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Current Chicago Mayor and former Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel penned an opinion piece in The Atlantic on Thursday, condemning Rep. Ilhan Omar's anti-Semitic comments. Emanuel's position is far different than other Democrats who say Omar's comments weren't anti-Semitic but rather a criticism of Israel. The Chicago Mayor was blunt about his position, saying, "Her remarks are not anti-Israel; they are anti-Semitic." No one is questioning the right of members of Congress and others to criticize Israeli policies. But Omar is crossing a line that should not be crossed in political discourse. Her remarks are not anti-Israel; they are...

On June 21, 2016, Chicago police pulled Spencer Byrd over for a broken turn signal. Byrd says his signal wasn't broken, but that detail would soon be the least of his worries. Ever since, Byrd has been trapped in one of the city's most confusing bureaucratic mazes, deprived of his car and his ability to work. He now owes the city thousands of dollars for the pleasure. Byrd, 50, lives in Harvey, Illinois, a corrupt, crime-ridden town south of Chicago where more than 35 percent of the populace lives below the poverty line. He's a carpenter by trade, but until...

Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said immigrants who come here illegally and their children were “part of the Chicago family.”

New Top Cop's Fiancee Under Investigation For Alleged Police Exam Cheating By Mark Konkol and Heather Cherone Updated April 5, 2016 THE LOOP — Mayor Rahm Emanuel's newly appointed top cop Eddie Johnson's fiancee is a Chicago Police lieutenant named in an ongoing investigation into alleged cheating on the department's lieutenant's exam, DNAinfo Chicago has learned. It's the same cheating probe that sources said helped derail Deputy Chief Eugene Williams' chances of being promoted to police superintendent. Now the allegations are part of a separate probe, this one by Chicago Inspector General Joe Ferguson, sources said. Williams, one of the...

Chicago Mayor and former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is famous for saying that a crisis is a terrible thing to waste since it allows you to do things you might not be able to get done except for the emotions of the moment spurring calls to action. Chicago’s bloody Memorial Day weekend, which saw a dozen people killed -- including a four-year-old-girl -- certainly proved no exception to Rahm’s Rule as he called for, wait for it, stricter gun control as he spoke at a luncheon honoring police officers for valor and service. “It’s not just about...

A federal judge says he'll decide soon on whether the Chicago Transit Authority must let employees distribute campaign leaflets in break rooms that oppose Mayor Rahm Emanuel's re-election bid. U.S. District Judge Robert Dow began hearing testimony Wednesday on a temporary restraining order that would force the transportation agency to allow the materials in advance of the April 7 runoff election. Dow told attorneys he hopes to rule by noon Thursday. The Amalgamated Transit Union filed a lawsuit in Chicago federal court Tuesday accusing the CTA of violating its members' free-speech rights. It claims the CTA allowed the distribution of...

Fiscal Policy: A city teetering on the brink of insolvency passes a minimum wage that would reach $13 by 2019, higher than the minimum elsewhere in a state that just elected a Republican governor. What could go wrong? Ignoring the first rule of holes (when you're in one, stop digging), the Chicago City Council, in a Tuesday emergency session called by Mayor and former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, voted 44-5 to raise the city's minimum wage from the current statewide level of $8.25 an hour to $10 on July 1, with future increases bringing it to $13...

Chicago's newest selective enrollment high school will not be named after President Barack Obama, as Mayor Rahm Emanuel had announced with much fanfare when unveiling the high profile school project. In a statement this morning, Emanuel said he would look for other possible names. “Over the last few months, my team has listened to questions and concerns from the community, ranging from location of the building to the naming of the school. We take that community input seriously, which is why – as we continue to look for a thoughtful way to honor President Obama – we will look for...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)The recent Conservative Political Action Conference provides a forum for big names. But it’s also a platform for the murmurs and asides from political strategists who’ve been everywhere and done everything, and like to speculate. Such is the case when the potential presidential candidacy ofHillary Clinton was parsed by a pair of insiders. Would she run? Maybe, if her health and vigor remain strong. But is she holding a place for someone else? Could be. The take-away suggestion: Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is seriously being groomed as a White House contender. “Maybe in the lead role, maybe the running mate....

Fiscal Disaster: A major credit rating agency has just given Chicago, with more general obligation debt per capita than Detroit, its second triple-notch downgrade in six months. Its bonds are perilously close to junk status. Citing skyrocketing pension costs and a lack of meaningful solutions, Fitch Ratings lowered Chicago's debt to A- from AA- last week, making it the second serious downgrade since July. The move by Fitch follows a triple downgrade of Chicago's bond rating by Moody's Investors in mid-July. Moody's cited the city's "very large and growing" pension liabilities and "significant" debt service payments, among other factors. The...

