Free Republic

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley has given new ammunition to gun rights advocates with his astonishing suggestion that the Fort Hood massacre was made possible because “America loves guns.” Daley had been touring a school project on Monday of this week that expands the city’s Arabic language program when reporters asked whether the thought the Fort Hood incident would spark a backlash against Muslims. His reaction, captured on video, has been raising eyebrows since it flashed across the Internet, and it reaffirms what Mark Twain once observed: “It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are...

owa 5th District Congressman Steve King is an extremely rare politician. He tells you exactly what he thinks and how he feels, consequences be damned. Today, King made it very clear how he feels about the Obama administration.

Why is it that when a so-called liberal opens his mouth about the Ft. Hood massacre by a Muslim jihadist I know that I’m going to feel less safe? The corrupt mayor of Chicago (and presidential patron) blames the shooting of 41 soldiers — at the deployment center for the wars against Muslim jihadists in Afghanistan and Iraq — on the alleged fact that “America loves guns.”As if the traitor Hasan had not clearly and unequivocally renounced his American citizenship and declared war on his own country because it was not a Muslim state. As if there were not in...

Junior Daley, current mayor of Chicago blames Ft. Hood’s massacre on “America’s love of guns”. Ahhh … Junior, it was a gun that ended the massacre. It works better than a hay rake. IDIOT! If guns are so bad, why do all Chitown’s cops wear one?

The Mayor of Chicago, whose our city is dealing day in and day out with violent crime, and not long ago lost the 2016 summer olympics bid, says that the recent Fort Hood masacre is to be blamed on guns. Does the Mayor honestly believe that a civilian ban on guns would have stopped this crazy Jihadist. Does the Mayor honestly think that a ban on possession would stop AQ from instructing and recruiting extremists to their cause in this country? It hasn’t stopped the drug lords from tearing up his city. Before you watch the video, read this from...

On Monday, Chicago Mayor Daley blamed the Ft. Hood Jihad Massacre on America’s love of guns! “Unfortunately, America loves Guns. We love guns to a point where that uh we see devastation on a daily basis. You don’t blame a group.” The Mayor is using a straw-man argument that conveniently provides him with an opportunity to politicize the terrorist attack as part and parcel with America’s love of guns. Mayor Daley, and other politicians, like to blame gun violence on the guns themselves because that is so much easier than admitting any inconvenient (politically incorrect) truths which might be revealed...

Workers asked to back fund-raiser WATER DEPT. | 'Charitable equivalent of pay-to play': watchdog Chicago Sun-Times suntimes.com Member of Sun-Times Media November 5, 2009 BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter Employees in the Water Management Department at the center of the Hired Truck and city hiring scandals are being pressured to sell and purchase $50 tickets to the Nov. 19 benefit reception Mayor Daley is hosting on behalf of the United Negro College Fund. Although the cause is laudable, the tactic is questionable. The solicitation is being made on city stationery with employees referred to a city telephone number to...

The current Mayor Daley behaves as if Chicago was located in Death Valley where every drop of water must be conserved and accounted for. I am not sure if Coleridge‘s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is the incumbent mayor’s favorite poem, but sometimes I think that it ought to be. “Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink…” Under the present, enlightened regime, public buildings are being refitted, at great material expense and union labor costs, with automatic plumbing fixtures that will scrupulously dole out water each time a visitor goes to rinse his or her hands. Toilets...

To save his bloated city budget Mayor Daley sold the Chicago Skyway toll road. Then he sold the city parking meters. And now? Now Daley wants to sell the city water system in order to keep paying all his broken nosed pals their monthly stipend. CBS Channel 2 is reporting that that Chicago is considering leasing its water system. Apparently there is a local precedent for this idea already in the Will County city of Homer Glen that leased its city water services to a German-owned company. Amusingly enough, the mayor of Homer Glen is also named Daley (no...

Chicago is considering leasing its water system to help fix the budget. The new boss could charge whatever they want for water, CBS 2's Roseanne Tellez reports.

'His father was a great friend of my father." The refer ence to William Ayers' fa ther was how Mayor Richard M. Daley began his defense of Barack Obama for his association with the unrepentant Weather Underground terrorist. Daley's father, of course, was Richard M. Daley, mayor of Chicago from 1955 to 1976. Ayers' father was head of Commonwealth Edison, the Chicago-based utility, from 1964 to 1980. You bet they were great friends. That's governance, Chicago style. The head of government is friends with the heads of every big business, lobby and union, and together they make decisions on how...

The Politico puts the White House strategy of taking on Fox News in context. With a series of private meetings and public taunts, the White House has targeted the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the biggest-spending pro-business lobbying group in the country; Rush Limbaugh, the country’s most-listened-to conservative commentator; and now, with a new volley of combative rhetoric in recent days, the insurance industry, Wall Street executives and Fox News. Obama aides are using their powerful White House platform, combined with techniques honed in the 2008 campaign, to cast some of the most powerful adversaries as out of the mainstream and...

