was stepping stone to single payer,

    narciso (ee1f88)

  279. Which of the following promotes hygiene, which detract?

    1. Charmin
    2. Cottonelle
    3. Carlitos
    4. Northern

    DNF (c7ec2e)

  280. yes, narciso, that’s the one.

    elissa (08e46c)

  281. just a reminder:

    http://spectator.org/blog/18613/jan-schakowsky-says-public-option-way-single-payer-health-care

    she’s a BFF with the Colombian guerillas, so it’s all good,

    narciso (ee1f88)

  282. DRJ – That post could be taken a couple of ways. Might you be kind enough to assure us that it isn’t a threat to “out” people for whatever reason?

    I see DRJ already weighed on regarding this, but I think the answer was self-evident. There was really only one reasonable way to read the comment, carlitos, and it wasn’t the way you suggested.

    And no, DRJ does not have privileges at this blog, at her request. Were she ever to request to reassume them, the request would be granted instantly.

    [Edited to reflect happyfeet’s comment that it was carlitos who made the comment and not elissa. My deepest apologies to elissa.]

    Patterico (9c670f)

  283. Detroit had a much higher murder rate than Chicago, almost as much as New Orleans before Katrina, and lost more population.

    http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/07/14/despite-recent-shootings-chicago-nowhere-near-u-s-murder-capital/

    In 2012, Flint, Michigan was actually the worst (worse than Detroit and New Orleans)

    Sammy Finkelman (a551ff)

  284. that was Mr. carlitos not elissa i think but i may have missed something

    but it’s all good now everyone is amicable and the snow is falling softly

    happyfeet (831175)

  285. Please don’t squeeze teh carlitos!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  286. Patterico–I do not appreciate that you just quoted me as saying something to DRJ that I most certainly did not say. If you want to correct the record that would be greatly appreciated and I think it would be the proper thing for you to do. Thank you.

    elissa (08e46c)

  287. That would be L.A., nk. But Chuycago is Number 2 attractor of Mexican illegal immigrants. Number 2, with a mullet.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  288. tomorrow will be soon enough for strife and sharp words

    tonight we sleep under a snowy blanket of peace

    the cattle are lowing lil baby awakes but little Lord Jesus no crying He makes

    happyfeet (831175)

  289. Naturally carlitos stinks up the joint and leaves the loiterers to uncover the rancid turd.

    Joke is on us, clique outlaws.

    DNF (c7ec2e)

  290. it’s not so fraught as all that Mr. DNF

    just a misunderstanding among old friends like in those tv shows where a bunch of old friends get together and a misunderstanding happens

    happyfeet (831175)

  291. Yeah, like the time I wanted to tell a girl “Gazing into your eyes make time cease” and it came out “You have a face that would stop a clock”.

    nk (dbc370)

  292. *makes*

    nk (dbc370)

  293. sometimes i think it’s just that people are trying to follow along on little tiny phones and some of the nuances get lost

    happyfeet (831175)

  294. 45% ?!? Didn’t LBJ give up reelection with more than that.

    seeRpea (1b7b74)

  295. I like Mark’s comments because he often offers contrary views that we need to hear, but sometimes he comes across as emotionally charged instead of fact-based. But it is a blog and venting is part of blogging.

    DRJ, your link to the newgeography.com essay was interesting because that was not the source where I originally came upon the description of Chicago being 1/3 San Francisco, 2/3 Detroit. I actually came across that assessment from a person who I guessed coined it as much out of flippancy — or as much out of a shorthanded way of speaking — and was not necessarily from an examination as well considered as the one done by urban analyst Pete Saunders.

    Unless a person is a fool and totally oblivious to the ridiculously pathetic nature of the city of Detroit, and is unaware of how it truly is America’s poster child for how a city should not be managed and how its residents should not vote, then applying “Detroit” as sort of an adjective to any urban area in the US with no shortage of dysfunction should be anything but contrary. IOW, saying city A, B or C has aspects of Detroit is comparable to saying the Pope is Catholic and the sun is hot.

    However, it occurs to me that two respected voices on this blog have now labeled Mark as one and I’ve defended him,

    Since it’s sort of late in the conversation, I’ve breezed through most of the posts from today, and assume you’re referring to Elissa and Carlitos. If so, I’ve seen Elissa exhibit some gut reactions full of squish-squish indignation on a few occasions regarding at least one major social issue, and the latter, well, considering how foolish Carlitos has been about global warming (and I believe a few other socio-cultural issues too), it’s almost a given he’ll be vulnerable to the lunacy of political correctness.

    C’est la vie and tough ta-tas.

