October 13th, is the deadline for Mr. Speaker – the name he coveted – to report to federal prison. He’s looking at 7.5 years behind bars. At age 83, it’s possible Mike Madigan dies in jail.
For a guy accustomed to calling the shots and having adoring kleptocratic union-thugs and grifters do whatever he asked, this experience will be uncomfortable. But it won’t be nearly as uncomfortable as what Illinoisans have endured during his 50 years in the Illinois House and 37 years as the Speaker.
He and his cronies turned Illinois – a state that should be one of the most prosperous in the country – into a financial wreck. Under Madigan, Illinois became a state with the worst credit rating, and today it still has the worst credit rating of any state. He left behind piles of debt at the state and local level, including the worst pension debt. And to pay for it all, he set up a system that has imposed the highest state and local tax burden on taxpayers, including the highest property taxes. Those high property taxes supplied a customer base for his bread-and-butter property tax appeal business.
He could have used his power for good instead, in addition to turning the state over to rapacious public sector unions, he created a cast of radical identitarian socialists that learned power politics from him and have now taken it to a new level. Near the end of his time in office, his previous, more moderate positions on social and cultural issues were left to the wayside. To keep the progressives at bay and to go along with the cultural zeitgeist, Madigan, that “good Catholic”, capitulated on everything.
And let’s be clear. Madigan controlled everything for the last 20 years he was in office. If he didn’t have super-majorities, then he had control of the House and a Democrat governor in office, or a super-majority of Democrats in the Senate, like in the Rauner years. During those last 20 years, Madigan allowed taxpayer-funded abortion, transgender birth certificates, and the most radical abortion bill in the land, which was passed in 2019. That’s the same year Pritzker and Madigan doubled the gas tax and began to increase state budgets massively. By 2020, with the writing on the wall, Madigan knew his time was up. He completely caved to the extremists and turned over control to the progressives.
To be sure, Madigan goes to prison in disgrace. He never thought he would be caught. As he reports to club fed tomorrow, there’s no man, myth, legend here. He goes to jail a crook, but for inconsequential crimes compared to the damage he did to the people he promised to serve and the oath he swore to uphold. His speakership is a black mark in Illinois politics and on the Democrat party. He owned them all, and they all paid homage to him. As for why he was allowed to reign for as long as he did, there is plenty of blame to go around, but it primarily rests on the voters.
Illinois Must Stop Subsidizing the Communist Chinese Party
At Breakthrough Ideas, we have been pushing back against the CCP-affiliated Gotion, Inc. $536 million deal that Governor Pritzker signed two years ago in September 2023.
Pritzker’s love affair with Gotion is an affront to Americans everywhere. This is why we are helping to raise money for the lawsuit that the Concerned Citizens of Manteno have filed against Gotion. That lawsuit is now in the discovery phase. As a reminder, Gotion is under congressional investigation.
This week, China announced that it would withhold the sale of rare earth metals to the United States and impose shipping fees on American ships that dock at Chinese ports.
As it pertains to rare earth metals, the Wall Street Journal noted that:
Export applications for products with military uses generally won’t be approved, the ministry said, adding that licenses related to semiconductors or artificial-intelligence development will be granted on a case-by-case basis.
The ministry also said it would require licenses for exports of certain lithium batteries and some equipment and materials used to make them, expanding restrictions on technology used in EVs and consumer electronics.
The controls are the latest from Beijing to flex China’s global dominance of supply chains, especially for cutting-edge industries and defense systems. The new rules signal China is tightening its stranglehold on key industrial bases and technologies as the U.S. and other Western countries aim to build up domestic manufacturing and reduce reliance on China.
“They want to maintain as much of that strategic position as possible,” said Julian Evans-Pritchard, head of China economics at Capital Economics.
It should come as no surprise that China will shut down trade of critical components to critical industries on which they have cornered the market. While their move should be met with our businesses figuring out how to mine and process rare earths better, cheaper, and environmentally safer, that’s a long-term solution. The Chinese have only prospered and achieved competency because they have taken advantage of American know-how and generosity. Trump is having none of it and said additional 100% tariffs and export restrictions on American technology will occur if China doesn’t back down.
It begs the question – given the situation, should any state be heavily subsidizing any CCP-connected company, when we are in a trade war with them? Of course not.
China is not a good actor in the economy. They have no regard for human rights, the environment, or fair trade.
In this clip, Laura Ingram explains the situation.
If you are able, please buy a ticket to our fundraising event for the Concerned Citizens of Manteno. Gordon Chang will be our event speaker, and all proceeds will go to the CCOM for their lawsuit. These citizens are taking on big government and big corporations to protect their homes. They deserve our help.
