From one extreme to the other
Monday, Dec 7, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The only surprising thing about this is that the CTU deleted the tweet and kinda walked it back…
* ABC7…
As thousands of Illinois residents and businesses struggle to abide by current state COVID-control regulations, a downstate Christmas party held Thursday night reveals the battle that Gov. JB Pritzker and health officials now face: some people in the state aren’t following government rules, including a pair of well-known state representatives.
Illinois State Rep. Brad Halbrook (R-102nd) held a supporter Christmas party Thursday that featured Illinois State Rep. Darren Bailey (R-109th) who was just elected to a state senate seat, the 55th district. The party’s location was Yoder’s Kitchen, a popular banquet hall south of Champaign.
The seemingly happy function featured dozens of full tables with no one apparently abiding by current protocols that prohibit crowds and require masks.
As the photos on Bailey’s campaign Facebook show, there were more than 100 people, no masks and no social distancing. Masks are not even seen on the tables and the elected officials are pictured in very close proximity to other people.
The event’s featured speaker was former state representative Jeanne Ives, who recently lost her race for a U.S. congressional seat.
Pic…
- NIU Grad - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 11:23 am:
CTU continues to offer perspective of how disconnected from voters many Chicago progressive voices are. Lori is giving the left a serious opening in the next election…and CTU is gearing up to put forward another 30% candidate.
- Nearly Normal - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 11:28 am:
In regards to Illinois citizens not following COVID-19 guidelines, a recent foray into an adjoining county over the weekend was an eye opener. Restaurants open for indoor service with large numbers of cars in their parking lots. I did not see any masks on those entering and exiting the establishments.
Oy!
- What Do We Do Next - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 11:28 am:
Is that Representative Caulkins in the picture?
- Walt from Hyde Park - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 11:28 am:
If we listen to CTU and believe reopening CPS is ” rooted in sexism, racism and misogyny” : it’s time to think about keeping CPS closed to give a property tax rebate to taxpayers.
- NIU Grad - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 11:29 am:
Parents: “We’re having trouble both working and managing our child’s at-home education. We would appreciate some help!”
CTU: “You’re a racist, sexist, misogynistic colonialist. Please vote for our candidates support our next strike!”
- countrygirl - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 11:29 am:
Yoders in Arthur has NEVER closed during the pandemic in open defiance of any mitigation restrictions. They are a buffet to boot. It is amazing that the Health Department has done nothing to stop it.
- tea_and_honey - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 11:29 am:
Yoder’s has been fully open since March. And it’s a buffet!
- 1st Ward - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 11:33 am:
The political orbit seems circular regardless of party. You look at the other and go wow what a bunch of nuts and see something like this and realize wait “we” might be nuts too. Maybe there’s hope for moderates and more importantly compromise (nails screeching on chalkboard)?
- Lucky Pierre - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 11:35 am:
Illinois Democrats are all about following the “science” until the government unions tell them to follow them.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 11:37 am:
=== Illinois Democrats are all about following the “science” until the government unions tell them to follow them.===
So you support Trump’s making policies?
Huh.
- Independent - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 11:42 am:
The obnoxious far-left and obnoxious far-right together in post. If anyone asks why I’m an independent this is Exhibit #713.
- Numbers Guy - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 11:44 am:
And FYI, Yoder’s Kitchen received $341,700 in PPP loans.
- Independent - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 11:55 am:
I consider buffets to be gross even under the best of circumstances. I don’t want the general public to have access to my food, just the restaurant staff. You’d have to be nuts to eat at one in a pandemic.
- Zim - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 11:59 am:
I’ve eaten at Yoder’s on a number of occasions prior to the pandemic. It’s safe to say my previous visit will be my last.
- Medvale School for the Gifted - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 11:59 am:
Patrons of Yoder’s in Arthur (DouglasCounty) come from all over central Illinois, then bring the crud back to their Home Counties, like Macon (Caulkins’ home county); Shelby (Halbrook’s home county) and places like Champaign County where folks are pretty much behaving.
The Douglas County Health Dept is letting all of central Illinois down.
- AD - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 11:59 am:
Agree with what Matthew McConaughey said this weekend “Somebody said to me the other day, ‘You know what’s in the middle, McConaughey? Yellow lines and dead armadillos,’” he continued. “And I said, ‘Let me tell you something, bud, I’m walking down the yellow line right now, and the armadillos are running free having a great time. You know why? The other two sides — the two vehicles on either side of the political aisle are so far apart, they’re f—ing tires aren’t even on the pavement anymore.”
- Demoralized - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 12:03 pm:
It’s always nice to see elected officials blatantly breaking the rules. They look so proud.
