Free Republic

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Friday defended the way he has dealt with the city's looming financial crisis against attacks from his challengers, touting his record of crafting the city's budget during his first term but refusing to rule out a property tax increase to deal with huge upcoming government worker pension payments. The back-and-forth took place at the Chicago Sun-Times editorial board endorsement session, the second time all five mayoral candidates appeared face to face. City Hall has a looming $550 million payment to make to shore up police and fire department pensions, and 2nd Ward Ald. Bob Fioretti called...

One of the left-wing groups pushing for an Elizabeth Warren presidency is no fan of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Democracy for America (DFA) announced this week that it will be supporting seven progressive Chicago Aldermen that the group says Emanuel, President Obama’s former White House chief of staff, has attacked. The DFA’s effort highlights the ever-more apparent rift in the Democratic Party between the progressive so-called Warren-wing of the party and more establishment Democrats.

The city is trying to kick-start development of vacant 62-acre parcel near downtown controlled by a controversial Iraqi billionaire once linked to convicted Democratic influence peddler Antoin "Tony" Rezko.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's teenage son is recovering from injuries after 'being mugged and put in a chokehold by two men' near family's home Mayor Rahm Emanuel says the mayor's 17-year-old son Zach was robbed near his family's home on Friday night Zach, had 'injuries that required medical treatment, but was able to join the family for a long planned trip,' said Spokeswoman Kelley Quinn One mugger allegedly 'threw him in a chokehold' while the other allegedly punched Zachary to the ground A spokeswoman for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel says the mayor's 17-year-old son was mugged near the family's home...

Robbers put mayor's son in chokehold, stole his cell phoneMayor Rahm Emanuel’s 17-year-old son was robbed near the family's home on the North Side on Friday night, according to a Chicago police report.. One of them "placed his arm around the victim's neck in a rear chokehold," and the second one struck the teen with a fist, knocking him to the ground. The robbers took the teen’s cellphone and patted him down, the police report said. "The offenders then asked the victim, 'What else you got?' (and) forced the victim to enter his security code to unlock the phone," the...

Fiscal Policy: A city teetering on the brink of insolvency passes a minimum wage that would reach $13 by 2019, higher than the minimum elsewhere in a state that just elected a Republican governor. What could go wrong? Ignoring the first rule of holes (when you're in one, stop digging), the Chicago City Council, in a Tuesday emergency session called by Mayor and former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, voted 44-5 to raise the city's minimum wage from the current statewide level of $8.25 an hour to $10 on July 1, with future increases bringing it to $13...

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Friday dropped another financial bombshell on Chicago’s 25,000 retired city workers and their dependents: their monthly health insurance premiums will be going up by a whopping 40 percent — in spite of a pending lawsuit and a precedent-setting Illinois Supreme Court ruling. Last year, Emanuel announced plans to save $108.7 million a year by phasing out the city’s 55 percent subsidy for retiree health care and forcing retirees to make the switch to Obamacare. For the city, the Year One savings was $25 million. For retirees, that translated into an increase in monthly health insurance premiums...

Rahm Emanuel is pushing back against suggestions that violence in his city is out of control, touting new statistics that show violent crime is down in Chicago “The narrative is: We’re the murder capital. Not close,” the Chicago mayor said during an interview with POLITICO. When asked about perception of crime in Chicago, Emanuel was quick to note that he is most concerned with the opinions of his city’s residents about the safety of their communities. But the mayor still seems frustrated with the media, which he feels is focusing on individual incidents of crime without telling the whole story.

Another little Black boy was murdered in Chicago this week and noted social arsonist Father Michael Pfleger held a service for him and lamented, “[Antonio’s] slaying can’t be tolerated.” Sorry pastor but you are quite wrong about that. On Wednesday August 20 while Ferguson, Missouri was burning and collapsing under the weight of rioters reacting to the shooting death of a petty criminal at the hands of a police officer, a little boy was shot dead in the streets of Chicago. His name was Antonio Smith. He was nine years old. It’s a safe bet that you have not heard...

Radical communists, anarchists, even an ISIS flag waver; members of the far left from CA to NY are taking advantage of the death of Michael Brown to foment fury in Ferguson. A revolutionary named Gregory “Joey” Johnson is promoting and agitating local protestors as shown in a Missouri web post by writer Duane Lester. (1) Johnson is wearing a black tee shirt with white lettering: “The System Has No Future. Revolution Does.” He is chanting in childlike, sing song lyrics that say there will be no police brutality, no wars, no oppression when the Revolution comes. Using hatred of America,...

