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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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Sounds like a perfect priority for Illinois. After all, most Illinoisans can’t spell economics.
This is what you get with a 1 Party State. I don’t see it changing- except to get worse.
A one party DEMOCRAT state. One party Republican states get less of this woke nonsense but they get more petty corruption.
I was surprised to see an absolutely beautiful child about 4, wearing swim trunks – and looking lost – in my private club woman’s pool locker room. When I walked outside I saw a young father with a support trans youth t-shirt on and it clicked. I don’t know the answers but am certain that father was doing what he thought best for his child.
Child psychologist Alice Miller made a term for what’s going on here: “emotional incest”.
A strong term but what it describes is the parent emotionally manipulating their child for the emotional satisfaction of the parent.
This is also describes teachers who manipulate their students to satisfy the teacher’s emotional needs.
33 counties have voted to secede from Illinois and the state took an 9 point rightward shift. JB’s response is: mOrE sEx ChAnGeS!
Whens the election for Governor again? 😉
He will lose on this one.
With the state having voted overwhelmingly for Harris, why do you think voters will in 2026 have recovered their senses?
“having voted overwhelmingly for Harris”
But far LESS overwhelmingly than for Biden, Hillary or Obama. Kamala won IL by 8 points, which may sound decisive but when you consider that Biden and Hillary both won by 17 points and Obama (in 2008) by more than 20, there’s obviously “something happening here”. Voters all over the nation, in both red and blue states, noted that illegal immigration and transgenderism were decisive issues that prompted them to vote for Trump this time, yet JB insists on doubling down on exactly those issues that alienated formerly Dem or Independent voters the most.
JB is merely giving what 54% of Illinois voters wanted: a fat slob pushing creepy s3x stuff on kids.
About 1/3 of eligible voters sat out. My guess is they lean heavily Republican, Libertarian or Independent. Democrat iron fisted, relentless, punitive, take no prisoners control of this state has alienated a large portion of the voters who either move or check out and refuse to participate anymore. The ruling junta would rather burn the state to the ground and rule over it’s ashes then give up control.
Again, I apologize for the visual –
The ‘Emperor’ has no clothes…
He’s surrounded himself with sycophants & yes men to feed his enormous ego…
You should include da Trumpster in that accusation, the man whose appointee and advisor decisions have even more potentially dire consequences.
At least his appointments KNOW what sex they are.
That’s not an ill elephant; it’s irrelevant.
There are lots of irrelevants in the circus.-Chico Marx lol.
Oh, apparently the down voters here don’t think Trump seeks advisors and appointees who clearly are sycophants. Okay, then. Please tell me where to address my get well card to the psycho wards that are your home addresses.
Of course they are sycophants. That’s exactly the point. Most Americans are OK with this. I’d even go a step further that they are not sycophants to Trump but rather the America First agenda. Protecting Trump is a small part of the job. The real job comes with the big agenda on their plate: reversing 16 years of the past 20 years of wokeness baked into the government. Since most people want it gone, it shouldn’t be too difficult to get rid, and those that aren’t on board will be summarily fired. It’s looking increasingly like Trump at 78 years… Read more »
You didn’t say it directly, but you are endorsing authoritarianism. Maybe you think he will handle it well, but his entire aura and history suggests otherwise. We all will reap the risk/reward ratio that ensues. God help us all!
If you think this is authoritarianism, you ain’t see nothing yet! We all secretly want Don Jr, and then Baron, to inherit the presidency, forever, in perpetuity. I hope America has a Trump dictator for the next 100 years! Pax Americana!
If you have a job you want done, you hire people who 1) agree that the job needs to be done and 2) will help you get it done. You don’t hire people who think the job is stupid and that you’re a fool for even trying to do it. They may give you constructive criticism in the interest of HELPING you get the job done more quickly or more efficiently, but they cannot try to stand in the way of that task. In his first term Trump hired too many people who, as it turned out, got in the… Read more »
The TDS is strong with this one. Its gonna be a long four years James.
You got that right. As the old vaudevillians used to say “you ain’t see nothin’ yet!”. Trump is a bull in the china shop. Careful thought for issues beyond self aggrandizement is not his forté.
You can’t even compare Trumps picks to the Democrat parade of clowns. Pete Buttigig: his only qualification is he liked choo choos as a child. Sam Brinton: hired into the office of nuclear energy, had a habit of stealing womens luggage right off the carousel and then actually wore the stolen dresses in public. RickRachel Levine: asst sec at HHS, a man who wears a dress and advocates for no age limits on gender mutilation. Xavier Becerra: HHS- not a doctor, a lawyer. Jennifer Granholm: energy secretary, no energy background, consulted with Chinese energy officials before releasing 50 million barrels… Read more »
Why don’t you stick to the main issue instead of trying to obfuscate? How intelligent are people who choose to vote for someone who disrespects time honored laws and traditions multiple times in videoed press conferences, has felony charges, scoffs at military members, derides them publicly, pantomimes sex acts with a microphones on a televised “speech,” cheats creditors during multiple bankruptcies, etc, etc. and etc.? What has happened to America’s collective intelligence to allow him to be our RE-elected Present? It boggles the mind! It’s like voting for a squirrel!
