Is the Worst Yet to Come?
By Steve Huntley | April 28, 2024
This and that. Random thoughts and observations about current events. Trigger alert! What follows might “harm” the psyche of the woke. Perhaps those sensitive souls should retreat to a safe space, which I suspect will be Judenfrei.
Peaceful protest is a hallowed right and tradition in America. These days, however, that right, which achieved so much good in the civil rights era, is being hijacked to disrupt everyday life in big cities and on university campuses.
The protests are said to be about the suffering of Palestinians in Israel’s war against Hamas. But they’re not.
They’re the ravings of antisemitic bigots and far left wing fanatics celebrating the terrorist savagery of the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre and rapes, which set off the righteous war by Israel against genocidal terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
You never hear in these anti-Israel demonstrations a hope for a two-state solution. No, only chants calling for Oct. 7 again and again.
The demonstrators’ stated target might be Israel but make no mistake, their hatred is also aimed at America and Western civilization. The U.S. flag has been burned. Chants of “Death to America” punctuate protests.
These poisonous demonstrations are deliberate attacks aimed at disrupting life and commerce in cities, interrupting public accommodations like highways and airports, shutting down education at campuses — and intimidating Jews in all walks of life.
Jews are told by authorities they’re unsafe on college campuses, and some flee. Think about that. We are witnessing organized mass bigotry on a scale not seen in this country since the days of Jim Crow.
These demonstrations are coordinated by radical organizations like Students for Justice in Palestine and funded by far-left groups such as the Open Society Foundations, according to an examination of financial records by the New York Post. Open Society was founded by George Soros, the billionaire whose pocketbook has helped elect anti-police and coddle-the-criminal prosecutors in major cities.
How would you describe the anarchy, hate and organized assault on society, fomented and financed for years by radicals? Someone could be forgiven for mentioning the i-word — insurrection.
Whatever you call it, a strong hand is required.
Of course, that didn’t come from our wishy-washy president. Joe Biden equivocated, saying yes he condemns antisemitism but that he also condemns people who don’t understand the Palestinians.
Actual national leadership came from House Speaker Mike Johnson. He went into the belly of the beast — Columbia University, the epicenter of the protests that by one account have reached 200 campuses — and powerfully denounced antisemitism.
He declared, “This madness has to stop.”
Columbia had police make a few arrests but then allowed the fanatics to resume their reign of intimidation.
Others have been more forceful. Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas sent mounted police to break up a disruptive demonstration at the University of Texas at Austin. Google fired more than two dozen employees who disrupted its workplace with sit-ins.
But much more is necessary, including firing professors who indoctrinate and foment hate rather than teach.
Here’s a fundamental question: Why aren’t the authorities cracking down on these fanatics, these enemies of civilization and democracy, with the hammer used against the protestors of Jan. 6?
Are the radical, disruptive and intimidating demonstrations we see today a preview of things to come?
Should Donald Trump win re-election in November, you can count on these same people and more to take to the streets.
And what’s happening today may seem like child’s play in comparison. Think of the 2020 George Floyd/Black Lives Matter riots that inflicted arson, looting and assaults in cities across the country. Or maybe even worse than that.
Should anyone doubt that radicals and fanatics are this very day planning demonstrations for the possibility of a Trump victory?
And the outrageous fanaticism we’re seeing today may in the end help persuade voters to put Trump back in the White House.
Americans are growing ever more tired of chaos — be it in the streets, on college campuses, at the southern border or in their own inflation-wracked finances.
__________
The so-called hush money trial now underway against former President Donald Trump accuses him of alleged crimes during the 2016 election campaign. That’s eight years ago.
The recent civil court judgment against Trump for allegedly inflating the value of his properties to get bank loans included allegations about his business dealings between 2012 and 2016. That’s 12 years ago.
The Georgia and federal indictments by special prosecutor Jack Smith alleged crimes in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. That’s more than three years ago.
The indictment accusing Trump of unlawfully possessing classified government documents stems from a raid on his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida in August of 2022. That’s more than a year and a half ago.
Allegations of wrongdoing range from a dozen years ago to a year and a half ago.
