Free Republic

Sarah Palin so completely traumatized Weather Undergrounder Bill Ayers in 2008, he is still talking about the former vice-presidential candidate seven years later. In a March 18 Publishers' Weekly interview at Hyde Park's Seminary Co-op bookstore, Ayers injected Mrs. Palin into the conversation. It seems he still can't forget a governor from Alaska who dared to expose his fellow traveler at a private fundraiser on October 4, 2008 in Englewood, Colorado:. VP Candidate Sarah Palin, 2008: Our opponent, though, is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough that he’s palling around with terrorists who would...

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe is calling for an investigation into the arrest of a college student with Chicago ties who was shown in a photo with a bloody face as he was held down by an officer. Charlottesville General District Court records show that Martese Johnson is charged on two counts: obstruction of justice without force, and public swearing or intoxication. The Alcoholic Beverage Control agent who made the arrest Wednesday morning, listed in court records as J. Miller, said in the arrest report that Johnson "was very agitated and belligerent." A statement from a group calling itself "Concerned Black...

The Chicago woman charged with killing her mother at a resort in Indonesia and helping her boyfriend stuff the slain woman's body in a suitcase gave birth Tuesday. Heather Mack's attorney confirmed to NBC Chicago that Mack, 19, delivered her 6 pound, 10 ounce daughter via cesarean section at about 6:09 p.m. (5:09 a.m. Central Time). Both mother and baby were said to be doing fine, according to attorney Anthony Scifo. Mack will likely remain hospitalized for a few days, he said.

Rahm Emanuel, current mayor of my old hometown, Chicago, is not a gentle soul. But he's smarter than his big-spending predecessor, Richard M. Daley, and the union pawn, Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, who becomes the new mayor if he beats Emanuel in a run-off election April 7. Emanuel was the tough Obama chief of staff who reportedly stabbed a table with a steak knife as he listed political enemies. He relishes conflict and famously said that in politics, "You never let a serious crisis go to waste." That comment scared libertarians and conservatives, who know that government usually uses crises as...

The difficult task for Emanuel is to win their support while not alienating the more-progressive elements of the electorate. So the mayor is raising big money from wealthy conservative donors while sending a subtle message in his campaign ads that is designed to scare the more-affluent constituencies in the city—without trumpeting support from the Right. He has welcomed Rauner's quiet outreach for his campaign while also blasting the governor for his proposed budget cuts. March 17, 2015 Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is about as partisan a Democrat as there is in this country. But to win a second term and...

Sneed exclusive . . . New York is where they’d rather be. So let’s cut to the chase. Sneed is told by impeccable sources that President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, want to live in New York when they leave the White House. “They want New York, plain and simple,” said a top Sneed source who asked to remain anonymous — but has a relationship with the Obamas. “It’s not an unusual decision,” added the source. “The Clintons moved to New York after Bill Clinton left the presidency. It’s a happening place.” “They love the vibe in New York...

When CPS unveiled its interdisciplinary Latino and Latin American studies curriculum last week, there was one module that really jumped out at School Board member Jesse Ruiz. Eighth grade students at district-run schools will learn about the World War II-era “bracero” program that brought Mexicans to the U.S. to fill labor shortages in agricultural fields. It’s a little-known bit of immigration history that’s more often taught in college ethnic studies courses or upper-level high school classes than in elementary schools. “My father was a bracero,” says Ruiz, before recounting his father’s stories of brutal treatment by supervisors in the fields....

Despite it being the year of our Lord 2015, at least one CHIditarod participant seemed to think it was OK to wear blackface. Event organizers apparently told him to remove the makeup, but people who believe blackface to be OK do not strike me as the type willing to listen to reason. The man was part of the #TooSoon team, a group that ostensibly dressed in an intentionally offensive manner. The man in question was dressed as Bill Cosby — why limit yourself to just blackface when you can make rape jokes in the process — and was joined by...

Does Gov. Bruce Rauner's pension math add up? Is it possible to cut spending $2.2 billion immediately, save taxpayers $100 billion over 30 years, protect everyone who's already retired and amortize $111 billion in unfunded pension liability without pushing current state workers and teachers into near-poverty when they retire? I spent most of the past week trying to get an answer to that question, talking to Rauner's team, independent financial experts and key lawmakers. My tentative conclusion—I say “tentative” because deciphering actuarial tables makes nuclear physics look simple—is: probably not.

Gun ownership among Americans at a record low, survey finds By Tribune wire reports contact the reporter The number of Americans who live in a household with at least one gun is lower than it's ever been, according to a major American trend survey that finds the decline in gun ownership is paralleled by a reduction in the number of Americans who hunt. According to the latest General Social Survey, 32 percent of Americans either own a firearm themselves or live with someone who does, which ties a record low set in 2010. That's a significant decline since the late...

