Free Republic

Armed smash-and-grab looters broke into a high-end exotic car dealership in Chicago, stealing millions of dollars in watches. "We're here to run a legitimate business, not be a western shootout," Joe Perillo, co-owner of Gold Coast Exotic Motor Cars, told ABC7. Two men reportedly entered the dealership, which boasts a showroom of Lamborghinis and Bentleys, around noon on Saturday. One man was armed with a gun and stood by the entrance of the dealership while the other man used a hammer to smash display cases and allegedly stole about eight luxury watches, Fox 32 reported. "He was smart enough not...

The guilty verdicts in the Jussie Smollett fake hate crime trial underscore just how radical Chicago State’s Attorney Kim Foxx has proven to be. She campaigned for office in 2015 advocating a radical brand of “criminal justice reform,” including no bail policies for almost every defendant and reduced sentencing, and during the riots last summer, her office adopted a “presumption of dismissal” for certain low-level charges. Then came the Jussie Smollett case and the inexplicable dropping of charges against the actor, despite other prosecutors in her office claiming they had a “slam dunk” of a case. Former Chicago Mayor Rahm...

CHICAGO, IL—After watching Larry Elder on the receiving end of racist hate crime attacks in California, a very jealous Jussie Smollett disguised himself as the California candidate for Governor in hopes that people will commit some real hate crimes against him as well. "I hope this works," said Smollett as he donned a very lifelike cardboard cutout of Larry Elder's face with eye-holes cut in it. "I've never experienced a real racist hate crime before, only fake ones. But I've always dreamed of being a part of a real one. This will be so awesome." He then took a walk...

Billionaire Democrat donor George Soros has bankrolled District Attorneys in America's most crime ravaged cities, where criminals are being allowed to walk out of jail on low cash bonds or aren't even being charged. Soros, the most prolific Democratic donor, is most known for giving to Presidents Clinton and Obama but he has also been pumping money into a far-left effort to overhaul the criminal justice system by giving millions to a network of woke prosecutors in Democratic races. Among them is Kim Foxx, the State's Attorney for Cook County, Chicago, where murder is at its highest in nearly 30...

Embattled Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said Thursday she understands the “angst and fear” Chicagoans feel after two devastating rounds of looting and a 50% surge in homicides and shootings, but her “social agenda” is not responsible. Foxx said “everything is on the table,” including the possibility of reversing or modifying her controversial decision to raise the felony threshold for shoplifting offenses — from $300 to $1,000. Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd), whose downtown ward was devastated by two rounds of looting, bolted from the Democratic Party this week to endorse Republican Pat O’Brien. Reilly complained about Foxx’s failure to...

Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly, a critic of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, bucked his fellow Democrats to endorse the Republican challenger in one of the most anticipated local races this November. Reilly’s decision was announced by Patrick O’Brien’s campaign, but earlier last week the 42nd Ward alderman’s political committee gave $1,000 to the GOP challenger’s political war chest. Reilly also sent text messages and calls touting his endorsement to his ward’s residents. “Alderman Brendan Reilly 42nd Ward Chicago and his constituents know, firsthand, the consequences of Kim Foxx’s failure to aggressively prosecute repeat gun offenders and violent criminals downtown,”...

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx is ramping up her attacks on her Republican challenger just as a new poll shows the Democratic incumbent losing ground. Foxx also reported a fundraising boost from a couple of top Democratic donors. The incumbent argues that O’Brien is “pure Trump." Republicans say O’Brien’s rise in the polls shows voters are deciding what’s wrong for voters are “the disastrous policies of Kim Foxx.” Foxx’s 30-second ad describes O’Brien and President Donald Trump as “angry” Republicans who want to “‘lock em up’ regardless of evidence.” Foxx has gone after O’Brien previously for his role as...

With less than three weeks until the final votes can be cast, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx is heading into the home stretch of her re-election bid with the potential to be outspent nearly two-to-one by Republican rival Pat O’Brien. The Democratic incumbent reported having $202,290.45 left in her campaign coffers at the end of last month, and available filings show only $14,300 raised since then, giving her roughly $216,590.45 to spend. “Cook County residents have seen firsthand how Kim Foxx has failed to protect our families, victims of crime, and neighborhoods,” O’Brien said in a statement. “I look...

Kim Foxx said “no” to a debate against her Republican opponent in the Cook County state’s attorney’s race and will not sit on a stage with him at all as she campaigns for reelection. “We learned during the recent Ed board interviews, that the State’s Attorney participated in with Mr. O’Brien, that he will instead use the time for Trump-like name calling and fear mongering,” Sims wrote. “During this nationwide crisis, she will not sit across the stage from a Republican that exploits tragedy to win a campaign. We had plenty of that last night. Voters deserve better.” O’Brien quickly...

Foxx and friends — including her patron, Cook County Democratic boss Toni Preckwinkle and Cook County Chief Judge Tim Evans — act as if they’re untouchable. Preckwinkle is so confident as party boss that she spearheaded a nonendorsement of respected Judge Michael Toomin in the election because he dared order a special prosecutor in Foxx’s Jussie Smollett alleged fake hate crime fiasco. Preckwinkle hopes voters won’t connect the dots. “It’s outrageous what’s being done to Judge Toomin,” retired Judge Sheila O’Brien, who pushed for a special prosecutor in the Smollett case, told me. “Preckwinkle should be ashamed. This is a...

