A Chicago woman is fighting to keep her home after a government mix-up led officials to sell her house from underneath her on account of supposedly “delinquent taxes.”

Robin McElroy bought her home in the Morgan Park area of Chicago back in 2012. Since then, she said she has paid the taxes owed on the property and even kept receipts of her payments.

“I do not like wasting money. … I pay my bills,” McElroy told CBS News.

Despite those consistent payments, in 2019, McElroy began receiving notices that her property taxes were in arrears and that her property was in danger of being sold.

McElroy demanded an explanation. In April 2019, she received a letter from the Cook County Treasurer’s Office confirming that the county assessor’s office had accidentally mixed up McElroy’s property identification number — the unique 14-digit number used for tax-related purposes, according to Yahoo News — with that of her next-door neighbor.

She was then told that there were “no grounds to proceed with a sale” of her home, that the assessor’s office would make an “internal correction,” and that the issue would be resolved. “Don’t worry about it,” she recalled being told.

‘I want what’s rightfully [owed] to me.’

It turns out, McElroy still had plenty to worry about since the “internal correction” the letter promised apparently never took place. Earlier this year, she received a letter from Cook County Circuit Court informing her that her house had been “sold for delinquent taxes.”

In fact, the letter added that McElroy actually owed the new homeowner three years’ worth of rent. Bearing no ill will, McElroy expressed sincere concern for all the trouble that the other homeowner has had to endure as well.

“This lady should not have to be put in this position to go through all of this headache and heartache,” she told CBS News. “This is stressful.”

McElroy has since hired a lawyer — paid for out of pocket — to help her straighten out the problem.

CBS News has also been in contact with the assessor’s office. While a spokesperson there declined an on-camera interview, the office did confirm that the property identification numbers had been corrected, that McElroy is current on her taxes, and that officials are currently working with a legal team to resolve the problem.

McElroy remains skeptical.

“You guys can point fingers all day long. I don’t care,” she told CBS News. “I want what’s rightfully [owed] to me.”

McElroy had a deadline earlier this month to file a response in court, the outlet added. Whether she filed that response and whether the court has issued any other rulings remain unclear.

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​Chicago, Property taxes, Assessor, Delinquent taxes, Robin mcelroy, Morgan park, Homeowner, Politics 

“Morning Joe” contributor Mike Barnicle lamented that a growing number of Americans are no longer getting daily news from channels like MSNBC but are instead getting news from social media platforms.

MSNBC has seen a decline in viewership since President-elect Donald Trump’s victory against Vice President Kamala Harris. Since Election Day, the liberal network has experienced its lowest l of viewers in nearly 10 years, nearly a 40% drop since the election season.

While MSNBC has seen a great drop in viewers, such declines are not unique to the cable news outlet.

‘We meet news consumers where they are because they’re not here, and that’s the problem.’

The Pew Research Center reported that one in five Americans say they get their news from social media influencers. More news influencers identify as Republican or conservative (27%) than as Democratic or liberal (21%).

“Mike, that’s the challenge. You grew up in a newsroom. … I mean that’s a challenge for a lot of mainstream media sources is do they make themselves relevant again,” host Joe Scarborough said on Tuesday. “Here, 20% of adults who actually get influencers on social media. Maybe somebody who makes baskets and while they’re making baskets, they look up and say, ‘Vote for candidate X.'”

“I don’t know how we make ourselves relevant again because we can’t compete with 20-second snippets on an iPhone, walking up the street and getting your entire news digest of the day in less than a minute on your phone as you’re walking in a crowd with coffee in one hand and your phone in the other. I don’t know how we catch up to that,” Barnicle replied.

MSNBC analyst Eugene Robinson suggested the channel start doing its own 20-second videos in order to reach a wider audience. “We [should] meet news consumers where they are because they’re not here, and that’s the problem,” he said.

Pew Research’s study further found another reason for influencers’ success in a market where the mainstream media has a very low approval rating: 77% of news influencers have no affiliation or background with a news organization.

The rise of independent media during the election cycle — and Trump appearing on those platforms — has been credited with helping Republicans win the presidency by reaching the younger, male voters and convincing them to turn out on Election Day.

