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llinois is like Venezuela now, a fiscally broken state that has lost its will to live, although for the moment, we still have enough toilet paper. But before we run out of the essentials, let's finally admit that after decade upon decade of taxing and spending and borrowing, Illinois has finally run out of other people's money. Those "other people" include taxpayers who've abandoned the state. And now Illinois faces doomsday. So as the politicians meet in Springfield this week for another round of posturing and gesturing and blaming, we need a plan. And here it is:

This week at The National Press Club when asked if Democrats can retake the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2018 midterms, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) said that the Democratic Party was “1,000 seats” behind the Republican Party at this point. As a former DCCC chairman, Emanuel is credited for playing a key role in the Democratic Party regaining the majority in the House of Representatives in the 2006 election. Emanuel said, “Sure it can happen anybody that tells you it will happen this far out doesn’t hasn’t been in campaigns, it’s too far to predict, a lot of...

Mayor of Chicago Rahm Emanuel seemed a bit irked that CNN’s Dana Bash was asking him about the possibility of Hillary Clinton mounting a third presidential run would be good for the party, noting that it wasn’t a good question. Emanuel said that he “loves” Hillary, and that she has lost to offer—but the decision about a 2020 run is best left with her. Also, we’re not even close to the 2018 midterm elections (via The Hill):“Well look, you're asking something that we're not even through the midterm election. She hasn't even declared," Emanuel said when first asked. "I know,...

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday questioned the legality of Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ threat to cut or “claw back” Justice Department money to “sanctuary” cities and called it “a bit of a joke” at a time when DOJ funding is being cut. “I find it a little ironic. They said they were gonna cut or withhold monies on public safety. Did you look at the president’s budget that he introduced? He actually cut the Justice Department. So this is kind of like, in my view, a bit of a joke in that sense,” the mayor said at an unrelated news...

The man who managed former President Barack Obama’s campaign has been slapped with a $90,000 fine for using Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s private email account to lobby the mayor on behalf of ride-sharing giant Uber without registering as a lobbyist. Newly-appointed Chicago Board of Ethics Chairman Attorney William Conlon said the fine assessed against David Plouffe is the largest ever by the Chicago Board of Ethics. It represents $1,000 for every one of the 90 days that Plouffe failed to registered as a lobbyist after his November 2015 email to Emanuel on the mayor’s personal account. “Registration of lobbyists is important....

A former senior executive for Uber who once served as Barack Obama's campaign manager has been fined $90,000 by the Chicago Board of Ethics for illegally lobbying Mayor Rahm Emanuel on behalf of the ride-hailing company. The board voted 5-0 to find that David Plouffe violated city ethics rules by failing to register as a lobbyist after contacting Emanuel to help the company on regulations for picking up travelers at Chicago's two airports.

“Winning is everything,” Rahm Emanuel told a Stanford University audience in discussing the current political situation — and his frustration with fellow Democrats. “If you don’t win, you can’t make public policy.” And, Emanuel tells Democrats, they should plan to be in the wilderness for a while — perhaps quite a while. “It ain’t gonna happen in 2018. Take a chill pill”:

Uploaded on Mar 8, 2010 Here is audio of Democrat Rep. Eric Massa saying Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is the "Son of the Devil's Spawn." He also described an encounter he had with Emanuel in the House Gym's shower, where he said Emanuel approached him while he (Massa) was "naked as a jaybird" and started yelling at him: "I am showering, naked as a jaybird, and here comes Rahm Emanuel, not even with a towel wrapped around his tush, poking his finger in my chest, yelling at me." "He is an individual who would sell his mother to...

... Instead, he said, Democrats should focus on the GOP. "Wherever there's a disagreement among Republicans, I'm for one of those disagreements," he said. "I'm all for it. The president's with Russia? I'm with John McCain and Lindsey Graham, I'm for NATO! Why? (It's a) wedge. Wedges have to be schisms, schisms have to be divides."

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has warned Democrats they need to "take a chill pill" and realize that they are not going to take back national power anytime soon. "It ain't gonna happen in 2018," Emanuel said Monday at Stanford's Graduate School of Business in California. "Take a chill pill, man. You gotta be in this for the long haul." As he did last month at an event in Washington, D.C., the mayor expanded on what he believes is the road map back to power for his party — putting moderate candidates such as veterans, football players, sheriffs and business people up...