Yet a New York City prosecutor, a New York state attorney general, a district attorney in Atlanta and a federal special prosecutor have all these prosecutions coming to a head around the same time — in the 2024 presidential campaign season.
That’s just a coincidence, right?
_________
By all accounts Luis Huesca was an admirable Chicago police officer, just the type of person we want working to keep America’s cities and towns safe.
But he’s not doing that anymore. On a recent night he became the 11th law enforcement officer shot to death in the line of duty this year in America.
According to the National Fraternal Order of Police, the total of 378 officers shot in the line of duty last year, 46 of them fatally, was a record. The 98 shot so far this year has the country on track to exceed last year’s count, it says.
Given the crime waves blighting American cities from coast to coast, we need dedicated lawmen like Huesca. What this country doesn’t need is more police shot and killed.
What it needs is more support for cops when they’re forced to open fire on dangerous criminals committing life-threatening crimes.
That’s not a call for trigger happy cops. It’s simply a recognition that taming the violence in our streets will at times inevitably come down to confrontations where police have to open fire on criminals.
To those who find that an outrageous idea, it’s hardly an original thought. It reflects a common and recurring theme in American culture. Think of the great movies ranging from director John Ford’s My Darling Clementine to Gary Cooper’s High Noon to Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry to The Untouchables of “the Chicago way” fame.
At some point criminals become so out of control and so depraved and crime becomes so widespread that lawmen as agents of civilized society have no choice but to resort to violence.
We will know when this country and especially the citizens of Chicago are tired of the crime wave playing havoc with urban life when they come to the same conclusion.
________
If the liberal outrage over the death of Dexter Reed is any indication, Chicago is not ready for the tough policing required to bring safe streets and safe neighborhoods to the city.
As John Kass pointed out recently, the left wing media are trying to make Reed into some kind of martyr gunned down by racist cops, but that narrative doesn’t hold water. Reed had a history of mental illness and had previously threatened to kill an uncle with a knife; the uncle shot and wounded him.
During a traffic stop, Reed pulled out a gun and fired it 11 times at police, wounding one officer. Under attack, police responded and fired their guns — and this is what has progressives wringing their hands — 96 times.
As anyone short of an idiot knows, you shoot at police, then you’re asking for — and likely will get — an overwhelming response in bullets.
Just to note one historic example: the car carrying Bonnie and Clyde to their rendezvous with eternity had 112 bullet holes in it from guns fired by law enforcement officers. Clyde was shot 17 times and Bonnie 26. And they weren’t even shooting at the cops. Lawmen had ambushed those criminals.
It bears repeating, if you open fire on law enforcement officers, you’re asking for massive trouble and you’re going to get it.
_________
Officer Huesca was killed in a carjacking. The depraved, soulless killer that took that good man’s life is Exhibit A for the need of the death penalty.
But capital punishment in Illinois was abolished in 2011 by bleeding heart liberals in the legislature who chose to side with murderers over victims.
Abolition of the death penalty constitutes cruel and unusual punishment for the families of murder victims and for law-abiding citizens revolted by the worst kind of criminals — such as the low life who killed Huesca.
________
The passionate loyalty his followers show Donald Trump perplexes and befuddles Hillary Clinton.
Her response has been to damn the Trumpsters as a “cult.”
One way to understand her is to see that as just the latest manifestation of Clinton’s contempt for voters who would never cast a ballot for her. Recall that back when she was running for president, she contemptuously labeled Trump’s supporters as a “basket of deplorables.”
Yet, there is another way to look at it. In a word: envy. Clinton can only wish that she could inspire the kind of heartfelt following that Trump does.
Watching a Trump rally and knowing that she could never stir that kind of affection in masses of people must gnaw away at her soul. Day after day. Night after night. For the rest of her life.
-30-
Steve Huntley, a retired Chicago journalist now living in Austin, Texas, has contributed other pieces to johnkassnews, from an examination of the secret jail for Christopher Columnbus and other politically problematic public art to an essay on Americans suffering from Joe Biden gas pain.
For almost three decades Huntley spent most of his career in Chicago journalism at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he was a feature writer, metro reporter, night city editor, metropolitan editor, editorial page editor and a columnist for the opinion pages.
