Bessent's witty remark about Illinois exodus leaves Chicago-area lawmaker fuming on camerap

If there’s one thing congressional Democrats love more than lecturing Americans about economics, it’s yelling at Republicans who actually know something about economics.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent found himself on the receiving end of one of Capitol Hill’s trademark Democrat meltdowns this week during a House Ways and Means Committee hearing, when Rep. Brad Schneider of Illinois decided that volume was a substitute for intelligence.

Schneider joined the usual parade of Democrats trying to pin every fluctuation in grocery prices on President Donald Trump, tariffs, Iran, capitalism, weather patterns, and probably Jupiter being in retrograde. Bessent, meanwhile, kept calmly reminding everyone that inflation during the Biden years looked like a Black Friday riot at the Federal Reserve.

Things got spicy after Schneider attempted to corner Bessent over comments regarding the Iran conflict. Schneider dramatically asked whether Bessent wanted to "correct the record" about the conflict being "ended," before rattling off a list of concerns about Iran threatening Israel and U.S. allies.

Bessent, clearly enjoying himself, smiled and asked whether Schneider was suddenly "in agreement" with Trump since the congressman had just repeated the administration’s goals out loud without spontaneously combusting.

"Unless an American life is lost, he does not believe that he will have to restart the kinetic attacks," Bessent replied.

That answer did not soothe Schneider, who immediately shifted into the familiar Democrat setting of Angry Cable News Panelist. As the congressman grew more agitated, he tried tying rising commodity prices to the Iran conflict while blaming Trump and Bessent for everything short of the Cubs bullpen.

Bessent responded with the sort of thing Democrats hate most, actual numbers.

The treasury secretary pointed out that core inflation currently sits at 2.8%, close to the Federal Reserve’s target, before dryly noting that Schneider seemed determined to recite a grocery list of the most expensive items he could find.

"you can list off the most expensive groceries that have had the biggest price increases," Bessent quipped.

Naturally, Schneider accused Bessent of being out of touch, because modern Democrats believe anyone who disagrees with them must either be evil or shopping at the wrong supermarket.

That’s when Bessent delivered the line that probably caused half the Illinois delegation to start stress-eating deep dish pizza.

"Well, you Democrats should know, no wonder so many people are leaving Illinois. Why don't you come see me in South Carolina?"

Ouch.

Schneider, apparently unaware that U-Haul statistics exist, angrily insisted people are not fleeing Illinois.

Bessent couldn’t resist twisting the knife.

"You're saying Illinois doesn't have net outbound migration?"

At that point, somebody in the room probably should’ve checked Schneider’s blood pressure.

The congressman then abruptly changed subjects to Trump’s settlement with the IRS over former contractor Charles Littlejohn leaking tax returns, because nothing says “I’m winning this argument” like bailing out entirely.

Schneider huffed that nobody, including Trump, is "above the law."

Bessent calmly fired back that Trump is not "beneath the law" either, while accusing Democrats of "weaponizing the system."

Schneider then solemnly declared, "His taxes should never be leaked. No taxpayer information should be leaked…"

That setup was just too easy.

"Then, congressman, would you like to apologize to the president right now on behalf [of your party]?"

Somewhere deep in the bowels of Congress, a Democrat communications staffer immediately updated their résumé.

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Venezuelan national busted after allegedly killing 18-year-old Chicago student

A 25-year-old Venezuelan national, Jose Medina-Medina ,who entered the United States illegally has been arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Loyola University Chicago student Sheridan Gorman. Gorman was reportedly walking with friends along the Tobey Prinz Beach pier, near campus, when a masked man opened fire, violently, and senselessly shooting her in the head. 

The young lady was pronounced dead at the scene.

In a statement to ABC7, Gorman’s family said that she had gone to the pier to look at the Northern Lights, emphasizing that “there was nothing reckless about her actions” at the time, suggesting further that this was a completely random attack.

“Sheridan was our daughter, our sister, and the heart of our family. She was full of life, full of kindness, and full of a love that she gave freely to everyone around her,” the family said in a statement.

Medina-Medina was arrested-arrested on Friday night and was scheduled to appear in court on Monday. This was delayed, however, as he has since been hospitalized for tuberculosis, according to prosecutors who spoke to the Chicago Tribune. At this point, no official motive has been identified for the crime.

In a statement released on Sunday, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has lodged a detainer against Medina. The department noted that Medina had been released twice in 2023 under the Biden administration's policies, including a release following an arrest for shoplifting in Chicago.

“Sheridan Gorman had her whole life ahead of her before this cold-blooded killer decided to end her life. She was failed by open border policies and sanctuary politicians who RELEASED this illegal alien TWICE before he went on to commit this heinous murder,” said Lauren Bis, DHS acting assistant secretary, in the statement.

“We are calling on Governor J.B. Pritzker and Chicago’s sanctuary politicians to commit to not releasing this criminal illegal alien from jail back into American neighborhoods,” she added.Responding to news of the arrest, the Gorman family issued a statement through ABC7, ultimately describing the tragedy as a “violent and preventable act.”

“We are gravely disappointed by the policies and failures that allowed this individual to remain in a position to commit this crime. When systems fail, whether through release decisions, lack of coordination, or unwillingness to act, the consequences are not abstract. They are real. And in our case, they are permanent.”

“This cannot be just another case that fades from public attention. Sheridan’s life mattered. What happened to her matters. And we will make sure she is not forgotten,” they continued.

Miss Gorman was an 18-year-old freshman at Loyola University Chicago, though originally from Yorktown, New York. A business major and active member of the Christian campus organization Cru, she was described by friends and family as a compassionate, joyful, and kind person who was deeply involved in her campus community despite only being in her first year. 

The fatal incident occurred around 1:15 a.m. at the Tobey Prinz Beach pier in Rogers Park while Gorman was walking with a group of friends, having gone to the lakefront specifically to try to view the Northern Lights. According to investigators, the masked man approached the group from behind a lighthouse and opened fire as they attempted to flee. Gorman was struck in the head and pronounced dead at the scene. No other injuries were reported among her friends.

