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Veteran Chicago prosecutor quits with blistering letter on crime: ‘I will not raise my son here’

By Anders Hagstrom | Fox News | Published May 9, 2023 12:18pm EDT

A 20-year veteran Chicago prosecutor quit his job and wrote a blistering letter to his colleagues on his way out Friday, blasting the city’s “stupid” leaders and declaring they set the city “on a course to disaster”

Jason Poje, a felony trial attorney, put in his two weeks’ notice with the city at the end of April. Before he left, however, he sent a goodbye letter to 85 colleagues to explain that the city’s insistence on following a “popular political agenda” has made Chicago more dangerous for everyone.

“The simple fact is that this State and County have set themselves on a course to disaster. And the worst part is that the agency for whom I work has backed literally every policy change that had the predicable, and predicted, outcome of more crime and more people getting hurt,” Poje wrote, referring to the office of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx.

“Bond reform designed to make sure no one stays in jail while their cases are pending with no safety net to handle more criminals on the streets, shorter parole periods, lower sentences for repeat offenders, the malicious and unnecessary prosecution of law enforcement officers, overuse of diversion programs, intentionally not pursuing prosecutions for crimes lawfully on the books after being passed by our legislature and signed by a governor, all of these so-called reforms have had a direct negative impact, with consequences that will last for a generation,” he continued.

CHICAGO MAYOR-ELECT JOHNSON TO DOUBLE DOWN ON SANCTUARY CITY POLICIES, DESPITE MIGRANT BUSSING FUROR

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who recently lost her reelection bid, was extremely unpopular among police and law enforcement groups. (Kamil Krzaczynski / File)

Chicago police cars with their lights on respond to a suspected carjacking and shooting — Chicago police vehicles arrive at a crime scene. (FOX32 Chicago WFLD / File)

While Poje’s letter did not mention Foxx by name, it did reference “stupid State’s Attorney policies.” Foxx’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

CHICAGO MAYOR-ELECT CONDEMNS ‘TEEN TAKEOVER’ CHAOS BUT SAYS IT’S ‘NOT CONSTRUCTIVE TO DEMONIZE YOUTH’

Poje also remarked on how he respected his colleagues who were willing to stay in the city despite the difficulties. Poje said he needed to leave for the sake of his family’s safety.

“Many years ago, my family found a nice quiet corner of the suburbs. Now my son, who is only 5, hears gunfire while playing at our neighborhood park, and a drug dealer is open-air selling behind my house (the second one in two years),” Poje wrote.

“I will not raise my son here. I am fortunate enough to have the means to escape, so my entire family is leaving the State of Illinois. I grew up here, my family and friends are here, and yet my own employer has turned it into a place from which I am no longer proud to be, and in which my son is not safe,” he added.

States' Attorney Kim Foxx — State’s Attorney Kim Foxx has lost several prosecutors over her policies. “I have zero confidence in leadership,” one wrote.

Poje’s exit comes less than a year after another prosecutor, Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Jim Murphy, resigned in protest against Foxx’s leadership.

“I wish I could stay,” he wrote in July 2022 “However, I can no longer work for this Administration. I have zero confidence in leadership.”

Anders Hagstrom is a reporter with Fox News Digital covering national politics and major breaking news events. Send tips to Anders.Hagstrom@Fox.com, or on Twitter: @Hagstrom_Anders.

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After losing re-election, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot says Democratic mayors have to be honest about violent crime terrifying residents

By: CARLOS GARCIA | April 21, 2023

Ousted Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, a Democrat, said that other liberal mayors have to be honest about violent crime that is terrifying residents. Lightfoot made the comments while speaking on a panel at the African American Mayors Association Conference in Washington, D.C., on Friday.

“As Democrats, if we do not speak the truth about violent crime in our cities, we will be the worse for it,” Lightfoot said.

“I come to this conversation as a former federal prosecutor. I come to this as a former defense attorney, I am the sister of a returning resident. But I know that there are people in my city that are wreaking havoc every day and need to be off the streets. That’s reality,” she added.

Lightfoot appeared to argue for harsher punishment to deter crime, a talking point common among Republicans but not Democrats.

“What do we say to, not only the victims of crime, but the people who are terrified about crimes in their neighborhood, most of whom look like us. If we say, ‘yeah, the police department is spending all this time and resources to arrest, put a case on,’ and the judges and the prosecutors say, ‘you know what? We’re going to let you out on electronic monitoring to wreak havoc again,'” she continued.

She went on to ask what kind of message they are sending to someone who courageously steps up to volunteer information about shootings in their neighborhood only to see “Pookie walking bold as day back on the street two days later.”

“You’re telling them that the criminal justice system doesn’t care about victims and witnesses,” Lightfoot said.

“And if we don’t call that out every single day with these prosecutors and with these judges, many of whom don’t live in our cities and don’t care about what’s happening, then we are going to lose an opportunity to advocate for the victims and the witnesses and the residents who just want and deserve peace,” she added.

“We gotta say it,” Lightfoot concluded. “We gotta say it.”

Many on the left have been accusing conservatives of anti-Semitism for criticizing lenient prosecutors who have been put into office with the help of left-wing billionaire financier George Soros, a Jewish man.

Lightfoot lost her re-election campaign in February and became the first Chicago mayor to do so in four decades. She had been the first female black mayor of Chicago.

Here’s more about violence in Chicago:

After teens cause chaos, Chicago mayor-elect Johnson says ‘Not constructive to demonize youth starve www.youtube.com

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Political

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Chicago Is Quickly Becoming The Disgusting Ghetto Mayor-Elect Brandon Johnson Wants It To Be

BY: EDDIE SCARRY | APRIL 18, 2023

This is a tale of two black people and one major city.

Within just the last week, Walmart closed half its store locations in Chicago, and the city police department instituted new curfew and bag-check policies at public parks and beaches following days of “reckless, disruptive and violent behavior.”

A sane person who prefers living in a clean, safe, and prosperous city would see that news and say things are going in the wrong direction, and the people who are responsible for it need to be held accountable.

That’s how popular TikTok user The Blaq Mamba reacted in a video she posted Sunday. “What really saddens me about this,” she said, referring to the closure of one Walmart location in the South Side, “is that this Walmart was built in a predominantly black neighborhood. This is probably about the only major resource as far as like, shopping and access to groceries and access to pharmacy within a 10-block, maybe even a 10-mile radius.” She added, “And what’s really sad to me is how us black folks, we done stole and robbed ourselves out of a f-cking resource that even the elderly people of this community will not be able to have access to.”

She said she was “ashamed and saddened” because “We blame everybody else for our sh-t but then when we are tapped out of resources in our own community, we don’t ever want to look at ourselves and point the finger back at ourselves, and say, okay, maybe we f-cked up. Maybe we shouldn’t have been going in there stealing TVs and going in there stealing electronics and all this other sh-t … We need to do better.”

A person who is perhaps not sane or who is, at minimum, a societal parasite sucking the life and goodness out of everything would react just the opposite. He would excuse the ne’er-do-wells, thieves, and fiends. Instead, he would direct blame at those who refuse to tolerate anti-social behavior.

That’s how deadbeat incoming Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson reacted. (I assume you don’t need me to tell you he’s a Democrat.) Following a weekend of street thugging and mayhem around the once-cherished Millennium Park, during which two teens and a six-year-old boy were shot, Johnson saw no urgency. “I’m saying that people are acting out of desperation,” he said in a remote TV interview, dialing in from what looked fittingly like a jail cell. “We don’t want a society that is acting out of desperation. But you have to pay attention to the cries that people have.” Asked if he condones the rampant looting that has forced countless businesses to close, he said, “What I’m saying is that you can’t condone the looting that corporations continue to do every single day when they take tax dollars from black, brown, white folks all over the city of Chicago so that they can turn a profit.”

Johnson said in a separate statement that it’s “not constructive to demonize youth who have otherwise been starved of opportunities in their own communities.”

I don’t know about you, but the first thing that comes to mind when I see a teen snatching a handle of Hennessy before climbing a street light is definitely “a society that is acting out of desperation.”

What is there really left to say at this point? There appear to be more Brandon Johnsons than there Blaq Mambas. It’s too bad. Chicago could be a nice place. It used to be. Now it’s another ghetto for people like Johnson to further plunge into squalor.

Eddie Scarry is the D.C. columnist at The Federalist and author of “Liberal Misery: How the Hateful Left Sucks Joy Out of Everything and Everyone.”

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EDDIE SCARRY

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Video: Hundreds of teens flood Chicago, cars smashed, driver attacked, 2 teenagers shot

NEWS | PAUL SACCA | April 16, 2023

Hundreds of teenagers flooded into the streets of Chicago on Saturday night. In response to the chaos, hundreds of police officers were dispatched to the downtown area after there several cars were damaged by the teenagers. Around 8 p.m., the mob of teens attempted to storm into Millennium Park. However, people under 21 are not allowed access to the park without being accompanied by an adult.

The horde of teens forced police to escort tourists and locals back to their cars at the Millennium Park garage. Teens also reportedly attempted to force their way inside the Art Institute of Chicago in an attempted “teen takeover.”

Officers from the Chicago Police Department, Chicago Fire Department, EMS, and SWAT teams were dispatched to the area. Rowdy teens smashed the windows of several cars by jumping on the vehicles – including a police cruiser. Video shows a vehicle being set on fire.

A man sitting in the driver’s seat of his car was injured and taken to the Northwestern Memorial Hospital after a group of teens beat him as they smashed his vehicle.

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Cell phone video shows group jumping on vehicle along Michigan Avenue https://t.co/vyGYiYnHpp pic.twitter.com/gm00vZdwrO
— ABC 7 Chicago (@ABC7Chicago) April 16, 2023

Chicago last night (their new mayor wants to defund the police): pic.twitter.com/sQo6noI6kT
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) April 16, 2023

Video shows teens standing and dancing on the roof of a Chicago Transit Authority bus. There were reports of bottles being thrown at CTA buses. The CTA said some public transportation was disrupted on Saturday night because of police activity.

Police noted that there were social media posts encouraging teens to fight in the Loop.

🚨#BREAKING: Chaotic Scene Unfolds in Downtown Chicago as Teenagers Vandalize Cars and Gunfire Erupts

📌#Chicago | #Illinois ⁰
There is currently a significant police response taking place in downtown Chicago due to a large group of teenagers causing chaos. They have been… pic.twitter.com/n7xhBpsTKs
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) April 16, 2023

WFLD reported that gunfire erupted near the crowds at the corner of Madison and Michigan. Two teenagers were shot. The teens, ages 16 and 17, were shot and rushed to the Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Both boys are said to be in fair condition with gunshot wounds.

A witness told WMAQ-TV, “It’s heartbreaking, kids fighting, chasing each other, some of them got guns. It’s really heartbreaking when one of them actually gets hurt, and that’s unfortunate, happened last night.”

CBS News reported that “multiple teens” were arrested – all were under the age of 18.

The Chicago Police Department said in a statement, “Last night, CPD monitored activity happening across the city and officers were in place to quickly respond to active incidents and large gatherings. We will continue to have sufficient resources in place as we work to strengthen safety in every neighborhood.”

This was the second night of a crowd of teens taking over Chicago. On Friday night, a mob of teenagers gathered at the 31st Street Beach on Friday night. A 14-year-old boy was shot near the crowds.

WLS-TV reported that at least 29 people had been shot, six fatally, in weekend violence in Chicago.

