Pritzker touts marijuana sales in Illinois



Illionois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, raised eyebrows by celebrating marijuana sales in the state.

"For the third year in a row, Illinois had record-setting growth for adult-use cannabis sales. We're building the most prosperous and accessible cannabis industry in the nation – taking steps to repair the damage of the past and creating real opportunity for all Illinoisans," Pritzker's post declared.

Dana Perino responded by tweeting, "You're bragging about this? geez Louise."

— (@)

"This is all that JB Pritzker has to offer- drugs and abortion. What a dark, depressing agenda for a state filled with such hopeful people," GOP Rep. Mary Miller of Illinois tweeted.

Pritzker, who took office in early 2019 and won re-election in 2022, has claimed that "abortion access is healthcare."

"The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation ('IDFPR') announced today that adult use cannabis sales set a new annual record in 2023, exceeding $1.6 billion," according to a press release issued earlier this month. The state is raking in tax revenues due to the pot sales. "Sales taxes collected at Illinois adult use cannabis dispensaries totaled $417.6 million in 2023, per the Illinois Department of Revenue," the press release stated.

"Approximately 3 in 10 people who use marijuana have marijuana use disorder," the CDC notes. "Some signs and symptoms of marijuana use disorder include trying but failing to quit using marijuana or giving up important activities with friends and family in favor of using marijuana. The risk of developing marijuana use disorder is stronger in people who start using marijuana during youth or adolescence and who use marijuana more frequently."

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'I plead with you for mercy': Illinois Gov. Pritzker calls Greg Abbott 'callous' for sending migrants in winter weather



Governor of Illinois J.B. Pritzker sent a scathing letter to Texas Governor Greg Abbott requesting that he stop sending illegal immigrants to Chicago, while also calling the Texan "callous" and accusing him of putting peoples' lives at risk.

Pritzker sent the letter while also taking out a full-page ad in the Austin American-Statesman containing the same text.

"You are now sending asylum seekers from Texas to the Upper Midwest in the middle of winter — many without coats, without shoes to protect them from the snow," Pritzker wrote, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. "While action is pending at the federal level, I plead with you for mercy for the thousands of people who are powerless to speak for themselves," he added.

The Illinois governor then accused Abbott of putting the lives of children and families at risk.

"Please, while winter is threatening vulnerable people’s lives, suspend your transports and do not send more people to our state."

"Your callousness, sending buses and planes full of migrants in this weather, is now life-threatening to every one of the arrivals," Pritzker continued. "Hundreds of children’s and families’ health and survival are at risk due to your actions."

The governor also wrote that Abbott had "no interest in working on bipartisan solutions to the border crisis because that would put an end to [his] cruel political game."

Pritzker's accusations did not yield great results from Governor Abbott's office, who responded to the letter by noting that the illegal immigrants sent to Chicago signed a consent waiver to go to the destination.

As reported by the State Journal-Register, Abbott's office mocked Pritzker's once "proud" declaration of being welcoming to illegal migrants.

"Governor Pritzker was all too proud to call Illinois 'the most welcoming state in the nation' until Governor Abbott began transporting migrants to Chicago," said Abbott spokesman Andrew Mahaleris.

Mahaleris also noted that Texas too is having its share of inclement weather.

"Instead of complaining about migrants sent from Texas, where we are also preparing to experience severe winter weather across the state, Governor Pritzker should call on his party leader to finally do his job and secure the border — something he continues refusing to do,” the spokesman added.

"Until President Biden steps up and does his job to secure the border, Texas will continue transporting migrants to sanctuary cities to help our local partners respond to this Biden-made crisis."

Chicago has received a reported 35,000 illegal immigrants since the transports began, including nearly 4,500 people who have arrived on flights.

Around 14,500 migrants are living in 28 shelters.

Pritzker has noted that the state has been "trying to prevent those companies from leasing their planes to the state of Texas."

However, he admitted that he cannot "tell a group, a people, or an aircraft that it can’t come somewhere."

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A 6-year-old boy was stabbed 26 times with a 7-inch blade outside  Chicago. DOJ now investigating boy's murder as possible anti-Muslim hate crime.



A 6-year-old boy was butchered with a 12-inch military-style knife Saturday outside Chicago. While Wadea Al-Fayoume succumbed to the 26 stab wounds inflicted upon his little body, his 32-year-old mother, who was similarly stabbed dozens of times, is expected to survive.

The Will County Sheriff's Office indicated that "both victims in this brutal attack were targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis."

