Listen to these two soulless DSA muppets many moons ago (Newsom in '13, Pritzker in '14) when they were pandering their way up the ranks posing as user-friendly, business-savvy sorts to gain the acceptance of C-suite dopes and voracious rent-seekers. Now Newsom pushes a wealth tax while Pritzker pushes for a millionaire's surcharge after a failed attempt at graduating IL's state income tax and successfully raising five-dozen other state taxes and fees. These two knobs preside over the two worst-governed states in the nation which earns them the right to be considered serious DSA candidates for POTUS. They perfectly illustrate the sick joke that is the American Left.

"Something changed here... Like one day we came home and the house had been rearranged while we were gone." This is such a good spot. It speaks to people's common heritage, the reason they chose Minnesota, and the unspoken anxiety they feel about the state's direction but are equally uncomfortable in detailing the specifics. The message is unmistakable: something has been taken from us (by the people in charge) and we need to take it back. And this is how you give people not necessarily affiliated with your party a safe place to land. Well done.

My friend's autobiography "Built After Broken" is a good story well told. Available on Amazon. Cawley recounts his life with a candor unafraid of poignancy, but which avoids the maudlin. It is a tribute to the formula: reflection + correction = inflection. His noble purpose with the book is to provide an example to others as to how to build their own life while hopefully getting lost fewer times than he did along the way. @MorningAnswer omny.fm/shows/chicagos-morni…

When Larry David abandons the latest iteration of the Left...too bad Curb is done, a DSA parody including selections from the satire below (I chose my two favorites) would have been timely. #7: In an effort to make amends for centuries of slavery, reparations will be instituted, along with a lottery system in which white people will be selected to serve as slaves to Black families for one year. Lashings are encouraged for excessive whining, and government-issued whips will be distributed at no cost. #12: We Democratic Socialists love to laugh … but not at the expense of others. The last thing we want is for any person to be offended by a joke that targets them or someone they know. No one should ever have their feelings hurt. Consequently, any comedian who is responsible for causing emotional discomfort in any way will be sent to a facility where they will be re-programmed and hopefully emerge with a greater awareness of the sensitivities of their fellow citizens. If, however, the re-programming is unsuccessful, the repeat offender will be sent to Pitcairn Island to live with the Bagel People. airmail.news/issues/2026-10-…

If you think gas prices are high now, wait until these DSA apparatchiks move to make energy fossil-fuel-free.

In 2018, 86 socialist candidates ran at the local, state, and federal levels, with about 40 percent winning. Two years later, in the 2020 general election, 266 socialist candidates ran, and nearly 90 percent won. In 2022, 132 socialists ran in the midterm elections, garnering another 90 percent win rate. Most recently, in the 2024 general election, 48 of 51 socialists were elected. This year, more than 200 socialists are running in the midterm elections. +++ @HeartlandInst's Chris Talgo has a bead on not the "rise" of the DSA but, more accurately, its takeover over the Democrat Party. The DSA Neo-Bolsheviks are doing the same long march through the party they used as a host as they did, under color of that party, through America's mediating institutions. Antonio Gramsci would be impressed. redstate.com/heartlandinstit…

John Kass News is winding down but @John_Kass is sticking around, thankfully. On @MorningAnswer Kass reflected on his time at the Tribune as well as his subsequent independent venture. Kass' insights on the Bipartisan Combine informed my understanding of Chicago and Illinois politics long before the severity of the consequences of having a big government monoparty began to be visited upon the city and state. You can't say he didn't warn you. An authentic gentleman and scholar, Kass will not be missed because I'm going to relentlessly pester him to continue to share his enlightened thoughts on the passing scene on my show until I shuffle off or am shuffled off too. morninganswerchicago.com/joh…

Please forgive Peggy. Insanity runs in her family.

