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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:

Hillary 2020 - "She's full of energy!" It’s a really simple question. “If Hillary Clinton is up for another presidential run, would that be a good thing for your party?” That’s about as easy a “yes or no” softball as you’re likely to see. A first year poli-sci major would know enough to answer “Sure! We’re a big party with a wide array of diverse voices. Debate is always welcome. If she’s up for another run, we’d love to have her in the mix.”

It's going to take much more money to keep Chicago's schools open through June than previously revealed, top Emanuel budget aide Carole Brown says. The Chicago Public Schools actually need $596 million to keep schools open the rest of the school year, and not just the $129 million officials have publicly discussed, a top aide to Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Tuesday. ... Brown said all options are on the table to find the cash needed to stave off an early closing of schools that CPS CEO Forrest Claypool has warned might be needed but that Emanuel has ruled out to...

The Windy City has a whole host of issues to deal with these days, many of them centered around the fact that you’re more likely to be murdered there than in Fallujah on any given day. But rather than worrying about pesky little problems like that, the city council has decided to go after the really big ticket items on the agenda. One of these is to begin creating and distributing special municipal ID cards for various “underserved” groups including illegal immigrants. What could possibly go wrong? (CBS News, local) A program to create municipal identification cards passed overwhelmingly,...

Two men were killed in the most recent party bus shooting on Mar. 12, 2017 (Photo: WLS) Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is cracking down on so-called “party buses” after a series of shootings involving the vehicles, according to the Chicago Tribune. The new ordinance, introduced March 29, would require party bus companies to install security cameras inside their vehicles and hire security guards for large groups and groups consuming alcohol. The proposal would also require companies to post signage on party buses, so that police can better determine if the vehicles are legally operated. A “multi-agency force” would be created...

Rahm Emanuel needs a few things about America explained to him. For example, "Mayor" is not synonymous with "Dad." And being coerced into doing what the government wants you to do with your life is not so compatible with liberty: Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has proposed a new policy that won't allow students to graduate from high school unless they present a plan to the government on what their post-graduation plans are. The proposal would require students to prove that they're entering some sort of educational or vocational program after graduation; a job offer or entering the military would also...

As we know Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Barack Obama are best buddies, and it stands to reason they would both act in the same way when it comes to politics. Thus, we are witnessing a Mayor defy the President of the United States, in my opinion to commit a crime, by pushing for a new plan to create an identification card that would specifically be used to make sure illegal aliens in the city could get welfare benefits with minimal risk to repatriation. Of course, we know that Chicago is a sanctuary city, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions has...

Illinois Is Prepared—for Zombies The state readies for an undead apocalypse while its financial situation grows worse. Gerald Skoning Illinois’s state lawmakers are busy these days, but not with trying to reform the pension system or improve Springfield’s dismal bond rating. Instead, they’re moving to designate October 2017 as Zombie Preparedness Month. This may sound like a joke, but it’s (un)deadly serious: A resolution adopted by the state House last month contends that “while a Zombie Apocalypse may never happen, the preparation for such an event is the same as for any natural disaster.” Residents are urged to “create a...

Reportedly Mob-connected Democrat Marty Moylan wants a $100 FOID card February 28, 2017 Back when Rod Blagojevich busied himself introducing all manner of radical gun control schemes, Democrat Marty Moylan worked as an Electrical Union enforcer. His job, among other things, involved getting Electrical Union workers "out of jams". He's also got ties to the Chicago mob, per the "Chicago Clout" blog. Marty Moylan later became mayor of Des Plaines. Now, the guy "that will tell you anything to get elected" has wormed his way into the Illinois House. Democrat Marty Moylan stands as one of those Progressive Caucus Democrats...

Chicago police clear officers of racial profiling in stop of U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush On Aug. 4, 2016, U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush was pulled over in Bronzeville. He was let go without a ticket being issued, but later filed a complaint with IPRA alleging racial profiling. This video contains body cam footage from one of the officers that Rush filed the complaint against. (Source: CPD) Chief spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the department's Bureau of Internal Affairs found that the two Wentworth District officers acted properly because they had probable cause to make the stop. Earlier that day, officers at roll...

