Democrats often propose ideas that take forever to explain and are often difficult for the masses to understand. That wasn't the case last week.

A lobbyist who works for a business-related organization asked me a question the other day that I've been hearing a lot lately: "Who's going to be the stopper now?"

What he meant was: Who in the legislative process can be counted on these days to help derail bills which are deemed hostile to business interests?

Give Governor JB Pritzker some credit: The man can give a good speech.

Governor JB Pritzker's administration has confirmed that its new public pension plan will slash $800 million from the state's scheduled pension payment next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

Two "dark money" groups are stepping up to separately promote and attack the new governor's agenda.

Uncle Sam wants you.

Correction: Uncle Sam wants your DNA.

Actually, if the government gets its hands on your DNA, they as good as have you in their clutches.

On January 28, home invaders murdered 58-year-old Rhogena Nicholas and 59-year-old Dennis Tuttle of Houston, Texas. Nicholas and Tuttle wounded five of the (numerous) armed burglars before being slain.

That's not how the news accounts put it, of course. Typical headline (from the Houston Chronicle): "4 HPD officers shot in southeast Houston narcotics operation, a fifth injured."

We've known for weeks now that the FBI recorded Chicago Alderman Ed Burke's mobile-phone conversations over a period of eight months, listening in on 9,475 calls. And then we discovered that the feds had wired up Chicago Alderman Danny Solis during his own conversations with Burke.

We all know that former Governor Bruce Rauner was outspent by our new Governor JB Pritzker during the 2018 campaign. But the actual numbers are pretty darned eye-opening.

“As more and more data flows from your body and brain to the smart machines via the biometric sensors, it will become easy for corporations and government agencies to know you, manipulate you, and make decisions on your behalf. Even more importantly, they could decipher the deep mechanisms of all bodies and brains, and thereby gain the power to engineer life.

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