Before that he was a reporter and editor with United Press International (UPI) in the South and Chicago, and Chicago bureau chief and a senior editor in Washington with U.S. News & World Report. Northwestern University Press has issued soft cover and eBook editions of Knocking Down Barriers: My Fight for Black America by Truman K. Gibson Jr. with Steve Huntley, a memoir of a Chicagoan who was a member of President Roosevelt’s World War II Black Cabinet working to desegregate the military.
Comments 46
Wonderful distillation of the sad events our times roll out with great regularity, Mr. Huntley.
Do you remember all of the Hollywood B-Listers taking out TV ADs and calling themselves the “resistance” to the Trump Presidency? These clowns have yet to shut their yaps and atmosphere will remain toxic until more of us laugh them into silence.
All of the sub-categories on Facebook like “Nasty Women of Toxic County’ and other outlets for AWFULS and dilettante Maud Gonnes continue to harp and howl. They too need to be loudly ridiculed.
As for the street thugs you mention – “Should Donald Trump win re-election in November, you can count on these same people and more to take to the streets.
And what’s happening today may seem like child’s play in comparison. Think of the 2020 George Floyd/Black Lives Matter riots that inflicted arson, looting and assaults in cities across the country. Or maybe even worse than that.
Should anyone doubt that radicals and fanatics are this very day planning demonstrations for the possibility of a Trump victory?”
Arrest, Charge, convict and deport, when the public is endangered or denied its civic right of passage in peace.
Well done, as always.
Great stuff, once again. Thank you Steve!
Pat
Very well said &I couldn’t agree more.
It going to hit the fan soon! There is a terribly sickness of the mind in America being propagated & magnified by the liberal press. The very best that can be said for our woke comrades is they are simply not right in the head.
We are all going to pay for it in spades soon. God help us.
How sad and disgusting we permit Biden’s Brown Shirts to manipulate and threaten our Republic this way: professional demonstrators, the media, (tech) billionaires, the cabinet, the justice and irs departments, etc. Where is their insurrection?
We are seeing the “professional” teams of protesters in action once again. They must not have jobs, probably don’t pay taxes, many, if not most, aren’t even students. They are organized, subsidized, and non-productive members of society. Saint George Floyd one day…Palestine the next day. What ever happened to the fake necessity of “safe spaces” for all the fake, overly sensitive, waiting to be “triggered” snowflakes? No safe spaces for anymore for Jewish students I guess. Calling them Antifa, Protesters, Students, Concerned Citizens is just another name for what they are…Un-American Haters
Capital punishment should be on the table. It seems to me that the young criminals today have no respect for life.
I know that they don’t respect the police or any authority. Soros D.A.s don’t respect the police either.
I guess everyone else has to legally
gun up in order to protect their own lives and property.
I see a new crop of vigilantes on the horizon.
Truly frightening what we’re facing and yet this feckless administration is silent!
I was surprised when there were pro-Palestinian protests at the 9-11 Memorial in New York. They were chanting, “ Allahu Akbar “. I think that might have played out differently twenty years ago. Different times. Short memories.
Sacrilege. I hadn’t heard this. So soon we forget…
The words mean: God is Great. Technically, that’s a neutral statement. Unfortunately, Muslim terrorists and others scream it just before they commit some horrendous act.
I am and still are Roman Catholic and was for a brief time in seminary. I am ashamed to say that many Catholic religious including popes put Jews to death during medieval times and later. Monarchs like Philip V of France did the same. Many excuses were used but the primary was: the Jews killed Christ.
It would be easier if we followed what Christ taught: LOVE.
We are truly living in dark times, an American Middle Ages. I hope We the People won’t have to retreat to monasteries to preserve our founding documents. Keep your head on a swivel and your powder dry.
Re protests: I say randomly shoot no more than 3-4 of them, on different days, at different schools. Don’t even have to kill them, or maybe just one. Problem solved.
ZEIG HEIL, MEIN IDIOT
Great column, Steve! Yes, the worst is yet to come. It’s probably going to hit rock bottom in August in Chicago when the Bolsheviks convene. We begin our slow climb back on November 5th. It’s that simple!
