Democrats Fiddle While Illinoisans Flee to Other States

Thank you to Coal, Natural Gas, and Nuclear Power for keeping the lights on and electric heaters running in these frigid temperatures. On the left is the generation fuel mix in the PJM market.

On the right is the mix in the MISO territory. Both pictures are from their Real Time Displays on their apps.

The above is a screenshot from Elon Musk’s X account showing a repost from James O’Keefe, an investigative journalist who is reporting in Minneapolis. In other posts, O’Keefe and other independent journalists have remarked that they are being followed as they attempt to report and infiltrate the protest groups that have reached into the thousands and are disrupting Homeland Security operations that are in the process of apprehending criminal illegal aliens.

This text to O’Keefe shows the extent to which the Left will go in order to create chaos during President Trump’s administration. They want conservative journalists dead.

Who is funding them? And why aren’t politicians restoring order in the streets? At least at the Broadview ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois, after the protests began to get out of hand, barriers were erected to prevent protesters from blocking ingress and egress to the facility and from creating a safe zone for protesting. That zone was enforced by the Illinois State Police.

In Minneapolis, the police have not controlled the crowds, and only after the death of another citizen protester has Minnesota Governor Tim Walz finally called in the national guard to restore order. We’ll see how strongly he directs their effort.

If you haven’t heard, Minneapolis is now reportedly under siege in parts of the city as street blockades have been erected by protesters in the wake of another citizen being shot to death by ICE agents. The man is seen on video getting involved in an ICE operation and resisting arrest. Tape of the incident can be viewed on X. Here is a link to one of the videos. Graphic Content.

The protester was carrying a 9mm gun, which he was reportedly authorized to do as a legal concealed carry holder in Minnesota. In the chaos, an ICE agent shot him to death, allegedly in a defensive action. Again, it is hard to know exactly what was happening at the time of the shooting. What we do know is that the protester acted recklessly by getting close to ICE and interfering. That’s obvious.

Let’s be clear here – if you are going to exercise your right to carry, which I fully support, maybe you shouldn’t show up to a peaceful protest and decide to push a law enforcement officer, resist arrest, and not immediately offer up that you have a weapon.

Justified shooting or not, I don’t know, and the lawyers and juries will decide – regardless, this death was 100% preventable by the protester. He wasn’t there to protest peacefully. First of all, he was directing traffic in the middle of the street – what authorizes him to do that? Then he got in the middle of an ICE operation. This is how you get killed.

As for the protester being a lawful concealed carry holder, the laws are the same in MN as in IL on duty to inform when interacting with police and lawfully carrying. If the cops pull you over for a traffic violation and you are exercising your right to conceal carry, it is highly recommended that you inform the police; there is no duty to inform unless the police directly ask about it. However, most CCL instructors suggest you offer up the information.

On a broader note, these protesters are misguided. They are protesting the legal enforcement of our immigration laws. They are literally disrupting the enforcement of our nation’s laws. And these protesters are being egged on by Democrat politicians, some of whom have suggested that it would be okay to shoot law enforcement officers, including the Arizona Attorney General.

Governor Tim Walz encouraged protesters to get out there and film ICE. He’s responsible for increasing the tension and inciting the protesters to interfere. He knows there are outside agitators. He has literally handed control of his streets over to protesters.

Competing press conferences by Democrat Leaders in Minnesota and the Department of Homeland Security offer different accounts of what happened. Meanwhile, social media lit up with competing responses to yet another tragic and preventable death of a protester.

NOW ON TO GOVERNOR PRITZKER AND ILLINOIS ISSUES.

Graphic from Illinois Policy Institute article linked below.

The Illinois House returned to Springfield this week to begin Spring session. On their plate is how to solve a projected $2.2 billion budget hole. They got off to a slow start, though, in tackling that problem, instead they spent time passing a slew of resolutions that attacked President Trump, ICE operations, tariffs, and talks over Greenland. Read HERE, HERE and HERE.

As shown above, the focus of all policy decisions by lawmakers should be on lowering taxes to keep Illinoisans from fleeing the state, which they continue to do. And it is the higher-income-earning folks who are leaving.

