Watch in Chicago Tonight’s “Public Affairs,” show [Rabine, Part 2, 8:30 pm & midnite, Ch 21 ] with host Jeff Berkowitz interviewing GOP Gov Candidate Gary Rabine (R-Woodstock) [Rabine formally announces his candidacy in Schaumburg tomorrow] about law and order, high property taxes, tax theft, attracting jobs, avoiding lock-downs and other issues facing the State and it’s people. Tonight’s show was recorded on January 12, 2021.

Rabine said in Part 1 of this two part series that he was then 80% likely to run for Governor.  

You give us 30 minutes and Gary Rabine gives you tonight a roadmap to make IL the kind of state that he thinks employers, employees and your kids would choose to continue residing in or return to- if they have left for greener and more citizen friendly pastures.     

Tonight’s show airs thorough-out the City of Chicago proper on Cable Ch 21 (CAN TV) at 8:30 pm and midnight;

You can also watch 24/7 the show featuring ditchdigger CEO Gary Rabine, Part 2, by clicking here.

You can watch 24/7 the show featuring ditchdigger CEO Gary Rabine, Part 1, by clicking here.

Tomorrow night’s episode of Public Affairs (Rabine, Part 2) airs at 8:30 pm on Comcast Cable Ch. 19 or Cable Ch. 35 (See, below) in 25 North and Northwest Chicago metro suburbs:

—Comcast Cable Ch. 19 in Buffalo Grove, Elk Grove Village, Hoffman Estates, parts of Inverness, Lincolnwood, Morton Grove, Niles, Northfield, Palatine, Rolling Meadows and Wilmette and on

—Comcast Cable Ch. 35 in  Arlington Heights, Bartlett, Glenview, Golf, Des Plaines, Hanover Park, Mt. Prospect, Northbrook, Park Ridge, Prospect Heights, Schaumburg, Skokie, Streamwood and Wheeling.

You can also watch Part 2 of the show featuring self-made, successful businessman and GOP Gov primary candidate Gary Rabine

–in Rockford and surrounding suburbs this Thursday night on Cable ch. 17 at 8:30 pm

–in Aurora this Wednesday, Saturday and next Monday at 6 pm on ACTV-10, also known as Cable Ch 10 and Aurora Community Television

–in Highland Park next week on Monday and Wednesday night at 8: :30 pm on Cable Ch. 19.

You can also watch 24/7 the show featuring ditchdigger CEO Gary Rabine, Part 2, by clicking here:

Summary of tonight’s show with Gary Rabine: 

Gary Rabine, likely Republican Gov candidate says it’s time to “Make Illinois a Destination State again.”

Rabine climbed the business ladder of success:

Right after graduating from High School, Gary entered the  entrepreneurial business world by starting a business- paving drive ways in Lake and McHenry counties- in Northeast IL.   

Now, at the top of his game, Gary Rabine is still “A Ditchdigger CEO” but he currently leads eleven small and medium sized companies, employing more than three hundred hard working, high spirited teammates- who share Gary’s tremendous desire to compete to provide the best possible services to their customers.

Rabine promises to make Illinois streets safe again:

In this week’s Part 2 show, Gary Rabine discusses at length how, as Governor, he would have done much more during the summer of 2020 than Gov. Pritzker did to protect the lives, livelihoods, hard earned property and jobs of Illinois’ citizens from looters and rioters.

Rabine emphasizes the importance of supporting law and order- and the police who enforce that law and order. He acknowledges that maybe one per cent of police are not performing well and should be disciplined, and/or removed from the force.

Respect the police- no more “Police stand-downs:” 

But, Rabine says, the great majority of police deserve the support of the citizens and the Governor. The Governor, mayors and police chiefs, Rabine says, must work together to enforce law and order, not tell their police to “Stand down,” as apparently happened during the summer of 2020, when public officials let looters and rioters run wild, stealing from stores and destroying property, jobs and lives at will. He would never go along with that, he said, as Governor.

