Illinois Review

Beardstown IL school causes controversy by removing bathroom stall doors

BEARDSTOWN - Privacy is something that Beardstown High Schoolers are no longer allowed to have when they go to the bathroom. When students came to school one day last week, they found bathroom stall doors removed, and along with them, their privacy. 

The reason? It's the fault of the students and what's going on in the stalls, the superintendent said. 

“You have to understand when kids have a place to spend time, whether it’s a minute or five minutes sometimes things happen whether it’s good, bad or otherwise," Superintendent Ron Gilbert told ABC 20. Removing bathroom stall doors has helped limit some of the things that were taking place in them, he said. 

Girls aren't standing for it, one student said.

College of DuPage: April 2 ballot's top two should be top two picks

By Frank Napolitano and Deanne Mazzochi -

The past 4 years witnessed dramatic change and great progress for the College of Du Page. At times the struggle to reverse a culture that had gone astray were difficult, but ultimately good government, real reform, and transparency won out. That's mostly because our residents and tax payers paid careful attention, and cast their votes in hopes we would right the ship and get us on course. We're pleased to say, with their great help and inspiration, we succeeded.

As the College enters a new phase of accountability and oversight (particularly for faculty contracts), the April 2nd consolidated election is an opportunity to reinforce a good governance legacy for COD to ensure the institution serves our students and the community as a whole.

Thorner: Sex ed indoctrination undermines healthy family values

By Nancy Thorner - 

As children head back to school for the 2018-2019 school year, it's up to us to make sure they're educated, not indoctrinated, for the fastest way to destroy our country is through our children.  Not enough Americans recognize how the Left uses the classroom as a pulpit to preach its own ideology and beliefs as part of its bigger scheme to wipe out conservatives and fundamentally transform America.  The Left is succeeding by going after us with bans and censorship, while continuing to manipulate our children with their radical propaganda.

Nobody quite knows where the line should be from free and protected speech to that deserving of censor.  The issue is an emerging one, as those once outside traditional boundaries are now demanding equality.  Of concern is where society will draw the line between what is acceptable and what is not, especially as it applies to what our children are being taught K-12 through the college. What we do know is the line seems more flexible today than ever before.  Are there no longer any absolutes?  

Di Leo: From Palos de la Frontera, Westward Bound

By John Di Leo - 

On August 3, 1492, Cristoforo Colombo (yes, you non-Italians spell it Christopher Columbus) set sail from Palos de la Frontera, Spain, with three ships – the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria – headed for Asia.

And he might have made it, too, eventually… if the Western Hemisphere hadn’t been in the way.  As it was, he gets the credit for discovering the Americas (even if a clever cartographer named Amerigo Vespucci grabbed up the naming rights first).

Would some other European eventually have had the same idea, twenty, fifty or a hundred years later?   Certainly.  Eventually, the Europeans were bound to land in the Americas.  But the fact that it was Columbus, working for Spain, who set a number of dominoes falling in a specific way, one that has changed history forever.

Di Leo: George Washington: Inspiration in the Face of Danger

 

By John F. Di Leo -

At the end of March, 1776, following the year-long Siege of Boston, General George Washington and the Continental Army drove the British out of Boston, following their stunning victory in the Battle of Dorchester Heights, one of the true masterstrokes of the War of Independence.

But the British just went to Halifax to regroup, and to gather reinforcements for a real assault, to follow that summer.  In June, the expected redeployment of British troops began, as his forces headed south, bound for New York, to meet with other reinforcements he had called for.

General Washington knew what was coming. In the spring, he determined that the big redcoat assault was sure to be at New York City.  Washington knew two things about New York: it was absolutely indefensible except by a naval power, and, whatever we may have been, we were not a naval power.  Holding New York was a hopeless cause.  But they didn’t believe they could give it up; it would be too critical as a base of operations for the British.  So he directed General Charles Lee to develop a plan for holding it, and began to put Lee’s plan in motion.

Di Leo: The Marquis de Lafayette, Inspiration of the Centuries

By John F. Di Leo - 

On July 4, 1917, General Pershing’s American Expeditionary Force arrived in France, the advance team of what was to become a million-man force in support of France and England of The Great War that we now know as World War I.   On a day of speeches, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Stanton somberly declared “Nous voila, Lafayette!”  - rendered in English, that’s “Lafayette, we are here!”

What was it about this Lafayette, this long-dead French noble, that his name need only be cited, and it would instantly call to mind a century-and-a-half old debt of honor, a justification in the American conscience for the United States to enter a foreign war, the first time in fact that American troops landed in Europe to do battle?

Well, on June 27, 1777, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roche Gilbert du Motier – whom we all know as the Marquis de Lafayette – arrived in Philadelphia, and offered his services to the Continental Congress.  He had a great deal to offer.  While France was then neutral in our conflict, the young marquis was related to the king by marriage, and brought his immense wealth to the table.  Contrary to his powerful father-in-law’s orders, Lafayette had personally raised troops and paid for the ship in which he and his volunteers sailed across the Atlantic, a contribution to the American cause.  But why?  He was French, and we were – for all intents and purposes – English… the geopolitical enemy of the French for centuries beyond measure.  

