Free Republic

Governor JB Pritzker (D-IL) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that he was concerned about a presidential debate because former President Donald Trump “lies and lies and lies.” Pritzker said, “Let’s let the courts have their say about Donald Trump’s crimes and I don’t think that Joe Biden needs to be talking about that when he can remind people about what’s at stake for their future when they go into the ballot box at in November.”

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) is “proud” of abortionists who end the lives of unborn babies, he said in a video created by the national nonprofit he launched last year to promote abortion across the United States. “Today is Abortion Providers Appreciation Day. Thank you to the doctors, nurses, clinic staff and volunteers who help those in need, treating their patients with dignity and compassion,” he said in the Think Big America video posted to X on Sunday. “You’re on the front lines of this fight, and your sacrifices and your work make me proud.” The Illinois governor also touted...

In a surprising turn of events, Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard has vetoed a unanimous board resolution aimed at investigating her use of tax funds, plunging the town into a storm of controversy. The mayor defends her veto by asserting it’s a preventative measure against potential personal attacks. Mayor Henyard’s actions have triggered public outrage, as recent revelations shed light on the alleged misuse of taxpayer money. Accusations range from indulging in lavish trips to orchestrating a $1 million giveaway and maintaining a $1 million police detail, all while drawing a hefty annual salary of $287,000.

Self-described “super mayor” Tiffany Henyard vetoed a resolution seeking to investigate her spending following allegations that she misused taxpayer money on lavish trips and her own $1 million police detail. The Dolton, Illinois, village board unanimously voted to open a probe into Henyard, calling on her to submit the village’s financial records and inviting the FBI to conduct its own investigation. Henyard, however, issued a veto on Monday, claiming the resolution was the result of personal attacks against her and stemmed from one-sided narratives. “As you can see, our village, our community, myself, we are under attack,” Henyard said at...

As Congress dithers about funding aid to Ukraine, Ukrainian military capabilities decline. This decline is gradual. Previously committed weapons, munitions, and supplies will keep some equipment flowing for months or even years. However, the effects of declining aid will be increasingly apparent on the battlefield. Ukraine is no longer able to conduct a counteroffensive. By February or March, it will have difficulty conducting local counterattacks, and by early summer, it will struggle to fend off Russian attacks. At some point, the front will collapse, and Russia will impose a harsh peace. Q1: Why is military aid needed? A1: Militaries in...

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...

Governor JB Pritzker (D-IL) said Monday on MSNBC’s Iowa caucus coverage that the “weakness” of former President Donald Trump was shown in his 30-plus point win. Pritzker said, “Almost half of the base of the Republican Party showing up for this caucus tonight voted against Donald Trump. Think about that. I mean, this is the most famous Republican. He’s the guy who, you know, basically built the modern Republican Party, the MAGA Republican Party that the Democrats are running against. Half of the people in that party did not vote for Donald Trump.” He continued, “I think that is telling....

During CBS’s Iowa caucus coverage on Monday, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) stated that the surge in Venezuelan migrants is the fault of 2024 Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump because he “created the chaos that’s happened in Venezuela that’s caused so many people to leave that country and seek asylum in the United States.” And that while immigration will be “an important issue to people,” “what people really care about is their own well-being, their family’s well-being,” and economic issues are “things that really matter to people in their personal lives.” Pritzker said, “Well, I think it’ll be...

Governor J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) claimed Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that Republicans were trying to take away Americans’ freedoms. Pritzker said, “Independents understand that, as Democrats do, that it’s the Republicans that are trying to take your freedoms away. It’s the Republicans that are trying to take away your Social Security and your Medicare. It’s the Republicans that are basically fighting against the working families of America.”

Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Friday sent Texas Gov. Greg Abbott a sweeping letter about the ongoing migrant crisis, urging him to stop dropoffs during a dangerous winter storm.“While action is pending at the federal level, I plead with you for mercy for the thousands of people who are powerless to speak for themselves,” Pritzker said in the letter. “Please, while winter is threatening vulnerable people’s lives, suspend your transports and do not send more people to our state.”

For a long time, people (including me) have been calling for major changes in higher education. Now someone is doing something about it. Hedge-fund tycoon Bill Ackman is waging war to make universities accountable. Ackman started his campaign by demanding the resignations of University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill, Harvard President Claudine Gay and Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth after the trio’s shambolic performance before Congress on antisemitic harassment on their campuses. Magill and Gay are now gone, and Kornbluth is worried. Penn’s board of trustees pushed Magill out pretty quickly. Gay, being a diversity hire, was harder...

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...

Governor J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) said Sunday on MSNBC’s “Inside” that former President Donald Trump is “dangerous for our democracy” because his language has echoed Nazi Germany. Pritzer said, “The rhetoric that’s being used by Donald Trump, the rhetoric that’s being used by some of the MAGA extremists, it is rhetoric that was used in the 1930s in Germany. I am very concerned about the direction of the country if we see policies like what Donald Trump is espousing come to light for our country.”

After the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and the rise of groups like the Proud Boys, there's a new push to tighten who can and cannot be a Chicago police officer. A new policy is up for a vote on Monday. [...] ...But you can bet that the list of "unapproved" organizations is going to be straight out of the liberal playbook. Remember, the feebs were investigating Christian churches, people who attended the Latin Masses, assorted school board members and another government bureaucray targeted foreigners who home-schooled their kids. No doubt they'll put the Boy Scouts of...

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-affirmative 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 goes deeper than most Americans know.

I have been engaged in an ongoing dialogue with a physician who works in a major children’s hospital in a blue city. This physician has witnessed firsthand how transgender ideology has captured the medical profession and jeopardized the first commandment of the healing sciences: do no harm. He has now chosen to speak out, on condition of anonymity, because he is alarmed by the sudden corruption of the medical community. His colleagues, many of whom oppose transgender interventions, have so far chosen to stay silent. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Christopher Rufo: Please begin by setting...

UPDATED: Sunday, November 5, 2023 8:15PM CHICAGO -- At least 34 people have been shot, seven fatally, in weekend gun violence across Chicago, police said. A child was shot and critically injured inside a South Side home on Sunday afternoon, Chicago police said. Earlier Sunday, a man was killed and another was wounded in another Englewood shooting, police said. The two were shot while standing on a sidewalk around 1:10 a.m. in the 7400 block of South Stewart Avenue, according to police. One man, whose age has not been reported, was fatally shot in the head and the other, a...

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...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WTVO) — Legal gun owners who are in possession of firearms since banned by the State of Illinois have been slow to register the weapons under a new law.The Protect Illinois Communities Act banned 170 “assault-style” firearms.The guns are no longer available to purchase in Illinois, and current owners must register with the Illinois State Police by January 1st, 2024.However, in the first two weeks since the registrations opened, the Illinois State Police say only 0.07% of 2.4 million Firearm Owner’s Identification card holders have taken that step.According to police statistics, a total of 1,618 gun owners have...

On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Biden-Harris National Advisory Board member Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) stated that the migrants coming to Illinois “are here legally, these asylum seekers, they’re here to get a hearing and to have a decision made about whether or not they can stay in the United States.” But the Biden administration must “make it clear to the people who are at the border that getting on a bus to Chicago or New York in mid-October, heading into winter, where it’s going to be 20 degrees or 10 degrees, and where we just do not...