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​Politics, Media 

No, the Jerusalem Cross is not a symbol of white supremacy or Nazism.

Under normal circumstances, this statement is self-evident. Everyone — literally everyone — knows the cross is first and foremost a Christian symbol. But these aren’t normal circumstances.

‘Deus Vult’ and the Jerusalem cross are uniquely Christian media with over 1,000 years of use among Christians.

In the days following Pete Hegseth’s defense secretary nomination, bad-faith critics have attacked Hegseth for two specifically Christian tattoos on his body.

The first, on his right bicep, is a tattoo of the words, “Deus Vult,” which in ecclesiastical Latin means “God wills it.” The second tattoo, located on his chest, is of the Jerusalem cross.

The Jerusalem cross is a large cross surrounded by four smaller crosses in each of the “quadrants” created by the larger cross. Some believe the five crosses represent the wounds Jesus Christ suffered on the cross while others believe the large cross represents Christ and the smaller four crosses represent the four Gospel authors. Still others believe the symbol represents the gospel message spreading to the four corners of the world.

A Jerusalem cross on the cover of a copy of the Book of Common Prayer.Image source: Chris Enloe/Blaze Media

It is important to remember that “Deus Vult” and the Jerusalem cross are uniquely Christian media with over 1,000 years of use among Christians.

And yet, Hegseth’s critics — or, more broadly, critics of President-elect Donald Trump, conservatives, and Christians — are now trying to associate “Deus Vult” and the Jerusalem cross with so-called Christian nationalism, the Christian “far right,” white supremacy, and Nazism.

The absurdity of the accusations reached a hysterical climax on social media over the weekend.

A man named Matthew Stokes went viral when he promised to pay $5 to “any standard evangelical over the age of 40” if they could prove to him that “the Jerusalem cross was a normal symbol of their faith upbringing.”

— (@)

It turns out that Stokes has a lot of money to disburse because his post went viral when thousands of people did exactly what he requested.

The end result is that Stokes proved the exact opposite outcome than the one he intended: The responses that his post generated proved the Jerusalem cross is not only a normal Christian symbol but that it’s an ecumenical one too.

Presbyterians use it. Publishers use it. Catholics use it. Lutherans use it. Communion wafers are imprinted with it. Coptic Christians use it. Episcopalians and Anglicans use it. It’s used in jewelry. The Greek Orthodox use it. Vestments use it.

The Jerusalem cross is clearly a ubiquitous symbol among Christians of all churches and denominations. Attempts to tarnish it as a symbol of racism or Nazism not only fail, but they’re actually an attack against all well-meaning Christians who display their faith allegiance through symbols like the Jerusalem cross.

The attacks, as Vice President-elect JD Vance said, are “disgusting anti-Christian bigotry.”

Christians are not Nazis. Christians are not white supremacists. Christians are not racist.

Fortunately, the “anti-Christian bigotry” that Vance identified will no longer exist within the Defense Department under Hegseth’s leadership.

“They can target me — I don’t give a damn — but this type of targeting of Christians, conservatives, patriots and everyday Americans will stop on DAY ONE at DJT’s DoD,” Hegseth promised.

​Pete hegseth, Christianity, Jerusalem cross, Christians, Faith 

There’s something about firing an AR-15 on full auto that puts a big smile on your face.

At least it does for my colleague, Helen Roy. It’s also addictive, apparently; no sooner has she emptied the entire magazine into the target than she asks, “Is that all?”

‘A lot of the ladies that do come on a regular basis call it “lead therapy,” because while you’re out there, you’re going to feel all this energy hitting you, and then you just want more of it.’

Behind her, David Prince laughs knowingly. A tall, grandfatherly former CPA, Mr. Prince (as everybody calls him) owns the spacious and immaculate Eagle Gun Range, where we’ve just spent the last few hours getting a crash course in how to shoot.

Beaming next to him with almost maternal pride is Helen’s instructor, Anna Thomasson. She — along with her husband, Bryan Wertz — has been kind enough to spend the afternoon giving us a highly condensed version of the extensive firearms training she offers women through her company, Dallas-based Aim True.

Matt Himes

Although Thomasson grew up around firearms, she was always more observer than participant. “My family is very traditional,” the petite Texan explains. “My dad is ‘boys shoot guns and girls stay in the kitchen.’”

