I can see why Weigel would get in a snit, since he believes JPII was the first pope to reach out to young people. That would actually be Jesus (let the little children come to me).  Most modern young people have no memory of St. John Paul. Given what happened on his watch, that might be a good thing.

The only import contributing to the violence in Chicago are the guns bought in the suburbs who don't have a gun ban.  While the drug trade is part of it, much of the drug trade has home grown product.  Ban guns more places and less drugs and you will find a sharp drop in violence.

The Democrats and labor need to focus less on politics and more on the workplace, with the exception, of course, of tax policy.  Only sharply higher tax rates on the very wealthy will take the incentive away from the C Suite to seek large personal fortunes by robbing the working man and woman of their honest wage.  They should also focus on employee ownership (expedited by shifting some FICA taxes to that end).