Free Republic

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker (D) September 2019 Porker of the Month for signing a $40.1 billion budget without any spending restraints and $1.4 billion in pork-barrel projects. Illinois currently has a $223.9 billion shortfall, which breaks down to a debt burden of $52,600 per taxpayer. The state has $6 billion in unpaid bills and the lowest credit rating of any state in the country. Its unfunded pension liability tops $130 billion. Illinois taxpayers are so saddled with debt, taxes, corrupt local government, and dwindling middle-class jobs that 157,000 residents have left over the...

A dozen years ago, five financially strapped city of Chicago pension funds invested $68 million in a shaky real estate deal put together by a former boss of President Barack Obama and a nephew of Mayor Richard M. Daley. It was a high-risk investment. Allison S. Davis — a longtime Daley ally who once headed a small Chicago law firm that gave Obama his first job out of Harvard Law School — and Daley nephew Robert G. Vanecko even warned in the prospectus that the pension funds could lose their entire investments. But, with Daley in office and three top...

CHICAGO — Chicago mayoral candidate Willie Wilson says he wasn't trying to buy anyone's vote when he handed out close to $200,000 to churchgoers. The millionaire businessman said Sunday's appearance at the New Covenant Missionary Baptist Church was nothing more than "one of the biggest property tax relief assistance" events of the year and the kind of thing he's done before. The Illinois State Board of Elections said Wilson didn't break any campaign finance laws because the money came from his non-profit foundation. Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner, himself seeking reelection, joined Wilson at New Covenant Missionary Baptist Church at the...

A divide between the Illinois tollway and Chicago on the cost of airport land needed for the Elgin-O'Hare Expressway extension is threatening progress on the massive project, considered vital for the suburbs. An agreement to sell property on the western edge of O'Hare to the tollway at market value more than a decade ago has disintegrated, officials said, and the city's latest price tag of about $190 million is giving the tollway sticker-shock. "We've been negotiating for a long time. ... It's within the last couple of months I've realized how far apart we were," tollway Chairman Robert Schillerstrom said....

The difficult task for Emanuel is to win their support while not alienating the more-progressive elements of the electorate. So the mayor is raising big money from wealthy conservative donors while sending a subtle message in his campaign ads that is designed to scare the more-affluent constituencies in the city—without trumpeting support from the Right. He has welcomed Rauner's quiet outreach for his campaign while also blasting the governor for his proposed budget cuts. March 17, 2015 Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is about as partisan a Democrat as there is in this country. But to win a second term and...

Sneed exclusive . . . New York is where they’d rather be. So let’s cut to the chase. Sneed is told by impeccable sources that President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, want to live in New York when they leave the White House. “They want New York, plain and simple,” said a top Sneed source who asked to remain anonymous — but has a relationship with the Obamas. “It’s not an unusual decision,” added the source. “The Clintons moved to New York after Bill Clinton left the presidency. It’s a happening place.” “They love the vibe in New York...

Jeri Wright, the 48-year-old daughter of President Barack Obama’s mentor and former pastor Jeremiah Wright, is heading to jail. Free on bail while awaiting sentencing for money laundering in connection to a government-funded jobs training program, a U.S. District Court Judge found “there was probable cause to believe Wright committed a separate theft while on bail, thereby violating terms of her supervised release.” The new charges against Wright involve more sketchy bookkeeping. The Chicago Sun-Times reports: Prosecutors now say Wright was taking part in another scheme — this one involving ghost payrolling — even as she was standing trial. Between...

Little League Baseball has stripped the U.S. championship from the Chicago-based Jackie Robinson West team and has suspended the coach for violating a rule prohibiting the use of players who live outside the geographic area that the team represents, it was announced Wednesday. The Jackie Robinson West team, the first all-African-American team to win the championship, must vacate wins from the 2014 Little League Baseball International Tournament -- including its Great Lakes Regional and United States championships. The Jackie Robinson West Little League team was ruled to have used players from outside its local area by recruiting players from neighboring...

A 63-year-old Romeoville man who authorities say was a police officer and church camp leader was charged today with the distribution of child pornography. Miguel Luna, of the 500 block of North Frieh Drive, was charged with one count of dissemination of child pornography and two counts of possession of child pornography, according to the Will County State’s Attorney’s office. Bail was set at $500,000 this afternoon for Luna, who was ordered not to have unsupervised contact with anyone under 18. He also was ordered to surrender his passport.

