Free Republic

Chicago Public School officials say they’re canceling classes ahead of Monday’s bitter cold temperatures, after first saying they would be open. The reversal comes after withering criticism from the Chicago Teachers Union, though officials say they made the decision after (they) “evaluated the situation again.” …

On Thursday, a town hall meeting hosted by Al Sharpton and the National Action Network to address gun violence exploded into a revolt against “Chicago Machine” politics, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and the aldermen in City Hall, with panel and audience members calling to vote out their elected officials. One 82-year-old preacher even called for “Tea Party” style meetings in some of Chicago’s south side communities such as Altgeld Gardens and Trumbull Park.

In a recent long-form article on the troubles that the banking and investment sectors have had with the destructive policies coming out of the White House, unnamed Democrats told Politico that Rahm Emanuel and, most especially, Valerie Jarrett were not only entirely unresponsive to their concerns, but they actually lacked any knowledge about the industries for which they were tasked with crafting policy--and earned no "respect" because of it. Things got so bad that representatives of the financial sectors just stopped having meetings with the White House because any such meetings were pointless. The December 11 article, "Lament of the...

<p>CHICAGO (AP) - It's not the vision of a world-class city that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel typically likes to portray.</p> <p>More teachers losing their jobs, thousands fewer police and firefighters on duty, less frequent trash collection and miles of potholed roads going unrepaired - all as property taxes soar.</p>

Mayor Rahm Emanuel agreed Monday to shave a quarter off his 75-cents-a-pack tax on cigarettes to appease African-American aldermen concerned about the illegal sale of loose cigarettes. The decision to reduce the tax from 75 cents a pack to 50 cents continues Emanuel’s pattern of tinkering at the margins of his city budgets to appease critics without giving away too much............. ........Last week, the mayor appeared to slam the door on compromise. He called the 75-cents-a-pack increase that would have left Chicago with the nation’s highest combined state and local tax on cigarettes a “health care feat” on par with...

October was another bloody month for the city of Chicago, as the city suffered 34 homicides, 29 from fatal shootings, and 98 more shot and injured. Seven more people have been killed thus far in November, bringing the murder total for the year to 387. That number remains below 2013, however, as of October 27; the Chicago Police Crime Data Portal shows the murder rate unchanged from 2011, and a 20% spike in murders for the previous four weeks. “If Rahm Emanuel and Garry McCarthy want to stop this, they can stop this,” Ward claimed. “They can stop it with...

<p>President Obama's aides went to extraordinary lengths to uncover the identity of a senior official who was using Twitter to make snarky comments about White House staffers.</p> <p>Jarrett, an old Chicago friend of both Barack and Michelle Obama, appears to exercise such extraordinary influence she is sometimes quietly referred to as “Rasputin” on Capitol Hill, a reference to the mystical monk who held sway over Russia’s Czar Nicholas as he increasingly lost touch with reality during World War I.</p>

At this point this is still speculation with little confirmation, however it is highly suspect. I urge anyone to look further into this for more info. *Note Balkisson is not the PM's son, as written below, but rather an MP's son. ... B. Facebook Page: Now we know why a company in Canada got the contract for Obamacare:::::: "Michael D. Harbison via Dutch Valkema Dutch Valkema

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday called federal prosecutors’ efforts to crack down on gun crime “horrible” in Chicago when compared to other cities like New York or Los Angeles. “But that does not absolve us from our responsibility. It doesn’t absolve Springfield. There is a lot that needs to be fixed specifically on guns, both on the prosecutorial side, the gun prevention side and other aspects,” [Chicago Mayor Rahm] Emanuel said. Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) have been encouraging the [federal prosecutor] to take on street crime, too.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday blasted Congressional Republicans for their “wrong-headed” budget brinksmanship he said led to a partial government shutdown, while maintaining that city services are still immune to the impasse in Washington. “It’s time for the Republican leaders in Congress to step up, provide leadership and tell a small minority in their party to stop trying to hold the country hostage to their ideology,” Emanuel told reporters at an unrelated press conference on Wednesday. As the first federal shutdown in nearly 18 years entered its second day, Emanuel said city services are still unaffected by the shutdown,...

Check out the excerpt below from THIS THREAD (Emanuel blasts 'wrong-headed' GOP leaders over shutdown): Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday blasted Congressional Republicans for their “wrong-headed” budget brinksmanship he said led to a partial government shutdown... “The election was a referendum. Elections have consequences. The American people have spoken, he has gotten re-elected, and he’s being very reasonable about a way to move forward. They are being unreasonable and irresponsible and reckless.” _______________________________________________Lately I have been hearing many Democrats and their Democrat "mainstream" newsroom allies spout this brazen lie that the re-election of the African communist Obama was a...