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced Sunday that the Department of Justice has opened a federal hate crime investigation into the brutal slaying.

What are the details?

According to the WCSO, deputies responded to a report of a stabbing involving a landlord and a renter at a house on the 16200 block of S. Lincoln Highway in Unincorporated Plainfield Township Saturday just before noon. The township is roughly 40 miles southwest of Chicago.

The landlord, 71-year-old Joseph M. Czuba of Plainfield, was waiting for them at the driveway of the residence, seated upright and bloodied.

Inside the building was a gory nightmare.

Deputies found the boy and his mother, Hanaan Shahin, both riddled with stab wounds to their chests, torsos, and upper extremities. The murder weapon was reportedly a 12-inch serrated military-style knife with a seven-inch blade.A forensic pathologist retrieved the knife from the child's abdomen when conducting the autopsy on Sunday.

Officials indicated that during the attack, Shahin had fled into the bathroom and continued battling her attacker while calling 911, reported the New York Times.

The WCSO indicated both victims were taken to a local area hospital for treatment. While the boy ultimately succumbed to his wounds, Shahin is recovering and expected to survive.

Detectives determined that the boy and his mother were targeted due to their religiosity and "the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis."

Family members reportedly indicated the victims are Palestinian Americans.

WLS-TV reported the critically injured mother came to the U.S. from the West Bank 12 years ago.

Mariola Jagodzinski, a neighbor, told the Times she never had negative interactions with the suspect. She was also familiar with the victims, to whom she had given toys in the past.

"He was a playful child — really full of energy," said Jagodzinski. "Kids are innocent. This really destroys so many hearts."

Yousef Hannon, the boy's paternal uncle, stated Sunday, "We are not animals, we are humans. We want people to see us as humans, to feel us as humans, to deal with us as humans, because this is what we are," reported the Associated Press.

Czuba, who was initially taken to hospital with a cut on his forehead, was later later questioned at the Will County Sheriff's Office Public Safety Complex. While the suspect reportedly refused to comment on the brutal slaying, detectives reportedly collected sufficient evidence for him to be formally charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two hate crime counts, and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the activist Council on American-Islamic Relations, lauded the WCSO "and all those who worked on what was a swift and decisive investigation that did not mince words. Their work sets a standard that I hope will be followed elsewhere. It really helps to have that level of closure for family and community before our darling Wadea is put to rest."

Rehab also claimed during a news conference over the weekend that Czuba had previously been kind to the boy but underwent a radical shift in thinking in recent days.

"[Czuba] built a tree house for the boy and allowed him to swim in a makeshift pool and brought him toys, but it wasn't until he started watching the news and hearing the statements that something changed," said Rehab.

The Associated Press indicated that attempts to reach out to the suspect's family have so far proven unsuccessful.

Czuba's initial court appearance is set to take place at 1:30 p.m. Monday at the Will County Courthouse in Joliet, Illinois.

Officials respond

Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued a statement hours after the murder, noting that "to take a six year old child's life in the name of bigotry is nothing short of evil. Wadea should be heading to school in the morning. Instead, his parents will wake up without their son. This wasn't just a murder — it was a hate crime."

"Today, MK and I join our Muslim and Palestinian brothers and sisters in mourning this tragic loss and praying for the recovery of Wadea's mother. May Wadea Al-Fayoume's memory be a blessing," added Pritzker.

Garland announced late Sunday that the attack was being investigated as a federal hate crime.

"This incident cannot help but further raise the fears of Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian communities in our country with regard to hate-fueled violence," said Garland. "The Department of Justice is focused on protecting the safety and the civil rights of every person in this country. We will use every legal authority at our disposal to bring to justice those who perpetrate illegal acts of hate. No one in the United States of America should have to live in fear of violence because of how they worship or where they or their family come from."

WLS reported that the Chicago FBI Field Office, the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ, and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois said they have opened an investigation into the boy's murder.

The following message was posted from President Joe Biden's X account just before midnight Sunday: "Jill and I were sickened to learn of the brutal murder of a child and the attempted murder of the child's mother yesterday in Illinois. Our condolences and prayers are with the family. This act of hate against a Palestinian Muslim family has no place in America."

The message concluded, "As Americans, we must come together and reject Islamophobia and all forms of bigotry and hatred. I have said repeatedly that I will not be silent in the face of hate. We must be unequivocal."

The Illinois State Police suggested that as the Israeli-Hamas conflict proceeds, police will be beefing up communications and activity in the face of "elevated level of threats of violence and hate crimes related to the current conflict."