Well, to appreciate the Why, we need to go back further, to even before the day this idealistic young man first reached our shores.

Di Leo: The Magna Carta and the Path to Freedom

By John F. Di Leo - 

On June 15, 1215 A.D., King John of England affixed his seal to the Magna Carta, and the world was changed.

While England was not yet the dominant power on the world scene that it was to become, England was already a typical major monarchy, and its monarchy behaved as monarchies always had.  The king might not choose to be a tyrant – might not choose to exert his will upon his people in every way, all the time – but he reserved the theoretical right to do so.  It was just what “being a king” meant.

There was certainly a history of freedom in the world, even by that time.  Ancient Rome had been forced to publish the Twelve Tables over a millennium and a half earlier; the Ancient Athenians and some other city-states had practiced versions of republics and democracies in ancient time as well.  But if a nation had a king, well, that king generally considered his powers to be unlimited.

Until this day in 1215.

Thorner/O'Neil: Social Engineering - Transferring Parental Control of Children to Teachers

By Nancy Thorner & Bonnie O'Neil -

Children in our public schools are being pummeled with political correctness. Specific assignments and class discussions are designed purposely to promote specific political viewpoints which may seriously oppose that of their parents. This new political correctness is carefully woven through textbooks and classroom assignment starting in Kindergarten and reaches its apex in college. 

Guilt plays a huge part in the indoctrination process as emphasis is on the group, not the individual.  This is necessary so future generations will be prepared to “work” together in their communities and follow instructions which may oppose those in power. Individual thinking will be carefully controlled.  In addition, in many schools today the children are required to fill a certain number of hours of community service so as to qualify for their diploma. In a Sustainable world, proper attitude is at least as important as scholarship.

Chicago area tutoring school owners confess to fraud; ordered to payback $11M

CHICAGO - A father and son duo claiming their Chicago area tutoring companies would provide individually-designed programs for low-income students pled guilty to fraud charges and were ordered to pay back the Department of Education over $11 million.

As the FBI story reports: 

Pierce: To Knee or Not to Knee

Chicago Bears stood united during Sunday's national anthem | Daily Herald photo

By Sam Pierce - 

That is the question. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of the outrageous fortune paid to professional athletes or to take knees against a puddle of criminals dying in confrontations with local police and by opposing them... as long as the criminals have darkly pigmented skin for when the criminals are Saltine Americans, it is not liberal chic to notice. 

Is it noble to use the platform afforded the extremely physically gifted in order to make political statements? Is it a sign of outrageous educational failings to protest the flag of a nation as racist because within that nation a few criminals (of the correct pigmentation to spur protest in the liberal cranial vacuum) died in conflict with LOCAL law enforcement? Is it sensible to make political statements that risk alienating at least half of those that fund the victim athlete's large contract? Is it wise for an employer to allow such potentially damaging behavior? 

Rauner signs school funding bill into law, but taxpayers will be on the hook

SPRINGFIELD - Thursday, Governor Rauner signed into law a school funding bill that promises Chicago Public Schools $250 million every year from now on to partially bail out the system's teacher pension mess - and you, Illinois taxpayers, have nothing to say about it.  You also have nothing to say about any negotiations CPS makes with their system employees.

In other words Illinois taxpayers, once again, just shut up and get ready to pay yet another hike in income taxes.

But, Governor Rauner and the tax hike-lovin' Republicans that voted with the Dems to pass the deal into law boast that it's all worth it, because the school funding bill includes the first step to growing Illinois' school choice with tax credit scholarships. 

Skillicorn sounds alarm about state's late assistance payments to area schools

Crystal Lake High School

CRYSTAL LAKE – It's time to stop playing games with the state budget, first-term State Rep. Allen Skillicorn (R-East Dundee) said this week in a statement. Public schools are nearing shaky financial grounds as the state delays by seven months assistance they promised because the legislature continues to stall budget negotiations.

Di Leo: Society and Education - A Question of Responsibility

By John F. Di Leo - 

Does society have an obligation to educate its young?

Of course. A society can only thrive if its people know how to be citizens, how to be workers, how to be members of the community. Raised in the wild, we might produce children of the “Lord of the Flies” variety, and we know what kind of adults such children become: just look at our inner cities.

Di Leo: Local Elections and the Dangers of Nonpartisanship

by John F. Di Leo - 

The Framers of the Constitution were geniuses – as a group, they were certainly the most thoughtful, far-thinking, visionary, and principled generation in history.

But even so, they made a few mistakes. The first plan for the presidency and vice presidency was for the first runner up to the presidency to be his vice president... they hoped that with a few constraints and sufficient economic growth, the awful practice of slavery might end on its own in a generation or two… and they thought that a republic could be successful without political parties.

This last point was the first to be proven wrong. By the end of President George Washington’s first term, his own Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson, was building a party apparatus with House Speaker James Madison to oppose the President’s agenda.

