Showing posts with label Chicago. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chicago. Show all posts

Monday, June 8, 2015

5 killed, 27 wounded in weekend shootings across Chicago


Five people were killed and at least 27 others have been hurt in shootings across Chicago since Friday evening.

The most recent fatal shooting happened early Sunday in the West Side Austin neighborhood.


Two males were driving in the 1600 block of North Cicero about 3:50 a.m. when a light-colored vehicle pulled up alongside and someone inside fired shots, police said.
One of the males was shot in his head and the other male was shot multiple times in his body, police said. Their ages were not immediately available.

Both were taken to Stroger Hospital, where they were pronounced dead, police said. The Cook County medical examiner’s office could not immediately confirm the fatalities.


Richard Edwards and an 18-year-old man had left a party about 2:15 a.m. after they were “involved in an altercation,” according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

As they were driving in a van in the 700 block of West 35th Street, a light-colored SUV pulled up and someone inside opened fire, police said.

Edwards, of the 3900 block of South Lake Park, was shot in the armpit and was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.

The man was shot in the hand and shoulder and taken to Stroger Hospital, where his condition stabilized, police said.

As police investigated, a woman who said she was the teen’s mother was a half block away on Halsted, crying and pleading with officers to let her see her son’s body, which was covered by a sheet.

“I just want my child,” she said. “I need to touch him. I need to hold him. I need to feel him.”

Late Friday, a 27-year-old man was discovered fatally shot in the Little Village neighborhood on the Southwest Side.

Juan Ugalde was found unresponsive with a gunshot wound to the side of his face just before 10 p.m. in the 2300 block of South Washtenaw, authorities said. Ugalde, of the 2800 block of West 21st Street, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The weekend’s first shooting left 34-year-old Laurance Boyd dead Friday evening in the West Pullman neighborhood, authorities said.

Boyd was sitting in a parked vehicle about 6 p.m. in the 1300 block of West 122nd Street when a gunman walked up and fired multiple shots, police said. The shooter then ran off eastbound.

Edwards, of the 12700 of South May in Calumet Park, was shot twice in the back and taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he later died, officials said.

Early Saturday, five people were shot when gunfire erupted outside an Austin neighborhood party on the West Side.


Friday, June 5, 2015

POLITICS Black Pastor: ‘Democrats Have Failed Us For 50 Years’

Corey Brooks, a prominent Chicago pastor, told The Daily Beast that the African American community in Chicago had, for 50 years, been loyal to the Democratic party. Now, they’re realizing that the Democratic party has not been loyal to them and, says Brooks, it’s time for a change.
New Beginnings Church of Chicago, the home of Pastor Brooks, is where the pastor sat yesterday morning, laying out his case for Republican presidential candidates to travel to and campaign in the Chicago neighborhood that Brooks and the New Beginnings Church call home. Rand Paul is the first and only candidate to visit the church and his speech to the pastor’s congregation is the first step in what Brooks hope will be an increase in Republican stops in Woodlawn.
“We have a large, disproportionate number of people who are impoverished. We have a disproportionate number of people who are incarcerated, we have a disproportionate number of people who are unemployed, the educational system has totally failed, and all of this primarily has been under Democratic regimes in our neighborhoods,” Brooks said.
In 2014, when now-Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner was running for his current position, Brooks took a risky step and supported the Republican in his campaign.
“They have a failing plan,” Brooks said of Democrats that his congregation and community has voted for since the Civil Rights movement. “A business owner wouldn’t allow the person who runs it to remain in charge for 50 years, constantly running it into the ground.”
Brooks believes that the Democrats have taken the black vote for granted, and he wants it to stop. Brooks is a Republican, and he’s trying to turn the massive power of the black vote in Chicago toward a party that will actually help them. In his interview with The Daily Beast, the pastor specified trade unions as a major obstacle for African Americans in the Chicago suburbs.
Brooks also believes that the breakdown of the family structure is responsible for the violence in Woodlawn, and wants to discourage the efforts of the Democratic party to facilitate this breakdown by electing Republican leadership.
“There’s a class of African-Americans who have gone on to be very successful, and we’re grateful and thankful for that,” Brooks said. “But with their success, some of them didn’t bring it back to the community.”
Brooks hopes the Republicans can bring his community out of poverty and violence and into prosperity.
Via: Daily Caller

Continue Reading....