A memorial and scholarship fund are being established in Gorman’s honor in her hometown of Yorktown.

This is the sort of story that should shame a nation. A young woman, full of promise and untouched by any recklessness or provocation, steps out on a clear night simply to witness a rare natural wonder, the Northern Lights dancing above Lake Michigan. In that innocent moment she is executed at point-blank range by a man who had no right to be in the country at all, a man released not once but twice by the very authorities charged with protecting American citizens.

The family’s grief is raw and dignified. They insist there was “nothing reckless about her actions,” as if even the faintest suggestion of fault must be extinguished before it can be whispered. They are right to do so. For this was not a tragic encounter between rival gang members or the unhappy result of some personal dispute. It was, by every available account, a random slaughter, the sort that occurs when the state has decided that its own laws on entry and removal are optional, when sanctuary policies matter more than the safety of its own people, and when the consequences of those decisions are borne not by politicians in their guarded offices but by freshmen walking along a pier.

Consider the sequence. The killer, a Venezuelan an illegal alien, had already been arrested for shoplifting in Chicago. Under the policies of the Biden administration he was released. Later he was encountered again and released once more. 

Now an American teenager lies dead, her skull shattered by his bullet, while he sits in hospital with tuberculosis, the court appearance postponed. The Department of Homeland Security has at last lodged a detainer, as though such paperwork could resurrect the dead or undo the years of deliberate negligence that placed the murderer on that pier in the first place.

The family sees it clearly. “We are gravely disappointed by the policies and failures that allowed this individual to remain in a position to commit this crime,” they say. “When systems fail, whether through release decisions, lack of coordination, or unwillingness to act, the consequences are not abstract. They are real. And in our case, they are permanent.”

There is a terrible eloquence in those words. Permanent. That is what open-border ideology and sanctuary-city dogma have delivered to Sheridan Gorman and her family: a permanent absence, a life cut short at eighteen, a future of studies and friendships and quiet Christian witness erased in a single act of casual savagery.

Politicians will speak of  “comprehensive reform” and “root causes” in the days ahead, as they always do. They will treat this as one more data point in an argument rather than as the human catastrophe it is. But the family will not let it fade. “This cannot be just another case that fades from public attention,” they declare. “Sheridan’s life mattered. What happened to her matters. And we will make sure she is not forgotten.”

They should not have to fight alone for that remembrance. The rest of us, those still fortunate enough to live under laws that are actually enforced, have a duty to ensure that Sheridan Gorman is not remembered merely as another statistic in the long ledger of migrant crime, but as the precise and foreseeable cost of a governing philosophy that values ideological purity over the elementary obligation to keep citizens safe in their own streets and on their own shores. 

A scholarship and a memorial in Yorktown will be established, small consolations for an irreparable loss. Yet the true memorial must be larger: a national reckoning with the reality that when a country stops controlling its borders, it stops controlling its fate, and the first to pay are the young, the innocent, and the hopeful, walking out one autumn night to see the lights in the sky.

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Illinois justice system leaks like a sieve

Here's your daily dose of "sanctuary city" insanity, brought to you by the People's Republic of Illinois. 

While the rest of the country is trying to get dangerous illegal aliens off the streets, Governor Jabba the Hutt (D-IL) and Chicago's own Brandon "Let's Defund Everything But Illegal Aliens" Johnson have apparently decided that child rapists and murderers deserve a second, or third, or fourth chance to roam free. ICE just dropped a letter that ought to make every law-abiding Illinois resident's blood boil. 

Since January 2025, the Land of Lincoln has released a jaw-dropping 1,768 criminal illegal aliens who had active ICE detainers. You know, the little piece of paper that says, "Hey, local jail, hold this guy so we can deport him." But no, Illinois said "catch and release" is their new state fish., and these aren't jaywalkers or litterbugs. We're talking:

Attempted murder
Aggravated sexual assault
Aggravated kidnapping
Predatory criminal sexual assault of a child (yes, you read that right)
Child abduction
Multiple homicides

Todd Lyons, the acting ICE director, was blunt about the problem: "These offenders should be swiftly removed from the United States … and not be returned to our streets to wreak havoc on law-abiding citizens."

Instead, Illinois Democrats are basically rolling out the red carpet: "Welcome back to the neighborhood, here's your get-out-of-jail-free card!" It's suicidal for everyone except those who run this s**t show. 

There are still another 4,015 criminal aliens sitting in state and local custody with pending detainers, including 51 tied to homicides and over 800 sexual-predatory offenses, who could be sprung any day thanks to Governor "Pass the Gravy" Pritzker and Johnson's open contempt for federal law.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem showed up in Illinois on August 8 and torched the dynamic duo to their faces. Good for her. Someone had to say it out loud, but what effect it will have is probably nil. 

Lyons closed his letter with the question every taxpayer in Illinois deserves an answer to: Is the state going to "change course or continue releasing violent offenders who may otherwise walk the streets of Illinois again?"

It's time the Illinois government stop treating ICE detainers like they're suggestions on a Chinese takeout menu and instead put public safety ahead of their woke virtue-signaling. But don't hold your breath hoping Pritzker is suddenly going to grow a spine underneath all that adipose tissue. The bulbous billionaire heir and his light-on-crime mayor would rather let another child get assaulted than admit Trump-era immigration enforcement had a point because it's actually working in places other than Illinois.

Illinois taxpayers, enjoy the "sanctuary" you voted for. The rest of us will be over here praying we don't end up on the wrong side of one of these monsters the state just set loose.

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Governor who's committing suicide by food wants Illinois to allow state's visitors to commit suicide too

Illinois Democrats are at it again, shoving through a ghoulish Halloween special that's straight out of a dystopian nightmare: a bill to turn the Land of Lincoln into a one-stop shop for assisted suicide, all while trampling on the religious freedoms of doctors who actually believe in the sanctity of life. And it's just sitting there on Gov. J.B. Pritzker's desk, waiting for his progressive pen to make it official.

