Free Republic

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is reaching out to the African-American community these days, and in a new interview with Newsweek, at least part of that community is reaching back. Chicago rapper, actor, and White House invitee Common doesn’t seem to be persuaded by Trump’s newfound concern for black voters, if this interview is any indication: “America wouldn’t be taking a step back… we’d be taking 12 steps back [if Trump becomes president],” the Chicago-born musician and activist tells Newsweek. “It would be returning to some of the mentality of racism we’ve seen in the mid-Sixties, in the civil rights...

Before reading Hillary Rodham's assessment of the old radical from Chicago — Alinsky's “compelling personality,” “his exceptional charm,” and the limitations of his “anachronistic” tactics — it’s important to understand how the document was sealed... ... Just as conservative authors have speculated, it was the Clintons who asked Wellesley in 1993 to hide Hillary Rodham's senior thesis from the first generation of Clinton biographers, according to her thesis adviser and friend, professor Alan H. Schechter, who describes taking the call from the White House. Wellesley's president, Nannerl Overholser Keohane, approved a broad rule with a specific application: The senior thesis...

“This system sees police wantonly murdering people as part of the normal order of things,” proclaimed Carl Dix (shown), co-founder of the Revolutionary Communist Party, in explaining why many of his fellow communists have traveled 90 miles north from Chicago to Milwaukee to join in what he called a “righteous rebellion.” Dix deflected accusations that his group was stirring up trouble in Milwaukee by charging that the police are responsible for the death of a 23-year-old black man, Sylville Smith, and any resulting violent protests. Police say that Smith was shot and killed after a Saturday afternoon traffic stop, but...

Chicago’s police superintendent called for the firing of seven officers for their response to a colleague’s fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald in 2014, a case that incited widespread protests here and led to accusations of a cover-up.The decision by Superintendent Eddie Johnson, announced Thursday morning by a Police Department spokesman, comes nearly two years after Officer Jason Van Dyke fired 16 shots at Mr. McDonald, who was 17 and African-American.Mr. McDonald’s death roiled the city, laying bare longstanding tensions between the police and black Chicagoans. The case has led to increased scrutiny and skepticism of the department, including a Justice...

Nearly 100 people have been shot in Chicago in less than a week, pushing the number of shooting victims so far this year to more than 2,500 — about 800 more than this time last year, according to data kept by the Tribune. Between last Friday afternoon and early Thursday, at least 99 people were shot in the city, 24 of them fatally. At least nine people were killed on Monday alone, the deadliest day in Chicago in 13 years, according to Tribune data. Among the wounded that day was a 10-year-old boy shot in the back as he played...

A man and two women are being held in lieu of $900,000 bail after they allegedly beat a man to death with a broom handle, a metal baseball bat and a two-by-four on the West Side after a Facebook fight, authorities said. Lithia Henderson, 41, Marshalla Kelly, 23, and Marshall L. Henderson, 21, appeared in court Sunday, where a judge set bail at $900,000 for each of them, according to Cook County state’s attorney office spokeswoman Tandra Simonton.The three, from Chicago, are charged with murder in the death of 23-year-old Andre Jackson and are slated to appear again in court...

Double-digit Obamacare premium hikes projected in 2017 may bode in Donald Trump’s favor, as several swing states are being impacted by double-digit increases under the law and consumers are expected to see the hikes around Nov. 1 — one week before heading to the polls. Trump has promised to repeal and replace Obamacare, but Hillary Clinton has vowed to make the Obamacare exchanges work. Some say the way she would do that is through raising taxes.

Illinois Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner signed a popular bill last week that would reclassify some as being ineligible to own firearms due to stalking orders or protective orders from other states. Sponsored by Rep. Kelly M. Cassidy, D-Chicago, the measure directs the State Police to deny an application for or revoke an individual’s Firearm Owners Identification Card if they are subject to an order of protection or no-contact order related to stalking. It passed the House in April and the Senate in May, both in unanimous votes, earning Rauner’s signature on August 12 along with a host of other...

