By: Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner
Credit Gov. J.B. Pritzker for his persistence. It’s hard to keep up with his Covid Disaster Declarations. He’s issued so many – 38 straight dating back to March 2020 – that almost nobody reports on them any more. Just Wirepoints and a couple of other groups. The mainstream media gave up a long ago. Even we’re a bit behind in reporting on it this time.
Like most of his policy choices, the governor’s decision to maintain a disaster declaration makes Illinois a national outlier. Only nine states in the entire country are still left operating under a Covid emergency.
The governor has no real justification to continue the emergency. He should have ended them – or the Illinois legislature should have taken away his powers – long ago. But he hasn’t and they haven’t.
And as we’ve repeated ad nauseum, Illinois’ neighboring states ended their declarations months or years ago. Michigan and Wisconsin both ended theirs about two years ago, while the remainder of our neighbors stopped theirs nearly a year ago (see appendix).
One state many may be surprised to see still operating with emergency orders is Texas. But read the rationale in Gov. Greg Abbott’s declaration and you’ll quickly understand why:
WHEREAS, ending the disaster declaration would terminate the executive orders that protect Texans’ freedom by suspending the power of local governments to require masks, compel vaccinations, and close businesses; and
WHEREAS, I intend to keep these executive orders and suspensions in place until the Legislature can enact laws this session to prohibit local governments from imposing restrictions like mask mandates and vaccine mandates;
Pretty much the opposite of what Gov. Pritzker is doing. Gov. Abbott’s orders are in place to ensure localities don’t infringe on citizens’ rights. Pritzker’s orders are in place so he can impose one-size-fits all mask, vaccine and other restrictions on the entire state.
One last thing. Our recent Instagram reel highlighting Disaster Declaration No. 37 has seen a resurgence of sorts in the last few days.
Check it out. It captures the repetitive nature of Pritzker’s clockwork declarations and the madness of maintaining them even as the rest of the county returns to normal.
View this post on Instagram
Appendix
Read more from Wirepoints:
- Illinois supporters expected to press ahead with crazy idea of wind turbines on Lake Michigan
- Illinois’ newest suicide attempt: Legislation for an Illinois wealth tax will be introduced on Thursday
- It’s back…Illinois’ Sen. Martwick to again push for a progressive tax, even as U.S. states overwhelmingly move toward flat or zero income taxes.
- Property Tax Foreclosure As Theft? U.S. Supreme Court Will Decide and Illinois Is In The Crosshairs
With $162 billion more from taxpayers, couldn’t you deliver a few bond upgrades, too
Audio and summary 
A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.
I predict the governor will try to distance himself from his Covid mandates, self preservation! He’s very sly and a kitchen table conniver. He no longer poses next to Herself for photo ops. The jig is up on Covid. Lori won’t make it to the general election. I wonder what her employment city agreement term sheet contains. Security in perpetuity?
Anyone seen Carl?
JB is useless. I’m surprised he’s still in office.
Jawohl mein fuher!
Like a short clip of Dan Bongino on the radio says, about the illustrious Pritzker, “he’s a buffoon”.
38th time’s the charm.
That’s like asking when he’ll go on a diet!
No mirrors in any of JB’s homes, but he has to notice that he can’t see his feet, whether standing or laying down.
Pritzker’s Covid Disaster Declarations aren’t really about masks and vaccinations-n-social distancing. They’re “about” keeping AFSCME and SEIU happy by allowing public employee union members to continue “working” from their couch or kitchen table, rather than reporting to their now vacant offices-n-cubicles (whose rent-n-lease costs are still paid by taxpayers). The declarations are “about” not wanting to enforce the Medicaid eligibility standards that were suspended by the “state of emergency declarations,” and not having to reduce the benefit-inflated and “everyone’s eligible” vote-buying “COVID emergency” SNAP boondoggle. Really has nothing at all to do with face coverings, and the FDA-approved COVID booster… Read more »
Office work, done on computers, in an office that you drive to is truly obsolete. Most skyscrapers are obsolete, there is no good reason for folks to physically collaborate in a meeting room, the online meetings are much more productive. But I do agree that this is all about the gov sector not forcing unionized people to return to office. Now many workers need to distribute gov services in person, dmv, etc. It will be a while before those services are delivered online too, they must return.
Interesting, never thought about it that way. Would make sense.
If meetings are online there should be record of meetings that could be accessed?
When you have zero election integrity, you don’t need to be liked or popular. You just need to to what you’re told.
Pritzker needs to be labeled the welfare governor and bear all the negative connotations that title deserves. As Wirepoints has previously reported, Illinois has the Midwest’s highest unemployment rate and is reaching new highs in Medicaid and SNAP enrollments.
What he won’t reveal is when that Federal spigot is turned off, he has no answers for the fiscal crisis that is coming as this year unfolds. This recession will hammer Illinois because it is unprepared for the economic downturn. His popularity will tank and his handlers, the unions, will distance themselves. Try running a presidential campaign with that baggage, guv.
Another reason why people are moving out of state
This is the sort of Tyrant that the Founding Fathers warned you about.
If you cannot lead and govern a state you must rule by tyranny.
How much fed Covid cash is jb still getting from fed for SNAP, mediaid,etc? This short piece has state lowering SNAP benefits back to pre-covid levels on 3/1.
https://www.myradiolink.com/2023/01/17/illinois-human-services-seeks-to-educate-snap-households-to-prepare-for-usdas-return-of-snap-benefits-to-pre-pandemic-levels/