WHY COMPARE YOURSELF WITH THE WORST?

Chicago Sun-Times columnist Rummana Hussian visits some truly dreadful places in order to make her claim that people make do in a lot of maligned places.

Chicago isn’t the only place maligned by outsiders and dog-whistling politicians too lazy and arrogant to look beyond the headlines. The birthplaces and residences of thousands around the world are often deemed dangerous or uncivilized. There is violence, political unrest and oppressive regimes in many of these cities and nations. But as in Chicago, there’s more to the story. Just from chatting with locals or witnessing the pulsation of hope roaring up against the turmoil and heartache, preconceptions can be thrown out the window.

She is correct in observing, "The more you use your passport, the more your intellectual humility grows. Stereotypes are turned on their heads, and there is a realization that laughter and beauty can emerge anywhere."

Indeed so, although her concluding remark, "A living hell only exists if someone is stoking the fire," is aimed at the wrong people.

The same newspaper that ran her column documented the latest urban phenomenon, flash mobs doing donuts on city streets.

Stunt drivers and spectators flooded Chicago streets for a second straight weekend night, disturbing residents, attacking cops and damaging police cars during some of the unsanctioned events that allegedly drew participants from across the country.

Chicago police officials couldn’t immediately provide details about the latest round of so-called street takeovers early Sunday. But in a statement, the department said some officers “were assaulted with bricks and bottles.”

Six police cars were also damaged at one event at the intersection of Cermak Road and Lumber Street on the Lower West Side, a spokesperson said. No officers were injured, and no arrests were made.

Cermak and Lumber is where Chinatown, the river, and the railroad lines south meet. The article also reported a demolition derby at Morgan and Madison, which is West Loop, Greektown, and the University of Illinois at Chicago.  The organizers of these events are brazen enough to bring in competitors from other cities.

The alderman whose ward is home to these demolition derbies is not pleased.

A mayoral candidate and vocal critic of Mayor Lori Lightfoot, [alderman Raymond] Lopez claimed she and Chicago Police Supt. David Brown are “failing completely” in addressing the street takeovers and have effectively allowed participants to target officers and destroy police vehicles “without consequence.”

It's not surprising that a Republican candidate for attorney general would call attention to the failures.

One of Illinois’ major advantages is Chicago, which – until recently – was one of the most vibrant cities in the world. People from across the globe have made their way to Chicago to do business, tour our famous museums, theaters, and restaurants, take in sporting events, and to build their lives. Chicago is a beautiful city that used to be full of opportunity.

Tragically, this vibrant, once-thriving community is being destroyed by the policies of leftist ideologues ruling the city and state: JB Pritzker, Lori Lightfoot, and Kim Foxx.

Consider this: There were four times as many crimes reported in the few blocks around Water Tower Place, one of the more exclusive areas of the city, over the last year than were reported in the once-notorious Cabrini-Green.

The Cabrini-Green projects were demolished long ago, for North Loop or South Wrigleyville gentrifiers, and the shopping district is full of softer targets than the residents of those condominia.  But a perfect storm of corona tyranny, punitive taxation, and softness on crime is leading to a Chicago residually inhabited by burnouts and deadbeats.

This is nothing short of a catastrophe. The ongoing destruction of Chicago is a direct consequence of the radical prosecutorial policies pursued by Kim Foxx. Far from doing anything about it, crime will actually go up after Jan. 1 as Pritzker’s anti-police, pro-criminal SAFE-T Act goes into effect and even more criminals held in Cook County jails are released onto the streets. Chicago politicians, just in the past five years, have made the people of Cook County and the surrounding counties of Will and DuPage (which have also seen rising crime, as it bleeds over the borders of Cook) less safe.

Michigan Avenue can be Magnificent again, but only if the extreme pro-criminal, anti-police ideologues ruining Illinois are turned out of office. Illinoisans shouldn’t have to move to Miami to be safe and happy. All they need to do is stop voting for the people who are coming up with these insane policies.

So far, the potbellied dictator has not urged disaffected Illinoisans to move to Florida or some other "semi-fascist" state, perhaps because people would bring up his Florida properties, or perhaps because people are leaving the state without any special urging from him.  We have the opportunity to turf the potbellied dictator out in November.

Chicago's elections will be next spring, and the bellowing tree might have lost the vote of other Democrats.  "Democratic State Rep. La Shawn K. Ford is calling out Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx for the ongoing crime wave."

Chicago can be made safer, but it will be on the ward-heeler Democrats and the people who instinctively vote for them to make it safer.  Dog-whistle that.