Free Republic

Even with the 33rd Ward race still too close to call, five socialists is the most in Chicago since the 1910s, a decade in which the city was a hub of the radical left in America.

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx probably will and arguably should lose her job next year over her office’s handling of the Jussie Smollett case. Yes, there are many worse crimes committed every day in Chicago than staging a hate-inspired attack and filing a false police report about it — the offense with which Smollett was charged. And no, justice did not demand that Smollett be shackled and shipped off to prison for allegedly orchestrating a stunt. But justice demanded resolution and accountability. And Foxx appeared oblivious to this imperative as she made the media rounds attempting to explain why...

And then she dropped charges against Smollett -- alleging that the Hollywood star faked his own hate crime and blamed it on President Trump. Smollett's vanity and recklessness could have touched off racial violence. Instead, it killed Preckwinkle's mayoral ambitions and Foxx's political future. It kills off that Foxx dream of one day becoming a U.S. senator from Illinois, once Dick Durbin is pushed out of the way. Imagine, Kim Foxx, celebrity chaser, hanging out with Kamala Harris and the Obamas... Can you imagine it? Remember that high-minded talk about Foxx having "recused" herself on account of compromising herself with...

Cook County state's attorney Kim Foxx inadvertently gave away the game — what's really behind the bizarre dropping of charges and sealing of court records of the slam-dunk case put together by Chicago police on Jussie Smollett's fake hate crime report — when she explained to two reporters for Chicago public radio station WBEZ in an interview: I don't believe it is in the interest of the people of Cook County to engage in a narrative that is anything other than all of us working collectively for the public safety of the people of Cook County. The dominant factions of...

Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission If the office of the lawyer involved is in northern Illinois, please send the request to our Chicago office: One Prudential Plaza 130 East Randolph Drive, Suite 1500 Chicago, IL 60601-6219 (312) 565-2600 (800) 826-8625 Fax: (312) 565-2320 In central or southern Illinois, we ask that you send the request to our Springfield office: 3161 West White Oaks Drive, Suite 301 Springfield, IL 62704 (217) 546-3523 Toll free (800) 252-8048 Fax: (217) 546-3785

The decision to file a fresh set of charges against Jussie Smollett now rests in the hands of John Lausch, Chicago’s US Attorney who was handpicked by President Trump. Lausch, who grew up in Joliet, Illinois, worked as an assistant US attorney in the Windy City from 1999 to 2010 and then as a partner at a private firm before being officially sworn into office in November 2017, the Chicago Tribune reported. In a surprise move on Tuesday, state prosecutors dropped all 16 felony charges against Smollett related to his alleged hoax hate-crime attack in January. But the FBI has...

In some cities, people might be shocked if the mayor called out the prosecutor for running a crooked system that allowed a Hollywood star like the smarmy Jussie Smollett to walk away from charges he created a fake hate crime. But this is Chicago, and is there anything, really, that surprises Chicago anymore? No. Thanks to the office of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, Smollett gets to walk away from 16 felony counts of a grand jury indictment. Her office dropped all charges. Smollett blamed the alleged attack on mythical Trump supporters. According to his story, he apparently...

Gays are less than 3% of the population, despite the propaganda. Blacks are about 10% of the population, thanks to Margaret Sanger's "Negro Project" killing 25 million African-American children. (Oops, sorry, that makes me a racist!) Gay Blacks are an even smaller proportion of the population, what-with African-Americans' traditional, social conservatism and strong families -- before the Depression, they had higher proportion of intact biological family with fathers present than the white population, long before LBJ's Great Society decimated Black culture by requiring fatherlessness for welfare. What's to mis-understand by the Chicago Black Elite? You can't have it both ways,...

The #KassforMayor campaign is en fuego, with hordes of supporters beseeching me to put dibs on Chicago, become mayor and boss this crazy town. Perhaps they love me for the simple honesty of my Chicago Way platform: Riches for me and mine, from boodle and asphalt and trucking contracts. And taxes for the rest of you to pay for it all. I will give sanctuary to all voters, even the suburban dead. And if you don’t like it, get your mouth shut. So let it be written, so let it be done. Yes, my friends, I am truly humbled by...

Another explanation is that he sees trouble ahead for Hillary Clinton. Because of his close relationship with former NYC police Chief Ray Kelly and others in the law enforcement community, he might have the inside track on the FBI investigation into the former Secretary of State’s handling of classified documents and questionable foundation-related activities. Democrats have done a fine job of completely dismissing the FBI inquiry, but the possibility that Clinton could face serious legal hurdles may be encouraging Bloomberg’s ambitions. The probe is not, as some Hillary backers have claimed, scandal-mongering by right-wing zealots. It is a serious investigation,...

