Showing posts with label protests. Show all posts
Showing posts with label protests. Show all posts

Chicago's Mayor Continues Harmful Closure of Mag Mile

Chicago is a city under siege — from within. It breaks my heart to say it, but the majority of Chicagoans have made this possible by decades of voting for Democrats. Most of the City Council members have been more interested in buying votes with corrupt TIF money giveaways and being "liberal" and soft on crime, and now the proverbial chickens have come home to roost.

Rioting, mass looting, and wanton violence are the specters hovering over the city. This weekend, the so-far-ineffectual mayor Lori Lightfoot has ordered a 9:00 PM curfew

On Monday, August 10 there was an "orchestrated" invasion of the city's Magnificent Mile, which is a mixed neighborhood of residential and commercial buildings.  Much of it is within the zip code 60611, one of the nation's wealthiest. 

Mayor Lightfoot
The "Mag Mile" is an upscale strip of North Michigan Avenue that runs north from the Chicago River up to Oak Street Beach. Between N. Michigan Aven and Lake Michigan, a few blocks east is a neighborhood called "Streeterville." The greater Magnificent Mile area has been a major attraction for locals and international tourists for many years.

After the events of a week ago, however, businesses are hurt and many may never fully recover. Some businesses were badly damaged. Some have "merely" lost business. 

People who have enjoyed going into the Mag Mile district for years are now reluctant, afraid that violence could suddenly pop up out of nowhere like a summer storm in South Texas.

Much of the blame falls squarely in the laps of city and county officials, all well-entrenched Democrats. City Journal sums it up:

The sacking of Chicago’s North Side was more than a tactical failure. For months, key officials—the state’s attorney responsible for prosecution, the mayor, and the governor—have failed to condemn criminals sufficiently or act with necessary force against such violence. They have contributed to a culture of impunity that tolerates mobs and hoodlums.
Kim Foxx, the state’s attorney for Cook County, has already become nationally notorious for refusing to prosecute Jussie Smollett, the actor who lied to the police that he was a victim of racial violence. But her offenses against public order are far worse than her condoning of a provocateur who tried to fracture the city with a falsehood. Foxx has dismissed felony cases brought by the police at a rate 35 percent higher than her predecessor. She raised the threshold for felony shoplifting from $300 to $1,000—and as a result, thieves steal brazenly in broad daylight as well as under cover of darkness. Chicago police chief David Brown suggested that Foxx’s failure to prosecute looters from the previous sacking of the city in June was partly responsible for emboldening the current round of looting.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot is also responsible. She has hardly been enforcing a zero-tolerance policy against lawless mobs. (Full article at City Journal)
The mayor, indeed the city, needs help from beyond its own ranks. It has been clearly demonstrated that they cannot protect the safety of residents and businesses without such help, yet Mayor Lightfoot has refused to ask for assistance from the federal or even from the Illinois National Guard. Such reinforcements could greatly help her police force to really get the situation under control.

Instead, Mayor Lightfoot makes speeches and decrees that will solve nothing.

Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge noted this today (my emphasis added):
Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot desperately wants the world to believe that she has the situation in her city under control and that she doesn't need help from the federal government - nor would she ever need it from President Trump. 
But while she puts that facade on during interviews and press conferences with national media, the reality of constant looting, rioting and crime in Chicago continues to unfold; as do its consequences.
For example, this weekend, the city will shut down its Central Business District overnight, effective at 9PM each night. The decision comes "in the wake of looting and unrest downtown, on the Magnificent Mile, and in Streeterville, River North, and the area near North and Sheffield avenues," according to CBS Chicago. 
Durden detailed the specifics of what-and-where the shutdown would affect, such as river bridges being up to block traffic, blocking part of Lake Shore Drive, ramps on expressways, and interruptions of bus and train service to the area. This, however, is not exactly new: It is an extension of Lightfoot's virtual shutdown of the area.

On August 13, the Chicago Loop Alliance published this advisory:
Through Monday, August 17, at 6 a.m., access to the downtown area will be temporarily restricted from 9 p.m.–6 a.m. The restricted access to the downtown area is NOT a curfew. All residents, workers and employers whose businesses are located downtown will have access at all times. (Read full statement here)
The City of Chicago published this notice on August 12:
Restricted Access to Downtown will continue tonight and through the Weekend from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.–ending at 6 a.m. on Monday, August 17 (Read full statement here)
Rather than increasing police patrols or bringing in additional law enforcement personnel, Lightfoot has effectively surrendered to the chaos. The Mag Mile, along with the adjacent downtown "Loop," River North and River West are areas in which restaurants, bars and theaters are normally open until well after midnight. Stunting their business additionally will help nobody.

You can bet the police are not happy with Lightfoot. On August 12, the police union's president John Catanzara urged tougher measures. He suggested bringing in tow trucks to haul looters' cars away, thereby taking away their ability to escape arrest. Caravans of cars were seen bringing people into the Mag Mile to loot on August 10.

“Car caravans are the biggest problem. They can relocate all of their criminal behavior two miles away within five minutes. We can’t deploy 400 officers two miles away in that same amount of time. They can go where the police are not in a split second. By the time we show up there, we get the stragglers when the main force has already moved on to the next target,” Catanzara said Wednesday.

Meanwhile, agitators continue to urge chaos, and Black Lives Matter is openly endorsing looting.
Related:
  • When Authority Vanishes: Chicago’s leaders have surrendered to vandals. - City Journal, 14 Aug 2020
  • Chicago restaurant owner on 'disturbing' looting and rioting: 'Business is terrible, the streets are empty' - Fox News, 11 Aug 2020
  • Chicago politician calls mayor ‘unprepared,’ wants to call in the feds - New York Post, 11 Aug 2020
  • Democrat Chicago alderman says city is in 'total unrest' and 'mayor has lost control' - Fox News, 12 Aug 2020
  • Chicago’s Magnificent Mile at risk for massive store closures, alderman says - CBS-2 Chicago, 7 Aug 2020
  • Democrats Can’t Stop the Monster They Created - BuckSexton.com, 11 Aug 2020
  • CPD patrols stepped up as businesses hunker down for stay-at-home order - Chicago Sun-Times, 21 March 2020
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Over 100 Arrests in Violent Chicago Looting Spree

The scope of last night's looting, violence and wanton destruction in Chicago is stunning.

AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast
As I reported late last night, huge crowds of people overwhelmed the police and smashed their way into many of the city's finest retailers in the world-famous "Magnificent Mile" on N. Michigan Avenue. Chaos and confusion were the order of the moment.

Chicago's Mayor Lori Lightfoot held a press conference this morning.

“We are waking up in shock this morning,” she said, and referred to the looting as “brazen criminal looting and destruction.” Lightfoot has been harshly criticized as not doing enough to quell violence in Chicago. She added, "This was straight up, felony criminal conduct," said Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot. "This was an assault on our city."

"Widespread damage was reported throughout Chicago after looting and rioting began around midnight Monday," reported WGN-TV9. "Witnesses reported hundreds of people smashing their way into stores throughout Michigan Avenue, areas in the South Loop and the Near North Side."

Today we get a clearer picture of what went down. From the Chicago Tribune:
More than 100 people were arrested as of 9 a.m., according to Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown. Thirteen officers were injured during the unrest, including a sergeant who was hit by a bottle. A civilian and private security guard were shot and wounded. 
[...]  
City officials said the seeds for the violent crime spree were sown on social media Sunday afternoon following an officer involved shooting in the Englewood neighborhood. Officers shot and wounded a 20-year-old man Sunday after he fired shots at them while being chased, authorities said. 
The man was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center and is expected to survive, Brown said. 
The Civilian Office Police Accountability, the city agency that investigates all officer-involved shootings, released a statement confirming Brown’s assertion that the wounded male is an adult. Some social media accounts that authorities say fueled the unrest referred to him as a 15-year-old boy.
The Tribune report noted that there are renewed calls for the Illinois Nationa Guard to be called in to keep order. Many of the looters and rioters were spurred on by social media. The Trib has a related article worth reading: Live updates: Here’s the latest on the aftermath of overnight looting and vandalism in Chicago.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the police presence will be beefed up in response.
Chicago Police Supt. David Brown said police will not stand by and watch downtown Chicago become “someplace people fear.” He promised a “heavy police presence” to restore order, and said access to downtown will be restricted from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., effective Monday night.
Brown said “the seeds for the shameful destruction we saw last night” started in Englewood Sunday afternoon. About 2:30 p.m., officers responded to a report of a man with a gun. He fled as they arrived, Brown said, and fired at officers. They returned fire, striking the man, who was taken to the University of Chicago Hospital and is expected to survive. The 20-year-old man had previously faced charges of domestic battery, reckless conduct and child endangerment, Brown said.

Shortly after that, police became aware of “several social media posts” about looting planned downtown, Brown said, and as a result, the department reacted by deploying 400 officers to the downtown area.
One of Chicago's most outspoken civil rights personalities, Michael Pfleger, actually said the looting seemed "orchestrated." The Associated Press has this (emphasis added):
Along the Magnificent Mile, people were seen going in and out of stores carrying shopping bags full of merchandise as well as at a bank, the Chicago Tribune reported, and as the crowd grew vehicles dropped off more people in the area. On streets throughout the downtown area, empty cash drawers from stores were strewn about and ATMs were ripped open. 
Stores miles from downtown were also ransacked, with parking lots littered with glass and items from inside the stores. Clothes hangers and boxes that once contained television sets and other electronics were seen — evidence that thieves had taken racks of clothes and removed them from the hangers. 
"This was obviously very orchestrated," the Rev. Michael Pfleger, a prominent Roman Catholic priest and activist on the city's South Side, told WBBM-TV as cameras panned the downtown area.
Pfleger's "orchestrated" statement is supported by many other accounts. Police Superintendent David Brown said that "caravans" of people were seen on their way to the Mag Mile and the Loop to loot.

Brown and Lightfoot both emphasized that the looting should not be mistaken for protesting. “This was not an organized protest,” Brown said. “This was an incident of pure criminality.”
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ANARCHY IN CHICAGO, LOOTING, RIOTING

Video source: https://video.twimg.com/

Please see our follow-up post, "Pure Criminality" - Over 100 Arrests in Violent "Coordinated" Chicago Looting Spree Last Night

2:20 AM, August 10 - It's after midnight in Chicago and the city's crown jewel, the "Magnificent Mile" of North Michigan Avenue, in "the Gold Coast," is under assault by hundreds (if not thousands) of looters and rioters.

Much of this area is also known as "Streeterville" and has many residential buildings in it, including the iconic John Hancock Center (857 N. Michigan Avenue).

Police are overwhelmed and desperately calling for backup and assistance ("10-1").

At this point in time, it is impossible to say how widespread the looting is, but it seems certain that it is in multiple places. The looters are brazen. The cops are powerless.

The main target seems to be Nordstroms, but Macy's and other stores have been looted too. Some other looting locations (on or very near the Mag Mile area):
  • Water Tower Place shopping mall
  • The Jewel-Osco store at 540 S. Michigan 
  • Louis Vuitton, Walton & Michigan
  • Oak Street - ATM's reportedly targeted.
  • Potash Market on State and Chestnut Street
  • Vans shoes, clothing store at Cedar & Lake
  • Walgreens at Clark and Ontario
  • Walgreens at Adams and Michigan
  • Best Buy, 555 W. Roosevelt
  • Omega Store, Delaware & Michigan
  • Others, which we will learn about on Monday
Newsweek is reporting that the looting and rioting may have been sparked by a police shooting on Sunday afternoon:

It is believed the clashes originally broke out after a suspect was shot by Chicago police in the city's Englewood neighborhood.

Chicago Police confirmed that an officer-involved shooting took place at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, August 9 in the 5700 block of South Racine Avenue. Officers were dispatched to reports of a man with a gun, who then spotted a suspect matching the description.

Police say the suspect then fired at officers as they approached him in an alleyway. The suspect continued to fire as he attempted to flee on foot, hitting one officer.

Officers returned fire, striking the suspect. He was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in unknown condition. Three officers involved in the shooting were taken to the hospital for observation.