Twelve people, including a 3-year-old child, were shot at a Chicago park in the Back of the Yards neighborhood Thursday night, authorities said. Ten adults and the 3-year-old were transported by Fire Department ambulances after in the attack in the 1800 block of West 51st Street in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, said Fire Department Deputy District Chief James Mungovan. A twelfth victim was believed to have driven himself to Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park, a source said, citing preliminary information. …

Cities: Chicago appears to be following Detroit's lead to financial disaster, perhaps the latest victim of decades of one-party rule by Democrats eager to redistribute wealth while driving real wealth creators out of cities. Moody's Investors Service downgraded the Windy City's credit rating by three notches last week, partly the result of $19 billion in unfunded pension debt, leaving Chicago's lower than 90% of Moody's public finance ratings. Among the nation's five largest cities, Chicago has put aside the smallest portion of its looming pension obligations, according to a study issued this year by the Pew Charitable Trusts. The condition...

States: The governor from a thriving free-enterprise state travels to the U.S. counterpart of Greece and Cyprus with an invitation: Come to where folks are friendly to business. Texas' Rick Perry arrived in Illinois Monday to lure businesses away from a state that we and other's have dubbed "America's Greece" — beleaguered by debt, punished by regulations and subject to ever-rising taxes — to one that's leading the pack in job and economic growth. Taking umbrage at Perry's visit was Chicago Mayor and former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel. He took the occasion to taunt the governor with...

Racism: Facing a billion-dollar budget shortfall, the Chicago Public Schools' plan to close 54 schools, mostly in black and low-income neighborhoods, forces many students to cross gang boundaries to get a mediocre education. Facing a billion-dollar budget shortfall, the Chicago Public Schools' plans to close 54 schools, mostly in black and low-income neighborhoods, forcing many students to cross gang boundaries to get a questionable education. Shuffling children around like so many deck chairs on a sinking ship, the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) announced the closings as a cost-cutting move, with CPS officials arguing that money being spent to keep underutilized...

Scandal: The sunlight continues to expose the machinations behind the White House's support of failed solar panel manufacturer Solyndra with our tax dollars, including the false claim by former White House chief of staff. In a batch of White House emails released in a report on Solyndra by the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday, there's this gem: White House aide Aditya Kumar wrote to Jacob Levine of the Office of Energy and Climate Change on Aug. 19, 2009: "Feels like Rahm wants this too (barring any concerns) — POTUS (President Of The United States) Involvement (in pushing Solyndra)...

Ignoring Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan’s history of anti-Semitic remarks, Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday welcomed the army of men dispatched to the streets by Farrakhan to stop the violence in Chicago neighborhoods - Read excerpts of a Farrakhan anti-Semitic rant from earlier this month in "Comments."

First Amendment: The politically incorrect personal beliefs of a food-chain owner provides politicians nationwide an opportunity to rail against nonexistent discrimination. Want fries with that righteous indignation? Chicago Alderman Proco "Joe" Moreno announced this week that he will block Chick-fil-A's effort to build a store in his trendy ward after hearing that Chick-fil-A's president, Dan Cathy, had stated in an interview that he believed in marriage as between one man and one woman. Cathy was quoted July 16 in the Baptist Press saying he was "guilty as charged" for supporting "the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a...

Urban Decay: When more Americans are killed in the president's hometown than in Afghanistan, even the media take notice. When will the president notice the carnage in the city run by his former chief of staff? People are dying fast and furiously in Chicago, so much so that it caught the CBS eye and prompted "Evening News" anchor Scott Pelley to sit down Monday night with Rahm Emanuel, President Obama's former chief of staff and mayor of this monument to progressive decay, and ask a very pertinent question. "I got a letter from a viewer the other day who asked...

Politics: The former White House chief of staff journeys to Iowa to trash the Republican presidential field. As the ship of state continues to sink, the former first mate ignores the iceberg he helped steer us into. One would think that Rahm Emanuel, currently mayor of Chicago, would be busy fixing the fiscal mess his city, birthplace of the "Chicago way" of politics and government, is in. Illinois is imploding under a Democratic governor who is taxing businesses and jobs out of the state. But Emanuel was in Iowa, knocking Republicans and blaming them for all that ails America. "Mitt...

Cain Adviser to Accuse Team Perry of Leaking Harassment Claims: Watch 'Special Report' at 6 p.m. ET