Free Republic

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) scrutinized language in the special counsel’s report, released Thursday, on President Biden’s retention of classified documents — including comments about the president’s age and memory. “I smell a rat,” Pritzker, one of the top surrogates in Biden’s reelection campaign, said during a press conference Friday. “It was extremely unfair for a [former President] Trump appointee, originally to the Department of Justice, to offer his own opinions about the mental acuity or age of the president of the United States,” he added. His defense of Biden comes after DOJ special counsel Robert Hur, who was tasked...

Until recently, the most controversial members of Chicago’s ultra-rich and powerful Pritzker family were the billionaire Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker — a longtime Democratic activist and bail reform advocate — and his billionaire transgender cousin Jennifer, who’s funneled millions into universities, medical schools, gender clinics and nonprofits in support of “gender-affirming” medical care. This week, however, they’ve been overshadowed by family members who are embroiled in two of the biggest news stories of the moment. The governor’s sister Penny, 64, is front and center with the resignation Tuesday of Harvard president Claudine Gay over multiple instances of plagiarism. Penny has...

The Local Government Revenue Recapture Act, is a law that allows cities, counties, and the state’s hundreds of different taxing bodies to “reacapture” their “lost” revenue [tax appeals] and also to shift the higher tax burden from the disappearing business property taxes to home owners, causing a near 30 percent jump in some cases in the burden on the state’s families. The act allows state taxing bodies to take the amount they “lost” to appeals refunds, total that up, and then just raise taxes that amount, effectively nullifying the appeals decisions and acting as a yearly new stealth, backdoor tax...

The following is adapted from a talk delivered on September 12, 2023, at the Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship on Hillsdale’s Washington, D.C., campus, as part of the AWC Family Foundation Lecture Series. The transgender movement is pressing its agenda everywhere. Most publicly, activist teachers are using classrooms to propagandize on its behalf and activist health professionals are promoting the mutilation of children under the euphemistic banner of “gender-affirming care.” The sudden and pervasive rise of this movement provokes two questions: where did it come from, and how has it proved so successful? The story...

Illinois Democrat Governor J.B. Pritzker is using rental assistance funds meant for American citizens to house illegal border crossers. Much like New York, Illinois is struggling to house illegal immigrants flooding into the state. Chicago’s O’Hare airport has been used to house some of them, but it’s not enough. How do you suppose the people of Illinois feel about these funds being used in this way? Breitbart News reports: Democrat Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker Diverts Citizens’ Rental Assistance Funding to House Illegal Aliens Democrat Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has diverted rental assistance funding for struggling citizens and is using it...

ROCKFORD, Ill. (AP) — A federal judge has blocked a new Illinois law that allows the state to penalize anti-abortion pregnancy centers if they use deception to interfere with patients seeking the procedure. U.S. District Judge Iain Johnston said Thursday the new law “is painfully and blatantly a violation of the First Amendment.” The law signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker last week bans anti-abortion pregnancy centers, often referred to as “crisis pregnancy centers,” from using “misinformation, deceptive practices, or misrepresentation” to interfere with access to abortion services or emergency contraception. Violators faced fines of up to $50,000. The bill was...

Roughly 300,000 illegal aliens across Illinois will soon be eligible to secure standard driver’s licenses thanks to a law signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D). “This legislation is a significant step in eliminating the barriers to opportunity that many undocumented immigrants face,” Pritzker said in a statement. “We’re ensuring every eligible individual can obtain a driver’s license, making our roads safer, decreasing stigma, and creating more equitable systems for all.” The law will take effect at the start of next year. Illinois, today, has an illegal alien population of about 680,000 — one of the largest in the United States....

Gov. J.B. Pritzker doesn’t just appear at the top as a defendant in the Macon County gun-ban challenge in front of the Illinois Supreme Court. He’s also the top donor for two supreme court justices’ campaigns. Pritzker donated a total of $2 million to then-Illinois Supreme Court candidates Mary O’Brien and Elizabeth Rochford, $1 million each.

Illinois Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker: "I don't think there's anybody that's serious that's actually considering running against Joe Biden because he's done such a great job." Comments were made on 3/5/23

Governor J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that Republicans were “trying to keep our schools from teaching black history.” Partial transcript as follows: MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask you on the issue set that Democrats are running on, your office told- told us you’re very focused on school board races in Illinois to make sure extreme right wing candidates aren’t dominating them. I’m wondering how strong the Republican ground operation is on things like school boards. Is parents’ rights really something you think Democrats need to be concerned about on a national scale? PRITZKER: Well,...

