When WBEZ and its partner in propaganda, the union-owned propaganda rag The Chicago Sun-Times, start swooning over City Hall, you can bet the Chicago Contrarian isn’t buying it -- and neither should you
WBEZ is Chicago’s most reliably liberal radio station, and the Sun-Times is right up there competing for the title of most progressive newspaper in town. Both outlets speak fluent Brandon Johnson, fluent Pritzker, and fluent victimhood. So when their “Rundown” newsletter tells us what to think, the Contrarian’s job is to say — not so fast.
These media organs don’t just report; they curate a worldview. Every headline comes pre-spun, every story prefaced by the assumption Chicago’s failures are someone else’s fault — usually Trump’s, capitalism or “systemic” something-or-other. And every time they praise a policy, you can safely assume it’s another taxpayer shakedown dressed up as “equity.”
1. Johnson “finds” millions for CPS
WBEZ’s take:
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s 2026 budget “includes a gift” for Chicago Public Schools. He’ll siphon nearly $400 million from TIF districts so CPS can cover cuts “caused by President Trump’s administration.”
The Contrarian view:
When a politician “finds” money, it’s usually yours. TIF funds were created to spur neighborhood redevelopment — not to patch holes in bloated school budgets or hide the red ink in City Hall’s ledger. But in Johnson’s Chicago, every pocket looks like a piggy bank and every crisis a pretext for redistribution.
This isn’t generosity; it’s fiscal cannibalism. Johnson is eating tomorrow’s tax base to feed today’s political machine. And the pretense that Trump “forced” him to do it is laughable. The so-called federal cuts amount to little more than a rounding error in a system that has spent decades burning through billions with nothing to show for it but declining test scores, half-empty classrooms, and record truancy.
This is also one more reminder that the real power behind the throne at City Hall is Stacy “The Notorious SDG” Davis Gates — the unelected boss of the Chicago Teachers Union. She demands, Johnson obeys, and taxpayers foot the bill. The mayor is simply the CTU’s messenger boy with a title and a driver.
The Chicago Contrarian translation: It’s not that Johnson found money for the schools; it’s that the teachers’ union found another politician willing to loot the public till on their behalf. If "Mayor Six Percent" wants to gift something, he should gift taxpayers a balanced budget and public safety — the prerequisites for prosperity, which, unlike his giveaways, don’t require robbing the future.
2. Mayor 6.6 censors Kristi Noem’s airport video because he can’t handle the truth
WBEZ’s take:
O’Hare and Midway nobly refused to play a Department of Homeland Security video because Secretary Kristi Noem’s remarks were “partisan.”
The Contrarian view:
In modern Chicago, censorship is virtue signaling with better lighting. City Hall’s official explanation is that it wants to “keep politics out of airports,” but everything Johnson does is political. The same man who turned every public facility into a platform for progressive sermonizing suddenly gets queasy when a Republican appears on a monitor.
The so-called offensive video merely pointed out Democrats’ refusal to fund the government caused the latest shutdown — which happens to be true. The TSA employees working without pay are the very people Johnson pretends to champion but acknowledging who’s responsible for their situation violates progressive decorum. So the mayor muzzled a federal agency on federal property to protect fragile Democratic egos.
The irony is rich. Ohare’s bathrooms may be filthy, the baggage carousels jammed, and security lines a mile long, but heaven forbid travelers hear something that challenges City Hall’s narrative. This blatant censorship shows the hypocrisy of their false accusations against Trump, exposing them as the pot calling the kettle black.
This is the same crowd that lectures endlessly about “disinformation” while practicing it daily. When the city suppresses a factual federal message because it makes Democrats uncomfortable, that’s not civic virtue — it's propaganda management. Chicago calls it progress; the rest of the country calls it soft authoritarianism
3. ICE at Great Lakes — the horror!
WBEZ’s take:
Federal immigration agents are using office space at Naval Station Great Lakes as a command center, “throwing tear gas” in a Chicago neighborhood and terrifying activists.
The Contrarian view:
Translation: Law enforcement is finally doing its job, and the progressive press can’t stand it. While Mayor Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker compete to make Illinois the most welcoming sanctuary for illegal immigrants in America, federal agents are quietly cleaning up the mess. Someone has to enforce the law and it sure isn’t going to be City Hall.
The breathless reports about “unmarked vehicles” and “tear gas” sound like scenes from a bad Netflix docudrama. In reality, it’s standard federal procedure. The same people who accuse the feds of “terrorizing” neighborhoods are the ones who cheered when activists blocked ICE buses and threatened officers during the last major operation.
If ICE is operating out of Great Lakes, that’s a sign of professionalism, not provocation. Chicago’s progressive establishment wants the city to be a sanctuary for everyone except taxpayers, cops, and the rule of law. The only thing “controversial” is that local officials still prefer shielding foreign nationals over protecting their own constituents.
And while we’re on the subject of lawbreaking: the Democratic machine’s moral authority on this topic is roughly zero. The list of Illinois politicians under threat indictment reads like the guest list for a DNC fundraiser. Governor “Jail Bird” Pritzker, Mayor 6.6, Mike Madigan, Ed Burke — it’s getting hard to tell whether the party is a political organization or a halfway house. Their contempt for the law isn’t a bug; it’s the business model. The only conclusion is the Democrats are a criminal enterprise.
The same mentality that produces sanctuary policies produces corruption. Once you start deciding which laws apply to which people, you’ve already replaced the rule of law with the rule of politics. That’s how empires fall and how Chicago became a punchline.
The Contrarian bottom line
Chicago’s progressive media act like they’re reading from the same hymnal: Blame Trump for every shortfall, sanctify Pritzker and Johnson, and sneer at anyone enforcing immigration law. But underneath the spin, the truth is unavoidable — the city is broke, the schools are failing, the people are at the mercy of violent repeat criminal felons running amok, and ordinary Chicagoans are footing the bill for leadership that mistakes activism for governance.
The collapse of local journalism has turned WBEZ and the Sun-Times into public-relations arms for the same politicians they’re supposed to hold accountable. Their reporters quote officials like altar boys reading scripture, never questioning the theology of progressivism that underpins every policy disaster. The city can’t fill potholes, can’t stop carjackings, can’t balance a budget, and can’t educate its children — but it can always find a microphone to blame Trump.
Meanwhile, property taxes rise, and families and businesses. Commercial real estate brokers confirm Chicago properties are radioactive to business customers. The machine has learned if you control the narrative, you don’t have to fix the problem — you just rename it. “Crime” becomes “oppression.” “Failure” becomes “equity.” And “bankruptcy” becomes “a new vision for shared prosperity.”
When WBEZ says “here’s what you need to know,” what they really mean is “here’s what we want you to believe.”
At Contrarian, we’ll stick with reality — gritty, uncomfortable, and unapproved by City Hall. It’s not flattering to the powers that be, but it has the advantage of being true.
