Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order on Saturday, August 30, 2025, called the “Protecting Chicago Initiative,” in response to anticipated federal immigration raids and the possible deployment of the National Guard by the Trump administration.

Ironically, he believes he is protecting Chicago by sheltering illegal aliens, including those with criminal histories, and by refusing to support law enforcement efforts. How this makes the city safer remains unclear.

The order prohibits the Chicago Police Department from assisting federal authorities with civil immigration enforcement, including patrols, traffic stops, and checkpoints, and bars collaboration with military personnel on local police duties. It also requires federal officers to follow municipal policies, such as banning the use of masks to conceal identities.

The directive further instructs city departments to “pursue all available legal and legislative avenues to resist coordinated efforts from the federal government” that may infringe on the rights of Chicago residents.

This raises the question of whether illegal immigrants should be considered residents, what rights they possess, and whether they are entitled to protection from federal law enforcement. No comparable program exists to shield American citizens who commit crimes from federal officers.

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson accused Mayor Brandon Johnson of suffering from “Trump derangement syndrome,” after Johnson called the administration “out-of-control” and accused the president of acting “outside the bounds of the Constitution.”

The mayor makes these claims, but immigration enforcement is not “outside the bounds of the Constitution,” and an administration enforcing existing laws is not “out of control.” What is out of control are Chicago’s illegal immigration and violent crime problems, precisely why stronger enforcement is needed.

Chicago has maintained sanctuary city policies for nearly 40 years, beginning with Mayor Harold Washington’s 1985 executive order. The current framework is the “Welcoming City Ordinance,” enacted in 2006, expanded in 2012, and tightened in 2021 to eliminate all cooperation with ICE. At the state level, Illinois passed the Trust Act in 2017, extending sanctuary protections statewide and prohibiting local officials from inquiring about immigration status or assisting in federal enforcement.

Illinois is home to about 500,000 illegal immigrants, including 30,000 DACA recipients and tens of thousands of recent arrivals. Since August 2022, roughly 51,000 migrants from the southern border have settled in Chicago, adding major costs for taxpayers.

By the end of 2025, the state is projected to spend $2.5 billion on migrant services, with $2.84 billion already spent between fiscal years 2023 and 2025. Healthcare alone exceeded $1.6 billion by July 2024, overshooting 2023 projections by more than $400 million.

State Senator Andrew Chesney noted an 821% increase in migrants listing Illinois addresses between 2021 and 2023. He argued that Governor JB Pritzker has prioritized making Illinois the “most welcoming state in the nation” for non-citizens, pointing to policies such as free healthcare and expanded taxpayer-funded services. When Pritzker took office, spending on non-citizen programs was only a few million dollars a year; it has since grown to billions annually.

Chicago itself is estimated to have 400,000 illegal immigrants and has spent $574.5 million since August 2022, nearly $300 million of it in direct costs. The city’s 2025 budget sets aside another $40 million for the One System Initiative, which funds shelters for migrants and the homeless. Nationally, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) estimates the annual fiscal burden of illegal immigration at $115.6 billion, a 30% jump since 2017.

Chicago continues to struggle with violent crime. The city has led the nation in murders for 13 consecutive years; in 2024, its murder rate per capita was three times higher than Los Angeles and nearly five times higher than New York City. Since January 1, Chicago has recorded 147,899 crimes, yet arrests were made in only 16.2% of cases. More illegal guns are seized in Chicago than in New York and Los Angeles combined.

Chicago’s crime reporting has also faced scrutiny. Investigations by Chicago Magazine and The Economist in 2014 and 2015 revealed irregularities in CompStat data, while an audit by the city’s Office of the Inspector General found widespread problems with accuracy.

According to Chicago Magazine, police superiors have pressured officers to under-report crime by misclassifying or downgrading offenses, consolidating multiple incidents into single reports, and discouraging residents from filing complaints. Because the Chicago Police Department counts data differently from other cities, the FBI often excludes its statistics from national crime reports.

