East Central Reporter

State Sen. Chapin Rose (R-Decatur) seems to think Democratic state leaders would be wise to deal with the many issues at home before venturing off to conquer other parts of the globe.

“The Governor, the Speaker and Senate president enjoying a pint in merry Old England,” Rose captioned a photo on Twitter of the maskless trio of Gov. J.B. Pritzker, House Speaker Emmanuel “Chris” Welch (D-Westchester) and Senate President Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) toasting at what appears to be an English pub amid a week of foreign travels aimed at pitching the state as a green energy hub to world leaders at a United Nations summit.

“Meanwhile, inflation, COVID and crime continue to surge!” he added.

Recent government statistics show that the consumer price index is up by 6.2 percent over the last year, easily representing the largest 12-month jump in more than three decades, and reports are the higher prices could last at least until 2022. The sharp price increases in virtually every economic sector has continued even after White House officials described the change to voters as being “transitory.”

 “It’s a large blow against the transitory narrative,” former Obama administration economic adviser Jason Furman told The Associated Press. “Inflation is not slowing. It’s maintaining a red-hot pace.’’

At least part of the fallout has ended in prices for such staples as bacon, eggs and gasoline soaring to all-time high levels for already cash-strapped families across the country.

While maintaining that at least some of the inflation was predictable as the country sought to rebound from slowdowns caused by the pandemic, including the loss of some 22 million jobs, Furman, now an economist at the Harvard Kennedy School, adds misguided policy has played a role in things becoming as bad as they are.

“They poured kerosene on the fire,” he said of much of the government spending, including President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package.

“Inflation is a lot higher in the United States than it is in Europe,” he said. “Europe is going through the same supply shocks as the United States is, the same supply chain issues. But they didn’t do nearly as much stimulus.’’

Meanwhile, Rose recently filed a bill that would mean harsher penalties for carjacking crimes.

Senate Bill 298 seeks to amend the Criminal Code of 2012, with the proposed amendment also calling for enhanced sentencing in the case of weapons possessed or used by convicted felons, aggravated discharge of a firearm and the use of a “stolen or illegally acquired firearm in the commission of an offense.”

Rose has also recently blasted leaders at the National Archives over a campaign designed to place warning labels on some of the country’s most celebrated founding documents.

“A trigger warning on the Constitution,” Rose recently posted on Twitter, referencing this page of the National Archives. “Who the hell do these idiots think they are? Enough is enough.”

With the move being largely seen as part of the National Archives’ much talked about “institutional commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility,” the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights are among the documents having been stamped with the labels, The Daily Citizen reported.

This development comes after a National Archives task force concluded that historical documents’ portrayal of the founding fathers was “too positive,” according to Reclaim the Net. Top archive officials stress they are only flagging content that is viewed as “potentially harmful,” with staffers defining offensive content as that which is “discriminatory towards or exclude diverse views on sexuality, gender, religion, and more.”