In case you somehow missed it, in 2019, on the night before a polar vortex of bitterly cold temperatures hit Chicago, at 1:00am on the Near North Side, the onetime Empire actor claimed that two men yelling, “This is MAGA country” poured bleach on him and put a noose around his neck after his visit to a Subway restaurant.
As soon as I heard about the “attack,” I had my doubts. So did the Chicago Police.
What really happened is that Smollett, who is also a rapper, paid two Nigerian brothers to stage the attack.
A few weeks later, Cook County’s so-called prosecutor, State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, dropped all of the hoax-related charges against Smollett–without an admission of guilt from Smollett. His $10,000 bond was forfeited.
The uproar forced Foxx to appoint a special prosecutor, tough-as-nails former US Attorney Dan Webb, to try the case against Smollett, and a jury here in Cook County found him guilty–he was sentenced to five months in prison. But Smollett served only a few days of that sentence after being released until his appeal played out.
Keep in mind that many CPD man-hours were wasted as cops, under pressure from police brass, no doubt, investigated the “crime” against Smollett.
Tina Tchen. a former top aide to Barack Obama, called Foxx on behalf of Smollett’s family to work out a deal.
Foxx despises the Smollett millstone around her neck, because she believes they diminish her so-called accomplishments in office. She leaves office after eight years of catch-and-release “prosecution” that has made Chicago and its inner suburbs a worse place to live. Foxx sadly, wasn’t voted out, she chose not to run for a third term.
Foxx should be best remembered for enabling of criminals, but since the Smollett case reignited interest in her botched handling of his crimes, something that will haunt her forever.
When Foxx dies and her obituaries are published, the Smollett case will be the lead.
Good.
Kim Foxx sucked as a prosecutor, and because of Smollett, she’ll be remembered as incompetent. And she is–on so many levels.
There is at least some justice in this world.
John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit from suburban Cook County.
“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.”
July 5th's 45 shot is the 3rd highest, single day total found in our dataset since 2013. 5/31/20 – 51 8/5/18 – 49 7/5/24 – 45 6/22/20 – 44 6/27/21 – 40 8/8/21 – 40 6/17/24 – 40#Chicago#ChicagoScanner
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.
Now that people who only get their news from MSNBC, CNN, the Washington Post, and the New York Times have learned that Joe Biden is suffering from severe cognitive decline, there is an understandable panic among Democrats, as well as calls to replace him on the fall ballot.
Had Biden chosen a running mate in 2020 based on the ability to serve as president, instead of identitarianism, the answer would be easy regarding a replacement at the top of the ticket, the sitting vice president. But Kamala Harris is the veep. This dopey DEI hire, until last week perhaps, polled even worse than Biden. She’s the poster child of a symptom of public sector incompetence: failing upwards.
Harris checked three boxes–Black, Asian, and female. Michigan’s governor, Gretchen Whitmer, Michigan’s governor, who was said to be a finalist to be Biden’s running mate, checked only one.
Harris may still end up on top of the ticket if Biden bails, partly because the money raised so far by the Biden-Harris campaign can only be transferred to one other candidate–the president’s running mate. Also, the Dems may want to avoid a rancorous battle to replace Biden–and stick with Sleepy Joe–then hope for the best in 2028, because Donald J. Trump can only serve one term.
Whitmer is part of the whispering campaign to replace Biden, as are three other governors, California’s Gavin Newsom, Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro, and Illinois’ J.B. Pritzker.
Since I live in the Prairie State, I’m going to discuss Pritzker. Two years ago, when he was running for reelection, I covered Pritzker’s shortcomings in this DTG post, Reasons to oppose Pritzker for governor and president. That blog entry is in need of an update. Of course, the problems I listed in 2022 haven’t gone away.
Crime and the SAFE-T Act: Lawlessness was a problem in Illinois two years ago, particularly in Chicago and its inner suburbs. I live in one of those suburbs.
While the murder rate has gone a little bit in Chicago, assaults and thefts, particularly automobile thefts, have gone up. I haven’t been able to locate state statistics on crime, I’m confident they’re also bad.
Over three years ago, Pritzker signed into law the pro-criminal SAFE-T Act, making Illinois the first state to abolish cash bail. Criminality in Illinois was already encouraged by the catch-and-release prosecution policy of Cook County’s George Soros-funded state’s attorney, Kim Foxx.
Pritzker and the Democrats must have had qualms about the SAFE-T Act, because it was set to take effect nearly two years after the governor signed it into law. A court challenge delayed that until last fall–just as violent crime makes it annual seasonal decline.
We are now a month into the first summer of the SAFE-T Act. In June, there were two egregious murders where the accused were free on pre-trial release. Jai’mani Amir Rivera, who was seven years-old, was shot to death on Chicago’s West Side was shot to death by a teen on electronic monitoring. Also on the West Side, a retired Chicago police officer, Larry Neuman, was fatally gunned down by two teens, both of them were on pre-trial release–one of the pair was on electronic monitoring.
