* Last month…
Parents of four Illinois high school athletes filed a lawsuit Monday against Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois High School Association in LaSalle County Court.
The suit claims Pritzker’s cancellation of the winter high school sports season ‘‘is an unconstitutional violation of the Plaintiffs’ right to equal protection under the Constitution of the State of Illinois.’’ The suit seeks to bar Pritzker and the IHSA from enforcing the cancellation of the winter sports season.
‘‘[Pritzker] is using this emergency statute to create these restrictions,’’ said Laura Grochocki, the attorney for the plaintiffs. ‘‘They are supposed to have a rational basis. We are asking why high school sports have the restrictions and why college sports and pro sports do not. Is there a rational basis for the restrictions on high schools? Or is there something else at work here, why [colleges and pros] are allowed to play and high schools are not?’’
Trevor Till, the son of lead plaintiff Lisa Moore, took his own life in late October in Champaign. He graduated from Seneca in June. Till ran cross-country and track, was class president and participated in multiple school activities.
* Fox 32 yesterday…
An Illinois mother of a teenager who killed himself during the coronavirus pandemic is suing Gov. JB Pritzker over COVID-19 restrictions, telling “The Faulkner Focus” on Thursday, “My son died because of COVID isolation.”
Lisa Mara Moore’s son Trevor Till, who was hoping to go to the state championships for pole vaulting in his senior year of high school but couldn’t because of coronavirus restrictions, committed suicide in October. Moore said she believes “100 percent” that the lockdown “changed Trevor from who he was to the person that did this.” […]
The group’s attorney, Laura Grochocki of the nonprofit organization Remember America Action, filed the suit last month in LaSalle County Circuit Court.
Appearing with Moore on “The Faulkner Focus” Grochocki said, “Unfortunately, in Illinois and I think in many, many other places, I think the elites in power, they’ve dismissed high school students.”
A mother has lost her son. She’s clearly devastated and deserves our sympathy and our empathy. Please, do not make her the focus of your comments or you’ll be banned.
* Instead, let’s take a look at Remember America Action. From its home page…
Remember America Action is recruiting, educating and mentoring young conservative lawyers to do battle on social media censorship, election fraud, FEC, education, and civil and constitutional rights violations in courtrooms across America. The legal battlefield will be the most important battlefield of our lifetime - the new TURNING POINT.
* From its “About” page…
Remember America Action is also at the forefront of helping businesses and individuals fight COVID-19 restrictions on fundamental constitutional liberties. President Trump is right – keeping the economy shut down is UNHEALTHY for our country. These shutdowns are destroying lives.
* And from its “Audit the Vote” page…
Furthermore, the State of Illinois uses Dominion voting machines and software – machines and software that, it is alleged, can manipulate the vote, change votes, and mark ballots. This must be investigated. If it is determined that Dominion voting machines and software are vulnerable to fraud, we request that public officials take immediate action against the use of these machines and software and ensure that any future technology cannot mark or change ballots or be interfered with from outside third parties, either foreign or domestic.
Those claims about Dominion have been thoroughly debunked. The company is also suing purveyors…
The 107-page legal complaint in US Dominion v. Giuliani, a defamation lawsuit filed in federal court on Monday, is really an extraordinary read.
It lays out how Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor turned Trump consigliere, allegedly spread a “Big Lie” to an audience of millions, potentially endangering hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of government contracts sought by the voting machine company Dominion Voting Services in the process. Unsubstantiated smears against Dominion began to spread in the Trumpiest corners of social media while votes were still being counted in the 2020 election. Before long, accusations that Dominion was involved in a scheme to hand the election to Joe Biden were picked up by right-wing media, by Trump-aligned lawyers such as Giuliani and Sidney Powell, and even by Donald Trump himself.
None of it was true — and now Dominion is launching its own legal counterattack.
- Collinsville Kevin - Friday, Jan 29, 21 @ 10:46 am:
Truth is stranger than fiction.
- Flyin' Elvis'-Utah Chapter - Friday, Jan 29, 21 @ 10:56 am:
Simply a matter of time before one of these knot-heads sue because their kid was cut from the team.
- Sox Fan - Friday, Jan 29, 21 @ 10:57 am:
I really hope Rudy and that crazy attorney who are being sued for billions issue their retraction soon so at least some of this nonsense goes away.