    But this is all an interesting lesson in the origins of the nonsensical and two-faced nature of political correctness, in which resentment is triggered in people due not to the inaccuracy of what they’re challenging, but due to their protective biases being impinged upon, of either ideology, religion, race, gender, sexuality or….city pride.

    Rah, rah, Chicago! Hip-hip hurrah, Chicago!

    Chicago, Chicago
    That toddlin’ town
    Chicago, Chicago
    I’ll show you around
    I love it
    Bet your bottom dollar you’ll lose the blues
    In Chicago, Chicago
    The town that Billy Sunday couldn’t shut down
    On State Street that great street I just want to say
    They do things they don’t do on Broadway
    They have a time, the time of their life
    I saw a man who danced with his wife
    In Chicago, Chicago my hometown
    Chicago, Chicago
    That toddlin’ town
    Chicago, Chicago
    I will show you around
    I love it
    Bet your bottom dollar you’ll lose the blues
    I Chicago, Chicago
    The town that Billy Sunday couldn’t shut down
    On State Street that great street I just want to say
    They do things that they don’t do on Broadway
    They have the time the time of their life
    I saw a man who danced with his wife
    Chicago, Chicago, Chicago that’s my hometown!

    — As sung by Frank Sinatra

    Mark (c160ec)

  296. Mark, DRJ decided to make you the center of attention and I, for one, would not deny DRJ anything. But don’t give yourself airs. Like someone* said, Marie Antoinette and Betty Crocker are not the same because they both like cake.

    *It was elissa in reference to your indiscriminateness.

    nk (dbc370)

  297. that was Mr. carlitos not elissa i think but i may have missed something

    You are absolutely right. I fixed the comment and apologized to elissa.

    Patterico–I do not appreciate that you just quoted me as saying something to DRJ that I most certainly did not say. If you want to correct the record that would be greatly appreciated and I think it would be the proper thing for you to do. Thank you.

    You are absolutely right, and that has been done. I am very sorry about that. I saw this earlier today and somehow, I think because your comment was immediately below carlitos’s comment, I got the mistaken impression you had left it. I was clearly dead wrong and I apologize profusely.

    Patterico (9c670f)

  298. But don’t give yourself airs.

    So, nk, your homer-ism (or rah-rah provincialism) regarding the city of Chicago did not come into play whatsoever regarding the issue of “1/3 San Francisco, 2/3 Detroit” in this thread?

    Mark (c160ec)

  299. Chicago is a metropolis, Mark, not a province. Learn English too.

    nk (dbc370)

  300. “mrs. Robert Creamer,* the scam artist who went to jail and wrote the blue print for Obamacare, she made plain that it was stepping stone to single payer,”

    narciso – I thought Mitt Romney did that. Can’t you people make up your minds? 🙂

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  301. nk, I hope that’s purposeful sophistry on your part—and, no, “sophistry” isn’t a reference to your being sophisticated.

    pro·vin·cial·ism
    prəˈvinCHəˌlizəm
    noun
    concern for one’s own area or region at the expense of national or supranational unity.

    Mark (c160ec)

  302. Go pound sand.

    pro·vin·cial·ism
    prəˈvinCHəˌlizəm/
    noun
    noun: provincialism; plural noun: provincialisms

    1.the way of life or mode of thought characteristic of the regions outside the capital city of a country, especially when regarded as unsophisticated or narrow-minded.

    nk (dbc370)

  303. For anybody out there who has the time, is genuinely interested in the ongoing importance of cities and their survival, and might be interested in increasing their knowledge on the subject –above flippy cute sound bites, Wikipedia entries, and one pager opinion pieces on the iternet– here are two very good books.
    City of the Century by Prof. Donald L.Miller

    The epic of Chicago is the story of the emergence of modern America. Here, witness Chicago’s growth from a desolate fur-trading post in the 1830s to one of the world’s most explosively alive cities by 1900.
    Donald Miller’s powerful narrative embraces it all: Chicago’s wild beginnings, its reckless growth, its natural calamities (especially the Great Fire of 1871), its raucous politics, its empire-building businessmen, its world-transforming architecture, its rich mix of cultures, its community of young writers and journalists, and its staggering engineering projects — which included the reversal of the Chicago River and raising the entire city from prairie mud to save it from devastating cholera epidemics. The saga of Chicago’s unresolved struggle between order and freedom, growth and control, capitalism and community, remains instructive for our time, as we seek ways to build and maintain cities that retain their humanity without losing their energy. City of the Century throbs with the pulse of the great city it brilliantly brings to life.