Adding to the handful of lawsuits involving transgender students across the country, lawyers representing a group of 51 families in a Chicago suburb asked a federal judge to temporarily suspend a school policy that grants a transgender student access to the girls’ restrooms and locker rooms. “Every parent sends their kids to school expecting that the school is going to protect them at the most basic level—their safety, their privacy, their dignity,” Jeremy Tedesco, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs in the case, said after the hearing wrapped on Monday afternoon. “What we’re asking for is a temporary injunction that will...

For some reason, playing a song in which 50 percent of the lyrics are the exact phrase “smack my bitch up” for an accused domestic abuser didn’t quite sit right with people, leading the Cubs to issue the following formal apology: "The selection of this track showed a lack of judgment and sensitivity to an important issue. We have terminated our relationship with the employee responsible for making the selection and will be implementing stronger controls to review and approve music before public broadcast during our games."

More than 50 people were shot over another violent weekend in Chicago, a level of violence that has marked many of the summer weekends this year and has pushed the total number of people shot in the city to more than 2,600. The number of people shot during all of last year was 2,988. Between Friday evening and early Monday morning, at least 52 were shot and nine of them were killed, according to police. The weekend before, 49 people were shot, nine of them fatally. And the weekend before that, 52 people were shot, seven of them fatally. The...

A vacationing President Obama received an update Sunday about a night of rioting and gunfire in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, before he headed out for another round of golf. The White House said Mr. Obama was briefed on the unrest by senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, who spoke to Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. The president later departed for a golf course on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, with former NBA star Alonzo Mourning, Washington lawyer Cy Walker and Mercer Cook, a cousin of Ms. Jarrett. Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke Jr. called for the National Guard to respond to the area where rioters burned

Nearly 100 people have been shot in Chicago in less than a week, pushing the number of shooting victims so far this year to more than 2,500 - about 800 more than this time last year, according to data kept by the Tribune. Between last Friday afternoon and early Thursday, at least 99 people were shot in the city, 24 of them fatally. At least nine people were killed on Monday alone, the deadliest day in Chicago in 13 years, according to Tribune data. Among the wounded that day was a 10-year-old boy shot in the back as he played...

Website has charts, graphs, daily, weekly, monthly and yearly totals. http://heyjackass.com/

Michael Lucas, 61, was sitting on his front stoop in Chicago’s Burnside neighborhood, watching his 3-year-old grandnephew play in the afternoon sun, when without warning two men ran toward the house and opened fire on him.

<p>Deficits and unfunded pension liabilities as far as the eye can see. Seated in his office here, wearing neither a necktie nor a frown, Republican governor Bruce Rauner is remarkably relaxed for someone at the epicenter of a crisis now in its second year and with no end in sight. But, then, stress is pointless when the situation is hopeless. Besides, if you can ignore the fact that self-government is failing in the nation’s fifth-most populous state, you can see real artistry in the self-dealing by the Democrats who, with veto-proof majorities in the state legislature, have reduced this state they control to insolvency.</p>

Two Illinois Republicans considered among the nation’s most vulnerable congressional incumbents are breaking from their party and its outspoken presidential nominee, Donald Trump, to push laws that would include a path to citizenship for people living in the country illegally. Rep. Bob Dold and Sen. Mark Kirk joined GOP Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida and business leaders at an event Wednesday in Chicago. They argued comprehensive immigration reform would help the economy, ensure companies have the workers they need and is the right thing to do. “It’s about people before politics,” said Dold, whose district north of Chicago is home...

The video is a must watch. The vehicle passes between two officers essentially shooting at each other. At about 5:41 on the video an officer reloads while pointing his weapon at another officer.

A federal judge on Tuesday upheld Rod Blagojevich's 14-year prison sentence on corruption counts, setting aside pleas for leniency by the former Illinois governor's wife and daughters during his resentencing.

A community college in Illinois is trying to defend itself after it decided to offer special classes only available to black people. “College: Changes, Challenges, Choice” is a one-credit introductory course at Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills, and is intended to help new students “assess your purpose for college, assess your study strategies, set college and career goals, examine your values and decision-making skills, and develop an appreciation for diversity.” But while the class may want students to appreciate diversity, the school doesn’t practice what it preaches. Two sections of the class are specifically set aside exclusively for...