Thirteen Proposed Highway Extensions and On-Ramps That Could Help Relieve Traffic in Chicago (Incomplete)

     Here are some changes that I would recommend be made to the highway system of the city of Chicago, Illinois.
     The choices of these thirteen proposed extensions, was informed by a map charting the location of the city's road congestion at different times of the day. That map can be found at the following link:
     http://www.illinoisvehicle.com/about-us/blog/traffic-patterns-chicago/


     1. Make the Interstate 290 / Dan Ryan Expressway connect to Butterfield Road better. (Between western Elmhurst and eastern Hillside)

     2. In western Evanston, build a highway off-ramp leading from McCormick Road, to a highway to be built over (or in place of) McDaniel Avenue and Park Avenue (leading north to Wilmette). (Evanston and Wilmette)

     3. In the south Skokie neighborhood, expand the portion of Highway 50 / North Cicero Avenue, where it meets Interstate 94. Allow cars traveling from south to north on Interstate 94, to more easily merge into North Cicero Avenue. (Skokie)

     4. Streamline the transition from N. Lake Shore Drive, going northwest, to North Ridge Avenue, in the Edgewater neighborhood. (North Side)

     5. In the northwest part of the Lincolnwood neighborhood, build an on-ramp leading from W. Touhy Ave. to Route 41. (North Side)

     6. Create a more efficient interchange where Interstate 94 meets Caldwell Avenue / Highway 50 and Highway 14. (West Side)

     7. Build an extension off of Highway 64 / North Avenue, at the corner of Thatcher and North, curving northward, then west to merge with Highway 19 (which lies south of o’Hare International Airport). This should help relieve congestion southeast of o’Hare Airport. (Northwest Suburbs).

     8. Develop Highway 20, Lake Street, and Kinzie Street into a highway (building highway over train tracks on Kinzie), or connect these roads. This will provide an alternative route from downtown Chicago to Elmhurst and the west suburbs, allowing drivers to avoid the Dan Ryan Expressway / 290 if their destination is north of the Dan Ryan. (West Side & Downtown)

     9. Connect Highway 56 to St. Charles Rd., and to Main Street, Central Avenue, and Kinzie St. (possibly by building highway over train tracks on Kinzie). This will provide an alternative route from downtown Chicago to Elmhurst and the west suburbs, allowing drivers to avoid the Dan Ryan / 290 as long as their destination is north of the Dan Ryan Expressway. (West Side & Downtown)

     10. At the Jane Byrne Interchange, build on-ramps and off-ramps enabling access to North and South Halsted streets from the Dan Ryan / Interstate 290. This should help relieve congestion on the Dan Ryan. (Downtown)

     11. In the northern part of the Englewood neighborhood, build an on-ramp connecting traffic moving south on N. Halsted, over W. 63^rd Street, to Interstate 90 going southeast towards Indiana. (Near South Side)

     12. Create an interchange where Highway 50 meets Highway 55 / Stevenson Expressway (north of Midway Airport). This should help relieve congestion on the Stevenson, and near Midway. (South Side)

     13. North of the McKinley Park neighborhood, build a new highway that connects the Stevenson Expressway to W. 31^st St., Historic U.S. 66, and Highway 34 / Ogden Rd. Build a highway over these streets, or widen them and connect them in some way. This should help relieve congestion on the Stevenson. (South Side)

Written on May 14th, 2021

Published on May 15th, 2021

Where the Federal Government Gets its Supposed Authority to Over-Regulate Health, Drugs, Travel, and Immigration

      I created this infographic to show how the original powers, delegated to the Congress through the Constitution, have been repeatedly abused, to allow more and more arguably unconstitutional federal intervention on health, drugs, travel, and immigration.

     This has been justified, juridically, by the notions that these interventions are necessary and proper, and by the ever-loosening interpretation of the meaning of the General Welfare Clause and the interstate Commerce Clause.

     This infographic may also serve as a teaching tool, to show how many of Congress's newer powers, were justified. The chart shows, in part, that the need for government to monopolize defense, courts, and buildings essential to defense and courts, was used to excuse increased ownership and management of interior lands by the federal government.

     Then - while patents began to grow longer, and immigration restrictions became more unreasonable and racialist, and interstate travel became more restricted - expansion of government land management was predicated on the idea that the government could engage in more agriculture (and create a U.S.D.A.) in order to justify keeping those lands.

