Tag: Chicago

Trump rally shut down by Chicago goons, socialist idea of ‘free speech’ on display

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Chicago cop

If there is one good thing about Donald Trump’s presidential campaign it is that socialist goons are making their totalitarian tendencies known. A Trump rally was cancelled on Friday at the University of Illinois-Chicago Pavilion over security concerns. Bernie Sanders supporters and left-wing activists let it be known that they specifically sought to stifle the billionaire’s ability to speak.

Roughly 10,000 people showed up to hear Trump speak inside the arena and thousands of others waited outside. Activists arrived to start fights, block traffic, and generally make life miserable for the Chicago Police Department.

Fox News reported:

Kamran Siddiqui is a 20-year-old student at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where the event was to take place.

He says: “Trump represents everything America is not and everything Chicago is not. We came in here and we wanted to shut this down. Because this is a great city and we don’t want to let that person in here.”

Siddiqui says he’s a supporter of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. He says it “feels amazing” to have stopped Trump from speaking at his own rally.

He adds: “Everybody came together. That’s what people can do. Now people got to go out and vote because we have the opportunity to stop Trump.”

Newsflash: Donald Trump is popular in part because the U.S. is increasingly populated with Siddiquis-like thugs. You can find them online or on any college campus that makes “safe spaces” a priority.

Siddiqui wasn’t alone:

“Chicago community activist Quo Vadis said hundreds of protesters had positioned themselves in groups around the arena, and that they intend to demonstrate right after Trump takes the stage. Their goal, he said, is “for Donald to take the stage and to completely interrupt him. The plan is to shut Donald Trump all the way down.”

The Founding Fathers knew that free speech and the right to assembly were essential to the health of the Republic, which is why they are covered in the First Amendment. Sadly, there are millions of “Siddiquis”and “Vadis” who call themselves Americans while only respecting a narrow band of left-wing thought along the ideological spectrum.

Trump Chicago

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“We stopped Trump” the refrain goes. Quite the opposite, in fact. All 10,000 people who did not get to see the man speak because of security threats caused by Bernie Sanders supporters — and millions who watched it unfold on the news — now will be twice as energized to vote for the man.

Guys who would rather be writing about Marvel comics and superhero movies — like me — now must defend the guy. Trust me, that is something I do not want to do, but my love for individual liberty trumps (no pun intended) my lack of enthusiasm or disdain for any political candidate.

Chicago Trump Bernie

Who is more dangerous to the future of America: Socialist hordes that take pride in silencing opponents through any means necessary, or Donald Trump? It’s an excellent question, but right now those who “feel the Bern” are making it clear that their vision for the future looks very much like the nightmare that is Venezuela. Make sure to stock up on toilet paper — socialist utopias usually don’t have much in supply.

Chicago to cyclists: Your bikes aren’t fast enough escape a cycling tax forever

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Cycling AP
Ronald Reagan once said of statists that their philosophy on life is: “If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” Exhibit A: Chicago.

Think of an activity that you as a law-abiding free citizen enjoy. Chances are, Chicago’s bureaucrats have found a way to tax it directly or indirectly — and if they haven’t you can be sure they’re working on it.

Smoker? Chicago definitely wants to tax that behavior. Expect to pay roughly $7.50 a pack. Cyclist? Yes, you’re on the hook, too. You didn’t think that being a card-carrying member of the Green Team would exempt you from the compulsion to tax, tax, tax did you?

The Associated Press reports:

CHICAGO — A city councilwoman’s recent proposal to institute a $25 annual cycling tax set off a lively debate that eventually sputtered out after the city responded with a collective “Say what?” A number of gruff voices spoke in favor, feeding off motorists’ antagonism toward what they deride as stop sign-running freeloaders. Bike-friendly bloggers retorted that maybe pedestrians ought to be charged a shoe tax to use the sidewalks.

“There’d be special bike cops pulling people over? Or cameras? What do you do (to enforce this)?” asked Mike Salvatore, owner of Heritage Bicycles, a new Chicago hangout that neatly blends a lively cafe with a custom bike-building workshop in a 19th-century building.

Chicago is by no means the only place across the U.S. tempted to see bicyclists as a possible new source of revenue, only to run into questions of fairness and enforceability. That is testing the vision of city leaders who are transforming urban expanses with bike lanes and other amenities in a quest for relevance, vitality and livability — with never enough funds.

Two or three states consider legislation each year for some type of cycling registration and tax — complete with decals or mini-license plates, National Conference of State Legislatures policy specialist Douglas Shinkle said. This year, it was Georgia, Oregon, Washington and Vermont. The Oregon legislation, which failed, would even have applied to children.