Governor Pritzker Shrugs Off ICE Chaos in Chicago
Finally, Illinois continues to make national headlines for the chaos surrounding protesters interfering with ICE operations and the buffoonish statements of Gov. Pritzker and Mayor Johnson. From ICE Free Zones to saying President Trump wants another confederacy to mocking crime in Chicago, these two serve up loads of materials for X posts and national media stories.
While those two continue to refuse to protect ICE agents, two judges also refuse to help. Two rulings came out this week from federal judges that seek to impose new restrictions on ICE.
In the case of Chicago Headline Club v. Noem, the judge ruled that ICE is prohibited “from using pepper-spray bullets and various other actions in targeting journalists, reporters and photographers in the traditional job of gathering news.” Read HERE. Interestingly, the judge’s ruling came on Thursday, and the very next day, a WGN employee was arrested by ICE and, during the scuffle, kept announcing that she works for WGN. But let’s be clear, she is not a journalist.
FOX 32 reported the following about the incident:
The incident occurred near Lincoln and Foster avenues in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on Chicago’s North Side. Multiple videos of the incident were posted on social media.
What we know: In the videos, the employee identifies herself as Debbie Brockman and mentions that she works for WGN.
In a post on X, Gregory Bovino, commander-at-large of the U.S. Border Patrol, accused the WGN employee of “throwing an object at Border Patrol Agents conducting lawful duties.”
He said she will be charged with assault of a federal officer.
In another ruling, a federal judge ruled, according to the AP that “national guard troops sent to Illinois by President Donald Trump can stay in the state and under federal control, but can’t be deployed to protect federal property or go on patrol for now, an appeals court ruled Saturday.” The judge found “no substantial evidence that a “danger of rebellion” is brewing in Illinois during Trump’s immigration crackdown.”
Meanwhile, Gov. Pritzker is making jokes about the chaos and crime in Chicago for Jimmy Kimmel Live’s late-night show. It’s pretty tone-deaf to mock the crime situation when, so far this year, Chicago has had the highest murder number for the last 13 years and has already had 356 homicides this year, according to the website heyjackass.com.
Pritzker’s stunt can be viewed in this article.
Illinoisans should beware – the focus on ICE operations and the upcoming repeat of No Kings Day are distractions from what could happen this week during the Veto Session in Springfield. The Democrats are planning a massive power grab over control of your energy – that’s the electricity that powers your home and businesses. There are more details below.
Also, anything can happen this week to force Illinois taxpayers to bail out the Chicago area transit. The scandalous $1.50 delivery tax bill is still alive and could be pushed through the House.
With Democrat supermajorities, they can meet the higher threshold to pass legislation during this time.
Democrats Launch Massive Power Grab as Legislature Returns
This week, the legislature heads back to Springfield for Veto Session.
On the agenda is a massive 800-page bill that rewrites energy policy – again – in Illinois.
It’s a doozy. I’ve written about it before, and this week I interviewed State Senator Sue Rezin about the bill. That interview can be heard on our YouTube channel at this link:
Senator Rezin unequivocally stated that this bill is untenable for consumers. Included in the bill, according to our interview and other information I have seen, are provisions that:
- Allow the Illinois Commerce Commission and the Illinois Power Agency, appointed officials by the Governor, to have complete control over energy decisions in the future.
- The bill forces all natural gas and coal to be shut down and requires their replacement with wind, solar, and battery power.
- The bill lifts rate cap restrictions in previous energy bills to protect consumers. Without caps, the ICC can push costs for inefficient and expensive solar, wind, and batteries onto consumers.
- The battery build-out to accomplish their goals would cost $14 billion alone and yet, sensitive industries would never rely on batteries to provide their energy.
- It further diminishes local control over wind, solar, battery, and transmission siting.
- It requires additional tax money to go to green energy subsidies, like $84 million for electric vehicle charging stations.
The bill would be the biggest power grab in Illinois history. Rezin said this bill was negotiated with only the Governor’s staff and the special interests – solar and wind companies, the environmental groups, the grid-scale battery manufacturers, and his cronies at the ICC.
The bill is SB 25, House Amendment 2. Link HERE.
The Democrats want to keep the federal government shutdown until after their planned No Kings Day rallies across America on October 18th.
Taxpayers should know the local College of DuPage faculty union voted to co-sponsor the local No Kings Rally along Roosevelt Rd. Yes – your teachers are biased, political radicals.
I received information from a union member that said:
“They did NOT ask union members. This is NOT a unanimous union decision. They are asking faculty to participate in protests.“