* Press release…
The Illinois Jewish Legislative Caucus welcomes the report that the Chicago Tribune may finally have had enough of the bigoted and anti-Semitic rants of John Kass, and is ending his 23-year reign as “lead columnist” for the paper.
Kass authored a winding, conspiracy-filled diatribe blaming George Soros for violence in Chicago and other major cities. “The Soros-funded prosecutors, not the mayors, are the ones who help release the violent on little or no bond,” he wrote on July 22, 2020. Kass knows, as most journalists know, that Soros-themed conspiracy theories have proliferated amongst the fringe white supremacist and Twitterazi’s. Kass knew about the rise in anti-Semitism, he just didn’t care.
The Anti-Defamation League and others have chronicled the rise of anti-Semitic tropes based on the Soros theories. On June 2, 2020, the ADL noted:
“Although the vast majority of Soros-related conspiracy theories do not mention his Jewish heritage, the concern remains that they can serve as a gateway to the antisemitic subculture that blames Jews for the riots. This type of content can be found on mainstream platforms; a Twitter user wrote, “George Soros is paying for this he is a Jew America bows to the Jew [sic],” while another tweeted, “Antifa are on the payroll of the Jewish financier George Soros who often uses these paid thugs to intimidate any opposition towards the status quo that he and his Zionist allies have set up to control us.” Yet another claimed, “Soros is every bit the subversive, parasitic conspirator these people make him out to be. The problem they always neglect to mention is the fact that he’s a Jew.”
Not to be outdone, the Tribune Editorial Page Editor doubled down on support for Mr. Kass following his editorial and removal as lead columnist. Ms. McQueary also knows about the devastation of the anti-Semitic Soros fear-mongering, but cannot be bothered to apologize for it on her own editorial page. What message does this send to your Jewish readers? To your Jewish reporters?
Words matter, Mr. Kass and Ms. McQueary, so do a better job and stop peddling anti-Semitism. We assure you - we will hold you accountable to do just that.
Sincerely,
Illinois Jewish Legislative Caucus
Illinois State Representative Jonathan Carroll
Illinois State Representative Kelly Cassidy
Illinois State Representative Daniel Didech
Illinois State Representative Robyn Gabel
Illinois State Representative Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz
Illinois State Representative Will Guzzardi
Illinois State Representative Mark Kalish
Illinois State Representative Bob Morgan
Illinois State Representative Yoni Pizer
Illinois State Representative Sam Yingling
Illinois State Senator Sara Feigenholtz
Illinois State Senator Laura Fine
…Adding… Strannik in comments…
Not all criticisms of a billionaire who happens to be Jewish are antisemitic, but columns that talk about a rich Jewish person undermining the fabric of society through Jewish money is a bit on the Protocols of the Elders of Zion side.
*** UPDATE *** David Goldenberg, Midwest regional director, Anti-Defamation League, Chicago…
John Kass’ column “Overwhelming sense of lawlessness growing” (July 22) perpetuates conspiracy theories against Jews that have been the gateway to anti-Semitism for centuries.
The scapegoating of George Soros for recent increases of violence in Chicago abandons the notion that correlation does not equal causation, as Kass directly alleges with insufficient evidence.
In leveling these absurd charges, Kass joins the ranks of those who employ long-standing anti-Semitic myths blaming Holocaust survivor Soros, his philanthropy and other Jews as manipulating government for their own benefit while plotting to control countries and global events.
The Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism tracks attempts to spread these falsehoods, which have included in recent months laughable charges that Jews are funding antifa and violent protests and are responsible for the spread of COVID-19. While Kass gives oxygen to these anti-Semitic myths, the Tribune provided a platform.
Without question, Chicago has a rampant problem with violence. But the column offers no solution — and also does harm to the Jewish community.
Even if no anti-Semitic insinuation was intended, casting a well-known Jewish individual as a puppet master who manipulates high-profile events for malign purposes has the effect of mainstreaming anti-Semitic tropes and giving support, however unwitting, to bona fide anti-Semites and extremists who disseminate these ideas knowingly and with malice.
* Meanwhile, this defense of Kass relies on a lie about Soros…
Let me pause here for a minute to discuss George Soros and today’s leftists. Soros is genetically Jewish. That’s his sole connection to Judaism.