- Crash - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 12:04 pm:
The no mask thing continues to boggle me. I can’t imagine loving Trump (or anyone else for that matter) so much that I would put myself and my family at risk of a terrible virus.
Beyond that, more than a few of us advocate for fewer restrictions on restaurants. However, we do so while knowingly acknowledging the risks but arguing that destroying an industry is too much of a cost. People like Bailey et al. make us look ridiculous. We are all branded as people who don’t think the virus exists. They actively hurt the pro-restaurant industry argument
- Last Bull Moose - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 12:11 pm:
Clearly Ives does not intend to go away. Too bad for those of us who would like to make the Republican Party competitive.
- Publius - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 12:17 pm:
Maybe Ives, Bailey, ect would change their tune if they had to call families after their loved ones had died due to Covid.
- Decaturland - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 12:23 pm:
Yes, that’s Dan Caulkins. Went to two parades this weekend. No mask. An old man superspreader.
- So_Ill - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 12:23 pm:
A two time loser as the featured speaker? Yikes…
- Responsa - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 12:25 pm:
Jesse Sharkey and “the tweet” made the New York Post this morning. Additional detail in article.
https://nypost.com/2020/12/07/chicago-teachers-union-deletes-tweet-claiming-school-reopening-push-rooted-in-sexism-racism/?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=NYPTwitter&utm_medium=SocialFlow
- Club J - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 12:26 pm:
It’s activities like this at Yoders or the one at Fox Run in Springfield that Bailey was center stage showing he has no concern for life of others. The owners of Yoders have the same feelings since they are open to the public for not only indoor dining, but a buffet. Plus Santa will be there on Saturday so God only knows the spreading that will bring.
It’s businesses like Yoders and people like Bailey that are the reason ICU beds are at near capacity. Now I know that’s a strong claim to make, but when you see it flaunted on a daily basis. What else can you think? I just don’t understand how these people can put politics and profits before life and sleep at night.
- Medvale School for the Gifted - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 12:28 pm:
Responsa—
The whole world is watching.
#Oursorrystate
- Ares - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 12:34 pm:
Donkeys, not elephants
- walker - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 12:37 pm:
@CTULocal1 Those teachers and staff “”truly in the struggle”" are not being well-represented by whoever wrote that tweet. Get some semblance of control over your messaging; stop undercutting your own organization.
- JuMP - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 12:37 pm:
And House GOP is demanding investigations as to why there are so many cases of Covid in Veterans home? Not setting an example of leadership to protect people might be the reason…
- thisjustinagain - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 12:42 pm:
Ah yes, meetings without masks, Covid-19 buffets (make sure you take a clean plate though). Idiots continue to abound. I mean, I voted for Trump (and down-ballot voted for R’s, D’s and a couple G’s) but this continues to be appalling behavior.
- tully monster - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 12:43 pm:
I know I shouldn’t be surprised at this, but it’s still really disappointing to me that Yoder’s Kitchen would have allowed itself to be used like that.
- TheInvisibleMan - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 12:54 pm:
“It is amazing that the Health Department has done nothing”
It was amazing back in March. Now, it would be amazing to see a health department doing anything to help.
A place near me opened up for buffet service last week. Open every day. The local health department gave them the green light. This is happening in a collar county.
County health departments have shown themselves to be the most useless officials in the state at any level.
- Father Ted - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 12:59 pm:
I enjoy watching CTU show its true colors. At some point they will have eroded a lot of the support they enjoyed during the past two strikes.
- Candy Dogood - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 1:05 pm:
Has Minority Leader Durkin taken the opportunity to condemn the irresponsible and lawless behavior of members of his caucus yet?
Or is he only out there taking swipes at Madigan?
===but it’s still really disappointing to me that Yoder’s Kitchen would have allowed itself to be used like that.===
Just because someone is Anabaptist or comes from an Anabaptist home doesn’t mean they’re nice.
- pool boy - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 1:21 pm:
Yes Jeanne, we are six feet apart.
- tully monster - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 1:44 pm:
===Just because someone is Anabaptist or comes from an Anabaptist home doesn’t mean they’re nice.===
Oh, believe me, I know. I grew up in southeast Pennsylvania, where there are a lot of conservative Mennonites and other Anabaptist sects whose beliefs dovetail with right-wing evangelical Christianity (which seems more and more like an oxymoron, especially with their strident, selfish insistence on in-person corporate, maskless worship–along with their other awful political and racial affinities). We used to eat there, pre-pandemic; post-pandemic, never again. Guess I’ll have to do my own Pennsylvania Dutch cooking from now on.
