Free Republic

Definitions of words and idioms that mean something else in Illinois; posted as a public service to the consumers of news: ASIAN CARP: A destructive monster that devours everything in its path, and is therefore a terrible threat to its rival, the state government. AUTUMN: The hour or two in which summer gives way to winter. BAIL BOND: The criminal promises to pay if he doesn’t show up for trial, and the city promises to look the other way while he commits more crimes until then. BIKE ROUTE: Adding 20% to the cost of building a road, increasing the danger...

The Administration disapproves of the House Select Committee, chaired by Congressman Trey Gowdy, chartered to investigate the events surrounding the September 11, 2012 attacks on the United States mission (essentially a branch office, a sub-embassy) at Benghazi, Libya, in which the complex was attacked, robbed, and largely destroyed, and four US government employees were killed by Al Qaeda-connected militia. Now, it is understandable that the Administration disapproves of such an investigation. They haven’t responded to the dozens of church bombings all over Africa in recent years… they haven’t responded to the thousands of Christians killed in the ongoing islamofascist attacks...

Join us, as our young campaign volunteer teaches his classmates the reality behind the "National Popular Vote" scam… Young Pavel Syerov, Jr. (Paul to his friends) was walking through the Student Union after class, navigating the many tables with sign-up sheets and volunteers, just trying to get a cup of coffee, way at the other end of the dining hall (he still had one more class, in an hour, and wanted to be conscious for it!). “Save the Trees!” read the first banner. Then “Save the Dolphins!” read the next. Then “Save the Earth.” And of course, “Save the Owls!”...

Just a few more definitions of words and idioms that mean something else in Illinois, posted as a public service to the consumers of news. Absentee Landlord: A landlord with sense. Bean: A huge fun-house mirror in downtown Chicago, providing tourists with the warped view of the business district that only lifelong Illinoisans come by naturally. Billy Club: An entertainment venue for billy goats. Billy Goat: A stadium’s pet peeve. (Alternate definition: Someone who uses a collar and leash for a purpose unusual for the neighborhood). Budget: Underestimated spending that you admit to. (Alternate definition: A justification for tax increases)....

Further definitions of common words and phrases that mean something else in Illinois, presented here at no charge, as a public service to the news consumer... ALDERMAN: A large and garish hat, occasionally with an even louder person underneath. BRIBERY: One of the few part-time jobs that can be practiced concurrently with one’s full-time job, leaving evenings and weekends free. (Alternate definition: the primary determinant in the award of competitive bids). CHICAGO RIVER: A 19th Century engineering experiment in reversing the flow of water out of Chicago, toward the southern states. This was to be duplicated in the 20th and...

Definitions of Words and Idioms that Mean Something Else in Illinois; posted as a public service for the consumers of news... City Council: A rectangular block of rubber, affixed to a rounded wooden handle. Ordinarily used in conjunction with an ink pad. (Alternate definition: a justification for tax increases). City Jobs: Political jobs. (Alternate definition: Bitter people who thought they were getting one of those cool ghost-payrolling jobs, but were surprised to find that they didn't). Collective Bargaining: The union boss talks; you listen. There’s nothing collective about it, and there’s no bargaining either. (Alternate definition: a justification for tax...

When you have a problem, you look for a solution. Whether you’re an engineer, a teacher, a scientist, or a cook, the goal is to solve an identified problem. The field of politics works the same way; the main challenge is that different sides have such different views of not only what the right solution is, but also of what the problems are. Campaign Finance laws – which have always existed, but were turbocharged in the mid-1970s through the Federal Election Campaign Act and its successors – are written to deal with one simple problem: there’s too much money in...

Rarely has a bill passed by Congress endured as many nicknames, both positive and negative, as The Affordable Care Act of 2010. Obamacare, Nationalized Healthcare, Socialized Medicine, even The Abominable Care Act… the list seems endless, as do the tentacles of this far-reaching 2000-some-page law, not to mention the stacks of enabling regulations that already tower over the average homeowner’s foreclosed house. But the critics and skeptics must admit at last, four years after its passage, that the program is working far beyond the wildest dreams of its supporters. Despite almost daily, almost laughable website crashes, holes in its security...

Join us as we watch our friendly neighborhood campaign volunteer educate his classmates about vote fraud – in the context of the Crimean Referendum It was primary election day back home in Chicago, and Pavel was glad he had switched his registration to his college address. The guys back at the 51st Ward Party Headquarters sure wouldn’t be happy with the ballots he was casting these days, and the excuse that “I’m just doing a little mischief in the other party” probably sounds a bit lame the second or third time it’s tried. Pavel walked into his Comparative Political Science...

Join our young campaign volunteer as he learns about the latest cause célèbre of the hard Left: the restoration of voting rights for felons... Pavel Syerov Jr. had been away at college, so he hadn’t stopped by the 51st Ward Party Headquarters in quite awhile. But he was home for the weekend, doing errands for his folks, when he found himself driving past Headquarters, and noticed that he had time to kill. He had a daunting essay to write for his Comparative Political Science class the next week, and writer’s block had hit; perhaps stopping by to see Pockets and...