As a 14-year-old during World War II, Soros worked with the Nazis. That was not his fault. He was a teenager and did what he needed to survive.
What is Soros’s fault is that he feels no guilt or sadness about this collaboration. At 14, if he had possessed a normal moral sense, Soros should have known what he did was wrong. His is a psychopathic world view
* The actual story…
As part of their efforts to control and eventually eliminate the Jews of Europe, the Nazis sought the participation of the people whom they were attempting to destroy. In much of Nazi-occupied Europe, the Nazis set up “Jewish councils” and forced Jewish authorities — from religious leaders to trusted family patriarchs — to put Nazi policies and orders into practice.
In Hungary, the Nazis ordered the creation of the Central Council of Hungarian Jews in March 1944, intended to control the Jewish population without panicking them. The Council included both Zionist and Orthodox Jews, many of whom were aware of what the Nazis had done in neighboring countries but believed that they could somehow placate the Hungarian government and the Nazi authorities through smaller concessions — giving up furniture and other possessions, moving into ghettos created by the occupying German forces — and somehow avoid deportation to death camps until the war ended.
This was fruitless. As Ernő Munkácsi, the head of one of Hungary’s largest Jewish communities, put it in his postwar memoirs, “… the leaders of the Jews … lulled themselves into the unfounded optimism that we would be the exceptions, the tiny island in the sea of the destruction of European Jews.”
It was for the Jewish Council that 13-year-old George Soros worked for all of two days. He was asked to deliver messages across the city. When his father read one of the messages, he saw that they were in fact summonses, orders for Jewish individuals to report to a rabbinical seminar with food for two days and blankets.
There’s more, and even more here and here. It’s all bogus.
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* Becky Vevea at WBEZ…
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Monday told the CEO of Commonwealth Edison she’s “deeply disturbed” by the utility giant’s role in an ongoing federal bribery scandal, and that the company’s response so far has been “inadequate.” […]
“ComEd’s breach of public trust is far from over as far as the City of Chicago is concerned,” Lightfoot wrote. “We expect a significant commitment from the company to right historic wrongs through its own internal ethics reforms[.]”
“I can only imagine the significant impact a $200 million dollar investment of money in the city (versus a fine) would have on improving our neighborhoods, assisting low-income customers, or achieving clean energy goals,” Lightfoot wrote.
Lightfoot, herself a former federal prosecutor, told Dominguez in the letter that the proposed monitoring under that agreement “is not sufficient to rebuild trust and account for this egregious behavior.”
* The full letter…
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You’re gonna need a bigger boat
Monday, Jul 27, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Um…
[The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign] plans to offer free tests to the 50,000 students expected to return in August, and roughly 11,000 faculty and staff. […]
“The exciting thing is because we can test up to 10,000 per day, it allows the scientist to do what’s really the best for trying to protect the community as opposed to having to cut corners, because of the limitations of the testing,” [University of Illinois chemist Martin Burke] says. […]
University of Illinois epidemiologist Becky Smith says data suggest campuses need to test everyone every few days, because when a person gets infected, a detectable amount of virus doesn’t show up for three or four days. […]
She has recommended that all students, faculty and staff be required to get tested twice a week, at least to start the semester. As the year goes on, the school might transition to targeting individuals at higher risk.
OK, let’s do the math.
UIUC can test up to 10,000 people per day, assuming everything goes well, nothing breaks, no unforeseen shortages, it’s not raining or snowing outside where people are waiting in line, etc.
They have 61,000 people they need to test. Testing them twice per week would mean they’ll need to perform 122,000 tests, but they can only do 70,000 tests per week, assuming everything goes well and they can work 7 days per week.
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Question of the day
Monday, Jul 27, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Center Square…
The attorney who filed a slew of lawsuits in several different counties to have judges find there aren’t public health emergencies says counties need to be careful in enforcing social distancing and mask-wearing rules because he’s ready to file even more lawsuits. […]
The day after DeVore filed the lawsuits against the governor, public health officials in Sangamon County announced increased efforts to enforce COVID-19 guidelines, including fines and license suspensions of businesses. They say there is a public health emergency.
