By: Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner
Gov. J.B. Pritzker recently declared Illinois a Covid disaster area for the 31st consecutive 30-day period. For more than two years, the governor has invoked a “disaster” to rule by executive order. It’s what allowed him to lock down businesses, impose mask mandates, close schools and micromanage healthcare across the state.
His most recent emergency declaration of June 24, 2022 continued to use the same language: “I find that a disaster area exists within the State of Illinois and specifically declare all counties in the state of Illinois as a disaster area.”
Illinois, a disaster area? There’s nothing disastrous about it. And all counties are a disaster area? Even if you were sympathetic to Pritzker’s disaster declarations during the height of the pandemic, you’d have to admit his pronouncement is absurd today. Every major metric, from vaccinations to hospitalizations to deaths, tells us that.
- By the end of June, 78 percent of adults and nearly 90 percent of Illinoisans aged 65-plus – the most-vulnerable population to Covid – were vaccinated. In all, two-thirds of all Illinoisans are now fully vaccinated.
- Just 3 percent of ICU beds, on average, were filled with Covid patients over the past three months. It’s the same with regular hospital beds
- Illinois has averaged eight Covid deaths a day over the last three months, and even then, it’s hard to know whether they died because of Covid or with Covid. Those deaths are tragic, but they don’t make Illinois a disaster state. Illinois’ Covid deaths peaked at more than 150 deaths daily.
- 88 percent of Illinois’ 744 Covid deaths since April 1, 2022 have been over the age of 60 and the average age of those deaths has been about 75, not too distant from Illinois’ average life expectancy of 79.
- Not a single person under the age of 20 has died in the last 3.5 months.
The fact that Pritzker’s disaster proclamation declares all counties a disaster area is also indefensible. Some counties, like tiny Putnam and Edwards, have Covid cases appearing in single digits and haven’t experienced a single Covid death in over three months.
The big question is, why does the media let the governor get away with his declaration? Why don’t they demand that House Speaker Chris Welch and Senate President Don Harmon take back power and legislate whatever COVID laws they deem necessary.
Instead, Illinois remains just one of 14 states, and the only one of our neighbors, to “manage” Covid via an emergency order.
Few other than Wirepoints seem to care that Pritzker still claims executive order powers via an emergency declaration. The media has no right to lament about threats to “democracy” – as it so often does – so long as it fails to challenge Pritzker’s disaster declarations.
Read more from Wirepoints:
- New State of Illinois Financial Statements Show $4.5 Billion Loss For FY 2021, Repudiating ‘Balanced Budget’ Claims
- In a city this violent, Mayor Lightfoot’s outburst against Justice Thomas constitutes a grave dereliction of duty
- Electricity cost rising 50% in much of Illinois and risk of brownouts looms
- Beyond Ridiculous: Pritzker Extends Emergency COVID Powers Another 30 Days. Why?
Excellent article. Thank you! Here is the key paragraph: “Few [media] other than Wirepoints seem to care that Pritzker still claims executive order powers via an emergency declaration. The media has no right to lament about threats to “democracy” – as it so often does – so long as it fails to challenge Pritzker’s disaster declarations.(italics mine) The “presstocricy” (my term) is despicable. The print and broadcast media are mostly staffed by nitwits who do little more than parrot each others lies. They are the reason that today we have $6 gas, runaway inflation, open borders with fentanyl pouring across, murders of… Read more »
Presstocricy! The hoi polloi! They’re as bad as Hollywood. Handing themselves awards for in-depth journalism and dumpster mining. I used to watch local news, years ago! They’re worthless self important parasites. Always moving from network to station. There’s an old saying in Chicago. When your career is in decline you go to channel nine. I miss Geingreco and Taft.
We’ll he is probably concerned for himself. The Governor is obese and probably diabetic with high BP at his weight all things considered that is the population that Covid is hardest on.
Because so long as they use the word pandemic or disaster he is able to retain his power to mandate, control! People of IL. Myself included have come to realize the only escape to this tyranny is to escape!
