The Extended Pritzker Universe is basically what I was trying to create with my #DuckGang posts about the junior Senator from IL - @SenDuckworth, when Joe Biden was choosing his running mate
Call them the Pritzker Pals. They are left-leaning, politically. They’re depressed by the Biden administration. They are — this is the key — incredibly dangerously online. And they want to meme Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) into the White House.
Launched last month, the “Socialists for Pritzker” account quickly amassed over 10,000 followers, for wisdom like “what if we got J.B. one of those big swords from Final Fantasy.” More irony accounts have sprung up in its wake, like “Anarchists for Pritzker” and “Capitalists for Pritzker,” sharing overlapping memes in which enemies flee from the first-term governor. Most imagine Pritzker the way that 4Chan memes imagine Trump, as a conqueror with supernatural powers; one imagines the governor literally devouring the Secretary of Transportation.
“People see him as a nice placeholder while the left sort of catches its breath,” said the anonymous activist behind the Socialists for Prizker account, in a phone interview. (The account owner was granted anonymity to more openly answer questions about the account and where it came from.) “I don’t think that AOC or any other rising, movement-left star is going to be ready and well-positioned to win in 2024.”
What explains this — a joking-but-not-really groundswell behind the most politically successful member of the Pritzker family, which owns the Hyatt hotel chain? Part of it is left-wing disappointment with the Biden presidency, shared by many Democrats who don’t necessarily want to tweet about it. Part of it is a theory that the Democrats’ frontbench (Biden, Vice President Harris) is too old and/or unpopular to run and win another national election.
And then there is Pritzker’s size, which the advocates see as relatable and endearing, with a nod at how some Pennsylvania voters seem to like 6′8″ Lt. Gov. John Fetterman more than other, smaller, more traditional-talking moderate Democrats. Felix Biederman, a co-host of the left-wing Chapo Trap House podcast, has shared pro-Pritzker takes and called him a “unicorn” for hapless Democrats: “He is enormous, doesn’t come off as particularly intellectual, and has good instincts.”
* The meanies on Twitter have always made fun of Pritzker’s weight, but these #PritzkerPals folks have embraced it…
* If a special session on gun laws and gun violence is called, what should the topics be?…
2/2 We must call a special session to address crime on our streets. We need to demand law and order and prosecute criminals. We need more police on our streets to keep our families safe. Public safety must be a top priority. #twill
— Darren Bailey for Governor (@DarrenBaileyIL) July 4, 2022
* From Dan Lipinski’s recent softball interview on WLS…
For 16 years, I believed that I represented my constituents who put me there. I was not there to represent the Democratic Party and take directions from from Nancy Pelosi.
In 2004 Lipinski’s father ran for re-nomination in the Democratic primary. After easily winning the nomination, the elder Lipinski announced his retirement. As the Democratic committeeman for Chicago’s 23rd Ward—which is virtually coextensive with the Chicago portion of the 3rd district—he was able to persuade the state Democratic Party to select his son to replace him on the ballot. The move was somewhat controversial; since the younger Lipinski had not lived regularly in Illinois since 1989 or run for elected office before, but it allowed him to sidestep the Democratic primary—the real contest in this heavily Democratic district.
Somewhat controversial? Putting it mildly.
And then he breezed through the primaries with strong regular Democratic organization support (including and especially Speaker Madigan) until Marie Newman beat him in 2020, while Madigan was somewhat otherwise occupied.
Q: Do you realize how unhappy this news makes Sean Casten?
A: Well, look, I’ve heard from Democrats, they have been pleading with me not to run because I’m going to hurt Sean Casten, Democratic Party nominee. But I’ve also heard from Republicans who have said that they’ve they’ve done a poll, they’ve seen a poll that shows that I’m going to hurt the Republicans more than than the Democrats. So I have both. I have officials and operatives in both parties urging me not to not to run, but I think that just shows that they are, they’re both scared.
Former Congressman Dan Lipinski said his supporters gathered more than 5,400 signatures to get him on the ballot in November (he needs 5,000) and that he’ll announce today if he’s going to run for Congress as an independent in the newly drawn 6th Congressional District.
“Over the past week I’ve heard from people all over that they’re fed up with the 2 parties & that our country needs a new, better direction,” he tweeted.