“The Sangamon County Department of Public Health recognizes the danger to our citizens and has worked tirelessly to identify, control, and prevent the disease,” the department said in a statement. “The demographics of new positive cases have shifted drastically in recent weeks. In May, our biggest concern was our older population and congregated settings. While that concern has not disappeared, current data suggest that our focus needs to shift to our younger population in social settings.”
“Penalties for violation of [COVID-19 occupancy, social distancing and face covering requirements] include monetary fines, suspension or revocation of permit or license and potential closure of a business pursuant to existing County ordinances,” the county said. “We must take every precaution to prevent Sangamon County from reverting back to Phase 3, or worse, a second lockdown.”
While DeVore’s lawsuits are targeting the governor, he said he’ll sue local officials in Sangamon County and elsewhere if it comes to it.
“They can’t do it,” DeVore said. “These local health departments can close a business if it is a public health risk which is not because they’re not wearing a mask. If they want to try that in court, I’m ready. They can’t do these things.”
Let’s see. He’s suing the governor. He’s suing the IHSA. He’s threatening to sue counties. Hmm.
* The Question: Whom should DeVore threaten to sue next?
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“Missed it by that much”
Monday, Jul 27, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From Gov. Pritzkers Executive Order 2020-41 issued on June 4th…
WHEREAS, the Sports Wagering Act, 230 ILCS 45/25-30(f), 25-35(f), and 25-40(i) requires that individuals create a sports wagering account in person at a facility authorized pursuant to the Act; and,
WHEREAS, due to social distancing requirements put in place to protect public health, and because existing licensed casino gambling facilities authorized pursuant to the Sports Wagering Act have been closed to the public since March 16, 2020 and will reopen only when safe to do so pursuant to the Restore Illinois plan, Illinois residents may not be able to appear in-person at a licensed casino;
THEREFORE, by the powers vested in me as the Governor of the State of Illinois, pursuant to Sections 7(1), 7(2), 7(8), and 7(12) of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act, 20 ILCS 3305, I hereby order the following, effective June 4, 2020:
Section 1. During the duration of the Gubernatorial Disaster Proclamations, the provisions in the Sports Wagering Act, 230 ILCS 45/25-30(f), 25-35(f), and 25-40(i), requiring in-person creation of a sports wagering account at a facility authorized pursuant to the Act in order to participate in sports wagering offered over the internet or through a mobile application, are suspended.
The statute mandated that until online sports wagering licenses are issued 18 months after the law took effect, “an individual must create a sports wagering account in person at a facility.” But that was not possible because casinos were closed at the time. Casinos were permitted to reopen July 1.
* Legal Sports Report
Governor J.B. Pritzker abruptly rescinded remote registration for mobile Illinois sports betting accounts as of tomorrow, effectively ending DraftKings‘ plans to launch its app in the state for now.
Pritzker issued Friday a new Gubernatorial Disaster Proclamation and he will no longer suspend the state’s in-person registration requirement. He reissued a number of executive orders but not the one related to sports betting. […]
The sudden move sends a shockwave through the IL sports betting market days before DraftKings reportedly expected to launch its mobile app. [Sunday] becomes the final day of remote registration and the only sportsbook/casino combo licensed to operate in Illinois belongs to Rivers. DraftKings received its license last week but partner property Casino Queen remains on hold for its certificate. […]
If DraftKings scraps its mobile IL sports betting startup plan through its partnership with Casino Queen, it will represent another loss for the DFS giant in an ongoing battle with Rush Street, the parent company of Rivers. The enmity among the parties dates back to DraftKings and FanDuel offering DFS contests in apparent defiance of a 2015 Illinois attorney general opinion declaring them illegal.
Along with FanDuel, DraftKings squared off with Rush Street last year during the lawmaking process for sports betting in Illinois. Rush Street attempted to sideline DraftKings and FanDuel for as long as the first three years of sports wagering in the state.
FanDuel and DraftKings responded with a $1 million TV ad campaign aimed at Rivers. The companies pulled the ads at the Pritzker’s request and legislators changed the sports betting bill to and 18-month ‘penalty box.’
Discuss.
[Headline explained here.]