- Excessively Rabid - Friday, Jan 29, 21 @ 11:01 am:
Really looking forward to Rudy et al testifying under oath - and this is one case where I’d like to see the trial televised. And Dominion is not interested in a settlement.
- SpiDem - Friday, Jan 29, 21 @ 11:05 am:
It is truly unfortunate that Rich does not allow the use of swear words on this family blog. Because….I would use some
- NIU Grad - Friday, Jan 29, 21 @ 11:07 am:
Must be just a coincidence…
- Guy Probably - Friday, Jan 29, 21 @ 11:08 am:
“ We are asking why high school sports have the restrictions and why college sports and pro sports do not. ”
Testing. College and Pros have regular testing and quarantining and canceling of games. I can’t imagine that would be the case for high school sports.
- Friendly Bob Adams - Friday, Jan 29, 21 @ 11:20 am:
An important life skill is knowing when you are out of your league. These guys taking on Dominion is pure foolishness. They will get crushed in court.
- Lucky Pierre - Friday, Jan 29, 21 @ 11:21 am:
See neighboring states to learn what is best for Illinois
https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/education/local_schools/uw-study-high-school-sports-have-not-spread-the-covid-19-coronavirus/article_3b04400a-7651-50df-a2ff-01a71bf4db65.html
- Henry Francis - Friday, Jan 29, 21 @ 11:25 am:
I wonder if the “Remember America Action” folks remember that in the past when America faced serious threats, young Americans sacrificed a lot more than a state championship in order to help protect their fellow Americans.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Jan 29, 21 @ 11:29 am:
Not in any way am I individualizing this thought, especially to the mother who lost a child, my heart goes out to her.
Conspiracy theorists needs controversy to have the ridiculous seems to be a reason to be aggrieved.
The undercurrent of Trumpkin victimhood at anything seemingly unfair to these groups are first a conspiracy, then it’s a coverup, and then a call to arms based on false premises to feel better about themselves.
Truth matters. Honesty matters.
- CitizensArrest - Friday, Jan 29, 21 @ 11:31 am:
Elvis, not because they were cut but because they are on the bench.
I actually was somewhat persuaded by some of the sports advocates arguments that I’ve read. But throw in Dominion and the lies about phony voter fraud and they have no credibility. Sad
- Jocko - Friday, Jan 29, 21 @ 11:41 am:
To all the HS sports parents, I want to paraphrase James Carville, “It’s the pandemic, stupid (exclamation point)”
I just wished they had put as much energy into making sure their neighbors, friends, and family were masked up and refraining from gathering in groups.
- Techie - Friday, Jan 29, 21 @ 11:48 am:
My niece got COVID from her middle school volley ball team practice - several other students on the team ended up getting it. It can absolutely be spread through group sports.
Those sports certainly have value, but let’s not pretend they’re somehow safe places where the virus can’t be spread.
- ChuckIL - Friday, Jan 29, 21 @ 11:49 am:
Remember America Action seems to be an organization consisting of William J Kelly and Laura Grochocki. Willim is an entertainer who goes by the name Citizen Kelly. You can find some of William’s cringeworthy work on YouTube.
- JB13 - Friday, Jan 29, 21 @ 11:49 am:
– Simply a matter of time before one of these knot-heads sue because their kid was cut from the team –
May nothing bad ever happen to your children, either present or future.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Jan 29, 21 @ 11:52 am:
=== May nothing bad ever happen to your children===
Friend, it’s a global pandemic happening, a once in a century occurrence.
It’s more than one kid, one team, one school.
Even with a sympathetic ear and heart, people are indeed dying, the virus is uncontrolled, things are bigger.
- movieboy97 - Friday, Jan 29, 21 @ 11:55 am:
ah yes another group that’s need to be threatened with a lawsuit by Dominion. I swear under what rock do these “lawyers” come out of.
- JS Mill - Friday, Jan 29, 21 @ 11:56 am:
I heard Pat Fitzgerald, N’Western Head Football coach, on the radio this morning. He was critical of Illinois sports (school) shutdown and stated that youth sports had not been responsible for any COVID spread.
I like the guy, he is a good coach and seems like a good, principled person. but, he is wrong. there have been outbreaks related to school athletics. In fact, there were several over the summer in the northern suburbs. They may have started at outside gatherings, but covid waas spread at the team camps.
