Illinois Review

Di Leo: Our First Juneteenth as a Federal Holiday

By John F. Di Leo - 

On July 4, 1776, the United States of America declared themselves free and independent states, commencing a long journey to give the world a shining example of a nation in which limited government existed solely to secure the liberty of its individual citizens.

This journey took a long time to accomplish. First, a War of Independence, then an economic retooling of the nation, then a long fight to find some way to eliminate the inhuman way that one class of Americans – the slaves - were treated under the law.

Some call slavery “the original sin” of the American republic. This is unfair, as slavery had always existed in almost every country on earth, and still exists today in dozens and dozens of countries. The popular presentation of slavery as a peculiarly American crime against humanity is both utterly wrong and thoroughly malicious in its intent.

Central Illinois District 87 becomes center of controversy over "Woke" curriculum

Becky Swan (seated) confronted by retiring public school teacher at District 87 meeting

UPDATE: See Tweet below of what happened at Thursday night's (June 17th) meeting at the same School Board. 

BLOOMINGTON - When Bloomington District 87 Board issued a statement this past Monday reprimanding "a large group of citizens" that spoke out against mask mandates, sex education and critical race theory curriculum at the Board's June 9th meeting, they made it clear they intended to ignore those taxpayers, parents and concerned individuals. 

After applauding those that spoke up in support of their Board's positions, they dug deeper: "This tense board meeting will not distract us from carrying out our mission to promote mutual respect and an appreciation for student and staff diversity in order to provide a supportive learning environment in which all students can succeed." (Bold letters were included in Board's message) 

The public scolding was provoked by questions raised by an area mother, business owner and taxpayer Becky Swan, who was given five minutes during the Board's public comment period wherein she referred to the district's new sex education curriculum and a call for action distributed by a new action-oriented group called Breakthrough Ideas.

Thorner: Important Recommendations for Meaningful Election Reform

By Nancy Thorner - 

John Droz, Jr., a physicist and Environmental Advocate, puts out a free Media Balance Newsletter covering COVID to Climate as well as Energy to Elections.

Droz is the editor of the Newsletter, but it is a collection of materials received from many good people.  Check out the links for the Newsletter's 2020 archives and 2021 archives.  If you'd like to subscribe, simply email John at "aaprjohn" at "northnet" dot "org".

On June 9, 2021, Thorner received John's latest Newsletter informing her that his new "Post-Election Audits Report" had just been released.  The report is of great importance because the future of our nation depends on Election Reform.  It is not yet too late for states to:

1. genuinely audit 2020 election results, and

2. upgrade their laws to incorporate meaningful audits in the future.

Thorner: Explosive new book About Karl Marx sets forth the Left’s Plan for America

By Nancy Thorner -

 

Author Jim Simpson notified me last week that his paperback book, Who Was Karl Marx: The Men, the Motives, and the Menace Behind Today's Rampaging Left had been released. James Simpson is an investigative journalist, businessman and former economist and budget examiner for the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Since 1995, he has written non-fiction articles for various periodicals based both on his experiences in government and business, and a longstanding interest in public policy.

 

Amazon offers the following blurb about Who Was Karl Marx?

The Left is rampaging across our nation today. Portland, Oregon is burning and many other cities face continuous looting, rioting and destruction. And while the Antifa/Black Lives Matter mob is wreaking havoc, destroying businesses and neighborhoods, leaders in those communities have taken an inexplicable hands-off attitude, even to the point of restraining a police response. Meanwhile, the Democrat Party, Big Tech, the media and institutional Left have turbocharged censorship and vilification of their political enemies. How did we come to this, who caused it, what are their motivations and how do we stop it?

Rock Bottom

How progressive reforms helped level a historic part of black Detroit. Howard Husock writes:

The Supreme Court will soon consider whether to take up the long-awaited Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard case, which pits Harvard’s race-conscious admissions process against a group of Asian-American applicants who don’t fit into Harvard’s idea of “favored minorities.” The central idea behind the case is whether Harvard’s use of race to create what it sees as a “diverse” class runs afoul of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.

If there is one area in which the American elite seems to be moving in lockstep, it is increasing racial diversity. Many Fortune 500 businesses now operate Diversity and Inclusion offices. Every selective college is quick to tout its “diverse student body.” These initiatives sound good in theory, but the movement for racial diversity too often comes at the expense of hiring or admitting the most qualified candidate. Increasingly, the qualified candidate who gets denied is Asian-American—member of a minority group still considered, for diversity purposes, not in need of rescuing.

The ‘chicken and egg’ interplay of religious liberty and economic freedom

The contributions of religious life to economic prosperity are increasingly evident, prompting many to study the relationship between the two. A recent study from Canada found that religion adds billions to the economy. In the United States, research has shown much of the same, pointing to growth that outsizes that of the world’s leading companies.

What’s less explored are connections between the underlying freedoms themselves, which many believe to be mutually reinforcing and indivisible.

“Both economic and religious freedom tend to exist together in the same societies,” writes Jay Richards in Acton’s collection of essays, “One and Indivisible.” “They are both based on the same principles; they tend to reinforce each other; and over the long haul, they arguably stand or fall together. As a result, when Catholics and other Christians surrender economic freedom, they unwittingly surrender their religious freedom, as well.