In the witching hour just after midnight on All Hallows' Eve, Illinois Senate Democrats bulldozed this death-on-demand legislation through in a 30-27 vote, capping off a House passage back in May. The measure would green-light doctors to hand out lethal prescriptions to terminal patients with six months or less to live, because this is how the left views "compassion."

But here's where it gets even more insidious: Conservative watchdogs are sounding the alarm that this isn't just about "choice," it's a full-frontal assault on faith-based medicine, forcing Christian physicians and hospitals to play along with the grim reaper's playbook.

"You're not just allowing physicians to give people deadly drugs to kill themselves, but you're actually forcing us or people of faith, to be part of it, to promote it," Peter Breen, head of litigation at the Thomas More Society, laid it out bluntly to conservative outlet The Daily Wire. "I know of no other state where the legislature has gone this far in restricting the religious liberty rights of people of faith."

Sure, the bill pays lip service to opt-outs for doctors who won't pull the trigger themselves. But Breen isn't buying it.

 Buried in the fine print are mandates that would compel institutions and physicians to refer patients to the poison pill parade and even advertise the "opportunity" to check out early. It's coercion dressed up as consent.

Worse, Breen warns, the language would tie the hands of Christian hospitals, making it impossible to boot a doctor who peddles assisted dying on the side, on or off campus. Because why stop at killing the patient when you can kill religious liberty too?

Ten states plus D.C. already flirt with this folly on both coasts, but Illinois? This would plant the flag of euthanasia smack in America's heartland, a beacon for the terminally ill from flyover country, and beyond.

"Illinois would become the first state in the middle of the country to enact assisted suicide," Breen hammered home. "There’s a significant concern that this is going to turn Illinois into a suicide tourism state."

What the Prairie State Democrats are peddling here is beyond the pale, a direct middle finger to Christian ethics that value life until the last breath. The Illinois Catholic Conference has blasted the bill and begged Biggie Pritzker to spike it like a bad shot.

Pritzker eyes the other sandwich

Even Breen, no fan of the governor's hard-left bona fides, clings to a sliver of optimism: Pritzker might actually veto this monstrosity over the First Amendment fallout. Fingers crossed, because the guy's track record isn't exactly a rosary of restraint.

For his part, Pritzker's playing the empathy card without committing. "I know how terrible it is that someone who's in the last six months of their life could be experiencing terrible pain and anguish. And I know people who’ve gone through that," he mused Monday. "It hits me deeply and makes me wonder about, you know, how we can alleviate the pain that they’re going through?"

If he inks this abomination, though? Game on. Breen vows the Thomas More Society will haul Illinois into court faster than you can say "equal protection." They've already tangled with the state over a prior outrage forcing pro-life pregnancy centers to shill for abortion, talk about déjà vu from hell. Let's hope the judge's gavel rings louder than the Democrats' death knell.

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Chicago Principal Plays Victim Card for Teacher Who 'Bang-Bang Mocked' Charlie Kirk's Murder

Oh, the irony is thicker than a leftist's skull: A public school principal in the crime ridden Windy City is bending over backward to shield a large teacher who turned a protest into a grotesque pantomime of conservative firebrand Charlie Kirk's assassination like, literally finger-gunning her own neck while hollering "bang, bang." 

But sure, let's frame her as the poor, persecuted soul amid the "threats." 

Enter Lucy Martinez, the woke Nathan Hale Elementary School educator who's now starring in her own episode of Leftist Teacher Gone Wild. 

Captured on video over the weekend at a "No Kings" rally, because apparently protesting monarchy is code for reenacting bullet-through-the-throat fantasies, Martinez decided to channel her inner sociopath. The clip, exploding across social media with tens of millions of views, shows her mimicking the exact wound that took Kirk's life last month: finger to the jugular, imaginary trigger pull, and those oh-so-charming sound effects. Subtle as a sledgehammer to the funny bone, if your idea of funny is desecrating a fresh grave of a descent human being.

And what does Principal Dawn Iles-Gomez do when the backlash hits like a Twitter storm? She fires off a letter to parents that reads like a masterclass in bullcrap bureaucratic deflection. No mea culpas for the teacher, no hints of consequences, just a vague nod to shadowy online bogeymen supposedly gunning for Martinez. 

Because in the upside-down world of Chicago Public Schools, the real crime isn't mocking a murdered man's final moments; it's the peasants daring to notice.

"Dear Hale Parents and Staff, safety continues to be my top priority, which is why I am writing to notify you of a situation involving our school," the letter states. "We were recently made aware of social media posts with language that resembles a potential threat to a staff member. We take all potential threats extremely seriously to ensure the safety of our school community."

"The Chicago Police Department and the CPS Office of Safety and Security have been notified, and CPD is currently investigating this situation further," the letter continued.

Translation: "Move along, folks--nothing to see here except maybe some mean tweets that totally justify ignoring the elephant in the room (or the finger-gun at the protest)." 

Calls for Martinez's firing are mounting faster than the views on that video, and rightly so. But in a system where principals polish turds into trophies, don't hold your breath for actual accountability. After all, if you're teaching kids at an elementary school named after a guy who famously regretted getting hanged, you'd think irony would be the last lesson skipped. Yet here we are.

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Dem. Gov. Pritzker turns colleges into abortion vendors

Kristan Hawkins, the firebrand president of Students for Life Action (SFLAction), didn't hold back when she tore Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker 'a new one' for signing a bill that shoves Chemical Abortion Pills down the throats of public college campuses. "It's outrageous," she roared, "that the abortion radicals are forcing today's students to subsidize ending the lives of the next generation. Pregnancy is not a disease cured by abortion." 

House Bill 3709 is a gut punch, mandating that public colleges with student health centers stock contraception and those deadly Chemical Abortion Pills. It's turning campuses into abortion vending machines. Students at places like the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois Chicago, and Illinois State University are already shelling out health service fees. Now, those fees will fund campus clinics dishing out dangerous pills. Prairie State kids are getting screwed, forced to bankroll this madness.