    The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson (Pulitzer Prize)

    Between World War I and the presidency of Richard Nixon, some six million black Americans fled the indignities and oppression they grew up with in the American south and headed north or west in search of freedom and opportunity. Some found at least a modicum of it. Some did not. This mass migration — unplanned, haphazard and often resented — has affected our laws, our politics and our social relations in all kinds of ways. Some for the better, some not.
    This is the story… no- make that the extensively researched and multi-generation personal stories… of the “Great Migration”, the migration of sharecroppers and others from the Cotton Belt to the Big Cities: New York, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, etc.

    elissa (c7165f)

  304. Here’s another suggestion for the reading list: Unions and the Decline of US Cities. It’s a 19 page article that’s also interesting.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  305. just don’t make the same mistake twice, Patterico!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  306. In the Chicago Mayoral race: So Chuy has strong union support, and Fioretti and Walls will apparently back him in the runoff. Rahm will obviously need to work on increasing turnout. Who will Willie Wilson’s supporters go for?

    DRJ (e80d46)

  307. Chuycago, Chuycago, that dead-votin’ town…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  308. The matter of San Francisco and Detroit is compelling to me since it illustrates the importance of politics/ideology and also non-governmental factors.

    A person who is intrinsically unhealthy should not make matters worse by eating Hostess Ding Dongs and drinking Coca-Cola all day long—disregarding an article posted right now at the drudgereport.com about billionaire Warren Buffett’s diet and that guy’s humorous quote about it. Similarly, when a person or society already is lagging for non-purely political reasons, falling for the siren song of the typical liberal politician and do-gooder left-leaning philosophy is analogous to such people binging on junk food.

    dailynews.com, AP, December 2013: As Hispanics surpass white Californians in population next year, the state becomes a potential model for the rest of the country, which is going through a slower but similar demographic shift. But when it comes to how California is educating students of color, many say the state serves as a model of what not to do.

    In California, 52 percent of the state’s 6 million school children are Hispanic, just 26 percent are white. And Hispanic students in general are getting worse educations than their white peers. Their class sizes are larger, course offerings are fewer and funding is lower.

    The consequence is obvious: lower achievement.

    Just 33 percent of Hispanic students are proficient in reading in third grade, compared with 64 percent of white students. By high school, one in four Hispanic 10th graders in California cannot pass the high school math exit exam, compared with 1 out of 10 white students.

    And while overall test scores across the state have gone up in the past decade, the achievement gap hasn’t changed.

    Nationally, an achievement gap is also showing up as Latino enrollment has soared from one out of 20 U.S. students in 1970 to nearly one out of four, and white students account for just 52 percent of U.S. first graders.

    “We’re falling behind,” said Antioch University Los Angeles provost Luis Pedraja. “Ultimately we will face a crisis where a majority of the U.S. population will be economically disadvantaged, which will reduce their spending power and contribution to taxes and Social Security, impacting all segments of society and our country’s economic health.”

    ^ That’s our future, and political correctness and la-de-dah idealism ain’t gonna change the reality.

    Mark (c160ec)

  309. There will be lots of money changing hands under lots of different tables and lots of favors being called in. That’s the only thing that’s utterly predictable at this point with respect to the mayoral run-off. Well, that and six more weeks of excruciatingly evil TV commercials.

    elissa (c7165f)

  310. i like the idea of rahm getting kicked in the nuts

    i do not like the idea of a sleazy union pickle like chuy being mayor

    i like the idea of both of them spending oodles of money simply to decide which precise flavor of fascist icing will go on top of the big fat fascist cupcake

    i like the idea that this creepy vaguely octomomesque patti blago person’s creepy sister is in a run-off too

    so that is three things to like and one thing not to like

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  311. It sounds like Rahm is dumping his DC-style campaign for an old-fashioned Chicago machine campaign.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  312. As elissa said above.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  313. “The matter of San Francisco and Detroit is compelling to me since it illustrates the importance of politics/ideology and also non-governmental factors.”

    Mark – What non-governmental/ideological factors did you find interesting in your Chicago comparison? It really seemed skin deep to me, with you favorite buzz phrases, hand waves of “everybody knows” BS, mentions of segregated neighborhoods which exist in every city, but no real thought put into your analysis.

    I’m not asking this to attack you, Mark, or to defend Chicago, but it seems like no real thought was put into the comparison.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  314. It’s all part of the Nidal-Hassanisation of America, daley. Everybody knows that, especially Rupert Everett.

    Leviticus (f9a067)

  315. “It’s all part of the Nidal-Hassanisation of America, daley. Everybody knows that, especially Rupert Everett.”