That changed in 2015, when Thomasson was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her husband, Bryan Wertz, was a lifelong avid shooter; during her recovery he suggested she join him at the range as a way to spend time together while getting outside and getting some sun.

Thomasson found she enjoyed it. And not only that — learning to handle a firearm seemed to restore some of the inner strength sapped by her medical ordeal. “I got the feeling I could be confident in the world again,” she says.

She never looked back, taking course after course and honing her skills. She formed Aim True in 2017 as way to teach firearm self-defense to other women. She also organized the “ladies-only” training group Diamonds and Derringers.

Like Thomasson, Helen has always been comfortable around guns. Her father and her older brother (military veteran and active military, respectively) both enjoy shooting, as does her husband. While she’s often joined them at the range and has fired off a few shots of her own on occasion, she’s never gotten much, if any, formal training. She’s here to rectify that. Helen tells Thomasson she should consider her a beginner.

Gun-shy

We start in a tidy, well-lit classroom tucked away near Eagle Gun Range’s front desk. When I ask how they met, Wertz and Thomasson smile as they describe their courtship, more or less finishing each other’s sentences.

There’s an ease between them that automatically puts us at ease, and it sets the tone for the hours to come. As Thomasson runs the training, Wertz sits to the side, doing work on a computer, every so often interjecting to expand or emphasize a point Anna makes.

Thomasson begins by explaining what’s different about firearms training for women.

To begin with, says Thomasson, many of her students are motivated by a newfound sense of vulnerability.

“I have a lot of clients coming to me when they’ve had a divorce, or they’ve lost their spouse, or they’ve had a break-in at their home,” she says. “They’ve never wanted to hold a gun before, they’ve never had any interest in it, and now a situation has dictated that this is something [they] have to do.”

Matt Himes

According to Wertz, this reluctance tends to make women who do show up for the course very diligent students.

“We always say that a man feels like he was born to stick a gun in his pants and walk around with it,” says Wertz. A woman, on the other hand, “says I really want to know about this gun and I want to make sure that I don’t hurt someone with it, that someone doesn’t hurt me with it, that I really understand all aspects of it and how to use it and be confident.”

When that confidence finally comes, it’s often a revelation, says Thomasson. “Sometimes they have an emotional reaction to shooting the first time. And sometimes it just goes straight into, oh my gosh, I am going to be able to take care of myself and I don’t have to rely on anybody else.”

Pick a holster

When it comes to buying a gun, Thomasson likes to start with an often overlooked question: Can you find a holster for it? “My clients go to Highland Park Village, get a really pretty gun, and I say, ‘And you can leave it on your bedside table because there’s no holster to fit it,’” says Thomasson.

Unless you’re planning to use your gun exclusively out in the country, Thomasson recommends a concealed-carry holster, typically worn inside the waistband.

Choosing the right gun

“Our hands are different from men’s,” notes Thomasson. “They’re usually a little bit smaller.”

That doesn’t necessarily mean you want a smaller gun, but rather a “grip size that we can actually reach the trigger on.”

Ultimately, says Thomasson, how a gun fits your hand can come down to personal preference. She likens choosing a gun to buying shoes. “I can’t buy you a pair of shoes and say, ‘Love these shoes. You should wear them.’ But [I can] teach you the aspects of the gun and what you should be looking for.”

Sometimes bigger is easier

One common misconception Thomasson encounters is the assumption that a smaller gun will always be easier to shoot.

“This is our mindset as women. We think the bigger the gun, the harder it is to control, and the smaller the gun, the easier it is to control.”

Thomasson recalls a recent exchange with a client.

“[A woman] in her 70s called and she said, ‘I’m about five foot tall and I don’t have much strength. I have a really big gun, a 9mm, and I think I want to sell it and have you teach me how to use a smaller gun.’”

Thomasson quickly got her to reconsider. “I talked to her about the recoil … and the weight of that bigger gun taking some of that recoil away from your hands and your shoulders. Whereas a smaller gun doesn’t have the weight to [absorb] that recoil … and it ends up hitting you harder.”

For Thomasson, this is an essential part of the training she offers: “learn[ing] how to figure out what kind of gun is going to suit you best for your hand strength … [and] your situation.”