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Hundreds of teenagers flood into downtown Chicago, smashing car windows, prompting police response www.youtube.com

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Walmart closing 4 Chicago stores, blaming millions in annual losses

By Greg Norman FOXBusiness | Updated on April 11, 2023 2:18pm EDT

Walmart has announced Tuesday that it is closing four of its Chicago stores because they are part of a group of locations that “lose tens of millions of dollars a year.” The retail giant says the Chatham Supercenter, the Walmart Health center, and the Walmart Academy at 8431 S. Stewart Ave., the Kenwood Neighborhood Market at 4720 S. Cottage Grove Ave., the Lakeview Neighborhood Market at 2844 N. Broadway St. and the Little Village Neighborhood Market at 2551 W. Cermak Road will shutter this upcoming Sunday.

“The simplest explanation is that collectively our Chicago stores have not been profitable since we opened the first one nearly 17 years ago — these stores lose tens of millions of dollars a year, and their annual losses nearly doubled in just the last five years,” Walmart said in a statement.

“The remaining four Chicago stores continue to face the same business difficulties, but we think this decision gives us the best chance to help keep them open and serving the community,” it added.

WALMART PULLS PRO-ENVIRONMENT T-SHIRT AFTER CUSTOMERS FIND HIDDEN SWEAR WORD: REPORT

Walmart store in Chicago — The Walmart Supercenter in Chicago that will close on Sunday, April 16, the company says. (Google Maps)

Walmart said that “over the years, we have tried many different strategies to improve the business performance of these locations, including building smaller stores, localizing product assortment and offering services beyond traditional retail.

“We have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the city, including $70 million in the last couple years to upgrade our stores and build two new Walmart Health facilities and a Walmart Academy training center,” the company also said.

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“It was hoped that these investments would help improve our stores’ performance,” Walmart said in press release, but “Unfortunately, these efforts have not materially improved the fundamental business challenges our stores are facing.”

WALMART SUES CAPITAL ONE IN CREDIT CARD BRAWL

Map shows locations of 4 Walmart stores that are closing in Chicago — Walmart announced Tuesday, April 11, 2023, it is closing four Chicago stores that lose millions each year. (Fox News / Fox News)

Those employed by the stores that are soon set to close are now eligible to transfer to work at other Walmart locations.

“Hiring managers from surrounding facilities will be in each of these stores this week to help associates begin finding their next opportunity,” according to Walmart.

The company said it hopes to repurpose the buildings it’s leaving behind so they remain “important parts of their communities.”

Affected staff will be paid until Aug. 11, 2023, unless they transfer out to another store. After that date, Walmart said those eligible will receive severance benefits.

Walmart said it has tried different strategies to improve the business performance of its Chicago stores, but “these efforts have not materially improved the fundamental business challenges our stores are facing.” (Robyn Beck/AFP / Getty Images)

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The number of positions being impacted was not immediately clear.

FOX Business has reached out to Walmart and the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce for further comment.

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Chicago Educators Get An ‘A+’ On Teaching While Their Students Get An ‘F’ On Reading

By REAGAN REESE, CONTRIBUTOR | October 05, 2022

Chicago Students Return To School After City Reaches Deal With Teachers Union — **(Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)**

While students post low literacy rates in math and reading, Chicago teachers are acing their performance evaluations, according to the Illinois Report Card. In 2021, 100% of Chicago Public School teachers were evaluated as “proficient or excellent” by an administrator, according to the Illinois Report Card, the”state’s official source” for information on its public schools. The same year, students posted a 23.1% proficiency rate in English language arts, a 20.6% proficiency rate in math and a 29.3% proficiency rate in science. (RELATED:Chicago Children’s Hospital Promotes Sex Toys And Gender Affirming Tools For Schools)

“It sounds like the teachers or teacher unions are the ones performing the evaluations,” No Left Turn in Education Chief Operating Officer Melissa Jackson told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “It most certainly is not ensuring that Chicago Public School students will graduate equipped to become productive and self sufficient independent citizens. What are the teachers actually being graded on? So students are failing and teachers are excelling? How is that equitable?”

Grade 11 black students had a 11.2% proficiency rate in English and Hispanic students scored a 15.7% proficiency rate, the report showed. In math, grade 11 black students had an 8.3% proficiency rate and Hispanic students showed a 16.6% proficiency rate, the report stated.

About 36% of students in the district are black, 46.8% are Hispanic and about 11% are white, according to the report.

The same year, 2021, Chicago Public Schools announced a record high graduation rate of nearly 84%, according to Fox 32 Chicago. In 2011 the graduation rate was about 57%.

Students arrive for classes at A. N. Pritzker elementary school on January 12, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois. Students in Chicago public schools are returning to school today after classes were canceled for the past six days as the city sparred with the teacher's union over COVID-19 safety measures. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Students arrive for classes at A. N. Pritzker elementary school on January 12, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

“Something is horribly wrong in Chicago if teachers are earning perfect evaluation scores when only one in ten black students in Chicago Public Schools can read at grade level,” Parents Defending Education Investigative Fellow Alex Nester told the DCNF. “Chicago teachers called parents ‘racist’ and ‘misogynist’ for wanting to reopen schools during the pandemic. They chose to strike over teaching kids. And now, while they receive perfect scores, kids are suffering. Make no mistake: Chicago teachers may have passed in the eyes of the state, but test scores don’t lie. They’ve failed their kids.”

The Illinois Report Card notes that the suspension of in-person learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic may have effected the 2020-2021 data collection and evaluations.

Enrollment at Chicago Public Schools has been dropping since the 2011-2012 school year; that year 404,243 students were enrolled in the school district, but now just 322,106 are enrolled, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Chicago Public Schools did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

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Crime Runs Rampant In Democrat Strongholds, With Shootings, Beheading Last Weekend

BY: SOPHIA CORSO | SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

Author Sophia Corso profile

SOPHIA CORSO

In Democrat-run cities with defund the police initiatives, gun control policies, and illegal immigrants, crime has dramatically increased. While most crime that the leftist media covers at length is done to further their political narrative, much more crime that does not garner the same coverage makes these cities a dangerous place to live.

This weekend was no exception, as crime ran rampant in Democrat strongholds across the nation. Here are just a few highlights.

Philadelphia, PA

Over the weekend, 20 people were shot in the city of Philadelphia, four of whom were pronounced dead. There were an additional four stabbings this weekend in the east coast city. This deadly weekend put the city at 380 homicides for the year so far as of Saturday. While 2021 was the deadliest year the city has seen, Philadelphia is set to surpass last year’s record this year if this murder rate continues.

The four fatalities included a 64-year-old man who was repeatedly shot then pronounced dead at the hospital, according to a local news outlet. Joseph Durpee, a man who was in the area when this shooting occurred, stated, “It’s exhausting.” Like other Philadelphians, he wants “to walk around and not fear for [his] life.”

As a result of this rise in crime, reports show that the people of Philadelphia, specifically women, are increasingly becoming gun owners. According to Breitbart, “women began flooding into concealed carry classes as crime rose last year” and “outpaced men ’51 percent to 49 percent’” in concealed carry permit applications.

Former police firearms instructor Terrance Lappe stated, “I’ve been living in Philadelphia for almost 64 years and have never seen anything like this.” She added, “That’s why I carry a gun.”

Chicago, IL

Six people were shot and killed in Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Chicago this past weekend, with an additional seven teenagers wounded among the 28 total non-fatal shootings. The shootings occurred between 5:00 p.m. Friday and 5:00 a.m. Monday.

Among the fatal attacks over the weekend included a 45-year-old man who was found in Washington Park on the South Side with a gunshot wound to the chest Friday evening. He was pronounced dead at University of Chicago Medical Center.

Four minors were shot within a six-hour span on the South Side, including a 17-year-old boy who was wounded in a drive-by shooting and taken to the hospital in critical condition. A 14-year-old boy was also wounded in a drive-by shooting but was in “good condition” when taken to the hospital.

While shootings are down from last year in Chicago, overall crime has risen to upwards of 45 percent in some districts, driving businesses out of the crime-ridden city. Despite this major uptick, Lightfoot stated last month that Chicago is making “progress” on crime. Violence committed and shootings of multiple Chicago residents each weekend, including teenagers, does not “scream” progress to people outside of Lightfoot’s line of thinking.

San Carlos, CA

Illegal immigrant Jose Rafael Solano Landaeta is in custody on murder charges for the brutal beheading of his ex-girlfriend Karina Castro this past Friday. Castro, who was also a mother of two, had placed a restraining order against Landaeta in April, according to law enforcement sources. Landaeta also “has criminal priors,” a report stated.

Castro’s grandmother stated that Landaeta was “a diagnosed schizophrenic on meds” and “would use that as an excuse for his behavior.”

Unfortunately, this murder is not the only crime states have seen as a result of mass illegal immigration. Just last month, two Mexicans who entered the United States illegally were charged with the murder of a North Carolina sheriff’s deputy.

Another illegal immigrant was just sentenced 29 years in a U.S. prison for “violent” and “sadistic” home invasions in Texas. Not only are legal U.S. residents shelling out massive amounts of taxpayer dollars to provide for lawbreaking migrants, their cities see crimes committed by this population rising as well.

According to reports, the Biden administration has allowed several hundred suspected terrorists inside the United States as part of its poorly vetted Afghanistan refugee pool.

Sophia is an intern at The Federalist and a student at Le Moyne College. She majors in English and intends to pursue a career in journalism.

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announces that in addition to Washington DC and NYC, migrants are also now being bused to Chicago

By ALEX NITZBERG | August 31, 2022

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, has announced that a group of migrants was bused from the Lone Star State to Chicago, Illinois. The governor had already been busing migrants from Texas to Washington, D.C., and New York City, though the trips are undertaken voluntarily. Now, the Windy City will be another destination for migrants who opt for such a trip.

“President Biden’s inaction at our southern border continues putting the lives of Texans—and Americans—at risk and is overwhelming our communities,” Abbott said, according to a press release. “To continue providing much-needed relief to our small, overrun border towns, Chicago will join fellow sanctuary cities Washington, D.C. and New York City as an additional drop-off location. Mayor [Lori] Lightfoot loves to tout the responsibility of her city to welcome all regardless of legal status, and I look forward to seeing this responsibility in action as these migrants receive resources from a sanctuary city with the capacity to serve them.”

The first bus of migrants transported from Texas to the nation’s capital arrived in April, and earlier this month, the first bus arrived in the Big Apple. Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, has twice requested the deployment of the D.C. National Guard to assist amid the migrant influx, but both times the Pentagon has rebuffed the mayor’s requests.

“As a city, we are doing everything we can to ensure these immigrants and their families can receive shelter, food, and most importantly protection. This is not new; Chicago welcomes hundreds of migrants every year to our city and provides much-needed assistance,” a spokesperson for Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office said in a statement. “Unfortunately, Texas Governor Greg Abbott is without any shame or humanity. But ever since he put these racist practices of expulsion in place, we have been working with our community partners to ready the city to receive these individuals.”

NEWS: Today, the City of Chicago received confirmation that approximately 60 migrants were traveling to Chicago by way of Texas. Chicago is a welcoming city and as such has collaborated across various departments and agencies to ensure we greeted them with dignity and respect. pic.twitter.com/wJWEDtXLgZ
— Ryan Johnson (@Ryan_Johnson) September 1, 2022

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Kayee Griswold Op-ed: You Know What Would Deter More Shootings Than Red Flag Laws? Executing Mass Killers Quickly

COMMENTARY BY: KYLEE GRISWOLD | JULY 07, 2022

If politicians are serious that they’re sick of ‘living with this carnage,’ the Highland Park shooter should be executed immediately.

KYLEE GRISWOLD

VISIT ON TWITTER@KYLEEZEMPEL

The usual suspects are at it again, and I’m not talking about isolated, mentally ill young men. I’m talking about the politically motivated talking heads who don’t even wait until bodies are cold after tragic mass shootings to spout off about the need for red flag laws, “assault weapons” bans, and “universal background checks” because — you’ve heard this one before — “Why are we willing to live with this carnage?”

