Illinois Review

Review: Stephanie Trussell: Why I left the Donkey Plantation Party

WLS 890AM radio host Stephanie Trussell invited Illinois Review editor Fran Eaton on her show Friday afternoon to talk about our almost 15 year old conservative news source.

Last year, Ms. Trussell shared her reasoning why she left the Democrat Party with our readers. Here it is again ... 

By Stephanie Trussell - 

I left the Donkey Plantation Party because I'm tired of waiting for Big Gov crumbs to drop.

I want more. Much more.

I wish I could take credit for coining the appropriate nickname "Donkey Plantation Party" for the Democrat Party. I heard it first on one of my favorite radio shows: Joshua’s Trail radio show out of Detroit. Elder Levon Yuille and his fearless roundtable are my North Star. They are Christian black conservatives that don’t suffer fools well. I love it when black Leftists call in, eager to label them traitors to their race. A verbal blood bath commences every time.

The rest is HERE.

Second Amendment group applauds judge's ruling on Deerfield semi-automatic ban

CHATSWORTH – The north suburban Village of Deerfield stepped beyond its authority as a municipality when it passed a ban on semi-automatic firearms and magazines, a Lake County judge ruled Friday.

Lake County Judge Luis Berrones ruled that the Village of Deerfield does not have the authority to ban semi-automatic firearms and magazines in their community, according to Illinois State Rifle Association Executive Director Richard Pearson. Pearson was instrumental in challenging the municipality’s ban.

Senate strains to lower compulsory attendance age to 5, on the way to 3 years?

SPRINGFIELD - When JB Pritzker campaigned on "free preschool," listeners might have gotten a nice warm "for the children" feeling, but little did the comment register that the "free preschool" he was promising would add more weight to already heavy-burdened taxpayers. And it would require moms and dads to push their toddlers into formal school settings - even those parents that choose to provide secure settings for their little ones at home.

But that's exactly what appears is on the agenda for the new governor and his like-minded lawmakers in the Illinois General Assembly.

Di Leo: Library tax hike may be the back-breaking last straw

By John F. Di Leo - 

Two weeks before our local spring election, I received a personal postcard in the mail, encouraging me to vote Yes on the upcoming Library referendum, for the good of our community… for the good of our children.

I certainly like the public library. As a writer, I’ve used it to research issues… as an actor, I’ve used it to search for scripts… as a reader, I’ve used it to feed my various fiction habits (I used to go in for comic crime like Gregory McDonald and Donald Westlake, then as I aged, I gravitated more toward fantasy and sci fi.  Hmmm, maybe I’m regressing). So it’s reasonable to assume that I might be a “likely” supporter, worth the GOTV effort.

Now, mind you, this “personal postcard” wasn’t really personal.  It was handwritten, and signed, but not by anyone I actually know. This was an effort to utilize a standard campaign approach – the personalized postcard – without actually having real supporters use their real personal address books of friends and acquaintances, as it was always done back in my day, when we used such systems correctly.  This was an effort to fake personal endorsements, not to use real ones.

Rep. Kinzinger defends the late John McCain in op-ed

WASHINGTON DC - Illinois' U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger penned a defense of the late Senator John McCain Friday on Fox News.com, saying McCain was a mentor and hero to him. For the past three days, President Trump has publicly criticized Senator McCain and his family for disagreements the two held while McCain was still alive. 

Senator McCain most famously defied the President's efforts to overturn Obamacare when he appeared on the U.S. Senate floor before his death and with a thumbs-down motion defeated the measure. 

Kinzinger writes: 

Chicago alderman admits to using funds intended for charities as casino cash

CHICAGO — Yet another Chicago alderman faces a possible 20 years in prison - this one for using funds meant for his ward's needy for casino cash, his daughter's college tuition and items for his home.

City of Chicago Alderman Willie B. Cochran pleaded guilty to a federal fraud charge Thursday for pocketing money from a charitable fund intended to help families and children in his South Side ward, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a press release.

