Written by Thomas Hampson
Governor JB Pritzker delivered his eighth consecutive budget address on February 18th. If you closed your eyes and listened, you might have thought you were hearing a man of the people, a defender of the powerless standing up to a tyrannical federal government. He invoked Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and Reverend Jesse Jackson. He quoted the great reform governor, John Peter Altgeld.
He spoke of empathy, love, and the courage to resist authoritarianism.… Continue Reading
Tags: Abraham Lincoln, Alushta, American Railway Union, Bahamian shell companies, Brandon Johnson, Chicago Crime Commission, Chicago Outfit, Chicago Police, Chicago Tribune, Cook County Board, Customs and Border Patrol Emergency Response Officers, Donald Trump, Eugene Debs, fascism, FBI, Frederick Douglass, Gestapo, Grover Cleveland, Gus Russo, Hyatt, illegal immigrants, Illinois budget address, Illinois TRUST Act, Immigration Customs and Enforcement, IRS, IRS Organized Crime Division, Izyum, JB Pritzker, Jesse Jackson, John Altgeld, John Peter Altgeld, LAPD, Michael Brennan, Nikopol, Operation Midway Blitz, Paradise Papers, Pullman Strike, Sangdu, State of the State, Stephen Miller, Supermob, Teamster, The Chicago Record, Toni Preckwinkle, U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Investigations, Welcoming City Ordinance
Federal Issues, Illinois Politics, Immigration | David E. Smith | 
February 19, 2026 1:00 PM | 
Comments Off on JB Pritzker, ICE, and the Art of Selective Outrage
Written by R. Cort Kirkwood
As Chicago braces for another weekend of wanton gunfire, mayhem, and murder, the city has announced that headshrinkers will answer 911 calls for “mental health emergencies.”
In other words, the Sun-Times reported, if someone calls 911 because his neighbor crows “I’m cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs” in the wee, small hours every morning, a burly cop with a stun gun and a Glock 9mm might not be the right medicine.… Continue Reading
Tags: 911 Center, Chicago, Chicago Police, Crisis Assistance Response and Engagement, George Floyd, Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, Laquan McDonald, Lori Lightfoot, mental health emergencies, Quintonio LeGrier, Rahm Emanuel
Crime Culture, Illinois Politics | David E. Smith | July 17, 2021 4:00 AM | Comments Off on Chicago: Shrinks Will Answer 911 Calls. Cops Shoot Too Many Crazy People
Written by Daniel Horowitz
Why aren’t Republicans pounding the lectern with righteous indignation about violent gun felons being let off easy by the judicial system the same way Democrats engage in cerebral gyrations over guns? Democrats have sob stories for their gun control agenda. Republicans need to look no farther than Chicago as the poster child for criminal control.
On June 23, 2017, Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson stood beside then-Gov. Bruce Rauner and celebrated the passage of a bill stiffening sentences on gun felons.… Continue Reading
Tags: Anthony Guglielmi, Bruce Rauner, Carol Howard, Chicago Police, Chicago Tribune, Eddie Johnson, Illinois Department of Corrections, jailbreak, Joaquin Urcino, John Kass
Crime Culture, Illinois Politics | David E. Smith | September 9, 2019 6:00 AM | Comments Off on Chicago: A Hellhole for Parole, Free Bail, and Jailbreak for Violent Gun Felons
Written by Russ Stewart
Chicago doesn’t need a new police superintendent. It already has one: the American Civil Liberties Union. It is “Superintendent ACLU,” and the “ACLU Rule” governs on-street activity and monitors police conduct.
Every time a police officer makes a traffic stop, questions a suspect or talks to anybody on the street, a seven-page “stop card” must be prepared and filed, and a copy is forwarded to the ACLU. Every “contact” must be given a written receipt, which goes into the police department’s database.… Continue Reading
