Free Republic

It’s the year of the Democratic Socialist and that means that some relatively crazy ideas are all the rage. One of the biggest is the dream-like vision of a society where you get paid whether you work or not. It’s known as universal basic income (UBI) and it fits in nicely with the idea of each according to his needs. Can it work in the United States, particularly in some of our cash-strapped major cities? We may find out soon enough because Chicago is looking at giving it a go. (Free Beacon) Officials in Chicago want to test the...

The Rev. Gregory Livingston, of New Hope Baptist Church, said Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D) has "blood on his hands," and is allegedly "sitting on" millions of dollars in Department of Housing and Urban Development funds that could be helping the affected neighborhoods. "Rahm's words do nothing for that family," Livingston said of a mother of a 17-year-old shot and killed over the weekend amid the violence. . . . "Trump, send the National Guard down here. Give us a breather so we can figure this out. Yes, let's talk, bc we have to make some changes here.

Charles Dickens wrote the classic A Tale of Two Cities a century and a half ago. It's a story about two famous cities of the times, Paris and London, around the time of the French Revolution. These cities were the height of sophistication and enlightenment in the world, long before American cities caught up. Three American cities did catch up and were at one time shining beacons of American success: San Francisco, Chicago, and Detroit. San Francisco was the gateway to the Pacific and lands beyond – beautiful city on hills with the Golden Gate Bridge connecting San Francisco to...

President Trump on Thursday blamed Chicago leaders for what he described as an unbelievable surge in gun violence in the city, his first public comments since more than 70 people were shot there over the weekend. Trump, who has threatened to send in federal officers to manage Chicago's crime and violence, brought up last weekend's violence during his opening remarks at a roundtable discussion on prison reform. "We must strengthen community bonds with law enforcement, including city's like Chicago that have been an absolute and total disaster," Trump told the room of governors, attorneys general and White House staff at...

Nearly 33,000 juveniles arrested over about the last two decades have been labeled by Chicago police as gang members.. The records, released as a result of an open records fight by the Chicago Tribune, provide the first look at gang data kept by the Police Department for those 17 or younger, most of whom were African-Americans and Hispanics from historically violent neighborhoods such as Lawndale and Back of the Yards. At the time of their arrest, 13 of the juveniles were just 10 years old. About 60 were 11. And more than 300 were 12. ... juveniles were affiliated with...

An explosion of drive-by shootings erupted on Chicago’s South and West sides this weekend. At least 74 people were shot, and 12 killed, between 3 p.m. on Friday and 6 a.m. on Monday. In one seven-hour stretch, starting around midnight on Saturday, at least 40 people were shot, four fatally, as gunmen targeted a block party, the aftermath of a funeral, and a front porch, reports the Chicago Tribune. Over two and a half hours that morning, 25 people were shot in five multiple-injury shootings, including a 17-year-old who died after being shot in the face. An 11-year-old boy, a...

Some Policy: After yet another highly publicized and very deadly weekend in Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanual has come up with a plan to finally address the rising gang-related violence. Sort of. He’s essentially asking gangs to cut it out. While promising to deploy “hundreds” more police officers, Emanuel said in an address that he also wants to see an “attitudinal change” among Chicagoans — and especially gang bangers.

(CNN)Stung by the level of violence last weekend, Chicago officials pledged Tuesday to deploy more officers in neighborhoods that have seen a surge in shootings.Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson told reporters an additional 430 officers are being put on street duty, with 200 more to be on patrol over the weekend. Some officers will have their hours extended or vacations canceled. Others are being reassigned from other duties, officials said. Over the weekend, 66 people were shot, 12 of them fatally, between Friday at 6 p.m. and Sunday at 11:59 p.m.

Stan Mikita, arguably the greatest player in Blackhawks history, died Tuesday after a long illness. He was 78. “There are no words to describe our sadness over Stan’s passing,” the team said in a statement. “He meant so much to the Chicago Blackhawks, to the game of hockey, and to all of Chicago.”

CHICAGO — At least 11 people were shot to death and about 70 wounded in a weekend burst of violence in Chicago that instantly became a political issue when President Donald Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, blamed the carnage on longtime Democratic rule in the city. Police on Monday attributed the dozens of shootings to gangs, the illegal flow of guns and sweltering August heat that drew more people outside. The victims ranged in age from 11 to 63, according to police. One teenage girl died after being shot in the face. A teenage boy was fatally shot riding a bike...

CHICAGO -- The city that boasts it gave the world deep-dish pizza will soon be home to a pizza museum. The U.S. Pizza Museum is expected to open its doors in Chicago's South Loop neighborhood on Friday. The Chicago Tribune reports the museum will be open through October, and possibly longer. The museum was created in 2015 but has mostly existed online and in pop-up exhibits. Museum founder Kendall Bruns says the new space will be 3,000 square feet and allow him to tell the full story of pizza and its U.S. makers.