- thisjustinagain - Friday, Jan 29, 21 @ 12:34 pm:
Once the facts were established that massive vote fraud did not exist Dominion had no choice but to start suing, since the purveyors of such nonsense refused to admit they were wrong, let alone stop spreading the false statements by every mode available. The damage is real, and evident all across social media as people continue to parrot these fake stories, old and new. The continued demands for normalcy in the face of a still-raging pandemic under various falsely-claimed and non-existent “rights” is yet another example of how facts aren’t allowed to interfere in too many people’s fantasy worlds.
- Comma Chameleon - Friday, Jan 29, 21 @ 12:38 pm:
Re: Sox Fan’s “I really hope Rudy and that crazy attorney … issue their retraction soon so at least some of this nonsense goes away.”
I am very concerned that, at this point, a retraction will not be effective. If lies about the election are allowed to simmer in the pot with QAnon theories a little while longer, this could take root like the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” took root in Europe.
- Last Bull Moose - Friday, Jan 29, 21 @ 12:47 pm:
Football paid for my college education. All four of my children were in high school sports. This year I would have held my kids out. The risk of long term damage is simply too high.
- Socially DIstant Watcher - Friday, Jan 29, 21 @ 12:48 pm:
@JS: I hope you heard wrong. NU Football had a good season pandemic wise, but they also had a campus that was largely depopulated and they had a very committed staff who made sure the players took it seriously. Surely he knows that other college teams had major outbreaks, and that underresourced high schools are an entirely different prospect.
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Friday, Jan 29, 21 @ 12:58 pm:
I grieve with every parent who has lost a child and for their loss. Their pain is real and unimaginable, and we should do all we can as a society to help them shoulder the burden and ease their suffering.
Also, there is a special place in the afterlife for plotters and politicians who prey on the emotional suffering of others for their own advancement, enrichment, and entertainment. Governor Pritzker is not responsible for the wildfire spread of coronavirus across this nation or in Illinois. He and his staff are just doing their best to contain it while 1/3 of their constiuents throw rocks at them screaming “Let us burn! Let us burn!! In the name of Freedom, let us burn!!!”
“Oh, no, it wasn’t the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast.”*
- Club J - Friday, Jan 29, 21 @ 1:27 pm:
I truly feel sorry for Lisa Mara Moore for the loss of her son and that she’s been sucked in by this Attorney firm. They gave an agenda and are preying on a poor Mother in her weakest time. As a suicide survivor I know she’s angry and looking for revenge from someone. This rouge firm is taking advantage of her and her situation.
- Cool Papa Bell - Friday, Jan 29, 21 @ 2:38 pm:
The very hard thing for parents of athletes right now is seeing a map of states allowing sports and state’s that never shut down games.
That map is like 48-2. This isn’t a fact based discussion for them - it’s emotional. The overwhelming majority of states and areas found a way to play and Illinois did not. It’s simple and complicated all at the same time.
- Jocko - Friday, Jan 29, 21 @ 2:48 pm:
==This isn’t a fact based discussion for them==
Here are some facts:
328M Americans, 433K deaths, 20.5M vaccines distributed so far. Should I go on?
- Shytown - Friday, Jan 29, 21 @ 3:22 pm:
Damn this law firm for preying on this mother’s pain after the loss of her so.
- Ben Tre - Friday, Jan 29, 21 @ 3:39 pm:
“an unconstitutional violation of the Plaintiffs’ right to equal protection under the Constitution of the State of Illinois.” People’s misunderstanding of their constitutional rights never ceases to amaze me. Reminds me of how two-year-olds will frequently grab a toy out of another child’s hand while demanding “Share!”
- Demoralized - Friday, Jan 29, 21 @ 4:35 pm:
==People’s misunderstanding of their constitutional rights never ceases to amaze me.==
I thought the same thing. I had no idea that fishing was a Constitutional right until that kooky judge told me it was. Is it a shame that high school sports can’t be played? Absolutely. Am I sad for the kids? You bet. Is it a Constitutional right? Absolutely not.
- MyTwoCents - Friday, Jan 29, 21 @ 4:37 pm:
For all those people who think that HS sports have no risk, just look at what happened in Florida:
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7004e4.htm
To sum up: 1 wrestling tournament resulted in an outbreak that led to at least 1 death & at least 38 positive tests from attendees.