However, after careful consideration I have decided to forgo a run this year. Instead, I will focus my attention on helping build the emerging “Independents Movement.” I already have had discussions with U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger about teaming up in this effort. […]
The New York Times reported that a group of donors is looking to raise money and recruit Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin to run for president as an independent along with a Republican running mate. This group may also be looking to support candidates running for Congress in 2024 and perhaps start a new party.
*** UPDATE 1 *** An eagle-eyed reader pointed out that Lipinski said earlier this month that he’d taken a Democratic primary ballot in June. That would’ve disqualified him from running for office for anything this year other than as a Democrat…
A person who (i) filed a Statement of Candidacy for a partisan office as a qualified primary voter of an established political party or (ii) who voted the ballot of an established political party at a general primary election may not file a Statement of Candidacy as a candidate of a different established political party, a new political party, or as an Independent candidate for a partisan office to be filled at the general election immediately following the general primary for which the person filed the statement or voted the ballot.
In retrospect, the points where Illinois law broke and failed to stop Crimo are apparent. The problem is that making red-flag laws less porous requires a statute that either is a confusing kludge or raises troubling civil-liberties questions—or both—all in the service of a relatively simple goal of preventing dangerous people from getting guns. In effect, a strong red-flag law risks trampling on Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights in the name of protecting Second Amendment rights, while weaker red-flag laws may barely work at all. […]
But reliance on family members is an inherent weakness in red-flag laws. Relatives are best positioned to know when someone is in distress, and may feel most at risk from a loved one’s threats, yet they are also most likely to forgive a child or sibling or parent and to feel protective, rather than call the police on them.
Maybe, then, police should have more leeway to deny permits or, as in the case of Crimo’s threats, arrest a suspect—but any system that gives police greater discretion risks abuse and replicating existing inequities in the system. A white young man from a prominent local family (Crimo’s father was a candidate for mayor not long ago) might end up getting a pass, while a less fortunate young man of color would be blocked. (I have previously written about how Black Americans do not, in practice, enjoy the same Second Amendment rights as white Americans.)
Eschewing discretion and mandating that police act more strictly might produce more equitable results, but would risk violating due-process rights and protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. Writing such a law in a way that would pass muster with a judiciary as hostile to gun control as the current one is unlikely. […]
Red-flag laws as they exist (and as they may expand under the new gun law) are probably a good thing, even if their only effect is to drive down the gun-suicide rate. But the Highland Park shooting demonstrates that existing red-flag laws have important limitations, and trying to strengthen them is likely to present serious downsides. If the goal is to reduce the risk of mass shootings, there is a simple way to do that without disparate effects on different people: Make it harder for everyone to get guns.
* Gov. Pritzker was asked on CNN about what law changes he supports…
I think that there are probably three things that need to be looked at here.
One is changing some of the verbiage in the law on red flags so that something could have been filed, that would have prevented the FOID card from being issued.
Two is that we need to ban assault weapons, not just in the state of Illinois, but nationally.
And then third high capacity magazines. So there’s no reason why someone should have 90 bullets at the ready, 30 in each of the cartridges that he used, and that’s just something that I don’t think civilians should have. And I’ve talked to police since the shooting who would tell you that the size, the caliber of the bullets that were being fired is much larger than the size, caliber and speed of bullets that even police carry with them. Why do civilians need this? You know the name of the weapon that this shooter was using is the Smith and Wesson M&P 15. You know what M&P stands for? Military and Police, and that’s who perhaps should have these weapons, not civilians, being able to just walk in and buy one.
Officials said the DCFS Director of Illinois Marc Smith was held in contempt of court for the 12th time Thursday for failing to place a child in direct violation of court orders.
Officials with the Office of the Cook County Public Guardian, said this is the 12th time the director has been held in contempt. This specific order involves a 15-year-old girl whom DCFS has kept locked up in a psychiatric hospital where she has been ready for discharge since January 14th, 2022.
Thursday, pursuant to a motion filed by Judge Patrick T. Murphy of Cook County Juvenile Court held Marc Smith in contempt of court and ordered fines of $1,000 per day. Fines for this order will begin July 28th.
In February the court ordered Smith to place the girl by 5pm on March 5th. He failed to comply.
On May 12th, DCFS stated to the court she would be by June 15th. Thursday, DCFS stated that the girl would be placed during the week of July 25th.
The girl has been in a psychiatric hospital for more than 170 days since she was able to be discharged. The court found the director in contempt of court.