Di Leo: Barack Obama and the Sowing of Minefields

By John F. Di Leo -

Reflections on Barack Obama's legacy...

While there is nothing particularly “happy” about warfare, some aspects are even more distasteful than others. There must be shooting in battles; there must be conquest of land; this is what warfare is made of. But some tactics go too far… such as mines.

In the 1990s, for example, the Ottawa Convention sought to put a global end to the use of mines – both land and sea varieties – an aspect of warfare that still costs several thousand lives per year worldwide, even long after the wars in which they were used have ended.

In warfare, the value of a mine is, of course, the fact that it can be left behind, without an army or navy contingent remaining in place to operate it. You just sow mines in a bay or harbor, or plant landmines on a valuable territory or along a border, and nobody dares return there without quickly becoming a casualty. Often horrific, but tactically advantageous. Sometimes justifiable if you're the one on the right side in the war in question.  Particularly horrible if you’re not.

But the biggest problem with mines is what happens after the war is over.  Since mines have no expiration date, they remain a danger forever, decades after peace treaties are signed.  There are still mines, dating back to WWII and other conflicts of half a century to a century ago, long-forgotten, awaiting the day when an innocent fishing trawler or pleasure boat, construction crew or vacationing family on a hike, will stumble into them with fatal consequences.

School choice advances in Wisconsin, stumbles in Chicago

MILWAUKEE - Just north of Illinois last week, school choice was a key issue among state legislative races. Those who support school choice won big. 

“After twenty-six years of choice in Wisconsin, it appears time to finally put the debate to rest,” said Justin Moralez, state director for the American Federation for Children, in a statement after the election. “The voters clearly believe school choice is working.”

State Rep. Jessie Rodriguez, whose district is in the southern part of Milwaukee County, in many respects the cradle of the parental choice movement, said familiarity with school choice helps.

“I think there is more support in my area for it because I think people have more of an understanding of what school choice is,” Rodriguez told Wisconsin Watchdog, “where in other areas of the state, I think, there’s still a lot of misconceptions all due to a lot of groups that really don’t like the program.”

While school choice advanced in Wisconsin, in the city of Chicago where the teachers union is powerful, voters overwhelmingly opposed expanding the number of charter schools in several wards where the question was on the ballot.

Thorner: Get your kids out of government schools now

By Nancy Thorner - 

"Get your kids out of government schools now" is what American parents should do, the author of a new book on the nation's education system says. 

Crimes of the Educators by Alex Newman and Samuel Blumenfeld, who passed away in 2015, sets forth how 1) the education establishment is a criminal enterprise; 2) how treason exists in the deliberate dumbing down of this nation to overthrow our system of government; 3) how child abuse is taking place by the deliberate harming the mind of a child, even physically; and 4) how our education system to contributing to the delinquency of a minor through pornographic sex "education" and effects. 

Thorner: Grassroots movement afoot to eliminate Dept of Ed and Common Core

By Nancy Thorner - 

The Heartland Institute hosted a “Stop Fed Ed” event at the Andrew Breitbart Freedom Center on Wednesday, October 12. The event featured Cora Weber, who discussed her role in the grassroots effort to stop Common Core and (eventually) eliminate the federal Department of Education.

Ms. Weber is a second-generation home-educator, single mom of six, and president of the Illinois chapter of the United States Parents Involved in Education (USPIE.ORG). For nearly 15 years, Cora has worked as an advocate for children by promoting awareness of the socialist progressive agenda in government schools. Weber is currently developing an initiative to guide and encourage religious institutions to adopt a more central role in the education of America’s children. 

As president of the Illinois chapter of USPIE, Weber is aligned with the STOP FED ED movement, a campaign led by parents, taxpayers, and educators committed to ending the U.S. Department of Education and Common Core, returning control over education policy to the states, where it belongs. Michelle Malkin serves as an advisor to STOP FED ED and there are 33 chapter presidents. The names and contact information for state chapter presidents can be located by checking this website.

Thorner/O'Neil: Political correctness sets the path towards totalitarianism tolerance

By Nancy Thorner & Bonnie O'Neil - 

It has been recognized for some time that America’s colleges have become learning and training centers for progressives to peddle their political product. Unfortunately,  the liberal “bug” has been caught by high school students as well, infecting them with a rash of radical thinking that should concern all Americans who fret about the future health of this nation.

Upon entering college, most colleges/universities ask freshman students to complete a written survey that asks extremely personal questions. Some parents have concerns about the purpose of asking many of those questions, but that is an issue for another article. The take-away from one of the latest surveys conducted at the University of California at Los Angeles should raise a warning flag for all American patriots. Results revealed that 71% of the incoming freshman students thought that colleges should prohibit racist/sexist speech on campus. Over 40% of these incoming students also believe colleges have the right to ban specific people they consider offensive from speaking on college campuses.

This begs the question: who determines which speaker and viewpoint are acceptable and which are not?  

