F. Scott Fitzgerald famously wrote, “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.” Fitzgerald didn’t know Chicago’s incompetent and dishonest Democratic mayor (the latest one, Brandon Johnson), but nonetheless: anyone who witnessed Johnson’s recent example of holding two opposed ideas in what he optimistically calls his mind must conclude that 1) Johnson is far from brilliant, being an advocate of the “My mind’s made up, don’t confuse me with facts” school of logic; 2) the Mayor believes that Democrats are dummies, which on the topic at hand, illegal immigration and law enforcement, is a good bet, and 3) Fitzgerald wasn’t all that swift either.
Mayor Brandon Johnson went on MSNOW’s “The Weekend” yesterday to opine on President Trump’s remarks to reporters at the White House that Trump’s actions had lowered crime in the Windy City. “We just had numbers from Chicago where Chicago crime has gone down pretty good,” the President said, ungrammatically. Wrong, said Johnson. “Where ICE and federal agents were present, we actually saw an increase in violence. In other words, the tension and the chaos that federal agents bring to cities in America, it actually is counter-productive.”
Then, seconds later, he said, “Yes, we saw a 30 % reduction in homicides, shooting, shooting victims, all down.”
Johnson did not explain that the so-called increase in violence due to I.C.E. being present was entirely due to illegal interference with and attacks against the federal immigration officers from Chicagoans interfering with law enforcement as a result of being incited by elected officials like Illinois Governor Pritzger and others calling I.C.E agents Nazis, Gestapo, and “occupiers.” Johnson had claimed Trump “literally declared war on American cities.” Literally! Ah, how I remember POTUS signing that declaration of war in the Oval Office….
The likelihood that removing criminal illegal aliens from Johnson’s “sanctuary city” while clearly sending a message that the jig was up, in stark contrast to the previous administration’s policies, had something to do with the reduction in violent crime never occurred to the Mayor. Yet in 2024, Chicago earned the title of America’s homicide leader for the 13th year in a row.
Naturally, nobody at NSNOW cared to point out that Johnson’s argument was self-refuting, or even ask him if he was a Fitzgerald fan. And so they all beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past…
Ethics Alarms 
Maybe it’s called, MSN OW!
I’m a little skeptical. I assume the vast majority of Chicago’s murders and shootings are done by native-born felons, of which there is no shortage, rather than imported ones. I wonder whether just the presence of U.S. Federales on the streets and in the neighborhoods is having a serious deterrent effect? Something’s got to be going on.
I agree. No doubt that there are illegal immigrants who commit violent crimes, but citizen-by-birth Americans aren’t angels. The crackdown may have given some of them pause for thought.
But, of course, I know you also agree that picking up illegals is still important, regardless of how many of them do or do not commit additional crimes once they get here.
On the other hand, CBS appears to think that only those who commit violent crimes should be kicked out. The narrative appears to be that Trump promised he’d only deport those guys. In fact, though Trump did make a big deal out of violent offenders who were illegal, he never argued that everyone else should be allowed to stay.
Sorry, I meant to include a link to a CBS article on the subject:
https://www.aol.com/news/fewer-14-those-ice-arrested-090000842.html
I suppose we are supposed to let alone people who overstay their tourists/school or work visas, too.