Posts Tagged ‘slavery reparations’

Chicagoan speaking about July 4th weekend: “It’s assassination day…” UPDATED, mayor blames Republicans for the violence

Posted: July 7, 2024 by John Ruberry in crime, News/opinion, opinion/news, politics
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By John Ruberry

“Christmas means carnage.” Ferdinand the duck, in the movie Babe.

“It’s assassination day…” is what a Chicago woman, Edith Pinkerton, according to ABC Chicago said of July 4, although Pinkerton may have been speaking of the next day, July 5, when her 74-year-old friend was wounded. 

As of this writing, late Sunday afternoon on July 7, this Independence Day weekend has been quite bloody in Chicago. So far, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, over the long July 4th weekend, 17 people have been killed and at least 82 others have been wounded. Four mass shootings have so far occurred.

Back to July 5. According to Hey Jackass.com, last Friday, when 45 people were shot, that day was “the 3rd highest, single day total found in our dataset since 2013.”

Last year, a majority of Chicago’s severely misguided voters had a choice between Paul Vallas, a moderate law-and-order Democrat, and Brandon Johnson, a onetime supporter of the Defund the Police movement, who was pushed over the top by the far-left Chicago Teachers Union.

Johnson, closely followed by Chicago’s two major daily newspapers, the Sun-Times and the Tribune, as well as Crain’s Chicago Business, has been the chief minimizer of street mayhem in Chicago. 

While he was still mayor-elect, when asked about a downtown flash mob riot, Johnson said it was important not to “demonize” the thugs. A couple of days later when asked about what Chicago’s listless media calls “unrest,” Johnson offered more sanitization of widespread lawlessness, “They’re young. Sometimes they make silly decisions.”

A central part of the mayor’s approach to crimefighting for this summer was to hire “violence interrupters.” During the mayoral campaign, Johnson suggested sending social workers to domestic incidents, instead of Chicago police officers.

To be fair, had Vallas prevailed, Chicago would still be a mess. She’ll be out of office in five months, but the policies of Kim Foxx, Cook County’s Soros-funded prosecutor, continue to wreak havoc. And as I’ve noted in prior DTG posts, this summer is the first one since Illinois’ SAFE-T Act, which abolishes cash bail, became law.

Two months ago, the mayor’s choice as Chicago police superintendant, Larry Snelling, said the city is short 2,000 cops.

Johnson, to placate his leftist base, wants to cancel the city’s contract with ShotSpotter, a gunshot detection system, but not until after next month’s Democratic National Convention.

Chicago has almost three years to suffer under Brandon Johnson.

Rather than address the Chicago’s crime crisis, Johnson’s prefers to deflect. At the Juneteenth flag raising ceremony, Johnson called for reparations for Black people.

Speaking from the realm of common sense, Corey Brooks, Chicago’s legendary “Rooftop Pastor,” threw a bucket of cold water at that demand.

Where are the reparations for the city’s failure to produce adequate protection for its residents? Where are the reparations for the city’s failure to provide adequate schooling to inspire kids toward the American Dream instead of nihilistic violence? And where are the reparations for the city’s woke legal system that puts the interest of violent criminals above the interests of the city’s hardworking citizens?

For now, look for more Chicagoans to say, “It’s assassination day.”

UPDATE July 8, 7:15pm EDT:

The official July 4 weekend Chicago Police Department figures are in, and they’re brutal. There were 109 people wounded by gunfire during the long Independence Day weekend, 19 of them fatally.

At a press conference this morning not only did Mayor Johnson not take responsibility for the widespread bloodshed, but he blamed Republicans, including President Richard Nixon, who left office 50 years ago this summer. Chicago hasn’t had a GOP mayor since Big Bill Thompson–a crook by the away–who was voted out in 1931. While we’re at it, Democrats hold supermajorities–thanks to gerrymandering–in the state General Assembly, and Illinois hasn’t had a Republican governor since 2003, when another crook, George H. Ryan, retired. Of Chicago’s 50 alderpersons, none are Republican, although four or five have some conservative leanings.

On the other hand, there are six socialists in the Chicago City Council, but make that seven, in my opinion at least, when Mayor Johnson casts a tie-breaking vote.

