Illinois Review

Upset Glendale Heights voters plan protest Tuesday

Henry Ford College graphic

GLENDALE HEIGHTS - Consolidated Election voters in Glendale Heights are not happy with how their choice for village president was handled last week. They are so upset, in fact, that they're planning to protest in front of the DuPage County Clerk's office Tuesday, April 13th at 10 am.

They say their votes, and their voices, were ignored or are purposely being suppressed.

On Friday, April 2nd, the Illinois Supreme Court came down with a decision overturning three lower courts - objecting to the number of petition signatures five-term incumbent Glendale Heights Village President Linda Jackson and another candidate, Ed Pope, submitted for the April 6th election. The Supreme Court's decision tossed Jackson and Pope off the April 6th ballot four days before the election. 

The result was confusion at the polls, upset voters and a major loss for President Jackson. 

Glendale Heights resident Cheryl Swanson believes the people were cheated out of their right to choose their local officials.

McCullough at Townhall.com: Why Biden is Erasing America

Former Chicago suburbanite Kevin McCullough writes in Townhall.com today that President Joe Biden is "erasing America" with his overreaching executive orders of which few are paying attention: 

He’s attempting to undo American accountability in elections through his support of HR1. He’s attempting to undo our economic foundations with massive printing (read that: devaluing) of our currency. He’s attempting to destroy free enterprise and job growth with coming massive tax increases. He’s attempting to take away individual liberties with proposed mask mandates, and desired lockdowns. He supports any attempt to end the Senate filibuster—in order to push through horrific laws by the thinnest margins ever attempted. He’s attempting to overwhelm our security at our borders by encouraging 100’s of 1000’s of unverifiable persons of unknown origins to cross our borders without scrutiny nor penalty. He wants the police weakened. He is pledging to take guns away from law abiding owners. And he wants to pervert the justice system so dramatically that the Constitution becomes unrecognizable.

McCullough goes on to explain Biden's nation-changing moves ... HERE

Rossi: Heartbreaking Voter Apathy

By Randi Rossi - 

April 6 may have been the most important local elections in decades because so many people have suffered so much because of really bad politicians. Yet in Lake County Illinois, only 13% of registered voters bothered to do their civic duty and vote! The worst suffering is centered on our 55 million school age children that were kicked out of school for almost an entire year for no good reason. The CDC, American Academy of Pediatrics, and other scientific sources have told us for months that children must get back to school ASAP and keeping them out of school causes life long academic, social, and psychological damage. Ten times more school age kids have died from suicide than Covid. 3 times more have died from the annual flu. The odds of a kid 19 and younger surviving Covid is 99.9978%! Yet local school boards agreed to shut down our schools and cause massive suffering for our kids either out of ignorance or to curry favor with the Teacher’s Unions. And our kids have suffered enormously because of that.

How Georgia’s Voting Law Compares to 7 Blue, Purple States’ Laws

(Photo: Wang Ying/Xinhua/Getty Images)

Here are the facts about how the Georgia voting law compares to other states. Fred Lucas writes:

Democrats have repeatedly denounced the new Georgia election integrity law that requires IDs for absentee ballots, but seldom criticize blue states that have comparable laws on their books—or in some cases, laws making it more difficult to vote than in Georgia.

“Overall, the Georgia law is pretty much in the mainstream and is not regressive or restrictive,” Jason Snead, executive director of the Honest Elections Project, told The Daily Signal. “The availability of absentee ballots and early voting is a lot more progressive than what’s in blue states.”

Biden’s ‘Jim Crow’ Label For Georgia Election Laws Is Insane. Here’s Why

Here's why comparisons of Georgia's election integrity law to Jim Crow are ridiculous. Gabe Kaminsky writes:

In his first press conference in March, President Joe Biden claimed Republicans seeking to ensure election integrity in Georgia and other states “makes Jim Crow look like Jim Eagle,” insinuating the GOP is worse than segregationists. The president has continued to parrot this illegitimate sentiment, claiming the newly passed Georgia election bill mandating voter ID for absentee ballots, among other things that should be uncontroversial, is “Jim Crow in the 21st century.” Speaking on ESPN’s “SportsCenter,” Biden said the measure was “Jim Crow on steroids.”

