Bully Pulpit

The Governor of Illinois can't stand when anyone takes a stand he doesn't like.

If you don’t live in Illinois (or even if you do) you might be blissfully unaware of how anti-First Amendment our Overlord *governor* really is. Presidential Hopeful 😂 J.B. Pritzker’s latest Corleone move was to bully a Chicago-area printing press into ceasing publication of an opposition newspaper. See Steve Cortes’ excellent commentary in Real Clear Politics for an overview.

Steve Cortes @CortesSteve

Should a powerful political figure in America use his influence to (literally) stop the presses from printing an opposition newspaper? It happened. In Illinois. My article: realclearpolitics.com/articles/2022/…

I’ve been getting the LGIS papers in my physical mailbox since their first in-print issue earlier this month. [Correction: The first edition was sent in August. See end of post.] The idea was brilliantly simple: Trust-fund cash makes it tough to beat Pritzker on t.v., collusion between Big Tech & government obstructs social media, and high-gloss cardstock mailers get thrown in the trash. Give people the headlines and content that pushes directly against the most destructive elected official in Illinois history, free of charge & delivered to their doorstep, and you might get their attention.

Not only did the papers get voters’ attention, they got under Pritzker’s skin. So, Mr. Billionaire did what he always does: Tried to keep content that strays from His Tyrannical Highness’s approved narrative from reaching the masses. And the mainstream Dem-machine media did what it always does: kowtowed & played along.

No one but no one following Pritzker’s Pandemic-Era Ploys is surprised by his latest mafia-esque tactics to suppress & silence opposition. Besides his printing press stunt, he…

• bullied churches,

• shamed people who protested his deadly lockdowns orders,

• barred a conservative reporter from his press conferences,

• used The Science & The Experts to gaslight parents fighting for the resumption of high school sports,

• branded anyone who didn’t want to wear a mask as “the enemy”¹

• removed the recognition status of a private school that pushed against his illegal mask mandate,

• threatened to deny funding, sports, & high school diplomas to districts who defied his orders

• suppressed lawful religious objections to testing/vaccine mandates,

• intimidated television stations with legal action unless they pulled a commercial featuring claims by his gubernatorial primary opponent,

• et cetera, et cetera, et cetera²

Goodness knows how many social media accounts The Pritzker Regime has reported to Big Tech for allegedly violating “covid-19 misinformation” policies. (My own comes to mind, as does that of fellow Illinois resident Matt Brown.)

People also forget how much money J.B. and his family tree have donated to various Illinois hospitals, fine/performing arts venues, foundations, and schools. If you’re a decision-maker or leader of an entity that relies on or has benefited from those dollars, how likely is it that you would even dare to think about questioning anything Pritzker has done? “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you” is a powerful speech-suppressant indeed.

As long as J.B. sits in the Governor’s seat, he’ll do whatever it takes to stifle the views of residents (including Democrats) who don’t fall in line. But an easy solution to Illinois’ Pritzker Problem is coming November 8th:

Vote. The Bully. Out.

UPDATE: Here’s the first edition of the LDIS election-season print-based version of DuPage Policy Journal I’ve been receiving. DPJ launched online in 2014. Most hyper-local variations for Chicagland & beyond debuted in 2015-2016.

1. Similarly, those don’t agree with his particular views on any number of issues are “bigots,” “racists,” “anti-LGBTQ,” etc.

2. h/t Yul Brynner in The King & I.