I hope you are right. Unfortunately there are still Americans who will not vote for Trump for any reason. They won’t vote for the party of common sense and conservatism as long as Trump is on the ticket. They don’t look at outcomes of the past vs. today’s realities. God help us…
Outstanding article! You hit every single point! Great job! More people need to read this.
Steve:
You are another great writer that John Kass has introduced me to. I’m glad you’re here.
Thank you Steve. You paint a bleak but accurate picture. I only wish more actually understood it.
I do like David’s idea. But I like the idea of police disappearing when clowns like the college brats who should be in class, by the way, need them. Then, of course you’ll hear how the cops abandoned the hypocrites.
I can’t help but to remember the cries during the last campaign. Judas Joe the uniter.
I think Judas Joe will be remembered for progressing backwards and dividing this country (and others too) to a level never seen before.
Well, Steve… I supported a “two-state” solution and Zionism for decades until a few months after Oct. 7th. After the Hamas attack, I decided actually to learn about Zionism. What I learned from reading dozens of materials, including South Africa’s 84-page ICJ pleading, was that Zionism has much more in common with race-based Nazism than Israel has in common with America’s constitutional principles. So, I am with the students’ anti-genocide protests. If you have time to read only one book…I suggest “Genesis-Truman, American Jews, and the Origins of the Arab/Israeli Conflict” by John Judis (a Jew). Who knows, you might change your thinking about Zionism, as well.
Bill, as far the situation in Israel is concerned, read ” The Haj” by Leon Uris. You will get some idea of the generational toxisty of the Palestinian POV. It is 100% on the money.
Pat … I checked out “The Haj” it’s a Novel…In other words, fiction. My private library has nearly 3,000 books…only a handful are Fiction. For a pro-Israel viewpoint, may I suggest “The Historical Dictionary of Zionism” by Rafael Medoof…another Medoof book… “The Jews Should Keep Quiet – FDR, Rabbi Wise, and the Holocaust.” Both works cover the Zionist viewpoints…which I have found to be unconvincing.
“It bears repeating, if you open fire on law enforcement officers, you’re asking for massive trouble and you’re going to get it.”
I’m still not voting for either of the geriatric, hyper-partisan, re-tread politicians running for President. God stay by our side through this moment in history.
A abstain vote is a vote for the status quo, which this nation cannot endure
four more years of.
He didn’t say he wasn’t voting just not the 2 senile retreads.
We need more political parties so we can truly have a chance to put in someone who’s good
Great job as always. I watched an interview of one of the “student protesters” a few days ago. The reporter asked “Your group is chanting from the river to the sea- to which river are you referring?” She looked at him and said (obviously befuddled) “The Nile?”. That sums up a lot of these “protests”, where I’d bet that many of these clowns couldn’t find Gaza on a world map.
My solution is simple- arrest and prosecute these morons, tear down their tents on university property, expel them from school, and do no refund their tuition. For the non-students- arrest and prosecute for “Criminal Trespass”, or whatever it is in that state. And although I agree with Speaker Johnson that “This madness has to stop”, not only will it not stop, I fear it will increase. When inappropriate behavior has no consequences it will increase in frequency and severity.
As a retired Cop, whenever one of us goes down we all hurt, and the execution of CPD
Officer Huesca hurt a lot. The predator that did this needs to be arrested and prosecuted, not “coddled”. And when I hear someone describe an offender who shoots at the police and is ultimately killed by the police an old saying comes to mind: “Play stupid games, win stupid prizes”.
And when I think of hillary clinton (lower case intentional) the word that comes to mind is “Benghazi”.
Bingo Dan. I once thought that she was actually smart enough, tough enough, demanding enough and vicious enough to be president. After watching her shameless faux outrage at a ginned up video purporting to disrespect Muslims in a weak attempt to make excuses for State Department & Intelligence failures in Benghazi, I realized fully what a self-serving, cowardly, political prostitute she really always has been. At the Benghazi hearings before congress, she dodged and deflected…”What difference does it make”. After Benghazi I felt shamed to have once thought her capable of anything requiring integrity or compassion.