NOTE: This is a developing story and it is too early to know exact details. Twitter is way ahead of nearly all news media outlets on this. Lots of uploaded videos and tweets to be found under the hashtags #ChicagoScanner, #ChicagoLooting, #ChicagoPolice, #ChicagoRiots and others.
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Are These Videos Worse Than "The Innocence Of Muslims?"

September 16, 2012 - The Obama Administration has been busy trying to blame the video "The Innoncence of Muslims" for the epidemic of crazed anti-American violence across the Muslim world, going so far even as to ask Google to remove the video from YouTube. But what about the videos below? One  shows Sec. of State Hillary Clinton in an unabashed moment of American triumphalism, expressing her joy over invading an Muslim nation and killing its leader. The other shows her bragging about killing Osama bin Laden. I'm serious: How many Muslims have seen these videos worldwide? How much have they contributed to the hatred of America? Will Hillary issue an apology for them? Will Obama demand their removal from YouTube?


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Group Protests Police Brutality, But Where Are Conservatives?

A small group of protesters gathered at Daley Plaza in downtown Chicago from Noon to 2:00 p.m. today to call attention to police brutality and killings. The event was called "No More! Rally to Demand an End to Police Violence!" and was organized by "Illinois Campaign to End the New Jim Crow." Occupy Chicago was also involved. Sadly, there were no Tea Party people there. This is something in which Occupy Chicago, Socialists, Tea Parties and everyone else should be united. 
"No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the equal rights of another, and this is all from which the laws ought to restrain him." ~ Thomas Jefferson
Some of you reading this will be tempted to dismiss these folks - and me - as a bunch of radical nut jobs. There were a few nutters at this little rally, to be sure, but all were sincerely concerned about abusive police and the tragedy that can result. Some of the people in attendance have suffered the loss of children and loved ones at the hands of overzealous police officers. There were family members of "police murder victims, Chicago police torture victims, and concerned community members." One of the victims highlighted by the protesters was young Stephon Edward Watts, a 15-year old with  Asperger’s Synbdrome (a type of autism).Stephon Watts was shot to death by two Calumet City police officers earlier this year.

Let me remind you that I am a conservative, as are most of my readers. So I ask you: As conservatives who oppose an abusive government, how can we not also be vocally opposed to police brutality?

"We will not stand for the daily abuse and racist harassment of our brothers and sisters at the hands of the police," say the organizers of the protest. Who can disagree with that statement?

Some of the protesters suffer from emotional distortion of facts. I do not, however, mean that as harsh criticism. Their children were killed, and I imagine that such an experience would have such an effect. Nevertheless, a number of the protesters insist that the Chicago Police Department "is the biggest gang out there."

The CPD is not a gang, of course, and while there have been some wrongful and questionable deaths caused by CPD officers, it pales in comparison to the ongoing slaughter committed by civilians who are gang members. Currently, CPD has approximately 9,600 officers. In comparison, there are  more than 68,000 gang members running free in the streets of Chicago by some estimates.

A large banner (photo, right) held at the rally showed 22 people killed by police in Chicago from 2007-2011. Just one is too many, of course, but compare that to the number killed by non-police civilian gangsters: On Friday, July 27, Chicago achieved its 300th homicide for 2012. At least six more have died since Friday night, and only God knows what the final toll for this weekend will be by the time we hear the morning news on Monday.

Listening to family members speak passionately about loved ones who died as the result of police actions is certainly moving. It's emotional. While I am not so gullible as to believe every parent who insists that their child was wrongly killed and did not pose an imminent danger to cops, I am also not so cynical as to not believe that there are cops out there who commit acts of brutality and even kill because they get overzealous, panic or act out of frustration and even hatred.

All Americans - regardless of political affiliation - must be concerned about this. Cops are human, and like any other group of people there are good ones and bad ones. I firmly believe that the good ones greatly outnumber the bad, but even one bad one is one too many. One wrongful death is one too many too - regardless of whether it was caused by a cop or by a criminal.

As a group that opposes governmental abuses, this is a natural for conservatives. However, I saw none at this event. I've never seen any at similar events. But why not? I don't know the answer, but I can guess: A lack of empathy, a lack of sympathy, and a disdain for the victims who are, far too often, people of color who are poor.

Is that a racist assumption on my part? As a poor white conservative who supports his local Tea Party and has battled socialists since 1976, I'd say not. It's just a fact. If I was wrong, there would have been at least a few people representing one or more local Tea Parties at this rally/protest. There was not. There never is. That is tragic.

While some conservatives freak out about "Obama's drones" spying on them domestically (I share their concern to a point), there are people across the U.S. being wrongly brutalized and even killed accidentally - or intentionally - by errant or rogue police officers.

Finally, consider this: Conservatives are blowing an opportunity to reach out to their fellow Americans. Many of the people who have been victimized by police brutality turn to radical socialist revolutionary groups such as the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA (revcom.us) because they feel that they have nowhere else to turn. Many of those who do so were not politicized before they or their family member was harmed by police. Radical leftist groups swoop in and offer support. Conservatives? Absent.
"Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty." ~ Thomas Jefferson
I'm not sure why conservative groups do not get as riled up about this form of abuse by government as they do about anything else. I truly don't. Causing wrongful physical injury and even death is a violation of one's most fundamental Constitutional rights. Isn't that what conservatives love to say they would die to defend? Damned right it is, but getting up off the couch and going to a protest is just too much work.
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NYPD Evicts Occupy From Zuccotti Park

Tuesday, 15 November 2011 - New York - 4:23 PM ET - New York police in riot gear are in the process of evicting thousands of Occupy Wall Street protesters from Zuccotti Park.

There were reports of police using tear gas and flash grenades. Some protesters were pepper sprayed and handcuffed. At least 36 have been arrested.

"Authorities declared that the continued occupation of Zuccotti Park," reports the Globe and Mail, "which had become a sea of tents, tarps and protest signs with hundreds of demonstrators sleeping there – posed a health and safety threat."

