Free Republic

It's easy to guess the states people are leaving. Can you guess the top states where people are headed?Top Outbound StatesTop Inbound States The above numbers are on a percentage basis of inbound to outbound moves, not absolute numbers. The report is from North American Moving Services.Key Takeaways from the 2020 Migration ReportPeople are fleeing California for Texas and IdahoIllinois, New York, and New Jersey are the three states with the most outbound moves. The top five inbound states in 2020 are Idaho, Arizona, Tennessee, South Carolina, and North Carolina, with Tennessee overtaking South Carolina from the 2019 results. Florida,...

Today, U.S. Representative Peter DeFazio (OR-04) introduced the Wall Street Tax Act, legislation to create a new tax on financial transactions that would generate billions in revenue, while reducing speculative trading and volatility in the market. “High-frequency traders front-run the market and drive up prices for individuals, pension funds and other value investors,” said Rep. Peter DeFazio. “Some days high-frequency traders trade billions of shares that they sometimes hold for only seconds or less. They reap enormous financial benefits for themselves and their privileged elite investors but add no value to our economy. Congress needs to rein in excessive speculative...

SCC explains the decision to shut down their website: Well, this was certainly a long time coming. Fifteen years, over 22,000 posts, almost two million comments and God knows how many attempts to silence us. But it might finally be over…at least this version of it. Over the weekend, we received information from a contact at Google that internal chat/e-mails led them to believe that certain precautions we had taken over the years had been breached by Google. We had gotten similar warnings from others in the past, and we dealt with or ignored them as the situation warranted. But...

Eight people were shot Monday in Chicago, including a 44-year-old man who was shot inside a vehicle in Chatham on the South Side. About 11:15 p.m., he was sitting in his parked car with another person when he was shot in the shoulder and twice in the back, Chicago police said. A man was wounded in a shooting in Woodlawn on the South Side. He was on the street about 6:45 p.m. in the 6100 block of South Rhodes Avenue when someone opened fire, striking him in the shoulder, police said. Minutes prior, a 19-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy...

At least 10 state health departments in the United States have detected the highly contagious B.1.1.7 variant of COVD-19, the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, according to a new report. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in an update on Jan. 15, said that a “more highly transmissible variant of SARS-CoV-2, B.1.1.7, has been detected in 10 U.S. states.” SARS-CoV-2 is another name for the coronavirus that is believed to have emerged in Wuhan, China, in late 2019. Health officials warned that models have shown the B.1.1.7 strain of the virus has the...

A Grand Crossing man stole a towing company’s truck and then called 911 himself because he was upset that the truck’s driver dared to pull a gun on him, prosecutors said. Elliott Scott, 22, is charged with aggravated possession of a stolen motor vehicle, misdemeanor theft, and driving on a suspended or revoked license. “Mr. Scott called 911?” a befuddled Judge Charles Beach asked prosecutors after hearing their allegations. “Yeah,” Scott interjected. “Right.” Scott’s defense attorney quickly advised him, “it’s not best to talk about the charges” in court.

Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan is out of the leadership post he’s held for nearly four decades. On Jan. 13, 2021, state Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch was elected the new speaker of the Illinois House. On January 11, Madigan announced he was suspending his campaign for the position he’s held for nearly four decades after falling short of receiving the 60 votes needed to secure another term, sources told the Chicago Sun-Times. “As I have said many times in the past, I have always put the best interest of the House Democratic Caucus and our members first,” the statement continued....

Illinois lawmakers on Wednesday used the final hours of the general assembly’s lame duck session to pass a sweeping and controversial criminal justice reform bill that would eliminate cash bail, make it easier to ban officers from working at police departments across the state and allow for anonymous complaints against cops.

Black children across Illinois are a step closer to being ensured a quality education under a plan led by Senate Majority Leader Kimberly A. Lightford (D-Maywood) that passed the Illinois Senate today. The legislation is part of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus’ plan to rid Illinois of systemic racism. ... Rooted in equity, House Bill 2170 pivots away from teaching history from a Eurocentric perspective by reforming the state’s history curriculum through an Inclusive American History Commission that will make sure students learn about people from all backgrounds. “For so long, we’ve taught American history in a way that ignores...

A long-running blog about Chicago policing is no longer visible to the public, and many people want to know what’s going on. We know this is true because our inboxes started filling with questions about Second City Cop’s status when their site became restricted Sunday. So, what did happen? Did we mention that we have absolutely no idea? The possibilities range from innocuous to whatever the opposite of innocuous is. Most basically, somebody might have screwed up, clicked the wrong settings option, and sent their whole site private. If that’s not it, we turn to the assumption that the site...