Sunday, May 24, 2015

CHICAGO: THE WATCHDOGS: City Hall's $62 million blunder

Ending a costly court fight that City Hall blundered into, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration has paid more than $62 million to settle a dispute with the private operators of four city-owned parking garages downtown, records show.
The payment last month ended City Hall’s long and unsuccessful legal fight against claims from investors in the four privately operated garages under Millennium Park and Grant Park.
The dispute dates back six years. That’s when aides to former Mayor Richard M. Daley mistakenly approved a parking garage in the new Aqua building at 225 N. Columbus Dr.
Under the 2006 privatization deal, the Daley administration received $563 million to lease the parking garages for 99 years. As part of the deal, the city wasn’t supposed to allow any new competitors in a vast area surrounding the garages.
But less than three years after the Chicago City Council approved the deal, the Daley administration allowed the Aqua garage to open to the public just a block from the nearest of the privatized lots.
Arguing that that violated their deal, the operators of the garages filed a claim against the city, asking for at least $200 million.
The case went to an independent arbitrator, who ruled in 2013 that the city had breached the contract and should pay $57.8 million in compensation to the parking garage investors.

Friday, May 22, 2015

Democrats: The Party Of Fraud

The FTC recently cited several cancer charities for fraudulent practices.  The charities gave false promises and misused funds for personal use.

The managers of the Cancer Fund of America used the proceeds to take vacations, give themselves high salaries, new cars and directed very little to the actual treatment of cancer.

This comes just two weeks after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation has been doing exactly the same thing, but an FTC case has yet to be opened. This sounds very much like the way Bill and Hillary Clinton use the money from their Clinton Foundation.  Only ten percent of the $252 million raised from 2011 to 2013 went to charitable grants.  Instead they give their employees elaborate salaries, pay for their travel on private jets, expensive hotel rooms and so on. 

The dollar amounts are there for everyone to see.  It is interesting to note that while private cancer charities are being pursued by the FTC, so far the Clintons have not been investigated.  Voters may wish to think about the different treatment Beltway Democrats receive from these Federal agencies.  It may be useful to keep in mind that Federal agency employees support Democrats in elections and that JFK started Federal unions with an executive order #10988.   Lawyers for the IRS gave money to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.   Inquiring minds may begin to see a connection here

The Clintons are not alone in their practice of misrepresenting their intentions to spend money.  Last August Lisa Madigan, the Democrat Attorney General of Illinois, announced that she won a lawsuit against Bank of America and Countrywide for bilking Illinois residents during the mortgage crisis.  This bank, she asserted, was misleading innocent mortgage applicants, who ended up losing a lot of money and often lost their homes.  She specifically stated that the monetary judgment of $300 million was intended for Illinois residents who were the victims of mortgage application fraud.

Via: American Thinker


Continue Reading....

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Chicago: Pension crisis, 'gorilla in the room,' gets just one line in Emanuel inaugural address

Mayor Rahm Emanuel made it a one-liner during a second inaugural address devoted almost exclusively to “preventing another lost generation” of young people.
But the “gorilla in the room” was as plain as day to the aldermen who joined the mayor onstage at the swearing-in ceremony Monday at the Chicago Theater.
In fact, the $30 billion pension crisis, that has dropped Chicago’s bond rating to junk status, has placed the city in such a precarious position that the mayor’s City Council floor leader has warned 13 rookie aldermen not to expect the political version of spring training.

“Normally the first couple months in City Council are very slow and very relaxed. He said, `Don’t expect that this time. It’s gonna be very difficult the next couple of months. We’re gonna have to pass legislation very quickly to deal with this financial situation,’” said 26-year-old Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th), the City Council’s youngest member.
“I’m not surprised that the mayor didn’t address it because we know the gorilla in the room and we’re gonna tackle that gorilla.”
Ald. Pat O’Connor (40th), the mayor’s floor leader, said the rapid-fire votes that will be required to pull Chicago away from the financial cliff might even cancel the Council’s traditional August recess.
“I can say with great certainty that we’re not gonna wait for the budget cycle to confront some of these problems,” O’Connor said