Mayoral candidate Jesús “Chuy” Garcia got the endorsement of the Rev. Jesse Jackson on Monday as both the challenger and Mayor Rahm Emanuel compete for the crucial African-American vote ahead of next month’s runoff election. Jackson cited Garcia’s “consistent track record of service” including his work with Harold Washington, Chicago’s first African-American mayor. Jackson also said his support of President Barack Obama, who has endorsed Emanuel, had no bearing on endorsing Garcia.“This is not about President Obama and me; it’s about Chuy and Rahm Emanuel. It’s about whether there’s a plan for reconstruction,” said Jackson, who did not directly criticize...

Rahm Emanuel’s path to re-election as Chicago’s mayor just got a little murkier. On Monday a large group of African American ministers led by Operation Push activist Jesse Jackson endorsed Rahm’s opponent, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia. Emanuel has been having a lot of trouble with three entrenched constituencies in the Windy City: The black community, the Hispanic community and the teachers union. Still, in the recent election he did better with black voters than he might have. But today, after losing Jesse Jackson and the city’s black ministers, Emanuel might have received a fatal blow to his shaky base of African...

Over three days, some of the wealthiest people in Chicago, if not the nation, dumped more than $1.3 million into the political re-election campaign of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.. Among the donors was Citadel founder and billionaire Ken Griffin, who donated $250,000 to Emanuel. The mayor is battling to keep his seat against a surging Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia. Others who donated from March 3 to March 6 include: Groupon co-founder Eric Lefkofsky, $200,000; Richard Melman, $100,000; and Jay B. Pritzker and M.K. Pritzker, who tossed in $50,000 each. Garcia recently took in a a $250,000 contribution from...

A Chinese immigrant who stole trade secrets from the Chicago Merc worth an estimated $50 million was spared prison Tuesday by a federal judge who cited his otherwise “exemplary life.” Chunlai Yang, 50, of Libertyville, was instead sentenced to just four years probation for stealing software that underpinned the CME Group’s Globex trading platform. Yang, who worked as a high-ranking programmer for the Merc from 2000 until his arrest in 2011, pleaded guilty in 2012 to the theft, admitting he was trying to create a similar product in China when he illegally downloaded more than 10,000 computer source code files....

Two men were fatally shot in the Pilsen neighborhood early Saturday. Johnathan Ramirez, 18, and Santos Bueno, 22, were sitting inside a vehicle parked in the 1000 block of West 18th Street when a gunman walked up and opened fire about 1:30 a.m., authorities said.

Oak Park and River Forest High School in Oak Park, Illinois held a “Black Lives Matter” assembly last week, but banned anyone who was not African American from attending. Oak Park is just outside of Chicago. White students who tried to attend were physically barred from entering the auditorium where the meeting was taking place. Parents of these students said that their children were turned away when they tried to enter. However, Principal Nathaniel Rouse, who organized the event and is black, is not backing down from his decision to exclude other races. Not only that, but by banning “whites,”...

Moody’s Investors Service on Friday announced it had reduced its rating on Chicago Board of Education debt to one level above junk bond status. Moody’s downgraded the rating to Baa3 from Baa1 on the board’s general obligation debt. That rating applies to a total of $6.3 billion in outstanding debt held by Chicago Public Schools. That lowered rating, according to Moody’s, “reflects CPS’s continued reliance” on its reserves to cover ongoing operating expenditures, “particularly pension contributions, which will steadily increase in the coming years.” ... the lowered CPS rating also takes into account the city’s own credit rating, which also...

Here’s a shocker. Rahm Emanuel may not be re-elected as mayor of Chicago. The reason? Emanuel has been siding with poor, minority children who want a better chance in life against Chicago teachers unions who view the public schools as a jobs program rather than a place to educate children. Guess which of these two groups is not allowed to vote?When he was running for office, John Edwards reflected the way that many Democrats would probably like to think of themselves. Edwards talked about two Americas – which he characterized as the haves and the have nots. He promised to...

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan made a fiery speech Sunday in which he warned whites that a “day of judgment” is coming to avenge their “evil” and that African Americans serving in the armed forces should immediately withdraw and fight for their communities instead. In an address given at the Nation of Islam’s headquarters in Chicago, Farrakhan claimed whites have oppressed blacks for hundreds of years and a reckoning is due for the “iniquities of their fathers,” the NOI publication Final Call reports. “When a man has done that kind of evil, they are long gone and dead, but...

After years of being treated as if the Wisdom of the Ages were as relevant as Confucius in a fortune cookie now that we have Chicago on the Potomac the wisdom gained in the City that Works is suddenly spot-on. Back in the Dream Time, elders were honored because of their accumulated knowledge, if Pops knew a better way to saddle horses that knowledge helped Junior since he saddled horses. Today if Pops knows how to tune-up cars what good is that when cars don’t need to be tuned-up anymore? Now the old are relegated to extolling their own relevance...