The Cook County State’s Attorney denied felony charges against any of 4 men, who parked in front of a home with a gun and drugs in a car. The police were patrolling in the area when the officer observed a strange license plate on the vehicle and decided to follow the car. The officer pulled behind the car but didn’t activate his lights. When the officer approached the car, he smelled burnt cannabis as the driver rolled down the window. The car had Arizona license plates and the driver produced a title to the car that had not been properly...

Illinois residents celebrated their first annual “Barack Obama Day” on Saturday after the state legislature voted in 2017 to make the day honoring former President Barack Obama a state holiday. The bill establishing Obama’s birthday as a state holiday unanimously passed the Illinois state legislature last year, and Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner signed the measure into law on August 6, 2017. The legislation declared August 4 “Barack Obama Day” in the state of Illinois, but did not make the holiday an official legal holiday over concerns the state could not afford the cost of giving state employees a paid holiday....

Most Americans are appalled to read that 63 people were shot in Chicago over the weekend, with 10 fatalities. The numbers are huge, downright massacre-level. News coverage says Chicago's hospital and emergency rooms are now crowd scenes. Here in California, we are appalled at the death toll among firemen and other public workers in California's massive wildfires, brought about by eco-wackos and their environmental mismanagement, which have killed 7. In Chicago, seven dead would be a good day. What's going on? All of these attacks are gang-related, according to this report, and are happening in the 6th, 10th, and 11th...

By making carbon leak (trickle down) through cracks on copper, researchers have developed a new process for “growing” graphene directly on materials used for nano-scale electronic applications, thereby opening the way to produce high-performance electronic devices. This versatile process, developed by a team of chemical engineers led by Indian-American Vikas Berry at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) in the US, enables graphene to be economically grown on almost any semiconducting or dielectric substrate of relevance to the electronic industry, the researchers claim. They have reported this new method in the journal “ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces” of the...

Is it time for martial law in Democrat-run cities? Here’s a sampling of some recent headlines: The Chicago Tribune, May 7: “Chicago sees its most violent week of the year: 9 killed, 76 wounded”; The Baltimore Sun, May 7: “Double shooting of teens is first in series of shootings from Saturday evening through Sunday in Baltimore”; ABC, New Orleans, May 7: “NOPD investigating multiple shootings over the weekend in New Orleans.” Equally alarming as the carnage is how desensitized we’ve become to normalized violence in these culturally rich and historically significant American cities. Just how deadly and dangerous is the...

Words from the Frank Sinatra classic tune: "Chicago, Chicago...that,s our home town....Obama & I (Rahm Emanuel) stood by, did nothing, and let it go down"!!! African-Americans support Democrats, Barack Hussein Obama & Rahm Emanuel...really....you got to be kidding me!!! Why Chicago Mayor, Rahm Emanuel has refused overture after overture by POTUS, Donald J. Trump to willingly send federal law enforcement into the murder, mayhem, out-of-control crime, murder ridden city of Chicago, Illinois. In his eight years as POTUS, Obama did "zilch, zero. nothing, da nada" to address and correct the problem that so plagued so many African-American citizens and their...

Good grief, this is horrific. ABC News Chicago is reporting that over 60 people have been shot, with 9 killed, in Chicago just this weekend (Friday through Sunday). (Chicago) Dozens of people were wounded in shootings across Chicago since Friday, police said. One paramedic described the evening as “a war zone.” Since midnight, police said 43 people have been shot, six fatally. Since Friday at 5 p.m., 60 people have been shot, nine fatally, in shootings in Chicago. 34 of the shootings and five deaths occurred between 10 a.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. Sunday, according to police. During one two-and-a-half...

A Chicago-based newspaper columnist predicted re-election for President Trump in 2020 after witnessing first-hand the enthusiastic support for the president among blue-collar workers. Neil Steinberg attended a recent appearance by the president at a U.S. Steel facility in Granite City, Illinois, outside St. Louis. He wrote about speaking to steel workers and seeing how Trump connected with the audience. "We need steel," Trump said. “We need steel plants. And to see an old, big monster plant like this re-opening — that is an honor. I look at the faces of you people; I could be one of you. I like...

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Dozens of people were wounded in shootings across Chicago since Friday, police said. One paramedic described the evening as "a war zone." Since midnight, police said 42 people have been shot, five fatally. Since Friday at 5 p.m., 59 people have been shot, eight fatally, in shootings in Chicago. 34 of the shootings and five deaths occurred between 10 a.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. Sunday, according to police. During one two-and-a-half hour-hour period, 25 people were shot in five multi-injury shootings. "We know that some of these incidents were targeted and are related to gang conflicts in...