Monday, May 18, 2015

Gun Control Success: 30 Shot In Chicago Since Friday…Update: Reportedly Now Up To 42, 12 More Folks Shot…

The article linked above only covers the Saturday shootings. This one covers the Friday shootings, including of an 81 year old grandmother. “This is the genocide that happens in our backyard,” said one neighbor.
But #BlackLivesMatter, right?
Screen Shot 2015-05-17 at 7.57.10 PM

She Comes by it Honestly: Hillary’s Dad Was “Always Trying to Screw Somebody”

For all we know about Hillary Rodham Clinton, there is so much more that we don’t know; so much scandal shrouded in secrecy by her team of minions and habit of evading the media. We now know that she comes by it all honestly, though, as her father may have been the biggest liar of them all.

Hillary grew up in modest circumstances in the Chicago suburb of Park Ridge. Her father, Hugh, who operated a small drapery business, was by all accounts a very gruff parent.

The oldest of three children, Hillary had two younger brothers who were constantly treated differently than she was. According to Tony Rodham, Hillary’s brother, “Hillary was always Dad’s princess. My father adored my sister.”

“Hillary was the only one in the family who really knew how to manipulate Hugh Rodham [Sr.] in order to win his affection,” commented Oscar Dowdy, a cousin. “I grew up with Hillary. I saw how loving and attentive Uncle Hugh was to her. He wasn’t that way to the boys.”

Dowdy also called Hillary’s father “a wheeler-dealer, a shyster-type guy, always trying to screw somebody.”

Sound familiar?

The Rodham family patriarch “resorted to any trick to cut a deal and make a sale,” according to Dowdy. Hillary’s dad also had a reputation for being a show-off, as he would drive around in a metallic gold Cadillac.

Looks like the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.


Sunday, May 17, 2015

[VIDEO] Obama's Education Secretary Seeks Economic Advice From Chicago GANG LEADERS

Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced this week that he has sought employment policy guidance from street gang leaders in Chicago.
Duncan made the remarks on Tuesday at the National Summit on Youth Violence Prevention in Crystal City, Va.

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Obama strives to be 'my brother’s keeper' $200 Million more!!

President Obama on Thursday will establish a new interagency task force charged with promoting opportunities for young men of color through an examination of government policies and programs.
The program, dubbed “My Brother’s Keeper,” will ask businesses and foundations to fund programs across the country designed to keep young minority men employed or in school and out of jail.
“For decades, opportunity has lagged behind for boys and young men of color. But across the country, communities are adopting approaches to help put these boys and young men on the path to success,” a White House official said in a statement. “The president wants to build on that work.”
The president will announce that foundations supporting the initiative have pledged at least $200 million over the next five years to “find and rapidly spread solutions that have the highest potential for impact,” the White House said. 
Efforts receiving commitments will include those targeting early child development and school readiness, parenting and parent engagement, third grade literacy, and school discipline reform. 
Programs helping reduce minority interactions with the criminal justice system and improve health and economic opportunities will also be among those evaluated by the task force, which has three months to design an plan for coordinating the $200 million in commitments.
According to the White House, the panel will also work across the federal government to assess the impact of federal policies on boys of color, create an online portal of programs that have a proven record of success, and recommend ways the White House can continue to partner with the private sector on outreach efforts.
Obama will announce that the effort will be chaired by Assistant to the President and Cabinet Secretary Broderick Johnson at a ceremony in the East Room of the White House. 
Colin Powell, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, NBA hall-of-famer Magic Johnson, and NBA commissioner Adam Silver are also expected to be in attendance, as will business leaders, faith leaders, state and local officials, and participants of a youth guidance program called “Becoming a Man” that targets boys on Chicago’s South Side. 
The president has met repeatedly with the group, and heralded it as an example of how small interventions can help keep young minorities out of trouble.
Also in attendance will be Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, according to the network’s media reporter,
Via: The Hill
Continue Reading....