     All of this led to the current mess of plant D.N.A. patenting lawsuits, medical hoarding by government, and ridiculous Covid-related restrictions, which we are seeing today.

     But we should be under no illusion; none of this is constitutional. We must get rid of Phase 2 through 6 laws as soon as possible.

     After reading the title, and the key, start reading this chart from the bottom (i.e., Phase 1). Then read Phase 2, Phase 3, and so on, to get a sense of how previous legitimate powers went on to be inappropriately construed to justify more egregious, unreasonable, and violent policies regarding the topics at hand.

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Created on April 28th and 30th, 2021

Published on April 30th, 2021

Edited on May 3rd, 2021

Identification and Travel Documents

The following was written in April 2014, as part of a response to the Campaign for Liberty's 2012 survey questionnaire for candidates running for federal office.

16. Will you oppose any legislation that requires states and citizens to participate in a National Identification Card program?

     Yes, I will oppose any legislation that requires states and citizens to participate in a National Identification Card program.

     I will vote to repeal the portion of the REAL ID Act of 2005 which established and implemented regulations for the security standards of driver's licenses and identification documents.

     I do not believe that anyone who is born in the United States or becomes a citizen should be required or expected to carry identification or travel documents on them at all times. I will not vote to support any proposed federal laws – nor urge states to adopt laws - that requires businesses to scan individuals' driver's licenses when checking their age to confirm alcohol and tobacco purchases, nor will I support laws providing for requiring travel or identification documents to contain either bar codes, computer chips, or tracking devices. If holograms and embedded ink are good enough for our money, they should be good enough for our identification documents.

     I believe that Americans would be appalled if they discovered that Native Americans are required to carry blood quantum cards due to federal law (the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934). Although tribes accepted this requirement 80 years ago, and the law allows them autonomy over determining quantum laws so as to limit benefits for descendants of Native Americans with low blood quantum, there is no reason that anyone born in the United States should be expected to carry such a document. It is the relic of a regrettable, racist era in American history, and it was not voluntary because it was one of few choices offered to a conquered and besieged people.

     I will oppose federal legislation requiring employers to participate in the e-Verify program - under the Department of Homeland Security's Basic Pilot Program – because such legislation only serves to turn businesses into police departments.

     Additionally, I will oppose federal legislation to require presentation of proof of residency and identification documents in order to vote; these effectively amount to Reconstruction-era poll taxes. I will sponsor federal legislation to abolish such legislation enacted by the states as serious civil rights violations which diminish the freedom of not only members of racial and ethnic minorities but poor and homeless people of all races.

     I believe that any and all federal mandates to purchase and/or carry identification and travel documents should only follow appropriate constitutional amendment (although in that case I will vote against my own amendment) or else invoke a financial obligation on the part of the party making the command, i.e., the pockets of members of Congress themselves.

For more entries on homeland security and terrorism, please visit:
http://www.aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2011/03/911-heres-what-i-think-happened.html

http://www.aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-aurora-batman-massacre.html

http://www.aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2014/01/national-defense-authorization-act-for.html

http://www.aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2014/01/september-11th-2001.html

http://www.aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2014/04/jared-lee-loughner-and-gabrielle.html

http://www.aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2014/04/in-response-to-question-about-patriot.html

http://www.aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2014/04/notes-on-osama-bin-ladens-reported-death.html

http://www.aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2014/04/airport-security-and-expectation-of-harm.html

http://www.aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-israeli-role-in-911.html

http://www.aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-transportation-security.html

http://www.aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2014/05/indefinite-detention-and-2012-ndaa.html

http://www.aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2014/05/wiretaps-searches-and-patriot-act.html

For more entries on the interior and tribal relations please visit:
http://www.aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2014/01/personal-and-political-connotations-of.html

http://www.aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-cherokee-freedmen-controversy.html

http://www.aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2014/02/cascadia-proposal.html

For more entries on transportation, transit, travel, and the automobile industry, please visit:

http://www.aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2014/01/sovereignty-and-secrecy-freedoms-of.html

http://www.aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2014/04/spencer-stuart-recruited-executives-for.html

http://www.aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2014/04/questions-about-roads-eminent-domain.html

http://www.aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2014/04/economic-policy-for-2012-us-house.html

http://www.aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-transportation-security.html