The head of the Illinois Department of Human Services has been ordered to return to Sangamon County Circuit Court on charges of ignoring another court order to transport a county jail inmate into state custody.
The court ruled Friday that Grace Hou, secretary of IDHS, must appear in court July 15 to respond to charges of ignoring an order to place Christopher Hall, 38, of Beloit, Wisconsin, in the Andrew McFarland Mental Health Center for psychiatric treatment.
Hall, who had been charged last year on four counts of first-degree murder, aggravated discharge of a firearm, being an armed habitual offender and unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon in the shooting death of Hason Willis, 43, of Springfield, was ruled unfit to stand trial in May and ordered to be placed at McFarland.
However, the order said that as of Friday, he had not been placed there, remaining in custody at the Sangamon County Jail.
Ogden and Fry conducted a poll in the days leading up to former President Donald Trump’s visit to the Quincy area for a U.S. Rep. Mary Miller endorsement in late June.
The poll of Republicans in the Downstate 15th Congressional District taken June 22-24 (Trump’s visit was the 25th) found Miller leading fellow U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis by 8 points, 46-38. When undecideds were pushed to decide, Miller’s lead jumped to 10 points, 55-45. She won by 15 points, 57.6-42.4.
But if you look at the results from each day, you can see a definite trend. On June 22, Miller’s lead was less than 3 points, which is about where many of the pundits speculated the race stood at the time.
On June 23, as word spread more widely about Trump’s impending visit, Miller’s lead expanded to 9 points, 48-39. And by June 24, the day before Trump’s speech, Miller led by 12 points, 48-36.
Now, these are really small subsets in a single poll. But Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey’s results in CD15 in the same poll also showed a slight upward trendline, from 52 on June 22, to 53 the next day, to 55 on June 24.
“Based on where our final polling was on several races, it seems possible that that momentum continued through Election Day,” explained Ogden and Fry owner Matthew Podgorski, who is also a Republican Party official and candidate.
“Candidates that would benefit from a Trump bump all did better than expected just days earlier,” he continued. “If highly motivated ‘Trump/Bailey’ voters showed up on Election Day while others gave up, several other races may have been affected.”
Podgorski’s statewide polling, for instance, had Tom DeVore ahead of Steve Kim in the GOP attorney general’s race by 4 points. DeVore won by almost 10. Podgorski had Kathy Salvi beating Peggy Hubbard, the most visible Trumpist in the U.S. Senate primary race, by “a much larger margin than the [5-point] victory,” Salvi wound up with, Podgorski told me.
Hey, maybe Podgorski’s polls just weren’t accurate and he’s making excuses here. It’s been tried before by others. But I have thought since well before primary day that the Trump visit would likely reverberate throughout the state, up and down the Republican primary ballot.
The 2nd Illinois Supreme Court District might also be a case in point. The regulars and people like far-right Republican activist Jeanne Ives all backed Lake County Circuit Judge Daniel Shanes in the primary.
Instead, Mark Curran, who is known for his outrageous public remarks (“We are taking on the Establishment, the Party Hacks, the Freemasons and those that could care less that Individual Liberty and Conscience Protection are no longer cherished or protected,” he told supporters last year) won the race by 2 points with almost no money.
Oops.
Also, unlike with Bailey and, to a lesser extent, DeVore, the Democrats had nothing whatsoever to do with this Supreme Court debacle. The Democratic Governors Association, the Democratic Party of Illinois and Gov. J.B. Pritzker himself all paid for advertising that boosted Bailey’s Trump bonafides. The state party paid for mailers doing the same for DeVore.
Bailey, by the way, has repaid the favor by bungling pretty much every statement he’s made since the day after winning the Republican nomination.
Last week, Bailey memorably urged people to “move on and celebrate” shortly after the Highland Park massacre, even though the shooter was still on the loose at the time.
Later in the week, he held a press conference to apologize and try to clean up his own mess but hit the flub trifecta in the space of just 10 minutes. Bailey “conflated state gun control laws, misidentified a neighborhood in Chicago where violence occurred over the weekend and even misquoted a Bible verse,” the Chicago Tribune reported.
And DeVore, the Republican Party’s attorney general nominee, had this to say on Facebook just the other day: “Guess how many of those Republican establishment ‘leaders’, who sat idly by and watched your kids suffer for two years, called me after winning the primary? Zero!! I just might investigate them first before Pritzker!!”