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

‘The Emancipation Proclamation was an executive action’: Rahm Emanuel backs Obama’s executive overreach ‘one thousand percent’

Democratic Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel went to bat for his former boss Monday, claiming he supports President Obama’s strategy of bypassing Congress “one thousand percent” and comparing Obama’s executive orders on healthcare to the Emancipation Proclamation.
Emanuel — the former White House chief of staff in Washington DC on Monday to receive federal money for a new “manufacturing hub” in Chicago — spoke with CNN’s Jim Acosta. The reporter asked if he thought Obama’s plan to use executive actions to ignore an unwilling Congress is the right approach.
“One thousand percent,” he declared. “He can’t allow America’s future to be held hostage by a Congress that won’t do anything.”
And what about worries over an imperial presidency? “So? Well, I dunno,” he began. “These are not equal, but the Emancipation Proclamation was an executive action. Integrating the armed forces was an executive action.”
“There are times which, if Congress would step up, the president would work with them,” he added. “But he has a responsibility not to let the future slip from our hands.”
Emanuel also waved away concerns about a looming Democratic defeat in midterm elections this November. “The one thing I know about politics,” he claimed, “is that anybody who tells you they know what’s gonna happen ten months from now doesn’t know what they’re talking about.”
And he provided valuable insight into how a stateside Democratic politician views Washington DC. “I like coming here when I can take money back home,” he said, laughing. “And this is one of those opportunities.”
Via: Daily Caller

Continue Reading.....

Friday, December 27, 2013

CHICAGO: AS CITY CYCLING GROWS, SO DOES BIKE TAX TEMPTATION

AP PhotoCHICAGO (AP) -- Early blasts of snow, ice and below-zero temperatures haven't stopped a surprising number of Chicago cyclists from spinning through the slush this winter, thanks in part to a city so serious about accommodating them that it deploys mini-snow plows to clear bike lanes.

The snow-clearing operation is just the latest attention city leaders have lavished on cycling, from a growing web of bike lanes to the nation's second largest shared network of grab-and-go bicycles stationed all over town. But it also spotlights questions that have been raised here, a city wrestling with deep financial problems, and across the country.

Who is paying for all this bicycle upkeep? And shouldn't bicyclists be kicking in themselves?

A city councilwoman's recent proposal to institute a $25 annual cycling tax set off a lively debate that eventually sputtered out after the city responded with a collective "Say what?" A number of gruff voices spoke in favor, feeding off motorists' antagonism toward what they deride as stop sign-running freeloaders. Bike-friendly bloggers retorted that maybe pedestrians ought to be charged a shoe tax to use the sidewalks.


Thursday, December 26, 2013

Michelle’s 50th Birthday Bash set for January 18

MoochFirst Lady Michelle Obama, who turns 50 January 17, will host an exclusive dance party for herself at the White House the following day, according to the Chicago Tribune.
From the piece:
The White House has been sending out save-the-date emails for a Jan. 18 gala dubbed “Snacks & Sips & Dancing & Dessert,” sources told the Tribune.
Guests are being told: Wear comfortable shoes, eat before you come and practice your dance moves. Who’s invited and who’ll entertain remain under wraps.
No doubt very famous people will be on hand to croon to her.
At least she won’t be taking the party on the road, like the president did for his 50th celebration, according to the Tribune. His festivities lasted a couple of days, included events in both Washington and Chicago, and even featured a massive fundraiser.

Monday, December 23, 2013

Sharpton’s Town Hall Erupts Into Revolt Against ‘Chicago Machine’ Politics

(Breitbart)
On Thursday, a town hall meeting hosted by Al Sharpton and the National Action Network to address gun violence exploded into a revolt against “Chicago Machine” politics, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and the aldermen in City Hall, with panel and audience members calling to vote out their elected officials.

One 82-year-old preacher even called for “Tea Party” style meetings in some of Chicago’s south side communities such as Altgeld Gardens and Trumbull Park.
“This was a historic event,” Paul McKinley of V.O.T.E. (Voices of the Ex-Offender) and former 2nd Congressional District GOP nominee to replace Jesse Jackson, Jr. told Breitbart News. “Not because of Al Sharpton coming to town,” he continued. “This was first time since electing Mayor Harold Washington in the eighties that all of these grassroots groups and community organizers have come together under one roof to talk about the problems plaguing our community.”