This isn't Illinois going rogue, it's following the same unhinged script as California's Senate Bill 24 (2019), Massachusetts' H. 2399 (2022), and New York's S1213A (2023). Those states already turned their colleges into abortion hubs, and Illinois is just chasing their tail, copying the radical playbook of the coastal elites.

And don't buy the "safe and easy" claptrap about these pills. They're a nightmare for women. 

College clinics aren't equipped for the fallout; think hemorrhaging, infections, or worse. The Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) dropped a bombshell: the FDA has been lowballing serious complications from these pills. We're talking 22 times more adverse events than they admit, over 1 in 10 women face serious risks. That’s not a statistic; that's a scandal.

SFLAction has been in the trenches on this one. They pushed the Protecting Life on College Campus Act in Congress to cut federal funds to schools peddling these pills through "student-based service sites." And the people are on their side—SFLAction’s Demetree Institute for Pro-Life Advancement YouGov poll shows 9 out of 10 young voters back this fight.

They're not slowing down either. SFLAction’s nationwide This Is Chemical Abortion campaign is exposing the ugly truth about these pills, campus by campus. Hawkins and her crew are bringing the heat, and they're not backing off.

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Pritzker’s Latest: Handing Out College Cash to Illegals While Illinois Drowns in Debt

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, the corpulent Democrat billionaire with 2028 White House whispers, just inked a bill that has conservatives spitting coffee. The new law throws open the doors of state-funded financial aid to all residents, yes, including illegal immigrants. If you're in Illinois and dreaming of college, Pritzker's got your back, legal status be damned.

Cue the outrage. Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL), didn't mince words, calling it a "slap in the face" to hardworking Illinois families. "Our state is drowning in debt, yet JB Pritzker is determined to drain even more taxpayer dollars to reward illegals," she told Fox News Digital. "It's absolutely shameful." Miller isn't wrong; Illinois' budget is already a train-wreck, and this move isn't exactly screaming fiscal responsibility.

The bill's defenders, like state Sen. Celina Villanueva, are popping champagne. "This law is about making sure no student is left behind because of where they were born," Villanueva said, framing it as a win for "equity." Her office bragged that the measure scraps a "patchwork of confusing and sometimes conflicting requirements" that kept undocumented, DACAmented, and mixed-status students from getting aid.

Translation: if you're in Illinois, you are now eligible for state or local financial aid, whether you're a citizen, a DACA recipient, or, say, a transgender student who didn't register for selective service. The bill has a little something for everyone, except, perhaps, the taxpayers footing the bill.

Villanueva's all-in on the feel-good vibes: "If you live in Illinois and are pursuing higher education, you should have access to the same opportunities as your peers."

Sounds nice, but the Illinois GOP isn't buying it. A spokesperson told the outlet that Pritzker's "prioritizing illegal immigrants at the expense of Illinois families." They added, "Illinois taxpayers should not have their hard-earned dollars pay for benefits to illegal immigrants who shouldn't be here in the first place." 

Meanwhile, state Sen. Andrew Chesney (R) took to Fox's Fox & Friends First to pile on, blaming Pritzker's policies for everything from budget woes to a recent deadly collision. He's calling for a serious overhaul of state laws, and you can bet this financial aid stunt isn’t helping Pritzker's case.

So, there you have it: Illinois, already strapped for cash, is now playing Santa Claus with college funds for illegal immigrants. Pritzker is betting this will cement his progressive cred, but with folks like Miller and the Illinois GOP crying foul, it's looking more like a political hot potato. As Miller put it, "It’s absolutely shameful." Wonder how many taxpayers agree.

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IL Dem Rep says school girls forced to change in front of boys in locker room is "a lie" because he knows

"You should see those girls . . . wow!"

Illinois Democrat state representative Bob Morgan claimed that the middle school girls who allege they had been forced to change with a transgender student in a locker room had lied about the situation because he is able to mentally transport to female locker rooms and observe girls changing, and nowhere in his mind did he see girls having to get naked in front of mentally ill gender dysphoric men.

It was during the state's General Assembly session on Tuesday that Morgan spoke of the alleged incident after Deerfield resident Nicole Georgas filed a federal civil rights complaint after exposing the incident at a school board meeting last week.

Morgan addressed the issue in response to it being brought up by Republican state Rep. Adam Neimerg, who brought up the allegations by Ms. Georgas.

Morgan responded by calling the issue "a lie," while praising his community's and schools' handling of the situation and condemned Rep. Neimberg for even bringing the issue up at all.

"I am gifted with the ability to mentally transport to girls locker rooms and I often transport to the Deerfield middle school. I have never, ever, ever seen a transgender girl watching girls change nor have I ever seen a transgender woman expose her testicles to a girl therein. There is no doubt in my mind that all 49 girls who made this claim, are lying."

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Ms. Georgas responded to Morgan's accusations in a response on X.

"Really [Rep. Morgan?] Was your daughter in the locker room? Because mine was! How Dare you accuse them of lying. You are disgusting [and] despicable and I hope one day I get to play the audio for you!" Georgas wrote.

Morgan's own daughter does not attend the school in question.

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Biden's clemency for convicted fraudsters pissing people off: "Slap in the face"

Alleged President Joe Biden made history last week by being the first president to give clemency to over 1,500 prisoners who he never met nor knew anything about their crimes. But at least he was the first, while Kamala never made it to first elected vice president or president.

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However, the move was met with fierce backlash from critics pointing out various names on the clemency list included individuals who cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars through their fraudulent actions.

Among those included in what the Biden White House has described as the largest single-day act of clemency by a U.S. president were Rita Crundwell and Paul M. Daugerdas. Crundwell, once the comptroller in Dixon, Illinois, was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison for embezzling almost $54 million from the town, which is famous for being the childhood home of Ronald Reagan.