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel condemned a Thursday night shooting on Chicago’s South Side that wounded 13 people, including a three-year-old boy. “Senseless and brazen acts of violence have no place in Chicago and betray all that we stand for,” said Obama’s former chief of staff in the first of a series of tweets Friday morning. “The perpetrators of this crime will be brought to justice and prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” Emanuel added. Witnesses said several gunmen fired at least 20 shots at a group on basketball courts, according to NBC News’s Chicago affiliate. The station said...

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. …

The guy just doesn’t fit in. He needs to quit now in order to explore great new opportunities for the sake of the children. Chicago’s Police Superintendent Garry Francis McCarthy, known lovingly as McStreetlights, was hand picked by Mayor Rahm “Tiny Dancer” Emanuel to do something about Chicago, a city whose kill stats are worse than those of Afghanistan. In a stunning panoply of ironic details, the man blew in from NYPD’s CompStat program, moved over to Newark, then sent letters to Chicago gang bangers, telling them in essence that he knew where they lived and to have a nice...

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday defended the choices he has made on the Chicago Public Schools budget, but did not directly address reports that neighborhood schools will face deeper cuts during the coming year than charters or other kinds of schools. CPS estimated classroom cuts in the upcoming budget to be about $68 million. But the Tribune found that the cuts to district-run neighborhood schools is more than $100 million for instruction and operations. CPS came up with its lower figure by including budget increases at charter and contract schools that in many cases saw enrollment rise and seats added....

It took a judge’s order to snap a greedy Chicago union out of its selfishness and make its members stop picketing funerals including one being held for a deceased child by a grieving family. SCI Illinois Services Inc. (SCIIS), a large funeral home chain has been stuck by Teamsters Local 727 which has harassed grieving families seeking to bury their loved ones. A statement from SCIIS said, “While we recognize and respect the Teamsters’ right to lawfully picket, we have been shocked and saddened by their attempts to make grieving families the target of the cruel and outrageous attacks.” The...

CHICAGO (CBS) – An Illinois state representative has publicly raised the possibility that Chicago police officers might be the ones responsible for the unsolved murders of black youths in Chicago. State Rep. Monique Davis (D-Chicago) was interviewed about Chicago crime Tuesday on WCHB-AM in Detroit. “I’m going to tell you what some suspicions have been, and people have whispered to me: they’re not sure that black people are shooting all of these children,” Davis said. “There’s some suspicion – and I don’t want to spread this, but I’m just going to tell you what I’ve been hearing – they suspect...

Mayor Rahm Emanuel closed the books on 2012 with $33.4 million in unallocated cash on hand — down from $167 million the year before — while adding to the mountain of debt piled on Chicago taxpayers, year-end audits show. Last week, Moody’s Investors ordered an unprecedented triple-drop in the city’s bond rating, citing Chicago’s “very large and growing” pension liabilities, “significant” debt service payments, “unrelenting public safety demands” and historic reluctance to raise local taxes that has continued under Emanuel. The 2012 city audits explain why. [Snip] The audits by the accounting firm of Deloitte & Touche provide a treasure...

State Rep. Monique Davis An Illinois state representative has publicly raised the possibility that Chicago police officers might be the ones responsible for the unsolved murders of black youths in Chicago. State Rep. Monique Davis (D-Chicago) was interviewed about Chicago crime Tuesday on WCHB-AM in Detroit. “I’m going to tell you what some suspicions have been, and people have whispered to me: they’re not sure that black people are shooting all of these children,” Davis said. “There’s some suspicion – and I don’t want to spread this, but I’m just going to tell you what I’ve been hearing – they...

Yesterday this picture of Lady M set the intertoobs teeth on edge and kicked the misery heat index up to notches unknown: I blame Matt Drudge who started the ball rolling with this headline gem: (SNIP) Butt with the dawn comes the embarrassing truth: Rumors of Lady M’s haircut have been greatly exaggerated (SNIP) As the day wore on, more proof emerged. Lady M joins Mayor Rahm “Rhambo” “Dead Fish” Emanuel (h/t: Sean Hannity)and his beard partner spouse wife, Amy Rule, for a morning visit to the career training program, Urban Alliance Chicago: (SNIP) "To you all students, for having...