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* Greg Hinz on the surge of federal agents into Chicago…
[US Attorney John Lausch], various sources tell me, assured [Mayor Lori Lightfoot, a former Lausch colleague at the US Attorney’s office] that, despite media reports, the surge would be not unilateral but cooperative, with agents working with the chain of command in their normal units—the FBI; the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives; U.S. Border Patrol, etc.—and in coordination with local authorities. Just like it had in other instances in the past.
Indeed, such surges, including personnel from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, “have happened on many occasions in the past,” says Randall Samborn, a former assistant U.S. attorney who was the spokesman for the Chicago office for many years. […]
He gave a series of media interviews to calm the waters. He got on the phone with key local congressmen, moving to assure them of what the surge would and would not include.
“He said, no, we’re not going to see these agents in the street,” acting as a federal police force, says U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Evanston, one of those, like Quigley, who were on one of the calls. “He wanted to assure us there was no Portland coming to Chicago. He talked about how they were working with (local) law enforcement people.”
* US Senators Durbin and Duckworth also issued a statement…
After needless threats from the President, we’re relieved the Trump Administration says they plan to work with local officials and authorities in Chicago rather than undermine local law enforcement and endanger our civil rights, as their agents have done in Portland. We will continue closely monitoring the Administration’s efforts to ensure they follow through with this commitment.
* Late Friday press release…
Three individuals have been charged with federal offenses for allegedly illegally possessing guns or ammunition in Chicago this week. The charges are the first federal prosecutions in Chicago under the Department of Justice’s Operation Legend. DARRYL COLLINS, 30, of Dolton, is charged with one count of illegal possession of ammunition by a convicted felon, while ROMEO HOLLOWAY, 21, of Chicago, is charged with one count of illegal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Collins and Holloway were previously convicted of criminal felonies and were not lawfully allowed to possess a firearm or ammunition. DARRYL PHILLIPS, 22, of Chicago, is charged with one count of illegal possession of a machinegun.
All three defendants are currently detained in federal custody.
* But a group of ten state senators is not satisfied…
As federal agents descend on Chicago under direction from the Trump administration, 10 state senators representing districts that include Chicago co-signed an open letter this past weekend to Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, urging them to “immediately cease cooperation with federal agents” who are deployed as part of Operation Legend.
The following state Senators joined more than 60 state, county and city elected officials, labor groups and community organizations in co-signing the letter: Illinois Senate Majority Leader Kim Lightford, Mattie Hunter, Jacqueline Collins, Omar Aquino, Ram Villivalam, Emil Jones, Robert Peters, Heather Steans, Patricia Van Pelt and Celina Villanueva.
“Chicago has more police officers per capita than any other major city in the U.S., but it has not made us the safest city in the U.S. by any measure,” the letter states. “Breaking the cycle of violence means that the city must invest in jobs, housing, schools, and healing, not prisons and police–and definitely not cooperation with a dangerous, racist, and repressive Presidential administration.”
The letter makes clear that the co-signers, “Do not trust any promises that President Trump has made or will make about their deployment.”
Co-signers want the Chicago Police Department and the Cook County Sheriff to immediately cease any existing or planned cooperation with “Operation Legend” federal agents by doing the following:
1. Do not allow DEA, ATF, U.S. Marshals Service, Department of Homeland Security, and FBI agents to use city police or county sheriff property, staff, or other resources, including offices, parking lots, police stations, or the Cook County Jail.
2. Cease all information- and database-sharing with federal law enforcement agencies including DEA, ATF, U.S. Marshals Service, Department of Homeland Security, and FBI.
3. Do not allow federal agents to assume custody of anyone who is being held in custody of the Chicago Police Department or the Cook County Sheriff, including at Cook County Jail.
4. Expand existing sanctuary zones (schools, hospitals, places of worship) to include other city properties, including library and park buildings, where federal agents are not permitted to enter, detain, or interrogate civilians.
The full letter is here.
Thoughts?
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MJM PAC launched by Hampton
Monday, Jul 27, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sun-Times…
A former political consultant whose allegations of sexual harassment against a longtime aide to House Speaker Mike Madigan highlighted the treatment of women in Illinois politics has created a new political action committee with the goal of helping the state “elect more ethical and accountable elected officials.”
Alaina Hampton on Wednesday launched the Majority Justice Movement PAC — just five days after ComEd was charged in federal court with bribery in a bombshell case that implicates several people, including Madigan, though no one else has been criminally charged. Madigan has denied any wrongdoing.