“This is Jim Crow on steroids what they’re doing in Georgia and 40 other states. What is this all about? Imagine passing a law saying you cannot provide water or food for someone standing in line to vote,” Biden said. “Can’t do that? Come on. Or you’re going to close a polling place at 5:00 when working people just get off.”

Illinois Supreme Court decides to hear second NRA-backed case

The Illinois Supreme Court decided to hear an NRA-ILA backed case challenging the city of Deerfield’s so-called “assault weapon” ban under the state’s preemption statute. This is the second NRA-ILA backed case that the court has decided to hear in recent times.

When Illinois adopted its preemption statute, it gave localities a limited timeframe wherein they could pass gun-control ordinances. Deerfield passed its so-called assault-weapon ban outside of that timeframe. It argued that because it already had some gun-control ordinances passed within the timeframe, its new ban was just an amendment of the ordinances that were grandfathered in. The court of appeals sided with them.

Last fall, the Illinois Supreme Court decided to take another case challenging Cook County’s imposition of a supplemental tax on the purchase of firearms and ammunition. The county imposed a $25 tax on the sale of firearms, and a $.05 and $.01 tax per cartridge of center and rimfire ammunition respectively. Despite these taxes singling out and penalizing constitutionally protected conduct, the court of appeals upheld them.      

It’s a good sign that the Illinois Supreme Court decided to hear both of these cases. The Court has issued a number of favorable gun-rights rulings in recent years. And the common wisdom is that the Court would not have taken the cases unless it was going to reverse the court of appeals: if the Court supported the lower courts’ rulings, it would have let them stand.

The cases are called Guns Save Life, Inc. v. Village of Deerfield and Guns Save Life, Inc. v. Ali.

Thorner: Part 2 - Big Tech Curators of Content, Not Publishers

By Nancy Thorner - 

On Monday, March 22, 2021, The Heartland Institute and the Media Research Center held a Zoom webinar at 1:00 p.m. CST, on how to defeat Big Tech censorship, titled, Toe to Toe with Big Tech Titans: How states can protect freedom of speech. View the Zoom video here.

Part 1 featured Brent Bozell, founder and president of the Media Research Center, as posted at Illinois Review on Monday, April 4, 2020.  Part 1: Brent Bozell Discusses the Greatest Threat to Freedom.

Part 2, to follow, will feature comments made by Heartland Institute experts James Taylor, President of The Heartland Institute, and Cameron Sholty, Heartland’s Director of Government Relations.

Staver: Rogue Chicago Mayor Plans Ruin, But God Brings Revival

By Mat Staver - 

One year ago, in a land founded upon religious freedom, many governors began banning or severely restricting worship in churches. When Americans refused to forfeit religious freedom, politicians turned up the heat.

Pastors faced arrest and churchgoers were put on the equivalent of 14-day house arrest, and those at Harvest Rock Church in California were threatened with one-year terms in prison.

And in Chicago, Illinois, Mayor Lori Lightfoot had the audacity to try to seize and destroy Elim Romanian Pentecostal’s beautiful church building. Her Notice of Summary Abatement against Elim still stands.

Mayor Lightfoot threatened to tear down Elim’s church buildings if more than 10 people met in its 1,300-seat sanctuary.

So, God gave Elim more attendees ... and a bigger church in which to worship!

Attendance at Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church of Chicago has exploded since the Illinois government began its persecution. Where officials once tried to force all but 10 people at a time from the church, God filled Elim’s sanctuary. When that sanctuary filled to overflowing, God gave them a larger sanctuary!

Beckman: Who’s Hating Asians?

By Hank Beckman - 

Steve Kerr, the socially-conscious coach of the Golden State Warriors, thinks that the way to stop hate crimes against Asian Americans is to engage the nation’s entire citizenry.

In the wake of the recent killings of six Asian women in Atlanta, Kerr tweeted that it “was on all of us” to combat the scourge of the recent rise of hate crimes committed against Asians.

What he means by this is anybody’s guess. The phrase really conveys a message no more detailed or informative than that the person making the statement is a decent, enlightened soul. That’s nice.

You hear the same call for the general population to employ some vague collective action or rhetoric to combat any number of societal problems; it’s on “all of us” Joe Biden once said to stop the “rape culture” crisis supposedly infecting our college campuses; the climate crisis can only be solved through collective action and sacrifice; discrimination against anyone is discrimination against everyone.