Teachers Union releases text of Chicago Public Schools' strike-averting deal

CHICAGO - After a year of negotiations that fizzled down to a strike threat that would have started Tuesday morning, the Chicago Teachers Union and the city came to a tentative agreement late Monday night that averted another strike. Schools are open and students are expected in class Tuesday morning.

“Clearly, we had some issues and there's some things we're going to still be working on. But what we found is that what we ended up with is something that's good for kids, is good for clinicians, is good for paraprofessionals, for teachers, for the community and we're very pleased that we were able to come to this tentative agreement,” CTU President Karen Lewis said after the agreement.

She boasted about the deal upon which Chicago teachers will need to vote and which funding Chicago taxpayers had yet to see for themselves, but which the union made available online HERE.

Lewis said "the contract includes a commitment from the school board on kindergarten through second grade class sizes and on teacher layoffs and recalls. The settlement also deals with the teacher pension pickup, long a hangup in contract talks," the Chicago Tribune reports.

State Rep. Jeanne Ives of Wheaton bristled Monday night at Karen Lewis' warning for Chicago Public School parents to "stay up a little longer" because the talks were nearing conclusion that appeared to be warding off the threatened strike.

Chicago teachers vote to authorize strike

CHICAGO - Last spring's urging Chicago teachers to save money for a possible strike in the fall was a warning that appears to be materializing. Over 95 percent of the Chicago Teachers Union members participating in a strike authorization last week voted to strike, as soon as October 11th, the union said Monday.

"This should come as no surprise to the Board, the mayor or parents because educators have been angry about the school-based cuts that have hurt special education students, reduced librarians, counselors, social workers and teachers’ aides, and eliminated thousands of teaching positions," CTU's press statement said.

Could Ed Secretary's home schooling remarks hint of more government oversight?

Secretary of Education John B. King Jr with President Obama | US News photo

WASHINGTON - The Obama Administration has made it clear in their view education is an issue just too crucial to be left entirely in parents' hands. 

While the President has supported high-performing publicly-funded charter schools, he and former Secretary of Education Arne Duncan successfully worked to remove private school vouchers from Washington D.C. students' options. 

The Obama Administration's antagonistic view of parental school choice gained attention again this week when new Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. was asked his thoughts about home schooling at a breakfast for Christian Science Monitor reporters. 

The Washington blog Politico reported Secretary King said he is concerned that home taught students aren’t “getting the range of options that are good for all kids.”

Transgender middle school student allowed access to opposite sex locker room in U-46

Photos from Jeanette Ward's Facebook page

ELGIN - Last week when Elgin, Illinois' U-46 School District students returned to class after the Labor Day holiday, a policy was set into action at one of the middle schools that would allow a transgender student access and use of locker rooms of the opposite biological sex. 

The new policy concerned board member Jeanette Ward that she had been notified of the change, but parents were not. So she posted a notice on her School Board member Facebook page, which was shared 251 times: 

Starting tomorrow, U-46 Administration is changing its practice concerning students' access to locker rooms of the opposite sex. Students who identify as the opposite gender (regardless of biological sex) will be able to use the locker room that corresponds with the gender with which they identify, at the same time as other students. U-46 has opted not to inform parents or the community at large of this change. I am informing you. I encourage you to contact U-46 administration about this matter if you have concerns.

Ward's Facebook post started a furor that culminated in a huge response to U-46 Board of Education's meeting Monday night, and coverage in the Daily Herald and the Chicago Tribune.

Board President Tony Sanders proposed that any student that wasn't comfortable with the new policy talk with their school principal.

Rauner apologizes for saying half of Chicago teachers are "virtually illiterate"

CHICAGO – Amidst a day of controversy over a four year old email discussion released by Mayor Emanuel including comments in which Governor Rauner wrote that half of Chicago Public School teachers were "virtually illiterate," the governor publicly signed a bill affecting schools Friday.

"Let me very clear, I apologize for the statement that I made in that email in 2011. The remarks I made were inaccurate and intemperate, and I apologize to the teachers and I regret those comments," Rauner told reporters.

"I am passionate about education," Rauner said. He said one of the reasons he ran for governor in 2014 because education fund had been cut four times in the prior ten years by previous governors.

"We are going to redo our state funding for education. I'm committed to that," Rauner said. "Unequal funding denies the American dream from too many children in low income neighborhoods."

Before signing the two bills into law, three Chicago public school teachers read statements indicating their outrage with the governor's email comments, assuring the governor that "we are not illiterate."

Rauner announces bi-partisan commission for new school funding formula proposal

CHICAGO - Governor Bruce Rauner held a press conference Tuesday to announce the formation of a 25-member bi-partisan, bi-cameral commission to propose ways Illinois' education funding can be equalized and improved - a new funding formula for Fiscal Year 2018. Rev. James Meeks will facilitate the group's meetings.