“I really think that legislators are just trying to be as creative as possible and as open to any sort of possibilities to fill in any funding gaps. Everything is on the table,” he said.

Give yourself bonus points if the main takeaway you got from the AP story was that there is “never enough revenue.” No matter how much you are taxed, it will never satisfy the pathological do-gooder.

Growing up, did you ever think you would see the day when bureaucrats would devise mandatory mini-license plates for people who use bike trails? Shop owners like Mike Salvatore of Heritage Bicycles in Chicago is only partially joking when he asks about enforcement mechanisms like “special bike cops” and cameras that would be on the lookout for the guy who didn’t pay his “fair” share to the city’s power-brokers — but the people who come up with ridiculous rules and regulations are very serious.

Bike lanes? Get ready for bike tollways with little manned booths at random stops along your path around the city. Think of a crazy way for a city to raise revenue and then wait — in due time the tax or regulation that you deemed fit for admission into a psyche ward will be seriously debated among the masterminds in your neck of the woods.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to ponder how Chicago might tax runners. I’m thinking that the the environmental impact of ethylene-vinyl acetate or EVA alternatives used in running shoes might be a good angle. An no, you don’t get a tax reprieve if your name is Lenn Rockford Hann, the engineer from Chicago who made lighter faster running shoes.

Chick-fil-A piece proves Mark Steyn a future steynborg sent to save us

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This is a picture taken in front of the White House by an anonymous patriot, which proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Mark Steyn is a time-traveling steynborg genius sent to save us all. Notice how space and time warp around him as he shields Chick-fil-A cows from the idiocy of men like Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel.

I’ve wondered for quite some time if Mark Steyn was a secret agent or a Mega Man from the future sent to save us all. Who would have thought that the selective outrage of liberal politicians over chicken sandwiches would have proved once and for all that Mark Steyn is a time-traveling steynborg of conservative awesomeness.

As usual, the steynborg gets to the heart of the matter.

[M]ayor Tom Menino announced that Chick-fil-A would not be opening in his burg anytime soon. “If they need licenses in the city, it will be very difficult,” said His Honor. If you’ve just wandered in in the middle of the column, this guy Menino isn’t the mayor of Soviet Novosibirsk or Kampong Cham under the Khmer Rouge, but of Boston, Massachusetts. Nevertheless, he shares the commissars’ view that in order to operate even a modest and politically inconsequential business it is necessary to demonstrate that one is in full ideological compliance with party orthodoxy. …

As the Boston Herald’s Michael Graham pointed out, Menino is happy to hand out municipal licenses to groups whose most prominent figures call for gays to be put to death. The mayor couldn’t have been more accommodating (including giving them $1.8 million of municipal land) of the new mosque of the Islamic Society of Boston, whose IRS returns listed as one of their seven trustees Yusuf al-Qaradawi. Like President Obama, Imam Qaradawi’s position on gays is in a state of “evolution”: He can’t decide whether to burn them or toss ’em off a cliff. “Some say we should throw them from a high place,” he told Al Jazeera. “Some say we should burn them, and so on. There is disagreement. . . . The important thing is to treat this act as a crime.”

In one fell swoop, Steyn points out the cowardice and danger of these idiots, who target their rage — and power — based on political calculations rather than engaging in open and honest debate. Let’s talk about marriage. Let’s talk about Christianity. Let’s talk about Islam. But don’t threaten to shut down certain groups or sit silent with others because of petty politics.

Can you imagine the outrage if the president of Dominos Pizza made a remark about abortion that upset elected officials in Texas or Oklahoma or Nebraska — so much so that that they channeled Rahm Emmanuel and said, “Dominos values aren’t Austin values” before threatening to turn their lives into zoning-law hell?

When Ben and Jerry’s came out in favor of the “Occupy” movement (and by extension their bowel movements on cop cars) you didn’t see conservatives organize national boycotts. That’s mainly because they have jobs … but also because they’d rather have it out in the court of public opinion. Ben and Jerry are allowed to say things that I believe are stupid, and if I’m angry enough I simply won’t buy their product.

Likewise, Morgan Freeman likes to call guys like me a “racist,” but I still saw The Dark Knight Rises because Christopher Nolan’s talent supersedes Morgan’s ignorance. See how that works, liberals? The free market is a beautiful thing, and much more appealing than threats and intimidation by public officials who try and squelch free speech at every opportunity.

Mark, next time you go to the future, take me with you. My own spaceship broke down, and I’m yearning to return to the time and place when liberals outlaw self defense sporks, if only for a laugh.