Illinois Review

Business owners ask for support in stopping Pritzker's COVID mandate fines

CHICAGO - Governor JB Pritzker wants Illinois business owners to face Class A Misdemeanor charges if they do not enforce COVID mask-wearing on their premises.

In order for this to take place, the governor has directed the Illinois Department of Public Health to refile an emergency rule. That rule must pass the General Assembly's Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR), which meets Tuesday this week. 

A Class A Misdemeanor could lead to up to 364 days in jail and/or a fine of up to $2500.

IL GOP asks: Is Pritzker Covering Up Madigan Patronage Hiring?

CHICAGO - Monday morning, the Illinois Republican Party continued its call for Governor Pritzker to stop defending House Speaker Mike Madigan, who is reportedly being investigated by the Feds.

They pointed to a Chicago Tribune editorial that recalled how Republicans called for the resignation of their party's then-serving Governor George Ryan when he was under investigation in the late 1990s. 

The IL GOP press release:

Former Planned Parenthood employee turned pro-life activist tells story

WHEATON - Jerry Evans runs a music school in Wheaton, ran for Congress in the 2020 GOP primaries and pushes a vibrant social media presence.

Last week he posted an interview with Abby Johnson, a pro-life activist that worked for Planned Parenthood for eight years. In the interview, Johnson and Evans talk about her story, the Pro-Life movement, and how women can find healing after an abortion.

Hundreds loot downtown Chicago high-end stores early Monday morning

CHICAGO - Hundreds of looters ravaged high-end stores on Chicago's Magnificent Mile early Monday morning - and Chicago Police were overwhelmed with reports of burglaries.

At the same time, 40 were shot and four killed in other parts of the city over the weekend as the city's violence reaches new levels.

Videos documenting the chaos as looters raided stores offering $750 Salvadore Ferragamo sandals and dealerships offering Teslas. The violence spread to Rush Street, Oak Street and Loop shopping districts - allegedly via social media. 

Social media videos show the looting that spread throughout Chicago way into the wee hours of Monday ... 

Check out shocking first-hand looting videos on CWBChicago.com 

Biden Insults African-Americans Again

In an interview published Thursday, NPR host Lulu Garcia-Navarro asked Biden if he would stop Cubans from being deported if he became president. Biden replied, “And by the way, what you all know, but most people don’t know, unlike the African American community, with notable exceptions, the Latino community is an incredibly diverse community, with incredibly different attitudes about different things.”

“You go to Florida, you find a very different attitude about immigration in certain places than you do when you’re in Arizona,” he continued. “So it’s a very different, very diverse community.”

More HERE

Beckman: Leftists must control the rest of us

By Hank Beckman - 

Control.

Merriam—Webster lists it as a noun that is “an act or instance of controlling...power or authority to guide or manage.”

That apparently unquenchable thirst to be obeyed and tell everyone how to run their lives is really how one should understand the Democrats' freak show recently in the House Judiciary Committee hearings.

Asking Attorney General Bill Barr questions, then constantly interrupting him with the “I’m reclaiming my time,” nonsense, wild-eyed warnings by one congresswoman that she was losing her temper and brow-beating him as if he were not a witness to a formal congressional hearing but an actual suspect in a police station being interrogated pretty much sums up the Democrat's approach.

Gerald Nadler even went so far as to try to deny Barr a five-minute break toward the end of the hearings, prompting Barr to respond sarcastically that he was a “real class act.” 

But don’t let their like high school bully act distract you from the main point here. Their behavior during the hearing reveals the essential truth about so many modern-day liberals—the desire for total control. And what could be more controlling than not allowing a person to speak?

Another Democrat Admits Trump Is Right: Hydroxychloroquine Saves Lives

Paul Vallone, a Democratic New York City councilman, says he nearly died of COVID-19 earlier this year, but hydroxychloroquine saved his life.

Paul Vallone wasn’t the only one who became a believer in the anti-malaria drug’s effectiveness in treating COVID. His brother Peter, a former city councilman who currently serves as a civil court judge in Queens, couldn’t deny the drug worked after seeing how it helped his brother.

In April, Democrat State Rep. Karen Whitsett from Detroit, Mich., credited the drug and President Trump with saving her life. Other coronavirus patients have reported dramatic recoveries after taking the drug.

More HERE

New Study Shows Again That ‘Pupils pose no risk of spreading Covid’

One of the largest studies in the world on coronavirus in schools, carried out in 100 institutions in the UK, will confirm that “there is very little evidence that the virus is transmitted” there, according to a leading scientist.

Professor Russell Viner, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and a member of the government advisory group Sage, said: “A new study that has been done in UK schools confirms there is very little evidence that the virus is transmitted in schools.

More HERE

Pritzker ordered to appear before Clay County judge

CLAY COUNTY - Governor JB Pritzker was ordered to appear before a Clay County judge next Friday at 1:00 PM to explain why he "should not be held in indirect civil contempt."  Failure to appear in court may result in warrant for arrest, the order says.

State Rep. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) complained to the Clay County judge that Governor Pritzker is ignoring the court's previous order and is exercising emergency powers concerning the COVID crisis extending beyond state law's 30-day provision for such powers. 

Bailey posted the order and the following comment Friday afternoon: 

Thorner: Ballot Harvesting As a Source of Voting Fraud

By Nancy Thorner - 

Ballot harvesting is the practice of allowing political operatives and others to collect voters’ ballots and turn them in en masse to polling stations.

Legalizing nationwide ballot harvesting is one battle under a larger umbrella of overall mail-in balloting.

Conservatives argue that mailing ballots to every single American is inviting rampant fraud. A Pew Research Center study shows roughly 24 million voter registrations are no longer valid.  According to Judicial Watch, there are 462 counties in America where voter registrations outnumber the amount of people who actually live in that county. Many of those jurisdictions are in key battleground states.

As President Trump wrote on Twitter on April 20, 2020: "GET RID OF BALLOT HARVESTING, IT IS RAMPANT WITH FRAUD, THE USA MUST HAVE VOTER I.D., THE ONLY WAY TO GET AN HONEST COUNT!"

Facebook slaps Illinois Review's wrist for sharing Breitbart story

CHICAGO - Illinois Review readers will notice a note set in place by Facebook powers-that-be that don't like the fact we shared a Breitbart.com story entitled, "Facebook, Google/YouTube, Twitter Censor Viral Video of Doctors' Capitol Hill Coronavirus Press Conference." 

The story Facebook says contains "false information" reports on a video of doctors saying they have had success with their patients using therapies that remain in discussion. 

“We’ve removed this video for sharing false information about cures and treatments for COVID-19,” a Facebook company spokesman, Andy Stone, told Breitbart News. The company did not specify what portion of the video it ruled to be “false information,” who it consulted to make that ruling, and on what basis it was made.

Illinois governor orders businesses to enforce COVID mask mandate

CHICAGO – Friday, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker announced the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) will file emergency rules for businesses, schools, and child care establishments regarding the use of face coverings and the size of gatherings. 

“As I’ve visited with and listened to mayors and health departments all across our state, it’s clear there is still an even greater need to get people to wear masks – especially to protect frontline workers, whether they’re at the front of a store asking you to put on your mask or whether they’re responding to 911 calls to save those in distress,” said Governor JB Pritzker.

“These rules, which provide multiple opportunities for compliance before any penalty is issued, are a commonsense way to enforce public health guidelines. Illinois has made substantial progress in our fight against COVID-19 because the vast majority of communities and business owners have done the right thing. These rules will help ensure that the minority of people who refuse to act responsibly won’t take our state backward.”

“We know that face coverings are key to helping prevent the spread of COVID-19, but it only works if everyone wears them,” said IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike. “We are seeing cases increasing each day and hearing about people not complying with the masking mandate.  This rule is an effort to help keep all of us healthy and decrease the risk of contracting COVID-19.”

Businesses organize to resist Gov Pritzker's plan making them COVID mask enforcers

LOMBARD - The Illinois Food Retailers Association sent out an "action alert" to their members Friday morning after Illinois Governor JB Pritzker proposed using independent businesses to enforce his COVID mask mandate.

They called on members to contact members of the Illinois General Assembly that serve on the legislature's rule-making committee.

Where’s Weyermuller? Attending New Trier High School Board ZOOM meeting on Reopening

By Mark Weyermuller -

Wednesday night I attended the New Trier School District 203 Board meeting virtually via Zoom.  The meeting opened with public comments limited to 30 minutes.  The comments were read by a district employee. 

There were 41 comments submitted but only 21 were read in the allotted 30 minutes. They decided to not extend the the time. In fact, they went into closed session right after that to possibly discuss labor contracts and negotiations. That part of the meeting was not shown to the public.

The bulk of the comments were from teachers and staff saying they did not want the high school to open with students in the classroom.  New Trier High School, located in Winnetka, Illinois has about 4000 students.