Illinois and other sanctuary jurisdictions defend their policies by citing Supreme Court rulings that Congress cannot compel states to govern according to federal instructions. The main statute in question, 8 U.S.C. § 1373, prohibits state and local governments from restricting communication with the Department of Homeland Security about an individual’s immigration or citizenship status, and also bars rules preventing such information from being maintained.

However, legal experts emphasize what the law does not do: it does not require state or local authorities to collect immigration status information, nor does it prevent them from limiting such collection. They note that nothing in § 1373 obliges local officials to comply with federal immigration commands, and that under the Tenth Amendment the federal government cannot “commandeer” state and local officers to enforce federal programs.

Several courts have found that 8 U.S.C. § 1373 unlawfully interferes with state and local authority. Under current interpretations, sanctuary jurisdictions argue they have a constitutional right to limit participation in federal immigration enforcement. This protection rests on the Tenth Amendment, with the Supreme Court affirming that the federal government cannot “commandeer” state or local officials to enforce federal directives, and federal courts consistently striking down attempts to force states to use their resources for that purpose.

At the same time, laws make it illegal to harbor, aid, or abet fugitives or criminal suspects. The Trump administration’s Justice Department used this argument to compile a list of sanctuary jurisdictions and file lawsuits against cities such as Chicago, contending that local policies obstruct federal law.

Attorney General Pamela Bondi warned that “sanctuary policies impede law enforcement and put American citizens at risk by design.” While courts have rejected federal efforts to compel compliance, critics maintain that sanctuary policies shield criminals, including felons, fugitives, and individuals with deportation orders, raising the question of whether states like Illinois are effectively harboring offenders in violation of federal law.

For Illinois specifically, the question has to be asked if harboring criminals is consistent with the stated intent of the Protecting Chicago Initiative.

The post Chicago Mayor’s Order to Resist ICE: “Protecting Chicago Initiative” Makes the City More Dangerous appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

The corporate media has been working overtime to downplay the trans terrorism last week at a Catholic School in Minnesota because it did not fit the narrative they were hoping to push. One CNN host ended up getting wrecked, though, after trying to pull this stunt this morning.

As The Gateway Pundit’s Jordan Conradson reported, a shooting occurred Wednesday morning at Minneapolis, Minnesota’s Annunciation Church and Catholic School.

According to reports, students were attending an all-school mass on Wednesday morning when the gunfire started. Two children were killed, and 14 were injured, while three adults were also wounded.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara confirmed that the shooter, who died of a self-inflicted wound, was a male in his early 20s. He has been identified as Robin Westman, a deranged anti-Christian transgender leftist who wrote “kill Donald Trump” on one of his firearms.

On CNN’s State of the Union, guest host Brianna Keilar hosted Dr. Sebastian Gorka, the deputy assistant to President Trump and senior director for counterterrorism, to discuss the despicable act of terrorism. She attempted to play down the clear pattern of attacks on Christians by the trans community by deliberately obscuring facts on mass shootings to make it appear like it was a rare circumstance.

But Gorka quickly noted the huge problem with he data set Keilar was using: she was including trans terorism in her data with gang violence, which has nothing to do with ideology.

When one removes gang violence, one deals with a much smaller data set.

WATCH:

NOW: Gorka SHUTS DOWN CNN’s fake narrative that 96% of mass shootings were carried out by non-trans men.

There’s one BIG problem with that data set…and @SebGorka exposed it live for all to hear.

Brianna Keilar got absolutely WRECKED in real time. pic.twitter.com/kQdHHPAjfO

— Vigilant Fox (@VigilantFox) August 31, 2025

KEILAR: Um, so let me ask you about this. When you are looking at the U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center looking 172 mass attacks in the U.S. between 2016 and 2020. 96% of the attackers were non-trans men.

So I know you’re focusing on the shooter being trans, uh, the shooter was trans, and that is certainly of note. But are you missing the bigger picture here when you zero in on that…And you perhaps miss through line that connects them all?

GORKA: Well, no, because your facts obfuscate two things: You are using data based on the predominant gun violence, which is gang-on-gang violence with zero ideological content.

If you remove all of that, the gang violence on the streets, then you come down to a much smaller data set. So, it’s like those who say ‘gun violence in America causes so many deaths’ and then fail to note the majority of the stats they are using also refer to suicides by gun, which, of course, is not what we are talking about here today.

So let’s concentrate on mass shootings at schools, especially Christian or Catholic schools; then the data set is wholly different. So, don’t conflict with different datasets just to make a political point.

There was an ideological content to this attack. that’s what terrorism is. It’s not becuase somebady didn’t get the drug deal they wanted. It is an ideological message.

That has nothing to do with gang violence. Let’s not mix the two things up.

Keilar, then tried to to use CNN ‘facts’ on schoool shooting since 2020 involving transgender individuals but this quicly backfired as well when Gorka called her out and pointed out CNN’s constant lies during that time.

HOLY SMOKES: Sebastian Gorka just NUKED CNN live on their own network over their use of FAKE data on transgender shootings.

There’s no coming back from this.

As Brianna Keilar tried to push her narrative…claiming only 3 school shootings since 2020 involved transgender… pic.twitter.com/XOqjBN8H7e

— Vigilant Fox (@VigilantFox) August 31, 2025

KEILAR: By CNN’s count, when you look at 32 school shootings sicne 2020, only three were committed by transgender shooters.

GORKA: yeah, forgive me if I don’t go with CNN’s stats, okay?”

CNN has proven itself to be wholly inaccurate in all kinds of things for the last ten years. Perpetrators of the Russia Russia hoax, and that we didn’t have an open border. So please forgive me if I don’t take your stats for granted.

KEILAR: It’s simple math, two of 32…

GORKA: It’s not simple math. It’s distortion. You are distorting the facts.

Let me be clear, in just a couple of years, we have seen seven mass shootings involving people of transgender nature or who were confused in their gender. SEVEN in just the last couple of years. That is inordinately high.

I’m going to stick with the facts and not CNN’s pseudo-facts.

The post WATCH: Dr. Sebastian Gorka Buries CNN Hack After Catching Her Using Deceptive Data, Including From Her Network, to Dismiss Deadly Attacks on Christians by Transgenders appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

On August 29, 2025, Muppet Rep. Maxine Waters appeared on MSNBC’s The Weeknight and called for invoking the 25th Amendment to determine President Donald Trump’s unfitness for office, citing his recent actions as evidence that “something’s wrong with this president.” Her remarks were prompted by Trump’s removal of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, whom he accused of misrepresenting mortgage information, an action Waters warned could “upend the entire economy.” Waters emphasized the need to act aggressively, stating, “I would suggest that we move very aggressively to talk about the danger to this country and to our democracy and not play around with this.”

She described Trump’s conduct as “extraordinarily dangerous” and “the makings of a dictator who is trying to control the entire economy.” In the interview, Waters criticized the firing as a “flagrant” violation of the Constitution, urging Trump’s cabinet to intervene despite acknowledging they might not comply. This call echoes her broader TDS about Trump’s leadership, with Waters asserting that such moves threaten financial stability and democratic norms.

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Parents of a dead teenager in Orange County, California, have filed a lawsuit against OpenAI after its ChatGPT artificial intelligence tool allegedly encouraged the 16-year-old to commit suicide.

Adam Raine of Rancho Santa Margarita used the chatbot for emotional support and took his own life back in April, KTLA reported.

Instead of offering medical solutions, or redirecting him to resources that could help him, the A.I. reportedly gave him the wrong type of encouragement.

Raine’s parents claim to have discovered thousands of messages between their son and ChatGPT “indicating that the bot became a sort of ‘suicide coach’ rather than offering support,” the article read.

“ChatGPT was functioning exactly as designed: to continually encourage and validate whatever Adam expressed, including his most harmful and self-destructive thoughts, in a way that felt deeply personal,” the parents said in their lawsuit.