John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

Democrats are the vote-buying party

Posted: September 4, 2022 by John Ruberry in elections, News/opinion, opinion/news, politics
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Willie Wilson billboard in 2016 on Chicago’s West Side

By John Ruberry

“Since the 1930s the technique of buying votes with the voters’ own money has been expanded to an extent undreamed of by earlier politicians.” Milton Friedman.

“But it can also be said that the social largesse of the boss system, the food, coal, clothing, and jobs provided for the needy, was there when it counted–with no delay and no paperwork–for those loyal to the system.” David McCullough, at the opening of the PBS American Experience documentary, “The Last Boss.”

Democratic politics has gone from handing out free stuff, ploys used by machine politicians including James M. Curley of Boston and Richard J. Daley of Chicago, to handing out free stuff again. In between, the social programs created Franklin D. Roosevelt, proved to be a better and more popular distributor of goodies. Daley, unlike most of the other big city bosses, adopted to the times a bit; he was able to siphon a generous chunk of the funds from Lyndon B. Johnson’s Model Cities boondoggle, for instance. 

Last month President Joe Biden, like a Democratic boss of old, in a legally tenuous move, announced that he would forgive $10,000 to $20,000 in student loan debt. That debt of course won’t disappear, federal taxpayers will get stuck with the tab.

You’ve heard about Dr. Jill Biden. The first lady uses that title because she has doctorate in education. Chicago has millionaire businessman Dr. Willie Wilson, who according to ABC Chicago, “is the recipient of a Doctor of Divinity degree from Mt. Carmel Theological Seminary, a Doctor of Humane Letters from Chicago Baptist Institute International, Honorary Doctorate in Humanitarianism from Swisher Bible College and a Doctorate in Humanitarianism from Denver Institute of Urban Studies and Adult College.” I haven’t heard of those schools either.

Wilson is a political gadfly. He has run for mayor of Chicago three times, including his current attempt at the office, as well as for US senator and president. But he is best known as a man who gives away stuff, through his foundation, of groceries, PPE masks, groceries, and gasoline. The local media falls for his ploy–and to be fair, they have been placed in a trap, as their audience likes freebies. Who doesn’t?

Oh, Wilson favors slavery reparations.

Laura Washington, a far-left columnist for the Chicago Tribune, rightly condemned the “Willie Wilsonization of politics” in a column ironically published two days before Biden announced his student loan debt forgiveness plan. And she didn’t stop with Wilson. First up was Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

From that Trib column, paid registration may by required:

Thanks to an “avalanche” of federal stimulus funds, Lightfoot is “running for reelection armed with a seemingly bottomless gift bag of giveaways that includes everything from gas cards, Ventra cards, bicycles, locks and helmets to more than $1,000-per-household in rebates to defray the cost of security cameras, outdoor motion sensor lighting, cloud storage and GPS trackers to hunt down vehicles in the event of an auto theft or carjacking,” the Chicago Sun-Times reported in June. 

Lightfoot’s “Chicago Moves,” is the city’s $12 million transit response to skyrocketing fuel costs and inflation. It will distribute up to 50,000 prepaid $150 gas cards and 100,000 prepaid $50 transit cards to Chicago residents. 

Earlier this year, Lightfoot pushed through a controversial guaranteed income program for low-income families. The pilot program will provide no-strings-attached $500 payments to 5,000 Chicago families per month for a year. The recipients were chosen through a lottery system.

For months, Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who is running for reelection in the Nov. 8 election, has ballyhooed a $1.8 billion tax relief plan in his campaign ads. It provides short-term tax reductions and freezes on purchases of gas, groceries and school supplies.

Pritzker’s “tax cuts” are quite dishonest. His gasoline tax reduction only delays a mandated tax hike–Illinoisans pay the second-highest gas taxes in the nation–until, how convenient, after Election Day. Gas station owners are required to post signs touting Pritzker’s tax “cut.” Those who refuse face a $500-a-day fine. The grocery tax “cut,” which also comes with a requirement that grocers post signage about it, although non-compliant grocers don’t face face a fine for refusing to obey. Next year, when presumably Pritzker has been sworn in for a second term, the grocery taxes return.

Because of unfunded public worker pension debt, both Chicago and Illinois face enormous fiscal challenges. In regards to those pensions, Lightfoot and Pritzker are doing what their predecessors have done worst–kicking the can down the road.

Amazingly, Pritzker is considering a presidential run. His chances of winning are dismal, I offer the reasons why here. But if Pritzker somehow succeeds in 2024, imagine all of the vote-buying possibilities for him! He already has the physique of Santa Claus. On the other hand, Christmas comes just once a year. The federal government is with us every day.