Biden's Disastrous Interview Proves Cringeworthy

Presidential candidate Joe Biden recently had a disastrous interview comprised of incoherent ramblings, ineffective answers, and offensive comments that were cringeworthy.

Here are the 9 worst moments from Biden’s basement disaster:

1. Biden attempted to demonstrate that he does not need to take a cognitive test by bringing up a cocaine test and asking the reporter if he was a “junkie.”
2. Biden painfully invited Americans to judge him on his mental fitness.
3. Biden let his racism show—again—by suggesting that Black Americans are all the same.
4. Biden doubled down on his support for giving health care to illegal aliens.
5. Biden answered a question about China with incoherent gibberish.
6. Biden admitted he would surrender to China on trade without any concessions from the Chinese.
7. Biden said he’d stop building the border wall, opening up our border for more illegal immigration, human trafficking, and deadly drugs.
8. Biden dismissed blue-collar manufacturing and energy workers as “obsolete.”
9. Biden said he is “forward looking to” debating President Trump.

IR Reader Opinion: Follow the Science and Reopen Schools

From Illinois Review reader Margaret McCarthy of Libertyville - 

An article by Dan O'Donnell on July 20, 2020, Follow the Science and Reopen the Schools, expressed how throughout the Coronavirus pandemic, Americans have been told to "follow the science." Lockdowns and Social distancing requirements were necessary and justified if one would simply follow the science.

Science now suggests that reopening schools is justified and even needed, so why are so many politicians refusing to do so?

School children are statistically bullet-proof and are the least likely to spread COVID, unlike the regular flu where they are over 50% of the spreaders.  We don't shut down for the seasonal flu, which kills the elderly and sickly every year.  So it makes no sense to do it for COVID, especially for the healthy young who are the least affected.

Hooray: Teacher Union Radicalism May Put Them Out of Business

Is it any wonder that there is an explosion of interest in homeschooling by parents? (see graph below)

Many school districts won’t reopen classrooms this fall, the American Federation of Teachers are threatening “safety strikes” in other districts that are trying to reopen and in some states such as California both public and private school are barred from reopening in many places.

In addition to traditional homeschooling, many families are pooling resources to pay a teacher to work with small “pods” of children and supplement the virtual learning many school districts will provide.  The Washington Post calls the pods “a 2020 version of the one-room schoolhouse, privately funded.”

In May, a poll of 626 parents found 41 percent of them saying they were more likely than before the pandemic to enroll their child in “a home school, a neighborhood homeschool co-op, or a virtual school” once the lockdowns ended.

David Henderson of Stanford’s Hoover Institution says that even those who don’t home-school will push for an expansion of charter schools, which cost, on average, thousands of dollars less than traditional public schools.

More HERE

The Public Hates the Media

A new Axios/Harris poll of Americans shows the public is paying attention to who is doing a good job during the pandemic.

“The public's view of almost every industry has improved,” the poll reports. It notes huge jumps for companies focused on solving problems related to the coronavirus.  Especially big gains were made by grocers, delivery companies, streaming video outlets, and pharmacies.

The media’s approval rating tanked.

Another favorable result: 75% of respondents say that during the pandemic "companies were more reliable than the federal government in keeping America running.”

More HERE

The Captive Mind and America’s Resegregation

Idol smashing and cancel culture are part of a broad ideological project to dominate society. Andrew A. Michta writes:

Critical race theory—the academic discourse centered on the concepts of “whiteness,” “white fragility,” and “white privilege”—is spreading rapidly through the federal government. Last month, a private diversity consultant, Howard Ross, conducted a training for federal financial agencies called “Difficult Conversations about Race in Troubling Times,” which asked white employees at the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, the National Credit Union Association, and the Officer of the Comptroller to pledge “allyship amid the George Floyd Tragedy.”

Will Biden’s son-in-law return PPP loan his campaign derided as Trump “cronyism”?

The small medical investment firm where Joe Biden’s son-in-law is an executive received a loan in April from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) – the very program Biden’s campaign derided as a “cronyism” scheme for President Trump’s associates, and which Biden himself said was not focused on small businesses. The PPP is a program aimed at making sure workers did not miss paychecks during the coronavirus crisis and is credited with saving more than 51 million jobs.     

Biden’s son-in-law, Dr. Howard Krein, is the chief medical officer at StartUp Health, a company which received a PPP loan of between $150,000 and $350,000. Krein also serves as an informal advisor to Biden’s campaign, specializing in coronavirus-related issues.