Archive for the ‘crime’ Category

Republicans who voted Eileen O’Neill Burke to victory in Cook County, Illinois offer a lesson to blue state conservatives

Posted: March 31, 2024 by John Ruberry in crime, election 2024, elections, News/opinion, opinion/news, politics
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By John Ruberry

Yes, there are Cook County Republicans. 

Besides me. Really.

Cook County, Illinois is America’s second-most populous county. Chicago is its largest city. It’s deep blue, Cook hasn’t backed a Republican presidential candidate since Richard M. Nixon’s wipeout of George McGovern in 1972. In 2020, Joe Biden bested Donald Trump in Cook when he collected nearly 75 percent of the vote. However, in sheer numbers, over 500,000 people in Cook County voted for Trump.

Nearly two weeks ago, there was a primary election in Illinois. The most watched match up, which I wrote about twice here at Da Tech Guy, was the race for Cook County state’s attorney, the county’s top prosecutor. Two Democrats, Clayton Harris III, a former chief-of-staff for Rod Blagojevich and current university lecturer, and Eileen O’Neill Burke, a retired Illinois appellate judge, faced off. 

For the last eight years, Kim Foxx, a George Soros-funded leftist, has misruled as state’s attorney. Crimes of all types, including murder, have soared since she took office. Catch-and-release is not an effective law enforcement strategy. Harris was vague in his campaign, but he did give Foxx an “A” for her tenure as state’s attorney. Even worse, the far-left wing of the Chicago area Democratic Party backed him, led by the radical Chicago Teachers Union. Cook County board president Toni Preckwinkle, who is also chair of the Cook County Regular Democratic Organization, also endorsed Harris. Preckwinkle and the CTU were supporters of Brandon Johnson, now Chicago’s progressive mayor, in his first political race, a seat on the Cook County Board.

As for O’Neill Burke, it’s fair to call her a centrist Democrat, although the favors the odious no-cash bail SAFE-T Act. But she’s not an ideologue along the lines of Foxx, Preckwinkle, and Johnson. So, in the very likely event she prevails in the general election, I have hope that she can moderate further in the direction of protecting law-abiding citizens from the criminal class. 

One of the center points of O’Neill Burke’s campaign was to–get this!–enforce state law, specifically, return to prosecuting retail thefts as felonies when more than $300 is stolen. Foxx, in one of her first moves as state’s attorney, raised that felony threshold to $1,000. Although, if an accused thief has ten prior felony convictions, Foxx finally, or so she says, will prosecute those under-$1,000 offenders with a felony.

Yes, for now, there is a ten-strikes-and-you’re-out theft policy in Crook County. Jean Valjean was born in the wrong century.

Criminals are emboldened here. And small time crooks often move on to commit more serious crimes.

After a painful and troubling vote tally, late Friday, after provisional votes were counted, AP declared O’Neill Burke the winner in the state’s attorney race. Harris conceded that night. As of now, the retired judge leads Harris by around 1,500 votes–out of over 500,000 cast. 

Republicans, you put O’Neill Burke over the top.

Evidence is anecdotal, but it’s believed that many Republicans–certainly far more than 1,500–crossed over and took a Democrat ballot in the March primary election in Cook. I was one of them. Remember, in 2020, coincidentally, Trump received over 500,000 votes in Cook County. 

There was no reason for Cook County GOPers to vote in the Republican primary. Because of decades of rampant Democratic gerrymandering, there were no competitive Republican contests in the county. Statewide, the gerrymandering sin almost ensures, for both parties, few if any competitive intraparty races. 

There’s a lesson here for Republicans living in blue states. Take a Democratic ballot in primary elections, and vote for the least-leftist candidate. It’s a twist of Rush Limbaugh’s Operation Chaos strategy to drag out the 2008 Democrat presidential primaries. 

Have I given up on the Illinois Republican Party? Yes. While there a few good Republican politicians in the Land of Lincoln, none of them are within leadership roles. The state GOP apparatus is reminiscent of the two approved “opposition” parties in communist Poland, the United People’s Party and the Alliance of Democrats. The Illinois GOP knows its place, like those paid “Republican” contributors on CNN and MSNBC. 

