Empathetic leader or a “tyrant”?
Thursday, Sep 10, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* SJ-R…
Gov. JB Pritzker joined with faith leaders at a memorial in Springfield Wednesday evening dedicated to the 8,214 Illinois residents who have died from complications to COVID-19 and their families.
The socially-distanced event, hosted at First Presbyterian Church in downtown Springfield, featured families from across the state who have lost loved ones to the virus.
Pritzker and faith leaders assembled said they hoped to offer a moment for Illinois residents to take a step back and process their “individual and collective” grief.
“Let’s allow this pandemic to remind us of at least one important thing: We need each other. We need each other,” Pritzker said. […]
“The hearts of our people are big enough to hold both of those truths at once — that we are courageous enough to meet this moment and that we’re human enough to grieve about it,” Pritzker said.
* The Patch…
“Pritzker is a far-reaching, power abusing, tyrant that is destroying small business,” said Santino Patragas, owner of Tap House Grill in Plainfield, which along with all other restaurants in the area had to suspend indoor dining once again Aug. 26. […]
Patragas said he feels that if masks help in containing the virus, then shutting down dining rooms was a baseless step. He misses serving his loyal customers.
“We are sorry to you that we are being blackmailed by this state,” he said. “The government is best which governs the least.”
- NIU Grad - Thursday, Sep 10, 20 @ 11:00 am:
Re: The memorial: After this pandemic, there should be serious effort to put up monuments around the state memorializing those who died from this virus, including at a local level. At the minimum, I think one in Springfield for all the statewide victims and one in the Medical District of Chicago recognizing first responders and healthcare workers.
- Perrid - Thursday, Sep 10, 20 @ 11:02 am:
“Patragas said he feels that if masks help in containing the virus, then shutting down dining rooms was a baseless step.”
LOL. “If drinking a literal cup of water helps with dehydration, then drinking a gallon a day is a baseless step.” It makes no sense. The more steps you take to curtail the spread of the virus, the more it is curtailed.
- Shytown - Thursday, Sep 10, 20 @ 11:03 am:
Are John Kass and Mark Konkol sharing notes or are they actually one in that same? The gutter reporting is getting so old.
- AlfondoGonz - Thursday, Sep 10, 20 @ 11:03 am:
This is business and this man is taking it very, very personal.
- Chicagonk - Thursday, Sep 10, 20 @ 11:03 am:
I mean it’s pretty normal to react emotionally in this situation. I definitely sympathize with the restaurant owners out. Still even if they were allowed to fully open, I still wouldn’t eat indoors in a loud, crowded room.
- Just Me 2 - Thursday, Sep 10, 20 @ 11:04 am:
Patragas is a little over the top, but at least he has the option to slow down or suspend operations. Landlords are required to continue providing their services but not able to require payment.
- Dancing Bears - Thursday, Sep 10, 20 @ 11:06 am:
Seems like a lot of people like throwing around the word “tyrant” and “dictator” in relation to our governor. I’m guessing those folks did not retain any knowledge from their history classes, or have not witnessed what is currently happening in Belarus or Russia
- Dotnonymous - Thursday, Sep 10, 20 @ 11:09 am:
It is what it is.
- @misterjayem - Thursday, Sep 10, 20 @ 11:21 am:
“Patragas said he feels that if masks help in containing the virus, then shutting down dining rooms was a baseless step.”
How do his dining room patrons eat without removing their masks?
I’ll take my answer off the air…
– MrJM
- Grandson of Man - Thursday, Sep 10, 20 @ 11:29 am:
“Patragas said he feels that if masks help in containing the virus, then shutting down dining rooms was a baseless step.”
Like people can eat with their masks on?
“The government is best which governs the least.”
It figures. That would be like a third world country. The best countries in the world ensure the government has a role in health and social welfare.
- Chatham Resident - Thursday, Sep 10, 20 @ 11:51 am:
==At the minimum, I think one in Springfield for all the statewide victims and one in the Medical District of Chicago recognizing first responders and healthcare workers.==
Perhaps a statewide memorial alongside the war memorials at Springfield’s Oak Ridge cemetery too, with the names of the COVID victims.
- Honeybear - Thursday, Sep 10, 20 @ 11:56 am:
Patragas is privileged and blind to it.
- pool boy - Thursday, Sep 10, 20 @ 11:57 am:
There’s more to it than masks, we had less cases when no one was wearing a mask but we were restricted to essential businesses ( i.e. Walmart, grocery stores, lumber yards, etc.)and most people were staying at home vs opening up and wearing(or maybe not wearing) a mask.