After the mass shooting in a wealthy Chicago suburb over the holiday weekend that left seven dead and dozens more wounded in one of the most gun-controlled areas of one of the most gun-controlled states in the country, local State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart did exactly that. He touted the state’s “strong” red flag law and insisted on the need to “ban assault weapons in Illinois and beyond.” Vice President Kamala Harris likewise made an unscheduled visit to the community to call for more gun control, however incoherently. And the typical Twitter blue checks all had something to say.

Meanwhile, as the armchair class prattles on about how our first freedoms are an existential threat, the face and name of the 21-year-old alleged shooter are plastered all over every news channel as he sits remorseless in jail facing a slew of charges that will probably amount to life in prison at worst. The upper echelons of chattering politicos will accomplish nothing but celebritizing murderous cowards — but hey, anything to signal virtue, pick up a few progressive voters, and pad their pockets with a little extra donor cash.

You know how we know they aren’t accomplishing anything? Because the reforms Rinehart called for are both already on the books in Highland Park where the shooting occurred. Despite a local so-called assault weapons ban plus red flag laws and a state with some of the strictest gun-control laws in America, many people died. If the latest shooting taught us anything about guns, it’s that even tightly restricting them doesn’t deter killers.

It’s time for a new approach, and this case presents the perfect set of circumstances to justify it. The Highland Park shooter should be executed, and he should be executed quickly.

There would be nothing “just” about criminal justice if we dispensed with due process, but it’s not much more than a formality that we use the word “alleged” to describe this particular shooter. Not only have authorities confirmed that the male suspect dressed as a woman to conceal his identity, hide his face tattoos, and blend into the frantic crowd. Not only were these facts captured on video, with a witness apparently watching the suspect wrap his firearm in a red blanket before ditching it. Not only has he had multiple run-ins with local law enforcement that were ultimately relayed to state police in a report identifying him as a “clear and present danger,” plus an incident wherein police confiscated 16 knives, a dagger, and a sword from him after he threatened to “kill everyone” in his house.

But he also already told police he’s the shooter. And if his confession of guilt weren’t enough, he also admitted that he almost attacked another July Fourth celebration in Madison, Wisconsin, but decided against it because he just hadn’t had enough time to plan out a murderous scheme.

There’s a more effective deterrent to this carnage than catapulting mass murderers into the limelight by detailing every step of their grisly crimes or featuring their faces on the cover of Rolling Stone. There’s a better way than making impassioned speeches about gun violence, but then helping to bail out violent rioters and advocating for low bail that enables offenders to violently mow down women and children with a vehicle. It’s time to be honest about the fact that bans on AR-15s and red flag laws, in addition to stomping out due process and being ripe for political weaponization, simply don’t work to deter crime. Illinois tried that experiment. It failed.

There are a handful of things that become apparent about deterrence, but here’s a pretty basic idea: Swiftness and certainty are more important than severity. Of course, if punishment must be proportional for justice to truly be just, then execution is warranted in cases of mass murder, the perpetrators of which cannot die enough deaths to make up for the many they stole.

But it isn’t the mere execution of a known mass murderer that deters other disturbed individuals from shooting up jubilant innocents. The reality of taxpayer-funded eons on death row wouldn’t appear to have any concrete deterrent effect, much like lengthy incarceration. But what about a visual representation of this chilling message: You will be caught, and you will be put to death — soon. Certainty and swiftness accomplished.

We’ve watched the inverse cycle play out before. A young man goes on a gruesome killing spree. Everyone learns his face and name during wall-to-wall coverage of his acts, including the alienated who get inspired to pursue their own moments of infamy. He’s charged with crimes, and politicians pounce for their own personal benefit. And then — nothing. The perpetrator gets whisked away to some facility to await trial for ungodly amounts of time, and that’s the last we hear of it. If we get any updates on his fate (which is intended to deter others but fails on account of its slowness and uncertainty), those are afforded a fraction of the attention by the media and are likely to be buried by coverage of the next catastrophe.

It’s time to end this cycle. If politicians are serious that they’re sick of “living with this carnage,” the Highland Park shooter should be tried and convicted on the basis of his confession and executed immediately. Perhaps instead of inspiring another coward to pick up a gun, it will inspire them to think again.

Kylee Griswold is an assistant editor at The Federalist. She previously worked as the copy editor for the Washington Examiner magazine and as an editor and producer at National Geographic. She holds a B.S. in Communication Arts/Speech and an A.S. in Criminal Justice and writes on topics including feminism and gender issues, religion, and the media. Follow her on Twitter @kyleezempel.

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Chicago City Employee Tries to Cash City Check But It Bounces — Lori Lightfoot More Concerned About Vax Mandates than Putting Money in the Bank

Reported By Jim Hoft | Published December 26, 2021

A Chicago city employee went to cash her paycheck at the bank last week but it wouldn’t clear.
She tried to deposit it the day after it was issued but it bounced.

Lori Lightfoot is too busy pushing vaccine mandates on Chicagoans than facing the surging crime rate or paying her employees.

Is Chicago broke?? pic.twitter.com/oSZ1u0YMOI
— Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) December 26, 2021

Jim Hoft

Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016.

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Political

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Ann Coulter Op-ed: Kill Back Better

Commentary by Ann Coulter | Posted: Oct 13, 2021

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent views of Townhall.com., and WhatDidYouSay.org.

Kill Back Better

Source: AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast

This isn’t a Chicago story. It’s a Democratic Party story.

Kim Foxx, the state’s attorney for Cook County and darling of MSNBC, has managed to increase murders in Chicago to astounding levels even at a time when we’re all getting used to astounding crime figures. Nationwide in 2020, murder and non-negligent manslaughter were up 29.4%, according to the FBI. That’s more than double the previous record of 1968, when murders increased by 12.7%.

Under the careful management of Foxx, murders in Chicago were up 55%. To put this in perspective, last year, there were nearly as many murders in Chicago (population: 2.7 million) as in New York City and Los Angeles combined (total population: more than 12 million).

Perhaps you’ve heard about the Wild West shootout in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago two weeks ago? One group of gang members shot up the house of rival gang members at around 10 in the morning. They blasted the house with more than 70 rounds, using handguns that had been modified into automatic weapons. Their rivals fired back from inside the home, in a gun battle that lasted so long, it was still going on when the police arrived.

All of this took place in full view of police street cameras, as well as the first officers on the scene.

Of the four initial shooters, one was shot dead at the scene and left behind. The other three took off in two (stolen) Dodge Chargers. One gang member drove to a medical center, dumped his wounded comrade, then led police on a car chase ending in a fiery crash. The other Charger turned up nearby, in flames.

Police arrested the two gang members from the hospital, as well as the three gunmen inside the home.

Foxx refused to bring charges against any of them on the grounds that it was “mutual combat.” At this point, the Chicago PD’s only option may be to resubmit charges on environmental grounds — polluting the air with lead.

Who knew that when Foxx talked about not prosecuting the small stuff, she was talking about murder and mass shootings? In today’s Chicago, the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre is legal.

Foxx’s bullheaded refusal to prosecute in this case was a shock to everyone in the country, except anyone living in Chicago. This is nothing new for the Democrats’ favorite DA. The police ought to put together a calendar of Foxx’s Released Murderer of the Month.

In July it was the murderer of Chrys Carvajal, a 19-year-old National Guardsman who was gunned down when he stepped out of a house party over Fourth of July weekend. Three eyewitnesses and video evidence led the police to a notoriously violent 38-year-old gang member.

Foxx refused to bring charges, claiming there wasn’t enough evidence.

August’s Murderer of the Month shot at a guy, missed him, but managed to hit two little girls sitting in the backseat of their family’s car after returning from church. Six-year-old Aubrey Broughton took a bullet through her lung, was rushed to the hospital and survived. But another bullet lodged directly in the heart of Aubrey’s sister, 7-year-old Serenity, killing her.

Again, the police investigated, found the suspect’s vehicle, evidence inside the car, and cellphone records pointing to a 24-year-old parolee.

Foxx refused to bring charges. (On the other hand, she did remind Serenity’s parents that she too, is a “mother,” so that was nice.)

Serenity’s mother complained that the police and prosecutors are “just bickering.” That was her assessment of the situation — not that Chicago has a prosecutor who won’t prosecute murder. This may explain why — in addition to George Soros’s $2 million donation — Foxx was reelected last year.

September’s Murderer of the Month was the killer of 18-year-old Manuel Porties Jr., who showed up for a fist fight and instead was repeatedly stabbed in the neck after being knocked to the ground. Naturally, the killing was captured on cellphone cameras of bystanders.

Foxx refused to bring charges against Porties’ killer, on the grounds that it was — again — “mutual combat.”

Due to the popularity of drive-by shootings and a “snitches get stitches” ethos, there’s already only about a 20% chance of being arrested if you commit murder in Chicago. Those are pretty good odds for taking another human life.

But even if the police catch you and present the prosecutor with video evidence, eyewitnesses, cellphone signals or a dead 7-year-old girl, Foxx is there to ensure that you will NOT go to prison. At this rate, Foxx might eventually kill off every living human being in Chicago.

But as I said, this is not a story about Chicago. Kim Foxx is a dangerous nut, but she’s not a random dangerous nut. She is the Democratic Party’s beau ideal of criminal justice.

Liberal moneybags George Soros has spent millions of dollars installing criminal-friendly prosecutors around the country. (Back before it was “anti-Semitic” to mention Soros’ pro-murder campaign, The New York Times ran an article boasting of the old prune’s role in electing inert prosecutors, like Foxx.)

A few hundred thousand dollars dumped into a minor DA’s race is more than enough to decide an election. Soros has spent millions. Foxx was Soros’ first success in electing DAs who would refuse to put another black man in prison.

They’re cool with dead black teenagers and dead 7-year-olds. The only black lives the Democrats care about are the lives of black criminals.

MSNBC, mouthpiece of the Democratic Party, was ecstatic the night Foxx won the election that would make her Cook County’s top prosecutor, with Lawrence O’Donnell giddily interviewing the pro-criminal Foxx. She was triumphantly interviewed again that weekend by Al Sharpton.

When has any prosecutor’s election drawn such celebration? When has it even drawn notice?

There is not a Republican in the nation who is not required to publicly state his position on Donald Trump. How about asking Democrats to take a position on Soros’ campaign to install nolle prosequi prosecutors? Apart from Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, will any Democrat in the country criticize Foxx?

No, of course not. As dead bodies pile up in Chicago under Kim Foxx, remember: This is the criminal justice “reform” Democrats want for the entire country.

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Opinion, Political

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Chicago: 58 shot during bloody holiday weekend, including 8 children; 4-year-old boy killed by stray bullets

Reported by PAUL SACCA | September 06, 2021

At least 58 people have been shot in Chicago during Labor Day weekend, including eight children, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Five people have been killed in shootings since Friday evening, including a 4-year-old boy who was shot in the head.

Around 9 p.m. on Friday, stray bullets sprayed through the window of a home in the Woodlawn neighborhood of Chicago. Two bullets struck 4-year-old Mychal Moultry Jr. in the head. He was getting a haircut at the time, according to Rahman Muhammad, deputy chief of the Chicago Police Department’s Detective Division. The boy’s father held him until paramedics arrived to take him to the Comer Children’s hospital.

“It’s hard enough with this mom and dad sitting in the hospital watching this little fella with tubes all down his body. He is trying to breathe,” community activist Andrew Holmes told WLS-TV about the boy when he was in the hospital.

The 4-year-old boy, who was visiting Chicago from Alabama, was pronounced dead on Sunday.