Such a philosophy for a conservative is not nearly dramatic as William F. Buckley’s vision. He pictured himself as someone who, “stands athwart history, yelling Stop, at a time when no one is inclined to do so, or to have much patience with those who so urge it.”

As I noted last week, crime in the Chicago area is a life and death issue, and by voting for O’Neill Burke last week, one of the lives I might have saved is mine. If there isn’t a better reason to vote a certain way than for personal safety–and for that of our loved ones–please let me know in the comments section.

Oh, while voting Democratic in a primary, don’t be afraid to cause some mischief while you’re trolling the neighborhood. For president, my choice in the Illinois Primary was Marianne Williamson.

Let the chaos roll!

I earnestly wanted Williamson to win.

John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

On Illinois Primary day I’m choosing a Democratic ballot so I can vote for Eileen O’Neill Burke for Cook County state’s attorney

Posted: March 10, 2024 by John Ruberry in crime, election 2024, elections, News/opinion, opinion/news, politics
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By John Ruberry

I’m going to do something that I haven’t done since I moved from Chicago to the suburbs. On Illinois Primary day next week I’ll be taking a Democratic ballot so I can vote Eileen O’Neill Burke for Cook County state’s attorney.

When I lived in the city, I did so for a couple of reasons. For starters, much like the rest of the Chicago area now, there were no competitive Republican political races to vote in. Secondly, if I needed a “favor,” nothing illegal mind you, but let’s say, I wanted the loud garbage pickup at the condominium across the alley from my apartment to take place after 7:00am, it was my belief that a call to the alderman’s office–true story, by the way–would carry more weight if I was on the list of registered Democrats in the ward.

Eight years ago, voters made the disastrous decision to elect George Soros-funded Kim Foxx as Cook County’s states attorney. As the county’s chief prosecutor, Foxx has acted more like a woke social worker than someone who should be protecting the people of America’s second-most populous county. In one of her first moves as state’s attorney, Foxx said she would ignore state law and only prosecute thefts as felonies if the value of what was stolen exceeded $1,000, rather than $300.

The message was clear to Chicago and suburban career criminals. Steal less than $1,000, then move on to your next target. 

Crime of all types have soared since Foxx became county prosecutor. Sure, COVID hurt, but the pandemic has been over for over three years–crime remains high. That includes shoplifting, carjackings, and murders.

Foxx should have resigned in shame years ago–and not because of her mishandling of the Jussie Smollett race attack hoax. Once again, I have to say it. The primary duty of government is to protect its citizens. Foxx has failed to do that.

There are two Democrats running in the state’s attorney race: retired Illinois Appellate Court judge Eileen O’Neill Burke and University of Chicago lecturer Clayton Harris III, who previously was best-known as the final chief-of-staff for disgraced Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. O’Neill Burke is not related to the recently convicted Chicago alderman and Democrat power broker Edward Burke. When running for office, she has always used both of her surnames, but Harris, who has been endorsed by Blago in this race, simply refers to her as “Burke.”

Harris has the backing of the woke chair of the Cook County Democratic Party, Toni Preckwinkle. The longtime president of the Cook County Board enthusiastically backed Foxx in both of her runs–Foxx is a former chief-of-staff for Preckwinkle. Chicago’s inept leftist mayor, Brandon Johnson, was endorsed by Preckwinkle in last year’s runoff election. Harris has only four years of experience as a prosecutor, whereas O’Neill Burke, as a judge and an assistant state’s attorney, has 25 years of experience.

Harris has all but said that he’ll continue the pro-criminal failed prosecutorial approach of Foxx. 

As for O’Neill Burke, while yes, she has received large contributions from donors who usually back Republicans, including Citadel’s Ken Griffin, she is not a conservative or even a moderate. Sadly, she supports Illinois’ toxic SAFE-T Act, which abolished cash bail. But she’ll be an improvement over Foxx. As for Griffin, he was a major financial supporter of a super PAC backing Nikki Haley. Harris is trying to make an issue with O’Neill Burke over the financial support of these Republicans, but his big-name Democratic support leans on the party’s far-left, starting of course with Preckwinkle. O’Neill Burke’s Dem endorsement base is more centrist, or what passes for centrist in Illinois. Her most prominent supporter is Illinois treasurer Susana Mendoza.