“What we’ve seen over the course of the past several years or honestly for my entire lifetime is that we don’t have very many elected officials in the state of Illinois that are willing to hold corrupt politicians accountable, and I think the rest of Illinois deserves more transparent and ethical leadership,” Hampton said Sunday.
“What I’d like to do is help fund candidates and elected officials that are willing to have a little more intermittence from the machine-style politics that we see here in Illinois,” she continued. “And what that means is helping them learn how to fundraise so they don’t have to rely on directed funds from large corporations such as ComEd.”
* Tribune…
Hampton said she is digging through state election board filings — reports candidates and elected officials submit regularly accounting for who has donated to their campaigns and how much. On Monday, she’s “going to start calling through to legislators who have taken money from ComEd and asking them to donate that money to this PAC,” Hampton told the Tribune in a Friday phone interview. […]
Hampton said she wants the money to fund the campaigns of candidates who are not beholden to big companies.
“I decided to start this political action committee because I think residents deserve more honorable and accountable elected officials, and I think what we’ve seen over the past few years is that we don’t have very many, elected officials that are willing to stand up to machine politics here and take a stand and hold people accountable,” said Hampton, who now works for a national Democratic consulting firm.
* Meanwhile…
Former Commonwealth Edison CEO Anne Pramaggiore resigned [Friday] from the Motorola Solutions board following disclosures in federal filings that she was directly involved in ComEd’s admitted efforts to bribe House Speaker Michael Madigan in return for favorable and lucrative legislation.
The news, delivered in a terse Securities & Exchange Commission filing, provided no reason for her resignation, other than to say it was not due to any disagreement with Motorola regarding its operations or policies.
* Related…
* ComEd bribery scheme implicating Illinois House Speaker revives term limits talk: Anyone who thinks term limits alone would eliminate corruption need look no further than term-limited Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, a Republican who was arrested last week on a federal complaint alleging his participation in a $60 million bribery scheme. Surprisingly, the other legislative leaders are already term-limited. The Senate Democrats and Republicans in both the House and Senate already limit their leaders’ terms through legislative rules. Retired Senate President John Cullerton, a Chicago Democrat who began his career in the House as a Madigan protege, took the lead in 2017 to restrict leaders to five two-year terms as either minority or majority leader.
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* Gov. JB Pritzker was in Quincy earlier today and was asked about past opposition to his stay at home order and how he thinks things will be different with his latest mask-wearing pitch…
As you know, the positivity rates in this area have risen, and risen and risen. And I think as there is a greater threat to people who live in this area, as they know more people who’ve gotten sick or had to go to the hospital, or even have died, I think it becomes more real for many people. There have been people who have, you know, been adamantly opposed to any rules at all about this. And then some of those people have gotten sick.
And so obviously, our message to those folks is this is not a political virus. It’s not a Red State virus or a Blue State virus. It’s not something made up by somebody for political purposes. This virus attacks anybody.
And we just have to figure out how to live with it, to make sure the fewest number of people get sick, go to the hospital, maybe die. And that’s what we’re trying to do and we need everybody’s help. You don’t have to be an activist on behalf of fighting for something that will help us, or work against us, just follow the mitigation suggestions of science, of the doctors, of really everybody standing here, you know, keep social distance.
We don’t have to do this forever. You’ve seen there’s progress on vaccines and treatments. And you know, we’re not there yet. We’re not there yet. And frankly, we’re not going to be there until 2021, in my humble opinion. I’m not a doctor, but that’s what my observation is, that we’re not going to be able to take off the mask and go about everything we were doing seven, eight months ago for a few more months, maybe six plus months.
So let’s all work together on this. That’s my message to all those folks. I’m sorry that they have decided to personalize it.
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* Today…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced 1,231 new confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 18 additional confirmed deaths.