"Hundreds of helmeted, baton-wielding police officers flooded Zuccotti Park in an under-cover-of-dark showdown early Tuesday," reports the New York Daily News, "ripping down protesters' tents and ordering them to get out or face arrest. Police surrounded the park around 1 AM and read a notice over a bullhorn telling the Occupy Wall St. protesters that sanitation trucks would be removing tents and other property from the site."
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'Day Of Rage' To #occupywallstreet On Sept. 17, 2011

Happy, peaceful liberals from around the United States will come together on Saturday, Sept. 17. For a love-in? A flower power rally? To teach the world to sing? 

No, the lovable leftists will stage their "US Day of Rage" march to "occupy" Wall Street in New York and elsewhere across the country. Their goal: Disrupt bankers, free Tibet and cure the heartbreak of psoriasis. How? Their website says they will camp on the sidewalks and “occupy” the area for “a few months.” 


Do these clowns really think that they can throw the "banksters" out of their executive suites and usher in a new dawn of some kind of anarcho-socialist pie-in-the-sky Utopia by pitching tents on Wall Street? You bet they do, and why not? Some of the older goofs in the crowd may have participated in the failed attempt to levitate the Pentagon back in the Sixties.

You can believe that law enforcement, from the local cops to State Police to the FBI and Homeland Security are on alert tonight and through the weekend over this. The intel work being done indicates just how seriously officials consider the "occupation" of Wall Street to be a potential for major mischief. 

There's nothing like a bunch of pissed off punk progressives and bitter old hippies gathering for a coast to coast burst of screaming angst to bring us all together. 

World Net Daily (WND) reported yesterday that advertisements for "Day of Rage" claim the protests at Wall Street and nationwide will be 'non-violent.' However, the official website provides resources, including videos and detailed written instructions, for protesters to engage in 'civil disobedience'. The resources provided include instructions on how to resist police arrest and disrupt court hearings."
 

In addition to New York, there will be Day of Rage events in Austin TX, Los Angeles CA, San Francisco CA, Portland OR and Seattle WA. You can see details at the US Day of Rage website. 

Let's give these lunkheads the benefit of the doubt and assume that they really don't want any violence to occur. If that's so, their choice of words is lousy. "Occupy," "resist arrest" and "rage" are not exactly calming words. Perhaps it's just that the Left can't help itself. Use of those words is hard wired into them. It's instinct. They can't help themselves.  

The Gothamist summed it up nicely in a must-read article: "If these groups want to make an actual impact, they'd better find a slogan, and fast. The trouble seems to be that there are simply too many things to protest, so the whole thing may suffer from the same affliction as Mr. Burns: Three Stooges Syndrome." Read more about US Day of Rage at The Gothamist... 

Let's now jump back into Reality. The organizers of the US Day of Rage are veteran rabble rousers and have shown themselves to be quite willing to get a crowd riled up to the boiling-over point. To be fair, the majority of people participating as "occupiers" will have non-violent intentions. But they are being used. 

The majority of protesters in Chicago for the 1968 Democratic National Convention, or at the anti-WTO protest in Seattle in 1999 did not want violence, but they got it. All it takes is a few well positioned provocateurs in a big crowd to set of a spark. Once the fuse is lit, it's very hard to put out. 

The Left is given to hyperbole and self-deception, as well. They've painted their US Day of Rage as some Epic Moment in History, even before it has happened. The organizers hope that their "occupation" of Wall Street will be a "Tahrir moment." By that, they are comparing themselves to the protesters in Tahrir Square, Cairo, where protesters bravely stood against the Egyptian army in a successful attempt to oust President Mubarak in February. Such conceit. 

Well, here's a news flash for US Day of Rage: You're puny in comparison to the Egyptian protesters. As soon as Starbucks stops serving you coffee because you've smashed their store windows out, you'll be demoralized. 

More from the Sept. 15 WND article (with emphasis added): 

"There are other indications a coalition of radicals and unions are planning chaos using the current economic crisis. Last month, WND reported that a slew of extremist organizations, some tied to Obama, are preparing protests to coincide with major NATO and G-8 summits in Chicago next May. Foreshadowing possible violent confrontations, some of the same radical trainers behind the infamous 1999 Seattle riots against the World Trade Organization have been mobilizing new protest efforts geared toward world summits as well as the current economic crisis. Some of the activists are tied to Obama." 

It's interesting that the left-leaning media are giving the US Day of Rage organizers a pass on their language choices. Imagine a Tea Party rally, or a Republican fundraiser, that promised to occupy a city or neighborhood and force it to its knees. 

You can follow Rage on Twitter by searching there for #OccupyWallStreet, #S17 and #Sept17. There's also the "US Day of Rage" page on Facebook. 

After September 17, there's more: Get ready for #Oct6. That will fail just as surely as the September 17 antics will.
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Tea Party Next Move? My Call For Civil Disobedience (Updated)

Note/Update, June 29, 2012: In light of yesterday's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld the mandate in Obamacare, I feel that this post is more relevant than ever. I wrote it with Illinois in mind, but the idea applies to the whole nation.
***
Where was the Tea Party in January, 2011? In Illinois, they seemed to be asleep at the wheel in the days leading up to voting in the State Legislature for one of the worst tax hikes ever. UPDATE, Feb. 2, 2011: Is This Any Way To Revolt? April 15 March on Springfield Will Last Only Two Hours

During his campaign last year, Governor Pat Quinn warned voters that he would raise taxes. Don’t worry, he assured us, it will be a very small increase. He repeated that publicly during his campaign, and enough voters either didn’t hear him, didn’t understand the implications of what he said, or are so ignorant of basic economics that they did not realize that any rise in taxes - especially at this crucial time in this economic crisis - might just actually be good for Illinois.

Those of us who did not vote for Quinn, of course, knew better. Now, of course, even the fools who voted for him know better. We all know, too late, that Pat Quinn lied. Pundits are now calling him “Quinnochio.”

Quinn promised that he would raise personal income taxes, but only by one percent. Instead, he backed a package that increased it by 66 percent (from 3 percent to 5 percent). The corporate income tax rose by 45 percent (from from 4.8 percent to 7 percent). The lawmakers in Springfield voted on these increases in the wee hours of the morning.

Judy Baar Topinka, the newly elected State Comptroller, pointed out that the combination of all taxes that businesses will now suffer makes Illinois the highest taxing state in the industrialized world. Combined with the rise in personal income tax, residents of Illinois will soon realize that employers will be even less reluctant to hire than they were last year. They will realize that some employers will have to go out of business, while others move operations out of Illinois, thus further increasing unemployment.

