03-06-25 Ray Hanania on Politics: Trump & Ukraine; the biggest race in Chicago suburbs
Season 8, Episode 1
Podcast Topics:
I am reviving the podcast starting today. It will be recorded in audio here at Spotify and in video on YouTube, several times each week. And, I will write about it on my syndicated column page at www.HANANIA.com
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What is President Donald Trump doing?
Trump stabbed Ukraine in the back claiming it was about money, but is it about the taxpayer money or his money? Trump is sucking up to Communist tyrant Vladimir Putin, his pal, because Trump wants to build those skyscrapers in Moscow and St. Petersburg like he has been trying to do for the past four decades.
Trump's policies in the Middle East are pushing our allies away from us and we'll have major consequences down the road as a result. Hamas is a Terrorist organization but so is the current Government of Israel. They both have killed innocent people. Hamas killed 1,400 Israel has killed 58,000 and the casualties continue to grow. Most are women and children. Babies are being murdered by American funding and American bombs given to Israel.
Imagine, Trump has ordered the firing of hundreds of thousands of Americans from Federal government jobs -- up to 40 percent of those Federal jobs among the targeted departments and bureaus are held by American Military Veterans.
Is that how a President rewards veterans, a president who dodged the draft to avoid military service to profit and hang around with Jeffrey Epstein???
Trump is giving $8 billion to Israel, a foreign country, and firing thousands of Americans from jobs because DOGE and Elon Musk assert it will save America $2 billion???
Trump's tariff wars are going to kill our economy and push away our allies, which is exactly what Putin wants.
LOCAL ELECTIONS
The biggest local election in the Chicagoland area is in Orland Park. Orland Park is the largest city between Chicago and Joliet, and actually the biggest city in the Southwest suburbs of Cook County. What happens there impacts the region financially and politically.
The big races to watch there:
1 - The Orland Fire Protection District, which many mayors like Pekau and others have said they want to control. They want to merge or consolidate, call it whatever you want, so they can raid the coffers. The OFPD has a fully funded pension that if the political pirates take control will siphon the funding out of that pension pool.
I support three independent candidates who have First Responder experience: Fire Commissioner Donald "DJ" Jeffers, Fire Trustee Beth Damas Kaspar, and former Palos Heights Police Community Service Officer Bridget Tolan. The two slates of 3 candidates each running against them are slated by Pekau's slate and a slate run by the union and township superviso to takeover the district and eliminate the checks an dbalances between unions and governments, You don't put a government int he hands of a union. You respect the union and respect the government and that's how they negotiate responsibly.
2 - The race for Mayor of Orland Park. Mayor Keith Pekau, one of the worst-ever mayors in the Chicagoland suburbs, is being challenged by a former Trustee with financial experience Jim Dodge. I think Dodge will win but he's not doing a great job of conveying his talents through media.
3 - In Orland Township, a slate led by Dick Kelly is challenging Supervisor Paul O'Grady, whose allies have been behind many attacks against me personally and professionally. Kelly heads the ORLAND TOWNSHIP TOGETHER Slate which includes
Cindy Murray for Clerk
Antonio Rubino for Assessor
Tracy Sullivan for Highway Commissioner
Michael Schofield, retiring OFPD Fire Chief, for trustee
Lena Matariyeh for Trustee
Daniel Flores for Trustee
Kelly Metzger for Trustee.
(Matariyeh represents the growing Arab community in Orland Park.)
Enjoy the podcast