- Cook County – 1 male 30s, 1 male 40s, 1 male 50s, 2 females 60s, 3 males 60s, 1 female 70s, 2 male 70s, 1 male 90s
- DuPage County: 1 male 50s, 1 female 90s
- Peoria County: 1 female 50s
- Winnebago County: 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 172,655 cases, including 7,416 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 30,567 specimens for a total of 2,542,134. The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from July 20 –July 26 is 3.8%. As of last night, 1,417 people in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 350 patients were in the ICU and 124 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
Following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, IDPH is now reporting both confirmed and probable cases and deaths on its website. Reporting probable cases will help show the potential burden of COVID-19 illness and efficacy of population-based non-pharmaceutical interventions. IDPH will update these data once a week.
* Sunday…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced 1,541 new confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including one additional confirmed death.
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 171,424 cases, including 7,398 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 40,844 specimens for a total of 2,511,567. The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from July 19 –July 25 is 3.7%. As of last night, 1,394 people in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 345 patients were in the ICU and 119 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
* Saturday…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced 1,426 new confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 12 additional confirmed deaths.
Boone County: 1 male 70s
Cook County: 3 females 60s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s, 1 female 90s
Cumberland County: 1 female 100+
DuPage County: 1 female 80s
Kane County: 1 female 30s
Lake County: 1 female 70s
St. Clair County: 1 female 70s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 169,883 cases, including 7,397 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 38,200 specimens for a total of 2,470,723. The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from July 18 –July 24 is 3.6%. As of last night, 1,438 people in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 341 patients were in the ICU and 110 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
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Hey, governor! Remember this?
Monday, Jul 27, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* My column from January 18 of this year…
Gov. J.B. Pritzker regularly deflects questions about House Speaker Michael Madigan’s future by saying he wants to let the investigative process work.
But during an interview with me to mark his one-year anniversary in office, the governor pointed to his reaction after Sen. Tom Cullerton, D-Villa Park, was indicted, now-former Sen. Martin Sandoval’s, D-Chicago, Statehouse office was raided and now-former Rep. Luis Arroyo, D-Chicago, was arrested. In every instance, he said, he called on the legislators to step aside or resign.
When there’s “clear” evidence of targeting by criminal investigators, the governor said, “that’s the point at which folks should step aside.”
The questions aren’t new. During the sexual harassment scandals of 2018, candidate Pritzker was often asked if Madigan should relinquish at least one or both of his roles as House Speaker and state party chairman. He’d always defer, pretty much just like he’s done during the sweeping federal probe.
Pritzker’s latest answer, however, is more specific and allows him to set the bar for any showdown with Madigan, who surely seems to be on the federal government’s radar screen but for what nobody knows for sure. No crimes have yet been alleged. We know that some of his pals have been raided (including Mike McClain), but it’s still unclear what, exactly, the feds are looking at other than hiring Democratic cronies by the private company ComEd.
I do not see how there is less than “clear” evidence of targeting by criminal investigators right now.
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Afzal drops out, Kass moved inside
Monday, Jul 27, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Politico…
TED CRUZ has nothing better to do: Sen. Ted Cruz singled out a tweet Sunday by Hadiya Afzal, an activist running for DuPage County Board District 4, for ire. Afzal had commented on a video that showed a federal officer in Portland being hit by an object. “ive been watching this on repeat for fifteen minutes and laughing every single time,” Afzal tweeted from her private account. Cruz retweeted, saying “Hateful & sick. Does @JoeBiden agree?”
Ugh.
* Her stupid tweet became quite a thing over the weekend, particularly among those who love to complain about “cancel culture”…
Her term with the College Democrats of Illinois ended in June. So she’s no longer president.
* Anyway, it was a really bad move on her part and she dropped out of the race…
* Meanwhile…
John Kass, the Chicago Tribune’s most prominent columnist, is under fire from his co-workers for invoking what they called an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory involving billionaire George Soros in a column last week.
A letter from the Chicago Tribune Guild, signed by nine members of the executive board, called on the newspaper and Kass to “apologize for his indefensible invocation of the Soros tropes.” […]
Under the headline “Something grows in the big cities run by Democrats: An overwhelming sense of lawlessness,” the column blamed Soros for spending “millions of dollars to help elect liberal social justice warriors as prosecutors [including Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx], adding: “He remakes the justice system in urban America, flying under the radar.” (Here is the link.)
Noting the controversy ignited by the column, the Chicago Tribune Guild letter said: “The odious, anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that billionaire George Soros is a puppet master controlling America’s big cities does not deserve a mainstream voice, especially at a time when hate crimes are rising.