In 1964, Hollywood placed a call: The recently retired James Cagney was offered one of the greatest character roles in musical theater: Alfred Doolittle, the wastrel father of Eliza. It turned out for the best, as the role then went to Stanley Holloway, the talented actor who had originated the role on the stage. Cagney would have loved to play it (who wouldn’t?), but Cagney had publicly announced his retirement after filming Billy Wilder’s magnificent but taxing comedy, “One, Two, Three” in 1961. On principle, Cagney refused to be one of those actors (and he had known many!) who retires,...

Illinois Democrats have proposed a penny-per-ounce “sodapop tax” – a tax on sugar-sweetened drinks. Now, when you propose a number like “a penny,” it sounds small, and many people tend to dismiss it as inconsequential. But let's do the math. A 20 oz bottle of cola, lemon-lime, or root beer, sold alone at a gas station, might be $1.69 or so. Another twenty cents added on to that might seem unimportant, on its own, though it’s a brand new 12% tax on the purchase (and remember, there are still other taxes, like the state and local sales tax, in addition)....

Subtitle: “Bruce Rauner and The Case of the Disturbing Checkbook” Pennsylvania is a swing state. Now, when we say this in politics, it can mean a number of different things. It can mean that the people tend to be moderate, or it can mean that the people are evenly split between conservative and liberal, or a number of other possible mixes too. In any case, it means that the state is winnable for either party in most election years (if the polls are kept reasonably free of the Democratic vote fraud that plagues so many of our big cities, anyway)....

Aaron Burr, Patriot and Vice President On February 6, 1756, a boy was born into privilege in Newark, New Jersey. Young Aaron Burr, Jr. was son of the president of the College of New Jersey, and grandson of Jonathan Edwards, the Calvinist theologian regarded as a leader of the evangelical movement of the 18th century, an equal to the great preacher George Whitfield. Privilege then wasn’t quite what privilege is today, of course; there were no Rolls-Royces to drive, no Waldorf Astorias to stay in during constant vacations, no jet-setting to Monte Carlo, no celebrity photographers and magazines to put...

The Republican Party suffers from a terrible illness, and it goes on and on, season after season, without even attempts to cure it. This illness is our presidential primary system. Since the beginning of the New Deal, the Republican Party has only nominated two conservatives for the Presidency: Barry Goldwater in 1964 and Ronald Reagan in 1980. One suffered a huge defeat, the other enjoyed two huge victories. As this record shows the conservative ascendancy, one would expect this to mean that the party would keep nominating candidates like their greatest victor in a century, at least until it stopped...

Month after month, the reports are announced: Job losses outpace job gains, every month. Hundreds of thousands leave the workforce, every month. The new jobs – what few there are – are more likely to be part-time than full-time, and to be lower-paying than the ones lost. Too often, the new jobs are the career-enders, not the career starters that new jobs need to be. The story of the cooked books of the unemployment statistics is old news. For years now, the government reports have been leaving out the “non-participation” rate, so the unemployment percentage today bears no resemblance to...

Farmer Brown had a large chicken coop on his property. He noticed that foxes were getting in and stealing and eating his chickens, so he determined that he needed to fence it in. Farmer Brown sought permission from the local government for a high fence. Immediately, the wheels of government started to turn: Deputy Fox had him fill out some forms, Sheriff Coyote checked his fingerprints, County Clerk Jackal processed his applications and his filing fee; Judge Wolf supervised an audit of Farmer Brown’s friends and doctors to make a determination on his medical and psychological health. Finally, the local...

Every New Year’s, we write personal lists of resolutions for ourselves. Lose the weight, advance the career, learn a skill, write that book. A good concept, especially if we really do accomplish some of them! But the problems America faces today aren’t going to be resolved that way. We are being impoverished by a leviathan state, and problems caused by government action can only be solved by government action. There’s no point in my proposing any resolutions to the Democratic Party; as a non-member, I have no right to expect them to listen to me. But as a lifelong Republican,...

Many are complaining this week – mostly the typically anti-business leftists, who can never resist a chance, legitimate or not, to attack the private sector – because some presents weren’t delivered by Christmas. Some are even calling for class-action suits, perhaps because they think that this certain type of predatory lawyer needs a stimulus program. Now, it should be obvious that there’s no conspiracy by the private sector to sadden spouses and children or to defraud businesses. A lot of orders were placed at the last minute, more than the transportation network could handle. We could leave it at that....

On December 23, 1783, the Continental Congress met in their temporary home – that’s all they had, temporary home after temporary home, since the United States had no permanent capital city, let alone capitol building – to listen to a history-making speech. General George Washington had arrived at Annapolis to resign his commission. The Continental Congress represented an odd cross between a country and an organization. The United States, under the Articles of Confederation, was more like today’s European Union than the America of today. There was no direct election of the delegates to the Continental Congress; they were selected...