Thorner: Pro-lifers overflow Springfield’s Capitol Rotunda

Photo by Karen Whitney

By Nancy Thorner - 

On Wednesday, March 20, thousands filled the Springfield Capitol to protest abortion bills.  Several reports were published throughout the state, but one in particular stood out to prolifers: an account by Rebecca Anzel, Capitol News Illinois, as published in the Rockford Register Star.

Capitalism vs. Socialism

Decades after capitalism seemed to have triumphed over socialism, politicians are once again arguing about the merits and drawbacks of these opposing economic systems. Why are we still having this debate? Andy Puzder, former CEO of the parent company of Hardee's and Carl's Jr., explains the misconceptions that keep the debate alive.

Democrats' Orwellian 'Equality' Act

Dems seek to both quell and compel the speech of others in the name of "equality."

House Democrats reintroduced their so-called “Equality Act” last week. The bill would add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the protected classes under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. However, as The Heritage Foundation explains, “Where the original Civil Rights Act of 1964 furthered equality by ensuring that African-Americans had equal access to public accommodations and material goods, the Equality Act would further inequality by penalizing everyday Americans for their beliefs about marriage and biological sex. Similar sexual orientation and gender identity laws at the state and local level have already been used in this way.”

Frankly, the “Equality Act” would step all over Americans’ First Amendment rights. Heritage further highlights five specific groups who would be harmed should the act ever become law: employers and workers, medical professionals, parents and children, women, and nonprofits and volunteers. In other words, the law would directly impact virtually everyone living in America.

More HERE

Where's Weyermuller? Searching for solutions for America's racism

By Mark Weyermuller - 

Racism in America and the role of the church was the topic of a fundraiser Tuesday night sponsored by Freedom Journals Institute in Chicago.

College Admissions Bribery Scandal Shows How Higher Ed Culture Has Descended Into Signaling

The scandal is that anybody thinks college admission is actually worth the cost of a bribe. Kenny Xu writes:

The bribery scheme to get privileged children into elite universities is causing parents and teachers across the country to fume with righteous indignation. But the revelations of corruption in the multibillion-dollar college-admissions industry is perhaps more indicative of how Americans’ views of college—especially among the elite—are shifting into dangerous territory.

More Americans no longer value college education for its ability to train their children with the skills needed to thrive in adult life. Instead, they obsess over college’s signaling value—the value of a school’s name and prestige.

A modest proposal regarding college admissions

It’s the colleges, stupid. Frederick Hess writes:

 [T]he default response has been to paint the scandal as a sweeping indictment of American society. As one Washington Post op-ed put it, “The college admissions scandal isn’t fair. Nothing about our social mobility system is.” Affirmative action advocates insisted that a susceptibility to rampant fraud somehow argues for giving admissions offices more discretion to admit students on the basis of race.

I’m afraid all these hot takes leave me cold. For one thing, we’re not talking about colleges being done in by Mission Impossible-style, uber-sophisticated deceit. We’re talking about the failure of admissions offices to detect rampant, outrageous, clown car corruption that spanned nearly a decade. This is about officials failing to perform even minimal diligence as athletic coaches sold slots, and failing to notice as applicants fabricated athletic profiles or had their faces photo-shopped onto the bodies of actual athletes.

Security declares State Capitol "full" during prolife rally Wednesday

SPRINGFIELD - Thousands of Illinois prolifers filled the Capitol Wednesday - so much so, BlueRoomStream grabbed a shot of security denying access to any more during a rally opposing the Democrats' abortion rights-expanding bills. 

Security officially declared the Capitol "full," the news source says.

Illinois' Planned Parenthood pushes to hide abortions from parents

SPRINGFIELD - Planned Parenthood lobbies state lawmakers on a consistent basis to promote their industry - not unusual. They do their best to push lawmakers to make their industry easier to access, with less regulations on their local venues as well as less qualifications for their industry staff - especially the ones that perform medical procedures on their clients.