    Leviticus – You must be right. We can just stop at the level of two categories “red=good, blue=bad”.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  316. Regardless of who they “throw their support to”, with the two AA candidates now out of the race themselves, their mostly AA voters will have to decide whether they prefer Garcia or Emmanuel (neither of whom they particularly trust) to represent them. Emmanuel did already get a substantial number of votes from AA wards on his own (and he had the president’s endorsement). Anything can happen, but math is very much on Rahm’s side. He needs only to pick up 5% plus 1 more votes, and Garcia needs 16% plus 1 more. That’s quite bit of ground for Garcia to cover, especially if, as I suspect, many of Wall’s and Wilson’s voters decide not to even bother voting in the run-off at all.

    As JVW commented way upthread, one would prefer neither of these 2 guys to be mayor of Chicago. But since it’s going to be one of them, it needs to be Rahm.

    elissa (c7165f)

  317. I still don’t get how Rahm not only didn’t get 50% but only got 45%. Is it due to there being a lot of Chicagoans being rabid Unionistas?

    seeRpea (1b7b74)

  318. How many here remember the fiscal crisis of New York City in the 1970s? In 1975, Mayor Abraham Beame and Governor Hugh Carey paid a visit to President Gerald Ford to make the case that without emergency federal aid New York City would go under. Ford told them to work out their own problems (IOW, pound sand).

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  319. 324. Heh, Though seen as liberally competent, we all know Rahm is not exactly a warm, lovable, engaging human being. I think that perhaps has a greater impact in local politics than when he is operating on the national stage.

    elissa (c7165f)

  320. among Democrats hispanical peoples like Mr. Chuy are very much the new hotness right now

    but you may have noticed they’re not so hot on white jewish people

    fascists, they live and die by these sorts of esoteric identity politics

    it’s befuddling to normal people but it makes perfect sense to them somehow

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  321. Low turnout. Which means precinct loyalists, which means loyal to their alderman more than the mayor. Also, judging from the referenda, heavy on government workers which means union and pension concerns that Rahm is not assuaging. He’ll get by in the general. Garcia will get a lot of the Tijuana vote, but Rahm will get the lion’s share of the San Francisco and Detroit vote. The Tel Aviv, Warsaw and Dublin vote too.

    nk (dbc370)

  322. elissa (c7165f) — 2/26/2015 @ 6:07 am

    It wasn’t just blacks that went north looking for work and opportunity. Many of Jed Clampett’s kin crossed the Ohio River, and then some stayed in Cincinnati, some in Dayton, and some went all the way to Michigan.

    MD in Philly (f9371b)

  323. You have time to register for April, happyfeet. If you got an Illinois driver’s license, you can do it online in about five minutes. Also, if you got an Illinois driver’s license you’re already on the jury duty rolls so forget about that.

    nk (dbc370)

  324. i haven’t done the car/license thing yet

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  325. i decided if i get jury duties i’ll just call uber and knock it out

    i never get picked anyway cause of i have a look

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  326. sell your carbon credits, happyfeet.

    mg (31009b)

  327. omg you just remindered me

    i work with a huge fan of the mr. obama

    and i went over to her office to help her with something and she cleared off her desk a lil and i wasn’t really paying attention but she picked up a plastic baggie

    she says

    this has my banana peel from lunch in it and i have to put it in my bag or the cleaning lady will throw it away and i want to take it home for composting

    and me i have to use my facial expression what says oh yeah that’s 100% not crazy I totally feel you about this banana peel

    sweet mother of god help us all

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  328. electrical banana, gonna be a sudden craze…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  329. She should live in Seattle, happyfeet. Seattle banned food and food waste from its trash on January 1.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  330. The ban applies to everyone but government, of course.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  331. Specifically, public trash cans are exempt.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  332. this obsession the fascists have with garbage is really really disturbing

    it’s not normal

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  333. daleyrocks 261:

    I replied to your comment yesterday but it’s in moderation because of the links. Here it is without the links:

    278.daleyrocks:

    261.“But I’m prejudiced because I know they will expect the rest of us to pay the balance due, and I don’t like that.”

    DRJ – Thank you for providing the links. I don’t recall what, if any, federal bailouts the city of Detroit has received during its bankruptcy proceedings, do you?

    I guess your link comment is sarcasm since I didn’t provide any links, but I will now. In 2013, Obama Administration offered over $300M in private and federal aid (not a bailout!) for Detroit. The WSJ has the details.

    In May 2014, it was announced that Michigan would pay $195M to help a bankrupt Detroit. Also in 2014, the Obama Administration freed up an additional $100M to help Detroit pensions. Finally, in December 2014, Michigan announced another $50M for Detroit in federal funds from the Hardest Hit Fund.

