Detroit will host 20 candidates for the 2020 Democrat presidential nomination on two consecutive evenings of debates broadcast on CNN Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.
According to reports recently released by Orkin, the pest control company, the city of Detroit is also host to an extraordinarily high number of rats and bed bugs.
In October, Orkin released its list of the Top Ten “Rattiest Cities” in the country for the one year period ending September 15, 2018, and Detroit was rated the sixth “Rattiest City” in the country, even worse than Baltimore, which was rated then ninth “Rattiest City” in the country.
Detroit joins Baltimore as a pest “double-threat” city. Both cities are also on the Top Ten list of “Bed Bug Cities.” For the year ending November 30, 2017, Orkin reported that Baltimore is number one on that list, while Detroit is number seven.
Democrats have run Detroit since 1962, the year the last Republican mayor left office. Similarly, Democrats have run Baltimore since 1967, the year the last Republican mayor left office in “Charm City.”
Local media outlets in Detroit have documented the city’s rat problem extensively.
In April, Detroit’s Fox 2 reported that “some bus riders say waiting for the city bus near Grandview and Grand River can be a frightening experience.” The report continued, saying:
“How can you catch the bus and you got rats running right there. The rats be running across your feet and it’s nasty out here,” said bus rider Ernest Williams.
A Fox 2 viewer sent the Problem Solvers Unit a video of the rats at the bus station. He would not appear on camera, however, says he has contacted officials at the Detroit Department of Transportation before, but has not seen any improvements.
“No excuse. If you want people to come here, you should want it to be clean,” said bus rider Derrick Hall
The Detroit News reported that “the Metro Detroit area’s position on the list is up one space from the previous year.” In 2017, Detroit was number seven on the “Rattiest Cities” list.
Even PETA, citing the recent Orkin report, has publicly stated Detroit has a huge rat problem, saying:
The national animal rights advocate group PETA is weighing in and getting involved in the issue.
The group plans to run a billboard featuring a sloppy person, trash and rat with the words, “You Dirty Rat. Cleanliness Is the Humane Way to a Rat-Free Home.”
The billboard portrays people as the cause of the city’s rat problem. The group says its website offers practical, inexpensive and effective ways to discourage rats instead of poisoning them, which PETA says would only lead to an influx of more rats.
“There’s no need to be cruel to rats, who are intelligent and affectionate little animals who form close bonds with their families and friends, have been shown to enjoy playing and wrestling, and even giggle when tickled,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “Killing these animals doesn’t stop more rats from moving in, so PETA suggests that homeowners and building managers rat-proof buildings, that cities improve trash collection, and that residents do their part by not littering.”
President Trump’s tweet on Saturday criticizing Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) for ignoring his Baltimore district’s rat and rodent problem has changed the focus of the national debate to Democrat mismanagement of cities they have run for decades.
While the CNN moderators of the 2020 Democrat presidential candidate debates in Detroit on Tuesday and Wednesday are likely to ask the candidates about President Trump’s criticism of Cummings, it is not at all clear that they will use those criticisms for the purpose of asking about the failed governance of major cities in the United States by Democrats for the past half century.
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