The Chicago Police Department is asking the public for help in the case to find those who committed the crime. Those with information can submit a tip on the Chicago Police Department website. The Saint Sabina Catholic Church and the All Kids Matter organization are offering up to a $9,000 reward to bring the shooter or shooters to justice.

“We’re sick and tired every day,” an activist with All Kids Matter said. “We’re staking this hospital out night after night. All these children get shot throughout Chicago.”

There were eight children shot during the bloody weekend in Chicago, including six kids shot in 12 hours from Saturday night into Sunday morning. Two of the wounded minors were recovering at Comer Children’s hospital as of Sunday morning. So far this year, more than 280 children have been shot in Chicago, 35 of whom have died from their injuries, WLS-TV reported.

Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown gave an explanation why children are often the victims during a press conference on Monday.

“It’s always some other offender, gang member, criminal network, some beef, and they’re targeting some adult, and young people are nearby and they are shot as innocent bystanders,” Brown said.

Supt. Brown said the department seized 64 illegally possessed guns over the weekend.

Last weekend, at least 48 people were shot in Chicago, including six who were killed.

For the month of August, there were 78 homicides in Chicago, which is 14 more than August 2020. There have been 534 homicides in the city, according to data provided by the Chicago Sun-Times. Chicago had a total of 775 murders in 2020.

There were 372 shootings in August 2021, down slightly from 372 last year, according to Fox News.

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Religion

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Judge reportedly stripped mother of parental rights because she’s not vaccinated: ‘I miss my son more than anything’

Reported by PAUL SACCA | August 28, 2021

A mother in Chicago claims that a judge stripped her of parental rights because she was not vaccinated against COVID-19.

“In what all parties agree is a very unusual and perhaps unprecedented step, a judge at Chicago’s Daley Center has stripped Rebecca Firlit of custody because she refuses to get a vaccination shot,” WFLD-TV reported.

Firlit says that she has not seen her 11-year-old son since Aug. 10, which is when she appeared in court via Zoom for a child support hearing along with her ex-husband. During the hearing, Cook County Judge James Shapiro allegedly asked Firlit if she had been vaccinated for COVID-19. She reportedly replied that she had not been vaccinated because she suffered bad reactions to other vaccines in the past.

Shapiro, a Democrat, then reportedly ordered Firlit be stripped of her parenting time until she gets vaccinated.

Since the ruling, Firlit said she hasn’t seen her son in person for over two weeks. She has purportedly only been able to speak to her son on the phone and on video calls.about:blank

“I miss my son more than anything,” Firlit told WFLD. “It’s been very difficult.”
“I think that it’s wrong. I think that it’s dividing families,” Firlit added. “And I think it’s not in my son’s best interest to be away from his mother.”
“It had nothing to do with what we were talking about. He was placing his views on me. And taking my son away from me,” Firlit said.

Annette Fernholz, Firlit’s attorney, said the judge overstepped his authority and noted that the boy’s father never brought up the concern about his ex-wife’s vaccination status during the hearing.

“In this case you have a judge, without any matter before him regarding the parenting time with the child deciding, ‘Oh, you’re not vaccinated. You don’t get to see your child until you are vaccinated.’ That kind of exceeds his jurisdiction,” Fernholz told the outlet.
“You have to understand the father did not even bring this issue before the court,” Fernholz added. “So it’s the judge on his own and making this decision that you can’t see your child until you’re vaccinated.”

Jeffrey Leving, the attorney for the boy’s father, reportedly admitted he was surprised by the judge’s decision, but supports the ruling.

“There are children who have died because of COVID. I think every child should be safe,” Leving told WFLD. “And I agree that the mother should be vaccinated.”

Firlit, who has been divorced for seven years, is appealing the court order. There is no timetable on when the appellate court will make its decision.

A spokesperson for Judge Shapiro told WFLD that they could not provide a comment at this time because of the ongoing nature of the case.

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Family, Health, Political

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Fifth graders will have access to condoms in Chicago elementary schools next month. One parent reacts: ‘Oh my God … they are kids.’

DAVE URBANSKI | July 06, 2021

Students as young as the fifth grade will have access to condoms in Chicago elementary schools when they reopen in late August, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. The Chicago Public Schools policy states that schools teaching fifth grade and up must maintain a condom availability program as part of an expanded vision of sexual health education, the Sun-Times said, adding that more than 600 CPS schools will end up having them, save for a dozen that enroll only younger grades.

“Young people have the right to accurate and clear information to make healthy decisions,” Kenneth Fox — CPS’ chief health officer and a pediatrician of 30 years — told the paper. “And they need access to resources to protect their health and the health of others as they act on those decisions.”
Fox added to the Sun-Times that school officials want to “make condoms available to students for if and when they think they need them … When you don’t have those protections and don’t make those resources available then bad stuff happens to young people. You have elevated risks of sexually transmitted infections, of unintended pregnancies, and that’s very preventable stuff.”

Why so young?

The paper said it asked Fox why fifth grade is a threshold, and he replied that it’s “informed by a developmental understanding of children.” CPS’ sex-ed curriculum says the district “stresses that choosing to not have sex is the norm for 5th graders. Parents/guardians should be notified by their school if a condom demonstration will be provided,” the Sun-Times said.

Scout Bratt, an outreach and education director at the Chicago Women’s Health Center, added to the paper that many parents won’t agree with the program, and that CPS will be responsible for listening to their concerns.

“I want to be really clear that the existence of condoms does not mean that all students are going to be using those condoms or encouraged to use them,” Bratt told the Sun-Times. “The idea is to say we are educational centers, we are community health centers essentially, and we know to invest in young folks’ health and well-being by providing comprehensive sex ed, it means we also need to provide the resources. We want students to come to us and to have access to those condoms for free as opposed to potentially having to find them elsewhere or choose not to use condoms. … It is about recognizing that school is investing in young people’s health.”

Bratt also told the paper there’s no proof that access to condoms will lead to more kids having sex — and that those already doing so will have an easier way to protect themselves through the program.

“It’s a harm reduction approach,” Bratt told the Sun-Times.

‘They are 10 years old, 11, 12. They are kids.’

Maria Serrano — a parent working with Healing to Action, which advocates for improved sex ed — told the paper said education and communication must come before condom availability.

“My question is, ‘Oh my God, how is it that CPS wants to give condoms to kids?'” she asked the Sun-Times in Spanish. “They are 10 years old, 11, 12. They are kids. So why is CPS thinking about providing condoms? Why not provide them information, and at the end give them the resource of a condom when they are prepared to use those resources they want to provide. For me, this isn’t the best option. They are doing things backwards.”

Serrano added to the paper the she only knew about the new program because of her advocacy work and has heard nothing as a parent from CPS.

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Education, Political

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Some Good News to Report: City of Refuge serves youth in Chicago’s most dangerous neighborhoods

By Jackson Elliott, Contributor | Monday, December 07, 2020

Coaches at City of Refuge pose on the field | Stephanie Marquardt

God’s miraculous provision keeps Chicago’s City of Refuge ministry in business, but the most important part of the ministry is the way it draws community groups together, founder Stephanie Marquardt said.

City of Refuge started in 2018 after Marquardt, her husband, Kurt, and Chicago West Bible Church Pastors Jon Kelly and Kent Steiner experienced a calling to minister in Chicago’s most dangerous neighborhoods, she told The Christian Post.

Marquardt started sports leagues to teach youth valuable life skills through sports. Before COVID-19, the program had over 1,000 students who were learning archery, baseball and basketball. Each team receives coaching from a police officer, a faith leader and a local nonprofit leader, she said.

Marquardt is also a devoted sports fan, often using metaphors from sports to talk about her work.

“What’s distinctive is that we follow what we call the three-legged stool,” she said. “It’s getting civic, sacred and secular parts of society to work together. I think that’s very biblical.”

The combined approach allows each group to use their strengths most effectively, she said. It also lets community leaders form relationships and work together.

The ministry rapidly expanded to the Chicago neighborhoods of Austin, Garfield Park, North Lawndale, Englewood and Roseland. These neighborhoods have some of the city’s highest murder rates, worst schools and highest poverty rates.

Marquardt said she funds her work entirely by prayer. She takes her inspiration from Christian leader George Müller, a 19th century Christian who ran an orphanage without asking the public for donations. Her ministry’s first big challenge was to get baseball uniforms for her program’s participants before she even knew the number of kids who would enroll in the program. She estimated the uniforms would cost $150,000. On a plane trip to Florida with her husband, Marquardt prayed and read Müller’s writings, she said. One of his statements stood out to her.

“ … in leaning upon the living God alone, we are beyond disappointment, and beyond being forsaken because of death, or want of means, or want of love, or because of the claims of other work,” the passage reads.

Soon after she got off the plane, she received a phone call from a Chicago sports charity called Good Sports, Marquardt said. She had sent them an application for funds three weeks before. At first, she thought they wanted her to buy something.

“No, we’re going to give you everything,” she remembers the group saying over the phone. “The only thing we can’t give you is size youth medium pants and bats.”

Good Sports told Marquardt they had to know how many uniforms she needed quickly, but she did not know at the time how many kids would join the program, she said. She estimated the numbers during her devotions the next day.

“I needed to get an order for kids I didn’t have,” she said. “And it was absolutely right.”

Sergeant Jermaine Harris, an officer of Chicago’s 15th Precinct, said the programs provided by City of Refuge have resulted in lower crime in Chicago’s neighborhoods. When parks are deserted, drug dealers and gang members use them. But when children and families play in a park, criminals stay away because they don’t want to commit crimes in public, he told The Christian Post.

“We choose a location or a site that’s a hot spot. We declare and really make it a safe space. The gangs understand [that] these are kids playing. When there are kids out there playing, you can relate and understand,” he said.

Playing with youth and relating to the community also encourages police officers. Police often face emotionally grueling calls about murder, abuse and humanity at its worst, Harris said. Seeing good things happen in their communities encourages them to face the worst, he added.

“In the nature of policing day to day, we would never have an opportunity to engage with a family or do something positive like this. No one calls the police to tell them good news,” Harris explained.

He also said he appreciates how City of Refuge emphasizes the resources Chicago’s most desperate neighborhoods already have and helps residents use them. When people join the program, they make friends and create networks that allow them to help themselves. In some cases, people in need have met neighbors they can borrow from through the program, he said.

“We start to put people as outcasts and it further drives the division. What we start to do as a society is act as if they’re not there. Constant avoidance is one of the reasons young people join gangs. The more they feel avoided, the more they want that camaraderie,” Harris said. “These kids have bright futures. All it takes sometimes is that person to say, ‘I see you.’”

COVID-19 and the unrest after George Floyd’s death have made it difficult to care for Chicago’s communities, Marquardt said.

In response to the virus, City of Refuge adapted by focusing on baseball so children could remain far apart and still play. Consistent hand sanitizer use also protected participants. To further meet the needs of youth, City of Refuge opened safe locations where students could meet to access computers and the internet to attend school online.

“In COVID, you feel like a wide receiver because you get the ball and you have to spin and stop and dodge and do things you don’t think your body can do. It’s changed everything,” she said.

After riots following Floyd’s death destroyed local grocery stores, City of Refuge partnered with megachurch Harvest Bible Chapel to provide food for the families involved with the nonprofit, Marquardt said. Once again, the money and help came after she prayed.

“I wish everybody had the chance to know these people. My life is so much richer from the relationships I’ve made. It isn’t City of Refuge and it isn’t me; it’s all the people working together. There’s miracle after miracle after miracle,” she said.