Monday in California at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, former Obama White House chief of staff and current Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Democrats needed to “take a chill pill” and prepare for a long-term build up of the party. Emanuel said, “2016, now Democrats are in the lowest level since 1928 in the House of Representatives and the lowest level since 1925 in the state houses. Not really good.” adding,”It is hard to image it getting lower.”

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...

Sessions Promises to ‘Properly Enforce’ Current Gun Laws, Endorses NRA-Backed Project Exile Stephen Gutowski January 10, 2017 Sen. Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.) said Tuesday he would prosecute gun crimes that fall under federal jurisdiction during his confirmation hearing for attorney general. Sessions’ views on gun crime prosecutions were made clear during an exchange between him and Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas). Cornyn framed the question in terms of violence against police and gun violence against minority communities. He specifically focused on gun crimes committed by felons who were already prohibited from possessing firearms. “We ought to hold our police and...

Chicago is a bloody mess. Last year, Chicago had 762 homicides — more than New York and Los Angeles combined. This represents an astounding 57 percent increase from the 2015 murder rate. On Sunday night, CBS’s 60 Minutes rightfully expressed concern about the fall in stops and arrests by police over the last year. Criminals have seemingly become emboldened as a result of the decrease in arrests. The 60 Minutes piece quotes Garry McCarthy — Chicago’s Police Superintendent up until a year ago — as saying that “officers are under attack, that is how they feel.” This isn’t a new...

Following the horrendous act of four young black adults in Chicago, wherein a young white man with a disability was kidnapped and tortured, Twitter exploded (understandably) in outrage. Very quickly the hashtag #BLMKidnapping started to trend in first place across the country, Americans furious over not only the absolutely awful crime, but the lackluster response in Chicago. We’ve all been waiting for leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement to denounce the crime, at the very least, but instead people like Shaun King tweeted this … Shaun King ✔ @ShaunKing I'll reply to the white supremacist #BLMKidnapping hashtag later this...

full title....................Trump blasts Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel for record-setting 762 homicides and 4,331 shooting victims in 2016 and says he 'must ask for Federal help' if he can't fix Windy City..............................Donald Trump used his Twitter bully pulpit on Monday to blast Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel for allowing his city's murder and firearms shooting rates to spiral out of control. 'Chicago murder rate is record setting – 4,331 shooting victims with 762 murders in 2016,' Trump tweeted. 'If Mayor can't do it he must ask for Federal help!'

---the usual sanctimonious blather --including the last sentence in this excerpt----"But in the here and now — to curb the carnage today — it is hard to overstate the importance of better gun laws and a powerful and professional police force. We strongly support new state laws to get and keep illegal guns off the street. Most significantly, we support legislation pending in Springfield that would increase minimum prison sentences for gun crimes. Illegal guns are killing our city."

The refrain is heard almost as often as the fatal gunshots: The way to reduce Chicago’s gun violence is tougher prison sentences for repeat gun offenders, keeping them off the streets and decreasing the city’s mounting death toll. That idea, pushed by the mayor, police superintendent and others, shifts pressure from patrol officers of the city’s West and South sides to the Capitol, where legislators will consider how to balance law and order with finding alternatives to imprisoning young blacks and other minorities.In that building, in the same Senate seat where Barack Obama launched his political career and focused on...

There are many unhinged things about the reaction of the Democrats after their disastrous presidential candidate lost, but the one that irks me beyond despair is their immediate and fierce defense of people they apparently know who are in our country illegally. There have been many reasons to dream that federal authorities would arrest these irresponsible elected officials. The worst being the arrogant and incompetent (the same combo Rob Ford displayed) Mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel. This guy is presiding over a city that is beyond bankrupt and a murder zone like areas of Iraq. Yet he has decided to...

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said on Friday that his city and the state of Illinois support the values he and his wife are teaching their children, including a law in place that “embraces gay marriage.” “Amy and I teach our children about that differences should be something that you look to, learn from, etc.,” Emanuel said at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., during a discussion focused on cities in the wake of Trump’s election and the UK’s exit from the European Union. …