And the Republican pushback against this power grab is coming??? When, where ??We’re all waiting for some Illinois Republican, any Illinois Republican to say something about this. Darren Bailey where are you ? Or is the media just not reporting it ?
Darren Bailey will be mostly ignored, and mostly mocked and ridiculed, by the legacy media all throughout the state. The media is already treating JB’s re-election as a foregone conclusion. JB will enacts more and more partisan laws between now and Nov. to demoralize the 40-45% of the state that votes Republican. JB and his compromised media truly believe that progressivism is the answer to all of the state’s problems. The nail in the coffin for my family will be mandatory covid vaccinations for children entering school. I won’t do it. I’ll home school my kid until I can sell… Read more »
Same here,..that’s the last straw,.My kids will be home schooled,. Think he’ll do it??
My prediction is that JellyBelly will lose 95 of the 102 counties in the state but will win by a sizable margin. Cook/County carries the ball for all statewide elections.
He is Evil. That is how he is able to continue his power trip. I’m fully convinced. The devil uses the dumbest, most vacuous subjects who are driven by power and money and do not know the meaning of shame.
“Let My People Go”
I would propose that if Illinois is in a “disaster” it is all because of one man, JB Pritzker.
VOTE THIS CREEP OUT……….HE IS A DISASTER LIKE BIDEN…….. ONLY RICHER
He is an embarrassment to the office of Governor. And yet, he is enabled by a whole host of folks…. They are equally as un-American and need a light shown on their faces…
He can do this with a straight face because he is evil.
Another disaster proclamation by Pritzker he is pushing his luck, November 2022 may be his disaster proclamation
Pritzker isn’t calling an end to the state of emergency because the public employee unions haven’t decided what the unions are wiling to accept with regard to state employees getting off their couches, and out of their dining rooms, and going back to work in the thousands of vacant offices that taxpayers have been paying for these last three years. To say nothing of the mountains of federal and state required paperwork-n-filing-n-signing & stamping that’s been piled up-n-excused by the three year old “temporary” state of emergency accommodations. No-one, frankly, has any idea how that mess is going to be… Read more »
SO WITH YOU ON TURNING THINGS AROUND…….THIS GUY IS HORRIBLE
Republican’s are much more mobilized then you realize.
I sure hope so.
I took the Republican primary ballot last week- 23 slots had “No Candidate”.
I really hope your correct but the Democratic automatons in Chicago/Cook and East St Louis represent some large vote counts we must overcome.
Yeah- those hard working state workers are getting used to staying home. And, they call the shots these days.
The entire state is a disaster area-a fiscal disaster. What kind of fat slob gets up there wearing a mask?
YOU’RE FUNNY……….BUT I DO AGREE…….THE MASK IS TO COVER THE SMIRK
Please, keep the muzzle on your puss, Pritzger.
There is a COVID disaster in Illinois. It’s the disaster created by Pritzker’s response to COVID:
— locking down schools/preventing people from going to work
— closing down businesses
— paying people not to work
— expanding bloated state government
— taxing everything that moves
And not allowing the people to get, good, proven, covid treatments!
Watch– he and several other lefty governors will keep mandates in place through the November elections, claiming health risks exist for voters so that the loose voting processes (like drop boxes, ballot harvesting, etc.) can stay in place. There is no health risk and hasn’t been for months– only a risk that Democrats can’t cheat a little more.
One million ways to vote – early, late, unpostmarked, on the spot registration – but it makes no difference for turnout: Chicago was at 20% last month, suburban cook was at 20%, DuPage was at 22%….
So why do our leaders insist that we have one million ways to vote when it doesn’t boost turnout?
Because it makes voting fraud all that much easier…That’s why.
ANOTHER BULLS-EYE……….YOU ARE SO RIGHT
YOU HIT THE BULLS-EYE………..I;LL WEAR A BAG OVER MY HEAD TO GO VOTE THIS CREEP OUT