Rauner pointed out three key points as to why the commission was a priority:

1. "I ran for governor to make Illinois schools the best in America," Rauner said. "Education should come first. Education funding should not be treated as a political football."
2. "Illinois is dead last among 50 states for the percentage of education funding that comes from the state. We're the state that depends on property taxes more than any other state," Rauner said. 
3. "Illinois has the largest gap in spending between the highest income and the lowest income schools. Education is a right and must be a priority," he said. We need both equity and an increase in the funding levels."

"This won't be easy," Governor Rauner said. "Democrats don't agree with themselves how this should be done, and Republicans don't agree among themselves either."

Still, Rauner said, he's optimistic that a new formula can be agreed upon.

Illinois next? Washington school official suggests closing K-12 public schools

CHICAGO - Since Illinois is without a K-12 school budget for FY 2017, perhaps it's time to consider a radical alternative that a school superintendent raised for Washington state schools, as reported in the Seattle Times:

OLYMPIA — Randy Dorn says it could be time to close Washington state’s K-12 public schools.

You wouldn’t expect the state superintendent of public instruction to say that.

But Dorn, who isn’t seeking re-election, argues in a court brief filed Wednesday that the state Supreme Court needs to get serious about enforcing its 2012 ruling that the state was violating its constitution in underfunding K-12 schools.

Serious, Dorn says in the court filing, means the court should consider closing the schools until the Legislature makes real progress.

Di Leo: A Community Organizer Celebrates an Anniversary

By John F. Di Leo -

Reflections on Barack Obama's day at Hiroshima

On May 27, 2016, Barack Hussein Obama, the current resident of the White House, gave a “major speech” (defined loosely as “one that the global press eagerly covers, in the hope it will embarrass the United States”) at Hiroshima, Japan, site of one of the two atomic bomb blasts that the United States relied upon to bring an end to World War II.

Given just before our own Memorial Day commemoration, it was not a horrifying speech on the surface… reading through the transcript, one sees nothing that jumps out as a specific mark of insult or error.

Obama spoke of how war has always been with us, how wars are horrible things, how they may be fought over hunger or greed, how we should mourn the innocent dead.  Line by line, almost everything he said there is defensible, when taken out of context.

It is only upon reading it in full, recognizing what he chose to say, and what he chose not to say, that one realizes how malicious the speech was… especially when the timing is considered.

Heritage Foundation: Universal Preschool May Do More Harm than Good

A growing body of empirical evidence suggests that universal preschool programs fail to improve a range of outcomes for participants. New studies of large-scale preschool programs in Quebec and Tennessee show that vastly expanding access to free or subsidized preschool may worsen behavioral and emotional outcomes.

In the absence of compelling evidence that subsidized preschool provides an important public good, the subsidies should be reduced, not increased. Policymakers should recognize that expanding subsidies for preschool is unnecessary, provides no new benefits to low-income parents, and would create a new subsidy for middle-income and upper-income families, while adding to the tax burden for Americans.

Click here to read Heritage Foundation's study findings.

Notorious "chalking" banned at DePaul University

CHICAGO - Sure, chalk was used to write evil sayings on DePaul University's sidewalks, such as "Make DePaul great again,” “Blue Lives Matter,” and “Trump Train 2016,” but that's not why chalk messages are no longer going to be tolerated at the Chicago campus.

It's because those political sayings anonymously placed on the school's walkways could endanger the 501(c)3 tax status of the school, a memo sent out by DePaul's vice president for student affairs said this week.

Starkehaus: From Selfridge's emancipation to PayPal and Apple's misguided war on women

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

The big revolutions in human history don't happen in a vacuum. Certainly there are moments of historical import that utterly redirect the trajectory of human history. Such occasions may be flashy attention grabbers, but there are otherwise random events leading to revolution that actually summon social upheaval even as they appear unconnected to the transformative changes they encourage. Without those seemingly insignificant events, certain developments in human activity may never have occurred.

When we consider the equality that women have achieved in Western civilizations, we often incorrectly assume that emancipation began with suffrage. At a most cursory level, that may be true but – again – that revolution didn't happen in a vacuum. Other incidents acted as catalysts for that big bang we call suffrage. In actuality, emancipation began with Selfridge.

Chicago Teachers Union goes on strike for one day

CHICAGO - Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner says the one-day strike the Chicago Teachers Union initiated Friday is "the height of arrogance."

"It's shameful that Chicago’s children are the victims in this raw display of political power. Walking out on kids in the classroom, leaving parents in the lurch and thumbing their nose at taxpayers -- it's the height of arrogance from those we’ve entrusted with our children’s futures," the Governor said in a statement.

"By breaking the law in Chicago and forcing passage of a bad law in Springfield, powerful bosses are proving they have an unfair advantage over Illinois families. When we lose the balance between taxpayers and special interests, property taxes go up and the quality of education goes down." 