To add insult to injury, Quinn and his accomplices in the Legislature not only increased taxes massively, they even increased spending by two percent. All of this hurts not only taxpayers. Even the unemployed are badly affected by tax hikes, because it will mean high retail prices, higher rents, and so on.

We saw a lot of Tea Party speeches and rallies against Obamacare in the past two years, much of it here in Chicago where the Tea Party movement got its start. They argued, rightly, that Obamacare would be devastating to businesses, raise unemployment, and so on. The Quinn tax hikes will do the same thing, but with an important difference: The harmful effects will directly affect every employer and employee, every retailer and wholesaler, every retired and the unemployed person in Illinois.

Unlike Obamacare, some of the effects of which will not be felt for years, the Quinn tax hikes are a boot placed on our throats immediately. The people of Illinois are the victims of fiscal and economic gang rape. The Tea Party, coming off a two-year lather over national politics, has been virtually silent about Quinn’s taxes.

Surely, one would have thought, the Tea Party movement would have been in a fury in the days leading up to the vote to raise taxes. Certainly, one would have expected, Tea Party movement groups from around Illinois would have bused thousands of concerned sympathizers to Springfield to march and speak and peacefully protest. Undoubtedly, one may have hoped, the Tea Party movement would not sit idly by while Pat Quinn and Company were about to kick the living hell out of us. It didn’t happen.

Some Tea Party groups did call on their followers to make phone calls and send emails. That’s all well and good, and it’s a needed part of the overall strategy. It’s not enough, however.

The Tea Party movement’s magnificent efforts had an historic effect on the November 2010 elections, but in Illinois they seem to have missed the forest for the trees. Granted, the movement toppled many of those who violated their oath to uphold the Constitution and misrepresented their constituents. It successfully installed many who profess sympathy to conservative values and loyalty to the Constitution. Still, while all that was being done, elections within Illinois were given secondary attention.

Change came to Washington, D.C., but less change came to Springfield, Illinois. The “lame duck” Congress passed a few monstrosities before the 111th dissolved. The “lame duck” Illinois legislature did the same, including the obscene tax increase package championed by Governor Quinn. What’s next? Last November is history. Since then, we have heard loud vocal warnings from Tea Party groups nationwide to the new crop of freshman members of Congress. “You better not disappoint us,” was the cry, “because we’ll be watching and taking notes.” That carried the implied threat of unseating those who don’t perform to the Tea Party’s expectations come the next election. But that’s about all we saw. When a Tea Party rally was needed more than ever in Springfield, it didn’t happen.

In Illinois, the Tea Party movement missed a huge opportunity in January. Satisfied with their nationwide effect on Congressional races, the movement has reclined and fallen into a kind of self-satisfied nap.

The rallies in public parks, on farms and in rented halls that we’ve seen over the past two years have served us well. They served to fire up the movement and to help recruit new membership. They will remain important for those purposes, but they are no longer enough. Rallies far and away from the centers of power and authority are now seen by the governing elite as mildly annoying events. They’ve gotten used to them, and they understand that a bunch of people politely listening to speeches in a park pose no challenge to their physical space.

This is where civil disobedience comes into play, and even becomes a necessary next step. Imagine a rally of a thousand Tea Party people covering the steps of the State Capitol, a couple of hundred who overflow into the building itself. Imagine those thousand people chanting loudly and in unison while the legislators are in session. Think about their reaction as they are forced to shoulder their way through the people to get in or out of the building.

Think of the 1960s, when “sit ins” were a non-violent way of “occupying” university administration buildings, city halls, state capitols, and so on. Suppose those protesters then had, instead, merely gathered in parks on the edge of town and uneventfully preached to themselves. How effective would they have been? What if Martin Luther King, Jr. had suddenly stopped organizing huge rallies, and had become content with merely sending out telegrams and making phone calls? That’s where the Tea Party movement is today. The politicians, Democrats and Republicans, have become used to the idea that Tea Party events are distant. That is why we need to “get in their faces.” To be blunt, we need to make them nervous. We need to make them sleep less comfortably. They must be apprehensive every morning that they get up to go vote on higher taxes, increased regulation and more violations of our Constitutional and God-given rights.

Let me be clear: This is not a call to violence. To the contrary, it is a call to civil disobedience. Peaceful resistance is a respectable way to demonstrate displeasure with the government. A thousand people on the steps of the Capitol must be willing to resist requests and orders to disperse. Tea Party people must be willing to remain seated when told to move on, and even willing to accept the risk of being arrested. Imagine the headlines and videos as hundreds of peaceful Tea Partiers are arrested on the steps of the State Capitol, carried off in handcuffs for exercising their First Amendment rights.

Some Republicans in Springfield have hinted that they might try to overturn or repeal the Quinn Tax Hikes. They may or may not succeed. Should they fail, we can only hope that their failure is not due to a lack of effort on their part - or on the part of the Tea Party movement.

The Tea Party’s role in this is destined to be one of two things, whether it acts or not. If the Quinn tax hikes are not overturned, and the Tea Party did not stage a massive rally on the capitol steps in Springfield, we will always wonder how the outcome might have been different had a rally taken place.

On the other hand, what if the Republicans do manage to overturn the tax hikes without any Tea Party occupation of the capitol steps? There would be many who would then regard the Tea Party movement in Illinois as nothing more than a bunch of talkers, even as quitters. The Democrats would merely laugh us off.

Worse, however, the Illinois Republican Party would do the same. The leadership of the Illinois GOP, after all, views the Tea Party as a threat to its own power, sapping its membership and working against some of the GOP’s own anointed candidates. If the Tea Party movement in Illinois does not act, in a big, loud, physically present way, and do it before mid-February, it risks being written off by both political parties as a flash in the pan.

The Tea Party has no choice but to act and to act in a big way. The two most important reasons for this should be obvious: (1) to undo the suicidal Quinn tax hikes, and (2) to save the credibility and recover the momentum of a sputtering Illinois Tea Party movement.