The best thing about hosting @MorningAnswer is the interaction I enjoy with so many intelligent people both who are guests as well as listeners like the one who wrote me this extraordinarily well-considered note below to share her informed perspective on the Cornell 7 case. I truly appreciate this Jane Doe's willingness to trust me with the sharing of her story. +++ Your recent coverage of the Cornell seven case has inspired me to convey my thoughts on the subject. This could be due in part to the fact that at the end of October it’ll be 10 years ago when I was sexually assaulted in college. I was 21 when I was sexually assaulted at a fraternity house I often frequented. I believe I was drugged at a bar prior to the encounter although I never received any sort of medical confirmation of that. I went to a very small private liberal arts school in Illinois (less than 2,000 students) and Greek life was the primary social circle of the majority of the campus. I should preface this by saying I considered this fraternity my second home other than my own sorority. I was friends with all the men in that fraternity and it was regarded as a safe place to me. I also want to add that my college experience was rather atypical. I was an excellent student, held two on campus jobs in addition to my off-campus internship, and was actively involved in my sorority. When I wasn’t in class or at a sorority event, I was working on campus or at the courthouse, day and night. I was very type-A, your typical eldest daughter, very responsible, but popular. Think Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, but smarter. I was not reckless and I was the last person anyone would think would be victim of sexual assault. But nevertheless, it happened to me. I never reported my assault to law enforcement for my own reasons, but I was working at the state's attorney's office in the county at the time and as an intern I didn’t want anyone to know what had happened. The people in that office were my heroes at the time and I didn’t want those who eventually became my future co-workers to know the intimate details of my assault. Ultimately, I had worked in the system, I knew the law, and I couldn’t begin my legal career as a victim. At the time it was too difficult for me to pursue that avenue. A year later I was diagnosed with PTSD and it was impacting my learning. I made the choice to report my assault, over a year after, only to the university. My only goal was to have some record of my story and to get help from the university so that I wouldn’t be placed in the same classes as this individual and we wouldn’t cross paths. We were in the same major and I was forced to interact with him in classes right after my assault. I never took serious issue with how the university handled my case, it was pretty standard and they offered me security escorts at night when I was working late. As I reflect on this part of my life and wrestle with my own traumatic memories, I’m reminded of the one aspect that always remained significant to me. Days after my assault when I eventually was able to get up the strength to tell my friends in the fraternity what happened, they kicked that member out of their organization immediately. I was told it was a unanimous chapter vote that took all of five minutes to resolve. No hesitation, no debate, no real adults involved. Just a chapter of honorable young men who were embarrassed to have offered membership to someone capable of rape. They issued a personal apology to me and the leadership of my sorority. I am forever grateful to those men and I never forgot the justice they provided to me. While my thoughts on the Cornell case are mixed, there is one particular aspect of this case’s coverage and the public’s reaction that has bothered me deeply. That is the stigma that has exacerbated around Greek life and particularly fraternity men. While my story is very different from Jane Doe’s there are common denominators that are unavoidable. The facts of her case are still in dispute, but the fraternity location is confirmed. I’ve seen nothing but hate all over social media about fraternity men and that is simply not true. There are good men out there and many of them are in fraternities or were at one point in their young lives. My husband included. I cannot claim that all fraternity men make the best decisions, especially when alcohol is involved but the ones I knew were strong in their convictions, they embraced the values of their organization, (which are often overlooked by outsiders) and they did the right thing. They took matters into their own hands and made their environment a safer place to be for college women. I didn’t make demands or deny any of my own wrongdoing, I simply told my friends the truth and I was treated with the utmost respect. The white college man has become the villain of our society and that’s simply an inaccurate conclusion that the liberal media seems to believe is ok to perpetuate. I may have been assaulted by a fraternity man but other fraternity men saved me. They believed me. While they couldn’t stop the assault, they did everything in their power to stop the stigma. I’m not a celebrity. My story isn’t well known unless you happened to be on my campus in 2016 and were involved in Greek life. I suppose you could say I’m just another Jane Doe, but I don’t want to be associated with a media-driven story that’s gotten so out of control nobody knows whose side to believe. It gives all sexual assault survivors a bad name and ultimately confuses the younger generation about the significance of the law. I went on to be president of my sorority and graduated with honors. I worked in criminal law for 9 years and saw sexual assault in many different shapes and forms. As disturbing as these Cornell allegations are, they are not unique. I suppose I felt compelled to share this because I wish my story was unique. I wish that sexual assault was a rare occurrence but that’s just not realistic. I don’t think we can change college culture as it evolves into something we can no longer relate to, but we can teach our kids to do the right thing, act the right way, and behave as if all our decisions do actually impact the rest of our lives. Before I left for college over 11 years ago, my uncle gave me some life rules to keep in my back pocket. Literally he lamented the note so I could keep it in my wallet. One of those rules was to never do anything you wouldn’t discuss at the dinner table. As most of us know, dinner tables have become obsolete and kids barely talk to their parents now let alone share meals together like traditional families used to. But I wish parents today would instill similar ideas in their kids that would make them think twice before making some of the decisions we read about in the news. As a younger adult, I can remember never wanting to embarrass my parents. As I watch today’s college students, I wonder if they are as paranoid about that rule as I was. If I had a son who was able to make the conscious decision that the fraternity brothers who helped me did, that is something I would certainly be proud to share at the dinner table. Thank you for taking the time to read my story.

Friend of mine with a business in Old Town let me know that eight businesses in the neighborhood got broken into this morning about 3:00am. A lot of property damage, very little cash stolen. I let him know that, per BLM Brandon Johnson, crime in the city is down. He felt a lot better once he understood he wasn't to believe his lying eyes.

On behalf of the Illinois electorate, I demand a recount.