Monday, December 2, 2013

In states' latest battle with organized labor, Illinois public unions target Democratic lawmakers



The latest battle between organized labor and states trying to fix huge budget problems by cutting pension costs has surfaced in Illinois, where public union leaders are waging an all-out effort to stop the Democrat-led campaign.
Details of a plan reached last week appear to show state legislative leaders are attempting to solve Illinois' $100 billion pension crisis in part by changing workers' retirement age, reducing automatic pension increases and limiting their collective-bargaining privileges.
Union leaders argue the plan to help the under-funded pension plan, which appears to have bipartisan support, seems no different than the one the General Assembly rejected earlier this year.
“It’s an unfair, unconstitutional scheme that undermines retirement security,” the We Are One Illinois labor coalition said last week as details of the plan emerged. "It’s no compromise at all with those who earned and paid for their retirement benefits. In fact, reports suggest the leaders have repackaged Senate Bill 1 and barely bothered to disguise it.”
Rank-and-file state lawmakers were briefed on the plan Friday, and a vote could come as early as this week.

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Leaning Out: How Michelle Obama became a feminist nightmare.

Last Tuesday, when Michelle Obama took a fashionably shod toe and dipped it into her husband’s efforts to address the nation’s higher-ed gap, the move was greeted by some feminists with a relieved, “It’s about damn time!”

Here, finally, was an issue worthy of the Ivy-educated, blue-chip law firm-trained first lady, a departure from the safely, soothingly domestic causes she had previously embraced. Gardening? Tending wounded soldiers? Reading to children? “She essentially became the English lady of the manor, Tory Party, circa 1830s,” feminist Linda Hirshman says.

Speaking last week at Bell Multicultural High School, a couple of miles north of the White House, the first lady touted the importance of a college degree, citing her own journey from a one-bedroom apartment on Chicago’s South Side to Princeton as evidence of how far hard work and good schooling can take you. “I’m here today because I want you to know that my story can be your story,” she told the predominantly low-income, heavily minority student body.

The personal plea was part of a glitzy rollout for a new administration initiative. Working with Education Secretary Arne Duncan, the first lady will become an “ambassador” for the new “North Star” program meant to make the United States the global leader in the percentage of young people it propels through college (we currently rank 12th, according to the White House), with special outreach to communities on the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum.

Via: Politico Magazine

Continue Reading....

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Affordable Care Act: lessons on innovation rollouts, expectations and naysayers

You are managing a new innovation, with billions at stake and a deadline looming. But people with their noses in the details are telling you that you can forget about getting it done on time.
Your gut tells you to push past the naysayers, rally the troops and do the impossible. But what if the naysayers are right?
The recent troubles with the rollout of the Affordable Care Act, which has put Kathleen Sebelius, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, and others on the hot seat, have brought this classic management dilemma into focus.
Leadership and management experts seem to agree that success in this situation – the ability to know when problems are real and deadlines and quality are in jeopardy – depends on a culture that expects results but demands the truth.
“You need to have a management team that’s comfortable with exposing problems as soon as they become aware of them,” said Patrick Magoon, CEO and president of the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.
Magoon knows big projects. He oversaw the construction of the hospital’s $855 million new home, completed on time and under budget last year.
“Everybody knows there are going to be problems,” he said. “There are going to be issues. It all comes out in the wash sooner or later. How you handle that first problem is important, because it sets the tone.”
Leonard Gingerella, clinical professor of entrepreneurship at Loyola University Chicago’s Quinlan School of Business, said it’s important to establish expectations and benchmarks ahead of time.
"If you start with a lie, you're going to end with a lie," he said. "You have to insist on really strong performance criteria."

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Illegal immigrants blockade Atlanta office to halt deportations

Immigration activists hold signs and shout during a protest in front of a building that houses federal immigration offices Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2013, in Atlanta.  Eight activists, protesting deportations of people who are in the country illegally, were taken into custody by police after they locked arms and some of them chained themselves to the gates outside immigration offices.  (AP Photo/John Bazemore) Illegal immigrants blockaded a federal office that handles deportations in Atlanta Tuesday morning, and soon after a group of 12 illegal immigrants in Chicago chained themselves to the wheels of a bus they said was headed to the airport to finish deport people.

The moves mark the latest escalation in a campaign by activists to pressure President Obama to use his executive authority to stop almost all deportations. They argue he’s targeting rank-and-file illegal immigrants rather than those with criminal records.