The Resegregation of America

The intellectual vanguards of wokeness and critical race theory demand that the most fundamental aspects of self-government and preservation of individual rights be abandoned to serve the cause of destroying “systemic racism.” Jarrett Stepman writes:

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to ignore a growing, insidious ethos overtaking America’s most powerful institutions.

Individual merit and reasoned debate are out. “Lived experience” and the hierarchy of group grievance are now what matter most.

Even truth is considered meaningless. Narratives are everything.

The Long March Through the Corporations

The woke capital issue is about whether to politicize all areas of life or to maintain a line between public and private. Mike Gonzalez writes:

That all cultural institutions in America have been taken over by the Left is beyond question. The media, the academy, Hollywood—all are now in its clutches. Conservatives still cling to talk radio, just as tightly as they do to their guns and bibles, as President Obama so dismissively put it, but that is about the only redoubt of the “sense-making” institutions they still have.

New Poll Shows the Outrage Over Georgia Voting Law Is Absolute Nonsense

Georgia’s new election reform law has caused an absolute freak-out in the liberal media, among Democrat politicians, and in the bubble that is left-wing social media. Joe Biden himself has called the law “Jim Crow 2.0” despite clearly having no idea what is actually in it.

Ironically, the law actually expands the pre-pandemic voting environment. Drop boxes, which were not mandated prior, now are. Voting times are standardized, and reporting requirements for counties are strengthened to avoid the boondoggle we saw during the last major election. Given that, the left had no legitimate complaints to lodge so they just made some up. The issue of allowing strangers to give water to people in line has been beaten to death, and it’s completely misleading. People can bring their own water, or donate water to the polling place to be given out. Random strangers just can’t electioneer by setting up shop. Lots of states have electioneering protections, and there’s nothing especially unique about Georgia’s provision.

The other complaint is, of course, centering on voter ID. Yet, a new AP Poll blows up the narrative surrounding opposition to that provision as well.

More HERE

Illinois Democrats Launch New Online Redistricting Map Making Portal

The Illinois Senate Democratic Caucus and the Illinois House Democratic Caucus have launched a new online portal that allows members of the public to draw and submit proposed legislative boundaries. The portal presents the first time in Illinois history that the public can go online to craft proposed redistricting maps. All maps submitted through the portal will be reviewed as part of the public record. The portal can be accessed online day or night at www.ilsenateredistricting.com and www.ilhousedems.com/redistricting.

Rossi: Hard Facts Proving the Dishonesty of the Left’s War on “Assault Rifles”

By Randy Rossi - 

The crazy left’s endless attack on dishonestly labeled “Assault Rifles” should infuriate every rational informed American. If you listen to the “Fake News” and socialist Dems, “Assault Rifles” kill more Americans than anything else which is why they would love to make them illegal. The problem for them is, any rational informed American knows that hysteria is pure B.S.

You don’t have to believe me, check out the FBI homicide report below. 4 times more Americans are murdered with knives than by rifles of all kinds including “Assault Rifles”! Should we make all knives illegal? 9% more Americans are killed by hammers and other blunt objects than rifles of all kinds. Should we make hammers illegal? 65% more Americans are killed with fists and feet than are killed with rifles of all kinds. Should we make fists and feet illegal? This is insanity! The total number of Americans killed by rifles of all kinds (most of which are not “Assault Rifles”) was 364 in the FBI’s 2019 homicide by weapon report. The odds of an American being killed by all kinds of rifles including “Assault Rifles” each year is 0.00011%! You are more likely to be hit by lightning!

My Friend Was Pressured to Have an Abortion After Scan Showed Chance of Disability

Every day in America, pregnant women sit in their doctors’ offices, waiting for scan results. These mothers—no matter their age, race, or economic backgrounds—all hope to hear the same news: that their baby is healthy and growing right on track.

Hearing the all-clear, these moms can rejoice and continue with their medical appointments. However, for the women who receive less-clear news—or an outright distressing prenatal diagnosis—an already nerve-racking doctor’s visit can take on a nightmarish quality.

Not only must the mother face the possibility that her baby is in peril, but all too often she is subject to bullying, as the doctor to whom she has entrusted her body and her child attempts to push her toward abortion.