Starkehaus: Brokered Conventions, Blue Dog Democrats and Other Identity Crises

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

It was a cozy gathering of the members of the Republican establishment and the liberal titans of commerce at a resort in Sea Island, Georgia last week as so-called neo-conservatives gathered to reshape the world into their own image of progressivism by deciding who should be named the Republican nominee. Per Breitbart, some of those great thinkers attending American Enterprise Institute's annual World Forum were:

Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google co-founder Larry Page, Napster creator Sean Parker, Tesla Motors and SpaceX's Elon Musk, Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Karl Rove, House Speaker Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) GOP Sens. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) and Ben Sasse (R-Ne). Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) Rep. Diane Black (R-TN) Philip Anschutz, the billionaire GOP donor whose company owns a stake in Sea Island, was also there, along with Democratic Rep. John Delaney (D-MD), who represents Maryland and Arthur Sulzberger, the publisher of The New York Times.

All this secrecy to discuss how they will thwart the party's nominating process and crown their preferred emperor if common Americans remain too stubborn to see that Donald Trump would be a megalomaniacal means to the end of our way of governance.

Starkehaus: It’s time for conservatives to reclaim inner cities

By Irene Starkehaus - 

Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Mike Madigan, Rahm Emanuel – for them, the problems that tear apart our society may be different, but the solutions are always the same. And the process flow chart is always deliberately circular. Construct a crisis. Devise new regulations. Find a scape goat. Raise taxes. Divert funds to special interests. Circumvent reform. Wait for a new election cycle. Rinse. Repeat.

John McCain, Mitt Romney, Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, Robert Dold, Mark Kirk – for them, the problems that tear apart our society can't be solved, so they must cooperate with the circular flow and not to become the latest scapegoat. They must pay lip service to the artifice that displaces reform so they can share control with the powerbrokers. They must then manage the decline and hope for a soft landing. They must behave with measured reason to indicate their willingness to compromise. They must tolerate a system devoid of morality because so many people have their hands out waiting for their share of the ill-gotten gains that it would be impossible to change.

Conservatives need to be the true voice of reason against this insanity.

Starkehaus: Advice from the Left – Abandon your guns and your God. Let them take care of you.

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

Another mass shooting, another call for increased gun control, another proclamation from the podium that you – yes, you must pay for the evil that other men do.

So people are getting shot? And you no longer believe that a quick trip to the grocery store won't end with you dying in a pool of your own blood?

Well, what did you expect? It's your guns and your God and your big, fat mouths that are the problem here. You brought this upon yourselves because you won't accept new gun control laws; you won't reign in your political dialog about your First Amendment rights; and you won't hand over your existing guns so as to let the government sort out the possible dangers for you.

Hear ye! Hear ye! If you would simply curtail your free speech, your belief in the Judeo-Christian God of all creation and your exercise of your Second Amendment rights, people would stop shooting at you.

Just shut up and hand over your guns. The problem will be solved.

Di Leo: Everything is Precedent - Especially Tonight in Palatine District 211

By John F. Di Leo, a resident, taxpayer, and parent in D211 - 

It's easy to think that governance is always about "finding the best compromise"... or to put it cynically: "picking the outcome that satisfies the greatest number of voters..."

...but it's not. It's about choosing the best outcome from those legally available for consideration, which is often much more limiting than the number of options arrayed on the table.

Palatine, Illinois' School District 211, one of the biggest districts in the state, with about 17,000 high school students attending its five schools, finds itself in this position tonight.

Starkehaus: Is the culture of hate increasingly a norm at American universities?

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

University of Missouri President Tim Wolfe and Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin resigned their positions this week amid racial controversies just as black university students divulged a list of demands to be met before members of the football team would return to their football related duties.

Starkehaus: Killing them softly – what’s up with Gen X?

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

When it comes to social trends and statistics, the media tends to focus much of its attention on two generational segments of the population for the sheer hegemony that they bring to the table – Baby Boomers and Millennials.

Almost as an afterthought, the media will grudgingly acknowledge that there's an actual generation that separates these two cultural forces, and this particular demographic ironically finds itself in a position where it could act as the anti-establishment in spite of the fact that rebellion is what the Boomers and Millennials were called to wage at the very moments of inception...or conception if you prefer.

We refer to this epochal postscript affectionately as Gen X.

Palatine Makes the News – As Civilization Declines

By John F. Di Leo - 

We could begin by looking at this from the perspective of political philosophy.

In the early 1790s, when our Constitutional government was in its infancy, Secretary Hamilton proposed a national bank that we definitely needed, but which was not specifically authorized by the Constitution. A decade later, President Jefferson’s delegates to France brought back an irresistible offer – to purchase a third of a continent from France for pennies an acre – which just as clearly lacked Constitutional authorization.

In both instances, the opposing party said “You can’t do that without an Amendment! You’ll regret setting the precedent!” But they couldn’t resist, and they didn’t think they could wait for an amendment, so the precedents were set.

Or we could look at it from the perspective of a personal relationship.

We have all had some partner – a friend, a lover, a parent, a child – who has pushed us a bit in one way or another, or whom we have pushed. We capitulate once, in a small thing, then again, in something larger, because we capitulated before, and it’s just a matter of scale, after all.

