* Governor JB Pritzker started off a morning news conference today with a speech condemning political violence. An excerpt…
Pritzker: Last week, as you all know, the assassination of Charlie Kirk added to that fear both about gun violence and about being killed for speaking your mind, this is a moment when Americans must come together and say clearly that threats and political violence are not the answer, because, well, we are now living in a moment when there’s an alarming trend in this Country.
It’s been going on for the last several years, the attempted assassination of President Trump, arson at Governor Josh Shapiro’s home, the murders of folks at the US Capitol on January 6, bomb threats against the Texas House Democrats when they were here in the Chicago area, plots to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer, bomb threats at both political parties’ headquarters, the assassinations of Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, and the shootings of State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Political violence has increased substantially against both Republicans and Democrats. Democracy is designed precisely to avoid political violence, and it’s now incumbent upon leaders of all stripes to work together to stop it, most especially this should come from the top.
Yet with each new crisis in recent years, we are reminded that we cannot rely on President Trump to tamp down the anger and the passion in the aftermath of political violence. Instead, he actively fans the flames of division, as he did on Friday, regularly advocates violence for political retribution, and in more than one case declares we are at war, not with a foreign adversary, but with each other.
I don’t believe any of that. Our people are not at war with one another. In these moments, real leaders offer words of solace and calm, except for one, every president in my lifetime has done this in the wake of political violence. They take action for positive change. They bring people together. They make Americans feel safe. They let them know violence is never the answer.
This is a watershed moment in our country. We can choose to stay silent and live in fear of more political violence, or we can choose to be loud for peace, for compassion and for an America where people settle their political differences through free speech and at the ballot box. Let’s be those people. That’s the path Illinois chooses, and I implore the president to do the same.
* Gov. Pritzker was asked about his comments and the impeachment articles filed by Rep. Chris Miller, who claims the governor has incited violence…
Reporter: From your initial comments about Charlie Kirk and comments today, there was been some pushback from Republicans, some said they would like to file articles of impeachment… Some might even perceive these comments today as a ‘Sorry, but.’ You’re still blaming President Trump, and they’re going to say that this is not the appropriate time.
Pritzker: Anyone who is fomenting attacks, anyone who is saying things that, especially in this moment when we should have calm, when we should have someone at the top who is asking people to take a step back, anyone who’s doing that deserves criticism, and I think it’s incumbent upon me as the leader of this state, to tell people that we need to act with calm in this moment, that people need to act peacefully in this moment.
Reporter: You’ve called Republicans Nazis…
Pritzker: No, I have not. That is completely false. I have never called Republicans Nazis.
Reporter: I’m glad to clear that up because…
Pritzker: Well, that’s what they’d like to say. They’re lying. They’re lying.
Click here for his initial comments on Charlie Kirk. Background on the Nazi accusation is here and here. Please re-read them both.
* On President Trump sending the National Guard to Memphis instead of Chicago…
Reporter: What’s your level of confidence on whether the Guard won’t actually show up?
Pritzker: Well, I’m pleased that the President has said that he is not sending National Guard or military troops to Chicago. So we should all celebrate that comment of his. And I’m glad to hear it. On the other hand, as you’ve heard, the President says things one day and then goes back on them the next day, changes his mind from week to week. So we never really know what he intends to do. All I can say is that sending troops into any American city is a terrible idea. The law and the Constitution only allow it in the case of insurrection or a national emergency, and those are not taking place in any city across the United States,
Reporter: So, no updates…
Pritzker: Have not heard anything more than what the President said on Friday.
Pritzker: We need more information. We’ve asked ICE for all of the information around it. They have given very little. I know that there is an ICE agent who was taken to the hospital. [I] don’t currently know that person’s condition, don’t exactly know what the injuries were, or for exactly from what. But it’s important for us to know that as well as what were the circumstances that were leading them to pursue this person in the way that they did. This is somebody who, as I understand, was on their way home, perhaps from dropping their children off at daycare. We don’t exactly know what all the circumstances were, so it’s hard for me to make comments about it, but the important thing is we should have transparency. Just like there’s frustration over people wearing masks and throwing people into vans in a way that does not seem American to me. It does not seem constitutional to me. We now see that ICE is unwilling to share the details of what has happened.