IMO, James, the answer is that people concluded that Harris was at least as bad as Trump on character issues. Moreover, they concluded bad personal traits, especially lying, are far more rampant on the left than on the right (aside from Trump). Since they saw the character deficiencies in both Trump and Harris, they ended up basing their votes on the direction they want the country to take, not the personalities. Simple perceptions of Dem incompetency also favored the GOP, I think. That’s my take.
I truly hope Trump will be considered a good President a few years hence, but I’d not place a bet on that hope. Character matters, and politics aside his is despicable.
you commented about dire consequences due to appointees, and I pointed out Dem appointees that are dire. That’s not obfuscating, James, but of course you project.
Gender dysphoria (GD), according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM 5), is defined as a “marked incongruence between their experienced or expressed gender and the one they were assigned at birth.” It was previously termed “gender identity disorder.” GD has been found to have a higher prevalence in people with illnesses such as schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder. There is also growing evidence that childhood abuse, neglect, maltreatment, and physical or sexual abuse may be associated with GD. Individuals reporting higher body dissatisfaction and GD have a worse prognosis in terms of mental health. And as mentioned above in epidemiology, individuals with… Read more »
Most Transgenders are mentally ill. Period. Surgical mutilation of and adult should be a very last resort item and certainly NOT paid by the taxpayers. Any “Doctor” who surgically mutilates a child deserves the death penalty.
Mentally ill and should NOT have firearm, cases of sexually mixed up tops the school shooters list.
The trans school shooter in TN certainly got swept under the rug. The authorities still won’t release the specifics of the case due to “ an ongoing investigation “. The shooter is dead! What’s left to investigate? Ditto the Muslim that shot up the nightclub in Orlando. Only a certain ( male, white) mass shooter gets investigated. MAGA hat wearing is a bonus.
Should even insane adults be able to “consent” to mutilation surgery? Are surgeons at risk for assault charges if later sued by a trans victim who claims temporary insanity when his/her apparent consent was gjven?
Child mutilation paid for by the Illinois taxpayer is JB’s plan to boost his Pritzker for President 2028 credentials. Good luck with that.
So people across the country will travel to get a sex change operation courtesy of the Illinois taxpayers while the State can’t pay its bills as it is…and to think Illinoisans vote for this.
Well this is certainly a top priority for Illinoisans. Not property tax reform, horrible school test scores, out of control crime, rotten public transportation or multi billion dollar deficits. Let’s spend our time on tranny sex operations instead.
This man must be stopped, what is wrong with this perverted individual.
Doesn’t this guy realize how tone-deaf his pro-trans/pro-surgery stance is to voters?
Same for biological males in women’s sports. It’s toxic, polls say.
One of many problems with Pritzker is his inability to self-reflect. He just thinks throwing his billions into it will “make it so.” No sane parent in America wants this – whether grooming in the schools, males in women’s sports / bathrooms, pushing life-altering surgeries before the mind has fully developed, hiding it from the parents, etc. All of this is one of the reasons the country just voted the way it did. Even Bill Maher sees it. The Pritzker’s will not overcome the common sense / decency of the American people. Some very faulty assumptions in their ROI analysis.
He’s used to the Illinois press, which never challenges him on anything and thinks his radicalism is centrist. And he’s used to being able to buy anything he wants.
Pritzker is doubling down on extremist policies, at a time when voters have sent a message that there is reduced appetite for the absurd. Conservatives need to jump all over this depraved lunatic and his extreme agenda. Call it out often and loudly, JB Pritzker is hellbent on destroying common sense and decency. His family’s obsession with mutilating children isn’t acceptable to Americans with values. Push him back into his immoral corner where he belongs.
I guess he wants IL to be on the wrong side of the next Civil War (if there is one)….
“Conservatives need to jump all over this depraved lunatic”
Some already have – his extreme positions were noted on Fox News this morning. However it seems that Conservatives in IL get bashed by both sides: the Dems and liberal media insist that they are the crazy and extremist ones, but the GOP and conservative media also either insist they are the extremists, or if they agree with them, tell them their struggle is hopeless and their only recourse is to move somewhere else. It would be nice to have some encouragement once in a while.
Seriously! This is what is most important in Illinois.
Just like what John Stossel says. Give Me a Break!