Free Republic

WASHINGTON Illinois Democratic Rep. Luis Gutierrez will announce he is retiring and won't seek re-election next year. The 13-term lawmaker from Chicago has been a leader in his party's efforts to overhaul the nation's immigration laws. His decision was confirmed by a Washington Democrat on condition of anonymity because the congressman had yet to announce his decision. Gutierrez, 63, is a leading member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. He's pushed for federal aid to help rebuild storm-battered Puerto Rico. His parents came from Puerto Rico before moving to Chicago in the 1950s. The congressman has also clashed repeatedly with President...

A huge Chicago bakery is now hiring Americans at higher wages, following a federal immigration enforcement action which forced the firing of 800 illegal immigrants. The forced departure of the illegal-immigrant workers at the Chicago-based Cloverhill bakery was a financial shock to the Swiss company which bought the bakery from a U.S. investment group in 2014. The illegals comprised one-third of the bakery’s employees, so U.S. sales fell by seven percent when the enforcement forced the company to rebuild its workforce by hiring Americans, the CEO told Wall Street analysts, according to Bloomberg: “It’s proceeding very, very slowly because it’s...

NBC 5 has learned Congressman Luis Gutierrez will announce Tuesday he is not running for re-election after 24 years on Capitol Hill, sources say. Guitterez telephoned key democratic leaders late this afternoon to let them know of his plans. Calls to Guitterez tonight have not been returned. Already printing petitions Monday night-- to begin the process of getting signatures before next Monday's deadline -- is Cook County Commissioner Jesus Chuy Garcia. Ald. Carlos Ramirez Rosa is considering a congressional race. This will also leave an opening on the county board should Garcia opt for Guitterez's seat.

Democratic sources said Monday evening that veteran Congressman Luis Gutierrez will announce his retirement. He has been one of the more high-profile Latino politicians in the country, advocating forcefully for immigrant rights, since he became a U.S. representative 25 years ago.

A review of some of the bids to woo Amazon’s HQ2 to other cities and states shows it’s not all about the money. In some cases democracy itself is a bargaining chip. ___ Example: Chicago has offered to let Amazon pocket $1.32 billion in income taxes paid by its own workers. This is truly perverse. Called a personal income-tax diversion, the workers must still pay the full taxes, but instead of the state getting the money to use for schools, roads or whatever, Amazon would get to keep it all instead. “The result is that workers are, in effect, paying...

Now ten members of the "progressive caucus" of the Democratic Party are trying to give these terrorist leaders another reason for using even younger terrorists to kill even more innocent civilians. The bill fails to acknowledge that some of the most barbaric terrorist attacks against Jewish Israelis have been committed by Palestinian teens who have been recruited by terrorist leaders. Israel has a right — according to international law — to protect its citizens from constant terror attacks, even those committed by young Palestinians. Indeed, it has an obligation to do so. Palestinian terrorist leaders often use teenagers to...

Cook County board meetings are usually dry and filled with policy and procedure details. On Tuesday, that was not the case. There were tears and real emotion. CBS 2’s Roseanne Tellez introduces us to some of the people who got the most unwelcome news, days before Thanksgiving. Some county employees begged for their jobs. Cook County commissioners who supported a penny-an-ounce sweetened beverage tax say they warned of the cost of repealing it: a budget amendment filled with pain. “It has actual layoffs of human beings who have jobs and who have families,” Commissioner Larry Suffredin (13th District) said. Officials...

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today introduced new legislation to address the growing threat of white supremacist groups and other violent domestic extremists. The Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act would enhance the federal government’s efforts to prevent domestic terrorism by requiring federal law enforcement agencies to regularly assess those threats and provide training and resources to assist state, local, and tribal law enforcement in addressing these threats.According to a May 2017 intelligence bulletin by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), white supremacist extremism poses a persistent threat of lethal violence, and white supremacists...

The young women introducing Ayers to the University of Oregon class probably had no idea they were standing next to a possible sexual predator. If they dismiss Ayers' history of violence against innocent police officers and his later refusal to renounce his actions, chances are these same young people that Ayers advises to critically examine the world around them, will not care about one young woman who had the misfortune of meeting up with the terrorist. But in light of the recent University of Wyoming hoax involving Ayers fan and co-plaintiff in a 2010 lawsuit against UW regarding his...

A University of Illinois graduate instructor was arrested for assaulting two students during an anti-Trump protest Thursday, stealing the phone of one student and throwing it on the sidewalk. Tariq Khan is a PhD candidate at the university and has taught courses such as “Constructing Race in America” and “U.S. Gender History since 1877.” He is also involved with various anarchist and communist organizations including Black Rose Anarchist Federation and Antifa, in addition to working with the undergraduate socialist students. The event Thursday began as a demonstration to air grievances about President Trump one year after his election. Khan spoke...