If this were the Chicago Police Department, if this were the sheriff’s office in Cook County, if this were Illinois State Police, you would have had a lot more information already released. But apparently, ICE is unwilling to provide the transparency that I think the American public and the public here deserves the over.
Reporter: [Asked if there will be an Illinois State Police investigation.]
Pritzker: Well, again, this is the federal government. We don’t have the ability to have state or local resources focused on investigating the federal law enforcement agencies. But again, this is the most unusual situation I’ve seen in my entire lifetime, where we have no transparency, and the federal government is not policing itself, even the offices of inspector generals are being dismantled under this administration, so we may never really know what the truth is.
Pritzker: I think many of you know Governor Edgar, have met him, or have seen him or experienced his leadership. I got to know him as I was running for governor and when I became governor, and he’s somebody who carried with him a dignity, an honor and an honesty that is worthy of praise and worthy of emulation. And so many, many times over the last seven years, I have reached out to him for advice, to seek his observations, to get ideas from him. He is somebody, he was a Republican, but he understood that that people in public service are trying to do what’s best for the state of Illinois. And so I had a very dear fondness for him, and I will miss him terribly. I got to honor him just recently in Springfield when we named a room at the library, Reading Room, which is very appropriate for him, and where he got to speak and hear many of us extol his virtues. And I’m very sorry for his family. I had the chance to speak with his family last night, and we’re going to do everything we can to help honor his legacy in this country and in this state.
Our democracy was based on the idea that average people could think for themselves and decide through civil debate how we want to live. There is no other country in the world where people from all places and backgrounds have come together to build such a prosperous, innovative and compassionate society. And above all, we believe you should be able to participate in this process and engage in this debate without fear of harm or hate.
We are here to tell you the Illinois Senate is united in whole-heartedly condemning violence, from any person in any circumstance. We are committed to working together to ensure that people throughout our state know that Illinois is a safe place to take part in our democratic systems without fear. We are all neighbors.
Remember all that we have accomplished together, peacefully. We can be opponents without being enemies. Remember who we are and help us take the temperature down.
* Trombone Shorty and the New Breed Brass Band have a new album. Here’s a cut…
* I have a powerful and complicated relationship with this song. I traveled to Kosovo in 1999 to cover the immediate aftermath of the Serbian invasion and the “Great Powers” response. The writing didn’t pay much, but it was exhilarating. I had almost decided not to come back to y’all because I was thoroughly engaged in the work and was convinced I could eventually make a living off foreign reporting - a longtime ambition - but then this song came on the radio.
The coalition headed by the US military had taken control of all the Kosovar radio stations from ethnic Serbians and Albanians to avoid sparking conflicts. The lone station used an automated system, so it had no disc jockeys. I assumed that was done to avoid somebody saying something stupid on-air and causing who knows what sort of retribution and violence. The station played only American music.
* During the war, thousands of ethnic Serbs had forced out ethnic Albanians and seized their homes. I visited several houses after the Serbs were eventually pushed out and saw vicious anti-Albanian, anti-Muslim graffiti painted on the walls, put there by the now-departed Serbs.
The stories I was told and the clear evidence I saw about the Serbian occupation of Kosovo were horrific. But I also had my first up-close look at how false war atrocity rumors could spread by word of mouth for miles around in almost an instant. I canvassed an entire city block after hearing from numerous people in Pristina (including the grandmother of a friend, who said she had seen it with her own eyes) about a Kosovar being shot by allied troops in a town about 20 miles away. Everyone I talked to in that town insisted it didn’t happen. It’s a lesson I will never forget. Never automatically believe war rumors, even if a friend’s lovely grandma tells you one.