- Rutro - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 1:49 pm:
They really should take the T (and teacher) out of their name/abbreviation.
- Dotnonymous - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 1:58 pm:
Bailey appears to be in giddy awe of Caulkins’…wit?
- Boone's is Back - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 2:10 pm:
“[insert gripe of the day] is rooted in sexism, racism, and misogyny.” - CTU
- Rudy’s teeth - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 2:12 pm:
Might be time for Rep. Bailey to make an appointment with Oliver Hardy’s tailor.
- Francine - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 2:18 pm:
Many CPS parents are worried that their kids will need to repeat a grade because of the pandemic.
- H-W - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 2:25 pm:
As a sociologist, I can see how that statement (sexism, racism, misogyny) could be applied.
For example, 85% of primary teachers are in fact women, and children in primary education cannot stay home alone (unlike high school kids). Thus “the push to reopen schools” does assume women will be required to care for children so that parents can engage in economic activities and avoid childcare expenses (alternatively, the burden of caring for children falls on “other women” from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm).
That is certainly a debate worth having, as it is implicitly about the true value of roles teachers perform for society, and it does involve implicit assumptions about the roles of women and men regarding the responsibility for childcare at the communal level.
However, it would behoove the speaker of that statement (the CTU) to explain why they reached that conclusion, namely that the push to open schools is (as they seem to state), explicitly sexism, misogyny, and racism. Otherwise, the CTU statement is just hyperbole (correct or incorrect) used to create divisiveness.
- Dotnonymous - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 2:25 pm:
- Independent - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 11:55 am:
I consider buffets to be gross even under the best of circumstances.
It may be that anyone who reviewed a hidden video of a full day at the buffet… might never eat from one again.
- Stormsw7706 - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 2:27 pm:
Is it true that Yoder’s received o we 300K in PPP loan money? That needs investigated. Fraud and hypocrisy often go together and this is the height of both. To claim damages while not being damaged is outrageous. On top of that many businesses that did follow the rules were denied help. Caulkinshad a rant last week about how UNFAIR it is that businesses that got PPP monies, but didn’t shutdown faced clawbacks. Hypocrites may not have to commit fraud when they can just be a state representative
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 2:47 pm:
Why CTU feels the need to tweet, abd these takes that border on what their mission is… it’s… I dunno what they hope to do tweeting, but this ain’t it.
To Bailey, et al., and Ives;
The cult of personalities trying to capitalize on a global health crisis, and endangering others to own… whomever cares about the Eastern Bloc… having Ives as a guest reinforces do much of the really bad that is put there outside the resistance to health protocols.
My hope for a party in search of an identity and a chairmperson they realize the three pictured are far from the Reagan Rule and couldn’t win in the collars if they needed to going forward… and yes, “Amy Grant”… but she tried to dismiss her own issues and these three look to embrace so much more.
- thisjustinagain - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 4:01 pm:
The CTU is just an embarrassment on so many levels. These “education professionals” are simply so many shills for endless pay raises, while fully supporting anti-police efforts, then demanding police “do something to protect the kids” from various miscreants (including CTU members who should have been charged for various crime which CPS totally failed to handle). What a joke.
- Todd - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 4:25 pm:
The CTU tweet makes them look like they simply want to collect a paycheck for doing as little work as possible, just another Chicago no show ghost payrolling scam. move along nothing here to see biz as usual
- Eastern Bloc Mitigation - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 4:51 pm:
The former mayor of Bridgeport, IL died of COVID-19 yesterday. Darren Bailey had the audacity to comment on a FB death announcement post, offering his thoughts and prayers.
- lenoard - Monday, Dec 7, 20 @ 7:28 pm:
hey hey hey Darren how many old people did you kill today
- Da Big Bad Wolf - Tuesday, Dec 8, 20 @ 8:11 am:
=== Many CPS parents are worried that their kids will need to repeat a grade because of the pandemic.===
That might be what needs to happen.
So they will be a year older when they first get to college/start an apprenticeship and more mature. I don’t see a downside.
- Da Big Bad Wolf - Tuesday, Dec 8, 20 @ 8:16 am:
=== The CTU tweet makes them look like they simply want to collect a paycheck for doing as little work as possible, just another Chicago no show ghost payrolling scam. move along nothing here to see biz as usual.===
It doesn’t convey that to me. The tweet struck me as over dramatic martyrdom on behalf of the person who wrote it.
How is teaching remotely not doing the work? One still has to prepare the class, teach the class, grade homework.
How is that “ghost patrolling?” Doing as “little work as possible?”
You and the writer of the tweet are twins I guess.