An American Community Survey and a recent report released by the U.S. Census Bureau estimate that 82,900 Illinoisans left the state last year alone. 95% of them went to states with lower taxes. Why don’t Pritzker and his Supermajority Democrats get it??

Their debilitating tax policies have included, among others, the highest property taxes in the country, the 7th-highest sales taxes, and the largest permanent rate income tax hike in state history (in 2017).

From the IPI article:

Illinois lost the most residents to Florida (11,659); Indiana (11,629); Wisconsin (9,914); Missouri (7,470); and Tennessee (6,874). In total, Illinois lost 36,737 residents to neighboring states and 46,163 to states farther away.

One common factor for states attracting Illinoisans: lower taxes. Nearly 79,000 – or 95% – of Illinoisans who left went to areas with lower state and local tax burdens. Less than 5% (4,041) went to states with higher tax burdens.

Then there is this – A small business survey commissioned by the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce and conducted by the University of Illinois at Chicago points to other areas of policy state lawmakers should focus on.

That survey, linked here, shows that small business owners – many of whom are in Democrat-protected classes of women- and minority-owned businesses – are not as optimistic about the economy in 2026 as they were before.

Of those surveyed, 70% do less than $1M in revenue, 95% have fewer than 50 employees, and 90% are woman- or minority-owned.

Here is a summary chart of their outlook.

ON THE CULTURAL FRONT

Vance at March for Life – Photo from White House Video

VP VANCE at the March for Life: “In the ancient pagan world, discarding children was routine. From the skeletons in brothels to the child sacrifice of the Mayans, the mark of barbarism is that we treat babies like inconveniences to be discarded rather than the blessings to cherish that they are.”

“The March For Life… is about whether we remain a civilization under God or we return to the paganism that dominated the past. The far left in this country tells our young people that marriage and children are obstacles… We know it’s a lie.“

Pro-abort heads are likely exploding over VP Vance’s comparison of abortion to Mayan child sacrifice. He will also likely be accused of racism for reminding people of the first-century history of the culture of our neighbors south of the border. No one in such a high elected office has spoken so bravely and pointedly about the barbarism of abortion.

THIS SAME WEEK – Illinois was slapped down by the Trump administration for violating the conscience rights of medical providers by forcing them to refer for abortion. The bill, SB 1564, on which this determination was made, barely passed in the House in 2016 in a 61-54 vote, with some Democrats joining every Republican in voting No, but with enough Democrats voting Yes for it to still pass.

Republican Governor Rauner signed the legislation after first consulting his pro-abortion wife (a story related to me with a legislator who met with Rauner right before the signing). This is a warning to voters that Republican primaries matter. For the record, I am supporting Ted Dabrowski for Governor. Ted is pro-life and has been endorsed personally by Mary Kate Zander, President of Illinois Right to Life.

SB1564 was successfully put on ice when the Thomas More Society sued over the law, and an injunction was placed pending the outcome of a lawsuit against the bill. That lawsuit is on appeal in the 7th Circuit currently – seven years and counting.

The Thomas More Society wrote:

In a Notice of Violation issued January 21, 2026, HHS’s Office for Civil Rights concluded that Illinois’ Senate Bill 1564, which amended the state’s Health Care Right of Conscience Act, runs afoul of the Coats-Snowe and Weldon Amendments—federal statutes that prohibit government entities receiving federal funds from coercing healthcare professionals and organizations into referring for or facilitating abortions. HHS has directed Illinois to bring its policies into compliance within 30 days or face potential loss of federal healthcare funding.

The finding comes in direct response to complaints Thomas More Society filed with HHS in 2018. Separately, the Thomas More Society lawsuit Schroeder v. Treto, Jr. challenges the same Illinois law on constitutional grounds and is pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

The Trump administration, in its findings, said that the Illinois law “runs afoul of the Coats-Snowe and Weldon Amendments—federal statutes that prohibit government entities receiving federal funds from coercing healthcare professionals and organizations into referring for or facilitating abortions.”

Trump’s “HHS has directed Illinois to bring its policies into compliance within 30 days or face potential loss of federal healthcare funding.”