Free Republic

Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 President John Catanzara released a spicy YouTube video of his own on Friday, a video he recorded while standing in front of the mayor’s home, which is protected 24/7 by multiple CPD units. “Three squad cars blocking it, patrolling it, protecting it for him and his family,” Catanzara said. “Yet, he calls law enforcement a sickness. What a hypocrite. Piece of garbage.” Catanzara told viewers that Johnson’s words were no mistake. “He has always hated us. He still hates us. He just can’t say what he wants to publicly. But two days ago, the...

In a bid to stave off an infusion of law-enforcement assets into his city by President Trump, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson declared that "the idea that law enforcement is the solution to reducing crime is a sickness. Folks commit crimes because they are desperate. Sending armed cops after them just accelerates that desperation leading to more death and destruction." Johnson went on to praise Gov. JB Pritzker's (D) "Peacekeepers" initiative, saying "rather than give up on folks with criminal records we are going to give them a chance to refocus their efforts in ways that will help the community become...

The Obama library — which isn't a library — has ballooned to a construction cost of more than $615 million, up from the original estimate of $300 million when the edifice was proposed in 2019. As 2024, the estimate had soared to $615 million, with the cost adding up to a whopping $615,674,047. But according to the Chicago Tribune, other estimates have already placed construction costs past the $700 million mark. Along with these massive cost overruns, the Barack Obama Presidential Center has had a very troubled history already, and it hasn’t even been completed yet. Originally, the Obama Center...

“Jails and incarceration and law enforcement is a sickness that has not led to safe communities,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson declared during a fiery press conference Tuesday, adding that he intends to “eradicate” that sickness. Johnson made the remarks after a reporter asked him about his administration’s public safety plan. “I get so sick and tired of people believing that the only thing that Black and Brown and poor people get to get in this city are badges,” he continued. “No. It’s a sickness and we’re gonna eradicate it.” Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd), who recently announced a campaign to unseat...

Chicago law firms have found a new way to get paid at taxpayers’ expense: suing the city for alleged police misconduct. The suits are draining hundreds of millions from Chicago’s coffers at a time when the city can’t afford to lose a dime. Voters should hold their leaders accountable for enabling this racket. For years, Chicago has led the nation in overturning supposedly wrongful convictions. This has resulted in a windfall for law firms—both those suing the city and those hired by the city to settle cases. Since 2000, Chicago has paid over $700 million in settlements to criminal defendants...

In a bonkers, incredibly irresponsible speech given in the wake of news that hundreds of DHS agents are being deployed to his city to crack down on illegal immigration and thousands of National Guard troops could be deployed to crack down on crime, as is currently ongoing in DC, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson encouraged his city to rise up and defend itself against President Trump. As background, the fury from Johnson began with President Trump, commenting on the situation in DC and where will be next, saying, “To me, D.C. is very exciting and a lot of people say, ‘Whoa,...

CHICAGO, IL — City officials were relieved to get some unexpectedly positive news following the holiday weekend, as Chicago shootings were reportedly down, as the guy who keeps track of all the shootings got shot. The numbers came as a pleasant surprise after what was feared to be a record-breaking Labor Day weekend in the Windy City, with the shooting of the guy who is responsible for tabulating all the shootings providing much-needed relief from the onslaught of violent statistics. "After that guy caught a bullet, our shooting numbers suddenly got a lot better," said Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. "We...

A surge in Chicago gun violence led two Illinois state representatives to request that the National Guard help fight violent crime in the city. Critics call the plea misguided, but others argue that the Guard could help control the stem the wave of killings. Host Michel Martin talks with John Fritchey, one of the two representatives who made the request, and with Bill Bratton, former chief of police for New York and Los Angeles.

Chicago's far-left leadership just made its priorities crystal clear—criminal illegal aliens first, federal law second. Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) has signed an executive order aimed at blocking federal immigration authorities from doing their jobs in the city, even as Chicago grapples with out-of-control crime, an illegal immigration crisis, and mounting public frustration. The order openly declares that city police will not assist federal agents in arresting or removing illegal immigrants, even those with criminal records. Instead, the city’s law department has been instructed to use “any and every legal mechanism” to target the federal government for trying to enforce immigration...

President Trump on Monday bashed Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) as “incompetent” amid threats from Trump to send National Guard troops into the Illinois city. “The incompetent Mayor of Chicago just stated that, in DC, where crime has been brought down to almost nothing, there have been no murders in 9 days, something which hasn’t happened in years, and people are safe again, only nine people have been arrested,” Trump said on Truth Social. “That is wrong, hundreds of criminals have been held, captured, and arrested, and their guns have been taken away. DC IS SAFE AND BOOMING!!!” As of...