Pat O’Brien, Republican candidate for Cook County state’s attorney, blamed Democratic incumbent Kim Foxx Sunday for the fatal stabbing of an employee at a Walgreens store in Wicker Park, prompting her campaign to accuse O’Brien of “fear mongering” and taking a page out of President Donald Trump’s “playbook.” Last Sunday, 18-year-old Sincere Williams allegedly entered the Walgreens store at 1372 N. Milwaukee and repeatedly stabbed employee Olga Marie Calderon, a 32-year-old mother of two who was killed, officials reported. O’Brien said Williams was arrested in May and charged as a juvenile in a burglary at a Melrose Park gun shop,...

Foxx, the Cook County state’s attorney, has been publicly called out as a liar for her handling of that disastrous Jussie Smollett fake hate crime case. She bent backward for the celebrity entertainer, and she accepted phone calls from people with Obama White House clout. Then she tried to make the case go away. Now she’s been called out as a liar by liberal pundits, distinguished editorial boards and even by other lawyers. Foxx made up nonsense about why she was dropping charges against Smollett, after she indicted him on 16 counts of faking a hate crime that he blamed...

In bungling People vs. Jussie Smollett, Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx lied to her clients — the public, special prosecutor Dan Webb said. If you live in Cook County, that client is you. Foxx is betting you can't do anything about it. With 38 days before voter start to cast ballots to decide the fate of her re-election bid, Foxx issued a public statement, tweeted her political spin and vanished to avoid questioning. Foxx conveniently glossed over the report allegations that Foxx made a handful of false statements to the public after her office dropped 16 felony charges alleging...

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx blew yet another chance to put the Jussie Smollett controversy behind her when she issued a defiant, tone-deaf response to special prosecutor Dan Webb’s summary of his investigation. Webb’s summary was damning and devastating. It accused Foxx’s office of “substantial abuses of discretion and operational failures” and of “making false and/or misleading statements to the public” in overseeing the strange, high-profile case of a Hollywood celebrity who allegedly faked a hate crime attack against himself here in 2019. But rather than issue a long overdue apology or explanation, Foxx responded defensively yet again, denying...

It’s been more than a quarter of a century since a Republican has been elected to Cook County’s top prosecutor’s seat, but former Circuit Court Judge Pat O’Brien said Thursday that he intends to be the next one. After cruising through the GOP primary Tuesday, O’Brien outlined his plans to beat incumbent Democrat Kim Foxx in a live-streamed news conference, thanking his family, friends and “everyone who voted against Kim Foxx.” “We really have to clean up the mess that she’s made,” O’Brien said, not even a minute into his remarks. “I think we have to restore justice to the...

Cook County Republicans might have just been handed their best shot at recapturing an office they have not held since Bill Clinton was president. Special Prosecutor Dan Webb’s finding of “substantial abuses of discretion” in the Cook County state’s attorney’s office’s handling of the Jussie Smollett case virtually ensures that Democratic incumbent Kim Foxx will still be answering questions about the matter right up until the November election. “Aside from him coming out with an actual criminal charge against her, it’s about as devastating a report as a sitting state’s attorney can have leveled against them,” Cook County Republican Chairman...

The special prosecutor investigating how Chicago prosecutor Kim Foxx carried out the Jussie Smollett hoax investigation has found “substantial abuses of discretion” in Foxx’s actions. The former Empire star claimed that he was attacked by MAGA hat-wearing racists who beat him and poured bleach on him in downtown Chicago in the dead of night during below zero weather. But a police investigation claimed that Smollett invented the attack. Smollett was arrested and charged with the fraud. But Prosecutor Kim Foxx dismissed the case and released Smollett, dropping the charges. Foxx’s rush to release Smollett sparked an investigation, led by Dan...

The special prosecutor assigned to investigate the handling of the Jussie Smollett case says Chicago’s top prosecutor, Kim Foxx, engaged in “substantial abuses” in letting the actor go free.“The [Office of the Special Prosecutor] did develop evidence that establishes substantial abuses of discretion and operational failures by the [Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office] in prosecuting and resolving the Initial Smollett Case,” wrote Dan Webb — who was tapped by Chicago Judge Michael Toomin to re-probe the case — in a statement Monday.Shortly after the Chicago Police Department found Smollett allegedly faked a hate crime against himself and threw him in...

I have attached a recent announcement by Cooke County State's Attorney Kimberly M. Foxx where she very plainly and without explanations has decreed that her office has instituted a "presumption of dismissal" for a host of charges. She makes this proclamation under some arbitrary theory that the offenders were protesters and somehow had the right to commit crimes due to the unfortunate death of George Floyd in Minnesota. Our members did not arrest peaceful protesters. Our members arrested violent looters and criminals who took advantage of a situation. As President Trump has said, these individuals were simply criminals and domestic...

Gun violence is surging in Chicago and we’re all shattered by the loss of life, including young lives caught in the crossfire. It is harder than ever for all of us — and especially police — to do our jobs due to COVID-19. The community is frustrated, they’re demanding reform and, sadly, some people are looting. In this environment, it’s natural to look for others to blame. After all, none of us — police, prosecutors, judges or corrections officers — are solely in control of who gets arrested, prosecuted, sentenced and incarcerated. At the moment, the elected leadership at the...