Voting for safety is one of the best reasons to select a candidate, perhaps the best one. That is why I’ll be choosing a Democratic ballot in the Illinois Primary election on March 19 and voting for Eileen O’Neill Burke for Cook County state’s attorney.

And no, I won’t be voting for Joe Biden.

The Republican running for state’s attorney is Robert Fioretti. He’s an acquaintance of mine, and I think he can do well in that office. But Cook County voters haven’t elected a Republican county-wide–yes, it was for state’s attorney–in over 30 years. Since then, Cook has become much more Democratic.

John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

Chicago’s southern suburbs are the sewer of corrupt Illinois

Posted: February 25, 2024 by John Ruberry in crime, elections, News/opinion, opinion/news, politics
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Blogger pictured in 2016

By John Ruberry

Illinois is a corrupt state. Rankings of the 50 states usually place in Illinois within the top five in the union in regard to public crookedness. 

Surprisingly, as bad as Chicago is, the city’s inner southern suburbs, are even worse in regard to political corruption. It’s the sewer of Illinois.

Sharp-eyed readers will recall I wrote a similar post here at Da Tech Guy several years ago, but the WordPress wormhole seems to have swallowed that entry up. 

So here I am again documenting south suburban Chicago sleaze, mainly because of the antics of Tiffany Henyard, the mayor of Dolton (rhymes with “Walton”), who has been accused of widespread corruption by her own village council. 

But you’ll find graft in nearby communities. More on them later.

Henyard is a double-dipper, a time-dishonored ILL-inois scam. The self-described “Super Mayor” collects $224,000 as a Thornton Township supervisor. But last year, the township’s board passed an ordinance that if voters remove her from office, her successor will earn just $25,000. 

As I wrote recently at DTG, township government in Illinois–a sinecure haven–should be abolished. 

Henyard’s salary as mayor of Dolton is $46,000. The village has 21,000 residents. As for her haul as a township supervisor, 49 of America’s 50 governors have a lower salary than hers.

Henyard, a Democrat, is accused of wasting village money on expensive trips to Atlanta and New York with village staff, wasting money on billboards with her picture. There is even her image in front of Dolton’s village hall. Yep. And I don’t care if you call me racist, it sounds a Third World-like cult of personality. I don’t care–because I’m not racist. Not surprisingly, Henyard is not above using the race card to deflect well-earned criticism. “You all should be ashamed of yourselves because you all are black. You all are black,” Super Mayor said recently in a livestreamed meeting. “And you all [are] sitting up here beating and attacking a black woman that’s in power.”

Henyard has only been mayor of Dolton for three years. She was defeated in a recall election in 2022, but a Cook County judge invalidated the results.

Meanwhile, finances in Dolton are a disaster. A lender is threatening to repossess 13 vehicles, including police cars. It could be at least $5 million in debt. Business owners are accusing Super Mayor of strong-arming them into making political donations to her campaign. Super Mayor is accused of shutting down businesses that didn’t cough up cash.

Speaking of donations, the Illinois attorney general’s office has ordered Henyard’s charity to stop collecting contributions, citing a lack of transparency and more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4e4KBV-jy8
Last month Super Mayor visited the White House and met President Joe Biden.

Is that all in regard to Henyard? No, but the FBI is investigating her.

Back to those other south suburbs.

In the 1990s, nearby Dixmoor’s Park District, which at the time had only one tiny tot lot under its jurisdiction, employed 80 people as police officers. Harvey, a poverty-stricken town has a long tradition of graft. While he has not been accused of wrongdoing, Eric Kellogg, who as mayor of Harvey until being voted out in 2019, Kellogg allegedly accepted kickbacks from a strip club that was offering prostitution. His brother was convicted for his role in that scheme. In Calumet City, which borders Dolton on the east, has recent sleaze to answer for. Its mayor is Thaddeus Jones. His wife, Saprina, collects $92,000 in a job working with state grants involved with Cal City. And the mayor’s son, Thaddeus Jr, collects $32,000 from the suburb.