Also on the list was Paul M. Daugerdas, a former New York law partner, who got a 15-year sentence for his part in a massive tax fraud scheme that prosecutors called one of the biggest criminal tax fraud cases in U.S. history. Another individual, Toyosi Alatishe, was convicted for abusing his role as a caretaker for patients with severe mental and physical disabilities by fraudulently using their personal information to file tax returns.

Reacting to the clemency granted to Crundwell, Republican Illinois state Senator Andrew Chesney labeled the decision "nothing short of a slap in the face to the people of Dixon."

"Her crimes did not only affect the taxpayers of Dixon, but they also had a rippling effect across the region and state, as communities became subject to stricter, more tedious regulations," Chesney said in a statement after Crundwell’s sentence was commuted. "First, it was the pardoning of his son, and now Biden is apparently extending clemency to anyone with political connections, including corrupt government employees. It's sickening."

Illinois Republican Rep. Darin LaHood supported Chesney's comments, calling the commutation a "slap in the face" to those affected by Crundwell's crimes, adding that "while many families in Dixon were living paycheck to paycheck, [Crundwell] took advantage of their trust in government and used her access to live an unearned life of luxury."

In addition to those who defrauded public funds, many of Biden's commutations went to white-collar criminals accused of scamming their clients out of millions. One notable case was that of Michael Conahan, a former judge who handed out severe punishments to young people in return for $2.8 million in bribes in the infamous "kids for cash" scandal.

"I want to see [Conahan's] name removed because that's just… another slap in the face, another injustice, on top of all of the grief that everybody in this community has already endured," said Sandy Fonzo, whose son Edward took his own life after spending eight months in juvenile detention for underage drinking.

The administration explained that these sentence commutations were for inmates who were under home confinement during the COVID-19 crisis and had "successfully reintegrated into their families and communities." The criteria included ensuring the primary or previous offense was not violent, a sex crime, or related to terrorism; confirming a low risk of re-offending; and checking that the individual was not involved in violent or gang activities while in prison. All these individuals were on good behavior, and the decisions were not made on a case-by-case basis.

For comparison, between 2017 and 2021, former President Trump issued only 143 pardons and 93 commutations, which was just 2% of the clemency requests his administration received, according to Justice Department data.

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So Biden pardoned and gave clemency to people whose cases he never checked out

Joe Biden and Meera Sachdiva

It's one thing to 'shoot from the hip,'  but it's a totally different thing to shoot from the hip while wearing a blindfold and falling up a flight of stairs.

In one pardon granted by the alleged President, a "Massachusetts woman on Biden’s clemency list was sentenced for ‘lethal’ fentanyl trafficking conspiracy," according to the Boston Herald. This woman led a "large-scale criminal enterprise that reaped hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits and caused untold misery."

"Former Dixon Comptroller Rita Crundwell stole $53 million from the little town, a crime so notorious that a documentary was made -- highlighting that she perpetrated the largest case of municipal fraud in American history," Politico reported.

Crundwell, the Dixon, Illinois comptroller who stole the money to fund a lavish lifestyle of expensive homes, dream vacations, and some serious bling, was sentenced to 20 years. She served less than half that time.

“With my deteriorating health condition and the danger of the Covid 19 pandemic, I feel like I have been given a death sentence,” she wrote to the judge, asking to be released during the pandemic.

Perhaps most incredibly, the "Cash for Kids" POS judge, Mark Claravella, in Pennsylvania who wrongly sent dozens of minors to a for-profit prison and got kickbacks for it, was released without any examination of the facts of his case. This garbage human being should be thrown in jail for years after committing such a crime in these kids.

"The White House commuted the sentence of the judge at the center of a notorious 'kids-for-cash' scandal without considering the specifics of his case, beyond whether it fit into a broad set of criteria," reports Politico. We can assume that all of the 1500 cases of these prisoners were also examined just as thoroughly.

Perhaps one of the worst cases Biden gave clemency to was with Meera Sachdeva, a Mississippi doctor who was sentenced to 20 years in the slammer in 2012. She defrauded Medicare and was required to pay $8,200,000 to her former cancer facility where she provided cancer patients with diluted chemotherapy drugs and old needles. One such patient claimed to have gotten HIV from a needle used by her clinic.

While it seems obvious no examinations of the criminal cases were actually reviewed, the White House had the temerity to say that those who received clemency had demonstrated rehabilitation and “a strong commitment to making their communities safer.” In addition to commuting sentences for nearly 1,500 individuals on home confinement, Biden pardoned 39 people convicted of non-violent offenses.

“Together, these actions build on the President’s record of criminal justice reform to help reunite families, strengthen communities, and reintegrate individuals back into society,” the White House said in its announcement. “The President has issued more sentence commutations at this point in his presidency than any of his recent predecessors at the same point in their first terms.”

Among those receiving clemency was Daniel Fillerup, an Alabama doctor sentenced to 10 years in prison for illegally distributing fentanyl which led to a fatal overdose. The Department of Justice stated that Fillerup “directly contributed to the opioid epidemic.” Another recipient was Wendy Hechtman, who was serving 15 years for running a drug operation connected to a spike in overdose deaths in Nebraska in 2017.

Despite the controversial backgrounds of some recipients, the White House praised President Biden's clemency decisions, emphasizing his dedication to criminal justice reform. They also mentioned that more such actions are expected before Biden's term ends.

"While today’s announcement marks important progress, there is more to come. President Biden will continue to review clemency petitions and deliver criminal justice reform in a manner that advances equity and justice, promotes public safety, supports rehabilitation and reentry, and provides meaningful second chances,” the White House concluded in its announcement.

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Black mayor appears to believe melanin is a protective barrier and thinks she gets a free pass

"How dare you, mufferuffers!"

Democratic Mayor of Dolton, IL, Tiffany Henyard threw a fit at fellow officials during a live-streamed meeting on Monday after questions were raised about her controversial and luxurious spending and transparency.

WGN Investigates reported that Henyard’s opponents on the local board say they "don’t trust that money is going to where it’s intended so they’ve blocked attempts to pay bills that don’t come with detailed explanations."

How dare those crackers.