Loading the magazine

Thomasson leads us over to a table on which she’s placed a Glock semiautomatic pistol with a special slide for training as well as a pile of inert dummy rounds — in this case, spent Simunition blank cartridges. She begins by teaching Helen to load the magazine, which she recommends bracing against the tabletop.

Laughing at how surprisingly difficult she finds it, Helen says, “You know what, this is very important. How do you do gun stuff and maintain a manicure?”

Thomasson has anticipated the question. “You know there’s always a girl way and a boy way,” she says, fetching a small device from a nearby shelf and handing it to Helen. It’s called an UpLULA, and before long it significantly increases Helen’s efficiency.

Trigger warning

Matt Himes

Now that the gun is loaded, it’s time to pick it up. But first Thomasson imparts a basic principle of gun safety: “[You] don’t ever want to touch the trigger until [you’re] ready to touch the trigger.”

“This gun is developed to be comfortable in your hand when your finger is on the trigger,” explains Thomasson. “So that’s the way that your hand is going to want to pick this up.”

To avoid this, says Thomasson, we have to force ourselves to rest our finger on the frame as we grab the rest of the gun with our hand.

Thomasson points to the fleshy webbing between Helen’s index finger and thumb. “When you pick this gun up … I want you to see how high you can get this part of your hand up here,” she says, indicating the curved little overhang separating the top of the grip from the rest of the pistol.

Helen does, which gives Thomasson the chance to point out an important physiological difference between men and women. “Now if I had one of the boys pick this up, then all of the meat [between his thumb and index finger] would be squished up at the top. But females don’t have that kind of muscular development in that part of our hand.”

It’s a difference that can often be overlooked, says Thomasson. “A male instructor will tell the female you need a higher grip, you need a stronger grip. And the lady says, ‘This is all the grip I’ve got. I don’t have any more hand.’”

It’s something neither of us have ever thought about, apparently. “It’s almost as if men and women are different,” marvels Helen with mock incredulity. She examines my hand and compares it to hers.

“I do have that space,” she says, smiling brightly. “Confirmed woman!”

“Confirmed woman!”Matt Himes

When it comes to finding a properly fitting gun, Thomasson says it’s all about how your finger reaches the trigger. You want to have it close enough that you comfortably pull it back, without it being so close that your finger wraps around to the other side.

Proper stance

After teaching Helen how to complete the grip with the placement of her non-shooting hand, as well as how to use the pistol’s metal sight, Thomasson talks proper stance.

“Did you notice that you leaned back?” she asks Helen. “The minute you picked up that gun, you got away from it.”

Thomasson says this is an unconscious expression of fear — “we think the gun is going to go off and cause a big bang and we’re already scared of it.” This is precisely what her training seeks to overcome.

Lead therapy

After Thomasson advises Helen on the proper stance, it’s time to dry fire — that is, “shoot” the gun without any live ammunition. We all know it’s loaded with inert rounds, but as Helen aims, the tension in the room builds, and when the hammer makes its quiet little “click,” there’s a tangible sense of release.

Helen lets out a deep exhale and smiles. She looks a little flushed.

“What went through your mind?” asks Thomasson gently.

“Something about having bullets in the gun made me a little nervous,” says Helen. “It’s weird, there’s so much psychological stuff built up around guns. And I have shot guns before, but …”

“Because you loaded this and you made that action happen,” says Thomasson. She puts her hand on Helen’s shoulder. “How are you doing?”

“I’m good. It’s kind of powerful, though. Do women often have an emotional reaction when they shoot?”

“I would say 75% of the females that I have, the first shot they go into tears. We put the gun down and we step back and we hug and we talk about it for five or ten minutes. A lot of the ladies that do come on a regular basis call it ‘lead therapy,’ because while you’re out there, you’re going to feel all this energy hitting you, and then you just want more of it.”

Get a grip

At this point Bryan chimes in to emphasize the power of a good grip.

“So a lot of times, ladies will ask Anna, you know, should I have a gun because I’m tiny and a man will take it from me?”

He demonstrates by trying to pull the gun out of Helen’s hands. He can’t. “I’m just not going to get it from you before you could use your blaster.”

