Free Republic

Kyle Rittenhouse’s murder trial was never directly about race. Everyone involved in the shooting — the victims and the killer — were young white men. Nor was it entirely about whether Rittenhouse killed 26-year-old Anthony Huber and 36-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum in self-defense, as the jury decided on Friday. It is easy to make this case all about vigilante justice, but it is much more complex. Nothing in America is that simple anymore. From the moment Rittenhouse was charged with killing two men and injuring another with his semi-automatic rifle during a protest over the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a...

As soon as Donald Trump announced that he is taking hydroxychloroquine to ward off the coronavirus, it is likely that somebody, somewhere in America immediately began trying to figure out how they could get their hands on some. They clung to his every word as he spoke to reporters on Monday, convinced that their president is the smartest man on Earth and that he would never lead them down a dangerous path. “Many are taking it. I happen to be taking it,” Trump told reporters. “I think it’s good. I’ve heard a lot of good stories and if it’s not...

President Donald Trump’s former minions just don’t get it. Most Americans don’t want to ever see or hear from them again. We wish they would just go somewhere and hide. But for some reason, likely because they need the money and crave the limelight as much as the egomaniac they used to work for, these societal outcasts keep trying to force themselves on us. Take former White House press secretary Sean Spicer, for example. He didn’t have the decency to turn down an invitation by administrators at Northeastern Illinois University to participate in a recent panel discussion on campus about...

It is obvious that Republicans in Congress don’t understand America’s gun problem. But Sen. Ted Cruz has taken that ignorance to a new level. The GOP loves to point out, erroneously, that Chicago has the toughest gun laws in the nation, yet the murder rate is the highest. Neither point is accurate, but that hasn’t stopped Republicans, including Donald Trump, from spreading the lie. Chicagoans are used to being the scapegoat for lawmakers who don’t have the guts to do the right thing when it comes to passing sensible gun legislation. But when self-serving politicians try to shirk their responsibility...

It now appears that Jussie Smollett may have made up the story of his attack. If true, it is disgraceful and, in my opinion, inexcusable. But let’s be clear. Just because one person lied about a racist and homophobic incident does not let all bigots off the hook. This is not a reprieve for anyone who has set a bomb off in a mosque or sprayed a synagogue with deadly gunfire.

Walking along Michigan Avenue the other day, my 8-year-old nephew who is visiting from Georgia noticed the shiny glass building towering over the Chicago River. “Look, it says Trump!” he shouted. “What do you know about Trump?” I asked. “Do you like him?” “Yeah,” he answered without hesitation. “He’s our president. He keeps us safe.” Granted, my nephew comes from a small town in a red state that gave Donald Trump 50 percent of the vote against Hillary Clinton’s 45 percent. It is quite possible that he has managed to escape much of the Trump disdain that is displayed so...