To be fair, even without the SAFE-T Act, with Foxx as the so-called prosecutor, these thugs may have walked free. But Chicago’s failures are being replicated statewide.
Pritzker is active on X, he discusses a wide range of topics.
I can’t remember the last time he mentioned the SAFE-T Act.
Obviously, he knows it’s a problem for him. It’s a more deadly problem for Illinois’ 12 million residents.
Health: I’m going to hurt some readers feelings with this segment.
Shortly after his inauguration, Jimmy Carter released his federal tax returns to the public. And since then, Donald Trump being a notable exception, most presidential candidates have followed suit.
Health records are probably next.
Now that the president’s cognitive decline is an established fact for everyone except for the Biden bitter-clingers, look for future presidential candidates to release specific details on their health, perhaps even making their personal physicians available to the media for unrestricted questioning.
Pritzker is morbidly obese. According to the Mayo Clinic, that condition is “associated with many diseases responsible for a high prevalence of morbidity and mortality, such as insulin-resistant diabetes mellitus, hypertension, coronary artery disease, hyperlipidemia [high cholesterol], and sleep apnea.”
Standards and expectations are understandably much higher for president than for a governor. Pritzker’s health will be an issue if he makes a White House run.
How heavy is Pritzker? I don’t know. But he’s weighty enough to likely cause a femur stress fracture by just standing. J.B. doesn’t even know how that bone broke. I had a stress fracture once–it was one of my fibulas. I know how I got mine–it was from running 32 marathons in 20 years.
Not reaching across the aisle: Harris is a predictable result of a bad candidate winning office in a state dominated by one party. Her goofiness–both in demeanor and in political views–is not enough of an impediment for her to lose to a Republican in California. Gavin Newsom is much more seasoned and serious, but he’s another example. In 2004, when he was governor of San Francisco, he announced a 10-year plan to end chronic homelessness. There are more homeless people in San Francisco now than there has ever been twenty years later.
Harris, who was a US senator and the attorney general from California, didn’t have to, metaphorically speaking, reach across the aisle to win statewide. There are not enough Republicans in the Golden State to stop a Harris–or a Newsom.
Pritzker, while enormously popular in the Chicago area and university towns, is generally hated downstate. The Democrats enjoy supermajorities in the General Assembly. Which means Pritzker doesn’t need Republicans to rule.
In the 2022 race, in many downstate counties, Pritzker’s Republican opponent, Darren Bailey, won more than 80 percent of the vote. In rural Edwards County, in southeastern Illinois, Bailey romped with 88 percent of the ballots, while in heavily Democratic Cook County, where Chicago lies, Pritzker collected a more modest 73 percent. About 1.4 million votes were cast in Cook so you can see how Pritzker comfortably won reelection, since the statewide vote total was four million in 2022.
Illinois’ listless media, dominated by leftists, rarely challenges Pritzker.
The governor’s speaking style is condescending. As I’ve remarked before, when he talks, he reminds me of a closer at a timeshare presentation. Yuck.
To win the presidency, no candidate can rely on one party’s votes. To govern effectively, a president needs to work with both parties.
Gerrymandering: With so many Republicans outside of Chicago, why do the Democrats have supermajorities in the General Assembly? It’s because of gerrymandering. As a candidate during his first run for governor, Pritzker vowed to veto gerrymandered legislative maps. He lied. Nationally, the Dems blame gerrymandering for not having a majority in the House of Representatives. While presidents have no power over state remaps, Pritzker’s gerrymandering flip flop certainly betrays a lack of character.
Depopulation: Like California, Illinois is losing residents. High taxes, a high crime rate, and high regulations are the catalyst. And as I mentioned earlier, with little or no political opposition, Illinois government is an echo chamber of liberal failure.
Pritzker has been governor for over five years. If Illinois is so great, why has state’s population gone down every year for the last decade?
Gaza: For the most part, I’ve supported Pritzker’s pro-Israel stance in its war with the Hamas terrorists in Gaza. Although the governor has not condemned the loud anti-Semitic voices within the Democratic Party, such as Rashida Tlaib and Jamaal Bowman. His silence on the Jew-haters in his party is disturbing.
Pritzker is Jewish. But since the Democrats are increasingly the anti-Semitic party–anti-Israel Dems like Bernie Sanders are given a pass from the pro-Hamas activists–his faith could be a problem for him. Sad, but true, in my opinion. Pennsylvania’s Shapiro, who is also Jewish, is pro-Israel too.
But the voters most likely to agree, generally that is, with Pritzker and Shapiro on Gaza are Republicans.
Pensions: Illinois’ public pensions are among the worst funded among the 50 states. The pension crisis–created by both parties–has not been adequately addressed by Pritzker. Great leaders solve difficult problems. Despite new taxes, Pritzker’s latest budget shorts Illinois’ pension plans. Such malfeasance is how Illinois ended up in this mess.
Education: Pritzker did nothing to stop Illinois legislators from letting Illinois’ school choice program expire. Thirty states have some sort of school choice program, Illinois is the first to end one. Just 27 percent of Illinois students perform at grade level in math, and only 35 percent of students read at grade level.