* A friend I made while driving through southeastern Europe was killed by bandits during a diamond smuggling run in neighboring Albania (yes, I know it sounds crazy, but I wasn’t involved, because if I was I wouldn’t be telling you this story today /s). Another friend I’d met on the trip (the one with the grandma) had been an ethnic Albanian fighter in Kosovo before the war. He was badly injured in that same diamond run attack and was hospitalized in a rural Albanian hospital with a 24/7 police guard, charged with my other friend’s murder. The cops justified the charge because, they concluded, he’d been driving the car when it was chased off a cliff by AK-toting bandits. He was eventually freed after arranging payment to the proper authorities.
Albania was wild back then, man. In Kosovo, military coalition members were literally everywhere. If there was a problem, you could easily find help. Albania was basically in a civil war and you couldn’t ask anyone for help. The cops were iffy at best, the militias were in league with various bandit groups and the foreign military had moved on to Kosovo. We were on our own.
* After I don’t know how many hours of driving with an ethnic Kosovar who lived in Germany and who’d offered to be my translator even though he spoke no English, I eventually found the hospital my friend had been transferred to (no ashtrays, just throw your cigarettes on the floor) with pigs grazing in the courtyard (it was a Christian hospital in an Islamic region) and very near the police station on the little town square.
Unbeknownst to me, the police station was attacked every night by armed rebels. I had parked my German rental car in front of the station, mistakenly thinking it would be a safe spot. A hospital doctor immediately grabbed my key and moved my rental car to an out of the way location after he found out what I’d done. He looked at me like I was crazy.
The doctor also insisted I stay at the hospital instead of the local hotel, which was overrun by the rebels every night. It was a certain death sentence, he warned. I complied.
* My hospital room gave me a clear view of the nightly rebels vs. police firefight, both outside my window and then inside the emergency room, which was a few feet from my room. Tracers were flying and the screaming wounded from both sides piled up in the hallway.
It sounds silly to say, but I felt relieved during the firefight that the doctor had moved my car. I had asked my mom, who was with the US Department of Defense in Germany at the time and was doing some Kosovo logistics, to vouch for me with a German rental car company. Without her word, nobody would rent me a car to drive into a war zone. She would’ve been put in a mighty sticky wicket if I had brought it back riddled with bullet holes. Never do that to your mom.
* Anyway, before I ventured into Albania, I was driving aimlessly through the Kosovo countryside grieving my murdered friend and my missing friend and my not great life back home when this tune came on the radio. I immediately pulled the car over and listened. The song convinced me to give my Illinois life one more shot and I eventually went home…
And I dreamed your dream for you and now your dream is real
I was also arrested in Serbia during that trip for illegal entry and suspicion of being an American spy. I was put on trial and expelled from the country. The story I wrote about that ordeal is not online (and probably never was), but I’ll see if I can find it in my own archives someday.
* Sorry, this post kinda got away from me. What’s up with you?
Joe Weis: I’ve met Darren a number of times, as I’m sure you have. He’s a nice guy, but he should stick to, he couldn’t even win in Southern Illinois down there for Congressman.
State Rep. Janet Yang Rohr is running for the Democratic State Central Committeewoman seat in the 11th District. Current committeewoman Kristina Zahorik isn’t seeking reelection — and is endorsing Yang Rohr, who is out with a list of other endorsements, too.
— Tom DeVore is running for the Republican state central committee, and Congresswoman Mary Miller has endorsed him.
— FAIR GAME: The League of Women Voters of Illinois is endorsing the Fair Maps group headed by political stalwarts Bill Daley and Ray LaHood. Their Fair Maps group is working to get a ballot on the measure aimed at ending partisan map-drawing.
In a statement to its supporters, the Illinois League said it “acknowledges that the proposed amendment falls short of our larger objectives, including map-drawing that is fully independent of the Illinois state legislature. … But given the history of Illinois Supreme Court rulings that limit what citizens may do via referendum, the League is choosing to focus on what voters could gain from the current proposal.”
Subscribers know more about that Janet Yang Rohr campaign. Whew, things are heating up.