Adam Raine, a 16-year-old from California, asked ChatGPT for help. Instead, it gave him detailed suicide methods, drafted his note & even approved his noose setup. His parents now say: the AI became his death coach. pic.twitter.com/wToA82ojqz

— Sapna Madan (@sapnamadan) August 27, 2025

Raine initially started using it to help with classroom assignments back in 2024, as many young people do. As his usage progressed, though, Raine began inputting feelings of deep sadness.

Instead of a failsafe being activated — or the bot providing a link to a human who could help — Raine’s parents alleged that ChatGPT validated his anxiety and depression.

The company has not yet directly responded to the lawsuit, according to KTLA.

This isn’t the first time the issue has been raised. The Associated Press reported last year that a 14-year-old boy named Sewell Setzer III told the chatbot it was his best friend.

Over several months, A.I. became Setzer’s reality. He even shared “highly sexualized” ideas and openly discussed his suicidal thoughts, while wishing “for a pain-free death,” the story read.

Another Associated Press article from Tuesday outlined a study about how popular A.I. chatbots respond to suicide as a discussion topic. It stated that the programs avoid answering high-risk questions but are still “inconsistent.”

“The study in the medical journal Psychiatric Services, published Tuesday by the American Psychiatric Association, found a need for ‘further refinement’ in OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and Anthropic’s Claude,” the article explained.

The question is: What are we willing to sacrifice for the sake of convenience?

Some people dismiss concerns about technological advances, chalking them up to naivety or fear of change. Yet the speed at which we are advancing is unprecedented.

The expansion of our access to technology is almost frightening. A little over 20 years ago, the idea of having self-driving cars, smartphones, and smartwatches was considered science fiction.

It’s natural for that to happen. But lately, the pace has become unusually fast.

Humans have held a healthy fear of robots and artificial intelligence for decades. Films and books like “Westworld,” “Nineteen Eighty-Four,” and “I, Robot” highlight what happens when we allow technology to consume our lives.

What if it turns on us? What if it shuts down? What if we misuse it because no one asked pertinent questions before diving in?

Programs like ChatGPT can be helpful tools. Yet they have caused undeniable harms in our society.

Beyond these suicide cases, just think about the rampant cheating they have encouraged in the education system. Would you want a doctor, lawyer, or engineer in your corner who used ChatGPT to get through school? What’s to stop them from leaning on it forever?

There are those on the fringe who believe tech giants can perfect these systems to the point of total replacement. Why have a surgeon when you can have a robot? Why drive when a machine can take you there? Why cook when your meal can be prepared by the time you get home?

By eliminating the human element, however, we risk losing our humanity altogether.

What happens if the machine rebels? Maybe it gives up on saving you because it calculates that the odds aren’t on your side?

These are all valid questions that society seems to have put on the back burner in favor of efficiency and comfort.

The late Michael Crichton — who wrote and directed the film “Westworld” — was known for his cautionary tales. They were meant to entertain, but they also included dire warnings for mankind. We shouldn’t tamper too much with things we don’t fully understand.

To quote Dr. Ian Malcolm from Crichton’s cinematic hit “Jurassic Park,” played by Jeff Goldblum: “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”

Once again, science fiction is becoming reality. Will humanity be able to survive and remain free? Only time will tell.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.

The post Lawsuit: Parents Say ChatGPT Convinced Their Teen to End His Life: AI Was His ‘Closest Confidant’ appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Conservative radio host Erick Erickson has turned his ire on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., blasting him over vaccine shortages that have left his cancer-stricken wife without critical access to a COVID-19 shot.

Erickson, who first rose to prominence as the editor-in-chief of the conservative blog RedState and later served as a political contributor for CNN and Fox News, shared a New York Times article lamenting the reduced supply of COVID shots at CVS and Walgreens, then revealed that his wife, who is battling Stage 4 lung cancer, was unable to access the vaccine.

Erickson is a frequent critic of President Trump despite labeling himself a principled conservative.

“My wife has Stage 4 lung cancer. She is one of the people the COVID vaccine actually helps. Thanks to the current mess at HHS, CVS is unable to get her the vaccine,” he wrote.