John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

Evanston, Illinois’ use of weed taxes for reparations won’t solve deeper problems

Posted: December 1, 2019 by John Ruberry in News/opinion, politics
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By John Ruberry

If you want to immerse yourself with sanctimonious leftists then I suggest you drop everything you’re doing and head to Evanston, Illinois, which borders Chicago and is the home of Northwestern University. It’s located two towns from the suburb I live in.

I did so once at a meeting of the Evanston Democrats.

In 2016 Donald Trump gained just seven percent of the vote in Evanston.

Despite being run by liberals for decades, Evanston, the onetime home of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, will divert all of the sales tax revenue from soon-to-be-open legal marijuana shops for slavery and discrimination reparations.

Illinois of course was not a slave state. Ironically, one of my great grandfathers, Joseph Ruberry, a Civil War veteran who served on the Union side, is buried in Evanston. Also located six-feet under in Evanston is common sense.

In 2000, the African American population was 22 percent, now it’s about 17 percent. One goal of these reparation payments is to address this decline. About $500,000 to $750,000 is expected to be collected each year, which won’t be enough to pay for a stately home on Evanston’s lakefront.

In short, these reparation payments won’t make much of a difference.

As for the decline in Evanston’s black population, that’s in line with a similar fall off in Chicago. Other things are at work. While not as severe as its much larger neighbor, Evanston has a gang problem. Statewide, Illinois is becoming a difficult place to earn a living. Corruption, government incompetence, and unfunded public worker pension obligations are a millstone fighting prosperity.

While not as high as Chicago’s, suburban Cook County, where Evanston sits, has one of the steepest sales tax rates in the nation. Illinois just increased its income tax rate–many states have no state income tax. The Prairie State’s gasoline tax is the third-highest in America.

But liberal politicians love taxes–it gives them more power.

Here’s my prediction: In spite of these upcoming reparations payments, the black population of Evanston will continue to fall.

Of course leftists in Evanston a decade or so from now will argue they have another solution. And whatever that will be–it will involve more taxpayer money.

John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

Collective guilt is an alien concept in our constitutional system

Posted: August 29, 2019 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
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From the founding of the United States until about the mid 1960s individual guilt was the only form of guilt that existed in this country. Thanks to progressives taking us on a path that is entirely foreign to the founding principles of this nation, collective guilt has been steadily replacing individual guilt.

Until the mid 1960s only the individual who committed a particular crime was punished for that crime, and every individual was solely responsible for their own actions. That changed when a group of radical professors began introducing collectivist teachings into college campuses. Those radical teachings took hold on college campuses and over time have infected so much of academia and our culture. Now, thanks to radical progressives inhabiting the United States Congress and State Legislatures, collective guilt is starting to make inroads into out legal system. Several of the Democratic candidates for president support some form or collective guilt. This is very dangerous.

Slavery Reparations are the most ludicrous form of collective guilt I’ve encountered. Since slavery was abolished in 1865 in the United States and all slave owners have long since perished how can anyone alive be individually guilty of the crime of slavery?

Stripping innocent gun owners of their right to bear arms because other individuals have committed crimes with their guns is another all too common form of collective guilt. This form of collective guilt will only make everyone less safe. Good guys with guns stop on average 1 million crimes a year. Stripping gun owners of their guns will also eliminate one of the most important safeguards the founders of this nation devised to prevent the government of the United States from becoming tyrannical.

Progressive taxation is also an insidious form of collective guilt. The wealth of individuals who have committed no crime, they are simply successful through hard work, is confiscated and redistributed to individuals who have not earned it.

White guilt is another ridiculous form of collective guilt, one that is very much in vogue on college campuses. If the same false blame was placed on another race the cries of racism would be deafening and unremitting.

Assigning guilt to collective groups such as society or one particular race only makes crime worse. When crimes of individuals are not properly punished then more individuals will boldly commit the same crimes. This is one reason why crime is much more prevalent in Democrat controlled states and cities.

Individual guilt is enshrined in our Constitution, not collective guilt. This is most notable in the Due Process Clause of the 5th Amendment and the 14th Amendment. Blanket warrants are not covered by the 4th Amendment, only individual warrants. Unfortunately the federal government has recently forgotten this in their quest to fight terrorism.