In a new research paper, “Religious, Civil, and Economic Freedoms: What’s the Chicken and What’s the Egg?”, Christos Makridis of Stanford University goes a bit further down this path, exploring “whether religious freedom is the driver of economic freedom – or whether it is the other way around.”

More HERE

BREAKING: Illinois biz groups call on Pritzker to slow down costly energy proposal

While all businesses and most homeowners will be directly affected with higher energy costs, at least thirty Illinois business groups signed onto a letter Monday asking Governor Pritzker to "delay [the energy] legislation and meaningfully engage the consumers, business owners, organizations and municipalities that will be saddled with the costs."

At least one other group - the Technology & Manufacturing Association - is being added to the effort, the coordinator Ryan McLaughlin told Illinois Review: 

Dear Governor Pritzker:

In 1997, Illinois deregulated the energy market resulting in billions of dollars in savings for homeowners and businesses. Our low-cost energy prices and reliable grid have been cited by governors time and again as reasons why businesses should stay in or relocate to Illinois.

Twenty-four years later, instead of building on this strength, the proposed energy legislation being circulated will be the largest rate hike on consumers and businesses in history. At least as it has been described to us by several of those who have been fortunate enough to be included in the discussions.

People are quitting their jobs instead of returning to pre-COVID schedules

Today's hot topic in business circles are that people are quitting their jobs instead of going back to normal, after the pandemic caused many to reassess their life priorities.  Some estimate over 4 million have quit their jobs already this year - looking for something that allows more flexibility and/or less pressure. 

Here's a chart from a Wall Street Journal story dated June 13, 2021: 

Court documents suggest US government may have agreed with Big Tech to censor disagreeable speech

In case you missed it, documents filed last month in a Massachusetts lawsuit claims the US government may have made a formal agreement with the internet titan Twitter and possibly others to censor disagreeable speech. From the NC Daily Gazette: 

Nobody can deny that there has been a massive amount of censorship taking place in the social media arena but what some have only suspected to be true is that the government is behind it. That is, until now. The Montana Daily Gazette, one of our sister publications, first reported that Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai publicized court documents that prove the U.S. Government entered into a formal agreement with Big Tech to censor speech they did not agree with.

As Montana Daily Gazette reported, the combined federation of Big Tech companies is, effectually, a monopoly holding at least 90 percent of the current combined market share in social media. These would include such companies as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and other tech companies that make sharing viewpoints in the public square available to its users.

The court documents are viewable here: https://u8z8g8c2.rocketcdn.me/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/11889-Supplemental-Memorandum-Playbook-Filed.pdf  

Beckman: Is it okay to be white?

Istock photo

By Hank Beckman - 

Is it OK to be white?

The question is legitimate but asking it has our progressive friends very upset.

Persons unknown have in recent years been affixing that very statement on those ubiquitous “Hate Has No Home Here,” signs that began popping up all over the Chicagoland area in the wake of Donald Trump’s election in 2016. 

The sentiment has also been posted at various colleges sites around the country, prompting the usual wails of anguish from those triggered by an idea that hasn’t been approved by their school’s diversity czars.

I first heard about the phenomena shortly after the Bad Orange Man’s election when on my Facebook news feed there popped up a complaint about how affixing the question to the signs was “problematic.”

Illinois ranks as #2 state where Americans don't want to live

IllinoisReview.com photo 

CHICAGO - Two-thirds of those moving in the state of Illinois are outbound, and one-third are inbound, making it the #2 state where people don't want to live, the Vacation.com website is reporting Monday morning. 

Only New Jersey has a slightly worse ranking between those that are leaving the state and those moving into the state. 

"While some states are experiencing a phenomenon known as a 'brain drain,' meaning an exodus of highly-educated people, Illinois is actually experiencing the opposite. Tons of super smart people are deciding to start their lives in Illinois, along with thousands of people ages 18 to 34," the assessment says. 

But Illinois made it to the second to worst state on this list for other reasons.

Biden Divides Us. Here Are 12 Principles That Can Unite Us.

Photo: Martin Barraud/Getty Images

What unites us are the foundational principles of liberty, justice and equality – and policies rooted in that heritage that would make America a “more perfect union.” Charmaine Yoest, James Carafano, John Malcolm, and Jack Spencer write:

Americans are woke. They woke-up and realized President Joe Biden is no moderate. He is spearheading the most radical policies in modern history, policies that would transform this nation into an unrecognizable country—far less safe, more impoverished, and more unfree.

Nevertheless, the vital issues of the day pull us together. Conservatives share a common vision for maximizing human freedom and opportunity. They are primed to unite and fight. What’s more, many Americans who do not identify as conservatives share these goals. Any national leader who champions this unifying vision will win the support of a vast swath of centrist America, and will energize conservatives in the process.

Here are 12 issues that conservatives have answers for. Together, they make up a platform that a majority of Americans can rally around.