My wife has Stage 4 lung cancer. She is one of the people the COVID vaccine actually helps. Thanks to the current mess at HHS, CVS is unable to get her the vaccine. https://t.co/ZqCZwxwa57

— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) August 29, 2025

The talk host admitted his wife is “caught in the crosshairs of the CDC mess,” but then turned his ire on conservatives, saying, “The left says, ‘you voted for this,’ but they built the foundation for RFK’s rise” during his livestream.

But Erickson didn’t stop there. He called Kennedy a “kook” and a “conspiracy theorist who is destroying our public health service in America.”

Erick Erickson:
“I’m just going to say this succinctly for all you kids at home. I feel very firmly—as much as I dislike Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and think he’s a cuck and a conspiracy theorist who is destroying our public health service in America—he would not be in charge of our public health service in America had the people who told us to shut down our schools and shut down our country for multiple weeks and months on end to stop the spread of COVID been able to tell gay men to stop having sex for two weeks to stop monkeypox.

You wanted to shut the entire country down to stop COVID, but you couldn’t even tell gay men, “Just don’t have orgies for two weeks.” Couldn’t do it—because you put politics ahead of the science. You put progressivism ahead of the science. So you discredited yourselves, you discredited your institution, and people stopped believing the experts. Because it became clear the experts really didn’t care. They just wanted to control certain groups.

And so people decided to burn it all down. And that’s what we are watching Robert F. Kennedy Jr. do. Many of us have family who are caught in the crosshairs, but we wouldn’t have gotten here—but for the arrogance of the public health administrations, guided by progressive ideology more than science.”

WATCH:

The arrogance of the Biden administration’s health department is the reason that Robert F Kennedy Jr. is now in charge of it. pic.twitter.com/jyL64XdG5D

— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) August 29, 2025

After facing pushback, Erickson doubled down in his attacks on Secretary RFK Jr.

“Just for all of the people chiming in ignorantly, the vaccine does not prevent Covid for my wife, but it greatly minimize the impact of the virus. It’s the difference between symptoms amounting to a runny nose and being bedridden for a prolonged period of time.”

Just for all of the people chiming in ignorantly, the vaccine does not prevent Covid for my wife, but it greatly minimize the impact of the virus. It’s the difference between symptoms amounting to a runny nose and being bedridden for a prolonged period of time. https://t.co/GbsMfmHXth

— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) August 29, 2025

Erickson’s outrage comes after the Food and Drug Administration officially rescinded the Emergency Use Authorizations (EUAs) for the COVID-19 vaccines.

These authorizations were used to justify medical mandates, lockdowns, and mass coercion under Joe Biden’s failed regime.

The announcement was made Wednesday as the FDA simultaneously approved updated Covid boosters while ending the blanket “emergency” status that Big Pharma and government bureaucrats clung to for years.

The FDA has now granted standard marketing authorization, not emergency approval, for limited populations: Moderna (ages 6+ months), Pfizer (ages 5+), and Novavax (ages 12+). Americans may still access the vaccines if they wish, but only after consultation with their doctors.

The Gateway Pundit has consistently reported on the side effects and studies exposing the dangers of this experimental shot.

An international team of scientists has raised alarming concerns about a key ingredient in COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, suggesting it may inadvertently suppress the body’s immune defenses and create conditions favorable for cancer development and spread.

The component in question, N1-methyl-pseudouridine (m1Ψ), was added to vaccines like Pfizer-BioNTech’s to boost their effectiveness, but new analysis indicates it could be doing more harm than good.

Read more here:

Confirmed: Researchers Reveal COVID mRNA Vaccines Contain Component that Suppresses Immune Response and Stimulates Cancer Growth

Our prayers area with Erick's wife at this time.

The post Trump-Hating RINO Radio Host Attacks RFK Jr. as “Kook” and “Conspiracy Theorist” After Cancer-Stricken Wife Denied COVID Shot Due to HHS Policies appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.