    Some of this may be double-counted. It’s hard to tell for sure. Then again, there may be even more we don’t know about. It’s not as if the details were transparent. FWIW, Michigan gets $1.08 from federal taxpayers for every $1 it sends to the federal government.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  334. Seattle didn’t ban food garbage, just put more teeth into the regulations that food garbage is not be mixed with other types of garbage. Seattle is one of the areas where grand recycling makes some sense but the costs and waste were being hit by food garbage making other types of garbage non-recyclable and gumming up the works. But they are not being draconian about it (no one is opening garbage bags in the bins to check).
    Rule does not apply to any trash bin that is accessible to the public. So yeah, there is some South African locking of trash bins going on.

    seeRpea (181740)

  335. “I guess your link comment is sarcasm since I didn’t provide any links, but I will now.”

    DRJ – I have no idea what you are referring to with respect to my link comment and sarcasm. Obviously I cannot read a comment in moderation.

    If there is a precedent for this fear you have of expecting the rest of us to pay for municipal bailouts I really wish you would just point it out. As far as I know you are not a resident of Michigan and Michigan has an interest in helping out it’s own cities, so I take no exception to that. Gerald Ford told New York City to stuff it. The Detroit bankruptcy judge held that pensions were not inviolate and slashed them. What you describe in #340, whatever the source, is peanuts given the overall size of the bankruptcy and can not in any reasonable manner be characterized as the rest of us paying the balance due.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  336. you just wait

    the river’s gonna rise

    and the devil he gonna have his due

    and here come chicago shaking its tin cup and chicago say hep me jesus hep me jesus

    and americans just walk on by cause they got they own troubles

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  337. The river rises when they dump all the global warmening into it. You just watch.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  338. oh i will

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  339. I know you can’t read a comment in moderation, daleyrocks, which is why I reposted it above. It should show up as comment 278 when it’s released from moderation.

    You thanked me for providing links in your earlier comment 261. I assumed you were being sarcastic since I hadn’t provided any at that point, but I tried to provide them in my response that is still in moderation. I wanted you to know I responded so you wouldn’t think I ignored your comment. I see you aren’t impressed with my response so there’s no point addressing this further. A million here, a million there, it’s nothing, right?

    DRJ (e80d46)

  340. ya gotta keep that ol’ Devil, down in teh Hole…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  341. Llasso them llamas

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  342. a llama in hand
    is NOT worth two in teh bush
    or on interstate

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  343. leave it to Obama
    to insert himself in drame
    of wayward llama…
    wait… should I have placed a comma
    after “Obama”?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  344. did the llama act stupidly, or was it oppressed?

    redc1c4 (269d8e)

  345. Freedom tor LlamAmericans!

    no justice, no peace!

    redc1c4 (269d8e)

  346. Wine, wine!
    wild goose drank wine,
    and the monkey chewed tobacco
    on the streetcar line.

    Now the line broke,
    and the monkey got choked
    and they all went to heaven
    in a little rowboat.

    felipe (56556d)

  347. “I see you aren’t impressed with my response so there’s no point addressing this further.”

    DRJ – I was thanking you for providing the links from the Tribune and City Planner. There was no sarcasm. Obviously you are in one of your testy moods, but your response does not support your fear about the rest of us paying the balance due so I am far from impressed. You usually do better.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  348. “The actions underscore the fine line the administration and state officials must walk, tapping existing programs and unused or underutilized funds, while not asking Congress for federal dollars. Top lawmakers and administration officials have said there is no pathway for a federal bailout of the city.”

    Aid from Washington is to pay for future, not sins of past.

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-09-27/obama-set-to-deliver-320-million-to-aid-bankrupt-detroit

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  349. I’m sorry I misjudged your comment. Thank you for correcting me.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  350. teh line broke
    teh chicken got choked
    they went to Colonel Sanders
    teh cab driver was a scrote

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  351. 324. The toob says Chiraq is 30% Hispanic and the unionistas have Chuy’s back.

    DNF (16dbd0)

  352. he’s tough he’s chuy he’s not unlike day-old sourdough actually where if you want it softer you can just throw it in a damp towel and microwave it for 10-15 seconds

    but that’s not gonna help Rahm

    and if Rahm’s not mayor next time his pothead kid gets “mugged” buying weed I doubt the piggy pigs will be anywhere near as cooperative

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  353. 309. And the second meaning?

    Please remember dictionaries survey usage and are not prescriptive.

    DNF (16dbd0)

  354. daleyrocks,

    You’re also right about me being testy. I did not enjoy yesterday’s discussion and I’m being too sensitive as a result. I’m sorry.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  355. Police you say? Well, feets, candidate Garcia’s son Samuel has had legal problems considerably greater than Rahm’s pot smoking teen.

