Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Peaceful Protests for Thee, But Not for Me
Chicago Mayor, Lori Lightfoot, has banned protesters from demonstrating on the block on which she and her family live. In defending her order, Lightfoot cited unspecified threats that she receives daily, and stated:
I think that residents of this city, understanding the nature of the threats that we are receiving on a daily basis, on a daily basis, understand I have a right to make sure that my home is secure.
I’m not going to make any excuses for the fact that, given the threats I have personally received, given the threats to my home and my family, I’m going to do everything I can to make sure they’re protected. I make no apologies whatsoever for that.
Other Chicagoans might believe that the Mayor has an obligation to protect their homes as well. While such a belief is apparently foolish, it’s technically correct. According to an article in The Chicago Tribune:
Both Lightfoot and [Chicago Police Superintendent David] Brown noted there are laws on the books banning residential protests, but Brown acknowledged the Police Department does not always enforce them. Brown said the city tries to give “wiggle room” for protesters.
“Wiggle room” when people’s lives and homes are on the line?
Securing the Mayor’s home comes at a cost:
Published in GeneralAside from the expanded police presence to block protesters from reaching her home, Lightfoot already receives 24/7 protection from cops including officers stationed at the residence. The aggressive policing has sometimes siphoned away resources from the area’s police district, some sources with knowledge of the situation said, leading to quiet grumbling.
Give me a break!!! The woman has a heck of a lot of nerve–and then doesn’t want any criticism for it?? I’m going to stop here before I violate the CoC. Grrrrrrrr!
I wonder if Mayor Lightfoot can see how outrageous this looks? Is she aware of how this sounds? Surely she must be aware, and she just doesn’t care. Right? Surely…
“All animals are created equal but some are more equal than others”.
I enjoy it.
It makes the (D) Left look ridiculous and that should help get (R)’s elected nationally.
However, in Chicago the best one could hope for is to replace Lightfoot with a slightly less ridiculous Lefty (D).
It is a step in the right direction. She absolutely has this as a responsibility, not just a right. Now we only have to move her to recognize her total responsibility to protect the rights of all Chicago residents. Why would that be difficult?
The unexamined life is just how Lori rolls.
Is she producing Trump ad’s now?
I wonder if it’s evil, racist Republicans who made the threats against her and her home? Maybe the same ones that are still at large, roaming the streets of Chicago after attacking Jussie Smollett last year?
Our politics is becoming ever more corrupt as “public servants” increasingly apply laws selectively and as they increasingly use public resources for their own benefit. Just as damaging are laws that apply to citizens but not to lawmakers and laws and regulations that privilege politically-favored groups and companies. Our leaders are undermining their own legitimacy and the legitimacy of our governmental institutions.
A corrupt system may survive for a generation or so while a plurality still retains traditional values and faith in the system. Once those generations die out, though, things can get very bad very quickly.
I wondered what ever happened to those guys. You don’t hear much about them these days…
During the reign of Rahm Emmanuel, I kept jokingly predicting that the next thing would be they’d elect a black Muslim lesbian. I mean I was KIDDING (maybe she isn’t a Muslim, I don’t know). But this disarray is the result of choosing leaders or anyone else based on external woke characteristics with no regard for anything else.
The Osundairo brothers? They agreed to cooperate. I’m not sure what they could have been charged with. It is not illegal to pretend to beat someone up if he pays you to pretend to beat him up. About a month ago, they got back some of the stuff the police took as evidence.
Next, no doubt, comes their book and movie rights.
I believe I may prefer a politician sworn into office using a Quran rather than a copy of “Too Many Moose”.
No, I wasn’t talking about them.
I was talking about the roving mobs of violent Republicans that James mentioned.
They didn’t break the law that I can see. They might have lied to the cops about being involved when they were being questioned (“Jussie who?”), but that didn’t survive the search warrant on their place.
But isn’t that obstruction of justice? Also I don’t think you can lie to the police with no repercussions. And they were accomplices in my opinion. Of course they didn’t ask for my opinion.
“The Milli Vanilli of Hoax Hate Crimes”
Let’s see: two white supremacist homophobes who are loitering around the streets of Streeterville at 2:00 AM on a night where the temperature was -20° F with a wind chill -5 to -10 off of that manage to recognize the openly gay star who plays a gay character on a predominantly Black drama. (It being well-known that “Empire” is enormously popular with the Klan.) They commence beating him up, pouring a convenient bottle of bleach over his head, and putting a noose they happen to have on them around his neck. Then they get bored and run away, leaving Jussie with his cell phone.
I didn’t believe Jussie from the get-go. He needs to hire a better writer.
Not for just lying to the cops. The FBI is different, but this wasn’t a Federal case.
Who will play Jussie?
How long before someone tries to use a Harry Potter book?
All Chicagoans have the right to “make sure that [their] homes [are] secure” but Lightfoot is spending public money to ensure her own security while driving the police to transfer or retire in droves.
No justice, no peace!
They only come out in the wee hours in sub-zero temperatures, you know, when it’s ideal to stroll around in Maga hats with the obligatory coil of rope and bleach.
If they pay him enough, he will play himself. He has no shame at all. I heard somewhere he was going to speak at the DNC, did that happen?
He’ll play himself. They’ll say it was all real. The brothers will either be written out or made into fall guys. The tag line will be something like, “You’ve heard the official story. Now see the truth.”
Let’s elaborate and paint a vivid picture. While liberals are at home watching re-runs of Seinfeld and Veep and eating truffle popcorn that they made themselves in a restored vintage popper machine that they bought from an artisan in Wicker Park with a degree in philosophy from Harvard, the Maga contingent (like something from “Justified”) ventures off into the great frozen unknown with their Maga baseball caps on (they eschew wool for sub-zero- they don’t fear the cold) and just in case they bump into a vaguely famous black and gay tv star, they bring along some rope and bleach. What a cozy tale.
She doesn’t care. And stop calling her Shirley.
I don’t remember which Chicago Ricochet member said this . . . maybe @catorand, maybe @omegapaladin? Anyway someone said that Chicago city government is more like a feudalist system than a modern western government, with the mayor and aldermen being the dukes and barons whose word is law.
And his Subway sandwich still neatly wrapped. If you’re going to mug someone at least take his money and/or his lunch.