<p>CHICAGO (AP) - Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is calling on city residents to show immigrants that they are welcome through actions such as hosting a meal or offering kind words.</p> <p>Emanuel says in a statement Sunday that his family plans to host young immigrants attending Chicago Public Schools and City Colleges of Chicago for "a meal, a conversation and a recognition and celebration of all that unites us, rather than what divides us."</p>

Two days after President Donald Trump told a national television audience that Mayor Rahm Emanuel needed to "smarten up and toughen up" on fighting gun violence, the mayor held a carefully-orchestrated news conference to discuss Chicago's "smart-policing strategy." As Emanuel summoned a swarm of cameras to the 7th District Police Station in Englewood Friday to highlight new police cameras and gunshot tracking technology, sources said the Police Department's top brass was busy carrying out an order to flood the city's most violent neighborhoods with extra officers this weekend. In a Tuesday night tweet in which he said he "will send...

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday welcomed federal assistance to help stem Chicago violence but rejected the idea of the National Guard patrolling the city as "antithetical" to the trust he's trying to build in law enforcement. The mayor's comments came after President Donald Trump on Tuesday evening took to Twitter to suggest he would "send in the Feds!" if Chicago doesn't "fix the horrible 'carnage' going on." The president's tweet, however, did not specify what form that could take. At a Wednesday press briefing, White House spokesman Sean Spicer didn't respond directly when asked whether Trump was talking about deploying...

I’ve long since lost track of how many stories we’ve covered here about the skyrocketing murder rate and gang violence problems in the Windy City. (Talk about American carnage.) It seems that the new President hasn’t forgotten about it either and he took to Twitter this week to deliver something of an ultimatum to Mayor Rahm Emanuel… get your crime problem under control or I’m going to fix it for you. This is obviously a move designed to pick a fight with a high profile Democrat while reinforcing his plans to bolster law enforcement, so it’s going to lead...

President Trump on Tuesday evening threatened to send government officials to the Windy City if the Democratic mayor and city police cannot turn around the city's rocketing homicide rate. "If Chicago doesn't fix the horrible "carnage" going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds!" Trump tweeted around 9:30 p.m. EST Tuesday. Gun-related violence in Chicago is outpacing the same period in 2016, which was one of the most deadly years for the city in recent history. From Jan. 1 through Monday, 37 people were killed and 250 people were...

Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump 1m1 minute ago More If Chicago doesn't fix the horrible "carnage" going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds!

If Chicago doesn't fix the horrible "carnage" going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds!

The most important statement in the Justice Department’s damning report on the Chicago Police Department has nothing to do with police behavior. Released on Friday, the report found the Chicago police guilty of a “pattern or practice” of unconstitutional force. But it turns out that the Justice Department has no standard for what constitutes a “pattern or practice” (the phrase comes from a 1994 federal statute) of unconstitutional police conduct. “Statistical evidence is not required” for a “pattern or practice” finding, the DOJ lawyers announce, citing unrelated court precedent. Nor is there “a specific number of incidents” required to constitute...

The Mexican consul in Chicago said that immigrants are flocking to the Windy City before Donald Trump becomes president because Chicago is a sanctuary city, according to a report Tuesday in El Financiero. Carlos Martin Jimenez was speaking at a recent gathering of Mexican ambassadors and consuls in Mexico City and said that Mexicans in Indiana and Wisconsin are coming to the Chicago consulate due to it being a sanctuary for illegal immigrants.

Thursday evening on "The Mark Levin Show," Conservative Review's editor in chief addressed the “absolute, horrific inhumanity” of the racist torture attack on a developmentally disabled man in Chicago, stating it is but the latest example of the "collapsing of the civil society" in Chicago and other communities under Democratic policies. (Hear Levin comments at link) The Obama legacy, like "what the politicians have done to your way of life [in Chicago]," is a tragic failure. And yet President Obama “is running around touting his legacy as if it’s something great and to be admired.” (Watch video at link)