On September 14th, 2007, the water main broke at Jose De Diego Elementary School in the 1300 block of Claremont in in the Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago. The Department of Water was dispatched following this break to investigate. The subsequent inspection found enough problems with the schools plumbing that the commissioner of the Department of Water, John Spatz, sent a letter to CEO of the Chicago Public Schools Arne Duncan informing him of the situation on September 21st of 2007. In that letter, Spatz recommended that water fountains in the school be covered until several problems are fixed. According...

Ultimately, I still believe that we'll never know exactly what happened but here's what I've gathered after having conversations with members of No Games Chicago. In essence, one of the reasons that Chicago lost was that Daley's machine politics didn't transfer over to the IOC all that well. For instance, Daley said several untruths and many of these untruths were eventually discovered by the IOC. So, by the end, his credibility was weakened. Daley claimed that Chicago has a solid infrastructure. He claimed that all the Olympics sites would be compacted next to each other. His biggest whopper was that...

This week we've seen King Daley's desperate attempt to get past his deep humiliation on losing the 2016 Olympics after spending so many years trying to convince the world that his corrupt kingdom was the ideal place for the games. The King's brilliant idea was to reveal how he was going to save the city from its epidemic of youth violence. A Chicago Tribune story reported the diminutive King's plan to cure the city of violence in the wake of the death of a student near Fenger High school. emphasized that families and parents need to take responsibility, but he...

Some critics call the $250 million dollar city project "outrageous" and a bad investment. It's the giant unfinished CTA "superstation" in the Block 37 development across from Daley Plaza. . **SNIP** . When the project was abandoned last year for an indefinite period, an estimated $250 million had been spent on it. Of that, an estimated $100 million came from cost overruns. Another $50 million was for mothball costs.

met Pat McDonough about a month ago. The best way to describe McDonough is by this Shakespeare quote. Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them. For McDonough, his greatness if you will was thrust upon him. I doubt Pat would call it greatness and he'd also want to admit that all things being equal, he might even take his earlier life. That said, Pat McDonough is one of a handful of whistle blowers that was instrumental in uncovering the Hired Truck scandal about five years. He told me...

The International Olympic Committee has been listening to President Soetoro’s recent accounts of America and they agree with him America is not what it should be. President Soetoro spent the first few months of his presidency reaffirming all of the world’s most negative feelings toward America and they heard him. (see previous post)(see 2:16min video) For years Democrats and Liberals have been attempting to undermine America’s position as world leading super power. Former Democrat President Clinton even forecasted that this day would come, a day when America would not be the pre-eminent military, economic and political power. (see related story)...

Even President Barack Obama's magic has its limits, it turns out. The International Olympic Committee rejected Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, despite the president's quickie trip to Copenhagen to make the pitch in person. Obama and the rest of Chicago's powerhouse delegation, which included first lady Michelle Obama, Mayor Richard M. Daley and his wife Maggie and the Queen of All Media Oprah Winfrey, were fighting an uphill battle all along.

This is after they got off the plane, Daley talks to reporters, flanked by Governor Quinn, he tries to put a smiley face on defeat.

WE'RE N0. 4! As I stood with the shell-shocked citizens in Daley Center Plaza before noon Friday, the sickly orange fountain bubbling like toxic waste before us on this gray, miserable day, I halfway expected that cheer to break out.

Chicago has lost its Olympics bid, despite Obama's insertion into the process. People are shocked because they figured that Obama would fly in if and only if the deal was done. But why? That assumes a typical allocation of the presidential prestige. President Obama has been anything but typical in the use of that asset. Let's remember that this is the President who in the last nine months has appeared on both 11:30 PM talk shows

RedEye social media intern Ernest Wilkins was on the scene.

Presidents and prime ministers can make an Olympic bid with a little, well-timed sweet talk. However, they can also break it with one embarrassing slip of the tongue... Chicago's long serving Mayor Richard M Daley has been through many elections and many press conferences. However, it didn't seem that way on Tuesday when it was revealed that Rio had been angered by his implication that they were not up to hosting the Olympics. Asked at a press conference to respond, he replied tersely: "No comment." He may have looked distinctly uncomfortable but at least he had not made a complete...

The Windy City would face a tough financial challenge in hosting the Olympics, experts say. NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- With help from hometown heroes like the Obamas, Chicago is aggressively lobbying to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. But making the games profitable would not be an easy win. Chicago is competing with Tokyo, Madrid, Spain and Rio de Janeiro in wooing the International Olympic Committee in Copenhagen. A decision is expected Friday. Chicago 2016, the organization leading the effort to host the games, expects a cost of $3.8 billion, including a "rainy day" fund of $450 million in case of...