The Tea Party must not let the politicians feel at ease just because the last election is over. It cannot let them get away with that which it has worked so hard to defeat. Tea Partiers must decide if they are armchair warriors or the real deal.

Here's a direct message to Tea Party people: I love you, and have stood by your side at rallies from the beginning. I've supported your efforts through many, many hours of blogging and editing of photos and videos. I am one of you.

But I must tell you this: You love to quote the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Some of you call yourselves freedom fighters. Some of you even dress up like Revolutionary War heroes. That’s cute, but ask yourself this: Are you content to merely parrot the Founders and Framers and to perform impromptu street theater and ultimately meaningless imitations of them with your fake powdered wigs while you listen to speeches in a park? Do you think your digital rants shared with “friends” on Facebook, made from the comfort of your desk or the convenience of your iPhone, are accomplishing even one percent of what any one of the Founders did?

Are you ready to get off overtaxed duff and act as the real freedom fighters did in 1776? They did more than talk. They did not fear arrest. They marched, often into battle. They bled. They sacrificed. Many died.

I’m only asking you to march to Springfield to sit on the Capitol steps.

Are you in?

  • The time for passionate talk is past
  • The time for your polite rallies in safe, distant parks has gone by
  • The time for your frantic Facebook posts and titillating tweets is over
  • The time to get real, the time to truly engage is here
  • It is time to get out of your swivel chairs, off of your couches, away from your keyboards and onto your feet
  • It is time to march and time to take to the steps of government offices - and into the halls of the ruling elite
  • It is time to step over the line and into the comfort zones of those who were elected to be our representatives but act instead as our overlords
  • It is time to make the politicians feel uncomfortable in their own space
  • It is time to replace digital rants and quiet meetings with physical action
  • It is time to employ civil disobedience
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The Anti-BP Un-Flash Flash Mob, Chicago, June 11

A so-called "flash mob" will take place in Chicago on Friday, June 11 to protest the BP oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. Generally referred to as "BP Black Friday Flash Mob," but also being called "Oil Over The Bridge." (Instructions for participants below.) The event has been carefully orchestrated and announced well in advance for days. That's pretty much the opposite of what a "flash mob" is. "As is typical of a flash mob, no one in particular is organizing the event," reported Lorraine Swanson at Lake Effect News on June 8. That's about all that qualifies the June 11 protest as a "flash mob." SearchMobileComputing defines a flash mob this way (my emphasis added): "...a group of strangers who organize themselves, using electronic media such as cell phones or the Internet, to gather together in a public place, behave in a predetermined manner for a predetermined amount of time, and then quickly disperse. A successful flash mob event depends on the element of surprise. Participants, called mobsters, share news about the time and place for an upcoming event through postings on blogs, chain e-mail messages, SMS text messages and social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter." And there's the problem: The "BP Black Friday Flash Mob" will have little if any surprise for many observers. It's that surprise! element that gives the mob its flash. Announce a blitzkrieg and it's suddenly just a krieg mit kein blitz. The event is already all over the Blogosphere and Facebook, although it must be said that, as usual, the Mainstream Media seems unaware of it. BP, of course, is monitoring its dreadful public relations closely on the Internet. So much so, in fact, that BP purchased ads on Google's top "Oil Spill" search results. While the event might not fully meet the definition of "flash mob," it can fairly be said that it will be very flash mob-like. I admit that I may be splitting hairs with all of this. Nevertheless, it certainly promises some good street theater and a great photo opportunity. All other things aside, after all, that's what a good flash mob should be. There are a number of references to the event on the Internet, including a Facebook page optimistically named "1,000,000 Strong to Boycott BP." As of 4:30 PM CDT on June 9, they had 9,257 members, a few short of one million. Another Facebook group, "Oil Over The Bridge," has a description that starts with, "I'm just spreading the good word, I did not come up with the idea." That group had 20 people "maybe attending" as of 4:40 PM CDT on June 9. My favorite anti-BP group on Facebook has got to be "Hey BP Oil, Thanks For The Oil Spill Aholes." "The Yes Men were forwarding an email around about the event, and perhaps MoveOn.org folks are involved," wrote Swanson. Perhaps MoveOn is involved, but are they the organizers? Did they originate the idea? We don't know; there's little or no trail to be found on the Internet, we discovered. That's good flash mobbing, but as I said, they've dampened their element of surprise. A group calling itself "Seize BP" has been staging demonstrations across the U.S. since Thursday, June 3. The final day is Thursday, June 10. Find a demonstration near you at their website. Seize BP staged a Chicago protest last week, on Thursday, June 3 at 5:00 p.m. at the BP Offices at the intersection of Randolph & Michigan, by Millennium Park. (Try finding coverage of that in the Mainstream Media.) Instructions for the June 11 BP Black Friday Flash Mob event are below the Related items: RELATED: BP Gas Station Owners Beg Vandals to Stop Gothamist (NYC) Hundreds Protest BP on Houston Street ‎Gothamist (NYC) Why seizing BP is not necessarily a good idea CNN BP Boycotts Could Hurt Small Businesses ‎ 10TV BP Boycotts Hurt the Little Guy‎ Newser Calgarians protest BP oil spill‎ Toronto Sun Protest at Jersey City BP Scheduled for Thursday Jersey City Independent Nude Protest Over Oil: PR Spin Worse Than BP, Dammit Houston Press Nevada City residents protest... The Union of Grass Valley Shrimper Douses Herself With Oil in Spill Protest‎ CBS News Links on "Seize BP Campaign" (at Facebook) Instructions to participants in the June 11 "BP Black Friday Flash Mob" are: Friday 06/11/10 @ 12:11 pm (Rain or Shine!) Millennium Park Chicago Bring a black umbrella. If you don’t have a black umbrella, wear all black. 12:11 pm: Casually converge on the BP Pedestrian Bridge 12:20 pm: When the whistle blows, we will generate a visual representation of the oil slick seen from above by filling the entire walkway of the BP bridge. Starting from the middle of the bridge over Columbus Drive, open your umbrella and squat or sit down, covering as much space with your umbrella or body as possible. Sit close enough to the people around you to create a canopy of umbrellas and bodies. Please do not shout, carry signs, confront patrons of Millennium Park, damage property, or otherwise break any laws. This flash mob is a silent protest intended to bring together a community of concerned citizens in creating a living illustration of the damage that threatens the collective health of our planet. The intent is not to block the bridge, nor to damage it, but to join together in a lively way to make a statement: swift action must be taken before more of our world is destroyed by oil. 12:35 pm: When the whistle blows a second time, quickly and calmly collect yourself and disperse. Please do not linger any longer than necessary. Don’t forget to greet your neighbors: introduce yourself, make new friends. A key objective for this action is to have fun! If anyone asks what is going on or what you are doing, we suggest simply stating, “The oil flow must be stopped.”
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5 PM Today, Protest Chicago Turkish Embassy, Support Israel