At least one of the group of intruders received some ballistic dissuasion when they entered the store. Thanks to the shop’s camera system, store management and cops have nice quality video of the incident, along with an image of the license plate of the getaway ride. The car’s driver dropped his bleeding buddy at the local hospital’s ER entrance before speeding back to Peoria. The guy they’d left at the hospital is now in the morgue. Meanwhile, cops found the driver/car owner not long after. It wasn’t exactly tough detective work since the (alleged) perp used his own car. Perhaps...

A coalition representing Illinois law enforcement leadership and rank-and-file officers has issued a statement in opposition to House Bill 163 as amended that was unveiled earlier this week, saying: The so-called “reforms” that are part of House Bill 163 as amended would destroy law enforcement’s ability to keep communities safe. The authors of this legislation are not law enforcement professionals with hundreds of years of combined experience and this bill was drafted without law enforcement input, and because of that the long-term unintended consequences of this legislation would be dire. The Illinois Law Enforcement Coalition recently enumerated its Safe Communities...

A growing number of Democrats called Thursday for the resignation of U.S. Rep. Mary Miller of Illinois, a newly sworn-in Republican... Miller spoke Tuesday at a “Save the Republic Rally” hosted by conservative group, “Moms for America.” At the rally, Miller was discussing the need to appeal to young people and said: “Hitler was right on one thing. He said, ’Whoever has the youth has the future.’”

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker was all smiles about Georgia’s U.S. Senate election results Wednesday, saying he’s optimistic that the federal government will come through with more state aid now that Republicans can’t block it. At a news conference in Chicago, Pritzker was asked about how soon he thinks the state’s multi-billion dollar budget deficit would be closed now that it’s more likely that Illinois and other states would see federal revenue passed down. “I’m thrilled about the fact that the Senate changed hands,” he said. “As far as how that will affect the state of Illinois, I think there are...

Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration refiled an emergency COVID-19 rule similar to one that expired Monday to continue statewide mask and social distancing requirements for Illinoisans for another 150 days. ... “Any individual who is over age two and able to medically tolerate a face covering (a mask or cloth face covering) shall be required to cover their nose and mouth with a face covering when in a public place and unable to maintain at least a six-foot social distance,” the rule states. “This requirement applies whether in an indoor space, such as a store, or in an outdoor space.”

It’s easy to see why the American Left loved Sami al-Arian. Leftists hate Israel, too. Longtime FrontPage readers will remember Sami Al-Arian, the former University of South Florida professor who for years was a darling of the Leftist intelligentsia. IPT News reported Monday that he has resurfaced, but that the stalwart old Jew-hater hasn’t changed: while he has reined in his rhetoric a bit and speaks in a more civilized manner, he is still calling for Israel’s destruction, which would result in the murder of millions of Jews. Back in 1991, during a speech in Chicago, al-Arian screamed: “The Quran...

Adam Kinzinger @RepKinzinger My God. Trying to burn the place down on the way out because you can’t handle losing. No evidence, nothing but your temper tantrum and crazy conspiracies. Embarrassing citing: Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump · Dec 26 The “Justice” Department and the FBI have done nothing about the 2020 Presidential Election Voter Fraud, the biggest SCAM in our nation’s history, despite overwhelming evidence. They should be ashamed. History will remember. Never give up. See everyone in D.C. on January 6th.

A member of the US Army was charged Sunday in the deadly mass shooting at an Illinois bowling alley — a random attack in which a 14-year-old boy was also shot in the face, according to officials. Suspect Duke Webb, 37, of Florida faces three counts of murder and three counts of first-degree attempted murder in Saturday’s shooting in Rockford, police and prosecutors said at a press conference Sunday. Webb is “a current active military member, and we are in contact with the US Army regarding his military status,” Police Chief Dan O’Shea said. “We believe this was a completely...

JUST IN: Three people are dead and three more are injured after a shooting at a northern Illinois bowling alley, police say

Illinois sees worst population decline since World War IIEven subtracting COVID-19 deaths, Illinois still suffered its largest population drop in modern history in the first year of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s fiscal policies, including 20 new tax and fee hikes, as well as his pandemic response.Illinois recorded a seventh straight year of population loss, but the drop was historic – 79,487 residents from July 2019 to July 2020, the most since World War II and the second largest of any state in raw numbers or percentage of population.Data released by the U.S. Census Bureau Dec. 22 shows only New York lost...