As Chuck Dickens once inked,

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

We have several problems in this state. A devious, deceitful, TeaBuggered Governor who wants to run for president in 2020, a sneaky, lying, nasty bully ruining one of the best cities in the world, financial issues, crime issues, and more. Just a peak at one of our papers says it all.

First, the background. Robbins, IL is a small, exceedingly poor african american community located south of Chicago. the perfect symbol of this devastated town can be seen in the story of a promised garbage recycling and incinerator that never did what Foster Wheeler promised it would do. Instead of clean garbage processing, it was little more than a belching, smokey, stinking pit that drove away other businesses, injured the health of the locals (too poor to move out) and became a financial hellhole for the town.

Even though every scientist and environmentalist warned that the design would not work, that it would not be financially viable, and that the health of locals would suffer, it was still built and operated. Money exchanged hands, and several folks were indicted for corruption.

Foster Wheeler's lies and deceit

If that wasn't enough, the leaders of Robbins, especially the police, treated its citizens even worse. For years, rape kits sat untested. Hundreds of them. When massive corruption was found in the Robbins PD, several years ago, the Cook County Sheriff effectively took over the town because it could not pay its bills. (even police salaries) The Sheriff's office found the untested, uncatalogued, rape kits sitting in a dusty room. Eventually, the kits were tested. The town hired new cops, and the state made some minimal investments in a town that looks and feels more like a third world nation, instead of a suburb of Chicago.

Here is the latest on this fiasco:

A rape suspect remained on the streets for years after being identified through DNA because a south suburban police department failed to act after being informed by the Illinois State Police there was a DNA match, records obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times show.

As a result of the botched handling of his case by the Robbins Police Department, the man remained free for years despite being linked to the rape of a mentally disabled 15-year-old girl, according to the records and interviews.

He was finally charged last year — after officials in the south suburb, citing Robbins’ precarious finances, called in the Cook County sheriff’s department to begin aiding the police in 2013.

How a Rape suspect ID'd by DNA stayed free for years.

Sick, sick, sick.

That is not the only trouble on the horizon for this state. Mayor Rahm Emanuel ignored warnings, critics, and did as he pleased, causing even more trouble, this time for Chicago.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is using $220 million in “short-term bridge” financing — at a heavy cost to beleaguered Chicago taxpayers — to make a state-mandated payment to police and fire pension funds that’s higher than his tax-laden 2016 budget assumed.Before raising property taxes by $588 million for police and fire pensions and school construction, aldermen eager to bite the bullet and get it over with demanded to know why Emanuel wasn’t proposing an even bigger increase instead of rolling the dice.

Aldermen were concerned about Emanuel’s risky assumption that Gov. Bruce Rauner would sign legislation — approved by the Illinois House and Senate, but not yet on the governor’s desk — giving Chicago 15 more years to ramp up to a 90 percent funding level for police and fire pensions. Chicago taxpayers would still be on the hook for $619 million in payments to the two funds this year, more than double the city’s prior payment. But that’s $220 million less than the city would have been forced to pay and an $843 million break over the next five years.

Rahm's Risky Pension assumption

At the heart of this battle, there really are two culprits - Rahm, who deserves to be drawn and quartered for his efforts at covering up and brbing his way out of murder of a teen at the hands of Chicago PD, and of course, our governor, Bruce Rauner.

Rauner has refused to deal with the state legislature (controlled by the Dems) unless unions are bashed, wages cut, benefits erased, worker comp laws weakened, tort reform passed, and much, much more. He is angling for a presidential bid by outdoing Scott Walker to the north, Bobby Jindhal to the south, and Sam Brownstain to the west. If only he would see what those morons did to their states, perhaps he would think again. But besides being a vacation mate of Rahm, he is as stubborn, arrogant, vile, and destructive as Rahm. (allegedly, they no longer hug and kiss when they meet, but I think that is a facade both use for their own purposes).

Because of Rauner, Illinois has not had a budget for a very long time. Services are being cut, schools are being forced to fire staff, our debt is booming, and Rauner blames everyone but himself.

These are worst of times for a wonderful state and one of the best cities in the world.