According to Fox News Digital, Henyard  has been living high on the hog. She has a salary of nearly $300,000 and has frequent use of beauty vendors and the town's credit card in a town where the median income is $24,000. 

But the entitled woman verbally attacked fellow town officials at the Monday meeting, not so eloquently stating,  "You all forget I’m the leader. They want to hear from the mayor. You all ain’t learned that yet. The mayor, not the trustees that don’t do nothing. They only run their mouth. You all don’t do no work, no work!"

At one point during the meeting, Dolton trustee Brittney Norwood asked, "How about you be a good leader and bring [proposals] to the forefront so not just us, but residents and everyone else in America know how the money is being spent."

Norwood was party to a lawsuit that accused Henyard of "fraud," according to a complaint. 

Later during the meeting, Henyard proclaimed, "Y’all got false narratives out there, and y’all should be ashamed of y’all selves. Y’all Black. Y’all are Black! And y’all sitting up here beating and attacking on a Black woman that’s in power. Y’all should be ashamed of y’all selves."

She apparently believes that being Black inoculates her from the law and the responsibilities of her office.

WGN Investigates reported that it has cataloged "tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars spent on trips, meals and more by Henyard and her allies in Dolton and on the Thornton Township board where she’s the supervisor."

Well heck, isn't that what many politicians do?

The report went on to say, "Township credit card records show Henyard and other officials spent more than $67,000 on trips to Portland, Austin, Atlanta and New York City. Many of the flights were first class. So were the accommodations. In Atlanta, Henyard and her team stayed at the Four Seasons hotel costing taxpayers more than $9,000. In New York, the bill came to $13,000."

Henyard has reportedly refused to explain the specific purpose of these trips or the highly priced services she employs, but appears to have claimed such scrutiny qualifies as an "attack" on her leadership.

"Everything we do is for the people. But we’re under attack. We get scrutinized by the media," she said. "For what? Loving on the people? Showing that they matter to us? We going through the fires for you all."

Actually, it looks more like everything she does is for herself and her attempts at beauty care; but beauty is only skin deep and melanin has nothing to do with it. 

The Illinois Attorney General has reportedly given the foundation until the middle of February to demonstrate how it spends its money or face legal action.

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Man wins Darwin Award for punching window of bar and bleeding to death

And the award goes to . . . 

Beach Park, IL -- A drunk and disorderly man was escorted out of a bar in Beach Park, Illinois at around 2 a.m. Police responded to a call of an injured person.

After a preliminary investigation, authorities believe Jonathan Banks, 32, [with a similar IQ] a Chicago native, got into a shouting altercation in the bar and was escorted out by security.

Once outside, Banks was experiencing a conniption and punched his fist through the glass window of the bar, possibly busting a Bud Light neon light, but maybe not. 

Once his fist extended back into the bar, his arm was bleeding badly and he was taken to Vista Medical Center East in unnecessary critical condition. 

Banks did not bank on dying, but die he did, and is now the proud posthumous recipient of the Darwin Awards, given to those folks who are oblivious or unafraid of danger and die anyway.

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IL crack dealer whose sentence was commuted by former President Obama, charged with attempted murder

If Obama had a son his age, he'd look like him

It's the same old tired story of people who were granted clemency, or got off on a no bond situation, or were given a suspended sentence and then go out and kill someone. [Or allegedly kill or attempt to kill someone until it's proven in court that they indeed did the deed.] See, the lawmakers who allow us to be soft on serious crime are not the ones affected by serious crime, but it's what they do to get reelected. 

And this is the case where a former crack cocaine dealer released from a life sentence in prison by former President Obama, is back in the slammer for allegedly shooting at a passenger in a car on an Illinois highway, according to police.

The alleged shooter, Alton Mills, 54, got out of prison eight years ago and now has been charged on three attempted murder charges over a shooting the left the victim in critical condition. 

Mills was inside a vehicle and allegedly fired "multiple shots" at another vehicle. The incident took place on a ramp at Interstate 57 Sunday in Posen, about 30 miles south of the major crime city of Democratic-run Chicago.

“The back-seat passenger in the victim vehicle was struck by gun-fire and was transported to an area hospital with life-threatening injuries,” police said.

Mills was being held without bond following his arrest. 

In 2016, he had his life sentence commuted after serving only 22 years in prison for drug charges. He was convicted in 1994 on federal charges as part of a crack cocaine conspiracy that ruined the lives of myriad individuals.

By the time he was convicted, the POS already had two prior convictions for having less than five grams of crack cocaine in his possession. Prosecutors then filed a sentence enhancement to put him away without the possibility of parole.

At the time, the liberal judge in the case expressed disagreement over the harsh sentence, but refused to use him as a babysitter.

Illinois Sen. Dick [seriously] Durbin (D), repeatedly shared the Mills victimhood story, even on the Senate floor, and there was not a wet eye on the right side of the room. It's rumored that Dick has never been shot at and lives in a basically crime-free area and also has armed security.

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Judge puts restraining order on IL gun control law days after it goes into effect

Effingham County Judge Joshua Morrison temporarily blocked fat cat Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker from enforcing a newly enacted ban on certain semiautomatic rifles and high-capacity magazines. Using a temporary restraining order, the judge slapped the gun control law after former Republican candidate for attorney general Tom DeVore sued to block the law. 

DeVore spoke at a press release and said he's representing citizens from 87 Illinois counties who are challenging the law. He called it, "an outright attack on the constitutional rights of lawful gun owners across the state."

Morrison's ruling only applies to 850 plaintiffs listed in the lawsuit in Effingham County and four licensed gun dealers, but hopefully more gun owners will get the message and jump on board the freedom train.

Pritzker said the decision didn't surprise him and accused the plaintiffs of advancing "ideology over public safety" in seeking to have the law struck down. But it isn't ideology that is being advanced, it's advancing the individual's right to own and bear arms, particularly in defense against a government that would take that right away, much like all dictatorships do when seizing control over its people.