Budding Hollywood actresses do not have to rely on semi-naked fat dudes in expensive hotels for acting tips. Not anymore. Real-life examples of real-life emotions such as despair, abandonment, anguish, and betrayal are easy to find if you know where to look – e.g., local stories of black-on-white violence. Let's start with some backstory in Chicago. During last year's election for the Chicago version of states attorney, Kim Foxx was not hiding anything. With loads of cash from George Soros and lots of support from Black Lives Matter, she bragged about how, under her watch, she was going to stop...

A man who spent nearly 30 years in prison for a double murder has been released a month after his conviction was quashed. Arthur Brown, 66, was sentenced to life in prison after he convicted of murder and arson after a video store was burnt down, killing two people who lived next door. Brown was 37 and had no criminal record when he was called to the store on Chicago South Side to fix a lock. He says he was choked and beaten by police until he confessed and maintained his innocence through two trials, multiple appeals and lengthy post-conviction...

Chicagoans looking to soak in ancient Roman thermal pools, housed inside a somewhat less ancient restored former paint factory: Your bath is almost ready. Aire Ancient Baths, a Spanish company, is opening a 20,000-square-foot facility in the River West neighborhood later this month, featuring cold, warm and hot baths, a salt water flotarium, and other spa amenities that were all the rage two millennia ago. “The whole concept is to bring back the tradition of Greek and Roman bathhouses,” said Silvia Barnett, a spokeswoman for Aire Ancient Baths. The expansive subterranean baths will occupy the restored basement at 800 W....

Mom With MS Finds Nasty Note After Parking In Handicapped Spot By Shannon Antinori, Patch National Staff | Nov 15, 2017 Updated Nov 15, 2017 "You need to think twice before judging someone," the Plainfield mom said. " You have no idea what they've been through." By Shannon Antinori, Patch National Staff | Nov 15, 2017 2:22 pm ET | Updated Nov 15, 2017 11:50 pm ET PLAINFIELD, IL — From all outward appearances, Michele Clarke, 39, looks young and healthy. But 16 years ago, the Plainfield mom was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Since then she has had to battle...

Cards Against Humanity, an irreverent card game company known for its attention-seeking pranks, says it bought land on the U.S.-Mexico border to block President Trump from building his wall. The Chicago company said on its website that this was part of a holiday promotion, for which customers could contribute to the wall-blocking project with $15 purchases for surprise gift packages. On Wednesday morning, just a few hours after the launching the program on Tuesday, Cards Against Humanity said it was sold out. "Donald Trump is a preposterous golem who is afraid of Mexicans," said Cards Against Humanity on its web...

Several House Democrats introduced articles of impeachment targeting President Trump on Wednesday, asserting that Trump has violated the Constitution. Democratic Reps. Steve Cohen (Tenn.), Luis Gutiérrez (Ill.), Al Green (Texas), Adriano Espaillat (N.Y.), Marcia Fudge (Ohio) and John Yarmuth (Ky.) said the five articles of impeachment come out of concern for the country's national security. "We believe that President Trump has violated the Constitution, and we've introduced five articles of impeachment," Cohen said at a press conference.

Latonya Bryant can still see Ernest Barnes Jr, her 24-year-old son, smiling and calling out to her in the sunshine that June 2014 afternoon, his words like an echo that keeps getting louder. “He’s waving to me in the back yard of our house and saying, ‘Ma, I love you,’ and I say, ‘Baby, I love you, too,’” Bryant remembers. By turns, the memory makes her cry, and makes her smile. And for a long time, those memories were proving almost impossible for her to live with. She pulled through, but barely. Bryant also keeps playing a video in her...

A GOP lawmaker is calling for the Senate to refuse to swear in Roy Moore (R) if the Alabama Senate candidate defeats Doug Jones (D) in a December special election.

WASHINGTON — Illinois Democratic Rep. Danny Davis says he sees ‘nothing wrong’ with the California ACLU’s effort to ban the Star Spangled Banner as the country’s national anthem. “Well, you know, one of the things about the Constitution that our forefathers wrote, and basically, there were none of our foremothers that were there. There were none of our fore-sisters there. There are changes that can take place and there is room to change,” he told TheDC Thursday. Alice Huffman, president of the California chapter of the NAACP, declared the anthem to be “racist” and that it “doesn’t represent our community....

A proposed "distracted walking" ordinance that could become law in Chicago would see pedestrians fined up to $500 for negligently strolling with their eyes fixed on a cellphone screen. NBC 5 asked city strollers Wednesday night what they thought of the proposal. Some barely noticed a TV news crew let alone the traffic trying to turn. "Well people do walk into traffic when they're not paying attention," one pedestrian told NBC 5 Wednesday night. "Pedestrians are getting hurt more often---well if you cross when the light is red you should be good," another said. But you're not according to aldermen...