He then addresses how to hold the gun before you’re ready to point and shoot; for example, if you’re preparing to defend yourself against what could be an intruder in your house. In this case, says Wertz, its best to hold the gun pointed down toward the floor.

He demonstrates on Helen. If she holds her gun above her head, pointed toward the ceiling, it’s easy for him to keep her from bringing the gun level.

Wertz then shows what happens if he grabs Helen’s gun when it’s pointed to the floor. “If you kneel, then what am I giving you? I’m giving you the perfect first shot.”

Home on the range

David Prince is old enough to have had an entire career before this one, but he radiates boyish enthusiasm when he talks about Eagle Gun Range.

He opened it in 2012, after noticing that there hadn’t been a range built in the Dallas area for 30 years.

“My wife’s inspiration is my perspiration,” he jokes. After building a fence and a rock garden, among other projects, they decided to think bigger. “Let us build a gun range. … I can do that.”

“We wanted someplace [that was] really family-friendly,” Prince says. “Especially friendly to the mothers and the women, because stereotypically, women and guns don’t mix. … We wanted a place for them to come and feel safe.”

A big component of Eagle Gun Range’s family-friendly atmosphere is its state-of-the-art air filtration system, which removes the contaminants produced by firearm discharge. “It’s cleaner in the range than it is outside,” says Prince.

It’s clear that he’s proud of what he’s created. “Our mission statement says it all: to have a place that’s safe and fun to shoot.”

And it’s not that he’s pandering to the ladies, either.

“Indoor shooting is a great co-ed sport,” he says. “Women outshoot guys all the time. Women are great shooters. It’s a fun sport. It doesn’t take massive muscles. You can do it and compete against each other, and it’s a fun thing, especially for families. Kids get to shoot against the parents. It’s something the whole family can enjoy.”

Shots fired

Now it’s time for Helen to put her classroom training into practice.

We head to the private bay Prince has graciously arranged for us, and Thomasson introduces Helen to the first gun she’ll be shooting. It’s a Glock 9mm, the same as the practice gun she used. Only this one, of course, shoots real bullets.

Matt Himes

Helen loads the magazine, sorts out her grip, and gets into her stance. She aligns her sights at the paper target, then finds the trigger. She takes a deep breath and very slowly pulls it back.

Bang. We all exhale. Helen smiles. “There we go. That was fun.”

It was a decent shot, hitting the human silhouette just above the bull’s-eye over the chest. Helen fires off another. This one still hits the target, but a little wide. Thomasson reminds her to take it slow.

“When you pull it really fast, you kind of jerk the gun down, and then that’s when you end up with shots that are not in the target. Not that, if you were defending yourself, it still wouldn’t hurt the person. But if we want to get that perfect shot, [we need] control of the trigger.”

Thomasson then has Helen shoot the same cartridge in a smaller gun: a subcompact Glock in turquoise. This gun’s grip is significantly thinner and shorter than the previous one; Helen’s pinky just barely wraps around the bottom.

When she shoots, the kick is powerful enough that her left hand slips off a little. Helen also notices that because the gun’s size allows her finger to wrap all the way around the trigger, it has a tendency to pull to the right when shooting.

It’s all a vivid demonstration of Thomasson’s earlier point about women and gun size. “[They] say shrink it and pink it and that’s how you sell it to a woman,” says Wertz. “Well, that’s no good because then it’s just a pink gun and it’s tiny.”

As an alternative, Thomasson shows us the Walther PDP F-Series, a full-size 9mm pistol designed for shooters with smaller hands. To get the gun’s ergonomics and fit just right, Walther consulted with expert female shooters, including Olympian Gabby Franco.

‘Smith and Wesson … and me’

Noting that the training so far has used Austrian and German pistols, I ask Wertz about the American gun industry.

“When we get into rifles, bolt-action rifles, semiautomatic rifles, carbines, we win,” says Wertz, “but the Europeans kind of have a hold on the striker-fired market. The polymer lower, steel upper type gun like Glock, Sig, H&K, Walther, all really great handgun manufacturing companies.”

Wertz is quick to add that Smith & Wesson does make an excellent striker-fired pistol that many competitors use.