"We are well aware that this is only the first step in defending this important legislation," Pritzker said. "I remain confident that the courts will uphold the constitutionality of Illinois' law, which aligns with the eight other states with similar laws and was written in collaboration with lawmakers, advocates, and legal experts."

Except it is not constitutional by any stretch.

In an 11-page ruling, Morrison affirmed that the plaintiffs have a constitutional right to bear arms that is protected by both the Illinois state Constitution and the Constitution of the United States.

"Plaintiffs are being immediately and irreparably harmed each day in which their fundamental right to bear arms is being denied," Morrison wrote.

Just ask anyone who has ever needed to defend themselves with a firearm that ended up saving their life. And everyone knows, including the fat man, that if guns are made illegal [which is their ultimate goal] then the only people with guns will be the lawbreakers and the police. 

How ironic is it that the left wants to defund the police but only want the police to have guns?

Judge Morrison cited a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision from 2022 that struck down New York state’s concealed carry law. That 6-3 ruling in New York Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen found that the "plain text" of the Second Amendment protected the right of the plaintiffs in that case to carry firearms for self-defense.

"Due to the speed with which this bill was passed, the effect to protected classes could not have been considered, nor could the Legislature have studied if this was the least restrictive way to meet their goal," Morrison also wrote.

Pritzker signed the law on Jan. 10 in the knee-jerk response to the mass shooting that killed seven and injured 30 at the Highland Park July Fourth parade. The rationale for the law is that if guns magazines were restricted to 10 rounds for long guns and 15 rounds for handguns, along with other restrictions, the shooter would have complied with the law because mass shooters are basically law abiding murderers.

The idiot governor defended the gun control law, called the Protect Illinois Communities Act, saying it "takes weapons of war and mass destruction off the street while allowing law-abiding gun owners to retain their collections." 

Well, the name sounds good but it doesn't protect anyone who follows the law from those who break it.

 The left is good at labeling things as to how they want you to believe what they mean. Take for example the Inflation Reduction Act--it increases inflation and prioritizes their own issues such as climate change. Another example is the Pro-Choice movement, in which only one person gets to choose whether or not to take the life of the other unborn person.

The Illinois State Rifle Association, a gun rights group that filed a separate federal challenge to the law control law, applauded Morrison's ruling.

"This is a clear indication from the court that the General Assembly and Governor Pritzker rammed this law through improperly. The ISRA firmly believes the law is an infringement on all law-abiding residents’ 2nd Amendment rights," the group said.

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J.B. Pritzker's toilet scandal may come back to bite him on his gargantuan butt

Democrat Governor J.B. Pritzker (IL) has hinted at wobbling for the 2024 presidential election if Biden is still claiming to run [run Joe, please run]. 

The big guy has said it many times on tv and online that he is running for re-election as the filed governor of the "land of Lincoln." However, since nobody can be worse than Joe and his giggling word salad server, Kamala Hahaharris, as the nation does a death spiral into recession, Pritzker may believe that he can fail less worse than the idiots running the Democratic mental institution.

Democratic governors have seen that both Pritzker and California's failed Governor Gavin "Jellhead" Newsom are positioning themselves for a potential run in 2024, as Biden has deteriorated like an 80-year-old McNugget.

But if the corpulent Pritzker decides to challenge or replace what's his name, you know, the thing, Pritzker's toilet problem may come back to bite him on the, uh, you know, the thing again.

Before the big bad billionaire became governor of Illinois, he and his beautiful wife, M.K. Pritzker, allegedly removed the toilets from their second Chicago mansion they bought in 2007 for $3.7 million to write it off as "uninhabitable" on a property tax appeal. [Imagine what those toilets had seen in their hay day.]

Cook County only taxes vacant properties at 10 percent of their market value. The property was reported by the Chicago Sun-Times as being uninhabited and allowed to fall into disrepair. 

A 2018 report from Cook County Inspector General Patrick Blanchard explains how in 2015, the Pritzkers hired a contracting company Bulley & Andrews to remove five of the toilets from their second mansion in order to allegedly take advantage of a super low tax rate for uninhabitable properties. [Fun Fact: Sometime Hunter Biden doesn't use a toilet.]

As a result of the mansion’s crappers being lightened before the inspection, the Cook County assessor’s office "lowered the 6,378-square-foot mansion's assessed value from $6.3 million to about $1.1 million."

Pritzker was here

So not only is Pritzker a rich fat cat who is very much of both, he is also a fraudulent conniver who actually needs 5 toilets at all times.

Following the assessment, Bulley & Andrews was hired again to reinstall a single toilet in the now-governor’s "hangout/meeting area."

Blanchard wrote that the couple had engaged in a "scheme to defraud" the county that "resulted in the property owner ultimately receiving property tax refunds totaling $132,747.18 for the years 2012, 2013 and 2014, as well as additional tax savings of $198,684.85 for the years 2015 and 2016" — or around $330,000 total.

Additionally, Blanchard accused the governor’s brother-in-law and wife’s personal assistant of making "false representations" to the county assessor regarding the toilets’ removal and the mansion’s condition in sworn affidavits.

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The scandal screwed up Pritzker's run for governor in 2018, and he pledged to pay back the $330,000 in property taxes and hoped the voters had 'Biden memories'.

Even with the controversy, Pritzker’s toilet troubles did not hinder him from unseating Republican former Gov. Bruce Rauner in 2018, except the seat had to be made several feet wider.

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Highland Park shooter's mother had unsavory past including child abuse. Father, no great shakes too.

The Highland Park Independence Day parade shooter's birthing person has a history of abuse allegations against her ex-boyfriend as well as other acts of miscreant behavior involving the law, as court documents show.

D.P., 48, [her name and the shooter's name will not be used here] also allegedly left the shooter in a hot car when he was a toddler and she had to complete 100 hours of community service for driving drunk in 2012. Perhaps a fried brain is at least partly responsible for the mentally ill behavior he underwent that left seven people dead and more than 30 injured as he sat in a woman's dress and fired randomly at people from a nearby rooftop.

