Kankakee County Judge Thomas Cunnington set off a chaotic chain reaction December 29 with his ruling that the General Assembly over-stepped its constitutional grounds when it voted to eliminate cash bail. Judge Cunnington essentially said that a cash-bail requirement, even though not specifically mentioned in the constitution, could be inferred; and that the General Assembly had exercised powers that properly belonged to the judicial branch.

Each and every time the courts tell the petitioners, “Yes, we are harming you and yes there are constitutional violations. However, your harm is no greater than everyone else's harm, so you have no standing.” Now you know the real reason we are told over and over we live in a Democracy, and not a Republic. The word democracy appears nowhere in any state or U.S. constitution.

There’s been sort of an unwritten rule the past several years in Springfield to stay away from doing things like ban assault weapons. The votes to pass one have seemingly been there in both chambers, but the will of past Democratic leadership seemed to be to not overtly poke any big, cash-rich bears, like the National Rifle Association, or to alienate or electorally imperil conservative members of their Democratic caucuses.

The U.N.’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is pitched as a “shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.” At the heart of this agenda are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs.