Free Republic

Immigration reform advocates are fond of citing broad support for their cause. But in fact the coalition behind the Senate Gang of Eight comprehensive reform bill is fragile and loosely cobbled together. How could Big Labor and the Chamber of Commerce and the tech world and Big Agriculture all unite behind one bill? Very tentatively. It wouldn't take much to break the coalition apart. And if that happens, the effort to enact comprehensive immigration reform could blow up, not just for the moment, but for some time to come. And there are signs that is exactly what is occurring now....

The Chicago Sun-Times is now accepting bitcoins as payment for subscription, becoming the first major U.S. newspaper to take the digital currency.The paper's goal is to keep evolving with changing technology, and accepting bitcoin payments is one way it is trying to stay digitally focused, Editor-in-Chief Jim Kirk said in a release.The Sun-Times has a "digital-first" strategy that led it to experiment with a bitcoin paywall for a one-day period in February.It had partnered with San Francisco-based micropayments startup Bitwall so readers could donate bitcoin or tweets on Twitter to benefit an organization called the Taproot Foundation, which pairs professionals...

SPRINGFIELD, IL, April 3, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, known for his outspoken defense of the right to life and the natural family, has signaled his support for denying Communion to Catholic politicians who publicly endorse activities gravely contrary to the moral law.

CHICAGO (CBS) — The graphic that you are about to see is sobering, perhaps depressing, and you can’t take your eyes off it. We have the exhaustive work of Daniel Kay Hertz, a masters student at the University Of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy, to thank for that. At the risk of sounding like an old carnival barker, step right up and watch the middle class of Chicago vanish before your eyes. However, this is no side-show. It shows the demise of the foundation of an American city. Watch as the grey squares, which illustrate the middle class that...

Kass exclusive: Suburban officer charged in 95-year-old's death Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass discusses charges filed in the death of 95-year-old John Wrana. John Kass April 2, 2014 An officer was charged this morning in the police killing of 95-year-old John Wrana, the World War II veteran who was fatally shot with beanbag rounds in his apartment at a south suburban senior facility last year. Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez’s office said patrolman Craig Taylor, 43, was charged with one count of reckless conduct, a Class 4 felony. Taylor has been with the Park Forest Police Department since January,...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Caterpillar Inc. executives defended a tax strategy Tuesday that has saved the manufacturing giant billions in U.S. taxes. They got support from Republican senators, including one who said the company deserves an award. Caterpillar has avoided paying $2.4 billion in U.S. taxes since 2000 by shifting profits to a wholly-controlled affiliate in Switzerland, according to a report released by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. Levin chairs the Senate investigations subcommittee. On Tuesday, Levin grilled Caterpillar executives and their accountants at a hearing on the company's tax strategy. "Caterpillar is an American success story that produces iconic industrial machines,"...

L SPRINGFIELD — After a state conservation officer ticketed the National Rifle Association’s Illinois lobbyist last December for breaking a hunting law, the gun-rights advocate dutifully paid his $120 fine. But Todd Vandermyde, one of Springfield’s most powerful and effective lobbyists, didn’t stop there. A month later, he worked with one legislator to rewrite the law he broke. And not long after that, he enlisted help from House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs, to carry legislation that, at least initially, would have greatly restrained the authority of Department of Natural Resources police officers to venture onto private property. “I...

John Ambrose hoped to be among the first people in Illinois licensed to carry a concealed gun when the state’s new law took effect this year. Instead, Ambrose, 38, of Joliet said he learned Monday that his application had been denied because he took a class in Bolingbrook that didn’t meet state requirements from an instructor who’s had his right to teach revoked. Ambrose said although some students had voiced concerns about the part of the class to be taught online, the teacher told them the training met state standards. “I kind of feel like a fool,” he said. Illinois...

The new law makes South Dakota the sixteenth state to stamp out red light cameras and speed cameras by statute or state court ruling ... the cameras violate due process, don’t make intersections safer and generate revenue more for the red light vendor than the community. ... Brekford, based in Maryland, reported last week that it is losing money. .. Redflex Traffic Systems in Phoenix has even bigger headaches. The firm has been the subject of a federal bribery investigation in Chicago for the past year.

In a speech on the Senate floor Tuesday, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said free enterprise isn´t always best. Government must step in. "The free enterprise system is a strong system," he said, but it "created unfairness and injustice when it came to health care, which we are addressing with this Affordable Care Act." In passing that law, Durbin said Democrats "rejected the free enterprise approach to health care and said let´s have something that basically respects families." He also criticized Republicans for embracing free enterprise: "Let me tell you a free enterprise idea when it came to health care. Before

(snip) Brim was effectively suspended from her duties as a judge after the battery charges were filed but was nonetheless returned to the bench by voters weeks later. She has continued to collect her $182,000 salary since her 2012 suspension. On Friday, Brim said she was once again able to fulfill her duties as judge. Over the last two years, she said, she has consistently taken her medications – a requirement of her probation in the battery case – and has not had any psychotic episodes. “I can serve as a judge with full capability as long as I continue...