Rabine will attract people and jobs to IL by competing: 

In 2022, Gary plans to offer his strong competitive and entrepreneurial spirit to IL- so it can compete with states, adjacent and far away, to “Kick ass,” and attract citizens to come to Illinois, after Gary has persuaded the Legislature to make reforms, making IL the land of:

–low property and low income taxes,

–safe streets, cities and villages,

— high performing schools (chosen by parents from a menu of charter, private voucher and traditional neighborhood schools),

–solid private sector job opportunities, and

–reformed and fiscally sound government budgets.

Rabine would restructure IL’s pension liabilities:

In part 1 of this 2 part series w/Gary Rabine, he spoke of  amending IL’s Constitution to permit its Governor and Legislature to negotiate w/unions a restructuring of the State’s and Cities’ massive $400 billion in pension liabilities to a more livable level.

Rabine will end Tax Theft:

In this week’s Part 2, candidate for Governor Rabine talks about ending “Tax Theft.” Gary says Illinois’ taxpayers understand why they have to pay the national average amount of property taxes, about one per cent of their property’s value.

Rabine says Illinois’ citizens would be good with that.  But, the 56 year old entrepreneur said they don’t want to pay two or three times the national average for property taxes, which is the current Illinois Property tax level, i.e., 2% or 3% of their property’s value. That’s theft by high taxes- or tax theft, said Rabine.

Rabine: Open IL’s economy and schools:

In part 1 of the two shows, Rabine discussed how science and data supported keeping IL’s economy and schools safely open last year- and he emphasized that he would never have “Shut down the IL economy and schools,” as Gov. Pritzker did. That shut down, by keeping many citizens essentially locked and depressed in their homes, exacerbated the riots and looting last summer in IL, said Rabine in Part 2. Now, says Rabine, it’s time to repair the damage from Gov. Pritzker’s mistake- and open Illinois’ schools and economy.     

 A time to Lead?

Gary Rabine, Ditchdigger CEO, will try to fix IL by making a run for Gov, and he is planning to announce his Gov candidacy formally tomorrow in Schaumburg, one of the main offices for the Rabine Group. 

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I just got an email from a woman who runs one of the book clubs I belong to. She says she’s decided since “we all had our vaccine,” it’s time to start meeting in person again in each other’s homes.

I clutched. My heart stood still. She wants to go back to normal? Now? Just when I’ve firmly decided that I’d like the Covid life to go on forever.

Without the Covid, of course.

A few minutes later, my best friend all the way back to college texted that she’d gone to her sister’s for a dinner party the night before. Maskless! And free. The Underlying message in her text? (At least for me.) The end of Covid is afoot.

But….

I love having all my activities brought into my home by Zoom, not to mention by YouTube, Vimeo, any number of phones, TVs, and any variety of cables installed throughout my house…. Premium Channels, Satellites, radio waves and other things I don’t even understand. All I know is, whatever brings anything into my house so I don’t have to go out is here to stay. For me.

I love that the museums are opening up their behind the scenes collections to me online without having to get into a big jostling crowd on members’ night. I love my movie discussion club now coming in right on my kitchen table!

I love attending all my board meetings (I’m on a lot of boards) in the comfort of my own home–instead of the discomfort of someone’s office–or conference room somewhere in a building that takes a lot of time treating me like a terrorist before issuing me a visitor’s pass.

I never realized how much time and energy I spent getting from one thing to another–not all together wasted since it’s a great way to get 10,000 steps a day into one’s life–but the wear and tear takes a toll: the fear of being late; the possibility of tripping on an uneven sidewalk in “dressy” shoes and ending up in the emergency room; the frustration of not knowing where to go exactly when you get there. All that takes a lot of the fun out of it. Not to mention the horridness of snow, ice, cold, rain and heat. (Although I’ll admit losing a sought after link in a vast wasteland of emails is frustrating, too.)

Now when I go out to get my 10,000 steps, I walk around the neighborhood spying on the neighbors, or listening to an audio-book. Both of which are a lot more fun. And satisfying.