Wednesday, August 6, 2014 Streetlight McCarthy: Concealed Carry Same As Drunken Driving The expert in carrying a firearm while intoxicated speaks: “This is what I said from Day One: More guns is not the solution to gun violence. That’s akin to saying everybody should drive drunk to stop drunken driving. It doesn’t work that way.” So what's giving Chicago Police Supt. McCarthy flashbacks? Something he thinks will be an excuse to restrict Concealed Carry in Illinois. After Wednesday’s meeting at Kennedy-King, McCarthy also disclosed that one of the men shot this week at a North Side nightclub had one of...

Elected officials addressed thousands during the People’s Mass at Fiesta Del Sol in honor of dreamers, immigrants and the 47,000 children held at detention centers across the nation. WBBM’s Kimberly Easton reports a crowd of thousands listened intently to Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Senator Dick Durbin. Both Emanuel and Durbin assured the Latino community they will not turn their backs on children who are fleeing a dangerous situation. “We are here today at Fiesta Del Sol. This is a Mass dedicated to the dreamers. The action that was taken by the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday was reprehensible. This...

Emanuel wants city to house 1,000 more young illegal immigrants, report says Posted: Jul 26, 2014 4:02 PM CST Updated: Jul 26, 2014 4:02 PM CST FOX News - Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a former Obama administration chief of staff, wants to expand the city’s efforts to house young illegal immigrants from Central America, reportedly proposing to shelter an additional 1,000 of them by year's end. "The influx of unaccompanied child migrants is a growing humanitarian crisis that we can no longer ignore," said Emanuel, according to The Chicago Tribune. "While we have our own challenges at home, we cannot...

Over the July 4 weekend, in Chicago alone, 16 people were shot to death and another 66 were wounded. At a press briefing on July 11, the White House weighed in, stating that Obama would "continue to make the case" that lawmakers should adopt new gun control laws. Two days later, on Sunday, Gov. Pat Quinn also called for more gun control, in particular a state ban on assault weapons, as the solution. But Chicago's problems lie with the city’s politicians. Nationally, police solve almost two out of every three murders – 63 percent of them. That figure is much...

Days after a brutally violent Fourth of July weekend in Chicago, Ted Nugent—’Murica-loving musician, gun rights activist and recurring “Simpsons” character—delivered an especially batty Twitter rant directed against Mayor Rahm Emanuel. […]hows that gunfreezone engineered slaughter goin Rahm Emanuel numbnut — Ted Nugent (@TedNugent) July 10, 2014 yeah thats it the NRA supplied guns & killers to Chicago. denialFreaks — Ted Nugent (@TedNugent) July 10, 2014It’s tough to parse the taunting tirades of the self-professed “Motor City madman” but the “gunfreezone” he mentions is an obvious reference to Emanuel’s sweeping new gun-control regulations that establish special-use zoning designed to push...

Following a particularly violent Fourth of July weekend, violence in Chicago continued Saturday with 21 people shot overnight, including three people wounded outside a Northwest Side pizza restaurant. The shooting took place around 10 p.m. Friday in the 6000 block of West Fullerton Avenue when someone opened fire on three people outside Marco’s Pizza in the Belmont-Cragin neighborhood, according to authorities.

Jasmine Curry, a mother of five and five months pregnant, lay dead along Chicago’s Dan Ryan expressway Wednesday morning, the latest victim in Chicago’s epidemic of gunfire with a bullet to the head. It was uncommon that she was shot on the expressway, not uncommon that someone from her neighborhood was killed. In fact, Jasmine was not even the first person in her family to be gunned down. The gangland vendettas raged on the South and West Sides of Chicago over the holiday weekend. Thirteen people were killed, another 58 wounded as the bullets flew. Police were fired on and...

I thought this was kind of amusing...

"The solution does not just include policing — although we'll continue to look for ways to put more police where they're needed. We also have to give our young people alternatives to the street, and as a community we need to demand more of ourselves and our neighbors." — Mayor Rahm Emanuel, on Chicago's blood-soaked Fourth of July weekend As Sunday night crept (no doubt cautiously) to Monday morning, residents of the South Chicago neighborhood endured a firefight. They witnessed a tide of mayhem worthy of urban war zones worldwide. This is not how Chicago wants to build its reputation...

A key former adviser behind President Obama's healthcare law said the traditional role of health insurers would be "dead" by 2025, predicting massive changes in the industry. "By 2025, insurance companies as we know them — taking in premiums and paying out — dead," Ezekiel Emanuel ... Emanuel, the older brother of former White House chief of staff and current Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, has long argued that health insurers will shift away an employer-based system. By 2025.. ... Most Americans currently receive health insurance through their employers. ObamaCare includes an employer mandate, which requires companies with 50 or more...