Starkehaus: Revolutionary distinctions in the 2016 election

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

Both conservatives and progressives have used the term "revolution" to describe the political and socio-economic changes that they each would like for our nation. Both of these political movements seek to transport the nation as far from their opponent's positions as would be humanly possible, and yet they both use the same expression to describe how they want to achieve it.

They say they want a revolution.

Well, you know. We all want to change the world…

Jeb Bush – Donald Trump “no es conservador.”

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

For those readers who are still under the impression that English is the official language of the United States, Jeb is now calling out Trump – in Spanish, no less – for not being an authentic conservative. Thank you, Captain Obvious.

Of course, Jeb Bush complaining that Donald Trump isn't conservative is a little like Hillary Clinton complaining that Don Rumsfeld didn't take national security seriously. So whatever.

This is not exactly a "Come to Jesus" moment in terms of revelation. Donald Trump is a progressive. Jeb Bush is a progressive. They talk the talk but they won't walk the walk unless they are made to do so. If conservatives are looking to either of these men as flag bearers for the cause in the way that Ronald Reagan was, they are going to be greatly disappointed.

And let us not forget. Even Reagan had lapses in judgment when it came to conservative and libertarian beliefs on immigration, the legal drinking age and even the seat belt laws.

Regardless, everyone should know by now that Reagan is the man that Republican presidential contenders channel until they secure the Republican nomination. After that, they can either keep playing lip service until they win and only then reveal that they are progressives (like George Bush I & II), move to the center during the general election and tick everyone off (like John McCain) or curl up like a possum and play dead (like Mitt Romney or Bob Dole.)

Here's the real "Come to Jesus" moment.

Nurture v. nature, the science of predestination and the end of choice

Irene F. Starkehaus - 

Across the globe, scientists have been working to discover whether people are born politically liberal or conservative. Studies of this nature have occurred in the scientific communities of the US and Europe over the last two decades. The earliest significant breakthrough occurred in 1999 with an experiment dealing with identical twins who were separated at birth and sustained similar political tendencies.

The most recent scientific surveys come from Singapore where 1700 Han Chinese students were studied for a permutation of the DRD4 gene which determines how dopamine is released into the brain. That variation mirrors earlier research done on people of European descent and indicates a genetic link to individualized dogmatic bias.

According to an article written for Phys.org entitled "Can genes make us liberal or conservative?" that gene will play a significant role in the genesis of a person's political disposition particularly in females:

"What they found was a robust link between the presence (or not) of the variant and a split between liberals inclined to decry inequality, on the one hand, and die-hard conservative wary of change, on the other."

Progressive absolutism as a mental disorder – part three

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

This is the third part of a series in which we first debated environmentalism as an apocalyptic delusion; we next discussed collective amnesia induced through bureaucratic propaganda; and we now end with a dialog on the trafficking of aborted babies and the proliferation of gender dysphoria through indoctrination.

Prolife conservatives recognize all too well the rabid militancy present within the Baby Livers for Lambos scandal brewing at Planned Parenthood. Even as the Center of Medical Progress released its second shock video of a PP official bartering over viable, intact human organs from their stockpile of murdered children, abortion apologists began lecturing about our Christian duty to save lives by using fetal remains rather than just disposing of them…you know, as if these were the only two options for an enlightened society to have.

This is the magic of relativism of course. Pilates of the conscience requires rigorous focus and training, but once a more nimble relativism has been mastered, even human sacrifice can be made to sound civilized. From American Exceptionalism to Mayan decline in under three decades.

And can you imagine how this Planned Parenthood scandal might have evolved if Barack Obama's Born Alive aspirations had been realized? Can you imagine what the debate might be right now if officials at Planned Parenthood had been successful in their lobbying for post birth abortion? Can you imagine if a Princeton "bioethicist's" advocacy for the killing of disabled babies after they were born had prevailed?

Di Leo: The Plain of Weehawken, and the Loss of a Hero

By John F. Di Leo -

Reflections on the anniversary of America’s most tragic duel…

Early in the morning of July 11, 1804, the Vice President and the former Secretary of the Treasury stood on the Plain of Weehawken – a wild land in New Jersey, where the laws were different from civilized New York, across the water – and they had their interview, like many a pair had before them, on that “field of honor.”

There was a time in American history when every product of our education system (yes - public, private, and homeschooled alike!) knew the participants in our most famous duel.  Children were raised with this lesson as a moment of color, in a history class too full of dates and names to memorize; it was (and remains) a gripping story, a contest of wills with a tragic end. 

Starkehaus: For the first time in her adult life Michelle O is…right.

By Irene Starkehaus - 

The bad news: If Memorial Day in Baltimore is any indication of what's in store for American cities this summer, you can bet that we're in for one heck of a bumpy ride. When Michelle Obama stands before graduates of Oberlin College and encourages a contentious schism to begin because those who are opposed to it are now a fringe minority, you better know that the Left thinks it's in a position to take the lead in this battle for the soul of America.

And why wouldn't they? Things are truly going their way with no end in sight. There's no need to manipulate through skullduggery anymore. The Left has chosen 2015 to come out of the closet and light the streets on fire.