* An hour after Feder posted the above came this…
After 23 years as the Chicago Tribune’s white male conservative standard-bearer, John Kass is about to lose his coveted spot on Page 2 and his status as the newspaper’s “lead columnist.”
Colin McMahon, editor-in-chief of the Tribune, today announced plans to reorganize the paper’s columnists and separate their work from the news section.
Within the next few days the changes will be unveiled in print and online to help readers differentiate between news and opinions, he said. One effect will be to relegate Kass and other columnists farther back in the print edition and label them more clearly as opinion writers.
“Those changes speak to our need and desire to be transparent with readers about what we do,” McMahon said. “And, I believe, they will help us maintain the credibility of our news coverage with our online audience, our print readers and our communities amid what is by all accounts a raw and hyper-partisan political environment.”
* The Guild isn’t impressed…
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* Mike Miletich…
A group of about 150 people gathered outside the Illinois Capitol Complex Saturday for the “Million Unmasked March.” The group of parents and guardians argue their children shouldn’t be forced to wear masks to attend school this fall.
An organizer of the event said Americans have the right to choice and children shouldn’t be “tortured” with masks. […]
“This is a free country. If I don’t want to live in Illinois, I can move,” said Michael Rebresh. “But no state owns my child. I’m not an indentured servant to the state. They don’t get to tell me what to do.” […]
The organizer also spit on Capitol Bureau Chief Mike Miletich before starting the interview. He jokingly asked if he could wipe the spit off the reporter’s N95 mask with a sweaty rag, but Miletich refused. Rebresh said it was an accident.
So classy.
* Brenden Moore…
“If wearing a mask gives you peace of mind, have at it. We support your right to choose,” said Michael Rebresh, one of the organizers of the rally. “But in saying that, we expect that our right to choose for ourselves, for our kids is treated equally as valid and reserved as most sacred in our democracy.” […]
“You know if you need to wear a mask and that’s all right,” said state Rep. Darren Bailey, R-Xenia, one of the event’s speakers. “I know I don’t need to wear a mask and I’m not going to told to wear a mask.” […]
On Friday, Sangamon County Public Health Director Gail O’Neill said that face coverings are “really the only physical tool that we have to help combat this virus situation.”
Studies have shown that people who wear face masks can reduce the likelihood that they transmit the disease to another person.
* Cole Henke…
One of the people marching was arrested by Springfield police after she spit on a counter protestor. The protestor was holding a sign saying, “Where are the other 999,000.”
The mask mandate is meant to protect both children and staff when they return to school. Masks are found to slow the spread of the virus, and keep undiagnosed or asymptomatic kids or staff from spreading it around the school.
But Rebresh doesn’t see the point in that.
“Asymptomatic, if i am asymptomatic, and you make that call, and i assume you are asymptomatic, if we are both asymptomatic, then why are we even wearing masks. We already got it,” Rebresh said.
A real Einstein.
* My “favorite” sign…
* And what would an anti-mask rally be without the other fringe types?…
* Also…
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Aren’t y’all forgetting something?
Monday, Jul 27, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tribune editorial…
“The speaker has a lot that he needs to answer for — to authorities, to investigators and most importantly to the people of Illinois,” Pritzker said. “If these allegations of wrongdoing by the speaker are true, there is no question that he will have betrayed the public trust and he must resign.”
The Democrats who’ve been living off that weak ultimatum — Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle included — won’t call for Madigan to resign as House speaker and head of their state party, or as a state rep, until they know the Justice Department’s allegations are “true.” But years could pass before federal courts render final judgment on what prosecutors can establish beyond reasonable doubt. Years. […]
Rather than demanding that Madigan leave or be dethroned, Pritzker, Lightfoot, Preckwinkle and Democrats in the legislature are waiting for … what, exactly?
If they won’t insist that Madigan go until they know everything about his conduct, then they’re admitting that milking Madigan for campaign money and political muscle means more to them than living by the good-government platitudes they love to mouth.
Um, it’s not just the Democrats.
* House Republican Leader Jim Durkin…
The allegations presented today are troubling and downright depressing. Speaker Madigan needs to “speak” up on this issue, and if the allegations are true, he needs to resign immediately.