June 3, 2010 - How convenient: The Turkish Embassy and the Israeli Embassy are both located in the same building at 111 East Wacker Drive in Chicago. That makes it easy to (a) protest the Turkish government for its rush to condemn Israel for excercising its right to control traffic into its territory and (b) to show your support for our friend Israel as she is wrongly convicted in the court of world opinion without even the pretense of a fair hearing. The Pollak For Congress campaign will be outside the Turkish and Israeli consulates (111 E Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL) at 5 p.m., but they will most likely have a lot of company. A note from the Pollak campaign sums up the event, hours before it is scheduled to begin: We are going to stand with the U.S. and Israel, and tell the Turkish government that its new alliance with Iran and radical terrorists is dangerous and morally wrong! We expect more from a historic NATO ally. We are tired of the hypocrisy of a Turkish government that refuses to recognize the Armenian genocide or legitimate Kurdish aspirations, yet blasts the U.S. and Israel. Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky has been totally silent about Turkey, Iran, and the Gaza flotilla. Her close ally, J Street, blamed Israel. Join us TODAY as we stand up against terror! We wonder if Jan Schakowsky be there waving the Turkish flag.
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Find a Tax Day Tea Party Near You, America

Nationwide, there will be hundreds of Tax Day Tea Party rallies on Thursday, April 15, 2010. If you won't be in Washington DC for the biggest of the rallies, these two lists will help you find one in or near your city: 

Tea Party Patriots lists 659 events for April 15. Also try their cool Tea Party Finder.
Americans for Prosperity put together a simple spreadsheet of Tax Day Tea Party events.

RELATED:
Tax day tea parties set to explode across the nation CAIVN
Your illustrated guide to the Tea Party saboteurs Michelle Malkin
Liberals Caught Posing as Tea Partiers Robert Moon
Crash the Tea Party founder faces two investigations; NH Dem denies crash plan Michelle Malkin





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Anarchists Plan Disruption of Tea Parties on April 15

The lunatics will be out on April 15, 2010. No, Mister and Mizz Liberal Amerika, I am not referring to the Tea Party people. Rather, I am referring to the leftist, "libertarian socialist" crazies, a.k.a. anarchists, who are calling for the disruption of the nationwide Tax Day Tea Party. A post at Infoshop News, "anarchist news, opinion and much more," dated March 31, 2010 is calling for devotees of the web site to make trouble at a tea party near them. Here's the first salvo of that post:

On April 15th thousands of right-wingers will attend rallies in cities and towns across the United States. The organizers of this nationwide day of protest call it a tea party. This tea party movement that emerged only a year ago is a coalition of conservatives, anti-Semites, fascists, libertarians, racists, constitutionalists, militia men, gun freaks, homophobes, Ron Paul supporters, Alex Jones conspiracy types and American flag wavers. Source: http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=crash-tea-parties

Apparently, somebody near the empty pizza box strewn Infoshop News office is making a good living selling tinfoil headwear to these nutters. They can't even see the irony of their own rant: They inaccurately paint participants of the Tea Party movement as some kind of conspiracy nut, all the while not realizing that this is, in itself, a weird kind of conspiracy theory.
"We think we are the doctors. We are the disease." ~ Alexander Hertzen, 1812 - 1870; Russian anarchist
Some of you are too young to remember the years of street violence carried out by Leftists, especially in the 1960s and early 1970s. Many called themselves "peaceniks," others preferred "hippies." They had no hesitation in throwing bricks through the windows of small businesses and threatening university administrators. Some threatened the lives of cops and even bombed buildings. Some, like William Ayers and his wife, joined the SDS's violent splinter group, the Weathermen, and later became close friends with Comrade Barack Obama. The Violent Left calmed down for the most part after Nixon left office in late 1974. It is not altogether strange that they should be resurging under Comrade Obama. Remember that they were at the peak of their violence during the administration of Lyndon Johnson, a Democrat.

Matthew Vadum wrote about this at newsrealblog.com on March 31, 2010. In his story about MoveOn's planned protest at the headquaters of the Republican National Committee on April 1, 2010, he noted the hypocritical way that the Left is responding to what they see, in a hallucinatory manner, as the "hate" coming from conservatives, especially Tea Party adherents:

It is an indisputable fact that the violence America is beginning to see is almost exclusively on the left, whether it’s a deranged registered Democrat flying his plane into a federal building in Austin, Texas, or a progressive coward calling in a death threat against a Republican lawmaker. It is all part of the left’s push to delegitimize opposition to the socialist takeover of America. If you oppose the murder-in-progress of the American republic you are smeared as a redneck, teabagging, racist obstacle to progress — and you deserve what’s coming to you. So it’s not surprising that the street theater specialists at MoveOn.org are planning to host a propaganda event tomorrow [April 1] intended to reinforce this false notion that Constitution-loving pro-limited government enthusiasts are eeeevil haters. Full article here...

Okay, let's get back to the crazy anarchist post at Infoshop News. The loonie paranoia is repeated in the second paragraph (emphasis added):

This tea party movement that emerged only a year ago is a coalition of conservatives, anti-Semites, fascists, libertarians, racists, constitutionalists, militia men, gun freaks, homophobes, Ron Paul supporters, Alex Jones conspiracy types and American flag wavers.