NRA has often reported on failed “gun buyback” programs in cities across the country as being worse than useless. Unfortunately, for some, these programs have led to even more dangerous and life-threatening consequences. While the Chicago Police “gun turn-in program” website states that “all guns are destroyed and never returned to the streets,” that was not the case for Twanda Willingham. Ms. Willingham recently filed suit against the City of Chicago and others after she was shot with a Glock 21 .45 caliber handgun that had been relinquished to Chicago police at a gun turn-in event in December 2023. The...

Mayor Brandon Johnson has an important public service announcement: VIDEO AT LINK...................... https://x.com/i/status/1955680709580038199 He's a genius! This takes real skill:

Despite President Donald Trump’s decision to federalize the Washington D.C. police force and deploy the National Guard to fight violent crime in the nation’s capital, he cannot deliver on his threat to do the same in Chicago, state and local officials said Monday. “If we need to, we’re going to do the same thing in Chicago, which is a disaster. We have a man there who’s totally incompetent. He’s an incompetent man,” Trump said, referring to Mayor Brandon Johnson. “And we have an incompetent governor there. Pritzker is an incompetent,” Trump added, referring to Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. And now...

Newly appointed Chicago Park District Supt. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa issued a statement saying the temporary art would “celebrate Chicago’s diverse communities” in a proposed “Peoples’ Plaza.” The new plaza is expected to open in late summer or early fall after pavement restoration. Ron Onesti, president of the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans, viewed the move as a betrayal of the innovative agreement he cut with Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration nearly three months ago. The deal called for the Columbus statue in Arrigo Park to be “loaned” to the civic committee for display in a new Chicago Museum of Italian Immigration...

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson says he will seek progressive revenue solutions to address a budget deficit without raising property taxes.

Chicago activists welcomed word of a “complete and total ceasefire” in the war between Israel and Iran at a downtown protest Monday evening but said they were cautiously optimistic and urged continued agitation. The protest at Federal Plaza attracted about 200 people despite Monday’s extreme heat. Demonstrators called for the United States to stop bombing Iranian nuclear sites, among other demands. Many condemned U.S. military aid to Israel, supporting its war in Iran and also in Gaza, which has lasted nearly two years. President Donald Trump said on social media Monday that Israel and Iran have agreed to a ceasefire...

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) said Monday on CNN’s “The Situation Room” that President Donald Trump was “trying to eliminate black existence from this country. Johnson said, “Governor Abbott spent over $220 million to ship people across America. Instead of working with Congress to actually pass substantive immigration reform policy. They wanted to create division, but we’re not going to allow that to happen in the city of Chicago. Much like we fought for civil rights 60 years ago, we’re going to continue to make sure that whether you are black, brown, Asian, white, young, old, working people deserve to...

Chicago’s radical and deeply unpopular Democrat Mayor Brandon Johnson is urging his residents to “rise up” and take to the streets to oppose the legal enforcement of federal immigration laws even as the nation braces for a series of protests in big cities across the nation this weekend. With the threat of mass riots during the so-called “No Kings” protests, Johnson is dangerously egging the protests on in his cash-strapped city. On Wednesday, when asked about the coming protests, Johnson praised the “No Kings” plans and said he hoped his constituents would join the demonstrations.

Mayor Brandon Johnson urged Chicagoans to “rise up in this moment” against President Donald Trump’s mass deportation effort, even as he acknowledged Wednesday that the deployment of the military to help carry out immigration raids in Los Angeles could happen here. Johnson refused to say precisely what he would do if mass demonstrations in Chicago — perhaps as soon as Saturday’s “No Kings Day of Defiance” protests — provoke an L.A.-style federal response. The mayor would only say that he is concerned enough to have spoken directly with Gov. JB Pritzker and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle about the...

Chicago’s radical, progressive, Democrat Mayor Brandon Johnson told the media on Wednesday that the Trump administration is “what our country would look like had the Confederacy won.” The race-obsessed, left-wing mayor railed against the Trump administration after hundreds of protesters flooded the streets of the Windy City in opposition to the president’s lawful immigration enforcement policies. Johnson by turns called Trump a “terrorist” and a “racist” in his comments to the press. The mayor with the single worst approval rating in the entire country also reminded the media that he recently said that Trump’s immigration policy is “what terrorism looks...