By Richard Guebert Jr. Many Illinois farmers, including myself, are eagerly waiting to see how this year’s crop turns out. That’s the name of the game when it comes to farming: You make the best management decisions you can, learn from previous harvests and look to improve next year’s results. Farmers use a similar approach…

By Rich Miller “If we didn’t pass something, we wouldn’t have gotten anything from law enforcement. We wouldn’t have gotten a serious conversation,” claimed Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago) recently about why the SAFE-T Act was originally written and passed the way it was. Rep. Ford was speaking about the cash bail provisions within the…

By Ray Hanania Listen to those who are defending the SAFE-T Act and ask yourself, what are they saying? Basically, they argue, “It’s not as bad as critics claim.” But, what does the SAFE-T Act do to make law-abiding citizens safe? No one can answer that because the SAFE-T Act isn’t about protecting law-abiding citizens. The SAFE-T…

By John T. Shaw Editor’s Note: This op-ed was distributed by Capitol News Illinois on behalf of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own. I’m preparing to teach a class at Southern Illinois University next spring on restoring American statesmanship and am struck by the critical…

By Ray Hanania Illinois has never had a more dishonest governor than JB Pritzker. Why is he so dishonest? Because he can afford to be. He inherited billions from his daddy; and when money is no object, neither is truth. Pritzker is using Illinois tax dollars to bolster his re-election bid, claiming that taxpayers will…

By Rich Miller The labor union and trial lawyer-backed All for Justice independent expenditure committee has so far reported raising $3.5 million, with, I’m told, at least another $5 million in pledges. The committee’s sole purpose is to back the two Democratic candidates running for the Illinois Supreme Court: Appellate Justice Mary K. O’Brien and…

By Ray Hanania Governor JB Pritzker, the Daddy Warbucks of political hypocrisy, attacked several legislators this past week, demanding that they resign from office. One is State Senator Emil Jones III, a Pritzker critic, who is facing federal bribery charges. The charges against Jones are similar to charges filed against several other legislators, but Pritzker…

By Rich Miller Far-right activist Dan Proft has proved time and time again that he is very effective at calling attention to himself and getting under Gov. JB Pritzker’s skin in the worst way. Proft’s newspapers have, for instance, published several articles with photos of Pritzker’s daughter. Sometimes the stories were wrong, like when a…

By Ray Hanania I was on a business trip to meet my Middle East editors in Las Vegas this past weekend, and the questions about Chicago crime and even the Safe-T Act were coming at me from every direction. The cab driver wondered if all hell had broken loose in Chicago under that “alien-looking mayor…

By Rich Miller Four distinct attacks have been launched against Gov. JB Pritzker and Democratic legislators in the past couple of weeks. “The Scream”: If you watch Chicago TV, you likely saw a striking TV ad called “The Scream.” The ad featured surveillance camera video of a white woman being mugged in broad daylight by…