They find the items highlighted items above to be objectionable? The rest of the items I can understand. I mean, I have nothing against gun owners, for example, but I can agree on someone with a freakish gun fetish. But "conservatives," "libertarians," "constitutionalists" and "American flag wavers" are bad people in the opinion of Infoshop News? If I run into any of these freaks on April 15 (and I'll be looking for them), I plan to ask them how their mothers traumatized them as small children and whether or not they are currently in any kind of psychotherapy.


The Infoshop News folks list their "three options we have with the tea party movement." The first one is the most worrisome. (Again, emphasis is added):

1. Organize counter-protests against the tea party demonstrations, same time, same place. This is probably the best option. We need to get in the streets on April 15th and show the tea party movement that there are lots of people out there who oppose their agenda.
My Comment:

2. Get individual tea party protesters to leave the right-wing and move to the left politically. That would involve passing out stuff like this at the tea party demonstrations: http://www.anarchist-studies.org/node/299
3. Ignore the tea party movement. This is the worst option because without anyone opposing them they could easily gain power.

RELATED:
MoveOn Plans Hate-In Outside RNC Headquarters [on April 1, 2010]
Anarchists join intimidation campaign aimed at Tea Partiers Unequal Time
Guard against anarchists‎ Zambia Daily Mail
Why is anarchism also called libertarian socialism? Infoshop News
Media's Favorite Extremist Watchdog Silent on Leftwing Extremism‎
NewsBusters Infoshop News on Twitter
Greek radical anarchists claim Athens bombings‎ eTaiwan News
Left's Playbook — Past the Ignore and Ridicule Stage‎ David Horowitz
Anarcho-Left Meltdown as Radical Infighting Turns Violent‎ Pajamas Media
Radical Theory: A Wrecking Ball for Ivory Towers The Anarchist Library
The Abolition of Work The Anarchist Library

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Chicago's Anticlimactic Anti-War Protest (Slideshow)

adjective: anticlimactic - of or relating to a sudden change from an impressive to a ludicrous style UPDATE: "Video of Chicago Anti-War Protest, March 18, 2010" Today's "big" anti-war rally in downtown Chicago was, to be honest, predictable and boring. We heard the same old tired slogans, heard now for more than 40 years. You know, chants like "Hey hey, ho ho (fill in the blank) has got to go!" Slightly less musty mantras, such as "Iraq for Iraqis," were also repeated ad nauseum. (See our slideshow below.) It was more of the same from 2009 and 2008, but less interesting and with seemingly less people. I estimate the crowd today at around 1,200. (See my video of the 2008 march.) The usual gaggle of malcontented wannabe hippies, self-hating American citizens, American-hating non-citizens, Marxists, socialists and communists selling their anti-capitalist literature (and not getting the irony of that), 9-11 truthers, conspiracy theorists of all stripes, anti-Israel folks waving Palestinian flags, aging pensioners whose meds have either run out or need to be increased, and a lot of other bitter mental midgets got together in Federal Plaza at 5:30 this afternoon and then paraded up Michigan Avenue. Yawn. Same as last year, with only one real difference. While there were the usual, til death do us part Bush Bashers, this time around we also saw (and heard) plenty of Obama bashing. "Obama is just like Bush!" we were told over the loudspeakers in Federal Plaza. They're upset that Obama is not liberal enough, not far enough to the Left for them. Imagine that: Barack Obama not radical enough for these lumpen proletariate. In short, this type of march may have been impressive in 1968 (and I saw my fill of them growing up in Madison, Wisconsin), but in 2010 they merely seem ludicrous. Boring, very boring. Freak shows can be interesting, but the main attractive is novelty. You see the Bearded Lady enough times and, with time, she no longer shocks. The two-headed chicken even begins to seem mundane after so many viewings, and eventually you long for a three headed chicken. This is especially true when you hear the same bad theme songs as background music every time you enter the tent. Please, show me the Great Egress. Enjoy the slideshow (video coming on Friday, March 19). Flashback to 2008-03-26 VIDEO: ANTIWAR LUNATICS, SOCIALISTS MARCH IN CHICAGO People laugh or sneer when I refer to many of my neighbors in The Peoples Republic of Rogers Park as "socialists" or "communists." But comrades, it's what they call themselves, and if you still think the late Senator Joe McCarthy (R-Wisconsin) was a complete lunatic, you might change your mind after watching this disturbing video. THIS VIDEO CAPTURES MOMENTS from the March 19, 2008 rally/march, and the big March 20, 2008 rally in Chicago. Leave a Comment * Conservative T-Shirts * Follow CNB on Twitter * RSS Feed
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5:30 PM Anti-War Protest, March 18, Downtown Chicago

UPDATE: SEE "Chicago's Anticlimactic Anti-War Protest (Slideshow)" UPDATE: SEE "Video of Chicago Anti-War Protest, March 18, 2010" March 18: 5:30 PM, short rally at Federal Plaza (corner of Adams & Dearborn Streets), followed by permitted march on Michigan Avenue. For more information see "Socialist Freaks to March in Chicago on March 18." Leave a Comment * Conservative T-Shirts * Follow CNB on Twitter * RSS Feed
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National Honk Against Health Care Takeover Day, March 16

On March 16 at 12 noon your time, drive to your nearest congressional district office and drive around honking your horn. The goal is to have Americans across the nation telling the politicians to keep their hands off our health care through this “Honk Against the Health Care Takeover” effort. To show people why you’re honking, when you register we’ll send you FREE a “Honk Against the Health Care Takeover” bumper sticker. To receive the bumper sticker in time for the March 16th event, you need to register by 8 a.m., March 11th. GO HERE NOW TO REGISTER. Orders registered after that time will be mailed, but might not get to you in time for the event. Click here to find your representative’s local office that is nearest to you, and use the form to register below so we can send you a bumper sticker. Last week, Barack Obama actually said the nation is “waiting for [Washington] to act” on the health care issue. This is arrogance and political posturing at its worst. Like most Americans, the president knows the truth. Every reputable public opinion poll for months has clear majorities of the American people saying “NO” to the health care “reform” coming out of Washington, D.C. Now is the time to finish the job of protecting this most personal freedom by stopping the Democrats’ Washington takeover of our health care in the U.S. House of Representatives (Congress). Leave a Comment * Conservative T-Shirts * Follow CNB on Twitter * RSS Feed
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