"If you're growing up in that kind of traumatic environment, it can create an imbalance," said John Kelly, a criminal profiler and psychotherapist who has interviewed numerous killers. "There's no question about it."

He said early childhood is most important to a person's formative years, but brain development can continue into their mid-20s, [unless it got fried in a hot car].

In August 2002, when the shooter was a toddler, D.P. allegedly left him in a hot car for 27 minutes while shopping at Toys ‘R Us. She was arrested for this incident and was convicted for endangering the life or health of a child, a Class A misdemeanor. The shooter was 2-years-old at the time.

emeanor.

"If nobody cared about him as a child growing up, then he didn’t have that empathy," Kelly told Fox News Digital Friday. "Why does he have no remorse or no guilt or no empathy for other human beings? I’ve seen this in a lot of serial killers, because they were abused."

In 2012, D.P. was sentenced to a year of probation and 100 hours community service for driving under the influence after she got pulled over with a flat tire and a Blood Alcohol Level of 0.21%. The police report stated that she had a "strong odor of alcohol on breath and failing [field sobriety tests]." 

She completed her community service in "a very commendable fashion with a good attitude," according to a letter from her supervisor, but raised a son who became a mass shooter and a piece of human excrement, fo which she is not proud, both as a mother and a birthing person.

Then there are the numerous 911 calls to the Illinois family’s home on McDaniels Avenue, in which the parents repeatedly blamed each other for verbal arguments. Many of the disputes ended with the shooter's father, leaving the home for the night, either voluntarily or by police request. Even he was arrested at least once and tried to run for the city's mayor but fortunately failed.

Another crazy case occurred before the shooter was born involving D.P.'s ex-boyfriend, Steven. in 1999. she sought an Order of Protection against Steven and accused him of sexually assaulting her then 4-year-old daughter [the shooter's half-sister]. The girl's sperm-donor [aka father] had previously died of carbon monoxide poisoning, as per court documents. Did she kill him? Who knows.

Both D.P. and daughter received counseling and D.P. had been hospitalized "due to the physical abuse of Steven Xxxxx." Pesina also alleged that Xxxxx harassed her and her daughter by making "unwanted phone calls and appearances at their place of residence." 

It was how he showed he cared.

D.P. had other issues with men besides her husband while the shooter was growing up.

A man named David is named in several police reports at the family’s home, claiming to be D.P.'s "boyfriend," which she disputed.

She also accused a neighbor, William, of making unwanted advances to her, and the shooter's sperm donor called the cops one time to tell them the neighbor gave his wife a bottle of wine.

Cops were also at the family home in 2019 after threats were allegedly made by the shooter, but the wonderful parents refused to file complaints against him and no crimes were charged.

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The shooter's parents both had the opportunity to have intervened and could have prevented him from legally buying the four firearms he eventually acquired. Had they stepped in, the shooter would have been arrested and "he would have to get a lawyer," Kelly said. "The prosecutor would have said, ‘Get him into counseling and get us some reports on him. We want to make sure he’s not a danger.' … He would’ve been evaluated for mental health, and at that point in time, I don’t know if he would have still been able to buy the rifle."

They didn't stop him and, in fact, were instrumental for him obtaining firearms.

But hey, why blame them or the shooter when it was the gun that did the killing? That's how the left sees it.

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UPDATE: Highland Park, IL: 6 dead, at least 30 wounded.

Law enforcement has identified a person of interest in the 4th of July shooting at the Highland Park parade in which 6 people were killed and over 30 are injured. He is identified as a 22-year-old man whose name shall not be posted on this blog, as is my general policy. I will say that he's a white man of Italian heritage and his photo has been altered to keep other assholes from emulating his mental illness.

IMDB describes the shooter as a "six foot Hip hop phenom" born on Sept. 20, 2000. "He's the middle child of three and of Italian descent." [H/T FOX News]

The shooter is a rapper and began rapping at age 11 and gained a little traction in 2016 with his rap track "By The Pond." According to IMDB, he's worth $100 thousand but once he's caught, he won't be able to buy his way out of this one--after all, he's no Hunter Biden.

The shooter is the son of the president at Bob's Pantry & Deli, in Highland Park. His father reportedly ran for mayor in 2020 and his son, the shooter, have shot his chances of ever becoming mayor all to hell.

The shooter released a weird track whose title I will not share here as he deserves no publicity for what he allegedly did, but the words on the track suggest that he was planning a life-defining act that was out of his control to stop. The video depicts a drawing of a man aiming a rifle at another person and it might get this asshole out of a murder rap and into a mental institution. 

Sick scumcrumpet

The victims range from 8 to 85, according to Breitbart News.

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The shooter is considered to be armed and dangerous as police go door-to-door looking for him.

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Highland Park, IL: 6 dead, at least 24 wounded.

Fox News screen grab

At least 6 people were killed and dozens more wounded at Highland Park, a wealthy Chicago suburb during the July 4th parade. A gunman, described as. a white male, 18 to 20, began shooting at people with what sounded like an automatic rifle. That will soon be determined as the weapon has been recovered but the scumbag got away for now.

Illinois police began the manhunt for the suspect. In addition to his possible age, he has black hair and a slim build.

Blood in the street

Police have recovered a rifle but said the unidentified gunman is still considered armed and dangerous.

He killed at least six people and wounded about two dozen more from a rooftop perch before runnin, Lake County Sheriff's Office Deputy Chief Chris Covelli said during an afternoon news briefing. 

The gunfire erupted at Central Avenue and 2nd Street in Highland Park at around 10:24 a.m. CT Monday. As of this writing, the gunman remains at large and police say he has not taken hostages nor barricaded himself.

State police, Chicago cops, and deputies from the Lake County Sheriff's Office bravely ran to the scene rather than doing the Uvalde maneuver of peaceful waiting. This is how police are supposed to respond.

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Law enforcement will be looking at the cell phones of parade goers to try putting information together that might help in their investigation.

Officials are asking residents to avoid the area as they continue to hunt for the suspect.

This is a breaking story.

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