Of course, the iconic American brand has other claims to fame. “Smith & Wesson makes a better revolver than anybody in the world,” says Wertz. “And then if you want a 1911-style, old kind of World War II Heritage American pistol, nobody makes them better than we do.”

In this latter category, Wertz singles out Florence, Texas-based Staccato. “Anna’s got a Staccato that she carries a lot, and they make a better gun than than just about anybody else.”

‘It’s gonna get sporty’

Matt Himes

According to Prince, Helen is something of a natural. He pulls her target and examines it with admiration. “This is extremely good shooting. She’s at five yards, but she shot with several firearms, not having any practice rounds.”

Helen does equally well on the AR-15 rifle Prince offers her; in fact, she finds it to be her favorite firearm of the day. “I feel so much more confident with [the AR-15] than the smaller ones,” she says, when asked if she’d rather have it or a pistol for self-defense.

Wertz says that despite the media’s relentless propaganda about “assault rifles,” this is a common reaction from women after they shoot an AR-15. “You can see how accurate you were with very little effort and without having any training.”

Then it’s time to try the rife on full auto. Prince is thorough and professional as he coaches Helen on what to expect; at the same time, you can tell he can’t wait for her to let it rip. “It’s just natural — when you first squeeze the trigger, you’re going to let it rattle off about five rounds. You’re going to let go. We’re going to reload. Squeeze. Turn around and smile.”

Just before Helen pulls the trigger, Wertz smiles. “It’s gonna get sporty.”

Matt Himes

To watch some of Helen’s training with Aim True at Eagle Gun Range, check out the video below.

For more information about Aim True and the wide variety of firearms and emergency preparedness training it offers, see here.

To learn more about Eagle Gun Range or to explore its online store, go here.

​Lifestyle, Interview, Profile, Guns, Firearms training, Eagle gun range, Anna thomasson, Bryan wertz, David prince, Aim true, Helen roy, Matt himes, 2nd amendment, Provisions 

Kamala Harris’ campaign took a nosedive toward the end, and upon closer look, her wasteful spending may have played a major role — as the vice president reportedly burned through $1.5 billion within just 15 weeks.

“She was able to spend $1.5 billion in 15 weeks with no assets. Really impressive,” Stu Burguiere of “Stu Does America” comments.

“Her cash-rich campaign spared no expense as it hunted for voters — paying for an avalanche of advertising, social-media influencers, a for-hire door-knocking operation, thousands of staff, pricey rallies, a splashy Oprah town hall, celebrity concerts, and even drone shows,” Shane Goldmacher wrote in an article for the New York Times, adding, “It was a spree that averaged roughly $100 million per week.”

The Harris campaign’s biggest expense was advertising, spending most of a whopping $600 million on producing and buying media. $2.5 million was directed toward three digital agencies that specialize in working with online influencers.

Harris’ Oprah town hall cost the campaign close to $2.5 million as well, which Oprah attempted to explain away through the cost of setup.

“Oprah does have a bit of an argument here. First of all, she wasn’t just taking in a million dollars herself, it was going to this production company, and these events do cost a lot of money,” Stu says. “You could say, ‘OK, well, shouldn’t she just give that to her for free if she supported Kamala so much?’”

“You’d think so, but because of what Democrats want from campaign finance reform, there are campaign finance laws that say you can’t basically donate a bunch of free stuff and say that’s not a donation,” he continues.

However, there is one problem.

“In their own attempt at a defense here, they seemingly reveal a crime though because they say the $1,000,000 undercounts the cost of the event, the full cost, which ran closer to $2,500,000,” he explains. “So if in the bookkeeping they say it’s a million dollars but it actually costs $2,500,000, and Oprah ate the $1,500,000, that’s actually campaign finance violation. It’s a crime.”

“So in their attempt to try to win the press war, they may have actually committed a crime,” he adds.

Want more from Stu?

To enjoy more of Stu’s lethal wit, wisdom, and mockery, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Sharing, Video phone, Camera phone, Upload, Free, Video, Youtube.com, Stu does america, Stu burguiere, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze media, Blaze podcast network, Kamala harris campaign, Kamala harris campaign spending, Oprah kamala, Presidential election 2024, Election 2024, Donald trump, Donald trump victory