Even through Chicagos history of electing corrupt criminal politicians there is only one in history who is facing a very strong possibility of a recall. Brandon “Gumby” Johnson is that man. He has destroyed his power base among the blacks that elected him. Blacks in Chicago have watched their city services deteriorate being told there was no more money. Services cut including park district programs that kept their kids off the streets. Cuts that reduced their kids to turning on one another like “Lord of the Flies”. Programs that allowed kids to meet other kids on a sports field that just might prevent a kid from harming another kid later in life. You probably wouldn’t shoot at someone you used to play basketball with. No more money. There was money, they just weren’t spending it on you. We have no money for your kids but plenty for the illegals. Millions of dollars that is. Once Mayor Gumby and his acolytes closed Park District facilities to house the illegals, black folks finally said enough is enough. Now black folks are going to lead the looming recall. So how do you try to corral your plantation escapees? You have to rely on your usuals. Racism, Maga Republicans and wait….oh yes! POLICE BRUTALITY! Yes, NINETY SIX SHOTS! Mayor Gumby, with the assist from local media demonstrated what laughing stocks they are by media saturation of theDexter Reed shooting. The narrative was parroted by local media without not one of the useful idiots asking a very basic question taughtin journalism school. How many of the bullets ACTUALLY hit Dexter? This would seem to be a pretty simple question in regards to the story, but not by Chicago media standards. Can’t ask that question. Doesn’t fit our narrative. Turns out Dex caught thirteen bullets while firing eleven himself, also shooting an officer in the process. It seems the real story should be that Chicago Police Officers need more range time to ensure better results in their shootings. Mayor Gumby thought he could control the narrative and failed miserably like pretty much everything he does. He tried to corral his power base and even they ridicule him. Chicago “news” media also was pilloried on a national scale for their ineptitude and obvious biased reporting of the story. Deservedly so. They earned it. One hundred percent. I’m sure the Democratic Convention is going to give local media plenty of gasoline for their cans to get a decent riot and looting party going. Of course, we already know those Maga Republicans are already getting their looting plans in order…
Yep. No money. Unless of course you’re an illegal alien as you point out OR better yet, a private enterprise – known as the Chicago Bears – that need a huge domed lakefront stadium. Then of course there is plenty of money.
Enrique
Blacks recalling Gumby out! I got 10k says it won’t happen. Want some of it?
U gotta stop hitting those pot shops.
Thank you for your thoughts. Spot on!
When a politician calls a group of voters a “basket of deplorables” they no longer have the right to govern; they are the deplorables.
I often wonder why the Soros family are such anarchists. I can understand that manipulation of governments is profitable, but in the long run it’s not sustainable. It’s a gas that they can hobnob with celebrities and look cool in the society pages but: there will always be another “Soros” that will out Soros the Soros; its just a matter of time (albeit painful and maddeningly long).
Thank you Steve
Steve,
Speaking of Jan 6…… remember Inauguration Day for Trump when riots were burning parts of the city in an attempt to interrupt it? Certainly sounds like the same charges most of the Jan 6 people faced.
It’s all by design…
https://bigthink.com/the-present/yuri-bezmenov/
Great Huntley article, as usual. Deeply disturbing…
Past values: American leadership among world nations developing civilizations for The Common Good: 1776, 1865, 1945, 1987,…
Current rot: American self-destruction, ignorance and anarchy in universities, on streets, communism,…: 1968, 2008, 2016, 2020, 2024,…
Future for America?
It would appear to me that the key to addressing the chaos of the past decade is to call on conservatives to gain control of both houses of Congress. While the media focuses on the presidential election, the progressives focus on winning Congress.
It’s simple, really: whoever controls the legislative branch will check the opposition’s president and support its’ party’s president.
One of the best articles you have ever written Mr. Huntley! I admire your guts! I could feel the passion with which you wrote pour off the page in waves — Bravo!
I’m honestly not even sure this country can ever be fixed again, but if anyone has the balls, it is
Donald Trump who will kill himself trying, if the Far left bankrolled by the likes of George Soros doesn’t get him first!
I honestly don’t think I can take much more of this idiocy of a Biden Administration or, God Help Us, Michele Obama returns to carry on . . . I’m glad I am in the twilight of my years — this hurts too much!
