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That Sigcho-Lopez — a progressive ally of Mayor Brandon Johnson who has called for the Democratic National Convention in Chicago to be canceled and criticized President Joe Biden’s handling of the war between Israel and Hamas — attended the rally wasn’t much of a surprise. But his appearance with the scorched flag that protesters said was once flown during a military tour in Afghanistan by a veteran who burned it Friday to protest Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza has since incensed several of the alderman’s council colleagues. Several aldermen harshly criticized him on social media over the weekend and have since said they may even consider a council censure vote.
Summary and audio linked here.
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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