Obviously, Democrats, including Pritzker, are more interested in kowtowing to the teacher unions than educating Illinois’ kids. Who would Pritzker nominate to be Education secretary? A radical along the lines of Chicago Teachers Union president Stacy Davis Gates?
I covered additional negatives in my first post about a potential Pritzker presidential run. Those demerits include his tax scam to lower property taxes on his Chicago mansion by removing toilets from the mansion adjacent to his–which he also owned, as well as his ties, not deep, but ties they are, with Boss Michael Madigan, who faces trial later this year for corruption, as well as a connection with one of Illinois’ ex-con governors, Rod Blagojevich.
Pritzker is in the second tier of possible Biden replacements. His negatives are apparent, but the billionaire governor has contributed millions of his own funds to finance his gubernatorial campaigns, and he’s been a generous donor to other Democrats’ campaigns, so he can call in a lot of favors, which is what he did to bring the Democratic National Convention to Chicago this summer.
Because of his fat wallet, Pritzker can hit the ground running–not literally, of course–if he needs to start a presidential campaign tomorrow. But for now, like Newsom and Whitmer, Pritzker is firmly in Biden’s corner.
Conservatives, we need to keep a wary eye on Pritzker. If not in 2024, then in 2028. We laughed off Biden five years ago.
That’s tragic, because the more important news was the arrest of 16-year-old Raysean Comer, who according to court records allegedly shot to death a 7-year-old, Jai’mani Amir Rivera, on Chicago’s West Side. Rivera had just completed first grade. The murder occurred about a mile from the United Center, where the Democratic National Convention will be held later this summer.
Say his name: Jai’mani Amir Rivera.
Illinois’ governor, J.B. Pritzker, a likely 2028 presidential candidate–and possibly even this year–was the main catalyst for bringing the DNC to Chicago.
Again, according to court records as well as the essential CWB Chicago site, Comer was on pre-trial release, but under electronic monitoring, for alleged aggravated battery and being in possession of a stolen automobile. Two weeks ago, according to local officials, Comer cut off his ankle monitor.
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart is in charge of the county electronic monitoring program.
Hey Dart! Did you try to find Comer after he removed his ankle monitor?
Back to Pritzker.
With great fanfare in response to the George Floyd murder–the Chicago Democrat signed the SAFE-T Act into law–it eliminates cash bail throughout Illinois. It took effect last autumn.
Comer is now locked up in Cook County Jail. But he’s the 14th person in Chicago this year, according to CWB Chicago, who is accused of shooting, attempting to shoot, or killing someone while on pretrial release.
Hey Jackass, another great Chicago site, notes that last week was a very bloody one. “Final tally for the week of 6/16 – 6/22: 125 people shot, 24 fatally,” Hey Jackass posted Sunday morning on X. “The last time #Chicago tallied at least 125 shot in a single week was 9/26/21 – 10/2/21 with 23 killed, 102 wounded.”
Final tally for the week of 6/16 – 6/22: 125 people shot, 24 fatally. The last time #Chicago tallied at least 125 shot in a single week was 9/26/21 – 10/2/21 with 23 killed, 102 wounded. https://t.co/8dVIlODmEj
Violent crime is increasing in Chicago, despite false assurances otherwise. Murders, for now, being an exception. As I’ve noted earlier here at DTG, Pritzker, and Chicago’s leftist mayor, Brandon Johnson, scored a lucky break when a court challenge delayed implementation of the SAFE-T Act. Summer is the most violent season in Chicago, and the summer of 2024, as we know, has started off badly in terms of public safety.
So far this year, according to Larry Snelling, Chicago’s police superintendant, 127 youths have been shot. And seventeen of them have died.
Chicago’s violent crime epidemic pre-dates the SAFE-T Act. Eight years ago, a George Soros-funded catch-and-release prosecutor, Kim Foxx, was elected as Cook County’s state’s attorney. She chose not to run for a third term, her successor will be an improvement.
Friday night, the Chicago Police Department held a press conference announcing the arrest of Comer. It was one of those “all-hands-on-deck” events. Perhaps they were out of town or otherwise busy, but three people were noticeably absent at the presser: Foxx, Dart, and Mayor Brandon Johnson. Chicago’s mayor spoke favorably of the Defund the Police movement in 2020, and he’s the most egregious minimizer of crime in his city.
The SAFE-T Act is a monumental failure, and it needs to be repealed.
If Pritzker runs for president, law-and-order Americans–still a majority in this country–needs to tell everyone else that he signed the SAFE-T Act into law. Or better yet, chant “SAFE-T Act!”
Johnson needs to be reminded that his most important duty is to protect the lives of 2.7 million Chicagoans. His dismissal of youth violence as kids doing “silly things” makes things worse.
Good riddance to Foxx.
Say his name: Jai’mani Amir Rivera.
There is a GoFundMe page dedicated to covering Rivera’s funeral expenses. Click here to donate.
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