* Senate Republican Leader Bill Brady…
If the allegations reported today against Speaker Madigan turn out to be true, then he should resign.
…Adding… Um, no, unless they’re gonna do a write-in…
And there’s an effort to drum up an opponent against Madigan in November. Good luck. The election is Nov. 3 but the first round of mail-in ballots land in voters’ homes Sept. 24.
18 Comments
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* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…
A couple of days after the July 17th disclosures in ComEd’s deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. attorney’s office, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan called individual House Democrats to reassure them that all would be well.
According to multiple legislators, the speaker told his members that he had done nothing wrong and that he never did things like recommend unqualified people for jobs, and fully expected that if they were hired, they would actually show up for work.
One object, I was told, was to prevent more House Democrats from releasing “if true, Madigan must resign” statements.
The gambit failed. By the day he had called, four House Democrats already had said he should resign if the allegations were true. Another, Rep. Anne Stava-Murray, D-Naperville, had gone even further, saying Madigan ought to resign without an “if true” qualifier.
And then not long after the calls, two more House Democrats released “if true” statements, followed that evening by “if true” demands from 12 members of the House Progressive Caucus, eight of whom had not already issued similar statements.
That makes 15. And 74 House Democrats minus 15 equals 59, which is one vote shy of what Madigan will need to be reelected speaker in January, though it’s unclear what will happen that far down the road.
Just two House Democratic men have spoken up. As with the 2018 sexual harassment crisis in his chamber, Madigan once again faces serious problems with women legislators.
Madigan also informed his members that while he was cooperating fully with the feds, he would be fighting these claims because there was no quid pro quo. But fending off the full force and might of a federal prosecutor who appears more hell-bent on prosecuting the speaker than any of his predecessors will not be easy or cheap.
The Friends of Michael J. Madigan campaign committee began earnestly spending money on legal fees in late July of 2017 and has reported spending $2.66 million on lawyers since then. Some of that was spent on investigations that Madigan ordered into his own political operation regarding sexual harassment issues, but not all.
Madigan’s $2.66 million is more than one of every five dollars (21%) expended on legal and attorney fees since late July of 2017 by all state and local candidates and political committees in Illinois combined. Whew.
So I asked a Madigan campaign spokesperson if he would pledge to spend all the money he raises for the rest of this campaign cycle on campaigns and not on legal fees.
“Not going to have a comment,” the spokesperson emailed me back.
Madigan’s most vital job is electing and reelecting House Democrats, many of them suburban women, and that costs lots of money. But so does a vigorous legal defense.
Madigan was super-quick to oust others during the 2018 sexual harassment crisis. For example, Madigan immediately stripped Deputy Majority Leader Lou Lang of his leadership position and his chairmanships after wild and ultimately disproved allegations were leveled against Lang, including a preposterous claim that Lang was involved in a $170 million “bribery” scheme.
Madigan’s actions appeared prudent at the time to many. But now the shoe is on his own foot.
As with the 2018 sexual harassment scandal, there is no doubt that Madigan created this current climate, either by design or by default.
How else can you explain the willingness of ComEd to allegedly hand over a vacant corporate board seat to the man? Why else would ComEd pay millions of dollars to a “consultant” so he could allegedly use that money to put Madigan’s captains (and others) on the payroll who did little to no work? The company’s internship program apparently had a direct pipeline to the 13th Ward, for crying out loud.
These things don’t happen out of thin air. You don’t throw one precious goodie after another at somebody unless you believe it works. And, hey, give Madigan the benefit of the doubt, maybe one thing didn’t specifically lead to another. But you cannot disagree that Madigan allowed that impression to persist.
Madigan ultimately had to admit in 2018 that he’d fostered a hostile climate for women. To his credit, he made things better.
Madigan also created a climate that allowed these ComEd favors to happen, whether he specifically ordered those favors or not. As before, perhaps, he didn’t want to know as long as everything got done.
And, as before, he should admit to this and disavow the practice and change the way things are done or he should seriously consider retirement. It’s time to fully bring Illinois into the 21st Century.
24 Comments
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Open thread
Monday, Jul 27, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Talk amongst yourselves, but keep it local and polite. Thanks.
33 Comments
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