- Cubs in '16 - Thursday, Sep 10, 20 @ 12:03 pm:
The displaced anger rages on. Folks need ’someone’ to blame because viruses don’t care when fists are shaken at them.
- TheInvisibleMan - Thursday, Sep 10, 20 @ 12:04 pm:
===It figures. That would be like a third world country===
Welcome to plainfield, where village waster lead supply pipes are ‘the responsibility of the individual to address if they choose to’. And a few weeks before the shutdown in March, a measles outbreak was winding through the schools.
These are the types of establishments I worry about, and should probably be added to a list - with almost every other diner in plainfield.
- Mr. Green Genes - Thursday, Sep 10, 20 @ 12:04 pm:
“at least he has the option to slow down or suspend operations. Landlords are required to continue providing their services but not able to require payment.”
Wrong. Renters are required to keep paying their rent. If they have a lease that is a contract and can be enforced by the courts
- DownStater - Thursday, Sep 10, 20 @ 12:10 pm:
Are they gonna keep their masks on the entire time they eat? If yes, then I get his point. But that would be quite entertaining to watch.
- zatoichi - Thursday, Sep 10, 20 @ 12:39 pm:
Words like ‘tyrant’ are right up there with fascist, dictator, socialist, and similar terms when someone has a serious disagreement with political actions. Covid is a tough situation with known and several bad developing outcomes. Unless there is common agreement on how to solve the issue it will be around for too long of a time.
- Lester Holt’s Mustache - Thursday, Sep 10, 20 @ 12:41 pm:
== and should probably be added to a list ==
I would be very interested in a list of this type. If you’re a restaurant owner not taking Covid seriously, you probably don’t take things like rodents and hand washing seriously, either. Some owners, like yesterday’s daily doofus, make it very clear that they don’t care. Others may not be so clear. It’d be nice to have a list to refer to when I want to place a to-go order.
- Captain Obvious - Thursday, Sep 10, 20 @ 1:14 pm:
He’s an empathetic petty tyrant.
- Chatham Resident - Thursday, Sep 10, 20 @ 1:22 pm:
==If you’re a restaurant owner not taking Covid seriously, you probably don’t take things like rodents and hand washing seriously, either. ==
Seems like that could describe, at least pre-pandemic, common conditions in the restrooms and kitchens in about the vast majority of fast-food/chain restaurants statewide.
- hisgirlfriday - Thursday, Sep 10, 20 @ 1:23 pm:
I am FB friends with someone in B-N area who was understandably freaking out all spring about not being able to work. She had lots of posts bashing Pritzker for shutting everything down. May have even shared the Plandemic video.
Then I saw just the other day this poster shared a news article about Pritzker’s visit to ISU and her post was calling for ISU students to listen to Pritzker and take COVID seriously because she thinks that ISU students gave her COVID.
Basically Pritzker was a tyrant… until she got COVID.
- Mugs - Thursday, Sep 10, 20 @ 1:37 pm:
Re: suggestions for monuments memorializing victims of COVID-19, I’ve read that Illinois ranks fourth among all states for the number of health care workers killed by the novel coronavirus.
- Leigh John-Ella - Thursday, Sep 10, 20 @ 1:42 pm:
Rather than spending money on memorials, how about we prioritize properly funding local public health departments.
Sorry to be crass, but that’s a better use of resources.
- Paddyrollingstone - Thursday, Sep 10, 20 @ 2:02 pm:
How about a new less-Ayn Rand like slogan:
“The Government is best which helps the most.”
- Anonanonsir - Thursday, Sep 10, 20 @ 2:09 pm:
Like Pisistratus, an empathic, benevolent tyrant.
- Froganon - Thursday, Sep 10, 20 @ 2:41 pm:
Build up our public health programs and memorialize our dead at theose departments with signs, statues and comprehensive descriptions of how many “extra” lives our battles with each other cost.
America is in decline. Of 168 countries tracked since 2011 for social progress, health and welfare of their citizens, only three lost ground, America, Brazil and Hungary We’re #28 and dropping.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/09/opinion/united-states-social-progress.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage
- Nope18 - Thursday, Sep 10, 20 @ 6:33 pm:
==wrong. Renters are required to pay their rent..==
Did you just get here? There’s been a moratorium on evictions for half a year and courts aren’t dealing with eviction cases.
- Mr. Green Genes - Friday, Sep 11, 20 @ 8:57 am:
“ Did you just get here?”
Eviction is just one tool in a landlord’s tool box. The renter who signs a lease is still obligated to pay the money owed on a lease, even if he no longer lives in the unit. The court can order the tenant to pay the money owed and can even order wages to be garnished.