Spying on neighbors is especially satisfying while wearing a face mask–since they can’t tell who’s peering through their windows trying to discern the exact color of their walls, the make and model of their fixtures and what kind of food they have on their table.

Speaking of which, I love eating at home! Who knew? And making the food I never would have guessed I could. I like knowing what’s in everything I eat. No more guessing at fast food emporiums. Either I put the ingredients in from scratch, or I can read the label on any of those ingredients I put in.

I love not having to get dressed and go to my health clubs and yoga studios. They come to me. And you know how the teachers always say in class, don’t do this or don’t do that if it doesn’t feel right, but you do it anyway to save face in front of the instructor and the other students?

Well, at home you can do what they say. Without fear of looking like an uncoordinated scaredy cat. You don’t have to save face by doing stuff you really shouldn’t be doing. You just don’t do it.

And there’s no chance of breaking, spraining, tearing, straining or pulling anything. No one’s next to me, judging. It’s true freedom.

I love having three things I can easily do in one night: at 6, 7 and 8 PM, for example, without as much as moving–except turning around to fill my water glass or perhaps pouring a few drops of vino. I love never having to leave my computer (or any other) screen and still participate fully in life.

Sometimes, if a conflict develops and the hosts don’t record whatever, I can have a combination of screens going all at once.

I got two years’ of Mandatory Continuing Legal Education done in six months. And I’m no worse for the wear. (My law license lives!) And I never left my house for any of it.

It’s better not to have to get on a dirty subway car to meet an obligation, but rather just sit down and connect to the internet. Yes, sometimes there’s a connectivity problem (mine or someone else’s) but there are CTA breakdowns, stuck elevators and bad traffic jams out in the world, too.

And on the rare occassions when I do go out, I love my mask wardrobe stacked by the door. Once my face is covered, I’m basically anonymous, knowing it doesn’t matter how the rest of me looks–how I’m dressed or how my hair looks or that I am makeupless. And on Zoom, everyone’s watching themselves anyway. And if their video isn’t on, who knows what they’re doing? But I know they’re not watching me.

I have never been involved in doing and going and enjoying as much as I have been this past year at home. Because I’ve done almost everything with ease. With so little wear and tear.

Home is where my heart is, aside from a few museum visits, very socially distanced, of course. And a few necessary doctor and dentist checkups, temperatures taken of course. And even a few visits to restaurants when they weren’t closed down. Ditto on the temperature taken.

If I learned one thing about myself, it’s this: I have a very low body temperature.

I’ve done as many fundraisers online than I ever did in person. If not more. (Some complete with food and wine delivered by a caterer.) Concerts, too. And ballets, movies, even plays (one was even done one on one; one actress in a one-act who saw me and I saw her).

I love exploring the websites of every cultural institution in the world. And I love cable news running all day as my basic connection to life.

I’ve visited a ton of artists studios from within my computer. Some even live! While they worked. And I’ve gone to workshops where artists instruct. They tell us in advance what materials to have on hand.

I never avoid phone calls now. Or texting. Because I never have to be anywhere or go anywhere. I have extra time. And my friendships have deepened. I’ve never talked to my mother this much in my life.

Living in the time of covid also and always provides an excuse for getting out of anything. The always “too many people, too many germs, I’m not taking a chance of dying” excuse.

And yes. My eyes get tired looking at screens. And sometimes I get a little dizzy. Like right now, as I write this. Discipline is needed to break away and go out for a walk and look at the horizon for awhile. Not that discipline of this sort was ever my strong suit. But it is a good time to develop a commitment to doing just that. The alternative–leaving the comfort of my own home and going back to “normal”–is just not for me anymore.

When Covid started and we sheltered in place, I made a list of things I’d have to resume and tend to when real life began again. Haircuts being top on the list. Going here, going there, following up with this person or place to do this or that.

I never look at it now.

At first I thought this pandemic provided a nice break. And now? I think it’s given me a new life.