Illinois Democrats are backing off an effort to give $100 million in a push to land President Obama’s presidential library and museum -- following accusations of voting “shenanigans” and nasty Chicago-style politics, not to mention the state’s dire financial situation. A Democrat-led House committee approved the money last week at an out-of-town hearing in Chicago with no Republicans in attendance. They instead relied on a procedural move that allowed them to use votes from a previous meeting. “What they did last week was under-handed and sneaky and offers further proof that they no longer can be trusted with taxpayer money,”...

A "goon-squad" group named The Helpful Union Guys (THUG), members of Ironworkers Local 401 set fires, started riots, and took crowbars to the competition in an effort to protect union jobs. THUGs stalked women, took baseball bats to a Toys R Us site, and even torched a Quaker meetinghouse that dared to use non-union labor. Philly.Com reports 10 leaders of Ironworkers Local 401 charged in racketeering indictment. They called themselves "the Helpful Union Guys" - "THUGS" for short - and woe awaited any contractor who dared cross them by hiring non-organized workers. For, federal authorities alleged Tuesday, this "goon squad"...

CHICAGO — The daughter of President Barack Obama's former pastor was convicted on Friday of laundering thousands of dollars from a state grant for a Chicago-area job-training program, federal prosecutors said. A federal jury took less than two hours to find Jeri Wright, 48, the daughter of Jeremiah Wright, guilty on all counts for her part in a fraud scheme led by a former suburban police chief and the chief's husband, according to the U.S. Attorney's office for the Central District of Illinois in Springfield. The $1.25 million state grant was for a not-for-profit work and education program called We...

Lois Lerner fears for her life if she testifies openly before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Wednesday, according to her attorney. House oversight committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa announced Sunday that Lerner will testify at Wednesday’s hearing, but Lerner’s attorney Bill Taylor said that Lerner will seek to continue invoking her Fifth Amendment rights and will also seek a one-week delay of her testimony. Oversight members are reportedly open to granting Lerner a one-week delay if she petitions for one in person at Wednesday’s hearing. The delay would allow Lerner’s lawyers to continue negotiating for immunity, which they...

Gov. Pat Quinn is partnering with satiric news site the Onion to persuade young invincibles” to sign up for health care insurance — before it's too late under Obamacare. Beginning today, Onion Labs, the creative services division of Chicago-based Onion, will run banners ads on its website of a man forced to sell his action figures to pay his medical bills because he didn't buy health insurance, according to a statement today from Get Covered Illinois, the state's health insurance exchange.

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Newport Beach in California. Steve, I'm glad you called, sir. Great to have you on the EIB Network. Hello. CALLER: Rush, good to be here, love listening to your show, and again your comments this morning regarding the unions and the -- RUSH: Money laundering. CALLER: Exactly. That's the term I was looking for, the money laundering. It's exactly what's going on out here in California with the bullet train. The politicians in California, all the Democrats have given all of the public employee unions their payback, but they've got a problem. All of the private sector...

President Obama’s Kansas speech is a remarkable document. In calling for more government controls, more taxation, more collectivism, he has two paragraphs that give the show away. Take a look at them.

The latest case of black-mob violence in Chicago is far from the worst. We’ll get to that one in a minute. But when a mob of black people rushed into three Chicago-area Sports Authority stores this week and rushed out dragging entire racks of winter clothing, the local CBS affiliate dubbed that “unbelievable.” CNN said the videos were “shocking.” Not really: “That crime was only unbelievable or shocking to the reporters who spend all their time ignoring and denying black mob violence,” said one Chicago cop, who would rather keep his job than be identified as a source of stories...

This is one of the most powerful and patriotic tributes to the sacrifice of our military and their familes I have seen in a while. It's only six minutes and you have to watch till the very end to get the full experience but it is more than worth it. The Call to Serve - Short Film

Kenya mall video of soldiers looting after shooting New security footage has emerged online after the Westgate mall attack in Kenya, the video shown below shows what looks like security soldiers taking goods from the mall and not paying for them. Last month the Kenya mall shooting left 67 dead after suspected al-Shabab militants stormed the Nairobi Westgate shopping centre on 21 September. The video below clearly shows Kenyan soldiers carrying white bags and taking goods from the store without consent, according to reports the Kenyan military are investigating the looting allegations. The mall sells food, mobile phones and televisions,...

The U.S. attorney’s office in Springfield has been busy the past few years investigating a variety of fraud schemes involving state grants. Thirteen people have been charged so far, six who have pleaded guilty. Two of them have ties to President Barack Obama. One is the daughter of his controversial former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Another was chief of staff to Obama’s longtime friend Eric E. Whitaker when Whitaker was Illinois’ public health chief. In all, prosecutors are alleging a total of $16 million in fraud involving state health or commerce department grants and contracts. Here’s a brief look...