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Society, Spiritual

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Chicago Business Owners Issue Harsh Ultimatum to City Officials

Reported By daniel | Published on August 25, 2020

URL of the originating web site: https://redrighttimes.com/chicago-business-owners-issue-harsh-ultimatum-to-city-officials/

As if Chicago weren’t bad enough before all of these riots started taking place, the city is a hell-hole now. Criminals control the city now. If they want to loot, they’re going to loot. If they want to damage property, they’re going to damage property. If they want to shoot someone, they’re going to shoot someone. And worst of all is that they’re going to get away with it.

And one of the biggest reasons that they’re getting away with it is because the State Attorney Kim Foxx dropping thousands upon thousands of felony charges.

Well, business owners in Chicago are tired of the violence, the vandalism, and the lack of safety. They’re not going to stand for it anymore and they are issuing an ultimatum to the city. If they don’t stop the looting, they’re leaving. Chicago businesses and property management companies are warning the city’s mayor, Lori Lightfoot, that if Chicago does not take greater measures to curb crime and civil unrest, they may be forced to leave.

Rioters and looters caused an estimated $60 million in damages Sunday night after a social media post went viral accusing the Chicago Police Department of shooting an unarmed 15-year-old boy in Englewood, a mostly black neighborhood on the city’s south side. The post instructed would be “protesters” to grab tools and prepare to loot downtown businesses.

The post turned out to be wildly inaccurate; Chicago police say they were involved in a shootout with a 20-year-old armed male who threatened neighbors and is now being held without bond on attempted murder charges.

This is going to turn into a mass exodus like we’re currently seeing in New York City. These two cities are never going to be the same because of their mayor are complete idiots who are too full of themselves to wake up and smell the coffee.

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Political

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Chicago Store Owner, Looted Twice Since May, Plans to Sue City

Reported By KATHERINE RODRIGUEZ | 15 Aug 2020

URL of the originating web site: https://www.breitbart.com/crime/2020/08/15/chicago-store-owner-looted-twice-since-may-plans-to-sue-city/

Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot listens to a question after Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced a shelter in place order to combat the spread of the Covid-19 virus, during a news conference Friday, March 20, 2020, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

A Chicago convenience store owner who has been looted twice since May plans to sue the city after the police failed to respond each time his store was destroyed. Walid Mouhammad recently spent $300,000 to repair his store from the damage it suffered from looters in May when it got ransacked again by looters last week.

Mouhammad said that the police had done nothing to stop the looters from destroying his store, especially as he watched for 25 minutes waiting for the police as the looters ripped out a recently replaced steel door, stole merchandise, and ripped out an ATM.

“This is the second time,” Mouhammad told WLS. “I’ve been open for just 40 days, so who will be responsible for this?”

The latest destruction took place after Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said that the city would hold looters accountable for their crimes.

Mouhammad’s store was one of the hundreds of stores being looted late Sunday into early Monday last week, with looters clearing out stores, WGN reported. Police arrested 100 people, and 13 police officers were injured during riots that evening.

Meanwhile, Mouhammad plans on suing the city of Chicago for taking over “25 minutes” to respond to his call that evening.

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Over 50 Shot, 7 Fatally, Since Thursday in de Blasio’s New York City

Reported by AWR HAWKINS | 17 Aug 2020

URL of the originating web site: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/08/17/over-50-shot-7-fatally-since-thursday-in-de-blasios-new-york-city/

NEW YORK, NY – JULY 09: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, his wife Chirlane McCray and Rev. Al Sharpton help paint a Black Lives Matter mural on Fifth Avenue directly in front of Trump Tower on July 9, 2020 in New York City. In a tweet, President Trump …David Dee Delgado/Getty

Over 50 people were shot, seven fatally, between Thursday and Sunday night in Mayor Bill de Blasio’s (D) New York City.

On Sunday night, ABC 7 reported the victims were the result of 50 separate shootings that occurred throughout the city “since Thursday.” AM NY reports 40 gun-related incidents since Friday night alone.

Breitbart News reported 12 shootings with 20 victims on Friday. One of the 20 victims, 28-year-old Deshawn Reid, died from his wounds. He was shot in front of his Flatbush apartment on Ocean Avenue Friday afternoon at 4 p.m.
Another of the weekend fatalities was off-duty NYC corrections officer John Jeff. ABC 7 reported that Jeff was killed with his own gun as he was leaving a party in Queens Saturday morning.

As the number of dead and wounded in NYC were calculated Sunday night, President Trump tweeted, saying, “Law and Order. If [NYC Mayor de Blasio] can’t do it, we will!” Trump has also talked of sending federal troops to other Democrat-controlled cities where gun violence is raging out of control. His offers to do so in Chicago were rejected by Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D), who rejected the offer, choosing instead to push for more gun control.

On July 16, 2020, Breitbart News reported that Lightfoot responded to Trump’s offer of federal help by suggesting the president would secure more gun control if he really wanted to do something for Chicago. The Chicago Tribune reported her saying, “If the president was really committed to helping us deal with our violence, he would do some easy things. What he would push for is universal background checks, he would push for an assault weapons ban, he would push to make sure that people who are banned from getting on airplanes can’t get guns.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange

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Political

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Shipments of 20,000+ Fake US Driver’s Licenses From China Intercepted at Chicago Airport

Reported by Richard Moorhead | August 8, 2020

URL of the originating web site: https://bigleaguepolitics.com/shipments-of-20000-fake-us-drivers-licenses-from-china-intercepted-at-chicago-airport/

Customs authorities have intercepted more than a 1,000 individual shipments containing almost 20,000 fraudulent driver’s licenses at Chicago O’Hare Airport this year alone. 19,888 fake US driver’s licenses have been caught in smuggling busts at the airport, distributed throughout 1,513 fraudulent shipments.

Fox 5 New York is reporting that the fake ID’s are coming from mainland China, Hong Kong, South Korea, and the UK.

“These counterfeit driver’s licenses can lead to disastrous consequences,” Customs and Border Patrol’s Ralph Piccirilli said in a statement. “Criminal organizations use these counterfeit IDs to avoid attracting attention to their illegal activities.”

Customs officials have described the fake Chinese ID’s as extremely realistic and well-made, stating that the barcode on the fake documents passes electronic verification checks.

If this many fake ID’s are coming in at one airport alone, there’s a significant possibility that many more fake documents are being smuggled into the country at other airports. It’s entirely unclear what these ID’s are being used for- most of the bars that underage college kids would enter to drink alcohol in are closed. There’s a very real possibility the Chinese-made fake ID’s could be an integral part of an election fraud operation. Even the most strict voter ID states such as Arizona accept a driver’s license as proof of voter registration and eligibility.

Customs officers stationed at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport are reporting that they’ve busted more than 2,000 fake ID’s since 2019, describing a surge in the smuggling of fake driver’s licenses.

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Political

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Nolte: School and Church Closings, Anti-Police Movement Blow up U.S. Homicide Rate

Reported by JOHN NOLTE | 3 Aug 2020

URL of the originating web site: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/08/03/nolte-school-and-church-closings-anti-police-movement-blow-up-u-s-homicide-rate/

A previously created memorial, right, stands as Baltimore police work at a scene where multiple people were shot in Baltimore, Saturday night, Sept. 24, 2016. Police said that none of the shootings were fatal. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)

Homicide rates have exploded by double digits and experts blame school and church closings alongside the anti-police movement, reports the Wall Street Journal. The Wall Street Journal looked at America’s 50 biggest cities and found homicides are up an average of a whopping 24 percent across the board.

It is also worth noting, although the Journal tries to spin this as a bipartisan problem, that Democrats (including the “progressive” mayor of San Antonio who identifies as Independent) run seven of the top ten cities with the biggest jump in homicide rates. Democrats also run all six of the top six cities with the largest number of homicides, including Democrat-run Chicago, which the Journal notes is responsible for “more than one of every eight homicides.” The top six are Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, Houston, Los Angeles, Dallas.

The experts the Journal spoke with laid the blame on the closing of schools and churches, and the left’s anti-police crusade.

“Lockdowns and recession also mean tensions are running high and streets have been emptied of eyes and ears on their communities. Some attribute the rise to an increase in gang violence,” the Journal reports, adding…

Schools let out young adults in March because of the pandemic and after-school activities largely stopped. Churches and other social institutions were restrained for the sake of social distancing. Police first were hit by coronavirus and then blowback in the neighborhoods they patrol after the killing in Minneapolis of George Floyd, a Black man, while in police custody.

“Gangs are built around structure and lack thereof,” said Jeff La Blue, a spokesman for the Fresno police department. “With schools being closed and a lot of different businesses being closed, the people that normally would have been involved in positive structures in their lives aren’t there.”

Obviously structure is imperative for young people, which is something schooling offers. As far as the Church, this is something especially vital in black and Hispanic communities, a place for troubled youth to go. Many churches also offer after-school activities, not to mention moral guidance.

“Everything that society does that might shape public safety was turned upside-down during the pandemic,” Mr. Ludwig told the Journal, and this of course includes an unprecedented and dishonest crusade by Democrats and the corporate media to delegitimize and defund the police.

The good news is that burglaries and rapes are down, but that’s only because people are staying home. There are fewer potential victims out there.

“Homicides, on the other hand, are up because violent criminals have been emboldened by the sidelining of police,” reports the Journal, and these homicides are “hitting low-income, mostly Black and Latino communities especially hard” — just as I (and everyone with a brain) predicted when this left-wing terrorism launched.

This attack on the police — even as police shootings of unarmed men (including black men) have plummeted over the years — was always about the 2020 presidential election, always about the left’s desperation to reverse the gains made by black America under President Trump’s economic policies.

And the fastest way to destroy economic advancement is to embolden and release violent criminals and gangs.

Although things are not yet as bad as they were before violent crime began to drop in the 1990s, that is a very cold comfort when you realize we are reversing all the law enforcement policies that finally put an end to a three decade crime wave and urban blight: aggressive policing tactics based on the broken windows philosophy, tough sentencing after a legal conviction, etc.

We’re also doing things even the do-gooders of the sixties didn’t think of — ending bail, using the China Virus as an excuse to empty our jails and prisons, electing far-left activists as city prosecutors, and turning the police into eunuchs. Unfortunately, and unless people wake up and put a stop to this madness, we are on the fast-track to a return to the bad old days of the 60s, 70s, and 80s.

Instead of tweaking our criminal justice system, which I’m always in favor of, especially when it comes with how to handle non-violent criminals, in just a matter of months, the left and their media allies have smashed it — and by deliberate design, blacks and Hispanics are the biggest losers.

Here are the top 14 cities with the biggest increase in homicides this year, along with the incumbent mayor’s party identification:

Austin – Democrat
Chicago – Democrat mayors for 79 years
Fort Worth – Republican
San Antonio – Self-identified “progressive” Independent after two decades of Democrat rule.
Phoenix – Democrat
Philadelphia – 68 years of Democrats
Houston – 38 years of Democrats
New York – Democrat
Columbus – Two decades of Democrat rule
Jacksonville – Republican
Los Angeles – Democrat for two decades
San Diego – Republican
Charlotte – Democrat
Dallas – Democrat

Editor’s Note: Previously this story erroneously stated that the mayor of Phoenix is a Republican; current Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego is a Democrat.

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.

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TWO ARTICLES; SAME PROBLEM: Over 30 Shot, 10 Killed, as Violence Surges in de Blasio’s NYC and Report: 59 Shot, 3 Killed, over Weekend in Mayor Lightfoot’s Chicago

Reported by AWR HAWKINS | 27 Jul 2020

URL of the originating web site: https://www.breitbart.com/2nd-amendment/2020/07/27/over-30-shot-10-killed-violence-surges-de-blasios-nyc/

Scott Heins/Getty Images

Over 30 people were shot, with ten killed, over the weekend as violence continues to surge in Mayor Bill de Blasio’s (D) New York City. One of the fatal shooting victims was a 16-year-old boy who sustained a bullet wound to the head “in the Cypress Hills section of Brooklyn” on Sunday, Fox 5 reported. The 16-year-old was one of seven people who were shot and killed on Sunday alone.