The Myth that Americans Were Poorly Educated before Mass Government Schooling

Parents the world over are dealing with massive adjustments in their children’s education that they could not have anticipated just three months ago. To one degree or another, pandemic-induced school closures are creating the “mass homeschooling” that FEE’s senior education fellow Kerry McDonald predicted two months ago. Who knows, with millions of youngsters absent from government school classrooms, maybe education will become as good as it was before the government ever got involved.

“What?” you exclaim! “Wasn’t education lousy or non-existent before government mandated it, provided it, and subsidized it? That’s what my government schoolteachers assured me so it must be true,” you say!

The fact is, at least in early America, education was better and more widespread than most people today realize or were ever told. Sometimes it wasn’t “book learning” but it was functional and built for the world most young people confronted at the time. Even without laptops and swimming pools, and on a fraction of what government schools spend today, Americans were a surprisingly learned people in our first hundred years.

More HERE

Lightfoot’s Lawyers Use Bizarre Defense for Racial Discrimination of White Reporters

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Chicago Sun-Times via AP, Pool

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot came under fire when she announced that she would only allow one-on-one interviews with non-white journalists. In fact, the Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF) and Judicial Watch are suing her for this discriminatory practice.

Lightfoot’s lawyers are mounting a rather peculiar defense against the accusations of racial discrimination. “Attorneys for Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot are arguing that a preliminary injunction against her for racial discrimination is unnecessary because she only racially discriminated against reporters for a strict two-day period,” according to the Daily Caller.

More HERE

Why the Early Progressives Rejected American Founding Principles

Progressive Era criticism of the Constitution came not from a few fringe figures, but from the most prominent think­ers and politicians of that time. Ronald J. Pestritto writes:

he Progressive Era was the first major period in American political development to feature, as a primary characteristic, the open and direct criticism of the Constitution. While criticism of the Constitution can be found during any period of American history from 1787 onward, the Progressive Era was unique in that such criticism formed the backbone of the entire movement.

Progressive Era criticism of the Constitution came not from a few fringe figures, but from the most prominent think­ers and politicians of that time. Readers are reminded, in almost any progressive text they will pick up, that the Constitution is old, and that it was written to deal with circumstances that had long ago been replaced by a whole new set of pressing social and economic ills.

America the Outlier: Voter Photo IDs Are the Rule in Europe and Elsewhere

Photo ID is common throughout the world. John R. Lott Jr. writes:

Democrats and much of the media are pushing to make permanent the extraordinary, pandemic-driven measures to relax voting rules during the 2020 elections – warning anew of racist voter “suppression” otherwise. Yet democracies in Europe and elsewhere tell a different story – of the benefits of stricter voter ID requirements after hard lessons learned.

A database on voting rules worldwide compiled by the Crime Prevention Research Center, which I run, shows that election integrity measures are widely accepted globally, and have often been adopted by countries after they've experienced fraud under looser voting regimes.

Why did Facebook censor Chinese lab leak theories? Fauci emails to Zuckerberg may answer

Jim Jordan and James Comer, ranking members of judiciary and oversight committees, wrote letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

They demanded documents and information about contacts between Facebook and federal government

Their questions were triggered after release of Anthony Fauci's emails showed he was in touch with Zuckerberg

The Republicans accused the social media platform of collaborating with government to violate First Amendment protections

Facebook removed posts suggesting COVID-19 was human-made

But it reversed its policy when President Biden asked intelligence community to look again at pandemic's origins

More HERE

Ahead of Phase 5 reopening, some look to restrict governor’s power

(The Center Square) – What started as two weeks of restrictions to slow the spread lasted nearly a year-and-a-half. 

Now, with the state on Friday set to enter Phase 5 of the reopening plan he created, some want Gov. J.B. Pritzker to stop governing through disaster proclamations and executive orders.

After 18 gubernatorial COVID-19 disaster proclamations and dozens of executive orders, Illinois is about to enter a full reopening ahead of the weekend. That means for the first time in nearly a year and a half, conventions, concerts and other large group events can return to full capacity in Phase 5 of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s COVID-19 reopening plan.

More at the Center Square 

Chinese mom chews out Loudoun County… ‘You are just like Communist Mao’…

Watch a brave parent who grew up in Mao’s China point out all of the identical traits b/n the Cultural Revolution and what LCPS, and really every school system, are doing through the use of CRT. pic.twitter.com/zH7XuyBmW6

— The Virginia Project UAC (@TVPUAC) June 9, 2021

Criminals may have stolen up to half of U.S. unemployment funds

Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios

Criminals may have stolen as much as half of the unemployment benefits the U.S. pumped out over the past year, Axios' Felix Salmon reports.

• Unemployment fraud during the pandemic could easily reach $400 billion, according to some estimates. The bulk of the money likely ended in the hands of foreign crime syndicates — making this not just theft, but a matter of national security.
• It is estimated that at least 70% of the money stolen by impostors ultimately left the country, much of it ending up in the hands of criminal syndicates in China, Nigeria, Russia and elsewhere, which were likely backed by their governments.
• Much of the rest of the money was stolen by street gangs domestically, who have made up a greater share of the fraudsters in recent months.

More HERE