The media obsession with “dirty tricks” by Sen. Ted Cruz stands in stark contrast to the benign neglect of the slash and burn tactics of GOP frontrunner Donald Trump. The media seems to be treating Trump’s slanders and threats the way they coddled Vice President Joe Biden, with the chattering class seemingly uttering in unison, “Oh, that’s just The Donald.” As Sean Hannity noted on his Twitter feed, Trump tweeted recently a version of his “don’t mess with me” mantra, summing up his modus operandi very concisely: “I’m very proud of this record. Wouldn’t this be good to have for...

There is a reason Chicago mayor and former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel earned the nickname “Rahmbo”. He is ruthless and relentless in acquiring and preserving power, and has no reservations about throwing people under the political bus to protect himself or his clients. He was a master at protecting President Obama’s political backside and is now busily protecting himself. Chicago police chief Garry McCarthy, appointed by Emanuel, resigned Tuesday under pressure from Emanuel who claimed McCarthy had lost the trust of those he had pledged to serves, with Mayor Emanuel making the announcement with typical political double-speak:

Michelle Obama is dishing her younger self some sage words of wisdom in her latest Instagram clip with rapper Wale. Wale asked what she would like to do if she had a different occupation, and her answer may surprise you! "I would be Beyoncé," she said with a smile, while busting a "Single Ladies" dance move. "I got the hand up!" The two ladies have gotten quite close over the years, and Bey even performed at Michelle's 50th birthday party last year.

CHICAGO (AP) — A federal appeals court Tuesday overturned some of the most sensational convictions that sent former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich off to a lengthy stint in prison, ruling that the Democrat did not break the law when he sought to secure a Cabinet position in President Barack Obama's administration in exchange for appointing an Obama adviser to the president's former U.S. Senate seat. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago also ordered the resentencing of Blagojevich, offering the 58-year-old a ray of hope that he could end up serving less than his original 14-year term. The...

If President Obama had a son, he might look like Amari Brown, the little boy killed by a bullet intended for his gang-banger father on the streets of President Obama’s Chicago in yet another bloody Windy City weekend. As the Chicago Tribune reported, over the Fourth of July weekend, Amari Brown was one of the ten that were killed among 55 that were shot, none attributed to Confederate flag loyalists: Among those killed was 7-year-old Amari Brown, shot in the chest as he watched fireworks near his father's home in Humboldt Park late Saturday night. Police say they believe the...

One would think that Catholic priests like Chicago’s Rev. Michael Pfleger, an early supporter of Barack Obama and his push for gun control, would not be bearing false witness against one of his neighbors. Yet there he was standing in front of Chuck’s Gun Shop in suburban Riverdale, Illinois, to blame it, and other legal businesses like it, along with the National Rifle Association, for the murder spree in the gun-controlled progressive worker’s paradise of Chicago. Standing with the camera-shy Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence president Dan Gross in front of the gun shop,...

Chicago Mayor and former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is famous for saying that a crisis is a terrible thing to waste since it allows you to do things you might not be able to get done except for the emotions of the moment spurring calls to action. Chicago’s bloody Memorial Day weekend, which saw a dozen people killed -- including a four-year-old-girl -- certainly proved no exception to Rahm’s Rule as he called for, wait for it, stricter gun control as he spoke at a luncheon honoring police officers for valor and service. “It’s not just about...

Pundits glued to their Potomac seats, applying their usual Beltway explanations for everything that happens in America, would have it that House Speaker Dennis Hastert bollixed up the House page scandal because he is an unredeemed Republican partisan. Or that he doesn't care enough about congressmen hounding boys. Or that his conservatism made him do it.Blind partisanship, moral failings, hypocrisy, gay bashing or any of those other explanations that don't come close to the reality that Hastert was simply doing politics as it is practiced here, in Illinois.Hastert knows no other way, having been bred, born and raised in the...

Opposition to Common Core continues to spread well across party lines, no matter how much the educational establishment tires to minimize the blowback. “Illinois state officials have threatened to withhold funding from school districts that refuse to administer a new state exam aligned with Common Core State Standards,” the American School Board Journal reported in the current issue of the magazine. “The threat, issued in a letter earlier this year to school districts, followed a Chicago Public Schools announcement that it would not administer the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) exam.” “In explaining their decision,...

Senator Robert Menendez (D., N.J.) was a vocal critic both of President Obama’s executive-action opening to Cuba and his nuclear non-proliferation talks with Iran. In the midst of his loud opposition, he found himself suddenly the target of renewed federal charges that had aired much earlier without consequence. I think the message was not that the administration was worried over appearances, but rather that it wished to remind all of Washington that it actually welcomed the appearance of not being worried over the idea of federal prosecutorial power being used for tit-for-tat vendettas. Malice is a valuable political tool for...