De Blasio reacted to the 16-year-old’s death saying, “This is heartbreaking. His life was just beginning. Sending my thoughts and prayers to the families of these boys. No parent should ever have to bury a child,” NBC 4 New York reported.

A “Stop the Violence” march occurred in Brooklyn the day before the seven fatalies occurred.

NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea spoke with NY1 on Monday morning and acknowledged that all the anti-violence efforts have fallen short of actually curtailing it at this point.

“When we have a day with 15 shootings in New York City, that’s not a success. There’s no other way to put that. There are still some challenges throughout New York City with repeat gun offenders, with the gang situation, with large groups on the street and how to tackle them in terms of alcohol and things of that nature,” he said.

Breitbart News reported that a one-year-old was shot to death while sitting in a stroller in de Blasio’s NYC earlier this month. In June, Breitbart News reported a video of a father fatally shot while walking his six-year-old daughter across the street in the city.

WARNING: GRAPHIC VIOLENCE

On July 14, 2020, Breitbart News reported that de Blasio blamed NYC’s surging violence on guns.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.

Reported by AWR HAWKINS | 27 Jul 2020

URL of the originating web site: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/07/27/report-59-shot-3-killed-over-weekend-in-mayor-lightfoots-chicago/

Scott Olson/Getty Images

Fifty-nine people were shot, three fatally, over the weekend in Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s (D) Chicago. Late Sunday night NBC 5 reported at least 49 people had been shot, two fatally. By Monday morning the Chicago Sun-Times reported nearly 60 shot with three fatalities.

NBC 5 noted that weekend shootings began Friday with a non-fatal incident just after 5 pm, when two individuals were shot while standing in a gas station parking lot “in the 800 block of West 59^th Street.” Less than 30 minutes later a 19-year-old was shot and left in serious condition while sitting on a porch on West Cullerton. The violence continued from there. The Sun-Times reports the weekend’s last shooting–a fatal one–occurred just before 1:30 a.m. Monday morning.

On Tuesday, Mayor Lightfoot acknowledged President Trump would be sending in federal agents to help curtail the gun violence that has surged in Chicago throughout this year. But the Chicago Tribune reported Lightfoot made clear she will be ready to use the courts to stop the use of federal agents if she believes the Trump administration overreaches.

Lightfoot said, “I don’t put anything past this administration, which is why we will continue to be diligent and why we will continue to be ready. If we need to stop them and use the courts to do so, we are ready to do that.”

When Trump spoke out against the violence ravaging Democrat-controlled cities in June, Lightfoot reacted by stating she does not “need leadership lessons” from the president.

On July 16, 2020, Breitbart News reported Lightfoot responded to Trump’s idea of the federal government stepping in by calling for more gun control. Two of the central controls she demanded were universal background checks and an “assault weapons” ban. She did not mention the Chicago-area already has an “assault weapons” ban, thanks to a Cook County prohibition.

Moreover, Chicago and the entire state of Illinois already have a licensing process for would-be gun owners that includes a background check.

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Armed kids as young as 10 carjack more than a dozen people on South Side, police say

Reported by FOX 5 Chicago | Published 2 days ago

URL of the originating web site: https://www.fox5ny.com/news/armed-kids-as-young-as-10-carjack-more-than-a-dozen-people-on-south-side-police-say

Chicago police crime scene / file photo

CHICAGO – Alyssa Blanchard was so traumatized after being carjacked at gunpoint last week outside her Calumet Heights home that she’s now scared to go outside.

Chicago police say a group of children, ages 10 to 17, carjacked Blanchard and at least 15 other people since late June — wreaking havoc on Blanchard’s generally peaceful South Side neighborhood. Police said shots were fired by the suspects in two of the carjackings, but no one was hit.

“I’m scared to use my garage. I don’t feel safe in my neighborhood,” said Blanchard, an elementary school teacher at Chicago Public Schools.

What’s especially painful for Blanchard was seeing her stolen BMW

Armed kids as young as 10 carjack more than a dozen people on South Side, police say

a few blocks from her home, she said.

“I don’t want to have to tell my kid about how some young woman was killed or shot with kids using my vehicle. It was traumatizing,” Blanchard, 44, said.

Blanchard was carjacked July 14 while returning home in the early evening. As she pulled into her alley garage on South Kingston Avenue, she noticed a vehicle and three or four children come toward her. Two children armed with handguns pointed them to her head and ordered her out of her BMW, she said. One child looked as young as 11, she said.

“It was so instantaneous … I was just scared for my life. I thought, ‘this is it,’” she said.

They took her purse, which had about $300 inside, and jumped inside her BMW and rode off, she said.

Blanchard said the children used her BMW the next day to carjack a woman in the parking lot of Trinity Hospital. In that carjacking, a 21-year-old was seated in her Lexus when four or five teens exited a BMW, with two of them confronting her with guns, police said. Two teens forced her to the ground outside the car, but she grabbed onto a door handle and held on until the teens drove off, police said. The woman was treated for a foot injury.

Blanchard said police recovered her BMW, which had been crashed a couple days after the carjacking. Blanchard said she was dismayed to see such young children involved in this type of crime.

“I teach this age group and I can’t believe they would do this,” she said.

Police published a community alert Sunday evening warning of 14 other carjackings tied to the children. According to the alert, the children are committing the carjackings at a greater frequency, with six carjackings reported just last Saturday:

–June 23 in the 7200 block of South Champlain Avenue;
–July 9 in the 8000 block of South Indiana Avenue;
–July 15 in the 8700 block of South Stony Island Avenue;
–July 15 in the 7500 block of South Wabash Avenue;
–July 16 in the 9100 block of South Essex Avenue;
–July 16 in the 7300 block of South Chappel Avenue;
–July 17 in the 8800 block of South Luella Avenue;
–July 17 in the 8900 block of South Euclid Avenue;
–July 17 in the 9100 block of South Jeffrey Avenue;
–July 18 in the 9100 block of South Euclid Avenue;
–July 18 in the 8600 block of South Constance Avenue;
–July 18 in the 9300 block of South Paxton Avenue;
–July 18 in the 9300 block of South Essex Avenue;
–July 18 in the 1600 Block of East 92nd Place; and
–July 18 in the 8100 Block of South Indiana Avenue.

No arrest has been made, police said.

Anyone with information is asked to call CPD’s vehicle highjacking task force at 312-745-4489.

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Sunday, May 31st, Was Chicago’s Most Violent Day in Sixty Years With 18 Murders

Reported by Richard Moorhead | June 9, 2020

URL of the originating web site: https://bigleaguepolitics.com/sunday-may-31st-was-chicagos-most-violent-day-in-sixty-years-with-18-murders/

18 people were murdered in the city of Chicago on Sunday, May 31st, making the day the most violent day in Chicago’s history dating back sixty years.

The day surpasses August 4th, 1991, when 13 people were killed. The University of Chicago Crime Lab can’t locate a day in the city’s history with more murders dating back to 1961.

Several of the murder victims were promising young people who appear to have been killed in little more than senseless arguments. Reporting from the Chicago Sun Times describes some of the deceased as high school students, a working-class father, and a college freshman who was gunned down after a petty argument at a bus stop.

Longtime gun control activist Rev. Michael Pfleger, a Catholic priest in Chicago, admitted that the city’s police department appeared to have largely given up on containing and deterring crime as widespread looting and violence spread throughout the city.

“On Saturday and particularly Sunday, I heard people saying all over, ‘Hey, there’s no police anywhere, police ain’t doing nothing,” said the liberal priest. “I sat and watched a store looted for over an hour. No police came. I got in my car and drove around to some other places getting looted [and] didn’t see police anywhere.”

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot also revealed that the Chicago had received more than 65,000 911 calls over the weekend, a figure higher by an order of magnitude over the normal weekend 911 calls, which are usually around 15,000. However, the Mayor seems more concerned with condemning community members who peacefully band together to stop crime than with the ineptitude of the police.

The weekend broadly was the most violent this year in Chicago, with a grand total of 27 shooting deaths and 92 shootings.

Although Chicago sustained some of the most severe looting and violence in the country that weekend, it appears unlikely that they’ll be any serious protests for the 18 residents of the city murdered on Sunday.

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Judge Rules Against Illinois Governor’s Stay-at-Home Order

Reported By Jack Davis | Published April 28, 2020 at 8:01am

URL of the originating web site: https://www.westernjournal.com/judge-rules-illinois-governors-stay-home-order/

We certainly are going to act in a swift fashion to try to have this ruling overturned,” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker. (Joshua Lott / Getty Images)

A judge has ruled that Illinois Republican state Rep. Darren Bailey can be exempt from Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order in a decision that Bailey said should open the floodgates for others to sue for their freedom. Clay County Circuit Court Judge Michael McHaney on Monday issued a temporary restraining order that allows Bailey to disregard Pritzker’s order. The judge ruled that Bailey “has shown he has a clearly ascertainable right in need of immediate protection, namely his liberty interest to be free from Pritzker’s order to quarantine in his own home.”

The ruling said the legislator has shown “he will suffer irreparable harm” without the temporary restraining order being issued and has “a reasonable likelihood of succeeding” on the merits of his argument.

Bailey Pritzker Ruling by The Western Journal on Scribd

Bailey had said Pritzker’s order was “in excess of the authority granted him” under Illinois law, according to Fox News. The legislator had argued that although Pritzker had the right to impose restrictions for 30 days, he did not have the legal standing to extend stay-at-home laws past that date.

On Monday, Pritzker loosened the restrictions Bailey had attacked but also extended his overall stay-at-home order through May 30, according to the Chicago Tribune. Bailey encouraged his constituents to follow his lead in challenging the governor’s restrictions.

“This is just me, but anybody can follow suit,” he said, according to WMAG-TV.

“If people want to, if anyone wants to file any kind of similar suit in their home county or in their circuit, they can certainly do that,” Bailey said, according to the Tribune. “What I’m doing is challenging the constitutionality of the governor, of what he’s been doing.”

Bailey said the issue was not whether staying at home would be sound health policy but Pritzker’s use of his power.

“He is going to lose his power. This is the right thing,” the lawmaker said. “This is the law of the land, and I will contend that areas of the state would be better served through local control.”

Bailey said the economic damage from the state’s stay-at-home order might be worse than the disease it was issued to address.

“Our governor has created a second pandemic that I believe is going to be more far-reaching than the COVID-19 situation,” he said.

Bailey, whose district covers southern Illinois, said he gets calls from constituents who are “overwhelmed, scared to death, not of the COVID-19 virus, but of their livelihoods.”

“Still today, we’re getting calls of people that cannot get through to unemployment, and that’s what’s taking a toll in some of these more rural districts,” the legislator said. “That’s what the governor needs to be focused on.”

Pritzker attacked Bailey for his actions.

“People are in danger as a result of this ruling, of the judge’s ruling of the suit that was brought by Darren Bailey,” he said, according to the Tribune.

“We certainly are going to act in a swift fashion to try to have this ruling overturned, certainly put a stay in place,” the governor said. “I mean it’s, frankly, it’s insulting, it’s dangerous, and people’s safety and health has now been put at risk.

“There may be people who contract coronavirus as a result of what Darren Bailey has done now.”

In a statement on his website, Bailey said Pritzker has focused on Chicago at the expense of the rest of the state.

“The message is clear, we are not Chicago and we already distance ourselves just by our rural life styles. Why should we be punished with the loss of jobs and closing our businesses when the coronavirus emergency isn’t the same for us?” he said. “This one-size-fits-all mentality needs to be reviewed and take into account our diversity from urban to rural areas of the state.’