So the good news? Small victory though it may be, for the first time in her adult life, Michelle Obama is actually right about something. Excerpting from her Oberlin speech:

Starkehaus: In this age of moral relativism, is Pam Geller a hero or fool?

Irene F. Starkehaus - 

To learn who rules over you, you must find out first who you are not allowed to criticize.

This is a quote credited to French philosopher Voltaire, hero of convenience to both the political Left and the political Right for differing reasons. Funny really because in actuality, there is no record of any historic import...unless you assign the internet that status…providing evidence that he ever uttered the words, but it does sound a lot like something that Voltaire would say, so our intellectual lethargy might be excused just this one time for convenience sake to move our discussion along productively.

We ask, "Who might be trying to subjugate us through the suppression of free speech that we should worry about such matters in the first place?"

We could look to our mainstream media for the answer, but popular culture tells us that it's America's Judeo-Christian traditions that most endanger our realization of an idealized America, the Shining City on the Hill. It is America's Jews and Christians…Muslims are excluded from the criticism… that set limits on sexuality, expression, family, personhood, identity, and equity after all. Traditional religious expression must therefore be the problem.

Di Leo: Debt-Free College? Democrats Learn the Wrong Lessons from Obamacare

By John F. Di Leo - 

Hillary Clinton, Marty O’Malley, Liz Warren, and other 2016 Democrat candidates for the presidency are apparently trying to differentiate themselves from the real-world economics of Republicans by returning to the tried-and-true method of promising to rob Peter to pay Paul, while giving the impression that YOU don’t have to worry, because, dear voter, YOU’LL never be Peter. 

The latest method is in capitalizing on the headlines about crippling college debt by setting "debt free college" as their goal.

Now, as far as that goes, it’s a perfectly worthy goal. “Pay as you go” living has always been the responsible advice of our sage elders; youths are told not to charge clothing and restaurant dining to a charge card, and to reserve long-term loans to things that retain their value for years, like houses and cars. A good college education – the right college education, at least – would seemingly belong in that list.

Di Leo: Learning the Lessons from the Fall of Troy

By John F. Di Leo - 

As the 2016 election approaches, have we learned anything from history?

On April 24, 1184 B.C., as legend has it, the Trojans looked out over their city wall, and saw the Greek ships sailing away, the Greeks apparently having given up after ten long years of war.

All that was left was a horse.  A great big, huge, heavy, beautiful horse statue on wheels, bearing a note, reading “The Greeks dedicate this thank-offering to Athena for their return home.”

Well, the Trojans were no fools; they saw a great big piece of art, obviously the result of great work and of some significant value, dedicated to the Athenians’ goddess, and they did what anyone would do: they stole it from Athena, hauling it into the city walls.  They patted themselves on the back for having won, threw a big party, and went to sleep.

Starkehaus: Thursday at CPAC 2015

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

A number of dynamic would-be presidential nominees spoke Thursday at the CPAC convention in Maryland. Given the audience, all potential candidates stayed right of center in their messaging as they courted the voters attending the nation's largest annual conservative convention.

The day's list of prominent speakers began with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. The style of Christie's discussion was pretty unusual to say the least. He shared the stage with talk show host Laura Ingraham. They then went through what appeared to be an overly rehearsed interview session with the potential presidential candidate answering questions posed by Ingraham. Rather than engaging the audience, the contrived setup came off as something akin to an infomercial. The leitmotif seemed less likely to improve Christie's gravitas with conservative voters and more likely to hurt Laura Ingraham's, I'm sorry to say.

Christie did unabashedly pronounce himself a prolife candidate and offered as an example his success in eliminating funding for Planned Parenthood from the NJ budget. He stated that he is experiencing what he termed "implementation regrets" over the Common Core.

Group lists 10 Reasons to Oppose PARCC testing

SPRINGFIELD - The House Education – School Curriculum and Policies Committee will take testimony Wednesday on the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) test mandate. The test assesses how well students are learning the Common Core curriculum. 

A parents' group called "PARK the PARCC" set up a Facebook page and is encouraging parents and taxpayers to support State Rep. Will Guzzardi's HB 306, which allows students to opt out of the PARCC testing.

There are 10 reasons, the group says, to oppose the PARCC assessment mandate:

Di Leo: Free Community College – Economics and Education in Freefall Together

By John F. Di Leo - 

Democrats have long called for grammar school to be “free” (that is, taxpayer-funded)… and they’ve long called for high school to be “free” (yes, even more taxpayer-funded)… and now the Democrats are calling for college – or at least the first two years of it – to be free as well.

The proposal can – and should – be shot down with a single point: The United States is, by any measure of the term, bankrupt. We have gone from 7 trillion dollars in debt to 15 trillion in just six years, more than doubling a national debt that had taken 220 years to accumulate before the arrival of The Resident at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. 

And this isn’t even counting the 100 trillion-plus in unfunded liabilities, such as the gaps in Social Security, Medicare, Treasury notes, and federal employee pensions, all of which exist as federal government obligations but which are not funded in any way.