The activists targeted the Chicago bus in part because it had two high-profile illegal immigrants who have been the subject of an effort to halt their deportation: Octavio Nava-Cabrera, who was put into deportation proceedings after being arrested in a traffic stop, and Brigido Acosta Luis, who the activists said has two U.S. citizen daughters.
Late last week the Obama administration said it would allow illegal immigrant relatives of U.S. troops and veterans to apply for “parole in place,” which would allow them to remain in the country — and the activists Tuesday said they want the same considerations for all illegal immigrants.

“Undocumented, unafraid,” the Atlanta protesters chanted. “No papers, no fear.”

The protests were part of the Not One More campaign, which has staged similar protests in Arizona, California and Louisiana, broadcasting the action on the web.




Rick Santelli Rages Against Media Over ‘Manipulated’ Unemployment Data Allegations

On Tuesday morning, CNBC’s Rick Santelli raged against the American media in light of New York Post report alleging that Census bureau employees have been caught “fabricating” some data that went into unemployment reports over the last several years, including possibly the controversial report revealed one month before the 2012 election.
The September 2012 jobs report showed a dip in unemployment from 8.1 to 7.8 percent, raising eyebrows among many business-oriented personalities, including former GE CEO Jack Welch and Santelli himself.
While these so-called “jobs truthers” alleged “ideological” motivation behind such data manipulations, the Post report indicates that if there was any widespread manipulation, it was due to Labor Department demands being so high that Census employees simply made up information to fulfill a quota.
Nevertheless, on Tuesday morning, Santelli felt vindicated by such reports indicating any level of manipulated data. During his “Santelli Exchange” monologue, the veteran Chicago-based reporter railed against his media colleagues for dismissing his suggestion that the pre-election numbers could have been incorrect.
“If we know now what we knew then,” the economy could be in a different place, he suggested. “If it turns out these claims are true… it wasn’t only about the economy, it was about healthcare, it wasn’t polling well. It was the reassurances about the unknown.”
Santelli seemingly suggested that if we had known back in September 2012 that the president’s “grandfather clause” on the Affordable Care Act would turn out to be a “lie,” the way the media treated that pre-election jobs report might have been different.
The CNBC reporter moved into a shout as he railed against how that potentially “fake” jobs report resulted in Federal Reserve undertaking monetary policies that drastically shifted the economy.
“All outcomes would have changed,” he concluded. Next time, he said, the media “must do better.”
Watch below, via CNBC:

Monday, November 18, 2013

THEY STILL BLAME BUSH

Jeremy Hammond was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison Friday for his role in the December 2011 hacking of Strategic Forecasting (StratFor) and a number of other 
websites targeted by members of the so-called “hacktivist” group known as Anonymous. The feds had more than enough evidence to convict Hammond. He had a prior conviction on a similar crime and was potentially facing more than 30 years this time, so the best he could do was cop a plea deal. Before he was sentenced Friday by U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska, however, the 28-year-old hacker once known as “Anarchaos” had a political statement to share with the world, a statement that could be summarized in two words: Blame Bush.

Although he was only 15 when George W. Bush was elected president, Hammond declared in federal court in Manhattan, this was a traumatizing experience for him. “My introduction to politics was when George W. Bush stole the Presidential election in 2000, then took advantage of the waves of racism and patriotism after 9/11 to launch unprovoked imperialist wars against Iraq and Afghanistan,” Hammond declared in his manifesto. “I took to the streets in protest naively believing our voices would be heard in Washington and we could stop the war. Instead, we were labeled as traitors, beaten, and arrested.” Hammond added that he had “been arrested for numerous acts of civil disobedience on the streets of Chicago.”

Ah, yes, “civil disobedience,” otherwise known as crime. In the worldview of the far-left fringe to which Hammond belongs, crime is actually a noble activity when undertaken in defiance of a “racist” regime that fights “imperialist wars.” And these beliefs — including the claim that Bush “stole” the 2000 election — were expressed by many mainstream liberals and elected Democratic officials during the eight years of Bush’s presidency, an era they viewed as a crypto-fascist nightmare. It was during those years that a certain sort of political insanity took hold among radical youth like Jeremy Hammond, who grew up in the prosperous Chicago suburb of Glendale Heights, but who was profoundly alienated from the bourgeois values usually associated with suburban life.

Via: American Spectator
Continue Reading....

Popular Posts