    In July 2012, the Cook County Board approved a $100 million bond deal, handing the job of bond counsel on the deal to the law firm Mayer Brown LLP.
    As a member of the county board, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia co-sponsored the measure, which gave the plum job of representing the county in the deal to the politically connected Chicago law firm.

    Garcia….. supported Mayer Brown despite a personal connection to the firm involving his adult son Samuel Garcia. Court records show Samuel Garcia had been arrested in 2007 on a felony charge, accused of attacking two off-duty police officers on the South Side — and lawyers from the downtown law firm represented him in the criminal case for free.
    Attorney Marc Kadish of Mayer Brown said he and two younger lawyers he supervised at the firm represented Samuel Garcia in the case for roughly three years, from shortly after his arrest through his trial in 2010. Kadish said he could not determine what it would have cost to pay for the legal services provided for free to Samuel Garcia.
    “I did not ask them to represent my son,” Garcia said. “My son was an adult.”

    Garcia said it “never entered my mind” to recuse himself from voting on the measure that gave the legal work on the bond deal to the firm.

    He also said he never tried to contact the Cook County state’s attorney’s office about that case or another more recent criminal case involving his son, who was described by the police in court records after one arrest as an admitted gang member.

    http://chicago.suntimes.com/news-chicago/7/71/351122/mayoral-challenger-garcia-backed-deal-firm-gave-son-free-legal-help

    elissa (f27c84)

  356. 361. You are not testy.

    Chicagoan’s will give anyone a piece of their mind. It’s a feature. Gentility is not.

    DNF (16dbd0)

  357. why did Baby Chuy attack the cops i wonder

    but still, the big plus in Daddy Chuy’s column is that the fascist president of failmerica endorsed his opponent

    so I lean chuy I think

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  358. cops can be VERY impertinent sometimes

    especially Chicago ones

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  359. Be honest, Was it hard for you to resist saying Baby Jesus, feets?

    elissa (f27c84)

  360. ==why did Baby Chuy attack the cops i wonder==

    IDK. But according to the Sun Times in February 2013, Samuel Garcia tried to crash into the car of an off-duty officer while flashing gang signs and yelling a racial slur, according to a police report that said he shouted, “F – – – you n – – – a king killa b – – – -.”

    According to the Sun Times when the officer who is African American identified himself as a Chicago cop and unzipped his jacket to reveal his blue uniform, Garcia replied, “I don’t give a f – – – if you CPD. CPD killa n – – – a,” records show.

    Now, when in the course of the next six weeks this little episode gets wide play (and it will) if you are a black person and especially if you are a black Chicago police officer or have one in your family, does daddy Chuy get your vote?

    elissa (f27c84)

  361. Obama’s sons claim it was not a robbery, it was a drug deal gone bad, as often as they claim those pants they’re wearing are not theirs.

    nk (dbc370)

  362. I think it’s included in the instructions on the EBT card.

    nk (dbc370)

  363. Teh anti-Chuy propaganda begins…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  364. flake, graham, hatch
    3 stooges who should hang

    mg (31009b)

  365. i was going for more of a baby chuy baby huey thing

    the jesus thing is fraught cause of this rahm person is jewish and it just gets into a weird territory really quick

    happyfeet (831175)

  366. Emanuel is Jesus’s birth name.

    nk (dbc370)

  367. Emanuel, Jesus, it’s gonna be a tough choice for the atheist voter camp.

    elissa (f27c84)

  368. oh goodness it’s more fraught than i knew

    hey did you know that unlike real cats catwoman sometimes likes boys and sometimes she likes girls?

    i’m learning so much today

    happyfeet (831175)

  369. hey Scott Walker do you denounce catwoman’s thing where sometimes she likes boys and sometimes she likes girls?

    happyfeet (831175)

  370. It’s a competition. Marvel gave Thor a sex change. Between the two, I think DC showed better taste. Are you surprised? The entertainment industry has always been the spreader of the canker in our midst to young people. SciFi/fantasy went perv in the ’80s, before movies and TV.

    nk (dbc370)

  371. *openly* perv

    nk (dbc370)

  372. yeah tranny thor is just creepy

    happyfeet (831175)

  373. Will they spin off the brand for Catwoman to AC/DC, do you think?

    nk (dbc370)

  374. I’m not feline it

    happyfeet (831175)

  375. I’m not asking this to attack you, Mark, or to defend Chicago, but it seems like no real thought was put into the comparison.

    If you, daleyrocks, are still even bothering to browse this thread, my question to you is are you a resident of Chicago? I ask because you seem resentful not about Detroit being labeled a “Detroit,” but that aspects of it are compared with what’s found in Chicago.