One obstacle to the most vulnerable clients they have is parents. Parents of minor daughters that are concerned about their daughters' welfare can stifle access to Planned Parenthood's clinics. Girls younger than 16 have to get a ride to Planned Parenthood clinics to access life-changing medical procedures like abortions and that makes it more difficult to get by those Planned Parenthood obstacles - those pesky parents. 

That's why a growing number are saying Planned Parenthood of Illinois is now fighting so hard to keep parents in the dark about their daughters' medical conditions. They don't want parents to be notified when their 12 year old daughters go to Planned Parenthood for abortions. Planned Parenthood simply wants their vulnerable, young clients to be honest and open only with them - the same people that are making money off of them.

Rep. Halbrook: Who wants to separate from Chicago?

Photo posted on Facebook of March 10, 2019 Effingham Town Hall audience

EFFINGHAM - A movement that sparked almost a year ago when the Effingham County Board voted to protect its citizens' Second Amendment rights is spreading to over 61 Illinois counties and at the same time, broadening to include an array of issues and passionate voters.

A week ago Sunday, over 1500 like-minded downstate Illinoisans filled to overflowing the Effingham Performance Center to hear the latest about how Chicago Leftists in the State Capitol are ramming through radical gun control and abortion policies, forcing public school children to study historic figures based on their sexual orientation, and taking money out of their wallets while stealing basic Constitutional rights. 

The frustration and resentment of Chicago political powers forcing their Leftist worldview on voters that supported Donald Trump in 2016 was palpable among the 1500 gathered as speaker after speaker tackled the issues.

Thorner: When Feelings Replace Scientific Facts

Transgenders are reading to children in public libraries these days - with the purpose of making their controversial lifestyles less shocking and more mainstream. Transgenders are the "T" in LGBT efforts to demand rights to dress as they choose in the workplace with no questions asked, to use public washrooms of the sex of their choice, and to call on taxpayers to pay for hormonal drugs and surgeries to switch sexes. The headlines concerning trans demands are numerous - and growing more and more prominent each day.

Transgenderism was the topic of the Fifth Annual Worldview Conference for Biblical Training for Today's Culture Saturday, March 16, 2019 at Stone Church, Orland Park, IL. It was sponsored by the Illinois Family Institute.  David E. Smith has served as the organization's executive director since August 2006. The event attracted 250 individuals from a wide geographical area, 20 of whom were deaf traveling from Northern IL and Wisconsin, for whom sign language was provided.

DivestU

It’s no longer a secret that many college campuses today are nothing more than leftist indoctrination camps. But what can we do about it? Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, offers a simple and effective solution.

Rossi: Democrats Declare War on Our Constitution, Bill of Rights

By Randy Rossi - 

Surely our Founding Fathers are weeping in Heaven as they watch Democrats and the “fake news” declare war on virtually every aspect of the brilliant Constitution and Bill of Rights that they left us. Almost every Democrat running for president in 2020 is attacking our freedom of religion, our 2nd Amendment, innocence until proven guilty, our private property, and our Electoral College and state’s rights.

Rep. Skillicorn: Who'll Stop the Rain Tax?

By State Rep. Allen Skillicorn - 

There isn’t anything Springfield won’t tax, even the rain! Yes, you read that right. The Democratic super-majority wants to give your local municipality the power to have you pay a fee for the rain.

Of course they aren’t going to tell you that directly, but that is what HB825 does by amending the Illinois Municipal Code to modify the definition of "sewerage system" to include storm water collection, treatment, and distribution infrastructure and disposal of storm water, giving your local municipality the ability to charge a fee to offset the cost of owning, maintaining, and improving local storm water infrastructure.

Rhoads: The Electoral College Should Stay

By Mark Rhoads-

Sen. Elizabeth Warren wants to abolish the Electoral College. This is a thoughtless idea for many reasons that would not even achieve what she hopes it would.  Democrats love to say that Hillary Clinton won the 2016 national popular vote over Donald Trump by 2.9 million votes and that is true if you count only those two candidates.