WHEN government of ficials play the Olympic lottery, tax payers lose. That has been the disastrous experience of host cities around the world. So, why are President Obama and his White House entourage headed to Copenhagen, Denmark, this week to push a fiscally doomed Chicago 2016 bid? Political payback. Bringing the games to the Windy City is Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley's "vision." The entrenched Democratic powerbroker -- in office since 1989 -- would like to cap off his tenure with a glorious $4 billion bread-and-circuses production. The influential Daley machine backed Barack Obama in the presidential primaries. Obama lavished...

The president of the United States shouldn't have to fly halfway around the world to humble himself before a posse of international sports influence peddlers and beg for a track meet. But that's exactly what he is doing.

WHEN government of ficials play the Olympic lottery, tax payers lose. That has been the disastrous experience of host cities around the world. So, why are President Obama and his White House entourage headed to Copenhagen, Denmark, this week to push a fiscally doomed Chicago 2016 bid? Political payback. Bringing the games to the Windy City is Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley's "vision." The entrenched Democratic powerbroker -- in office since 1989 -- would like to cap off his tenure with a glorious $4 billion bread-and-circuses production. The influential Daley machine backed Barack Obama in the presidential primaries. Obama lavished...

SNIPPET: "(CNSNews.com) – President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama are both traveling to Copenhagen this week to promote Chicago's bid to host to the 2016 Olympic Games--and they will be making the 3,979-mile trip on separate airplanes." SNIPPET: "As reported earlier by CNSNews.com, a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report cited two cost estimates for an hour of air travel by the president, vice president and first lady. One estimate comes from the White House Military Office, the other from the U.S. Air Force. Using the CRS cost estimates and the inflation adjuster from the Bureau of Labor Statisitcs,...

This evening starting at 5:30PM, the folks that are against the games coming to Chicago held their last rally in opposition. The rally was held symbolically at 121 N. LaSalle, or City Hall. City Hall takes up most of the 100 block of LaSalle. At it's largest, the rally took up about half the block and everyone was in a circle. So, if you were to imagine the rally spread out the protesters would have stretched out to cover nearly the whole block that City Hall stands on. While the symbolism was clear, it should be noted that Mayor Daley...

Jarvis Migratory Sanctuary is a bird sanctuary located in the Lincoln Park area of Chicago. It sits between Belmont and Sheridan right on the lake shore. It's a scenic area home to more than 100 species of birds which often use Chicago to rest and refuel on the way North or South, depending on the season. Here's how the view and activities are described. Although a fence prohibits visitors from entering the sanctuary itself, a viewing platform and peripheral wood chipped path provide ample viewing opportunities for bird watching. Additionally, during the summer months, visitors can see purple martins flying...

NBC5 TV found a rather amusing new website devoted to Chicago’s bid for the Olympics. Oh, the new site backs a bid to get the Olympics, alright. It backs Rio de Janeiro’s bid instead of Chicago’s. And I, for one, am 100% on this website’s side! The main page of ChicagoansForRio.com reads “Chicagoans for Rio 2016” and goes on to cheer for Rio to get the games. It would be exciting to host the Olympics here in Chicago. But you know what would be even better? Rio de Janeiro. Just let Rio host the 2016 Olympics. We don’t mind. Honest....

Mayor Daley must have thought that he needed to speak forcefully to drive his point home when he said this. Mayor Daley said today it would literally take an earthquake or a tornado for Chicago taxpayers to be left holding the bag for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. Three days before traveling to Copenhagen to sign the host city contract, make a final sales pitch and put Chicago’s fate in the hands of the International Olympic Committee with its Oct. 2 vote, Daley expressed confidence that the blank check from local taxpayers would never be cashed.“ They have been very,...

Three days before traveling to Copenhagen to sign the host city contract, make a final sales pitch and put Chicago’s fate in the hands of the International Olympic Committee with its Oct. 2 vote, Daley expressed confidence that the blank check from local taxpayers would never be cashed.

A lot of my conservative friends like Michelle Malkin a lot. I am not as big a fan. Having followed the ACORN case I believe that Ms. Malkin starts with the premise that President Obama is deeply involved and works her way back. Now, it appears, in the short term at least, Ms. Malkin will spend sometime investigating some of the corruption in Chicago's bid for the Olympics. I welcome any and all media attention on the Olympics, but if her reporting thus far is any indication, she seems to again start with the premise that Obama is corrupt and...

On first read of this Chicago Tribune article one might credit the newspaper with digging deep for the context to the story surrounding Chicago's Olympic bid. On the other hand, a cynic, like me, would ask what took the Tribune so long. In this article, the tribune examines the Mayor's long standing assertion that no taxpayer funds would be used to pay for the Olympics. Tax money isn't paying for it. There's no tax money whatsoever," Daley said earlier this year. "We are very strong in that position ... in the regard to having that be sponsored by the private...