    If your puzzlement is based on that, that in itself is puzzling since Chicago is not an ideologically moderate to conservative city, since most of its mayors of the modern era have not been registered Republicans, since its crime rates have not been low, since most of its public schools have not been stable and enviable (or where teachers aren’t known for suffering from battle fatigue), since it has not had such a uniformly healthy economy that slums are almost non-existent.

    As for whether Chicago is racially segregated or not, that’s another example of the two-faced nature of a liberal populace. After all, a fairly large majority of whites, blacks, Latinos and others in the Windy City lean left and likely subscribe to the talking points of the Democrat Party. Or an ethos where racism and discrimination are verboten, but where people of the left not necessarily practicing what they preach (such as neighborhoods or schools they immediately give either thumbs up to or thumbs down to) is standard operating procedure.

    Mark (c160ec)

  376. “If you, daleyrocks, are still even bothering to browse this thread, my question to you is are you a resident of Chicago? I ask because you seem resentful not about Detroit being labeled a “Detroit,” but that aspects of it are compared with what’s found in Chicago.”

    Mark – If you have browsed the thread you will see the reasons why I believe Chicago is not in immediate danger of following Detroit’s fate. I did not see you comment on them, which I why I called your analysis skin deep. If your level of analysis consists of all Democrat government cities will follow Detroit’s example because of ideological similarity, you are a not a very deep thinker. It is as simple as that. When somebody’s comment’s consist of largely cliches and parroting the words of others it makes it easy not to take them seriously.

    I am not puzzled at all. You threw out a statement and could not defend it. That is your long time pattern here. DRJ stepped in and did an admirable job doing what you should have done.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  377. DRJ – Thank you for the unnecessary apology. I was completely baffled by your comment. You and I have been talking long enough on this blog that I think we can recognize each others patterns. While we disagree on more these days, on my part I try express disagreements with you in a respectful way and seldom express sarcasm at you directly. I don’t act the same way with other members of this community who are not as intellectually honest and consistent.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  378. If your level of analysis consists of all Democrat government cities will follow Detroit’s example because of ideological similarity, you are a not a very deep thinker.

    daleyrocks, you’re putting words in my mouth or totally ignoring one of the basic observations I’ve made previously in this thread.

    First of all, I never said Chicago was going to end up as broken down and dysfunctional as Detroit. If the essay by Pete Saunders analyzing Chicago and linked to by DRJ had described Illinois’s largest city as being, for example, 9/10 Detroit and 1/10 San Francisco, then Saunders, or me, or anyone else, would have a good case for theorizing that Chicago was going to end up a basket case like Detroit.

    You must have missed this previous posting of mine (#186), which cites why non-political factors can help or hurt a community or society:

    The power of capitalism (which generally still exists in the US) — over the power of politics and ideology per se — is best illustrated by the fact that a big reason a good swath of San Francisco or Manhattan hasn’t succumbed to Detroit Syndrome (or Pacoima-Boyle-Heights-Van-Nuys-Maywood Syndrome) is because of the power of real estate. Because of the ability of people with money — and often the corollary factors of skills, education and talent — to either keep a good-quality community going or to re-invent a formerly down-on-its-luck neighborhood through the process of buying and selling, buying and selling, of gentrifying, gentrifying.

    It’s ridiculous for reactions of bruised city pride to result in a declaration that the basic observation of “1/3 San Francisco, 2/3 Detroit” is therefore totally inapplicable to a Chicago or, for that matter, most urban areas throughout the US. At best, perhaps Chicagoans (or New Yorkers, Atlantans, Dallasites, Angelenos, Bostonians, St Louisites, etc) can argue that the ratio isn’t correct—eg, 3/5 San Francisco and 2/5 Detroit or 4/5 San Francisco and 1/5 Detroit. But to be totally puzzled by (or upset about) “Detroit” and “San Francisco” being shorthand labels in analyzing a city is almost willful naivete.

    Mark (c160ec)

  379. “daleyrocks, you’re putting words in my mouth or totally ignoring one of the basic observations I’ve made previously in this thread.”

    Mark – No, you are trying to make the discussion about what other people said rather than what you said, which is what you usually do when you cannot defend your words. No sale.

    First of all, I never said Chicago was going to end up as broken down and dysfunctional as Detroit.

    Guess what, part of the problem is you fled the thread and never explained where you got your 1/3, 2/3 quote and what it meant. You still have not. DRJ stepped into the breech. Care to explain in your words what it means to you?