ISP Director Brendan F. Kelly said, "Everyone in Illinois — both law enforcement and community members alike — must remain on guard against both terrorism and hate crimes during this period of volatility. ... If you see something, say something, before it's too late."

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Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker says he does not think America's founders 'would've said that you have a Constitutional right to an assault weapon with a high-capacity magazine'



In the wake of a deadly mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, on Monday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, said that he does not believe America's Founding Fathers would have said that citizens have a Constitutional right to own an assault weapon.

"A day dedicated to freedom has put into stark relief the one freedom we as a nation refuse to uphold: The freedom of our fellow citizens to live without the daily fear of gun violence," Pritzker said.

"Our founders carried muskets, not assault weapons. And I don't think a single one of them would've said that you have a Constitutional right to an assault weapon with a high-capacity magazine, or that that is more important than the right of the people who attended this parade today to live," he declared.

Full press conference: Pritzker, Duckworth speak following Highland Park parade shooting youtu.be

So far, seven of the shooting victims have died. Many others were injured during the heinous attack. A 21-year-old man has been charged with seven counts of first-degree murder.

While Americans on both sides of the political aisle want to address the problem of mass shootings in the U.S., leftists continue to push gun control as a way to tackle the issue, while conservatives contend that gun control measures would infringe on the constitutionally guaranteed right to keep and bear arms.

The text of the Second Amendment reads, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California has tweeted, "We cannot stop working until we ban and buy-back assault weapons, require background checks, and have red flag laws."

Swalwell has claimed that GOP lawmakers "keep voting against our kids and voting for their killers."

\u201cI\u2019m so happy you\u2019re alive. I\u2019m so sorry this happened. I\u2019ll do more to stop this from happening again. But I know it will. We cannot stop working until we ban and buy-back assault weapons, require background checks, and have red flag laws. We have to change America, Lilli.\u201d
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@Rep. Eric Swalwell) 1656992363

Dem Megadonors, Officials Financially Tied to Electric Bus Company Boosted by Biden

Energy secretary Jennifer Granholm is not the only prominent Democrat with financial ties to an electric bus company repeatedly boosted by the Biden administration, documents reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon show.

The post Dem Megadonors, Officials Financially Tied to Electric Bus Company Boosted by Biden appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

Illinois governor says no to high school football this fall. Every bordering state is allowing it.



Despite every bordering state deciding differently, Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker doubled down on his decision not to allow high school football in the state this fall due to the coronavirus pandemic.

What are the details?

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Ptitzker's stance on the issue has not changed at all since he announced restrictions to high school sports in late July, even as parents and students around the state have engaged in protests and rallies demanding a return to the fall sports season.

The rallies were to no avail, however, as during a news conference Tuesday, the governor handed down his ruling.

"I'm not willing to sacrifice people's lives or their health, neither the children nor their parents who would be affected also," he announced. "We are being careful about it but I'm relying on doctors and researchers to give us the information. This isn't a political decision. I know that there are people who would like me simply to make a political decision to allow people to endanger themselves."

When asked about the bordering states — Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Iowa, and Wisconsin — which have all permitted play, Pritzker said "if they decided to endanger children and families ... that is their decision."

"It's not something that is good for the families and the children of Illinois," Pritzker concluded, even after noting that Illinois has a lower positivity rate than many of the other states.

The Chicago Tribune reported last week that the Illinois High School Association sent a letter to Pritzker requesting "permission for the IHSA "to resume control over determining the resumption of IHSA sports and activities."

At least for now, that request appears not to have been granted. However, it is not clear whether the IHSA would move to resume football even if it were to regain control.

Anything else?

While Illinois is unique as only state to ban high school football despite no bordering states doing so, it is far from the only state to postpone the fall season.

According to a Max Preps survey of where high school sports stand in all 50 states across the country, as of last week, 17 states along with the District of Columbia have opted not to have a fall football season.

It may be worth noting that out of those 17 states, 15 of them have Democratic governors.

In Illinois, it seems that Pritzker's decision is not popular with residents. Sun-Times writer Michael O'Brien posted a poll Tuesday asking: "Do you think Illinois should play high school football now?" He noted that the last time he asked a similar question, readers were in favor of shutting down fall sports.

Though the results are certainly not scientific — since the poll is open to anyone, and not just Illinois residents — it demonstrated that public opinion on the matter has changed.

At the time of this article's publication, 1,992 votes had been cast with 72% saying "yes."