Editorial: How Illinois became the strictest and most tyrannical state (beating New York and California?)

This editorial is brought to you by a US veteran and a writer with Law Enforcement Today.

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CHICAGO, IL – Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot are no strangers to making news and creating problems for their constituents, especially during this pandemic. Here at Law Enforcement Today, we have documented their efforts to enact draconian orders while using the law enforcement community to enforce their tyranny.

Among other things, they are now threatening prison sentences for business owners who violate the state orders (Pritzker) and citing people for parking around churches in an attempt to keep people from worshiping freely (Lightfoot). 

The financial website WalletHub did a recent survey to see which states were allowing their residents the greatest freedoms, and which were the most restrictive. They created a scoring system based on a very specific group of metrics.  

Of the survey, Breitbart said:

“Those metrics include whether masks were recommended or required; travel restrictions; large gathering restrictions; school closures; restaurants and bars status; reopening of “non-essential” businesses; child care; strictness of “shelter-in-place” orders; whether a state is part of a multi-state arrangement; suspension or postponement of legislative sessions; and medical services, including elective surgery.”

Speaking to Breitbart, Jill Gonzalez of WalletHub said:

“Two major reasons why South Dakota ranks as the state with the fewest coronavirus restrictions are that it is one of only seven states that never had a mandate for all schools to close during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is the only state that never required a statewide closure of bars and restaurants.

“South Dakota has already lifted some of the restrictions it did implement, such as its ban on large gatherings, and it only recommends wearing a mask in public rather than requiring it like most states do.”

Breitbart also took the liberty of adding the affiliation of the state’s governor, or in the case of D.C., the mayor.

As it turns out, the leadership of the 10 freest states are almost completely Republican, with Wisconsin’ Tony Evers and Montana’s Steve Bullock being the only two Democrats freeing up their citizenry to try to go back to life as it was pre-COVID. Transversely, Vermont’s Phil Scott and Massachusetts’ Charlie Baker are the only two Republican leaders in the bottom 10. 

The study was based on a scale of 1-100, with the higher scores reflecting more freedom. South Dakota scored 86.74, making it the most free in the U.S.

Illinois, on the other hand, scored 11.16.

We recently reported that while Pritzker is enacting these over the top rules, he wasn’t even holding his own family to those same expectations, with his wife and daughter leaving not only their home, but the state entirely, for non-essential reasons. When asked about it, the governor told the media member asking that families should be off-limits and refused to answer the question, calling it disgusting. 

Lightfoot, in a similarly hypocritical move, told people in Chicago that getting your hair done was not essential, then turned around and got her haircut. She justified it by saying that she was always in front of the camera and therefore needed to look good. She also, wrongly, compared it to part of  hygiene.

So what else are they doing wrong in Illinois? They currently have the sixth highest number of COVID-attributed deaths while having the 11th lowest percentage of elderly people (who are most susceptible to the virus). Could it be that they are creating an environment that is leading to greater numbers of infections and deaths? 

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According to The Center Square: 

“Illinois business owners found guilty of violating the governor’s stay-at-home-orders could land in jail for up to a year under new emergency rules filed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker late Friday, two months into his executive response to slow the spread of COVID-19.

“Under executive orders issued by the governor, restaurants haven’t had dine-in guests since March 16. Pritzker then issued an executive order March 21 closing all businesses to the public that he considered nonessential. The order was extended twice, from April 7 to April 30, and now through the end of May.

Lightfoot, according to Wirepoints founder Mark Glennon, has taken it upon herself to ensure that churchgoers are discouraged from attending services. 

“Mayor Lori Lightfoot ordered a parking ban from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday in the neighborhood of Philadelphia Romanian Church in response to its intention to hold services. No parking/tow warning signs went up the evening before.

“On Sunday morning the police arrived to enforce the signs not just on churchgoers but on residents and everybody else. A report by Second City Cop said cars were towed and that the church’s private lot was blocked off.

“However, a representative of the local Chicago Alderman questioned that account in part, saying that as of 10 A.M. the police denied that neighbors were ticketed or towed, and that the private lot to the church was also not closed by the city.

“And an NBC Chicago story said only that police stood outside the church and gave tickets. I also reached the church pastor who said he did not believe any cars were towed. Nevertheless, no-parking/tow warnings were clearly posted and police were there to do the enforcement.

“Perhaps Lightfoot doesn’t share the view that civil liberties come not from her hand or the hand of Governor JB Pritzker. The church’s pastor said this: ‘The mayor is inciting hate against the church which is very sad. A lot of our members risked their lives to escape Communism, only to find it germinating in 2020 under Mayor Lightfoot in Chicago.’”

For what it is worth, speaking of churches, the 9th Circuit Court just denied a California church’s requested restraining order against California governor Gavin Newsom and his order banning in-person church services. 

In reaching its decision, the judges noted that late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson once wrote that if a court “does not temper its doctrinaire logic with a little practical wisdom, it will convert the constitutional Bill of Rights into a suicide pact.”

In other words, the Constitution provides us rights so long as the court deems those guaranteed rights to be in our best interest and safe.  

We know that the governor and the mayor are all in on flexing their perceived political muscles, what about the people they are asking to enforce these measures?   

DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick posted on Facebook: 

“I just can’t do this anymore. I stand with our citizens and businesses of DuPage County who have offered no trouble or no resistance to any rule we put upon them, no matter how strange. 

“I will not victimize lawful residents of DuPage County trying to put food on their children’s table. I’m so proud of our DuPage citizens who have done everything right from the beginning. All I can say is thank you.”

Breitbart says: 

“Kendall County Sheriff Dwight Baird joined Mendrick and let his county know that he had no intention of sending police to break up gatherings, take out weddings, or shut down businesses because in his opinion, ‘the Governor’s Executive Order is not a law.’

“Gibson City, a town in central Illinois, also announced they would not be enforcing Pritzker’s orders.

“‘After careful consideration, the Gibson City Police Department will not be making any criminal misdemeanor arrests of individuals or business owners for violations of temporary rules of Executive Orders,’ the town said in a statement on Wednesday.

“In addition, downstate Madison County reopened its businesses despite the orders.

“In reply to these officials, Gov. Pritzker warned he would send the state police in to enforce his rules.

“‘Counties that try to reopen in defiance, may not be reimbursed by FEMA for damages they cause because they ignored the law,’ Pritzker said adding, ‘Local law enforcement and the Illinois State Police can and will take action.’”

Apparently, Pritzker’s office decided that the sheriff was not allowed to follow his Constitutional oath and that his loyalty should be to the governor’s orders instead, threatening to withhold funding. 

Perhaps the Illinois State Police will take a similar stand and refuse to enforce the Orwellian orders that Pritzker believes he is entitled to enact. 

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