“The governor’s executive orders to social distance and stay home to work when you are able has had a flattening of the curve for the cities and that’s good.’

“But in our area, the low numbers of cases reinforces the fact that we do not need the heavy hand of government to tell us to use our common sense. It was the actions of people who wouldn’t stay home in Chicago for St. Patrick’s Day celebrating that triggered these executive orders, not the actions of teachers or farmers or small business owners in southern Illinois.”

ABOUIT THE AUTHOR:

Jack Davis

Contributor, News

Jack Davis is a freelance writer who joined The Western Journal in July 2015 and chronicled the campaign that saw President Donald Trump elected. Since then, he has written extensively for The Western Journal on the Trump administration as well as foreign policy and military issues.

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25 Shot, 7 Dead in Just First Half of Holiday Weekend in Chicago

Reported by Steven Ahle | September 3, 2019

URL of the original posting site: https://steadfastandloyal.com/politics/25-shot-7-dead-in-just-first-half-of-holiday-weekend-in-chicago/

It’s another typical weekend in Chicago, where through half of the holiday weekend 7 were killed and 25 were shot in gun and Democrat-controlled Chicago. Actually crime in Chicago isn’t as bad as some people make it out to be.
That’s just a vicious rumor that was started by 2 million victims.

It’s really funny that 2020 candidates for the Democratic nomination for president are constantly harping on gun violence but not one of them ever bring up Chicago. Are they not worried about gang violence even when the majority of victims are Black?

On Tuesday these numbers will be updated and it will be interesting to see how many are shot.

From Breitbart News

At least 25 people were shot, seven fatally, during the first half of Labor Day Weekend in Democrat-controlled Chicago.

The Chicago Sun-Timesreports that the fatalities began around 12:22 a.m. Saturday, when 42-year-old Willie Coker was shot to death while standing outside. The shooting occurred on South Burley Avenue.

Roughly three hours later 18-year-old Angel Perez was shot and killed on West Le Moyne Street.

A 26-year-old man and a 32-year-old man were shot to death about an hour later in the 7100 block of South Paulina Street. The Chicago Tribunereports that three other adults were wounded in the South Paulina shooting.

A 15-year-old boy was shot and killed Sunday morning around 2:19 a.m. and a man was shot and killed at a party in Woodlawn about 20 minutes later. Another man was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting around 3:54 a.m. “in the 5100 block of South Pulaski Road.”

Breitbart News reported at least 29 were shot, six fatally, over the weekend of August 23-25, 2019, in Democrat-controlled Chicago.

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47 Shot, 4 Fatally, Over Weekend in Democrat-Controlled Chicago

Authored by AWR Hawkins | 12 Aug 2019

URL of the original posting site: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/08/12/47-shot-4-fatally-over-weekend-in-democrat-controlled-chicago/

Scott Olson/Getty Images

Forty-seven people were shot, four fatally, over the weekend in Democrat-controlled Chicago.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the fatalities included a 16-year-old boy who was shot dead while sitting in a car in Little Village, a 19-year-old man who was shot dead in Garfield Park, and a 29-year-old man who was shot dead in South Chicago.

The fourth fatal shooting was of a 47-year-old man who was killed while sitting in a vehicle in Humboldt Park. The man, Douglas Tate, was struck twice by gunfire and taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

On August 11, 2019, Breitbart News reported that six were wounded Sunday morning when a gunman opened fire in Garfield Park. CBS Chicago reported the gunman opened fire from inside “a light-colored sedan” about 2:47 a.m. The would-be victims “were standing in a large group,” and five women and one man were wounded.

Fifty-three persons were shot, seven fatally, in Democrat-controlled Chicago during the first weekend of August. Forty-eight persons were shot, nine fatally, during the last weekend of July.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.

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Chicago’s Violence More Proof of How Liberal-Controlled Cities Have Let Down Black Americans

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a Democrat, speaks at an event on April 11, 2018. (Photo: Nancy Stone/TNS/Newscom)

During the weekend of Aug. 4-5 (and the preceding Friday night), 12 Chicagoans were shot dead, and 62 others were shot and wounded, the Chicago Tribune reported. Before last week’s mayhem, 1,718 Chicagoans had been shot since the beginning of the year, and 306 had been murdered. Adding to this tragedy is the fact that Chicago’s clearance rate is less than 15 percent. That means that in more than 85 percent of Chicago’s homicides, no suspect is charged. Chicago is by no means unique in this lawlessness. Detroit, Baltimore, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and some other major cities share high rates of homicides.

It’s not just shootings and homicides that negatively impact the overwhelmingly law-abiding black residents of these cities. In addition,

there are sky-high rates of burglaries, rapes, and property destruction.
The schools are notoriously bad.
City budgets face shortfalls.
Residents deal with deteriorating city services.
All of this causes mass exoduses from these cities by their most capable people.

Ordinary decency demands that something be done to address the horrible conditions under which so many black Americans live.White liberals, black politicians, and sports figures focus most of their attention on what the police do, but how relevant is that to the overall tragedy?

According to Washington Post data, as of July 9, 626 people had been shot and killed by police this year. Of that number, 114 were black. Last year, 987 people were shot and killed by police, of which 223 were black.

To put police shootings in a bit of perspective, in Chicago alone in 2017, there were 674 homicides, almost 80 percent of whose victims were black. It would appear that if one is truly concerned about black deaths, shootings by police should figure way down on one’s list—which is not to excuse bad behavior by some police officers.

Would getting more blacks and Democrats in political office help? It turns out that of the Chicago City Council’s 50 aldermen, only one is Republican. One is an independent. Forty-eight aldermen are Democrats, and 19 are black.

In fact, most of the cities where large segments of their black citizenry live under horrible conditions have been controlled by Democrats for nearly a half-century, and there are many blacks on the instruments of control, such as chiefs of police, superintendents of schools, and members of city councils. If Democratic and black control meant anything, these cities would be paradises.

How helpful to these desperate black communities are the efforts of so many black politicians to focus on allegations about President Donald Trump’s ties to Russia? The leader of the movement to impeach Trump is Rep. Maxine Waters. Her congressional district suffers from high crime rates and failing schools. She, like most other black politicians, claims that she is helping her constituency by doing all she can to fight to get more taxpayer money to her district.More money from taxpayers could not fix the problems of these communities. Over the past 50 years, more than $16 trillion has been spent on poverty programs. The majority of those programs have simply made poverty more comfortable by giving poor people more food, health care, housing, etc.

What’s needed most is to get poor people to change their behavior. Chief among the modifications is reducing female-headed households. Female-headed households produce most of our prison inmates, the highest crime rates, and disproportionate numbers of high school dropouts and suicides. These devastating factors are far beyond the capacity of Washington to fix.

The only people who can fix these problems are black people themselves. Black athletes could be far more productive by going to schools and community centers to encourage constructive behavior and shaming self-destructive behavior. Support should be given to police to stop criminals from preying on communities. Nongovernmental local groups should be encouraged to play greater roles.

It’s a challenge, but keep in mind that black people had the intestinal fortitude to lead the world’s greatest civil rights movement through some very dark days from 1865 to 1965. I believe that we’re up to the challenge.

If we wait for Washington to solve our problems, we’ll be waiting for a long time.

Commentary By

Walter E. Williams @WE_Williams

Walter E. Williams is a columnist for The Daily Signal and a professor of economics at George Mason University.

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Watch: Bodycam Footage Devastates Rioters Raging at ‘Unarmed’ Black Man’s Death

Reported By Cillian Zeal | July 16, 2018 at 5:40am

URL of the original posting site: https://www.westernjournal.com/ct/watch-bodycam-footage-devastates-rioters-raging-at-unarmed-black-mans-death/

Police bodycam footage of the shooting death of a Chicago man that touched off riots in the city over the weekend revealed that he appeared to be armed and reaching for his weapon.

The death of Harith “Snoop” Augustus, a 37-year-old African-American, at the hands of Chicago police officers “mobilized hundreds of Chicago protesters over the weekend,” as The Hill charitably put it.

“Officers were struck by rocks and bottles as dozens of demonstrators gathered near the crime scene Saturday,” USA Today reported police as saying.

“Four demonstrators were arrested late Saturday as police cleared the crime scene, said Anthony Guglielmi, the police department’s chief spokesman. Fred Waller, chief of the department’s patrol division, said three or four officers were injured.” Batons were apparently used against some of the protesters.

Those assembled chanted “murderers” and “no justice, no peace” after the shooting, gathering quickly at the 71st Street scene at which Augustus was shot.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, police say they stopped Augustus at roughly 5:30 p.m. Saturday because he was “a man exhibiting characteristics of an armed person.” However, witnesses say police had wanted Augustus to stop selling loose cigarettes, a similar situation which led to the death of Eric Garner in New York City several years ago.

A Washington Post freeze-frame of the video shows Augustus reaching for what appears to be a Firearm Owners Identification Card, a card that allows individuals to buy and carry firearms and ammunition.

However, after a brief confrontation, Augustus runs away. Another freeze-frame of the bodycam video shows Augustus with his shirt up, revealing a holstered handgun. He then runs out into the street as another police car arrives.

It’s at this point that Augustus can be seen reaching for his waist in roughly the same location at which the firearm was at. Police then shot him. A weapon was discovered at the scene along with several rounds of ammunition.

Here is video released by the city of the confrontation, which we must warn you contains images some will find disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised.

Augustus was transported to Jackson Park Hospital, where he died at 5:50 p.m.

“From police perspective, you know, these things happen in a split second,” said Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, a veteran of leftist protests, at a new conference. “Officers have to make decisions quickly.”

Police noted that Augustus had no recent history of criminal activity. But it’s not the first time police bodycams have backed up officers’ decisions to use deadly force.

“I mean, it is what it is,” Johnson said of the video, according to BBC.

“You know, we are not trying to hide anything. We are not trying to fluff anything. The video speaks for itself. I don’t need to narrate that video for you. When you see it, you come to your own conclusions about what happened.”

And those conclusions are one that protesters likely won’t want to embrace.

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Alert: Democrat Requests UN Troops Be Deployed to US Soil to Deal With Guns

Reported By V Saxena | December 16, 2017 at 8:20am

URL of the original posting site: https://conservativetribune.com/democrat-requests-un-troops/

Instead of looking to President Donald Trump for assistance with Chicago’s never-ending gun violence, Cook County commissioner Richard Boykin, a Democrat, has reportedly expressed interest in teaming up with the United Nations.

“I’m hoping to appeal to the U.N. to actually come to Chicago and meet with victims of violence, and maybe even possibly help out in terms of peacekeeping efforts, because I think it’s so critical for us to make sure that these neighborhoods are safe,” he said Thursday, according to local station WBBM.

He reportedly made the remarks from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport en route to New York to meet with Oscar Fernandez-Taranco of Argentina, the U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Support. Boykin continued by bemoaning the “quiet genocide taking place in too many of our communities” and rightly noting that most victims of Chicago’s gun violence are blacks who have been “killed at the hands of another African American.”

“So we must protect these population groups, and that’s what the United Nations does,” he added. “They’re a peacekeeping force. They know all about keeping the peace, and so we’re hopeful that they’ll hear our appeal.”

I appreciate his desire to help the black community in Chicago, but why seek help from the U.N. when Trump has already reportedly sent “an additional 20 agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives … to Chicago to help in the effort at cracking down on gun crime and the repeat criminals who routinely commit such crimes”? The president has also proposed sending in the National Guard, though the city’s left-wing mayor, Rahm Emmanuel, rudely rejected this offer in January.

“We’re going through a process of reinvigorating community policing, building trust between relationships in the community and law enforcement,” he said, as reported by the Chicago Tribune. “(The National Guard) is antithetical to the spirit of what community policing is.”