Whose responsible for this debacle? Voters are. Yes, in the invalidated election Dolton voters chose to recall Henyard, but there were many red flags that should have been a sufficient warning to vote otherwise.

As the cliché goes, “Even a broken clock is right twice a day.” Barack Obama famously said, “Elections have consequences.” Indeed they do.

Finally, there is speculation that if Joe Biden backs out of the 2024 presidential election, Illinois’ governor, JB Pritzker, will jump into the race. On X, Pritzker, who of course earns less in public money than Henyard, regularly rails about the evils of “MAGA Republicans.” But Pritzker is silent about Super Mayor.

John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

The Immigration Solution: ENFORCE THE LAW

Posted: February 6, 2024 by datechguy in crime, election 2024, politics
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Captain Jean Luc Picard: Professor, this situation is more serious than you realize. In less than five hours, those two planets will collide and a new star will form. Unless we move to a safe distance, this vessel will be destroyed.
Professor James Moriarty: I’m just a fictional character. I haven’t much to lose.
Captain Jean Luc Picard: But surely you wish to live like the rest of us?
Professor James Moriarty: Not alone. Not without the Countess.
Captain Jean Luc Picard:: We’ve discussed that. We are studying means of bringing her safely off the holodeck. But five hours is not enough time.
Professor James Moriarty: I’m not so sure. A deadline has a wonderful way of concentrating the mind.

Star Trek The Next Generation Ship in a Bottle 1993

We are Less than 10 months from the presidential election and that deadline has, in the wonderful way a deadline does, suddenly focused the mind of the left to the point where they are afraid that their open boarder policy plan to replace the existing electorate with one that might support them with the financial help our our enemies might actually produce an election backlash beyond the margin of fraud and remove them from power.

Since power is the primary goal of both the left and the deep state that tolerates them a “compromise” bill was put together. Said bill was crafted behind closed door because such a bill debated openly could not stand the scrutiny of light and then released all at once with billions of funding for all kinds of things that have nothing to do with the border, but a lot to do with the left’s objectives tossed in.

Alas in this computer age it didn’t take long for the text of the bill to be examined and the various provisions including allowing thousands to cross illegally daily, money to the left’s NGO’s we now have the spectacle of democrats DEMANDING the bill be passed at once and claiming that the GOP is not serious about the border if they don’t play along.

Now there of course is a very obvious solution to the problem at the border and that solution is this:

Enforce the already existing laws.

If the already existing laws are enforced the border problem is solved, however such an approach is not acceptable to the democrat left for some simple reasons:

  1. It doesn’t give sufficient opportunities for graft
  2. It doesn’t provide billions for their priorities that they can’t get passed otherwise
  3. Their goal is to APPEAR to address the border rather than actually doing so.

Thus a new bill that gives plenty of opportunities for graft (in the form of payments to the left’s NGO’s) and addresses democrat priorates ( again a source for graft) while actually codifying thousands of illegals crossing daily and most important of all gives them a chance to say: We Did Something to Fix it.

One of the advantages of age is memory and as I recall going all the way back to Reagan, deals have been made concerning the border with the left. These deals follow a familiar pattern where the left has repeatedly taken Amnesty and cash offered while failing to actually enforce laws concerning the border that they always vow to do in exchange for them. 

So let’s cut to the chase and ask a question so obvious that I don’t understand why it isn’t being constantly repeated.

Given that historically the Democrats in general and this Administration in particular have been unwilling to enforce any existing border law why should we believe that once all the funds the left wants from this deal are appropriated via law they would actually enforce any provisions concerning border security?

Spoiler alert: they won’t be!

So I submit and suggest that rather then giving them a billion dollar source of cover for the 2024 election the GOP needs to have a single message on the border:

ENFORCE THE LAW, PERIOD!

End of discussion.

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