Some of you may know that I grew up in a family business run by my dad, a grocery store, but it had a butcher shop.

It was known far and wide on the southwest side, and I know that quality means something.

And that's why we drive two hours from northwest Indiana all the way to the northwest side of the city of Chicago

to Joseph's finest meats at 7101 West Addison Street. Before you go there, you've got to be prepared,

so I've got a list for you. Do you have a pen? Italian sausage hot. Italian sausage mild. Get pork chops, but order them thick.

And of course, get some beef too, like bone in ribby steaks.

Nothing like it.

And if you don't know exactly what to get or how to cook it, ask Ben or sell and tell them John Cassie.

And I'd like to tip my hat to Joseph, the patriarch, the owner,

the founder who built this store for his family with his two sons, Ben and Sal. In his mid-90s,

he had serious heart surgery and he made a triumphant return. He loves his place, and I do too, and so does

anyone who shops there. It's like family. They care about the details. They care about you.

Joseph's finest meets 7101 West Addison Street, Chicago, a family tradition since 1977,

and a proud sponsor of John Cass News and the Chicago Way podcast.

What is authoritarianism?

What is the state telling you how to think and what to say?

It runs counter to our beliefs as Americans.

But there, and this is my opinion, but there are people who have confused authoritarianism

with Donald Trump. That's what they see. They think it's all Trump, orange man, authoritarianism.

You hear it all the time from my friendly Democrats and others.

And the only thing that they don't understand or don't want to accept is that authoritarianism,

the terrible toll it takes on freedom of speech and freedom of thought and freedom of discourse, which is what our country is all about.

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