by John Kass

May 12, 2022

Megyn Kelly is a top national journalist and gracious host. And she’s a big fan of johnkassnews.com

The other day she kindly invited me back on her national podcast, the Megyn Kelly Show, to talk about recent columns about Chicago’s troubles:

Chicago’s skyrocketing violent crime and Mayor Lightfoot’s absolute disastrous handling of the violence in every neighborhood now, including downtown; the ambush shooting of a man in once-safe Lincoln Park over a cell-phone; the children being shot down in the gang wars; the mayor’s idiotic “Summer of Joy” and Lightfoot’s mad “call to arms” against the Supreme Court to distract from her failures.

It will get worse. As I began typing this column on Wednesday, Lightfoot was having another panic attack, this time over reports of a “large gathering” at North Avenue Beach on Wednesday evening.

Thinking the mayor would close the beaches, I called police sources.

“Oh you’re calling about that ‘gathering’ at North Avenue Beach?” said a top police source. “She’s panicking again. She hasn’t made a decision. She’s panicking,” the source said.

How do you know she’s panicking?

“She’s really panicking,” said my source. “You know what she talked about for an hour with the bosses? How they they should all get twitter accounts and tweet out their ‘positive community interactions’ and then retweet other commanders’ positive tweets.”

It comes from a bull. And it sits there on the ground after the bull walks away.

Yikes. That is pathetic. And disturbing. Lightfoot and tweets, searching for positive public relations while her city burns in her summer of joy.

The job is clearly too much for the mayor. That was clear during the BLM riots when she lost downtown, and from the many times she caved to the Chicago Teacher’s Union. She talks tough, but she’s just not cut out for it. The job is too much.

All that’s left now is for the mayor of Chicago to go full Captain Queeg, and start squeezing ball bearings in her palm while screaming about her missing berries. If it weren’t so sad it would be funny.

But the day earlier, during the Megyn Kelly Show, Kelly was also quite interested in Lightfoot’s panic, calling her supporters to be victorious against the Supreme Court, and in Soros-backed Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx.

Foxx recently heaped praise upon the late Weather Underground’s Kathy Boudin, mother of Soros-backed San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin. In lavishing praise on the departed Boudin, Foxx avoided mentioning two police officers killed in a Brinks Armored Car robbery, after Boudin encouraged them to lower their weapons. Megyn Kelly scoffed at the precious idiocy of Foxx.

 Kelly knows Chicago. She cares about the city. She lived here for years as a lawyer before embarking on her successful TV news career in Washington. She’s been a guest on The Chicago Way podcast and has talked about what she liked about the city.

 And the way she talked about violence in Chicago in our conversation told me she cares more about this all-important crime issue in Chicago than do the editorial boards of both local papers here, with the city under siege and the people terrified of becoming the next victim. I’ve provided a link to The Megyn Kelly show here, so you can watch for yourself.

I don’t even read the Chicago papers anymore. Lukewarm woke pudding doesn’t interest me in the least. What frosts me is the lack of real crime coverage as the city devours itself.  “The paper” stopped using criminal mugshots so as not to upset the sensibilities of woke staff. There are still a few good people there, good reporters, but when I once read it cover to cover, now I merely scan it selectively for their bylines only.

 And the other one is largely unreadable too, save for Fran Spielman at City Hall.

Now I go to CWB Chicago for crime news, because, well, in Chicago now crime is the story. Not a story. But THE story.

CWB Chicago had a story about a gang leader who got $1,000 bail for a stolen gun (four days after leaving federal prison) and police say he’s behind a mass shooting. Perfect. And more about robberies and carjackings, and more shootings at The Bean on Michigan Avenue, where tourists think they’ll find the real Chicago. They’ll find it all right. Let’s hope they don’t find it in an ambulance on the way to the ER.

And I also read City Journal for thoughtful policy pieces. Included among them is “The Five Worst Prosecutors in America,” by Thomas Hogan

Naturally, Kim Foxx–endorsed for re-election by Lightfoot–makes the list. You just knew Kim would make that team.

But Chicago’s corporate media isn’t all that interested.

Thankfully, Megyn Kelly is interested in what the people of Chicago are facing and trying to endure.

What really frosted Kelly was that Lightfoot, a former federal prosecutor, irresponsibly exhorted the mobs standing and protesting outside the homes of conservative Supreme Court justices over that leak of a draft opinion written by Associate Justice Samuel Alito.