Depending on who you ask, members of the billionaire Pritzker family of Chicago are either the proud descendants of a financial genius who are doing good by funding progressive causes — or a secretive dynasty who now back radical no-bail laws and the transgender movement. The most prominent member of the family today is Gov. J.B. Pritzker, 57, a longtime Democratic activist and supporter whose net worth is about $3.6 billion. His sister, Penny, 63, was co-chair of former President Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and later became his secretary for the Department of Commerce. This, despite her once serving on...

Construction at the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago has been temporarily halted after a noose was discovered at the worksite Thursday morning. Lakeside Alliance, the construction company building the $830 million center, said it immediately notified police after the noose was reported on the premises, located in Jackson Park. The company told The Post in a statement that it suspended “all operations onsite” in order to provide its employees with an additional series of anti bias training, citing a “zero tolerance” policy “for any form of bias or hate on our worksite.” The company additionally said it was offering a...

The results are in for the Illinois Governor’s race and DDHQ has called it for Democrat J.B. Pritzker over Republican challenger Darren Bailey.It was always going to be an uphill battle for Bailey, given Pritzker’s incumbency and huge financial advantage, plus the political realities of Illinois (read: Chicago). Still, in the closing days of the race, internal polling showed Bailey closing the gap to two points — within the four-point margin of error.And it’s not unheard of for Illinois to elect a Republican Governor — Pritzker’s immediate predecessor was Republican Bruce Rauner. Of course, in 2018, Pritzker trounced Rauner by...

President Trump’s endorsee for Illinois governor, Darren Bailey, is closing the gap in the polls heading into November, posing a serious threat to incumbent Gov. JB Pritzker, D-Ill.According to a press release from Bailey’s campaign team, “Recent public polling shows the race for Governor is single-digits, with billionaire J.B. Pritzker floundering and Senator and Darren Bailey closing strong despite being outspent by over $2 million in Pritzker spending this week alone. “My administration will focus on outcomes. The vast majority of students at CPS can’t read or do math at grade level. JB is a failure and focuses on raising...

A Democratic prosecutor is sounding the alarm over an Illinois law that will end cash bail A Democratic prosecutor in the Chicago-area is sounding the alarm over a criminal justice reform law that will "tie the hands" of prosecutors and "destroy the criminal justice system in Illinois." The Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today (SAFE-T) Act, signed by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, D-Ill., in 2021, will implement sweeping reforms to Illinois’ criminal justice system, though it has drawn criticism from law enforcement professionals across the political spectrum. "I never, in my 40-years in this profession, ever thought I'd ever see anything...

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Parades are known for drawing crowds, and with them, politicians looking for exposure and potential votes. But in this election season, they were few and far between at Chicago's 70th annual Columbus Day parade. "You have parades that have become very controversial for a variety of political reasons and politicians don't want to alienate any part of a constituency, especially a large part of the constituency," said Laura Washington, ABC7 Political Analyst. Columbus Day is among them. The controversy is tied to protests about the treatment of indigenous people that led to Mayor Lightfoot to order Columbus...

In response to a threat by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Daily Herald has discontinued publishing and distributing the Local Government Information Services (LGIS) newspapers, effective Thursday Sept. 22. On Wednesday, Pritzker demanded the Daily Herald stop working with LGIS, claiming its newspapers were too critical of his administration and “represent an existential threat to quality, independent journalism.”

The People Who Play By The Rules PAC has released a chilling ad in which a Chicago woman’s scream echoes in her neighborhood as she is attacked in daylight. “On a Sunday afternoon in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood….” the ad’s introduction reads. The video depicts a woman briskly walking down a residential street during a pleasant day when a car comes to an abrupt stop, three men jump out and attack her. In the beating the attackers took the woman to the ground, kicking her as she wails. “How much worse does it have to get?” the ad reads at its...

Burr Ridge Mayor Gary Grasso, a Republican, told Fox News that the migrants are being used as "political pawns" by Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker. "As is my understanding, this hotel, about a year ago, when refugees came in from Afghanistan, apparently accepted several either through faith-based or charitable organizations, but now the state assumes they can just send migrants… this isn’t about them, the migrants is fine, they’re being used as political pawns by the governor and mayor," Grasso said. Grasso also said it's hypocritical for Lightfoot to be complaining about Texas Governor Greg...

An anti-Trump blogger who presided over the demise of The Weekly Standard and now works at a neoconservative outfit called The Bulwark is leading a supposed “Republican” effort against Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake. The Republican Accountability Project (RAP), which is funded by rich leftists and run by Trump-hater Bill Kristol, will reportedly spend two million dollars through its Political Action Committee (PAC) to defeat Lake in the upcoming November election. William Kristol is a founding director of Defending Democracy Together and chairman of the board for the Republican Accountability Project,” according to RAP’s website. Lake is herself a Trump-esque...