The Chicago Tribune has a fascinating story about Mayor Daley. The headline of the story is the poll that was done with it. That poll shows Mayor Daley just slightly more popular with the people of Chicago than George Bush was with the American people in the waning months of his presidency. The real story however is the Tribune's analysis of the poll's effect on Daley's power base. Here's the money analysis.

Mayor Richard Daley often talks about how Chicagoans want a decisive, visionary leader who can get things done without "endless politics," and that promise of iron control has become key to the city's bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. But with the pivotal Olympics decision three weeks away, Daley finds himself in one of the most troubled periods of

Obama Advisor, Helped Van Jones join Whitehouse Czars- "Like Barack Obama, Valerie Jarrett is a product of the corrupt Chicago political machine. And it is no stretch to say that she was a slumlord," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "We have real concerns about Jarrett's ethics. Washington already has plenty of corruption. We don't need to import more of it from Chicago."

lot of folks have tried to hyper analyze the influences on President Obama. One influence that largely goes unnoticed outside of the city of Chicago is the influence of Mayor Richard Daley. President Obama made his initial political base in the Hyde Park area of Chicago. No one gets any political power in the city of Chicago without the seal of approval of the mayor himself. Yet, the link between the two is often overlooked. Only John Kass of the Chicago Tribune has done a very good job of making the link.

The Chicago Tribune just conducted a city wide poll regarding the citizen's feelings about the Olympics. The results are interesting. Support in Chicago for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games has dwindled, with residents now sharply divided over whether the city should host the Games, a Tribune/WGN poll has found. Nearly as many city residents oppose Mayor Richard Daley's Olympic plans, 45 percent, as support them, 47 percent. And residents increasingly and overwhelmingly oppose using tax dollars to cover any financial shortfalls for the Games, with 84 percent disapproving of the use of public money.

Chicago 2016 Chairman Patrick Ryan wishes he had resolved concerns about financial guarantees before Olympic officials wrote a newly released report on the city, but the leader of Mayor Richard Daley's bid said Wednesday that he sees no remaining issues that can't be fixed before a host city is selected next month.

Chicago has long known how far Oprah Winfrey's star power reaches. Now the popular talk-show host has won city approval to shut down a significant stretch of the Magnificent Mile next week for the kickoff of her 24th season. Plans call for Michigan Avenue to be closed to vehicular traffic from Wacker Drive to Ohio Street for more than two days -- from 12:01 a.m. Monday to 5 a.m. Wednesday. The hourlong show will be taped at 5 p.m. Tuesday at a temporary stage to be built near the Michigan Avenue Bridge. The taping is free and open to the...

Last night I received an email from Alderman Manny Flores' (1st Ward) office stating his intention to move forward with a new ordinance to create and provide more oversight and transparency for all expenses, contracts, and potential conflicts relating from Chicago's bid to host the Olympics and by extension the Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (OCOG).

On Wednesday, the Chicago Civic Federation came out with a report of the analysis of the bid of Chicago 2016. Here is the conclusion of the findings of the Civic Federation. The Civic Federation found that the operating budget, including venue construction, proposed by the Chicago 2016 is fair and reasonable and provides adequate protections against financial risks to Chicago's tax payers.

A couple evenings back I attended a local event at the Saluki Bar sponsored by the website, Windy Citizen, a couple days back. At this event, the music group, the Clout Meisters, performed. The Clout Meisters is not your run of the mill music group. Instead, they were put together in order to satirize Chicago corruption by a whistle blower, Pat McDonough. McDonough was one of the whistleblowers on the Hired Truck Scandal and has since been an advocated against Mayor Daley and corruption. He wanted to put a song on his site that would verbalize what he felt about...

To understand the Hired Truck Scandal, I go back to something that Charles Krauthammer said about scandals in general. He said that the difference between a scandal that captures the public's imagination and one that gets ignored is simplicity. Krauthammer was making the thesis in the context of the scandal surrounding the bribery of William Jefferson. By then, it had been reported that about $60000 in cash were found in Jefferson's freezer. It didn't take much imagination for the public to imagine how it got there. In contrast, Krauthammer used the example of the Whitewater scandal. At this center of...

A Chicago 2016 Summer Olympic Games would be led by a team of executives -- with annual salaries as high as $550,000 -- presiding over an army of 4,964 full- and part-time employees. And opening ceremonies will cost $64 million to produce and $1,645-per-person to watch -- $1,793 when the city's 9 percent amusement tax is tacked on. Olympic spectators will also pay higher mass transit fares than everyday riders.

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley says the city needs to "go on a diet" to fill a more than $500-million budget deficit. But residents attending this year's first budget meeting had service increases on their minds

Mayor Richard Daley has made so many apologies for his whopping parking-meter rate increase fiasco that he's finally confused the heck out of me.