Chicago Mayor Bans Protests On Her Street

The Chicago Tribune recently reported that the city has banned all protests—even peaceful ones—on Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s street, assumedly by her orders. Yet she openly supports protests in the rest of her city, even non-peaceful ones. Moreover, the mayor has ordered that a continuous and heavy police presence be kept up outside her home in Logan Square, even as she continues to defame and defund them. Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara told the Chicago Sun-Times that as many as 140 police officers have been assigned to Lightfoot’s home at one time.

Incredibly, according to an email sent by the district’s commander, the officers assigned to the directive were instructed to tell protesters that “it is against the city code and state law to protest” and that they therefore must “leave immediately.” Say, why don’t they try that with all those protesting, looting and burning in the rest of the Windy City?

This tells you all you need to know about Mayor Lightfoot and countless other progressives, whether mayors, governors, congressmen, Hollywood stars, late-night television hosts or mainstream media types. This is the rankest possible hypocrisy, stemming from a total lack of respect or regard for everyone else. And it should not be tolerated. Police officers are resigning and retiring in record numbers. The dwindling number remaining on duty are treated like a baby treats a diaper. Chicago is in the grips of a massive crime wave. Dozens of people are shot and assaulted every day. Rioters are still wreaking havoc, lighting fires and looting stores, but the city’s mayor siphons a measurable percentage of her police force from where it would do the most good and uses it to protect her own turf. Sickening. Neighbors disparagingly call her home “Fort Lori.” The Tribune noted that Lightfoot’s order has led to “some quiet grumbling” within the police department. It would be nothing short of amazing if that’s all it has led to, so far. I don’t know how Lightfoot sleeps with herself. Or how her wife sleeps with her for that matter.

Lightfoot defended her actions, telling reporters, “Given the threats that I have personally received, given the threats to my home and my family, I’m gonna do everything to make sure that they are protected. I make no apologies whatsoever. We have a right in our home to live in peace.”

Doesn’t everyone else, too?