Last Wednesday evening, I got a text from a concerned citizen alerting me to the video of that evening's Davenport City Council meeting. Two people made presentations to the council about accessing the grand jury and did I know these people? Of course, I was glued to the playback of the council meeting that evening. After watching the video playback several times, my “Spidey-Sense” was tingling. I thought, “Is this crazy-bait? Are these people legitimate or have they been sent here to disrupt or discredit the critical discussion regarding the grand juries?”

https://www.rcreader.com/commentary/is-this-crazy-bait#overlay=node/69084/editSupporters of empowering county grand juries in the State of Iowa were likely surprised and excited by remarks made at a Davenport City council meeting on 25 June 2025 by Mr. Tanawah Downing and Ms. Jessica Saxton [~1:14:00 mark]. Their message was direct and to the point. The 5th and 14th Amendments of the Constitution are being violated by legislation passed by Iowa that permits prosecuting attorneys and police to charge by way of information rather than grand jury indictment.

“I ran for governor in 2018 to change our story,” Governor JB Pritzker told a Chicago crowd on Thursday as he announced his bid for a third term. “I ran for governor in 2022 to keep telling our story. And I am running for governor in 2026 to protect our story.”

As I write this, multiple news outlets have reported that the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency is preparing to deploy its Special Response Teams to five major U.S. cities, including Chicago, in the very near future. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s chief of staff Cristina Pacione-Zayas told reporters last week: “There will be tactical teams, mini-tanks, other tools they use in which they plan to do raids, as we saw in Los Angeles.”