    I did not miss #186. I thought it was hilarious. If you want to brag about San Francisco pricing lower income people out of the real estate market, be my guest. Secondly, Manhattan is only one borough of New York City if you were not aware of that fact. The City of Chicago has a sprawling real estate market composed many different ethnic and mixed neighborhoods and price ranges, but not a lot of deserted blocks like Detroit. Why you believe a comparison of Chicago housing to Manhattan or San Francisco is apt just boggles the mind.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  380. Catherine the Great and Calamity Jane both liked horses.

    nk (dbc370)

  381. Mongolia and Iceland are both countries in the Northern Hemisphere.

    nk (dbc370)

  382. Footballs and hot dogs are both made from cows.

    nk (dbc370)

  383. Mark – The land areas in square miles:

    Manhattan – 23
    San Francisco – 46.9
    Chicago – 227

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  384. that’s unsustainable

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  385. Mr. Feets – I’ve got a pickle in my pocket. It’s name is Rotunda. You can bite my pickle or you and Mr. nk can continue biting each other’s.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  386. Grouchy old ass*ole doesn’t like people even when they agree with him. No more pickle for him. He’s sour enough.

    nk (dbc370)

  387. hope for the best but plan for the worst is my motto Mr. daley

    but you can borrow it

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  388. Here’s where I think the disagreement starts at its most basic. Just like people, and individual dogs and cats, individual cities are each utterly unique. By their history, geography, population mix, culture, and size they are unlike any other city on the planet. They are not mystical percentages of some other city– foreign or domestic. 1/3 San Francisco 2/3 Detroit??? That is just a ridiculous comparison for anyone to try to make–let alone explain. It is a logically inapplicable comparison to attempt to draw. All cities are 100 percent themselves–foibles and glories. Chicago is 100% Chicago. Detroit is 100% Detroit. Austin is 100% Austin. L.A. is 100 % L.A. Minneapolis is 100% Minneapolis.

    Mark’s theory is really not worth discussing further and I’m sorry it has gotten this much attention.

    elissa (ff80b2)

  389. latte squish squish coasties

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  390. R.I.P. Leonard Nimoy — He lived long, and prospered

    Icy (a924b6)

  391. Why Mark’s typology does not work… Because not even Detroit is 100% Detroit and San Francisco is not 100% San Francisco.
    Nor is Tijuana 100% Tijuana.

    kishnevi (adea75)

  392. well take south florida, it is mostly blue, but Dade particularly has a red core in Little Havana and other outlying sections, and there are scandals in those red areas like the brouhahas in Sweetwater and other burgs,

    narciso (ee1f88)

  393. 399. Sad face.
    He was a schoolmate of my father although apparent they never actually met (as far as my father can recall).

    kishnevi (9c4b9c)

  394. Guess what, part of the problem is you fled the thread and never explained where you got your 1/3, 2/3 quote and what it meant. You still have not. DRJ stepped into the breech. Care to explain in your words what it means to you?

    daleyrocks, first of all, your phrase “fled the thread” implies I wasn’t interested in or willing to debate this matter. Unlike government workers, I can’t wile away my daytime hours in a formal workplace by perusing websites for my own enjoyment, be it conversations at Patterico.com or all the adult websites reportedly visited by folks at your friendly federal (or local, or state) office building.

    You’re also being absurdly, ridiculously obtuse. This is not a tough subject matter to deal with or explain. Using “Detroit” and “San Francisco” as basic labels — as shorthand — is no more complicated — or no more lacking in proper nuance — than using “liberal” or conservative” or “Democrat” or “Republican.” If anything — and the only reason I even bothered to see whether this lengthy thread still had any activity — was because of this story just coming out:

    chicagotribune.com, February 27:

    Citing an overwhelming pension burden, Moody’s Investors Service on Friday dropped Chicago’s rating to Baa2, two notches above “junk” status. The downgrade could trigger penalties of $58 million on interest-rate swap contracts tied to the city’s bond issues, unless officials can renegotiate the terms.

    The city has $8.3 billion in taxpayer-backed bond debt, thanks in part to its expensive habits of putting off principal payments and using debt to close budget gaps. Chicago’s four pension funds have about $20 billion in unfunded debt. Without further action by the state, Chicago will have to increase its payments to those retirement accounts by $600 million next year and even more after that. Recent efforts to manage those ballooning obligations by changing two of the funds are tied up in court battles.

    An analysis by Ciccarone’s firm found that — even before the downgrade — Chicago had the worst rating of any of the 30 biggest U.S. cities, according to Moody’s. The two other major ratings agencies have Chicago tied with the debt-plagued city of Philadelphia, with both ranked below all the other major cities they rate.

    ^ The coincidence of that news cropping up today, in light of the purposefully disingenuous nature of some of the posts embedded in this thread, is like a sign from on high.

    Mark (c160ec)


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