Morning Answer

Chicago's Morning Answer with @DanProft, weekday mornings 5-9a CT on @AM560TheAnswer

[Morning Answer @MorningAnswer]

@left_behind_chi @KurtSchingoethe @DanProft @John_Kass M-F 5-9am AM 560 in Chicago
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[Morning Answer @MorningAnswer]

May jobs numbers came in at 172,000 new positions created, more than double Wall Street estimates. Unemployment held steady at 4.3%, essentially full employment by most measures. @JamesLPerry9, founder and CIO of Perry International Capital Partners, joined @DanProft to put the jobs number in the context of a broader economic picture that he said most media outlets, including financial press, are dramatically underreporting.

[Morning Answer @MorningAnswer]

The New York Times published accounts this week from multiple women who dated Graham Platner, the Democratic Senate candidate in Maine, describing behavior that included bizarre statements about rape as an act of dominance, a forestry ax he honed while watching television, and expounding on killing people he considered threats, and physical altercations that left marks. @MZHemingway, editor-in-chief of The @FDRLST, joined @DanProft to assess the situation and a broader pattern she sees in Democratic candidate selection.

[Morning Answer @MorningAnswer]

President Trump announced this week that the June 24th bicentennial celebration he is organizing, dubbed Freedom 250, will be a rally to end all rallies featuring Lee Greenwood and armed forces choirs. @Liel Leibovitz, editor at large for Tablet and host of the Rootless podcast, joined @DanProft to discuss his contributions to a new book called "250 Great American Things."

[Dan Proft @DanProft]

Hey Leftist Bears fans--and the kleptocratic Leftist pols you prop up--always running your mouths telling productive people, like me, and businesses you drove out of the state with your sentimental bulljive and identitarian dipshittery to "get Chicago out of your mouth,* what do you have to say to the Bears? Wallow in your slop you intolerably dumb animals.

[Morning Answer @MorningAnswer]

If the Chicago Bears do leave for Hammond, Indiana, Democrats will be to blame.

[Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch @SpeakerWelchIL]

While Indiana is willing to raise taxes and promise $1 billion in taxpayer funds, Illinois has focused on the needs of working families who want relief at the gas pump, at the store, and on their insurance bills-not taxpayer-funded stadiums. Illinois remains open to ongoing efforts to secure the Bears in Illinois.

[Morning Answer @MorningAnswer]

JB Pritzker's failures are many. But none so damaging as his inability to keep the Chicago Bears in Illinois.

[Morning Answer @MorningAnswer]

Brandon Johnson is, somehow, worse than Lori Lightfoot.

[Mayor Brandon Johnson @ChicagosMayor]

Statement from the Office of the Mayor:

[Joe Abraham @angeldadjoe]

The daily script:
“Katie was killed by an illegal immigrant…but families are being separated…”

Is that really the argument?

That enforcing immigration law is somehow more immoral than the consequences of ignoring it?

At some point, the bottom line has to matter: there are right ways of doing things and wrong ways.
A nation cannot survive without orderly laws, secure borders, and accountability.
Politicians who entice people to break those laws for political gain are not helping families and they are using them as pawns for selfish political ends.

I say this as the son of legal immigrants from a third-world country.
My parents did not have easy lives before being allowed to join America, but they refused to break into a country they respected and wanted to contribute to.

They took the lawful path because they believed building something meaningful required responsibility, sacrifice, and respect for the rules of the nation they hoped to join.

They did not put themselves, their children, or others at risk by doing things the wrong way.

And if anyone thinks these politicians truly care about these families, look at how the Illinois majority party “led” by @GovPritzker, has treated tragedies like Katie’s and so many others. Watch what they do, not what they say. They turn their backs on victims.

Katie deserved leaders with responsibility, honesty, and moral clarity. Not reckless policies, slogans, and political theater.

And Katie is dead.
Separated.
Disappeared.
Use whatever favorite adjectives you want to use.
My difference is Katie is in the grave!
I will NEVER see Katie again, until the other side.

[Morning Answer @MorningAnswer]

Graham Platner's oppo dumps get worse and worse. Yikes.
Janet Mills has reminded Maine voters that although her campaign is suspended, she's still on the ballot.

[Guy Benson @guypbenson]

NYT Platner piece is out. Hearing it withholds significant allegations & that the paper possesses more than what they published here. Not sure whether this story will be the final word here. Leaks earlier today from DemWorld (see below) suggest they were bracing for accusations that didn't end up in the final version of this article.

What the Times *has* printed includes: (1) Corroboration of CNN's reporting that Platner is lying about his Nazi tattoo ("my Totenkopf")...

[John Kass @John_Kass]

Pritzker’s Opportunity to Help Children and Send the CTU a Message by @PaulVallas for johnkassnews https://t.co/A6tmoTlG9O

[Morning Answer @MorningAnswer]

Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivy held a press conference this week announcing the arrest of a Guatemalan national for sexual battery. Ivy partnered with ICE immediately upon arrest and was unapologetic about both the partnership and the plain language he used to describe the situation. Jeffrey Anderson, president of the American Main Street Initiative and former director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics at the Department of Justice from 2017 to 2021, joined @DanProft to put the policy results behind those individual stories in a quantitative context.

[Morning Answer @MorningAnswer]

The Department of Justice secured a superseding indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center this week. @DavidHarsanyi, senior writer for the Washington Examiner, co-host of the You’re Wrong podcast, and author of "The Rise of Bluanon: How the Democrats Became a Party of Conspiracy Theorists," joined @DanProft to assess the indictment and weigh in on the Graham Planer Senate race and the media industry’s reaction to Scott Pelley’s departure from 60 Minutes.

[Joe Abraham @angeldadjoe]

Senator Kim, your words ring hollow.

It’s exhausting listening to the faux outrage and selective compassion from leaders who champion and defend the very policies that helped put my daughter Katie and others in the grave.

Completely preventable deaths sacrificed to ideology and party loyalty.

You’re welcome to come to my home, Senator.

I’ll give you a tour of Katie’s resting place too. You can examine the permanent consequences of these reckless policies firsthand.

Yet there’s never humanity, compassion, or even consideration for the victims left behind. Just full steam ahead.

Anything for the party, right Senator? Our kids be damned.

@GovPritzker say her name. Katie.

[Frank Diana @frankdiana]

Enjoyed the discussion @DanProft

[Morning Answer @MorningAnswer]

Sam Altman’s observation that history’s guide suggests humanity will adapt to AI the way it adapted to the industrial revolution, finding new things to do and want while building ever more wonderful things for each other, drew some historical skepticism from @FrankDiana, principal futurist at Tata Consultancy Services and writer at https://t.co/Jx3QmxRAbD, who joined @DanProft to offer a more nuanced reading of what technological revolutions actually look like and where AI fits in the broader pattern.

[Morning Answer @MorningAnswer]

Chicago doesn't have to be like this.

[Jen @IlliniJen]

Another man stabbed in the neck on the CTA Blue Line in the Loop last night.

Brandon Johnson’s safety plan launched March 10, promising 75% more policing and real crime drops.

Since then, at least four stabbings and sharp-object attacks have hit CTA trains and platforms. Aggravated assaults and batteries are up 33% year-over-year.

Three months in, the only thing rising under his safety plan is the number of stabbings.

🎥 @ABC7Chicago

[Morning Answer @MorningAnswer]

President Trump told the New York Post’s Miranda Devine this week that he would like to meet the Supreme Leader of Iran. @Rich_Goldberg, former National Security Council official and Senate aide, currently a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, joined @DanProft to assess the state of play and offer a below-the-fold development that explains some of the recent escalations in the Gulf.

[R.FreedomWaves @RFreedomwaves]

Illinois already has a mass exodus of residents and businesses and this will speed it up! Illinois is so far
In debt, there’s absolutely no way to create a balanced budget. The tax base $ dollars are leaving faster than spending, so the longer you stay the more you pay!!

[Joe Abraham @angeldadjoe]

I watched the media eagerly amplify the protests.

While staying remarkably quiet about the ideological organizations helping fuel and organize them.

I saw the same selective outrage after Katie's killing.

Endless activism for narratives they favor, near silence for victims who expose the consequences of reckless policies.

@TheJusticeDept needs to investigate these organizations and @alimayorkas

That silence tells the story.

And the silence from Illinois politicians speaks volumes.
@GovPritzker
@SenatorDurbin
@SenDuckworth

[Austin Berg @Austin__Berg]

BREAKING: Leaked election returns from the Chicago Teachers Union show final results on the dues hike vote (Q1) and a provision making it more difficult for members to sue the union (Q2).

Q1 YES: 7,361 votes (37.1%)
Q1 NO: 12,468 votes (62.9%) ✅

Q2 YES: 9,770 (49.2%)
Q2 NO: 10,091 (50.8%) ✅

This is a stunning defeat for the union’s political leadership.