More HERE

Stories of Us: Rogan O’Handley

“It felt like a lot of TV and movies were actually created as vehicles for social justice propaganda, and it spread and intensified to where you couldn’t step out of line, or else you would be ostracized.”

Rogan O’Handley, also known as DC Draino, left a successful career in entertainment law to become a conservative influencer on social media. So what caused him to leave everything in Hollywood behind? This is his story.

Thorner - Part 1: Brent Bozell Discusses the Greatest Threat to Freedom

Heartland Institute webinar photo

By Nancy Thorner - 

On Monday, March 22, 2021, The Heartland Institute and the Media Research Center held a Zoom webinar at 1:00 p.m. CST, on how to defeat Big Tech censorship, titled, Toe to Toe with Big Tech Titans: How states can protect freedom of speech. View the Zoom video here.  

Featured were Heartland Institute experts James Taylor, President of The Heartland Institute and Cameron Sholty, Heartland’s Director of Government Relations, and Brent Bozell, founder and president of the Media Research Center.   Jim Lakely, Vice President of Heartland and Director of Communications, fielded the question submitted during the Zoom webinar.

Illinois Polling Data Reveals Common Sense Values

By Calvin Lindstrom - 

In early March 2021, IFI partnered with several other groups to commission a poll of 600 registered Illinois voters who were not employed by any political campaign. Nine questions were asked of the respondents along with eight demographic questions. The results are enlightening.

Of those surveyed only 34% attended church weekly or more than once a week. In terms of political affiliation, 42% identified as Democrat, 20% Independent, and 32% Republican. And in terms of race, Hispanics comprised 6%, blacks 14%, and whites 75% of those polled, which reflects Illinois population demographics*.

Democrats, the vast majority of whom are far leftists, control this state with very little opposition from the Republican party. The surprising poll results on several key issues should lead the GOP to reevaluate their weak or non-existent opposition, at least on these issues:

• 78% favor keeping the Illinois tax credit scholarship program (Invest in Kids) which Gov. Pritzker has called a tax loophole.

• 85% support public schools providing private bathrooms for boys and girls.

• Only 34% were in favor of radical sex education to children beginning in kindergarten.

• 72% were in favor of the parental notification of abortion law that requires a parent or guardian to be notified before a minor girl obtains an abortion. (This is very significant especially since only 37% of those polled identified as pro-life. Even many pro-choice voters think this law makes sense.)

More HERE

The Resegregation of America

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to ignore a growing, insidious ethos overtaking America’s most powerful institutions.

Individual merit and reasoned debate are out. “Lived experience” and the hierarchy of group grievance are now what matter most.

Even truth is considered meaningless. Narratives are everything.

The concept of fundamental human equality, derived from ideas at the heart of America’s founding and famously rearticulated by civil rights champion Martin Luther King Jr. in his “I Have a Dream” speech, is now being replaced by the enforced “equity” of the woke.

The end result, ironically, is the resegregation of America.

More HERE

Ideas Matter: The Fight Against the Ideology of the Chinese Regime

As the Biden Administration forms its policy on Asia, China will unquestionably be an area of focus. There is a great need for a nuanced understanding of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) motives. It is evident that great-power competition is alive and well in the region, and that China operates from a desire to maintain power and stability within its borders and in the region writ large.

It is also clear that there are some ways in which China’s actions and activities in the region are ideologically motivated. Tackling these challenges requires a clear-eyed view by the U.S. government of the delicate balance between ideological and great-power competition in the region today. In this report, Heritage Senior Research Fellow Dean Cheng and Heritage Senior Policy Analyst Olivia Enos look into the CCP's ideology and where it does, and does not, play a role in China's actions.

The U.S. government must devise a strategy that recognizes that China acts based on a myriad of interests. Some actions are motivated—like those of any other state—by a desire to maintain power. Other decisions are based on the specific model and ideology that the CCP embraces. Understanding that these two forces are both at work prepares U.S. policymakers to respond to challenges as they arise. Eschewing one understanding in favor of the other hamstrings U.S. policy. In fact, policy efforts are better when they combine values components and security components.

The U.S. will continue to act in its own interests in Asia, but it can only benefit the U.S. to understand Chinese motivations and to craft policies that address challenges inherent in the CCP’s system.