Lightfoot, an officer of the court, tried to incite more rage by tweeting the other day that the Supreme Court was “coming after” the gay and lesbian community–which is a lie–and Chicago’s mayor said there should be a “call to arms.”

What would she and others of the left say if protesters surrounded the house of left wing Justice Sotomayor’s home? She’d want them arrested.

This is idiotic and dangerous, but it does illustrate the depth of Lightfoot’s political panic. No one is “coming after” the gay and lesbian community. It’s all in her mind, fueled by Lightfoot’s sagging poll numbers.

Alito’s draft opinion does what the High Court should have done more than 50 years ago. It wouldn’t end abortion. But it would send the issues back to the states, so that it would be decided on by the people through their elected representatives in state legislatures, which is what the Constitution requires. As the Democratic Party encourages threatening and pressuring Supreme Court Justices, and stepping on the Constitution, what happens?

The republic dies. A banana republic happens. The rule of law goes out the window to be replaced by tyranny and brute force.

The Democrats welcome threats against the Supreme Court because they don’t control it. Threatening pressure against Supreme Court Justices is against the law. And rather than condemn it, President Joe Biden avoids the issue, leaving others like Lightfoot to incite the crowds.

I was one of Kelly’s guests. The others were her friend, retired Judge Andrew Napolitano, from her former at Fox News, and corporate and cyber security expert Mark Rasch to talk about the leak.

And Kelly talked of Lightfoot and her madness.

“Her city is on fire,” Kelly said of Chicago’s mayor. “And she makes it a call to arms, saying ‘the Supreme Court is coming for us next,’” which Kelly and lawyers who are not insane say is just not happening. “…It’s not that her speech is illegal,” Kelly said. “It’s irresponsible. The Supreme Court doesn’t ‘come after’ anyone.”

But Lightfoot wants to see enemies everywhere now. Politically desperate, she creates new ones, in the hopes of rallying support. If my top police source is correct, and she’s worrying about getting police bosses to let loose some positive tweets–trying to cheerlead for herself in front of the same police brass that she’s called a bunch of liars and cowards to their faces in other meetings–it is more than pathetic.

Still, there are some advantages. Lightfoot, Kim Foxx and Toni Preckwinkle are largely immune from media criticism, especially Preckwinkle, who is at the center of the web, pulling strings on Foxx, the courts and the ever-shrinking county jail. She gets away with it.

And crime in Chicago is now completely out of control. Every neighborhood is suffering after Lightfoot’s ill-advised political war with cops. She’s made them defensive, and they’re constantly worried about becoming involved in a controversial arrest, then having the mayor and other politicians throw them under the bus and take their pensions.

So they don’t police. They simply respond when the calls come in, when the bodies hit the floor.

Without law there is chaos. You see it. I see it.

I don’t know how the city can survive. Lightfoot is a complete failure, and those who have announced mayoral candidacies, while good hearted, may not have the necessary management chops. That is for the people of Chicago to decide, not me.

But here’s what I see:

Without astute management in Chicago, without structural fiscal change, without real school choice to give the city hope, without leadership that provides safety and order, what remains: Chaos and anarchy. And tired leftist race rhetoric to manage the decline.

Taxpayers know what’s out there. They see it. They’re not stupid even if local media and politicians see them as such. They don’t want to lose out in some violent Ponzi scheme where they’re shot, assaulted or threatened even before the music stops and they’re left without a chair.

They won’t shut up and take it. They’re gone. The people vote with their feet.

I’m glad Megyn invited me on her show. She’s always been gracious to me, and she lets her viewers and listeners know about johnkassnews.com and where to find me. She even spelled out my name, “with a K” to make sure her viewers would find the website without mistake.

I think that I’ve finally figured out how to write a column. I’ve been doing it for years now.

What I’m not too good at is promoting, and letting others know where to find me. Some readers think that after I was stabbed in the back by the leftist guild at “the paper,” that I just quit writing.

No. I didn’t quit writing. I’ve been writing here since the day I left. I don’t quit. I don’t plan on quitting. Ever.

 But I do ask you to tell your friends where to find me, and to tell them to get paid subscriptions, so I can afford to keep on doing this.

Like that billboard you may have seen around town, with that devilishly handsome, and rather large-headed fellow you’ve known for years. I’m right here.

You keep subscribing to johnkassnews.com, and I’ll keep writing.

Deal?

 

(Copyright 2022 John Kass)

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