But the power-hungry U.N. is not?

Let’s be clear here: The U.N. is an anti-democratic organization that is “hostile to the private ownership of firearms,” as noted five years ago by Ted R. Bromund, Ph.D., a Margaret Thatcher senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation, in a column for The Daily Signal.

Moreover, the U.N. poses enough of a threat to the U.S. that the National Rifle Association sought to be recognized by it as a Non-Governmental Organization in 1996 just to monitor its activities and stop it from affecting our gun rights.

“NRA has been engaged at the United Nations and elsewhere internationally in response to overreaching small arms initiatives for two decades,” the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action notes. “During this time, we have been actively opposing transnational efforts that would limit Americans’ Second Amendment freedoms.”

Again, why would Boykin or any other political leader in Chicago be interested in teaming up with this anti-democratic organization when they already have a president ready and willing to help? I don’t know, but I don’t like it. Nor do I like or appreciate the city’s leaders constantly disparaging our president, a man who clearly wants to help.

Speaking on CBS’ “The Late Show” this week, Emanuel proudly declared Chicago a “Trump-free zone” and joked that it’s new motto is “A city he’ll never sleep in.”

Gee, guy, how about making Chicago a violence-free zone with a motto of “A city where little black children can sleep peacefully,” you jerk?

My sincere guess is Emanuel doesn’t really care about Chicago’s gun violence. As for Boykin, I believe he cares but it simply misguided. I just hope somebody warns him about the U.N. before it’s too late.

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Former Army Ranger Is Only Pittsburgh Steeler To Appear For Anthem

Reported By Jack Davis | on September 25, 2017 at 7:10am

URL of the original posting site: https://www.westernjournalism.com/former-army-ranger-pittsburgh-steeler-appear-anthem-1/?

Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin wanted to play football, not politics. Steelers offensive tackle Alejandro Villanueva felt he had a higher duty. Thus, the former Army Ranger was the only Steeler visible on Sunday during the playing of the national anthem before the Steelers took on the Chicago Bears.

Tomlin admitted that two days after President Donald Trump tweeted out his condemnation of anthem protests, sparking a fierce negative reaction among NFL players, he wanted unity. Tomlin had said before the game that the team would not be on the field for the anthem, citing the players’ decision. Afterward, he said he wanted to respected what his players felt was best.

“Like I said, I was looking for 100 percent participation, we were gonna be respectful of our football team,” Tomlin said.

He said he let the players decide, with one condition.

“Many of them felt like something needed to be done. I asked those guys to discuss it and whatever they discussed that we have 100 percent participation or we do nothing,” Tomlin said.

“They discussed it for an appropriate length of time and they couldn’t come to an understanding, so they chose to remove themselves from it. They were not going to be disrespectful in the anthem so they chose not to participate, but at the same time many of them were not going to accept the words of the president,” he added, saying the team decided to remain out of view.

Tomlin said his focus was the game, not the anthem.

“We’re not politicians. We’re coaches and professional athletes,” Tomlin said Sunday. “If those of us or individuals choose to participate in politics in some way I’m going to be supportive of that. But when we come out of locker rooms, we come out of locker rooms to play football games.”

Offensive tackle Chris Hubbard said the players, by a slim majority, voted in favor of staying off the field instead of standing on the sideline holding hands, but that players knew Villanueva was going to do what he wanted.

“Al was cool with it, with whatever we went through. He was on board. That’s Al, man,” Hubbard told Penn Live. “He’s a good guy.”

“We thought we were all in attention with the same agreement, obviously,” said linebacker James Harrison. “But, I guess we weren’t.”

Villanueva, A Bronze Star recipient who three tours of duty in Afghanistan, has said there is a difference between changing society and protesting during the anthem.

“I agree that America is not perfect, I agree there are lot of issues with minorities in this country, I agree we should do something about it,” Villanueva in August 2016, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “But I don’t know if the most effective way is to sit down when the national anthem of the country that is providing you freedom and providing you $16 million a year is the best way to do it when there are black minorities that are dying in Iraq and Afghanistan and protecting our freedom for less than $20,000 a year.”

“I just know I’m very thankful to be an American,” Villanueva said.

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Today’s Poliotically INCORRECT Cartoon by A.F. Branco

Grave Indifference

Democrats seem to care more about taking down confederate statues than slowing down the murder rate in Chicago.

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Trump Administration Rewards Miami For Reversing Its Sanctuary Policies

Reported By Andrew Kerr | August 7, 2017 at 3:10pm

URL of the original posting site: http://www.westernjournalism.com/trump-administration-rewards-miami-reversing-sanctuary-policies/

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Miami-Dade County was told Friday by the Department of Justice that it will no longer be treated as a so-called sanctuary city after the county changed its policies in February surrounding detaining jailed inmates sought by federal authorities for deportation.

Miami Mayor Carlos Gimenez was notified by Alan Hanson, an acting assistant attorney general, that the DOJ found “no evidence that Miami Dade County is currently out of compliance,” clearing the way for the county to receive $481,347 in federal law enforcement funding in form of a Byrne JAG grant.

Miami was first classified as a sanctuary city by the Obama administration for its 2013 policy that authorized the county to begin denying “detainer” requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The policy provided that the county would only hold inmates sought for deportation if they faced severe charges and if the federal government would reimburse the county for extra detention time.

But shortly after President Donald Trump was inaugurated in January, Gimenez dropped the policy, ordering county jails to comply with ICE detentions requests.

The Miami-Dade Commission voted 9-3 in February in support of the mayor’s policy to honor ICE detention requests.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced in July that the DOJ would impose new conditions on Byrne JAG grants, a leading source of federal justice funding to state and local jurisdictions.

“From now on, the Department will only provide Byrne JAG grants to cities and states that comply with federal law, allow federal immigration access to detention facilities, and provide 48 hours notice before they release an illegal alien wanted by federal authorities,” Sessions said in a statement announcing the new restrictions.

Miami-Dade’s decision to change its sanctuary status worked. The county received assurances from the DOJ Friday that it was in compliance and would receive a Byrne JAG Grant valued at $481,347, which will go towards enhancing the Miami Dade Police Department’s “intelligence gathering and police operations with investments in technology and specialized equipment,” according to Gimenez.

“This is good news,” said Gimenez’s communications director, Michael Hernández.

Hernández said the county is now requesting that the Trump administration remove Miami-Dade from the Obama administration’s original list of sanctuary cities.

“We’d like to have formal notification that we are no longer a sanctuary community,” Hernández said. “That request is being made.”

Miami-Dade is the only large jurisdiction in the country known to have complied with Trump’s request to crack down on its sanctuary city policy. Other sanctuary cities, such as Chicago, are calling foul at the Trump administration’s new restrictions surrounding Byrne JAG grants. Chicago was expected to receive $3.2 million in federal grants this year to purchase law enforcement equipment. But instead of complying, Chicago opted on Monday to file a lawsuit against the Trump administration to prevent it from enforcing the new policies.

“We are bringing this legal challenge because the rhetoric, the threats from this administration embodied in these new conditions imposed on unrelated public safety grants funds are breeding a culture and climate of fear,” said the senior legal adviser for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said Sunday it was “tragic” that Emanuel was more concerned about protecting illegal immigrants than he was by the high murder rate on the streets of Chicago.

“It’s especially tragic that the mayor is less concerned with that staggering figure than he is spending time and taxpayer money protecting criminal aliens and putting Chicago’s law enforcement at greater risk,” Flores said in a statement.

Chicago is the first city to challenge the Trump administration over its new restrictions surrounding Byrne JAG grants.

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By Anders Hagstrom | Fox News | Published May 9, 2023 12:18pm EDT

Anders Hagstrom is a reporter with Fox News Digital covering national politics and major breaking news events. Send tips to Anders.Hagstrom@Fox.com, or on Twitter: @Hagstrom_Anders.

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By: CARLOS GARCIA | April 21, 2023

Here’s more about violence in Chicago:

After teens cause chaos, Chicago mayor-elect Johnson says ‘Not constructive to demonize youth starve www.youtube.com

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

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BY: EDDIE SCARRY | APRIL 18, 2023

Eddie Scarry is the D.C. columnist at The Federalist and author of “Liberal Misery: How the Hateful Left Sucks Joy Out of Everything and Everyone.”

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NEWS | PAUL SACCA | April 16, 2023

Hundreds of teenagers flood into downtown Chicago, smashing car windows, prompting police response www.youtube.com

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By Greg Norman FOXBusiness | Updated on April 11, 2023 2:18pm EDT

Stocks in this Article

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By REAGAN REESE, CONTRIBUTOR | October 05, 2022

Grade 11 black students had a 11.2% proficiency rate in English and Hispanic students scored a 15.7% proficiency rate, the report showed. In math, grade 11 black students had an 8.3% proficiency rate and Hispanic students showed a 16.6% proficiency rate, the report stated.

The same year, 2021, Chicago Public Schools announced a record high graduation rate of nearly 84%, according to Fox 32 Chicago. In 2011 the graduation rate was about 57%.

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BY: SOPHIA CORSO | SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

Sophia is an intern at The Federalist and a student at Le Moyne College. She majors in English and intends to pursue a career in journalism.

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By ALEX NITZBERG | August 31, 2022

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COMMENTARY BY: KYLEE GRISWOLD | JULY 07, 2022

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Reported By Jim Hoft | Published December 26, 2021

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Commentary by Ann Coulter | Posted: Oct 13, 2021

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Reported by PAUL SACCA | September 06, 2021

At least 58 people have been shot in Chicago during Labor Day weekend, including eight children, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Five people have been killed in shootings since Friday evening, including a 4-year-old boy who was shot in the head.

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Reported by PAUL SACCA | August 28, 2021

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Fifth graders will have access to condoms in Chicago elementary schools next month. One parent reacts: ‘Oh my God … they are kids.’

Why so young?

‘They are 10 years old, 11, 12. They are kids.’

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“What’s distinctive is that we follow what we call the three-legged stool,” she said. “It’s getting civic, sacred and secular parts of society to work together. I think that’s very biblical.”

“ … in leaning upon the living God alone, we are beyond disappointment, and beyond being forsaken because of death, or want of means, or want of love, or because of the claims of other work,” the passage reads.

“No, we’re going to give you everything,” she remembers the group saying over the phone. “The only thing we can’t give you is size youth medium pants and bats.”

“I needed to get an order for kids I didn’t have,” she said. “And it was absolutely right.”

“We choose a location or a site that’s a hot spot. We declare and really make it a safe space. The gangs understand [that] these are kids playing. When there are kids out there playing, you can relate and understand,” he said.

“In the nature of policing day to day, we would never have an opportunity to engage with a family or do something positive like this. No one calls the police to tell them good news,” Harris explained.

“In COVID, you feel like a wide receiver because you get the ball and you have to spin and stop and dodge and do things you don’t think your body can do. It’s changed everything,” she said.

“I wish everybody had the chance to know these people. My life is so much richer from the relationships I’ve made. It isn’t City of Refuge and it isn’t me; it’s all the people working together. There’s miracle after miracle after miracle,” she said.

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Customs officers stationed at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport are reporting that they’ve busted more than 2,000 fake ID’s since 2019, describing a surge in the smuggling of fake driver’s licenses.

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“Lockdowns and recession also mean tensions are running high and streets have been emptied of eyes and ears on their communities. Some attribute the rise to an increase in gang violence,” the Journal reports, adding…

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Breitbart News reported that a one-year-old was shot to death while sitting in a stroller in de Blasio’s NYC earlier this month. In June, Breitbart News reported a video of a father fatally shot while walking his six-year-old daughter across the street in the city.