Oh, the irony. There it was just above Democrat Illinois Gov. Quinn’s editorial pleading to make the state’s temporary income tax hike a permanent income tax hike, as if we could see that one coming. You might remember that Illinois kind of went the “other” way a few years ago, hiking taxes on personal income 66 percent as a way of trying to get out of the de facto bankruptcy that politicians like Illinois Senator Barack Obama (Present!) had given the state. Politicians and unions had combined in plan to grift taxpayers in a union pension scheme that was...

A 54-year-old Northwest Side man who allegedly pulled a gun during a property dispute is the first concealed carry permit holder arrested in Chicago, police officials say. William P. O’Connell, of the 7200 block of North Oleander Avenue, lost his permit as a result of the arrest, said a spokeswoman for the Illinois State Police. In January, a new state law kicked in allowing people to carry concealed weapons as long as they have a permit. O’Connell was involved in a quarrel over rent money with a 52-year-old man on March 23, police said. O’Connell allegedly pointed a handgun at...

Chicago police on Sunday said they expect a judge to dismiss a case against two men whom officers arrested last week but later learned were community activists canvassing door to door. Felipe Hernandez, 20, and Kevin Tapia, 19, were arrested Tuesday in the Garfield Ridge neighborhood, where their employer, Grassroots Collaborative, said they were helping people sign up for health care under the Affordable Care Act in the area around 5500 South Normandy Avenue. The two men were charged with misdemeanor soliciting unlawful business after police received a 911 call from a resident, said Chicago Police Department spokesman Adam Collins....

Can a suspended Cook County judge return to the bench after being declared legally insane at the time she shoved a sheriff’s deputy in 2012? For the first time in Illinois, attorneys on the case say, a judicial disciplinary panel has begun tackling the question of whether a judge whose psychotic episodes can apparently be controlled through medication should be allowed to return to the bench.

President Barack Obama hits Chicago on Wednesday for two jumbo priced fundraisers to benefit the Democratic National Committee. Obama hosts a roundtable—I am told keyed towards business executives—at the Chicago Cut Steakhouse downtown where about 25 folks are expected; the tab is up to $32,400. The Obama roundtable is hosted by Mesirow Financial Chairman and CEO Richard Price.

Update 1145am EST. Many of you are asking for the list of the anti-drilling Republicans. The group who succeeded in pressuring the GOP to cave in calls itself the "Republican Main Street Partnership." They're holding a press conference at 130pm EST in Washington, D.C. to bray about their "victory." Here's some more info: Main Street Leaders who helped broker the deal to eliminate ANWR from budget cuts: Rep. Charlie Bass (R-NH), Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL), Rep. Jim Walsh (R-NY), Rep. Joe Schwarz (R-MI), RMSP Executive Director Sarah Chamberlain ResnicHere's the complete list of "Main Street" members in Congress. 1pm EST....

A man was fatally shot in the city's South Side in the Bronzeville neighborhood, and at least 13 others were wounded during shootings citywide over 36 hours Friday and Saturday. Most recently, about 7:30 a.m. in the Humboldt Park neighborhood, a 19-year-old man was shot in the upper thigh in the 3500 block of West Hirsch Street, according to police. Chicago Police News affairs Officer Jose Estrada said the man was taken to John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County in an unknown condition. In addition to the gunshot victim, another 19-year-old man was the victim of a battery...

<p>The woman at the controls of a Chicago Transit Authority train that crashed at O'Hare Airport had worked 69 hours in the seven days before the accident.</p> <p>Brittney T. Haywood, 25, from Chicago, said she dozed off at the controls Monday when the train crashed into the terminal and rode up the escalator.</p>

This is becoming one hell of a week! The “gun-grabbers” are falling finally, and it all started with Rhode Island State Senator (“Go F%#K Yourself”) Joshua Miller. Next was Rhode Island Speaker of the House Gordon Fox when his house was raided by the “Feds,” then Democratic gun-grabbing CA Senator Leland Yee who’s charged with illegally trafficking machine guns and rocket launchers, and who’s in the hot seat now? None other than Illinois Democratic State Representative Keith Farnham. How could things possibly get any worse for the Democratic party? We’ve already got cheating, bribery, extortion, money laundering, illegal weapons trafficking,...