How do you stand living in Austin ? It is so damn liberal! If you are out in Williamson County, you have half a chance of survival. My daughter lives out in the suburbs, but rarely ventures into the city. Who could blame her?
Excellent Mr. Huntley. My heart breaks to see history repeat itself, in this country when a Jewish student is not safe on a American College campus..
Thank you sir, this article is one of the best published by JK..
Seems perhaps trite or sophomoric to say it, but if this same ‘unrest’ was focused toward another minority group, ethnic group, race, religion, or ??, the university presidents, the press, the administration, state and local authorities would be hysterical and they would put a stop to it PDQ. Can we really imagine if the EXACT same words and actions that we’ve been witnessing these last 2 weeks were instead naming Black people? Hispanic? Asian? Native American? The Inuit? – – – or, Catholics, or Lutherans, or Baptists, or Sikhs, or Muslims???? We could go for nationalities, and that would be ok with someone? The Poles, the Italians, the Germans, the French, the Arabs, the Brazilians….and on and on. Why is it ok and tolerated because it is “just the Jews?”
This whole thing is sickening, but it has achieved one thing: It has driven the Illegal Immigration story from the “front page” and from the “lead story” on electronic media. Wonder why that is? They’re still crossing, in droves! Is Mr. Biden and Company allowing this all to go on for a while as he allows the further build-up of this illegal army that is pouring across our border? Why, Joe?
Great assessment, Steve! Yes, “We are witnessing organized mass bigotry”.
Very Well organized and on a massive nationwide scale. Not a coincidence.
Anti Semitism and anti American volatile, targeted attacks are not random.
The multitude of charges against Donald Trump and the timing are not a coincidence.
Calculated chaos by trained anarchists must stop immediately.
Murdering Police Officers must stop.
The takeover of colleges and our streets has to stop.
Support law enforcement and police departments nationwide. Now.
I was disrupted by “protesters” who blocked access to O’Hare on April 15. Thankfully, I didn’t miss my flight, like the thousands that did, but I had to wait an hour for my pickup. 54 protesters were arrested, and by the next day 40 of them had been released. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were all released the next day.
Yep, I think the worst is yet to come. I think the DNC will be a shitshow, will make ’68 look tame. Where is it? McCormick? United Center?
Excellent column, Steve. It recalls my own experience in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014 when Michael Brown was killed after resisting arrest. My office was just a half-mile from where Brown was killed. Ferguson burned afterwards because the Democratic Governor, Jay Nixon, refused to deploy the National Guard to Ferguson, where everyone knew the epicenter of the protests would be. So businesses were burned down, their employees lost their jobs, and myself and my coworkers were advised to take a different route to our office to avoid the worst of the rioting. The media, of course, ignored all the facts that pointed to a justified shooting by the police officer, Darren Wilson, and at times the media seemed sympathetic to Brown and his family.
Hamas filmed their rape murder and kidnapping on Oct7. They screamed praise to their diety knowing that their diety wants them to rape and kill. Show the 47 minute video hamas took themselves and project in on a building next to the pro-hamas camp sites. Turn the volume up to full blast. Play the video on those billboard trucks that can be driven by the protests. Show the world what these college kids are for. (most would be thrown off a roof by Hamas).
Apparently some group took up your idea at UCLA, where the Hamas Atrocity Show is looped 24/7 on a huge video screen.
I wonder Steve if you really have to bring up that protests that are occurring today will be like child’s play compared to the protests that will occur if Trump is elected?
Thank You Steve Huntley. Reading your article reminds me of a pain filled trip to a doctor. An exam and some questions lead to a diagnosis. Behavior modification was prescribed as the cure and it worked. A stacked deck shuffled by tall dollars and complicit Sirens. From the state of corruption to the national disgrace inhabited by multitudes with advanced degrees from the Chick Ranch.
Partisan lawfare so blatant and obvious oozing contempt and scorn onto all considered lesser. House servants fear of security services despite their self justifying, flagrant disregard amendment four.
And He who would be King redacting amendment two at every turn insuring helpless victims will beget harmless murderers.